Life | Piss and Moan

Getting squeezed

Posted on August 10, 2021 by backuphill

It seems the proverbial walls are closing in on those who value individual freedoms and bodily autonomy as the cry for forced vacksinations (yeah, gotta spell it wrong these days to avoid the censors – even on WordPress). It is no longer coercion and has transitioned to the sidewalk style hold-up where you have little to no choice in the matter. Soon, it might even transition to the strapped to bed or chair (yeah, go ahead, call it conspiracy but “they” said it would never get to this at the beginning, remember?) and forced to get the shot.

Yesterday, the governor in my state decided that all state workers are now mandated to have the prick (I think there is a bumper sticker slogan in there “Got the prick from the prick!”) by Oct. 18 or face termination. Plain and simple. Get it, or you’re out. If that isn’t a “gun to the head” type coercion I don’t know what is.

I am exempt from that requirement for the moment because I am part of the K-12 educational arena, but it was highly “suggested” that this arena also force workers and students to get the vacksination as soon as possible. The illusion that there is choice left for people is so transparent it isn’t even believable any longer.

So, that essentially leaves three choices for me:

Be unemployed as a result of losing my job.
Find a different job prior to the deadline that won’t require getting stuck.
Give in and compromise my belief in personal choice (not just for me but for all).

Overly dramatic? Don’t think so.

Remember, when this whole thing started we were all told it would never get to this. The goal posts were put out there and then they just kept moving…and still keep moving…and those who have now grabbed control aren’t going to let it go, so prepare for it to be a never ending target. We’re all familiar with the whole “flatten the curve” and “temporary” and other statements made. The governor here has near dictatorial powers and the legislature can’t even question it, unless of course they change the law (which would require bipartisanship and guess who is in control? The Left).

Anyway, what would YOU do? What are you GOING to do?

If the vacksination mandate hasn’t yet come for you, it will. It is only a matter of time and you need to be prepared for it. What’s your plan?

Watch what?

Posted on August 6, 2021 by backuphill

I am currently watching Yellowstone on the Peacock.

I LOVE that show.

But, what shall I watch once I am caught up with the episodes? I need a new show to watch.

Tell me what you’re watching, why you’re watching it (as in, what is appealing about it), and why you think I should watch it?

As I expected

Posted on August 5, 2021 by backuphill

I am back home in my garage office and I have to say it feels so much better. As you know from a previous post, Unhappy returns, I have to start going into the office at least two days a week. Totally and wholly unwelcome development in the work from home saga.

Anyway, I have just spent the last two days doing the whole commute in the morning and afternoon, office interactions, meetings, and getting reacquainted with a cubicle work, and cubicle moving/reorganization.

The office was noisy. There were people always coming over to say “Hi” and to catch up. I had to set up my computer in a totally different arrangement since my home office uses three monitor and the office only has two. My headset had to be reconfigured to actually be able to talk to people via Zoom and Teams (of course, you don’t realize this until you are in a call). Everyone is bathing in sanitizer and wearing masks… Can’t use the lunchroom. Sheesh.

Honestly, I didn’t want to leave my cube and I didn’t really wanna be there in the first place. So, I did my time and got outta there! I hate that I am going to have repeat this whole disruption to my best work environment on a weekly basis.

Ugh.

So, I am back in the friendly confines of the familiar and I like it. This is where I should work from all the time.

Unhappy returns

Posted on August 2, 2021 by backuphill

The time has come and I am not liking it whatsoever. Mostly because I feel it is so unnecessary. I can literally do this anywhere in the world and having an office, a cubical, is the most unwanted and unnecessary thing in the world right now.

Tomorrow, I have to start going back to the office.

The telecommute policy has been expanded, but that still means I am going to have to go back to the office on an average of two, sometimes three, days a week, depending on the month and various other activities that need in-person attendance.

Of course, we all now know that nothing really requires an in-person presence since we have been away from the office for 15 months straight and we have been doing our job completely and totally without fail for that time.

As you can probably assume, or tell, I am not stoked about this in any way.

Hard choices

Posted on July 28, 2021 by backuphill

Today this blog is about hard choices. Really hard choices. The type of choices that might cause you to look back and think, “Dang, I totally made the wrong choice. I should have gone the other way.”

Today’s hard choice? Deciding what to have for lunch.

Choice #1 – a ham sandwich with bacon on a pretzel bagel

Choice #2 – leftover bbq’d chicken and homemade white bread.

I make hundreds, maybe even thousands, of decisions every day. Why is what to have for lunch such a difficult one?

I mean, they are both great options. Either one of them I could be happy with. But, there is always that nagging question in the back of the head saying, “You probably should have had the other one. It was probably a better choice.”

Ugh.

There here kind of decisions make or break a person’s day. Am I right? Make the wrong choice and things could go downhill quickly from here. Or make the right choice and everything after just seems to fall into place. There is potential for big success or massive failure. These are serious kinds of decisions…

So, what do you think? What sounds good to you?

Fear and control

Posted on July 27, 2021 by backuphill

Here we go again…

Totally predictable.

Fear and control were waning, so they need another variant to blast over the airwaves. Still too many people haven’t subjugated themselves to the shot and no amount of fearmongering will control them, so let’s go back to masking…first we’ll recommend it but eventually we are going to have to force them again.

Good grief, this is all so stupid.

The thin veneer they are operating under is so transparent. Now you have states telling people they have no choice to get the shot or submit to continual testing? Police state much?

Frogs in a slow boiling pot. You’ll are frogs.

Not sheep.

Life will never be back to “normal” if you keep letting them take it from you.

It’s cold

Posted on July 21, 2021 by backuphill

Photo by Download a pic Donate a buck! ^ on Pexels.com

It’s cold in the house, and I am not talking about the actual temp.

Cold shoulder.

Silence.

Contempt.

Avoidance.

I know the reason, though I don’t agree and it certainly isn’t fair.

This isn’t a coldness that a blanket or a jacket can cover up. There is no bundling up against this kind of cold.

It cuts to the bone and straight to the heart.

Winter has set in during the middle of summer.

Some days

Posted on July 20, 2021 by backuphill

There is an old saying, “Some days you’re the bug and other days you’re the windshield.” Heard that one before?

Well, these days I am feeling more like the bug.

Life comes at your awful fast and there is just so much crap going on. The “windshields” of life are coming faster and more furious and avoiding them is getting harder and harder. Actually, avoiding them is next to impossible at this point. It seems I am bouncing from one to another…

Pleasing anyone and everyone seems to be impossible and there are people in my life that are supposed to be rooting for me who just aren’t. Instead, they have become the windshield and there is no pleasing them and no relief from their scrutiny or criticism. I can do nothing correct in their eyes.

It’s frustrating. It’s tiring. It’s relentless. It’s making me just want to hunker down and avoid everyone (more so than usual). The problem is I can’t avoid them since they are here, around me, all the time.

So, instead of just hiding, I stagger from failure to failure, always being told that I have yet again done something that doesn’t meet with approval or at expectation. Words of praise or acceptance? Absent. Non-existent.

Today is no different. Feeling defeated.

Follow up – Authentication frustration

Posted on July 16, 2021 by backuphill

Alright, for those of you who give a rat’s ass and want to know what’s going on over here at the blog, I have a follow up about the last post – Authentication frustration. I doubt that many of you really care whether you get an update but just in case you are interested or simply run into the issue yourself, here is the info you might need.

Two-factor authentication is a royal pain in the ass. It is unfortunate that it is even needed, but that is the state of society these days. There’s a whole bunch of really stupid, bad people out there.

While Instagram and Facebook have the ability to set up two factor authentication, I would recommend NOT using it and just having a really, really strong password. The unfortunate truth is that this social media giant has a process that is broken, meaning you may or may not be able to access your account if you ever need to use it. Based on scouring the internet, I would say there are a large number of people who have lost their accounts due to the fact that the text message for the two factor authenticator never gets generated or sent (not sure which, but either way nothing shows up in your messages). Thus, leaving people stuck and locked out of their accounts.

I’ll tell you what, it was a couple of frustrating and worrisome days trying to get back into my accounts.

Yes, you read that right. I WAS able to get back into both of my Instagram accounts. But it wasn’t without a lot of hassle and frustration.

The “help” documentation provided by Instagram is annoying, poorly written, and ultimately doesn’t really help. There is no clear way to contact customer support if none of their suggestions work. It is just a mind numbing maze of FAQs that don’t really point you in a clear direction if you ultimately still need assistance. It would have been especially helpful if along with the “How to set up two factor authentication” FAQ there was also a FAQ for “What do I do if two factor authentication isn’t working as it should?” A “click here” link to fill out a support ticket would have been just awesome.

As it turns out, I somehow stumbled upon a place to submit a “help ticket” in the app and eventually got a response via email. The place I filled out the form said I would receive an email from Instagram. Low and behold, I got a rather suspicious looking email from Facebook. This email was signed by “The Instagram Team” and outlined steps to begin the recovery process. Luckily, I had seen and read a blog post by someone else that outlined the process they went through to recover their account. The email they described sounded very similar to the one I received so I wasn’t as suspicious as I would normally be.

“Please reply to the message and attach a photo of yourself holding a hand-written copy of the code below: XXXXXXXXX”

Then followed other instructions about how to submit the photo. I followed the instructions and replied to the email. About 30 minutes later I got another response with more steps to take for account verification. I followed those steps and then another email arrived. Within two hours I was back into my account and turned off two factor authentication.

What a freaking hassle!

Anyway, after all is said and done, the world has been set right again. I know you might not be all that keen on dealing with social media and whatnot, but truth be told – those that use it have memories stored there and have distant family access there. In the case of one account, I have a huge number of hours in creation and curation of posts there. It’s an investment, whether we like to admit it or not. Losing access to a social media account can be stressful.

I seriously hope you never have to deal with this.

Authentication frustration

Posted on July 14, 2021 by backuphill

Frustration level has reached CRITICAL. I am having a hard time balancing the internal coolants and I just might blow a top, a gasket, a lid, a …

So, yesterday I upgraded my phone from an iPhone 8 Plus to an iPhone 12 Pro. That part isn’t the frustrating part.

The frustrating part is all the apps that have to be logged back into and set back up and all that jazz that goes with having a new device. BUT, there is one big issue that has been caused by doing this and it is creating a huge roadblock!

The issue – two factor authentication.

Good lord, what a nightmare!

I have two work apps that are used for two factor authentication. Both have to be set back up on the new device. The guy who does the usual setup is on vacation until next week, meaning I am going to have to wait to get help with the setup and I’ll have some limited access to things that are part of my job until it is done. Obviously, that’s an issue.

Also, I am now locked out of my Instagram account…because of two factor authentication. I have two factor authentication set up on my account to keep from being hacked, but what Instagram doesn’t tell you when you set it up is that it MAY or MAY NOT work as it should. What it is supposed to do is send a text message to the phone number used to set up the account. So, when you go to log in, it shows you the number it is sending to but the text message is never sent. I have tried over and over and I get all kinds of other two factor authentications via text, so why it isn’t working is beyond me. Included in that two factor authentication set up is the ability to get recovery codes for when the text message doesn’t work. Great, except the codes don’t work either. I have 5 unused codes from when set it up and none of them have managed to get me back into my account.

Even more frustrating, try finding a place to get “tech support” for these issues. That’s a freaking circus in and of itself! The website is of little help. There is no help in the “reset password” email (especially if it takes you right back to the two factor authentication screen).

I am telling you, two factor authentication is a pain in the ass.

I have finally managed to file a support ticket/report with Instagram/Facebook, but it was tough finding the place to do it. So far, it has produced no results as I go through the process.

Let me tell you, if I get back into my account, I am turning that two factor thing off ASAP. What a freaking nightmare…

Totally makes you rethink upgrading your devices now…