Evie Day 286

Good morning and a happy humpday to you all. It is 27 December 2023.

Last night we stayed up a little late to watch the Kansas Jayhawks win their first bowl game since 2008. It was an absolute joy, even with the ridiculous amount of flags that littered the game from beginning to end. I think the number of fouls called may have set a record. At one point, the announcers stated that the UNLV squad had just about as much yardage due to penalties as they had on offense. It was ugly at times, but Kansas ended up winning 49-36 in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, a bowl that was more fun to watch than it was to name.

We slept in a little bit this morning as the football game kept us up until midnight. I think it’s funny that I could get my wife to stay up for a football game until midnight, but getting her to stay up on New Year’s Eve that late is less of a likelihood.

This morning we were getting caught up on the Christmas Mass service we missed. We generally watch Mass on YouTube, and we watch the Catholic Diocese of Denver’s streaming services. It was just shy of a full hour, with mild interruptions. Fed Ex delivered a couple of boxes, and then the neighbor dog came and peed on one of them. Our neighbor has no respect for our property lines, and I guess their dogs frequently came over to play with the resident dog here before we bought the house. Our dogs are all smaller house dogs that we don’t let run loose, but they go berserk when Jamison or Zoey come over into our yard. The two boxes that we received were part of my October prize from Truefire.com. I won a Boss Katana 40 Mk II XL on one of their seasonal giveaways.

Now I have work to do. I promised myself I would try to crank out a couple of Applied Skills certifications for work, and yes, even though I am on vacation, there is work to do – I’ve pretty much been committed to class since the middle of October, and I wanted to get things done before the end of the year. So, here we are, the end of the year coincides with a week of vacation, but the work still needs to get done.

I’m going to get to it. I’ll leave some football and soccer contests on in the background with the volume turned down.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 285

Hi everybody – it’s the first Tuesday after Christmas… there will be tacos. Today is 26 December 2023.

This morning I saw a post from a high school classmate featuring her husband acting a little silly. A friend of hers posted a little gif that said “Have Fun”, but the way the little gift sat over the “U” made it look like it read, “Have Flan”… and on a Taco Tuesday, I am completely in support of that idea.

So much has gone on since last Friday. We traveled to see relatives and had a great time seeing sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews, and of course, my mom, who is now a proud great-grandmother of two little ones.

My oldest daughter and her fur baby spent the last couple of days with us, and with our four and her one, the dogs have sometimes had a bit of a conflict, usually centered on feeding time. This time it went a little better, and I am grateful.

Bonnie (oldest daughter) picked up a dog-treat puzzle for our dogs, and Odin is figuring it out right now. I think there is only one or two treats left in the puzzle at this point. He’s going to town… who’s a smart boy?

We had gift exchanges on Saturday, Sunday, and Christmas morning. Lisa and I will be busy with new kitchen and garage items. I picked up a new pressure cooker for my wife, as her Instant Pot was starting to act up. She has had an affinity for some of the Ninja products, so I upgraded her from a 6-quart to an 8-quart. My Canadian friends had sold me on the Instant Pot years ago, so thanks for that… now she has another pressure cooker that is big enough for the holiday ham sitting in the fridge. Lisa gifted me with a Ninja Pellet Smoker. It can’t be used indoors, but I figure we can allocate a little space out in the garage for now until it’s safe to roll it out onto the driveway in the spring. As our kids are getting older, there will be times when Lisa and I don’t need to fire up the Oklahoma Joe’s smoker to prep a meal for just the two of us. A smaller unit also means that I might be able to be a little more creative with my smoked meats.

We watched the Chiefs and Raiders game yesterday, and boy, the Chiefs are not the same team they were when they won the Super Bowl last February. They look tired. Giving up two defensive touchdowns to the Raiders in 7 seconds didn’t do much to help my attitude.

KU Jayhawks play tonight in their bowl game. I hope that goes better for this sports fan than the recent spate of Chiefs games.

I’ve got coffee, and some work in front of me, so I’m going to get this in the can.

Oh, and for my friends in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, Happy Boxing Day! I noticed that there are some Premiere League matches on… time to watch a little soccer!

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 281

Hey folks, it’s Friday! I’m on vacation until 2 January 2024! Today is 22 December 2023! That’s like ten days of … doing things I promised I would get done this year that I procrastinated doing!

Lisa and I slept in a bit this morning, and that extra hour was most welcome. The floofs didn’t notice until we get up to get going, and they usually are bright-eyed at 5:30 AM, ready to go. I would have said “bushy-tailed” but in their case, that is a permanent condition.

We’re going to get the house ready for Sunday. We’re heading over to Clay Center tomorrow to see family. My sister and brother-in-law are hosting for a holiday get-together, complete with seasonal treats and comfort food. My niece and her newborn won’t be coming to visit until Monday, but having everybody at the same time might be a lot for my sister to have to deal with.

Today, I’ll get some running around done in town, with a possible lunch adventure side trek. Might be me, might be Dane and me, might be Lisa and me… who knows? Might even be Gracie and Evelyn and me. To be frank, the Friday before Christmas in this town is likely to be pretty busy with lots of folks going out for lunch to see friends they haven’t seen in a while.

I’ll probably do some fun stuff, too. Tonight, the KU Jayhawks host Yale in men’s basketball. Kansas has moved up to #2, but one thing I have learned, when these Ivy League schools come here to take in a game, they are prepared and Kansas has a bullseye on their backs. Yale, Harvard, Princeton… it doesn’t matter. These folks get up and get motivated when they arrive in Allen Fieldhouse.

I will probably kill a few virtual aliens in Starfield today as well.

I’m not sure if I’ll be writing and posting every day next week. I may skip Monday, and maybe get a post in Sunday instead. We’ll see. I do hope to get four or five good posts in next week, so we’ll see what gets produced from the break.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 280

Good morning, happy Thursday, and welcome to my last official workday of the year… today is 21 December 2023.

My training partner and I have a few shorter segments today, and we’re hoping to have the talking part of the class done by noon or thereabouts. In reality, I think we’ll have part of the content overflow into the after-lunch break, but you never know.

I’m starting to reflect on this last year, the ups and the downs, and all in all, it was a pretty good year. Yes, I am aware there is still a week and three days in 2023, and heaven knows a lot can happen in a scant ten days, but I don’t know if there is enough to change my overall perspective.

I’ll spend a little more time reflecting on that next week. It’ll give me something to write on vacation.

In reality, my vacation will be a working vacation. There are plenty of things I need to focus on to close out the year – a couple of unchecked boxes in my annual goal list are bugging me a bit. I also need to set some SMART goals for 2024 as well… some to be accomplished during the fiscal year, others, the calendar year. New training modalities I need to conquer, and certifications that I have procrastinated. I have a new planner – there is something I like about writing things down on paper, and I have a pretty good planner to help me stay focused on the goals before me.

Lisa and I are going out to dinner tonight. Dane wants the house to himself for an hour or two to wrap some Christmas presents, so he told me to take my wife out on a dinner date. I have a few to wrap myself.

Time for me to get focused on closing out my training year.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 279

Good morning, and a happy Wednesday to you all. Today is 20 December 2023.

I woke up this morning to the news that at least one state has decided to remove a candidate from the ballot due to that candidate’s role in trying to overturn the 2020 election. That candidate is not going to be happy.

Last night Dane and I went to the movies. We had planned on catching a movie on Saturday, but the power was out at the movie theater, We were given rain checks, but they problem we ran into was time… the movie we wanted to see leaves town on Thursday, last showing as 12:50 PM, in the middle of my work day, so last night became the night. The movie takes place at the end of World War II, and the protagonist is a Japanese kamikaze pilot who realizes he is throwing his life away if he completes his mission. The outcome was clear to him and others… but he still felt survivor’s guilt over his decision.

Oh, and the other thing… the antagonist was Godzilla.

I have to admit, that was a fantastic movie. There’s a reason “Godzilla-1” rated 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Today, I’m back in my virtual classroom, starting off the day with some review, then a module on compute security. After that, my training partner takes over for the other two modules.

I’m looking forward to a gaming night with the guys tonight.

Time to focus on the day ahead.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 278

Good morning! It is another taco Tuesday on planet Earth, and I am happy. It is 19 December 2023.

I’ve got some friends who are happy this morning in Seattle.., and one Seattle friend who is probably waking in disbelief. The Seattle Seahawks rallied to beat one of the best teams in the league, the Philadelphia Eagles, on Monday Night Football. I have a number of friends in the Seattle area, but I can only think of one Eagles fan, another guy on my team. 11 plays, 92 yards, incredible catch with 28 seconds left in the game. Good job, Seahawks.

The campaign season is heating up, and things are being said that ought to give folks pause. The regular old insults are flying around, and then there are some other things being said by a candidate or two that are quite alarming, recalling a time a hundred years ago. One candidate commented that foreigners are “poisoning our blood”. I can guarantee that candidate has not an ounce of indigenous DNA in his genetic makeup… he’s a son of first and second-generation immigrants.

My class is going well. We had really good participation from our attendees yesterday, and I hope we have more of the same today.

Lucy is pawing at my leg, begging my to lower my legrest so she can come up on the recliner. She’s getting older, 12 years old this fall, and doesn’t quite have the spring in her legs that she used to have… I can understand that, Lucy.

Time to get a pot of coffee on and get breakfast sorted.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 277

Good morning, and a happy Monday to you all. Today is the last working week of the year for me, and we start with 18 December 2023.

I’m back in my virtual classroom in another couple of hours, co-delivering with one of my favorite fellow trainers. He’s been doing some other stuff for the last few months, and this is his second or third week back in the trainer role for which he is imminently qualified.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. The Chiefs played at the Patriots early, and despite some setbacks, found a way to win… but against the Patriots, a shadow of the team they were in Tom Brady’s heyday, they had no excuses. A ten-point win on the road is welcome, but the Chiefs still have a long way to go to get back in Superbowl-winning form, and I don’t think they will get there this year.

Lisa and Gracie went into Kansas City yesterday, along with a sleepy little girl, all of 9 months old. I did get to spend a little time with Evie after they returned, and she was all smiles. It is kind of cool being a grandfather.

Lisa is now over enjoying her breakfast. Odin is at her feet, whining for a taste like the fluffy boy that he is. Lisa and Dane gave him a trim yesterday, and gave up after they got most of him trimmed except his jaw area and around his tummy… he currently looks like a Scottish Terrier, and it’s funny. Yesterday I told Lisa that he’s more of an “Odin MacTavish” in his current look.

Just showed a shot of the former guy at a rally talking about foreigners coming into the US to “poison our blood”. I recall another leader from another country from another time talking about “blood purity” almost a hundred years ago. I hope people open their eyes – we can’t afford another four years of that criminal.

OK, time to get this in the can and get going on my day. Lisa has to go out for a business dinner this evening, so Dane and I will forage at a nearby diner for supper.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 274

Good morning, and a happy Friday to you all! It is 15 December 2023.

Last night I found out who the worst team in football is today. Earlier this year, when the Miami Dolphins hung 70 on the Denver Broncos, I might’ve said it was that particular AFC West team. Since then, however, the Broncos have recovered and have put together their best season in several years, including a win over my Kansas City Chiefs at Mile High Stadium.

But the state of the Los Angeles Chargers, formerly the San Diego Chargers, is one to cause alarm for the most casual football fan. A mediocre 5-8 Raiders team hosted the Chargers on Thursday night football and set a blistering scoring pace on offense and defense to rout the Chargers 63-21. The Raiders were up 42-0 at the half and then took their foot off the gas pedal to only score 3 times in the second half.

I joked that I didn’t know the Chargers had a junior varsity.

I hope the Chiefs don’t look like that ever in whatever time I have left… but it will probably happen, right after Patrick Mahomes retires from football.

OK, enough of that.

I’ve got a meeting to lead in about 7 hours, and I need to dial in and get some finishing touches on my presentation. I enjoyed putting the content together, but I still haven’t decided on a theme for the slide deck. I’ll get that sorted here shortly.

I will get this in the can, and focus on the tasks at hand. Not too shabby getting my blog done by 6:00 AM.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 273

Good morning, and a happy Thursday to you. Today is 14 December 2023.

Today is the last day of my security course, a course primarily focused on security theory, policy, and compliance, following cybersecurity architectures and regulatory security policy. It has been an outstanding week and has helped me prepare for a security call with teammates tomorrow. My training partner and I have had some fantastic interactions with those in attendance.

It’s a good day for an ugly Christmas sweater. I’m going with my Xbox game pass sweater. I’ve got one featuring Clippy, but it’s tucked away in a storage box somewhere.

I’ve got the news on… I guess I’m a deer caught in the headlights when it comes to news. I see that the House GOP has formalized their plan to open an inquiry into an impeachment of President Biden. My opinion is moot, I think it’s retaliatory to dilute the two impeachment trials of the former guy to make him more palatable as the likely GOP candidate for the presidency in 2024. If there is evidence of wrongdoing, bring it, but it sure seems like it has as much traction as bald tires on melting ice.

Accusations are easy. Proof is often more challenging to present.

Work is calling, so I better get to it. Time to look over my two presentations and then pivot to my security presentation tomorrow.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 272

Good morning, and a happy hump day to you all. It is Wednesday, 13 December 2023.

Odin is at Lisa’s feet begging for a bit of her breakfast. Lucy is outside barking at an errant cloud hovering in the early morning darkness.

Lucy is a little nuts.

One of the things that I should do more is turn off the news. There are bits and pieces of good news every now and then, a guy building toys for underprivileged kids, people volunteering in their communities for a good cause, but so much of it is “here’s what you need to be afraid of today”. I know that news is a business, and people work to report the news, and they earn a living by attracting viewers which leads to advertisers paying to get their product in front of those viewers. The thing that gets me is that there is so much more going on in the world than the 7 or 8 stories that seem to dominate the news cycle. I prefer a source of info that gives me more to go on. I want to be informed, not just lectured.

I had a guy online try to tell me that Antifa is a fascist organization. After I corrected him, he attacked my education… and he still could not accept the common knowledge that Antifa came into being as an anti-fascist group during the rise of fascism in the early 20th century. It is rather humorous to get to how wrong I am about something by someone who appears to be deep into a Dunning-Kruger episode.

I’m going to guess my accuser probably couldn’t define fascism either.

Alrighty, enough of a rant for now. Time to get focused on the tasks of the day.

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

Peace y’all.