Frustrated Stress

I haven't written on this blog in over 5 years. I used to come here as a place to vent and I really haven't had the need to do so until now. Lots of things have happened in that time, good and bad. Tracy has had her transplant, open heart surgery, hernia repair, and weight-loss surgery. All which have gone extremely well and put her on a good path. There have been many ups and downs but most good be prepared for decreasing any stress or frustration major life events normally cause. Lately she has been having horrible back/leg pain which is causing her to not be able to work. Multiple doctors so far have tried to find a cause or at least treat the pain and nothing has worked. Because of this I have been feeling an intense amount of frustration and stress. With Tracy being off work for her back issues we will be pretty tight in a few weeks if things don't change. Add on top of that the increasing amount of bills coming in for various reasons and I am beyond stressed. Add to that the frustration of not being able to do anything about her increasing back/leg pain and doctors not coming up with anything either and it is putting me in a bad place. Plus she is in a bad place because she feels useless not being able to work when she has been able to work through all of her other issues. With decreasing income, increasing bills, decreasing mood for the two of us I just don't know what we are going to do. Some of my stress could be alleviated by her getting her FMLA and short-term disability paperwork done but between her depression and her pain she has no desire to do it. As much as I do for her to be helpful and supportive I cannot do these things and they are just adding to my already high levels of stress and frustration.

Benefit for Tacy's Time

My Wife, Tracy Gibbons, was diagnosed with kidney disease 11 years ago when she was only 24 years old. Over the past years her kidney function has declined to the point that she is now on the transplant list for a new kidney. Tracy has been very blessed to find someone who is willing to donate their kidney to her, although we could always use more people will to get tested. Within the next few months, Tracy will be undergoing surgery and will finally receive her new kidney. While the surgery itself is covered by Tracy’s medical insurance, Tracy will require multiple expensive medications not covered by insurance. 

Save the date; Saturday November 10th from 5-9pm at The Landmark in Ames we will be having a benefit for Tracy . Come join us for food and fun!

http://thelandmark-ames.com/

For those unable to attend you can help with donations directly to:
First National Bank of  Ames
c/o Benefit for Tracy's Time
405 5th St
Ames, Ia 50010
(515) 232-5561

Things to consider when calling Tech Support...

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Hi! I'm your Technical Support Rep. I have a considerable amount of control over one or more important aspects of your daily life: television, telephone, and internet. Sometimes one, sometimes all three. Before we interact, I'd like to share some thoughts with you:



* I am here, simply put, to fix your shit. My job is not complete until said shit is fixed. Please just help me fix this shit.

* With that out of the way, know that I hate you exactly as much as you hate me. No more, no less. If you are at least relatively pleasant, I'm happy to help you- even to make small talk as I attend to the issue at hand. Conversely, if you are a total and complete jackass, I will make this the worst 10 minutes of your week.

* Neither I, nor any of my coworkers, are out to fuck you. We are not idiots. We are college graduates in technical disciplines, the vast majority of whom are here to work their way up the IT ladder to more fulfilling positions. Sometimes we have off days, sure, but we know EXACTLY what we are doing. Note that this does not apply to anyone outside of our department. They are, in all reality, idiots who are out to fuck you.

* So you've already unplugged the "internet box" and plugged it back in? Brace yourself, you're going to do it again. Most of the time I do this for a reason...unless you're a dick. Then I do it to see how mad it makes you.

* Don't lie to me- I can tell you have a router. It isn't illegal.

* To those who think they are "computer illiterate": The vast majority of the time, you are lovely customers: Patient, willing to learn, and most importantly, willing to listen. Thank you!

* To those who think they are CompSci PHD's: The vast majority of the time, you are retarded: If you already cycled your equipment and it didn't work, why did it work when I made you do it again? If you are so well educated, stay the hell out of the queue so that people who need help can get it.

* Supervisors don't have a magic wand that they can wave to make everything better. They are governed by the same protocol and use the same utilities as I do. In fact, supervisors are more likely to tell you to fuck off- believe it or not, they have other pressing issues to attend to. If a node goes down, they WILL put those 200 subscribers before you in Priorityland.

* Threatening to cancel does not intimidate us. We have an entire department that is paid to care about that, which means that I don't have to. Harsh? Sure, but I have more than enough work to do fixing shit, yelling at field techs, following up on cases, and explaining the concept of email to your grandmother that it won't cause me to lose any sleep.

* It worked fine yesterday? Oh, then I must be wrong. Let me reconsider the 40 minutes I spent troubleshooting your Win98 box. Check it out: Shit breaks (see point 1); If shit did not break, I would be mowing your lawn instead of sitting in this office.

* Speakerphone? Turn it the fuck off.

* Don't call back and have another rep troubleshoot the same problem. He will read the notes I left about how you spilled coke into your cable box. Even if he didn't, he would come to the same conclusion, and more people with undiagnosed problems would be stuck listening to that god-awful hold music.

* I am not blowing smoke when I say that I understand how frustrating it is to wait on hold, get transferred, and deal with bad agents. I too have called Dell's tech support line. The difference is that I actually DO care about your problem, so please just calm down before I kill your family.

* Please realize how frustrating it is to try troubleshoot your issue if your equipment is not work, has been unplugged, or isn't even in the house.



So what can I help you with today? 

Winter

Having not blogged in a while I thought I would update things and post something new. Things are the same as they always are. Wife is getting a little worse and will need a transplant soon, but with some adjustments to her meds her doctors are confident that things will be ok for now. Am watching what is technically the first snowfall of the year. I don't like snow and wish it weren't time for it yet. It's Iowa though. It will be nice and sunny tomorrow.

New Design

As you can see, I've changed the theme of my blog. In honor of my wife and to try and drum up any support for the National Kidney Foundation's walk in West Des Moines on Saturday May 14th I changed my blog design to reflect the 2011 walk. I don't normally get real involved in things but this is one topic that hits home. My wife has suffered from kidney disease for 8 years and soon will be in need of a transplant. In the near future we will be trying to drum up support not only for the walk but for a live donation of a kidney for her. Also, we will be holding many fundraisers to help cover the financial burden this has and will impose. In the future I hope I can count on even the smallest gestures of generosity from those closet to us. Check back in from time to time to see updates, follow me on Twitter: @Gibby20, or friend me on Facebook. Any questions, comments, concerns; leave then here and I will respond in any manner I can.

Listen Up!

Ok, now I don't get real political about things but there has been a lot going on lately that I frankly can't just sit on the sidelines for. Many people in Iowa know or have heard about HJR 6. It's the Iowa same-sex marriage amendment. Lawmakers want to change the way things are and give Iowans the right to vote on whether same-sex marriage should be legal. As I am usually for Iowans having the right to choose I feel this would be bad for our state. Iowans typically tend to be conservative and play it safe. If it works as it is then there is no need for change. Well three Iowa Supreme Court justices saw no reason to stop change and same-sex marriages were legalized. Now, because a few people with money disagree, lawmakers want to put it in the hands of Iowans. I applaud those justices for the decision they made and was appalled when they were voted out. I respect people's right to disagree with one another but I refuse to accept that what is right for one person isn't allowed to be right for another. I don't ask that everyone agree with me on same-sex marriage. If it weren't for the varying differences in the views of people this place would be boring. I do ask though that we be allowed to give everyone the sames rights we wish for ourselves. Government already controls too much of our lives as it is, plus it was voted many years ago to keep church and state separate. I haven't heard yet one legal reason why same-sex couples shouldn't be allowed to be married. I have heard several ridiculous arguments and read several even more ridiculous articles on how same-sex couples can't effectively raise kids or how they will destroy the fabric of society if allowed to marry. I have to say that I know many same-sex couples and some even have kids. Those kids are better are well taken care and loved very much. In fact they probably get more attention from the parents then most kids these days do. Same-sex couples are no different than any other couple. We all want good jobs, good homes, and a loving family to come home too. There is no reason they shouldn't have the right to that as everyone else does. Now agree with same-sex couples or not, you can't disagree that we should all have the right to live our lives as we see fit. I mean, come on, its discrimination in its purest form. Women fought to buy land and then vote, minorities fought for the right to vote. Look at where we've come from. We have women Senators and a black President. It is time to stand up and let everyone have the same rights as everyone else. Equality is not just something we give to those we want to have it. It's for everyone and I mean EVERYONE!

Now on the flip side of this is the religious part. People read the Bible and look at religious lore and say that everything is based on a Man/Woman relationship. That is true that many stories are that way, but that doesn't mean it has to be that way. First off being Gay is not a choice. I don't know anyone that would choose something that they no will make like harder because of how they would be treated by some people in our society, yet they can't fight who they are and are proud of it. I am proud of them as well. I can't even imagine how hard it would be to out yourself at a young age knowing how cruel people can be. I grew up obese and I know how cruel people are. We can't fight who we are though and to be happy we have to be honest with ourselves and with everyone else. My point is though, it's not a choice and if God creates us all then why would God not want all of his creations treated equally. God tells us to love and treat everyone equally. We are not taught to love squirrels and hate rabbits, just as we aren't taught to hate blacks and love whites. We are taught that all of God's creatures are special in their own way and should be appreciated as such.

Overall it's time we stand up and ignore our differences and fight for equality. I love being married and wish that experience for everyone. Gay, Straight, or otherwise. The Iowa House has already passed HJR 6 to let Iowans vote on same-sex marriage, so email your District Senator so that the vote won't pass in the Senate and we can move forward from this issue with a positive and enlightened experience.

You can find out who your District Senator is by clicking this link: http://www.legis.iowa.gov/Legislators/find.aspx

Here is the email I sent to my District Senator - Herman Quirmbach:

Senator Quirmbach,

I write to you today to ask you to vote NO on HJR 6. Iowans do not need to vote on samething that is perfectly ok the way it is. The 3 justices saw no Constitutional reason to not allow same-sex marriage and they were right. There is no Constitutional or legal reason it shouldn't be allowed. Most of the disagreements are religious based. Church and State were seperated years ago to make sure that religious agenda didn't effect lawmaking as it had in the past. Voting yes to HJR 6 would be setting us back many years and would hurt our status as a progressive political state. If you would like to read further into my opinion on this topic please read my blog post at: http://gibbysgripes.blogspot.com/2011/02/listen-up.html I am a happily married heterosexual man that loves being married. I only wish for that same right to be available to everyone so that they may feel the love and happiness I have with my wife. I appreciate your consideration on this measure and hope that we all as Iowans can move forward to happier, healthier, and more equal future.

Chris Gibbons
Ames, Iowa

Chris,

HJR 6 will not come up in the Senate this year or next. Thanks for your support on this important issue.

Regards,

Senator Herman C. Quirmbach

Democratic government, why it sometimes doesn't work.

I need to rant about a couple things that are happening in local governments lately. Now I am all for a series of rules and regulations to help protect us because lord knows most of us are either too stupid or too disrespectful to be able to do it ourselves, unfortunately some governments are taking it too far. I speak primarily of San Fransisco. Their local government has decided that because parents make what they consider a bad decision and feed their kids fast food that they need to make legislation against it. Does having a toy in their kids meals make kids want to eat their, maybe, but taking it away doesn't change anything. Parents will still go to fast food because its just that, fast. The kids are still going to whine and complain until they get their cheeseburgers and fries, making parents buy it for them any way. Taking away the toy wont change what kids want to eat or how parents choose their fast food restaurants. In the end it will just make parents spend more to get a toy for the kids and force them to drive farther for what they want. Even if parents fell for this crap and started buying their kids the healthier meals to get the toys is it really going to stop childhood obesity? How about we ban video games, iPods, computers, etc because that is a bigger cause for childhood obesity than McDonald's Happy Meals. All I'm saying is that we can't make parents learn by forcing laws and regulations on them. At some point we have to be held accountable for our actions and decisions without the government stepping in and saying its wrong. There are many families out there who eat fast food as a treat once in a while or like my family we did it once a week because there are nights in an active family where you just don't always have time to cook a meal. Sometimes we need to just let people make their own choices and to suffer the consequences because of them. Good parents will educate their kids on good choices and help them to know what is tasty and healthy, plus will make sure their kids get outside and exercise once in a while. We don't need the government to do that for us. If this is truly and issue to help protect kids and families then how about giving the kids and families a chance to vote on whether this is something they want, don't just let a small group of people decide for everyone. Democracy is suppose to be about the people and for the people. I don't think this decision was based on anything the people wanted other than the ones who actually got a vote. Read more on this story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/02/san-francisco-happy-meal-ban-mcdonalds_n_777939.html