TrickJarrett.com

SEA -> IAD -> CDG -> SEA

Last week, on my third week on the job, I headed back to the airport and flew to Houston for the first Riftbound Regional Qualifier. It was fantastic. There are definite learnings and opportunities to improve, but it exceeded expectations nearly across the board.

My role was primarily support, though I fell into a role helping drive and coordinate coverage for the show. I worked closely with our contracted social agency for the show, and we delivered some of the best social content I've seen come out of a TCG tournament.

But my work trip doesn't end there.

I'm now in Paris for another work event, the TFT Paris Open. We flew out of IAH at 4pm yesterday, and overall the flight was fine. I was warm the entire time, which I expected. I had brought a pair of basketball shorts to change into for the overnight flight in hopes of combatting the temperature - it did not work.

However, that wasn't even the worst part of the flight. The worst was just as we came in for our final approach, my nose began to bleed. I had one cocktail napkin and I did my best to staunch the flow as we landed at CDG. As soon as we touched down I hit the call crew button, knowing they weren't going to get up while we were taxiing.

As soon as we got to the gate everyone began standing up to disembark, but I waited until I could flag a flight attendant and she brought me a box of tissues. Thankfully while a few blood droplets did fall on my shirt, it could have been much worse and I was able to clean myself up and disembark the flight to meet up with some of my coworkers.

I've always been prone to nose bleeds, having had them randomly for much of my life. And I used to be much better about making sure I had extra tissues on me for just such an occasion, but I got overly confident. I haven't had an issue with a nose bleed in months, if not more than a year. And my hubris paid the price.

I have had my nostrils chemically cauterized, and I've had multiple ENTs take a look and they don't have any advice other than to just deal with them when they come up.

C'est la vie.

That said, my little incident, had a cosmic karma pay off as we went through customs here in France. As we approached the lanes, there was one marked Sky Priority, which was also on my ticket. I showed it to the guy directing people into lanes and he let me and one of my coworkers go down the lane, which was by far the shortest of them all. Once we got to the front we realized something had gone awry as we were in an EU-only passport lane.

The woman at the front was kind; rather than send us back out she had us step aside for a few minutes. Then we were directed to the end of the row of agents and were able to pass through for passport check and getting our stamp. Where as another of our group took an hour to get processed, it took us less than ten minutes.

So, I think that balances out the frustration of the nosebleed.

The Out of Eden Walk

Found via a post on Bluesky, but this is a delightful graphic showing how humanity has spread mostly across the globe.

Of Arthur and Pictures

I ended up taking advantage of a Black Friday deal for a new personal laptop. I've been using one I got from Costco for a few years, but there are a few issues with it (predominately relating to the keyboard) which has run fine (mostly) and so with the new job and a deal on Wirecutter's top recommended laptop - it was time.

Enter: Arthur.

I ended up going for a Lenovo Yoga laptop and after a short outing this morning, I've collected it from Best Buy and am back home where it is currently installing updates. I'm writing this via the older laptop, for likely the last entry on the blog from this computer.

Though it likely isn't the end for this machine. Since most of its issues are laptop based, I think it's possible that this laptop gets repurposed as some technology tool in the house.

After the recent family gathering, we were again struck by a need for a centralized family photo archive. As of last night, while sitting in the airport on our way home, my proposed solution would be to stand up an instance of Immich for the family to use. I could make use of this laptop for that purpose. However, there are issues with this idea as the laptop also has an issue that I hadn't found a good Linux compatibility early on when I bought it, and I'd need it running Ubuntu (preferably.)

The ultimate goal is a tool that the family can and will use, preferably one of low tech know-how requirements for the rest of the family. I don't want them to have to copy photos to the computer and then upload in the browser. In an ideal solution, it's an automatic backup on mobile phones, etc.

Also, this morning, I came up with a new feature idea which I don't think any existing tool can support, even Google Photos, supports - I want the ability to have not just text comments but also video comments so we can record people talking about these pictures. Whether audio or video, but an easy way to record and capture these stories for future generations. I am sad to be thinking of this now, after so many of my family's elders are gone, but that also helps me feel the urgency in this idea more clearly than I did when I was younger.

For now though, I'll focus on getting my new laptop set up and then I'll put more focus on solving the photo archive need.

The Chris

Four years ago, during a visit to Atlanta, my family launched a new tradition: "The Chris."

Card games have always been a big deal with the family, including the game 'Nasty' I wrote about yesterday, and also Texas Hold'em. So, back in 2021, we were talking about some sort of trophy that the family could keep and pass as part of our family gatherings. Later in the same day, we visited a Lego store at an Atlanta mall (I don't recall which one) and near the checkout I saw a display showing a small Lego trophy kit. And it was dubbed as 'The Chris', in honor of my father.

I was the first winner of the trophy, and as befits the honor I set it up in a display case for safe keeping while I held it.

It's changed hands three times since 2021, and last night it was up for grabs again. When the family plays other games, it's for laughs and good times, but this was the game with stakes. So we made sure to outline rules so everyone was on the same page.

Six players battled for it and I made it to the final two, unfortunately though I was the short stack and ultimately was forced to go all-in on a bad hand. I was chasing an inside straight and didn't get there.

But, in the moment of losing, I was only thrilled that the trophy was going to a new member of the family. The family tradition continues.

Creating and capturing family memories and moments does grow more powerful as we get older.

That said, this morning, I wish the trophy was coming home with me again.