Antonio Santos

I’m currently on a 60-week reading streak. I might not read every day, but at least once a week before going to bed. I can tell you that in the past year and two months, I have not felt as hooked by a book as I have by Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. For the first time, I’m looking forward to finding time to keep reading the book. Once I start reading, I’m as stuck to my e-reader as when I accidentally open Instagram on my phone. Probably not healthy, but at least I’m reading instead of…

I’ll be posting on otolock.net moving forward. I wrote a little about why I moved. Please update your bookmarks and RSS feeds: RSS Feed — everything Posts Only RSS Feed — posts only See you there!

I’ve always been a night owl, so I struggle with waking up early. No matter how early I go to bed, I fall asleep around 11:30 p.m. - 12:00 a.m., so setting an alarm for 6 a.m., knowing I’ll only get 6 hours of sleep, always makes me second-guess birding in the morning. I know it’s mental. Once I wake up, I feel great because I left the house and went out to do something I love. But getting there is half the battle.

Hello there! Welcome to my new home on the internet. Previously located at antoniosantos.io, I've decided to start publishing content on otolock.net moving forward, and I'm still debating if I will be migrating my content to this new domain. The main reason for the change is cost. .io domain renewals went up last year to $51.80, with reports that another 12% increase is expected for 2027. That is simply not sustainable especially when other TLDs like this .net I got only costs around $12.50 to…

Do it! Try it once. At least for me, it's a very enjoyable experience. When I watch movies in theaters, I don't really like talking to anyone during the movie so going alone prevents that. The first time, it was a little weird at first mostly during commercials, but after that, I always enjoyed it.

September marks the climatological peak of the Atlantic hurricane season[^1], when tropical cyclone activity is at its highest. For people like myself, living in the Caribbean means being on a constant lookout for tropical weather. Even the weakest tropical wave could mean days of power loss, which for me means days of not being able to work, and if we get a repetition of Hurricane Maria, it could mean months without electricity and losing my job. Not-so-fun fact: Puerto Rico has the record for…

There were several days this summer where the Feel Like temperature was over 100F (~38C), but none felt as hot as today has felt, even though the highest Feel Like temperature today was 88F (~31C). If this is bad, I can’t begin to imagine what the European heat wave felt like earlier this year. This is my first Quick Log. On Sundays, I usually have more time and feel like writing. I always get an idea for a quick log format but have held myself back. After reading Harry’s Lightlog #6, I thought…

I recently got into birdwatching and bird photography, after realizing it’s a lot like real-life Pokémon. Following that article, I received an email from a reader asking how do you identify birds when you’re out birding. I replied, but thought it’d be worth writing about for others, to see if it sparks anyone else’s interest. For me, it all starts with Merlin Bird ID. As soon as I start birding, I enable the Sound ID feature. It listens to all the sounds around me and identifies potential…

I’m just starting out with bird photography, and I’ve compiled a short-list of birds I want to take photos of, to have some sort of goal when I’m out there and what to look out for. It also helps if I have a few birds I’ve looked up to be able to say “oh cool, that’s a gray kingbird!” I went on my first outing today dedicated to bird photography and after a few shots I realized it was the same feeling as encountering wild Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. I’d never been excited about pigeons…

We don’t notice the small constants in our lives until they’re gone.

After a gear switch, I rediscovered my passion for photography by focusing on birding and wildlife with a new telephoto lens.

Glasses are my lifeline; without them, the world is a blur, and everyday tasks become a struggle. Losing them is my biggest fear.

I read Issac Asimov’s *I, Robot* last year and was blown away by his world-building style and I kinda want to copy it.

I forgot what this post was originally about.

I’ve realized the importance of owning my books and movies, opting for DRM-free options and physical copies to avoid being locked into platforms.

Reading through an RSS feed can dull the experience of enjoying a blog's unique style—try visiting the site directly for the full effect.

I’ve been thinking about game development all week.

The dopamine is not dopamining.

I came across this funny series of posts by Quailblog and thought it’d be funny to reply with a bird picture of my own

I’ve been into photography since middle school, but it wasn’t until summer of 2015 that I was able to get my first DSLR...

It's a relief to realize I don't need to constantly improve my blog; sometimes, just writing is enough.

I missed Junited 2026, but I'm excited to connect with others through JulyReply 2026 and explore how to share these posts.

I've added Webmention support to my blog, allowing for cross-site conversations and making it easier to connect with others in the indie web community.

I relate to the struggle of juggling hobbies and the guilt that comes with not dedicating enough time to them, as reflected in Ludalx's video.

Ideas, likes matter, cannot be created or destroyed. Only rearranged.

I migrated my site from Astro to Django to simplify my writing workflow and eliminate the friction of managing posts through git.

I’ve been seeing articles, videos and ads for a certain pocket-sized e-reader for the past few days all over my feeds that have got me wanting one more than anything. I like the idea of reducing my phone screen time and reading more, and this device looks like the perfect solution to that problem. I even have it in my cart in Amazon. But as much as I want it, I am resisting the urge to buy it, because I don’t need it. While I want to reduce my screen time, I think a more practical approach is…

Dear fiction writer, Thank you for creating worlds we can escape to. Your ability to write words that create mental pictures, evoke feelings and tell stories is a gift. Keep writing. Sincerely, A Fan