iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ves @vesdba.me · 16/02/2026

Paraphrasing why my flight isn't boarding yet "shitters broke"

Photo from national lampoons Christmas vacation where cousins Eddie stands in the snow wearing a short cloth bath robe, socks, and shoes.. I'm the movie he's saying "shitters full" which relates to the RV he's been traveling in.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 16/02/2026

I think I shall rent my car from American Megatrends

Photo of car rental booths. On the left, Budget and on the right Avis. Between their computerized signs is a bios screen for ami American Megatrends. Probably a computer behind the scenes is having boot issues.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 05/02/2026

My January 2026 reading was 9 books (3050 pages) with an average rating of 4.31. Related - why is nobody filming the Bloodsworn trilogy by John Gwynne as an epic TV fantasy? #booksky

Image showing books read in January 2026 including their rating.

There are 9 books - three of them from the Bloodsworn Trilogy by John Gwynne and the others Fantastic Four TBPs.

Shadow of the Gods (Gwynne) - 5.0
Hunger of the Gods (Gwynne) - 5.0
Fury of the Gods (Gwynne) - 4.75

Fantastic Four (all Ryan North) - 4.0 for each

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Ves @vesdba.me · 04/01/2026

A lot of books reads in December courtesy of shorter Georges Simenon reads. His Maigret series is a bit of a mixed bag and certainly something of it's time (attitudes towards women, psychology, etc) which can make it a rough read at times #booksky

Image from storygraph showing December book stats
- total books:19
- total pages: 3,566
- average rating: 3.82

Highest rated reads: Die! Die! Die! volumes 1 and 2.

Image from storygraph showing the titles read in December 2025 and their ratings.

Multiple Georges Simenon "Maigret" novels rated between 4.25 and 3.75.

Graphic novels: Absolute Superman (4.0), Die! Die! Die Vol 1 (4.75) and Vol 2 (4.5), Fantastic 4 (Hickman run) Vol 2 (4.0)

Also Backyard Starship "Birds of prey" (book 30) 4.0

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Ves @vesdba.me · 23/12/2025

I'm ripping my "Gatchaman" blu-ray to my NAS. It cracks me up that this is 1080p content for a 1970s cartoon in 4x3 ratio that's 480p at best.

Screenshot of video mentioned in the regular text.
The captured image shows an aircraft with two rocket engines at the back (lit up like afterburners) flying at speed over a planet.
There's some untranslated Japanese text underneath. This is from the opening credits.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 01/12/2025

Last months reading stats are heavily impacted by starting the 1930s "Inspector Maigret" series by Georges Simenon. They are shorter and that's inflating my books read numbers. #booksky

Storygraph ratings stats for November 2025
- Uncanny Magazine - 4.0
- By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars (Premee Mohamed) - 4.0
- Dropnauts (J. Scott Coatsworth) - 3.5
- Down Cemetery Road (Mick Herron) - 4.0
- Pietr the Latvian (Georges Simenon) - 3.5
- The Carter of La Providence (Georges Simenon) - 4.0
- The Late Monsieur Gallet (Georges Simenon) - 3.5
- The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien (Georges Simenon) - 4.0

Storygraph reading wrap up for November showing 8 books read for a total of 1,399 pages with an average rating of 3.81.

The average book length if 174 pages with an average finishing time of 4 days.

The books are broken down with crime and mystery as the largest number of tags, followed by short stories, science-fiction, and LGBTQIA+

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Ves @vesdba.me · 11/11/2025

October was a bit of a mixed bag reading wise. Some stuff knocked it out of the park, and another that did not even slightly land for me. Storygraph details in the images. #booksky

Storygraph October reading wrap-up. Shows 9 books read, 3049 pages with an average rating of 3.94.
There are three hightest rated reads listed - Lazaurus (graphic novel by Greg Rucker), The Shattering Peace (John Scalzi), Silver and Lead (Seanan McGuire).
The average book length is 338 pages and average time to finish is 9 days.
The majority of read work are science fiction followed by fantasy, science, dystopian, comics.

Storygraph image of books read in October and my rating of them
Locklands (Robert Jackon Bennett) 3.5*
3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years (John Scalzi) 4.5*
Silver and Lead (Seanan McGuire) 5*
The Shattering Peace (John Scalzi) 5*
A Rumor of War (J.N. Chaney, Terry Maggert) 4*
Lazarus (Greg Rucker) 5*
Splinter Faction (J.N. Chaney, Terry Maggert) 4*
The Initial Fold (Nick Adams) 1*
Service Model (Adrian Tchaikovsky) 3.5*

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Ves @vesdba.me · 04/11/2025

24 shots on goal. That's $120 to the local food bank. My employer matches charitable donations, bring the total to $240.

Image of receipt for $120 donated to the food bank along with a $120 company match

Image of the box score from the Chicago vs Seattle Kraken hockey game. Shows the Kraken win by 3 goals to one and that they took 24 shots.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 31/10/2025

My two most recent tattoos on the leg canvas are from Jeromy (a self-confessed Star Wars fan) at "Monsters in Ink" www.monstersinink.com/main-schedul... and Jay (who loves geometrics) at "Burial Tattoo" www.instagram.com/tattertot98/ Both studios are in Everett, WA.

Side photo of lower leg. The leg has some connected hexagons.
Within one of these hexagons is a tattoo of Darth Vader. Half of his face is covered by his helmet, the other half is open and shows his disfigured (burned) face from Return of the Jedi.
Another hexagon has a set of geometric shapes in black and grey - as if someone did tie dye but with just black dye.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 21/10/2025

shop.thepwhl.com/collections/...

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Ves @vesdba.me · 12/10/2025

Never change, Seattle

Street poster showing Noem in handcuffs and behind her an ice officer that instead has "nice" in hot pink. Above the two is the word "that's"

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Ves @vesdba.me · 30/09/2025

Remember when SQLServerCentral.com didn't have people use AI to write their articles? Pepperidge Farms remembers. www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/whe... Image from the article

Image shows text - Here’s how you can narrate that output in one smooth paragraph, bro:

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Ves @vesdba.me · 12/09/2025

Gonna tell my kids this was Hollow Knight: SilkSong

Image of the old ZX Spectrum game "Manic Miner." This is an 8-bit platform game from 1983 with blocky graphics and garish colors of red, green, and white.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 04/09/2025

I have a #tattoo leg piece in progress. The piece is a bunch of connected hexagons, with 1" sides. Artists have free range on what they put in a hexagon. The latest is this amazing piece of hyper realistic art by Amandla Turner at Burial Tattoo in Everett, WA. www.instagram.com/turnertatz/

Close up image of a tattoo. The tattoo is a hyperrealistic feminine vampire mouth with pointed incisors. You can see the light softly reflecting off the lips and the top teeth. The mouth is set within one of several hexagons. The other hexagons are empty.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 19/08/2025

I was not expecting to see good news today - but good news today!

Geordi meme
First panel - "huge TBR pile"
Second panel - "New Marko Kloos novel"

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Ves @vesdba.me · 17/08/2025

I wandered around the vendor area at #worldcon yesterday, and at each independent publisher I stopped and asked for a book recommendation - then I bought that book. I now have a nice reading stack and no back paid whatsoever. #booksky

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Ves @vesdba.me · 18/07/2025

One of these names looks familiar @briancebuhl.com

Screen shot of part of a web page. It is just text that reads

Building Writing Skills Through Fan FictionFanfic; Writing; Streaming; Virtual
Room 433-434, Thu. 10:30–11:30 a.m.
Before we write, we read, and often, it’s our favorite stories and characters that inspire us to be writers in the first place. Whether you stick with fan fiction or not, fan fiction is a place where young writers can play in a familiar sandbox, honing their skills and building their own authorial voice. Which fanfic writing skills translate directly to pro-writer skills—and what fanfic skills don’t connect to commercial markets at all?

Brian C. E. Buhl (M), Ann Michelle Harris, Atlin Merrick, Elliott Kay, Judy I. Lin

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Ves @vesdba.me · 15/07/2025

Recently updated my office wall with a shiny new painting by @stellerarts.com (center) and an older print (right). Moved over a couple of prints from @cathrinmachin.bsky.social from another wall for additional "spaceness"

Photo of art on wall -
Left top print of painting showing a valley and milky way night sky
bottom left print of painting showing a beachy landscape withmilky way night sky
Top center - painting of Spock and Bones from ST:TOS. Painted on them are baseball hats and gold chains with the text "Straight Outta Vulcan"
Middle center - original oil painting of the pillar of creation. The painting is broken into squares that reflect different parts of the light spectrum.
Middle lower left and middle lower right - b&w prints with abstract horror imagery
Middle lower center - Bandit from Bluey in "this is fine" meme
Top right - painting Normandy SR2 from Mass Effect
Lower right - print of painting of Jupiter

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Ves @vesdba.me · 16/06/2025

A right wingers greatest nightmare.... a large group of immigrants and their descendants waving non American flags

Thousands of cricket fans in the stands on Oakland Colosseum waving orange SFU or blue MINY flags.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 09/05/2025

Heinlein you say?

Bottom two shelves of a bookcase. Multiple Heilein leather bound books

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Ves @vesdba.me · 04/05/2025

The only proper response

Child in a black outfit looking angry. Words over the image "congrats, happy for you, nice"

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Ves @vesdba.me · 01/05/2025

Lies at SeaTac

Photo of "ports to freedom" notice posted on a wall. Top of it says "ports to freedom - no one should have to force a person into work or prostitution".
Beneath that is the text repeated in different languages that starts by saying "people have rights in the United states, regardless of immigration status"

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Ves @vesdba.me · 30/04/2025

@pwhl--seattle.bsky.social season ticket deposit done. Let's get this branding done and draft us some players.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 10/04/2025

I'm sure there's nothing worry about here

Screencap of USPS package tracking page that states

"Sorry, we're currently experiencing technical difficulties with our tracking application. We thank you for your patience while we work to resolve the issue. Please check back."

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Ves @vesdba.me · 28/03/2025

Breaking: first draft of the new US census document recently leaked

Badly designed white page with a blue and red border. On the page there is the text
"United State Goverment Govormint Gvmt Census" with the words "Goverment Govormint Gvmt" struck through.

Beneath that is the word "Race" and below that two options with checkboxes. The first option is "white". The second option is "other".

All the text uses the comic sans font.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 20/03/2025

The best Star Trek crew, hands down

Photo of the crew from the TV show faracape

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Ves @vesdba.me · 01/03/2025

In moving stuff out of my office today I found a, still shrink wrapped, copy of SQL server 2008 R2 developer edition. I also have a 2005 launch edition but no shrink wrap on that.

Photo of hand holding box labeled SQL server 2009 r2 developer

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Ves @vesdba.me · 21/02/2025

Why look to eliminate USPS?

Man tapping head meme with the text "you can't do mail in voting if you eliminate the post office"

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Ves @vesdba.me · 03/02/2025

It was goalie interference. Puck not yet in the crease and contact already made with Joey's stick.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 03/02/2025

@alisonl.bsky.social this seems clear. Calgary player has already made contact with Joey's stick and the puck is still in front of him.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 27/01/2025

Why, yes, I do color coordinate my leggings, socks, and sneakers. Thanks for asking.

Photo of lower leg with blue leggings, bright yellow socks and blue and bright yellow sneakers

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Ves @vesdba.me · 27/01/2025

To be fair, this applies to many DBAs too

Flex tape meme. Top of image shows man (labeled "dev") looks at tank of water (labeled "deadlocks"). Water is pouring out of a hole in the side of the tank.
Bottom of image shows flex tape slapped on to the tank to stop the water flowing out. The tape is labeled "nolock"

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Ves @vesdba.me · 21/01/2025

This photo from a plane today makes it look like the earth is on fire. Seems about accurate

Photo from a (dirty) plane window showing the horizon. Beneath the horizon, the ground is dark. At it, there is a band of red and above that a band of orange and above that the sky gradients from a light blue to black.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 09/01/2025

All I can think of with all this ridiculous talk of Canada as the 51st state

Distracted man meme -
Man (tagged 51st state) looking back at woman dressed in red (tagged Canada), while woman in blue jeans and shirt stares at him with disgust (tagged DC/Puerto Rico/Guam)

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Ves @vesdba.me · 02/01/2025

Takes a leak before a bladder ultrasound. Lays down a tech starts scanning. Ultrasound tech - you need to go urinate Me -

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Ves @vesdba.me · 31/12/2024

StoryGraph wrap up shows me finishing 88 books this year with a total of 33,633 pages. #booksky

Image from StoryGraph showing the number of books/pages read in 2024 by month and the genres most read.

Most read books was May as was most read pages.
Most popular genre was scifi followed by fantasy with others lagging well behind.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 19/12/2024

Senator @murray.senate.gov of WA voted Yea on the NDAA yesterday - the one that strips gender affirming rights from family members of service personnel. She has a contact form on her website - www.murray.senate.gov/write-to-pat... Feel free to use it.

Image of screenshot of contact form for Patty Murray with the text:

Yesterday, you approved a bill that includes a provision removing healthcare coverage for gender-affirming care for transgender family members of armed service personnel. How dare you? You cannot claim to be "working for Washington state" when you vote to strip critical healthcare away from children in the armed forces, which includes children who live and go to school in Washington State.

"Oh, but I was a signatory on an amendment to remove that language" is likely to be your response (ref https://www.baldwin.senate.gov/news/press-releases/baldwin-20-senators-introduce-ndaa-amendment-to-protect-military-parents-right-to-health-care-for-their-kids). That amendment went nowhere, thanks to your party leadership, and yet, despite being fully aware that signing off on the bill, without this amendment, would strip away healthcare rights, you went ahead and voted "Yea". The only conclusion that I can reach from this is that your sponsorship of Senator Baldwin's amendment to eliminate the healthcare provision was nothing but performative from someone that believed it would never be passed.

It is repugnant to me that I voted for you. I will not make that mistake again. And the next time you're stumping for cash to fund your campaign, feel free to not have me on any of your mailing lists, because you aren't getting a dime.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 21/11/2024

Soccer World Cup near where I live for the first time in my life. It's a bargain to place a deposit of only $500 to get a chance for decent tickets. fifaworldcup26.hospitality.fifa.com/selection/se...

Image from World Cup 26 details on hospitality deposits that cost $$500. Text on screen:
PRIORITY ACCESS FOR FIFA WORLD CUP 26™ OFFICIAL HOSPITALITY

FIFA has appointed On Location as the Official Hospitality Provider of the FIFA World Cup 26™, and we can’t wait to bring you the ultimate experience at the greatest sporting event the world has ever seen. Place a deposit today to receive:

Front-of-the-line access to hospitality packages for the biggest tournament ever.
Luxury offerings, exclusive experiences, and more.
Not ready to place your deposit yet? Looking for corporate options or to learn more and stay connected? Register here and be the first to hear about premium product launches.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 24/10/2024

Easiest decision ever

Photo of US election ballot with Kamala Harris marked.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 21/10/2024

What a wonderful thing @samwilsonwriting.bsky.social described when talking about a freshly minted novel at whatever.scalzi.com/2024/10/21/t... It would be amazing to have the opportunity to attend something like this locally.

Image of text: My wife Kerry is a biochemist, and back in 2015 she got together with some friends to start an event called Science Cafe.

Here’s how it worked: Every month they would book out a steampunk coffee shop in Cape Town, and bring in scientists to give enthusiastic lectures on their areas of expertise. The talks were less than an hour long and aimed at a general audience, and the topics included the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope, indigenous medicine, biomimicry, string theory, and gravitational waves. There was beer and pizza, and the place was always packed.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 08/09/2024

Saw this black skimmer in the yard yesterday. Had to look up what it was as it seemed like a dragonfly but not with colors I've seen before.

Photo from behind that looks like a dragonfly but has black and white wings. The photo is close up as the skimmer stands on the end of a piece of wood. There are green leaves around it.

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Ves @vesdba.me · 02/09/2024

I finished S.B. Divya's "Loka" last night. It's the second in "The Allow Era" novels and sequel to the excellent "Meru". As with the first in the series, it's a wonderful novel that takes care with its characters and deals with feelings that are more complex than... 1/? #booksky 💙📚

Cover image of the novel "Loka" by S.B. Divya. Image depicts a person in the distance standing on a rock. A bicycle is next to them. There are steep mountainous walls to each side that are covered in grass or moss.

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