zkbro

Redirect Screenjesus for a single Neocities thumbnail

2026-09-09T07:06:41+00:00

Thanks to Brennan Day for pointing out how How the Mysterious ScreenJesus can DDoS You</a>, and the subsequent How to Control Your Neocities Thumbnail</a> tutorial, I can, if all goes to plan, testing with this post here, get Neocities to show only the one single thumbnail for this latest post.</p>

This is specific to my use of Zola SSG</a> and hosting on Neocities</a>, and will hopefully result in only a single thumbnail of my newest post entry showing in my Neocities feed, rather than all the pages that get updated due to my website build setup:</p>

</a>

Unnecessary thumbnails taking the focus away from the latest post</span></figcaption></figure>

Using the guide, I figured I could inject this code into my <head></code> HTML in /templates/partials/base.html</code> which gets included on every single page generated:</p>

<script></span></span>
  if (navigator.userAgent === "Screenjesus") {</span></span>
    location.replace("/posts/<LATEST-POST>.html");</span></span>
  }</span></span>
</script></span></span></code></pre>
All I need to do is update <LATEST-POST></code> prior to zola build</code> then it should hopefully do the deeds. I could probably automate this with a pre-build script (something I want to do anyway so I don't have to manually rename my blog-post-template.md file every time I make a new post).</p>
Let's see how this goes.</p>
Update: It didn't work</a>.</p>

Leave a comment</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>



🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W36
2026-09-07T14:46:05+00:00
House-sitting a mate's place at the mo, in an area close to where I grew up. Leafy suburb close to public transport, beaches and shops. As I write I can hear a siren and trucks in the distance over the top of nearby cockatoo and magpie caws. Speaking of, I'm grateful for the early morning rise as sunrise approaches, from when the birds start calling their mates and the rustle of the trees in the wind, up to the first truck heading towards the city. I'd struggle if I never experienced that quiet.</p>
Occasionally a bush turkey appears in the backyard, or a blue-toungue lizard. I've found some therapy in removing onion weed from the garden, enjoying keeping the place maintained, mowing, edging, sweeping leaf litter. I fixed A's car's left headlight - turns out it was not a busted bulb, but it had fallen out the back of its socket. I removed a couple things to get in there and reconnect it all. That's all helped me feel a little more like I deserve the house-sit.</p>
My back got better. As expected, after the initial delegation to the floor for 3 days, it was a quick progress for the rest of the week up to a point that there was no pain at all. That said, my muscles around it have been in protection mode, and not being used as per normal, so I'm treading careful not to put something else out.</p>
At least I thought I was... I'll come back to that.</p>
I decided to meet some fam down at Kiama on the south coast, opting for bus and train rides to get me there. There were weekend trackworks so I had to use the bus train-replacement-service for part way, making it a bus-train-bus-train trip. I'm still going without mobile data, so saved a PDF route plan to my phone so I knew what platforms I needed to get to. I planned for missing a service, but only had a near-miss with train 1 being delayed 3 minutes, meaning I had only 1 minute to get to my bus at the other end. Signage was good at Central station though so I got there just as they were closing the doors. Luckily I peed at the previous stop because there was no such time for that here.</p>
</a>Early morning subway</span></figcaption></figure>
No matter the transport type there's always someone slurping, chewing or muttering in the seat behind me. I enjoyed the views from the train the most. Get to see the town edges. Backs of parks, schools and industrial areas. Unmaintained rewilding. Bracken and scrub, rose briars and the odd plastic bag caught in its claws. Desire lines between suburban third places. Interesting graffiti. Peeks into backyards of junk.</p>
Fat ebikes everywhere. Even on trains. Kids can get around far and fast these days.</p>
At my destination, my neice was waiting with excitement at the train station. Over the couple of days I got to hang with her, spend time with Dad on father's day, and run with sis. A swim at the beach. This was where my recovery-not-so-recovery crept up on me. I put my neck out jumping into the surf. Some nerve thing that shot down my left arm. So now I'm nursing that. Movement at least helps it, so running is not affected. I just have a rotten kink in my neck and have to turn the whole body when looking around.</p>
We went out for South African cuisine, I found another second hand bookstore (bought an Alain de Botton book (The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work</a>), and forced myself not to buy more), visited the Berry markets</a>, found yet more books and again had to restrain myself.</p>
I came back "home" with sis, the vehicle drive less spectacular than the bus-train-bus-train travel. Happy here again going at my own pace, which is slow. I just want my neck better now. I'm aware travelling is not the best for my body right now. I'm weighing up my return to NZ and what to do then.</p>
On that, we are getting 30C days here in Aus, and back in NZ I saw it was just 7C the other day so I think I've nailed the timing of this trip. Hoping when I get back it will be somewhat warmer.</p>
🛠️ Projects</h2>
Current projects keeping me busy via tree -L 1 ~/01-Projects/current/</code>:</p>
/home/zkbro/01-Projects/current/</span></span>
├── 20251212-aus-trip-2026</span></span>
├── 20260531-just-a-thought-course</span></span>
├── 20260807-first-things-first-reboot-project</span></span>
├── 20260807-trading-reboot-project</span></span>
└── 20260826-notes-site</span></span></code></pre>
Not much changed there. Aus trip continues, and I've started tinkering with a new "notes" site which links to my personal notes system. Having a lot of geeky fun there.</p>
📺 Watched</h2>


Holy Motors (2012)</a> ***</code> - Saw this one on the big screen at Dendy Cinemas, Newtown</a> (they've got some pretty rad classics showing). This French flick was an odd one. My take on it is it's about owning or not owning your identity in the world. It follows a dude being driven around to various "appointments" for the day, all of which are different characters he is seemingly acting out. Little bits between appointments shed light on what's going on, and sometimes blurs the line between "work" and reality, stressing the tension and likely the actual meaning of the film. There were moments of dark humour and violence, and so completely odd that it was well worth the watch.</p>
</li>

Hardware (1990)</a> ***</code> - Woah what a grimey one. Not much plot but it's a fairly gory one with a couple of interesting</em> characters, and the visuals are very cyberpunk. Turns out its based off a once-off 2000 AD comic in prog 612 titled Shok!</a>, and of which I am an owner of, so I'll have to dig it out when I'm back in NZ. Lemmy and Iggy Pop have small parts in it too.</p>
</li>
</ul>
📚 Reading</h2>

Finished Mastery (2012)</a> by Robert Greene - *****</code> - So many nuggets. It debunks the narrow thinking around what "mastery" has come to mean as butchered by self-help "gurus", and dives into what it means to live and breathe</em> a life of actual</em> mastery. It's not about goal-setting and sticking with it, it's about acknowledging the complex human mind and leaning into it with our own unique selves. It explores some core ways of mastery via the lives of famous "geniuses". I particularly liked learning about writer Marcel Proust, his early struggles with writing, but how eventually by leaning into his curiosities, intertwined his writing with real-life experience, building characters by finding these people and communities in real life and understanding them from the inside out, he came to build his behemoth In Search of Lost Time</a> which became his life's work. So much so, as he was on his deathbed he re-wrote previous written scenes of deathbeds and got his assistant to update that text. This is one of those books I'll return back to frequently, absolutely positive it will spark new thoughts and understandings each time I revisit.</li>
</ul>
🏃 Activities</h2>
The runs from my current abode have been fun. I've enjoyed reconnecting with some trails out the back of the burbs I grew up in.</p>
</a>Enough ankle rollers to keep you focused on an Aussie bush run</span></figcaption></figure>
</a>Rock views in a relatively flat area</span></figcaption></figure>
The terrain is rocky and sandy (lots of sandstone), and native flora can get dense, sometimes having to crouch through tunnels of scrub.</p>
</a>Runalyze stats</span></figcaption></figure>
Other Sydney happenings</h2>
</a>Night city views. Building with crane looks like a doberman</span></figcaption></figure>
</a>Checked out the Sydney marathon pitta patta too</span></figcaption></figure>

Leave a comment</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


A man walks into a library...
2026-08-29T14:56:13+00:00
I went to the library, and just browsed. No aim. Path of least resistance. I hadn't been to this library before. Found myself browsing a shelf that seemed to have no order. Fiction, non-fiction. Then I saw the receipts. This was the pickup section. Duh.</p>
Left. Children books and young-adult. Nah. Reverse, back into the main room. Past the catalogue computer. Not today. Fiction, graphic novels. Not today. Non-fiction. Sports, war, biographies, cooking, gardening, politics, music, health, philosophy. Getting warmer.</p>
I found myself at 808.02. Something to do with writing. Bingo. I didn't realise that's whats interesting me at the moment, but it grabbed me. "Always Take Notes", "Awaken the Writer Within", "Why Write", "The Writer's Hustle". Oooh meta here we come. Flick through table of contents of "Always Take Notes". Chapter 4 - Research. Lets go.</p>

The way I report every story, which is a secret asset of people trying to do this kind of journalism, [involves] going to the library. It's all in the library. Everyone else is too rushed and ripping shit off the internet. Whatever story I'm doing, I go to the library. I was writing about dressage - go to the library. You want to talk about snooker? Go to the library and read books about snooker, because some other person has done a lot of work on this already. If you have read up on something - actually read up on it - you're able to have much more interesting conversations with people.</p>
Sam Knight, journalist and author, quoted in Always Take Notes</a> by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd</strong></p>
</blockquote>
So here I am doing exactly that. I just didn't realise it. My new site I'm building is a personal wiki. My notes public. On the main page is a section about "Why" I've created the site. It's hard to put into words, because there are so many "why's". So I pick up Why Write</a> by Mark Edmundson. The table of contents alone explains my dilemma:</p>
Why Write?</span></span>
Getting Started</span></span>
To Catch a Dream</span></span>
To Do It Every Day</span></span>
The New Writer</span></span>
To Have Written</span></span>
To Get the Girl / To Get the Guy</span></span>
To Make Some Money</span></span>
To Get Even</span></span>
To Strengthen the Mind</span></span>
To Grow</span></span>
To Fail</span></span>
To Change the World</span></span>
Hitting Your Stride:</span></span>
Perils and Pleasures / Pleasures and Perils</span></span>
Perils and Pleasures</span></span>
To Drink</span></span>
To Get Reviewed</span></span>
To Learn to Be Alone To Read as a Writer To Do Something</span></span>
To Hold Your Peace</span></span>
Pleasures and Perils</span></span>
To Learn Something</span></span>
To Stay Sane</span></span>
To See What Happens Next</span></span>
To Find Your Medium</span></span>
To Skip Writing the Great American Novel</span></span>
To Find Beauty and Truth</span></span>
The Writer's Wisdom</span></span>
To Mine a Fresh Experience</span></span>
To Beat the Clock (A Little)</span></span>
To Stop Revising</span></span>
To Remember</span></span>
To Get Better as You Get Older</span></span>
To Draw a Constellation</span></span>
To Have the Last Word</span></span></code></pre>
"To grow" is what comes to mind with my wiki. I jumped to that chapter.</p>

It's the spirit that's in you that matters the most. [...] It may take longer to express itself if the medium you choose is one you aren't naturally fluent in.</p>
</blockquote>
That's me, I'm certainly not fluent in writing or taking notes, but there's an underlying "spirit" that I'm trying to express or understand.</p>
The Writer's Hustle</a> by Joey Franklin had a good section titled "Read across Boundaries of Genre and Culture" where he quoted Stephen King, then a bit on writing habits - take notes, write all the time.</p>
The Organised Writer</a> by Antony Johnston chapter titles seemed a bit bland, but I dived, found it was actually pretty good, and a random quote stuck:</p>

If you sit around waiting for the right moment to create you will die waiting.</p>
</blockquote>
So here I am. It was a good way to spend an hour or so unexpectedly "researching" about note taking and writing, reading about writers who write about why writers write, while I contemplate why I write.</p>

Leave a comment</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


Spondy
2026-08-29T09:28:16+00:00
Oh you're back. L5 S1. You never really left did you?

Day 1 maybe it's not so bad?

Day 2 it's worse

Day 3 it's worser

Day 4 it's worserer

Plans out the window.

Drugs, bed, couch, floor.

Over the hump?

It moves. Back hurts the most. Then the sciatica. Calf and foot throbbing.

Small walks. Too much at first, scale back.

Muscle helpers activated. Protection. Can I relax them? Try. Nup. That hurt. Mg at night will have do.

Grouchy. Thought I was better than that. Sorry.

Need to keep sane. More walks. Betterer.

Read more. Helps return the habit. That's one thing.

Build a new website. Why not? Stimulates creativity.

Stretches starting to be achievable.

Progression quick from here...

You're overstaying your welcome old friend.</p>

Leave a comment</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


Purpose and principles
2026-08-25T14:28:48+00:00
Chris from uncountable thoughts</a> is hosting this month's IndieWeb Carnival topic on purpose</em></a>. This is my first participation in such a carnival, and its been fun, if a little challenging on my noggin.</p>

Purpose: A single word that evokes many different interpretations.</p>
</blockquote>
Indeed!</p>
No matter how much I read on purpose, principles, values, goals, etc., my brainicles get tied in a knot as soon as I sit down and try to flesh them out for myself. I've been spending a little more time on this lately though, and since it's the topic for this month's IndieWeb Carnival, it feels apt that I nut this out.</p>
By the end of writing this, I've reframed my definition, and also realised by</b> writing this, I have been operating from a number of my core principles</b>.</aside>
One of the core purposes</em> I write here on this wee site is, afterall, to unbundle and make sense of things.</p>
I'd like to try and define firstly what is</em> purpose, and then what is my</em> purpose (or purposes). I'll be steering away from the definition of purpose related to tools and services (ie the purpose of sunglasses are to protect the eyes, or maybe make one feel like a rockstar, and the purpose of APPL, MSFT, GOOG is to inflict as much pain and suffering... I digress). I want to focus more towards an individual's</em> purpose. You, me, conscious beings.</p>
I will start first with principles</em>. Principles, yet another concept I'm trying to understand more deeply, are patterns or rules based on natural laws and underlying truths that we live with. "Growth and decay" come to mind. Growth and decay is unavoidable. Physically and mentally, in self, nature and human made. But that concept alone doesn't help me. So what? I need to turn this into a principle I live by.</p>
(a) Deep focus, (b) skills acquisition, and (c) experimentation are how Robert Greene structures step two of the "Ideal Apprenticeship" in developing Mastery</a></aside>
I'm thinking about growth and decay in personal knowledge and learning (something I value</em>), so a principle that I live by may be "to discover new interests by keeping an open mind while interacting in the world, and build and maintain knowledge through deep focused observation, skills acquisition and experimentation".</p>
We might choose to give attention to the principle or pattern of "positive thinking produces positive results". (The value</em> here may be forward growth). A principle for myself to live by may therefore be "trust my instincts, stay positive, working within my circle of influence, avoiding the outer circle of concern and unnecessary rationa-lies-ing".</p>
And so on.</p>
Quick "checking in" on my principles are a healthy habit I'm trying to build when I am choosing what to do at any given moment, or when I'm building goals, or identifying "current" projects out of my long list of projects. Weekly reviews</a> help give me more space to align principles with my planning, though a deeper quarterly review would be even better.</aside>
With a collection of my own principles I can now take actions based on these. If I do this, I know I will be taking the right</em> action, no matter how big or small, knowing that they've come from a set of principles and values that I have given some thought.</p>
What is purpose</em> then? I struggle here, because purpose</em> is not a plural. We as people are complex beings, yet we cannot multi-task, and we are forever taking in new information. Maybe if you value narrow-expertise (master of one, jack of nothing else), and dedicate your life to one thing, then you could say "My purpose is to do or be x". I want to live bigger than that. In this short write-up I've only just started scraping the surface of who I want and can be. A "purpose" might therefore be my "mission statement", and I'll attempt to draft one up now. I'm writing this as though I've never had purpose previously, and part of that is painfully true, but I think for the most part I have lived by some solid principles without having put them to paper.</p>
My purpose</em> is therefore to live by a dynamic list of principles that reflect who I am and where I'm at at any given time. My purpose is to live by principles I've developed from deep observation of self and world. They connect my values to my environment. They tackle such things as "adaptability" so as to not become self-centered or ignore changing circumstances, "recipocracy" so I can give as well as take, and, bare with me - I'm figuring this out as I type, something to do with "transformation" in both mind and beliefs, but also how it relates to interconnectiveness and relationships - the transfer of knowledge shapes our communities and wider species, and the learning of knowledge transforms perspectives and opens doors to new ways of thinking and exciting creativity. These are all somewhat connected, but the more I give time to this space the clearer it becomes. Here's how I've summed it up:</p>

My purpose is to participate positively in the world, making use of the gift of human consciousness, by living through my evolving set of principles that help me and my community grow, adapt, reciprocate, and transform with health, vitality, integrity and respect.</p>
Me, 2026</p>
</blockquote>
Alongside that I'll have my list of principles I've fleshed out, expand and contract back into this statement. It might sound like a bit of waffle, but each word there in the latter bit triggers an underlying meaning for me (my fleshed out principles).</p>

I've based a lot of this on recent reads of the following books. They can seem a bit "old school" and businessy, but I find the language easy to understand, and less wishy-washy than other popular similar books. I've probably butchered the defintions the authors have given, so I highly recommend you read for yourself. I have these on a regular rotation and every time I read them I understand the concepts differently.</p>

First Things First</a> by Stephen Covey, specifically around "inner compass" and living through principles.</li>
Getting Things Done</a> by David Allen, specifically on "horizons of focus" and how "purpose and principles" relates to goals, projects etc.</li>
Mastery</a> by Robert Greene, specifically part II on "The Ideal Apprenticeship", only because that is all I have read up to so far! Currently favourite book of the year.</li>
</ul>
Thanks Chris from uncountable thoughts</a> for hosting this IndieWeb Carnival topic. It's worth a read of other folks' submitted entries, listed at the bottom of the introductory post</a>, which are all amazingly different takes.</p>
Please, if you'd like to comment on anything I've written, if it resonates, or if you think I'm completely off my rocker, let me know via email or the comment terminal below.</p>

Leave a comment</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W34
2026-08-24T04:17:33+00:00
More bus rides. Noticed the stretch of road between Long Reef and Dee Why still being used as a caryard.</p>
Intercoms: "Please hold on when standing." "Stay seated, and do not use the stairs while moving". Safety messages, but the intercoms make it sound dystopian.</p>
Morning run around the beach headlands. Drones are used for shark monitoring now. There's been a few attacks recently, taking limbs and lives. More speakers, this time coming from the drones themselves: "Warning. For your safety please evacuate the water. Sharks have been sighted." More people obey obey obey this one. Still... Total Recall, Dredd, Blade Runner vibes.</p>
</a>Headland runs</span></figcaption></figure>
Swims. The flagged area was small. Current warnings. Is nothing safe these days? Blue bottles washed up on the sand. Niece. No touchies. Stingies. Ouchies. She did well with a walk around the lagoon and back along the beach. A minor crack of exhaustion, swept up in Grandpa's giant hand-seat.</p>
It's still Winter, but I'm sweltering, breaking out in sweats in the humidity. Swimming is warm. I'm in shorts and tshirt most of the time.</p>
Visit mum. New plantings in the garden. Night visits by bandicoots. Turns out they're a native to these coastal parts, and quite prevalent. We walk to groceries and a "Fellafel bar". I got the lamb in pita. Mum the fellafel bowl. It was huge. I helped with the hoovering.</p>
Half-bused half-walked to the Festival of Dangerous Ideas. Turns out the graphic novel reading, was not a reading, but Q&A session with the author Melissa Chan</a> and artist Baduicao</a>. It was a good experience and makes me want to read their book You Must Take Part in Revolution</a>. They talked about censorship across countries, the future of art, political issues, with good humour and honesty.</p>
</a>Eww people</span></figcaption></figure>
Walking from Wynyard to Eveleigh was a long way, but on foot I got a new appreciation for these southern Sydney suburbs. Terraced housing, small bars and cafes, graffiti. Walking back through the city on a Saturday evening, the night coming to life.</p>
</a>Cute wee gardens out front of the terraces</span></figcaption></figure>
Joined a monthly Bushcare volunteer morning. We pulled weeds at Kooroowall Reserve. Apparently they faught a few times to keep the place from development. John's (second from left) wife (deceased) got the name approved (Kooroowall indigenous for Bandicoot) to help keep the place, as it was simply "Lot 11" which made it susceptible to development. I'm paraphrasing, but it was a nice morning chatting with people who care about their backyard.</p>
</a>Some of the crew, including our magpie helper who followed us everywhere (far right)</span></figcaption></figure>
We were mainly removing Madeira vine</a>, Privet</a>, Asparagus fern</a>, and Tuckeroo saplings</a> (which are native, but invasive, and a little too prevalent here). We battled jumping ants and spiders which result in a bush dance of high knee lifts and slapping of inner thighs and calves.</p>
More synergy of bush and housing. Trees become part of the fencing even. They just build around them. Probably endless work for fencers in these parts.</p>
</a>Just build around it</span></figcaption></figure>
</a>It's a "trence"</span></figcaption></figure>
More IT support for the fam. Replaced an old router (1) with an older router (2) that works. A reminder to keep your electronics.</p>
Gifted an old Sony Discman. Been listening to CDs laying around the place. Looking forward to my next visit back to Utopia or Sandy's Music to buy a CD again like I did 20 years ago.</p>
I continue being more offline. RSS feed down (my server down) so enjoying actual websites via my blogroll</a>. I'm toying with Offpunk</a> on my laptop and Android via termux</a> which has some rad offline reading capability. But mostly I just read books more, and notice real life.</p>
</a>A random splodge of Sydney graffiti</span></figcaption></figure>
📺 Watched</h2>


Breakdown (1997)</a> ***</code> First DVD I've watched on an actual DVD player in about 20 years. Found tucked away behind some CDs and puzzles at mum's. Nothing spesh. Rednecks vs tourists, highway chasies, trucks and Kurt Russell. Just some fun, fairly tame action.</p>
</li>

Videodrome (1983)</a> ****</code> An odd Cronenberg one (no surprise?). Can't say I understood it much, but it was weird enough to keep me entertained and dad awake.</p>
</li>
</ul>
📚 Reading</h2>


Finished The Omega Book (issue 1)</a> by James Patrick ****</code> - Comic I picked up in the city. Nice sci-fi feels. If I'm around I'll pick up issue 2 in September.</p>
</li>

Finished Virtual Light (1993)</a> by William Gibson ***</code> - I kinda ruined the start by reading it on short plane trips, which make it hard for me to concentrate because I get tired, but I enjoyed the second half. I came for the stormy DIY makeshift cities and techy sub cultures battling with evil corps, and it delivered pretty well.</p>
</li>

Started Trading in the Zone (2003)</a> by Mark Douglas</p>
</li>

Started Idoru (1997)</a> by William Gibson</p>
</li>

Started Mastery (2012)</a> by Robert Greene</p>
</li>
</ul>
🏃 Activities</h2>
Continue a slow progression in running KMs. Elevation is suffering in these parts but that's ok. Enjoying the exploration.</p>
</a>Runalyze stats</span></figcaption></figure>

Will be doing some ferry and train rides this coming week. Looking forward to more wandering and visiting some friends I haven't seen for a while.</p>
Some meta - I have absolutely no consistency with these notes these days. It probably makes it a little difficult to follow along, but it helps me get "pen to paper". I have some more topic-specific notes in draft, but as usual I struggle to complete them because I keep creeping the scope. Who knows what they'll end up as. Also I seem to be a lot busier than I was expecting on this trip so these things are taking a little time. My sporadic inconsistencies and random structures and topics are probably a reflection of who I am anyway, so I'm rolling with it, whatever "it" is.</p>

Leave a comment</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


Travelling light, doing stuff
2026-08-19T07:09:01+00:00
I'm travelling light at the moment. Have a laptop, phone, couple of books, running and swimming gear and a few days of clothes. I'm staying at family and friends homes. Very generous of them. Comfortable living too. Not just a couch. Spare rooms, whole floors with kitchenettes, house</em> sitting even while the owners travel. I'm very grateful.</p>
Sometimes their kids come and wake me up, wanting to play blocks or sing me Johnny works with one hammer</a> or my favourite Wash your face with orange juice</a>. Turns out I'm pretty good with kids. Funcle they say. Typically shy kids aren't shy with me. A couple times little ~3 year olds have run up and grabbed my hand to cross a road or walk a trail, after only spending time with their clan for a day. There's been a few shoulder rides too. Mindful of sleep times so not to rile them up at the wrong times. Managed to avoid nappy changes so far. Funcle can come and go at the right times.</p>
I haven't got a sim for my phone. Rolling with WiFi only, which is managing fine, and somewhat freeing. I have CoMaps</a> for offline navigation, but I'm generally pretty good with following my nose.</p>
I've found a nice running loop here in the city that skirts the Sydney harbour. I'm feeling new muscles getting a workout because of how flat and concreted the routes are. Haven't had a blowout yet.</p>
Reading a lot more. Between William Gibson's sci-fi Idoru</a> and Mark Douglas' non-fiction trading psychology classic Trading in the Zone</a>. Have a couple of others in the pipeline I've found in street libraries and off fam's shelves.</p>
Off to the Festival of Dangerous Ideas</a> You Must Take Part in Revolution</a> on Saturday. Intertwining runs with the sis, a bushcare volunteer session and hanging with the niece.</p>
My TrueNAS and Raspi servers back in Queenstown went down on Sunday. No idea what happened. Didn't end up planning for this. I could get a friend to go reboot, but I'm not too phased. It means my Radicale</a> calendar is offline, as is my FreshRSS feed and reader, my Gemini capsule and fit.zkbro.com</a>.</p>
More of an opportunity for me to test my tech flexibility really. I'll run a local Radicale calendar on my laptop. Been using my own blogroll</a> on this site which is hosted on Neocities, instead of my RSS reader, as well as Blogosphere</a>, Kagi Small Web</a>, and the numerous aggregators in Gemini. The fit website is no big deal, but I haven't been happy with my setup there anyway (both how I rsync from the laptop to Raspi, and the style of it), so it may force me to give it some love and attention. In the meantime I'm using Runalyze</a> to track my activities. There's some old laptops and phones floating around these parts which I may be able to utilise for something fun.</p>
I'm being the family IT help desk while I'm about. Glad to help. Turns out I learnt some things at my last job that are very transferrable.</p>
I'm taking my trading a bit more seriously, diving back into the documentation for AmiBroker</a> while I continue placing my nightly systematic trades. My focus is to learn my software better so I can analyse my trades through the statistics reporting, tax, which I've largely ignored til now, and risk management concepts.</p>
I watched my old NRL team Manly get flogged at Brooky oval last week. Despite the result it was still a fun evening and good to be back at the battleground. It was me, 2 mates and 6 kids, which was a different experience to 20 years ago.</p>
I just felt like getting some things down with no real objective. And that is that.</p>

Leave a comment</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


Sydney: nth impressions
2026-08-14T06:38:59+00:00
It's only been 20 months since I last set foot on my homeland, but it always takes me by surprise how much I feel like a tourist every time I return. I enjoy visiting as someone who doesn't live here. I have learnt to appreciate the place more and more, despite its pitfalls that come with any populated city in the world.</p>
The thing that jumps out at me the most is how leafy it is. I'm travelling between both the southern (city) side of the harbour bridge and the northern (beaches) side, and it doesn't matter where you are, there is a tree to be seen in every direction. The 'burbs surrounding the city have huge canopys of green and the birdsong is constant. I'm staying in Glebe at the moment, inner city, and I am awaken by cockatoos. I ran in the urban trails on the northern side yesterday and it was all kookaburras laughing, lorikeets screeching and magpies cawing. The Greening Sydney Strategy</a> is pretty rad. Their interactive Register of Signficant Trees</a> is delightfully detailed with descriptions of individual trees and historical photos.</p>
</a>Big leafy street trees</span></figcaption></figure>
There's a nice synergy of nature and urbanisation, that's developed over time. It reminds me of what much of Tim Low talks about in his book The New Nature</a> - how fauna has adapted to our destructive ways. The bin chickens don't give a f. They thrive. The magpies are out claiming their territory, already starting to attack riders. There's possum shit everywhere. Mosses, grasses, ferns and trees growing out of cracks of concrete or stone walls.</p>
Buffalo grass. So much. So green. So course. If I wasn't afraid of stepping in a turd I'd be barefooting it on some of these spaces. Some fam or friends will have it in their backyard. When I visit I barefoot it.</p>
Unfortunately when I walked out of the airport, the first thing I copped was a thick cloud of cigarette smoke. It hasn't been that bad since, but my lungs and eyeballs are feeling the regular hayfever kick in. A constant barrage of itchy, stuffy, drippy every time I'm here, no matter the season. I'm not on the puffer yet, but I've got the Telfast and eyedrops to at least make life bearable. Safe to say, I am allergic to Sydney. Running helps, I just snot it out on the sidewalks. Salt water on the beaches will flush it out too.</p>
It is warm. I don't feel the cold as much these days as I live in the south of the south island of NZ, but still it is a nice relief being able to walk around in a tshirt, and not get dry flakey skin because of the dry cold air. Just chaffing :/</p>
Walking up to Wynyard Station I found both Utopia Records and Kings Comics still going! A rummage through CDs like the old days. Passionate conversations on obscure metal bands between store workers and patrons. I spied from the new fab bang double decker B1 bus that Sandy's Music in Dee Why is still open too. That's where all my teenage savings went. I walked out of Kings Comics with a random sci-fi and Aussie zine-type community comic collection after chatting at length about 2000AD with the staff.</p>
</a>Still holding strong</span></figcaption></figure>
Secondhand bookstores. Events. Lots of events. There was an antique fair across the way, a "cutler's expo" soon. City2Surf was on Sunday. Runners hobbling around the city donning their medals. Festival of Dangerous Ideas</a> (I've booked myself in for a "live graphic novel" and a film screening of the French Holy Motors (2012)). I'm not the only nerd in town - HTML Day at Hyde Park</a> (I missed it).</p>
George Street now looks to be trains only. I walked it during the morning peak hour because I get some sick satisfaction of not commuting to work in a crowd of commuters to work. It was crowded, but never felt claustraphobic. Everyone knew the pattern. The public transport seems to be working really well. The B1 runs every 7 minutes! I used to have to wait up to 1 hour to get from northern beaches to city. I dug out my old Opal card I haven't touched for ~10 years and found $50 of credit. Win.</p>
</a>Trains on George Street</span></figcaption></figure>
A trot around ANZAC bridge and Pyrmont waterfront. Big wide paths. Pedestrian friendly. Pyrmont pedestrian only</em>. Enough space to do whatever. Sydney population 5 million, where are you?</p>
</a>ANZAC Bridge</span></figcaption></figure>
</a>Pyrmont space</span></figcaption></figure>
Same shops that have been there forever - Surfection, Dymocks, Upper Crust Pies, Mike Pawley's. Abundance of yoga and pilates studios from Neutral Bay to Spit Junction - Hyrox signs replacing Crossfit. Not just lime scooters, but Ario and Hello Bike. E-bikes now. They're everywhere. There was a TikTok space for teens to record their antics. Weird. Turns out the Sydney Entertainment Centre is called the TikTok Entertainment Centre. WTF.</p>
</a>Where mum and dad used to buy my sport shoes</span></figcaption></figure>
Metal heads, punks, and what looked like those folk who identify as felines. Looked like live anime characters. That was odd. Each to their own I guess.</p>
The place has evolved, but the place is the same. Buildings down, buildings up. I'm enjoying the observations. More coast, Blue Mountains, and further west in the coming weeks.</p>

Leave a comment</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


🗓️ Monthnote 2026-M07
2026-08-05T20:49:09+00:00
Time? What is time? Is this a weeknote or monthnote? I don't even know anymore. It's a note spanning what my mind is willing. I've just read about shifting from operating in chronos</em> time to kairos</em> time, and it's sticking. Kinda hard when you're working. But I'm not, so I'm finding ways to apply it. Losing your weeknote mojo? Don't do it then, or do a weaknote, bleaknote, freaknote, focusnote, scatterbrainnote, whatever. Don't worry you missed a week. Mine is certainly spread thin. This is a procrastinote</em>. I'm flying to Aus tomorrow and looking at my loungeroom floor with all my crap I should be packing.</p>
🛠️ Projects</h2>
I finished the pergola build and stained that corner of the house (and pergola). Stoked with how it turned out. Did the whole thing on the cheap. Still got the DIY in me. Brought me back to my first home when I knocked down walls and rebuilt a kitchen. There's lots of failures, but you learn so much from doing them, and you also end up with a bunch of tools and materials you can utilise in future projects. With this one, anchoring to the house took some thinking and multiple missions down to the hardware store to stare at fittings, threaded rods, piping and whatever else, but I finally found the solution and rolled with it. The thing is rock solid, and with a lick of stain it looks like I knew what I was doing. Was a bit of a mish lifting the pieces up on a dodgy ladder, but no necks were broken, just freaked out a few neighbours.</p>
</a>Will enjoy this area on my return</span></figcaption></figure>
My house is going on the holiday accommodation market some time over the next week. It's been a journey. I've sold a lot of stuff, dumped a lot of stuff, and donated a lot of stuff. I still have a lot of stuff. I have locked one room, which has most of my possessions, bar the beds and furniture, kitchen thangs and all my books I'm leaving out for guests to make it liveable. I have no idea if this will get me enough income while I disappear for a bit, but it's a good middle-ground while I decide if I want to keep the place or not.</p>
</a>Created a jungle when I bundled my plants together</span></figcaption></figure>
Current projects keeping me busy via tree -L 1 ~/01-Projects/current/</code>:</p>
/home/zkbro/01-Projects/current/</span></span>
├──</span> 20251212-aus-trip-2026</span></span>
├──</span> 20260513-prepare-for-nz-exit</span></span>
└──</span> 20260531-just-a-thought-course</span></span></code></pre>✈️ Travel</h2>
I flew up to the Taupo in the north island to catch my cousin K as she flew in from Leeds on her way to Brisbane. Uncle M and Aunty J put me up. We're all an active bunch so in the 4 days there we did a mountain bike ride, trail run, lake run, lake walk, tree planting, yoga class, bodybalance class, and finally a dip in the natural hot springs. It was quality fam time. I really enjoyed hanging with my cuz in particular and hearing about her endeavours in Leeds.</p>
</a>Tree planting with the school kids</span></figcaption></figure>
🩸 Health</h2>
Last night was the first night since mid May I slept through the whole night. 8.5 hours of uninterupted sleep. You don't know how good that feels.</p>
Gym classes are definitely not my thing, but going with cuz up in Taupo gave me a new appreciation for them. I was the only dude in both classes. Why? I don't know, because I got so much out of it. My shoulders, breath and core got some much needed attention. Will try and keep up similar sessions in Aus.</p>
My running is progressing smoothly. My physio has set me on my way with a heap of exercises to help me maintain niggles and progress strength. This is the foundation to everything in my life. Without physical health I really struggle, so to be getting somewhere here is a very nice feeling.</p>
</a>Lazy snip from runalyze of my last few weeks</span></figcaption></figure>
</a>Back running with my mates</span></figcaption></figure>
</a>Beaut winter days looking up Ben Lomond</span></figcaption></figure>
</a>And the other direction over Lake Whakatipu</span></figcaption></figure>
</a>More mates. My running is so social</span></figcaption></figure>
</a>Found a trig at Lake Taupo. Tauhara in the background</span></figcaption></figure>
</a>Last jog in NZ around Lake Hayes before heading over to Aus</span></figcaption></figure>
🖌️ Drawing</h2>
I drew some things.</p>
</a>Back of my eyelids, front of my eyeballs</span></figcaption></figure>
</a>You're tiny</span></figcaption></figure>
</a>Brain fog</span></figcaption></figure>
💻📈 Trading</h2>
I haven't mentioned much about this interest because I haven't really given it much of my time over the last few years, but it is slowly creeping back in to my life. I absolutely hate what the financial markets stand for, and would gladly watch it burn to the ground to make way for a healthier way of sustaining iEarth and humanity, but I guess for now trading is a guilty pleasure of mine. I love reading about the psychology of trading. I lean towards systematic trading, so building systems, running backtests, analysing stats, managing risk. I use software that has its own programming language and runs reports. I journal. It is geeky and it fits me to a T. I have just never had time to make something of it. Now I do. I may end up with a separate website on this stuff. Would be interested if others do anything in this space. Currently working on my Trading Plan, with a focus on the education side of it.</p>
💻 Website</h2>
I dropped my site off the web briefly so I could stay a little undistracted while I wrap some things up here in NZ. But hey I'm back because I had an urge. I just like the keyboard under my fingerlings.</p>
💻 Tools discovered</h2>


helix</a> modal text editor - Not a new discovery. Been using for a while. I just keep finding more features. I'm really enjoying the file picker (SPACE+f</code>) and global search (SPACE+/</code>) when in my notes folder. Combine that with hopping through internal links with Goto definition (gd</code>) Goto last accessed file (ga</code>) and I can navigate through my notes much quicker than any other software.</p>
</li>

fitpub</a> - self-hosting fitness data on ActivityPub.</p>
</li>

dreeve</a> - more self-hosting of fitness data. I'm still half-arsing my own fitness data</a>, but I like these options as a fall-back.</p>
</li>

runalyze</a> - looking at this again to keep on top of my progression back to running. I particularly like the weekly table and "Last 10 Training Weeks" table to monitor my loads. The latter has % increase week by week, which is important for me at this stage. When time permits I'll dive back into my python coding, but this is a good service that pulls my data from Garmin and isn't a dogshit UI like Strava.</p>
</li>

connman-gtk</a> - Wanted a GUI WiFi connection manager for qtile so I didn't have to log into Xfce just to connect to a network. After installing had to let connman start the wpa_supplicant service, opposed to running on its own accord</p>
sudo</span> systemctl stop wpa_supplicant.service</span></span>
sudo</span> systemctl restart connman</span></span></code></pre>
Had to then restart the laptop, as despite it showing all connected, no data was flowing. Restarting straight after installation may remove the need for the systemctl commands. Anyway, I have a GUI WiFi manager now.</p>
</li>
</ul>
📺 Watched</h2>


The Bride!</a> *****</code> - I don't give 5 stars lightly. Holy moly what ride. Loved this to bits. I'm not big on the horror classics, but this one intertwined the old with the new on the head. It was Frankenstein meets Bonnie & Clyde meets A Clockwork Orange meets pure fucking poetic mayhem. Jessie Buckley</a> absolutely destroyed her characters as Mary Shelley, Ida and The Bride. She played all three</em> at the same time</em> for christs sake. Absolutely best performance I've seen for a while. Will be digging out more of her work. I also loved Christian Bale's (Frankie's) moans of love and admiration for her. I was jumping on my seat with joy on this one. I LOVED the inclusion of Mary Shelley.</p>
</li>

I watched other things, but I'm not going to even bother. Just do yourself a favour and watch the above. I reckon most anyone would enjoy it. It's arty, funny, romantic, brutal, poetic, pituresque, sad, and joyful.</p>
</li>
</ul>
📚 Reading</h2>


Finished First Things First</a> by Stephen Covey *****</code> - Second time through this. Found it much more insightful this time around. Picked it up because I needed it. I put stickies all through the book and took a heap of notes. Might do a proper book review to refresh myself.</p>
</li>

Started Virtual Light</a> by William Gibson</p>
</li>
</ul>

Ok, I better pack.</p>

Leave a comment</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W28
2026-07-13T13:33:33+00:00
Ok, I thought my weeknotes would get shorter if I posted more individual posts through the week. I was wrong.</p>
🌱 Cooking and Gardening</h2>
It's Plastic-free July</a> so I thought I'd ramp up my sourdough baking again and forego buying plastic-wrapped bread. I keep undercooking it, though I've just found my old notes and now have a way forward. The next one should be better.</p>
</a>Looks good but it's totally undercooked</span></figcaption></figure>
Surprised to find potatoes still storing reasonably well under frozen beds of dirt in my allotment. I'm baking a lot of wedges out of these instead of buying junky bags of chips. Still not very healthy, but they are delicious and free. I season with thyme from the garden, garlic powder, rock salt, and sometimes paprika.</p>
</a>Spuds reveal yourself!</span></figcaption></figure>
📝 Writing</h2>
Trying to write on different things, especially around what I'm reading as a way to remember, rather than just ear-tagging and never returning to the topics. My life is changing direction a bit, so my writing will change with it. I absolutely do not consider myself a good writer, but it's an activity I enjoy.</p>
💻🤓 Geekery</h2>

Gone brutal:</li>
</ul>
</a>We'll see how long this lasts before my eyes burn</span></figcaption></figure>


I'm attempting to rid myself of tmux</a>. It is a great tool, but I don't need persistent sessions for what I do, and am now using a window tiling manager (qtile</a>) with the Ghostty</a> terminal emulator which both have some pretty nifty tiling functionality already. The screenshot above is utilising qtile window splitting and group workspaces combined with a simple script to load it via hotkey MOD+b</code>. Going through the teething period now.</p>
</li>

The comments section on my website continues to evolve. I fixed up how comments are spat out into the background for a better dispersion (I still run this script manually when I can be bothered), and made the commentbox look like a CRT monitor. See bottom of page.</p>
</li>
</ul>
💻 Tools discovered</h2>


KDE Kontact</a>, KMail</a> and KOrganizer</a> - I have a soft spot for desktop email and calendar tools. I despise all the web-based ones. They're horrible. I really didn't mind Outlook desktop at work when I was just using my work Outlook account. I wanted something similar at home for my personal accounts, but something FOSS. These tools are hitting the spot. This is a KDE suite of tools, Kontact being the unifying application that pulls in the email (KMail), calendar (KOrganizer) and address book (KAdressBook</a>) applications into the one interface. I haven't done address book yet, but the email and calendar is working great. The main reason I chose this over Thunderbird</a> was because of the tagging colouring in the KOrganizer calendar is much better, and doesn't involve a whole lot of hacking to get it right. KMail is great too. I've pulled in my Outlook, Gmail and message.casa</a> email accounts, but unfortunately Proton free doesn't have IMAP/SMTP support, and Tuta doesn't support external email clients full-stop. I am weighing a few things up here as to the future of my emails, and this experience is cementing a bit of direction for me.</p>
</li>

FairEmail</a> - On my Android, I also wanted a better, more consolidated email experience. This is absolutely amazing. Again I've brought in the 3 emails above using IMAP/SMTP, deleted my Outlook app, and disabled the Gmail one. FairEmail has an incredible amount of customisability. Free version is absolutely suitable for my needs and without ads, but I like it so much I think I'll pay the $15 to support the developer.</p>
</li>

Conduit</a> - A beautiful terminal app for Android. The UI is fantastic. A Termux replacement (some of Conduit's backend comes from Termux). I predominantly use it to SSH into my RPi, but it looks like it does many other things. There's even an Arch Linux shell which I'm thinking might be useful for hosting things off an old phone.</p>
</li>

[Ghostty] terminal emulator - I just needed a quick fix so I could use the clipboard in SSH properly. This did the trick. Also didn't realise it uses the kitty</a> image processor on the backend so I can preview images in yazi</a> now. Double win, hoorah!</p>
</li>
</ul>
🏃 Activities</h2>

Mon</li>
Tue Morning Pilates</a></li>
Tue Lunch Run</a></li>
Wed</li>
Thu Morning Run</a></li>
Fri Morning Pilates</a></li>
Sat Lunch Run</a></li>
Sun</li>
</ul>
📚 Reading</h2>
My reading energy is back!</p>


Finished Escape Everything!</a> by Robert Wringham. So much hitting home. I'll probably refer to it a lot going forward. It has given me confidence and understanding of some of the actions I've been taking recently.</p>
</li>

Started The Great Degeneration</a> by Niall Ferguson.</p>
</li>
</ul>
📺 Watching</h2>

The Leftovers (Season 1, 2014)</a> - Woah how did I miss this one? I don't totally get whats going on right now, but I like the slow unfolding. I think the core theme is something around human flaws, how none of us a innocent, we all have demons (the preacher casino scene was fantastic), we're hypocrites, there's something about addiction (the smokers cult), the animals, materialism, religion. It's fantastic and weird as hell.</li>
</ul>
🛠️ Projects</h2>
Screwed down the top battens on the pergola, and painted all the steel a matt black. Just waiting on stain pigment from the hardware store to arrive so I can stain both the pergola and house. Though it did just start to rain again...</p>
Current projects keeping me busy via tree -L 1 ~/01-Projects/current/</code>:</p>
/home/zkbro/01-Projects/current/</span></span>
├── 20251112-build-pergola</span></span>
├── 20260118-fit2x</span></span>
├── 20260418-stain-house</span></span>
├── 20260513-prepare-for-nz-exit</span></span>
├── 20260531-just-a-thought-course</span></span>
├── 20260601-remote-network</span></span>
├── 20260705-back-up-supabase-text</span></span>
└── 20260710-crt-css</span></span></code></pre>

Leave a comment</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


Escape bad faith by embracing free will
2026-07-12T11:58:12+00:00
Escape Everything</a> by Robert Wringham is becoming one of my most ear-tagged books ever. It is going on the annual re-read list for sure. Some of the topics are completely new concepts to me, and others are resurfacing feelings I can relate to and which the author communicates ever so eloquently (and humorously).</p>
This topic was new to me, and one I want to try and understand a little deeper here. It appears in the chapter titled "Escape from our stupid, stupid brains".</p>
"Bad faith" Wringham describes as "the fear of acknowledging a reality of infinite choices.</em>" I always thought bad faith as something you act out towards others</em>, exploiting others when you know full-well that you are deceiving them. After a quick Wikipedia read</a>, I see that Wringham is describing self-deception</em> concept of bad faith, so this all happens within oneself. Your mind is playing two parts - the deceived and the deceiver. Heavy.</p>
The other part of what Wringham discusses is how to escape</em> this bad faith towards onself - the book is called "Escape Everything" afterall. He says we can do this by "embracing free will</em>" which in turn is experienced by "exercising motility</em>".</p>
By utilising our gift of motion, we can squash that deceiver inside us, and begin to act with free will.</p>
Below are two little and one bigger current real life examples of mine, which I think describes a bit of this process. I have unknowingly been utilising motility to escape both mental and physical traps, resulting in unlocking chains that have led to freer experiences.</p>
Staining the house</h2>
Bad faith - I can't do it because I don't have the skills or equipment, or even know the product that the painter used previously.</p>
Exercise motility - Ask the painter, deny he'll be peeved for not using his service, explain I can't afford to pay him for his service, go to hardware store and look at options, talk to staff, explain my situation, trial an area, sit on it, read labels.</p>
Results - Painter absolutely happy to part his wisdom, skills learnt, money saved, enjoyable activity.</p>
Compost run</h2>
Bad faith - I need to have a full bucket of food scraps, travel by car, bring back some potatoes or fresh compost. People think I'm weird carrying a bucket and garden fork down the street.</p>
Exercise motility - Walk, with or without a full bucket, with or without hand tools, return with or without potatoes or compost, return via a long-walk around the river, have a chat to neighbouring allotment owners, sit in the garden, potter, don't even make it to the allotment because of some unexpected event, brush off the weirdo anxiety, be</em> weird.</p>
Results - Interactions with community who are friendly believe it or not, exercise, sunshine, feeding the compost, keeping a pulse on the state of the allotment, potatoes or some other unexpected self-sown crop harvest.</p>
Work</h2>
Bad faith - I need to stay, that I will not be able to afford to live comfortably without work. I need to work on myself to be happy here.</p>
Exercise motility - Accept work as a clear source of stress caused by bad actors and escape it, quit, welcome the unknown.</p>
Results - I can afford it afterall, it is exactly what my emergency bucket was for. I'm more</em> comfortable, stress departed, regain my time, my life, energy returning for creative endeavours.</p>
Conclusion</h2>
Not entirely sure if I've got the concepts right, but it was good to flesh it out a little. I might be more talking about squashing anxiety</em>. But my rebuttle to that is that the self-deceiving bad faith is the precursor of that anxiety, and without exercising my gift of motility I do not ever act with free will, or achieve freedom.</p>

Leave a comment</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


Good pain
2026-07-09T18:11:24+00:00
My niggles are slowly dissipating, which I contribute to no more donning of the work boot - climbing up and down ladders all day, or crawling into roof and floor spaces twisting and turning into weird contortions to screw and drill through nail ridden timber or reinforced concrete. I wake now when I want to wake, not at the call of the almighty Trap. My body is finally getting rest, and I ease my into the day with stretches unrushed, and not at the expense of sleep.</p>
I have time to warm up before a run, not rushing home to beat sundown on already tired legs. I can listen to my gut and postpone a run if it doesn't feel right, not having to hope for the best, only to return 20 minutes later with a clenched...</p>
The pain I had was seemingly endless, never recovering from ankle, knee, hip and back strains. A forever cycle. Mental strains masked by gels, bars, or simply pretending I have the energy, and thus never really enjoying the run anyway, only upsetting injuries further.</p>
Now though, my energy is returning. There's a bit of mojo. The back pain, then the sciatica, and now the knee, are fading. I'm shifting to strength and conditioning with the physio. I can get through a run without my mind constantly on a sharp wee niggle. It's early days, but the pain I am feeling now is a burning of muscles being used as they should. A pain of progress (not pain at all really). I can get used to this.</p>

Comments</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


Some really really odd sports
2026-07-08T20:58:54+00:00
I was chatting to fam the other day about how odd it is that we drive in a car up to the coldest part of a mountain just to stand in queues and ski down hills. I actually enjoy doing this, but there's an element of "what the frig is wrong with us?" that creeps in regularly. It's expensive, environmentally unfriendly, and cold. On the other hand, it can be exhilirating, social and healthy.</p>
We then got chatting about some odd sports in the world that have legitimate championship events for, like Hobby Horse Riding, and Air Guitaring. For laughs I thought I'd watch a couple vids, but lo and behold it sent me down an unexpected rabbithole of even more fantastically outrageous events.</p>
Honestly with all the crap going on in the world I am genuinely happy for these people enjoying themselves in these weird and wonderful ways.</p>

Hobby horse riding</li>
</ul>
</iframe>

Air guitar</li>
</ul>
</iframe>

Pillow fighting</li>
</ul>
</iframe>

Lawn mower racing</li>
</ul>
</iframe>

Pizza spinning</li>
</ul>
</iframe>

Wife carrying</li>
</ul>
</iframe>

Chasies</li>
</ul>
</iframe>

Soccer</li>
</ul>
</iframe>

Comments</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


Allowing myself to be a generalist
2026-07-06T16:51:34+00:00

...a great thing about freedom: we can allow ourselves to be generalists and be content to be amateurs [...] Long live the cult of the amateur. Get into everything.</p>
</blockquote>
I am reading Escape Everything</a> by Robert Wringham, and there are so many words that are hitting home. It is explaining many of my struggles and anxiety of living in this weird ol world. The quote above though, I have never heard said before, but the contrary has given me much cause of frustration and unneccessary feelings of worthlessness in my life.</p>
I have previously kicked myself for being a jack of all, master of none... wishing I had dove deep into one of the many things that have grabbed my interest. Though now, I am turning it on its head, and looking at it as a trait I am proud of.</p>
For it has given me agility in life, a gift of perspective from many angles, an ability to connect to people of all cultures. I can talk to a metalhead about the latest Cattle Decapitation album, a homesteader about the seeds they put into their sourdough, an ultra runner about their nutrition they switch to at km 80, a nerd about their decision to self-host their own photo library.</p>
My interests vary. I fall in and out of love of them. I don't want to be labelled by them for I may become disinterested in them next week. I am not a metalhead, a homesteader, an ultrarunner, or a nerd, but a generalist</em> and dilettante</strong>:</p>
zkbro@laptop:~$ dict dilettante</span></span>
2 definitions found</span></span>
</span>
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:</span></span>
</span>
  Dilettante \Dil`et*tan"te\, n.; pl. {Dilettanti}. [It., prop. p.</span></span>
     pr. of dillettare to take delight in, fr. L. delectare to</span></span>
     delight. See {Delight}, v. t.]</span></span>
     An admirer or lover of the fine arts; popularly, an amateur;</span></span>
     especially, one who follows an art or a branch of knowledge,</span></span>
     desultorily, or for amusement only.</span></span>
     [1913 Webster]</span></span>
</span>
           The true poet is not an eccentric creature, not a mere</span></span>
           artist living only for art, not a dreamer or a</span></span>
           dilettante, sipping the nectar of existence, while he</span></span>
           keeps aloof from its deeper interests.   --J. C.</span></span>
                                                    Shairp.</span></span>
     [1913 Webster]</span></span>
</span>
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:</span></span>
</span>
  dilettante</span></span>
      adj 1: showing frivolous or superficial interest; amateurish;</span></span>
             "his dilettantish efforts at painting" [syn:</span></span>
             {dilettante}, {dilettantish}, {dilettanteish},</span></span>
             {sciolistic}]</span></span>
      n 1: an amateur who engages in an activity without serious</span></span>
           intentions and who pretends to have knowledge [syn:</span></span>
           {dabbler}, {dilettante}, {sciolist}]</span></span></code></pre>

Comments</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


The comments fiasco
2026-07-05T17:12:54+00:00
Ok so the commentbox</a> works pretty well. I saw 10-15!! comments before I went to bed (thanks Brennan, Chris, Steve, JP and all the other anonymous netizens - seriously I had no idea so many people were reading this thing). But, low and behold, some smart-Alec decided to delete the lot, either on purpose or by accident. I guess I kinda dangled the carrot, so I can't complain. Actually I imagined some kind of Butthead character snickering as they pressed the big red button. It is harmless fun, and a couple of you anticipated it in your comments. You can have a cookie.</p>
Anyway, it rained again today. I don't really need an excuse, but I grabbed it anyway and did some shoddy coding again. I wanted to mitigate the Buttheads, I even drew little diagrams on paper, and eventually came up with a solution. It's brittle, but it'll do.</p>
Since I don't pay for Supabase</a> (where the database is hosted), I can't rollback and simply restore the lost data. I believe there's a self-hosted solution, but that's a big undertaking for this wee little project that may not stick. What I can</em> do though, is pull the data itermittently via their API and capture the comments into a local CSV.</p>
Because it is just one giant field of text, I have split comments using two new lines (\n\n</code>) as the delimiter, which I've observed as what everyone was doing without any direction - a bit like a desire-line for how you separate your comments in freetext. A table of 5 comments now looks like this:</p>
$</span> cat 20260704140152-master.csv</span></span>
,entries</span></span>
0,hi</span></span>
1,This</span> is pretty neat!</span> --Steve</span></span>
2,"Ok, messages are being lost.. I have an idea."</span></span>
3,Sweet</span></span>
4,Yo</span></span></code></pre>
I didn't stop there though. No point in me just hoarding the comments all for myself. How about I throw them back onto the post page scattered around the background? So I did that too:</p>
</a>Sadly alot of comments were lost</span></figcaption></figure>
One of the comments triggered this idea for me, thanks stranger! It was something about an old pinboard, and that there were always jerks who would pull off the notes. Except now the comments are pinned and you can't take them down. HA!</p>
I love this look. Hopefully they don't pop out too much to disturb the reading. Ii think I've made them faint enough.</p>
Here's the code that pulls the data into tables, updates any new entries, and spits them back into the post toml frontmatter:</p>
import</span> frontmatter</span></span>
from</span> frontmatter.default_handlers</span> import</span> TOMLHandler</span></span>
import</span> pandas</span> as</span> pd</span></span>
from</span> pathlib</span> import</span> Path</span></span>
from</span> supabase</span> import</span> create_client, Client</span></span>
from</span> datetime</span> import</span> datetime</span></span>
import</span> pytz</span></span>
</span>
post_filename =</span> 'added-comments-section-to-posts.md'</span></span>
</span>
# Connect to supabase database</span></span>
</span>
url =</span> "SUPABASE_URL"</span></span>
key =</span> "SUPABASE_ANON_KEY"</span></span>
supabase: Client = create_client(url, key)</span></span>
</span>
# Fetch data</span></span>
</span>
response = (</span></span>
    supabase.table(</span>"text_wall"</span>)</span></span>
    .select(</span>"content"</span>,</span>"id"</span>)</span></span>
    .eq(</span>"post_filename"</span>, post_filename)</span></span>
    .execute()</span></span>
)</span></span>
</span>
post_id = response.data[</span>0</span>][</span>'id'</span>]</span></span>
s = response.data[</span>0</span>][</span>'content'</span>]</span></span>
</span>
# Split into individual items and parse to list</span></span>
</span>
split_entries = s.split(</span>'</span>\n\n</span>'</span>)</span>  # seems the most practical</span></span>
    </span></span>
# Create df</span></span>
</span>
df = pd.DataFrame(split_entries,</span> columns</span>=[</span>"entries"</span>])</span></span>
# Save to CSV</span></span>
</span>
# Save master if it doesn't exist</span></span>
</span>
tz = pytz.timezone(</span>'Pacific/Auckland'</span>)</span></span>
ct = datetime.now(tz).strftime(</span>"%Y%m</span>%d</span>%H%M%S"</span>)</span></span>
</span>
master_file = Path(</span>f</span>'</span>{</span>post_id</span>}</span>-master.csv'</span>)</span></span>
new_file = Path(</span>f</span>'</span>{</span>post_id</span>}</span>-</span>{</span>ct</span>}</span>.csv'</span>)</span></span>
</span>
if</span> master_file.exists():</span></span>
    df.to_csv(new_file)</span></span>
else</span>:</span></span>
    df.to_csv(master_file)</span></span>
</span>
# Compare to existing CSV and append new entries</span></span>
</span>
master = pd.read_csv(master_file,</span> index_col</span>=</span>0</span>)</span></span>
new = pd.read_csv(new_file,</span> index_col</span>=</span>0</span>)</span></span>
</span>
new_entries = new[~new[</span>"entries"</span>].isin(master[</span>"entries"</span>])]</span></span>
master = pd.concat([master, new_entries],</span> ignore_index</span>=</span>True</span>)</span></span>
print</span>(master)</span></span>
</span>
master.to_csv(master_file,</span> index</span>=</span>True</span>)</span></span>
</span>
# Add comments to post background</span></span>
</span>
post_file = Path(</span>f</span>'/home/zkbro/02-Areas/repos/zkbro-ws_v2/content/posts/</span>{</span>post_filename</span>}</span>'</span>)</span></span>
</span>
master = pd.read_csv(master_file,</span> index_col</span>=</span>0</span>)</span></span>
entries = master[</span>'entries'</span>].tolist()</span></span>
</span>
post = frontmatter.load(post_file,</span> handler</span>=TOMLHandler())</span></span>
extra = post.metadata.setdefault(</span>"extra"</span>, {})</span></span>
</span>
extra[</span>"comments"</span>] = post_id</span></span>
extra[</span>"commentz"</span>] = entries</span></span>
</span>
with</span> open</span>(post_file,</span> "w"</span>)</span> as</span> f:</span></span>
    frontmatter.dump(post, f)</span></span>
</span></code></pre>
I probably need some kind of cron job do this regularly. For now, I'll just do it every-so-often, which means I may miss some entries if the Butthead gang is heavily active.</p>
python-frontmatter</a> was a new library to me. I started doing straight up text replacement, but stopped because it was doing my head in. Did a quick search and found this one which proved to be so much quicker.</p>
Just having the comments in the frontmatter doesn't do anything until I tell my Static Site Generator Zola</a> to do something with it. I had previously done some nifty things with the get_random</code> function which I now use here to "throw" the comment somewhere randomly onto the page:</p>
{% if page.extra.comments %}</span></span>
  {% for comment in page.extra.commentz %}</span></span>
    <</span>div</span> class</span>=</span>"bg_comments"</span> style</span>=</span>"top: \{{ get_random(start=1, end=100) \}}%; left: \{{ get_random(start=1, end=100) \}}%; transform: rotate(\{{ get_random(start=1, end=360) \}}deg);"</span>></span>{{ comment }}</span></</span>div</span>></span></span>
  {% endfor %}</span></span>
{% endif %}</span></span></code></pre>
CSS:</p>
.bg_comments</span> {</span></span>
  position</span>:</span> absolute</span>;</span></span>
  overflow</span>:</span> hidden</span>;</span></span>
  z-index</span>:</span> -1</span>;</span></span>
  background-color</span>:</span> var</span>(</span>--comment-bg-color</span>);</span></span>
  color</span>:</span> var</span>(</span>--comment-color</span>);</span></span>
  padding</span>:</span> 5px</span>;</span></span>
}</span></span></code></pre>
I'm doing something wrong with the top: 1-100%</code> and overflow: hidden</code> styling as it still seems crowded at the top screen height, rather than the full post height. I'm not done with this yet.</p>

Comments</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


Added comments section to posts
2026-07-04T14:01:52+00:00
It's a rainy day today so I got my geek on. I can now add a comment box at the bottom of my posts. Comment sections aren't for everyone, but either are like-buttons, flickering GIFs, or pineapple. I personally just ebb and flow out of how or if I respond to posts, be it an email, reply post, mastodon comment, BBS response, or carving words into a pig. ahem.</p>
My commentblock method doubles down on my existing Supabase</a> database that hosts my text-wall (guestbook)</a>. It just adds a row to the two-column database for each post ("id" being the timestamp of the post, and "content" which is the dynamic text field containing the comments).</p>
What you see is the same concept - a plain ol text box that you freely type into. No buttons, no nothing. Just type and it saves. About as loose as it can be. Luckily I have responsible adults reading my website who would never ever delete someone's comments, or worse, change their comments to make them sound like a dick. Right? RIGHT?! Just don't sign your name if you are a paranoid android.</p>
Anyway, it is totally hackable if you are inclined to look at the source code and use my API key, but I trust you have better things to do. It does use javascript, so if you have that turned off you won't see a thing.</p>
This is the janky python script I made which (1) adds a new row to the database corresponding to the date of the post, (2) creates a Codeberg page which is the actual html that you see in the commentblock, and (3) update the blog post to embed said html. See my Creating a text-wall</a> post on how to set up Supabase.</p>
import</span> os</span></span>
import</span> re</span></span>
from</span> git</span> import</span> Repo</span></span>
from</span> supabase</span> import</span> create_client, Client</span></span>
</span>
# Define ID from post date in post.md file.</span></span>
</span>
post_md =</span> '/home/zkbro/02-Areas/repos/zkbro-ws_v2/content/posts/POST-SLUG.md'</span></span>
pattern = re.compile(</span>r</span>"date = "</span>)</span></span>
date_replacements =</span> str</span>.maketrans({</span>"-"</span>:</span>""</span>,</span>" "</span>:</span>""</span>,</span>":"</span>:</span>""</span>})</span></span>
with</span> open</span> (post_md,</span>'rt'</span>)</span> as</span> file:</span></span>
    for</span> line</span> in</span> file:</span></span>
        if</span> pattern.search(line)</span> is not None</span>:</span></span>
            post_id = line.rstrip(</span>'</span>\n</span>'</span>)[-</span>19</span>:].translate(date_replacements)</span></span>
            break</span></span>
</span>
# Connect to supabase database</span></span>
</span>
url =</span> "SUPABASE_URL"</span></span>
key =</span> "SUPABASE_ANON_KEY"</span></span>
supabase: Client = create_client(url, key)</span></span>
</span>
# Insert new row</span></span>
</span>
print</span>(</span>"Creating new row ID: "</span>,post_id)</span></span>
</span>
response = (</span></span>
  supabase.table(</span>"text_wall"</span>)</span></span>
  .insert({</span>"id"</span>: post_id,</span> "content"</span>:</span> ""</span>})</span></span>
  .execute()</span></span>
)</span></span>
</span>
print</span>(</span>"Row created."</span>)</span></span>
</span>
# Create corresponding Codeberg page</span></span>
</span>
# Define codeberg repo directory</span></span>
</span>
repo_dir =</span> '/home/zkbro/02-Areas/repos/text-wall/'</span></span>
repo = Repo(repo_dir)</span></span>
</span>
# Copy a js_page_template to a html with post_id as the filename</span></span>
</span>
post_id_dest =</span> f</span>'</span>{</span>repo_dir</span>}{</span>post_id</span>}</span>.html'</span></span>
os.system(</span>f</span>'cp "</span>{</span>repo_dir</span>}</span>comment_page_template.html" "</span>{</span>post_id_dest</span>}</span>"'</span>)</span></span>
print</span>(</span>f</span>"Template copied to </span>{</span>repo_dir</span>}{</span>post_id</span>}</span>.html"</span>)</span></span>
</span>
# Update the post_id variable in post_id.html with post_id</span></span>
</span>
placeholder =</span> "$POST_ID_PLACEHOLDER"</span></span>
with</span> open</span> (post_id_dest,</span>'r'</span>)</span> as</span> file:</span></span>
    data = file.read()</span></span>
    data = data.replace(placeholder, post_id)</span></span>
with</span> open</span> (post_id_dest,</span> 'w'</span>)</span> as</span> file:</span></span>
    file.write(data)</span></span>
print</span>(</span>"post_id variable updated."</span>)</span></span>
</span>
# Add, commit, push to repo</span></span>
</span>
origin = repo.remote(</span>name</span>=</span>'origin'</span>)</span></span>
branch = repo.heads[</span>'pages'</span>]</span></span>
branch.checkout()</span></span>
repo.index.add([</span>f</span>'</span>{</span>post_id</span>}</span>.html'</span>])</span></span>
repo.index.commit(</span>'New comment page added'</span>)</span></span>
print</span>(</span>'Commited successfully'</span>)</span></span>
origin.push()</span></span>
print</span>(</span>'Pushed changes to origin'</span>)</span></span>
</span>
# Update post.md with embeded html</span></span>
</span>
comment_block =</span> f</span>"""</span></span>
---</span></span>
## Comments</span></span>
</span>
<embed type="text/html" src="https://zkbro.codeberg.page/text-wall/</span>{</span>post_id</span>}</span>.html" width="100%"></span></span>
"""</span></span>
</span>
with</span> open</span> (post_md,</span>'a'</span>)</span> as</span> file:</span></span>
    file.write(comment_block)</span></span>
print</span>(</span>"Comment block added to post"</span>)</span></span></code></pre>

Comments</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


Changing up weeknotes
2026-07-03T08:47:58+00:00
Content warning: meta</p>
I've been struggling a bit with weeknotes</a> lately. They have felt like an immense task, and usually take a while because of the various things I like to put in. As a result, I tend to cut some topics short because I feel like I'll run out of puff and never complete the other topics.</p>
As I write them and scan my daily notes of the week past, my mind wanders, and other thoughts and topics come to mind. This just adds to the explosion of nodes in my noggin', which isn't bad, actually quite a positive experience, though at the same time it causes me analysis paralysis</em> and putting things aside just so I can get the weeknote done and continue on my (usually) Sunday.</p>
I received an email from a fellow internetizen buddy who provided some honest challenges he experiences with reading my weeknotes (which I am honestly blown away that firstly, people read my weeknotes, and secondly, that folk care so much that rather than deleting me from their feed because of difficulties in reading, they'd prefer to connect with me and work through it with me to make their experience bettwe). His difficulties in reading</em> my weeknotes hit the nail on the head with my difficulties in writing</em> the things.</p>
There were suggestions of structuring the notes differently, but the suggestion that aligned with what I've been thinking lately is to split out the topics into individual posts</strong>.</p>
I like this idea for a number of reasons. It reduces the noisy experience I get with writing the weeknotes. It encourages more directed thought on a single topic (it's never really</em> one topic, lets be honest), mindfulness if you will. It allows me to extend my thoughts without blowing out a whole novel. I can utilise my new tags</a> page more (these pages are usually my go-to when visiting new personal websites). I can also practice smaller concise writing.</p>
This post is an example of that.. I would normally put it in my weeknote under the 📝 Writing</strong> section, or 🧠 Braindump</strong> or something similar, and keep it to a paragraph or two. This one is going into the #writing</a> tag page, and I've fleshed it out enough I'm happy I got my thoughts across, and it hasn't clogged up my weeknotes so much.</p>
The result is probably going to be more posts. I like RSS readers because I can quickly mark a post as "read" if it doesn't seem interesting to me (more insentive to name posts appropriately). Hoping that works for others too.</p>
What does it mean for my weeknotes? They've been dwindling lately anyway, and if I actually write enough regular posts there is probably no need for them. Though, maybe they can serve a different purpose - something more stats related that doesn't require my thoughts maybe.</p>
This has also cemented the joys of having a website. I can do whatever I want really. In 6 months time I guarantee things will be different again.</p>

Comments</h2>

    </div>
    
        </div>
        
          
        </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    </div>
</div>


I ruined a walk today
2026-07-02T19:26:49+00:00
Yeah, I played golf. It actually wasn't that bad. I stunk, averaging around 7-9 off par 3s and 4s. We did 9 holes which is more than enough. Finally got my swing in towards the end... kind of. My right arm and shoulder is buggered, probably from bad form but also lugging a loaded golf bag around without a trolly.</p>
It was a good way to spend a day off. Socialising and sunshine.</p>
</a>Naked poplars casting long shadows over a fresh but sunny winter's day</span></figcaption></figure>


Skills learnt from 18 months as a Cable Infrastructure Technician
2026-07-01T09:58:14+00:00

Pre-wire a house with Cat6A, fibre, KNX, coax, audio, HDMI, LAN and security cable.</li>
Pre-wire gates.</li>
Terminate into data jacks, RJ45, punch down and keystone patch panels, Phoenix connectors, f-types.. into touchscreens, keypads, lightswitches, pucks, gate motors and beams, smoke alarms, sirens, PIRs, cameras, speakers, subs, TVs, wall sockets.</li>
Extend or fix cut cables with connectors, gel crimps, solder.</li>
Drill out cable routes through walls, ceilings, roof, timber/concrete/metal.</li>
Test continuity and current flow.</li>
Separation of cables with high-voltage.</li>
Install data racks - wall-mounted, recessed, floor standing.</li>
Install and terminate low-voltage dinrail KNX devices.</li>
Test and configure lighting circuits.</li>
Work with other trades - builders, sparkies, plumbers - to plan design solutions.</li>
Route conduit runs to separate buildings, street.</li>
Fish cable through ceilings, walls, floor, conduits.</li>
Drill out cables in finished walls and ceilings for device fit off.</li>
Terminate underfloor heating probes into wall devices or manifolds.</li>
Terminate underfloor heating actuator heads to dinrail input/output devices.</li>
Terminate trench heating fans and valves.</li>
Install wall mounted, ceiling mounted, recessed and free standing speakers and subs.</li>
Install hidden speakers and subs in walls and celings behind jib.</li>
Program KNX communications through house, controlling lights, heating, audio, home scenes, via physical switching and mobile applications.</li>
Install modems, routers, switches, WAPs.</li>
Configure networks, adopt devices, assign static IPs, setup VLANs.</li>
Set up and manage office-hosted UniFi Network Server.</li>
Install and configure TVs on walls, custom cabinetry, in-ceiling TV lifts.</li>
Install and configure outdoor cameras and NVRs.</li>
Install and configure Starlink dishes, temporary and permanent for clients and builders.</li>
Install and configure satellite TV dishes on walls and roofs.</li>
Create asbuilt plans of completed projects.</li>
Customise, customise, customise.</li>
and a whole bunch of other random shemozzle.</li>
</ul>


🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W26
2026-06-29T11:22:50+00:00
Half a year down. Wow.</p>
We finally got a dumping of snow, but it's disappearing quickly with the sun beaming.</p>
</a>White caps from around the block</span></figcaption></figure>
🏢 Work</strong></p>
I finished up at my previous job. Instant weight off my shoulders. I have a lot of things running through my head right now about all this. It is probably one of the biggest cross-roads of my life. Not just leaving a job, but my feelings towards how I as a person want to live and actually own my life. Time to be my own puppet-master.</p>
🩸 Health</strong></p>
Started counsellor/therapy/psychologist sessions.</p>
I am working on some healthy routines, before bad ones creep in. Regular morning stretches. Moving. Reading. I'm diving back into my GTD weekly reviews</a> which is helping immensely.</p>
For the first time in a very long while I am able to sleep in, or at least stay in bed longer, without being forced out because of back pain. I can't ignore the fact I've just finished a highly stressful and physical job. Coincidence? Doubt it.</p>
My sciatica is out of the way so at physio we have switched back to knee strengthening. My running is slowly picking up.</p>
I'm taping the knee again for the patellafemoral pain syndrome using the McConnell Taping method</a>. Instant relief.</p>
📝 I want to start writing more here again. I keep drafting things then deleting them. I'll probably stick with impersonal topics for the moment to get the ball rolling. These weeknotes are one of the most enjoyable for me as a means of reflection and forward thinking, and relatively easy given a lot is already captured</a> in my private daily notes and done.md</code> (a result of my todo.md</code>).</p>
💻🤓 Geekery</strong></p>
To my surprise I'm still using the qtile</a> tiling window manager. I contribute that to out of the box, it worked relatively well - I could do most of everything I was already doing in GNOME and Xfce. Not everything though. I've had to configure lots of little things I've previously taken for granted by default desktop environment configurations. Things like a calendar popping up when I click the date, application launching, screen timeouts, mouse scrolling. Luckily for me I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of configuring these myself using tools like xset</a>, xinput</a>, and configuring the very understandable ~/.config/qtile/config.py</code> file. I've now more control than ever over my working environment. Classic Linux user non-problem - balancing configuring and actual beneficial activities.</p>
Tried to install Passbolt</a> on the RPi4 but it didn't seem to like that PHP was installed already. Can't be faffed with figuring out workarounds or setting up docker or something so I'll leave it there. TrueNAS has it as an app, but I haven't set up any remote applications on that server yet, and I don't want to start because of this. I could use Tailscale, but totally not practical for on the fly password manager stuff. Sticking with Bitwarden</a> for now.</p>
Updated FreshRSS</a> from 1.28.1 to 1.29.1</a>. Changed my theme to light-mode "Swage" which is kinda sexy.</p>
💻 Tools discovered</strong></p>


pomotroid</a> - Very basic Pomodoro timer that looks nice. Installed to keep that moving habit going. Keeping this running all the time.</p>
</li>

rofi</a> - I needed an application launcher for qtile. This one popped up after a quick search around the webs. Clean, pretty, fast, simple, and customisable (uhoh). Mapped it to ALT+r</code>. Brill.</p>
</li>

dict</a> - Dictionary on the command line. Also installed dictd</code> for dictionary database management, and subsequently dictionaries that might be useful for me - dict-wn</code> (includes synonyms and additional English definitions), dict-vera</code> (acronyms) and dict-foldoc</code> (computer related). It is ridiculously fast. On spelling - when I wasn't sure how to spell a word I would usually type it into a web browser search bar and scan results or autocorrections. dict is much faster and less bloaty to show what you're after:</p>
</li>
</ul>
zkbro@laptop:~$</span> dict rediculous</span></span>
No</span> definitions found for "rediculous", perhaps you mean:</span></span>
gcide:</span>  Pediculous  Ridiculous</span></span>
wn:</span>  ridiculous</span></span></code></pre>
🏃 Activities</strong></p>

Mon Lunch Strength</a></li>
Tue Morning Pilates</a></li>
Tue Lunch Run</a></li>
Wed Morning Strength</a></li>
Thu Morning Pilates</a></li>
Fri Morning Run</a></li>
Sat Morning Pilates</a></li>
Sat Lunch Run</a></li>
Sun Morning Pilates</a></li>
</ul>
📚 Reading</strong></p>


Finished reading The Trader's Journey</a> by Peter Robbins. ****</code> A good re-introduction to trading. Nothing new for me here. An easy read that reminded me of some core principles to apply in my own journey. Pretty good breakdown of designing a trading plan, something I've drafted many times, but never got to an actual solid plan.</p>
</li>

DNFd The Model Thinker</a> by Scott E. Page. It's good, and I can understand the gist, but it takes a bit of brain power to stay focused. Think I need something lighter for now. Will return to later.</p>
</li>

Started reading Escape Everything</a> by Robert Wringham. If you're reading between the lines lately, this is the most on-point with my real life shifts right now.</p>
</li>
</ul>
📺 Watched</strong></p>
Got my sci-fi on.</p>


Upgrade (2018)</a> ***</code> A bit of cyborg fun. Quite enjoyed the twist at the end.</p>
</li>

Hands of Steel (1986)</a>(re-watch) ***</code> Didn't remember it at all. A few laugh out loud moments. 80s cyborg shoot em up. Had a western feel, just replace duals with arm wrestling. The female villain in the Blade Runner kit had a hilarious golem voice. I love these gems.</p>
</li>

Mercy (2026)</a> ***</code> It was Ok.</p>
</li>
</ul>
🛠️ Projects</strong></p>
Helped fam attach a folding table to a wall. Yay for drill skills.</p>
I've ordered the timber battens for my pergola build. Will cut to length and screw them down this week when they arrive. After that it is just some staining which I will coincide with house staining. We copped some heavy winds earlier in the week and the anchoring to the house held up well.</p>
A lot of things happening with tidying the house for rental.</p>
Current projects keeping me busy via tree -L 1 ~/01-Projects/current/</code>:</p>
/home/zkbro/01-Projects/current/</span></span>
├── 20251112-build-pergola</span></span>
├── 20260418-stain-house</span></span>
├── 20260513-prepare-for-nz-exit</span></span>
├── 20260531-just-a-thought-course</span></span>
└── 20260601-remote-network</span></span></code></pre>

I could probably go on forever with these posts, but I probably should go do something.</p>

zkbro

Redirect Screenjesus for a single Neocities thumbnail

Leave a comment</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W36

🏃 Activities</h2> The runs from my current abode have been fun. I've enjoyed reconnecting with some trails out the back of the burbs I grew up in.</p>

Leave a comment</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

A man walks into a library...

Leave a comment</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Spondy

Leave a comment</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Purpose and principles

Leave a comment</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W34

Leave a comment</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Travelling light, doing stuff

Leave a comment</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Sydney: nth impressions

Leave a comment</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

🗓️ Monthnote 2026-M07

🖌️ Drawing</h2> I drew some things.</p>

💻 Website</h2> I dropped my site off the web briefly so I could stay a little undistracted while I wrap some things up here in NZ. But hey I'm back because I had an urge. I just like the keyboard under my fingerlings.</p>

Leave a comment</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W28

🏃 Activities</h2> Mon</li>

📚 Reading</h2> My reading energy is back!</p>

Leave a comment</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Escape bad faith by embracing free will

Leave a comment</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Good pain

Comments</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Some really really odd sports

Comments</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Allowing myself to be a generalist

Comments</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

The comments fiasco

Comments</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Added comments section to posts

Comments</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Changing up weeknotes

Comments</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

I ruined a walk today

Skills learnt from 18 months as a Cable Infrastructure Technician

🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W26

Leave a comment</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Leave a comment</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Leave a comment</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Leave a comment</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Leave a comment</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Leave a comment</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Leave a comment</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Leave a comment</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

💻 Website</h2>
I dropped my site off the web briefly so I could stay a little undistracted while I wrap some things up here in NZ. But hey I'm back because I had an urge. I just like the keyboard under my fingerlings.</p>

Leave a comment</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Leave a comment</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Leave a comment</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Comments</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Comments</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Comments</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Comments</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Comments</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>

Comments</h2>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div> </div>
</div> </div>