Daynotes On A Budget, V6.0

 Yup, celebrated a birthday last week.  Now I'm just feeling old.   I've usually been somewhat apprehensive when it comes to "0" birthdays.  It started when I was ten.  Being a kid who loved all forms of reading, I read a lot.  My folks subscribed to a number of magazines, including Time.  And I read each issue cover-to-cover.  And the old TV Guide as well.  And we tended to watch the evening news in my house, which came on at 5:30 pm for the national news, followed by local news at 6:00 pm.   So I was probably fairly well informed when it came to current events.  And on my tenth birthday, ya know, double digits and all, I won't forget it as we had some sort of get together.  I remember sitting in the living room watching the end of a football game, probably the University of Minnesota against Nebraska, where Tony Dungy, the quarterback, and Rick Upchurch, a wide receiver, were two of my favorite players.  But th...

 This has not been the best of weeks. I did work over 60 hours last week due to some co-workers being out of the office, so I tried to pick up the lose ends.  Hopefully it will serve me well, as I'm out of the office next week. But Sunday did not start too well when my wife informed me that one of her uncles - the last one - had passed away.  His widow is still here, but we're not heading to the funeral tomorrow.  While I remember the reminder I learned in high school that funerals are not for the dead, they are for the living, it doesn't much improve things if you're not there. The gentleman who passed away was always friendly and kind to me and my growing family.  And we shared a bond that no other two men will have on this planet.  One morning, early, my grandmother-in-law was having a medical procedure done.  It involved the insertion of some sort of technology through an artery in her leg, up near hear heart.  Mind you, I was young, foolish, ...

 About a thousand years ago as an IT manager, somewhat, I had to conduct training for my users on that new tool called "The Internet." Incorrectly, as most pedants, including myself, will point out.  Granted, I did come about this knowledge back in the day when "The World Wide Web" was in it's infancy, so I suppose, the description of me still fits.  But I - as ever - digress. During that training, I informed my folks that the company would be providing them access to the internet, but we would also be monitoring their use of it.  Filters and other tools weren't invented quite yet, and the browsers that did exist were all in single-digit versions, and when improvements were released, they were noteworthy, not ... Oh, hey, there's a thing popping up on my screen telling me I need to upgrade the third time this week... But getting back to the point.  I would tell folks that it is entirely possible as this tool evolved that they may find themselves on a web...

I live.  Allegedly.   My wife began her new job this week with an out of town training trip.  She traveled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota - about 3 hours by ... well, freeway speeds, I guess, where her new employer is based.  She is doing the same thing, just new challenges for new people who have made it deeply and profoundly clear that she is valued. A quick word to all of those organizations out there looking to hire: Don't forget your current employees.  My wife's employer has changed over the past few years, with leadership changes, that see the people less as people, more as parts to be exchanged, greased, and continue to move forward. It don't work like that. As a much younger man, I was part of a small but growing organization that occasionally experienced the loss of trained personnel.  We developed a sort of metric that made sense for us after a while.  The jobs we did required a heck of a lot of knowledge that wasn't just laying around at...

Roughly, I suppose, is completed. This one was "The Table".  Back when Covid began, and we all started working from home, I started on the dining room table, with terrible seating arrangements, chairs, and the like.  When we completed moving my wife's office equipment upstairs, I repurposed my "big desk".   Said big desk took initial design back in about 1991 when we moved into a two-bedroom apartment up on top of Buck Hill, then known as "The Observatory".  Our unit had a gorgeous view eastward, which meant a sunrise every morning.  Some were better than others, mostly because, well, I really wanted to be able to sleep late.  But when it became rather clear that we were not going to remain the sole occupants of our two-bedroom apartment, and I really rather desperately needed a personal computer of my own, I managed to talk my wife into that desk.  It was built primarily out of 2x4 lumber and plywood.  I measured a PC case, my forearms, and ...

Well, as the old site established, She Who Must Be Obeyed and I were quite busy this weekend.  We got to see the youngest and his wife this weekend, she needed her car cleaned up as her father is coming to town this week to visit his dad.  He should feel right at home, we're hot and muggy, just like Florida, this time of year.  It is what it is, I guess. I like winter, so I'll never be someone moving to the southern climate.  Not for me, thanks.  Aside from the weather, I'm definitely not a fan of snakes.  Hate the things.  I know they serve a purpose of sorts, but I'll just stay the heck out of their territory altogether.  Seems like a fair deal. And for the bigish news, I'm done making most of the sub-assemblies for my new work table, mostly made from a door.  Way back about fifty years or so my mom and dad had subscribed to one of those book series that was all about crafts made with ... well, things.  One thing that stuck with me for...

Yup, I've gone missing for a few days.  Sorry about that.  New puppy, overtime, big changes around here, and ... well, life in general.  I do recall them telling us as we finished high school that we were ready for the world.  Hardly. I do know that my children did get a better education than I did, in part from me, and in part from their schooling.  I mean, I left high school never having had to balance a check book, never really exposed to difficult concepts like "which bills to pay when money is short" and the like.  I've learned, over the years.  First step is to insure the roof over your head stays there.  Second would be to insure you can get back and forth, if needed, to the thing that continues to permit you to afford that which you can.  Then worry about utilities - heat, electric, water are kind of essential in that they keep the area under that roof livable.  Food is good.  Healthcare is good.  If you haven't been fa...