Book Review – Mommy Why is There a Server in the House? (Guest Post)
Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?
by Tom O’Connor, Ph.D.
Review by: Maya Din
My daddy takes a lot of business trips – sometimes he goes away for weeks and other times he takes short trips. I always love it when he goes away and comes back with neat presents. Once he brought me a plastic yo-yo with “VMware” emblazoned on it. Another time, he brought home this really cool whistle that someone named “HP” gave him. First my mom would only let me blow the whistle in my bedroom with the door closed, but then the whistle disappeared! I looked everywhere but couldn’t find it. My mom says she has no idea where it went. I’m not sure I believe her though because she wouldn’t look at me when she said that.
Another time, my daddy went up to Seattle to visit a guy named Bill. My mom said that since this Bill person has more money than God she expected some better swag than this silly book. But I love all the cool things my dad brings me back and I think this book is pretty funny.
Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House is a story about a “stay-at-home” server. The book says that most big people have servers at their office (just in case you don’t know, an office is boring place where big people go to do boring things and say bad words) and not usually at home. But when a daddy loves a mommy a whole lot he gives her a home server as a gift. I was confused when I read this because my mom said that if my dad ever bought her a server as a gift he’d have to find another place to live. My dad just shook his head and said my mom is high-maintenance.
Anyway, the book says that a dad can easily install the server himself and once he does, all the computers in the house will be connected and you can share things like pictures, music, and files. The funny thing is that my daddy couldn’t set our server up. It took a whole team of people and they had tools and ladders and tons of cables. (I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want anyone to know he couldn’t install the server by himself so please don’t tell anyone.)
My favorite part of the book was when the doggy went potty on the computer and it blew up!
I think anything to do with potty is pretty funny. Lucky for the doggy the stay-at-home server was backing things up so no files were lost. Otherwise he would have been in BIG trouble.
The book says that some people think servers should only be in an office so sometimes kids might make fun of you for having one at home!
Kids are mean. But that’s just because they are jealous and they wish their daddies would buy them a stay-at-home server so they too could have a giant black box in the laundry room with tons of blinking lights.
I’m sure that you wish you could have a copy of this great book. Guess what? You can! Even if your daddy isn’t friends with Bill and Melinda you can pay $5.95 plus shipping and buy this from amazon.com. My mom couldn’t believe it either. You should order them fast though because I’m sure this book will probably sell out soon.
Well I hope you liked my second book review. I have to go now…I’m going to go push some buttons on our stay-at-home server, just to get some attention. It makes my daddy real mad but surprisingly, my mom just thinks its funny.
See you next time!
P.S. I received no promotional consideration from Microsoft for this review.
Kudos
I woke up this morning feeling like I needed to give kudos to Ali. Yes, you read that right. Kudos. To Ali. The thing is, I rarely give Ali any credit, not because he doesn’t deserve it, but more because I have issues conceding anything. To him or to really anyone for that matter. I’d like to thank my father for this wonderful trait. Trying to get a compliment or a “you were right” from my dad is more impossible than justifying $7.99 for overrated almond butter. As you can see I also have issues letting things go. So as I add both of these unpleasant characteristics to my mile long list of things I need to work on, allow me to take a minute to give Ali some much deserved recognition.
Yesterday around lunchtime Ali called to tell me he would be working late and wouldn’t be home for dinner. I didn’t hear from him again until after dinner when he called to tell me that his 1 day old car wouldn’t start and thus he was stuck at his office. A few seconds after that our call dropped so I didn’t get the rest of the story until later, but luckily he found someone to drop him to his dad’s place (another 30-40 minutes in the wrong direction) so he could once again borrow a car. Then Ali had to drive another 30 miles back home and when he finally got home it was after 9pm.
So here is the amazing thing: despite a long day at work, an unexpected work dinner, and a brand new car that wouldn’t start, I never once heard Ali curse, get frustrated or upset, or even raise his voice. Instead, he came home and thanked me for being understanding and “saying the right things” to make him feel better. Then he proceeded to make himself a cup of tea, became re-acquainted with his second wife (laptop), and started checking emails as if it were just another day in the neighborhood.
This morning was no different. Ali avoided the gym like the plague, got dressed for work, patiently waited on hold with Roadside Assistance, and then with no mention of his predicament, he jumped in his borrowed car and drove off like it was any other normal day.
I tried to imagine how I would have reacted if my new car stopped working after one day. Considering that I dropped a few F-Bombs last night when our call got disconnected, and I ranted and raved to absolutely nobody about how much I detest AT&T, their service, their customer service, and their billing methods, you can imagine how much worse things would have been if I found myself in Ali’s shoes. I imagine that in five seconds flat I would be on a 5-way-call with the salesperson that sold me the car, his manager, the fleet manager, the owner of the dealership, and my attorney. I’d also have AAA on the other line and I’d be typing the words “lemon law” into Google. I’d be cursing up a storm and then I’d come home and take it out on Ali and Maya. Because as wrong as it is, that is how I operate.
I really want to learn a lesson from this. I want to be calm and cool. I want to stop being demanding and angry with people. I want to roll with the punches. I want to stop cursing like a sailor. I want to do all these things, and more. But it’s never going to happen. Why? Because as I write this my blood pressure is shooting through the roof as I imagine all the things I want to say to AT&T about our dropped call yesterday. Yes, I am still annoyed about a dropped call! I want to tell them how my calls have been dropping for years on the same stretch of the 405. I want to demand answers for why they haven’t addressed this problem. I want heads to roll and responsible parties to take accountability. I want revenge.
Clearly I’ve learned nothing from this experience. But kudos to you Ali for having the patience of a saint and for making the world a better place, one dead battery at a time.
Things that are Overrated
Because I care about ridiculous things like the “principle of the matter” I usually refuse to succumb to hype. For example, I remember when H&M was finally opening in Los Angeles and people were waiting in line for days to be the first one in the store. Why? While I’m sure H&M carries some great stuff all it really is is a glorified Forever 21. So why the big deal? I was so bothered by the hype that I resolved not to step foot in H&M and I haven’t.
Remember Pinkberry’s five minutes of fame? Was it a year or two ago that the craze was in full effect and people were lined up for 45 minutes to buy frozen yogurt? The day I saw people camped out on a sidewalk waiting for the store near me to open, I decided there and then that I would NOT eat at Pinkberry. Since when was frozen powdered milk topped with berries a novel concept worth spending half your day in line for?
I wish I could say that I stick to my principles 100% of the time, but I have had a few weak moments. Moments that I am not proud of. Some of which are as follows:
1. Barney Butter is overrated.
After hearing how delicious Barney Butter is I finally jumped on the bandwagon and bought some from Whole Foods. I’ve read so many reviews about how great this stuff is that I expected Barney Butter to be the next best thing since Nutella. Or at the very least, I expected it to taste like almonds. Instead, I paid $7.99 for a jar of bland almond butter that tastes like a less-good version of Trader Joe’s brand, except with added sugar and palm oil. And a stupid name that conjures up visions of a purple dinosaur.
2. Rock & Republic jeans are overrated.
After stalking this pair of Rock & Republic jeans for months, I finally took my birthday money and bought them. They fit perfect! I also fell in love with the back pockets. The first day I wore them things started off well…I put them on and they looked great. But little did I know that they would stretch more and more as the day progressed and by the afternoon I would be hiking them up every few minutes. Classy, right? Now I have to spend more money to have these altered so that my size 28 stays a size 28!
I need to learn to stop messing with what works – Paige jeans are cheaper than these, fit me the best, last forever, and are worth every penny.
3. Jake the Bachelor is overrated.
I’m not even sure where to start on this one. I’ll give Jake the fact that he is semi-attractive and has good hair. Plus the fact that he is a pilot gives him a uniqueness and respectability. But the guy cries every 5 minutes, his clothing choices are kind of random, and he thinks he can channel Tom Cruise in Top Gun and get away with it. If anyone can look past all that and Jake’s cheese ball nature, the fact that he finds Vienna even the slightest bit attractive? A deal breaker for sure. ABC needs to do better with their casting otherwise I will no longer be watching this silly show.
4. Three Cups of Tea is overrated.
I am a total sucker for feel-good books so when I found this very highly rated bestseller sitting around at my in-laws I couldn’t wait to read it. I have heard so many good things about this book! But Three Cups of Tea has been sitting next to my bed for an entire year, and despite picking it up to read it a dozen times I cannot get through the first chapter. What is with me and bestsellers these days?
5. New cars are overrated (This one is on behalf of Ali). Guess who just called me to say that his battery is dead and his car is stuck at his office? Sorry no photo but I wasn’t about to aggravate Ali further by asking him to take a picture of his brand new, dead car. I’m sure you’ll agree that was a wise decision on my part.
Because I don’t want to be Negative Nelly, and since no post is complete without at least a mention of Maya, allow me to end with something that isn’t overrated:
Little girls who clean up their room, dress themselves in a cute outfit, eat breakfast, put their dishes by the sink, and then give you tons of goodbye hugs when you read them super long stories during goodbye time at school.
Sometimes having kids is definitely NOT overrated.
What do you think is overrated?
While I'm not going to win Mother/Wife of the Year Award anytime soon, I haven't killed anyone yet or shot myself in the head. And that, my friends, is how I calculate success these days. 
FANCY THAT FANCY THIS 
