Re: Re: camping  was: bbsing   
     By: Nancy Backus to Damon A. Getsman on Tue May 12 2015 13:21:10   
      
    NB> How old is he, again...?  At some point, he ought to be able to learn how   
    NB> to take disappointment in stride... but that does take some maturity. :)   
    NB> It does, though, help if one wasn't setting one's heart on it... ;)     
      
     He's 8, going to be turning 9 on the first here.  I'm working with him on the   
   disappointment bit, but I still try to make sure that I don't set him up for it   
   by telling him about plans that have any sort of a decent chance of being   
   pre-empted.  :)  He's really good about it, for the most part, but I like to   
   save him the added disappointment being as we've been in a situation where he   
   gets so few things above and beyond the average everyday norm for so long now.   
      
    NB> That sounds a bit of a "good news, bad news" situation... :)  Good that   
    NB> the work is picking up, bad that you didn't have the time available for   
    NB> the fun things...   
      
     Well, right now I think that the economic stability kind of takes the   
   priority in most areas.  I'm going to try to make up for him missing that last   
   little outing soon here.  The economic situation is starting to look a little   
   bit better.  Might even be able to have next month's rent paid by the end of   
   next week.  If that happens there's some definite forward motion [finally]   
   taking place.   
      
    NB> Sounds quite promising...  paycheck to paycheck is better than no   
    NB> paycheck at all... but it certainly is nicer to have a reasonable amount   
    NB> coming in regularly...  :)   
      
     It's going up.  Slowly but surely.  For what it's worth the issue right now   
   isn't _my_ productivity level, either.  It's the fact that the project manager   
   has a limited amount of time.  I'm usually sitting here wanting to put in more   
   hours every day, but I'm waiting on his schedule to free up a bit so that I can   
   get more bits carved off that I can chew easier.  That shouldn't be so much of   
   a problem in the future, but with the familiarity I have with the stack that   
   their site is deployed with I really need smaller chunks carved off for me...    
   Especially when the people reporting the problems don't even know enough about   
   the situation to give me enough information to diagnose...  Shouldn't have to   
   worry about anything like that with a little more experience, at least.    
   Totally still a virgin on this 'magento' suite, though.  :)   
      
    NB> So, if I understand correctly, you went with some others in a van to go   
    NB> camping...?  A couple of families with kids...?  Was this some sort of   
    NB> organized program, or something that people just got together to do...?   
    NB> Sounds like a long trip... hard for kids to be cooped up that long...   
      
     It was a long trip, definitely.  It was myself, my roomie, his girlfriend,   
   and her two kids (along with my son) in a mini-van.  I think that I'm somewhat   
   spoiled, because my son is so good at dealing with trips like that.  He's   
   _NEVER_ done anything like that, even when he was 4-5, even on 15+ hour drives.   
   He just doesn't act that way.  Different strokes for different folks, I've got   
   to remember...  Not every parent has been able to spend as much time with their   
   kids as I was able to for the first 6 years with my little man, either.  I've   
   been lucky in a whole lot of areas.   
      
    NB> Yes, at least he and the other kids had a chance to run and play... and   
    NB> sleep outside for the night...  ;)  Too bad it wasn't a little longer in   
    NB> the camping phase, for the long trip there and back...     
      
     They probably reaped a lot more benefit from the whole situation than the   
   adults did.  They had the entire 18 hours, sans sleeping time, frolicking in   
   the woods and having a blast.  It was just the van trips that were tough for   
   them, and I think really only the one.  The kids seem much more able to tune   
   out the cries of one of their own than the cranky old farts.  ;)  But it was   
   great to see my son (and the other kids) being able to have such a blast for   
   such a long stretch of time out there.  Especially after the isolation that my   
   poor little guy has to endure (as I've whined about endlessly ;).   
      
    NB> Just gotta remember that fictional isn't necessarily reality...  ;)   
      
     butbutbut it seems so REAL in my horribly visual imagination.  ;)   
      
    NB> That still gives at least 50% chance that it WON'T happen...  :)  Maybe   
    NB> not even in your lifetime...  ;)   
      
     Well I've always been one of those people with a 'can-do' attitude.  Even   
   when it comes to the Earth 'can-do'ing an earthquake to try to chuck me off   
   into space.  ;)   
      
    NB> Sometimes you just have to curb the imagination and not let it run away   
    NB> with you...    
      
     That reminds me I haven't yet meditated today.  ;)  I'm working on it, every   
   little slice at a time.  I find that it's definitely showing benefits, too.    
   Like those nightly revisitation and haunting hours that I've mentioned before.    
   When I haven't had way too much coffee or done anything else that spikes my   
   anxiety uncontrolably, I find I'm having a much easier time banishing such   
   thoughts.  It just takes me a few minutes to concentrate on releasing those   
   circular chains of thought, a few minutes to concentrate on something happy   
   like my son playing in the bathtub and cackling when he was 3, and then I'm   
   good to go.  Sometimes it's a little tougher than that, but not so often.    
   Either way, it's a lifesaver when I'm trying to go to sleep.  I was out of   
   sorts on the camping trip, but I bet in areas where I'm having illogical   
   phobias or paranoia like in the earthquake/vulcanism scenerio it'd probably   
   help quite a bit, as well.  As I seem to recall I was way hopped up on coffee   
   because I hadn't had nearly enough sleep the night before...   
      
    NB> Offline readers are quite the godsend at times, to be sure... :)    
    NB> Especially since I'm in DOS, not exactly what you'd call a multi-tasking   
    NB> environment...  ;)    
      
     Wow.  Are you using DOS because of older hardware?  Just curious...  There   
   are a few drop-in replacements for DOS (like TSX-11) that'll give you a DOS   
   compatible environment that can support some multitasking, I believe.  I mean   
   not that there's anything wrong with working linear; it's probably a lot better   
   for productivity and focus.  :)   
     I just realized I've still got some old QWK packets sitting here from other   
   BBSes that I was going to read before I had to reinstall my operating system   
   for the umpteenth time here, too.  I'll have to break out metamail pretty quick   
   here, probably.  Hell, it might be easier to use that even for my own BBS; I've   
   found an issue lately where if I go take too long of a break from composing a   
   message it logs me out for some reason, and I lose whatever I've already   
   written.  Not sure what setting I toggled to cause that evil, but I'm not   
   finding it to set it back easily...   
     Best wishes!   
      
     -D   
   --- SBBSecho 2.27-OpenBSD   
    * Origin: Tinfoil.synchro.net - now at FTN (1:340/200) (1:340/200)