60+ year old thread.

Safe travels...

 

Lol

 

I guess I'm bucking the retirement trend a bit; I was voluntold I was changing careers not long after I turned 60, effectively pushing me into the realm of Conversational AI. It took a toll on me as my brain was not as elastic as it was when I was in my 20s, and for a year I struggled spending evenings and weekends to coax my brain into understanding the new concepts and ways of doing things; the struggle paid off and I got a few "spot bonuses" and then a promotion along with a nice fat raise.

Two years later I started receiving requests for interviews on an almost daily basis; most were not compelling and I ignored them, however, I did let three recruiters get me on the phone; the first two blew sunshine up my skirt, however, the third presented me with what sounded like a dream job, I bit and took the job. This happened about four and a half years after I changed careers, and as a result, my (already decent) salary had more than doubled.

This week I was attending a conference at the Google offices in Cambridge, MA and had several conversations with one of their engineers who I worked with on a previous project; he made a casual comment to his boss (sitting across the table from me) early in the day about their new job requirements opening up. That evening he took me to dinner and suggested he'd like me to apply for one of the positions; I was flattered, but didn't think he was serious. He persisted and I figured, what the hell, I have nothing to lose at this point, why not? The journey should be interesting.

 

It's pretty interesting when a company values experience combined with age. And unfortunately for most of us (or maybe not) we never found that kind of appreciation. Personally, I think a lot of tech companies build their products to satisfy the egos of the kids designing them rather than building useful products. The designers are trying to impress each other instead of thinking about the least capable person that will be spending money on their product and what their experience will be like... and the people in the seats that make decisions are too knowledgeable in their technology to have any sympathy for the consumer's lack of ability with tech. I'm really surprised though, that somebody hasn't figured this out.

Well that kind of went off on a tangent. But it's still true.

 

I asked my friend about the whole age aspect of him suggesting I apply for one of the jobs. He told me Google actively recruits older candidates for many of their positions and even has a pet name for us. Some of y'all might know Google associates often refer to themselves as "Googlers", however, for the associates "over a certain age", they are referred to as "Grayglers". Honestly, I would be honored to be referred to as a Graygler.

 

Good Morning Porch Pals & Sue! Just getting going here; for some reason I slept like crap last night, and even the sleep app agreed. But 7 Bowl games to track, and a Lions game tonight to boot. That's a busy day! Retired tradition of catching at least part of every darn Bowl, because --- I can! Filled out my bet sheet with confidence points for my annual bragging bet with my son. I'm good to go.

Fascinating and cool. But, I too, am very disappointed that no treasure map or bank loot was found. Maybe "something strange", or an old tool will show up! Good luck on the project!

Sorry Tom, but it sounded like she had struggled hard and long. Safe travels.

 

Afternoon all:

Sorry to hear that Tom, my condolences to you and the family.

Looks like a project Mark, I was brought up in an old Victorian mansion that had a lot of that old wallpaper in the rooms, it's beautiful when it's in good shape.

 

So sorry to hear this , thoughts and prayers sent !!

 

I'd like to be a Graygler. Probably too politically incorrect for them, but they would get some useful ideas, I'd like to think. There's an untapped market as people age out of the tech they've become comfortable with and I'd bet that will continue to be an issue regardless of generational niche.

 

So sorry Tom. Safe travels. Condolences and prayers for the family.

Nice house and project Mark. I lived in an old house for awhile as a kid....would be neat to see the bare bones. Hope you don't find any major issues.

Happy Saturday gang. Heading out to move some leaves and work on my compost bin...

 

No grand plans today, thought I’d just putz around with some minor little projects. Cleaned the BBQ up spic and span since I’ll be using it a lot over the next couple weeks. Next I thought I’d spiff up my truck headlights. I did them 4 years ago and they were still quite clear and sparkly. Thought it wouldn’t hurt to go over them a little. That was a mistake. I usually go by the motto if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, but not this time. Got some Armorall wipes, looked easy and quick. The package had 4 wipes and 2 protectant wipes. After I used the wipes that supposedly remove oxidation the lights looked like shit. My clear lights looked a mess like they were oxidized. I sat there in pissed off disbelief. Made up some new swear words. I didn’t dare apply the protectant to the mess that were my headlights.
So I went back to what I originally used 4 years ago, Meguiars Heavy Duty Headlight Restore. 1000 grit sanding, then 3000 grit then a polishing compound. Followed by Meguiars protectant. They look like they did when the truck rolled off the assembly line.
I assume most people have success with the Armorall wipes but for me they were crap. I should have known they were too easy to be true.
I’m done putzing. Kicking back with a wee dram of Irish whiskey and then later we’re off to a pre Christmas, Christmas dinner at friends house. Happy Saturday all.

 

The last time my daughter came to visit my SIL used toothpaste and a rag on my vehicles and I thought they looked pretty good. I haven't noticed lately but then I don't pay much attention to that kind of thing.

 

sixtys/wannabes/unretirees. I never tried Armorall Wipes and now I never will. Sounds like they attack the plastic chemically which does not strike me as a good idea. Thanks @Sprig for the heads up!

I never un-retired, I just kept working. Worked until I was almost 70. I loved what I was doing (fundamental internet tech foo for "a major cable provider") and felt well rewarded. They liked me, to the point where they would probably hire me back today if I so desired. But there came a time when I was being pulled back towards things I had set aside to have a career. I was honestly ready to leave the working world behind and begin another chapter. I loved my job. I don't miss it. The people, yes. The job, not a bit. I'm doing other fun stuff now.

Speaking of tech foo, there's a nifty new standard in the pipeline that promises to dramatically reduce packet latency on duh internetz; L4S. It's rolling out as we speak but might take some time before it's noticeable, because so many items need to adopt it. I don't know about you all but I've been increasingly aware of pages taking longer to load, streaming to take longer before it starts, and so on. Turns out that packet latency is the issue, and L4S is the agreed upon fix. The good news is that it should allow your high speed connection to actually run at high speed.

Geek link: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc9330/
Plain(er) language: https://www.theverge.com/23655762/l4s-internet-apple-comcast-latency-speed-bandwidth

 

Good morning fellow Porchatonians!!!

 

Morning everyone, slept in until 5:15

 

Good Morning everyone

0445hrs and I just woke up

 

Fell asleep some time after 9:00 reading “Founding Fathers”. Wifey took my book off my chest when she came to bed. Never woke up. 5:05 am, I woke ready for the day!
Plan is to workout, get cleaned up, then start painting and decorating some birdhouses I built yesterday. Pretty exciting plans for my day eh? LOL!

 

Mornin 60+.

 

My day yesterday was 5 hours work in the morning and then a friend helped me move a 400 lb machine into my basement wood shop. I got up today and I'm OK, didn't wreck my back. But damn I get winded so easy now with any physical exertion. Part of it I think is my lungs where damaged from the covid and pneumonia, I never seemed to fully recover from it and I still wheez to this day. But I'm still here and kicking. Enjoying life the best I can, just a little slower than my youth.

 

Good Morning Porch Pals & Sue! Well, won 3 bowl pics in a row (+8), then lost 4 in a row (-5 is my current score). Oh well, Lions won big for me! Quick errand and that's it for the day. Nice or not, football weekends off! And even if I'm working @woodtickgreg , I take lots of breaks these days, after the CHF episode landed me in Emergency for a 3 day stay! What do I need to hurry for, anyway?