I idolized Rick Astley. Well, not really, but I did actually enjoy his tunes, especially when they would pop up on MTV.
If I had to have an idol, which I can’t say I really did, it would probably have been the King of Pop himself, Micheal Jackson.
The 80s and 90s were some of the years it was good to be a fan of MJ, from Beat It, to Thriller, to the Moonwalker anthology, life was good if you loved pop.
Who did you idolize as a teenager? Did you go crazy for the Beatles? Ga-ga over Duran Duran? In love with Justin Bieber? Did you think Elvis was the livin’ end?
Funds permitting, the one luxury item I'd love to purchase is a car. It's not just any car, however. It's an electric car, but, even that's not so extraordinary. I'd prefer to buy a Tesla Model S.
It's a car that starts at $75,000. That's nearly 5 times the cost of my current car, which I've had for about 13 years.
It's still pretty much a dream car at this point, mostly due to performance and fueling costs, and also because the car itself is fairly high-tech in its amenities. The main stumbling blocks right now are not only the high purchase cost, but some of the lifestyle changes needed, such as an outlet needing to be installed at home, which I don't have the authority to undertake. That's the major one, as I'm lucky enough to live in the western state of California, so charging away from home, to the places I would drive to, isn't a problem.
Home-charging would cover the range of local destinations.
Having a car that not many have yet would be kind of neat, but mostly I really want to reduce use of gasoline (and have that extra money that such a reduction entails).
I also have read that it's got quite a bit of get-up-and-go too, which is a nice bonus as well.
That first day on the support queue. Hundreds of messages were in it. It seemed like it scrolled forever.
I felt like a tiny fish in a tank of sharks. Luckily, I was not completely without aid, as the support veterans were not far away, virtually and physically, and I slowly gleaned wisdom from them, even as I took notes and learned not only how our hosting system works, but filled in gaps in my knowledge of how the web works.
I could bounce a question (or 2, or 10…) off a grizzled tech, or a lead, and usually, they let me know what’s up, or, better, how I could proceed towards a solution or unlock tge needed knowledge. I definitely worked with some wizards (and still do!)
Nearly 9 years later, I don’t see that queue so often these days, but I do still learn things, even as I work to improve the support the company provides. I was warned, even though the job felt like a dream job, the pitfall of cynicism was tricky to avoid.
I think I’ve avoided becoming jaded pretty well. I think that has been made easier by seeing pretty regular successes, even with the missteps that can happen to any growing company.
This is the longest I’ve been with any company. I’m glad it’s worked out and look forward to each day because of getting through those initial months when it was “sink or swim.”
What about you, kind reader? See other responses here:
photo credit: Jon Ottosson – UnsplashPerhaps it was an app ahead of its time. Its vision involved taking on one of the big social networks, by allowing users to control and retain direct ownership of their content, while also hosting a community around the sharing of that content. I’m not naming the app out of fondness for it.
For whatever reason, it never gained enough traction to justify the expense of its continued existence. Thus, its backend was shut down, and its development ceased. The life of many apps do go down that path sometimes.
The app’s original version was fairly basic, but perhaps a little too ambitious to take on an encumber the in its chosen niche. Some of the community has remained loyal to the vision, if not to the developer themself.
I still see myself as a bit of a lurker when it comes to most of the online communities I choose to follow, and, despite things not working out, for that app, I still follow its developer, and that’s paid off a bit. The developer kept working on new ideas, and has even had an award-winning app following the failed one.
Persistence, when seen in action like this, is very inspiring. It must have been more difficult towards the end of the failed project for the developer to focus on working on the app, knowing that downloads had plateaued(it was free to use, but also had paid extras. The sad, but understandable decision was made, based on performance of the app’s sales, and its popularity waning, to put it out of its misery.
This seemed to be a case where the unpopular choice didn’t work out, but I’d hardly say it was wrong. I had made the choice to watch the developer, in order to catch when their newest project was nearing completion as well, since they’re very good at transparently communicating about their own development process. I’m really looking forward to a new set of characters and community growing up around “whatever’s next”. The latest project seem promising, and it’ also due to it going after an area of usefulness that many similar apps have fallen short of capturing.
Sometime during the past year, I tried to quit caffeine. I did pretty well for a few months, and, as a result, felt pretty good, and even slept better.
I slowly, however let it back in. That’s a bummer, for sure.
Falling of that wagon has been a bit rough, but I’m working on it again. Luckily, I’ve got plenty of decaf tea, although I’d really like there to be more decaf coffee at work – I dig the flavor of coffee. Luckily, I don’t have an allergy to citrus, so quite a few alternative beverages are still open to me, when plain water won’t do.
Tomorrow’s 2016. 2015 certainly has been interesting. Despite the link below’s prompting, I know, realistically, that I’ll be the same person tomorrow, but, unlike earlier years, I think that’s OK. This won’t be a terribly detailed retrospective, but I do hope it’s a peek into what I’m thinking about and will be thinking about in 2016.
This year has had its ups and a few downs, but, thankfully, the ups were way up, and I think I’ve grown as a result of the downs. Late in the year I decided to be more mindful of all I’ve got to be grateful for, besides the obvious things like family and health.
It may sound strange, but sometimes I feel like good things have slowly started to increase in frequency around me. That might not be right. Maybe I’m just better able to notice what’s going on.
That’s not to say that the world has been all good things and happiness. I’ve just decided that my reaction to events, if any, and even direct actions taken continue as I’m able to sometimes step out of my comfort zone to help. I may not be loud, but I am aware of many things.
I’m thinking that, in the coming year, that I’ll share a bit more of the people and events that I see doing good, in ways I like. Next up is an event I’ve been following and supporting for the past couple years, Awesome Games Done Quick, which is a charity marathon, raising funds for Doctors Without Borders via their Summer event. Doctors Without Borders is a very important organization, especially in these days of conflict in various countries. How the money gets raised is what drew my attention. They play games. Not only that, but they play them as quickly as possible; they’re speedrunners. This takes place at hotel ballroom and is broadcast live, around the clock, online.
There are donation incentives, such as entertainment and even physical goods, given away during the event, and cool things, like commentary during runs,sometimes involving the very developers of the games being run in some cases (as their games break due to the skill of the runners…)
Some of the runners and commentators are as entertaining as, or even more than the games they run. It begins this Sunday, January 3, which is why I’m mentioning it now. I’ll be watching as much of it as I’m able while it’s live during this coming week, and I’m already following a similar marathon that’s focused on a single universe of games, the Zeldathon Hope, which ends its current event this Saturday.
In case it isn’t clear, I do like to watch gaming streams, whether it’s speed running or not, and if it’s for a good cause, that’s definitely of interest to me. I’ll try to bring attention to the marathons I follow as they approach during the year. That these event can raise pretty hefty funds for their chosen causes is very important to keep in mind. Passionate fans can do good things, and even if a person can’t give, just spreading the word can help.
I do hope to see more of the above types of events, even as I work on my own fan-supported activities; there was a new Star Wars movie unleashed on movie theaters, and already, things are in the planning stages for a fan group I’m in, Saber Guild, that are related to it. We’ll see how that works out once our own active seasons approach, and there’s an upcoming convention in London this summer that I’m sure will be pretty exciting as well.
Last, but certainly not least, let me wrap this up by saying that I’ve met, and spent much time with friends, old and new. Sometimes, it feels like not enough, but every time, I felt lucky to share the company of others, even being an introvert and all. If you’re ever wondering why I’m sometimes quiet, it’s just my time to recharge as best I can. This year, I attended my first Foo Fighters concert (certainly hope it’s not the last), but I was not alone; some excellent luck allowed me to move to a spot near some good friends. Of all the concerts I’ve been to, this one sets a high bar for energy.
This year, I’ll be attending a few more cons, and some which cover more of my interests, such as anime and gaming. Star Wars Celebration, WonderCon, and even San Diego Comic-Con were all fun, but a bit more relaxed for me this year.
Here’s to a good 2015, and to what will surely be a fun 2016 as well!
Here’s a resolution that I know I can keep. I resolve to write more consistently in the coming year. That way, I’ll become a habit that will just be a routine part of the day, and not a chore. I’m writing for fun, after all.
I figure that a little structured fun isn’t too hard, which is why I am lucky to have found that there’s a regular prompt for Mondays available. See you next Monday at the latest!
That’s how I would greet you if I were standing close enough to do so. The probe, named Voyager, was sent by the people of the planet Earth, but this message was composed by a single person, individually.
I make a note of this because the Voyager probe was built by a team, a large group of humans. That’s what we call ourselves.
I, and many other humans, are very curious about the world we love in and the wider universe. That’s why the probe was launched. It’s been sending information back to us during its long trip.
Before it grew too distant for a message to be sent to it, I was asked to write this note. I was not given a topic, so I apologize if much of this has been self-evident by the remaining co tents of the probe. It did contain items meant to convey information about the human species in general.
I’m nearly out of space in this, so I’ll wrap up by saying that I truly hope to see a return message during my lifetime, but even if it arrives after, it’s worth sending, so please do, and tell me about who you are.
