Evie Day 90

Good morning! I hope this finds you well. Today is Wednesday, 14 June 2023.

One of the more fascinating realities about living in today’s world is people’s tendency to read a little bit on a topic and then claim a level of expertise that can only be explained by people with the last names of Dunning and Kruger. When the pandemic hit, everybody read up a little on the coronavirus and then felt that they knew more than Dr. Anthony Fauci. When inflation spiked, people came across some article by an economist, and they were ready to run the Fed.

Over the course of the last two weeks, the number of experts in the legal prosecution of those that have mishandled classified government documents has reached alarming levels, but at least the CIA will no longer have to worry about the size of the recruiting pool.

I am not one of those people. I can draw simple comparisons, such as Reality Winner mishandling a single document about Russian interference in the 2016 election (the one Trump won) and she was convicted and sentenced to five years and three months in a federal penitentiary. She served four years and has been released.

I wonder if she’s going to be brought on as an expert… she has more first-hand experience than many. Could have brought in convicted spy and former FBI agent Robert Hansen, but he died in prison last week.

I still go back and look at the photos taken from Mar-A-Lago… why the hell was there a copier in one of those rooms Trump used to store those documents?

“Makin’ copies for the Trumpster…”

This morning I’ll be working on my class for next week. Out of a four-day class, I have a responsibility to deliver two days, so I focus on those two days first, then prep to fill in just in case my training partner has an internet or health issue. I’m working with a trainer I’ve worked with before, and I think we work together well.

Online gaming tonight, but it might be a short session. Looks like a few of the guys won’t be able to make it, and it appears that our regular Sunday game might skip a session for Father’s Day this week.

Maybe I’ll use Sunday afternoon to become an expert on international textile markets or something.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 89

Good morning! It is Tuesday, 31 June 2023.

I’m sitting here blocking out my day. I’m preparing for a few things… new class next week, a presentation on Friday, meeting later today. Tacos for dinner, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on TV tonight – we’re rewatching Season 1 before Season 2 debuts tomorrow evening.

The Denver Nuggets finished off the Miami Heat last night, winning the best-of-seven series in five games. Nikola Jokic was the MVP, and he earned it. All of us around the University of Kansas basketball program are happy for Christian Braun, who went from a college national championship last year to an NBA world championship last evening. A couple of the Kansas coaches were in the stands to cheer the Nuggets.

Later today, a former president will show up in Miami to be arraigned on almost 40 charges. There will be protests – apparently Trump helped to arrange the schedule for maximum indignation. Trump was asked if this will deter him from continuing his run for the presidency in 2024, and he said no. I think I’ve been pretty blunt about my opinion on Trump, and I honestly can’t believe there are people out there that still support the clown.

I’ve been paying a little attention to the Ukrainian offensive as they try to retake land stolen by the Russian invasion. I hope it goes well for the Ukraine forces. There might be some pretty serious infighting with the Russian forces right now, as the Kremlin was forcing troops to sign some loyalty pledge, but the mercenary Wagner group, which has been operating as a vanguard/forward combat unit, has refused to sign the loyalty pledge. Crazy idea, mercenaries acting like mercenaries. By the time it’s said and done, they’ll sell out to the highest bidder.

Time to make coffee and get started with my day.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 88

Good morning, and happy Monday. Today is 12 June 2023.

OK, this is the post I should’ve posted last week, and deferred.

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on 37 or 38 felony charges for the mishandling of classified documents after the conclusion of his presidency. The pictures came out of documents being stored in a ballroom, in a bathroom, and a storeroom with a copier. There appears to be evidence that Trump went to extreme measures to hide those documents from the National Archives and the FBI.

I have talked with people that hold or have held security clearance. I have family members that currently hold a security clearance. If the history of security clearance and classified document prosecution is any indicator of future events, this does not bode well for the former president. It’s a mess of his own doing. Reality Winner shared a single classified document about Russian interference in the 2016 election and she was sentenced to 5 years and 3 months in a federal penitentiary.

The rest of the stuff… we had a pretty rainy weekend, so I wasn’t able to get any mowing done. I did focus on work a bit, and got some things done in anticipation of teaching a new security course next week. I have more work to do, certainly, but I got a good start.

Other than that, not a whole lot else to share.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 85

Hi everybody! It is Friday!

I feel like there ought to be a pause here to give y’all a chance to stand up and dance a little if your Friday is an actual Friday. Some folks who work on Saturday and Sunday don’t get to experience that joy … dance for them, too.

It is 9 June 2023. I wrapped up my security class yesterday afternoon and took care of some housekeeping basics. I think our class landed well, but I haven’t gone back to check the post-class surveys yet.

I’ve got a meeting starting at ten that will tie me up for the rest of the day. We’re exploring a different sort of training modality, and I think I need to experience it before I can draw any sort of conclusion.

Dane is heading to the lake with some of his friends later, and Lisa and I will be on our own for dinner. It might be an opportunity to try something different… either preparing something new or trying a different restaurant.

Other than that, I really don’t have much else to share. There has been some interesting news in the last day, but that’s a conversation for another day.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 84

Hi. It’s Bob again, and today is 8 June 2023.

Later this morning, I’ll be chatting up a couple of topics on the last day of my cloud security course, discussing database security and monitoring tools. After today, I’ll be focused on a course I’m familiar with, but have not taught. First-time teaches can create a little bit of anxiety, but I’m not too worried. I’m working with another trainer that I have worked with before, and our styles dovetail into each other pretty well.

Sending positive thoughts to our friends in Canada fighting the wildfires up there. There’s a 100 square-mile range/forest/wildfire generating huge amounts of ash and smoke, and the prevailing winds are carrying that bad air right into some of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the US. Folks in those cities are having a rough time with the air quality, and I can’t help but think about the people that have lost their homes and property in Canada, not to mention the displaced and lost wildlife that are forced to relocate if they even can.

Played a bit with the guys last night. I always have a good time with that bunch. A better night for game-play combat without the ridiculous number of consecutive “1s” rolled on the dice like we had last Sunday. It was uncanny how many bad rolls we can have in a session.

After work, I think I’m going to take a little time to watch last night’s NBA Finals game, game three, Denver Nuggets at the Miami Heat. I know the Nuggets won, but local favorite Christian Braun caught fire a bit and had fifteen points in the game. He’s not a starter now, but that might change next season.

Time for me to make coffee and get focused on the tasks at hand.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 83

Hi. It is Wednesday, 7 June 2023.

Today is the 60th birthday of my best friend from high school. I shot him a note yesterday wishing him a good day.

My 60th isn’t for a couple of months yet, my birthday falling a scant twenty days after my wife’s. She would tell people she robbed the cradle… the one next to hers.

I’m back in the virtual classroom in another couple of hours. The content I am covering this morning is stuff I usually hand off to a partner trainer, so I’m going to take a bit of time before my session to go over that content.

I had some parts arrive yesterday for the “Holy Grail” guitar I plan on building with my son. I’m very happy with the neck, but the body is going to need a little work to make the figure of the wood really pop. The body is an Indian rosewood cap on top of a mahogany base. The neck is Indian rosewood over walnut. What I hope we can do is stain the mahogany to as close to the color of the walnut as possible, so we’re going to have to get creative matching those pigments up.

I’ve had some pleasant interactions with a guy from Lollar Pickups, and I think I’ve decided to go with two Charlie Chrisitan pickups. Lollar has a kit with both neck and bridge pickups, with the bridge pickup wound in the opposite direction of the neck pickup to create a hum-canceling pair when played with the switch in the middle position. It’s kind of exciting.

Time for me to get focused on the tasks at hand.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 82

Good morning, folks! It is 6 June 2023.

Watching the news, and during a report on Ukraine, an eerie sound came from the background as they started the air raid sirens. Now they’ve rolled over to more on Trump (moron Trump?) and how classified documents were moved and hidden from view following the subpoena to return classified documents that were in his position.

I started my four-day security class yesterday, working with a trainer I have not worked with before. She started off with a whiteboarding session on identity, and her skills on the digital whiteboard are among the best I’ve seen in our organization. All I could do was sit back and admire her handwriting and illustration skills. I need to work on my chops because the bar has been raised.

Today is the 79th anniversary of D-Day. Not too many of those guys around anymore. Thank you, folks.

It’s funny. I can sit here, and think that I’m focused and in the moment, but then the squirrel brain gets distracted and I go on a three-minute journey without ever getting out of my chair.

I’m going to go get the coffee going and get my low-carb bagel in the toaster.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 81

Good morning! Hi, fat old man Bob here on this Monday, 5 June 2023.

For the most part, I’ve over the stuff that had taken up residence in my chest for the last week. I still have some residual coughing, and I still feel l this post-condition weight in my chest.

I return to my virtual classroom in another couple of hours, back teaching security om the Central Time Zone. I’m working with a younger trainer this week – I hope I can pass along some info to her that can help her on her journey. I love being a trainer, and will likely retire a trainer in a number of years.

I don’t have that much to share from the weekend, really. This stuff in my respiratory system kept me in the house for the most part – I try to avoid the stuff floating around outside. I’ve had hayfever and allergy issues since I was a kid.

Not much else going on this week. I’ve got some guitar parts coming in tomorrow and Wednesday for a summer project

I’m not very exciting right now.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 78

Hi folks! It is Friday, 2 June 2023.

I’m taking a sick day to focus on my health. This crud in my lungs is lingering, and I did soldier through the class I had Tuesday through Thursday, but this day is a recovery day and time for me to focus a bit on myself.

I got up, started a pot of coffee, and flipped on the news. I was watching a story about a rescue from Mt. Everest. Some guy had a problem and had to be carried back down the mountain by a sherpa. There seems to be a growing interest in Mt. Everest adventure vacationing, but I have to tell you, I don’t think I have ever thought, “Hey, I want to climb Mt. Everest”.

Nope.

Many people have died on that mountain, and many dead people are still on that mountain. I have no interest in traipsing through a morgue at altitude.

I think I’d rather create something new.

Just me, I’m kind of weird.

Looks like the job reports are solid, with 339,000 jobs added in May. That’s pretty good news. The unemployment percentage went up, but 100,000 new workers entered the job market between college and high school grads.

The coffee is up, so I’m going to grab a cup. Might try and get some protein in my system to start the day as well.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 77

Hey, good morning, friends. Today is the first day of June, 2023.

The chest is still feeling pretty raw. I can feel the dryness in my lungs, and my breathing, while not labored, isn’t quite as strong as I would like.

I’ve got one more day in my networking course, and my schedule tomorrow is pretty clean, so if I’m still feeling this way tomorrow, I’m thinking it might be a good idea if a take a day to recover from this stuff.

Lisa and I watched the series finale for Ted Lasso last evening. It was a great series.

Tonight the NBA finals begin, with the Miami Heat traveling to the Denver Nuggets. I think this first game will go to the Nuggets. The Heat and Nuggets played each other twice during the regular season, and the Nuggets won both games. With the Heat coming off a seven-game series with the Celtics, and the Nuggets having swept the Lakers (leading to almost a week of downtime), I just see the Heat coming in a little spent.

Guitar parts are coming in next week. I’m looking forward to the new build.

Other than that, not much to report today.

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

Peace y’all.