Wow, what a year 2016 has been.  I apparently dropped off the face of the pastel green planet.  I have been busy for sure.  This year at work has brought a lot of special projects.  One of my favorites was contributing graphics for Dancing With the Stars (which I enjoy watching with my daughter).  No, I am not credited, as I did this as one of the "other duties as assigned" for my employer.  Totally fine by me, it was fun.

Politically, this was an interesting year.  I spent a good deal of time correcting people who posted false news sites on Facebook and other social media.  I know that I strained a lot of relationships, but I felt that it was still necessary.  Scientific American wrote a good article about the reasons that people believe false news (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-convince-someone-when-facts-fail/).  Why is this relevant?  Well, people believe crazy things in the live entertainment field as well.  They don't bother to think things through or believe that since it is temporary, there is no need to do it right.  This ends up with disasters such as the warehouse fire in Oakland.  The tragedy is that this shouldn't have happened.

My hope is that we have a safe and prosperous new year.  Take some time to learn new things (hint, I hope to have my book out by the end of the year).  Help out others (teach, volunteer, mentor).  We may not all agree with the state of the world, but that doesn't mean that we should just sit back and complain about it.  Get active.  And by all means, be happy.

Cheers!