It is March 24th, a bright, shiny Thursday … and the last completely scheduled day of my work month. Tomorrow, my morning will be full of meetings, but I get a little slack for tomorrow afternoon. I have non-delivery weeks the next two weeks before I settle back into my regular routine, teaching Monday through Thursday.

In the world right now, there is a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) summit. One thing I noticed is that the French version of NATO reads like a reversal of the initials – Organisation du traité de l’Atlantique nord, OTAN. Nothing really significant about that, just the way the French do some things, like the way “United States” is changed to “Etats Unis”.

I’m sure there are plenty of terms/expressions that sound odd in English when translated as well.

Anyway…

I’ve got a full day. I start off with a two-hour chat about Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery. I enjoy that topic, and I hope I give my learners the information they need. I need to present the appropriate mix of detail and demo. I’m not too worried about it – I get to mix up my delivery a bit, as my training partner did a great job presenting the topic yesterday afternoon, so I’ll tailor my delivery to compliment hers.

Just a workday, no real news on my front. I do hope the NATO emergency summit on Ukraine bears fruit for the Ukrainian people. This Russian crime against those folks needs to be reversed.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Wednesday, and we’ll be looking out for the food ads that show up in the Wednesday newspaper. We’re doing ok, but at the same time, cutting coupons and saving a couple of bucks still feels like a minor victory.

Spring started on the 20th, this past Sunday, so it is springing up all over. We’ve got trees to get in the ground and Lisa had a delivery of some more seedlings to plant as well. I’ll head over to the nursery this weekend to get loaded up on some more starters for the year, planting some peppers and other veggies to toss haphazardly into overly-spiced dishes later in the year.

Expecting a couple of accessories for my office today. I set up a third standing desk in the sunroom, to complete my “U” shaped workspace. I don’t think the dogs appreciate me moving their dog beds away from where they were, closer to me in the “L”, and someday I’ll hear about it, just as soon as we master the dog-version of a universal translator. I’ve got an additional keyboard coming, with an under-desk keyboard drawer, a desk-size mouse pad, and some cable management components to organize my spaghetti a little bit better.

2nd day of my last week delivering the admin course. Slower day for me, as I lead on the lab support, and my training partner covered the lion’s share of the class with her whiteboard sessions. Tomorrow I’ll be back in front of the camera more as we start closing out the formal timeline for the class.

The news is depressing this morning. Tornado hits New Orleans, and more news from Ukraine just makes me sad.

That’s enough for now.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Tuesday, March 22, and I’m back in my virtual classroom today. Last week of a four-week admin class, then I get a little time to focus on upcoming classes, maybe even a new certification exam… there’s a security course out there that I believe is well within my grasp.

Watching the news this morning, and trying to get inside the head of the world’s biggest criminal right now. Putin is treating Ukraine like a spurned lover bent on murder, the old “If I can’t have you, no one can” obsession. His invasion is not going as planned, his soldiers are abandoning their tanks and weapons, and they are running out of ammo and fuel. Read in a side article that Putin has fired hundreds of staff for fear of being poisoned.

I don’t have to worry about being poisoned. Closest I get is wondering what might be in some random shot a bartender might offer me after a protracted absence.

Got another standing desk set up in the sunroom yesterday. I do love having extra real estate for my systems and other desktop tools – journals, pens, related items. It’s my workspace and my hobby space. Moved my guitars off to the side a little, but I’m convinced I could put a few of them away. Today, there are only five or six that I play with any regularity – the three Godins, the PRS, and the Martin acoustic. Add in the Ibanez semi-hollow body and that’s six.

OK, coffee is done brewing, and I’m going to make some toast with peanut butter for breakfast. Lunch will be some leftover salad from last night. Dinner? Who knows… but we’ll worry about that a little later in the day.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Monday morning, about a quarter past 7:00 AM, on this, the 21st day of March.

March seems to be going by pretty fast. Don’t know if I should attribute the accelerated passage of time to a work-related activity, the arrival of spring, or the basketball tournament. Might just be due to my own “time-dilation” – the way time appears to move as I get older.

It’s one of those things that we can’t help but be subjected to – as we get older, each day, each week, each month, decreases as a percentage of one’s life. Every day I get older, and the number of days accrue. Today is one day out of 21,371. Yesterday’s day was one out of 21,370. It’s kind of the way a birthday impacts a ten-year-old is always going to be more significant compared to someone celebrating their 60th. One in ten is more significant than one in sixty by a factor of six.

Time is kind of trippy.

Then there’s the old Albert Einstein adage about relativity. He said “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT’S relativity.”

Yep. I guess if you want to feel like you’ve lived forever, do things you hate doing, or things that cause you pain. My life, most days, feels like it has passed so quickly, and I see my kids, now adults, and I wonder where the time went.

Must’ve been a good time.

Now if I can only shape that lens a little more as a become older. Wouldn’t it be great if the boring and mundane would pass fast, and the best moments could be stretched out?

That’s a goal.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Sunday morning, and scant hours from my last post late last night. The 20th day of March, and I’m in a pretty good place – I’m happy, relatively healthy, and enjoying a little break from my meal plan since Friday night. I’ll be back on my plan tomorrow (actually, could get back on it today – I didn’t go too nuts with breakfast).

The good news from yesterday is that Kansas won and is now continuing on their journey in the NCAA tournament, off to Chicago and the Sweet 16 where they will face the Providence Friars, the number 4 seed in their bracket.

Later today, I’ll be online with some friends, getting my fill of social interaction for the week. I’ve also got a new desk to put together, and some rearranging to do in the sunroom to get a complete “U” workspace and getting a little more desktop real estate. I’ve got a new laptop for work on the way, and I’d like to be able to use both my old and new systems at the same time.

This next week I’ll be delivering the last week of my 4-week admin course. There’s a part of me that always like the “one-class, four or five consecutive days” model, but that’s not always optimal for the folks that want to attend these courses. Time will tell if the new model is going to catch on or not. I’ll roll with it as long as that is in place.

Not much else going on really. I’ve got some raised garden beds to put together, and some other seedlings to get in the soil. I’ve been apprehensive about getting anything in the ground quite yet – we’ve still had some overnight lows below freezing. Time to take a look at the next month and see when it’s safe to move plants into the ground outside. Until then, the hydroponic system is my friend. .

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

Peace y’all.

It is Saturday, March 19, and it’s a bit later than I usually post. By this time on Saturday night, I’ve got all my ducks in a row, and I’m ready to head off into the land of slumber, but I forgot to post my blog entry, and now I must crank out a couple of hundred words or face the wrath of self-disappointment.

No worries, though. I’ve disappointed myself in the past, and will likely disappoint myself in the future. Such is the human condition.

I’m in a pretty good mood tonight. Kansas was able to win in the round of 32 and move on to the next step in the NCAA tournament, with their regional opponent meeting them in Chicago late next week. Not quite sure about the day and time. but as soon as I know, I’ll pass it along.

Taking a little two-three day break from my meal plan. Back on the low-protein bandwagon come Monday.

Putin is still the biggest asshole on the planet. More protests are breaking out in Russia. Folks are getting information from the outside world, and they are not happy.

I pray this conflict is over soon. Love can heal, but let’s not let the wounds go deeper.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Friday, May 18, and the last day of the formal workweek. I think it’s ok to distinguish between the formal workweek and the informal workweek because the reality is that I’ll do some work outside of work hours – it’s my nature, just as it is the nature of a lot of folks that have a career they love.

I often joke about being a “work in progress”. The reality is that if I’m not trying to improve myself in one way or another, I’m not leading a purpose-driven life. My goal is to be the best version of me I can be every day. I’ll admit, there are some days that I don’t live up to that ideal, but there are others that I can reflect on at the end of the day with a little satisfaction – enough to satisfaction to acknowledge a day well-lived, and maybe cultivate a little positive expectation about the next day.

Today I’ll get a chance to sharpen the saw a little bit. I’ve been contemplating learning a couple of additional tools to help with my work, and we’ll see how that goes. I’ll write a little, plan a little, learn a little, and see if I can find the right way to integrate those new facets into my upcoming deliveries.

Kansas knocked off Texas Southern last night. I usually stay up for all of the Kansas games, but last night KU was up by 30 at the half, so I called it a night. The game was delayed due to the preceding game going into overtime, with Creighton winning over San Diego State. Kansas will now face Creighton on Saturday at 1:40. I hope we continue to play well. If Kansas wins Saturday, they will move into a tie with Kentucky for most wins in program history… and Kentucky’s season is over following their loss to Saint Peter’s yesterday (A Number 2 seed losing to a Number 15 seed is noteworthy).

That’s enough for now. Time to get ready for my day, and get the trash out for pickup.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Thursday, March 17, commonly celebrated as St. Patrick’s Day in the United States as just another excuse to consume massive quantities of alcohol. Another reason to have a beverage is that the NCAA Basketball Tournament has begun, the First Four have played, and now the real fun begins for the rest of the basketball fans. Kansas squares off against Texas Southern tonight at 9:00 PM tonight.

The war continues in eastern Europe. There were civilians taking shelter in a theater in Ukraine, it was clearly marked as a civilian shelter, and, of course, Putin blasted the place. There are reports of survivors, but there are many dead from this attack.

The Russian media is on full lockdown, as they are only permitted to echo the propaganda coming out of the Kremlin. The dissent of the people is filling up the Russian jails, and the protests haven’t backed down at all. Russians living in the west have had to make choices… either support Putin and his criminal war or go the opposite direction in pursuit of peace.

I’m back in my virtual classroom again today, recording my partner’s discussion in about another hour and a half, then lab support, and then we’ll close out the day with office hours, answering any and all questions from our learners this week.

Seems to be so much bad news right now, thank you Putin. There are nice stories that sneak through, but they seem few and far between. So much of this would go away if one guy were deposed. Just one guy. I really hope that the Russian oligarchs that control so much of the economy get that wakeup call they so desperately need to make a much-needed change at the top.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Wednesday, March 16. One day after the Ides of March, one day before St. Patrick’s Day. I hope my nephew has a very good birthday tomorrow.

On the Russian Front, looks like the Russian government might be dealing with an international financing problem, as it appears they may have a little trouble making their interest payment for the serviced debt. It’s hard to make a 170 million dollar loan payment in US dollars when you don’t have access to any US dollars.

Whatever bills Russian uses to pay their debt, I’d check to see if it was legal tender and not counterfeit. Something tells me that they’ll fork over a lot of bills that don’t have the security strip that the Treasury Department started putting into 100 dollar bills in the 90s to make counterfeiting 100s more difficult.

I’m back in front of the microphone today, with a couple of chalk talks on the slate. I kind of like doing these chalk talks, with Microsoft Whiteboard as the primary tool. I’m not as solid as my partner with that tool, but I’m told that we compliment each other with me focusing on demos a little more.

That gets me thinking I ought to start on my day. Coffee is done, need to get a little toast in me. It’s going to be an interesting day.

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

Peace y’all.

It is Tuesday, March 15 – the Ides of March… and I return to my virtual classroom to deliver the cloud administrative course.

I’m all about trying to create better habits for myself. I’m trying to eat right, drink wiser (more water), and engage daily in activities that are more focused on being a better person. Whether or not I’m becoming a better person is not for me to determine, as that will be the realm of the observer. There’s a huge difference between a person claiming to be an expert and some random observer saying “That person is an expert”. I’m not going to claim to be a better person today than I was yesterday – but if someone says that I’m a better person today than I was yesterday, that’s something worthwhile.

I am going to try and stop insulting people on the internet. My resolution is to not insult anybody unless they are in the room. Calling somebody an idiot on the internet has become “safe”. It’s always easy to call people names at a distance, but when someone is standing in front of you, it’s a completely different game. So, I’m going to try and stop telling random people that they are not getting their brain out of neutral before offering up their opinion, no matter how stupid it might be.

One provision though – if there is some wannabe celebrity out there being stupid that I know I will never meet or be in the same room with, and they are in dire need of some humility, I’ll act accordingly.

If I can ask a few questions that make them realize the error in the process, I can live with that. Maybe that’s what the true pursuit should be. A little course correction is better than a little “coarse correction”, right?

Russia is still attacking Ukraine. No real news there. More protesters are disappearing in Russia. More Russian superyachts are being seized in Europe.

There’s a play-in game later today – Two small Texas schools are squaring off for the right to play Kansas on Thursday. A 16-seed has only ever knocked off a number 1 seed once in the history of the NCAA tournament. I don’t think it will happen this time.

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

Peace y’all.