Tag: Rambling

Bloganuary 30th: Add another to the complaint box

Taylor BurianLeave a comment
Bloganuary writing prompt
What do you complain about the most?
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This information might be out of date since I last worked at a fast food burger chain about 16 years ago, but one of things I learned (when getting ServSafe Certified and taking corporate training exams) was the disparity between bad service and good service. When a customer has a bad experience somewhere they typically share that experience with seven or more family/friends/acquaintances as opposed to a person who had an exceptionally good experience sharing with an average of just three people. Not even just a regular good experience where you get exactly the kind of service you expect, but the kind of service that went above and beyond expectations! Again, these numbers might not be completely accurate anymore, but the point stands. Bad experiences yield more complaints.

So with that in mind I’d like to take a moment to say that I generally don’t complain, and I don’t go out of my way to complain about poor service unless it was REALLY BAD. The reason for this is because I’ve been in that situation. Sometimes the stars just line up for a cosmically shitty day of work. I can take a step back and think about the little details that add up to cause that experience. This is something a lot of people don’t seem to do, and that extends beyond the customer service experience to the thing I really wanted to address in today’s post. Critical thinking.

The thing I seem to complain about most is the lack of critical thinking that seems to happen more and more these days. People making snap judgements and instantly being harsh. People who fall for misinformation and help spread it further. Like those stupid memes of math problems that lead to people fighting over the answer because some of them forgot how to utilize order of operations. In those moments, when something seems off and people are bickering back and forth over what is right, that is the time to step back and apply a little more critical thinking. Why are we fighting over a silly and irrelevant math problem on social media? How are some people arriving at a different answer? Which all leads into the next thing that I complain about most.

People lack the ability to stuff their ego and pride and admit when they are wrong. Seriously, when faced with overwhelming proof and easily verifiable/testable logic, why double down on being wrong? I don’t want to dig into that too much, because I don’t want to try and research the psychology behind people refusing to admit their wrongness.

I also don’t want to keep ranting about this because it will just irritate me for the rest of the day.

Bloganuary 24th: Fun close to home

Taylor BurianLeave a comment
Bloganuary writing prompt
Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting.
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I’ve now lived in South Dakota for about 19 years, and there are still so many things I haven’t done. Maybe it’s because of my lifestyle or just lack of interest in general, I’m not entirely sure, but there are some that I really should go do and visit.

If you’re familiar with South Dakota, then you probably know that it is the Mount Rushmore State. I still haven’t visited Mount Rushmore. I’ve been nearby in that part of the state but was either working or passing through, and it isn’t an “attraction” that is top of my list. I’ll also include in the list some non-South Dakota places that are popular around my area.

Among the list of attractions or towns that I have NOT visited:

  • The Black Hills
  • Wall Drug
  • Des Moines, Iowa
  • Le Mars, Iowa (The Ice Cream Capital of the World – home to Blue Bunny Ice Cream)
  • Valleyfair (amusement park just outside Minneapolis, Minnesota)

If I wanted to get REALLY specific, I could do some that are actually close to home, but I’d rather not. If I didn’t visit them, they weren’t that popular to me or my lifestyle so they aren’t worth remembering or mentioning, but I’m sure there are more that people would get mad at me for not including. Oh well, such is life!

Bloganuary 23rd: Doing things for fun

Taylor BurianLeave a comment
Bloganuary writing prompt
List five things you do for fun.
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Personally, everyone should have a hobby, and preferably a creative one if possible.

Unfortunately, while I do have a handful of things I do on a regular basis for fun, I also have a penchant for dabbling in new things. Maybe it’s just because I’m looking for something else to add to my skill sets or list of substitute hobbies.

Anyways, the five things I like to do for fun.

On the creative side of things I like to paint miniatures for tabletop games, although I’m slowly running out of mini’s because I’ve forbidden myself from buying more games that we haven’t played. So I’m also working on 3D printing things to paint. I also enjoy putting together those 3D wooden objects, like the ones made and sold by UGEARS. They’re kind of like adult LEGO’s at this point, except permanent and not transformable.

On the non-creative side, I like to read and play video games for fun, especially sci-fi and fantasy stuff. I would separate out puzzles but most of the time those are part of the video games category because of the medium I choose to do puzzles in, such as the game Escape Simulator which is designed around the category of Room Escape games. Not to sound I actually started playing them probably sixteen years or so ago when they were still Flash-based and were a big thing coming up in Japan.

There is kind of a middle ground between the two, creative and non-creative, is Magic: The Gathering. The reason being is that on the non-creative side I get to consume media. Lots of reading of the cards and the backstories. On the creative side I get to flex my brain a bit and try to figure out how to play with new cards and new mechanics of the game. Creating a cohesive deck with lots of synergy between the cards to try to find win conditions is a lot of fun and often takes up a lot of time when I get the itch to build a new Commander Deck.

That’s all I’ve got for major hobbies that I do for fun. I have some other things I probably could add to the list but I don’t do them as frequently so they’re not as important. Still, it helps to make sure I’m never without something to do with my free time.

Bloganuary 22nd: Breaking through the pet language barrier

Taylor BurianLeave a comment
Bloganuary writing prompt
If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?
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This would be an amazing prompt if I had any pets of my own. I do, however, live with roommates that have pets and I visit family regularly who have several pets. Between the two groups there are five cats and five dogs.

One of my brother’s cats, named Paul, has picked me out as one of his favorite humans. I don’t typically have a problem with him, except when he finds it necessary to jump from the floor onto my shoulders.

He’s not the real focus of this post, but I wanted to share anyway.

No, the real focus would be on the dogs. My roommates two dogs are generally very chill, they sleep most of the day, play some, run around the yard, doing dog things. Including bark like maniacs when they see someone walking up to the door, even us, or if they here a vehicle door slam closed from one of the neighbors. In most cases, it’s alright because it makes for a good alarm system of sorts. They protect the house! If there is just ONE thing I could communicate to them it would definitely be something along the lines of “all clear” so they will stop barking their heads off after I’ve come to confirm that nothing is wrong.

Fairly simple thing, to me anyways.

Bloganuary 21st: Origin of a name – Taylor

Taylor BurianLeave a comment
Bloganuary writing prompt
Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.
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My first name is fairly common, or at least very commonly known courtesy of Taylor Swift, but the etymological background might be lost on the current generations.

Per the website Find My Past:

What does the name Taylor mean?

“An Anglo-French occupational surname, Taylor is thought to have arrived through the Norman occupation, derived from the Old French ‘tailleur’ (cutter of cloth) or English ‘tailor’. The surname Taylor is common across the British Isles (fourth most common in the UK overall – fifth most common in England) and other countries traditionally colonised by the British, though far less common in Ireland (where it mostly exists only in Northern Ireland – potentially brought over by English and Scottish settlers). Taylor can sometimes be found as an anglicised version of the German word ‘Schneider’, a direct translation of the same term.”An Anglo-French occupational surname, Taylor is thought to have arrived through the Norman occupation, derived from the Old French ‘tailleur’ (cutter of cloth) or English ‘tailor’. The surname Taylor is common across the British Isles (fourth most common in the UK overall – fifth most common in England) and other countries traditionally colonised by the British, though far less common in Ireland (where it mostly exists only in Northern Ireland – potentially brought over by English and Scottish settlers). Taylor can sometimes be found as an anglicised version of the German word ‘Schneider’, a direct translation of the same term.”
– Findmypast.co.uk

All I was ever concerned with is that it was from the English occupation, but the fact that it has ties to the similar spelled/pronounced French occupation makes sense.

Unfortunately, I am not very ambitious with cloth, thread, and needle, so I don’t actually concern myself with the occupation. That doesn’t mean I’m averse to sewing, though, because as an adult I have very much needed to fix up some clothes when I didn’t have the money to buy new.

So there you have it, a quick and dirty post with little extra exposition from me because the information already exists elsewhere on the Internet for any and everyone to read if they were so curious.

Bloganuary 20th: Dreams of going pro as an author

Taylor Burian1 Comment
Bloganuary writing prompt
What’s your dream job?
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Super simple question for me today! I can get behind that when I’m getting sucked into playing the hottest new early access game.

My dream job has changed a couple of times between childhood and adulthood. Today, it is becoming a professional author and being able to support myself on that kind of income.

I’m working on bettering my daily habits to write consistently, like answering these daily prompts. I’m over 100 days in a row of writing every day, and I’m getting used to the idea that it is okay to put less important things aside to focus on writing if I hope to improve my habits and reach that goal. Hopefully, someday, I can publish something and be successful enough to quit my job and keep writing. Then my days would be wildly different! I’d have MORE time to do the things I want to do in tandem with writing, because I would end up substituting time spent working in an office with time spent writing.

I know I can do it if I stick with it, and I know I can keep up with writing demands if I look at the results of my NaNoWriMo 2023 daily word tracking. It is completely possible for me to write 300k+ words per year. I just have to dig in and go for it.

Office life and how much time we actually devote to work

Taylor Burian

Digging through my drafts, I found a post I had started working on almost three years ago (oops…) and it stuck out to me as something I really wanted to talk about again. That post was about how many hours people actually devote to work in a day.

The premise behind that post came from a team meeting at work. At the time that I had started drafting that post there was an external non-profit type of organization that independently hosted monthly sessions for business professionals and leaders. Several people from my department would attend regularly and bring back notes to share during team and department meetings so that way even those who couldn’t attend weren’t totally missing out. At this point I’d like to remind you that 2020 was a bad year. COVID controlled our lives for most of that year, and I was “lucky” to be working remote, which I’ll circle back to shortly. Anyways, going out of the house and attending events was not encouraged but by November of that year things had loosened up here.

Anyways, I never attended any of those sessions. So I had to take what I could get from my coworkers. Over Teams and WebEx meetings. It was a great time.

So, with the background handled, circling back to the original topic. How many hours DO you devote to work? On the daily? Weekly?

The talking points and discussion materials provided at that session covered things that I knew in the back of my mind and I had previously brought up in personal discussions with friends and family. The subject wasn’t just about time in the office or at your desk. They covered things like travel time/commutes, morning and evening routines, meal prepping for lunches (if that’s your thing.)

When they talked about all of this, it brought to mind that people working a full time job will actually devote more time than they think they do simply because there are things that happen outside of work hours that we do for the purpose of supporting our work-life balance. We devote more time to work at the cost of time devoted to our personal lives.

Now, as to why I wanted to come back to this drafted topic. That’s because three years ago when I first started that draft, everyone at work was required to go remote and temporarily reduce hours by 40%. Starting back then, my work-life balance was shot. I spent so much time at home that the days blurred together. I didn’t, and to this day still don’t, have a separate space for me to work from when I have to work from home. It felt like I was devoted to work so much more, even though there were times I did so much less even if not by choice. I could get away with condensing my usual activities and routines because I wasn’t commuting. I was steps away from the kitchen and could cook lunch. I could take five minutes to go start a load of laundry.

Things have changed since then, and I’m more less back to the usual work routines I had pre-COVID. No more blurred lines. Work-life balance mostly restored. I have the option to work remote should I need or choose to, but I have otherwise gone back to the office full time because for me it provides a nice separation of work and my personal life.

The way things should be. At least, that’s how it is for me. What about you?

An ice cream ramble that doesn’t end with ice cream

Taylor Burian

I was thinking I’d post this on Twitter but quickly realized how long it would get to cover everything, so instead I’m going to rant here.

Anyways, I’m supposed to be eating better (and generally speaking I have) but a couple nights ago around midnight I was craving ice cream. I hadn’t had any in quite a while so I figured why not treat myself. So my roommate and I go off to Walmart and pick up some for ourselves and our other roommate. All was good.

Last night was not good, though, for when I went to go have the rest of my ice cream and couldn’t eat it because the freezer was thawing. My ice cream was very nearly melted and my consumption of a delicious cold treat put on hold while it freezes again in the deep freeze.

After discovering that the freezer and fridge weren’t keeping temp I immediately went into Fix It Mode and started pulling things apart and cleaning the radiator fin things. In the process of doing so I accidentally broke one of the fan blades under the fridge. Now we have an angry fridge but I at least got the compressor to kick back on and temps started coming down again. Sorry roommate, I nearly broke your fridge, but then again I didn’t and probably saved you money. End rambling.

Life gets busy…

Taylor Burian

The last few weeks have been sort of busy for me. Busy being lazy mostly, and I say that because of two things. The first week was filled with trying to keep up at work while being sick, only to be told I should go home and rest (which I gladly did) and also fighting that wicked cold snap we experienced at the end of January.

The second week was similar, just not as severe. Recovering from illness and dealing with the cold winter weather of South Dakota. All of this led to me taking the time to prioritize my health and limiting my focus on extra activities such as writing and streaming.

Every so often this down time is necessary beyond resting for the sake of health, though, because life gets busy and when you’re caught up in the whirlwind you can lose perspective on the things that matter. Now that I’m mostly rested up I can hopefully get back to what I want to accomplish.

See you out there folks!

Networking as a Broadcaster

Taylor Burian

I’ve spent a little time here and there over the last few months just kind of mulling over what it means to “network” as a broadcaster. Quite honestly it’s just as complicated as it is simple.

At a high level, in the simplest form, networking is just talking to people and making connections or friends. That being said, that’s also why it’s so complicated.

Social interaction in itself is not easy for everyone. It comes with its own set of Do’s and Don’ts, taboos, faux pas, etcetera. Do be genuine. Be yourself. Don’t be awkward, or too overbearing. You get the idea. In most day to day social interactions these kinds of things may have very little impact on your longterm standing with people because you don’t see them very often, or maybe only once, and as such you don’t generally care about the result of the interaction. Networking is a little different. I feel like it adds an extra layer of complexity.

When you’re trying to network you have to keep in mind that the people you’re talking to are going to be around more frequently, and that the impression you give does matter. So when you do start looking around for people to connect with, you should be looking at things you have in common and how well you’ll get along. It’s almost like shopping around to find a new friend, or trying to assemble a dating site profile of someone else. It gets a bit tough and awkward, but if you want to succeed at what you’re doing, especially as a broadcaster, you need to do it. Just don’t do it the wrong way, acting entitled like they owe you something for spending your time talking to them. Their time is just as valuable.

Respect can go a long ways.