Evie Day 399

Good morning, and a happy Thursday to you all. Today is 18 April 2024.

First of all, my class is going well. It’s a good group, all Canadian, and they are very pleasant. Good questions, and receptive. They ask very good questions and have embraced some of the things that I have shown them relative to generative AI and good prompt practices.

Now the real point of today’s post. I am thankful.

A few years ago, I used to open the day and post something that I was thankful for on Facebook. No big deal, but after a while, I had an old business associate (that I no longer chat with) mock that practice, as well as another, where I would change my profile pic daily, grabbing some cute or humorous picture of a baby animal or something else in that theme. Of course, the old Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria kicks in, and I bit flip, quit doing anything fun in that vein, and go through a period of just feeling some shame.

I’ve worked through some of that, but I know that condition still hangs out there and has held me back from taking some changes or doing some other things that I would like to do… like maybe playing guitar in public.

I am thankful for those that accept me, warts and all. My wife and family have a choice – Lisa could’ve kicked me to the curb years ago, but she sees something in me that’s good, even salvageable, but like all, I’m flawed. I’m going to be me, and as a dad and husband, I’ll occasionally blurt out something inappropriate. My friends, however, don’t have to put up with me, they simply choose my company.

When the pandemic hit, everything changed. I quit going out for the occasional beer after work. I quit going to the store as much in favor of in-home delivery. I lost touch with a lot of old friends back in my hometown… but I don’t know that I missed out on much.

During the summer of 2020, I started talking with an old training friend about jumping into an online game. Daniel had a group of guys that he had been playing with for years, both in person and online, dating back to their college years back in the 70s. He invited me to join, and although I didn’t pull the trigger immediately, I see that I bought the “ultimate” version of the virtual tabletop software in January of 2021.

I want to express my gratitude to that bunch of guys. Some of them read my blog post and give me feedback and support. In game, we always have a good time. Schedules and technology don’t always cooperate, but we still find some time most weeks to get together for a few hours on Wednesday and Sunday to roll virtual dice and make some fantastic world safe for good folks of the realm. Thank you, Daniel, Greg, Ron, CB, Matt, George, Rick, and our newest member of the group, Tony. I appreciate ya.

That’s enough. Time for me to start thinking about the day ahead, starting with coffee and a bagel.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 398

Good morning, and a very happy Wednesday to you all. Today is 17 April 2024.

My training partner and I had a pretty good first day of class yesterday. He handled the introductions and the second module on the day, I covered modules 1 and 3. The first day of class is generally the busiest with all of the introductions and instructions that we dispense to prep people for labs and such. Today I will handle the review, followed by John tackling the first and last modules, and I’ll shoehorn a module on intersite connectivity later in the morning.

I need to call the John Deere dealership and get the lawn mower and gator on for service. I procrastinated the last couple of days, so I haven’t made the call yet.

There are some other tasks I’ll try to focus on today as well. If the opportunity presents itself, I’ll get some necessary paperwork done for a couple of ongoing projects. I’m working on a co-hack exercise for some new security tools, and I also need to get a report in on my progress to my manager.

I’ve got dogs around me right now demanding a little attention. Rosy is a little more subtle about it, with her looks. If I reach over to give her a little scratch around her shoulders, she pushes my hand down to her tummy where she likes to be scratched. Lily is a little less coy, and she’ll just flip over on her back and compel me to get busy scratchin’ – that tummy isn’t going to scratch itself. Odin is nestled on my wife’s legrest, and Lucy is outside barking at a cloud. Four floofy beasts.

It’s getting to be that time. Coffee, a low-carb bagel, some onion and chive cream cheese today.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 397

Good morning, and a very happy Taco Tuesday to you all. Today is a rainy, stormy 16 April 2024.

Odin does not like thunderstorms. It is a bit of an irony considering he’s named after the thunder god’s father.

I figure the first clap of thunder hit about 4:30 in the morning – that’s when I felt the wump of a 28-pound morkie (goliath morkie) land right beside my face on my pillow. Odin has quite the personality, quite fearless in facing off against neighbor dogs and UPS drivers, as long as there is a wall between them. His go-to move when the storms hit is to insinuate himself onto my lap or Lisa’s lap and make those big puppy eyes at us to let us know he really doesn’t like this situation.

And more thunder rolls…

We are in a tornado watch here for a few more hours.

I return to my virtual classroom in another hour or so, an East Coast delivery of cloud administration. It was going to be a solo delivery, but there was a waitlist, so another instructor was assigned to accommodate those on the waitlist. I think I’m repeating myself, and fairly certain I told y’all that yesterday.

Time for me to get focused on the day ahead.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 396

Good morning, and a pleasant work week to you all. Today is Monday, 15 April 2024.

No one likes the 15th of April in America. If you haven’t filed, better get an extension in the mail.

Odin is at Lisa’s feet, and his vocalizations are very interesting. He really wants a taste of her breakfast. Lily and Rosy are in full high-dive rotation, from Lisa’s feet to my leg rest to the floor, like little kids going off the high dive at the swimming pool in the summer.

Lisa and I had a good weekend. We got some yard work done on Saturday. I’ve got to get two of our utility vehicles in for service, the mower and the gator, but I was able to get some mowing done with the tractor. I’ll be able to get a finer cut after the riding lawn mower gets back, and the little electric mower can suffice for the trimming in the meantime.

The world is a little more dangerous today. Israel performed a surgical strike on an Iranian embassy (military facility?) located in Syria a while back, and over the weekend Iran launched an attack of over 300 drones, rockets, and missiles at Isreal, with almost all of the inbound projectiles intercepted before they could do damage. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Benjamin Netanyahu mocks the Iranian inbound attack as inept and poorly executed.

In the US, a trial starts today in New York regarding hush money and campaign funds. The best part about it is that the person on trial will be in court rather than in front of the cameras. Oh, darn.

I’ve got an interesting week. It’s a little flipped, with meetings and prep today, followed by a four-day class for a private customer. The waitlist for the course was long enough that the powers that be decided to add another instructor and open up the enrollment. We’ll jump into it tomorrow as scheduled, with an earlier start for our Eastern Standard Time delivery.

I’ve got some fourth-quarter stuff I need to attend to as well. New certs, new courses, and new reports I need to get done.

In the meantime…

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 393

Good morning, and a happy Friday to you all. Today is 12 April 2024.

A character from Western pop culture history died yesterday. The first professional football player to run for 2000 yards in a season, Orenthal James Simpson, died yesterday. He was an icon back in the 70s and 80s, as a performer in several movies, the spokesperson for Hertz rental cars starting in 1975, and a generation of kids watching football games saw OJ hurdle suitcases to catch a flight… maybe he should’ve left earlier.

I’m not going to get into the other stuff. Murder trials, theft of a Heisman trophy, jail time. He had a remarkable life, and he made mistakes. I’ll leave it at that.

I’ve got meetings today starting at ten, and a couple of other tasks I want to complete. I should try to tackle a certification exam this afternoon. but I don’t believe I’m prepared for it. Most of my classes break things down into 7 or 8 modules… this one has 57. Yeah… I need to stay focused a little longer for this one.

I keep looking to see if I’m getting blood on the computer keyboard. I nicked the side of my finger changing razor blades. Nothing arterial, no worries there, but it is a nuisance.

Lisa and I are going to have a busy day tomorrow. We’ll make a run into Kansas City to pick up some gardening supplies, and then I have to get some gas for the mower and some diesel for the tractor. I’ve never named the mower and the tractor, but after they turned over the first time after sitting idle all winter, they’ve earned monikers.

It’s crazy to think that we’re only a month away from opening the pool, Mother’s Day, Dane’s college graduation… wow.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 392

Good morning, and a happy Thursday to you all. Today is Wednesday 11 April 2024.

So, what is new today? Went to the doctor yesterday, my GP, and after a bit of a discussion about the status of my blood pressure, I’m getting a new prescription to address that aspect of my life. Everything else is ok, and there is a need to do a cancer screening. I welcome that.

I’ve been focused on some new certifications this week. I added some new credentials, provisional, that I’ll get finalized when the assessment is back online. Three of the credentials are directly related to classes I already teach, two are for new AI-related programs, and one is tied to the exam I am currently studying for.

Today is lab day. I’ve got a cert I’m chasing regarding some security tools, and I’ve read through all of the courseware… now it’s time to lock in on hands-on part of the course. Then, I will tackle the certification exam, and I have been told by some of my peers that this one can be a bear. I hope I can pass it my first try, but I also need to be realistic and not get down if I don’t crack it the first try.

Lucy is outside barking at the wind. Odin is by Lisa, and he’s making some interesting vocalizations that all translate to “feed me”. The sisters Von Floof run back and forth, my leg rest becoming their high-dive platform. Go to Lisa, beg, run back over to me and the leg rest, stare at my wife, then jump down and run over to her again. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Time for me to block out my day. I’ve got a couple of slides to get ready for a Monday meeting, some text to prepare for an afternoon meeting, and some follow up I need to address as well… but first, coffee.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 391

Good morning, and a very happy Wednesday to you all. Time to break out the AI-generated cartoons of camels chilling on the beach. It is 10 April 2024.

I started thinking about domains yesterday, those things we all write into the field at the top of the browser. This domain is “bobsterism.com”. It is one of several that I have picked up – they are kind of a renewable lease, and if you don’t stay on top of them, you can lose them. I used to own “piercingblue.com”, but some joker overseas squatted my renewal, and then started offering that domain to tattoo & piercing shops for twenty-five grand.

I had a domain name pop into my head yesterday, and I decided to check it out to see if it had been claimed yet. I do this fairly regularly, but this time I pulled the trigger, so now I have the domain name “abandonedspace.com”. I’ll part it next to a couple of others I have, like wythinne.com, bobrealm.com, xynfinity.com, nimbus42.com, and sector84.com. There are a few others, one of which I would like to get rid of, but due to the nature of the domain name, I’m concerned about the name getting used by someone with ill intent. If you want to know what the domain name is, shoot an email to bob@bobsterism.com, and I’ll give you the low down.

Last night we enjoyed our tacos and settled on to watch the ladies play. The US Women’s National Team faced off against the Canadian team for the championship of the SheBelieves Cup. Canada scored first, then the USA scored twice, and then, at the very end of regulation, Canada scored again to force a penalty kick shoot out. After five rounds of kicks, they were tied, but the USA prevailed. Congrats, USA! One other point – it’s great to see Mallory Swanson back on the pitch after having surgery on her patellar tendon. She had a pretty good tournament, but the real stars for the US were forward Sophia Smith and goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.

I have a doctor’s appointment a little later this morning. If I’m going to have a cup of coffee before, I better get to brewing a pot.

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 390

Good morning, and a happy Taco Tuesday to you all. It is 9 April 2024.

Lisa and I went eclipse chasing yesterday.

I drove a rental car (Jeep Cherokee), flipped my phone over to wifi hotspot for my bride, and we left the house about 7:00 AM heading to Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

We might have been better off flying into Dallas in the morning, and flying home that night. Or driving to St. Louis on Sunday, then heading south first thing in the morning.

About the time we hit Wentzville, just west of St. Louis, the GPS told me to turn south. Next thing I know, Lisa and I are weaving through two-lane roads. I occasionally looked at the arrival time for our intended destination, and noticed that the time to destination was not getting shorter… it was getting longer, and already increased by an hour. We eventually stopped fighting the traffic and pulled off to watch what we could in the quaint community of Festus, Missouri – and at the gas station, I did not see a single Gunsmoke-related gift item.

Festus treated us well.

We found a park, broke out the two-seater folding chair. We had our eclipse glasses ( I grabbed all of them, when I intended my son to have a set – Sorry Dane!). It was pretty cool. We were still about a hundred miles away from the best site, but we’re not complaining. I spent a day in the car with my wife, and that was just fine.

We had some friends post pictures online from their view of the eclipse. One friend was fifty miles off the coast of Mazatlan, and I have to confess some jealousy. Another friend, one of Lisa’s bridesmaids, lives in Dallas, and she was able to get some really spectacular pics.

Now we’re home, and back to the reality of the work week. I have a non-delivery week, or a prep week, depending on what you want to call it, and I have plenty on my plate.

Tonight… there will be tacos. And the championship between the USWNT and Canada for the SheBelieves Cup starts at 6:00 tonight… woot!

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 389

Good morning, and a happy Monday to you all! Today is 8 April 2024.

We’re checking the glasses, the camera filters, and the small cooler. Lisa and I will be heading out to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in about an hour. We’re hoping to find a good spot off the side of the highway and enjoy the last eclipse to pass over North America until 2044. Cheese, sausage, crackers, Twizzlers, two Rockstar energy drinks (orange), and a full tank of gas in the rental car, a Jeep Cherokee, and I’ve already paired my phone to the vehicle. Lisa has work to do, so I’ll flip on the wireless access point on my phone so she can stay connected.

Head to St. Louis, then turn south.

Tomorrow I’ll get focused on work-related content. I’ve got a certification exam I need to focus on, so there’s that, and there are the other regularly scheduled work obligations that I normally tackle during my non-delivery times.

Had a nice thing happen yesterday. I hadn’t really focused on our yard vehicles yet this year, and after resting all winter, I had concerns that the batteries might be dead and that they wouldn’t start- surprise! Both the lawn mower and the tractor turned over on the first try. Gotta love that!

OK. Time for me to focus on getting organized and hitting the road. Breakfast, meds, coffee!

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

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 386

Friday! It’s Friday! Woot!

Hi folks, and welcome. Today is 5 April 2024.

I wrapped up my class yesterday afternoon, and it was a positive week. I finished all of my lectures and closing prior to lunch yesterday, then helped out with labs in the afternoon. About a half hour before the formal close of class, I noticed that the last lab had closed out, so I closed things out at that point. It was a private class with a number of folks that all work together, and they were a great group to work with.

Today I have to get caught up on the other stuff. When I’m in deliveries, I tend to stay focused on the delivery. Some of my teammates are far better at multitasking than I am, but I do a pretty good job reacting for my students when they need a hand. I can get in a little reading, but I tend to prioritize my learners… as I should. That also means that there are a number of recorded meetings that I need to follow up on today, as well as some new coursework I need to spend some time with. AI over here, AI over there, AI everywhere. The time is going to come that I’ll put together a task list, open up my email client, and ask my CoPilot to organize my day and tasks into time blocks.

It’s Friday, so that also means I need to get the trash out to the pickup spot in the driveway.

This weekend I will be focused on getting the yard where it needs to be, and getting some plants in the ground. Lisa planted some peppers that are starting to sprout, so I’ll get my collection of pepper pots (no pun intended, Gwyneth) and get those sorted and watered. It’s kind of crazy to think that we’re less than 6 weeks out from opening up the pool for the summer.

I better check to see if I need to crank out a Youtube video for work… other than that, I hope you have a great weekend.

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

Peace y’all.