Longform
New Year’s Eve 2023
2023 was a good year. I was much healthier this year than in 2021 and 2022. My oldest daughter graduated from Law School. My youngest daughter has adjusted to her move to New York. I made happy memories with my family.
I had a good year at work. I am blessed to have a job that meets our financial needs and is also very fulfilling. I am looking forward to 2024 and the challenges and joys that are to come.
Happy New Year.
A Wonderful Christmas with Family
Here are some photos of our family’s time together during Christmas 2023.
Christmas 2023
Christmas 2023
The Spriggs family enjoying Julie’s birthday dinner
Dave and Julie are grateful for the blessings of 2023. We are grateful for fulfilling work. Julie works as a mail carrier for the post office and Dave is a psychologist at the Department of Veterans Affairs. We are grateful that we have both had good health in 2023. We are grateful for our family.
Amanda’s Graduation Picture
Amanda graduated from Wake Forest Law School and passed the bar exam. She has been living in Winston-Salem, NC and working for a law firm in New York. It may turn into a permanent position, but she may also need to find another job and may need to relocate. Her husband, Will, sold his business in 2023, which is a great achievement.
Emily was recently hired as part of the grounds crew at a nuclear power plant. She is looking forward to starting her new job. She lives in New York. She is engaged to Marshall who works at the power plant. We plan to visit Emily this coming Spring.
Julie brought home two additional rescue dogs this year. She found Duke by the Duke Power Plant. She found Deacon (we call him”Deacon”) on her way home from work. We now have 3 rescue dogs, including our beagle-dachshund mix that we have had for about 11 years. She doesn’t plan to bring any more dogs home.
Lux
Deac
Duke
We are reminded of God’s goodness and mercy each day, and especially at Christmas. We look forward to what 2024 has in store.
– Dave and Julie Spriggs
Nearly 2 Years Post-Social Media
I began using social medial in 2008. I found reconnecting with people I hadn’t spoken with in many years, being able to share video and pictures with family, and being able to meet new friends compelling. After slightly more than 10 years, I realized that social media (at least in its current form), was not for me.
In February of 2022, I stopped posting on social media and deleted my social media accounts. This change was not because of any single event, but because in spite of the many potential positive features of social media, they are not worth the cost (at least to me).
All the large social media platforms generate revenue by developing a profile of each user and selling it to advertisers. There have been documented cases of privacy breaches, including individually identifiable information, such as date of birth and passwords. A large medical organization inadvertently passed on patient names and primary care provider names, among other protected healthcare data to Facebook through a tracking pixel.
In addition to these security threats, big social media has created a toxic environment in which people are increasingly divided, and uncivil. Regulatory bodies have requested internal data from social media companies to help study the mental health impact on minors, but at least in some cases, the social media companies have not cooperated.
While I have left the big social media companies, I want to have an option of sharing photos and thoughts with others and reconnecting with people. I am trying new version of social media, known as the “Fediverse”. Micro.blog is the service I use and there are others, such as Mastodon, and PeerTube.
Micro.blog tries to avoid the toxic culture of other social media by not having follower counts, liking posts, or an algorithm that determines what posts you see. If you see post you like, reply to it or bookmark it. Content stands on its quality.
The Fediverse is tiny compared to the big social media companies, but bigger isn’t always better.
Thanks for reading. Stay in touch.
UNC-G Site Visit
I went with 3 coworkers to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for their accreditation site visit. Other practicum supervisors from other facilities were also invited. It was good to learn from other supervisors and also to provide information for the surveyors.
Enjoying a Good Weekend, While Looking Forward to the Workweek
I’m grateful for a good year. I had a number of health challenges in 2021 and 2022 and have been healthier this year. It has been an especially fulfilling week as I was able to spend time with family.
I was sorry to see Emily and Marshall drive back to New York. I am glad they will be returning to celebrate Christmas with us in a few weeks. Amanda and Will live nearby and I’m always glad to spend time with them.
It was good to have an extra day off from work, but I am looking forward to the next few weeks. Holidays are often a challenging time for my patients and while this time can be stressful at work, it is also an opportunity to make a difference and provide help when most needed.