Successful!

Good Morning Folks,

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Well this is officially the last day of the working week for me.  Since I have to work next Monday which is when most companies will be taking Canada Day, I decided to take the Friday before.  I must admit, this has been a very stressful week for me, but I won't go into that. :)

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I found this picture this morning while I was stumbling



I made me start thinking and you know what happens when I start thinking.... :)

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What is success?

- an event that accomplishes its intended purpose;
- a state of prosperity or fame;
- achiever: a person with a record of successes;

How does success apply to your own life?  Do any of the above "meanings" fit you?  You're probably sitting there wondering whether you've been prosperous or famous lately.  You're probably wondering whether or not you've achieved anything recently.

What is prosperous?

- comfortable: in fortunate circumstances financially; moderately rich;

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find much in the way of alternate meanings for prosperous.  Basically, if you're well off and have lots of money (or riches) then you're prosperous.  Of course someone making $50k a year in a small town where the cost of living is low may be considered prosperous while the same person living in a large city (like Toronto for example) would be considered poor not prosperous.  So really, prosperity is relative and shouldn't be something we dwell on.

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So this brings me back to success and what exactly defines a successful person.  I'm going to sit and dwell on this for a bit, but I'd love to hear what you all think.  Feel free to comment and tell me in 100 words or less what YOU would consider a successful person.  Is it riches?  Is it family?  Is it happiness?  I look forward to hearing from you :)

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Cheers,
Al

Making Sense of it All

Morning Folks Good,

Today I saw a kite flying in the air.  The wind picked it up and tossed it like a loving father tosses their child into the air.  I stood for a moment staring at the kite and wondered whether a kite would be fun to fly if there was no gravity.  Afterall, the whole fun in flying a kite is to defy the laws of gravity and having that sense of accomplishment in having something fly, seemingly by your own power.

We take for granted the little things in life.  What has happened to the days of hoops and sticks down the ol' dirt road?  What happened to the days when you could let your children run all over the neighbourhood and didn't fear they were being stalked or kidnapped?  What ever happened to buying a glass bottle of pop (that's right, glass bottles) and a bag of chips for under a buck?

Has the world around me changed or have I changed?

I'm sure my parents used to worry about things when it came to my safety.  But I don't believe there were nearly as many issues in the world as there are today.  I often long for the simple life again.  The life where I can feel safe walking down the street, where a cross walk means stop when someone wants to cross, where everyone knows who you are and you know everyone.  I long for the small town I grew up in and where I felt "safe".

{slurp} (you thought I forgot didn't you?)

Of course in order to move back to the town I grew up in I would need to find something to do to make money.  There just isn't the same kind of jobs back there as there are in the city.  I can't just walk into the local gas station or video store and get a job paying minimum wage and expect to raise my family off that salary.  Can I?

Meh

This is taking me forever to write today.  Even though work is VERY light today, I still find I'm getting distracted and pulled away more frequently than normal.  With that, I will end this for today and pick up on these ideas again on Monday.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Cheers,
Al

Getting it Out There

Morning Folks,

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It is a beautiful Wednesday morning here in Halifax.  The sun is up, the trees are green and full, the ocean is glistening and the hum of the downtown seems less annoying.  Yes, it is a good day.

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I wanted to talk a bit about fear and censorship today.  Too many times we've hit that preverbal backspace key on things we wanted to say but feared the outcome of our actions if we did.  During this post, I promise to you I will NOT hit my backspace key (with the exception of a mistype) and I will not sensor what I'm trying to say.

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For example, I dislike my job.  Now I know for a fact there are co-workers who sometimes frequent my site and will read this.  It's no secret folks, anyone who has spent any amount of time looking through my past posts will get the feeling I dislike my job :)  My job is boring.  I don't feel challenged on a daily basis and at the end of the day I feel a lack of accomplishment and willingness to wake the next day and do it all over again.  My job is mundane, repetitive and boring the life out of me.  So much so, I've started updating my resume and my Monster profile in hopes of attracting something a bit more geared to my skill level.

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I spent 8 years in Calgary training to be a UNIX Systems Administrator.  When I applied for my job here, it was to be just that.  Imagine my surprise when I moved to Halifax and found out I wasn't doing what I wanted to do and wasn't doing the job I applied and was hired for.  It has been almost 2 years since then and my skill in UNIX had dropped quite a bit.  My drive and my will has been slowly beaten out of me by the constant mundane tasks and mindless user requests we get on a daily basis.  Of course, I'm not alone in this thought.  There are other people in my team and in my engagement who feel the same way.  In some cases, they don't know any better.  Luckily, I do, and can share what an IT company SHOULD be like.  Despite all the bitching and complaining I did about my last job, it is nothing compared to being bored all day watching the clock tick by minute by minute.

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What else can I do?  Nothing of course.  I have bills to pay, I have rent to pay and my family to support.  We are coming up on the Summer months and plan on doing some camping and getting out of the house and spending time as a family.  My job is easy, so I guess you could say it is easy money.  I do make a good wage, so things aren't all bad.  My team lead (whom I'm very thankful for) has made several comments on how things could be "worse" and how our company isn't THAT bad.  Truth be told, the particular engagement I work on is so secluded from the rest of the company, it hardly feels like I work for this company.  If that makes any sense.

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Enough about work though.  Let's get back to that first paragraph where I was describing how beautiful it was today and now much I'm liking living in Halifax.  If you read my thoughts a year or so ago (after moving here) you will see a sharp contrast in opinion.  We have endured some hard times since moving here.  Life hasn't been easy and still remains to throw us some challenges, but we tackle them head on and press through.  We are currently waiting on a ruling from the court on whether we owe money based on a bad Real estate transaction that took place last year.  I'm sure I wrote about the possibility of us buying a house back in August 2006.  Well that deal fell through and our Realtor did not protect our rights.  As a result, the home owner (who had bought a new house because on paper we had bought hers) ended up having to relist and sell her home again and came after us for the difference.  We've been to small claims court twice and are anxiously awaiting the ruling.  While I have no doubt we'll owe money, I do hope the Adjudicator will take the time and give a fair ruling.  You can bet your ass we'll be going after our Realtor for the balance we end up having to pay plus the hardships we've had to endure through this ordeal.

 

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As a result of the small claims court battle, we've decided we're not going to buy a house; EVER! :)  Just kidding of course.  We do plan on buying a house someday down the road and this time we'll be keeping it in the family.  My brother-in-law, and good friend, has recently become a licensed Realtor here in Nova Scotia and has been bugging me non-stop to sign on with him to get us into a place.  Before I do anything, I want to make sure I'm squared away with my creditors and can afford a house.  I also want to make sure we are at a place in our lives where we are ready to "own the risk" of a house and are able to dedicate the time and effort needed to upkeep and maintain a house.  Buying a house isn't like renting a place.  Right now I don't care much about the structure of my townhouse because I don't own it.  I play someone else (who does own it) monthly so I can occupy the place, nothing more.

 

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Speaking of which, we are all moved in to our new place (finally).  We still have a box or two of misc. things we need to unpack and we still need to figure out how we're going to arrange furniture and stuff to make the place look nice.  Having two floors has been a MAJOR blessing for us.  The upstairs is mainly for sleeping and playing, while the downstairs is for entertainment, eating and general living.  In our last place, all of this was on the same level and very close to each other.  Having a distinct separation is nice and it helps to keep things in perspective and separated.  The kids are spending a LOT of time outdoors these days.  They both have friends who live close by and are constantly outside playing with them.  We are still a little on the cautious side because we're not used to our kids being out of our sight.  It is hard to say yes when my daughter comes to me and asks if she can go to her friends house to play.  Of course we always ensure the friend's parents are ok with the play date and then send the little ones off to the neighbors' house to play.  It's strange to go from such a "lock down" we had at the last place to the freedom of the new place.  Very very strange.

 

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Well folks, I best end this post before it turns into a novel.  I plan on spending more time on the site in the near future.  I don't know if I'll make any cosmetic changes as I'm still enjoying the way the site works and looks.  If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

 

Take care and good luck.

 

Cheers,

Al

Super Mario What?

Morning Folks,

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Found this image on the net yesterday and it made me chuckle.  For those of you who have played Super Mario Bros. will understand the caption :)  I'm not certain who drew the picture but I enjoyed it greatly.  Hats off to the artist.


Where Does Mario Go When He Dies?