Thomil's Random Ramblings

If you’ve spent as much time on YouTube as I have, that is to say far too much, you’ve likely come across ads or placements for the likes of HelloFresh or DropChef. I certainly have, more than once. These meal kit delivery services are seemingly everywhere since the start of the pandemic. But, given the millions they seem to invest in marketing, are they actually worth the considerable price they’re asking? Well, as I’ll likely be mostly housebound for another couple of weeks, I decided to find out, particularly with regards to DropChef, as HelloFresh is not available here in Ireland. Now, I generally consider myself to be a somewhat decent cook, and I certainly have the waistline to prove it, or is that an event horizon? However, I’ve recently found myself to be in a recipe rut, always cooking the same five to seven recipes, simply because they’re fast. What’s more, they’re not always the healthiest recipes either, to put it mildly. So, I signed up for DropChef , with their regular

One of the inescapable facts of living in a country that’s different from your place of birth is that you can’t just hop down to the local city hall or municipal office and apply for a new passport or ID card when you need one. I had gotten a new passport back in Germany literally days before emigrating to Ireland in 2012 and, as 2022 dawned, it was time to get a replacement, since my existing passport would expire in early August. So, I did what seemed natural and checked the website of the German Embassy in Dublin for details. The experience from that point onwards was pretty “German”, to put it diplomatically.  Pretty much everything had to be printed out and brought to the embassy, though most of the stuff was at least somewhat understandable. The passport photos had to be provided in physical form, which I guess makes sense. Utility bills as a proof of address were also understandable, especially since Ireland does not operate a central registry system like Germany. Still, I can’

Over the last two weeks, as I’ve been recovering from a pretty bad infection, I’ve spent a lot of time on YouTube, watching a wild variation of history documentaries, yachting videos and tech reviews. One of my main go-to channels in the latter category has been Mr. Mobile . It was the videos on that latter channel that got me thinking. You see, one of Michael Fisher’s recurring point s over the last couple of months has been that “fun” is a perfectly good reason to get a device. And honestly, the more I think about it, the more I tend to agree. Having a device that is simply fun to use, a feature that primarily sparks some geeky joy, is a perfectly good reason to have something. Yet, if you look at many tech review sites, and especially into their comment sections, it seems like this concept has become something akin to heresy in the tech world. It seems strange to be writing about joy and fun just a few days after speculating whether this blog even has a future at all. Still, it is

 Isn’t it strange how quickly things can change? Just last month, I published a blog post about my ten years here in Ireland so far. A few days after that, I was knocked out by the strongest infection I’ve had to deal with in recent years. 40°C Fever, heart rates and blood pressure through the roof, fever dreams, the works. Turns out that old injury I’d picked up in Munich had gotten infected. I’m only now coming around to a stage where I can really write again. The big question is: Should I? The world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket and pretty much everything I could write about just tends to aggravate me. Not that anyone would read it, the analytics for my blog are downright depressing at the moment. Honestly, it seems like the joy has gone from writing, though that might just be the medication I’m currently on.  Still, I feel like I’m at a crossroads at the moment. My blogs have given me no small amount of joy over the decade that I’ve run them. Some of my posts have reac