The Night Before, Omicron Style
Twas the night before Christmas, and on our group blog,
It had been silent for months, as if in a fog
WordPress still running Pyslent with due care
Only seldom we write, yet we still come & stare
Eight growing children, all snug in their beds
While visions of gadgets danced in dads’ heads
The stock market still soaring, but inflation’s up too,
It will cost a little bit more, to visit the zoo.
Chiefs beat the Chargers with exciting football,
Could the Pats win again- it’s a real free-for-all.
For spring training, it’s fifty days till it lands
Hoping this year to get the kids in the stands.
Out on the internet arose such a clatter
I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter
Turned my Apple Watch on to the Christmas Eve feed
(There’s one now with cellular? That’s just what I need!)
The internet was crazy, I’d never seen such a flurry
But I must be quick, I must be in a hurry
Then I just saw him, almost did not catch it.
It’s Rotiveo– the patron saint of gadgets!
He flew around quick, to learn of our tribe
To get presents be good, and don’t pay a bribe.
Two years into lockdown, we’re all losing our heads,
But a few short escapes, we’ve just slept in our beds.
Lucas in high school, that happened so fast,
How is middle school already gone past?
Let’s go now, the next rhyme is for Brandon,
If you want Derrick’s twin, there’s no better stand-in
Parents working remotely all over the house,
Conference calls much noisier than the lone Christmas mouse.
The vaccines are here now, and the offices beckon,
You might need that proof, to get past the check-in
Corona is crazy, it’s thrown all for a loop,
We thought we made it, then Delta… oh poop!
Now Omicron has scrambled life yet again
(Will it be over before the kids all turn ten?)
Rotiveo’s stuff is all amazing, none old,
No Foleo, Moviepass, nor ‘Galaxy Fold
Instead more iPhones, bikes, or cool gaming gear,
And an Apple Watch, to keep us off of our rear.
Joanie and Mike taking a break from their videocall,
With Adam and Emma playing, there’ll be no Zooming at all!
Kelvin & Serena will drive-in to see Spiderman,
What can that guy even do? Whatever a spider can!
Jake & Jen in their house and the rest of their crew,
Moved back into their house, it’s almost brand new!
The Sungs made it six with a four-legged friend,
Now their fun will never, ever end!
The Corona has made us all a bit nuts,
More than a dozen stuck in these ruts,
It will end some day then back to the normal,
Would be nice to go out and just be informal.
Now 16 young hands, some big and some small
How do we even keep track of it all,
25 full years since the core four first met,
Maybe one summer, the biggest gathering yet?
Rotiveo sprang to Roomba (hacked years before)
And away they went, after cleaning the floor
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”
CueCat founder failed even bigger!
How did I miss this one? Apparently the inventor of the CueCat moved on to bigger and better things— he tried to overthrow the government!
https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/31/22208033/jovan-pulitzer-cuecat-georgia-election-fraud-flimflam
Guy’s in the hospital now with not-Abthrax a week after going to a conference full of vaccination skeptics. So yeah, thoughts and prayers!
A Sad Day in Pyslent History
Fry’s Electronics is going out of business. I think about Fry’s every time I go to Microcenter, the crappier version of Fry’s here in Boston.
When was the last time that you guys went to Fry’s?
01.27.21Back to our roots
This seems like the sort of thing four grad students would have been interested in 20+ years ago. I would love to hear that one of you were on top of this.
The complete moron’s guide to GameStop’s stock roller coaster, from Ars Technica.