Month: May 2024

Week commencing Monday, 20 May 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 6/7. (81%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 60,984

Life

• Interesting new project on the agenda at work this week, but it feels like a tight timeframe. Let’s see.
• The washing machine saga continues. This week’s engineer didn’t even open the machine before declaring a different part was needed. Booked for next week. By the weekend, my complaint had resulted in some compensation, but the machine remains unusable.
• Related, the call centre I spoke to told me, no, I could not speak with a supervisor because the person I was talking to was “perfectly trained to help me”. I believe she had heard my, “but you’re not” response before.
• I gave blood again on Wednesday. I hadn’t thought the pain in my shoulder would stop me, but the staff were wonderful, checking that the “giving” position wouldn’t hurt me.
• Related, the nurse and I both agreed that a shoehorn was an amazing invention.
• Relatedly, related. Can you get orange-flavoured Club biscuits anywhere other than blood donation centres?
• Friday night train not as busy as expected. The ferry, on the other hand, was much busier. A sunny weekend on the Isle of Wight.
• The drinks and snacks at the place with the award-winning chef were nice, but not stocking Island produce because it’s ”everywhere” was, in my book, poor form.

Media

• We’re going to see Heathers, The Musical in a few weeks. I hadn’t watched the movie before, so we did. It’s dark and very 80s. You wouldn’t get away with some of that today.
• Previously, I wasn’t liking this series of Doctor Who. This week, 73 Yards was a masterpiece.
• Andy Burnham, on James O’Brien’s Full Disclosure podcast was a great listen.

Week commencing Monday, 13 May 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 4/7. (62%). Morning walks: 1/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 43,881

Life

• The highlight of the week was The King’s Garden Party. And it was in the bright sunshine – glad I took sunglasses. I didn’t know what to expect. I dressed in full-on mourning suit and didn’t feel out of place even though I was in a minority. I feel honoured to have been there. A bunch of famous faces seen and on the correct side of the line for the King to talk to the people I went with.
• Related, the top hat was new to me and I probably shouldn’t have bothered, but it was an experience and I don’t know if I’ll ever get a chance again. In the evening, my back hurt from the upright posture required to keep the hat on. Jealous of the people who make it look effortless.
• Relatedly related, I might have been the only person to transport my top hat to and from The Palace in a Sainsbury’s foldable shopping bag.
• Obviously, I had to have cucumber sandwiches when eating at The Palace. Excellent.
• Otherwise, a very normal week.
• Related, trains on the way back were so disrupted they removed Clapham Junction from the stops. Thank Uber for the ride home.
• The washing machine saga continues. On Monday, an engineer discovered a fault with the machine that required a new part. An hour later, the insurance company rang. I thought they wanted to talk to me about the repair, but it was an excuse to upsell me more insurance. I declined several times for the recording.
• Monday night was quiz night. After our disappointing performance last time, we did good. Pulling Terry Jacks, Seasons In The Sun, out of the hat helped make us joint ninth. Ninth is a specific goal of this quiz. We lost it on a tiebreak.
• The UK’s sunniest place has been named (and it’s not Cornwall), says Metro. Yay for Shanklin!
• Fun with ChatGPT. I asked what’s good AI. It said ethical AI should properly attribute but couldn’t provide attribution for its responses. I asked if OpenAI was, therefore, unethical. “Not necessarily” was the answer. It amused me.
• I watched the Google IO event and was impressed by the Gemini capabilities. Then I asked ChatGPT and Gemini to describe an image. Only one AI came close and it wasn’t Google’s.
• Weekend, to the Isle of Wight. The fridge has stopped opening while we have been elsewhere. The resulting stink from off food was unpleasant. One nudge of the temperature button and all was functioning. Less said about the weekend the better.

Media

• Doctor Who: We watched Space Babies and The Devil’s Chord. These feel very different to anything that’s been before. In particular, The Devil’s Chord had no sense of jeopardy and the Hairspray finale was more High School Musical than time travelling Doctor. Thankfully, Ncuti saved the episode by being brilliant.
• Trying to get through Trigger Point. Will persevere.

Week commencing Monday, 6 May 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 5/7 and Move 7/7. (86%). Morning walks: 2/3 (happy to have restarted the trend). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 67,658

Life

• Bank holiday Monday. It rained, quite a lot. I stayed inside, quite a lot (but not entirely).
• As it turns out, the washing machine was not fixed by fluke as I thought last week. Awaiting another engineer.
• Tuesday was sunny. I did a morning walk again and it felt good. It felt even better to do it again on Wednesday.
• Even if you don’t like Eurovision, you should have watched it for the amazing sets & Petra Mede. Sweden knows how to do it. The final was fun and, for once, the winner was in my top 3.
• Related. For the first time in many years we watched it away from our house at the home of friends. As we were not entertaining, and as they provided a helpful scorecard, we watched every song. Some of them felt much longer than three minutes. The accompanying food was lovely.
• Dinner with Greg on Wednesday night was Japanese (Koyn) and wonderful (both in company and food). Also, expensive. But as it’s our once-every-two-years meet-up, I’m OK with that.
• By the end of Thursday I was tired so skipped the work karaoke session. Probably for the best.
• Went to hire a mourning suit in Wimbledon on Friday evening. They were closed. Met PY and sat in the – very small – beer patio at All Bar One. Spontaneous and fun.
• Managed to do the hiring on Saturday. But it will be delivered the day before it is needed. Nervous.
• Sunday, on the way back from our Eurovision stay, to God’s Own Junkyard: a treasure-trove of neon. Wonderful, evocative and bright.

Media

• Shardlake on Disney+. Although it was the monks being investigated, I couldn’t get Cadfael out of my head. This is probably more gruesome. Good characters, interesting plot. Set-up for a second series?

Week commencing Monday, 29 April 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 4/7. (62%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 46,663

Life

• Finally, a scan on my shoulder. I am reminded how big, complex and unnerving hospitals can be. Now, the wait for the results.
• It’s always amusing when a train service blames congestion on a line where passengers have sat for 20 minutes without a train passing. I understand the blockage might be elsewhere, but that doesn’t stop me laughing.
• The washing machine was fixed by fluke. The blocked drain crew that arrived on Monday did not understand what they were called out for, but they inadvertently poked something in the pipes, and it worked.
• Related, we spent a week figuring out how to put the units back together. By Saturday, I let PY do it.
• On Friday, I went to a crypt with a silent disco. It was silent only in so much as you needed headphones to hear one of the three DJs. It was loud because there was no music to drown out everybody’s awful singing. Fun.
• Dinner on Saturday night in Wimbledon Village. I was too tired to participate properly, so I was home before the end.
• Sunday, with more energy, we bought some plants and put them in the pots for the summer. We managed to eat breakfast outside until the clouds came.
• Oh, and ticked, hopefully, the right boxes on the three voting papers we were given. By Saturday, Sadiq was selected.