It is Tuesday morning, 18 October 2022. Time to make the tractor payment.

I think that the only people that believe conspiracy theories are those that were swapped with other babies in the hospital nursery.

That ought to distract them for a while.

Listening to the news this morning, still amazed at the lack of honesty out there about the sources of inflation. OK, here’s the deal. Supply and demand. If supply is limited, people will either volunteer to pay more, they will be forced to pay more for goods, or they will get by without. Sometimes it is 100% supply and demand. Some other times, though, it comes down to the person holding the goods believing that the purchaser has more money in their pocket, so they just charge more because they know the goods are necessary. Supply, demand, price gouging, supply chain issues that affect the availability of goods, concentrated manufacturing in a smaller number of large facilities to focus on economies of scale while also creating single points of failure.

I’m no genius, but blaming one administration for a worldwide increase in prices is disingenuous. Joe Biden has no more control over prices in Sri Lanka than Sri Lanka has control over prices here.

Now, the OPEC situation is a little different. Those poor oil-producing countries are so exploited… (sarcasm, folks). Every time the US has to deal with Middle Eastern countries or Venezuela or Russia, it makes me cringe. The solution is one that folks don’t like to face, but we need to find better fuels.

OK, time for me to get focused on the day. Cloud Solutions Architecture doesn’t just happen.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Monday morning, 17 October 2022. It is currently 6:19 AM, and I’m gathering up some thoughts in a little basket, normally used for collecting flowers.

Nah.

I don’t need a flower basket to gather my thoughts. My thoughts are rarely floral but tend to lean towards the aromatic side.

I opened up Facebook today and gave myself a little pat on the back. Social media is a bit like a bar at 2:00 in the morning – it’s pretty rare that something good happens at a bar at 2:00 in the morning, and everybody knows it. Social media tends to be the same way. I’ve stayed connected and reconnected with old friends and classmates, and I have often provided fuel for the fire, giving people that think the way I look at the world doesn’t align with theirs. Many old acquaintances have come to the conclusion that they’ve had enough of me, and have either stopped posting in response to my occasional post or blocked me altogether.

It doesn’t bother me. I believe in the First Amendment and I support Freedom of Speech. I believe it should be exercised and exercised often. My typical catchphrase on that subject is that the First Amendment, “makes it easier to spot the assholes”. I still believe that t be the truth. It’s uncomfortable, but it is necessary. People should speak up… and others around them should take note of their positions. Some of these people may aspire to political office, and it is important that we elect folks that are aligned with our beliefs.

In Kansas, there is a massive amount of support for the Republican party. It’s a very white, agricultural, and manufacturing state. Not exactly the best form to look at for examples of diversity and inclusion. It’s the kind of state that will pay a woman 20% less and completely rationalize it due to her responsibilities to raise a family outside of her career… even if she was single, unmarried, and with no kids.

We all can do a little better on that side of the issue, and we should.

But, we still need to vet. We can’t have bigots, misogynists, racists, and homophobes in positions of power in our political system. Yes, that includes the police department.

I’m guessing that there are a number of Kansans who would chime right in to tell me why and how they aren’t biased. That’s great. Good for you.

I think most of us have some sort of bias. I probably do, but I hope that I’m self-aware enough about my tendencies to resist them and keep them on the sideline when stuff comes up.

That’s enough of a rant for now.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Friday! Woot! 14 October 2022.

It’s a day with a quick start… I originally had a 7 AM meeting scheduled, but that has been cancelled. I’ve got another meeting this afternoon that I’m going to cancel in light of certain changes.

Tight now I’m watching internal Capitol video from the January 6, 2021 insurrection. It was harrowing. Yesterday, the House Select Committee on the Attempt to Overthrow Our Democracy and Implement an Authoritarian Fascist Dictatorship (yeah, I know that’s not the actual name, but I digress) voted to subpoena former President and record holder for most impeachments, Donald J. Trump.

I wonder how long it will take to actually serve the subpoena. He and Eric have demonstrated rather deft skills refusing the presentation of a subpoena.

What are they afraid of?

The truth, I’m guessing.

And here I am getting my blood pressure up over that loser.

This day should be fairly easy to manage. With any luck, I’ll be able to add in conference session. Lots of stuff going on.

Bonnie has her new car, and seems to be happy with her purchase. Gracie has invited Lisa and I to go to some Maple Leaf Festival tomorrow. Dane will be gone most of the day today, and I know he’s getting together with his friends this evening. Maybe I should take my wife out for dinner? I’ll make dinner arrangements, regardless.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Thursday, 13 October 2022, and in another couple of hours, I will be discussing data ingestion into cloud-based data management tools.

Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

Yesterday some news happened. To start off, let me say that I’ve often been party to repeating or even creating conspiracy theories. When I was in college, I took an honors-level course in the history department called, “Spy Games”, which focused on the history of spycraft and intelligence systems, and in the course final, we were asked to create a conspiracy theory as an extra credit test question.

My instructor thought I had a good one.., but it was, like most conspiracy theories, a complete fabrication for entertainment purposes.

Yesterday a jury awarded 950 million dollars to 8 families that had been hurt by a conspiracy theory posited by American conspiracy theory connoisseur, Alex Jones. For this guy, nothing was too far-fetched. Every drop of a handkerchief was a false flag operation controlled by George Soros or some other foreign chaos agent.

The problem is his conspiracy theories about Sandy Hook and the murder of so many little kids and teachers in that community hurt people. Literally. His weak-minded followers confronted these grieving families and demanded to see the bodies of dead children because Alex Jones told the world on his conspiracy theory network, Infowars, that it never happened – it was all fake.

And that’s just scraping the first layer of crap off this turd.

I don’t think he has $950 million dollars lying around. He’s also not done… there are still more judgments against him waiting for a court ruling.

I’m not sympathetic. It still amazes me how gullible people can be. But the thing that gets me is that Alex Jones did what he did for profit. He used his conspiracies to generate revenue, with no consideration for the people that he hurt through his false accusations. It would not bother me in the least if some of these idiot followers of his get some legal attention as well.

Hurting people with lies is not acceptable.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Wednesday morning, the 12th day of October, 2022. I’m up, coffee is brewing, and I have a glass of water sitting beside me…

… and my wife is asleep on the couch.

We had some storms roll through last night, so she came out from our bedroom to the living room and provided a little comfort to the sisters Von Floof. My alarm went off at 5:30, I did my business to get ready for the day, and popped out into the living room to see my beloved surrounded by fur babies.

Considering what I witnessed with last night’s thunderstorm, I applaud her decision. I think Rosy and Lily were a little scared.

OK… so what is on my mind?

Today, I’m thinking about the “comments” section. When am I going to learn?

The worst dimension of modern society can be found in the comments section of news stories that pop up on the internet. My home page is the MSN start page, and many of the stories that pop up on there have an option to make a comment. Folks, I got to tell you, if there is ugly to be found in our society, it’s in the comments section. Even with the AI engines that are used to monitor comments, the vulgarity, the racism, the misogyny that proudly state to the world, “We’re not evolving”.

I need to stay out of the comments section… because I don’t believe there is anything I can say or do to change the hearts of some of these commentators.

Keep in mind, I look at the poster’s details. I look at the number of posts, and when they started posting. I look for the consistency of their message. When you sort their comments from oldest to newest and realize this poster has seven thousand messages over the course of fourteen months, it’s pretty obvious – for many of these trolls, making comments is not some pastime – it’s a freaking career. Makes me ponder if these folks are part of some troll farm with an agenda to create chaos in our society. I’ll call ’em out on it… and that also makes me part of the problem.

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

Peace y’all.

Good morning! It is 11 October 2022, and I’m feeling a little relieved this morning. I was up a little later than normal last night, as the Kansas City Chiefs hosted the Raiders (what city are they in this year?). It was a rough start, with the Chiefs dropping behind the pace early, and the Raiders taking a 17-0 lead in the first half. Eventually, the Chiefs got their act together (with no help from the officials) and prevailed, 30-29. Patrick Mahomes completed four touchdowns to Travis Kelce, taking down a couple of records in the process.

Today I’ll return to my regularly scheduled virtual classroom. I picked up the call yesterday, as a younger instructor was left to fend for himself for a day as his training partner was a “no show”. I’ve got a little research to do to try and understand what happened with the other instructor… I know the guy, and in my last conversation with him, he let me know that he was being redirected in another direction, away from the class he was initially scheduled to teach. I’ve reached out to him to ask him how he’s doing through internal channels, but I’ve yet to receive a response.

Today I get my first chance at co-delivering with another teammate. I’m looking forward to it. She’s an accomplished academic and I promised to refer to her by her earned professional title of “Dr”. One thing I’ve learned from my spouse, some folks have a little difficulty using the term “Dr” with female academics. My wife has often had to deal with rooms where the men are referred to as “Professor” or “Doctor”, while she is referred to as “Mrs”… excuse me, bud, but that lady is also a professor and a doctor, too, and should be treated with the appropriate respect.

OK, time for me to throw a couple of Scotch Eggs in the microwave. Scotch Eggs are the original breakfast on the go… a hard-boiled egg, wrapped in sausage, and then I coat them all with grated Parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes, let cool, and bag ’em up

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

Peace y’all.

It is Monday, 10 October 2022. It has been an event-free weekend here in rural Douglas County, with the regular college town stuff happening, but nothing earth-shattering here.

Kansas lost their football game against TCU, which wasn’t that much of a surprise. Our quarterback was taken out of the game following a hard tackle that left young Mr. Daniels with an injured right shoulder. His replacement, Jason Bean, did a remarkable job in the second half, and kept Kansas in the game with a 4 touchdown effort, but we came up a little short, losing 38-31. There were lost opportunities, as there always are, so all we can do is learn from the experience, heal up, and get ready for the next game against Oklahoma, a team coming off a 49-0 shellacking at the hands of the Texas Longhorns.

Kansas City Chiefs play tonight against the Raiders. I’ve just about quit saying which city the Raiders play in… you never know if their ownership group will throw a hissy fit and decide to move the team to Salt Lake next year.

I’ve got a few meetings booked today, along with prep for this week’s blended learning sessions. My training partner from last week is out this week, so I get a substitute delivery partner. I haven’t delivered with the other partner yet, but she and I have crossed paths . I don’t expect any complications.

Other than that, not much else is going on.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Friday, Friday, Friday! Good morning! It is the 7th day of October in the year 2022. I’m awake, drinking water until I pour my first cup of coffee. I’ve got an office hours session after a bit here, and I’m wondering where the morning will take me.

Eventually, it takes me to meetings I’m obliged to attend, so there’s that. No big deal, really, as I know that comes with the gig. I know thousands of trainers out there would love to be where I’m at, so I appreciate the opportunity that has been given me.

I still need to put together a little survey for my learners… that’ll take a moment or three, but won’t overtax me, I’m sure.

Lisa and I went to an engineering school barbeque last night. The food was good, the company was great – hey I was with my wife, and it doesn’t get better than that. Today is the beginning of Homecoming weekend here in Lawrence, so folks will be coming from far and wide to attend downtown festivities this evening, leading into tomorrow’s football game between Kansas and TCU.

My weekend will be consumed by football, mowing, and laundry.

Oops… just remembered something I need to attend to…

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

Peace y’all.

It is Thursday morning, 6 October 2022. It’s kind of funny, but when I get into one of my four-week deliveries, the days jut some to click by a little faster on the calendar.

This morning I will have my last major speaking role of the week, delivering a talk on Computer Services and the Well-Architected Framework. Yeah, sounds impressive, but the concepts are pretty straightforward. Keep the design as inexpensive as possible, while still providing service that meets the agreed upon service level agreements, and eliminates single points of failure.

Tonight, Lisa and I will be attending a departmental social event up on campus. It’s a barbeque, so I’m hoping that blue jeans and a polo shirt will satisfy the guidelines of the dress code. I’m wearing a work shirt at the moment, but I’ve got a couple of shirts in the closet that ought to fit the occasion.

I’m pondering some ways I can get back into my music efforts. I haven’t been playing and practicing as much as I would like to, so I’m going to carve a little daily time out to take online lessons and get back into playing my guitars. If I record anything worth listening to, I’ll provide a link.

That’s a big if.

Time to get myself together and get my day organized.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Wednesday, 5 October 2022.

Up early, getting ready for my day, and watching the news. Right now they are reporting on the 5 Oath Keepers that are being tried for sedition charges related to the attempted overthrow of the government on January 6, 2020.

Based on what I hear in the recorded conversations, these guys really like the word, “kinetic”. It’s a fancy word that is used in military circles relating to the air being filled with high-speed projectiles.

So much ambition. So much righteousness. So much gullibility… because they all got suckered into believing the big lie from Trump. Part of me wants to feel sorry for these folks, but you have to figure the warning signs were all there, and these people ignored them all in pursuit of what they were convinced to believe by a con artist.

This is the “and find out” part that follows the “f*** around”.

The only justice I want to see is when the leader of the insurrection gets sentenced. Maybe his Supreme Court picks ought to resign in shame as well.

I’m in front of the camera this morning, talking about our first case study. I’ve got a little time yet, and I’m going to need that to get a video file uploaded to the Teams site.

OK, might as well get going on the necessaries.

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

Peace y’all.