My Family
24 December 2006

I’ve rebooted for the New Year.  It’s a lovely feeling… to reboot.  I have a ritual I go through every year to help me psychologically reboot.  I burn all my the files on my computer — email folder, Money file, everything — to DVD.  Then I delete delete delete.  Then I go through all the software programs on my C: drive and delete the programs that I haven’t used all year and are just taking up room and resources.  Next, I defrag.  (Sometimes, if my computer is running really slowly, I’ll just format and reinstall from scratch.)

Then my computer runs beautifully, and it’s clean of all the previous year’s clutter.  It’s shiny and fresh and ready for the New Year — ready for new projects, ready for new ideas, ready for whoever I decide to be and whatever I decide to do in the coming year.

And then I reboot.  I’m ready for new projects and new ideas.  I’m ready for the New Year.  I’m full of determination and excitement.  With each deleted file and each deleted email, it feels like I am freed from the previous year’s clutter, not just my hard drive.

The New Year rocks.  I think it’s one of my favorite holidays and not because of the party.  It’s because we get to reboot.