Two Offices, One Flow: Setting Up Desks for Hybrid Work

Ever since I moved jobs in May, I've come to realize that my every day carry has become quite minimalist. Other than my laptop, a bag with esencial cables, an umbrella, notepad, pens, daily planner, sun glasses and headphones on my backpack. In my pockets I just carry keys, wallet, smartphone, earphones, keys and my smartwatch. Other than that, I don't anything else on daily basis.

 Any other of the things I need for work, are at my desk at home or work desks. And even on the desks, I try to just keep what I need to do on daily basis on both desk. What's on both desks is a bit different, but on both is a keyboard, mouse, desk mat, pens and pencils on a dedicated holder, and some notebooks at the desktop. On drawers cables, other things, that I need to use from time to time, but not often like a stapler, cables, and chargers.

My desk at work is still lacking somethings, like a lamp and plant. I'd like to add a second monitor but is not mandatory. To be honest, the administrative work area is still a work in progress. But this time, I've more of a say on how that desk is going to be set. We are still working on my schedule, so how many hours I'd be working from my home office, and how many I'd be working at the work office are fluid. Though having a well set up desk for administrative work will benefit everyone, since we are a couple of people that need to use on regular basis.

I've several ideas on how to improve both desks, but we'll see what and how those ideas can be implemented. The most important thing, is to make both desk places that are easy to work in, and help bring out the best work. 

The SteamOS Effect: How Valve Turned Linux Into a Legitimate Gaming Platform

As a Linux Mint user, that enjoys playing video games, that Valve decided to create SteamOS has been a blessing. Mainly because it means the video games are coming to the Linux desktops, when a few years ago being able to play video games on Linux was constrained due to the lack of people using Linux.

That Valve making its own Linux distro with SteamOS, Linux becomes a legitimate platform for video game distributions. Specially because Valve put a lot of work in Proton to bring video games playable on Windows to Linux via Steam. And while some titles on Steam have been developed for Linux, Proton expands the number of titles playable on Linux by orders of magnitude.

Personally, gaming was the only thing that could have made considered to dual boot Linux Mint and Windows, or having a dedicated PC gaming. Yet, now that Steam OS development has come, and made the need for that redundant.

While Linux might not become as mainstream as Windows or macOS, the fact that Steam OS has made gaming a thing on Linux makes me hopeful about the adoption of Linux. 

Why My Backpack Has Over-Ears and My Pocket Has In-Ears

Turns out that although I do love Bluetooth headphones, the form factor I prefer to use depends on what and where I'm going to be while using the headphones.

While I'm walking, at work on-site, or commuting, I prefer in-ear headphones. I prefer in-ear headphones while doing so, mainly because they are light, the sound quality is good enough, and more comfortable to wear while while I'm on the move.

Meanwhile, when I'm at my home office, café, or bar, I go for over-ear headphones. Mainly because they are better at isolating me for ambient noise, and thus help be better concentrate on what I'm doing, or just better shield myself from the ambient noise.

Currently I own a pair of in-ear and a pair of over-ear headphones. One pair of over-ear headphones is stationed at my home office, while the other comes with me in my backpack when I go on the road or just want to work somewhere outside other than my home office, or my desk at work.

When working at my desk at work, I've a pair of in-ear headphones living there for when I want to focus on a certain task or just not listen to the chatter of the clients or coworkers talking among themselves while not cutting myself from them if I'm needed. Another pair lives at my pocket, so it always comes with me on my walks or commute. Specially because, when on my way to, or from work, or walking, is when I've time to listen to the podcasts I like, or I just put some relaxing music.

At the end of the day, Bluetooth headphone have won me over.

Mugs and Mugs: A Grown-Up’s Guide to the Third Place

With age, I've come to realize that the third place that work for me are actually two places.  One would be the café, and the other the bar. Since I find that coffee and beer have become my go-to beverages when I want to relax. meet friends, do some writing, or just take my mind off whatever is bringing me down at the moment.

That is why I tend to prefer small-to-medium places, that play music that blends with the background when I'm there with friends, or just want to put on my headphones to listen to some of my favorite music. That it has WiFi is a big bonus, specially since I like to blog, stream music at times, or just watch some YouTube. Yet, consideres a bit of an option since I can use my smartphone as a hotspot, or I don't need it when I'm with friends or with coworkers.

My favorite cafés, and bars, tend to lend themselves to be places I can socialize or work in a more relaxed manner. Cozy in a way that helps to relaxed, and create a more friendly atmosphere depending on the situation.

The choice of going to a café, or a bar, is more dependent on if I'm going alone or with a friends, the time of the day, and my mood at the moment. As I said, coffee and beer are both my favorite drinks for some time off, do some work, and everything in-between. The weather may come into play, but more so when is hot. When is raining or a bit cold, either drink does a great job hitting the right spot when I need them to.

For now I can recommend Tierra Café, Magma Café, and La Flor de Cordoba. The first two are small cafés with a single location, while La Flor de Cordoba is more a mall chain that has managed to makes its locations feel friendly and cozy.

On the bar side of things, the one I can recommend and go regularly is Santas Alitas. They follow the franchise model, but they do well in making each location fit its surroundings. While all the locations feel cozy and relaxed, the main difference you find in each one it the music they play, and how the waiters serve. All are quite friendly, there are some minor difference depending on the main clientèle they serve at each location.

Other bars I also like, but stop going on regular basis because of the distance and opening hours is Over Wings and Games Bar, but are bars that I'd happily return if I have the chance. The same goes for DrünkenTap de Paseos del Sol, which is more of a craft beer spot, for those who like that type of beer.

At the end of the day, each will choose the third place that better suits their personal preferences. 

Finding the Perfect Remote Desktop Fit: Why RustDesk Beats AnyDesk for Me

After using AnyDesk for a couple of weeks, it didn't fit my needs. The license for the features I need is just to expensive. So, after a some research I moved to RustDesk, and it got all I need.

RustDesk is easy to use, and with a cleaner user interface that allows me to use it effectively. The best thing, is that my use of RustDesk means I don't have to buy a license since I don't need the features that come with it. As such, in both pricing and feature set RustDesk is a far better fit.

After a week of using RustDesk daily, I can say it is quite a good option. For me, the fact that it is open-source software, and it works on Linux Mint, RustDesk the more attractive option. Specially since I prefer to avoid proprietary software when there is an open-source option that works at least as well.

Honestly, RustDesk and Remmina have become my remote desktop apps of choice.  While their use cases are a bit different, I would choose any of them depending on what I need to do. In the case of RustDesk, that is works on Windows and macOS too gives it an edge for me over the apps of the competition. 

The Cozy Side of Linux: How Steam and Linux Mint Brought Back My Gaming Hobby

If you told me five years ago I'd be playing video games via Steam on Linux Mint, on the daily basis I wouldn't have believed you.

Currently I play Palia, and from time to time I also play Sword of Convallaria. Both run rather smoothly on Linux Mint, so much so that Palia has become my cozy place to relax, and just forget about the world for a while. While there has been some hip cups along the way, the experience has been mostly positive, and getting better with each update of Steam on Linux.

So much so, that there have been days when I've lost track of time while playing. Honestly, if I could do anything to improve the gaming experience I have, it would be to add more RAM to my laptop just to give myself a wider margin in RAM usage during my gaming sessions while playing Palia, since is the game that seems to need a bigger RAM overhead.

As such, there are a lot of games on Steam than 16 GB of RAM would be more than enough, just as they would need on Windows. So, at the end comes to what each gamer actually needs to run the games they want without issues.

I didn't need much more reasons to stay on Linux Mint, but now that gaming on Linux Mint is actually doable easily is makes staying that much easier.

The Linux Mint development team has made strides on making the OS better with time, and now that they have made the choice take a longer development time to actually release an update with all the updates they want to make in a polished manner, makes for a better choice for an OS for more users.

Linux Mint is truly an user focused Linux distro. 

Locked In: The Frustration of Limited Data Export in Laundromat Management

One of the most helpful features that out current ERP(enterprise resource planning) system lacks, is the possibility to export anything other that the sales out of the system to a be able to work with the info with other software. Even the features to work with the info within the system is limited to basic things like adding, editing, or erasing data from the builtin databases.

Which limits its usefulness, since you can't use the data in the system to do things like calculate costs, or work with pricing, easily. Coming from ERP systems that had these features, this feels quite limiting.

Not that is makes it a bad system per se, it just feels that it still has more potential to give to make laundromat management a lot easier. A good thing it has for example, is that as admin I can be working on the databases changing, or adding, items without getting in the way of our operations team by having them change users every time something like that needs to be work on. Though it would be better, if could do it by being able to access just the database remotely without having to access the computer directly via a remote desktop application.

Using our system when you only have one location, is a solid 8/10 since it has almost all what one needs to manage a laundromat. It lacks some features that would greatly improve the ease of management, but as it is a set forward of having to do it by hand, or apps that aren't meant for the task.

Yet, since we have plans to expand our to other locations it time, it starts to became less useful for such management.