Hello Friends, Family, Fans, Coffee Lovers, Readers, and Everyone else;
There has been a lot of discourse and hype about Large Language Models, which are often called AI.
What an LLM does is use a huge amount of data to understand (in the most basic meaning of the word) and create an answer based on that data. In the best case scenario, it gives you an average of all the data. (Yes, I know this is a simplified explanation.)
What this technology is best at is analyzing patterns. Is it a transformative technology? Yes. Is it intelligence? No. We’re a long way from having general intelligence or super-intelligence.
This tech will get integrated into everything because it’s the newest gimmick, not because it’s necessarily useful.
The tech should be used for scientific research, medical analysis, improving accessibility, and offloading tedious work.
Unfortunately, it’s mostly being used as a way to bypass artists, and that’s not mentioning the horrifying environmental impact, or the plagiarism.
So let’s be clear.
JenEric Designs, JenEric Coffee, and JenEric Authors will never intentionally use AI to create, support, or produce anything.
This includes promotional content, blog posts, newsletters, etc.
Obviously, if the tech industry manages to create an ethical product, we might change our minds for non-creative things.
Last Saturday we had our book launches and birthday party. It was a lot of fun. I’d like to thank those that came: it really meant the world to see you at our first in-person launch since the pandemic started.
The launch was great, but with every event comes stress. I also made a mistake with my meds that meant I went without any of my migraine meds for the weekend. Between the two things, I’m really wiped out. Thankfully I’d taken this week off for my vacation.
I had BIG plans for my vacation but mostly I’ve rested and played some video games.
The event plus the pills really showed me how much the accommodations plus medication have been helping me. It’s frustrating that a little slip and something I was excited for can make me feel so out of it and sad. It’s a form of Con-drop. Basically, the adrenaline plus happy chemicals are so elevated that your brain can’t keep up and actually has a deficit for a little while. For those of us with brains that don’t like producing those chemicals (like people with ADHD) it can really be hard to bounce back.
So don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay, I just need time.
Now, I’m off to enjoy the last day of my vacation.
Don’t get me wrong, I love fast-paced action, but sometimes I just want a nice slow-paced movie that takes its time with the characters. This movie did a fantastic job at keeping a steady pace that felt almost like a Miyazaki film.
The story elements are well introduced and very well developed.
Score: 1
Characters
The main character is inquisitive and sad, the actress conveys that even small ways and does a great job.
At first it might seems like Ryan Reynolds is just playing himself, but as you watch his mannerisms and speech patterns, you see that he’s actually playing a mixture of himself, the main girl, and the dad. It’s subtle but impressive.
The rest of the cast has a chaotic-hopefulness that is sorely lacking in the world and films lately.
Score: 1
Dialogue
Most of the movie’s dialogue has two meanings and works as a joke and story. It’s quippy but also sweet.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
The camera work is an updated version of the YA movies we grew up with in the 90’s combined with a lot of slow movements, letting the characters be the focus.
The music was fun and matched the emotions well.
Score: 1
Fun
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this movie and didn’t do any research, which was for the best because I wasn’t spoiled. It was a lot of fun and and had a lot of heart. I cried, I laughed, and I felt proud at guessing some of the surprises. The kids loved it and now scream “Keith!” whenever they trip.
Score: 1
Overall
A live action movie that has the heart and emotion of Pixar with the joyful pacing of Studio Ghibli. It’s whimsical and wonderful. I highly recommend it.
Final Score: 5 Stars out of 5*
*A 5 star review doesn’t mean the movie was perfect nor that it is perfect for everyone but it is a movie I believe is as close to perfect as possible.
We’ve now entered the third week of the strike. If you don’t know or don’t follow the news, my union PSAC (you say the letters and don’t read it. If you read it it sounds too much like a bag of urine) which represents over 150,000 public service employees, has been negotiating a new contract with the government since our last one expired in early 2021.
Members do everything from auditing, to web design, to ship inspection, etc. Lots of different jobs. The union wants our pay to be the same as inflation and several other things. (I think the original list was 500+ items)
What happens when you’re on strike is you don’t get paid. We can get $75 strike pay if we picket for 4 hours. That’s less than half of my usual. We’re doing fine financially thanks to some inheritance, but it’ll get tight if this goes on more than another week. (Not asking for help, Thank you)
Because of my health issues, I’ve gone twice and both times I walked around 18,000 steps (3x more than I normally do in a day.) Every time I sat down I caught whiffs of cigarette or cannabis smoke. There aren’t a lot of smokers but it only takes one to stink up the place and make me have trouble breathing.
So I walked, and both times it took me 2 days to recover from the physical exhaustion and pain. It’s hard to recover from, and hard to feel so useless. I know there are awesome and brave people out there walking 20,000 steps per day and really putting on the pressure and I appreciate them. Unfortunately, like many other parts of my life, I’m feeling a little mediocre.
Let’s hope this gets fixed soon so that we can all get back to work and I can get back to figuring out how to improve my health.
As you’ve read, I’ve had a few health issues of late. Long story short, I have some sort of injury to my arms. It’s been painful and limiting since June.
My doctor finally sent my files to WSIB. (Suspiciously after Jen had a talk with him during Dragon’s physical appointment.) That’s the good news.
Back in 2020 or 2019 I went to see the doctor about my hands hurting. They ache when the weather changes and it’s anoying and hurts, but wasn’t getting worse with use. (Thankfully, since I wrote 4 novels and finished one afterwards) He did some x-rays and couldn’t find anything wrong, so he sent me to physio. I got the referral in early 2020 and when the pandemic hit, I decided it wasn’t worth the risk.
That’s all in my medical history and someone or something flagged it as needing to be assessed with WSIB. So they need to decide if the pain in my hands is the same thing as the pain in my arms.
WSIB rules say that workplace injuries have to be declared within 6 months. In other words, if they decide this is the same thing, they’re cutting me loose and saying good luck.
Assuming everything goes well, it’ll be a week for them to decide it’s a different injury and then another week to decide if I get sent to their clinic.
Best case scenario, I’ll get to see a WSIB doctor in the new year… worst case I need to go through my family doctor and we’re talking 6-18 months to see a neurologist.
My pain is averaging a 7 or 8 most days and the tingling and numbness in my arms has spread to the shoulders. On my left side, it’s affecting my face. It feels like the muscle has fallen asleep.
The hardest part is at night. With painkillers and voltaren, I still wake up every 20-30 minutes because of the pain.
I’m tired, I’m in pain, and it’s getting worse every week. I’m not sure how much longer I can go at this pace, but I’m trying my best to cooperate with WSIB in hopes that I can see a doctor soon.
I love doing the holiday calendars, but this year, between my tendonitis, a return to conventions, a return to the office, and my tendonitis; we’ve had to make the hard decision to not offer holiday calendars this year.
The amount of effort over a short period is just not safe for me to attempt this year. Hopefully next year I’ll be up for it.
Thank you for understanding and hope to see you at Ottawa ComicCon.
Éric Desmarais, JenEric Coffee’s Head Roaster and Taste Tester
***TL:DR I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Posts will be shorter and I might be doing some repeats. Guest Posts appreciated.***
Hello,
I’ve been a fool. Since February, my work has been fairly busy and regular. It’s a lot of short keys, typing, and mouse work. I’ve been having pain in my hands for a while now.
My prescription for physio was written in February 2020. I didn’t make it. I didn’t want to risk getting my children sick and was experiencing long covid. A few weeks turned into a few months and then a few years.
The pain came and went, but was usually worse when my hands were cold. So I didn’t worry. I kept thinking, “I’ll see my doctor about it when the pandemic is over.”
Fast forward to last November and I noticed my arms getting numb when I slept. (I sleep on my sides and it was the ones that I didn’t sleep on that went numb.) The pain got worse around Christmas, but got better after 2 weeks off.
Then we went into report season at work and I started writing a new book. So my days looked like this: Work 8 hours, Ukulele practice 15-45 minutes, and then 1-2 hours writing, formatting, etc. I’m also the primary diaper changer in the family… so… yeah.
The pain got worse and worse and I just kept thinking, “I’ll see my doctor about it when the pandemic is over.” and, “It’ll get better when I have less clicky work.”
Then Monday, I was told by my bosses that I had to come into the physical building of work. The meeting was tense and I won’t lie, I felt attacked. We’re so close to an infant vaccine for Pegasus… I asked if I could wait until September and they refused. “Isolating is a choice we made. Coming in to work is my responsibility.” That’s a paraphrase, but arg. I’m still angry.
I’m not sure what I did during that meeting to myself, but after, my pain in my arms and hands went from a 5 (Interrupts some activities) to 8 (Hard to do anything) the pain has been fluctuating from 6-8 since.
I made an appointment with my doctor, but he couldn’t see me until a week later. I was in tears as I tried to figure out what to do. I eventually decided to go to the after-hours clinic and saw a wonderful doctor. He diagnosed me with confidence after asking some insightful questions. He gave me two weeks off work, tests for my family doctor, and a prescription for splints to sleep with. Now it’s a waiting game. I’m seeing my doctor next week and so far, after 3-4 days, I’m still in a lot of pain. This post is taking forever to write, but I’m taking lots of breaks.
I’m worried that my reticence to see the doctor will result in permanent damage. It shouldn’t have taken a level 8 pain or my bosses showing how little they care about me to make me listen to my body and get help. The moment the pain started to increase, I should have made appointments.
I didn’t want to let my family down, I didn’t want to let myself down, and I didn’t want to let my work down. It was foolish! Work doesn’t care about me, they never really have, family only want me to be healthy, and I’m more disappointed now than if I had been treated earlier.
Expect this blog to have shorter posts (this took most of a day with breaks). I’ll let you know what happens.
As a follow-up to my post about Long Covid, I want to add a few things.
There are multiple other things that are also affecting me and I realize I might have sounded a little dour. I’m okay and I’m taking steps to make things better for me.
I’m trying to do things that let me rest and don’t hurt me more. It’s hard, because sometimes giving my kids Sunday eggos with strawberries instead of pancakes feels like failure, sometimes writing a post and then reading a little feels like laziness, and sometimes taking a warm shower instead of practising music feels self-indulgent.
I’m going to try and give myself some slack. As I mentioned in my post about burnout, it’s really hard to fight the guilt of doing something for me. I’m going to try and hopefully it’ll get easier.
So it’s the year 2022… Year three of the pandemic… It’s starting to feel like this is the year that our government and society give up on caring.
That might sound melodramatic, but as of Wednesday January 20th, Ontario has seen 10,801 deaths (According to Ontario Public Health). If you compare the deaths between the 31st of December and the 20th of January there’s a difference of 595. That means in the past 19 days Ontario is averaging 31 deaths a day. If the trend continues, we’re looking at probably doubling the deaths this year.
Yet despite rising hospital admissions and deaths, the government has sent unvaccinated 4 year olds back to school and is reopening indoor dining. It’s hard to believe this government cares about those of us who are considered high risk. (Babies, Kids, Immunocompromised, Fat, etc.)
I understand that I’m an extremist in my belief that human life is more important than money, economy, or other such things. I truly wish our government would do radical things like significantly increase spending on healthcare and education.
January is a hard month for me and for a lot of other people. So it’s hard to be hopeful right now.
My wife and I are extremely lucky and I thank the fates everyday for the privilege and advantages we have been given. I’m still sad for those that aren’t as lucky.
We will get through this and I hope that it’ll be with minimal loss of life and even less long term trauma.
Stay safe and be kind.
As they say in Everdome, “May your fractured nights be followed by glorious dawns.”
