I’m officially giving up on Windows 8.

Oh, there are things about it I enjoy.  It’s a nice platform.  But, Mr. Gates, you took my 6-year-old laptop computer that was running just fine on Windows 7 and neutered my ability to Skype on it.

No, really.  I’ve installed, uninstalled, rebooted, restarted and done everything in my bag of tricks to fix the issue.  But whenever I try to Skype, I get the modern version of the “Blue Screen of Death” that you made so famous, and my computer has to start over.  I’ve gone through the registry with a fine-tooth comb and after some Microsoft friends urged me to try and pursue help from support, I came up empty.  I tried several of the solutions given in the chats and none of them worked.

As recently as this afternoon, I fired up the laptop, tried it again and received another shutdown.  Oh, and I’ve played nicely–every time it does that, a message appears asking if I’d like to send along the damage report to the mothership and I say, “Yes.”  As a matter of fact, several dozen of those reports were sent to you from my laptop over the past couple of months.

But no worries.  I’m done.  I’m tired of trying to solve the problems  for which you offer no solution.  My solution was to go out and buy a Kindle Fire.  Problem solved.  We now get to Skype with my daughter, her husband and our granddaughter every Monday night, just like normal.

I now own an older laptop that does 95% of what it used to do, back in the pre-Windows 8 days.  The part that makes me upset the most is that YOU OWN SKYPE!  You’d think making your program co-operate with your new operating system would be a priority.  Here’s hoping you include that in your patch on the way this fall.

Tim Hunter

It ranks up there with the phrases, “All-inclusive resort” and “Winning the lotto.”

I don’t know if I’ll ever be a retiree.  Of course, the definition is ever-changing.  It used to be that you worked at one place for 30 or 40 years, they threw a party for you, gave you a watch and then you went fishing or golfing a lot.

Today, I look around at retired people that I know and they seem just as busy as when they were working.  So, if you really enjoy the work you do, why would you quit doing what you love to pick it up again?  It makes no sense.

Now, to be clear, I don’t plan to keep getting up at 4am every morning as I have for the past 10 years.  However, do remember, my 4am get-ups were a promotion from my radio days, when the alarm clock was set every morning at 2:17am.  I can’t imagine doing that again.

I believe my “retirement” will be sort of a hybrid, a modified version of the old classic, where I get up every morning and just do the things I want to do.  Staying busy keeps the mind alert.  I very much enjoy keeping my mind going at full speed.  But retirement will mean clearing out all the clutter, the things I’m doing now because they’re part of the job, but that I’d love to remove from my existence.

A day in my retirement will include a 7am or so wake up (because I do actually enjoy the morning hours), heading down to the computer to check in with the world and do some writing.  Then, heading off to a project that I want to do–a video, a movie, a script, produce a podcast, shoot a commercial, etc.  There’s a very profitable collection of things I can do. I just need to figure out the way to be able to focus on them.

And then, one day, you’ll hear that I retired.  That I’m foregoing the 40+ hour work week job to be based out of my home and to have a dozen or so projects in the air, collaborating with friends and turning all those ideas I’ve had in my head for years into reality.

Yep, that’s my dream. That’s my goal and if you follow this blog long enough, you’ll be among the first to know when that happens.

Tim Hunter

His story began with, “You want to hear something strange!”

This is the point where, at most work places, some people might start dialing up HR.  I, on the other hand, know that a good one is coming my way.  This was a really good one.

Last Friday was the one-year anniversary of the death of this co-worker’s mom.  She had a fight with cancer that turned into a monster that overtook her.  She passed away on May 10th, 2012.

At 6:28pm, the co-worker’s cell phone rang.  It was across the room, so his wife picked it up.  It continued to ring as she stared at the phone number. The iPhone identified the call as coming from his mom’s cell phone.  By the time his wife brought it over to him and he stared at the phone for  a moment, it quit ringing.

No message was left.  The co-worker has called the number several times, hoping to find out who might have accidentally called. Accidentally?  His mom’s cell phone service was turned off 10 months ago.  Sure, the number was probably put back into service and it had a new owner–but how did they get his number?   What are the odds that someone with his late mom’s cell phone number would accidentally call her son exactly one year after passing?

He still occasionally tries calling the number, just to see who is at the other end. There’s no answer, no recorded message.

Maybe we just aren’t supposed to figure everything out in this world.  But what a bizarre thing to happen on the one-year anniversary of his mom’s passing, on Mother’s Day weekend!

Just weird enough, I had to share.

Tim Hunter

Any smart Dad knows that “Mom” is the most important word in the English language.  From the moment your new baby arrives, you help them to carefully shape their mouths to form the word “mom” if not for any other reason than to make sure the kid is calling for his mother at 2am.

I’m assuming this secret practice among the fatherhood is the reason you always see signs on TV at football games, saying “Hi, mom!”  You never see “Hi Dad” unless it’s followed closely by the words, “Send money!”

Mothers deserve to have a day each year set aside to honor them.  I know, you’re thinking to yourself, “But there’s a Father’s Day, too!”  True, but they’ll outlive us and when the final score is posted, they’ll be enjoying much more honoring than I’ll ever see.

Not many people know about the origins of Mother’s Day.  It was created to set the standard for how much to spend on Father’s Day.  Just keep all your receipts, add up everything you spent on mom and simply divide by two.

The word “mother” has been misused over the years.  For example, Saddam Hussein referred to the first Gulf War as the “Mother of All Wars!”  Come on–moms don’t like wars.  They’re too messy and you could get hurt.

Then, there’s Mother Teresa.  I know for a fact that she didn’t have kids.

Without moms, none of us would be here.  They carried us around for 9 months, then suffered through childbirth all so we could make them more sleep deprived than ever before.  We’re the ones they worry about, until their final breath, while we all try to make them proud.

If your mom is still with us, honor her this Sunday. If she has passed, do something mom would have wanted you to do.

Most importantly, mom–thanks for all you have done for us!

Tim Hunter