Notes for October 7th 2023

A day late on this weeks' posting because I've been too chaotic and busy.

• It's been about 2 weeks now with my new iPhone and while I've had a very aggressive upgrade cycle (i.e. upgrading from last years' edition, which has less of a technological wham-bam moment), it's still been interesting. I find the phone to feel lighter and sturdier. And while the reviews have been negative, I do really like the finewoven case. It's all just a really tight package. The real star of the show is the screen. It feels nicer than the prior one, and I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it's all those extra nits providing some placebo effect. Or that the material is a bit tighter, like the rest of the package.
• Next week my new Apple Watch will arrive. It's been a few years since I've had an Apple Watch, but I've really enjoyed the use of my complimentary Whoop to track fitness. But absolutely hate having both wrists adorning something. I'm a watch guy, and have several beautiful handmade Swiss or German watches. Time to amalgamate where possible and have only one wrist burdened with a device.
• I've complained lately that work is busy, good fun but ultimately my career is sort-of stalled to some extent. That bit is a little exacerbated while also being relieved after this week. Some very fancy meetings with fancy executive types gave me an opportunity to show off in the right rooms, and it worked. But my own self-satisfaction and being recognised as good probably won't move the dial. A coach I have has suggested I ask around for other roles to spread my wings and get out of PreSales, which I've been doing for about 15 years. And it's hard to say no to that. Why not open some doors?
• This week we brought the kids into the city to do some random wandering around, market-shopping and what-not. There was a vintage clothing market in a bar that we have been to 100 times before as younger, significantly less burdened adults. And our eldest (who's 3) was mesmerised by the number of people around. Mostly because he was born in Covid. By the time he had been to a supermarket with lots of people, he was old enough to be in the seat in the trolley. Crowds are still a strange thing for him, in his DNA almost.
• The weather has been unusually mild and warm. It's October. We've blitzed past our 1.5c threshold. Next up will be mass human migration. Then wars. We're so, unbelievably fucked and walking into something disastrous. I talk more about this on deaddinosaurs.com.
• Next week I'm over in Amsterdam for 2 nights for work. Which should be good fun. I've not been over there for a long time, and get to pop down to Rotterdam for a few hours as part of the trip, too. Huge schedule to fulfil while there so it won't be all fun, but it's always good to see that part of the world. Then to come home depressed and miserable because we can only dream of cycling infrastructure that good.
• I'm building a new keyboard. My second of the year. And it'll be a whopper. The main board is still in preorder but the other parts (keycaps, switches, etc.) are all ready to go. It's a sickness. Luckily, someone will be able to inherit my Ducky Shine from a few years ago as I put that out to pasture!