Happily Imperfect Week 6 Notes

Reading time: 3 mins

Life

It was the first anniversary of my younger sisters’ death. Already said all I need to on that.
Ohrwurm of the week: Right Said Fred by Bernard Cribbins. Nope, I’ve no idea why.
Six Nations – actually gotten to watch a couple of games so far, will see how Scotland fare, although the compressed schedule might work against us.
Lego builds – took some time to build these two adorable wee folk; Happy Plants. Been ages since I built any Lego, forgot how cathartic it is.
And a related find, Every Lego catalogue, in full, from 1966-2015. My first ‘set’ was one of the NEW Space ones in 1979!

Here we are by Graham Greene – A Booker Prize winner and I can see why, effortless characterisation, flowing storylines, it was a joy to read.
Artemis by Andy Weir – not long started but, like his others, very readable.

There’s no such thing as tech “At a moment when we have seen that so many of the biggest tech companies are led by people who don’t know how to act responsibly with all of the power that they’ve been given, it’s important that we complicate our views of their companies, and consider that they are much more than just part of the “tech industry”. They are functioning as communications, media, finance, education, infrastructure, transportation, commerce, defense, policing, and government much of the time. And very often, they’re doing it without our awareness or consent.”
The mountain that weighed the earth – just happens to be one I’ve cycled up! Once again, Scotland is the centre of the universe.
Life before social media – Couldn’t agree with this more, I’m finding myself less and less on social media and not just to counter the doomscrolling.
OpenClaw could be future of personal assistants – Federico does the work to save me trying it. AI is here and I have used it (ChatGPT mostly) and it’s definitely a disruptive technology, I just hope it does more harm than good.

Rewatching Schitt’s Creek – such a joyful show, a balm for our souls whilst the world goes mad.
Down Cemetery Road– a few episodes in and, as with all AppleTV productions the, er, production level is high. Couple that with a reasonable plot line and two excellent lead actors, add a strong ensemble and it’s an enjoyable watch. Based on a Mick Herron novel (the Slow Horses guy) and written by Morwenna Banks who continues to show up in credits where I least expect her. Fun if not completely compelling.

Butterfly by Daphni – catchy beats galore! Much more front foot than his usual Caribou style, this is great for lifting the spirits.
Desert so Green by Winged Wheel – hard to describe so I’ll leave it to Pitchfork “Listening can feel like stumbling through a landscape that is both brutal and stunning, comprising raga drone and haunted violin screeches as well as beautifully woozy stoner rock and idyllic birdsong, all colliding into unexpected forms.”

Made it to the gym twice this week, which is plenty for now. Starting to track things using the Strong app, which is pretty slick. I’ve got my three routines setup and ready to go!
Current Weight 103.6kg – aka reason for above.
Avg. Sleep: 6hrs 39mins (with pinch of salt)

Mug warmer – a Christmas present, that I chose myself, and I was a little dubious but was getting fed up drinking half a mug of coffee, getting distracted with work, and then getting that awful mouthful of tepid liquid. This gadget works like a charm! Two heat levels and auto off if not in use.
Bye bye Gmail – made some headway in removing gmail, and have been doubling up on changing passwords (or deleting them) at the same time. Slow progress, but is definitely gonna be worth it as my Passwords app will be nice and clean too.
Ulysses – I was playing about trying to get a clean way to use Apple Notes for the drafts for this blog, and somewhere in my brain I remembered that Ulysses (which I am using for writing my novel) includes a ‘Publish to WordPress’. A quick test and, yup, solution sorted.
Apple Shortcuts. For the love of god Apple, rename this! Seriously, do a web search for “Apple shortcuts [anything]” and you mostly get keyboard shortcuts results. Gah!