Evie Day 589

Good morning! I wish you all a pleasant last day of the Western work week. Today is Friday, 25 October 2024.

We had a little rain roll through last night, and it was most welcome. I went outside on the front porch, and enjoyed the fresh rain sound and smell, and the small-scale light show.

Yesterday was a pretty good work day. We stayed focused on the material and had a pretty successful run through the labs in the afternoon. Today will be more of the same, along with my class closing.

I’ve got a little work to do on some side projects. I wanted to work on them last night, but after a full day of work and some other things that have been weighing on my mind, I didn’t dive into stuff last night like I probably should’ve.

I read (listen?) to executive book summaries every workday as part of my lunch routine. It’s kind of funny – I stick to themes of productivity, and developing better habits, and although I’ve gone through 70 or so book summaries, I can’t tell you too many real book titles. The themes remain, and they help – it’s a lot of reinforcement on the positive side, and it is kind of funny how the same themes appear and reappear in this class of non-fiction self-help books. I’ll keep maintaining the practice.

This weekend will have a couple of sports events – the KU Jayhawks will travel to the middle of the state to play the KSU Wildcats. Kansas has lost 15 in a row to KSU, and I don’t expect that to change… KSU has had a good season so far, while Kansas had the wheels come off in week two.

That’s where I’m at… not much else to focus on at the time.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 588

Good morning! Happy Thursday! Today is 24 October 2024.

We are one week away from Halloween.

I like living out in the country. No kids knocking on the door.

We might have one darling little visitor, as I expect to see Evelyn in her Halloween costume at some point during that day, and I am sure there will be pictures.

Last night we were a little short on players. A couple of guys are on vacation, and a couple of others are either on the mend or caring for others who are working through healthcare issues. I’ve been a part of this group for a few years now, and I get to play games with a bunch of pretty good guys, I am thankful they welcomed me into the party. I hope we can all get back together soon.

I took a call last night about a security issue some others have been coping with on an AI project. After the call, I started doing a little digging and I may have found a possible root of the problem. I’m going to try it out tonight to see it if helps overcome the problem.

I’ll be back in my virtual classroom in a bit, but before then, there will be coffee, leftover cinnamon rolls, and a little more research into the things I’m researching. I have a feeling it will be another mellow day, with temps right now in the 50s, eventually getting into a very pleasant mid-70s. I do love this time of year.

That’s about all I have, to be frank. My life has moments of excitement and longer periods of a fairly average experience. At my age, there’s only so much excitement I can handle.

If you haven’t participated in early voting, make a plan. Get it done, you’ll feel a little relief.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 587

Good morning! It’s Wednesday! Today is 23 October 2024.

One of the things I have mentioned to others, maybe not so much here, has been the lack of endorsements Trump has received from some of his former staffers, specifically the career military leaders John Kelly, James Mattis, and HR McMaster, all advisors, chiefs of staff, or cabinet members. One appointee, former Commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, has stated he believes Trump is a fascist. James Mattis has gone on the record as agreeing with Milley, and in a recent interview, former chief of staff John Kelly has made some very damaging statements about Trump, including his belief that Trump is a fascist who admires dictators, comments made after a soldier’s death pertaining to the cost of the funeral, and let us not forget the comments Kelly says Trump made in France prior to a ceremony to honor WWII soldiers that were buried there.

Lisa and I already voted, so we’re done, but with a couple of weeks to go, others might still be on the fence.

We had tacos last night. You probably could’ve guess that.

Tonight, I’ll do a little virtual tabletop gaming with the guys. A lot of it depends on who shows up… a couple of guys are on vacation, and one or two are on the mend from some recent health issues.

Lisa made cinnamon rolls for breakfast the other day, and there are a couple still in the airtight bag on the kitchen counter. I believe there will be coffee and cinnamon rolls in the future.

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

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 586

Good morning, and a very happy Taco Tuesday to you all. Today is 22 October 2024.

Yesterday was a prep day, one of those days that pop up on my schedule every now and then so I can prepare for the upcoming class. This week, my class starts on Tuesday and runs through Friday. Next week, I switch back to a Monday through Thursday delivery. November… well, November will be pock-marked with a series of one-day deliveries, and December appears to be following the same plan.

Gracie and Evelyn came by yesterday afternoon. Gracie has started reading voraciously, which is a change for her. Growing up, Bonnie was always the bookworm, and Gracie was the crafty one, with projects lined up on her workbench. Something flipped with Gracie, and she’s now going through five or six books a week. She has Kindle Unlimited, but she’s not a fan of having to read on a full-size tablet, so I did the dad thing and picked her up a new Kindle. She acquainted herself with it yesterday while I spent a moment making goofy faces at my granddaughter.

The election is two weeks away.

I have been listening to executive book summaries, and I tell you what – I don’t know that I can name an author or title. 65 books or thereabouts, and a lot of positive tips on building better habits and staying focused. At this point, I listen to them during the lunch break, but so much of the content is repetitious, but it’s all positive reinforcement.

Power issues with my laptop… power keeps getting disconnected. I think I’ll be ok to get this wrapped up, but this little beast needs to sit on the charger awhile.

OK, time to think about breakfast and recording a bit for LinkedIn.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 585

Good morning, and a happy Monday to you. Today is 21 October 2024.

Ten days until Halloween.

I had a good weekend. I wrapped up my class late Friday afternoon, and I still have a little follow-up with folks, as they asked for some of my illustrations after class. I’ll get that attended to a little later. We did get done early enough on Friday that Lisa and I could make it to the polls on Friday afternoon before they closed at 6… we’ve voted, and we’re both happy to have the task completed.

Saturday was a pretty casual day. Lisa and I had breakfast with Dane and Gracie at IHOP before Lisa and Gracie went to do a little shopping and Dane and I took off down the street to the game store. After Dane & I returned home, I prepped a whole pork tenderloin for the smoker, and that turned out very well right around 5:00 Saturday afternoon.

The good news from the weekend was on the sports front. Kansas came off their bye week with a win over the University of Houston Cougars, and Kansas looked like the team we’d been hoping to see since week two. On Sunday, the Chiefs came out and played strong against the San Francisco 49ers and brought home another win, and the Chiefs are now the last undefeated team in the NFL (Sorry, Dan!).

Today is a prep day for me. I have plenty on my plate, including sketching out a couple of ideas. I also need to look at OBS and how I can do more creative recording. I have to look over tomorrow’s content and another team’s security issue with machine learning.

Tomorrow, another four-day security course. I look forward to that.

Other than that, there’s not much going on. I’ll make coffee and heat up some leftover chili and eggs from yesterday. A fresh pot of coffee will compliment that very well.

Until next time…

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 582

Good morning, and a very happy last day of the Western work week to you all. Today is Friday, 18 October 2024.

The news is on, and the primary topic is the Al Smith Dinner last evening, and Kamala Harris pre-recorded her bit, while Trump delivered a very cringeworthy talk comprised of bad jokes. He should hire new writers.

Last night was rather uneventful. I wrapped up my class at 5, jumped into a meeting at 5:05, and wrapped that a half-hour later. After that, it was mostly Thursday Night Football (not worth watching) and reading content online for work.

My thoughts now turn to this day and the weekend.

I’m not sure if Lisa has a plan for tomorrow morning. At times, we have gone into Kansas City to Sam’s or Costco, grabbing a bite of breakfast on the way. We haven’t discussed that yet, but I will endeavor to adapt to the situation on the fly.

There are some games on this weekend. Kansas will host (kind of) the Houston Cougars. This season has not gone as hoped for the Jayhawks, and I think some of it can be attributed to our home field situation – our stadium is being reconstructed, so we’re either playing at Children’s Mercy Park (soccer field for Sporting KC) and Arrowhead Stadium (home of the Chiefs). It just feels a bit disconnected. The new stadium can’t get done soon enough.

On Sunday, the Chiefs will play the San Francisco 49ers, the team they beaten twice in the Superbowl in the last five years. Both teams have been bitten by the injury bug, but so far this season, Kansas City has found a way to win all of their games so far, while the 49ers have dropped to a .500 record.

That’s about all I have. I have some mowing to do, other yard work. I probably ought to get the garage and barn space in order for our property vehicles.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 581

Good morning! It’s Thursday! Today is 17 October 2024.

Yesterday was a good day. I did my regular routine, write, breakfast, coffee, and then my last few minutes of prep before my day behind the microphone. My class went well, and we had a pleasant learning experience, with a smattering of very insightful questions, most of them coming from a learner from Montreal.

Lisa arrived home from work shortly after 5 PM. She immediately changed into more casual attire and headed out the door to spend time with our granddaughter while our daughter took care of business with a client.

I joined the guys online and had a nice sidebar conversation with one of the new guys to the group who is originally from Berlin. I’ve been to Germany a few times, so we had a nice chat… he feels the same way about Heidelberg that I do… love that town.

Our gaming commenced, but we were a little shorthanded with a couple of our players on vacation trips. The gamemaster managed the game, giving us a little situational help. I did alright, and my digital dice did not let me down.

Lucy, the senior dog, is in the kitchen barking her head off. She must’ve cornered a dust bunny with ill intent.

Today is another day in the virtual classroom, and tonight will be a relaxing evening. I’ll get some reading done, and look over some other responsibilities I need to attend to before the end of the work week. There is a team meeting on Monday, so I need to get a couple of things in order on that front.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 580 

Good morning, and a happy Humpday Wednesday to you all. Today is 16 October 2024.

I’m currently wondering if I qualify as “the enemy within”. I’m confident one candidate would consider me such.

OK, I got that out of my system.

One thing I would like to take a moment to say – I’ve got some friends who have been dealing with health issues, some inconvenient maladies, and a couple who are dealing with issues of life and death (no, not kidding). One is an old friend who helped me move out of my apartment and into a house with my wife when we were married in 1996. Matt was attached to my brothers at the hip back in the 80s and 90s, and in the last couple of years, he married one of my high school classmates. Matt has been on my mind, as has one of the guys from my gaming group, and this morning I read that another guy from the gaming group had to go to immediate care last night with a knee injury. This getting-old business is not for the faint of heart.

Last night there were tacos. They are now a pleasant memory. Ah, Tuesday.

My class went pretty well yesterday. We worked our way through the intro and the first couple of modules, emphasizing the prerequisite module, so folks understood what they were expected to have some experience in before showing up for an expert-level course. I also pointed them toward some interactive lab simulations if they realized that there might be a little knowledge gap.

Tonight, there might be a virtual tabletop game… I hope so. I also hope one of the guys is out of the hospital so he can join in.

In the meantime, I’ll make a pot of coffee, take my morning meds, and toast a bagel for breakfast.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 579

Good morning, and a happy Taco Tuesday to you all. Today is 15 October 2024.

Woot… it’s payday… and there will be tacos on the table tonight.

Yesterday I had a pretty good day, teaching a one-day security course. There were some issues with creating some rules, but the folks in charge are aware of the issues. Today, I begin a four-day class, the same content I delivered next week. I don’t anticipate any problems with this next course. I’ll repeat the process a bit next week, with a four-day class running Tuesday through Friday, and a Monday full of meetings.

Last night, Lisa and I were both focused on some work tasks, so we kept “Chopped” reruns in the background while the laptops were on top of our laps. We also had a few dogs on our laps as well, as Odin, Rosy, and Lily know the drill. Lucy generally just looks at us, barks, and then ignores the lowered leg rest to accommodate her 13-year-old jumping ability.

After Lisa went back to the bedroom around 9:40, I flipped the channel over to Monday Night Football to watch one of my villains lose to the Buffalo Bills. I’m not an Aaron Rogers fan… he’s cut from the same mold as some other folks who blame everybody else for their own mistakes. He had a hand in getting his coach fired a week ago, I hope the Jets don’t win a game the rest of the year.

Let’s see cloud solutions architecture, meetings, and tacos. That’s all I have for the day. Pooches need smooches.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 578

Good morning, and a happy first day of the Western work week to you. My name is Bob, and today is Monday, 14 October 2024.

What has happened since Friday’s post? I wrapped up my class late Friday afternoon, and kicked back most of the weekend, to be honest. Saturday we had a little fun, with Evelyn’s trip to the pumpkin patch. We walked around and looked at the pumpkins, the chickens, the ducks, and the cows. I think Evelyn was more interested in sitting and playing in the dirt rather than scanning the horizon for pumpkins. It was all good, there was cider and caramel corn, and all was happy and dusty at the pumpkin patch.

I’m usually pretty focused on sports this time of year, but this past weekend was a bye week for both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas Jayhawks. The Chiefs will play next Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, and the Kansas Jayhawks will host the University of Houston Cougars at one of the alternative playing sites around the area while Memorial Stadium undergoes a rebuild. I think the Chiefs have a good chance at winning, and I think the Jayhawks have an outstanding opportunity to once again have a lead at some point in the 4th quarter then blow it.

Yeah, I’m a bit cynical.

This week I have five days in my virtual classroom, with a one-day security workshop followed by a four-day security theory course.

That’s about all I have. There’s not too much going on, really.

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

Peace y’all.