Wednesday morning, 29 December 2022, and I have my appropriate camel socks for this instance of Hump Day. Interestingly enough, I have a work meeting later this morning regarding my cloud admin course that starts next week. Not too demanding – I really don’t have any other responsibilities that have a higher priority.

The news on TV is still reporting travel problems across the country, and airline inadequacies compounded by weather problems. I’m glad I didn’t have any air travel booked over this break. I still know folks that are stranded out there trying to get from one place to another. It has to be incredibly frustrating.

Trains all ran on time.

I often wonder what the US would be like if we had a European-style rail system. It seems that we have allowed our industries to cannibalize other industries when the opportunity presented itself. Where there was an opportunity for profit, other industries were left behind. As the automotive industry grew, the bus and train systems were abandoned, and that was further compounded by airlines. There’s nothing wrong with rail – we still use it – but passenger rail is pretty much reserved for the east coast.

I often think it would be interesting to take a coast-to-coast train ride. Fly out to New York, go to the train station, and then go all the way across the country, then fly home.

Then, go to Europe and tackle whatever is left of the Orient Express.

Time to think about the tasks of the day. Barbeque acquisition prior to the 4:30 PM football game between Kansas and Arkansas.

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

Peace y’all.

I wish you all a happy and healthy Tuesday, 27 December 2022. Today is the 2nd birthday of Lily and Rosy von Floof, daughters of Freya the Morkie and Snow the Hawaiian Pomeranian. The girls are currently sitting with my wife as she watches a docu-drama on the Oxygen channel about a nursing home serial killer. Always the warmest way to start the day.

Nah… the warmest way is with a cup of coffee and a fire in the wood-burning stove, and the coffee isn’t quite done yet, and I’m not ready to brave the cold to bring in firewood quite yet.

Late yesterday morning I received a nice piece of news – a negative COVID test for the first time in a week and a half. Others in the house tested negative as well, so we’re all working to get back into our regular routine. That stuff really ground me down a bit, and I am very grateful to have been fully vaccinated and boosted. I don’t want to think about the result if I hadn’t been properly vaccinated – I likely would’ve ended up in the hospital or worse.

The ant-vax crowd still rubs me the wrong way. Telling people to not get vaccinated is a form of evil – I compare it to telling depressed, vulnerable teenagers to harm themselves. Kids get mean to one another and tell them to do the most vile things, up to and including taking their own lives. The anti-vax crowd effectively does the same thing, telling people not to get vaccinated so that they can watch the ICU circus. I wonder if they’re creating side bets on who dies and who doesn’t, all for their own entertainment.

That’s evil, folks.

Today I’m going to get some cleaning and organizing done here. I’ve got some work to do back in the sunroom. No meetings today, but I know I have one tomorrow, a pre-delivery meeting regarding my class that starts next Tuesday and covers the month of January. I haven’t had a conversation with my delivery partner, but we have traded some emails and chats. It’ll be nice to hear the voice of the person I’m working with next month.

I need to read more books. 2022 was not a great year for reading fiction or non-fiction for me. I read a lot of articles, but probably fewer than a dozen books. I need to bump up those numbers.

Other than that, not much to share. I look forward to tacos tonight.

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

Peace y’all.

It’s the day after Christmas, 26 December 2022, and a grayish Monday with the sun just starting to peak out from behind the eastern cloud bank. I woke up to Lisa and Bonnie watching an old black-and-white movie with Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and Katherine Hepburn… and I have no idea what the title is… it’s certainly a movie I have never seen before.

Coffee is being, so I’ll grab a cup in a few. Yesterday I was gifted with a couple of new coffee cups… I later found out it was part of a concerted effort by family members to convince me to give up an old favorite mug with that has grown faded and has a little chip on the edge – the chip isn’t where I place my lips when I sip, so I don’t give it much thought, but if you heard my kids talk about that chip, you would think it was designed by an evil potter to rend my upper lip from my face.

The cup will live to see another day… it’s my cup, and I’m not done with it yet.

It was a good day yesterday despite our “quarantine Christmas”. 3 out of 4 positive tests, and Dane is the only one in the green. Today we’ll test again, and I do expect a negative today.

Oh… my wife just brought me over a cup of coffee, a kindness. It’s in the new dragon mug that Bonnie picked up for me at the Renaissance Festival last fall. Good looking mug. Nice dragon.

The dragon needs a name. I’m thinking, “Fausto”.

It was a good morning. My future son-in-law has an attraction to guitar, so I gifted him with one of my acoustics, a nice black Epiphone dreadnaught with active electronics. I picked up an Ovation for myself in November, and last year I bought a Martin acoustic on a good sale.

Right now, one of the floor sisters is trying to distract me from the task at hand so I can pay attention to her. Tomorrow, Lily and Rosy will both be two years old… five pounds of canine fur in a flood configuration times two.

Today will be a relaxing day. On my work calendar, it’s a work holiday. Tomorrow will be vacation time, as will Wednesday and Thursday.

I need to do a better job keeping track of my vacation time and personal days at work.

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

Peace y’all.

Good morning! It is 23 December 2022, and today will be a good day for me to wrap up a few Christmas presents. Gift bags are easy, but they are a bit of a cop-out, don’t you think?

I’ll be taking another COVID test later today, hoping for a negative result for the first time since last Thursday. Other folks here at the house have also had positive tests in the last couple of days, so that can put a bit of a damper on the holiday. I know we have one kid that is not happy with the situation, but what can we do? We don’t dare travel and risk exposing other family members.

Today is a vacation day, and there are things that need to get done. I should spend some time in my workspace organizing and dusting – one of the downsides of living rural is the constant influx of dust. It’s a never-ending fight, and the gaps in the windows will always win. Hopefully, I can get a handle on it and purge some of the particulate matter from the various nooks and crannies back in the sunroom.

I’d like to spend a little quality time with a guitar or two as well.

I wonder what sports are on today… there has to be a bowl game and an international futbol match on ESPN, one would think.

It is now time to grind some beans and add hot water. Bubba needs a cup of coffee.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Thursday, 22 December 2022… it is also my last full day of work for the year. I’m in the virtual classroom in another hour, an hour to prep and settle in, and two hours to deliver my discussion on business continuity, then I’ll take care of incidental stuff for the balance of the day.

Yesterday I shared that we were expecting colder temperatures starting today – it did get over freezing yesterday – but today I doubt we’ll be seeing no temperatures that begin with a 3 – well, maybe an actual 3. It’s 2 degrees outside right now, but I don’t think we’ll see it rise above freezing for a week or so. It might be a good day to get the wood-burning stove rolling for a little bump in the heat.

Last day of ugly Christmas sweaters for work… breaking out Clippy today.

I’m not always the biggest Christmas guy, for personal reasons. I usually spend quite a bit of time in the car traveling to see family, but this year is a question mark. Yesterday I took a COVID test, and I’m still testing positive. I’ll take another test tomorrow, and keep the hope alive that I can travel on Christmas day to see family in Clay Center. Lisa tested positive yesterday as well, so we’re just not sure if it will be safe – we don’t want to pass anything along to anyone else.

My youngest daughter is making plans with that in mind. She’s late in her second trimester and doesn’t want to take any chances, so we’ll be maintaining a distance a bit over the weekend.

Other than that, no other real news.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Wednesday morning, 21 December 2022, and the holiday is just around the corner.

I might want to wrap up my Christmas shopping today.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I jumped back into my virtual classroom early and managed our class’s review/preview session. My training partner took the wheel for yesterday’s afternoon session. This morning I’m up first, as we dive into a case study, and after I manage that, I’ll have one more session that I lead on.

Then the Christmas/New Year’s break begins… right after I have a meeting tomorrow afternoon with the training partner I am delivering with starting January 3rd. In the meantime, let the ugly Christmas sweater parade continue.

Cold weather arrives today. Currently, it’s 22 degrees Fahrenheit outside, but it’s going to take a nosedive later today and tomorrow, heading into zeroes and negatives. I’ll be availing myself of the opportunity to get a fire going in the fireplace. Not quite sure if we’re going to get any precipitation with the cold. Snow makes for more driving challenges, but we could handle a little water from the sky.

Time to take a decongestant. I’m not feeling as far under it as I did last week, but I still have some sinus congestion.

Time to make a pot of coffee, too.

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

Peace y’all.

Good morning! It is Tuesday, 20 December 2022, and for many, there are three remaining workdays before Christmas.

I am ready.

Star Wars ugly Christmas sweater today, and two different ugly Christmas sweaters for tomorrow and Thursday. There is one time to wear ugly Christmas sweaters, and now is that time.

As far as my health goes, I have shared with you that I tested positive for COVID last Thursday. Today, I am feeling better, and we’ll take another test this afternoon to see if I’ve beaten this thing into submission. Better the virus than me.

Winter storm is supposed to hit tomorrow. I’ll try to get vehicles into the garage one more time today, but I’m not that optimistic. Couldn’t get ’em started last weekend, so my expectations have been managed on that side of it.

I still need to wrap some presents… I don’t think I need to worry about buying any – pretty sure I’ve got those bases covered, but I should do a mental recap.

The news is focused on one crisis after another. Migrant surge at the border. There’s always a migrant surge at the border. Some folks would compare this to an armed invasion of militant activists dedicated to spreading communism in the US. In reality, they’re just folks trying to get away from really crappy circumstances and are hoping that a life in the US will be less crappy. I don’t really blame them. What would you do to make a better life for your kids?

OK, time for me to get focused on the day ahead.

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

Peace y’all.

It is a Monday, 19 December 2022, and Elon Musk can still kiss my furry butt.

I write my blog pretty regularly. Throughout the week, I generally write Monday through Friday, with the occasional post on the weekend as well. After I post it, I let people know that I’ve posted it on Twitter, and recently, I’ve added Facebook and Mastodon to the list of places that let folks know that my blog has been posted.

Mr. Musk, in one of his creative bilge sessions, decided that he will not allow people to promote other forms of social media on Twitter. I may have to make sure that all of my posts make reference to my other social media accounts.

I’m taking a day off today. I looked at my time off for the year and realized I had a few extra hours to take off, so I grabbed eight of those hours and dropped them on today’s calendar. I promise today will not be in the least bit productive.

I think I’m in full recovery at this point. Feeling better, no longer fighting that respiratory weight on my chest from my bout with COVID. I still have a bit of a sniffle, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.

Today will be a day of catching up on the Christmas stuff. I’ll get some gifts wrapped up and placed in a box by the tree where Odin won’t feel the need to relieve himself.

Time to make a pot of coffee and get busy doing not much.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Friday! Yay! Last day of the work week, first day of the weekend. 16 December 2022. And I need to get the trash out to the corner this morning.

So, how do you say it? It’s my turn. I’ve posted on my blog since last Friday that I’ve been under the weather, and yesterday I went ahead and hit the drive thru to pick up a few rapid COVID tests. Got them home, opened the instructions, took time to actually READ the instructions, then took the test. That little red line by the “T” for test and the red line by the “C” for control went hard red real fast.

I have tested positive for COVID.

I figure I picked up a dose late last week, not quite sure how or where I might’ve picked it up, but with Dane and Lisa both having bouts with it (Dane tested positive yesterday), it’s probably been passed from somewhere on campus to me through them.

My training partner this month has been completely cool with the news, and she’s offered to pick up a little more of the delivery. I’m not taking sick days so much as taking sick hours daily after my regularly scheduled deliveries. The main thig for me is not to put a strain on the other instructors by asking them to cover for me. The problem with calling in sick in my line of work is that very often there is no one to fill in, especially this time of year when more instructors have booked time off for the holidays.

I can suck it up for a couple of hours and put on the right face and do the job. It’s only a couple of hours. Yeah, I’m not feeling 100%, but I can manage this for a bit. Might not be good for 8 hours, but I can pull it off for 2.

OK, time to get this in the can and get on with the day.

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

Peace y’all.

Good morning! It is 15 December 2022, and I didn’t sleep so hot last night. I just had random crap racing through my brain all night. It was a weird revolving door of thoughts triggering other thoughts, and none of it could ever lead to a solution, of course. It was all just crap racing around my monkey brain, preventing me from having a good night’s sleep.

I need to get a COVID test.

Lisa, Dane and I were talking yesterday. I live a pretty isolated lifestyle, working from home and going into Lawrence a couple of times a week to pick up stuff that isn’t part of the regular grocery run, like stuff I like to have around when I’m actively cutting carbs.

Right now, I’m not actively doing much of anything, including eating. Might be the reason a cracked 270 for the first time this year (more likely due to being sick and not eating rather than any meal plan).

Anyway, I’m fairly certain that I didn’t get it from my workplace – hard to catch a virus over the internet, but another family member had a positive test, plus Lisa and Dane spend a lot of time on campus, and that’s likely to be a hot spot.

Yeah, I need to get tested.

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

Peace y’all.