iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Justin Long

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

If those who benefited from the status quo had been willing to listen instead of sabotaging the #MeToo movement, we’d be in a very different place right now. Same story w/ BLM and so much more. But it’s not too late to rise in collective solidarity now to create a more possible world for everyone.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 23h

PSE is requesting approval to increase rates for electricity 15% & natural gas by 14% in 2027. While I'm glad I switched to a heat pump & have solar covering most of my usage, this is going to add more strain to so many people on top of rising gas & food costs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6CK...

youtube.com

Puget Sound Energy proposes double-digit rate increases for 2027 | FOX 13 Seattle

YouTube video by FOX 13 Seattle

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Adding a small sweet potato to the split pea soup I made tonight was a stellar idea. I already had too many bowls and want more. The left overs will make a great lunch the next couple days.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Doing our first road trip to Redding CA since 2015 & our longest road trip since getting an EV. I'll share my experience & costs for public charging afterwards. On the way back to WA, we are going to stay in Portland for a couple days & do some exploring. A nice change of pace from past trips.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I guess it's time to shop for a microwave. Ours just stopped being able to cook food after 14 years. I can hear the magnetron cycling off and on randomly and after 10 minutes my potato was still room temperature. After some troubleshooting it does appear to be toast.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Watching this storm closely. The island of Hawaii has been getting hammered this year and they may get hit with another hurricane dumping 35" of rain over the next few days. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MBp...

youtube.com

Nolo Update: Latest forecast track and what to expect

YouTube video by Hawaii News Now

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

20 y/o me would be impressed by my successful career, happy marriage, and early retirement. He would be disappointed that I didn't have children. As a Nintendo fanboy, he would be shocked that I still haven't played the latest two Zelda games because I was working too much.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Just signed up to volunteer for King County Democrats. Excited to be more involved instead of just donating money. I have much more time than money now that I retired.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

As fuel prices rise, I'm starting to see more people talking about the indirect cost increases due to shipping, but what I'm not seeing is the impact of increased costs for the byproducts of refining crude that are key components in a vast array of products.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Got my COVID and FLU shots today. The COVID shot was more painful than most vaccines, but I just assumed my arm was still tender from the shingles shot. Went to take the band-aids off and see that the person who gave me my shot must have hit a blood vessel as there is a decent amount of blood.

Pic of most shoulder with two adjacent bandages covering the injection sites. The lower bandage has a 1cm circle of dried blood under it where the other bandage has no visible blood.

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Reposted by Justin Long

ᴄ ꜱᴛᴜᴀʀᴛ ʜᴀʀᴅᴡɪᴄᴋ🛸 @cstuarthardwick.com · 15/09/2026

Guys, please, PLEASE verify your voter registration. The fate of American democracy will be sealed in two months.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I'm working on building a consistent cardio routine for the first time in my life. Trying to both replace the activity I would get walking around at work & invest in my health. Today I setup a treadmill desk with the extra set of hardware from my office that I brought home when I retired.

A picture of an under-desk treadmill on a wood floor in the corner of our den. A wood topped white UPLIFT sit/stand desk straddles the treadmill with a 48" OLED monitor displaying a lily pad background on top.

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Reposted by Justin Long

Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 15/09/2026

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has DENIED Trump's bid to continue with his USPS vote by mail restrictions! HUGE WIN.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

With solar for everything but my water heater, my monthly energy bill is $33.91. $22.93 of that it to connect electricity ($7.99) and gas ($14.94) to my home. $6.88 of my bill is the delivery fee for gas. Leaving $4.10 worth of natural gas to heat my water. Almost 88% of my bill is to connect to PSE

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Getting our house painted. The original paint lasted 14 years & I'm hoping to get at least as much out of the repaint. Back in 2008 when we had our first home repainted it cost ~$6700. I was expecting that with inflation the cost would be at least double, but it was "only" $8800 for a lager home.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Nice thunder storm rolling through right now. Hearing thunder every minute or so, which is unusual for this area.

Dark clouds overhead with the silhouette of trees and the ridge in the distance. A thin strip of bright sky can be seen on the horizon under the clouds.

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Reposted by Justin Long

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Just in time for the 2026-2027 vaccines, a new review shows that COVID19 vaccination significantly reduces the risk of severe illness and hospitalization across all age groups, including kids. Pregnant women were also protected, as were their babies. Don’t forget to schedule your vaccination!

jamanetwork.com

COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness and Safety for the 2026-2027 Respiratory Season

This Special Communication aims to identify and summarize the most recently published evidence evaluating the effectiveness and safety of US-licensed COVID-19 vaccines and report on the epidemiology o...

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Reposted by Justin Long

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This is pretty fucking wild. I had assumed in a worst case scenario he would target blue zip codes and toss ballots based on technicalities but this is even worse than I imagined.

Not only is this system astonishingly untested, USPS has simultaneously implemented an
impracticable zero percent failure rate.
13 When ballots are submitted to USPS in large-volume
batches, if any one ballot in the batch cannot be verified against the Portal, all ballots in that
batch will be rejected. For example, if a state election official brings a batch of 10,000 ballots to
USPS and USPS is unable to match just one of those ballots against the Portal – because, for
example, someone has recently changed their name after marriage or they’ve moved – then
USPS would refuse to mail the remaining 9,999 ballots as well. As the whistleblower notes,

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

A few pics from our flight last month. Taking pics through a plane window is suboptimal, but the sights are cool. I tried my best to get shots of the partial eclipse with my S26 Ultra, but low light + vibration = mediocre picture. #photography

A picture as we left SeaTac showing Rainier, St. Helens, and Adams I believe, along with a smoke from a small fire. Also visible are various islands and waterways south of Tacoma. The plane wing and window frame are in the photo

Mt Rainier partially covered in snow/ice with haze below and a few wispy clouds.

a slightly blurry picture of the moon during the partial eclipse with the sunlit portion over exposed and creating glare in the shot.

picture of the plane wing over some pink clouds at sunset with just the tip of the wing lit by the sun. On the horizon the lunar eclipse is well under way.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

First experience renting an EV while traveling was OK, but could have been better. 1. Avis didn't have a car ready, one wasn't charged and one wasn't clean. 2. They didn't include a level 1 cable, so I couldn't charge at the resort. 3. Kauai's infra is minimal for charging 3-7.7KW only.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Shingles vax round 2 scheduled along with a pneumonia vax. Next week the update covid booster hopefully.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

One lowlight of my trip was losing my wallet & having to cancel/replace cards, my license, & update all the autopay information across various services. I was able to get my passport for the flight home as even if WA would have shipped to Hawaii, my replacement wasn't ready till we returned.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I thought the back of this sign covered in stickers was an interesting contrast to the natural beauty of Kauai. Taken at Hanalei Bay pier. #photography, #Hawaii

The back of a metal signpost and signs covered in various stickers left by locals and visitors. In the background the beach, pier, bay, some boats, distant mountains, and clouds are visible. The scene is lit by the yellow tones of the setting sun.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Sunset Hanalei Bay. It's our last evening on Kauai and our first time checking out Hanalei bay at sunset. We really missed out not coming here before. Looking forward to our next visit. 📷, #susnset, #Hanalei, #Hawaii

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The Ubiquiti UniFI Travel router has been great while traveling. While the ability to connect to the resort wifi and act as a repeater isn't unique, using teleport to tunnel into my home network is what makes it special. The Gl.Inet router then extends that network to wifi7.

A picture of the travel wifi network in our resort room. Behind the TV the unifi travel router sits on a stand with cables running to the Gl.Inet router.

Closeup of the travel router showing status of online, connected to resortnet2 and signal strength on the built-in display.

Picture of the front of the Gl.Inet wifi7 travel router showing it's connected to ethernet on the front display.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

No cheating. Share the last picture of the sky from your camera roll. We just got back from Nourish Hanalei and this was the view waiting for our food.

Picture of Hanalei bay, river and the mountains of Kauai. Bright blue sky peeks though the clouds.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Some random pics from our Kauai trip so far.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Today was a very long day. Up early to head to the airport, then we had a nearly 2 hour delay for our flight. Tired, but happy to be back in Kauai.

Screen shot of the many notifications from Alaska as they struggled to give meaningful updates to our flight.

First station no change, then a gate change, then a non update to the departure time, a new but outdated departure time, followed by a nearly correct departure time.

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Reposted by Justin Long

Levi Broderick @grabyourpitchforks.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Fellow MSFTies! The employee charitable giving portal now has a dedicated landing page to support organizations assisting the Spokane wildfire relief efforts. Direct link: microsoft.benevity.org/campaigns/99...

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Reposted by Justin Long

Matt Baume 🏳️‍🌈 @mattbaume.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Hey Seattle don’t forget to vote by tomorrow evening, the low turnout for August elections means your vote is going to be extra potent, like you’ve been gooning for democracy

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

No cheating post your lock screen Sunrise Lihue Kauai 2016

Screenshot of my lockscreen with the sunrise picture I took Lihue Kahai back in 2016

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Finally got around to unpacking my MS anniversary crystals post-retirement. They fit nicely on top of our bookshelves. Even with the bookshelves bolted to the wall, there is a good chance one or more of them will tumble if we have an earthquake. I wonder if the 25 yr will go through the floor 🤔.

5, 10, 15, 20, & 25 year Microsoft anniversary crystals on top of a bookshelf with 4 Ikea rectangular glass lamps between some of them. The lights are set to green, red, orange, and blue to match the Microsoft colors displayed on the crystals.

5, 10, 15, 20, & 25 year Microsoft anniversary crystals on top of a bookshelf with 4 Ikea rectangular glass lamps between some of them.

A closeup of the 25 year Microsoft anniversary crystal on top of a bookshelf with 2 Ikea rectangular glass lamps on each side. The crystal has the inscription:
Justin Long
April 2025
Celebrating 25 years of Service
Microsoft

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Today was nice. Took a 20 minute walk each way to the local farmers market & picked up some nice produce using some of it in a big pot of chili. I'll freeze about half & have the rest over the next few days. I made it with beef today but it's great vegan too. www.allrecipes.com/recipe/72508...

allrecipes.com

The Best Vegetarian Chili in the World

This vegetarian chili is packed with beans, corn, tomatoes, and bell peppers. Jalapeños, green chiles, and chili powder kick things up a notch!

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Tomorrow I'm retiring from Microsoft. After posting on LinkedIn about retiring, Kurt Schlosser reached out asking if I'd share my story about my time at MS & choice to retire. I was happy to share. This is my first time being included in an article. www.geekwire.com/2026/choosin...

geekwire.com

Choosing their own moment: Why these longtime Microsofties are taking the buyout

GeekWire spoke with several longtime Microsoft employees who are taking the company's first-ever voluntary retirement program, about why they decided to leave and what they're doing next. Their reason...

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

As retirement approaches I find myself wondering what I will anchor my daily/weekly routine to without a job, or if I even need to have one. 🤔

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Was in Vancouver B.C. on Friday for a team event & said goodbye to my Canadian colleagues before I retire on July 2nd. The weather was perfect and the city looked amazing from the water. Lots of FIFA energy & Canadian pride with a giant Canadian flag on the slope of what I think was Grouse Mt.

Vancouver viewed from the water with bright clear blue skies above and shimmering water below. Several cruise ships can be seen docked.

A small shack painted white elevated high in the air on 4 posts, with a food vender selling hotdogs on a bright sunny day. Many trees are in the background with the pier below.

A massive Canadian flag is spread out along the visible slope of Grouse Mountain. Big fluffy clouds in the background and thick green forest below.

A large geodesic construct wrapped in hexagonal vinyl panels for FIFA sits atop a building near the water. Some buildings are visible in the background with a bright blue sky.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Heading up to Vancouver for the day tomorrow. EV all charged up and ready for the drive. Here is the rough route for road trip in a moderate range EV that only charges at 150kW. On the way after about 1.5h of driving, charge during a bio break, on the way back charge while eating.

Screenshot of the Volvo App showing 100% state of charge, the car is unplugged with a Target battery level of 100% and manual charging schedule is off. Total estimated range is 242 miles.

Screenshot from a better route planner showing a sample trip to Vancouver and back with a total charge time of 33 minutes over two stops with just over 5 hours of driving over 276 miles and 94kW of public charging.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Nearly a perfect day for solar. Cooler temps and almost no clouds. Over 86.8kWh produced and thanks to the longer days, there is still enough light at 8:30pm to still be generating 130w.

SolarEdge screenshot showing 86.8kWh generated, 32.8kWh used, with a graph showing the smooth curve of generation through the day starting before 6am and continuing through 8:30pm.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

1 month till retirement. 11 Employee reviews to write. 1 last review for myself to write. 1 new manager to ramp up. 26 years of context to archive. 1 last office to pack up. Far too many amazing people to say goodbye to.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

I'm decided to take Microsoft's voluntary retirement & will be retiring in 46 days (33 working days). It's been an incredible 26 years as an FTE + 17 months of contracting at Microsoft. I've been incredibly fortunate to turn my passion for tech into a career that enabled me to retire at 50.

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Reposted by Justin Long

End Citizens United @endcitizensunited.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

BREAKING: SB 2471 has been signed into law! It’s the first of its kind in the nation and renders the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision irrelevant in Hawaii. This is a win for the movement to get big money, especially dark money, out of politics.

apnews.com

New Hawaii law targets corporate influence in politics after Citizens United ruling

Hawaii's Democratic governor has signed a bill to curb corporate and "dark money" influence in politics. This move comes after the 2010 U.S.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

I love this time of year, 174KWh excess energy pushed to the grid and 0kWh billed.

Screenshot from my current utility bill.
Your Electric Charge Details (29 days)
0 kWh used for service 4/10/2026 - 5/8/2026
Basic charge = $7.49/Month
Taxes
State Utility Tax ($0.29 included in above charges) 3.873%
Effect of Duvall City Tax 6.741%
Total due: $7.99

Screenshot of the meter readings.
I used 672kWH, but contributed 846kWh for a net usage of -174kWh.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Today was a good day for solar. Even with a couple clouds our panels generated over 82kWh vs ~31kWh used.

Screenshot of the solaredge app showing 82.1kWh generated and 30.9kWh used. Below a graph shows the power over time for generation through the day.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Just switched from Xfinity to Ziply fiber. Saving ~$17/month for the same 2gb symmetrical plan. Glad to be rid of Xfinity's required router and Ziply's ONT is smaller and fits better in my media cabinet. I was surprised how easy it was to cancel Xfinity, no push back.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Used most of my employer's annual perks program to order a nice 3D Printer and filament to start learning a new hobby. Excited to design and print little quality of life objects for around the house. So many possibilities.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

SolarEdge updated their web UI, making it a little easier to see the how the system is performing at a glance. The last week has been decent for solar generation, even with some cloudy days, I'm still over producing by a sizable margin.

Screenshot of the updated solaredge web ui. Showing the last seven days of generation 373kWh generated, 232kWh consumed. On the last there is a section showing the weather and max inverter capacity over an isometric representation of the power flow between the grid, home, batteries, and solar. On the right a graphic representation of consumption vs generation in a stacked bar chart and a daily graph.

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Justin Long @nitsuj116.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Induction cooking hack. When frying food, lay down some parchment paper on the cook top for easy cleanup. All the oil splatter just land on the paper and it doesn't burn as the pan doesn't get hot enough.

Picture of a pan of fish frying in a pan on top of some parchment paper. The blue LEDs of the induction range shine through the paper.

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