Blog

2026-03-30: I got the keys to my old place returned yesterday, and everything went well. I am glad to finally close that chapter so I can focus on making my new place my own.

I am also happy to report that I am much more mobile today. I was able to be a bit more active, though I am still a little tender and being careful about heavy lifting. Apologies to Garfriend for accidentally deleting your comment on my previous blog post wishing me well as I recovered! I am terrible about pressing delete instead of reply on Neocities when checking comments on mobile.

I had a late night at work, so I am relaxing. Here's hoping I can finish unpacking, organize the stuff that needs stowed away, and get some decore hung up this week!

I'll probably give myself a break later this week and add to a couple of my other pages. Maybe an update to my Watching and Playing pages or something.

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2026-03-28: I was very fortunate to have help putting the final touches on cleaning up my old place. I had to text a friend at around 6:30 this morning to ask for their help, since I woke up with pretty bad back pain. I tweaked my lower back at work yesterday and was so jacked up I couldn't stand to roll over. I also had my mom coming to town to bring some storage and rollaway cabinetry that she found antiquing. We were gonna need help bringing that in, and I needed someone who could bend around to help wipe down counters and inside cabinets and pantries and stuff.

Friend and their kiddo showed up around the same time my mom did. We had lunch and got stuff done pretty quickly. Now I can get my keys returned tomorrow and officially close that chapter!

Any other ambitions I had to hang decor or unpack got sidetracked. I was able to limber up a bit walking around, but I can tell I am limited until i give it some proper rest. So, for now, I am having to accept things as "good enough" and force myself to slow down. I've been moving at a breakneck pace, illness or not, for a couple weeks. My body is finally demanding I cool my jets and let it recover.

The one thing I committed to setting up this evening is a sound bar and subwoofer. My dad surprised me with it. Found it on sale and discounted as an open-box item. It was a pain to unpack (the box was weirdly panhandle-shaped since the two pieces of hardware are such different sizes and shapes, and getting them out was a hassle) but it hooked up pretty effortlessly. One S/PDIF cable and a separate remote was all i needed! I tested it with some music, a pre-recording of a sporting event, and a movie tonight. It's the first time in my adult life that I've had a real home-theater setup and MAN it's nice. I plan on hosting friends for movie nights once I get settled.

I'm also looking forward to my leisure time not being dominated with packing/umpacking/cleaning/moving soon. It's been an exhausting month or so.

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2026-03-25: Spent all evening cleaning up my old place so I don't have a lot of energy. Take this instead:

That's it! That's the blog post!

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2026-03-22: Feeling like 75% to 80% back to normal. I was able to get a ton of stuff done. Bedding is almost entirely washed and good to go, bedrooms have curtains up, and the vast majority of stuff I first brought over from the move have been unpacked! I even got an opportunity to get some speakers set up! I brought more stuff back this evening but gave myself a break

I started watching Overly Sarcastic Productions' new longform video about the Sonic the Hedgehog live action movie series last night and had to pause it because I realized I hadn't seen the third movie yet. With a ton of progress and a need for leisure time, I finally got a chance to watch it. As a grown-up former Sonic Kid(tm), it was an absolute treat. It's remarkable to see how well-done these family movies are, based around a series that hadn't been relevant in nearly two decades. It's corny and radical and great.

Hopefully I'll get some good rest tonight and more progress will get made tomorrow.

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2026-03-20: I feel better than I did yesterday. Still stuffed up but I have been pretty functional otherwise. I managed to get curtains up in my guest room/office, and 1-of-3 curtains up in my living room/dining room. I wanna get the other two done, then get one up in the main bedroom this weekend.

Getting some privacy in the rooms facing the road has been nice! I was able to enjoy some time on microsoft flight sim without feeling weirdly exposed by the gaps in my blinds. They don't really fit the windows so I can see out through a pretty wide gap. Is anyone interested in looking in and watching me fly a plane poorly? Probably not. But still, feels kinda weird.

I will probably give myself a chance to rest and recuperate tomorrow, then hit the ground running Sunday. Once the old townhouse is cleaned up, I should be back on here in earnest. Maybe I'll finally chip away at the to-do list on my homepage!

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Getting unpacked has gone prtty well though, head cold notwithstanding. Once I feel better, I'll get art and curtains put up. That'll make it look like my home instead of just a house.

I also plan on getting the other place cleaned up this weekend or early next week, depending on how I'm feeling.

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2026-03-15: We got the vast majority of things moved yesterday! Everyone who helped really went the extra mile. Between scheduling around work and planned events and the like, folks made some real sacrificed to ease the stress. One friend was really excellent at staying level headed, quarterbacking the process and finding things that could be done in the background, and was able to get a lot more accomplished because of it.

I was over-tired, at my limits socially and physically and mentally, and had to keep rallying from wanting to shut down. It's such a privlege to have these folks in my life. If any of you are seeing this, thank you.

My parents also stayed an extra day to help me with my washer and dryer, planning for my curtains, and helping get my entertainment center put together. The latter was a massive ordeal, and we realized 80% of the way through that one critical piece was on backwards. We got it figured out though! By that point, it was mid-evening, so we went and got dinner at a place that was dreadfully slow. Finally got the multimedia mini pc and PlayStation hooked up at around 9 PM, watched a re-run of today's Thunder game, and called it a night. They'll help me get a hanging light put up, then head home after brunch.

I still have quite a lot to do, but it's nowhere near as overwhelming as it was late last night. My bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, dining area, and couch/tv area in my living room are all in a usable state. Curtains and decor and further unpacking can be done piecemeal. Another friend also offered to help me clean up the place I moved out of too.

It's been an exhausting weekend, but a good one. I slept well for the first time in what feels like months, finally feeling a bit more at ease. This place is progressively feeling like home too. And it's been a good time to really step back and appreciate the good friends and family walking through this with me. I hope to be as present and helpful when they need me.

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2026-03-13: First day of moving went smoothly enough. I got my appliances moved in, then got my kitchen more-or-less set up. I also have a couple chairs in the living room, and a TV up on a couple end tables as a makeshift entertainment center.

The cavalry are coming to help with the bulk of the move tomorrow! A couple friends are bringing a truck, and my parents are coming to help coordinate and assist with decor and curtains. Here's hoping tomorrow goes well!

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2026-03-12: Move-in Day tomorrow!

Car is loaded up with basic necessities. I'll head out in the morning to get my keys, get some stuff moved in, and wait for the washer and dryer to get delivered and internet to get installed. Then some friends are gonna come help move big stuff this weekend. Beyond ready for this process to draw to a close.

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2026-03-10: Eepy. Today wore me out. Had to travel for a work meeting and didn't sleep well last night. I'd go to bed early, but severe weather is supposed to roll in late tonight. I may take a nap for an hour or so just to get through it.

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2026-03-09: Welp. The last weekend before moving has come and gone. I've had all my spare boxes packed for a while, so I mostly relaxed. I also got some groceries and meal prepped for the work week. Made a pasta bake that turned out pretty well!

I'm planning on bringing bare-minimum stuff to the new house and staying there the night I get my keys. I'll bring my floor futon, a storage cube organizer, some lamps, a laptop, and basic kitchen and restroom necessities. Then, once I have help, I'll get furniture and storage bins moved over!

Odds are, these every-couple-day blog posts are all that I will be able to put into the site for a bit. I've had to push back against my tendency to get overly-ambitious and try to capitalize on new opportunities: The sudden surge of viewers in the wake of Onio's video had me briefly thinking about the sorts of changes I would make if I were to try and attract daily viewers in the thousands like that.

To what end? I have no idea. At no other point during my time building this site have I aimed to build a specific audience or treat this like "content creation" for anyone but myself. Aside from maybe catering some specific update to a handful of individuals that I have come across on here. It's not like a YouTube channel where you're aiming to grow enough to start raking in ad revenue or Patreon backers or whatever. Neocities has a "Tip" feature which allows people to give, but that's not something I envision making sense with this particular site.

I do have some changes I want to make. But it'll be in my own time, not for the sake of keeping up with a rat race that doesn't really exist. Like the additions I plan on making to the game page and adding some music stuff somewhere to the site, there are some refinements to be made. Likewise, I pondered on my About Me section again for the first time since having a little personal crisis over it; I want to introduce myself with some of the kind things my close friends and family have told me, which shapes my place in their lives. I figure that's a good approach that'll keep it from reading like a crappy LinkedIn or dating app profile.

But there's no need to get in a hurry with it. It'll be here when I'm ready. For better or worse, the Indie Web moves at a slower pace than the current state of Web 2.0 social media and the like. Most all the folks I talk to here plug away at their little passion projects as they can, and don't seem to place expectations on other users' update schedules! It's not like you'll bleed subscribers if you need to step away to deal with life stuff for a couple weeks or anything.

It's a lot different than what I'm used to, but it's worth embracing that change.

Thanks to Skep for finding the CSS issue that was making my fonts inconsistent!

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2026-03-06: Tornado season in the Great Plains has arrived in full force!

I got thoroughly sogged earlier when I went out to get my rain jacket. The irony.

Ran home to get my stuff together in case worse comes to worse. I've been displaced by a tornado before, so having a day or two's change of clothes and some basic provisions makes a difference when your world gets turned upside down.

Storms in my region led to a loss of life last night, so they're no joke. A mom and her daughter got thrown about a mile as they rushed to get home. Apparently the mom was on the phone with the rest of the family telling them to get to shelter when it hit. Horrible situation. Here's hoping folks stay safe tonight.

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2026-03-05: (wow, it's march and I'm stil writing 2025 on these by accident.)

I've been a little exhaused by a mix of "I'm ready to get outta here" unrest and a busy season at work. We are moving a ton of stuff, catching up on old business, and I have a presentation early next week. Ready to get that done and get moved and see what this next chapter has in store.

One of my friends challeneged me to accept their help with a trailer. I was going to just rent a moving van, assuming that his work schedule could make helping a challenge. Turns out, he's off work for an extended break and has every intention of making his truck and trailer available. Told me to not waste my money on his account. It's a real privilege to have friends who are not only willing to help, but demand the opportunity to do so. Add the two couples I'm friends with who want to be around to help lend a hand, and this could be a pretty painless process. Here's hoping I get an opportunity to repay their kindness soon.

I have also had the privilege of getting to introduce a young person to a broad range of carrer options in the realm of museum studies and historical preservation. It looks like he's a great fit for a summer internship with a local art museum, to get experience far afield from our usual work, but which matches up with the things they're most interested in pursuing. It's a joy to see my ducklings start finding answers to "what I want to be when I grow up" in real time.

On a less fun note, I woke up in a mild panic this morning. For whatever reason, my dreams involved speedrunning through the breakups I went through with my partners since late high school, and had me sitting with the unease of what could have been. In reality, the season for those relationships came to a close and are not something to dwell on. But still, I find myself disappointed that I am single at this stage of life, when my peers and friends are married and starting their families

I'm not alone in this season, thankfully. I have wonderful friends and family. But I am reaching the point where I'd like to start actively seeking out new connections again for the first time in a while. With the current state of the tech industry, I am not comfortable with how much of myself I'd need to give to dating apps, but the people I vibe with tend to not be into night-life or big social gatherings. Where will I meet my kinda people if they're not out and about, and if I don't want to go through the information security mess that must be taking over dating apps?

First thing's first, I gotta get my housing situation figured out. Get moved, get settled, make myself at home, then branch out.

Here's hoping for good change coming.

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2026-03-02: I managed to get nine storage tubs packed away this weekend, with four still to fill. I'll see if I can pack any more without it disrupting my daily life. I'll save these for later if that's the case.

I also purchased my first washer and dryer set! I'll be getting a refurbished older set from a local mom and pop appliance shop that refurbishes used ones and sells them for cheap. The lady gave me an understanding and approving nod when I asked for "the easiest ones to work on," since she knows that I know the nature of buying used! These won't have the complicated circuitry that tends to go wrong on new machines. The computer modules on a lot of new machines cost as much to replace as simply buying a new unit! They have a 30-day repair-or-replacement warranty if I get one that has some critical issue, so I'll stress test them early on.

A friend also reinforced his commitment to bring a trailer to help me out. I was going to rent a moving van since it's a short distance and wasn't sure what help I'd have. He told me he'd rather I didn't spend my money if he can help it. He's a real one.

I also have an over-the-sink drying rack and a wire shelving unit on order. I'll also need to get an entertainment center with a TV mount, since my living room TV is currently mounted over a fireplace and is a bit too big to stand on its legs unless I get one that's obscenely wide. I also discovered I have a set of PC speakers and matching subwoofer that I can use for entertainment center audio! I'd like to get a hi-fi setup in a couple years, but these will be perfectly fine for now.

I'll be getting my appliances delivered and internet installed on move-in day, then big furniture moved 24-48 hours after! It'll take longer to get boxes and little stuff, but the place should be live-in ready in short order.

I'm so excited. I've needed this for a long time.

In other news, I also decided to test OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, a rolling-release Linux distro. It's not as popular as the likes of Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch, but a lot of people swear by it. And I'll be honest, the mascot is a big selling point for me.

This is Geeko the OpenSUSE chameleon. He's derpy and cute. I have a white version of this icon as my start button and it makes me happy.

It's also known for being really well-tested for being near the cutting edge in terms of updates. Usually, rolling-release distros have a reputation for being a a bit prone to breakage, with updates throwing a wrench in things. However, OpenSUSE seems to avoid a lot of the pitfalls that Arch and Arch-based stuff can sometimes have. I wanted to get this working ahead of the move, and it seems to work well across multiple systems!

Edit 2026-03 : Lol sike, I discovered that it re-installs uninstalled programs after each regular major update. There are ways to change config files to make that stop, but my efforts to fix the issue didn't pan out and I'm not in the headspace to deal with it. Back to Mint!

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2026-03-01: Managed to sleep in AND get some leisure time AND get some stuff packed up! I packed away winter clothes, hats, hardware, small kitchen appliances and some other non-essential kitchen stuff. That filled five storage tubs, which fit comfortably into my coat closet. I will miss the frankly silly amount of closet space this place has.