A few weeks ago, I was celebrating the grand triumph of paying off my car. Today, I took my car to the tire shop for a “flat” tire — I was having issues where I had to put air on that tire every 5 days or so — and rotation. Not only did I have one, but two nails on that tire, yikes! But now, it looks like I am going to need breaks. Of course, they quoted me and since they would like to change everything associated with breaks, it would be close to two and a half car payments total.

yay! (said no one ever)

Today, was not only one of the scariest commutes back from work, but also the most upsetting. I don’t think anyone was expecting it to snow today. I can tell because of the way we were all dressed up at work. The not-snow-days pants, the not-snow-days shoes, well, you get the idea.

Also, as I have probably expressed before, my office space, is in a trailer west side of the main building. We have windows, but, my cubicle, does not face any of them. It wasn’t until I went out that I have realized how it was snowing. It was so much and so fast, that I felt like I wasn’t fast enough clearing my car from all the snow. By the time I was done on one side of the car, the other side was already covered in snow again.

Roads were a mess, drivers we also a mess. Judging by my first 10 minutes of driving, I knew I was going to be late to pick Marley at school. A few cars on the sides of the road, in ditches. Slow traffic and small accidents, It was an unannounced snow-apocalypse. Being stuck in traffic because of weather, knowing you’ll be late to pick up your kid as school, is one of the most stressing and upsettings feelings.

Gladly, we called the school, informed them I was going to be late and held Marley inside the school until my arrival.

Phew

What normally would have been a thirty-minute commute to Marley’s school, today, took me an hour and twenty minutes.

Every once in a while I get this idea in my head of something I would like to add to my site. Normally, I would have no concept of how to go about it. I poke around and find what I think might do the trick. How knows? Maybe not? Then, I try it, see what happens, and then, boom! It works! And, at that point, I cannot contain myself and I lift my arms up to the air in excitement, and inside my head, the victory-fanfare from FFVII plays.

The best food?

eighties food

Made a few tweaks to my weblog recently.

I added a new menu, Follow My Weblog! It's got a selection of links to which you can subscribe individually. In case you just want to follow only photo posts only, long posts, and or everything.

Added a subtitle, nothing fancy but the fact that I was able to accomplish that made me happy.

Added sublime ads, and just like Mike, it is a way to promote the things I love and bring me joy. Although, I had made a mistake and I need to re-do it all. It is coming up, though — soon! 

I promise!

I have also been experimenting with the new theme, Hitchens, over on my test blog. Lots of back and forth between the two "accounts" these past few days. I figured it is safer to use the test site before committing to any changes.

According to past posts and journal writings, it is a recurring theme that I close or walk away for a while, from a social platform, every January, at least for the past two or three years. Consistently, it has been Instagram. A few years back, it was Facebook, which later, became permanently closed. The problem has always been letting go of Instagram. I have thousands of excuses on why I keep it and a few very valid reasons of why to close it, permanently. This time around, I have scheduled my account for deletion and re-opened it twice.

Last night, was my last attempt at trying to make it "better". I unfollowed almost half of the accounts I was following, and muted some others, mostly the stories. At first, it was good, then, I found myself down that rabbit hole again of going to the 'discovery' tab and just doomscrolling, and seeing all these things that make me anxious and somewhat depressed. I may not have the force of will, or the discipline required to fight these tendencies.

This is clearly an indication, that the platform is no longer good for my mental health.

So, let's add Instagram to the list of permanently closed.

On Today's commute, like in every commute of every day, I drive by this car-sale lot. In this lot, about 2 out of 5 days, there's a motorized cop. Pointing its speed-gun to all drivers, including me. I am aware of this, it is always present in my mind, and would like to keep it that way. Because the day I forget, it is gonna happen. Last week, I only saw it once, and this week, just today, so far. And on both occasions, whichever car is a bit behind me at that moment, has gotten pulled over.

tsk tsk tsk

Of all the note-taking apps I have tried and really used, I believe Simplenote doesn't get a lot of credit or mention. I have been using it a lot the past few months. Probably because is the only nice-looking app that has a Windows native app ish. The syncing between the windows app and my Apple devices it's pretty damn solid. It does not have a lot of bells and whistles but it works great for what I need. Of course, there are a few things I would like it to have from other note-taking apps I've used but I can live without them.

Marley, Luna and I, went out for a mission. The mission, go to the grocery store, get apples, coffee, milk… you know some essentials. Oh, and chicken wings, for dinner tonight.

Marley is hanging by the side of the cart, Luna in the kiddy basket, as I call it. Every time I pick an item, Luna wants to hold it. Eventually, she gets tired and puts it back in the cart, behind her.

We grabbed everything we needed, and headed to the cashiers. I noticed all are very busy, I only had about, less than ten items, so I go to the self-checkout. Scan all my items, one of the ladies working at the store even helps me out with a specific item, I pay, and go!

We are on our way to the car when I noticed, Luna, is still holding a box of taquitos 😱.

I don’t remember scanning the taquitos…

This is probably the less efficient way of doing “read it later” but, for better or worse, this is how I’ve been going about it. Yes, I use a read it later service/app, and that is instapaper, mostly. However, I don’t use it exclusively.

A lot of my read it later comes from, well, depending on where I’m browsing. If I’m on Twitter, favoriting a tweet, can be something to read (or reference) later. I think I can set up instapaper to grab those but, eh! In Micro.blog, I bookmark, and if I am in Feedbin, usually at work, using the web app, I star them.

Do I ever come back and actually read them later? I may or may not. That’s the problem with read it later, sometimes they don’t get read. But there’s always the; what if I need it later?

Read this later…

As I am trying to get back on track and in shape, I went for a run today. This will be the first run of 2022 and also the first in a long time, probably close to a year. Today it was about 2 miles (3.22 km)., nothing too crazy.

I am very lazy when it comes to running, in fact, part of me loathes it. But the benefits are far too great. That being said, there are some other things I much prefer, like using the rower. I intend to get one this year, you’ll see.

Not only was it my first run in a long time, but it’s also the first time I go out without my phone ☎️!

Say whuuuut?

I have a series 6 Apple Watch with cellular and never have I ever taken advantage of that. This is the first time I go out and about without my iPhone and streaming music on my watch to my Powerbeats Pro. I guess I was always afraid of, I don’t know, the cellular connection on the watch not being great or something, but never tried it before. Today will be the first of many. It’s so good not having to worry about where to put the phone or holding it whilst running or any kind of intense workout.

A couple of bites (I meant notes) of today’s run.

• I felt heavy, extremely heavy. Like I was wearing a vest.
• Very out of condition. I couldn’t maintain my pace, there were times I was walking rather than running. This run was more like interval running.
• A bit of pain in my feet
• One good thing, no cramps, usually I expect these when I haven’t run in a while.

Looks like I have aways to go still…

A thing I have been trying and failing for months, is to wake up early in the morning, at 5:00am and exercise. This has been going on for months. I have had my alarm set for 5 in the morning since October-November, and al these time I have been snoozing it.

Today, no more snoozing—ish.

I did snooze, one time. Instead of 5:00am, I was up by 5:18am. I got up, changed shorts, went to the living room. I wanted to try Fitness+ again. I have enjoyed (ish) before. I picked up a 20-minute HIT workout. Normally, I would mix and match, 20 min HIT, 10 core and then 5 on mindfulness cooldown.

Well, I either picked the not-so-right instructor or something. My problem with video-home workouts is when they are too cheery, it is a bit weird and awkward, to me.

I stopped the workout, I count it as a warmup, grabbed my kettlebell, switch the Apple TV to music videos and did my thing. A combination of kettlebell movements, core, and push-ups. Then did 5 minutes of mindfulness cooldown and called it good.

This is part of the new routine I want to create for myself. Whether is working out in my living room, go for a run, perhaps some morning yoga, who knows.

I am still trying to break the mold of needing to go to a gym. Going to a gym is all I’ve known, and it is hard to break that. I might go back to a gym at some point, but the way things have been pandemic-wise, I’m not sure if I am comfortable yet.

Daring Fireball: T-Mobile Has Started Blocking iPhone Users From Enabling iCloud Private Relay in the U.S.

This is some serious bullshit. It has nothing to do with improving network quality and everything to do with T-Mobile selling your usage data. Curious how Apple will respond. I’d say switch carriers if you’re on T-Mobile, but if they get away with this, I fear Verizon and AT&T will follow. 

This is my fear too, that Verizon may follow if T-Mobile gets away with this be-es. 

Discouraged

Whilst I was in Biochemistry, I always felt good about what I was doing. I felt that I was good at my job, that I knew what I was doing, and felt very confident about it. Now I have moved to a different position within the company and pretty much to a different discipline. Even though that my new department (or team) isn't defined by a specific discipline, I do more molecular science than I do biochemistry. Molecular science it's definitely not my area of expertise at all. I do enjoy a new challenge, I very much welcome it, but the more I try to get good at it the more things go wrong and the less I seem to understand it. A special project was "assigned" to me and even though I should have probably said no, I did say yes. Probably because I was either overconfident or just to prove that I was worthy of the task — to prove myself. My first experiment didn't go well but we identified the flaws. The second experiment and a third went perfectly. Now, for the past two days, I have been working on the same experiment and getting unexpected results on both occasions. And can not, for the life of me, figure out what I did wrong. Like I've said before this is not my area of expertise and there's only so much I can think (or try to think) of what could have possibly gone wrong. And I'm feeling frustrated and very discouraged. I am afraid of failure and disappointment to my teammates and my new boss. Haven't felt this way in a long long time and am not sure how to handle it.

January 10th, 2017

36°F Cloudy

I have expressed my frustration with the ongoing pandemic, and I reiterate, I'm tired. I feel like, at this point, it's just a waiting game. It is a matter of when. No matter our best efforts, we will get infected, resistance is futile.

Today, I received an email from Marley's school,

Dear Parent, Guardian, and Staff Member:  
We have information to share with you about a COVID-19 case at our school.  
We were informed that an individual within your child's class has tested positive for COVID-19. Please keep his/her health and recovery in mind.
We no longer identify close contacts with the positive case. Therefore, continue to send your child to school but daily monitoring of symptoms over the next 10 days is a VERY important part of this process. Contact the school nurse if your child has symptoms or is being tested for COVID.  
If your child develops any symptoms, stay home, call your medical provider, or get tested. There are multiple free testing sites in the community including Preventative Health.  

I don't know how to feel about it, or what to do. It is what it is, and we are all fked. 

At this point I even feel a little desensitized from it all, and like I've said, it is just a matter of when.

First we got COVID, then the Delta, then Omicron, now the supposedly Deltacron, and how knows how many more have been that I am not aware of or that are coming.

FKN Quit it! 😅

I am spent, tired. When will it “end”? I’m tired of living in constant paranoia and fear. Like I heard in a podcast recently, Omicron is the new Squid Game. Like no matter how much I do protect myself and my family, it is just a matter of time until we just get it.

I feel for the healthcare system’s people, including my wife. She is not in direct contact with patients but the whole system is affected, stressed and overworked. I am also tired of the politicization of it all. Like wearing a mask and/or getting a vaccine, is a political stance instead of common sense.

Tired

Yesterday afternoon, after work, when at home, I received a letter from the Idaho Department of Transportation. In it, in contained the title of ownership to my motor vehicle.

I am not going to lie, I was surprised by it. I couldn’t understand why. Annie, in all her wisdom, goes, I think your car is paid off! I was a little skeptical about it.

You might be thinking,

How in the hell you wouldn’t know?

Good question.

Anyway, today, I… First, I tried to log in into my account through their mobile app, which I haven’t used in ages. Keep in mind, this is not my main bank, this just happens to be the bank that approved my Auto loan back then. I remembered my username, but that’s it, the password was incorrect and any other account information required to reset the password was unknown to me.

I called the bank with the premise of getting help with my login. The teller on the phone, besides helping to reset my credentials, also offered to check on my auto loan account as well.

Teller on the phone: puts me on hold….

Me: I’m on hold…

Teller on the phone: Gets back to me… I Haven’t forgotten about you, just checking a few things,

Me: okay! I’m back on hold…

Teller on the phone: Yes, your auto loan is paid off, sir!

Me: Sweet Christmas!

Then he wanted to update my information since I mentioned that the email they had for me, might have been retired.

Teller on the phone: what is your current email address, sir?

Me: gabz at omg dot lol

Teller on the phone: silence

Me: silence

Me: yes, that is a valid email address, I promise

Teller on the phone: oh! Okay good, I wasn’t certain, okay, I will make note of that.

Me: yes, you go to OMG.LOL and get your own.

Teller on the phone: I might have to do that, let me wire that down.

😂😂

We are seven days into the new year, 2022, and I have been busy. Well, busy trying to change things around in my weblog. You know, tinkering.

• A new theme, I am using Pure by Chris, and I made some tweaks here and there to make it more me. I really hope he won't mind. Mainly font, colors, truncated posts and I may or may not have blatantly stolen – like an artist 😉 – his custom footer setup, with a twist (ish). 
• I retired on this day, and replace it with Surprise Me!
• I am not using Micro.blog's default Photos menu, instead, I repurposed my blot.im account to be my Photography weblog or Camera Roll. Which also means that I may or may not have retired Glass Photos and Instagram (gasps in Spanish!).

Another area that's seeing some significant changes is my iPhone Homescreen setup as well as some of my systems. However, I am not 100% settled yet, so more on that later, stay tuned.

Need a new avatar too!

hm...

This would be the 4th account I have closed. When trying to quit using Facebook years ago, I had already closed and re-opened the account, 3 times — I think it was 3. For Instagram, this would be by 4th and hopefully, the last time. I was thinking about, just like I did with Facebook all those years ago, leaving a '30-days notice". Put something up on my stories or a post...

Stop the lap dance I want to go home. Closing shop in by the end of the month! 

Or something like that.

Nah, instead, in a moment of pure impulsiveness (as I always do), I logged into the web thingy and closed it.

I am sure there will be people I'll miss, and that's okay I guess.

Siempre papi, nunca unpapi  ✌🏽

One of my favorite "hacks" in micro.blog, to me, has ever been the "on this day". This is something very similar to what apps like Day One do but on your blog instead. Micromemories or On this Day was created by cleverdevil.

I have used this feature on my blog for years. It has always been fun to re-live some memories of the past. For different reasons, sometimes a nice memory, sometimes a not-so-good memory that might help you reflect and see how far you have come. And not going to lie, there have been times where a very unsavory memory has pooped up and been deleted, at least in Day One.

Recently we got Surprise me! by @sod. It is not exactly like on this day, instead, it will pull a random post from your archive, which is pretty neat. For some reason, I kind of like this better. Looking back at memories every day can become obsessive, for me. A random post, out of the blue (ish), it's a lot more fun and exciting, I think because you'll never know what ya' gonna get!

I think I will be removing the On this Day from my blog and replacing it with Surprise Me! There will still be an On This Day, not on my blog, but in Day One.

Unrelated,

It is 2022, I believe I am due for a new backpack, just sayin'

Tales of Arise on the PlayStation 5

On the planet Dahna, reverence has always been given to Rena, the planet in the sky, as a land of the righteous and divine. Stories handed down for generations became truth and masked reality for the people of Dahna. For 300 years, Rena has ruled over Dahna, pillaging the planet of its resources and stripping people of their dignity and freedom.
Our tale begins with two people, born on different worlds, each looking to change their fate and create a new future. Featuring a new cast of characters, updated combat, and classic Tales of gameplay mechanics, experience the next chapter in the world-famous Tale of series, Tales of Arise.

Dun-dun-duuuuuuun!!!!

This game was released last year. When I saw the trailer, I immediately knew, I wanted to play it. This game is in the same vein as Tales of Symphonia (I believe I played this one back on the GameCube), Tales of Vesperia (I think I played this one on the PS2 but I currently own it on the Nintendo Switch), and Tales of Berseria (this one I've never played). Arise is a standalone game, there's really no need to play the previous ones. It's kinda like the Final Fantasy's they really don't tie in.

It is a JRPG and like most JRPGs, the narrative is pretty linear, which to me, that's fine.  The game focuses on two primary protagonists; Shionne, a woman with a mysterious past, and Iron Mask, a man who has no memory and also wears an iron mask that he can’t remove.

I am only about 3 to 4 hours in, give or take, so call it an early impression if you will, but the bottom line is, I am having a blast. I have to be honest coming from a game like Ghost of Tsushima, that looks as realistic as it can, it is a little shocking to play something cartoony. That being said, the art it's pretty awesome. The animated cutscenes make you feel like you are watching a Japanese animated show. The voice acting I would say it's pretty well done, and solid. Some of the conversations are in in-game animation sequences, or in comic-book-like panels with voices, or in your typical conversation-bubbles with no voice.

Something that I am truly a fan of in this game, is the combat system. When you encounter enemies during exploration, you'll be spirited off to a combat screen, like every RPG about there. During combat, you can move freely and execute normal and special attacks called Artes, which you assign to controller buttons, pretty simple. It does introduce some complexity to the combat at some point early in the game but nothing too crazy. The combat's super-fun and fluid.

Like most RPGs, you also have a skill-tree-like thing where you can redeem experience points for more art or combat skills. SO far, it hasn't gotten super-crazy complicated, again, I am very early in the game, so who knows. But so far, it's been easy to navigate and understand, it is pretty straightforward.

One thing I've got to mention too is the opening song, I am a fan. Again, it makes you feel like your sitting down, about to watch your favorite Anime show.

"HIBANA" by Kankaku Piero - Love it!

If you're are a fan of adventure JRPGs or RPGs in general, and you're looking for a fun and festive game to play, I would definitely recommend Tales of Arise. Oh! And there is a demo available in case you'd want to test the waters first. I think I got it on sale at the Amazons there for less than 40 USD. I believe it is still on sale at the PlayStation Store but not for long. And there are 3 different versions too LOL. I got the regular and purchased some DLC for like $5.00 for star items and costumes. 

That's how they get me, with shiny costumes. 😜

It is still yucky outside, everything is starting to melt, and it’s slushy. I am working from home today. Unfortunately, we are having — what we think — are roof issues. We have a leak, it’s been dripping from the laundry’s ceiling. There is a contractor coming over to inspect and assess. When that inspector, it’s supposed to be here? I don’t know. All he said was that’d he would be here during the day and that someone needed to be at the house. That someone is yours truly.

I am glad that I am lucky enough that I can work from home when situations arise. Plus, currently, I have no projects that need my attention on site. Furthermore, all the work rushed has subsided, and we are in calm waters again — for now.

There was something I have been meaning to look into for a while, and that was our internet situation. We have been complaining about how slow it’s been. Thanks to some friends at the Hemispheric Views super-secret discord channel for the help on this one. Nothing too crazy, took the opportunity to make some changes basically, and all it’s good.

Since I am alone in the house, I have been playing music all morning, a recent discovery,

Thirstier by TORRES

I have been really enjoying it.

I have discovered some new Latin Rock bands this week too. Bands that I have never heard before.

• De Subida by Planetarica

and

• Mística Mujer by Blacks en Tela

Okay, break’s over, back to work

I feel like I am falling down the path that made me close my Instagram account last time. There's a certain degree of anxiety that comes with it. Yes, I could delete the app from my phone, but that doesn't really resolve the issue as it can be re-installed at any time. I wish I could block sections of the app, like 'suggested posts' and the 'discovery tab'. Because those are the areas where I see things I don't care about and yet can not stop the scrolling. It is hard to ignore them, as they are constantly on your face.  

After reading Mike's post on subscriptions last night, and this morning's Greg's, I had to think about my situation here and share.

The Gotta have's

Netflix - Gotta have it, if you have family, especially kids, there's no way around it. Plus consider this, Netflix puts out so much content, and high quality, for "cheap".

Apple One - Given that both my wife and I do use Apple Music, iCloud storage and at the time we were also using Apple Arcade, I believe we were already at the 29.95 mark, so it made sense. Now we also get Fitness+, tv+, and News+ (which I rarely ever use).

Kiddopia - Another, gotta have it, if this app does not have all the mini-games available, there will be riots. And we don't want riots in a full restaurant.

comiXologyUNLIMITED - Think of Netflix for comics Books, this is one I forget I have, and one that as much as I really want to use it and take advantage of, I don't. I am going to put myself to the test this month, If I don't read at least three to four issues, I am canceling it.

Glass - Photography Community - I like the app, I have written my thoughts on it, and what it means to me. I have been in conflict with it in the past week or so. I see the app as a nice-looking website for my photos, but it is not my own, like my blog, it is mine (ish). So, this one is in review.

Audible - This one, I keep going back and forth in my mind, in fact, this one gets canceled and reactivated again sometimes. I think I have a decent backlog of books to listen to that I could possibly cancel it for a while.

AppleCare+ - My reasoning, I've got kids, and I am clumsy, thus, I need it. 

Overcast - As much as I hate its UI and icon, it's rock-solid and that's that.

Tweetbot 6 - My Twitter app of choice, and I want them to both keep around and give me more icons.

Day One - Day One was my blog before my blog. Before I dared to get a weblog, I was writing in this app, circa 2012. Now I rarely actively type in it, now I have an IFTTT action that everything I post to my weblog, gets an entry in DO. Also, I use a lot their Text to Journal feature, which allows me to text quick things and create quick entries. They are usually photos in my case. It is pretty neat.

Mullvad - I got this one when I traveled to Naples, FL last year, not sure I'll keep it.

Ulysses - another, gotta have it, it is my writing app of choice, and cannot imagine a world without it.

Micro.blog - The most important sub of them all. Here is where I host my weblog. Makes everything easy and friction-free. It has a great community and even though I have tried other platforms (tinkerers gotta tink), there's no place like home.

HBO Max - I do get a lot of entertainment out of this one, ze wife wants me to cancel it, I don't lol, we shall see.

Subscriptions I am letting go (or expire) this month/year.

Hey Mail - love it, love it, love it, too expensive.

Twitter Blue - not worth it, to me.

Carrot Weather - The stock weather app has gotten much better than it used to. I am letting it expire and see if I miss it.

Drafts - For the way I use it now, I can get by with the free tier. I may subscribe at some point again, though. Just to support its development.

Bear - This used to be my notes app of choice for years, not anymore. Lately, I have been using Simplenote.

VSCO - It is set to expire, but I use it, I love this app so much, so it will be renewed when the time comes, I believe it'll be September 2022.

One subscription I am sort of considering, and this is purely a work-related thing more than anything else, It's ROAM Research. I think I had expressed this idea of having a work journal, and I like ROAM for that. Still an idea.

As part of my plans for Q1 of 2022, is to better myself and be healthier. Not only work on the lack of exercise but also be more mindful of what I eat, but even more so, what I drink. I need to cut back on my alcohol, specially beer. So, as a way to shock my, I don’t know, my body out off the habit, starting today, I’m going a full month (ish) without alcohol. I want to see how this goes and the effects of it.

Since today’s the third of the month, I’ll extend it to the third of February (I cheated this past weekend 🙈😅). Or maybe even further, who knows.

This is the plan, I do hope I can stick with it.