The Case For AI

So one of the things my job has been pushing for the last year or so is for our team to pick up on their AI skills.   We've been required to take a lot of training so we could keep abreast for any issues customers may be experiencing.   I saw the writing on the proverbial wall during my company's quarterly all-hands meeting in April 2023 when the predominant topic was all about embracing Artificial Intelligence in our day-to-day lives.   I studied to obtain Salesforce's AI Associate certification and was able to achieve it in September 2023.

When I got that cert, I was ahead of the game with our team being one of the first to obtain it.  Almost a year later, they required everyone of the team to have the AI Associate cert.   In addition they wanted us to get the next level cert of AI Specialist which is having a name change to be Agentforce Specialist in conjunction to Salesforce's rebranding of Einstein GPT.    They required both AI Associate and AI Specialist by the end of 2024.   I studied to obtain the AI Specialist and was able to achieve it in November 2024.

Now there's a push to have our team get the current highest level AI Salesforce cert of Data Cloud Consultant.   I'm scheduled to take my first attempt at this cert on 03/22.   To top it off I'm taking some additional training on learning about Email Deliverability troubleshooting and I still have to handle existing cases and probably still assist in other engineer issues.

It does seem like there's a lot left for me to learn as I continue through what I call my 2nd and final act in my working career.   I wish I could just lay low and collect my check.    But if I want to keep my job, I need to stay open to learning more and more.   Even that of course is no guarantee that I won't be laid off from my current role down the line.

It is interesting reading up on the history of AI which has its earliest mention in the 1940's.   It started with the creation of the first digital computer which of course was a humongous machine.   There was a workshop at Dartmouth College in 1956 where the future leaders in the research of AI were in attendance.   But it seemed the next couple decades proved to be a challenge in any advancements from the U.S.

The Japanese took the lead in AI advancement in the 70's which reinvigorated the U.S.   Investment in AI hit the billion dollar mark by the 80's.   Investment continued to boom and one of the first real cumulations of it came in the form of ChatGPT in 2020.

I've actually used ChatGPT to research various topics and it's interesting the responses that I receive.  Of course ChatGPT is only as good as the information that gets fed into it.   Who better to ask how ChatGPT gets its information then to ask ChatGPT itself?

I asked ChatGPT the following question:  "How does ChatGPT get the information to be able to answer any questions we may have?"

It's answer: "ChatGPT gets its information through a process called pretraining, where it learns from a vast amount of text data, including books, articles, websites, and other publicly available written material. During this process, it learns patterns in language, concepts, facts, and general knowledge.

However, it doesn’t have real-time access to the internet or any proprietary databases after training. So, while it can answer a wide range of questions based on the knowledge it learned up until its training cutoff (which in this case is September 2021), it doesn't "know" things that have happened after that time, unless provided with that new information during the conversation.

In short, ChatGPT’s answers come from the knowledge it was trained on, which covers a huge range of topics, but it's not always up-to-date with current events unless it's connected to specific tools (like a web search) or if you give it the latest info. Does that answer your question?"

It's crazy how AI has taken over the fiber of our world.   There is a fear that AI will be the cause of a lot of tech workers losing their jobs.   I will admit I do have that concern sometimes.   But I am open to learning what I can about it.   I do hope it's enough to keep me employed while I continue to work towards my goal of financial independence.     We shall see.

 

From Rags To Riches To Rags

 Last month I posted about one of my favorite girl groups of the 90's En Vogue.   The world learned that former member Maxine Jones was returning to the group effectively having 3 of the 4 original members back together again.  A lot of folks myself included wondered if the 4th member Dawn Robinson would also come back.   But I figured that bridge had been burned long ago.   For now it still is.

There were no comments from Dawn regarding Max's return to En Vogue.   But last week Dawn was back in the news herself.   She announced that she's been homeless and living in a car for more than three years.

She mentioned that she made the choice herself to do car living after researching it online.  Prior to living in her car, she was living with her mother.   She said that they had a disagreement and wound up moving out.   When watching her video, it was interesting to hear she had a dog named Max who passed away.   Max of course was her bandmate in En Vogue.   So that was interesting she used that name for her dog.

It was sad hearing how someone who was once part of the most iconic girl group of the 90's now finds herself living in the car.  Dawn definitely has had drama over the years with the two groups she was a part of.  She was my favorite member of En Vogue (still is) so it crushed me when she departed just when the group was blowing up.   I do agree in principal that if they truly weren't getting paid what they deserved, all four of the members should've been fighting more.   But that ship has literally sailed and prior to Max's announcement, the remaining members Cindy and Terry have been keeping the En Vogue name afloat though not with the success they had in the 90's.

A small part of me couldn't help but wonder on the timing of Dawn's revelation.  Could she have announced this to put rain on her former group members and stop any momentum from the reunion news?   The natural inclination is for the media to ask the remaining ladies how they feel to hear Dawn's news and whether they should reach out to try and help her.   It'll be interesting to see if there are any new stories of the other member's reaction.

There has been quite a reaction to the news as well from the celebrity circles.   Her ex-husband Dre Allen was said to have offered Dawn a job.   No word yet whether she accepted or not though I'm guessing she won't.   She did say she was living in her car by choice.  It sounded like she had someone who was giving her money for a hotel to stay at and they were teasing her about an apartment but she got tired of being strung along which led her down her current path.   Jermaine Dupri expressed skepticism about Dawn's story stating she had an assistant working with her.   Interestingly enough Dawn did mention she was documenting the experience and I imagine she would be open to selling her story to the highest bidder so it can be made into a documentary or reality TV series.   So Dupri's skepticism could hold merit.   I read that Kandi Burruss of Xscape fame was also asked about the situation but she quickly changed the subject.   I can't say I blame her as she has enough dealing with her own group's issues.

Whether the circumstances it is sad to hear the news.   It will be interesting to see what comes next for her.  She has the world's attention for now.   But social media is a fickle character so she better take advantage while she can.   Looking at the comments from her video, she does seem to have a lot of people that want to help her.  Whatever happens I hope she can turn herself around.

The Third

 Dom completed part one of his carpal tunnel surgery last Wednesday on his left hand.   The hospital needed to reach out to him prior to confirm on his medications and previous health conditions.    Since he works at school (when he goes), he's not able to answer his phone.   So I had to make time to take the calls in the midst of my work fun.

I felt horrible because I wasn't able to remember every detail of the different surgeries he had and why.  I mistakenly said he had a gall bladder removed when it was actually his appendix.   He also had the turp for his enlarged prostate which led to him post-surgery having blood clots that affected his breathing.   I needed to remember all this and felt frustrated when it didn't come to me right away.   I had remembered the clotting but forgot that happened because of the enlarged prostate surgery.

One of the things I loved about my Mom was her uncanny ability to remember every medication and surgery that my Dad had over the years.   She did this even through dealing with her own health issues with Parkinson's.   I was not measuring up at all.   I love Dom because he was so forgiving of me.

Dom and I started discussing the possibility of having a "younger guy" be part of our family in anticipation of myself eventually having more health issues.   Dom worries he wouldn't be able to take care of me like I have for him.  Of course it would have to be the right person who is there for the correct reasons.   I worry about someone trying to take advantage of the situation.   It would be nice if they exclusively were with us.  If sex is on the table I wonder if Dom would watch us or even participate.    As I've mentioned before, Dom and I haven't had sex in almost eight years.

Where would we find this person?   Are there websites that cater to this kind of arrangement?   I already have a regular thing with Anthony.   But Anthony is around Dom's age and he has his own health issues here and there so he wouldn't be ideal.  Midas falls in the same scenario as Anthony.   He's two years younger than Dom.

Doug would be ideal.  He's a year or two younger than me.  But unfortunately he's shown that he is not dependable at all.    It's going on four years since we last met up.   The times I've tried to meet up with him he claims to be so busy.    Dom and I had some rearranging we wanted to do in the house.  I tried to see if Doug could come over and help with that and by proxy introduce him to Dom.   But he did not commit to a time to do this so my trust in him is broken.    Another strike is that he has a dog and we're not dog people.   

Maxwell, the younger black guy that I met a couple years ago would be a potential.   But he moved to Indianapolis for a job.   So he's out.   But I haven't chatted with him in awhile.   I should message him to see how he's doing.

But is it fair to get a third just for the potential of having someone to be a caretaker?   Is it fair on that person?   Dom and I do not have family nearby as well so we're a bit isolated.    It's a sad situation to think about.   Plus if we get a third person and they live with us, our house needs to be decluttered in a big way so the third would have room for his stuff.  I have some things to get rid of but Dom has the majority of the crap in the house.   The sad thing is the house is pretty spacious with 4 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths with a semi-finished basement.   But every inch of the house has junk in it.    How is that possible?

I just realized the irony of us talking about a potential third when I mentioned recently about a situation where I was considering being a potential third to another couple.  It does seem to be a more common discussion among gay couples these days.

Roni Out

 Just last week I posted about my lazy co-worker Roni and his latest antics at work.   He has caused lots of havoc in the team with how he handled cases and his lackadaisical way of working.   It's been quite the morale buster seeing how he got away with a lot of things.   But I know my manager has been documenting everything that he's done whether it's been his lack of responses on cases or his lack of participation in some of our team building activities.   I noticed too that his name was not on any of the new trainings that were being offered to the team.

I ended up with one of Roni's nightmarish cases because he was supposedly studying for a Data Cloud certification and couldn't concentrate on that and his existing cases.   I was complaining about it to one of my colleagues and imagine my shock when my colleague mentioned that Roni's account was deactivated.   I was on the train on my way home when we were communicating by phone so I didn't see the deactivation right away.   I didn't believe it at first since this same colleague who I'll call Alvin and I joked that it would be another five years before he was let go.

We were disgusted because several good employees were let go last month and we couldn't believe that Roni was still there.   But maybe that may have been the catalyst that set things in motion for his firing.   I knew my manager was documenting everything when she asked me to make a public comment on our work channel to mention that Roni did not reach out to me to meet after I tried to schedule a meeting with him.   With that said I don't wish ill-will on Roni.   I just wanted him to do his fair share of work.   As I said before, he definitely bought all of this on himself.   I do hope he learns a lesson from all this and if he's given the opportunity again, he makes more of an effort in his next role.

As for the nightmarish case, I unfortunately have my hands cut out for me.   The documentation left on the case has been lacking.   The customer on the case has been complaining almost non-stop about the lack of support received.   Roni created an investigation but unfortunately didn't leave much information and sent it to the wrong team.  That team wound up rejecting the investigation and I'm left starting at square one.   To top it off Roni lied to the customer and said the investigation is being reviewed still.    I will probably have to call the customer to introduce myself and get clarity on some examples I can share.  I no doubt will have to hear the customer complain.   But this too will pass.   The silver lining is that my manager said if the customer leaves a bad review, that she would be able to absorb the rating.   I got this.

Losing My Wisdom

 With each passing day I, like everyone else, is getting older.   More often than not I find myself running to another room and then forgetting what I was going into that room for.   It scares me because the thought of not remembering who or where I am is something that I do not want to experience.   My parents have experienced it and I've seen older folks in our Church experiencing short-term memory loss.   Dom too has his share of senior moments.

But I'll soon be losing another part of my wisdom.   I will be pulling out my remaining two wisdom teeth on the right side of my mouth, teeth 1 and 32 for dental folks.   16 and 17 were pulled sometime in the early 2000's.   I found out during my recent 6-month cleaning that my cavity on my wisdom tooth has gotten larger.  I pretty much accepted at that point it was time to get them removed.   The top wisdom tooth is fine but it wouldn't make sense to keep it since it would have nothing to chew against.   

I already removed tooth 3 back in 2020 (just a month or so before the pandemic).   The dentist was suggesting a bridge gets placed in the open spots between 1 and 3.   It seems like a not so bad idea but Dom was thinking I really wouldn't need it and I would be able to chew just fine.   I'm on the fence about it.

The dental place I go to is ran by a husband/wife team.   I saw the wife this time.   She is nice.   She gave me the name of an oral surgeon that I would have to call to schedule an appointment to get my wisdom teeth pulled.    She hesitated giving me the name wondering if I would have an issue seeing a woman surgeon.   I told her that I wouldn't have a problem with that.

She then went into a rant about how she had prospective patients that left the dental office when they saw that she was the dentist.   She has a first name that could either be male or female.   So they may have thought she was a he.   This was mostly during the 90's she said (when she was starting her career).   I was going to raise her up one and say there are folks that wouldn't want a black doctor or dentist treating them.

Things are definitely better today though Orange and his cronies seem to be wanting to take away what was gained.   You know, make America great again by taking away protection and rights from minorities.

I need to figure out best time to remove my teeth.  Dom has two outpatient surgeries scheduled this month for his carpal tunnel which is affecting both of his hands.  I probably do not want to do it around that time since he'll need me at 100% during his recovery.    I would need at least one week of recovery after the procedure.

I'm hoping I may be able to push it off till early June when Dom is out of school.   But I have to be careful not to develop any kind of infection before then.   I may need to go into the office 4-5 days a week for a month so I have enough days to cover not being in the office.  Insane. 

Caught In The Track

 I talked about my co-worker Roni who drives me crazy with his lazy ways.   The rumor is he has been on several PIPs and somehow has managed to come out of them.    I suspected that my manager has been documenting all his behavior in hopes of having enough evidence to terminate him.   I got confirmation of this indirectly.    Roni reached out to ask for assistance on my team's channel on a case after it got escalated by the customer.   The case in particular is a bit messy and even I would need help on it.    

I messaged Roni and invited him to a meeting to discuss the case further on Friday.   My plan was to have him drive most of the investigation with me guiding along in the background.   My hope was that he would learn more on how to handle these types of cases.   But he never responded to my meeting invite.   He also purposely stays offline so you never know if he's there or not.

So his case got escalated again on Monday.  My manager reached out to the channel leader and myself to help Roni out.    The funny thing is our team is encouraged to assist each other on the channel but a lot of times it winds up falling on my channel leader or myself (as backup) to assist on the majority of the cases.   There are times when the channel leader asks if anyone else in the channel can assist.   He initially did so on Roni's issue.    I wound up looking at it because I knew nobody else would.   Hours later Roni's direct messaging me asking for help.  I wanted to scream.   But I did give some initial feedback and asked for Roni to follow-up with the customer.   I checked on the case that Friday and saw that the customer was getting more agitated.   That's when I reached out of Roni for the meeting.

So after my manager posted the message on our channel, I direct messaged my manager privately saying that I did try to meet with him Friday but he didn't respond.   So then my manager told me to mention that directly on the channel.   It then hit me that she wanted to have someone mention Roni's inaction so that she would have more evidence to share on Roni's incompetence.   I mean why else would she want me to mention it in the channel if not to have a paper trail.

Roni does get on my nerve but I still felt guilty calling him out on the channel.   But I went ahead and mentioned it.   I honestly wanted to cover my own tail and not be accused of not wanting to assist which was why I messaged my manager initially.  Roni of course in his Roni way did not react to my message.   But everything that's happening to him, he's definitely bought it on himself.   Last week my manager reached out to me to give an initial response to the customer on one of Roni's cases because it was in danger of not meeting the SLA.  She tried to reach Roni but he was not responding.   That is yet another of several examples that I'm sure she's documented.

Now it may be a long while still before he winds up getting terminated.   Another colleague joked that it would probably take five more years before anything happened.   I mean he started at the same time I did which means he's been employed for over 3 years now and nothing has happened yet even though folks have known about his ways since 2023.   But yeah we're all being tracked for sure.   Thankfully so far though I'm on the right track.

Commissioned Out

 Dom has been missing a lot of work these days.    He's already been counting the days till his retirement.  As a high school math teacher, he's been complaining on the daily about misbehaving students who do not understand even the basic math equations.   He's been dealing with a lot of health issues as well which has caused him to missed days.   For the third or fourth school year in a row, he has maxed out on his allotted sick day time off so each time he misses a day now, he doesn't get paid for that day.   He's also started ordering more doll crap based on various shows like Wednesday (every company that makes a likeness of the Wednesday Adam doll, he has to order) and of course Wicked.   He's been pissing me off there because he's had me stay home on certain days because he doesn't want his packages staying out in the cold too long.   Of course I have to juggle my home days with my return to office mandate that dictates I have to be in the office 3 days a week.   It's so stupid since I can do my job at home but I need the paycheck especially since I'm responsible for the majority of the household bills and for both of our health insurance costs.   So I gotta play the game till they decide to lay me off or a better opportunity comes along.

So I'm home today for work because of more packages (I went to the office Monday & Wednesday so far and will go in tomorrow to make my 3 days).   However he wound up staying home too because he's been experiencing pain in his left shoulder and his hands continue to ache from carpal tunnel.   I would've went in to the office today but I woke up a little later and didn't feel like rushing to get out of the house.  I had already set up my makeshift office as well.

I hate that he's back to spending money unnecessarily (in my opinion),especially since he's not working full-time.   He keeps talking about slowing his spending and decluttering his collection.   I continue to feel frustrated seeing how cluttered our whole house is.    Every room is full of junk.   I just imagine if he didn't spend the little money he has on this stuff, we could've had the mortgage paid off by now.   Even if he gave $200 a month to put into the mortgage, that would quickly add up over time.   But I'm managing to pay the necessary bills each month and continue to pay off my credit card bills.   I was glad to keep my total credit card payments to just under $2000 this pay period.   $3000 is the goal I usually have (this includes gas, insurance, food, transportation toll fees, and other miscellaneous items) so I exceeded my goal.   Last pay period I was slightly over $3000 so that varies.  

Speaking of credit cards, he still doesn't know yet that I canceled his one card.   I will probably add him back again.   I was just extremely frustrated at that time how he used the card for a non-emergency expense and didn't bother to tell me.  

Dom was told he would need to have carpal tunnel surgery on both his hands to alleviate the pain he's experiencing.   He was hoping to push that off till June but he's thinking he may need it sooner.   He's been wearing hand braces at night to try and help ease the pain.    But it doesn't always help and he also is noticing weakness in his shoulder muscles. 

He also mentioned Tuesday that he had a kidney stone that caused him to not be able to pee initially.  He was going to head to the E.R. but luckily he was able to push the stone out.   I too may have had a small stone a few weeks back as I was experiencing weak urine flow.   But that has since passed.  The joy of being older, right?   We're continuing to push through this thing called life.   I just needed to vent again.

Max's Back!!!

 I was in the office today and had a free moment to listen to Youtube videos.   To my surprise I saw the following video pop up on my screen.

I was pleasantly surprised to see En Vogue announce the return of Maxine Jones.   I've been lamenting about the ladies breaking up for years.   It had been awhile since I've spoken on the group.   Dom and I went to see Cindy/Terri/Rhona when they performed at the now defunct Star Plaza.   I also saw the current reincarnation of Cindy/Max/Terry/Rhona in 2008 at a park in Country Club Hills, IL.   This was just before Dawn briefly returned and Rhona graciously stepped aside till Dawn left again. 

En Vogue has teased in the past about getting back together but things always fell apart.   I'm hoping this isn't another false promise that falls by the wayside.   The ladies are all in their 60's (well Rhona's is pushing towards 50 - will be 49 in May) and it is about time they squash whatever beef they had.   Seeing Max back naturally has fans wondering if Dawn will follow suit and return.  Sadly I don't think Dawn will be coming back.   But I do feel like Max will add back some of the soul that's been missing from the group.

I do sincerely hope they release a new album with the four of them.   How nice would it be to hear a new song or two with a four-part harmony again.   We shall see what becomes of this latest announcement.   It's no doubt garnered some excitement among us diehard fans.   Come on ladies, get it together!   You all still look great but time waits for noone.   In fact ya'll wrote a song about it, want to hear it now, here it goes.

  

Mysterious Neighbor

 Since Dom and I lived in our home back in 2016, there was a small bungalow with a detached garage across from us that was mostly abandoned.   There was an older gentleman that would stop by periodically to do stuff in the garage.   I briefly chatted with him a few times over the years and he seemed nice.   Dom mentioned that the guy told him that he was underwater on the place and for whatever reason couldn't sell it.   For the most part though, the house had no activity.   

That started changing about two years back.   A bunch of random folks would stop by either inspecting the house or the garage and then leaving.   We suspected that something must've happened to the older gentleman.   But then he would appear as well occasionally.   This random activity continued on for a bit.  Then there started to be a crew that would come by daily to make repairs on the roof and other parts of the house.   I looked at realtor.com and then discovered that the house was sold to another buyer.

The repairs started to continue and I got to see the transformation of the house firsthand since we live right across from it.   They finished up the roof, replaced the windows, refaced the outside of the house and garage, added gutters, and remodeled the garage into a separate living space.   Over the months they've unloaded so much junk that the nice older gentleman had accumulated in the garage.  Dom and I used to joke that he had "centipede" people living there that he occasionally came to feed.  My curiosity peaked over who the new owners would be.   Dom and I prayed it would be a hot gay couple.   But of course that didn't come to be.

The new owners it ended up look to be a couple (I know one is a guy but I can't tell if the second person is a guy or gal).   Maybe it is a gay couple after all...but with the winter, it's too dark to make them out completely.   And they are not very sociable.   Then again I guess I'm not either.    They live in the garage and apparently they have random people possibly from the same job living in the main house.   It's basically a smorgasbord of activity now.   This group basically leave the house together but in separate cars early in the morning and then roll back in the afternoon.   I wonder why they can't just carpool together.   It'll be interesting what develops when the weather warms up.  Since they live in the garage, I've seen them grill stuff outside.  The other day I saw they bought in a stackable washer and dryer that they placed by the downstairs entrance.   I assume they placed a bathroom in there as well.   I'd definitely love to see what they did to the place but alas since it won't be in the market anytime soon, I won't know.   Since they made the garage into a home, their cars have to reside outside of the garage which sucks when it's winter.

Anyway it's an interesting mystery so far.  I guess as long as they don't bother us we'll be okay.   One good thing to come from it is at least the house is not abandoned now and it's reduced the number of lurkers who would randomly drive by and park there or near our house.   It's the curse of living in a corner home.

More Layoff Blues

 I found out today that my company did yet another round of layoffs.   It gutted me to learn that two of my colleagues were impacted.    I saw an article last week from a random business periodical mentioning my company was letting some resources go.   

I had my weekly one-on-one with my manager scheduled for today.   She initially messaged me with the cryptic message of joining a meeting in 9 minutes.   I thought she was referring to our one-on-one initially.  But then she mentioned moving the meeting to another time because she didn't receive responses from other team members.   I then asked if our weekly team meeting was being moved to Tuesday.   She gave the affirmative but I never saw a link.

She wound up meeting with me one-on-one afterwards.   She didn't say anything right away but I could tell her mood seemed off.   I went over my list of topics unaware of the layoff at that time.  I then mentioned the article that I saw and asked if we would be impacted.   That's when I learned of the team members that were already impacted.

It just makes me sick to see how these companies just willy nilly let people go to save money to cover the higher up salaries and make stockholders (which I guess I am part of) happy.    Our Orange leader tried to mess up the stock market with his stupid tariff wars on Canada and Mexico.   Those were cancelled but not before China retaliated against tariffs on them with their own tariffs.   What a mess.

It's hard to believe a year ago I was celebrating a promotion.  That came a year after additional layoffs.  One of my colleagues affected was also someone that got promoted at the same time I was.   What both my colleagues had in common was that they were fully remote employees with long-time tenure at the company.

I'm really praying I can get my financial life in order before I get impacted.   I was hoping to make it at this place till 2033 but I may not last even through 2025 the way things are going.    My manager did say that this seemed to be the last of it.   But we truly do not know.  It's the last for now but who knows what the future holds.  Uggh.

January 31, 2033

 I started my current job journey as a support engineer on January 31, 2022.   I already documented the journey it took me to get from analyst to picker to now an engineer.   Having the word 'Engineer' in my job title was one I never thought I would have.   There were many majors back in my college days (oh how I miss the 90's..well some of it...LOL) related to engineering like Electrical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineers.   I didn't phantom back then that offering technical support would be another form of engineering.

So the job is definitely stressful at times.   But I remain grateful that I was given the opportunity to prove myself.   It has afforded me the opportunity to get my financial life back on track and resume work towards my goal of financial independence.

I'll be celebrating 3 years at my present job today.   Hard to believe how fast time is flying by.  I'm nearer to the retirement finish line now as well.   I find myself thinking a lot more about retirement these days.   It doesn't help that Dom is targeting his retirement from being a teacher to be in August 2026.   He's been very vocal about it with the way kids act today.   On the daily he shares horror stories from his classroom.   Also school shootings continue to be a thing in this country.  He is ready like yesterday to get away from the madness.

I also have a lot of acquaintances that have recently retired and seem to be enjoying life.   It adds to my wanting to have that life as well.

With that said I have a date in mind for when I would like to retire.   That date is January 31, 2033.   I'll be 60 years old at the time.   That date assumes that I'm still alive (LOL big one there),  my mortgage will be paid off (still on target for June/July 2026 for that to happen), no major expenses left (though life throws a lot at you), I still have a job without interruption (i.e. layoffs), and that I have a nice healthy amount of cash saved.

I did have a stretch goal of retiring at 55 (January 31, 2028) but I feel that's not realistic.  I anticipate needing to get another car in the next year or so.   The way prices are on cars these days is a mess.   I watched one Youtube video that normalized a good car deal at $58K.    Granted it was a Ford-150 or something along those lines but paying over $30K for a car is insane to me.   That's like a mini-mortgage to me.

In addition to the car, there's a few things that need to be fixed/replaced in our old house.   We need windows replaced throughout the house for example.   We have an old radiator that thankfully is hanging on but at some point it'll need to be replaced.   Plus the radiators in a couple rooms are not working properly and would need to be fixed.  Insulation is needed in a couple of rooms that tend to stay cold.    We have old wiring that needs to be changed as well.   I'd love to change our flooring in the main rooms to be hardwood flooring and there's of course plenty of painting and refacing that needs to be done.   All of that will cost money.

In terms of home upkeep, I pretty much am the one financially responsible for 99.94% of it.  So I would have to hope I'm able to take care of a lot of it and have it paid off before my retirement date.

Of course I could work till the standard 67 years old (January 31, 2040) or heaven forbid 70 years old (January 31, 2043).   It's scary thinking that future is really not far away at all.   

Also who knows what our health situations will be like.   That factor can quickly ruin any plans that are made.   But at some point the trigger has to be pulled whether by your choice or forced (layoffs anyone).   So for now I'm manifesting into the universe that I will be officially retiring on January 31, 2033.   Mission accepted!

Zero To Shitty

 

As a support engineer, some days at work can be so crazy.    There are times when you get crazy issue after crazy issue.   The customers have little decorum at times, demanding someone reach out to them right away or else.   To top it off I still have to assist others on their own nightmares.   There are days that I'm so busy I barely get time for lunch.   

The worst is when a day that is seemingly quiet turns into what I recently coined "zero to shitty".   It's enough to make me want to scream.   When I'm in the office it's terrible because I can't even scream.  I may have an outburst but I have to keep it in check.  It sucks too since my immediate team is in Indianapolis while I'm in Chicago.

One of the shitty issues I received last Friday was from a customer who was checking on a "promised" fix to a bug that they found.   They referenced the previous case where the claim was made.   The only thing, there was no documentation proving that an investigation was made or another acknowledging the issue and scheduling a fix.   The customer had an angry tone and said they did not want to get called to ask about the issue.

I reached out to the previous engineer and his excuse was that he was a newbie at the time.   I involved my manager who reached out to that engineer's manager.    The engineer gave me a webex video of the call which helped me narrow down the issue.   I was able to repro the issue on a demo org and document the steps.  It would be a matter of me "swarming" the issue with a different channel to verify on it and create an investigation where our Research and Development team could confirm on the issue.

I then forgot that the specific issue gets handled by a different team.  I put in a "swarm" request to the dedicated channel.   The leader of the channel declared that the channel was only for those who handled that specific skill set and to transfer the case to their team.   They basically gave me an out.  Woo hoo!

So I transferred the case.   Of course I checked on the case to see who ended up with it.  Later on I saw the new owner reached out to the previous case owner and basically made them take the case.   I probably should've done the same but I hate when engineers try to pass the buck just because you may have worked on an issue a year ago.   I've had it happen to me.  I honestly may not have remembered the issue.   But in this case since the mistake made by that engineer was so blatant, maybe it was justified.   It'll definitely be a case I'll keep watching periodically to see where it goes.

In the end a lot of the issues eventually get resolved but the journey to get there is a shitty ride.   Is Blackberry stock at $20 yet?   LOL

Bishop Buddle's Plea

 

I don't blog often about politics.  It's not because the topic doesn't interest me.  I'm aware of how it shapes our daily lives, especially at the local level.   The last few federal elections have left me exhausted but even I knew the implications if Trump won the election.   I thought it was common knowledge.   How could a convicted felon, rapist, racist, and plain dumb man be given the keys to the highest position of the land?   The homework assignment was for everyone to do their part and vote for Kamala Harris.   It's disappointing that half of the country was so against having a black woman as president that they chose to re-elect an out of touch and dangerous man.   Harris was not perfect and perhaps the democratic party should've went through the normal vetting process to get a candidate that the party could stand behind.   But Harris at least was willing to work with folks even across party lines.   Trump has shown time and time again that he's not willing to do this.

I could not bring myself to watch the inauguration except for what the local media forced on the TV.   I felt the pain of Biden and Harris to have to sit there and listen to the nonsense that he was saying.  So imagine my glee when I heard about Bishop Mariann Edgar Buddle making a plea directly to Trump and the even more stupid but evil vice-president J.D. Vance during today's (01/21) service at the National Cathedral.    It was a thing of beauty to see and hear how Bishop Buddle pierced through with her words.   The whole family was squirming and appeared disgusted.   The only person that seemed to listen was ironically J.D. Vance's wife Usha.   

From the little I've seen of Usha, she seems to carry herself as a decent person.   How she ended up married to the likes of J.D. Vance I'll never understand.

Sadly Buddle's words will fall on death and dumb ears.   All it did was make Trump angry and he and the rest of the clan tuned it out.   But those who stand for decency heard her loud and clear.    The United States needs a lot of help and prayers to get through these next four years.

Triple Play

 

I was excited to see that Netflix finally added Shemar Moore's show S.W.A.T. to its arsenal.  The show follows the lives of the Special Weapons & Tactics LAPD team as they fight crime.  Shemar headlined the show after leaving Criminal Minds after 11 seasons.    

I'm currently on Season 2 of the series.   Overall I'm enjoying the action packed series so far.  It's been nice seeing Shemar shirtless as well.   He's definitely aging like a fine wine.

 The show is currently in their 8th Season.   I've purposely avoided spoilers as I'm sure some of the current cast may no longer be on the show and I want to be surprised as it happens.    One of the stories explored in Season 2 includes a S.W.A.T. member contemplating joining a polyamorous relationship with a couple.  

I thought it was interesting that the topic was explored since it's a taboo subject.   The episodes I've seen so far show the member in question struggling with the notion of whether they should join or not.   One of the issues explored was how individuals close to the character, including co-workers and immediate family would react to the news.

So far the show seems to be treating the storyline respectively.  I should know as once upon a time yours truly almost became part of a polyamorous (Triad) relationship.

I'm fuzzy on the exact timeframe but I believe it happened sometime after Rock and I broke up.   I chatted with Mark1 on one of my social networking sites.   On his profile he did mention that he was in a relationship and was looking for a third.   I remember at the time being curious about it but I mostly was attracted to the guys in the photo so I replied initially.

Our conversations were good.  Mark1 and Mark2 were located in Tampa, FL.   After about a month of chatting, Mark1 invited me to visit Tampa.   He wanted us to have a trial run and to answer any questions I may have.  It was not my first time in Tampa as I've visited a couple times beforehand.

The weekend of my visit quickly approached and I flew down to Tampa.   After getting my bags, I walked around and received a message from Mark2.   We eventually connected and we walked over to his car where Mark1 was waiting.   I remember we drove to a local grocery store because they needed to pick up items for a dinner they were planning.   Mark1 stayed in the car while Mark2 and I went to the store.

Mark2 and I had a chance to chat a bit while we were shopping.  It's a long time ago but I don't recall there being any red flags.   The two of them were a regular couple who at the time had been together for over seven years.   They were wanting to look for a third person for a while.  It looked like Mark1 was slowing down sexually which was why they were opening things up.

I remember we had a good time that weekend both in and out of the bed.  I was even introduced to important people in their lives.   But ultimately I knew that the Triad life was not for me.

I will say most of the hang-ups were on my side which is why nothing further was pursued.  At the time I was not officially out to my family.   My thinking at the time was that it would be hard for my parents to process not only that I was gay but that I was in a relationship with two guys.   Also I was worried about what other friends (especially Eugene) and family would think.   I also would have to relocate to Florida.   Ironically this wasn't the first time the option to move to Florida would happen.    At my job they were also giving employees the option to relocate to the Brandon, FL corporate facilities.   This was way before I met Mark1 and Mark2.   I decided not to do so ultimately which was for the best given the crazy that Florida is now.

There were of course some benefits of being part of a TRIAD besides the bedroom.   There would potentially be three incomes in the family which would no doubt help with finances and possibly reach financial freedom faster.   I believe Mark2 worked in the Information Technology field like I did and I forgot about Mark1 did for a living.   But yeah that was my foray into polygamy.   

I am definitely curious to see where the storyline goes for S.W.A.T.   I haven't seen the issue explored too much (though I'm sure there may be some shows that have done so I just don't know) so it definitely caught my interest.   So far they seem to be handling it well while still sticking to the premise of the show, catching bad guys.   The character in question was struggling with the idea and the last episode I watched ended with her deciding to give it a try.   So now I'm waiting to see how it goes.

Girls5eva No More

 

I briefly posted last year about a show I first started watching on streaming platform Peacock that actually introduced me to Peacock.   At the time I did not have a subscription but somehow the show Girls5eva caught my attention.   Since I didn't have a subscription I was only able to watch the first episode for free.  It was all I needed to get hooked.   I enjoyed the characters of Dawn, Wickie, Summer, Gloria, and sometimes Ashley (at least in flashbacks since her character died falling from the edge of an infinity pool...LOL).   The premise was that the remaining ladies reunite and try to get their 90's girl band back together after a popular rap artist samples one of their old hits.

Since I wasn't able to watch the remaining episodes, I would find other sources to get tidbits on the show.   These included message boards like PRIMETIMER, the descendant from the now deceased Television Without Pity boards.

Once Season 2 rolled over on Peacock, I told myself if I passed my latest Salesforce Certification, that I would treat myself by buying a subscription to Peacock so I could watch the full show.   I thankfully passed and quickly purchased it so I could watch the rest of Season 1 and then Season 2.   I even got Dom hooked on the show (the same way I got him hooked on Schitt's Creek...LOL).   The jokes on the show were so funny to me and I enjoyed seeing the ladies journey as they clawed their way back to stardom.

But Peacock wound up cancelling the show.   However, Netflix saved the show by adding it to their roster.   It took another year and a half before 6 new episodes were added.    It was disappointing that the number of episodes were reduced from 8 to 6.    But it was nice having the show back on the air.

My favorite character out of the main 4 protagonists was actress Renee Elise Goldsberry's Wickie.   Wickie was that vapid character that in her mind's eye was the cat's meow.   She always had to do things to make her stand out from the other group members.   Be it doing extra vocal acrobatics during their various songs or making everything about her.

Wickie had so many funny one-liners as well.   She made it all about her from her first entrance in the show.   

"Cease and desist, bitch!"

"I finally get empathy.  It's when you feel sad for others because the same thing's happening to you."

"I think being a publicist is mostly about having a phone."

"I cannot disclose the size of the man I'm meeting, I signed an NDA with the NBA on TNT."

"Normal almost destroyed me, Dawn.  Never again."

"Fine.  But you should know I've never lost at singing...except once as a minor, so those records are sealed."

The actress Renee has been in numerous shows, movies, and theatrical performances through the years.   Going through her resume on IMDB, I didn't realize that she guest-starred on a few shows that I've watched over the years, like Ally McBeal and The Good Wife.   I'll have to rewatch some of those episodes to see her early works.   She first came to my attention when Dom and I went to see Hamilton in 2020.   She played Angelica Schuyler, the eldest no-nonsense sister of Eliza, the future wife of Alexander Hamilton.   I enjoyed her performance there and then I saw her guest star on the show Evil who's main character David played a drug dealer villain on the Good Wife.   She played the temptress of David who was studying to be a priest.   

She also played a role on the futuristic Netflix show Altered Carbon which shows characters jumping into literal "human body" suits to give themselves different looks.

This past November I drove to South Bend to see an independent film called Albany Road.   She played ad executive Celeste who agrees to travel from New York to Washington D.C. where she needs to meet with a potential backer who can save the fledging ad company from going belly up.   Celeste used to live in D.C and flashes back to a significant relationship she had there that ended when her present employment came up.   She runs in her ex's mother at the airport and comedy ensues as the two wind up forced to drive together due to flights being canceled for bad weather and car rentals running out of cars.   The highlight of the movie was getting to see Renee interact with the legendary Lynn Whitfield.

I saw the two actresses interview on the Sherry Shephard show and one of the things asked was about the fate of Girls5eva.   Renee was beaming when talking about the show and expressing hope that it would be renewed.   The whole interview was a delight to see and the movie was excellent.   It's sad that it's not getting the promotion like bigger movies but that's the lot that independent movies have to deal with.   At the theatre I saw it, there were only 3 other people watching.   I do hope that it makes its way to DVD or streaming so I can rewatch it again.   

It's possible that Renee may have already known the fate of the show.   But she put on a brave face when talking about it and I was convinced that she was hoping that it would get renewed.

I'm so pissed at Netflix.   But alas there's not much that can be done.  Unless a third network tries to rescue it but that's not happening.   The actors no doubt will be moving on to new projects.   I will continue to watch the show before Netflix takes it out of rotation completely.   I do hope though that maybe they'll do a limited series follow-up if there's enough outcry.   But I'm not holding my breath for that.   I do look forward to seeing what Renee and the other actors on the show do next.  

R.I.P. Jimmy Carter

 The last time I blogged about Jimmy Carter, I was celebrating his turning 100 on October 1st.   His birthday being the day before my Mom's birthday on October 2nd (different years).    He was defying the odds by remaining in hospice care for well over a year.   Well President Carter was called home on Sunday, December 29th.    He lived just long enough to cast his vote for Kamala Harris and died during a time to add a wrinkle to Trump's inauguration. 

The White House (President Biden) ordered the flags on the White House and other public buildings to be at half-staff starting at 30 days from Carter's death.   This period includes the day that Trump gets inaugurated into office.    Of course Trump was upset about this and threw a tantrum.   

A part of me wondered if Biden was being petty about the order knowing that the 30 days would also include inauguration day.   That day is set to be a pretty sad state of affairs.   Having the flags at half-staff does seem appropriate given the crazy that is taking over the White House again.   It may serve as a precursor of what may come over the next four years.   Will the United States survive another four years of his insanity?

He's been talking so much nonsense about having Canada become the 51st state, changing Gulf of Mexico's name to Gulf of America, taking over Greenland, and criticizing the handling of the L.A. wildfires.   It truly is scary that the majority of America chose to vote a convicted felon as president.  If he can be president, other convicted felons should be able to get lesser jobs.   In fact, all they have to do is utter the word "Trump" if a prospective job discriminates against them.

I wonder though if Trump will make it through his entire term.   I feel like they are setting the stage for J.D. Vance to step in and then all hell would really break loose.   All we can do is pray.

But back to what this post was really about.   It's celebrating the life of a great man who many say wasn't a great president.   However he was a better man who made a positive difference in many lives with the work that he's done with Habitat for Humanity.   Earlier today was Jimmy Carter's funeral at Washington National Cathedral.   I haven't seen any articles yet of any bad behavior but I'm sure those are still being printed.   But Mr. Carter is finally at peace.  

Two Odds Making It Even

 At the Church I attend there are two folks with odd behaviors that crossed paths and have coupled up.   I wasn't there when hints of their relationship first became apparent but thanks to COVID and the church's decision to continue "Facebook Live-ing" services long after the pandemic (5 years and counting...uggh), I got to witness the hints during a rewatch of a service.

Before I get to that moment though here's a brief snippet about each individual.   Norbit is the name of the first guy.   I believe he first came to the Church sometime in 2018 or 2019.   I can't remember exactly.   But Norbit has the habit of talking and talking and talking and not knowing when to stop.   At the time Dom and I were both actively coming into the Church together.   Hemingway poor Norbit kept wanting to hang out with Dom and I outside of Church and neither of us had the heart to tell him no.   Dom quickly threw me under the bus telling Norbit to get my number.  I reluctantly gave him my number but kept making excuses for not hanging out.   I felt bad but did not want to be forced into a situation I wanted no part of.   It took him awhile but he finally got the hint.   He also stopped coming to services regularly once he got a job at Menard's.

Theron is the name of guy #2.  He first appeared at Church around June 2024 at the Church's Pride Picnic event.   I remember he seemed pretty nice but had a tendency to overshare on things.    As it turned out, he had experience playing piano and there hasn't been a steady piano player since Dom stepped away from playing full-time after over 10 years being the main music man.    We did hire another guy a year or so after Dom stopped playing but he unfortunately did not work out and there was a vacancy for several more years that was filled with random muzak from Youtube that I as a choir member had to adjust to singing too.   Originally when Dom was playing piano there were three other regular choir members who one by one stepped away until only I remained.   Our good Rev inserted himself into the choir just before the third member left.   He tends to sing very loudly and is not that great.  Plus he selects the music and comes up with the oddest selections which I have to struggle to figure out live.    But back to Theron.

Theron offered to play for free on Sundays.   He does okay though we've gotten used to singing fast with Dom's playing.   Theron plays a lot slower.

So as I said I did not attend service the week Norbit came back to the Church.   Actually a month prior to that he appeared as well and I happen to not be at service that week.   But the week in question I couldn't help but notice that Norbit parked himself in the front row near the piano.   Theron sits in the front row as well whenever a muzak selection is playing or during Rev's sermon.   In the video I saw that Theron reached out to hug Norbit.   But Norbit didn't seem that receptive.

So the week after that I also didn't attend for whatever reason (I may have hooked up with Anthony that time).  I watched the playback later and Norbit wasn't there that week.   During the weekly "news to share" segment, Theron spoke up.   He basically was saying how much he enjoyed meeting Norbit and was looking forward to seeing him again.  That was when I realized something was brewing there and I remember Rev being at a loss of words initially on how to summarize what was said before calling for the next person to give their "news to share".

After that the two of them have been inseparable and have stated they've been at each other's homes.   They're an unexpected odd couple.    I have to say though I am glad that they found each other.   There truly is somebody out there for everybody.    I think the crazy tendencies the two have play well off each other.

During our board meeting, the Rev mentioned that Theron was asking for some money now for playing.   Part of me was wondering if Norbit put that idea in his head.   Besides he needs some spending money to date Norbit.   I don't know if Theron has another job or not.   But nonetheless it'll be interesting to see where things go with them.   Hopefully they don't drive each other crazy with their individual craziness.   

But at the end of the day, it's none of my concern.   I remember when Dom and I started dating how annoying some folks were getting when they were wondering where Dom and I were heading.   Some wanted to put the cart before the horse.   There were some that tried to plot against us.   But things wound up working out for us.

I wish Norbit and Theron well.

In A Detox Mood

 With the new year creeping in, I've been thinking that I'm overdue for doing a detox.   There was a time in the mid-2000's where I had done several of them over a few years.   I did a popular one called the Master Cleanse at least ten times.   The last time I did a Master Cleanse was in 2009 I believe.   I've done a couple 3-day juice cleanses in recent years that haven't been as intense as the Master Cleanse.

I'm thinking of doing a detox cleanse by Dr. Bobby Price.   I first heard about Dr. Price on Youtube when watching an interview that he part of by an investment guru Anthony O'neal who had him as a guest.

Dr. Bobby came across as very insightful about how unhealthy a lot of foods are.   He advocates eating a plant based diet.   Even the so-called vegan processed foods are not healthy either.    He shared his story on how he was diagnosed with high blood pressure and how plant based foods reversed it.   He also has his own Youtube channel where he discusses a lot of topics in relation to improving health.

On his website, he has a link to a 14-day herbal detox that I'm curious to try.   The detox consists of drinking two different 32-oz bottles of tea.   The first tea is called Tummy TeaTox and it consists of various herbs like dandelion, rhubarb, senna (which was the main ingredient in a tea I drank when I was doing Master Cleanse), and slippery elm.   The second tea is called Parasite Candida Cleanse and it contains herbs like neem, burdock, black walnut hull, and oregano.

From what I understand you basically steep the tea overnight and then you alternate drinking 2 oz. of one tea and then the other every 20 minutes.   While detoxing it doesn't look like they mention any dietary restrictions so it seems you can eat regular meals as well.

I'm still trying to research others who've gone through the cleanse.   I have read that it does help clear up a lot of accumulated waste in the system.   Some have said they haven't felt as hungry while on the detox and that it helped eliminate bad eating habits.

I may wind up doing a juice cleanse once more before trying the herbal detox.   The rub is since I have to commute to the office more, I would have to take my juices or tea with me to the office.   It also means that I would be going to the bathroom more frequently which is not good in my current role.   So that'll be something I'll need to navigate.   I've had to do the same years back with the Master Cleanse.  I will definitely blog about it depending on what I decide.

In other news my Dad's birthday is tomorrow.   He would've been 95 years old.   An interesting fact is that my Dad told Trina a year or so before he passed that his birthday was actually on January 4th but they mistakenly put the 5th on his birth certificate.   I'm trying to remember if he said that before.  But regardless of whether it's on the 4th or the 5th, he is still missed.   Happy heavenly birthday Papa!