What's going on in your life?

[Chucara]

Well. It's been a while since I posted, so here goes.

My daughter is 3 years now, and still awesome.
- She's picking up phrases from her old folks she really shouldn't. Apparently I say 'For Fucks Sake' a lot.
- She now refers to the Pastor in church as 'the sorcerer' as my explanation of how a baptism works included 'magic'.

My fiancee is pregnant again, due August 5 (soon!).

We should probably get married at city hall for now. Danish laws kinda sorta require you to get married in order for my fiancee to stay in the house should something happen to me. I just feel it's lackluster, but we don't have time at the moment for a wedding proper.

Got a new dog as well - a border terrier.

Oh, and a new job. Switch from Team Black (oil-sector) to Team Green (renewable energy-sector). Oh, and my new job also got acquired by a large British conglomerate. (Last time it was AVEVA, this time it's Centrica, which in turn is owned by British Gas).

All in all, life's pretty awesome. I'm spending most of my evening programming a smarthome system. One of these days, I'll get to the UV game I really want to make. But I keep changing genres on the idea.

[TK]

Awesome, congratulations Chucara.

[Dessert Ranger]

I'm new, so I never met you, but that sounds like all is going well, congrats!

[TK]

I love my three to bits but they are the path to the root of all madness.

[Rob]

Hey folks,

I got an email the other day with a security update for our old vBulletin forums, which made me wonder if the group was still around.
One short Google search later and here I am.

Some of you may remember me, some may not.
I haven't been around for the better part of a decade.

Since the last time I was active I have had a few different jobs.
These days I work for a high-profile Electronic Security Contractor with the mostly made-up title IT Network Specialist.
What it amounts to is working with secure servers and various surveillance systems in some VERY cool places (and a few not-so-cool places).

I've gotten married since the last time I was here. My wife and I are expecting our first kid this coming January.

Those of you that remember me, feel free to hit me up.

I do see a few familiar names here: Hoopy Frood, Turjan, TK, Chucara, and Doombot.
Hopefully you're all doing well.

[TK]

Wow hi Rob, it has indeed been a very long time.  Lots of life has happened over the last decade or so, the last seven have been particularly intense with starting a family right in the middle of financial crisis, buying a house, working some awful jobs to keep it all together and finally finding a job in IT working in the legal sector where my skills are appreciated and the people I work with are both competent and decent human beings. I manage my own support team and make most of the build decisions for our desktop environment which is a wonderful position to be in.

Good to see life is treating you well too.

[Rob]

That's awesome!

Currently my workload is a tad insane. I'm managing problem resolution with a client of ours. Stateside support has been largely useless, so I had to get their national management involved. If they don't perform at an expected pace I'm going to have to force them to escalate to the software engineers that built the software to begin with.

Then, simultaneously I'm supposed to build out and execute an elevator dispatch system that ties in with our security software.

I vaguely recall what free time was. Heh.

Grats on getting an it job, man!

I was in a similar situation for several years where I was vastly over qualified and grossly  underpaid, then this job came out of left field.

Funny enough, all I want now is an IT job closer to home. I've had enough of Seattle to last me a lifetime (or two).

[Gretchy Anklekicker]

Got myself a third cat - a Maine Coon kitten - a couple of months ago. It just got 5 months old and weights now 7.2 kg (15.9 lbs).

Finally became shodan in aikido (black belt, 1st dan) last Sunday.

I'm also graduating as a practical nurse this December specializing in working with handicapped people. I used to work earlier as a software developer for almost 19 years. My future salary will be only half of the salary I had in my IT years, but I'm happy that I decided to quit my earlier job a couple of years ago. I've come to conclusion that I value my mental health more than money and also working with the handicapped people feels very rewarding in itself.

The attached photo is from my current work practice place - a school for handicapped children - where I brought the kitten for the children to see one day.

[Dessert Ranger]

Cute Kitten

Also congrats on your advancement in Aikido and good luck on your Nursing job, hope it goes well!

Got myself a third cat - a Maine Coon kitten - a couple of months ago. It just got 5 months old and weights now 7.2 kg (15.9 lbs).

Finally became shodan in aikido (black belt, 1. dan) last Sunday.

I'm also graduating as a practical nurse this December specializing in working with handicapped people. I used to work earlier as a software developer for almost 19 years. My future salary will be only half of the salary I had in my IT years, but I'm happy that I decided to quit my earlier job a couple of years ago. I've come to conclusion that I value my mental health more than money and also working with the handicapped people feels very rewarding in itself.

The attached photo is from my current work practice place - a school for handicapped children - where I brought the kitten for the children to see one day.

[Loveshack]

(Also, I wish loveshack were here to read this)

That explains the chill that ran down my spine seven months ago.

[The Hanged Man]

Currently 122 pages and 38,000 words into my first book.

Doing my second year at work, taking on more responsibility now, going into more classes. It still feels odd.

[A.S.S.R.]

...And the bungee cord snaps back.

It's been a numbing week, having gotten another birthday out of the way and receiving the final sign-off on my PhD.
The degree will be officially conferred next month, and I'll be briefly assuming a postdoc role while hunting for a "real-world" industry position.

All of this a few days after losing a friend and many acquaintances in the Oakland Ghostship fire, consoling other friends who were saved by running only a few minutes late.

I'm presently weighing my options on whether to remain in the Bay Area, or even the US, in the long-term.

Strange times.

- A.S.S.R. (Deathclaw in the V13 days, for the lifers)

[Hoopy Frood]

Congrats on the PhD.

Sorry to hear you had friends in that fire. I'd be curious to hear the opinions of those who were affiliated with that community as to their take on the whole fiasco, though it's probably a bit too soon for any involved to be in the mood for that sort of thing.

[A.S.S.R.]

Congrats on the PhD.

Sorry to hear you had friends in that fire. I'd be curious to hear the opinions of those who were affiliated with that community as to their take on the whole fiasco, though it's probably a bit too soon for any involved to be in the mood for that sort of thing.

Emotions are still raw, and the investigation into the cause is ongoing.

That being said, concerns had been raised about that space for some time as a live music venue.
I've never been there, as people running many of the events I'm typically interested in had blacklisted it.

Many artists who run these events or spaces have day jobs as electricians, sound engineers, technical staff at conference centers etc., so there's often a reasonable standard enforced.

Unfortunately, a number of prominent spaces have been closed or gone silent over the past year, as gentrification creeps into remote Oakland and SF neighborhoods.
New bars opening in Oakland have absorbed some of the load, though more obscure events have been pushed to shadier places.

[TK]

I had pretty much the worst birthday of my life,  our little dog had cancer, we've seen how horrible the treatment is so we were taking care of him until he started to refuse his food, cry at night and most heartbreakingly became very snappy with the children over Last week. Saturday was the last day we had all together for a while where we could give him a good day so he got chicken, beef, ice cream and a day at the beach before we took him to the vet at sunset, this is just before 4pm in Scotland just now, I held him as he went and we looked at the sunset. The only good thing is that I know I was there to help him with a dignified passing.