Happy New Year! 
Here we are in a new year, and I'm grateful to be alive!
Health update
A year ago, I was struggling to stay alive. I was visiting the emergency room quite often and even got
to know a few of the staff there from seeing them frequently. I couldn't go anywhere or do anything
except attend surgeries and doctor's visits. If I moved too much, bent over too much or tried to lift
nearly anything I would start to bleed. I couldn't do laundry, couldn't do an oil change on
our cars, couldn't even walk outside without fear of bleeding...it was a very, very
challenging time.
But you know what? God is AWESOME! I thank him for Jesus' healing touch in my life daily. With each
day I've grown stronger and more healthy. I can do laundry, I can change the oil in our cars, I can
help with household tasks around the house and can carry in heavy things from the car. When I felt
like I was days or hours away from death 365 days ago, I am now living life. Back then I would break
down in tears from the exhaustion and fatigue, but now I give praise! It's all God and
none of me! Thank you Jesus!
OS usage
I'm still a macOS user, but I also have been using Linux during business hours. At this point I think
I can stop sweating about which OS I'm using and just use whatever fits the moment. If I'm being
creative and doing musical stuff, of course it's GarageBand on macOS. If I'm doing file management and
de-duplication, it's Linux. If I'm writing a blog post, it could be either. Not every artist uses only
one single brush for each painting, so why not use the OS that works the best for the task at hand?
Apple
You know, I'm kind of glad I didn't end up buying a new M4 Mac mini last year. I did buy a
very inexpensive used 2018 Intel Mac mini and it's been serving me well. I'm very glad that it can't
update to macOS Tahoe, because the changes Apple have made to macOS in Tahoe look yucky. If macOS
Tahoe works anything like the hot mess that is iOS 26, then I don't want any part of it. I think Apple
has really lost its way, and I think I dodged a bullet by waiting to purchase new hardware from them.
As I told my child recently "I like macOS and some of Apple's apps, but don't like Apple as a
company".
Linux
Besides macOS and the infrequent Windows session, I'm currently using Debian Linux 13 (Trixie),
running Fluxbox as my window manager with MATE as a backup. I like the simplicity of Debian and it not
being too bleeding edge (like Arch). True, Debian is not a good match with me ideologically
but when I tried out Devuan Linux for a while, it had show-stopping issues that I couldn't overcome.
As long as I don't see left-leaning news articles every time I click the Application menu (like
Windows showing left-leaning news headlines when searching in the Start menu), I'll hold my nose and
try to deal with it.
Obligatory current boring desktop screenshot
Mega-SuperCool Linux Machine™
For my Linux machine, I was using a very old HP desktop system. It was okay but struggled on
certain tasks. I don't need an i9 with 64GB of RAM or anything, but it would be nice to have just a
little more horsepower. After scrounging around my spare parts, I found a 2017-era crypto
mining motherboard that a dear friend had blessed me with years ago, I searched for the best used Intel
processor it could accommodate on an auction site (a seventh-gen i7), then pulled the trigger. The
parts have not come in yet, but hopefully this 2017-2018-vintage hardware refresh will get me moving a
little faster than the ol' reliable 2014 HP desktop. Bonus: I won't feel guilty about purchasing a
bunch of high-priced PC parts when there are a ton of other home and car projects that need funding.
Brave browser
For quite a while I was happily using the Brave browser. If you don't know, Brave is a Chrome-based
browser without the Google stuff and some nice ad blocking and privacy tech. I felt I could trust the
Brave project because they don't seem to hate conservative folks (like Mozilla and others do).
Anyway, little by little the bugs and unfavorable project behavior started to stack up, so it was time
to move on. I still keep it around for web testing, but my daily driver is now Waterfox.
Before Brave I used and recommended Firefox for nearly fifteen years, but when Mozilla started veering hard to the left, and when they started saying anything I typed into Firefox could be used by them for 'whatever', it was time to switch. Compared to Chrome, I've always liked the way Firefox did things technically-speaking, but couldn't hang around while Mozilla destroyed it. The Waterfox project seems to not do all of the telemetry and privacy-killing stuff that Mozilla does, but I think they are also left-leaning. I'm not going to use other Firefox alternatives because their project ideologies are probably more radical than Waterfox, so I'll just stay with it for now.
SpiritVNC
I still maintain and use SpiritVNC-FLTK
but I haven't really made many commits to the repo in recent months. No one files any issues and while
it is currently included in FreeBSD ports as well as Alpine Linux's repo, I can't imagine more than
four people on the planet use it. If I get any ideas for new features or receive requests, then I'll
work on it more, but for now it's just kind of stagnated.
SpiritVNC-GTK has died a slow and sad open-source death. It was going along pretty well but then I ran into some gtk-vnc bugs. After verifying the bug, I filed a report, which no one has addressed or commented on since I filed it on April 29, 2025. The other bug is with msys2, and it hasn't seen any acknowledgment or comments. This is why open-source projects die. Sure, I can fork both of those dependencies and provide them instead, but truthfully -- how many BSD and Linux distros would use my fork instead of the official project?
Untitled Web Chat system
Recently I've poured a lot of time, tears and coffee into a web-based chat system. I started working on it a
couple of years ago, but have not posted it anywhere public yet. My family and I use it regularly and
I've been adding more features to it, but it's still not at a decent place for public consumption yet.
It started off using sqlite 3 databases and polling (which seemed like the easiest way to get up and
running at the time). After many JavaScript tears and pain, it now uses WebSockets. When the project
is in a good place, I'll post it here or Github (although Github is becoming less friendly by the day).
The Subaru
The problem still hasn't been identified. It's still not running. Eventually I'll have more time and
resources to put into it. If I don't? Then it's going to the scrap yard although I see plenty of
similar years and models running around fine. Maybe when the weather warms up a little I'll get back
to it. I just don't have a ton of money to pour into a fifteen-year-old car and not sure if it would
be worth it. Also I don't have the equipment that these newer cars require for
troubleshooting and repair. I guess if it turns out to be a $400-$500 part, that's still cheaper than
buying another vehicle. 🤷♂️
Well, that's it for now. I'm sure this is way more info than you needed for a nobody like me, but hey, you are reading this! lol
God bless you, and thank you for reading!
About me
First and foremost I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. After that, I'm a blessed husband, father and
grandfather. I do remote computer work for a living although it's mostly part-time. I'm an amateur
radio operator - AF7EC. When I'm not working on the endless list of house and car projects, I like to
tinker with electronics, like to listen to shortwave radio and write software (mostly open-source) in
C, C++ and Python. I usually bounce around between macOS, Linux and Windows for support and
development work. Overall, I am a big nobody, but always willing to share about Jesus and all that
God has done for me and my family.
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