Salt Lake County’s voting process is straight up fire, Sherrie Swensen was amazing. One of the only things I miss about Utah.

Do you just hit an age where you stop being able to comprehend you’re out of touch? Is that going to happen to all of us? I feel out of touch all the time already and I’m nowhere near the Congressional average…

I am of Italian descent but also Italian-American. Those are different things in my mind. Like, I am learning Italian and learning about Italian culture today (my father and I are trying to get our Italian citizenship although it’s a long road). That is separate from the Italian diaspora that my father’s family settled into as immigrants in the US. That community has it’s own cultural practices and nuances that may be roughly sourced from the same place as my ancestors from Italy, but they aren’t the same. I am proud of both, I see no reason to discard the Italian-American label just because Italians might make fun of me. I don’t pretend being Italian-American makes me Italian or able to speak for Italians or Italy.

That said, my mother’s side of the family is decidedly more WASPy and while I am no less accepting of that heritage, I see no real reason to deliberately celebrate it. It’s the dominant “culture” in the US and in no danger of being assimilated away. It may just be that those of us who came from a minority community (no matter how distant that status is from the present) feel driven to protect it on some level.

In my personal experience, it’s not junior devs becoming senior with time. It’s much cheaper business analysts who are being expected to do our own coding now because AI makes it “so easy”. Thanks, I hate it. I’m a pretty great analyst but a pretty mediocre developer…and my salary continues to reflect that truth (which is exactly why companies are doing it). Someday I’ll probably be an ok developer if the trend continues, all for a BA salary.

I thought Sheetz used it for bonuses though (not base pay and not for firing), which I would still not personally like but doesn’t seem as weird and stupid as this. I’m legitimately wondering if BK has enough potential employees to fire people for not being friendly enough. Seems like a self-own… but I haven’t been to a BK in probably two decades.

I have a 23 Mustang Mach E. Due to where I live, I felt AWD was necessary and that limited my EV options substantially (along with all the tax incentive changes happening at the time I ordered it in 2022).

Honestly though, while it’s bigger than what I wanted and doesn’t have as many manual features as I would prefer, it is a supremely fun vehicle to drive. I wish EV charging infrastructure was better so that taking it on a road trip was more feasible.

I’m envious. I have a path to potential dual citizenship in the EU through my father, but we don’t speak the language (yet, I’ve been studying for about a year but it’s slow going). It will be a few years before we could get the legal representation and paperwork in order and I’m worried it’ll be too late. I wish you and your family the best!