What I am reading

Hail Mary – Andy Weir

I really don’t like science fiction. I like fantasy fiction, but SCIENCE? Really not my thing. But, I thought, if everyone was talking about this book, I had to give at least the first 3 chapters a try… and his writing brought me in, and ended in such a magnificent, satisfying way, that I cannot believe I read and enjoyed a book about space (I mean, aside from Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid)..

I also gave it to my son and he devoured it in a day and loved it.

What I am obsessed about

ProtonVPN privacy

I have always been someone wary of privacy and data gathering to a certain extent. I mean, if you really want to get rid of all risks, don’t even own a credit card, pay cash, delete all social media, go completely off the grid..!! I am not THAT. But I am someone who likes to be careful.

Ever since I found out that all the other major VPN brands like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, they have all sold out to unsavoury corporations / individual conglomerates, I was desperate to find another VPN that would be independent.

I managed to find BuyCatVPN which was fine, but I think it is good for people who don’t mind what city or country their VPN is, and don’t want a specific static IP address all the time (it bounces from one city to another in Canada for instance). That is fine for a general user of the internet, but I am more of a control freak.

So I paid more, and trialed ProtonVPN for a month, plus I also signed up for their (free) email account. Thus far, I am very happy with the service – I had an issue and they resolved it promptly, within a day – and I will also commit to their email services as well on a personal note.

(You don’t need to also sign up for their email service, but if you don’t, they only give 1GB for their email storage, whereas Gmail is free, and has 15GB but is problematic these days.)

I plan on buying their maximum-year plan for the VPN and have installed it both on Mac and Windows operating systems, and am very happy with the results.

What I am watching

Don’t be a Lemon (YouTube)

Elle from Don’t be a Lemon on YouTube. She is an excellent de-influencer and I love her analysis on why we buy, influencers and the whole social and psychologically aspect around spending, wealth and money.

Her videos and then the subsequent conversations I have had with other people made me write this post “If you actually have money, you aren’t talking about it.”

(In case you didn’t know, I also have a microblog on Substack for fun where I post random thoughts sometimes, not consistently…)

Here are some of my favourites from her:

• I decluttered 90% of my life
• The psychology of people who can’t stop spending
• Stop buying that – 7 rules to help
• 14 things in my home that proved I had a spending problem

I like watching her videos because I don’t necessarily need to see the screen while I am cleaning, sewing, embroidering or doing the dishes, and I think she is helping me stay grounded and on track (you all know I am very spend-y even though I do save a lot as well; we can always improve…)

I would also say that if you are interested in those above videos, I liked reading this post – My Year of Buy Nothing which was a very honest read (yes, I totally get feeling sanctimonious when you DON’T buy anything and I would 100% feel the same way, we are all set up to feel like that because of the way society is..)

Inspo

Sofia Vergara’s casual yet polished look

She is known IRL to wear mostly form fitting, feminine gear, and she looks fantastic, but this particular look with the more casual baggy jean is not only more my style, but also such a fun way to wear something so casual and have it be way more polished with the blazer and scarf addition.

The girl next to her (no idea who she is), looks fine as well but not quite as polished as Vergara’s look, even though their items are similar. I think it is her blue sunglasses, her hairstyle and the too-long coat that throws it off for me.

Super Hacks

46 overlooked problems: Daniel Titchener

This video was helpful.…AND he is a fellow Montrealer!!! 🙂

I have done I would say, maybe 50% of the things in there but out of the few I was missing these are my notes:

I don’t agree on the fire blanket, and I really thought an automated soap dispenser would solve my problem of constant water around the sink, but after doing major research the fire blanket is not a great practical idea (sounds good, isn’t good IRL with people who panic).

Also, there is NO automated soap dispenser out there that functions and doesn’t break down after a year (based on reviews), or is made with quality in mind to not slop SOAP all over the sink instead of water.. I think I would rather wipe up water than scrub dried liquid soap off my sinks.

Point of pride

Replacing my iPhone screen on my own

I am pretty proud of the fact that I watched a YouTube video and replaced my cracked iPhone screen ON MY OWN. Yes, I swore, yes it was stressful but I DID IT!

You can read about the entire experience here.

The main takeaway I got from it is: I can do *almost* anything. My confidence level in such tasks has gone up 1000x and I am confident I will be able to replace a screen and a battery on any given phone, provided I watch the YouTube videos 2X first before knowing what I am getting myself into.

It was much cheaper as well (25% of the overall cost, not including having to buy a little toolkit that I can reuse in the future) and SUPREMELY satisfying when I turned it on and it worked beautifully.

Also.. if you want to avoid cracked screens in general, I highly recommend buying some tempered glass covers for your screen to take the hit instead of doing what I did, and forgetting to put one on. You don’t need fancy $60 ones, just buy whatever is out there that is cheap-ish. They all work the same (I have used them all), and some might have slightly more protection on the sides or be slightly more clear/less foggy (?) for crisp clarity, but the differences are minuscule at best for the average phone user.

I literally dropped my phone the other day on some stone steps and it cracked in 3 places in the front, but I just replaced the tempered glass cover and went on with my day, with a “brand new” screen.

Want more?

Here are all the previous months’ posts…