Dreaming

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Do you remember your dreams? You may say “I don’t dream”, but the fact is if you don’t dream then well you’re dead. Everyone dreams, but not everyone remembers their dreams. I might not remember all of my dreams, but I’m one of those people who remembers my last dream vividly.

Last night was the exception to that though. I woke up knowing what I was dreaming about, but I can’t really give you details. I know Ben Shuey and I were on a road trip, but I don’t know where we were going or why. All I remember is we were driving somewhere.

Anyway, I took a survey about dreaming, so if you’d like to see my answers just click below.

Tags: dreams, remembering dreams, what dreams mean

Stop Being A Pushover

I’m the world’s worst when it comes to saying “no”.  I guess I’ve always been that way because I like to help others.  It’s just a part of me to always be there for my friends and family when they need me in every way I can.  Because of that I guess I get myself roped into situations sometimes that I really don’t want to deal with.

I know when it comes to my home business I’ve financially hurt myself in a lot of situations.  I’m not shelling out cash to fix something, but there have been many times when I’ve had friends say “I know this is your job, but will you fix my computer for me for free?”  I always say “yeah, you know I will.”  That’s no big deal because it’s normally a small task that I can accomplish in a few minutes, but this morning I had a run in with a friend who really pushed me to the point where I finally said no to him.

He wanted me to build him and his two roommates all new computers.  We started going over costs of parts, options they have, etc, and by the time we were done pricing the thing it’s going to cost close to $1500 just for parts.  I don’t blame him, he wants something kick ass, and I was willing to give it to him.

So, after figuring all this up I tell him I’m not going to go over the top with charging you, so I’ll give you the friend discount.  I’ll build the whole system and only charge you $50 extra instead of charging you hourly like I do everyone else.  Our conversation went like this.

Me-  I’ll charge you $50 for the build and setup instead of hourly like I do my customers.

Him-  You’re going to charge me?  

Me- Yeah, I can’t do the whole job for free.  Do you know what goes into building a system like this?  If you were a normal customer I’d charge you hourly plus extra for adding the liquid cooling.  Building this isn’t going to be simple.  We could have all kinds of problems I’ll have to deal with.

Him- Nevermind then.  I’ll just order the alienware I was looking at.

Me- But the alienware costs twice as much, and won’t have half the features you want.

Him- Yeah but you want to charge me.

Me- Dude, did you call me because you knew I could build you a kick ass system or because you thought I’d build you a kick ass system for free?

Him- If you want my business do it for free.

Me- Building it for free, I don’t get any business from you.  Dude, I’m not a computer charity here.  Order the alienware.

Him- *click*

He hung up on me, and I know for a fact he won’t be calling me back anytime soon.  Seriously, why do people feel the need to take advantage of others like that?  I’m not going out of my way to spend countless hours or even days building something for him just so he can get out of paying someone to do it.  He’d already be saving big time just for having me order and build the system instead of buying an overpriced Alienware just for the name, but no he can’t afford to spend $50 so I get something out of it.

Fuck him then.  If I built or repaired everything for free I wouldn’t have a business now would I?  I feel like going into the store where he works and telling him he needs to give me a t-shirt for free because he’s my friend, and that’s what he’s supposed to do.  I can use his 10% discount?  Not good enough man!  Didn’t you just get pissed at me because I wouldn’t give you free service with my job?

Tags: computer repair, customized computer build, home business, the friend discount

Put Down The Controller

Ben Shuey and I got into a huge fight tonight.  It was really stupid, but it escalated to a blow out over a stupid video game.  We both love playing Tourist Trophy for PS2.  If you’ve ever played Gran Turismo think Gran Turismo 4, but with bikes.   It’s a great game, but hubby is a really sore loser.

When it comes to video games he’s actually worse than most kids I know.  He’ll scream, throw things, punch things, and curse up a storm when he’s not winning.  His dad is the same way, so I always tell him “honey, it’s just a game.  Walk away for a minute, calm down, then go back to it.  If you keep getting frustrated you’ll never win.”

The problem is he never listens…just like a man.  If he was my kid I could just take the game away, but it’s kind of hard to do that to your husband.  He finally got so pissed off that he wasn’t winning, he punched an big screen tv we have.  It doesn’t work, but I still don’t want him punching it.  The only reason we have it is because it’s got the perfect shell to turn it into a storage unit, which he’s been promising to do for 3 years.  That’s another story for another day.

The point is how do you tell a man you seriously have to stop playing this game now without making the situation worse?  His temper only comes out when he’s playing video games, and it’s to a point where I’ve seriously thought about taking them all to Gamestop one day while he’s at work, but yeah I know how well that would go.

Tags: bike game, gran turismo, motorcycle simulator for ps2, tourist trophy

Free Writing Courses Online

If you are a blogger, did you consider your writing skills before you began your blog?  Have you thought about starting a blog, but you feel your writing skills are inadequate?

I’ve had many conversations with bloggers who do not feel their writing skills are up to par, but they continue to write because it makes them happy.  My writing skills may not be the greatest, but I know you can read my blog and understand what I’m saying.

I’ve come across many blogs where it was basically impossible to figure out what the author was trying to get across.  Either poor grammar or poor english is normally a factor in these situations.

For anyone who would like to improve or maybe brush up on their writing skills there are options out there.  You can opt for the more expensive route which would be to take a writing course at a local college, or you can save money by taking a writing course online.

A friend shared a link with me today to a listing of 10 Universities that offer free writing courses online.   Whether you’re a simple blogger like me or you’re a professional writer wanting to brush up on your skills there are courses available for every level free of charge.

Tags: Better Blogging, brush up on writing skills, free creative writing course, free writing courses, take writing courses for free