I waited a little bit to post, but that big Amazon layoff last week… Yeah, I was a part of that.
It wasn’t entirely unexpected. Recently I’ve been in a spot that was clearly an uneasy fit at best. So I assumed when there was another round of layoffs coming, it would probably include me.
But more generally I’d say Amazon and I have been drifting apart for years now, return to office has been a slog, I really wasn’t having a good time any more, and of course I’d been there just short of 20 years, and that is just a long time to be in one place. So maybe a change isn’t all that bad in the end.
I’ve got some runway before things become critical, so I’m choosing to take the optimistic view and look at this as an opportunity. First to just take a little time and decompress and give myself my own time for the first time in forever. Just for a bit. Some relaxing. Some work around the house. Some personal projects that probably won’t make any money, but I might as well give them a shot because I won’t have a better opportunity. Not for too long. Time will pass quickly. I’ll need to dive with both feet into finding something long term and stable. I know this.
My LinkedIn profile is up to date minus the most recent stuff from the last six months to a year. I’ll take care of that soon. But in the meantime, if you know me and can provide any references or leads, or if you just want to reconnect and chat a bit, now would be a great time for that sort of thing. I’d love to hear from you!
And I know some of my connections were also impacted last week. I’m happy to connect and commiserate with you too!
As for those personal projects…
The old projects are still going. My weekly current events podcast Curmudgeon’s Corner has been going since 2007. For any of you who don’t already know about it, give it a listen. Available any place you find your podcasts. My presidential election polling analysis that I started doing back in 2008 is called Election Graphs. I will be standing up the 2028 version over the next few months to be ready to go for real after the 2026 midterms. My fully automated Wiki of the Day podcasts have been going since 2017 as well.
But I have a few new ideas that have been in my head that I want to explore. I’ll share them here when/if I get them to stages that are beyond just ideas. Maybe some of them will get me some side cash.
But I don’t expect any of them to replace a full income, they will probably just remain side projects, so doing a real job hunt will of course be the main priority shortly. I want to explore more widely, not just things that are natural continuations of what I have done the last 30 years. (Although I obviously will look at those things, those are the most likely kinds of jobs, I just want to explore bigger changes too.)
Happy to talk to people about the personal projects or more off the wall ideas of what Sam should do with himself next too. Reach out if you want to chat!
We welcomed Miley into our family in 2015. A few hours ago we had to say goodbye.
She was a rescue. We never knew exactly how old she was. But she was not a young dog when we got her. And she always had medical complications. The shelter said they thought she might have been a breeding dog that was dumped. She had clearly been a mom before.
But to us she has just been a loving family dog.
She was sweet and loving and took good care of Alex, and the rest of us.
In 2018 the vet gave her only months to live. Even if we were very aggressive with treatments. But she still had lots left to give.
A little while after her terminal diagnosis, we got a puppy. Jetski. In part this was because we knew losing Miley would be hard on our son Alex, and thought maybe having another dog around would help. But Miley was invigorated by the new addition to the family. And I guess we just plain got lucky too with the progression of her disease. She played more and had more energy than she’d had almost since we got her. And she took care of Jetski too, even when Jetski grew to be twice her size.
In the last couple years Miley was showing her age. And in the last few weeks that accelerated quite a bit. At a regular checkup the vet said it seemed like she could go at any time, and it would probably be painful, and it was best to say goodbye now, rather than wait for her condition to get dramatically worse in an emergency situation.
She had given us years more than we expected. Good years. But it was time for the end. For her sake.
So today, we spent all day with Miley. At first it seemed like maybe we had waited too long. She was so tired, and didn’t want to get up. She had to work up strength for every move.
But Alex and Amy and Brandy threw her a feast. She had cake and cupcakes specially made for dogs, topped with steak. She had pizza. She had all her favorite treats. As soon as she saw and smelled that, she popped up and ate enthusiastically. She was very excited.
Then we took her to her favorite park. A dog park on the beach where when she was younger she had run and splashed in the waves. It was cold. Below freezing. There was snow in the air. And she was not up for walking, so we took her to the beach wrapped up in blankets in a wagon.
But as soon as she realized where she was she started trying to jump out of the wagon. We helped her out and she started running. She played a bit with some other dogs there, and she ran to the water and started splashing in the waves. She had a great time. She came back to the wagon once she was cold.
Then it was time to go. She was tired. She was ready. And we all said our goodbyes.
Once again, a vote for my wife. No matter how things go, she has done an incredible job and put everything she has into the race. I am so proud of her. Go Brandy!
Hey, I rarely post here any more, but Brandy is running to be properly elected to the position she was appointed to last December. Please visit her website and donate to support the cause, and if you actually live in the 44th Legislative District in Washington State, please vote for her in both he primary in August, and the general election in November. Thank you!
Snohomish County Council voted 4-1 tonight to appoint my wife Brandy Donaghy to the vacant Washington State House seat for the 44th legislative district left by John Lovick moving to the State Senate. She was sworn in about an hour later by Judge Okoloko. Congratulations Brandy! I am so proud!
If you are a person that has looked to the abulsme.com blog for announcements when the new episodes of the Curmudgeon’s Corner podcast comes out, you may have, well, not seen any the last two weeks. Apologies for not putting an announcement here sooner, but well, CC has moved. For the longest time, the Curmudgeon’s Corner podcast has “lived on” abulsme.com. Blog posts announcing episodes were here, the actual podcast episodes were hosted here, and the XML feed files for the podcast were here too.
I have finally gotten around to doing something I have wanted to do for many years, which is set Curmudgeon’s Corner up with a domain of its own.
You will find the latest episodes of Curmudgeon’s Corner, and all the historical archives at curmudgeons-corner.com.
Some of the technical stuff behind the podcast is still linked to abulsme.com, but I’ll be disentangling that over the next few weeks / months. But from a listener’s perspective, that is the podcast’s home now.
Of course, nobody has to go to the website. Most people will find, listen to, and subscribe to the podcast using a podcast player on their phone or computer. You can still find the podcast there the same way you always have.
And I’m tweeting out episode announcements when they come out too.
But this abulsme.com blog will stop posting podcast episodes every week. That had become almost everything posted here lately, with a few exceptions a year. Maybe I’ll figure out something new to do with the blog. Or something old. Dunno. We shall see.
In the mean time, for the podcast, head to one of those other places.
This week on Curmudgeon’s Corner, Sam goes solo. Mostly. He discusses the big Texas abortion case at SCOTUS and the implications thereof. He discusses the pandemic, especially the latest on masks. Round it out with a bit on Afghanistan, a little on Hurricane Ida, a bit on a movie, and just a smidge about CPAPs, and you have a show!
Click below to listen and subscribe!
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Show Details:
Recorded 2021-09-04
Length this week – 1:37:16
(0:00:22-0:13:51) Segment the First
Agenda
CPAP recall
Sam Movie: Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
(0:15:50-0:45:01) Segment the Second
Canine cohost?
SCOTUS and Texas
Democrats vs Republicans using power
Doom and gloom or backlash coming?
(0:46:06-1:03:40) Segment the Third
Mask quality
New mask effectiveness study
Tragedy of the commons
(1:04:41-1:36:55) Segment the Fourth
Vaccine population effects
More on masks
Afghanistan
Hurricane Ida
Proactive vs reactive
Stuff at the end
The Curmudgeon’s Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.
On this week’s Curmudgeon’s Corner, Sam and Ivan once again concentrate on Afghanistan and the pandemic. On Afghanistan, everything from the aftermath of the bombing at the airport, to the political implications for Joe Biden. On pandemic, a bit on horse dewormers, ventilation, and mask quality. But first, Sam reviews a book, and Ivan shares some news.
Click below to listen and subscribe!
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Show Details:
Recorded 2021-08-27
Length this week – 1:49:31
(0:00:01-0:03:39) Cold Open
(0:04:02-0:39:32) But First
Agenda
Ivan news
Sam Book: Grimus (1975)
(0:40:33-1:08:00) Afghanistan
Bombing aftermath
Biden’s performance
Political implications
Could it have been done better?
(1:08:46-1:49:10) Pandemic
Statistics and trends
Horse dewormers
Ventilation
Mask quality
Stuff at the end
The Curmudgeon’s Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.
This week on Curmudgeon’s Corner, Ivan and Sam’s main topics are Afghanistan and the Pandemic. Would you expect anything else? But Ivan also talks about his car, Sam talks about a book, and, oh yeah, Ivan talks about prepping for a medical procedure and being sick with a virus that is not Covid! Enjoy the show!
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Show Details:
Recorded 2021-08-21
Length this week – 1:54:18
(0:00:22-0:27:46) But First
Agenda
Ivan: Colonoscopy prep!
Ivan: Car update
Sam: Book: Call of the Wild (1903)
(0:28:46-1:03:03) Afghanistan
Collapse
Evacuations
Taliban 2.0?
Resistance to refugees
Kobayashi Maru
(1:05:04-1:53:55) Pandemic
Stats
Florida
Hospitals
Schools
Mandates
Closing
The Curmudgeon’s Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.
This week on Curmudgeon’s Corner, Sam and Ivan talk about the Pandemic, Afghanistan, Infrastructure, Voter Rights Legislation, and the Census/Redistricting for their serious topics. On the lighter side, they engage in some chatter about school drop offs and a movie. This was recorded before the fall of Kabul though, so you’ll have to wait until next week for any discussion specifically on that.
Click below to listen and subscribe!
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Show Details:
Recorded 2021-08-14
Length this week – 1:55:12
(0:00:01-0:02:27) Sam from the Future
(0:02:51-0:31:12) But First
Agenda
Ivan: School Drop Offs
Sam: Movie: High Noon (1952)
(0:32:19-1:08:27) Segment One
Pandemic
Afghanistan
(1:10:13-1:54:51) Segment Two
Infrastructure
Voter rights bills
Census/Redistricting
Listener Question
Stuff at the End
The Curmudgeon’s Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.
