Axel Valdez
Axel Valdez
Hello, I'm Axel. I'm a Design Engineer living in Hermosillo, Mexico. I've been working in the software development industry for pretty much my entire adult life, in roles related to both front-end development and design. I lived through the browser wars, the web standards movement, social media becoming mainstream, and the decay of privacy online. Today I'm very much into the indie web and the small web movements. This website is my hub on the web, from work to hobbies and everything in-between.
August 2026
September 2026
October 2026
Top Words
- social
- media
- invisible
- tools
- comments
- miss
- memories
- check
All posts (53)
For a few months now, I've had these words on my about page: My goal for this year is to fully embrace discomfort Today I want to talk about my journey with this. Uncomfortable Situations Feeling uneasy or worried tends to be unbearable for me. When I'm there, I usually can't focus on anything else, and I will...
I've never put together my thoughts about t-shirts until this afternoon, after reading this post by EAPL. I used to be a big fan of t-shirts that represented my fandoms. If I saw one with a cassette tape, a vinyl record, or something especially geeky, I had to have it. And my entire wardrobe was black tees, with...
There's a quote I saw somewhere on the internet around 2012 and I used to repeat to myself whenever I was preparing to give a talk at a university. I can't remember who said it, or even the exact wording. I've searched for it more times that I care to admit, but it either disappeared from the internet, or my...
This post is part of a series about my invisible tools: the hardware and software I use so much that I don't have to think about using them. During 2024 and 2025, I traveled a lot, and I decided to work only on my laptop, with no peripherals, whether I was at home or on the go. I wanted my setup to stay the same so...
This is the first post in a series about my invisible tools: the hardware and software I use so much that I don't have to think about using them. I'm starting with one of the simplest: keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard and shortcuts I use a Durgod Fusion keyboard, but I've found that the keyboard itself doesn't matter...
Having your tools become second-nature has more effect on your productivity than getting the right tools. Once they reach that status I like to call them "invisible tools". I've found the best way of having a tool become invisible is a combination of: Very few moving parts Building muscle memory to use it Stability:...
People posting AI slop to the internet is annoying, but not as much as people complaining non-stop about AI. I get it, AI companies are shitty, and their reach is menacing. Anyone that knows how technology influence legislation and society can easily understand that. I'm worried about it too. But lately, almost...
This past weekend I took a hiking trip to the mountains in the neighboring state of Chihuahua. Beautiful forest scenery, streams, rivers with actual flowing water, and no internet signal. Not a single bar. It didn’t catch me off guard. I brought my iPod Classic in preparation for it, but I will admit it was weird at...
I stopped writing for a while, since my road trip to Arizona last month, and my mind has been wandering too much. I feel like I can't anchor my thinking in a single thing at any given time. Normally, when I'm more focused, taking Ritalin improves my focus and puts me in a good mood. Today, the medication is...
I saw Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie two nights ago, and it blew my mind. It reminded me of the first time I saw The Science of Sleep by Michel Gondry. Back then, my mind was just, "You can do that in a movie?" This time, though, I already knew you can do whatever you want. The rules are arbitrary in every...
The worst possible thing I can do when I'm having a bad AuDHD day is start organizing my office, and that's the main thing I'm inclined to do, probably to somehow reclaim a bit of control. The process is the same every time. I wake up, maybe tired after having only a few hours of sleep, and the tiredness throws off...
When Andrés, my oldest son, was 9, we were watching a video about Logo, the programming language. He got especially excited with Turtle Graphics, where you have a "pen" on screen that you can draw with using commands to move it. That night I started a project using p5.js and my limited programming skills to do just...
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