Month: March 2025

Weeknotes #112: Design Museum and surprises

London walks, birthday surprises, and AI made a memorable week

Week commencing Monday, 10 March 2025

This image shows a gallery installation from "The World of Tim Burton" exhibition at London's Design Museum, taken in March 2025. The scene is bathed in distinctive blue and purple lighting that creates a dramatic, atmospheric effect reminiscent of Burton's aesthetic. This scene is for materials fro the Batman movies.
The World of Tim Burton

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 4/7. (62%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5 Total steps: 44,027

Life

  • I am often asked to produce my passport or my driving licence to use as identity, but I have not needed my birth certificate for a long time. Thankfully, I found it.
  • I asked Google Gemini to clean up a meeting transcript. It turned a forty-minute meeting into a ten-minute passage and then read it to me. That would have been a great time-saver if I hadn’t had to hear the entire meeting.
  • Related: nice though it was, I am glad I heard the original meeting because that allowed me to spot where Gemini had got it wrong. Unsurprisingly, people trust AI a little too much: Would a computer really go on the internet and lie? Well, yes.
  • Relatedly, related: Revealed: How the UK tech secretary uses ChatGPT for policy advice.
  • Thursday, to the office and met a former colleague in a lovely pub near St Paul’s Cathedral. I walked streets I’d never ventured down before. There are some interesting places in London.
  • On Saturday, for PY’s birthday, we saw The World of Tim Burton at London’s Design Museum. It was very busy, but it was really interesting to see the evolution of the Tim Burton look. Lots of films were covered in a small space, so the exhibition was very much focused on how the look evolved rather than on any particular show. Of course, I loved The Nightmare Before Christmas parts.
  • Related, the themed afternoon tea, rooftop cocktail bar with a view of St Paul’s Cathedral, and Argentinian steak dinner were all surprises. My timings all worked out, even with a delay on the Circle Line.
  • Friends of Sunday Lunch, PY has planned individual beef Wellingtons. After the Argentinian, that was a lot of steak in one weekend.
  • This resonated: How Much Do I Really Need to Know?

Media

Weeknotes #111: A boiler, the NHS and a smaller boat

Recovered, enjoyed exhibitions, and travelled

Week commencing Monday, 3 March 2025

The image shows a colourful poster with the phrase "PRIDE IN SELF" displayed across three horizontal stripes of different colours. The top stripe is red and contains the word "PRIDE", the middle stripe is orange and displays "IN", and the bottom stripe is yellow with the word "SELF". The poster appears to be mounted on a white wall. This poster is part of the "Out on an Island: Pride In Self, Pride In Place" exhibition at Quay Arts Centre on the Isle of Wight. The colour scheme uses warm tones (red, orange, and yellow) that are reminiscent of the pride flag colours, although the poster appears to show only the top three stripes of the traditional six-striped rainbow flag. The design is simple and bold with clear, white lettering against the coloured backgrounds. The exhibition explores themes of LGBTQ+ identity, community, and personal acceptance, particularly in the context of island life on the Isle of Wight.
Out on an Island: Pride In Self, Pride In Place

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 4/7. (71%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 48,172

Life

  • I continued to feel unwell for much of the week. Wednesday, I tried to go to my Tai Chi class but my coughing fit on the train to Waterloo persuaded me it would be better to return home.
  • I did do Monday’s pub quiz. We were 4th. That might be the best placing for a long time.
  • Last week I mentioned that I managed to get a GP appointment on Monday. Not only did I do that, I got a walk-up x-ray appointment on the same day and there was nobody else waiting when I arrived. The NHS worked for me.
  • Oh, the excitement: the boiler was serviced. The engineer turned up at just the right moment between two meetings. And tested the carbon monoxide alarm, which, I think, is the first time I’ve ever heard the noise it makes.
  • I did go to the office on Thursday. Lots of meetings about the next phase of work. Nothing concrete yet, but progress is being made.
  • Thursday evening to The Island. A smaller boat than usual on the crossing to Ryde, which meant the 8:20pm sailing felt very busy.
  • Related, we turned-up early for the return voyage on Sunday, and made it on to the boat but it was full.
  • On Friday, I succeeded and presenting my ID to the solicitors and failed to get the carpenter to remove the box surrounding the electricity meter.
  • Saturday, to Newport to see Out on an Island: Pride In Self, Pride In Place, an exhibition to celebrate 20 years of LGBT History Month in the UK. Fascinating. We ended up buying the book (and the lunch at Quay Arts was good too)
  • Sunday, to Hedge End and Sunday lunch with T. The pub he found was excellent and the portions superb.

Media

  • The concluding episode of the new Bergerac was good. I didn’t see it all coming together until the end, which I think is the mark of a good detective series.
  • We’re sticking with Prime Target on Apple TV, even though Edward belief in the maths in spite of all that is going on around him, is annoying.
  • Remember Monday was announced as the UK’s Eurovision entry: What The Hell Just Happened?

Weeknotes #110: Github, Bond and man flu

A week of media, illness, and Bond-themed entertainment.

Week commencing Monday, 24 February 2025

The image shows two glass vessels in The Cozy Coqs cabaret lounge during the event "The Crazy Coqs Presents: The West End Sings... Bond, James Bond!" On the left is a stemmed glass filled with wine. On the right is a glass carafe or decanter partially filled with what rose wine. The scene is bathed in dramatic red lighting typical of cabaret venues, creating an atmospheric mood.
The West End Sings… Bond, James Bond!

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 3/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 4/7. (52%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 44,527

Life

  • In world news: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told to leave the White House in a bad day for the world.
  • So, let’s think about something less important: if you use GitHub’s standard of minima for GitHub Pages, and you want to adjust some of the layout, then layout: default just may be what you’re looking for and not later versions which specify base.
  • Weblog was the answer to a question on this week’s Mastermind. I’m glad it wasn’t the only one I knew.
  • Thursday, after work, I decided to go home rather than go for drinks. I thought I was just feeling grumpy; turns out I was getting a three-day cold.
  • Related, my GP has appointments for next week on the app when I decided to talk to somebody about it.
  • It didn’t stop me going for lunch at Rovi on Saturday with family. Good food and very friendly staff. I was glad, however, when I got home for rest.
  • Sunday, and unrelated to last week’s announcement that Amazon has got creative control over the franchise, to James Bond night at The Crazy Coqs. Started with Licence to Kill, which is the best Bond theme of all.
  • After the show, all the pubs around were busy, so we went to The American Bar and spent too much on two drinks each.

Media

  • In my two-day man-flu state, I powered through the last few episodes in Series 1 of The Blacklist. Thoroughly enjoying the nonsense.
  • I never watched John Nettles as Jim Bergerac in the 80s TV series. This week, we just started watching Damien Molony playing the same role in the revival on the streaming service that’s bizarrely called U. We’re hooked enough to finish it next week.