Has anything of interest happened to you recently?

Is it weird that I now want to touch your head?

Not in the least. In fact, all of my coworkers (all obviously not black) were just crowding around and poking my hair in astonishment.

they couldn't understand.

Probably not interesting to most, and not the least bit happy, either, so skip this if you don't want your mood ruined.

Finally had my faith in humanity completely, irrevocably shattered for the last time, ever. I'm actually fine with this.

This did not ruin my mood.

Hmm, looks like I'm not trying hard enough, then.

People.

Still all sparkles, butterflies, and rainbows over here.

I suggest reading some Cormac McCarthy to brighten your mood -- a quick readthrough of Blood Meridian will help with your perception of the human race.

Books are a bit too time consuming if you're looking for a quick pick-me-up... I'd suggest watching a couple Lars von Trier movies back to back if you're looking for a faster way to raise your spirits.

Viewings of Dancer in the Dark, or even the thrilling Antichrist are sure to leave one jubilant.

I've already read No Country for Old Men. Bright and cheery, that. Somehow, I think Blood Meridian will only reinforce my view of the human race if it's anything like NCfOM.

Don't have a TV.

If you need an emergency infusion of chipper, movies take too long -- music is a good fix in a pinch. Try some Swans:

No Country for Old Men was just a one-off, a fluke. Don't judge his whole catalog off that one book. Although Blood Merridian is a solid story, if you're looking for a good inspirational read I'd recommend The Road, by the same author. It's a solid piece about a father and son as they adventure across the American landscape, and a thought provoking examination of the people and situations they find along the way. It even ends on a high note, with the son finding a girl he may very well call Wife some day.

The only real drawback is it's a bit heavy on the deus ex machina in parts, but I wouldn't let that hold you back. Now I've gone tempted myself to read it again.

You don't need a TV, you have a computer.

The best thing about that song is how relevant it is to Lunar.

If you're into lunar cycles you may like Converge's latest album cover. This is from their feel-good hit, "All We Love We Leave Behind."

I'm basking in the presence of two true masters of the artform. Well done guys.

I got PV solar panels installed. Unfortunately I also got the inverter that has a Bluetooth connection and a data logger built in and well... Look at my insanity : http://pvoutput.org/list.jsp?p=0&id=16187&sid=14000&gs=0&v=1&s=1

You're trying to cheer me up?

I think you missed the part when I said I was fine with having my faith in humanity shattered.

Best. Synopsis. Ever.

Kerzain's on a roll.

Had an eye exam this weekend, since it's been about 2.5 years and my left eye vision has noticeably declined. The last time I had an eye exam, the doctor couldn't quite dial in a perfect correction for my left eye, and suggested I see a specialist. I lost insurance (and my job) before I could see the specialist, and as I couldn't afford the cost (IIRC, I was quoted anywhere from $300 to $600), I kind of forgot about the whole thing. At the new place I went to this time, the optometrist was both friendlier and more thorough, and realized that my left eye vision was actually slightly better without my glasses than with. Further examination revealed that, while my right eye is pretty normal, if nearsighted, my left eye has some serious astigmatism going on, and the last doc may or may not have totally missed the diagnosis, depending on how bad it was back then and how much worse it's gotten since. In fact, that whole specialist talk was totally unnecessary, and my new glasses should be ready in a week or so. The next day, I found out it's probably genetic, as my mother has a sorta-normal nearsighted right eye but severe astigmatism in her left eye. Too bad I can't get a crazy steampunk monocle thing for my left eye, all Mad-Eye Moody style.

Why not ?

Bank of America sent me a huge escrow refund check. CHRISTMAS IS SAVED GUYS!

It's a big "NO DOLLAR AND 01 CENTS"

Why the fuck did they even bother. It probably cost more than that to print and mail this "check"

This is actually a really good idea. It drives me up the wall every time I write a check to somebody and they wait weeks or months to cash the damn thing. Nothing bugs me more than constantly seeing that sort of persistent imbalance in my accounts, and I think it would be a great idea to inflict this same brand of domestic terror on BofA.

I'm having one of those moments where I need my wife to scratch my head and pet me and tell me everything is going to be OK but she's asleep and I can't even talk to her about this because it'll freak her out more than me.

I fucked up and overextended myself on a mid-range project by asking for too little on a down payment. Now I'm flush out of operating funds, still 14 days away from being able to collect the remainder, and can't pay myself my goddamned salary.

I've got clients who owe me money who I don't have time to get ahold of. I've got more work coming in than I can handle and past clients that are falling between the cracks because I'm so damn busy struggling to keep up with it, and yet on paper my growth is stagnant. I've got a backlog of paperwork building again and I freak out everytime my phone rings because I'm afraid it's going to be someone wanting me to do something that I can't fit into my schedule.

Every day there are more things on my to do list than the day before and I don't know how I'm every going to get caught up.
Last night I added 4 hours of work to my evening because of a shitty 10 second decision.
I spent about 10 times longer on my secret santa present than I thought it would take and I don't even know if the guy is going to like it.

I normally sleep like a baby but tonite my mind is racing and I'm scared for the first time in a long time about everything and I can't even talk to anyone about it so I'm just going to rant impotently here and try and fight the urge to cry and drink more.

*hugs you*

Have you considered asking your wife to help you with the nagging customers to pay you the money they owe?

She's worse with confrontation than I am, and besides, she doesn't work for me, so it's not in her job description.

She's your wife. Helping you surface for air might not be in her job description, but it's still in her rationalist-selfish best interests, because she has to live with you. ;)

What if I shield her from this to keep her above water? :/

Then I hope you have friends who can be your moral support, and give you encouragement and possibly-bad advice about how to cope with your situation.

;)

You could possibly try hiring someone part-time, a local college student maybe, to do your bill collection for you? Give 'em a (small, obviously) cut of past-due payments that they get collected? Grad students are notoriously broke and desperate for things they can do for money with which to buy food that is not ramen.

(I don't know anything about Ferndale, MI. It's, uh, part of Detroit? There are totally universities in Detroit.)

I have a part-time employee, my problem is not having enough time to assign him work to do. I could put him to work for 40 hours a week if I had my shit together.

I am a fucking shitty business owner.

I think you should both combine what confrontational abilities you have! C:
Have one person type something out/write something out (while screaming against doing it, if necessary -- I understand that might need to be a thing) and the other person hit the send button/read from the paper without really thinking about what they're doing.

Work together, you can do it, I believe in you.

That sounds like your biggest need, then. I recommend, knowing absolutely nothing about your situation, your work, etc, that you take a day off of "actual" work and put together all of the tasks for your employee. Then he will make money roll in and you will have enough money to finish your projects!

That's probably better than doing the pay stuff yourself, right?

It's a balancing act. My working philosophy was that if a client stiff me it was probably less work to go out and do another x amount of work then spend x amount of hours hoping to collect on past work.

So I have a bunch of people who owe me money and in order to pay the bills I keep on taking on more billable work. To the point where I don't have time to do paperwork, queue things up, do "businessy" things, or make enough money to not be in a situation like this.

If anyone tells you being a small business owner is freedom, punch them in the kidney. It's a job like any other, with shittier pay, crappier hours, no benefits, and a boss who's a fucking asshole.

I just spent the last hour that I should've spent sleeping combing over my accounts receivable and finding out who I need to harass for money tomorrow, so I'll be miserable and sleep deprived but not without some semblance of a plan.

Yay?

FML.

You've got a minion/henchperson. Use your minion! Collecting on past work is minion work unless it's the value is more than one month's rent. It's almost certainly worth your time to take a few hours to collate the information for people who owe you money and set your henchperson loose on them, especially if you don't pay hourly (in which case, five minutes to collate an obstreperous client's information, minion might spend ten hours getting the money, still gets paid the same amount as a five-minute collection call).

Yeah, in theory. My biggest problem is that it's not in his job description either, and I feel shitty enough having him do any tasks outside of the stuff that we talked about when I hired him. I think about every time my wife or I got shafted with stupid bullshit at our past jobs and I can't bring myself to be one of those assholes who keeps throwing stuff on someone's plate when that wasn't what they signed up for.

Like I said, I'm a shitty businessperson. :(

Fuck I'm gonna go pass out now. Thanks for the back and forth, it kept me from freaking out more.

Gnite man. I hope you feel better in the morning, and good fortune in your righting the imbalance!

Welp, it looks like these knee problems aren't going away any time soon.

My mother keeps blabbing about it to everyone she knows (because obviously my business is everyone's business. even people i don't know) and she's reported that everyone is telling her that I need to sue. I understand the logic behind it; my workplace did something that made it so now I can't stand for too long or else my knees will ache like fuck when I finally have a chance to rest. But it's like...I don't know if I actually should?
I'm afraid that it will somehow backfire and I will be burned at the stake or something.

It's not like Universal has no money and would go bankrupt, but I am just kind of really afraid to do it for reasons that others pointed out in some other thread, I don't remember which. But it kinda boiled down to "they would have to ruin others' lives to pay you off" or something like that.
i just want my knees to work again that's all that's all.

You can make it work, RyanMM. Good luck (you don't need it though!).

Sorry I don't have any biz advice or knowledge of your business, but hey, if people owe you money? Get that shit.

RyanMM, have you looked into a virtual assistant to do billing work by the hour? Not sure how the cost would work out in your case.