This is pretty accurate. When I came up I worked in an MSP. So I had to deal with customers. It taught me a lot about being able to say anything to people. You can break any news to anyone, it’s all in how you present it. So I gained people skills.

After I passed through that gauntlet and gained a breadth of knowledge, I went internal and gained a depth of knowledge. And I started out breaking the news in a way that I would break news to a customer.

Later after I proved my depth of knowledge I started being able to be blunt to any CIO or CTO I came across. And most of the time they’d send me reqs or tell me something was happening that required my skill set then would leave me the hell alone to handle it without kibitzing or bumping my fucking elbow.

When I started my own one man consulting shop I stopped giving shits at all. I found a good client and we have a good contract and most of the C levels like having someone on staff who just says what they’re thinking instead of sanitizing it. The CIO doesn’t necessarily like it but he’s outnumbered.

All this really only worked because I did go through a few years of soft skill hell though. Price you pay and all that. Well, price I paid for this path.

I get what you’re saying and acknowledge that that’s the best environment for some people, but for me there’s a different feel in being in your office and being on the back porch or out in the garage with the door open.

The fresh air, mild distractions on an easy day, and more natural light make me feel good. I think the beach would be a fucking nightmare for me. Same for things like a coffee shop. But if I’m in at least a semi private space and it’s not a balls to the wall day, I’ll take not being chained to the desk every time it’s practical.

I block ads but only because they became super egregious and are a threat vector in some cases. My default state is “oblivious idiot”. It’s not that I’m not susceptible to marketing, it’s that by the time I notice it you’ve already broken the web page I’m on and now I hate you.

Trump is a deep cover leftist. He’s trying to get people and the system as a whole to stand up and tighten the system and show why right wing policies and authoritarian policies are bad. But no one is stepping up!

I really want to start planting this idea in conservative spaces.

I’m not racist, but I do think peanut butter is delicious.

Well, 3 out of 4 ain’t bad.

I was stable release male but now I’m no longer supported. So I’m no longer secure, I don’t have the latest features, and I’m something most people don’t want to mess with. However, there’s a certain demographic that thinks I’m pretty great so I’ve got that going for me.

I think it’s wild (and honestly I love it) that Rick Astley went from being this massive pop star to entirely forgotten to punchline and now he’s kind of a beloved guy. What a rollercoaster of a fucking life.

It’s not that I necessarily disagree, I just refuse to give it my energy and don’t understand the folks who make it their whole thing. I can watch older Futurama. Old King of the Hill. Read WoT (the show was fine, I don’t have strong opinions about it except that the timing kind of fucked them with the covid restrictions, it’s unfortunate but I get it). I don’t have to watch the Dresden Files TV show.

You’re out here with well reasoned examples. You’ve said your piece. I bet if I go into your history (I won’t) that you won’t have 50 posts today bitching about it. Those are the folks I’m talking about. Not people who are disappointed and looking to talk. That’s natural and human!

I always feel the same way about shitty TV and movie adaptations of books I love. If I don’t like it I can just not watch and go read the book again. The movie/show won’t get the numbers to continue. I never really got the people who are like “new/adapted show/movie ruined X!” then run whatever they can to complain about it like it’s their whole personality. Naw man, they fucked up an iteration. And except in the case of Star Wars and ET they didn’t change the old media you loved so much. No one hired the Pinkertons to break into your house and rewrite your books.

I remember the Wheel of Time adaptation. You had the camp that enjoyed it. The camp that thought they strayed too far from the books. And very obvious racists.

I saw more repeated posts and comments about it on my feed from the third group than anyone else, maybe combined. Like the same guy spent half his day just posting about how much he hated it. Cool man. Go read the books again. There’s gotta be healthier hobbies than shitting on things you don’t like.

And they’d get extra copaganda out of it! Look, we’re just fun loving guys playing with kids!

Subscription fees plus the double dip into selling bulk licensing of your thin client to companies who make computers.

Oh come on, most people like a little ass.

Hey! They also destroy communities by forcing them to pay for infrastructure upgrades while the companies get tax holidays in return for a bunch of jobs that only last 2 years during the construction phase and only add about 25-50 permanent jobs to the local economy long term.

Let’s also not forget bringing back mothballed coal plants instead of building new ones.

I already sent him one message this week!

Seriously though, this whole thing has me curious about the current state of things so I shot him a message asking about it. I’ll pass it along if he still needs the advice.

I’ve seen it online but it always looks like obvious interaction bait. Someone trying to get clicks and comments so they can be an influencer or similar.

My grandfather worked in NYC for over 20 years and he commuted by train. During those commutes, he sat next to the same man, twice a day - on the way there and on the way back - for years, and only once in at least a decade did they ever speak to each other. “Are you finished reading that?” Those were the 5 words that man spoke to my grandfather, who handed him the paper he had finished reading, and they never exchanged another word again. I don’t think they ever even looked at each other.

Best friend he ever had. They still never talk sometimes.

A psychopath that doesn’t want to make a habit of drinking at the house because they know it’ll become a problem but doesn’t want to interact with people because they’re going through shit? Possibly a psychopath that gets to drink for free because of the gear loan? A psychopath who wants to watch his gear and take it home with him rather than leaving it in a public place or with a group of drunk musicians overnight?

I had a part time gig DJing at a strip club for a brief time. It gets old much quicker than people think.

I don’t know what it is. I used to get approached semi-regularly, maybe once every few weeks when I was younger. But this dude, for whatever reason, was approached often. I think part of it is the places he was a lot of times. We’d be out at the bar (he would lend music/PA equipment to bands or small bars for a small fee and show up to basically drink for free) and there was one night I watched it happen half a dozen times. Not by the people who were borrowing equipment, but just random people who he didn’t know.

He said it never happened at like the grocery store or whatever, but very often in bars when he’d sit alone, less often in restaurants when he’d sit alone, and occasionally at the park when he’d go sit to read (headphones in). He’s good looking but not extraordinarily so and never looked especially friendly so that wasn’t it. It was both men and women, men more often but women more persistently.

Some folks just have something that makes others want to talk to them I guess. I imagine it’s worse for women for a few reasons (the way certain demographics of dudes are socialized, not knowing how a guy will react when you shut him down, etc). And some folks seem to believe that everyone is just waiting for them to strike up a conversation, even if the person they’re trying to strike it up with is obviously actively avoiding people.

It stopped happening to me. I’m not sure if I aged poorly over the pandemic or if I just look meaner these days. He moved away so I don’t get to watch that particular trainwreck anymore. I’ll have to ask him.