zkbro - Blog

🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W15

2026-04-12T19:29:34+00:00
It's been a while. I've been in a slump. I won't write about it here. I've tried, but it is too complex for me to put into coherent words. I've been writing privately because it doesn't need to make sense and I can just stop mid thought. I mean I could do that here, but it'd be a waste of your eye space. I will drop these themes though:</p>
Work.</li>
The world is pissing me off and I can't unsee it.</li>
I feel like an outsider, a coward and fraud.</li> </ul>
However, I must've turned a corner this last week, as I've started to look at things within my control that can get me back on track. They're small things, but I think they are keeping me sane. So this is those things.</p>
Homebrews</h2>
I've ramped up my kombucha (bigger vessel, more yield), started fermenting ginger and making ginger ale, and kicked off a sourdough starter again (not quite ready for baking, but it sure is alive). Not only are these things delicious, they are very fun to watch them bubble and grow, and they are very inexpensive ways to eat and drink nice things.</p>
Volunteering</h2>
I went to a tree planting day just around the corner. We planted natives along a steep bank. It was a genuinely nice day with nice people. A few familiar faces from Council (my previous job). It was really nice to catch up with them, and to meet some other locals. I got there early to help with the set up, moving weed mats, tree guards, buckets of compost and plants into place.</p>
I have started contributing more to OpenStreetMap</a> data of my local area. A couple of times a while back I loaded CoMaps</a> and was a little annoyed that there were some points of interest missing which I needed at the time. I didn't do anything about it, but just switched to Google Maps and didn't load CoMaps again for a while. Rather than ignore that shit, I've started to act on it. If I am going to advocate community-led tools like CoMaps and OpenStreetMap to friends, I want to do my part and be involved.</p>
Selling my shit</h2>
I finally sold my paraglider. I've had it on the market for over a year, come close to selling it a couple times, but the cost was always just that little bit too much, or buyers only wanted the wing or reserve by itself. I gave in to a low offer because I just wanted it out of my garage. The buyer was excited though. He just finished is PG2 certification the day before so he was stoked he's got a full kit to get going on his own. I'm really happy it's with someone who will get some use out of it now.</p>
On a roll, I spruced up an old manual push mower I had in the garage, posted it on marketplace, and within 10 minutes had it sold. Again the dude was so happy. This made me happy too.</p>
My clutter gives me anxiety. I don't own stuff. Stuff owns me. By freeing me of these things I have more mental space. I don't have a huge deal, but big things like those take up space and I feel guilty that I don't use them. I'm looking at a guitar in the corner of my room right now...</p>
Reading</h2>
I've picked up reading again. I canned a book I was struggling through and went for books I know I'll enjoy. Currently I'm reading A New Green History of the World</a> by Clive Ponting. It's kinda old (this is a 2007 update of his 1991 release), but it is very interesting so far.</p>
I read Fight Club</a> by Chuck Palahniuk ****</code>, The Art of Spending Money</a> by Morgan Housel ***</code> and The Courage to be Disliked</a> by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitaki Koga ****</code>.</p>
Simplifying a blog</h2> I'm getting over having to think about a blog</a> vs quick-post</a>, I've offloaded my activities to another site</a>, and I don't write lists or update my crop-log any more. I've never utilised tags, but I figured out how to do it when I created my activities site. I also like very few things on the screen. So, I have created a new style which has just a main page, an archive page, and tags pages:</p> </a></p> I haven't decided if I'll just replace this site willy nilly or move to a new site completely. I never intended to hang onto "html-chunder" for as long as I have. I named it that because thats what it was when I started. I was just spewing code into HTML until I figured out a style I wanted. It eventually got to a state that I was happy with, but I never got around to changing the domain name.</p> The time is right now. I am changing. My site should change with me. I might leave this one as is, and write a parting post, and start on blog.zkbro.com or something.</p> I've also renting out the spare room again. It is a young couple only for 2 weeks. They are good folk to talk to and very tidy and respectful.</p> So what has made me feel a little better? It must be the interactions with people (folk at the tree planting day, housemates, marketplace peoples), simplifying things (blog, decluttering) and doing some basic stuff (reading, homebrewing). I will try and remember this for future me.</p>


CSS Naked Day
2026-04-09T07:09:09+00:00
It's CSS Naked Day</a>. My site</a> seems to handle it ok.</p>
Another important upcoming date: Steal Something From Work Day (April 15)</a></p>


🔗 Link Stash | 17th March 2026
2026-03-17T05:54:22+00:00

 Fresh dump of interesting and/or useful web links I've found recently. Full link stash here</a>.</p>
This week: </b>I accidently closed a bunch of tabs I was saving for bookmarking by crashing my browser. I could have recovered them, but chose not too. The blank slate is nice. I went one step further and removed the tab bar completely in Librewolf, after reading Ben's Building a LibreWolf Browser Setup with reasonable privacy and Vim Keybindings</a> article. Now I rarely have more than one tab open, have more reading space, and less distractions. My interneting is changing. Maybe one day those lost tabs will appear in my eye-space again, maybe not. These ones made it in before and after the event.</p>

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330. Guerilla Gardening and the Art of Plant-based Protest</a></div>
Really like how this article describes guerrilla gardening, a "deceptively gentle strain of activism". A fight against "aesthetically bland and politically toxic" environments. I think I have a calling.</div>
TAGS: </b>activism</span>, guerrilla-gardening</span></i></div>


329. The Resistance Hub</a></div>
A well curated and tidy resource hub on resistance. It's not based on fear, but on preparedness. Plenty of free PDF downloads, and recommended reading. The resilience toolkit page sent me down a rabbithole - I like how the domains are structed - physical, mental, social, economic and planning resilience. The resistance toolkit focuses on non-violent actions, from digital security to street-level tactics. Some great principles to live by, embed in organisations or apply as an individual.</div>
TAGS: </b>resilience</span>, resistance</span>, resources</span></i></div>


328. Kanban Reading Board | ReadBeanIceCream</a></div>
ReadBeanIceCream shares his barebones kanban setup for tracking his reading. Simply utilising folder structure and naming conventions (and grep, tree, and a small script) he's come up with a pretty smooth method that does what it needs to do. If I kickstart my reading habit again I might give something like this a go.</div>
TAGS: </b>blog-post</span>, kanban</span>, plain-text</span>, reading</span>, tracking</span></i></div>


327. CLOAK - Concealment Layers for Online Anonymity and Knowledge</a></div>
Lots of tips for maintaining privacy online. Inspired by MITRE ATT&CK. Well organised with search. Not very in-depth, but some links are shared, and I can easily follow up with wider web searches.</div>
TAGS: </b>how-to</span>, infosec</span>, privacy</span></i></div>


326. How I use Wireshark | Julia Evans</a></div>
Julia shares some of her use-cases for Wireshark.</div>
TAGS: </b>blog-post</span>, how-to</span>, networking</span>, sysadmin</span>, wireshark</span></i></div>


325. Wireshark</a></div>
A powerful FOSS network analysis GUI tool that I would like to learn to help me grasp a few more networking concepts. The user guide is extensive.</div>
TAGS: </b>foss</span>, networking</span>, sysadmin</span>, tool</span></i></div>


324. Change your default date format to the least ambiguous | Practical Betterments</a></div>
Complete rundown of why the best date format to use is the best date format to use. Spoiler - 2026-02-26</b> and the corresponding human readable 2nd February 2026</b> wins. I'll be flicking this to anyone who thinks otherwise (work colleague insists on DDMMYY. YUCK!)</div>
TAGS: </b>best-practice</span>, dates</span></i></div>


323. mixflow</a></div>
Another chill radio station, via Rodrigo</a></div>
TAGS: </b>radio</span></i></div>


322. Linux becoming a Windows / OSX clone | Ciprian Dorin Craciun</a></div>
There are a lot of linux distros out there. This is a refreshing post from someone knowledgeable to keep me falling for the hype. A few personal thought nuggets on differences in distros helps me understand the ecosystem a bit better. I've been happy with Debian for my short time in Linux, but funnily enough the only one I MAY try next is openSUSE, which the author uses (or used at time of writing at least). But still, I'm probably not going to change any time soon unless its to refresh myself on installing an OS, and giving my laptop a spring clean.</div>
TAGS: </b>blog-post</span>, contrarian-thinking</span>, distros</span>, linux</span></i></div>


321. The Cheapskate's Guide to Computers and the Internet</a></div>
What the title says, but so much more. Lots of sub-topics of computers and internet like permacomputing, networking, and online communities. A heap of resources and links to the wider web.</div>
TAGS: </b>frugal-computing</span>, permacomputing</span>, sustainability</span></i></div>


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Full link stash here</a>.</p>


Reflection on the growing season
2026-03-15T15:19:10+00:00
Summer crops are still producing in full swing, so thought I'd jot down some thoughts, while they're fresh, on what went well and what didn't so I can tweak some things next year.</p>
In the greenhouse</h2>


One zucchini and one cucumber is more than enough. I have just kept up with the zucchini's, but a couple of cucumbers were donated to the compost pile because I couldn't get to them in time.</p>
</li>

All my tomatoes were self-sown from previous seasons, however they ended up all being cherry tomatoes. Kept 7 in total, and have kept up. I think 3 cherries and 3 regulars will be better next year. I like Romas.</p>
</li>

Greenhouse is great for cucumbers and tomatoes, pruning to a single leader and tying to the top rail. It can seem a bit heavy handed to trim so much back, but yields were still strong.</p>
</li>

Zucchini ended up taking up a fair bit of room in the greenhouse. It liked it there, so I will do it again next year, but dedicate a single bay (out of the 12) to it.</p>
</li>

6 chillis is too much. 2 will do. The "wild fires" are delicious, and mild. I've only been eating them green so far, but they're meant to be red. They're long and plants produce a lot. Will collect the seed.</p>
</li>

Capsicum "redskin" doing well in the greenhouse. Plant 2 next year.</p>
</li>

Capsicum "lunchbox red" also doing well. Bugs seem to bore holes, but I've never seen one inside. They're a good in-between while the redskins grow. 1 is enough. Produces well.</p>
</li>

Nasturtiums and borage were beautiful in the greenhouse, and the bees loved them, but they took up a lot of room. Saved seed of the nasturtiums (more than enough borage in the soil). Will plant out in the fruit tree orchard next year.</p>
</li>

Old seeds of my greens mix are starting to fail (mesculin mix is no longer a mix, just mustard). I bought new spinach for the last sow and it's looking good. Will stick to my fav 4 mix next year - Rocket, Spinach, Red Russian Kale, Tatsoi.</p>
</li>

Trial of greens plantings in front of cucumbers and chillis got a bit leggy. Rocket did ok, but it was still a bit busy. Stick to dedicated bays next year. 5 cuts is about what each planting receives. Plant successions at cut 2.</p>
</li>

Eggplants slower to produce. Only just started harvesting my 2 plants. Will monitor and decide if I want more next year. I have a delicious marinated eggplant recipe I want to give a crack again if they don't all make it into my cooking.</p>
</li>

More radish. Best snacks while I'm in the garden.</p>
</li>

Keep the succession plantings of beets up. They've been great in roasts and shredded fresh in salads and sandwiches.</p>
</li>

1 bay of silverbeet is enough, probably reduce to 3 rather than 4. Got busy. Also had an unexpected glut out in the fruit tree orchard once weeds were removed.</p>
</li>

Scarlett runner beans doing well, happy running up the back of the greenhouse with the steel mesh in front of brown onions.</p>
</li>

Plant more brown onions. Didn't feel right buying them a couple times. Maybe down at allotment. Need to make extra beds.</p>
</li>

Keep up spring onions. They go in everything.</p>
</li>
</ul>
Backyard</h2>


Time to extend more into the lawn. Keep grass to the left for now, but extend in front of orchard.</p>
</li>

Strawberries under fruit trees doing really well. Thanks to dad for covering up with netting, much to the dismay of the blackbirds. I'm trying to save some runners to spread into a new area.</p>
</li>

Apple and 1 plum tree produced in the orchard. Little moth traps seemed to work, though I cut the string off a bit late when I saw them ringbarking. Keep an eye on it next year. No apricots yet.</p>
</li>

I thought I was pruning quite a bit to keep the trees small, but I can do better. They hardly blinked. Keep reading up on the art of tiny tree pruning, though just do it. All the information is conflicting. I'm sticking with the idea that Summer pruning just after the solstice is best for the hard prunes to reduce size because they energy has switched to going back into the trunk, while Spring prunes will promote new bushy growth because photosynthesis is in full swing (or something like that).</p>
</li>

Prepare 3 new tree planting areas over winter for (ideally) peach, nectarine and persimon.</p>
</li>

"The graveyard" is useless. Dries out too quick with the western sun. Unless I extend it to be a proper bed, leave for the grass to grow over again.</p>
</li>
</ul>
Down at the allotment</h2>


Garlic did not do too well because of water-logging. Couldn't help that. Will do 3 rows this winter.</p>
</li>

Potatoes did well despite thinking I lost them all to mould from leaving them in the garage too long after dicing the eyes up. A lot of little spotty blemishes, which word on the street sounds like I'm not alone. They haven't seemed to affect the taste or quality, just appearance. 3 beds are enough, though there will be a crossover with garlic, so maybe I'll just have 2 (only have 5 rows available currently).</p>
</li>

My random scattering of sunflowers were a delight to see down at the allotment. Saving seed. I'm going to put these everywhere. Guerilla gardening?</p>
</li>
</ul>
Other notes</h2>


Shadecloth on direct-sows works really well keeping water dispersed, soil from drying out, and pesky birds eating the seed. Find more shadecloth.</p>
</li>

I didn't grow corn. I want corn. New beds in front of orchard?</p>
</li>

More berries. Can never have enough. Prepare new beds over winter. Do more lurking at that big berry patch around the corner so I can find the owner and ask for shoots. In front of orchard? May need to do some borders to prevent from spreading. Research. Blueberries should be ok.</p>
</li>

More perennials. Prepare an area for asparagus. Find out when shoots are available. Same time as potatoes?</p>
</li>

Plant out rosemary in corners of backyard garden beds, and at front letterbox.</p>
</li>

Pumpkin. None this year. Last year in the greenhouse was fun making a tunnel, until they fell off. Not the best spot. Might do some guerilla gardening out at the bus stop across the road or my front verge.</p>
</li>

Broccoli. I love the stuff, but never figured out when the best time to plant is. Just plant. Figure out how not to have some many seedling failures.</p>
</li>

Chooks. Design new garden beds around the almost certainty that I will be getting chooks again. bok bok.</p>
</li>

Donate more. Take to work. Be more social with the neighbours.</p>
</li>
</ul>
Next actions</h2>


Sow more beets, carrots, spring onion and greens in greenhouse for Winter.</p>
</li>

Planting garlic and broad beans down at the allotment for Winter.</p>
</li>
</ul>




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Adding a favicon
2026-03-08T07:04:38+00:00
I just discovered what a favicon was so added one to my site. Not sure using a picture is the best for a tiny weeny icon, but I did it anyway. I used favicon.io</a> by simply uploading a trimmed png and downloading the converted icon. This is the full size of the photo I used:</p>
</a></p>
It was my first trig bag after I moved to New Zealand. I did it as part of local running legend Mal Law</a>'s call to arms for raising funds for men's mental health. I was 10 weeks late to his year-long mission to climb 1 million feet (305,000 meters) in elevation gain.</p>
My comparitively sane goal was to bag 42 trigs in the remaining 42 weeks of the year. Coming from my previous job as a surveyor, it was an incredibly fun way to explore my new home. This trig is A32B</a>, 50mm galvanised iron pipe set in concrete, four meter beacon.</em> It's little sister A32C nearby, so it was a double-bagger.</p>
It was a grunty climb off the beaten track straight up from Kingston behind the popular Shirt Tail track. I took the easier way down the farm track for the return.</p>
Here is the logged activity</a>, and this is a little google map</a> I created to track progress of all the trigs I was targetting (I ended up bagging 43). Hoping I can fix my little injury niggles so I can get back out doing some things like this again. Seems like another life.</p>


Slowing down
2026-03-04T17:44:47+00:00
I'm trying to be a bit more mindful in my activities lately as a means to reduce stress, and perform better physically and mentally, with clarity, in the things that are important to me. I'm finding a lot of what I'm doing could be attributed to slow living</a>. Slow living can mean a lot of things, though this is what it looks like for me right now. I wrote it as a reminder to myself trying to capture my likes and dislikes which I feel have opposite stress impacts on me.</p>


Slow errands</strong> - Get on my bike. Avoid the traffic. Enjoy the trails. Enjoy the fitness. Enjoy the smiling trail users.</p>
</li>

Slow food</strong> - Grow veg. Spend time in the garden. Feel and smell the soil. Observe. Feed the soil. Cook from the garden. Seasonal foods. Take that knowledge to the supermarket. Don't overpay for out-of-season produce from across the world. Preserve and freeze excess. Avoid processed food. Try new recipes.</p>
</li>

Slow web</strong> - Consume with intent. Avoid services that are designed to lure and trap. Enjoy the indie web, smol web, small web, gemini and gopher. Consume with intent!! Use RSS. Be OK to "mark all as read". Cull, mute, or filter where necessary. Don't put pressure on myself to write blog posts. Do a challenge, but don't be afraid to stop. Weeknotes can be missed, late, or substituted with a weaknote. Write wherever or whatever I want. Don't let expectations of others dictate what or when I write.</p>
</li>

Slow communication</strong> - More email, less comments.</p>
</li>

Slow coding</strong> - Enjoy the process. Be OK that I can't do a thing. It's not my job. Look for alternative methods. Avoid AI. Use forums for help if it gets to that point. Keep it as a hobby, there is no urgency. It is all nice-to-do, not a necessity. Tidy old code. Focus on structure. Use git.</p>
</li>

Slow computing</strong> - Use what I have. Save and restore hardware. Look after my equipment. Secure it digitally and physically. Make measured purchases if I really need to.</p>
</li>

Slow purchases</strong> - Utilise my @to-buy.md table. Review wishlist against my personal areas of responsibilities. Avoid impulse-purchases. Use dedicated savings bucket. Prioritise second-hand and local products.</p>
</li>

Slow mornings</strong> - Give myself time. Stretch, read and feel the morning air outside. Sit with my thoughts. Go to bed early to give myself the best opportunity.</p>
</li>

Slow fitness</strong> - Increase steadily. Listen to the body. Do strengthening exercises. Stretch. Have rest days. Track progress. Avoid hard workouts after strenuous non-fitness activities like a 10 hour day at work, or a weekend of gardening. Load is constant.</p>
</li>

Slow appointments</strong> - Don't over-commit. Utilise the calendar. Be early. Plan for delays. Plan for costs.</p>
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Slow work</strong> - Don't let urgency and negativity from others affect me. Be methodical and professional. Don't take unnecessary risks. Continue a work journal for reflection and collation of questions for my seniors.</p>
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Slow projects</strong> - Plan them out. Define scope boundaries, objectives and outcomes in my Project Initiation Documents. Keep the PID updated. Don't overcommit.</p>
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</ul>
There's other little obscure things like walking my foodscraps down to my allotment compost bay. Picking up rubbish on my routes, so next time I pass, or someone else passes, it doesn't exist. Mindful polishing of cutlery. Washing one window at a time so I don't get exhausted. Cutting my lawn edges with a manual trimmer, one pavement length at a time.</p>
I feel like some of this is becoming second nature. I wonder if others purposely live a "slow lifestyle", or it just comes natural. Slow cafes</a> sound nice for folk into cafes. I'm not big on meditation (though I feel like some of these are a form of meditation). Just remembered I do like my shakti mat! I fall asleep on it every time, instantly. I'll get that out tonight. File that one under slow evenings</strong>.</p>


Re: How cool is my tmux config
2026-03-01T17:06:37+00:00
Love a "how I use x" post. As a fellow tmux user, this is my response to Hyde's How cool is my tmux config</a> post.</p>
I use tmuxp</a> to create session layouts. They are saved in ~/.tmuxp/</code>. I currently have only a few:</p>

notes.yaml</strong> - opens 2 panes in my notes folder, one with rucola</a> open, which is a fantastic markdown note manager.</li>
weekly-review.yaml</strong> - opens 3 windows, each layed out in the GTD weekly review</a> format.</li>
zkbro-ws.yaml</strong> - opens all the relevant tools like lazygit</a>, yazi</a> and zola</a> running zola serve</code>, and pane space to write new posts edit files for my website</li>
fit-ws.yaml</strong> - same as above for a different website</li>
</ul>
I create aliases in ~/.alias</code> to quickly load the workspaces from the terminal:</p>
alias tmb='tmuxp load ~/.tmuxp/zkbro-ws.yaml'
alias tmf='tmuxp load ~/.tmuxp/fit-ws.yaml'
alias tmn='tmuxp load ~/.tmuxp/notes.yaml'
alias tmw='tmuxp load ~/.tmuxp/weekly-review.yaml'
</code></pre>
I don't use any fancy terminal emulators - just gnome-terminal</a> in GNOME and xfce4-terminal</a> in Xfce.</p>
I use Helix</a> as my text editor, which itself has some pretty nifty window and pane management, and file pickers. I am contemplating making more use of them in a tmux session for coding projects, which I haven't set up yet.</p>
zkbro-ws:</p>
</a></p>
notes:</p>
</a></p>
weekly-review:</p>
</a></p>
Here's one of the tmuxp files (zkbro-ws.toml):</p>
session_name: zkbro-ws
start_directory: "~/02-Areas/repos/zkbro-ws"
windows:
  - layout: main-vertical
    options:
      main-pane-width: 50%
    panes:
      - focus: true
      - shell_command:
          - lazygit
      - shell_command:
          - yazi
      - shell_command:
          - zola serve
    window_name: zkbro-ws
</code></pre>
If anyone has an example of a coding IDE setup using tmux/helix/yazi, I'd love to see it for some ideas.</p>


fit.zkbro.com is live
2026-02-28T23:59:11+00:00
A little nudge, and fit.zkbro.com</a> is now at a stage I'm happy enough for it to be online:</p>
</a></p>
It's far from over, but the hard yards are done.</p>
About the data</h2>
I've got 16 years of recorded activities up, back to 2010. It took a bit of data wrangling, but I eventually got it all into the one duckdb</a> database. I then created a bunch of related tables for custom data and metric conversions. Now ALL the data sits in that database, including notes, map and graph filenames, and when I build the activity pages for the website, the relevant data is pulled into the markdown frontmatter, which is then handled by Zola and Tera to be presented on the website. Nothing sits in the body of the markdown files. I can edit the database locally using the activity-editor:</p>
</a></p>
About the site</h2>
The site is built with Zola</a>. It's what I know the most, and it was an opportunity to learn more parts of it I hadn't delved into before. I didn't use a pre-built theme, just built from scratch, learning slowly as I went. The underlying Tera</a> framework is proving very useful.</p>
Some funky things I've added which got me into new territory:</p>
The side-data-bars</strong> (not visible on mobile) are just empty padded flexboxes, each representing an activity, the length depicting distance on the left side and elevation on the right. They have clickable links to the corresponding activity page, which may be some fun random browsing. There is random transparency which gives it a cool neon effect, and which I will link to some other metric later down the track (heart rate or difficulty or something). It is in cronological order. I used Tera arrays</a> to build the data.</p>
Tags</a></strong>. Endless possibilities. Tags here are either activity types</strong> or events</strong>.</p>
Pagination</strong>. I did this at the bottom of the individual tag pages</a> only. I used the w3 schools example</a> for the look, but came up with my own structure. Struggled to get it going on the main page because I'm concatenating sections there.</p>
Redacted maps</strong>. Activities close to sensitive areas (home, family homes etc) don't have maps. Just an outline. A map would typically be pretty useless here anyway. I kept maps for everything else though, as they can be a handy reference.</p>
Todo</h2>

Tidy the HTML and CSS. It is an utter mess.</li>
Fix the pagination page numbers next to the ... more ... elements not set correctly.</li>
Add the dynamic header image</a> that I use on this site, or a variation of.</li>
Photos - thumbnails on main page and activity pages. Option for inline photos?</li>
Notes to be able to include linebreaks. Had to remove linebreaks to get into frontmatter. Probably just a script update required.</li>
Articles look janky on the main page when there is the small location redacted image. Need something to fill the space, or remove the map.</li>
Equipment (shoes, bikes etc) - displayed on activities, specific pages for, stats etc.</li>
Archive page - update list style, what metrics to show etc.</li>
Stats page - calendar view, heatmap, latest peaks, latest etc.</li>
Activity charts - HR, splits, etc.</li>
Fix the stats/notes flexing in the activity pages.</li>
Not completely in love with my colour scheme...</li>
Box styling will probably change too.</li>
WTF is a favicon?</li>
And so on...</li>
</ul>


🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W07.3
2026-02-18T23:13:03+00:00
Hey, I've been getting a couple of emails, mentions and links from around the small/indie/human web, and I just want to say that means a lot. I started building this site (and a couple of prior prototypes) half because I was in a rut at my previous job and wanted to lean into my geek side I left dormant for a couple of decades to see if there was still an interest there (there absolutely is</em>), and half because I wanted to start unbundling thoughts and expressing myself, something I don't think I do too well in the physical world (though I still don't do it much</em> here either). What I did not</em> expect was to actually feel like I was part of a community. When I read my RSS feed and click through to a familiar site, I have this voice or image of those authors in my head as I read. When you're linking to someone's page it's like your saying "have you seen what old mate down the road just did, check it out! radballz!" Then we all have a yarn via Re: posts or emails or webmentions or whatever. It's pretty unreal. Actually, it's all very real</em>. So thanks for making this web rad. Thanks for dropping in. Thanks for saying hi, no matter how small our interaction.</p>
I rambled a bit on this one. Sorry not sorry.</p>
🩸 My ear unblocked itself, or so I thought, so I was OK to postpone the audiologist appointment to fit around work. It did briefly block again on Monday though so I knew it was still an issue. I finally got in this morning. They got the sucker thingymabob on it, and well, there was a lot of gunk. Nurse was impressed. I picked up some spray they had there for sale. Hopefully that will be enough preventative so I don't have to return every year. Anyway, it's good to not feel a bit lop-sided and half deaf.</p>
🌱 Harvesting zuchs, spuds, greens of all kinds, spring onion, capsicums, chilli, tomato, cucumbers. Eggplant are just about ready for their first pickings. Zucchini fritters and omelettes are a regular thing.</p>
🧹 I mopped the floor. Hadn't done it for a while. It was quick and easy, and the result was great. I do have an ongoing issue around the stovetop though with crumbs and oil splatterings. Might go to the op shop and find something I can use as a kitchen mat.</p>
🏢 Work</strong> has looked like this this last week:</p>

Replaced 2x worn gate swing arm motor worm screw nuts</li>
Positioned smoke detectors, PIR sensors and siren in preparation for ceiling lining</li>
Paired fobs with a gate</li>
Picked up TV lifter from powder coating joint</li>
Reassembled TV lifter</li>
Investigated existing data cabling in house and installed new UniFi WAP in study</li>
SSHd into new WAP and adopted into remote UniFi server hosted by another org (we have been granted access) using the set-inform command. TODO we need to transfer to our own network now Lightspeed are no longer being used.</li>
Identified patched data outlet in study 2 back at AV rack, tested, re-wired incorrectly terminated 8P8C connectors, and patched into switch</li>
Updated patch legend</li>
Added tenant to Sonance system so they can control AV from mobile, not just the iPad</li>
Penetrated shed for camera cabling</li>
Ran conduit, flexi and 14-4 speaker cable for outdoor bbq/pool area. Left to the side awaiting trenching</li>
Prewired keypad, PIR, garage door opener, REX, and two cameras in shed, running via comms box</li>
Ran conduit for fiber internally to rack</li>
Ran conduit for fiber out to street ready for trenching</li>
Positioned speaker wall and ceiling speaker cable in music room and took measurements prior to lining</li>
Dropped conduit on site for external work</li>
Very informal toolbox meet just looking at week ahead</li>
Picked up infrared thermometer left on site, my bad.</li>
Lining of cottage had begun, readjusted cable positioning accordingly</li>
Prewired shed with KNX for keypads and sensors, cat6 for camera and WiFi</li>
Visited two sites for recce on way through. One requires visit tomorrow to run conduit into house via a concrete slab being poured</li>
Tested and replaced faulty ceiling speakers in penthouse suite in town. 2 of the 4 were ok. Left on site.</li>
Troubleshooted distorted feedback. Loose cables and unsuitable output distributions down in the service room racks were the culprit</li>
Ran conduit into concrete framing for future external cable runs</li>
Picked up supplies</li>
Ran conduit, security, lan, and cat6 to future gate motors and control box. Noisy outdoor site. Roadworks just outside the work site too.</li>
Exposed conduit running under driveway</li>
Picked up extra supplies. Had to extend our run under the driveway with 32mm conduit.</li>
Back at workshop loaded van for tomorrow's rack build</li>
Mounted data rack and security cabinet to wall in service room</li>
Cut 25mm holes through steel soffit, added rubber grommets and ran speaker cable</li>
Started patching in data cables</li>
</ul>
🧠 Been thinking a lot about homesteading again lately. I've been enjoying the garden and cooking from the garden. I miss having chooks. I'm also thinking a lot about slow living</strong> and frugality</strong> and the many urban homesteading projects I could do to work towards these. I have so much fun in the garden, just touching dirt is enough to recharge my batteries. I enjoy brewing my kombucha (I'm finally getting it to taste not like vinegar) and I want to give bread baking another crack.</p>
Subsequently in order to give myself more time there, I am trying to reduce how much I tinker on tech projects that have a loose thread towards some potential future career or small business</em>. The purchase of my second-hand Microserver was half need for personal storage and media server, half a piece of hardware I can learn system administration on for some potential future career or small business</em>. The Microserver and Raspberry Pi tinkerings definitely has helped me get some of the funner work in my current</em> job related to network configurations and self-hosting solutions. And I do</em> enjoy the tinkering and learning. One of the biggest feelings I get is a feeling of freedom</em>. There's not much I can't get my computer hardware to do within my needs. Though I still feel like I've been angling too much brain energy trying towards intertwining my interests and career trajectories. It's time for some seperation.</p>
This does not mean I will stop tinkering. One of my favourite things I'm doing right now is creating my new activities website (more below). This is purely for my own enjoyment. Scaling it back to plain HTML and CSS is giving me a sense of slow living</em> (slow tinkering?). There is no urgency around it. It just relaxes me. The scaling back is also just scaling it back to my skill level. Advanced Zola theming and javascript get a bit tricky for me, especially when they're already done for you and you try and unbundle what's going on. Maybe I will revisit some javascript one day, and like the HTML and CSS, build it from scratch and enjoy that process, but for not for now.</p>
I still have a bunch of things to do with my servers. They are just that little bit extra effort required because I'm not very skilled there. When I revisit those projects I will be scaling back again and taking my time to learn with purpose - whatever that project's objectives may be. But none of these projects will anything like "to gain skills in x to set myself up for future y career".</p>
I will leave that for work</em> professional development projects. I have enough there that will also help me enjoy my current job more (my biggest stressor at the moment is being underqualified). The boss wants to put me through the Integrated Systems Technician certification</a>, and Homey</a> training. Using Homey is just the start of our journey into energy monitoring in our already integrated KNX systems. A perfect single device to get learning on. The IST curriculum covers everything we do. There is further CEDIA certification like network administration which may be a thing I tackle later. Hopefully I get some time AT work to do this though. Some negotiation needs to happen there.</p>
So clear separation between work/career projects and personal tech projects. Less urgency on personal tech projects. That leaves me with more time and energy for those physical gardening and urban homesteading type projects.</p>
💻 As mentioned, the only tech project I've been working on is my activities website. I'm glad I decided to design and structure it without a pre-configured theme. I'm still using the Zola SSG</a> to build the site, but I'm writing all the HTML and CSS with the help of Tera</a> which is built into Zola. Big wins this week was creating a "tags" page and setting up pagination. The Zola documentation isn't great, so it is a slow process, but that is fine... there is no rush for this. There are also some limitations I'm hitting, like the inability to paginate a concatenated set of sections. But I am finding workarounds and happy with how it's turning out.</p>
The next steps are finalising pagination index pages, then creating a script that generates all the markdown files for the 3000+ activities to suite the structure I've come up with.</p>
🛡️ I'm not sure how big a deal it is, but my local IP address was showing in a warning message on my public forgejo landing page. I figured out how I could change it to show localhost instead. Alex Chan's fantastic recent post The bare minimum for syncing Git repos</a> made me wonder why I have forgejo at all. Her setup sounds very achievable. Also, pretty sure I've posted local IPs for my Raspberry Pi previously. Don't think showing a 192.168.x.x address is an issue? But the less the better I guess. I should go back and find those posts.</p>
💻 Tools</strong></p>


duckdb.yazi</a> via Dom</a> - plugin for the yazi</a> file manager to preview DuckDB</a>s, CSVs, jsons etc in the terminal. Pairing with the toggle-pane.yazi</a> plugin and adding a keymap to load the DB into a client is proving very powerful.</p>
</li>

flameshot</a> - screen capturing with all the nifty markup tools included</p>
</li>

minder</a> via Farooq</a> - This is exactly the mindmapping tool I was after. Minimal, quick and simple with a nice style out of the box. Auto node layouts are good as well, to fix the mess I make. And available through apt</code>. Brill. I'll be migrating from Freeplane</a> which is powerful, but I always struggled to become familiar with.</p>
</li>

whosthere</a> - basic TUI for LAN scanning and port scanning on the devices. I should just learn to remember ip</code> and nmap</code> and grep</code> commands but I'm lazy.</p>
</li>
</ul>
📺 Watched</strong></p>


Mr Inbetween</a> TV Series 1, 2 & 3 - Dry dark Aussie humour. Follows a heavy-for-hire, who has some good ethics (for a hitman), but crosses a lot of bad people. Think Chopper Read meets Curb Your Enthusiasm. Scott Ryan as lead is fantastic.</p>
</li>

Hellraiser (1987)</a> - Never seen this one. Workmate mentioned it. The demon things are cool, especially chatty-teeth-face. Might have to watch the other ones.</p>
</li>

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)</a> - Rewatch. Early John Carpenter flick. Love this era of film. Soundtrack popped up randomly on my Jellyfin which reminded me to watch it again. The score is very Carpenter, pulsing throughout the flick like a heart beat. Great classic.</p>
</li>
</ul>

I want to end these weeknotes betterer.</p>


🔗 Link Stash | 18 Feb 2026
2026-02-18T20:15:21+00:00

 Fresh dump of interesting and/or useful web links I've found recently. Full link stash here</a>.</p>
This week: </b>These are kind of becoming a monthly thing. It's generally how long it takes me to bookmark 10 things, which I feel is a nice digestible number for these posts. I "favourite" a million things in my RSS reader, but don't they generally don't make it into my buku bookmarks. I used to put them in, with the tag "blog-post", or something else appropriate. Maybe I'll do that again. Maybe I won't.</p>

</div>



320. The Anarchist Library</a></div>
A heap of reading here. via Parker</a></div>
TAGS: </b>anarchy</span>, books</span>, reading</span></i></div>


319. Grindhouse Cinema Database (Genres)</a></div>
Been enjoying some old classics lately and this is a good list sorted by category. Posters, details and links to trailers. A bit hard to source a lot of the lesser-known ones (cinemageddon used to be my go-to but my account was disabled from inactivity), but a good browse anyway.</div>
TAGS: </b>film</span>, grindhouse</span></i></div>


318. OverTheWire Bandit FULL Walkthrough | MayADevBe</a></div>
When I get stuck on an OverTheWire Bandit level I find these walkthroughs get me through, but keep me educated at the same time. The "Little bit of theory" sections are short, but well written and easy to understand. Once through a level, I'll backtrack and read a bit on the man pages of the tools used to wrap my head around it more.</div>
TAGS: </b>blog-post</span>, overthewire</span>, walkthrough</span>, wargames</span></i></div>


317. Phrack Magazine</a></div>
I've bookmarked this latest article of Phrack Magazine, rather than the main page, because I thought it really captured the essence of the hacker culture right now - which is as it always was - "about *freedom*. Freedom to think, to question, to build and break without limits." But brings us back to current circumstance... "That spark is hard to find now, but it still lives in the rarest of places". There is some really good writing in here.</div>
TAGS: </b>anarchy</span>, cyberculture</span>, freedom</span>, hacking</span>, magazine</span></i></div>


316. Contrast Finder</a></div>
Useful tool for finding foreground colours that work with background colours, or vice-verca. Flags were the ratio won't work any longer for web accessibility.</div>
TAGS: </b>colour</span>, css</span>, html</span>, style</span>, tool</span></i></div>


315. The Art of Command Line</a></div>
If someone were to load up Linux or some other UNIX OS for the first time, I would tell them to scim through this as a primer, but it's probably more useful for an intermediate user. So many useful little nuggets in here.</div>
TAGS: </b>cli</span>, docs</span>, linux</span></i></div>


314. Tmux Cheatsheet</a></div>
Constantly forgetting...</div>
TAGS: </b>cheatsheet</span>, docs</span>, tmux</span></i></div>


313. Mirror Sydney</a></div>
So much history of Sydney on this website. Seeing some places I've visited before, and just broader photos of streets, buildings, and utilities bring back memories of the city.</div>
TAGS: </b>pschogeography</span>, sydney</span></i></div>


312. color-hex</a></div>
My favourite colour explorer. Includes palettes.</div>
TAGS: </b>colour</span>, css</span>, hex-codes</span>, html</span></i></div>


311. Micropelago</a></div>
This is so cool. Essentially a tool that users and "caretakers" install and run on their personal devices to host and mesh a network of shared disk space. I imagine just about everyone has a few gigabytes spare, and maybe some bandwidth, probably less so the ability to leave a machine running all the time. But there are many of us out there that could do, and I think this'd be a really rad way to share resources.</div>
TAGS: </b>community</span>, networking</span>, open-source</span></i></div>


</div>

Full link stash here</a>.</p>


RIP Madi
2026-02-08T20:34:09+00:00
The most chill pal ever. Everyone loved her. All she ever wanted was to be by our side. I have many memories.

I'm glad she got to spend the last few years with Mum. They were good for each other.</p>
You will be missed.</p>


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fit.zkbro progress
2026-02-07T08:24:29+00:00
I've been making some progress on my activity site:</p>
</a></p>
After a false start using a Zola</a> template that was bloated with too many functions I didn't need, I decided to start again from scratch without any template, just doing a zola init</code> and building from there. I figured it'd be good to reacquaint myself with HTML and CSS basics again. I am so glad I made that decision.</p>
I'm learning a lot about flexboxes</a> again. I'd really be buggered without them. As well as the one just linked, this interactive guide</a> has helped me visualise all the functions. I've played around with box-shadows</a> too.</p>
Regarding colours</strong>, I originally wanted to keep it warm and light with a pastel theme</a>, but as I added them in I wasn't satisfied. Instead I've angled more towards a neon theme</a> for the main content backgrounds. I'm no designer so it's probably disgusting to some, but I'm happy with it. I am not completely sold on the white text in front of the "red" background.</p>
Same with font. I have no idea about font. I seem to be never happy with any of them. The subtleties and endless options are too much for me. I ended up just copying a font-stack off one of the Zola templates. I'll probably circle back to that at a later stage.</p>
Back to the colours. A key thing I wanted was to differentiate between activity types on the main page using different background colours for the cards, and each activity styled in a way that suits that activity type. For example, any activity with location data associated (runs, hikes, rides etc) will display a map, while a workout will just show some core details. I also want to add notes from occasion. This solution on the Zola forum</a> helped stear me in the right direction. It utilises sections</a> as a means to differentiate between activity types/posts. This is the code I ended up with so far:</p>
{% set section1 = get_section(path="section1/_index.md") %}
{% set section2 = get_section(path="section2/_index.md") %}
{% set section3 = get_section(path="section3/_index.md") %}
  {% set feed = section1.pages | concat(with=section2.pages) | concat(with=section3.pages) %}
  {% for page in feed | sort(attribute="date") | reverse %}
    {% set section = page.components | first %}
    {% if section == "section1" %}
      <article class="section1">
        <div class="section1-header">
          <h2><a href="{{ page.permalink | safe }}">{{ page.title }}</a></h2>
          <p>{% include "partials/article_extra_meta.html" %}</p>
        </div>
        <div class="section1-sub">
          <p>{% include "partials/article_meta.html" %}</p>
        </div>
        <div class="section1-sub">
          <iframe width="100%" height="200" src={{ page.extra.map }}></iframe>
        </div>
      </article>
    {% endif %}
    {% if section == "section2" %}
      <article class="section2">
        <h2><a href="{{ page.permalink | safe }}">{{ page.title }}</a></h2>
        <p>{% include "partials/article_meta.html" %}</p>
      </article>
    {% endif %}
    {% if section == "section3" %}
      <article class="section3">
        <h2><a href="{{ page.permalink | safe }}">{{ page.title }}</a></h2>
        <div class="section3-sub">
          <p>{% include "partials/article_meta.html" %}</p>
        </div>
        <p>{{ page.content | safe }}</p>
      </article>
    {% endif %}
  {% endfor %}
</code></pre>
Note the different layouts under each "section". I have a few ideas to utilise this layout for other websites so will circle back and save a template for future use. One idea is a stream of my own sites. Since I'm splitting these activity posts</a> into a whole new site, they will no longer be part of the same website, so using this format, I could probably pull in RSS feeds from different sources and categorise them into these "sections", format appropriately, and have a single stream of everything. Anyway, future project.</p>
That's it, progress is going well. Still a fair bit to go in. I haven't integrated the duckdb database yet, but that shouldn't be too hard. I'll just have to modify some scripts that create the activity pages, then run it on all 3000+ activities! The "Stats" page is a blank slate though, which is where more fun will happen. The database I have set up will make retrieving that info quite easy.</p>


@to...
2026-02-06T07:29:55+00:00
Rejigging my @to-...</code> lists. Great for rainy days. Or sunny days even. Who am I kidding? I find a lot of these via my RSS feed which is my new algorithm these days. I love the randomness. Not completely random though... folk I follow generally have similar deeper values</em> so although interests</em> are varied, their values will underpin the sharing of found gems, so I appreciate that. I enjoy reading reviews on blogs I follow, no matter how formal or informal the write-ups are. Sometimes it's just a fleeting note someone drops randomly. I generally don't read reviews elsewhere. I'll try and reach out when I've read/listened/watched something someone shared, but I can be pretty flakey on comms. Maybe I'll make another page/feed for this stuff.</p>
</a></p>


Re-start
2026-02-03T05:48:21+00:00
Bleh. There was too much in the template I didn't understand, so I'm starting from scratch.</p>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="/style.css">
    <title>fit.zkbro</title>
  </head>

  <body>
    <h1>Hello World!</h1>
  </body>
</html>
</code></pre>


🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W05
2026-02-02T19:18:56+00:00
I have a blocked left ear (again), so don't have much energy in me to run, code, exercise. Thought I'd give a weeknote a crack. Haven't done one for a while.</p>
T is still OS and family visitors are less frequent so I'm flying solo again. It was nice to see T on the video chat yesterday.</p>
🌱 In the garden</strong>, I'm harvesting my first tomatoes of the season. I have 8 plants which is probably going to be a (good) problem. I think most of them were self-germinated from previous seasons and are for the majority cherry tomatoes. Hoping I have a beefsteak in there or a regular sized one somewhere.</p>
I cannot believe how many zuchinnis a single plant produces. One is more than enough. I've just</em> kept up with the yields, now succumbing to zuchinni "pasta". Cucumbers are similar - single plant is more than enough. Like the tomatoes, I prune the crap out of it, so there's a single leader running up twine tied to the roof of the greenhouse. It keeps things tidy, more air flow, and does not seem to hurt the yields (probably makes it better).</p>
I've got a carpet of silverbeet and kale out in the fruit tree orchard, let alone the ones I planted inside the greenhouse, and a few successions of salad greens producing nicely, so no greens shortage that's for sure.</p>
🩸 Health</strong> - My damn ear is blocked again. Started this morning. Can't get into the ear place for another 10 days so trying the olive oil trick. Not working yet. Feeling exhausted from it already.</p>
Looking at my notes, my previous ear blockages were:</p>

February 2025</li>
November 2024</li>
</ul>
I've had more before that, but hadn't recorded it. Apparently I have narrow ear canals. Haven't really had any preventative advice other than the olive oil, but do I just do olive oil regularly? Seems a bit much. By the time it happens though I feel like the olive oil is too late. I'll discuss at docs when I go again.</p>
My plantar fasciitis on my right foot disappeared so I'm running and doing my strength exercises again. Unfortunately it feels like my knee went backwards, but I know what to do. Load management.</strong></p>
📝 I've started writing</strong> random blog posts because I want to pick up the habit of writing again. I find my ideas for blog posts end up being too hard for me to complete, so I'm just going basic. I'd love to do a big how-to guide again at some point, but I don't really have the time or energy for it.</p>
📚 Finished reading</strong> New Escapologist</a> Vol 18. Nice little book on escaping the norms. Many contributers. Short articles I could read over a cup of coffee.</p>
💻 🤓 I've been going all out with my activities database</strong> and new website</strong> that shows all the data. I've had to reign it in a bit though otherwise I will never get it up and running. When it goes live it won't look like a huge improvement on the Activity Log</a>, but I have made the backend to be a nice building block for incremental improvements. I've learnt a lot about SQL and duckdb, and more on python scripting too. I think I'm learning some better practices. Little things like calling functions from other scripts. Definitely a fun project.</p>
I'm building the site with Zola again, and picked a theme similar to my vision to give me a headstart, but I'm slightly regretting that because it has too many bells and whistles.</p>
💻 Tools</strong></p>


pwgen</a> - Generate relatively pronounceable</em> passwords in the terminal. Good for passwords I actually want to remember and not leave in my vault. Like my email password and Bitwarden master password.</p>
</li>

lynis</a> - Out of the box system security audit from the command line. sudo lynis audit system</code> runs the full audit. I don't understand half of it but it flags things I can dive into further to tighten my security.</p>
</li>

duckdb-ui</a> - Web UI for duckdb databases. Mucking around with my activities.duckdb db. Reminds me of jupyter notebook</a>.</p>
</li>

tasksel</a> - Used this to install a second desktop environment. Didn't realise you could switch between them so easily.</p>
</li>

xfce</a> - The desktop environment I'm trying out. I like.</p>
</li>

thunar</a> - Xfce's default file manager. Particularly like the tango icon theme</a> it uses.</p>
</li>
</ul>
📺 Watched</strong></p>

The Night Agent (Season 1)</a> - Fun Bourne-esque series. A little bit laughable at times but it is still entertaining.</li>
</ul>
🎧 Listening to...</strong></p>


Orbital - Blue Album (2004)</a> - Found out about these guys reading a 1997 issue of Mondo 2000 magazine</a>, as you do. Quite enjoy the easy-listening electronica.</p>
</li>

Tremendous Aron - no te preocupes (2026)</a> - I was just clicking through random bandcamp similar artists until I found this one. Instrumental but boy takes you on a journey.</p>
</li>
</ul>

My ear just had a tiny reprieve yay.</p>


Changing desktop environment
2026-01-31T16:59:05+00:00
Switched from GNOME to xfce desktop environment</a> on this here Debian. Quite like the style. It's meant to be lighter on resources too. The file manager thunar</a> looks rad. xfce4-terminal</a> is fine. I'm not a terminal power-user so not ready for something like kitty</a> anyway.</p>
I didn't realise how easy it was to add and switch a desktop environment using tasksel</a>. It's the same package used in the Debian installation, but can be run by itself. Simply:</p>
sudo tasksel</code></p>
Then select and install a chosen DE, reboot, and switch to whichever you want. Just had to reconfigure some keyboard shortcuts. I'll stick with this for now, though I'm contemplating moving to Debian 13 Trixie soon, or maybe something completely different like openSUSE</a>.</p>
I'm in full light-mode now. Using the base16_terminal theme in helix. It's all just silly aesthetic changes, but a nice working environment gives me a little comfort.</p>


Slow ends
2026-01-30T20:03:09+00:00
I also like a slow end</em> to the day. I'm not very good in this regard. Ideally I'd have done some back and neck stretches, be kicking my feet up with a book by 8:30 and lights out by 9. I find when I do that I have the most rested sleep. But reality is different. How well I wind down at the end of the day is usually pre-empted by my afternoon (specifically my energy when I get home from work, and when</em> I get home) and then what I choose to do with that energy.</p>
Yesterday for example, my work day door-to-door was 7:15AM to 6:15PM - a big day for me, working on a site that has 1.5h travel time each way. I had used up all my leftovers from previous nights, so had to cook dinner when I got home. I watched an episode of The Night Agent</a> while eating (I don't always do this, but I'm enjoying the show). This was done by 7:40PM, and then I did my strength exercises which were done by 8:40PM.</p>
This isn't terrible</em> so far. But this is the point where I chose not</em> to wind down, but to ramp up</em>. I wanted to complete part of a script I was working on, and in my head I knew how to do it. I had been churning on it through the day. Work, dinner, and exercise were complete, so now I could choose what to do next. I even thought to myself "If I start this now I'll be sacrificing some sleep, I should probably just read a book and call it a night." But the urge was there. I wanted it. So I did it, but it took me to 10:20PM. I didn't even get up off my chair for the whole 1.5 hours.</p>
Even though I had told myself that sleep is a priority this week, I actively chose to ignore that. Instead, I opted for screen time. It's a project I'm really enjoying and I was happy with what I achieved last night, given I finished what I set out to do. Even though I was lights-out as my head hit the pillow, I knew I'd be tired in the morning. I was.</p>
As I wrote this I was reminded I need to do a weekly review. Weekly reviews save me from making these silly decisions. I would have already decided what I would be doing with my time, and I would've decided with a clearer head, with greater areas of focus and responsibility in my mind. I would have scheduled project time in for another day at an appropriate time, and I would've been more content with the earlier night.</p>
So, last night was an example of not</em> having a slow end to the day. It resulted in me being tired mostly, probably a little grouchy too. It's just ticked over 8PM now. I am going to close things up and pick up the book I'm reading. I can do this.</p>


Slow starts
2026-01-29T06:37:59+00:00
For as long as I remember I've always enjoyed the slow start to the day. One very likely reason is because being out in the world exhausts me. I'm partly to blame - I chose my job, my surroundings, my life. Rolling from one day to the next without any break from it would turn me into a mental mess. Some people are fine without. Everyone's mental models are different I guess.</p>
So I re-charge my batteries. I like sitting under my reading lamp the most, while the street outside is still asleep. Sometimes I read, sometimes I sit with my undirected thoughts. Ideas come to me at these times. Sometimes I'll churn those ideas into bigger things (and of course capture it in my note system). I also like just taking my time making breakfast, preparing lunch, putting the washing away. No rush, no worries. I drive to work, so I save the work-thoughts for that drive. I have to catch myself sometimes ("Not now, work!").</p>
Sometimes I get too relaxed, and then suddenly I've got a rush on my hands. At least I got to enjoy that moment.</p>


Projects, work and writing
2026-01-26T17:00:09+00:00
I haven't been writing much lately on general thoughts. I think it's partly because I've been busy with visitors, relationships and projects, but I also think that's a bit of a cop out. If I really</em> want to do something, I will find time to do it. And I guess right now I want to write.</p>
I'm avoiding talking about work, because I don't feel this is the best place for it. This is probably the real reason I'm not writing much, because I like to write what's top of mind, and well this isn't very fun. I'll just say that a lot of my mental energy is being drained from work. Both negative and positive. I am working on tipping the scale towards the positive, but it is challenging.</p>
Sleep is a good place to start. I'm reducing my coffee intake and trying to get to bed earlier. T has given up the drink, and I think I might trial that out for a bit too (guess I'm committed now I've said it). I have this incredible tendancy to woff down anything under my nose, so the best way to avoid alcohol is to not purchase it. Duh. One of my areas of focus this year is frugality</em>. With that in mind when I'm at the supermarket, I tend to be more content with skipping a six-pack or bottle of wine. So yeah, less coffee, less booze, earlier nights = better sleep = more mental capacity at work = happier me after</em> work. That's the idea anyway.</p>
I'm spending a lot of time on my activities database. I was just going to tidy a few things so I could get my new fit.zkbro.com</a> site up and running (it's not live yet), but this blew out to many sub-projects as I got going. I can see the first version of the site coming out very soon, which will be a showcase of all the things I've done to the data in the background, but probably won't do it justice.</p>
The tailde-net project</a> was subsequently put on the backburner. I still want to get it up and running (I got about 80% there). I'll kick it off again once fit.zkbro.com is up and running. I certainly had some fun getting it started.</p>
Speaking of a fit zkbro, I think I've kicked the foot issue (plantar fasciitis), and subsequently the knee got some recuperation so I'm ramping up again. I've put a pause on all the activity posting</a>, but the graph continues to get updated. Looking at that graph, there's probably no surprise why I keep hurting myself.</p>

I miss just letting the words fall out, not knowing where they'll go. No real message here.. Maybe just an update on where my heads at. I might do more of these. I feel better for it.</p>


Summer harvesting in full swing
2026-01-24T12:04:31+00:00
The garden is keeping me well fed. Spuds almost ready... though currently being drowned with a dump of rain.</p>


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zkbro - Blog

🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W15

CSS Naked Day

🔗 Link Stash | 17th March 2026

Reflection on the growing season

Adding a favicon

Slowing down

Re: How cool is my tmux config

fit.zkbro.com is live

Todo</h2> Tidy the HTML and CSS. It is an utter mess.</li> Fix the pagination page numbers next to the ... more ... elements not set correctly.</li>

🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W07.3

🔗 Link Stash | 18 Feb 2026

RIP Madi

fit.zkbro progress

@to...

Re-start

🗓️ Weeknote 2026-W05

Changing desktop environment

Slow ends

Slow starts

Projects, work and writing

Summer harvesting in full swing
