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Kids’ sports and rain

Posted on by backuphill

black and white hand raining

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Why does my kid have to like soccer? Why can’t it be an indoor sport?

Yes, I know, soccer can be played indoors too but the reality is that more often than not it is played outdoors, where it rains, a lot.

As a parent, and I don’t care how much you love your kids, it totally sucks to sit/stand/wait on the sidelines while it is pouring down rain. What’s worse, it is also cold (as in under 40 degrees) and the wind is blowing. Doesn’t matter if you have an umbrella or not, you’re getting wet. Period. Yeah, so cold sideways rain is just fun…never.

Find a different sport, kid, preferably one that involves warmth and is dry.

When you don’t want a chip off the old block

Posted on by backuphill

abstract break broken broken glass

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Driving down the highway, perhaps over the posted limit, but minding my own business and staying my own lane when out of the blue there is a huge THWACK!! on the windshield.

You guessed it, a flying object made of stone but probably only the size of a peanut.

No damage this time, but is certainly gets your attention and most definitely riles you up. Rocks on the windshield, or anywhere on the car for that matter, are most irritating.

I commute millions of miles, it seems, and I hate it when that tiny little rock causes a chip in the window. Time and cold weather mean at some point the window is getting replaced. Who has time for that? Who can afford that? I suppose that is why you see cracked windshields everywhere…

Damn little rock.

Skeletons, oh the skeletons!

Posted on by backuphill

abstract anatomy art blur

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Everyone has skeletons. This is a fact.

No one is perfect. We all have things in our past that we likely regret. We all have things in our past we would rather not have others know about. We all have things in our past that we’re embarrassed about. We all have things in our past we would probably like to take back or change.

The expectation that those who are in the public life, whether in government service or celebrity, be perfect and have no skeletons in their past is absurd. This is an impossible standard and one that no one can meet. Quite frankly, we, the American public, should be ashamed of ourselves for expecting this standard and for mistakenly trying to create it. Not all skeletons can be ignored and some most definitely shouldn’t be; however, there is also a limit to what should be considered when determining the true character of a person. Time and behavior have to be considered. Character isn’t built in a day, for good reason.

If you have ever considered a public life, or even if you haven’t considered it but some how end up with one, you better keep your head down. “They” are coming for you! It doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve done, how long ago it was, or even what side you’re on. “They” are gonna find you and get you. It doesn’t take evidence. It doesn’t take witnesses. It doesn’t take corroboration. It just takes accusations and allegations. No proof needed. It doesn’t matter if you’re innocent or not, maybe the skeleton doesn’t even exist. No matter. “They” are gonna get you!

Our Founders are rolling over in their graves. None of them were perfect, but at least they understood that about others nor did they expect it.

If you are currently in a place of power, in the government, a celebrity (major or minor), or just a regular person…you should just stop doing whatever you’re doing and resign. Go live in a hole and interact with no one, because eventually your skeletons will come out of the closet and no one is exempt from being haunted by them.

Other people’s kids

Posted on by backuphill

focus photo of super mario luigi and yoshi figurines

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Anyone else find other people’s kids annoying?

Not that my kids were perfect by any means, but man I really dislike being around other people’s kids. I don’t really know why. Maybe I am just getting old.

I mean, yeah, I am old. Other people’s kids are loud, obnoxious, messy, whiny, and ill-mannered. They are picky food eaters, when they eat. They always want “play” with you and can’t play Wait, maybe it’s their parents I dislike. I mean, they little attention to their kids because they are focused on their phones, they yell as their kids when they don’t listen but don’t do anything to correct the behavior (“let’s talk about it” and “timeout”?). They seemingly expect other adults in the room to parent their kids for them, but they when you do they are offended that you did.

All I can do is shake my head.

#SMH

Order #717

Posted on by backuphill

black and white restaurant lunch kitchen

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I wanted to try to avoid this, but unfortunately it has come to this. There are those who promise big things and make it happen, and then there are those who just promise.

There is a well known blogger out there who has a rather large following, about 120,000+ people. He writes about how he can help you grow your blog and the information he puts out seems like good stuff. He has multiple blogs and he puts out pretty much the same stuff on each of them. He even offers services to boost your blog traffic or with design, content, etc. It appeared to be legit, so I followed him, as I am sure lots of others have done too.

Perhaps the large numbers he boasts are just from following everyone himself. Sure, some of those numbers are generated from his content, but my thinking is there are a lot of people out there who play the “follow for follow” game instead of looking for actual good content.

Anyway, other than producing some content about how to blog, he also blasts his followers with requests for money. Obviously, the services he supposedly offers is to generate money for himself, but he also just plain out begs for money – for rent to avoid eviction, for a new laptop, to fix his dental problems, and most recently to buy a domain and start a new project. (That is all since the beginning of THIS year) You all know who I am talking about, right? I probably don’t need to name names here…but if you have any doubt, clicking one of the links will solve that mystery.

So, with some reluctance, I decided to take a chance and purchase one of those services that he was offering on one of his “specials.” The service that interested me was the “One-on-One”, a chance to have him do an in depth review of my blog and then meet with me via Skype and discuss his findings and make suggestions about how to improve it. So I purchased it on July 19th. Why not, this guy apparently knows a thing or two, right?

Blog service

So far, I haven’t received anything for my purchase other than an excuse (see below) and there has been no communication after that.

blog service emailOver the last two months, I have tried to contacted him via the TWO different email addresses he had listed and I have also tried via comment on his posts (which are moderated, of course, so I know he has seen them). All to no avail. Silence. He is just plain ignoring me and took my money, which in my book usually makes him a thief.

Anyone else had this experience with him? I am guessing I am not alone in this…

I recommend that you stay away if you have been considering his services.

 

Morning meetings

Posted on by backuphill

group of people in conference room

Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com

Morning meetings, especially long ones, throw the rest of the day under the bus. Playing catch-up isn’t easy for the employees, and it is frustrating to your clients.

I realize there isn’t probably a perfect time to have a meeting, but there are definitely times that aren’t good to have them. Thus, the eternal question of “when?”

So, we play catch-up and everyone’s stress level or anxiety goes up.

#SMH

O Canada…

Posted on by backuphill

canada flag with mountain range view

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Our neighbors from the northern land!

Improve your driving we shall command.

Your lack of skill comes as no surprise,

Violate the laws and you won’t be free!

From the border you come,

O Canada, you speed on the freeway.

God you’re rude and pushy too!

O Canada, we won’t stand to let you speed.

O Canada, we won’t let you speed for free.

A little ode for our Canadian neighbors, sung to the tune of their national anthem. If you live in the upper left corner of the United States, you can totally relate to this little ditty. Shoot, if you live anywhere within reach of the Canadian border, you can probably relate. Am I wrong?

Total generalization here, but the general consensus (or commonly held stereotype) is that Canadians are generally a docile and friendly people. If you are actually IN Canada, I have found this to be true for the most part. They are nice people. However, in my experience, the are not great drivers.

Once they cross that border in the US, that stereotype goes away and another becomes the reality. They apparently forget all rules of the road and all manners while shopping. If you live within 200 miles of the border in Washington, this is a well known fact.

Reality is that Canadians are rude and self-absorbed. Two areas this is blatantly obvious: driving and shopping. This is displayed in driving because they speed, weave in and out of traffic, cut people off, tailgate, and otherwise display poor behavior with abandon because there is apparently no consequence for it, even when they get pulled over. The other area is shopping. The clog up our stores (especially close to the border) and purchase weird amounts of milk and gas (can we thank socialism and price controls for that?). They are pushy. They are usually very loud. They sometimes appear to not even understand the purchasing process…I mean, really?

So, how about we try this? Shop online and we’ll ship it too you. We want your money, but we can do without the bad driving and invasion of our stores every time you have a holiday in the land of maple syrup and Mounties.

 

Left in the dark

Posted on by backuphill

yellow tent under starry night

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About that trip where I slept on the ground, in a tent, in a sleeping bag…

I also had to set up the tent in the dark, alone.

OK, so growing up, we were always setting up camping for family camping trips in the dark. It became a joke later as us kids got older, but all of us hated it growing up. And, it was always dad’s fault because he was always late getting home, which meant late leaving, which meant late arriving, which meant setting up in the dark.

So, as an adult out on my own, I always made it a point to leave early enough so as to not have to set up camp in the dark. I was pretty successful at getting it done! So much for being like my dad, right?

Well, I now know why dad was always late. His job – or in our case, our existence. He was a business owner and did everything. As the business grew, so did the work and the employees and everything else he was responsible for. So, of course he was always late.

Dad, I now understand.

But, I still hate setting up camp in the dark. Period.

Apparently you’ve got nothing better to do

Posted on by backuphill

ball shaped dark grass hole

Photo by George Becker on Pexels.com

So, apparently, there are people out there with nothing better.

Nothing better to do than engage you in an effort to try and pick a fight on the internet.

I believe they call them “trolls” these days.

Obviously, you can’t avoid them completely, especially if you have an opinion and express it. I know we all have one now and again, and we express them knowing full well that you may be entangled in an argument that will go nowhere but in circles. Yeah, that’s fun…just like a ferris wheel only dumber.

I especially love those kind of trolls that seek you out and ask you questions just so they can try to “get you”. Not gonna do it. Crawl back under your bridge or rock, into your hole, walk back down into your dark and dank basement (we all know where you are, really).

Please, continue to live out your existence lonely and in your underpants.