American Girl was a nice movie. I recommend! 😊
On turning people into trees.
“[…] when you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You appreciate it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree.
The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying “You’re too this, or I’m too this.” That judging mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.” — Ram Dass
It always scares me to see a green text bubble, after many blue ones. My heart kind of sinks, I kid you not!
Completing Claud’s unfinished message: ... --- ... 😂
So, after pre-seeding 8 BIG-IP F5s on Azure with latest v17 TMOS, I find out that we are only licensed until v16. Over 5 hours wasted. Deleting v17, and uploading v16 on each now, to start the pre-seed process. 😬
Becoming a magician is easy…
“So, in short, a helpful strategy for becoming a magician: Surround yourself with people who look like magicians to you. Then imagine yourself as one, older and wiser, in great detail.” — Becoming a magician
I have changed the default font to “Avenir Next”; it is a joy to read. As not everyone will have it, it degrades nicely to whatever is available per platform.
Edit: Changed it back to platform default.
Northern states with blizzards, and super cold temperatures. Meanwhile southern states rapidly cook under super high (for the season) temperatures. And this is still the Winter’s tail; imagine Summer.
On an Ubuntu training this week. It is also a migration week, so you can imagine how much training I am getting.
The NVMe M2 SSD I got towards the end of last year still sits on my desk, uninstalled. When will I summon the power to get it installed on my little development box, so I am not bound to a 500GB slowly spinning disk?! 😩
Feeling the desire to create a tiny site. You know, one that doesn’t grow, just static, no daily, or monthly entries. And under 1Kb. Of course, it will come with its own domain. Should I? 🤔
Saw this over at Claudine’s memos, and couldn’t help but noticing that Noah sells his daily photos as NFTs. 🤯😂
I am kind of warming up to the gemini protocol which is, pretty much, similar to the old school gopher. Hmmm, do I want to do down that rabbit hole? 😂
Mum carries a larger-than-life purse with her. In it she has just about everything you can imagine, including snacks. I know she wasn’t like that when younger, hence my question: at what point, at which age, did she reach enlightenment? 😂
Adding this Notes to my Mastodon profile. I think having three is enough for a verification proof.
And… after being on simmulation.com for a bit, and finding the shortcomings GTS (the Fediverse server software I was using) has, I decided to install my own Mastodon instance. I am now, and will always be, at @david@collantes.us (you can search on Mastodon for it, and interact with me).
Though I joined Mastodon in 2016, I was never a full time participant. I now am.
I have been more active lately on the Fediverse, this time running my own instance. I am @david@simmulation.com. If you are using Mastodon, just enter that on your search, and follow. Or not. 😜
Getting together with coworkers this evening, for a slice of pizza, and couple of beers. Last we met was near the beginning of the year. Pandemic time, what a time to live!
Speak friend, and enter.
If, as the inbred have been saying all along, Trump has always being the president, then why is he announcing his intent to run for president in 2024? 🤦🏻♂️🤯
The older I get, that harder it is for me to say “I have this”, or “I own that”, “I have one of those”, and things like that. We own nothing. We borrow things, often exclusively, but nothing more. Ownership doesn’t exist.
Florida didn’t disappoint republicans, of course. I knew it would happen, but hope is the last thing one loses, right? 😞
Here we go again. Be gentle, Nicole, and thank you for the extra days off!
Some companies are just too important to be private. Public companies are closer to a democracy. Private companies are closer to a dictatorship.
A Bertolli sausage frozen meal, a Publix’s gallon of milk, a pack of sliced Volpi chorizo, 91 grams of Board’s Head baby Swiss cheese, same amount of Deluxe cooked ham, and a sliced loaf of bread: $44. Nuts!
Last night I finished watching “Game of Thrones” with the kid. I don’t fully understand the ratings on the last episode, but I found it alright. Granted, I would have wanted someone else as the King but, hey, can’t have it all! 😂
I drive a Tesla, but am certainly not a fan of Elon Musk. This New York times article is pretty much on target.
We’re reaching out to remind you that your 12 month promotional price of 99¢/month for Hulu (our ad-supported plan) will expire soon, and you will be charged our regular price of $7.99/month after that.
Paying $1.12 ($0.99 plus taxes) for Hulu’s ad-supported plan is already a stretch. I look forward to Black Friday—or whatever other commercial occasion—to take advantage of that pricing again. Meanwhile, and/or if it doesn’t come, bye bye Hulu!
Happy birthday, Claud! 🎂🥳 May you celebrate many, many, many-many more in good health and happiness! ❤️🌹
Trump gets subpoenaed. “He could comply or negotiate with the committee, announce he will defy the subpoena or ignore it altogether. He could also go to court and try to stop it.”
“We recognize that a subpoena to a former president is a significant and historic action,” Chairman Bennie Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney wrote in the letter to Trump. “We do not take this action lightly.”
The UK has mastered the concept of disposable Prime Ministers: use them for a couple of months, then recycle them, and start over. 😂
Tomorrow I shall mow the lawn again. Then I will be made whole again… for at least two weeks. I hope.
Google is bashing Apple on iMessages. Meta is bashing Apple on iMessages. That simply reaffirms, Apple is doing something right.
I would like to know at least one of the people who bought an Apple iPad keyboard, and be convinced that it was worth paying for it.
Waking up with 12°C is a well received treat. The whole day is supposed to be overcast, and cool. My kind of Autumn day! 🥰
Apple has a major problem with the naming of iPads. It is simply horrible. The sociopath that came up with it should be institutionalised.
Friday is here, and with it the better news of an approaching weekend. Now the real question, what to do to create the mental perception of an everlasting weekend?
I have never wished to be on a collision course towards the weekend more than I do today. Can’t simply explain why, I just need it.
I am not much into eating animals of any kind, but for sure I am never eating a Snapper.
Almost two weeks off from work: 1784 emails, 56 actionable, 8 requests, 2 incidents, 16 Teams direct queries, 22 channel pings, 15 other channels to catch up. All in one day. Efficient, right?
Finally got rid of COVID. The three of us. Good riddance! Still waiting for my sense of taste and smell to come back, but other than that I am “almost” new.
It seems the bullies found a bone bigger than what they could chew. Because they cannot handle things via “conventional” ways.
In other news, Russia has again insisted it has a “right” to use nuclear weapons if its territory is threatened – CNBC News
Phone is coming earlier than originally stated. Instead of 5-10 October, now it will come next week. I can take a little happiness right now.
16 September 2022 was the original delivery date I saw whilst ordering online. By the time I got through the ordering hurdles it was 5-10 October 2022, which is what the email confirmation I got, finally, states. Not a biggie, but wow. Just wow.
Wow! Apple Store is completely broken. The iPhone pre-order process has been a mess for the first time! I now have a confirmation order I can’t check, haven't received a confirmation email, and nothing works (web, App Store app). What a terrible experience! 😞
The Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms has died. Certainly the end of an era.
“I love and admire my species, living and dead, and am totally dependent on them for my life and well being.” More at Steve Jobs Archive.
Apple event in less than 2 hours. Feel like kid on Christmas’ day. I am thinking on replacing my 3 years pocket computer, and the iPhone 14 might be it.
Boy is back in one piece. Yay, so happy! Weight from shoulders gone. I know, it might sound silly, but wait until you are parent, and then let me know whether it is or not.
Boy is off to Key West. Is it a coincidence, or every time I have some time off I also have some worries?
Most inspirational quotes, and messages, make me cringe. Is there something wrong with me?
A bit late, I know, but here we go!
Dentist told me yesterday I might need a crown soon and, all of the sudden, I am feeling sad because that molar has been with me all my life, and I don’t want to give it up. Can this be considered an existential crisis?
Current boss is retiring, and we are being introduced to a new one. As with every start of a relationship, it is bound to be ups and downs, right? Cautiously optimistic.
I often think it is time for me to get a new hobby. Preferably one that doesn’t involve computers. Yet, we are surrounded by them.
So birthday came, and went away. That’s another year ticked off.
“No hay mal que por bien no venga, ni bien que pesar no traiga, ni edificio que no caiga, ni cosa que fin no tenga.”
There is an Azure Ultra Disk (for those with an IasS) outage—whether partial or not, I don’t know—and I haven’t found any news, or posts, or discussions about it, anywhere. Folks, don’t put all your eggs on the cloud. Hybrid is the way to go.
Kids are growing up too fast. Girl is dating, and spending nights over boyfriend’s place. So worried, but she is an adult. Now I understand how my parents must have felt.
So, kid is off to his three days cruise adventure. I am sure he will have fun. Meanwhile, the parents at home will have the worse weekend ever. I kid you not!
We are having temperatures on the mid-thirties, (35º today, right now), and it is only July. I can’t imagine how August will be. Paying over $300/month on electricity is no fun.
Sometimes all things come at once. I am referring to things like many issues on an old car, or an old house, or an old body. It is all the same; a pain.
We will all die, one way or another. Having life taken by force is not an acceptable way to die. I am upset, and saddened, about Shinzo Abe’s murder.
Adding to this, let me point out “read receipts”. Having them on a work environment is a must. Such feature should be turned on—and enforced—as default. Reading a Team’s ping doesn’t mean you have to reply it right away, but it assures the sender its message has been received, and—somewhat—acknowledged. In a work environment, that’s very important. I send read receipts on any application that allows me to do so.
Yeah, right.
Growing old is not fun. If anyone tells you otherwise don’t believe it, or, at least, take it with a heavy dose of scepticism. You know what else is not fun? Mowing a knee high lawn. Sadly, that’s precisely what I intent to do this afternoon. Help!
I would add “personality” to these. Being almost instantly likable is a strength. Perhaps “restorative” and “connectedness” are what makes you that personable?
Quiet times. I have been quiet as of late. It isn’t that I don’t have anything to say or, rather, write. I just don’t have the drive to do it. Work is depleting me, mentally, and at the end of the day the last thing I want to do is to be in front of a computer. This is a first timer for me.
The one who gets passed down: VMWare.
“Why in America? Why is this American exceptionalism so awful?” Truth.
Memberships are killing software usage, at least for me. I don’t mind paying for applications; I refuse to pay a monthly rent to use them.
I like guns; I own guns. I like to go to a range, and shoot. I like how they look. I would love to have the money to collect them, and have them hung on walls, or similar. Yet, I am willing to give it all up to eliminate the nightmare we are permanently stuck on. Enough talk, and more action.
Haven’t touch bases with Chuck, and Missy for a while. Will reach out today. Tomorrow, interview. Happy Monday (and for those reaching the end of it, wishing you had a good one)!
Here is Sunday, rushing to the end like an athlete to the wire. Sunday, dear, it doesn’t have to be this way, you know?
Some advise about keeping secrets. It’s a lot easier if you don’t know them in the first place.
Mum’s seventy eight today, and she is healthy. What an age to reach! If only I were that lucky!
The crash after having a morsel for lunch is unbearable. Wishing so badly I could take a 30 minutes power nap after lunch!
Went out through the front door to water flowers, and almost burned my hand on my way in, that hot the door handle was. It is only mid-morning. Yeah.
This guy is either really bad, the ultimate troll, or has severe mental problems. I don’t think it is the last. TSLA was booted from the S&P 500, so this might have something to do with it.
It bothers me greatly—and I am doing my best not to let it bother me—that people are showing available (green) on Teams, yet do not reply to queries, nor answer their phones. I consider availability a very important matter. If I am available, I answer to queries. Even when I am busy, or on focussed state, I do. Whenever possible, availability whilst working remote is a must.
“When those election results came in, we realized just how formidable the enemy was,” a journalist at the Philippine news site Rappler said. “To me, as a journalist, it means I had not done enough to counter disinformation.”
More on the New Yorker’s article “The Triumph of Marcos Dynasty Disinformation is a Warning to the U.S.”
“Normalise sadness and, to some degree, despair” […] “Pleasure is fleeting” — Sex, phones, and drug addictions with Dr. Anna Lembke.
It was magical, and fast, and available. No complains at all. Also, the hotel had eight spots for EVs, and I didn’t have to struggle to find one.
A co-worker and I say hello to each other every working morning. To complement it, I scribbled a script that sends him a custom email too, you know, for those rare days I am sick, or on vacation, or dead. Each daily email is different and, thus, custom.
“We need to say as clearly and forcefully as we can that the ideology of white supremacy has no place in America”.
“You expect us to keep doing this over and over again, forgive and forget […]” New York Times, video. A knot on my throat, and tears. THIS SHOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED!
Why are the words “suspected” and “alleged” used, referring to the domestic terrorist that shoot and killed people in Buffalo? He is neither of those. He did it, he didn’t run away, he surrendered to the police on the spot.
About to use the Supercharger network for the first time. Let’s see how magical it is.
It is one of those weekends that will make anyone believe global warming is real. It is not just the heat, it is the crazy weather mood.
“Wallet now enables Apple Cash customers to send and request money from their Apple Cash card” — That upcoming feature on iOS 15.5 puts some competition on Venmo, Cash, and others.
Not sure how I feel. Blah would be a way to put it, because it could mean just about anything. So, blah it is. Yeah.
NHK no longer being offered by AT&T is a strong blow. It is so much so, that mum is going to cancel her AT&T cable subscription over it. I hope it was worth losing $180/month, AT&T!
“People who forget the mistakes of the past are condemned to repeat them.”
I am in the market for a pogo stick. Calorie burning wise it is better than a bike, so, yeah. I need one capable to bounce up to 80-90 kg. I have my tin foil hat on, let me know! 😂
“A victory for Mr. Marcos is likely to lead to democracy regressing further in the Philippines, where institutions have been obliterated or weakened under Mr. Duterte.“
And:
“Mr. Marcos […] ]has indicated that he would shield Mr. Duterte from an investigation by the International Criminal Court for a violent drug war that has claimed thousands of victims.“
And:
“Critics fear that Mr. Marcos, who has repeatedly said he would not apologize for his father’s legacy, could also dismantle the agency set up to investigate the government money his family is accused of stealing. His campaign spent years in an effort to recast a period of dictatorship as one of development.“
And:
“This is a dashing of the hopes that there will be a U-turn away from the backsliding toward authoritarian rule that was begun by President Duterte.”
“They look nicer. They’re aesthetic. They show care. We should put something of beauty into the world, instead of creating digital pollution.”
More of his whys. I say no, nope, nooooope. Simply no. I mean, the URL of that page (using his own’s URL shortener) makes no sense.
Re-electing a Marcos family member—in this case not even a remote family member, but the son of the murderer dictator—would be taking many, many, many steps backwards. A horrible thing for the country.
“Updated an hour ago” is not “Live”. I am looking at you, The New York Times. Step up!
Barnacles, this isn’t looking too good. Yet, the day is young. There is still time. Please let the outcome be NOT the one predicted so far!
I understand I am a minority. I use the default iOS Mail, Messages, Safari, Notes, Calendar, Weather, Photos, Maps, etc. apps. I try my best not to install redundant ones, even if they might look better, or have extra features. I keep my phone as clean as possible. So, you will understand how bad I feel for having to have WhatsApp installed, just because a handful of family and friends from Europe use it.
It is a wrap. Weekend starts now. Meeting old—retired—coworkers today for a couple of beers. This time, and this time only, my medication will be less effective.
Here goes some positive (wishful?) thinking: may the weekend last 96 hours!
Old men fixation in controlling women’s body. Because we all know women do not know any better. 😒
Fifty three new CVEs (two critical, sixteen high) were released just today for the BIG-IP F5. Precisely 33 minutes after I finished upgrading 12 of them. Lovely, just lovely.
Parents are going away for a couple of weeks, and I already miss them, and feel blue. Then I start thinking that I will not be around when my kid reaches my age, and that blue turns deep blue. Why are we build this way?
No matter how far from other planets we might be, when it comes to polluting them we will manage to be pioneers.
Links to videos/sounds on YouTube are OK, because—for the most part—they work without anything extra. No need to login, they just play. Spotify is another story.
Implemented a basic light/dark “theme” to respect user’s settings. Try forcing your OS to light/dark, and take a look. Current colours are not final, but it is a step forward. I think.
I have become more caring about what will be left behind when I am no longer around as I have aged. More selfless. Wish everybody aged the same.
Have you ever woken up one working day feeling tired, with no desire to do anything else but to lay down on your couch, or go back to bed snuggling your blanket? It doesn’t happen often to me, but today is one of those.
This is not good news. I don’t like to fall into a Nostradamus syndrome, yet I believe Twitter will tank under Elon’s ownership. Again, nothing I can do but worry a little about it.
Diablo’s III season 26 has started, and with it a little escape after a long working day. The thing I like about Diablo III is that there is little competition. You don’t feel like you are having a second job, or a second life, to move up the ladder. For me it is as casual as it can be.
Once again, Florida proves itself to be a truly backward state. Though not my fault, I truly, and sincerely, apologise.
We have 32°C and I don’t want to leave the house, yet, what is a weekend without going around even if just for a bit? On the first, AC runs almost non-stop. On the second, will soon prepare to leave for auntie Hoa birthday party.
Completed 3/4 of the training assigned. I am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, and I am sure it isn’t a train.
Deadline to pay the taxes in the US. That is, if you are getting money back. If not, Uncle Sam can wait a bit longer.
I don’t know what to think/say about Elon’s’ unsolicited (hostile?) takeover offer to buy Twitter. Not that I matter, of course.
Looking forward to the lawn mowing “exercise” this afternoon… not! Mostly because Spring is over. With a 23°C right now, I bet it is going to be a hot day.
The list of blocked domains because they keep sending emails quoting previous ones they have sent—and not acknowledged—is growing big. Companies shouldn’t send UCE, but if they do, they should take a hint when there are no replies to them.
Resisting the urge to use images around here. Doing so will make this little thing huge in no time. Yet, sometimes a “picture is worth a thousand words”.
“Hundreds, maybe thousands of times, my wife tried to communicate that something was wrong. That something hurt. But that doesn’t make sense, I thought. I’m not trying to hurt her; therefore, she shouldn’t feel hurt.” So true.
I discovered today that it is rather fun to abuse HTTP headers. Alas, there is no profit in it.
curl --head https://ferengi.oneAbout this one, a hot blow dryer on each page, and keeping the book in a closed plastic container with baking soda in it for a while should do that trick. Rinse and repeat as needed.
Acquired and will be reading a 1968 edition of Isaac Asimov’s “Asimov’s Mysteries” book. I need to get past that old book smell, though. Will probably research later on how to make an old book smell less… old.
All of the sudden old Internet nostalgia came to mind, and briefly reminisced about CompuServe, Prodigy, and eWorld. That’s quite telling of my age.
Having an almost 300% overallocation of working time for projects isn’t fun. On top of it, having to train—at my own pace—myself on a myriad of subjects. Also not fun.
Using Logseq for work—and soon for personal—has improved my, already good, organisational skills. It had had another good side effect: I seldom take paper notes anymore.
After eating too many dishes with sticky rice yesterday, and feeling guilty about it, I decided to have a ham and cheese sandwich on black German bread, and a glass of naturally sweetened pineapple juice, as my only meal today.
Forget about being part of the 10KB club. Index page is now bigger than that without compression. It is impossible to do, unless the page has nothing in it.
Pandoc is a beast. Such a useful tool, I will donate to it.
Of all social media, Twitter is the only one I peruse, and occasionally tweet/re-tweet things. I would not mind—maybe—paying for Twitter Blue if a verified seal was part of it. Not just a stroke to my ego, but it would help spotting and isolating bots/trolls.
And it is now completed. Next step is editing, but I will not need to test that, at least not here. Off to the road. An 18 degrees Sunday is too good of a day to stay indoors.
Further automating things. Now this little thing builds right after I exit the editor. Hopefully this boring development cycle will end soon.
Tinkering for the night is over. Right now this little page is generated (and re-generated) using a little of AppleScript, and Automator. Not sure how scalable will it be, but for now it will have to do.
It is going to be a challenge keeping this page short as I babble. I was thinking on submitting it to the 250KB club for which right now qualifies but, for how long?
Giving this another try. Nothing better than a Saturday—or just a weekend, for that matter—for start overs. Using the opportunity to downsize too. Let us see.