Postcards From Myself

I am a Mac fan, user, and evangelist. On the other hand I earn my living on PCs and Windows machines. And yes for those of you out there, I have used Linux too and continue to use it from time to time. But truth be told, they are all a pain and each one has its positive points and drawbacks. You have got to admit it — no matter how fond you are of the machine you use, at times you just want to scream at it.

You need to take a look at this video from YouTube. Basically a Southpark style remake of the famous Mac / PC ads from Apple, it hits the nail dead on the head. And in the end I do mean dead.

Yes, that’s right. Spring has hit here in the South Carolina Low Country. The azaleas are blooming, the birds are chirping, and the squirrels are getting frisky. Indeed, thanks to the squirrels we have a live demonstration of the circle of life going on right out there in the front yard. Who needs cable TV when you have oversexed rodents going at it in full view of your living room window?

The arrival of gorgeous weather also means that lots of events are starting to take place and with that all of the tourists are returning. Last weekend was the Flowertown Festival and the Cooper River Bridge Run. We also made our first visit of the year to the beach, although it is still too cold to go swimming. Coming up within the span of a few weeks we have the Family Circle Cup tennis tournament, the Charleston In-Water Boat Show, the season openers of our soccer team - the Charleston Battery - and our baseball team - the Riverdogs, the Folly Beach Sun and Sand Festival, and an awful lot more. This weekend my wife and I will be attending the last oyster roast of the season - a benefit for Keeper of the Wild, a great animal rescue organization.

And that is just the next week or two! As we roll farther into April and May there will be much, much more. Hopefully I will get some pictures up soon of all this. It is a beautiful time of year here. If you get a chance, come on down!

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”
- Thomas Jefferson

Discuss amongst yourselves. Please. And with others. Please discuss with everyone and let your voices be heard. In too many areas the freedom of the individual is being replaced with the comfort and complacency of the masses or the ease and profit of big business. Without the free and open discussion of these issues, our liberties die and their passing goes unnoticed.

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted…

“Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”

The woman below replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You’re between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude.”

“You must be an engineer,” said the balloonist.

“I am,” replied the woman, “How did you know?”

“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically correct, but I’ve no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help at all. If anything, you’ve delayed my trip.”

The woman below responded, “You must be in Management.”

“I am,” replied the balloonist, “but how did you know?”

“Well,” said the woman, “you don’t know where you are or where you’re going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you’ve no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it’s my fault.”

I have been trying meditation, and tea, and walks, and about everything else I can think of. But do you want to know the truth? Well the truth is that I just really want to kill someone! There, I said it. Maybe that will make me feel better!

The problem is, and I am sure that a lot of you have the same problem, that there are lots of a-holes at work. Yup, amazing isn’t it. There are people at the office who just try to pass on blame, avoid responsibility, and simply seemed determined to screw other people up. Case in point - why would you wait until people involved on a project are out of town before you raise an issue. Oh, they aren’t responding while on vacation? Then immediately escalate, without letting them know, to the boss. The issue existed before anyone left, and people would be back the next day. This “escalator” chose that particular day to announce and push the problem specifically because there was no one there to offer a defense. It was a calculated action to get people into trouble. Really fosters a great team relationship doesn’t it?

Now here is the hard part. I am a firm believer in the fact that we are all dealt adversities in our life. What separates us and shows who we are is how we deal with those hardships. Yes, we all face jerks at work. What happens next is up to you and me. Do we turn into jerks in return? Or do we maintain our cool. So far I have been able to maintain my calm and not go back at this person. But when does that become just laying down and become a doormat? Since this person is a superior, there is only so much I can do without seeming out of line.

But like I said, I am going to burst soon. My blood pressure is up. My head hurts. And my face feels hot. And no, it isn’t just an isolated occurrence, and yes I am already on blood pressure medication. So other than killing someone, got any ideas? (And no, I am not seriously going to kill anyone.)