My sister had a work conference this weekend and we’re sitting Pippa the pup. I’m a huge fan of animals but the amount of work involved with a dog is pretty big. I’m more of a cat person in part because cats are like furry houseplants with legs. Don’t get me wrong, I aspire to dog ownership but it’ll happen if any when I get some property that they would have room to run on. But even then you don’t get to travel much unless they come with you and I just don’t know if I could do that.

In much sadder news, Keli’s mom Claudia passed last night. I’ve been in tears thinking about what Keli must be going through. The older I get the more omnipresent death appears to be. It scares me because Sandy has yet to lose a parent and I have yet to lose the hard one, mom. You try not to think about it but it’s going to happen, there’s no way of avoiding that. Keli has handled her mom’s passing with such grace, I’m hoping that I can be half as together when I have to go through it.

I just walked Sandy out to her car and kissed her goodbye and for the first time in my adult life, my SO has a real job and I don’t. I’m not sure how I feel about that but it has caused some soul searching and I don’t believe it will take me that long to find a job but I’m still figuring out what I want to do. I feel I’ve lost my spark and direction in computers, don’t get me wrong I still love them and can’t imagine doing anything else but I need a direction. I’m certainly tired of HR and HR related software. Oh well, I’m sure something will turn up when the time comes.

I’m really proud of Sandy, this job represents the pinnacle of her career in both compensation and prestige. Ask anyone who works in skilled nursing facilities who state is and it strikes fear in their hearts because of the power they have to shut down substandard facilities. And they serve a very needed purpose which is to keep these places professional and their patients safe and comfortable.

I’ve got painting to do and then flooring and other home improvement efforts to undertake and some contract work to cleanup the last dying Taleo instances that will keep me entertained until my future because clear.

As the years drift by and my body tells me it’s getting older by triggering pain receptors in various points and parts of my body, my thoughts are increasingly turning towards the inevitable end. We’re seeing peers die, a close friend of mine (Tony) has been dead a year and a half already. We lost two female members of our graduating class to cancer in the span of a day a couple of months back.

And of course watching our parents age is an incredibly eye opening and horrifying realization of what’s to come. It’s playing on my mind and recently more heavily and pervasively. To the point I look at my cats and almost tear up thinking of a horrible day (hopefully years away) that I’ll have to say goodbye to them for the last time.

So in this pensive state I’m considering the process of dying. I mean that starts as soon as we’re born but I’m now more concerned about the actual transition between living and dying and then what’s after that. And the thing I’m stuck by most is that I don’t think of believe that there’s anything after. Death is the end, the body dies and that’s it, there isn’t a heaven or hell, there isn’t anything at all. It’s horrifying that this life and all the lessons learned are gone.

But it’s been like this forever, we created religions to ease the scary thoughts of what happens after passing. I’ve started planning for my eventual passing so that it’s going to be easier on those left behind. I think that may help in my anxiety on the subject, hopefully.

So it seems that Oracle has changed the amount of time your data is available after contract end for Taleo. Prior to September it was 60 days, after the change in fiscal year it’s now 30 days. This (of course) has thrown a wrench into a lot of works and seems to be facilitating a surge in the need of TCC integration folks. Think of it as the last rays of sun before it sets behind the front range of Colorado, it’ll be dark soon.

What this means for me is that I get to dust of Sarondy LLC and do a bit of contract work, maybe. I still have yet to see the SOW I’d be contracting under so we’ll see how that all shakes out. This would be a new one for me and I do understand the pitfalls of being responsible for taxes. I’m hoping to set it up so the company bills and receives payment and then pays me for the work. I get paid and the company makes money. I could technically end the year with a profitable company!

It’s been 9300 miles and even though the truck said I still have 23% on the oil I changed it. I think 8k is the sweet spot. The oil was extremely black but then again it was last time too. This time there were only a couple drops spilled. That was from the removal of the plug. The oil filter plug was a game changer on the filter change. Not a drop spilled with that. I still have to install the FASS fuel filter when the heat breaks.

I interviewed today for a position as a contractor doing TCC stuff. I’m happy I have the LLC (Sarondy) because it’s a 1099 position but I’d have to get insurance which is something like $50 a month for 1 million. I’m still thinking about it.

Today is one year and a day since I left ThinkTalent. It’s time to get back at it and find a company I can run with for the next 10 years. I’m going to do the Azure for data analytics & administration and devops.

I’m working on putting the racks together for a storage solution and I thought that the Member’s Mark storage totes were the same as the two HDX totes I had, they weren’t and didn’t fit in the rack properly. So I went to Home Depot and got the HDX and they still didn’t fit properly. But it’s close enough and works for me.

Did a pedestrian 10 mile bike ride this morning. We were going to go to Dallas and do the Katy trail but some research showed that eBikes were to be turned off for the ride and that didn’t seem like much fun so it was just around the mall and hood.

Also got the knobs for the tub and the project is now done done. Well there’s probably the caulking that needs to be done but the plumbing is done.

I did get the storage rack put together and in the closet of the office. It looks like I can fit 12 27 gallon storage totes in there, I’m off to Sam’s club tomorrow to get the totes. This is exciting because it should allow for indoor storage of pretty much everything I’ve got. That means things will be clean enough to get started and finish the things I wanted to get done.

After purchasing a three handle replacement faucet, then getting the wrong single handled one, then getting the right one with a plate to hide the extra holes in the tile and finding out it didn’t fit. We ordered replacement stems and we seem to have fixed the issue. All we should need now are a couple of replacement knobs and I’ll call it a success and that should allow us to start with the master bathroom remod.

Also got the rack for the office closet but I’ve run out of steam to do anything with it. I got the garage organized and put away the tools from the last trip. Pulled out the blower and cleaned up the alley and back & front porch. Plumbing done. Filled up the Xterra and did tires and checked oil. Got milk and bagels. Watered the front plants. I feel there should have been more done considering I’m at 12k steps, 145 minutes and 684 calories. But I’ll take the progress and be thankful for the day and be hopeful I get another chance tomorrow.

The household maintenance task that I abhor the most is plumbing. There’s just nothing easy when it comes to plumbing. Case in point: Today, I set out to fix the leaky faucet in the main bathroom. First thing to do is take off the faucet knobs, well the one that needed to come off would not come off. To the point I went out and got a puller from Harbor Freight and the brass broke off in the knob. Then we got the 3 handle new faucet only to find out they are out of code. Don’t want people scalding themselves when the toilet is flushed. So we’ve got one of those ready for pickup and will return the other. There’s a plate that covers the other holes and we’re up to code if we need to make it a rental.

The issue with the racoon is ongoing. I resolved yesterday to trap him and pulled out some beef stew as bait and sure enough he got trapped. But his huge ass just basically walked right out of it. We’ve got it on video. Going to need a bigger trap for that one.

Got the tires on the truck rotated today. I don’t think that I’ve ever done that on a regular basis but we hit 7k or so miles since we put on the new shoes so it was time.