Kids, You Know?

I went to a meeting Tuesday night with a handful of local merchants in Cook County. We're (they're) trying to get a group together to help bolster small business revenue locally. I took Anika with me since Beth has school Tuesday nights. Anika loves my computer shop and even has a cot there to lay down on.

The mayor was at the meeting, as were the owner of the local newspaper and several other business owners (obviously). I had a hard time keeping Anika quiet and to herself as she grew bored. Once about every 150 seconds, I tried to tell her to quiet down, quit kicking the table, don't draw on that, etc. There were several other conversations going on in addition to the speaker of the meeting. Anika wasn't the only person bored enough to find other entertainment.

I had to get stern with her one more time, and turned around to listen (or act as if I was). I felt a pat on my arm and turned back to her. She was pointing directly at Mayor Barr and said aloud, "Well he needs to be quiet too!"

I love her. She's so fair.

No One

"Never underestimate the disparity between developer excitement and user apathy."
-Ted Dziuba

I was reading this article this morning and came across that line. It's a good one-liner that encompasses a lot of what I feel sometimes.

I read the tech magazines and have my cool 2600 shirts, but no one can relate. Nearly everyone I know has better things to think about, and they don't give a shit about what it is I do. That is, until they have a problem with some electronic device. But even then, they just want it fixed. They don't really care what the problem was. They ask, but they don't listen to the answer or really care for my explanation.

I like to think I know what I'm doing most of the time, and so far it's working. It's just that I'm lonely in my enthusiasm about computing. There is no one here like me.

Let Me Say This

This is in response to this little post. I'm not opposed to helping people. Yes, I'd like to pick the ones I help (who wouldn't like to know where their time and money are going?). The rich get richer and the poor get poorer because too many people think that they can't change. I'd like to imagine that if my house was flooded and everything was gone, I could make something somewhere else and get through. I wouldn't be cursing the government or the rich because I was hungry. I don't know a single wealthy person who would refuse to grant me a meal or even a night in their house. Some folks I know even have a spare house or two I could probably use.

As a small business owner, how am I to respond to that article? I am certainly toward the bottom of that pyramid mentioned, but I like to think I make good decisions based on what I know. It's only my fault that I am where I am, whether I'm at the top or the bottom. Should I make more money and hire someone to pay, or should I just try to make rich people poorer to equalize the social status in my region? I don't get it. What is the purpose of starting my own business if it is so wrong to build wealth and pay poor people to work for me? I probably couldn't find any wealthy people to sit in my shop - I'd rather pay someone who needs the money and wants the experience.

This is all difficult to explain, but I just don't get the point of the article. Maybe it doesn't make a point. It offers no solution. How am I to respond?

How I'm Gonna Feel