My November ‘25 in Review
The second-to-last month of the year is now over too, so it is time to take the monthly look back. ⌘ Read more

Closing one chapter
Today marked my last full working day (tomorrow I will just hand back in the equipment) at my current employer in the automotive industry. Next Monday, I will start a new job in another domain. ⌘ Read more

GoBlog not only has a new README file on the repository (replacing the old, cluttered, incomplete documentation) but also has a new share button implementation. No more relying on third-party services for that basic functionality! ⌘ Read more

The final ride of the year?
Today I did another bike tour, following several I’ve taken recently. I didn’t blog about those, although they were quite nice and I truly enjoyed them, now more appropriately dressed.1 ⌘ Read more

Recursive DNS
I think I did not blog about it, but I switched back to a self-hosted AdGuard Home instance quite some time ago from NextDNS. To reduce my number of subscriptions, but also to increase my control over important infrastructure I use. ⌘ Read more

TIL on my bike
Today, with the weather at a nice 19 °C, I took the chance for another bike tour. I had tried out my new, warmer cycling clothes yesterday during a long break from work, but since the weather will be much colder soon, I really wanted to get this second ride in. ⌘ Read more

I finally have the Internet Phone Book as well. Ordered from Hyper Hypo in Greece because that was the only place with stock. Lots to explore for quiet moments! ⌘ Read more

My October ‘25 in Review
After September, now October is gone too, one more month, and not so long anymore until the next year. Even if it is already the third day in November, I still quickly want to fulfill my chronist duty. ⌘ Read more

Today, eight years ago, our time together came to an end, and the void you left behind is still immense. ⌘ Read more

Ten pointless facts about me
I saw a few people in my newsreader do these posts (Henrique, Kev, Manu), and as I have nothing better to say but feel the urge to blog something, here’s my entry to this little blog challenge. 😄 ⌘ Read more

I finally took a closer look at OpenRouter today, added some credits, and used it with the Kilo Code VS Code extension to vibe code (or at least guide the LLM to code) a bit on the wedding website I’m building for next year. I used the Grok Code Fast 1 model most of the time. Furthermore, I also switched this blog’s AI plugins to use Mistral Small 3.2 for summary generation and image caption generation. ⌘ Read more

Vacation in the Rhön
Yesterday, we came back from some much-needed vacation. We spent 9 nights in Fulda, went hiking a few times, visited some museums, and sometimes also just relaxed. On the way to Fulda, we also made a short break in Kassel and revived some memories. ⌘ Read more

It’s Sunday, and tomorrow I don’t have to work, as I have two weeks of vacation. The first time since May. My only breaks from work were when I hurt my hand and wasn’t able to type for a week, and two free days last week, but those also weren’t really relaxing for me. So I am very much looking forward to the next two weeks! I really feel the exhaustion from the last few months with work sometimes being stressful, the start of my fiancée’s teacher training, and some other topics. But this year again showed me that bi … ⌘ Read more

The good thing about having a tablet now and spending time with it instead of my laptop the last few days is that I finally brought down my reading list in Miniflux a lot. I also answered emails and checked a few other tasks off my (mental) to-do list. ⌘ Read more

Many new purchases
I received so many packages yesterday! ⌘ Read more

There are a couple of add-ons to block YouTube Shorts in the browser, but if you are using Firefox with uBlock Origin, you do not need to install anything extra. Just add this filter list to the uBO settings, and you are free from those annoying short videos! At least on the PC… Sadly, even with YouTube Premium, there is no option to just ban Shorts from the mobile app. ⌘ Read more

Bunny.net (previously BunnyCDN) keeps doing great things (like this free European non-logging JS CDN), but it would be even better if they also replaced the Disqus comments in their blog with a more privacy-friendly alternative. ⌘ Read more

My September ‘25 in Review
The month of September is now over, too. Only 86 days left until Christmas and 92 days until the New Year. So, it’s time to take a (this time, really) quick look back at the past weeks. ⌘ Read more

Earlier this year, I used Purelymail until I switched back to a self-hosted email server. Today, I found out that Purelymail was sold shortly after I closed my account due to health reasons. The new owner has pledged to continue the service in the same spirit as its founder, who always provided excellent support when I needed it. My reason for switching wasn’t due to any dissatisfaction with Purelymail; I simply wanted more control and to host my data in Europe again. I wish Purelymail all the best and hope it conti … ⌘ Read more

Does anyone know of an OsmAnd rendering style that resembles OpenCycleMap? It should highlight cycle networks with vibrant colors and fade everything else. Currently, I plan bike tours by first opening OpenCycleMap on my PC to get an idea and then using OsmAnd on my phone to actually plan the tour. Ideally, I would just use OsmAnd. ⌘ Read more

I stopped especially for this photo during a relaxed after-work tour today. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but the nature here with the park, forest, and lakes is really beautiful and always lifts my mood! ⌘ Read more

My current multi-phone strategy
In response to a question a commenter named Jerry asked, I want to briefly explain my multi-phone strategy. ⌘ Read more

I bought an iPhone (as my third smartphone)
I never thought I would do this, but I bought an iPhone. It’s a pretty cheap iPhone SE 2. Gen (2020) used from eBay, like the device I got issued from my work. It’s so tiny and it’s really difficult to type even a short text like this. ⌘ Read more

A bike ride to reset
After a tough last weekend, a little cold, and bad weather, I was really exhausted and not in the best mood this week. But I knew the weather would be great on Friday, so I planned a bike tour. A 47-kilometer round trip north where there aren’t many hills. ⌘ Read more

It’s autumn. Cloudy, windy, and occasionally rainy. But it’s supposed to warm up again this weekend, so will I go for a bike ride then? ⌘ Read more

Enjoying nature and walking through this green and calm scenery. 🌳🚶‍♂️🌳 ⌘ Read more

Enjoying nature and walking through this green and calm scenery. 🌳🚶‍♂️🌳 ⌘ Read more

Live tracking solution for OsmAnd
I previously shared my transition from Komoot to OsmAnd, and after some time, I’ve grown accustomed to its comprehensive capabilities. Whether for cycling, hiking, or general navigation, OsmAnd truly functions as a versatile “Swiss Army knife” for offline mobile navigation and tracking. ⌘ Read more

My May ‘25 in Review
May is already over. This time, it was quite an eventful month. ⌘ Read more

New watch. My old one was still fine and will probably be on sale soon, but this refurbished Galaxy Watch 7 has LTE. I can set up fall detection and use the emergency SOS feature in case of an emergency when my phone is out of reach or broken. Safety first. I can also leave my phone at home and still receive or make calls. ⌘ Read more

Dmytro Prudnikov, former product designer at Komoot, who was still featured last December in a post on LinkedIn, but got, as many others, fired, posted an emotional video on YouTube. Together, he and a lot of other former colleagues, they spent some time together for a last gathering. ⌘ Read more

My music listening is inconsistent. I don’t listen to much music, sometimes weeks without any music streaming at all. And when I do, I often listen to some automatic playlists with recommendations from YouTube. I don’t have any specific artists I always listen too. Furthermore, I don’t even have a specific genre I like the most, often it’s something electronic. ⌘ Read more

Two fantastic weeks in Scotland
I am back from Scotland, and my first days back at work are behind me. Let me tell you about my awesome vacation! ⌘ Read more

Two fantastic weeks in Scotland
I am back from Scotland, and my first days back at work are behind me. Let me tell you about my awesome vacation! ⌘ Read more

Two fantastic weeks in Scotland
I am back from Scotland, and my first days back at work are behind me. Let me tell you about my awesome vacation! ⌘ Read more

As everyone recommends Signal as a Telegram alternative, I actually gave it a try again. Turns out it still does not support multiple devices, even unlike WhatsApp. ⌘ Read more

I need to migrate away from Telegram
I will migrate away from Telegram. Enough is enough. After more and more features are behind the Telegram Premium paywall (which I understand to a degree) and the increasing integration of stars (a crypto scheme? — I have less understanding for that), now also Grok from xAI by right-wing extremist Elon Musk will be integrated. ⌘ Read more

Remove Android bloatware with Shizuku and Canta
Today, I have new app recommendation. Almost two years ago, I wrote about bloatware removal on Android without using a PC. I recommended Hail as an app to finally uninstall the bloatware apps after gaining elevated privileges with Shizuku. ⌘ Read more

Investing in comfort
Getting ready for Scotland involved buying some gear – next to the required things also a headlamp, a powerbank and Merino clothes. On the surface, maybe a bit much. Did I need a new powerbank? Technically no, but the right size makes a difference for tracking, navigating, and tent-charging on a trip like this. Merino? It means less sweat, less odor, more comfort over days of exploring. ⌘ Read more

Today, I did my longest bike tour this year so far. I went north to a lake in a neighboring district, mostly following the Weser-Harz-Heide route, which I already partly followed on my journey from Kassel to Braunschweig last year. There I sat down on a bench for half an hour and then returned. I had plenty of headwinds on the way there and a bit of tailwind on the way back, although the wind was mostly from the side. This time, I luckily did not mess up the OsmAnd tracking. Despite the wind, it was a lot of fun! ⌘ Read more

My April ‘25 in Review
April has also been over for two days now. So it’s time to take a look back. What was going on (for me)? ⌘ Read more

From two and a half homes to one
Today, after three years and one month, I handed over the keys to my first apartment away from my childhood home. It marks the end of an era worth reflecting on. ⌘ Read more

GoBlog Telegram Bot plugin
If you’re reading this, it seems that my GoBlog Telegram Bot (just another embedded plugin) is working! ⌘ Read more

Yesterday, before our second (and last) move today, I took the opportunity to take a relaxing ride on my bike along my running route from some years ago and enjoy the nature. ⌘ Read more

KitchenOwl
Until recently, my fiancée and I used Bring! to manage a list of groceries, we need to buy. Recipes we saved in a Telegram channel, pinning those we want to do in the following days. ⌘ Read more

Copilot taking over?
I tried GitHub Copilot (Free) in Visual Studio Code again for some small GoBlog changes. Copilot can now generate tests (although it doesn’t feel intelligent, as you need to correct quite a few things), it can do code reviews before committing and it can generate commit messages. Of course, it can also do code completions and write complete code, if you want it to do so. ⌘ Read more

Planning for Scotland, second try
My fiancée and I were in Scotland in 2023 on an Interrail trip. But with some bad luck, we got COVID-19 after half of the trip and had to go home and recover. We always said we wanted to finish our trip in one of the next years. ⌘ Read more

European AI
To reduce my dependence on USA-based products, I switched from using the OpenAI API to Scaleway’s Generative API for my blog. Not only is it cheaper, but it’s based on open-source models, hosted in Europe. 🇪🇺 ⌘ Read more

New bike season
Yesterday, I started my new bike season and took my bike for a fun ride of about 25 km. I rode the first part of the “Städtepartnerschaftsradweg Braunschweig - Magdeburg” (City partnership cycle path Braunschweig - Magdeburg) between my hometown and a village called Königslutter. The weather was perfect and I truly enjoyed it. For the way back, I took the train that I reached just in time. ⌘ Read more

Mandated use of AI at work
Although I also use AI for some features on this blog and sometimes chat with some AI agent (whether it’s ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot or GitHub Copilot), I have mixed feelings about its mandated use at work (Shopify is just one company doing it). ⌘ Read more