General Thoughts

Best Ever

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Here at the Powers’ homestead, Christmas is always a mixed bag of joy, stress, depression, fun, and food. And presents. I must admit, I’m not terribly fond of this time of year, and my personal mood tends to lean more toward depression and stress than anything else — but there are some things I like about the season. One of them is the book, “The Best Christmas Pagaent Ever” by Barbara Robinson.

We try to read it every year, and it always makes me smile. We even have the made for television version of the book as well. It’s not as charming as the book, but still a fun show to watch.

Happy Holidays everyone. May your holiday season be stress free, and joy filled.

New Video, and a Request

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If you’re willing to watch my latest review below (Here’s a link to all of them to date), please do so. Then I have a couple questions…

Most of the folks reading my blog are intelligent people. Although varying in tech skills, I value everyones thoughts. Regarding the video reviews for Linux Journal:

1) Should I record reviews of things I don’t like? I don’t want to look like a marketing tool, and only review things that I think you should buy, but I also don’t want to waste your time by showing you what not to do.

2) Should I only stick to “cool” things? The review above is about a product that lacks the “holy cow, I want one now” factor for many folks. I think there is a market, but is it wise to review in a video such devices?

3) What’s your opinion on me being harsher than I am if I do dislike a product? In the video above, it’s pretty obvious I’m not a fan, but I didn’t bash the company either. Is the optimism sickening, or lack of ranting refreshing?

Thank you much. For participating in my survey, I’ll give (most) of you next Tuesday off work. If you have to work, my apologies, I did my best.

My Day, Crud Edition

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I didn’t throw up until 1:30PM, so that was good. Things were actually quite nice until the afternoon, in fact. I had a meeting, drank some coffee, ate some lunch; it was pretty nice. Then, for some odd reason, I began violently throwing up. It was truly a vomit fest, and just as gross as it sounds. With chunks. (And later without…)

Anyway, after school, we had to retake our Christmas photo, because in the last sitting, yours truly towered over the family like a middle aged totem pole. It looked silly. So, back to the scenic spot for our photo. It turned out nice, and if I hadn’t told you, you’d never know I’d thrown up shortly before the photo was taken:

riverfam.jpg

After a dozen takes, we ended up with that charming shot you see above. Standing up that 12th time, however, proved to be more than I could handle, and I took a lovely little ride down the riverbank. I managed to catch myself before a full fledged swim was required, but it sure didn’t make my day any better. You’ll notice the snowy scenery? Yeah, that’s real. Real cold.

river.jpg

How was your day?

The Whole World Doesn’t Love Me

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It’s rather weird to be in the public eye. Granted, the “public” eyes I’m in are rather small, but when a few thousand people intake something you’ve created, there’s bound to be someone that doesn’t like you. It’s a little weird to be disliked by someone you’ve never met, or talked to, or talked about, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, lots of people dislike me. I’ve been called names that would make sailors blush (and there are a couple Navy folks that read my blog, yes, you’d blush). Those people, however, have reasons to hate me. I may not agree with their reasoning, but at least they have something to claim I’ve done to them.

It gets wacky when people randomly email you, or comment on youtube, or attempt to make you look dumb in public somewhere. Even that I can handle to an extent. The thing that I find interesting is when people assume that if someone has managed to get published somewhere, that those people must be arrogant, rich, self-absorbed ignoramuses. Because in order to get someone to pay you for your creation, you must have cut corners somewhere. All geniuses are undiscovered, and must die poor and alone, right? How dare I risk embarrassment and ask a publisher to accept my creation as professional quality. I must be really arrogant to think my stuff is better than those that aren’t published.

Guess what? I DON’T! Crimeny, I’m more insecure about the things I do than anyone I know. (My suspicion is that everyone feels that way, whether they admit it or not) If you don’t like what I do, then don’t read/watch/listen to it. If you’re a publisher, just don’t buy it. (Unsurprisingly, I’ve never gotten a, “You suck” response from a publisher, they generally have better things to do)

Oh, and if you don’t like this blog post, feel free to email me about how much I suck. I have a special place for those emails, snuggled up next to the male enhancement offers I get. :o)

Gender Nonspecific Names

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I think I’d like to make a rule banning all gender non-specific names. Yes, that includes my own. All those Robins, Shawns, Pats, Terrys, Jerrys, Sams, Jesses, Stevies, Coreys, Jordans, Leslies, Taylors, Erins, and Billys just need to change to something like JOHN. Or JULIE. Ugh.

In the cheesy video spoof I just posted about, I mention another Linux Journal reviewer, Jes Hall. For some reason, my brain assumed Jes was a man. She would disagree. The dumb part is that my own SISTER is named Jes, and I STILL never made the correct assumption.

If you were looking for proof of my ineptitude, look no further.

(And yes, I sent her an apology, but it doesn’t make me any less of a goon)

Blogger Made Me Jealous

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You know that cool new feature Blogger has that allows you to get updated when OTHER people’s blogs get comments? Yeah, I was jealous. So now, you can do that same thing on my blog. I can tell you’re just *shaking* with excitement at the idea. I don’t blame you. It’s so exciting.

(Oh, and if you’re really that excited about getting comment updates on my blog — you should really get outside more. And maybe get some counseling.)

Tis the Season

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perot.jpgIt’s that time of the (year * 4) when we begin to hear about all the candidates, potential candidates, lovers of potential candidates, and potential lovers of people that once went to college with the ex stripper that ate cheese whiz off the other candidates partially inhaled drug usage charges when he was in jail for molesting various and sundry things while damaging and/or supporting environmental… you get the idea.

I hate this time of (year *4), and it’s a lengthy season. Yuck.

I Like Spongebob

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sb.gifI like Spongebob Squarepants. I figure it’s just something you should know about me. You get to peer into my inner soul, so to speak. I think he’s funny. You want to hear the deepest, most philosophical thing you’ll probably ever hear regarding the large yellow invertebrate?

I think I like Spongebob because he’s the carefree, low stress, happy to be alive kinda guy I subconsciously wish I was. No, I don’t want to be porous and live in a fruit, but I would like to get the same joy out of life that our squishy friend does.

I also want a snail that meows. That’s just cool.