There was a reddit post yesterday, http://www.reddit.com/tb/d77cj, and I identified with it. In case it goes away, it said, “I spent my childhood wishing that I was older now I’m older and this shit sucks” It was a crude run-on with no punctuation. However, it reminded me of my youth, and how different things are now.
I was attacked with comments about confusing childhood with my teenage years, and maybe I did. I took the picture and made it mine. I remember how much fun I had in high school. It is an era I still reflect on regularly. I went though a lot of crazy stuff back then. It was certainly not all good, but it wasnt all bad. The world was new, entertaining, careless.I never listened too much to anyone, and I did what I wanted to. It made me think that these people didn’t live out their youth, and it made them think that I am not living out my adulthood.
I had no real responsibilities, and I shunned many of the ones that I had. They were pointless. I proved it. I made something of myself, and I didn’t follow the rules to do it. I did it all on my terms. This was not the best course of action, generically speaking, but it was my way. My way was the only way. I learned a lot of hard lessons, and it was the only way for me to be taught. I partied hard, got laid, stay out, and did whatever I wanted to really. That was what youth was about for me. Pushing limits, one could say.
I think the lessons I learned through that are invaluable. I also count my blessings that I didn’t suffer worse consequences. I could not tell you what direction such things would have turned me in my rebellious youth.
Here I am though, pretty successful. I would say very successful, but I feel like I have remained stagnant for a few years. I have a lot more going for me, but its how I feel. It may just be time for some changes. It definitely has to do with a lack of a pay upgrade in a few years. I was never that competitive, but I hate that people are catching up or exceeding my salary. It is not that they do not deserve it or anything. I am just jealous.
It is in that same way that I am jealous of my youth. I did well, and I did it without guidance. Everyday left me feeling great with a few exceptions. I think it really boiled down to time being on my side.
I am nearing 30. It is almost here, and in the past 3 year I have gotten engaged, found a home, been able to afford some great nights out that I could not when I was young, bought a great home, finally set a date for a wedding, etc, etc.
However, where does my time go? Five days a week with limited “me time” is something I am no longer feeling okay with, and something I never limited myself to.
I still suffer consequences from my past each and everyday. I will for quite a few more years. Though, with the original topic in hand, I was not identifying the image with my early adulthood. That is a time I could have done without.
I love what I accomplished. However, this is not how I imagined it. I never pictured being a corporate drone when I was young, but did I really picture anything? I lived in the now, but I was young, it was easy, and I was good at it. Maybe I was stupid to think I would be living on easy street. Maybe I was stupid to not think of the future at all.
If anyone out there in their early 30s is, I would love some advice. I do not feel like I was meant for a daily routine, but it is all I know now. I do not see another option. I yearn for another option.
Posted in Growing Up, Life | No Comments »
Posted on 31 August '10 by Eric B, under Growing Up, Life. No Comments.
I have a Vacation and a new household member to post about, but the most pressing topic would be my lost Droid X. Here is the IMEI incase anyone does a search on it in an attempt to find the owner, me. A0000022517544
I have found wallets and purses in the past and went out of my way to track down the owners or return to a mall security. Meanwhile, my missing phone which cannot be used because its blacklisted may never turn up. I still have some hope for the old “do onto others” adage. The same adage makes me fear riding my bike around. I am waiting for the day some kid tries to hit me with a Slurpee. I used to be such a dick when I was young, but at least I was a dick that would return lost property.
Tags: IMEI, Lost Cell Phone
Posted in Life | No Comments »
Posted on 30 August '10 by Eric B, under Life. No Comments.
I finally got around to creating a custom IOS version 4.0. I had to be able to jailbreak the phone again if for nothing other than free tethering and SBSettings, which allows me to kill processes and turn off features in seconds.
From what I understand, this wouldn’t have went too smoothly if I had updated to any official firmwares since 3.1 or so. Lucky for me, I treat this phone as a production environment, not some geeky fanboy’s toy. No early adoption methods here.
It did take a while to get free tethering working though, and the method is rather lame. I have just convinced the phone that something is not expiring. AT&T’s tethering fees are crazy, and its not something I commonly use. I just want the option when I go on vacation, if I can even get a data signal up there.
Anyway, I like the folders better than the JB apps, and I like how it keeps things open. It actually seems faster than it was on 3.1.2.
Tags: 3GS, 4.0, iPhone, jailbreak
Posted in Computers & Gadgets | No Comments »
Posted on 28 July '10 by Eric B, under Computers & Gadgets. No Comments.
I found this today. It pretty much sums up how I feel about kids being given meds. They tried this with me when I was a child, but my parents refused…. at least until my teenage years.
Someone on the site where it was posted argued, “So the answer is that children need imaginary animal friends who get them into mischief and such?
I love Calvin & Hobbes but, let’s not be crazy.”
He must have been on them himself. He missed the whole point of the illustration. He is clearly lacking any imagination, himself.
Tags: Cavlin, Hobbes, Kids, Medicine
Posted in Art | 1 Comment »
Posted on 22 July '10 by Eric B, under Art. 1 Comment.
A while ago my furnace started making noise. This is my first home, and I was curious to see what I could do to remedy the situation. I opened it up, took out the part where the noise was coming from, and found a motor and fan blades that I would later find to be called a “squirrel cage.”
I went online and was told there should be oil ports, but I found none. I just cleaned it out, and it was fine for a few more months. Then it started making noise again. I took it out again, and this time removed the motor from the squirrel cage. I found what looked like it might be the oil ports, and lubed it up with a SAE 20 oil. The next day the noise was back and it smelled like burning oil.
I decided to see if I could find any more suggestions online, and I found out a lot of blower motors have a capacitor attached. I felt like I was missing something, but it turned out that this 25 year old model did not use them. They were not that common back then.
I decided it was time for a new motor. But now the squirrel cage would not come off. I waited for the thing to cool down, as heat expands. Once it did, it was still very stuck. I had to grip it with a wrench and vice grips and twist them for a long time trying to free up the motor shaft. Eventually propping up the blower housing and bouncing my heel on the motor shaft, it started coming free. That is a lot of pressure used to get this thing off. I have no idea how it solidified after about a days use.
I tried to get a new motor at Grainger this morning, and they wouldn’t help me because I was not a business. WTF? They are a huge store, and money is money, right? I know they had a suitable motor. It took trips to 4 more stores to get a part. The second to last store had a motor that would work, but the size was all wrong. They had some brackets, but none of them would work. At the last store the guy took one look, said, “that’s old,” and brought out the part without even looking at the motor specs. Good thing, because I was about to pay for a pro to handle this. When he asked me for my company name, I panicked a little, but he had no issues with a personal account.
I spliced the wires to the matching colors on the connector from the old motor, but it turns out that the blue and yellow are opposite from what they were before. I made the adjustment accordingly when plugging in the wires from my furnace, and it just ran for a little over a hour.
The motor was not hot, and my house is cool. I won’t be sweltering during this hot weekend.
The rather odd and old part was $200, about twice as much as I expected, but it would have cost me about $5-600 to have a pro come and do it for me.
Tags: Blower Motor, Central Air, Furnace, Home Improvement, HVAC, Squirrel Cage
Posted in Home | No Comments »
Posted on 16 July '10 by Eric B, under Home. No Comments.
Eric B is a young, underpaid, mild mannered corporate whore. For more, see the About Page.
