Diary of a Network Geek

I don’t generally decorate my laptop.

But, I have to admit, this one laptop decal from DeinDesign does capture my attention. Maybe it’s the stark contrast of the colors, or the subject, but there’s just something about it… And, that was my reaction to this sticker from Scrojo, too. I guess my own struggles with “monkey mind” when trying to meditate leads me to gravitate toward the monkey as a religious icon. It just appeals to me.

No, not friends…

I’m lucky. I have had a full-time job with benefits since graduating from college, less a year’s worth of market fluctuation that left me unemployed for a bit. But, I knew a lot of people who couldn’t find a full-time job and actually had to work several part-time gigs to make ends meet. At the time, I wondered how they dealt with health insurance, but, it turns out, most of them just did without.

Well, I’ve often wondered how someone on a reduced income or who did something artistic for most of their money managed to swing benefits. It turns out that there are actually a number of places that offer benefits to people working part-time. So, if you’re a struggling consultant who has to work at a gig part-time to get by, why not try one of the places listed in the link above? (The same goes for you starving artists and hopeful authors.)

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"Between saying and doing many a pair of shoes is worn out."
   --Italian Proverb

I used to want to be an Author.

Back when I thought being an Author was about writing and helping other write, that was what I wanted to do. But, it turns out, being an Author only has a passing acquaintance with writing. It’s apparently become a political thing that’s all about belonging to the right organizations and knowing the right people and taking the right positions on things that, frankly, don’t seem to matter that much to me.

See, back in the day, I aspired to meeting the requirements for the SFWA. (That’s the Science-Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Association.) And, then, of course, joining. Honestly? The requirements aren’t that much for someone who’s really giving it the serious attention it deserves. But, now, I’m starting to question the benefits of membership.
It used to be that being a member meant access to a grievance committee, a legal defense fund, an emergency medical fund, a regular membership journal, and a certain level of legitimacy. Now, well, it seems like membership is more of a hassle. In the past year, there’s been several big, political brouhahas over copyright and its defense. The latest has been about the dissolution and recreation of a committee that, well, doesn’t seem to be working very well. (You can read about that on several blogs, including some blogs of people who served on the committee to fix the broken committee.) So, it seems like a lot of people think it’s about, well, politics.
Now, granted, copyright issues can be very, very important to a writer, but, it seems they’re even more important to an Author. See, back when I thought the pinnacle of existence was being a member of SFWA, I cared more about writing than whether or not I’ve sufficiently protected my work from theoretical “epirates”, or, in the same vein, made it sufficiently free that the Founding Fathers would be pleased. But, what seems to get lost in all this discussion of rights and freedom and copyright and assorted other politics is the whole purpose of writing in the first place.
Apparently, one of the only reasons people see to join the SFWA is for the Emergency Medical Fund. Well, as I’ll post about tomorrow, I think I’d be better off just working a part-time job that has good medical benefits.

I started writing because I wanted to tell good stories to people who wanted to read them.
It doesn’t seem like much, to me. It’s a small ambition. I don’t need to carry a political agenda or have an opinion about an organization to which I do not belong. I just want to write stories that people want to read. It doesn’t seem very ambitious, really, does it?

I think Will Shetterly had it right when he wrote that he’d rather be a writer than an Author. I’ll leave the politics to the professionals and just go try to write a good story instead.

I love well designed websites.

I love the look of WebUrbanist. And, their content isn’t too bad, either. As I work on my Super Secret Creative Project, and the website that will support that, I think I may well try to recreate my own version of the design at WebUrbanist.

That’s how much I like it.

Not sure who else will care about this.

I doubt most of my readers will care too much about this, but I do sort of follow what goes on at Six Apart. They were the first real blog company, I think. They made the first blogging software I used, MovableType, and, really, they were around before just about anyone else. As a company, they’ve contributed quite a bit to the blogging world, beyond their software. In short, I keep an eye on them because they’re one of the big players in the blog world.

In any case, according to this story on ZDnet, they’ve sold LiveJournal to a Russian online media company called SUP. They, apparently, are making a few changes, but the overall attitude seems to be a positive one. Personally, I wonder what made Six Apart sell LiveJournal. I don’t use it myself, but I read a couple of blogs that are on LiveJournal so I’m passingly familiar with them. I doubt that LJ made any big money for Six Apart, but, then, I didn’t think that was why they acquired them in the first place. At the time, I thought it was to convert people from LJ to Six Apart’s MovableType-based service, TypePad. Now, though, I wonder if that was it at all. If they were after some technology that LJ had, what would it have been? And, now that they have it, why dump LJ?

Not sure what’s going on there, but, no matter how you feel about Six Apart, they’re pretty savy when it comes to business and blogging, so they likely have a pretty good reason for their decision to sell LiveJournal.  And, just as likely that none of us regular joes will ever know what it is.

Okay, you’re going to see a lot of pictures.

Look, I apologize in advance, especially to the more experienced photographers who read my blog, but you all are going to see a lot of pictures here. Probably a lot of bad pictures as I figure out how to use this new camera, too. Hopefully, they’ll start getting better, but, well, I make no promises, eh?

In any case, now you all can see my new Canon Digital Rebel XTi.
Notice, I have two lenses. One small, but with image stabilization. One zoom, but without image stabilization. The CF card is in the camera, but I threw the box in the pic anyway. Oh, and notice the handy cable for getting pictures off the camera. And the software that came with the camera to install both drivers and a handy utility program that includes the ability to take pictures remotely via the USB interface. But, I can use the other cable to display pictures on a television, if I wanted. Oh, and the handy reference manual.

I have to admit, I’m beside myself with this. When my ex-wife got her digital camera all those years ago, I so wanted to play with it, but I wasn’t allowed. I mean, she paid for it and it was, ostensibly, hers and meant to improve her web mastering skills somehow. But, oh, how I wanted to use it. Especially when she let it just sit there after spending well over $1,000 for it. And, yes, I hoped that she’d “forget” and leave it behind, but she didn’t. And I am so glad because this camera is so good and if she’d left her old one, I never would have gotten this one.

Until I started taking pictures yesterday, I didn’t realize how badly I wanted a camera and to take pictures. I can even think of several little excursions into various parts of Houston that I haven’t explored that I’d like to take, just for the photo opportunities.
Now, of course, I’ll probably need to start saving for a better camera bag and a tripod…

I “failed” at NaNoWriMo, again.

I think November is quite possibly the absolute worst month for me to dedicate myself to a writing project. I end up with more social and work obligations in November than any other month of the year. At least, that’s how it’s seemed to me for the past several years. Hell, three years ago, when I planned to do NaNoWriMo for the first time, I was lucky to drag myself through the month at all! Last year, I was coughing blood and converting a phone system. This year I just had so many social obligations that I just got behind and never caught up.

And, I have to admit, I also didn’t plan things nearly enough. Last year, at least I had worked out a bit of research and I’d been writing a bit. This year, not only did I not do enough research, but I don’t think I’d written a word of fiction all year! Seriously, it’s kind of been a long year with a lot of physical demands on me, so I just haven’t been writing creatively, outside this blog, at all. I think it was pretty unrealistic of me to just jump in cold like that and expect to be writing over 1,500 words each day. In any case, I think what it proves to me is that I need to keep writing all the time. Waiting to get inspired is just foolish, as has been proven over and over by professional writers. Rather, if I keep writing, the inspiration will come of its own accord. So, that is my goal for the coming year: to write, every week.

To console myself, however, I bought my camera yesterday.
Ritz/Wolf Camera had a sale, which ended yesterday, that got me a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi with an 18-55mm lens and a 75-300mm zoom lens for just under $800 before tax. I added a 2gig memory card and the two-year protection and maintenance plan as well. The maintenance plan seemed a little expensive, at first, until one considers that it will repair or replace the camera and either lens, no matter the damage, for two years. And, it included an annual cleaning, each of which were almost half the price of the plan. Well worth it, I think, considering the investment I made. Oh, and the package deal specified a regular 55mm lens, but they were out of that, so I got a free upgrade to an 18-55mm lens with image stabilization built in. Super cool!
To be honest, I felt a little guilty about buying the camera.
I mean, sure, I did “earn” the money via ad revenue and I have wanted a really good digital camera for a while now, but, well… Well, the guilty, co-dependant in me feels like I shouldn’t spend money on myself. Rather, I should be spending that money on some charity or other. Giving it to the church or feeding starving children in Africa or something. Naturally, I called a friend to churn this over in my head and his response did help put things in perspective for me.
“Look, you just survived cancer this year…” And, that was as far as he got before I had already gotten the point. Yes, it has been a rougher than usual year and I have really wanted a good camera with which I can make art for some time. But, I do want to avoid that whole feeling of entitlement. I don’t ever want to get back into a mindset of “I deserve this because things have been rough lately.” In the past, that kind of attitude has not served me well. Not at all.

So, I’ll try to avoid that feeling and still make use of and enjoy the camera.
I do deserve good things and I do deserve to have fun, cancer not with standing. I do work hard for most everything I have and I am grateful for the opportunities that God gives me, both to get good things and to give good things. And, I do appreciate every, single person who has ever clicked on an ad on my website that earned me the money to buy this. It has made me think more and pay more attention to advertising on other people’s websites, if nothing else.
And, of course, you all will get to see more photos as time goes by and I get better with my new toy. I know at least one unusual feature of Houston that I want to capture, though it may take some time. Oh, in case you hadn’t figured it out, all the pictures in this post were taken with the new camera.
Tomorrow, I’ll lay out the camera itself and take pictures of it, per a challenge from Peter, the Brit. Until then, though, enjoy these!