Thursday, 17th October, 2024

Went on a big hike this week. Debated about taking my radio to France but decided not to. We’re only going for a week and probably won’t have time. The hills will be there in the future.

Also thought about not taking my laptop but decided against that too. Just started playing with Observable js in Quarto, which can retrieve data from APIs and do stuff. I want to make a dashboard for our local SOTA group with data from the database. Some of the info is only available if you log in and some only available to you. You can brute force some of the data by making lots of API calls for various parts and build your own dataset. Think I’ll have to do that and store it as a csv for observable to read. That’ll have to run nightly as a script and be committed to the repo automatically. So hopefully I can work on some of that.

There’s a domain I’ve been watching that should be expiring today. I don’t really need another domain but I suspect I’ll buy it if it’s available. However, it may get snapped up and I’m not available when it’s supposed to come on the market. Maybe that’s a good thing.

I did end up being online when the domain renewal came up. I saw it be available but then when I clicked on reserve someone else had already got it. Just a domain parking company.

It was aj.is (Iceland) and interestingly they charge the same regardless of the domain. Usually two letter domains come at a premium. Thought it would be fun to have an email that was hi@aj.is. But most people wouldn’t care and I have enough email accounts as it is. I also don’t need new websites. I could’ve used it as a url shortener but also I wouldn’t even set that up.

They do still have a lot of other .is domains available. You could do stuff like surname.is/blogging and surname.is/wasting-money.

Last time I checked there were still some two letter domains available and a lot of one letter one number combos. But again, why?

I wrote in DayOne today, which is the first time in about a month. The previous time was also the first time in a month. In fact, I’ve not really written very much since last time we’re in France on holiday in the summer. I do debated whether or not writing the mundane everydays is worthwhile, but then I look back at the 2014 entries and enjoy them. Not sure I could remember more than about 3 things from 2014.

Saturday, 12th October, 2024

I’m probably not a very good host. I just want to sit by myself 😅

What’s been happening? Not sure really. Hoping to get out for a big hike next week as the weather is warming up a bit. Off on holiday then and debating if I should take my radio or not. There are a few summits that have never been activated, so I could be the first and get a little badge in the website. But also not sure about taking the stuff on the plane. Lots of people do it so I’m sure it’s fine.

Thursday, 10th October, 2024

Why am I not more organised and have the birthday presents ready for the visitors this weekend whose birthday it is next week.

I could go out at lunchtime today and get something but then I have to drive to work and I have the dentist first and there’s no where to park. Don’t even know what I’m getting. Ugh.

Tuesday, 8th October, 2024

My mum is coming up this weekend. Today she was asking what are we going to do. This reminded me why I don’t want people visiting. It’s bad enough keeping the kids in check and planning things around them without adults needing to be planned for. The weekend is three days away, there are so many things to be done before that. It also looks like it’ll be showery and cold. Then there’s meals to organise. Can’t just have a ham roll and a banana for lunch.

Sunday, 6th October, 2024

I organise the entries on this site by year and month folders, it doesn’t matter for the actual website, just the raw markdown files. Turns out I’d forgotten to make one for October and the last entries were in September’s folder.

Last night my friend and I were planning our trip to the Lake District next year for our collective birthdays. It’s a packed hiking trip, which will be fine for one guy - he does lots of mountain biking and is a ham - the other guy…he’s a working from home 100% of the time software dev who plays computer games on weekends! He does some activity and is definitely not fat at all, but it might be quite a lot for him. My aim is to get 100 points on the trip, probably across about 12-15 summits over 4 days.

I’m excited for the trip but it’s ages away and I want to go out now. So I’m grumpy today, and the kids are annoying me.

I cleared out the old dokuwiki and now it’s my radio wiki. Found a paste image plugin and so now it’s easy mode. Mostly going to use it for researching things, which I could do with tiddlywiki but I want to use dokuwiki.

Thursday, 3rd October, 2024

Did a big bike and hike of around 17 miles today. Beautiful weather and now I’m tired.

Monday, 30th September, 2024

Seems like this month I’ve skipped quite a few days vs. what I had been doing. I think it’s because I’m obsessed with SOTA and do nothing else but look at summits, and read the forums.

I spend a lot of time researching routes, and then maintaining a spreadsheet with estimate door to door durations of trips. This is so I can figure out if I have enough time to go to a summit after dropping the kids at school and needing to be back before something else occurs. I found the site plotaroute.com allows me to set my own walking speed and it tries to adjust for gradients. Previously I was using OSMaps and that has a much slower walking speed, and so I’ve ended up wasting time or missing out on good summits in the summer months because of it.

I’ve also just bought a mountain bike on the Cycle2Work scheme, so I can bike and hike some of the summits and save time that way. Of course I’ll do some commuting to work with it as well.

The spreadsheet works well, and is sort of my notes for the summits as well. When working out the route I usually break it down into sections but then when I’m walking it, I just want the whole thing as a single route. I’ve also bought a Garmin inreach mini 2. Mostly for safety but also to have something else besides my phone with the route on it. Bigger hills I’ll take a print out of the map - although I should probably get a real map with more of the area. Ideally a waterproof version. So I’ll want to load the route onto that device. I’m also tempted to get a smart watch (possibly not Apple) for the route too…but that is maybe excessive. I’ll have to pay a subscription to Garmin to use the sat network but it’s not too bad on the lowest tier and if I ever did need it, I’ll not care about the monthly subscription. I want to do some of the higher hills and it hopefully gives some reassurance to everyone.

I’m also thinking of planning some overnighters for next year. Where I drive down on a day, hike somewhere, stay overnight (in the car? or maybe in a cheap hotel 😅) then hike again the next day and drive home. Should get in a few big hills with this method but not upset the family unit too much…perhaps I’ll pitch the idea once a month say. Well I want somewhere to keep a track of these trips and I’ve started in tiddlywiki but it’s not great. I don’t know why. Feel like I lose it in there and then forget about it. Perhaps I should repurpose that dokuwiki instance that I think is kicking around somewhere to use for it. Seems the wiki subdomain of my radio blog is still on ikiwiki. I could use that but I think dokuwiki is more convenient. Espeically if I want to keep track of some private things as well.

I had an idea of making a SOTA related website. Either one for the WhatsApp group chat, showing our stats or something. A simple static page, probably having to use javascript to query the API and get some numbers. And also one which helps figure out what I’ve been trying to do, namely “how long will it take me?”. That one is more complex and likely too much for me. Other than being a searchable record of my own information. Perhaps I should add it to my blog posts in the table. The radio blog still has lots of scope for more pages and things but yet to do anything about that.

It’s funny I still have to proof read blog posts in a browser, rendered as the webpage before I see typos.

Maybe I should use my blog for planning sota trips, rather than some other website…

Friday, 27th September, 2024

The dinner out was okay in the end. A weird disco that no one danced at. But I think someone should’ve told the DJ it was a work thing with lots of different companies and we are all cosy together.

The local radio guys are going out to do a big hill on Sunday - think 3rd highest in U.K. that’s nearby. I want to go but I have the kids to look after. They’re all older than me with grown up kids that have left home, so can just do whatever. I’m trying not to be disappointed. The mountains aren’t going anywhere and I’ve got years and years to do enjoy them all.

Part of it is because I do want to get 1000 points to get the Mountain Goat Trophy. But the reality is, it’s going to take me several years (5?) to get there. I’m on 63 right now. However if I do rush (and do it in 3 years) will I get bored and move on? There’s also the fact that if I do it this year then I can also do it again next year for the points.

Plus it was a good social and I don’t want to miss out.

I have next Friday off…I wonder if I can do it or similar myself then. Back to my mapping tools that I spend forever on!

Thursday, 26th September, 2024

Been away a bit and had a lovely midweek radio hike up a Munro with some radio friends. Plus a good chat in the cafe afterwards. Weather was stunning.

Got an engineering association dinner tonight and I really cba with it. So much crap, awards and fund raising and terrible jokes. Just want a dinner with colleagues and the chat with drinks afterwards. Not sure why I signed up again, probably is forgotten about last year.

Sunday, 22nd September, 2024

I really want to make one of these.

Saturday, 21st September, 2024

I didn’t go on the hike this morning. I woke up at 6:15 and was too tired, probably best as need to pack up for our trip away this weekend.

Trying to figure out which books in the various series of Brandon Sanderson I’ve missed and need to catch up on. Mostly extensions to trilogies he’s written or extra books set in the same world. Problem is some of these books I read years ago and will I remember the world and what’s going on? Probably doesn’t matter too much, I’m sure I’ll remember the gist of it at least. Glad I’ve kept a track of which books I’ve read (although 2019 I seemed to have forgotten).

Can’t decide on this Garmin watch…it’s a good deal but do I need it…? (No but that’s not the issue). Will I use it? I’ll probably use it because I have it.

Friday, 20th September, 2024

I ordered a smock and trousers from Alpkit and they arrived today. Trousers are perfect (after worrying about the size), smock.. I’m not sure. Lots of the reviews said go a size smaller. Someone even listed their stats and they were almost the same as me and said get a small. So I did. It fits okay and I like it’s a snug fit, think that’ll be better for keeping warm on a summit. I just can’t help wondering if a medium would’ve been better.

I don’t want to send it back as it was a bargain. It had an extra £50 off and then some random on Reddit gave me a £50 voucher! They won’t let me just swap it, they’ll refund and then I’ll have to buy again. It’s probably fine and I’ve had too big coats in the past.

Maybe 15-20 years ago I got a Barbour jacket and I tried it on and was going with medium but then ended up getting a large in case I was wearing a big jumper under it. Thing is, it’s never the weather for a big jumper under it, and if it was, I’d be wearing ski gear. So I’ve never worn it. I think it might still be in the cupboard and I should give it away.

Debating if I can nip off at 6am tomorrow and do a summit or if that’ll be too annoying for everyone else. Meant to be quite foggy in the morning so might not be ideal driving.

Thursday, 19th September, 2024

Solar is all installed and online. Got the data into home assistant, which is nice as it shows more details than the app. Particularly of note is the string power, as we have two sets of panels facing different directions. The charts are a bit odd but I’ll gather some more days to see what happens. I’m not convinced the installer installed the optimisers but I could be wrong. Also I’m sure they were going to install bird netting too. However, we generate quite a lot, even for September. Need to get export meter sorted and then swap tariffs.

The Home Assistant integration has so many things. I could so all sorts. However, I don’t know what to do and have done nothing. And possibly will do nothing other than gather data and make a nice dashboard.

Actually I would like a dashboard to see what’s going on, the defaults are hard to see what is happening. That’s not too complex so I can probably manage it.

Took some working from home liberties and went out to a summit this morning and worked later. It was absolutely glorious weather. I was 721m above sea level and there was no wind, and perfect blue skies all around. Scraped by with my 4 2m contacts but that’s enough so that’ll do. I had to be back for a meeting, although it was 30 minutes later than I thought. However, that was good as gave me time for a cup of tea and get sorted out.

Tuesday, 17th September, 2024

Solar install kicked off yesterday. All the panels are up and now it’s the inverter and battery hook up. I’d cleared a space in the garage for them to go on the wall, annoyingly they put it right in the middle of the wall and not to one side, so it takes up more space than necessary. “Oh it’s great, shame it’s not 1ft to the left…”

The weather is so nice all week…ideal for climbing hills not going to work…

Wife has booked a trip away for anniversary/birthday, which is nice. It’s to the flat part of Scotland, but maybe that’s best else I’d want to go out all day 😅

There’s an Alpkit sale on, and people rave about their outdoor clothing. It’s pricy, or I think it is but probably it’s going rate for this sort of stuff, but the “big sale” is like 15% off maximum, sometimes less. Which I’ll take but I wouldn’t call it a big sale, also the usual out of stock of medium/regular. I guess I should stop being so average…

I joined the Lecia society back in … July 2022, paid my dues but never received a magazine. They only come out quarterly so it took me until March 2023 before I emailed - partially forgetting about it. They promised to send me some but then never got anything. All the magazines are available online and the password they gave me still works…they sent out a questionaaire trying to find out why so few people attended their AGM. Probably terrible communications.