The following have happened in the past 36 hours: Drove past a shooting and saw a person laying in a parking lot who would later be pronounced dead. Old roommate of four years was diagnosed with cancer. Went out with a girl who broke things off over a month ago for someone else, and we're going to go out again when I get back from the holidays. Done trying to predict anything about my life, Hubski.
Sensitive dependence on initial conditions...no?Done trying to predict anything about my life, Hubski.
Sewing It's christmastime in the flac household, so I have to make a shit-ton of presents for people. Shirts for my cousins: It's funny to me that there are so many types of tacky patterns out there that have absolutely no crossover with the types of tacky patterns I would wear. Vest for my brother (will upload later) Pillows for my mom( also later). Also, my sister wants to learn how to sew now, I split the cost of a new sewing machine with my parents for her Christmas present. I'm going to give her some lessons before I move (in 8 DAYS!!), and give her a copy of all my patterns. Music My violin player was finally free this week, so at long last the album is nearing completion (at least on the recording side). Here are two snippets with the standard disclaimer that they aren't fully mixed and I am paranoid about soundcloud yada yada yada yada. thenewgreen As you can probably tell, this thing is gonna be a bit eclectic. I've started describing it as either "math-folk", "freak-folk", or "folk, I guess?". Excited that there's a finish line in sight.
I mean... Startup costs on Etsy are zero. Burn through some shirts just to see how fast they sell. The great thing about big online marketplaces is you get to refine your sales strategy in realtime. I can't say that your fashion sense matches my own? But I can say that your fashion sense matches several fashionable people I know. Just make sure you conduct your business such that it remains fun.
this may sound crazy but you would get HUGE bumps from the queer community if you had your sizes in Mens and womens approximate sizes, and had masculine and feminine presenting people model the shirts. gender neutral shopping is having a sizeable push right now, and you functionally double your consumer base at no cost.
Not crazy at all - that's actually a pretty big part of my plan/hopes for the immediate future. If possible, I'd like to go one step further and make clothes specifically for gender neutral / trans* folx. My bf is a trans guy, and I have a bunch of genderfluid/non-binary friends that I've been getting the measurements of/making clothes for to try and figure out what specific alterations work well for different types of bodies. My big goal for the year is to learn a bit more about pattern drafting, and try and release a free shirt pattern for non-binary / masc. presenting folks. (But also, just adding approximate sizes for mens/womens is a really solid idea, and somehow one I hand't thought of yet despite all the above...)
you should talk to the lady who runs Origami Customs - she might have some good info for you. She does a lot of intimates and swimwear for trans and non-binary people on both sides of the spectrum. Who know, she might have some more measurements to add to your alteration charts?
You do have a very nice, engaging and creative hobby @flac. Keep it up! :)
Took the SwampMonster Dodge in to get its oil changed, forgetting that I intended to do that ASAP and neglecting to realize that going up and getting my NEXUS interview would incur 260 miles two quarts low. Asked the local guys - who have been taking care of the SwampMonster Dodge from 2002-2009 - to check and see if it's worth fixing up or kicking to the curb. Got the $100 service and asked for an alignment check. Was told that prior to checking the alignment, it needed a $1200 steering rack and a $400 power steering pump. Also my valve cover is leaking and they want $300 for that. Add that to the new headliner, rear wiper switch and battery and suddenly it's time to put Old Yeller down. Had just wrapped my head around limping the poor beastie along a little while longer but that seeking thing it did with ruts on the way up to Canada and back was apparently not tire-related. So. But I mean hey. Dropped my mother-in-law off at surgery yesterday and she's got 9 months of PT to look forward to. Got a call in Canada on Friday. Building inspector was withholding our Certificate of Occupancy until the hot water heater that doesn't serve our space that isn't in our space that isn't connected to our water supply that doesn't involve our space in the slightest and was installed ten years ago is brought up to current code. When the previous litany was recited to the building inspector he said "I'd hate to have to turn off the water to the entire building to prove you wrong." Informed my contractor that he could let the building inspector know on Monday that if we didn't have a Certificate of Occupancy by Tuesday we'd sue. Inspector said we'd have one by Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday the inspector discovered that they'd "forgotten" to enter in all of our individual inspection reports (water, sewer, gas, electrical, HVAC, ADA, and on and on and on) so could we please bring those buy again. Tuesday night the computer crashed. Yeah.
So in my initial consultation with the permit people they told me that I could just build a little chain link enclosure for my garbage area and that was that. I filled out the initial paperwork accordingly. As we ground through the permit process I was forced to build a little garbage palace with fire proof walls, in which water that hit the roof would go into the garbage area, washing garbage down the sanitary sewer connection that I had to have dug, that was in the bottom of the little concrete pan that I had to have poured. It was an unexpected expense that came up way further int he permitting process than I would have liked. After months of bullshit with the permit office, build out is done, waiting for them to give the go ahead for final inspection, which they tell me will be green lit in a day or two. Two days go by and the permit doesn't go up. I wait a few more days, leave a few messages, no call back. A week has gone by, I call more, they tell me it should already have already posted and they'll check on it. Wait two days, nothing, call again and leave a message, no one calls for a few days. Finally get a hold of someone and they tell me that because in my initial application I didn't check the box for external structural work (the garbage area that they said I didn't need) I was going to have to go back through the entire permitting process allover again. I lost it a little bit... After a few days of fighting the system they let me pay $500 more bucks for the right to go back in time and check the exterior structural box that I had already paid for the structural and sewer permitting on. I looked at this a deal. I don't know how no one goes and shoots up the permit office after it has killed their dreams. They are so stupid and uncaring about what fucking assholes they are. My shop would have been much nicer if they hadn't caused me to shell out so much money in rent and garbage areas and other bullshit. There is a club you enter into when you become a small business person that you heard about but never understood until you've tried to do a build out.
Did you know that our recessed lighting in the birth suites is on a GFI breaker? Because we have a fixture over each tub. A sealed fixture, to be sure. 10 feet up, to be sure. But you never know - we might take on the water tentacle creature from The Abyss as a client and in the throes of labor it might shoot up and break through the glass and smash the LED bulb and we wouldn't want it to be electrocuted in the process. Our HVAC was designed and installed by the inspector for the city of Bellevue, population 133k. Our HVAC system was shut down by the inspector of our little berg, population 20k. The state required our shower to have zero handles because it isn't ADA. The city required our shower to have five handles because fuck you, that's why. Got a friend. He's got a brother-in-law. Brother in law signed a lease on a restaurant space in LA in 2010. It still hasn't been permitted.
I can understand that viewpoint. Here's the basic problem: The regulations are 100% subject to whatever appointed tyrant gets to run the municipality. I used to be an audiovisual and acoustical consultant. I helped design a $50m high school out in the boonies. The local inspector really wanted his local buddies to build that there $50m high school because boy howdy - 10% of a $250k audiovisual budget is a shit-ton of money! But they bid and not only were their prices completely out of whack but their bid proposals were so incompetently shitty that the entire design team recommended to the City that The Usual Suspects be hired to build the high school as Bubba, Gomer & Cletus LLC were clearly incapable of terminating an XLR cable. And things were all well and good until it came time for the local inspector to come out and sign off. And see - we'd put in an audio snake between the stage of the auditorium and the front of house position. As one does. And we used multipair snake cable. As one does. And we put it in conduit. As one does. And that conduit was in the slab. 100% by the book, absolutely in compliance with section 16xxx of the NEC, yadda yadda yadda. But the local inspector has the authority to interpret the code as he feels best suits the conditions. So the local inspector decided that since we were in slab, we needed direct burial cable. Which is the stuff you use for electric fences and shit. If you need to run a signal in a trench through dirt, and you have distances so ridiculous that you wouldn't put in conduit, you use direct burial cable. But we weren't even at grade. This particular slab was above a basement. But he's the local inspector. So rather than using a 1" diameter multipair audio cable In a run of 2" conduit We had to have our conduit jackhammered up and 40 runs of this shit put into the slab and then re-poured. That's not a problem of regulation. It's a problem of Mayberry Machiavellis with too little regulation to prevent them from interpreting regulations however suits their mood.
I didn't run the speaker cable for the stereo until after inspection for exactly this type of reason. I have no idea what the code is for it but if it wasn't there when they were I didn't need to find out. It turned out the inspector was about the coolest guy I dealt with during the entire process. He had three of four problems that took my less than $100 and a few hours to fix, each of which were entirely grounded in health and safety reality.
Okay. So my questions are . . . If we take away some regulatory laws, doesn't that mean municipal inspectors have less laws to enforce wrongly, thereby making it easier on you? Are there case laws that affect how regulations are interpreted, thereby making these people follow a stricter, more literal interpretation of these laws? If appeals don't work because the inspectors are corrupt, incompetent, whatever, what course of action do you take? Do the courts even hear situations like this? Lastly, I'm getting the feeling from you and cgod that half the time these people say one thing one day, and another the next. How normal is that and why does it happen in the first place. If you ask me, rules are rules. There shouldn't be so much uncertainty.
I'm just gonna pitch in my "me too!" story as well, because I was responsible for turning this crappy old storefront in a protected historical building in Seattle's Pioneer Square area, into this two-story monstrosity, and working not only with the City of Seattle's DPD, but also the Pioneer Square Community Association, and other historic organizations. It was simply an 18-month nightmare. The 2-story glass window was eventually installed in a snowstorm during the Christmas holidays, when it was well below freezing. kleinbl00 and cgod's stories are not unique in any way, shape, or form. Yes, there are. But to litigate in court, you need to have roughly a quarter million dollars sitting idle in a bank account somewhere, and be able to put your store opening on hold (while still paying the landlord the rent) for a couple of years while the case(s) work through the court system... ... and during that whole process, money is going out, and no money is coming in, because your fucking store isn't open yet!! So yeah. Inspectors have you by the balls, they know they have you by the balls, and they have absolutely no oversight or management or process in place to contest their rulings to a higher level of management. What they say, goes. Period. So you deal with it, because you have to get the store open and start making some money. Some day... Are there case laws that affect how regulations are interpreted...
Okay. So my guesses and opinions are . . . I don't see why it would. I mean, the laws for grab bars are unambiguous. Doesn't mean we weren't required to put in five, rather than one. Why? Because fuck you, that's why. What you're not understanding is the laws, as written, often say "to the maximum extent practicable." That's a judgement call. The local guy gets to make that judgement. And fuck you. Why yes. Yes there are. In fact, I had a boss who used to work with one of the guys who drafted the Americans with Disabilities Act. This guy was very proud of how spare and sparse the ADA was when it was initially adopted because that meant that the particulars could be established by caselaw. Basically, the mechanism for determining what was or wasn't law was "lawsuits against business owners." Fuckin' libertarian paradise right there. To the lawyered go the spoils. Here's a great example. There used to be a strip club in Bellevue, WA. And while you can pass ordinances that prohibit strip clubs from opening up, you can't regulate an existing strip club out of business. Which galled the shit out of the Bellevue City Council. However, one of the things offered at this strip club was a "shower dance." Yeah. Up on stage there was running water. So the City of Bellevue charged the strip club with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act because, you know, it was a shower and it wasn't ADA compliant. Because, you know, you can't prevent paraplegic strippers from working at your strip club under law and just in case one decides to work there, you need a ramp and grab bars. Oh, what's that? You can't put up a ramp or grab bars? Well, then you're in violation to the tune of thousands of dollars a day until you remedy your noncompliance. No, you can't take the shower out because that's just an attempt to skirt the law another way! BAM. Out of business. Truth Justice and the litigious way. No more strip clubs in Bellevue. What appeal are we talking about here? The inspector is the alpha and the omega. He judges compliance, he judges "maximum extent practicable." I mean, we threatened to sue. Sue for what? Doing his job? Fortunately for us he's so incompetent he doesn't know we can't. but not so incompetent that he knows he can drag his feet by claiming his computer is broken. We literally had a "yeah, I reconsidered about that permit I issued last week and you don't get your work permit on the HVAC and electrical. Go get them signed off by a medical HVAC engineering firm." I've only done this once. From what I understand, there are four municipalities with building inspectors who think our building inspector is off the rez. One of our contractors told us that ten years ago, in our municipality, he put a third story on a home without so much as a permit. It happens because oh holy fuck if something goes wrong THE WORLD MIGHT KNOW YOU'RE AT FAULT. And despite the fact that we've got about a page and a half more regs than, say, a real estate office, the inspector has convinced himself we're a Tier 1 trauma facility. And also because fuck you, that's why. Buddy of mine with a restaurant in Santa Monica was required by the City of Santa Monica to pay an architect $2000 to create architectural drawings of the tree outside his building. Which belongs to the city. Which he has no responsibility for. Because fuck you, that's why. And also because that architect is probably somebody's friend. cgod has his Garbage Palace. I've got fuckin' 1.5" hot water feed lines. And a $10,000 fire alarm system. And medical grade conduit. And and and. There is no uncertainty. They have 100% authority, they give two shits what you think, you'll do it their way and fuck you.If we take away some regulatory laws, doesn't that mean municipal inspectors have less laws to enforce wrongly, thereby making it easier on you?
Are there case laws that affect how regulations are interpreted, thereby making these people follow a stricter, more literal interpretation of these laws?
If appeals don't work because the inspectors are corrupt, incompetent, whatever, what course of action do you take? Do the courts even hear situations like this?
Lastly, I'm getting the feeling from you and cgod that half the time these people say one thing one day, and another the next.
How normal is that and why does it happen in the first place.
If you ask me, rules are rules. There shouldn't be so much uncertainty.
Oh my god. I'd have loved to sit in on the meetings that came up with that one. "So late Friday night I was at, um, church and they had this shower stripper, I mean I overheard a sinner talk about seeing a shower stripper, and I think we could nail them on ADA."So the City of Bellevue charged the strip club with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act
Matthew 7:3And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?
You mean, you think the natural reaction to having a self-important 75-year-old with no experience in the building trades costing me fifty thousand dollars in revenue needlessly should be, what? Outrage? Oh yeah. But here's the thing. You learn, after you've been through this clusterfuck, that pretty much everyone else has to get through this clusterfuck in order to compete with you. And if they don't, it means competition can spring up from anywhere. There are only like 12 birth centers in the entire state of Washington. And granted - the other 11 didn't have to deal with nearly this much bullshit. And granted - the ones that follow probably won't either. But they'll have to deal with a portion of it. I mean - it's been a fucking year since we signed the lease. More. It's been more than a fucking year since we demo'd the old space. And maybe, just maybe, we'll have furniture in there before the end of the year. But the whole fucking reason we started down this road is one of my wife's best friends went from "I think I should open a birth center" to grand opening in less than six weeks down in California. And now she's got a competitor a quarter mile down the street. Sending basket-case transports to the local hospital. Turning the EMTs against midwives in the whole community. Getting angry letters to the local paper written. One of the reasons we came up to Seattle is down where we lived, we were a 15-minute drive (without traffic) from eight birth centers. Five have since closed. Know why there are so many food trucks in LA? Because there are no barriers to starting a food truck in LA. Know why everyone in LA loses their shit over every new restaurant? Because turning one restaurant into another restaurant takes between 18 and 24 months, assuming everything goes off without a hitch. Commercial real estate in Venice, CA runs $120-$240 per square foot per year, triple net. A decent restaurant is 2000sqft minimum. And you're going to suck down 2 years of that before you get to start making any money back. You aren't opening a restaurant unless you mean it. And now you know why that burger costs $18.
Well sure... I mean, that's the point of us detailing our horror stories. The problem is that the existing system "works" (for a certain definition of "works") and there are other problems to solve. The inspector forcing cgod to build his trash shrine is never going to be reprimanded for his moronic idea, because he doesn't report to anyone, and - after all - nobody has died / been maimed / or been given cancer by cgod's trash area. So the inspector did his job well. How do YOU know that all those things weren't absolutely necessary to keep the public safe? After all, YOU aren't an inspector! What do YOU know, little man?!? sarcasm, of course But you get the point... Politicians are graded on the amount of legislation they introduce. If a commissioner, legislator, or senator doesn't introduce any new legislation, then they aren't doing their job, right? So they create endless pages of pointless shit regulation that doesn't affect anybody ... except your local coffee shop owner, who - instead of opening her shop for $60k, wound up paying $150k, with all the bullshit the inspector made up to whine about - and now it is two years later, and the big loan payments are coming due, and Starbucks opened up with a drive-thru two blocks away, and her business has tanked, and some punk broke the $3500 front window, but she can't afford to make a claim against her insurance because they'd raise her rates, and she had to start working the evening shift, because she lost another barista to night school and she can't take the time to interview/hire/train someone new, because the glass guy is going to be here tomorrow to fix the window, but she has to stay late for the contractor to come and build some sort of wood over the broken window, so people don't loot the place at night, and... And NONE of this is made up. This is my friend's coffee shop. I guess people just need to walk into privately run, mom and pop shops, and stop... take a look around ... and appreciate just what it takes to make ANY of this shit happen. "But OMG, it's, like, $1.50 more than Starbucks! Total fucking ripoff..."
It was super-hilarious in my home town because in order to advance up the hierarchy at Los Alamos National Labs you had to demonstrate "civic participation." Which basically meant running for county council. And then introducing legislation so that you can prove that you were participating civically. Nerdy-ass theoretical physicists attempting civic participation came up with legislation including (but not limited to) - A cat leash law. Yep. Tried to pass a law requiring leashes for all cats. - A dogshit law. Thou shalt not have more than 5lbs of fecal matter on your lawn or thou shalt face a $40 a day fine. This one ran aground when the subject of enforcement came up - nobody wanted to budget for an official dogshit weigher. - A weed law. Thou shalt not permit any volunteer species of vegetation to grow taller than 18" under penalty of a $50 a day fine. This one actually passed - and then they tried to fine someone for "weeds" and he argued that "volunteer species" includes trees and that he was being singled out unfairly. It pretty much blew up and was never mentioned again when a rival councilman pointed out that the Lab's million dollars' worth of native plantings qualified as weeds.Politicians are graded on the amount of legislation they introduce. If a commissioner, legislator, or senator doesn't introduce any new legislation, then they aren't doing their job, right?
Tell your friend this. She sells coffee. Starbucks sells a lifestyle. They are in two different businesses as long as she has a good product. It doesn't hurt to love your coustimers as people. It shines through, especially when the other guys are there for profit an wages.
Lol, a Starbucks is moving right down the street from me, I have to walk in the street on my way to work because the construction is blocking the side walk. I'm not worried about Starbucks. I'm finally making some of the improvements I wanted to do in the beginning that didn't happen when I opened because the permit office soaked me so bad. If there is one change I'd like to see in the process is not getting different messages every round of review. If I had known what they wanted right off the bat it would have been much easier.
Around here, it's a balance of what you introduce and what you block. Unfortunately, it seems sometimes voters lack scrutiny.Politicians are graded on the amount of legislation they introduce. If a commissioner, legislator, or senator doesn't introduce any new legislation, then they aren't doing their job, right?
I disagree with nothing kleinbl00 said but here is my take on it here in Portland. The city laid off a ton of the permit office people during the downturn and than when things got good again construction took off. Many of the people they laid off didn't return and so they hired a bunch of people who didn't have much time to sit around and get mentored and educated on every nook and cranny of the building codes. They aren't good all that good at their job yet. All these employees have a slightly different understanding of the codes. The codes have undergone significant changes in the last few years as well, some people know the old codes, some know the new codes better. This causes a giant clusterfuck. Every time you go through an approval and get rejected a new person takes a look at your plans and sees some new thing. You end up goign through another two week turnaround. You hope your architect has time to revise the plans and that the contractors you are working with have an open scheduled as you push them back another two weeks. You want to file an appeal? Fork over $500 bucks to file and they will get to your appeal in two weeks. Hope the appeal doesn't piss someone off because if they want to find another thing wrong with your plans they can. Maybe you need a seismic review? Want to sue them? That costs a shit ton of time and money, it couldn't be worth winning. Here's another nice one. My plumber was doing another build out for a tap room a block away from my shop around the same time I was doing my build out. I had one kind of drain for my three part sink and a different type for my espresso machine in what I had believed was the code. Planning told me that it was all wrong, the drain on the espresso machine needed to be the type I had for the three part and the drain for the three part needed to be the type I had for the espresso machine. The plumbers were astonished. They had just installed the exact drain in my plans on a three part that month in the tap room. They went back and looked at the code and sure enough code had changed in the last year and requirements had been reversed but the planning people didn't notice for the tap room. Health came in, looked at my drains and said that they were wrong and I was going to have to fix them. I got my plumber to send the new code over and my health inspector said "well I be darned..." No one could tell me why and there is probably only a few people in the world that could tell you why.
Goddamn that's ridiculous. I didn't realize how bad this kind of shit was until my wife wanted to get a new sign on the front of her business. She sublets part of a space and the larger business already has a sign out front, hanging above the sidewalk so in order for her to have a hanging sign, it would have to hang from the existing sign. Obviously lots of safety concerns there. But the process is so insanely opaque and arduous. First she has to get approval from the local historic district council because they wouldn't want anything to ruin the charm of the neighborhood. And that's understandable, but they have no clearly defined guidelines and meet at 1PM on Wednesday once a month and when you run a business yourself and have no employees that means closing up. Oh and they'll overbook their agenda for these meetings so they might run out of time and fuck you, wait til next month. So she fills out the application and goes to the meeting and they tell her she needs a full artist rendering of the completed project from multiple angles and closeups of the sign itself and because she didn't already have it she'll have to pay an extra fee and "oh whoops, you didn't know you needed that? so sorry we didn't inform you sooner." So she gets all of that done and goes back and it takes 2 meetings to get her approval but then its contingent on the city's DOT approving it because it hangs above a sidewalk and of course they didn't bother to tell her that before and she should have known. But of course the DOT has its own list of guidelines and requirements and only meets once or twice a month also during the day on a weekday and they won't approve anything on the first try just to make you squirm and even once you do you have to go back and talk to the historic district assholes again and at this point you're already almost $1000 in the hole for a sign that hasn't even been made yet and fuck it the sandwich-board sign on the sidewalk is good enough.
You need to document this entire process - with names and actual dollar amounts - in scrapbook format, and leave it as reading material in the lobby along with all the 10-year old copies of Glamour magazine and Highlights for Kids. When some stressed out Dad is having to wait for a while, and they need something to take their mind off the problematic birth, they can leaf through your scrapbook and realize what incredible angels and gods you people are, that you went through such trials and tribulations to make your service available to their little family. I expect that would diffuse Dad's frustration quite a bit. ... just a thought ...
Wow. Now there's a perspective. We signed a lease last December. We were told we could open in April. We're now hopefully going to soft open in January. Based on the projections within the business plan, the first six months of business should have gotten us $60k in revenue. Instead we got zero. So I got that Corvette. I just had to give it to the building inspector.
Want another perspective? I think the fact that you're out that much and you're not freaking out shows just how good of a shape you are in. I think 2017 is gonna be your year. I really do. I can't wait to read about your great successes on here. While we're talking money, I was trying to explain how crummy minimum wage is to a friend of mine yesterday. I did some back of the envelope math while talking on the phone and found out that a married couple of two working 35 hours a week each at federal minimum wage, for 52 weeks, will earn just a bit north of $25k. It blew both of us away and after I got off the phone I sat back and thought about things and realized just how lucky I really am in life right now.
I got a giftcard as a small Christmas bonus at work and I'm gonna spend it on a Raspberry Pi 3 with a small screen. At Dutch train stations, one often finds these information signs: It'd be cool (and nerdy, I'm not denying that here) to build it myself so I can always know when the next train goes - I travel by train quite a lot. There's an API for the train times and I can probably build a script that fetches that info every few minutes or so. Anyone have some good resources for learning to work with Raspbian?
If the cost difference is that much, that's pretty reasonable. By hacking, I just mean that the Pi isn't actually supported by the mainline kernel of mainstream distributions. It requires specific proprietary firmware to boot that will limit you to only running specialized operating systems like "rasbpian."
So, hello Hubski!! Well I am a teetotaler, stil, um, wanted to write here.. So, been passing through phase of some sort of emptiness, neither feeling happy nor sad....what it is...depression? Or our work culture and careers drain us out of all emotions..whatever.. writing it down helps to some extent.. So,I HATE routine job in this insurance company!! I was graduated as an engineer and landed here accidentally..Not to say that insurance job is bad...it may be interesting for others...but urghh..I am not getting satisfied here..I mean..what am i doing?? This is killing me slowly...
Posting this from break. Where I'm overwhelmed and burned out and that's okay cause I'm still trucking along and getting shit done. My philosophy? If you do not enjoy your job, that's okay. Still do your job with a sense of commitment and an eye for quality and even if you don't enjoy what you do, you can still take pride in the work you produce. Believe it or not, it makes a difference in how you feel about work. Find things you do enjoy about your job. Overcoming challenges. Interacting with coworkers. Meeting new people. Heck, being able to sit in a chair in an air conditioned office being thankful you're not toiling outside, or if you work outside, the sun and the air and the sense of feeling alive not confined to some cubicle. Know your job is a part of who you are, but it is nowhere near all of you. Find a way to live outside of your job. Take up hobbies. Dabble in art. Forge new relationships. The more fulfilled you feel outside of work, the less work seems to weigh on you, the less it can drag you down. Finally, look for something new, if you think you need to. Me? I've been looking for something bigger and better than where I am for about three years now. Some weeks I probably send out five to ten resumes. Some weeks I send none. It's a good way to fill me with hope. Each resume I send feels like a lottery ticket, maybe this email will be the one.
Thanks for valuable suggestions..really helpful. I agree that work does not define us in entirety..but at the same time it does form a major part of our personality..plays a role in defining us. Sometimes mere financial security( though necessary) does not result in satisfaction.We want to do some thing more visible, constructive and contributive to society. So,even I am looking for something bigger and better. Till then I will try to engage myself with charity, hobbies and yes as you have said will do work with commitment. Hopefully atlast things turn out to be nice. Wishing you All the Best in getting your Dream Job! :)
Yes, it's likely that you're feeling depressed. What no one ever tells us is that depression isn't really a kind of sadness; it's a lack of feeling, a lack of caring. It can almost seem like you've lost the ability to feel emotion. If that's where you are, take care of yourself. Take some time off, or find a way to play hockey. You deserve it.
Yeah probably I was reaching there...on your advice took up some physical activity (skipping) and now feeling better:). Will try to play some game if time permits. Thanks for caring dear friend! :)
Very smart doctor you are! :) But trust me this isn't the problem. Because of my personal belief system I can not resort to this escape route in times of stress. So, I try to be mentally and emotionally strong in a natural way...not via obliviating senses through drinks.
Yes I know it was a joke, and I understand you, I was just putting forth my case. See it's all about cultural context. You are probably from cool temperate place where it becomes necessity, I live in a tropical area where it is just luxury. Moreover I belong to pretty conservative family, So, here I am! Now I have formed some opinion about it, that I will not go for it, even if given independence to choose. So we are shaped by geography, culture, and personal choice( yes i am influenced by some great thinkers who are against drinks. e.g. Nietzsche,Gandhi) So, at the end it's a matter of personal choice! In any case, Enjoy life! :)
My co-worker in the accounting department is a bookkeeper that graduated as an engineer as well. I work for a medical billing company but we do deal with a lot of insurance companies as we deal with no-fault and workers comp insurance companies. rd95 is right, you have to find a way to live outside of your job. I do it by writing and performing poetry. Remember you're not alone. There are probably a lot of people out there that want to be somewhere else in their career but aren't where they want to be. Don't make your career the main focus of your life. Your career is just one aspect of your life.
Yes probably lot of people are in misfit jobs..for which what I will blame is inadequate counselling we get while growing up.And I fail to understand that why there always remain a mismatch between industry requirements and our educational system (which is the case at least here in my place) . Besides I am looking for satisfactory job..Till then, yes you are right...one has to LIVE...and so,my hobbies are painting and social work..! Thanks again dear friend..I hope you wouldn't mind sharing some of your poetry here at hubski:)
I was scheduled to fly home Saturday. My flight was cancelled, and the next available one was on Monday out of Rochester. So I slept on my friend's floor for two days, drove home with him, then went to the Rochester airport. Flight delayed, fucked up my connection. Next available flight was Tuesday morning. Slept for 4 hours, got up and flew out. Finally made it home 72 hrs after my scheduled arrival. Sigh. But I'm home now. Hung out with friends yesterday, and more people are getting home today (+ my sister). Cool. Coolcoolcool. I applied to this lighting/sound internship at a theatre in Maine for this summer. They cover room & board and there's a small stipend. I wasn't sure whether to apply and my friend asked "Do you lose anything by applying?" They said they'll contact me after break if they want to schedule an interview. I also realized that Berklee has an online certificate in Live Sound Engineering that lasts basically the exact dates that I have between fall semester and Freiburg next year, and costs basically the exact amount that I have left in grant money. So that might be lit, or I might try and find like an internship in Germany for that time.
What do you want to do? There's this idea that "you must go to school" and if you're doing something goofy like mixing sound, nobody gives a fuck about school. Let's be honest - if you're trying to make a living mixing sound, the sooner you start doing it the better. Berklee or Art Institute or any of those fucks know zilch. I mean, San Jose State posted something to my union the other day - they're looking for a tenure track professor to teach sound design to undergrads. Know what they require? An MFA in sound design. Know what they don't require? Work experience.
I just want to learn to mix and EQ well. I can set up equipment, get mics working, make sound. And I've been doing that for at least an event a week for about a year. But pretty much no one that I work with knows what sounds good, so no one can show me how to mix well. And I feel like it's gonna take forever if I just keep fiddling with shit until I find what sounds good. After that, more advanced technical shit. Right now the extent of my knowledge is vocal mics, instrument mics, a board, speakers and subs. I'm vaguely aware of EQing, phantom power, and DI boxes. So. Sidenote, and I've probably asked this before. I kinda wanna be where you are. How'd you get there?
Dude you don't need a degree you need like a Peachpit book or a Lynda class. Audio mixing is empirical and throwing a degree's worth of theory at it will accomplish nothing other than making you poor. If you wanna be where I'm at go bum around the local clubs and studios and offer to help. Then don't suck at what you do and before you know it you'll be doing it for money.
So if you wanted to practice law you'd go to law school and learn a million different case studies and precedents and legal codes and you'd debate and you'd write briefs and it'd take you three years after you got your bachelor's. But if you wanted to learn how to dig a hole, you'd buy a shovel. I'm not saying mixing is as simple as digging a hole. But I am saying it's not as hard as practicing law. It's not about difficulty or ease - I mean, I'd much rather practice law than dig holes. It takes a lot more knowledge and expertise. But there's an art to digging holes that you won't learn by sitting in a classroom learning about shovels. Here's a great set of tools for working on medium to heavy engines and equipment. Here's a great set of tools for working on bicycles. Places like Berklee try real hard to convince you that if you have the former, you'll be good at fixing bicycles... when in fact you need the latter but you need to know how to use them. And the only way to know what you're doing is to fix bicycles. Berklee will not give you hands-on experience fixing bicycles - they'll charge you a shit ton to work on like three bicycles in the most overstuffed bike shop on the planet and then you'll venture forth and discover that the guys who are actually making money at this can fix the shit out of a bicycle with a Leatherman and a ball peen hammer while there you are, with your 800lbs of Snap-Ons, unsure of what to do with a leaky inner tube. That was a really tortured analogy. I'm rambling and hungry. But the bottom line is there are avocations heavy on theory and there are avocations heavy on practice and mixing sound is a practice-heavy avocation. Does that make sense?
Similiar sounding to when I studied Architectural Technician in college instead of Architecture at University. Many graduates of the University program ended up coming to my program after realizing they spent years not sleeping so they could draw pretty pictures but never used AutoCAD. My profs threw so much shade at University grads, one even described us as future dream ruiners for architects who didn't understand physics or the building code.
I went to a school with a really well-regarded architecture program. I was friends with more of a few architecture students, since they were the only other people using the SGI boxes late at night. Absolutely none of them are working as architects now, and not for lack of trying. I'm left with the impression that it's a really brutal degree for how hard it is to actually work as an architect.
The University in my city also has a highly regarded program but they don't teach the students enough to be respected by others in the field. Which sucks because they do spend years missing out on sleep more than most degrees. In college we learnt everything, we spent a week just learning about wood. If something is in or around a house we were taught about it which makes it much easier to communicate with tradespeople and contractors. We were taught multiple different softwares as well and we went over the entire building code. That thing comes in a box and you have to assemble it yourself. I remember when I went in to buy it there was a big note on the side of every box saying the entire box was in fact one unit. The thing is as well if you spend an extra year in college you can become an Architectural Technologist who can design stuff, so why should somebody hire an architect ? I steer anybody who asks me towards college for most things but especially this.
Got discharged from PT, feels good to not be in pain for two hours a day. Turns out foam rolling your IT is a thing and can alleviate 80% of a half-year's worth of pain within half a week. I'm a little annoyed that the orthopedic physician I saw never mentioned it, but they get a by for being a student trainee I guess... Been going through a series of drug books, Acid Test, Methland, and now Dreamland. All have been fascinating, but damn if the history of almost every drug hasn't been plagued with social strife. Shit's fucked. Headed home now, spent the last three weeks holed up in lab trying to get datas. It went okay... culminating in an experiment Monday that showed not just a negative effect, but an inverse effect from what I was expecting. More controls are needed to actually figure out wtf's going on, since cell culture can be pretty easy to mislead when the conditions across different cell lines, like the population density half a week back, vary in subtle ways. In any case, flying back to California and trying not to think about it for a couple weeks. Time to visit Berkeley + SF and make the rounds of all the friends who I haven't seen in a year.
I found the Mariachi Station on the radio. I don't even know much Spanish, so I don't even know what they're singing about. If I had to guess, they're songs about love and longing, remorse and regret. Chances are half of them are cheesey. I don't really care. I took a Spanish class once, in college. I don't remember the grade I got, but I'm fairly confident it wasn't one I was proud of. I didn't even have much interest in learning Spanish for the sake of Spanish. I learned it because I met two girls, sisters from Cuba. The older sister could speak a enough English to get by, the younger sister, barely a word. Every now and then when we'd hang out, other friends of theirs from their ESL class would join us. We were fast becoming friends, so I thought I should learn to meet them half way and try to learn a bit of Spanish. I only knew them for a short time, but I learned a lot. I learned about Raggaeton and how it's not anything like Raggae, despite the similarity in names. I learned about how they had to listen to government propoganda in school, about community parties that neighborhoods and cities would have. I learned how their food was nothing like Mexican food, I remember distinctly that they would just put a bit of oil on their salad instead of dressing. They were wonderful people. Their family and friends were all warm and inviting. Even though we couldn't communicate all that well, we still had conversations about music and art and food and clothing. There were times where we would bust out pens and paper and practically play pictionary to get our ideas across when words wouldn't work. I remember they once made fun of me at a party for eating cake with a fork. Apparently in Cuba, you use a spoon. I remember at that same party, they didn't like an Egyptian rice dish because it was too spicy. I didn't make fun of them for it, but I thought Latino food was all about spice. I remember they argued like sisters a lot, but got along just as well. I remember trying to explain to them once that a lot of American pop-songs aren't supposed to make too much sense, just enough sense to sound good while you listen to it. One day they told me they had to leave suddenly, to relatives in Florida I think, because they weren't supposed to be there. That was all they said. They promised to write me, but they never did. If I remember, I think that was the last day I saw them. Sometimes I think about them and wonder what happened. Were they illegal immigrants? Were they political asylum seekers trying to escape the Cuban government? In all honesty, it was probably something more mundane, but what it could be that would cause them to drop out of college and move out with their whole family almost all the sudden, I can't really guess. I've known a lot of people from around the world. Lithuania, Nigeria, Cape Verde, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, Persia, Canada. Classmates, coworkers, family friends. Those two girls stick in my head the most. I don't know where they are now, but I hope they're still in America. I hope they're citizens even. For the short time I knew them, they were good friends. There's no doubt in my mind though, they'd make excellent Americans.
Bio-status: Bloodwork keeps coming back good. No potassium supplements or mammary-tissue-growth-inducing spironolactone for me. Going to have another neck-needling in a few months to see if these changes are actually doing anything for the massive venous pressure overload that gives me so many problems. If they aren't, I'm tempted to start drinking water again because being thirsty all the time sucks camel wang. Social-status: Have a stack of holiday presents that need to be mailed. The recipients are aware they aren't gonna get them in time for sunday morning, and nobody seems too bothered by that. I have a date with an old flame next week, I'm looking forward to it and mostly staying out of my head about it. I'm slowly getting better at this 'enjoy the moment' thing. Having friends who live almost 100% in the moment helps. Not sure what else to report. I bought a pair of notebooks for the new year. One is for work, to log each days activities and any lessons I learn. The other is going to become essentially my personal 'holy' book, using that word super loosely. Journal is probably a more appropriate word for what I'll be using it for but it doesn't have the same emotional weight to it.
After a slow four weeks, my friends are finally getting into town for their breaks. Of course, mine ends two weeks from today, so I have to squeeze in what I can with them, spend as much time as I can with my SO, and appreciate my family over the holidays. I thought this trimester deal would be fun, being home for so long earlier, but break has pretty much just been a slog. I've really gotta work to enjoy these last two weeks, because they might be the last time I'm home until June. Luckily though, a couple realizations about how I want to live should help with that. Plus, back on Hubski again. Thank god my laptop was logged in already, who knows where my password is buried. Should maybe reset that. But anyways, hope everyone's doing well and I'm looking forward to getting up to speed over the next few weeks. Note: Also, did something change with the search? I keep getting the 404 page when I try to search something.
Just finished a couple pans of cornbread for a work Christmas lunch thing tomorrow. Tomorrow is also my last day of work until January 3, so you can expect much nonsense from me in the meantime. Also lots of video games, but I'm not a streamer or anything, so that's not really relevant to y'all. My daughter, who will be 3 early next year, continues to be the funniest person I know.
My wife and kid have been super sick with a flu like illness for a week. Saturday was her 40th birthday. Instead of going out to a nice dinner she vomited in the shower. I don't know what to do to really help, so I just make tea, hot toddies, try to keep the kid out of ther business and buy popsicles.
Tomorrow I'm working in the pub during the day, and then the following night. They're worlds apart; the day shift is slow work-wise, with lots of chatting to the few regulars who come in; the night shift is super busy but consequently flies by (and we have a chat and a couple of pints before cleanup and closing.) So far I've had three days where the owner of the pub told me it'd be quiet and not to bother coming in. This kind of sucked, as I want the experience, the cash and the something-to-do, but also totally understandable, since he did me a favour by taking me on and if there's no need for me there's no need for me. We're having Christmas in my sister's house this year. Last year was the first time we did it outside of my mother's house, and it was great, because my Dad didn't have to feel out of place. The only people who caused any complaint were my mother and one of my sisters who always causes arguments, and consequently none of us look forward to her coming home - currently she's teaching in London. My sister Claire and I have decided to have a "when Yvonne does something aggravating" drinking game between ourselves. Nollaig Shona daoibh!
Last day in the office before vacation (until the 3rd! woohoo!), and caught my wife's head cold. So we leave tomorrow for Canada's Sunshine Coast for about a week, and then Victoria for about a week. Bringing the dog with us, and have no plans other than to be together and see whatever friends happen to be around while we are there. Maybe I'll finally get some writing done... Probably won't be on here again until after I get back to the office. So to all ya Hubskiers, merry holidays and a groovy new year, and all that.
Yesterday I got a 50 dollar American Express gift card mailed to me from my boss in Florida. It was an unexpected thing as I never get mail at work.
LAST WEEK OF WORK TIL CHRISTMAS! I felt like utter crap last weekend and had to take Monday off. Time to make these last two days count. Then do absolutely no work for the following nine days. Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Feliz Natal, Buon Natale, Frohe Weihnachten! I can't wait to eat and sit and sit and eat and drink. Maybe I'll even read some more (finished Das Kapital!!) and write code. I hope you all have a nice time. If you're working, I hope you do ok.
I've been sick the past couple days, and I have to say; I'm not a fan. It's strange, having a valid reason to not get out of bed makes me hate lying here. On days where I wake up early in the morning go to work, I feel my bed calling out to me for just 5 more minutes; and now I wish to be anywhere else doing something productive. I've got a lot more I'd like to share, but sitting up to type sucks right now. I'm going back to bed.