ThroughTheLivingSequence

So my sophomore nephew had a homework assignment that he needed help on the other day, time was urgent, his parents were busy, and I was around so I decided to give it a shot.

The assignment was to decode METAR and TAF weather broadcasts, which are broadcast systems for pilots. To the untrained eye, a METAR/TAF broadcast just looks like a whole load of gibberish. Well, the assignment was to get onto this SkyVector website and pick two random weather monitoring stations to decode info from. Students were given an abbreviation key for both METAR and TAF systems, which made the assignment pretty easy, or at least to me. My nephew was struggling because he has an interest in foreign countries like me, and was trying to decode broadcasts from stations in Russia, Mongolia, and Vietnam. For reference, the keys he was given only covered the METAR and TAF systems, which are common in western countries, like North/South America and western Europe. These countries all used their own systems, which were unrelated to METAR and TAF. 

So for the assignment, since we were running out of time and couldn't find the keys for these other systems online, we settled on a station in Wyoming and a station in... Ireland, I think, and I promised I'd help him investigate the other ones some other. It was pretty okay from there, just matching abbreviations to examples in the key and figuring it out from there.

Well, I happened to get very curious so I had him email me links for the SkyVector website and the METAR and TAF keys. On my own time, I studied through these and found another website which automatically converted broadcasts from any format. With that, I basically translated and taught myself the Russian system and decoded a few Russian stations.

For whatever reason, it was like... the most enjoyable thing I've done in years. Like I legitimately want to go back to school and learn to be a weather decoder and navigator for international flights. Even though that might not be a thing lmao- I could memorize all this stuff and be like, a solo bush pilot or something. That would be so fun-

Does anyone know if it's possible to see the exact number of rep you have? All I see is the 1.2k orange thing and I'd appreciate a more exact reading lol.

After nearly 25 years of struggling through even the most menial tasks, I finally got diagnosed with ADHD and sensory processing disorder, which I am now medicated for. Only been taking my new medication for about three days now, but the difference is noticeable to me, my boss, coworkers, family, friends, basically everyone I interact with. No immediate negative side effects either, other than the obvious reduced appetite. I've become more active, it's easier to force myself to do things, I'm more hopeful and motivated, I'm more focused, and honestly I feel awesome. Kind of makes me worry about long-term side effects . Oh well, I'll cross that bridge when I get there. 

I remember that PFP!! I think of it as your OG PFP, because (correct me if I'm wrong) that's the one you wore when you first joined!! Memories leave me left and right but the way you spoke when you first appeared (and still do quite a bit) stuck with me for some reason . I think the calm formality reminded me of how I used to post.