Some results are in
After a long sleep and setting up an exercise corner in a spacious new apartment, a commitment to self-recovery and improvement is being embraced.
You know things are really bad when you get email after email from leadership with motivational stories and “Here’s what we’re doing” and “We’re taking this very seriously.” blerg.
Now that my personal projects and worries from January are fading into new (and good!) reality, my concerns revolve around the tomato in chief and the musky circus. Since I work for a large medical center and a university, these uncertain times affect my colleagues and me.
Some happiness, at last
After a refreshing walk in the new charming neighborhood, feelings of euphoria replace months of stress, leading to a productive evening unpacking.
The move is complete. New apartment. New neighborhood.
I have so many things to set up and many more to learn how to do here; I get stuck in mental loops of “I can’t do A before B, but that’s up to C, which comes with requirement D.” Oh well, getting there. Hey at least the internet is up!
It's too easy to get Windows 11 VM on Linux
I set up a Windows 11 virtual machine on my Linux Pop OS desktop with surprising ease. Here’s what I did:
Whoa, configuring a virtual machine on Linux was much easier than anticipated. Windows 11 is running smoother than it ever did. Nice! 🤓🖥️💪
Linux for games, Mac for work
My Thelio from System76 has become an automatic part of my workflow, and I can happily say that every game I have tried works.
A year ago, I started using Tiny Theme. I haven’t looked back since. I am wondering about Sumo though… maybe when I have time to tweak things again.
I watched the first two episodes of Silo, and I can’t wait to watch the others. I vaguely remember the books. It feels like what I was hoping out of Fallout so far. Good stuff. 📺
Sick today. It’s been on the verge of happening and I think last night I lost the fight by being out late in an event in the cold weather. Stress didn’t help much, but at least things are shaping up!
Gave up on the Expense series for now, and picked up the second C. J. Box. I enjoyed the first and wanted me some more Picket: Savage Run by C. J. Box 📚
I’m peeping from under my rock for a second, so please be gentle with me:
Can someone explain to me like I’m a 5 year old what is Trump doing that is freaking out higher education institutions so much? I hear grant money. What’s the status on that?
Please keep it as matter-of-fact as possible 🫣
It’s a very subtle thing. Today, when I was texting a friend: “Meet me at the apartment,” instead of “Meet me at home.”
This place, which I am still writing from, is not home anymore. I want to say it’s sad, maybe it is, but I don’t feel sad about it - it just is.
Rambo: Last Blood, 2019 - ★★½
A missed opportunity. Starting as a movie about a deranged veteran and his crumbling mind, the movie quickly shakes off any emotional backdrop and drives full speed into the action.
I didn't expect much else from a Stalone movie (his company, his writing—and I'm treating him here as the director, too, even though he isn't), sure. But the elements are there: the medications, the adopted family he built around him, the tunnels he built in his backyard, where he gets lost in PTSD-induced flashbacks. The movie has a good start, showing us an unstable man trying to build a stable world.
The first Rambo, based on a book of the same name, is a tragic story about a Vietnam veteran returning to a home that doesn't want him back or knows what to do with him. In this movie, Rambo explains that he didn't change; he's the same person and just learned to "put a lid on it, every day." Excellent. There's so much stuff to pick on and go on from there. Instead, I can imagine Stalone yelling, "Cut! Enough with the emotional bullshit, let's blow some shit up!"
As for the action, it's over the top (fine, it's a Rambo movie) but also not entertaining enough. That's mostly because we've seen everything in the other movies. Stalone didn't just borrow a few signature moments from his older films, it feels like he copied all of them. The bow is there, and so are the spike traps (same kinds), the same explosives, the same old trick of different weapons at different spots, the same "final boss" fights... only in this movie, there are two, and it seems like Stalone doesn't know what to do with him, so he just dies a very gruesome death, and way too quickly.
They also seemed to have confused bad guy number 2 with bad guy number 1: the primary villain at the end of the movie is not the one who should really have the spot.
It doesn't help that the bad guys are Mexicans at the center of a sex trafficking cartel, apparently 5 minutes away from the border, which is as easy to pass as to drive a pickup truck through. It feels too much like a political narrative I heard too many times.
I'm not a director or a movie writer, but I still have advice for Stalone: Slow down.
This movie would have been so much better if Rambo was fighting his own demons, perhaps getting into trouble with the law and his own family because of his mental state. The tragedy of Rambo is that he's a warrior without an enemy, and that tragedy should have remained all the way to the end instead of forcing it unto target-practice baddies.
Two things I absolutely hate about automated phone bots: the recorded keyboard sound in the background while they “search for your information,” as if it’s a human, and that they mention you can access them online to save time. You 🤬🤬🤬, I’m obviously calling because I cant access you online.
My partner works at a small independent audiophile store, and sales are not doing good.
🎧 🎧 🎧
Anyone is looking for a good professional grade headphones or headset by any chance? They will match prices with Amazon and other sellers.
More Emacs would be nice, but...
Earlier this morning, when I was up between my sleep phases, I was looking for some Emacs content through irreal, one of the most prolific Emacs blogs out there. Irreal publishes a post every day, and these posts usually summarize and link other Emacs-related posts to other blogs. It’s easy to find blogs with good Emacs stuff and check their archives for even more Emacs. That’s the life of an Emacs user - learn it, tweak it, find another cool thing you haven’t thought about, learn it, tweak it…
I would like to have more Emacs in my life, but unfortunately, it’s not easy.
My blog archives are full of complaints about Microsoft products and web tools that I have to use because of work. I can’t use email in Emacs because logging into Office 365 for work is restricted, and no other apps but Outlook can access it (not even Apple Mail). ServiceNow, the platform we use for IT tickets, has an API, but it’s also heavily restricted, forcing us to use the browser. Communications and phone calls happen on Teams, another closed Office 365 application. It’s not even just Microsoft specifically, even though I like to blame them: it’s the cloud.
I work with different IT departments, engineers, and managers. Usually, when app X doesn’t answer certain needs, the solution is to find a new app, which in turn is also integrated in the cloud with its own restrictions. This happens so many times that we don’t get the chance to explore the depth of one app before there’s another one. Each person brings his own new favorite app to add to the party.
I’m guilty of this too, on a personal level. I love writing in Emacs, but my favorite writing companion, Grammarly, doesn’t work with Emacs (yes, I know there were some packages for it in the past; they were abandoned, and as far as I know, Grammarly doesn’t have a working API anymore). Micro.blog uses its own macOS app for writing content, which brings convenient integration to my other content (like my photos and saved bookmarks) that I don’t currently have in Emacs, so I just copy-paste my posts into it these days. Even good tools like being on my iPhone are not as fluid as Apple Reminders or Notes, and it’s just easier to start something there and have the discipline (this is the weak link) to bring it all back into Emacs later.
Still, despite all of that, I love working in Emacs. It brings me peace that no other app does at this point because it’s entirely mine. I know where everything is, I know how to tweak it (or I can learn how to), and I can access its org files everywhere, even if I don’t have Emacs installed. No other application organizes my life and projects so well and for so long, and I don’t see anything replacing it in the near future.
Snow march
I woke up after a solid 6.5 hours of sleep, the first time since last Wednesday, and felt energized. It was a crisp day outside, cold but not bitterly so, with fresh snow on the ground.
Running was a bit too much, as I haven’t run in months. I also didn’t want to fall on ice and hurt myself, especially now when we’re packing and moving. So I went for a “snow march” instead - the idea was to push harder than my usual walking speed.
It was around 35 degrees this morning (almost 0 degrees celsius), so I dressed up as if it was 45, to account for warming up: a light coat, hoodie, cozy home pants (it’s not like anyone was up at that time on a snowy Saturday morning), and my Timberlands boots that I usually wear at this time of the year.
The goal was just to get out there. To move, walk, and stay out for a while, with the idea of completing four laps around the local park (the size of one block).
The snow was shallow and melted a bit, making that “crunch crunch” sound when I walked. I stomped my fit a bit, forcing more of my boot into the snow with each step, partly to increase my heart rate a bit but also for stability and to avoid ice.
It worked out nicely. I started warming up toward the end of the first lap and needed to take my beanie off. When I was hot enough to walk with my hands out of my pockets (I forgot my gloves…), the additional momentum from my arms' movement added to the exercise and warmth. It felt good. On my march, I spotted three miniature snowmen:
With Trainwell, the workout app I stopped using, I would have probably skipped this fun morning exercise. If I already pay a hefty sum for a workout app and a coach that comes with it, I should improvise and come up with my own ideas. Meanwhile, the app doesn’t count as an exercise, and I would need to send screenshots from my Apple Fitness to my coach to review. Because the app wouldn’t count the walk, it would still push me to do the routine for the day, making me do the usual leg exercises even though those’s the muscles I already worked on in the morning.
This flexibility is important. If I want to work out later, I’d probably concentrate on my upper body, doing isolated exercises of pushups, crunches or pull-ups without starting a whole new workout.
What’s more important now is that I did /something/. I got out there. What I did and how I did it doesn’t even come second - that sport is reserved for consistency. Picking up the habit. What I do and how I do it comes next down the line; I know that if I keep this up, I will push myself further and harder by instinct and the motivation I’ve developed, and things will fall into place. I know this because that’s been my experience since I started exercising.
I just can’t enjoy a regular cup of drip coffee, it seems. too water and bland. I need my espresso in the morning, or a good pour over from freshly ground beans. I think this qualifies me as an official coffee snob, yes?