The Manic Mechanic

In my earlier post I lamented on not having the frame of mind to make creative posts (or posts in general) here on LJ. My reasoning was not entirely forthright, because there have been times I wanted to make a post, but external factors thwart my attempts. One in particular, actually.



This is Pinky. Beneath Pinky is my keyboard. She insists on laying in my keyboard drawer practically every night, or practically any time I am in front of this particular computer. I push my keyboard as far back on the surface as I can lest she provide her own input, and she settles in for the evening. I'm allowed the use of my mouse, but alphanumeric input is verboten. Actually, since the keyboard itself (as well as the mouse) is Bluetooth wireless, I can remove them both and let Pinky have the full 16 by 24 inch surface to stretch out on. The table itself is a dire mess, so ol' Pink can't lounge on the upper deck yet. You can also see a bit of my now-scrawny legs lost in my jeans. I hope to change that soon.

I also lost one of my USB hubs a while back and with it, my flash card reader connection. I remedied this tonight and can now go through some photos that have piled up on the SD/CF cards.

We are currently experiencing a notable SNOMG Event as I type this. The power has been on and off, lightning flashes in the distance, and a sticky/wet snow is clinging to everything it touches. I expect more busted up trees and shrubs from this one similar to what happened last winter during the numerous snowpocalypseses. I hope Jeff does not have to go to work (he is considered essential personnel who have to trek in even during facility closure, which is lunacy IMO), and I hope my doctor's appointment gets axed. Jeff had a wild ride home today, it's not gonna be nice tomorrow morning. My two snowblowers, By-Tor and Snow Dog, are squared for battle.

There's something quite assuring about a nice, warm house, a fire going in the woodstove and everyone home safe and sound while Ma Nature breaks bad on us right outside the door. If the power goes, no big deal, the warmth and safety continues unabated, and the generator is ready if the power gets knocked out for the count.

On a final note, youse guys make it pretty darn difficult for me to go skulking off into that dark, cold night. I acknowledge and cherish the friendships I have beyond my cat-covered keyboard, and like any friendship, it takes a certain amount of effort on my part to keep it thriving. Yeah, I could close up shop here, but the one who would ultimately suffer the most is me. I ain't gonna let that happen, trust me. Thanks to all of you who have kept my head in this space.

It seems that the NOM ad drama I mentioned earlier today has been looked into by the LJ staff, who made an effort in posting an explanation not only in the source journal entry but in my comment stream as well. Plus, an entry made by the ever vigilant (and possibly damp!)wet_in_sf detailing his contacting LJ staff about this issue got a prompt reply as well. It seems that work was done by LJ to nip this mess in the bud before it got out of hand as sometimes happened in the past. Good show.

It appears that LJ/SUP does take an active role in controlling what sort of ads show up via the third-party add service, and this one seems to have been crafted in a way to evade such controls using keyword combinations and other means. This reeks of typical Rush/Rovian tactics and the sort of means championed by smarmy far-right wingnuts. These sorts have no honor or scruples.

The weekend was a productive, albeit spendy one. It seemed we were variously driving all over Pennsylvania for different reasons. On Saturday night we decided mostly at the last minute to drive over to Harrisburg and the Brownstone for their 'Bear Night'. Got to see some folks we hadn't seen in ages, which was a pleasant surprise. The place was seriously packed, something I don't particularly enjoy any more, but having friends around made it a lot of fun. I believe I spotted a couple LJers but they got buried in the sea of humanity and I could not track them down after a while. We also discovered that two different couples that we know will be staying at Coastal Acres campground the same time we will be there during Bear Week in PTown. This is gonna make that week that much more enjoyable I think.

We drove home a bit earlier than usual today so we could unload our share of the pig parts, the grocery haul from the Amish grocer, Kodi, a load of firewood, the two machines, couple baskets of laundry and some other nonsense and more or less take it easy afterward. I unpacked and assembled the wood shaper, only to discover that the spindles bind about half way into the socket. Bummer. I'll call Grizzly tomorrow and see what's up, most likely will get a replacement socket/shaft under warranty. This company is apparently noted for their customer service, if it's anything like what I experienced in the store I thing I will be well taken care of. I'll uncrate the lathe most likely tomorrow eventing.

The upcoming days will be taken up with more cleaning, fixing and a day at Carlisle interrupting it all next Saturday if the weather is good. The trailer will get spruced up and ready for the summer as well. Because of not having enough time off as well as needing the time to fix up the house, I will forgo my trip to the Tail of the Dragon and the big MINI gathering there this year. The poor little car gets a reprieve this year.

My LJ activities will dwindle down to mostly nothing from here on out. I've been feeling oddly awkward posting my recurring daily life here; I've come to the conclusion that my quiet, private nature suits me the best as it has for all these years. And I am kidding myself to think I am some sort of 'blogger' in the most technical sense. I'm content with reading my friends list and leaving comments. I will probably still post about major events affecting me, but exercises like the previous paragraphs just feel, I dunno, out of place any more. Maybe it's the season and/or my desire to stick with hands-on, physical tasks and direct, personal interactions more than the virtual these days. I might end up with a change of heart after a while, but for now I feel the updates for the sake of posting them is kinda pointless anymore. If I am wrong in thinking this, let me know.

If, in the remote chance that all we know as Livejournal disappears like some anti-Putin political dissident, I have my LJ safely ensconced on my own hard drives. I read about the layoffs the other day, and expected a wildfire of commentary soon enough. Y'all didn't disappoint. ;)

Should LJ evaporate, I will probably continue on using my own site and tools if I feel the urge to keep blogging. Otherwise, it's been a great run. The thing I would miss the most is the interaction and commentary with all of you. However, I think we are pretty much going to hang around for a while.

It's been a long time in coming, and I have been doing what I can to keep things running as smoothly as possible here on my LJ as long as I could, but I am running out of options.

Either my LJ is a victim of it's own success, or I have overextended myself beyond a sensible involvement in it. Or perhaps it's both.

My friends list has expanded immensely over time. Keeping up with everyone's entries is time consuming. A couple hours can pass and I will gain a couple dozen or more new entries, not including those from communities or RSS feeds. In other words, by the end of the workday when I come home and unwind, I can be faced with 100 or more posts. Being that these are from those I feel 'closest' to on my list, I am faced with the choices of using a sizable amount of limited free time to interact with everyone, skimming over entries to try and find the most important ones (which is unfair), or simply reaching a cutoff point where I dont go back any further in my friends entries (even worse than unfair).

Likewise, I enjoy interacting with people who comment after I make a post. The time I spend reading and commenting on other folk's LJs takes away from the personal involvement here. This is part of the reason why my entries show up late in the day, usually the last thing before I hit the sack. It lets any comments collect slowly, and I can tend to them later the next day (I dont blog from work). I realize that many of you are in the same situation as I am, and can only read so far back. As such, my entries get missed in much the same way.

As much as I hate to say it, time has finally come for some major changes. First of all, LiveJournal has been eating into my time way too much. I simply have to spend more time doing all the other stuff and tasks that are part of daily life, or else I fall behind. As it stands, I am way behind in many areas. As springtime soon moves in, a lot of serious work needs to be done here. New roof on the house and garage, gardening and yard work, and more travel and activities that me and Jeff promised ourselves. I also need to consider my health in all of this. I used to be more active around here prior to the advent of 'net chatting and blogging. My hands were seemingly built with tools in mind, not a keyboard. And my realization that I need to create and spend more face-time with people means I have to spare the virtual socializing.

But I cant bring myself to cut off contact here with anyone. I made so many friends here. I want the virtual to become the realtime. I love to read about what y'all are doing and I love to share my goings-on with you. It's not a habit, it's a necessity now. LJ has become my sole online socializing space these days. What other online presence I didnt dismantle (Bearciti, BMB) have become simple contact points, and might be eliminated soon anyway.

Lastly, I dont want to go about trimming my friends list or compartmentalizing people into groups. I have already separated most of the communities and feeds into sub-groups to allow only you guys your own place. Still, I get overwhelmed.

In closing, I have a question for those with sizable friends lists. How do you do it? I know many can post from work or use mobile devices to keep in touch, neither of which is an option for me at this time. I already feel as if I am turning my back on a whole bunch of people here, and that is never my intention.

I'm lost.

LJ is once again offering a permanent account, for 150 dollars. Should I? Or shouldnt I? Should you?

The always entertaining, rather cute and 'net culture savvy Lore Sjöberg (gotta love that umlaut!) over at Wired has a nice quicky write-up on creating a better LiveJournal.

EDIT: It looks to me like some of you might have already heeded this advice. ;)