The you on the outside

The you on the outside is not the same as the you on the inside.

Look in the mirror. You don’t look the same. That’s not how you think or dream that you look. You look older, more stressed, more grey.

Record your voice and play it back. Is that really you? It’s what others hear. It’s not what you sound like in your head. An accent? What accent.

What others see and hear is not the real you. It’s camouflage. It’s the outer shell, the skin, the layer that protects the real you. The one that only you can see. What everyone else sees is just what’s painted on the outer wall.

There’s you on the outside, and then there’s the real you on the inside.

Virtual retail therapy

On occasion I enjoy some virtual retail therapy.

It’s that feeling you get from browsing online stores but maybe not always buying. You have money and the plan to buy something, but buying is not the end goal, enjoying the virtual window shopping is.

Browsing the latest books looking for something new from your favourite authors, or maybe something You’ve not read before. Looking for clothes or gadgets, or maybe even window shopping for something bigger like a holiday, car, or house.

Virtual retail therapy can be a pleasant pastime. Unless you do it often and buy a lot. Then it can become a problem.

For me though I can quite happily drift from one virtual store to the next from the comfort of my own home.

There’s outlived and there’s out-lived

Living longer than someone is not the same as enjoying life as much as they did.

I’ve met people that say they outlived their friends by X number of years. They tell me that they ate healthy, didn’t drink, or smoke, or do drugs. They also never travelled, some never even left the country. They worked in jobs they hated, married the first person that showed an interest, if they married at all. They had no real hobbies or interests. They have no interesting stories, never left their comfort zone, never took a chance, or risks. They went for a walk every day after work and church at the weekends to make mum proud. They didn’t enjoy it but it was what you did.

I outlived my mate John by twenty years! They tell me. John was on his third wife and was the captain of the local snooker team. He was always off on a cruise or holiday somewhere. Always a smile on his face. His heart gave out in the end. Too much of a good life. Could have lived another twenty years like me they say.

There’d outlived and there’s out-lived.

Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs)

I was in a local supermarket and noticed that a shelf label was glitching. What I thought were actual paper labels were in fact ESLs, aka Electronic Shelf Labels. These mini screens make use of e-ink with 1-4 colours and a long battery life to, in theory, save time and costs changing labels with promos, discounts, new stock, and so on. Instead of having to wander around the store changing printed labels it’s all done from a central computer.

A couple of the labels were on the fritz, alerting me to what they were. They were flickering random pixels like a faulty phone screen. When I got home I did some light research. These particular ESLs were manufactured by a company called Pricer. They are controlled via IR from hubs mounted in the ceiling with line-of-sight like a TV remote. Central software named Pricer Plaza allows you to monitor and update the ESLs from the store PC.

I looked into the security in play. Encrypted comms, auth keys etc. The usual fare. There had been some reported hacks. Changing prices, arrow keys with this way messages, naughty stuff. There was even a few cases of ramsomware, but mostly defacement of some kind. Kids having fun. Like the days when smart watches first appeared that could control TVs and TV stores were constantly having to deal with the display models having their channels changed. More an annoyance than anything clever.

I’m not sold on ESLs being better for the environment. It’s probably just more tech that will eventually end up in a landfill. Still, it may be fun to play with.

I had one of those

I had one of those.

It’s the car show small talk equivalent of saying “Busy night?” to a taxi driver. You walk up to the proud owner sitting besides their pride and joy, and you have that look on your face that you want to say something. And it’s usually something along the lines of  I, my dad, my uncle, my grandad had one of those indicating the car. Only it was X colour with Y optional extras and Z modifications. So one like it but not exactly the same.

It’s then followed by “Nice to see one still around”. Then you move on. Nostalgia box ticked, useless information handed over.

Until you spot another reminder. Ooh my auntie Jane had one of these, only it was blue, with chrome bits, and the interior was different. Nice to see one still on the road though.

The value of old certifications

Old certifications aren’t worth anything in my opinion.

Let me clarify. Unless you are constantly using the knowledge that you gained when acquiring the certification, you will soon forget it. As more time passes the more you forget.

I have an electronics certification from a long long time ago. That does not mean I know a lot about electronics. I can remember bits, but I’ve forgotten most of it. Most of it is probably out of date anyway.

Yet people still put qualifications and certifications on their CVs and LinkedIn profiles from decades ago in the hope that it will help them secure a job, even though they’ve forgotten everything they learned.

On being a millionaire

It’s easier to be a millionaire these days.

With inflation a million isn’t worth what it used to be. It has less buying power in terms of a house purchase for example.

There are more millionaires around in terms of both asset value and liquidity totals. Getting to a million is just a matter of a decent salary, saving, compound interest, and avoiding as many taxes as is legally possible.

Once you are a “millionaire”, then what? It doesn’t carry the same weight as it used to. What with internet stars and influences being deca-millionaires. Being a deca-millionaire might be the new millionaire.

Still, it would be nice to have a million.

No one lives forever

The Queen song comes to mind. “Who wants to live forever?”

But no one does. Live forever that is. In another century pretty much everyone alive today will be gone, replaced by new people. A refresh of sorts. Knowledge will be passed down, by word or pen. But the minds that thought them will be gone.

We are not permanent. We are merely transitional. We are here for a brief moment in the grand scheme of things. So enjoy it while it lasts. Make the most of it. Leave no regrets. No one lives forever.

What doesn’t kill you

We tend to focus on the negative. The bad that happened to us, how we ended up in hospital, lost this or that, are not making enough money, etc etc.

We need to focus more on the positive. Sure you ended up in hospital, but thanks to modern science you are here to live another day. What doesn’t kill you, and all that. You know, it does make you stronger. If you let it.

Don’t fret about the thing that didn’t kill you, the thing that almost happened, what could happen if, what bad the future may bring. Instead focus on making yourself stronger, better, more positive. Develop a positive mental attitude. Look at the good in life, not the bad. Focus on the positive, not the negative.

You are still here so it didn’t kill you, whatever it was. Look ahead not back.