Some days it feels like the fabric of the world is unraveling. But, you don’t have to give in and tear at the fraying edges. You can be one of the stay stitches, helping to hold things together.

It is relaxing popping off to work over an hour late. It’s the antithesis of the last 9 years, full of early risings. The attitude for today: “I’ll get there when I get there”.

Not idea just about anything that was sung at that halftime show. But, still, what an amazing show.

I’m on my own again today. The sun is shining. It’s a perfect day to go out and do things. *steps outside and gets promptly blown down the block like a stray grocery bag* Nah, I think I’ll sit this one in…

Look chat, Imma be real: I was this many years old when it finally clicked how thematically appropriate the song “Devil in Disguise” is in Lilo and Stitch. It now has me questioning whether that was the underlying reason for the Elvis/Hawaii theme/setting.

It’s been hard hearing messages from folks as they find out I’m leaving, telling me how much they appreciated me, what I taught them, how I helped them, how much they think I helped keep things stable and sane. A couple have shed tears. More than a couple have said “what the fuck?”

Look, I know I’ve been rocking elements of the butch lesbian aesthetic for a while, and that my voice is thin and high, but today is definitely the first time I’ve been “ma’am”ed. 😆

The plus side is that I’ve still got some time before the cut is final—I’m still getting another paycheck. And, the union’s also going ham about this. But, it’ll be a pyrrhic victory if there is one. I’ll hang on in solidarity, but I’m also going to work on closing out my tenure, and looking.

Whether I am directly impacted or not, going through a round of layoffs will never be anything other than stressful. Being “safe” may mean still getting a paycheck, but it also means losing colleagues, picking up the slack, and being made to feel like all the hard work was for nothing. 😐

Pretty fancy for bachelor chow. Grocery store was out of the giant bags of kibble.

I’ll be real: I like Winter. I like snow (at least when I get to play in it, at least). I like not sweating like a pig when I’m merely walking around. I like the seat warmer in my car. I like my footed sleepers and fleece pajamas. I like my hoodies. I like mittens. I like coming in out of the cold.

“Oh yes! If Da Vinci were alive today, he'd be eating microwaved sushi, naked, in the back of a Cadillac with the both of us.” A joke at the time, because WDYM you’re going to microwave raw fish and rice? But, damned if I didn’t just see an NHK program where they’re working on it… from frozen.

Work life is still frenetic, but I see tiny glimmers of hope that the seeds I have planted—for trees in whose shade I will not sit—are starting to sprout. One of the teams that I have been heavily supporting is starting to take some of those tasks that I’ve been doing, and standing on their own.

What’s the industry look like for devops these days? I spent 25 years of my career doing devops as an adjunct to SWE, because none of those companies had resources for a separate inf team. Last 2 years, it’s practically all I do. Should I just give up SWE and pivot? It’d make me unhappy, but…? 😅

I think back to the person who told me that I had to have grit and stick-to-it-ness. Little did they know just how much of both I have to keep waking up and doing this thing day after day after day without any particular recognition or reward.

How many people do you think are singing The Beatles’ “Doctor Robert” this very minute?

I appreciate that low-tech individuals can use LLMs and agents to build solutions without the need for traditional software engineering. What I don’t appreciate is the crowing about it, and the conflation of their vibecoding as on par with—or better than—said traditional engineering.

Finally had the occasion to watch “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. Very good. I definitely slept on it for way longer than I perhaps should have.

A winter storm is coming. The people of the land scurry to buy what little provisions they can before preparing to hunker down and brave the worst storm in years… The husky and dragon (in unison): “We should make a lasagna! Let’s go shopping!”

I am inexpert at my words, but honest in my intentions…

Happened to watch PM Carney’s Davos speech on a recommendation. While parts of it sounded like a sales pitch—maybe that’s what countries are at Davos for?—it was light years ahead of what my country’s own leader spat out for 90 minutes.

Played Exit 8 this evening, courtesy of PS Plus pulling my Yakuza game. I expected some fuckiness, but I did not expect the jump scares. I think I might have legitimately wet myself—as hard to prove as that might be. 😅

Share a bird pic you took. “Birds trying to get by in the cold, cold city…” Makuus, 2026

Yet another work day where the place I *intended* to end up and the place I *did* end up were miles apart. And, for every task I worked on, it spawned two more, like the heads of the hydra. This combination burns out the dragon.

I started playing Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, courtesy of my PS Plus subscription. Alas, it’s being pulled today, for whatever blinking reason. So, I went to see if I could get a physical copy—I shy from digital-only—and see prices are through the fucking roof. WTF? 😕

🎶 Well… You know you make me wanna (Rawr!) Kick my claws up and (Rawr!) Throw my wings up and (Rawr!) Throw my head back and (Rawr!) Come on now (Rawr!) 🎶

I’d like to think that there are a lot of people who would otherwise have a solid moral compass. And yet they insist on being in the presence of a lodestone comprised of pure hate and ignorance… 🤷🏻‍♂️

One of the supporting documents to my review was an unredacted version of this screengrab. Last year was *busy*. (It also shows an unfortunate situation, where I end up bypassing the PR process, because PRs sit for days, weeks, and even months, despite reminders and pleadings…)

I’m getting so many pathetic emails from the “Trump Kennedy Center”, the likes of “America’s Cultural Heartbeat” or “55 Years of the Arts”. No. The *Kennedy* Center was a seat of American culture, for over 55 years…

🎶 Those were the days… 🎶 (Before you ask, I couldn’t get more info on who attended, because the group no longer exists. 😢)

I received three notices of eligibility for COBRA coverage last week—that none of my coworkers have received, even those on a spouse’s insurance—and have an uncharacteristically-early meeting with my boss this morning. 95% of me: Sus, but probably fine. 5% of me:

“If I could work my will," said Makuus indignantly, "every idiot who schedules meetings the day annual reviews are due should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!"

Happened to catch Peter Gabriel’s new single, “Been Undone”, this morning. How is his voice so nearly unchanged after over 40 years? It’s like I’m listening to him from “Plays Live”.

“Like, how are you both moist and dry in the same moment?”

First day back to work after two weeks away: one with the stress of Christmas, one very sick with the flu. I didn’t get anything done in my personal life that I wanted to and now I’m back in the bullshit that is this job. Already I’m chasing down cost anomalies, and alerts. This is hard, y’all…

You know, of all the things I’m going to miss of MAGFest this year, it’s getting the hoodie. I’ve gotten them now two years running and they are the most comfortable things.

The Huskbando: LOL, Dragon… I think you’ve had too much to drink… Also, Huskbando: *proceeds to teach me the Circle of Fifths on a melodica after noodling with it for a half hour* 😆

The only words of wisdom and comfort I can give are these: Start small. Start near you. Your friends, your family, yourself. Keep them safe, and healthy, and—as best you can—sane. Encourage them to do likewise. Work outward from there. You don’t have to fix the whole world.

How I know I’m feeling better: dinner is more than soup and bread…

Down with the flu with the huskband. He had it worse before we hit the clinic, while I took my sweet time getting there. I seriously doubt we’ll see the ball drop, probably for the first time in over a decade. I’m deeply saddened not to be spending it with friends, but will surely get over it.

The *one* time in the year when I get time off longer than a couple of days and we’re both sick. I am so fucking angry at the universe for this. I deserve so much better and demand a fucking do-over.

Halfway through my vacation, with the stress of Christmas behind me… Of *course*, I would get sick… 🙄

The Laughing Gull’s top-shelf stock. 12 years and older and/or sippers. Mostly rum, but some scotch. Fritz, the Keeper of the Stores, stands guard.

“Who out there has invulnerable nipples?” @hobbituscaesar.bsky.social

I’ll get it right someday… But, today is not that day.

Merry Christmas! 🎄🎁

The subtle pleasure of a yearly tradition… 😋

I always think of two lines as justification whenever I catch myself doing something weird like facing the shelves of a store I don’t work in, or going the extra mile at an already-thankless job: “The standard you walk by is the standard you accept.” “Leave things better than you found them.”

I despair of the just-so worlds that so many people are desperately trying to create. Woefully-naïve Puriteens. Morally-bankrupt True Believers. Sociopathic Technocrats. Each one—among many others—believes that Paradise is just around the corner, just out-of-reach because the world isn’t just so.

The most unrealistic part of Severance. A flip phone that lasts for well over a week—maybe two—on a a single charge. #spoilers?