My detailed explanation at my old job is that the dev team was full of idiots who hardcoded ipv4 addresses into their fucking code. Seriously. When we migrated from data center to cloud they had to go patch everything. The CTO wouldn’t do shit about it and the director was just there riding things out until retirement.

I knew a bunch of dudes that did that with Magic cards back during revised. They would collect alpha, beta, and unlimited cards only to sell.

That’s a great question. In my experience (15 years at MSPs and several years as a freelance consultant where I’m mostly in house one place but take side jobs) I’ve been the one who had to make this change.

Some companies are very serious about it. Laptops end up on some device management solution that can tell every program you’ve got installed and flag anything not pre-approved. Then take away everyone’s ability to install outside of device management.

Some companies want to scare the users into compliance but want IT to be able to do their own thing. So they’ll install some easily bypassed thing or enroll everyone but not keep an eye on their network to find rogue devices.

Some companies threaten it, pay money for a consultant to put together a plan, don’t like the price, threaten to go elsewhere, and the exec who championed it finds a new job while nothing of note was done, but they’re sitting on a handful of licenses for software no one is using.

I used to carry a toolkit of free software in portable format on a thumb drive and another thumb drive with a full Linux environment in case I had to do something at the first kind of company.

I approve of this idea. And if you get drunk and don’t forget about it you can test it then. It stings but not as much as you’d imagine.

(Not that I’ve gotten drunk and tried that…)

Similar, and some devices can do both. EMS makes muscles contract so it uses higher voltage. But they’re both devices that shoot electricity into an electrode you put on your body.

Examples include consultants, Managed Service Providers, financial services, staffing firms, HVAC companies, and lawyers. So yeah, workforce augmentation and anything you don’t want to keep in house for one reason or another.

We could rock the fuck out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE3OuHukrmQ

YOU can’t move freely in time. Don’t speak for me.

Ok, I can’t either. But still…

In my misspent youth I did a lot of cocaine. Not 80s business man amounts, but regionally touring rock band amounts. I was also regularly binge drinking. Not once did I have the urge to abuse a child in any way. That much cocaine did short circuit my inhibitions and I engaged in a lot of risky behaviors that I wouldn’t have otherwise but there wasn’t a single time that I looked at a kid and thought about them in any way except as a kid. In fact, if someone showed up with a kid while I was high I would leave because I didn’t want kids to see that.

I think it has something to do with the taboo nature of it. If you’re rich you can get away with more and more depraved shit. So eventually you turn to raping kids as one of the most depraved things a person can do.

I’m explaining it badly but basically it’s a ladder of behavior proving what they can get away with because to them it means they have power. Drugs happen to be a (lower) step on that ladder from their point of view. Can I get away with driving too fast or impaired? Cheating? Can I force my significant other into a threesome they don’t want? Drugs? And so on until it’s diddling kids, hunting people for sport, or eating the brains of live humans who are restrained in a table built for that purpose.

Oh, and I just read your username. We’ve played the White Oak Music Hall if your name is a reference to Houston. Used to play Acadia back when it was open.

Oh trivia is great as well! There are a few other things depending on inclination. Some of the local joints here do paint and sip, line dancing, salsa dancing, wine pairing potlucks, and a bunch of other activities. If you add in breweries or distilleries you can find even more stuff.

But I say that knowing bars aren’t for everyone for a variety of reasons. Not every area has breweries and distilleries.

And yeah, karaoke is a different level of outgoing. I enjoy it in small doses and will fill in as the KDJ if someone needs me to, but doing that every week (or 3 times a week like some of these folks) is a bit much for me, and that’s coming from a dude who has a hobby of playing music in bars.

I do like local live music shows for that if you’re into local music, especially if you hit up the same venue every week for a bit. You’ll meet the other regulars.

A buddy of mine goes to karaoke every week, rain or shine. He moved to a new place a few years ago and within a couple of months he already had a group that he could hang out with elsewhere.

And if you’re lucky it’ll fire out the back at the same speed.

I get it. And that’s part of (but certainly not the only) the reason it’s not for everyone. Even if you had 200m² it might not be for you because some folks just honestly do better in the office, but at 70 it’s going to be psychologically difficult for almost anyone. You’ve made good headway with the separate work workstation on your desk.

Survivorship bias.

I started working remotely before the pandemic because it absolutely works for me. But part of that is that I have things that I do to get into and out of office mode. I get up and get dressed, make myself breakfast, and have a separate area where my office PC lives. When I’m done with work I leave my office. Even if I’m going to be back in there very shortly to record music (because my office doubles as my studio) I walk out of it physically. If I don’t feel disconnected enough from work I’ll change clothes or shower. The key is to always be intentional about it.

That’s not in an effort to convince you of anything. Just giving you tools to keep in your toolbox in case you ever want to use them.

Some folks do way better in an office. Some don’t. But I’m absolutely convinced the workers that want everyone back at the office really need someone to talk to because no one in their personal life wants to be their friend. They don’t have a life with interests and hobbies. But the people that want to go back to the office because it’s better for them, I absolutely support y’all! I think you’re great.

Many credit cards also offer virtual cards for this exact reason.

Two are vocalists, one dark trap producer making a beat for a genre crossover, a rapper that works with that producer, a drummer (neither of us are very good drummers) which he may just get a hired gun to replace because that guy is flaky, and a mandolin player who is collaborating on a different genre crossover. My dude has range and is just out here doing whatever ridiculous thing he wants and I support that shit.

If he needed guitar, bass, upright bass, a bunch of brass, or a couple of woodwinds I could have helped. In fact, I played one of the guitar parts on most of them (he played bass and the other guitar on all). Bass and guitar are done. A lot of vocals are done. Drums are currently scratch made with ezdrummer.

When he’s tracked fully I’ll be helping him mix. He’ll give me a rough pass so I can see what he’s envisioning and I’ll rerecord ant guitar parts that need it or double track anything needing thickening, then give it a final pass before it goes off for mastering.