Hello,
I'm Axel.

I'm a Design Engineer living in Hermosillo, Mexico. I've been working in the software development industry for pretty much my entire adult life, in roles related to both front-end development and design. I lived through the browser wars, the web standards movement, social media becoming mainstream, and the decay of privacy online. Today I'm very much into the indie web and the small web movements. This website is my hub on the web, from work to hobbies and everything in-between.
Axel Valdez

Content Timeline

This timeline shows the 20 most recent posts across the blog, the stream of consciousness, memories, and links sections.

  1. Tech Independence, by Derek Sivers

    sive.rs/ti

    A relatively easy to use guide on how to get tech independence: getting a website, email, storage, and everything in a personal tech stack under your control and only your control. Very inspiring.

  2. Sharing, by Dave Gauer

    ratfactor.com/cards/sharing

    Unsure if you should write that blog post explaining what you learned or start that webpage about that "silly little" project of yours? Or show your art or share your music?

  4. I'm in Love with the Fediverse

    Back in May of this year, I returned to the Mastodon account I'd opened when Twitter went to shit the hands of Elon Musk. I don't remember the exact date. The years around the COVID pandemic are fuzzy.

    I hadn't really used it before, and this time I decided to start following people other than the dead accounts from that first week, the angry signups that eventually turned into abandoned accounts.

    Continue reading →

  5. Matar el chiste

    regioncuatro.blog/matar-el-chiste/

    "Killing the Joke" in Región Cuatro, my blog in Spanish.

  7. I watched Digger, from Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, last night. I went in expecting a much less well executed film, judging by reviews and comments I saw before. I came out of the theater in awe.

    For me, it's a perfect movie. I don't know why nobody's making a big deal about it.

    Grande Alejandro.

    Thought #66

  8. quxnet

    quxnet.net/about

    A private network with old internet manners — "quxnet is designed after the old web, focused on text content, good conversation, and privacy without modern web distractions. It's a small community, so it thrives on participation, not spectators".

  9. Things I used to get excited about:

    Food, travel, concerts, going to the beach, buying gadgets, going to the movies, getting a new record, getting a new book.

    Things I get excited about now:

    None.

    And, stupidly, I just realized, despite my diagnostic, that this is not my entire personality, that I'm really being affected by this thing that makes everything dull. It's like having a low-contrast black and white filter on life.

    I'm fine, though. I'm not doing bad. I'm just doing boring.

    Thought #65

  10. Living with persistent depressive disorder sucks. You're functional, you wake up, shower, work, do social things, you have a productive life. But you're never excited about anything, ever.

    Even the depression is mild.

    Not a cry for help, mind you, just a note for myself.

    Thought #64

  11. Embracing Discomfort

    For a few months now, I've had these words on my about page:

    My goal for this year is to fully embrace discomfort

    Today I want to talk about my journey with this.

    Continue reading →

  13. Utah

    I spent a few days in Farmington, UT

  14. I subscribed to omg.lol today, mainly motivated for the mas.to downtime on Oct 1. I wish I did it before! it's full of cool and useful things, many of them unexpected for me (like a full-fledged git service, for instance).

    This is not the goal of this post, but if you're thinking of signing up, here's my referral link. :)

    Thought #63

  15. A printable calendar that fits in a single page!

    neatnik.net/calendar/

    This is so cool and useful, now I want to make my own version.

  16. I love traveling. For pleasure, work, it doesnt matter. But 24 hours before departing I get a bad anxiety peak that ends when I'm sitting in the plane.

    Every single time.

    Thought #62

  18. Sharing knowledge is more important than protecting your ego

    There's a quote I saw somewhere on the internet around 2012 and I used to repeat to myself whenever I was preparing to give a talk at a university.

    I can't remember who said it, or even the exact wording. I've searched for it more times that I care to admit, but it either disappeared from the internet, or my Google-fu (is that an anachronism already?) is rusty.

    Continue reading →

  19. The cool thing about getting a new iPhone is The smoothness of the experience. Unless you're new to iOS, everything is always exactly the same.

    The thing that sucks is also that it's always exactly the same.

    You get a brand new iPhone, set it up, and five minutes later you've somehow had it for six years.

    Thought #60

  20. I spent a few days (couple hours a day) vibecoding a mac app for my personal archive notes and my work notes.

    Turns out I was vibecoding a shitty version of Obsidian.

    Lesson learned, again 😬

    Thought #59

Web Rings

I participate in several IndieWeb and SmallWeb webrings.

If you don't know what a webring is, you're probably too young and/or too cool. Here's an explanation.