And just like that, another month is over, this time August. It’s time to look back. Nothing spectacular really happened, but here’s a little bit about the unspectacular things…

In my last summary, I mentioned that I had automated a few things. One automation is the daily download of the current issue of the local newspaper from the GENIOS eBIB, which my local city library provides me with access to. So, most days in August, I read the newspaper in the morning before work while having breakfast. Now I’m more up-to-date on what’s happening in Braunschweig. For non-regional news, I still read SPIEGEL.

At work this month, I did a lot of vacation cover and got to be the lead developer. Sometimes the extra meetings are stressful, but it’s also kind of fun to give out tasks and make sure everyone has something to do. I went to the office once this month, but it was really just to return my old work laptop, because I got a new one a few weeks ago.

In August, my fiancée also began her teaching internship as an elementary school teacher. Since she’s now always very busy, I often had more time after work to follow my different interests and get lost in metaphorical rabbit holes. For example, I probably spent too much time researching virtualized routers. I installed OpenWRT in Proxmox and later tried to set up a router with NixOS. In the end, I decided to sell the mini PC I bought for this purpose, because my current setup works so well and a virtual router wouldn’t give me any real advantages.

I went on a few bike tours after my bike was repaired and I also had to fix the front brake myself. Because I was happy with the repair and felt confident in my improving mechanical skills (I’ve never had to change a tube or bleed the hydraulic brakes before 🤞), I also made a few upgrades. I gave my bike a new bell, ergonomic grips with bar ends, and (today) a rear bike rack. Even though I’ve spent most of my life in Braunschweig, there are always new spots I can discover by bike.

Even though I love to ride my bike and the tours are often pretty challenging, I still don’t move enough in my daily life. For some reason, I just don’t do much sports anymore. I rarely get on my rowing machine or exercise bike. That has to change, so I bought a treadmill for under my desk. Now I walk for about two hours every workday (which is more than 10 000 steps). I also made another attempt to get back into Freeletics. Freeletics worked really well for me two years ago. Anyway, today my legs are pretty sore, probably a mix of a lot of treadmill walking, a bike tour, and a Freeletics “Gods Workout” in the past two days. Maybe the walking on the treadmill will give me daily the needed energy to do a workout in the afternoon?

This month, I really wanted to completely redo the documentation for my blog software GoBlog with the help of AI, but I just didn’t get around to it. Maybe next month. 😅

Well, I think that’s it for August. Let’s see what September brings!