This past Sunday, my Ukulele Group, the Phoenix Ukulele Group, got together to play for the Glendale Folk & Heritage Festival. We had a great line-up and we got to the stage quickly and had time to play all our songs! We ended with a really cool Wellerman song that we got the audience to participate on.
This Saturday past, we did a big Renaissance Festival trip with family and friends and also friends of family! My son and his girlfriend were driving separately and so we drove ourselves and gave our friend Allysen a ride too. We also planned to bring Amber home, so we took the truck. It’s crazy when we drive out there, the traffic is miles long. I keep fondly thinking about that time we took the RV the night before and camped just passed the Festival grounds. Coming in the other way and getting rockstar parking is just great. Anyway, I digress.
When we finally got to parking, our former neighbor, Preston was like 3 cars behind us and he came over to say hi. I haven’t seen him and his wife in a long time, I almost didn’t recognize him. Found out that Damien invited them so we got to walk over and wait for them together and of course, did our group photo.
It was a hot day and I’m glad I bought an umbrella that matched my outfit. Doubly keeping the sun off me made the day much more pleasant. I was really surprised with the portions this trip. I got bbq pork shanks and sweet potato and I was stuffed!
We ran into only a few of our other friends who were there. After I posted on Facebook the next day is when I found out that there were even more friends out there that we missed.
We didn’t make any big purchases this time around, but did have a lot of fun taking our time exploring the whole area. Our friends Allysen and Amber were plague rats and giving out plague stamps, which was very funny to see.
One of the cool things we did though was Jaime forged a pendant, that was pretty neat.
We ended the day with a beautiful sunset.
Since I’ve been back from War, I’ve been steadily doing my walking and running. I’ve even started going back to the gym, though not that often. But it still counts! My weight has stabilized at 250 lbs. I’m a little sad about that, but not that sad as I’ve been eating to full for the most part. I know portion control has a lot to do with it and once I fill my plate or bowl, I think I feel guilty if I still have some left over, so I finish it.
I heard the news that Jeff Galloway has passed away and he was a big part of my running training. I learned Jeffing, or the run/walk/run method which I used to my 10k and half marathon training. So as a thing, I started a 5k program that Jeff is the instructor on. I’m on my second week now and my cardio is kind of shitty. It’s also starting to get pretty warm here in Phoenix, we already broke a heat record, 93F in February. Crazy.
I am following a new fitness person on Facebook and he was kind of bodybuilder but talks of getting older and going from showy muscles to functional muscles. I’ve taken a few of his words to heart, like moving from chest press to dips and if you can roll forward to do dips you get the chest workout too. I’m in no denial that I’m getting older so whatever I can do to keep those functional muscles strong to pick me up when I need them, that’s what I’m going to do.
Aside from the physical, I’ve been doing some mental exercise as well, learning Just the Two of Us on Guitar. I’ve been recently invited to an ukulele tablature jam and I’m leading Abba’s Chiquitita, so that is fun. Its coming up in a few weeks.
Since about a year ago, we were told about War by our friends and we already kind of knew about the SCA, better known as the Society of Creative Anachronism. From their about page: War of the Phoenix is hosted by The Kingdom of Atenveldt, the Arizona chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA).
So we decided to get tickets to it. During Kelli’s birthday, we had an idea that she went and I happened to bring it up; all of a sudden we were surrounded by her friends who were very excited about it and are regulars to it. Some having gone for near 30 years or so. There is a lot of overlap in our group friends and honestly, it was really cool.
We pulled up in our RV to the site and after a little interaction found our parking spot and within minutes of arriving, changing into period wear, and stepping out, we were invited to party at a tent and while walking by, given some alcohol based drinks and a nice mug to drink them out of!
We even met a dog that looked kind of like Darla, and the place had a lot of dogs which were friendly!
We found friends, got some tours of the whole place, ran into many of our other friends and made new ones. Before we knew it, we had dinner, it was amazing! Food that Jaime made on the grill at our RV.
We saw the coolest sunset and how we were far enough away from the city and sheltered by a mountain that it was just a pink glow against the city. And when it got dark, we could see so many stars! Not like 30 years ago, but more than we can typically see in Phoenix proper.
The market was pretty cool and had food vendors as well as many crafts that were period appropriate. I ended up getting a cool hat!
Jaime and Allysen went and did some cool crafting, making viking wire weave.
We went camp to camp checking out parties and at each one, everyone was welcoming and the drinks were flowing! I wandered into one camp, ran into Kelli and joined the drum circle.
When we got done, we made a fire and sat around it for a second, but then wandered off to more parties.
It got cold later and after we got too tired and maybe drank a little too much, we went back to our RV to sleep.
It was like that for two days, the third day ended up being a pretty lazy day of packing up and moving out, saying bye to whomever was still hanging around. That was pretty fun and I’m sure it won’t be our only time doing it.
We just got home last night from a week in Los Angeles. We went for our Gallifrey One, Doctor Who convention but got there earlier to see the sites and not get rushed into things. It was really neat. We did some things that we’ve not done in a long time if at all. Like I’ve done some of the things but not to the extent that we did together and Jaime may or may not have done some of the things, but this time we did them together and enjoyed taking our time and getting a good experience about them.
We stayed at our usual place and got a poolside room this time and ran into some others who did the same thing. You really have to get there a few days before to get the room you want. What did suck though was that the hot tub was broken and after a few days it turned green. We only hot tubbed the first night.
Our first day trip, we went to the Venice Canals, which I’ve never seen before and then walked up and down Venice Beach/Muscle Beach. I kind of wanted to lift some weights but I wasn’t about to pay $10 to lay on a bench press and push a meek 135lbs for a stupid photo my wife would take from the sidelines.
After that we went over to the Getty museum and got some culture into us! Very impressive museum and awesome view from the balconies.
The next day, we went to the LaBrea tarpits and got some learning about what was found inside them. There was also a pit that was being excavated, nobody was in it while we were there, but its quite impressive how far down it went and the process they went through to identify everything they pulled out.
We found a nice little place to have a gluten free lunch and included some snacks for later. We then went over to the Griffith Observatory and learned more about our planet and solar system. So very cool. Plus we got a nicer view of the Hollywood sign, which doesn’t come out too well in selfie mode. LOL
We rested the next day and spent time by the pool with old and new friends and talking about what we were expecting.
Then the following days were a whirlwind of cosplay and going to panels and learning stuff and seeing others who showed up. Like our friend Melissa and Green bean and Christina the CA Weeping Angel.
I hit the gym with Alexander Devrient, not that we actually worked out together, but we were using near similar equipment in the tiny gym room. I said hi and left him alone. Reminds me of the time I worked out with Michael Biehn in Tucson. I also got to say “you are the best of the best” to Eric Roberts and we fist bumped, that was neat. There might also be a picture of Green Bean and I meeting Freema from the Weeping Angel Blink episode, if I get a copy, I’ll share.
Here’s some pictures in some sort of order to the above.
I got a message from ISC2 that I was missing 20.5 Class B CPEs and I needed them to renew my CCSP. The timing of my certs makes this really weird that I can be 240+ CPEs over on my CISSP and under 20.5 on my CCSP. I used PluralSight because they provide certificates and I took a whole bunch of classes on leadership, development, and communications. I was able to bust them out over the period of two weeks. Its a lot of learning, but hey, smarter every day, right?
I also have been attending the Cloud Security Alliance’s online conference for AI. There is just so much AI and its growing exponentially. Its fascinating. Just over two years ago, there was some AI that the common user was like, aww that’s cute, this side bot is chatting with me but its a little annoying, like how Clippy was in Microsoft Office products. Now as of very recently, there is Motebook, an AI social network created by AI for AI to hang out. Every product it seems that is online, has AI. Even wordpress has an AI generator, which I haven’t used yet and I don’t think I will. I like having my own words which to me is freedom of expression. If AI generates my creativity, what freedom do I have?
I have been playing my ukulele almost daily and I still go to my Phoenix Ukulele Group gatherings and lead from my seat. Its fun. We are practicing right now for the Glendale Folk and Heritage Festival in March and I just got us signed up to play the Kanikapila tent at the Arizona Aloha Festival, also in March. Should be fun. My own agenda of playing How Deep is Your Love is done. I am wondering if I should record myself playing more so I can get used to it. While I played this song over and over, of course when I start recording I fumble a little. While I’m okay with it, its showing that I lack the discipline that I used to have for when I recorded the other songs in the past.
Well, I did a whole month of mostly walking and some running. I did it every day. I watched what I ate as much as I could. I didn’t do any fasting, which wasn’t any part of my goal. Unless eating late is considered fasting. But I still drank coffee with creamer so there is calories there. Plus my multi-vitamin… Does that count? I’m not sure.
I ended up losing 8 lbs in total and I did hit the gym once. Because I went on MLK day, everybody also had the day off so the gym was crowded. Ugh. I will be going to the gym more in February and with the beautiful weather that Phoenix has its walking/jogging weather.
Hey, I kept up and didn’t slack… Too much! I had a day where I just did a mile, I have some soreness in my lower back from walking. I also am hella sore from doing some light workout at the gym! It’s amazing… or at least, I’m quite amazed at how weak I got from the bit of break. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that I went to the gym, but with my tracking apps, I see its been since November 22nd, 2025. Why? I think I hurt my elbow/arm. Unnatural hurting, not like sore. Kind of like tennis elbow, but in a specific part. It still hurts here and there to be honest.
Anyway, one of the first things I did this morning was weigh in and I was prompted to change batteries on the scale. After quickly changing them, I stood on the scale 5 different times. I had lost an additional 4 lbs. So that’s 8 lbs down for the month! Pretty cool. I did change my eating habits a little, but I think a big part is that I’m walking and running often. Daily.
I’m playing still, my ukulele and my guitar. Just trying to get really good at some songs. We did our ukulele meetup in person this week and it was good to see some of those guys. We play songs that we’ve been playing for years, so we’re really good at them… for the most part.
At the end of this month, I’ll record myself playing the songs I’ve been practicing. I kind of wish I did a before and after, but nah, nobody wants to see me do the before part… Especially me.
Our deer friend, Kelli, had her 50th birthday celebration and invited us. We of course had to go. Kelli is the person who rightfully claims that she’s the reason Jaime and I got together. We had a party at Kelli’s place back in 2007, and the premise was, destroy your liver to save someone else’s. Jaime and I ended up getting drunk and falling for each other.
We’ve known Kelli for over 20 years and know most of her life and she knows most of ours. While we don’t see each other as often as we used to, through our social networks we are finding more and more overlap of interests and friends.
Last night, we got to reconnect with Kelli, her sister Brandi, and some friends we’ve worked with over the years. We also got to make many new friends who have the same interests.
Part of the party was at Platform 18 where it resembled a moving train. It was a pretty cool experience and they had some really good drinks. I got a good buzz going on. When we got out, we went to Kelli’s where the party continued and I had some more drinks. Jaime was the designated driver. We did enjoy meeting the new friends much, and I believe we are already making plans to hang out with them soon. I’ve already connected with a few of them on Facebook.
I didn’t lose as much weight this time, but its still a loss so that’s a win to me! I walked and ran and increased mileage and my feet and lungs are getting used to it. I haven’t been stretching as much though. I am thinking that with it being now two weeks into the new year, I can start going back to the gym. I am hoping it has all died down. I think I read somewhere that by the second Friday of the new year, most resolutions have failed.
I continue to play How Deep is Your Love as often as I can. For our Ukulele meetups, which we’ve had both in person and online, we’re finalizing our playlist and playing through them. March 1st will be our next show and I’m ready for it.
I am troubled with the state of the United States and I strongly disagree with the conduct of many of our government officials. Its disheartening and sad and I’m hoping for better times ahead; but there has been some reporting lately that ICE is in town and of course I worry for my son’s safety; despite the fact that he was born in the united states. News from many sources are showing that ICE is instigating civil unrest and the reactions of some ‘friends’ is causing me to avoid them.
I started looking for different ways to spend my time online. I can’t with Facebook, I’ve been off Twitter for a good many years, Blusky has millions outraged with politics, my Reddit is covering politics, its so hard to avoid so I’ve taken solace in Tumblr. Not posting there, but more to have a feed that is about art, quotes, inspiration and positivity.
I really appreciate the life that I’ve built and my wife. Things are doing well so far into this year. I’ve been up on my fitness, moving every day. I’ve walked mostly and some running for 16 miles so far in the last 7 days. Sometimes I’ll walk in the evenings with my wife. I’m not sure if I’ll run or walk later today.
I’ve also been playing some music, getting my fingers used to both guitar and ukulele. Two songs I’ve primarily focused on, on the ukulele is: Stairway to Heaven, which I know is the forbidden song in any guitar store, but the beginning of it is so beautiful. Honestly its basic chord structures which flow nicely together.
The other ukulele song is: How Deep Is Your Love and I’ve been playing that on my low G ukulele. I used to play it but its been so long and I would like to play it at a point where its memorized like before. It sounds really good. I’ll likely post videos when I’m done mastering… or remastering it.
I haven’t really focused on anything specific with the guitar. The steel strings hurt my fingertips, so I’m mostly just travis picking and strumming and getting my fingers used to pressing down and building out the callouses so I can enjoy playing. Lots of friends and family have guitars and it was my first love of acoustic music.
I’ve been all up in learning more and more about AI. It’s everywhere. Even on this WordPress CMS that I’m blogging into, there are options to leverage AI to create summaries. My goto with AI is mostly Gemini. I’ve really liked using it over the other models. About a year ago, I went to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot; I asked each of them the same question… It was about using SAST, DAST, and SCA and when it was appropriate to do each of them, with an output in a grid with pros and cons and Gemini gave me the best answer. Since then, I’ve just focused on Gemini.
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