Other What currently makes your life awesome?

Had my pay slip for Feb, and it’s annual bonus month this month.

Don’t think I’ve ever seen a “gross pay this period” figure get that big - at least not on my pay slips…

Mind you, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the “PAYE tax this period” figure get that big either…

Not that I begrudge paying tax. I do begrudge my tax being pissed away on things like multi-billion pound bungs to your fraudulent chums whom you later appoint to the House of Lords… But that’s a rant for another time, comrades…

It’s also a poor reward for the sheer amount of ****-baggery, unnecessary stress, and utter lack of personal & professional fulfilment that comes with this job… But it’s the only reward I’ll get from it, so I’ll happily enjoy whatever doesn’t go into savings…

 

Good old Byron. He's only happy when he has something to moan about.

With the current state of play though, he must be fooking ecstatic!

 

Hey, you said it yourself, there’s a lot that one can moan about…

“AI”, consumer electronics pricing apocalypse, enshittification, gross invasions of privacy, state-sanctioned illegal abductions of US citizens by federal agents, state-sanctioned murder by US federal agents, concentration camps in the US, increasing Russian belligerence, decreasing certainty in the protection afforded by NATO, everything still happening and all the lives still being lost in Ukraine, everything still happening and all the lives still being lost in Gaza & Palestine, increasing economic uncertainty, looming financial collapse when the “AI” market eventually shits itself inside out, ever-increasing cost of living, ever increasing energy costs, ever increasing duties and taxes for owning a car, working a job you find entirely unfulfilling and don’t feel valued at, myriad personal & family “stuff”, uncertainty over buying a house, uncertainty over pension income, uncertainty over whether I’ll even live long enough to actually draw my pension, the brief and fleeting nature of human existence capped off by the void of simply ceasing to be… anything…

But my pay slip has a nice big fat bonus in it this month.

I can’t upgrade my PC like I normally would - frankly it’s tantamount to financial stupidity with current prices - but it can still pay for other toys & hobbies, and a big fat chunk of it can go in savings.

So… yeah… everything considered, I think I’ll take the wins where I can get ‘em…

 

I know I’m double-posting, deal with it…

I’ve just about managed to crack the motion detection features on a microcontroller dev board I’m trying to work with.

It has a built in IMU with a bunch of different motion algorithms and engines built in, but the demo/example code doesn’t show any of the features I want to use. Both the RP2350 MCU and C programming language are totally alien to me, and because Google is so arse, I can’t find any other working examples or relevant information - at least, not for the features I’m trying to use.

So… I’ve been learning a lot more than I expected about poking hardware registers, bitwise operations/masks, strict command protocols, interrupt blocking, ISRs… It’s all a far cry from my prior dabblings with Arduinos… But I’m getting there!

 

Edit: moving to meh.

 

Byron C-C-C-Combo

 

Yesterday I met Saspro in real life.... honestly now my life is complete, like meeting one of my heros

When I was quite junior in IT I used to message Saspro with stupid questions and genuinely he helped shape my career (and now I own my own MSP) and helped get me through some jobs I probably shouldn't have been given - a man I met on the internet 15 years ago, now real life pal!

 

Just bought the most expensive concert ticket of my life.
Rush are coming to the UK next year, and I grabbed the chance to see them probably for the last time.
Geddy and Alex are 72, and another tour is unlikely.
I thought I'd blown it not seeing them in 2014, but here we are!

 

More Plod Slowly than Rush now, perhaps…

 

Rush might be the biggest band that I don’t think I’ve ever listened to*

No reason behind it, vaguely aware of their most popular songs and never decided “not for me” or anything… There are bands I choose to listen to, and bands that I choose not to... with Rush I was of course aware they exist, just never actually listened.

(*Until exactly now)

 

You're not wrong @Mr_Mistoffelees, I wonder if they'll do a 3 hour set this time round.
They did have a 15 minute rest, with an entertaining film interlude.

@Mister_Tad With 14 albums over 40 years, there is a fair amount of material and changes in style over that time.
I wouldn't necessarily judge by popular tracks alone.
I am seeing Thomas Dolby in a few months, whom I've liked since the early 80s.
I do however detest She Blinded Me With Science as it's not that representative and the only track that gets radio airplay.

But hey, music enjoyment is as personal it gets!

Compared to the musical theatre tickets Mrs A buys, it's not THAT expensive. I'm just not used to paying £300 for a single ticket

 

I'm not concerned over Rush tickets - Saw them in May 1983 during their "Signals" tour.
The ticket was around £6.00

 

Good Stuff Ian, I wasn't into them until a couple of years later.
I think the cheapest ticket this time is just under £80, supply your own binoculars.

I don't think inflation would bring your £6 ticket anywhere near even the cheapest one today*
*(Bank of England inflation calc says £20 ish having checked)

I first saw them in 1988 on the Hold your Fire tour.
Inexplicably I don't seem to have been able to justify the expense of the recent $300 Grace Under Pressure super deluxe re release for some reason!

 

Rush is one of those bands that can really divide opinion, but leave an incredible mark on music. I don’t think it’s possible to over-state just how many people, artists, bands, genres, styles, etc, have been influenced by Rush.

IMO there are still to this day very few that could even come close to Neil Peart.

 

This one couple at this HMO I live in has been a problem. Well okay the guy is a problem. He's a twatty transphobe and lesbophobe who's been making up false complaints about me since I moved in

Got a message from LA saying that couple has been voluntold to move out. Don't you just love it when a problem solves itself?

 

I yanked the dead drive from my NAS, put the new one in and a mere 72 hours later the RAID had magically rebuilt itself. Didn't even have to press a button.

 

Firefly season 2 has been officially announced.

/*edit*/ At least that is what it looks like from a couple of social posts, I am not going to rule out a£%holes $%£&posting for the giggles.

 

I can't, I just can't!
I saw those videos of Nathan knocking on the doors and didn't let myself get excited

Please don't let this be just a reunion con, movie or mini series would be fine!

 

No Wash though. Excited and sad.

I gotta ask, is this just an attempt at Whedon trying to claw his way back into Tinseltown?