I just wanted to take a moment to thank the very lovely Eilla for the very nice birthday greetz as well as the wonderful plug for the new podcast. It’s always nice to know you have such great friends on the other side of the planet 
Thanks again, Eilla Hope you’re getting some sleep (finally!)
It seems like every friend of mine that works in IT has entered a bit of a professional funk of late; mayhaps myself is included in that observation.
There’s a whole lot of burnout going on out there and not much being done to combat it. Not withstanding the fact that IT is one of the hardest jobs on the planet (that is, if you have a family and/or a social life), for some people it can be pretty damn thankless at that.
I’ve been fortunate in that this job I’ve held down the last three years has been rewarding and fulfilling, but it can still burn you out. When you sit around and consider that maybe a visit to a chiropractor is needed just to get the stress off your back, either you’re working too hard or it’s time to poke the apple pie.
I’ve heard from numerous friends who work in this field that are ready to just A) get to another job or B) get out of IT altogether. Of course, I’ve been working on this new media thing so I’d hope to get out of IT support eventually. Production is what I think I love to do - I think.
Yeah, I said I think.
All too often I start up in something, seem to enjoy it, then it burns me out. I suppose I’m like a bat, moving on to the next bright light. I just keep hitting walls and shit like that too.
Too all of you getting killed in IT land - I hear you out there, screaming in the night across the web. Hang in there, it never lasts forever.
Unless it’s evil.
This morning I was informed that the podcast roundtable was posted. I participated in this roundtable last week. Our discussion went on for a good hour and twenty minutes or so, but Jeff managed to whittle it all down to 23 minutes. I’m not sure how he managed that, but I’m looking forward to hearing it.
Just in case you’re curious, hit the podcast here. In case you’re wondering, it’s an Oscars roundup. If you have no interest in the Oscars, at least you were warned 
Ah, that line. What sweet memories it brings back.
^dRkRaVN was our eggdrop bot on the EFNet channel #alabama back in the late 80’s, early 90’s. I think I have the timeline right. Anyway, we ruled that channel with an iron fist, one that you often found crammed up your virtual backside if you didn’t fit into our clique’.
Our clique’ was mean, evil and downright hilarious. The hours upon hours of endless fun with people I would meet later in life helped me get through one of the worst times of my life. I was going through a midlife crisis in my early twenties and without these folks, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have survived.
At the time I worked at one of the local TV stations. So when we decided to have a get together in RL for a LAN party, it made the local news. Part of it was that our most remote channel member, Booter (from Sweden) made the trek from Europe to north Alabama just to meet us. What a guy.
On the list server that we’ve maintained since those years to keep in touch, the chatter has been alive with memories. One of those memories was preserved… the news report from the station I worked at. Yes, they did a news report on us… and believe it or not (I certainly can’t believe it!) I’m going to post it here for you to enjoy now.
Yes, that’s yours truly in there with the long hair and the thinning on top. Yes, that’s Quake II you see us playing in the background.
Ah, lovely, sweet memories.
And if we can convince anyone that pressing ALT-F4 will get you channel operator status again, life will get sweeter still.
That one never got old.
This new thing I’ve been cooking up here lately is starting to get some “rah rah!” momentum, methinks. I had a nice three hour meeting with an old coworker from the station who, after talking through all of the ideas, seems very much behind it. Earlier today I had an awesome meal with Vo0 and Whitey the Yak Shaver, there were some funny ideas brewing behind that one as well.
I can feel it coming on - a way to reunite old friends and help tap all of their talents. I hope I can put all of this project management experience I’ve gained over the past few years to work in a different vein.
There are many of you out there who know of what I speak. I’m getting jazzed about this - I hope you are too.
Up early for another one of those first-planes-to-Atlanta things so I can head west for the week. This trip includes a visit with Apple, so I’m excited. Also, plenty of chances to see Creth and company, mucho happy about that as well.
I’ve gotten through the long, arduous trip from LAX to my home town. This day has been pretty much a flash before my eyes - not entirely sure I remember much of it, but here’s what I do remember about the trip:
Next list… of other activities:
Okie, that’s a brain dump of the trip… woo! Home for a week, then it’s back off to California for WWDC. Now THAT one will be fun!
You may not realize it, but there’s this blog post out there that is emphatically talking about something I expressed at dinner a few weeks ago. The author of this blog was present at the dinner, so this blogger is talking about a discussion subject that I indeed brought up.
Point taken.
I can understand how easy it is to get things mixed up in translation, but it really brings to light an interesting concept about communication via blogs. While it’s quite evident that Vo0 and Whitey have a fountain of everlasting love for the dog, the blog posts did not entirely express this love in a way that drove the point home. I’ve been known to harp on the negative, but the feeling I got from reading the blog posts was that said dog was indeed a hellspawn and I chose to think of him as such.
After hearing the quite vigorous defense of the animal over a fine Japanese dinner, I realize that my interpretation of the blog posts was quite incorrect. However, it does bring to light how intention to communicate can sometimes travel an incorrect path. I think it poses an interesting issue for our life and times – to think that most of us rely heavily upon the typed word to express our feelings now. We’re developing our own lingo and thought processes around this whole unique method of communication – and this is one time of many, I’m sure, that the intention was lost in translation.
Interesting… quite interesting. I hope people are paying attention to this, as it could continue to turn into a real problem.
(no vo0, i’m being general here now… not talking about you)
I went to school with this guy.
We were in the same drama class.
Here’s to you, Sandon, for keeping the dream alive and sticking with it until you got there.
There’s all this hullaballoo about Twitter and the twittering and yadda yadda. It’s another company that has taken an amazingly simple idea that apparently quenches an odd thirst to be social.
Why do you think I call it odd? More on that later.
I do not find myself attracted to using Twitter. Occasionally I’ll find myself posting something in the little note areas of any messaging program I use to accomplish the same functionality and… hey, what do you know, my friends can see that message. I know, I know. Twitter makes it easy to change that message from my cell phone or a kiosk or… whatever… but… who cares? If you want to know what I’m doing, call me up… email me… or find some way to contact me using the pigeon RFC, whatever - and hook up with me for some lunch. I’ll tell you what I’m up to. Come by my office, knock on my door.
I won’t go so far as to think that I am qualified to judge this company’s fate. I won’t proclaim that they have 15 minutes of fame and the first 10 are already gone. I won’t say anything of that nature because… quite frankly… that means I have given it some thought and I just… don’t care. Even more annoying are the people out there willing to throw cash at these people for something that is likely to be a passing fad. Sooner or later, people are going to wake up and go outside… no… wait… go to lunch… er, no, more likely, just go to the next budding darling of social sites.
Seriously, I don’t get the point.
Back to the odd.
I find it odd that humans purposefully disconnect themselves from one another in order to… uhh… reconnect through something like Twitter.
Odd.
