Eschew Obfuscation

I feel like a bad parent.

My blog is withering under my hand.

I’m wondering at the things that I have to say and find myself doubting the validity and relevance.

So very often I find myself thinking, “That would be a cool thing to put on my blog,” only to be lax and not write down the idea stub or later discard the idea as being non-relevant to those who would read it.

So I’m going to ask you, my dedicated reader, what would you like to see here?

What topics do YOU believe I should commit to the intartubes?

— OK. Enough of that. On with the show. —

As I’m wont from time to time, I wonder about the things that have transpired in the past. My past really. I can’t dwell too much on the choices and actions of those before me other than to try to avoid their gross errors.

Far too often, I find that I speak without thinking about the true consequences of my words. I admit that I’m rarely out to cause harm. Most often I find that these things come about from my love of seeing people smile. This doesn’t necessarily ease the impact had on someone that believes my intent to be otherwise.

The other outcome frequented by this problem is that folks may consider me to flippant or an idiot. If flippant, then trust cannot be engendered in our relationship because it’s possible that they believe that I’m incapable of a serious answer. If idiotic, well, that’s just bad.

Overcoming this dilemma is indeed difficult for me. I have a really hard time making life more serious than it already is. Life has a way of being serious when it needs to be all on its own. If I add drama to the mix just because I choose to, I’m not really helping anything, I’m just being dramatic. I’m really not a very good actor, so drama just makes me look foolish. Reference my earlier comment about being considered an idiot.

So what does this all have to do with time? As time has passed, I’ve become more an more comfortable with who and what I am. Not necessarily confident in myself so much as accepting of the things that can be considered merits and flaws of my character.

I realize that there are things about me that are considered socially good and those that are socially notsogood.

As time goes on, I’m hopeful that I will be able to change the things that I find to be broken and garner acceptance in others for those things that I may not do “according to the book.”

To me, time seems to be a warm friend guiding me towards all that is beautiful.

I pray that I can help others along their path and learn from them at the same time.

written by halfdime

Today for me is a wonderful day. My children have decided that they do in fact love me and that they would like to show that appreciation by wishing me a happy father’s day with extra hugs and kisses.

I’m good with that.

For my part, I want to take the opportunity to publicly thank my father for being there for me and making the tough decisions when they needed to be made. I wasn’t the easiest child to raise and I’m not always the easiest adult to live with.

Thanks Dad. You’re the best. I love you and wish that you could be here. I only hope that when my children grow up

written by halfdime

If this takes on the appearance of a rant, I apologize. I have some strong feelings about this topic.

I was talking to someone the other day who commented that I seem to be in a good mood much more often than bad. I told them that I don’t have a reason to be unhappy when I have so much good in my life.

This seems to be a difficult thing for many geeks to do. I’m not really sure if it’s the belief that it’s cool to be grumpy or if it’s just a lack of perspective brought on by being blessed with so much for so long. Regardless, we tend to dwell on the negative and often thrive on contention.

What’s perhaps even more disturbing is that instead of making an attempt to fix the problems we see, more often than not, we grouse about them and then do nothing beyond adding fuel to the discontent of those around us. The true irony of this situation is that we as geeks have an innate ability and drive to fix things. We thrive on fixing things that are truly challenging. Why then do we so often retreat from societal problems?

To be fair, I don’t see this as just geeks. As a society we are moving aggressively away from being a part of the community that we live in. Each person goes from their home to their car to work and back making as few social interactions as possible. We spend too much time tending our devices and not enough time taking care of what matters most. How do we expect any of the societal ills that we perceive to be remedied if we’re only willing to make sure that we’re not contributing to them? When will we decide that it *is* worth our time to help others?

So here’s my hope. If you’ve read this far, maybe you’re willing to do something besides flame me in the comments.

Sign up for something to improve the life of someone around you. The only stipulation that I would make is that you do something you’ve never done before and that you get no recognition of any kind.

If you feel brave, leave me a comment about what you’re doing/have done/will be doing.

p.s. No. I’m not going to blow my own horn. Just suffice to say that I feel pretty comfortable about what I’m doing and have done in the past to call on folks to be more active in the community.

written by halfdime