Computer keyboards

Everyone knows, and uses QWERTY layout keyboards. I'd seen alternative options, and thought it would be so cool to have one. They're expensive, so it was always a dream. Recently, I started looking at them again and saw the Kinesis Advantage 2. I was trying to get one from Ebay, but asshat sellers had make an offer set, for basically the same cost as their buy it now prices. So, I spent a lot of time looking around, fianlly settling on a new one from Amazon. This keyboard is still QSWERTY, but with a design focused on ergonomics. I've been using other traditional ergo keyboards, like this and most recently this (ignore this price, it's a crap listing.) Those keyboards were always great, and no one else wanted to touch my keyboard. Now, I'm slowly getting used to the Advatage 2, and loving it. I am, however, not liking typing on this keyboard as I have a ton of bad typing habits that shine through on this board and need to fix. Currently, my mastery in terms of shortcuts is hampered with the slightly different layout, so that's another adjustment to make. I may end up making use of this keyboard's programmable short cuts for those that I use frequently. The cool thing is that those are stored in the keyboard's memory, so they work with any computer. Of couurse, this was all typed with the new keyboard, and took quite a bit longer than normal. I really need to fix my bad habits so I can blaze away in a torrent of noisy mechanical clacking.

I bet that you thought I wouldn't update

It has only been 9 years since my last update. Things that have happened in the time between then and now. Felix has gotten much older and bigger, taller than Siew now. Sylvia was born in 2010 and is growing into a beautiful young lady. I got really tired of teaching, so I wanted to go back to Tech work. I earned a CCENT and CCNA and managed to get a contract job to move back to the US (I couldn't get tech work while in Malaysia, I tried). In 2015, we moved back, in stages, to the US. Me coming over first and then getting paperwork settled to get the rest over without hassle. . . which became a hassle and required contacting a Senator to get help to push Immigration. In 2016, I left Cisco for a fulltime job with a different company. Been there since, but really want to leave. In 2019, we bought a house that is out of city limits with a lot of room. The timing couldn't have been better as we had started getting things where we liked when covid hit. Being able to hole up at home, and have room to do things (almost an acre) has helped keep us sane. At the end of 2019, I decided to get back into Magic the Gathering. That was probably a mistake. At the start of 2020, before Covid, my grandmother passed away. Also in 2020, I stuck a machete into my leg. That was fun. Still haven't totally recovered lost feeling from that, I severed my saphenous nerve so I lost some feeling in my shin. In October 2021, I developed Bell's Palsy on the left side of my face, and that has been interesting. Still not fully recovered from that yet. In 2021, I finally managed to make a friend who I don't work with. I met him through Magic related stuff. I've seen been meeting up with him and some others to play Magic. It's been fun, not just to play the game, but to have some interaction with people again. 2022, well we're still early in the year, so let's see how it goes. To make my standpoints clear. I'm anti-Trump. I'm not for Biden. I don't think we should have "old" politicians. We need people who will be alive to face the consequences of their choices and greed. I'm pro-vaccine. I'm pro-mask. We need to all be vigilant to get the pandemic under control. Yes, it is your right not to wear a mask. That's fine. It is NOT your right to affect anyone else's rights, which means that you not wearing a mask and not keeping yourself away means that you are violating others' rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Getting Back into Things and Future Plans

Tonight I went back to Bujinkan. It's not the first time, but this time I want to make it a regular thing. You see, I have a plan. I want a blackbelt. I've never earned one, and I want one.

There is more to it than just "I want one." There's also a potential. The potential to earn money. We might need to move back, probably will do so, to the States or even to another country. Work situations there are not really that great, so I might need an extra "weapon" to earn money. That's where a blackbelt comes in. I can teach people and earn something.

So, here's my plan. I need to practice hard, earn some rank and get to where I am competent to teach people Bujinkan. I ALSO want to find and study Tai Chi. Tai Chi is something that many people, of differing ages, want to learn. I can teach one and explain that I also teach the other. More earning potential.

Not only can I, eventually, use this skill-set to earn money, but it is something that I love, and it has the added benefit in regards to my physical health.

Now to work hard and keep focused... :-)

Reclaim your "child."

I just posted this on Facebook and Google+, this version is slightly longer though:

Today we went to out to do some things. We needed to get Sylvia's passport and consular report of birth abroad. We took the LRT, light rail train, to go out. Siew took a slightly different route since I was headed to the embassy to collect Sylvia's documents. She took the kids to KLCC so Felix could play there. They have a great park with lots of playground equipment and a kids' swimming pool.

I walked to the embassy and proceeded to wait, and wait, and wait. Finally my number was called. I went up, showed them the papers and within a few minutes I was finished. I teased the lady at the counter that she wouldn't see us again, we're not having anymore kids. She said we should have 3. I told her that that was not happening. Usually she's a very serious lady, but this time around I was able to break the ice a bit. After that I walked to KLCC and found Siew.

Felix was running around the playground at that point, so I joined him. We have fun running around and jumping around. I enjoyed being able to run freely, despite my recent, frequent shoulder pain. My recently glue Vibram Five Fingers are holding up pretty well, although the rubber has hardened a bit, so they allowed me to bounce about like a kid. Felix was playing with a boy who was with his father. The boy is 4, but Felix is taller than he is. The boy's father commented to Siew that it seemed like I was having more fun playing than Felix was. I know that's not entirely true, but I was having fun.

It feels great to move around freely like that. Being limited in our movements on a daily basis is something I had never noticed. In general, as we grow up, we forget how to play like kids; free, unlimited, without notions of impossibility. Being able to flow and bounce around, jumping from things and up onto things felt so great. It made me realize that I've lost, but can reclaim, a part of my life that I didn't realize I had lost.

I hope that I can teach the kids some of my "tricks" to movement, and that they will develop their own. I also hope that they will live more as kids, in this respect, and not grow "old."

I'm posting it here since I haven't posted anything in a long, long time. I might just have to start updating this again. We'll see, I have some other ideas for blogs, so I might create new blogs, or throw those things into this one, even if that makes things a mess.

Now, go and play!

I'm not dead yet!

Ok, so, I know, I have not been writing here at all recently.

Those of you who are in the know, know that I have kept Felix's blog updated, to some degree or another, with videos, but I have not been good about my own blog!

Ummm, what to tell?

Let's see, Siew and I are working on buying our apartment. That is going to increase our monthly expenses, but the money is then going into an asset, rather than into someone else's pockets.

I started working at a new job on Monday. I am now a full-time employee of a local college as an English teacher. I am still working at the Korean-owned center in the evenings and am also trying to get my own students.

Ultimately, I would like to have my own students rather than working for someone else. I can earn more that way, and have a lot more flexibility. However I need to have a stable income, more so with the boy and with the house. The best way to stabilize things right now is to have a full-time job. I actually will get benefits from a company for the first time since I left Charter in 2007!

These changes have added pressure to Siew, Felix, and me. I have to get up earlier in the morning, walk to the LRT, get on the train, ride to the right station, get off, walk to work. Then I work at the college from 9-4. Promptly at 4, I rush out the door, get on the train, ride to another station, get off, and find Siew. Then she drives me to work where I teach for 2 hours and then we can all go home. I hope these changes are ok for her and for Felix.

On the plus side of this all, I get off work earlier on Fridays, as well as the benefits which means I get holidays off AND paid!

I hope everything can become more and more stable for us. I want to provide the best I can for my family. I will do what I can to make that happen.