Udemy Classes - Learning Git

Just finished my first Udemy Certificate of the year.  I had started this particular course last year but ran out of time to finish it.  So maybe not my first first course of the year, but I shall call it that.  I enjoyed it, was simple enough to do, and the instructors made it easy to follow. 

https://www.udemy.com/course/learn-git-by-doing-a-step-by-step-guide-to-version-control/

End Year Trip

Took my wife to get her license renewed today at the only DPS office in the area that wasn't book 3 months out.  Texas can you please fix this super broken system that forces people either to plan months in advance and HOPE nothing happens in the mean time or just return to the walk-in system that was used before.  I had an appointment scheduled and I was out of their and back on the road before my appointment time even hit.  Whats the point of setting the appointment if we are just going to be done way ahead of time anyways.  I will note that the staff was super friendly and got us taken care of quickly which was nice.

From there it was a much needed trip to Winstar to just have some time to ourselves even if it was for a few hours.  With everything going on in the last 2 months time away from everything was needed.  We didn't take much with us, just playing on a small amount of cash and having fun.  I actually did pretty decent winning a few bonuses and a mini or two, going home with $50.  I have done better and I have done worse, all in all it was just a lot of fun.  We did end up trying the Neon Pig which was one of their new BBQ spots.  Was actually pretty good and I discovered that I really like Carolina BBQ.  Finishing that up we headed back home to Texas.

Last stop for the afternoon was a local card shop to look through their card box sets.  I had bought Amber a Pokemon 151 Elite Trainer Box for Christmas along with a binder to store said cards in. We had wanted to look into finding a store that could buy the duplicates she didn't need.  So we settled on Collectible Cards and Games in Flower Mound.  I have been to resale shops before like Movie Trading Company or Gamestop, but this was a different experience.  It was a small shop, but it had more than I could have imagined finding in such a small space.  They had systems and consoles both new and used, systems I hadn't heard of since I was in high school (which is 10+ years ago now).  I found boxes upon boxes of trading cards and I started looking through them picking out favorites and cute cards.  Before I knew it I had a collection of nearly 40 cards and realized I needed a binder to store my newfound interest.  We left with this, another binder for Amber and the Ultra Premium 151 box.

Holiday Wrapup

Round number God only knows what to keep a journal of what happens in my life from day to day so that I can one day when I am older look back on it and remember.  I will fail early on I am sure, I made it through 2 days last year, but who knows maybe this year will be a little different.  This year is already off to a weird start, we won't be having the typical New Year's meal of meat pies and black eye peas.  I can remember having that for a lunch on January 1st for as long as I can remember, but Grandma didn't feel up to it or something.  I think age is really starting to catch up with her and the amount of work that she does for the holidays.

As discussed many a time in 2022, I wanted to propose to Amber as is the typical tradition and I wanted to come out to my family or at least my mother in the new year as not to screw up the holidays.  I went to lunch and with the encouragement of Amber to "rip off the band aide" planned to come out to my mother who was going to be the hardest one of all to say this too.   I made it through most of the lunch fine, debating doing it there in the restaurant or out in the parking lot so she could leave it all went south.  I hadn't really realized how much it weighed on me until I noticed how tight my chest was and I am a usually really easy going and chill type person.  I paid for the meal and headed to the car, somewhere in the back of my mind thinking this might be the last time I speak to my mother for months if not years to come.  I stood at the passenger window and took a deep breath and asked her to listen to what I had to say and leave her comments for the end because I wanted to get it all out before she said anything.  Another deep breath and I knew at this point because of what I had just said that I couldn't really take anything back or escape now, it was time to rip off the band aide and get it out.

"I want to start this year off with honesty and so it is why I need to let you know this no matter what it does to our relationship. I have known this since middle school, right around 7th grade that well I am gay, that I prefer women and have no interest in men."

I paused and waited for her response and was actually genuinely surprised when she more or less shrugged and replied she kind of figured as much.  I can't really recall if I was more dumbstruck or just relieved that she didn't go the ultra religious disowning me route.  From there it was rather smooth sailing, adding that I would be probably be getting married later that year in June to Amber, explaining that while Amber was not homosexual herself but asexual and had chosen me for her lifetime partner.  There was a few more words spoken and a hug before she left to go to the movies and I headed home less panicked because my mother didn't hate me and immediately disown me.

New Year 2022

Started a new book review chunk, or well I will be.  I made the template to write some of the reviews in.  I think I added some new images as well.  Yep just checked the history, I added the dalek snowman image and a few from xkcd.com.  xkcd is mostly just silly comic book type stuff which should give you a bit of a giggle.

I am glad Amber decided to have her parents over, it was a pleasant time and kept everyone merry and bright.  Wish we could have had longer together but sometimes fun times are cut short.  Amber is enjoying some Game Grumps compilation video in the background.   One of the two is shouting uncontrollably, the other laughing like a giggly little bitch.  You know how those two are.

But I guess this is the first letter of the New Year of 2022 I get to write.  I enjoyed writing these throughout the month of December and thought I just might have to continue into the new year.  They will be sporadic and random, never making much sense I am sure, but its fun for me and helps me keep in touch.

Working From Home

Work has just started and I can hear Amber playing Animal Crossing in the living room as I "work".  Not that there is really much work to be doing currently.  Amber's cupcake was delicious, nice and wet and moist. Overall the night was pretty peaceful, which was good.  Did get to join an impromptu WebEx for Morgan Stanley, so that was fun.  But now it is time for sleep so off I go.

Christmas 2019

Merry Christmas!

                                                  
Well I think that pretty much says it. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family and extended family.  I will get to go do that this weekend since we adhere to the will of my grandmother in this family.

Work was pleasant, nice and slow, got to chat with David which was nice.  And Steven was able to help me finish getting the certificates completed on the new site.  We have moved out of https://files.silverfyre.info and I have moved to my new test bed https://hooplalabs.net.  She is a beauty and I made her 😉  Okay yes I know it sounds silly, but I take pride in my work sometimes and this was a wonderful new idea for myself.  It has my projects as I am working on them.

Christmas Eve 2019

Merry Christmas Eve!!!!!!!

I really hope that Amber enjoys her presents, I know they weren't on her list, frankly I am not even sure if she will read the big illustrated copies of Harry Potter.  But I think they are gorgeous and maybe one day she will have some reading time and can enjoy them.

But!

I loved my gifts so very much.  I will have a nice and toasty blanket to now keep me warmer at night.  My comforter I have now is pretty darn old and just isn't the same anymore.  I will need to change my sheets before I use it because while I am clean they are not.  And the shirts were oh so very comfortable, so I can start wearing those as well.

Weirdly tonight has been super slow with not much to do.  They figured out that today's earlier issue had nothing to do with our internal teams and was a automated job that borked on its own.  Okay maybe possibly related, but they should have fixed it not us, not our script.  And the whooping one chat question was for 2FA, which is mostly run by another big team not us, which means not much I can do, and even little most teams are going to do on Christmas day.