The Blog of Michael Lee Mitchell

Back in March, I had my six-month checkup with my cardiologist. I told him I was feeling tired and fatigued all the time, more than usual. I thought it might be the medication. My last echocardiogram in August 2024 had shown some improvement, and my PVCs (premature ventricular contractions) were down. So I figured it was just the burden of the meds. At the time, I was taking Metoprolol 100mg ER twice a day and Diltiazem 240mg ER once a day. My heart had been doing okay. The few times I went into AFib, the episodes were short. Sometimes just a minute or two, long enough for me to catch it with my Galaxy Watch 6 Classic or my Kardia device, and then it would stop. These episodes only happened maybe every other month. Still, the fatigue concerned both my doctor and his resident. They recommended I see a specialist at Tampa General Hospital, which USF Health is now integrated with. I made the appointment and went in on May 30, 2025. At that visit, the specialist said I was a good cand...

From Paramount+: 🎬 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season 3, Episodes 1–2 ⭐⭐⭐½ No spoilers! I liked it overall, but I wasn’t thrilled that Season 2 ended on a two-part episode. 🎬 🎬 Tracker – Season 1, Episode 12 ⭐⭐⭐½ No spoilers! This continues to be a solid series with a compelling storyline. Justin does a great job, along with his co-stars. 🎬 From Amazon Prime: 🎬 The Chosen – Season 5, Episodes 6–8 (Season Finale) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “No spoilers” doesn’t quite apply here—it’s based on the Bible. This show continues to amaze me. The acting is phenomenal, and what a way to end the season. I can’t wait for the next—but I’m glad I already know how it ends. 🎬 # tv # ParamountPlus # PrimeVideo # Entertainment # Reviews

AI at your side—just another tool on the desk. Lately, I’ve been listening to Ed Zitron and his podcast Better Offline . He’s not shy about his views: he believes that most AI companies are burning through cash and are likely to fail because they don’t have viable products. I respect his perspective. He clearly understands the tech industry and sees AI as mostly a kind of “magic trick”—a system that assembles words in ways that appear intelligent, but in reality don’t demonstrate real understanding. That’s my paraphrase, not his. As for me, I don’t claim to fully understand the business models of these companies or whether they’re financially sustainable in the long term. But to be honest, I’m not especially concerned. I’m not investing in them. The only money I’ve put into this space is my $20 per month subscription to ChatGPT from OpenAI, and for that amount, I get value in return. For me, AI is a tool. I use it to proofread my blog posts, do light research, genera...

I was just watching an old episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . I’ve always been into Star Trek, every series except Star Trek: The Next Generation . I’m not sure why, but I never fully got into that one. The others: The Original Series , Deep Space Nine , Voyager , Enterprise , and all the movies (except the Next Generation ones), I loved and eagerly awaited. Whether it was a new film release or the next week’s episode, I was always excited. I never watched Star Trek: The Animated Series either, even though I own it on DVD. Then Paramount+/CBS introduced new series: Discovery , Picard , Strange New Worlds , Prodigy , and Lower Decks . I enjoyed those too, though I hated waiting a week between episodes. I think Netflix got it right: if a show isn’t airing on linear TV, just drop the whole season at once. Why am I even writing this post? Because I think they need to keep a Star Trek series running constantly. And if there’s no show currently airing, there should be a movie in de...

From Paramount+: 🎬 Matlock – Season 1, Episodes 11–19 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ No spoilers! I just finished the first season. What a different take on the original Matlock . Overall, I liked it and was really pleased that CBS decided to renew it for a second season. You might remember I canceled my subscription to this service. Well, that’s true, but they offered me two months for 99 cents to come back. I figured, why not take Paramount+ up on the deal and finish the seasons I didn’t get to complete, including this show and the one below. 🎬 🎬 Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage – Season 1, Episodes 14–22 ⭐⭐⭐ No spoilers! I finished the first season of this one too. I liked it. It fits nicely into the Big Bang Theory universe and is pretty enjoyable. I’m glad it got picked up for a second season as well. Nothing much more to say. It’s just a good show when you want something light and funny. 🎬 # tv # ParamountPlus # entertainment # reviews

Just finished watching The Ballad of Willis Island. It was... fine. Not terrible, but nothing that really stood out either. The story didn’t quite pull me in, and while the setting had potential, it felt underused. This won’t be making my buy list. One viewing was enough.

Family gathered for a rare visit — grateful to be the one behind the camera 📸💛 Some of my cousins came by with my aunt and uncle to visit my parents. It’s not often we’re all in the same place, so I gathered everyone for a photo: my parents, aunt, uncle, and cousins. We don’t see each other much these days, and moments like this feel more meaningful with time passing. We're all getting older, maybe a little wiser too. 📸💚 I’m not in the picture since I was the one behind the camera. The only editing I did was to clean up a bit of clutter on the counter. #CherishedMoments #MemoryLane #GenerationsTogether #FamilyPhoto

I recently made a few updates to the theme on my website at michaelmitchell.blog , which is hosted through Write.as. The goal was to modernize its look and feel while also complementing my micro.blog site. Feel free to drop by and take a look. I’m really happy with how it turned out. If you happen to spot any bugs or quirks, just drop me a line. Thanks!

I tried to stargaze tonight under the full moon 🌕, but the mosquitos were relentless. I couldn’t stay outside. Florida summers don’t mess around. 🦟 #FullMoonFeels #FloridaLiving #SummerNights

I’ve always wanted a telescope. Something I could use to take photos and videos of the night sky with my phone or camera. I recently came across a YouTube video about the Zwo Seestar S50, but since this is my first telescope, I decided to start with the more beginner-friendly S30 and bought it for my birthday. I’ve owned it for a couple of months, but only recently started using it seriously. Here are some of the first photos I captured with it on July 4, 2025 : These images were taken right from my front yard — I still can’t believe the clarity. Here’s one I took with my phone (Galaxy S24 Ultra, no zoom) while I was setting up the Seestar: Later that evening, we heard fireworks going off in the distance. While the moon was the star of the night, I also caught this fun fireworks shot from our front yard. We were hearing more fireworks from our neighbors all around us than we were actually seeing. I’m planning to set up a dedicated page in the future as I learn more about using...

Blogging My Way: Typora + Git + Cloudflare + Micro.blog This post serves two purposes. First, it marks the inaugural entry 🥳 on my new blogging system. I'm using Typora ✍️ to write and save my posts locally in a folder. From there, I git push them to my GitHub repo 🔁, which then deploys to Cloudflare Pages 🌐. Finally, the RSS feed is imported into Micro.blog 📰. It’s not as elegant as MarsEdit 💻—the polished Mac-only tool—but it works for now and lets me keep using Typora, which I really like. I tried Obsidian 🧩, but it felt too complicated. The whole "vaults" system 🤯 didn’t click with me. Typora is just simple and clean ✅. #blogging #typora

Today, we celebrate the 249th birthday of the United States — my home country and my birth nation. Nearly two and a half centuries have passed since our founding, and in that time, we’ve experienced triumphs and trials, unity and division, progress and setbacks. Some might say we’re not in a good place right now. And yes, it’s true — we are in a turbulent chapter. But I take comfort in history. Nations go through cycles. England, France, and the rest of Europe have weathered centuries of political and social upheaval. They have survived monarchies, revolutions, world wars, and more — and they endure. So will we. Europe was home to many of history’s greatest empires: the Greeks, the Romans, and the vast British Empire — the largest the world has ever known. In modern times, however, the American nation was instrumental in bringing an end to both World Wars. That matters. We have never been perfect, but we have often stood firm in moments when history demanded courage, sacrifice, and ...

I see Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” has passed. I think it will ultimately cause more harm than good. If it works the way it’s supposed to, I should personally benefit from the overtime provision and maybe, in a couple of years, the new car interest tax rebate. But I also know a lot of people it will hurt. 🤷‍♂️ As a no-party-affiliated voter who leans just right of center on most issues—and definitely left of center on healthcare—I’ve always believed we should have universal healthcare. 🏥 I don’t have all the answers, and I’m not sure how we’d fund it or make it work in a way that’s both sensible and doctor-patient centered, but I believe it’s the right direction. I think the cuts to Medicaid are harmful. I’m not totally against work requirements, as long as they’re applied equally and fairly to people who aren’t disabled in any way. And once you factor in looming tariffs and the removal of undocumented farm and construction workers, I think inflation will come roaring b...

When you sit down to blog… and suddenly forget what you were going to say. I’ve been thinking lately about what to blog about. I’ve had several ideas. The reason I’m blogging about this is because I’ve been trying to figure out what should be a blog post. I tend to think posts should be medium to long in nature. But people aren’t reading my stuff anyway, and honestly, do I really care? I’m blogging for myself, just to get my thoughts down and out of my head. I use Sharkey and Micro.blog for what I call short-burst posts and reactions to things happening in the moment. Kind of like I did back in the pre-Musk Twitter days. Back in February, I blogged about whether anybody even reads my posts. In the weeks and months that followed, I saw other people wondering the same thing. I found that kind of amusing, since I had just written about it and was thinking the exact same thing. I have four blogs, all focused on personal ideas, thoughts, life happenings, and r...

📷 Day 30: Solitude A lone hawk resting in the oak outside my window. Quiet, still, and completely at ease in its own space. #mbjune

📷 Day 29: Winding A quiet road from years ago, curving through the trees. I’ve always liked how it disappears just out of sight. #mbjune

📷 Day 28: Ephemeral This was our boat after Hurricane Milton last October. The rain filled it overnight. It was a moment that came and went quickly. #mbjune

📷 Day 27: collective My first raised garden bed. A collective of herbs and veggies, each one small on its own but coming together to make something special. 🌱 #mbjune

📷 Day 26: Bridge Old rail bridge in downtown Tampa, FL.