This afternoon, I took a Microsoft Azure certification exam, and I passed! This was the Microsoft Azure Architect Technology exam, which is the first of two exams to pass to get the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification. I took a five-day course from LearningTree in late July and it was a wall of information. I took the prep very seriously, doing lots of practice labs, studying the course material and taking practice tests.

Yeah, about that. The practice tests are something that you purchase ($80 USD for 30 days’ access) and then you can run the test in a “study” mode or in a “certification” mode where you take the test like you would in the testing centre. Well, to make a long story short I only passed the practice test once, and that was the last time, on Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t looking good. Heck, I only barely passed the Fundamentals exam back in January. I don’t administer Azure on a daily basis. I was trying to pass this exam on book and brainpower, and the practice tests weren’t looking too positive.

But pass or fail, the exam was happening today. And thanks to COVID, it was happening right here, at my desk. There were lots of rules about what you could and couldn’t have within arm’s reach, so everything came off of my desk. It was a nice opportunity to dust, anyways.

I did my best to be chill when I was waiting for my test time (2:00), but got on the rollers for a half hour beforehand. I think that cleared my mind. It took about fifteen minutes to get into the test, having to take a selfie, photos of my driver’s license, and four of my desk from each angle. I didn’t speak to anyone during the “intake” or the exam. Once I was in, my camera was on and I wasn’t allowed to leave. No food, drink or breaks. I locked the door, because if anyone walked in, the test would be over and I would fail.

It took over 2 hours, and I was very focused on teasing every bit of information out of each question. The questions were like the practice tests, but somewhat different, too. It seemed there were more clues available, but that could have been my imagination.

Anyhow, now on to the Solution Architect Design exam. It’s scheduled for Thursday next week.

I felt like bringing on Fall so here’s a painting to display all of fall’s colourful splendours 🍁

Reminds me of mom and how she loved to drive down to the water through the turning trees ❤️

It’s a new really lame game: what’s that beauty mark? 😄

When I had my annual checkup with Dr. Sadiq pre-COVID, I brought a mole to her attention that was in my left underarm area. She had a look at it, but didn’t say much. So I was somewhat surprised when about a week later I got a call from NW Dermatology that I’d had a referral to them and they were setting up an appointment for me in September.

I assumed it was the mole, but I wasn’t certain. Today was the day of the appointment, and I met with Dr. Chia. He inspected my upper body and face for any signs of cancer (and found none) and took a look at the mole and at the subtle skin growths on my right temple. Right away, he said “That’s not a mole,” and then after looking at my forehead said “and neither are those.”

Sounds ominous, right? He identified them as seborrheic keratosis. They are symptoms of age, and nothing more. No worry and no need to treat them unless they are in a sensitive area or cause problems due to appearance.

The doctor is also a cyclist, and complimented me on showing no signs of skin cancer. Apparently spending hours and hours in the sun in short spandex tends to lead that way. I can’t claim to be the most rigorous user of sunblock but I do wear it in the summer on long rides. I guess that pays off. I told him that I have a redhead wife and son and there’s always a bottle of sunblock around.

Today’s job was picking the apples on the tree out back. It’s much easier with everybody helping out and we’ve already managed to pick, wash, cut the tops and bottoms off, bag and freeze them. 15 large freezer zip lock bags of apples. There’s no rush to turn them into sauce, juice or cider, but we will at some point.

We’re at about the six month mark for the Esri office closure. It’s been strange, not seeing everybody every day. Two days ago, though, an Outlook invitation arrived from Cathy:

What: Esri Calgary Luncheon – social distanced

When: Thursday, September 17^th, 2020 – 11:30am to 1:30pm

Where: Confluence Plaza – St. Patrick’s Island Park – right off the Calgary Zoo West Parking lot – 1300 12 St. NE

Lunch: Will have individual Box Lunches and Drinks – key here is to social distance, but have a chance to see everyone in the Calgary office.

Let me know if you require a special lunch (Vegetarian / Gluten Free / Meatatarian)

Look forward to seeing you all there. Please RSVP.

My Thursday was pretty full already, but I managed to shift some things around and I rode my bike down to St. Patrick’s Island Park. Well, sorta… If only I’d remembered to put a mask in my pack before I started riding. Then I wouldn’t have stopped in Silver Springs, kicked myself and ridden back home again. Then I rode down to the park. And arrived an hour late. There still was a lunch available and I got a chance to say hello to everyone.

I stuck around afterwards and attended a meeting via my iPhone from the park, then rode home again. It was a long ride there and back, made longer by adding 10 km due to forgetting a mask. Glad I made it in the end, though.

So I did another similar Italy painting to one I had done a while ago except it has more blue hues to it than the other.

Again these look much better from far away.

Labour Day, 2020 in Calgary: almost freezing temperatures and it tried to snow at least three times.

It’s supposed to get nicer as the week goes on, but it was a wakeup call.

Speaking of wakeup calls, there are now five schools in the Calgary area with known COVID cases among the students. That includes Bowness High School, which is the one that Miranda would have gone to if she had not signed up for and been accepted into IB. 🤦‍♂️