When I write a book I usually develop an obsession with something or other. It helps me take my mind off class constructor syntax or whatever I’m grappling with. For the Python book it turned out to be electronic music devices. For the JavaScript book it turned out to be robot dogs. this time it seems to be instant cameras. I’ve spent most of today writing chapter 7 and taking quick breaks to read all about the Mint TL70.
I try to keep a list of ideas for blog posts. I’ve just discovered that I’ve lost it. So this will have to do for today…
Had a strange experience today. Something was broken, we contacted the provider, they were responsive and polite and sorted out. It’s a bit sad that I expect this outcome to be the exception rather than the rule, but it was nice anyway.
Went for my flu jab today. I’m not saying it was fun, but it was mostly painless.
Our online gaming group, which was convened in the depths of the pandemic, seems to be lasting beyond covid. We had a hilarious (an hilarious?) time playing netgames this evening. First we had a go at Secret Hitler, which was fun, and then we had a go at Codewords. The implementation is spot on and the games work well, even if you are not in the same room. Worth a look.
This is not my garden.
Yet more writing today. Plus feeling guilty about not gardening. But then again, chapter 6 is looking pretty good just now, which has got to be a win.
There is nothing better than sitting in a nice place eating sandwiches in the rain with a couple of people who mean the world to you. Oh, and taking the odd photograph.
It’s a while since I’ve done anything like this. I’m sitting in a coffee shop in the Arndale Centre in Manchester updating the blog while on the road. I’m in Manchester for a Dot Net North talk I’m giving.
I’ve just thought. It would be awesome if the post in the laptop screen was this post. Oh well. Maybe on the next trip.
I never thought I’d one day spend a happy half hour helping someone play with a doll’s house. But there you go.
Spent today writing pages and not buying cameras. Go me.
Spent a tiny bit of time today playing with soundtrackers. Great fun and bringing back all kinds of memories.
There’s a pub in Beverley called the “Dog and Duck”. When I first heard the name I built up this nice little narrative about a dog and a duck who go around having adventures and maybe even solving mysteries. I’ve just taken a proper look at the pub sign.
Oh well.
Ha. Turns out that Dog and Duck is already a thing.
Sad to hear the news of the queen passing away today. A good, sensible person with a sense of humour doing an impossible job for a very long time. Well done your majesty. You will be missed.
I think I’ve found the problem…
I was all set for the Connected Humber Meetup this evening. However, as I was headed down the road I got a warning about low pressure in one of the tyres. It wasn’t hard to see why. Fortunately, I was very close to Endyke Tyres so I popped in to be told that it was time for a new tyre. The good news is that they can get one in tomorrow. So I put some more air in the tyre, drove home very carefully, swapped cars and managed to make it to the Meetup just about on time.
The meetup was excellent. I showed off my oven and bits and bogs. Brian had brought along a really pretty display, powered by a really beefy power supply. He also had his PICO audio device playing Gerry Rafferty.
Ion had brought along a very accurate sine waves for amplifier testing. Ben turned up and finally got his lights with names in. John came along and we talked about bits and bobs. My laptop decided to update everything during a demonstration audio which didn’t go too well but there was lots of other good discussion too.
Great fun. The next meetup is on the 5th of October. If the parts arrive from China I want to do some live surface mount soldering.
When I was younger one of my favourite musicians was John Miles. I bought quite a few of his records. I was just getting one of them out of its sleeve (Zaragon - not his best) when this ticket fell out. I must have tucked it away many years ago. Who knew you could get a live band (and support) for the sum of 1.75? In Hull.
Amazing times.
I didn’t think we still had such things as circuses. But we do. We went to see one today. Circus Zyair are doing a very good job of keeping the circus traditions alive. There was a mix of acrobatics, clowning and at the end some death defying motorbiking which came as a bit of a surprise to us, especially as we happened to be sat a few feet from the ramp from which the bikes few into the tent. Well worth a trip. Especially impressive if you are five and a half years old apparently.
Spent a bunch of time at one of my favourite places in all the world today.
Today we celebrated 40 years of marriage. To each other. Which is nice. We went off to Dalby Forest to walk around some rocks and then came back to a slap-up meal. Good times. Here’s to even more.
Spent most of the day writing. But I still found time to do some piano practice. I’m moving from “can’t play one tune” to “can’t play three tunes”.
Spent today writing. Not sure if I have enough words left to write a…
Rob Miles is technology author and educator who spent many years as a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull. He is also a Microsoft Developer Technologies MVP. He is into technology, teaching and photography. He is the author of the World Famous C# Yellow Book and almost as handsome as he thinks he is.
Make your own programming language. Find out more here.
