Evie Day 322

Hi gang. It’s Thursday. Today is 1 February 2024.

Where do I start?

I’m watching the news and apparently, there were meetings about social media, bullying, and child safety. Now, I’m not a fan of bullies. Bullies are a big problem in social media, just as they have been a problem for millennia. Anytime there is a platform for communication, there will be bullies that want to control, intimidate, harass, and reap havoc on that medium.

The irony is that I saw members of Congress go after the tech leaders far more than I have ever seen them go after the pharmaceutical industry or the firearms industry. Parents and members of Congress (I’m not going to say leaders in Congress, because that would not be an accurate depiction).

And now, on the news, there’s an ad for social media. Looks like the spin is starting. LOL.

I’ll be in a better place later today. Lisa gets back from a short business trip. I have a feeling the dogs will be going nuts when she gets home. They like me, but they looooooooove her. I think it’s because she gives them more treats than I do.

I finish my class today, then I’ve got my other projects keeping me busy tomorrow. Back in the virtual classroom next week for another security course, then a little diversion into artificial intelligence. I get to walk some folks through a fun little exercise in generative AI.

I just remembered… I have a video I need to record for work today. I can’t forget about that…

OK, I’m going to get focused and do my thing. Yeah, seems like I kind of phoned this post in. I’m not feeling particularly motivated. I better get a cup of coffee in me.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 321

Good morning! I hope you are well. Today is 31, January 2024.

It’s the last day of January, and it feels a little weird. This winter is going by, and in 28 days folks are going to be peaking out the windows for signs of spring. I’m going to have to get ready to clean the yard up and make a safe space for my granddaughter to play out in the yard.

Last night was a decent evening. I made my weekly run to my restaurant of preference on Tuesdays, and Dane and I ate well. After dinner, he went back to the basement to work on his senior class project, and I did my thing, preparing for work, and watching some college basketball – a pretty one-sided affair with Kansas hosting an atypical Oklahoma State men’s team that has had more than a few struggles this season. Kansas was up 18 at the half, and stretched it out by another 11 points to win by 29. It was an uneventful game, to be frank, and a good scrimmage for the Jayhawks before Big 12-leading #4 Houston comes into Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday.

My class is going well this week. There are good questions from my attendees and solid engagement across the board. There are some needed updates to the lab instructions – it can be incredibly challenging for our lab provider to keep up with the very dynamic cloud landscape that is constantly improving.

Watching the news in the morning, and a retired brigadier general just said, “nuke-ya-ler” instead of “new-clee-er”, and it triggers my pronunciation demons. Ugh.

Anyway… online gaming with the guys tonight. A kind of geeky crossover note – my online curriculum has a little gamification integrated into it, where people go through modules and questions to earn “experience points” and “levels” in the online training experience, and I often point it out and make jokes that I’ll level up and get more spell slots and hit points. A couple of my administrators have made a couple of jokes about leveling up, and it’s kind of a way for those of us that work in IT and game to see each other.

Alright, let’s get this in the can and get on with my day.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 320

Hi folks. It is my favorite day of the work week, Tuesday, 30 January 2024.

Lisa is out of town, but there will be tacos for dinner.

Lunch will likely be a protein shake, leading me to joke about drinking my lunch.

The dogs miss my wife, there’s is little doubt about that. I popped in earplugs last night because Odin was howling at the moon, something he never does when Lisa is here. It is funny hearing a 28-lb morkie baying like a basset hound.

My class went well yesterday, and I expect more of the same today. We’ll start with some review, then spend the rest of the day working with networking components in the cloud.

After we finish class, I’ll make a taco run for Dane and me, although Dane might prefer another dish. I might back away from my traditional crispy beef tacos and maybe go with a shrimp or fish taco as a change of pace.

Then, Kansas basketball will get my attention, as Allen Fieldhouse plays host to the Oklahoma State Cowboys. We were lucky to sneak in a win at Stillwater, and I’m confident that the Jayhawks will put up a pretty good fight playing at home in a packed arena.

The weather here was incredible yesterday. I think the temperature here was in the 60s. Let me check my weather station… I participate in crowd-sourced weather reporting with my little Accurite weather station. Whoa… it hit 65 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday… that’s a warm January day in these parts.

Not much else to report. Thanks to those of you for the good thoughts yesterday regarding my dad’s birthday. I was lucky to have the man as my father.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 319

Good morning, and a happy Monday to you all! Today is Kansas Day, 29 January 2024.

It’s also an important day to me for another reason. Today would have been my dad’s 83rd birthday.

My dad was a good man. He was flawed, as all humans are, and he made mistakes, as all humans do. That said, he was a guy worthy of the respect he earned and the friendships he maintained. He did what he could for his family and community, and he was honest, sometimes to a fault. He taught me and my siblings some pretty valuable lessons, and I miss him. I like to think he would be proud of the man I continue to grow into.

What else do I have to think about today? Well… yesterday Sportsfan Bob had a pretty good day, In the AFC championship game, the Chiefs were the underdog, which lasted for about five minutes into the first quarter. The Chiefs found a way to win and were able to win the game in front of the Baltimore Ravens’ fans 17-10. I have said that I didn’t think the Chiefs had the horses this year to go all the way to the Superbowl, and I want to apologize – boy, was I wrong. The Chiefs seem to be a different team in the post-season, and yesterday version 3.0 showed up and frustrated the heck out of the Ravens offense.

Now the Chiefs will be the bad guys, the defending Superbowl champs, taking on their Superbowl LIV opponent, the San Francisco 49ers, and their QB, the new national hero, Brock Purdy, the last guy taken in the draft, and the subject of the future biography that will either be titled, “My Irrelevant” or “Mr. Relevant” – a play on the nickname bestowed annually on the last person taken in the NFL draft.

In 2020, the Chiefs went to the Superbowl, and they had a lot of momentum, as a team that had not been to the Superbowl in 50 years, a lot of folks were pulling for them. The Chiefs won that Superbowl with an incredible second half. The following year, and beat-up Chiefs team fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in what would be Tom Brady’s last Superbowl. The Chiefs lost to the Bengals in the AFC championship game in 2022, and then won the Superbowl again in 2023. Now the Chiefs are the bad guys, and people across the country are a little tired of this little mini-dynasty that has been forged. I love it when the Chiefs win, but I hope, as fans, we can stay humble. We’ve been in the cellar, and we’ll return to the cellar… but I’m ok of that drop to the bottom doesn’t happen anytime soon.

Some of the guys I game with are 49ers fans. This creates another good reason to stay humble. I’ve been on the losing end of one of those big games, and I know how it feels. I’m just going to keep my mouth shut, I think, and hope that both teams are healthy, the players don’t get hurt, and that it’s a good game.

Time to get focused on the day before me. I’m back in my virtual classroom in a couple of hours, a private class for a big customer, teaching cloud administration.

Tonight, I’ll raise a glass and toast my dad.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 316

Good morning and happy Friday to you all. Today is 26 January 2024.

I’m up, and have my second large glass of water sitting beside me on my end table. Lucy is resting between my knees, and Lisa has the other three pooches on her lap. The news is on, and the focus is the same center of attention that there is every morning, whether his defamation lawsuit, fraud trial, or continuing influence on the GOP regarding legislation. It wouldn’t look good for that guy if the GOP compromises with the Democrats, it would constitute a win for the Biden administration ( and the country), and that would look bad for him. I think the presumptive GOP nominee is going to find out that he looks bad, legislation notwithstanding.

I’ve got some work stuff to keep me busy today. I recently listened to the executive summary of a book that addresses focus on the job. I’m trying to implement some of the ideas behind it, trying to eliminate distractions. It’s a bit easier to do that when I’m delivering a course – the structure and isolation are there, and the schedule keeps me focused on tasks. I discovered some time ago that I’m not a “task list” person – I’m more of a “time block” person. That has helped me buckle down better and keep my attention on the work in the moment. If I know I need an hour, I block an hour, if I know I need two, I block two.

My son had his D&D group get-together last evening rather than today, so I’ll have a little chance to stretch out the Friday night meal and have a little fun. Last night, Lisa and I started the third season of the Spanish series “Money Heist” on Netflix. We’re having a bit of fun with that. It’s a welcome distraction, and I can still keep a laptop at hand to work on some projects lightly.

By the way, if you haven’t tried it yet, head over to https://www.bing.com/create and try a creative prompt. I’m having quite a bit of fun with that tool. I have zero artistic ability, but I’m decent with words. I think more people will find out to be quite a bit of fun.

Alrighty, let’s get on with the day… I hope this post wasn’t too redundant.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 315

Hi folks! It is a new day, Thursday, 25 January 2024.

I had a good time with the Wednesday night gaming group last evening. We didn’t engage in any “fight the bad guys” scenarios, but we did reap the rewards of some of our collective accomplishments, and that’s always nice. I still have some experience to earn before I level up, but now we have a path before us. It was a good time, and the group I play with is a lot of fun.

Today will be a good day to turn the news off. Everything seems to be centered on one particularly attention-needy 78-year-old candidate, and I really look forward to the day when there is something worth reporting other than his latest temper tantrum, or his latest court date, or his latest whatever. Some folks just don’t get tired of being lied to, I guess.

I had a productive workday yesterday, and I expect I’ll stay on top of things today as well.

The economy is doing well, with the DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average) closing above 38000 for the first time, and unemployment sitting at 3.8%. Both of those numbers are very good. Inflation has dropped below 4%, and gas prices have dropped 80 cents per gallon since last fall. The one complaint about the economy I came across was someone complaining that they had to wait in line for their latte at the coffee stop because they didn’t have enough employees. I would have explained to the person that the reason for that is a good economy – the reason they don’t have more people working at the coffee shop is that other employers are willing to pay more for a prospective employee’s services or provide other benefits, like health insurance, that this coffee shop was not willing to provide. That’s going to happen when unemployment drops to near-record low levels.

A lot of folks don’t understand certain aspects of our economy. The economy doesn’t weave through traffic like a sports car. Our economy is like trying to manage the turning radius of an aircraft carrier. I’m surprised at the number of folks that don’t understand that right before a change of administration, the outgoing administration sets the budget for the incoming administration’s first year. Then in the first November of a new administration’s first year, they set a new budget, and the real seeds of change are planted, but we still have to wait a while.

Some presidents love taking credit when they come into office riding a positive economic wave. Then, when their policies hit the proverbial fan, they’ll start blaming the opposition. It amazes me the number of folks that don’t “get” that.

OK, time to get this in the can, and get going on my day.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 314

Good morning, folks! It is Wednesday, 24 January 2024.

Today I’m going to focus on some AI-related work responsibilities. I have become rather fascinated with AI, prompts, and prompt writing. If I took a look at the number of prompts I wrote per day, I think I might surprise myself. I’ve already written two this morning – Lisa and I were curious about the number of people that died from COVID that had chosen treatment with hydroxychloroquine… and let’s just say that those folks would probably have been better off going with a Pfizer or Moderna vaccination instead. The other was more directly political, and let’s just say that it didn’t reflect well on a certain American demographic.

Based on the results of the New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucuses, it looks like we’re heading for a presidential contest between Trump and Biden. I find that amazing considering what we have learned since 2016.

I listened to a pretty good summary yesterday, and I might revisit it today. Here’s an AI challenge for you – go to Bing.com, click on the “Chat” , then try these two prompts…
“Summarize the book, “Deep Work” by Cal Newport”
“What are the key points of “Deep Work” by Cal Newport?”

I could regurgitate the AI output, but folks don’t click on my blog to read AI-generated output. I’m a real human being who uses AI, but I’m going to do my own thing, and there are aspects of my personality that AI just cannot capture… yet.

I keep wondering when there will be an AI chatbot that can be as snarky as an aged, somewhat educated, 60-year-old man.

My favorite AI prompts so far have been the image creation prompts on https://www.bing.com/create . Pictures of libraries, cabins by the lake, and fantasy settings with giant floating trees hovering over a fertile valley – all have been a joy and inspiration.

I understand that professional artists have concerns. I can guarantee you that I will not affect them financially. I’ll buy as much art in the future as I have in the past. I might appreciate the human artists more now… AI images have some consistent problems. Have you tried to create a wizard that has normal human ears? One thing that I find rather frustrating is this AI assumption that all wizards have long, pointy ears.

Explore on your own. It can be kind of fun.

In the meantime, I’m going to get this in the can and get on with my day.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 313

Good morning, and a happy Taco Tuesday to you. It is 23 January 2024.

Time to block out some time today for ongoing projects. I’ve got about four things I need to focus on today, and some others that will get some time when I get these other four things corralled. Applied Skill targets, AI, and Visio diagrams.

Last night, Lisa and I watched the local team play Cincinnati on ESPN. Kansas had some moments, and our freshman from Australia really shined as his parents were in Lawrence to watch him play before they travel back across the Pacific. Kansas gets back on the winning track, and it is welcome in this household.

Oh, look, the news is on and people are telling lies. Must be election season.

I had a pretty good day at work yesterday. It was an “in-service” day for the trainers, and we had a lot of sessions (it was worldwide, so the APAC crowd got us started). One of our managers drove the sessions, and that poor guy was in Australia, staying up until 4 o’clock in the morning his time to handle the schedule. He’s a great guy, but, man, those are some pretty brutal hours. I made a joke that trying to work hours like that would put me in the hospital… and I don’t know if it was really a joke.

Time for me to make a pot of coffee and have another round of chili and eggs for breakfast.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 312

Good morning, and happy Monday to you. Today is 22 January 2024.

Well… it was a weekend.

Sportsfan Bob had a mixed bag this weekend. The KU men and women both lost on the road, the women at K-State, and the men at West Virginia. Both of ’em hurt a bit, as the women lost a rivalry game, and the men lost to an opponent that they should have beaten, but it doesn’t help when the other team shoots way above their season averages. Teams get up to play Kansas… Kansas apparently doesn’t get up when it’s time to play teams with average records.

The good news (and a huge surprise to me) was the Kansas City victory over Buffalo. I thought Buffalo was going to take care of business at home, but Kansas City caught a couple of breaks, and Buffalo missed a couple of passes that should have been caught. Add in a missed field goal at the end of the game that would’ve tied the game, and I felt the ghost of Scott Norwood pasting a shadow on the city of Buffalo.

I’m not going to gloat. Kansas City had some lucky breaks. Buffalo’s defense was more than decimated. The word “decimated” has roots in losing 10% of a force, Buffalo’s defense was down 30% of their starters, and almost all of their linebackers. Kansas City has been there. There was a time that Kansas City couldn’t buy a win in the postseason… prior to Alex Smith leading the Chiefs to a postseason victory a few years ago, there was just about a 22-year gap between victories (1994-2016) and that was proceeded by another 22-year gap between 1969 and 1991. We have felt some of the pain that the Bills fans are feeling today. They might be an opponent, but the truth is I feel a bit of kinship due to their misery. The same can be said for a couple of other teams as well. There are other events in the Bills’ history that pain the fans… most notably when a former Chiefs’ coach led the Bills to four straight Superbowl losses from 1991 to 1994.

I’m going to be around my virtual classroom today, but more as an attendee than a leader. We’re having the equivalent of an “in-service” day, focused on new learning opportunities.

There’s other news, of course. Ron DeSantis dropped out of the presidential race this past weekend, so the GOP is down to two candidates, Trump and Nikki Haley, and Trump is leading by large margins. Trump is also dealing with a huge array of legal issues, and playing the victim card at every turn. It amazes me sometimes how the hard-right evangelical crowd can support a man who is the walking representation of the seven deadly sins.

It’s about time for me to get a pot of coffee brewing. Lisa made some chili this last weekend, and there are eggs in the fridge… my breakfast path is clear.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 309

Hi folks. It’s Bob, again. I wish you all a happy Friday, Today is 19 January 2024.

Man, oh, man. I’m watching the news and am very tired of seeing one face being plastered all over the news. No, I’m not talking about Rudy Guiliani.

I posted the other day on one social media platform that watching the news makes me appreciate my dogs more.

Topic shift…

Today is the last day of my security course. We’ve had pretty good interaction for a lecture-heavy course. I’ll start off the day today with some review, then a module and a half before I turn over to my training partner to close out with another module and a half and the course closing. The classes that focus on case studies always land slightly differently with our attendees. We can observe and track folks’ progress when there are labs. With the case studies, not so much.

I’ve been trying to cultivate a habit of listening to executive book summaries every day at lunch… and during the work week, I’ve done pretty well. I hope I’ll have gone through a couple hundred books by the end of this calendar year.

Right now I’m watching an opinion writer for the National Review, Rich Lowry, mansplain to a black woman what racism is and what her ancestors experienced. Rich Lowry reminds me of a product one might find in the feminine hygiene section of the pharmacy, perhaps something someone might want to use on a summer’s eve. I don’t care for his editorials, and now I care for them even less. The guy couldn’t keep himself from interrupting the other person… which I typically expect from insensitive types that are more concerned with saying their piece than listening to anyone who has had a different experience than he has… seems to me that in his mind’s eye, the only valid American experience is the one he has had.

OK, now I need to get away before I write something I wish I hadn’t written.

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

Peace y’all.