Piss and Moan

Bah Humbug!

Posted on December 25, 2019 by backuphill

I don’t want to get up. I’m a Toys-R-Us kid…and Toys-R-Us really isn’t even a thing any more.

It’s too early and there are no toys under the tree for me.

There is no snow. This isn’t Christmas without snow.

Why is everyone making so much noise? I am trying to sleep in here.

Do we have any real food? I am tired of eating Christmas cookies and fudge for every meal and snack.

Put up the decorations…and tomorrow take them down. What a waste of time!

It’s a good thing Costco already has exercise equipment for sale. I can remind myself of what I should be doing, but won’t be.

Finally, the mall Christmas soundtrack can leave repeat and be given a rest. Three months of Christmas music is enough.

Got a “bah-humbug” phrase or statement to add? Share it in the comments.

400

Posted on December 24, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Breakingpic on Pexels.com

That’s a pretty round number.

This post right here, this one, makes 400.

Hard to believe I have 400 posts, Pissing and Moaning about all kinds of things. I guess I have a lot to complain about. Maybe I really am Scrooge. Maybe I really am the Grinch. Maybe I live “Bah Humbug” every day of the year.

Maybe not.

All I know is that 400 posts ago I had a lot to say. I have Pissed and Moaned a lot of it out. But I am not done. Maybe I’ll just take a pause from it over the next two days.

Maybe not.

Missing it

Posted on December 23, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by JESHOOTS.com on Pexels.com

Today I am missing it.

Today is the first day of Christmas break for students (at least for most schools) in my area. They are enjoying the day, I am sure, by not doing anything. I even have a teen who hasn’t seen the light of day yet because the bedroom door hasn’t cracked an inch and likely won’t for a couple more hours.

Today I am missing the fact that as I teacher I would not be working today. Usually the first couple days of Christmas break was an ACTUAL break for me. I usually finished up shopping and generally relaxed and spent time with the kids.

Instead, I am at work today…and there really isn’t much going on since my job is to support school personnel with their software…and they are all (or nearly all) on break…not working…and I am trying to find things to stay busy…but really all I want to do is not be at work…

Today I am missing it.

Teams

Posted on December 20, 2019 by backuphill

top view photo of people near wooden table

Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

Transition is hard. Lots of people hate change and resist it when it happens. I am not really one for change for change’s sake and I don’t really fear it, but sometimes change just isn’t necessary. – especially when you have something that serves the purpose fine the way it is.

Software changes should make your life better (either more convenient, streamlined, or all encompassing). At the very least, it should make your life less complicated right off the top. At work, we are going in the wrong direction for ease and internal communication.

We are switching from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams. Never heard of it? Yeah, me neither until now.

I am just learning about this new software and how to use it, but so far I am not all that impressed. It seems to have taken the social media approach to business communication. Teams doesn’t integrate Outlook with it, so not only do I have to have Teams open but I also have to have a separate program open for my calendar and email. How is that really streamlining things? It’s not. At least not yet.

Guess you could say I am not feeling much like a Teams player…

**Thank you, thank you…I’ll be here all week…**

Newspaper paywalls

Posted on December 19, 2019 by backuphill

Bad Gateway…as in, “You don’t have a subscription.”

The Washington Post once was a paper that would be trusted to give you the news without commentary. Not so much these days, well to be fair, for quite a while. Commentary is a staple of its reporting, but I wanted to call attention (again) to it’s motto, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” *Sorry, it’s a little hard to read in the screenshot above.*

The story of how the motto was adopted can be found here, if you can get past the paywall. Many believe the motto was presumably adopted in response to Trump’s assertion that the media was an enemy of the people for their inaccurate and slanted reporting. The story refutes that presumption, though some still question the truth on that too.

To some degree, the motto is correct, though journalism and the media isn’t to only keeper of democracy. No, there are lots of sources from which information can be obtained these days. What there is a lack of, is accurate and fair journalism and media. Therein lies the death of democracy.

Media and journalists who report their bias, their slant, their take on the information “to inform” the public is killing democracy. In essence, the Washington Post is killing democracy in several ways all by itself.

First, there is, of course, the slanted and liberal bias the paper produces every day. This is not a debatable conclusion. It is fact. So let’s not quibble about this detail.

I would posit the next reason the “paper” (I say it that way because it isn’t a newspaper in the true sense any longer) is helping democracy die is that it has chosen to put its online content (or most of it) behind a paywall. I understand a paywall generates revenue, but doesn’t advertising do the same thing? The problem with the paywall is that it makes it so that only those who can afford to pay for a subscription have access the “the news.”

Is that really keeping everyone informed? Is that really making sure there is equal access to information? Is it equitable for all?

Access to information and access to sound, unbiased reporting is important. Hiding behind paywalls and having more journalism that is predominantly commentary, rather than facts (or a liberal spin on the facts), isn’t keeping democracy alive. It is actually killing it too.

Democracy certainly dies in darkness, but the darkness here is slanted journalism and a paywall.

Love is just a word

Posted on December 18, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Emre Can on Pexels.com

I am not sure if I have become jaded/cynical/pessimistic or just old. It’s likely that it is a combination of all of these things.

Anyone else feel like the word “love” is just another word these days? Like, people don’t actually know what it means and abuse the use of it all the time. Sure, they may technically be using the word correctly based on the definition, according to Webster, but just because the dictionary has put a definition to it doesn’t necessarily mean that people actually love. Splitting hairs here? Maybe. But I get really tired of hearing when it most likely isn’t really meant.

You hear it all the time but you probably don’t really pay attention to how it is used…because it is used all the time.

“I love this pie.” Do you really?

“I love the characters of this show/book/movie, etc.” No, no you don’t. Not really.

“I love that you work so hard at making a difference in the neighborhood.” Doubt it.

You get my point (or maybe you don’t). The abuse of the word is rampant. It’s irritating. Well, at least to me. It’s irritating to me.

Does anyone else find this even mildly irritating or am I alone in this?

I don’t love the use of the word love in common vernacular. It’s value is diminished when it is abused.

Stepped in it

Posted on December 17, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I made the mistake of working with a client on an issue that was outside of my knowledge wheelhouse. It really wasn’t that big of a deal and should have been an easy solve for those who are more knowledgeable than I in this particular area. However, as it turns out, not only am I a “middle guy” but so is the client. So you have two middle guys passing information back and forth only to have two larger organizations duking it out above us as they blame the issue for each other.

As such, I was trying to keep my head down and just play my part in passing along information.

Well, as I was following up on this issue this morning (I hadn’t heard anything for several days, going back to last week), I found out that there were at least three other people involved, but didn’t now know that because I wasn’t included in the follow up emails as the issue continues to cause problems.

To add even more confusion, one of my colleagues who was trying to be helpful (though she often steps where she shouldn’t) saw an email in our customer support account that wasn’t addressed properly and started an completely new client ticket before looking to see if there was history on the issue. Now, the issue is in giant CF mode!

I didn’t want to deal with this issue in the first place, so I am going to do what anyone else in my position would do when they venture onto the farm and promptly step into a big pile of B*LLSH#$%…pass it to a colleague who should have been dealing with it in the first place.

Now, I need to find a rag to wipe off my shoes.

False Advertising

Posted on December 16, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Nick Demou on Pexels.com

It’s really nice when a store advertises an item will be on sale and then when you go to the store to buy they don’t actually have it.

I went to Costco over the weekend to get an item that was in their sales flier that was good on items between Dec. 13-24th. It’s an item they have nearly all the time and its not an item that is in high demand – Wahl Clippers. I don’t believe there are that many people out there chomping at the bit to buy a set of these things (there are a bunch of long haired men running around these days, so I mean, come on…)

Anyway, I go to the usual place they are at the store and they are nowhere to be found. What I can find, however, is eight different types of electric toothbrushes and replacement heads and three different items for women’s hair styling. I check all the usual places for the clippers and I even check where they have a couple of men’s items on the end cap of the aisle. Nothing. Not anywhere.

Hmmm.

I ask. “We don’t have any in stock right now.” REALLY? You advertise it and then don’t have any? You normally have the item and you don’t have any? Something is fishy here!

I need a haircut and I am not about to pay to have someone buzz my hair for me. I keep it short. Like real short. It is probably about at 1/8th of an inch right now and that is too long!

Looks like I’ll be ordering from Amazon.

In the mirror

Posted on December 13, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Drigo Diniz on Pexels.com

Every stand in front of the mirror and wonder, “What happened?”

I mean, this is starting to become a regular occurrence for me. So, I wonder if others have a similar experience any time they are in front of a mirror.

I am not a good judge of myself, at least when it comes to appearance. I’ll say that right off the top. I am hard on myself. But, to be honest, I haven’t ever though that I fall in the “attractive” category. “OK” at best, but probably mostly “Fair” would be safe.

Anyway, the bathroom is becoming my enemy. Well, any place that has a mirror, but mostly the bathroom. Or, you could probably include any picture of me. Those suck too, but that’s a whole other story.

So, morning and night starts and ends in the bathroom for me. I have to “put in my eyes,” as I like to say it, in the morning and “take out my eyes” at night. Blind as a bat…but that too is a post for another day.

I watch my body change. I watch my face change. I watch what “used to be” become my “new normal” and I just wonder, “What the hell happened?” My face could scare small children (and likely does…though it doesn’t crack the mirror so maybe it isn’t that bad…) and my body could be used as a boat anchor, only I probably would still float too well. Aches appear from nowhere. Creaks and pops from the joints that used to be flexible and nimble. Bumps, lines, and spots appear on my face as though I am trying to win a topographical map contest. I stare at it and it stares back. Only the gaze that comes back is different than the one previously.

Age. Is. Unkind. It can’t be denied and it can’t be avoided. I guess there is some control over how it happens and how gracefully you can handle it, but in the end the end still comes.

Some days though, I can’t help but dislike what I see.

fitbit – one last chance

Posted on December 12, 2019 by backuphill

This is a love/hate story. I can’t think of anything else to say about what you are going to read. I love the idea of the product, but the execution of said product hasn’t been great, nor good. Thus, I find myself loving the product and hating it at the same time.

Bear with me here. This is a long, complicated story with lots of history. I’ll do my best to condense it to a cohesive, frustratingly loud, “Aarg!” and head shake.

It all started with the fitbit Charge. It was small enough to wear comfortably but large enough to be helpful and readable. It had features I liked and it was convenient enough to wear. Then the troubles started…

The bands on the Charge were not holding to the molded plastic inside and the rubber started peeling away from the unit. Eventually the band would just wear out and would need to be replaced. I wore it as long as I could. Luckily the warranty from the store it was purchased from hadn’t expired yet. They replaced it free of charge. But, it didn’t last long and they were again going to have to replace it because of the same issue. This time I decided to pay the difference and upgrade to the Charge HR.

This time the band on the unit seemed to be much better and lasted longer. But, after about a year, the display screen started having issues and it got hard to read. I made it last as long as I could until is just up and died (at least the screen did).

I missed having it on my wrist and they had a new version of the Charge out, the Charge 3, so I bought it off of Amazon. I was happy with it. Bands were good. It had more functions than I had previously. All was going good until…about eight months into it the display screen started to do strange things. At first, it started loosing lines of pixels. As more and more started to drop off, then the screen turned almost a light white color – like someone had turned the contrast up and it no longer had much.

I contacted customer support after doing some research and seeing that other users were having similar issues. I took pictures (sorry don’t have those any longer) and they walked me through some reset functions and finally determined the screen was bad and since it was under warranty they sent me a new unit. I got the replacement, put the bands from the old one on it and off I went.

Less than four months later, I am contacting customer service, again. This replacement unit, which I highly suspect was a refurbished Charge 3, was beginning to display the same issues as the one it had replaced (see top of photo below). There were lines forming in the display again and it was losing pixels. We of course go through the whole process of “Did you try this? Or this? How about that?”

Now, I am starting to get irritated. Look, you have a bad product, parts, design, something. I want my money back. I don’t want another replacement of this product. The best they will do for me is replace it or give me a 50% discount on another product. As if my confidence isn’t already worn down, “OK, whatever. I’ll give you one more shot.”

So, I took my 50% discount to their products page and purchased the fitbit Versa 2. With the discount it was actually less expensive to buy it now than with any of the Black Friday specials the stores were offering. So, I’ll jump in cautiously.

Product arrives and I open it up to set it up. Immediately I am met with this thought as I go to charge the unit, “Who was the designer of the charger and how did this idiot get it approved for production?” Seriously, my confidence is already not real high on your product and then you send me this?

fitbit, you’re really gonna have a large faced product that will sit sideways on a surface so that it can’t be seen or used while it is charging? REALLY?

I was a little wary of getting a large faced product since that is the reason I don’t really like wearing watches, but so far the larger screen isn’t the issue. Design. Design is the issue, at least for the charger. Not a good start, or first impression. My confidence isn’t high in this product but we’ll see where it goes. This may be the final product I ever purchase from them.

I was already eyeing the Apple Watch, so it may not be far off in my future.