2026-04-11 12:00:00
When I said these would be occasional, I meant it!
Spring has sprung here in RVA. The pollination is upon us and everything is covered in a gold-colored dust. Ugh. However, now that the threat of a serious freeze is done until November, I can pull the camper out of storage. I will be spending this afternoon de-winterizing the camper and hopefully checking off that all systems are working properly. Our first camping weekend of the year is in early May.
I got to spend a few days in Chicago for work in March, which was fun. We were hanging out in Buddy Guy's Blues Club and Buddy himself popped in to do a couple of tunes. I think he does that fairly regularly, but it was still a thrill to pay $16 to see some local blues band on a Sunday night and to get an appearance by Buddy at no extra charge.
The world continue to be a complete shit show, mostly due to the leadership of my country. Sorry friends outside of the US. I'm coping mostly by focusing on making my very local world a better place. I can't fix the world or the US, but I can make a difference in Richmond, VA.
I'm in the final turn of my Virginia Master Naturalist training. I have really enjoyed going to class every Tuesday night. Not only am I learning a lot about the natural world, I get to hang out with 30+ other plant and nature nerds. After working from home all day, I need that little bit of real human interaction. I've still got to pass the final exam (not worried about it) and turn in my final project, which is actually already done. May to July. I'm also training in a couple of weeks to certify homes as bird friendly habitats. I need to find a non-bird related project to work on too. I could easily do all my volunteer hours on bird related projects, but I want to use this opportunity to force myself into something new.
The zine linked above is not the only application of what I've learned. Last weekend I ripped out the plants in my front bed and replaced them with Virginia native plants. The front row is Dwarf Iris, the yellow flowering plants are Golden Ragwort, and the two evergreens in the back are Shamrock Inkberry. 7 days after planting they are all still green, so hopefully a good sign that I didn't kill anything planting it.
Before
After
I even have a few links.
Two blog posts about the value and importance of physical media hit my radar this morning.
Ephermal Media
How has lack of ownership changed art
Michael Hartley shared his experiences as a juror on a cold case rape case.
Sort of related to something Andreas wrote about in his linkdump yesterday, The Art of Asking Why wrote about how they are using AI to edit and polish blog posts. Unlike some (many?) in the Fediverse, I'm not anti AI. AI is inevitable, and I'd rather keep up with what it is doing and not stick my proverbial fingers in my ears and sing la-la-la while I pretend we can put this genie back in the bottle. We can't. The business models are incredibly problematic right now, but there are open source models you can run locally. I experimented with that this week, and it was fine, but much slower than online. Maybe I picked a model that was too much for my aging computer. Techdirt has a very interesting take on AI in proclaiming that it might be our best shot to save the open web.
And finally, and also from Techdirt, how attending the latest No Kings rally was a life-affirming experience.
Remember, in a world where you can choose to be anything, you can choose to be kind.
2026-04-05 12:00:00
As part of my Virginia Master Naturalist training I need to create something (presentation, demonstration, etc.) I made a Zine.
2026-03-28 12:00:00
DrupalCon was in Chicago this year. I arrived Sunday morning and after connecting with a couple of coworkers we hit a nearby Irish Pub where I was able keep an eye on the Purdue game as we ate. I attempted to go for a walk in the afternoon but it was right around freezing with a bitterly cold wind coming off the lake. I made it about 2 blocks before meeting friends at the hotel pub seemed like the more sensible idea. After a team dinner me and two coworkers headed to Buddy Guy's blues club, where we enjoyed a local blues band and a surprise appearance by Buddy Guy himself.
Monday was training day and I wasn't doing any training or optional industry sessions so I mostly worked. Efficiency was marginal as the in-room WiFi was useless, so I worked down in the lobby of a conference hotel where I knew hundreds of people. But I did get the stuff done that I needed to do done, leaving me free to focus on the conference. The conference kicked off at 4 PM with the opening reception, where I was on booth duty. That evening I took a couple of coworkers to the Billy Goat Tavern where we had steak sandwiches and chips (no fries!) and several rounds of Old Styles. I gave them the full Chicago experience, LOL. Also, I'm apparently the dive bar guy now, so I'm responsible for dive bar night at all future conferences. As someone (not me) might say on LinkedIn, I relish the opportunity to bring my coworkers meaningful cultural experiences and I deeply appreciate the trust they have placed on me with this mission critical responsibility.
Tuesday was day 1 of the full conference experience. As I do every year, I circled some sessions I wanted to attend, then missed them all as I was always in an interesting conversation when the session was starting. They are all recorded so I'll catch up over the next weeks, err months. As always my brain was completely full after a day of talking with so many smart and interesting people.
Tuesday night was the big gala celebrating 25 years of Drupal. I've been a part of the Drupal community for half of those 25 years. Given the price of the gala at $125 a person, I thought it was a sit down dinner event, especially since the company bought a table. Instead it was a fancy happy hour. There was plenty of food, so I didn't go hungry. One of the food options was Barbie tacos. Now, all tacos are good tacos, but these things were perfectly sized to fit in Barbie or Ken's hand. I imagine they used tweezers to add the filling to the taco wheel. After the party I went back to the room and bed as I had to get up early to lead the 2nd annual DrupalCon birding expedition. Wednesday morning 7 people met me at 6:45 AM to go birding. We watched common song birds in Grant Park and got good looks at Red Breasted Mergansers and Horned Grebes on the lake.
Day 2 of the conference was the same as Day 1. Lots of interesting conversations, with 2 days on the conference floor starting to catch up with me, or at least catch up with my back. There did seem to be more optimism and energy than in recent years. That is saying something given the year most Drupal agencies have had.
Wednesday night we had an invite only party for customers, prospects, and friends of the company at a speakeasy. After that we retired to the hotel bar, where I lasted 1 Guinness before retiring for the evening. This is my third consecutive DrupalCon where I didn't see midnight. 10 years ago I saw sunrise on the way back to the hotel once.
Thursday was go home day. I started by birding again, because it was a beautiful morning. After that, I packed up and worked from the lobby for 90 minutes before heading to the airport. I was worried about the security lines at Chicago Midway, but in typical Drupal community fashion, there were Slack threads with airport line updates from those who had left earlier. It took me 3 minutes to get through the pre-check line. I'm typing this on my phone on the flight home.
The conference was at the downtown Hilton, and I must say it was my least favorite DrupalCon hotel. As mentioned earlier, in room WiFi was useless. Also, the prices were stupid expensive. I grabbed a diet Coke from the shop in the lobby and they charged me $8. My expenses were covered, but that kind of captive pricing just offends me. So every morning I made a one block walk to Dunkin' for coffee and a donut instead of of overpaying for a coffee in the hotel. Screw them.
DrupalCon next year is in Orlando. I'm already looking forward to it. But next up is DrupalCon Asheville in July, followed by Drupal GovCon in August.
2026-03-15 12:00:00
Thoughts in the calm before the storm.
RVA is in the category 4 storm warning zone for tomorrow. 70+ MPH winds, 1-2" hail, and tornadoes are expected. All the schools are closed. The church preschools are closed. The commercial preschools are open. It's not safe for a 16-year-old to be in school, but it's fine for the 16-month-olds. KinderCare is publicly traded with a PE firm majority stockholder, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with the decision to open tomorrow. They'll probably close at 3 PM and kick the teachers out of the building as the tornado is bearing down on the building.
Purdue won the B1G 10 tournament. I did not see that result coming. I know I'm supposed to not care about college sports, but tourney time sucks me back in every year.
Also, I'm very much looking forward to the Dominican Republic vs. USA game tonight. I'll be rooting for DR. That lineup is crazy loaded.
Master Naturalist training is ongoing. I think I've completed my field trip hours, although I'm going on at least two more because they are so interesting. I've been thinking about how to fill my volunteer hours. I think I'm going to get trained to certify homeowner yards as bird-friendly with the Audubon Society. That'll be fun. I owe at least 40 hours a year, and I'm thinking I want to spread it across two main interest areas. My problem is I'm interested in everything. I'll definitely do something bird-related with at least half my time. The other half I'm still working on.
I'll be in Chicago for DrupalCon North America next week. On the weird chance that someone reading this will also be there, shoot me a message, and we can try to meet up.
This weekend was a pretty great weekend. I started Saturday (Pi Day!) morning by birding with some of my fellow naturalist trainees before our field trip started, where we learned about the invasive species removal efforts in the James River Parks system. Saturday afternoon we watched Purdue beat UCLA to advance to the Big 10 Championship game. Saturday evening I had a date night with my wife at the local pub. Also, I ate pie. Twice. This morning my wife and I went out birding, and this afternoon was book club day. I made soda bread to share for book club. And this evening is DR vs. USA baseball on TV.
It's going to be a crazy next two weeks with me trying to get two weeks of work done this week so I can not be working from my hotel room at midnight during the conference.
Remember, in a world where you can choose to be anything, you can choose to be kind.
2026-02-22 13:00:00
It was 60F (15C) yesterday. It's going to start snowing in a couple of hours. I am so over winter.
I think this is only the second weekend this year that I have not worked at least one day. I probably should have been productive today, but instead I ranked Tesla's albums. I also added some more records to my in-progress list of albums I was listening to in 1986.
A couple of weeks ago, I took 3 days off so we could attend the Hammock Coast Birding Festival. In looking at my billable hours forecast for the month, I'm going to end up working 100% of my hours. Does a vacation even count if you just work all the missed hours on weekends or at night?
Virginia Master Naturalist training is ongoing. I'm 5 weeks into my 13 weeks of classes, and I attended a 3-week field trip on James River Geology yesterday. I'm learning a lot, having a lot of fun, and hanging out with like-minded, environmentally focused folks. Next weekend I'll be learning abut oyster shell recycling and participating in the effort.
Last night Michelle asked me if we are officially crazy birders now. I'll let you be the judge. We drove 90 minutes RT to spend about 30 minutes standing in a field trying to observe the mating ritual of the American Woodcock. The male bird starts chirping after sunset, and if his chirp attracts a female, he then flies 300 feet up in loopy circles before dropping back to earth like a lead balloon, taking control of the drop in the last few feet to a perfect landing in the spot he left from. I saw and heard at least 20 of the birds, but seeing a plump brown bird 300 feet up after sunset is tough. Impossible even.
Also, yesterday was the 39th anniversary of the day I met the girl that would become my wife. To say her initial impression of me was "meh" probably gives me too much credit. The story is here.
Reading
I'm currently reading Dungeon Crawler Carl, the story of a guy and his ex-girlfriend's cat that survive the alien destruction of the earth and get sent to the dungeons. Except this dungeon is a reality show in which the surviving humans are thrust into the role of dungeon explorers in a universally (literally!) popular TV reality show, where almost all of them will die. So think The Running Man, with D&D style dungeons and monsters. I also greatly enjoyed Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz, which is a novella in which a restaurant robot realizes he has been powered down for 5 months in the independent state of CA, and that he and the rest of the robot restaurant crew need to make some cash to pay off their lease before they get sold into slavery in the US, of which CA is no longer part.
Listening
I haven't bought any new music since the last occasional update. I find it impossible to browse the new release section every Friday on YT Music, as I assume any band I don't recognize is probably AI. I likely need to track down some music blogs to follow.
Watching
I've watched far too much Olympic curling. We also finished up season 1 of ST:TNG. We also watched Sinners, which was fabulous, and the Hitchcock flick Notorious. I'm sure there was other stuff, but I've already forgotten it.
And that is all I have for now. I'm barely keeping up with the blogs I want to read, let alone cataloging links to share.
Remember, in a world where you can choose to be anything, you can choose to be kind.
