Mandaris

This one was pretty easy to write.

5. What is the most memorable job you’ve held?

The most memorable job that I’ve ever held was working at a company called Unify. It was a small company that had a long history of products.

It was during the time that I was working there that I met my wife, got married, and had children.

The company had moments of boom and bust and it was the people there that made me want to stay. Ultimately, we had a bust quarter and I learned the hard way that a business is a business.

I was laid off with a number of other people.

I still feel it sometimes. The loss of identity as a provider for my family - especially at that age - echoes in a lot of the things I do and never in a good way. The friends that I had when I worked there do contact me occasionally, but it’s definitely not the same.

I thought this was going to be a happier post.

This one was pretty easy to write.

4. What woman in your family do you most admire and why?

I admire my wife the most. She is the glue that keeps our family together. When I hit rock bottom, she stuck by with me.

I don’t like to think about where I would be without her.

The road to Hell is paid with good intentions. History is filled with examples of people doing things with the most noble of intentions only to find out that they made things worse.

This episode embodies that to the fullest.

This is a flashback episode where we get to see what happened on Brendok. And, yes, nothing good happened there and you cans the tension rising every scene as we all see our characters marching towards disaster. As everyone is trying to do The Right Thing.

After thinking about it for the last couple of days, I have to say Choice is a great title for this episode. As we see our characters make one choice after another, whether it’s take the time to think, seek information, or take action. Every time we do something we actuate who we are and what are values are.

In this Disney show we are seeing what happens when people are tested and what choices they make in a universe where the boundaries of what is good and bad are not easily defined.

I’m eagerly awaiting the conclusion!

This one isn't as heavy as the previous two answers.

3. Why do you like your favorite restaurant?

My favorite restaurant is Red Lobster.

It’s not because of the cheddar biscuits or the wonders of what they can do with fried food.

It’s because it’s the restaurant that I introduced my girlfriend-now-wife to my parents.

I had this image that even if things went bad, I would at least have a decent meal.

It went well and every time I drive past the location, I think of it fondly.

I woke up goofing off today and was rewarded by seeing the YouTube video of an announcement trailer.

I joked that it was going to happen before the release of Apple Intelligence.

I really enjoy how Leon steps us through the journey of setting up self-hosting as well as giving us his reasons on why he's doing it.

Well, if I was going to do this at all, it was time to do it for real. I decided to set up my own code hosting properly this time, complete with CI/CD runners, all hosted under my own domain name.

Leon even includes some price breakdowns, design diagrams and links to get some more information.

Don’t have time to read the post? He also has it narrated in his wonderful Australian accent.

I really recommend that you follow his RSS feed!

I'm continuing with the series by Lou Plummer and trying not to get too worked up over the format of the posts.

2. On what subjects are you outspoken and on what subjects are you mostly mute?

I read the prompt and thought about the times that I would shout out about how pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza. I feel that pineapple is too sweet to be on something that so savory. The juices from the pineapple spread throughout the pizza and you can’t separate it the same way you could with other toppings like mushrooms or olives.

I’ve even gotten in a couple discussions on how pancakes are better than waffles because of how many varieties you can find in different cultures around the world.

But no one has heard me speak out about the genocides that are happening. Do you know what my stance is on climate change? Health care? How about workers rights?

No, I don’t think I’ve used my website for any of those.

Even though they effect me, I go about my daily writing and web surfing feeling that “those bad things are bad and I’m sure we’ll all get through it some how.”

I feel that’s ultimately the issue.

When it comes to being outspoken, I find myself using my inside voice.

Lou has put together a nice list of writing prompts on his website. It seems like a perfect time as I was looking for something to write about.

1. A road trip you’ve taken that was memorable

I remember the first trip that I took with my children to Disneyland. My wife and I drove through the night in a rental car with two sleeping kids in the back. Both of us taking turns driving and trying to find our way through the darkness of a long drive.

I don’t remember all the stops but I remember getting to our hotel early the next morning to find out that the room that we had reserved had been given to someone else so we had to move to a room that a smoker had used the day before or try to find another hotel.

A lot of bumps before we even got to the park.

But it was worth it to see the girls having such a great time.

I have pictures, but not enough and the memory fades day by day.

I only have the feelings left.

I wanted to get familiar with the characters again before I watch the latest iteration coming out tin a couple weeks. And it was just as fun as I remember it.

It’s a lot of crude jokes and over the top action.

I’ll watch it again when the next one comes out.

Overview

The origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who, after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.

Violence is nothing new to The Boys series. It’s one of the more pronounced aspects of the show where the Supes demonstrate that their extraordinary abilities. Some of the more notable deaths are people being blasted by lasers, having their heads explode, or literally having someone else run through them at high speed.

Just like a horror movie, I’m able to take this and just enjoy it. It’s not like an alien is going to jump out of my chest, or a demon is going to invade my dreams and kill me in my sleep.

Another thing I realized when looking at this episode is that the murders are all methodical. These are not crimes of passion, escalation of tension, or incompetence.

That’s when it gets really scary for me.

In the world of The Boys, you could always get killed just from being a bystander. In fact, the pilot had someone being murdered for stepping off the curb. This episode shows someone who is hurt specifically because they are passionate about something they believe in.

I had to sit with that for a little bit.

I really, really enjoy the show but with all the things going on with the world. I had to take a little break before going into the next episode.