Bah, Humbug!
I got to work this morning thinking that today would be a great day. And well, it was. But there were lots of distractions. First of all, during this joyous time of year there are lots of people that want to buy christmas presents online, communicate with loved one’s via email, and send money to people via the internet. In turn, there are also lots of technical questions that need to be answered in order for these joyous things to take place. When someone like myself becomes a professional web designer/developer and lunges into a career that requires the internet almost constantly, you would think that I would rise above the the Technical Support Desk realm and into a very progressive state that my friends and family would admire and respect. Can you sense my sarcasm yet? Today was a very strong reminder that not only have I not achieved this status within my Mesozoic clan of a family, but that I would be drafted by every major branch in the government that is my family to play the ever so important role of customer service for what I lovingly refer to as the internet retarded, technology fearing, COM-port using mongrels that represent…yes, my parents.
First, my Dad calls. He is in Iowa with my Grandmother who has been protesting for going on three years now for the rights to recieve email. My Dad always calls when I’m at work. Why? Because that’s when he works, and since I apparently just wait there by the phone ready to help him out on all issues from “Your Grandmother wants to send email” to “I need a new laptop” I answer the phone with a gleeful “Hello Dad, how may I help you?” So, apparently they have stopped selling the Mailstation devices in stores since the demand is rather low. So I have to take down his CC information, her physical address, and go to Amazon.com and purchase her a Mailstation and have it shipped to her house. Why me? Because I work on computers all day, so it’s no big deal right? Just push a button. Just make it happen, right?
So I put out that fire, and I’m ready to get some real work done. Phone rings. It’s my mother. She wants to talk. She just got back from her trip and Hank is out somewhere so she just figured that since Ido nothing all day but move pixels around on a monitor that I must be bored. She also has this uncanny ability to sense when I just got angry with my father. So, I chat with her for a while and then tell her that I really need to get back to work. So I move on.
I then proceeded to get some real work done. There were other distractions that I meant to get to today but I’m sick of my rant so I’ll stop here. There’s some other stuff I’d like to point out besides the little update on the front page.
There’s a website that got pointed out to me today that seems very cool. It’s called Heifer International. These people have set up a very unique way to help in the fight against world hunger. You can go to their website and literally buy an animal to give to a person in need. But you don’t just buy them the animal. they have involved in the cost a trainer that takes the animal to the people in need and explains to them the best way to raise, breed, and then eventually use the animal for food. Once the breeding process begins, that person then gives some of the offspring of the animal you purchased to someone else in need. This in turn creates a snowball effect that helps to feed the world. Prices start at $10 and go all the way up to $10,000. It seems like a legitamate business in that there are photographs, stories and contact information. According to my friend that turned me onto this web site the people offer for you to go with them and see first hand how it effects people and cultures that most of us will probably never see. But we all know hunger is out there and that it will only get worse if we turn our backs on it. So help these people if you can. They are doing a good thing and there’s no religous affiliation.