Every year it is the same, all festivities are done and the year starts over. Now it’s the time for the “longest” month of the year. The darkest days (apart from the few days before Christmas that are actually the darkest days of the year) are in front of us. As well as the coldest days.
One week in and we already have had enough of winter and are already dreaming of spring or summer. Mother Nature will have a small-print clause like “More to come…” somewhere, though.
So, here I am trying to be “funny” or “real” by trying to wish everyone a Happy New Year at midnight. To my surprise, Facebook in its infinite wisdom had decided that my Instagram account had been involved in activities going against their rules. I didn’t even know they had rules in the first place.
Moody
Between the p*rn, the scam posts and advertisements for body part enhancements, I thought I’d pretty much seen it all. To my surprise, they found something to do with my Instagram account that was even “worse” than that. As a result, Facebook (or Meta) decided on the spot that my Facebook account be suspended indefinitely, while the offending IG account remains operational as usual.
Deserted for now
All this at 11:55 PM. So for anyone that has missed my New Year’s wishes… HAPPY NEW YEAR! As for the hacker(s) in Vietnam, I wish you everything you might wish on anyone whose account you have hacked for personal gain.
Alone
So the next step was to recreate an account and find my friends again. I use FB mostly for staying in contact with old friends from all over the world, Ukraine, The Netherlands, France and more places. Only to find that Facebook (again with its infinite wisdom) decides that I can’t possibly know those people so far away and will not send them my friend request.
Shimmering ice
I guess I am lucky that I didn’t grant FB Messenger the right to replace my default texting app on my phone. Heaven knows they have tried hard enough to convince me to do that too.
Eagle’s nest
But hey, this is a new year. I made no list of good intentions for the year, like losing weight until I’m transparent, or becoming rich like Musk or Bezos. Let’s stay realistic. I think I will simply remain the curmudgeon you all have come to love. It’s probably the best I can do anyway.
Sunshine on ice
To add to the mix of a disastrous year-end, my job presented several catastrophic failures, as far as networking gear went. While the company we are using was supposed to fix that within an hour, many clients were down for over four days. Something that may have contributed now to a few extra grey hairs.
Sunshine on ice
And that leaves me with the first pictures of this year. All these pictures are from the beginning of the year. A bit of a trip outside and relaxation was required and very much appreciated.
I think I will do more of those little trips in the coming year. I think there might be a reasonable New Year’s Resolution for me…
Until next time…