Everyone should blog — Ben Werdmüller

A blog is just a journal: a web log of what you’re thinking and doing. You can keep a log about anything you like; it doesn’t have to be professional or money-making. In fact, in my opinion, the best blogs are personal. There’s no such thing as writing too much: your voice is important, your perspective is different, and you should put it out there.

A hundred times, yes!

This is probably an every “New-Year” thing, but there are three main areas where I want to really focus on this year. Well, let’s make it a short-term thing, Q1 JANUARY-MARCH

Health

I need to get back in track. I am a lesser version of myself. I feel lazy, fat and very unhealthy — very. I got to commit, forget the cheap excuses, show up and put on the work. I want to get back on running, or get into biking. I would love to get a rower, I much rather bike or row than run, for some reason.

Discipline

Better commitment to me, to my family and work. I feel like last year I was winging it a lot, without a clear path or focus.

Mental health

I believe that if I can really commit and work in the two areas listed above, my mental health shall improve, all these areas go hand in hand.

Will make sure to keep track of any changes, log them, journal them. If it’s not documented, it’s as if it didn’t happen, I need to see the progress or lack thereof. I’m sure any systems to accomplish any of these goals will change, but as long as I stick to the original plan, I guess it won’t matter. Although, having a consistent system would be the best approach.

I came across this shortcut created by Nash, he calls it ’Time Tracker”,

Time Tracker is a shortcut I built (here’s a link to it). I’ve been using it the last few days, and I’m loving it so far. I press the app icon I’ve built, or the button on my watch, and write out whatever it is I’m currently doing or thinking about. It then gets logged into Fantastical as an event with the specific time that I logged it. This will help me see where my time is going, and also help me refer back to for writing prompts.

I found it very intriguing, it would serve as a quick way to log things and perhaps use them for. Weekly reviews and post them to my blog and journal/document my progress in these areas.

Moreover, I am rethinking the way I use task managers. I want to use Things 3, and rather than just tasks like I have always used it for, perhaps I can also use it for tracking habits. I am still working on this one, more on that later. I feel like if I stick to it, it might help to stay focused and disciplined.

Well, this is the plan, so far, at least for the next few months. We will reassess in three months. Oh, I’ve just remembered, I need to get my passport.

A post of my 2021 faves.

Best Console Game

I might be biased on this one since I am probably still with the Honey Moon period, sort to say.

Ghost of  Tsushima Director's Cut

I picked it as my game of the year in both 2020 and now in 2021. This time I played it on the PlayStation 5 and it's such an awesome and beautiful game and the game truly shines on this console.

An Honorable Mention has to be Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

Best Nintendo Switch Game

Metroid Dread

This was a game I knew I wanted to play but wasn't sure how it was going to land for me. I gotta say, I had a great time with it. The action is incredible and fluid, the graphics are awesome, and it's tough. Not to the point of utter frustration but, don't expect to walk into a Boss fight and get it on the first try. 

Honorable Mention goes to Ender Lillies

This game is beautiful in a spooky way. This one is particularly tough as well, this one follows trends of games like Dark Souls, so patience is a virtue here. I had to rethink the way I play platformers 

Album of the Year

It is kind of hard to pick an album of the year since I listen to so much music these days. But one particular album that, to me, was a very interesting find and fell in love with was,

  Axiom Verge 2 (Original Soundtrack)  

I am a sucker for video-game soundtracks, and this, in particular, got played over and over for weeks.

Honorable Mention,

Not an album but a single, abcdefu by GAYLE , this is not just a song, it's a mood

Movie of the Year

No Time to Die (2021)

I am a huge Bond fan, and more so of Daniel Graig's Bond, he is my Bond.

Honorable Mentions

• Encanto (2021)
• Luca
• Dune (2021)
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
• The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
• Cruella (2021

Piece of tech

The PlayStation 5

I don't own the newest Xbox console, so by default, the PS5 wins. But as a piece of tech overall, Probably the best purchase I have made this year.

Honorable Mention,

The iPhone 12 Mini

Arguably the best phone I have ever owned. This coming March I will be eligible for an upgrade, and going for the iPhone 13 mini.

Book of The Year

I did not read (or rather listen) too many books as I would have liked, this year. But one that I really enjoyed was,

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

I felt like I was at a bar with the guy, listening to awesome and funny stories. Definitely worth the read or listen.

Honorable Mention,

The Sandman: Act II by Neil Gaiman

I enjoyed the first act and even more so the second. Very much looking forward to the Netflix series of the Sandman.

I also need to mention Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, narrated by Neil Gaiman, such a great story

All things considered, this year was not half-bad. Yeah, a lot of stressful, frustrating, and infuriating things happened this year, which will not be listed here. Here, is for the things that bring me joy.

Happy 2022!

Due to all these weather shenanigans, we have been advised (at work) to come in at 9am and leave by 3:30pm or earlier. At least for tomorrow (Thursday). I could just work from home, where’s safe. Unfortunately though, I have samples to sample that cannot wait a few more days.

The internet Twitter, always ruins things.

Hello, hi,

Disclaimer:

I have posted about this before, in another ghost blog, that doesn’t exist anymore. I wrote it using its web editor instead of my text editor, of choice. Thus, when I ghosted ghost, I never backed up that post, at all, so it’s lost — ghosted. I do not remember the post word by word, but I remember the general idea.

I remember when Glass Photos was the new hot thing around, that was not long ago, I think, but we move way too fast, I guess. Most people I follow, are probably a little discouraged or debating whether it is something they want to partake in or not anymore. Totally valid.

What is Glass, to me?

When I first signed up for it, I loved it right from the get-go, it meant it would be the instagram killer, for me. I liked the fact there were no likes, at the time, now we got “appreciations”. The way it shows the photos it’s nice, there is not a huge “social” element aspect to it. I believe Glass is more a way to expose your photography without the noise of being a social platform.

Later, they added web profiles, here’s mine. With that, it became the cheapest photo website in which I could display my photos. The only downside would be that there is no way for anyone who is not already using Glass, to contact me in some way. It’d be nice if it showed your Twitter handle or a link to your personal blog, if any, and so on.

This is the way, or my usage of the service, at the moment. I have explored other ideas to recreate this in a more personal way. I mean, I already host all my pictures on my personal blog, but would like something only photos dedicated and so far, Glass is doing the job. For how long it will? Who knows…

I think last year (2020) my pick for Game of the Year was Ghost of Tsushima on the PlayStation 4. Probably the best game of that console’s generation.

This year (2021) I didn’t play many console AAA games, this was mostly a Nintendo Switch year. Except for at the beginning of the year, in which I played the heck out of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, a little over 140 hours of it.

Sometime this year I traded all my current consoles and games, in hope of getting a PlayStation 5, which I did get sometime in November. With it, I got Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut. Even though I had played GoT like 4 times already, I knew I wanted to play it again but on the PS5. I wanted to see this already beautiful and gorgeous game on the new generation console. Plus, I knew that with the Director’s Cut edition, there would be more content.

This is the game I have been playing since late November. So far, I have got somewhere around 99 hours into it. The biggest take ways this time around are just not the graphics and the game’s performance but the additional content of the Iki Island expansion.

You unlock Iki Island at the beginning of Act II (the main game has 3 acts). It begins when Jin discovers a village suffering from a mysterious mental affliction. Then you learn about another Mongol clan led by a shaman named Anshar Khatoun, known by her followers as The Eagle. It also happens that on this island, It’s where Jin watched his father die. I was very intrigued to know more about this part of the Sakai clan’s story. The island is pretty tough, in a way, I didn’t even start it until I was pretty much done with Act III. I wanted to make sure I was well-prepared for it, just in case. The Mongols here are bigger and much more powerful than the ones in Tsushima island. Then you also have the Shamans, these are beings that do this Mongolian throat singing, or Tuvan throat singing. Which gives the other soldiers some extra, almost super-natural protection. And, if you want to kick ass, you’d need to tackle these shamans first.

Iki island is not just a 2 to 3 hours expansion, it feels like a whole other game. You gain more abilities and techniques, which is cool. I have already finished the main storyline and the main storyline for Iki island.

Last night, I started a New Game + playthrough. I want to replay this game all super-powered up and take on Iki Island in Act II instead. This play-through should go shorter in a way, as I can skip all cutscenes, but will do more exploring, and complete certain challenges, and Platinum this game — again.

Because of the new and improved experience of the game, Ghost of Tsushima, once again, get my peak for Game of The Year, in 2021.

I think email should be fun. And not fun in the sense of, OMG, I am doing fkn email and I love it! To be is fun in the sense that it makes you actually open the app and deal with my email. Email, is a chore, it sucks, and it’s boring. Almost like going to the mail knowing that you won’t be getting anything fun or worth your time, but you do it anyway. That’s what email is to me.

We all have struggled with finding the perfect email app, or system, and services. I have tried a few myself, both apps and services. They all offer some excitement at first, some nifty feature, but in the end its just email, a boring chore.

There has only one app out there, or service, that, too me, made email less of a chore and much, much easier to manage, hence more fun. That would be Hey mail. Say what you will about it, if you still remember anything you might say at this point, but it’s, somehow, fun to use, and I still like it. It is its renewal price tag what still makes me cringe a little. Mine wont renews itself until late March, early April, usually when I get my bonus…

We shall see…

As we woke up with snow, not a lot but still enough to make me extremely nostalgic about Puerto Rico. All I am wishing is to be able to drive to the south of the island, go to a place by the beach, where they’ll have cold beer and delicious food.

Instead, it is freezing cold and everything is frozen 🥶

It has been two days… or so, since I got back from my work-trip to Naples. And it is the first day where I feel like I am back to “normal”. My normal routine got all messed up. For example, yesterday I went to work, without coffee or lunch. Normally I would prepare everything the night before. On Thursday night, this particular tasks didn’t even crossed my mind at all.

Dear digital journal,

Today is, in a way, my last day at the trial. Today was more about, re-evaluating what was evaluated yesterday, ish. I was asked to take a second look at one part of the trial, the one damaged by herbicide. Although I was still able to evaluate and make a call, it is still too iffy and people aren’t happy. So, I only spent about half a day on site, right about up to lunchtime.

I knew I wanted to enter all my datas before lunch, so instead I drove to the hotel, got all cleaned up and entered part of my data, until I got hungry. After my lunch meal, I entered the rest of my data and did more computer work.

Now, there is no need whatsoever for me to go back to the site tomorrow, I am done with the project. So, I wanted to try and see if I could change my flight to get back home much sooner. I called the company in which we book everything through. The lady on the phone was very helpful, but unfortunately, there were no earlier flights (sad trombone). The one and only option was leaving tomorrow afternoon but then stay overnight at an airport which it’ll put me arriving home the same day as it’s already scheduled.

So, not sure, I will most likely work from the hotel or a Starbucks all day tomorrow. I could go to the site too and use a room. I could also take the day off. For what, though? There is something about this place that doesn’t make me want to venture much.

Bar hopping?

No?

Okay.

I’ll work then.

Today was it, I did what I came to do, Watermelon and melon field grow out. In other words, a field day!

Not going to lie, last time I visited this site to do the same was two years ago, 2019, when I had first started at my job. The evaluation was pretty much done by Ed and the lady I pretty much work for, Ellen. I was basically tagging along and learning the ropes. This time, though, it was just me, by myself, ish.

It was very different from the las time. At least I somewhat knew the site, but not many of the people. The first time I had visited, they were having “field day” with customers, so I barely got to know anyone. This time, Field Day was last week, so I got to meet more people. Fun fact, once I got to the site and introduce myself, that was the last time I spoke English. In this site, are mostly Hispanics. That obviously made me feel much, much better and right at home.

Then, it was evaluation time. Even though this is only my second time, I felt pretty confident. I had a side-kick, Maria, she was cutting the watermelons as we went, for evaluation. It wasn’t too hot, high 70 degrees and windy, nice morning.

We had about 75% of the work done by lunchtime. Which I rewarded me self with a delightful burger, plus, it was the closest thing that was not fast food.

The place, it’s called BurgerFi, or something like that. Never heard of it before. Pretty good, though.

Once the evaluation for watermelon 🍉 was done, it was time to check out the melons 🍈. Which, unfortunately, had issues. Apparently, a herbicide that was not supposed to be applied, got applied. It burned the plants and most of the fruit, making the evaluation much more difficult than it should have been.

I guess it is what it is. At least the evaluation got done. I had planned for 3 days, but technically did it all in one. However, they want me to go back again for a second look and to compared what I saw with the genetic data we have. To see if what I saw, sort of matches. It should be quicker and easier than today, though.

I might even get to get back home a day earlier, we shall see.

Today, was a long day! The one day I fully had to spend with my sister and her husband before a 3-hour drive to my true final destination. They took me to a nice local brewery, Hiatus Brewing Co, very tasty beer. We basically had all their IPAs and Stouts 😅

Then, it was time for lunch. We had this idea to visit a burger food truck called The Burger GOAT. We knew it was about an hour and half drive, but by the time we were done with the beer, we knew we wanted to eat. They had been bragging about this sushi place, that they have visited many places in the area and this was it. So, I said, let’s go there.

Boy-oh-boy, they were not kidding! The place it’s called Aki Sushi, and I got to admit, I have never had so good of a sushi, like the one at this place. So, so good! I don’t even know how to describe it, it was just the best sushi I’ve ever had. We also had Japanese beer and sake 🍺 🍶 🍱

After that delicious meal, we head back to my sister’s house, had a couple of local beers they had bought, laughs and a good time. Once I was ready and able, it was time for the journey ahead, a 3-hour drive from Ocala to Naples.

It was a long drive, it felt like it was forever, also listening to podcasts I would normally not listen to, but I needed something. Should have probably done an audiobook, oh well, next time.

Now I am at the hotel, tired, exhausted. Had something to eat, a bottle of water and drinking a Stout on a coffee cup, like pro.

A very early rise yesterday, and headed for the airport. It felt so weird, traveling in times like these. I mean, a lot of it is the same but not the same. I was much more paranoid than normal, for sure. I wanted to avoid touching anything, extremely aware of not touching my face. Not only that, but I freaked out about the fact that I had forgotten my hand sanitizer. The safety speech before taking off has more lines now (😅).

People, so many people, I am no longer used to this. Definitely a shocker, of sorts. If there’s one thing I’m was happy to see, was everyone being compliant on wearing their masks 😷.

The whole thing was a nightmare for me in some ways. Once I arrived to my final destination, it was time to pick up the car and head out to my sister’s. Well, for whatever reason, not only my main phone was pretty much dead, but neither phone had cell service. Work phone was fully charged but again, no service and no way to use Apple Maps. I had no idea where I was supposed to be going, all I knew is that I needed to get out of the garage and hopefully regain cell service. It took an hour, to get out of the garage!

Out of the garage and still no cell service for whatever reason. I kept driving, in a place I’ve never been, hoping I was heading to the right direction. Eventually, I got cell service back and was able to use the Apple Maps to head to my sister’s way. Luckily, I wasn’t lost so didn’t have to reroute once I got Apple Maps going, phew

Let us hope, everything will be downhill from here.

At the company I work for, the end of the year is very much the busiest, starting early fall. It’s harvest season, and with harvest, come samples, thus many tests and subsequently, tests results. Planers need these results, so they can sell and export seeds. Moreover, I was handed a massive project right in the middle of all of this. The project has been completed, sort of. I won’t call it completed until all my samples are shipped and out the door.

Like every year, we are also preparing our next field trial for Chile. Most field trials are pretty easy since they are within the US. Since this one is off the country, there is much more to it than simply packing and shipping. Many regulations and paperwork. This means lots of work for me and my team, a team of two. What makes things a bit more stressful for me, is the fact that this year, I am traveling to another of our field trials, this coming Saturday in fact. This means I only have 5 days to help with all the preparations and I will be leaving my coworker with all the rest right in the middle of. Knowing this, I have been doing a lot of prep beforehand. Still, I am stressed and also feeling a bit guilty for leaving my coworker alone with the GO prep and shipping. This is on top of all the other things I have daily. Like I’ve said, data, data, and more data.

And then some…

Back in August 2020, I played this game, and loved it. In fact, I played the shit out of this game. I beat it at least four times, over one hundred and forty hours. This was on the PlayStation 4.

Fast-forward to 2021, on Black Friday, I got my PlayStation 5. And as the story goes, I bought, yet again, but Ghost of Tsushima The Director’s Cut — on sale, I might add. Anyway, I was really looking forward to replaying this game on the PS5, I knew it was going to look outstanding and perform better.

I have been playing it since and, OH MY GOD, it feels just like the first time but better. This game is beautiful! I mean, even on the PS4 is a beautiful game, but the PS5 truly brings this game to life.

The loading times! What loading times? Let us not be silly. One of the game’s features is fast traveling, from one place to another. On the PS4, fast travel was useful, but the loading wait was kind of a small inconvenience. On the PS5, though, there’s no loading wait, fast travel means fucking fast travel. It’s instant — crazy.

Bottom line, I am enjoying this game the same, if not even more, than the first four times I played it.

Another game I got while on Black Friday sales was Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Another game that I put over a hundred hours on the Xbox One S. And yet, I’m sure it’ll be like playing a whole new game on the PlayStation 5.

A while ago, I traded all my consoles and physical games, well, most physical games., others, I kept. I did it because I wanted a PlayStation 5 and knew I wouldn’t quite have the budget for it. I made around 650.00 USDs in store credit.

When I asked what were the chances of me getting a PS5, they, well, hopes weren’t high. I knew this, I knew it was going to take time. As a small local retailer, they didn’t have one in stock, and they couldn’t tell for sure when would they have one? The owner of the store, did offer to “hunt down” one for me. Again, I knew it wasn’t going to be right away, which I was completely fine with. I mean, my Nintendo Switch backlog it’s quite large.

About two months later, Black Friday comes around, and unlike everyone else, I do no shopping whatsoever. I do look at the Switch store and whatnot, but that is the extent of it. That evening we had Thai food, delicious! I also happened to have a very tasty barrel aged imperial stout to try. I ate my food and poured my beer. As I am about to take my first glorious sip, a call comes is, the caller ID showed — VIP Games. My heart starts pounding, and I put my beer goblet down.

Hello, Luis? (That’s my first name on my ID, thus, Luis) I am told that in less than ten minutes we will have a PlayStation 5 for you. So, you’re more than welcome to come down and pick it up

To which I replied

I’ll be right there

A 10-minute drive later, I arrived to VIP Games. It was weird, it was the only opened and light up, store in the strip mall, besides the Wendy’s. I was having the same rush feeling when I bought my Nintendo Switch, they were rare, and there was only one, and I grabbed it. I felt like I needed to conceal it until I was safe at home.

I get in the store, the owner greets me.

We are just finishing everything in the system, and it’ll be ready

A few minutes later, he hands me the console.

You still have credit available. Any game you’d like to take with you?

I look around…

Do you happen to have Ghost of Tsushima, the director’s cut edition?

He looks around, the lady next to him hands it to him

Yes, and it’s on sale

After purchasing the PS5 and Ghost, I still have some credit left. He asked me if I wanted to cash, to which I replied to keep it in the system. In the future, rather than buying games at regular price from Amazon or Best Buy, I am coming down to this little store. It took time, but they went above and beyond to get me my console, they deserve my monies. Moreover, here is where I purchased my beloved Pokémon Shinning Pearl about a week ago.

Now, I did take advantage of some Black Friday sales. I purchased Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, again! Yes, I played the heck out off this game on the Xbox One S, but I knew that this game looks and performs better on the PS5, plus I have been wanting to replay it, just like Ghost. It only const me 23.00 USD, not bad at all.

So far, I am spending my time playing Ghost, and the difference in performance between the PS4 version and the PS5 it’s quite significant. The graphics, too, game it seems more detailed and crispier. I cannot wait to experience Valhalla on this console.

Other games I am excited to play are, the new Grand Turismo, God of War Ragnarök and Gungrave.

Up next, the Xbox, gotta have all the consoles. But that will wait much longer. Maybe sometime mid-2022 or later.