Monday Thoughts 04

23 Mar, 2026

I mentioned in today's weeknotes that there were some things from last week that I decided not to include in the write-up and that I'd do separate posts. Well...I don't feel like devoting an entire post to each subject so let's dive into some thoughts.

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My wife came to the rescue early last week when inexplicably my hard plastic camera lens protector on my phone cracked. I don't know how it happened; probably as a result of going outside in my snow pants rescuing the yard from the deluge of snow. Anyway, I couldn't peel off the protector because the adhesive is very strong. Luckily my wife watches a lot of TikTok videos and figured out how to remove it (spoiler: apply heat and peel off). I now need to apply a new protector and going to change my front screen protector while I'm at it (that one has been overdue for 2 years now).

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My phone battery saga

Ever since I bought a new battery I've been obsessing over the life of it; I have been, to date, disappointed that I can't get through a work day without a top-up charge. I have been tweaking my 'at work' routine settings¹ over and over, optimizing my device to draw even the tiniest bit of extra battery. No luck - I still need a top-up (unless I'm at home, where I'm not using it as much).

I decided last week that because I expect I'll likely upgrade in 2 years, it's not worth doing the whole 'cap at 80%' nonsense. I'm voluntarily giving up 20% of my battery life, just to extend it maybe a few hours two years from now. So I'm charging to 100%. NOW I see the benefits of the new battery. It's lasting me much, much longer.

Today is the first time I've been back in the office though, so we'll see how it goes.

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I've been meaning to play some more retro games to review on my gaming blog. My intent was console games, but last night it occurred to me I can bring my DS to the bedroom and play 1-2 levels of something before bed. Right now it's Yoshi's Island.

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After the snowstorms last week, the trees were all glazed with ice; it reminded me of The Crystalline Entity from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

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I realized last week that through my adult life I've unintentionally modelled my facial hair after Riker's beard from TNG.

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I organized my thoughts for a new podcast episode and I had every intention of recording last night, but I didn't get to it. We were travelling home so that took up ~7 hours or so, and then we were occupied getting ready for the week - just didn't have the time to devote to it. My wife is busy tonight so maybe after the gym, if she's still out, I'll do that instead of video games...maybe I can do both.

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#echo #thoughts