Today I sat in a classroom for almost eight hours! I can’t remember the last time I was in a classroom listening to lectures. And these lectures weren’t by just any people, they were well regarded professors. It made think of my years of college but without the pressure that usually comes with that. I am not taking a test or getting graded. Also the fact that I am pretty familiar with most of the topics talked about, so far!

It is also serving as a good refresher for concepts and material that in theory, I already know but with the years may have been forgotten a little bit.

And we get free lunch and that’s pretty swell.

Name: Des Moines IPA
Style: American IPA
Brewer: Confluence Brewing Company - Iowa
ABV: 7.1
IBU:
Rating: B Notes: light and citrus flavors. A solid ipa

Name: Tank Puncher
Style: American IPA
Brewer: ReUnion Brewery - Iowa
ABV: 7.5
IBU:
Rating: 4/5
Notes: piney 🌲 but good.

Name: Raygun
Style: American IPA
Brewer: Backpocket Brewing - Iowa
ABV: 6.8
IBU:
Rating: 4/5
Notes: apricot flavor, piney

When Backpocket acquired Galaxy hops with a power unmatched in the known world, they realized their only choice was to name the resulting beer after a clothing brand that’s named after a fictional weapon. Raygun IPA says it all: dangerous space exploration, nerves of steel, and extreme Midwestern good lookingness.

Name: Haze Of Our Lives
Style: American IPA
Brewer: Lake Time Brewery - Iowa
ABV: 6.5
IBU:
Rating: 5/5
Notes: first one of the locals, citrusy and delicious hazy looking IPA

Name: Voodoo Ranger Starship IPA
Style: American IPA
Brewer: New Belgium Brewing Company - Colorado
ABV: 7.7
IBU:
Rating: 4/5
Notes: citrusy 🍊

Ignorance breeds fear we fear things we don’t understand all right if you do not keep that fear and check that fear in turn will escalate and breed hatred because we hate those things that frighten us if you don’t check that hatred in turn will escalate

— Daryl Davis

I’m still not done with this episode of Joe Rogan and WOW!

Name: Aphrodite Rising
Style: New England IPA
Brewer: Mother Earth Brew Co. - California
ABV: 6.7
IBU:
Rating: 5/5
Notes: I picked this one for the label alone.

Original Artwork by David Blake

It just dawned on me, that I will be traveling to Ames Iowa this week, just in time for the Micro.blog photo challenge! I’m not sure what kind of town Ames is going to be but it’ll be a different scene. All I know is that it’s going to be cold af 🥶, which I’m not that excited about. Regardless, I’ll be taking my camera 📷 with me and find a thing or two to snap.

I have a few ideas (or projects) in mind for my blog that I’d like to get to in the next few days or so:

1. I am going to attempt to add categories to the posts, like some other members of Micro.blog have done. I am not super technical savvy when it comes to do any major customization to my themes but know enough to figure things out. And if worse comes to worst, I’ll just start bothering people in the Slacks.

2. I need to redo my About page, just because.

And that’s about it — I think.

Dealing with ‘Friendship Overload’ in the Age of Social Media - Literary Hub

It feels shameful to admit that, sometimes, staying on top of communication with friends can seem more like a chore than a pleasure—just another piece of after-hours life admin. These are supposed to be your friends, after all.

Great read and thank you for @vasta for sharing it. So many things in this article struck a few cords. I do feel like a bad friend a lot of times when I either take forever to respond to a message or haven’t touched base with a good friend for a while — even family.

I have gotten to the point where I have to re-charge my AirPods at least 3 to 4 times a day. Luckily they do charge pretty fast. After that, I may get close to two hours of Podcast time before they die again. I don’t find it aggravating, I mean these are first-generation AirPods, it is has been a couple of years now. More than aggravating it is more of an inconvenient-or annoyiense.

I could use my Power Beats Pro, instead, so far they las forever but they are not ideal for long periods. After two hours or so they start bothering me a little bit, like behind my ears. And they are usually inside my car since I use them mostly for the gym and I don’t want to go to my car to go get them – because I am lazy it’s freaking cold out.

So the obvious solution would be, buying the new AirPods Pro!!!

This probably won’t happen, I’ve already spent 250.00 UDS on the PBP not too long ago.

That being said. I will consider buying another pair when I get to the point of recharging at least 5-6 times a day. 😝

On-this-Day does it again, bringing back some memories. A year ago today I posted this blog-post.

On April 16, 2018, I was hired as a Quality Specialist for a new company in town, not science-related but one that I could use my “quality assurance” skills. It’s been almost a year and it’s going well, I like the job just fine, I have met new people, new friends, new challenges and learning new things and skills. But… and not to disparage my current job but that feeling of proudness and self-worth I had, it isn’t quite there. I don’t feel like I’m miserable at the job but I often have these feelings of doubt. If this what I really want to do? Should I be doing something different? Or I just need time to move on and adjust to my new career? Is this the show?

It was pretty interesting reading this because I still remember every sentiment or the feelings behind each word. My frustration at the time and the feeling of, maybe failure. It has been a year now since that post so I guess I should maybe update.

I no longer have those feelings of doubt or feeling miserable. I am not depressed about my job anymore, I am quite happy now. As most of you know I started a new job, back on August 26th, 2019 (science-related) and I love it. I am not in a lab anymore, I am now on a different kind of role and I love it. Fantastic company awesome management, I have also met new people whilst still keeping in touch with the awesome people from my previous job. I am in a good place and I very much appreciate that.

Obviously, no everything is peaches and cream, there are a few things to work on but that is life.

As I have said many times before, it is always nice to look back and see where you were and where you’re now. Get reminded that struggles don’t last forever. They either get overcame or simply worked around.