I’ve found that the Itunes Store has poor security precautions for people like me, who set up PayPal as their payment option (it is no longer, I assure you), which has the benefit of allowing for instant purchases, but unfortunately, has the side effect of making it easy for a “hacker” (my uneducated word for someone who has breached my personal information) to sneak in through a trojan somewhere (in one of the apps I downloaded, very likely), and having their way with my account.

I found Apple Support to be very lacking, in their accessibility to report these fraudulent charges, and their way of solving the problem. I had to dig deep to find a web form to report these charges, and an entire 24 hours between communication emails. The gentleman I talked to the first time was very polite and flattering, but did very little to actually address my problem. After being admonished, “Our policy is not to give refunds for purchases,” he was *cough* nice enough to refund the money.

Because PayPal pulled the money right out of my bank account (I’m finding the lack of checks and balances between iTunes, PayPal, and bank very disturbing), my bank was grossly overdrawn, and I am bidden to pay the overdraft fees not only for these fraudulent charges, but also for the other legitimate bills that were coming in and incurring more fees for the lack of funds. PayPal was holding my refunded funds from Apple, but that takes four days for the money to get “redownloaded” to my bank, where I feel it is most secure.

I changed passwords and security questions at all aforementioned websites, chose a new PIN for my debit card, computer, and iPad, and of course talked to the bank, who was entirely unsympathetic to my plight (I used the word fraud, they dismissed it). Also, when Apple hears the word “fraud” associated with your account, they disable it. It takes another email to consent for it to be reenabled. I was willing to put up with that minor inconvenience, in order to get my account unlocked.

And then it happened again. 14 charges for the same app, with a slightly different app name than before, but similar enough that I knew it was the same joker. Again I dug around the Apple site looking for the customer service form. Again PayPal pulled money out of my bank. Again my bank gave me overdraft fees. Like I wrote before, the final damage was $540 between the fraudulent purchases, and the fees associated with them. Again my account was locked down. The moment I saw that it was happening again, I removed my PayPal information from Apple, and removed my bank information from PayPal. I changed passwords and logins again. I talked to the bank again. I have to pay those fees.

This has created a hardship that will be difficult to recover from. One, my iPad is an unusable brick. Two, I can’t use my bank account until I take care of the charges. Three, I’m not able to make online purchases. Four, I get paid for my webwork through online means which are now disabled.

So if I’m a bit quiet here, I do apologize, I’m dealing with stuff.

Word to the wise, if you have payment options linked up to your Apple account, disable them immediately. The Apple website and the iTunes Store are not secure, and even in changing passwords and other secure items, you are still vulnerable to attack. As you want to purchase an app or make an online purchase for your iOS device, THEN link them up, and upon completion of purchase, UNLINK them again.

*sighs* Now to figure out how to pull $540 out of my ass, or to figure out how to pinpoint exactly who made those purchases and go after them.

Oh, and this is not an isolated issue.

Probably related:

• January 14, 2012 -- Snow! In Winter! Shocking!
• January 5, 2012 -- *perks ears up*
• December 31, 2011 -- One More End of Year Meme

I hit a small snafu with a business partner and friend. Each conversation between us generally has three parts: he requests work of me and details what I need to do; I articulate a price to which he agrees to; I complete the work and he sends me the agreed-to monetary compensation. It’s very informal, and I’ll often vary my price based on how many individual items he is asking me to put my attention to, and whether I anticipate that he will ask for “just one more thing” which can easily morph into five more things. This works for us, most times.

A few days ago, he asked me to edit some images in Photoshop, and to edit a video. Because the editing was a little more detailed than what I usually do for him and would take a tiny bit more time and computer power to render, I gave him a price that was a smidge higher than he was used to seeing. I price by queue load, not by individual item. I felt that would cover both the need of increased attention on my part, and his wait for the finished product.

He looked at my requested price, looked at what he was asking me to do, and then asked me if I were charging such&such for each image and video, and wasn’t that a bit higher than usual?

I explained that the images and the video required more of my time than usual, with more intricacies than are usually present in the assignments he gives me.

He then gave a reply that denoted concern that I was asking for too much, and that I should more concretely justify the price I had asked.

I said, a little snarkily (we are friends), that perhaps he ought to find someone else who would do the work he asked, who would use more expensive programs and charge roughly four times what I was asking, that this particular assignment warranted the slightly higher price because of the slight complexity to the tasks previously mentioned in this same conversation.

“No, it’s fine,” he reassured me. “I don’t much appreciate the tone of that last statement,” about him finding someone else to do the work. We sorted it all out a few minutes later.

I did the work, feeling a bit uncomfortable that I could have handled that conversation better. On one hand, he had never asked me before to more or less create an itemized list of why I am charging what I do per image or video or whatever else I do for him. I felt that was ridiculous, as I was doing this work at (well under) 1/4 the industry price that anyone not acquainted with him would charge, and I felt that at such bargain basement prices, I should be given the benefit of the doubt when something unusual comes down the pike, and I respond with a price that is (literally, in this case) a couple of dollars more than usual.

On the other hand, as a business owner and employer, he has every right to request such an itemized list from me if he wants to see exactly what he’s paying for. He’s one of those people who thinks that sitting in a computer chair and squinting at a computer screen doesn’t really warrant a token price for labor. I agree with that, except that I’m doing something when I am squinting at the computer screen, whether it’s pushing pixels around or editing a video to best effect, and yes, sitting is a given when one is working at the computer.

I felt a bit like a cranky designer after that little exchange. If he wants an itemized list, then he may find higher prices than what I had been giving him before, because again, I charge by bulk, not by individual item, and I often err on the side of quoting under a certain dollar amount, giving him a break for sending me so much to do at once. I suppose I will have to do that if he insists on a new practice of creating a need and then paying to have that need fulfilled.

Anyway, enough on that topic…

Related, there was an article on Matt Haughey‘s personal blog, a link to which I found on Mashable, the same day as the aforementioned snafu. The author relates an experience he had in funding a project on Kickstarter, which features fundraising opportunities for those who have a vision, a product, a movie, a goal, a required expense they cannot fund themselves, and turns to crowdsourcing to accomplish their fundraising goals.

I read, with horror, the process by which this funder was treated by the proprietors of the project he was funding. Anyone who wants lessons in what not to do in public relations, should read this article. There was no excuse for any of the mentioned interactions to have happened. With sufficient communication, honesty, and some sense of culpability, this project and its results might have turned out very differently. In this case, a product was being designed with obvious engineering and scientific flaws that should have been evident to any student of a high school science class. When these flaws were pointed out, the proprieters/fundees ignored all free advice given, ignored public commentary on alternatives (when they themselves created a poll to see what the majority of funders thought of a specific issue, 85% weighing in with a negative answer), required additional funds from funders above and beyond the original donation…

That last one really makes me shake my head. Who even does this? “Yes, we know you’ve already donated generously and voluntarily. Now, we demand even more than the amount you’ve already pledged, if you ever want to see this product.” Wow. Imagine if Netflix did that: “Yeah, we just raised our prices to 200% what they were before. Now, we require you to pay an additonal fee for the delivery of the streaming movie/movie on DVD disc.” I’d imagine their stock would be even lower than it already is (and let’s not forget the multiple lawsuits now filed against the company for its boneheadedness of late).

Getting back to the Kickstarter story, I understand that funding a dream, funding a goal, funding a good or necessary intention, is wrought with uncertainties as to odds of completion, odds of a (working) product actually being manufactured (and not just prototyped), even as to how many people will pledge to a given project. I don’t have much commentary about the specific story linked elsewhere in this article, but I do think that there are great lessons to be learned from how various companies treat their customers, and each other.

And I’m certainly not exempt from treating my “boss” with as much decorum and tact as anyone else doing business with or for another.

Probably related:

• November 14, 2011 -- In More Professional News…
• August 17, 2011 -- Business Partner
• January 11, 2012 -- Links, Gigs, and Biz!

I’m always a kid when it does snow, whether it’s after watching it for a few hours out of the living room window, or waking up to see that familiar stark blue-white glow of daylight hitting the blinding ice crystals. I always, always, have to put on a pair of gloves and warm shoes or boots, and wander outside to touch it, step in it, and play with it for a few minutes. I’m usually in my jammies during such times, and I quickly get cold enough to have to run back inside.

I suppose if I lived in a different climate where snow became old-hat, common, and drearily, stubbornly present during this time of year, I might not find it so amusing. As it is, once I’ve had my fun, it becomes routine to dress for the adverse weather. But I always spend more time than usual admiring it out the window, than I do if it were merely raining, even unusually heavily as it is today. I notice that I also like to gaze for a long time in the early summer when the deciduous foliage is fresh, green, and nearly vibrating out of the visual spectrum with its rich shades of color.

I just wanted to remark on the remarkable weather. And I know I can trust bojack.org with the latest on the not-news regarding snow. I laughed when they started making snarky commentary about the way the local media treats any accumulation, no matter how minute, of snow. They always over-exaggerate to the point of ridiculousness. It amuses me.

Probably related:

• December 31, 2011 -- One More End of Year Meme
• December 31, 2011 -- Year in Review
• November 22, 2011 -- Dragons, Telepaths, and Other Impossible Things

Probably related:

• January 5, 2012 -- *perks ears up*
• January 19, 2012 -- Being a Professional
• January 11, 2012 -- Links, Gigs, and Biz!

If I were to create a drinking game for this series, I’d certainly prompt the watcher to keep track of how many times a particular prop was used. Not so much items like the ill-used and much abused Peugeot that Columbo was fondly attached to, but rather inane objects such as a telephone, or a magnetic tape recorder. The latter could be seen in a secretary’s desk drawer one episode, and then propped up on its side and part of a box full of blinky lights to simulate a computer the next. The more of these recycled props I find, the more amusing it gets. And you could always tell when they were pressed for new and exotic locations; having been produced by Universal Studios near L.A., they’d often use the attached theme park. One time, they filmed near the Jaws pool, usually part of the movie studio tour ride.

But I have to say that the thing that never fails to garner a giggle out of me is the number of times they used the same old doorbell sound. I imagine, perhaps not accurately, that they paid a small fee for this sound effect, and used the hell out of it. It was featured heavily in the first season, whenever they needed a doorbell sound. They always used it in a setting in which there was an expensive home, whenever there were rich and/or famous people about. It was very distinctive, with three tones, almost akin to a pipe organ with three large gong-y metal tubes. There was one particularly obnoxious episode in which they played the sound over and over for over a minute, with video of a girl freaking out superimposed over another video of a camera quickly zooming in and out of visual range of the device. I always have to play that particular scene several times, just because I’ve laughed too hard upon initial viewing to pay attention to whatever else is going on.

They got, erm, smart in the second season, and while they continued using the obnoxiously loud and overplayed doorbell sound, they would only use one or two of the three tones, muting the unused ones, trying to creatively recycle the sound effect without appearing to do so. Ahh, the 70s. lol The tri-tone doorbell sound is rarely used after that, though it still has its uses in occasional episodes later on.

I’m writing about it because I’m watching a dreary episode in which I’d forgotten the doorbell sound was used again. I’m always reminded it’s there as the music swells during a particularly intense early scene. The established three tones create a major chord, starting at the top and working its way down. This particular song features a gong-like tone, in the same key as the doorbell’s first note. While it isn’t the actual doorbell sound, hearing that gong makes me sing to myself the other two notes that make up that chord.

I can’t find a compilation of this sound in use during the series on YouTube. I keep thinking I should remedy that sometime.

Probably related:

• January 14, 2012 -- Snow! In Winter! Shocking!
• January 11, 2012 -- Links, Gigs, and Biz!
• January 6, 2012 -- The Most Uncomfortable Topic Ever: with Morals!

If it were not for the car repairs I’m saving up for, I would have totally purchased the second generation 3g iPad 2, to be truly untethered by location and to be able to do even more with the onboard cameras on the device. I even had the tablet in my shopping cart the other night, shipping calculated, and personal information shared, all ready to hit the “buy” button. Practicality prevailed, for now. The cost is just too much. Heck, I got this iPad 1 on deep discount through one of those one-deal-a-day websites. I’ve been scouring Craigslist for any iPad 2, only to find that any individual selling theirs wants the same unreasonable rate. I’ll wait.

There are more photos and videos to be edited for my longest-held client. I’m also spending the week recoding a website for a local food business who wanted more social interactivity along with their updated menu, hours, and other info. I’ll probably volunteer to do some webwork for a nonprofit, just to give myself something to do.

I asked my husband about a hair-brained idea I’d thought up the other day, and he gave his assent, so I’m poking at it. I’m starting a new business venture, designing the website for it, and getting a framework of electronica built up to assist me. He and I have been sharing a phone ever since we met; that’ll change when my new Android phone arrives, wherein I can receive professional queries and assignments on my own line. Again, found a great deal on a phone I couldn’t pass up. I required my husband’s input on the business idea, because it will involve relocation, and I asked him how badly he wanted that. He’s quite open to the idea, and it won’t cost us much to try, so I’m going for it. I’m going to see if I can set up some temporary employment for both of us while we get resettled. I found that he and I really do want to relocate to my former hometown, even if it is not through the means we thought we would have been, when an opportunity came up a year ago that we’ve been chomping at the bit to see realized since. And that’s a very clunky sentence, I apologize, it’s the middle of the night.

I purchased some fabric for a nifty sewing project in mid-November, though by the time the fabric arrived in the middle of December, I was deep in retail employment and couldn’t find the time to attack the project before the winter holiday arrived. With things as slow as they are, I don’t see a problem with getting started on that project as well, though I need to purchase more fabric, as I’d well-underestimated how much I’d need for the items I want to make.

I will someday learn how to work this sewing machine–haha, yet another project on my wild array of burners.

The cat has interjected himself on my lap, and I can’t think of anything else that’s come up that I feel like updating about, so I will now tend to him. And brainfart today’s goings-on.

Probably related:

• November 14, 2011 -- In More Professional News…
• September 18, 2011 -- This Week’s Goings-On
• January 19, 2012 -- Being a Professional

Three major people in the lives of hubby and me passed away within the past year. There will be more, of course, as it is a natural progression of life. I’m not in the habit of thinking about morbid things like this, but I think that not planning for this inevitability would be much more unfortunate, for you, and for those you leave behind.

My husband’s father figure, Mac, passed away in April. A mutual friend of ours, J, had been named executor, all papers signed and all that, a couple of years before when Mac’s health started failing. We will never know if he was actually diagnosed with cancer in his spine and hip area, but that’s the assumption we went with, as he had a sizable growth above his rump, and significant pain. When he became convinced of his impending demise, he called his network of friends around him, for a gathering (he had lived 100 miles away from said network for a few years, was missing everyone, and what better excuse to throw a shindig?), and made arrangements with J and everyone else as to what he wanted done with himself and his stuff. Mac lived in a camper trailer so his estate was not large by any stretch of the imagination, but every object he had was dear to him, and there were some emotionally significant artifacts from his life that he wanted certain rituals and destinations for them.

The week before Mac passed, in which things occurred very quickly and his capacity was severely and abruptly limited, he made mention of a piece of paper that P, a female friend of his had, which he termed his will. He said it detailed everything that was to happen to himself, and his belongings. P had befriended Mac after he’d moved away from the network of friends in the Portland area, and evidently had all the arrangements in writing and agreed upon. J was the executor, and P held onto his will. All appeared to be in order. Mac’s passing was quick, but there was forewarning enough for as much of his network as we could contact to gather around his bedside, and witness the event. Hubby never let go of the man’s hand.

And then J started getting phone calls. There was one particular gentleman, R, who lived in the same town as P and Mac, who insisted that Mac’s remains, and entirety of items, to be delivered to R. We’d never heard R’s name before Mac’s passing, and we weren’t sure who this person was and why he was being so insistent. He got J’s phone number through P, and persistently called her, on a daily basis, to spend hours on the phone with her, demanding, sometimes loudly and argumentatively, that Mac’s wishes were for everything, EVERYTHING, to be given to him. P couldn’t vouch for who R was, and we certainly had no idea what rock he had crawled out from under, so J made the best decision she could, and told R that she would be happy to put him on the list for SOME of Mac’s belongings, but not all of them, as there was an entire network of friends in our area who also had valid claims to Mac’s stuff. R was not pleased by this.

On R’s end, from what we can gather, R and Mac had spent a moderate deal of time together at the bar they liked to hang out at, and Mac had made some generic offers to R which indicated to R that Mac’s possessions were to go to him. Mac had never mentioned J, nor any of us, except as a group of friends he used to hang out with. No mention was made as to J’s position as executor, nor that his friends here had received similar assurances from Mac as to his possessions and wishes.

On J’s end, there was this obnoxious guy we’d never heard of, calling incessantly, for something that sounded unreasonable and unlikely, and ran counter to what at least 23 of us were witness to hear on the man’s deathbed. Sorry, R, we were not gaining up on you, we are only going on the information we were given on the night Mac passed away, and what was said between J and Mac before his passing, and whatever P might have on the piece of paper he scribbled the semblance of a will upon.

During Mac’s wake, R arrived, and spent a considerable amount of time speaking in mostly civil terms, but still strongly suspicious of all of us who were sitting around, talking about the man, and focusing nearly solely on J, pressuring her still for Mac’s things. R left dissatisfied, but after a few more phone calls, left J alone.

Meanwhile, P kept mentioning this piece of paper, was present for nearly everything, and kept forgetting to bring “the will” with her. She brought it to the wake, where I saw it for myself. It said, “P gets everything. –Mac.” Hubby took the piece of paper from me, and passed it around, where it conveniently disappeared, because everyone who knew Mac, knew his handwriting, felt pretty strongly that this scribbled, terse “will” was a forgery. I don’t think it should have disappeared, I was a bit mad at hubby for letting the piece of paper get lost (I heard some chick stuffed it down her shirt), it was muddying an already muddy issue.

After the wake, P took every bit of Mac’s things for herself. Hubby and I once spent time with Mac and subsequently P, helping her move from one home to another, and we know her to be an OCD packrat. The amount of dog defecation and dust we had to deal with while moving her things made this a very negative experience. Anyway, J, hubby, and the rest of us think that P took everything Mac owned, and it’s either lost, in storage somewhere, or has been sold to area pawn stores.

So the question of possessions becomes moot, because it’s all been lost, and P has since disappeared. Hubby was once asked by Mac to take a particular sword to Scotland, Mac’s homeland, to “the land of Skye”, as if paying tribute to a king. And Mac was, to all of us. That sword will never be seen, and the duty never performed, all for the want of an official piece of paper.

The tl;dr version: Write something down, mention names, mention specific items, assign percentages, write wishes and wants, WRITE SOMETHING DOWN, and have it notarized, lawyerized, copied, and squirreled away. Also, get someone named medical power of attorney and executor, and share said will, whether formally or informally written, so that the executor or PoA has some damned clue of what you want with your stuff.

Don’t think for a second that just talking about it is enough. The PoA and/or executor is going to be dealing with your death, and the hitherto unknown sharks coming out of the woodwork to ask or demand that certain items or pieces of property be given to them. If the PoA or executor cannot be trusted with your will, then find an attorney to settle your estate. And for goodness sake, don’t leave it to the significant other, or “the family”, to take care of it. Your loved ones deserve to be treated better than that, even if you are not around to have to be subjected to it. Whatever your beliefs, there is simply no excuse not to have your ducks at least somewhat in a row.

–

One of my husband’s closest friends passed away on Christmas Eve. My husband was working at the time that the news came. Instead of leaving a message, a mutual friend called incessantly. When my husband finally answered the phone with, “What?! I’m working! What! Leave a message!” the friend blurted out, “[Friend] has died!” My husband, feeling as if he had been punched in the gut, got off the phone, called me over the intercom, and he had to step away from his register to freak out on the employee bench. At. Work. WHO EVEN DOES THIS!!?

Not to be flippant, but the person who has passed, is still going to be passed, after a day of work. Especially a day of work landing on the eve of one of the most major, most celebrated holidays of the year. Especially a day of work landing on the eve of a major holiday before the store closes for an entire day, sending customers scrambling to find those last minute gifts, deals, sales, and mundane supplies.

I’m really glad that I was there to be able to set aside MY WORK to be able to console him and hold him together while our coworkers watched in concern. We ended up going home early, neither of us getting holiday pay because of the emotional blow.

The tl;dr version: Pay attention to what time it is, and unveil your news accordingly. Early in the morning, or in the evening after work, totally okay. Noon on the busiest day of retail in the entire year, oh hell no.

–

The same friend, mentioned above, who passed away on Christmas Eve, did something rotten to his wife: he’d left no backup information as to what the password was on his computer, or his email, or his social network profile. His wife has no way to contact those people who only know him online. She has no way to ensure that bills don’t continue accumulating for services and accounts that need to be shut down. She has no way to secure his account so that spammers can’t hack in and post using his name posthumously. Services that he set up for the family, she now has to go through the trouble of trying to find an administrator’s number, or email address, in case they need to be notified that the resident geek has passed on, or personal information needs to be updated.

This is not tl;dr, but here’s the summary: Write down your computer information somewhere. Everything that has an ongoing bill attached, write down the username, password, description of service, and website of service. Write down the password to your computer, your social profile, your online blog, your instant messenger service, your email, your Netflix account, WHATEVER, Write that friggin’ information down. Hide it under the cookbooks. Hide it under the cover to the case of your computer. Hide in that drawer of unmentionable stuff you never use. And then tell one or two people, “Dude, if something happens to me, tell so&so to look here for instructions.” People you trust, obviously.

So, watching the fails of late, a summary of tips for end-of-life planning:
1. PLAN.
2. WRITE THAT SH* DOWN.
3. TELL SOMEONE WHERE TO FIND THAT SH* YOU WROTE DOWN.
4. Not required, but awfully considerate of you: ASSIGN AN EXECUTOR/POWER OF ATTORNEY.
5. ?
6. PROFIT!

Or, you know, you could do what they did above, and:
1. DO NOTHING.
2. LAUGH MANIACALLY AND INEFFECTUALLY AS YOUR LOVED ONES FLAIL ABOUT.

If you’re not a douche, you’ll know which set of options you’ll do. RIGHT?

Probably related:

• January 19, 2012 -- Being a Professional
• January 14, 2012 -- Snow! In Winter! Shocking!
• January 12, 2012 -- The Doorbell

(Source)

The image made me laugh. Yes, kids, in the future, we’ll all be wearing precariously balanced salad bowls and nursing pads on our heads, swathed in strips of exercise mats wrapped uncomfortably around our torsos.

Ahh, the pretentiousness…

Probably related:

• No Related Post

I think I’d like to play with this. Whee!

Probably related:

• January 12, 2012 -- New Toy
• November 14, 2011 -- In More Professional News…
• October 13, 2011 -- Opting Out, and Updating

Then stop shipping and schlepping devices that are running Android version 2.2. The newest, four months old, is 4.something, “Ice Cream Sandwich”.

Running 2.2, or even 2.3?

That’s like making computers with Windows 98 (released in 1998), when most geeks prefer Windows XP (released at the turn of the century) or Windows 7 (released most recently).

What the heck, Android tablet makers??

Probably related:

• December 28, 2011 -- Google Minus
• November 9, 2011 -- Ding, Dong, the Bloatware’s Dead…
• October 13, 2011 -- Freelancing, Productivity, and Wants

Probably related:

• October 10, 2011 -- No, I don’t want to be a Naughty ______. :P
• September 22, 2011 -- Sewing Notions
• September 13, 2011 -- Thoughts on Podcasts and Crafting

My list is very short.

I spent nearly every day this past year sleeping on my futon bed, the vast majority of the time with my sweet husband snoring next to me.

For two glorious nights in January of this year, I got to sleep in a hotel bed in Forks.

And for one nifty evening, we slept in the very luxurious abode of Andrew’s sister and her family’s house, a cabin in the rural woods not far from Port Townsend, in a tall, unbelievably comfy and soft bed with the natural wood head and foot boards, with wooden paneling, books, and sheets soft enough to sink into. Yeah, that made a bit of an impression on me.

<rant>
Woulda slept other places, but the car pooped out and all that. I think I’ll give the car back, the arrangement of us paying them for it sitting in our driveway for four months doesn’t really strike my fancy. I could have paid over $1000 on an actual car. I’m tired of my husband being a tightwad, I want a car. :(
</rant>

Probably related:

• December 31, 2011 -- Year in Review
• January 14, 2012 -- Snow! In Winter! Shocking!
• November 22, 2011 -- Dragons, Telepaths, and Other Impossible Things

I thought I might link up a new audio blog and get that all set up and automated so that when I spam one place, it goes everywhere. But instead, I get to admire the whale graphic again.

If it is over capacity as claimed, shouldn’t they, um, raise the capacity? Rent more gerbils and install more wheels for them to jog on? Employ more solar energy? Increase the memory of their database? Allow more connections? One of them nerdy things that embiggen it?

Probably related:

• July 13, 2011 -- obsolete technology
• January 19, 2012 -- Being a Professional
• January 12, 2012 -- New Toy

1. List 5 personal victories – big or small – that you experienced.
a. I acquired a car.
b. I kicked butt over last year’s sales.
c. I started this blog, and didn’t delete it in a nuke&pave when I got tired of it.
d. I got to see hubby’s dad and sister for the first time.
e. I lived a conscious life, in which I made the decision to be and feel happy. Aside from the occasional gripes, I’ve done well with that. I’ve certainly become more conscious about how I flail about.

2. List 5 precious, priceless gifts that you received from others or from the Universe.
a. Hubby and I were called to a friend’s bedside, where we watched hubby’s father figure pass away from cancer and total system failure. We had a week to prepare, and a night to witness.
b. Hubby’s former apprentice came back into his life, and subsequently mine. There have been many games of Tablero and game nights.
c. I got to see family again, at my grandmother’s funeral.
d. Andrew got to see his dad and sister again, during the same trip as c.
e. I got to work one of my favorite jobs ever, again, during December.

3. List 5 challenges that you faced and the valuable lessons you learned from them.
a. A couple of friends turned out to be douchebags, and I cut them entirely out of my life. There are still moments where I wonder what the heck happened. But I’m better without the toxicity in my life.
b. We’d known for a couple of years that hubby’s father figure was not long for this world. Hubby thought that the loss of the man would break him apart in ways he couldn’t even fathom. In the end, hubby was able to do everything he’d promised the man, we had a week to see him again, and hubby spent the entire night glued to the man’s side. Having that time with him, no matter how short, really helped the whole process. And as with other traumas hubby has suffered, I was a great balm to the soreness of those wounds both old and fresh.
c. I had the opportunity to work a permanent position at the same store I do seasonal work at. I found out that I’m not as young as I used to be, I can’t lug heavy boxes around like I used to. I have become more ruthless about getting more of hubby’s income into the bank.
d. Promises were made by others about getting hubby and I to the peninsula, and to the beach, many times this past year, but none of them ever happened. I have learned patience and temperance.
e. We acquired a car that has spent four out of the past five months sitting in our driveway, useless. Again, I have learned patience and temperance. I have also learned that perhaps this is not the car for us.

4. Set a timer for 2 minutes, and during that time brainstorm as many things as possible that you are grateful for in your life. It doesn’t matter how small or how large.
iPad, roof over head, food in belly and in fridge, shoes that fit, clothes in closet, computer that (sorta) works, cat, Facebook, the natural beauty of the area I live in, the car sometimes working, continued lack of pain from lack of gallbladder (no more sensitivity to milk and spices, yay!), roommates, hubby, hubby’s family, friends, Darby o’Gill (local Irish band), sunrises and sunsets on our panoramic balcony on Pill Hill, the possibility of snow and surprising thankfulness that car doesn’t function at the moment so that I don’t have to drive in adverse conditions haha, Youtube, Netflix, webhost, reasonable health, sunlight, having enough where it matters most.

And another survey, from the same entry via beckydancer:

1- Have you closed out your 2011 projects? What things do you not want to carry into 2012? What do you need to finish, schedule in, or simply drop in order to maintain your sanity? How important is it? WHY are you doing it and does it serve you/your family?
I need to drop the J & J thing (aforementioned douchebags), that isn’t going to be fixed anytime soon, not if I don’t wish to communicate with them at all. An olive branch was recently offered and I totally ignored it, because what they pulled, I don’t think is forgivable. I don’t need that in my life. Why it keeps coming to mind perplexes me. I look forward to leaving that friendship in the past. Let it go, Gin, let it go. *breathes in, releases*

2- Have you spent time telling the people you care for that you love them?
Reasonably. I’m still estranged from my family, though I’m happy there was no overt drama during gma’s funeral. Knowing I had a 4 hour drive in front of me, I was not invited to stay the night, though I did ask, to rest before heading back. So I pour that love into the friends and chosen family I do have.

3- Have you slowed down and caught up on your sleep?
I’m getting there. It’s amazing how many spoons you go through in a month’s retail.

4- Do you know what you want the next year to look like?
Next year will undoubtedly be better than this one. A working car, a working me, better use of my leisure time, and busier than ever with coding nerdiness.

5- Have you meditated on where you are in life and sifted through the noise to ask the important question of “Who am I?”
Not particularly. I think my actions and motivations, and minute-by-minute triumphs of my day, speak enough on that one. It’s the same reason why I don’t really ponder religion or politics, I tend to be too practical for theoretical and hypothetical discussions.

6- Have you taken on some life/health enhancing practices that you will do the next year?
Nothing extravagant. I always strive to become more self-aware, and more positive. I’m human and it is an ongoing project.

7- Did you spent enough time in nature this year? What are your plans to integrate more contact with nature for 2012?
I have been able to do very little of that. When we had access to a car, we did have occasion to go to a nature park nearby, and to the peninsula, though it borked out before we could take our long-lusted-after trip to the beach, or sight-see on said peninsula, we were in too much of a hurry to get to family and then home again, grr. *kicks car* Hopefully we’ll get that fixed in some sort of permanent way and make many more trips out of the city limits next year. Grr.

8- Have you closed out energies that no longer serve you?
I hope so. Whenever I feel the need to start ranting and raving to the wall (I speak aloud to an empty room as if I’m talking to them) regarding the J & J issue, I tell myself to either talk to them directly and stop “practicing”, or to let it go. Such rants are diminishing, though my confusion about their last actions to me will continue to pop into mind until it is resolved. I’m probably being childish in not addressing it with them directly, but I have no further need to expose myself to their lies, manipulations, or toxic ways. Obviously I have a ways to go to close out that energy and probably imagined negativity. Evidently it’s still a more sore spot than I thought. We’ll see what the next year brings.

Probably related:

• December 31, 2011 -- One More End of Year Meme
• January 14, 2012 -- Snow! In Winter! Shocking!
• November 22, 2011 -- Dragons, Telepaths, and Other Impossible Things

I have to say that the service is redundant, offers nothing that another social network doesn’t already fulfill in my online pursuits, and their features are comparatively scrawny and uninspired. I posted this graphic after about a month of being on there:

I’d have to say that sums up my experiences. It was common to see friends’ updates from a month ago still hovering near the top of the page. Perhaps the friends I roll with just prefer Facebook, but nobody I was following updated very often. It was hard to entice anyone I knew to use G+ in addition to or instead of Facebook.

Nice try, Google. Next time, give us features no other website has. Sometimes Google really has their fingers on the pulse of what people want. Othertimes, like this, it leaves one scratching one’s head.

Probably related:

• July 23, 2011 -- Newfangled
• January 3, 2012 -- I’m Still Waiting
• November 9, 2011 -- Ding, Dong, the Bloatware’s Dead…

I’ve learned some things about myself this year that made me quirk an eyebrow.

I really enjoy working on my own. I’m organized, I can anticipate trends, and I’m a much happier person when I can work at my own frenetic pace without interruption. My manager and I have a great setup–he sets me loose and I give him periodic updates for any wonkiness I need addressed. After having done this fruit basket thing last year, I knew what to expect and I really knew what I was doing. So on the first day, my boss asked some minor questions to make sure I still remembered what I was doing, and told me to get busy. I arranged my workspace in an efficient way that I wanted, I got my supplies, and I bore down to produce some output.

I don’t like being micromanaged by someone not involved with my chain of command who thinks I’m mentally deficient in some way. Last year, this manager from another department would feel the need to wander over and grill me as to all content I was using in my work, inquiring as to which items originated from her department. She would make sure in no uncertain terms that I knew excruciatingly well that anything from her department had to be refrigerated. She also demanded that I alter my training and procedures, in order to accomodate her unique and overly OCD way of managing inventory. My coworker and I would always write down the UPC code, price, brand and name of the item being used in our product, the quantity, and the date we put the item to use. Every day we left this list of inventory on our manager’s desk, where he would then input the information into the store’s computer, thereby alerting any department that was not our own that an item not showing up in their inventory scans were still in the store, being used in our product. The aforementioned micro-manager insisted that rather than writing the item down, that we allow her to scan the item, using an inventory scanner.

This year, I got smart, and informed her that I would use no content from her department, unless directly asked by a customer with a custom order. I also let her know, the two times I did utilize something in her department, what exactly the item was, and that she was welcome to scan the item by using her scanner on an identical item still on the shelf. We still had clashes, but they were minimal, and she mostly left me alone as she was too busy picking on my coworker. I accept guidance from anyone who has a better idea than what I’m doing, or has knowledge about a procedure I’m not familiar with. But this woman was grossly out of line regarding our manner of dress (in a store with an already established dress code), and concerns that make sense in the food service realm she was a part of, but had no place in our put-fruit-in-basket thing. That woman was very much a Negative Nancy with her criticisms. I always nodded pleasantly, and filed away her daily admonitions in the proper mental receptacle. My coworker, new to this gig, eventually learned the same.

When my workspace is arranged in an efficient manner and I have every supply I need, my output is insane. I noticed that my coworker, hired as my backup, wasn’t backing me up nearly enough. We, the manager and I, had a simple formula and matra: “Two of everything on the shelf.” There were 12 different types of baskets we were instructed to make. 24 of them were enough to cover every flat surface available to us to place our product upon. And as I noticed them disappearing, I would make 6-10 of one particular basket, as they were selling so well. On my final day, my manager informed me with considerable glee that I was the top seller in the entire region, which encompasses towns up to 50 miles away and involves 30-some stores. That was even with my coworker being inefficient and at times, not being at her table but on the other side of the store, shopping.

On the days in which I was not scheduled to work, I had a pad of paper on which I left notes to my coworker, noticing trends in sales, and in the rotten fruit I was finding in the baskets she had filled. I don’t think she read them, but the inferior quality of some of our baskets was not for the want of me doing something to ensure they were of the highest quality. The log book was handy, regardless, as she was able to tell me about certain orders that had come in, questions and concerns she had, and excuses as to why the tables were empty when I came in from two days off. I tore the used pages out of the simple notepad of paper and left it with the supplies of leftover price stickers and baskets. If I’m here next year and take up the seasonal position again, it will come in handy, and if not, the pad may be used by the next set of people.

I’m not as physically fit as I used to be. I am overweight, but back in the day when I had a retail position and was schlepping over 100 150-pound containers full of store merchandise in weekly freight by hand, though I sweated a little, I was in good enough shape to feel only mildly sore the following day. It was my feet and inferior footwear that really gave me problems. When one of the managers from another department gave me a trial run, liking my attitude, I had to let myself go after three weeks, as I was schlepping heavy crates of gallons of milk daily, and I just couldn’t handle the pain. If I get picked up again for a permanent position somewhere in this store (where everyone already knows me), I’m going to have to make sure they know that I’m not able to lug such heavy stuff around.

I love that I challenged myself to arrive at work and get through the day with a smile and a positive attitude, no matter what was going on off the clock. I was determined to keep it no matter what I was faced with, being criticized by the micro-manager, having to disappoint a customer or being yelled at by same for not knowing an answer to their query. There wasn’t much to be negative about this year for which I’m very grateful, other than my flailing that my underling wasn’t doing her job and making me do her work as well as mine. That negativity vanished during the last two days when I realized there was no way I could catch up where she had slacked off, and figured I’d do as much as I was able, go home exhausted, and leave whatever was left for the following day. There was a moment in which I really wanted to discuss in no uncertain terms what she was doing wrong, but I was afraid that if I let her know how I was feeling, she wouldn’t come in to work anymore and then I really WOULD be working alone. I did point out to my manager, the store director, and some other coworkers when my table was empty upon me arriving at work and what the other gal had left me with. The assistant manager was fond of looking over the errant coworker’s shoulder and leading her by the ear back to the table she should not have left, and telling her to get back to work.

Next year, if I am to take this position again, I will make sure that the underling knows exactly what is expected from her from day to day. I was able to anticipate what we were going to need the following day, and wrote things like, “We need to pay attention to pears, those are getting squishy almost as fast as the bananas.” I should have realized she needed more direct guidance and wrote an actual list of things she needed to accomplish: “1) Visually inspect all baskets, try to squish the pear with your finger, bring all dated baskets back to the table. 2) Change out ALL fruit, not just the bananas (since I couldn’t rely on my coworker’s ability to realize when a fruit was about to go bad). 3) Make ## of the smalls, ## of the large handled, ## of the most expensive ones, and there’s an order for 2pm tomorrow that I won’t be here to fulfill that falls upon you to complete.” The 3rd item I didn’t think to write down, thinking that she knew exactly what was on the shelves, and to replace whatever was sold or thrown out.

I thought about using the colored bows to denote the day of the week it was first assembled, to keep a better eye on inventory, but for one, that would create a glut of one particular color on a given day of the week, and two, I was worried that my underling would fall under the assumption that if a basket was only two days old, that nothing in it would be unacceptably overripe, and wouldn’t inspect it more closely. No, I agree with the practice of using random colored ribbons for variety, preference, and to keep us looking at each basket suspiciously and daily.

I just felt like writing all of this out, in case I do take up the position next year, and try to remember what I learned this year, and what to do different next. Each hostess was invited to write out tips that they might include in next year’s manual, and different practices we might suggest they include in subsequent years. I wrote that we really need to provide for consumers some of the plastic wrap and cheaper bows, as I personally handed out over 50 of each to those who asked politely, and had to turn others away lest I run out of supplies for what I was being paid to do. I also thought we could use a better task system for taking and fulfilling custom orders as they come in. My coworker had a cluttered way of taking the order sheets, and throwing them away before the custom basket was even purchased, which made figuring out who had picked up their item and who needed to be called very confusing between the three of us taking orders. Next year, I might ask my manager to make a custom pamphlet with the store’s phone number, in order to take custom orders there too, about half our orders this year was through that venue, as people would take a pamphlet home and call in later after they’d chosen what they wanted.

Oh yeah, and one more thing I wanted to articulate. There are some people you won’t be able to please, no matter what you do for them. I had a business gentleman come in, see the array of stuff I was cramming into our more expensive baskets (salmon, cheese and crackers, and so on) and demanded I make such a basket for him at a reduced price. We had to barter for a few minutes before he was satisfied and I was sure I wasn’t giving away something that would hurt our profits. For customers like that, I will make allowances for, and give them more than the monetary value is, because I’d rather see a $30 basket with $45 worth of stuff walk out the door than to lose a sale of $30. Thankfully there weren’t too many of those types of customers as I would have had to have been more forceful about my absolute bottom line, what we can skimp on and what I could not. I’m sorry, I’m not going to price a $15 box of smoked salmon at $5. This is not a medieval farmer’s market and we do not work on the barter system. I’m not in a position to make such decisions.

Probably related:

• November 9, 2011 -- In Other News…
• February 7, 2012 -- Billing Woes
• January 19, 2012 -- Being a Professional

Probably related:

• December 24, 2011 -- Christmas Eve Stuffs
• December 22, 2011 -- Merry Yule!
• December 20, 2011 -- Silly Videos

I’m working my last day in retail today, and I won’t have the energy to blog anything when I get home. I wrote this ahead of time. I hope you’ll understand. Happy holidays, whatever you celebrate!

Probably related:

• December 25, 2011 -- Christmas Day Stuffs
• December 22, 2011 -- Merry Yule!
• December 20, 2011 -- Silly Videos

My husband can’t help but cry every time we play this tune. He’s moved by the inclusion of Father Christmas and other “pagan” symbols in the video alongside the traditionally Christian lyrics.

You’ve probably heard this song before, but never quite like this. Loreena put the familiar lyrics to a different, unfamiliar medieval Celtic tune, creating a haunting song that, again, incorporates elements of Christianity and paganism. You can read more about the song itself here, including the masculine symbolism of the holly and the feminine nature of the ivy, and how the lyrics compare the holly to the role of Jesus Christ, while the ivy no doubt refers to the church, often referred to in the feminine pronoun.

The Yule log is a particularly dense natural piece of wood that is used especially for such a night as this, a tradition most popular in Eastern Europe but a fixture in fireplaces all over the northern hemisphere. Its most practical applications are of course light and warmth on the longest night and shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice. In a world where only candles, bonfires, and kitchen pit fires kept the darkness of the night at bay, it was reasonable to ensure a fire’s longevity by providing it a log that would take hours upon hours to burn away to ash. Historians aren’t quite sure where the tradition part of it took off, but established its usage to Britain in the late 1700s.

The Yule-log-as-video idea came along in 1966 when the then-president of New York City television station WPIX gave his company a gift by airing a multi-hour video of a modest fire in a fireplace without commercial interruption on December 25. He gave his employees the chance to spend the day at home with their families, and also provided a cheesy substitute for those individuals in the area who lived in apartments and other dwellings without fireplaces, but who owned a television somewhere in their residence. It’s been an on-again-off-again phenomenon through the years, and now through the magic of the internet you can have your Christmas Day parades and your Yule log too.

I’m having a hard time finding a song that features mistletoe, but an entry like this wouldn’t be complete without that particular element! This modest plant blooms in winter, at odds with most of its vegetative brethren. In the 1800s, it became a common custom for a man and woman, standing beneath a bough of the shiny, waxy green leaves and red berries, to smooch under the common holiday decoration. There wasn’t much to the custom, it was just a Thing.

The poinsettia is also a winter-blooming plant. Already a popular decoration in Latin America during celebrations near the Winter Solstice, Franciscan friars in Mexico included the plants in their Christmas celebrations. They likened the star-shaped pattern of leaves to the Star of Bethlehem, and the red color to the blood sacrifice of the Christian savior.

Even the Christmas tree has roots (haha) that precede Christianity. In the area now known as Germany, ancient tribes told stories and repeated legends of the Donar Oak, which stood for traditional values such as truth, longevity, and loyalty. In the middle ages, those who resided in the region erected evergreen trees in public spaces, decorating them with delicacies, candies, and sweets for children. The crazy westernized Christians began putting candles in there, and privatized the whole affair to the households of individual families. And likely burnt down a lot of said homes.

I have to work, and cannot spend much more time describing familiar elements of the season that are not particularly Christian, or started out as symbols for preexisting religions, legends, and customs. Here are links to more information that you’re welcome to read at your leisure:

• Yule Supplies + Gifts
• Yule: Origins and Customs
• Christmas and Yule Customs

And here’s a left-over song that isn’t Christmas-related, but rather tells the story of the Duke of Bohemia (a Czech territory) somewhere in the early 900s, the high middle ages, as he set out stomping about in the snow. The Wiki article is here:

Probably related:

• December 25, 2011 -- Christmas Day Stuffs
• December 24, 2011 -- Christmas Eve Stuffs
• December 20, 2011 -- Silly Videos

There’s no entry today, or the 23rd. I wrote everything way ahead of time because I knew I’d be swamped this month. Only I didn’t know how swamped I’d be due to the complete fail on the part of my coworker, who was supposed to keep up inventory on my days off, and failed utterly to do so. I tried to think of something to write here, but I’m just completely drained. So, there, an entry written, but completely lacking in holiday-ness, other than griping about retail woes.

Probably related:

• December 25, 2011 -- Christmas Day Stuffs
• December 24, 2011 -- Christmas Eve Stuffs
• December 22, 2011 -- Merry Yule!