Thank You

It is a wonderful thing to have a time set aside to reflect on that for which you are thankful. I am indeed an incredibly fortunate individual. One of those things for which I am very grateful is the community that has grown around this blog.

I am very thankful to have as a colleague and dear friend, Aspazia, who convinced me to start the Playground and who gave me so much help and support when first starting.

It tickles me to no end to have a place where family and old friends from every part of my life can come together to be silly, insightful, prickly, passionate, human in every way. To be able to facilitate a conversation between friends from my childhood (Gwydion, for example, has been one of my best friends since we were in first grade), high school, college, grad school, along with current and former students, colleagues, cousins, my lil bro,... it is all just incredible to me. It's like the world's greatest dinner party and I don't have to do any dishes afterwards.

And to all the new playmates who I now know through this endeavor, people who I am so happy feel comfortable coming out to play here. It amazes me that such interesting folks find my silliness interesting enough to comment upon. To those who enjoy our games enough to link to me, let me express gratitude. To think enough of this toy to bring your circle in is indeed wonderful. It makes me realize how little separation there can be.

I am grateful to all those who come to lurk here, who find this virtual place interesting enough to make it a small part of your day. In college, I was one of those quiet kids in the back row who never said anything, so I know exactly where you are coming from. Thank you.

I am grateful for search engines, without which people looking for guacamole recipes, polish jokes, biographical information on Otto Neurath, arguments about gay marriage, words with silent letters, the Brother Bones version of Sweet Georgia Brown, and discussions about Albert Einstein's Jewish science would never find me.

I am grateful beyond words to TheWife, love of my life, who puts up with one more thing inserted into the hecticness of daily life.

And I want to thank Al Gore, without whom this internet would not have been possible. If you're out there, Mr. Vice President, "Confused, Maybe Not" thinks you can win in '08...