Category Archives: My Life

My Life

Trying to Embrace my Inner Housewife

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Apparently she doesn’t exist in me, so there’s no one to embrace.  Ok, so let’s say I’m trying to nuture an inner housewife within me … augh.  After 10-yrs of conspicuous consumption, my husband and I have gathered a lot of junk.  I’m tackling the large pile of stuff that’s in what should be our dining room (we never bothered to buy dining room furniture because formal home dining has never been a priority for us) .  Over time what has built up is all the stuff we’ve picked up from going to various conferences and offsite training sessions over the years.  I recovered 6 t-shirts and at least 10-cloth bags (great for groceries).  Also buried in this pile was the residue of my former work-life — pens, pencils, paperclips, plush-toys, and old calenders.  Sigh … where to put all this wonderful stuff now that I have no cubicle?  And then there are random things in the pile like hand tools, umbrellas, ancient mail, ancient magazines, and somehow my art and supplies managed to be the foundation of this pile.

Rewind back to last week, I beat back the laundry hydra and cleaned up the family room.  I also researched and purchased a pressure steamer to clean my ~1200-sqft of ceramic tile.  I didn’t enjoy one bit of it, but I did enjoy the resulting clean and uncluttered space in the family room and kitchen.  I even cooked!  Mr. Kuroneko003 was very happy.  The day I finally got everything clean I went to Ikea with my retired Dad to look at organization possibilities.  Mr. Kuroneko003 got home before me and said he thought I had rehired the Molly Maids and then was kidnapped.  Hahaha!!!

Cleaning the big mess initially is always the hardest part.  I’m seeing, though, after cleaning, as long as I’m vigilant, then upkeep of the cleaniless only takes ~1-hr a day.  In this sense, I’m excited about cleaning the entirety of the house, including the garage, so I can have some control.  Either way, it does nothing for my inner housewife.  Rather, I want to get stuff clean so I don’t have to worry about it anymore and I can have that ~1-hour/day to clean.  Regardless, still I hate cleaning house.  I can’t wait to get a job so I don’t have to anymore.  Augh … I feel like I’m going nuts.  Vacuuming and mopping suck!!!

I hope by next week to have the junk sorted into stuff that can be donated for reuse and stuff that can be recycled.  I plan to get rid of the stuff by calling an electronics recycler, a junk hauler, and someone to pick up the old car sitting in our driveway.  After than I can secretly start working on the yard.  My plan is hire a gardener to ever so slowly transform the yard into a rock garden — sorta ease my husband into it while keeping well within our means.

communication, connection, My Life

trent_reznor leaves Twitter

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I had only been following for a couple of weeks before I had  the misfortune of watching the trolls run “trent_reznor” away from Twitter.  It’s sad, but sometimes people forget that it’s other people on the other side of the Internet (I think everyone does this to some extent — even I’m guilty to a small extent).   It seems that “trent_reznor” was emotionally hurt by the whole experience.  I think, though, when people open up their personal lives online  they are setting themselves up for hurt and rejection by people who had imagined the real person to be much different.  This is why I think celebrities should keep most of their private lives to themselves, because, in the in the end, what they say will only be treated like tabloid fodder.  But it seems that was a risk “trent_reznor” took in order to try to feel close to his fans.

This bothered me somewhat, because I feel that anyone should be able to go out there on the Internet and engage with people.  I think for renown people, followers get caught up with the celebrity’s name, hence why it’s best for all to hide behind an avatar.  Hiding behind an avatar is a way to fit in because it levels the playing field.  This way renown people can infiltrate whatever community they are interested in and have a more authentic conversation and perhaps makes some close online friends.  As for “fan service” — well, that is part of the marketing machine and it needs to be done.  I think celebrities have accept along with fans,  they, also,  have the focus of a small group of haters and crazy people.   Haters and crazy people can’t be transformed outside of themselves to rational people, so it’s best not to worry about them and keep tight security to keep the violent ones away.  But I don’t fault Twitter for this, because haters and crazy people will always find some way to vent.  The Internet, though, makes it much easier to be heard by a large audience and possibly the celebrity.

Now addressing the technology:  Twitter is lightly regulated free-for-all.  Twitter tried to make it such that only followers could send replies, but people balked at that.  There are no readily available filters, rather if someone wanted to filter the stream of Tweets coming at them, they have to pull their own feeds and apply an external filter.  It seems to me there is plenty of opportunity for Twitter to develop some tools to help people make sense of their Tweets for a fee.

All-in-all, I feel bad that “trent-reznor” is leaving Twitter.  I’m not the kind of person who cares deeply about the lives of celebs, but I like the person “trent-reznor” showed his fans.  And, though, 90% of his Tweets were pointless, they did provide passing entertainment for me.  I follow people on Twitter because they have some important information, like news headlines, or because I find their pointless Tweets entertaining.  It lets me know I’m not alone in my small existence and there are others out there who enjoy small everyday things, even “trent_reznor.”  Twitter doesn’t have to be about anything, though, it can be powerful when used for a purpose.  I firmly believe people should Tweet and Blog for themselves.  100% of my my Tweets and 100% of what I write in this blog are me pointlessly rambling my opinion.  It is for me and I put it out there for me, kinda like that “Kilroy” guy — I was here.  If people read it and want to communicate with me, then that’s the icing on the cake :).

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Addendum:  Looks like “trent_reznor” is waiting for Twitter to improve blocking.  Agreed.  Twitter needs more improvements than that, though.  Twitter also has horrific spam and lolita problems.

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Addendum 2:  Looks like “trent_reznor” is back.   Hahaha!!!  Hopefully he’s Tweeting for himself and not worrying about the trolls ;).  I get the feeling this may be a cyclical thing with him :).  Well, to each his or her own.  Tweet on man, tweet on … It’s still very interesting to observe.

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Addendum 3:  “trent_reznor” blew away his Twitter account today.  Hahaha!  I would too!  Having 600,000+ followers is just too many to be useful and enjoyable.  Well hopefully he comes back under a different alias, so he can enjoy Twitter without the burden of being “Trent Reznor.”

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Addendum 4 (10/20/2009): “trent_reznor” is back on Twitter again.  It looks like he’s promoting the 20th anniversary of the “Pretty Hate Machine” album.  I wonder whether this is just a “peek-a-boo” or whether he gonna be around on Twitter for a while.

My Life

Hang in There Guys

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To all my x-co-workers:  I know times are difficult and things are getting more stressful.   Hang in there, though.  Invention is the only path to growth.   Keep the home fires burning, keep the faith, and do what you gotta do :).  You are all in my thoughts.

General, My Life

Could Things Be Perking Up?

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Yep, it seems like things are perking up, at least locally in my world.  I see people returning to restaurants and there’s a lot to traffic around my local strip malls.  I’m also getting some activity job wise.  I don’t have a job yet, but at least I’m now getting some promising phone calls and e-mails from actual companies instead of hungry head hunters.

I’ve been discussing the matter of optimism with friends, family, and acquaintances and we all agree that if we believe things are getting better, then we will act like things are getting better.  If a whole bunch of people start to believe and act this way, then things will improve.  Basically, it’s a self fulfilling prophecy.  So let’s be optimistic!  At the same time we need to temper our optimism with reality and pragmatism.  I would hate to see ourselves in a spending frenzy that leads into another bubble-bust cycle.  I think, though, we as a people have learned a lot from the boom of the last 25 -30-years and the bust of the last 2-years.  The old saying “if it looks too good be true, it probably is” has been reinforced.  Also, I think sudden poverty has taught a bunch of us spoiled folks that we need to save and that we are not entitled to stuff and jobs by virtue of education and our parent’s middle class social and financial standing.  On the flip-side, I think we all woke up to the reality that middle class people are not “rich” and that we can become quite vulnerable within a day.    I think the gap in wealth and power between the middle class and wealthy was made very clear in the last year, and as such, has put a lot of middle-class people in their “place.”

I think this bust has brought back a powerful spirit of America and what it means to be “American.”   We aren’t islands onto ourselves and sometimes we have to share for the common good.  I must say, even though times are tough, the progress we are making to become better people, improve our country’s infrastructure, and be better world citizens makes me feel proud to be an American.  I am inspired by our perseverance and our inventiveness.  I do believe the US will rise out of the mess stronger, more benevolent, and more respected than it’s ever been and I look forward to the changes ahead in the next few decades.

My Life, unemployment

You Have to Keep Moving Forward

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Nothing is more crushing than to have industry panelists confirm that nobody is hiring now, or that there are far too many people applying for the few positions that are open.  There are no “chances” now and they aren’t hiring under qualified or over qualified people.   The frustration was heavy amongst the crowd, but I think for the most part we’ve all accepted the situation.  Many of us are moving forward by learning new skills in continuing education programs and that’s a good thing.  You have to keep going.

I got a rejection e-mail  today for a job I really wanted.  I decided to let myself sulk in aftermath of that and the career fair only tonight.  Tomorrow I will resume moving forward.  I will continue to gain new skills, I will continue to apply for employment, and I will continue to enjoy my time between careers.  I thank the government for the “social safety net,” which without, my husband I would have become another statistic.  I hope the money the government is spending to get us out this mess works, whether I agree with the plan or not — and believe me, bailing out those Wallstreet and banking turds makes me sick to my stomach.  Despite everything, I remain hopeful because there is far too much that we could be doing.  It’s just a matter of getting the folks with the cash to invest in America again.  We all have to ignore the gruesome wreck and keep moving forward.