Blog: November 2023

Rachel Ray Needs to Be Stopped

This post was written in en

I have witnessed some bad cooking in my life but my goodness my soul was questioning my own existence. Knowing the basics are important. I acknowledge that there are various approaches to make popular Mexican dishes but Rachel Ray's approaches is not good. There is so much missing and there is such a disconnect with the inteded cultural connections. Some things witnessed in this video are just plain wrong. I'm still shaking my head.

These review videos are everything I felt. The emotions I felt when from shocked to disbelief to me being angry at various degrees. I shared these emotions with the ladies in the video.


Things I've Eaten in Nebraska in the Last 48 Hours

This post was written in en

A picture of a tamale

a "tamale de dulce" or a sweet tamale.

I'm back in Nebraska for the Thanksgiving holiday. I've been eating quite a bit of food since I've got here. I'm mostly been eating homemade Mexican Food.

Here are the things, I've eaten in the last 48 hours:

  • Atole - hot corn and masa-based beverage
  • Arroz
  • Mole and Chicken
  • Tlayudas (I sent from California)
  • Tacos de Lengua (Cow Tongue)
  • Tamales - Not all tamales are savory or with meat, we have sweet or vegetarian ones
    • Mole and Chicken
    • Dulce (Pineapple, Raisins, and Sugar)
  • Eileen's Cookies
    • Monster Oatmeal
  • Donuts

Things to Eat:

  • Eat a Runza, a Nebraska Staple

Important Topics to Come

This post was written in en

As I get comfortable with writing more, I'd like to write about some topics that are not so much in the public eye or ones that "We should really try to make it better." These are topics I've been very passionate about.

These two topics are HIV and Public Transportation. I've been wanting to write more about these two for a long time.

Many of us are aware of HIV and the epidemic during 1980s and 1990s. The topic of HIV can be sensitive topic for many for various reasons. HIV is still here with us. Science has found ways to curtail HIV infections and keep people alive but it's not elimated. I feel it's important to talk about still.

Many of us didn't grow up with public transportion. The United States is a car centric country to get around from one place to another. The only way to suceed in United States is to depend on having a car for opportunities. It shouldn't be that way.

For HIV I'd like to cover:

  • AIDS Epidemic
  • Resources for People with HIV
  • How I got educated on HIV
  • Volunteering/Helping those with HIV

For Public Transportation I'd like to cover:

  • Access in Rural Areas
  • Comparisons between the United States and the World
  • How Disentregation and Destruction of Public Transporation isolated the United States

Train Rides & Trader Joe's

This post was written in en

picture of inside of train

Ever since I was a kid I was always facinated with public transporation. I remember watching television and videos on the internet of people getting on public transportation. I always wondered why it isn't common to have it everywhere. I've lived in various parts around the world where it is simply normal to have various methods of public transportation. Having lived in Mexico for short periods of times, I did ride buses to get to the city because it was the most economical way. One slight issue living in the United States, I didn't grow up in an area where public transportion was none existent. I grew up in Nebraska. You needed a car to get around. It was also weird to be walking around. I found that idea to be weird.

The world has been surpassing the United States for decades. It's getting more obvious every day.

Since I moved the California, I've taken the Amtrak Train thirty-five (35) times since 2021. It's an easy trip to do between Sacramento and San Francisco or even to other cities in California.

Times I've Taken the Train
Year Progress
2021 - 7 Times
2022 - 9 Times
2023 - 17 Times

The last time I did even remotely close to this was when I was living in France. I still have all the tickets to show.

Reasons I Take The Train:

  • Environment - A lot more people can move around all at one time and it elimates so many cars off the roads. It helps reduce emissions.
  • Convenience - There is enough trains throught out the day, that you can just book your ticket minutes before it heads out.
  • Avoiding traffic - Driving isn't fun when you're surrounded by cars waiting for the line to move. It's nice not having to wait around in traffic when the train is simply going on its way on the the tracks.
  • Not paying for parking - Parking in cities such as San Francisco is so expensive or you have to move your car for city services. It seems so much of a hastle to be worrying about your car in a place where you can walk.
  • Not worrying about my car in a big city. - With so many car break-ins happening throughout cities in the United States, I can breath a sigh of relief knowing I don't have to worry about my car left alone or pondering if I did my best to get everything out of sight.
  • I can get work done on the train. - I'm always working on my computer and I can get so much done weather it's for work or for personal endeavors.

I also enjoy getting groceries at Trader Joe's before I get on the train especially if I'm going to get back to Sacramento late. It's nice to be able to get groceries for the week and take them with me on the train. It's a small little habit or tradition. I also save money by buying snacks ahead of time and not having to spend extra on snacks on the train.

I hope my friend Sammy can come out to California for a fun train ride from Sacramento to San Francisco. I know he'd love it. Heck even one of these days, I'd love to catch the train that runs (Amtrak California Zephyr) through our hometowns in Nebraska and ride up to Sacramento. Hopefully soon!


Blogging for 10+ Years

This post was written in en

Blogging for 10+ Years

A Journey Through Time and the Web.

by Pablo Morales

Hooray! It's been 13 years since I wrote my first blog post to help me enter the world of blogging. I forgot to celebrate at the 10 year mark. Better late than never! I wrote a post a few months ago on Why I Blog? When I wrote that post, It didn't really click that I had actually written for so long. I wrote on and off so blogging wasn't continuous. So I can't say I wrote often during these 10+ years of blogging until more recently..

It's weird going back and try to make sense of who I was at any point in the blog timeline or what things I were considered important to to me. I was only a teenager when I started and now I am in my late 20s.

I've kept most of my blog posts and there are a few I've lost. Over time I have consolidated posts onto lifeofpablo.com

Services I've Used:

  • Altervista (Wordpress)
  • Wordpress.org
  • SayNow (voice blogs)

What I'm Using Now

Blogging in 2023

I am really happy that I started to blog a lot more this year than I ever have. At the time of this post, the post will be number sixty-seven (67) I've written this year. post I feel this year I've learned to be more focused and to be more expressive. It has helped me socialize in ways I haven't done in so many years. I also hope that I can somehow improve someone's life by reading my posts and vice versa.

Documenting 2023 through blogging helps me solidify my thoughts. Also blogging helped me to particpate in the IndieWeb instead of being on the sidelines. It has helped me get over my fear of not worrying so much of what people think about me. I simply write and hope I impact at least one person with my post.

Goals

Some goals for writing is sharing about the things I love. I want to make more visual or auditory blog posts. These posts would be similar to what I was doing earlier. Continue growing my blogging community.

Some Visuals

During the early days of my site, I used Wordpress because it was easy to install and it was (still is) the defacto blogging platform. It was easy to pick a theme and just the site to exist along blog posts.

Memory Lane: WordPress

When I was using WordPress, my site went through many iterations on how it appeared. It started out simple to more complex thems. Image without description

Image without description This was when I was both an education and nursing major.

Image without description This layout I liked because it had links to posts in blocks. I also showed off my travels.

Image without description More adventures.

My Current Site: Datenstrom

Image without description

I am using Datenstrom Yellow as the current flat-file content management system to host my site and blog. I like to keep my site minimal and being able to adjust it very easily. It's been my CMS for many years after I ditched WordPress.

Conclusion

I'm happy it's been since 2010 since I started blogging and I didn't completely stop blogging, I only took pauses.

This post has been syndicated to IndieWeb News.