Thoughts That Come Unbidden Department

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Thought That Came Unbidden

On a rainy day, a dispatch from the tech wars

I forgot my can of daily caffeine to go with my lunch today so I took a little walk at mid-day. When I got back to my office building there was a bike, clearly belonging to a bike messenger on a delivery, resting on the parking meter out front.

Stuck on the spokes of the front wheel like we used to stick playing cards were about six of those “Get 1045 hours free!” AOL CDs.

Secret Window

As a general rule, the works of Stephen King don’t translate well to the screen (Cujo, Christine, and The Running Man stand out prominently in Hollywood’s history of hack jobs). Secret Window, from King’s novella Secret Window, Secret Garden, is a rare exception.
[Read more…] about Secret Window

Quote for today

An optimist is the human personification of spring.

— Susan J. Bissonette

Taking stock

It’s been exactly four months to the day since I left my job at the charity-that-shall-remain-nameless and I’m still feeling the effects of having been there. I start a new job on Monday and all the self-doubt I left my previous position carrying is now creeping back in and haunting me. I half expect to turn and see a little scabrous imp sitting on my shoulder gnashing its teeth while it whispers in my ear.

The good news is that I’ve come to realize that my problem is that I get caught up, that I let myself believe, as everyone around me seems to believe, that what I’m doing is “vitally important” when, in reality, my mother’s dictum about work is, and always was, correct:

Work is not your life.

Work exists to finance the rest of your life

What I’ve had to discover on my own is:

  1. While work is work, and it may be not exactly how I’d like to be spending my day, I’m quite attached to the nice money thanks.
  2. While work is work, and it may be not exactly how I’d like to be spending my day, there’s a big difference between “work” and “sheer hell.”
  3. There is no shame in demanding adequate compensation for the job I’m asked to do.
  4. With firm grasp on the difference between work and hell, if it feels like I’m being put upon, I am.
  5. And, last, but by no means least: if there is no “rest of your life” it’s time to find another job.