This morning I had a "Hol' Up A Minute" moment while driving to the site here in Naples, Florida. As many of you would know, I am from Puerto Rico, a colony, I mean, a US territory, thus, I am a US citizen or more like a second-class citizen. For 40 years I have taken for granted the fact I can travel anywhere within the US, to Puerto Rico and back without worries or having to carry a passport because technically, my driver's license should suffice. However, this morning it kind of hit me where I was, I am in fucking Florida, DeSantis's Florida. I panicked a little. I was like, "fuck, I should have brought my passport".

I have listened to a couple of news lately in which fellow Puerto Ricans are being denied services or even being able to book an airplane ticket, because they did not have a passport, identifying them as US citizens (second-class citizens). There are many States in which people forget that Puerto Rico is a colony, ugh, sorry, a Territory of the United States of America.

What I am trying to say is, that I have realized that I no longer feel like a legitimate American citizen in some way, given the political situation in which we find ourselves today. I fear that, if for whatever reason, I get pulled over here in Florida or anywhere in the US today, having my driver's license, might not be enough to prove my citizenship and "legitimacy". 

Again, this is coming from someone that was born with US citizenship. I can't even imagine how other minorities must be feeling, especially in DeSantis's Florida or in the US in general.

It's scary.

Another trip to, what it would seem to be this week, the not-always-sunny Naples, Florida. The weather forecast shows thunderstorms all week long, so far. Not looking forward to the weather so much but I’ll manage. Also, unlike my previous trip, I’ll be traveling alone, the boss isn’t joining. The one thing I am very much looking forward to is all the hours I’ll be able to put on Tears of the Kingdom, bunker down in the hotel room.

I think I can say with confidence that I am back. I am back into my somewhat, being healthy, consistently working out train. It took too long, though. However, I no longer have this unmotivated feeling and have to drag myself to the gym or my backyard (outdoor workouts are my fave) to get a good workout sesh. I just do it, even if it is a short sesh (usually it would be an EMOM workout, 5 movements, 5 rounds, 25 minutes), I just move.

My only fear is my upcoming work trip, I will do my best to take advantage of the hotel's "fitness center". I don't want to break my ongoing streak and momentum. 

Keep moving!

Switched On Pop – Listening 2 Daft Punk: Homework

Switched On Pop’s four part-mini series Listening 2: Daft Punk unlocks the sounds, voices, and stories across all four of the group’s studio albums.

As someone who loves music and music history, history in general, but in this case, music history, I lived this episode. I love when they do this type of series. This is the first of a four part miniseries. Especially learning about sensitizers, I had no idea they had been around for so long and how complex they were back then, and still.

So, if you love robots, Rosey, R2-D2, fucking TinMan, fucking Daft Punk, you have got to lot sent to this episode.

On a somewhat related note to my latest post. 

Feeling like I don't have the bandwidth to look into these things and play like all the cool kids on my block. I feel like I am falling behind,  

  JASON FRIED on  You can learn AI later

So wait on it. Pop the pressure. Don't feel like you're falling behind. And don't drop everything to dig in. Start curious, stay curious, know what it's capable of, and, when the necessity strikes, figure it out. Until then, ignore the demands and focus on doing what you're already good at.  

It almost makes me feel as if he had read my post (obviously he didn't). Again, my sentiments about feeling behind are not solely on AI/ChatGPT, there's more to it but, at least I shouldn't be ashamed about not jumping into AI/ChatGPT stuff right away.

UNRELATED:

Only two days left until Tears Of The Kingdom. 😬

There used to be a time in my life when I was much more enthusiastic and invested in new technologies and technology in general. As things have become more accessible and life a lot busier, I have very little time to be on top of information as I once was, I feel like. 

I still try to keep an eye out, and at least be aware of things but in practice, very little. I listen to many podcasts and read (or try to) things about new technologies available, especially on devices I already own. Things like automation, shortcuts, and things you can do with focus modes and actions. Nowadays we have ChatGPT, which is something a lot of people are excited about and many developers are integrating it with their apps. All good and dandy.

And then there's me here feeling like, ugh! 

Feeling like I don't have the bandwidth to look into these things and play like all the cool kids on my block. I feel like I am falling behind, getting behind the curve, and becoming an old man that's comfortable with the things I can do and not looking into the future as much.

Perhaps if I didn't have two jobs, my joby-job, and parenting, I would have more time or motivation to look out for what's new and play. I don't feel like playing as much these days, el-oh-el.

I can get by with the bare minimum 😝

Reading this post by Daryl, I came across this link by Matthias Ott.

Simple Truths About Personal Websites

Nobody knows you.
You are not entitled to anyone’s attention.
Be respectful, be helpful, be kind.
Your personal website isn’t a replacement for social media. It’s much more than that.

Even when I wish I had written this, I couldn't have said it any better, and I love and relate to every word.

  This is your playground. Play.  

I remember once reading or hearing someone, might have been John Gruber, that said, that if you want to be a good writer, you need to be a good reader. Something along those lines.

Well, let me tell you something about myself, I’m a lazy reader, I do not dedicate a lot of my time to reading. I follow many blogs through my RSS and I go through the feed and out of 10 articles I might actually read 2. Not because the other 8 are uninteresting, it might just be that that day, at that time, I was not that invested. Or just my ADHD that makes it hard to concentrate and calmly read something without getting distracted.

I follow many good bloggers and writers and I feel like, in some way, if they are in my feed, I sort of owe it to them (and myself) to make the effort and read it.

Perhaps this is what makes me a lazy writer.

Perhaps it’s time to, rethink my relationship with my RSS feed and pay more attention to which things I stop and read the most and clean up my feed a bit, and stop being a lazy reader.

In this week’s Newsletter from Nash, MY FAVORITE COMPUTER, he writes about how his (SPOILER ALERT) 6th Gen, iPad Mini, has become his favorite computer;

When on the move, it’s easy to take with me wherever I go (errands, trips, or coffee shops). It fits in all of my bags, pouches, and even the back pocket of my jeans. When at home, it’s great for the couch or in bed. When in my office, it’s the perfect companion device to compliment whatever I’m working on.

Typing or drawing. Watching or thinking. It’s the right combination of everything someone needs in a computer. The way it stays minimal while also transforming and shape-shifting, makes it my favorite computer of all time.

This had me thinking for a bit. What is my favorite computer?

If you had asked me a month or so ago, my answer most likely would have been my iPad Air (whichever generation is the latest). Fast forward to today, and I think my answer is entirely different. In fact, as they say, it’s complicated, ish.

I spend 90 percent of my “computer” time on my work computer, some Dell laptop provided by the company. Most of my writing happens on said computer. I browse the internet on it too or read my RSS. And yet, it is not my favorite computer. It is probably my most readily accessible device, since Im in front of it for eight hours a day, but not my favorite.

The iPad, well, I rarely use it these days, it is mostly being used by one of my girls. My MacBook Pro… Well, half of the time I don’t even know where in the house is located.

So, if I had to pick, it would have to be my iPhone 14 Pro, I would think. I don’t think I’ve written about it but yes, about a month ago or so I got a new Macintosh mobile device, an upgrade from an iPhone mini. Anyway, I guess lots gets done nowadays on this device over the iPad because of all that new real estate I have now compared to what I had previously with the mini.

Reading, media “consumption” (I dislike that term, for whatever reason), capturing ideas, managing tasks, editing and taking pictures, some writing and publishing, best user interface over my work computer for sure, and performance. Well, all of that just to say that I guess that would make the iPhone 14 Pro my favorite computer then?

What’s your favorite computer?

Today I’ve experienced the most candid show of affection and morning greetings, between human beings.

This morning, like in every morning, I am driving the girls to grandmas house. We are a little late, not extremely late but ultimately, late. I’m driving, looking at the road in front of me when I see two cars coming. I see a huge mother-trucking- truck, just like most Idahoans know how, and a Volkswagen Beetle right behind it.

Then I saw it, from the Volkswagen Beetle, a gentle hand of a lady, with a hard to miss big ring, and the middle finder off, in what, I assume, was, her good morning greetings to the car in front. I passed them, I looked through my rear mirror and saw two hands, coming out of the mother-trucking- truck, with middle fingers in sign of a reply. Beautiful! And all before 7:00 am.

Good day everyone.

Back in the Twitter days, every once in a while, someone, out of nowhere, not even a follower, would retweet, resurface something from a non-distant past that you totally forgot about. Well, guess what I had my first resurfacing (I am going to refer to it as resurfacing because I am confused as to whether they are called -re-blogs, re-toots, boosts, or whatever-the-fuck ) on the Mastodons this week.

Like 5 months ago or so I quoted something from this random and fabulous post, I had forgotten about, Take Care of Your Blog. The quote was,

Blog your heart out! Blog about something you’ve learned, or blog about something you’re interested in.

Of course, I opened it up and read the whole thing again, and good god, is this post so right? It puts in perfect words why I have always wanted to blog, why I write what I write, continue to do so,

Blog about cameras or HTML or that one browser bug you’ve noticed this morning or blog about the sky above you right this very second. How many clouds are up there? Blog about your annoying kids and your fucked up relationship and blog about that terrifying time when you went to the beach with some people you weren’t really friends with and you got drunk and then it got real dark and you didn’t have a tent so you slept on a sand dune all night long.

And the most important thing, as the article says, is you’ll connect with more people, and make new friends. I would also throw in there, new and interesting discussions but,

Or maybe they won’t. But you’ll never know unless you write that half-assed thing that’s in your head right now.

Clicking around, I came across this, Get Blogging and I glanced over it, just a quick scan before saving it to my read-it-later thingamabob. One thing, though, did catch my attention,

Why are they called “blogs”?

Originally blogs were called weblogs: a log of activity that you wrote to the web. Peter Merholz jokingly split the term into two words to make it an activity: we blog. Ev Williams started to use it as a verb and a noun: to blog. And the rest is history.

I will be really honest, it never occurred to me to question why blogs are called blogs, it like, it just is; why would I question it?

Now I know…

Shocked? You shouldn't be 😉

This game was originally released on November 10, 2020, and as the massive AC fan that I am, I played the heck out of this game, for a little over 120 hours, on the Xbox One back then. I must say, this is probably my favorite assassins creed game, so far. I mean, you've got Vikings and Norse mythology.

Now, why am I re-playing this game, in 2023? Well, a lot has come out since then and I have been having the itch or playing it for a while. So there are a few DLCs out that I never got to play,

• Dawn of Ragnarök. 
• The Siege of Paris.
• Wrath of the Druids.

Not only that, but they [Ubisoft] have continued releasing packs for the game, packs that include new armor, weapons, mounts, etc, and that's how they get me, every time! With a new pack acquired and the DLCs, it kind of feels like a new game. Plus this game looks amazing still. I also noticed a few new options and quality-of-life improvements, but I am not sure if they have always been there and I just don't remember, since it's been so long, either way, I am game.

The thing about this game is it's so massive, that even though I played this game at least twice, in its entirety, I still find new ways to go about it or things I didn't notice before, something I hear a lot from people that replay games like Skyrim, for example. These games are so big in scope that you have free range on how to play them and make your story.

Now, let us see how many hours until I play the main story and every DLC... I may even no longer post here for a while. 

Nice knowing you all! 

I don’t generally call for anyone to be fired, but an App Store reviewer who cannot see how Ice Cubes “differ[s] from a mobile web browsing experience” is an embarrassment to the company, and providing fodder for every frustrated developer who thinks Apple has completely lost its way as a company and platform steward that respects the work of independent developers…

Papa-John has spoken!

I have never – and probably never will – been able to understand how things like these happen to developers with Apple. Not the first time I’ve seen something stupid like this happen and probably not the last – sadly.

Source: Daring Fireball: App Store Rejection of the Week: Ice Cubes, a Splendid New Mastodon Client

Cling onto the anger, that’s what I was told.

Every so often, we bottle things up inside of us, until, one day, all hell breaks loose. A long while ago, there was an incident in which all those bottled up feelings and thoughts came out, and things were said. And although those things that were said, needed to be said, I still felt very guilty about the whole situation.

That same week, I had my session with my therapist, and the situation was brought up and talked about. I expressed my guiltiness, and how bad I was feeling about it. And that even though I was feeling guilty, I also had a lot of anger. His advice, cling onto the anger. Guilt and anger are like oil and water, they don’t mix, he said. It may sound almost like bad advice, but you know what, he was right, and I stopped feeling guilty.

All that being said, time has passed, things have healed, and we have all moved on, and there’s no more guilt or anger.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Annie and I were in the Cellular and Molecular Biology class together, taking a test. I must admit, for whatever reason, I struggled with that class, most likely the molecular part 🤮

Remember the Lion erasers?

During the exam, Annie throws me her eraser, I caught it, looked at her weirdly, like, “I have my own” and threw it back at her.

Little did I know, she had most of the answers written on it.

I failed that test.

I presume we all have these moments, these moments in which we are confronted by a situation, task, request, or question, and the first thing that pops up is, I don't know. But, do you really, don't know?

I have moments like so many times a day. This is the reason why I am sometimes, well, most of the time, scared of my work email. There are moments in which I would get a question or request, I read it, and at first, I panic, impostor syndrome kicks in, and my first thought is, I don't know.

Then, I have a sip of my coffee, or mate, whichever I am fancying that day, step back, calm myself down, breathe, and try to work my way into figuring it out.

But those moments of self-doubt, and the first thought I have when confronted with a "tough" situation, immediately sort of giving up and saying I don't know, they get me every single time.

Stop the lap dance I want to go home

What’s my line - annie mueller

We don’t know because we’re all such good actors, such good pretenders. We have a picture in our heads of how we are supposed to feel in any given situation. And we act it out, so well, so automatically, that we hardly even know we’re acting.

I very much relate to this, in my own way, I guess. Makes me think of those instances in which depression kicks in, and I am not entirely my “normal” self. And yet I still put up my act, I try my best to not break character – but do I really feel good?

Fake it until you make it, they say.

  Lee Peterson, AKA LJPUK on How to blog more from your smartphone.

First thing is remove all of your social media apps to a second home page or the App Library.
Second is put your blogging app on your main Home Screen.
That’s it.
Post your thoughts to your blog first.

Easy peasy!

I have to admit, I do 70% of my blogging, from my Macintosh mobile device, 25% from a computer device and a browser, and 5% from the iPad.

When using my Mac mobile device, Ulysses lives on my home screen, always has, and if, for whatever reason, it isn't, I fire up Drafts put my thoughts down, and then I can either send them to Ulysses or just post straight from Drafts.

Now I'll be taking a little bit of a tangent here. But because of the fact I blog mostly from my Mac mobile device, and not just blogging even editing photos, I often find myself wishing I had a bigger screen...

Love the mini but...

Well, that's another blog-post

I 💖 blogging

I have been blogging since, in some way, since 2015. At first, it was just for me in the form of private journaling, using DayOne. I wasn’t a super-avid blog reader, but I followed a few blogs that inspired me or planted the idea of starting my own blog. I very much remember reading Tim Nahumck’s blog and Seth Clifford’s (which sadly, does not exist anymore), Greetings from the Grid! Another blog I was reading at the time was Gabe’s at Macdrifter, I was a huge fan of both his Beer tracking app TapCellar, which crushed my feelings when it was discontinued, and there hasn’t been another good app since, or at least not like it, and of course, Matt Birchler’s. I remember when I was setting up my blog, which was hosted on WordPress at the time, asking Matt for his opinion on building my site, he probably doesn’t remember any of this, but I do.

Anyways, at the time, I wasn’t sure, what I really wanted to blog about. Given the people I was following, I thought tech would be the way to go, but I had a hard time with that. There are a few influences that I still carry with me to this date, Seth called it “Something I liked This Week” and Tim calls it, “Piques of the week”. I always liked those types of blog posts, so much so that today I do Something I Liked and A Game I have been playing.

The thing is that I knew that tech-related posts weren’t my thing. But it wasn’t until I moved my blog to Micro.blog, that I found my voice, which was simply to write about the things that interest me, to share stories and anything and everything that is in my mind. weather is in less than 280 characters or over 1500.

All of that is just to say that personal blogging has become my passion even if just one person reads it.

Now, tell me. Who or Whom, are your influences?

Gabz’s Log, Stardate 2023.01.12

I am in the third week so, 75% of the main story completion, or so I think. In an attempt to get a better S Class car, I spent lots of monies on a new car, some badass-looking Nissan Silvia. Also checked if I could make my current S car, A Mitsubishi Lancer a bit faster, which I did. However, I failed to realize that by doing so, now my Lancer is in S+ class, and there are no S+ class events in the third week, therefore I can only race with my Silvia which is pretty much stock. In short, I cannot use my Evo, and the Nissan is pretty much unusable in its current state. So, I could try to “grind” some money, which it would take some time, or… Or nothing, that is it, I need to grind, ugh!

Greetings!

Today was another scary drive to work. Because of the intense dense foggy conditions and the low temperatures, the roads were rather slippery. I must have slipped and slid a bit at least three times. I saw a few cars slightly losing control, and of course, visibility is very limited. I even saw plowers spraying that salty solution on the streets because of how bad the roads are.

In other news,

I did not forget my Yerba Mate today!

This was an interesting thing to have watched.

I have always been aware of the fact that the pictures we take with our phones are highly processed by software. Like some kind of technological wizardly witchcraft. Thus, someone could make the argument that using a “real” camera, is probably the purest form of art, as far as photography goes? I mean, at the end of the day, we use what we have and there’s no right or wrong way to do so. I personally prefer using my “real” camera most of the time but I also admit that I take more pictures with my phone and I am sometimes happy with the results too.

Need For Speed Unbound on The PlayStation5

The most infuriating, tough, super-cool-looking NFS game, I have probably ever played.

The Need For Speed franchise has been around for thousands of years, well, that's an exaggeration, but it's been around. I cannot recall the first NFD I ever played. I want to Say Need For Speed II, on the PS One but I could be wrong. I remember not enjoying that game as much. At the time I was full-on Gran Turismo. I never played another NFS game until 2003, when Need For Speed Underground came out. Remember?  

prrrum-dum-dum dun-dah-dum dah-dum dah-dum
3-6-9, damn you fine
Hoping she can sock it to me one more time
Get low, get low (get low), get low (get low), get low (get low)  +

😎😜

I still listen to the game's soundtrack to this day. Anyways, that was when I fell in love with the franchise. I have played, if not all of them, at least most of them ever since. With NFS Most Wanted being my favorite, I remember playing that game over and over again, Annie would sit and watch me play and give me tips on what to do during cop chases, so much fun!

Need For Speed Unbound is the latest entry, and I have to confess that when I first saw the trailer for it, I was a bit skeptical. Mainly because of the direction they took with the art style, it seemed too flashy and whimsical. So I was not entirely sure I would necessarily play it.  Until around Christmas time. There was (or is) a big sale on the PlayStation store, one game on sale was Gran Turismo 7 and the Deluxe version of NFS Unbound, both almost at the same price point. Long story short, I, spoilers, ended up purchasing Unbound. Why? Well, I knew I had a history with the franchise, I love the unrealism-ish of it, unlike GT7 which is a real-driving-simulator and has no story, NFS games do have a story not just driving around.

The art style is definitely very interesting, it is almost like Spiderman into the Spiderverse type of style. The car look kind of realistic, in contrast to the characters who look more cartoony, and yet it all works out so well. Then you have all these animated effects around the car for whenever you do a long leap and "fly" you get wings, or the smoke when drifting, are all cartoony but it doesn't feel wrong or look bad. It is actually quite fun. The game, like its predecessors, has a very strong soundtrack. My favorite song is definitely  Villano Antillano: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 51 by  Bizarrap & Villano Antillano 😎

Now, the gameplay. In many ways, this iteration of NFS feels or has a very different approach. This one follows the same formula, you have daylight races and nightly ones. In previous games, you'd make money out of the daily races, lots of it, and at night, street rep, at least on NFS Heat was like that, and you could pick any race or event you wanted. In Unbound, however, you need to buy your way into the races, there are some you don't have to pay to get in but very little money to be made, and this is what makes Unbound a little frustrating at times, particularly at the beginning of the game. It is not like you can get your car maxed out super-quick, and it is a struggle to get there. There were many races in which I would only make it 3rd place. They can be a little frustrating, is like you got to have a perfect run, no mistakes, no hitting other cars, not over drift, and have a perfect take off or you will lose the race. Yes, you can re-start a race if you so wish but keep in mind, you only have 10 re-starts for the whole week. I think the only events that I have mostly excelled in have been take-over events, which are mostly drifting and doing stunts. 

The way the story is setup it is a three or four weeks event, you do races day and night, from Monday through Friday, and this is where you race, make money and fix your car, then on Saturday night, is the qualifier. Not only do you need to be making money to buy your way into races and fix your car but also, to buy your way into the qualifier, and the qualifier, ain't cheap. The qualifier is a series of three races, and drivers get eliminated in each one until there are only three of you. You win monies and a car, of course.

Cop Chases! Ugh!!! GRRRR!! Mother@#%

As you complete races, you gain heat, which determines basically the amount of trouble you're in with the cops, and the cops in this game, do not fool around. Well, they do, at levels 1 through 3, I would say.  Levels 4 and up, is where things get hairy. You get the regular patrols, Interceptors (those are policemen driving them Corvettes, easy to take out, though), 4WD SUBs, Helicopters, big SWAT pickup trucks, and Undercover cars. And is not just one helicopter, you get two and they are a pain, at least until you find some tunnels or something to hide. There have been times when I have spent more time running from cops and trying to make it to a safe house than racing. Or once I have escaped, I am hiding somewhere with my car turned off just waiting for the opportunity to get out and drive. I don't know, perhaps I just suck at running from the cops, who knows. It adds a level of intensity and stress that I don't remember having from other games in the series.

Even Annie tells me, If it's so draining, why do you keep playing it?

Well, darling, I am a sucker for punishment I guess!

And yes, at times it feels a little draining, which is why I take breaks from playing this game, I go one or two days without playing it. I am in the third week now, racing category S cars, did one race so far and lost.

Fun game, though!

When it comes to photography, there is always the need to edit our photos and give them a little punch, as they say, at least for me. For years, I have used many tools to accomplish this, including Snapseed, VSCO, and Darkroom. I never ventured too much into tools like Lightroom, I have always found them overwhelming.

My software of choice for the past year or so has been Darkroom, primarily, on iOS/iPadOS. The app has gotten better and better over the years, I’d even dare say comparable to Lightroom. On its most recent update, they added the ability to for users to share their presets which it’s super-cool and all of them are great. I have downloaded just about all of them to my devices. Although having all these remarkable presets and options to edit my pictures is nice, it also presents a problem, the problem of choice.

Whenever I sit down to edit my photos, I find myself “scrolling” and adding all these presets and choosing whichever gives me the results I like. But that also means that all my pictures have different “voices” rather than one voice that defines my style of photography. Perhaps I am severely overthinking it, but I prefer to have fewer choices. That being said, not every photo I take, is taken under the same conditions, so perhaps my go-to preset, might not suit a specific shot, which makes having choices a good thing.

I am definitely overthinking this!

Maybe I just need to pay more attention to which ones I use the most and delete the rest. So far, I find myself using the same two, one of the app’s default ones. For black and white, there are three different ones I go to that have been shared.

Speaking of which, I had set a photography challenge for myself for the month of January. I have been doing it, taking pictures whenever I can, I just haven’t been posting any of them, but I will soon. This will also give me the perfect opportunity to figure out my presets' dilemma.