2025-04-16 07:46:00
During last week and today I blogged about how iCloud Photos just seemingly has deleted all images from our Disneyland trip in 2019.
That caused me to migrate all photos to Google Photos as a backup. This worked well.
I also found an external drive I could use to download my full iCloud Photos on my Mac. Happy I found it! That also enables me to back it up off-site — so double happy to have a third copy just in case (for all images and videos).
And lo and behold, after a few days, iCloud downloaded all photos from the Disneyland trip — in fact, it download all 1,700 photos from our trip in 2019, which seemingly is way more than what was available on my iOS device (it was a mere handful of around 20 or so).
I am happy that the images are back and are doing a full off-site backup at the moment.
Unsure why iOS is showing a different set of pictures. It just makes me sad that it’s 2025 and Apple has slid off so far in terms of quality.
Anyway, an image for you all (mainly for me though) of two of my favourite things in this world — my wife and well... the castle of course.
Oh and why not... a few more.
2025-04-11 16:30:00
I’m coming up to a few anniversaries for my projects and I thought I’ll do a quick recap of where it’s all at.
The code is a little over two years old now, and I officially launched in June, around 2 years ago. It’s been super successful in my eyes. I am happy with it.
There were a few missteps on the way and some growing pains, but I am happy with the way things are naturally progressing.
I do need to think how to more entice people on the free plan to consider upgrading — however it is fine as it is as there is a longterm idea.
Super thankful there is broad set of customers now, so it’s good to see different use cases.
As I said in the past, this is going to be my bread and butter until I hit the deathbed.
One year anniversary just officially passed, even though I did soft launch it a little earlier than that.
It started with a bang, super duper happy. Now it is dead in terms of income.
Saying that, it’s active and blogs are running. I enjoy seeing the posts on Explore and I get a lot of nice emails from users — that is all that matters to me.
I’ll keep working on it until my brain fries, even if progress seems slow. I’ve been regularly adding features too. Although I have zero hope that it will ever recover and that’s OK because it has a use case for me and a few select others too.
Yes, that feed reader. It is amazing and it’s what I use to read blogs.
Another dead project though. Not sure what to do with it. For now, it’ll stay as is as I have a few lifetime accounts. So another project that will die with me as I take it to my grave (although I hope my family burns me — it's what we all agreed).
There are other projects, but I won’t touch on them.
This week has been somewhat difficult, actually the past months have been, and this week I wanted to burn my blog to the ground — just leave the ashes and keep the homepage.
Writing helps me cope, so I think it’s a little stupid of me to do that.
Anyway, I’ve been actually tweaking some stuff on my blog, brought back some things, removed others, and I am happy. Small things that I haven’t done for over a year.
I am preparing for a longer break though as I have a lot of things going on — and that has to come first.
However, I am done with other things and drama now — past is the past, was great whilst it lasted. So yeah, that’s where I am at.
Thanks for reading, and yeah, this is how I am feeling today.
2025-04-11 16:13:00
In 2019 we went to Disneyland, a place that I am incredibly fond of, and it was an emotional rollercoaster on a personal level. Not only could I show my daughter and my wife the place, it was a step back into my childhood.
We made memories as a family, mostly good ones, with some incredible images to look back on.
The other day I was looking for an image, to find that the 300 - 400 or more images of Disneyland had been reduced to a mere handful.
Just gone. And yeah, I checked everywhere — every device.
That tore me apart.
Thankfully I have an offsite backup from a year ago... although I wonder what the fuck else that piece of garbage crap managed to delete.
Screw shitty software. Screw Apple.
At least I know what my little personal summer project will be now. Can’t deal with the incompetence anymore. Gotta do it myself because I seem to be able to write better software for my own needs on a budget of zero than some rotten fruit.
For now I have paid Google to hold my photos. I’ve got plans to get my Family OS project off the ground soon so I can use it with my family.
</rant>
2025-03-31 05:33:00
Over the past weeks, perhaps months, I’ve been asking myself on what is important. Important to my family and me, and the choices I am making myself to steer the course of aligning with the “important”.
There is a feeling of being adrift in the sea, no bearing, hardly anything to go by. A direction to perhaps try and find other waters. Maybe calmer seas ahead.
But that leaves me with today. Where I am at now, at sea, destination unknown. Treading water here and now. A direction. A purpose.
Blogging words is my escape. Letting go of deep thoughts. A point in time. Something to look back on. Look at me doing those short sentences again. A message in a bottle.
Lately I haven’t felt like blogging much. It now just feels forced. Forced to write to keep the perception that “I am still here”. Purpose unknown. I am here, alive, living in the real world.
Back when I had personal posts on my blog I posted about how blogging is meant just for me, no one else. Something to one day look back on, see my state of mind — even if I burned some posts to the ground.
This is my blog, my playground, my island in the sea. An island that might thrive one day, have its good days and certainly bad days. I guess you can’t have good days without the bad. You’d never know either.
I don’t feel like forcing myself to write. Each time I think I should write something I just stop myself — a mute filter. Holding onto feelings (good or bad), leaving it inside of me.
That brings me to what is important to me. I’ve been soul searching quietly on what is — what was important last year no longer holds, dreams I aspired to now just silly in comparison. That’s growing. Letting go.
I know what I need to do. I know my next direction.
Knowing my direction is important. It’s my anchor at sea.
2025-03-22 02:26:00
Everything lately has been feeling like too much. It’s a feeling hard to escape.
Am I doing the right thing? Do I get joy from what I’m doing anymore? Where should I go next? Why isn’t this thing working as I want it to? Why do I sit in this chair all day? Am I a prisoner of my own reality?
Nothing feels like it has been making a dent anywhere. Standstill. Time the only constant. Wake up, go to sleep. Stay alive. Fight for another day. Rinse and repeat.
Swarms of negativity. Hoards of bumps in the road. Pushing sand up the hill, wind blowing as hard as it can. Less sand. Not what I need to build a castle.
Tax to pay soon, much of. Car tyres need replacing, all 4. Brakes too. Rent to pay, a need to move place too. The next 6 months uncertain.
Costs going up for my business. Flatlined. Time to cut again.
Another day dreading sitting in front of my computer, joy taken from me so much the past year. What am I doing here? Should I move on?
Opening a project of mine, yet tarnished memories. Memories so strong I feel like quitting. Burn it all. Start again.
Is this what I want? Is this what I had in mind? Is this the right path?
No end in sight. A low day. A sad week. A depressing month.
A family to feed. I must fight. Keep going. Their lives depend on it.
A heavy burden, it feels too much. But fight I will. Fight to live another day. Fight so my family is safe and sound. Warm.
Life is complicated. There is so much, and it feels too much.
Another week just ahead. A new day tomorrow.
Things sit heavy on my chest. Exercising helps visualise this. Pushing harder, getting stronger. Resilient. Heavy weights to symbolise the burden of reality.
Never giving up. Staying strong. Pushing through it.
I can do it.
✌️❤️
2025-03-13 18:38:00
I was working on some text truncation issue on Scribbles the other day, and I wanted to generate some legitimate text that wasn't lorem ipsum or asdhgad dh dashdga dgadghadhj (you can guess my left hand is quite active on the keyboard). So here is what Grok came up with, with this prompt: "Can you come with some words, 250 of them, for a test blog post testing to see if truncation works please? Just for testing."
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog every single day without fail. Rain or shine, the fox leaps high while the dog sleeps soundly below. This happens again and again, a routine that never changes. Birds chirp overhead, watching the scene unfold with mild curiosity. Trees sway gently in the breeze, leaves rustling softly as the fox lands. The dog yawns, stretches, and settles back into its nap. Time passes slowly, then quickly, then slowly again, like a strange dance. Clouds drift across the sky, casting shadows on the ground. The fox pauses, looks around, then continues its endless jumping game. Grass bends under its paws, springing back up after each leap. The dog snores, oblivious to the world moving around it. A squirrel darts by, unnoticed by both. Wind whistles through the branches, carrying faint sounds of distant life. The fox keeps going, tireless and determined. The dog keeps sleeping, peaceful and content. Day turns to dusk, then night, then day again. Stars twinkle above, unseen by the pair below. The cycle repeats, unbroken, predictable, simple. One jumps, one rests, and the world spins on. This is their story, told in loops, with no beginning or end. Just motion and stillness, side by side, forever. Test this text, see if it cuts off, see where it stops, see how it works. Two hundred fifty words, right here, for you.
And no, not exactly 250 words, but good enough for me. Anyway, fun story.
