In one of my early grad school classes, we had a conversation and some readings on parasocial relationships… mostly one-sided relationships you “build” with people that you watch on tv, listen to on the radio, or subscribe to their podcasts. We think we know these people. Maybe at some point we met them, but our real “relationship” is surface level. We might know their favorite athlete or actor, but have no idea what their spouse’s name is. We may know all about them, but they don’t actually know we exist.

(My grandmother had a very strong parasocial connection to the Augusta, Georgia NBC affiliate morning show hosts. She would tell me all about them when I visited, as though she knew them.)

Social media is a little different than local television celebrities. You can have interchanges and discussions, but the reality is that these are also incomplete. You can’t get to know...

Posts in the “Then” category were originally shared on my “Now” page.

My first “Now” update of 2025. The start of the year has been chaotic. Cold weather and threat of snow, but only a couple of flurries. Then, last week, both kids had the flu. The semester started and I’m taking two classes. Work remains busy. Tomorrow is MLK Day and it’s a holiday for us. Hoping to use the day off to recharge and reset.

Feels

• Anxious. A car accident before Christmas. Wildfires in California. Insane political news. Sick kiddos. The general state of the world. It’s just one thing after another.
• Optimistic. While the state of the world is depressing, I’m excited about the direction at work. And I’m moving toward finishing my Ph.D.

Health

• Still stalled. Had hoped to hit reset after the new year, but alas, things are just too chaotic. I was looking to start walking...
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Posts in the “Then” category were originally shared on my “Now” page.

The last day of the year. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks leading up to Christmas and before New Years. A minor car accident complicated the already busy season. Everyone is fine, and it was the other driver’s fault, but now we are just waiting to find out if the damage is repairable. Thankful for good auto insurance.

Normally by now, I have a plan for the next year. And I guess I have some ideas, but I haven’t written it out yet. I probably need to go ahead and do that today or tomorrow, since, you know, 2025 starts tomorrow.

Feels

• Drained. So many things to do at the end of the year. I was productive, but have not rested enough over the last couple weeks. I have two more days of vacation before I head back...
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My themes for 2025 are essentially the same as they were last year. And the year before. I need to get healthy. I want to write and be creative. I need to stay organized.

It’s somewhat boring that my major themes have stayed the same for three years. I’ve made progress, but I still have a ways to go. I thought about changing them up, but these four goals still reflect what I need to work on so I’m sticking with them. Just some slight modifications…

• Get healthy. Once again, this needs to be my top priority. I made some good progress late in 2024, but I need to carve more time out for walking and exercising. And I need to continue to make better food choices. I turn 50 this year, and I’d like to be healthier at 50 than I was at 40. To pull that off, I...

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Posts in the “Then” category were originally shared on my “Now” page.

First up, Happy birthday Norah! My oldest turns 20 today. Two decades is a long time and so much has happened… and yet, it feels like it has flown by.

I’ve seemed to settle in writing these updates every other week instead of weekly. Since they are mostly for me, I going to be okay with it. But if you happen to be reading along, just a heads up.

Feels

• Excited. I’m excited for the Christmas season. Yes, most people started planning for Christmas early, but we have three family birthdays between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hard to focus on Christmas when we are still celebrating birthdays!
• Proud. Of my kiddos. All three of them are growing up to be amazing people. I love them so much, but I’m also incredibly proud of who they are. I’m also very proud of...
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I want to find a copy of my 1997 honors thesis.¹ I wrote it on a Power Mac 7500 in Word Perfect 3.5 on the classic Mac OS 8. It probably fit on a floppy drive, but I know I saved a backup copy of it on a Zip drive. At some point, I decided that I needed to move things off the Zip disks and consolidated all of my old files from college onto DVDs. I’m not 100% sure where that DVD is now, but I’m guessing it’s in my attic. Even if the disc hasn’t been ruined by the South Carolina heat, I don’t actually have a DVD drive to read it.

And then I remembered that the University of South Carolina library has the official copy in the off-site annex. I can request that they pull the physical copy for me to review in...

Posts in the “Then” category were originally shared on my “Now” page.

Thanksgiving week was busy. I worked Monday and Tuesday, took Wednesday off and the university was closed for Thursday and Friday. It was a much needed rest. We had Norah home from college so it was nice to have all of Team Wertz under the same roof for the first time for a while.

Hard to believe it’s December. I need to switch into gear to finish up the year strong. We’ve got my wife’s birthday this week and it’s her last week of graduate classes.

Feels

• Good week to be a Gamecock. The marching band was in New York for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. The women’s basketball team returned to form and won two games in dominating fashion. And the Gamecock football team got the win against arch rival Clemson.
• Thinking. I have one last task to do...
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Posts in the “Then” category were originally shared on my “Now” page.

So I accidentally skipped last week. I wrote the post, but never actually uploaded it. So I’m incorporating some of what I wrote last week to cover the last two weeks.

Happy birthday to my youngest, Ryan. He turns 13 today. For another three weeks, I have three teenagers. Time flies.

Feels

• Grateful. On Ryan’s birthday, I’ve got to reflect on just how amazing and wonderful my kiddos are. I’m biased, but I think they are pretty phenomenal.
• Rearranging. My wife and I decided to move everything around. Furniture from the master bedroom is in the kitchen. We moved a bookshelf into the master bathroom. A cabinet into the laundry room. A chair moves from the living room to the master bedroom. Really happy with all the moves, and hopefully it will help us be more organized.
• Optimistic. I have a...
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The last two weeks has seen a surge in Bluesky usage. I’ve been on Bluesky a little since the early days. I liked the service, but I didn’t know any one there. That’s changed now and lots of friends are posting. That’s added a touch more complexity, so I figured I’d share how I’m handling my personal social media right now.

1. I post everything to Micro.Blog. It shows up on bobwertz.com.
2. Micro.Blog crossposts everything to Bluesky, Threads and Mastodon.
3. I have notifications turned off on my iPhone, so I have no idea when people respond to what I post.
4. I selectively choose when I want to engage with social media on whatever site feels right at the time.

A couple of random things I’ve noticed lately:

1. My Instagram usage has dropped dramatically, probably because it isn’t tied in with my crossposting system. They don’t have a posting API, so no one can really add that connection....
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Posts in the “Then” category were originally shared on my “Now” page.

I skipped last week’s post. Sunday, I was busy with schoolwork and didn’t have time. I planned to post something later, but the election happened and I just didn’t feel like posting at all.

Favorite Picture of Last Week

Our oldest, Norah, joined us at the polls to cast her first vote in a presidential election. And while most of the races didn’t go the way we hoped, I love that I was able to share this experience with her.

Feels

• Nervous. I’m worried for the future of our country and the future of democracy in general.
• Optimistic. I had advisement this week and feel like I have a strong path forward toward finishing my Ph.D. I’m planning on taking two courses in...
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