Category: Observations Page 30 of 90

Empty box of chocolates. From http://gratisography.com/

Consumer

On January 3, 2016

I consume as much as the next guy. I constantly refresh Twitter hoping for something new to show up and give me a few seconds of delight.

I scroll through Facebook past the Likes and Stories Commented On to find the little nuggets of people’s lives I’ve chosen to keep up with.

I go back and forth with Tumblr trying to decide if it’s purely a place to read about Destiny and silly memes. Or if I want to follow writers, photographers and artists. Presently, it’s a mix of both and I’m liking it that way. It’s not too heavy I feel the need to skip reading it until I’m in the proper mood or mindset to get something out of it. And not to silly that I still feel the need to go there and catch up.

I’ve consumed a lot. I sit and I pour hours into video games and joking with friends and I’m sure I could be doing something more productive with my life. As a gaming friend said to me last week, “If I quit Destiny, I could write a book.” And while I have no plans to quit any time soon. I am going to make more of an effort to contribute to the world of consumables this year.

This isn’t a resolution. It’s nothing new. But I am starting to get a few things going that have come together around the same time. Here’s what I’m going to be making in 2016.

March 2 March

My March2March project reached the end of the year. I wasn’t sure if I would get this far but I did and I’ve had fun with it. March2March is a daily photo project starting March 1 instead of the first of the year.

Once I hit the March 1 again, I’m not sure if I’ll do it again for 2016-2017 or if I do something different. I’ll decide when I get there.

Buddycast

I’ve started a podcast with a few buddies from a Slack room I hang out in. The show is called Buddycast. The idea is a show about technology, games, movies, TV, and whatever we feel like talking about. It doesn’t have a set release schedule nor roster. There’s a core group of four potential hosts and whoever is available on the day we decide to record is on the show.

I appear on episode 1: Technology as an Enabler and the recorded-but-not-yet-released Episode 3. Which may or may not be all about Leisure Suit Larry 4.

It’s been a lot of fun to be on the show and the whole idea behind it is no-stress, no business plan fun. We’re not trying for sponsors or to make money from it. We’re just looking to have a good time and share our conversations with anyone who may be interested in them. We a geographically diverse cast and a great collection of accents. I’m staring at the token white guy.

Origin Story

I started a project about the origins of the names we use online. Origin Story has been on hiatus as I lazily forgot to send out requests to more people for interviews.

I have three in the queue I’m ready to release but I need to collect some more so I can keep it going instead of posting a few, having months of nothing, then posting a few more.

It’s going to come back in 2016 and I’m going to try to keep it going more than I did last year.

Book

I’ve sat on a small book I wrote a few years ago called Beyond the Reboot. This is the year I do something with it. It’s a series of essays about customer service and tech support and what it takes to be a good tech.

This is the year I take the text files, get them professionally edited and release it to the world for a few dollars.

What Else?

I’ve really enjoyed podcasting. I can sit and talk and I don’t stutter and stammer as much as I tend to in life. I have every Monday off with my new job so I’m more flexible this year.

I’d love to partner with someone else on a project. I don’t know what yet. I’m a terrible idea guy. So if you have an idea and if you’re looking for a partner in crime, I could be your co-conspirator.

I don’t have any coding skills but I’m a passionate customer service and advocate for the user. I’m a recovering advertising major and former graphic designer and semi-decent photographer.

If you’ve got ideas I could be the one to help you see them through. Let’s talk!

Dial-up Fibers

By Carl

On January 2, 2016

In Observations

We are all afraid of being alone.

We all went to the web to find out if the question we all had in our heads was true.

Am I alone?

Does anyone else feel like I do? Am I the only one who feels this way?

No.

We aren’t alone. That’s what the Internet was able to show us.

Back when it was the Information Superhighway or the World Wide Web. It was a big, flashing neon sign attracting nerds like flies.

I was one of those nerds. I was drawn to the flame. I craved the warmth and acceptance of other people like me. But I had no idea where to find them.

One School

I grew up in a county with one school. One middle school. One high school. One.

I went to high school with about 500 other people. I graduated in 2000 with 167 peers.

It was a small place and in that place I was the freak, the outcast. I was big enough to be the ideal football player. With no interest in being a tackling dummy.

I quit the varsity basketball team because it would mean missing our final Coffee House, which our Literary Magazine put on a few times per year to promote our publication and raise funds.

I knew who I was and what was most important to me. But there were not a lot of people like me. Later I learned there is no one like me. No one is like anyone else. We’re all our own people.

Lit Mag

Literary Magazine was a safe haven for me. I was able to be with artists and writers and musicians. I was able to share parts of myself that weren’t congruent with my 6’5″ and 250 pound frame. I was able to be myself.

I wasn’t the person I looked like. I wasn’t the stereotype people assumed.

I was my own person and that was a strange beast in my home town.

The Web

The web was a revelation. It was a place to go outside of my high school. It was a place I could be myself.

The web is about ideas. The web doesn’t care who you are or what you look like. The web is about information. Not appearance.

That’s what drew me in and why I keep going back.

I’m 34 now but I still feel like the same freak I was in high school.

I’ve never felt comfortable in my own skin. I skip around and follow wherever I see as the best path at a given time.

I used to feel like I knew who I was. But the deeper I look inside the less I feel I know myself.

But I know one thing. The friendships I’ve made online are keeping me going.

Some of my best friends are avatars. And those avatars are wonderful people I wouldn’t know what to do without.

From dial-up to fiber, the web is my home.

Leaving DOL

By Carl

On December 9, 2015

In Observations

I’m leaving my job. Friday is my last day. It’s been a good two years with the Department of Labor. I started here one day late because the government was still closed back in 2013.

I walked into the job and three days later my co-worker was let go. From then, I worked alone (with a lot of help from others) to get me into the position where I was able to support the department’s WebEx events without failure.

I was a one-man support team until Jan 2015 when I finally got some full-time help. Then we were finally a two-person team again. Then that person left suddenly in October and we hired a new person who I’ve poured all of my knowledge into and left him with a pile of documentation and as much training as I could cram into our few weeks together.

He’s knowledgeable, excited and hard-working and I know he’ll keep things going once I leave and continue the tradition of success I’ve worked so hard to build.

I tend to disappear from jobs without so much as word as I did from NIH in 2013, with my two-weeks being entirely during the shutdown.

This time, I setup an auto-responder to all new email to alert people who I was leaving and to email the group email address and not me directly as they’d gotten used to when it was just me.

I’m terrible at goodbyes but it’s nice to know your hard work didn’t go unnoticed which it can so often feel like when working in a support role. I got this email earlier this morning from a person I’ve worked on countless events with over the past two years.

Carl – I just learned you were leaving DOL this Friday. I wanted to say thank you so very much for all you have done on behalf of OCIO and the IT Modernization Team to support learning events, All Hands meetings, committee meetings, etc. – you were the glue that helped make these events work seamlessly as a norm. And if there was a hitch you had a quick remedy.

Your expertise and service-oriented way of being have been greatly appreciated and valued by all on our team. Knowing that someone with expertise and knowhow was available to assist in the less visible parts of the work removed a lot of stress.

Your departure is a tremendous loss for DOL and OCIO. I wish you the very very best in your next endeavor and hope your new employer understands the contribution you can make to their work.

So with this, I leave contracting to the Department of Labor for a contract job with the Food & Drug Administration.

Find Destiny Friends

By Carl

On November 24, 2015

In Destiny, Observations

Want to raid in Destiny but don’t have enough friends?
Tired of always playing Iron Banner solo?
Is the Nightfall an impossible venture without a fireteam?

The 100 is a great web site that will help you find a team to play with. I’ve used it to join raid groups who needed one more person to fill out the roster. I’ve posted when I needed help on Nightfalls or in the Prison of Elders.

I’ve made friends and had a lot of fun with other Destiny players I never knew before The 100.

You can join a group and keep an ongoing roster of people to play with or see what games are open when you’re looking to play.

Check out The 100 and never play alone again.

Destiny is a lifestyle

By Carl

On October 27, 2015

In Destiny, Observations

Ever since Destiny came out, it’s all I’ve played on the Xbox. I could get into why and what has captured my attention about the game. But it’s simple.
It’s about community. It’s about friendship. I’ve made a lot of great friends online (and one I knew in real life.)

And we have fun together.

The story of Destiny is a mess. The new expansion, The Taken King is a new game more than an expansion.

Michael Lopp, aka Rands is still playing Destiny. He also wrote a post that I immediately related to. Be Unfailingly Kind is a love letter to Destiny and the friends he plays with. He talks about DJ. The leader of their raid group. In a raid, you need teamwork, communication and most of all patience.

Everyone screws up. Everyone shoots a rocket into the back of a teammate or spends a little too long before running for cover. Rands talks about DJ and I see a lot of my clanmates in his praise.

Rands says this about DJ:
* He clearly explains the situation. As many times as possible. Calmly.
* He has an insightful answer ready to any question. He’s done his research to become an expert in his field.
* Once the raid has begun, he monitors the situation, provides real-time feedback, and updates to the other players in a helpful and educational manner.
* In the face of disaster, he never loses composure.

We all have our own DJ. Our group leader that keeps us together and helps us through. Destiny is not just a grind. Destiny is about friendship and teamwork. I’ve played the same mission countless times. But each time with a different team of people who needed help getting through it. And I knew when it was time for me to run through it, they would be just as willing to help me out.

As of this morning, the Destiny iPhone app tells me I’ve spent 21 days, 16 hours and 36 minutes of my life playing it. I play because I have fun. I play because of the people I can have fun with and that will always keep me coming back.

Games should be fun and not take themselves too seriously. For Halloween, the Tower, where Guardians hang out, dance, shop and access their vaults was turned into a creepy wonderland with a series of quests to complete wearing masks. We’ve been collecting candy to fill bags to exchange for masks and other items. It’s fun. And hilarious.

We are the Fr0zen Clan. Our motto is Let It Go!

Remember when I said games are meant to be fun. Here is our clan description:

Are you an orphaned princess who likes to sing her emotional status? Do you have super powers that should terrify your local serfs and merchants? Are you unaware of the number of plates in your house? Can you build an ice castle and create life (both terrifying and wildly annoying) from snow???? THEN THIS CLAN IS FOR YOU!!!!! We’ll also accept whalers from the moon, cannon fodder, bullet sponges and anyone that throws panic grenades.

We play on the Xbox One and are always looking for new friends. If you understand life comes before games, children exist and need to be cared for and like laughing and having a good time. Look us up.