Wednesday, 30th November, 2022

The internal (eternal?) struggle of cameras continues. Mail strikes means I can’t post anything until Friday, which is good and bad. The M10 is packed up and ready to go. I fretted about the letter I put inside as I didn’t specifically call out the delivery date and the 14 day period is from that, and the purchase date was about 5 days before hand. It’s easy to fix, I just add a note to the letter I wrote, yet I still tossed and turned in bed thinking about it.

It’s on track to be sent back and unless I change my mind, my brief ownership of a digital M has ended. I think it boils down to: (a) value and cost. I get just as good photos from my fraction of the price fuji and lenses - I just can’t justify it to myself. (b) when I use film, I love it, and I should be removing barriers to using film more, not adding them.

On the cost side, I also realised I’m being hypocritical to myself. I silently cast judgement about my parents spending habits, after hearing how they want to pay off their mortgage and stop working, yet they buy expensive (and to me unnecessary) things. I, too, would like to pay off my mortgage and stop having the requirement to work, and then here I am buying expensive and frankly unnecessary things. Everyone is free to do what makes them happy. Turns out a M10P did not make me happy.

What would make me happy was if I could judge the lighting in a situation without needing a lightmeter.

Even if you’re not, or ever going to be, a CTO this list is interesting.

Found another bottomless pit of interesting reading in these financial/life journals.

Started watching this mini-series on the BBC of Russia 1985-1999, “Living through the end of communism”. Just seeing life then is eye opening. Also the Russians trained dolphins to attack underwater with deadly spikes 😵‍💫

Tuesday, 29th November, 2022

“We’re meeting on the 7th of December”. “Oh that’s ages away” “No, it’s next week” 😲

I like elements of Early Retirement Extreme (ERE). Such as living below your means, producing things vs. consuming things - i.e. not having to spend money for entertainment, or spending money on tools or equipment rather than final things. I’d like to be good at practical things: home repairs, gardening, other skills. I like reusing things, selling stuff on, buying used, getting value from products. I like cycling and taking public transport. I also like not having too many things, it’s a burden on my mind, it’s distracting, it causes unnecessary decisions, it’s not a good use of money, stuff begets stuff.

As we have four kids, I feel like we’ve missed the mark on this, and have ended up having a big, expensive house, which comes with big bills and upkeep, and having so much stuff. Of course, we have lots of fun as a big family, so I just need to apply it to the things that make sense within that. Equally, being self-sufficient in areas will be even more impactful as a family of six. We did move to a location to be close to school and work, so that the kids can walk to school and I can cycle, we paid for it in the price of the house but it’s more enjoyable, so whatever.

Think I’m at 60% send it back, 40% keep it. 🔴😓

Monday, 28th November, 2022

I was migrating all my data from the old server to the new server and found a dokuwiki site contents I had from 2016 where I was making a “life” website which included a journal. Has some journal entries from 2016. I might move them to this site for prosperity. I’m glad I previously used dokuwiki as it was just a bunch of plain text files that I could easily read. Still wondering about using that again…I like the idea of everything all in one place, the ease of use via a web browser, with media manager, etc., plugins that make a blog work, and then access control for secret sections or even other users to access.

I just like tiddlywiki a lot as a wiki as the nature of tiddlers works really well.

Thinking about emailing the camera store to clarify the return process…just to know… why? because I can take nice photos without £5k worth of camera gear, and I still want to encourage myself to use film. But, I do like the camera…I looked up the Canon R5 and that is a very expensive camera. Not that it makes anything right.

BBC Sounds Short Cuts about ham radio.

In my old journal I found my “what I should do in 2017” post. Looks an awful lot like what I’m writing in my “what I should do in 2023” list. Least my ambitions haven’t changed…

I emailed the camera store. Put in a story about how I’m not sure about digital M vs. film M. Probably TMI, and should’ve just asked what’s the return address to use. Friend told me that it’s already bought now so just get on with it. 😅

I get wanting an easy point and shoot film camera. I like the look but don’t always want the light and focus work. Shame such a thing is no longer cheaply available.

hmm I wonder in the monthly archive pages work better in date or reverse date order. Maybe date order as you’d be reading them one after the other not looking at the latest and going backwards?

Sunday, 27th November, 2022

Took the M10 out today for a walk. Photos are nice, using it is like the M2. Whilst it does weigh more, I don’t really notice it, just feels like the M2. Still want a new strap for it.

Yeah, great camera. So…

I read several reddit posts or forums where someone has finally got a M10(-x) and they’re so happy.

Saturday, 26th November, 2022

I make no apologies for my chronic indecisiveness 😅

Speaking of which…cameras…

I was going to write a long back and forth that I’ve been having in my head all day, but I don’t want to relive it. I’ve still not really used it that much. I was meant to take it to dinner tonight but forgot it. The absolute biggest hurdle is cost of it. Just because I can, doesn’t mean I should.

These are the main factors which influence my decision:

• Sometimes I can’t be bothered with photography. I like having pictures and just want the easiest possible way for decent enough photos. This is where the fuji, 35mm f/1.4, a few film sims to flick between, EVF for exposure, and I skip raws. I’ve pretty much been doing this since I got my X100F in 2017. I always shot raw+jpeg but have never needed a raw.
• Film is better all round. When I can be bothered, I want film. It’s more work, but it’s engaging and simulating, and I love the output. Developing my own B&W is very time consuming but also a great experience and so rewarding.
• One lens mount - for film and digital. It’s nice.
• Small lenses - M lenses are that. The fuji’s aren’t much bigger but also APS-C.
• Value for money / bang for buck and “can I even tell the difference?”. I don’t like having expensive things around me. I worry about them being damaged, lost, broken, stolen, etc. I like value for money. Probably I should’ve bought the Voigtlander 50mm or the Canon 50mm LTM lens instead of the lux. The lux does also feel nice in the hand but not sure I can really tell or would notice the difference. I’m sure I could tell side-by-side but that’s never going to happen. I have bought expensive things. I got the X100F new, the X-E4 new, just that these were 1/3-1/4 of the price of the m10p.
• Simplicity in things. This one is mixed. The m10p couldn’t be a simplier camera, however, I can’t see it being my only digital camera and I sort of only want one.

There’s nothing stopping me from selling it in a few months time, it’s just super easy to send it back to the store within the next ~10 days and only be out by the return postage, and none of the hassle of selling a high value item. Interestingly I can only find 2 available across a whole bunch of stores, and those are £800 more than what I spent.

The m10 can never replace the x-e4, at best they are side by side cameras for different times. If I can get the joy from the m10 as I do with the m2 but then the convenience of digital then it should be a keeper. But then wasn’t I going all in with film?

Friday, 25th November, 2022

Finally got round to sorting out the new server. Migrating files to it from the old server and setting up all the services again. I will then install openmediavault on the old server and just have it as a backup device. Probably turn on once a week and run backups.

There are lots of little bits and pieces I need to move across. It also makes me very aware of some of the messy folders, like ebooks and random documents. I keep meaning to tidy them up and maybe migrate them to some cloud service as the master source, and backup from that.

Ideally I’d like to get a Terramaster NAS for my existing 4x4 TB ZFS array as you can easily install any OS on it and it’s a nice neat box. My current server is fine and is the cheapest solution, so this is really just a nice to have.

I’ve been wondering about dokuwiki…it could be my blog, wiki, private notes place all in one. The backend is plain text files.

I flit between return and sell the lot, go back to M2+35mm only, and keep it all.

I’m thinking the m10p could use a front grip, it’s heavy! That would make it very sturdy in the hand. So the keep it all, also includes buy a bunch of accessories!

Picked up an AppleTV today to replace the Roku in the lounge. Was going to go for Amazon Fire stick 4K max that is on sale but I’d rather the more neutral Apple interface and overpowered vs. Underpowered device. It’s much more expensive but I think nicer overall. Shame it doesn’t come with a HDMI cable though.

I set it up this evening and it’s so good. The Roku is a close second but the AppleTV just has a few nice extras. Plus photos being on it is good. I should add more to the photo stream so we see more things.

My wife is away this weekend and I quickly fall into bad habits of going to be super late, even though I’m looking after everyone this weekend.

Started looking at new TVs, OLED ones in particular. I decided not to get one and just wait a few more years for them to come down in price a little. I also looked at Xbox controller to play games on the new AppleTV with….but I’m never going to do that, so why bother. They’re on sale but still, just a waste of money and other plastic/electronic junk thing in the house.

Thursday, 24th November, 2022

Sister in law dropped her Apple Watch (that was for her birthday a few months ago) and it smashed. Apple will charge £190 to fix it. 😢 another reason why I like £10 Casio.

It arrived. 🔴 Courier was really late so I only fiddled with it for a bit last night. It’s heavy! About 100 g more than the M2, which was already a heavy camera. Now makes the M2 feel light!

There’s a big feeling of buyer’s remorse, and a strong desire to just send it right back. I’m pretty much on paragraph one.

It is amazingly simple. The menu is tiny compared to all other digital cameras I’ve used, and when you’re shooting it’s just the same as a film camera. I suppose I’ve been using an EVF for a long time now and the difference is noticeable.

I’ve taken two shots. One trying to focus the 50mm at f/1.4 with the rangefinder (I missed) and one using live view. Live view works really well though. Turn the focus on the lens and it zooms in and does peaking. A lot quicker than the same on my fuji. I don’t really want to use live view but it’s nice that it’s there.

I don’t like the leather strap it comes with.

I’ll take it with me this weekend and take lots of photos.

It also probably doesn’t help that I’ve been feeling a bit meh about photographing recently. Take the fuji, point and shoot, look at on computer then do something else. Not interested in editing, haven’t put them online, don’t really know what to do with them.

It looks good though 😅

Write by hand, and you’ll remember it better, I agree…until it’s 1/2/3…6…30 months later.

Federated book chatting.

I can’t decide what to do about my other blog. Sometimes I think about just deleting it. It causes me more angst than joy. I have some nice blog posts in it, but I never write in it. I much prefer writing here. I do like reading other people’s blogs and seeing all the things they get up to, so assume the same for mine. I just struggle to find the time or motivation to write things. I suppose I can just leave the blog and add to it whenever I feel like it. It’s not really going anywhere.

The M10P is a tricky one. I think a big part of what makes it tricky is that I’ve been taking a lot of nice photos of the kids with the Fuji X-E4 and the 35mm f/1.4. So then I ask myself, why not just use that? Instead of the …gulp… £5k I’ve dropped on the camera and 50mm lux. It is only day one, and I have about 14 before I can return it question free…the lens not so much, that I would have to sell. It is a very different camera. Very different, and I’m going to use it in different circumstances so maybe that’s okay. Let me try and write something positive on the blog - use it and get happy for this camera. Also taking photos of myself in the mirror in the evening isn’t exactly the test I’m looking for.

My kids like taking photos with the cameras and I’ll gladly hand it to them, but this? Now I’m not so sure. They’re generally careful but sometimes when they’re done they’ll “drop” it on the floor. It’s not quite a drop but it’s not placed down nicely. The upside to the silver m10p (and partially whilst I chose it) is that generally everyone will think it’s my film camera and so not worry.

I also tell myself that it’s not that expensive…some people buy Teslas or Porsches etc.

Wednesday, 23rd November, 2022

The third feature is the “DATA BANK function,” which permits the use of this computer as an “electronic memo pad.” Unlike a paper memo pad which requires laborious efforts later to put the individual entries in order or retrieve them, this computer performs such work quite simply.

From the manual of the Casio FX-730P, personal computer that I bought on ebay. Needs new batteries.

I know about this one.

Tuesday, 22nd November, 2022

I like TickTick’s task completion summary. I’m sure everything does this but this is the first time I’ve noticed it. I can set a date range and list or tags filter and it shows what I completed during that time. Makes a nicely formatted list that I can then copy and paste into an email for my boss each week. Today the CEO asked me to do something which probably took me 2 hours, so I added that task afterwards and ticked it off. Most likely by the end of the week I’d have forgotten about it, and there was only my sent email to remind me of it.

This could also be useful for myself at home and things I want to do. Should I ever write up monthly summaries or something.

The remote on our roku seems to have issues and drains the battery in hours. There’s nothing to do to fix it. I want to get an AppleTV to replace it, but they’re not cheap and 99% of the time it’s just playing Netflix or iPlayer etc. The Apple-ness is only really going to be Photos. Then that isn’t great unless I go for Apple storage as well to keep all the photos. Shared Albums are ok but photos are limited to 2048 pixels, which is perfectly fine when everyone is looking at them on their phone but not sure it looks that great on the TV.

I do have plex which has photos although not as good? Not sure, haven’t used it in a long time. I wonder how it would do if I pointed it at all my photos. I have it pointed at the folder with the photos for the static album. The web interface is fine, although sorting doesn’t work but I think that’s as I’ve processed some of the photos recently and so it gets confused on date taken? Pointed it to 2022’s photos and will see what it does….a lot of processing I suspect…

Anyway, in which case might as well get a device that the company is subsidising. Like Google Chromecast or Amazon fire stick as they can be had for next to nothing. Especially this week.

Amazon stick is probably even better as you can see Amazon Photos which I have backing up everything as it’s included in Prime.

However, the reason I’m on Roku is that it’s a nice independent system and doesn’t try and force paid for stuff on you. Which Amazon will most likely do. hmm…

Monday, 21st November, 2022

Had to get the bus to work today. Typically one went by as I was walking down to the stop - the road I come from is down from the stop. The next one was full…the next one was almost full. Then two stops later all the school kids get off. Now I know to go further down and get on after them.

Ended up getting to work an hour later than I normally start.

Started listing my 2023 things. Usual stuff of sleeping well, exercising regularly, reading more and journaling. For me the first one is what underpins it all. Not that I still won’t be tired at times but going to bed too late never helps me. I think I need to recognise when I’m tired better, and get off the computer and read a book or even watch a film or TV. In my head watching TV/movie is “a waste” of time, but spending the whole evening looking at nothing online is no better.

Thinking I want to make use of this site more. I like plain text entry and I’ve got nice ways of adding things on whatever device I’m on. Not sure exactly what I want to add, but maybe make a notebook page and then just link everything off that. See if I can remember how I did the flexbox CSS stuff to edit the “menu”. I remember it being a bit confusing and not working how I expected. This comes from not actually reading any docs and just fiddling with it in Chrome inspector then updating the CSS from that.

Another tricky thing for 2023 is going to be “spending less time on the computer”. Whilst wanting to do some programming projects at the same time…but maybe I’m suffering from trying to do too much.

Subscribed to lightroomCC. was on offer on Amazon for half price for the year. I also had some gift credit from returning the broken light box, so I only paid £5 today.

It’s good and I should like it. I just get exhausted thinking about editing photos.

The Fuji Acros sim and the 35mm f/1.4 are a cracking pair. I just want to use them all the time.

Added a little notebook. Not sure where/if there should be a menu to it.

Oh I also want to use the typewriter more, and generally write to people more.

Sunday, 20th November, 2022

I’m wondering if I can just use Apple Notes and Reminders instead of TickTick. Yes I can is the answer but am I missing out on anything? The most obvious is the TickTick web app is a lot nicer than the Apple web apps for when I’m at work or on my windows desktop.

TickTick has habit tracking (which I don’t need but it’s nice seeing run streaks) and 10 dimensions per task. Again, don’t need but nice know it’s there. Maybe if I was macOS at home I’d consider it more.

Now I’m wanting a 28mm elmarit! 🤷😵‍💫

Amplenote…🤔💭 Why do I need more options. Also watching videos about ticktick or Amplenote or whatever is a dangerous path into the world of Productivity🌈⭐

I stopped distracting myself and focused on learning/remembering ticktick’s features. I has a nice immersive note taking mode. Also stopping looking at endless “hacks and effiencies” and just writing in stuff.

Saturday, 19th November, 2022

I’ve either made a great decision or a terrible one. 🔴

With new iOS, TickTick has lots of great widgets and Lock Screen stuff (perhaps too many to choose from) which is appealing to use and I feel like will make things more maintainable. Some need premium subscription to use, which is fine, but feel like I need to watch some videos on using it to see it all.

I liked the app before and these just add to it.

Friday, 18th November, 2022

Started thinking about 2023’s goals and what I want to do. Mostly as I think everything I used to do has fallen apart and I don’t do anything. Mostly it’s me not sticking to stuff but there is an element of not having something to help me do it. I do this every time, and get sucked into software and tooling. I’d like to build a custom app to manage it, which would be fun, but not really the point. It makes me want to find a product that I just as is and don’t even have to manage self hosting.

So I come back to dynalist. I really like the app and you get a lot of functionality for free, plus if I do want it they usually have a Black Friday sale on the pro subscription. I started digging into the forums (which are very sadly quiet given the focus on Obsidian) and realised that task stuff in it is quite clunky. It has good functionality but I think more for projects vs. Daily habits. I do still use dynalist for a small selection of lists, like wish list etc.

One app I’ve used previously is tick tick. It’s a todo app but it’s quite extensive in features. Lots of lists and lots of dimensionality with metadata. I might kick start using that again as I think a todo app with list functionality is better than a list app with todo functionality.

No doubt things will end the same way as they always do. As in I start well but then it all falls apart. I think limiting my computer time will be a big improvement. My wife tells me she’s read 51 books so far this year. Not really sure how many I have read as I don’t know where I’ve been keeping my book list. Seems to have got lost in the blog migration. I think a dedicated books subdomain would be useful.

Thursday, 17th November, 2022

I spent too long looking at M10-R. I’ve tried to question myself on why I want the R. It’s hard to ignore all the threads where people say “if I were getting one now it would be the R”. Supposedly the sensor is better and has more dynamic range and blah blah. Plus the obvious 40 MP. I don’t think I’ll be able to tell the difference, or be shooting in situations where my pictures would be “ruined” by not having that extra. Thinking about my D40 last night did make me de/reconsider the R. It pretty much ends up being £2k more than the regular M10. Which is a lot for stuff that I probably won’t notice. Better off buying a 35mm lux for other improvements that I won’t notice 😅

I still do want the P, mostly for looks more than anything, but is that worse?!

I’m tempted by this one from the Mayfair Leica store. It’s got a few nicks on the body but it’s by far the cheapest M10 I’ve seen all year. I think there was one cheaper on eBay but that didn’t come with 6 months warranty. I don’t like the 🔴 but it’s not that bad, maybe I’ll cover it, or just embrace it. It might be my bias, but I’d think the Leica store would sell good gear, that’s been functioned tested and checked by individuals experienced with Leica cameras.

I worry that we’ll spend a fortune on the kitchen and I won’t care whatsoever. There are some features which will be nice to have but is it worth the price? But there’s no options on pricing so it is what it is. I think having moved and lived in 8 houses in 10 years has left me not caring about decor and furniture etc. It needs to be functional but don’t care about fancy. I just spend all my money on cameras 😎

A small ginger cat arrives on my terrace every afternoon, to curl up in the sun and slumber peacefully for a couple of hours.

When he awakes, he gets on his feet with minimum effort, arches his back and walks away as he had come. The same spot every day, the same posture, the same pace. There may be better spots—sunnier, quieter, frequented by birds that can be hunted when the cat is rested and restored. But there is no guarantee, and the search will be never-ending, and there may rarely be time to sleep after all that searching and finding.

It occurs to me that perhaps the cat is a monk. By this I do not mean anything austere. I doubt anyone in single minded pursuit of enlightenment ever finds it. A good monk would be a mild sort of fellow, a bit of a sensualist, capable of compassion for the world, but also for himself. He would know that it is all right not to climb every mountain.

A good monk would know that contentment is easier to attain than happiness, and that it is enough.

• A Book of Simple Living: Brief Notes from the Hills, Ruskin Bond

Wednesday, 16th November, 2022

The kitchen planner measured our room incorrectly and so the design doesn’t fit. I noticed when I came home from work and a new false ceiling was being built and it only left about 1.5 ft between it and the wall. This would be mirrored by the units on the ground and so it was way to close. Ugh. Lots of stress last night, and we both slept badly thinking about it. The kitchen company were quick to edit it and order the right parts, our joiner does have some rework (which I guess we’ll have to pay for) but was very helpful in figuring it out. It changes the design and makes it smaller, which is disappointing as we’d seen the 3D renders of it bigger. Also question is it going to be worth it? Well too late now anyway as the old kitchen is gone! Big bonus is still going to be the new window which will make it all a lot lighter. Just close my eyes to the price we’re paying for the reshuffling of new units.

I knew it would be fine, but doesn’t stop us worrying about it.

Made lots of jokes with people at work about how we didn’t do design reviews, and now changing the scope in construction. All classic project management errors.

I have an extremely first world problem. A project I was working on did well, and we all got a little bonus for it. After tax, it’s probably the best part of a M10…but I still can’t decide if I should buy one. Aside from someone giving me one, I’m not sure how much closer I can get to buying one. I swing between “this kitchen ain’t cheap, put it towards that”, “don’t let it disappear, get the M10”, “put it towards a M10-P/R 😈”. Ugh. Why can’t I decide anything…

Actually I know, it’s because I’m not sure if the M10 is worth the price tag, regardless of if I have money for it or not. Although I do read no end of comments on /r/leica on how people started with film and then got a M10 and loved the combo.

I was also surprised to find the Leica Mayfair store was actually quite reasonable in used prices, and some models even came with 2 year warranty!

</ridiculous problems>

Tuesday, 15th November, 2022

An interesting HN discussion on the Twitter buyout.

Got my blog backfilled with all the old posts on Ghost now. What a lot of activity I did for it. Yet have nothing new to show. I’m also looking for a nice way to write posts from my phone, I’m sure some app must have a nice integration (that doesn’t require a subscription).

Our builders found the water pipes run right where we want the new window in the kitchen. They just nip to the hardware store, and come back in the evening and bosh it around. That sort of thing would take me two days to deal with. Hence I never do anything like that at home.

Monday, 14th November, 2022

Kitchen remodel has started today. So we’re living out of the other rooms and eating our way through the freezer meals prepared in advance. Builders are quick, old kitchen gone already!

Moved main blog to ghost. It’s lovely to write in and easy to do quick posts with pictures. Still worry about the longevity of it, but I suppose better to worry about future conversions of blog posts vs. maintaining integrity of nothing whatsoever.

Sunday, 13th November, 2022

I’m looking after most of the kids myself today, and wasted the free time I have whilst they watch TV/devices after lunch by watching Peter Kay on YouTube. He’s funny so I laughed a lot but not what I was meant to be doing.

Thinking of moving my main blog to ghost, although I think that’s just an excuse to mess about without doing anything.

Saturday, 12th November, 2022

So many interesting old radio related pictures and materials from the Cambridge amateur radio website.

Friday, 11th November, 2022

I’ve been away from blogs for a while and haven’t setup the ghost ghost blog. However, when I do look at the ghost one I have, I like the look and ease of use of it. I made a self portraits page and it was so easy. I spent some time looking for the photos but then just dragged and dropped into the editor. If it were a static I just would’ve bothered. It wouldn’t be much more work but enough that I won’t do it.

I have several draft posts in various states of draft in my current blog but they’re never getting written at this rate. Mostly as (to me) they rely on the photos to make them work, and so I just don’t do it as I’d always rather be doing something else.

At some stage I’ll sort it all out…

That M10-R on ebay sold. Now I regret not buying it? Before I had a choice, now I don’t and I don’t like tit (even if I’m never going to chose to buy it). I read too many “-R is so much better and worth it” posts. I should search for “M10 is perfect and all you need” psots instead. Still a sucker for the nice looks of the -P.

Need a new light table thing now. It’s hard not buying the same one, as when it worked it was great, but then it did fail so that’s not a good sign.

I respect technical excellence, clever solutions, details in design, efficient, smart solutions but bosses only ever want things delivered on schedule. You can craft great solutions or you could pay someone else to do something dumb but works and the manager would praise the one that happened first.

Had a rage into my work log today. There is a theme and I knew what it was. It’s just sad seeing it when I look back at what I’ve written.

Thursday, 10th November, 2022

I started making a jupyterbook online lab book but got distracted and haven’t done anything in a few days. It’s just a static book-style site generator. Does have some nice stuff for using jupyter notebooks but not sure if I will really use those. CI builds it all for me which is nice, so I just update markdown pages.

There is a “good value” M10R on ebay at the moment, also in great condition.

Hooked up our new smart electric and gas meters into Home assistant, and it’s cool to see it all together. I’ve not made suitable graphs to really see the correlations between things. Need to figure out Grafana and all that.

Tuesday, 8th November, 2022

I want the look of film but the speed of digital. Does that exist? Is it digital M? or is it just more patience with film?

Crappy lightbox overheated and killed itself. We did return a hand mixer to amazon that was bought nearly a year ago, so I’m hopeful they’ll take this back too. Other than it dying, it was a nice lightbox, where I could set the colour temperature, it had a battery and you could mount it too. Today I did turn it to 100%, so maybe that’s the learning.

Monday, 7th November, 2022

Spent ages last night trying to work out why my Caddy reverse proxy wasn’t working with Home Assistant (via docker). Turns out that each docker compose file sets up its own network between the containers. Historically, I’ve just used one docker-compose.yml file for everything but this time I thought I’d try multiple ones for different use cases, e.g. smart home things, games, web sites, etc. which does work fine except then I need to manage the networks between them if I want them to communicate. As that seems unnecessary complication, I combined them all back into a single one and now it works just fine.

There has been a lot of configuration of home assistant which I need to write down somewhere else I’ll forget what I did.

But now I can see my setup anyway, and continue fiddling with dashboards and other stuff no matter where I am!

Caddy is very easy to use too. Much more so than nginx and especially more so than Traefik.

Thinking of setting up another ghost blog as a “ghost blog” 😅 to my main site to help me decide if I want to go all in or not.

Saw a video of a guy with a Fujifilm XF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens on his X-E4. I’d have thought it would be ridicolus, but actually it wasn’t and now I want one. Fuji describe it as compact and lightweight, weighs 588g - not bad.

Saturday, 5th November, 2022

This video has reminded me why I wanted to get a M10 and nothing younger in digital. Probably a plain M10 is just fine, even if I want the -P… The guy also has some nice Voigtlander lenses. A 21mm f4 would be fun every now and again. However, he’s also gone for the classic Leica 35mm lux, 50mm lux and 28mm elmarit.

His summary is he has two cameras, one was purchased for logic (his X-H2S) and one was purchased for emotion (M10). This is exactly how I feel about them. Logically, my X-E4 is the best camera for me - amazing performance, great sensor, ISO, fast tracking, good lenses for reasonable prices, small, etc. etc. But emotionally, I want a M10. I want the joy of using the camera and then seeing the results I have with the M2, but with the convenience of digital. I want to get more use from the more interesting M mount lenses. I’m never going to be buying the M10 because it takes superior pictures, it’s because it’s the experience of using it.

I’ve been thinking about redoing the film simulation presets I have in my camera. I’ve used a lot from fujixweekly. It’s a good site and particularly if you’re trying to match films closely. I’ve found several rely on heavy grain and/or negative clarity. Whilst they do make nice pictures, in some situations, I don’t really want to be applying “defects” to my digital jpegs immediately. Now maybe some shots would be nice with it, but when it’s digital I quite like it being clean and crisp. So I’ve been looking for some others, well thinking about some others. I have a standard colour and standard B&W that I use most of the time. I now have a film scanning preset, so that leaves 4 slots remaining. What I’ve found is that I enjoy presets depending on the lighting (sounds obvious but only just realising). For example, in bright, harsh sun of summer holidays in France, I really like the bright colours with slight yellow white balance to them - made them like summer pop! Similarly when shooting on overcast, grey days, I like the fuji 200 film sim style (minus the grain etc.) as it gives some green to the scene when otherwise it feels bland, but at the same time being quite a low contrast look. So I think I’m going to find some presets that suit the various weather types or locations I often visit. I’ve got sun and rain, not sure what else I want but will try some others out and see.

If I want Portra 400, I’ll just use the actual film.

Why did I read this. I’d almost forgotten my wanderings down MFT lane.

Friday, 4th November, 2022

I still want to have an easy-mode Wordpress site that’s more photo based than my blot blog. But then I still don’t like it. Images aren’t that hard on blot but Wordpress does make nice galleries and auto do lots of things with pictures.

However, there’s nothing stopping me from having MORE blogs (although I don’t like that either).

The effort usually isn’t in the writing or sorting out images, it’s in starting. Once I start I’m not bothered about editing an image, resizing, or compressing it, and it doesn’t take that long.

I’d thought about doing a monthly write up for October, which I consider each end of month but then a few weeks go by and the month is too far away to remember. I could do it on my main site. I often wonder about sharing more information online. Why? Well I’ve seen some sites where people share almost everything about themselves and it is interesting but there’s still probably some balance. I enjoy personal finances and find it interesting to see what other people spend on stuff. I’ve thought about summarising that for me online. Partially to make me do it for myself. If I have this imaginary audience holding me accountable then I do it, vs. the once or twice a year I’ll have a look. However, that feels like a bit too much information.

I should setup a RSS feed reader server to keep places I find. Don’t need to necessarily always read them but a good place to store them and my preferred way vs. a bookmark service.

I keep forgetting that I have two Oracle free VPSs. They’re decently spec’d as ARM processors, and therefore you get loads of RAM and SSD for free? Anyway, as long as the package is in the repo it runs great. So a LEMP server it should be? There’s a risk they bin the free tier but so what if they do.

Installed Ghost, it’s nice but wondering if I’d prefer Wordpress instead…? Also thinking of making a super all in blog, vs. having separate ones. I’d still keep this one, but rather than having a photos one and another one, just have one.

Also thinking of doing more journal posts, with photos of things we’ve been doing. Mostly for myself to look at easily vs. browsing through folders of photos. Can add some commentary. Although now it’s starting to creep into DayOne journal space and I don’t want more stuff to have to write in. Maybe it should just replace my Photo album site with this instead, space for a few comments but not much. Not sure about EXIF but doesn’t really matter, can always just write in what it is myself.

This is neat

If I buy a Ricoh GR3, I think I’d go for the x as I do have a ~28mm on my phone which I always have.

Uploading photos via iCloud.com is painful. Always seems to drop 1-3 photos, which then takes ages to figure out what is missing. Also if I upload to a new album, it will upload all the photos but not all of them will be added to the album 🙄 if you go to recents then they’re all there and you can drag them to the album but it’s annoying. Puts me off going into iCloud without a mac desktop machine. I keep meaning to try the iPad but never get to it…maybe I’ll try now…

Wednesday, 2nd November, 2022

Leciaphilia is such a good blog. I’ve waned away from a digital Leica over the past few days again, as I feel like I’m throwing more money into it and not really sure why. Well one reason is that I spent £2k on a lens and using it with HP5 isn’t getting the most from it. lol £2k…my entire fuji setup is probably just about £2k. I took a nice shot of all of us trick or treating on Halloween with the Fuji (in B&W for the high ISO) and it’s lovely. However maybe I need to go all the way and actually get the digital M. Tim makes me think I should go for the M-P 240…

I was considering Wordpress last night, entirely for the ease of adding photos to the blog. This morning I remembered that I don’t like it, no matter how easy it is. Maybe I should find something that’s easy so I get a rest bite from the plain text efforts.

Shit just got serious.

I like this blog, it’s easy and I like the funny look of it. But I never put photos on it and that makes me sad a little. However, in some ways it’s meant to just be an online diary for writing in. Just text - it’s quick and I can do it anywhere. There’s no messing about with images.

I have my main site, on blot, which does make images easier, so maybe just use that? I’ve been tempted to move away to a static blog but then I still have the hassle of images. I’ve been tempted by Wordpress again for it’s ease. Just drag and drop images, write stuff and away we go. Blot isn’t exactly hard though. If I’m running wordpress then I’m paying somewhere - a VPS, wordpress.com, some other hosting or my own server. I don’t like running public stuff on my server as I want to take it down or do whatever I want to it. I run personal things on it but that’s it. I should just use Blot and pay the £4/month for it. I buy some sweets from the shop and it’s 4 quid. It’s not quite plain text but all my stuff is in plain text, which is a whole lot nicer than a wordpress database. I have 26GB of Dropbox storage for free, so that’s a lot of photos I can keep on it before I start having to worry.

I cycled home in the pouring rain and gales after work, made me exhausted and a bit run down feeling.

The new X-T5 is back to a small size, (although not as small as the X-T1 in width but generally similar to the X-T2 size) which is nice. What’s nicer is the screen is NOT flip out!! Now 40 MP like the X-H2, and IBIS. A great upgrade from a X-T2…if I had one and need unnecessarily large MP. But here’s me looking at a 10 year old digital Leica with zero features and a sensor that an iPhone can out do, which costs MORE than a brand new X-T5. Am I deluded?

I printed a few photos from our holiday, only a tiny selection and took out the large moleskin which I bought …January?…to make a photo journal. Still yet to put anything in it…😅 Each time I’m worried I’ll “mess it up”, but I know I just need to start. I want it to be photos I like, which often end up being ones that never get printed or in the album. They also, more often than not, end up being black and white. Which brings me full circle to considering a monochrom camera (but I can’t do it…just convert in camera or with software). When people compare photos side by side from a monochrom and regular I can see the difference (which I think is rare, as often I can’t see what people are talking about when comparing lenses or cameras), but without the comparison I still enjoy the photo anyway.

Stop watching videos about the M10M.

Looking forward to working from home tomorrow.

Tuesday, 1st November, 2022

The presentation at the conference went fine and in was much worse in my head. I just stood up and started talking. Probably at Lorelai Gilmore speeds but seemed fine. I don’t really know what the point was, of the whole conference. It was either suppliers peddling their wares, or operators saying how good they’re doing. The Q&A was terrible, at best they’d be two questions and zero discussion. One presentation was useful from a guy I know, but I could’ve just asked him over for lunch and got the same benefit. In fact I will still do that as no doubt get even more.

Maybe I’m not the conference type…to network…I just spoke to the people I already know and then ignored the rest. I spotted several people who looked familiar and no matter how hard to tried to discretely read their name tag I couldn’t. I could’ve introduced myself and found out but I was mostly interested in working out where I’ve seen them before. Most likely some online webinar thing. One lady looked really familiar but the company she was with made it seem hard to believe she’d been in any webinars that I would’ve as our work is so different. I looked her up on linkedin and saw she does painting and photography, film too, so I’ve seen her profile on flickr and random places. If I’d know we could’ve talked about that instead 😅

My spare reel arrived today, is used but in mint condition. It has a stamp inside that says 14 Feb 1977, and on the front Best keep. I still have one roll of B&W to develop and two to scan.

I can’t be bothered to do anything though. Need to pick up the home automation stuff again before I forget what I did and have yet to write it down. The new server feels like a hassle still. Not sure what I want to setup on it, was about to install a RSS reader but do I need it? I suppose there’s things I like to read but the more I aggregate the more time I spend reading stuff online. Whereas if I have to remember to go there then I spend less time on it…