The past two weeks were focused on getting things in order. I had some mental clutter—both digital and physical—that I finally tackled.

Home Office Cleanup

Since mid-year, our house has been in disarray for various reasons. Bit by bit, and with a lot of help from Aldi and her parents, the house is now in great shape. The last thing I needed to handle was my office, which had become a complete disaster. So, on Saturday, I finally tackled the mess. I’m not sharing a "before" picture, I'm not ready for the backlash (?).

Digital Infrastructure Changes

As part of my next ten years plan, I wanted to clean up the digital clutter I had accumulated over the past 10.

I realized I was paying for redundant services and overspending on others.

In total, I was shelling out about $78 a month on web service infrastructure.

Netlify ($19 per month)

When Netlify started charging for hosting static websites with private GitHub repositories, I had no choice but to subscribe, even though I was never thrilled about it.

Digital Ocean ($32 per month)

I was using Digital Ocean for Sendy (a mailing list manager) and hosting a few WordPress sites for family members.

This was an expense that had been bugging me for a while because the server had minimal specs, couldn’t handle much, and seemed overpriced for what it offered.

Render ($27 per month)

I used Render to get Cuentitos Studio up and running quickly. I know it’s pricey, but they provide the kind of infrastructure that spins things up fast.

The Switch

While looking for alternatives to Render, I stumbled upon Dokku, an open source Heroku-like alternative. After testing it a bit, I was sold.

In a blog post about Dokku, I saw someone mention Hetzner as an alternative to Digital Ocean, so I checked it out.

I was blown away by what they offered for the price in terms of hardware.

I ended up getting a dedicated server with an AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 64GB of RAM, and 2x4TB drives in a RAID1 setup for just $30.

This setup allows me to drop the three services I mentioned, run my personal cloud from home, and handle everything without worrying about crashes or memory issues.

I think it’ll be more than enough to manage all my personal projects for the next decade.

What’s Next?

I still need to review a few other expenses, particularly my Amazon S3 backups, which are costing me about $120 a month. I’m considering switching to Dropbox or exploring other options, but I haven’t had time to dig into it yet.

On the hardware side, my NAS at home is running low on space, and one of the drives is starting to fail. So, we’ll likely need to invest in new drives or maybe a new NAS soon.

Reading

Last week, I finished Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego (Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez). Her writing really captivated me. Some stories are excellent, while others didn’t quite land for me, but overall, it’s a worthwhile read just for the experience.

I’ve started reading La Hija del Delta (The Daughter of the Delta) by Alejandra Bruno. I was hoping to finish it before EVA in case we cross paths, but I doubt I’ll make it—I’m only 33% through with just two days left.

Writing

I sat down and wrote a first draft of a horror story with some weird/body horror elements.

It’s not my favorite genre to write, but I found it interesting as an exercise, especially to practice executing ideas, getting feedback, and iterating on them.

I’ve already gotten great feedback from my friends in the Interactive Narrative Workshop—Sebas Gioseffi, Nico Saraintaris, and Pablo Quarta—which will help me improve the story further.

I don’t plan to publish it until I’ve done more revisions and am happy with it. But if you’d like to read it, let me know, and I’ll send it your way.

For now, the story is titled Estoy condenada a estar sola (I’m Doomed to Be Alone).

Short Story Workshop with Félix Bruzzone

I joined an eight-week workshop led by Félix Bruzzone. I thought it would be a great opportunity to continue improving my writing.

I know that the best way to get better at something is through deliberate practice and feedback from people who know more than you.

That’s why I wanted to try out this type of workshop. It’s my first time participating in one, so I figured it was worth a shot.

Cuentitos Studio

Last week, I met with a Mastermind group from MicroConf Connect, where I presented Cuentitos Studio and shared some of the challenges I mentioned in my previous blog post.

The app is technically sound, but it’s clear I need to make a business decision.

I’m at a crossroads: should I keep investing time and money into the app or let it go?

I plan to use the EVA event as a chance to discuss this with others and get some feedback.

Garden

The garden is flourishing! Aldi replanted the basil the ants had eaten, and it’s sprouting again. We also added a strawberry plant 🍓.

Conclusion 🌈 🦄

I’ve spent the past few days clearing away years of accumulated digital clutter. There’s still more to do, but I’m pleased with the progress so far.