Elf

Last night Pooteewheet and I went to see Elf at the Parkway Theater.  It's been a long time since I saw the movie, partially because my wife and kid have zero interest in Will Ferrell, despite his good politics and inclusiveness.  The problem with Will Ferrell, from my perspective, is that you can't convince anyone that a movie has minimal Will Ferrell energy when he's in it.  But Elf is pretty damn mellow.  It's got a serious Big vibe to it, but less problematic about the whole grown woman hooks up with faux man who's really a kid issue.  My primary complaint is that it feels rushed, so some of the tropes are assumed to land because the audience is familiar with them [dad learns to love his estranged/stranger kid despite minimal actual time together for instance, and brothers learn to like each other with pretty minimal interaction].

But we had a good time and I love that the Parkway can actually serve you a drink while you watch a movie.  

As a bonus, Leslie Vincent was playing pre-Elf Christmas music, including Pennies from Heaven [in the movie].  If you haven't caught her locally, I recommend it.  She's somewhere in the Venn that is Jazz, Lounge, Ukulele, and whatever fits the season.  Her album is in the album frame Kyle gave me as a gift so keen-eyed coworkers can pick it out amidst all the board games and knickknacks in my office.  She's got a load of events coming up for the holidays at Crooner's, Metronome, Volstead, and even a Dolly Parton event that includes Sarah Morris.

I did get my wife to walk next door to Town Hall so I could have tots and a follow on beer.  Wasn't a smart idea going to Elf on an empty stomach.

Advent of Code 2024 - Day 2 and 3

I am soooo freaking rusty.  Maybe if I was using Python, it wouldn't be so obvious.  But flipping between regex and general flow, albeit without a good iterative process because I'm using a low/no code platform instead of Python [which includes restrictions around RegEx so my speedy match required some unintuitive reworking], requires more attention than I expected.  I did find my flow a few times which was nice....management doesn't generally lend itself to finding that sweet spot.

My Day 2 solution...I think I could have done a better job by using a multi-row formula tool to look back and forward and apply it across the diffs, but this worked.  Unfortunately....my approach meant that when I tried to build off of it for the second part, I was somewhat locked into a pattern that required some cut and paste.  Pretty much the definition of tech debt and bad architecture.

Laughing is appropriate here... I had the basic pattern for how to exclude a value at a time from my ragged array in mind, but with the initial process I was using, it didn't lend itself to something dynamic.  Instead, I just targeted each value with a separate process [yeah, it won't scale at all] and then eliminated the duplicates.  Not as bad as it looks because it's mostly cut and paste.  It reminded me of the ragged array Secret Santa Python I use once a year for family that excludes closest family and the last year or two of recipients.  That's basically 24 lines of code...a double loop in Python would have been infinitely easier.  But defeated the purpose.  I did generate some product ideas while I was playing around with the layout, so probably worth the weird approach.

And Day 3, both part 1 and part 2.  Part 1 was using some regex to extract a pattern and then parse it to multiply numbers.  Part 2 was a little bit trickier because the pattern had to grab mixed start and end sections that determined whether to evaluate the numbers or not.  That's the part where the Perl regex tripped me up.  A bit of trial and error got it going eventually and then it was the same pattern/parsing as part 1, with the exception that I had to drop in a start and stop word at both ends of the document as my regex wasn't smart enough to deal with a start with no end.

Advent of Code 2024

The Advent of Code 2024 challenge started because, well, it's Advent.  Two challenges a day, the second one generally built off the answer / pattern involved in the first.  I've played around with it using Python before and that's fairly intuitive.  However, for purposes of eat-your-own-dogfood / stomp-your-own-grapes / spoke-your-own-wheel / et al the goal as an employee of my current company is to use our own software to complete the challenges.

That can be tough as our software is designed for business analyst types when it comes to prep and blend, so it doesn't act exactly like you'd expect a software language to work.  If you're a business analyst type, that's not really an issue.  The tools are probably your language and mental structure of choice.  If your brain has been saturated over 25 years [cough, or more] with VB, C Sharp, Java, Python, Javascript, SQL, and more...well, it's difficult to make that mental shift to needing to do two or three things with separate tools where you might otherwise use a complex line of code.

So it can get complex, but possible.  However, a new challenge this year is that our cloud-based prep and blend tools are available, so rather than using the desktop designer with all the bells and whistles, I'm using the cloud versions.  Don't get me wrong, lots of bells and whistles.  But it's limited to the roughly 50 prep and blend tools across cloud native [works with cloud data in place] and standard modes [traditional engine, although it was second to production].

I'm a glutton for new tastes.  Day 1a and Day 1b are in the can.  I had to do a little bit of data cleansing and I think, like usual, I made it a little more involved than necessary [make it work, then optimize...if you care to, I always say, because it might not have a shelf life long enough to need optimization], but the answers were both right on the first try.

Day 1a - get some absolutely differences between two sorted lists and sum...

Day 1b...same pattern, but find the count of the matches in the second list and multiply that "id" by the count and sum...

Zwift: the First Month

I bit the bullet and signed up for Zwift.  I went all in with the Zwift ride, a faux bicycle specifically designed so I never have to attach a real bike to the included Wahoo trainer, and gamified handlebars that let me control the ride separate from the phone app.  My old cycling trainer, a Cateye Cyclometer wind trainer circa 1989 [roughly] was showing its age after a third of a century.  I was considering offering tours, as it may be one of the few things in this world that really got more use than one would expect for value.  I'd estimate it had at least 50000 miles on it, and I went through several bicycles, usually whichever one wasn't good for the road anymore because of weight, a slight bend in the frame, or a cracked joint.  The pinch-style rear wheel holder meant that it could hold together problems that made a bike no longer road worthy.

Some observations after a month:

1. I use it a lot.  Stats below for my first month.
2. Group rides are wonderful and once you figure out that rubberbanding is a system to keep you all together regardless of differences in effort, it's even more fun.  I did my first group ride Thanksgiving week with about 8 other people from the Twin Cities Bike Club.
3. My FTP is 232. That's a fuzzy measurement, but Zwift lets you test and train to improve your base level of fitness and it gave me a real number to drop into my Garmin app so I can see what exertion levels I typically ride [3/4 on a scale of 7, which is above general endurance training, but below training for a race via VO2 max and full on heart improvement].  How Garmin was computing my effort before was WAY off.
4. I'm definitely getting more exercise than the old trainer.  I came out of a ride where I ended up pedaling the last 5-6 miles of a route with two strangers and we kept pushing each other [or at least they kept pushing me] and I came out of the training room wobbly, shaking, and looking like I might have a heart attack laying on the floor.
5. I love being able to mimic climb.
1. however....I think it may be stressing my back because of my uneven legs, both genetic and via being squashed and having pins in one hip.
2. but it's forcing me to deal with exercises and stretching for lower back and uneven legs which I should have been doing anyway.
3. however...the big target is climbing Mount Everest [total climb, not like a singular event] to get a Tron bike.  This seemed do-able until I realized you have to climb an additional 140k feet after the Mount Everest climb.  So more like six Mount Everests.  That might take a while.  Ten months at my current rate, although I'm on a monthly plan, so I'm unlikely to rack up climb during the spring/summer/fall when I'm outside, or when I'm on the fat tire.
6. Despite all that ride, I'm not losing weight.  Probably not surprising.  Older = less impact. I've been setting off some bad habits like beer and ice cream.  And looking at myself in the mirror, I think the first month has been trimming a lot of fat, but adding a lot of heavier muscle [see that 3-4 FTP comment above - I'm above the usual fat burning zone].
7. I don't like the idea that it's basically a dollar and hour to cycle, but I've spent my money on much stupider and less healthy habits like beer and board games and it's primarily for November - February, maybe October-March depending on the weather.
8. My television viewing has been severely impacted.  I used to stream while I pedaled, but now I watch the Zwift terrain and cyclists.  I could always do side by side, but I'm not sure how much attention I could pay to television while I'm really pushing it anyway.
9. It'll be interesting to see if the climbing/riding maps to reality in the spring, particularly if I target some bigger climbs on the Zwift in anticipation of gravel rides or otherwise.

Heidi Across America

This last week I finished up Heidi Across America: One Woman's Journey on a Bicycle Through the Heartland on loan from the Duluth library.  I love the Minnesota library system and the interlibrary loan setup. I've rarely found a book I can't get via the system, and I've looked for some fairly esoteric reads in my history.

Heidi Across America wasn't quite what I was expecting.  Usually these narratives involve a transam ride with minimal sleep, mental breakdowns, and as fast from coast to coast as possible.  Heidi was more of a semi-casual approach, not driven by a race or by participation in a larger group.  It reminded me a bit of a chef my family met at a lodge outside Yellowstone who had spent a year of his life circumnavigating the US on bicycle.  His son was on speed dial and took care of emergencies.  Heidi had the same setup with her mother, who was in charge of research when necessary, and shipping supplies.  For those of you who didn't ride in the pre-smartphone [not pre-cellphone] / Google / Maps era, the absolute necessity of someone who could troubleshoot in an emergency is probably lost.  I clearly remember cycling trails where having someone who could reroute me if a town was closed up for food and lodging was important.

If I ever meet Heidi, based on her book, she'll give me a frown for saying this, but she did not bike across country.  She did go across America.  I have deep sympathy for why she bailed for a while in Missouri.  Number one being it's Missouri.  Number two is that it was the heat that took her out.  All my years of bicycling and that's the one thing you can't escape.  Big wind in your face?  You just go slower.  Storms?  You wait them out.  A week of humid temps over 100..... you can do that for a day or so, but long term it's the flip side of riding in the winter, there's just no where to hide from the weather.  You can do early morning, and she talks about that quite a bit and when she missed opportunities, but that usually requires lights and is dangerous, unless you're with a big group like RAGBRAI where they pretty much take over the road, even at 5 a.m.  Per her narrative, it sounds as though it got up to almost 116F.  That's probably cancer waiting to happen even if you are loaded up with sunblock that looks like you're apply chalk.

More than a cycling book, it was a memoir.  That bothered a few folks over on Amazon reviews who didn't want to read about how horny Heidi was during her ride.  I'd rather read about the cycling, but it was interesting to see how a woman's cycling trip differs from my own.  Doesn't matter how horny all those endorphins make me, I'm not leaving a mess in a tent.  And a cycle seat tends to put at least a little damper on your dangly bits wanting to do anything after a long ride.  I can't speak for everyone on that, but my twig and berries need time to recover.   I definitely don't have to worry about bleeding [the reproductive sort; I've bled for other reasons on rides, sometimes enough to soak a sock] and what feminine hygiene products might do to chaffing.  Ugh.  Bike seats are bad enough without things between your sit and the seat.

I did find myself, in reference to that horny part noted above, thinking, "She and this neighbor boyfriend aren't going to last.  I wonder if they figure it out before or after they get married."  After.  They lasted three years.  It didn't feel like there was enough there to make that assessment, and maybe some of her post marriage opinions snuck in as much as she tried to stick to the facts and feelings of the time, but it didn't feel like he was on the same page.  Except for being horny.

I enjoyed the cycling parts.  I enjoyed her encounters with other cyclists and with people along her route.  Ironically, people and being alone are the two best parts of long distance cycling, despite seeming at distinct odds.  But I could have done without the ruminations on what it meant to be American and be in America.  Then again, maybe that has to do with my opinion about the insularity of Americans given our recent elections or my recent experience cycling two long days in Ohio and being treated to things like a Confederate flag on structures next to the trail.  I still try to take good people with me on my rides, either family as SAG, or friends on group charity rides [although even then you can end up standing in the middle of a field in Iowa with a clutch of minority cyclists while the person on stage majoritysplains that they should really appreciate how all lives matter]. Alternately, I ride well known trails [but not in Missouri; I'm likely to never ride the Katy] because the businesses and towns directly on the trails tend to be cyclists and cyclist aligned.  Tend.  There are definitely exceptions.  Heidi saw a bit of that per her book where the Transamerican trail [Adventure Cycling Association maintains a route, it's not a trail along the lines of a rail trail] is traveled enough that cyclists setup places/businesses where routes intersect.

Final thought?  I'm likely to never even come close to the amount she cycled even if it wasn't all the way.  I've pedaled long rides through/across Montana and Idaho, Maryland/West Virginia, Iowa [four times], Minneapolis to Milwaukee [was aiming for Chicago], Illinois to Indiana, Wisconsin [as a teen and adult], Ohio, and week rides all over Minnesota.  In the end, I really enjoy the loops in Minnesota, and longer rides in Minnesota where I target something I want to do [pedaling up to Franconia to see Shakespeare in the Park for instance, or breakfast, or breweries].  I guess an advantage per Heidi's book is if I get horny, I'm never too far from home.

Reading May through September 2024

It's been a long time since I added books here.  Worth noting that it sort of stopped in the middle of the layoffs and private equity acquisition.  I haven't checked out.  Lots of music and cycling, but reading definitely suffered at the hands of some stress, work and politics and family and otherwise.  I still try to average about 30 pages a day or 1000/month, but it's pretty distributed [I do keep a reading list at work of all sorts of work-related dodads.  I worry that the training coming up will put even more of a dent in my reading].

Ut oh...I notice some strange overlap I missed.  Dangerous Visions is spread all the way into October and accounts for some of my reading there.  I have an Alteryx Recipe and Advanced Python book in motion.  I skipped the stories from LeVar Burton on his podcast [I listen to them before and after running].  I'm close to done with a [big] ebook.  And I missed the T. Kingfisher book A Sorceress Comes to Call completely.  And there's a management book I'm within pages of finishing....over a long period of time. We'll move those to the October list when I actually put a pin in them.  Like I said...it's been a little disjointed.

• 9/30/2024: Rachel Maddow, Ultra, Season 2, episode 8.
• 9/29/2024: Rachel Maddow, Ultra, Season 2, episode 7.
• 9/28/2024: Rachel Maddow, Ultra, Season 2, episode 6.
• 9/27/2024: Rachel Maddow, Ultra, Season 2, episode 5. 
• 9/26/2024: Rachel Maddow, Ultra, Season 2, episode 4.
• 9/25/2024: Rachel Maddow, Ultra, Season 2, episode 3.
• 9/24/2024: Rachel Maddow, Ultra, Season 2, episode 2.
• 9/23/2024: Rachel Maddow, Ultra, Season 2, episode 1.
• 9/22/2024: Nautilus Magazine, Issue 57.  The Reality Issue: It's Complicated.  112 pages.
• 9/21/2024: Nautilus Magazine, Issue 57.  The Reality Issue: It's Complicated.  112 pages.
• 9/20/2024: Nautilus Magazine, Issue 57.  The Reality Issue: It's Complicated.  112 pages.
• 9/19/2024: Nautilus Magazine, Issue 57.  The Reality Issue: It's Complicated.  112 pages.
• 9/18/2024: Streamlit for Data Science, 2nd Edition by Tyler Richards, 2023.  300 pages.
• 9/17/2024: Streamlit for Data Science, 2nd Edition by Tyler Richards, 2023.  300 pages.
• 9/16/2024: Streamlit for Data Science, 2nd Edition by Tyler Richards, 2023.  300 pages.
• 9/15/2024: Streamlit for Data Science, 2nd Edition by Tyler Richards, 2023.  300 pages.
• 9/14/2024: Streamlit for Data Science, 2nd Edition by Tyler Richards, 2023.  300 pages.
• 9/13/2024: Streamlit for Data Science, 2nd Edition by Tyler Richards, 2023.  300 pages.
• 9/12/2024: Streamlit for Data Science, 2nd Edition by Tyler Richards, 2023.  300 pages.
• 9/11/2024: Streamlit for Data Science, 2nd Edition by Tyler Richards, 2023.  300 pages.
• 9/10/2024: Streamlit for Data Science, 2nd Edition by Tyler Richards, 2023.  300 pages.
• 9/9/2024: Streamlit for Data Science, 2nd Edition by Tyler Richards, 2023.  300 pages.
• 9/8/2024: Nautilus Magazine, Issue 56, What is Consciousness.  112 pages.
• 9/7/2024: Nautilus Magazine, Issue 56, What is Consciousness.  112 pages.
• 9/6/2024: Nautilus Magazine, Issue 56, What is Consciousness.  112 pages.
• 9/5/2024: Nautilus Magazine, Issue 56, What is Consciousness.  112 pages.
• 9/4/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 9/3/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 9/2/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 9/1/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/31/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/30/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/29/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/28/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/27/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/26/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/25/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/24/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/23/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/22/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/21/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/20/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/19/2024: Dangerous Visions, Edited by Harlan Ellison.  2024 reprint of 1967 book is 666 pages.
• 8/18/2024: Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection.  2024.  344 pages.
• 8/17/2024: Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection.  2024.  344 pages.
• 8/16/2024: Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection.  2024.  344 pages.
• 8/15/2024: Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection.  2024.  344 pages.
• 8/14/2024: Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection.  2024.  344 pages.
• 8/13/2024: Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection.  2024.  344 pages.
• 8/12/2024: Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection.  2024.  344 pages.
• 8/11/2024: Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection.  2024.  344 pages.
• 8/10/2024: Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection.  2024.  344 pages.
• 8/9/2024: Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection.  2024.  344 pages.
• 8/8/2024: Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection.  2024.  344 pages.
• 8/7/2024: The Atlantic, January/February 2024: If Trump Wins. 96 pages.
• 8/6/2024: The Atlantic, January/February 2024: If Trump Wins. 96 pages.
• 8/5/2024: The Atlantic, January/February 2024: If Trump Wins. 96 pages.
• 8/4/2024:  Nautilus Magazine, Issue 55, The Rebel Issue: Down with Authority.  112 pages.
• 8/3/2024:  Nautilus Magazine, Issue 55, The Rebel Issue: Down with Authority.  112 pages.
• 8/2/2024:  Nautilus Magazine, Issue 55, The Rebel Issue: Down with Authority.  112 pages.
• 8/1/2024:  Nautilus Magazine, Issue 55, The Rebel Issue: Down with Authority.  112 pages.
• 7/31/2024: Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action, various, 2022.  344 pages.
• 7/30/2024: Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action, various, 2022.  344 pages.
• 7/29/2024: Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action, various, 2022.  344 pages.
• 7/28/2024: Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action, various, 2022.  344 pages.
• 7/27/2024: Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action, various, 2022.  344 pages.
• 7/26/2024: Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action, various, 2022.  344 pages.
• 7/25/2024: Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action, various, 2022.  344 pages.
• 7/24/2024: Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action, various, 2022.  344 pages.
• 7/23/2024: Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action, various, 2022.  344 pages.
• 7/22/2024: Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action, various, 2022.  344 pages.
• 7/21/2024: Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action, various, 2022.  344 pages.
• 7/20/2024: Fall Through by Nate Powell, 2024.  192 pages.
• 7/19/2024: Fall Through by Nate Powell, 2024.  192 pages.
• 7/18/2024: Fall Through by Nate Powell, 2024.  192 pages.
• 7/17/2024: Fall Through by Nate Powell, 2024.  192 pages.
• 7/16/2024: Fall Through by Nate Powell, 2024.  192 pages.
• 7/15/2024: Fall Through by Nate Powell, 2024.  192 pages.
• 7/14/2024: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, 2023.  326 pages.
• 7/13/2024: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, 2023.  326 pages.
• 7/12/2024: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, 2023.  326 pages.
• 7/11/2024: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, 2023.  326 pages.
• 7/10/2024: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, 2023.  326 pages.
• 7/9/2024: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, 2023.  326 pages.
• 7/8/2024: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, 2023.  326 pages.
• 7/7/2024: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, 2023.  326 pages.
• 7/6/2024: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, 2023.  326 pages.
• 7/5/2024: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, 2023.  326 pages.
• 7/4/2024: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, 2023.  326 pages.
• 7/3/2024: A Firehose of Falsehood: the Story of Disinformation by Teri Kanefield with Pat Dorian, 2024.  240 pages.
• 7/2/2024: A Firehose of Falsehood: the Story of Disinformation by Teri Kanefield with Pat Dorian, 2024.  240 pages.
• 7/1/2024: A Firehose of Falsehood: the Story of Disinformation by Teri Kanefield with Pat Dorian, 2024.  240 pages.
• 6/30/2024: A Firehose of Falsehood: the Story of Disinformation by Teri Kanefield with Pat Dorian, 2024.  240 pages.
• 6/29/2024: A Firehose of Falsehood: the Story of Disinformation by Teri Kanefield with Pat Dorian, 2024.  240 pages.
• 6/28/2024: A Firehose of Falsehood: the Story of Disinformation by Teri Kanefield with Pat Dorian, 2024.  240 pages.
• 6/27/2024: A Firehose of Falsehood: the Story of Disinformation by Teri Kanefield with Pat Dorian, 2024.  240 pages.
• 6/26/2024: A Firehose of Falsehood: the Story of Disinformation by Teri Kanefield with Pat Dorian, 2024.  240 pages.
• 6/25/2024: The Daughter's War [Blacktongue Thief 0] by Christopher Beuhlman, 2024.  399 pages.
• 6/24/2024: The Daughter's War [Blacktongue Thief 0] by Christopher Beuhlman, 2024.  399 pages.
• 6/23/2024: The Daughter's War [Blacktongue Thief 0] by Christopher Beuhlman, 2024.  399 pages.
• 6/22/2024: The Daughter's War [Blacktongue Thief 0] by Christopher Beuhlman, 2024.  399 pages.
• 6/21/2024: The Daughter's War [Blacktongue Thief 0] by Christopher Beuhlman, 2024.  399 pages.
• 6/20/2024: The Daughter's War [Blacktongue Thief 0] by Christopher Beuhlman, 2024.  399 pages.
• 6/19/2024: The Daughter's War [Blacktongue Thief 0] by Christopher Beuhlman, 2024.  399 pages.
• 6/18/2024: The Daughter's War [Blacktongue Thief 0] by Christopher Beuhlman, 2024.  399 pages.
• 6/17/2024: The Daughter's War [Blacktongue Thief 0] by Christopher Beuhlman, 2024.  399 pages.
• 6/16/2024: The Daughter's War [Blacktongue Thief 0] by Christopher Beuhlman, 2024.  399 pages.
• 6/15/2024: The Daughter's War [Blacktongue Thief 0] by Christopher Beuhlman, 2024.  399 pages.
• 6/14/2024: The Daughter's War [Blacktongue Thief 0] by Christopher Beuhlman, 2024.  399 pages.
• 6/13/2024: The Daughter's War [Blacktongue Thief 0] by Christopher Beuhlman, 2024.  399 pages.
• 6/12/2024: Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea [volume 1] by Mike Mignola, 2024.  120 pages.
• 6/11/2024: Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea [volume 1] by Mike Mignola, 2024.  120 pages.
• 6/10/2024: Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea [volume 1] by Mike Mignola, 2024.  120 pages.
• 6/9/2024: Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea [volume 1] by Mike Mignola, 2024.  120 pages.
• 6/8/2024: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chaktraborty, 2023.  489 pages.
• 6/7/2024: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chaktraborty, 2023.  489 pages.
• 6/6/2024: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chaktraborty, 2023.  489 pages.
• 6/5/2024: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chaktraborty, 2023.  489 pages.
• 6/4/2024: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chaktraborty, 2023.  489 pages.
• 6/3/2024: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chaktraborty, 2023.  489 pages.
• 6/2/2024: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chaktraborty, 2023.  489 pages.
• 6/1/2024: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chaktraborty, 2023.  489 pages.
• 5/31/2024: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chaktraborty, 2023.  489 pages.
• 5/30/2024: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chaktraborty, 2023.  489 pages.
• 5/29/2024: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chaktraborty, 2023.  489 pages.
• 5/28/2024: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chaktraborty, 2023.  489 pages.
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The Least You Could Do

Sometimes those templated emails can't really distinguish whether the context is appropriate based on the behavior.  For example, my Udemy learning in June.  I did a lot of other learning [books, certification, code- and management-related online reading] that was NOT Udemy, but they don't know that.  This must be what they mean by "the least you could do" where least is non-inclusive of none/zero.

June 25, 2024

 I don't think I've ever titled a post with the date.  Seemed about time.  Honestly, a good post would probably include my comments on David Tennant's political "opponent" having the support of JK Rowling [a red flag if there ever was one], or this commentary from Chat GPT trying to spoof the last president's quote about his "wounds" that I rewrote for...

Me as a manager: "As a manager, my features have their fair share of bugs. If you were to examine closely, you'd see the scars everywhere. Underneath, though, lies a robust framework waiting to shine. I've encountered numerous setbacks—I've got more bugs than perhaps any manager out there."

>My brother who is currently unemployed: "I've got gaps all over my resume. If you scrutinize it closely, you'd notice plenty of holes. Despite that, I bring a wealth of potential and capability. I've faced setbacks and challenges—I've got more gaps than most job seekers out there."

My friend who started his service business: "I've got mistakes all over the merchandise I make. If you looked closely, you'd see imperfections everywhere. Despite that, I strive to deliver something beautiful. I've made plenty of errors—I've messed up more promotions than anyone else, I reckon."

Klund the pickleball obsessive: "I've got dinks and volleys all over me. If I took this shirt off, you'd see a decent player underneath, but also plenty of scars from my losses. I've been on the losing end more times than I care to count, I can tell you. Probably more than any other player out there."

But...hmm...formatting due to cut and paste...ignore it...my personal story today was I went to breakfast at Jensen's in Burnsville and at the end of breakfast realized I didn't have my keys.  I walked back to my car down at the park, retracing my steps, fully expecting my car to be gone.  But...still there.  Locked [so keys not inside] and no keys along my path.  I stood there looking resigned, and two park maintenance guys pulled up in a maintenance vehicle, "Hey, are you looking for car keys?"  Why, yes I am. "Our boss has them."  Twenty minutes later, he hands me the keys.  As far as I'm concerned, I shouldn't have done anything the rest of the day, because that was the sum total of any luck/fortune I had banked.  Shout out to the Burnsville park service.  You made my day.

[Post: I fixed the formatting as it was messing up the whole page and highlighting everything white, although that was the least of it].

Water and Construction

The Friday before last I pedaled a 60-mile ride up around the cities - both of the Twins - and back home.  Part of the reason it was such a long ride wasn't because I was particularly motivated to do sixty miles, but because the Cedar Ave old bridge route through the river valley is both flooded AND under construction, the 55 bridge is under construction, the Greenway is under construction... so I ended up routing down to the yacht club, up and across 35E, along Ford Parkway, into Minneapolis, around the lakes, pie by Harriet.  And then unwind via the Bde Maka Ska and Lake of the Isles back to the river and St. Paul.

I did push it a bit, partially because I wanted to verify whether I had the legs and bottom for a hundred mile ride at the moment for our trip to southern Minnesota.  The legs might have made it. The bottom definitely not.  I've got a new saddle and shorts sitting at home to try out today and see if it makes a difference so no one catches me naked and calls me old scabby butt.  OSB....kind of like ODB...maybe it would be cool and give me some bicycling cachet.

Since then, the rain, work, and running [I'm attempting a 5k reboot] have kept me off the bike outdoors, and I suspect now I'd even have a difficult time with some of the alternative routes I was using, like over to Shakopee or down by the yacht club.

Maybe it would make more sense to take the 494 bridge, but damn is that ever excruciatingly boring.  There's nothing I hate quite so much as the MoA and corporate Bloomington as ride scenery.

But today....today looks good and I've had this thought a few times....why don't I just park my car at the lakes and bike from there?  I should have thought of it before.  But driving my bicycle somewhere other than an overnight -- and I'm pretty sure that's an issue at the usual haunts in Minnesota as well, like the Cannon Falls/Red Wing trail, with all the flooding -- via a car before pedaling is antithetical to how my bicycling brain works.  Why would I waste time driving when I could be pedaling from moment zero?

Today might be the day though.  Get past the water and ... most of ... the construction before rolling around. I have a few places picked out where I think I could park without a meter, and the convertible will allow me to mount the rack, so I can double down on fresh air.  Might make the drive before riding a bit more palatable. 

Good luck to everyone else out there trying to find a place to ride. You have my sympathy.

Layoffs

I was trying to ponder what events I'd weathered since I started at my current employer.  I was talking to the head of IT today and he had no idea my team had not only moved between managers [my boss, my reports' skip boss] three times, but that we'd actually entirely switched the space we worked in from "engines" to "cloud".  So I thought I'd try to capture it here before I forget it...in the last year and  a half...

• New Hire
• Added two new devs to team
• After three months, long covid from employee orientation for about a year.
• Had to personally lay off a dev on my new team for layoffs and lost a tester we liked.
• Switched from the highly technical C++ and macros suite boss I had picked to work for to a different director > engines to cloud [big shift in focus].
• >> UK vacation, my wife needs double knee replacement
• Layoffs - lost our favorite onshore tester and her boss, both of who had been at new hire with me.
• Picked up half of a second team to "fold" into my existing team [their manager and other team members in the layoffs].
• Half of team repurposed to work on sunsetting / transitioning two other projects for two months although originally to supplement my team.
• 3/4  [3/5 if you include a second lead who doesn't report to me] of those new team members stay with their other projects after two months.  One stays with my current team and the project to sunset is now in perma-fallow with us while an alternative is devised [not my team, but we own maintenance/alerts].
• Move from Director to Sr. Manager as my manager to align org tree
• Another tester leaves, although voluntarily.
• Public to private equity and all that entails.
• >> wife's heart issues
• Extensive layoffs after private equity details worked out including losing one of our main product owners for the second time
• Mixed in there several rounds of will the lead stay with us or not as we move between bosses [we had several intermittent months of not knowing where he couldn't work on our features].

I think that's the gist of it so far. We've done an excellent job of delivering what we've been asked for, even with the disruptions.  We're all hoping it's quiet for a while.

So much music...

I didn't realize quite how much live, local music my wife and I were going to this spring. I think I'm actually missing a few in this list.  I'm definitely missing Sammie because it was at the White Squirrel and we were pretty far from the stage [ironic, given it's about 100' long....maybe] and left after someone decided our booth was a good place to relax and tip over his beer on me [right before shattering it on the floor].  I was mad, but you can't go to live music without getting splashed now and then.  As long as you don't get pulled over on the way home, it's not the end of the world. I have narrowly avoided being peed on at live music as well, but nothing recent.  Those were the wilder days when I smoked, drank vodka against a car tire, had Kyle pour me in a car, shared a portapotty with a make-or-break female stranger-became-acquaintance, and dealt with a verbally abusive boyfriend.  This is why getting older and wealthier is better.  My kid has benefitted from my willingness to purchase much better seats/viewing.

Coming up, I suspect it'll be even more events given we made friends of some folks who do lawn concerts that Sarah introduced us to at a gig.  I know my calendar, compared to previous years, looks like I'm doing little other than finding some music and a beer.

Jill Sobule at Hook and Ladder.  The "I Kissed a Girl" singer, although that was her pop moment in the sunlight.  We've seen her there once before.  She is fantastically liberal and the songs don't mince word at all.  At all.  She story tells as much as she sings and it's pretty wonderful for a small venue like Hook and Ladder.  I was just up near there today to grab a beer at Arbeiter Brewing and write, but the Juneteenth Celebration by Arbeiter, Hook and Ladder, Moon Palace, and others is off the damn hook.  I love me a big event, but only if I'm cycling there, and the recent flooding and construction has gotten in the way.  I did realize I can drive to the other side of the river, park, and pedal from my parking spot.  But that was a late realization because "drive" in the context of cycling is usually the furthest thing from my mind.  Last Friday I did a sixty-miler, almost entirely because I needed to go around the closed down areas.  Positive: I learned I need a better saddle and shorts, which I ordered.  Negative: saddle sores were proof I wasn't pedaling south and I need a better plan if I'm trying to bike locally.

Kelley Smith with Sarah Morris at the 318 in Excelsior.  We've been there a few times.  Talk about a close-up venue.  If I had a foot fetish, I could massage Sarah's feet.  THAT'S A JOKE. We took my sister in law there with us once to see Sarah.  I think it's been three times so far?  Nice perk is if you don't want a beer, it's also a coffee shop, so you have non-alcoholic alternatives.

Here's Sarah.  Fun fact about this gig, she told a story about how much she had a crush on Paul Douglas when she was younger [my sister had a crush on a local newscaster who is famous for a photo of himself really bloody after taking a deer to the front window; she sent him a love poem when she was a tween].  Apparently someone in the audience new Paul and gave him a ring and he was there at the end to blow her mind.  I've met him before in a tech situation - he's known for creating some of the microweather services and has presented for those of us in IT.

No, not music.  But I pedal to a number of gigs when I can.   My personal joke is that you know I really like you if I'm willing to pedal to where you're playing.  I've pedaled to the state fair for Sarah, and Edina commons, and ... see below ... Shakopee/Chaska.  In this instance, I pedaled up to Richfield Wild Mind to see Leslie Vincent.

No sultry crooning this time.  Well, not exactly.  She'd have a hard time not laying down sultry vibes.  But she went full ukulele in this case.  Fun aside, not long after this we were at a dinner with friends and I stepped outside [Merlin's on Lake] to bump into a guy wearing a Horror Con hoodie.  I noted it was a nice hoodie and by chance did he produce content versus just going?  He said yes, he had two movies/shorts there the previous event.  I replied, "I played games with a bunch of people who know Leslie Vincent from the Horror Con, and I was just at  her gig."  His response, "I know Leslie!", and then we chatted for a few moments. Board games, cycling, horror movies [I've backed a number on Kickstarter], music....all my hobbies are starting to swirl like a drain.

We met a guy who'd just moved to Minnesota from Cali with his girlfriend and then lost his girlfriend who was getting into the local music scene while at Leslie's event.  I think we've found ourselves meeting more and more people lately as we can recognize regulars versus newcomers.

Northerly Gales [Celtic music, including one of my favorites, Galway Girl, although I much prefer the Fiddler's Green version to Ed Sheeran] yard concert.  Absolutely beautiful day.  Ironic, given several of these have been moved because of the amount of rain we're seeing in the Twin Cities lately.

Surge and the Swell, with Surge losing his voice, at the Summit Brewery.  We know Aaron [right] from my days as a dev/manager at Thomson Reuters [TR].  He's doing Spanish for elementary students now as well, so we were treated to an excellent rendition of the Ice Age song.  Bunch of TR expats in the audience I hadn't seen in a very long time.

Smokin' Joe at 11 Wells Distillery in St. Paul, on the other side of the homeless camp [seriously - I pedaled up there and had to avoid a bit of laundry day on the bike trail].  I didn't pedal up there to see him [sorry Joe], but rather...

...Emmy Woods.  She's a Minot girl and I'm sure if we dug deep enough, we have relatives in common.  My family drove up to join me as there was a little shopping pop up going on, and the drinks and food truck were excellent.

I might be going backwards as this is one of the older events.  Clare Doyle and Goat Roper at the Ice House.  Jen's knees were still pretty messed up, so they gave us the owners booth as he was out for the evening.  Great line of sight.  She's got a very Dolly Parton vibe.

Stardust, who were having their launch party at Ice House, same night.  Yes, the lead singer is tall.  It's not perspective. 

Sarah at the White Squirrel.  I've been over there quite a bit because I've started having coffee while working at Five Watt "next door" at Keg and Case.  I like being able to take a break from Jira to go play a few balls of pinball.

Sarah and Matt watching....themselves?  No...there are frequently guests.  There was a Hawaiian theme that night, although I wasn't appropriately dressed.

My drink from the White Squirrel.  They have an interesting [and delicious] selection as long as it's not being poured on you by a drunk.

And finally, most recently, Hackamore Brewing in Chanhassen, Matthew French and Sarah Morris.  I pedaled the 30 miles or so to this one and Jen met up with me.  Wow, a truly beautiful day except for that climb out of Shakopee up the 6+ percent grade hill that I thought my give me a heart attack.  Met Sarah's dad and had genuinely nice conversations with a number of concert goers.  And someone gave me a free beer, so it was extra exciting [used my bonus beer money to buy Matthew's CDs].  They're very enjoyable together.

Wykoff and the Mystery Cave

We took a short trip to Wykoff, Minnesota this weekend.  I was going to pedal down, but my practice trip on the bicycle I haven't taken on a longer group ride gave me evidence that 60 miles was about the limit my bottom could take - e.g. some saddle sores.  So I ordered a new saddle/seat and new shorts that aren't >10 years old and we'll see if that makes a long distance difference.

It was just me and the partner.  We stopped at Little Oscar's on the way down for a caboose burger.  I once left a 200 dollar tip there by accident when Aeryn and I were headed down to tube and ride the Cannon Falls trail.  They didn't get quite that tip this time.  We stopped at the Dairy Inn in Cannon Falls on the way home.  Our food selection was not optimal at my age either for calories or salt.

A last minute find was Four Daughters distillery and winery.  This is the rhubarb old fashioned.  Delish.  I also bought a bottle of their cherry smoked bourbon.  Great place, although I didn't have their food.  Their desserts looked great, but I'm sort of over brewery-ish pizza unless it's a Heggie's.

The AirBnB in Wykoff.  Yes, a jail. I stayed in a repurposed bank with Ming in Wisconsin.  That was nicer.  But this was fun.

They leaned into their theme.

Bars and all.  If you had kids along it might be more fun as there is a set of bunks inside the bars for the kids.

No oven, but I planned ahead and we did tortelli in the microwave and it was perfect.  Here are the bunks.  Note the jail theme that was also on the drapes and main bed.

The next day we did breakfast locally, then went to the Forestville State Park Mystery Cave. I didn't realize it wasn't a public state park until after my high school years.  That's probably a sign I'm old.

Mindy, our guide, did a great walk through. I thought they'd be dry as a bone, but they are very active.  She did say the stupid white fungus had decimated the local bats by like 95% or more.  We didn't see a single bat, and I remember when I was young, they were everywhere in the Soudan mines.

The pool at the end of the tour.  I still don't quite understand how this finds a static equilibrium between drops from the ceiling, downward water pressure, and evaporation.  You'd think it would either overflow or go dry.  

Mystery wife.

My camera added a night vision mode.  I don't particularly like the quality of photos, but it did find my wife in the dark.

Poot looking up at the caves.  They tend to be pretty flat because of the layering/sediment.  That's Edwin next to her.  He's from Shreveport, an organist, and spends all of his summers anywhere BUT Shreveport because it's so hot.  Great guy.  We chatted with him from before the tour to afterwards.

We also went to Forestville, but the bridge is under repair, and most things were closed on a Monday.  So I ate Doritos and we walked about a mile through the old town.  I did manage to snap this wonderful photo of myself.