Mike's Occasional Blog

It’s been a great ride. After 19 years with Apple, Inc., I left the company in April of this year. Leaving the company where I have spent more than half my professional career is just a little bittersweet. However there comes a time when you have to take honest stock of where you are and whether it’s still a healthy, happy experience for you. In this case, it was not. Apple has gone through some fairly big changes. For myself and my group, we lost an excellent leader due to medical issues, and the new management team was drastically different. So much so, that I just felt I didn’t fit in any more. It’s a shame, really.

I joined Apple back in 2002. I was headhunted from Netopia, Inc. in Alameda, where I was the systems/network admin for many years (through the change from Farallon to Netopia). I left a comfortable job for an exciting possibility with a company I absolutely loved. It was a good move, even if it meant moving to Sacramento from the Bay Area and taking on the weekend night shift at the datacenter! It was a challenge making such a drastic change in lifestyle (sleeping during the day over the weekend, then swapping to “normal” hours during the week). But it was an amazing experience working with the team that watched over Apple’s infrastructure!

At almost the year mark Apple went through some painful times and I was laid off. We moved up into the foothills of the Yosemite range and I took a job with a small phone company (CLEC) in Volcano, CA, as a network engineer. Living and working in the mountains was also an incredible experience…completely reverse of what I had become accustomed to in the techno-crazed Bay Area. It was short-lived as I was invited back to Apple within 9 months…this time at the revered main campus in Cupertino. This meant another move, and we found a condominium in south San Jose.

Over the next 18 years I worked in IS&T as a systems admin, systems programmer, business anylyst and finally software engineer. I think my team ended up moving campuses about 6 times over that period, from Cupertino to Fremont to Sunnyvale. All in the south bay. During that time my wife and I bought our first home and were able to escape the noise, pollution and chaos that is the Bay Area.

My next adventure starts as IT Systems Administrator for the Superior Courts of CA, San Jooaquin county, where I’m responsible for the systems and networks of multiple courthouses and many users. I absolutely see it as a move upward from being relegated to writing code for a small internal team to inheriting a large infrastructure of many differing systems and networks. I credit my volunteer work over the years with Playnet, Inc. with providing me the knowledge and experience which led me to this job. I’m really excited for the future challenges!

After thinking about it for years, we’ve finally decided to start our backyard renovation! Part of the process was finding someone we trusted to do a great job. To that end we found Tracy’s landscaping here in Tracy! She has put together a neat plan for the backyard.

Tracy’s nursery had a terrific variety of plants and was able to put together a drawing we both liked. It’s day 2 and Gabriel, who Tracy used for most of her projects, is here working

He started by removing all the rock from the existing beds and throwing it alongside the house in case we need it going forward. He also removed the remaining callow lilies we had in the back corner (the only plants we’ve ever had in our barren gardens). We kept some shoots to give to Hazel, as she and Bob planted them originally about 10 years ago.

Gabriel also trimmed back our avocado tree and palms. They look much different now!

We’re both really excited to finally get a decent backyard where we can entertain.

It’s March now, 2021. We’re about 1 year into the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s one year working from home, and probably a good 5 months huddling in isolation so that we stay healthy. At first it was just strange. Strange and odd…and scary. Sheila and I tried everything we could to stay safe. Tim did an extraordinary job at keeping mom safe as well. He bought bulk loads of hand sanitizer, masks and thermometers. He was always a prepped.

after the first 6 months, the new normal finally clicked. We both did okay dealing with it. To be honest, there is some good benefits working from home. I miss out on 3 hours plus of commuting to the Bay Area every day. I also get to work in my sleep pants. For the most part I’ve been really productive, and work has been going great.

now, at the 1 year mark, things finally appear to be recovering. Joe Biden is president, having ousted trump, several vaccines have come to market, and there is talk about light and the end if the virus-drenched tunnel. I got my first shot of the Moderna vaccine this week using my CAP eligibility. I wasn’t planning on doing it, but mom is worrying me lately. She’s not adapting well to Tim’s passing and being alone, and isolated. Thank God for Patty visiting her weekly. But I need to get out there and just be there fir support, hence getting the vaccine.

Mom also got her first vaccine shot, which is a huge relief. I don’t know what I’d do if she became severely sick, or worse. I’m thankful to everyone involved in researching and discovering the vaccines. God bless them all!

Other than all this, we’re holding up. I’m noticing my aging more and more. I recently had cataract surgery in both eyes, and I just feel creaky and stiff quite a lot. I’m m trying to get back into controlling my diabetes (I’ve been slipping and not eating appropriately), and also trying to at least hit the elliptical 3 times per week.

oh, we’re building an airplane. It’s our COVID project. A Van’s RV-7. We rented a hangar at Tracy airport, and spend at least 4-5 hours each weekend pounding rivets. It’s been a challenge as well as very rewarding.

Dad and Gail are doing okay, as are Hazel and Bobby.

Civil air patrol is going well. I’ve started flying a couple times, before my eye surgery. I’m ready to get back into it. We have 60 members in the squadron now! It’s incredible. Sometimes I do feel a little burned out tho. I’ve started delegating more to help with that.

CRS remains a great challenge and outlet for my geeky side. Lots of robust challenges there. I’m glad it continues to keep my systems admin skills sharp.

Otherwise all goes well. I’m missing those I’ve lost, however. Last year was a bad year, for ,any reasons. Sometimes I feel dread knowing it’s not going to get earlier he more life marches forward. I pray to God that he gives us all strength and grace to face the inevitable future.

Ta for now.

Well, it’s finally here. A new year. Given the absolute terribleness of 2020, I don’t really think much worse can happen, short of maybe Kim Jong Un pulling the trigger on a nuclear barrage.

And what a crappy year it was. My brother Tim died, the COVID-19 pandemic started and continues to rage, I found out I have type-2 diabetes, I’m about to go in for cataract surgery, and we’ve been assailed the past 4 years by history’s absolutely worst president (who just recently got handed his SECOND impeachment). Pretty bad overall. And so…good riddance!

There have been some positives tho, and I am always looking for the positives. I have a wonderful family and awesome friends. I have my health…well, pretty much…it sucks getting older. I am still working for an awesome company (Apple), a vaccine for the COVID virus has started to be distributed, and Sheila and I started building an airplane as our “pandemic project” (yes, a real one. see our RV7 blog), as well as buying a really cool travel trailer.

So, mixed bag, really, but definitely awful overall. This next year HAS to be better.

What do I see is in store for 2021? Well, I’ve been working at home since May, which hasn’t been that bad at all. We will probably head back to the office some time this year. Not a bad thing. In some ways it will definitely be a return to normal, although I do hope that if anything, this past 9 months have shown that working from home is viable. I only hope that because I still have an almost 2 hour commute to and from work, and it’d be nice to maybe work from home occasionally going foward.

As far as my “resolutions” for 2021, I am still carrying forward a few from the past New Years. I want to focus more on my health, which is becoming more evident as I get older. Being a programmer/computer worker means a lot of sitting on my ass, and I need to balance that out with activities that will keep my healthy. We’ve already spent a good deal of money on our home gym…I just need to kick myself into using it.

I’ve been some volunteer work, but with the exception of the Civil Air Patrol, they benefit me primarily. I’d like to extend myself and find more causes that help others. I don’t know what that will look like, outside of donating money, but I’ve always wanted to do something along the lines of Houses for Humanity, where I can go get my hands dirty, with the benefit being completely external.

Another thing on the list is getting back into the cockpit. I haven’t flown in years, and I really do enjoy it (and I’m part of an organization with “Air Patrol” in it’s name!). I DID manage to take 2 flights in the previous month, in my squadron’s beautiful new Cessna 172, which has an all-glass cockpit. It was my first flying in ages, and part of preparing to become certified as a CAP pilot. Seeing that we’re building an airplane of our own, I figured it might be a good idea to get proficient again.

I’d also like to tack on my instrument flying rating as well. I suspect I’ve become a bit more sensitive to risk as I’ve gotten older, and part of mitigating the flying risk is becoming a better pilot. Few things boost that more than advancing your aeronautical ratings.

There will be more trips to Cleveland. This wasn’t only a resolution, but now a necessity. Mom is now by herself, save for a few of our family members with beautiful hearts who check in on her. I’ve been keeping in contact with her as much as possible, and she’s having a hard time adapting, but I want to do everything I can to carry on Tim’s legacy of taking care of her. He was amazing at that. Much more than I think he’d give himself credit for.

Other than that, I really look forward to spending quality time with my wife, especially continuing on with the RV trips we were doing before the pandemic. We both really enjoy getting out and about, camping out in nature and exploring our gorgeous country.

I’m upbeat about 2021. I think things will get better, and this time next year I hope to have to read this post to recall the terrible year that was 2020.

Today I listened to a few voicemails from Tim, back through the years. I thought it’d be hard, but actually it was comforting to hear him. I saved some as voice memos so they wouldn’t disappear. So much of our relationship had been phone calls back and forth, so listening to them made it feel like Tim was still here. It made me smile, and reinforced to myself that Tim is still with me, in my heart, and I can listen to his voice whenever I want to and not be sad.

There’s a balloon floating around in the Central Valley! Not your typical balloon…it’s a Project Loon communications balloon, flying at 56,000′ over Merced. Project Loon is a remote communications project that uses high-altitude balloons to carry cellular service up to the stratosphere in order to provide communications to areas that don’t have service, or during emergencies where terrestrial comms are down.

I noticed it this morning on ForeFlight (pilot app for iPad) as an “aircraft” that was not moving but at 10 miles up in the air. Thought it was a bug until I looked up it’s callsign (it has ADS-B onboard so the public can track it too). Pretty frickin’ awesome!

You can find more information about Project Loon and it’s mission and balloons here.

On Monday, July 13th, my brother Tim passed away. He died suddenly, and without warning.

I had just spoken to him a week before. He was happy, excited about the future, and looking forward to spending July 4th with our mom, watching fireworks together. It was my mom who discovered he was dead, in his bed, early Monday morning.

Even though we lived far away (I’m in California, and Tim and my mom lived together in Ohio), Tim and I were close. He and I had recently spent a lot of time lambasting current politics, talking about work and life in general. He was a smart guy, but more than that, he had a heart of gold.

Tim owned and operated a landscaping business that he started almost 30 years ago. He worked his ass off for that company. Sometimes that meant we had to take a back seat. But that was his life.

My wife and I flew back the next day and helped my mom lay Tim to rest. I’m still in shock over it. Tim and I were supposed to grow old together. He would always say that once he retired (always “next year”), and once mom had passed, he would come to California to start a new chapter. We were supposed to grow old together.

Tim, I miss you, Bro. I miss your keen sense of humor and your smile and laugh. I’ll miss talking politics and sharing our lives with one another. You gave up a lot to take care of mom, putting your life on hold to make sure she was safe and cared for. I can never thank you enough for all you’ve done. I will miss you terribly until I see you again in heaven.

At Tim’s wake, all of the people who worked for Tim, and their families, all said the same about Tim: he was unselfish, caring, supportive…and he had a heart of gold.

Godspeed, my little brother…to the arms of Jesus.

I miss you.

Tim’s memorial site is here.

I’ve always been interested in astronomy, and have even owned a cheap Dobsonian telescope while living in Oakland (which isn’t the best Dark Sky site around, by any means). Lately I’ve gotten the bug again, and went looking for a decent ‘scope to start up with again (I have no idea what happened to the Oakland Dob).

I came across a 5″ Newtonian reflector for $199, which had great reviews. What I really liked about the product was that half of the cost was donated to education in third world countries. That made up my mind pretty much. So I bought it:

It’s not a bad little scope. It comes on an equatorial mount and uses a dovetail mount, which is kinda modern. I think the degree of coolness that sold me, technologically speaking, was that it was ultra compact, “collapsing” down to 14″, which makes it ideal to throw in the back of the car and head out.

After about 2 weeks I decided I needed an upgrade, so I bought a German equatorial mount: the Celestron AVX, which also sports a dovetail connector! This was a “sidewise” upgrade (not to the ‘scope directly) that opens the door to purchasing a larger OTA (optical tube assembly…a telescope that doesn’t include a mount). I’m already weighing the differences between an 8″, a 9.25″ and a gargantuan 11″ OTA from Celestron. Some of the imagery these massive reflectors can produce is breathtaking.

Besides casual observation, I’m also very interested in extending my photography hobby into astrophotography. To that end, I also bought a CMOS telescope camera:

This attaches where the eyepiece goes and plugs into a computer via USB. Then you capture video frames and stack them together to produce a nice, sharp image of what you’re after. There isn’t much in the way of stacking software for the Mac, but I’m going to keep on looking. More to come.

I bought a Prusa i3 Mk2s 3D printer last year, mostly just for personal fun and utility. I’ve printed a bunch of “junk” from thingiverse so far: small figurines, “jewelry”, game items, etc. But I’ve also printed a number of utility items that helped me accomplish something I would have not been able to do otherwise.

The latest utility part was a knob for the small tripod for my stenography machine. I had called the company and asked if they had any replacements, and they said the only option was to buy a whole new tripod, which is pretty expensive. So last night I decided to design and print my own knob.

After taking measurements and designing what I though was a fairly straight forward knob, I made it in 123D Design (which is no longer being maintained by Autodesk), sliced it for the Prusa, and printed a knurled knob for the tripod. I wasn’t sure it’d even work, but after the 20 minute print job finished, I popped it off the printer plate and tried pushing it onto the “stump” that was left from the previous knob.

I chose gold filament, just because. I made the dimensions of the slot the same as the dimensions of the post because I wanted a good, tight fit. I was pleasantly surprised that it went on without breaking, and was definitely nice and snug!

Problem solved!

I may see if I can get any work for things like this. It’d be a fun way to get some $$ back towards the price of the printer.

The finished tripod: