Merry's recent activity
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Comment on Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ in ~tech
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Comment on Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ in ~tech
Merry Link ParentAs are all employees of a company. Unless you are in a union.As are all employees of a company. Unless you are in a union.
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Comment on The road to non-directed kidney donation in ~health
Merry LinkI was in the process for this about five years ago. It was a good point on my life where I felt I had the support at home and the comfort in my employer to be away for a little bit of time to...I was in the process for this about five years ago. It was a good point on my life where I felt I had the support at home and the comfort in my employer to be away for a little bit of time to recover California also had good benefits for organ donation.
Unfortunately, COVID hit and the hospital pretty much dropped contact (reasonably so, it was a terrible time for the medical professionals). Life changed for me as well and even though there is small risk, there is still risk in the procedure. With a wife and a kid soon on the way, I missed my window.
Still signed up on the bone marrow registry though! I recommend all people to register for it, especially if organ donation is not in your comfort zone.
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Comment on Lifetime Plex Pass will cost $750 USD after July 1st in ~tv
Merry Link ParentI still have Plex mainly for local server needs. But, I am putting together Jellyfin as I type right now. It is a bit of a steep curve compared to the "It just works" plex set up. I downloaded it...I still have Plex mainly for local server needs. But, I am putting together Jellyfin as I type right now.
It is a bit of a steep curve compared to the "It just works" plex set up. I downloaded it and pointed it to my movies and TV shows folder, and while Movies is working pretty decent, TV shows is abysmal. It reminds of the old days of Plex of having to manage folder structure and file name formatting. In the days of AI coding, I guess it isn't so bad to get a quick Python script together to target renaming files and such, but it is a bit of pain.
Plug-ins with Jellyfin seem really nifty. I will have to spend some time tinkering, but it does make me think that some of these plug ins will break with a release? Kind of like mods with video games. Unfounded of course, but something I will be watching. I like the UI quite a bit more. Lately I have been really hating Plex's layout. All I need is Continue Watching and Library. I don't need suggestions for shows, suggestions for services, live TV. Just my library and start watching.
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Comment on Lifetime Plex Pass will cost $750 USD after July 1st in ~tv
Merry Link ParentI had Plex Pass for a few months this year, mainly when I was traveling so I could sync some items to my phone from the airport. Was heavily disappointed though that the app has some weird scaling...I had Plex Pass for a few months this year, mainly when I was traveling so I could sync some items to my phone from the airport. Was heavily disappointed though that the app has some weird scaling issue in Samsung Dex mode, which renders my use case of XR glasses null and void. The issue has been happening for months, and no support at all from Plex on fixing it.
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Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of May 3 in ~games
Merry Link ParentMaestro is great! After you made this comment, I bought the bundle just for Maestro. The DLC is on sale right now too. I picked up Duel of the Fates and had a blast playing it! As someone who is...Maestro is great! After you made this comment, I bought the bundle just for Maestro. The DLC is on sale right now too. I picked up Duel of the Fates and had a blast playing it! As someone who is enjoys the symphony several times a year, this game hits hard.
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Comment on Michael Wyckoff & Jonathan LaMarche - Pick It Up (Ima Say Ma Namowa) (2020) in ~music
Merry LinkThis song has been in my Spotify liked music for awhile but I never took too long to look at it. I thought it sounded like a cover of some other song, but apparently this song was created and is...This song has been in my Spotify liked music for awhile but I never took too long to look at it. I thought it sounded like a cover of some other song, but apparently this song was created and is unique to Boneworks, the VR game. Simultaneously catchy and generic, with a mixture of Phillips Phillips - Home and Rusted Way - Send Me On My Way
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Michael Wyckoff & Jonathan LaMarche - Pick It Up (Ima Say Ma Namowa) (2020)
3 votes -
Comment on Tomo Fujita - Just Funky (1996) in ~music
Merry LinkA very Cory Wong-esque song that predates his music by several decades. This popped up many years ago in my discover playlist and have been meaning to post if for all the Vulfpeck and funk fans...A very Cory Wong-esque song that predates his music by several decades. This popped up many years ago in my discover playlist and have been meaning to post if for all the Vulfpeck and funk fans out there.
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Tomo Fujita - Just Funky (1996)
7 votes -
Comment on The Dream Eaters - I Am Bleeding Internally (2024) in ~music
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The Dream Eaters - I Am Bleeding Internally (2024)
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Comment on Used electric vehicles are a bargain right now in ~transport
Merry LinkI have a 2023 Ioniq 5 on the way in the next week or two. I needed to buy a second vehicle and I just couldn't see myself getting a pure gas vehicle again. Our only vehicle we have had for the...I have a 2023 Ioniq 5 on the way in the next week or two. I needed to buy a second vehicle and I just couldn't see myself getting a pure gas vehicle again. Our only vehicle we have had for the past couple of years has been a 2017 Chevy Volt, and honestly, if GM made another one today I would be all over it. A PHEV with 60-70 miles of EV range with a gas generator for back up would be my ideal vehicle.
When the Ioniq 5 arrives in a few weeks, I am thinking of just going on a long road trip to see what the charging conditions will be like.
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Comment on What radicalized you? in ~talk
Merry LinkMy Parents He was a boilermaker and a pipefitter. A union worker who would be gone for long stretches of times traveling to different powerplants and facilities and doing 7/12s for months at a...My Parents
He was a boilermaker and a pipefitter. A union worker who would be gone for long stretches of times traveling to different powerplants and facilities and doing 7/12s for months at a time. Then not working for the rest of the year drawing an unemployment check.
I always heard about how we have health insurance, he has an annuity/pension, and gets paid nearly twice as much as the non-union guys on the job. And this was all because my father was a member of a union. I learned from the early years of my life the dynamics of the business vs. the everyday man.
I saw my mom struggle with consumerism. She was a nurse that worked over an hour away from home, commuting daily because there weren't good jobs in the area where I grew up. While my dad was out making money, my mom was out of the house spending uncontrollably. Racking up thousands upon thousands of dollars of credit card debt. Once, I saw her silently crying in the grocery store line as she started putting things away onto the shelf at check out. My parents' paychecks were being garnished. They always fought over money.
I saw my dad and mom divorce. Then my mom got cancer. My parents remarried just so my mom could be on my dad's health insurance. I was taught from an early age that just because you are sick, doesn't mean you can afford to go to the hospital.
I was the kid at the 9th grade lunch table picking fights about universal healthcare and why we were wasting billions blowing up kids in the Middle East. My classmates thought I was an idiot. One of them became a doctor. He messaged me on LinkedIn ten years later to apologize since he saw first hand how parents have to sacrifice to make sure their kids get the care they need.
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Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk
Merry LinkMy weekend was pretty jam-packed. On Friday night, I finished the wiring for my kitchen which is in the process of a remodel. In total, I put in eight 6" LED lights about spaced along the...My weekend was pretty jam-packed. On Friday night, I finished the wiring for my kitchen which is in the process of a remodel. In total, I put in eight 6" LED lights about spaced along the countertop edge, and although the contractors thought it was excessive, it was totally the right call. There are zero shadows on any of the countertop edges!
On Saturday, I demo'ed a large double basin concrete sink in my basement that I can presume was put in before the house was finished being built. It took less than an hour to complete and then I subsequently installed a new single basin stainless steel sink with a nice faucet with a sprayer attachment. The draining could be...improved. But that is for a future visit to the hardware store when I am ready.
Raked up and bagged about 20 bags of leaves that had compacted around my yard over the winter.
The leaves fell late and I need to get as much soil exposure as I can because I am planning to frost seed a crazy amount of clover throughout the yard this weekend.
Installed a new light fixture on my side door with the proper mounting brackets and a real dedicated junction box.
I pulled a ton of documentation for a system I am implementing and built a custom RAG pipeline using docling for the document processing, voyage AI for semantic understanding, and pinecone for the search and storage. Then, because the system I am implementing has open-book certification exams on a time limit, I put the whole thing to the test and actually passed with my certification. So that was fun!
My general contractor who has helped me with my kitchen renovation also slapped me with a $1600 change order document out of nowhere. So that is not fun. Just absolutely infuriating circumstance where this guy basically just lost a customer and someone who would go out of their way to refer them to people. I'm not asking people to work for pennies on the dollar or anything, but the changes they cited were things that should have been included in the original contract pricing, or at least given me a heads up that the change I asked for would cost me $600 for 30 minutes of work on their end. Now I just want them out of my house and out of my hair as quickly as possible.
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Zwyntar - Потяг на Південь (2025)
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Kyu Sakamoto - Sukiyaki (1961)
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Comment on Hair loss open discussion in ~talk
Merry LinkI'm in mid 30s and getting a progressively deeper and deeper windows peak. Typical receding hairline stuff. The thing that has helped me cope the most was just turning off self view on my Teams...I'm in mid 30s and getting a progressively deeper and deeper windows peak. Typical receding hairline stuff.
The thing that has helped me cope the most was just turning off self view on my Teams and Zoom meetings at work. I hate seeing myself constantly and seeing how much my hairline has pulled back over the years. It's like watching myself grow old before my eyes.
I'm much happier and in better spirits when I can be on meetings and just not constantly see how I look, or the expression on my face, or the size of my nostrils.
I would like to have a barber though who could be straight up honest with me on the best way to cut and style my hair. I'm starting to get the impression I am getting too much of a combovwr look with how long the rest of my hair is and the way I part it.
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
Merry LinkThis year I started my own little workout routine. It isn’t built around a goal weight or certain performance outcomes but rather around incentives that get me to do specific fitness activities....This year I started my own little workout routine. It isn’t built around a goal weight or certain performance outcomes but rather around incentives that get me to do specific fitness activities.
The framework is simple:
100 days of cardio,
100 days of weightlifting, and
100 days of yoga.Together, that covers cardiovascular conditioning, muscular strength, and mobility.
Where I’ve failed in the past is using rigid weekly targets like 3x a week or X amount of days per week, and so on. If I missed a week, it felt like the streak was broken, and it was harder to restart. This time, I'm trying to remove streak pressure.
The rules:
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I can do these activities on any day.
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I can do a mix or all activities in a day.
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I can take weeks off.
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I can do nothing for stretches of time and still continue the program.
To count as an activity completed:
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Cardio: at least 20 minutes with an elevated heart rate.
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Yoga: at least 20 minutes of stretching in a day.
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Weightlifting: at least five different exercises, with at least three reps per exercise.
Those minimums exist so a day can count even if I don’t have the time or energy for a longer session. It keeps the routine flexible and sustainable.
To reinforce it, I pay myself $5 for each workout I complete. Most of my equipment is at home, and I don’t pay for a gym membership, so the money functions as a clean reward system. Over a full year, that adds up to $1,500 in guilt-free spending tied directly to staying active.
So far it’s been working. This month I hit the point where I’m about 10% of the way through the goals, and I’m trying to stack as many days as I can while momentum is high. I'm trying to bank enough money for either a Nintendo Switch 2 or the Steam Frame.
But the real objective is consistency. Building healthy habits with an incentive structure that makes it easier to choose movement, stay disciplined, and reward myself for following through. I have avoided tracking my weight thus far. Maybe in another month or two I can introduce healthy eating in the incentive plan when the weather gets better. The biggest thing I have just tried to do there is cut out alcohol.
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Comment on What's a culture shock that you experienced? in ~talk
Merry Link ParentWithout being too specific, I will say the Cumberland Gap)Without being too specific, I will say the Cumberland Gap)
And do you think HR people don't push back against senior management? Since I work in the HR space, I will give you a few examples from my point of view.
Building an applicant tracking system. Management, not in HR, wants to do assessments and chat to apply, for every job. Something I have to push back vehemently because we get over a million applications a year and we don't hire everyone who applies. Why would we build something that sucks so much time out of people's lives when they aren't further along in the application process? The amount of absolute time wasted by individuals because a hiring manager wants the largest bucket to pull a single individual from, doesn't come just because HR says we need to do assessments or long applications.
A time keeping system where I built audits and flags in place for managers making adjustments to people's timesheet so they wouldn't get paid overtime. This was reported and people were fired. Senior leaders and managers who had this practice that, again, weren't in HR.
Depending on where you sit at the table where I am making my arguments, you might think I'm defending and protecting the company if I am pushing back on a crappy idea or practice that is in place.
The vast majority of HR people I work with are good people, doing their jobs. When things work, and the implicit contract between me and the employees is intact, no body cares. That's the job. When something goes astray though, the whole team and organization is damned. And I'm sorry, but it is just tiring to hear "HR works to serve the company". Well, yeah. So does everyone else burdened within our capitalistic society, depending on the cage that is the weekly or monthly salary and health insurance.
People sell cars to support the business. People work customer service to support the clients of business. People work in IT to keep the systems in place for the business. People develop software so the business can sell it.
At the end the day, someone at the business has to do the work that at minimum keeps an organization in compliance with any local, state, or federal laws.
Someone at the business has to make sure paychecks are processed on time and accurately.
Someone at the business has to make sure managers aren't just giving the best ratings and promos to their preferred EEOC demographic.
Someone at the business has to be in place to make sure that you can take your LOA and get the protection you need.
Someone at the business has to make sure that your benefits plan is correct and being fulfilled from your open enrollment period.
And yeah, there are shitty people in HR. There are shitty people in literally every job out there that do terrible things. But I'm telling you, the vast majority of crappy decisions that you believe originate out of HR, comes from someone else in the leadership pipeline, and whatever iteration you think is bad was likely way, way worse before it went through the HR filter.