January 22nd, 2010
So here’s my first post of 2010, and my first post in about six months. This site has existed in one way or another since June 2002, and it’s never really been updated consistently. If you were to look back at previous incarnations of robmaeder.com, you’ll see a lot of “updates coming soon” style messages, and very little actual content. After contemplating the issue for a while, I think I’ve figured out why.
Firstly, I’m not really that motivated to post things with any sort of regularity. I am not trying to be a “blogger”, necessarily. I just like the idea of having a place on the web to post whatever I want. Usually, when I’m inspired to actually write something, it’s about a subject I know a lot about or am very interested in, or some event that recently occurred. I also tend to post things that I think others will be interested in, or will find interesting or amusing in some way.
The other thing is taking the time to actually sit down and type something out. I have notebooks and papers full of ideas, but I don’t often do anything with them. If I stop and think about it, it really doesn’t take too long to type out a few paragraphs. Although in my case, I usually spend a lot of time doing it, treating it like a high school essay, rather than the informal blog post that it is. I really don’t need to do several drafts of something that few people are going to read. Especially since I’m not getting marks or money for it…
To be honest, two things recently inspired me to even write this up. The first is my friend’s girlfriend telling me robmaeder.com is her new homepage. Whether or not that’s actually true doesn’t matter, but the fact is that I have this site up here on the Internet for everyone to see, and I’m not doing anything with it. If it’s just going to sit here idle, I might as well shut it down.
The other ‘recently inspiring event’ is I just finished helping my brother Chris set up his new website, chrismaeder.ca. He’s convinced the Internet is the key to riches, and I’m starting to think he might be onto something. If he’s going to be 2010’s hottest new blogger, I figure I should try to keep up.
I’m not going to make some outrageous promises that I’m going to post every day, or even on any sort of regular schedule. But if I’m going to keep robmaeder.com alive, I’m going to have to post at least a couple times a month.
July 23rd, 2009
Up until a few months ago, I was running SquirrelMail on my own server to handle all of my email. I have been using SquirrelMail since way back in 2004, and I always liked the simple interface. Over time, the spam situation got worse and worse, and I got fed up trying to get Spam Assassin or any other filtering software to help decrease the amount of spam that was getting to my inbox. It got so bad that I was routinely getting hundreds of spam and especially backscatter messages coming to my inbox every day. My email basically became unusable because of this.
Eventually, I realized there was no point trying to play server administrator, because the hassles just weren’t worth my time. So back in April, I moved my email hosting to Google Apps. It’s free for personal use, and was fairly easy to get set up. Now all of my robmaeder.com email goes through Google’s servers, which do an incredible job of spam filtering. All my email is read through GMail, which is so much better and easier to use than any other web-based mail software I’ve tried.
Since making the switch, I can recall only seeing 3 or 4 spam messages actually reach my inbox. My spam folder currently has 27,931 emails in it from the past 30 days. That’s getting close to 1000 spams per day. I highly recommend Google Apps for this sort of thing. It’s way easier than rolling your own, and you don’t have to worry about updating software regularly, since it’s all taken care of for you. Thanks to Google, my email is now usable again.
July 15th, 2009
Yesterday I was putting out my garbage at about 6:30pm when a lady showed up at my house carrying a large basket full of goodies. She was from the Welcome Wagon, which is a company that offers a free “greeting service” to new residents in various communities.
She gave me a bunch of pamphlets and information about Oshawa, coupons for discounts and free offers from local businesses, and some free samples as well. Check it out:
I got a free sample from Mary Kay, a coupon for $10 worth of business services at the UPS Store, a bunch of random coupons, a toothbrush, popcorn, some pens, fridge magnets, a diaper, and a six week old copy of the Oshawa Express newspaper.
The Welcome Wagon has been around since 1930, and does visits for other “lifestyle events” such as brides-to-be, new grandparents and expecting a new baby. It’s basically a way for local businesses to advertise to you, but it is pretty neat, and I did get some interesting and useful things out of it.
June 15th, 2009
So I’ve been in my house for just over three months now, and I’m loving it. I’ve learned a lot about being a homeowner, living alone, paying bills, dealing with neighbours, and I’ve also learned a lot about myself.
For me, owning a home is a lot different than renting or living with your parents. I really notice the little things, like how messy the house gets, repairs that need to be done, and general upkeep that houses require to stay in good condition. I now understand the whole “pride of ownership” thing, because I am the sole person responsible for everything in my house. Even though I live alone, I sometimes find it difficult to keep the place clean. Just a couple of lazy days leads to dishes piling up, floors that need sweeping and vacuuming, and bathrooms that need washing. Plus there’s lawn maintenance, houseplants to be watered and of course, bills to be paid.
It’s been a real learning experience so far. I really enjoy the freedom of living on my own, in my own house. I don’t have to worry about following any rules or how my actions will affect anyone else, since there isn’t anyone else there. If I want to keep my bikes in my family room, I can and nobody will tell me to move them. If I want to play my music loud, I can (as long as it isn’t so loud that the neighbours can hear it, but that’s another story). If I want to cook or do laundry at 3am, nobody is going to object. Plus I can pee with the bathroom door open.
I was recently asked what my favourite thing about living on my own is, and my answer was the freedom. It’s not like I was really oppressed or lacked freedom before, but now I notice all the little things. I can do whatever I want, and I love it.
June 11th, 2009
Yesterday I had my six month checkup after having LASIK eye surgery done back in December. Everything checked out very well, and I am very happy with the results. My eyesight is slightly better than 20/20, and I am totally enjoying the freedom of not having to wear and worry about glasses.
There are a couple of small side effects that I am dealing with. I find that my eyes get dry sometimes, and I’m a bit more sensitive to light than I remember being before the surgery. Dryness is easily remedied with a couple of eye drops. At most, I’ve had to put in eye drops two or three times a day, which is tolerable and not a big deal to me. Most days I don’t have any issues, but if I’m tired or working on the computer for an extended period without taking a break, I notice the dry eyes gets worse.
As for light sensitivity, I’ve noticed sunlight seems excessively bright at times, and I have to squint when I’m outdoors as a result. I wear sunglasses a lot when I’m out on a sunny day, or when driving, but I think it’s a good idea for most people to wear sunglasses anyway, to protect one’s eyes from UV rays. Plus, I got to pick out some stylish sunglasses for the first time in my life, instead of wearing those geeky clip-on shades that go over your regular glasses.
Overall, I’m very happy with the results of my LASIK procedure. If I knew it would be this good, I would have done it years ago.
