Having lunch with some old CACI friends today out at OTB. 😃#

Positivity and creativity.#

My ideal workforce re-entrance would be to utilize my acquired knowledge to help solve a company's technical problems. I am very good at finding the right tools for the job, even if it means learning the tool initially before using it. My current passion is using Python to create scripts that work with data, including web scraping and data cleaning.#

I've come to the realization that my "retirement plan" is really not working as I had hoped. I've chewed through more money than I anticipated, mainly due to not changing my lifestyle. I also was "forced" into early retirement when the company I was working for got sold during the summer of 2020 to a larger company who was just buying customers. I did try to adjust to their way of working, but I pissed off the CTO when I caught him lying about something that I had given them correct information about. It took nine months, but they finally made up some bogus crap and forced me out in June of 2021. I was really in shock, as that had never happened to me during my entire career. I spent the rest of that year feeling very lost and not sure what to do. Plus, it didn't help that I was 68 years old! The following year, I did a fair amount of consulting/contract work, but my main customer's company got sold, and I was out in the cold again. I've spent the last 18+ months learning about AI and large language models and have become pretty well-versed in the subject, but now I need to market myself. I'm looking mainly for remote contract work.#

Another bitter cold day today, but at least the snow that surprised us at evening rush hour yesterday has moved out.#

Frigid cold air is in the burgh for the next couple of days!#

Just got access to Deepset Studio. Going to dig into how it allows you to build AI apps on top of Haystack, which I just discovered over the weekend. Also want to take a deeper look at Scrapy and its web crawling/web scraping platform. All built with Python.#

The Steelers-Ravens game last night went about how I expected. It's time to make some real changes instead of paying lip service.#

Attending my grandson's youth wrestling tournament this morning.#

Today is even colder than yesterday! I can't wait for spring! 😠#

Another disgustingly cold day!#

I'm really interested in Dave Winer's newest editor, WordLand, which he is creating on top of the WordPress API. His goal is to allow writers to work in a very easy-to-use web-based editor that will have its own API and be able to update their WordPress blogs and also have the same content pushed to other platforms like Mastodon.#

It's a cold, snowy and windy day. I'm over winter already!#

Positivity and creativity! 😊#

We're having a Snow Day!#

Not only was the weather cold last night, but so was the Steelers' play against the Bengals. So much for going into the playoffs on a winning note.#

Going to be really cold for the Steelers-Bengals game tonight! 🥶#

We're getting some snow this morning and throughout the day, maybe 1-3 inches. Good day to explore Microsoft's new parser called MarkItDown.#

Cold weather is rolling in for the next few days! 🥶#

Happy New Year!#

This past year has been a very challenging one for me personally, as well as for my friends and family. For the last few decades, I have had 5-year "plans" that I use to change up my life. The last 5-year plan started in 2020, and you can imagine how things just became harder for me and those around me. Tomorrow, I will be starting a new 5-year "plan", and I'm feeling very confident that my life will be full of abundance and joy, along with hopefully reconnecting with old friends and acquaintances. Positivity and creativity are my goals!#

Happy New Year's Eve! 🎉#

Last Monday of 2024!#

Had a great time at Phipps Conservatory last night!#

"Civil war has broken out within the MAGA Republicans" - Heather Cox Richardson#

Really looking forward to going to the Phipps Conservatory to see the Holiday Magic celebration.#

Tesla is replacing my daughter's 2021 Model X Low Voltage Battery this afternoon. It's kind of funny that an electric vehicle that uses a massive battery to run the driving requires a normal 12-volt battery to run everything else. #

One of my goals for 2025 is to write a lot more on my blog, both about my personal life and my technology loves.#

Today is the second day of the 12 Days of Christmas! I remember as a child, at around age 10, we celebrated Christmas and Hanukkah throughout the neighborhood at different families' houses. It was a very peaceful time with lots of joy and laughter.#

Seems to be another issue with my Groq spell checker. Have to look into it once I get back from doing some errands.#

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I'm looking forward to the new year!#

Merry Christmas! 🎅🏻#

Merry Christmas Eve! 🎅🏻 🦌#

At this time of year, when it gets really cold, the field mice start coming into our house. Last year we caught a record 6 mice, and so far this year we have caught 3. 🪤#