Ever been fed up? I am. It’s not my family or marriage or anything, but work & church are really getting me down. I’m pretty fed up.
I’m grumpy too. I’m actually not very fun to be around, and I’m wearing the “look that kills” pretty much all the time. It sucks.
But don’t worry. I’ll get over it. Eventually. Until then, you’ll have to put up with my overly-cynical view on life. You can get grumpy if you want too. It works for me.
When contacting the IT department at work, or calling a repair shop for your home computer, here are some tips for getting fast, friendly service:
That’s it! We’re fairly friendly people that usually get treated badly, so if we seem defensive, don’t take it personally (unless you’re a jerk, in which case, you’re the reason we’re so cranky.)
PS: Don’t forget System Administrator’s Day. I’ve never been recognized on Sys Admin day, and it hurts man. It hurts.
A fellow over on a forum I was visiting posed the question, “How Do You Keep At It?” He was referring to steadily blogging. Here was my response:
I’ve had some lapses, like recently work has been really rough. I think that 4 things have kept me pretty regular for a while now:
1) Paying for my site. Now that I’ve invested some dough into the thing, it helps me prioritize it a bit. Plus, it’s a lot cooler to say, “Go to https://www.brainofshawn.com” than it is to give out a blogspot address. (Not that there’s anything wrong with blogspot — I’m just saying.)
2) ANY sort of readership. I only have like 15 people that regularly read my blog, but the fact that they do regularly visit my blog, and give a rip what I have to say, makes it more exciting. Looking at stats can be depressing and exciting both. 🙂
3) Personally, I let myself write ANYTHING I please. I know that limits the traffic I generate, but it helps me in that I’m not worried about being “on topic”, etc. Again, this is a tactic I use to keep blogging, not to generate traffic.
4) As small as it is now, I plan to use my blog as a marketing tool when I begin to publish some books. I figure everyone starts somewhere, so I might as well do it now. John Scalzi’s Whatever started small, and it’s helping him sell books now. I like that thought. 🙂
I really enjoy music, but I have to admit, my favorite musical “tool” is the human voice. I love the sound of a good singer. In fact, I think all too often, musical instruments get it the way of a good sing. This makes for some unfortunate truths:
1) I enjoy watching American Idol. Not the drama, not the auditions, but the actual talented singers.
2) I tend to like “girly” music.
3) While I’m very flexible in what I consider good singing, I am very critical of bad singing. (I’m not mean about it, I just notice and it’s like nails on a chalkboard)
So what’s your favorite instrument?
I saw this on the kitchen floor as I went to tuck the girls into bed this evening. I was too scared to ask them for any details.
My office has been overrun with fruit flies. Mind you, my office is cleaner than it’s ever been — but the custodians haven’t been taking out my garbage, so apparently I now have a fruit fly version of Motel 6.
Sometimes the swarm is so bad that I want to gouge out my eyes, and this morning, that almost happened. I was innocently browsing some websites, and BAM, a fly few into my eye.
I didn’t know until this morning, but fruit flies are filled with some sort of industrial grade acid. I thought I was going to die. I yammered about my office, crying and moaning. I rubbed the bug guts from my face, and realized I couldn’t even go out looking for pity. I mean, it’s a fruit fly. Who’s going to feel sorry for me because a fruit fly flew into my eye.
Maybe I should lie and say it was a June Bug... They’re freakishly huge.
No, I’m not going all “Blair Witch” on you or anything. I just took this photo. It’s 3AM, and I finally turned in my article. Now, I only have the regular amount of stress. You know, 53 work orders, 8359 emails in my inbox, and impatient, unhappy co-workers. (If you’re my co-worker, and reading this — of course I don’t mean you. 🙂 )
I’m going to bed now. I need that 3 hours of sleep, you know, so I can function and stuff. G’Night everyone.
Writing an article on computer gaming is a lot harder when you’re not a gamer.
Trust me.
All 3 of our kids are in public schools this year, which is a really big deal, because we’ve been homeschooling for a long time. So far, it’s been going well. It helps that I work at the school, and Donna substitutes as an aide. In fact, today Donna told me a hilarious story about our youngest, Lizzie. Donna was in the lunch room with the special needs student she was assigned to, and Lizzie ran over to her in a panic. Here’s how it went down:
Lizzie said, “Mommy! Mommy! I couldn’t get my blue slushie open, so Sammie helped me. It was really hard to get open, and when she opened it it spilled all over her and me and the table. It’s a real mess. I’m sorry Mommy!” (all in one breath, mind you)
Donna said, “It’s OK sweety. Let’s go clean it up. Sometimes those Kool-Aid bottles can be hard to open. It must have gotten pretty cold to turn your Kool-Aid into a slushie, huh?”
“No, Mommy, not my drink. The blue slushie in the bag. I couldn’t get it open, so Sammie helped me.”
“Honey, we didn’t pack you a slushie. What bag are you talking about?”
“Mommy, the bag with the blue slushie inside. In my lunch bag. The slushie!”
Donna realized what happened, and after a moment of horror and panic replied, “Sweetheart, that wasn’t a slushie. That was the cold pack to keep your lunch cold…”
Yes, we’re thankful for non-toxic cold packs. Donna called Sammie’s parents to explain the “blue slushie” that was all over her shirt and pants. Unfortunately, Lizzie will now be eating a PBJ tomorrow. 🙂
For those of you that didn’t get forced to read the actual Linux Journal magazine that published my articles, you’re in luck! Today being September 1st, the articles from the August issues are available to read online for free. Way to go Linux Journal! Here ya go:
Build Your Own Arcade Game, and Relive the 80s
The first is geeky fun, the second is much more geeky, but still fun. Enjoy!