Nothing. As far as I know he’s still there. That company was a raging dumpster fire.

Ah Manage Engine. Lots of full featured products that are roughly 75% complete.

The kind of place where “backups” means playing Russian Roulette with one set of old ass tapes, if you’re lucky.

Guy in my department strolls into my office and says, “Welp, this is probably my last day working here.” I asked him why he would say that. He sits down and shoves his phone across the desk toward me. I start reading and it’s an email from him to the CEO complaining that our boss is, in so many words, a complete fucking moron.

I finished reading and was just like, “Yeah, you shouldn’t have done that.” I mean, he wasn’t wrong. I agreed with basically everything in his email. He was also right about it being his last day working there because he was fired that afternoon.

"And on the third day, there was a wedding in Cana. Jesus’ mother was there. When the wine was drunk, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘We’re out of wine.’ ‘Bruh… That’s a big yikes. But why do I care?’, replied Jesus.

Jesus mother instructed the servants, ‘you just do whatever he tells you no matter how stupid it sounds.’ Jesus sighed and turned to the servants saying, ’ Okay. You see those jars? Nope. Not that one. The big ones. Yeah. Those big ones over there. Go fill them up with water. All the way up. Then take some of the water and give it to the host."

The servants were more than a little skeptical but shrugged and did as they were told. When the host of the wedding feast tasted the water, it had become wine. And the host exclaimed, “Damn! That is some good shit. Where did you get that from?” And the servants were amazed because they knew from where the wine came.

And the servants implored Jesus, 'Do it again! No, wait. Can you make something stronger this time?"

– The Gospel According to [Skibidi] John

I’m an American but I remember talking to a gentleman from Belgium years ago while visiting Muir Woods. He said something along the lines of, “You all have some of the best national parks in the world. You should be very proud of them.”

That conversation gave me a new appreciation for our national parks. We are fortunate to have some pretty amazing scenery in the US.

Private equity spent most of the 90’s destroying Montgomery Ward and Eddie Lampert held Sears/KMart under the water until the bubbles stopped so he could cry to anyone that would listen that the retail business was failing while he made a fortune selling off the company’s real estate.

Weeee weeooooo weeeoooo eeeee wahhh tick tick tick tick

I prefer the council/manager scene myself, although that’s probably less common.

Manual transmissions are operated almost entirely by “feel”. Once that sinks in, it’s a lot easier.

If you can, go find a quiet street, parking lot, or any place with an incline. Practice stopping in the middle of the incline and taking off without stalling. Don’t stress out when you inevitably stall. You will and that’s ok. If you can master starting on a hill, you’ll find that the rest of it comes a lot easier.

With the transmision in 1st and your foot on the brake, release the clutch very slowly until the engine starts dragging just a little. Slowly take your foot off the brake. You’ll know the clutch is in the right spot if it keeps you from rolling backwards. At that point, start to accelerate and let the clutch out slowly. Continue to accelerate and up the hill you go.

Don’t hesitate to hit the brakes at any time if you feel like you’re going to roll backwards. Better to stall than to roll back into someone behind you. Depending on the gearing, you may be able to start in 2nd and that will keep you from having to worry about shifting in the middle of the hill.

Don’t panic. Learning is good. If someone gets upset with you because you’re inexperienced and stall out then screw them. They should try to remember what it was like to learn how to drive. It just takes practice, practice, and more practice.

That’s still a thing although it’s a dated practice and I only ever see it in very specific formal situations (wedding invites, obituaries, etc.)

I’ll have to show this picture to my toddler because what will happen is she’ll get excited and say, “Daddy, I see moon! I see moon!” It’s so cute.

Nice shot(s)!

Shot myself with a BB gun when I was a kid. Not intentionally. I shot at a tire filled with concrete because I was being an idiot and it didn’t occur to me that the BB would ricochet off the tire. I would have shot myself in the face if not for my left middle finger being in exactly the right spot. I still have the scar as a reminder.

Remember kids, BB guns are firearms and firearms deserve respect.

I’ve had a Phillips Sonicare for years with no complaints.

Not so much what I did as what I didn’t do. I was picking up a birthday cake for one of my kids and I was standing in line behind a lady who was obviously doing the same thing. Based on her appearance and the fact that she was fumbling through her wallet while on the phone with the bank, I got the sense that she was a little short on cash.

Something told me I should go ahead and pay for her cake. I could easily afford it so why not? For whatever reason I chickened out. I don’t know why.

I left there with my kids birthday cake, feeling very ashamed of myself. It was a small thing and yet to me it was a serious moral failure.

Got-dangit!

“Softly” by Gordon Lightfoot is one of my favorite songs. On the surface it appears to be about a woman but I don’t think it is. I was listening to it one time when it just popped into my head, “Holy shit. He’s talking about the moon.”

I thought about writing him to ask if I was right and I kind of regret that I didn’t while he was still alive. The man was a poet of highest caliber. If you like or can at least listen to folk music, the album “Gord’s Gold” lives up to it’s name.

Knees are overrated.

Headlines a short time later…

“GOP Proposes Banning Sacrificial Death Miracles”

AP News - Decrying the seemingly miraculous events of last week as “blatant socialism” and, rather ironically, “part of the woke agenda”, house Republicans have introduced a bill that would make sacrificing ones life altruistically a felony. When asked how they planned to prosecute the rotting corpse of the accused were the bill to pass, House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged the steep uphill battle, stating, “we will leave no gravestone unturned when it comes preventing ordinary Americans from having God-like benevolence and generosity forced upon them against their will.”