🗓️ Weeknote 2024-W50

2024-12-15 20:05

Some random front-of-mind pieces from my week.

The year is closing out. One more week before I head over to Aus for two weeks. Christmas doos in full swing. Catching up with friends before we all do our family things. Summer is bringing the heat, garden is going nuts, running mojo is back, settling into new job.

🏃 Ran 31.7km / 1,158m profile

🚴 Rode (e-bike) 42.2km / 509m

🏢 Work - Did a bit of rack reconfiguration, re-terminating data cabling and installing new routers and switch boards. Quite like this side of the job. Having some good feedback from co-workers saying I'm picking things up quickly. Every day (hour even) is vastly different and requires a lot of sideways thinking. Examples from an afternoon:

• Task 1 was to remove an extending bracket for a security camera on the side of the house, fixing the camera flush with the wall. The cabling and terminations were too bulky to fit in behind the camera's bracket so had to cut back the cable and re-terminate with smaller connectors. Had to waterproof as the previous bracket did this for us. Also had to consider best placing of fixing screws, hiding previous holes whilst retaining sturdiness on slatted cladding.

• Task 2 was to mount a massive 85 inch TV to a carpeted wall in a media room. The power outlet meant the TV wouldn't be flush with the wall, so we had to remove the panel of carpeted wall, use a multisaw to cut a recess behind the wall so the plugs would not protrude, then refix the wall, install the bracket and keep it all level.

Certainly a jack-of-all-trades job. Fun fun.

🎄 We had our Christmas party yesterday. Pretty epic. We went to Cromwell, kicked off with putt-putt golf (yours truly claimed the trophy, coming from behind with an absolute stonker of a start. Being the new guy, banter ensued.) We then rode our hired e-bikes from Cromwell to Clyde on the Lake Dunstan Trail, a beautiful trail that hugs the bluffs and hills alongside the lake. We ended at the pub for a couple beers before being driven back to Cromwell by the hire company. After cleaning up back in Arrowtown we joined up with partners and went out for dinner at the Ayrburn Woolshed. My god the food was good. We were practically licking the plates clean. We got the Charcuterie of Local & European Meats, Pickles, Sourdough for starters, I had the Coffee Rubbed Seared Venison for main and an Affogato with Frangelico desert. So good. Very grateful for the boss's shout.

🌱 Planted corn and beans out in a small patch out the back door, and another batch of greens in the greenhouse. Need to plant out my Chinese Cabbage seedlings. Tidied some space in the greenhouse for this. Found some strawberries which I chowed down while working in the garden. Tomatoes continue to grow, and pumpkins are growing at an alarming rate in the greenhouse, which will swallow things up if I'm not careful.

🛏️ Thinking about renting out my spare bedroom for some extra moolah. Struggling to commit though. Love my space.

💻 Started writing a bit of code each day as part of December Adventure 2024. Focus is on yidying and automating a few things around my website. Given I'm spending a bit of time with the fam over Christmas hopefully this will free up a bit of time. My log is over here.

💻 Website

• Now appear on personalsit.es - a fantasticly big directory of, you guessed it, personal sites. I should create a list or page or something of the directories I'm listed on, before I lose track. I will lurk around and see how others are doing this. Please email me if you have a nice way of doing this.

• I've had some really nice interactions via my websites - Neocities has some little feed/following tools, dropping emails to other bloggers, Mastodon commenting and DMs. I sound like a broken record, but I really do think the web is at its peak right now if you find the right avenues that suit your style. If I like your stuff but don't comment, its probably because I'm shying away, but note that that like was because something you wrote hit home.

💻 Tools

• lagrange - Gemini Protocol client - A day after I posted my Default apps 2024 post, I switched from amfora to lagrange for navigating gemini, and I must say I like the style and functionality much more. I need to get my head around the keyboard bindings but that'll come with time. I'm not a heavy user of Gemini, just exploring at the moment, but there is something drawing me in about this alternative protocol on the web. There is some really good authors in here if you are willing to dig around. Are you a user?

📺 Watched

• The Penguin - Series was OK. I didn't really like any of the characters which made me struggle with staying engaged.

🎧 Listening to...

• Tricky - Maxinquaye - My boss is a bit of a muso and recommended Tricky. Only started playing this today and I'm digging. Adrian "Tricky" Thaws was with Massive Attack between 1988-1995, and returned again in 2016. He has a big discography so looking forward to diving deeper. Love finding artists like this who have been around for a while but missed my radar. My music taste is ever evolving so probably why I only find them now. This album has Portishead vibes. I absolutely love Martina Topley-Bird's vocals. I want to dive into her stuff too.

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