So we made it to lovely Zavial.
Margarida and her family are an adventurous bunch, so we packed stuff until 2 in the morning, and at 5, we were already out of bed to start traveling and beat traffic 😅
We brought poor little Matilde 🐈 this time as she hasn't been feeling too well. Initially, she meowed a lot as she's not used to being transported, but she eased into it towards the end without much fussing.
We drove until we had a quick breakfast at 09:00, Margarida and I went with the gluten-free gila melon cake.
At 11:11, we greeted Hermenegildo and Isilda and they were as kind to us as ever. If anyone wants to visit Zavial, I highly recommend you rent rooms from them.
I then felt like taking a nap for an undisclosed amount of time, but my team had other plans in mind and we immediately set course to the nearby restaurant. I swallowed a complete burger order and two delectable bottles of Why Not Organic Soda with Peach and Ginger flavor (love it!). At this point I was ready to pass out, so I excused myself and ended up taking a lovely nap until 18:00... at which point I wrote to Margarida and then ensured the Vodafone Total Go was working for Monday morning... and then dinner...
So... I understandably felt quite restless as night was encroaching... so me and Margarida played some Ring Fit Adventure (yup, haha, we brought it!), showered, and then we talked, laughed at Moroccan FM radio and read books until it was time for bed.
Tomorrow's my birthday, apparently!
https://www.entsoe.eu/publications/blackout/28-april-2025-iberian-blackout/
NOS Alive 2025. Me and Margarida had waited months for Nine Inch Nails.
Muse (replacing Kings of Leon. Caleb Followill needed emergency surgery). Opened with Hysteria. Chris Wolstenholme's bassline live is a different animal. Stockholm Syndrome: Bellamy threw his guitar into the air then into his amp. Chris wore a Portuguese national team shirt with Diogo Jota's name (#28, died in a car accident 9 days prior at age 28). The crowd recognized it.
Then Nine Inch Nails. Trent walked on in all black with combat boots. Opened Acid, Bitter and Sad, then Somewhat Damaged, Wish, Mr. Self Destruct. Relentless. The bass on Mr. Self Destruct fills every inch of open air. You feel it in your chest. March of the Pigs hit like a truck. Closer. Whole crowd knew every word. The Perfect Drug's bass-heavy groove hit differently in person. Covered Bowie's I'm Afraid of Americans.
Closed with Hurt. Just Trent and that song. The whole arena went quiet.
Before leaving the stage, Trent suggested he might move to Portugal. Please do, Trent.
Grabbed another kebab on the way out. One of the best nights we've had.
It's still not all the way there but I bet I'll figure something out tomorrow.
For dinner I made a potato lasagna that the family enjoyed.
And I kept watching Man in the High Castle.. actually finished all of season 1. Reminds me of my pre-move to Portugal life where I'd just binge TV-series. Relaxing
Mainly because I felt like I needed it.
Margarida, Xana and Carlos are back to work, as am I.
Work continues to be good and plenty.. got a bit of a deadline of sorts coming up.. today I needed to triage and re-strategize a bit to meet an upcoming deadline but it's all in order.
I did feel like a good reset was in place after I closed the lappie at 18:30.
I craved two things: One cocktail and some millenial comfort food! Protein in bread with a yoghurt sauce and maybe some salad!
I went to LiDL and they didn't have falafel or pre-cut chicken or anything... but they did have fresh sausages!
As for the cocktail of choice I landed on trying to make a Southside! Kinda like a Mint Julep but with Gin instead of Bourbon.
After that I prepped the wraps.. and ate them!
And then I started watching Man in the High Tower. Based of the book by Philip K Dick. "America if the Axis powers won the second world war type deal".
I really like it so far. Big thanks to Rui for the recommendation!
Over and out
On the 14th I had my birthday. I celebrated it with Margarida, Carlos and Xana and we took it easy per my request... but we also popped a bottle of Moët, courtesy of Margarida. We fell asleep on the sun chairs there for a moment. 😅
We had lots of grilled fish throughout. Dourada, Robalo and Pregado 🐟🐟🐟 .. we also grilled some delicious pork!
We took a short trip to Lagos to buy some traditional sweets and look at the bay. I had a double cherry magnum!
We ate at our favorite nearby restaurant, A Sagres..twice!
Lots of time spent relaxing, catching sun, having drinks, reading books and swimming in the ocean!
The day before we left me and Margarida went for a walk with our camera to take some pictures... but I'll let her post them some time next week!
I'll post it tonight, double promise... but first, I can update everybody that I went to IKEA in Alfragide and apparently burned a lot of money.
Oh, and I had dajmtårta.. and I bought Dumle and potatischips and some kitchen stuff...
We were there for ~4 hours of something 😅
But I managed to have fun!
Been over two years since I touched down on Swedish soil... actually starting to miss it at this point, especially the people, you know who you are! But I'll likely do Denmark and Alicante (work related) before I can plan for a trip to Sweden.
Now we're gonna have steaks and I made a mushroom sauce. Catch you later!
On the dystopian future of UX:
https://webdesignerdepot.com/web-design-will-become-the-art-of-profiling-the-user/
Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.08872
So we made it to lovely Zavial.
Margarida and her family are an adventurous bunch, so we packed stuff until 2 in the morning, and at 5, we were already out of bed to start traveling and beat traffic 😅
We brought poor little Matilde 🐈 this time as she hasn't been feeling too well. Initially, she meowed a lot as she's not used to being transported, but she eased into it towards the end without much fussing.
We drove until we had a quick breakfast at
09:00, Margarida and I went with the gluten-free gila melon cake.At
11:11, we greeted Hermenegildo and Isilda and they were as kind to us as ever. If anyone wants to visit Zavial, I highly recommend you rent rooms from them.I then felt like taking a nap for an undisclosed amount of time, but my team had other plans in mind and we immediately set course to the nearby restaurant. I swallowed a complete burger order and two delectable bottles of Why Not Organic Soda with Peach and Ginger flavor (love it!). At this point I was ready to pass out, so I excused myself and ended up taking a lovely nap until
18:00... at which point I wrote to Margarida and then ensured the Vodafone Total Go was working for Monday morning... and then dinner...So... I understandably felt quite restless as night was encroaching... so me and Margarida played some Ring Fit Adventure (yup, haha, we brought it!), showered, and then we talked, laughed at Moroccan FM radio and read books until it was time for bed.
Tomorrow's my birthday, apparently!
I had two things I really wanted out of the way before going to Zavial
1. Try to get a hold of "MiFi"(USB Mobile internet dongle + Vodafone Total Go 20 days prepaid) so I can conduct work without having to hit up a hypothetical local library that likely won't exist for WiFi. The family could chime in to give me some 40+gb of mobile data, but in today's connected world, especially for a Web Dev that does SysAdmin, it's virtually nothing.
2. (Reluctantly) I needed to cut my hair
And waddayaknow! I managed both!
After work me and Margarida went to CascaiShopping and bought it, and then she coaxed me into visiting the new barbershop there. I was cut by Osmar and dare I say he did an excellent job.. I might even go for the beard care next time!
Tomorrow I wake up like EARLY...so that'll be all for now.
After a nice day at work, we set out to Marques de Pombal for the annual book fare. They have it every year, and it's basically every retailer of books gathering books to sell at good prices in stands that cover a wider area.. there's also good food and good vibes, talks with authors and whatnot. One of my favorite annual activities in Portugal even though I'm still struggling to learn their beautiful language.
I bought some books for me in English and Margarida bought a little bit more than me (not surprising, most books are ofc in Portuguese!) and we had a fantastic time.
And then it was time for dinner plans. Margarida couldn't pick between her beloved La Trattoria or the nearby Georgian restaurant, so I picked up a 10 eurocent coin from my pocket, and we let that decide... and La Trattoria it was!
We shared a plate of the best carpaccio I have ever had in my entire life. We then split, so we ate half of each pizza. One with pear and goat cheese and one with mortadella and pistachio. Then we shared a basil pannacotta with strawberries... yeah.. it was 10/10. I don't have sufficient words for it.
Ah, and yes.
Rest in peace to one of my great heroes. Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys
https://open.spotify.com/track/24XgG5UI54IW9CxaFrMN9m?si=dhJFGWgtRLa8U-ozWvRAHw
This meant that I had a mellow little holiday ahead of the trip to Zavial.
We had grilled salmon for lunch and then a cheese platter and stuff for dinner.
I spent most hours of the day coding Astro.js. I have had brief stints where I feel like I really love it and understand it (mind you, dear reader, even ahead of AI)... like I'll end up in a flow state and really love it for a couple of hours... and then the things I'd like to do that feel like it ought to be agonizingly trivial become impossible.
Re-reading the docs helps a lot, though. Might convert my devBlog to Astro within the coming days._
Yeah... I hope my shipment of snus (nicotine pouches) arrive in the mail tomorrow or before the 13th otherwise I will have deposited some ~90 euros on something that will get sent back as I'll be around the Vila do Bispo/Sagres/Zavial area between the 13th and 20th of this month.
Tomorrow I work again and then I pack my bags. Yay for me turning 33 on the 14th I guess 😅
But instead of mayo...mustard and whatnot I did:
* 30/70 Philadelphia/Greek Yoghurt
* Rose Pepper
* Oregano
* pinch of salt
* shredded cheese
* two cans of Tuna in water, 1 premium can of Tuna in oil .. drained.
Mix and ensure the mixture is still somewhat firm. Spread it between two slices of untoasted toast. Toast in pan with a decent amount of butter. Serve warm!
...And enjoy them with a coleslaw!
Sun was on, that's for sure🌞
I also enjoyed this tasty cold #kombucha and some organic blueberries 🤤
and it went off to a good start I'd say!
Turned out to be a hit!
🥵
It packs a surprising punch for a plastic USB-driven fan! And it's quiet which is a must with me, has five different levels of strength and an internal battery so you can have it run while connected to a phone charger and it will keep running when you unplug it!
Take that #Portuguese sun!
Link to ArsTechnica article