...and just when you thought I ran away from Segoe UI, I...downloaded it, whisking it away from Redmond's clutches for a better life with Linux. It's a favorite font of mine for composing in FocusWriter: white text set on a black background (#111). Add a size that's a healthy portion with a side of 1.5 spacing and it makes a GREAT place to roam freely!

YES, on the timestamp that will henceforth be the singular point of time to celebrate with raucous attaboys, I left Google and Microsoft on 8:29 PM, October 20, 2021! OK, so I might be overselling it just a bit, but this does deserve at least a count-up timer...or a spirited high-five? It was difficult to make the break, but then I realized something fundamental, something that fits rather nicely into that Montgomery Gentry song, She Couldn't Change Me. I'd break down the analogy for you and share the points of articulation—kung fu action grip and all—but, I'm TIRED of the topic—just TRUST me on this one!

I still have more work to do on my phone, of course. It's not something I'm going to overly consider as under a year from now when my Mint Mobile service subsides, I'm going over to a high school jock phone. I know, if I'm supposed to be like everyone else, I need to center my life around that thing, tie my hopes and dreams and "love him and squeeze him and call him George." But...well, it's me: that guy who left the cool kids' lunch table my junior year to sit as a senior with my people: the geeks.

Compared to my Windows 10 drive earlier today, even with it optimized for speed( (I yanked out everything including Edge), W10 TOTALLY was blown off the road by this Linux Mint setup! This mint fresh thing slices! It dices! The work I put in under the hood tonight:

• Installed proprietary video driver;
• Enabled the firewall;
• Set text scaling 1.3, Ubuntu 11 for everything, large icons;
• Increased panel height and mouse cursor size;
• Disabled window tiling;
• Kickoff the Update Manager;
• Uninstalled unnecessary apps featured on the start menu;
• Gutted most of default fonts;
• Added fonts;
• Ripped out Java;
• Added a couple of speed tweaks.

Batch Install:

$ sudo apt install gnucash inkscape gimp vlc filezilla catfish pavucontrol spotify-client steam focuswriter ruby-full build-essential zlib1g-dev virtualbox virtualbox-qt virtualbox-ext-pack virtualbox-guest-additions-iso adb

Standalone Installs:

• Setup Jekyll and served local site;
• Brave-browser
  • Changed settings for increased privacy and simplicity;
  • Added Bitwarden;
  • Added Cyberpunk theme.
• Atom;
• VeraCrypt.

AND FINALLY...the MOST IMPORTANT:

Set Cinnamon and Brave to Dark Mode with a purple highlight and an appropriate wallpaper. —Gotta have my racing stripes!