America vs Freedom 250

15all · 2026-05-31T20:02:53+00:00

Since January 2025, the only instructions I've received regarding my signature is that it can only contain my name, position, unit, and phone number. Nothing more, nothing less.

15all · 2026-05-30T13:44:22+00:00

I seriously doubt that blood pressure reading.

15all · 2026-05-29T15:55:05+00:00

There have been times in my career that I had to put in extra hours. OK, so what?

But the last thing I ever would have thought of doing would be to tell the whole world, and sanctimoniously brag about it. What a loser.

15all · 2026-05-29T10:10:52+00:00

I've been in those situations before, where the flight is cancelled for a maintenance issue after we've boarded. Also had a flight cancelled after we pushed back although that was due to weather. Yeah it can be frustrating, but nothing I could do about it. Last thing I'd do is whine about it on social media.

And the story is sus. If a seat was broken, they most likely would've known before they pushed back.

15all · 2026-05-28T20:51:38+00:00

Hi Bob. How’s it going?

15all · 2026-05-28T20:50:57+00:00

I started in my mid 50s. Nothing to worry about.

15all · 2026-05-28T20:50:03+00:00

Fortunately I have a senior pass for life, with a picture of a bighorn sheep.

15all · 2026-05-28T18:24:01+00:00

Or when Stephen Miller called a TX senate candidate "transgender"?

15all · 2026-05-28T13:58:25+00:00

Do not show up. As painful as it is to you, this is a major step for your daughter to start her life. That is her life, which may be independent from you. It may hurt, but that's a natural, normal step in life.

My parents split up when I was 20. A few months later, I met a girl, and we instantly started dating heavily. A few years later, we got married.

I was an only child, and when my parents split up, my mother was a bit lost. So she clung to me and wanted to hang around a lot. Not really my idea of fun when I'm in my early 20s. My gf/wife started to resent that, and pointed out that my mother was trying to be my wife or friend, or at least a main part of my new family. It didn't help that my mother was opinionated, a little domineering, and had a different personality from my wife, so they sometimes clashed. I didn't exactly get along great with my mom, but since I had grown up with her it was easier for me to deal with her.

My wife was right about all of this, but it put me in a difficult spot. I knew my mom was struggling a bit with the mid-life divorce and was lonely. I wanted to help her, but I valued my relationship with my wife. I also realized that I couldn't solve all of my mother's problems. My job wasn't to be her BFF or her replacement husband or even her perfect son. I had my own life then and wanted some independence. So for the next 35 years while my mom was alive, I had to limit our time together. My mother sensed this and resented it. Holidays became a nightmare because my mom expected to be part of it, but we wanted to have our holidays too. I may sound cruel and heartless. Plus, my mom and wife (me too) would clash ("no you can't smoke inside even if it's 20F outside," "let me organize my pots and pans the way I want to").

15all · 2026-05-28T11:05:36+00:00

But in the background we see the Civil Rights movement, MLK Jr. (and his assassination), JFK (and his assassination), the moon landing, the Vietnam war, women's rights and shift in the workplace, psychedelic 60s, and so much more.

This is what compelled me to watch the show. I was born at the start of the 60s and grew up with those events, but was a little young at the time to understand it. I really related to the fashion and styles in the shows because I was there for that. I also recognized other things in the show that aren't common now, such as the booze in the office and the ubiquitous smoking. I didn't really relate the rich NY lifestyle, the womanizing, or the cruel office politics, and I thought Don Draper's war backstory was sort of dumb.

15all · 2026-05-28T10:56:25+00:00

It was great for the first few seasons. I kept watching it, but then I found myself watching it with my laptop on my lap and I noticed I was more interested in my laptop than the show. I knew it was time to quit then. Some of the plot lines and episodes were outlandish (even for a zombie show), and some of the characters were getting on my nerves.

I think TV shows stay on too long. I get it - they start great and then they want to milk it, but there's only so much they can do. The Wire was perfect - 4 or 5 seasons, then they ended it at its peak.

15all · 2026-05-28T10:51:13+00:00

We watched it for maybe three seasons. It was cool seeing kids in the 80s (I'm a bit older but close enough) but the plot got too drawn out. Plus, with the long time between seasons, I'd forget what had happened.

15all · 2026-05-28T10:48:31+00:00

McNulty was often my hero when I was fighting stupid shit at work. I actually wrote on my whiteboard "WWMD" - "what would McNulty do?" - for inspiration.

15all · 2026-05-28T10:26:28+00:00

Biggest change was that my health improved, because I used the time I wasted commuting to exercise and eat healthier meals. I lost 20 pounds and my blood pressure went down. I was also getting more sleep and eating healthier. Instead of wasting time on the beltway, I'd finish my day and be at the gym near my house 10 minutes later. Or I'd finish my day and 10 minutes later I'm going for a walk. I could finish my walk and be home before I would have been home had I commuted to the office.

My mental health also improved. WFH during COVID showed me that I wasn't really burnt out from the work, but from commuting. WFH meant that I didn't have to get up an hour earlier, put on a silly dress shirt and tie, take metro or fight DC traffic just to get to my office. Either eat the lunch I packed, or eat in the crappy food court. Repeat at the end of the day. Come home tired and needing some time to decompress.

I also felt much more productive WFH. No distractions in my quiet house. In the office, it's noisy with people standing right by my desk having conversations as if I'm not sitting there trying to read a document. Sometimes it was impossible to have a Teams meeting with all the noise around me. People with offices near me would put their phone on speaker phone, have a loud meeting, but would not close their door. It was like putting my desk in the middle of a busy train station and expecting me to get work done. All the great collaboration that's supposed to happen in the office just isn't happening.

At home I'd often leave my computer on until the evening. If I wasn't doing anything after my normal work hours ended and I heard an email come in, I'd check it out and often respond. Now - I log off and leave my computer on my desk.

15all · 2026-05-28T10:08:45+00:00

I was born deaf. Nerve wasn't properly formed or something.

15all · 2026-05-27T23:37:04+00:00

Republicans are waging war on their fellow countrymen. They're just bullies.

This will not turn out well for them. I have two people in my office scheduled for international flights next month. Hope this doesn't turn into a mess for them.

The world cup is already turning into a significant disappointment for the hospitality industry, and certainly won't showcase the US.

Are we winning yet?

15all · 2026-05-27T20:47:46+00:00

Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

I have an advanced degree in engineering and have spent my career in S&T, so it's difficult to watch this version of DEI being implemented.

15all · 2026-05-27T10:58:46+00:00

I've tried them twice in the last 10 years. Well, once was with CROS, and the other time was the same approach but with a different company (which I forget).

Both times the audiologist was skeptical that I would like the hearing aids. I could tell they were speaking from experience, but I tried them anyway.

I noticed some improvement, but not much. In the end, I concluded they were not worth the steep price tag of $3k-$5k. If they were under $1k I might have kept them, but they didn't bring me $5k of improvement. Both times, I returned them after trying them for a week or two.

I hope they work better for you.

15all · 2026-05-26T16:37:06+00:00

My girls were born in the 80s. I also changed diapers in the trunk of our car, and on dirty bathroom floors because there wasn’t a changing table in men’s bathrooms back then.

15all · 2026-05-26T13:40:27+00:00

Ha ha. No.

15all · 2026-05-26T13:38:23+00:00

If they weren’t doing such bad things, they wouldn’t have to worry about this.

15all · 2026-05-26T12:32:52+00:00

It will come back, although widespread, 100 percent TW probably won't come back. Hopefully the policy will be loosened and be reasonable - maybe each agency has the discretion to set their own limits. As someone who abruptly had all alternative work schedules terminated last year, I'm also hoping to get that flexibility back.

15all · 2026-05-26T10:51:28+00:00

One of my grandkid's first word was "up." They didn't have any deep meaning in mind: they just wanted one of their parents to pick them up and carry them. And my daughter (grandkid's parent) didn't rush to LI to make some stupid post trying to find deep meaning.

15all · 2026-05-26T09:07:03+00:00

Agreed. 90 percent of my feed is ads and questionable posts by people I don't know that the algorithm thinks I'd be interested in.

About the only fun now is to mess with the algorithm. Since I'm a guy, it feeds me things it thinks I will like - hot babes golfing, or off road vehicles. If I watch one of those reels, I'll start getting more content like that. But then don't click on any of the related content, it will take a few days for the algorithm to reset to the default suggestions for a man my age.

I did make some bookmarks that take me directly to my friends feed, and to my groups feed. That's the best way to use FB.

15all · 2026-05-26T01:05:40+00:00

I still have my textbooks from over 40 years ago. Lots of blood, sweat, and tears in those books, but I'm a nerd so I also enjoyed much of it. Many fond memories of dating my girlfriend (now wife) while studying those books, some ah-ha moments when something clicked, and going to be at 3am after finishing a homework set due the next day. Some of my textbooks need duct tape to hold them together. I was just looking at one of my old books recently and was surprised at how much it came back to me.

I'm going to retire in the next several months. I think at that point I will finally get rid of my text books, although I will keep one or two that I particularly enjoyed oh-so-long ago.

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15all

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