Moved!

This blog has moved. If you haven't already found it (I know most of you have!), please email me (address is at the bottom of the page) and let me know you'd like the address.

Thanks!

Doing what I do best:

Thursday: Worked. Came home. Worked at home. Cleaned. Talked on the phone. Slept.

Friday: Wished I didn't have to work Monday, as my coworker quit today. Talked on the phone. Slept.

Saturday: Did laundry. Cleaned. Did nothing much but act like a vegetable. Talked on the phone. Slept.

Sunday: Hung out with family. Talked on the phone. Slept.

Monday: Worked. Came home. Worked at home. Finished laundry. Talked on the phone. Slept.

Tuesday: Worked. Came home. Worked at home. Talked on the phone. Slept.

Today: Worked. Came home. Am stalling from finishing my last tape of work to do at home. I will probably talk on the phone. And sleep.

Tomorrow: Work. Leave the state for four days.

Ermmmmmmm...yeah, that's boring. Of course it is. Who wants to read what I've done the past week? (And, believe me, I've done more than that. I was attempting to bore you. Except about all of the work. I've done tons of dictation lately. Ugh.) It doesn't get much better, unless the person is in a new place every night and, then, how much can they do when they are spending the majority of their time traveling? I've never understood those who blog solely about what they have done. If that's all you're going to do, why not send a mass email to all of your friends and just tell them? And, really, who is all that interested in just the minute details of life with no real thoughts behind what was done?

I'm always amazed when I come upon these blogs and their similar posts, week after week. Some people post their activities daily and some post them weekly, but no matter the frequency, they can still be boring. Once, I want to see something like this:

Jumped on a plane. Landed in [foreign country of your choice]. Picked up their entire language, complete with nuances and idioms and proverbs today! I am doing greatly on my attempt to learn 100 langauges in 100 days! While I was at it, I stopped by the Sahara and picked up a bunch of sand for everyone. Anyone interested, just email me. Goodness, I am tired. I climbed the tallest mountain in [foreign country of your choice] and got a bit winded nearing the end of the hike so we rested a bit near the bottom. Spoke with and met [famous person 1], [famous person 2], [famous person 3], and [famous persons 4 and 5, who are married to each other]. [Foreign person 3] asked if I'd like to meet him for dinner some night when I'm in [place of your choice that is mega-awesome-spectacular-like]. I don't know if that is a wise idea, though, with [famous person 6, who I'm semi-sorta dating, maybe, in an on-again, off-again way] being around so much lately. Did I tell you I just "happened" to run into him this afternoon? Well, that's it for now. It's only 9:00 p.m. here so I'm going to head out and attempt a full hike around [the large city your hotel is in within the foreign country of your choice] before I turn in. I have to be up early to get to [second foreign country of your choice, halfway around the world].

Only then will someone's daily life be so interesting. And maybe not so much even then.

Yes, I like hearing what my friends are up to, of course! But...I don't need to know what they ate for lunch or how often they flossed their teeth. Personally? I'd much rather know what they are thinking throughout the day and, if pertinent, what they were doing that led them to think that.

I don't need a daily break down of "this is what I've been doing this week". I want substance. Thoughts. Opinions. Something. *sighs*

And what do I have to comment when you tell me your weekly schedule? "Oh, you hike? Ummmm..great! I hike, too. I hope you didn't get too winded! hahahahaha"?...

Ugh.

/rant

Talk amongst yourselves

AKA Ponder Internally for a Minute:

Who can go one whole day without the internet? Not when you are out in the woods and haven't brought your laptop and can't get on but when it's right there, in front of you, and you could do it if you really wanted to?

Who can imagine themselves doing that? Going an entire day without checking their email once?

Without commenting on a blog?

Without checking out the latest message on your forum?

I always feel ill when I think about how much I've come to rely on the internet and how much time I spend here. I can honestly say that I use it for communication more than anything, though, which relieves me. I don't check out the latest porn sites or use it to illegally download music. I use it to update my friends on my life and to be updated on theirs. I use it to learn about new things and check out stuff I've been hearing about that I can't just go to the library and find easily. Even being a semi-consciencious internet user, though, I begin to wonder how long I could do without it.

In college I went on a media fast, which is something a bit odd that I happened upon. I was spending so much time focusing on television happenings, internet ramblings, and radio commentaries that I wasn't paying enough attention to the people in my own life. I wasn't walking down the dorm hall to speak to my former roommate or the few blocks to visit my other former roommate. I wasn't picking up a phone to talk to my best friend in another state at another college. I wasn't keeping up with the "real" people in my life in the way that I should have been.

So for a few days, I cut out the internet and television. *shrugs* And, strangely enough, the lack of television didn't bother me a bit and has actually carried through to my "normal" life. I rarely watch television or even have it on for background noise. I don't need it anymore.

But the internet is a different story. I use it daily for work to check facts, find information, assist customers, etc. The thing about it that bothers me the most, though? Email. We have thirteen people in my office. Thirteen. 1. 3. 13. I'm considered an oddball there for one reason: I talk to people when I have a question. Most of the time, I get an email from the person in the office behind me. Instead of coming out and walking five feet to ask me a question, I get an email. I refuse to do this unless I have to send it to several different people and need answers that all can see readily. This morning I was working on a casefile that required supervisor intervention. "Just email her," I was told. *raises an eyebrow* She's just at the other end of the office, sheesh. I got up. I picked up the file. I walked into her office. I asked my question. I returned to finish the file information. Simple.

Face time. I miss that more than anything. "What's your email?" has even replaced "What's your phone number?" Sure, perhaps email makes us feel a bit more anonymous on one level so we don't give too much of ourselves away to the guy in the bar but how hard is it to pick up the phone to resolve the issue with a friend or coworker?

I attempted to fix an issue one day by email after someone kept emailing me their problem. After several attempts and several miscommunications of unknown origin, I picked up the phone and called. After having a normal conversation for about fifteen seconds, I had the issue fixed and resolved. Case closed. *shrugs*

Sometimes, yes, phones are just as bad. Nothing is perfect. There is more communication of a sort, true, but...is it only me that wonders at its content more and more? I truly do see the benefits of technology. I see how email makes communication easier in that we can answer at our leisure. (Believe me, as a daily phone answerer, do I ever appreciate the calm time given for email instead of having someone screaming at me on the phone RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW.)

But I also see that sometimes the easy access to other things overtake what's right in front of us. Sometimes we'd rather immerse ourselves with typing words instead of involving ourselves in having a real time conversation in person. And, sometimes, that's understandable, necessary even, if most of your friends live more than two hours away, as mine do. But...when I'm with them? When I finally, finally, finally have the chance to sit or walk and have a conversation? That becomes my focus: the conversation, what's said or not, the laughter that just isn't as rich when *laughed* as so instead of ringing in my ears with fullness, the expressions on the faces that I've almost forgotten or delight in loving once again in person. When my eyes and ears and all other senses are allowed to be with a loved one once again, I revel in that and don't want to, even for one moment, detract from the proximity I've missed.

Not even for one moment.

I've missed you. Can we hang out? Just us? With no technology between us? Can we sit on opposite ends of the couch and have the face time we haven't had? If you give me the chance, as my friends will attest, I guarantee you that we will not run out of things to talk about, laugh about, cry about, debate. I promise I'll make we can make it worth each other's time and not think we're missing all the other things that are happening electronically.

So long, and thanks for all the fish

hooizz: If you come back to the blogging world, good luck in your "new" home town and I hope things go the way you wish them to.

Nicholas: Thanks for the comment and I look forward to hearing from you! Good luck to you and your beloved and, most of all, I'll be praying for you as you step forth in ths new covenent of three.

Dena, Misty, Kim, Ziggy, Sheila, Mom, Dad, etc.: You know how to find me, of course, and have done a great job of being a good friend even without commenting here or, for some of you, even checking it all that often (if at all, though I do want you to see this if you do happen upon the address again some day). Thank you for supporting me as a person, first and foremost, realizing how much love across the miles means through voice and personal words. Love you, guys, and I'll talk to you soon!

It's not just the parents

Even though I don't believe teachers should be their students first or only moral educators, I do believe that we still hold a responsibility as role models for students.

That said, how can a teacher think this is a good idea? Not only was fiction writing not a part of his class in any way, shape, or form but he also required them to name a victim, according to our local news.

He has apologized to the parents, students, and administrators and they are now determining if he will return to work from his suspension or if he will be fired. According to this article, he will most likely be returned to his position.

What was the purpose of this writing "prompt"? Especially in the context of this class? I just don't see it at all.

Clarification:

Potential blog move:

What I'm requesting below is actual opinions on experiences with blogging services that anyone has used. I've been checking into many different ones and just am wanting to know, before I do any moves, people's opinions on the providers so I know about ones they've used or checked into. Cost is indeed a factor but it is one I've already checked into extensively myself so I'm not needing any info on that or hosting issues. What I'm needing is personal experiences as users.

So, to preclude any further discussion of cost of different ones, I'm just needing personal experience and opinions between providers that people have used. If you have used only one, let me know what you have thought of that one. If, as hooizz, you have used several, give me their pros and cons.

Blog traffic means little to me, to be quite honest. The few "unknown" people who've been reading/commenting/lurking are an unexpected bonus of this blog and I've enjoyed hearing their opinions and reading their own blogs. I like the behind the scenes things more, such as included features and ease of use. I also like integrated features with other software and programs so that is something would be interesting to me as a user as well. I like being able to personalize my blog to suit my desires and needs so that is another important feature: How easy is it to personalize the blog on a whim? Anything interesting or unique about what you're using/what you have used?

So the question I'm asking is thus: What do you think about what you've used and/or what you are using? (Leave cost out since I've already checked into that and know what I'm willing or unwilling to do there. In fact, pretend cost is no object as long as you have personal experience with the service you're talking about.)

(Now I'm off to die since my tooth is throbbing my entire head to death and I'm about ready to yank it out of my head with my own hands. Yes, I'm looking for someone to do an emergency root canal so...pray that I do find someone quickly on Monday. And let me know opinions on the matter above and below. Thanks.)

Change of scenery?

Hmmmmm...I'm debating some migration of the blog in the near future but am not sure if it's for me. Without giving away the site I'm debating moving to, anyone have pros and cons of importing/exporting from one to another? (If anyone has experience or comments on their own move, I'd appreciate knowing from and to where they moved, why, and how they rated the ease, change in features, etc. Anyone who just has knowledge of such an ordeal and/or knowledge of other blog user sites would certainly be welcome to give advice, too.) I'm sick of waiting for certain features I and other users have requested for over two years that are still not in functionality here but are pretty much everywhere else I look.

Don't believe everything you hear on the news.

My local news was doing a story on the March of Dimes, who apparently helped fund research that assisted a couple whose daughter was born premature.

How premature?

According to the newscaster: "She was born 11 months premature."

Hi. I seem to have lost myself. Do you know who I am?

I have a pet peeve that is becoming clearer every day. Today, I had the blessed experience of hearing someone talk snidely about a personality trait in one person while they themselves are the exact. same. way. And she went on to prove it by lying about several things and blaming everyone but herself for not doing her job just moments later.

How do you get to be in your 40s and still have the audacity to say that you don't have to do your job because you don't want to? And still expect to have a job and get paid?

The sad part is that she will retain her job because she knows about the apathy of the supervisor in the office. She knows that they don't want to look for a new person and they don't want to have to train someone else. The sad part is that she told me herself that she hates the job and only is doing it because she can't get her boyfriend to support her but doesn't expect to do much work while she's there. And she explained that she doesn't care because "what are they going to do?" *sighs*

I was told last week by a person who knows me by extension and because I've helped him here and there with some things that others in the department couldn't...from a completely different office...that he knows people in my position in the department don't have a good work ethic and that he was sorry that I, as one of the few who actually knows and does my job, was leaving. (This is the same person I wrote about some time ago who was offering me a job and attempting to get me to move to another city to work under his direct supervision so I could do his databases since, apparently, that is too difficult for most people.) I wrote back to him that he shouldn't thank me for my work ethic....

He should thank my parents. My parents have both been hard workers their entire working lives. I have developed my sense of hard work in all I do from my parents, particularly my dad who has held the same job since March of the year I was BORN. Yes, he had worked there for 27 years.

And yesterday he was told that he was laid off, probably indefinitely. This is how good, hard workers get rewarded. While lazy slackers get their jobs BACK after leaving and telling everyone how much they had hated being there, after doing absolutely nothing while they were previously working there, and then saying, for the last two weeks of their work while they do nothing but read books and magazines and check out things on the Internet, "What are they going to do? Fire me? Ha!"

I have two weeks of my hellacious job left and it gets worse every single day. Do I stop working and ask, "What are they going to do? Fire me?"

No.

I work. I have worked harder in the past few weeks than I had in the few months prior just to make sure things are okay for my departure. I am making things to help ease the job. I am creating files for the use of others. My supervisor, recognizing this, actually commended me on it. *blinks* Over two years at this job and I believe that was the first compliment and "job-well-done" that I've ever received from anyone in this office.

My dad is a hard worker and he gets the shaft. I learn from him and get nothing but lies and grief heaped on my head. Others do no work and slack all day and receive their jobs BACK after showing their [lack of] work ethic.

Oh...and how many job evaluations have I had in three years at the same company?

Zero.

How often do people from my contracting office check in on how the job's going?

Never.

How often am I supposed to have the above evals?

Every six months.

How often should I probably have contact with my contracting office?

In my estimation, at least monthly.

No one cares. No one checks. During the past year alone, I've had almost four months on that job by myself, doing the job of what is supposed to be at least three people ALONE.

I am not going to miss it at all.

I wonder if my dad will miss his job. Or the people, maybe. Then I realize that lack of recognition for a job well done and slight after slight on the job? Creates little loyalty. Employers complain about the "recent" lack of loyalty from employees.

Give us a reason to be loyal. Don't take our benefits and tell us to be glad we have a job and then a month later take our job. Don't fire the only help we have and then tell us to just suck it up and get all the work done by ourselves, putting us so behind that we STILL haven't caught up a year later. Don't hire back the only middle-aged office worker I've ever known to be such a completely lazy bum that I don't know how she managed to keep jobs in the past. (Okay, I do know. And it has to do with why she and her manager were fired from their last job. And why he hired her back to the job she left my office for. And part of the reason she came back. Hmmmm...I wonder...)

Give your workers support. If they do something well, tell them. If they are doing something wrong, correct them.

A big thing in our department is low "morale." We were told our problem is that we don't like our job and shouldn't be in it if we don't like it. Look at the above. I don't mind my job. I enjoy the work...or did before the people ruined that small joy. Low morale? Caused by lack of support and supervision...and the hiring of worthless staff that make our jobs harder instead of being helpful.

Maybe you should look into that, eh?

No more 3x5s

Twenty-six days left. It's surprising how the proximity of marrying your best friend and then moving several hundred miles from your friends and family makes you evaluate your life a bit.

For one, I'm going through storage and closets, finding bits of myself and others hidden here and there. Old cards, letters, class notes, receipts. Most things I'm tossing, pitching, throwing out. It's a bit like really starting anew for me. We have an apartment picked out and we aren't planning to have tons and tons of storage. Of course, most of our apartment space is going to go toward the millions of books we both own and are towing around with us wherever we go.

I've been told twice in the past week's time that certain people are going to miss me and are sad that I'm moving away. Finding new friends is sometimes hard but moving away from people that you "click" with is more difficult. I have a lot of experience with moving or living away from friends and family and I'm finding that the more times I do this, the harder it becomes instead of the other way around.

Of course, the converse is also happening. Evaluating friendships that are/were is going on a lot in my head, too. I'm moving away and have to ask myself, "Who is going to be friend enough to visit, to make contact, to maintain contact?" I'll make it easy on everyone and let them know my new address and phone number as soon as I have it set up. I definitely won't be the person who forgets to let my friends know where I am and force them to beg me to respond to their pleas for contact. I will give everyone equal opportunity to maintain contact. Although...I won't be the one forcing contact anymore. I've said it before and believe it whole-heartedly: Friendship is a two-way street. I want to be here for you, I really do. But...I can't carry your burdens and my own without being able to rely on supportive friendship back. There are so many things going on in my life...and time is becoming more and more precious and will continue to become more cherished to me as I move further away, those times I will get to be with my friends and family.

I've told one person that I'd really like it if she and her fiance would come visit us in Duluth because it would be AWESOME to have visitors. She has promised me they will. That gives both me and Neal a warm, fuzzy glow, to know that we have people supporting us and willing to be there for us in this way. Misty has also promised to move in at times up in the frigid Northlands, far away from warm civilization, to visit and keep contact. My parents have said they'd be there, too.

I love that, knowing that we won't be left alone up there, knowing we won't be the only ones willing to make the trips and putting forth the effort of friendship maintenance. I love knowing that Neal and I will be able to share our beloved North Shore areas with friends and family, to show them not just one or two spots, but many many many, as they come visit us and hang out in the beauty of nature.

But knowing the nature of people, the willingness to say one thing but just never get around to it...I'm a bit worried. I know for a fact that I'll be back in this area over and over again for friends and family. But will they think it's worth traveling to see me, too? I hope so. I really do. I want to share my new home, its amazing beauties and landscapes just as Neal showed them to me and helped me fall in love with them. I want to feel that people see value in our friendship, enough value to take me up on some hospitality and promised good times and great views.

I'll miss you guys so very much. Keeping up through a computer screen isn't nearly as good as getting together as we've been able to here and there. I'm hoping those meet-ups, although a bit sporadic, will at least go both ways. I have so much to show you, so much to share of my new home.

And I don't want to do it through photos but with physical presence.