Sunset over Playa Negra, Vieques Puerto Rico

Spotted a large green iguana in the treetops by our VRBO on Vieques, Puerto Rico

View from a turret built in the 16th century to defend Castillo San Filipe del Morro from invaders

It’s family vacation time. E chose the destination (Hawaii) 2 years ago when she was a high school senior. This year it was T’s turn - she chose Puerto Rico!

One of my goals at work is Microsoft’s “Azure Solutions Architect Expert” certification. Unfortunately that certification has a prerequisite of the “Azure Administrator Associate” certification. After months of prep work, studying, and memorizing I am nowhere near able to pass that exam. Sigh…

Dementia really sucks. And TIL that it goes from bad to worse when mixed with a urinary tract infection. Extreme delirium and agitation leading to a heavily medicated hospital stay for my father-in-law. So difficult to watch.

I broke down and paid for an HBO Max subscription. I just had to get access to this season of “Hard Knocks - In Season with the AFC North.”

This whole NFL fandom thing is starting to get expensive. 🏈

A nice family night at the Aster Cafe in Minneapolis. Good music and good times.

In the stands for Steelers vs. Browns on Thursday night as the heavy snow came down.🏈

4 AM wakeup for a 7AM flight to Cleveland. All so I can sit outside in sleet and snow for tonight’s NFL Thursday Night Football game. I must be crazy. 🏈

Getting into the proper mindset before tomorrow’s Steelers/Ravend game. 🏈

Donald Trump says that “whether they like it or not, I’m going to protect” women. This comment is unfortunately emblematic of Trump and his supporters.

If women were the only voters, Donald Trump would lose in a landslide. If women stayed at home and left the voting to men, Donald Trump would win by a similarly large margin. There are good reasons for this gender gap, and this week’s “whether they like it or not” comment makes those reasons abundantly clear.

I am married to an intelligent and capable woman. I am a parent of two intelligent and kind young women. None of them need me (or anyone else) to force my protective arms around them “whether they like it or not.”

I work daily with many intelligent and professional women, none of whom need me (or anyone else) to protect them “whether they like it or not.”

I am friends with many intelligent and knowledgeable women, none of whom need me (or anyone else) to protect them “whether they like it or not.”

Women are just as smart as men. Women are just as capable as men. Women are just as aware of when they do or do not need protection as men. In fact, they are far more aware of what protections women need then men are.

This week I will voting to protect the women in my life. I will not be pretending that I know best about how to protect them. I will be listening to women, and believing them when they tell me who they need protection from. 

A significant majority of women are telling us that they do not need to be protected by Donald Trump. A significant majority of women are telling us that they need protection from Donald Trump.

I, for one, am willing to believe women. I, for one, will be voting against Donald Trump.

I hope that most of you - especially men - will join me and do the same.

I’m now several weeks into my effort to create a working CI/CD pipeline for Azure resources using Azure DevOps. And I’m nowhere near done. This shouldn’t be so difficult.

Bitsy and I took a lovely sunset walk along these banks of the Mississippi, at Crosby Farms Regional Park

Boats are out of the lake for the season. Let’s hope for some autumn weather now.

Stopped by the raptor release at Carpenter Nature Center today, and visited with a couple of the Raptor Center’s education birds

It was a great day to hike at Willow River State Park in western Wisconsin. The falls are just beautiful.

It’s new iPhone day!

Doing what I can to keep the flu and COVID at bay

The raspberries behind my house are popping like crazy - snack time!

Got to spend my birthday with 75% of the family, and with more than 100 other Steelers fans, watching a Steelers victory. Love my “Steelers Fans of Minnesota” people.

Seeing my brother-in-law’s band (the Maeflies) at the Aster Cafe in Minneapolis. It’s my first time out for live music in a while.

I finally went to the doctor for the knee pain I’ve been dealing with for weeks. Likely cause - torn meniscus.

Strangely enough it didn’t hurt at all - and even felt better - while hiking my 26+ mile Ultimate Hike.

I guess it’s back into PT for me. Hopefully it won’t need anything more to than that.

So now Trump wants to mandate insurance coverage for IVF treatment. This is something that will be unpopular with his party, although I expect the MAGA cult will ignore it.

For what it’s worth, the state of Minnesota has been trying to do the same thing.

My 2024 Ultimate Hike is in the books. We had good weather the whole way. This hike has raised more than $40,000 (and counting) for pediatric cancer research. Proud to hike with such phenomenal people, and for such a phenomenal organization.

My favorite place in Minnesota - Along the Temperance River near where it empties into Lake Superior.

Joe Biden looks pissed. Not at other Democrats who nudged him out, but Trump and his supporters. Go, Joe. Give ‘em hell.

My final training hike of the season - a shorter “taper hike” to keep the muscles active without straining them too much. Now I spend the week taking it easy, getting lots of rest, and avoiding too much crappy food. Next Saturday is the big day. Ultimate Hike on the Superior Hiking Trail.

I got my new Logitech MX Vertical mouse, and so far I like it. I switched to a vertical mouse about a year ago, after it was suggested during PT for an elbow issue. I was skeptical that it would help so I went cheap on the last one. Now that I know it helps, I spent a little more this time around.

Trump and his supporters continue to harp on Kamala Harris for avoiding the media. And while I agree in part - the Harris campaign wants to control their message for as long as possibles possible - I find myself wondering if anyone really cares about taking questions from the media.

When was the last time that media questions actually provided useful information to voters? Liberal and conservative media alike love to throw out “gotcha” questions to make the other side look bad and to get attention for themselves in the process. Who benefits from that?

This weekend we did our final long-distance training hike of the season - 18 miles at Minnesota’s Afton State Park. In less than 2 weeks we’ll be doing 26 miles on the Superior Hiking Trail, overlooking Lake Superior.

Our governor Tim Walz will be moving into the national spotlight. I wonder who will be depicting him on SNL skits. Will there be someone who captures Walz’ accent and mannerisms the way that Tina Fey nailed Sarah Palin?

Signed up for Quantum fiber internet for my home to (finally) replace Comcast/XFinity. I’m a little skeptical about Quantum’s customer service but it can’t be any worse than Comcast.

I’ve been wanting to upgrade to fiber for years. When Minneapolis contracted with USI for city-wide fiber many years ago, I was excited. Unfortunately there were a small number of city residences that were excluded, and mine was one of those.

16 mile training hike is in the books. 3 weeks until a 26 mile Ultimate Hike on the North Shore

3 weeks makes a big difference in my cardio conditioning. Hill training this week was at a slightly slower pace due to a slight change in route, but my average heart rate has dropped by 15 BPM.

3 more weeks until Ultimate Hike day!

My family really gets me 🏈

The final tournament of E’s softball career is over. The end of a 13 year journey. Happy for all the time I will reclaim without so many softball games to watch, but sad for this era to come to an end.

T celebrated her 17th birthday by hosting a fondue dinner party

Another week of hill training at Hyland Hills Ski Area. Walking up and down a ski hill - even a small one - is really no fun. But it’s an important part of my Ultimate Hike training. I’m at 9 laps now, hoping to get up to 12 or more before hike day in late August.

It’s way too early to know how the November elections will go. The shift from Biden to (presumably) Harris and its impact on voting is hard to predict.

What I can say with confidence is this: Young voter participation will go up significantly, particularly among young women. My daughters are seeing MANY friends who were unlikely to vote before but likely to vote now.

My daughter - who will be a first-time voter this year - just now came to me asking for help figuring out how to register. She will be part of the flood of young voters casting their ballot for Harris.

Thank you, Joe Biden, for restoring my faith in our system of government. Even if for just a little while.

Wrapping yourself in red, white and blue doesn’t make you a patriot. Leading chants of U-S-A, U-S-A doesn’t make you a patriot. Repeating words like “Make America Great Again” or “America First” doesn’t make you a patriot.

You know what does make you a patriot? Loving your country enough to set aside your ego in service of the greater good. Being willing to listen to the American people who have concerns about your age, and being willing to trust that the American people will vote for your successor if given the chance.

Donald Trump is not a patriot. He is a narcissistic egomaniac who routinely places his own needs over the needs of the country. He is a conman that will use everyone and anyone to feed his ego.

Joe Biden has shown us what it means to be a true patriot, and my respect for him has grown by leaps and bounds.

Whether his replacement on the democratic ticket is Kamala Harris or someone else, let’s all unite behind them to defeat the plague of Trumpism one more time. Hopefully for good.

Phase 2 of floor refinishing is done: Dining room, kitchen, and stairs were done while we vacationed up at the lake cabin. Now we just have to put all the stuff backk into this rooms.

Captain Amy drives to pontoon with first mate Juju

Juju the Frenchie says Happy Pride

The Minnesota River has risen so high - This is at the Old Cedar Avenue bridge in Bloomington.

Phase 1 of wood floor refinishing is done. Now we wait for 1 more day before we can move furniture back. Then it’s time to move more furniture in preparation for phase 2 next week.

I don’t normally work outside on the balcony, but when the house stinks of polyurethane…

I can’t speak to the specifics of the DMA, but the very nature of regulation that leaves anything open to interpretation is risky for a regulated entity. As a developer of regulated software, I would be flummoxed with a request (a) make sure I comply with the law, (b) account for the fact that the law leaves sone things open to interpretation, © I am expected to use my understanding of the law’s intent when interpreting the law, and (d) if I fail to correctly account for the intent of the law, then I will be heavily fined.

This weekend included a 9 mile training hike with a relative humidity near 95%. Definitely a sticky one.

Farewell Paxlovid, my Covid-fighting companion. While I hope we never meet again, I am comforted by knowing I can call on you again if needed.

Today I attended an interesting panel discussion about AI in healthcare settings, with a particular focus on the patient perspective.

Clinicians have grown used to patients who have self-diagnosed after a few Google searches. A large percentage of those diagnoses can be safely dismissed. After all, even the best search engine results are rarely a match for the training and experience of a good medical professional.

But what happens as AI increases the quality of patient research and self diagnosis? There is still significant value in medical expertise, but AI-savvy patients and their advocates can now do things like scan all available research and summarize in language that is understandable to a lay person. They can ask LLMs to suggest possible diagnoses for hard-to-diagnose conditions that general practitioners might miss.

Medical professionals are going to have to adapt to patients that may be more well-informed about conditions and treatment options than ever before.

McNamara Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota is such a great venue for small conferences. But I forget how sunny it gets in here. Should have brought my sunglasses.

The 2024 HL7 FHIR Dev Days conference starts tomorrow. It’s a really valuable event for those working in Healthcare tech. It alternates between the US and Amsterdam, and when in the US it moves around to different cities. Thankful that they chose Minneapolis for 2024 - No need to travel anywhere!

Made a quick visit to Minneopa falls during a break in the softball tournament action. Beautiful.

It was a happy ending to a tough week for my wife and the non-profit she founded. Great customer service is alive and well and companies like Nocs Provisions. If you are in the market for quality binoculars or monoculars, give Nocs a look. They are good people.

This past weekend’s training hike was a muddy mess at Richardson Nature Center, but we got through it.

Feeling a little nostalgic after watching “The Warriors” on Amazon Prime. “Warriors, cone out and play-ay” 🍿

Inaugural game of E’s final season playing softball was a bust due to rain-soaked fields. Sigh… Hopefully tomorrow’s weather will cooperate a bit more.

Congratulations to the PWHL Minnesota hockey team for claiming the inaugural Walter Cup last night. Women’s sports are thriving in Minnesota, and it makes me love my adopted home state a little bit more.

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Minneapolis - Got out for a 5 mile training hike with a few other Ultimate Hikers. Lebanon Hills is such a gem for Twin Cities folks to get out in nature.

I’ve spent the better part of the last 2 work weeks experimenting with Azure’s OpenAI services. Trying to figure out how well GenAI can understand clinical notes from a doctor and extract structured data. So far the results are … meh.

So close and yet so far away.

My first hill training of the season is in the books: Walking up and down one of the hills at Hyland Hills ski area. It’s relatively small as ski hills go, but it really works the climbing muscles and challenges the cardio. Started today with 2 laps - need to get to at least 10 by August.

Attending “MJ the Musical” in Minneapolis this week has rekindled my interest in Michael Jackson’s music. What a musical and entertainment genius he was.

Date night in downtown Minneapolis

My first group training hike of the season, preparing for my 5th consecutive Ultimate Hike on the Superior Hiking Trail. At Whitetail Woods Regional Park in Farmington, MN

I’ve lived in Minnesota for nearly 30 years, and despite many attempts to see the Aurora Borealis I had never seen them. Until tonight. I drove up to our cabin to improve my odds. Turns out they were visible from home in Minneapolis, but the view over the lake was spectacular.

If you are an NFL Draft fan, this time of year is very exciting. I like to keep track of the players who I hope get picked. That’s tough this year: I’m hoping for one of the top OTs and 3 of the top five this year are Fuaga, Fautanu, and Fashanu. Those names are way too similar for me! 🏈

I completed my first training hike of the season last weekend. I’ll be hiking 26 miles in one day in August to raise money for CureSearch.

If you are into hiking and you are willing to raise money for pediatric cancer research, you should check out the Ultimate Hike program. You won’t regret it.

My new (to me) desk sure looks spiffy. It’s been in my father-in-law’s office for decades and there was no room for it when we moved them into assisted living. I feel a little guilty for taking it but they are just happy it’s staying in the family.

I finally watched the full second season of Foundation on Apple TV+ - I had been underwhelmed by season 1 and season 2 was no better.

As a big fan of Asimov’s original trilogy, I remain disappointed. I don’t mind that they changed the story, but this feels like a completely different story. 📺

We took a road trip to go see Book of Mormon at the Paramount Theater in Cedar Rapids Iowa. Beautiful Theater.

Found this box while cleaning out Amy’s parents house - They’ve been using it to store cleaning supplies, likely since the 80s.

Back side of the yew - Where the house eaves rain down and the freeze, and where thw sunlight doesn’t reach in to melt.

Nothing like awaking to an awful smell coming from our basement laundry room, and eventually coming to the realization that a chipmunk had crawled into the exterior dryer vent, fallen down the shaft, and died in the back of our dryer. Ick.

It’s been a crazy week for Steelers fans. Bringing in not 1 but 2 high profile QB’s? Trading away last year’s QB and #1 receiver? This is not the way we are used to things working.

I had an interesting conversation with my 16-year-old kid about the potential banning of TikTok. She pointed out that her generation isn’t naive about the propaganda and manipulation that could come from Chinese influence over the platform. The problem for her and those she knows is that the propaganda and manipulation from American companies seems \just as bad, if not worse.

Tired puppy

Our house got egged last night - ick…

Any recommendations for how to get egg stains off of stucco would be greatly appreciated.

Going through my in-laws old tech gear now that they’ve moved into an assisted living facility. I’ve now got a functional but slow iMac from 2012. Any ideas what it might be useful for?

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear Donald Trump’s claims of immunity, despite the fact that most legal experts seem to agree that his claims are dubious at best.

The Roberts court will go down in history as the point where the Supreme Court lost all credibility. Today’s news accelerates our legal system’s descent into madness.

I am really struggling to understand how pro-choice absolutists can turn around and say they support IVF treatment. It seems that the Alabama Supreme Court’s comments about IVF are perfectly consistent with the belief that life begins at conception, and that all human life has God-given rights that need to be protected.

Is there any reasonable explanation for the apparent inconsistency between pro-choice and pro-IVF positions, other than the obvious desire for pro-choice politicians to avoid the unpopular position of being against IVF?

I’m not looking for the typical left-vs-right talking points either for or against abortion. I get enough of that from everywhere else. I am, however, looking for a rationale explanation of how one might align these seemingly incompatible beliefs.

No matter how low my expectations are for dealing with Comcast Xfinity customer support, they never fail to fall short. They seem to find new ways to treat customers with hostility every year. I guess that is how they choose to innovate.

COVID has once again made its appearance in our house. No fun. On the plus side, we’ve gotten really good at isolating one or another of us within the house.

Kid #2 passed her driving test today, so the wife and I are officially out of the chauffeuring business. As much as I have enjoyed the dad life for these past years and as much as I will continue to enjoy it for years to come, I will not miss the job of driving kids and their friends everywhere.

I wonder if all of these dudes who complain about seeing Taylor Swift at NFL games are equally offended every time the TV shows Jack Nicholson or other celebs at a Laker game.

TV broadcasts like to show celebrities in the audience. Always have, always will. Get over it.

Love the way the frost looks on the white pines at our cabin near Brainerd, MN

Very proud of my wife, who now officially runs a nonprofit organization called MYBirdClub. She’s always had a passion for bird-watching, and when our kids were younger she started a bird club at their school. She’s been taking kids out ever since, and now she can grow the organization bigger

The Netflix series “Queer Eye” is one of my guilty pleasures. I’m not a fan of some aspects, and it can sometimes be downright problematic. But its focus on the importance of self-care hits home for me. I need that reminder to take better care of myself from time to time.

I just went into an Xfinity store to return cable equipment for my elderly in-laws, who recently canceled their cable after moving.

I don’t like to stereotype, but I will: That place was filled with “tech bro” employees and it reeked of strong colognes. Very testosterone-ey. Kind of gross.

I just watched the movie CODA on Apple TV+, probably for the 5th or 6th time. It never fails to make me tear up - in a good way. All the feels, every time. 🍿

Watching the Chiefs vs. Bills game right now, and I’m reminded how much I prefer games that actually exhibit some defense. This back and forth scoring with neither team able to stop the other is so boring to me. 🏈

I’m glad to see Ron DeSantis end his campaign for the presidency. I’ve always seen DeSantis as being a more competent version of Donald Trump. They both are cruel and dishonest bullies. But DeSantis actually knows how to use the machinery of government to effectively implement his vision.

I’ve spent the last couple of years not making significant progress on a software application hobby project. The main reason for delays has been my lack of skills/experience on front-end development. I wonder if it is time to use AI tools that will generate a UI that I can modify as needed.

It’s that time of time of the year where my interest in NFL football is over. Still a few weeks left for some fans, but the teams I pay attention to have all been eliminated.

Now entering the “what will I do with all the time suddenly freed up” phase. That will only last a couple of weeks, but it’s always a strange feeling while it lasts.

We didn’t get the result we wanted, but we got more than 110 to join the Steelers Fans of Minnesota in Saint Paul for today’s playoff game. Time to start thinking about next season. 🏈

Glad we finally got a competitive game last night between Detroit and LA. It’s so much more interesting to watch when the result hasn’t been essentially decided by half time🏈

View through the ice crystals on my window

So far the NFL can’t be happy with the product on the field for “Super Wildcard Weekend”. Two games that weren’t particularly competitive, and one postponement so far. Hopefully tomorrow’s games will be a little more compelling to watch. 🏈

After postponing the Steelers/Bills game until Monday due to weather, there is talk of possible further delays. If it comes down to it, the NFL should move the game beforee delaying again: You can’t ask the team who eventually wins to play next week’s game on such short turnaround. 🏈

NFL playoffs are here today. Time to get all my other chores done do I can sit and watch multiple games this weekend. 🏈

Struggling with a Vizio TV that has a missing remote. It can be controlled via iPhone app, but I need to get it on the WiFi first. Unfortunately the 4 physical buttons provide no way to get to setup menu, and hooking up a USB keyboard didn’t work.

The look I get for interrupting Juju’s nap time

What better way to watch a Steelers win than with my kiddo - and gnomes! 🏈

Today we move my wife’s parents out of their home for more than 50 years, into assisted living. The new apartment is lovely, and I’m sure they will be happy there once they settle in. But today will be hard for them and the family.