One Week In...

This morning we had a gorgeous sunrise. During the fall and winter here we get beautiful colors at sunrise and sunset. The angle of the sun is perfect for just brilliant skies. The challenge is we also don't always have clear enough skies to see them. So it's always a treat to get a chance, especially in the winter, to see one of those gorgeous beginnings or endings.

My view from the treadmill is out the little windows in the top of our garage door. I see the neighbors' rooftops, one window of the second story house across the way where often their cat is sitting watching me while I watch him, and I see the sky. It's not super exciting. Well, except for the cat.

This morning at about the halfway point of my cardio I watched a flock of birds flying in the sky. It was partly cloudy, the roofs of all of the houses had a layer of frost on them. Beautiful cold morning and that flock of birds. It was lovely.

After my workout was over I saw a couple, oh let's call them highlights, from Trump's news conference and read about the changes Meta is making to their platforms.

Choosing joy isn't always easy. And it's not going to be easy for the next four years at least. And I won't always be able to. Some days there are going to be more batshit crazy press conferences than there are flocks of birds to watch. Some days the beautiful sunrise won't compensate for another asshole claiming that facts are somehow biased. Or that Texas is less biased than California. I mean...come on now, Zuck, you could at least lie better than that.

The funny thing with the Zuck news, his turning Facebook and Instagram into post Musk Twitter is that it makes all of their posturing over fighting each other even funnier. Zuck and all his martial arts training and posting pictures of his buff bod didn't even last one round with Musk. Musk won. Zuck caved. Jaw of glass. Spine of jello.

And I get it, I do, Mark Cuban wrote a long thread on Bluesky about how all of these big businesses that have been bending the knee are viewing it all as a business expense. That a million dollars to the inauguration fund is small price to pay to be in favored thought when decisions are being made. Late stage capitalism, am I right?

So I understand that businesses are protecting themselves. I think a lot of people are going to be in protecting yourself mode. If you ever wondered what it would be like to live through the rise of Hitler you are seeing it. People can see the danger, and they are protecting themselves. Going quiet, or offering themselves up to the powers that be.

I'm not surprised, I'm just disappointed.

One week in to the new year and I'm doing the best I can to choose joy.

Today's hits, the sunrise, the birds flying, knowing I already decided to not use Meta products.

One week in. Who knows how many to go.