Technology can be challenging
I’ve been trying to become more self-sufficient with technology lately. I’ve recently started dabbling with setting up a Raspberry Pi and self-hosting different services. I began with Pi-Hole because I’m just tired of all the ads. While this hasn’t eliminated all of them, it’s removed about 80 percent, which is a big improvement.
I’m also moving away from shared hosting (once my contract ends) because of the WordPress kerfuffle, the high pricing of my shared hosting, and WordPress nickel-and-diming for every little add-on. On top of that, I’ve grown frustrated with how complicated WordPress has become. I believe I’ve found the perfect solution, but all of this comes at a cost. I’m definitely stretching my comfort zone with technology and encountering new challenges along the way.
One challenge I’ve encountered is that most of the best blogging tools are only available for macOS, iOS, or iPadOS. Since I use Windows and Android, I often feel left out in the cold. Writing once and then publishing everywhere I want to is not as simple as it should be. I often find myself either cutting and pasting or using awkward workarounds.
Finally made an appointment with an OD to get a new eye glass prescription. The last 2 prescriptions I have had have been done by the techs and they were off to begin with. My Ophthalmologist for my glaucoma doesn’t want to mess with eye glass prescriptions any more. Going to try Neurolens. #glasses
Televison
My Television Habits Have Changed Drastically
I was thinking the other day about how much television I used to watch. I used to sit down about a month before the new TV season began, just after Labor Day, and map out all the new shows—what nights they were on and when they were starting—so I could watch them. I would then make a note or create a makeshift calendar for when the TV shows I watched were returning and check out new shows.
Then, in the days when I had a TiVo and later a DVR, I made sure everything was set to record each episode in case I was working, so I could watch it when I got home or had time off.
I barely watch TV anymore, and when I do, it’s usually reruns of old TV shows on live TV. Most of the new series I watch are on streaming platforms, but even that is becoming less frequent.
The main reason streaming is falling off for me is that there’s no longer a set month or day for new seasons to return. It can take over a year or even two for a new season to come out. Then, when they do drop a new season, many streaming services only release one episode per week. This isn’t like traditional TV, where there was a set schedule with other shows or programs in time slots before and after. With streaming, just give me the whole season, and let me watch as I please. I do applaud Netflix for this—they drop the entire season at once, and you can binge-watch it all at your own pace.
Now, with streaming, you’re lucky if you get 8 to 10 episodes. As I mentioned earlier, the next season is often 1 to 2 years away. This is a far cry from the old days when TV series seasons consisted of 15 to 25 episodes, often with a bonus episode or a Christmas special. The season would start just after Labor Day, take a small break around Thanksgiving, and then return in January or February, depending on the Super Bowl. After the “Big Game,” it would return and end just before Memorial Day in May. Then, there were a few short new shows that returned for a couple of months. Streaming originally filled this gap, if I remember correctly. But now, with streaming, by the time the new season starts, I’ve either forgotten about the series or moved on.
Today, TV series as a whole have a discovery problem. It used to be that new shows were advertised heavily, with TV networks holding specials detailing upcoming TV series, offering previews, or providing news stories on the web about what was coming. If they still do this, I don’t see it anymore.
I say all this to explain why my TV habits have changed. I find myself watching less TV than ever before, and when I do, it’s usually an old TV series. I also find myself watching more YouTube. Most of my YouTube watching is dedicated to learning about things like how to make use of my Raspberry Pi for home servers, networking, web development, and computer-related topics. I wish I could truly learn to code and write programs.
Well, this rant is over. Have your TV habits changed in the last few years? I think the TV industry is failing to adapt and be creative for this new generation of TV watchers—and it’s losing them as a result. Part of the problem is not taking into account how people want to watch, and not having enough content and seasons ready to go in a timely manner. I know that many schedules were disrupted by COVID-19, but it has been two years since the pandemic officially ended, and life has returned to normal. Some industries and occupations, however, have not readjusted. I also think the issue is partly due to greed—viewers are tired of the relentless push for more ads. Every service I subscribe to, I purposely choose the ad-free version. But now, even ad-free isn’t truly ad-free, and that turns me off. To make matters worse, the constant price increases add to the frustration. Some services are raising prices multiple times in a year, not just every year or every few years.
I honestly don’t know if any traditional TV will be left in the next few years.
#tv #streaming #entertainment #tvshows
I really love micro.blog and trying to get everything just the way I want it. I got the post cleaned up but trying to set outside things up to take advantage of it. I just wish I was more tech savvy.
#tech #blog #learning
Happy Birthday to my Mother! Many more to come. Enjoy your day at Disney World.
#Birthday #Mother #2025
2025 has been a difficult year so far, particularly for California with the...
2025 has been a difficult year so far, particularly for California with the devastating wildfires. I really hope the LA area gets the fires under control and that more people don't lose their lives or property. Let's pray for a calmer remainder of the year.
Want to read: Lost in Space: Infinity’s Edge by Kevin Emerson 📚
Done cleaning up my Micro.blog! Linked all original posts; couldn’t recover some YouTube videos or audio posts as they’re gone or private. This cleanup project was eye-opening—I had more posts than I realized! #Microblogging #DigitalCleanup #ContentArchiving
Well, early night for me. Back to work tomorrow and it comes early 😩
Guess this means the holidays are over for a while. Still, I had a great time catching up with family and friends. What was your favorite part of the holidays? #work #Monday #grind
Welcome to my inaugural post on Micro.blog! I’m excited to be starting this new chapter and exploring all that this platform has to offer. I’ve already imported my posts from WordPress, and I’m in the process of cleaning up some of the formatting, especially the images.#blog #inauguralpost #welcome
Coming Changes and Christmas
The 3 c's. I have my Christmas shopping done. I have all gifts bought and ready for the day. I had to decrease my spending this year, but hopefully everyone will understand.
I have plenty changes coming to the website. Early next year you will see them if you come to the website. I plan on discontinuing my Inmotion Hosting Shared Hosting plan. I have been with them for 9 years. I probably had very minimal impact on their server. The only thing I mainly use is the email service part of it.
I am going to host my email somewhere else. I will move my domain away from SquareSpace and I am moving my blog to Micro.Blog. I think this will be more cost effective, and streamline my flow. I have heard great things about Micro.blog and what really sold me was the fact that they will import my WordPress posts and images.
I am moving away from WordPress for several reasons. It is a little hard to use. Cost way to much for a personal site to have everything I would like. The third reason is significant. I believe this fight with Automattic and WP Engine will intensify. The owner seems like a slightly saner version of Elon Musk. I am so over Elon.
Well, that is it for now look forward to things looking different and feeling different in the few months.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Thanksgiving is almost done for 2024.
Thanksgiving is almost done for 2024. I have been thinking of what I am thankful for this year. Number 1 thing I am thankful for is my salvation that our Lord and Savior Jesus gave us all. I am thankful for my family. I am thankful Jesus has improved my health this year through the knowledge and wisdom of my doctors. I am thankful Jesus provides me with a job so that I can meet my needs and enjoy some extras, even though I probably have too many things.
So I have a lot I am thankful for and hope and pray that Jesus carries me forward into 2025 with the list above and improvement. I really want to expand my technology knowledge level. That is a main goal for next year. But I think the biggest goal for next year is to chip away at significant portions of debt. As I approach retirement, I need to eliminate my debts.
Well I hope everyone else enjoyed their 2024 Thanksgiving Day and got as stuffed on food as I did. Looking forward to the new year personally, and as always reflecting on what has come this year so far and just thankful. #Thanksgiving #TechGoals #Faith
OK just watched Alien Romulus and I thought it was a great reboot to the series.
OK just watched Alien Romulus and I thought it was a great reboot to the series. Hope they continue with this new line. There were some nods to the original series and sequels with Sigourney Weaver. #AliensRomulus #Movies #nospoilers
Pi-Hole on duty
The Raspberry Pi 5 has come to the setup and Pi-Hole is on duty. So far it has been a little easier than I thought I would be. Ignore the cables. Cable management is not my specialty. I think it looks right at home with the CGU and next to the BeeStation. Next step getting it utilized more with other projects.
Next Project setting up a Windows 11 PC for Dockerized container projects. But before that I have to replace a failing/old external hard drive for backup.
Just wish I was more knowledgeable in the stuff. I want to begin to learn Hugo for static websites. If anyone has any good suggestions on where to start please let me know.
Hope everyone had a great weekend. I know I did getting things accomplished. One down and more to go.
Trying to dust off the website
I am trying to do a little updating to the website and making sure everything is working. I am finding that things don't work the way I want them to. It is kind of hard when you aren't a website savant. I am working my way through I believe.
If you look at the site you would say it is pretty minimal at best. On the back-end making sure things post correctly and where I want them to is a little bit of like cooking. I am layering on all the plugins to make a post once publish everywhere works. Just like in cooking you want to layer on the flavors. Cooking and coding something that they have in common. I think am I much better at cooking then coding.
Suggestions Wanted
Anybody have any suggestions on what I should move to from WordPress? Show I go to a service like Micro.blog, Write.as? Should I go back to Blogspot? I don't mind paying a reasonable price. But I also would like to be all inclusive if possible.
Also, any suggestions what I should put on my new Raspberry Pi 5 Pironman 5 build I made, besides Pi-Hole with Unbound?
Anyone know any good resources on Hugo? I was thinking of switching to a static site generator to. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Changing Times
Times are indeed changing and so has my blog theme. I went with the newest from WordPress and it is clean. See you thought I was going to talk about the election. I will in the future....
I am possibly moving away from WordPress. I don't like all the fireworks going on around it right now and don't like how everything good cost money. Don't get me wrong I don't mind spending some money. In fact recently I moved to hosted Mastodon with Masto.host (by the way if you need a good Mastodon hosting service it is really great and the owner is probably the best I have ever interacted with.)!
WordPress costs a lot of money if you want nicer themes, Jetpack and other features add to the cost. It is especially challenging too. I am trying to learn it, but I have questions. There is no one to ask, and I have not found any good sources. AI has been helpful but not always and for everything.
My shared hosting contract is up next year and I have been thinking of going back to Blogspot but it has not had any updates for a very long time and Google likes to kill stuff. I have thought about moving to Micro.blog or paying for Write.as I just opened a free account there to see how it was. I have also been thinking of saving some money up and paying someone to make exactly what I want.
You may have notice I just changed the name to just me. My family (mother and father) have decided they don't want a webpage.
That's it for now. If you have any suggestions about what I should move to or where, just let me know.
Navigating Health Challenges: Weight Loss and Disney Trips
Hello everyone. It has been a while since I posted an update and thought I would cover the end of August 2024 and September 2024. Health-wise, I have actually not been great. I started Mounjaro to help with some weight loss and diabetic control (even though my A1C is not too bad: 6.1 as of my last one). The Mounjaro has caused a lot of gastrointestinal issues for me and they have not stopped or lessened. Actually, with the increase of dose (currently on the 7.25mg) it has gotten worse. I have lost some weight, approximately 16 pounds, but I don't know if the side effects are worth it. Due to my obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and asthma, I can't exercise like someone without these conditions. I am hoping to hold out and finish the six doses I have left (possibly going to every other week) to help lessen the side effects. I would rather lose some weight, allow my stomach to contract, and hopefully keep off the weight with the smaller stomach.
I also had an echocardiogram in early August and it shows my left atrium stretching even more worse. Not sure if my condition is worsening the doctor will let me know but the reading doctor had a lot of worse off and worsening in her report. I do know I feel more tired a lot more and get out of wind walking to my desk from my car at work. But I haven't had any new issues of AFib (which is a good thing).
I bought a Pixie Dust Walt Disney World Annual ticket last year and have gone a total of 3 times with it. One time just after buying it for a day. Then the other 2 for a week once and then 3 days for another. The first week of May 2024 I went and got hurt falling. So this kind of dampened the trip for me. Then we went again at the end of August 2024 for a couple of days and stayed at one of the hotels that have the Skyliners. Well, I got hurt again this time on the ride Tron. Don't ask me how it happened; I don't know but I got what appeared to be a small skin abrasion that turned into a 2-week nightmare and an abrasion that ended with the size of almost 2 half-dollar coins. Both times it was my left leg and side and both times just before visiting EPCOT. This put a damper on me enjoying myself even though I really was up until I was hurt. I have decided to give Disney World a break. Below are some of the pictures of my second trip.
Well, that is it for now. Kind of a long post, but I wanted to share important things going on in my life. Just for information, all the photos were taken before my weight loss. At this point, I think I had lost only about 5 or 6 pounds. I also stopped my Mounjaro about a week before I went and the week of our Disney trip in August so that I wouldn't have any surprise issues. October and November look to be busy months with doctors and work. Hope everyone stays safe and healthy.
A bad medical test today
Today I had an echocardiogram today and I already have the results all though the doctor has not reviewed that just as of yet. That is the beauty of MyChart you see the test results as soon as they are ready.
My Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is getting worse. My septum is thickening even more and faster than before and my left atrium has stretched even more. What will the doctor do I am not sure. I am already on a beta blocker, calcium channel blocker and a blood thinner. I don't know what will be the next thing another medicine so 3 total and or an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) or both?
Will update as soon as I am told more.
Network upgrades almost done
I finally purchased the last little bit of gear for my prosumer setup from Unifi. So everything should be upgraded and done for the next 5 to 10 years by the end of August 2024. I am looking forward to completing it and having all Unifi network gear. So far it has been good and I am learning alot.
Next project putting my Raspberry Pi 5 together with the neat miniPC case I bought and getting Pi-Hole up and running. Still thinking about UnBound too.
Well have a great weekend everyone and thanks for going on this networking journey with me.