The word of the week is moribund.
Apr 3 – Lockitron!
It's here, at last!
For those of you somewhat new to the
blog, the Lockitron is the first
Kickstarter ever backed... WAY back in November 2012, which is four and a half years ago! Here's the
updated video, showing their newest product, the Bolt, which replaces the older
Kickstarter version that I originally paid for:
I picked up the small but heavy box
after work today and opened it as soon as I got home:
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| It finally arrived, after SO LONG! |
I eagerly spread of the contents and
got ready to install the lock... and it was then that I realized there was a
problem: the KEYWAY on my apartment door lock was altogether different from the
one Lockitron had included. So I can't
use it.
At least, not yet. After going through the Lockitron Forums, I found a few
threads that covered this issue: apparently Lockitron Bolts are only being
shipped out with the most 'common' keyway, and the 'Key Match' cylinders for
locks like mine will be sent later once they are finalized and made available.
So, it's not all bad news: things are
still In Progress, per the Lockitron community forums. I also found out that
while there is a shortage of the Bridge units( connecting the lock to the
'net )these are just backordered but still scheduled to get shipped once
supplies are replenished.
Guess I'll have to wait another few
months, but hopefully not so long that I don't hit the five year mark this
November...
Apr 4 – Just Another Tech Guy
That's me.
Tonight I finally realized that I
just don't know enough to get an IT job, and that if I want to move in that
direction, I will have to dedicate more time than I want in order to get
certified in various areas to make myself competitive.
There's a big difference between being the smartest tech guy in an office and
applying for jobs located in an office full of tech guys. Up until now,
I thought it was just a matter of time before I moved on to a better job as a
technical support guy with the government, but I realize that's not going to
happen unless I get more training to add various certificates to my name.
Sure, I can fix most day-to-day
problems in my office without having to call HelpDesk, and it's nice to be
called on by my co-workers for such, but I’m not getting paid any more. I can
put together a home computer like nobody's business, understand the ins and
outs of the vast majority of hardware issues, and even take a stab at software
troubles, but I'm not actually trained in any of that: it's all hard-won
experience on my part.
Which doesn't sell well on a resume,
or so I'm learning after the last year of applying for tech support positions
without success.
So, I'm switching my focus to
applying for other types of positions where certificate qualifications aren't
the keys to doors that aren't opening to me. I'm still going to revisit things
like getting ITIL, CompTIA+ and MS Office certified, but those are going to take place later this
year: I must finish my novels first, or I'll never get them done at this stage
of their progress.
Too much to do, too little time and
energy to budget...
Apr 5 – Hey There, Stranger
A friend posted this video this week,
and I think it's an excellent commentary on getting in touch with yourself
again as a creative person:
Which is really what I was doing
during my Land Mark forum at the end of March two weeks ago.
I was extremely nervous, even
fearful, for the 2 months leading up to the forum, so much so that I was
suffering from stomach problems that made me unable to eat a regular meal
without pain: I was that nervous about What Would Happen to ME.
Would all the things I'd worked so
HARD at in my life be swept away, be proved invalid or shallow? Would I learn
about such core-persona-altering things that I'd emerge a 'new me' against my
will? Would their concepts force me to rebuild my life all over again, as I
found the truths I took for granted to be assumptive lies?
Would I still be me,
and keep all the things I loved about my life, the loves IN my life, that are
the foundation of who I am? Or would the 'me' I loved die,
and be replaced with an Other?
Well, the entire weekend experience
can be summed up as follows:
Day One - interesting, the concepts gave me much to think about during the
entire day, overall I was satisfied that I've learned a few things.
Day Two - much of what's covered irrelevant to my life( I've a great
family, job, relationship, goals in mind, etc )so the many 'mending fences'
sessions today weren't at all relevant to my life, though they were revelations
to many there.
Day Three - leading up to the Big Reveal, I was quite nervous... then I was
vastly disappointed to learn what their 'core' teaching was. Rest of day = irrelevant.
Honestly, I wanted to just up and
leave halfway through the 3rd day, but I stuck with things out of respect for the
forum leader, volunteers and the other
forum members. I saw that the forum WAS making a difference in many other
people's lives who were attending. Big, life-changing differences.
For me, it didn't: all I got were a
few thinking-tools and months of stomach cramps.
Why? Because I've already done much
of my own 'heavy lifting' in my life already to deal with numerous major crisis
I've faced, and those all have brought my family closer. I've made myself into
someone that others, and myself, Ken respect and admire, through my own effort
and sheer willpower. I've read widely, including solid selections of many philosophies,
so that I can ask myself hard questions and continue to build myself in
positive ways every day.
In the end, I must thank Land Mark
for showing me that I *am* a good person, that WHO and WHAT I am are something
to be proud of, and to be grateful for having the life I do.
I just wish I could have found that
out without the months of proceeding physical pain from nervous anticipation,
and paying big $$ for a course I already knew much of the contents of anyway.
I'll leave you with this short talk by Alan Watts, which nicely sums up all the
above things:
Apr 6 – Throaty
Work's going well, but it's busy. Real
busy.
I've been talking non-stop on the
phones for almost 2 weeks straight now, and it caught up to me this morning: I
lost my voice for a few hours. That's rare, and an indication that I
need to step back.
Not to mention find a better position
where I don't need to chat non-stop to people for 7 hours a day because we're
low on staff, and because that's the job.
Thankfully, I work in a place where
if I need to, I can step away. My coworkers are able to take up the slack and
my supervisor has my back 100%: we're a solid team and we know how hard we are
all working of late.
It's a funny thing though: so many
people have moved on, except me, and I'm the one keeping things together around
the office for our team. I've got the experience, skills and patience( not to mention a good sense of humor about
it all: vital! )to act as the rock against which all our problems break and
fade away.
But when I lose my voice, it's a big
indicator that we're rather stretched.
Fortunately, I regained it after a
few hours and a few mugs of hot honey lemon tea( a sure balm for sore
throats! )and was able to pick up things again. Yet I know this is part of
the continuous government cycle of Hire Staff, then Keep Them just long enough
for them to find a better position elsewhere, and then Start Again with new
folks. Retention is never something that's discussed, oddly: everyone wants to
keep moving around. It plays merry hell with staff levels... and I can't
imagine what it's like for smaller or less team-oriented offices than ours.
My ship will come in, I just have to
keep calling... even if I lose my voice occasionally.
Apr 7 – Hark! A Munchkin!
Well, I backed Munchkin Shakespeare
this week.
You think I'd have learned my lesson
after waiting so long for my Lockitron, but no: I backed about a dozen things
on Kickstarter over the last five years, including my Pebble Time, and almost
all of them have delivered although many have taken longer than expected which
is all part what Kickstarter's about: Cool Stuff, but Delivery Not Guaranteed.
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| One reason to back a Kickstarter: value for money! |
However, anything to do with Munchkin
is a different ball of wax, as it's backed by Steve Jackson Games, who have
been around since 1980, putting out games like Car Wars, Ogre, GURPS and of
course, Munchkin. They really know what they're doing.
So I felt that my money would be
pretty safe in their hands, then of course it didn't hurt that the Kickstarter
was a massive success from the beginning... I guess there's quite a few people
out there who love Shakespeare, puns and Munchkin as much as I do!
Delivery will take place towards the
end of 2017, and I can't wait until I get the chance to read some of the puns
that SJG has crafted with the Bard in mind...
Also: today was Bus Success Day! I managed to get
everywhere that I needed to go, do what I needed and move on again in a total
of 3 hours, with perfect timing to catch the next bus each time! I was pleased
with myself, as I managed to meet a friend for lunch, then get some grocery
shopping done in a home again well before 3 PM. The good timing meant I could
get quite a few other things done at home on my day off, for which I was
grateful.
Apr 8 – *Sniff*
Despite my precautions while riding the
bus yesterday( gloves, not touching my
face )I managed to pick up a bug of some kind and it bloomed into full
force today.
My girlfriend and I still went to
Sidney in the morning, for the second in a series of seminars about the
publishing world being given by my friend( and
publisher )Ben Coles. It was again a fascinating look into the business
side of the industry, and I was pleased to learn that my own efforts to learn
about how things work have made me at least passingly conversant with many of
the concepts that he presented today. I was left with the feeling that,
overall, what I'm expecting in terms of sending out my own book are realistic
and that's comforting: I'm not wasting my time or otherwise fooling myself
about what needs to be done to get my books out into the world.
I spent the rest of the afternoon and
evening nursing my cold and watching the remainder of One Punch Man to
the end. It's a fascinating series that I looked into on Netflix and really
speaks to the writer in me with its focus on what happens to a superhero when
they're the most powerful being in the universe... and they don't know where to
go from there.
The final episode was somewhat
disappointing( SPOILERS BELOW!!
)but I think I expected it, as it's almost impossible to wrap up a series of
ultimate power with an ending that either satisfies completely or doesn't feel
contrived or clichéd:
Apr 9 – How To Be Happier
In keeping with this week's theme of
learning about yourself, I ran across this gem, narrated by the beloved Robin
Williams. Miss that guy. He embodied the concept of bringing light and
happiness into other people's lives, despite one's own burdens.
Sit back and let his words move you,
as they did me today:
If you need more motivation towards
happiness, and aren't sure of what may be holding you back, then look no
further than Be Happier: 10 Things to Stop Doing Right Now. It's one of the
better lists I've seen, with solid no-nonsense advice in simple terms of how to
discover and eliminate bad habits holding back your Happy.
I may have dodged a bit of a cold
bullet, in getting sick over the weekend, as I have full access to all I need
to get better at home rather than at work. Fresh air, rest and temperature
control are all things I can't easily get at work, along with extra water and
the ability to doze off at need now and then. My nose is already less troubled
from the extra attention, and I hope that the next few days will see the bug
beat a hasty retreat!
