I've been flying!

I've been all over. I've been climbing mountains in Albania, and wandering by waterfalls in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and now I'm back, again intent on catching up with site-related dues and other things I ought do in life.

Some site-related updates:

• Added title tags to images that were missing, since the WP 3.5 update back in December 11, 2012 removed the field. I installed a plugin to fix this in future posts when I noticed it was missing, but I remember not being aware exactly when the change came into play, and thus not actually fixing those missing titles back in the day... well I remembered this now! And the exact date that title tag behavior changed was easy to pinpoint with a little research.
• Fixed old image alignment issues on ~200 other posts - discovered said issues existed whilst adding in the missing title tags above.
• Fixed wonky margins on dividers in posts.
• Replaced the lightbox script I've been using, since the previous had some deprecated code. The new lightbox works for videos too, and has better caption support than the old one! Also looks better, IMHO.
• Added my Vimla tipslänk to the sitemap. If you're not Swedish this is totally irrelevant to you, but if you are then have a look! Feel free to use the link there if ever you choose to get a subscription with Vimla. I'm almost down to 0 SEK/month on my cellphone plan at this point.
• Fine-tuned backup routines - maybe I'll get into the weeds of this in another blog.

Some random updates elsewhere:

• Someone vacuumed a chicken out of a storm drain. Very cute.
• There's a new API for AS2 out on NG! I hope to try it soon.
• Early TPB backer Carl Lundström died in a plane crash recently. Early Internet might not have been the same without you, so RIP Carl! There's a good Reddit post about him too. He was controversial.
• Arthur Firstenberg just died as well, of an unknown ailment. He was a very different kind of pioneer, but I greatly appreciate his efforts in combatting the new wireless world; hope his legacy is kept alive. And to read his books eventually, they seem enlightening too.
• Jewelia just put out a new single. I've been a follower and backer since her debut album (If Only You Were Real is my definitive favorite there). Her music's getting poppier and poppier, and I really liked the original style, but this ain't bad...
• Harry Mack's Omegle Bars 102 were a blast. Run it back!

Did I mention I went down 4 kg when I caught the flu recently?

A good fever really does help with weight loss! Finally I'm back under 100 kg, and I'm staying there this time.

Blew my nose till my ears screeched and popped. Feared flying to Bosnia when I still hadn't regained my hearing but... no problems! Bought pressure equalizing earplugs and nasal spray for no reason.

Oh well. The trip went well, that's the main thing.

More on those trips in a bit! That's it.

Snow Drifting In Sweden.

May be one of the most captivating drift videos I've ever seen...

Ken Block would've probably done it better, but imperfection has a charm to it too, and the symbiosis of visuals and sound here is so perfect. The music amplifies the journey. The speed, the recklessness, the soft snow and surrounding darkness of the mid-winter wilderness...

I want to hit the roads too when I see something like this! If you have the resources for a tour in a Volvo or a Taurus winter's fun.

I just learned about the HMHS Britannic.

It was a sister ship to the Titanic, and it sunk as well! The captain with it.

It was one of three ships made for the White Star Line's Olympic class that's become so iconic, and they all suffered similar fates, though the first and final was the one and only that actually made it through unscathed. And yet it ran into two ships, rammed a submarine, and was used actively during the first World War! The RMS Olympic. It made it through all those ordeals intact, and was only later scrapped during the great depression.

What a way to end such a glorious adventure.

And I'd never even heard of these sibling ships! Only the Titanic - and it's promised successor Titanic II. Yet every one of these three Olympic ships has a remarkable story.

Speaking of remarkable stories (or not - more so just random videos and tidbits of other irrelevant know-how worth a share), did you hear Harry Mack freestyle for Tony Hawk on his podcast earlier? Have you seen the iconic but somewhat forgotten Solid Potato Salad dance? And did you know how complicated it is to measure music popularity these days?

If you haven't that is OK! None of these items is of utmost importance.

IRL I've been recouping. I've probably mentioned at least a few times at this point that I'm headed to Albania next Friday, for a quick session of weekend sightseeing with buddy Bear, yet I'm still dealing with this friggin' throat thing, and that makes me a wee bit nervous.

Last weekend I was dealing with the worst of it. Both tonsils were red red and clearly inflamed, it hurt to swallow, it was hard to fall asleep, and I think I ran a fever for a while during the second cruise, though didn't have any thermometer to measure.

I got the OK to work at a distance this week instead of heading in to the office, and gradually it's been getting better and better. After a while just my right tonsil was hurting, now it's just my left, and the pain's getting lesser and lesser.

For a while the pain was radiating to my ears though, and that's what made me a tad bit nervous. The last time I flew with an ear infection I lost my hearing in both ears for about a week, I might've popped an ear drum or two, it was an uncomfortable and a little scary experience.

So I'd rather not fly anywhere in a similar state again.

But I'm getting better! Better and better. I stayed indoors for a few days this week, I've been out a bit more this weekend, and tomorrow I'll be back to the actual office again.

Hope I don't pick up any new bacteria on the way there.

Feels like overall this start of the year has been riddled with sickness and issues of health. If I lift weights I get back issues, if I walk I get knee issues, if I'm around people too much I get weird infections in the back of my throat... my immune system hasn't been doing great thus far this brand new 2025. And I'm tired.

I'm getting tired of just complaining; blogging about what bogs me down too, but what do I have a blog for if not to type up on what's relevant to me at any particular time?

Hopefully I need not spend time writing about such things much longer. I hope all inconveniencies clear up soon - when the skies are once again sunny and clear and Spring is truly here for real maybe.

At least enough so that I can get serious about my consistently neglected shape, and get my vocal chords warmed up while I'm at it, I've some dusty ideas that await recording in my metaphorical attic.

We did have a few both sunny and snowy days recently, and it felt almost sacrilegious to just be sitting in then, but I'll be outside soon enough.

I'll be strolling around with a queue of JRE podcasts in my headphones, gaining momentum and insight, gradually improving my being on both the metaphysical and physical plane, spending time only on Meta while I work the company's social media game, spending less time on distractions, getting rid of all types of pain.

Any more positive news? Well I've been playing DOOM again! If that's a positive I don't know, but I'm documenting my gameplay, and some of that should be going up on the site soon, along with a few quick reviews.

I've also been catching up on overdue correspondence, and we're celebrating my dad today (we celebrated on Valentine too - his actual 82nd Birthday - today's the official get-together for it).

I have little otherwise to report, and time is always short, and it moves along here steadily, a momentum we cannot thwart. And problems grow like warts, I can't record with vocal chords sore, my mom had two eye operation too, so I've been taking over some more chores.

And that is all y'all, for sure sure. Speak more later.

If ever you need something to brighten up your day real quick.

I've been on a cruise again!

Two more within four days no less, with a good buddy and a cousin... and both were great, though I seem to have caught something from the (I assume) breakfast buffet with either the former or the latter, cause a day later I was back home with a pretty grueling case of something that seems akin to strep throat.

Is it really a case of streptococci bacteria though? A mild case of tonsilitis mayhaps? Some food allergy, or immune-related response, or lingering cold-related symptoms that were further enhanced by exacerbations and additional trips? None of the symptoms sets match entirely.

Who knows!

It's painful to swallow anyhow. At first mostly my left tonsil, now my right, and for a couple of nights my ears were popping and getting pretty painful as well, and I wondered if I was coming down with an ear infection also, but *knock on wood* that at least seems not to be the case...

The time of cruising is over at least, for now.

I've bought a bundle of interesting beverages on board, I've tested some finer brands of whisky and liquor, I've had three breakfast buffets - one on a weekend and two on weekdays - the dishes differ, toured the M/S Birka Gotland rigorously, sat above the helm and talked stocks for an hour or two with my good friend, played cards by a sunny window on deck 5 with my cousin, listened to a variety of artists, played for a couple of kronor at the casino, stood stoically in a blitz of snow one wavy night, watched the moonlit sea from the window another, soaked in sun on the last way back, and I'm starting to get a pretty good geographical grasp on the layout of the Stockholm archipelago...

Good trips! They're just as cheap next week too, and I do have a few spare days then, but I feel like I've had enough of boats for now, and besides, next weekend we're headed for Albania.

So much of the past month's been spent on sickness though.

I've been sick, mom and dad have been sick, my sister too, both my boss and his brother, good buddy Bear also...

Get-together and Birthday celebration plans have been getting postponed continually, and before you know it you've spent a twelfth of the New Year on not much of anything...

I can't help feel like I could've been much more prolific. I'm sick of feeling worn down and sickish.

You know that NG documentary though? It made it! One little victory. Magnific.

Ever heard of exploding pingos btw? Ever watched the Guinness Record for sheep to jumper? How about Trump's (with certain enhancement/montaging) Harry Styles cover?

Apart from the cruises I've been playing some DOOM 2 the past few days, while I binge podcasts in the background and troubleshoot a somewhat problematic (aren't they always) integration migration at work.

If you have a working API why you gotta change one? Innovation's our main frustration.

Speak more in a few. Go cruise or to Zoo. It's coo'.

Oh I'm ready now!