My mind is cloudy. I have no sense of direction. I need clarity, but do not know who or what can give it to me. I need a renewed sense of drive, passion, desire, fuel for the once raging fire that is now just embers. I need to step off this path I’m on and try another to reach a destination I don’t have or know about. Suffice to say, I’m fucked.
P.S. I couldn’t sleep very well so by the time I went to bed, I saw the fog in my head was also outside.
It’s almost 2AM here in Northern Ohio and when I let the dog out, I discovered there’s a misty rain falling. There’s something about the middle of the night and the smell of rain. Don’t get me wrong, the smell of rain in general is a calming scent, but paired with the middle of the night, it’s quite a relaxing experience.
So, after the dog did her business, I shut the lights off and went back outside to enjoy it. After a harsh Winter in northern Ohio, a misty rain at nearly 60 degrees feels wonderful. It also smells great. If you’ve been wondering why rain has a smell, check out this science clip by It’s Okay To Be Smart.
This content is rated R for redonkulous.
Today was a rough day. It started out with good intentions, but after getting a late start with work, it quickly submerged into a pile of crap. I managed to get some things written when I rediscovered Post Formats in WordPress.
When I think about how there hasn’t been any improvement to Post Formats for at least two years and the poor user experience it offers, it’s upsetting. They’re a half-baked feature at best and if the core team is going to let it rot for eternity, it’s best to just get rid of it and move it into a plugin. This way, it might get a few volunteer contributors. Hell, it might even get forked and reworked into something more like Content Blocks. Think about the headline on that story “Post Formats Rises From The Ashes To Be Something Useful”.
Then, there is the discussion around the Happiness Bar name which apparently pissed some people off due to its ridiculous nature. I think it’s worth considering, but them being pissed off pissed me off and had me looking for a Happiness Bar in Colorado if you get my drift.
Last but not least, I read the news about Flickr allowing its users to choose CC0 and Public Domain license designations. While it’s a great thing in general, it’s maddening how their search sucks so bad, you’ll spend more time looking for an image that meets those license requirements than using them. Why can’t they have a facet available to where I can search only for images with those licenses, not just CC licenses in general. Doesn’t anyone who develops Flickr use their own product?
It’s a lot of useless frustration and anger today that I hope doesn’t bleed into tomorrow. With tomorrow being April Fool’s day, I’ll probably want to tell everyone to fuck off with their stupid jokes and pranks.
I was recently told something by a friend that continues to make me think about things. It’s not an exact quote, but close enough.
He’s removed most, if not all the friction so you can focus on what you do best. He’s removed any excuse for you not to succeed.
Take full advantage of this opportunity and learn to enjoy it instead of fighting it.
Easier said then done my friend, but thanks for the advice and yet another reality check.
As a distributed worker, it’s been tough to figure out a proper work day. After nearly two years of working remotely, I’ve decided on an output level that I’m satisfied with. When you’re working remotely, it’s important to realize when you’ve had a good day.
In my business, it’s easy to write post after post because the news cycle never ends. However, after a year and a half of working this way, I’ve finally laid my feet down and have specified two published posts per day as a good work day.
This is a goal I can accomplish every day which is very important to me. If I gave myself goals I couldn’t accomplish, I’d probably end up going crazy, which is something I was doing as of late. So far, publishing two posts a day has not only decreased my stress level, but it’s increased the time I spend with my wife.
This is a win-win in my book and something I should strive towards. Once I can accomplish this goal on a routine basis, I’ll look into increasing my output.
It’s been a tough few weeks for me physically. Ever since I returned from my trip to Phoenix, AZ in late January, I’ve been dealing with some sort of illness. A day after I returned home, I had aches and numbness throughout my body. I spent the night trying to stay warm under heavy blankets, eventually sweating it out.
The body aches were replaced with a nasty cough, congestion, and a sore throat. It took about a week and a half to start feeling better. However, a few days after that, I got sick again. This time, it was a sore throat, bad congestion, and a continuation of the nasty cough.
The congestion has started to break up and I’m feeling a bit better. However, I still have an issue with my throat where it hurts when I swallow. It’s probably swollen lymph nodes or something. To top things off, I’ve been battling swimmer’s ear. I have no idea how this happened other than from taking a shower.
I normally don’t have a reason to visit the doctor, but I’m out of options at this point. I have to get this ear problem fixed and I also need to figure out the throat issue. It would be nice to get rid of this nasty cough as well.
So the first thing on my priority list today is to make an appointment and see the doctor, something I haven’t done in more than a decade.
I’ve started the process of eating more salads which contain a mixture of greens, carrots, tomatoes, shredded cheddar cheese, and ranch dressing. After a few days, the result is the same as if I drank laxative. Is that how it’s suppose to work? Maybe I oughta go back to eating more meat.
I’ve used Facebook for a long time and most of my friends are people who I’ve worked with or know in real life. Recently, I’ve accepted a number of friend requests from people I routinely interact with in the WordPress world. It was a tough decision and one I don’t take lightly.
For the past few years, I’ve kept Facebook at a point where the only people I’ve accepted as friends are those I consider actual friends and know in person. My Facebook feed is completely different from my WordPress persona. I share pictures of what I have for dinner, food I eat, things I discover, pictures of my dog and wife, etc. It definitely represents more of who I am as a person versus a blog or Twitter.
I’m on the fence whether I should allow so many people to see deeper into my everyday life. It’s something I’m struggling with. I don’t want personal Facebook relationships to creep into my work. I’m friends with some of the people and companies I write about all the time on a major publication. I certainly wouldn’t want a conflict of interest thing to come up or something more sinister.
Since accepting a number of friend requests from those in the WordPress community, my timeline has blown up. In several instances, I’ve removed their feeds from my timeline but have remained friends. This has given me the best of both worlds: Following the people I care about while showing everyone else what I’m up to.
We’ll have to see how this goes as a lot more people in the WordPress realm know what’s going on in my life. I know for a fact that at the first sign of a conflict of interest, I’m unfollowing everyone on Facebook that has anything to do with WordPress.
The last thing I need is a bunch of Facebook/WordPress BS in my Facebook life. No thank you!
I don’t know if it’s one thing or a combination of factors, but when it comes to writing about WordPress, I’m really struggling to get my groove back. Things felt so much easier back in 2009-2011 when I was publishing multiple stories per day without breaking a sweat. Today, it’s tough for me to get 1-2 articles written let alone three or four.
If I think back to the environment I was in during that time, I worked the late night shift at the store. I would come home, maybe write an article or two or get up late, and write some more. I was in tune with most of what was going on in the WordPress ecosystem. I’d read my FeedReader and interact with people throughout the day via Twitter. Each day felt like I was one step closer to accomplishing something which at the time, was turning the site into my full-time job.
I was focused, lived with my parents, and spent most of my time in my room and just wrote about whatever interested me regarding WordPress. I’m trying to figure out what happened to that Jeffro. If you find him, can you tell him to go home as he’s late for dinner?
Today, I spend a lot of time sitting in this chair, TRYING to write about whatever interests me in WordPress and it’s not working. My reading to writing ratio is way off. I spend a lot more time writing than I do reading, I’m almost certain it’s one of the factors plaguing me. I rarely look at my FeedReader and when I do read, I’m skimming to hurry up and write a post. Posts which have in my opinion, been total crap. I feel like that guy who had a good thing going, retired, came out of retirement and could never repeat the success that made him who he is.
Here are a couple of instances where I’ve had good days.
Things I definitely need to change.
Things I’m still struggling with being a full-time distributed worker.
No one needs to tell me I’m doing a bad job, I’m pretty good at discovering that on my own. Besides, as a distributed employee, I’m my own boss and my own worst critic. What I need is encouragement for when I’ve done a good job. Hell, I don’t even know what constitutes a good job. It’s something I’ve made up rarely achieve.
Just like iteration is the continuous improvement of something, I need to keep iterating my process, routine, and attitude. Changes need to happen because I certainly don’t have the winning combination right now.
As I get older and attend more funerals, I often think about what people would say, do, or think of me when I die. While I hope those who I’ve met in life remember me in a positive light, I don’t blame them if they don’t. Since no one knows me better than me, I figured I’d write my own (possible) obituary.
Jeffrey L. Chandler was a man who sincerely loved his family and did anything he could to help them. He had a big heart and cared for those that were close to him. He would often donate money or pay for food and gas for a relative even if it didn’t make sense financially. If you asked him a question, he gave you an honest answer.
To some, he’s most remembered for telling it like he saw it. Sometimes, he could be an asshole, but even if the words hurt, you knew that’s how he felt. Jeff often told people that he got in more trouble telling the truth rather than make stuff up. This bothered him a lot since he was told as a young boy to tell the truth instead of telling a lie. He found out that in reality, telling a lie is sometimes better than being honest.
He wasn’t much into beer for a long time, but discovered Fatheads Bumbleberry and became a fan of several different beers. He loved the outdoors and preferred to work from an Adirondack chair while occasionally catching a glimpse at a hummingbird.
He loved his wife dearly as she was likely the only female on earth to put up with him. He didn’t say it enough, but he loved her. Jeff often worked late hours into the night as his wife slept alone. He didn’t do it on purpose, it’s just that he was most productive at night. Although he tried to establish a work day as a normal person, it simply didn’t work.
This is a small sample of how I’d remember me if I died. I honestly don’t know how people would react or mourn if I died, but it’s something I’ve asked myself, who doesn’t? After all, when I’m dead, I’ll have no idea what happens.
Thoughts and Insanity From Jeff 