A wet blanket is someone who spoils the pleasure of others. I’ve always had a few wet blankets around to dampen my pleasures. Maybe that’s why the increasing quantity of them lately are causing me to rethink how I’m spending my time?
After enjoying years of tinkering around with web publishing, my interest in it is over. The main catalyst to blame is my hosting company. Many times I’ve considered publishing the details of what I’ve been (and still am) going through with this lousy company. The trouble basically began last September and has been progressively getting worse. It’s a tie between how poor their service is and how dishonorable they are. Getting locked into a subscription without a money-back option for failures to provide proper service is like doing jail time.
I’ve come close to opening up an account with other hosting companies, but before the final commitment, there was always something to deter me from following it through to completion. I know there is no such thing as a perfect hosting company and I’m well aware of what to realistically expect from shared hosting. In fact, I’ve done so much research while shopping to compare my options that I couldn’t help but finally notice what was really bothering me (beyond the fear of being pushed into wasting money again by getting stuck with a company that refuses to do business fairly).
Just because most other people aren’t disturbed by the potentially low level of risk for headaches from reputable businesses doesn’t mean I’m not. Being that my pet peeve is idle talk and there is no way to prevent the piles of BS commonly passed around these days, it makes no sense for me to stay in an environment where such behavior comes with the territory.
Tech businesses excuse poor management and nurture irresponsibility by telling people they’ve run into technical difficulties. Yes, tech issues happen. But, those problems are ultimately always caused by people. In the case of large hosting companies, it’s usually because they get greedy, too big for their britches, and are able to be irresponsible without having to suffer the consequences. Trouble can also arrive like it does when having too many chefs in the same kitchen, too many chiefs in the same tribe, or too many people working for the government.
Having an excessive amount of patience for too long with too many things is starting to take its toll. There are some benefits though that go along with it. One, for example, is that its consequences seem helpful for sorting things out to make better decisions. Even simply knowing that its best I avoid doing projects others might have the potential to affect what I’m doing makes it easier for me to relax. Only those who have experienced chronic insomnia know how important it is to not stimulate an already hyper-sensitive nervous system.
On January the 30th, I mentioned it had been 60 days since I came to the conclusion that my days for being able to have any form of drug, in any amount, now has intolerable consequences. Now that another month has gone by applying that knowledge, it’s becoming increasing evident how important it is for me to always be strict about guarding what affects my nervous system. As my ability to sleep improves, so does my ability to discern what aggravates my sleep cycle. I’m finding the discovery experience actually quite interesting.
Searching for motives behind why I do what I do (or don’t do it) appears to be a key element behind knowing how to live more abundantly. I could never do such a thing alone. With God’s Holy Spirit, prayer, and His word as stated in the Bible, God makes it possible to introspectively examine self. Ironically, it’s a process that progressively reveals how the right to self ultimately is to blame for getting in the way of making improvements.
God’s providence brings to us the right variety of unpleasant imperfections found in others that we may need to help us overcome our own. So, the next time a wet blanket dampens your spirits, consider the possibility that it’s there for a useful reason.
Postscript added 10 hrs. after publication — I forgot to mention what I’ve experienced from those in other directions in regard to being in a web publishing environment. There are a remnant I find to be respectable, but in my own personal experience (generally speaking), there are too many wet blankets in web publishing forums and too many who displayed an interest in wanting my assistance while at the same time consistently refusing to show any evidence of genuine appreciation.
The level of arrogance to be found among the majority of those who I’ve had to deal with in the realm of web publishing told me it’s no place for a person to be who too often struggles with feeling good enough and has repeated battles with confidence in what she’s doing.
Postscript added on 3.24.10 —I’ve only been using my new hosting provider for 2 1/2 weeks, so maybe I better not be hasty to express my appreciation for their highly satisfactory service so far. However, what I can tell about is how glad I am to no longer be depending upon the previous company I was using for hosting my sites online. If you haven’t read what I said about them before, here it is repeated:
On Saturday March 6th, 2010, this site was moved to a new hosting server. If you experienced slow page loads and/or timeouts before that afternoon, it was due to Netfirms. There should be no more problems of that sort now that this weblog is at a database center managed by a decent company in the USA rather than a scam operation being run in Canada by Dan Kershaw.
Before I took the plunge and finally subscribed to a hosting company with a much better reputation, I found many sites online about others sharing their bad experience(s) with Netfirms. The biggest lesson I learned from this experience is to know that if and/or whenever money (and/or pride) is involved, it is always wise to assume the worst first and then look for evidence to prove otherwise. For example, when shopping, look first for the bad reviews. In my case with considering who to use for hosting services, before considering Netfirms, I should have done an online search using the terms Netfirms sucks. Had I done that, I would have stayed far away from them.
When it comes to situations not involving money, as in my offering help to others (e.g., websites) and/or others acting like they’re interested in something about me, I will now always cautiously examine their motive(s) and test for evidence that they’re sincere before I might believe anything they tell me. Instead of being in the habit of letting others ask me questions, I will do the asking (if it seems even worth doing so).
It took me a long time to realize how much others abuse the information I share with them about myself. Blogs are very different from one-on-one conversations. I could explain how so, but I won’t. For starters, this post is long enough.
