Today we had a very Puerto Rican menu.

Rice and beans (with olives)

Bistec encebollado

With, tostones 😍, not fried though, oven baked, gotta keep it as healthy as possible 😅

Just missing some Puerto Rican beer and a flan 🍮

inessential: The Perfect To-Do System Is Not Just Around the Corner

There’s no getting out of this fact: these apps are all going to take more constant input from you than you’d wish for. They don’t take away the need for some amount of self-discipline to use them effectively.

Wondering if this the reason why I always fail at these systems. 😉

Vaccine administration in the US achieved a new daily record last week with over 4 million shots in one day. In addition, the US has fully vaccinated more than 61.4 million individuals (18.5% of the total US population) and 32.4% of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine.

61.4 million, to me, sounds like a big number but that represents only 18.5% of the total US population, eighteen point five percent of the total!! I guess I have failed to grasp the magnitude of the US’s population if that makes any sense. It is a number I think very little about. Perhaps because I used to live on a little island for more than half of my entire life. The current population of Puerto Rico is 2.8 million, according to the latest United Nations data. So, yeah 61.4 million does seem like a lot but it really isn’t in the grand scheme of things.

Still though, over 4 million shots in one day, that’s two Puerto Rico’s 🙃 and then some.

Monday, also, first day back at pre-pandemic eight hours work on-site.

In case you’re wondering, before I’d be on-site from 5:00am to 12:15pm (first shift). Then, at 1:00pm to 8:00pm would be the second shift on-site. Now we are back to just one shift, 7:00am to 3:30pm.

So, now there’s 5 of us in our office space/ trailer. Three of them are in their offices and two of us in our cubicles. The two of us in cubicles need to wear masks 😷 at all times. There’s only 6 people allowed in the break room at a time even if it’s to just reheat your food. So, we all had to sign up for time slots. And since we are supposed to wear masks at all times, we can’t eat at our desks anymore. Which sucks because I really don’t like using the break room. Luckily, we do have a small meetings room in the trailer that we turned into our personal break room, we just take turns.

Commute. I had forgotten how bad traffic is at 6:30am — I don’t like it. Oh, also how bad it is getting out of work at 3:30pm.

I got spoiled for sure 😅

After a whole year, I feel like I need to adjust again. Now I need to make sure I bring breakfast, snacks, and lunch with me. Before I just worried about coffee, breakfast, and a snack. Just needed to survive until to lunch which I’d have here at home.

The good things? I get to sleep more, I get to see people I haven’t seen in over a year. I definitely have more time to do my on-site duties and having most of the managers present is always a good thing as well.

Oh! And birthday treats at my desk are outstanding too. 🙌🏼😎

When it comes to my unprofessional personal blog, my problem is not what to use it for or what to write about. I write about anything and everything. I would never run out of things to say, believe me. If anything, it’s been whether the content be appropriate for all audiences or not, yes a self-censure me a lot, and you’re welcome!!

Having thoughts and senseless things to say are not my problem, my problem is how my site is themed 😅

I am the worst, the absolute worst when it comes to this. I think the longest I have ever gone without making changes to my website or changing the theme in general has been two weeks. At first, I was okay with it because it gave me a chance to poke around, explore, and practice the little CSS I know now. Again, it was fun, but sometimes, I think is better when you know shit. When you don’t have many options to pick from or there’s little to tinker around with.

About two years ago, I posted;

Some functionalities can always be added if desired but is not as easy as turning a switch on and off kind of thing. It involves some programming-CSS-coding-witchcraft that I somewhat understand but don’t know much about. It’s like if I wanted my site to behave and feel the way I would like, I need to be some quasi-programmer-wizard of sorts. Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, now you’ve got pagination good Sir!

— Not a Wizard.

Making me realize how much I have learned since then, in my not humble opinion. I don’t consider myself a wizard but at least and apprentice. Every so often I’d activate a theme and see how much I can change of it, how far can I take it. @Manton gave us a way to play with themes without affecting the active one, but I rather just play with the “production version” a supposed to the “developer/test version” 😉

And thus, I am not sure what will end up being my default, if ever. Those of you who have found your setup and are happy with it, you all have my admirations.

I usually default to the same two, Marfa or Kiko, to me, they are the most functional for my needs and lately Arabica. In fact, I had stopped using Arabica because it had a few things here and there that I didn’t like how they behaved. Until recently that I tried to see how far I could change around until I’d satisfied with and Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo

🧙🏼‍♂️

Tomorrow we start back again at our pre-pandemic work schedule. Instead of two separate shifts, we’ll be back at one shift, everyone on-site. We’re still maintaining “social distance” and wearing masks at all times. No more 5:00am to 12:15pm shift for me.

On top of it, I have been off for 5 days now, and for whatever reason I feel anxious about coming back to work tomorrow, Monday. It almost feels like I am starting anew on the job. I am anxious about all the catching up on email 😩

However, it’ll be nice not having to wake up at 4:00 am and get ready to go to work.

I guess that’s a good thing

I came across an article this morning, Do you turn off 5G to preserve your iPhone 12’s battery life? by iDB.

Last year, Apple introduced the iPhone 12 lineup. At the same time, the company also confirmed the handsets would feature 5G connectivity for faster cellular service. They did that alongside Verizon, with the carrier touting its network coverage and speeds. What they did not do, though, is tell folks that keeping 5G on would noticeably impact battery life on your new phone.

I haven’t worried about battery life at all for years now, specially with the iPhone 11, that thing was rock-solid when it came to battery life. Now that I have an iPhone 12 mini, I find myself thinking about battery life, but just a little. Then I read the article, and about 5G making an impact on battery life. Furthermore, I had no idea, you could even turn 5G off, so today I’ve learned a new thing. Then I went to compare speeds between LTE and 5G in my area. And this is what I got,

(Keep in mind, this is Idaho 😅)

There is a noticeable difference, not crazy but a difference. But also makes me think, is it worth it? I mean, keeping 5G on all the time? Does it really make a difference when it comes to day-to-day use?

Also, I don’t know how much turning 5G off would help with battery life, if at all. I guess I’ll find out today.

I think, I have found a use case for my Hey World, I have even added a New Page on my blog called Hey, to access them specific posts.

The idea will be specific posts about something I have liked on any given week or games. This is not entirely new since it’s something I’ve already been doing. I have a category for Something I Liked, which is up to volume 31 — damn! Also, one for A Game I Liked. So far, and for now, the idea is to publish these two topics on Hey World, obviously linked to my main blog.

This will definitely change my blogging workflow a little, but these two topics are not as frequent as my regular posts.

I don’t know, it seems like a cool experiment.

Stay tuned…

It doesn’t matter what app you use, what system, or where you host your site. Whether you use a static site or not. It doesn’t matter if you have images in all your blog posts or not, how big or how small. What syntax, language, cheat code or pen you use.

Just blog, it’s that’s all you want to do.

I don’t care, and it shouldn’t matter how you go about it.

Just blog.

P.S.

Twitter, does not count as blogging 😜

I believe I am not the only one that dislikes going to the dentist. I’m not sure about you all, but to me feels like a chore I am doing against my will 😅. I don’t enjoy it, I know why I must and the good that it does for me and my overall hygiene. And is always the same question that I feel like I fail to give an acceptable answer for. Have you been flossing?

😩

I loathe flossing, the sensation of a string rubbing back and forth in my gums is the worst sensation ever. I am not a fan, not at all. I know there are options out there, and I am exploring some of them. But no, no, thank you, not the typical floss.

The thing is, every time I fail to answer the question, satisfactorily to the assistant, its like I am being judged in a bad way. And they always have this whole speech of why I need to be flossing consistently. I come out of the office with the fear that I may die if I don’t floss. That my dentist, when I die, will show up at my funeral and yell,

He died because he did not floss!!!!!

Yesterday, like every Tuesday, was trash day. And thus, like every Tuesday pre-evening, I got to put the trash bins back “inside”.

I’m not sure why, but I always have the habit of looking inside the trash bin. I guess to make sure it’s empty or that it is my trash bin . Specially in days like yesterday when it gets _really _windy and every, so often the bins go down for a stroll 😅

When I looked inside, there was a small bag, like the ones used to pick up dog poop. Well, we don’t have a dog, and thus, that ain’t my poop!

Neighbors walk their dogs around the neighborhood all the time, I guess picking up the poop and throwing it in my bin it’s better than let the poop on my lawn, I guess. Which I appreciate.

🐕 💩

In Puerto Rico, it is customary to grab your shoes and give them a shake before putting them on. Why, you may ask? Well, there are little native frogs, cockroaches and other insects that might get in your shoes.

Here in the Idaho’s…

It’s a whole different animal.

😑

I’m the mists of the pandemic, and once local restaurants started opening again for dine-in, we would every once in a while go to our local food and beer dispensary (as I call it). They would be following all the social distancing guidelines and practices. The place felt safe to go, employees would be wearing masks at all times and again, following protocol.

I am not sure what changed but the last time we went, employees weren’t required to wear masks anymore. It felt weird, it felt like they aren’t caring anymore, as if we were back to normal. Yes, cases here in Boise are coming down and more and more people are getting vaccinated. Yet, I don’t think we are quite there yet. Or maybe is me being too paranoid still?

Whether we are being paranoid or not, we no longer feel safe going there. Which it’s sad because it’s a nice local place and very convenient for us since it’s about 2 minutes drive.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) - IMDb

Zack Snyder’s definitive director’s cut of Justice League. Determined to ensure Superman’s ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne aligns forces with Diana Prince with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions.

We finally finished watching Snyder’s cut of the Justice League last night, and my thoughts, well, our thoughts — we loved it.

I am a sucker for Superman, always have, I have enjoyed every movie, show, media he’s in. That also makes me a little biased, I guess. This also probably makes me one of the few people in this world that enjoys watching Man of Steel and somewhat enjoyed the first Justice League movie from 2017.

This version of it, it’s 4-hours long, and honestly, it never felt like it. It doesn’t feel like a sloth, the story is coherent and entertaining. I’m sure there are issues, and if you are the kind of person that’s extremely critical then, I’m sorry 😁

I liked how we got to spend a little more time with each character, the redesign of others and the different dialogs and subplots. Oh, and the Amazons, I’d watch a movie of just the Amazons, don’t even have to show me Wonder Woman in it.

Amazons are fucking badasses!

Bottom line, I loved this version far more than its predecessor and even my wife liked it, and that is something.

Back in September 2020, I lost my wallet. Along with my driver’s license, credit cards and all of that. We turned the house upside-down looking for it, I called every place I had visited that weekend, with no luck. Today, the damn thing turned up!

We have some kind of shoe rack thing that hangs from the inside of the coat closet door. This morning, I was reorganizing it, when I moved one of the shoes I rarely use and the wallet felt off it.

😑

I am not gonna named any names but, I think it was someone whose name starts with Lu and ends with na.

This baby is going out for repairs. A few weeks ago we noticed, well, my wife noticed that the computer wasn’t holding charge anymore. This is right after it got serviced because I deleted something I shouldn’t have and had to have the OS installed by the Apple geniuses there.

After chatting with Apple a few days ago, I have brought the Macintosh device in for diagnosis as suggested.

My first thought was, “well, this Mac is out off warranty, the Apple Care Plus had expired sometime last year or the year before, so I’m screwed 💸💰”

Turns out, the Mac was eligible for some program. Now it is getting shipped for repairs, sent back to me at no cost.

Yay, Apple!

There is this thing that I get every time I am about to finish a video game that I am really into or a book. Once I realize that I am close to the end I start panicking a little. What am I going to read (or play) when this is over?

There is this sense of loss in a way, like when I am really into a book or a game, I don’t want to lose that “obsession”, like I always got to have one, one thing to play or read. Sometimes, I even start browsing for the next possible thing before I finish which what I am at the moment, just to make sure I have something lined up.

I have been playing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla since December, on the Xbox. I was so obsessed with it that, it would be the only thing I’d play. Even after finishing it, after over 110 hours of gameplay, I started over. Until a week or so ago, I stopped, gradually. If they push an update with new stuff I might jump back into but no for long. And when I had started the second play through, I started browsing for games, specifically on the Switch. Because I needed something once I was done with AC.

Yesterday, I finished Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, and the same thing, when I was aware that I only had a few hours left, I was browsing for the next book. Which I am yet to find the next book.

The bad thing about this is that I don’t know what I really want to read or play next. I just know I need something, and sometimes I end up getting something that is not as satisfying and never finish playing it or reading.

I am sure there’s a name or psychological explanation for this behavior.

A while ago, I wanted to say like somewhere in the past two months, I bore — again — our beloved 13” Macintosh Pro portable computer. The long and the short of it, we were having storage issues, due to multiple volumes, I had decided to wipe the thing and wiped so good that then I had no drive whatsoever to re-install the OS. Which prompted an appointment at my local Apple Store for them to resolve the issue for me.

Now, after the fix, we hadn’t really used the device that much, mostly reinstalling things, applications and such. Then one day, Annie tells me about some error that the battery was need of service. Well, we have a dead Mac, in a sense. The thing needs to be plugged to the power at all times, or it will shut off. Charging never goes higher than 1%.

Yesterday I had a chat with Apple Support, basically I wanted to know the const of a battery replacement. Keep in mind, this Macintosh, is out off warranty and its Apple Care Plus coverage has also expired. I found the battery online for about a hundred dollars, and with all the tools need it to do it myself, which I prefer not 😅

After a chat with the Apple agent, he advised to take the computer in for diagnostic. I had, as a matter of conversation, mentioned that I had taken the device in for service not long ago. He said it was a good thing I had mentioned that because of a “repeat repair option”, it’s like a 90-day warranty, that in the event I encounter an issue after my Mac had been serviced within those 90-days, the next service will be covered.

I don’t know exactly how these things works honestly, last time my Mac was serviced, it was for a different issue so, who knows. The truth is I am not expecting a miracle here, the battery somehow, got busted, and now I am going to have to pay to repair it.

One thing I enjoy the most about my hosted Micro.blog site is the On this Day — as I call it — hack. It is a nice way to look back at previous years, previous posts, just like you would do using The Day One Journal app. Memories can go either way, they can either make me cringe, happy, or sadness. It is a good way to see where you have been mentally and emotionally and where you are now. However, my biggest joy recently it’s seen what music I had been listening to. Every time there is an album or song I really get into, I post it on my site, in fact, I have a category called Music Likes. With Apple Music, it is sometimes hard to keep up with everything you have liked because everything gets lost in the never-ending queue of new music added every day. So, for like many other things, my blog is not just a digital diary but also acts as a second brain.

Every morning, as part of my daily routine, I open my browser, go to my on site and visit the On this Day tab. If there is an album or song, I make sure to listen and see if I can recall the emotions or the reasons of why I had decided to “log” it.

It’s a good exercise, little thing to do and brings me a bit of joy.

Now, if you all excuse me, I am going back to listen to Hemispheric Views’s latest pod show episode and see how Jason grades “his” employees or co-hosts.

When Are You Enough? – Greg Morris

Your body isn’t good enough, your hair, your clothes, the car you drive, even the food you eat. Nothing that you are currently doing, or anything about your own self, is good enough compared to this thing. Just look at how happy these people are, having loads of fun and smiling all the time. Don’t you want to smile too?

This, sums up Instagram for me, or at least that’s what it morphed into for me, and one of the reasons I closed it. Just like advertisements, and in my case, Instagram, can make you feel less and not enough.

If you have read many of these already, skip this one. 😅

In the past few months, right by the end of 2020, things have gotten a little overwhelming at work. Bringing a lot of stress, things not being as organized, many little tasks within projects falling through the cracks. Because of it, I had realized that I needed to fix my system. I don’t want things to fall though, I don’t want to rely on my mental notes, “Oh I’ll remember that later” or “I will make a note of it later”. I am very forgetful, and more so now that I’ve got lots on my plate.

So down the rabbit hole I go again. The First two options, and the obvious ones given my situation, were TickTick and Todoist. Why those two? Well, they work on Windows, sadly that’s the system I have to work with at work. Another benefits? It is quick and easy to enter tasks, Ctrl + Shift + A (for TickTick), and no matter where I am, it will open a quick entry window. Ctrl + alt + A (for Todoist), it will open the app along with an entry window. Both have natural language parser, so I can just type away or copy and paste from an email or meeting notes. Sounds about as perfect of a system as it can get. Doesn’t it?

A few days ago, in a super secret Discord channel, I posed a question.

What is the best to-do app?

Someone, in all his wisdom, replayed;

The one that you will actually use!

— Jason B.

Hm, there is something about that. Although both TickTick and Todoist are excellent apps for what they are meant to do, there is always a something that I don’t find myself wanting to spend time in them or pay attention and use them. Last time I looked at TickTick and did anything in there was early February. I have just re-installed Todoist a few days ago and its already been ignored.

The one app that makes me want to really use it and that better clicks for me, besides Reminders, is Things 3. Just like, Reminders, it is an application that I have in every Macintosh device I own or have access to. Unlike other task managing apps, Things’s interface does not give me anxiety, it is clean a nice to use. One downside would be, no Windows application which makes quick capture a little tricky.

So, I have been using Things 3 for the past few days, and I am happy with the setup, I have been actively using it and putting things in there — organizing my life better. As far as entering things, well, I have my Macintosh cellular device and I am bringing my Macintosh tablet with me and I have it set up at my desk and a good old-fashioned notebook — and a pen.

Over two years ago, I quit Facebook, no regrets or haven’t looked back — don’t miss it. At the en of 2020, I quit Instagram, deleted, gone! Even when I made the decision, I was wondering if I was going to regret it. Well, for the past week or so, I have been having Insta-withdrawals, I miss having instagram but for the right reasons. I liked seeing pictures of friends and family that I don’t have close contact with or just don’t ever see in person anymore for whatever the reasons. So much so that I’ve even downloaded the app, I just very hesitant about opening and logging into a new account and start over.

Last night, I almost did it, I opened it, enter my phone number to create an account, which I probably shouldn’t. Your phone number is almost like your social security number these days. I ended up not moving forward, I swipe up and “killed” the app. Then I started thinking of why I had quit and that prevented me from try again.

Like I’ve said, there are things I miss, I miss some friends, and the interactions, I miss posting my pictures too, it’s a fun thing to do. What I don’t miss is the Facebook aspect of it, not just the way the app works now but some of the feelings and anxiety that these Facebookated apps can bring if you’re not careful. And that is what I am scared of, being sucked into the Facebook-like-social-media-vortex and lose sight of what I really want and enjoy from the app, if it makes any sense.

I have a feeling that I might wind up doing it, one night, when I have had one too many beers, and like any good decision-making, I will say Fuck it and back to insta I’ll go.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I have been playing Persona 5 Strikers on the Nintendo Switch there. I am only a little over 3 hours and still figuring out how I feel about it.

I was listening to the Podshow Fatman Beyond with Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin and Kevin was talking about how he doesn’t have a very critical mind, and he just enjoys things. I so, identified and related to that. I don’t have that kind of mindset, of being critical or think too critically when watching a motioned picture show, whether is live tv, animated, or big screen. I, either like or not, and even when I don’t like it as much, I don’t criticize it or talk bad about it. At least I try not to, I have been caught up in conversation probably saying, that sucked, which is a behavior that I am trying to correct.

If I am going to be that critical about everything I am supposed to love and enjoy, I am just going to be bitter all the time I feel like. Besides, I don’t get paid for that. If I am going to have a critical mindset, it would be at my day job, where it matters to me.

Just watch all the things, read all the things and have a good time. Moreover, as the song says, it’s okay not to like things, just don’t be a dick about it.

For the past, I don’t know, a few months or so, I feel like all I do at work it’s playing catch-up. I don’t seem like getting a chance to breathe because the moment I do, something falls through the cracks. It frustrates me at times. I don’t want to complain that I am too busy, that there’s a lot on my plate. Probably I am busy and there’s probably a lot on my plate but still, I believe all my tasks are doable.

Maybe it is what it is and just need to better apply myself. Do I need better organization, better system?

It is a work in progress, I guess.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The bank issued new debit cards so let’s see what I forget and breaks first 😅

Sometime last month I had posted about maybe using my Blot.im account to showcase my pictures.

Since I have gotten rid of my Instagram account, I have been using Flickr again to share and store my photos, but I’d also like a dedicated website that I manage. Maybe I should use my Blot account for this.

Well, today, I did a thing and deleted everything from my Blot folder and uploaded some pictures. Adding pictures is pretty easy from my mobile Macintosh device or tablet using the Dropbox app. I haven’t setup tags dates or anything I just throw things in there and done.

Let’s see how this goes. I am sure I will hit a wall at some point, a storage wall.

I also don’t have a custom domain for it, not sure whether I would set up one yet since this is just at the experimental stage. But if you want to go check it out, yeah, Instagabz is zee spot.