Monday, July 23, 2018

A heartfelt apology

I need to apologize to my friends and readers, in no particular order...

Sonja, Richard, Dom, Steve, Karen, Bill, Peter, Jim, Michael, Brandy, Kathy, Ry, Ken, Mike... I have been mostly absent here, and on your blogs. Partly it's a busy-ness and time disruption, partly it's a cycle and habit disruption... but whatever the root external excuse may be, it's really just me not being here for you.

It doesn't help that Google has chosen to cease sending email alerts when new comments are posted. But that's just another excuse, after all...

What I need to do is to work adapt to the changes, and just do it, as Nike used to encourage us all to do.

I was shocked this morning to find your comments piling up on recent posts, with me thoroughly distracted and unaware.

I am going back to respond to each and every one.

I am also hoping to change my lifestyle to more fully adapt to my new reality. It's easy when you make huge changes in your life to just go with the flow and let the big events you set in motion carry you along on the current.  The risk is that as you float along like a cork in a stream, you don't realize the things that are no longer there. It's remarkably hard to spot things that go missing. Like the dutiful butler answering knocks on the front door who simply vanishes one day without a sound, who knows when.

It's me, not you, dear friends.

Let's see if I can make amends, shall we?

Warm regards to each and every one of you, you are important to me.

18 comments:

RichardM said...

No apology needed. We knew you were swamped and blogging should be a stress reliever and not a source.

David Masse said...

Hmmmm... maybe I should ride out to Alaska ;)

SonjaM said...

I'm with Richard. I believe most of us were fully aware of your busy schedule. No worries, my friend.

RichardM said...

It’s only a couple of days more to reach the “real Alaska” and not just Hyder.…

Steve said...

Mate real life comes first. Blogging is an outlet and if your real life is busy that takes preference over the blog. Answer and comment when you can.

Cheers
Steve

Peter Sanderson said...

No apology required...Just post the Wolf Island Video. By the time its out, I won't own my scooter any longer :) LOL

Canajun said...

A lot of us have been caught in the same situation with comments, so no apology required. I'm still trying to work out a 'system' that will let me catch (and respond to) new comments. Meantime, some will be missed. But this community is very forgiving, so I'm not too worried.

bocutter ed said...

Hey Peter, would you happen to have contact info for the RL on the green Lamby? Ed, bwokx maker on the K75s

redlegsrides said...

Like everyone said, no apology needed. The blogspot email notifications died a while back and Google doesn't appear to be in a rush to fix it.

Darl said...

David,

I have been doing the same thing with my blog. Unfortunately I am busier than I thought I would be with teaching and then add in work and it is leaving me too tired to do much else. I have been going steady since January with either studying for my upgrades teaching classroom theory and practical guided riding traffic classes and novice. I think there has only be one month so far in the year when I haven't been working all week and then every weekend or several weeknights doing extra training. So I get how life gets busy and over the top in a manner of speaking and things just get missed. I've been haunting blogs and trying to keep up, but for posting on my own, I just haven't done anything really blog worthy other than teach.

No need to apologize, people get it.

David Masse said...

Thanks David.

It's interesting to watch many of these pioneers of the internet age as they mature. Google in particular used to have as its motto 'don't be evil'. While they are certainly not evil, in many respects they often treat their long-standing users with less than compassion and respect. Dropping the email alerts on comments without notice of the change is a particularly egregious example. It may be that eventually bloggers will follow Steve Williams' move to WordPress.

David Masse said...

As I mentioned in reply to David, Google has a little bit of a history of quietly abandoning users on certain of its platforms. I had an earlier experience with Google desktop where Google dismantled the product slowly and surreptitiously without warning or notice, in that case quietly removing parts of the application and functionality in a stealthy and less than honest way.

I think I see the same pattern starting with blogger. Hopefully I'm wrong.

David Masse said...

Thanks Dar.

Real life really should take precedence over virtual life.

David Masse said...

Thanks Sonja :)

David Masse said...

Thanks Steve, and you are right about real life. After all, a blog is only interesting if the blogger's real life is interesting.

David Masse said...

Too funny Peter. I believe you predicted it spot on. The video did come out after the sale of your Vespa. Now... I could use a tip on a winning ticket for an upcoming lottery draw, if you have a moment :)

bocutter ed said...

Interesting David. When I posted above I checked the 'notify me' box. Was notified of all your responses

ToadMama said...

No need to apologize, especially to me as I only manage to post, read, and generally keep up with online reading and writing in fits and spurts. I have a feeling everyone understands. I also understand the guilt feeling, too, since I am also quite irregular.

Things that you feel you "have to do" are less fun than stuff you want to do. Don't let blogging become a "have to do" on your list. You can always catch up on your reading when you have time. I understand completely.

The copyright in all text and photographs, except as noted, belongs to David Masse.