Now

My family and I just took a vacation to the beach. We stayed in a house that was fashioned after a barn, with decor to match (checkout the consistency of the kitchen design below). The beach is as magical place with its own distinct culture. We found ourselves on an island surrounded by six-seater guerrilla warfare style golf carts. There is a shop called Bubba’s that has been there forever. It contains fudge and all sorts of miscellaneous bric-à-brac. It features confederate flags prominently, despite being owned and run by an older Asian woman. This is the American South, awash in contradictions and unearned nostalgia.

The sand and the sun

I feel blessed to live in a state that features the ocean and the beach. I feel even more blessed to be able to visit both, something that, just a few years ago, in the grip of ME/CFS, I was unable to do.

The Beach Barn

The barn kitchen

We watched a lot of The Great American Baking Show while at the beach house. I half expect to have nightmares with Paul Hollywood and his Siberian husky blue eyes shaming me for undercooking a pastry.

My oldest son just graduated from high school, right after turning 18. I’m still getting used to him being an adult (we’re still working on the driving). When I rented the beach house, I did a double take at the listing of 3 adults on the confirmation, even though I had entered it. The new adult will be attending NC State in the fall, which means he’ll be on the campus where my office is located. I can go and visit him in the dorms any time, which I’m sure he would love.

I passed my AZ-900 Azure exam a couple of months ago, and I’m about halfway through preparation for the AZ-104, which is next in the Microsoft Learn curriculum. I would be further along if the tutorial videos that I’m watching didn’t feature rebuilding VMs over and over again.

Reading

Robin Sloan — Moonbound

I read about this one from a couple of people. The book itself is dense, and at times, its concepts a bit confusing. The writing is unique for science fiction, though, featuring a lot more color and wit than I’m used to from a book in the genre. Science fiction tends to be more earnest and straightforward, focusing more on world building than interesting prose. Sloan appears determined to rectify this. It should be enjoyable to see if he succeeds.

Nadya Williams — Cultural Christians in the Early Church

Though we tend to revere the early Christians, Williams paints a picture of a Christian Church in the first centuries that had just as many goof ups, sinners, and apostates as we have now. The conditions in which these original Christians lived is one of my fascinations, and I’ve read several books now that at least touch on the subject.