Marc Mims

@samir @Mastodon @andypiper I'll second that. Andy, you're amazing. Best wishes.

@petes_bread_eqn_xls The heart burn could be expensive to treat.

@randomgeek@masto.hackers.town This me. E.g., a group of family members yucking it up over a radio show where they call somebody suspected of cheating to tell them they've won an expensive flower arrangement via their grocery store rewards membership. Who would they like delivered to? Accuser waiting silently on the line to jump in when they're outed. Or when the accuser realizes they've made a horrible mistake. And I'm over in the corner, anxiety meter smashing the stop at the top end of the red-zone because it's awful for everybody. I'd be more comfortable getting a root canal with no anesthetic.

@randomgeek@masto.hackers.town I'm comfortable with embarrassmet humor when I'm sharing an embarrassing anecdote about myself. Otherwise, it just makes me cringe and look for an exit.

@minego Just Santa Clara?

Which is worse: locking down my tech (no further updates) and living with existing security holes yet to be discovered; or updating apps to get security patches and sufferring the constant enshitification of those apps?

Anecdotal, but seems to me every app/os update in the past year has made my experience worse.

@genehack @vees Metric? We'll go price per lb. first.

A possible sign I've become an old man: in the past year I added to my #EDC a properly folded handkerchief. How did I live all these years without one?

We changed financial managers for our retirement funds and now find we own stock in some companies we kinda hate. The upside is we get to vote against everything the board recommends. A tiny "fuck you" to the man.

Years ago, I started buying ebooks instead of paper. Many reasons and it has worked well for me. Recently though I've purchased a couple of physical books. I've enjoyed marking them up—underling, margin notes, thoughts about what I've just read in the blank space at the end of a chapter. I intend to pass them along to another reader—friend, family member, etc. and encourage them to add their own notes and keep passing them along. Curious to see how this goes.

I'm #reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. A friend read it. He didn't like it. After a pause, he said, "But I keep thinking about it." Which seems like the definition of a good book to me. So of course I had to read it.

I'm about 1/3 through it (so no spoilers, please) and loving it. It will probably go on my favorites list.

Dinner with friends tonight. Always good to see them outside business hours. (One's an RN, another is a judge. 🤣)
cc: @cathyblueyes@mastodon.social

Went to granddaughter #3's (11yo) first softball game today. Best moment of the game was when one of her teammates hit the longest fly ball of the game into center field. A girl on the opposing team caught it. She jumped up and dowm spinning around holding high. I haven't seen so much pure joy in a long time. #3's team won, 15-2.

Shout out to my optometrist. The new one and the old one. Made an appointment for an eye exam. Earliest available was 6 months out! Walked over to the competitor and got an appointment for the next business day.

Shoutout to the tech at the appliance parts store (a customer there) who jumped in to help me troubleshoot a problem. He was right and I got exactly the right part. Super friendly, knowledgeable guy.

Family fued. She's been mad at me for two days. Finally found out why. I fixed her sister's washing machine.

She wanted me to buy a new one. 🤔

Shoutout to the guy at the coffee shop who did a video session with his therapist using his noise canceling Airpods.

You might be oversharing.

Just had an amazing experience.

Took the van to the dealership for warrany work. A beautiful young lady in the dealership uniform, black polo shirt with logo, kaki pants, directs me like a flightline crew member to my place in the intake lines. She's so familiar!

I step out of the van, our eyes locked on each other, "Is your name…"

"Oh my god! Uncle Marc!"

A niece I have't seen for years. Hugs and tears. Her mom hadn't told me she worked here. And hadn't told her we were coming to visit.

I was a bit miffed at my sister-in-law for not telling me for a moment. But if she had it would have robbed both me and my niece of a wonderful, surprise reunion. We haven't seen each other for a decade.

I'm filled with joy.

The good: We made it safely to Mesa, AZ to visit Jenny's family.

The bad: It was 105°F when we arrived.

The ugly: The A/C in the van failed. 😩

Parked in the desert. Dinner outside. Watched the sunset then the stars come out, for two hours calling out satellites and shooting stars. Magical.

Predicament: Perched on the palisade precipice, poised to plumet past the petroglyphs pancaking on the playa, permanently pulverised. Perhaps a properly packed parachute in preparation.

The shit that occupies my mind on a long drive.

@saraislet@infosec.exchange @minego@pdx.social Just replace "GenAI" with "incompetent assistant" to make it clear.