Tag: fool’s gold

Posted on

Ebenezer’s guide to Christmas

What do you want?  I’ve spent over 2 hours trawling one of the biggest shopping websites in the world and I still can’t find something I actually want.  Bah humbug to it all.  Why do I have to force feed myself reasons to be jolly anyhow?

What’s really important is being around people who actually care about my existence.  Besides, the things that give me a real buzz cannot be bought with a civilian security clearance or are too elite to be on any retail shopping outlet.

December 25th, 2017 Daytona Beach (destination not reached)

7 ways to sidestep Santa mayhem – online and offline

Give small but niche token gifts
Use a daily cash envelope system
Use Load-up cards only
Carry a food flask so you don’t eat too much
Talk and Dream about Summer 2018 holidays
Grab the designated driver card to avoid drinking
Downgrade to a “dumb” phone…Text and Talk only

Run out of Pyridostigmine

Posted on

Upgrade it, Patch it, Break it

The classic dilemma for patch management is when to do it and what will it break.  Especially, when dealing with Operating systems you run the risk of the application you’ve been using for decades suddenly not working (not supported).

This issue is bad enough when doing the upgrade for yourself but when you do it on behalf of a client you run the risk of being the root cause of the problem.

The latest MacOs upgrade is not compatible the Outlook for Mac 2013 (version 15.3), which was released October 2014….WTF.  So now you have to spend time and money on an upgrade.

Always plan your Technical upgrades

The best practice is to run a compatibility test on all applications especially business-critical ones. But why haven’t two of the biggest software vendors in the world built that into the OS upgrade process to at least notify the user?

Money talks louder, so shut up and buy the Office365 upgrade

Meanwhile, I try to keep my head straight and get totally distracted by just looking out the window.  Austria is a great place to avoid mass marketing but dammit this has just pushed me back into my one-track mind.

Everywhere I look….

What was the approval process for a company to register and pay for this domain and then actively market it?

So much for Global Thinking

Posted on

Shutting down for the Year

2017 was good to me in terms of recovering from my self-created 2015 personal austerity.   I paid attention to lessons learned and didn’t repeat my mistakes.

I found Love and Lost money, I stayed healthy and thrived professionally.

It’s all still very fragile and I’m not where I need to be but…

2018 is all about grinding one foot ahead at a time.  Most of all it’s about working on my true Dreams and Hope first, after all, I can’t make others happy if I’m not happy.

 

Academia in Vienna
Driving in Florida
Living in London

Avoiding the Fool’s Gold Door for 2018

In the meantime, Horizon Zero Dawn’s DLC  dropped and Star Wars Battlefront II is here next week for most of us.

Be Happy Johnson

My 2018 Top  Game PlayList (New and titles to complete)

Annual software budget $500 | Annual Hardware budget $400

Current Library 
Fall Out 4 - (Level 30 right now)
Alien: Isolation
Life is Strange (Episodes 2-5)
Until Dawn
Tom Clancy's The Division - UN Mission 

Wish List 
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Far Cry 5
Horizon Zero Dawn - The Frozen Wilds
Star Wars Battlefront 2
Detroit: Become Human
Days Gone
OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead
Posted on

The Comfort of Denial

One of the easiest emotions to embrace is pure denial, It’s like a warm duvet on a cold winter night.

Gaming is the ultimate denial of the real world. Feeling broke? Go out and find some loot. Feeling alone? Dive into a multiplayer session.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can

Denial clouds the mind leading to lack of action in the futile hope that things will just get better on their own. Taking actions means risk. Risk of losing everything but also carries the real possibility that thing will improve.

Here are some great countermeasures:

Step 1  – Look at the cold hard facts
Step 2 – Look at your real options including the Hail Mary plays.
Step 3 – Take a single step forward

Christmas flight booked