Chris Meller

You know, a lot of times people have wondered and asked why I like it so much at night. I’ve always loved staying up late and sleeping the entire day away, but I’ve never really been able to explain it until recently.

Right now I just got up off my bed after finishing a movie. As I look out the open bedroom window next to my bed, everything is incredibly quiet and impossibly still. A soft drizzle slowly washes away the day, and the entire world seems to stop just for a moment as I stare at the trees that blow gently in the breeze.

At 2am you don’t have many of the problems you have during the day. Life moves a little slower. There are no traffic jams, no phones ringing off the hook. Everything is just more peaceful…

And this is why I love the cloak of darkness…

You guys probably remember me talking about my friend from work (Michael, BTW) quitting to go work for Halliburton in Baghdad. If not, it’s not really important to the contents of this story.

He emailed me last week, asking if I could run by CompUSA and pick up an external USB hard drive and ship it to him, since they wouldn’t ship directly to an address that was not on file with Bank of America as his billing address. Seemed simple enough, sure I’ll do it for ya man.

So a few days later, I run by CompUSA with two of the other guys I work with, and pick out a good deal on an external drive. We get back to work, I find a box and even some of those air-filled plastic things they pack stuff in, and head back to our mail room to try and mail it. The lady in the mail room tries UPS, but they don’t do APOs (which really makes sense if you think about it. I mean, why would they?). Next up is the US Postal Service. We trod over to the scale to figure out the pricing, and as luck would have it, it’s about a pound too heavy for regular shipping. Welp, looks like I’m off to the Post Office to have them do it. Needless to say, this isn’t looking to be a promising experience.

So I drive over to the post office, which is really only about 2 blocks away from work (hey, they’re big blocks…). I trudge inside, and there are only about 2 people in line in front of me. I’m quickly called to the front, where I show the guy the box I want to ship and point to the address on the front. He sees the APO and gives me a customs declaration form to fill out and tells me there should be a pen at the end of the counter I can use. I go fill out the form, which is a little difficult, since he doesn’t tell me how to classify the APO information (is APO the city??), and go get back at the end of the line. He finishes up with his current person, and calls me back up, since I was already in line. I happily skip back up to him, glancing at all the losers still stuck in line.

It was one of those odd moments in life, where you feel like you’re better than everyone else all of a sudden. You have been chosen, and from the back of the line no less. All other normal losers are still standing there, wondering what happened and why you’re special enough to skip ahead of them.

Oh, sorry, back to the story… So I go back up to the desk, hand him the form and tell him I hope I filled everything out correctly, that I didn’t know how to fill in the APO address. He looks at it and says that’ll be fine and starts fixing up the package. Tape on the copy of the customs declaration, followed by asking me what type of shipping and insurance I needed, and the printing of the actual mailing label. The entire process took about 10 minutes, and the final cost was just over $10. Not only that, but the entire experience at the Post Office was almost downright enjoyable. The teller was incredibly nice and helpful, and the wait was virtually nonexistent. I would definitely recommend them to a friend… As if there were an alternative…

I went to Cracker Barrel with my mom for lunch today. Yeah, I know it’s lame, but really, how can I pass up a free lunch, much less one there? Besides, it’s a good opportunity for us to talk about work and such without risking getting in trouble for bashing people.

After lunch, I came back, grabbed Matt, and we went to get coffee. While at Liquid Highway, cutie was working the register, and as she handed us the drinks, I asked her when she got engaged. She said it would be a month ago in two more days, but they wouldn’t actually get married for another year. I made a side remark that there was still time, and we all laughed as Matt and I left.

So am I really wrong for secretly hoping that their engagement won’t work out? Is that so horrible of me? I mean, it’s not like I really know either of them, nor that I’d actually go out of my way to intentionally sabotage their relationship, but merely that I wish I could have slid into the picture a few months or a year ago instead.

You know, I went out to lunch with my mom and her assistant manager the other day too. We went through Liquid Highway so I could get coffee afterwards, and again cutie was working the register. As we pulled away, she saw me through the open back window and said to have a good weekend. My mom and her friend both said that I should start asking these girls out. That’s when I told them that she was already engaged. My mom’s friend surprised us both by telling us that it doesn’t really mean anything.

Apparently, she was engaged to a soldier who’d been deployed in Vietnam when she first met the man that is now her husband. She says that as soon as she saw his blue eyes and those rolled up sleeves, she knew he was the one and pulled off her engagement ring.

So this really got me thinking (fantasizing really seems like such a derogatory and perverted word, doesn’t it?). Oh, the possibilities, but who was I kidding? The chances of me finding any way to see her away from Liquid Highway in the 2 minute span we’re at the window are virtually zilch.

Ahh, but it is nice to dream, isn’t it?

OK, I know Michael Earls got a link from Scoble a while back for saying he’s unsubscribing from Scoble’s blog. I want to assure you, this is not my intent here. I don’t care if Scoble links to me or not, and you’ll soon find out why.

So why am I tired of reading the mighty Scoble’s blog? Well, here’s a couple reasons…

As Earls points out, Scoble publishes a LOT. Don’t get me wrong, I love popular and highly active blogs. It gives me something to read all day while I’m at work (I mean, what else am I gonna do?). The problem comes when we work into our second point…

Where’s the original content in all these entries? 90% of the time (if not more), every entry Scoble publishes is essentially a link to someone else’s blog or a new story he found of interest (generally through someone else’s blog too). Occasionally he says he’s going to do something on Channel 9 about it, or that he already has, but that’s about it. I’m sorry, but he’s one of the most popular independent bloggers around. Add on top of that the fact that he works at the largest company in the world, and I come to expect more original content from the man.

Give us the nitty gritty of life at Microsoft. Give us some inside info. Give us some meat and potatoes with all this fluff!

The last real original content I read on Scoble’s blog was relating to Steve Ballmer’s memo, and that was last week! Now look at all the crap I have to sift through to get to that small piece of original content. Honestly, it’s not really worth it anymore to deal with 20-30 new entries a day if I actually read one of them every other day.

And that’s really my point. I have no intention of unsubscribing from Scoble’s feed (yet). I want to implore him to make a change: Start posting fewer entries with more real Scoble in them, rather than simply rehashing info from other blogs / sites. That’s what I want to read, and I imagine many other readers would appreciate it as well. I can go subscribe to everyone in your massive blogroll myself and read what they’ve posted. I subscribe to YOUR feed for YOUR content, not theirs.

Come on Scoble, I know you’ve got more to say! Let’s hear it!

Everybody remember Tom from Webfeed Central? Yeah, remember that guy who was my first trackback (even if it was because of my own trackback to him)? Welp, looks like they’ve finally caught him!

Seems the IRS doesn’t believe Tom’s son is… well, his son. I don’t know, Tom… You don’t really look Hispanic, but I’m sure he got it all from his mother’s side, right? Don’t worry, when they come for you in the night with the dogs, I won’t tell them about the Cuban family you smuggled in, I promise!