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In the dark

Posted on November 25, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Timotej Nagy on Pexels.com

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.

Team should be spelled with an “i”

Posted on November 19, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by LN Dangol on Pexels.com

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 November 18, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Wallace Chuck on Pexels.com

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.

Frosted

Posted on November 7, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Susanne Jutzeler on Pexels.com

Why aren’t all freezers “frost free”?

I am asking myself that as I face the prospect of having to defrost a large chest freezer before stocking it full of beef this weekend.

It can’t really be that the tech is that expensive, so why isn’t a frost free function on a freezer standard? Anyone?

Frosted freezers make the task of making them frost free not very cool. In fact, it burns me up.

**See what I did there? LOL**

Irresponsible reporting

Posted on October 31, 2019 by backuphill

Fire Halloween

Of all the shots that could have been used in this package that showed up on Good Morning America yesterday, they choose this one? Real nice.

Anyone else notice what is in the picture above?

If you missed it the first time, I highlighted it. This still is from a video that was on the news yesterday morning. I am sure there were thousands of other shots they could have edited into this package, but they chose this one? Why?

Sensationalism. Pure and simple.

I don’t know if the skull is real or not. It probably isn’t. It could be a Halloween decoration. But, what if it isn’t? Maybe more to the point, what if there are actually people killed in these wildfires? How does that make a family who lost a loved one feel if they see something like this?

“Keeping it classy” is something the media has totally lost.

We can hope and wish they would do better, but until people stop watching it won’t change.

You can do better ABC, Good Morning America, and reporters.

Clogged

Posted on October 30, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Stuffed to the max.

It appears today I will be a mouth breather…

Woke up with a stuffed nose and a tight throat. I think we all know where this is going. I am about to enter the land of flu/cold season.

Thankfully I am telecommuting (today and tomorrow) and not going to expose someone at the office. But, if it isn’t gone in a day or so, then I’ll be burning some sick days.

How are you feeling today?

(Un)Invited

Posted on October 29, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Don’t you hate it when people don’t RSVP? What’s the deal?

In today’s day and age, there really isn’t any reason to not RSVP. There are so many different ways that invitations get set up and sent out that it really couldn’t be any more convenient.

I mean really. It seems everything is done through social media any more so when something is planned using one of the many different options available and all one has to do is hit the button to instantly respond, there really is no excuse.

Look at the invite date and time, look at your calendar, look at the invite again, and then press a button – Yes, Maybe, No.

It’s that freaking simple!

So, when you are planning something and you get little to no response it’s rather infuriating. Perhaps I just won’t invite any of them the next time.

Maybe it’s time for new friends and family…

Flew

Posted on October 28, 2019 by backuphill

silhouette photo of man throw paper plane

Photo by Rakicevic Nenad on Pexels.com

Did anyone catch that last weekend? It seemed to have flown by so quickly that I am not sure I even had one!

How is it that our weekends get so busy that we just don’t feel like we had one?

Travel. Activities. Chores. Family. Gatherings. More Travel. Socializing.

I just don’t feel like I had much time for anything, yet I actually did a lot.

But the weekend was gone so fast that I didn’t get much of anything done that I wanted to get done or that I needed to get done.

I think we need more weekends and fewer work days. That should take care of the problem.

Most definitely.

Tuckered

Posted on October 25, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It’s Friday and I need it.

Anyone else feel like this week was extra long and extra trying? Me too.

Estimates are now coming in for the room replacement/repair and, boy, it ain’t pretty. They are about $5-8k more than I expected they would be. Now the challenge is having to find a way to pay for this thing.

Meanwhile, the rainy season continues and the hope that temporary bandaids on the roof are going to work for at least a month (as that is about how long, apparently, it takes to get a HELOC – even when the bank is the one that already owns your mortgage).

So, I will try to survive this day and hope that a couch and a beer will waiting at home will help let the week’s stress go.

How bad do you need this Friday and weekend?

False hope

Posted on October 24, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Myicahel Tamburini on Pexels.com

Hopes up.

Get them up. Higher. Higher!

Hopes crushed.

Don’t you hate it when people tell you they will do something and then they don’t?

Even worse, they tell you they will do it by “X” (a certain time they determined) and then they don’t get it done. They don’t come through. They just plain don’t make it happen.

Then, they don’t even have the courtesy to tell you it won’t happen and ignore you when you ask what happened. Or, worse still, they just blow you off like it didn’t really matter in the first place.

(see how this is progressing? Irritating isn’t it.)

Integrity.

It takes integrity to actually do what you say you will do, when you say you’ll do it.

It takes integrity to admit and communicate that you can’t get it done when you say you will and then make adjustments (maybe even at personal cost) to get it done in a timely manner to deliver as best as possible upon your word.

Integrity is something we don’t see much of these days. What used to be a standard has now become very rare.

It.Sucks.

Ever been promised something and then not have it delivered? My guess is you have and my guess is it frustrated you just as much as it does me. Tell me about your experience in the comments!