Blog: December 2023

IndieWeb Carnival en Diciembre 2023 — Tradiciones y Celebraciones de Diciembre

2023-12-22 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in es

Las Tradiciones de Diciembre

Read this post in English.

Me encanta mucho el mes de Diciembre. Cuando se acerca la navidad, me gusta cuando hay nieve en el suelo. Me gustan las celebraciones y tradiciones en las que participó. Yo celebro tradiciones mexicanas y celebraciones estadounidenses. Yo vivo entre las dos culturas y crecí en los Estados Unidos y he vivido en México. En casa lo celebró como si estuviera en México.

Cada año es diferente. A veces estoy en Oaxaca durante el mes de diciembre y a veces estoy en Estados Unidos. Celebró ahí las tradiciones Mexicanas pero más precisamente, las tradiciones Oaxaqueñas. Me gusta ir a ver los bailes y los desfiles. Me gusta ir a los mercados de comida y probar todas las comidas deliciosas. Se nos hace agua en la boca.

Celebraciones Mexicanas:

En mi familia nos gusta mucho cocinar en casa. Hacemos muchos platillos tradicionales. Hacemos tamales de varios sabores, ponche mexicano, mole, pasteles, cocteles de camarón, y muchísimo más! No hay límite. En este mes, normalmente no comemos en la calle. ¡La comida en casa siempre es más rica!

En las noches siempre vemos unas películas de navidad. Nos gusta ver películas en Español. Cada año vemos Home Alone en español porque es muy chistosa. Simplemente estar juntos es importante. Podemos reír entre todos.

Siempre ponemos y arreglamos el árbol de navidad. Nosotros abrimos los regalos en la noche del 24 de diciembre. Siempre ha sido así.

Celebraciones Estadounidenses:

Siempre me reuno con mis amigos. Ahora que no vivimos en la misma región, es muy importante estar juntos. Hablamos como nos fue este año y que queremos cumplir para el año entrante. Algunas cosas que hacemos son casas de jengibres y tenemos una fiesta. Dependiendo como esté el clima, andamos en patineta o vamos al skatepark.

Lo que siempre me anima es la noche de programación. Hacemos un plan en que vamos a programar en una noche. Nos quedamos despiertos hasta la madrugada. Es algo muy bonito de programar algo juntos. Creo que este año vamos hacer un video juego. A ver como nos va.

Esto es mi respuesta al IndieWeb Carnival December 2023 — Holiday and December traditions ¡Muchas Gracias Jo! Todos pueden participar. Si deseas participar en el IndieWeb Carnival haz clic aqui para informarte.

Syndicated on IndieNews ES

IndieWeb Carnival December 2023 — Holiday and December traditions

2023-12-22 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

My December Traditions

Lea este artículo en español.

I really love the month of December. When the holidays approach, I get excited to see snow on the ground. There are so many celebrations and traditions that exist. For myself, I celebrate Mexican traditions and American celebrations. I live between the two cultures and grew up in the United States and have lived in Mexico. At my parents home, we celebrate as if we were in Mexico.

Every year is different. Sometimes I'm in Oaxaca during the month of December and sometimes I'm in the United States. We celebrate Mexican traditions there but more precisely, the Oaxacan traditions. I like to go see the dances and the parades. May I say it's heavenly go to the food markets and try all the delicious meals.

Mexican Traditions:

My family really likes cooking at home. We make many traditional dishes. We make tamales of various flavors, Mexican punch, mole, cakes, shrimp cocktails, and so much more. There's no limit. In this month, we don't normally eat out. Homemade food tastes so much better!

In the evenings, we relax and watch some holiday movies. We like to watch movies in Spanish, especially any of the classics. Every year we see Home Alone in Spanish because it's very funny. It hits differently in Spanish. Just being together is important. We can laugh as a family.

We do decorate our Christmas tree. We open the presents on the night of December 24. It's a traditon. It's always been like that.

United States Traditions:

I always make sure to meet up with my friends when I return to Nebraska. Now that we don't live near each other anymore, it's very important to be together when we are back in our hometowns. We check in with each other and see how our year went and what our goals are for the upcoming year. We build ginger houses and we have a party. What could go wrong? Depending on how the weather is, we're riding our longboards or we're going to skate park.

Im always excited for a night of programming fun. We just see where the night will take us. We make it our goal to stay up until dawn. It's a very nice thing to schedule something together. I think we're going to make a video game this year. Let's see what happens...

This is my response to IndieWeb Carnival December 2023 — Holiday and December traditions Thank you for hosting Jo! Remember anyone and everyone can participate in the IndieWeb Carnival. Click here to learn more and how to participate.

Syndicated on IndieNews EN

I Have a Blog Roll on My Website

2023-12-21 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

I've heard of blogrolls on and off. I didn't really think much of them until recently. I saw Tracy's post on Building community out of strangers. I really enjoyed this post and it got me really interested in exploring the idea of blog rolls. I really enjoy the focus on community and connections. I'm always trying to learn from others and see how I can make deeper connections with others even if they don't know it. It's a different way of connecting with other humans.

I like how Tracy writes what I think often when I read people's blogs

Yes, I want to see what you ate for lunch.

Yes, I want your snarky take on this week’s tech culture kerfuffle.

Yes, I want to hear the song you’ve had stuck in your head all week.

I really want to know what exciting things you are doing!

So I created a blog roll! This is how I did it!

I exported the OPML file downloaded from FreshRSS to convert it to a CSV file. I converted the file and removed unnecessary columns. These are the fields I kept in the CSV file:

  • Name of Feed
  • Site URL
  • Feed URL

Then I used the concatenate feature in Excel. I don't mind practicing the use of Excel formulas. It was actually fun to create and format the links in markdown in the way I wanted. If I decide to change the formatting later, I could always change up the concatenate formula I have setup. I used this formula to create markdown from various fields into this format:

=CONCATENATE("* ", "[", A3, "](", B3, ")", " ", "[(RSS)]", "(", C3, ")")

An example of this would be:

* [Alex Sirac](https://alexsirac.com/) [(RSS)](https://alexsirac.com/feed/)

Which gives me a list item:

My blog roll is available here. I will make it prettier later. I might try to implement a database version so it is easier to maintain. That's another thing to add to the to-list.

The Friend I Made on the Bus

2023-12-20 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

I was browsing the web and I happened to stumble upon this Instagram post. It was a screenshot of a tweet OP posted about two girls on a cruise who became best friends for the day. One of the girls was looking for her best friend that day.

Here is what the post said, if you don't want to open an Instagram link. The post also has the picture of two girls on the cruise sitting next to each other.

in Hawaii in 2006. We were basically best friends for that night so I need y'all to help me find my bestfriend because I miss her and I need to see how she's doing now. Please retweet this so we can be reunited.

This helped me unlock a memory of an experience I had as a young kid. I remember my family and I took the Greyhound bus back from Mexico all the way to Nebraska. This was in the early 2000s. Let me tell you. When you're six or seven on a bus from Southern Mexico to Nebraska, you feel like dying, died, and forgot you died on a 48+ hour (or however long) ride. Maybe I'm being dramatic. It wasn't a pleasant ride, at least most of it.

I remember when the bus made a stop somewhere in Texas possibly in Austin or Dallas. I remember I was already having a bad time since I've been on a bus for an extended amount of time. Then some kid around my age got on the bus with his family. I gave him the nod to acknowledge him. He happened to sit near us. An hour or so had passed and I was curious and was desperate to talk to someone who wasn't in my family. So I said hello to the kid. I don't regret doing so.

When I said hello, right off the bat we hit it off. We were talking about a bunch of nerd stuff that kids our age were interested in.. I remember bringing up our computers and we lost our minds. I was telling him about the iMac G3s I would use at school or how my friend built a small website on his computer. He would tell me about things he'd create on Kid Pix. We also talked about our favorite TV shows, our hobbies, and upbringings. We shared stories. This kid was super cool! I hope he thought I was cool too. We had a grand old time.

At some point, he and his family had to get off to their transfer point or it was their final destination. We said our goodbyes. Then I waved at him, he waved back when he was on the ground. It was a very warm and sad moment to say goodbye to my best friend of that day.

I unfortunately don't remember his name and I doubt he remembers mine. At that time, it wasn't common for young kids to have a cell phone. We didn't exchange numbers or email. I think about this often. I wish I could find out where he is and if he is doing well. Who knows what paths we've taken? Have we crossed paths and not known it? I hope we get to meet someday and this post comes across him and we could reconnect.

If you're out there man, say hello!

Do you have a story similar to this? I'd love to hear from you.

My Childhood Home

2023-12-20 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

snow

I flew back for the holidays to my hometown in Nebraska. When I'm on the plane ride home, various memories run through my head as I am excited to visit home. I think about the things I need to get done while I am home. I'm excited to see my friends and most importantly, my family.

My hometown is quiet. There's enough to do. There are stores, parks, movie theaters. Just enough. There are subtle things I do miss about my hometown. It's the place that saw me grow up. A place where I am familiar with.

Something happens as I enter my childhood home. I spent most of my childhood in this house. When I step into the home, so many many memories flood my mind. It's like I unzipped a .zip file and the entire folder just spills. Every step I take and every time I turn my head, flashbacks come to me as well.

There are so many moments that make me feel happy. I remember it was here I got my first computer. It's where I learned to ride a bike. I remember helping my mom study for the U.S Citizenship Test everyday afterschool. I remember numerous times packing and unpacking for/from Mexico. I remember the moment I learned I was accepted into university.

My bedroom was a place of safety. A place where I could be myself. The place where I learned. I took apart my first computer. A place I recorded my first audio note. A place to allow my emotions to run free.

We didn't live in the best house but it was our house. We had a roof over our heads.

I reflect back on all this and it brings a smile of joy. So much has happened. So many things happening in the background I didn't know were happening.

I'm here now rearranging my room. I feel happy that I can still make it my own and still have a place of safety.