Yesterday in the Santiago-Ortiz household was cleaning day, as it is every weekend. In the midst of the chore, I decided to clean underneath and back of our sofa. We have a big sectional one and like many, it “eats” everything, things go missing and never to bee seeing again 😅
Please doing judge us, in our defense, it is a massive heavy sofa and we have two kids.
That being said, I was shocked by the number of things that we found and cleaned from behind and underneath the thing, it was bonkers. I even found my weeks-lost work iPhone 😅
Anyhow, I am glad it got done, it was way overdue. We also organized all the girl’s toys and got a bunch of others ready for donation. Yesterday was a very productive day here in the Santiago-Ortiz household.
Great Job Team!!
The next thing I want to clean is where the fridge is... 😬
I can’t believe I’ve never came across this song. Yes, the song it’s so 2020 😂 I don’t know about the rest of you, but part of me feels stuck in 2020 still.
New Year's Eve
Don't it seem like decades ago?
Back in 2019
Back when life was slow
Now, it's June
We're just halfway done
2020, hey, are we having fun?
How many years will we try to cram into one?
We thought we'd be living 1918 again
But we messed that up so bad, God had to toss 1930 in
As the sun rose on 1968 this morning
A tweet from the john
Please, let's not add the Civil War
How many years will we cram into one?
Oh boy, how much more will she take?
Boys, hope you enjoy your beautiful tax break
We're not repeating history, just the parts that sucked
2020, what the actual fuck?
Pray we get through, but hey
Don't hold your breath
'Cause there's plenty left to wreck
We got six months left
How many years?
How many years will we try?
How many years will we try to cram into one?
Like all of us, I have my struggles with social media. The Facebooks, Instagrams, Twitter, and everything in between and/or related. A few years ago, I had it with Facebook, closed my account, and haven’t looked back ever since. I do still have my Instagram account though. Under the pretext that it is the less Facebooky way to keep in touch with friends. Which is utterly bullshit if you think about it, is still Facebook just with a different coat of paint. For the past few months, I have gone back and forth as to whether close it or keep it. I went through and unfollowed a bunch of accounts, just to keep it minimal and more manageable, that instant gratification has vanished. It didn’t fix the anxiety of having an Instagram account even by unfollowing others.
Today I have deleted the Instagram app off my device as an experiment, although, I kind of already know how’s going to end up. Like on other occasions I will find myself missing something to scroll through and will re-download the app.
Twitter, well, that is a different animal. I say to myself that I am okay with it. Twitter can be okay sometimes. I have been following a lot of accounts of pixel art artists, Indie games developers, and such. And so, most of my timeline is full of pixels and awesome art. But as we all know, doom scrolling is a thing. At some point, the pixels go away and all the shit that gives me anxiety or causes me to tighten and lock my jaw starts to pop-up. In other words, even Twitter is giving me anxiety nowadays, especially since the election. I thought it’d be all done after the election but as we all know, that is not the case.
I want to do the best I can to stay away from these two, although, I don’t think I will allow myself to delete all my Twitter apps off my phone, the same way I deleted the Instagram app.
This is an eternal struggle, and I hate it. I grew up not having any of these outlets and I was fine and happy. Ironically, as much anxiety these give me, wonder if I could be happy without them again…
A little before the end of 2020 I had changed my domain from gabz.me to gabytron.blog. Why? Well, because I could and the new domain was on sale for 3.00 USD 😅
Now in 2021, I saw myself looking for another one. Under the excuse of “new year, new me and thus new domain”. Witch, it’s ridiculous, that would mean I will be changing my domain every year, that’s nuts! Or is it?
Anyway, what I had realized that, is not that I needed a new domain for 2021, it was that I am not really feeling the new one (gabytron.blog). Gabytron it’s more for the twitters and other social corners and my blog should represent the “real me”, Gaby/Gabz.
So, we are back at the old domain, gabz.me, and I promise I would not be changing it any time soon, or at least for the remainder of the year since this one it’s about to be renewed.
Please like, subscribe, and hit that bell button 😅
Welcome to 2021 peeps, we have made it. Last night was pretty mellow, we stayed home, where it’s warm and safe, and watched movies. Also had some beverages and snacks. Marley was lucky enough — or unlucky depending on how you look at it — to see fireworks, and probably for the first time. She woke up in the middle of the night just when the neighbors started the fireworks. We sat on the kitchen floor looking at the fireworks, it was cool.
Now, today is 2021, we are having a New Years' dinner with the in-laws. We are having some pernil and arroz con gandules and I’m beside myself 😁.
I feel like I didn’t watch too many new movies this year, for obvious reasons. The Outpost was a movie I was looking forward to seeing. Once I did I was taken into the story and the events. Many emotions arose from watching this movie and I enjoy it quite a lot.
Even if no one but you reads it. The blog you write each day is the blog you need the most. It’s a compass and a mirror, a chance to put a stake in the ground and refine your thoughts.
And the most important post? The one you’ll write tomorrow.
I gave myself until today to stop procrastinating and take care of my wife’s Christmas gifts. I have been putting it in off for a few weeks now and here is why.
There are many things in this life that really suck at, that I don’t have the necessary skills for. For example, auto mechanic, piloting an aircraft or heart surgery. I may suck at being a good friend, being a blogger and or a singer. But the one thing I suck the most — gift wrapping.
I wasted so much paper! There’s tape where there shouldn’t be any. I stressed and sweated more doing this than I did doing my Apple Fitness Plus workout today.
But we did it! If there’s anything I want you guys to take from this story is — you can do it! Believe in yourself like I believed in myself and you’ll achieve greatness!
This week apple released Apple Fitness Plus. Was it this week? I think it was. Right? This is something I was very excited about when it first announced. Well, it is finally here and of course I could not wait to check it out.
Since the pandemic, I haven’t not been as active as before, not visiting my local gym — for obvious reasons — and I have been struggling trying on getting back on track. Reason why I was excited for Fitness+. I can do it at home where it’s safe, using my Apple TV or any other of my Apple devices.
The first workout sesh I tried was a HIT workout and it kicked my Puerto Rican buttness 😅. It made me realize how out of shape I am, and was a lot of fun. Only 20 minutes, I know there are longer and even shorter sessions but 20 minutes seem reasonable. Loved the fact that you don’t need to fiddle with the Apple Watch trying to find and match the workout you’re about to do. I like how it shows your progress in real-time right on the screen. The workouts — so far — are not super complicated and they are easy to follow. I like how you can finish your workout sesh and go straight to mindfulness Cooldown or like in my case, I mix and match workouts.
This morning for example I did a 20 min HIT workout, then 10 minutes of core and from that 10 minutes of Mindfulness Cooldown and that was my morning workout.
I am looking forward to explore more workout and getting back into my fitness lifestyle. Of course I will be incorporating other things like kettlebell exercises and run/walks. But for when it’s cold and I don’t feel like going outside, Apple Fitness Plus is zee bees knees.
Yesterday I had to make a pit stop to my local grocery store. Needed some lemon pepper there, onion powder, onion soup mix, and some fizzy water 😅. When I was walking up and down the isles all I could hear was this little girl, probably between two and three years old, wishing merry Christmas to everyone. It was the cutest thing, and everyone would reply merry Christmas back at her.
It was one of those things that made me appreciate the joy of the season. It made me think about, even if you’re having a bad day, a little kid wishing you merry Christmas, it gots to warm your heart a little bit.
When I first started using Twitter back in two thousand and eight — or was it seven 🤔. Anyway, the app that made me get into Twitter more was Tweetbot. Loved the design, the icon, and the “Twitter experience” of it. Obviously I tried and purchased other apps. The ones that come to mind are Twitterrific, Flurry, Twitelator Pro, Tweetings, and Echofon. Most modern ones like Spring and Aviary, and of course both Twitterrific and Tweetbot are around. They all have their own approach and features and sometimes it’s hard to settle on one. I dislike the official Twitter app so I am always using a third party app.
The thing is, no matter how many apps I try or have installed on my iPhone, I always comeback to using Tweetbot. I don’t know if it’s muscle memory or just works the way I want a Twitter client to work, but I still use it and it’s still my favorite Twitter app.
Over the weekend I had decided to purchase a new domain, both because I can and it was only $2.99 😅. The new domain is gabytron.blog. Also the name has changed, from Gabz/ml to Gaby/ml. Unfortunately, the content hasn’t and will not change 😜. It will still be the same unprofessional, personal/digital diary kind of blog.
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve turned on my Xbox One S. Yesterday I decided to fire it up and see what’s up. I kind of been meaning to, just because DOOM ETERNAL is now on GamePass so I wanted to check it out. To my surprise, I was offered their GamePass ultimate subscription, 3 months for ninety-nine cents. It was a very hard decision 😅.
I downloaded DOOM ETERNAL, STAR RENEGADES and STAR WARS JEDI: FALLEN ORDER. Star renegades is a game I have in my Nintendo Switch’s wishlist. Almost every indie game I have on the switch is included with GamePass and still, I buy them for the Switch. I don’t know why but i prefer to play these on the Switch. Anyway, I downloaded on the Xbox as a trial, kind of thing, I have played about a good 10-15 minutes and I liked it. Doom, I played for like 10 minutes and uninstalled it, it just didn’t click, not sure why.
Today I spent a couple of hours with Star Wars and so far I am having a good time with it. Feel more like I am playing a game like Uncharted, which isn’t a bad thing to say. Not like I am a huge fan of the uncharted games but seems similar.
Oh and also downloaded NEED FOR SPEED HEAT, I’m a sucker for the need for speed games. I haven’t played yet, I just figured I will be playing Star Wars for a wee bit.
Yesterday I had an appointment at my local Apple Store. I don’t k is if I had mentioned this on the blog but I may have dropped my iPhone 11 to the ground (again) and this time it cracked the front screen. I had my appointment and got to the store and something very bizarre, very Orwellian.
Orwellian" is an adjective describing a situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society
Apple is trying out a new retail store experience that puts express pickup of online orders and Genius Bar appointments front and center, while keeping customer and staff safety paramount during the ongoing global health crisis.
Again, it was very bizarre but I understand why. Especially here in Idaho where COVID cases are skyrocketing.
That being said, it was the same welcoming experience as far as the service went. However, they did not have the part for my phone, thus, it had to be ordered and I have to stop at the store again at a later date.
I cannot remember some of the details or the circumstances but I had this interesting dream last night. And I only remembered having this dream just now because I was scrolling to my micro.blog timeline and saw a post by Monsieur Jack Baty (a.k.a. @Jack) and I immediately remembered 😅
I was back in Puerto Rico and my grandparent’s house (on my mom’s side) and we were having the typical Christmas family gathering. All my uncles , aunts, cousins, and family friends were there. A Christmas party as it was in the late ’80s and ’90s, although it was as if it was this year, 2020. I remember I even had my Olympus camera with me and my friend Krissana was helping me clean it because for whatever reason it was muddy. I vividly remember my Granmpa, may he rest in peace. Ever since he died, about 7 or 8 years ago, I have only dreamt about him twice. It was nice to see him. Why Jack made me remember my dream? Well, he was in it.
At my grandma’s house, she had her house (obviously) there was the Bohío (or a hut) large enough to host family events. There was also the outside kitchen, where all the magic happened, her business was pretty much catering, thus the outside much bigger kitchen setup. That outside kitchen was also “connected” to a large rudimental dining area which was then connected to her garden. She had tons of different plants, but the most I remember were her orchids and her anthuriums or Laceleaf plants. She loved them anthuriums and she had all the colors possible.
As the gathering was happening and people were all around, I remember Jack walking out of the garden and yelling at me “you have good people to take good portraits of here, don’t waste it” 😅
That is it, that is all I remember about the dream.
Lost my wallet, again. Well, not quite but almost.
Today we were getting ready to go on a quick stop to the pharmacy. When I realized my wallet was not found. I started looking at the usual places with no luck. Kept looking for a while when I started panicking a bit. Oh no, not this again. Last time was a nightmare.
I started tracing back my yesterday’s steps. When to my local grocery store, bought a few things, got back to the car. Then I went to the pharmacy, remembered having my wallet by the passenger’s seat with the card I was going to use, sticking out for fast easy access. Paid for my prescription and drove home. Put my wallet and everything else on the kitchen table as usual and that was the last time I had seen it.
Today I had my prescription still at the table, even the card I used to pay for it but no wallet. After an hour of looking around, I found it, underneath a bookcase, a very random and unusual place. Our theory, it was Luna, she probably was playing with my wallet by the manger we have setup.
I am gonna have to start creating a habit of putting my wallet in my backpack or somewhere out of Luna’s reach 😅
A few day’s ago, I finished the vidjia game I was so into Ys Origin. Now what? What do I play? First world problems right. I dislike this feeling of, finishing something fun and what to do/play next. There are a few games out there on my wishlist plus all the ones in my backlog. Some of the ones in my backlog I might have played for a while but they didn’t click with me thus, why they’re still part of my backlog unfinished. I revisit them and see if I can click and play them. I remember this happening with ASTRAL CHAIN. It wasn’t until I revisited it that it clicked and boy did I have fun with it.
A few games on my radar at them moment are Morbid: The Seven Acolytes and Star Renegades both on the Switch. They both are indie games, rouge-like. They also look a little difficult and I have been watching YouTube videos on both of them to see how difficult they really are 😅
I don’t want to invest in a game that then I’ll be frustrated playing. Best example of that is Blasphemous, love the game, the lore and the art but man it frustrates the hell out of me. And yet, I do revisit and try again from time to time.
Also I would like to play AC Valhalla but, I don’t know I kinda want to play games on the switch for a bit.
These days I am less and less interested in what used to be my go-to and favorite thing, technology podcasts. I still do listen to a few, like The Rebound, it's a fun and festive one — to me at least. In the end technology podcasts just bored me to death.
What I have been listening to a lot of are music-related podcasts, video games, movies, history, monsters, and mythology. Legends of old and historical tales. Or simply people chatting about stuff, not necessarily technology or any topics specifically but cool stuff that I can relate to.
Mythology and monsters are something that really fascinates me. The fact that these tales of creatures are out there is very interesting to me, same with mythology in general. It is like part of me wishes these creatures and tales were true a hundred percent (some of them), that these beings existed or do exists still.
I finished Ys Origin on the Nintendo Switch and what a fantastic game. I gave my first impressions a little bit ago when I first started playing. At the time I was aware of the game having three playable characters, but what I didn’t know was how different each of their stories is. I thought it’d be simply different perspectives of the same story but ultimately the same. Boy was I wrong! There is real character development here, each have their own back story, motivations and struggles. Each character’s story feels like a different game entirely. With Toal’s being my favorite one of the three.
I really enjoyed playing Ys, having finished all three arcs, There’s still some replayability, other modes to play and a “ NewGame+” kind of system. You don’t keep upgrades and abilities but they give you extra ep points that you can use early in the game for some useful upgrades.
From December 7th, Skype will no longer be available at the company. Making Teams our tool for instant messaging (chat) and also for one-to-one calls, file sharing, and team collaboration. I don’t know how I feel about this. Not that Skype was perfect but I got used to its interface. Perhaps because my first messaging tool I’ve ever used was Messenger, and Skype very much resembles that one. Although I think I did use something before Messenger, I think. Teams, it’s weird. I don’t know what it is but I am having a hard time using it.
This is probably just me yelling, “don’t piss on my Cheerios”
Today I went ahead and hanged the pull-up bar from the door frame. Obviously the idea is to start working my way up with the pull-ups there. As I am doing my parallel gripped pull-up, Luna walks by. “Me too papa, me too!”
I had the idea of wrapping her with my legs and do a pull-up while holding her with my legs.
And just like that, it is Monday, again, like every week. However, today is a heavier one. After an entire week off, coming back to work seems rough. This is the first time since I had started this job that I have taken time off. Last night I could not sleep, All I was doing was thinking about all the things work-related. I even dreamt about it, and it was awful.
Luckily though, judging by the emails, a lot of my things were taken care of. Things aren’t as bad as I had imagined. I’ve never thought of myself as a control-freak, not sure if my worries stemmed from that or just the fact that this is my first time taking time off on this job.
I have been off from work since the 21st, and I am coming back to work tomorrow (Monday the 30th). I am a little stressed by that, more so than if I’ve only had a 3 day-weekend or something like that. I am expecting a lot of unattended emails and some backlog. Part of me wants to open my work email in mental preparation for what’s coming tomorrow. That or just enjoy my last day off sipping on beer and let feature me worry about all the work stuff.
Enter the World of Ys and discover one of the greatest japanese A-RPG of all time.
If I got my facts correctly, this game had been around since 2006 when it originally released, or 2012 when it was initially localised.It is an action-RPG, think of games like Diablo and or Zelda.
I got this game back in October when released and it wasn’t until these past week when I finally got around it. Blame Ghost of Tsushima and Hades. I am somewhat familiar with the Y’s series of games. Possibly my first Y’s game experience was on the PlayStation 2, I think.
When this one was announced I was already sold. I am a sucker for retro style pixel art action-RPG’s and even more so for dungeon crawlers, which is the vibe this game gave me.
So far I got about 13 to 15 hours into this game and I am having a really good time. You start with two playable characters, each with unique skillsets and powers. Actually, there are three different characters but if I remember correctly you need to finish the game with the firs at two in order to unlock the third. The setting is simple, demons are attacking Y’s, there are these twin goddesses that protect Y’s and they have disappeared in this tower and it’s your mission to find them and rescue them.
And of course, there more to it. The entire game is you in this tower going up from floor to floor
The game is not too difficult, although, I am playing on the easiest setting. I am not for a challenge, I am for a good time and the story. Still the more you progress some enemies get a little challenging to beat. Boss fights are fun, they all have an exploit, it’s just a matter of finding it, and once you do, it’s... not quite a peace of cake but neither frustrating.
So far I am really invested in these characters and the story so far. Like in games like Diablo, there is some grinding, mostly in order to level-up and acquiring gems for upgrades but I think you can get by without too much grinding.
I love the pixel art and the music it’s amazing. I am definitely a fan of this game.
If you are into action-RPG’s, dungeon crawlers and pixels, I highly endorse this game 😎
