I’m heading off for a long service leave trip. Tickets are booked, bags are packed, anxiety about whether we’ve missed anything is once again running rampant. We’ve had to postpone this four times owing to factors outside our control, so we can’t believe it’s finally happening. And yes, before you ask, three more things thing popped up, but we finally had the gumption to push back. I’m not sure what the dynamic will be over the next few weeks. Maybe I’ll continue blogging every day or so, or it might be a week in between posts while I dust off our hiking boots and explore Japan again. See you again soon :). By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2025-04-19.

Plus a Very Juicy Rattle Bag

Over the course of 169 issues, Classics Illustrated gave me a taste for mind-expanding reading that lasted a lifetime

talking w Eliza McLamb about stealing from WiSpa, leaving LA, and reading what ppl say about you in the snark communities

I cannot overstate what a gem Stefano Marinelli is to the BSD operating system community. He’s kind, clear headed, and curious. He operates several Mastodon instances from the delightfully-named BSD.cafe server, from which I follow a significant number of people, and we’ve DM’d a few times on some heavy topics. If he and I are ever in the same city, I owe him several beverages, and likely a hug. I was so happy to see this new post in which he graciously mentioned my ramblings! I’ve decided to start writing on a personal blog again. Not just on IT Notes, where I’ll continue to publish technical content as I’ve been doing, but also on a more personal and general blog. And this for a number of reasons. He describes a few motivating points, but I think this one was key: Too many things I’ve written on social media have disappeared into nothingness after a few days. I’ve seen people comment on a few stories critical of Mastodon lately; concerns I don’t necessarily share, but that I’m sympathetic to. I’ve got a proper post about this brewing in the back of my mind, but I definitely see this struggle between social media and personal spaces you own and control. I’m reminded of the early days of Twitter, where we used it more like throwaway SMS. Blogs, on the other hand, were for the thoughts you wanted to survive. I’ve got another post coming up soon comparing a few different blogging tools for people who want to dip their toes into this wonderful form of self-expression (present writer notwithstanding), but in the meantime I’m so happy to add Stefano’s blog to Clara’s and my RSS reader. And yes, that was a not-so-thinly-veiled push for you to start one as well, dear reader, if you haven’t already. By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2025-04-18.