Friday, 3rd February, 2023

I really like Jack’s post about book reading and note taking. I have several non-fiction books I want to read and then actually learn from, or at least have something to quickly remember from. I started using a notebook for this but then having all the books’ notes bound together in a notebook wasn’t useful. I also tried writing notes in Apple Notes on my phone or in my wiki on Tiddlywiki. This was better but I find these get lost or it’s too much hassle to type whilst reading.

At university, I’d sit at a desk, read a book and make paper notes. Now my desk has a computer on it and it’s hard to resist its siren calls. Another table in the house would be useful to use, maybe the kitchen table. Although, I would like to sit in a nice arm chair and read and make notes. This is what I did with the computer based notes and I was just using my phone and it was horrible. Maybe a pad or something to lean on would work. These are minor details I’m faffing over.

I should do this, specifically the writing down on paper part, but not in a notebook. I can take a photo of the notes if I’m worried I’ll lose them

Finally sold my fuji 60mm macro lens. It’s been listed for sale since November. Seems like the volume is very low and if you aren’t the cheapest no-one even looks. I now need to decide if I want a different macro lens (perhaps a manual Laowa or something) or a dedicated 35mm film scanner, like a Plustek 8200 etc. I now have everything for mirrorless camera scanning but it always feels like an ordeal with 100 steps. The plustek is slow but more straight forward, and you get the results straight away without further faffing in lightroom etc.

I like giving out Creme Eggs to people at work in the run up to Easter. Mostly as an excuse for me to eat them too. Amazon was selling a box of 48 for £19.20, so I went for it! Pretty much half the price of buying them individually. I just have to be restrained on the number that I eat myself! Doing okay so far, eaten 3 and given away 11 since getting them on Monday.

Wow, someone emailed me asking what happened to a blog post I wrote in 2016 about beancount. I dug it out and put it back on my blog for them. I think it’s mostly still relevant, although stuff about pythonanywhere might have changed.

I’m a traitor…I’ve just packaged up four rolls of HP5 to get developed and scanned at the lab. Maybe my feeble excuse is I also just packaged up my macro lens so I couldn’t possibly develop my own. Another excuse is that my kitchen tap still doesn’t work and we have to use the one in the utility room and this is where I’d normally do the developing. It means there are dishes and cooking stuff in there. I could tidy that away first…These rolls are from Christmas and maybe even before then. I just want them developed and done. It’ll be quite the expense but they loom over me and I just want them processed. 🤷‍♂️

Packaging up the macro lens made me want to get rid for more things…such as three film cameras I never use…but also just random bits and pieces that clutter everywhere. Things that somehow don’t have homes and just sit on the shelf being annoying. A ridiculous split mechanical keyboard I built but have never, and will never, use. The old Google home mini, camera straps I won’t use, cables I should put away, just stuff. Maybe a tidy up would help too but I want it gone. Maybe into a box and then into the garage will suffice, until the day I want to setup the workbench in the garage.

Bought this book used for £2 after watching Beck Tench’s Tech Bench. Her house is so cool. She is too. Maybe I’ll send her a random email.

I’m enjoying Game Pass. It’s like renting video games from Blockbuster again. If it’s crap, doesn’t matter, try something else. Even found a roguelike that I actually like. Vampire Survivor. Normally I can’t stand roguelikes. Dying and starting from zero again? I haven’t got time for that. This one lets you upgrade and unlock things, so it’s more like completing a level and moving on. Maybe after a while I’ll get annoyed and bored with it but then I’ll just move onto something else! Bethesda are bringing out a new IP - Starfield. After 25 years of Elder Scrolls and Fallout, they’ve made something new. A space RPG. Looks enormous. You can even build ships and fly to different planets. Plenty to play!