Brian Schnabel's Head Space
Where Magick and Mind Digitally Interlace.

Navigating Tech Updates, Visions, and Personal Reflections in 2026

Tuesday, January 13, 2026: 7:37 AM: I’m not sure what the hell is going on with cPanel and my webhost. However, somehow, we’ve jumped from 130.0.17 to 132.0.16, then updated to 132.0.17, and are now updated to 132.0.19 since the server went down, not even two weeks ago. Were we that far behind or is there some sort of problem with cPanel? “I guess we’ll never know.”

I woke from a vision this morning involving my neighbor, Jenny Christina Rose. She was in my apartment, and I was pointing out to her the parts of my bed that Michael Goldberg owned and what I owned. Apparently, Michael owned the headboard, footboard and boxspring, while I owned the mattress and frame. I felt pleased with that arrangement for some reason.

I’m guessing this means I’ll be hearing something from Goldberg Realty soon but also that I may be running into Jenny Christina Rose at some point, as well. I’m going to say this is all a moderate to strong possibility.

I need to do some research today to find out why I keep getting cards from Robert Ware in Dover Delaware offering to buy my parent’s house. My name isn’t connected to that property to my knowledge and nor should it be. If I find out something to the contrary, and that it was done behind my back, “I will cheerfully cut Dad’s balls off.”

I also need to look into best Windows 11 settings for running the OS with a screen reader. Copilot should be able to help me with that.

I got Brian Schnabel’s Head Space converted back to HTML on Sunday the 11th and yesterday I moved money around to clean up the balance on my Mastercard. “Everyone is now all paid off at the start of this New Year.”

Now I can focus on building my slush fund back up, getting caught up with all statements and other records from 2025, and off to the CPA we go. That’s the plan for this coming Financial Monday.

Tomorrow, I’ll be going through my website, checking to make sure the site map is caught up. I’m pleased to see that Google has caught on to the change so quickly, too. But there’s still more work to be done and I’m thinking I’ll take a crack at developing a script that will automatically generate an XML Sitemap for me. I will also be implementing the Windows 11 configurations regarding screen readers on my machine, too.

Friday, I’ll be back posting to Brian Schnabel’s Head Space some more. Saturday? Well… I’ll see what kind of mood I’m in when Saturday rolls around. Saturday’s just might be a good day for screwing off but, “We shall see.”

My Aunt’s burial is today from what I understand. I hope she likes her Memorial Tree. She passed on Thursday morning and I never did get a chance to speak with her. But, given the way I’m wired, if she really had something she wanted to say to me, I’d have known by now. The silence over this past year from her has spoken volumes. I’m ok with that. “I sleep very soundly with that.”

Tuesday, January 13, 2026: 9:54 AM: Well… It looks like Robert Ware is just a jerk who is trying to pull a fast one on people, targeting potential victims through obituaries. My name is not connected to my parents’ property in Delaware, and I look forward to it staying that way. That has been confirmed via telephone and online, all courtesy of The State of Delaware. Sorry Robert Ware. You’re SOL today. “Take your supposed cash offer and ram it up your ass!”

Tuesday, January 13, 2026: 2:03 PM: So, I worked through the best way to configure Windows 11, so it behaves cleanly and predictably with a screen reader; assistance provided by Copilot. The main idea over the past 25 years I’ve been using screen readers with Windows clearly hasn’t changed. If you’re blind, the name of the game is still to keep things simple, stable, and free of irrelevant visual clutter.

For themes, sticking with the built in Windows Light or Dark theme works best, since those are the ones JAWS and Narrator are tested against. High Contrast is optional, but it can help if an app doesn’t expose its controls properly.

Making sure transparency and animation effects are off is still the golden rule because they just slow things down when using a screen reader. The Start menu is said to work better when it’s gutted, too.

Setting the taskbar alignment to the left is now recommended. turning off the “recently added apps,” “most used apps,” and “recommendations” sections is now suggested for blind users because they change constantly and make the Start menu noisy.

Other recommendations include keeping the pinned apps list on the start menu short. Pressing the Windows key and typing the name of whatever I want to open is said to be faster and more predictable, too.

On the desktop, I have always kept things minimal so no worries there. I hate unnecessary icons and widgets plus extra taskbar items. The fewer things a screen reader tries to announce, the smoother the experience.

Using Windows plus D to jump to the desktop when I need it seems to now be recommended, while Windows plus E to open File Explorer directly is something I’ve always done since… Well… Long long ago.

For power settings, I confirmed that screen savers aren’t needed anymore. Modern LCD and LED displays don’t benefit from them. Setting the monitor to turn off after twenty minutes while keeping the computer awake when plugged in will preserve the screen without interrupting JAWS or Narrator. Copilot assures me that Windows 11 doesn’t bitch about this kind of power configuration anymore, either.

Current wisdom also states that only one sign-in method should be enabled so the screen reader doesn’t cycle through extra options at sign in. “Fine by me!”

So, tomorrow I’ll be tweaking things on my laptop’s primary account. Setting up the secondary account will go fast, too.

Wednesday, January 14, 2026: 8:01 PM: I didn’t get a chance to work on a sitemap generation script for Brian Schnabel’s Head Space, but the site’s site map is up to date. I spent the better part of today wrestling with Windows 11, Narrator not taking kindly to having to work with two separate accounts at the login screen.

So, since configuring a second account to work on my machine is out of the question for what I want to do, I’ll be using profiles instead to achieve pretty much the same goal. As I worked, I noted that JAWS 2026 didn’t seem to like the second account, either.

However, the tweaks I made to my laptop today have certainly made an improvement. The browser has been streamlined to work more efficiently with a screen reader and the OS in general is kicking ass since I found where to kill the transparency and animation effects that make things harder for screen readers to do their job.

Since AI is going to be the way going forward, I’ve made some adjustments to the system that make it easier for me to more easily make use of Copilot in both edge and as a standalone. Taking Copilot’s suggestion about adjusting the taskbar in the main screen of windows so that it displays on the left has made moving around that window with both JAWS 26 and Narrator go more smoothly, too.

It would seem that even Microsoft knows their Windows 11 start menu is a screen reader’s worst nightmare based on some of the information Copilot kicked out. However, since I’ve killed off most of the stuff that’s there by default, the search box in particular seems to be working more consistently with both JAWS and Narrator.

It should be noted here that I did hear from my landlord today. I got an email from Goldberg Realty Assoc with an attached PDF document letting me know how much interest my security deposit earned over this past year. So, that’s at least a partial wrap on yesterday morning’s vision.

Thursday, January 15, 2026: 5:50 AM: My mind is racing with ideas, none of which make sense. Something has shifted again in my environment. That I know. But what does 31 Martin Terrace Hackensack NJ have to do with it and why would I see Judy Bivone and my mother both sitting in Grandpa Sedlack’s living room looking up at me?

I had said something to them about people who cared being in the house. But I’m not sure of the exact wording or meaning. I felt peace and calm but was in and out of the vision so fast it was… Well… Disorienting but in a good way.

The power I felt in that room… The power I felt upon waking… The very air shimmered with electricity when I woke.

Judy Bivone? I don’t know what her figure represents in the vision. I honestly don’t. It should be noted, too, that this isn’t the first vision to take place in my grandfather’s house in recent months.

I don’t feel threatened or like anything bad has happened. So, I guess I’m just going to have to “wait and see”. Something has changed. That’s all I know for now.

Friday, January 16, 2026: 7:15 AM: I slept hard last night. But I did have some visions. They basically let me know there’s a remote chance Dad might try reaching out, a strong likelihood more communications from Goldberg Realty Assoc are pending, and that I will discover something new with regard to my more unique gifts very soon. It should be noted that sometimes Dad is a symbol for contact with my nephew, so calling Kenney at around 11:00 AM today might lead to a good chat, as well.

Yesterday was spent with Ellen and Jen, who turned 32. Things went well, us starting out at McDonalds before taking a tour of Five Below. We then returned to Jen and Ellen’s apartment, where we spent the rest of the day. Things went reasonably well.

When I got home, I did clean some, but the laundry and other major cleaning projects are going to have to wait until next week. In the meantime, I’ll continue to do light touching up around the place as needed.

My niece keeps calling me at the worst times. But I texted her yesterday to let her know I would be gunning to connect with her this weekend. I’m curious to know how things are going for her at Black Hills University.

Today is back posting Friday. So, I’ll be focused on getting more of my journal online. Given the way I have things set up, I should make good progress with this project.

Posting that's a little off the trolley at times... Brian is a single Newtonian Gardens Apartments resident, Self-Publishing Author, cPanel WordPress Web Host and Windows 11 powered computer tech. He’s a musician, sailor, hiker, cycler and some women would say, “Magical, too!”