Hey, stay strong. Shit gets easier, I promise. Six years sober, two years without nicotine here. I did it, and you can too.

I bought my parents a laser printer after years of them being incredibly frustrated by inkjets. I got them the same model as me, as well as a spare toner cartridge.

I'm still on my original toner cartridge, and I've had it for probably six years or so.

My parents are in their late 40's and early 50's. I think I might have accidentally gotten them a lifetime supply of printing.

In this industry, change is the only constant and your ability to learn, grow, and adapt is going to be more important than any singular technology you can learn.

I can promise you're not as stupid as you may feel you are. You've made it a year, and that means something.

I've been pushing myself hard to get some certifications to really deepen my skill set. You may find that's valuable to you, or you may not. I've found that it's improved my ability to take a step back and understand the systems I'm building from an architectural perspective. It's been helpful for me.

I've helped coach interns and new hires at my company before. I actually like when they ask me questions even if it's something I've answered before, because it shows me that they want to learn. And even better is when they ask "why do it that way?", because it forces me to check my own understanding of the problem set. It also means that I can really dig into the explanation and hopefully they walk away with at least one more tool in their toolbox.

I have a couple from the hip actually, because America has grifting baked into it's soul. In no particular order:

• MMS (Drinkin' bleach)
• Crystal healing (most sellers)
• WitchTok kits (TikTok influencers selling expensive spices)
• Brain pills
• Any product peddled by a megachurch (see the Baker bucket for a great example)
• Chiropractors

As more of these come to me, I'll try to expand the list.

Update: I can't believe I forgot chiros! They turned themselves into a religion at one point to try to dodge medical licensure laws.

When I hear "glue rocks to it", I feel the urge to post the steering wheel picture. Because that one lives in my head rent free.

It's only tangentially relevant, but still.

I think most generally it's because naval analogues are probably the closest when you're talking about large space-based fighting vessels. The air force doesn't operate aircraft carriers, battleships, or destroyers. The navy, however, does (or did in the case of battleships). Those large sea based vessels often class quite nicely into a lot of sci-fi media for large ships.

The small ships you see are often based off of a carrier equivalent. Even when they're terrestrially based, it makes a lot of sense to streamline your military structure to have just one "space force", rather than trying to break it up into two entities like the "space navy" and "space air force", each with their own standards and logistical supply networks.

I wish I had something more significant to contribute, but... yeah. Mood.

Being right and being an asshole aren't mutually exclusive. One is what you're saying, the other is how you're saying it.

I've talked to some friends about it, but honestly it's probably ground I need to tread with a therapist. I thought I had a good handle on it but this year has been particularly tough for some reason.

Thank you, though, I appreciate the sentiment!

Honestly, not really. I experienced something traumatic on Christmas eve of 2017 and have never completely recovered. I'll probably never get back to where I was before that.

It really used to be my favorite day of the year but now it's just raw and awful and I have to keep up appearances so I'm not a miserable person to be around. I really don't want to be that way, I'm generally a pretty easygoing, easy to get along with kinda guy so I hate the shift that I make.

Imagine standing next to your router while it screams pain directly into your brain. 😆

Embrace what it really is.

Also I've never had a more relevant use for this meme until now.