'Tis the Season to Go... Postal
Last night, I camped out on the big blue couch listening to the Replacements and X to finish this year's Christmas card mailing. I've gone back and forth the last few years, wavering between Christmas cards and a New Year's letter to friends and family, but this year I'm kind of thinking both. Maybe. I did a draft of a Year That Was chronology last night and seem to have lost a month. What the heck did I do in August?

In any event, last year I sent about 40 Christmas cards. This year, so far, I've mailed about 75. Why the increase? In 2001, my graduating high school class held a 10-year reunion in Wisconsin. I didn't mail old friends from high school last Christmas, but thanks to a Web directory developed by one of my classmates, I did so this year. Also, this past year, I ordered the print edition of Northwestern University's alumni directory. That hulking beast of a book helped me track down scads of old friends from college, Sig Ep, WNUR-FM, and the Daily.

So I'm up to 75 and thinking I still need to track some stragglers down. Christmas cards are an interesting project. I'm curious what some of the folks will think about the belated outreach. I'm curious how many addresses in the alumni directories are still valid and accurate. And I'm curious how many people will take my little holiday greeting as the connection trigger it's intended to be -- and either send a reciprocal card, write a letter, or otherwise get back in touch. We shall see.

If any Media Dieticians would like to exchange Christmas cards, we still have some time, and I still have some cards. Email me your mailing address, and I'll send you my home address. That'll reach me faster than the P.O. Box noted to the left.