Been away for a while, and came by to check in, and see everyone else is looking for work/hiring, too!

Passed my 7 year anniversary at the beginning of April, and I'm just kinda done with this company. The business is heading away from the GovEd market (which I work in: government and educational sales), and i don't have a lot of work to do on a daily basis, but the sales department is in denial about this movement of the company away from GovEd and keeps trying to put projects on my plate that we just simply are not the right answer for.

It's frustrating, because as I try to write the sales proposal for them, they can't give me legitimate answers to the customers' questions.

Me: "Ok, customer wants X, and we don't do that. So I checked "Does Not Comply" for that requirement."

Salesperson: "NO! Answer yes! We have this (totally unrelated) feature!"

Me: "So you want to sell them N to solve problem X? How is that going to work for them?"

Salesperson: "Doesn't matter; Once we get in the room with the customer and start negotiations, we can address those 'edge cases' in person."

Me: "You realize that the document I am building commits us to providing THIS feature X in the way THEY have defined it, right?"

Salesperson: "But our product doesn't do that."

Me: "Thatsmyfuckingpoint!"

Anyway, am out looking for work, interviewing, and talking with my manager about when we should plan for my departure. I'm thinking mid-June, but my Mom and Sister are on my case about leaving my job without another one already lined up. And I see their point... why not just keep doing the minimal amount of work my job takes, rake in the $100k/yr, and just keep my mouth shut?

Hm. They do have a point there...

Turns out our local rugby team - the Seattle Seawolves - really need a weirdo like me right now to come in and help manage a couple of different projects in the office. That would be cool. I hope that works out. But not banking on it ... it's not like there is an open job req or anything ... just me and the boss chatting over beers and discussing life, the universe, and everything. But he's gonna see what he can do.

It'd be nice to care about my work again.

I was at a standard micro brewery yesterday. 12 different IPAs on tap. One Kolsch. One Amber. One dark amber/porter. One oatmeal stout. Two ciders.

I had the Kolsch first (thank god people are making this amazing, highly drinkable and pleasant beer!), and then the amber.

But, by and large, American beers are a waste of time. Undrinkable pucker-inducing bitter swill.

Brewing has been around for centuries, and there's a reason people made pilsners and kolsch and dark beers; they were drinkable by anyone at any time. And there's a reason people make IPAs; they are the easiest and shortest time to brew, so you can churn out more of it in less time with less skill than any other brew. It's just economics with good marketing backing it up.

But it still tastes terrible.

I didn't think anyone still remembered Circus Contraption. (... pause for a moment of recollection and nostalgia ...)

The shooting of Drew and Joe at Cafe Racer wasn't the end of the circus. That was quite a bit earlier. The musicians were still playing the music in various bands and ensembles, but the performers had moved on to other things by the time the shooting took place.

And while it did end any possibility of a Circus Contraption reunion, it did not draw the curtain on the circus itself. That space was already empty...

Goodbye for now, Hubski? Kind of?

So yeah ... just got back from two weeks of vacation - a week in Santorini, and a week in Rome with several day trips around to Florence and Pompeii - and am back on the job and shaking off some serious jet lag.

Being unplugged from all my usual internet use for that time has made me realize how little of it I actually need in my day to day life. And, while I was gone, my company has gone through a complete security overhaul (after some hackers did some serious damage), and we have to install DarkTrace Sensor on our machines.

DarkTrace is mostly a defensive tool for keeping out the baddies and nogoodniks, but it does also give the IT guys full access to your computer and visibility into your internet use. So I need to remove 1Password and all my personal stuff from my work machine, and stop visiting the sites I used to spend downtime on ... like Hubski.

Outside of work I have plenty of other stuff going on, so don't spend much time at all on a computer.

So yeah ... the sum of all that is I won't be dropping into Hubski during the workday anymore, which will pretty much eliminate my Hubksi browsing time. I'm not leaving in a huff, or in dissatisfaction, or anything like that, and I won't be deleting my account. I'll drop back in when time/interest is right.

Stay chill. Keep up the conversation, and the community, y'all.

Literally going into a meeting in 2 minutes to set my OKRs... despite the fact that I am an independent contributor, have no team, no direct reports, a manager in-name-only, and my schedule and workload is dictated by outside sources (customers issuing RFPs).

Every factor of the O, the K, and the R, are unmappable and unmeasurable for someone in my role/position.

But I've been doing it every quarter for seven years now.

Joy.

"She wanted to do them all along, she just now has the executive function to back up her plans."

That's the most loving thing to say. It's wonderful...!

Heh. I'm in Seattle, quite near KB.

The work these people do is amazing.

Bad Bad Hats - "Detroit Basketball" is not actually about basketball, but it might be the most goddamn hooky infectious little ditty I've heard in a long time. Released in 2021, there's nothing COVID about this song. Just poppy fun. They are also the most casual band ever... release music kinda whenever they want to (over the last 9 years, maybe 20 songs?), and play local gigs, and are just so chill.

Ren - "Hi Ren" fuck everything you think you know about popular music and storytelling and long songs... Ren is an interesting character who has spent more than a decade sick with chronic illnesses and mental issues. During that time, he has persevered, and worked on the only thing that gave him any solace; music. His pieces are LONG - 9 to 13 minute songs - with multiple movements and sections, and extensive storylines that are poignant and often (like "Hi Ren") autobiographical. An absolute stunner, but also an emotional journey. You listen to these songs like you listen to jazz or classical music; pay deep attention.

Ren = "The Tale of Jenny and Screech" is a 13-minute opus that is absolutely worth the full journey. Not gonna say any more about that. Just listen. To the WHOLE thing.

Ren also plays/busks with a full band called The Big Push, and their take on Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" is astonishing, and integrates probably a dozen fantastic hard rock songs into a single seamless funky jam! Live. On the street. Brilliant.

"You know what's cool about credentials? They can be revoked. You know what sucks about biometrics? They can't."

Ah. Right. That flipped the light on for me...

Thanks, as always, for the education.

I hear ya, but this is not falsifiable data. Yeah, a scammer gets ahold of the digital hash that represents my Blood ID (or whatever) from a poorly secured database, but I'm the only one that has the ACTUAL BLOOD. So I can always confirm my identity with absolute certainty in case of theft or impersonation... a thief is only going to have the computer hash, not my actual blood. (Or retinal scan, or whatever bio data is being used to establish my identity.)

Of course, some people donate blood or sperm or organs or whatever, and there could be an issue with security there. But that's not a concern for 99% of the population, while shitty passwords are literally a problem for everyone in the world.

Biometric data is just another identifier, like a SSN, driver's license, name, whatever. Because it is harder to gather right now does not make it any different than any other identification method. All the same security concerns apply.

Regardless of whether the imposter has my social security number or the digital hash of my blood's fingerprint, it's just data. And that data can be validated or invalidated through more stringent testing methods; like running another blood test and validating I am who I say I am. No scammer has access to my blood, so I'll always be able to prove I am me.

I still haven't figured out how to transfer my measly ETH holdings from Gemini to MetaMask.

I should do that...

I could see my heath care provider having a validated sample of my biometric data, and being able to validate my corporeal self to an entity that needed to confirm my identity vs an imposter. The imposter wouldn't have access to my blood, or whatever, so validating should be possible.

Either way, it's time to invest in popcorn for sure...

Been chatting with KB about Marjorie Taylor Greene being appointed to the Homeland Security Committee in the House of Representatives, and ... I'm gonna need to make some popcorn ... this is gonna be good ...

Ms. QAnon is now going to be witness to the sausage-making that is National Security... at least through the perspective of the utterly ineffective clown car that is the Dept of Homeland Security! Her worldview is so simplistic and so shallow, she has no idea how data is gathered, how risks are evaluated, or how decisions finally get made and then turned into policy. Here's the fun part: IT'S BORING. And SLOW. She's gonna have a conniption (again) and it's going to be lovely to watch.

And/Or, she's going to absolutely dig it. I mean, she's gone DEEP down the QAnon rabbithole, done oodles of research and totally believes that shit. Sorting through hours and hours of difficult to understand coded messaging to come up with "an answer" that she's totally confident of.

Which honestly could serve her very well when digging into issues of national security.

Fortunately, she's just one idiot on a temporary (2-year) committee assignment with 30 other people in the room, so I could see her just disappearing down this rabbit hole and completely eliminating herself from any meaningful work at all. Plus, anything the Committee comes up with has to be voted on in the House, then voted on in the Senate, then signed by Biden. So ... yeah, she's gonna be sidelined.

And then we all win! :-)

"...there is a societally norming effect of people consuming and valuing similar media, and the lack of exposure to such creates distance/tension."

Only if you want to be a part of that social group. To be a member of any social group, you need to partake of that group's social activities and cultural heritage. Choosing not to see hugely popular films is not the wrong decision, but then you don't get to complain about how the social group you want to associate with has cultural touchstones you refuse to engage with. That's your choice.

These films are fun and clever, and have withstood the test of time. That right there makes them a valuable key to the baseline experiences of a certain social group; they have this shared experience, and it holds up and is still enjoyable decades later.

I also am resistant to some aspects of popular culture - especially movies - and have never seen Goonies or Titanic or Twilight or any Avengers film, to name a few.

So I understand the desire to avoid falling to crass consumerism, and the pablum that is today's superhero movie franchises.

But I also know that will leave me out of some conversations. I won't get some memes. I have no idea who Thanos is, or what the stones he wants, can do.

"...that just leaves me feeling cold and isolated because it doesn't evoke anything in me while meaning so much to most everyone else."

Ok. So what? That's your choice. Enjoy it. Or don't. It's yours to do with as you please.

I feel this parallels with things like disease research; there's a shitload of money available for anyone that can insert the word "cancer" into their disease research, but very little for someone researching Bell's Palsy, or other less-well-known diseases.

The business drives which research pays the best. And academics need to buy Ramen noodles, too, so they go where the funding is. Chicken or egg?

Ah yes! I saw his signing, and was wondering how he came up on the radar for our coach (Alan Clarke, "Clarkie").

I'm always curious about how new talent is discovered. Our #8, Riekert Hattingh, was a Blue Bull (and his father a Springbok), so we had a bunch of Saffa talent on our squad for a few years there.

Look at Kevin McCarthy's Republican House as a bunch of beta-testers.

I love this. And get it. Deeply.

I've worked extensively in VC, but back in the late 90's and 2000's, when there were a few people with specific interests and lots of money, who helped clever people develop ideas in certain areas.

Venture Capital firms were focused on certain issues, and didn't fund just any ole project that came across the transom with a hockey stick projected adoption curve. They'd say, "Great idea, but not my area of investment interest. Go talk to XYZ. They are interested in that area."

But a couple of big visible successes brought every swinging dick into the VC market, and then shit got dicey. VCs stopped asking pointy questions because there was a feeding frenzy and they had to move fast if they wanted to get in on the profitable financing rounds.

I was in meetings where the VCs in the room didn't really like the idea, but they liked the person presenting the idea so they invested to get in on their good side, and get first crack at their NEXT idea. Seriously. "Sure, we'll give you $5m for this initial round of financing on that pet app, but let us know what else you are working on - even at the conceptual stages - because we think you have a bright future ahead of you."

AND, it created a shitty feedback loop. Goober develops an app, sells it for $150m, and it tanks, but Goober now has $150m that HE is going to invest.... despite not ever developing a working/quality product, or understanding anything about how to grow a company.

Y Combinator now has a dozen of these dipshits on their investment staff, and I guarantee every other tech investment house has the same types of people on their staff.

There is so much money available out there today, it is ridiculous. But there are very few companies I'd accept an investment from, specifically for this reason.

Not picking sides... gonna wear our Seawolves kit, to show local pride while we are there. We are hoping it is warm enough to wear these silly Seawolves hawaiian shirts while we are at the game: https://shop.seawolves.rugby/products/2023-paladin-hawaiian-shirt

BOOM! That's lovely communication and honesty, right there. That's the good stuff, because - even if it doesn't work out between you two in the end - you will both be clear on WHY it didn't work, because everything is up front and genuine and honest. I love this for you... honestly.

That's actually why we are going! Already have tickets, and an Airbnb within walking distance of the stadium!

My dog is finally coming out of her latest heat, and might be able to go to the dog park again this weekend. That'll be a relief... she's 100lbs of Anatolian Shepherd and Malamute, and while she is a very calm and gentle 2.5-year old, she needs to get out and run around with other dogs regularly. For a month now, it's been me and her taking walks in the parks and forests, and she's done being at the end of a leash with some goober that has a bad knee and can't run with her. :-)

In less than two weeks I head off to Santorini for a week and Rome for a week. My Travel Team and I have decided to land in these two places and stay for a while, and do day trips out to explore the areas around... other islands, other cities, etc.

This week I've embarked on a bit of a fitness journey. I'll be 55 this year and need to become far more flexible (Yoga and regular stretching), rowing regularly to maintain some muscle and aerobic exercise while I work on my knee issues (instead of just sitting at my desk all day), doing regular self-care (massages and pedicures), and eating a less-packaged diet (more veggies and meats, less breads and grains) because my body LOVES that food.

Feels good to be largely on track.

Oh. And work is going as well as can be hoped for. Review is coming up before the end of the month, so we will see if my boss agrees with my assessment.

"That's it, the rest is as little/as much as she wants to share. Which surprised her, in a good way."

This is honestly the first time in this saga I've felt there was anything healthy going on here, for either of you. And this is wonderful! Keep communicating your needs, and understanding her needs, and ... what more does one need? That's a good foundation, right there.

Minor correction: Daylight Savings Time ends at the end of this year. It was simply postponed for 18 months when the air and rail carriers complained that they already had their schedules booked 12 months out, and needed more time for the transition to take place. 2024 won't have DST.

Anyway, to the meat of your comments, I - as always - appreciate the context and framing and calming down you do.

However you have also argued both sides of my concern: that it isn't a problem because the Republicans are in disarray, and that because the Republicans are in disarray and do not care about decorum or customs, a small rogue contingent can ABSOLUTELY make this happen just as I represented it.

The Senate? The President? They don't have any say over the House and its internal workings. The House often passes things or makes policies or committees that are blatantly wrong/illegal/ineffectual and everyone just shakes their head sadly and ignores their work.

The Speaker of the House is an internal position, voted on the House members present at the time of the vote. Period. Donezo.

Maybe appointing Mike Lindell as the Speaker of the House is dumb. Maybe people will take issue with it outside of the House.

But, as we all know, there is no enforcement mechanism in place except for custom; and the Republicans will throw that out without the slightest thought or regret.

So we are back to the Speaker of the House being appointed in some late-night shenanigans which will give the NPR constitutional scholars conniptions, but will stand because there simply isn't any mechanism in place to make it NOT happen.

Woah... I knew her story felt oddly familiar. I'd completely forgotten about John Walker Lindh!

I read through that article - and a couple others - from Gary Brecher "the war nerd", and realized something I didn't know before: ISIS is just a buncha entitled middle-class dipshits from rich countries with great social programs. Bored teenagers who wanna play army man and think they know everything. And it makes me less sympathetic to her requests to return.

I'm no fan of the State Department. But the number of people affected by taking a hardline position against repatriation couldn't fill a jumbo jet.

Honestly, we have more important problems to face, than to spend more time worrying about her and the bad decisions she's made.

But so much of the US's defense posture is predicting how things may go in the future, and - if her wishes to return are scorned by the US - then she is ripe for someone else to scoop her up and use her for their anti-US propaganda.

So do we take her back and help her reform to prevent her use by our enemies?

Or is she already an enemy that we have no place for?

I made my feelings clear, and asked for other people to weigh in on their feelings; not judge me or mine.