With Baby Luna being a preemie, she needs special formula, for extra calories. This formula is mixed in with mama’s miracle milkies and it’s prepared every night, before bed. And we have it in the fridge at the ready for Luna at night. We call this miraculous beverage — Luna’s Miracle Grow. 🌙 👶 🐬 🍼
![mp-photo-alt[]=](https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/7708/2019/fa027018ac.jpg)
The theme for this year is Simplify in many areas of my life as possible. One of this areas was around task managers.
Instead of struggling with finding the “best” one or the most suitable. I basically went back to a simple system — Reminders. I have realized that I don’t need a complex system for the few tasks I have. I just need a place to capture things, that’d be Drafts and a place with lists and notifications. So reminders works fine, although I am using GoodTask 3 : To Do List to manage my tasks/reminders.
Well, maybe life is about to get a little complicated. I went back to the drawing board, downloaded all the task managers I have used in the past and thinking about which one would be the most suitable.
First one I downloaded was OmniFocus, this is probably the task manager I have used for the longest, also the most underused. There so much power in this app and I only use a small percentage of it. The main thing I love about this app it’s the location based tags, probably my most used feature that always draws me back to this app.
Second, I downloaded Things 3. I find this app to be the happy medium between a very powerful complicated app and a much less complicated one. Is not as intimidating as OmniFocus but it could be just as powerful. But if it gets “underused” I don’t feel as bad. The feature I love about this app is the Upcoming tab. I like it because it gives me a clear view of what’s coming up, in a nice clean timeline/list.
Third one, Todoist. As far as UI, Todoist is probably the most boring of the three and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. I love the simplicity, totally love the fact that I get the number of items by the project names, so I’m always aware of how many items/tasks are in each project or list, if any. Also natural language, that feature alone it’s what makes me use the app.
Other things to consider:
Both OmniFocus and Things 3 are apps that are bought and paid for, no subscription. Both of these apps are in both my Mac and iPhone.
Todoist, it’s subscription based, however, is the only one (at the moment) with web access. My current job it’s windows based so it’s probably the only one I can access, not from my phone.
All that being said, I think I will probably stick to Things 3, and it’s mainly because of the upcoming tab. I am always paranoid that I will oversee or miss something, having the upcoming tab/list it’s a way for me to have a glimpse of my feature — nothing will escape my sight!
Right?
Anyhow, if I could create the own unicorn task manager, first off it would be called Totodo. It would have the look of Things 3 with the upcoming tab, the location based tags from OmniFocus and the natural language (and the number of items in each project/list) of Todoist.
🦄✅
Two Beers and a Marley has become Gabz/mL ,Gabz per milliliter ? Let me explain a bit, my name is Luis Gabriel Santiago, my friends call me Gaby, some call me Gabe but others just call me Gabz (not sure why but they do)! The mL, well, it does have that scientific reference. A reference to my degree and related jobs and it’s also a “pun”, the “m” is for Marley and “L” is for Luna. Marley is our first daughter (almost 3yo now) and Luna is our second and most recent addition to the family (she’s almost 2mo old).
Hopefully this will stick! I have been playing with many ideas about the identity of this blog for a long time now. Going back and forth, specially since it has taken an entirely different direction and meaning since I moved it to Micro.blog from WP. It is a whole different concept and idea from the one I had when I first started it almost two years ago.
So, yeah, Gabz/mL it is!
Chicken sandwich from Walmart 🥪
Discovering The Stalman Podcast 🎙
Getting a new fancy Shortcut (by Federico Viticci) 📱
Delicious food at home 🥘 🏡
Completing things at work ✅
Getting a Hotdog from a coworker
Robert Downey Jr’s Tweet
With Day One back in my homescreen, I also imported most of my old entries before I had deleted it. And with that I get back the “On this day” notifications. This morning I got this note from 4 years ago. I’m sure I was referencing someone else’s blog post but all I did was taking snippets and entered them in Day One. I remember it was about someone getting tested to ADD. And how his reasons for doing so totally resonated with me and made me think… Should I get tested for ADD?
I have to actively think about maintaining eye contact during a conversation, which usually leaves me unable to listen to what’s actually being said.
fidget constantly and can’t have a phone conversation without pacing all over the place.
So I’m enjoying fewer and fewer games because there are a ton of games I should enjoy “in theory” given my tastes, but my attention span cuts that off at the knees when I actually sit down to play them.
I fiddle with my phone constantly, refreshing Twitter every fifteen seconds even though I know logically that nothing’s changed (and even if it has it can’t possibly be important); knowing that something is happening and needing to know about it is such a powerful distraction that I can’t stop myself
All this points are still relevant to this day.
🎵 Monument Valley (Original Soundtrack) by Stafford Bawler, Obfusc & Grigori
Played this album to baby Luna to get her to sleep. It totally did the trick — today that is.
Not long ago I posted about basically me deleting Day One and how I now keep a “journal”. Well, today I have installed Day One again, after listening to the Automators podcast episode #14: Automated Journaling. At one point in the show, if I recall correctly, they mentioned something about been able to automate journal entries into Day One using IFTTT. The idea is that anytime I publish something to my Micro.blog it will also create a journal entry in Day One. This idea to me, was reason enough to give Day One another run.
…blogging (microblogging now) became my way of keeping a journal
Since I have changed the way I do journaling, making automated entries without changing my workflow made sense. I created and applet in IFTTT for this purpose. And as expected, all the work it’s behind the scenes and it works perfectly (so far).
I want to thank @ronguest on Micro.blog for helping me setting this up. I cannot say enough how much I appreciate his help.
IN OTHER NEWS:
I am continuing with my photography challenge. It’s a new month, that means a new lens to use. I’ll give some kind of update soon. ;)
I have been doing some clean up in the past two days. More like trying to simplify, if you will. I guess that’s the theme for this year — Simplify.
In an effort to make Instagram a little more enjoyable again I figured some clean/simplification might help. I went through and unfollowed a lot of accounts. Again, trying to make my time line more simple and relevant to me. However, all the adds are getting more and more annoying.
Unfollowed, unfollowed… and more unfollows. Had to! It was long time overdue. Did some serious clean up to my timeline, again, simplifying (in a way). I realized I followed to many tech people (that complain a lot), tech news accounts, useless ones that don’t add any value.
Podcast
Too many shows around the same topics over and over. Recently I have been subscribing to some new shows that I am really enjoying that aren’t necessarily tech related and unsubscribed for many tech related ones.
Task Managers
Instead of struggling with finding the “best” one or the most suitable. I basically went back to a simple system — Reminders. I have realized that I don’t need a complex system for the few tasks I have. I just need a place to capture things, that’d be Drafts and a place with lists and notifications. So reminders works fine, although I am using GoodTask 3 : To Do List to manage my tasks/reminders.
Subscriptions
I was looking through all my subscriptions and realized that I had way too many. Specially for apps that I already have another app that does the same exact thing but without a subscription. Or subscriptions to apps that I no longer use. So I cancelled a lot of them. Some of them I’d still love to support them even if I don’t use them as regularly, but right now I need to save as much as I can. It’s is what it is, I guess.
That has been some of the changes I have been making so far. I am sure I’ll be making more changes in order to make things more simple and a little bit minimalistic.
So yeah, Simplify
IN OTHER NEWS:
I have never been so much of a Star Trek guy. So a coworker today suggested a couple of movies to watch. Will try to check them out soon.
This morning I had my two-year-old almost convinced to call my boss and tell him “Papa isn’t going to work today, he’s taking a Marley day”. That was until I pulled out my phone. Oh well, I did try. Maybe next time.
Well, we just finished watching THE MEG. And We enjoyed it, I’m a sucker for shark movies so I can’t help myself (except for the shark-nado ones, those shouldn’t exist at all). Anyway, funny thing about it though, we started watching this movie “last year”. Guess that’s what happens when you got kids. 😅
Beta Wolf 2.0 - Sour IPA by Barbarian Brewing 2016
First beer of 2019.
BEER INFO
Brewed by:
Barbarian Brewing
Idaho
Style: American IPA
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 6.50%
Rate: ⭐️⭐️
It’s actually a sour IPA. This one it’s from the 2016 badge, very different from its current production.
One of my goals for 2019 it’s to limit my social media presence, in some way. I am yet to decide whether to close both my Facebook or instagram accounts. Or to keep them and just don’t be so engaging in them. This morning i woke up, a new day and a new year, also very exhausted. And had this idea of revise my instagram account and figure out what is it about it, besides the obvious (another Facebook platform), that I can maybe fix to make it enjoyable again. I started by bringing down my following count to half. So many accounts of people I don’t know or their work doesn’t not inspire me anymore. People that I followed just because they followed me. Celebrities accounts, even other photography enthusiasts. Tryin to bring back my instagram to a much simpler timeline and the reason I enjoyed using it in the first place. And even after all, it’s still a little aggravating scrolling and see more adds that pictures I’d love to see. I don’t know how at one point I was able to ignored them, perhaps because they were static images but now are full on videos, at least on my timeline. So it feels very intrusive and takes away from the joy of seeing others people’s legit content. I really don’t if I want to delete it. But at the same time it’s something I’m having a hard time with.
IN OTHER NEWS:
It’s a new year, 2019, let’s make the best of it.
I have been thinking for a few days how I wanted to do this. My 2018 end-year-review thing. And I had a hard time, too many things happened this year plus I am at putting my thoughts together sometimes. Also I did a poor job at documenting things, in an organized matter, this year. Jumping in between systems and note taking places and my changes on how to journal. Anyway, this my year-end review
2018 started a little out of wack in my personal life.
Unemployed, that wasn’t fun. I had lost my previous job late in 2017, therefore I found myself at the beginning of 2018 without a one.
Some hard life events involving some personal relationships and depression. But thanks to friends and professional help — and medication — things are looking much better now. With the occasional struggle, of course.
Finally sometime in April I found my current job.
Baby Luna, definitely the biggest event of the year.
As far as my technology, there wasn’t much in 2018. 2017, though, was more eventful.
This is probably the most chaotic year. As I said before I changed and jumped around many systems which got me to be a little unorganized.
I have recently changed the way I journal thus the systems I use too.
Games that have been acquired in 2018. Some I have either just installed or just played a little bit because, attention span I guess.
I listen to way too much music to remember everything but these are the ones I listened the most (I think) and quite describes my music tastes.
I’ve found these questions to be a great launching point for a long-form journal entry looking at the prior year and considering the next.
Great year-end questions to reflect on. My thanks to @ronguest for sharing these.
Okay, here’s the pitch: delete all social media apps from my phone! (Except for Twitter because I am and awful person). Basically the idea is delete Facebook and Instagram off my device. I want to see if I miss any interaction with these apps, if I can resist the temptation of checking them out. Again to see if I can leave without these two apps and depending on that I may just close these two accounts for good. At this point I have no clear expectations on how it’s going to turn out but it’s a start. Also I’m aware that this is probably not a true test since in the back of my head I know they still exist and can be accessed in someway at anytime. Ultimately I think I would like to get rid of them and replace social media with this personal blog.
We will see.
IN OTHER NEWS:
We got some snow today and drivers got a little dramatic about it this morning on my way to work. 😅
Back when I was playing with the idea of starting a blog of my own, I struggled for a to find a “good” name for it for a while. Until, one day, I remember I was having a group-text conversation with some friends. This was a few months after our first daughter Marley was born, so a little over two years ago now. I don’t recall the exact conversation but I do remember that whatever the joke or the subject was, I didn’t get it until probably ten minutes into the conversation, I was a little lost there for a while. It was definitely one of those “oh! right!” moments. And as expected from these individuals I got a lot of crap for it. To which I said “in my defense I have had two beers and I have a Marley”. And from that little “joke” it’s how the idea of Two beers and a Marley came about.
So I created my blog and named it, Two beers and a Marley. I was probably the only one that really got the joke, some people just thought it was a cute idea or something like that. But I have rolled with my own joke for all this time, about two years or so to be exact. Here’s the thing now, we recently had our second baby, a new addition to the family. And somehow I feel like Two beers and a Marley doesn’t quite work anymore. Now I am rethinking the whole concept. I probably could still get away with the original name but for whatever reason doesn’t feel right. I have a couple of ideas that I am evaluating but nothing for sure yet. For now my Micro.blog it simply called Gabriel until I can either come up with a new name or decide to just keep using the original one.
One thing I do know for sure, it’s that I am definitely sticking with Micro.blog for my blog hosting and getting rid completely of my Wordpress account. I have sort of been maintaining both “sites” opened but I think I won’t be renewing by WP membership at the beginning of 2019.
Other things to consider in 2019:
Friday Five (plus three): Good riddance, 2018. – Gratuitous Web Presence
So, why maintain a Facebook presence, then? Although there are a bunch of “friends” (acquaintances, really) I could probably do without in my orbit, there’s a fair number of people I actually care about there, and I hesitate to cut the Facebook tether to them.
My feelings exactly.
Monday, Christmas Eve, I had a small taste of what’s to come. And most likely sooner rather than later. I was rocking my one-month-old, baby Luna, when an incident unfolded. I’m not sure of the details but all I know is that mama said no to Marley (our two-year-old) about something, therefore she comes crying to papa. So I have my 2yo crying to my face which made the 1mo to wake up. So now I have to girls literally crying and yelling at my face. Oy vey! Like I’ve said I’m sure this is just a tiny little taste of what’s to come with these two girls. 🤦🏻♂️
Only a few days away from the end of 2018 so I thought I’d give some sort of insight on, what has been (or ended up) in my backpack this year. My backpack of choice is the SYNAPSE 25 by TOM BIHN and I love it! It has all the space and pockets needed to fit all the items that I may or may not carry with me at all times.
Sometimes I may also carry my Nintendo Switch with me, wet wipes and diapers, depending on the occasion. ;)
A conversation my wife picked up from our two-year-old Marley and her stuffed animal on the way to Grandma’s house:
Marley: “I know baby Una (Luna) cries a lot.”
BF*: I’m sleepy
Marley: i know I’m sleepy too
*BF = Baby Fred (her fox stuffed animal to whom she’s also impersonating)
I totally stole this Kiko’s customization from Kahlil Lechelt, the “Kiko: System”. I cannot be any happier with my current setup. It is the theme/setup I didn’t know I needed in my life.
My thanks to @ka for sharing this and also to @amit for doing his Weekly Digest which brought me to discover it. I totally would have missed this if it wasn’t for his post.
Every once in a while I question the accuracy of sleep tracking apps. Specially since these days we are constantly waking up every three hours or so. And with two kids under the age of three it’s even more often sometimes. However, this right here seems about right for last night. And also probably the most sleep I’ve had in the last 4 nights.
It isn’t Marley’s first Christmas per se. But it is the first Christmas that she’s more aware of what’s going on, the traditions and expectations. She knows what she wants for Christmas and she knows “Santa” is coming. So it’s her first Christmas in that aspect and also our first as parents playing our role in this. I am super excited, I can not wait to leave some cookies and milk the night before. To see her face in the morning when she wakes up and finds her gifts. I am so excited!