Folks, we’ve had a bit of a site hiccup this evening with the site. I’ve notified Pylorns about it and we’ll get it fixed. In the meantime, the podcast will be reposted once these issue are fixed.

Sorry for the inconvenience, but we’ll get this nailed down as soon as we can.

Out.

One of our own today is having surgery- and not the nice, light kind of surgery that only works on, say, a knee or a finger or really bendy thumb.

We’ll post once she’s out of surgery, but to Marie we send our thoughts and hope she comes out of this with little issue.

Out.

Update: Everything came out alright, which was great to hear.

Yes, we’re alive.

We’ve had a lot of shit going on.

Sorry about the quiet of late. Don’t worry, we’re going to be writing more soon.

Out.

Like many of the writers for this site, I read the comments we receive on a regular basis (nightly, for me). I go through, and see what is said to the person who posted something for you to peruse.

Most of the time, it’s fairly commonplace to see either a comment of agreement, a snarky troll attack or some sort of disagreement in opinion. It is also unsurprising to see someone complain that we fall on one side of the political spectrum or the other.

From there, though, things get weird.

Somewhere along the way, a corporate tagline became the expectation for everyone else. Fox News has made BILLIONS on the tagline of “Fair and Balanced News.” Now, whether or not you agree with them that’s what they’ve put out there, and to their mighty benefit it’s worked out pretty well for them so far.

What gets most people riled up is the idea of commentary on their shows. O’Reilly, Hannity, Beck- these guys are commentators, a Greek Chorus of voices intended to provoke the viewing masses to one side of the argument over the other. The same can be said of folks like Olbermann and Maddow, on the opposite side of the political spectrum. Now, whether you agree with their methods and arguments or not you must note the rampant success these folks have had.

The most common complaint is over the idea that any news organization has a “slant-” some sort of ideological angle from which they promote some sort of agenda. Most people tend to forget that it is only within the past 70 years that news has shifted from a definite slant to the theoretical “fair and balanced” view- and that was done as a marketing play to get higher readership rates.

There is a place for commentary and objective news reporting on television. When done well, it succeeds in the ultimate goal- to make money.

Moving to the point of this post, I look at the work done on this site. We have a group of writers that cross the political spectrum. We don’t always (or even necessarily often) agree with each others’ opinions on a multitude of topics. However, we do share these opinions with you and with each other.

What we are is a Greek Chorus. What we are not, however, is a news organization.

We are not objective. We never have been, and never will be a truly objective source of information.

However, here’s the point to remember- we never CLAIMED to be truly objective.

Why do I bring this up? Funny you ask.

I see comments from time to time saying we’re not balanced in our presentation of our opinions or stories. We should be fair, these folks say.

Bollocks, I say.

I’ve recently come to the realization that even if I don’t agree with the point someone is making on the site, if they’re part of our writing staff I will gladly back them up as one of our own. That applies to either side of the argument. (Unless, of course, they claim something completely batshit insane like “Aliens were behind 9/11″ or “Ashton Kutcher is a good actor”- I mean, come on.) I will also actively encourage anyone to argue the merits of a position based on the argument made. If you come here and read something that you disagree with and you decide to debate the points of the discussion, that’s cool with me. I like reading spirited debate, I really do. Hell, I’ll even join in that debate from time to time.

However… if you come here and attack one of our writers with nothing but bile or petty troll maneuvering, because you can’t sack up to make an actual point? If you go after one of my peeps on Wetwired because you don’t like what they say, and attack them personally?

That’s where I have a problem.

I realize that expecting common sense on the internet is like expecting fine quality meats in a sausage. However, I will have no problem with laying a smackdown on anyone who decides to break Wil Wheaton’s cardinal rule of internet communication- “Don’t be a dick.”

So, be warned. You attack one of us, you attack all of us.

Oh, and to “Fish?” The inspiration for this post? You make a bitchy comment about someone having “daddy issues,” and be ready to get your reward in kind. I don’t like seeing my peeps get attacked, and I’ll have no problem releasing the hounds on your pathetic attempt to make yourself look cool when in actuality, you make yourself look like a dim-witted, classless, weak-spoken whiny little douchenozzle who can’t put their mind where their mouth is. Bring something other than your innate shitheadedness to the table (like say, a salient point) and I’ll think about listening.

Otherwise? Consider yourself served, asswipe.

Out.

So, I started a new schedule for The Job this week.

Normally, this wouldn’t be site news. I mean, why the hell would you care? Well, in this case it means I have my weekends off again. For the last few months, I have been working at nights on weekends and losing more and more contact with the rest of the world. Thankfully, that ended this week.

You’re probably asking though why this matters. Well, here’s the short list:

- I won’t be nearly as bitchy and clingy as I have been the last few months, now that I can socialize again. Hopefully this means I drive less of my peeps crazy.

- I can watch football again, which means I’ll have a little more stress release available to me over the course of the week. Thus, less anger in posting.

- I’ll have days off that coincide with my cohorts on the site. This means more availability for things like podcast recordings, joint efforts, etc.

So yeah, there are site benefits to something otherwise unrelated. You should see some effects coming soon- more weekend posting, new podcasts, etc. Other than that, as always- stay tuned.

Out.

It isn’t often that one receives confirmation from multiple sources in one day that an adjustment in their life needs to occur. Today, it seems, is one of those days.

Looking back, it’s easy to see with the clarity of thought one gets with perspective. I’ve always had the ability to stick foot deep into mouth, but I’ve been getting angrier with many things since coming back stateside. I’d begun to isolate myself, then did an immediate about-turn and tried being unbelievably social. Neither worked well. I’ve been upset with my job, upset with my attempts to move into a new role, upset that there’s someone I care for deeply that’s half a world away, and in general just upset with the state of things as they are.

The first mistake was allowing this anger to seep into my writing. Looking at the posts I’ve done for the past few months as well as the podcasts, I’ve noticed a decidedly different tone in my work. I’m noticeably angrier, with a worse attitude about things and people than I’d had before. The second mistake was letting it seep into the way I talk to people.

This weekend further clarified my current mental state. While I worked all weekend, I realized how unhappy I’ve been lately. It’s now begun to affect my work, which was the one thing I had going for me really well. The final straw came today- or I should say, straws.

First, there’s the post I had written about an actor I’ve never met and his personal life. Dude’s had what could be easily quantified as a shitty day and I hopped on the mocking bandwagon without skipping a beat. I was so proud of my work that I’d even submitted it to StumbleUpon. They rejected it- and rightly so, I’d add. I have since deleted the post.

The second was an email from a friend.

I had spent some time with friends in the past week, and looking back I see the signs in my behavior. I was boorish, unwielding, angry, and at times insulting in my words. In short… I was a complete asshole. We discussed hanging out during the Labor Day week, and at the time there were no signs of strife (to which I credit him for knowing when to approach me about this) but today, I received an email sayign he wouldn’t be available for the week. He then pointed out that it might be for the best, given the way I had acted before.

My friend, I’ve had a chance to do some hard thinking about this and you are right. I was being a dick, and I have the ability to see that now. I’m truly sorry for the way I acted towards you and our other friend, a genuily good guy who has been nothing but nice to me while I have acted derisively towards him.

In addition, I want to apologize to anyone else who has been upset or pissed off about the way I’ve been going about things the last couple of months.

The question, of course, is “It’s good that you see your problems, but what are you going to do about it?”

…

That’s a tough question to answer.

First, I think it’s time I dealt with the issues that have made me so angry of late. Last night, I took a really solid look at where I need to adjust matters so that I’m not as angry as I have been. It’s time to do something about them.

Second, I have to take a long, LONG look at how I communicate with people. That includes what I write on this site and what I do in the podcast. To that end, I am taking a brief sabbatical from Wetwired while I re-examine my communication choices. I want to make this clear- I am not leaving the site. I am, however, going to take the time to fix this.

Don’t take this as me giving up or changing the core part of me- I’ll always be cynical and yet oddly hopeful. I will also, however, do my damnedest to not be the guy that people sigh about disappointedly when he comes over.

I’m not going to cut myself off from people either- while I feel writing on this site is something I need to work on, I also think that speaking to people is something I need to work on which requires effort. To my friends on this site and out there, please don’t give up on me. Talk to me. Give me a call. Tell me how you think I can work on things- God knows I seem to feel I can offer advice to you, so it’s more than fair that I accept your feedback as well.

What I hope to get out of this isn’t the ability to write better. Rather, I hope to get the ability to be a better person and friend. If my work on Wetwired becomes better as a result, I’ll call that an ancillary benefit.

I’ll be back. Just not for a bit.

Out.

I suppose I should start at the beginning- after all, that’s the most logical place.

We started the podcast in April with an intent to do so on a regular basis. For a time, we met that goal. Lately, however, things have changed. There has not been a full, real podcast in a while. The last two podcasts were composed of prerecorded material rather than our usual shenanigans.

Okay, part of that is on me.

Some of you are aware of this already, but I recently began a new position at The Job. Because of that, my hours have shifted dramatically and I am no longer available at night to record the podcast. On the weekend, my hours that I am awake have changed as well and I am no longer the one with the most reliable schedule.

Admittedly, that kinda sucks.

Combine that with a period of the year that I am normally a bit more introspective than extroverted, and the fact that the three of us have lives that don’t always correlate to each other, and you can see the issue.

The question then comes up- does the Podcast continue?

The short answer is yes- but with the understanding that it will be less frequent than in times past. We will have a new podcast soon- if we have to go back to a single voice at a time, we will have one. To go along with that, that voice would not (and should not) always necessarily be mine.

I am going to put this out there for the other authors on Wetwired- if you want to record a podcast or a segment of one and send it to me for mixing, I’ll be glad to put it out there. Pylorns, Beerslinger and I enjoy the hell out of doing these, but this does not mean that ours should be the only voices representing Wetwired.

The Podcast shall return. Bank on that.

Out.