ROLEY

Category: Blog

  • Wednesday, Nov 6th 2024

    Breathe.

  • Monday, October 14th, 2024

    • There’s a belief about social media that goes something like this: Person A posts something innocuous like “I like cats.” This brings out all the cat haters, dog lovers, the gatekeepers who want you to name three cat breeds, and so on. I don’t get people sometimes. Anyway, Peace, Love, and Dodger Baseball.
    • Navigating this new world of cardiac care, I have a drug called Brilinta that I have to take twice a day. This drug stops platelets from forming and attacking the stent I had installed. If I don’t have this drug, the stent will clot, there will be another heart attack, and you can roll the dice on whether I come out the other side as still metabolizing. Funny thing: My insurance requires a prior authorization for this drug. So, if you understand all of this in context, my question is, “Prior to what, exactly?” Yout don’t schedule a heart attack. “Right, so we’ll handle the presentation at 9am, I’ve got that one on one at 11:30, and remember I have the massive coronary at 2:15? So get those questions to me by email by Noon. Not sure I’ll be on Teams later.”

  • Tuesday, Oct 1st, 2024

    Nothing like a visit to the Doctor to give you a reality check.

    For the record, I’m 54, and both my father and my grandmother were cursed with heart problems. Both were the recipients of angioplasties, stents, and were members of the zipper chest club from the bypasses they both had. Over the weekend, I began having very sharp chest pains, one on Saturday Night, one on Sunday Night. When I say sharp, I mean stop you in your tracks, right in the sternum, radiates down both arms all the way down to the fingers and through to between your shoulder blades in the back, and sweating like nobody’s business. I had already had a Doctor’s appointment on Monday afternoon, so I told the wife that I would keep the appointment and if they sent me to the ER then I would go and we’d get this taken care of.

    I walked into the little room and got the weight and medication information taken care of, and while the PA was taking my blood pressure I mentioned what happened to me over the weekend. She excused herself and soon returned with a box, out of which she took the various attachments for an EKG. She took the test, removed everything but the tape from my chest at my request (“I’ll do that part myself, thanks”) and left. 10 mins later, the Doctor arrives and asks me if I knew that I have had a heart attack in the past.

    Wait, what?

    ”Yeah, your EKG shows that you’ve already had a heart attack. Any idea when that might have been?”

    Some years ago when I first returned to the gym, I had what I thought was a really bad muscle cramp in my pectoral muscles on the way home. I had done the chest fly pretty hard that day, so I thought I was just having a reaction to that. But then I remembered all the things that happened along with that cramp. Sweats, radiating pain, the works. “Oh,” I said, “Yeah, I think I have an idea.”

    “Ok, well, we’re going to send you to a cardiologist, since I knew your Mom and Dad and their issues. Not playing with you.” That’s the advantage (or disadvantage) to having the same doctor since the age of 15.

    Last night was spent re-evaluating a lot of things, as you might imagine. I am prime breeding ground for high blood pressure, cholesterol, heart problems, and cancer. All of this runs in my family. I thought I had dodged this bullet getting to the age of 54 without having any problems, but here we are. I had a problem and didn’t even realize it, and I can’t stress enough what kind of a mindfuck that was.

    Time to make some changes. Again. I’m just not ready for any of this yet.

    The big joke that you slowly come to realize through your life is that when you’re 18 you think 54 is old. Then you get to 54 and realize that you’re nowhere near old if you don’t want to be.

    The really funny part? Doc doesn’t think I had a heart attack this weekend. He thinks I might have overdone the caffeine (totally possible), and that I had really bad acid reflux from what I ate. No damage was done over the weekend to my heart, otherwise the EKG would have shown that instead of the old damage that he saw in the readings. Still, it sent me a very clear message.

    Believe me, I’m listening.

  • Friday, September 27th, 2024

    Back in the early days of blogs–at least on WordPress, anyway–one could have a widget on the sidebar that provided links to that blogger’s favorite blogs. A look at what that blogger finds interesting in the hopes that you’ll find it interesting too. That’s what passed for Social Networks back in the Web 1.0 days. I’m using Web 1.0 to identify the time before Friendster, Facebook, and the like.

    I’m noticing a shift from the Social Networks and back towards Blogs. It appears to me that there’s a segment of the online population that has realized that social networks have changed dramatically over the years. The algorithm rewards engagement good or bad, bad actors use that against us while we are served ads relevant to what we’re engaging with. I don’t know why this is hard to understand. So, I understand why I’m wanting to head back to blogs. I’m just really at the end of my tether with social media. I just don’t think it serves any purpose any more than to make people mad. It certainly doesn’t bring the eyeballs to my content. Such as it is. I know. I’m trying.

    I’m not going to delete my social media, but I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be using it. My place is here, and I don’t care about the algorithm. You’ll notice that comments are turned off here. I don’t want them. WordPress is free at the dot com site, and you can get web hosting relatively cheaply. You can respond over at your place that you control. I’ll serve up what I want here.

    About that blogroll: I’m going to get rid of the Links Page over on the sidebar and figure out how to install a blogroll here. Stay Tuned on that.

  • Thursday, Sept 26th 2024

    This may be older news now, but I’ve been reading a little about what’s been called the Chase Bank Glitch. If I understand correctly, some TikTok person came up with the idea that you can deposit a check made out to cash to your account, and they credit you that money until the check processes. I don’t think that’s a glitch as much as it is check fraud, and that’s a felony. The only ‘glitch’ you’re going to see is the one where you have to explain your conviction to future employers, if you’re lucky enough to have any.

    On the creative front, I’m working out the blocking for a vlog. I think I want to document the process I’m going through, so I don’t know if it’s going to be fancy. Now that I think about it, it may not need to be. It just needs to be me.

    Watched the Kamala Harris interview on MSNBC last night. While it was refreshing to hear an interview that was conducted at a normal volume and without a lot of lunacy, it annoys me to no end that we’re this close to the election and we’re still on vision and the 30k foot view. I want nuts and bolts. That’s why I don’t like these interviews, and why I don’t like debates. Kamala, your campaign keeps talking about Project 2025 as being the playbook for Trump. Where is your playbook? Where can I read it? I think it is necessary to point out that in order for Kamala to be able to do anything, the Democrats must take the House and hold on to the Senate. Even then the corporate tax is Everest, and the Senate filibuster is already locked and loaded for that one. There’s a needle to thread here, and we’re better off believing that the Dem Agenda won’t pass, and be surprised if it does.

    I’m not taking it as read that Kamala will win, far from it. There’s no way this isn’t a squeaker. It shouldn’t be, but here we are. What I can’t do under any circumstances is vote for Trump, and let’s be clear about why: He’s not a serious person, but the people who have lashed themselves to his mast are. He’s a real life Zaphod Beeblebrox, a lunatic distraction while a radical legislature implements a radical agenda, and the judiciary declares it legal. I’m not down with that.

    As I’m writing this, Hurricane Helene is making its way towards the Big Bend area of Florida. It’s a Category 2 storm right now, but they believe it could be a 3 or 4 by the time it hits. It’s been my nature in the past to turn on the Weather Channel and watch the coverage, but it felt different this time. I stopped to ask myself what it was I was going to watch, and the answer is someone else’s destruction. Somewhere in Florida and points North, some nameless person is going to lose everything. It suddenly felt…dirty. I decided to watch Major Crimes instead. Sure, I’ve watched the entire series at least three times, but it’s comfort TV. Also, Mary McDonnell.

    Did I mention Mary McDonnell?

    Meta’s Connect event was yesterday, and while I’m not interested at the Quest headset (gaming doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest), The Orion prototype is VERY interesting. Think of the Apple VIsion Pro, but as regular glasses. This is the future I want. As of now, this is a prototype, a developer model. But the ability to put that information in a pair of Ray-Bans? Yes, please. I would like it to be customizable so that the user can get the full immersion treatment, or something minimal. A heads up display of information in one lens. Maybe we could get monocles back in fashion. I’m kidding, but as I’ve said before give me what Vegeta was wearing in Dragonball, and I’m set.

  • Thursday, August 15th 2024

    🎵 Who Can Take A Tic Tac…🎵

    Seriously, have you ever seen a box of Tic Tacs that small? Anywhere?

    I smell Sharpie. I need to see someone not related to the campaign or the party with a box of Tic Tac that small. I suspect it’s something he had made, it’s not out of the realm of possibility he knows someone who makes props. I’m just not buying it.

    When The Project Laughs At You

    I’ve had a long term photo project I’ve wanted to do for ages. I’m not even sure it will work, but I still want to do it. I want to start in Maine in the summer and make my way down the East Coast, and take photos of life in the small coastal towns, tourist traps, and everything in between. Part two would be doing the same in Winter. I was reminded of this about a month ago when we drove to DC for a talk by Neil Gaiman that didn’t happen (if you know you know). I rented an SUV for the drive (remind me not to do that again), and I was reminded that the reason I bought an MX-5 in the first place was to travel. However, it occurs to me that I can go only so far in a weekend because of the need to—and this is a technical term—not starve. So the project can laugh at me for now, but I’ll come up with a plan of some sort. Even if it’s to go where I can in a weekend and get back in time to continue not starving.

    ME? DIY?

    Thinking about ripping everything out of the studio/office and renovating it. I have some ideas about a floating desk, and I’ve been down a rabbit hole on YT looking for how to do this. I think I can, but I lack power tools. This may be for the safety of those around me. Like the Joker said, “It’s all part of the plan”. I’ll just add that he also said “Do I look like a guy with a plan?” So…

  • Tuesday, August 13th 2024

    The Only British Railway You Know

    Tooling around looking for something interesting, and the NC PBS Station was showing British Scenic Railways, and the episode was about the Jacobite Line. If you’ve been paying attention for the last 25 years, you know why eleventy billion tourists show up for this train.

    It’s THAT Train.

    Also, when the PBS station listed all the TV stations in the NC PBS Network, I learned there is a Bat Cave, NC. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

    Just This Once, Hit Back

    The stepping aside of Joe Biden and the ascendency of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz has the empty barrels doing what they always do. Honestly, we should be insulted by these carnival barkers. You should be insulted by dirty tricks, the twisting of words, the quotes out of context. The truth is, we have allowed this. We like the ad hominem, the ‘owning’, the bomb throwing. I hope one day we will get back to a debate that’s worthy of us, but it won’t be in this election year. Frankly, it shouldn’t be. I think the Harris/Walz campaign has cracked the code on how to deal with MAGA, and it appears to be getting under Trump’s skin. We can still do that and talk policy, I think. What can’t happen is that the Dems go back to being the polite academic folks they’ve been historically. They’ll get slaughtered if that happens. There’s ~90 days to win or lose this, and with the abbreviated nature of Kamala’s campaign, they cannot afford to miss.

    An Honest Question

    I believe that the housing/real estate market is a bubble that’s going to pop, and it’s going to fuck things up. The question is when. The long term bet is that it will pop when those of us who own houses shuffle off this mortal coil, and the market will find themselves with one or two generations that can’t afford a fucking studio apartment for $1500 a month or more. A STUDIO. There may be some factors that could cause it to pop sooner, I wonder if the fed raises interest rates more than a couple times that it may hasten things? Keep your eye on this. A home in a lot of cases is the most significant portion of a families’ wealth in this day and age, and if home values drop, we’re all going to be taking a bite of the shit sandwich.

  • Monday, July 22nd, 2024

    Anything important?

    I’ve been off celebrating the wife’s birthday and our 30th anniversary, so I didn’t get in until very late on Sunday night. When we’re in the car driving for long distances (OK, you may not consider DC a long distance but I do), I generally listen to podcasts, the very fine New Wave Essentials Playlist on Apple Music, or some kind of synthwave radio station on Apple or YouTube. It wasn’t until very late that I heard the news that Joe Biden decided to step away from re-election.

    I mean, hate on the synthwave all you want, but I haven’t heard wall to wall coverage saying the same thing for 48 hours. I’ve heard Moog synthesizers saying the same thing for 24. One of those is decidedly better.

    A note about the 2023 Buick Envision, which we rented instead of me driving Jonathan Livingston SUV. Great car, though it should be said I have a VERY soft space for GM, Pontiac and Buick especially. That said, Not enough space in the back for travel, especially if there’s more than two. This is not a family vehicle. We did the grocery shopping before we left, and we were JUST able to get the weekly haul back there. The only other thing I did not like about the car was the center armrest compartment. It was split in half longways, like a split top hot-dog bun, and opened that way, so the door was still ‘in the way’. Loved everything else about this SUV. One improvement I’d make is to make the compartment underneath the climate control—where the USB and Power ports are—I’d make the bottom plate a MagSafe charger. That way, I could use CarPlay and keep the phone out of sight and mind. I should note that this was my first experience using CarPlay, and my next car must have it.

    On a related note, as I returned the Envision, there was a late model blue Dodge Challenger outside. Had I known I could have rented one of those, I’d…well, I’d probably be in a Fairfax County Jail but I would have had a shit load of fun before I got arrested.

    Coming Attractions

    One other thing that’s happening this week is my hatching day, and while I rarely care too much about it or even draw attention to it, I’ve been giving some thought about the next year of my life and what I want to accomplish. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I’d like to be a bit more regular with posting here, so I will try. The next year will be based on the word “Return”. Return to writing, return to photography/videography, return to podcasting, return to content creation.

    The other thing that I have returned to is a focus on my own mental well being. I engage in way too much drama even when I’m trying to avoid it. So, we’re going to work on cutting that out. The past few months have seen a change in my…I don’t know. The core of me is different, and way more cutthroat when it comes to dealing with things and people. The good thing is that I can let a lot more just roll by me if it’s not ‘important’. It’s a matter of picking what things I want to spend my energy on. It’s also a realization that some of the things I still spend energy on is not important or not healthy and needs to stop. So, that’s another project.

    Finally, the next year is going to be spent on my physical living spaces. The house, my studio, and this carcass. I haven’t done anything to improve any of the above in four years, and I’m fed up with all of it. That’s a valid use of my time and energy, and will receive a huge focus over the next year. We’ll see how well I deal with that.

  • Wednesday, July 17 2024

    Housekeeping

    A follow-up from yesterday: I’ve added a new page to the blog called LINKS, which will be updated daily(ish) with things I find interesting. You’ll note a hashtag next to the heading, which is an Anchor Tag that I’ll use to link you to the appropriate day when I share it via social. I’ve seen other folks use hashtags for the list items themselves, but I’ve found that those send you to a separate single post as well. I don’t think WP has that functionality, so I’ll just use this for the time being.

    This gets me closer to the vision I had for this blog for a long time, where I’m not using posts, but a list divided daily on a single page. I like this, and I may switch to it overall for daily use. I’ll still keep the blog, but that would be for when I need to bloviate a bit more (ok, more than usual.)

    If The Engagement Lasts More Than Four Hours

    The funny part about writing a post about the sad state of clickbait (for lack of a better term), is that when you title the post “Social Internet has ED“, I’m the schmuck that is so amused by that title I’m going to click on it. The upshot of the post is that the current state of the internet is all about the algorithm and manipulating it to your advantage. When you understand that engagement doesn’t care if you’re positive or negative, just that you engage, then you begin to understand why some people craft the posts they do. The ‘Own the libs’ crowd, for example. Boebert, Greene, Gaetz, and that ilk understand this (or their social media team), and yet we still argue with them online. It’s at the point that I don’t even screenshot them and respond anymore. I’m really beginning to wonder if rediscovering and optimizing the blog rather than contributing to social media is the answer. Social media used to drive traffic to blogs and websites, I wonder if that’s still the case. I know it still drives me nuts, that’s for sure.

  • Tuesday, July 16th 2024

    In all of history, it turns out that there is nothing like a crisis to take control of the narrative. It’s the best way to help people point fingers at someone for something they’re also guilty of. The more dire the circumstances the better. Gabby Giffords would like to have a word with us about this.

    CORRECTION

    Starting, I have a correction to make. My friend the photographer who was recently laid off has a website, but it’s different from the one I *thought* he had. I linked to his FB Page yesterday, even though I really can’t stand Facebook. Here’s his page on Pixels. Please take a look at his work and buy something. He’s a great guy and a great photographer. Thanks.

    NEW IDEAS

    Thinking of new content ideas for the blog/podcast. I’ve long had the idea to do a rewatch of Doctor Who, starting with An Unearthly Child in 1963. There certainly wouldn’t be a lack of content. Other shows I have had the itch to do is Bosch, and The Newsroom. I did give some thought to doing a review of WWE Raw and Smackdown, but that would be an impossible turnaround for me. I started watching Bond Movies starting with Dr. No, but the further I got into it, the more creeped out I got by how Connery’s Bond would not be tolerated today at all. Different time, I suppose.

    LINKS 2 3 4….

    What about a separate page here on the Site dedicated to daily links? See here for an example.

    LAYING OFF THE SHINY

    I may have reached the point where the new shiny stuff doesn’t excite me. I upgraded my phone, and as it turns out my new phone is going to be able to do the new AI stuff that Apple is going to release in the fall, but all I wanted was the damn camera. AI doesn’t grab me. Maybe it should, but I also realize that AI is coming for my job one of these days, so I can’t find the room to get that excited about it.

    Additionally, I find myself sick of consumerism, late-stage capitalism I’m supposed to think is synonymous with freedom. I don’t think the new shiny is synonymous with freedom. It’s synonymous with bankruptcy. At least, that’s what Living Color told me.

    JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR…

    ‘Freedom’ has become a word that means whatever the person or group using it wants it to mean. I invite you to go back to the opening scene of the first episode of The Newsroom for a better explanation of the use of that word. I might be a bit idealist, but I don’t think it was always so. You could say the same with ‘American’. I do not have to be a white cis Republican Evangelical to be an American. I don’t have to be a woke bisexual atheist to be one either. There is no real definition other than through the lottery of life I was blessed to be born here. The rest I get to decide because I am allowed to, and folks that would like to set our watches to 1952 don’t get to choose that for me.