Questionable Motives

Image via WikipediaI really have to wonder sometimes about what motivates some people.

Lately, I have been spending a lot more time on Twitter.  As of right now, I am up to just under 1350 followers.  Most of the people that I follow are individuals with similar interests as myself; conservative politics, blogging, family life, and autism.  I also follow a few news outlets, businesses, and the occasional celebrity or athlete.

Most of the interaction that I have with folks on Twitter is fairly good natured and friendly.  There is a lot of camaraderie in replying to other people's tweets and retweeting those things that you particularly like.  Occasionally you might get into a decent discussion or debate with people who have differing viewpoints from yourself. 

Every now and then though, you run across somebody whose soul purpose in being there is to harass and torment people.  A few weeks ago, I had somebody reply to one of my tweets about Herman Cain.  The person was somebody that I was not following, and they were not following me.  I replied back, and the person responded with some derogatory comments attacking me and resorted to name-calling.

I took a look at the person's other tweets and discovered that this person was following a handful of conservative pundits like Michele Malkin and conservative news outlets.  Every one of his tweets was attacking a tweet by a conservative, usually with name calling.  His soul purpose on being there was to harass and insult conservatives.  I decided at that time the individual was not worth my time or effort and block him.

Usually, I am not one to block people that I disagree with.  There are a few visitors to this blog who have a decidedly more liberal or progressive viewpoint who visit and occasionally comment here, like Len from the First Door on the Left blog and Aldon from the Orient Lodge blog.  Most of the time our viewpoints are diametrically opposed, but I welcome their comments and visits. 

The thing with my differences between Len and Aldon is that we just honestly disagree on issues.  They do not set out as their sole purpose to harass and ridicule others, but to legitimately respond with their point of view.  To have a reasonable debate is one thing, but if your only reason for responding is to harass or ridicule, you are nothing more than a loser and a troll.

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Name or Obscenity

Image via WikipediaMy given name is Richard.  It is the name that I use on any official documents that require a signature.  I am rapidly approaching the age of 50.  For my entire life, I have gone by the name Dick or some variation of it.  I have been called Dick, Dickie, Dickster, and since I am a junior, my least favorite moniker, Little Dickie.

With the advent of the digital age and the internet, I have had several different email accounts and have joined several different forums.  Usually, when creating an email address or a user ID, I incorporate my name in that email address or user ID.  The user ID that I use the most is dickster1961, a combination of one of my nicknames and the year of my birth.

Sadly, in today's world of political correctness and rigid electronic filters, there have been times when I have tried to sign up for a forum and my user ID has been rejected.  The reasons vary, but they pretty much all center around the same theme that the user ID contains a word that has been rejected by the company's filters.  Once, I actually was having difficulty emailing a vendor that I was dealing with because my email signature was being filtered by his company's spam filters as obscene because it contained my name.

Whenever I have had a problem creating a user ID that contains my name, I will usually write to the company through their "contact us" link on their website.  If at that point they will not allow me to create a user ID that contains my name, as a matter of general principal I will not do any business with that company.  I am well acquainted with the additional meanings that can be associated with the name Dick, however, I take great offense to those companies that assign a rigid ruling of "obscene" to what is a common name throughout history. There have been a lot of famous Dicks through the years.

When I started this blog over two years ago, I gave it my name "Dickster."  When I signed up with Twitter, I signed up with my common user ID "dickster1961."  Associated with the blog and my Twitter account, I have had a relationship with a few different companies that have paid me for the occasional blog post or Twitter tweet.  Those relationships don't provide a lot of income, but every few bucks here and there is always a help.

The reason I bring all this up now is because of some recent issues that I have had with one of those companies and my Twitter account.  I have had a relationship with this particular company for about a year where I have gotten paid to send out tweets.  There has never been a problem with my twitter name in that time.  My last two opportunities have been rejected by advertisers because I have an "inappropriate Twitter handle."

It seems odd that all of a sudden, my twitter name is a problem.  Especially I had posted paid tweets for one of the advertisers multiple times in the past year, and it was never a problem.  I have raised the issue with the company that arranges for the paid tweets to see if the issue lies within their system or whether it is actually with the advertisers.  On the one hand, I would like to have the opportunity to earn a little extra cash, on the other I don't want the hassle of changing my Twitter ID.

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Time

Image by ToniVC via FlickrTime.  It is arguably are most valuable resource.  It is the one thing that just about everyone I know wishes they had more of.  Seriously, do you know of anybody who wishes they had less time? 

Just yesterday, I was talking with a friend at work about all the things we would like to do if we had more time.  Some of the things we talked about were simple things like getting more movement/exercise in our lives or even taking the time to prepare healthier meals.  It is just so much easier to grab something already prepared, and usually less healthy. 

We both have fairly long commutes to the office, at least an hour each way.  During the work week, it is my goal to get up and out of the house by 7:00 am.  Usually, I am in the office by around 8:30 and usually work until 5:30 pm.  By the time I get home, it is usually between 6:30- 7:00 pm.  The day is pretty much shot at that point, and it is time for dinner and a couple hours to get family time and whatever "me" time that I can get in before turning in for bed.

A typical evening consists of dinner, Wheel of Fortune (one of my son's favorite shows), and doing all of my internet activities.  The internet activities consist of writing this blog, visiting other blogs for my blog networks, and activities that I do to try to make a few extra bucks like Sponsored Tweets, paid blog posts on Social Spark, and being a guide for ChaCha.com.  I also spend time playing a few different games on Facebook.  It is only three games on Facebook, but they take up entirely too much time.

The weekends are a little better, but not that much better.  Saturdays are particularly full with the part time pizza delivery gig.  I run a few errands in the morning, and then have a few hours to relax before heading off to deliver pizza.  On Sunday mornings I go out to do the grocery shopping, then hopefully, have the rest of the day to relax.  Even during my "relax" time, I am usually doing the blogging stuff and Facebook games.  All while hanging out with my son and making him various CDs and DVDs.

I have already started pruning some of my activities to free up extra time where I can.  I used to have a premium membership to Pogo.com, an online games site, that I have let expire because I hadn't been playing as often as I had.  I have also cut out a couple of the Facebook games that I had been playing.  Of the Facebook games that I still play, some don't get played everyday, and some only get a cursory glance during the week.  Still, there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get it all done.

I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way.  What kind of things do you do to carve out more quality time in your life for yourself and your family?  Cutting back on sleep and adding more caffeine to the diet probably aren't the best options.  I am already sleep deprived enough.

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