And we’re finally settled in our temporary apartment. Now, it’s time to explore the surroundings, including marking coffee shops and restaurants that I plan to try over the course of the next three months. I started using Apple Maps Guides for this. Not super intuitive but it does the job. I shared the guide with my wife.

Thought and sentiment of the moment: my sheer physical exhaustion makes my mental exhaustion more bearable.

I’m moving to a new (temporary) apartment in two days. It’s the first time in 17 years that I’m changing places. It’s crazy how much we gather over the years. We’re giving out a lot of stuff (also selling on FB Marketplace). It’s like spring-cleaning, right in the middle of winter!

Fun fact: I often play “Did You Know?” with my wife to let her know about special features on her Apple Watch, iPad or other tech devices. She doesn’t like to remember things and the fact that many things are hidden by default in the Apple ecosystem.

Now I feel bad about this. 😔

It’s the time of the year where I feel the best action is “mark all as read”… 🫤

Always fun to learn something about Micro.blog while recording the “What’s Up With Micro.blog” video. 🤭 Stay tuned for those who might be interested.

I’be been trying to build a small business around Craft using Gumroad in the last 18 months. So far, it’s a hit or miss. I’m currently having paying 20 subscribers for The Craft Bible¹. I sold quite a few Craft templates, too. I have many more ideas for 2025 to continue to grow this offering. Yet, it won’t replace my day job.

I like Gumroad as a selling platform but also for writing articles and sharing them with my customers. This is not something that I planned on doing when I started, but I must admit that it’s fun to build a small community around an app like Craft, away from the public scrutiny of Reddit and Slack. Today, I shared a long op-ed article on my feelings about Craft. It’s a long piece that I took quite some time to write. I’m quite happy with the results. I can’t wait for user reactions and feedback.

I declare my year-long goal of resisting to join Threads to be accomplished.

It’s easier for me to discover (and like) a new photographer than discovering a new writer. Information absorption is faster in photography.

In a few hours, I’m flying from Montreal to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. Interesting fact: Florida is one of the states who most massively voted for Trump. Thankfully, I’m staying there less than 24 hours.

I’m in a writing lull. Not too many things worth writing about, I guess. So, I focus on photography.

Perfect day for a long road trip. I’m going to a music show close to New York City: Sting.

I have a love & hate relationship with the US as a country. Going to Las Vegas today for a four-day business trip falls in the “hate” part because I think we cannot have those Las Vegas cities any longer. This city is everything but real. I hate to see our resources spoiled like that.

“On your birthday, only do what you like the most and fuck the rest.” — Numeric Citizen

Today, I posted something on Facebook; and honestly, it felt weird. I can’t remember exactly when I last wrote on Facebook. I also had this symptom of missing out on things from my old colleagues and friends just by glancing at my timeline for a few minutes. It felt heavy. My post was about telling my “Facebook friends” about the two sites where I share my photos online: Glass and Pixelfed. I don’t know if people will take time off their busy lives to visit or even bookmark the sites. I shouldn’t care about that. Those who pay attention might even notice a link to my digital hub, where I share all my other sites. Because I’m curious, I’ll return back to Facebook in a few days to see if I got some comments. I’ll report back here in any case.

Today is my mother’s 91st birthday. She passed away 18 months ago, but the memories of her remain vivid. This morning, my iPhone suggested a video memory highlighting cherished moments with her, which nearly brought me to tears. Time may have flown by, but my affection for her endures, even though I wasn’t that close to her, not has much as I would have liked. One of my last photos of her. 😔

Manuel Moreale reflecting on one hundred people who took the time to sign his guestbook (I did):

It’s the number of people who have taken a few minutes out of their busy lives to write something on my guestbook. One hundred doesn’t seem a lot in the grand scheme of things, especially on the web. If you have one hundred followers you might as well have zero. One hundred views on a YouTube video? That’s nothing. You need at least one hundred thousand to be part of the conversation. And yet, I find one hundred signatures in a guestbook to be a lot. Can you imagine having one hundred people in front of you, all saying something to you, one after the other? It would feel overwhelming.

I often think about this. Just like Manuel, I have a blog, a YouTube channel, a podcast (sort of). Globally, my follower counts are very low (even lower than Manuel’s) when looked through the Internet scale lens, but if those people were in front of me, in the same room, that would be quite something else. I find this thought to be comforting.

I support LGBTQ+ cause. I read MacStories story about Threads murky management of controversial posts. My personal take is simplicistic: stop using Meta platforms. I do understand that for some people to be heard, they want to be on Meta’s platforms, though.

It’s time for me to return home, sadly. This vacation has been one of the best at many levels. I feel rejuvenated mentally and physically. I’ll use flight time (ten hours) to reflect on my time here in Croatia and to look forward to resume my blogging and creative activities.