Downsizing and Upgrading: The Dream of a Minimalist

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Lately, I’ve been pretty distant. It’s been nice to take a step back from the site and focus on myself for a little bit. Outside of work, I haven’t been doing a whole lot, and it’s be great. However, it’s not all hockey and lifting! I’ve also been doing some downsizing.

Table of Contents

Downsizing Our Life

In the past, I talked about minimalism a bit, so clearly that has been my goal. However, I haven’t really spoken much about how that’s been going.

For starters, I got rid of just about every video game I’ve ever owned. I was holding onto them for a long time, and they were basically just taking up space. Also, I decided to get rid of my records and record player. They were nice for awhile, but Morgan and I never used them. So, we decided to get rid of them. Morgan also got rid of her DVD collection, and I got rid of a load of books as well as my Jeep (post coming up on that soon!).

In the future, we’re looking to go through our clothes and blankets. We have quite the collection, and we’re still looking to downsize. However, for now, the apartment is a lot more clean. I can say I’m much happier about it. We don’t have nearly as much to maintain. 🙂

Upgrading Technology

Last February, I built myself a computer. Last Friday, I built Morgan a computer. As you can probably imagine, that story will be going into another post. I haven’t started it yet, so don’t expect too much! However, I do plan to get it out within a reasonable amount of time.

For those interested, the PC is not for gaming. In fact, it served as an upgrade for the $300 laptop Morgan had been running. Let’s just say it’s much nicer, and we only spent about $700 on it. Compare that to the $1600 I spent on mine!

Song of the Week

This week I’m going to throw it back to an old jazz song as a tribute to all the records I sold. The song is called Night in Tunisia, and I’ve actually played it both in marching band and in jazz band. However, this rendition is a bit more obscure:

I hope you enjoyed this little trombone octet! Hopefully whoever gets this record does as well.

Coming Soon to The Renegade Coder!

Thursday morning I’m planning to release my post about getting rid of my Jeep. I wrote it awhile ago, but I just got the pictures I need. Today is a day for editing!

The Legacy Newsletter (56 Articles)—Series Navigation

For a long time, I used to try to write a custom newsletter every week which eventually became every month. If you’re interested in browsing those old posts just to see how this site came to be, I’ve created a small series for you. Check it out!

Today, the regular newsletter is issued via email which you can access by becoming a member of The Renegade Coder. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the newsletterOpens in a new tab. directly through MailChimp.

Jeremy Grifski

Jeremy grew up in a small town where he enjoyed playing soccer and video games, practicing taekwondo, and trading Pokémon cards. Once out of the nest, he pursued a Bachelors in Computer Engineering with a minor in Game Design. After college, he spent about two years writing software for a major engineering company. Then, he earned a master's in Computer Science and Engineering. Today, he pursues a PhD in Engineering Education in order to ultimately land a teaching gig. In his spare time, Jeremy enjoys spending time with his wife, playing Overwatch and Phantasy Star Online 2, practicing trombone, watching Penguins hockey, and traveling the world.

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