Thanksgiving is Over, Time for Christmas

Tomorrow is the last day of the Thanksgiving break. That means it is time to get all of the Christmas decorations put up in preparation for the great celebration at the end of the year. My wife and I made our finishing touches today and now we can focus on other activities during this festive season.

Normally I have all of my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving. This year I have identified what gifts I will be sending but am waiting as the gifts I am giving my children are perishable and I want them to arrive as close to the magic day as possible. I have a reminder on my calendar to make sure they are purchased online at the right time. For my grandchildren I am providing experiences and they have been purchased already. You have to love the Internet and the ease of ordering everything online including tickets to a Monster Truck show.

With the house decorated and gifts purchased or at least identified, I can focus on those other things that make this time of year special. My calendar is all set with my wife's office Christmas party as well as a few other festivities to attend. There is also a huge batch of Christmas movies cued up and ready to watch in the evenings. I also have my skis waxed and ready to go. Actually I skied every day during the Thanksgiving break so I probably need to wax them again.

Given the right preparation this can be a magical time of the year. Unfortunately a lot of people feel the stress associated with getting ready for Christmas. So my Christmas wish this year is that everyone can relax and focus on what is important. While some may emphasize the religious aspect of the season, one thing we can all agree upon is time spent with family. All the gifts, parties, music, and movies don't really matter.

Thanksgiving 2024

Thanksgiving is almost over and the uneaten turkey is sitting in the fridge waiting to be made into sandwiches over the next couple of days. I wanted to take a few moments and write about what I am thankful for. While it may seem like the world is in turmoil, there really is a lot going well and I would be remiss in not expressing thanks.

This blog is focused on technology and I am definitely thankful for all of the time-saving benefits technology provides. I like being able to instantly look up thing on the Internet. Want to know what stores remained opened on this holiday, simply pull out your smartphone and do an Internet search. Want to heat something up quickly, use that convenient microwave. I even enjoy centralized heating keeping me and my family warm as we gathered today.

That leads me to what I am truly thankful for, and that is my family. I got to spend this morning skiing with my youngest daughter who is a ski instructor. Fortunately she didn't have to work so we could take a number of runs together. My wife joined us and I am thankful for her. Later today my son and his family joined us for a wonderful feast. My parents and oldest daughter joined us as well. Then my youngest son joined us for a quick video call and shared his thanks with us along with his family. Yes, family is what I am most thankful for on this day of remembering what is important to each of us. 

I wish it was possible for my family to all be together on this special holiday but it wasn't. Fortunately technology filled the gap and those that couldn't gather physically could with a little help from technology. Hopefully you were able to spend time with those important to you today.

Serendipity

Last week I had to fly to New York City on business. I had hoped to be able to stay home and attend the meetings virtually. Then I received the invitation to be the emcee for the conference. Unfortunately you can't do that from a distance and so I flew out on Monday and planned to fly back early Friday morning. Towards the end of the week it looked like I could fly back on Thursday evening as our meetings would be completed by 2:30pm.

Usually there are a lot of dinners and socializing events when a large number of colleagues descend upon an office for such a conference. When I booked my flights and hotel, I assumed there would be something to celebrate the end of our working sessions. One of my coworkers based in New York pulled me aside on the first day and let me know he would not be able to attend anything on Thursday evening. Naturally I inquired why. He said that he and his wife planned to attend a screening of "Better Off Dead" where the main actor, John Cusack would attend and talk about making the movie.

"Better Off Dead" is one of my favorite movies from my teenage years as it came out in 1985. Naturally I told my coworker that sounded great. Next I did an Internet search to see if I could get more details on the event. I discovered they still had tickets and so I asked my coworker if I could attend with him. He knew my love of the movie and seemed excited to have me join him. He let me know what seats he and his wife purchased and I tried to get seats close by. 

The screening exceeded my expectations. How often do you get to see a movie with a bunch of fans that know all of the little jokes that most people miss unless they have seen it many times? Furthermore, tickets cost a lot, so only the most loyal of fans attended and so I experienced no distractions during the film.

John came up on stage shortly after the film ended and shared some interesting perspectives on making the film as well as his lengthy career. Then he opened it up to the audience for us to ask questions. I had one I wanted to ask but it became clear that John has made so many movies and made this one so long ago that he might not be able to answer it, so I remained quiet. I didn't want to put him on the spot and ask a question he couldn't answer. Others asked very good questions and I appreciated the extra hour added to the movie to listen to the main actor.

I got home and my wife asked me how I enjoyed the screening. I told her it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I enjoyed it. Should a similar activity come up in the future, I don't need to do it again. My kids are all jealous as they are fans of the movie and would also liked to attend. Unfortunately the only reason I did is because of a series of events that aligned in my favor. One that stands out is that I could find the screening with a quick Internet search and see that tickets could be purchased at the last minute. I call that serendipity.

AWS Documentation is Awful

This past week I had a coworker ask me to help with some Amazon Web Services (AWS) administration. I needed to go in and check the last time a handful of users had logged into the system. I had been shown how to do this in the past but didn't do a good job of taking notes. I didn't worry about it as I figured I could just use an Internet search engine to help me get the information I needed. That didn't work at all.

AWS is such a large system that there are half a dozen ways to get the information I needed. Furthermore the documentation kept saying to use a tool and write code to query log files. From my training at the beginning of the year, I knew there is an easy way to point-and-click my way to success. The thought of writing code felt like building a car before going to the grocery store to buy some eggs.

Fortunately I remembered some of what I had been taught and got roughly to the right place. Using information sent to me by my coworker I was able to stumble around for bit and get the information I needed. She sent me a screenshot and it provided the missing clues I needed.

I have a notebook that I keep for work. I write down notes from meetings and helpful hints. Naturally I wrote down all the steps to repeat how to get the information I needed. Logic follows that if I have had to get the information once, there is a good chance I will need it again. Next time I don't want to waste half an afternoon trying to figure it out.

Technology Improves Our Lives

This morning I woke up at 6am and ran through my usual morning routine of breakfast. Then I got ready to go skiing. It is early November which means lifts are not really running at Alta and so if you want to ski, you get to hike up the hill and earn your turns. My daughter joined me today.

Yesterday we did the same thing and had the luxury of clear skies. Today we started driving in a rainstorm that turned into snow the higher in elevation we drove. We arrived at the Wildcat lot in a full-blown blizzard. My daughter and I don't care as we live by the philosophy that there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. We got our skis ready and started climbing the hill while it snowed heavily around us. 

I felt incredibly comfortable as I hiked up the hill. We both made sure not to overdress as that would cause us to sweat too much which would freeze and make us cold. Instead the breathability of our Gortex-like shells kept the water out and allowed our perspiration to escape. I thought to myself that even though I was outside, I felt comfortable enough as if inside.

Technology constantly makes our lives better. I would not want to trade places with the wealthiest people of 200 years ago because of our many modern conveniences. Clothing is just one example. The many uses of electricity also come to mind. We can use it to keep us warm in the winter and cool in the summer, not to mention run our computers, light our homes, and power our entertainment devices. Yes, I am happy living right now.

An 8-Year Old with 8 Computers

Yesterday I talked with one of the kids in my neighborhood who is about 8 years old. He talked about how he had 8 different computers. Naturally I asked how he came to be the proud owner of so many computers. His dad answered that the local thrift store, Savers, sells used computers for around $5 and an amazing number of them actually work. That made sense and for a kid totally interested in computers, he probably loves playing with them as a hobby.

My next question amounted to what he does with all of them. He responded that he installs different operating systems. This got my mind wondering. While I imagined he played with Microsoft Windows, I wondered if he knew about the many other operating systems available for standard computers. I followed up with which is is favorite. He surprised me by answering MacOS.

While you can install MacOS on some Intel-based computers, it requires very specific hardware and I asked about that. His father responded that he has played with Hackintosh but it didn't sound very successful. That implies that you can find Mac hardware at Savers which is what is required when installing MacOS. I may have to go see if I can find a decent computer for $5.

Next I asked about Linux as that is an obvious choice for older Intel-based computers. The young man mentioned that his favorite flavor is Ubuntu and it impressed me. There are quite a few variants but Ubuntu is my current favorite flavor of Linux.

I remember being young like that and having a huge interest in computers. My dad did too and we actually had a large computer in our house. Back then it looked like 3 refrigerators and 2 dishwashers next to each other. It had a total of 256 kilobytes of memory and 20 megabytes of hard disk space. Calculators have more memory and storage than that now.

It is always interesting to see young people interested in computers and my neighbor surprised me. I enjoyed talking with the little guy and wish him the best of luck as he learns about this magnificent technology. My hope is that he continues with the hobby as it will serve him well later in life.

Daytime Television Blows

Last night I got a nasty case of the stomach flu. I woke up every 90 minutes to empty my stomach contents. Fortunately towards the end of the night, my stomach would cramp up, waking me, but I didn't need to go pray to the porcelain god. I think my body recognized I didn't have anything else to expel. I ended up staying in bed until 8am, which is late considering I usually get up at 6am. When I finally did wake up, I didn't feel like doing anything and so I turned on the television to see what I could find on broadcast TV. From the title of this post you can tell I came away disappointed.

When all of the streaming services became ubiquitous, I cancelled my cable subscription and increased my Internet speed. Now I really only use broadcast television to watch the nightly news every evening. Being too lazy to look for something to watch online, I cycled through the normal TV channels. Some of them had local news shows and others had national morning news shows. None of them interested me. I looked at a few of the public broadcasting networks and again came away disappointed. Ultimately after 30 minutes I turned off the TV and headed to my office to read e-mail.

I did the bare minimum e-mail for work and attended an hour-long meeting that got shortened to 15 minutes when I explained I spent the night with the stomach flu. Then I headed to my TV room to watch what I wanted in the comfort of my soft-padded-leather couches. While I could watch shows coming over the airwaves, I also had all of my streaming services including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and even YouTube. I entertained myself while eating a very soft and bland breakfast without the hassle of channel surfing. After about an hour and seeing that all the food I ate stayed down, I ate some grapes and yogurt as my energy is low and my stomach empty.

I have not really watched daytime-broadcast TV in about a decade and I have to say I haven't missed much. It is filled with the same programming I used to hate when I stayed home from school because of illness. Fortunately we have many more entertainment options and are not stuck watching VHS video tapes with their lousy 320x240-pixel resolution. Technology really does make being sick easier to deal with.

Coming Together After Such A Publicized Election

My wife spent Tuesday in bed with a nasty case of the stomach flu. Rather than keep her awake in our bedroom by watching the election results, I migrated to the guest bedroom with another TV and viewed the news. While the country focused on the presidential race, I hoped to find out how some of our local elections fared. Unfortunately the majority of the news focused on who would become the nation's next president.

My wife is surprised at how much time I spent focused on this year's election. She is the Political Science major and so I usually just ask her who to vote for. This year I felt the need to do my own research and decide for myself the best candidates. In the past two presidential elections I felt I couldn't vote for any of the candidates and wrote in "Tom Hanks." He's a likeable guy and would probably win if he ever decided to run. I know that I threw my vote away and so this year I wanted to vote for someone that represented what I want to see in the government.

One thing I noticed while doing research is that you cannot trust the mainstream media for fair and unbiased reporting. We all have our favorite candidates and adjust the narrative to reinforce our position. It is a natural human trait and I can't fault the journalists for doing so. Unfortunately the CBS news show "60 Minutes" crossed the line with their interview of a presidential candidate. A question was asked and the candidate responded. 60 Minutes then went back and edited the answer. The answer they put in came from a completely different question. It is only because of the Internet that we have both answers and know the gravity of what took place. It is important to note that I do not fault the candidate for the actions of 60 Minutes. Decades of journalistic integrity disappeared after this stunt and I have stopped watching any news show from CBS.

After doing my own research, I discovered it takes a lot of work to find out what the truth really is. Truths have been reported as lies and in other situations, lies have been spread unchecked. The unfortunate result of all these lies is that the public has become polarized to the point of hating the other side. Once the emotion of hate enters our minds, it is difficult for logic to temper our actions. 

Now that the election is over, I have seen both sides trying to do the right thing. The winner seems gracious and the name calling has stopped. The loser seems gracious and is encouraging her supporters to continue to push for the changes she hoped to enact if she had won. Unfortunately there are a number of people on the Internet sharing videos of themselves reacting emotionally to the outcome. I started watching a YouTube video created by someone whose candidate won and it showed all of the emotional breakdowns of those who supported the other candidate. I didn't watch long as I found it to be in poor taste. Instead of gloating over a win and delighting in the suffering of the other side, we should all be reaching out and trying to understand the issues others felt so strongly about and why.

I did not watch the second presidential debate in this election cycle but I did watch the only VP debate. I came away having more respect for both candidates. While I had vilified one candidate thanks to the news, I realized both candidates agreed significantly and that put us all on more common ground than I originally thought.

My hope is that we can all come together and accomplish great things. Feelings may be hurt because a friend or family member voted for the other side. Now that the election is over, I hope we can forgive and rekindle those important relationships.

Is it too Early for Christmas Songs?

Halloween is over and our next major holiday in the United States is Thanksgiving. My daughters grew up saying that we need to respect the turkey and not get too excited about Christmas until after the giant eat-a-thon. Now they are changing their tunes and think it is fine to play Christmas music a little earlier.

The day after Halloween, the Disney resorts pulled down all their pumpkin decorations and re-themed their resorts for Christmas. On November first I started getting ads for Black-Friday specials and encouraged to start Christmas shopping. It seems that everyone is eager for the largest holiday of the year.

So is it too early for Christmas songs? My personal thought is I have to restrict how many times I hear certain songs that become popular at the end of the year. The most popular Christmas song is Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is you." It turns out that it is also the most hated holiday song. I fall into the later category and want to limit how many times I hear it.

One advantage I see with starting the holiday song list early is it gives me time to learn more Christmas songs on my guitar. I generally take a few weeks to memorize one and if I wait until the month of December, I never really learn them. That being said, I have to like the songs I learn because I play them so many times.

So what do you think? Is it time to play those old familiar favorites or should we wait another month? Let me know your thoughts.