Evie Day 111

Hi folks, it is Wednesday, 5 July 2023.

I slept in a little bit this morning, my second vacation workday this week – yesterday was a holiday, not a vacation day – it’s important to recognize the difference.

Later today, I am going to get out of the house. I saw Nebraska Furniture Mart had a nice sale on a dumbell set and rack, and it’s too good to pass up, to be honest. 100 lbs or Weider dumbells and a rack for under a hundred bucks, new. While I’m out, I’ll grab a little lunch at one of the restaurants in the Legends. I could take a look at the movies that are playing over there as well… today is a good day to goof off.

It’s a gray day outside. Normally, I would be thinking about ways to be productive here, but I think I’ll focus on the indoor stuff rather than the outdoor stuff. It rained a bit last night, so mowing today may not be a practical choice, I have diesel for the tractor, but I need to get some regular gas for the riding mower.

I think I’m going to make a few changes back in the sunroom. I’ve got too many guitars out (What? Impossible!), and I’m going to loosen the strings on a few and get them in cases. I figure there is a downstairs bedroom I can use to store stuff, and that will make a little more room for the dumbell rack in the sunroom.

That’s about it, really. I like slow-moving days when I have time to catch my breath. Add in a little rain for ambiance, and it’s the kind of calm day I kind of need, and following a weekend of fireworks and loud noises, the dogs could use a quiet day as well.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 110

Hi folks! It is a national holiday in the United States, as today is the 4th of July.

A long, long time ago, my seventh great-grandfather, Benjamin Harrison V, signed the Declaration of Independence. I’d like to shake his hand for that, then kick him in the nuts because he thought it was normal to enslave human beings.

Yesterday was a good day. We spent family time in the pool together, let Bonnie’s dog destroy an inflated ball, and generally had a good time. We did our tabletop gaming thing for a while, then went outside to watch what we thought would be fireworks. The fireworks at the county fairground started at 9:45, but we didn’t get outside until a half-hour later, and by the time we figure the show was over… that show, anyway. We sat around the pool, and after our eyes adjusted, we got a different show – all of the fireflies were out and they were quite active. It was modest entertainment, but entertaining nonetheless.

I’ve got a brisket and a pork butt on the smoker right now. Later, I’ll get some beans and corn going, but I’m not sure I’m going to have room for the trays on the smoker rack… I might have to go for a shorter cook on the grill instead but at a higher temperature.

I need to go out and check my temperature on the smoker. Might be a good time for me to get my wifi meat thermometer set up so I can keep a close eye on my temps.

In the meant time…

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 109

Good morning! It is Monday, 3 July 2023. It is the first (work) day of my vacation. Technically, I guess my vacation started on Friday, right after I closed out my work week, but that first weekend always feels more like a weekend than a vacation anyway.

I’ll get some meat trimmed up and dressed to go on the smoker a little later today. I’ve picked up a brisket and a pork shoulder to throw on the smoker tomorrow. I might take a chance on a couple of sides in the smoker as well – barbecue beans with bacon, and something weird with corn and cheese – I have some frozen sweet corn and a brick of spicy Velveeta that I’ll throw into a small foil pan. I figure get some smoke rolling by 9:00 AM and 6:00 pull for the proteins. The veggies don’t need as long in the heat. The only thing I need to do is get a little more chuck hardwood for the smoker – pecan is my favorite, and hickory is the alternative.

Later today we’re going to have a little role-playing one-shot with the kids, and I think my son and eldest daughter have manipulated my wife into joining the fray. I’ll have ’em run a couple of errands for a neurotic gnome that requires very special components for a scroll he is creating for a customer, but, my oh my, there is a deadline and he is quite worried, quite worried indeed.

One thing that I have learned to enjoy a bit and have repeatedly used for inspiration – artificial intelligence. I have been going out to ChatGPT and have used their engines to generate lists of random stuff, just the sort of stuff I want to pull from when I need a description of some random item sitting on a table or a book on a shelf. Yeah, it’s not the most creative approach, but it’s quick, and I don’t have to devote a lot of time to the creation of minutiae.

I hope those of you in the US are getting a break, and I hope my Canadian friends had a good Canada Day this past Saturday. For my American friends, pause and read the Flag Code – our flag is to be revered, and not meant to be worn as a jingoistic tank top.

For the rest of y’all…

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 106

Good morning and happy Friday! It is 30 June 2023, and the last day of my fiscal year at work.

I’m mad today, and I started writing, and I just started going down a hole. Today may not be the best day for me to ponder the issues of the day.

I’ve got a couple of meetings later today, but I should have a pretty low-key day to recuperate. My class this week wasn’t a strain, just the opposite. One of my learners this week was a student that I had worked with while I was at my former employer in Kansas City.

Lisa is making breakfast pastries to take into work, and I’ve got a glass of water and three dogs on my lap. Freya is nestled under my lap desk. She was a delight this morning when I work up, giving me that look while she did her “pet me” dance on the bed. 9 years old and she still can be our little puppy.

I’m going to get this in the can. Sorry, just not focused on getting words on the page today. When I first started writing this, my focus was on writing 200 words per day. I normally do ok with my word count, but the little extension I use to count my words isn’t as convenient as it used to be, so I no longer count my words – I just keep writing.

There’s more to get down on the page, but maybe just not now. I’ll put some more thought into the events of the last day and maybe write a little more later.

In the meantime…

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 105

Good morning! It is 29 June 2023.

This morning I flipped on the news to see some stuff happening in the world. The 24th perfect baseball game in MLB history happened last night, thrown by NY Yankee pitcher Domingo German. Congrats! Recovery teams have recovered human remains and wreckage from the Titan submersible craft, which is kind of amazing. Air traffic is miserable, as weather and other issues have led to numerous cancellations – United Airlines is at the center of the problem. A Delta airline was forced to land without its front landing gear.

I head back into my virtual classroom later today. I’ll handle a little review, hand off to my training partner for business continuity, then back to me for monitoring and log analytics and the close of class. We’ll have labs until about 4 o’clock in the afternoon my time (class is scheduled for east coast time zone).

The US Men’s National Team had a match in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, taking care of business against an overmatched squad from St. Kitts and Nevis, 6-0.

Tonight, a new episode of Star Trek.

Other than that, I’ll get the day squared away, take care of business tomorrow… then a week of vacation.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 104

Good morning! It is hump day, Wednesday, 28 June 2023.

Just a couple more days in my work week, month, year.

Lisa arrived home safely last evening after a short trip out of town. I can’t really get into what she was doing, but based on her mood when she arrived home, it appears to have been a successful trip.

Normally, my Wednesday is filled with anticipation of the evening’s festivities, and a chance to “hang out with the guys” online and play some games online. Tonight, however, we’re switching things up. A few of the gang will not be available due to vacation trips and whatnot, so I’m going to switch gears and get into futbol mode as the United States Mens National Team plays St.Kitts & Nevis in the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.

The news this morning is full of news about the Russians and whether there was an actual coup attempt, and there is lots of chatter about Trump and his ongoing legal woes. I’ll take a swing by the comments section after a bit to read the garbage “Trump 2024” posts. I suspect that those posts are coming from some troll farm, paid to use fake accounts, and post pro-Trump nonsense online – especially on stories about Trump or Biden. I can’t imagine that real people are that naive, but then again, maybe some folks are just so dense that they still think Trump is a viable candidate for the Presidency. He wasn’t a qualified candidate in 2016, and he’s even worse now, as everybody knows that if he were to get back in the White House, he would immediately start abusing the power of the office, then head off to the golf course – right after pardoning himself and members of his family.

I get back to my virtual classroom in a bit. Today I get to talk about data storage and security, as well as application programming content. It’s a decent day.

In the meantime, there is coffee to be made and toast to be toasted.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 103

Good morning, and a happy Taco Tuesday to you. It is 27 June 2023.

I got up a little earlier this morning, as Lisa had to head out early for a meeting out of town. I’ve yet to make a pot of coffee, but I did grab a couple of glasses of water to start my day.

I’m watching the news right now, and they are discussing audio tapes that have been turned over as evidence in the espionage trial of Donald J. Trump. Yesterday there were ads on TV talking, flashbacks to Trump running for president in 2016, where he is railing against people (I’m guessing Hillary Clinton) that didn’t handle confidential and classified documents with the appropriate care. Then in the audiotape, he’s boasting and sharing classified content with a staffer that doesn’t have clearance. Criminally irresponsible.

My class went well yesterday, and while we are covering three modules today, I only have to worry about the middle unit, as my training partner is picking up the lion’s share of the content today, and I’ll switch that up with her tomorrow when I will cover two of the three scheduled units.

Other than that, it’s a pretty casual day. I don’t expect a lot of excitement. The only thing I really anticipate on the day is the tacos on Tuesday night. How will we mix it up today? Fish tacos, perhaps?

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 102

Good morning, and happy Monday to you all! It is 26 June 2023.

I should have kept my eyes out for a 100-Day report from my daughter about my granddaughter over the weekend. I might need to review my texts.

I started off the day by telling somebody in the comments about the inclusion social contract. He was telling me that all progressives are evil and discussing. I disagreed, but then I realized that the person I am having this little verbal spat with is defending neo-Nazis. I think I’m sitting in the right corner from a historical perspective.

I’m back in my virtual classroom shortly, teaching an east coast time zone class this week – the last class for the fiscal year. Next week I’ll take some vacation. I’m currently scheduled to work on Monday, but I’m starting to change my lean on that commitment. I’ve planned out my vacation time for the rest of the calendar year, and although we don’t keep tight track of vacation time due to policy changes, my manager wants to make sure I am taking at least as many days of vacation as I would have had if we were still tracking vacation days. So, I’ve got 5 days left. Maybe I should take off Monday, too, and get that sorted.

Not much else going on right at the moment. I need to make some coffee and grab a bit of breakfast.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 99

Good morning. It is Friday, 23 June 2023. A pair of 23s in the date… might be timely to watch on old movie about that number, the 2007 Jim Carey mess, “The Number 23”.

Or not.

Bad news from the Titanic tourists. They found a debris field on the bottom of the ocean, including the nosecone of the submersible. It was also reported that the US Navy deep microphones in the Atlantic detected the implosion on Sunday morning. It is sad that those folks died, but if it was an implosion at depth, the passengers would have died immediately. It’s odd sometimes how we can focus on four or five wealthy people that require rescuing at the same time virtually ignoring refugees capsizing in the Aegean Sea, killing 31, or another ship with 700 passengers suffering a similar fate last summer. It seems we only pay attention to some, but not those that might need the most help.

I finished my class yesterday. Seemed to have gone over OK. I had a couple of attendees ask me for the links, so I’m going to go through all four meetings from Monday through Thursday and harvest all of the URLs for the course. That’ll keep me busy for a bit this morning. No meetings until later in the morning, so I ought to be OK.

I noticed that it is my granddaughter’s 99th day on this side of reality. I start thinking about working “Evie’s Day 99” into lyrics to replace the words in a Prince song.

I’m back in my virtual classroom on Monday for a four-day administration course. I should get together with my training partner sometime today to work out the distribution of work.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 98

Hi folks! It is Thursday, 22 June 2023.

Yesterday was a good day. We took some time to celebrate my son’s 22nd birthday, got to see all of my kids, my granddaughter, and one of the pooches in our extended dog family.

I’m entering day four of my security class this morning. I have four lessons, a case study, and a closing today. A lot of the content I go through today is merely checklists of security steps to take under certain situations. It will be a lot of talking, a lot of pointing to reference documents.

No news on the missing submersible. It doesn’t look good.

There’s stuff going on in politics, but I’m not going to dwell on that this morning. Sometimes I am convinced that a bunch of the people on Capitol Hill are vindictive idiots.

I’m going to get to work looking over my notes for my talks today. Yeah, I’ve got a couple of hours, but still… whatever I can do to mitigate the anxiety I get when delivering a course for the first time.

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

Peace y’all.