Sam (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
l33tminion) wrote2018-02-10 11:21 am
l33tminion) wrote2018-02-10 11:21 am
Backed-Up Backlog
I keep failing to find the energy to write. Life has been pretty exhausting.
The headphone port on my phone broke, which really disrupted my routine, especially since I had to attempt fixes like "factory reset the phone" before they'd offer a repair under warranty. In the interim, I've switched back to my old phone, which is working fine after a round of updates.
Our condo complex had some drain trouble which required some high-powered plumbing equipment to fix. That was on Superbowl Sunday, so about the least convenient timing. Fortunately, it got resolved same-day, or that would have been even more of a headache.
What else... Julie took two day-trips for business, leaving in the early morning. That went fine. We went to some friends' birthday parties. We did get out to see a movie (the new Star Wars) for the first time in a long time, that was fun.
Work is busy. Overall it's going okay. A few of my older colleagues retired in the past few weeks, early employees at ITA Software. Always a bittersweet farewell; things are changing.
I keep meaning to write about politics, too, but if I can't keep up with my own life, how could I possibly manage to stay on top of the news? It's Gish Gallop: The Presidency. President Trump is the sort of guy where allegations that he cheated on his pregnant wife, then paid his mistress hush money during the campaign (with campaign funds?) is barely a scandal, not because it's widely disbelieved but because nobody's particularly surprised. Meanwhile, the GOP seems to be on their usual plan of "blow up the budget and economy, then somehow blame it on the Democrats". Not going to get into the latest round of the Nunes / Muller / whatever stuff except to say that this really is "stupid Watergate". I wouldn't be surprised if the result of that investigation is more bizarre than I could possibly speculate.
The Winter Olympics have started in Korea, and the presence of a joint Korean delegation at the games actually seems pretty significant, given historical context. At the last Olympics in Korea, North Korea tried to prevent the event with a campaign of terrorism and held a counter-exhibition so lavish that it drove the government to financial ruin just before the fall of the Soviet Union brought an end to food subsidies and the subsequent famine killed 2-3 million North Koreans.
I was saddened by the news of the death of John Perry Barlow earlier this week. He's the founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, among other things, so I've been very much influenced by his work. Though a document like the A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace really seem quite different during the administration of the first internet troll President than when I first read it.
The headphone port on my phone broke, which really disrupted my routine, especially since I had to attempt fixes like "factory reset the phone" before they'd offer a repair under warranty. In the interim, I've switched back to my old phone, which is working fine after a round of updates.
Our condo complex had some drain trouble which required some high-powered plumbing equipment to fix. That was on Superbowl Sunday, so about the least convenient timing. Fortunately, it got resolved same-day, or that would have been even more of a headache.
What else... Julie took two day-trips for business, leaving in the early morning. That went fine. We went to some friends' birthday parties. We did get out to see a movie (the new Star Wars) for the first time in a long time, that was fun.
Work is busy. Overall it's going okay. A few of my older colleagues retired in the past few weeks, early employees at ITA Software. Always a bittersweet farewell; things are changing.
I keep meaning to write about politics, too, but if I can't keep up with my own life, how could I possibly manage to stay on top of the news? It's Gish Gallop: The Presidency. President Trump is the sort of guy where allegations that he cheated on his pregnant wife, then paid his mistress hush money during the campaign (with campaign funds?) is barely a scandal, not because it's widely disbelieved but because nobody's particularly surprised. Meanwhile, the GOP seems to be on their usual plan of "blow up the budget and economy, then somehow blame it on the Democrats". Not going to get into the latest round of the Nunes / Muller / whatever stuff except to say that this really is "stupid Watergate". I wouldn't be surprised if the result of that investigation is more bizarre than I could possibly speculate.
The Winter Olympics have started in Korea, and the presence of a joint Korean delegation at the games actually seems pretty significant, given historical context. At the last Olympics in Korea, North Korea tried to prevent the event with a campaign of terrorism and held a counter-exhibition so lavish that it drove the government to financial ruin just before the fall of the Soviet Union brought an end to food subsidies and the subsequent famine killed 2-3 million North Koreans.
I was saddened by the news of the death of John Perry Barlow earlier this week. He's the founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, among other things, so I've been very much influenced by his work. Though a document like the A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace really seem quite different during the administration of the first internet troll President than when I first read it.