Google says $12,953 but we know that’s not right. Coindesk says 13.3k. I’m a little skeptical because CNBC says trading was halted at 11:11am today. Here comes the plunge!

This is what I can’t stand about throwing money at bad investments. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t sell at $12,930 right now. You have to wait until trading resumes and that could be at 9k. It’s pure bullshit. I own 0 Bitcoin fwiw, but I know the feeling of not being able to sell an asset.

Originators are selling their stakes now. Transaction fees to use the currency are sky high. It’s a mess that I’m glad that I’m not a part of. Of course, it could get back to 20k but I wouldn’t be surprised if it went back to 3k either. Who needs it?

My computer at work asked me to restart. I snoozed it. It asked me the next day. Same result. It continued to ask me 8 days in a row, one time going full screen, invasive, PLEASE FUCKING RESTART ME. Today I said, “ok, enough’s enough, what’s the worst that can happen.”

After 30 minutes of updates it gets stuck on a blue HP screen. I hard reset and it updates some more. It resets and gets stuck at the same blue start up screen. Hard reset. It finishes its updating and then I get a series of screens like the one I posted above. It started with “hi”. Then messages like “we’re improving your experience.” The screen kept fading from light blue to dark blue like it was trying to hypnotize me. Real creepy shit. Then the screen I posted came up and I thought that I had to take a picture of it. The title of this post should give you and idea of why it’s called Windows.

Does anyone else find the word “we” a bit frightening here? Who is we? When I’m browsing PornHub, I don’t want a we. I already don’t use the private browser because I don’t give a fuck, but don’t let me know there’s a we here. This isn’t the movie She. I don’t want we with my computer. I want me. You’re a machine. Not my friend. Do your job and stop worrying about me. Scary and terrifying.

If this is what our world is coming to with regard to interaction from computers, I’m out. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. No thanks. I’m moving to Africa where I know that they are about 100 years behind in technology. I’ll take my chances with the lions and elephants before I let some AI bad ass stick a rotating drill through my head for an insta-death. Hard pass.

Is the blog taking a back seat? Yes.

Will it continue? Probably not.

Why is it happening? It’s not for a lack of opinions and I seem to have extra time as I’ve been watching a lot of BoJack Horseman. So from a material and time perspective, it’s not that.

Why then? It’s more of a quality issue. I don’t want to be a Barstool where they scour Reddit and post whatever top option comes up to be known as a “blogger”. I’ve done that for many years and the results are minimal. I don’t think the people who read my blog necessarily want that. If I had to guess the people who read, who are generally people in my life, want to either be a part of the blog or feel the parts that I’m in that they maybe have faded away from. I still wouldn’t be able to answer why people visit this blog.

What’s the plan? When I get some free time I’ll start it up on a more regular basis. When our business year ends, there are many tasks that have to be done on a time frame that don’t allow me to sit here and blog. I’m still trying to figure out what “content” (I’m starting to hate this word) that I want to produce that keeps people entertained. I know no one cares about my DraftKings basketball results or lousy gambling habits. I’m sure I’ve written this before, I want to up the quality of the posts like WaitButWhy but not nearly as smart or long winded. Using my Photoshop skills to put together complete blog posts.

Is this another cop out post that reveals no information while trying to create a post. Yes.

Letter from the Editor:

I could write posts on how Carson Wentz going down was so Philadelphia. Or how the Sixers losing to these undoubtedly bad teams shows that they are still a troubled franchise. How the coffee lid on a solo cup has a hole in it (for the straw) instead of snap lid and it makes madder than anything on the planet when the coffee spills out. Why I don’t like studying German. Why my Photoshop skills are not translating to quality business designs. Why I get annoyed with Sirius radio.  There are probably 100 of these I could list that I could write about but I want to take a step back and put together more of a plan for this blog. This blog brings in between 400-500 people a day with the posts I’ve written in the past about various topics so it’s not like it can’t gain traction. It’s what traction do I want, how I want it, and then following through (Gourlay and Dale…). I know I can follow through, it’s figuring out what I want. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere and the posts will flow shortly within these next 10 days when I start getting some time away from this desk.

 

I did an Escape the Room last night at the Franklin Institute. The “team” managed to escape with 8 minutes remaining. I’d guess 3/4 of the group had done an Escape the Room before and there were a few noobs. I was one of the useless noobs.

You pay $28 dollars so the Franklin Institute can lock you in a room for 1 hour. Sweet. There are a punch of puzzles that unlock steps and it’s a team building exercise. Did I find the experience boring? Ehhhhh. Not knowing what’s going on makes it hard to help people who have done it before because you don’t understand that certain puzzles unlock keys to other puzzles. One time I was wearing a helmet because some audio said “Ground Control to Major Tom” and people thought that it was talking about me. It wasn’t. Then I was scanning some rocks when the puzzle had been completed 15 minutes ago which was news to me. It’s a worthwhile experience to say you’ve done it, but I wouldn’t have much interest in returning.

I did this event sober which is an odd way to phrase it. Can you have sober fun? This experience would sum up what my expectation is for sober fun. Time is passing. You’re existing. You tell yourself your having fun. But all you’re doing is scanning rocks.

The older I get the more I understand drinking alcohol. Alcohol has negative effects on your health. If you drink too much, you’ll feel like shit the next day and it will effect your performance. With more responsibility as you get older, this makes a big difference. When you’re in college, not only does your body recover faster, but people are not relying on you. This changes. So knowing that getting black out drunk is not desirable, why do it? This is where the slippery slope begins. For instance, I’m planning on going out of Friday and I know that I don’t want to get black out drunk. However, once I drink 3 pints, this thought that I have this morning, fades and the moment takes over. Alcohol helps you live. What do I mean by live?

You talk to people differently. At least I do.  Last night was a good example of sober conversation. How’d your fantasy team do? How’s the job? Where’d you get that jacket? This is all surface banter. It means virtually nothing. After a few drinks, I stop worrying about the walls and go after whatever I feel like caring about at the moment WITH that person. Being a drunk asshole is not what you are going for. Utilizing social cues and skills, combined with alcohol, is a weapon of mass destruction. You’re searching for genuine conversation.

This is one of my favorite topics so if you’re reading and you’re out with me, talk to me about this and you have my interest.

When you stop thinking about yourself, and lure the other person in by talking what they are interested in, the conversations can start opening up to truly meaningful discussions. Can I do this sober? Not so much. I’m more careful with my emotions and feelings. When drinking, or drunk, you get the real me and I can be a manipulative / thoughtful son of a bitch. Do I mean that I’m purposely being manipulative? No. However, if I’m showing interest in something that I don’t care about, how can that be truthful? Is the alternative saying, “I don’t give a shit” and walking away? This feeling of feigning interest (which I’m using extremely lightly because I’m still not convinced that this is the truth. Can I be interested in something I have no interest in is another discussion) is one that makes me feel bad the next day. It’s because I know what I’m doing. The other person thinks they are having a conversation with this well rounded person and all they are talking is to some raging alcoholic on some social experiment. Here’s the rub, I like it. It makes me feel like I’m connecting with another human being in a deep and impactful way. I just said it makes me feel bad, how do I like it? The interaction with other human beings is what I’m considering living. Not surface interaction. Boring. The talk I can only seem to get when I’m drinking is what I yearn for.

So when I weigh the benefits I receive from alcohol and the negatives that come along, it becomes a balance. How do I work this increased connection with humans that comes along with alcohol without reducing my life to an alcoholic mess? It’s a constant battle. People who don’t drink like this, or haven’t read books like “how to win friends and influence people“, probably don’t think like this. I’m aware this post is long and babbling but these are the underlying thoughts I have week in and week out. My experiences continue to evolve me as a human the same way as you evolve throughout your life. The only difference is I have a blog and your reading my blog and not vice versa. Writing this (and knowing so few are reading) gives some insight on a part of life that you may or may not be experiencing, but I can share because I know for a fact, not many people do what I do. You’re not striking up a conversation with the bartender and explaining how a room with a bed in the middle is the sign of maturity. You’re not standing in the elevator with a stranger and asking if it would be uncomfortable if I looked at the wall instead of the door (I did this sober btw per Mindhunter). This is what I’ve found makes life interesting in an otherwise monotonous game.

 

I went to the bank today and it was brutal. I heard 4 people ask what their balance was. How do you not know your balance in this day and age? I must be assuming that people have a cell phone or have access to the internet. Is this Congo? I’ve also noticed that people going to the bank have an affinity for not using the parking spots. They like parking right in front of the door. You know, in and out. What they aren’t taking into consideration is that 9 times out of 10, there’s a line. Do you know why there is a line? It’s because they promote tellers to higher positions and then they become too high and mighty to ever go back to being a teller. So when there’s a line of 10, and there are only 2 tellers, and there are 2 people in “management” who are texting their friends about tonight’s plans, the line doesn’t move. It’s asinine. I rarely feel like speaking up but in these situations I want to scream out, “hey, I know you know how to do this job, so help out not only the customers who have been waiting 15 minutes, but give relief to the tellers who want to blow their brains out.”