Figured I’d put up a personal blog post, as I think one is due.
To say the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions amongst other things, would certainly be an understatement. While things could have been worse, it’s just been a whirlwind of stuff going on, starting with a trip, continuing with a funeral, and other “life” things.
A few weeks ago I attended the Microsoft 365 Conference in Las Vegas. This was my first time attending this conference, and my second real “trip” post-covid. (Also my first “successful” trip, as I got covid during my last trip.) The conference was OK, but seemed to be somewhat watered down compared to the Microsoft Ignite conference I’m used to, that brought 30k attendees and had me averaging 24k steps a day, but it was OK. There was promise of discussing and announcements of Office 365 “co-pilot”, however real detail and actual demos were few and far between. I’ll leave the AI discussion up to a different post as again, this isn’t intended to be nerdy.
During the high of the conference however, a phone call had me putting on my best “poker face” to get back to my room with grief; one of my out of state cousins had passed away at only 40 years old. Unfortunately I haven’t spoken to him since 2019; due to both me being off Facebook, and I guess just typical long-distance separation. Even when I was traveling down there regularly, they had their own life and adulthood just kept them busy. This points out just how important it is to keep in touch with those you love, regardless of medium and circumstance.
While there’s an obit out there, I’ll offer my own simplified version:
My cousin Joe was an awesome dude who loved tinkering and working on stuff when he wasn’t wailing away on his drum set. He loved restoring old tractors (garden tractors), caring for his fish pond, and listening to as well as playing music. We shared a bunch of good times, adventures, and jam sessions (despite the fact that I suck at playing guitar).
I’ll miss you Joe! RIP.
Thankfully, my saving grace came in the form of finding a couple cool peeps at the conference party to check out Omega Mart in Vegas with. I really needed the distraction, and what a cool…and weird…place that was! Hopefully I can catch up with them at another IT/nerdy event.
Getting back, things didn’t quite calm down as I hoped. I was made an offer I “couldn’t refuse” and had to get a Uhaul to pick up some interesting gear (more on that later). Next, in addition to waiting on the funeral detail, my own dad had some issues that required hospitalization, and suddenly I was helping out more than I ever have, so you could say “shit got real”. Last Monday had me dropping him off for surgery, then coming home, packing, and leaving for DC to attend my cousin’s funeral. The next day was the funeral, some family visits, then back home to get back to work. Gotta love burning a tank of gas in 2 days.
One thing’s for sure, I need a vaca. I need a vaca away from bad news. I need a vaca away from work. I need a 1950s style vaca where one can just go to a hotel room – no TV, no screens, no smartphones, no social media, no email, hell just no technology, and just chill by the pool, and forget about life for a couple days.
At least the good news is my dad is on the mend and moving around better, and the weather’s been really nice. Various other things are coming together, including the radiator fix on the Buick and the battery charged up on the bike, so I can get some turbo or two wheel therapy soon. I guess I should update this more often.
Peace.