Week 18

🤷‍♂️ Life

• It’s been 4 years since we had a great day and to celebrate we booked a babysitter, and had a fantastic meal at a local Indian restaurant, Anayas, before wandering back to get ice cream at Dino’s which makes THE best milk ice cream (well technically the best was Galone’s but that shut down many years ago). 4 wonderful happy years.
• Sunshine! Isn’t it amazing how much a little sun changes the world, makes everything seem a little better, makes people a little friendlier. Of course it’s already gone…
• My bang about bike got new discs, brake pads, and gear levers, hadn’t really budgeted for it but we are away on holiday in a couple of weeks so I needed a working bike — one that isn’t my road bike which, given lack of use, probably needs some TLC soon too.
• Finished the climbing frame. A real sense of achievement, building something by hand! With a drill, a measuring tape, lots and lots and lots of screws! I mean sure, it’s all pre-cut wood but still. More importantly, Jack loves it!
• A lovely Saturday with Jack. We headed to Balloch Park and wandered and snacked and lunched our way round the park, before heading home where Jack helped me wash our motorhome.
• Brunch with my pal Andi earlier today, always good to catch up with her, even if it was mostly to listen to her blather on about her next holiday to Vietnam (I have the envy!).

📚 Read

• Flashlight by Susan Choi – About halfway through, an intriguing exploration of a family, of loss, and of the many day to day aspects of humanity, all handle with deft and a wonderful turn of language. A joy to read.

📰 Considered

• Why You Take Notes But Never Get Smarter — Collector’s Fallacy is real but one thing I think needs to also be considered is how to refloat notes at a later date.
• Exploring the wide range of Find My-compatible devices – Six Colors — No YOU are adding to your gadget buying list…
• Why I’ll Take “Socialist” Healthcare Over the American “Freedom” to Go Bankrupt | The Grumpy Welshman — The American ‘health’ system is purely a money making scam. I will never understand that way of thinking. The NHS is heading that way too and it scares the crap outta me.
• Democratic Escalators: What Munich’s U-Bahn Taught Me About German Culture – Randomwire — Love this thinking. A little intentional friction/patience is likely good for us all as a society.
• I make good money. Why do I still feel like this? — Via (Dense Discovery)[https://www.densediscovery.com] this article chimes well with my own thoughts as someone in prime “middle class” feeling material precarity.
• Interconnected, a blog by Matt Webb — Given I’m vibe-coding (whatever that actually means) my second little app myself, I’d love this! Good way to find all these tiny specialist apps that are starting to appear!
• Emotion Explorer — Need a word to describe an emotion, try this.
• Why are the Artemis II photos on Flickr? – Anil Dash — I forget about stuff like this, not Artemis, but Game Neverending, Ludicrop, exchanging emails with Caterina Fake, all as Flickr was about to launch. I WAS THERE MAN! (I did not contribute at all but did play that game and give feedback).
• Thinking about AI — I feel like I could’ve written this piece (minus the Bowflex section). My AI use is almost exactly that.
• OpenCase: Magsafe Perfected — Smart thinking. One of those obvious designs that make you wonder why more people didn’t clue in to this.
• The iPhone Air is for enthusiasts — I’m still on a 14 Pro but the Air looks fab. I guess if the Air is a Nissan Leaf, the Pro models are INSERT MAKE AND MODEL OVERLY LARGE AMERICAN SUV.
• This tiny, magnetic e-reader could stop you from doomscrolling | TechCrunch — I want one. I have zero need for one but I want one. I will not buy one.

📺 Watched

• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Continued to be a fun, nonsense, watch. Season done.
• Your Friends & Neighbours. Started season 2, already intrigued.
  

Not sure what else to watch next. I clicked on to For All Mankind but then remember that the last season left me a bit nonplussed. It had become a fairly standard type of story that just happened to be set in and around space. Not sure I’ll bother with the new season. Aiming for Shrinking, once we finish our Schitt’s Creek rewatch (it’s leaving Netflix on 15th May). Although as ever, The West Wing might tempt me back, again.

🎧 Listened

• Mostly the radio this week, 6Music using the app I “reworked”.
• Superbloom by Jessie Ware. Sensuous pop / soul / disco? Sure! I love her voice and her songs are catchy, definitely one for summer rotation.

🫀 Health

• Current Weight: 113.5kg. Up from last week (post incoming about this).
• Avg. Sleep: 7h 6mins. About the same as last week.

💻 Site Notes

• Redesign done? Almost. Some little styling tweaks (images on mobile) and a few ideas to pick up in the future but NOW I need to step away and live with it for a while.

🗓️ Next Week

• Prep for our holiday, the motorhome needs a bit of maintenance, grass needs cut, etc. mundane stuff but means can go away and fully relax.