Ugh - please help me - what a month already

Ok - so as the new years comes along, I've decided that I need to step it up a notch.  I cancelled my cable tv - and now I concentrate more on reading books and doing the programming I should be doing.  I have enough time to take on more - I just wasn't managing my time correctly.  i'm working on getting all my calendars and to-do lists integrated, and moving on...

But of course - as you guys may have noticed - I wasn't around much - something hit.  Its just like every time you get going ...

OK WAIT - I THINK THIS IS PARTIALLY A RANT/VENT - I APOLOGIZE - I SHOULD HAVE SAID 'LET ME RANT' FIRST - SORRY!!

ok continuing on.  Everytime you get all set, something comes to crash it down.  Its been happening all over...

-- I generally don't have a very fragile ego.  I know I'm good at what I do - I don't need to brag and I don't need someone to tell me I'm good.  its not really a point - its just whatever.  But at work I made about 5 fubar mistakes this week - and on the internet - I've been gettijng misunderstood left and right (I submitted an article to Dzone and had like a huge train of negative comments... people just misunderstood... and then my favorite was "oh well he's probably only been programming for a year" - kind of pompous of them... )

-- Hobbit down because of $ - I wanted to go out more and experience more things - but wouldn't you know it - right when that was gonna happen - I got hit with 'the thing' - now I'm a couple g's in the hole ...

-- lonely - I was gonna get a dog - but thats kind of dashed now too cuz of the whole $ issue.  Grrr - and I just don't go out and most of my friends have moved away now.


AT any rate, enough whining - my question comes out like this:

What do you guys do to re-energize - to get over the sucky slumps?  This has to be something that really doesn't cost money - doesn't require me to take time off... and not fall behind on everyting else -hah!  I don't even know if there is such a thing.

Ok - done ranting.

aaron i feel with you, if you need a shoulder come along. Doesn't live just suck sometimes? But i can almost guarantee you there are better times to come.

To answer your question is very simple. Your time right now is set to work, get your hole straighten out and don't go out at all. Make some real money, concentrate on your work. The rest will come sooner or later.

Shouldn't we open an "Ask Ant Anny" website? One with a corner to cry in? The Germans do well with it. Sh.. tripple AAA is taken already

Hahaha - nice comments.

Now I read it and I'm like - wow - I was being kind of a lil baby.  But oh well - as my project manager says "there aren't enough modern caring sensitive straight males" - haha

What I think we need is a smashing things room - what ever happened to that old 404 error page that you could take the flash-hammer to?

There are days, weeks and even months that my life would make for a great soap opera. I've had to reinvent my professional self more times than should even have to be considered by one person and I've got a long way to go to retirement.

There were times I really didn't know if I was going to be able to make the rent. Life now is still not what I'd like it to be, but I have been able to convince myself that everything we encounter can be turned into a learning experience. Some learning experiences are positive and some are not-so-positive, but they all seem to get us one day further and a tiny bit smarter.

My two dearest friends are both devout Catholics and for years they kept consoling me with "God never gives us more than we can handle." The last time that was said we were sitting in a restaurant. I picked up my white napkin and began waving it in the air. My friend looked at me quizzically and I said, "I give up, I've reached all I can take; I'm waving the white flag now."

It didn't work, but it at least made us both laugh and we went on to discussing how to move on from whatever misfortune had struck that day.

I understand your frustration and have been known to lament "every time I start moving forward SOMETHING happens to kick me in the butt". Vent your steam, even whine a bit, and then hunker down and tell the world "You won't beat me! Just wait and see!" It works. At least until the next time.

OK, now for an extra bit that's a bit less philosophical. In some ways I have a great outlet for those moments where I just want to break something. Our backyard is woodsy and there's always something that needs pruning, trimming or other "hacking and whacking". It's quite therapeutic for me to shut off work, go outside, and do something that is both productive and destructive.

If you live somewhere where there's a place you can go that will completely get your mind off of your work, business and whatever else is troublesome - go there, spend a few hours and begin to rejuvenate yourself. I live in the mountains and for me it helps to sometimes just take a long drive on our winding mountain roads. The scenery is beautiful and the sometimes treacherous roads require my full attention - it's a great way to clear the mind of what ails ya.

You're down because you got insulted on a social networking site? Since most of the people that are on those sites are all of 14 years old - who cares? It's not like you were told you couldn't program by someone who's actually paying you.

Making mistakes at work is something everyone does. My biggest one was in late 1998. Everyone was running scared that when 2000 came, the computer systems were going to explode or something. I was tasked with removing all of the unnecessary programs on our DEC mainframes. The first mistake was deleting a piece of software that no one in the department said was being used - even the big boss's husband who it turned out was indeed using the software for some "special" project for one of his customers. This was the same person I had asked face-to-face if he was using the software and was told "Oh, no, you can delete it. I'm certain it's not being used."

Less then a week later came the real biggie. Another piece of software that the office considered me to be the "expert" on creates all of these ridiculous log files that start with the letter z. This brain-dead child deletes *.* instead of z*.* and watches as the screen quickly displays all of that drive's files going up in smoke.

To make matters worse, the backup tapes, which had been also assigned to me to ensure that all the proper files were being stored, had not worked correctly in exactly 364 days. As luck would have it, the boss's hubby was also responsible for that boo-boo. And of course, the last viable backup had been written over the night before. Oh joy! And of course this drive housed all the files for a piece of software no longer being supported by a dying company. Thousands of dollars in consulting fees later, the software was back up and running.

Needless to say it wasn't one of my better days or even weeks. (Oh yeah, I also was hobbling around on a broken foot. The doctors were giving me a different cast weekly as their team tried to figure out what exactly was wrong with my foot.)

Quite the rookie mistake from the resident 'expert'. And one that taught me never to work in a situation where the boss's spouse is a loose canon who seems to think he's the only one working in the department and always tell the boss when you've made a huge mistake before he/she finds out from someone else. As soon as I realized what I had done, I told my boss he needed to call the help desk and warn them that they were about to get slammed and why, as I hobbled my way to the computer room in hopes of finding a back-up tape. My owning up to it was probably the only reason I was not fired that day.

Trust me, we've all been there and the evil spirit that causes us to do dumb things we know are stupid will most likely visit all of us many more times before we all hang up our keyboards.

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Hey, I feel you, I suffered the same slump last year, and was off the internet far longer than 3 months. It was health issues. And I was glad though, I saved up for something like this. So pretty much I was able to glide through the problem but I was on a roll that time, and everything came crashing down and I have to start all over again.

To vent out my frustration, as I live in a coastal town, with the beach on the front and a backdrop of mountain at the back. I walked alone and trekked for sometime until I felt more depressed. Luckily I joined an AirSoft Team, where adults shoot around with replica guns like m4's and augs and run around like kids. These guns called aeg's (Automatic Electric Guns) fire plastic bb's and hurts like hell when you get hit. With proper protection though, it just stings. So I joined in and ran mad, dashed and was having a great time that i was able to focus more after that.

I hope you get through your slump, and hope we push through with my offer.

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God never gives us more than we can handle.

I really agree with that, but as there are many people that don't believe in god, I will try to express my thoughts otherwise.

There are two kind of persons. 1 is the kind that make mistakes, and the second that does nothing

Successful persons know that failure is a part of the success process, so they don't fear to make mistakes.

In my opinion everyone should try to see the positive view of what is happening to them. The ancient greeks were saying "uden kako amiges kalou" which means something like "every bad thing has something good in it"

Hope I am helping with what I said

Re: social programming site
Doesn't normally bother me - I normally can just brush off stuff like "well, i have a car so shut up" hahaha - as I know they're all a bunch of immature a-holes usually.  But when stuff stacks up - hah.

Those are all good stories - and great examples of things to do to relax.  I think thats what I need to do - I've been so focused on work and my own business that I've started to forget the things I like - like guitar.

As for me - I can't give exact details - but lets just say my mistake involved not adding months of payment together.  When we tested it, we stupidly only had one month - so we couldn't see the addition of say... 3 months... so anyways, it was quite a damper after someone noticed on the third month that months 1 and 2 weren't being calculated.  Oh well.  All is well now.

Ok - all - I just wanted to say thanks for the support and thoughts.

I think things are getting back on track for me.

I finished up a big contract - and am rebilled for them - plus got a pay increase - so its all good.
(of course, major props for 'designer' -- for chris' understanding - he's the man - too bad we didn't get to work together yet)

I'm glad to be back around - I miss this place.
-aaron

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well we could always start a new project... Was pretty swamped lately, since I decided to be more hands-on than having to part things out. Anyways, welcome back! (although its a late WB)

I really agree with that, but as there are many people that don't believe in god, I will try to express my thoughts otherwise.

There are two kind of persons. 1 is the kind that make mistakes, and the second that does nothing

Successful persons know that failure is a part of the success process, so they don't fear to make mistakes.

In my opinion everyone should try to see the positive view of what is happening to them. The ancient greeks were saying "uden kako amiges kalou" which means something like "every bad thing has something good in it"

I couldn't agree with you more, there was a time when I did some overseas exams and whenever I failed I would start organizing some study material from the very day I got my result. I would make up my timetable, identify t he areas that needs addditional attention and make a concerted effort to get the work done. So it's all about persevering. Not accept failure.

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