Update 📰 on Lost In Haste

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 17:37:17 -0600

Spent an hour digging out my car only to go for a walk around my area and realize there’s no way my car will make it up any of these hills. ❄️🚙🤣

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 19:50:03 -0600

Every time I rewatch the West Wing I’m amazed at Allison Janney’s performance…good lord, what an amazing actress. 🍿📺

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 15:34:56 -0600

☕️ Should I have another cup of coffee, this late in the afternoon…? No, no I shouldn’t.😮‍💨

Will I have another cup of coffee…yes, yes I will! 🤣

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 21:25:16 -0600

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…" 😱
Also know as “Open Enrollment” for picking health insurance for next year… 🤮🤢

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 15:17:22 -0600

Yea…it’s going to be a “coffee in the late afternoon” kinda day. ☕️🤣

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 10:00:09 -0600

Ok, so I tried…I really tried to like the “new” Spotlight…but it just doesn’t work for me; if the search tool I use can’t find applications, then it won’t work for me. 😮‍💨

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 08:17:03 -0600

The last few weeks have been…rough…life transitions are hard and complicated, full of fears and tears but I’m rather fortunate to be surrounded by amazing people; thank you to all the friends who showed up at the going away party last week and/or have reached out this week, just to check up on me.

Mon, 05 May 2025 14:15:07 -0600

Do I need a second cup of coffee…yes, yes I do need more coffee. ☕️

Sun, 20 Apr 2025 11:29:36 -0600

Easter was Grandma’s favorite holiday…so we decided to go to her favorite restaurant in her memory. 🥗🥖☕️🐣 📷

Olive Garden. 📍

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 14:14:29 -0600

At my favorite place in the city. 🥰

Missouri Botanical Garden. 📍

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 12:08:07 -0600

I’ve been oddly productive today, apparently catching up on old podcasts is the secret to doing a bunch of chores around the house. 🤣 🎙️

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 14:08:34 -0600

🗳️ Walked to go vote today and took the long way back home, enjoying the sun and fresh Spring air. 🌸 😎

I just love Spring, everything is in bloom. 📷

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 14:09:33 -0600

We had an amazing time in Canada on vacation but upon unpacking the car, we realized the good camera had been left behind in Montreal. 😭 I never thought I’d see that camera again but…the hotel found it and it finally made it back home today. 🥳 📸

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 18:04:15 -0600

Neither of us wanted to cook so we ended up at one of the local Mexican restaurants. 🤣

El Paisano Mexican Restaurant. 📍

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 13:21:14 -0600

🚶🏼 Finally getting over my head cold (second one of the year, yay 😔) and decided to get out of the house for a light stroll over my lunch break; sunshine and flowers are great for the body and soul. 📷

Sun, 16 Mar 2025 09:28:00 -0600

🎮 Fired up the Switch to take a stroll down memory lane; showing my age but I remember playing the original Final Fantasy on the NES, back in the day. 🤣

I’m enjoying the remake, the quality of life improvements (such as being able to save anywhere) make it feel a little bit more modern. 📷

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 11:15:33 -0600

Finished up my taxes on my lunch break and realized this is the first time since I started filing taxes I didn’t wait until April to file. 🫨

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 08:20:40 -0600

I now own a single share of Nintendo stock…for no reason, other than the 12 year old me is happy to own a tiny piece of one of my favorite companies. 🤣🎮

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:44:19 -0600

Good grief, filling out taxes is just rough (unless you like that sort of thing 🤪) but at least Fidelity is fast to answer messages and phones. 🤣

Sat, 15 Feb 2025 22:52:00 -0600

Safely back in the States (though, are any of us really safe) but last Friday we were in Quebec for Winter Carnival. 🇨🇦🇫🇷🥶

Ambassador Bridge. 📍

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 20:11:54 -0600

Yea…completely forgot there was a big sports event today… 🤣

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 13:19:15 -0600

Everything seems to be getting more expensive, even a family subscription of Office 365. ☹️ At least one can get three months free when buying the subscription through Costco. 😂

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 12:33:23 -0600

There is something rather satisfying about doing a “pave / nuke” on your Mac, my M2 Air is blazing fast again…and I can once again use WiFi! 🎉🛜

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 13:20:56 -0600

OMG…just listened to what is apparently the last episode of @coreint. 😭 I’m going to miss @manton and @danielpunkass talk about tech and the indie web, it’s been one of my favorite ways to relax on a Sunday with a cup of coffee. ☕️🎧

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 13:02:42 -0600

Yesterday was all about maintenance on my UnRaid server and today is rebuilding my MacBook Air; I can’t figure out my networking issues, so I’m starting from scratch. 🤣😂🤪 #nerd

Sat, 11 Jan 2025 19:06:39 -0600

Made a big batch of chili in November and froze most of it…heating up some of it tonight for dinner. 🌶️🍲 😋🤤 📷

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 13:53:29 -0600

It’s never fun driving on snowy roads (especially when the snow is still coming down) but I’m so glad I spent the extra money to get all-wheel drive for my new car. Some person nearly sideswiped me while they were putting on makeup (who does that?!) but my car handled it just fine. ❄️🚗💄

Sun, 05 Jan 2025 14:47:14 -0600

🌨️ Part of me wishes our region had more snow; we get so little, when it happens, everyone seems to loose their mind and panic. 😮‍💨

Even the the @CARROT@mastodon.social bot seems to be loosing it’s mind…but then, it is a sometimes homicidal weather robot…so who can tell? 🤣🤷🏼

Fri, 03 Jan 2025 14:15:45 -0600

Just went to the library for the first time since University. 📚🤓 📷

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:41:16 -0600

Experiencing the oddest tech issue of my life: my Mac Air won’t connect to some domains, including ”captive.apple.com” which means I can’t get on this crappy hotel WiFi. 😭🤷 It might be time for a nuke ‘n pave… 😱

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:57:01 -0600

🎙️ Just listened to the holiday episode of Upgrade on @relay@relayfm.social, laughed so hard at Jason’s gingerbread house story and it was so gratifying to hear the two hosts views on green-bean casserole (they hold to proper viewpoint that it’s an abomination and is ranked “F” 🤢). 🎄

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 13:28:47 -0600

☕️ At the Toyota dealership, getting my current car looked at for its trade-in value…and drinking a cup of coffee for the first time in over a week. 😆 I’m sure I’ll be bouncing off the walls shortly. 🤪

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 09:57:06 -0600

I haven’t had to worry about insurance for a couple years now, my current employer had the best plan I’ve ever seen. Found out this week my company is being “merged” with another (aka, we’re being acquired) and our insurance costs are going to sky rocket. 😱😤😭 #Screwed #FirstWorldProblems

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 10:50:49 -0600

Working from home has advantages and disadvantages…but it’s lovely watching the snow fall without having to worry about driving into work. ☃️❄️😁

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 08:55:36 -0600

Recently gotten back into music and I’m loving Plexamp. 🎶🎵🎼

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 17:00:29 -0600

Met up with some old friends / former coworkers for tasty Thai food and some venting. 😋😮‍💨 📷

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 12:43:35 -0600

Taking refuge with music from my past, when things were easier and the world seemed simpler. 😮‍💨 🎵

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 13:58:53 -0600

Voting was more convenient when the polling place was a couple blocks away from our house but today I took a long lunch break to walk a mile to go vote; the walk did me good and kept me from looking at the news. 😃😅🇺🇸

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 15:55:28 -0600

🎮 Sadly, I was forced to cancel my Analogue 3D order, some unexpected expenses have recently reared their ugly heads:

Dryer is on it’s last leg
Car issues (both of them)
Vet bills
The outside faucet needs to be fixed

For the time being, I’ll just have to limit myself to software emulation. 😭

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 14:43:30 -0600

Took a late lunch break and went for a walk to clear my head and get some sun. 🍂🚶🏼‍♂️

Side note: I’m really digging my new Garmin and I love it doesn’t need to be charged every day.

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 09:29:49 -0600

Just per-ordered the Analogue 3D! 🎮 …I just couldn’t resist revisiting my childhood. 🤣

Sat, 19 Oct 2024 11:57:20 -0600

Out shopping for tonight (having friends over to watch Hocus Pocus) and stopped by a local coffee shop for my annual pumpkin spice latte; the name of the shop might have changed but it still looks just like it did when a friend of mine and I would frequent it for breakfast back in the day. 🎃☕️ 📸

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 08:04:48 -0600

Woke up to frost on the ground…not sure I’m ready for winter just yet. 🤣🥶

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 17:57:25 -0600

My insurance wouldn’t refill a prescription, so Walgreens offered to fill it for me without insurance…the price: $256. 💊 The same medication / dosage at Costco: $10. 😱😡😤 Gotta love healthcare in ‘Murica. 🇺🇸

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 07:01:00 -0600

There is something cute / fun / odd about listening to a podcast and suddenly hearing French when they get to an advertising / commercial break…I guess I forgot to turn off my VPN last night. 😆🇫🇷

Sat, 05 Oct 2024 09:18:31 -0600

I haven’t really been happy with my phone Home Screen for a while, so…I’m trying a minimalist approach. 📱

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 09:50:51 -0600

Congratulations Apple, I will never again buy AirPods from you.

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 23:27:46 -0600

Burning the midnight oil, trying to hammer out a few more unit tests. 🥱

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 10:20:31 -0600

Trying to get my legal affairs in order (aka, a will and medical power of attorney)…and a law office I talked with wanted a $10,000 deposit / retainer. 😱 WTF…it’s just a few hours of work, my life isn’t that complicated… 😮‍💨

Sun, 29 Sep 2024 10:06:08 -0600

Covid and flu vaccines acquired. 😷

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 13:55:43 -0600

It’s becoming rapidly apparent that my Synology DS3617xs is not long for this world or even my network set up. Just had to forcibly restart it, the second time in just two weeks. I can no longer trust this to be the backbone of my home infrastructure. 😭😤

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 02:07:17 -0600

Well…wide awake again, might as well get to work. 😵‍💫

Insomnia sucks. 🥱

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 08:04:53 -0600

I was listening to the latest @atpfm podcast, about the dust up between Apple / Creators / Patreon and I’m in agreement with the hosts: it’s just yuck. I love their hardware but with the focus on squeezing more revenue out small devs / creators, it’s getting harder to justify giving Apple money.

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 13:36:53 -0600

I’ve been setting up my new Raspberry Pi to be an always-on, lightweight server but I was running into the oddest issue when trying to get memory data out of Docker. As it turns out, adding “cgroup_memory=1 cgroup_enable=memory” to my “/boot/cmdline.txt” file fixed the issue. 🎉 Link

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 16:21:27 -0600

My father just bought a Mac with no input from me and set it up without my help…and now can’t remember the password; trying to remotely help him was painfully frustrating. 😮‍💨 Oh the joys of being tech support. 🤣

Irony: he has a computer science degree and used to write SQL for a living. 🤣

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 12:01:00 -0600

The weather was so lovely over lunch, I went for a walk. 🚶🏼‍♂️

Whilst walking, I stumbled across the cutest flowers. 😊 🌿 📷

Sat, 03 Aug 2024 14:36:26 -0600

Someone once said “hell is other people." I would like to modify that: hell is Costco on a Saturday afternoon.

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 19:48:00 -0600

Met up with some friends tonight for dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant. Nine times out of ten, I get the same dish…why mess with perfection. 😋 📷

Sun, 28 Jul 2024 15:47:56 -0600

It’s been years since I saw one in the wild but whilst my friend and I were out, we dropped by a second-hand shop and I found an AirPort Time Capsule. 🤣 📷

Sun, 28 Jul 2024 13:24:01 -0600

Friend of mine came into down and we ended up getting ramen for lunch. 😋 🍜 📷

Sat, 27 Jul 2024 22:12:54 -0600

We weren’t planning on watching the Olympics Opening Ceremony tonight but the Boo pulled out the rabbit ears from the basement; it was an amazing show but now I miss Paris. 🇫🇷 📷

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 20:01:55 -0600

Some friends recently redid their backyard and deck…and invited us over to see it mostly complete, as well as enjoy a glass of wine and treats.

The sunset was lovely…the very excitable pup was slightly medicated. 🌅 🐕 📷

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 09:14:17 -0600

🔗 Global Microsoft Meltdown Tied to Bad Crowdstrike Update - Krebs on Security // krebsonsecurity.com

A faulty software update from cybersecurity vendor Crowdstrike crippled countless Microsoft Windows computers across the globe today, disrupting everything from airline travel and financial institutions to hospitals and businesses online.

The Crowdstrike issue is striking everywhere, two people on my Team can’t use their computers today…and I’m one of them. 😭😤

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 08:05:06 -0600

I was in a bit of a “mood” yesterday, just not in a happy place. I finally went for a three-ish mile walk late last night came to the conclusion, for my own mental health, I need to take a tiny break from the news (not tech of course) for a while. 😔

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 15:13:41 -0600

Enjoying the “new” version of @overcast.fm but everyone was right, muscle-memory is a bit of a barrier. 🤣🎙️🎧

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 12:04:25 -0600

It’s too dang hot for coffee today, so I decided to make some “fast” iced coffee in my @atp.fm pint glass. 🧊☕️ Thought it was pretty cool, seeing the coffee melt the ice. 🤣

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 19:12:37 -0600

A friend was talking about sushi earlier in the week and thus, I had a bit of a craving…so, sushi for dinner!
😋 🍱 📷

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 16:38:43 -0600

I had to take my servers offline…the rain from Texas has arrived and my basement is now flooding. 😭🌊🖥️

Sat, 06 Jul 2024 06:45:55 -0600

Every time I try to use the iPad for anything other than a reader / video viewer, it’s an exercise in frustration… 😔 Why can only one sound source be active? 😱 #RoadTrip

Thu, 04 Jul 2024 15:34:31 -0600

I ate far too much at “the girls” (my lady-friends from college) annual 4th of July barbecue party; everything tasted great but I ended up with a stomach ache afterwards. 🤣

Fri, 28 Jun 2024 10:35:17 -0600

Went out to grab some lunch with a friend / coworker. 📷

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 10:46:38 -0600

I totally forgot it was WWDC today… 🤣

Thu, 06 Jun 2024 14:09:49 -0600

In desperate need of a “pick me up” and just remembered a friend of mine brought back some coffee from Hawaii. 🥱☕️ 📷

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 09:17:56 -0600

I was listening to the latest episode of the Core Intuition podcast and was delighted to hear Mars Edit now had the ability to set the categories for the Micropost functionality…so did it work? 😝

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 06:14:51 -0600

Trying out something new: woke up an hour early to take a walk before work. 🥱🚶🏼

Mon, 03 Jun 2024 15:10:10 -0600

Slowly easing back into the work routine after being on vacation (and out of the Country) for over a week. 🤪

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 19:41:31 -0600

We’ve always wanted to go to London…didn’t think it would be London, Ontario but beggars can’t be choosers. 🤣🇨🇦🇬🇧

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 06:57:45 -0600

Just saw a Tesla drop off someone off at their job…at a gas (petrol) station. I can’t stop laughing. 😆⚡️⛽️

Mon, 27 May 2024 10:50:52 -0600

I will never again get a phone directly through my carrier, even if it’s significantly cheaper. We’re up in Canada 🇨🇦 on vacation and my phone is locked…I can’t even add a secondary eSIM for cheaper mobile data. 😮‍💨😱

Tue, 21 May 2024 05:49:37 -0600

Awake since 05:00 (took a friend to the airport 🛫), I’m worried there isn’t enough coffee in my house to keep me awake today… 🥱😆

Mon, 20 May 2024 12:12:14 -0600

Getting my license renewed and the Golden Girls theme song comes on the overhead speakers, it must be a sign. 👏🏻

Sat, 18 May 2024 20:49:46 -0600

📺 We finally finished Fawlty Towers, with the last episode causing us to laugh so hard and loud, we set off the noise alert on my Apple Watch. 🤣 John Cleese really is a cometic genius. 👏🏻 It’s a very good show, we will absolutely watch it again.
★★★☆☆

Fri, 17 May 2024 12:44:31 -0600

Wow, that’s rather detailed…

I affirm that I will not use the Software for nuclear. missile, chemical biological weaponry. or other weapons of mass destruction, (For more information on the U.S. export laws, see the Bureau of Industry and Security's home page.)

I’m sure I’ve agreed to this before, in other TOS that no one reads but that’s oddly specific. 🧐

(Downloading…or rather, attempting to download, a copy of VMware Fusion Pro.)

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 11:53:56 -0600

I guess I have to eat my words, I just downloaded Delta from the App Store on my lunch break. The on-screen controls aren’t great but I’m sure I have a bluetooth controller around here somewhere. 🎮🎉

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 22:01:00 -0600

I kinda went on a bit of a reading binge over the past week, reading the initial six books of the Aegis of Merlin series. This was another one of those “Amazon recommends this” instances and I fell for it. That said, the books were highly addictive and I’m obviously going to keep reading them. 🤭

Mon, 15 Apr 2024 13:13:00 -0600

Passport photo acquired, paperwork is being sent off tomorrow…Canada, here I come! 🛫
(In 10 to 15 weeks 🤣)

Fri, 05 Apr 2024 07:57:52 -0600

What’s a caffeine addict to do when there isn’t any coffee in the house? They walk to the local ice cream parlor and get breakfast before the workday starts. 🤣 ☕️🍳🥯 📷

Tue, 02 Apr 2024 09:42:11 -0600

Just realized I missed day one of the “April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge” 😭

Sun, 24 Mar 2024 14:13:19 -0600

Working on my taxes this afternoon and wanted to double-check there were no documents for an old retirement account. It’s nice to know some things never change: Empower Retirement is still an awful company with awful tech. 🤣

Sat, 16 Mar 2024 18:41:00 -0600

Dinner tonight… 😋🍱📷

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 13:05:55 -0600

Given my background with MS Sql / T-SQL, you’d think it would be trivial for me to upgrade from PostgreSQL 15 to 16…but you’d be wrong! 😂 Maybe it was b/c Docker was involved but goodness, that turned out complicated than I thought.

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 08:48:55 -0600

Set up a FreshRSS server over the weekend for fun; yes, I am a nerd. 🤓

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 09:29:59 -0600

You know it’s bad when the representative from the Insurance company tells you to try GoodRX instead of using your own bloody insurance. Ah, healthcare in America. 😱🤬

(The generic version is out of stock and back-ordered everywhere in the City and the name-brand has a 110% markup.)

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 13:37:32 -0600

Can’t get a 90 day supply of mediation filled b/c of an unspecified error in the computer system my mail-order pharmacy uses (they wouldn’t confirm if the big cyber-hack was the cause), so I have to use a local one but they don’t do 90 day supplies. 😱😡 #HealthcareInAmerica #FirstWorldProblem

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 19:24:22 -0600

A dear friend of mine would have turned 42 today, if she hadn’t passed away during the Pandemic. Rest in peace, sweet Carol…we all still miss you. I hope whatever you are, Russell is keeping you company, begging for scratches and watching you eat, hoping for crumbs to fall. 🤣😮‍💨😢💔

Sun, 25 Feb 2024 14:59:48 -0600

The perils of living with a non-coffee drinker: he walked in and asked in an accusatory tone: “why does it smell like Seattle in here?" 🤣☕️

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 09:09:23 -0600

I think I’m going to declare “bankruptcy” on my RSS feeds today…this has gotten a bit out of hand, a fresh start seems like a good idea.

Fri, 16 Feb 2024 14:14:48 -0600

🎵 I queued up this week’s episode the Vergecast and a french commercial for cat food immediately started playing. 🤨 Forgot I left my iPad “vpn-ed” out to France last night, gotta love dynamic ad insertion. 🤣

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 08:15:00 -0600

I have a complicated relationship with Valentines Day. 🤔 No, it’s not actually complicated, I just hate it. 😅

So, I was shocked to see what my Partner left for me this morning. 📷

He really is too sweet. 🫶🏻

(In my defense, we did go out on Monday to “celebrate” the fake holiday.)

Fri, 09 Feb 2024 16:17:39 -0600

Well this is an interesting turn of events…it looks like Google has completely blocked my IP address from watching YouTube videos. 🤔😳

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 16:35:13 -0600

It’s the very definition of a first world problem but I’m unable to rent / reserve skis for an upcoming vacation because someone didn’t check to see if the latest deploy didn’t contain breaking javascript changes on the site. 🤣😱😭 #ScreamsIntoTheVoid

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 13:47:52 -0600

I can’t believe it’s been a year since we said goodbye to Russell. The pain has faded a little but it feels like it’s been both an eternity but also just the blink of an eye since we said our farewells to our little puppy-rabbit. 💔

Lots of tears today… 😭

We miss you, we still miss you. 🐶🐕 📷

Sun, 04 Feb 2024 15:27:12 -0600

Finally got around to installing an “extender” SATA card into my media server, to add more drives…and of course, it doesn’t work. 😤 💾 📷

Fri, 02 Feb 2024 09:59:11 -0600

Trying to update the SSL certificates our Kafka consumer / producer uses and it’s driving me to drink more coffee. ☕️🤪

Wed, 31 Jan 2024 12:03:37 -0600

…and I only just finished my first cup of coffee. ☕️🤪

Sun, 28 Jan 2024 13:52:43 -0600

Someone created a Github issue for my Justified Swipebox Micro.blog plugin…and I’m so excited to know someone out there is at least looking at my work, much less using it; it’s not really ”my work”, I just enhanced / joined two other libraries so they’d work with Micro.blog…but still, I’m excited!

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 11:54:14 -0600

📞 I was cleaning up voicemail on my lunch-break and found some old ones from Grandma; for the first time since she passed, I didn’t instantly burst into tears at the sound of her voice. 🥰 I still miss that beautiful soul every day, especially the sound of her laugh, but the pain is easier now. 💔❤️

Mon, 22 Jan 2024 11:29:48 -0600

The “view” from inside the front door this morning. 🥶🧊📷

Sun, 21 Jan 2024 20:17:00 -0600

Went skiing earlier, the first time in seven years. We had a great time but good grief, I’m sore…where is a hot-tub when you need one?! 🤣⛷️📷

(Not pictured: the massive amount of beginners on the slopes, they were everywhere, crashing into everything. 😮‍💨)

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 13:13:00 -0600

Thai food with some friends for lunch. 🥢🍛

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 09:44:16 -0600

My Parter and I went for a walk last night, in the falling snow (it’s a tradition of ours, to go for a walk during the first real snowfall) and had a great time…right until the very end: I hit a patch of ice and went down hard. 🤕 Woke up today feeling like I’ve been through a clothes press. 😂

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 17:20:12 -0600

Playing around with the updated Micro.blog categories, decided to add emoticons, just for fun. Have a bit of an odd bug with repeating categories but the feature did just come out today, so I’m not too worried about it. 🤣

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 15:22:31 -0600

Years ago, I set up a self-hosted Gitea, as a backup solution for my Github account. I didn’t think much of it at the time but I used MS SQL as the backend for it, without realizing the Docker version doesn’t work with encrypted Synology volumes. 🥴 I finally took care of that, now on MySQL. 🎉

Sat, 13 Jan 2024 20:51:29 -0600

I had a craving earlier today and yea, it isn’t healthy at all but as it’s 10°F, so eating bad food doesn’t count. 🤣🥶

It would have been better if we went to Chicago but the pizza was still dang tasty! 🍕📷

Sat, 13 Jan 2024 11:08:46 -0600

Layoffs have been hitting the tech sector for a while now and up till yesterday, it’s all been “theory." 😔 I’m still employed (being a “jack of all trades” software engineer has it’s perks) but a we all found out “the number” of employees who’ve been let go in the past two weeks last night. 😮‍💨

Fri, 12 Jan 2024 14:42:12 -0600

I was listening to Pivot (one of my favorite podcasts) over my lunch and there was an exchange between the two hosts that’s stuck with me, enough that I’m actually posting about it. 😅 I think they’re both right, we need new words for masculine / feminine. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Totally worth a listen. 🎤🎙️🔈

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 14:18:42 -0600

☕️ Wow, just realized I made some coffee at 10:00 this morning but never drank it; it’s been a busy day at work. 🤣

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 07:24:36 -0600

Just used an Apple Shortcut created by @jarrod to use OpenIA to generate image descriptions for alt text. 😁 Very cool and will be using it on conjunction with another Shortcut (for Micro.blog uploading) in the future. I keep forgetting I can use Shortcuts for scripting instead of C#. 🤣

Snowfall and a Show

Sun, 07 Jan 2024 15:51:36 -0600

Over the weekend, my Partner and I were offered tickets to see Mrs. Doubtfire at the local theater. 🎭 It was an unexpected treat (our friends had just come back from London and were rather jet-lagged), both the show and the holiday decoration in the theater.🎄 📷

It was also the first serious snowfall of the season. 🌨️ It was mostly melted by the time we woke up in the morning but it was a pretty drive home (took back roads, to avoid all the people who are bad at driving in snow 🤣). ❄️

All in all, it was a lovely night. 👏🏻

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 18:06:48 -0600

Whilst out walking on my lunch break, I saw some winter lettuce. 😀 🚶🏼‍♂️ 🥬 📷

It was good to get out of the house for some fresh air; I really need to do more of that this Winter.

Goals for '24

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 14:10:31 -0600

I don’t really put much stock in the whole “New Years Resolutions” thing everyone else in the States seems to do…but I do like to set some overarching “goals” for the year. Last year, I only had two goals, one of which I succeeded at and the other was a miserable failure. So, this year, I’ve decided to be a little more ambitious.

Yes, I realize calling them “goals” instead of “resolutions” is a silly semantical quibble but it’s how I prefer things. 🤣

Goals

Be Healthier
- No junk food in January ¹
- Start building better eating habits
- Restart my fitness journey ²
Continue Tracking Finances ³
- Commit to a single financial aggregator ⁴
Be More “there” For Family and Friends
- Be a better Partner
- Spend more time with my family
- Reconnect with old friends, rekindle old relationships ⁵
Work On My Career
- Stop treading water
- Regain my “senior” title (long story) ⁶
Be More Organized
- Clean things up as I’m working on them…or better yet, just don’t make a mess in the first place
- Don’t go to bed with a dirty kitchen
- Finally clean up and organize the basement…and keep it organized

I suspect I’m going to struggle with more than one of these goals but a new year is a good time to start improving one’s self. 🤞🏻

My Partner and I have a ski trip coming up at the start of March, it would be nice to be in better shape for it. ↩︎
I was working out on a semi-regular basis throughout the year but given the stress and trama of October, I completely fell off the wagon. ↩︎
This was the successful goal from last year. ↩︎
I started out with PocketSmith earlier this year but as they raised their prices without providing anything new, I’ve switched to Banktivity…but now I’m trying out Copilot. 😅 ↩︎
The year started off very rough, causing both me and my Partner to “withdraw” from the world with our grief. ↩︎
Short Version: When I left my old job, I lost my “senior / architect” title to become a “consultant”. During the hiring process, when I pointed out my experience, I was informed as I’d never done consulting before, I’d have to work on my “senior” title. I wasn’t all that bothered about it as I was attempting to leave a bad working situation (people don’t leave good companies, they leave bad managers) and even with the title loss, I was still getting a raise in salary. 🤣 ↩︎

Sun, 31 Dec 2023 23:52:07 -0600

Aside from two events, the year hasn’t been too shabby…but those two events wreaked me. I’m very much looking forward to another go ‘round the sun, see everyone in 2024! 🥳🎉🎊

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 10:32:41 -0600

Last working day of the year for me and wow, I really need more coffee. ☕️🥱😪

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 16:00:52 -0600

Migrated 18TB of data from one server to another and even though the “new” server has redundancy, I’m still hesitating to click ”delete” on the old server… 🤣

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 10:06:06 -0600

So, I did a thing last night…I finally moved to a new server case. 🎉📷

It took far longer to get started than I though it would and I ended up with a bloody hand (it’s a very nice case but that metal is sharp 🤣)…and I haven’t installed case fans yet but…the server is back online and running!

Sat, 16 Dec 2023 14:25:15 -0600

House chores are done for the day, now off to Costco. Fingers crossed I spend less than $100 today… 🤞🏻😆

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 16:55:19 -0600

I was going to spend my lunch break working on creating a single-page app, to bulk-upload photos to Micro.blog but…I ended up throwing in the towel and just wrote a C# script instead. It still makes me happy Microsoft open sourced .Net and it runs natively on the Mac. 🤓😀 #HappyGeek

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 10:45:46 -0600

Follow-Up: My @atpfm@mastodon.social pint glass finally came in the mail today, after years (it was my own fault, I always put off ordering their stuff until the last minute…and then things are out of stock… 🤣). 🎉🥳

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 10:24:41 -0600

Follow-Up (Part 2): I was trying to listen to some Holiday music this morning, only to realize none of my Sonos speakers worked with AirPlay. After digging online, it turns out the only way to get a Sonos speaker back into HomeKit after the home is deleted is to factory reset the Sonos. 😱😅

Mon, 11 Dec 2023 13:26:59 -0600

Follow-Up: I think my HomeKit set up is mostly back to normal. I was a little stupid and didn’t take backups / exports…so I lost some historical data (mostly temperature / humidity / air quality) but at least my Holiday automations are working again. 🎄😅

Sun, 10 Dec 2023 12:26:59 -0600

My HomeKit set up has been rock-solid for years but the minute I added a Matter plug (the “Meross Matter Smart Plug Mini”), everything breaks…and as it’s Apple land, where everything works perfectly until it doesn’t, fixing it is going to be…unpleasant. 😱😭

Thu, 07 Dec 2023 11:23:15 -0600

Follow-Up: The IKEA Sonos speaker is working perfectly (which is more than I could ever say of the HomePod Mini stereo set up) this morning; holiday music is flooding the room whilst I’m debugging some legacy Java code. 🤓🎄 (Yes, I had a spare speaker lying around… 🤣) 📷

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 08:52:11 -0600

Follow-Up: The package was found in the bushes below my house, next to the sidewalk…completely soaked and disfigured from the rain. 🌧️ I’m guessing the steps were just too much for the delivery person, all ten of them. 😅 Also, there is no way that box can fit in my mailbox, so again, someone lied.

Sun, 03 Dec 2023 18:28:53 -0600

So, either Amazon is lying, the US Post Office is lying, or someone has taken my new Kindle from my mailbox. 😭📭

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 20:25:03 -0600

🍿 Another favorite, tonight we watched White Christmas. 🎄
★★★★★

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 07:49:11 -0600

Currently Listening: A Holiday Carole by Carole King. 🎵🎄

First heard Carole on Gilmore Girls and then bought her compilation album at University. When I went home over the Holiday break and I was listening to it, my mother expressed shock because she listened to Carole when she was my age. 🤣

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 10:58:40 -0600

Moved 18.3 TB of data from my Storage server to my Media server; gotta love the “rsync -va --progress” command! 💻🤓 #HappyGeek

Mon, 27 Nov 2023 08:51:04 -0600

We put up the tree last night, with one of my favorite ornaments in a place of prominence. 🎄 We bought more than a few of these beauties in 2020, giving them to a number of Friends. 🤣 📷

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 19:12:56 -0600

Date Night: Burgers (in my case, a veggie burger) @ Red Robin. 😋🍔📷

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 19:06:10 -0600

I’ve never seen the food court at Costco so full…and given the amount of screaming babies around, it doesn’t sound like anyone is happy about it. 🤪😂😅

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 14:05:51 -0600

First and only peppermint mocha of the holiday season, from the “big” coffee chain. ☕️📷

Sun, 12 Nov 2023 19:18:04 -0600

📷 Two Thanksgivings down…I’m honestly not sure how many more to go at this point… 😭🤣

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 10:04:05 -0600

Yes, finally got an @atpfm@mastodon.social pint glass! Quest completed! 🤓

Sun, 05 Nov 2023 15:20:43 -0600

Slowly starting the process of moving my domains away from Google. 🤞🏻

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 12:37:23 -0600

🎵 Yes, I know it’s too early for holiday music but it’s been a rough year…and it’s Cher, so the rules don’t apply. 🏳️‍🌈

Bring on the holiday music! 🎄

Sun, 15 Oct 2023 18:50:34 -0600

I was hoping to start swapping my media server from it’s tower case into my new Slinger CX4712 case over the weekend…but life got in the way. Fingers crossed I can get to it this week, I don’t want to impact any end users. 🤞🏻📷

Sun, 15 Oct 2023 09:27:18 -0600

Yes, I might be called “basic” but ‘tis the season… 🎃☕️📷

Sat, 07 Oct 2023 22:28:49 -0600

🍿 “It’s just a little Hocus Pocus!" 📷
★★★☆☆

An annual tradition with my Girls from University, we started watching the movie (and pigging out) outside during the Pandemic and have just kept that as part of our Autumn event.

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 06:32:34 -0600

On a lark yesterday (it was a very long day at work), I decided “oh, what the heck, install the betas”…and honestly, I’m rather surprised. Both my phone and tablet are running faster and smoother. (Side Note: having iOS tag your pets into a collection is amazing. 🐶🐱) #iOS #beta

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 13:58:23 -0600

Random Thought: With Twitter (aka “X”) talking about collecting even more data (link to Ars Technica), now seems like a good time to export my old Tweets, remove the Twitter apps from my devices, and import said data into Micro Blog.

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 12:56:32 -0600

Random Thought: Sipping on my first and only pumpkin spice latte of the season. ☕️🎃🍁

Fri, 14 Jul 2023 11:13:05 -0600

Too much coffee today… ☕️

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 23:38:46 -0600

I keep looking up, expecting Russell to be on the couch or in his nest of blankets. I keep expecting to hear the clatter of his nails on the kitchen floor. I keep expecting to hear him woof and growl at the slamming of a car door. I keep expecting him to greet me @ the door. 💔🐶

Goodbye Russell

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 17:31:00 -0600

We said goodbye to our boy today. He drifted across the rainbow bridge full of all his favorite foods (ham, meatballs, & pâté), nestled between us on the couch (it was his favorite place to be). I’m going to miss you, my little puppy-rabbit, I’m going to miss you. 💔🐶🐕

Russell, resting on a pillow

I’m reminded of my favorite song from my favorite musical:

I’ve heard it said,
That people come into our lives,
For a reason.
Bringing something we must learn.
And we are lead to those,
Who help us most to grow if we let them.
And we help them in return.
Well I don’t know if I believe that’s true.
But I know I’m who I am today,
Because I knew you.
…..
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better.
I do believe I have been changed for the better.
…..
Because I knew you,
I have been changed
For good.

…Of course, in my head, I’m changing out “people” with “dogs” but you get the idea…

Goodbye my little friend, I’m going to miss you…until we (hopefully) meet again. Thank you for letting me be your Human. 💔🐶

Russell outside in the garden

Note: This post is from my old site and was ported over into Micro.Blog when I consolidated from two sites into one. All of the migrated posts can be found here.

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 12:16:11 -0600

Had such a great time last night at the The Fox last night, the The Piano Guys put on one heck of a show. 😃

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 19:28:47 -0600

Surprised the ball-n-chain with tickets to see The Piano Guys at The Fox; I had no idea he was a fan of them. 😂

Wed, 19 Oct 2022 19:17:44 -0600

Date night, went out to an old favorite of ours. 🍱🥢 😋

Still Here

Sat, 06 Aug 2022 11:52:00 -0600

Being rather lazy on a Saturday, snuggling with the puppy, watching The Nanny, and finagling with my new/old computer (a log story for another time)…and realized it’s been a rather long time since I posted anything here…

It’s been an interesting six months since my last last post:

Turned in my notice to my new-ish position (the one I left my old position for, I lasted just ten months; there is a gigantic backstory there…
Celebrated my Grandma’s 100th birthday (that women’s memory is truly impressive, she was regaling all of us with stories from her early childhood)
Started a new position with a consulting firm (I’ve been there for a little over a month and it’s been a fantastic experience thus far)
Went on vacation to Michigan
My partner tested positive for Covid-19…and thus we spent a week and a half isolating at home, wearing masks as often as able
Started with a new client and an a truly massive amount of computer issues (they ended up sending me a second computer, the Help Desk techs couldn’t even remote into the first one)

Of course, each of these could be their own post / entry / page…and perhaps they will be some day…

Side-note: The Nanny was one of my favorite television shows as a child. In fact…and I might be dating myself here…but I would watch Fran in the afternoon whenever I stayed home sick from school. 😁

The Nanny

It’s still is one of my favorite shows. 😆

Note: This post is from my old site and was ported over into Micro.Blog when I consolidated from two sites into one. All of the migrated posts can be found here.

More Murder...

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 20:52:00 -0600

As my Partner hasn’t been feeling well, we didn’t do anything for New Year’s Eve…and that continued into the New Year. As such, we spent most of the day being couch potatoes and finally finished Only Murders in the Building.

Only Murders In The Building

I realize I’m wildly behind the times (the show debuted at the end of the summer and finished in the autumn) but good grief, this series was just absolutely amazing!! Each episode was a masterpiece (especially the one featuring a deaf character) and I was guessing up until the very end. I give it five out of five stars. 😃

Note: This post is from my old site and was ported over into Micro.Blog when I consolidated from two sites into one. All of the migrated posts can be found here.

Thank You For Being A Friend

Fri, 31 Dec 2021 22:57:00 -0600

Well, it had to happen…we had to loose just one more person in 2021…goodbye Betty, thank you for being a friend.

Instead of going out to a party, risking Covid and drunk drivers, we just stayed home, watching Betty’s various television shows…at least the ones I had access to view:

She was the last Golden Girl standing…and the world is going to miss her. I’m going to miss her.

Words to live by...from the last Golden Girl.

Note: This post is from my old site and was ported over into Micro.Blog when I consolidated from two sites into one. All of the migrated posts can be found here.

Snuggle Buddy

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 21:25:41 -0600

Russell is keeping me company on this chilly Sunday evening. 🐕📷

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 19:08:00 -0600

Watching / listening to As Time Goes By while wrapping gifts. 🎄🎁

Two Weeks' Notice

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 14:57:00 -0600

All good things must come to an end…and thus, I’ve just turned in my two weeks' notice to my current employer. I’ve grown so much as both a person and a developer…and I’ve met some incredible people but it’s time to move on. It’s a rather bittersweet feeling, leaving a place where you’ve spent so much time and energy but as I said, all good things must come to an end.

Note: This post is from my old site and was ported over into Micro.Blog when I consolidated from two sites into one. All of the migrated posts can be found here.

10 Years

Fri, 28 May 2021 13:27:00 -0600

It’s rather surreal to think about but tomorrow is officially ten years with my Partner.

Note: This post is from my old site and was ported over into Micro.Blog when I consolidated from two sites into one. All of the migrated posts can be found here.