At my new job I've been learning how to create remote servers and use things like Powershell. It's so exciting. I genuinely get amped when I need to create something.

I whisper.. "...Powershell..." under my breath every time I get to open it. Partly to annoy the older colleagues (who are lovely). I have three monitors and I used to think two was overkill, now I find three just the perfect amount. There's probably a threshold for how much information I can actually take in from the screens but so far, so good.

AND! And. We're shifting offices early next year, off campus. The plan is to adopt a proper hybrid style of working, and so I've been asked "How many days do you think you'd need to be in the office?". It looks like I'll be working remotely for 3 days, and in the office for 2. We do 7.5 hour days here, so only 15 hours in the office every week sounds delightful. Commuting eased, parking costs eased. To the surprise of absolutely no-one, this show of trust in me has me working harder to repay said trust. I'm no longer dragging myself out of bed and wincing when I remember it's not Friday. Instead, I'm up. I'm dressed. I'm in the office muttering "Powershell" and picking weird selections for the Rugby World Cup matches, talking video games with all the other nerds in the building, picking up tickets and fixing problems before they have a chance to materalise.

They wanted a highly social, flowery communicator who happened to love IT? They got one. I am home.

Games? Games. The mother of all backlogs is in full swing. I have:

- Baldurs Gate 3

- Starfield (admittedly I may not return to this, felt devoid of any 'soul')

- Destiny 2 (still on my plate, will be for another year at least)

- Armoured Core 6

- Sea of Stars

- Cyberpunk 2077 DLC

- Lies of P

- Horizon Forbidden West

- Returnal

- It Takes Two

And more that my brother has purchased for us to play over the last 12 months.

Gardening! Tunnelhouse setup should be arriving next week, just as the wild weather eases up. Tomatos going in as soon as I can wind-proof the tunnelhouse. I'm excited to win some battles against the neighborhood cats shitting in my every plant bed.

Making moves.

A while back, NMS had a bit of a resurgence in our gaming crew. We all hopped on and fucked about the stars, building bases and using terrain manipulators to make dirt-dick-monuments.

I can't recall who it was that discovered it in our group, but we were soon following these simple instructions:

1. Go to a space station.

2. Swap your ship with an NPC in the landing pad area.

3. Immediately scrap your new ship for parts, and sell those parts for mad profit.

4. Sprint back to the NPC.

5. CLAIM YOUR SHIP BACK FOR FREE.

6. Rinse and repeat.

The devs might have since patched it out, but at the end of it all I tapped out at a little over $4 billion which appears to be bang on for the in-game limit.

I wonder if the money is still there or if they recognised people were abusing the absolute shit out of this and reset. Might login and find out.

Anyway I feel the same, I've restarted a few times now and the allure has long gone. I'm pleased they turned the game around from such an awful launch, but it ain't for me these days.

unpopular return-to-office mandates may be to blame. Human resources professionals should reconsider and advocate for flexible or fully remote work environments.

My employer is on a short, sharp rollercoaster with this.

Covid hit -> remote work encouraged -> general applause at the minimal disruption to BAU -> Covid "ended" -> 'get back in our expensive offices you ungrateful jackasses' -> financial crisis -> 'can people work remotely so we can sell buildings or escape leases? Please? Pleeeease?'

I like to think I've inherited a few of his traits! I didn't get to inherit his imposing height, but I did inherit his piano and love of music. I didn't inherit his endless patience, but I did inherit his love of grassroots movements and community focused projects. Creativity and risk-taking does sound like me. That combo has gotten me into and out of some sticky situations as a youngster.

He was a teacher for most of his life. He and my grandmother both became teachers after meeting at the same University (that I also attended, and now work at). They would travel the country taking early jobs as teachers. As a result, my mother and aunts were all born in different towns and on different islands. Mum in Whakatane awaaaay up north, the sisters in rural areas down south. He mainly wanted to teach students Music, but had to have something more substantial up his sleeve when looking for positions, so he taught English initially then wheedled his way into taking over the music scene in whatever school he was situated at.

Eventually he settled in a small town (the very one he himself grew up in), as principal at the local high school (that he attended in his youth!). His daughters attended the school, one daughter met a boy, they grew up and had me and my siblings, who also lived in the small town and eventually attended the same school. He taught at the school until retirement and then, when met with too much free time, sought to uplift the community around him.

The whole "education" bent is noticable in our family. My mother went to Uni to be a teacher, as did both her sisters. My sister did the same thing. I was this close to following the same route, and I'd probably really have enjoyed being a teacher.

My graduation day was a bit of a blur, I was more keen to get the whole thing done after 3-4 years of studying. But I distinctly recall my grandparents beaming in the crowd. Now that they're both gone, and unable to see what we're all up to, I'm very, very grateful they got to see their grandkids succeeding when the opportunity arose.

Three weeks into my role in IT, having finally left office management. It's amazing. The people are friendly, the work is interesting, and I'm so used to a stupidly hectic workload that what they're asking of me is quite doable, even as I'm learning the ropes. Plus there's actual clarity around the role. I have a portfolio of things to take care of, tickets come in when the helpdesk can't solve it, and away I go.

I'm even working from home today, which wasn't ever really an option before.

Is.. Is this, room to breathe? What a concept.

That's wonderful you have something from her. I know exactly what you mean about the smell. When I lift the piano lid it still has that same smell of grandma and grandads house. I don't know how long that will remain but so far so good. If you find the time to keep playing it, I hope it brings you some joy!

I am relearning the piano! I played when I was a teen, did grading to a point but couldn't tell you how far along I got. I stopped during high school, to focus on rugby (and I have no doubt, was worried playing an instrument wasn't manly. Stupid stuff). I have a book now essentially called 'relearning the piano for dummies.' for people who have the muscle memory but sheet music to them, is hieroglyphs. Working through it bit by bit!

It's going well and I'm forever grateful that I inherited it, and that I got to spend the time I did with grandad. Growing up he was just that, grandad. But as I got older I realised all the things he'd done over the years. I found a wonderful write up that goes over everything though that would probably dox myself in some way - if I were to post it here. But the list involves two scholarships as a teacher, to travel the world and learn about other countries best teaching practice, working with handicapped students, running the local meals on wheels and reading to the blind as a part of his volunteering, helping to kick start a govt funded sex/health education program that is still in operation up and down the country, coaching sport, teaching music, playing in orchestras (and conducting smaller events) and amongst all of that, just being grandad. The write up even covers his gardening talents. The man practically willed tomatoes into existence.

I need to do more. That's the conclusion I've come to.

Nice work on getting back into the gym.

I miss the social side of my old gym sooo much, but the benefit of a home gym being right there was too hard to ignore. Especially now as I've hit my strength goals and am no longer chasing bigger numbers. I couldn't justify the membership cost over building a setup I wanted and letting it pay for itself over time.

Feeling you on setting the bar low. Even just turning up and warming up builds a habit of attendance and you still feel like you've done something worthwhile. Good shit.

"‘Uh, I keep getting voicemails from Rudy Giuliani about how we can Stop the Steal? Any way you can stop that?’"

Brilliant read.

I've finally worked up the courage to share some of my writing projects with impartial readers, for some constructive feedback.

It's been great. The constructive feedback is on point and highlighting things I just hadn't thought about, or noticed, or thought was working but evidently wasn't. I'm really grateful for it. Already edited things in/out/shuffling around.

The positive feedback has also been lovely to receive (as it would be). One reader assumed I was a woman because of the relatable way I was portraying the female MC in the story, then was pleasantly surprised to discover I'm a dude. Dialogue getting some good praise, realistic interpretations of how people might react to things, world feels connected and sense of both scale and time passing has been captured. Overall, it's viewed as a fun read, and each time the person provided feedback they asked for more to read over.

Another project I got feedback on was a series of short horror/sci-fi stories that I was hoping build a little anthology out of. So far each person has said "Would love to see this a full blown adventure" which I was hoping to hear. I wanted to write some interesting tidbits and capture enough of someone's imagination or interest that they'd like to see more of it, and more fleshed out.

Feels good. Onwards.

When I navigate the treatment of the Māori people here in NZ, I sometimes look over the ditch and think for a moment "At least we aren't that bad.."

And yet!

My partner and I bought our house a couply years back. Moved in, and as we're living in a cul-de-sac I decided I'd make sure I meet as many of the families as possible. Good to know your neighbors and all that.

Every. Single. Family. Made a comment about "That house has the Māoris" or "That one has the Chineeeeese." Naturally, Māori was pronounced "Maowree". Apparently the Māori family always has the police visit for domestic violence callouts. Been here 2 years, never seen a cop car. Never heard a disturbance. The family in question are lovely and we have amicable chitchat when we're mowing our respective front lawns. The Chinese family? Are actually from Malaysia. Though you wouldn't know that if you didn't engage in fucking conversation with them.. Again, also lovely. They buy and fix up white-ware so people come and go at random hours but they always give me a wave, and a hello, and last Xmas I gave them some baking because it sounds like everyone made their mind up about them the second they moved in. They took my spare washing machine off my hands and I helped cart it up their driveway because I'm very strong and they're very little. So we got talking. Easy as that.

Back to the cul-de-sac and the warnings we got about the 'undesirables'... Like, the fuck? They're happy saying that to my partner and I because we're a young white couple. Homies. Homies please. My parents grew up seeing Māori students punished for using their language. So, us kids growing up? My parents taught us how to count in Te Reo. How to hold a basic pleasantry conversation. Encouraged the little sprinkling of the language when we could. They didn't know my generation would be absorbing the language at breathtaking speed in an attempt to nurture a culture that our forefathers tried to destroy, but they certainly hoped we would.

Anyway I watch the Aussie political spectrum with some interest. As we're more alike than I think either everyday Joe would admit. Thoughts are with you, over the drink.

Congrats on the mini crisis aversion.

I helped at an Iron-man(ish) event last year, my cousin was running in it. I handed out water as needed, occasionally tried to punch my cousin in the nads as he lapped past. Hope your guitar efforts are well recieved!

Wooooo congrats! What an awesome moment for the two of you.

May I present the combat debut of the legendary T14 Armata:

Err'body gangsta till the tank starts flying and turret-slaps Captain America.

Edit: I had typed this while watching and didn't realize we'd be treated to Ironman, too.

Yep same in NZ, two-thirds here too. No matter what we do, someone is getting burnt. House prices fall? Interest rates climb. Chuck inflation in there and ohh boy.

We're going from a 2.90% rate into something north of 7% in October this year. It's gonna fuckin' suuuuuck. We've planned for this by upping our current repayments (to the threshold, just before we would be penalised) to prepare for the increase.

That said, we're in a far better position than most, and we're grateful to only feel a pinch, not be forced out of our home.

Now I think about it, we had an absolute dream run to purchasing the house.

- Both myself and my partner got a gift from our respective families, bumping our deposit from 10-15% to like 32%.

- I had money put into my retirement fund that I was allowed to dip into for buying a first house

- The banks hadn't yet started their incredibly invasive perusal of our spending, so we were practically waved through the approval process.

- We loaned less than we were approved for.

- We only visited 10 open homes, and settled on the first one we saw.

- It was under offer, but that offer came with finance conditions and we had everything ready to go.

- The building inspection came back glowing, not even signs of borer (almost impossible to not have them down south).

- We made the offer, got it, and everything was signed off.

July 2021 we started looking after receiving the money, October 2021 we had moved into our home. December 2021 the market began to tumble, but I guess we're in now. We don't intend to sell, just going to chip away at it as effectively as we can.

Still, fuck house prices.

Yep, got the job. Got the call while on the toilet @ 7pm, no less. More money, no management, and the role is in IT. Easiest decision I've made in a while.