I can't say it any better than this video.

Or if you live outside the USA, below is a lecture/rant from the perspective from someone who lives abroad.

My next step in the whole "happiness plan" idea is to take more walks. I have been wanting to add a weekly hike into my life for a long time. I took my first hike to Iona Beach last week with Jonathon and Allyson. The pugs were, of course, in attendance as well. I hadn't really planned much about this outing but I had never been to Iona Beach before and it is apparently haven for dogs and humans alike. It was amazing. We were walked almost as far as you could go and the pugs were able to run like crazy animals. 

We haven't done that for quite some time. The pugs running like crazy things, not the hike itself. It always makes me smile when I am able to watch my beasts run freely and without any concern that they will get run over by a car. Seri is not much of an adventurer and tends not to stray too far but Faith is fearless and will run and run and run without so much of a thought about where it may take her. Amazing. I wish we all could take a bit of her bravery.

So, that is the next step in my happiness plan. Some people have e-mailed me and mentioned that they think this is a good idea. Seize the day and get out there more. Stop hiding because of whatever is keeping me back.

Oh, and I hope to get my first letter soon. I think the mail is backed up a bit and it may take some time to get here. I haven't had any takers yet on joining me in my letter writing campaign. Don't hesitate to join up!

You know, I realized that I never did a Happy New Year posting. It seems to have dropped off the face of the planet. I don't know why. I used to state my resolutions and then review at the end of the year how well I did. That is a little bizarre. Quite unlike me.

This is my New Year posting. But, this year, I am not going to do anything about resolutions. I am going to skip them for one more year and then pick it up again next year. I will even set in my calendar that I am going to do this. It will remind me that I am not a robot and nor am I something for show on the Internet. I don't know why I suddenly think that but something did. Deep within the recess of my highly evolved brain (*cough*) something tells me I need to rethink about how I share information on the Internet.

So, here is to my happiness plan for 2012. Should it be awesome and do very well.

So, I have been giving some thought to my personal happiness plan and have embarked on the first step already.

Letter writing.

Something that has bothered me for years has been the lack of communication in our so-called social spheres. We have all kinds of tools to talk at people but nothing that really makes a conversation possible. We have blogs with commenting systems, Facebook walls, Twitter conversations (if you can call them that), and text messages on our portable devices. All of these technologies make it easy for us to communicate and they have their own strengths and weaknesses and none of them are perfect.

But I don't think that these technologies make it possible for communication. I think they provide us an easy way to get someone's attention for a micro-second, discuss something quickly, and then allow us to move on to the next thing. To me, there isn't any communication going on.

So, I am going to try and bring back the writing of letters. Letters that require a pen, paper, an envelope, and a stamp. No typing, no planning, just a plain letter. The letter is a lost art in the world now and I think it really needs to come back. Writing by hand forces people to really think about what they are writing. Letters also allow you to say things that you may not say in a public forum such as a blog or an e-mail. (Yes, people, e-mails are public unless you encrypt them.)

Are you ready to write me a letter? Are you ready to receive a letter from me? I challenge you to get on board with me. My first letter arrived today and I am going to write the response tomorrow. I am jazzed like you would not believe and this is just a letter. 

I can't wait to get my next letter.

I have been reading through some of the blog entries I have done over the last number of weeks and, wow, what a sad bastard I have been. It must be tiring to have to read stuff like this or, maybe, you want to know how I am feeling.

I hate it feeling like this. I should have been happy about the holidays.

There is something about being perpetually grumpy that annoys me. This grumpy attitude clouds thought while simple common reason takes a holiday.

But here is the thing. I have a lot to be thankful for. I have a family that loves me, I have a blog that people actually read, and I have a great business that does a lot of cool things.

So, here is my New Year resolution. I am going to be a Happy Bastard again. Yes, a Happy Bastard. I am going to recapture the happiness and make something of it. I will document this process and possibly help someone else who is feeling the way I do.

If you have any suggestions about how to go about this, please leave them in the comments or drop me an e-mail. I am sure anything will help.

As my final Christmas gift to you, you need to watch this video. On Christmas Eve, I was chatting to my sister about video, music, and the Internet. I asked her what she knew about SOPA. She didn't know what SOPA is. Honestly, I didn't expect her to as most people I know haven't a clue that something fundamental is happening to the Internet. I have been struggling often to figure out a way to express the dangers with SOPA and (in Canada) Bill C-11. As Canadian's there isn't a whole lot we can do to fight SOPA but C-11 is Canadian and is similar and we can fight it.

In a nutshell, these bills will destroy the Internet in the name of perceived copyright infringement. Not proof of infringement. If a recording company or label thinks you have something they own, your site can be taken down without notice. At least, this is what the language says at the moment. I beg you all to educate yourself about this stuff. It is important. I talk about this stuff with Andrew Currie, Mike Vardy, and Anthony Marco all the time. Why not check us out and get involved in the discussion?

You all realize that web sites such as Twitter, Google, Facebook, and any other site featuring media you did not create are in jeopardy? You know this, right? If you have a blog and you post a video, it will be taken down. Not the video. Your web site.

See?

There is something about what she said this year that makes me feel like she looked me up, read my web site, and then added a few words just for me.