Dr Michelle @Drosmel@qoto.org

Hello mastodon. I could use some help. #fedihire

TL;DR: I was laid off a while ago, and the traditional "go scour job sites and apply" is currently broken. So - let's try social media. Please boost if you are willing, or pass this along if you know someone who needs what I can offer.

I'll be brief: I'm a very experienced System Reliability Engineer, with a track record of dependability and scalability. I take people's problems - stability, uptime, scale, cost, durability, speed, security and attack resistance - and fix them. I have the dubious honor of generally costing less to employ than I save my employer. If everything is perfect - you don't need me. But if you do, you may need me badly.

I'm available. Drop me a note.

I am located in Ventura, California, and strongly prefer remote work. I don't require visas or special accommodation to work in the US.

Here's a resume: https://www.bortels.us/TBortels_Resume_2025_public.pdf

Update: For anyone playing along at home, or seeing this for the first time - fear not! I am once again gainfully employed. Thanks to everyone who sent leads or encouragement. Let's hope I've learned from the experience ("Don't be a frog in a pot and hope things will get better if you just work harder and think good thoughts")

Having said that, it's not my forever gig. If you need an experienced security-focused SRE with a ton of AWS experience *who is only interested in remote work* - ping me, let's talk. I figure I've got 10 more years before I retire, act fast!

A young Powerful Owl with a tilted head #owlsintowels
"[She] presented with severe torticollis and had to learn to move her head again in the right direction. She was amazing!!"

More of Peggy McDonald's work at:
HGRC https://highergroundraptors.com
ARRC https://arccinc.com.au/
source: https://instagram.com/p/BNvIDx0hGk5/

I’ve been lambushed!

#SheepOfMastodon #LambsOfMastodon #Defaidodon

Beau is working on weaving a headband for a cedar woven hat that he just sold.

Please support #Indigenous artists.
https://www.beauwagner.ca/

#Indigenous #Art #WearableArt #NativeArt #FirstNations #CedarWoven #handmade #VancouverIsland #CoastSalish #IndigenousArt #VanIsle #Canada #IndigenousBC #Stzuminus #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #PNW #Weaving #cedar #FirstNations #Ladysmith #Chemainus #Nanaimo #Art #FibreArts #NativeMastodon

This May the Fourth, remember that rebellions are built on hope.

I think my Chipotle order is a trap?

#catsofmastodon #hiding #MrMittens

This is a homerun of a joke

Dear #tooters,

Don't ever stop posting your nerdy passion projects.

Even when I can't understand 90% of what you're saying, I love them, and they bring way more healing to a very hurting world than you might surmise.

Working with behavioral challenges: #dementia communication

Alzheimers #caregiving #psychology

The White House has backtracked on the FOTUS wanting to rename Veterans Day but before that happened, there were statements issued by veterans groups like this one word response from the Disabled American Veterans.
https://www.dav.org/learn-more/news/2025/dav-statement-on-the-proposal-to-rename-veterans-day/

Protip 🧟🧟‍♂️

Who called them 'genetic engineer' instead of 'heir stylist'?

Your art history post for today: by Robert Smullyan Sloan (1915–2013), “Negro Soldier," 1945, egg tempera and oil on board, Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts. #arthistory

From Sebastian Smee, “‘Negro Soldier’: a haunting portrait worthy of salute,” The Boston Globe, June 26, 2016: “It shows an unknown US Army private in a dress uniform adorned with two ribbons — one standing for good conduct, the other for participation in the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign…

The astonishing portrait shows his subject sitting in a compressed space, squeezed between us and a window. Through that window we can make out an urban scene that is likely New York. There is a black truck loaded with coal, apartment buildings catching various degrees of light, and a run of down-at-heel shops at street level. One sign says “LOANS CASH”; another has mannequins in the window display…

Even after fighting for their country in foreign theaters of war, African-American soldiers, if they were lucky enough to survive, faced hobbling prejudice back home. This picture, one might argue, illustrates that predicament.

But isn’t it too singular to be reduced to sociology? Sloan makes us feel so close to this man that we become acutely aware that his nose, the bulge of his tie, and the gleaming brass button at the center of his chest occupy pockets of space nearer to us than his eyes. Slightly recessed though they are, his eyes gaze out with a vulnerable pride that is haunting.

Sloan maintains an almost Flemish evenness of attention across the entire picture. This gives it a surface tension that either we or the vivid, light-catching protrusions of the soldier’s slightly turned face feel permanently on the verge of breaking.

We kid ourselves if we think we can know what this man is feeling, what he has experienced, or what his political views are. What is not in doubt is that he is a human vessel, full to overflowing.”

🙄 There's a hairball clogging up the sink again. 🪠

#HarleyQuinn #EveryDayIsCaturday #CatsOfMastodon

Happy Fossil Friday! Meet the short-necked plesiosaur, Cryptocleidus oxoniensis. This marine reptile’s short tail could only function as a rudder, leaving the limbs as its main organ of propulsion.

#plesiosaurs #fossils #FossilFriday

Holy sh*t. This is a real xkcd, not funny, disturbing, and also one that must be shared

https://xkcd.com/3081/

It was Timothy’s second week undercover, and frankly, he was getting absolutely nowhere.