In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

I would like to just have a short post today, Thanksgiving 2025. I think it is always import to reflect on what we are grateful for during the holiday seasons. Many may be struggling with seasonal depression, experiencing loss, struggling with money, or hopefully perfectly content.

Giving Back

Throughout this year, I have canceled 90+% of my streaming services and decided to use that money to support organizations, content creators, and software that I rely on or whose visions align with mine.

I have felt for a while that we’ve traded privacy and ownership for the sake of “convenience” and have decided to do something about it. I often feel, as I’ve grown older, that I’m missing conviction I once had as a younger man and I’m working on myself to get that back.

I feel that streaming services were spawned to prevent piracy, which I personally do not condone, but have grown into a system that convinces us that we will have access to music/movies that they can strip away at anytime. Luring us into a false sense of ownership. They often pay fractions of a penny to artists per stream, unless you’re giant enough to negotiate a full penny ;).

Being honest, I am not sure it is any different than the days of cd’s/dvd’s where the mega corporations hold all the cards either, but I digress.

Non-exhaustive List of Support

I don’t want to make this about me, so I’m only going to list a few things in the following sections as they may be organizations / software that may interest you in learning more about.

1. GRIT Foundation: Focused on empowering the next generation of skilled trades people.
2. HVA-Chicks Coalition: Free technical support and resources for the HVAC trade, along with much more.

Among many others…

Software I Support

The following are open source companies/software, that is free to use, however I understand the time and commitment they make and see the value in supporting their efforts to help maintain these projects.

1. Immich: Self-hosted photo and video management.
2. Pangolin: Self-hosted application exposure and access control.
3. Pointfree: Creators of swift software frameworks and content I use on the regular

Among many others…

Arts / Content Creators

There isn’t anyone to call out specifically here and many that I support. I just would like to say that there are many folks out there and think it is important to show your support. It may be that you watch them on Youtube, an artist, or a musician. Many of these folks have ways to support with buying merchandise or through Patreon.

Conclusion

While I still have things I’m trying to figure out since canceling my streaming services, such as self-hosting movies and music. I just felt it was important to share some of my feelings or what’s been on my heart recently.

Once again, I don’t want this to be a “hey, look at what a good person I am” post, as often times that is not how I feel about myself. I hope that I’ve reached a balance of making my point without doing that.

I think it’s important, this time of year, to reflect on ourselves. Where we have been, where we are heading, and what is truly important to us.

I am thankful for those that read this. I am thankful for the friends I have, especially during one of the hardest years of my life. I am so grateful for my family who have stood beside me in my darkest moments and loved me anyways.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and take time to focus on what is important to you!

Cover photo by Megan Watson on Unsplash