A very bloggy Christmas.

Blogging, if you don't actively do it, is an amazing thing.

I starting writing in this space nearly nine years ago. Since then, 4,500 posts later a few things have happened.

One: I've become a better writer. Better for the discipline of writing everyday.

Two: I've built something of a following and a POV.

Three: I've made friends across the country and, in point of fact, on three or four continents.

One of those friends, Rich Siegel, 44, of the round seventeen blog, I just met for breakfast. Rich is svelter and healthier than I imagined. He ate his scrambled lightly and his fresh fruit plate. Think Truman Capote.

On the other hand, I wolfed down my bacon and like a sailor on shore-leave.

We both of us, I suspect, have appetites like long-shoremen. But Rich, 44, was elegant in restraining his.

Breakfast was getting to chat.

Talking about our trials and travails in the industry.

And the Manichean battle between the light of freelancing and the darkness of staff.

Despite what you may have heard, he's a nice guy, Rich, 44, is.

He and Bob and Terry and Dave and Jenny and Neisha and a few others are friends I've made along the way. Thanks to blogging.

Christmas is almost upon us.

I wish all my blog family well.

Breakfast, dinner, or a drink....it's on me.