Today has been an interesting day, this 12th day of November, in the Year of Our Lord 2019. Lisa and I played a minor prank on the boy (very minor, and we brought him food, so it was ok). I spent a lot of time studying for a certification exam I need to take, and got a few other things done here around the house.

OK, so one of the things I recognize is that my intended audience is my descendants… not that I know if I’ll ever have any at this point in time. My kids might have kids, but it’s up to them. I pass along a few things on hope that it has an impact upon my kids’ kids and others down the road.

Another Trump admin official is underfire for embellishing her resume. That’s not going to look good down the road.

Don’t lie about who you are. Be honest about it. You are who you are, with all of the flaws and imperfections that make out place the right place.

I hope all of you that read this are doing well. Be fair. Be kind. Accept that the people around you might not share the same historic, religious, or cultural beliefs that each of you do. We just need to focus on getting along.

Peace y’all.

It’s Monday night, Veteran’s Day, and I will pause for a moment to show respect for the men, women, dogs, horses, and carrier pigeons that made sacrifices for the freedom I enjoy today.

Any number of family members have served, including both my brothers, three of my uncles, and many, many other members of my family have served. I had a great uncle that served in Korea. I had a four or five time great grandfather fight and die during the Civil War at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I had other ancestors fight during the War of 1812, and some others during the American Revolutionary War.

I am thankful for the sacrifice these people have made. I am thankful for the sacrifices that others have made for America as well.

You’ll never see me standing up and comparing any inconvenience I have to the challenges endured by those that have served our country with honor. I will pause, and respect, but I won’t diminish their accomplishments by comparing them to any paltry inconvenience I have ever suffered.

Thank you to our veterans. It’s Veteran’s Day, and it falls on the anniversary of Armistice… the end of Word War I, that my grandfather enlisted to fight in, was rejected, then enlisted again at the end of the war.

And I include the non-human veterans in my praise as well. Thank you.

Peace y’all.

OK, it’s a Sunday night in the humble abode here in Noria, Kansas. (I still think it’s kind of cool that I live in a place that rhymes with the legendary land of Middle Earth… I know, I get caught up in the silliest things).

The Chiefs lost today. Poor clock management, poor defense, lots of injuries, and lots of penalties. I love my team, but we’re not going to get over the hump until we flat out just get lucky.

On the positive side, the KU Women’s Soccer team won their first Big 12 Conference Championship. Well done.

I’ve got a full week. Ramping up for my deliveries next week, and then the burst of work just before Christmas. I am thankful that my schedule has a nice gap in road work from the 20th until the 9th. I am going to focus on some things outside of work during that time.

I’m going to try and crank out a certification exam this week. I have some goals to achieve, and that starts with certification. One important part of what I do professionally requires that I not rest on my laurels. I need to keep my focus on the next thing.

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

I know that expression might set some folks back on their heels, but think about it for a second. We all have a certain amount of “stuff” heading our way… if you’re living ahead of the karma curve… well, that’s a win.

Peace y’all.

Nothing against you, gentle reader, but tonight is not a good night for me to focus on writing. I’ll make it up, whether tomorrow or the next day, but tonight is just not there.

Lisa is already asleep in her recliner, both Lucy and Freya at her feet…. closer to “just off her lap”, bit they’re dogs, and it’s going to happen.

This is one of those moments when I go off on bizarre stream of thought stuff in an effort to get two hundred words in sooner rather than later, but like I hinted at earlier, I’m just not feeling it tonight.

My apologies… and I promise I will make it up later. I’m going to owe the word an extra hundred words by the time this is all said and done.

Or maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll just start talking crap about the political and economic issues of the day and find myself a few words closer to two hundred when it’s all done.

Yeah, that might be a more reasonable expectation. TOmorrow, it will be church followed by the Chiefs at noon.

I look forward to getting to cheer for my team from home rather than from some anonymous airport lounge.

Life is good, and I’ll keep on keeping on.

Peace y’all.

OK, everybody keep it down.

Lisa has fallen asleep the chair next to me, with Freya asleep as well cloe to her lap.

She’ll wake in a moment or two ans ask me i she fell asleep. I’ll say, “Yeah, for a moment or two”… when it’s really been a half hour.

I’m about ready to call it for the night. I had a good workday, and I covered a lot of territory. I’m getting better at what I do every day, and sometimes I actually believe in myself…

Yeah, that’s going to be a struggle for me I have and always will struggle with certain weaknesses. I have to deal with what some call “imposter syndrome”. I have to deal with my own demons, and self confidence issues. just like anybody else.

I’ll get over it, if only for a temporary time.

Calling it an early night. I’m just not that verbal tonight.

Peace y’all.

It’s Thursday, and things are winding down for me here in Montgomery, Alabama. Ken has taken the bull by the horns, and he’s taking us home. I’ll head to the airport after lunch and get squared away for my flight home.

I’m looking forward to getting home. I pulled the trigger on a new phone. The phone I’ve been using for awhile just doesn’t react to my touch the way it should, and I’ve decided to go a different direction. A new Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus will be arriving at the house tomorrow, as well as a new storage card for my stuff.

Now I’m fighting with a backup application trying to backup all of my stuff. I’ve also fired off an email to the Phone Registration team at work to try and make sure that this process goes as smooth as possible.

I’m already focused on the next big thing… a week at home. I’m overdue for this. I need to spend some time and get to blocking out some weeks down the road for home time.

In the meantime, I’ve got plenty to keep me busy, between work stuff and home stuff. Expense reports to file, and a few other things of that nature, including getting some annual health care stuff reconciled.

That’s the life, and that’s about all I have for now. I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

It’s a Wednesday morning, and I get to watch one of my favorite teammates discuss storage and recover solutions in Azure. Ken does a great job with this particular topic, and I’m fortunate that I get to witness his delivery. He’s a solid spokesperson for the product, and his years as a PFE (professional field engineer) really comes through in his presentation.

One aspect of my current that I really like is the way we can learn from our peers. We are often in situations where we have a large number of students in the room, and we need another instructor nearby to take off some of the load and help out with labs. I’ve certainly benefited from the experience of others, and I hope I’m integrating the best of what I have seen in to my own deliveries.

That said, we’re getting hit with a tidal wave of new content this week. I attended the Microsoft TechEd/Ignite conference every year since 2004, and most years dating to 1996. This year I’m not in attendance, but I’ve been trying to keep up with the new announcements that seem to be coming out on a daily basis.

Once again, drinking from the firehose!

The only other thing on my mind is Kansas loss to Duke last night in college basketball. Ugh. Turnovers killed us. If they would’ve cut the turnovers in half, we would’ve won easily. 28 turnovers, 18 in the first half alone just took the wind out of the team’s sails.

OK, that’s all I’ve got for now.

Peace y’all.

It’s a Tuesday, and I am in Montgomery, Alabama, writing and digesting the salad I had for lunch. My teaching partner has one more module to go through, and then it will be open lab for the balance of the day.

At the end of this workday, I will be scoping out locations to enjoy a little evening of college basketball, as Kansas squares off against Duke, followed by Michigan State taking on Kentucky.

There’s going to be some good basketball on tonight!

I also have some other things to get done today, and preparing for some additional deliveries of the content we’re delivering this week, but my next deliveries will be by myself, so I’m leaning in while Ken teaches so I can glean a little extra from his wealth of experience.

The product I am supporting is absolutely fascinating. Seems like a few years ago, you had all of the tools to build the digital equivalent of a log cabin, and now that tool set and skill set will let someone recreate the Palace of Versailles.

And there is always more to learn.

I like the challenge of trying to stay on top of all of this. I find myself constantly learning integrating. I’d rather have a little too much on my plate than not enough.

My plate is full.

Time to feed my brain.

Peace y’all.

Numbers. Yesterday I hit the halfway point between 20,000 days on this plane, and 21,000. The average person is supposed to get to 30,000.

A lot of folks don’t.

Make every day count.

This is a travel day for me, part of my regular “commute to work”. Today’s destination is Montgomery, Alabama, a southern landmark in history. This is an opportunity to learn a little more about the evolution of the American society. I’m going to embrace the opportunity.

Had a pleasant experience at the airport earlier today. I’m wearing a “work shirt” today, company logo on the left breast. A gentleman walked up to me and asked if I worked for Microsoft, and I replied in the affirmative. He let me know that he recently retired from Microsoft, and he loves the direction the company is going in now.,

It feels good to part of this very interesting time in Microsoft’s growth.

On the other side of things, the Chiefs host the Minneapolis Vikings today, and the Vikings are playing very good football right now. With the Chiefs quarterback still sidelined with a knee injury, I am not optimistic about the outcome of today’s game.

I’m going to get back to work now, reading more about the stuff I work with… it is constantly changing, and there’s plenty for my to pay attention to.

Peace y’all.

OK, so here’s the truth. Last night I was traveling to get home to good old Lawrence, Kansas, and fought my way through Uber rides and slightly delayed flights to Kansas City, and I realized I had yet to write my daily blog. Ok, truth be known. When I am on the rod, I am not always as disciplined as I might otherwise be in the preparation of my daily blog entry.

It’s Saturday night in rural Douglas County, Kansas, and I’m going to be straight up honest with y’all.

I owe the month of November 400 hundred words.

That’s today and yesterday.

I’m not that guy tonight.

Lisa and I have an old friend in from out -of-town, and we’re kind of focused on living the family-style life at the moment. I am fully cognizant of the idea that I am not as stable in my residential life as I would like to be. I also recognize that if I get to two hundred words tonight, I can kick that obligation, this can, down the road and deal with it tomorrow.

All it takes is fir me to produce another twenty words, and then I can kick it. Not a tremendous obligation, but it moves the standard just enough.

I wish you all the best , in your day and age.

Peace y’all.