A photo of me and Anitra from January 2023. Behind us is University of Tampa’s Henry B. Plant Museum (a.k.a. Plant Hall) and one of its distinctive minarets. Before Plant Hall became part of the University, it opened as the Tampa Bay Hotel in 1891, a 500-room resort and one of the first buildings to feature electricity and an elevator.
Here’s a photo from the Auth0 by Okta company offsite in Cancun back in March.
I need to break out the electroluminescent wire glasses more often.
It would’ve been the band’s last official gig of 2023 for Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons — which includes yours truly on accordion and keyboards — but the venue, Jollimon’s Island, while covered with a roof, is pretty much an outdoor one, and it’s just going to be too cold tonight.
Under warmer circumstances, we’re the house band at JolliMon’s Tuesday “Raw Talent Nights,” where the stage is open to musicians who want to join in on the open mic fun. If you’re in the Clearwater area, come on down (temperature permitting) and enjoy some great live music!
On the second full day of Okta’s annual conference, Oktane, there was an area marked with this very promising sign…
…and not far behind that sign was this little corral, which had about eight or ten puppies:
An organization named PuppyLove, which bills itself as “The Ultimate Puppy Experience,” provided said puppies.
Here’s how PuppyLove describes itself:
At Puppy Love, we strive to boost mental health and connections among corporate teams while also benefiting adoptable puppies in the process. With corporate wellness sitting top of mind throughout the country, it can be difficult to determine which types of events will most benefit your team. Puppy Love provides a fun, safe, stress-relieving outlet for professionals to kick back and enjoy the company of adorable puppies!
They also say:
Spending time with animals has been shown to enhance productivity, reduce stress, promote interpersonal connection, foster self-expression and so much more.
I did without a lunch break to spend time with all the puppies, making sure to pet every one.
PuppyLove have set themselves up at a number of conferences, listed here, and it appears that they were as big a hit as they were at Oktane.
I’ll close this article with my favorite photos from the set I took in the puppy zone. They’re of the puppy who liked me the most:
More conferences should have this sort of thing!
After a summer hiatus, Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons (of which I am a member) are playing gigs again — this time on the third Tuesday of the month at Jollimons Island in Clearwater from 6 to 9 p.m.
We’re part of their Tuesday “Raw Talent Nights,” where the stage is open to musicians who want to join in on the open mic fun.
If you’re down Clearwater way, join us, whether you want to hop onstage and play, or sit back and enjoy the music!
This Tuesday, September 19th at JolliMons Island in Clearwater, I’ll be onstage with the accordion and playing with Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons. Come on down and enjoy some good food, drink, and live music!
This postcard appeared in our mailbox this morning — here’s the front…
…and here’s the back:
Note that there’s no postmark, which means that it was delivered by hand. How oddly and delightfully analog!
The link takes you to a simply but nicely designed page that makes the standard Bitcoin pitch that’s been around for years, with the usual talking points such as the expanding money supply and inflation, the fixed supply of Bitcoin, “it’s digital money and a computer network!”, and a couple of bits about how Bitcoin “isn’t volatile” and that “Bitcoin help stabilize the Texas energy grid through mining.” I’m not sure how that last one can possibly be true.
Later, just before 2:00 p.m., I got a text message from an unrecognized number: “When is your birthday?”
Just for kicks, I turned it into a conversation:
In case you were wondering, Nguyet Anh Duong is known in US defense circles as “The Bomb Lady” for her work on developing a thermobaric weapon.
Here’s the last bit of our conversation:
Blame my inner 14-year-old: the town name “Mianus” will always be funny to me.
This is most likely a “pig butchering” style scam. It takes its name from the fact that you fatten up a pig before killing it for its meat. The term comes from the land of delicious char siu pork, China, where it originated. It’s now practiced here in North America to great effect: recently, a woman who matched up with a scammer on Hinge ended up losing $300,000 and a man lost $1 million.
Sometimes it starts via a dating or social media app, but another common approach is the text from a stranger with an attractive profile picture. The initial text messages make it look like they’re texting a wrong number, and after some seemingly-embarrassed apologies, the scammer strikes up a conversation. Then, as they gain your confidence, they start steering you towards some kind of questionable online investment, preferably one that makes the money hard to track once it’s gone.
Chances are that whoever’s supervising the texter playing “Tina” saw my responses and said “Stop wasting your time; this guy’s just yanking your chain,” which is exactly the case.
There’s an episode of the Jordan Harbinger Show on the topic of pig butchering — you can either listen to it or watch it below: