Learning to Love Spam
This article was originally published a few years ago as a guest column in the Edwardsville Intelligencer’s “Edge” weekend insert.
Like this, but digital.
What’s the big deal with spam?
I’m referring to the unwanted email, mind you, not the highly dubious canned meat product (it deserves an entire column to itself).
Sure, spam clogs up our inboxes. Yes, we waste many minutes of precious surfing time deleting undesired messages and appending mail filters. And, technically speaking, this electronic junk mail absorbs precious bandwidth and slows the entire internet down. But what about the positive side of spam?
Everyday, I’m gratified to open my email and discover 15-35 unsolicited expressions of hope and reassurance. My future sure looks brighter now that I can eliminate my credit card debt, increase my ability to please my lady and start a great career working from home. Those email subject lines inform me that I can get brand name software cheap, cleanse my colon and receive a complimentary gift, all without leaving my keyboard. Now that’s a pep talk!
Read MoreWhere have I been?
Originally Posted to Blogger – Wednesday, March 28, 2007
I’ve been an absentee friend lately, a non-blogger, a work-a-holic. You might have wondered, “where’s that Adron guy been?”. Or maybe not. Maybe you were too busy to notice. I understand completely.
I’m always busy – that’s just a fact of my life. My close friends know I am driven and obsessed with my ambitions and projects, and sometimes undone by them. My wife always says I’m a work-a-holic, and that’s been true these past few weeks, since work is about all I’ve done.
Read MoreCarbon Leaf; Blog on Blog action; NYC trip
Originally Posted to Blogger – Monday, February 19, 2007
Another fantastic show from Carbon Leaf. Last Friday, a small contingent of Armadians attended the CL headlining show at the Blueberry Hill Duck Room. It was the band’s first sold-out St. Louis show, which they were obviously excited about. Somebody offered Doug a hundred bucks for his ticket (which he turned down). The concert was incredible, an absolutely revelatory performance. Carbon Leaf is my favorite band. Wen and I have seen them live four times now. This show was my favorite so far. Interesting show highlight: they began their encore by going completely unplugged. No mics, no amps, just the band (sans drums) projecting “Learn to Fly” to a packed room struggling to remain silent. Other highlights – friggin’ everything.
Read MoreUnderground: Week 4 and some change
Originally Posted to Blogger – Sunday, February 04, 2007
My January underground wrapped up this week without a great deal of creative activity. I had a couple of nights of decent productivity, but I’m still having trouble staying awake at the keyboard past 10:00pm.
I have been toying with something new on my lunch breaks at Starbucks. I think it spawned as a result of my reading “The Cthulhu Mythos” by August Derleth, and feeling like I could do better. Derleth was a contemporary of H.P. Lovecraft (kind of the Stan Lee of horror, for the uninitiated), and took up his mythos after Lovecraft died. I’ve owned this story collection for years (I went through a big Cthulhu phase in early college), but just now got around to Derleth’s work. And, no sir, I don’t like it.
Read MoreUnderground: Week 2 & 3
Originally Posted to Blogger – Monday, January 22, 2007
My “underground” month continues, though the last two weeks without the benefit of being on vacation. I’ve learned an important lesson in these 14 days: I am not one of those “write my best stuff at 2:00am” nocturnal writers. I am way more productive in the typical 9-to-5, probably as a side effect of working that for years.
Now that I’m back in my daily work routine, I’ve generally been fitting an hour or two in a night, between 8:00pm and midnight. My productivity has gone way down, which was to be expected, but I’ve been rather caught off guard by my penchant for falling asleep at the keyboard around 10:45. (Cory and Amy will have a laugh at that because, as they know, if casual conversation around the house goes that late, I tend to fall asleep on the couch or, sometimes, the floor.)
Despite all that, I’ve gotten some work done.
Read MoreUnderground: Week One
Originally Posted to Blogger – Monday, January 08, 2007
My week’s vacation from work is over and the first quarter of my January “underground” is done.
Late in ’06, I decided to get my creative projects in gear by taking January and throwing myself headlong into the process, swearing off my social life and cuddling up to my new laptop. I burned a handful of vacation days so that I could take the first week of the month off. My plan was to spend about 2/3 of my time writing and the other third working on my music demo.
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