The sky is blue
The air is still
The sun is back with pride
I’m sipping coffee
drifting through
It’s good to be alive.
The odds of annoyance
At the age of 34, with some good luck and modern medicine, you could say I’m less than half way through my life. Taking that as a given, let’s make a few assumptions:
- I started interacting with other people, through speech and actions, around the age of four.
- That gives me 30 years of interaction with other humans.
- During that time I’ve met many people and been in many situations. Sometimes these people have been annoying, and annoying things have happened.
- Let’s be optimistic and say I’ll live to 100. That means I’ve had, roughly, a third of all the interactions with other humans, that I’ll ever have.
- If that is the case, and we take into account some basic laws of probability, then that means I probably haven’t met the most annoying person I’ll ever meet.
- In other words, the most annoying thing that will ever happen to me, probably hasn’t happened yet.
This is pretty distressing.
I’ve met some huge assholes in my time. HUGE.
Casting my mind back on the scale of all the annoying things that have happened to me, inevitably leads me to this conclusion:
Sometime in my future, I’m going to be kicked in the balls by George Bush, while he sings “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas.
Dial-up wasn’t so bad.
12.00pm Internet connection lost.
12.05pm Travors reboots wireless router.
12.06pm Internet connection still lost.
12.08pm Travors reboots cable modem.
12.10pm Connection re-established. Travors reconnects VPN session and continues working.
12.30pm Internet connection lost.
12.32pm Travors reboots cable modem.
12.33pm Internet connection still lost.
12.35pm Travors reboots cable modem.
12.37pm Connection re-established. Travors reconnects VPN session and continues working.
1.30pm Internet connection lost.
1.32pm Travors reboots damn cable modem.
1.34pm Internet connection lost.
1.37pm Travors reboots cable modem.
1.39pm Connection re-established. Travors reconnects VPN session and continues working.
3.30pm Internet connection lost.
3.31pm Travors reboots fecking cable modem.
3.32pm Internet connection still lost.
3.34pm Travors reboots cable modem.
3.36pm Connection re-established. Travors reconnects VPN session and continues working.
4.30pm Internet connection lost.
4.32pm Travors reboots son-of-bitch cable modem.
4.34pm Internet connection still lost.
4.35pm Travors reboots cable modem.
4.36pm Connection re-established. Travors reconnects VPN session and continues working.
4.50pm Internet connection lost.
4.52pm Travors reboots sweet suffering bastard of a cable modem.
4.53pm Internet connection still lost.
4.54pm Reboot.
4.55pm Internet connection still lost.
4.56pm Reboot.
4.58pm Internet connection still lost.
5.05pm Travors rips cable modem from wall with his teeth and thrashes it violently with it’s own power cable. Travors relieves cable modem of it’s innards by continuously pummelling said modem with a 14 pound lump-hammer. Travors strings modem guts through their own power cable, adorning this creation as ritualistic head gear. Travors sacrifices modem remains to ELECTRADAEMON, god of technology, by nailing it to a stake and burning it on a ceremonial pyre in back yard.
6.30pm Travors goes for a pint.
January 12th was World’s Fair Use Day. The event was an all-day celebration of the doctrine of fair use: the legal right that allows innovators and creators to make particular uses of copyrighted materials. (via Culch.ie - World’s Fair Use Day)
I wrote a post for culch.ie on my recent visit to Washington DC, for World’s Fair Use Day, read more.
I awoke from my slumber to face the dreamy morning. Slowly, a perfect vision of daybreak appeared before my eyes. The curtains lapped like lazy ghosts against the window frame; the sun flowed gently to my bed, warmly enticing me to arise.
The cat sat stationed by the middle of the window, her eyes wide with curious wonder, “Good morning” she said, “I have a question for you: When the fuck are you gonna clean this window?”
It occurred to me a few weeks ago, just how much I’ve changed the way I collect and store entertainment media…
I wrote this article for culch.ie on how (for the most part) I’ve quit buying cds, dvds and books. Culch.ie isn’t a techie blog so I tried to keep the geek speak to a minimum.
Some things I love about life
Tea and coffee. Especially that one cup you have at just the right time, that tastes like the best one you’ve ever had.
Music. Playing it and listening to it. Sometimes you’re watching a movie and you’re really enjoying it; then at just the right time a song you really love starts playing, and it makes your heart glow.
Books. When you’re reading one and it sucks you right in. You become excited reading it because it’s in tune with your existence, like the author wrote it just for you.
Dark moonless nights. When it’s midnight and an idea you’ve had is taking shape. Creativity is flowing and the piece you’re writing or playing or programming or drawing is flowing like it’s alive and it’s creating itself. Time speeds up and your heart beats faster with the excitment of creativity in the zone.
Bright sunny mornings. When the world is waking up and you’re sitting still and silent and watching it all. Time slows down and the world is a show just for you.
A night out with your friends. When you’re happy, laughing and in good company, and the night is only beginning.
The Internet. For bringing people together and making things happen that never would have otherwise. When I met David Karp of Tumblr last year I gave him a book with a note that said: Thanks for making something that allows people with little voices to be heard by people with big ears.
What things do you love about life?
I get stressed
I try not to complain about my job, because when you get down to it, I sit in a big comfortable chair all day. I get to drink tea, eat snacks and laugh with colleagues. If I had of been unlucky enough to have been born 100 years ago, I’d probably be working in a coal mine. If I had of been unlucky enough to have been born in a third world county, I’d probably have been working in a sweat shop by the time I was 8. I’m aware of this, so I feel a bit guilty when I complain.
But I get stressed. Really stressed.
It brings on my asthma, it sends me running to the loo (unpleasant), it keeps me awake at night, it wakes me up at insanely early hours in the morning and then keeps me awake.
I reduced a good portion of my stress a few years ago by using the GTD system, and while I’ve found it works well as a task management system, it fails to reduce stress & anxiety in a number of ways:
1. Dealing with people. Power mad managers, obnoxious colleagues, backstabbing, and the general ugly politics of corporate life.
2. Dealing with the unknown. I’ve been pushed into project managing software development lately. I’ve tried to convey to my boss that software development is a completely different world to IT Infrastructure, but he doesn’t want to know. Dealing with that daily uncertainty is grinding.
3. Dealing with the public speaking. I host and run teleconferences with experts from all over the world, up to 20 people at a time. Some of them are too quiet, some are too pushy, some are determined to point out your errors on front of an audience. The anticipation of these calls is probably one of the worst stresses I face.
4. Riding out the recession. Unemployment in Ireland is at 12% People are queuing in the street for hours, just for the opportunity to hand in a CV. “You’re so lucky you have a job” is a phrase I hear a lot. Looking for a new job is not an option, there simply are none.
But contrary to how this probably reads, I’m not here to whine, I’m here for help. How do you deal with your stress?
Yoga won’t cut it: I can’t sit on my desk and do the Bakāsana during a project review teleconference. Training is off the cards too, that’s been chopped from the budget. I’m sure I’m not alone in this problem, so have you any advice?
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