Evie 146

Good morning, and welcome to Wednesday, 9 August 2023.

I’m listening to some weather-related sounds outside. I have a feeling my big boy, Odin, will require some special attention. He’s my only male dog, and my biggest at 28 pounds, and when thunderstorms roll through, he gets scared pretty easy.

Had an interesting comment regarding my posts about the Women’s World Cup and the US Women’s National Team. The comment addressed the role Megan Rapinoe has had in her support for women’s rights, the LGBTQ+ community, and women athletes striving for pay equality – and I agree 100%. I support women’s sports – my mom was an athlete and a coach, my sister has been an athlete and a coach, my wife was a high school athlete as were both of my daughters. I get a little tired of certain fans that feel there must be a comparison between the game women play and the game men play. Here’s an idea – Don’t. Don’t compare them. Accept each with its own players and own style.

Hug your kids if you have ’em. I received some bad news yesterday from a friend regarding his son. Terrible news, the worst kind. His son had been in and out of rehab and got his hands on a bad batch of something. I was a mess for a while after I got the news, and still hurt.

I’ve got one section to cover today in my admin course. I had two yesterday, and one of the learners in class gave me a compliment about my explanation of TCP/IP networks today, and that was a moment. It’s kind of unusual for someone to open their mic and thank me for discussing a topic I consider to be pretty mundane. It does make a guy feel good.

I’m going 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 145

Good morning, and a happy Taco Tuesday to you all. It is 8 August 2023.

I started my four-day class yesterday with my training partner, and it was a good day. I generally have good results when I am delivering a course with another instructor, but sometimes, it’s energizing. Some people give you energy, some people draw energy away… or, to put it another way…

Some people are life-sucking vampires.

I don’t have too many people in my life that fall into that last category, and my training partner brings such positivity to the delivery, I can’t help but break out in a smile.

Lisa has a meeting after work tonight, so Dane and I will be on our own for the taco run. I’m sure we’ll find a way to power through, with habanero sauce on the side.

I tried a different app yesterday. I try to keep avenues open for furthering my education. I’ve completed some online courses, but sometimes those are hard for me to stay engaged in. I’ve signed up for a series of courses through “MasterClass” that I have paid for and haven’t started yet. That said, I did receive a discount offer from an outfit called “Headway”, which provides executive book summaries. I tried an audio version of on of their books in a track that piqued my interest, and I enjoyed it. I was able to play it back at 1.25x speed – I could have gone faster, but I was in no big hurry – and it was a satisfying experience. I’ll give another book a shot later this morning before I head back to my virtual classroom.

That’s enough for now, I think.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 144

Heidi-ho, neighbor! It’s 7 August 2023.

Yeah, maybe I’ve been watching too many “Simpsons” episodes lately.

OK, first things first. Yesterday morning the US Women’s National Team lost in the first elimination round against Sweden, losing on penalty kicks. It is the end of an era, with some of the players announcing their retirement following the loss – penalty kicks at the end of a 0-0 tie. I look at a team missing up to four starters at times, with injuries to Swanson and Sauerbrun, Williams being ill, and some pretty questionable yellow cards against Rose Lavelle leading to her suspension for the match. Other folks are pointing to the social justice aspect of it, with a team captain doing some things that folks have criticized, but I’m not going to blame that. Considering the laws that are being enacted across the country that directly affect the LGBTQ+ community, I don’t blame her for speaking up and standing her ground. I’ve read some pretty vile stuff from pretty narrow-minded people. Megan Rapinoe played her last match, and she is hanging up her boots, and she’ll be remembered as a two-time World Cup champ. There aren’t too many Americans that can make that claim.

I’m back in my virtual classroom for a four-day class this week, teaching with one of my old training colleagues. Chris and I have delivered a lot of content together. I look forward to working with him this week. He’s always very positive.

I’ve got a new task to complete for work as well. I can’t talk about it much, but I’m excited about it. It might lead to some changes in my current role if I do well. Positive thoughts are welcome.

I need to pay attention to my peppers. I’ve got some early jalapenos about ready to come off the vine, and it looks like my other peppers are looking pretty healthy. We’re going to have a little heat! Ancho, habanero, serrano, sweet red Italian, and a couple of bell pepper varieties as well. I see salsa in my future.

Time to shift my focus to the day ahead.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 141

Friday! Friday! Friday! I wish you all a bright and happy day! It is 4 August 2023.

Today is the last session for my 4-week blended learning course. We have a two-hour closing session today, then open study time to focus on the other stuff. I’m going to focus on my course for next week – just caught wind of a whole new course layout for the 4-day class, so Bubba needs to take a look at the decks, figure out what has changed and what has stayed the same.

Yesterday was another day filled with political intrigue as Trump has to fly to Washington, DC, to be arraigned. He flew in, pleaded, “Not Guilty”, then complained about how dirty and filthy DC was, claiming it never looked like that when he was President. What he didn’t say is that he never drove through DC when he was President, he would just hop Marine One in the lawn of the White House and fly over it. Washington was dirty when he was in DC because he was in DC… I don’t hold Trump is any regard, and I consider him human filth. I will not shed any tears if he is found guilty.

I get to plan dinner tonight for three. Dane has been in Missouri for a couple of days taking care of Bonnie’s dog while she was traveling on business. He needed the time away to focus on a project as well.

I’m back shopping for a new system I think. I’m going to take my daily driver into the shop today to see if there’s a solution for the power issue. If I can’t get things resolved, I might take a long look at the new Alienware Aurora system. Looks a little less “plastic-y”. A more traditional case, almost a mini-tower, but with adequate hardware.

Time to get the coffee brewing.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 140

Good morning, all! Today is 3 August 2023.

There is news today, but I’m not going to focus on that. Most of what I’m seeing this morning is news related to the continuing string of indictments being handed the former guy, including a new arrest and arraignment today for Trump related to the shenanigans he pulled in Georgia, which involves both state charges and civil lawsuits for the destructive statements he mad against Georgia poll workers.

As I have shared, I am a college basketball fan, and the local team has a game at 11:00 AM in Puerto Rico. I figure the first half of the streamed game will be in the background, but that second half should hit right around lunchtime… minor victories being what they are.

Oooh… something bigger than a minor victory. One of the top recruits to come out of Australia committed to the University of Kansas yesterday. Johnny Furphy is a 6’7″ small forward… just about the same size as two of the players we lost to the NBA after last season.

Tomorrow or Monday, I’m going to have to make a run into Microcenter in Kansas City. I’m not real happy with my “daily driver” computer. It won’t charge nor stay charged. I’ve been able to reset it a couple of times, but it is getting a bit out of hand at this point, and I’d like to continue to use the system and get it fixed than find myself forced to purchase a replacement for it only a few years into it’s lifetime. Yes, I know tech refresh is a good three-year cycle, but I think I’m only two years into this box… although it might be three and I’m just losing track of the years.

OK, that’s enough for today. I’ve got a talk in my virtual classroom in another couple of hours, so it might be time for me to get this in the can and get ready for the day.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 139

Good morning, and welcome to HumpDay! It is 2 August 2023.

OK, let me tell you a few things on my mind.

I watched the 0-0 match between the Portuguese women’s team and the US Women’s National Team. The USWNT is playing a little off, and the reasons are kind of obvious. They are missing two of their starters in Sauerbrun and Swanson. Add in some pretty poor officiating – the 2nd yellow card on Rose Lavelle was ludicrous, and the other yellow she received in an earlier match was just as bogus, and now she has to sit out the first match of the knockout stage. Anyway, the USWNT moves on to the knockout stage, and I wish them all the best.

There were more indictments in the January 6th, 2021 mess, and Trump is at the center, as well as his cadre of sycophants. No sympathy for that bunch. The noise from the Trump camp is that it was free speech, but there’s one big problem. Free speech is fine as long as it’s just free speech. When lies turn to action against the federal government and interfere with the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next. Trump claiming innocence because he personally didn’t destroy federal property is tantamount to Charlie Manson claiming innocence in the Tate-LaBianco murders because he wasn’t there… all he did was work that group of gullible young fools into committing murder.

No one won the Mega Millions drawing last night, and that has moved up to a 1.25 billion dollar drawing. I’ll buy a ticket and dream a little bit. I think that’s what lottery tickets do – give you a dream of wealth and freedom to live the rest of your life in comfort. It’s fun to dream.

Time for me to get ready for the day.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 138

Good morning, everybody!

I start off with that, but I must confess, I really have no idea how many people read my posts, but if you’re reading this, know that I am grateful for your time and attention.

Today is the first day of a new month, 1 August 2023.

Lots going on this month. We’ll have a string of birthdays towards the end of the month, Dane will return to school for the fall semester, Evie will turn 5 months old, and one of our pooches will perfect the ice pick bark, a bark so high-pitched and screechy that it makes you want to eliminate an eardrum.

Right now several of our canine charges are over by Lisa, begging for some of her breakfast. They don’t bother me as aggressively – they know I don’t share. But my wife has earned quite the reputation in the dog community for dispensing snacks if one sits, gives the lamenting sad dog face, and applies enough agony in the vocalizations.

In that regard, my wife is a soft touch.

There were some women’s world cup matches on very early this morning, and the US women played at 2:00 AM. I set my DVR to record it, but of course, I flipped on the news, and received an update… how about a spoiler alert?

I’m back in my virtual classroom in another hour or so. Starting off the week with a little review/preview and open office hours to talk with our learners about where we’ve been and where we’re going.

In other news, looks like more indictments are coming against the former guy. The news is currently running a story about someone’s mounting legal bills and how money is being shifted between various political action committees to pay for someone’s attorneys.

OK well. It’s Tuesday… focus on the tacos.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 137

We’re back! It’s Monday morning! It is the last day of the current month, 31 July 2023.

We had a weekend around here, a pretty relaxed Friday evening, a Saturday evening get-together with neighbors around our little section of the county, and then some storms blew through yesterday last night that took out the power. The power is back on, but the storms keep coming through.

I’ve got a little prep work to get through today for the last week of my admin course, and then I’ll reach out to my training partner for next week’s class, and my other class a little later in the month. It’s not too early to put together a plan. I’ve got regular curriculum to get through, but I also have some other content that requires my attention on the security side and on the AI side. I’ve got a learning path I’m trying to get through for a challenge, so I’ll try to stay on top of that today as well.

I also want to try to get a little software configured on my work laptop – OBS, the Open Broadcast Studio, and the configuration software for my Elgato Streamdeck Mk2. I’m hopeful I’ll get the basics down over the next couple of weeks so I can use it effectively in my deliveries.

Looks like my daughter took Evie to go see my mom out in central Kansas yesterday. I’m glad my daughter takes the time for that. My mom really looks forward to seeing her only great-grandchild… but that’s going to change in a scant few months, as a new great-grandchild is on the way, a boy this time. I’m happy for my niece and very happy as my brother becomes a grandfather.

OK, time for me to take a look at the day ahead. Leftover corned beef hash and eggs from Saturday is the right way to start off this business week.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 134

Good morning, and Happy Friday to you all! Today is 28 July 2023.

I work up this morning, and it feels like I didn’t really sleep at all. I feel tired. It’s in my eyes and my head, and I don’t know why, as I don’t recall having a restless night. I do recall looking up at the clock about four o’clock in the morning, and then rolling over to fall back to sleep.

Maybe it’s just a little “early morning fog”. After all, it is still 5:55 in the morning.

Later today I have to shoot a little video in Teams for a project. My team is planning on shooting some videos for training purposes, and they would like to get an idea as to how folks look and present on camera. I hope I can put together a good five minutes for the folks making the decisions and handling the assignments

There’s news in the world, there always is.

I’m just not into writing this morning. It happens from time to time, the ol’ “writer’s block”. I could take a few minutes, regurgitate what’s happening in the world and lend my opinion (for whatever that’s worth). Sometimes that feels like I’m just reaching into a barrel of words and ladling them into semi-cohesive sentences on the page. That works for me sometimes, but this morning it would just be me saying, “hey, look, more charges being filed against a former president”, and I do enough of that.

I’m going to get this in the can and get ready for the rest of my day.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 133

Good morning! I wish you all a happy Thursday. Today is 27 July 2023

I had a pretty good day yesterday, with a big block of lab time with my learners, and an afternoon office hours session talking a little bit deeper about some of the ins and outs of virtual machines. It was another good session, and then I spent a little time working on another training-related project. I have some “recording” I need to get done in the office studio to demonstrate a few things on our platform.

I had a gaming session with friends last evening that coincided with the US Women’s National Team versus the Netherlands. I know the outcome of the match (I won’t spoil it for those of you that haven’t seen it). One of the things that I was not aware of is that the US Women have always been able to get out of the group play into the next single-elimination round. I’m hoping this is not the year they take an early exit. The US team is a bit down with two of the team leaders out with injuries.

There’s plenty of other news going on with the world. Ukraine is still a mess, the coast of Florida is setting heat records in the ocean water, folks are testifying before Congress about UFOs, and more charges are apparently coming down against Trump. Too much to address right now… I’ve got a nuisance Bluetooth audio speaker in another room beeping to let me know it needs to go back on the charger.

Hey, get out there and go chase a dream. If you catch it, get after the next one. Pursue happiness.

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

Peace y’all.