Yes, it’s been a while.
I’m not sorry. Okay, maybe a little.
Gotta be honest with you folks, been fighting a little depression lately. I know, I know…depression and periods of social inactivity is kinda my MO. But I’ve also been very busy. And being busy and being depressed isn’t a recipe for posting on here.
For those wondering, no; my recent depression wasn’t brought on by anything. Well, nothing in particular. It’s been kind of a reaction to LOTS of things, honestly, too numerous and insignificant by themselves to warrant discussion. So we’ll leave that there for now.
On to better things!
My wife was selected for a promotion, which is awesome and well-earned. It’s a huge step for her and one I look forward to her accelling at. It means she’s moving to Tacoma, though, so that brings its own stressors. This is nothing really new to us. As a military family, being separated for long periods of time is just part of the deal we both signed up for when we married. I genuinely think our relationship is the strongest it’s ever been, we are financially secure (not wealthy, but securely upper-middle class), and we’re really on the same page about our future. Also, this may be the easiest period of living apart as we can fly pretty easily to see each other as necessary to maintain our strong relationship.
I traded in Ares, my 2015 Ram 2500 Power Wagon. It was an amazing truck but 86,000+ miles and not taking as good care of it as I should have led to the decision it was time to move on. So what did I replace it with? The Mustang I’ve always wanted? A Hellcat? Maybe a Tesla? Nope. I bought a 2021 Ram 2500 Power Wagon 75th Anniversary Edition. Yeah, once you live life with an amazing capable truck, it’s really hard to go back. I’ve named it Noctem Borealis (roughly translated: Northern Night), pseudo named as an opposite to Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights). While it’s not the truck I would have custom ordered, the few changes have not kept me from being very happy with the purchase. Power Wagons are just awesome machines.
I’ve been working on building an RSS feed for Buzz Out Loud. You might be thinking, “Isn’t that an old podcast from CNET that has its own RSS feed?” Well, yes and no. It is an old podcast (2005-2012) created from members of the CNET staff, but the RSS feed has been long broken. Many of the original episodes were lost to history until a couple fans, including myself, did the digging and found them. And now we are working to re-release them in their original form and order so that the show may continue to live. We are also updating many facets of it so it can searchable and used as a timepiece for the mindsets of tech journalists from the time when so many great tech stories were really coming into their own (the original iPhone and Kindle, for example). All the details on the project can be found at buzzfeedarchive.com with links to all our resources and status updates on the project itself.
Speaking of Buzz Out Loud, the first podcast I ever listened to by the way, I have recently signed on as a Production assistant for Daily Tech News Show hosted by one of the Buzz Out Loud creators, Tom Merritt. I’ve been a fan of his work, both in journalism and novels, since 2008 and working for him has been a real imposter syndrome study in action.He has really assembled an amazing crew for that show and I am ecstatic that I can now count myself as part of it.
On a more personal note, I received my second COVID vaccination today. Our family has been very fortunate to not have been directly afflicted with COVID-19 during this pandemic. To say that I am grateful would be an extraordinary understatement. To any of you who’ve lost loved ones, I am deeply sorry. I’ll save the finger pointing for another post, but know that you have my deepest sympathies for your loss.
Okay, on that dreery note I will end this update. More posts to come, more photography (including some great Aurora Borealis pics from a few weeks ago), and more project/work updates coming soon.
Stay safe,
DBD/DBAD/DFTBA
-Amos