Throwback Blog: Am I Becoming A Wally?

Blogger’s Note: Throwback blogs are blogs from my past. I start posting past blogs reflecting what I wrote. It's like my "A Second Look" blogs for which I give myself feedback.

Today's throwback blog is titled Am I Becoming A Wally? on Jun 10, 2008. I reference Wally from the comic Dilbert by Scott Adams. My last six months at Cisco my typical working day was like Wally. I did nothing. My average hours of quality work were between one hour and two hours a day. The responsibilities were too easy. I automated most of my weekly and monthly assignments. My contract was terminated in Nov 2008.

I experienced the same Wally at Palo Alto Networks in 2015. I did nothing. The projects my engineer assigned requires little brain power. I also automated most of my weekly and monthly assignments. My contract was terminated in May 2015.

There are going to be more workers experiencing the Wally because the economy is in a recession. I anticipate more workers with fewer projects. There are going to be full-time employee layoffs and contract terminations.

My answer to the question how to cure the Wally Syndrome was quitting. The answer was incorrect. The correct answer is learning, training, and drilling. Learn new skills. Refresh existing skills by repetition. A Wally cure is watch YouTube videos to refresh my Excel skills, review Power BI, or write Python code to improve my job performance. The bottom line is stay busy. Don't browse the web. Don't watch nonwork related YouTube videos. I made mistakes at Cisco and Palo Alto Networks. I'm not going to make the same mistake at my next job. There is no three strikes and I'm out of a job permanently.

Going off topic first. There was one accident on Wednesday June 4 and Thursday June 5 driving to work. The accidents were my first accidents on San Tomas Expressway since I started driving there in December 2007. The fire alarm went off in my building on Wednesday. There is a scheduled drill on Tuesday June 10. I received unconfirmed information the alarm was a drill. I find out on Tuesday.

Going on topic ^__^ The past month I have been experiencing the Wally Syndrome. I name the syndrome after Wally, the lazy, carefree engineer from the comic strip Dilbert. The past month I have been lazy. There were many working days I completed no work for hours and hours. The days I worked I completed the assignments and the reports so efficiently and so quickly I gained more free time. There were approximately three or four days I was slammed I never browsed the web, never checked my personal emails, and never pinged anyone.

I'm currently waiting for two co-workers to submit their portions for my department's quarterly report and the latest monthly report. The last two months my division experienced personnel changes some assignments have been delayed indefinitely. Another co-worker came back to work on Monday June 9 after going on maternity leave since April. The return gives me more free time, LOL as she resumes her responsibilities I have been doing. And on Monday June 9, my department's new manager starts. I have a meeting with her Monday morning.

If my new manager requests new reports and assignments on a daily basis, then my Wally Syndrome is suppressed. If I receive the final information needed for the quarterly report and the latest monthly report anytime, then I complete each report, finalize it, and email to appropriate people in about two hours. Then I have free time from the time I submitted the reports to the end of June XD Then the Wally Syndrome comes back. Oh, when I have an assignment due days later, sometimes I complete half in one day, become lazy, and complete the second half another day rather than complete the assignment on the same day.

Is my Wally Syndrome continuing? It's going to take my new manager months to understand the department and what everyone does. I anticipate few assignments from my new manager in the short-term. The daily requests and assignments take me either minutes or hours to complete. I'm really efficient ^__^

The cure to the Wally Syndrome is quitting. The current Economic conditions and the strength of the economy worldwide are questioning whether I still have a job in December. Many companies are nickeling and diming every department to save a buck. Being lazy at home and lazy at work are different.

How Do You Teach Motivation?

My answer is you can't. Maybe my answer changes if I find the answer. My answer today is nobody can teach another person motivation. Motivation is self-discovered. Motivation is self-taught. The desire attitude is acquired individually. Willpower comes to a person. A person can't give willpower to another person. A person can teach knowledge to another person. A person can't teach willpower to another person. Desire is more important than knowledge. "I will" is more important than "I know."

The But Dealbreaker

I read the Dear Abby advice column daily. One particular reader's letters pattern is relationship advice. A pattern is most men are stupid. 90% of the wives say their husbands are the best man in the world. 90% of the girlfriends say their boyfriends are fantastic. There is a "but." The one "but" is the dealbreaker which ends the marriage or relationship. If men solve the "but" problem, then there are fewer divorces, many relationship counselors must find a new career, and more couples are happily married. There are fewer cheaters. There are fewer adulteries. There are fewer broken families. The "but" problem applies to women, too.

From Frowns To Happiness

Everyone has problems. Everyone. You have problems. I have problems. Trust me. There is hope. I call my problems frowns in today's blog. The frowns and I fight together. I help my frowns become happiness. Be brave. Don't be shy. I'm an open person. I welcome frowns. We solve the problems together. Happiness is the goal.

Loneliness frowns. There are good people we find to become friends. We rescue other people's loneliness. Unemployed frowns there are jobs. We must beat the unfair job hiring system. Bad luck frowns. We trust life finds a way. Nobody lives a live with bad luck forever. Likewise with bad timing frown.

Problems are meant to be solved. Bad turns to good. Frowns turn to happiness.

Update On A Past Blog

I remember another forgotten moment I should have mention in Top Ten Forgotten Moments on Feb 15, 2020. I watched four WB TV shows in 2001. They were Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Maybe It's Me, Reba, and Raising Dad. I also watched a few episodes of Grounded for Life on FOX. These five TV shows helped me through the bad months in 2001.

Top Ten Don't Be My Parents

Sometimes children learn from their parents what the parents did wrong by avoiding the parents' mistakes when the children are adults. Parents are humans. They make mistakes. Children can become wiser than their parents learning from mistakes including their parents. Nagging is a mistake I stopped when I realized I must grow up on Sat Oct 4, 2008. Someone called me out. She was correct. I thought back to my childhood years. My parents nagged. Avoiding nagging is part of my daily rule number one "Don't criticize, condemn, and complain," rule number two "Don't act like a jerk or bitch," and rule number three "Always speak calmly and be calm."

Here are the top ten don't be my parents:

10. No desire. No motivation. Desire is more important than knowledge. "I will" is more important than "I know." The knowledge follows motivation doing something, anything. The rewards follow motivation when responsibilities are completed.

9. Take too much life on their own hands. My parents rarely trust other people to help them live easier lives. They rarely ask for help. They rarely ask for professional help.

8. Boring life. Boring and no social life complement each other. However, there are people who are happy living a boring life. There are times boring is good. They avoid conflicts. They avoid arguments. They save money for emergencies. On the other hand, the benefits being active outweighs the risks. Get out and do something, anything. It's a judgement call.

7. No social life. No social life and boring complement each other. Don't be the quiet couple. Use it or lose it practice social skills being with people consistently.

6. Cheap. Don't be cheap. There is a common life saying, "People who save a dime ends up spending a dollar."

5. Poor self-responsibility. If everyone is just 20% more responsible of their life, then life is 20% less stressful for everyone.

4. Don't be old fucks. Another example of use it or lose it. Never stop learning. Keep the brain active.

3. Watch too much TV. The brain loses the ability to learn when people watch too much TV.

2. Hoarding. My parents are hoarders. There is too much junk in their house. There is too much stress coming out from the useless junk.

1. Take life for granted. Perhaps, my family is lucky. My family is healthy we experience fewer family problems. There are no major problems such as divorces, chronic health problems, and financial problems. We have too few fights big or small. Nobody breaks the law. Regardless, don't take life for granted as if live a normal life nothing bad happens. Life finds a way bad moments happen to all families such as car accidents, natural disasters, and misunderstandings. Families must be prepared.

Side note: I wrote a blog titled My Parents Raised My Correctly for which I am my parents.

Instant Bullets Blog Mar 15, 2020

*Disgusting Twitch Streamer. I read a Reddit post on a person trying to make it big on Twitch. Gross. Click here for the Trashy Reddit post.



*Sailor Moon English Dub DIC Version. Click Pretty Guardians Episodes 36-40 English Dub to watch five episodes from the 1990s Sailor Moon English dub on TV. Say hello to Serena, Amy, Raye, Lita, Mina, Darien, Luna, and Artemis.

*No Empty Handed To A Party. Here are some suggestions to bring something to a party avoiding to be empty handed: a bottle of wine, a dessert, or a potted plant.

*Add A Rock Hammer. My items for my next workplace cubicle: duct tape to represent old-school; blue painter's tape to represent new-school; a nickel to represent Thomas Jefferson's life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; two dice to represent life chances in terms of percentages; a bottle of WD-40 to represent trial-and-error or never fear failure. The newest item is a rock hammer to represent the wisdom from the movie The Shawshank Redemption.

I also add an empty tea kettle to represent a Bruce Lee wisdom. He said, "Emptiness the starting point: In order to taste my cup of water you must first empty your cup. My friend, drop all your preconceived and fixed ideas and be neutral. Do you know why this cup is useful? Because it is empty."

*Strong And Confident Self-Respect. If I mess up, then I mess up my way. Take responsibility. Self-respect.

*Kilometers To Miles. 3k is 1.9 miles. 5k is 3.1 miles. 10k is 6.2 miles.

*Suggested Lube For Intimacy. System JO, Pjur, Uber, and Wicked. Avoid the cheap lube from drug stores and supermarkets.

*Bay Area Gardens To Visit List. Filoli at 86 Canada Road in Woodside, CA. UC Berkeley Botanical Garden at 200 Centennial Drive in Berkeley, CA. Ruth Bancroft Garden at 1552 Bancroft Road in Walnut Creek, CA. Hakone Estate and Gardens Japanese garden at 21000 Big Basin Way in Saratoga, CA. Municipal Rose Garden at Dana Avenue and Naglee Avenue in San Jose, CA. I visited Hakone Estate and Gardens multiple times.

*California State Parks To Visit List. Auburn State Recreation Area in gold country in Auburn, CA. Moss Landing State Beach along the Pacific Flyway and Highway 1 in Monterey County, CA. Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve 13 miles east of Yosemite National Park on Highway 395 near Lee Vining, CA. Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park on Highway 1 between Santa Cruz, CA and Half Moon Bay, CA. Portola Redwoods State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I day hiked at the Portola Redwoods State Park.

*My Best Advice For Couples. My past advice for couples to be together long-term was the correct match. Is person one and person two a match? I discover my best advice for myself and for couples. My advice is be useful. Person one is useful. Person two is useful.

*A Woman And Her Vagina. These vagina symptoms can happen. A woman can be allergic to semen. It's called a sperm allergy or semen allergy. I'm not a doctor. A simple remedy is an over-the-counter allergy medication. A serious allergy requires treatment from a doctor. A woman suffers from vaginismus when the vagina muscles contract during vaginal penetration.

*Friends don't let friends drag him or her down. Friends don't let his or her friends drag himself or herself down. Agree or disagree?

2019 Year In Review. It Was Barely A Good Year.

Maybe waiting two months is a good idea to post my prior year review. I have two months to reflect the prior year. What did I do wrong? Learn from the mistakes. What did I do correctly? Reinforce the positives. Could I have done something different? What were the good choices? What were the bad choices? I select my 2019 Moment Of The Year first. There were highlights. I reflect my 2019 second.

2019 Moment Of The Year

Nominees: Consistent Gym Workouts, Discretionary Spending In Check, Innovating Common Knowledge Blogs To My Webpage, Hiking, HP Spectre x360 Laptop, Learn Life Skills Better Now Than Never, Rage Quit Bloons Tower Defense 6 Or BTS6 Video Game Indefinitely, Self-Trained Genius, Sickness Free Year, The Shawshank Redemption Movie
Explanation: I brought back my third gym workout plan I started in 2016. I followed the late Steve Jobs' philosophy living a simple life minimizes money worries. I finally posted my blogs on my webpage decades later. I mixed-up one weekend a month by hiking Sep-Dec. I purchased a new laptop to replace my HP Compaq 8510p since Jul 2008. I have been learning rope knots, sew a button, paper airplanes, and Morse Code. I uninstalled BTD6; in addition, I uninstalled Ascension and Pandemic video game apps. The end of the day I'm one step closer to become a genius. I took no drugs because I wasn't sick; although, I admit there were at least four close calls being fully blown sick. The Shawshank Redemption movie might have saved my life.
What Won: Consistent Gym Workouts
What Should Have Won: Self-Trained Genius
My Thoughts Mar 2020: Physical workouts win for the second year in a row. My physical appearance is the best ever. I begin a fourth workout plan in Mar 2020. Many people are afraid or uncomfortable of geniuses for whatever reasons. I scare myself sometimes when my thinking is one step deeper the following days. The uneasiness prevented Self-Trained Genius winning.

I can't explain why I waited decades to post my blogs on my webpage. Click Innovating Common Knowledge Blog on my webpage to read my blogs. ¬¬¬One of the four hikes was a new trail Montara Mountain trail at San Pedro Valley Park in Pacifica, CA. My backpacking equipment collected dust. I might as well do something different going outside while unemployed.

My new laptop running Windows 10 is fast. I watched Windows 10 YouTube videos for a crash course. I can't explain why it took me decades to learn life skills. More learning is expected. I want to be useful. I uninstalled BTS6, Ascension, and Pandemic gaming apps to prioritize working out at the gym, reading books, learning skills, and sleeping. I feel happy I wasn't sick in 2019. I was sick three times in 2018.

It took me decades to watch The Shawshank Redemption because a friend from college told me there was no point watching the movie. My friend was wrong. I'm not elaborating the movie because I don't want to give any spoilers. The movie is number one in the IMDb top 250 movies.

Reflect 2019

My 2020 feeling is another cautious optimistic year like 2019. I keep my feeling good moments in check. I asked the question, "How do I recover from three consecutive bad years?" in 2019. My answer is keep living. Continue moving forward. Mix up life. Try something new. Take a chance. Continue learning. These answers are cliques. These answers are true. The new hikes, replace my old laptop, learn rope knots, and refresh my Excel are good examples. In addition, the old school activities are valid today such as reading books, working out at the gym for physical activity mixing up workout plans, and minimizing eating junk food while trying new foods. Doing nothing leads to nothing.

My life is like professional sports. I can't win the championship. I can win games. I can win playoff games to advance to the next round. I lose the biggest game of the season. I don't win freedom. I don't earn freedom. I elaborate my hands are inches away from the freedom championship trophy in a future blog.

All years were good when the prior year had momentum. Good 2004 was the exception because there was no 2003 momentum. There was 2014 momentum for a good 2015. There was no 2015 momentum for a bad 2016. There was no 2016 momentum for a bad 2017. There was no 2017 momentum for a bad 2018. What if the 2018 momentum needed more time for a future good year? In other words, the 2018 momentum needed 2019 for a 2018 and 2019 momentum for a good 2020. Time will tell.

2019 Letter Grade: C+

2019 is a barely a good year scoring a 51/49 good/bad. My best is 60/40 good/bad. The Self-Trained Genius increases the grade a third from a C to a C+.

Update On A Past Blog

I want to remind people about quiet people from the blog Another Perspective On Quiet People on Feb 20, 2019. Sometimes people are quiet because they have a lot on their minds; likewise, when people are in a new environment for the first time mostly. The update is another reminder quiet people are not necessarily people who don't want to be with other people.

Is February The New Bad Luck Month?

The March month had been my bad luck month. The last time March was bad luck happened on 2017 when I experienced stomach flu like pains for days in multiple spurts. I admitted myself to the emergency room in April 2017 for which I was diagnosed with Acute Gallstone Pancreatitis. 2018 was a bad luck year in its entirety.

The February bad luck month started in 2019. 2019 started well with many phone interviews and an in-person interview. The jobs I interviewed were six-plus months contracts potentially strengthening and improving my resume. An eleven o'clock decision by a director or an executive cancelled my job hire at the end of February 2019. Another bad luck happened outside job searching. Mahjong is one of my hobbies. January 2019 I had been getting good luck winning more games. February 2019 I went back to getting bad luck and bad draws.

February 2020 was another bad luck month. I admit 2020 was less severe than 2019. The little delays, little setbacks, and little nuances added up. The week of February 17 went too fast I got little done; in addition, I almost got sick I went to the gym two times instead of four times. I made up missing two workouts by working out six times the week of February 24. It was the first time I worked out six times in a calendar week. Time will tell if I get sick in early March 2020. Another instance was I continued my self-training and self-reviewing job skills six days a week after I built my second desktop PC in January 2020. The little delays, little setbacks, and little nuances in the middle of February 2020 stopped the six days a week flow.

Time will tell if future Februarys are my bad luck months.

Update On A Past Blog

I was somewhat a nothing person referencing number 40 in my Top 40 Most Memorable Moments on Sep 27, 2016. My 40th moment was my boss was fired on Sep 2002. She was a nobody. The lesson was have nothing, do nothing, get nothing, be nothing, and people treat you like nothing. I was a nothing person to a lesser extent for which I didn't warrant a firing. I'm happy I'm a minimal nothing person. I must achieve freedom to remove the nothing title. I'm the George Constanza in my family unemployed and living with my parents. On the other hand, I'm working hard to earn freedom. I'm smarter, stronger, wiser, braver, and more useful today. The end of the day I'm one step closer to be a self-trained genius.