Evie Day 615 

Good morning, and a happy Wednesday to you all. Today is 20 November 2024.

Today, I get to sit in class for a while. I had a one-day delivery yesterday, and as fate would have it, I have a one-day delivery tomorrow. I have a certification exam pending, and I’m happy that I get to sit at least two days of a four-day class on the subject I’ll get tested on.

Yesterday was a good day. My delivery went pretty well, and folks were excited and engaged. I was able to engage my brain into second gear and come up with a couple of new prompts that were worth sharing. The one that I found particularly interesting was the prompt for assessing participants’ engagement level and sentiment in an online meeting. I was rather pleased with the prompt and the generated results.

Last night, I made my taco run. Gracie came over for dinner, and that made for some nice conversation. I don’t always talk during meals, but I’m making an effort to participate in small talk. It’s not a skill I’m known for… I’m more of the listener for a while then inject a humorous quip at an awkward moment, and then go back to my tacos.

The KU/UNCW game was a nice break for a Tuesday night. Kansas secured the win over the Seahawks, 84-66. It wasn’t the most exciting game, to be frank. One of the freshman big men turned an ankle awkwardly, and I hope he’s ok.

Alright! I guess it’s time for me to focus on the day ahead. I’m sitting in a class, but I need to multitask today.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 614

Good morning, and a happy Taco Tuesday to you all. Today is 19 November 2024.

Yesterday was a day of meetings and prep work, including reviewing the content I’ll be covering in my one-day AI workshop. It’s a little sad for me, as the internal guy who set up and scheduled the class is a friend, and he was recently let go from the mothership. I’ll send some positive thoughts his way while I’m delivering.

I’m not sure if I mentioned it yesterday day or not. I am back in my virtual classroom today, walking folks through some tools for improving productivity thanks to artificial intelligence. It’s a neat little workshop, and this is the fourth (?) one of these I have had this year. It’s an enjoyable course, introducing folks to some new ideas on how they can use AI to improve their work and, sometimes, their personal lives.

I tried something last night for fun. Lisa and I were watching “Chopped” reruns, and I decided to open up my AI tool at the beginning of the round. I took note of the four basket ingredients and then asked the AI to generate a recipe that had to include them, and the AI could add any other ingredient to the recipe.

I don’t think the AI will be competing on “Chopped” anytime soon.

My task list today – breakfast and coffee, AI workshop, taking care of the necessary tacos for dinner, working on my report for my manager, and watching some Kansas basketball – The University of North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks are coming to town. Sometimes these smaller, lesser-known schools give me a little anxiety during the early part of the season. There is always one or two teams that really give the Jayhawks a test on an off night.

Time for me to fill the water tank and grind some beans for the Ninja coffee maker.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 613 

Good morning, and a happy Monday to you all. Today is 18 November 2024.

I woke up at 5:30 and hopped into the shower to start the day. I got myself dressed, threw on a polo and a cardigan, and bent my ear to listen to the sound of the rain coming down. I went to the kitchen, strolling by Lisa, already up, already working, drank my two big 24 oz glasses of water (a good way to start the day), then sat down on the couch by the floofs.

Somebody ought to write a song about November rain.

Sports guy Bob had a good weekend, for the most part. Friday night was a bummer, as the KU Women’s Soccer team fell in the first round of the NCAA tournament to #8 Saint Lewis. The Kansas City Chiefs lost on the road at Buffalo, which I’m not too worried about (the last two times the Chiefs had regular-season losses to the Bills, the Chiefs ended up winning the Superbowl). The Kansas City Current also lost to the Orlando Pride in the second round of the NWSL playoffs. The wins made up for some of the setbacks, as the KU basketball team took a W against Oakland, the KU volleyball team swept Baylor 3-0, and the Kansas Jayhawks went on the road Saturday night to earn the win against the undefeated BYU Cougars. There is still a chance that KU could make a bowl game if they win their next two… one game against Colorado, and another against Baylor.

I have an interesting week at work. I will still be delivering one one-day class this week, but I will also be attending a Security Analyst class to prepare for a certification exam that I’ll tackle before the end of the month. I’ll revisit that sort of schedule in December, as I’ll sit another class on Identity and Access Administration. My schedule doesn’t allow me to sit for four consecutive days, so I’ll need to ensure I fill in the gaps independently.

It’s crazy to think that we’re in the second half of November already, and Thanksgiving is next week, and Christmas is only 5 or 6 weeks out.

Lisa made a couple of great breakfasts this weekend, and I am grateful for the leftovers. One was a savory breakfast loaf filled with bacon, ham, cheese, and some other breakfast favorites. The other was good old cinnamon rolls. Last night she got creative with some spicy sausage, cream cheese, and Rotel to make some rather interesting meat pucks… not exactly a meatball, a little flatter, but very tasty. Even though they were made for dinner, I think they would also go very well with eggs for breakfast.

The coffee pot if calling my name. Time to throw some beans in the Ninja.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 610

Good morning and a happy Friday to you all. Today is 15 November 2024.

I’m relieved today. My family member came home from the hospital yesterday, and things are considerably less anxious around here. The dogs seem to be happier, too.

Yesterday was a weird day. I spent a good portion of the day working on work stuff, as is expected, but I am thankful for the support I have received this last week from my manager and coworkers. It has been very calming. The week had quite a bit of anxiety, and it is good to have folks around you that know how to turn the heat down on the burner before it boils over.

So, the general theme around here has been “relief”.

I still ned to get the garbage out to the corner for pickup.

This weekend will have a sports focus. Kansas men’s basketball plays tomorrow at 5 against Oakland. KU football has the late road game versus BYU on Saturday night. The Chiefs play at Buffalo (look out!) on Sunday afternoon. The KU women’s basketball team hosts Omaha on Sunday afternoon as well. Sunday the Kansas City Current plays the Orlando Pride in the NWSL postseason. One more check of kuathletics.com, and I see that the KU Volleyball team plays Baylor tomorrow at noon, and KU Women’s soccer plays tonight at 7 in the NCAA Tournament versus Saint Louis tonight at 7.

That’s about all I have. It’s time for me to take a look at the day ahead and get dialed in.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 609

Good morning! I’m tired…

Odin decided he needed his water bowl filled up at about 4:00 in the morning, and he was rather vocal in his expression. You’re right, I should’ve checked the bowl before I went to bed.

We’re still waiting to hear about my beloved family member in the hospital. I reached out this morning, and there appears to be some positive news. We’re hoping to have ’em home today or tomorrow at the latest.

I’m having a little writer’s block. I have some writing I need to do, and I need to get my thoughts organized.

Last night was normally a gaming night with the guys, but we had folks going in fourteen different directions with family, travel, stage productions, etc. We agreed early yesterday that we wouldn’t have numbers, so we’ll plan on getting together for our regular Sunday afternoon session.

That’s all I have, to be frank. My mind is all over the place this morning, but I have a reason to be a little bit hopeful on the homefront.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 608

Good morning, and a happy Wednesday to you. Today is 13 November 2024.

My family member is still in the hospital. Waiting on some news this morning.

Just checked my phone… no news.

Did my Tuesday night thing after I left the hospital. I ran by Cascada la Golondrina to pick up some tacos and tamales for Dane and I. After that, I flipped on the DVR to get caught up on the early game, Kansas versus Michigan State. KU was victorious, but there were a couple of moments that spurred my anxiety up a notch.

I’ve got the news on… having two people at the top of a new Department of Government Efficiency seems inefficient. Also, picking a cable news host who maxed out at the rank of Major to head the Department of Defense?

And there’s a bit on the news about this guy that is standard misogynistic crap that we can all expect.

Today I’ve got some catching up to do. Monday was busy with personal stuff, yesterday I I delivered a course then addressed personal stuff, and now it’s Wednesday. I need to reach out to a couple of teammates prior to a Monday meeting to coordinate the portions of a meeting. I just need to keep my focus on what’s ahead.

Time to get the coffee going and set my sites on today’s goals.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 607

Good morning! Today is Tuesday. There will be tacos. Today is 12 November 2024.

Yesterday was a day to focus on the health and needs of another family member. That family member is still in the hospital, and I will be going over to visit later today.

I have a class today, albeit a little abbreviated. This is a private delivery with an engaged partner, so we’re skipping a bunch of the introductory content and diving right into the content. This sort of customized delivery will shave an hour off the normal delivery, and I’ll rinse, lather, and repeat the entire process later this week.

I’m watching the news for the first time in a few days. It’s depressing. I might be better off just flipping to SportsCenter and focusing on the ESPN content.

Not much else going on around here. Time to make a pot of coffee and get breakfast sorted.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 606

Good morning, and a happy Monday to you. Today is Veteran’s Day, Remembrance Day, 11 November 2024.

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month…

This is going to be a pretty short post.

It was a good weekend for Kansas and Kansas City sports fans. Kansas hosted North Carolina on Friday night in basketball, and pulled off a nice win. The KU football team played Saturday afternoon against a ranked Iowa State team and found a way to win. The KU soccer team played in the Big 12 Championship against a ranked TCU team, and brought home the trophy. Then the Kansas City Chiefs did what they do, blocking a field goal as time ran out to beat the Denver Broncos by 2.

After the Chiefs won, I had my tabletop session with the guys, and that went pretty well.

Since then, the focus has turned to a family member that’s under the weather, so I’m going to wrap this up and go to the hospital to see someone.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 603

Good morning, and a happy end to the Western work week to you all. Today is Friday 8 November 2024.

I say here for about twenty minutes wondering what I would write about, or even if I should. I am in a literal “blue funk”. I am still amazed at how short folks’ memories are. When the economy crashes again, will we then finally learn the lesson?

Tonight I’ll watch a little basketball. Tonight might be a good night to either have some chili or barbeque. The North Carolina Tarheels are coming to Allen Fieldhouse tonight for a game, and it will be interesting. There are going to be some other games I should pay attention to as well. The KU Volleyball team is currently ranked in the top ten, and they have a match at Arizona tonight. KU only has two losses this season, the latest coming Wednesday night versus Arizona State at Tempe. The other two games that I’ll keep an eye on for KU are the football game versus Iowa State, and then there’s the KU Soccer team plays TCU tomorrow night at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City. Sunday… the Chiefs play the Broncos at noon.

I’ve got some work stuff to attend to. I had a meeting with my manager yesterday, and it went OK. I need to sharpen my focus in some areas, but he was pleased that I nailed a recent certification. One down, two to go before the end of the year. That is causing me a little stress, but it’s not unmanageable.

I don’t want to turn on the TV, I don’t want to watch the news. I might just isolate a little bit and focus on the micro part of my life rather than the macro. I need to focus on the things around me that bring me joy. Family, friends, pooches, music, books.

Time to take out the garbage.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Evie Day 602

Hi folks. It’s Thursday, 7 November 2024.

I didn’t write a blog post yesterday. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

The election is over and in my view, America lost. We elected a fraud with 34 felony convictions, a history of bankruptcy and serial infidelity, and a history of sexual assault. The primary motivation for his campaign was to save himself, and he will. What happens after that, who knows? Healthcare issues will be turned over to a conspiracy theorist with a penchant for disposing of bear carcasses in Central Park, and the Department of Government Efficiency will be managed by a guy excited about his tax breaks.

I am disappointed. It’s amazing to me how short people’s memories are. There were very good reasons why Trump was impeached twice and charged with mishandling classified documents. We know the guy can’t be trusted, and the gullible fools of America voted to give this criminal the codes once again. Why not just send the football FedEx to Putin care of the Kremlin?

I’m wondering now if maintaining a blog that will be critical of Trump will end up being labeled as illegal sedition. Trump tried to make political satire illegal once, I’m sure the thin-skinned fool will try to do it again.

I’m done.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.