Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

Things my grandmother would never expect me to grind in her molcajete, number 5794:

I needed ground walnuts, I got ground walnuts!

The Jenn Dolari 2023 One Sentence Year In Review

"All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle."

This has been one of the roughest years of my life. Nearly toppling 2001 as one of the worst with the almost immediate layoff and pinched nerve...but there have been a number of good things happening in the dark.

Sure, I was laid off just hours into 2023, and I have not been able to find work since. But Tableau paid me until March, then paid for my insurance until September, gave me enough severance that with unemployment, I've been alble to survive (it's still only about half gone). I've been able to coast (not that I have) this entire year, and likely would have been far more productive without the pinched nerve.

Six months ago, I got involved in city politics after the removal of the Pride Wall. Nothing big, just, observing and speaking my mind. This changed about three months ago, in a way I'll announce later and elsewhere, where I'm now more directly involved. Hopefully, things will work out in such a way that it will be educational for me, and enlightening for the community.

Two other projects have opened up, one for a non-profit and one for a possible publishing job. These were in the last month.

2023 was a horrible year, but it really feels, looking back at it, that it was a major setup for a busy and productive 2024.

Previous Years in Review:

2022: Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly and most underrated agent of human change.
2021: The Universe has decided otherwise.
2020: I AM looking on the bright side, and it's dark...very dark.
2019: Never push a loyal person to the point where they no longer care.
2018: What's left for a warrior to do after he's lost the big one, but win some of the little ones?
2017: He's very brave and very silly and I think, for a time he's going to be very sad, but I promise, in the end, he'll be alright.
2016: Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams...and against this peril we can never surrender.
2015: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
2014: Sometimes, by losing a battle, you find a new way to win the war.
2013: All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.
2012: Here at last, on the shores of the sea, comes the end of our Fellowship.
2011: Seeking to forget makes exile all the longer; the secret of redemption lies in remembrance.
2010: Sometimes life has a way of moving you past wants and hopes.
2009: FINEST K.O....YOU LOSE.
2008: Jump...Jump now!
2007: Darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
2006: The show must go on.
2005: What to have, what to hold: A poor man's roses, or a rich man's gold.
2004: You like me! You really like me!
2003: Once more...with feeling!
2002: Wow...that could have gone better.
2001: I hope you die and get ate by worms, Milkman Dan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJIS3KjinPc

All the PCs have been erased and reset for the new year. I tend to be pretty neurotic for clean OSes, and have decided that I'm going to try REALLY hard not to reinstall them anytime I get itchy about it, and run them for two years before decrufting again.

We'll see how long that goes.

Last Boost: Me the last two days.

I've eaten REALLY badly these last two days, but it was worth it. I'm genuinely looking forward to going back on the diet food in the morning.

::urp::

Well, I know what was killing my internet connection. My router, for some reason, my main PC is manually assigned "192.168.4.101" and my media PC is manually assigned "192.168.4.103." But for some reason, my router kept forcing "192.168.4.101" to the media PC causing an IP collision. Like, repeatedly. Over and over again.

I couldn't get the cmopany provided router to stop, so I just turned my whole house into a manual IP connection ONLY, and suddenly, everything is working better. I'd already manually assigned IPs to my main PCs, now I just gotta remember to assign manual IPs to all the other devices as I need to.

Google watches your search strings and knows your preferences. This came up just now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqP4EZhXgko

I have eaten so much air fried food that my stomach hurts. Not used to eating that heavy that often anymore!

Potstickers do not do well in an airfryer....

So while I wait to see if this computer fails me AGAIN, here's what my Air Fryer Cheat Day Extravaganza consisted of.

With a Guest Appearance by some Add To Your Cheap Ramen ramen toppings that are genuinely really good!

And good news, my update is done, I can go to sleep!

3:30AM - Ah, the last thing I need to do to my laptop before bed. Should be done right at 4AM when I'll hit the sack.

5:30AM - NOW ON THE 21390829836428930th ITERATION OF THIS #!^(#$%*#_$%*!#_$(% THING I WOULD LIKE TO GO TO BED ALREADY