Evie Day 463

Good morning, and a happy Friday to you all! Today is 21 June 2024.

I believe it is officially the first day of summer on this day of the equinox.

Here’s a weird thing. This week, my class was a three-day class, and it’s the only three-day class in my course catalog. I’m seeing a number of one-day classes showing up (particularly in August) and my regular class is a four-day class. When you are used to four-day classes and then teach a three-day class, it sure makes Thursday feel like Friday.

Yesterday was a good day. My son celebrated his 23rd birthday in his low-key style. He’ll get together with some of his friends this weekend for a little more personal celebration – two of the friends in his circle have birthdays around this time as well, so it will be a group event.

I’ve got plenty to focus on today, with my solo class next week, a certification exam pending, and a co-hack to coach in the coming weeks. I’ve got a presentation to put together as well.

This weekend, there will be more mowing.

I’m not the most exciting guy in the room these days. I think Odin the Goliath Morkie gets to wear that hat.

Oh, and a couple of friends of mine are home from the hospital after a rough patch. Matt, I’m glad you are home, congrats on the weight loss, and Ron, I look forward to talking with you on Sunday, glad everything is on the mend.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 462

Good morning! Today is my son’s 23rd birthday! Welcome to 20 June 2024.

Thursday…

I wrapped up my class with my training partner yesterday, and I think it went pretty well. We reached our post-class survey threshold early in the day, and that set a positive tone for the balance of the class, right up to the close of labs at 5:00 PM.

After we wrapped that up, my wife and I went into town to a nearby restaurant. One of my oldest friends (Joel and I go back to 5th/6th grade) passed through Lawrence on his “farewell” tour. He, his wife, and their two daughters are heading to the Philippines to live closer to her family. It was fun and I wish them all the best. We haven’t seen each other face-to-face for years, but ours is a friendship of convenience. I have my doubts that I’ll ever be in the same room with him ever again, unless of course Lisa and I decide to visit.

After dinner, we came back home and settled in. Lisa had to be tired – she had a long day of travel returning from Washington, DC. I dropped some cans on my head to join the guys online for our Wednesday night session.

Today will be a good day as well. I have plenty to keep me busy, including prep for my class next week.

Time for me to get this in the can and get focused on what comes next.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 461

Good morning, and a happy Juneteenth to you all. Today is 19 June 2024.

For those of you unfamiliar with the significance of this day, it commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It marks the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced the freedom of the last remaining enslaved African Americans in the Confederacy, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln1.

The day is also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, or Jubilee Day and has been celebrated by African American communities for decades. In recent years, it has gained broader recognition and was officially designated as a federal holiday in 2021. Juneteenth celebrations typically include community gatherings, educational events, and reflections on the history and culture of African Americans. Juneteenth is not only a day to celebrate freedom and achievements but also a day to encourage continuous self-development and respect for all cultures. It serves as a reminder of the struggles for equality and the ongoing efforts toward achieving racial justice.

Yes, I looked it up. I will be the first to admit that other sources are more than capable of describing the situation than I can in the moment.

Last night there were tacos. Dane and I made a run to the taco store, had a cocktail, then brought our dinner home. I picked up the fish tacos, and he ordered this chimichanga that may have been capable of stomping Tokyo… it was a monster. After we ate, we flipped on “Fallout” and got caught up on that series. Walton Goggins is a really great performer. I might have to go back and watch the old episodes of “Justified” to catch his bad guy take on Timothy Olyphant.

Tonight I will be seeing an old friend and his family. Joel and I go back to 5th/6th grade. I remember when his folks asked if I would go over and feed their small black dog when they went on vacation in the summer of ’75, if memory serves. Anyway, Joel has retired, and now gets to spend all of his time raising his two daughters… I think they are moving to the Philippines, where Joel’s wife has family.

After that, it’s time to roll the dice and punk the bad guys.

I’m back in my virtual classroom in another couple of hours. I’m mostly in a support role today – we have three modules to cover, and my responsibility is the opening review and the first module. After that, it’s my training partner’s show, and I’ll take care of answering the questions that pop up in chat.

Until next time…

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 460

Good morning, and a very happy Taco Tuesday to you all. Today is 18 June 2024.

The news is on, and a political candidate is arguing that trust has been lost and needs to be rebuilt, and it’s apparent that this guy may have drank all of the Kool-Aid. Full-on election denial and riding that train.

Last night was a quiet evening, just a bowl of chili and the NBA Championship. Congrats to the Boston Celtics. They came out against the Dallas Mavericks and made it clear from the opening tip that there would not be a game 6.

Yesterday my training partner and I had a good first day. We deferred one of the modules to today in order to give the attendees more time to work on labs. Today we will pick up where we left off, punch out three modules, and get back into labs once again.

It looks like a gray morning here, no light blue breaking through the clouds quite yet.

That’s about it. Not much to really talk about. My life is pretty mundane.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 459

Good morning, and a happy Monday to you all! It is 17 June 2024.

I must admit, I lost track of Father’s Day earlier this month. I thought it was in another week. It was a bit different this time around. My wife had to catch an early flight, one of my daughters is under the weather, my son had plans with friends, and my youngest daughter and first grandchild came over for a visit and a wonderful demonstration of the bipedal talent known as “walking” by Evie. It was wonderful. Later in the day, I ducked into the virtual game room to hang out with the guys and find out that my character didn’t croak at the end of the last gaming session.

I spent some time looking at old family pictures yesterday, pictures of my dad, and pictures of me as a younger father with my three kids. I believe my dad would be proud of the man I’ve grown into. I know I’m proud to say he was my father. He was fair and exercised pretty good judgment. He was inclusive. He taught me quite a bit about people – most of the surface things don’t really show the depth of people, and watch out for people that smile a little too much and laugh a little too hard at your jokes, as it might be a setup. That last piece of advice has kept me from getting played more than once. I’ve passed that along to my kids as well.

I’m back in my virtual classroom this week, a three-day delivery with another instructor, this week’s course primarily focused on networking between the on-premises data center and the cloud. I look forward to this course. I’m trying to give my training partner a bit of a break, as the class is Central Time, and he lives in Pacific Time. I’ll get the day going with a cup of coffee, and then pass it off to my training partner after he has a chance to wake up.

Lisa is still out of town and will return on Wednesday. Last night I left the crate open for the Sisters von Floof, and they figured it out after a while. When I woke this morning, I was surrounded by three of the four… Rosy decided to perch herself on a chair in the living room.

The news is on. Lots of talk this morning about one guy’s vice presidential pick – after all, who wants to be the next Mike Pence? I don’t know that being a VP for Donald Trump is a great career move. It certainly took a bit of the shine off Mike Pence. For those remaining in the selection pool, sign the Trump oath of loyalty right there on the bottom line… no, don’t use ink, you’ll have to use blood.

In the meantime, it’s time to get focused on the day.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie 456

Good morning folks, and a very happy Friday to you all. For many of us, it is the last workday of the week. Today is 14 June 2024.

Yesterday things did not go as planned.

I started off the day by going through my notes and a practice exam from an outfit called MeasureUp that makes practice tests for certifications. That part of it went pretty well. I felt pretty good as I took my laptop down to my oldest daughter’s bedroom which she no longer uses except for the occasions on the weekend when she stays overnight. I have taken my last 7 or 8 exams in that room no problem. But yesterday was no ordinary day.

I downloaded the special browser and started going through the checklist, turning off programs that the special testing browser said might interfere with the test experience. Then the bandwidth test said “no”. I checked my bandwidth with the OpenSpeedTest – pulling 58 Mbps down, and pushing 28, both scores were more than adequate for the exam, but nope, it failed the bandwidth test. Time to change rooms. All of this happened between 12:30 PM and 1:00 PM, with my exam scheduled to start at 1.

I went upstairs and started the process once again. I was able to complete the process, and I saw I was first in the queue to interact with the exam proctor when I got a notice that my session had been revoked. What the…?

I started the process over, and this third time I received a notice that my passcode was no longer valid, so it was time to try again with a fresh download and a fresh code. I get in… and it is now twenty minutes past my appointed time. I get to first in the queue, and then another network interruption, followed by a message that I was no longer first in the queue, I was fifth. I sat and waited.

My proctor eventually came into my session and asked me to open up a call on the computer. I’ll be the first to admit my hearing is not 100%. He audio was filled with static and I could not make out what she was saying, and I said so. While going through and checking my ID and gave me a bit of a hard time about the fact that for 30 years I have gone by Bob in the testing system without any problems, but my ID says “Robert”. By this time I was about an hour and fifteen minutes into the process, a full forty-five minutes late to start my exam, and I expressed my frustration. At that moment, the “Session revoked” message appeared on my screen and I was given the opportunity to reschedule my exam.

I was not very happy. I’m still a little peeved about the way things went down.

I went into the system afterward and started the process of changing my testing name from “Bob” to “Robert”, a name no one calls me. It’s always been a great way to differentiate between people who know me and telemarketers just trying to sell me stuff.

So, I didn’t pass my certification exam yesterday. I didn’t fail it either. I told my wife that I would take care of dinner, and I went to HyVee to engage in their $10 steak special x3. The line was already pretty long when I arrived at 4:45, and the sun was bearing down. One young person just ahead of me was right in there ordering steaks, when I noticed that this person appeared to be sniffing the steaks, getting closer, and closer…

… and then onto the concert. This kid had passed out right in front of me. A couple of other guys helped out, got the young person into a chair, and carried the chair into the air-conditioned grocery store. An ambulance was called. Right by the steak dinner queue, there was a bucket full of sodas on ice, so I grabbed a handful of ice and started to apply the ice to the top of their head and neck.

It wasn’t too long after that the young person barked on their shirt. I’m guessing the heat was just more than this person could handle.

A nice gentleman held my spot in the queue, and I jumped back in after talking to the paramedic about what I witnessed, and they went to work on the young one. That young one did not look good, very pale, but I’m glad the pros got there when they did. I hope the ice helped and didn’t complicate things.

Oh, and on the way home, I was getting ready to make a left turn onto the highway to go home when there was a car accident two cars ahead of me, and everyone behind me started passing on the right-hand side, so I was stuck there for a few on the middle of the intersection before I could swing out and pass the two folks trading insurance information.

So, that’s how my Thursday went.

Today I’ll focus on a more mundane schedule, reviewing my content for next week’s delivery, and if my name-change request goes through, I’ll reschedule my certification exam for next Friday.

This weekend, I will be spending some quality time with the lawn mower, and hopefully, some time with the guys on Sunday.

Until then…

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 455

Good morning! I hope this finds you well. Today is Thursday, 13 June 2024.

Lisa gets home later today, and I am always grateful when she comes back from a business trip safe and sound. The dogs were a little more manageable last night, as Lucy did her regular senior-dog barkfest at about 10:30 PM, but this time the three younger dogs did not decide to make it a chorus. All of the pooches pretty much slept through the night, and I had a pretty good night of sleep as well. I’m going to need it for later.

Certification exams give me anxiety. They always have. Even when I think back to my first professional exams back in the mid-90s, I recall how my attitude would change as a dreaded exam date drew near. Today’s exam has to be somewhere my 80th certification exam, and I still get butterflies (condors?) in my stomach. There is an irony that I chose a career path that requires constant certification expansion and renewal.

Last night I got together with the guys, and I sat out in the living room with my laptop and headset playing my ranger, and tossing the occasional virtual dice as we investigated the source of some evil in a community. I stayed fairly well engaged in the game, but I did have the NBA Finals on in the background, as the Boston Celtics stretched their series lead to 3-0 over the Dallas Mavericks. We made it through the evening’s activities, and I went off to bed for a relaxing game of Sudoku as my head hit the pillow, my Pandora channel playing relaxing themes related to “Weightless” by Marconi Union. It’s a very relaxing channel, and I fall to sleep more easily with that in the background.

After I get this exam kicked out, I’ll need to turn my attention to the lawn. I’ve neglected the lawn mower for a couple of weeks, and it’s time to get my butt back in the saddle this weekend. After a few hours of mowing, it’ll be time to take a dip in the pool and then grill some brats or some burgers. Summertime and the living is easy…

Until then…

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 454

Good morning, and welcome to Wednesday. Today is 12 June 2024.

Lisa is on the road, attending a workshop out on the East Coast. Last night the dogs did not behave well in her absence. Rosy and Lily – the sisters Von Floof – decided to start the twilight bark around midnight. Lucy and Odin were more than happy to jump in, and all four kept at it until around two o’clock in the morning. I would really like to get another hour of sleep… and that might happen sometime today. It’s only 6:00 AM, and I might be able to sneak a nap in before 8.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I was able to stay focused on my work responsibilities throughout the day and then made a run to the taco guy to snag some dinner for Dane and me. There were tacos… and maybe an order of flan as well.

Today, I’ll stay focused on the primary project, and branch out into a couple of other responsibilities that dovetail pretty well with it. It seems like time is slipping away so fast. June is almost halfway gone, and July is right around the corner.

Sorry, I’m not doing a great job staying focused on this job right at the moment.

Tonight, the guys will get together in our virtual tabletop and roll virtual funny-shaped dice. I sometimes game back in the sunroom, but I have a feeling I’ll be on my laptop so I can keep the NBA Finals on in the background.

OK, time to either make coffee or grab a quick nap.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 453

Good morning, and a very happy Taco Tuesday to you all. Today is 11 June 2024.

Thanks for reading my blog. Seriously.

I get up on my work days and take a few minutes to write a few things down. Sometimes my thoughts wander into politics, and sometimes they wander into more mundane topics, but that’s kind of the way my stream of thought works. Writing is a habit for me – just like incessant barking for no reason is my dog Lucy’s habit – and I’ll never be perfect, but I think it’s important to cultivate habits. Starting the day by trying to drain the emotional pipes might not be such a bad idea.

On the news right now there is a story about four college instructors from Cornell College (the one in Iowa) getting stabbed in China. No fatalities, but still.

I have studying to do today. I was going to check my schedule this morning, but my phone was due for an update, so the update has been applied, and I have yet to unlock my phone to take a look at my schedule… so I unlocked my phone and I see some pretty good study blocks. There is only one real meeting I must attend at 6:00 PM… some days it’s a little different living in a different time zone than most of the company.

Odin has decided to take up residence under my left elbow, and this is not a very comfortable typing position. He must’ve empathized, and he has now moved to the leg rest, his chin resting just below my right knee.

I do love my pooches. I was going through some old pics yesterday, and one from ten years ago popped up, with little Freya in my lap. I miss that girl. Just as I type that one of her girls replaced Odin on the legrest. It’s just funny sometimes.

OK, it might be time to organize my study materials for the day and get my breakfast sorted. It will likely be peanut butter on toast, maybe a touch of artificial honey, and a cup of coffee.

Lucy is now pawing at my leg, trying to get me to lower my leg rest so she can assume her rightful place.

OK, that’s enough for now. Once again, thanks for giving my blog a look. Feel free to comment. I generally approve all of the comments, and I have a filter set up to catch the spam.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 452

Good morning, and a happy beginning of the work week for most of you (except for my friend Dan, who always works on the weekends and Wednesday is usually his Friday). Today is 10 June 2024.

I am bringing a little needed structure into my life this week. I’ve got another certification exam later this week, so I need to create study blocks that fit into my current meeting schedule and try to sneak in sessions with every lab in a course that I couldn’t get to a couple of weeks ago. I need to punch this one out on Thursday, it’s been a goal of mine for some time.

I also need to spend a little quality time in front of the microphone today to record a short bit for work.

We had a good weekend around here, with intermittent rain. Lisa and I both anticipated breaking out the new Father’s Day present she got for me, so the old Woodfire grill/smoker got a final run with a pork shoulder on Friday afternoon and on Saturday night, we broke out the new Woodfire Grill Pro Connect XL with WiFi and Bluetooth. I love looking down, opening up the app on my phone, and checking the internal temperature of whatever I have going on the grill. I received a little gift from work, the intent was “spend this money on a good time with the family”. I picked up some really nice steaks, plugged in the temperature sensors, and hit a perfect center of 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Medium-rare would be 130-135, but 140 was on the low end of medium… and those steaks were beautiful… no leftovers.

I’m going to love this new grill.

Sunday I got together with the guys for a while, and we worked on some characters for a new campaign. The intent is that this will be a little more of a self-serving group rather than a group of good guys. It’s been a long time since I played a thug, but we’ll give it a shot. This new character is just hired muscle, and from his stats and skill blocks, he appears to be rather formidable. We’ll see how this goes.

Well, the studying for this upcoming exam is not going to take care of itself.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.