Ben-Prime
- Ben-Prime
- Posts: 3119
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:29 pm
- Location: Worldwide Availability
- Occupation: Managing People Who Manage Machines
- Verified: ✅MamaSaysI'mBonaFide
Ben-Prime
Just a brief heads up that I may be incommunicado for most of the next 6 weeks if all does not go well.
My current country of assignment started cracking down on certain ISP 'liberties' today, and that includes a lot of the stuff that most Americans take for granted like VPNs and social media. ISPs are following the party line on this. If y'all only hear from me sporadically for awhile, it's because the workarounds are being stomped out faster than we can come up with them.
I'll try to stay safe, I promise.
ETA: '6 weeks' is because I'm wheels up from here to head back to D.C. for training, then Florida for home leave, then my next assignment, 6 weeks from Sunday. So.
My current country of assignment started cracking down on certain ISP 'liberties' today, and that includes a lot of the stuff that most Americans take for granted like VPNs and social media. ISPs are following the party line on this. If y'all only hear from me sporadically for awhile, it's because the workarounds are being stomped out faster than we can come up with them.
I'll try to stay safe, I promise.
ETA: '6 weeks' is because I'm wheels up from here to head back to D.C. for training, then Florida for home leave, then my next assignment, 6 weeks from Sunday. So.
But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
- bill_g
- Posts: 7069
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 5:52 pm
- Location: Portland OR
- Occupation: Retired (kind of)
- Verified: ✅ Checked Republic ✓ ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ
Ben-Prime
Well, that sounds like a full lather-rinse-repeat cycle to me. Enjoy the change of pace, and may your new desk have a better view than the last one.
- sugar magnolia
- Posts: 3898
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 12:54 pm
Ben-Prime
If it comes to pass, you will be missed but we'll look forward to your return.
- Tiredretiredlawyer
- Posts: 8132
- Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:07 pm
- Location: Rescue Pets Land
- Occupation: 21st Century Suffragist
- Verified: ✅🐴🐎🦄🌻5000 posts and counting
Ben-Prime
We’ll miss you!
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
- Slim Cognito
- Posts: 7443
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:15 am
- Location: The eff away from trump.
- Occupation: Hats. I do hats.
- Verified: ✅
Ben-Prime
Give us a heads up when you get to Florida. There’s a few of us down here, maybe we can do a mini meet up.
May the bridges I burn light my way.
x5
x5
-
- Posts: 2265
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 1:13 pm
- Location: England
Ben-Prime
If you would prefer a third world posting perhaps you might consider the Uk?
Take care.
Take care.
If you can't lie to yourself, who can you lie to?
- Ben-Prime
- Posts: 3119
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:29 pm
- Location: Worldwide Availability
- Occupation: Managing People Who Manage Machines
- Verified: ✅MamaSaysI'mBonaFide
Ben-Prime
That was my post before here, actually. Did two years commuting daily from East Putney to Vauxhall. Enjoyed my time immensely but the 45 minute minimum mass transit commute each way did stretch that enjoyment some. But, you know, weekends in Soho & Chinatown, the occasional trip to far side of town for fresh baked 'beigels' from Brick Lane, wandering South Bank with friends who came to town (the Clink Museum was my go-to for a quick just-a-couple-of-hours quirky thing to do with visitors). One of my employees did a side hustle as a professional photographer and his amazingly great black and white shot of the London Eye is sitting in a storage unit waiting to be hung at my next apartment.Uninformed wrote: ↑Thu May 30, 2024 5:46 pm If you would prefer a third world posting perhaps you might consider the Uk?
Take care.
All very pedestrian, I know, but I truly enjoyed my time and the team keeps asking me to come back for visits. I may have to go later this year.
But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
- Ben-Prime
- Posts: 3119
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:29 pm
- Location: Worldwide Availability
- Occupation: Managing People Who Manage Machines
- Verified: ✅MamaSaysI'mBonaFide
Ben-Prime
Good plan. I should be in the tri-county area between mid-Aug and mid-Sept (my first few weeks back in the States, I need to do some periodic required retraining, and some mid-level post-promotion training, plus some meetings with some folks who can bring me up to speed on the projects I'll be handling in my next assignment, so I'll get to 'enjoy' DC in the late Summer, then come back down to the other East Coast swamp region).Slim Cognito wrote: ↑Thu May 30, 2024 2:20 pm
Give us a heads up when you get to Florida. There’s a few of us down here, maybe we can do a mini meet up.
But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
- Ben-Prime
- Posts: 3119
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:29 pm
- Location: Worldwide Availability
- Occupation: Managing People Who Manage Machines
- Verified: ✅MamaSaysI'mBonaFide
Ben-Prime
We found a Day One workaround. We'll see if it's still working around by Day Two, I suppose. One day at a time, for the next 6 weeks. I don't want to say "and then it's someone else's problem", since, uh, that's not a great mindset, but it'll be less of a drain, at the very least, when I can consult from afar.
But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
- johnpcapitalist
- Posts: 968
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:59 pm
- Location: NYC Area
- Verified: ✅ Totally legit!
Ben-Prime
When you are on safer shores, will you be able to tell us what country your now-finishing assignment is in? I have a suspicion and would be interested in whether I'm right or not.Ben-Prime wrote: ↑Thu May 30, 2024 9:24 am My current country of assignment started cracking down on certain ISP 'liberties' today, and that includes a lot of the stuff that most Americans take for granted like VPNs and social media. ISPs are following the party line on this. If y'all only hear from me sporadically for awhile, it's because the workarounds are being stomped out faster than we can come up with them.
- Ben-Prime
- Posts: 3119
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:29 pm
- Location: Worldwide Availability
- Occupation: Managing People Who Manage Machines
- Verified: ✅MamaSaysI'mBonaFide
Ben-Prime
Yes. I can also say for now that my next assignment will be a reasonably safe Latin American country and I'll be there by mid-September. So that'll be nice.johnpcapitalist wrote: ↑Sun Jun 09, 2024 11:22 pmWhen you are on safer shores, will you be able to tell us what country your now-finishing assignment is in? I have a suspicion and would be interested in whether I'm right or not.Ben-Prime wrote: ↑Thu May 30, 2024 9:24 am My current country of assignment started cracking down on certain ISP 'liberties' today, and that includes a lot of the stuff that most Americans take for granted like VPNs and social media. ISPs are following the party line on this. If y'all only hear from me sporadically for awhile, it's because the workarounds are being stomped out faster than we can come up with them.
But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
- Ben-Prime
- Posts: 3119
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:29 pm
- Location: Worldwide Availability
- Occupation: Managing People Who Manage Machines
- Verified: ✅MamaSaysI'mBonaFide
Ben-Prime
So, after 34 total hours of airport layovers and flight time, I am back in D.C. for a few weeks of meetings and trainings. Safe and sound. I was, as some of you guessed, in Myanmar (or Burma, if you prefer) for my previous assignment. I'll leave any further comment there except to say I found the individual people kind, the food amazing, and the dollar went far enough that I bought some nice teak furniture for my next apartment.
More important, I am sitting in a hotel eating a nice takeout sammich and drinking Diet Dr. Pepper and all is right with my world. I will likely crash in a few hours, I stayed up as long as I could, but it's already 2am Tuesday to my body and I've gotten only 4 hours of sleep since what was Sunday morning my time. I'm beat.
But safe. Let's not forget that.
More important, I am sitting in a hotel eating a nice takeout sammich and drinking Diet Dr. Pepper and all is right with my world. I will likely crash in a few hours, I stayed up as long as I could, but it's already 2am Tuesday to my body and I've gotten only 4 hours of sleep since what was Sunday morning my time. I'm beat.
But safe. Let's not forget that.
But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
- Tiredretiredlawyer
- Posts: 8132
- Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:07 pm
- Location: Rescue Pets Land
- Occupation: 21st Century Suffragist
- Verified: ✅🐴🐎🦄🌻5000 posts and counting
Ben-Prime
Ben’s back!
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
- Ben-Prime
- Posts: 3119
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:29 pm
- Location: Worldwide Availability
- Occupation: Managing People Who Manage Machines
- Verified: ✅MamaSaysI'mBonaFide
Ben-Prime
I am and it's crazy insane that it's hotter here in D.C. than the country I just left, which country is renowned for hot, humid summers.
Further affiant sayeth naught, as they say.
Further affiant sayeth naught, as they say.
But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
Ben-Prime
Glad you are back safe and sound. I wondered at one point if your assignment was Myanmar and then decided it must be someplace else because I'm not good at the guessing games. Go glad you are back home and safe.
"It actually doesn't take much to be considered a difficult woman. That's why there are so many of us."
--Jane Goodall
--Jane Goodall
- johnpcapitalist
- Posts: 968
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:59 pm
- Location: NYC Area
- Verified: ✅ Totally legit!
Ben-Prime
Welcome home!Ben-Prime wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2024 5:17 pm I was, as some of you guessed, in Myanmar (or Burma, if you prefer) for my previous assignment. I'll leave any further comment there except to say I found the individual people kind, the food amazing, and the dollar went far enough that I bought some nice teak furniture for my next apartment.
Myanmar was my guess. Fun to see that I was right.
Good timing on your exit, what with the rebels making some significant gains against the Tatmadaw in the last week or so. I hope your next post is somewhere like New Zealand.
Ben-Prime
A belated response:Ben-Prime wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2024 5:17 pm So, after 34 total hours of airport layovers and flight time, I am back in D.C. for a few weeks of meetings and trainings. Safe and sound. I was, as some of you guessed, in Myanmar (or Burma, if you prefer) for my previous assignment. I'll leave any further comment there except to say I found the individual people kind, the food amazing, and the dollar went far enough that I bought some nice teak furniture for my next apartment.
Myanmar had been my guess as well. In fact I was tempted to tease you with a query which I now ask: I assume that you are quite familiar with the Jame Retief stories by Keith Laumer?