Once in a blue moon, SCOTUS these days gets it right. Which is good!

A shame we don't have more blue moons.

I'm on my last day of being off work for 5 days 😭

But overall, it's been an enjoyable super long Fourth of July holiday weekend, even if I didn't do anything to celebrate, rather mainly just slept, gamed, and watched anime. Doesn't help that it's been super hot and even rainy at times. So why would I want to go outside?

So yeah, it's been good!

Most US markets are effectively duopolies or "triopolies" at most. But even then, that's really stretching it. Because while two or three ISPs cover a city or metro, the neighborhood one lives in really determines the carrier. This part of town might only get cable from Comcast. While another part of town only gets it from Cox. That's really simplifying it, as maybe a consumer also has (slower) bonded DSL in their area, plus there's also home 5G and now Starlink. Fiber (either FTTC or FTTH) has made good headway, but it's still not ubiquitous. Your house or apartment building might have fiber; the one next door doesn't.

So there's a teensy bit of competition. But not really.

Cellular service has seen some of that competition on being honest with fees, but that's because of MVNOs. But traditional non-wireless ISPs really don't have that competition.

Mostly FFXIV. I decided to try a new class: Rogue/Ninja. Kinda impromptu, but I needed way to sneak by some baddies in the new-ish "Occult Crescent" field exploration zone. And Ninja has an ability to slowly stealth walk, going undetected by mobs.

And Oh. My. God. I'd forgotten how awful it is to level a class from 0 to 50. I haven't done this since I did my initial class as Thaumaturge/Black Mage. Which would've been like 3-4yrs ago? I have other classes -- technically, Jobs -- to max level (Lvl 100), but those classes all start at higher levels. FFXIV is weird like that; classes from expacs 3.0 and up start at higher levels. Like Machinist at Lvl 30, Red Mage (which is my main) at Lvl 50, and one of the most recent classes, Pictomancer, at Lvl 80. I was also playing those classes/job while going through the game's Main Story Quest, so I didn't "notice" the grind. I was just playing the MSQ, the game, normally.

As such, I've really not tried to quickly grind from Lvl 1 before. And the game doesn't help. No access to dungeons and trials until Lvl 15. And overall a very limited selection until Lvl 50. No AoE attacks until somewhere in mid-30s! Barely any attacks in the kit, until Lvl 30 (when the Ninja job opens up).

For EXP, had to grind out leves, dungeons, FATEs, and random quests. I'm not against grinding, it's just a boring-ass grind.

Anyway, I got to Lvl 50 yesterday, so now things should start get less boring. Lvl 50 on its own opens up like 30+ instances of various kinds. And there are tons more opportunities from there til Lvl 100. My goal is to get to 100 within the next two weeks. Could probably do it this week, but I don't wanna go that hard.

I need to find me an accountant!

Gee, where I have heard that one before?

I have to wonder how many of these White South Africans (or South Africans, period) even want to come to the US, given all the bullshit going on here. Plus just having to start over. It's not like they're going to be given a house and tons of money and jobs and all that. I imagine they're going to come here as any other refugee would and have to start over fresh.

I suppose this is just more performative BS for MAGAs.

So I've been a fed for nearly a year. It hybrid when I started, 2 days a week, til February of this year. Sigh.

My last job went full remote in April 2023. And was hybrid since Spring 2021. And it was pretty liberal hybrid, like sometimes I'd show up one day a week or every two weeks.

But I heard from friends still at that job that they recently got ordered to RTO. At least those still in the area where HQ was + the CEO. Though I think the staff is getting caught in a fight between the board and the CEO. Staff just happens to be collateral damage. Either way, seems like opportunities are fading.

Honestly, I'd even take one day of WFH per week.

Is this happening more and more or is it just reported on more? I feel like in the last few years, I've heard of multiple ground stops from various US airlines due to technology issues.

Hopefully it's not a Crowdstrike-like "technology issue" like Delta dealt with last year. As a traveler during that time, it was a nightmare. Good luck to anyone traveling over the next 24hrs!

Haven't commented here in awhile. Week is going OK so far. Took Monday (and last Friday) off for mental health days. Was just kinda in a "blah" mood. Think it's "emotional contagion" from listening to friends' problems and such. Glad to do it, to be there for them, but every once in awhile, it makes me think about stuff and my own life.

But otherwise, I'm back to it. On a plus side, I get to work from home today (Thursday)! My apt complex is closing the streets to do repaving. Rather than messing around with temporarily parking my car elsewhere, I asked my supervisor and he's like "Yup, that's cool." I work for the US govt, and regular telework is verboten. But here and there? It's acceptable. Besides, it's only the first time since February that I've teleworked due to a personal situation.

EGM will always be my favorite vide game magazine. I like Game Informer, had a subscription back in the day, even had a subscription last year before they shut down. But GI is no EGM. Wish they'd come back, too.

I was talking to my dad today. He's close to retirement and he was kinda reminiscing about his early days with his employer, the US fed govt, especially with all the shit lately.

He told me the story again of how he got his first federal position. He went to some job fair in like 1990 after he finally finished his degree, and the guy manning the booth offered him a job on the spot. And the rest is history.

I'm also a federal employee. It took me 15+ yrs of applying for numerous federal positions, having to do stupid aptitude tests online, or even in person -- I once flew across the country to literally sit for an ACT/SAT-type aptitude test, on my own dime -- all to get two interviews over that whole time period. It was only in 2023 that I finally got an offer, which I started like 5mo ago.

Offer on the spot at a job fair? That's unheard of these days. I don't even see the point of going to job fairs anymore, since all they do is say, "just apply online!" The few I've been to in the past weren't even accepting resumes in person or doing any on-the-spot interviews. Then what's the point of this?

And having sat on the "other side" of the table, helping conduct interviews, it's all shit. Not the candidates (well...sometimes), but the process. If the whole rigmarole is to help find and select better candidates, then it's not working. I'd rather pick a couple candidates, hire them on probation for 90 days, and evaluate them that way. Then let go of the less-performing one. Or both if neither are worth it. We'd be able to really evaluate them, while at least they'd maybe learn something and get paid.