blog.fidelramos.net - Personal

2026 Resolutions Review

2026-07-04T00:00:00+00:00

We’ve reached the halfway point of 2026, and it’s a good time to review my progress on my 2026 New Year’s resolutions.

Spend less time on tasks ❌

Fail. And not because the plan was bad, but because I honestly haven’t followed it (though maybe that’s why it was bad?).

Of all the ideas, the only one I usually stick to is writing down the day’s tasks on a post-it note. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, because I get distracted and don’t focus on finishing them. Basically, it’s the problem I’d already recognized and intended to tackle, but without success.

I’m going to try something different: instead of having 10 tasks on a Post-it note and pretending I’ll get them all done in a day, only to end up doing just one, I’m going to set a single task to focus on for the day and really finish it. Until I finish it, I won’t work on anything else. If I finish it, I’ll do whatever I want for the rest of the day, and the next day I’ll tackle another task with the same level of intensity.

Photography ⚠

I’m classifying this as a partial success, but I think it’s more of a success than a failure.

On the one hand, I’m taking fewer photos overall, both with my phone and my camera. Since I’m using my camera much less, I’ve spent almost no time on editing and post-processing. That used to take up most of my effort in the past, days or weeks after events like Christmas or trips.

On the other hand, I’ve cut down on the time I spend organizing my photos. Thinking in the near future when cataloging will happen directly in Immich, I’ve stopped tagging my photos manually; I just organize them into albums and review the face tags (which are automatic in Digikam).

My biggest shortcoming is that I haven’t printed a single album so far this year, even though the 2025 album has been almost finished for months. That final push is the procrastination I struggle so much to overcome. But I’m determined to finish it soon, and after that I’ll work on the rest of the albums, trying to move faster.

Don’t Die ✅

Huge success. And not just because I’m still alive.

I’ve gone from 90 kg to 83 kg in 3 months, without losing any muscle mass. All my pants are too big for me now, no better proof than that.

My body fat has decreased significantly, and my visceral fat (my focus area for improvement, since it is linked to cardiovascular problems) is decreasing, although it is not yet at optimal levels. It’s down to 7% measure today from its initial 10%. I plan to continue trying to lower it to healthy levels (ideally 2% to 4%).

The main change has been finding a diet that works for me, that I enjoy, and that’s sustainable over time. Here are the key points:

Intermittent fasting every morning. After 12 hours of fasting, the body begins to mobilize fat to create ketones, which should be helping with weight loss.
In the morning, just black coffee.
Lunch after 1 p.m. A variety of recipes, generally high in protein, low in fat, and with more carbohydrates on gym days.
Snack around 4:30 p.m.: oatmeal with soy milk, crushed seeds, skyr yogurt, whey protein, collagen, and berries.
Dinner between 7 and 8 p.m., often an omelet made with egg whites, a salad with mussels or tuna, or other high-protein dishes. A piece of fruit.
Eating three meals in a short period of time makes me eat less, because if I were to overeat at lunch, I wouldn’t have room for my afternoon snack, and the same goes for dinner. As I serve myself lunch, I think about my afternoon snack bowl and eat in moderation. Protein-rich meals are also more filling.
As I’ve already mentioned, I aim for a high protein ratio, 1.6–1.8 g of protein per kilogram of body weight.
Very very occasional alcohol consumption, for overall health but also because of the empty calories it contains.
Occasional extended fasts. I usually fast for 24 to 36 hours once a week, and for about 3 days once every 3 to 6 months. On the one hand, I believe that autophagy is beneficial for the body. On the other hand, in my case, calorie restriction helps me lose weight.

I still need to get as comprehensive a blood test as possible, and I’ll continue monitoring my progress with my nutritionist, but I feel great and am happy to have finally found a method that works particularly well for me.

Other aspects I mentioned in the previous post, such as sleep, are also going well. I have a regular routine, and my sleep score is usually around 90 with plenty of REM sleep. I want to get a CO2 monitor to see if it’s building up in the room or if I need to ventilate it more. I’m also monitoring the temperature.

Portuguese ✅

I’ve improved my Portuguese quite a bit over the past few months. I can already hold conversations naturally, although I know I still make mistakes—but the Portuguese are very understanding and never complain.

Two months ago, I took the CIPLE exam (equivalent to level A2) and passed with a “very good” grade.

Blog ✅

I’m writing more frequently—that much is clear given the pace over the last few months.

I’d like to write about other topics, but it’s easiest to keep writing about technical subjects, which I’m passionate about and that aren’t usually controversial (with the exception of AI, but if you don’t like it, don’t read it).

Self-hosting ⚠

I’m listing this as a partial success because, although I’ve set up some new services (such as self-hosted Tailscale), I still haven’t configured Home Assistant or Paperless, which were the main ones I mentioned in my goals.

I’ll count this goal as a success if, by the end of the year, I have my new server up and running, with all current services migrated, plus at least Home Assistant and Paperless.

New Year's Resolutions for 2026

2026-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

Another year has passed, and what I originally didn't plan to turn into a tradition has become one I never miss: publishing my resolutions for the new year. I always fail at some of my resolutions, but I like the effort of reflection and keeping them in mind throughout the year.

Following last year's format, I'll start by reviewing how my 2025 resolutions went, and then I'll set this year's:

2025 in review

What I accomplished:

Family and friends: Success. I had two weekends with my friends and had a blast. I hope we can do it again this year, hopefully more often, but it's hard to align everyone's schedules. I also bought my daughter her first computer, and I'm in the process of teaching her how to use it. We've traveled as tourists with the kids and they've gotten used to it; they behave like champions.
Lose weight: Success. I dropped a pant size, but I'm still not at my slimmest. However, I've gained muscle and improved my cardiovascular fitness, so I'm happy with the results.
New house: Success for now. The renovations have finally begun, although later than I initially expected. It's still too early to know if all the planning efforts will have been worth it, but for now, it's progressing at a good pace and going according to plan.
Artificial Intelligence: Partial success. I use Perplexity and Venice.ai almost daily for research or to solve problems (like OS or programming errors). I've also played around a bit with image and video generation, but only with online services, which I consider a failure because I wanted to do it locally. I also haven't tried using agents for programming yet; I'd need to run them either locally or in a reasonably private way.

What I didn't accomplish:

Blog: Failure. I didn't achieve my goal of at least one monthly blog post. I tend to write long ones and, on top of that, I get obsessed with revising and perfecting them over and over. I have 3 articles that are almost ready, but I just can't seem to finish and publish them. At least I'm happy with the quality of the ones I have published.
Home labbing: On hold. With the delay of the new house, I haven't been able to start setting up the new server yet, and I don't want to spend too much time on the old one because I'll have to migrate everything eventually. Nevertheless, I've set up two new services that I now use almost daily: Jellyfin and Immich.

Spend less time on tasks

As I suppose happens to many people, I feel like I'm drowning in tasks, especially those that don't advance my life goals. My resolution is to put the theoretical knowledge I have about personal productivity into practice to see if I can find a system that works for me.

To start, I need to set my goals better. There are a multitude of systems: SMART, PACT, WOOP, FAST... Just in the process of writing this article, I'm already getting lost analyzing them in detail to decide which is best for me. I need to pick one quickly, apply it to this year's resolutions, and move on.

Then, on a day-to-day basis, I plan to follow this process:

Every morning, plan the tasks I intend to tackle.
For interruptions that will take less than 5 minutes, do them on the spot.
For longer, somewhat urgent interruptions, write them down on a list and do them all either at the end of the day or the beginning of the next day, so they don't interrupt me.
For longer, non-immediately urgent interruptions, write them on another list that has a dedicated day during the week.

I'm quite a procrastinator, so I need all the tricks under my belt to not put things off. Some that I need to seriously apply are:

Break large tasks into several smaller ones. Completing tasks releases dopamine, so the shorter, the better.
Start with the most difficult or unpleasant task, and give myself a reward when I finish it.
Resume a formal meditation practice, 15 minutes a day.
Communicate the most important tasks to someone, to be accountable to them.
Keep my perfectionism in check, be conscious about what the appropriate level of quality is for what I'm doing.

Photography

I've enjoyed photography for many years, but I admit I've invested too much time processing and organizing my photo collection. I'm simplifying my photography process to have more time for other goals.

In this sense, for months I've been taking most of my photos with my phone; I only take out the "big camera" for portraits and special occasions. Obviously, I miss the quality and precision of the professional camera, but post-processing was taking up too much of my time.

Besides that, I'm in the process of migrating from Digikam to Immich. The idea is for the phone's photos to be auto-uploaded directly to Immich, and I will edit the metadata there. I have an almost-finished article about the philosophy and details behind this migration, so I won't go into more detail for now.

Finally, at the beginning of last year, although I didn't make it a resolution, I decided to start making photo albums. I made a large one with family photos from 2024, and I loved the result. I also made one from a photo session I had with my family and my parents, and I gave them a copy as a gift. I plan to continue making them because I loved looking at photo albums with my parents and hearing the stories when I was little, and I'd like to do the same with my children. As a measurable goal, before the end of the year, I want to have at least the 2025 and 2023 albums printed.

Don't Die

I feel inspired by Bryan Johnson and his Don't Die movement. Most readers probably don't even know him, and those who do or take a first look at his ideas, I bet they think he's a crazy, selfish millionaire seeking immortality. But in my view, he's a pioneer experimenting with his own body to find what works, something the rest of us will benefit from. What costs him $2 million a year will be within anyone's reach in the future, just like with current medicines and treatments that not even kings or the richest people of the past could enjoy.

Anyway, without getting into more philosophy, I'm not trying to replicate his lifestyle by any means, but rather to reflect on the main causes of premature death and address them. To do this, and as a first step, my resolution is to adopt several of Bryan Johnson's recommendations:

Redouble my efforts to lose weight.
Reduce consumption of processed and ultra-processed foods, as well as sugar and other anti-nutrients. Make them a very occasional thing.
Reduce alcohol to a minimum. I've been able to see with my smartwatch that it affects my sleep very negatively, preventing me from reaching the REM phase. And then there are the other negative effects I'm not measuring.
Regular sleep schedule. In my case, it will be from 11:00 pm to 7:15 am.
Dinner at 7 pm, 4 hours before sleeping.
Screens off at 10:30 pm.
Read from 10:30 pm to 11:00 pm.

Regarding weight loss, I'm experimenting to see if I can find a diet that works for me and is sustainable.

On one hand, I usually do prolonged fasts of 3-4 days twice a year. Although the effect on weight loss is limited, I do them mainly for the evidence that they are healthy for the body in general, due to effects like autophagy.

I've also tried strict intermittent fasting, eating only within a 6-7 hour window. My implementation has been to have dinner around 7 pm; in the morning, only black coffee; break the fast with lunch around 1 pm; protein shake in the mid-afternoon. I go to the gym just before lunch, and although I haven't felt a crash, it's probably not ideal to go while fasting.

The third experiment is to increase the amount of protein in my diet, up to 1.8g of protein per kg of body weight. This helps build and maintain muscle mass and also helps to feel more satiated and eat less. However, it's difficult to combine this with intermittent fasting, so I'm trying it without the fast.

My main metric is to lower my visceral fat percentage, which is correlated with cardiovascular problems. Reaching the healthy range would be the best measure of success. Another simpler metric would be to get down to at least 85 kg while maintaining or improving my physical fitness (cardio and strength). Not because 85 kg is my ideal weight, but because I now weigh 90 kg, it would be good progress.

Portuguese

I've been living in Portugal for 4 years, and I can get by pretty well in Portuguese now. The Portuguese accent is difficult because they speak fast and "eat" letters (just like Andalusians, go figure!), but I can understand almost everything they say now. My pronunciation has improved a lot, and I have enough vocabulary and expressions to have long conversations in Portuguese. I throw in a lot of Spanish words, but they understand me and generally appreciate the effort.

My resolution is to look for Portuguese classes, at least one day a week, to really improve. I'll probably look for a private tutor because you get much more out of the time; it always annoys me when a group class goes at the pace of the slowest person in the class.

Blog

The perennial resolution: write more on the blog. It couldn't be missing.

I don't think I was wrong last year in identifying the reasons why I struggle to publish more, but it's clear that wasn't enough to correct my ways. Maybe I'll read the book Atomic Habits, which comes highly recommended for establishing new habits.

An additional motivation I realized a few months ago is the autobiographical nature of the blog. I'm excited that my children might read it in the future; it's a window into my thoughts, my interests, my worries. I want to pour more personality and history into my future articles.

Something that, although it may not seem like it, helped me last year was using my tablet to write the articles. It's much more accessible for me to grab the tablet when I have 5 minutes of inspiration than to sit at the computer for 5 minutes. Or I take it out of the house and write when I have a few dead minutes while waiting. I use Markor to write the articles, they sync to the computer with Syncthing, and when they're ready, I give them the final touches on the computer and publish them.

Self-hosting

As soon as the new house is ready, I'll be very busy setting up my new home server; it will keep me occupied for months and provide a whole new series of articles for this blog. But in the meantime, I'm not going to sit on my hands with my current server; I have at least three ideas I want to implement soon:

Home Assistant, to start learning how it works so I'm not a novice when I set it up in the new house, which will have home automation in every corner.
Paperless-ngx, a system for organizing paperwork. I plan to have the scanner save files directly to the server, so Paperless can process and archive them automatically. I think it will be a useful and time-saving system once set up, in support of my resolution to waste less time on tasks.
Remote backup of my devices and critical data, that has to happen this year. I already have local backup, but it doesn't give me enough peace of mind, plus it's not automated.

2025 Resolutions Review

2025-07-17T00:00:00+00:00

We are about (okay come on, already past) halfway through the year, so it's a good time to assess progress on my resolutions for 2025.

Family and friends ✅

As in 2024, this is my main purpose, the one I don't want to fail under any circumstances, it is the core for everything else.

I devote a lot of time to my children. I am there when they get up and when they go to bed. I've taken them to school every day, and I've picked them up many others. I play with them a lot, we read books, I teach them all sorts of things, we go to parks....
I've introduced my oldest daughter to programming with Scratch. For now she doesn't do anything on her own, but I introduce her to the core concepts and above all I try to get her interested so she likes it. I have yet to set her up with her own computer (a Raspberry Pi 500 is my first choice right now), then she could experiment on her own.
We took a family trip to Colombia for almost 3 weeks, and it worked out great. We also went to the mountains for a few days, and even hiked 10 kilometers. The kids are definitely ready to travel more, so we will be planning more trips in the coming months, some shorter and some longer.
I spent a weekend geekin' out with friends. Pure laughter therapy with lots of board games and 4-player video games. We were all left wanting more, so I hope we will repeat in a yearly basis or better.
I have supported my partner in her life goals, and she has made incredible progress in less than a year.

In short, even if the year ended today, I think I would take this resolution for granted; but I will continue to keep it in mind, it should be a constant and not something you work on for only half the year and forget the other half.

Lose weight ⚠

My goal of losing a pant size was achieved at the beginning of the year: the pants I wore every day tore and when I went to buy a new one the one which fit me was one size smaller.

However, the path has not been straight, there have been times during the year when I have gained some weight, and then I have let it go. I also haven't managed so far this year to reach my all-time lowest weight, although I think I have more muscle than ever, so the lean weight should be higher.

In any case, I have to find and maintain a routine that works for me, and avoid big jumps in weight.

I won't be able to consider this resolution successful if I don't end the year several pounds lighter than I was at the end of 2024.

Blog ❌

This purpose is easy to see that it is not being achieved: this is the third article of 2025, when it should be at least the seventh. And the thing is, I've had two articles in draft for months now, but I never sit down to finish them, I get distracted by other topics.

The distractions come from two sides: on the one hand I think my ability to concentrate has been reduced by the use of the smartphone, and I do not use any short content platform like TikTok or Instagram; but on the other hand, many times I try to focus on the blog or another subject, only to be interrupted a few minutes (or seconds!) later with some request.

I am writing these lines in the summer, and with the kids at home it is not the time to focus on big projects (see the first resolution), but from September I will try to block time every day and put limits to the interruptions in order to be able to concentrate.

Even if I'm not going to meet the one-article-a-month resolution, I will at least try to finish the year with 12 articles or more, distributed as time permits. My hope is to gain an inertia that will continue into 2026.

New house ✅

The process of reforming the new house has been accumulating delays, between planning, budgets and, most painful because of the impotence, bureaucracy.

Personally, I can rest assured that I have dedicated all the time and effort that was needed on my part, so the delays are not attributable to me.

I hope that the construction will start soon, then I will have to be on top of it to supervise the work.

Home-labbing and domotics ⚠️

Since the renovation of the house has not even started yet, I have not been able to make much progress in this aspect.

I have spent a lot of time researching different options, refining the installation I intend to do.

I am going to install Home Assistant in my current apartment, even though I have almost nothing to automate, to learn it and play with it a bit.

Artificial Intelligence ⚠️

I 've been continuing to keep up with AI developments (which could very well be a full-time job), and experimenting with some things, but less than I would have liked.

I've been using Venice.ai (link to referral) for over a year now, both for textual queries and for generating images. I really like that it is based on free software models, with a good interface, but above all that it is private, i.e. it does not record conversations. It can be used for free and without registration, but for the more powerful models a Pro subscription is required.

Locally I use ollama, but only occasionally. My purpose was to find workflows that I use on a daily basis, but this is not the case today.

To generate images I was trying StabilityMatrix, but I had difficulties running it with firejail. After several weeks stuck I decided to abandon it and focus on ComfyUI, which is one of the most powerful environments and I think it will continue to be developed in the future. I also had some difficulties due to firejail, but I managed to overcome them and finally have it working.

I have in mind a project that would automate creating LoRAs of people from a set of photographs with recognized faces. My idea is to be able to point it to my photo collection in Digikam or Immich, select one or more people with recognized faces in the database, and have it generate a LoRA for those people by extracting the faces from the photographs for training. Then I could use the LoRA to generate images that use those people specifically.

I will try to write articles about all this, so I can motivate myself and also progress with the purpose of the blog.

New Year's Resolutions for 2025

2025-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

A year ago I posted my resolutions for 2024. I did it with no intention of making it an annual tradition, it was more to get it off my chest. However some friends recently made me reflect on the resolutions I have kept and those I haven't (that social pressure I was looking for in my posting), so I'm going to take the opportunity to put those reflections in writing.

Before I move on to the 2024 review and 2025 resolutions I must admit that posting my list of resolutions helped me keep them in mind all year. Even though many I didn't keep, I kept them in mind and was aware of when I left one out.

Resolutions I kept in 2024

Focus on my children: success. Not much to add, if there is one resolution I was clear about this was it.
Friendships: success. I feel I have regained or strengthened friendships that were in jeopardy, and I don't worry so much about the ones that seem lost (although it's never too late!).
Experimenting with AI: partial success.a I set up a new computer with a powerful graphics card, and have been able to "play" with different models for different tasks: textual queries, image generation and recognition, code generation and analysis. I have not experimented with some topics that interest me, such as embeddings, ControlNet, video generation or recognition and speech generation systems. I have also missed integrating them into my workflow.
Reduce ideological efforts: success. Worrying less has been good for my mental health, although I can't help but feel sad that I can't discuss and talk about certain topics with people. I have always been intellectually curious and active and keeping my ideas to myself doesn't feel good.
Social networking and messaging: partial success. I have reduced my use of social networks. The ones I do check I do from the computer, I don't have any on my phone. Some days pass without me opening any. However I haven't fulfilled my promise of avoiding messaging during the day nor disabling notifications.

Resolutions I didn't keep in 2024

Consulting: failure. Bureaucratic hurdles made me make the decision to close the company. Maybe it was a post-hoc rationalization, but I also thought that maybe I didn't have to keep doing the same old thing just because I'm good at it. I need to find the right crossover between my skills and my motivations.
Cryptocurrencies: failure. I have not collaborated with any project, in fact I have distanced myself a bit from the space to focus on other goals. However I have collaborated with different free software projects although not related to cryptocurrencies, especially some that I personally use on a daily basis.
More blog: smashing failure. Not a single article in 2024 after publishing the one about the resolutions. And it hasn't been for lack of ideas, because I have many, I write them down and develop them in my personal notes. But then I don't sit down to write articles, even though I have them almost finished in my head. I think my main barrier is the fear of being judged, especially if I publish personal or ideological topics instead of just technical ones.

My resolutions for 2025

Family and friends

Having considered 2024 a success in this regard, I intend to keep going at it this year and beyond.

Among many other things, I want to teach computers and programming to my children. Computers have been a cornerstone in my life and I want them to at least have the opportunity to get to know them, we'll see if they get hooked on them like I did.

I also want to start traveling more with them now that my youngest is no longer a baby. The world is both a very big and very small place, I would like for them to be world citizens.

I would like to have the opportunity at least once a year to spend a few days geekin' out with friends.

Losing weight

Those who know me know that I gain weight easily. I do weight lifting and some cardio, and that keeps me if not thin, at least not too fat. But all it takes is 2 weeks of Christmas to gain 10 pounds.

My plan is to make a conscious effort to regulate my diet and lose weight in a healthy and progressive way during the year. I have done it in the past, but this time I want to get below my previous historical minimum weight.

I will consider this resolution a success if I lose a pant size, or if the slightest hint of a six-pack is visible. Mind you, to have an impressive six-pack is a tremendous effort that I'm not willing to make, let's not go crazy.

Blog

As I explained before, the blog has been abandoned for 2024, even if I had many ideas for articles.

My purpose is to overcome my limitations and actually write on the blog, both on technical and ideological topics.

To set a tangible success metric, let's aim for a minimum of one article per month, ideally two.

New house

Last year we bought our first house, and it needs a lot of renovation. That's not a problem in and of itself, it's something we knew and were looking for, so we could renovate it to our liking.

I want to be available and focused to control the process and make it as good as possible.

Home-labbing and home automation

Related to the new house: I plan to take the opportunity to set up a new server to replace my current one, which is aging out.

I also plan to install a variety of sensors around the house, and manage the automations with Home Assistant.

Who knows, maybe some business will come out of these passions. Or at least I hope it makes for some good blog posts! wink

Artificial Intelligence

I continue to be fascinated by advances in AI, I believe that with today's technology it is already something with huge potential, what is missing are end-user oriented products, and those will eventually come.

In 2024 I was able to experiment with what my limited time allowed, but in 2025 I want to go further and find integrations and workflows that are useful to me.

While not an initial priority, I would like to have hardware on the new server geared towards local inference. Then I could offer AI services to the family, with completely private data.

New Year's Resolutions for 2024

2024-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

I have been reflecting on life for several months, perhaps I am going through my particular midlife crisis.

This year 2024 I want to do my part to correct what is in my power (and worry less about what is not in my power), hence this list of New Year's resolutions.

Posting my resolutions has a dual purpose:

That people understand my priorities and the reasons that motivate them.
Maintain my focus throughout the year thanks to social pressure.

Focus on my children

At the time of writing this article my children are 5 years and 17 months old, and I love them more than anything, they make me happy every day.

This last year has been difficult, combining my last job with the birth of my second child, my mental health suffered as I struggled to maintain my usual productivity.

In this year 2024, my focus will be first on my children, and I will try not to feel guilty about what I do not have enough time to do.

Friendships

I have been losing touch with various friends, I think mainly for two reasons:

The distance, first when I lived in San Francisco, and now in Lisbon. I tried to keep in touch with several friends, but they did not reciprocate.
I feel that some friends have left me aside because of my ideologies. I can't be sure but it saddens me to think this is the case.

I will try to focus my efforts on worthwhile friendships, who show me respect and that they care about me as much as I do about them. No hard feelings, life changes and is complicated for everyone.

Consulting

This year I will organize my consulting service and make it a source of income. My goal is to help companies and projects with my 16 years of experience in web development.

In the upcoming weeks I will set up a website and look for my first clients.

Experiment with AI

I am very interested in new advances in Artificial Intelligence, I will try to dedicate time to learning and experimenting.

Generation of images and videos. I have several personal projects in mind, but I also want to sit down with my daughter and have her learn to generate images and interact with AIs. I think it will be something important for her future.
LLMs (Large Language Models) for different topics: programming, chat, embeddings.
Voice generation. I want to clone my voice and that of my family with local models.
Translations. A first objective is to automate the translation of my blog articles, with manual review.

Cryptocurrencies

I have been passionate about cryptocurrencies for many years, but I have never gotten involved as a developer, something I regret.

This year I want to start collaborating as a programmer in some projects, especially those that focus on cryptocurrencies as means of payment.

I will also take steps to use cryptocurrencies on a daily basis, inspired by Joel Valenzuela.

Reduce ideological efforts

Those who have known me for a long time are aware that my ideology has changed radically in the last 10 years. I suspect that many see it as a betrayal of my principles, or having become someone else. In my view it is a natural evolution as a result of educating myself and reflecting on topics to which I had not been exposed before.

What I wasn't anticipating is the mental and emotional effort of opposing the hegemonic zeitgeist. This is something that has taken a toll on my happiness and mental health. It would be easy to bow to the majority and return to the fold, to avoid arguments and fights, but I think I would feel bad about myself for intellectual dishonesty.

My resolution is on the one hand to worry less about my purity, but on the other to be firm when it comes time to debate. One thing is the ideas you have and another is that you do not want or can dedicate greater efforts to supporting them in opposition to almost the entire society.

I will focus on educating my children in the values that I want to see in the world.

I have been greatly reducing my social media exposure for years already, deleting applications from my mobile phone for example, but this year I want to go one step further so I can really focus:

I will check messages and social networks only twice a day: in the morning with coffee and at night when my children go to bed.
I will delete absolutely all notifications. If someone needs me urgently they will call me, otherwise it can wait.
I will dedicate social networks only to the topics that interest me (free software, cryptocurrencies, AI), and I will reduce ideological topics.

More blog

I want to write more on my blog, about the topics that interest me, and also some personal posts like this one. I need to leave perfectionism aside and write faster, without thinking so much.

To start off on the right foot, I wrote this entry in 2 clock hours.

I'm starting to think about what my legacy will be (yes, I'm definitely in a mid-life crisis), and my blog can become a window to my life and interests for my children.

blog.fidelramos.net - Personal

2026 Resolutions Review

Spend less time on tasks ❌

Photography ⚠

Don’t Die ✅

Portuguese ✅

Blog ✅

Self-hosting ⚠

New Year's Resolutions for 2026

2025 in review

Spend less time on tasks

Photography

Don't Die

Portuguese

Blog

Self-hosting

2025 Resolutions Review

Family and friends ✅

Lose weight ⚠

Blog ❌

New house ✅

Home-labbing and domotics ⚠️

Artificial Intelligence ⚠️

New Year's Resolutions for 2025

Resolutions I kept in 2024

Resolutions I didn't keep in 2024

My resolutions for 2025

Family and friends

Losing weight

Blog

New house

Home-labbing and home automation

Artificial Intelligence

New Year's Resolutions for 2024

Focus on my children

Friendships

Consulting

Experiment with AI

Cryptocurrencies

Reduce ideological efforts

Social networks and messaging

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