With the passing of Labor Day in the United States, the Summer season has ended in all but name. (That comes in a few weeks, when the weatherman on the TV proclaims that Fall arrives.) Public and private schools at all levels are back in session, Summer seasonal business are either shutting down or changing over to Fall business activities, and the major Summer events are all over now. (Well, the Minnesota Renaissance Festival is still ongoing until the end of the month, but I haven't been out there in 15 years. Not that I expect much other than the site itself to be different.)
All of the major gaming conventions are over. All of the major fan conventions are over, with Dragon Con being the bookend. What we have now is the lull before the brief blip of Halloween and the launch of Holiday Oscar Bait Season (and the family-friendly holiday blockbusters). The next Thor movie and the next Star Wars film come out in November and December (respectively). There's nothing but fail on television anymore, so that's not even a concern.
In short, for a lot of us it's the Dull Time. This is the time to clear out the backlog of books to read, games to play, stuff to watch, etc. that we didn't get to previously. It's also time to review what's gone by, see what worked, see what didn't, and make changes accordingly to improve performance going forward. The transition in preparation for Winter is a perfect opportunity to wind down major operations, assess results, and prepare for the next big launch (traditionally in the Spring).
In short, take this time to breathe.
This month is the end of the blogging year for me. I launched this blog--and my daily blogging habit--on October 1st of 2015, days before my birthday--and this natural turn of seasons ties well into my own annual end-of-year wind-down. I'll take my own advice, look back on the year's performance, and see where I can make improvements going into Year Three.
I know that, soon, I'm going to need to ask for help. Some of the things privately inquired about can't be done with the seven-year-old laptop I currently use for all my computing needs. I don't need a $5K beast like Totalbiscuit does, but for some of the things I'm looking at doing (e.g. livestreaming at Twitch) I will need more than this potato; something like this is what I think I need (I could be wrong.) and will last for five or six years. (Side note: Anyone wanting me to play PS4 or Switch stuff with them, go here or here and call it a birthday gift.)
I'll follow this up next week with more concrete details. Throw any suggestions in the Comments below.
I spend more time on my Mac, but build win and *nux machines on the side for fun and configure a lot of servers.
ReplyDeleteIf you have any questions, hit me up. I may not know the app requirements, but I can help you make sure you get the best bang for the buck in a CPU/etc.