opinion | Piss and Moan

Arbitrary

Posted on January 6, 2021 by backuphill

No rhyme. No reason. Definitely not science. Just arbitrary rule making and enforcement. That’s just where things have been and are when it comes to a government that is willing to grab power and the ability to make decisions from the people.

A local establishment has caught the wrath of the government because it’s “outdoor dining” doesn’t quite fit the same description as “outdoor dining” that others are doing. No common sense enforcement, just arbitrary wielding of power because some of the local “Karens” have decided the business doesn’t fit, in their judgement, the safety standards set out by the government. Oh, and there isn’t any science to support the enforcement, just opinion and personal preference.

The restaurant in question has five giant garage doors that it can open up to elements. FIVE. Essentially, these are removable walls and is a trend in many other places around the country (dare I say, world?). Difference is that in many places the weather is warm and a nice cross breeze can be generated with the doors open. Here in the Northwest it isn’t warm but when the doors are open at this place there is one hell of a cross breeze, along with some sideways rain, or mist, or general damp air.

In WA, the rules right now say that “outdoor dining” can only take place in a temporary structure with, for all intents and purposes, one open side so there is adequate air flow.

The establishment above, according to the state, doesn’t qualify because it is a permanent structure. Doesn’t matter that two of the major walls of the structure are virtually non-existent then when the doors are open. It doesn’t take a lot of common sense to realize that the walls of the structure are open, regardless of the roof over one’s head being permanent, and there is air flowing through the room like the breeze blowing through a deck or park gazebo.

Hell, there is less air flowing through and airplane but we are allowed to do that? See what I mean? Arbitrary.

So, I know where I’ll be ordering food from this week.

Get out there and support those local businesses you want to see stay open. Hell, get out there and support any local business, because in the end they are your family, friends, and neighbors that working there. Don’t be arbitrary about that support. Be very intentional and very targeted.

Doorknob

Posted on January 5, 2021 by backuphill

WTF? Who is this doorknob and who the hell let him pray? An utter embarrassment to himself, to those who listen to him, to those he represents, and to all people of faith in general.

Leave it to the Democrats to make a circus out of something so basic.

“Amen and awoman“? You gotta see it to even believe it.

I am stumbling all over myself at the stupidity of this. It’s hard to even put into words how uneducated and unnecessary something like this is. It doesn’t take much research to know that “amen” means “so be it”. It has nothing to do with gender.

But this doorknob has to make an issue out of a word he clearly doesn’t know the meaning of. Actually, I believe there were quite a few words in his “prayer” that he didn’t know the meaning of. Not because he is ignorant (actually, he might be), but more because his speech writer likely used a thesaurus to write the speech. It sounded a lot like the essays I would get from my high school students who were trying to fill space by using words that made them sound smarter than they were and sometimes didn’t even fit in the sentence correctly. Whatever is going on there, it was a piss poor display of speech writing and intelligence.

Please, sir, never pray again. You obviously don’t actually know what it means, understand how it is done, or have a concept of where a prayer comes from – the heart. It isn’t a political tool, or stunt.

Screeching

Posted on January 4, 2021 by backuphill

Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Pexels.com

The Christmas break for schools is over and that can only mean a screeching halt to the quiet days at work. Also, that means a screeching halt to anything that resembled my days off.

I had three days in a row last week where I got more than 8 hours of sleep, and I must say that felt really nice. The time off for the holidays was both relaxing and productive, if that makes sense.

There is a lot of screeching going on today.

Now, the clients are back to screeching in our ears about the endless issues they seem to have, all related to the fact that each month they have the same issues in completing their job tasks as they had the month previous. How many times do we have to help people do their jobs?

People screeching about the election (still).

People screeching about covid (still).

People screeching about the weather (always).

People screech about their sports team and whether they are in or out.

People screeching about their health.

People screeching about a stimulus they don’t really deserve (or need).

The media screeching about some crisis they want us to pay attention to so they can generate clicks and money by being concerned about the next thing they want us to be concerned about.

People on social media screeching about some perceived injustice so it can be the flavor of the month for something that isn’t really an issue until they decided to make it an issue.

People screeching about WHATEVER.

Can you all just shut up now?

I prefer the peace and quiet of what were four days off of nothing. That was the ticket. I need more of that.

End of

Posted on December 31, 2020 by backuphill

End of the year brings lots of thoughts, usually. I am not going to waste your time on mine and I likely won’t read any of yours. Truth be told, there are better things to be doing today than sitting in front of a computer.

Tomorrow starts a new day. A new month. A new year. There will be new challenges, but there will be a lot of the same old ones too.

Looking back over this last year of challenges only brings frustration. But, looking ahead brings stress because there isn’t a way to know what is ahead.

So, take it day by day and keep your head down.

Cheers.

Wait times…

Posted on December 30, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by cheptu00e9 cormani on Pexels.com

“Wait times maybe be longer than usual due to higher than anticipated call volumes.”

We’re all familiar with that little phrase, right? We have all be stuck on hold with companies that play this over and over while you sit and wait for someone that isn’t a robot recording to pick up the actual phone and talk to you. In times of an emergency or in times when your system isn’t working as designed, I can see a legitimate reason for getting this message.

What is irritating is that you don’t have the ability to answer a high call volume should it happen or you have purposely caused your system to be overloaded because you caused it to be by your actions.

Case in point:

You send an email to all your subscribers with an offer to add something to their account for free for a limited time.

BUT, in order to take advantage of this offer you have to have your customers actually call you, thus clogging up your phone system.

NOT, make it available to be done on your website with a special code to make the discount apply when it would normally be done there in the first place.

Yeah, that’s good marketing!

Who came up with this idea? Why would you require an action be done over the phone when said action could be done on the website you have for doing said action? Makes no sense.

Irritating and takes advantage of your customer’s time.

Streaming

Posted on December 29, 2020 by backuphill

So, this article was kind of interesting and made me think, “Say what? Clearly I am not in the right business.”

What do I need to do to sign up for this racket? Not that it is illegal. It is all above board, but the it is definitely a racket.

It seems that most top streamers don’t reveal exactly how much they make while doing it. This article was written based on one of them making a mistake and revealing the earnings inadvertently. As such, we get a glimpse behind the curtain and see that this top streamer is pulling down somewhere around $170k a month. That is some serious coin.

Throw in some sponsorships and other contracts and there is a serious flood of cash getting deposited into accounts across the globe.

All from creating content by streaming games and other stuff for people to watch. People watch.

Interesting.

I wonder how hard it is to get started. Obviously, the key is to getting people to follow you and watch you. Anyone know of an instruction manual to get set up?

Are you Sears-ious?

Posted on December 28, 2020 by backuphill

You’re gonna like this! No seriously, I am telling you to like it. But whatever you do, don’t expose yourself to free thinking. It’s bad for you. No seriously, it’s bad. Bad for some, that is.

If you haven’t encountered one of J.P. Sears’ videos, well, you just haven’t been on social media. They are everywhere! YouTube, Facebook, … you know, everywhere! No seriously, you will like these because they’re everywhere. I mean it.

Anyway, the man has been busy and is producing videos that just make you wanna sit back and think. No, seriously, think.

Is he serious, or is it comedy? Is it satire or is it truth? I’ll let you decide (provided you haven’t seen any of these already). These direct links to the videos are very specific, but if you click on that link up above, you’ll be taken to his channel where you can view all the stuff he has done. You can thank me later for this deep dive and lost afternoon of work, sleep, leisure, or whatever else you were planning on doing.

Socialist Media – The New Rules

How To Raise Weak Children During Lockdowns

My Apology to Facebook

A Communist Christmas

Instagram’s New Terms of Service – Not Sketchy at All!

Wanna be angry about something? Wanna be fearful and obedient? Wanna be controlled? Then don’t watch the videos, because they might enlighten you and no one wants that. That’s why Facebook has threatened him with de-platforming.

It takes brave people to standup and shout against the mainstream. I suggest you support this creator when you can.

Pork

Posted on December 23, 2020 by backuphill

The amount of pork in the “stimulus” package passed by Congress and challenged by the President, even a lame duck president, is stupid. For a body that says they are trying to help the American people, they sure know how to help themselves to our money. This stuff, among other things, is why so many Americans don’t believe the government is working and is broken beyond repair.

For the record, I don’t believe it is beyond repair. However, I do believe it is not working the way it was intended or should.

Is it really necessary to include money for foreign countries in a bill that is aimed at helping American citizens? Is it really necessary for the country, already in debt, to make it larger to help people outside of the U.S.? Is it really necessary for our congressional representatives to stuff every spending bill with frivolous pork barrel crap just so they can get themselves re-elected and pad every pet project brought to them by the countless lobbyists?

Honestly, there is nothing stimulating about the bill.

For those who need the direct payment, it isn’t enough. For a majority of Americans (including myself), they don’t actually need a direct payment and so it is too much. Once again, Congress isn’t actually addressing the real issues and they have delayed real help by including a massive amount of stupid spending at a time when many Americans are looking at their finances and wondering how to make it from day to day.

Don’t forget the money a government spends wasn’t theirs in the first place. THIS MONEY COMES FROM YOUR POCKET! So, in one way or another, they are taking if from you: payroll taxes, income taxes, sales tax, death tax, capital gains tax, etc. The list is seemingly never ending.

The least you could do is demand that your money be spend in ways that make sense. Spend wisely. Use and follow a budget. Save.

There used to be a joke (maybe it still is a thing) that when you bought stuff from China it was cheap and would break almost immediately. People would say, “You get what you pay for,” meaning the more you pay for an item (in most cases) equates to the quality and durability of the item. Though it is cliche, the thought hold weight because there is some truth to it.

The same can be said of our representative government. We get what we pay for. Unfortunately, most of us can’t pay for a senator or a representative, so the people and companies with real money get what they pay for.

This “stimulus” bill and all the pork in it just proves that’s true…again…

Other

Posted on December 21, 2020 by backuphill

Ever had a tough time not thinking about “the other”? Specifically, “the other” things you could be doing or “the other” person/people you could be with?

Sometimes I find it hard to make it through the day without thinking about “the other” things. I am sure this is just a focus issue and somehow I have developed a little ADD in that I am isolated each day in my home office (garage). There are so many other things I could be doing. So many other things that I want to do (or maybe need to do) instead of actually working. LOL

I know, I know. Work provides the income that allows me to actually do other things when I am not at work. It is a necessary evil.

It’s just, do I have to? I mean, really? Do I have to?

The other things seem like they would be way more fun. The other people seem like they would be way more entertaining.

I suppose this could just be a case of “the grass is greener” and what I am really experiencing or feeling isn’t necessarily the truth. But still, “the other” thing, person, people, activities, job, entertainment, whatever, seems way better than what I am doing right now.

I could be wrong.

But there is no way of knowing.

So, I ponder and think about “the other” still.

Search what?

Posted on December 18, 2020 by backuphill

I am not sure if you take a look at the stats page for your blog. There is some interesting stuff on there. Which of your blogs was read, how many site visitors, likes, comments, where people are from when they look, and in some cases even what someone was searching for when they found your site. Look for “Search Terms” on your stats page. It might just be entertaining!

Yesterday, for some odd reason and obviously not known to me, someone found the blog by searching for “office piss.”

I’m not joking. I serious, though keeping a straight face may not be possible.

What are you searching for when you type that into the search bar?

Looking for directions to the office bathroom?
A comment about the quality of coffee in the staff break room?
Incomplete sentence?
It it some kind of slang or urban dictionary thing about gossip?
Code words for the watercooler?
Reminder about a staff meeting?

So, I tried it. I searched for it. I would recommend not actually seeing what you get in the search results. I looked. Unless you are looking for porn, that’s what you’ll get as top results…which then leads me to wonder, how did they get to my site?

One will never know how the algorithms work. It’s mysterious magic, or voodoo. Probably voodoo.

Take a look at your stats and see if you get a chuckle from yours. What are some of the weird “Search Terms” used to find you?