Fortune of the day

Slous' Contention:
If you do a job too well, you'll get stuck with it.

Yeah. Yup. That's very true. I now realize, that's what's happened to me. But I like it... dammit.

Decisions

I tend to be a pretty indecisive person. Okay, at times, that's a massive understatement. But when it comes to important, potentially life changing decisions, I tend to put my mind to them and figure out an answer. Especially when it affects other people's lives. Why can't other people have this same courtesy? It really bugs me, the fact that my entire future could hinge on the decisions of another person, and they refuse to make up their mind.

Responsibility

When did this happen? When did I suddenly become responsible for so much? I've had to take on far more in this month than I ever imagined I would have to. And now, I'm finding that I'm going to have a new employee under me at work. I'm going to be a boss. I'm going to be totally accountable for this person.

How did this happen?

Am I ready for this?

Will I be able to handle all of this new weight, or will I collapse?

Mental Exercise

Given the circumstances that I'm currently in, and the state that my mom has come to be in, I can't help but sit here and think that the most important exercise we can get in our lives is mental. You can work your body as much as you want, and even extend your life through these physical pursuits. Unless you constantly exercise your mind, however, who can say how many of these extended years will be happy, harmonious years? How many of them will be spent in misery, wishing that you were no more for this world? How many years will you spend in regression, not really knowing the current or what is going on around you?

I'm not trying to downplay the importance of physical exercise here, not at all. Our country is obese, that is a fact. More people need to get off their lazy asses and work out. But just as many people, and probably even more, need to work their minds a lot more than they currently do. It's nothing terribly difficult. In fact, mental exercise is even easier than physical. You can remain seated on your lazy ass while you do it!

There are any number of things you can do to exercise your brain. Pick up a book, a magazine, or a newspaper and start reading. Do what I'm doing right now and write down your thoughts. Grab a deck of cards and play a game of solitaire. Work on a crossword puzzle or a sudoku puzzle. Troubleshoot a problem in something; a car, a computer, even in your fridge. Any of these activities and thousands more will work your brain and keep it fresh. All you need to do is think, keep thinking... be creative, solve problems, learn new things. This is how you exercise your brain. This is how you keep your brain young. And most importantly, this is how you ensure that your brain will stay fresh through your life, and your final years will be happy ones, not years spent wishing it would all end.

Sennheiser

...makes totally awesome headphones. I've got great headphones for all of my mixing and listening needs, that cost only $60. I would totally recommend these headphones to anybody at all. They sound incredible, they've got excellent noise cancellation, and they're extremely comfortable.

Problem is, the cables they sell with them are CHEAP ASS PIECES OF CRAP!

I've now had 2 cables die on me, just through regular use. Yeah, they get tugged on a bit. They're going to. It's a good thing these cables are detachable and replaceable. Of course, you have to order them directly from Sennheiser. The cables aren't too terribly expensive... $7.62 each (Which is better than last I checked, I swear they were $12.)

Overall, I'm happy with these headphones. I'm just pissed off right now that I can't use either of my pairs, because both of the cables are broken.

I'm ordering 2 new cables as I write this.

Pure, raw stupidity.

You know how it's called a "flash flood" when there's a sudden downpour and areas become flooded nearly instantly? Well, I've just gotten what I like to call a "flash migraine". Except, these aren't caused by sudden downpours of rain. They're caused by sudden downpours of stupid.

I just ran into one of the most ridiculous bugs I've seen since I started at this job. On the locator website for one of our clients, I could add a space (yes, " ") to the end of a zip code in which I wanted to find a location.... and somehow, this managed to make all locations display as being over 5,000 miles away. Even ones that were.. oh, say, 18 miles away.

How do you not notice things like this in development? How do you not CHECK for things like this in testing? Hell... how do you manage to maintain a job in the IT industry, making totally stupid mistakes like this, on major corporate websites!?

I just don't get it .... but I praise the inventor of Excederin migraine.

Home again, home again

Oh, to be home again.

I can't express how glad I am to be back.

I was in Spokane for 10 days, and I'll be glad if I don't have to go back for another long while. While I was there, I experienced below freezing temperatures... in fact, I experienced temperatures near 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Several nights while I was there got down to 9 degrees. Do you realize how cold that is? I saw SNOW! I haven't seen snow in over 5 years! No thanks, not for me.

So glad to be back. I came back to 80 degree weather. In November. Awesome. I want this year round. Actually, maybe a bit warmer... like, upper 80s, low 90s.. that would be perfect. Plus rain. Yeah, I need tropical.

Anyhow, I've wandered and I must work. Just sayin'. It's good to be home.