Month: November 2019

Underwhelmed

Posted on by backuphill

view under pier in sopot

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I don’t know if this is possible, but I think it probably is.

Is anyone else so overwhelmed by the Black Friday sales and ads and commercials and flyers and emails….that they are actually underwhelmed?

There is so much! So much. I found myself going through emails yesterday morning and then actual printed ads yesterday afternoon (you know the ones that come in the paper?) and I just found that I was so overwhelmed that I was underwhelmed.

There just wasn’t anything in the ads that made me go, “Whoa! I gotta get that!” Nothing in the ads that made me want to get out of bed, to either go to a store or to shop online.

Anyone else feeling it too?

Dear Readers

Posted on by backuphill

light sign typography lighting

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My Dear Readers,

As I pause a moment to give thanks for all that I have been given (I have not visited my computer this morning), I have to remember you.

It is because of you that we have created a little community where I have a voice to complain about things in my life, life in general, things in your lives, society, people, culture, smart and stupid people, and the list goes on…etc., etc., etc.

Essentially, you have allowed me to be your voice and in turn it has given me a voice too. I can’t always express the way I feel or think to the people who occupy my everyday life, so this has been an outlet for my frustration (and dare I say, anger?)

Some of what we talk about around here is for real and some of it is just for fun. Either way, it gives me something new to do each day in the hopes of entertaining you…or giving you something to ponder…or maybe giving you a silent fist bump knowing someone out there feels a little like you do.

So, I humbly say thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

With gratitude,

The Chief Grump

WordPress comment spam

Posted on by backuphill

Comment spam

Good grief. Have you taken a look at your comment spam folder?

It’s kind of ridiculous how much comment spam gets generated! How do you even spam comments in the first place? There’s got to be a better way for WordPress to keep this from happening than just throwing them in a folder.

I guess I am glad they catch all this stuff instead of me having to wade through it every day; however, if there was a legitimate comment that actually gets caught in there, how would I ever find it? I know I have had it happen and luckily I caught it early enough before the folder exploded.

Why do people do this in the first place? How do companies combat this crap?

 

Like sheep

Posted on by backuphill

focus photo of brown sheep under blue sky

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I was reading a little this morning and I couldn’t help but agree entirely with a paragraph in a book that was published in 2004. The commentary is just as relevant today as it was back then. Maybe even more so today.

…people [are like] sheep because we humans have a tendency to follow. “The crowd” has a very powerful effect on us, and popular opinion is far too effective in shaping our thoughts and behavior. We prefer consensus to conviction, tolerance to truth. We can even be persuaded to be critical of some of the most impressive things on earth.

How true it is that people tend to go along with the crowd rather than stand out and stand up for something they feel/believe strongly about/in. And even more true, people and society don’t want “truth” any longer. Instead, they avoid conflict at all cost and call it tolerance. We often hear people say, “It is MY truth.” Sorry, peeps, there is no such thing.

The paragraph caused me to ponder for a bit. Where do I fall? Am I a follower, just another sheep in the flock, or am I standing up for what I believe in? That can be a hard question to evaluate myself against. Sometimes, I don’t think I like the truth. But, the truth is what is most important.

In the context of the quote above, where are you? How do you see yourself?

In the dark

Posted on by backuphill

dark gold lamp light

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There is something disconcerting about entering a dark room. It is one thing when it’s your room and you are familiar with it, it is a totally different thing when the room is completely unfamiliar to you.

Over the weekend I was on an overnight adventure that required a hotel stay. I got to the hotel after dark and checked in. After receiving directions to get to the room, I learned there was an “outer” door that would lead to and entry way where I would find two doors, one for my room and one for another (an A and B room).

When I got to the room, the outer door was locked (as I expected it to be). I unlocked it and started to step in to the entry room and there was no light. None. I expected it would be motion activated, but no such luck. So, the fumbling with full hands and a phone flashlight ensued and I managed to unlock my room door. (As it turns out, someone had switched off the motion activated light.)

Once I got the room door open, the light switches by the door in the room didn’t work. So, now the fumbling Olympics of feeling your way through an unfamiliar, dark room began. I finally located a lamp on the nightstand and turned on a light. As it turns out, someone (probably the last guest) had turned off the lamp that was plugged into a switched outlet, thus making the switch useless to the next guest.

I have to say it is more than a little irritating to check into a hotel and find two lights, either near or in, your room not working. If you know your guests will be checking in after dark (we are in the winter months here, so it gets dark early), why not make sure the lights will work as expected. OR, better yet, why not make sure there is a light on IN THE ROOM when the guest gets there? It’s the little things folks. The little things that impress and make you want to stay there again. Sure, maybe most people wouldn’t notice, but I guarantee there are many who would.

Yeah, but what about the wasted power…blah blah blah…I don’t care. With LED bulbs the power usage would be minute compared to the repeat business it would generate because people notice the little things. Everyone likes to come home to a lit house on a dark night or evening. It’s these types of things that I mention when I leave a rating online.

A hotel should treat it’s guests like they are arriving home.

It’s the little things. Details matter.

Watch out

Posted on by backuphill

scam

Watch out. Someone is trying to jack your stuff and it ain’t cool.

More specifically, after doing a little research (not the info is a little old, but still applies), they are trying to jack your wallet via your phone bill. This is actually called “SMiShing.” Walmart has a whole page about different scams they have seen.

The scary thing here is that the text message had my correct first name and middle initial, I have used the Walmart app and have an online account, and I have recently shopped at the store. So, it would appear legit at first glance.

I am a suspicious person (as in I don’t trust easily) so I didn’t just click on the link they included in the text. However, if you aren’t a suspicious person, you may have just gone right ahead and clicked to see what it was all about – even if you didn’t intend on following through with anything once you got there. Don’t do it.

I have no idea who or what the phone number at the top of the screen shot is. Didn’t call it, but if you are brave you could do it if you like and let me know what happens. I don’t advise it, however.

People who try to scam other people are losers. They are big time jackwagons. They are (insert desired word here). Whatever you want to call them, it just ain’t cool.

Not even a little.

Training presenters

Posted on by backuphill

gray and brown houses beside pathway

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Every been to a training where the presenters were good? Every been to one where they were bad…or really bad?

I didn’t post yesterday because I was at a training and I didn’t have the forethought to get something written ahead of time. So, I missed a day (that wasn’t a weekend) for the first time in over a year. How about that? Well, that isn’t really the important thing here.

Training presenters are an important part to having a successful training, not only from the organization doing the training but also for those there to get the training. I have been to a lot of bad trainings this week.

Yesterday, took the cake though. The morning session was good, but not great. The afternoon was simply painful. I can only describe it with the following analogy:

You are driving along a paved road, making relatively good time at near the speed limit. You are able to focus on the road ahead and see into the distance, making it possible to make adjustments to your understanding of the situation as it arises.

Suddenly, you leave the paved road only to find yourself driving on a pothole filled gravel road where you are bouncing around so violently that maintaining any sort of vision on the roadway becomes difficult at best. You are so jostled and frazzled that it is exhausting just to keep driving.

The training ends by pulling off to the side of the road and getting out of the car.

Get the picture? The morning was OK, but the afternoon had nothing about it that made it worthwhile.

I have complained about this presenter/trainer previously, but the organization keeps running the person out there anyway. And those of us trying to get trained, just keep suffering along the way.

Team should be spelled with an “i”

Posted on by backuphill

black donkey on a road

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You know that whole cliche saying about there being no “i” in team?

How many of you have experienced a situation where if there were no “i” in team nothing would get done? I think I see at least a few hands raised…

I know as a teacher I saw it happen all the time in the classroom for group projects. Students are assigned or grouped together to work on a project together and produce something for a grade. Inevitably, I could watch as the groups worked that at least one group wasn’t really functioning and the work would fall on one or two of the students in the group.

Now in the work “regular” work world, I see it happen too and those feelings for people who get stuck doing all the work come back to me. I saw it in the classroom and it would appear that some people never actually grew out of that behavior. Not the one where someone takes over when everyone is trying to work together, but the one where there is always someone in the group that is perfectly happy allowing someone else to bear the load.

I guess what I am trying to say is that the “i” in team most of the time isn’t a good thing. We should be working together and lightening the load for all. However, as adults in our professional settings we have all experienced the times where it is just easier if team was spelled with an “i”. Teim. Or teIm. Whatever, however you want to spell it.

If you want it done right, I am going to have to do it myself. Another cliche saying, but oh so true.

Takers

Posted on by backuphill

human hand screengrab

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I could be wrong, but I think there are really two types of people in this world.

I believe all people fall into two categories: givers and takers.

Which are you? Which do you surround yourself with? Or, maybe better put, which do you attract?

Sometimes it takes a hard evaluation of the people around you to realize where they fall, but also where you fall. I don’t believe that you can only be one, as I believe it is possible to be both.

Ultimately, I have heard (and maybe I believe this) that we should be givers first and always. That can be translated many different ways, but a quick run down will suffice – time, money, compassion, empathy, knowledge, listening, etc.

A taker, on the other hand, is someone who takes and takes and takes and quite literally could probably suck the very last breath out of you if you let them. They are the kind of people who are in constant need of everything – money, possessions, time, attentions, etc.

Honestly I try to be both. I don’t like taking, but I don’t have a problem doing so either. I don’t like giving, but it does have a limit. As such, I try to find a balance between the two and, if I am entirely honest, I like the people in my life to have a pretty good balance the the give and take as well.

Unfortunately, I must attract a lot of takers. There are several people who I can’t seem to let go of….or, can’t get rid of…they cling. They take. They need. They ALWAYS need. Thus, they always WANT and always TAKE.

It’s exhausting. Give. Give, and give some more. I am tired. I am spent.

I don’t want to do it anymore.

Get off

Posted on by backuphill

bird s eye view photography of road in the middle of desert

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“Get off me!”

Every hear anyone yell that at someone?

Of course you have! You may have even yelled it yourself.

Well, today, it is so busy I just want to yell it at life.

Seriously, Life, get off me.

I have enough stuff to do without you bothering me, which is why this post is so late today….

GET OFF ME!