Evelyn Day 34

Good morning! It is 19 April 2023.

Our senior dog, Lucy, is outside in the dark barking at clouds. She’s kind of odd that way. Freya is on my lap, as well as Rosy, both of them keeping an eye on my wife and the possibility of extra bacon. Odin is just running around barking at stuff randomly.

Yesterday there was some news. During the 2020 election news cycle, one of the allegations was that Dominion, a manufacturer of voting machines, was conspiring against the GOP and Donald Trump to get Joe Biden in the White House. Fox News and their cadre of pundits were all in accusing Dominion of this negative thing and that negative thing. Dominion sued Fox for 1.6 billion dollars. As the jury for the trial had been selected, and lawyers were prepared to deliver their opening remarks when it was announced that a settlement had been reached – the largest defamation suit in history against a media company – to the tune of 787 million dollars.

Fox lied.

Later on today there are going to be committee hearings on UFOs, and I would love to be a fly on the wall during those conversations. Over the last few years, there have been some pretty high-profile events with very credible witnesses, and people want to know what’s going on. I have a passing interest in the subject.

Today I’ve got three modules to cover, and that coffee has yet to be made to give that little legal bump.

Time to get this boat on the water.

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

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 33

Good morning to whoever is reading this. It is 18 April 2023.

Lisa is asleep here on the couch, and Lily is at her feet, Rosy is beside her, and I’ve got Freya tucked up between my legs under my lap desk. Lucy and Odin are camped out on dog beds over by the fireplace.

There’s news in the world today. A young man in Kansas City went to go pick up his sibling at a house, and went to the wrong house… he was supposed to go to an address on a “terrace”, and went to the corresponding address that ended in “street”. An 85-year-old man shot the young man after the young man rang the doorbell. No conversation, no words, no threats, just straight-up shooting. Makes me wonder what is wrong with people.

In New York, a 20-year-old woman was shot and killed when she pulled into the wrong driveway.

I don’t get it.

Unarmed people making the most innocent mistakes.

In the Kansas City case, the young man, Ralph Yarl, is home. He was shot in the head and the arm (yes, the homeowner shot him again after shooting him in the head). The first shot must’ve glanced off his skull – he got very lucky, and is, in fact, home recovering from the shooting.

There are some other big-time news events going on. The Fox News/Dominion lawsuit just started and is expected to run for six weeks. I have a feeling that this suit will not go Rupert Murdock’s way.

OK, time to start the coffee and get ready for the day.

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

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 32

Good morning, folks! It is Monday, 17 April 2023.

I’ve got coffee dripping over in the kitchen, and soon there will be that warm, wake-up juice that gets me going in the morning. I’m thinking a toasted English Muffin with some peanut butter.

Lisa and I went into Kansas City to see Bonnie on Saturday, and we grabbed some things we need for planting here. Next weekend will be a planting and yard-working weekend. I need to get some utility vehicles working.

Evelyn, you turned a month old yesterday. You’ve already been doing quite a bit of traveling on the weekends, and your mom has been taking you everywhere she needs to go. Yesterday she posted a picture of you napping with your dad, and it was a beautiful picture. It was a very peaceful picture, and I hope you have many more moments like that.

In a little bit, I will be returning to my virtual classroom for a delivery. I have an administration course this week, and I am delivering with a new instructor. I hope I can be of some guidance to the young man. The one thing I know I can offer any younger trainer is the benefit of experience. I don’t know that I’m that great or that good, but I do have quite a bit of experience learning stuff and telling people what I’ve learned.

Coffee pot is making noises in the kitchen that let me know that the pot is ready to pour. My cup is ready. Time to get a muffin in the toaster.

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

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 29

Happy Friday, folks! Today is 14 April 2023.

For some odd reason, I woke up at about 3:00 in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. Nothing is really bothering me, but for some reason, my mind got started and decided not to quit. It happens every now and then – like the night before I teach a new class – but last night there really wasn’t a good reason. There’s stuff going on, but why I would wake up and have a rerun of Ted Lasso running through my head, I have no idea.

Some of it I can attribute to ADHD. That squirrel brain of mine doesn’t need much to get going and never stops.

I’ve got some meetings in another couple of hours, mostly stuff dealing with internal operations at work. This afternoon I have a project to work on dealing with teaching neurodivergent populations.

One of the news items that popped up earlier this week was the discovery of classified information on a game site. A number of gamers use a service called Discord to chat and share with like-minded players. My Wednesday/Sunday game group uses it for voice communication during our sessions, and I have no qualms about it. A young man with the Massachusetts Air National Guard started posting classified info into a room to share with his group, which apparently also had a number of misogynistic and racist posts in typical juvenile attempts at humor. He was arrested at his home yesterday by the FBI. It’s funny to see certain representatives rushing to his defense. I’m not real sympathetic to his plight. He’ll be spending a substantial part of his life in a federal penitentiary, I suspect.

Time to get the coffee going.

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

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 28

Good morning! It is 13 April 2023, and my granddaughter is 4 weeks old today.

Today I wrap up the course I’ve been sitting this week. It’s helped me to get a firm grasp on the content, and I’ll be delivering this course in about 2 months for the first time on my own.

I have a feeling that today is going to be an interesting day. Not for any particular reason, but just a hunch. There will be some piece of breaking news that will affect us all in one way or the other.

Yesterday I didn’t write well. My post was short and dismissive, and on most days I pull it together and get the content out, but yesterday was one of those ADHD days where I became distracted and never got my stuff back together.

One of the tools (toys?) I have been experimenting with is ChatGPT. It’s an artificial intelligence tool that I use for creative purposes. I like to ask questions for fun, such as, “Can you create a list of 100 items found in a fantasy wizard’s laboratory in the style of David Eddings”, or “Create a list of original place names for a medieval fantasy world in the style of Douglas Adams”. It can be a tool for spurring creativity or working as a substitute when the creative juices just aren’t flowing.

It’s about time for me to get focused on the tasks of the day. Time to make a pot of coffee and get something in my belly. Yesterday it was chili and eggs. Today might just be a couple slices of toast with peanut butter, and an old favorite that can go so well with a cup of Tanzanian Peaberry.

That coffee isn’t going to make itself.

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

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 27

Hi. I’m back. It’s 12 April 2023, and I’m wondering what to write about.

Never mind. Not writing today, too many distractions.

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

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 26

Hi, it’s me again. Today is 11 April 2023.

I started off the day by checking on some news content, and taking a look at the comments section. Lots of stories about what is going on in our world, the good and the bad. I think it’s interesting to take a look at patterns that show up in the comments section, because it is rather intriguing at times, and can captivate my imagination.

There was a person (I think it’s a person – not quite sure if an AI can post stuff that inflammatory and poorly thought out) that had an avatar – a picture- associated with their account. One feature I like about my web browsers is that I can right-mouse click on a picture and do a web search on it to see where else the picture is being used. This person (?) decided to use a picture of a Polish gentleman who passed away in January… in another country. All of the comments posted by this account (there… that’s more accurate) are the sort of jingoistic, toxic-masculinity, rah-rah America-love-it-or-leave-it drivel that stands out as a caricature of everything that is wrong with America.

The other pattern that appears is the “negative” icons that appear next to my comments. It’s the same four accounts over and over, then there’s a lull, then four different accounts. A number of the “negs” are coming from “private” accounts that don’t allow an observer to see where else an account has left a comment or an impression. I don’t know if these accounts are just a bunch of fake accounts created by one or two people, but I do believe it is within the realm of possibility. Word patterns, attack style, and, most telling, the timing of the comments is certainly suspect. I wonder if there is an AI out there doing pattern analysis on the comments.

I’m back in the classroom this week, preparing for a class I teach in June. Time for me to get going on breakfast and a pot of coffee.

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

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 25

Hi folks! It’s Bob, and today is 10 April 2023.

This week won’t be quite as demanding. I’m shadowing a course I’ll be delivering in June, so I’ll focus on taking notes and organizing some content for my delivery.

Odin is over sitting at Lisa’s feet begging for a snack. Either that or he’s doing a bad impersonation of a character from the 80’s fantasy movie “The Dark Crystal”.

Yesterday was Easter, and we kept it rather low-key. Evelyn was with her mom & dad at a wedding in southern Missouri. My daughter sent some pics of her wearing a white Easter bunny outfit. She turns a month old this coming Sunday. We’ll blink twice and she’ll be in kindergarten.

Bonnie came over for Easter dinner yesterday. We had an interesting conversation about stuff, a wide range of topics from stuff at work to neurodivergence. After dinner, I cut out to the sunroom to get together with friends online – it was kind of nice that my kids and wife recognized my need for structure and patterns.

Not a whole lot going on other than that. Spring is in the air, as well as pollen… my sinuses are monitoring that situation quite closely.

I’m going to get this in the can and get going with my day.

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

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 22

I wish you all a pleasant Good Friday.

It is 7 April 2023. It is my youngest brother’s birthday, so I need to give a shout-out to Dan. I hope you are safe out on the road with Ro.

I finished up class yesterday, and I’m pretty confident the post-class evaluations will come in with positive comments. I haven’t taken a look at them yet, but I should. I have a love/hate relationship with the comments after class. Sometimes you get a little confidence boost when the positive notes pop up, but sometimes the negatives can ride me down for weeks. My skin isn’t as thick as it should be.

I’ve got a few meetings later today, but nothing too taxing. I’ve got plenty of other tasks to keep me busy throughout the day. I think I’ll cancel one of the sessions – I’ve had an ongoing session to help folks with a software package, but the last couple of times, no one has shown up. Then again, maybe today will be different.

Next week I continue with my preparation to deliver a new course.

Other than that, not a lot going on. This weekend I’m going to go to see a movie with two of my kids. The Dungeons and Dragons movie looks like a lot of fun.

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

Peace y’all.

Evelyn Day 21

She’s three weeks old today.

Good morning, folks! Today is 6 April 2023, and I’ve got a few things on my mind.

Yesterday, a bunch of folks were offended by beer cans.

Some people are really sensitive and want others to deeply feel what they are feeling, and they are dismayed by the lack of empathy they are receiving. Now, considering that this is about asking others to empathize with them is a bit of an irony, as they seem to be incapable of empathy for others.

I’m looking forward to making breakfast today… going for a bigger-than-average omelet. It’ll probably break down into just eggs, cheese, and stuff, but I’m looking forward to it nonetheless. I haven’t eaten much the last couple of days, so this has the potential to be a very satisfying culinary experience.

Got together with the guys online last night. We had a good time, but a new episode of a favorite TV show came out. Lisa and I will be able to relax and enjoy that tonight, pulling off a “Ted Lasso” and “Star Trek: Picard” double feature.

OK, about time for me to break out the eggs, cheese, corned beef and peppers for breakfast, right after I get a pot of coffee going.

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

Peace y’all.