Wandery Wednesday: "Mammon"

Money. If you're anything at all like me, you worry about the green stuff. The moolah. The dough. The other words that sound cooler when you say them in a vaguely Irish or Italian accent and have a scar and generally are cooler than me. 

I grew up not worrying about money too much. I mean, I understood that money came in limited quantities and that was why I couldn't have EVERY Lego set I wanted. But I never felt poor. Then I got a job. Went to college. Started paying for my own stuff. And... Yeah. When it comes right down to it, I haven't been comfortable buying things for myself (or having them bought for me) for years. Probably since I was 14 or 15. As time's gone on, that feeling has only gotten stronger. Now it's to a point where I feel vaguely guilty just buying myself a burger at McDonalds.

And I don't think that's healthy. Frugality? Sure. Not being wasteful? Sure. But feeling guilty over a small little indulgence well within the budget of an introverted single dude with no real responsibilities? Probably not. I'm trying to change that. To become a little more comfortable with the occasional treat. Because after all. It's only money... 

Wandery Wednesday: "I Went to My Work Job Today. I Did a Network Configure."

So over the weekend the phone system was upgraded at work. This involved me working Friday night and a chunk of Saturday to get all the phones hooked up. There were some issues, but nothing too major. 10 failures out of 175ish is pretty solid. I got to learn how to configure the phone network ports using command-line interface, which has been...a thing. I'm starting to see green lines of code running vertically down my vision... Think I should see a doctor. Anyway. It was fun. And most of the issues have settled down by this afternoon. Which is a huge relief. That said, could things have been better? Yes. We definitely need to clear out some ports on our server/switch racks. One floor has no ports for new phones. None. No places to plug new phones into. Nada. Which is worrying and will have to be dealt with. 

I spent the early evening trying to get my budget sorted. 401K withholding, grocery budget, allowance for buying video games and cool stuff, tithe to the crushing financial burden that accompanies being an English major, rent payment, lots of fun stuff. So I'm rewarding myself with pizza, rum, and video games.

Speaking of games, I've been playing Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, which is a fun bit of the old FPS genre. First-Person Stabbing, that is. It's a first-person online swordfighting battle simulating sort of jobber. It's actually quite enjoyable. There are bits I dislike (either have weapon/armor skins be purchasable, like in League of Legends, and make the game free OR make the game cost money and have everything be unlockable. I'm not a big fan of developers who go "let's make them pay for the game AND pay for cosmetic stuff!" CS:GO can get away with that. You can't. Also this was a long parenthetical...) but overall I'd say it's well worth the $6 I paid. Heck, I've put 15 hours in already, which is not something I usually do with multiplayer games. As soon as my pizza is finished, I'm going right back to playing. Woo!