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Work kinda sucks right now. New corporate policies are being promulgated to fix non-existent problems because, "that's the way these two other branches of the company do things," and they belong to the corporate structure which bought us out last year (or maybe it was the year before). I won't go into any detail but suffice to say, work is gradually becoming less fun. I am very glad that I won't be in the work force that much longer. As long as the joy of pay outweighs the pain of stupid policies I'll stick with it. But that balance leans more and more to the "no fun" side every day.
I am also exhausted after a long weekend of driving hither and yon.
Came back from Maryland on Friday, got up Saturday and drove to New Hampshire, got up Sunday and drove back to Rhode Island. Fun?
No, not really.
Traffic wasn't really as bad on the weekend, but on Friday it was a living, effing nightmare.
Waze was determined that I should plunge into the heart of the beast and take the George Washington Bridge (the GW) to cross the Hudson River. Hating the approach to said bridge (it's confusing and not very well laid out) and despising the Cross Bronx "Expressway¹" with nearly every fiber of my being, I opted to take the Garden State Parkway and cross the Hudson at the Tappan Zee.
Which worked out rather well, traffic on the Garden State Parkway can be, shall we say interesting, but nowhere near as interesting as the approaches to the GW. So I went with that.
Then I effed up. After crossing the river, Waze suggested taking the Hutchinson River Parkway/Merritt Parkway, which is very picturesque, has interesting overpasses and ...
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And Friday last? Lots and lots of traffic, two hours to go forty miles, for those playing at home, that's 20 mph, which seems like one of those "well, at least we're moving" situations. But in reality it was more like, 2 mph for 15 minutes, then 40 mph for two minutes, rinse and repeat for two, yes, that's right folks, TWO (2) hours.
To be honest, the first time I ever took this route was in the early days of the late, unlamented, pandemic when everyone was staying at home. Hence, no traffic, so you had a scenic highway which was semi-fun to drive. While the posted speed limit is 55, most folks will do much more than that. Not that I would, law-abiding citizen that I am.²
The second time I went that way it was not as good, this time (which, unless someone dynamites I-95 will be the last) was awful, simply awful. The Missus Herself, upon hearing me say, "I'm never taking this road again!" protested, "But it's so pretty!"
I suggested she take lots of pictures to remember it by, because, nope, not gonna do it again.
Anyhoo, where was I? I didn't start to bitch about traffic but something else ...
Oh yeah, the title of the post, this blogging thing is starting to feel like work, distressingly so. (Why Part Deux? Well, I used the title before, here.)
First off, I think Blogger is messing with me, me personally. Damn thing is going back in time and marking one and two word comments as spam. Many of which (99%) were comments I made in response to someone else's comment. There were a couple from juvat and others which fell into the really short comment category.
Now my question is, who would think that a short comment would necessarily be spam? When something like "I now work from home and make fifty gazillion dollars a week, my mother-in-law's second cousin, twice removed, tipped me off to this amazing website where you can make billions just by following the simple instructions over there." Plus a link.
Now if I was programming a spam trap, the presence of a link would make me say "Whoa, wait a minute!" But a comment like "Yup." or ":)" gets sent to spam, a comment from up to ten years ago!!!
Also, a simple check that I have comment moderation turned on would indicate, "Hey, if it's less than five days old, maybe it's spam." But older than that? Not gonna get through the door unless I let it in.
I also have a sneaking suspicion that Blogger is playing with the views counter. They've done it before, where post views will drop down to less than 200 a day, then shoot up on some days to much higher than that.
So yes, blogging is starting to feel like work. Am I ready to quit?
Not yet, but we're getting close.
Regular blogging may (or may not, I dunno) continue on the morrow.
It's getting to be a chore!
/rant
1 It is anything but "express" on most days. Hence the quote marks.
² No, really. Well, maybe a little over 55, but nowhere near 75, or 80, I promise.
Good luck with the work aggravations vs work rewards...er....paycheck Sarge. That first winter after pulling the plug was wonderful not having to commute during the cold and snow. If blogging becomes a chore, then by all means hang it up, thanks for all the work you and your fellow bloggers do........ :)
ReplyDeleteI'm still up in the air on the blogging thing, I miss doing it when I'm on the road for the first couple of days, then ...
DeleteI think I'm just naturally lazy, or I'm old now, or both. 😎
I thought Waze (I have never used it) was supposed to give you the better-less congested way to get to somewhere?
ReplyDeleteBlogging, I really enjoy your blogging but it is work... you either get something out of it or you get paid for it... You keep coming back so I'll bet you enjoy it...
In theory Waze will do that. However, in the vicinity of NYC I'm guessing that it's almost impossible to predict the traffic. Now putting my tinfoil hat on - Google bought Waze some time ago, after all it's a competitor to Google Maps. Waze was the superior product in my view, users could use it to report road hazards (to include speed traps) whereas Google Maps doesnt allow user input, at least not that I've noticed.
DeleteI do get something out of blogging, otherwise I would have quit long ago.
FIW Google maps shows slow downs and speed traps and you can now show crashes, speed taps, slowdowns, stalls, objects in the road, etc.
DeleteAnd it's easy too.
Nice, maybe I need to switch back. Which, no doubt, was Google's objective in the first place.
DeleteTotally get it.. trying to tough it out to end of year but it gets harder every day and it's no longer "fun" (for certain values of fun)... Changing corporate processes without notification or how they now work... Various associates who are becoming just plain 'd--ks" because their project is more important than anyone else's... Sales group taking on projects without allowing for sufficient lead time... Customers changing criteria at time of program delivery... just a general PITA... Already told wife may not be able to make to end of year
ReplyDelete"Not able to make it to the end of the year".... I'm guessing retirement is the alternative you're looking at. In my experience going from a twice a month paycheck to a once a month somewhat-less-money is less stressful if you've planned a bit for it. Notice I used the word "less" along with stressful.
DeleteGood luck!
Anon - I feel your pain!
DeleteRob - Good points.
DeleteSarge, nothing but sympathy for ongoing additions to current corporate practices that do not make work more productive or streamlined while expecting the same level of productivity. I have less and less patience for anything that does not drive productivity or success (although, sadly, years away from retirement it seems).
ReplyDeleteI hate traffic, to the point I will not go places. The only experience I have driving on the East Cost when we drove from Philadelphia to Baltimore. Traffic was not terrible, but I suspect the middle of the week in the off part of Summer had something to do with that.
Blogger - Same results for Blogger helpfully spamming comments here. They all seem older - heck, it even spammed some of mine! To points that have been put up in the past, with the acquisition of Blogger by The Borg, I suspect less development and maintenance is going on. Hard to complain as it is free - but frustrating none the less.
Producing work every day is hard. And then I think I will not do it, and then I get unhappy and stressed. I cannot help but write.
Baltimore to Philly (or vice versa) can be "very interesting" at certain times of the day.
DeleteSometimes I think corporate practice is to give MBAs something to do. (If you gather that I look down upon MBAs, you'd be right. Years of experience dealing with them and their particular mindset.)
Writing is a stress reliever for me, usually. But when Blogger messes with things, it becomes more stressful than not writing!
There have been lots of other bloggers out there who have had issues with Blogspot messing with them. Just in the last two weeks or so it seems like in the comments section that instead of grouping comments correctly, BS is treating every comment as a completely new one, rather than grouping threads together. Not always, but just enough.
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, eliminate one pain in your life and the other becomes much less painful. So becoming work-less might make blogging enjoyable again, or vice versa.
It is your circus, and we are your monkeys, so...
I haven't seen any issues with the grouping of comments, which might caused by hitting the "wrong" Reply button. If you look you'll see that there is a Reply button under the original comment and then, if anyone replies to that comment (not a new comment), there is also a Reply button at the bottom of the thread. I haven't experimented with what those two buttons do when one is used as opposed to the other. Then again, Blogger is infamous for changing things just because they can. I look at the html under the hood quite a bit, it's easy to get a headache doing so.
DeleteDamn, they are MY monkeys!
Sadly, yes. Your responsibility. I feel like you did not read the contract fully before signing...
DeleteDamn fine print gets me every time!
DeleteMy experience with the dual reply button is the second button generates a new comment string. That’s what I’m pretty sure happened on my post Monday.
DeleteStay working as long as you enjoy it. Life is too short to work a drudge job. Same for blogging, although I will miss the camaraderie quite a bit.
juvat
I'm all better now, caught my breath, the Muse came to visit me, and like you always say ...
Delete"Never give up. Never surrender!"
Your notes on going from two paychecks a month to one is right on. It takes a while to make the transition. I'm working on my second year (Has it REALLY been that long?) It beats magic markers and cardboard. "Prime street corners still available!!! Ask me how!!!"
ReplyDeleteWhen I retire I'll be going from two paychecks a month to three. One goes away, and two more join. Of course, the one which goes away is quite a bit more than the two replacements.
DeleteCrusty Old TV Tech here. I have observed that there are two groups in most large companies. One, the productive, mostly Technicians, Engineers, Chemists, not usually PhD's, but occasionally one finds a gem, and code flingers who were educated In The Days Before Java. The next group is the pullers of productivity out, mostly MBA's, PhD's, IT management, HR, mid level management, and code flingers who were educated After Java. The two groups are in a constant tension, one adding to the company's products and therefore profits, and the other taking from the products and adding bureacracy, excess paperwork, horribly written (or bought-in) business software, etc. That second group is the one that makes retirement look much better the closer one gets to 65.
ReplyDeleteNailed it. (Well, I've known and worked with some Phds who were very productive ... but they were very strange birds.)
DeleteCOTT, don't get me started on Java, but I like the way you've created two new epochs for me to mock and use henceforth: TDBJ (The Days Before Java) and AJ (After Java). HR departments are simply part of the DEI mob these days, not that they were of any use to me in the past anyway. MBAs, I think I've expressed my disdain for that degree in more than one place, and IT "Management," making the rules that they don't need to follow to fix things that aren't broken.
DeleteNice job of classifying the two main parts of most organizations!
htom - I think most useful PhDs are odd birds to begin with, the less useful ones do it so they can insist on being called "Doctor."
DeleteOdd birds we are indeed, especially in science and engineering.
DeleteAh, the useful PhDs.
DeleteI was called into a surprise meeting with the Prime Contractor. Just me; my boss introduced me and left. "Dr. Trites," she began. "Stop." I said. "I know you don't use the title, you're not the only one who doesn't. We can't find your thesis. We have people at every security level, but can't find it!" "I don't have a doctorate." "Oh!" ... It seems I was performing far, far above my academic qualifications. This caused problems. Leading teams to exceed requirements, before deadlines, under budget ... was not as important as my title to Uncle Sam. Ah well.
DeleteMany of them are so enamored of titles.
DeleteI had a couple intriguing titles. One was 'Technical Manager'. It arose because salary increases mainly came with being in management (which included supervising employees, employee evaluations, etc.). I flatly told my bigger boss that I would do it if he told me to, but I would not enjoy it, and probably would be bad at it. Somehow, he created my new position (and pay raise) out of whole cloth, being responsible for supervising employees (on loan from their managers) only while they were working on a project I was in charge of. As I got older, the second was the exalted title of 'Senior Research Scientist'. My explanation to everyone was that this was the title they gave you just before you were turned out to pasture...
DeleteAh, titles, I enjoy not using one at work.
DeleteThe only one who addressed me by title was my boss "Dr Don". Both as a greeting (because he knew it embarrassed me) or because he had a slimy shit proposal he wanted me to the write (and head the research). Good Times!
Delete🤣🤣🤣
DeleteThere's a meeting I try to go to on the north side of the twin cities. We shut down for a month at the start of the Great Pandemic Shutdown, and then resumed. A 45 minute drive became 20 minutes, strictly obeying the speed limit (cruise control.) Less if my foot was involved. Now, the road construction is complete ... and it can take an hour. The idiot drivers have not slowed back down, I'm seeing more multi-car crashes ON THE FREEWAY.
ReplyDeleteWork ... when it stops being enjoyable, the pay has to go up (or other rewards appear) or it becomes drudgery, at best. Ha. I just figured out why theatre was my favorite (and cooking and counseling are such close seconds.)
The Great Pandemic Shutdown (or GPS, if you will) certainly made travel by road so much easier.
DeleteIf blogging on a regular basis is no longer fun for you, by all means stop. You will be missed, but we'll survive.
ReplyDeleteMaybe stopping the regular blogging will unleash your inner muse and let you work on the novels we would all like to read.
"I suggested she take lots of pictures to remember it by, because, nope, not gonna do it again."
How long were you on the couch after that?
I survived the comment in my own bed, Korean wives are very understanding. (She's also very used to my idiocy and makes allowances.)
DeleteIf it's a chore and no longer fun for you to churn out words every day for your eager readers, by all means stop. We'll survive somehow (chin quiver and snuffle).
ReplyDeleteMaybe stopping this daily grind will unleash your true muse and allow you to work on the novels you have bottled up within you.
"I suggested she take lots of pictures to remember it by, because, nope, not gonna do it again."
How long were you on the couch after that indiscretion?
Sorry for the double tap.
DeleteHhmm, stopping the daily grind so as to work on my novels ...
DeleteOh Lord, don't tempt me like that. (Not that this is a daily grind, if I can't rant and rave to youse guys, who would I do it to? The Missus Herself, as noted above, is understanding, but no one is THAT understanding, if you get my drift.)
As to the double tap - The commenting hoops we need to jump through would try the patience of Job.
DeleteNah.... just me. I went off to do something for a minute, scrolled through the comments, didn't see the one I forget to put my name on and figured I had messed up somehow, so I rewrote it. Hit Publish and saw both.
DeleteWell, yes, that happens. Not that I've ever ...
DeleteOh wait, I have!
The commute I don't miss. Nowadays its a few times a week to campus to drop off and pick up but in the olden days it involved commutes from Emeryville to San Jose, San Diego to San Jose, Emeryville to Treasure Island and the finale, San Diego to Korea 2 to 4 times a month for years. That broke something that needed breaking for which I'm deeply thankful. The blog is now not so much a daily thing but nowhere near as rare as it was during my second year of blogging.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the tyrants of time wasting. I've shed them all!
The Tyrants of Time Wasting! (ToTW)
DeleteI'm enjoying all of these new acronymizable terms (Yes, I know that's not a word. Now.)
I have noticed that your post production on your blog has seen an upswing in the past few weeks, something I'm grateful for.
The daily commute is ten miles, one way, it's picturesque so I've got that going for me. As for "rush hour" from Aquidneck to the mainland it's never really bad, unless some yahoo has crashed his motor vehicle on the bridge. Then ...
If you cease blogging, you'll have at least one reader who'll miss looking at the world through your eyes.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm just being cranky after a week's vacation and then right back to work. I have what I think is a treat in store for tomorrow.
DeleteI have not yet begun to fight!
I comment very rarely, and appreciate that if blogging becomes a chore, it's probably time to quit, but like boron, I would miss what you write.
ReplyDeleteDJB Hunter
I do believe I've caught my second wind, stay tuned!
DeleteYou could go to a semi irregular schedule- say Tues/Thurs/Sat, with Juvat on Monday? That would be somewhat of a relief valve and maybe blogger wouldn't be as irritating. You've been better at taking some days off recently, maybe just make it a regular thing? We'd fill in when able, and you could post more if desired. However, is there a way to shut off comments on old posts so blogger isn't as aggravating?
ReplyDeleteOuch, that's the last thing I'd do, create a schedule, argh, then it would really be like work!
DeleteBut really, I'm all better now, just pissed that my employer is doing some very stupid things because "that's how other branches do it" and having come back from vacation and desperately needing to catch up on sleep.
Besides which, I'm already on a kinda irregular "schedule," I don't write when I don't feel like it, and often Beans will check at midnight and post something if I didn't. It's kinda fun unleashing our Beans on an unsuspecting public.
I also have two John Blackshoe posts in reserve for when I need them!
Believe me, I'll be fine.