Today is my birthday. I celebrated by having a steak dinner with my family and bought myself a watch. I took today and tomorrow off from work. It was a good day overall.
I am working on another post about something that did happened today. Not related to my birthday but interesting. Hope to share more in the days to come.
Well, I updated the website with a new theme. Let me know what you think. I think it looks good. I add a couple of plug-ins and widgets. I don’t want to make it too busy. I did try another one before this one but I could not make it work. I went with this one instead.
Hope everyone is doing great. I am sitting here on a Saturday getting little things done and over with and checked off my list. I am also thinking of future problems.
I have embarked on moving my email across many different emails to one centralized email address. Why for privacy and security. I am just fed up with Microsoft, Google and AOL/Yahoo and other scanning my email and what if they ever decide to kill the product or increase the prices even more than they have recently. My own domain is shared and there is always that security problem. So I have been moving almost everything to Proton mail as it is encrypted at rest and my domains email. I am only keeping very specific things at Hotmail/Outlook and Gmail and really have moved 98 percent of the stuff I had going to AOL/Yahoo off. But companies don’t make it easy sometimes. Some companies are great about letting you change your email address. They verify who you are and then verify your new email. Other companies are just terrible make it difficult and arduous so instead of still getting there emails I just unsubscribe if I really want it then I subscribe like I am new, but that has been very few. I just unsubscribe.
I am also thinking of moving away from WordPress and going to Ghost. It all depends on when I have to renew by InMotion Hosting shared plan next year. If it stays at the price they already have there it will not happen. I am probably little strain on their resources (maybe an argument can be made for email for my mom, dad and myself, but that is a hard one to make in the overall scheme of things). I will ask them if they can offer a better price as I have been with them for for over 10 years. But if they don’t I will be gone. I am also going to try and update the WordPress theme shortly. I am hoping that goes well.
Well this has been a long one if anybody has any thoughts on WordPress versus Ghost let me know.
I am disappointed with the direction Microsoft is taking with their gaming: A Review
This isn’t a complete takedown of Microsoft, as I admire them overall, alongside tech giants like Google. However, both companies share a penchant for shutting down consumer-oriented projects, which extends to their gaming endeavors. This review focuses on my disillusionment with recent Microsoft-backed titles, particularly from Rare and Bethesda.
Sea of Thieves: Broken Promises and Grindy Gameplay
My frustration began with Sea of Thieves. I paid $60 for a visually stunning game, only to be thrown into a confusing world lacking basic instructions. Twitch streams offered little solace, as the rampant PvP culture led to constant harassment and mockery. While some enjoyed the challenge, I, and many others, simply desired a peaceful solo or cooperative experience. The developers, Rare, initially dismissed our pleas, urging us to “git gud.” My argument remains: why dictate how I play a game I paid full price for, especially when PvE content offered a viable alternative? After five years, a single-player mode finally arrived, highlighting the missed opportunity for a truly inclusive experience. This isn’t a free-to-play title where microtransactions dictate progress; it’s a premium game, accessible via Game Pass or direct purchase.
While I applaud Rare’s eventual concession to solo play, I believe full access to in-game items, except for PvP-oriented Reaper items, is essential. These rewards are earned, not gifted, and hold no tangible advantage over other players as they are just cosmetic. Those who prefer the chaotic PvPvE experience can freely enjoy it, but forcing me, or anyone else who paid for the game, to endure unwanted harassment is unacceptable.
Halo Infinite: Hype Deflated, Expectations Unmet
Halo Infinite, another Microsoft Studios title, similarly failed to live up to its pre-release hype. While enjoyable in parts, it lacked the innovation and polish expected from a flagship franchise.
Starfield: A Disappointment That Saved Me Money
My pre-order for Starfield’s “Watch” edition was thankfully canceled by Best Buy, potentially sparing me from further disappointment. The trailers and gameplay demos painted a picture that the final product, reminiscent of The Outer Worlds but arguably inferior, couldn’t match. This experience makes me hesitant to blindly trust Microsoft’s AAA marketing in the future.
Moving Forward: A Cautious Gamer My recent experiences with Microsoft-backed games have instilled a sense of caution. I’ll approach them with a critical eye. Until then, I’ll be holding onto my hard-earned money.
Well, it all started at around 4 PM on Saturday, December 10, 2023. I went into A-FIB and I don’t know why. Almost 3 days later on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, at around 12:30 AM, I went back into normal heart Rhythm.
I am glad I didn’t have to go to the Emergency room and that I had my Samsung Galaxy watch Classic6 and my Kardia device to keep track of my A-Fib incident.
I really can’t wait until 2023 is over as this has been a very bad year for me and my family.
Happy Thanksgiving 2023. I hope everyone gets stuffed.
I was thinking what I am Thankful this year for. Well, my salvation, my Lord, my family and getting up every morning and having a job that pays me for my work. Other than that not much. 2023 has not been a very cheerful year for me. My family and me have had continued health problems and a little bit of money problems this year (mainly due to inflation). Other than that I am looking forward to this year being over. I am not looking forward to one thing next year and that is Politics both people that will be running for President are just too old as well as most members of Congress and the rest are just there for themselves.
Not all has been bad this year. I have found a few good things about this year in addition to what I talked about being thankful already. So, I look forward to saying good bye to 2023.
WordPress has tied into Mastodon. So I am going to try that. Lets see if it works. Just another way where I can follow myself :).
No seriously this seems big and another step away from Twitter.
I need to do better at blogging. Sometimes I forget or think no one wants to hear about this anyway. Even though it does make me feel better when I type/write things.
An update since Hurricane Idalia. We came through relatively unscathed and it appears that we just might not have a major storm hit us this year. Which is always good news. I bought a Disney World annual pass and have gone once so far. I need to go about 7 more times to break even and get more than what I paid for.
Disney World was fun though hot and humid. I posted a couple of things on my Mastodon server if you want to check those out.
Lastly, I was thinking of upgrading my phone this year. I moved away from Pixel for a few reasons. One that Pixel 6 Pro got too hot and the modem and wireless were not a great experience on that phone. I would drop calls or just not connect a lot. I wanted to throw that phone out a window so many times. I also didn’t like that Google kills almost everything I love and use with them or let it stagnate (i.e. Blogger). I just can’t trust that they won’t kill the Pixel. I mean there is history. They killed the Nexus line of phones. So I went with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and loved the phone. It used to be not great at battery life barely getting me through a day and it is still almost quite like that but I am ending the day with slightly more battery than I had been for a couple of updates. Speaking of updates they have been pretty fast this year with the updates. I am looking forward to seeing what the S24 Ultra will hold and if it is much better than the S22 Ultra if not I can wait.
Well that is all for now. Hope everyone is doing great.
Well, Hurricane Idalia has come and is still hanging around (at least the effects). Hopefully, in a day or two it will be completely gone. We fair much better than we did with Hurricane Ian last year. Hope everyone is staying dry, as we are continually trying to do.
I have been watching the series on Amazon Prime Video The Chosen. I am at the beginning of the second season. It is a wonderfully done series. It may not be exactly 100 percent accurate but the message is 100 percent accurate and on point. If you haven’t watched it you should. Can not recommend it highly enough. The Actors and Actresses are doing an excellent job.