Alex Arias

What I'm doing now

Updated: 2026-05-19, from a cool little coffee shop called La Colombe in the heart of Lincoln Park, Chicago

Video game obsession intensifies

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, I can't stop playing this thing. The more I play the more the game grows. Pandora's box has definitely been opened.

Some things I've been interested in lately

DRW

I received/ accepted a fulltime job offer from this amazing company and now I'm moving across the country! It all feels like a dream. This wasn't what I expected to happen when I enrolled in a coding bootcamp. I just wanted to learn to code for fun and to have the ability to build my own projects but it led here and I love the work that I'm doing for this job. For all of this to happen within less than a year is absolutely absurd to me. This outcome just proves to me that following fun and genuine curiosity can lead to amazing places you'd never predict yourself to be in.

Installing baremail taught me few cool things

goatcounter

I added some tracking to the site. It's what the tech industry considers "privacy-friendly web analytics". After using this for a few days I think it's pretty wild what kind of data can be gathered from simply visiting a website. Do not fret! I'm only using this for experience and learning purposes. I employer you do visit the site to see what data is being tracked exactly

Obsidian

I recently switched from Apple Notes to Obsidian and I love it. It's just something I understand as a hacker with everything being a .md file. Owning all of my data. The configurability. The ability to give AI models their own "vault" that will basically serve as their second brain. I still need to learn how to use it effectively with backlinks and all that good stuff but for now I'm really enjoying switching over. Maybe I'll write a short article about how I switched, the choices I made, and the reasons why I made my choices.

Exercise

The weather is becoming warmer up here in Chicago where at one point during this winter it was colder than fkn Antarctica! This makes me happy because I can run with no shirt and get my tan back lol. I ain't built to be a pasty man. April marks my 6th month climbing and it's insane how fast my skill has increased. I'm interested in seeing where it will go from here but the big thing is that I want to learn how to lead climb! I'm excited because it's a totally different and new way of climbing I've never experienced before (I'm a sucker for new experiences) but also it adds an element of danger! Ain't nothing like a good adrenaline rush because you're falling 2 stories down and only got 1 story left of elevation for your partner to catch you and prevent you from splattering on the climbing gym floor! Plus if I learn this I feel like I've unlocked outdoor climbing.

Adopting hledger has proven difficult

I haven't set up everything properly and I'm still learning how to use it. It does have a steep learning curve at least for me and I find myself running back to my analog financial tracking by default. It's a slightly painful/ annoying transition but I know that the querying ability it will grant me will help me gain an even deeper understanding of my financial habits which will then grant me the ability to make more informed decisions/ actions with my money.

This "Now" page

Because I made this exact page and put it up on the internet I'm eligible to take part of a project that a role model of mine created and I think it's pretty cool. The name is nownownow.com, created by Derek Sivers and it's a collection of sites that have a “what I'm doing now” page. Go take a peak! I'm currently under the US: Illinois section but that could change in the future.