Over the past couple of weeks I've noticed a marked increase in hostility around here. I do not know if it's holiday depression, maybe mass Seasonal Affective Disorder (for those of us up north anyway), or perhaps anxiety about the state of the world, but from unwarranted downvoting to wholesale gratuitous lambasting of unsuspecting and innocent (and typically lower/no-ranking) targets, grumpiness has been on the rise. This is not what the Monastery is all about. If you suddenly feel an uncharacteristic urge to flame, ridicule, berate, or abuse, chill the frell out. If, on the other hand, the feeling is neither sudden nor uncharacteristic, apply for work at the Fox "News" Channel.

To that end, here are some suggestions I'd like to share:

• Go for a walk, go to the gym, have a nice dinner, but simply get away from your machine. It will be there when you get back, and so will the thing that got your goat. However, a well-fed and exercised programmer makes for a much better goat catcher.
  
  
• Spend some time in Confessional. Reflect on posts like 1st Monasterians and Spirit of the Monastery.
  
  
• If you have one, toss that Xmas tree into the wood chipper; damn that's fun. Alternatively, chew on a piece of tire.
  
  
• Remind yourself what it's like to browse Slashdot at -1. If that doesn't make you thankful for what we have here, then clearly you are a hopeless ingrate.

Your Friend, fever

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