about me

Hi I'm mmad. I am from the states and looking for a spot to share my interests and just vent into the digital void.

photography & videography

Two of my main interests are photography and videography. I have 3 film cameras, 1 digital camera, and 1 camcorder. You can see the models and pictures below in my cool tech list. I really love anything nature and architecture so most of my photos will be of that and maybe some photos of people (I like to people watch).

As you probably noticed, I like older media formats like film and camcorder. I also like most retro things, mainly tech. I currently have a CRT and a Japanese typewriter in my collection and maybe some other things. Can't really think of them right now.

collecting & repairing

In addition to collecting I also like repairing. I have several iPods (I know not really retro, but still obsolescent so it has a charm to it) that I have taken apart and put larger storages in and rockbox on. Might make a blog post about it. It's a fun process.

I am a very digital person, but prefer physical media where I can. For example: I have a bunch of CDs from my dad that I would listen to as a kid. I really enjoyed the Curious George album. I also like to take hand written notes sometimes, even though I have an Obsidian setup that I'm really proud of. Wish I scanned my notes in like cyanvoxel does, but it just seems like too much work for little pay off.

gaming

I wrote a lot about tech... well here's more :3. I'm big into video games. Some of my favorites include TLoU1/2, CS2 (I miss CS:GO *sigh*), Outer Wilds, Valorant, and Destiny 2. I just recently played TLoU1/2 as well as Outer Wilds, but CS2/CS:GO and Valorant have been my go-tos for a while. Something about that matchmaking addiction idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Destiny 2 used to be my big go to, but the game-play loop got so repetitive. I miss the days where I didn't know what I was doing and someone in the party chat on Xbox told me what to do.

life & hobbies

Now for the less "chronically online" things. Reading, I am going to make a blog post about media I consume will most likely put what books I read in there. Hanging with the boys, we like to go gym every weekday and sometimes go play in the swimming pool on Friday evenings (I know very manly). Speaking of gym, I have been getting into much better shape since I started going with them. It makes me want to be at the gym most days, but they won't ever hear that from me :3. The gym sometimes includes the pool. I used to be on a swim team and really enjoy/prefer swimming over running.

plants & terrarium

I love plants. I wish I knew more about them. I have 4 potted plants at my work that really liven up the boring fluorescent cubicles. I also have a jar terrarium that I made back in 2023 that still has not been opened. A snail made it into the pot, but I'm not sure how because I didn't place him there on purpose. His name is Sandy and I feed him calcium so his shell doesn't break.

homelab project

I have my end-game server build as well. Dual CPU R720 and a NAS I jerry rigged using an old PC case and 3D printed drive bays to house 8x16TB drives. Will use the R720 as a processing server and the NAS purely as storage. Media server, file storage cloud, Jellyfin, and whatever else I can put on there. Most likely this website too. This is a work in progress so you will see updates on what I do on this interest's dedicated blog.