An Open Letter to the VA/VET-TEC program (aka PDX Code Guild’s Ethical Shenanigans)

This post is adjacent to the public review on the company/course as a school and paid product. Misuse of VA funds Deceit/potential fraud in interaction and forms with VA Misrepresentation of student population under VET-TEC rules (often placing a non-veteran student simply to fill a paperwork necessity, sometimes from the employee pool) Misrepresentation of alumni … Read more

An Honest Review of PDX Code Guild, Portland, OR

NOTE: Still in DRAFT form, spring 2022. (“TK” is a placeholder term to help streamline editing) Overall: 3/5 stars.————–Rating an adult educational “school” is nothing like reviewing a restaurant! Most people give restaurants fickle 1- or 5-star reviews based on an average, excellent, or poor anecdote. While I often disagree with this, in the aggregate, … Read more

More anti-vaxx COVID thoughts…

This is a response to some “educated” baby-boomer friends who have rejected the various COVID vaccines. Note: Names may have been changed. For a response to some concerns of some anti-vaxxer friends a month or so ago, see my post and tweet here: https://www.johnfial.com/2021/06/11/response-to-vaccine-concerns-for-any-anti-vaxx-friends/ .See the tweet at the very bottom, which is the essence … Read more

Berries in the NW

Before our record breaking heatwave this weekend… You must know that berry season is progressing nicely! Here’s an email I sent out last July 8th: Hi all! In addition to salmon berries (somewhat bland in their taste) and blackberries (with their lovely thorns) and clovers (which few people eat), these berries are now ripening, called … Read more

Personal response to COVID vaccine concerns for any anti-vaxx friends

What I did below (indented) was first to free write this once, and then loosely edit it ~2x. There are whole pages more I could say, dozens of links I could provide, and extra super-conspiratorial objections like those of some baby-boomers I could also respond to… stuff like A) the vaccines are made from aborted … Read more

Mambo Mambo Lyrics, by Metsa, on their 2019 album Contact

These are my typed lyrics for Metsa’s track Mambo Mambo, on the 2019 album Contact. The song is sung in Quechua. Listen here, or see their notes here. See their lyrics to the song Sunarai here. 0:00-0:30 mambo mambo mambo mambo mambo mambo mambo mambo mambo mambo mambo mambo mambo mambo nyu ka na mwi … Read more

Lyrics for Alicia Keys’ Stay-At-Home Rendition of Flo Rida’s “My House”

On Thursday, 2 April 2020, Alicia Keys was “on” The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She performed a rendition of rapper Flo Rida’s song “My House,” with lyrics adapted to the early pandemic’s stay-at-home situation. I’d never really heard Flo Rida’s original song, but I wanted to memorize Keys’ lyrics more than YouTube’s automatic transcription … Read more

A few fitness thoughts amidst our stay-at-home orders.

[Note: Since formatting on facebook is minimal, this post — for my fellow gym members — is reposted here. ] Hi all! In light of the situation, I wanted to share a few fitness thoughts. This post is ~1,400 words, or 6-min @ 250words/min, in five sections.  Here’s the outline: 1) Sun salutations 2) CrossFit … Read more

Social distancing, not social isolation!

1,300 words Read time @ 250 words/minute: 5 minutes (With addendums: 2,900 words / 12 minutes) Note 1: Rather than “main points” at the start, I’ve bolded them in their respective sections. Note 2: There’s an excellent paragraph from the NRPA’s article Keeping a Safe Physical Distance in Parks and on Trails During the COVID-19 … Read more

“My, how time flies!”

“My, how time flies!” Note: This post was written and edited as part of an exercise in couple’s counseling with my wife. In the session, I stated that I *loathe* when someone says, “My, how time flies…” because I so vehemently disagree. The counselor pushed me several times to move past my own logical, analytical … Read more