Personal

Rest in Peace Vesty

We are deeply saddened to announce that Vesty “Vesta” Hartner Chandler passed away this morning at 8:57am. She had been battling Cushing’s disease for the past two years and we recently discovered she had diabetes. Vesty was a 12-year-old Yorkie AKC qualified breed.

She spent most of her life as a retiree, enjoying lots of naps, sunshine, and great food. Her favorite snacks included, milkbone biscuits, greenies, and nearly any kind of cooked meat. She was an excellent grilling partner, waiting patiently for her chance to munch on steak or chicken kabobs. What took 20 minutes to cook she would eat in 15 seconds or less.

Vesty enjoyed watching trains underneath the shade of a summer tree as she snacked on pork carnitas from Chipotle. She was the best companion a family could ask for. She was obedient, loving, compassionate, and most of all, lived life as a puppy at heart.

In her early years, Vesty would greet us at the kitchen doorstep with her stubby tail wiggling fast, excited to see us again. Her favorite questions were:

  • Wanna go for a ride?
  • Wanna go bye-bye?
  • Wanna go for a walk?

She loved riding on my lap in the truck and later, the Ford Escape with the driver-side window down. She was a top-down convertible kind of dog who loved the wind blowing through her fur.

Vesty loved to go shopping with us. We routinely took her to Home Depot, Petsmart, Petitti’s Garden Center, or anywhere we could take her. Every where we took Vesty, people fell in love with her and always commented on how well-behaved she was.

Being 12 years old, Vesty lived through various milestones.

  • The passing of Momma Hartner
  • The passing of Papa Hartner
  • Our marriage
  • The Cavs winning an NBA Championship
  • The purchase of our first brand new vehicle.
  • The Indians ALMOST winning a world series.
  • Aunty Alex and Uncle Jesse’s engagement. Vesty enjoyed free rides on the four-wheeler at Jesse’s place.
  • And Emmy sharing her cat bed.

Last year, we had a feeling that Vesty’s time with us was limited so we took her for the first time to our favorite vacation spot, the Smoky Mountains. We took a lot of great photos with her and created many valuable memories. To think, Vesty peed on the Appalachian Trail!

Vesty, my wife, and I had an amazing bond as she was involved in almost every facet of our lives. The emptiness in our hearts will be hard to fill. When we returned home from the Vet this morning, the empty bed, the water dish, her blankets, and leash, all served as reminders that Vesty was missing. This morning has been one of the most difficult events my wife, Alex, and I have experienced in our lives.

Vesty was more than a dog. She was a friend, a companion, a train watching buddy, a grilling buddy, and a great listener. She was the up when we were down. She made gloomy days sunny and life so much more enjoyable to live.

We thank everyone who has shared their concern for Vesty over the last year and appreciate the positive impact she’s had on so many of our friends and family. Vesty will live on in our memories but the physical bond has forever been broken. Please keep us and Vesty in your thoughts and prayers.

My First Week of No Twitter

Earlier this week for the first time since I joined the service, I deactivated my Twitter account. In recent weeks, I’ve waded through a lot of bullcrap thrown at me from people because of some of the articles I published on the Tavern.

Last Saturday evening, as I was enjoying my weekend, I opened Twitter to see what people are up too. I read a response aimed at me for one of the articles I published and it immediately enraged me. I responded back the best way I could but I was livid. It took me an hour to calm down. Other interactions have led to me feeling nauseated or exhausted because I don’t have the energy to defend my thoughts and opinions.

Then on Monday, I had a brief interaction with some folks and that was the last straw. I needed to take a break because I was ready to unleash vitriol and anger at some people and it would have turned into a disaster. This is when I decided I needed to get away from Twitter for at least two weeks.

The minute I deactivated my account, I felt a sense of relief, as if a weight was lifted off of my chest. I no longer had to worry about what replies I’d see that would trigger a severe emotional reaction.

Since deactivating my account, I’ve notice a couple of things. I like to use Twitter to fire off thoughts and opinions that I have at the moment partly to archive them and partly to engage in conversations with people. This week, there have been several instances where I take out my phone, open the Twitter app to publish a thought and realize I can’t. So, I tweet it in my head where it’s probably better that way.

One of the other major changes I’ve noticed is that I feel like I’ve gotten a chunk of my daily life back. Twitter is an important part of my job and I spend a large amount of time on the service every day looking for stories and talking to people in public and private. I sort of miss bookmarking things and reading what people are saying about a particular subject, but it’s been refreshing not having it in my daily routine anymore.

I feel so good after a week without Twitter that I’ve been thinking about abandoning the service for good since I can request my archive. However, it’s too important for how I work so I can’t do that.

What I plan on doing when I come back is unfollowing the people who trigger severe emotional reactions. Delete the app from my phone and only look at and use Twitter during the times when I’m working. I’ll also stop tweeting ideas and opinions on Twitter because it doesn’t give me enough characters to explain the WHY and allow me to add tone. I’m sick of defending myself and the only way to stop giving everyone ammo is to shut up. The good old personal blog will be getting more use in the future.

I Know Someone Who Committed Suicide

When I worked at the grocery store, there was a gentleman older than me that I got along with and who I could tell anything too. He’s one of those individuals that are hard to find now a days. After years of friendship, he decided to take his own life.

I’ll never forget the day I went into work when it happened. People crowded around me as I punched into the time clock. You see, I’d hangout and work with this gentleman several hours a week.

First it was my best friend then it was my future wife who told me the news. My friend and co-worker had taken his life the night before with a shotgun. I attended his funeral wondering what signs I missed, what could I have done to prevent this tragedy?

Sometimes, I run what if scenarios through my head to try to bring him back but no matter what I do, he’s gone from this realm of existence. There will always be a bit of guilt on my part for not recognizing something that may have saved his life. At the time, everything seemed just fine and this individual was hard to get personal information out of.

If you know someone who’s committed suicide, please don’t feel guilty and put the burden on your shoulders. It’s a choice the individual made and it’s likely their mind was made up well in advance.

Society sometimes looks at suicide as a way out, an end to all that is shitty in their life. Some may also consider it a cop-out or a selfish act of desire. Unless you’ve been at the brink, that point where you decide if you live or die, who are you to judge?

I sometimes dream it, think it, wonder it, but it’s the same conclusion every time. My good friend is gone and there isn’t anything I can do about it. I’ve thought about it but have never reached the point of doing it.

Please don’t put yourself in a depressive state because someone you know has taken their life. It’s sad yes, but if you put guilt on your shoulders at the same time, it will likely drive you into an unhealthy state of mind. Be strong, support loved ones who cared for the individual, and be the light in a time of darkness.

Proud New Owner of Buckeyerails.com

I purchased a new domain through GoDaddy and have begun the process of hooking it up to a webhosting account. I haven’t gone through this process in a few years and I’m anxious to see if it’s any easier.

The domain is Buckeyerails.com and will feature my railroad journeys across Ohio. The site will also  consist of videos of legitimate train rides, photographs, or videos of trains going by. This project primarily allows me to get back into the field of using WordPress as a user and customer.

Those who work with and build WordPress sites for a living end up with a ton of experience. As someone who writes about WordPress for a living outside of the agency space, I’m not afforded the same luxury.

Setting up the site gives me an opportunity to find themes, plugins, and solutions to problems I experience as a user. I haven’t gone through such an experience in years, so I’m looking forward to see if it’s any easier.

Everyone Has Their Demons

I don’t care who you are, the color of your skin, your gender, none of it matters. The fact of the matter is, that every human being has their demons. This could be alcoholism, addiction, violent tendencies, or anything else considered bad in human nature.

Maybe you think you don’t have any demons, you’re as pure as they come. Then, sometime, somewhere, you’re put into a position or situation where you don’t know how to act, yet the demon inside of you does.

It wakes up and it’s up to you to stop it before it ruins and controls your life. Everyone has at one point and time in their lives, realized, struggled with, and fought against a physical, emotional, or spiritual weakness, insecurity or trial.

As a distributed worker, you are responsible for your own actions. You’re also entitled to freedoms those in a cubicle can only dream of. Let me be one of the few to tell you that the struggles of some distributed workers are real.

The struggle to wake up at a decent time, the struggle not to take advantage of vices to get through the day, the struggle to fight through whatever obstacles are in front of you, the struggle not to give up, the struggle not to tell everyone to fuck off and push the power button on everything around you.

As a distributed worker, productivity, communication, everything required to get the job done is on your shoulders. For many, this is a welcome change of pace or perhaps is easy to adapt to. For others, it’s a painful transition even if it shouldn’t be.

If you struggle as a distributed or remote worker, I want you to know that you’re not alone. There are others fighting the same battle in different arenas all over the world. They’re trying to figure this shit out and make it work for their life style.

Don’t listen to your demons or fall into their desires. Continue to press forward to find a way to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Surround yourself with others who are fighting the same battle and give each other positive energy, encouragement, enlightenment, anything that will stop people from listening to their demons. It’s imperative that you don’t fall into the trap of following your demon’s ways as only bad things will result from it.

At Some Point, I’d Like to Write a Book

At some point, I’d like to write a book or an eBook about my journey to and inside the WordPress ecosystem and the struggles I’ve tried to overcome by being paid to write about the project full-time. One thing I’m struggling with is deciding when the right time is to write the book.

I want it to be raw, uncensored, where I’m free to express my emotions the way I see fit. Considering this, now is not the time. Perhaps when my WordPress journey is complete or I move onto the next stage of my life. The caveat to this is that my next stage of life might be death. How do I write a book if I’m dead?

I should start writing chapters while I’m alive and save them as drafts in case something happens to me. That way, someone, somewhere, I hope will publish them. It would be a shame not to be able to see and read people’s reactions to the text.

Creativity Through Intoxication

I’m in my 30s and have been intoxicated to the point of realizing that my creativity has no roadblocks. Intoxication is one of those things that affects people differently based on their brain and chemical structure. Some people get angry when they’re drunk, some people are hilarious, while others are more relaxed and end up with a state of mind that is more creative, freed of whatever common sense roadblocks are in the way,

When I’m intoxicated, I am relaxed and the creative parts of my brain explode. I may not make complete sense but more often than not, I do. I find it odd that intoxication has the effect that it does on me. It lowers barriers, creates opportunities to be creative, and overall, just be more of a thinker without boundaries.

If you’re not familiar with the popular XKCD comic that highlights the Ballmer peak, I highly encourage you to check it out. This particular comic helped me understand how certain levels of intoxication can generate high levels of creativity and productivity. At the very least, it opened my eyes to why I feel the way I do when intoxicated.

It’s not a way of life I recommend, but it’s important to recognize how alcohol effects you both psychologically and chemically. I’m thankful that I’m not the type of person who goes into a rage when drunk. Instead, I’m relaxed, laid back, and can’t wait to go to sleep. That reminds me, where’s that soft cushion I can pass out on?

Why am I in a Hurry to do Everything?

In the last two years, I’ve developed a bad habit of skimming articles instead of taking my time to comprehend them. I think this habit is partly the reason for my reading comprehension being at an all time low. The question is, why do I feel like I’m always in a rush whether it’s reading an article or trying to get a task done?

It doesn’t matter how long the article is, if I can’t read it in the same time I can read a Tweet, it’s too long and I lose interest fast. This sounds like symptoms of attention deficit disorder or ADD to me. Even if no one is forcing me to move fast, it feels like there’s someone pushing me or a voice in my head saying “I ain’t got time for that“.

I feel like my lack of reading comprehension skills has significantly affected my ability to write. Have I unknowingly become part of the TL;DR movement? It’s ridiculous that TL;DR exists at all, but I can see why it’s a legitimate thing.

I need to slow down and read articles from beginning to end. I need to stop letting notifications take my attention away from whatever it is I’m doing. Responding to Twitter, then Facebook, then email, then back to Twitter creates an endless cycle of interruptions and lack of productivity. I need to increase my comprehension skills before I don’t have any left.

The Side Street Where I Played Baseball, Football, and Got into Trouble

Thanks to Google Streetview, I was able to find and document the side street I grew up on. Located in West Park, a suburb of Cleveland, this section of pavement means a lot to me. It’s where I spent most of my summer vacations playing baseball, football, hide and go seek, and generally just getting in trouble.

I sure do miss these days of my youth. I was one of the oldest and most athletic kids in my neighborhood. Moving away was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but if we didn’t, I likely would have dropped out of high school. The Cleveland public school system is terrible, it’s as if the people who attended school didn’t care about education. During my first day at the new school, it was a completely different (better) experience.

In any case, playing on the side street was incredibly annoying. Between normal traffic and the mail trucks, it was hard to play baseball or anything else on the street, but we managed. It’s been about 15-16 years since I’ve visited this street. It’s also been that long since I’ve tried to get in touch with any of my original friends. I’m making a pledge to change that this Summer when I make a return visit.

View of the entire street
The Center of the street where a bunch of cracks converge is home plate
The sewer grate is first base
Second base was the large crack in the middle of the road
The sewer grate is third base

 

The Quest for an Addicting Deviled Egg Recipe

I spent the better part of this past weekend figuring out an addicting Deviled Egg recipe that rivals my sister’s. The first one I tried is by Rockin Robin.

I didn’t add onions or horseradish and by the time we mixed the egg yolks together, I could tell it wasn’t going to be good. My instincts were right, as it wasn’t that great.

On the second try, I used Hellman’s recipe. Everything was coming along nicely until I added the 1/4 tsp. salt, which ruined the mixture. It was too salty and nothing I tried could overcome the saltiness

On my third try, I used a recipe from Food.com by Nurslinda.

There are two distinct differences in this recipe. The first is that it uses Miracle Whip instead of Mayo. I realize there are Mayo purists out there, but Miracle Whip definitely provides a missing element in this dish. Second, I added two tablespoons of French’s regular yellow mustard instead of 1 teaspoon. While the mixture is delicious, it’s the sprinkle of salt and pepper on each finished egg that makes it perfect.

My Delicious Easter Deviled Eggs

My Delicious Easter Deviled Eggs

My sister makes killer deviled eggs which to me, is the kind that are addicting where you can’t eat just one. I think I may have found a recipe to rival hers!