My name is Franco May. I work in Gothenburg, Sweden as a web developer specialized in Frontend.
I moved from Argentina to Sweden 714 days ago, Men min svenska är fortfarande inte så bra 🤓
I have a lot of hobbies, but I usually pay a lot of attention to one for some months before skipping to the next one.
Programming started like this. First I learned python and started creating little scripts to do anything that came to my mind. I built a web scraper and learned that you can get your IP blocked to enter a website for making so many requests. That was cool.
Then I created a plugin for Sketchup using Ruby to subdivide and smooth geometries. That was mind bending.
Finally I got interested in web programming. I learned PHP , SQL, HTML, CSS and my beloved JavaScript, which I now use for almost everything.

I am glad you asked! You see, I could have started blogging right away using WordPress or some other CMS. But as it is the case with procrastinators like myself, I decided to postpone the act of writing and instead build a blogging platform from scratch using web technologies. I built this website using NextJs, headless components, Firebase, Firestore, Firebase Authentication.
So, let me tell you a bit more about it because I am really excited.
I can log into my website as an admin. When I do, I can create, delete and edit blog posts directly from the post page. This is possible because all blogs are stored in a firebase database. That way I can also run queries in case I want to add a search bar in the future.
All images are stored in a special database as well, so images in blogs are also editable. I can select images from a gallery of previously uploaded images or upload a new one.
All pages are rendered on the server, so the website is very SEO friendly.
Finally, my github repository is connected to a vercel deployment pipeline, so every time I push to master, the website is automatically tested, built and deployed.
Everything was made from scratch. This is my baby.
I will write a longer post in the future to go into the details of my choices and the obstacles I faced.

It was a cold February night in Kungsbacka. I was sitting facing the fireplace while reading Epictetus, really immersed in the reading. I was leaving behind page after page with the margins full of little notes.
I stopped. For whom was I writing these notes? I was probably not going to read them again. And there won't be another future reader of the book either (it's a small book printed and bound by my dad, so I take great care of it).
After some thought I came to the conclusion that these notes were intended to explain to myself what I had just read. You see, I get lost in thought very easily (that was actually what was happening to me at that moment). I can read a long time before I realize that I am thinking about something else and I do not remember a word of the last 5 pages. That's why I leave my books full notes and marks. I continually force myself to explain what I read to prove that I was paying attention.
It's a strategy that pays off for me, even if I end up reading slower than most people.
But What to do with all those notes?
Reflecting on this with Natasha (my wife), it occurred to me to start writing a blog in which I can dump the thoughts that pop to my mind not only when I read, but pretty much every day.
So that is the reason. I'm going to write about the things I read, of course, but I also want to write about anything else that I think about the passing of the days.