The cat condo now sitting in my backyard. I'm pretty proud of my birthday gift.

I still exist. And don't play real life Donkey Kong.

Adminisk8or

02/04/2025

Well... did I give y'all the slip? Anyone still reading this after me disappearing for a season?

I guess in the online world, it's more or less expected, and I admit, I was feeling pressured to write in this blog week after week... but I'm glad I took a brief hiatus, and as the old adage goes, "IIIIIIIII'm... baaaaack!" Well, let's see... in the three months I ceased to exist on my own website...
- I fixed a bathroom tiled wall;
- Assembled and setup a mini-condo for our cat who frequents our house, including a fun little surprise which you can find by clicking on the "Sponsors" link at the bottom of this page;
- Had problem after problem after problem with my car for which I almost certainly paid to much to fix it, but it's finally working...
- Replaced a trailer jack;
- Pulled out and played a fun 2000's classic tabletop game that few know (but those who know it love it)- Heroscape;
- Almost plummeted through the sheet rock in my attic roof above my carport trying to pull a dead bird out of my attic (I failed, by the way, it's still there...
- Chose and re-arranged some songs to sing, and then led my local church choir in singing some Christmas songs for a couple events;
- Sang a bunch of carols with a barbershop quartet and chorus;
- Installed new lighting in my kitchen (there was a single dome light which I replaced with three can lights and a pendant light);
- Had a New Year's Lord of The Rings Marathon- a tradition I highly recommend to anyone and everyone;
- Met up with an old friend who is now singing in my barbershop chorus;
- Played a game of classic Donkey Kong and avoided barrels going down the freeway while in my car. I won, thankfully;
- Started seeing a really good Chiropractor to correct my longtime issue of scoliosis;
- Drove out to Park City from work three different time in one day... for one single issue. I can think of much worse drives to have to make;

And last and most recently, setup a new hard drive bay for my server on my rack... that one's kind of amusing just because of how I had it originally staged. You see, when you have a 1U thin server, and you want to add four spinning hard disk drives to it but don't have the slightest room to do so, what do you do? Well, in my case, in the interest of penny pinching and what I thought was clever thinking, I just found a couple of thick, cushiony pieces of padding, wired the SATA cables out of the back of the server, and just had them sitting freestyle on top. Now, here comes the part where I emanate my good old grandfather, who was always known for his famous preface (and I quote), "Now, the thing you need to know about [hard drives] is..." that they get hot. Not outrageously hot, but hot enough that if you have four of them running together fairly constantly, you might want to cool them.

When I lived in an apartment, and somehow miraculously managed to cram a full-height server rack into my tiny utility closet (with all the servers in it, mind you- Dell PowerEdge R720 and all!), it actually worked out okay, because there was a natural return air current in the house that passively cooled those drives right through the open doorway. However, I came to learn about a week ago that the passive air of that little closet is nowhere near the same thing I get in my tiny Harry Potter nook under my basement stairs- however open I may leave it. How did I learn this lesson? Well, when one of the hard drives failed, that's when suspicions were raised, and I looked to find that all my drives were running at around 50 degrees Celsius or more- which is bad. So yeah, tech lesson of the week- hard drives get hot... maybe cool them?

I'm still in near disbelief that the last time I wrote in this blog it wasn't quite fully coat weather, yet. Time flies. In fact, it was around my 30th birthday this year that I found myself in a very thoughtful place I think most of us find ourselves- the shower. There I was minding my own business, when my brain suddenly ran in from left field and said, "Hey... you remember Junior High?" And of course, queue the trip down memory lane, right? Well, as I reflected on the me of many a yesteryear, I remembered how shy and unsocial I was for those first years... honestly, it wasn't until easily half way through my eighth grade year that I opened up and made any friends. It's hard, of course to convey to someone else who has had different experiences- however similar- the feelings and emotions of those years. There was a common feeling of loneliness- but maybe not a bad one- or at least altogether. But as I reflected on myself now versus then, I asked a poignant question, and asked how much has really changed?

It was a painful question at first, because, besides many, many experiences, lessons learned, and people met, I still felt like I was the same reclusive kid I was back then. After all, I still have trouble remembering people's names, sometimes faces, and to be blunt albeit opinionated, I feel like I'm just not that good all around, socially. And although that thought had me feeling a little down for a moment, as I thought on it more, it occurred to me that there was a definitive difference between the shallows and the depths. Sure, I do a pretty bad job of remembering people's names, and some details of their lives- and I think some can relate when they run into that one person at the store who they are certain they know, but can't find the name in their head. But even in such a state as I am, it occurs to me that the most important thing is not remembering a name (though it is important). I think my own thoughts from my journal do a better job saying it than the "me" of right now can: "perhaps I ought not to count success by how many names I can get right or how many people I regularly converse with, but if I truly regard them as great people in my mind."

I hope in sharing that thought, it doesn't come across as shallow- I don't simply put on a show and smile it up and play innocent to any face I see- there are, of course, real emotions beneath the surface of any face- however deep a mask is cast. But I try my best to see the good traits in a person, and remember the person by those good things.

But alas, that's enough rambling for one season... haha. I guess by that way, I wish you all a happy Kwanzaa Boxing Christmas Chinese Martin Luther King Jr Thanksgiving Groundhogs Elections Daylight Savings Hanukkah New Year! Try saying that five times fast! Until next time, see ya!