https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/ Recent content on the watercooler Hugo -- gohugo.io en Thu, 12 Feb 2026 18:45:31 -0600 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/maze/ Thu, 12 Feb 2026 18:45:31 -0600 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/maze/ TL;DWR: I found a way of using Apple Maps with Google Maps to avoid their annoying (to me) “Know Before You Go” AI-powered feature. Go here if you want to skip the preaching and go straight to the solve. Last November (or so), Google added this to Maps: and, for the first time in my life, had me considering buying a crisp set of Rand McNally maps for my travel pack. https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/burnout-sucks/ Mon, 13 Jan 2025 22:13:03 -0600 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/burnout-sucks/ I wrote this on December 6th, 2024 when I felt, in retrospect, that I was feeling nearly at-my-worst (in a 1st-world “you still have a super well paying job; buck up and shut up” level of “worst). After taking my own advice and taking several weeks off, I feel a whole lot better, and my new job is already looking very promising. Despite this, I would’ve taken even more time off if I wasn’t buying a house this year. https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/mini-2/ Mon, 13 Jan 2025 21:27:00 -0600 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/mini-2/ sometime in november, i thought i had enough of my mini. “I need a 120Hz OLED screen,” I said. “The camera button,” I said. so I bought an iPhone 16 Pro. and life was good. but not for long. mistaps on the screen while trying to use apps. playing music errantly while pulling my phone out of my hip pack. putting my phone into my hip pack. or anything, really. https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/mini/ Sat, 30 Dec 2023 20:58:00 -0500 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/mini/ i had an iPhone 13 mini for a year before reluctantly upgrading to the iPhone 15 Pro. between it having usb-c and the mini being discontinued, i figured it was time. i went back to my mini two months later. aside from travel apps, music, myfitnesspal and logging receipts to expensify, i don’t use my phone very much. quite the contrary; i wish i could use it less. something like the light phone with just enough functionality to fit my use case would be perfect. https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/back-to-mac/ Fri, 29 Dec 2023 21:38:00 -0500 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/back-to-mac/ after using an ipad pro 12.9" as my main computing rig for a year in the field, i finally threw in the towel this past november and got a macbook. this isn’t my first go at this. i tried to make the og ipad pro my main machine back in 2016.1 much has changed since then. the magic keyboard is infinitely better than the original smart keybaord that was available at the time, for example. https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/rto/ Sun, 05 Nov 2023 21:04:07 -0600 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/rto/ my wife and i were talking about soap operas the other day. i was absolutely floored that days of our lives is not only still on daytime tv, but is also available on peacock! well, the last two seasons anyway. not that you’re missing much, since season 59 has 243 episodes in it1 anyway, the interesting thing about soaps that i learned from that conversation is that you can basically hop in and out at any time without skipping a beat. https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/get-off-your-fucking-phone/ Sat, 04 Nov 2023 09:56:09 -0500 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/get-off-your-fucking-phone/ it’s not fucking hard are you driving? GET OFF YOUR FUCKING PHONE. doom scroll in the parking lot for 15 minutes like everyone else. are you biking? GET OFF YOUR FUCKING PHONE. like, share, subscribe at starbucks like the rest of us. are you at the gym? GET OFF YO—just kidding, that’s cool. are you walking somewhere? GET OFF YOUR FUCKING PHONE. heart that post when you get to work or whatever. https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/life-of-a-traveling-consultant-coffee/ Thu, 26 Oct 2023 20:41:17 -0500 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/life-of-a-traveling-consultant-coffee/ TL;DR: If you’re like and demand great coffee no matter where you’re traveling to, learn how to do pour-overs and bring a kit with you. Having good coffee is really important to me. As someone that travels a lot throughout the year, access to good coffee on the road is harder than you’d think. there’s good When I’m home, I brew with an Origami Dripper and Chemex filters. I used to use Hario filters since that’s The Standard™ for V60 brews, but I’ve found that the Chemex filters remove a lot of the harsh oils that coat my throat after a session without sacrificing flavor. https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/frupidity/ Sat, 14 Oct 2023 06:55:41 -0500 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/frupidity/ My relationship with Amazon over the years: 2006: Wow, this site is awesome! I can find anything and get it delivered in two days! 2017: Those stories about people working at Amazon are a downer, but Walmart’s basically the same and now I can get stuff same-day, so Amazon’s still pretty cool. Also, why is the front page so much busier? 2021: Oh, so same day shipping only really works if you live in a city. https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/barefoot/ Tue, 03 Oct 2023 21:20:20 -0500 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/barefoot/ i’ve been spending the last few months trialing mexican huarache running sandals, the sandals shown above. getting to the point where i could wear these crazy awesome sandals was a journey. i’ve had insanely flat feet for as long as I can remember. while they aren’t rigid flat feet (where you can’t see an arch when your foot is suspended), they are pancake-flat under load, like the example shown below. https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/watercooler/ Fri, 29 Sep 2023 21:42:21 -0500 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/watercooler/ i think aloud a lot. especially when i’m working through a tough problem. i’ve done it for as long as i could remember. while it is immensely helpful in helping me sort things out, most of those thoughts get recirculated into the air, mixed with other people’s lost thoughts somewhere out there. i’ve maintained a professional blog for a number of years, but i didn’t want to intermix it with random shower thoughts because i wanted to keep it purely technical. https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/thuma/ Wed, 27 Sep 2023 21:38:00 -0500 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/post/thuma/ I purchased a Thuma two weeks ago to replace our suddenly-broken bed frame. Interestingly, I had no idea that they were all over TV and people’s socials. I learned about the company upon searching “best bed frame site:reddit.com” on Google. (Were these posts part of Thuma’s super-thirsty ad campaigns? Hard to tell these days!) This bed is the real deal. I hate assembling stuff. If its manual is more complicated than an IKEA chair, I pretty much avoid it. https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/about/ Wed, 27 Sep 2023 07:30:00 -0500 https://watercooler.blog.carlosnunez.me/about/ Hey there! I’m Carlos, a DevOps consultant in Houston, TX.