Week 21

🤷‍♂️ Life

• A glorious time in the Highlands of Scotland last week. We travelled up to Gairloch, spent time on the gorgeous beaches, cycled, walked, relaxed, and felt very in awe of this beautiful country we live in. From huge mountains to golden beaches, we really are spoiled.
• As I was spending time with my family, and some members of the extended family too, I deliberately didn’t spend much time online at all. Admittedly the signal in Gairloch was a bit rubbish anyway, but even when that improved when we got to Glencoe, where we stayed for a couple of nights, I was still happy to read my book and just BE with my wife, son and dog. Jack and I spent an hour throwing stones in the water one evening as the sun started to sunset. Don’t really need much more in life than that.
• Was back to reality on Thursday but already making plans for the next get away in Vera, our wonderful motorhome (possibly a solo cycling based one!).
• Managed a short cycle on Saturday, good to know my legs still work even if the bike kept slipping gears (fixed now, just needed a clean).
• “Past and future are in the mind only. I am now.” Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj – from the Daily Calm meditation yesterday, simple phrase but one to remember.

📚 Read

• The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky – Already a fan, this was a sweeping, massive story told in a very small direct way. The imagination and challenges of writing this are beyond me, but if you like smart sci-fi that is grounded in our world (and, perhaps, many others) then I highly recommend this!

📰 Considered

Two weeks worth, most from before the holiday though:

• Trek Bicycle’s CEO reads 52 books a year, hates smartphones, and says Milton Friedman was wrong | Fortune — My next bike might be a Trek.
• Save the Taxi Drivers – The Atlantic — This. So much THIS.
• Putting the phone down: an Osmo Nano workflow — And now I want an Osmo Nano
• Adults Have Lost the Ability to Smile, Why? | Living Kindfully — On holiday, cycling with Jack (4 yrs old) and people would go from glaring at me waving to slow them down, to smiling seeing my son belting along the road on his bike. Hmmmm.
• Why Steve Kerr stayed with the Warriors – ESPN — Long, fascinating, article about a living legend.
• A Family Adventure Across 3,000 Miles of Texas — Having just driven for many hours with Jack, this article is very, wonderfully, relatable.
• Welcome to the personal software revolution | The Verge — The era of personal software will be fascinating. In good and bad ways.
• “Nothing” is the secret to structuring your work — Might be worth a try
• The quiet grief of adult friendship — I’m lucky to have long time friends, but I’m not in touch with them often. Should really change that.
• Make your website or blog fediverse-ready | Stefan Bohacek’s Personal Website and Blog — Adding to the To Do list.
• Introducing Shortcuts Playground: Create Apple Shortcuts with Claude Code or Codex – MacStories — Intriguing, likely to be Sherlocked?
• The Newest Rant: Facebook Has Launched a New App Focused on Groups and it’s Called Forum — Not available in UK yet but I’d love this and a separate app for Marketplace too!
• No Trial or Monthly version = No Thanks | Forking Mad+ — Amen! Run across a few apps I wanted to try recently but they demand a subscription before showing me the functionality. No thanks.

🫀 Health

• Current Weight: Unknown, I was on holiday! Who weighs themselves on holiday!
• Avg. Sleep: 7h 54mins. Helped by being on holiday in a motorhome with a 4.5 yr old; we go to bed when he does, I managed a 10 hr sleep one night!

🧑‍💻 Tech

• Openvibe – one app to monitor and post to Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads. It’s all I need as I’m not on any platform on a regular basis, easy to connect your accounts too. Winner winner.

🗓️ Next Week

• Back to normality but with a focus on moving more, stretching, and finding time to be good to myself. I have 100 days before I fly to Madrid so using it as a goal to move every day, and eat more mindfully. Day 3 already!