Uf, this game did no go as planned. Somehow you just know that when the keeper starts to cry you are basically in for a losing match. Still, Alan scored a goal, so the defeat was quickly forgotten and we had reason to celebrate.
Results
| Date | Home | Result | Visitor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Oct, 09:00 | Simusetti C.F. A | 20 – 3 | Batan B |
| 4 Oct, 09:00 | Batan B | 0 – 10 | San Lazaro U.D. A |
A traveling salesman arrives in a small town, starving after a long day. The only place to eat is a dingy-looking fast food joint, but hunger wins over hesitation. He walks in, takes a seat, and immediately notices the place is as sleazy as it gets. The waitress matches the vibe with her grimy uniform and rude manners. Not exactly the best service.
Still, he’s desperate for food. He orders two hamburgers and a hot dog.
A few minutes later, the waitress returns, carrying the two burgers tucked snugly under her armpits.
Appalled, the salesman blurts out, ‘Why on earth are you carrying the burgers like that?’
She shrugs and says, ‘Keeps them warm.’
The salesman thinks for a while, then says, ‘Cancel the hot dog.’
Here we go again! Saturday, 09:00, on the field by 08:00 for preparations, so no sleeping in today. There goes half my weekend. The football season has started again, so it’s time to play. A few things have changed. Alan’s team has been revamped with some new players. The team name has also changed again, this year they’re called ‘Batan’ (last year it was ‘Inter Colonia‘, and in the official listings it’s still ‘Atletico Fomento‘). They also have new outfits this year, but we’ll have to wait a bit for those. At least now (if everything went well), each player has their name and number on their shirt.
Results
| Date | Home | Result | Visitor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Oct, 09:00 | Batan B | 0 – 10 | San Lazaro U.D. A |
Uf, the competition was tough, the kids were a lot bigger, and about one or two years older than us. The first couple of matches is going to be difficult, and then the matchs will be more equal. We’ll see.
The match schedules are all available online, but unfortunately, the websites that provide this information are complicated labyrinths, packed to the brim with ads, popups, cookies, and just about every bit of junk you can imagine. Every time you have to accept all sorts of things, and after a lot of searching, you can finally see the match lists through all the ads. Of course, while viewing the lists, you have to keep clicking away popups every 20 or 30 seconds, and you have to be careful to click correctly, otherwise, you’ll be ruthlessly redirected to a site full of ads, and it’ll take ages to find the list again. So I just made a brief overview myself, at least now I can see when, where, and what time Alan has to play.
With a little help from the AI we made Pel even prettier.
My old phone started showing some issues after five years. The battery was getting worse by the day. The charging cable no longer fit properly, and I had to patiently insert it the right way or otherwise, I’d end up with a dead phone. The memory was full, and I could only install new updates after clearing out all my photos. I definitely wasn’t having an optimal user experience, so it was time for an upgrade.
After some thought I decided to go for the top of the line, and I got myself a crisp new iPhone 17 Pro! I have been using my new phone for about a week, and I am quite happy with it. Here are the key highlights.
The positive points:
What I did not like:
Overall I’m happy. I feel like for the next couple of years I will have a good phone. It’s really very fast, but I doubt I really need this speed. My old phone was clearly slower, but it was enough for me. The best point is the new battery, I went for charging my phone three times a day to a phone that just keeps working for two days, and a quick charge is enough to keep it working for a day more. I did have to turn off all the fancy graphical effects, and turn on low-power mode, but that gave me exactly what I wanted. A phone I can use when I need it.
The new Pel, who was originally called Lep but has since been renamed to Chimbroek, is a completely different hamster from our Pel. He’s the same color, but the differences between a male and a female have become quite clear. The differences:
Both are fairly used to living with us now. I only heard Pel once in the store, when she was picked up to be put in a box. Chimbroek made angry noises for a few weeks, even just when approached. Now they’re both super tame. We can pick them up and pet them without any problem. They take seeds from between our fingers and lie down relaxed when being stroked.
The month began with the final stretch of the holiday period. Fun, but also trying to keep increasingly bored children entertained. Godfather and honorary godfather Miguel came for a lovely visit, and we all went to Fuerteventura together. A really fun outing! After our short vacation, normal life resumed for the kids as well. Back to school every day. Extra English lessons, football, beach volleyball and tennis. A relief to have a steady rhythm again.
This month I also made some upgrades. A new backpack, because the old one was suffering from increasingly larger holes, and I pre-ordered new phone, because the old one was struggling with an increasingly poor battery. I switched from budget to expensive, just to see what that’s like. I’m not sure yet if it was the best choice, and it’ll probably be difficult to go back to a budget device in the future, but I’ll find out in the future.
I started with my brother’s old iPhone 4 (2013), then switched to my first budget version, the SE (2016). After that, a slightly newer budget version, an SE from 2020. Now, five years later, the battery drains much faster. I can barely get a few hours out of it, especially when using navigation. Time for an upgrade, and I’ve thought about it for a long time, but I’m going for it. I’m moving from the budget model to the top of the line.
During the presentation of the new iPhone 17 Pro, a few things immediately caught my attention. First of all, it’s not available in black. Strange, and a pity, because that would have been my preference. Now I’ll go for white, hoping it has the advantage of heating up less quickly in the sun. I also noticed that a square sensor is now used for photography. The benefit is that it doesn’t matter how you hold the device, vertically or horizontally, for photos. Well, it sounded like part of the image is always unavailable now. The camera lenses stick out, so I can’t lay the phone flat on my desk… also a shame. And finally, unsurprisingly, the device is terribly expensive.
Do I really need it? No, of course not. Is it a waste of money? Probably. It is nice to have something good. This phone it for now the best there is, or really close. Lets see if I adapt as well to this change, as my speedy adaptation to my first smartphone years ago.
The English used to send criminals and unwanted individuals to Australia. The Russians sent their troublesome people to Siberia. Spain also had its own place for unwanted residents and they were given a one-way ticket to Fuerteventura. It’s quite understandable that Fuerteventura was chosen as a destination for undesirable individuals. The entire island consists mainly of sand and rocks, with only the occasional plant and a clear lack of water. It’s bone dry everywhere.
Nowadays, people go to Fuerteventura voluntarily. We’ve actually been there twice before, and this time was just as enjoyable. We visited some of the enormous beaches, charming villages, and took a fun excursion to a small island (Isla de Lobos) to explore and discover it.
Miguel told me this wild, but true story about his day during the Spanish blackout a couple of month ago (April 28, 2025) that took over 10 hours to fix.
Blackout
It hits without warning. In the middle of the day, sun blazing, and suddenly the city plunges into darkness. At first, you think it’s just a normal outage, you experienced one of those a couple of years ago, and it took only a few minutes for things to return to normal. Then an hour passes. Still no power. The head of your department walks in to tell everyone they can go home.You step outside and into chaos. The blackout isn’t just in your building, it’s everywhere. Subways have stopped cold. People are spilling out of underground stations, using their phones like torches. Traffic lights are dead, intersections jammed with cars and confused pedestrians. Buses aren’t running. Trams are frozen. The city feels like it’s holding its breath.
You look at your phone. The flashlight works, but that’s about it. No calls. No messages. No maps. Anything that requires a signal or a connection is gone.
Luckily, you live in the city. A brisk walk should get you home. As you start moving, a strange realization creeps in: you don’t actually know how to get there. You’ve always relied on public transport and your navigation app. The streets blur together without it. You stare at an old paper map someone hands you, but it’s just lines and symbols. Useless.
Then, a stroke of luck. An older colleague from the office overhears you. You tell him your address, and he nods, pointing you in the right direction with the kind of confidence that only comes from decades of walking the city. You follow his directions, uncertain at first. But as you get closer, landmarks begin to look familiar, a corner café, a mural on a wall, the curve of a street you’ve passed a hundred times but never really noticed.
And then… home.
You take the stairs to your apartment, again using your phone as a flashlight. The fridge is silent. The freezer is holding on for now. You sit in the dark living room, surrounded by quiet, and realize how much you’ve depended on invisible systems, and how quickly they can vanish.