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softpawI'm not sure I've ever really posted about my feelings on this, but I find the concept of a "friends cut" on LJ to be rather offensive. It sorta depends on who's doing it, but generally, if I'm following you on LJ, I care about you beyond just your words, and I also care about you enough to give you access to my non-public entries. So, when I see "comment if you still want to be my friend lol", followed by blindly removing everyone who doesn't comment, it's kinda insulting no matter who it comes from, especially if the person primarily makes friends-only/filtered posts. It basically says "even if I've known you IRL for ten years, you mean as little to me as some random borderline-stalker I met once at a con". Because as far as I'm concerned, if I mean enough to you that you still want to read my LJ when trimming down your friend list, I shouldn't have to reply to some post to still read yours. And if you really want to remove me, my reply to some post just saying "please don't remove me kthx" shouldn't make the difference in that decision.
Anyway, I take a more gentle approach to friend-list management. I don't add people unless I want to get to know them better, or unless I already do, or unless I have some reason to do so. But once I've added someone, I won't remove them unless they remove me first, or never added me in the first place, or I have some specific reason to remove them beyond "I want to follow fewer people". Occasionally, I'll remove people who haven't posted in years and years, but it's rare, because sometimes I like to go back and read those old entries.
I was doing that this evening, and I noticed I had a lot of people friended whom I'm certain were mutual friends at one point or another, but not anymore. I read a few of their LJs, and noticed several where the last post I could see was "comment to still read my LJ". Not exactly pleasant to see from people who, last I knew, were genuine friends whom I'd had countless conversations with, and at least one I'd spent time with IRL.
And I'm aware that, despite the poor naming, the friend-list on LJ is really just a reading/access list with no inherent emotional connotations behind it, but granting someone access to your journal does imply a certain level of trust; one's posts would be public otherwise. It's also quite simple to set up a reading list on LJ separate from your access list using custom filters, I did that to remove people who post their tweets to LJ without removing their access to my journal.
So, anyway, I went through tonight and removed a bunch of non-mutual friends and deleted accounts, and added a few who'd friended me, some of which I never received notifications for. This is probably a good point to mention that if you've added me and I didn't reciprocate, it's most likely because I don't know you and/or don't recognize you, so drop me a message sometime :-)
==========================
On a lighter note, back when I got my new TV, I picked up a DVI to HDMI cable to connect my laptop (they say it's not "designed" for that, but it works just peachy), and with the awesome 1080p resolution, it effectively turned my laptop into a media centre PC. Yay! Unfortunately, I ran into a problem; with it sitting on my A/V rack, my keyboard and mouse didn't quite reach the couch, and the cables connecting it to the system weren't long enough for the laptop to go that far, leaving me with the laptop in the middle of the floor and a god-awful cabling mess when I had it connected. Or, I could leave it on the rack and have to go kneel on the floor in front of the TV to do anything with it. Either solution is ok for the occasional movie, but not ideal for things like games, or online videos.
I considered getting a wireless keyboard and mouse, but it occurred to me that since wireless peripherals suck for gaming (especially for someone who's never played on them before), and I don't have the budget for good ones right now anyway, it'd be cheaper and better to extend some USB ports across the room. So, one trip to Staples later, I now have a small 4-port USB hub with a 10' cable, which is more than long enough to reach not only my couch, but also my super-comfy recliner. So, I can play games on my TV now! Yay! I even installed my joystick, and flight simulators are pretty darn awesome on a 42" screen at 1920x1080 (yay uber video card :-P ). This is much better than playing them on my workstation, because while it performs slightly better than my laptop, I typically have too much running at once to really shift gears to play games. Plus, if I'm playing a game that's in-depth enough to be full-screen 3D, it usually means I'm trying to take a break from my work, something that's easier to do if I'm not sitting in front of my work computer :-)
I still plan to build a dedicated media centre PC in the future, but for now, my laptop does the job surprisingly well. It'll work even better once I get the docking station I've wanted forever, which will allow me to pop it in and out of this setup without having to unplug/plug in a half-dozen different cables and fish around for the charger. I also want to commission a certain foxie or teddybear to make a frame for my racing wheel and pedals, like a Rockband drumset, but that'll come later :-P
==========================
After years and years of being on my mom's insurance policy, I finally switched to my own policy. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have done it quite so soon, but with the two tickets I got last summer, her insurance company said they weren't renewing her policy. I've felt really guilty for that all year, because I knew it was coming (I expected a major rate increase though, not a complete drop), so with the termination date coming up at the end of this month, I went ahead and got my own coverage so she wouldn't have to deal with it anymore.
So, I switched to Geico, and even with the aforementioned tickets, I got a policy for less than half what I had before: $37/month. Part of this is because I basically dropped to the bare-minimum legally-mandated coverage (a concept which is a whooooole other rant), but even if I'd kept the exact same coverage, it would've been significantly cheaper than the $90/month I'd been paying before. The thought of adding more comprehensive coverage crossed my mind for such a cheap price, but since my car's worth so little, I'd rather save the money. Plus, I have an issue with paying more than the car's value per year to insure it.
Unfortunately, with funds being so tight this month, I had to dip into one of my savings accounts to pay for it, the one that was explicitly reserved for investments and debt resolution (ie, positive financial gain). I'd been really proud of building it up as much as I did, but I just didn't have the money anywhere else, and I wasn't sure if I'd have any clients next week. The plus side is that since I had to pull from that account anyway, I went ahead and paid for the full six-month term, so I don't have to deal with it again until the end of January. In the meantime, I already know how much the renewal will be, so I can set aside funds for it, or switch to monthly billing at that time.
==========================
Lastly, Megaplex is this weekend, and while I'm really looking forward to it, and to seeing distant friends for the first time in forever (for some of them, for the first time ever), I really wish I hadn't committed to going this year. Two cons in a month is too much for me, especially when one of them is Anthrocon (my most expensive con by a huge margin). I'll be able to make it, I'd be screwing over several friends otherwise, but it'll be really tight. This is also looking like my first-ever con with no art budget at all. I've said that before, but I've always had a small amount of funds for like one commission; probably not this year. Sigh.
Anyway, if you're going to the con, and you want me to have your contact info, send me a PM. I'll post my phone number tomorrow-ish. Hope to see you there!
Anyway, I take a more gentle approach to friend-list management. I don't add people unless I want to get to know them better, or unless I already do, or unless I have some reason to do so. But once I've added someone, I won't remove them unless they remove me first, or never added me in the first place, or I have some specific reason to remove them beyond "I want to follow fewer people". Occasionally, I'll remove people who haven't posted in years and years, but it's rare, because sometimes I like to go back and read those old entries.
I was doing that this evening, and I noticed I had a lot of people friended whom I'm certain were mutual friends at one point or another, but not anymore. I read a few of their LJs, and noticed several where the last post I could see was "comment to still read my LJ". Not exactly pleasant to see from people who, last I knew, were genuine friends whom I'd had countless conversations with, and at least one I'd spent time with IRL.
And I'm aware that, despite the poor naming, the friend-list on LJ is really just a reading/access list with no inherent emotional connotations behind it, but granting someone access to your journal does imply a certain level of trust; one's posts would be public otherwise. It's also quite simple to set up a reading list on LJ separate from your access list using custom filters, I did that to remove people who post their tweets to LJ without removing their access to my journal.
So, anyway, I went through tonight and removed a bunch of non-mutual friends and deleted accounts, and added a few who'd friended me, some of which I never received notifications for. This is probably a good point to mention that if you've added me and I didn't reciprocate, it's most likely because I don't know you and/or don't recognize you, so drop me a message sometime :-)
==========================
On a lighter note, back when I got my new TV, I picked up a DVI to HDMI cable to connect my laptop (they say it's not "designed" for that, but it works just peachy), and with the awesome 1080p resolution, it effectively turned my laptop into a media centre PC. Yay! Unfortunately, I ran into a problem; with it sitting on my A/V rack, my keyboard and mouse didn't quite reach the couch, and the cables connecting it to the system weren't long enough for the laptop to go that far, leaving me with the laptop in the middle of the floor and a god-awful cabling mess when I had it connected. Or, I could leave it on the rack and have to go kneel on the floor in front of the TV to do anything with it. Either solution is ok for the occasional movie, but not ideal for things like games, or online videos.
I considered getting a wireless keyboard and mouse, but it occurred to me that since wireless peripherals suck for gaming (especially for someone who's never played on them before), and I don't have the budget for good ones right now anyway, it'd be cheaper and better to extend some USB ports across the room. So, one trip to Staples later, I now have a small 4-port USB hub with a 10' cable, which is more than long enough to reach not only my couch, but also my super-comfy recliner. So, I can play games on my TV now! Yay! I even installed my joystick, and flight simulators are pretty darn awesome on a 42" screen at 1920x1080 (yay uber video card :-P ). This is much better than playing them on my workstation, because while it performs slightly better than my laptop, I typically have too much running at once to really shift gears to play games. Plus, if I'm playing a game that's in-depth enough to be full-screen 3D, it usually means I'm trying to take a break from my work, something that's easier to do if I'm not sitting in front of my work computer :-)
I still plan to build a dedicated media centre PC in the future, but for now, my laptop does the job surprisingly well. It'll work even better once I get the docking station I've wanted forever, which will allow me to pop it in and out of this setup without having to unplug/plug in a half-dozen different cables and fish around for the charger. I also want to commission a certain foxie or teddybear to make a frame for my racing wheel and pedals, like a Rockband drumset, but that'll come later :-P
==========================
After years and years of being on my mom's insurance policy, I finally switched to my own policy. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have done it quite so soon, but with the two tickets I got last summer, her insurance company said they weren't renewing her policy. I've felt really guilty for that all year, because I knew it was coming (I expected a major rate increase though, not a complete drop), so with the termination date coming up at the end of this month, I went ahead and got my own coverage so she wouldn't have to deal with it anymore.
So, I switched to Geico, and even with the aforementioned tickets, I got a policy for less than half what I had before: $37/month. Part of this is because I basically dropped to the bare-minimum legally-mandated coverage (a concept which is a whooooole other rant), but even if I'd kept the exact same coverage, it would've been significantly cheaper than the $90/month I'd been paying before. The thought of adding more comprehensive coverage crossed my mind for such a cheap price, but since my car's worth so little, I'd rather save the money. Plus, I have an issue with paying more than the car's value per year to insure it.
Unfortunately, with funds being so tight this month, I had to dip into one of my savings accounts to pay for it, the one that was explicitly reserved for investments and debt resolution (ie, positive financial gain). I'd been really proud of building it up as much as I did, but I just didn't have the money anywhere else, and I wasn't sure if I'd have any clients next week. The plus side is that since I had to pull from that account anyway, I went ahead and paid for the full six-month term, so I don't have to deal with it again until the end of January. In the meantime, I already know how much the renewal will be, so I can set aside funds for it, or switch to monthly billing at that time.
==========================
Lastly, Megaplex is this weekend, and while I'm really looking forward to it, and to seeing distant friends for the first time in forever (for some of them, for the first time ever), I really wish I hadn't committed to going this year. Two cons in a month is too much for me, especially when one of them is Anthrocon (my most expensive con by a huge margin). I'll be able to make it, I'd be screwing over several friends otherwise, but it'll be really tight. This is also looking like my first-ever con with no art budget at all. I've said that before, but I've always had a small amount of funds for like one commission; probably not this year. Sigh.
Anyway, if you're going to the con, and you want me to have your contact info, send me a PM. I'll post my phone number tomorrow-ish. Hope to see you there!