Ho ho ho! Merry.. wait, wrong holiday.  Welcome to almost-December, though I couldn't tell with all of the pre-Black Friday sale notices I've been receiving in my e-mail inbox, on the radio, in newspaper circulars, etc.  As my wife says, it's appalling that on a day where Americans are supposed to be celebrating gratitude and being thankful for what one has, retail stores are pushing sales on consumers to highlight what they don't have and should buy.  I've been guilty of this in the past.  I've attended at least several Black Friday sales in person in my life.  I stress in-person because so many retail locations now have Internet-based Black Friday sales that even if you were going to take advantage of BF sales, you can do so from the comfort of your home instead of attending a real-worldesque WWE event.  In the spirit of always trying new things and expanding your world view, I still think that you haven't lived until you've gone to at least one BF sales event.  You'll never want to go back to another one, but at least you can say you've done it and have some stories to tell to your grandchildren!

Another year almost complete and another one to look forward to.  I've had an amazing year.  I'm happy with the level of business I've achieved with my photography and my regular day job has been going well.  I was able to take a major trip with my dad to China which for me is probably one of those once in a lifetime experiences I will not soon forget (mostly because I kept a travel journal and wrote everything down).  All my pet peeves, fears, hopes about going to China - contained between the electronic pages of an iPad and synced with the cloud.  It's been an amazing year.  Thank you to everyone in my life for staying with me on this ride.  I am deeply grateful for all of you.  November usually has that effect on me; this is the time of the year where if I slow down and think about it, I realize I live a pretty good life.  I'm in relatively good health as are my loved ones and this overwhelming feeling of gratefulness comes over me.  

People make a big deal about making new years' resolutions and I'm among them, but I usually make my resolutions around Thanksgiving time.  It's the time when I'm most reflective on my life and ask myself how I can be a better (read: happier) person moving forward into the new year.  A friend of mine shared this link the other day on Facebook about how to be miserable.  The article is obviously satire, but as I read it, I realized a lot of it was true at least for myself.  If I didn't do these things, I'd be happy all the time!  It served as a good reminder for me that life does not have to be about the rat race and more importantly, that I have the power to choose whether to take part in it or not.

Take care and happy Black Friday hunting if you are out amongst the throngs of people!

Random side note:  the Imagine Dragons video for their song Demons is good: