This Web Blog was haphazardly produced without using Spell Check one danged time. We like it that way.

It's a ritual in which I do not personally take part. I observe it from a distance and comment upon it every year.

We're going through a cold snap here in Austin right now. It's cloudy and in the 40s (Fahrenheit) as I type this. Considering that it was 89 here just a couple of days ago, that's quite a switch and not much fun. I like the cooler weather, of course, feels more like Thanksgivings I remember in other cities, I just don't enjoy the dramatic shifts in temperature than seem so customary here.

A neighbor invited me up to hang for a while, watch a movie or two, share some food. I did drop in for a while but then just couldn't stay. This time of year makes me even more unsociable than I normally am - and people already consider me a hermit. I find that there's just too much to remind me - in television commercials, in shop advertisements, in the normal flow of activities during this Whirl - of how little of a social and family life I actually have. I don't need that rubbed in my face...

It is an ontological agony.

And tomorrow our worship of consumerism begins under the guise of the Holy Days. I shall be behooved to act convivial. After this day of thanks for the progress of the past year, I shall then be, perforce, asked to share in a ritual whose meanings are at best conflicted and, at worse, deprived of their dignity. Happy Holidays.

I was advised that LeverageSocialMedia.com, that I started in partnership with my colleague Tom Parish, was rated #3 in a list of the Top 100 Social Media Web sites.

I'm certain I had nothing to do with it.

21 November 2007: For the beginning of the Holiday Season, we'll be doing a special show this Wednesday over at BlogTalkRadio.com. [See Right Sidebar.] My sidekick, Christina Shideler and I will be talking with a group of erudite or funny people about the issues of the day. This will be the premiere of the first Lightning Strikes Group over there. The plan for the group is that it reflect a bit more of the political and social commentary you find when you visit here.

I hope you'll join us and get used to the new medium we're using to communicate with you.

You can download our shows to your iPods or other mobile devices or subscribe - via - iTunes - to listen at your leisure. You'll find the correct iTunes subscription information at our Facebook page.

As the Lightning Strikes Network grows, we're hoping that you'll find one or two places that might interest you.

I was very pleased, for example, this week to do an interview with my friend and colleague Tom Parish over at the BlogTalkRadio LS show. Interestingly, this was the first time he was the interview subject instead of the interviewer. I hope you'll check out or download that show, as well.

If you go this week's PODCAST Section you'll get the bios on all of guests for the next show.

Life of Rod

Let me entertain you. Let me make you smile.

You'll note that I do monologues now at my show over at BTR. Much like my old column at Your World's Magazine, "My Glass House", the point of that practice is to share personal notes.

In that previous version of what a Blog should be, I felt that was the way. I've changed my vision since then - on one level.

I now believe that a Blog should offer you a few surprises along the way, present more multimedia, and always challenge your expectations. That's why you'll find independently produced video broadcasts here in 2008 AND more links to our expanding Network of Blogs and Web sites.

SOME OF YOU have complained that I have been more secretive about my personal life than I was during the years of "My Glass House". Honestly speaking, I feel that you are correct. I have decided that the point of my Blogs is not to be so self-revelatory any longer. In fact, I may have been too self-revelatory in the past.

There is enough sadness in your lives. You don't need to share mine.

I labor on, as you do, and try to share the fruits of those labors with those I love. Is there anything else to say?

Some days are better than others.

What I love is the wealth of friends I've found here. For example, here a few sites from my friends in Taxco, Mexico I hope you will visit:

• http://artcamp.com.mx/ofertas/wholesale/index.htm


• http://www.artcamp.com.mx/EZINES/34WovenPaper/letter/

I ALREADY KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO SAY. "Rod, always been a sucker for a heartfelt plaint or a pretty face." Guilty as charged. But, I believe, these women in the mountains of Mexico do some fabulous work. They take care of their families, as you and I strive to do, and deserve respect for that. They are not asking for a hand-out. They provide genuine and beautiful value for your simoleons. What else can you ask for at the end of the day?

Now, as to me being a sucker for a pretty face: what's wrong with that?

Here's a reprise of "The Legend"'s favorite. Enjoy!:

Cheers!

Keep me in your prayers as I keep you in my own.

Thanks for visiting.

Talk to you in a day or so.

Be well.