Summary for November, 2024

If you’re confused by Miami, just start thinking of them as a circa twenty-tens PAC-12 team and it will all make sense.

🤭🫳 #GoCanes

LOL Clemson 😂

I hate wet races. Reminds me of soccer games being decided by penalty kicks. “Anything can happen” basically means “this is almost entirely random.” Two Alpines on the podium illustrates it perfectly. Waste of a weekend IMO. #F1

I’m traveling today, which I am quite grateful for. I can use a distraction from the existential dread.

Nice trip to Chicago this week for work. Some really exciting things brewing! It was an excellent distraction as well.

The only thing I’ll say on the other topic — I’m tired. With the last 18 months of very stressful life experiences, I just don’t have anything left in the tank to fight with. I have to focus on my mental health and my family’s well-being.

I should probably be happy for my alma mater but boy does this one suck.

Hello from Costa Rica! We arrived yesterday after a red eye from LAX to ATL and then a flight to Liberia on the last leg. Still quite tired, but am definitely enjoying the break so far. Its quite rainy, but we’re not letting that spoil our fun.

I’ve spent some evenings over the last few weeks learning SketchUp for designing 3D printed models, starting with a mid-mod birdhouse, which I’m making good progress on. I’m using SketchUp on my iPad Pro with a pencil, and its pretty fun.

That said, the shortcomings of the iPad Pro and pencil have been apparent. I have a Daylight DC-1 arriving later this month, and am very curious if it will be a better SketchUp machine. No native app, but there is SketchUp for the web, and the DC-1 comes with a Wacom passive stylus.

Another vacation thought: consider taking a break from the internet depression machine. I’ve added a key phrases related to US politics to perma-mute on both Bluesky and Mastodon. My feeds are much better for my mental health.

The family vacation to Costa Rica has been lovely so far. We have been at a nice Marriott property, a condo in Tamarindo, and now at a phenomenal hotel in a remote part of CR.

This property (The Hideaway at Rio Celeste) is *stunning.* With all of the mess in the US it’s become tempting to jump ship and go somewhere else, and experiences like this don’t reduce the wanderlust!

In other news, while sitting at a bar sipping on a 23 year aged rum, I ordered myself a MiSTer Pi, an amazing case, and a 4:3 display. To say I have an addiction to new projects would be underselling it. Now I need to finish my in-flight projects before it arrives 😂

Okay, this hotel is legit. I’ll post photos later. I’ve never experienced anything like it, and it’s quite a special place. Treehouses in the canopy of Costa Rican forests with views of the mountains. Phenomenal.

I am in the market for a new "personal" computer. The laptop I use for work is an M2 Max MBP w/ 32GB of RAM and 512 GB SSD. I am typically using about 20 GB of RAM. My SSD is almost always close to full. I am tempted to get a new M4 Mac Mini. The entry level looks like a screaming deal, but would like more RAM and *need* more storage.

Apple's RAM and SSD upgrades are silly. I'm inclined to just get the base model, as my RAM usage is inflated due to enterprise endpoint management doohickeys that are hilariously inefficient, and I can buy a fast and large external thunderbolt SSD for less than 200 bucks. Am I being cheap? Should I pay the Apple tax?

Ordered a base model M4 Mac Mini, a FireWire 4 NVMe enclosure with two bays, and two 2TB Samsung 980 Pro SSDs. $400 cheaper than a *2 TB* base model, with over twice the storage.

Amazon Black Friday deals made it even more of a no-brainer. The mini is $30 off, and the SSDs are $85 off each!

Made it to Atlanta. MTG was on our flight and I considered starting a fire in the bathroom for the good of the country, but decided against it. I hope her Thanksgiving sucks ass.