Friday OT - Dear Abby

[BCClone]

You went to school with Corey?

Never had to worry about a kid with parachute pants sneaking up on you.

 

[cowgirl836]

This was me about 6 months ago. I'm 2-3 years into my current job, but came from a very busy environment where if you weren't working to the hilt, you weren't doing your job. This current job started out fast with lots of things to do. Then 2019 was a very, very slow year for our part of the business. My job was not in jeopardy at all, but I would guess I had REAL work only about 25% of the time. I seriously considered if maybe this wasn't the right fit. I'm paid well, I had total flexibility in my schedule and day-to-day, and I have an 18 minute commute which is great for MSP.

At first, I felt really, really guilty. To the point where I felt like I had to make sure my boss knew how little I had on my plate. He sits in Denver and comes to MSP about once or twice a quarter, so we don't interact that frequently. I had serious impostor syndrome. I kept waiting for the day when I would be "found out" and they'd read me the riot act or let me go. Instead, I kept getting raises and bonuses. I would tell my boss my calendar was wide open and he just said "ok."

For me, I just had to embrace it. I had to realize that my new job just didn't require a 50+ hour week like some of my coworkers and I was lucky for it. I would fill the open time with reading books (kindle app on computer is key - I wasn't bold enough to bring a physical book to work), learning skills I wanted to (like improving my handwriting) and just trying to be a better "me." (I did spend some time on youtube...shhhh.) I felt I could at least justify that because it would make me a better employee in the long run. I was also not shy to leave at 3 on a Friday if I had nothing to do. If my work was done, I don't give a sh*t what my co-workers think of my schedule.

Similar here and not out of the woods yet (though a team member leaving and people being dumb has increased work!) The biggest thing I've done is I started asking around to coworkers I trust who are on more interesting high profile projects or seemed overworked. Said I want to get involved and I have capacity to do so. And now they are pulling me in and some doors are starting to open.

 

[Ms3r4ISU]

Imma need a minute on your band name.

But you've given me an idea on percussion for Testicular Reason...

Why do I keep reading that phrase as testicular tension?

 

[jcyclonee]

Apparently I was the short bus kid.

Actually probably 20% of the boys in our school had them.

20% of the kids at your school had parachute pants? I don't think 20% of the people that go to skydiving school have parachute pants.

 

[jcyclonee]

Why do I keep reading that phrase as testicular tension?

Scientific name for blue balls.

 

[BCClone]

For the testicular readers

 

[jcyclonee]

You went to school with Corey?

I assume that's to honor his time spent with Michael Jackson.

 

[cowgirl836]

Dear Missouri-Adjacent,

First of all, I think you are giving your coworker too much credit. Have you ever read a letter from the Civil War from soldiers to their families at home? They are poetry. Maybe liken his missives to pamphlets for "Billy Bob's Inbreeding Convention" or similar.

I shouldn't admit that I totally have red-pen corrected an email before and put it back in someone's mailbox at an old job, but I did. It was satisfying, but potentially dangerous. Might you try employing physical repercussions for each grammatical catastrophe? Perhaps incorporate punches to the testicular reason each time? It is sort of like the opposite of Pavlov's bell via negative reinforcement. He'll eventually associate being a dimwit with physical pain and stop. Unless he's a gimp, which "Pulp Fiction" has taught me is a whole thing with rednecks.

With love,
CF

this is just an adjacent story, no advice needed now but several years ago, a manager was given a very nice profile, just below exec level. Interacting with exec frequently. In their email signature, they misspelled their new title. I noticed pretty quickly because that's my superpower but I didn't see manager shortly after to mention. And then I felt like it had been too long. So I never said anything and their signature was misspelled for at least two years until another minor title change and it got corrected. Every time I got an email from them I was like I should say something but I never did.

 

[cowgirl836]

Similar here and not out of the woods yet (though a team member leaving and people being dumb has increased work!) The biggest thing I've done is I started asking around to coworkers I trust who are on more interesting high profile projects or seemed overworked. Said I want to get involved and I have capacity to do so. And now they are pulling me in and some doors are starting to open.

bonus to this (and in my case my boss was aware and on board) if you decide you hate what they are doing, you can get back out of it. Had a couple things I explored and was like lol nope I hate this and could uninvolve myself easily because it wasn't actually something assigned to me.

 

[Trice]

I have a side photography business, so this is a real concern for me. Here are the two main things I do.

For photos that I want to bequeath to my kids some day (i.e., photos of them and our family), I have an external hard drive for each child. I put photos with them in them into directories. For each child, I have each year of their age. Inside that year folder (age 8 or whatever), I break it up into the month. (So, "2010-11" for November 2011.) That way I can immediately find photos from a certain age for them, etc. I also back this up on an Amazon Drive.

For other photos, if you are planning on putting them on a computer I'd recommend getting a photo software. I use Lightroom for this. You can tag photos, and then do searches and exports with the tags in place. I believe other photo services online (cloud storage sites) will let you do the same. I find the tags to be easier than making folders upon folders upon folders.

I am by no means a photographer, but like anyone in the smartphone era I have lots of photos to manage. Unlike @MeanDean I am not managing any old family photos but I can anticipate having that responsibility someday when our parents pass on. So for years I've done a series of half-measures which I think will form a nice structure to build on when I finally get serious about really doing it.

In terms of organization, I create a folder for each year and dump all my photos in there. Then if I have at least 3-5 photos from any one event (say, a birthday party or Christmas) I create a sub-folder for that event beneath its corresponding year. Using tags are a good way to find people, but I've always felt like too many tags gets unwieldy and having a good chronological folder structure in place is an alternative that makes it easier to find photos specific to a time or event. So it's kind of a two-pronged method that complements one another.

As I think about my own next steps, I need to find a new program to help me manage tags, metadata, and batch renaming (I'm less concerned about actual editing of the photos since I rarely bother). I still use the old Google Picasa program, which I need to move on from it as it is no longer supported. The newer Google Photos is nice and has facial recognition but it doesn't write anything into the file so if/when it dies someday, I'd have to start over. The metadata is everything because different software comes and goes but hopefully with metadata written into the file you're relatively future-proofed.

That's my $0.02. Suggestions are welcome. Maybe I'll actually get around to doing this in 2020.

 

[jcyclonee]

Dear CF,

All of this job talk has got me thinking. I've been underperforming at my job a bit this year compared to other years and I'm tiring of the criticism. Do you know of any openings for a power 5 basketball coach, preferably in the South?

Sincerely,

Jeff

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

LOL - um, def don't post any topless (or bottomless) photos. And I don't particularly care about swearing, so long as you let the filter catch it. Maybe just try and shy away from being graphic or violating other CF rules?

I don't know if I'm alone but if I have post with a swear I just put it in asterisks myself.

 

[VeloClone]

I don't know if I'm alone but if I have post with a swear I just put it in asterisks myself.

No, I just let the filter do the job. If the filter doesn't screen it, I assume that the powers that be aren't too concerned about that word.

 

[Clonefan32]

Dear CF,

All of this job talk has got me thinking. I've been underperforming at my job a bit this year compared to other years and I'm tiring of the criticism. Do you know of any openings for a power 5 basketball coach, preferably in the South?

Sincerely,

Jeff

Don't be picky. Go anywhere that is willing to take you.

 

[jcyclonee]

LOL - um, def don't post any topless (or bottomless) photos. And I don't particularly care about swearing, so long as you let the filter catch it. Maybe just try and shy away from being graphic or violating other CF rules?

Are you sure you don't want topless photos now that it's been well-established that I look just like Rob Lowe?

 

[BuffettClone]

We have Hulu, we do t get one. I know because my wife was upset. I think lifetime because I remember seeing some really crappy Christmas movies and think that is hallmark.

Lifetime and Hallmark both have really crappy Christmas movies, and I believe it is Hallmark that is not on Hulu.

 

[Angie]

Dear CF,

What singer is a good one to take life lessons from their songs?

I have started with DMX, but it hasn’t been extremely smooth so far.

signed,
I don’t dance.

Dear Phil Collins,

I think your instincts were good as far as following the life lessons contained in classic rap. However, where you went wrong is not immediately looking to Bell Biv Devoe. The song "Poison" is rife with good advice, but the most important is:

"Never trust a big butt and a smile."

I think far too many people have learned that lesson the hard way.

Blessings,
CF

 

[BCClone]

Dear Phil Collins,

I think your instincts were good as far as following the life lessons contained in classic rap. However, where you went wrong is not immediately looking to Bell Biv Devoe. The song "Poison" is rife with good advice, but the most important is:

"Never trust a big butt and a smile."

I think far too many people have learned that lesson the hard way.

Blessings,
CF

Skip bel biv devoe and go with VH butt advice

Dig that steam, giant butt,
Makes me scream, I get nuh-nuh-nothing but the shakes over you
And nothing else could ever do

 

[Angie]

Dear CF,

All of this job talk has got me thinking. I've been underperforming at my job a bit this year compared to other years and I'm tiring of the criticism. Do you know of any openings for a power 5 basketball coach, preferably in the South?

Sincerely,

Jeff

I am not dumb enough to answer this... but I don't know that I'd go down to the South, they'll eat your ass alive.

Are you sure you don't want topless photos now that it's been well-established that I look just like Rob Lowe?

PM, plz. Thx.

 

[BCClone]

Dear Phil Collins,

I think your instincts were good as far as following the life lessons contained in classic rap. However, where you went wrong is not immediately looking to Bell Biv Devoe. The song "Poison" is rife with good advice, but the most important is:

"Never trust a big butt and a smile."

I think far too many people have learned that lesson the hard way.

Blessings,
CF

Also, this is a notice that another lyrics mistake like that and mistaking Phil Collings


For this

may get you a one week ban


BTW: Best not to play the second while at work.