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Thursday, October 15, 2015

Refreshing Hodgepodge Randomness

1. What's something that has recently 'tried your patience'?

Oh, my. Well, as everyone who's ever used a computer knows, these 'time-saving' logic engines of ours have the paradoxical ability to be utter time-sinks. Hours can pass like minutes. Last night, I set out to find a how-to for the seemingly simple functionality of posting blog posts automatically to a Facebook fan page wall, something which there used just a couple of years ago to be any number of easy ways to do... 

... And many, many dead-end searches and laborious, abortive attempts later, came to the conclusion that all of the free apps and workarounds and such which had used to support this activity have become pay-services or been scrapped altogether....

I mean, I tried everything. I went beyond the quest for the appropriate widget. I tried NetworkedBlogs. No dice. I tried messing with the setups of Facebook Notes. No dice. I hunted down extinct Facebook apps like RSS Graffiti and then attempted spontaneously to learn how to develop my own PHP app (got pretty far down that path, too - it was eventually drafting my own Privacy Policy page which humbugged me there).

Short story long, I wound up finally at this document, which basically gives a nice list of what won't work, goes on to explain that Blogger has come to frown on 'duplicated content' and is liable to class one as some species of spammer for such activity, and wraps up by saying hey, just use the readily-available sharing options at the bottom of each post to forward along the content that you want to get out to your Facebook friends who don't blog.    

2. Do you think patience comes to us naturally or is it something you have to learn as you grow? On a scale of 1-10 generally how patient are you (1=I blow up at the drop of a hat and 10= I've got all the time in the world).

Just last night, I came across this gem: "Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement" (attributed to Nasrudin).

I think you could just as easily say that patience comes from experience, and experience comes from impatience.

Me, I tend to be way down on the 'all the time in the world' end of things - right up until I have no time left, at which point I can be a very frenetic fellow indeed. So I'd rate myself about an 8, with the propensity to leap to a 2 when deadlines hit. 

3. Share about a time when you felt like you could fly. Or a time you wished you could fly. Or a time you felt like you were flying.

Haha, well... I used to bungee jump. That was a lot like flying. And I've had the pleasure of galloping on a good horse. But what really comes to mind here is dreams. I haven't had a good flying dream in some time, but over the years, I've had my share. It's usually more like swooping around, though. Rarely do I have much in the way of control. The trick of flying of course, as Douglas Adams taught us, is to throw oneself at the ground... and miss.

4. Your favorite song with the word fly in the title or lyrics, or your favorite song that relates to flying in some way?

Well, there are rather a lot of songs to do with flying, aren't there? Hmm... I choose Sugar Ray:





5. What's in your fall picnic basket and where are we picnicking in your neck of the woods this time of year?

Hey Boo Boo! What a nice thought! I'll load us up with Asian pears and firm persimmons, peanut brittle, brie on sourdough, and carrot juice with Bokbunja Ju (Korean wild raspberry wine). 

We'll go out past the old fire tower out in the Hoosier National Forest, get off the beaten track and stomp up a ridge overlooking the lake. Maybe even start a little twig-fire up there if we're careful.

6. Carpentry, electrical, plumbing, landscaping....which skill would you most like to possess and how would you put that skill to use today?

I have always admired the skill it takes to do finishing work in carpentry. I have long been enamored of the thought of putting together my own little cabin - incorporating some raw, local wood... lots of oddly-shaped windows... wouldn't it be nice? 


7. What's something you think is too expensive to justify buying lately?


A suit! An honest-to-goodness, full-on business suit. I've been putting this off for a while now. I have only owned two suits in my adult life. One I bought for a funeral, and the other for a ceremony in which I was awarded some money for a play that I wrote. Both are long gone now, and I have a round of job interviews coming up early next year. A suit is in my future, if I can just bite the bullet and go out and get fitted and buy the darn thing,

8. Insert your own random thought here.

It's been a couple of years since I last chimed in on the old Hodgepodge here, and I'd forgotten what an adventure it kind of is. I started out venting about what a time-sink computers can be, and here I've flown around, been on a delicious picnic, built my own cabin, and am now off to buy a pricey suit. Let's see... what's my random thought? 

Shall I mention the little giveaway I'm doing or a recent writing prompt I enjoyed? Only in passing, only in passing... not random enough.  

I know: since I mentioned Nasrudin earlier, I'll end with a little story about him. 

Nasrudin's neighbors found him under a streetlamp looking for something. His house key, he said. They started helping him look, and asked the same old question: "Where did you lose it?"

"In my house," said Nasrudin. 

"Then why are you looking out here under the streetlamp?!" 

"Because," said Nasrudin, "Out here, there is much more light to see by!" 


5 comments:

  1. Thanks for visiting my blog. Returning the favour and it was a refreshing Hodgepodge. Loved the Nasrudin story.

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow, bungee jumping. you are awesome

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  3. Regarding that suit you need to buy, do you think you could get by with a nice pair of Dockers slacks, a button-up-the-front shirt, and a sport jacket -- sorta "snappy casual"? Might cost less and be more comfortable yet still do the interviews the respect of dressing up some. Just a thought. All depends on the kind of job you're wanting of course.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh how I wish I could get away with dress casual... probably in the actual workaday I will, but this is to be a round of interviews for accounting positions in sizable companies, so it's the suit or hit the bricks I'm thinking.

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  4. Thanks for joining in here this week. I enjoyed your thoughts on patience (and experience). Best of luck as you interview...hope you got a great deal on the suit!

    ReplyDelete

Yo, it's me - Uttley. Say, did you click on the post title or the 'Read on' button so that you can see everything? Please do. Now you can enter your email address in the box below to subscribe to future posts, then scroll down below that and click like all of the little buttons down there to share this post around and so that we can be connected everywhichway? C'mon - it'll be fun!

If you click the green share button and then the gray button with three dots on it, it takes you to an insane list of all the ways to share. Seriously, if you haven't seen it before, you really should. Anyway, alright, I'll let you go. Thanks heaps for visiting. Take care.

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