I get that it’s a busy time of the year for retailers, and for the postal system. But this comes as no surprise to anyone – especially retailers and the postal system. And incompetence and callousness just make me seethe at times.

So I placed an order, back in November in fact. No big deal, nothing special, just ordered some regular stock items from a store. I’d have gone in person but their retail shop doesn’t have the same line of merch. Anyhow, so I’ve ordered from these guys before. Very good communication, they let you know the order is received, then when it’s being picked, then when it’s shipped, then they send you tracking info.

Except this time, it got as far as received, then just silence. Finally after a week, I emailed them (they provided a contact address for questions). More silence – I emailed two or three times in total and never got so much as a peep from them. Pointer: Don’t provide a contact email address if you plan to not answer customers’ emails.

So I called. Spoke to someone but it wasn’t her department, someone else handles that. They transfer me. I get disconnected. Grumbles.

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Here’s a meta-type question that has rattled around for a while. Why am I doing this? That is to say, why do I write this blog? And that could be extended a bit more to include, why do I even have this website? Obviously a lot of work has gone into it, and continues to go into maintaining, updating, and adding to it. So… why? What’s the point?

It isn’t for money – there are no ads or affiliate links or anything of the sort here. There’s no hidden pay-to-access section. It’s not so much that the idea of monetizing the blog/site hasn’t occured, but I mostly don’t like ads and haven’t felt the need to monetize anything. It isn’t for some kind of self-aggrandizement. To be honest, I’m actually a rather shy individual and sometimes get embarassed at the thought of people actually reading all this stuff.

I think ultimately there are a few reasons why I do all this. It really boils down to the fact that I like to learn and share knowledge; I like funny things and like to share the funny; I sometimes forget things and the blob is a good place to save information so I can find it again later. Finally, I like to create, and writing is an inexpensive way to be creative. In some cases, it’s also somewhat theraputic for myself, this writing stuff.

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This month I’ve been writing quite a lot, trying to meet a personal goal of 1,000 words per day of personal (non-business-related) writing. The blob has been a great vehicle of course for this, and at the risk of sounding immodest, I think at least some of my writing this past month has been better than my average level of mindless babbling.

It’s getting difficult though – I guess I’m reaching the point where it starts becoming work and maybe writers’ block begins to set in.

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