Bonjour Mes Ami,
It’s been a tough week. A few hours ago I spoke to my Uncle in the UAE to give him my condolences on losing his wife. He’s my favorite uncle on my mother’s side… tough times.
I’ve been living alone for the past few weeks.. my wife is in Jordan with my daugher visiting her parents. Which is probably one of the reasons why I am so introspective these days. I miss them horribly but inshallah (God Willing) I’ll be joining my family in Jordan in a couple of weeks for a bit of vacation time… so my posts might become a little more sporadic.
Epiphany 1
Today while browsing my LinkedIn account I noticed that it looked very familiar… and as I tried to remember where I had seen this front end (geek talk for the interface of a website) it finally clicked that its the same software that Voices.com now uses after their system upgrade late last year.
here is a screenshot of both of them next to each other (you can click the images to enlarge them):
maybe not the most interesting thing in the world… but still I was intrigued.
Epiphany 2
I write really long emails when any of my readers contact me.. then I think about publishing them… then decide not to because of privacy issues… note to self… stop writing long ass emails or just ask people if they mind if I publish their emails… I’m not too lazy to write the long emails… just too impatient to write in asking for permission to publish emails.
epiphany here is … I’m lazy in some things but not in others.
Epiphany 3
People are generally awkward when it comes to money. I noticed from a couple of people who wanted to advertise with me that they don’t know how to gracefully back out of a negotiation… I wont mention who or why the backed out… and I don’t really care. Its just that its usually polite to inform the second party that you have decided to go with someone else… this is a business deal not dating… I won’t stalk you or embaress you in public (ok maybe embaress you in public if you were rude to me).
Epiphany here is… Being polite hurts no one and burns no bridges… Also don’t piss taji off .. he has a blog and he will use it.
Epiphany 4
Voices dot com are back to using the profile images on their front page… which they had said they wouldnt in a post from Stephanie’s blog Vox Daily entitled Statistics Don’t Lie: Introducing Voices dot com’s New Home Page.
the epiphany is … I guess the statistics do lie… because it only took them a couple of months to switch back to their usual look.
…whatever
Epiphany 5
I can’t decide on what new laptop to buy. I was thinking of a Dell.. something nice with an extended battery. This should set me back around $1,032 it won’t be the fastest thing out there… but i’ll be a nice and very fast machine that lasts for a good 5 hours per charge.
This could be nice for editing and recording… I need to do more research… need to go to more than just one showroom.
Final Epiphany… stop writing blog posts and go out to the computer stores and do some more research… I must fight apathy!!!…. or not.
😛
anyone want to share their epiphanies for this week? Lets see if you guys can fight your own apathy and leave a comment.
Hey, Taji…
If you want a real epiphany, read “The Road Less Traveled,” by M. Scott Peck, M.D. Even though it was published 30 years ago, there are timeless truths within those pages. He writes logically, intelligently, with great sensitivity and humility, and yet presents his ideas in a great flowing manner.
I completed more than 60 pages last night because I was so impressed.
Hey Taj! So I had this fabulous response written & when I clicked submit was redirected to google – clicked back… Gone. 🙁 Hrmmm… So long response made short…
I am so sorry for your loss. My thoughts & prayers are with you & yours in this very sad time.
On the computer end – I have a Dell & love it. It was a birthday gift from my biz partner Robert. However, I have done lots of research & when I actually jump in & get a new laptop, I am looking good & hard at the 15″ MacBook with 8 hours of battery life. WOOT! Maybe by the time I am ready to get it – the price will go down a bit more. 😉
As for epiphanies – this is one that I must thank you for. After an email exchange that you & I shared, I was reminded to take time from the bustles of work & enjoy time that will pass all too quickly with my precious daughter. Since then I have made it a point to take an hour here & there throughout my day to spend quality time with her – no phone calls & no laptop. This is time that I have come to value beyond words. I am sure that are many of us out there who struggle to find a balance between work & family. Especially for me – the last two years have been spent as a single mother – so in these situations, you do what you have to do to make ends meet. But I learned over the last week that the business will not fall apart if I take an hour out here & there to share that quality time with my daughter.
SO – I challenge each of you to take an hour here & there out of your day to enjoy your children – even if it means that you have to work a few extra hours late at night after they have gone to bed. It is time that you will cherish beyond explanation & will give you memories that you can cherish for a life time!
So from the rooftop – I shout thank you Taj for your friendship. I value you & the knowledge that you have shared with me more then I can express!
Glad to hear you’re spending more time with baby girl… She deserves it… and so do you. Family should come first… money… well it comes and goes and the only constant are the people that we cherish and that cherish us.
Regarding laptops… I thought of getting a mac… but they’re ridiculously over priced and if you’ve read any of my iphone related posts you’ll know how much I LOVE Apple… (yes I’m being sarcastic) so I want to purchase something and not feel like I got ripped off… and the prices for macs in egypt are just unreal… I can honestly buy a car with the price of the 17 inch powermac… just crazy.
Sorry about your response getting lost.. that happens to me sometimes… actually today my blog kept glitching… it wouldnt post the bit about voices dot com changing their front page… I thought there must have been some weird conspiracy between buddypress and that site to sabotage my post… eventually I got it to work… troubleshooting took 15 minutes. Arrgh!
You are so right about family. The sad thing is that I have been pushing myself so much & barely getting by money wise. So your message just really made me take a good hard look at where my priorities were & it felt good to release my notions of the more I work = more money. And I must say the mental & spiritual rewards of time with my daughter are worth more then gold. In fact she & I broke the bank & the grocery cart at Wal-mart & stocked up on every known arts & crafts project on the planet & have been having an amazing time together creating art. (Her & my favorite thing to do together.)
And I hear you on the Mac. All the research says good stuff & beneficial to me in my line of work – the price tag is ridiculous indeed. On the same token though – my reasoning is that it might balance out between the money I have shelled out over the last couple of years on tech guys to clean out viruses & adware from my computer. Who knows – I have never owned a mac before but from what I hear it’s less likely to happen.
The only downfall on the Dell is that tech support is pretty horrible. Thankfully, I know people who have been able to walk me through fixing things up to this point & haven;t had to deal with the dell folks. 😉
I lose responses here & on a lot of other sites as well which drives me mad. I should probably type in word first & save every couple minutes just in cases. lol! Alrighty – 6:30 here. Hope all is well with you.