The Word of the Week is... obdurate
July 12 – Hit Me!
Another minor milestone today: this blog passed the 5,000 hit mark, which is pretty good for what I’ve been doing with it. Figuring out ways to update it more often, monetize it, share it more flexibly or redo it to better organize the advice / links / videos / etc I’ve put in over the years does occupy some large corner of my brain, but to date I’ve not come up with a definitive plan for changing it permanently. What I would like to do is move on several projects of mine, one of which is taking shape with a friend Brian introduced me to: it’s a podcast series in the style of old-school radio dramas. So far, it’s been fun to write, but I only have a few outlines past the first rough draft. Later this month we might get the first reading done, so I’m exciting to bring that to this blog once it’s recorded, edited and made available. More on that soon!
Remember that old saying “Believe nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see?” Reminds me of the video above, that’s making the rounds again after first appearing on the scene a few years ago. Looks amazing, when you see it for the first time, right? Spiderman would have been jealous!
July 13 – Excel-ing at Handshake
While I’ve no expert, I’ve come to realize that using MS Excel for basic things like monthly budgets makes a helluva lot of sense. For my budgetary use I’ve cobbled together a simple spreadsheet to track money coming in and expenses going out, to get an idea of how each month is going to turn out for the rest of the year. It allows me to see how adjusting expenditures can have a profound effect on the year as a whole, and lets me see when I may have room for major expenses for things like car repairs or, if I’m lucky, new electronics. Check out the budget spreadsheet at FreeFinancialAdvice.net, as well as the advice the site has to offer, it’s quite good.
Something else that’s part of our daily lives, but something we almost never think about getting right before we do it: the handshake. It’s something that immediately conveys a lot about your character and personality, without even a word being spoken so it’s important to get it right. Thankfully, science has come to our aid with a study on the Science Of a Perfect Handshake. Believe it or not, there’s a right way and lots of wrong ways, so go have a look – and wipe off that sweat before you do.
July 14 – Zerg My Pager!
Remember pagers? Those buzzing little things people carried before cell phones came along? I can’t recall the last time I saw one, as I think they’ve totally disappeared from the world at large; there must be vast unmarked pits somewhere filled to the brim with discarded pagers, I think. Unsurprising, since the latest count pegs worldwide cell phone use at five billion users as of July 9th 2010. Incredible, that there is one cell phone for almost every person on earth, compared to a few thousand twenty years ago.
Speaking of buzz: Starcraft II comes out in 2 weeks, with all the hype you might expect for a game that’s been $100 million USD and 12 years in the making. You have to hand it to Blizzard, they really, really take their time in designing games in order to get things right. Starcraft is arguably the most popular multiplayer game in the world today, despite the fact that it came out in an era when such games were only first making their appearance – it certainly isn’t World Of Warcraft with thousands of people sharing the same world, but it is a game played by millions of people worldwide; over ten million copies of Starcraft have been sold as of a few years ago. Pretty good for a game that fits well into the corner of a basic CD-ROM and whose graphics never came anywhere near something called ‘3D’ ...!
July 15 – Mom’s Operation Success
Today was my mother’s operation, where she went in to have her bladder repositioned to correct for years of wear, damage and the like – been that way for some time, as I recall. I am happy to report that this serious surgery was a success, though she will need several months of recovery time before we know for sure that things are going to stay where they are supposed to. My family was very worried about this surgery, understandably, but the surgeon himself called us as soon as the procedure was complete to reassure us that all had gone well – I was really impressed by that touch when my dad called me at work to tell me. The rest of the day went by quickly afterwards, for all that it was incredibly busy and that I went home almost 1.5 hours past the store’s closing time. Puts things in perspective.
A place I’ve shopped at on and off over the years is TigerDirect.com, which has some great deals... as long as you know your prices AND your products. Like anywhere else, they are a retailer looking to move their stock ASAP without giving it away, and as the video below shows, they can wax enthused about things you may not really be getting value for. Just because it looks cool and a g33ky guy is waxing wow over it, doesn’t mean you need it, or even that it’s very good compared to other things the same price. Read the comments on the video and you’ll see what I mean:
July 16 – The un-Birthday
Due to a staff family emergency, I ended up working today in the morning, despite having booked myself for the day off – literally no-one else was available, which is what happens when you’re even slightly understaffed. Given the circumstances, I was only slightly put out, as I was still able to leave shortly after noon to go have lunch and then visit my mom in the hospital. Lunch was special: my dad and I went to The Prairie Inn, which I’ve mentioned before... it’s been in business since 1859! I had their “Miner’s Monte Cristo” which is one of my favourite kinds of sandwiches, hard to find a good example of since the best are pan-fried not deep-fried. Delicious! After lunch I spent a good few hours visiting my mom who was recovering VERY nicely at the local hospital out in Saanich. I made it home a little after dinnertime, where I spent the remainder of my evening talking to some online friends as well as putting around with videogames. A quiet end to a mediocre day, but my mom’s successful surgery put it all into perspective.
Awright, you want to know what I really wanted for my birthday? Something totally useless to me now, but that would have been extremely kickass about 25 years ago: Nerf N-Force. Yep... running around bashing each other with these things would have been fantastic! About 15 years ago I came into possession of a dozen foam-covered practice weapons from the SCA, and those were quite fun while they lasted in sessions bashing with my friends( right, Scott? )but they inevitably broke from our enthusiasm, never to be replaced. Plus, we never managed to make a battle-axe safe to use – thanks Nerf, for conquering that incredible hurdle for us!
July 17 – Comics and Happiness
Does anyone out there have a favourite webcomic? Apart from the stellar NewtAndJohn, of course! I like to drop in a few faves every week, which include the more recent Evil Inc. as well as Looking For Group and . There’s also the Top 100 Webcomics List, but none of the above are on it, so take that with a few salty grains – I prefer Webcomicz.com’s Top Ten Lists.
Tonight I didn’t win the latest Lotto 649, a paltry $4 million. We all have that Lottery Fantasy: what would you do if you won millions? I’ve always thought the corollary to that fantasy is “Would that much money make me happy?” The short answer is “maybe” which might not be the answer you expected me – once you take care of the basics, the rest is accounting, really. A recent study focused on How Much Money Do You Need To Be Satisfied? and the surprising answer is “not as much as you think” – if you’re earning more that $75,000 a year, you won’t be all that much happier.
July 18 – Friends and Fools
Being unable to game online today due to having to work, I spent a little time pondering the mysteries of online friends. These are not to be confused with your offline friends whom you game online with( and also meet at the pub! )or friends whom you occasionally see online or in an instant messenger. No, these are people whom you ONLY know via places like Xbox Live or Steam. Lotaku.com just posted( I almost said printed! )a great article about this very topic called ‘Are Your Online Gaming Friends Really Your Friends?’ and the comments section has some great discussion too. Myself, I have a fairly small number of online friends, but for the most part they go back years, in the main from NWN. I see a few of them too seldom, but we all chat via MSN or email fairly regularly. I’ve yet to have come up with the scratch to meet any of them( a convention maybe? )but I believe they will be just as much a friend in person as they are online, personal hygiene aside.
People have to be considerate... or so you’d think. What I find infuriating is procrastination that affects others, such as my last customer of the day. At ten minutes to closing, a woman walked into work and said she want to send MANY thousands of dollars to her husband overseas as part of his work. It was such a large amount that it took me 45 minutes to get it authorized and completed, which put me so far behind that I finally left the branch an hour and a half after closing time. It floors me that on a Sunday, with the whole day to use and NO banks open, for that matter )that this woman left things until the last second – she knew it too, as she said “Don’t you hate it when people come in at the last minute?” Yes, I do, lady... which is why I was professional but didn’t talk to you much at all while you waited alone in my lobby for 45 minutes as I worked furiously to get you out of my branch. Very observant of you, really – too bad you never learned to budget your time, like I was forced to do when you walked through my door - late. Idiot.
Yes, that was TWO videos embedded this week – I’m going all hyper-media, it seems. Sure beats a lot of slow, non-moving text, right?
Something else that’s part of our daily lives, but something we almost never think about getting right before we do it: the handshake. It’s something that immediately conveys a lot about your character and personality, without even a word being spoken so it’s important to get it right. Thankfully, science has come to our aid with a study on the Science Of a Perfect Handshake. Believe it or not, there’s a right way and lots of wrong ways, so go have a look – and wipe off that sweat before you do.
July 14 – Zerg My Pager!
Remember pagers? Those buzzing little things people carried before cell phones came along? I can’t recall the last time I saw one, as I think they’ve totally disappeared from the world at large; there must be vast unmarked pits somewhere filled to the brim with discarded pagers, I think. Unsurprising, since the latest count pegs worldwide cell phone use at five billion users as of July 9th 2010. Incredible, that there is one cell phone for almost every person on earth, compared to a few thousand twenty years ago.
Speaking of buzz: Starcraft II comes out in 2 weeks, with all the hype you might expect for a game that’s been $100 million USD and 12 years in the making. You have to hand it to Blizzard, they really, really take their time in designing games in order to get things right. Starcraft is arguably the most popular multiplayer game in the world today, despite the fact that it came out in an era when such games were only first making their appearance – it certainly isn’t World Of Warcraft with thousands of people sharing the same world, but it is a game played by millions of people worldwide; over ten million copies of Starcraft have been sold as of a few years ago. Pretty good for a game that fits well into the corner of a basic CD-ROM and whose graphics never came anywhere near something called ‘3D’ ...!
July 15 – Mom’s Operation Success
Today was my mother’s operation, where she went in to have her bladder repositioned to correct for years of wear, damage and the like – been that way for some time, as I recall. I am happy to report that this serious surgery was a success, though she will need several months of recovery time before we know for sure that things are going to stay where they are supposed to. My family was very worried about this surgery, understandably, but the surgeon himself called us as soon as the procedure was complete to reassure us that all had gone well – I was really impressed by that touch when my dad called me at work to tell me. The rest of the day went by quickly afterwards, for all that it was incredibly busy and that I went home almost 1.5 hours past the store’s closing time. Puts things in perspective.
A place I’ve shopped at on and off over the years is TigerDirect.com, which has some great deals... as long as you know your prices AND your products. Like anywhere else, they are a retailer looking to move their stock ASAP without giving it away, and as the video below shows, they can wax enthused about things you may not really be getting value for. Just because it looks cool and a g33ky guy is waxing wow over it, doesn’t mean you need it, or even that it’s very good compared to other things the same price. Read the comments on the video and you’ll see what I mean:
July 16 – The un-Birthday
Due to a staff family emergency, I ended up working today in the morning, despite having booked myself for the day off – literally no-one else was available, which is what happens when you’re even slightly understaffed. Given the circumstances, I was only slightly put out, as I was still able to leave shortly after noon to go have lunch and then visit my mom in the hospital. Lunch was special: my dad and I went to The Prairie Inn, which I’ve mentioned before... it’s been in business since 1859! I had their “Miner’s Monte Cristo” which is one of my favourite kinds of sandwiches, hard to find a good example of since the best are pan-fried not deep-fried. Delicious! After lunch I spent a good few hours visiting my mom who was recovering VERY nicely at the local hospital out in Saanich. I made it home a little after dinnertime, where I spent the remainder of my evening talking to some online friends as well as putting around with videogames. A quiet end to a mediocre day, but my mom’s successful surgery put it all into perspective.
Awright, you want to know what I really wanted for my birthday? Something totally useless to me now, but that would have been extremely kickass about 25 years ago: Nerf N-Force. Yep... running around bashing each other with these things would have been fantastic! About 15 years ago I came into possession of a dozen foam-covered practice weapons from the SCA, and those were quite fun while they lasted in sessions bashing with my friends( right, Scott? )but they inevitably broke from our enthusiasm, never to be replaced. Plus, we never managed to make a battle-axe safe to use – thanks Nerf, for conquering that incredible hurdle for us!
July 17 – Comics and Happiness
Does anyone out there have a favourite webcomic? Apart from the stellar NewtAndJohn, of course! I like to drop in a few faves every week, which include the more recent Evil Inc. as well as Looking For Group and . There’s also the Top 100 Webcomics List, but none of the above are on it, so take that with a few salty grains – I prefer Webcomicz.com’s Top Ten Lists.
Tonight I didn’t win the latest Lotto 649, a paltry $4 million. We all have that Lottery Fantasy: what would you do if you won millions? I’ve always thought the corollary to that fantasy is “Would that much money make me happy?” The short answer is “maybe” which might not be the answer you expected me – once you take care of the basics, the rest is accounting, really. A recent study focused on How Much Money Do You Need To Be Satisfied? and the surprising answer is “not as much as you think” – if you’re earning more that $75,000 a year, you won’t be all that much happier.
July 18 – Friends and Fools
Being unable to game online today due to having to work, I spent a little time pondering the mysteries of online friends. These are not to be confused with your offline friends whom you game online with( and also meet at the pub! )or friends whom you occasionally see online or in an instant messenger. No, these are people whom you ONLY know via places like Xbox Live or Steam. Lotaku.com just posted( I almost said printed! )a great article about this very topic called ‘Are Your Online Gaming Friends Really Your Friends?’ and the comments section has some great discussion too. Myself, I have a fairly small number of online friends, but for the most part they go back years, in the main from NWN. I see a few of them too seldom, but we all chat via MSN or email fairly regularly. I’ve yet to have come up with the scratch to meet any of them( a convention maybe? )but I believe they will be just as much a friend in person as they are online, personal hygiene aside.
People have to be considerate... or so you’d think. What I find infuriating is procrastination that affects others, such as my last customer of the day. At ten minutes to closing, a woman walked into work and said she want to send MANY thousands of dollars to her husband overseas as part of his work. It was such a large amount that it took me 45 minutes to get it authorized and completed, which put me so far behind that I finally left the branch an hour and a half after closing time. It floors me that on a Sunday, with the whole day to use and NO banks open, for that matter )that this woman left things until the last second – she knew it too, as she said “Don’t you hate it when people come in at the last minute?” Yes, I do, lady... which is why I was professional but didn’t talk to you much at all while you waited alone in my lobby for 45 minutes as I worked furiously to get you out of my branch. Very observant of you, really – too bad you never learned to budget your time, like I was forced to do when you walked through my door - late. Idiot.
Yes, that was TWO videos embedded this week – I’m going all hyper-media, it seems. Sure beats a lot of slow, non-moving text, right?
1 comment:
Wow. Way to end the blog with nerd-rage, hater.
I was on your side until you freaked out.
You were open. She was well within her rights to seek a service you offer while you are open. Perhaps you need a policy explaining that certain services are only available between certain hours.
But, here's the kicker... I'm sure the old MM made a pretty penny laundering her drug money... i mean aiding her with her last minute transaction at a time when the clerk's focus isn't exactly 100%. As long as MM is making the $$ then you'll be processing the last minute transitions till well past the right hand column on the window sticker my friend.
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