Add title

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Anyone else find that empty title line prompt intimidating these days?

I go to write a post and then it just sits there waiting for a title…and body…really the page just sits there and then I get busy doing other stuff and I decide I’ll do it another day. Then the next day rolls around, I open the page to do another post and the “Add title” prompt stops me in my tracks again.

Honestly, it isn’t the title that is holding me back though. It really just comes down to whether or not I really want to put the effort out to say what I want to say. Do I really want to put a post out there that will step on toes? Rile people up? Piss people off?

Is anyone even really reading these things? Is it worth my time to create if no one is actually consuming?

Questions I can’t really answer and certainly the stats area doesn’t tell you all you need (or want) to know about who is visiting your page, how long, where they go and what they look at, etc.

Something is lacking and I can’t quite put my finger on it.

So, add title…stares back at me.

Still staring…

Destructive behavior

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Have you ever had a sudden urge or desire to engage in destructive behavior, either physically or mentally?

I am not sure what triggers the feelings (and I am totally in control, mostly), but two destructive behaviors I am currently contemplating:

  • Eat everything in sight.
  • Fight, either physically or verbally, everyone.

I know there are lots of other destructive behaviors out there and these are relatively minor compared to some, obviously, but today this is what I am dealing with.

Anyway, maybe it’s the fact that my “don’t give a damn” meter has reached beyond critical. Maybe it’s that I am tired, super super busy, and only marginally motivated.

I don’t know.

How do other people deal with this?

I know this is a passing feeling. It won’t last. But today, the feeling is strong. very strong.

What do you do?

Changing telecommute

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Well, after telecommuting full time for the last 16 months, there is a date to start going back to the office and I am not sure I am all that happy about it. Actually, I am sure that I am not. I lied. I am not happy about it.

Yes, I realize that the expectation to be at the office for work has always been there but this whole situation has fully exposed the fact that we don’t need to be in an office to get our job done. We have proven beyond that shadow of a doubt that our job can be done fully remote and that our clients have been affected to the smallest degree possible. In fact, many have commented over the this time about not really even realizing we were all working from home except that they knew we were working from home. That’s how we roll. There was no break in service, ever.

Anyway, the time has come to get back to the office and there will still be a telecommute policy as before, except that there is a new proposal to expand upon it. Frankly, I don’t think the expansion goes far enough and while I haven’t talked to any of my co-workers yet, I am sure there are quite a few who will express similar feelings.

Prior to the pandemic, we were allowed two days a week (40%, with a few limitations on what days they could be). Now, we are going to be allowed three days a week (60%, not sure of limitations yet). Also what remains to be seen is whether or not this policy has built in flexibility, meaning I don’t have to have a set three days but can pick and choose when I want to telecommute.

Anyway, I don’t think three days is enough.

It could be and should be more.

Perhaps I’ll see what is out there, in regards to full time telecommute and whether or not a change can be had.

Never hurts to have options, right?

Turned on it’s head

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There are a whole lot of things in this crazy, mixed up world that have been turned on their heads. It seems the “upside down” (without the scary monsters…ok, maybe just different monsters…) is for real and we are all living in it now. We can’t avoid it and it seems kicking and screaming about it won’t change it either.

I got an indication of what going back to work (like actually back to the office – because I have been working the whole time) is going to look like, and I don’t like what I am hearing.

So, the head honcho has said that when it is time to be back in the office (projected as August 1, right now) that you will have to wear a mask unless you are vaccinated and they have documented proof that you are vaccinated.

My frustration level, and my irritation level, have hit all time highs now. As I am sure you are aware if you have been reading this blog (does anyone actually do that or do you just click?) for any amount of time over the last year, that I am strongly against people providing proof of vaccination in any manner whatsoever. I believe it is a violation of privacy, leads to segregation and discrimination.

But, it appears that we are going to throw hundreds of years of vaccination understanding out the door in the name of fear.

Mainly, what’s the reason for getting a vaccination?

The simple answer is to protect someone from contracting a disease. Does it completely work in eliminating the risk? No. A vaccinated person can still get the disease, but the likelihood of it being as severe as what an unvaccinated person would experience is reduced greatly.

Immunity, as we have come to understand it, is developed through “active” exposure (coming in contact naturally) and “passive” exposure (being given a vaccine). So, as more and more people have been exposed to Covid (via either method) the more people who are protected against it.

We have seen this for years and years and years with polio, measles, mumps, small pox, chicken pox, etc. Childhood vaccinations were endured by many. We also see many people who get through the flu shot every year because they want to avoid the effects of the flu (or at least as much as possible).

So, if we understand how the shot works for the flu and all the other vaccinations, why are there demands for people to continue wearing masks when there is no reason to?

If you have had the flu shot, do you need to worry about people who haven’t had the flu shot? Do we make those people wear masks at work?

If you have had the measles vaccination, do you have to worry about people who haven’t had the measles vaccine? Do we make those coworkers without the vaccination wear a mask at work?

Do people who haven’t had a vaccine worry about the people who have had the vaccine? If someone chooses to be unvaccinated and not wear a mask, should they worry about getting the disease? No, because the likelihood of getting goes down with each person who has developed immunity to it one way or another.

As I look at the “rules” for going back to the office, I can’t help but wonder where we decided to turn everything we know about vaccinations upside down and ignore hundreds of years of practice simply because this one disease has caused so much undo fear.

If the vaccinated aren’t afraid of other vaccinated people, then do they need to be fearful of unvaccinated people? NO! They are protected. That’s why they got the vaccination in the first place!

Gosh people are stupid.

Perhaps I’ll start looking for a job where I don’t have to go into an office any longer. Anyone got a job offer that would allow me to work from home and allow me to earn what I currently earn? I would seriously consider it. Seriously.

Well, well, well…

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Interestingly enough, it may turn out that Dr. Fauci is more politician than scientist.

“Follow the science” they say.

Something else they should be following is the truth. Because it certainly appears that what was being said in private and what was being said in public don’t exactly align with each other. Yes, one can change their opinion about something, but as we have learned all along during this ordeal – people knew more than they were letting on and the truth wasn’t always being told.

Was this crisis manufactured for political gain? Monetary gain? I don’t know. But there are definitely some things that appear on the surface to point in the direction that personal freedoms have suffered (and will continue to suffer) far greater than actual medical necessity demanded. Lasting implications and trends are doing far greater damage to society than the actual illness.

I am sure of one thing. There will be more developments in this story.

Warped

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Continuing on the projects theme from yesterday, the gazebo has been started and so far things are going fairly well.

Except…

Except that there are quite a few pieces of the wood material that is warped. Not horribly, but enough that making the gazebo square, which it needs to be for the roof, which could prove to be a major challenge.

I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything less. That’s the problem with these prefab kits you buy. Sure, all the pieces are cut to the right size, pre-drilled, and have all the components you’ll need but there is that one factor they just can’t account for – how much the wood will continue to warp once it is packaged.

Working on this kind of project also warps something else…my attitude.

I already have a warped sense of humor, so it doesn’t nothing for that.

Seriously though, warped wood sucks.

Here’s to straight boards, straight cuts, and no knots.

Don’t be

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There’s a holiday on Monday, in the US at least. It’s Memorial Day, for those who have somehow lost track of time or are just that uninformed.

So, don’t be…don’t be that jackwagon that has a hard time remembering what the day is for.

Don’t be that person who mistakes Memorial Day for Veteran’s Day. Memorial Day is set aside to honor the people who have DIED in the service of our country – specifically the military. It isn’t a day to honor people who have served in the military – that’s Veteran’s Day.

Oh, and while you consume beer, bbq, lounge at the beach or lake, or just generally do whatever the heck you want…how about you take a second and remember that the freedoms you are enjoying is because someone sacrificed their life for you (either recently or all the way back to the founding of our country).

I know it is hard to fathom that someone gave their all, everything they had, for you but it’s the truth.

I know it is hard to fathom considering the government and people who have no business telling you what you can and can’t do in your life right now because of some pandemic, but it’s the truth.

Don’t be a the person who forgets what was given and what is going to be given up if you don’t push back against changes being forced upon us today.

Don’t be the person who lets the sacrifices of those who have gone before us be for nothing because we let the fear of a virus consume us.

Just don’t be.

How about “No”?

There is at least one in everyone’s life. There is at least one in everyone’s working sphere. There is always one. They are exhausting, annoying, and their success in getting to “Yes” is a rarity.

That person who won’t take “No” for an answer.

Good grief, I wanna shove an ice pick into my ear as deep as it will go and then wiggle it around like I am trying to make round cookie balls.

I jut got off the phone with a client who, no matter how many times I explained the limitations of the software and no matter how many times I explained the exact same info in a different way, she still wouldn’t accept that she couldn’t bend the software to her will.

She even suggested that maybe the people who made the software could program what she wanted into the software.

OK, that might have been a viable (and costly) answer in the past, but the software developers are focused on the new version of the software and aren’t taking requests for the current software even if the client pays for it.

Instead of adapting to the way it works and educating the people who use it (or are expected to use it), she just wants it to work the way she wants it to work.

OK, lady, we’ll get on it just for you.

No, not really. Stop asking already.

I am the fourth person you have talked to about this. We have pushed the software as far and as close to what you want, but there is a limit and our answers are all the same.

NO

We can’t do any more for you.

NO

NO

Got it?

Anyone else have a person that just take “NO” for an answer?

Thoughts?

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Haven’t a one. Zip. Nada. Nil. Zero.

You?

I share mine, when I have them.

Seems only fair that you share yours, if you have them.

How about a trade?

I’ll tell you what I think about them once I have a thought.

The instructions

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Stop trying to take the easy way out. By easy way, I mean the one where you have someone else do it for you.

Nearly everything you buy these days, nearly everything you work with these days, nearly EVERYTHING has some kind of “User Guide, “User Manual,” “Setup Guide,” “Assembly Instructions,” “Directions for Use,” etc.

Seriously. Have you opened a box of anything and not found at least some documentation with directions or instructions of some sort – either right there on the paper or directions to find them online? So there is honestly no excuse for not knowing what to do, how to use it, or how to set it up.

Unfortunately, society has become a bunch of “anti-instructionists.” (Yes, I made that up, but I can’t think of anything else to call it.)

It used to be that the cliché was that men were notorious for not reading the instructions and just jumping right in to figure it out (even if it meant taking something apart multiple times to get it right). That cliché has been turned on it’s head as, apparently, all people are just too lazy to read/learn/discover/follow directions. So many people are just willing to have someone else do it for them (or, to put it more bluntly – DEMAND you do it for them).

I know I am a little bit on the unusual side, since I do in fact take time to read the documentation included with a product, or posted online. I don’t always read them AT the moment of unboxing but I do eventually get to it. It depends on the level of complexity involved. I have even read the manuals that came with my car (hey, I like knowing about all the features that I may or may not use!). So, I do go through the trouble to learn about something. Sometimes it is trial and error and sometimes it is because I actually put effort into it and did it the right way.

Work lately…work lately is a bunch of people who don’t bother to read the documentation the software owner puts out. They don’t read all the supplemental documentation we create to further assist in use of the software. Hell, they don’t even watch the video we produce to give them visual aid in using the software. Instead, they just call use and take the easy way out – they want us to do it for them.

It’s frustrating that day after day after day people call and ask the exact same questions they asked three days ago, or 24 hours ago, or 6 weeks ago. Seriously, people, it’s part of YOUR job. Learn it. Read it. Discover it. Work in it and work at it. You aren’t going to have a crutch all the damn time.

OK.

Deep breath.

I guess my rant is over.

What type of person are you? Do you read the instructions and learn or do you completely ignore them and rely on someone else to do it for you? Do you follow directions to do things correctly or do you just make it up as you go and hope for good results?

What type of person are you?