Went into the office for the first time in 2 years, because I had to print out and bind some documents before shipping them off.

In a company of more than 400 people, I saw 4.

I could see going in once in a while, if I needed to. But I don't really need to. Since the last time I was in the office in February 2020, my entire team has dissolved, and I have been moved over to a different department in a different part of the building. But my cubicle with my name on it still stands alone in a vast dark room with nobody around.

The next two years in corporate America are going to be very weird. I can't see people happily returning to the status quo... and yet all this expensive real estate is built on the idea of people having to come into a specific location to prove they are working...

I just don't see people going back to that, if there are other options.

I've already knocked back my schedule so I get off work at noon on Tuesday and Thursdays, so I can help care for my Dad as he travels the Alzheimers road. Sure, it's only 6 hours a week, but ... I'm still making a full salary and still getting all my work done easily.

The rules of the game are changing. For the better, I feel. And Amazon warehouse workers won the right to organize a Union. Shit is changing for working stiffs.

I'm here.

Still breathing. Still have a bum knee. Still haven't done a single part of my physical therapy regimen to help my knee out. I look at the papers she gave me every single day, and have not yet done a single stretch or exercise.

Slept like shit last night. Again.

Because my knee was bothering me all night.

Because I haven't done any of my PT stretching or strength building exercises.

The cycle continues.

My next door neighbor is a 16-year old girl who I really like. She's a good kid. Good head on her shoulders. Smart. Engaged. And just a great kid, all around. They have three pets; two super cool cats and a 10-year old pitbull who is a big love, and just thinks the the world of me.

Neighbor kid has fallen IN LOVE with my new dog, Moxie.

So while we did our big rugby event for three days, she came over and played with Moxie, fed her, tired her out, etc. In exchange, I'm taking her and her mom out for ice cream. It was a good trial run.

Yesterday our dogs started playing in (and destroying) my newly planted front yard, so I brought both dogs into my back yard to play and goof off. Neighbor kid eventually came over to hang with the dogs, too, and we wound up having a conversation for over an hour.

I, a 52-year old dude, sat and chatted with a 16-year old girl for over an hour.

She's taking her last two years of High School at the local Community College, where she will graduate from both High School and College - with an AA degree - in two years.

I wonder what kind of world she will be graduating into?

What will work look like then?

She's a good kid. I hope she is equipped for the coming world... I don't feel a lot of positivity about the future, but I sure feel good about her chances in it.

UPDATE: Got to chat with her mom while we were side-by-side watering our gardens, and she told me that her daughter has social anxiety and has a hard time chatting with people! ... except me ... that felt really nice. I'm glad she's comfortable talking with me.

Getting my vaccine tomorrow. Don't give a flying fuck about anything else, partially because I have been so incredibly wound up about finding a vaccine (and my wife is 10x more anxious than me), and partially because I didn't sleep much last night because I want to get the vaccine and a project at work had a major part overlooked (partially by me) that is going to cost the company $32k, but the whole deal is going to be over $400k, so it isn't fatal, but it is still "bad dog, no biscuit" bad.

And fuck it all. I'm going to go play with my new synthesizers (went for the full Native Instruments Komplete 13 and S49 MKII integrated keyboard controller), and make awesome soundscapes for any future Blade Runner movies anyone ever wants to make and have me score...

When my lovely old dog passed away in June, my wife and I were shattered. But we have continued plugging along and everything was going well.

Until about two weeks ago, or so.

Now it is almost daily that we have some sort of sad-moments-of-recollection/missing her together. It's especially bad for my wife, since she has literally nothing to do right now.

It May Be Time To Get A New Dog.

There is a LOT of fear about getting a new dog. Our old girl was one of those special ones that was good with everyone - kids, cats, squirrels, dogs, whatever - completely voice-trained, vibrantly healthy, and self-sufficient.

A new dog will need training. And walks. And could have hidden health issues. And and and... we are both in our 50's, and slowing down, and thinking a puppy is too much work... but many people give up "adult/older" dogs because there are behavior problems with them... so are we getting a problem animal? We both have a lot of training and education in dogs, but ... are some dogs unredeemable?

I dunno.

My wife sent me an email last night at 3:AM with photos of a little lab puppy that is available nearby ... she's a real cutie...

Congratulations on the new home!

And yeah... buy a ladder. One of the "a-shaped" ones that extends, like the Little Giant.

And buy a set of battery powered tools. I like Milwaukee. I've built entire buildings with this simple kit.

And don't use ANY screw other than a star-drive. There's just no reason to use anything else as a fastener. This kit is a good starter, with a range of useful sizes.

And get a home-owner's book. I have the Fix It Yourself Manual, which makes any kind of typical home repair pretty simple and straightforward. There's something about having a book open to the right page, when you are under the kitchen sink trying to figure out how to fix the garbage disposal, that beats a phone or tablet with a YouTube video every single time...

WORK

I've been approached by a shit-hot software security company to potentially become a tech writer for them. It's early days, but they approached me because someone inside the company knows me, and they weigh internal referrals VERY highly.

California company. Remote work. Writing for a living, still. And a career path.

This is really interesting to me right now because my current job is totally stagnant. If schools don't re-open immediately, I see layoffs by Christmas. (Schools are a LARGE part of our government contracting business.) I've got less than 8 hours of real work to do each week, and am spending most of my time in my woodshop making things, rather than writing government contracts, because those people aren't working right now.

My boss knows about my workload, and he and I have plans to grow my role in the new year. But I'm not sure this is going to last that long. I've done 3 peoples' jobs at my company for four years now, and everyone is pretty happy with me getting a break while things are slow. "That's ok man! You've earned it!"

I'm also thinking the new role is going to get me into the salary range I should be in, for the type of work I do. I'm happy making $100k/year right now, because that's an ample amount of money for me and my wife to live on. But people doing a similar job are making $20k more than I am. And, once you settle for less-than-market-value, it is hard to regain that footing.

This new company - being an established Silicon Valley tech company, at the top of its game, in security - should be able to make up that difference pretty easily, and get me into the "commensurate wage" range.

Which, as I am looking towards retirement in the next 15 years or so, adds up.

Who knows? The world is kinda upside down, and I'm not sure how things work anymore, honestly.

PERSONAL

My niece is headed off to school in Florida, where her roommates tell her not to worry about the COVID test she needs to take... she can get a fake negative-COVID test for like $10. But she's 19 and invincible (as we all were at 19) and there just isn't a way to impress upon her what a lifetime of odd blood, lung, and liver problems would be like, even if she fully "recovers" from a bout of COVID. Especially for someone who wants to be a marine biologist and diver. (Some blood and lung conditions disqualify you from becoming a diver.)

She's a super smart kid. Top of her class, with honors. Going into science. Unfortunately, I think all of these factors cannot protect her from Florida, and she will lose the one thing she wants to do most in this world: work underwater. Just because she decided to start school this year, instead of taking some time to let the pandemic run its course.

... sigh ...

I'm gonna go out to my shop and stain the plant stands I made for my wife. They are 80 inches tall, 4 feet wide, and 22 inches deep. She has a LOT of plants.

I've been moderating online communities since I ran my first BBS in 1986. Other than my bass guitar forums, Hubski is pretty dang good, as far as treating-other-users-as-humans goes.

But Hubski is also rigorous. There are scientists and experts here that you simply don't see on other general forums.

So fluffy thinking and poor argument structures are called out pretty mercilessly.

If you posted the same thing on Reddit, you'd get 10k upvotes and oodles of "Right on, man!" comments.

But here, there is probably an expert that knows more than you, or someone who is better read than you, or someone who is going to point out your fallacious argument structure. And they are going to correct your mistake(s).

Some people take that input well.

Others don't.

Being a Grumpy Old Man (tm) like I am, I feel like people who grew up online (aka "kids today") are not used to having their shit called out/corrected by someone who is more skilled, knowledgeable, or eloquent with the written word. Not everyone has a facility with the written word, and when you put together deep knowledge with communication skills, loose/fallacious arguments and positions fall to pieces very quickly.

Which should be humbling and educational, but can be taken as an "attack" by the person who put together a shoddily built platform to stand on.

I don't think Hubski is broken or "needs fixing".

An Idea

What if there was an interactive element the poster could choose to add to their posts and comments that was a thermometer at the bottom of the comment/post, say 3 inches wide, that was red on the left, green on the right, a vertical black bar in the middle, and a little ball indicating the current level of "agreement" with the post.

Readers could simply click the red side or the green side to indicate their approval/dislike of a post, and, over time, the "quality" of the post would be shown by its temperature (aka, the position of the little ball indicator in the red or green zone.)

It's not upvote/downvote, because there is no "award" for a greener post than a redder one. It is just a way for the community to express to the poster that their content is valuable or appreciated, or not.

And it is fundamentally different than clicking the hubwheel and sharing a post. You may "green-up" a post, but not share it. Or you may "redden" a post, but still want to share it by clicking the hubwheel.

It's a way for the community to provide simple feedback on specific participation, and might help improve the quality of posts in general, as people are appreciated for writing "greener", more community-productive posts.

It's a thought...

I watched the entire video. Omar asked countless times where they should go, where they should stand so they could be out of the way, and was entirely congenial and non-combative with the cops, even as he was handcuffed and taken away.

There was not a single action taken by the Minneapolis PD that was legal, or had precedent. Everything they did was clearly against policy, law, and their training.

And there were SEVEN officers involved in the arrest of the CNN crew, and more than 20 that stood watching.

I've never said this before, but ... fuck all cops. All of them.

I just watched them join ranks and defy their training, ethics, and morals, and none of them did ANYTHING about it.

I've always been a positive happy dude. It's just who I am.

But this week I finally broke; and it has given me a deeper understanding of those I know who deal with clinical depression (like my wife). I couldn't really DO anything. I wasn't sobbing in a corner, or a wreck, I was just ... incapable of anything.

So I played video games for about two days straight.

Today we are going away to a friend's vacation home. They are out of the country and can't get to it, and asked us to go check on it. Fortunately, it is also my wife's birthday. So we are getting away for a bit, together.

It's going to be lovely.

And just the break I need right now. (There's no internet there, too. That'll help me out immensely.)

Oh. And I got onto TikTok. And I love it. Without reservation. A total blast!

The Milicri Motorcycle Lives!

My mid-life-crisis (mi-li-cri) motorcycle restomod project is back on the menu again.

A pro Suzuki mechanic had encouraged me to dump it and move on, because an essential aspect of my design - removing the bulky and klunky airbox - was going to make it VERY hard to get the bike running right. The VX800 is a weird and short-lived sidenote in Suzuki history... which is kinda why I loved it. But part of why it is a side note is that the carburetors on it are just... weird. And finicky. And prone to odd malfunctions.

ANYWAY. I posted to my VX800 list that I was going to part it out (sell it for parts) to anyone who wanted them, because my project wasn't going to work.

That's when a guy posted photos and descriptions of his HIGHLY modified VX800 ... WITH NO AIRBOX! (And also commented that it isn't hard to get it running will without the airbox, and directions for how to do it.)

So, emboldened by this one rare loony on the internet, I have decided to at least get the bike put back together and running. This will still serve my primary goal of the project, which was to get inside the engine and do work in a part of the motor I had never worked on before.

So yay! The Milicri (will) lives!

I'll post photos here for the two other gearheads on Hubski, so they can laugh at my efforts. :-)