Controversial hot take, I know... but in certain cases, normalcy and routine is the desired state. After a long weekend of family events, too many kids (of which most are my own), too many pets (of which roughly half are my own), and the house being drafty with the entire in-law clan and then some for the past few days, things are now finally back to normal.

Kids are in school, SO at work, and I'm in my home "office" (I use my bedroom), arranging the coming week. I schedule most things to "ot today" because now it's MY time. When picking up some supplies this morning I even bought one single beer that is for my lunch, and beyond that my work day will mostly be centered around waiting for various balls that are in other people's courts.

Anyone else who usually welcome mondays when they arrive?

...and I don't know which possibility is the least worrying

Not sure if this is a good post for casual conversation, but I think I figured out the source of my success and failures. Also, a disclaimer: I'm not a wise man. But at least I gained some wisdom recently.

Anyways, here it goes:
If you're wondering where you are and where you're headed in your life, I think this post might be for you.

Going with the flow is perfectly fine. Going with the flow and meeting challenges as they appear works. For the most part. They'll allow you to learn as you go, and pick up new things as you experience them.

But they won't take you anywhere new. At least not to something new that lasts. Something you could build upon.

And that's the retrospective part. I'm technically "older" while (in my opinion, at least) being far from old. Just now I found myself looking back at my life, and started thinking about what was, what is, and things that never were but that could've been.

In short, I'm now at a place where I am reasonably content with who I am and what I do. But there were always these avenues that never came to fruition. And I think it's because I mostly went with the flow my entire life. Because it made me happy there and then. And looking back, I have no regrets. It made me happy then, and it resulted in a lot of happy memories that required no personal investment beyond being present and submerging myself in whatever was going on around me.

And then there are the avenues that actually did result in something. These avenues, related to a career that is closely tied to my interest, turned out really fucking well. Earlier today I started wondering why. Why not any of these other interests that I have and once had?

Because what I currently do is built on the ONLY time where I actually gave a damn. Instead of just going with the flow, I pretty much decided. "No. I will chart my own path forward.". Going with the flow is fine. But it never resulted in anything, simply because it never resulted in actively pursuing what I wanted out of life.

So the obvious question then is: What would've happened if I had started actively going after one of my other passions? Well, I don't know. Maybe my life would've turned out completely different, there's no way to tell, really. The only thing of which I am sure is that if I had been as active and proactive in all of my interests is that I would've probably burnt out 20 years ago.

So in conclusion... going with the flow and reacting to things rather than taking the initiative is fine. But you need to take the initiative at some point. Before it's too late.

Do what you enjoy. Take one day at the time. And if someone tells you to "apply yourself.", take a look around and evaluate whether you should in fact do so with what you're doing, or if you should do so elsewhere.

I'm not sure if this rambling of a post makes sens, but if at least one person finds it helpful, then I've done what I set out to do.

Live long and prosper.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.nl/post/13434122

What are some interesting communities on Matrix worth checking out?

Title, pretty much. I'm in a couple of niche communities, and thought I should expa d into more generalized communities. All things tech are of interest, really.

Which communities are you in?

Title, pretty much. I'm in a couple of niche communities, and thought I should expa d into more generalized communities. All things tech are of interest, really.

Which communities are you in?

So, my employer suggested that it would be good for me, professionally, to get my certifications up to speed, and told me to pick a few that I found the most relevant at their expense. As I mainly deal with networks and Linux servers, and have done so for decades at this point, this was easy enough: renewing my CCNA that I took some 20 years ago, as well as getting my CCNP. The latter of which is closely related to what I already do.

However, my employer decided that I must pursue at least one Microsoft certification, and I honestly don't know where to start, as the only microsoft software I use is Outlook.

I've been thinking of my status as the walking embodiment of the "old man yells at cloud"-meme, and thinking it's probably time to turn into "old man embraces cloud". I know that a lot of our infrastructure runs in azure (something with which I have no experience. I did use some Oracle cloud VMs at one point, that's it.), and I know there was a huge ordeal last year that involved doing a lot of dataprocessing on temporary azure architecture, and I figure I should probably get in on that at some point.

Is perhaps something Azure related my best bet?

UPDATE: I was going to go for some azure stuff, but I resigned instead. Let's see if my new employer is willing to pick up the tab instead.

12 Years ago I had a Sony Vaio. I quite liked it. Then in my next job, 2017 or so, I went for a Toshiba Portege, and absolutely loved it.

Guess what the above two have in common? Yup, they stopped making laptops for the professional market. So now I'm a bit at a loss. Any recommendations?

Requirements:

• Lightweight and easy to carry around.
• 13-15" display, preferably
• Decent battery life
• It absolutely must have an RJ45
• Works well with linux
• Good keyboard quality
• ISO keyboard availability
• Touchpad. Bonus points if it has the touchpad buttons ABOVE the pad itself.

Summarized back story of this legendary beauty: When NZ was drawn into WW2, some heroes began thinking of armored defense. Bob Semple decided to make one, making this the best (and only) Kiwi tank ever built.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Semple_tank

The second part of the title is my own interpretation. I fly myself from time to time (Only recreationally, I have no plans on going commercial. I like my current unrelated career), and have been made aware of the medical requirements for pilots. While strict rules should apply, the regulations are outdated. I find it naive to think that there aren't any pilots currently flying with, for example, ADHD, and while that would in most cases in itself be a disqualifying diagnosis for pilots, it's even more disqualifying if it's medicated.

The video is about a compelling story and focuses mostly on mental health, but I feel that it hilights the same underlying problem; Pilots are incentivized to keep quiet about mental health issue due to an outdated approach because of a ruleset that basically states "No medication, no diagnosis".

And I know we're mostly atheists here, but please keep the theological discussion to a minimum and appreciate the lighthearted hypothetical scenario for what it is.

This is your annual reminder to do a snapshot (timeshift or whatever you prefer) before doing relatively minor changes to your system.

I was supposed to be in bed now, but instead I am stuck troubleshooting xorg refusing to start after an apt-get dist-upgrade.

And as far as friendly reminders go, I should've given myself an unfriendly reminder beforehand, as it's not the first time....

UPDATE: Fuck nvidia 545. All my homies hate nvidia 545. 535 4 lyf!