Our electricity usage will change this year


It's dawned on me that our home electricity usage profile will change this year. On the negative side, we've decided to do away with our spa, a.k.a. hot tub. It's a Sundance Cameo 880. That's ~ 350 gallons of water that no longer will be maintained at 103 degrees F year-round, and pumps that no … Continue reading Our electricity usage will change this year →

LPT: Mental health


You want a way to feel like you're juggling too many balls to remain sane? Easy. Just schedule a major kitchen remodel, purchase of major appliances, job search, and surgical hospital stay to all happen in the same week.

Brex layoff + 7 weeks


Five: The number of rejections in the past week. Two: The number of round #2 interviews in the past week. Two: The number of round #3 interviews in the past week. Three: The number of my team laid off by Brex. Two: The number of my team who’s landed a new job. One: The number … Continue reading Brex layoff + 7 weeks →

Brex layoff + 6 weeks


Five: The number of rejections in the past week. Two: The number of round #2 interviews in the past week. Two: The number of companies that, after rejecting my application without feedback, asked me for feedback on their interviewing process. Two: The number of requests in the preceding category that I summarily deleted. Asking for … Continue reading Brex layoff + 6 weeks →

Brex layoff + 5 weeks


Six: The number of hours spent on one round #3 take-home test. Three: The number of round #1 (recruiter) interviews in the past week. Two: The number of rejections in the past week. One of them was from a company I was comparatively interested in. Two: The number of take-home coding tests in the past … Continue reading Brex layoff + 5 weeks →

Brex layoff + 4 weeks


Nineteen: The number of job applications in the past week. Twelve: The number of rejections in the past week. I was surprised by a couple of these. I checked all their boxes AFAICT and figured I'd at least score a recruiter interview. One: The number of round #2 interviews where I was totally mismatched to … Continue reading Brex layoff + 4 weeks →

Bluesky


I’m starting to like it. Overall it works well. It’s easy to block trolls, the multi-feed structure is sensible, and the default app is ok. I found one old Twitter friend there.

Brex layoff + 3 weeks


Seventeen: The number of job applications the past week. Seven: The number of round #1 and #2 interviews over the past week. Four: The number of companies that passed on me. Three: The number of job search sites I'm using. Otta, Indeed, LinkedIn. One: The number of companies with which I mutually agreed to disengage, after … Continue reading Brex layoff + 3 weeks →

“The Holdovers”, college, and not holding over


I just watched, "The Holdovers," starring Paul Giamatti and Dominic Sessa. It's set in a fictional boarding school, Barton Academy, located in New England. It's a great film. Bittersweet and funny and thoughtful. It gloriously manifests the look and feel of New England in the early 1970s, and American Cinema in the early 1970s. Just superb. The film's themes and … Continue reading “The Holdovers”, college, and not holding over →

I opened a Bluesky account to test the social media waters


Not sure what to make of it yet. I yearn for the good old days of Twitter when it was fun and not toxic. Those were the same days when social media generally was fun and not toxic. But those days are gone. Maybe this won’t amount to anything.