v37.3: Back to Basics

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

I have been musing over coffee for quite awhile now.  I've some fairly good entries and some real bad ones.  There have been grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and just bad information all around.  I don't care.  Musings Over Coffee is my way of putting it all out there, on the screen for everyone to read.  I've had some nasty comments, I've hurt some feelings and have made some people angry with me.  Initially I let things like this bother me until I remembered that these are my thoughts and you can never please everyone.

-slurp-

I have been spending a lot of time lately reading through my past Musings.  Some I hardly remember writing, others I wish I could go back and rewrite.  Most of the time when I write  have a certain topic in mind but mid-way through the musing my focus shifts and I end up writing about something else.  That is the beauty of Musings over Coffee, it is completely random and doesn't follow any set standard or pattern.  I've been following other blog sites out there like Zen Habits and Life Hacker but those are fairly big blogs with a huge reader base; something I don't have (right now).  These folks have a lot on their plates and, in some cases, are full time bloggers who get paid to write articles for their reader base.  Right now, that is dream of mine, but I really need to get my ass in gear and really come up with a great idea.  I've spent a lot of time, money and effort on this site and I'm planning on going the distance with it.

-slurp-

I've also been researching publishing companies in an effort to publish my Musings.  Will anyone buy a copy?  Perhaps I may sell a few copies to friends and family members, but I have no delusions of selling a million copies of my musings since they are, for the most part, ramblings from a UNIX Geek and Gamer.  For me it is about seeing my work in another form, like a book or digest.  I have some ideas on how to accomplish this, but it is going to cost me some money (which I don't really have) and I will need to spend some time doing some massive editing.  Also, I'm thinking of finishing my short story and getting that published.  Hell, even if it's complete garbage, it is still something I've written put into a book with an ISDN tag which makes it legit; even if it only sell 1 copy (to myself).

-slurp-

Of course none of this will happen over night and none of it will happen without an investment of time and money on my part.  I've actually been "inspired" to write this week and have been doing a fairly good job at dedicating some time each morning to write, regardless of everything else going on.  This is something I made a conscience decision to do and so far it is working out.  I don't want to work in IT for the rest of my life, it just isn't that interesting and with hours starting to get longer and work load starting to go up (without an increase in pay I might add), the motivation to do excellent work is starting to decrease.  Don't get me wrong, I still feel I do a great job given the circumstances.  I've seen others here who seem to just "shut down" and don't give a shit.  Coasting by, doing as little as they can collecting their pay and doing barely enough not to get fired.  Of course to get fired here you would really need to do something drastic like rebooting several production trading servers during trading hours.  No, I've decided to not let the lack of raise and increased work load get me down, it doesn't make me feel good and it definitely doesn't make those around me feel good.  I'm here to work and when I work I do a damn fine job at it.  That is the way I am, that is the way I was raised and by God I'm not going to change now.

-slurp-

Anyway folks, with that said, I should get back to work.  Tomorrow is a holiday here in Canada and I'm looking forward to a nice day off to break up the work week a little bit.  My friends to the South have their Holiday on Sunday (and if you're lucky, Monday as well) so I foresee a few late night gaming events and good celebration.  I hope everyone has a great Canada Day tomorrow.  I'll be around and hopefully will be Musing about it.  So until then, keep your sticks on the ice.

Cheers,

Al