Hello World. It's me, Ariel.

Trials of Procuring a Mobile Device in 2019

When did upgrading your phone become so complicated?

Why am I getting a new phone in the first place? Honestly, my current phone (Galaxy S6, which I got back in Jan 2016) still works fine for the most part. BUT since Samsung has decided to stop pushing/supporting updates for it, my work apps (I know, SO SPOOKY, having work have access to my personal phone!) all got wiped due to my device being “out of compliance”. It’s a little hard to say I’m “on-call” when I can’t respond unless I’m near my laptop.
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Best Albums Ever: A Completely Objective List

A comment in a r/music reminded me of the Jimmy Eat World song If You Don’t, Don’t and pointed out that pretty much every Jimmy Eat World song I loved was on one album which must, objectively (subjectively), make it one of the best albums of all time.

I grew up in a period (and social class) where I didn’t really group songs by “album” (why? 1) no allowance to buy CDs, 2) the internet) so it usually comes as a surprise to me when 1 album has a cluster of my favorite songs. Anyway, it got me thinking and after 5 minutes (this is definitely a deep and well-thought out list), I have compiled a list of my favorite albums of all time, in no order:

Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
The Killers - Sam's Town
All American Rejects - Move Along
Brand New - Deja Entendu
Panic at the Disco - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory AND Meteora
My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade

Not trying to be edgy or pretentious–these are pretty mainstream albums. But they’re mainstream for a reason–they’re objectively the best.

Detroit: Become Human

As the years go by, I’ve had an increasingly poor track record of starting games, much less finishing them. (Granted, I never really had a good track record of finishing games even pre-college–my MO was always “sink 100 hours into getting literally every item but then wander around pre-final boss feeling super powerful and never actually fight him because that would mean bringing my journey to an end.”) The mental commitment to start a game has gotten more and more insurmountable, so that I don’t even start. However, a couple of months ago, the hype around Detroit: Become Human was great enough that I decided to sit down and play it.
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