I am a proud 1 year old infant blogger! It has been an up and down adventure through my thoughts and ideas displayed out here in the cloud. I have learned a lot about myself through this time and I have undoubtedly shown more of myself to many of you than I ever expected to. This was not my intention when I started to blog all those months ago. I started because I needed a constructive way to express feelings and thoughts and I never intended to publish them. I needed a place to go where my thoughts could be worked though in a way that wouldn't cause any problems. Making these public was at first an act of aggression, but it didn't have the effect I was looking for. Instead, it felt like I had dumped all my inner feelings and just let them all go. That feeling Of release is addicting and I am still doing it today. There are a lot of you that might read this blog now that didn't know me back then. So this may be a shock to you that when I started doing this... it truly saved me from myself! Now it wasn't the only thing that saved me, but without the blog over the long term I know I would not be the person I am.
Since I have started blogging my writing has grown and changed as I have grown and changed. I have learned to share emotions and thoughts and ideas in new ways. I am still am infant in my ability to write and share, but, for someone that truly hates writing I do fairly well, in my opinion. Well I should say used to hate writing! Blogging has taught me how to express myself in words. This is an endlessly valuable lesson and it took me a long time realize my new found ability came from blogging. I even partly contribute last years job promotion to the things I learned while blogging. Overall it isn't easy quantifying what I have learned during this adventure, but the effects on me are easily noticeable for those that knew me before.
I am not claiming that blogging alone changed my life. Allowing one thing to dominate the changes in your life turns you down paths that you will later regret. Many of the things that have shaped me during this adventure I blogged about. And as always some good things some bad things. Today, blogging brings me joy above almost everything else... I said almost!!! There are people and events that bring a joy and liveliness to me that I can't describe in words. So I have never tried. For those that know me best and for those trying to know me better; I hope this blog has shown some insight into me you couldn't get anywhere else. My only advise is to read beyond the words and try to see the ideas behind them. Because those ideas are the real reason why I sit here and type.
Andrew
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Status of life
I feel I have been fairly quite on my blog recently, I think it is because of all that is happening that I haven't blogged about yet. So here is a status update from my world. There has been more and more happening in my personal life and less and less happening in my work life these days. It is a welcome change right now too. Work can be depressing when news isn't the best and a slow personal life adds to that depressing feeling. At the same time it is not the best thing for me financially as a busy personal life generally costs more then the simple boring life in front of a computer that I embrace so well!!
My personal life has become more social then it has ever been before and I have met some of the most exciting people in all my life. One person is the most exciting thing that has happened to me in very a long time. She sees and reacts differently to me then anyone has ever done before. We all have been through the "getting to know you" time when we meet someone new. This person completely blew me away by stating things about and to me that made it seem as if she already knew me... no it was more than that... it felt as if she instantly and completely understood me, like she knew my thoughts as if she could read my mind. I am having a hard time putting the exact feeling in to words as new feelings are always hard to understand and even harder to describe. Needless to say this person quickly became a part of my life. I am sure I will blog about this more as time passes and I understand it all better. Until then and for now, I am extremely happy that I have a chance to get to know the person that seems to already know me better then anyone I have met before and possibly even better then anyone I will ever meet again.
All this excitement has me more on edge then I normally am. I have tried to used this extra tension and resulting energy in a positive way. I have opened myself up to people and new ideas more then I normally do. I am trying to do more branching out. I have been working on this expanding of my horizons for some time. I have done fairly well in a slow progressive way. I hope for the possibility with this push of openness and growing that I might finally reach a personal goal of feeling truly free. I imagine just waking up one day to the world looking different, to a dawn of new possibilities, and to the end of my feelings of internal captivity. Sometimes I think it is just a dream to ever reach this goal. It is a dream I will strive to make come true!!!
Well that is more than an update of the status of life, but when I point myself down a path you can never tell exactly where my thoughts will go. Until the next path....
Andrew
My personal life has become more social then it has ever been before and I have met some of the most exciting people in all my life. One person is the most exciting thing that has happened to me in very a long time. She sees and reacts differently to me then anyone has ever done before. We all have been through the "getting to know you" time when we meet someone new. This person completely blew me away by stating things about and to me that made it seem as if she already knew me... no it was more than that... it felt as if she instantly and completely understood me, like she knew my thoughts as if she could read my mind. I am having a hard time putting the exact feeling in to words as new feelings are always hard to understand and even harder to describe. Needless to say this person quickly became a part of my life. I am sure I will blog about this more as time passes and I understand it all better. Until then and for now, I am extremely happy that I have a chance to get to know the person that seems to already know me better then anyone I have met before and possibly even better then anyone I will ever meet again.
All this excitement has me more on edge then I normally am. I have tried to used this extra tension and resulting energy in a positive way. I have opened myself up to people and new ideas more then I normally do. I am trying to do more branching out. I have been working on this expanding of my horizons for some time. I have done fairly well in a slow progressive way. I hope for the possibility with this push of openness and growing that I might finally reach a personal goal of feeling truly free. I imagine just waking up one day to the world looking different, to a dawn of new possibilities, and to the end of my feelings of internal captivity. Sometimes I think it is just a dream to ever reach this goal. It is a dream I will strive to make come true!!!
Well that is more than an update of the status of life, but when I point myself down a path you can never tell exactly where my thoughts will go. Until the next path....
Andrew
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tech Work is Happy Work!!
Ever been bored at work? It happens all the time in the technology world. Sometimes there just isn't any problems to work on. For some this is a time of rejoicing and goofing off, not for me. These slow times just cause me to get tired of my job. With out the challenge of the problems/issues that are brought to my attention work is just plain work. I consider myself extremely lucky in the fact that what I do for a living is what I love to do. My father always said if you love your work then it never seems like work. I do not believe he is entirely correct with this statement but it is a good start.
I believe liking what you do and doing well at what you do are two requirements to having a successful career. You don't need both but it is easier to be good at your job when you like that job. I have been misjudged several times as liking my job because I work hard and do well. I guess work ethic isn't something thought of when looking at employees. That is where those employers made the fault and I didn't stay long after that in most cases. I have had my share of bad and good jobs. Many of the best jobs were with bad companies and the worst jobs were with good companies, but there were a few that were in the middle ground of both and I stayed a happy employee for much longer at these places. In the end, I am usually disappointed in the company and leave for greener pastures. This has worked well so for, with a few stumbles along the way. Nothing that a little hard work couldn't fix.
That brings me to today. My work is a source of happiness in my life. I am not a workaholic but I like what I do and I am good at it. I work long hours and most of my time is dedicated to my work. It didn't even take a year at my current job to earn a promotion and several raises in pay. I have done this because I learn quickly, I have practical experience in the application of software and hardware solutions, and I work with my team to solve problems. In a job like mine sharing the knowledge you have is a two way street. One way if you share everything you know then you may not be needed anymore. We all know the idea of working yourself out of a job! The other way is that by sharing you gain perspective on your ideas and experiences making you more effective in diagnostics and troubleshooting.
This all leads in to the most important piece of being a technical support person, personality. I think if you can get along with people you are more apt to share with them. You can be more empathetic to customer's problems and that leads to being better at customer service. Dedicating yourself your self to your customers will get you far in tech support but rarely makes you friends in other departments and can hold you back from moving to other places in a company. Choose you battles wisely and be sure you make intelligent well planed moves.
The best part of being in the technical field is the option to work privately on the outside of your normal job. Many techs do this to make the extra money they spend on the tech products they buy for themselves. I do it for extra spending cash and to experience other parts of computer support I don't see in my job. It is a way for me to keep my knowledge more current on what is happening to the individual user and what they use computers for. I also like the work because it reminds me of when I was young and still learning to interact with technology. It is fun to work with people and gain their respect and gratitude. I am not the best but the work makes me happy and I will always work hard to keep it that way. Tech work is happy work is successful work and makes a happy worker in my case!!
Andrew Birchler
Newest Version Computer Services
I believe liking what you do and doing well at what you do are two requirements to having a successful career. You don't need both but it is easier to be good at your job when you like that job. I have been misjudged several times as liking my job because I work hard and do well. I guess work ethic isn't something thought of when looking at employees. That is where those employers made the fault and I didn't stay long after that in most cases. I have had my share of bad and good jobs. Many of the best jobs were with bad companies and the worst jobs were with good companies, but there were a few that were in the middle ground of both and I stayed a happy employee for much longer at these places. In the end, I am usually disappointed in the company and leave for greener pastures. This has worked well so for, with a few stumbles along the way. Nothing that a little hard work couldn't fix.
That brings me to today. My work is a source of happiness in my life. I am not a workaholic but I like what I do and I am good at it. I work long hours and most of my time is dedicated to my work. It didn't even take a year at my current job to earn a promotion and several raises in pay. I have done this because I learn quickly, I have practical experience in the application of software and hardware solutions, and I work with my team to solve problems. In a job like mine sharing the knowledge you have is a two way street. One way if you share everything you know then you may not be needed anymore. We all know the idea of working yourself out of a job! The other way is that by sharing you gain perspective on your ideas and experiences making you more effective in diagnostics and troubleshooting.
This all leads in to the most important piece of being a technical support person, personality. I think if you can get along with people you are more apt to share with them. You can be more empathetic to customer's problems and that leads to being better at customer service. Dedicating yourself your self to your customers will get you far in tech support but rarely makes you friends in other departments and can hold you back from moving to other places in a company. Choose you battles wisely and be sure you make intelligent well planed moves.
The best part of being in the technical field is the option to work privately on the outside of your normal job. Many techs do this to make the extra money they spend on the tech products they buy for themselves. I do it for extra spending cash and to experience other parts of computer support I don't see in my job. It is a way for me to keep my knowledge more current on what is happening to the individual user and what they use computers for. I also like the work because it reminds me of when I was young and still learning to interact with technology. It is fun to work with people and gain their respect and gratitude. I am not the best but the work makes me happy and I will always work hard to keep it that way. Tech work is happy work is successful work and makes a happy worker in my case!!
Andrew Birchler
Newest Version Computer Services
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Parents... Who Knew?
This week started different then any other week prior in my life. Last Saturday my parents flew in to Arizona to visit me for the first time. I was honestly scared what they would think about how I have developed my life since I moved away and with all that has happened to me in the last years. The bad and the good times that shaped who I am today has made me very different then the 19yo that moved away from home. It took me several years to break the habits that were part of my life back then. Back when life seemed so much simpler then it does now. The assumptions I made based on what experiences in my life and all that I had seen back then don't seem like they have a place in my life now. If you can imagine, I once was a young, cocky, know-it-all teenager. I know, it is hard to believe, lol. I didn't think back at that time that anything could ever hurt me. Nothing could turn my life upside down, make me rethink everything I knew about what life really is about. I was wrong, not only about getting turned upside down, but also nearly every assumption I took from growing up in the simple hard work orientated life. I found out that life is so much more ALIVE then what I knew. It is hard to break from how we grew up and the life that we saw for all those years. I still struggle with what I think of as the simple interactions with the world and people. I have spent what seems like a long time learning how to deal with everything the world throws at me.
I have spent a lot of time talking with my parents this week. Mainly about things I have like the MINI, my job, and just random stuff about how I live here. Through it all, I remembered that I really miss my family. It is hard to describe exactly how I miss them. Seeing them is only a very very small part of it. How then do I miss them? I don't get to talk with my dad that much so I miss my dads perspective on the world. The sharing of his knowledge and experiences that formed the base to everything I understand today. Yesterday, the two of us stared at a very old airplane engine for a long while. We discussed and deducted exactly how it worked pointed out all the different parts we knew and figured out what the other parts we didn't know. We even researched things today that we couldn't explain when we were standing there. I listened to him as he explained the components of a jet engine as we looked at one sitting on a rack. I miss the even tone and laid back nature of my dad. My mom and I talk all the time. But I still miss my moms understanding about everything. She listens and adds comments and questions me on ideas like no one else I know. We sat and talked about music, cooking, home decor, MINIs, wardrobes, and everything about anything that came up. I bounce ideas off my mom all the time, even things I know she doesn't understand. I think it is something about getting some type of approval from her. I don't know how and it surprises me to see many of the qualities in them that I strive for in my life today. I thought I was trying to make myself different then all of what I grew up with. I guess not!!
When push comes to shove... I can't change where I came from. I hope to embrace what I have experienced this week with my parents. Maybe this time will help me see more clearly in to my future path. My perspective of the world has been changed by this visit from my past. I am now rethinking my old ideas of the world with my new experiences guiding me. I can't wait to see what comes from all of this rehashing....
Note to my parents: I don't know if you will ever read this blog... even if I send you a link... but you are an inspiration in my life I had forgotten. The past I thought I left behind and replaced with all the new ideas I found in my own experiences. It just surprised me how much I still rely on all I learned from you and how much you still have too teach me. I love you both.
Andrew
I have spent a lot of time talking with my parents this week. Mainly about things I have like the MINI, my job, and just random stuff about how I live here. Through it all, I remembered that I really miss my family. It is hard to describe exactly how I miss them. Seeing them is only a very very small part of it. How then do I miss them? I don't get to talk with my dad that much so I miss my dads perspective on the world. The sharing of his knowledge and experiences that formed the base to everything I understand today. Yesterday, the two of us stared at a very old airplane engine for a long while. We discussed and deducted exactly how it worked pointed out all the different parts we knew and figured out what the other parts we didn't know. We even researched things today that we couldn't explain when we were standing there. I listened to him as he explained the components of a jet engine as we looked at one sitting on a rack. I miss the even tone and laid back nature of my dad. My mom and I talk all the time. But I still miss my moms understanding about everything. She listens and adds comments and questions me on ideas like no one else I know. We sat and talked about music, cooking, home decor, MINIs, wardrobes, and everything about anything that came up. I bounce ideas off my mom all the time, even things I know she doesn't understand. I think it is something about getting some type of approval from her. I don't know how and it surprises me to see many of the qualities in them that I strive for in my life today. I thought I was trying to make myself different then all of what I grew up with. I guess not!!
When push comes to shove... I can't change where I came from. I hope to embrace what I have experienced this week with my parents. Maybe this time will help me see more clearly in to my future path. My perspective of the world has been changed by this visit from my past. I am now rethinking my old ideas of the world with my new experiences guiding me. I can't wait to see what comes from all of this rehashing....
Note to my parents: I don't know if you will ever read this blog... even if I send you a link... but you are an inspiration in my life I had forgotten. The past I thought I left behind and replaced with all the new ideas I found in my own experiences. It just surprised me how much I still rely on all I learned from you and how much you still have too teach me. I love you both.
Andrew
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Andrew Day Recap
Andrew Day, Wednesday, May 13, 2009.... It didn't really start out like a normal day like I thought. I woke up about 2:30 in the morning.... of course I went to bed at 7 the night before. In order to miss all the blog stuff and random info I might find out throughout the day... I decided to catch up and watch the season finale of Fringe before work. It was great... and a partly unexpected ending. You will have to watch as I don't give shit away. After that I decided to head to work around 5ish as I had some major research work to complete over in Ireland. It is beautiful this time of year... LOL. The rest of the work day went as normal, bitching, griping, and moaning about stuff not working and me having to fix it. When it came time to leave I packed up and headed out to my destination... Rebel Art in Tempe. You heard it right I was out to get a tattoo. As you have no doubt already looked though all the pictures before reading this I am sure you knew that already! It only took 2 hours for Tony to do this amazing work of art on my arm. It isn't complete yet. I had some shading and other details left off so that I could take time and decide on the exactly how the next part will go. Because with this art you can add but never take it away!! So I was cautious and left out things I wasn't sure of yet. I am starting to compile ideas already. Nothing major just little things like eye color and such. So here is a few pictures of the total process.
Just so you all know the back story... this isn't a spur of the moment idea that just popped in my head last week. I have been wanting a tat like this for some years. I never had the nerve to have it done before nor did I know or have the inspiration and knowledge from the friends I have today. You know who you are! Well this has been an exciting Andrew Day!!!
Andrew
Just so you all know the back story... this isn't a spur of the moment idea that just popped in my head last week. I have been wanting a tat like this for some years. I never had the nerve to have it done before nor did I know or have the inspiration and knowledge from the friends I have today. You know who you are! Well this has been an exciting Andrew Day!!!
Andrew
Sunday, May 10, 2009
A Tool Named Twitter!
Twitter is a great tool and I didn't have to be a tweeter for long to find that out. I started my personal Twitter account (@Gottoon), as I assume many do, by adding the friends I knew to be using it. I then expanded that list using a contact list I have of everyone I know. This list has grown over the years because of social network sites. After I used Twitter for several weeks I started finding new uses for it. I found breaking news, tech articles, software version releases, direct company press releases, and an endless source of trending topics being tweeted about. My Twitter account is now my best source of information about the world as people observe it. It is a word of mouth reference tool like nothing I have seen before. With this tool I am no longer a slave to the big media sources and news feeds. All of which are controlled to a point by the people who run them. I follow topics on many subjects everyday by listening to podcasts, reading forums, blogs, press releases, and news articles. I have used a dozen different sites and tools to follow different topics through the years and have never been impressed by any one tool as I am with Twitter. In the last week started a second Twitter account. This one for my side business, Newest Version Computer Services (@NewestVersion). It is my tech feed to the world about reviews and blogs I have read or written and wish to share. Clients can view it and keep up with the software packages I recommend or if there is a version update they may need.
Twitter is now not only a tool for me to be notified and be informed... it is a tool I use to notify and inform others. This is my tiny contribution to the Twittersphere. Follow Me....
Andrew Birchler
Newest Version Computer Services
www.nvcomputerservices.com
Twitter is now not only a tool for me to be notified and be informed... it is a tool I use to notify and inform others. This is my tiny contribution to the Twittersphere. Follow Me....
Andrew Birchler
Newest Version Computer Services
www.nvcomputerservices.com
Andrew Day - May 13, 2009
I am announcing the first ever Andrew Day. A day of fun, food, and adventure!!! I am scheduling it for this Wednesday, May 13th, 2009. Participation in Andrew day is purely optional. From the average person's point of view this will look like any normal Wednesday. I will be spending my morning basking in the glow of my computer monitors working on system issues and coming up with crazy ideas about those issues and plans to fix them that are even more far out and crazy. I will undoubtedly cause anguish, disbelief, and mayhem just like any normal day.
The differences... My day is starting it at 4am. I will be getting up, taking a shower, making coffee, and then heading to work by 5am. I will go to work and be play my part in all the fore-mentioned scenarios. It is when I leave work that Andrew Day will have meaning. I am leaving work early for an appointment 5+ years in the making. After this meeting of the minds and talents of several individuals things will never be the same again. This change in the norm is scary and exciting and has the potential to be good, bad, or both. We will all have to wait and see!!
I don't know exactly how the day will end. There are several possible outcomes. I will be recapping the day shortly after and it will be documented with photos and I am sure many many endless comments...
There isn't a plan for third party involvement in Andrew Day but you can send your RSPVs to Andrew at gottoon at gmail.com or post in the comments. Everyone has a place in the Andrew Day celebration... See you there!
Andrew
The differences... My day is starting it at 4am. I will be getting up, taking a shower, making coffee, and then heading to work by 5am. I will go to work and be play my part in all the fore-mentioned scenarios. It is when I leave work that Andrew Day will have meaning. I am leaving work early for an appointment 5+ years in the making. After this meeting of the minds and talents of several individuals things will never be the same again. This change in the norm is scary and exciting and has the potential to be good, bad, or both. We will all have to wait and see!!
I don't know exactly how the day will end. There are several possible outcomes. I will be recapping the day shortly after and it will be documented with photos and I am sure many many endless comments...
There isn't a plan for third party involvement in Andrew Day but you can send your RSPVs to Andrew at gottoon at gmail.com or post in the comments. Everyone has a place in the Andrew Day celebration... See you there!
Andrew
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