pressure | 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?

Projects, projects, and more projects

Posted on June 1, 2021 by backuphill

So, how do you know when you have too many irons in the fire? Is it that you just look at everything and can’t decide which is most important or where to start because they just all need to be done? Or is it that you look at everything and you just decide that you don’t know where to start and therefore just don nothing?

Currently, I have too many things going on that I can’t decide where to start, though there is a looking deadline of rain coming at the end of the week, so that dictates a little of the timeline.

Project one: I have a front yard that needs some attention. I have a hedge and a tree that need trimmed and some Sluggo (bait for slugs and snails) to put down. While these aren’t extremely time consuming and aren’t necessarily urgent, they are the final pieces to having the front yard cleaned up for the summer.

Project two: A garage sale purchase needs cleaned up and tested. The house gets exceptionally warm during hit weather, but there isn’t a heat pump to control the temp inside. So, while visiting a garage sale recently someone was selling a pretty decent portable AC unit for $25. It’s four years old and needs to be cleaned up. I had the guy run it before purchase and it appears to be operable, but it needs to be given some attention. Unfortunately, it won’t likely happen before the warmer weather this week.

Project three: The patio has been built in the back yard and a gazebo purchased. Spent most of the day yesterday working on putting wood sealant on it to further protect the wood into the future. Now the assembly of the gazebo needs to be done…a very time consuming task. Obviously, having it constructed before the weather comes in this weekend would be ideal as it would help to keep the water from hitting most of the wood. So, that seems to be the immediate winner of focus.

There are lots of other projects that needs to be done too, just none of those seem as pressing as these three.

When faced with a list of projects, how do you prioritize which ones get done first?

Project list

Posted on April 8, 2021 by backuphill

Who else has a seemingly never ending project list at work?

I kid you not, every time I finally get to knock a project off my list three more get added. Or, let’s put it this way…every time I get close to the surface and can actually start treading water something grabs me and pulls me farther underwater.

Yes, I know I shouldn’t be complaining – job security and all.

But there is a point where you just feel like if they add one more you are going to break. Luckily, I am still working from the garage-office (or garoffice, if you will) and I can literally scream or yell when I need to. It really does let off steam, and it is slightly more productive than throwing office products.

They just keep piling it on and I am just lining it up. Deadlines? HA! I scoff at deadlines. You can’t keep piling this stuff up and think that deadlines are going to be met. When the work whistle goes off, I go home (well, I am already home so picture me turning off the light and walking out).

Anyway, how are you doing today? Do you have an overwhelming list of things to do, or are you good? Got good balance at work?

Commiserate with me. Spill your tactics for dealing with that overwhelming work load.

Deadlines

Posted on August 22, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Mike on Pexels.com

Some people work well under pressure. Some people just work. Others, well, when faced with a deadline they don’t work and let the deadline fly by like a jet from the Blue Angels.

Me? I am somewhere between the first and second, but I am finding with the project I am working on that I might be looking at the third. LOL Maybe I am just tired of working on it and want to see it end. Maybe I just have too much left to do and am overwhelmed by the sheer scope of what need to get finished. Maybe I am just tired and therefore just don’t care. Maybe.

All I know is I have a project that needs to get done within the next five days (yes, that includes the weekend) and I am going to be out of town this weekend. That doesn’t bode well for the project…

I fully intended to work on it last night as it would be quiet at home, but the fatigue set in and I bailed after an extra 30 minutes of work. I fully intend on working on it tonight after work as well. We’ll see how that does. I also have a half day at work tomorrow before I leave town for the weekend. So, I have time….but that means the time I have I will have to buckle down hard. (So, I’ll write a blog post instead of working…)

Wish me luck. I am going to have to dive in head first and see how this goes.

What kind of deadline person are you? Do you work well under pressure, do you just plug along and hopefully get it done, or do you just blow off the deadline and do what you do?

Options, so many options

Posted on February 18, 2019 by backuphill

black leather padded cushion couch near to black leather padded cushion loveseat

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

When faced with so many options, do you buckle under the pressure and decide not to make a decision?

I am sure you are well aware that when shopping for something there are often so many choices that it becomes difficult to make a decision. Cars. Shoes. TVs. Restaurants. You name it, there are probably more than three options. And then, to top it all off, there are probably options for the options! Say what? Now I have 209 different options to choose from but each of those options comes with another 117 other features to pick from as well? See? It can get overwhelming.

I went furniture shopping over the weekend. The living room needs new furniture. A couch and love seat to be exact. My only specification for said couches was that they had recliners in them (something the current seating does not have). The room is too small to have a single recliner, so they have to be combined into the other seats in the room.

When thinking about shopping for furniture in our little neck of the woods, there are only four places to really go for selection. Yes, there are big box stores but selection is rather limited in the store and shopping online is always an option, but don’t you wanna try something before you buy it? I can’t imagine buying something like a couch without having sat on it first.

Anyway, two of the stores are really the same store. They are in fact two different companies, but one of the store carries the same product as the other store so there really wasn’t an option that was acceptable in either of the first two stores.

Next was the La-Z-Boy store. Good grief it was recliner heaven. And a headache. Find the style you like. Then find the firmness you like. Then find the fabric you like. Then find the recliner function you like. Do you want dark? Do you want light? Do you want puffy? Do you want motorized? Do you want modern? I tell ya, my head was spinning. Oh, did I forget to mention the cost was also adjustable too? Every feature came with an additional cost or reduction based on what you chose. So, trying to decide where my butt was going to be relaxing couldn’t just flat-out be based on the sticker price.

Finally, the last store. Not a lot of options as far as couches with recliners, but the quality of the furniture is awesome. Plus, you could still have some options for the furniture that was on display so you didn’t have to take what was on the floor if you didn’t quite like it.

It was settled right then and there. The (near) perfect couch was right there in that final store. I say near perfect because, well, I am not the only buyer of said couch and there were other specifications that had to be met, mainly it couldn’t look like it belonged in a media room (there go the cup holders, leather, and arm rests…). Compromise would have to be involved here. Anyway, the near perfect couches met almost all specifications with the person that really counted and the pieces had recliners. So, mission accomplished.

Now, if I just didn’t have to compromise the USB ports for charging devices that would have been perfect…