Hey, I need help from folks who work with AI!! Actually, a friend does. #FediHired

My friend is making a dramatic career shift (from self-employed to the corporate world, from artistic works and events to something AI-related. 100% remote, either long-term contract or FTE.) They're doing this because they need a more steady income stream. They have used AI in art projects, to edit a book, and to do some prompt engineering. They're a tech enthusiast. They're also getting several certifications not only to bring themselves up to speed, but to show potential employers that they're not just fucking about, they're doing some work to try and get more familiar.

I'm a tech writer, and I prefer contracting to FTE, and have optimized my LI profile for such. While I have switched careers, I basically just switched from one techy job-title (HTML developer) to another techy job title (tech writer). I am barely dipping my toes into AI - some prompt engineering, teaching a few of my stakeholders how to get a better first draft out of AI, and the like. Thus, the amount of advice that I can give on optimizing her LinkedIn profile is kind of limited.

I'd like to have others give her suggestions on how to optimize her profile for the types of jobs that she wants to get. While paying for an LI glowup might not be out of the realm of possibility, I personally have no idea how to find one that's going to give quality feedback.

If you would like to give feedback, or know of someone who provides paid profile-review services that are actually helpful, please DM me with contact information.

Today is Monday, February 9 2026. If you're seeing this after March 15 2026, assume that the assistance is no longer needed.

Happy #caturday from my lot. (Minus the two older black kitties who were curled up out of frame.)

#OrangeCatsOfTheFediverse #CalicoCatsOfTheFediverse #WhiteCatsOfTheFediverse

So apparently my Peertube instance has choked and potentially died...

Anyone know what happened to peertube.wtf?

#peertube

Huge Indian takeout order on the way. This will feed me a nice-sized dinner three nights in a row. And lunch today. #Food #DailyLife

I hadn't seen the news but this morning I had to call EDF who hung up on me 9 times during the call wait - thought nothing of it because of #enshitification as that's what you can expect these days.

The simple act of speaking on the phone has to go through #AWS. There's no plan B. Too much infrastructure in tech is focused on too few monopolies.

Why you should support small business:

I'm sure some companies we rely on has AWS somewhere but if any part of that goes down or becomes evil, we're small and nimble enough to change. We did it with Twitter. We de-googled before that. We're not loyal to any payment provider. All articles/blogs we host ourselves. Our only social media is #Mastodon because it's federated. We never use AI to customers. We use #Linux for our PCs.

Any new customer for any small business is huge. Even it's it's just £10 it's a vote for more of this. We keep going. All feedback is read and digested.

#supportsmallbusiness #coffee

Going to finish putting on a clean comforter cover, get ready for bed, and spend an hour or so reading. It's how I calm my brain down at the end of the day. Previously it was #SpindlesEnd by #RobinMcKinley. Now it's #Redshirts by #JohnScalzi.

#Reading

Hi all. I need some help. Serious answers only please, because this is a very real problem I've faced twice in the past year, and will likely face again since I've moved to a more machismo-centric country than where I previously lived.

When one has a serviceperson come to one's place of residence to perform work (replacing a window, assemble some furniture, do some yardwork) and said serviceperson goes on a long ramble about their views, which include things like not wanting to bother to address transfolk by their pronouns because that isn't what they learned when they were small children?

I wanted to say - but did not - "Did you want to complete the work, collect your justly deserved pay, and get on with your day?" Because it does sound very pissy and put-them-in-their-place-y. Neither of which is good. But I'd like some strategies of what to say or do to nip this in the bud the next time it comes up.

Justin, my eldest. He's 14 years old, and is also my ambassador. Anyone who enters the house is his new best friend.

I have been remiss. I've posted #introduction posts, but never posted photos of my #cats .

Well then.

I'm adopting two kittens this weekend. I almost have "their" room ready for them:

food bowls
water bowl
litter pan
soft bed
tunnel-thing
some soft toys

I've gotten all the clothes out. I've emptied most of the boxes. I've cat-proofed the shelves with heaviest stuff on the bottom, nothing on the very top shelf, and no "stairstep" of furniture that would enable them to get to the top shelf. (I do plan to add that...just later, once the kittens have been properly introduced to the entire household and I leave that room open 100% of the time.)

Great trip to Oregon! My main reason for visiting was Powells, which was, as always, a great stop. I had a list of about 14 books, all of which I got there.

But then I browsed. And quadrupled my haul.

But fear not! I knew this would happen, and brought extra suitcases. Each suitcase will have some #books and some clothes, so the airport workers won't get hernia from my luggage.

When putting the books on the shelves, my objective was just to get them out of the boxes and onto the shelves. All paperbacks on two shelves, all hardbacks and trade paperbacks on the other four shelves (4 bookcases, 6 shelves each. Yes, I have many books.)

It was almost a physical pain to not at least group all of an author's books together, let alone not take the time to put them in alpha-by-author order. #books #adhd #actuallyautistic #moving

Long day. Lo-o-ong day. (Long two days, ekshulleh - yesterday was "move the downstairs", today was "wait from 9am to 7pm for two deliveries, one which happened at 1pm and one which happened at 6pm."

I'm just now getting back to my old place, where my office, bedroom, and kitchen are the only rooms intact. Got lots of boxes unpacked, received a furniture delivery, got my bookcases' shelves in place and started prepping the office to receive the big huge desk next weekend, and picked up hot food from the grocery store because I have very little energy after two days of moving and I need food.

Part of me wants to start packing some now-emptied boxes with smaller things and take them over tomorrow. The other 99% of me voted that part down. Tomorrow is for sleeping in, maybe running some errands or maybe not - depends on the vibe, and maybe packing some boxes with smaller things, to take over on the week-evenings.

The downstairs echoes now. The cats are mostly okay, but Merry is finding new toys to play with - like a bottle of toothpaste. (He's creative.)

Next task: get the gas tank filled so that I can have hot showers. Not necessary until Friday, The Day Before The Final Big Move, but if I can get it done before that, all to the good.

I also have to do laundry tomorrow. (Dammit.)

Good things that have happened this past week in US politics, June 25 2025:

The Congressional parlimentarian struck out several items from Trump's budget reconciliation package, many of them because they had nothing to do with budget reconciliation.

Apparently/allegedly (I can't find an actual news source, only anecdotal evidence...but it's GOOD stuff!) some towing companies began towing improperly-parked ICE vehicles. This, people, is how you do malicious compliance. Get creative!!

New York City's Democratic Party voters have [chosen Zorhan Mamdani, a Muslim socialist, as its next mayoral candidate.

Delaware has, by governor's executive order, become a sanctuary state for gender-affirming care patients and providers.

#uspolitcs #GoodNews (for a change)

I have put down a deposit on a larger rental house. Nice terrace, good amount of room for extra wardrobes (because the closets...yeah, well...they're A Thing.) I'm going to need to figure out what I can use to keep roaches out, since I saw a few dead ones. I may also buy an area rug, since these floors are Very Shiny and probably radiate cool a little too well for the winters.