# In The Zeitgeist Chronicling these changing times Page: Feed: --- ## [One Year on Substack Already?!](https://stevebarrera.com/one-year-on-substack-already/) _2026-07-28 · Steve_ Can you believe it’s been a year since I started publishing on Substack? It’s true that I introduced “Darkest Hour” here on this blog in the month of August, but my first post on the site was actually in July. It’s going pretty well over there; I’ve got over sixty articles published, which means I’ve kept up a cadence of over one article a week. I don’t get a huge amount of engagement, but I do… ## [The Board Game Challenge Continues](https://stevebarrera.com/the-board-game-challenge-continues/) _2026-06-30 · Steve_ It’s already half way through the year (how??) so you may be wondering how Board Games Challenge 2026 is going. As I posted back in March, this is our project to play as many unplayed games from our large collection as we can this year, with the goal of maybe winnowing it down a little if we can identify games we don’t care for or aren’t even interested in playing at all. First, here’s a couple of… ## [Back in the Saddle Again](https://stevebarrera.com/back-in-the-saddle-again/) _2026-05-19 · Steve_ I’m happy to report that I have returned to work at the company I started at in 2023, continuing in a Software Quality Assurance role, and working 100% remote. It’s a career first for me to be rehired at a company where I’ve worked before. I experienced a different kind of onboarding, as I joined meetings where I knew many, if not all, of the people participating, and felt welcomed back. I had… ## [TV Show Review: When We Were Younger](https://stevebarrera.com/tv-show-review-when-we-were-younger/) _2026-04-29 · Steve_ We’ve been watching and enjoying a show called Younger, which ran from 2015 to 2021, and is now available on Netflix. Succintly put, it’s like a Millennial generation version of Sex and the City. The latter show was based on the writing of Boomer Candace Bushnell (b. 1958), and was about a group of professional women in New York City, played mostly by Gen Xers, who remain fast friends throughout… ## [Why I Am a Toaster Democrat](https://stevebarrera.com/why-i-am-a-toaster-democrat/) _2026-04-09 · Steve_ If you’re a long time reader of this blog, you know that I don’t hide my partisanship. I am squarely on the liberal/Democratic/blue zone side of the partisan divide. I have voted Democratic since 2004. In 2000 I voted Libertarian (oops) but after the debacle of that election and the subsequent unfolding of the Bush era, I came to the realization that Libertarianism is not a viable political… ## [My AI Sloppy Job Hunt](https://stevebarrera.com/my-ai-sloppy-job-hunt/) _2026-03-24 · Steve_ I’m still on the job hunt, and finding it tough in this market. Prospects were really dry at the end of last year. I’ve seen a bit of a pick-up now that 2026 is moving along, but still no offer, and only two interviews in front of hiring managers so far, though I apply to a dozen or so jobs a week. It’s a striking contrast to how I was able to quickly land a position after being laid off... Read… ## [Board Games Challenge 2026](https://stevebarrera.com/board-games-challenge-2026/) _2026-03-06 · Steve_ If you hadn’t heard, we own way too many board games over here at Morgantown Manor. If that were even a thing, I mean. You can peruse our collection on BoardGameGeek:https://boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/sbarrera If you see the same game appear more than once in the gallery, that is not a mistake. That means we own an extra copy (or two) of that game. It’s kind of out of control. In the… ## [A History of this Blog in Header Images](https://stevebarrera.com/a-history-of-this-blog-in-header-images/) _2026-02-27 · Steve_ This month marks the 9th anniversary of this blog. I started it back in February 2017, partly in response to the ongoing political crisis. I had been blogging in the 2000s, back when the “blogosphere” was young, and then taken a break. But the situation in 2016-17 compelled me to get back into the habit of commenting on current events. You remember what was going on. What’s still going on. I… ## [A Perfect Little Historical Miniseries](https://stevebarrera.com/a-perfect-little-historical-miniseries/) _2026-02-06 · Steve_ I thoroughly enjoyed the Netflix miniseries Death by Lightning, about the short Presidential administration of James A. Garfield, ended by an assassin’s bullet six months after his inauguration. Garfield was famously a dark horse candidate, unexpectedly nominated because of divisions within the Republican party. This is covered in the series, as is his brief Presidency and its immediate aftermath.… ## [Crush Every Threat in Real Time (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/YWTN8BlRfVTd) _2026-02-06 · **Sponsored**_ One agent for real-time detection, exposure tracking, and active defense. ## [In Search of Solidarity](https://stevebarrera.com/in-search-of-solidarity/) _2026-01-29 · Steve_ I was in a thrift store the other day (there are tons around here where we live in semi-rural Pennsylvania) and noticed that it still had the spots on the floor for standing in line while social distancing. Stickers to mark where to stand so you kept apart from the other shoppers, to minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19. Well worn, as they have been there since presumably 2020, trod on by…