Black Cat Blog

Thoughts, Stories, and Ideas

  • The App Eating My Screen Time

    Daily writing prompt
    What app eats up most of your screen time — and do you even feel bad about it?
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    The app eating my screen time the most has to be Mastodon. Mastodon is a micro-blogging platform similar to Twitter except that it is completely open source and decentralized. Mastodon is an app that participates in something called The Fediverse. The Fediverse is, as the name suggests, a federated platform that no one person or corporation controls. Anybody is free to stand up their own Mastodon server and participate or to join one offering memberships. By memberships, I mean free ones of course.

    I don’t feel bad about it because I learn so much. Mastodon attracts the politically very left, high technology, and very capable computer user. Therefore all kinds of interesting things happen from art and music to writing, photography, and everything in between. It’s the polar opposite of the anti-educational and anti-intellectual platform that X.com has devolved into. It is possible to learn so much and connect with a highly diverse population with stratifying interests.

    I do have to remind myself not to get too lost in it though because my wife matters me to very much. I don’t want to lose her of course or grow to resent me so I have to be careful.

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  • A Book I Have Read The Most

    Daily writing prompt
    Which book have you read more than any other?
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    This is a fun one because the book I read the most is The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. Before I launch into my reasons and an analysis of the text, a little about Roald Dahl. Dahl could nominally be considered one of the “OG” subversives. And the cool thing is that he was able to bump right up against the line, cross it, and come back without anyone in power being the wiser. Dahl was smarter than they are/were. May you rest in peace and in power, sir!

    As a child I loved this The Fantastic Mr. Fox it’s an exciting page turner full of adventure and almost heart-stopping moments. The read was genuinely exciting to me. Reading it as an adult, I see a totally different perspective which makes the book equally as exciting. Roald Dahl was truly before his time.

    When the Foxs’ home was destroyed, Bryce, Bunson, and Bean, the wealthy farmers, they were forced underground. In return for being forced underground, they built secret tunnels to the farms so they could steal the farmers’ produce. Mr. Fox completely justified this by hollowing out a community – think communism and socialism here – dining room. A crew would then steal from the evil wealthy farmer an amount of food to live on. Mr. Fox saw no qualms about stealing nee reclaiming resources necessary for life.

    Roald Dahl placed his extremely left political views into Mr. Fox. Mr. Fox ensured that vegetables would be made for the rabbits and animals that are not carnivores. In effect, the subtext suggests that everyone should be taken care of without artificial means testing. When I read this book, I am in awe of the message he’s sending and that he was able to do it in a highly conservative time where anyone needing assistance was seen as “less than human.”

    To this day I still read the book about once a year and pick up on something I missed. That is the depth of Dahl’s writing. The same can be said for his other books like Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and The Great Glass Elevator. In the latter, Roald Dahl rather openly criticized the United States’ Government which was tantamount to heresy at the time it was published. Yet the criticism was so implicit, few picked up on it. They assumed it to be just like a comic strip. But in reality, it was a very harsh criticism of the US Military Industrial Complex.

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  • High Anxiety Morning

    I’m having a bit of a high anxiety morning and I do not really know why because typically a dose of THC does much to alleviate this. So this must be situational anxiety rather than chemical. I received an offer letter from Allied Universal for a security officer and I completed the background check and drug test agreements. I was supposed to get an email after the background check completed so that I could schedule a new employee orientation. This has not come and I need this job so my anxiety is high.

    Not even being in my home lab has done much to alleviate the anxiety. I managed to fix a problem with zero down time and zero data loss. That in of itself was an achievement. At least I am still good at one thing: computers and networks. And I am just good … not an expert by any means. Working on a home lab has taught me just how much more I need to teach myself. 😆

    So I have to figure out how to bring my anxiety down somewhat. I figure that if I tell myself that this is something I cannot control that I can relax a bit. On Monday, I will call the local branch office of Allied Universal and figure out what the next steps are. Sometimes a little bit of proactivity goes a long way. The office local to where I live is Claymont, Delaware. It’s a quick and easy bus ride to the New Employee Orientation.

    I really need this new job! I need to get out from under the present disaster I am in. Ugh! It’s putting me on edge every time I walk in to work on the weekdays. I rather like the weekends because I rarely deal with anyone. I simply work.

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  • An Animal For A Week

    Daily writing prompt
    If you had to be an animal for a week, which one would you be and why?
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    This particular writing prompt spoke to me from both an interest and a mental health stand point. I have to admit that it kind of made me smile. Anyhow, if I had to be an animal for one week I would like to be a cat. I think my blog kind of gave that one way though. While I certainly neither have the dexterity nor the survival aptitude that a cat has, I have always considered myself cat-like when it comes to certain behaviors, tolerances, and daily living.

    Let me begin by stating that I am on the autistic spectrum and I have ADHD. So the unofficial lingo is that I am AuHD. I am very sensitive to sounds, noises, smells, and general environmental stimuli. Cats are also this way, and in fact, it is generally believed by experts that our house cats’ paws are so sensitive that they can detect an earth quake coming. Their sense of smell and hearing are vastly better than our own. So much like a cat, I can become easily overwhelmed by environmental stimuli. When this happens, I feel the need to escape and escape quickly or clamp my hands over my ears; anything to reduce this overwhelming sensation.

    Cats are also highly intelligent animals. They learn from their environment very quickly and I tend to do much the same. I love their fierce sense of independence and the way they form bonds. Since cats lean towards independence, when they form bonds they are psychologically very strong and hence devastating when they break. It took me several years after my engagement fell through before I could begin seriously dating again. When my engagement never happened, I was seriously bereft.

    Cats mourn loss deeply and privately to avoid predation. In the face of loss and grieving, sometimes I retreat as well. I get cats and they get me. Sometimes I wonder if I wasn’t a feline in a previous life if such a thing were even possible in the first place.

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  • Technology Here To Stay

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s a piece of technology you’re convinced will exist in 20 years?
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    I am convinced that the Internet, TCP/IP Networks, and computers are here to to stay and they will be around in 20 years. The Internet has changed lives and mostly for the better. We have unprecedented access to information and ideas. Granted a lot of it is mis and disinformation so extra care has to be taken to sift out the wheat from the chaff and we have to use some critical thinking skills. That much said, the Internet has helped to discover hobbies that I would otherwise have not discovered nor really taken an interest in like ham radio.

    The Internet is modern equivalent of the movable type printing press. Those that choose to be luddites risk being left behind. We are also living in particularly interesting times with regards to the Internet. The Internet itself is starting to again resemble its early days of introduction to the consumer and business marketplaces. Corporate control is starting to wane in favor of people creating their own home labs, hosting their own services, and leaving the cloud and corporate offerings behind.

    I have moved all of my stuff out of the cloud, including email. I host everything out of my own home on a business class desktop with good quality hardware that I own. I make regular backups like the olden days of computing. And I am free from the perennial subscription models to boot.

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  • My Good Habit

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s one habit that has improved your life the most?
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    A habit that has really improved my life is a commitment to life long learning through engagement in a hobby. For me, learning is a far better antidepressant than the ones that Big Pharma have come up with. My hobby is my home computer lab where I tinker, break things, and learn. While sometimes frustrating, this is all part of the learning experience and ultimately leads to a sense of accomplishment when a problem gets solved. I make it a part of my day to build, grow, and maintain my home lab.

    Learning is also a love as it truly has to be. I pity the people who only learn when it is a requirement; they lack hobbies or interests. The neat thing about learning opportunities is that they can be found in many places. I discovered the home lab hobby at one of my local libraries that has a technology center. I visited the technology center and saw what people were doing. The next thing I knew I was diving in head first into the next learning opportunity.

    I recommend more people try out a hobby that will help them grow and learn. Hobbies and interests that engage you will improve your life as they have my own.

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  • Humble Pie Slice

    As the old adage goes, last night I ate a rather prodigious slice of humble pie but I am laughing about it now. Sometimes when we teach ourselves how to do things over the years, we go down rabbit warrens and holes which are our areas of interest. This makes the learning somewhat random and unguided. As a result I ran into a really challenging networking concept that was made even more so by the simple fact that I had never even heard about it. The concept is called TCP offloading.

    In a nutshell, TCP offloading moves some of the TCP processing from the CPU to the actual network card. I think I should have heard about this but did not. Anyhow, it at least partially accounted for the very confounding reason why I could not remotely access my home lab server. I took a brief pause and I think I am about to have another serving of humble pie because I am back to not being able to reach my little tower again. Well, now it turns out the second time is a mismatched subnet mask. This was far simpler.

    I made it to work on time and I feel pretty good because I will be going to a higher paying job; not necessarily a better job but more money and weekly pay will help. Come on background check! Please complete soon. I want to get started on my next endeavor. OPS Security Group blows dawg and it’s time to get the fuck outta dodge. I am excited simply for making more money. I know the company I am going to won’t be any great shakes but the extra $800-$1000 is going to be very helpful.

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  • Today’s Plan

    I think I have a good plan for today. After work I am going to see about working for Securitas in a hospital position that they have advertised or whatever else they may have. It’s time for me to make a change in employment. OPS has really changed their attitude towards me and have become less accommodating and friendly. The change is delicate balance between subtle and overt. I guess that’s the best way to describe it. My colleagues and supervisor have become less friendly and more distant towards me. That’s a sign that I have worn out my welcome at OPS and it is time to move on.

    Then this afternoon I am going to give Kid Ridez a call about being a van driver for them. The pay is good at $21.50 per hour and the hours look to be okay. Plus, it is a Monday through Friday position. This I could like and I could lessen my dependence on OPS for a paycheck or maybe leave altogether. I don’t know just yet but we will see what comes down the pike. All I know is that it is time to be proactive instead of purely reactive. Also, I don’t really want to work 7 days a week if it can be avoided.

    I even brought a change of clothes with me so I am ready to go come 11:00am today. I know at my age I do not care much for change. I like routine and predictability. Presently, a routine is difficult to establish because my job hours are all over the place. The idea is to make things easier on my mental state. I figure if I can do that, life will get easier and better.

    Just before I get home in the early afternoon, I have to make a stop at the Department of Labor. This is one fight that I am looking forward to. OPS denied me overtime pay for July 4th because I took vacation time on July 5th. There is nothing in their handbook allowing this or stating this. Instead of fight it, I listened to what the district manager had to say and basically stated that I understood. Now, I’ll take it to labor and file an official complaint. I’m not going to jump through hoops with a company already looking to can me. This will be fun because I may even get a percentage of the penalties and fines assessed to my employer. That would be a nice little windfall to go towards my wedding. I love my baby girl very much. When I say she’s the best, I truly mean it.

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  • Days Off

    It is so nice to have some badly needed days off. I managed to get my home lab segmented off from the rest of the home network which I wanted to do for security and privacy. That way if I have guests and they bring their devices, I don’t have to worry as much about viruses. I got that achieved despite it being a pain in the ass. Well, okay, it’s mostly achieved as I still do not understand why my industrial grade OPNsense router is not properly routing WireGuard tunnels but that is troubleshooting for another day. Everything else works including my blog, email, and Mastodon. I am good to go.

    Now I am just chilling with Denisse on the couch and doing my semi-daily blog entry. I did a gummy last night and I am still feeling no pain from it. I love the relaxed, no-care, and emotional pain-free feeling. Everything in my life, save for Denisse, is utter shit right now and I am oddly okay with it. I say oddly because it’s not exactly normal to feel okay about a shit situation. Well, acceptance of things you cannot change is good I guess.

    I am getting Denisse’s birthday gift early this year. I’m buying her a Samsung Galaxy S25 for her 50th. But since things like color and case need to be picked out, it’s something that she should really be involved in. I can deal with having the shitty phone for a bit. She deserves something nice. I also feel good about being able to do something nice for her.

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  • Saturday Double Shift

    I had difficulty sleeping last night so it was one of those very rare times that I could answer the security operations center when they reached out to me to see if I would do a double shift. Seeing as I couldn’t sleep, I answered that I would and the fact that the site I work at is great! I do need the money as well. This coming week’s paycheck is going to look very nice but I hope I do not burn out. I am not quite a spring chicken anymore.

    I still feel surprisingly good and I managed to write another 600 words on my book. My goal is to average 400-600 words per day of writing. If I can manage that, the book will quickly develop into something. I believe that this is entirely possible provided that I remain in decent health and do not get sick. I am trying to write from a stream of consciousness and not be too concerned with anything other than putting thoughts to paper. This is what my therapist, Nan, would recommend.

    The book I am working on is basically about building home computer labs and growing them in increasing complexities and features. The chapter I am working on is the planning stage. It’s a bit dry but necessary.

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