Rambling

Color Me Happy

~ lobablanca

I realized something after yesterday’s follow-up cranky post: I’ve already got four posts under “Surly” but I don’t even have a “Happy” category. So consider this post me fixing that problem. I’m actually not an unhappy person; I just carry around a lot of surliness inside me. I might be an early 30s girl on the outside, but inside I think I’m more like that cantankerous old dude that Dana Carvey used to play every now and then on SNL’s Weekend Update.

So here’s my first official post on things that make me happy. Today, for instance, was a happy day. First day of the season to break the 80-degree mark (Fahrenheit, that is). It was hot, it was sunny, and it was perfect for a hiking trip to Great Falls. Of course, when I say “hiking,” what I really mean is, “walking along a dirt path for a few miles up and then turning around and coming back.” No actual climbing on rocks was involved this trip. But it was a perfectly lovely hike. Not too many people, but plenty of wildlife. We saw little lizards, turtles lined up on rocks to catch some rays, dogs running everywhere – plus two blue herons. One even let me get close enough to it for the lovely shot below. Of course, he probably felt more than safe since there was water between us, but it was still nice to be trusted that much by wildlife. And look in the lower right corner of the photo. I didn’t realize it at the time, but there’s a little turtle surfacing.

We even saw a snake swimming in the canal. I snapped a few shots, but the canal water is so disgusting looking…it didn’t make me happy to look at it, and I can only imagine that it didn’t make the snake happy to be swimming in it. So I left it out of this post. Maybe I’ll use it later…when I’m back to feeling surly 😉

Wildlife gone mild
Wildlife gone mild

Catty Loba

~ lobablanca
So say me-ow
So say me-ow

Well, wasn’t I just the cattiest wolf ever in yesterday’s post? Slashing out at Gen-Y like the sad, still-sometimes-flannel-wearing Gen-Xer that I am. I would say that I’m simply out of touch because I’m now over 30 and I just “don’t get” the generation after my own. Truth is, though, that I don’t even get my own generation most of the time.

I really don’t get, however, the attitude that I have witnessed in some younger coworkers. Things like expecting kudos because they showed up at the time they were supposed to show up. This was a true moment from my last workplace (stupid me, thinking that such a thing was kinda sorta mandatory).

Uh-oh, I’m feeling another catty surge. Maintain, Loba. Maintain!

I guess I just don’t expect that much out of my work. I expect a regular paycheck. I expect to work with like-minded professionals (most of the time). I expect that I will enjoy some of what I do, but that’s not the point (see expectation number one). I don’t expect to get constant kudos for doing what I’m paid to do. When I started where I am now, I had to fill out a form stating when I would arrive and when I would leave. I just assumed that this would be a daily expectation, not something that required daily affirmation.

True, I severely stretch the limits of “business casual” with my Docs and more-casual-than-business attire some days (I tend to use as my excuse the fact that it’s just not the designer/IT style to be dressy, which works most of the time). I also indulge in the Gen-X/Y need for ADD-style computer use, with multiple programs and multiple tabs running in Firefox, all vying for a piece of my attention (like right now: I’ve got five programs running and seven tabs open to different Web sites, including one of the ones I manage).

However, I also know that when it comes time to buckle down and get the job done, I do just that. I come in early. I stay late. I take work home with me if I need to do so. I pull weekend duty or late-night duty. No, it’s not fun. It is what it is. Yes, my boss thanks me profusely and I very much appreciate that. But I don’t expect it, because 9 times out of 10, she’s right there in the trenches with me, doing the same thing.

I need to be more lenient, I suppose. The work place is a constantly evolving place. I know for a fact that I would not have made it in the work environment my grandparents worked in. Then again, look at all that has changed since then. Would their environment have existed if they’d had IMDb, blogs, and online news one mouse-click away? Probably not. But would they have lowered their expectations of coworkers and employees because of these things? Should they have? Should we?

Will You Just Pick One?!

~ lobablanca

I can’t stop downloading and switching to new design themes here at the lair. Perhaps some of you have stumbled in while I’ve been cycling through my latest finds, trying to figure out which one I like the best. It’s a bit like stumbling into a CSS Multiple Personality Disorder meltdown. I can’t help it, though. I’m currently a terrible mix of perfectionism and laziness: I want a specific look for my restarted blog…but I want someone else to do it for me. Working on Web and graphic stuff professionally has really left me lethargic toward personal projects.

I think I’m happy with this current theme. There are a few things that I’ve already tweaked and a few more things that I still want to fix. But overall, I think I’m leaning more toward minimalism than the flashy graphics of my last site. You can let me know what you think…but, no, I’m still not turning on comments. So 😛

Slow on the Uptake…

~ lobablanca

I’m still trying to get back into the swing of regular blogging. I do believe I’m a bit rusty, though. Quick, where’s my oil can, woodsman? Plus, it doesn’t help that I’ve currently got several irons in the fire right now that all need equal tending. I’ll get back into the game, though. No worries.

I suppose I should touch on something that played a significant role in my former blog: politics. Seems my attitude toward the political game has changed a bit since we last hung out. I don’t necessarily think I’m a full-blown Democrat anymore.

Wait. No, I am not now nor will I ever be a member of the Republican party. I just don’t feel particularly enthusiastic toward my own party. Independent has begun to trip off my lips with greater frequency. I was just so utterly disappointed by this last presidential election and the wholesale pandering of Barack Obama as almost messianic, both by the Democratic party and the media.

He’s not the Messiah. He’s not even all that different from most politicians. Yes, he is an intellectual and linguistic improvement over the last guy. But really, that’s not much of a feat, is it? I guess I have become so jaded by politics in general that I don’t place much faith in any of them, least of all the option with the least amount of political experience. So I failed to drink my portion of the Obama Kool-Aid sent to me by the DNC.

Does that mean that I’m looking for him to fail? No. In fact, I hope that he does become all that he promised to be. But I’ve never been good at holding my breath for extended periods of time, so I won’t be holding it now either. However, we’re in such a disgusting mess in this country right now on numerous levels that the last thing I want is for him to fail. We need someone with a plan to help pull us out of the muck into which we’ve been steadily sinking for the last 8 years. Bush definitely got one wish: He’s quite possibly had the most impact on this country of any president in recent history. Too bad it was impact comparable in scope and damage to an atomic bomb.

Anyway, so I don’t really know what kind of a role politics will play in this new blog. I’m not quite as angry as I used to be, but I think that stems more from the fact that I’ve become increasingly more apathetic to the entire process. I do have to say, though, that I have been noticing small silver linings, such as President Obama’s recent reversal of Bush’s ban on embryonic stem cell research.

I know there is endless debate going on right now regarding the morality of this research. I can’t help but question the opposition from many Republicans regarding the “destroying of a potential life” through this form of research when they seem to lack the same concern in regard to our military. But I digress.

All I know is that within this form of stem cell research lies the key to unlock the cure for so many diseases, including Alzheimer’s. My grandmother passed away last year, due in part to Alzheimer’s. No one should ever have to be condemned to such a slow and awful death, and no family should ever have to watch a loved one leave them in such a horrible way. So if this is the key, I say it’s time to blow this locked door right off its hinges.

Technological Devolution

~ lobablanca

I’m starting to feel my age. Actually, I’m starting to feel double my age. At a time when technological advances are blooming all around me, I find myself embracing with growing fervor the Luddite inside me. I’m still using the cell phone that I received free for re-upping my contract approximately four years ago. It has no camera, QWERTY keyboard, magic genie, etc. It rings when someone calls me and every now and again indulges my rare need to text. I’m satisfied with that level of service.

I don’t want a CrackBerry or an iPhone. I’m still thrilled enough with my iPod that I don’t really need or want more at this point. In fact, I recently discovered that I can sync my Outlook contacts list with my iPod and I beamed over this fact for days. It’s the second most exciting thing I learned about my iPod, the first being my discovery of podcasts (but we can talk more about that later…).

Don’t ask me for my FaceBook or MySpace accounts or if I Twitter. No on all fronts. I’ve got enough attention-stealing stuff crammed into the space of my day as it is.Why on earth would I want to add more? Besides, I currently have two professional and three personal e-mail accounts. If you’re not receiving communications from me from any of those accounts, it more than likely means that I don’t really want to talk with you, let alone tweet you as to whether or not I ate oatmeal or yogurt for breakfast this morning.

It just seems so antithetical for a geek like me to be saying these things. I am, after all, the mistress of all things sci-fi. Show me the first 30 seconds of any episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and I can give you the title and a description of what occurs during the episode. Shouldn’t I be embracing full-on the advances in technology, waiting with tingly antici…pation for the day that I can queue up for my very own Data?

Absolutely! Unless, of course, the version of Data that we design has Twitter functions and direct access to e-mail. Then I just can’t be bothered…

No Comment

~ lobablanca

So I thought about this for quite a while, and I’ve decided (for now at least) not to activate the comments section on this new blog. I know, I know. I’ve defeated the purpose of the blog: open interaction among Internet users. But a lot of times, comment sections can just turn into hot messes. I’ve dealt with them on professional sites I manage as well as on other personal sites. I just don’t have the energy or inclination to police this site as well.

Besides, I sort of enjoy the intimacy of a nicely crafted e-mail from a reader who wishes to tell me that I’m obviously typing with my ass because no one’s brain could come up with such utter stupidity. Ah, those are wonderful moments, I tell you.

Perhaps this will change in the future. But for now – just for now – I’d like to have a place where I can come and blow off steam and ramble or state something completely ludicrous and know that no one is going to call me on it. At least not in public… 😉

And So I’m Back…

~ lobablanca ~ Leave a comment

From outer space. Kind of. Honestly? I’m still not even sure what I’m going to do with lobablanca.com. But I realized the other day as I was going through my finances and deciding what could be cut and what couldn’t (I won’t write the dreaded “Depression” word here right now, but we all know that it’s there, like the big trillion-dollar elephant that it is), that my poor site had gone ignored like a red-haired stepchild for far too long.

So many things have happened since my last post, both to my life in general and to my Web server in particular. Case in point? I’m now running a snazzy new WordPress blog. Shwinky. I haven’t even figured out more than how to change the theme and add a groovy quote to my header (a million bars of gold-pressed latinum to whoever guesses from where the quote comes). I’m sure that my PhotoShop and coding addictions will soon take over and I will start making this more my own, but I’m digging it in general for now.

Now, as you can tell, the other site is now completely hidden from view. It’s all still there. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do with it. I’d hate to just delete all those posts. On the other hand, I’m really not of that mindset anymore. As I said, many things have changed – although not quite in the ways that many of you are certain they have. But I’ll get into that later. For now, I hope that some of you are still out there and that you make your way back to Loba’s lair. I’ve missed you all.

So welcome to the new lair. There are still lots of boxes that need to be unpacked and sorted, but I hope you’ll all settle in and consider this place as much a home as my last lair.