I walked by a public payphone. One of those old red boxes you hardly see anymore. There was a phone inside. Also rare. Not a collection of second hand books or a defibrillator. An actual phone.
It took me back to my University days. I practically lived in those phone boxes. I knew where every one was within walking distance of campus. I didn’t have a mobile phone, yet. I used calling cards to phone friends all over the world. We used messaging services and mailboxes.
I started thinking about all the technology I used to use that my children will never use, or possibly see, outside of a technology museum. My Grandma’s rotary dial telephone. The kitchen phone with its long curled cable so you can hand the phone to someone in the dining room. The VHS player, or VCR. Cassette players, record players, mini disc players, even CD players. Full fat TVs, walkmans, pagers, PDAs, and tiny flip phones. All gone, replaced with the latest technology and digital streams.
There’s still a few public payphones around though. For now.
Author: Dave VR
Bad associations
It’s interesting how the brain, or memory, can associate bad things that happened, with objects. For example I see a Skoda Fabia and I instantly think of the time a kid out for a joy ride tried to run me off the road in one. I have a bad memory associated with that particular model of car. So when I was loaned one recently my brain immediately went oh no. Yet there was nothing wrong with the car itself, only a bad association.
Objects can trigger memories, good and bad. Having bad associations can affect your decision making. You may be less likely to make use of something if you have a bad memory associated with it, even if the memory is not of that object itself being bad in any way. And that can be a bad thing in itself. Especially if the object in question could be good for you, or is the best option in the current situation.
One thing you could do is to rewrite the narrative. Try and find some good to associate with the object, to counteract the bad, or cancel it out entirely. With the Skoda, my friend had one for years and loved it to bits. It was her favourite car. It served her well and even I had a few lifts in it. It wasn’t the car that was bad in my association, it was the driver. So switch the narrative to them, not the car.
The car is just one example. We all develop these bad associations over time. We link them to foods, drink, vehicles, people, places, and just about anything.
It’s worth looking at the memory as a whole and working out where the actual bad lies.
Career Vs just getting paid
Life is just a game. Careers are just a part of that game. Some people take it way too seriously. Optimising their chances to get to the top of some perceived career ladder, with each rung a goal that they have set for themselves. Reaching each rung, achieving each goal, the top of the ladder ever closer. Yet everyone is playing a different game with every game both separate and overlapping. Beating the competition to obtain a job role that will help you get nearer to your end goal.
Look at LinkedIn. It’s a forum for those who play the game. Making contacts that can help you achieve your goals. Promoting yourself, talking game theory, planning, techniques. Hours spent playing the game.
Go back a generation or two and everything was different. It wasn’t all about having a career it was just about working, earning a wage in order to pay the bills, to live. True, there were some who wanted to rise to the top of their field. Probably banking or government. The rest were just happy to be earning. Work was something you did to get paid.
Finding the right angle
The trick with guest speakers is finding the right angle. Working out what makes them tick. Where their true passions lie. Then work out if there is a talk there, something worth speaking about.
I’ve sat through some dull talks in my time. Delivered in a dry monotonous voice where even the speaker is at risk of falling asleep, reading from a well rehearsed script with overloaded dull slides. Nothing to grip you or to keep you in the present and out of the land of nod.
I’ve had to source speakers for events. Suggestions from friends and colleagues and the internet are useful. Most of the good speakers either cost too much or they just repeat talks they’re given many times before, and to be honest, you can probably watch for free on YouTube.
The trick is to find a new angle, a variation of the subject they are experts in. Maybe you heard about an experience they had or how they solved a particular problem. Maybe you heard about their hobbies and interests and how a particular subject complements them. Talk to them, research them, find out what makes them tick, what makes the fire behind their eyes light up. What are they passionate about? Now see if there’s a talk there, even a small one.
You want to entertain your audience, inform them, and stimulate those neurons. Find the right angle and help your speakers deliver amazing talks.
Refining RSS feeds
I’ve written my own RSS feeds, by hand. A long time ago now. I still like the idea of not having to visit a website to look for articles of interest, to have everything from your favourite sites all in one place, updated in near real time fed straight into my phone.
There can be too much noise though. I find myself refining often, like an OCD minimalist. Sorting, organising, refining. Ensuring that there is less noise and more signal. Until nothing gets through and you miss stuff. So you add it all in again and start refining once again. Repetitive.
Interests change, so you have to cull what was once interesting but is now dull. You add new content. Browse today’s trending topics. Anything worth adding? Adding and refining.
RSS. Refining Signal Streams.
Big expenses
Whenever I’m faced with big expenses they always seem to arrive at inappropriate times, where you really need whatever needs fixing to continue to work right now. You are presented with a quote and it’s big, like really big, like I can buy a cheap car with that sort of money big.
You have to make a decision quickly. What are your options? Just pay it, find an alternative, try something else time allowing? I try to buy time to find a more financially pleasing option, but there never is one. So you have to make a decision quickly with whatever info you have at hand and hope it was the right one.
New boilers, house repairs, car repairs, medical bills, you name it. Big expenses are everywhere. Just waiting to strike at the most annoying moment when they can cause the most annoyance. Hitting your wallet where it hurts the most.
ChatGPT vs Google
It used to be just Google it. You want an answer to something? Type it into a search engine, most probably Google. Easy.
These days people are turning to AI for answers rather than search engines. You want to know how to do something? Ask ChatGPT. Need a complex calculation done? Just ask the nearest AI. Simple.
ChatGPT Vs Google.
Of course Google now features AI. So not only is that heavily SEO’d internet content competing for your attention with sponsored links, it has AI to contend with too. Type your query into Google and the first response to any question is usually AI.
Virtual wandering
There are so many video games with open worlds. I find myself on occasion going for a virtual wander. No aim in mind. No side mission. No challenge, or Easter eggs to hunt. Just aimless virtual wandering. Driving my car, riding my bike or horse, sailing a boat, or on virtual foot. Just exploring the virtual world with no destination in mind. A kind of digital mindfulness. Bathing in the Unreal forests, swimming with the AI fish. Relaxed, calm, aimless.
Just virtual wandering.
On being a professional
I’ve been consulting for a while. Working on my own. I miss working with other professionals. They make me up my A game each day, every day. Working as a team getting the job done. Coming in under budget meeting deadlines.
Then everything ends. Completion. End of project. We all move on to the next gig. The next contract. Maybe we’ll work with other professionals, like us. Or maybe it will be just us, alone, hired by a board, or group, or someone that you only see at the start and end of the project. A resource hired to get the job done. A lone professional. Someone with a particular set of skills and the experience to get the job done in the time and budget allocated.
It can be lonely. A new place, new people. You explore the area on lunch breaks. Go for walks, find new places to eat. Getting the steps in. Back at your desk you make progress, complete tasks, move closer to the end.
Then the end comes. You move on again to the next contract, and the next, and the next.
It can be rewarding at times, lonely at others. You take pride in your work. You complete each contract leaving happy clients behind as you move on to the next. Maybe there will be a new friend at the next, or maybe a fun team that you will be a part of. While it lasts anyway. Nothing lasts in this game so enjoy it while it does. One day there will be no more contracts.
What others are doing
Some days I catch myself thinking about what others might be doing. Looking on social media I see friends on holiday, at parties and social events, having fun, and enjoying life. Then I look at my day ahead: crossing some jobs off my to do list, a spot of gardening, playing a game with my kids. Maybe we should go out for the day? I check. They want to play on the games console, watch some TV, or play in the garden.
Shouldn’t we be doing something more exciting I think? Are we boring, or wasting our days? Our worldview is skewed by the Instagram lifestyle, the influencers, and social media gurus. Feeding us a version of the perfect life. Something to strive for. But is it reality?
It turns out my family is happy with their plans for today. The sun is out and the garden is a nice place to be, or the room with the games console. Everyone is happy and that’s the main thing.
The trick is not to measure by comparison to others, but how happy you all are. Stack the memories, the experiences sure. But the days where you just hang out at home together counts just as much as a holiday.