2024: Experiment One - Yoga for me

Back in December, I was thinking about 2024 and what that holds for me on a personal level. I decided that 2024 will be the year of experiments. It’s about doing things I have never done and also stop doing things that I always do. The aim being to observe how my mind and body react to these changes, both positively and negatively. Its just another way I am attempting to better understand my body and mind.

In January, I came across a 30 Day Yoga Journey video on YouTube by Adriene. At first, I was meh about it, but it ticked all the boxes. It's something I have never tried and believed that my body aint build for yoga. I gave it a go.

I started this challenge on 4 January and finished on 7 Feb 2024. It obviously took me over 30 days, but I was determined to complete this challenge. The days I couldn’t do it were not because I was lazy. There were genuine reasons (such as being sick and also being away from home, etc)

Throughout the journey, I documented my thoughts and progress.

Please excuse my handwriting, and I cannot say it will get better with time. However, for the last six months, I have been more into pen and paper rather than using digital tools to capture my thoughts. I cannot quite understand why, but I find it easier to put my thoughts on paper compared to an app on my digital devices.

What was it like?

First, Adriene is an excellent guide and teacher who can guide you throughout the journey without judgment. Yoga is a unique experience. It’s not like running in the park or doing some weight training in the gym. The way my body felt in sync with my mind during every yoga session is surreal and if I had to guess, this is the primary reason I kept coming back each day to be guided by Adriene. Yoga is not like exercise… it’s a practice.

It’s almost like the mind can feel what the body is feeling and vice versa. Now, it sounds like a big claim, and it’s weird something so simple can have such a profound impact on me. It is.. what it is... sometimes; the truth is stranger than fiction.

It is difficult (and it’s challenging) and many of the positions taken during the practice are beyond what my body can do. However, I am pleasantly surprised by what my body could do on Day One compared to what my body did on Day Fourteen. The most obvious change is the flexibility I feel in my body. I can now stand on one leg without falling. I fell so many times early on.

Each day, the mind came up with millions of reasons to skip today's session but its about showing up each day.. for yourself...

Doing it at home, especially after work, became a ritual of some sort. It feels peculiar and embarrassing to do it while others are around at home. Once, I didn’t realise my son was watching, and even he started doing the downward facing dog. It was hilarious.

The ritual aspect of it is crucial. Every practice ends the same way….with the palms together, thumb to third eye, deep breath in(lots of love in) and deep breath out (lots of love out)… and then, you whisper.. Namaste. At this point, the body feels so good, so humbled by the experience, and my overall mood is calm and happy.

If I had to put it in the most simple words, it’s like a meditative exercise where the body and mind are in sync without judgment and with trust and positivity.

Some days are more difficult than others (regardless of the reason), it is beautiful that I can give myself this opportunity to practice yoga… A moment for myself and only for myself. That's special.

So what now?

Simple, this challenge has been an eye-opener and the plan is to continue with the yoga practice for another 60 days, practicing 4–5 times a week.

Until next time, be kind to others and also to yourself...

Lots of love in... lots of love out...Namaste

written in Ulysses on MacBook Pro M1

How does one actually decide which photo wins the photo of the year? It is so subjective how any one photo can appeal to any one specific person. Think of the times when people share photos that they think it’s awesomeness and your inner voice says meh

Having said that, when I first saw this image of a sleeping bear 🐻 , I felt joy and 🥰 awww and my inside voice said, that’s one great image that the photographer has captured… it’s a special moment in time. For me, that is good enough and therefore, I am glad this image won the People Choice Best Wildlife Photograph of the Year!

Links:

• https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2023/november/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-59-peoples-choice.html
• https://petapixel.com/2024/02/06/sleepy-polar-bear-portrait-wins-the-wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-peoples-choice-award/

About a year ago, I heard about a nifty little device known as a travel router. It seemed like an excellent device, but I paid little attention to it because it was solving a problem I didn’t have.

After months of frustration with my internet provider, I took matters in my own hands and figured a travel router may solve my problem.

In early January, I bought GL.iNet GL-MT3000 (Beryl AX), from this point known as the Travel Router. GL iNet sells many similar devices and frankly, most of them do the same thing.

What problem am I attempting to solve?

Problem 1: Every couple of months, my internet provider has an outage (due to planned maintenance or otherwise) and I am left without the internet for hours on end, sometimes even 12 hours. This affects the entire family as we use our internet for both work and for usual personal stuff. The travel router will allow me to hotspot my data from my iPhone to my Ubiquiti home network.

Problem 2: every few months, we take a brief vacation and it’s always annoying to sign up each device to the hotel Wi-Fi. Interestingly, the number of devices we bring with us keeps increasing every time. My son now has his own Pixel Tablet. Ideally, I would get to the hotel, hopefully find an ethernet port and have a direct connection to the Travel Router, which then would share this internet connection to the rest of the devices. My travel router can also block advertising and trackers on all devices.

Problem 3: the travel router can be my VPN when needed. For reason that are best left undocumented, I need to be seen that I am connecting from a certain country that is not where I am currently located.

Is the travel router a solution to my problems?

Problem One: Travel Router as a backup connection for my home network

The Travel Router was a frustrating disappointment because it only worked for a few minutes and the connection would end.

Let me explain. I connected my iPhone to the USB port on the Travel Router. Then, I connected a ethernet cable on the LAN port of the Travel Router which was connected to the WAN port of my UNIFI Dream Machine (my home router).

I connected my 2018 iPad Pro to my Travel Router via Wi-Fi. Using the admin panel of the Travel Router (192.168.8.1) I ensured that the connection from the iPhone was active and working, and it was. Relatively straightforward to set up. One click and the iPhone is sharing the connection to the Travel Router and my home router can use that connection to provide internet to the rest of the house. It was glorious. We all know there is a big BUT coming and there is. This glorious feeling only lasted a few minutes at best and the connection between my iPhone and my Travel router disconnected, which obviously means my home network does not have internet either. Interestingly, I tried this exact setup with my Pixel Fold and the connection worked extremely well. Problem solved. Unfortunately, my Pixel Fold has a limited data connection. It is my iPhone that has unlimited data and that is why I wanted to use my iPhone’s connection for my home network. A potential solution would have been to just swap the sims and that would be fine but will cause issues with iMessage. Beeper was briefly a solution to this but Apple seems to always impede my solutions (kidding).

At first, I thought, it was the USB connection between the iPhone and the Travel Router. Therefore, I connected the Travel Router to the iPhone hotspot via WIFI and then, the Travel Router can share the connection to my home network. The same issue persists.

During this entire process, it occurred to me I could connect my iPhone to my MacBook via USB C and share that connection to my home router via ethernet. This idea on paper is looking promising and I will update this post once I have had the opportunity to test it out.

To conclude: PROBLEM ONE NOT SOLVED BY THE TRAVEL ROUTER.

Problem Two: Hotel Wi-Fi

My family went for a two-night gateway to regional Victoria. This trip wasn’t without its problems but I will remained focused on the Travel Router situation. As soon as I arrived at the room, I was looking for an ethernet port. To my surprise, I found one behind the TV. I was super happy. A direct connection to my Travel Router is the best-case scenario. Unfortunately, my joy was short-lived. Regardless of what I did, the Travel Router did not get a connection from that ethernet port. I even tried another ethernet cable. I didn’t take my MacBook with me so I couldn’t connect it directly to my MacBook to test if the port was even working. Unfortunately, I left my USB C Ethernet adapter at home, so I couldn't connect it directly to my iPad Pro to test if the port was working. The next best option is to connect the Travel Router to the Hotel Wi-Fi and then share it with any device that connects to my Travel Router. This process was laborious.

I used my iPhone to connect to the Hotel Wi-Fi and then I disconnected that connection. I cloned my iPhone’s MAC address on the Travel Router and it instantly connected with surprisingly decent speeds. Magically, all the other devices connected to the Travel Router, and it worked. It worked very well. I didn’t have to go through each device and connect directly with the Hotel Wi-Fi.

However, there was a big flaw in this plan, which I only realised when we stepped out of the hotel room and went downstairs to the restaurant. Obviously, the Travel Router has a limited range and once again I had to connect everyone's devices to the Hotel Wi-Fi at the restaurant. At first, a part of me thought, do we really need Wi-Fi at the restaurant? But my son quickly answered the question for me. Nothing comes between him and Paw Patrol.

Using a travel router as your own hotel Wi-Fi is a great idea but only on paper. No one is spending all the time in the Hotel room (maybe, some people do). If you are like my family, we are dining at the restaurant, swimming and soaking by the pool, attempting to burn off the tiramisu at the gym, you get the picture.

The nerd in me also considered powering the travel router with the power bank and just carrying it around with me. I could have done that, but I chose not to. I may be a nerd but now I am a nerd with a family and already have enough things to carry around.

To conclude: THE INTENDED SOLUTION WORKED BUT ITS NOT PRACTICAL

Problem Three: VPN Router

The Travel Router worked really well as a solution to this problem. Using the admin panel, I set up wire guard VPN for various countries using both Proton VPN and Windscribe. The Travel Router comes with a physical switch on the side which I can toggle to turn on/off the VPN connection.

In setting up the Travel Router, I connected the ethernet cable from my home router to the WAN port of the Travel router. I then turned on the VPN and any device connected to the Travel Router was using the VPN connection. Some streaming services will not work if it detects an active VPN on the device (such as the Apple TV or the iPad) but if the VPN is at the router level (in this case on the Travel Router), the streaming service has no clue and it works perfectly. When I want to change countries, I log into the Travel Router’s admin panel and simply switch to a different wireguard connection. The entire process is swift and works flawlessly.

The Travel Router has excellent VPN support. Nothing more to add there.

To conclude: THE TRAVEL ROUTER SOLVES THIS PROBLEM.

What’s good about the Travel Router

• It is USB C Powered and WiFI 6 support
• Its small and I love the shade of blue it comes with
• The physical toggle switch that can be assigned to whatever is just great.
• Supports Tailscale
• Adguard Home ad-blocking built in
• System runs on Linux and admin panel is quick and easy to use.
• Network storage support via USB: I could have connected my external drive and shared videos with the rest of the family.

CONCLUSION

I am returning this Travel Router back to Amazon because it does not solve the primary problem for which I bought it for.

For such a small device, it has so many features and for the right person, this device can solve many problems.

I recall, when Apple pivoted towards health, the Apple Watch was the product that was targeted towards people who cared about being healthy and fit.

Apple Watch users can add other Apple Watch users and share metrics and encourage/motivate each other. Apple also gamified fitness by allowing competitions among Apple Watch friends. For the first 12 to 18 months, it worked well. I competed with various friends and even won a few, the prize being bragging rights. However, as the years went by, the Apple Watch, at least for me, was becoming a device that always nudged me and just required a lot of attention. Every time, a friend completed a workout or finished their activity rings, I was notified. With almost 10 friends, this was annoying. So about 2 years ago, I turned off Apple Fitness notifications. Problem solved.

About eight months ago, I was once again getting frustrated by the Apple Watch. This time it was the notification that alerted that me I had started a workout. I enjoy going for a walk. In about 10 minutes of the walk, the Apple Watch would detect that I am doing a workout. This is a great feature, but for me, who takes the same walk every day, I didn’t need it to be tracked. So I turned off automatic workout detection. Here in lies the issue: if you are constantly doing the same workout, is it worth tracking it? It is not for me. Basically, I was rethinking how to use the Apple Watch that suited my current lifestyle. Why shouldn't I do that? My needs change. That's life. Examining your ends sporadically, it's worthy exercise for things that are large or small.

This morning, I went for a run and I don’t know why, without even thinking it through, I started an outdoor run workout. I haven’t done this for months. A few minutes later, I realized that once I finish this run, all my Apple Watch friends will receive a notification about my completed run. I asked myself, do I want my friends to be notified?

The answer is NO.

If I don’t enjoy getting notified, I also don’t like others getting notified of my workout either. As Apple Watch friends, all I want is my friends to see each other's metrics but not get any notifications relating to what I do. After all, it’s my workout. If I don’t want others to be notified of it, I should be able to do that.

But there is no way to do that currently. So, the only option where my friends are not alerted of my workout is to remove my friends from the Apple Watch. This is precisely what I did.

Note, my Apple Watch friends list includes my wife, my mom, my sister and also friends.

I did not consult or inform my friends. Honestly, some of them wouldn’t care, as they get countless notifications anyway. Curious, how many even bother to look at what their friends are doing fitness wise? But it’s not about them. It’s about what I want. Yes, perhaps I am overthinking it. However, if it puts my mind at ease, it’s worth it.

I was a little selfish today, a little mindful and a little overly dramatic. However, I am glad that I am.

Until next time, be kind to others and also to yourself.

I am writing this blog post on Ulysses on my iPhone 15 Pro Max.

I like physical buttons. There is something about pressing an actual button as opposed to clicking on glass. That’s why Tesla’s decision to only have touch screen puzzles me. With physical buttons, I can press without even looking at the screen, pressing by feel or muscle memory because a physical button is always exactly where it was the last time you pressed it. That’s a real thing.

I came across a new product called Clicks and I almost placed an order. It’s cool and appears to be thoughtfully designed to work with the iPhone, attempting to overcome weaknesses of having an on-screen keyboard, predominantly, having the full screen without the keyboard interruption and the advantage of the iOS keyboard shortcuts (surprisingly, there is plenty of them)

The following YouTube video by MrMobile (who also is one of the founders of Clicks) does a decent job in highlighting what Clicks can do:

If the price was a bit more attractive, I probably would have got it.

Having said that, in 2024, I am unsure if I can live with a physical keyboard. Imagine the added physical size of Clicks on the iPhone 15 Pro Max

Regardless, it’s warms the cockles of my heart to see things that were great in my past, brought back with a modern take.

It just occurred to me that I have never owned a BlackBerry phone. Not sure what happened there.

Blog written and published from Ulysses on iPhone

I listen to a lot of podcasts. My podcast journey started in 2015 when I had to travel over 2 hours every weekday. My work commute has reduced significantly these days to 30 minutes a day, for a maximum of three days a week. I kinda miss it because I used to read a lot more books with no one distracting me..Ahhh. the good old days.

I have been requesting for a Spotify Wrapped like feature for podcasts for years, but when Pocket Casts eventually launched their take on it in December 2023, I was disappointed. I was hoping to see my beloved podcasts that I have enjoyed and instead it showed me that Accidental Tech Podcast and The Vergecast are my Top 2 (obviously I enjoyed listening to these podcasts as well but I wouldn’t say they were my 2023 highlights). Both these podcasts release weekly episodes (The Vergecast is twice a week) and both are very lengthy episodes (over 2 hours per episode). Therefore, it is hardly surprising that these are my top 2 podcasts of 2023.

My top five most listened podcasts of 2023 according to Pocket Casts Playback are:

1. Accidental Tech Podcast
2. The Vergecast
3. Sunday Mornings
4. Huberman Lab
5. Private podcast

Like clockwork and without intention, I just listened to the above every week, like I have been for years.

Is it me or podcasts these days are becoming like email? If left unattended, the pile keeps growing. To combat this, I am using the Pocket Casts auto archive feature.

I was hoping Pocket Casts Playback would highlight the following gems I enjoyed in 2023:

• The Economics of Everyday Things
• More or Less: Behind the statistics
• What’s your problem with Jacob Goldstein
• Science Vs
• Decoder

This exercise also highlighted to me the difficulty in creating a Spotify Wrapped like feature for podcasts. By default, podcasts that release frequently and are lengthy make the Top 5. How can Pocket Casts highlight other Podcasts that perhaps do not release weekly and/or are brief episodes because often, these are the episodes that I enjoy the most. Music does not appear to have these problems because songs are under 5 minutes and if I really like a song or album, I am probably listening to the same music on repeat. I have never listened to a podcast episode more than once.

What brought this about?

Every human, even you, dear reader, only have 24 hours in a day, equating to 168 hours in a week. My top 2 podcasts in total were approximately five to six hours a week. In isolation, five hours seems immaterial, which it probably is. However, I figured both these podcasts are predominantly for entertainment and how cool it would be to have an extra five hours to do something different or consume other podcasts. B y removing these podcasts, I am pruning my Podcast Garden to give me the opportunity to enjoy and/or learn from other new podcasts. Variety is the spice of life. Cannot possibly be always listening to the same podcast voices lol.

The Pocket Casts PlayBack feature gave me the shock that I was seeking. It nudged me to be more intentional and that led me to consider pruning my podcast garden. Let me be clear, I enjoyed listening to Accidental Tech Podcast and The Vergecast (and even recommend them to a tech enthusiast) but it was time for me to move on and explore other content. I may come back to these podcasts in the future, but for now, I am looking forward to new content. I already discovered Sherlock & Co which is an incredible audio experience filled with mystery and humour.

So, I start 2024 with an extra 5 hours a week that I am looking to fill by doing or consuming something DIFFERENT. If you got ideas, I am open to them.

Have a great week, and remember to be kind.

This blog post was written on the Pixel Fold, edited and published from Macbook Pro

The last few weeks have been glorious spending quality time with family. It gave me so much joy watching my son play with his cousins. They played together, swim together and of course, there were moments when they fought. Such is the delight of kids.

The last weeks also gave me the opportunity to spend time with family that I have not reconnected with in years. I drank a lot and ate even more. Btw, perhaps, it's just me but I also find it amusing to observe people in such social gatherings, specifically the topics that are discussed. Some talk about their work, others talk about their material acquisitions, such as cars and homes. I couldn’t talk about either of those things because I do not place importance on someone’s financial status etc. Anyway, two of my cousins made fun of me for switching from iPhone to Android. On this trip, I took my Pixel Fold and Pixel Watch. One of them actually asked if there was a financial problem, which made me switch to an inferior platform. People still believe that having an iPhone is a status symbol. Over 50% of Americans have an iPhone. How an iPhone is a status symbol is beyond me. Rolls-Royce is a status symbol. These days, iPhones are like the Alex drawers sold in Ikea that every Youtuber appears to have. Few months ago, I was on a train in London, almost 85% of people in my cabin had an iPhone. Android users were unique on that occasion.

It's a great equaliser that the wealthiest person on this planet is probably carrying an iPhone or an Android phone. Bill Gates uses a Samsung Fold and Elon Musk uses an iPhone. Both devices are attainable at-least for people in first world countries.

Anyway, I’m back home and find myself alone at home, at least for the next few hours. I started thinking about 2024. Yes, it's another year, like any other year. When one ends, the other starts. This has been happening forever, so what. A friend asked what I am doing on New Year's eve. My response, doing nothing, no plans, probably will sleep at 10pm like every other day. I do not understand why most humans on this planet place so much emphasis on 31 December. There is just so much pressure placed on this one day, it's exhausting.

My little brain started focusing on my life in 2024. From my work perspective, I am pretty happy with how things are going. I am not ambitious at all. I am never chasing a promotion. Actually, I am more inclined to focus on work life balance rather than climbing the corporate ladder.

I was stumped. What can I do in 2024 that will objectively will make 2024 better than 2023? After much deliberation, I settled on focusing on the what can I do differently in 2024. These can be minor changes.

Currently, I am thinking of 2024 as the year of personal experiments.

This year, I experimented with 30 days of no podcasts.It was an interesting exercise and I intend to do more of that in the 2024. However, I feel 30 days is still not long enough. 90 days seems appropriate. This is my where my headspace is currently.

I am also considering switching to working 4 days a week instead of 5 where I dedicate that one day to learning a new skill (such as coding). Before I discuss this matter with my wife, I am going to evaluate whether, as a family, we financially can afford this change in lifestyle. Now, a reasonable person may consider dedicating weekends to learning a new skill. However, weekends are for my family, for my wife and for my son, and also for me. Every human on this planet has 24 hours in a day and I dedicate weekends to family. That's most important to me. This is the single reason I do not do side hustles. In my life, time is the most limited resource, once gone to never come back.

This is what’s floating on my mind today. This blog post is like a window into my mind.

Wishing you a great rest of 2023…..

this blogpost was written after consuming one Four Pillars Gin and Tonic with two slices of orange.

Written on Ulysses (iPad Pro 2018) and published from MacBook 16 inch 2021.

After waiting for months on end, summer is finally here in Melbourne, Australia. There is something magical about summer and with Christmas around the corner, it feels festive and as if though Melbourne is covered with a summer breeze of joy. It's just a wonderful time of the year.

Today, as the mercury reached the high twenties (in degrees), I craved something cool. I went to the nearest juice bar only to find that freshly squeezed orange juice cost AUD10. Frankly, I would rather not spend that much. So, I went to my local supermarket and saw calypso mangoes on sale for only $2.50 each. I bought some, put them in the fridge and enjoyed one a few hours later. Oh boy oh boy, it was delightful. It also took me down memory lane just thinking about the time when I used to pick mangoes off my neighbour's tree in my not so adult years.

Calypso mangoes are visually beautiful and just pure fun to eat. There is no elegant way of eating a mango in my book. Just slice and consume. You can explore the history and features of Calypso mangoes here.

Life can be so serious and boring at times. Take a break from the grind, have fun… have a mango. And with that said, I just had a second one for the day.

I cannot recall the last time in my adult life that I lived by myself. I was not one of those teenagers that was dying to move out. Not only that, but I actually enjoyed the company of my parents. They are wonderful and the best people in my life. I am lucky to have them.

The point is, I have always lived with my parents and/or with my wife. I have literally never lived by myself. Now, this may not be a big deal for most of you, but it certainly was for me.

Why am I in this situation?

Well, after spending a few weeks in Europe, I was back at home and attempting to settle into my usual routine. Months ago, we received an invitation to a 1st and a 21st birthday party in New Zealand. Honestly, at that time, I wasn't keen and neither was my wife. However, upon my return from Europe, my wife insisted we go. Her soon-to-be 21-year-old niece really wanted her to attend. So we went. I went for 4 days (why? Because of work, but more because I would rather not spend almost 2 weeks in Auckland), and she went for 12 days. In summary, there was a period of exactly one week that I was going to stay alone. This is a first for me.

Planning

In some weird way, I was actually looking forward to this alone time with myself. I figured, it allows me to do things my way without the influence of anyone self, without thinking of anyone else, without considering anyone else’s thoughts/feelings etc. Basically, it was one week, where I only listened to what I wanted to do.

However, what I wanted to do was not obvious at first? So I made a short list which looked like this:

• EAT and DRINK anything and any amount I want
• PS5 GAMING at every opportunity
• JUST CHILL
• Maybe cook a few meals
• No housework

I know, super creative and just a wonderful soul I am (sarcasm)

What actually happened?

I landed on around lunchtime on Monday and by the time I got home, it was already 2pm. The first thing I did was something I always do. I unpacked my bag and put everything in its place. I am not one of those that have a separate set of my tech just for travelling. This means, I have to plug my chargers back in their usual position. It’s no big deal because I travel like 2 to 3 times a year. Anyway, I didn’t have dinner and despite my plans to have a big night by myself, I fell asleep early. I was tired and I had work tomorrow morning. My plan was to wake up early and be at the office at 7am (like usual). Well, I got up at 7:30 and worked from home. I am already off to a great start (sarcasm).

Anyway, without boring you with all the details, I want to document my thoughts and experiences in short form (not an exhaustive list):

• The entire house feels super quiet. It's strange. There is always something happening in this house, like my son playing or my wife doing her thing or just listening to music, etc. However, when there is no one, there is really nothing that is happening.
• Despite my desire to do zero housework, I actually did a fair bit. I suppose, I am who I am. I dislike clutter, etc. So I did the laundry washing (twice) and also the dishwasher was used a few times. I actually did both during the day, so used solar power. That felt good.
• I also washed most of the dishes and pans before the end of the day. I found, even for just one person, there is always so much cleaning to do in the kitchen. Furthermore, I understand why people get takeaways or eat out because it’s just easier. I actually skipped some lunches because I couldn’t be bothered cleaning up.
• I watered the plants. This is something my wife did because I couldn’t care less. Strangely, when I saw those plants, I just watered them. I felt as if, though, that is what my wife would have done and that is what I will do. I want her to come home to see her plants alive.
• I fed the birds. My wife and I have any many loud discussions about feeding the birds in our backyards. I was against it. Therefore, my wife knew that for the entire week, the birds will be unfed. The first two days, I remained strong, but from day 3, I started feeding them. I really don’t know why.
• On the fifth day, when I went for a morning shower, I noticed that the water was not hot. It wasn’t even warm. I showered in the cold water. No big deal. I went to the hot water system and found the problem and I couldn’t believe it myself, I fixed it. I fix nothing. Not only that, but I cannot fix anything. But this time I did. I felt like a very sexy handy man. This also gave me a reason to find out whether, as a household, we can live without gas. There are only two things that we require gas for: cooking and hot water system. Everything else is on electricity. I spent a few hours researching it and ultimately decided that for now, my wife will never agree to cook on induction cook stove top. I park this idea until when the stove dies or the hot water system dies. Is there an electric stove that has the flame like the gas stove? That night, I enjoyed a hot shower.
• Working at home is extremely difficult when there is no one else around. The best part of working from home for me was spending time with my son. Since he was in New Zealand, my beloved study felt empty and uninspiring. Now, I understand why some people I work with always want to work from the office. A few of them actually live alone. I will be more mindful of this in the future.
• I ate simple meals like eggs, bacon, avocado on toast. Furthermore, I also ate a lot of junk food, like chips and ice cream. I did not feel good…. Does living alone encourage one to eat compulsively? At least that happened to me, especially at night.
• NIGHTS: are super hard. Sleeping alone in a king bed is no fun. At times, I felt scared. I checked the doors many times to ensure they were locked. Not only that, but I miss my wife and son. My son still sleeps with us. I actually prefer it. I know some parents think I am stupid. He is my kid, and he is happy to sleep with us, so that is the end of discussion on that. By the way, the house feels even quieter at night. I struggled at night, to the extent that I slept early most nights because I wanted the night to end and wake up to the sunrise.
• There is a wall clock in the living room. It has been there for over 10 years. However, it was only recently that I heard that the second hand makes a certain noise. It took me a while to realise that the sound that I heard was coming from the clock. That is how quiet it gets in the house.
• We have a swing on the patio. I never use it. I thought it was a bad idea to get the swing because it occupies so much space. However, for the first time ever, I was sitting on it just looking and enjoying some tea or coffee. Sitting on the swing and doing nothing. Nothing at all…. By the way, the sound of the birds is so beautiful and peaceful. I am going to use that swing more often.
• In the 7 days, I spent two days playing the PS5: Horizon Forbidden West. Yesterday and today (Sunday), I found time. This is a strange thing to say because this is something I was really looking forward to but didn’t get around until it was the weekend. I suppose it really wasn’t that important to me.
• Every night, my wife tells me to put the blinds down and every morning to put the blinds up. I asked many times why. Just leave them open. Who cares… She said: just do it. Cannot argue with that. However, this time, I figured, I am just going to leave them open the entire time. I am smiling typing this, but old habits die hard. Without even thinking about it, every night I was putting the blinds down and putting them up again in the morning. It was only on day 3 that I realised that I was planning to keep them open. Oh well, I kept doing what I was doing, so the blinds go up and down every day. I still don’t know why.

What I learnt?

As I write this on Sunday night, I am really, really looking forward to picking up my wife and my son from the airport tomorrow. I am going to give them a really tight and long hug.

It's experiences like this that sort of put things into perspective about life and about how much we take the same relationships for granted that we will struggle to live without. At least that is the case for me.

A house is just a house. Even a magnificent house is simply a house. It is my family that makes the house a home.

Moreover, my wife does a lot. Not only I need to be more appreciative, I also need to do a lot more at home. This is important.

I enjoyed the peace and quiet, but ultimately, I want to live with my family. Yes, I wouldn’t mind a few hours during the day when it’s just me at home, but most times, I want my family to be with me. This has been an eye-opener. I am definitely not planning to put myself in a position where I live alone. I also found out that I scare easy (don’t tell anyone, it’s embarrassing).

Take care and have a great week ahead. Also, remember to be kind. MereCivilian signing off

Memories can be unreliable, which can lead to frustration, but they can also help uncover long-held misunderstandings. I might have been too closed-minded to see things from different angles.

One such misconception is my understanding of the popular Nintendo game, The Super Mario Brothers. In the 90s, I spent many hours playing and replaying this game. Frankly, I couldn't get enough of it. In my adult years, Mario was also prominent through Mario Odyssey, Mario Tennis and Mario Kart. All delightful games that have given me so much joy.

The Super Mario Brothers movie made its debut on Netflix recently. It’s a great movie. I highly recommend it, especially if you are a Super Mario Brothers fan. The movie does justice to the highly acclaimed gaming franchise.

Oddly, in the 100s of the times I played the game, not once did I consider why does Princess Peach need saving from Bowser. I was always focused on my role as someone who is tasked with saving her against all odds. That role, might I add, I took extremely seriously.

However, the movie does prominently showcases Bowser’s perspective. Bowser is an extremely powerful, ruthless turtle who is madly in love with Princess Peach. He is a romantic at heart and he even sings for her. Check out the video below, which is an extended version from the one that is in the movie:

I found the song touching and overall shocks me on how someone so ruthless can have such strong selfless feelings towards someone else. Side track, right after singing this song, he punishes one of his subordinates by telling them “pain is the best treatment”.

So far, I have highlighted Bowser's perspective. Coming back to my beloved character, Mario and his motivations. Again, his motivations are completely different. I figured his actions would be motivated by his desire to impressive Princess Peach. However, he was doing everything for his brother, Luigi. His brotherly love in the movie touched me as I do not have a brother myself.

The larger lessons from all of this is the importance of considering others’s perspectives. We mostly consider our view without considering others. Why someone is doing something is just as important as what they are doing.

Varying and opposing perspectives are part of life. It's important to respect others' view without trying to always change or alter others' view to suit yours.

Anyway, have a great day and be kind.

Within the podcasting universe, there is a hidden gem, the Hemispheric Views. If you have not heard of it, I rather not ruin it for you.. Go listen to the most recent episode and decide for yourself. You are in for a treat. I already envy your position thinking about it.

Anyway, this blog post is 100% inspired from Episode 097 - Duel of the Defaults and from the over 100 blog posts that have also been inspired from this one episode of Hemispheric Views. Rob Knight has kindly listed all these blog posts here for your enjoyment.

I honestly was not intending to write this blog post because I am going through a transition away from Apple apps/services in general. Therefore, you may notice that this is more of an Anti Default app blog post.

📮 Mail Server: Google Workspace (grandfathered into free plan 😆) and MxRoute

📨 Mail Client: HEY Email (Why HEY)

📝 Notes: Notion and Tot

✅ To-Do: Todoist

📷 iPhone Photo Shooting: Google Camera and Apple Camera

🟦 Photos Management: Google Photos

📆 Calendar: Google Calendar and Fantastical

📅 Calendar Backend: iCloud and Google

📁 Cloud File Storage: Dropbox

📖 RSS: Feedbin

🙍🏻‍♂️ Contacts Management: iCloud

🔎 Browser: Arc on MacBook, Chrome on Android and Safari on iOS

💬 Chat: Beeper (all chats in one app: WhatsApp, Google Messages and iMessage)

🔖 Bookmarks: Raindrop

📑 Read-it-Later: Reader from Readwise

📜 Word Processing: what is that???

🛒 Shopping List: Apple Reminders

💰 Budgeting and finance: Moneywiz and Frollo

📰 News: Feedbin, Mailbrew, ABC News, BBC News

🎵 Music: Spotify and YouTube Music

🎤 Podcast: Pocket Casts

🔐 Password Management: 1Password

Actually, this had been fun. I provide zero context or reasonings why I use these apps and services, but that makes this list fun. It’s my list. Take it or leave it.

I can tell you, 5 months ago, most of the apps listed above would have been Apple focused. Kinda pleased with where I am at the moment where I am enjoying life living in multiple ecosystems. Strangely, it works well, dare I say, better than it did when I was only in Apple’s ecosystem. Living like this provides me with the opportunity to use the best features of every ecosystem and disregard the terrible ones.

Anyway, have a great weekend.. Be kind.

Since I can recall, I am one of those that always jumped on any new product or service that Apple launches. Apple's desire to increase services revenue is causing people like me to reconsider and leave their premier subscription service, Apple One Premier.

When Apple One was launched, I was already a subscriber of iCloud Drive, Apple Music and Apple TV+. I figured as a family, we may benefit from Apple News and Apple Fitness. Apple Arcade wasn't even in the consideration but over the years, I have played a couple of games.

In Australia, Apple One Premier launched at $39.99 a month. Less then 12 months ago, it increased to $42.99 and last week it increased to *$49.99**.

Psychologically hitting $50 a month was the trigger point for me to seriously determine whether Apple One was a service that I would continue to subscribe to. Instead of making a haste decision, I had a chat with my family and the outcome was pretty shocking. I probably should discuss with them more frequently because it came to my attention that no one other than me was using the other apple services. The only Apple service used by my entire family is iCloud drive and that predominantly was for Apple photos. I actually use Dropbox for my file sync because I have been burnt twice with iCloud Drive.

Apple TV+ was huge specifically for Ted Lasso and since that has finished, the service has lost its charm with my family members. Having said that, I really enjoyed Severance and I eagerly await it's next season whenever that comes. Despite that, I do not believe it's worth paying $9.99 a month for Apple TV+. Its probably one of those that I can subscribe to when it has content that appeals to me.

I switched to Apple Music because Spotify was too focused on podcasts. However, Apple Music's recommendation system doesn't align with my taste. Spotify has perfected this skill and Apple still has nothing that is remotely as cool and as convenient as Spotify Connect. For this reason, I am sticking with Spotify. My family, on the other hand, never even used Apple Music. I actually thought they did but obviously I was mistaken. This exercise has highlighted the importance of communicating with the family.

Apple Fitness is actually pretty great, especially the guided run and walks exercises. But, I infrequently took advantage of it and my family never used it. Depending on how much I miss it, I may subscribe again especially during the winter months where it's difficult to go out for a walk.

Surprisingly, my dad preferred the library's magazine and newspaper service over his Apple News+ subscription.Upon checking the catalogue myself, I was impressed to by both that quality and quantity of magazines and newspaper available and all for free. Personally, I enjoyed reading that WSJ and the Australian (business section). I suppose I can live without it.

In conclusion, I have unsubscribed from Apple One Premier and just subscribed to iCloud 2TB plan. Feeling pretty great about paying $15 a month instead of $50 a month. That's a saving of $420 a year… it all adds up.

Thank you Apple for being greedy and nudging me to reconsider my subscription. Let's face it, had the price remained the same, I would continue to pay that without even considering whether Apple One was the right fit for my family.

Written on Pixel Fold

Apple consistently releases a new iPhone each year, and I always end up buying one without borrowing money or financing. There are many reasons not to upgrade every year:

• unnecessary expense
• not environment friendly
• getting further trapped in the Apple walled garden

This blog post is selfishly written by me to avoid decision-making fatigue and justify my yearly iPhone purchases.

Anyway, in no particular order, the following are my reasons (perhaps unjustified):

1. I want to have the newest 📱

Seems obvious, but I do like having the latest and greatest iPhones. Most years, upgrading from the previous version does not make logical sense. Having done just that for over 10 years, I can tell you, annual upgrades are not a great use of money. Even though iPhones don't improve significantly, each new version has something better than the previous one. As someone who appreciates and enjoys mobile technology, I am always eagerly awaiting the smallest of improvements. At first, I was upgrading because of the improvements in the camera. However, the annual upgrades are not worth it for this reason as well. However, my iPhone is my only camera, and it makes sense to me to have the best camera I possibly can. Are the differences significant? Hell no. They are actually insignificant, and admittedly, at times, I cannot even tell the difference.

2. For my family ❤️

My family couldn’t care less about technology or mobile phones in general. If they had their way, they would use a mobile phone until it literally stopped working. Therefore, for over 10 years, my entire family has not spent a single dollar on buying a mobile device. Currently, my family has:

• Wife: iPhone 14 Pro Max
• Mum: iPhone 13 Pro Max
• Dad: iPhone 12 Pro

In addition, my accessories that I buy for my iPhones also get used over the years. The lightning cables are useless to me now because of the USB-C on iPhone 15, but they are still useful to everyone else in my house. This has annoyed me on multiple occasions. But this is a problem that will be resolved in due course.

It makes me happy that my family has somewhat new iPhones. Therefore:

• My family members can also take brilliant pictures which, thanks to having a newer device.
• Find My: it helps my entire family that we know where each one of us is located. Now, thanks to Airtag sharing, it's also a handy feature to know where the things that matter to my family are located.
• Shopping list: because we all use iPhones, it's easy as hell to have a shared shopping list. Now, I know if left to my parents; they are likely just going to buy any cheap phone. It's nice to give these little luxuries in life to your loved ones. Now, I know my wife prefers earrings, but I only give gifts that I believe are valued by both of us... I'm selfish like that. Don't worry, my wife also gets her fair share of jewellery. I joked once that buying jewellery is like an annual tax to ensure I am still a married man.
• Shared photo albums: self-explanatory... who doesn’t like pictures of family…

Interestingly, most of the above reasons are because of Apple ecosystem lock ins.. I wish that wasn’t the case. Perhaps, the European Union can help fix this, just like they pushed Apple into adopting USB-C on iPhones.

There are downsides to this approach as well. For example, at times, I would prefer the smaller iPhone, but I end up getting the Max version because is what my family prefers,. because of its battery life. This also hinders my options to expand to android devices.

3. Some financial concessions that help 💸

iPhones are expensive, and they appear to cost even more every few years. The tanking Australian dollar has not helped. However, the following makes the purchases somewhat easier on my wallet:

• I got this credit card when I was in university that refunds me if there is an Australian retailer that sells the iPhones below RRP within 12 months. This feature is called Price Protection. For example, in Australia the iPhone 15 Pro Max is AUD2199, this is my purchase price. Usually, about 10 months after its release, local retail stores will discount the iPhones by $300. So, on average, every year, I have received $250 to $300 back on my credit card. This is not a lot, but it helps.
• Overseas travel: I travel overseas during October and December, which allows me to get the GST (sales tax) back on my credit card. In Australia, the GST is 10%. Every dollar helps :)
• Trading in the old phones typically gets me $200 to $300.

Therefore, on average, I get $700 to $800 back, which makes the overall cost of the iPhone down to manageable levels. Objectively, it is still a lot of money to spend on iPhones every year.

So there you have it… Three reasons I buy a new iPhone every year. Hopefully, next year, I can just read this post instead of reconsidering my decision like I have done for over 10 years.

Ironically, today also is the day that I packed my iPhone 15 Pro Max to be returned to Apple for a full refund. As to why I am doing that, perhaps that story is for another time.