This was over a year ago, but it was a fun experiment to understand what I need for a week-long trip to the city without sacrificing much comfort. It ended up being a “zero bag” adventure—traveling without a traditional bag, though some folks consider a personal item like a purse, fanny pack, or sling as an allowance. With only jacket and pant pockets serving as my storage, I found myself relying heavily on the pockets of my clothing for everything from my phone to my wallet. ...
I like to establish minimalist routines where I can and there is one routine I am surprised I haven’t grown tired of. I eat cold-soaked oatmeal pretty much every day. Working from home, lunch is where I am on my own. I microwave it when I am home, but with slight modifications it is the same that I bring with me on adventures and just cold-soak ahead of mealtime. There are exceptions for certain busy days where I forget to prep or lunch dates out with Abby or friends, but otherwise it has largely been the same cold-soaked oatmeal for over six years now, and I’m not even close to getting tired of it. Based on ingredient availability, the recipe has varied a bit. I’ve been doing this for so long because it is simple, nutritious, and incredibly satisfying. It originated from when I did a lot of bicycle touring and camping where I preferred stoveless setups. It simplified my pack and gave me what I needed to keep going. ...
I recently had the fortune of going to Switzerland to visit with my friend in and around Bern. Using my friend’s place as a home base, we did several bike loops out of Bern, including a few train assisted sections and an overnight trip. There was also several miles of hiking and one day of kayaking down the river Aare. The weather was near perfect (end of May, beginning of June) and my friend was able to double as my translator and the itinerary was light on the touristy sightseeing. On my way back home through Chicago, my wife and kids picked me up and we spent a night downtown near the loop where we introduced the kids to the city before heading home. ...
The web has had some harsh words for this phone before it even shipped. Now Apple is scaling back production based on weak demand. I had pre-ordered new iPhone SE the morning of March 11th and it was shipped to my home on March 18th. Previously, I had been a pretty happy Android user. I first switched over with the Samsung Galaxy SIII way back when and then bought the Google Pixel 2. Both phones treated me well for several years. However, the Pixel 2 was starting to struggle in terms of battery life. Normal old phone stuff. I had been thinking it was time to start looking for a replacement, but I procrastinated as it was still performing relatively well and I was never far from an outlet or my battery bank. ...
With this post, I can say that I have successfully completed moving my website from GatsbyJS to Hugo and in the process did some neat things with it. First off, a quick note about why Gatsby wasn’t quite right for this website. The last move was from Jekyll to Gatsby and a lot of what originally drove that transition was getting away from Ruby and starting to investigate decoupled websites as it related to Drupal which I use for work. Well, though I got away from Ruby when it came to this website, I still maintain other Jekyll sites and old Drupal themes built on top of Ruby, so it is still a part of my life. When it came to investigating decoupled websites, I learned that I shouldn’t bring my work home. At least for the short term, that kind of work and investigation has been postponed at work and without the need at home, I wasn’t motivated to dive into it on my own time. Gatsby is a very versatile tool, but this website doesn’t need all of that. ...