Shameless self promotion here.

I updated my other blog.  It's not pretty.  Enjoy.

technology as a factor to bring on revolutions

I do a lot with computers.  It is my job.  I sit in front of a screen for most of the day.  It's also one of my hobbies, my passion to learn about how to get things done harder, better, faster, stronger.  So I sit and work, and then I sit and learn, and when I'm AFK, I sit and think a lot.

Thinking back to my Western Civ class, from uni, some 5 or so years ago.  That was a great class.  But one of the things we discussed was what technology brought on what revolutions and why.

Most recent- the internet.  Suddenly we are all connected, to nearly everywhere in the world.  It still seems semibrand-new to us, to most people, even starting out on their AOL accounts 2 decades ago.  And how we live now thanks to that.  It is different than how we were living 20 years ago.

Further back than that- computers.  Just computers in general.  They've technically been around for a century, in the form of punched-out cards fed into machines.  Even then they made things get done faster.

And still further back- the assembly line.  How that revolutionised the way people work, the way goods are produced.  Whether that's good or bad I don't know.

Before- the printing press.  Books suddenly accessible to anyone, when before books had been handwritten.  People could now learn more.

Perhaps earliest- the plough.  Leading to that first revolution, the agrarian one, influencing still how we get our food.  No longer were we the hunter gatherers.  No.  Now we could tame out environment.

These technological revolutions seem to come on more frequently as time passes, and I wonder what the next one is, and when.  I hope it's not cybernetics.  That'd be scary.  Anyway if it's cybernetics I'll personally go out and buy all 5 of you who are reading this a beer, because I'll feel like I've lost some sort of bet.

Thanks.

Things I am up to Just Now (Or: Why I Never Blog)

Mostly I work.  I control the inventory databases.  I total up invoices.  Sometimes when there has been a large volume of sales I assist with the bookkeeping.  Also, whenever there is something requiring a second set of eyes to check over, such as last month's commissions, I am that second set of eyes.  I get to do this while wearing my DBZ hoodie, but pyjamas are unacceptable still where I work.
I'm taking online courses.  I'm one of them "lifelong learners" who wants all the information.  I want to learn SQL.  I want to learn Python.  Computer stuff is a lot of fun if you're willing to be patient with it.
I went back "home" recently.  Basically straight from work to airport to his house, and then from his house to airport to work.  I like to pretend it's just a long business trip.  I'm just doing it so I can work anyway.  We had a wonderful time.  We went to the park.  We went into town.  We visited lots of old friends.  And sometimes we just hung out on the couch and watched TV.  There's gotta be some obscure German word for "being a guest in someone's house, being told TV's all yours, and not being able to figure out their remote control."  But when you get to see your better half about twice a year, sometimes even average stuff like hanging out on the couch and watching TV together seems like the most wonderful thing.

My tumblr blogs get updated far more often.  They are about pictures.  Sometimes pictures are easier than words.
the place where all my photos go to die
same, but with paintings instead

Thanks.

more LEGO

gosh this software is the best goshdarn thing.
this is my biggest build to date, and still unfinished.  a blocky house apartment block made of little blocks, inspired by Habitat 67.  oh how wonderful it would be to actually build this in real life.
thanks for looking.

a Lego

I've been working a lot lately, but I built this.

Just a simple a-frame house, like my Gruncle Stan's old cabin near Bayfield, WI.
I didn't do a whole lot with the interior.  Just put in an upstairs.

I'm still in the US, but I've had a few chances to visit 'home' in the past 2 years.  Visits are still too few and far between, and the prospect of looking for work there gets more and more terrifying, with so many doors being closed by the powers that be everywhere I look.  I press on though.  I need to see my someone more than twice a year.

Flying away

So I had to go back to America.
It's really not a pleasant situation for me.
Between the oil price being low recently, which sort of killed any job growth in my sector, and the UK's really tough immigration policies, even in the face of skills shortages, the jobs just weren't there for me.  Sometimes almost there.  Sometimes my immigration status was the one thing standing in the way of me getting that job.
So I had to go back to the US.  Which was devastating.  Well, it still is, even 3 months later.  Back to Chicago, where it's cold and windy all the time.  Where my friends are not.  And my partner... well he's not here either.  Yes, there's an energy industry in the US... all the big hiring events are in Houston though, which is a bit difficult for me travelwise.
Nothing about this is easy or fair or right. 
But I'll keep trying.
It would be so easy to give up, to resign to a life on mom's couch, sharing space with the cats.
But I can't give up.
K needs me.
Aberdeen will need me eventually.
And I need there.  As a place.
So I look for work on both sides of the pond, visa rules be damned.
I take my online courses, even the ones that are way over my head.
And I try my best to live where I am now, knowing full well that I could be gone again in six months, a year, or maybe even tomorrow.

Pizza Parlor/Bike Shop (a pop punk kid's paradise!)

I would rather build things out of legos than do several other things.
But I have no lego.
So I use software. 

I've been working on several town buildings, mostly with shops on the bottom and apartments on top. 

This is my most recent one, and in progress now.  A bike shop and a pizza place on the bottom floor, with the pizza place extending to the first floor.  Also on the first floor is a travel agency.  The second and third floors will be an apartment with a rooftop garden.  Building itself is 16x32, but on a 32x32 plate to make room for the sidewalk.

 Bike shop section.  There's a neat little display window wedged under the stairs, with another bike.

 Pizza shop, with many toppings available in the case.  Cans of pop are on top, and the stairs lead to a dining area on the first floor.

 Entire ground floor.  There's a better view of the pizza oven here, plus a certificate on the wall.  It could be an award from Michelin, but it could also be an award from the health department.

 A look at the first floor, with the pizza place's dining area and travel shop.

A better look at the travel agency.  And window boxes!  I use these extensively.

More will come later, with the second floor apartment, and some of my past builds.