Mike Experiences The Internet

Author: Michael

  • Recovery

    About 2 and 1/2 weeks ago, I ended up very overwhelmed. Not only from my own things, but from stress related to Abby’s cancer treatments. This doesn’t happen very often, but when it does my body and mind shift into what I call “Survival Mode”.

    This doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does happen; I get very short-tempered with people; even more so than normal. The last time this happened was during the pandemic in 2020, and well; we all know how that turned out. Being neurodivergent, it is incredibly easy for me to get overwhelmed and burn out. I have tried in recent years to change the patterns that eventually lead to these conditions, and for the most part they work … until they don’t.

    I don’t wish being a caregiver to a cancer patient on anyone. It is incredibly demanding, and will change you forever. Finding my own way in order to recover from the sheer sense of things has been very difficult, but not without it’s own reward.

    I ended up pulling a blog post down from a couple weeks ago, right before everything started. In that post, I was stating that I was closing the blog for three reasons; and was letting the site go after January 6th. I am pleased to report that this will no longer be the case.

    Somewhere in the world, there is someone going through the exact same situation I’m currently going through. I hope that person finds my site.

  • Rampant Display of Consumerism

    Ah, yes … it’s “Black Friday/Cyber Monday” shopping time. Readers of the blog should generally know the history of it, but rather go into the nitty gritty details of what I plan to buy (there are a few things I want to get, mostly for others); I want to talk about the other side of the coin.

    The employees of the big box stores, shipping companies, and warehouse workers rarely receive any recognition for their efforts, but it’s directly because of them we’re able to receive our holiday gifts with some form of expediency. Earlier this year, I had a job working as a package handler for FedEx. I eventually walked out one day and quit because of stress, but the couple of months spent there gave me a unique perspective on logistics.

    So, if you get a package in the next month or so; thank your delivery driver. If you’re able to, give them a gift card (most delivery companies will allow the driver to keep it)). If you’re not well off to the point you can do that; a simple thank you will suffice.

    Happy Holidays!

  • Planning Ahead

    Usually around Thanksgiving (or shortly thereafter), I tend to look at the next and see what I want to do, event wise. 2026 is no exception here … but it is.

    There are some very real things that could happen (getting into the watchmaking school at Rolex et al), but I have to prepare as if the preceding isn’t going to happen, and that I must continue to forge a path of my own; with Abby at my side. My 2025 bingo card didn’t have cancer diagnosis on it at all!

    There is one gaming tournament I’d like to go to, but it would take multiple months (and a act of god) to save up for in it’s various components. Doing that would also take away any money that would need to be used for moving from our small town apartment, to a big city apartment.

  • Of Traditions And Such

    It’s Thanksgiving week, and the past couple of years; it’s been normal with a singular exception … that being the local Turkey Trot.

    If you are reading this, are overseas (I know I have some British and Canadian readers); and thinking … wtf is this Turkey Trot nonsense? Allow me to explain.

    A Turkey Trot is a themed 5 kilometer (3.1ish miles) walk or run, and is held on Thanksgiving morning; usually before 0800 local time. It’s been my tradition the last couple of years to walk the race, but this year I will have my grandson joining me.

    We might be last, but we will always be first.

  • Gaming Alternatives

    I like being able to play games on my computer when I have enough time to do so, but with Microsoft turning Windows 11 into a dystopian, AI-riddled operating system that can auto download and install malware if the user doesn’t know how to turn it (and by it, I mean the agentic AI) the fuck off; and said company most likely pushing things that can accidentally be clicked on; I have to look long and hard at what choices I have to continue gaming.

    For a couple of my games, Windows is the only way to play them because of anti-cheat systems that require direct access to the installed components. Between the push for this type of AI; and the continued push for kernel level anti-cheat on everything; I made the decision … to unplug power to my Windows PC.

    I know the alternatives are more closed than the PC ecosystem for games; but I don’t want to use my PC in this state anymore, and Linux won’t work because of the cheating stuff. I’d rather have something I can carry around that’s portable.

  • Growing Pains

    Reader Ben, who’s a member of a tech community I’m part of; posed a question recently, specifically about why there was no preview text when a link to a post was posted in said community’s promotions channel. Rather than do what I usually do, I accept this as constructive criticism. What’s the point of having a site that anyone online can read, if I’m not willing to adapt my writing and my site to better reflect the audience I’m trying to capture?

    I’m not trying to push some bullshit excuse here, but I’m still new(ish) to using WordPress, despite having used it at multiple stages over the course of it’s continued development. I honestly thought that the excerpts were automatically generated (and I can generate them with AI if I so choose); but no, I won’t use AI to generate a excerpt; and yes; I carry the knowledge moving forward that I need to manually write these.

    Will I go back and write excerpts for all the posts? Most likely not, unless I have a lot of time to kill one day. But moving forward, this should be a included thing.

  • The Point of Competition

    A couple of days ago, I participated in a fighting game tournament for a game based on the popular Granblue Fantasy franchise. Specifically, a beginner bracket.

    Fighting games aren’t exactly for everyone, and there are multiple genres within the overall genre, but every so often I like to enter and see how well I stack up against the competition. The last time I entered something similar, I ended up winning a single 2 game set before losing two consecutive sets and being eliminated from the tournament.

    Where do you go to improve, when you only have a finite amount of time to play; and aren’t able to sit for hours on end and play like your contemporaries? Also, how would it work if you don’t have friends to sit down in the same room with and play?

    To that end, I ended up adapting a schedule used by Qudans; a Tekken player who returned to competitive play in 2017; after spending a large part of his formative years conscripted into military service; then working as a social worker in his native South Korea. I’m gonna try my hardest to keep this schedule!

  • How We Move

    I’m gonna talk about how I spend some Saturdays (and occasionally some Wednesdays and other days that end in Y), but I’m gonna set the scene first.

    In September 2023, I went to my primary care physician for a routine checkup. A few days later, the doctor called early in the morning; very concerned about the results he had in front of him. It was at that time, I was given 6 months to live; and that I needed to change what I was doing NOW and get some form of exercise in before I wasn’t around for my family.

    It was about a week later that I signed up for my very first 5K race, the now-defunct Heroes Run in nearby (at that time) Shreveport, Louisiana. I went back and forth in the weeks leading up to the event about whether or not I was going to participate; concerned that I wouldn’t make it the entirety of the event. I had went to go pick up the items that were given as part of participating, and had fully intended on no-showing the race. When I got home, my wife was surprised that I had signed up to begin with; and gave her blessing to race.

    I arrived at the event the following morning, and the rest is history.

    Mike crossed the finish line at the 2023 Heroes Run event sponsored by the Brookshire's Grocery Company. His time was very impressive for the very first of these events!

    If I hadn’t made the decision to participate, there’s a general idea of what would have happened. It has also led me to have friends, where I wouldn’t normally have any.

    I have two remaining events for this year, and then the work begins anew for 2026!

  • How I Travel – Gaming

    Another day, more time on the road …

    Today, I’ll share my travel gaming setup (it’s incredibly simple, yet decidedly complex at the same time), and what types of games I play (you might be shocked!)

    I use a Nintendo Switch 2 for gaming when we travel for appointments! The form factor (and the ability to sleep my progress in any game I have installed on the system) fits my use case quite well. Given my past & perhaps current preference towards PC gaming, I did briefly consider the Steam Deck earlier this year, but ended up with a Switch 2 due to cost concerns … let’s just say I don’t play FPS games on it, but I will play every other genre just about on there … it just so happens that at the moment, my favorite genre to play is JRPGs!

    So, how do I take it around with me? And what accessories do I take with me when it goes? To quote a former Nintendo employee, I use this carrying case:(I’ll also put a link below at the very end of the post), but it is the City Slicker carrying case from Waterfield. Is it overkill? Yes! For everything I needed (the carrying strap, the bag itself, and the carabiners that attach to either side), it ended up being nearly $160.

    Do I recommend this for you, the person reading? Absolutely not! You could probably make due with one of the less expensive options, and be happy. It just happened to be circumstance that I had money at the time, and had always wanted one of their bags.

    I do use the Switch 2 in handheld mode a lot of the time, but those days that I have a couple hours wait for a procedure to end, or time to kill during a chemotherapy treatment; I just so happen to have a controller in the bag. The City Slicker bag is unique, in that it cannot store your full-size Switch 2 Pro Controller, or any other controller with similar dimensions. But the SN30 Pro is not full-size, and it’s form factor allows for it to easily go into one of the storage pockets.

    For charging and audio … I use a UGreen portable battery, and a Nothing Ear (a) for Bluetooth.

    Links for stuff to buy:
    CitySlicker Bag

  • The Problem with Meanness

    “Why do you have to be so mean sometimes?” – Abby

    It was when my wife uttered this quote after our car stalled in traffic coming home from a recent appointment that it finally set in. I was being mean for the sake of being mean, and didn’t care who it was directed at. For all intents and purposes, I reached my breaking point that afternoon. Needless to say, she was crying because of how mad and frustrated I got; and afterwards I apologized for a very long time and told her how I felt. How I felt her getting cancer was my fault, and no one was to blame but me for her health situation; our car having issues; barely getting by.

    I didn’t have any real outlet to destress, get my frustration and rage out. At the time, my Windows PC had a issue with a dead monitor (as explained in this recent post) and only recently, did I receive a replacement monitor that allowed it to work again. After returning from the football game mentioned here, I initially was going to spend a hour assembling the monitor, and plugging in the necessary functioning cables for it to work. One hour turned into two hours, and so on and so forth. Next thing I knew, it was 3:30am and I had reinstalled Windows and started to reload everything I used on a daily basis. Needless to say, I have my main outlet for expression back; and it literally couldn’t have come at a better time.