Here we are back with another blog post! By definition, two means consistency, so I’m doing quite well with it right now.
One year in, and one summer intern
I’ve officially been with Red Hat for one year! I absolutely love it here, and I’ve liked everyone I’ve met here! Since I’ve been at the company, this summer has probably been the most stress I’ve experienced. I’ve definitely managed, and it’s a testament to generally how fun Red Hat is overall.
My team had an intern this summer, and it was a wonderful experience! Surprisingly, managing an intern was probably the least stressful part of the summer. Seriously though, he was phenomenal! He made working every day that much more whimsical. And he has come to let me know that I do indeed hold many random opinions, as much as I like to claim that I’m an unopinionated person 🙃😅
This past Friday was his last day for the internship, and it felt like the perfect day. We went to a nice sushi restaurant. We did an impromptu apple taste test and ranking, inspired by my previous apple ranking (which he definitely did not agree with). Also, turns out that ambrosia apples kinda slap. I made some puff puff, which is kind of like a Nigerian hush puppy. We ate some good brie and just had wonderful conversations about Pitbull, Pokemon, Japanese Spider-Man, lactose-intolerance, and a bunch of other random things. It really was wonderful to have Mason on the team this summer, and I will absolutely miss his presence.
A new bag
With the trip to Japan coming up in 3 months, my fiancé Maddy has been researching backpacks to wear out on our day trips (luckily I get to benefit from all of her research). She helped me find the Cotopaxi Todo 22L Convertible Tote. I really enjoy the idea of backpacks that can be tote bags because I’ve collected a lot of totes recently just because they’re cool. Sometimes a backpack just feels too formal.
My issue with many tote-packs that I’ve seen is that it looks like a backpack that happens to be able to turn into a tote. Kinda like the manufacturer added the tote straps at the very end of the design process, so it looks awkward as one or the other. The Cotopaxi one that I just got, I think it looks good. It looks like a backpack and it looks like a tote. I have primarily been using it as a tote, and going between the two is actually pretty easy.
She also recommended the Osprey Daylite Tote Pack in Frosty Mint Green, which also looked promising, so I’ve gone ahead and ordered it. We’ll see which one I like better. It is nice to just be able to plan for something a decent amount into the future and get stuff for it. Admittedly, there’s nothing stopping me from getting a tote bag now for myself or just for regular use, but sometimes it’s harder to justify a purchase if I don’t feel like I immediately need it. We should treat ourselves more!
Cool 3D prints
The Red Hat Tower office in downtown Raleigh has a 3D printing room, which is wonderful, and it has helped me learn how to 3D print things.
One of the things I recently got was actually a gift from my co-worker who also enjoys 3D printing. He made me an axe that helps you roll dice, and it’s freaking sick! I love it. Shout out to Lucas.
Another thing I printed just for fun, honestly, is a little crab pen holder. If you’ve seen the rest of my website, you know that I’m very into fountain pens and other stationery. At my desk, I just like a little pen holder. It holds one pen at a time, but I think that’s fine. Sometimes I have my work notebook, and it doesn’t have a big enough pen loop for me to fit my pens. I just have to put my pen on the desk, but now I can put my pen on the crab pen holder.
3D printing is a very fun hobby! I still have not quite had the urge to buy my own 3D printer for home because I can use these 3D printers whenever I want, which is extremely convenient. If I ever do feel strongly enough, I know I have many friends who will point me in the right direction on what to get.
What I’ve been watching
Naruto
I have been consuming a lot of things lately. I was sick last weekend. I had a fever and a lot of free time, and so I accidentally stumbled upon a 24/7 Naruto channel on Pluto TV. I watched a crap ton of Naruto last weekend and, honestly, into this week. I grew up watching Naruto in elementary school. I’m very familiar with it. It’s not new to me. That includes Naruto Shippuden. I even have seen a little bit of Boruto, and over the years I’ve kind of discounted Naruto as great through rose-tinted glasses, but maybe not the best anime to watch.
After watching a lot of Naruto lately, it was actually a very joyful thing for me! Perhaps this is my opinion now because I already know what happens in the future of the series. I mean, was half of an episode basically just a recap of the end of the last episode? Yeah, it kind of was. These episodes are only like 20 minutes, so you really only got like 10, maybe 15 minutes’ worth of new plot, with a lot of jump cuts and flashbacks.
Sometimes it was a little bit frustrating because I’m like, “Just get to the plot again! You’re spending so much time on just this random flashback.” I don’t know how I did it as a kid. Honestly, rewatching it, I think it was pretty good. I got to relive some of the fun highlights, like Rock Lee vs. Gaara in the Chunin Exams. I got to relive a lot of the openings, which were always my favorite part of anime. The theme songs were so great!
I also got to experience a lot of episodes that I guess I happened to miss when I was a kid. A lot of episodes really did show the friendship between Naruto and Sasuke, because that always bewildered me. It never seemed like they were friends. It never seemed like Sasuke liked any of them, so why did Naruto call him his best friend? It always felt like a one-sided friendship, but I think they did establish it pretty well in the start of the series. It was quite a lot of fun to rewatch my main childhood anime.
The Odyssey
I also watched The Odyssey. It was good visually. It was enjoyable. I felt that some of the scenes were unnecessary. Some of the stories that they included, we didn’t really need, and other ones I kind of wish they fleshed out just a little bit more: some of the relationships that are actually important to Odysseus.
Spider-Man
Also, watch the new Spider-Man movie! I feel like at a base level it’s going to be good. You can’t really be bad as an MCU Spider-Man movie. I kind of knew this going into it. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I felt very weird because apparently the last Spider-Man movie came out in 2021, and that just doesn’t feel right to me. I felt like the last Spider-Man movie came out maybe two-ish years ago, maybe three years max. To know it’s been five years since the last one? I personally still don’t believe it. I think this is the Mandela Effect because there’s just no way that’s true.
It was really nice to see the characters look more grown. No spoilers, of course, but I think everyone in general enjoys a Spider-Man movie, whether you’re a fan of MCU or not. I don’t think that I will be watching the next Avengers movie or anything. I just don’t feel compelled to watch it. I’d watch another Spider-Man movie, but I’m getting a little superhero fatigue. There is just a lot going on. I don’t want to have to keep up. It feels like a chore sometimes, but definitely enjoy the new Spider-Man!
Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender
I also watched the new Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender movie, and I have opinions that I will not share in this blog. Instead, I will link you to my Letterboxd review of it that absolutely has spoilers. Read it at your own risk, but I am happy to have a conversation with anyone about this movie!
Something I’m excited for
I ordered the Pebble Index Ring from Pebble some time ago. It is a ring that you can use to record reminders for yourself. Perhaps you’re thinking, “Alex, why do you need that? Just use your phone or remember.” I have ADHD. If I could remember things, I would.
Also, the Pebble Index was very cheap. I think it was only $70. I know that I tend to easily misplace rings, and that is just a fact about myself, so I won’t be horribly upset if I happen to lose this. I think the benefit that I would gain from it is actually pretty large. If you know me, you know that this is actually a huge problem that I’ve had, that I’ve tried to find a solution for, for years. I even bought a voice recorder to keep in my car so I can record voice notes of things: random thoughts I had, things to remember. The problem is I never remember to take the voice recorder out of my car in order to re-listen to the thing I’ve recorded.
A little smart ring on my finger that saves my transcript (whatever I’m saying to it) into the Pebble app sounds really, really cool to me, and that is what I’m excited for! I just got the notification that it shipped a couple days ago, so I’m eagerly looking forward to it.
A random thought
I guess quick context about Naruto: he’s a ninja. He’s kind of the “chosen one” ninja. His signature move is summoning a shadow clone and doing one of his cool ninja moves. His shadow clones kind of poof out of existence when they take enough damage or when he decides to poof them himself.
There is this one scene that I watched where one of the enemies he was fighting was spitting nails directly at him, and Naruto summoned two or three shadow clones to just eat the nails, which meant they immediately got poofed. Ultimately, that gave Naruto the momentum to just punch his opponent because he was running at his opponent.
Something about that scene felt weird to me because whenever he summons shadow clones, it’s typically to aid him in some battle he’s having, and he’s not just watching them die. They’re typically doing something assisting along with his plan, maybe hiding him so he can pull off his ninja move in secret and deliver the final blow. Almost always, there are casualties with these shadow clones, but they are willing and active participants, right? They will dogpile someone, or they’ll pretend to be the real him so that he can keep powering up his move.
In this instance, it just felt like they were summoned explicitly to die. The shadow clones have their own autonomy. They could do things of their own accord, and whenever they get poofed, all the information and knowledge that they have learned in their existence immediately transfers back to Naruto. Presumably, because they share his mind, they understand they’re about to be summoned in order to take this attack and then immediately die afterwards. But it still feels weird because they don’t get the choice to be summoned. Naruto chooses to summon them, so can they actually be considered willing participants in that? Summon, immediately die? That specific scene just felt a little bit odd. It felt a little bit unethical.
If you know Naruto, you understand that pretty much everything else in this show, the whole concept of the show, is that being a ninja is unethical no matter how cool and promising it seems. All the things they have to do are just horrible things. They are literal child soldiers.
This is one of the tiniest, tiniest problems with ethics in the show. This is very inconsequential compared to pretty much everything else that happens in the plot, but it’s just something that made me pause and go, “Huh, I don’t know. I don’t know if that was a nice thing to do.” That’s it, that’s the random thought. It was so stupid, but here we are!
Wrapping up
Okay, if you made it this far in your reading, thank you! If you didn’t, that’s totally okay. These are just my random thoughts and random stuff happening in my life. Catch you on the next one.