I ain’t gonna lie to you: Last year was a one of the worst year’s of my life professionally. When all your customers are either being acquired or going bankrupt, it just f-ckin’ sucks. Sure you aren’t making a dime, and your management looks at you understandingly yet you still feel like someone’s drawing a target on your back.
LAYOFFS LAYOFFS and LAYOFFS
Meanwhile, all the friends you’ve made at these customers – the folks that trust that your technology is going to help them stay afloat, the folks who’ve you’ve had drinks with and umpteen hundreds of meals with, the folks who you’ve met their spouses and kids – find themselves without jobs all because some jackass in the SEC couldn’t figure out the nation’s biggest financial scam.
And then right on cue, just as things look like they couldn’t get any worse: The company has layoffs – the first of it’s kind. You get a new manager with whom you’re totally unproven. You have a newborn baby and an aging dog all of whom need attention. And you’re still not making quota.
MEDIA FEARMONGERING = EPIC FAIL
Now as part of my job, I scour the net for news and information to stay abreast of what’s important in the industry. But if you read enough of what’s published, you begin to think the world, your job, and everything you’ve built your career around is going to hell in a handbasket. And it’s not surprising being that the media drives fear to sell advertising but even with this knowledge you can’t escape the sense of doom that they’ve created.
AND THEN THERE’S THE COMMENTS…
I won’t even go into the degenerates that actually comment on these sites. I long for the days of accountability where if someone says something that’s patently false, you can hunt them down and ‘correct’ them. The only reason there’s as much vitriol and lack of civility on the Internet these days is because these putzes have no fear of retribution. If they had any belief that some day, someone was gonna knock on their door and personally “educate” them, they’d think twice about their libelous ways.
THE FUNNY SIDE OF THE INTERNET
So that’s why I started collecting a list of sites that make me laugh uncontrollably. Something to laugh at – after all, why not harness the Internet for ‘good’? Or at least a ‘good laugh’?
- FAIL Blog: A blog of photos and videos of people… absolutely failing.
http://failblog.org/ - Hot Chicks with Douchebags: A photo collection of what else? Hot chicks with douchebags.
http://hotchickswithdouchebags.com/ - College Humor: Because at the end of the day, I spiritually never left college.
http://www.collegehumor.com/ - The Onion: Still one of the best fake newspapers ever created.
http://www.theonion.com/content/index - ICanHasCheezburger: LOLCatz are a little passé these days but these still have great markup.
http://icanhascheezburger.com/ - FOUND.COM: A collection of photos of items found lying around. Some of this is riveting.
http://www.foundmagazine.com/ - Comics Curmudgeon: Newspaper comics are for the most part, ass, so this dude makes sure it’s spelled out.
http://joshreads.com/ - Ugly Outfits of NYC: Candid photos of really ugly outfits people wear in the “city that never sleeps”
http://uglyoutfitsnyc.com/ - Passive Aggressive Notes: Again, a collection of notes that people take photographs of that are notes to people that have offended the writer.
http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/ - Photoshop Disasters: This speaks for itself and yet you can’t look away.
http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/ - Cake Wrecks: Someone has a blog of really ugly cakes. This is so obscure it’s hilarious.
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/ - RolCatz: Apparently the Russians have an Icanhazcheeseburger but when translated back to English, it’s even funnier.
http://www.rolcats.com/ - Chuck Norris Facts: Nuff said. Can’t believe this joke went viral, but I’m glad it did.
http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/ - Demotivational Photos: Mock motivational photos. Great humor, even better shots of women.
http://www.motivatedphotos.com/home.aspx?src=redir - Digg Comedy: Never a shortage of video comedy, this place is a wrecking ball of fun.
http://digg.com/videos/comedy - Holy Taco: From the folks that brought you Break.com…
http://www.holytaco.com/ - People of Walmart: I can’t believe they made a web site dedicated to this.
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
kurtsh
Kurt's Thoughts 