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This is refine.blog, a brand new site by Alex Williams that's just getting started. Things will be up and running here shortly, but you can subscribe in the meantime if you'd like to stay up to date and receive emails when new content is published!

black and white bears hanging from a mobile

parenthood Featured

A-B-Sneeze!

My daughter is almost four months old, and my wife and I have been working hard to get her into some kind of routine. We have been building a structure around what works best to get her to sleep as much as possible during the night, for fairly obvious reasons.

a woman reading a book on a green couch

Making time to Read

There are literally thousands of things distracting me all the time. Well maybe not thousands, but I do feel scatterbrained a lot lately. A bunch of it is probably due to catching up on sleep, and the other part is just the sheer amount of electronics vying for my attention

a person reading/studying with a cup of coffee

Continuing Education Challenges

Lots of professionals have certifications or licenses that must be maintained and renewed. The way that these credentials are validated is often through the completion of Continuing Education credits, or CEs for short. I am currently in the midst of renewing one such certification. But instead of simply renewing my

Three friends working out while wearing Fitbit Charge 5

Backlight FTW

I have been using Fitbits since 2012. I can't even remember what the first model I bought even was? The purchase wasn't really to track my steps or my overall health, back then I was a lot more active than I am now. This is to

woman looking at a wall of newspapers

March 18, 2022, Link Roundup

Here are some links to interesting articles I found on the web this past week. Science In case you have been living under a rock for the past few weeks/months, gas is getting pricy, check out this article from The Verge talking about the oil crisis. Looming oil crisis

blue neon sign that says, "work harder".

Consistency is Key

Things have been hard lately. I am sleep-deprived. It feels like now that I am a father, I should have my shit together a little more, but I keep learning and discovering the ways that I fall short of my expectations and the expectations that I think others, especially my

person walking with a baby carriage

Taking a Walk with My Baby

One unexpected perk of having a baby is the way that people look in your direction when you are out for a walk. Normally when out for a walk or a stroll, people may glance in your direction and maybe give you a polite wave or a smile. More often

a woman reading a newspaper

March 11, 2022, Link Roundup

Here are some links to interesting articles I found on the web this past week. Get your kids on the fast track to streaming lol Disappointing news to hear, but here it is. Even Moderate Drinking Might Shrink Your Brain, Study FindsHeavy alcohol consumption had a greater effect, but just

pink neon poop emoji sign

parenthood Featured

Diapers Matter

Hi. I am here to vent. I love my baby, everyone who knows me or who has seen my social media accounts knows I love my baby seemingly without limit. One thing that I do NOT love is her current diapers. My wife and I got a lot of Target

Streaming Services

Streaming Services

The cost of almost everything is going up, this is no secret. My wife tells me all the time of the latest gas prices and encourages us to use our electric cars as much as possible to save some money. One way that we try to save is by using

Black and white image of a man with a hat and glasses reading a newspaper

March 4 2022 Link Roundup

Here are some links to interesting articles I found on the web this past week. Fitbit Recall The Fitbit Ionic has been overheating and burning people. Please go to the official recall page if you own a FitBit Ionic. Even if the smartwatch/smart tracker has not been heating up

Unhappy baby sitting on a blanket in a park

Cry it out

This afternoon my wife and mother-in-law went to Costco while I stayed home with my baby daughter. Everything was fine at first, she had just sorta woken up from a little nap and was just hanging out with me.

Open refridgerator at night

home maintenance

"Broken" Fridge

A few weeks back, my refrigerator decided to start shouting. Unprovoked to my knowledge, the faint hum was replaced with the sound of a weed-wacker. It was so loud I had to yell at Alexa. My bad. I immediately began traveling down the road of despair, looking up the costs

Father and daughter walking on a beach with sunset

Intro To Fatherhood

Being a parent is a test in communication and endurance. I have only had the privilege to be a parent for a couple of months now, but yeah, endurance and communication are currently the words to remember. Communication I used to be so confused with parents who "knew"

carrots being cut and stacked on a cutting board

Cut the Carrots

Originally Posted on 2021.02.19 at lag.games Yesterday was one of the most focused and productive days that I have had in a while. I woke up feeling refreshed. The amount that I slept was in that middle ground; not too tired from staying up late or for

Image of mechanic tool boxes.

Too many tools

Tools are great. But getting caught up with too many can take away from accomplishing the tasks the tools are supposed to help with. I am guilty of stockpiling both physical and digital tools that are supposed to help me be more productive. What ends up happening is that the

Scrabble pieces spelling out "fail your way to success".

Driven by Failure

I have been away from my newly created blog because of life stuff happening tbh. I had a slew of job interviews last week and it was quite the whirlwind. I have been at my current job position for the last seven years. My company has not given me any

Female track and field athletes. One athlete has started ahead of the others.

False Starts No More

Life tends to be full of false starts, at least with this current run I am having with life. Fun fact, this is not the first time I have tried to start up a website/blog. I have had many ideas and attempts to get a "brand" together

A sandy beach with waves and blue sky

The Shoreline

Learning to focus on the important things is so damn hard to do. I have been getting back into playing guitar, which of course is great in and of itself. What is not great is falling into the fallacy of thinking that great gear will make me a great guitar

hello refine.blog!

hello refine.blog!

2.21.21. Let's. Do. This. Quite frankly, I am amazed this domain was available. Anywho, I'm gonna start brain dumping a whole lotta stuff here. I have been working on refining my life and fine-tuning all the aspects of it. Join me to continue along