How I got my wish

Back when I was 20-21, I was going through the typical "But I don't know what I want to do in my life!" angst. I talked for a while to a wonderful therapist in Sacramento named Steve Cotta--who, I am sad to say, died just a few years ago--and he put me through a lot of exercises to help me discover what I wanted to be. I did all kinds of tests and homework and came up with some goals.

I thought I'd lost all the paperwork when I got divorced, but I just found some of it. I remember that there was a complex questionnaire that Steve sent off and had evaluated for various classic jobs. I'm pretty sure the paperwork for that one's gone, but I remember that it said my desire to be a life insurance salesman was a -4.

But the one thing that stuck with me most was an exercise on a dittoed sheet (most of these were dittos) entitled "The Ideal Job." This one just turned up again. The instructions were simple: "Write 10 criteria for your ideal job. What components you would like that job to have. (money, benefits, etc.)" There were ten numbered blank lines. I filled it out then. There were no "right" answers; this was just marking what I wanted.

I remember finding this in 1986, 10 years after I'd done it, and thinking how wonderful it was that I'd called my shots. I was making a lot of money as a freelance technical writer and pretty much everything on that list had come true. Looking at it again, it's still pretty much true.

Here are the ten things I wrote:

1. Work that can be done at home
2. Flexibility of schedule
3. Well Paid
4. Career options
5. Advancement possibilities
6. Intelligence counts
7. Situation where one can socialize and work at same time
8. Work that I like
9. Moderate work load
10. Occasional peak loads

(I do note, with some chagrin, how childlike my handwriting was then and, truth be told, it's really no better now. Oh, well....) 

How I got my wish

Relationship improvements

A couple months ago, The Babe said that she wanted me to change a behavior: whenever she'd say "Do you wanna do X," I'd invariably reply "I don't know." This made her feel devalued and unimportant and we didn't end up doing a lot. She said that she wanted me to instead say "Yes" or "No" but not leave her hanging. Well, that was a clear request and a good one and I understood why she'd feel that way and she was RIGHT; she deserved better... so I have started giving her clear answers, which have almost always been "Yes" as it happens. As a result, we've been doing a TON of things together and having a really good time! I feel invigorated. She does too. We're much more together doing this. I'm sorry I didn't learn this much, much sooner. She also made a request that we talk without technology on for 15 minutes a day at least, which has been very good for similar reasons.

Relationship improvements

Blog post #1004

Well, gosh, I'd planned a party and everything... and I missed the occasion. Blog post #1000 was a quote du jour a week and a half ago.

Oh, well. Go read Kewbism or Oglaf and have a good time today!

Blog post #1004

Blog post #957

No, I don't have a lot to say (except that I'm going to go back to work in a second). But I'd been noticing that I was getting up towards my 1000th post. I did a count of the draft posts (which get figured into the Blogger total posts number) and this is #957.

I realize that this sounds like "The Simpsons' 138th Episode" show, but, if nothing else, it's a quick marker for me to count from as I approach #1000.

Blog post #957

Day by day, we make incremental progress

I'm making incremental progress with the computer problems. I've got a new DVD drive in my #1 computer to replace the one that toasted with the old power supply and I've been able to get the #2 computer's boot drive reformatted, wiping out the old WinServer2003 installation.

Funny thing, though. This is the computer I'd been using for a few years for my Wonderware work computer. It'd BSOD on me occasionally and then with increasing frequency until by the time I stopped using it, it'd be BSODing 4-5x/day. I'd been thinking it might've been the RAM going bad somewhere, but I hadn't done much about it.

I had it BSOD on me again earlier today when I was installing Windows from the CD. Okay, no problem, I got it restarted and it's working now, sorta, but I was having some problems getting it to recognize the MS Mouse off the USB ports. I got a msg that the USB ports weren't being recognized correctly. NOOOOOOOO problem, I'm now up and running and can reboot this computer happily.

While I was booting it, I went into the BIOS to change the boot order so it'd hit the hard disk first and not the CD. Plugged that info in, and hit F10 to save, pressed Y and then ENTER, and BLAM! DOS/ASCII garbage on the screen.

Gee, that doesn't sound like a RAM problem, I said, that sounds like some kind of a CMOS/motherboard problem.

I tried to change the boot sequence in the BIOS again and at the same point I got EXACTLY the same DOS/ASCII garbage on the screen. Even with the same colors on the characters.

So, I'm going to identify if this is the motherboard or something repairable. If worse comes to worst, I can always buy a new mobo for this tower for $50-60 and plug in the CPU chip and I'll be in good shape.

What's nicest about all of this is that I'm now solving problems on the #2 computer, because the #1 computer is actually up and running still. Hot damn!

Day by day, we make incremental progress

Yet another fucking disk crash---aaaargh!

For the 5th (I think--I'm losing count) time since early summer of last year, I've had yet another C: drive die on me. My computer guy has given me a new motherboard and a new processor and a new boot drive all on warranty, but I've still got to spend tons of time reinstalling and reconfiguring everything. I was ready to be done with this garbage after the 3rd time it happened, but, nope, I apparently had more in store.

Just stay the hell outa my way for the time being and we'll all be happier. Yuck. :(

Yet another fucking disk crash---aaaargh!

Book #27 is underway!

I can't say anything about it yet except that I'm doing this one completely on my own--that is, I'm writing it, arranging for editing, cover art, publishing, distribution... the whole schmear. There's no advance, no money up front, and no promises. This book is going to be on a tight deadline, so I'm going to be jamming for the next few months. For all I'm guaranteed, this is completely gerbil-like typing activity that will keep me occupied and off the streets 'till the economy picks up. All this notwithstanding, I'm still looking for fulltime work, but there aren't a lot of jobs here in Eugene. So I'm doing the one thing, looking for a second, and seeing what turns up. I'm having fun. 

Book #27 is underway!

Huge enormous book proposal out the door

After some days, I've finally completed the book proposal I've been working on. When I got it all done, I saw a lot of why it was taking so long: it's 41 pages long.   This sets a record for my longest book proposal ever, by about 15 pages. (A joint proposal with someone else with a 15 page resume doesn't really count IMO.)

Huge enormous book proposal out the door

Post #193!

At the risk of self-referencing, I just realized that this post is the 193rd post this year. This is not like the Simpson's 138th Episode Spectactular, but is actually a bit of a milestone. I'd promised myself that I was going to be more active this year on the blog, particularly after having gone to SxSW and realizing that I needed to join the 21st century in a big way. So this post is one more than I posted in the entirety of 2005, the year I started this and the previous record-holder for number of blog posts.

That was all; do carry on....

Post #193!

Today is not going well

I'm dealing with lots and lots of hard disk issues (for the umpteenth time), piddly bits of paperwork, and petty annoyances. Patricia used to have a sign that said:

I was ready to fight dragons, but my life has been small spiders and stepping chewing gum.

(I could have dealt with dragons....)

It's been like that today. Or maybe like this:

Today is not going well

Computer's working again, hurray

After a couple days of screwing around with the computer myself and then giving it to my computer guy, it turned out that the RAID/SATA controller had gone south. My computer guy worked on this all yesterday and was able to recover my C: drive (yaaaaaaaaaaaay!) and get it back to life. That was at 10:30pm last night and, even after a whole day of working on this, he only charged me $100. I'm enormously pleased.

I didn't have any way of running more than one drive and the DVD/CD, so I went out to buy a SATA card. Best Buy had one, their website said, but when I drove out to Springfield, they couldn't find it. Bugger. :( Springfield's to the east of Eugene. I drove first to the Office Depot in Eugene only to discover that they do sell SATA cards, but only online. I then drove to the far western side of Eugene and found what may be the only SATA card for retail sale in Eugene at a small computer store. It's slower than I wanted and was about twice as much as the same thing online, but I really NEEDED this card to get back to work. So I bought it, brought it home, and configured the computer. I'm alive again.

A much better (and slightly less expensive) card is coming on Saturday and then I'll hook the rest of the SATA drives up and do some more backing up. Meanwhile, I've deadlines that I want to get back to. And I really really really have had quite enough problems with electronics, technology, or ANYTHING for quite a while!

Computer's working again, hurray

Stuff

The C: drive on the new computer is being a pill. It may be a controller issue, though, as I can't get the computer to acknowledge a new drive on the system, either. I had work to do this weekend, damnit, and didn't want to be hacking with the computer and losing time to things. Computers are the Universe's way of showing us that we are not in control.

But here's a good quote du jour that a friend who signs himself "Miles Vorkosigan" on FB said today. It's a darned good quote:

Watching the Fringe Christians and the Fringe Muslims trying to one-up each other in bad behavior is like watching the Voldemort-vs.Sauron Global cage match mixed with a Dr. Seuss morality tale.

Stuff

Jeeze, I'm tired

I spent the day working on my garage. What we really needed were shelves, huge great enormous shelves that would help me get the piles of stuff off of the floor of the garage.  I went out to Lowe's and bought a couple of shelving units, knocked them together, then spent about as long getting them safely anchored to the walls. With the help of Susan the Wonderchild's b/f, we just put a lot of boxes up on the new shelves and have, in fact, cleared out a lot of stuff from the floor. 

At this point, I am going to slither off to a hot bathtub and soak the owies away, then come back up here and work on a contract. 

Jeeze, I'm tired

Maybe my words are sacred, after all!

My dear friend Bonni had a problem a few days ago: her house burned down. The whole thing didn't actually burn to ground, but I won't be surprised if it's going to need to be rebuilt completely because of smoke and water damage. This is really common for houses with even 40%-50% fire damage: the smoke just pours through the rest of the house and there's no good way to get it out of the walls and ceilings. It's tough stuff and we are all looking for ways in which we can help her.

But the funny thing about this that she told me today was that she was in the master bedroom looking for whatever might be salvaged and there were only two books that weren't damaged by fire, smoke, or water: the two copies of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Disaster Preparedness" I'd sent her. In other words, the book I'd co-authored with Dr. Maurice Ramirez on how to survive disaster seems to be reasonably fireproof. 

I guess my personal mana extends a thousand miles away even to my books. Hey, am I fuckin' cool or what?

Maybe my words are sacred, after all!

Caffeine, my drug of choice

My drug of choice these days is caffeine. (My previous drug of choice was something far more deadly, far more dangerous, and the most addictive substance known to humankind according to the CDC. God, I miss smoking even after 33 years....)

Anyway, this article from Lifehacker is something fascinating about caffeine and how it works.

Caffeine, my drug of choice

Who I write like

There's a lovely site called I Write Like that lets you see who you write like.

I fed it a big chunk of blog writing (my essay on Reagan, which seemed like a long enough sample) and let it happily chew on it and it turns out that my political writing analyzes like George Orwell.

I write like
George Orwell

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

But that's for non-fiction writing. I fed it a chunk of my second novel and I got this:

I write like
J. D. Salinger

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I could do worse than writing fiction like Salinger. My plotting isn't a patch on his, though. Better stick to the non-fiction for now....

Who I write like

Crappy day in the office

My computer crapped out first thing this morning. I was worried that I'd lost Yet Another hard disk, a problem I've had far, far too much of this last twelvemonth. I spent the day without a computer and fretting occasionally.

But it worked out really well, you know? I had the idiot box on in the background and had lots of episodes of The Closer on while I debrided and swept and sorted and sifted.As a result of the enforced downtime, I was able to:

• process a large stack of mail (mostly junk) that's come in over the last week
• write checks and send payments on half a dozen bills
• fill up my wastebasket and recycle bin, empty them, and half fill them again
• dusted and swept (always an issue in this office)
• boxed up some spare computer stuff

The office is much cleaner, better organized, and feels much more comfortable.

Best of all, the computer is now working again! Whatever was wrong with the hard disk was fixable using the RECOVER feature from the WinXP boot CD.  A few massaged sectors, a repair to the registry from the backup logs, and ~poof~ all is well again.

But the day did inspire a considerable amount of cursing, so it's significant that early this morning before the computer died on me, I saw the Periodic Table of Swearing. (Warning: This is so beyond the concept of "NSFW" you can't even see it from there.)

Addendum: I got a report of a link problem for the picture, so here's a copy. But try the source first, please: they deserve the credit.

Crappy day in the office

I feel old :(

On July 5, 1985, Dr. Emmett Brown set the flux capacitor clock in the Delorean 25 years into the future. Today is that day.

I feel old :(

My brother's birthday

It's my brother Chris's birthday, today. Happy birthday, Chris!

My brother's birthday

Hurrah, hurrah!

The Babe has been away all week in DC on business but she's back! I just picked her up from the airport. The house is spick and also span, many laundry are done, I've polished the granite in the kitchen, changed catboxes, swept, made the bed, and generally straightened up. While I truthfully expect no compliments for this--it's only fair that I do all of this and keep things clean--I think she will find very little to be perturbed about, which will be nice for her after a very long day of cross-country flight.

Hurrah, hurrah!