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| 2008-03-13 09:59 |
| Techno-rabblerousing |
| Public |
 rantastic |
| crankiness |
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According to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) autopope and others, Robin Hobb has made this a sort of unofficial blog-against-blogging week. For the record, I like blogging. I've made some wonderful connections here, learned lots of new things, and I'm pretty sure I write more than I did in my pre-blog days. Though (unlike Ms. Hobb) I'm willing to admit that *your* mileage may vary. You know what technology really tweaks me? Call waiting. Nothing makes me feel like the runner-up in a beauty pageant like someone stopping me in mid-sentence to see if there's someone more interesting trying to reach them. If you call me, I promise I will either tell you that I can't talk at that moment, or talk with you until such time as one or both of us is finished. If I'm already talking to someone, you'll get a busy signal until I'm done. Try back later. /rant What's your technological pet peeve? What's making you foam at the mouth this morning? Totally off-topic--you know what's making me *happy* today? The thought that I can go to the bookstore this afternoon and buy Cambrielle her very first book.
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| asakiyume |
| 2008-03-13 14:12 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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Yeah, I disagreed with that article, in the end. I mean, something's only a waste of time if you don't value it--I **hugely** value the time I spend on LJ. Sure, there are more productive things I can do, but "more productive" does not equal more valuable or more meaningful or more anything else, in my book.
I hate call waiting too, and I'm with you: don't have it, never will. If I'm talking with someone, then that's who I'm talking with, and no other call will come through. It seems politer all the way around.
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| kythiaranos |
| 2008-03-13 14:22 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| do you mind? |
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I read it the last time--a year or so ago--people were getting tuned up about it. The thing that bothers me is the making of blanket statements about what works or does not for writers. Blogging has been, overall, a great experience for me. It is a horrendous time-waster for some, but I kind of cringe to think that newbie writers would read her rant and avoid blogging just because a famous writer says it's bad.
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| asakiyume |
| 2008-03-13 14:28 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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I hope none do. Certainly in my long hiatus from writing, when I would hear writers talking about writing, I would notice that the things people said worked for them were completely contradictory. Some people liked schedules, others abhorred them; some could write in snatches, others needed long stretches of time; some liked background noise, some didn't, etc. Same with the actual act of writing--some would describe a whole splat coming out at once; others would talk about teasing out each word. Some revised 15 times, others barely revised once, and so on.
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That's why my one writing rule is 'do what works'. And that's not even necessarily the same thing for me, from year to year and project to project. There may come a time when blogging is more distracting than helpful. Hopefully I won't hang onto unhelpful behaviors because they're a habit or because someone else told me I had to.
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| (Anonymous) |
| 2008-03-13 14:15 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
Call waiting drives me nuts--and I've been trying, without luck, to convince relatives as to just how rude it is. If there's a call you need to take, then say goodbye to me; don't make me wait while you decide which of us is more important. And if you're in the middle of a call with someone else, don't pick up my call just to tell me you'll call me back--just don't answer until you actually want/can talk to me. Emergencies that can't wait 10 minutes being actually pretty rare.
Of course, the same folks who do this tend to pick up cell phones mid-conversation with someone they're with in person, too.
Which I guess makes bad cell phone etiquette a peeve, too. Really are all your conversations so important they can't wait a single moment? I had an argument with a woman on the track who didn't see me trying to get by her because she was chatting away on the phone (at a walk, in the running lane)--and she was supposedly, you know, in the middle of a workout. And then she wondered, once she noticed me, what was wrong with me, that I was so irritated.
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| kythiaranos |
| 2008-03-13 14:26 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| Boromir |
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I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one bothered by call-waiting.
I've tried to limit the number of people who have my cell number, so if I get a call I know the odds of it actually being important are fairly high, and they're less likely to come when it will be an inconvenience to others. But I can definitely see the temptation to act as if you're in your own living room gabbing, regardless of where you might really be.
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| domynoe |
| 2008-03-13 14:21 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| domy dragyn |
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Tech pet peeve? The tendency these days for software companies to ignore Win98 SE. Yes, I realize that we're 3 or 4 OS's away from that now, but that doesn't mean all of us can afford (or even WANT) to upgrade to 2000, XP, or Vista. Hell, some machines CAN'T be upgraded and I know I can't afford a new machine any time soon! Drives me crazy that so many key pieces of software are now outdated for my machine and my only solution is to upgrade or buy a new machine. :P As for the to blog/not to blog thing, note my response to ![[info]](http://l-files.livejournal.net/userhead/657?v=1328879641) mindyklasky here. Edited at 2008-03-13 02:23 pm (UTC)
I'm always nervous buying software for the hubby because I can never remember what OS we have, or how much memory. It's unnerving!
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I find great networking value in blogging.
It does NOTHING to deter me from writing. What I want to do, I time manage my way into. In fact, often, when I'm at my most creative and writing the most, I find myself driven to share my thoughts and seek opinions of other writers. LJ has been great for me.
I have to agree about call waiting, too, though what bothers me about it is the fact that, if I'm on a phone call, it continues to beep at me, and makes me feel rushed to end the call I'm on.
I also dislike the fact that music subscription services, like Rhapsody, make me synchronize my mp3 player at random, often leaving me without music when I'm away from home writing.
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The networking aspect is great. And seeing what other people have accomplished encourages me.
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Cell phones. Really, unless someone is waiting for a kidney transplant, there is no reason for using them in public.
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| kythiaranos |
| 2008-03-14 11:14 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| whoops! |
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I've decided that's going to be my new excuse for everything: "I'm sorry. I'm waiting for a kidney transplant." Really, it could work in almost any situation.
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| (Anonymous) |
| 2008-03-13 15:12 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
When I was younger, I insisted my parents get call waiting so they could pick me up. My mother has a tendency to talk on the phone for an hour at a time and I had a couple times where I couldn't reach anyone to pick me up from school events because she NEVER hung up. While I agree that it is rude to constantly be picking up the phone, sometimes you need to do it for emergencies. I currently have three children, and if the school or daycare is trying to reach me, I need to take it. It should really be about balance, but I think many people abuse it.
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| kythiaranos |
| 2008-03-14 11:15 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| do you mind? |
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You have a good point.
But in my case, I can think of only one time that someone said, "I'm waiting for a call I need to take." The rest of the time, it's just the old popularity contest.
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| seajules |
| 2008-03-13 15:28 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| jenny greenteeth |
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Robin Hobb is a fruitcase. This is only more proof of that.
I hate phones. Period.
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| ldragoon |
| 2008-03-13 16:31 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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This really sucks, because I love her early "Megan Lindholm" work and I'm a big fan of the Assassin's Apprentice series. I'm kind of surprised she's turning out to be so short sighted. :(
Man, how come my heroes always disappoint me?
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Heh. You and my dad would get along well. It's only been in the past few years that I managed to get him to say more than a sentence or two on the phone.
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I have always hated the phone, period. Cell phones even more so. The hell of it, is I now have one of my own because here on my beloved remote ranch there ARE no landlines. You can get a Satellite phone (arm & leg) or a cell that works out here (there is only one company whose cell phones work here). So *sigh* I have a cell phone. I hate it. Where do you plug in the answering machine so you can screen calls? :P
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| ldragoon |
| 2008-03-13 16:30 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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I dunno -- I'm pretty pro-blogging. I made a LOT of professional connections through blogging. And a lot of real-world friends. I think it has added a lot more to my life than it's detracted. There ARE blogs I think are fairly self-serving, but there are a lot that are a great source of political and social information, and inspiration. I'm kind of surprised Hobb is so down on it.
My personal pet peeve?
Text messaging.
I. Fucking. HATE.
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| kythiaranos |
| 2008-03-14 11:17 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| do you mind? |
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I have a friend at church who will interrupt me in mid-conversation to ask me how to spell something while he's texting. Given that he's in his twenties and was raised by wolves, I haven't (yet) smacked him down. But his time will come. Oh, yes . . .
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| otterdance |
| 2008-03-13 18:09 (UTC) |
| Robin on Bloggs |
| Whaaa? |
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Heh! I haven't seen a recent version of this rant, but in one she used me as a case of someone teetering on the brink of productivity oblivion, and lectured me sternly (tongue in cheek) against doing it.
I do some newsgroups, and I do my LJ blog. Of the two, the LJ is less work and more fun. Great for keeping in touch with fans, too.
Call waiting drives me up the wall. I also hate computer answer services, where you have to listen to half a dozen verbal prompts, some of which are advertising, to get to a human being. Arrrrggg
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| kythiaranos |
| 2008-03-14 11:19 (UTC) |
| Re: Robin on Bloggs |
| Jon |
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Really, I cannot imagine anyone lecturing you on your work habits. *snerk*
I've really enjoyed LJ, and when I look back at the sales I made last year, almost all of them were connected to LJ in some way--people I'd met through it, and so on.
Computer phone trees! I hate those! Especially because they never have the prompt I actually want. (Like, press 7 to initiate our self-destruct sequence.)
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