Modern Simple Living

GEAR REVIEW — PLANNING 2027 Planned Acquisitions — $2,417 Strategizing for next year's essentials, from a platform switch to a few wardrobe staples and a place to back it all up. $2,417 Budget 9 Line Items 3 Categories $625 Yearly Cap Table of Contents ① The Strategy ② Bringing It Back in Line ③ Wardrobe Upgrades ④ Technology and Tools Section I The Strategy I'm not even done with 2026, so planning 2027 is a bit early. But most of this year's main purchases are already complete, so I'd rather start thinking ahead than wait. One change: I'm counting the MacBook Pro as a 2027 budget item and pulling it forward into this year. I want to accelerate my studies and learning, and the laptop is the tool for that. By my earlier count, that brought my 6-year spending to about $7.5k, or roughly $1.25k a year. That's well above my previous trend of $1k, and the new hard drive nudges it up a little further. Section II Bringing It Back in Line As I'm a b...

GAME LOG — DIABLO III Still Zoning Out in Sanctuary, 14 Years On ($40) A study break turned into a Demon Hunter obsession, and an old game that still holds up. $40 Price 2012 Released ~3 min Necro GR100+ <2 min Demon Hunter GR100+ Table of Contents ① Why I Went Back ② Old Game, Still Good ③ Necromancer First, Demon Hunter Forever ④ The Verdict So Far Section I Why I Went Back I needed something to take a break from my studies, something to zone out with for an hour without it asking much of me. I paid $40 for the expansion set and gave Diablo 3 a try. So far it has been what I wanted. Once you learn the basics and start understanding specific character builds, it gets properly fun. Section II Old Game, Still Good Yes, it is a 2012 title, which makes it 14 years old. It still plays great. There is something about these older games that newer titles just lack. I can't fully explain it, but I notice it every time I log in. Section III Necromancer First, Demon H...

TECH LOG — IOS REFLECTION The Missing Save to Files Button, and Where It Was Hiding After months of searching, the fix for a vanished iOS action turned up in an app that had nothing to do with the problem. 2 Apps Involved Photos Fix Location 1 Setting Toggled Table of Contents ① The Button That Disappeared ② Looking in All the Obvious Places ③ The Answer Was in Photos ④ Why This Bothers Me Section I The Button That Disappeared At some point, Save to Files stopped showing up in one of my apps. I didn't change anything on purpose, and I have no idea what removed it. It was there, and then it wasn't. It's a small action, but I use it often enough that its absence became a steady low-grade annoyance. Section II Looking in All the Obvious Places Naturally, I started with the app itself, then moved on to Settings. Nothing. No toggle, no list of actions, no hint that such a thing could be switched off. I checked on and off over the course of months. Each time I...

WATCH LOG The Zodiac Sea Dragon I Sold for Too Little A $120 quartz diver from 2017 now sells for $300-500, and I'm still working out how I feel about that. $120 Paid $300-500 Now Selling 2017 Year Owned Quartz Movement Table of Contents ① A Quiet Surprise ② What It Was, and What It Wasn't ③ A Small Regret ④ The Lesson I'm Taking Section I A Quiet Surprise I recently noticed that the Zodiac Sea Dragon ZO2219 I owned back in 2017 is selling for $300-500. I paid about $120 for it. That still strikes me as a little incredible. I can see the appeal, though. It was a well-designed, well-made watch, and it's easy to understand why people now pay several times the original price. Section II What It Was, and What It Wasn't To be fair, it had a mineral crystal and was more diver-inspired than a serious tool. It wasn't a perfect watch, and I don't want to pretend it was. Still, there is something simple about a quartz movement. It does its job, ask...

FOOD & DRINK — REFLECTION Building a Home Bar Catalog, One Cocktail at a Time Four spirits, four decent drinks, and the slow realization that a good cocktail is mostly ratios. 4 Core Recipes 4 Spirits Covered 3 New This Round 2026 Year Table of Contents ① A Growing Catalog ② The New Additions ③ Refining the Margarita ④ What's Next Section I A Growing Catalog 2026 has quietly become the year I learned to make my own cocktails. It started with a couple of bar tools and a curiosity about what actually separates a good Old Fashioned from a mediocre one, and it's turned into something closer to a small, deliberate catalog. I'm now at four drinks I'd call decent rather than merely drinkable, and between them I've got rum, vodka, tequila, and whisky covered. That's not a lot of ground, but it's enough to make most requests at a home bar without apologizing for the pour. Section II The New Additions The Mojito is fussier than I expected — a lo...

TRAVEL — HOTEL STAY A Weekend at the Gaylord Texan A deal-driven stay in Grapevine turned into an unexpectedly productive little retreat. Grapevine, TX Location Weekend Stay Included Breakfast $360 F&B Credit Table of Contents ① The Deal ② Where I Actually Spent My Time ③ Everything Under One Roof ④ Would I Go Back Section I The Deal I booked this on a whim, mostly because the price was right. I wasn't expecting much beyond a bed and a pool. Turned out to be one of those cases where the deal undersold itself. Breakfast was included, and on top of that they threw in $360 in food and beverage credits, which is basically covers everything. Section II Where I Actually Spent My Time I didn't do much sightseeing. Most of the weekend was spent finding quiet corners of the resort to sit and decompress. The standout was the Silver Bar near the main lobby. Good drink, good ambient noise, and it turned out to be a surprisingly solid spot to sit with a laptop and get...