Evie Day 155

Happy Friday, everyone! It is 18 August 2023.

I made a mistake last night. I thought I’d get out ahead of it, and I moved some of the garbage out to the drive for pickup later this morning. Either the neighbor dogs, a coyote, fox, or raccoon decided to do a deeper investigation into the contents of a big trash bag. I’ve got a mess to clean up later.

I’ve got a day ahead. First meeting at 9, the second meeting at 11, lunch with Dane at 12:30, then I have a renewal to take care of that I’ve been putting off – no real fear of the renewal, just procrastination. Lisa and I will have dinner by ourselves this evening, as Dane will be going out with friends. I hope he’s careful driving around Lawrence tonight – the rest of the college students have started arriving in the dorms, and the Greeks will likely be out testing their new fake IDs at the “Barmuda Triangle” (The Hawk, The Wheel, The Bull).

I may have to make a trip to the company studios in October to shoot a training video for a document classification and governance product. That could be fun. Fly up on Monday, in studio Tuesday and Wednesday, then home on Thursday. I have some familiarity with the product, but between now and then, there will be some deep diving.

There’s other stuff going on, some things that I might write about later, but for now, I think I need to ponder on them a little longer.

This weekend, there will be much reading and mowing.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 154

Good morning, folks! It is 17 August 2023.

This week is going pretty well. I’ve been getting some things done in my workspace, and planning for some pending changes to the layout. I’m also looking pretty hard at clearing off an entire wall and pondering a paint job, making the whole wall a chroma key green so I can use some broadcast software that provides some interesting visual effects.

Had a short chat with my manager yesterday, and will have another talk today. I’m thinking about setting up a page or a file of “unsolicited advice” where I can share some things I’ve figured out in just about 30 years as a technical trainer and 45 years of working with computers. I think I can offer some insights as well as some more irreverent commentary about what I’ve experienced and an avenue for cracking a joke or two.

Working with dedicated time blocks seems to be working out pretty well. To-do lists are fine for a lot of folks, but I think dedicating time for getting certain things done works better for me. That reminds me… I need to dedicate a little time to the renewal of my Cloud Solutions Architect certification.

Yeah, I’m kind of boring this morning. Maybe a cup of coffee is in order to get me dialed in a little better.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 153

Good morning, and a happy hump day. Today is Wednesday, 16 August 2023.

More video is coming out of the Hawaiian island of Maui, and the devastating wildfires that have ravaged the island. Over 100 people have died in the fires there, making the Hawaiian wildfires some of the worst fires in US history. It’s going to take a long time for the island to recover.

There’s more news in politics as the Atlanta Distract Attorney announced more indictments against Trump, who is now facing over 90 felony charges relating to his crimes. It’s getting hard to keep track of the fraud in New York, the classified documents espionage case, the attempts to coerce the Georgia Secretay of State into committing election fraud, and defamation suits by poll workers.

The part that roasts my chestnuts is Trump’s claim that it’s all political and that he did nothing wrong. That is a hard sell for anybody that has been paying attention. From my perspective, Trump has entered the “find out” stage.

I’m working on some stuff for work, preparing my presentations for next week, and working in an occasional audiobook, or executive book review (I like alternating between full-length books and summaries). Add in some interaction with learners from past classes on social media (mostly LinkedIn) and the day can get full pretty quick. I’ve got a meeting today with my manager, and another with him tomorrow, each meeting for a different purpose.

Time to get the coffee on and think about grabbing some breakfast.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 152

Hello. It is Tuesday, 15 August 2023.

Today is going to be a rough day. I find myself thinking about snappy things to say, and funny anecdotes to fire off… yesterday I was listening to an executive book summary on how to stay focused, and I’d tell you more, but I got distracted. …but it’s not the right time to try to be funny.

Friends of mine will be having a service later today for the son they lost eight days ago.

I’ll watch the service online.

This kind of thing is never easy.

I’ve got the news on, and there are stories about things happening in the world. Maui has been torched. More charges have been filed against the former guy. A small town in Kansas had their newspaper raided by the police, and it appears to be politically motivated.

Right now I’ve got to call for, “Shield’s up!”. Too much debris coming at me all at once.

I’ve been trying to improve my focus. I wasn’t joking earlier about losing my focus while listening to an executive book summary on how to stay focused. I’ve been listening to a collection of books focused on ADHD and neurodivergence, and maybe it will help me created better habits. Note to self: Listen to a summary on creating better habits… or skip the summary and listen to the whole book.

If you have a second, send some prayers and positive intentions to my friend, his wife, and their surviving son. Right now they are going to be surrounded by a lot of caring people and a lot of support. Next week, they’ll try to get back to their professional lives, and at times, the silence will be deafening. It’s in those moments that I hope the universe touches them and reminds them that they are loved.

Time to get on with my day.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 151

Good morning, folks! Today is 14 August 2023.

I didn’t post last Friday. If I recall correctly, I think I posted something to that effect the day prior, on that Thursday morning. I was in transit to Utah to help a friend deal with a tragic situation at his home.

My friend, Rob, and his wife, lost their 23-year-old son last Monday. It was an accidental death in their home. Rob was the first on the scene. He reached out to me last Monday, and we had a longer conversation on Tuesday about the passing of the young man. Initially, Rob thought the service would happen on Saturday, so I arranged to travel out with a Sunday return. After I booked my travel, I found out the service was scheduled for Tuesday, but I made the choice not to adjust my plans. Instead, I went out to Salt Lake City on Friday morning early, and spend a couple of days with them, helping with errands related to the service.

I’m glad I went. Rob’s wife, Danette, had family and a close network of friends right there, and I wanted to make sure ROb had “people”, too. I’m glad I went to do what I could.

The service for the young man will be tomorrow, and it will be broadcast on Zoom. The link is to the obituary, and it does have a link to the service.

That’s all I’ve got for now.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 147

Good morning, today is Thursday, 10 August 2023.

I didn’t sleep well last night. So many things that are just vibrating around my brain, including one dream of a small dog, Lily, running around with my breakfast jalapeno bagel with cream cheese – the cream chees was on the bagel, not the dog.

This happens from time to time. Some things happen in my life, or in the lives of people close to me, and my brain gets a little overstimulated. One thought triggers another, and turns into a cascade of thought after thought… sometimes I have a good idea, but I’m so wrapped up in trying to sleep that I don’t get up to write it down, which is fine, because by the time I would get up, get conscious enough to write a thought down, that thought has grabbed three others and ran out the back door looking for the next party.

I may not have a blog entry tomorrow. One of the things hanging around my head is the anticipation of unexpected travel. I’ll be on a plane tomorrow morning at this time, heading out to check on a friend and his wife. They’ve been through a rough time this last week. I might expound on the circumstances in a later entry, but for now, it’s just about getting myself by them as a friend. There might not be much I can do, but I need to be present for whatever for a couple of days as a show of support and love.

Today is the last day of my four-day administration class. It has been a great week, and my training partner brings it every minute. I hope one day I can bring as much professionalism and energy to my deliveries as he brings every single day. There are some types of praise I rarely toss around about people, but I can say in all honesty that working with Chris this last week has been an absolute blessing at a time I needed it.

I’m going to get this into the can.

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

Peace y’all.

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.