I am moving on from NordVPN—well, I'm on the fence about leaving its VPN—that service is SUPERB! But, its NordLocker product is...eh...needs to be towed back into the dev garage! It just ain't ready to go live, at least not for MacOS. I've seen WAY too much of that spinning rainbow wheel lately and I've never before now had to shortcut the Activity Monitor to the Dock.!

I even flirted with the idea of returning to Google Drive. I know...but I DID! And when I did, it began syncing my Family Media directory with its empty space, as in, deleting EVERYTHING! "Whoa now, Google! You've got a vindictive bits side!" Fortunately, I've got a USB backup from September 2023, so I'm no worse for the wear.

This incident highlights why an automatic/centrally-managed out of the box 3rd-party cloud solution for backups is just dumb. The server admin could just be on a tear and delete all of files we value to backup. I'm sure I could throw in some wizardry for media files, make 'em read-only.

I've had an idea rolling around my head for a bit to use a handful of USB sticks, date 'em, and just take a monthly snapshot. In essence, rotate the tapes out. I used to keep a backup with my keys that was fully encrypted, but I never set aside a day of the month for updates.

I told ya I was weak about how backups vex me and that's what gets the Google ball rolling! But, when it outright deletes my files in front of me...well, naw, man, just naw.

But who knows...Google always freaks out when I come back from a deletion as Contacts, Tasks, and Notes are inaccessible. There was a time when Tasks was unavailable for months thereafter. Strangely, the default tab doesn't allow for indented tasks but created tabs did. A body just gets a sense that after awhile, Google is a farsighted, bloated behemoth.

It's like those ol' print/fax/scanner printers, a venerable headache mishmashed together into mediocrity.

I'm content to not be on the platform. I've got an unlimited number of email addresses at my disposal. I'm even considering on making a custom email for each site, so as to mitigate pwned activity. At least, it would address those vendors who refuse to quit sizzling that canned meat! But the key really is to justify my Internet footprint. How many logins do I need? Long gone is 2011-2012 when I'd had 150+ logins on ol' LastPass.

Never say goodbye
You and me and my old friends
Hoping it would never end

Bon Jovi

This interview clip reminded me of 2012 earlier today. It feels like how I see myself today in whatever this place is.

We get watered down. We lose our identity. We adopt some other mindset because of the digital deluge.

Why can't we just be us?

"You can keep your doodles, Google."