Omar On The Go

Day 88 During the Holy Week, but more specifically as soon as lent starts, in my home country we have many customs and traditional things we do. We, as a country, follow certain unwritten rules during lent like eating no meat products on fridays and Ashes Wednesday as a "sacrifice" (oh what a sacrifice) but most importantly, is the time of the year that we cook "Habichuelas con dulces" (literal translation "beans with sweets" but in technicality would be "Sweet cream of beans"). The habichuelas con dulces is a staple of dominican cuisine and something we 95% of the time we do during lent, and even though is a dessert, it can be a substitute for dinner or as a heavy snack.  The preparation is very meticulous and it used to be very hard to find in Miami, me being home sick one time I decided to follow a recipe online and it was a success. Mind you, I don't know how to cook, I know, as any good engineer, to follow directions and procedures and w...

Day 87 One thing I've never gone crazy about is a "youthful look", for whatever reason, I've always looked older than my real age (Even though I think I finally catch up with looks and real age). Just to give a few examples, I started to get pimples earlier than my peers, I was actually the youngest one in the class but didn't look like it, I grew up very fast and I've always been fairly tall, I lost all my hair by the time I was 20yo, etc etc etc And honestly I never really mind that, on the contrary, I embraced it like the best cause I could fool bouncers at bars I was not supposed to go or buy drinks at any store without being IDd but as I grew older I started to noticed that all my peers were at some degree trying to look as young as possible, especially my best friend who by the way is supposed to be older than me but still 25 years old. And there's just one thing that used to frustrate me a little bit, and those are my white hair on my beard but is n...

Day 86 If there's a type of food I preferred over all other (not counting burgers and pizza) is breakfast food in all their different presentations. I don't care if it just a regular american breakfast, or german one, or dominican, or english (removing the beans), or some type of breakfast sandwich or burrito, I can truly enjoy this type of food at any given time.of the day. That said, the breakfast options around me have been lackluster for many years which tends to add to the love/hate relationship I have with the City of Doral but thankfully in the last few years, the options have multiply with many decent to great options. In no particular order, but if you ever around Doral and want breakfast, some options goes as follows: - Crema - Pura Vida - Keik bakeshop - Shoma Bazaar - First Watch - Grazianos - Sano Food  - La Boulangerie - Macondo - Sweet Paris - La Croquantine The are some "chain" options if that's what you are into like: - Starbucks - Panera Bread - ...

Day 85 And here I am, wondering how I am going to catch up with the writing.  For the past few weeks, I have been weirdly busy and very drained by the end of the day which haven't helped at all into my writing process.   At the same time, I feel that few ideas are coming to my head, and I get a general lack of inspiration to put ideas together.  That said, I have come up with a plan to catch up on writing since as of today I'm missing 4 posts, that means that at the very least I need to write twice a day for a few days and I'll be back on track. Even though few ideas are coming, I do know where I want to push myself to: Travel blogging.  You see, for the past few months, and for the next few months, I'll be traveling extensively for work, and just to count where I've been and where I'm going, here is a short list:   Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Washington, DC Detroit, MI Chicago, IL New Orleans, LA Chicago, IL (again) Bologne, Italy (possibly) Mun...

Day 84 Ultra Music Festival.  Why would I want to write about a festival that, even though I normally go every year, I'm never really too excited about? Weird, huh? So for those of you who may not know what it is, the Ultra Music Festival is an electronic music festival that takes place in Miami every March.   Normally is a 3-day festival with the biggest and most well-known DJs and people from all over the world come to the city to attend such event. A few disclaimers first: in the grand scheme of things, I don't really enjoy electronic music much.  I can stand it, I can like a few songs and I do enjoy a few of the DJs a lot, but I rather go to a rock concert.  That said, I know how to have a good time and enjoy it cause at the end of the day, the environment, even with all the drugs around (disclaimer #2: I don't do drugs) is actually pretty fun. So why do I attend? The first one I ever go to was back in 2013 and if you live in Miami, is one of those things th...

Day 83 Things i didn't think would bother me but actually do: Nintendo closing down the eshops for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.  Yeah, I'm going into my nerdy self again but sometimes I honestly don't understand the move of certain technology companies in regards to their user-base and the comsuption of their products. A few things first:  both systems/platforms (Wii U and 3DS) are over 10 years old and is kind of understandble that eventually certain services would be fade out.  The issue with it, as it happened before with the original Wii, is that by closing down the eshops they are taking away the main tool to get access to certain games and applications that are not available anywhere else. In the videogame field, certain games are released in physical format, digital format, or both and nowadays, if a game is released on physical, you can bet that it is also available digitally, which is great.  Digital only games are very common too, especially with re-releases...

Day 82 Simple and concise.  A phrase I live by: - "Haz bien y no mires a quien" - Can be translated as "Do good and don't look at whom" but the idea is better explained in the saying "Do what's right, come what may". I can put thay into many different context in my life, but for me is mainly on how I treat people and how I would like them to treat me.   I'm not a firm believer in "Karma" but I'm almost convinced if people are a PoS, life will eventually catch up to them. Doing what's right sometimes may cause dilemma or some sort of conflict inside your head and in the real world, but, if you are doing what is right, then that's all that matters.  Some people may be appreciate it more than others though, so manage expectations accordingly.

Day 81 Outside of The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64, there's only one other game I've played in almost every single platform it has been released, and that game is Resident Evil 4. Originally came out in 2005 on Nintendo Gamecube, after started a development in 1999 and officially announced in 2002, the game is definitely one of my all time favorites and objectively speaking is one of the best games ever made and the innovations that it introduced can still be felt in many games that have been released recently. As said before, I played it when it originally came out on Nintendo Gamecube, the little purple box that could, in 2005 and at the time it was one of the most technically advanced games in the market, but not long after, it was released on Playstation 2 - not as graphically advanced but did include "Separate Ways" - a new story mission and well, I had to play that too. In 2007 Capcom released the Wii version of the game, that included ever...

Day 80 A day I realized that one of my favorite songs ever is "Clarity" by Zedd ft Foxes.  I don't know exactly what is about it but it honestly takes me to a fucking amazing place, may it be the lyrics, the production, the music, the delivery by Foxes, maybe none of that or all of it, but long story short, it is definitely up there in my list of freaking awesome songs. The lyrics as follows: …  High dive into frozen waves where the past comes back to life Fight fear for the selfish pain, it was worth it every time Hold still right before we crash 'cause we both know how this ends A clock ticks 'til it breaks your glass and I drown in you again …  'Cause you are the piece of me I wish I didn't need Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don't know why If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy? If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity? …  If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy? If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity? … ...

Day 79 Social media and their stupid quizzes and posts.  Today I went over my memories in Facebook and found one post from March 2009 where a friend of mine shared.  It was a lame quiz and based on the answers you are supposed to put the subject as: I'm (how old you are) but I act (what you got on the test). Below the quiz and my answers as of today: How old do you act? [x] You know how to make a pot of coffee [ ] You keep track of dates using a calendar [x] You own a credit card [x] You know how to change the oil in a car [x] You've done your own laundry [x] You can vote in an election [x] You can cook for yourself [x] You think politics are interesting(George Bush and a shoe!) TOTAL SO FAR: 7 [ ] You show up for school late a lot [x] You always carry a pen/pencil in your bag/purse/pocket [x] You've never gotten a detention [ ] You have forgotten your own birthday [ ] You like to take walks by yourself [x] You know what credibility means, without looking it up [x] You dri...

Day 78 I finally was able to make it - be behind on posting - I should be stressed out but, to my surprise that's the least I am even after the hectic day I had. In between emails, meetings, supplier visit, discussions, travels, skepticism, running against the clock, long hours, an uber driver that didn't stop speaking, a mild farewell to a colleague (due to being on different terminals), a shitty dinner (McDonalds), arriving very late at home and having to get things ready like taking out the trash, cleaning my cats' litterboxes and such, normally a day like that would have had me with headaches and anxiety through the roof, and yet, I'm as calm as a kite in the sky on clear day. You see, even with all the craziness (including but not limited to being bashed by a customer), it was, and overall extremely productive day.  I got things done, I spent quality time with colleague, got to know a really cool facility from our supplier, got to help on fixing issues and collabor...

Day 77 What I thought it was going to be a "is just my job, I'm not excited" turned out to be false and after many years of not visiting new places in the US, I'm finally at a new unknown destination for myself. The last time I visited a new place was back in October 2019 when I visited Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon and Valley of Fire, after that we got the stupid pandemic that had me mostly at home for quite some time. When I restarted my travels, was always to places I've been before which is nice but there was no novelty factor.  The novelty started again when I visited new places internationally in 2022 but within the US I lacked behind. That kind of ends with my trip to Detroit, MI that even though I'll be there for just one night, still excites to get to a new place and a new airport. I won't have time to do touristy stuff, heck, I won't even be able to actually get to downtown Detroit but, still exciting.  Traveling for work has its perks, an...

Day 76 One of the weird things I do, is that I collect amiibos.  Some may know what it is, but for those who don't these are figurines made by Nintendo and their partners based on their IP as a part of a toy-to-life platform.  I knew from the get-go that I was not going to use the "toy-to-life" portion of them and mostly get them as collectibles. Initially, since I knew I was not going to use them as intended, I hesitated a lot to get any of it but as soon as they were released many of them were selling out really fast, and due to the news and also because I started to suffer from FOMO, I started collected them. These figurines were initially released in 2014 so basically, I've been collecting them for 9 years and well, lets just say that I have too many.  What initially started as a little joke, quickly became a big passion and every time a new amiibo is announced, I slowly but surely start to follow the news to put my preorder in time. The reason I'm bringing th...

Day 75 Duolingo was the first to tell me that I'm on a 75-day streak so that's freaking amazing even though my German still extremely rough but at least it does entertain me and is a quick little task that I enjoy doing while learning some new words or phrases. I'm also on a 75 days streak writing the blog and well, it still going, and that in itself is an achievement.  I just want to let out some minor frustrations with my parents, more specifically with my mom but is applicable to both.  You see, they only travel abroad if there's some sort of convention where they are invited period, no vacations abroad, no visiting their family or their sons.   I moved away from more than 15 years ago, and I can count the number of times they have visited: 1 once my dad because he was on a layover and once my mom because she came for my graduation from grad school, that's it.  Why am I bringing this up now?  Simple, just venting some stuff. In the past it used to bother...

Day 74 This week has been great so far, even though it has been hectic, at the same time, fairly productive with a good amount of relaxation and sleep and well, Thursday turned out to be a great day overall, once of those where you are not expecting anything and all you get is good news after good news. The first of the surprises – the tire that have a nail (which I tried to fix prior my trip but couldn’t) did not have low air pressure so I could drive to work without issues.   I initially planned to leave my vehicle at the airport since I was going to be out for a mere 2 days, but due to the tire and the fear of arriving to a flat tire at the airport made me cancelled those plans. The person I was covering for is back to the office – picture me very surprised that my colleague is back after a few weeks out where I had dual duties.   That allows me to focus all my energies on my tasks and take some pressure out of me. I got my performance review results, and well, they wer...

Day 73 So for the last few weeks I've been playing many classic retro games from the N64 and Gameboy Advance era.  Lately I've beeb playing Goldeneye 007 but Paper Mario even more to the point were I finally beat the game. Paper Mario is the second RPG game in the Mario series and an amazing game it is.  At the time of release the graphics were pretty amazing from an artistic point of view becase it was made such a way that everything looked out of paper and/or crafting materials and after many years trying and trying to beat it, I finally did because I focused my gaming sessions on that one game. The other two games I beat recently are from GBA and they are "The Legend of Zelda Minish Cap", and action-adventure game that is just amazing and a game I've beaten countless of times and Metroid Fusion a horror-infused action-adventure game from.the Metroid franchise and well, still amazing as ever if at points a bit too linear.  This is a game I've beaten way too ...

Day 72 As mentioned a few days ago, Pi Day was upon us, and well, today is Pi Day.   Pi Day has been an annual celebration of the constant Pi since 1988 and is observed on March 14 due to the typical date format in the USA (month/day).   The main purpose is to highlight the maths and lay down a bit of knowledge about the constant to the general population. It is obseved in many different ways by having discussions, eating/baking pies due to the words pi and pie being homophones and the particularity that pi has to do with circles, and pies tend to be circular in shape, some schools have competitions where students compete on who can recall pi the longst, etc. Initially I started observing this day back in 2012 when I became aware of its existance, and I just "celebrate it" by acknowleding the its existance on a simple facebook post that read "Happy Pi Day!!" and that first time it didn't get much tracktion at all, just one friend "liked" the post...

Day 72 I wanted to write about how I almost had a panic attack today, but that panicked me so I'm going to be brief.  Yes, I'm OK, actually more than OK since I had a fairly successful day between work related stuff, the luck to be able to do an early check-in at hotel, a very nice flight to DC and an almost 2-hour walk around the city. So as a way to unwind and forget my panic attack ish situation, I will just disconnect from the real world for a bit, and dive deep into a Space Station by playing Metroid Fusion, and I said it once, but I'll say it again, videogames are my therapy.   One day I'll talk about what happened today in details, but you will have to wait.  Mind you though, is not as serious as it may sound. Peace out!

Day 71 I'll start by saying that I'm going back to the original schedule of posting at night instead of the following morning and that's starting tonight. The main reasons I've been skipping late posting in the last few days come down to two reasons: 1- Being extremely tired after some stressful days that included a bit of insomnia, dinners out, heavy gym, unmindful cats, etc which left me a it drained to sit on my computer. 2- Procrastination - 😐 You see, I know that I could have made it work if and only if I would have put a bit more effort but, since I could make it the next day in early hours, then why not? In the past I've always struggled a bit with procrastination but thankfully I've never had any serious issue with it but I know I could do better. You may say "but this is just a blog, is not important or anything, why you think this deserves the effort?" Well, if I don't show the proper respect it deserves, then who will? I put being tired...

Day 70 I guess this is a nice milestone to celebrate, 70 days writing this blog. even though at the moment I don't feel very inspired, in part because I'm feeling a bit under the weather but nothing serious but also because I cannot find the right words to really write down what I want to, so I will just divert to a memory from Facebook and what happens to be one of my most beloved memes. I posted this in March of 2016 and my feelings about this meme are exactly the same: I really hate or dislike those self-help or motivational quotes and the reason why is simple: they don't do shit IMHO.  Phrases are just that, a bunch of words and feel free to like them if you want, but action is what actually get you the results you are looking for. And analyzing the meme above, is just a bunch of BS done to manipulate (in case they can) minds with a nice little message with a very flawed logic and the response being very in your face that following the same logic certain actions like la...

Day 69 A full day later but well, today I'm down to the point of "it is what it is" and won't get a bit mad at myself for missing out the writing or being late.  Anyways, there has been many topics going around my head like tell stories about having a Dominican passport and all the visa issues I've run into in the past, or tell some stories related to the World Baseball Classic that recently started, but no.   It will be way simpler than that, I will just share some lyrics of one of those feel-good songs I tend to go to.  The song is called "Fireflies" by Owl City and it became a hit back in 2009 and there's something about the ethereal sound of the song, or the imaginative and creative lyrics that really transport me to this weird magical place where I try to imagine how would it feel if "I get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lighting bugs". My favorite part of the song is the end, in part because I feel it's a bit sad and nostalgic ...

Day 68 "It's-a-me, Mario" - well Mario Day is upon us, and even though I don't have any particular plan for celebration, it is however, a good excuse to talk about Mario and why it brings the inner child out of me. March 10th is also known as MAR10 Day started officially in 2016 as a way of Nintendo celebrating its most famous and successful character/franchise by having Mario related events and sales through the web, platforms and their store. One question that I have asked myself through the years, is "why do I like Mario so much? What is it about the character and the main games and spinoffs that I like so much?", and it all comes down to one word: FUN. For me, Mario games in general are about FUN, not a deep story or existential problems, not about mind-blowing graphics, not about complex mechanics and long-ass tutorials, they are mostly about great but simple gameplay mechanics, nice colorful cartoony characters and animations, intricate level design, a...

Day 67 Again, I purposely left the writing for the next day.  Last night, by 8:30PM I was lying in bed on an extended petting session with Taco and I finally disconnected from my phone no later than 9:30PM.  Went to bed extremely early (for my standards) and I was able to get a good night sleep which is great news. But anyways, switching topic a little bit, and it does have to do with technology and more specifically with social media and their algorithms on what information they feed you.   You see, I’m a big guy in general, big frame, very tall, etc. and food is one thing that I truly enjoy, that doesn’t mean I eat like crazy, on the contrary, I’m kind of mindful on what I eat/drink especially on week days, but nevertheless the whole idea is that I love eating and food. So I recently found myself watching funny little videos of food on IG and Facebook and what I “mistake” that was.   Now, all I get is food recipes left and right, and not of the healthy ones b...

Day 66 Insomnia - per WebMD (the site that no one should visit lol) - is defined as a sleep disorder in which you have trouble falling and/or staying asleep. Every now and then, I get my fair share of sleepless nights but even with my crazy week last week, I didn't get any bad night. That said, for the last few nights, specially the most recent one, I had a really hard time staying asleep which is very disrupting for my day to day activities, specially for the gym. My work day rarely gets affected since coffee always helps. That said, i want to go over the potential causes based on what WebMD says and analyze what's applicable: Insomnia Causes Primary causes of insomnia include: Stress related to big life events, like a job loss or change, the death of a loved one, divorce, or moving --> N/A Things around you like noise, light, or temperature --> N/A Changes to your sleep schedule like jet lag, a new shift at work, or bad habits you picked up when you had other sleep p...