Here we are. The last day of 2024. Think I’m feeling a bit poorly now.
I watched some MacBook 12” from 2017 on eBay as I quite like them. Someone made me an offer for a decent one for £200. But it’s a 7/8 year old laptop with a feeble cpu at the time. Perhaps running Linux on it would be a good option but then why am I spending £200 on it. Better off getting an intel 10th gen via a thinkpad for less than £200. The “smartest” solution would be a M4 Mac mini. But I still have to remind myself why am I buying this?
I did buy Path of Exile 2 early access after watching some videos say it was the best ARPG they’ve played recently. This was at 10pm last night after debating it endlessly, and so by the time it downloaded I really should’ve been going to bed!
Feels like the house is exploding with things after Christmas and everyone is back and just dumps it all out everywhere. I’ve managed to sort out the clothes and unpack them but not touched anything else. 😮💨
I’ve never made a post on here (at least not that I can remember) where the title isn’t the date and it’s just a journal entry. I wonder what it would look like and if it would do for Blog Posts™️. Let’s try…
Well that worked well. I just have to make sure I get the datetime syntax right in the metadata. I guess I’ll do this from now on. I have wondered if there’s a way to make a list of all the posts with titles that aren’t dates, for future reference, without resorting to additional metadata. Although adding something like fav: true in the header isn’t exactly a big deal.
Well 30 seconds later via chatgpt and I have an answer. Currently, on articles page, you will get a list of posts that aren’t titled as journal entries. So I can find them again if I want. I’m really enjoying this web site, and want to tinker and add little improvements here and there. I haven’t enjoyed a blog this much in a long time. I’ve got a list of a few things I want to add to the main design, namely a small menu, so stuff can be found vs. remembering urls. You never know, I might even write some BlogPosts! Well, by that I mean copy over my old ones…even if I never write another post, I will be satisfied knowing there is somewhere to write one. But now I’ll play Path of Exile 2 until 2025…although I should go to bed early as I’m still borderline a bit unwell.
I’ve moved the original page here as it was too chatty for a permanent page and I’ll write a summary shortly.
Into 2025 🥌
I keep thinking about writing this, as in what I want from next year, but have yet to do anything. In classic procrastination style I went off on tangents about blogging platforms or which app or is it private or public etc. and I need to cut all that and just write it. I need to be brutal. Stop excessive faffing and things that waste time and thought processes. Bin stuff that I don’t need or doesn’t help. Ask myself why am I doing this and then question is that really a good reason.
I can decide and I can act. It’s just not always easy - but why can’t it be?
Like… don’t go on YouTube. “But I learn things from it.” Do I? Or do I watch a video about something then watch 10 more or not even watch anything but just browse the home page hoping something interesting shows up.
I don’t need a blog. This site I like, as I just chatter away. However, a site where I write a title and tags and 2,000 words. Nope. Not necessary. I can still write 2,000 words here if I want to. Maybe if I find something useful on my radio blog I’ll write it down. Every week the top visited post is configuring a radio on a digital mode - which was a pain, so I wrote it for myself.
Harder things like “running a home server”. Probably mostly unnecessary but I find it hard to be without. Plex mainly. Home assistant - unnecessary for me.
Really get rid of things. Sell stuff, give it away if I can’t sell it. Bin it. Things that have been in drawers years but never used, they should go. Clear out clothes.
Another hard one: Home ham radio station. It’s been down since August and I’ve not put it up. I do sort of miss it but only very occasionally. I love using the radio outdoors and perhaps that’s where it should be. Although I worry this is a fad and I’ll want a home setup. The wife hates wires in the garden and I get that. Shame we don’t have trees. I do think that I should just use it outdoors now and then in years to come when we downsize and move elsewhere, to pick somewhere that is ham radio friendly. Maybe then I’ll be more inclined to operate at home.
This is turning into a random list. What do I want?
Not to waste time on dumb shit. Dumb shit is entirely whilst I’m on the computer, typically of an evening. So either get off the computer, get rid of the computer or be proactive in using it. Playing games is better than dumb shit. It’s like a good movie but interactive, or it’s problem solving and just generally enjoyable. Or do more 3D print designs (more being more than nothing whatsoever) or LEGO Studio designs.
Tracking finances. Tricky one. The brutal answer is: don’t buy shit, maximise tax efficient savings. Job’s done. Don’t need 56 categories for transactions for that. Perhaps a compromise is a monthly tracking of account a balances, and credit card statements. That tells me in vs out.
I was about to say maybe I need to make a list of these things. But why? Just be brutal when something comes up.
Also write weekly summaries at work for myself. As I forget everything and the boss likes it.
My sister in law got a rocket book for Christmas. She said it was cheaper than remarkable and would see how the electronic nature of it went. I never used mine. The pen, water sprayer and rubbing things out was annoying. It could be clever but I cba with that. Just a regular pen and paper is fine.
A friend has started playing Stardew Valley and says how addictive it is and how they love it. I’ve had it since release…coming up 10 years now…and yet to get past day two in game. I’m sure I’d love it but I can’t seem to get going with it.
I do remember last year saying I should play more games. Because it’s better than mindlessly browsing the Internet or watching crap on YouTube. I haven’t done a great job of that, although I have spent a very long time planning walking routes and making my spreadsheet of hills and schedules.
I might change the CSS on my main site to match this with just a different colour scheme. There are still tiny things that annoy me with the other one that I’ve not fixed. Plus if I do upgrades I can apply it to both sites and be one less thing to deal with.
I skimmed through that remarkable annual review pdf. I came to the conclusion that I just don’t care enough to want to do some of the activities. Right now, all I’m interested in is carving out time to go hill walking and use the radio. I would like to waste less time in the evening.
Well I certainly ordered some books…20 ebooks and physical ones! Just went through wife’s goodreads wishlist and top 2024 lists of various categories.
As I was driving home I thought about macOS, Mac minis and should I get one. But why?
I had to charge the car twice on the way home as it was nearly empty when I left. I was offered to charge it at their house but there was nowhere to park near enough to the house and not sure the cable would’ve reached. Plus it only would’ve charged at 2kW and even all night wouldn’t have filled up the battery.
Mainstream EV charging is nowhere near ready. Maybe if you have a tesla and visit a supercharger centre but otherwise it’s not great. There are so many vendors and it’s not clear what works with what. I have several apps and they claim chargers are part of their network but then the first one didn’t work. It could be connectivity or who knows what. Luckily there was no-one else there so I moved up to another one and used a different network. I had to start it twice - and “pay” twice before it worked. Okay fine, it’s nice to charge at 40 kW. Next stop there was no price advantage to using the network, and when it didn’t work again, I just used my credit card. Got to the “now charging your car stage” and then there was “an error” and to “try again”. Trying again didn’t fix it. Is it the car? is it the charger? This time they were all full though, and I started looking on the map for nearby ones, but most were either slow chargers, or occupied. Luckily someone else just left and so I moved over to them and got it going.
What a snore.
I occasionally remember I have stats computed at build time for this site. I looked at my longest post and I can’t decide if thinking the same things 2.5 years later is good or bad. On the one hand, there’s continuous improvements which are never ending, but on the other hand, continuous improvement also requires some improvements, not going in huge annual circles.
Of course, I’m just going to reinforce the circle and not do anything about it.
Went to see Joseph and the amazing techincolour dreamcoat at the theatre. Was amazing. Donny Osborne has a part as Pharaoh, he was good although too much milking himself with the audience.
More tiredness and illness by everyone. Too much moving around and terrible nights’ sleeps. We are going home tomorrow which will be nice. Maybe I can sneak in another small hill on the way home but I might be pushing my luck and my wife is feeling ill too and has to drive the car with the kids.
Done a bad job of DayOne this year. Can’t decide if I should add it to the “remove” bucket for 2025 and then not feel bad about not doing it. Although I do like the books at the end of year…if it’s important then I should make time for it. I did well when I setup the iPad on the alternative desk and typed on it. DayOne has a web version now and I can use it on windows…but do I? Of course not.
We’re getting close to 2025…I should make that list. But what app should I make that list in? 😅
We also went to this amazing book store, Topping and Co. in Edinburgh. Their website doesn’t really show off the store - and it is incredible. Several floors, shelves and shelves of floor to ceiling book cases with the roller ladders, sofas, nooks, crannies, stacks of books, just everything you could want. Some images that come up in a search. There was this little rocking chair in the kids section, where our youngest found a book on a shelf and sat down in the rocking chair and started flicking through the book. We had 30 minutes to kill before the show and I was skeptical everyone would be entertained in the store for so long. Well, we had to usher everyone out as we were going to be late! Absolutely recommend it. Also met our ex-neighbours from 10 years ago in there. Last saw and spoke to them over 10 years ago! A moment where you think “they look familiar” then suddenly it clicks.
That book shop though. 😍 I need to buy more books. Wife’s birthday next week. I need to get online and order a bunch for her. Ebooks and real ones. Where could we have more shelves in the house? I’ve got shelf space that is taken up with cameras and things that I could make into books.
Went for a nice hike this morning whilst everyone else went to see Moana 2. Was damp and in the clouds so no view but a good walk.
I want to move the kids onto Linux computer but they enjoy Minecraft - although that’s solvable with Java edition - but also Lego designing software Studio. Possibly it works via wine.
Now most of the kids have a cough/cold.
I have no interest in joining bluesky. When I do visit the website it just makes me think of bskyb.
Now that Christmas Day is done my patience with staying at family is also done. It’s cumulative effect of many small things. It’s mostly the sleeping arrangements and the lack of sleep. We are leaving tomorrow, so I’ll try not to be too enthusiastic about that.
I caught myself looking at used Surface Go tablets on eBay. “Something something useful tablet but not iOS.” (a) it’ll be slow (b) an iPad would be better (c) I really don’t need it.
I did put in a bid for another surface keyboard, as it was only £15. I’ll keep doing that until a win a cheap one as a backup. Is this going against getting rid of stuff? Maybe it’s like having a spare bulb in the drawer for when the current one blows.
I hadn’t noticed but Brandon Sanderson just released his final book in the Stormlight series. I did like those books and I’ll read the last one but it’s been years since I last read one…the beginning of 2022 by my book list records. I don’t really want to re-read them as they’re very long and I’d rather read something new. I like them but I’m not obsessed by them! I’m sure I’ll start remembering things as I read it. Or perhaps look up a synopsis online.
I just finished a young adult series by Brandon Sanderson - Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians. It was light hearted, funny and a nice easy read in the evening before bed.
Keen to setup my daughter’s kobo….see if I need one 😅 and how the library loaning works and availability of books. Of course, I may have acquired books over the years from various sources but would be nice to have a convenient system.
I’d recommend Miyoo Minis to my uncle for the cousins - they’re in their 20s - and I really (still) want one. Although I have three Nintendo DS/3DS already which no one plays…
Note to self - these are all “buying things” actions.
I do need to sort out my clothes when we get home, so at least that’ll be something.
Today I thought about a “Reduce January”, I’m sure there’s a catchier title, Reducifary January, BanJan, etc. but each day I get rid of something. A physical item, digital process, etc. One per day is hard work though and already I can feel falling behind. Maybe it’s identifying something each day, and adding it to a list and then over a few weeks sorting it out.
I feel the radio gear has gotten out of hand. I should reduce it. Although some things need fixing and then selling. I’ve also got quite a few radios now and I’d like to reduce them. Although it’s hard to pick. They’re all very different.
There’s the KX2 - it’s the one I take to the hills 95% of the time. It’s ideal for it and it’s a keeper.
The G90 - it was my first HF radio and has a little sentimental value. It has a very good matching unit, is mostly portable and 20W has a bit more power. It has a nice wee waterfall screen and with the battery I have it’s not too heavy. I sometimes take it when I want a change from the KX2. It’s a good backup that can do everything, portable, home station, digital modes all sorts. Plus it was super cheap.
Yaesu FT-DX10 - this is my home rig. It’s a bigger radio that’s 100W, and is meant to be a home station one. It’s one of the most top rated radios and is nice to use. However, I rarely use it. I made a nice shack in the garage but it’s freezing in the winter and since I’ve been doing summits on the air, I have no interest in doing radio at home. Also when we had solar installed I took down the antenna and haven’t put it back up. If I do ever get round to a home station, I think I’d want a remotely operable one, which is not the yaesu. This is the one that’s probably for sale. It’s just everyone tells me it’s a good radio, and if I do use a radio at home it’s the best one.
Finally, there’s the IC-705 - a portable, all mode radio that I have for 2m SSB and possible future GHz operations with transverters. I hardly used it as can’t often be bothered with 2m SSB, but I bet it’s something I’ll do once I’ve got my mountain goat award and not chasing points. I did have a plan to set it up in the office with an amp in the garage and then I could be on the radio from the comfort of the house. I could also setup sufficient cabling and switches etc to do all bands at home too. I could still do it. So I think I should keep it.
Oh, plus I have two 2/70 FM radios. One was meant to be portable when I wanted 50W and the other at home for local or maybe packet radio.
In theory, I could just have the G90 and a 2m radio. But the KX2 is too good to get rid of. So I don’t know. Also getting rid of the FTDX10 is actually just swapping it out for something else.
I should configure Pagefind for this site. Maybe when I get some quite time I’ll look through the docs. A quick glance it seems okay, probably the trickiest part will be automatically generating the search bundle via Github actions - but I’m sure someone has solved that already and if I just read a few more pages of the docs I’d find the answer.
I did a summit on the drive down yesterday and it was perhaps a bit longer than I planned! oops!
I would like to get to 1,000 points in SOTA next year but I think that’s a little too much. I also worry that as soon as I do I’ll stop going. I’ll certainly reduce the amount and be more choosy but I don’t think I’ll stop as it’s good fun.
The EV drive went okay. The range disappeared and I only had 15 miles left when I got to the charger. 15 miles is quite a long way but it feels very short. First time using a fast charger, it was quick, charging at 39 kW. I snuck in a quick radio activation on the way down. Although it wasn’t as quick as I thought and actually took me 2.5 hours.
I’ve gone for a simple landing page on my main domain now, with a one liner bio, tiny picture and some links. I’ve left the old quarto blog online at the blog subdomain, I’ll think about that later. I want to add a few pages or maybe just a link to one page with some other info on it - maybe my book list and … I dunno. Don’t really want to do a /now and /uses as it’s things to look after. Although they can be brief. Right now it’s just html but I think I’ll convert it to jekyll, so at least updating the book list is just markdown edits, and github pages builds it natively.
Migrating the blog was much more work, with feature images, tags etc. and I felt I was getting sucked into looking at themes and back in that old rut of never liking anything but not wanting to start my own as it felt overwhelming.
I’m thinking of adding “articles” on this site, which are longer blog posts that I write (rarely).
I worry about people being able to find things in my site and the occasional article gets lost in the daily noise. But why do I worry? No one is looking. If I want something, I’ll just search my local files. Or maybe I can work on a better search feature.
For example, I should write a blog post about the new keyboard I bought. And I did…just within yesterday’s writing. You know what…I should add it to the wiki. It’s ideal for it. In fact, anything I think is worthy of being found again, should be added to the wiki and then doesn’t “get lost”.
Really book lists and /now and /etc. should all be in the wiki.
Do I take the M2 on our Christmas trip? I mostly can’t be bothered…😕 but when else would I take film photos? Particularly as more family will be there than usual. Although we do have a family wedding in January and it would do then - aside from having to carry it around with me.
Trying to add a “simple” page to my main site. Thinking of one page which has dropdowns for sections. Getting this working has not been simple but perhaps I’m coming at it from the wrong direction. So I’m abandoning that idea and just making a link to a page that has a list of all pages…for now.
This one page has turned into an ordeal. Probably as my CSS is janky from the start. I’ve now got a bodge whereby I have front matter on the books page that adds extra CSS to that page when rendered. Otherwise the profile picture is lost above the screen, so I add in some padding. Absolutely terrible, but it’ll do. Perhaps I should copy the design from here, although feel that’s just as janky. Everytime I add something, I find 6 things to fix. In fact, Sudowoodoo is just going to link to my book list, until I have the energy to sort it out.
I replied to a thread on 32 bit cafe forum, with what I considered to be an answer to the OP, but then got shot down as someone didn’t agree with it, and argued a point which was exactly what the OP was complaining against. Anyway, I deleted my account as I don’t care and need fewer things.
Driving two cars tomorrow, including the EV. Which will be the first time I’ve charged it at a public station. I have a nice route planned but I am concerned if it’s full. I guess I’m going to a fast charger so people shouldn’t be there long…oh well, we’ll see. Was hoping to find a radio summit along the way, but don’t think that’s really possible. Especially as my car has all the christmas presents in it. Although my wife did concede to me bringing the radio stuff as others might want to go out. Probably they won’t want to do a Munro…
I’m debating if I should combine this site with my main one, or merge them together somehow. I start thinking it’s a good idea but then get into details of how it would look or work and I start to doubt that idea.
I like this site, I like editing it with 1Writer on my phone. But perhaps I shouldn’t spoil it by making it something else. I should just stick to my original plan of redoing my main site. Although I’m tempted to copy the design from here.
Or I make the main site just a landing page. Also Tiddlywiki. 👀
2024 is nearly done. I’m sure I wrote something about what I should do. Or made a list or the usual. I found a list in Dynalist:
Write a plan of how to achieve, measure and hold myself accountable.
Sleep regularly
Exercise - what and when?
Writing
Projects
Some level of finance tracking and written plan with goals to achieve FI by 50
Radio things
I’ve cut the subbullets out but those are the top topics I had. Tbh it’ll be the same next year.
However one thing I’d like to do, that Jack suggested, was to make a list of things I won’t do or things I’ll stop. That should help achieve the things I do want to do or at least make me feel better. Feel like I’ll have to be brutal with them though.
As I debate if I’m going to migrate these two sites into a new 11ty powered static site - and probably waste away this evening faffing about with it - I want to comment on a new keyboard I have.
A few days ago I spilt tea on my keyboard on the main computer. This a Goldtouch, tentable, scissor switch keyboard that I got from work and had for ages. I really like using that keyboard and was annoyed when the tea seemed to some how break Q, A and Z. I did take it apart and try and clean it but only managed some of it. Now that it’s broken I might try again and go even further with the dismantling. So I needed a replacement. After years of building random mechanical keyboards, I don’t actually like them, and did want something slim and scissor key’d again. Browsing the internet, I came across several comments about the Microsoft Surface keyboard. This is a standalone keyboard that is probably meant to be used with the Surface all in one desktop - it’s very similar to the mac keyboard. It’s not sold anymore so I looked on ebay and made a few low ball offers. One was accepted and new board was on its way! As it’s bluetooth, I haven’t used it on the main computer but on the laptop station set up that the kids usually use. Well today I was on that computer and had a chance to use this keyboard for the first time.
Well, I must say I do enjoy using it and it’s nice to type on. It’s a full size board, so has numpad too, which is maybe nice. I should look up the manaual and see what else it might do but I’m now thinking of looking for a second one as a backup or for use elsewhere. Maybe with my distraction free writing setup that I can’t decide what it is or how to build it, but this keyboard would be nice for it (with an iPad mini?). It is nice.
Actually, I’d thought about a surface Go, one of the old models from ebay, as my distraction free setup. Get linux on it (or openbsd or SG2), and then type up stuff there. Although it is just a laptop in a different form factor, so would I really type stuff or just browse the internet like a regular computer…it’ll be fun though…let’s see how much they are on ebay first.
I do want the OneTrueBlog™️to work…
I started with 11ty, and it is very clever but phew! more to figure out. I thought it was a good time to stop and think what do I want? What do I enjoy and what should I stop for 2025? I actually think I’d be better without the main blog. If I do ever want to write something more than just journal style posts, I can add them here. So I’m thinking of moving my main site to just a landing page, with links, about, contact, perhaps a page or two e.g. books any whatever else, but no posts, and then have this site. I might make some tweaks here as well. Add a bit more navigation or something. My CSS is a bit janky, I do wonder if ChatGPT can tidy it up…
Since my iPad has basically been turned into my daughter’s, I’ve lost my “away from the computer, dedicated typing/thinking” computer.
I could buy another iPad but that’s not as fun as building that micro journal thing. Plus it’ll run Linux and basically do anything. Although it won’t do DayOne…well not without some song and dance. Of course I could just type on it and then use my phone to copy what I type later. As DayOne journaling has dramatically failed in recent months.
Well I’ll occupy myself this evening making a parts list and adding up how much it would be.
After spending ages looking at that micro journal thing…I don’t want it. I don’t like ortholinear keyboards and it ends up being quite expensive for a weird device.
I looked at the rpi 500 and pi monitor but as soon as I read reviews I was annoyed. Mostly how they didn’t add pci-e yet had space and tracks for it. (Someone modded it already but the mod is hard). So seems dumb.
What I really want is my iPad and the Smart Keyboard. I really liked that keyboard. Maybe I should get an iPad…not sure they make that keyboard anymore or which iPad uses it. Anyway bedtime now.
I really want to build one of these. It reminds me of something else that I’ve recently said I wanted to build, but I can’t remember what that other thing was. Perhaps I made a note of it on the wiki or somewhere…but probably I wouldn’t make it anyway so there’s that. The micro journal looks fun, I bet I could set it up for either journaling, writing on here, or other writing and have it commit to git repos etc.
I also want one of the new rpi 500 and matching monitors. “For the kids” but also for me. I’d have to get them java minecraft as they’re playing it a lot, but would also like them to explore and experiment with linux….vs. watching shit on youtube.
It’s amazing what you can get at home when someone else is entertaining the kids! Even started the 10 summits write up on my radio blog. Mostly just scaffolding of folders, files, metadata etc. the advantage of writing them up on the forums first is I can pretty much just copy the text. The only thing is sorting out the photos. I like to compress them first and then add to the folder. My routine is fine, perhaps not most optimal but it works.
As I take all the photos on my phone, I edit them on my phone - mostly just press auto - then upload them to Dropbox into a folder structure. I can use Dropbox to rename them all upon upload, and it also converts them to jpgs. On the computer I use compressor.io to optimise the images. Probably I could use some program but this is easy, just drag and drop. I then put the images into the folder that has the post. Probably Quarto has some sort of image optimisation add on or functionality but haven’t looked into it, plus this saves space on the git repo.
I have been wondering how I could incorporate the log file into posts. Ideally it would read the file and add details and maybe a map etc. I could also integrate the SOTA API, retrieving data from it to show. Haven’t really looked into that yet. I also like keeping a separate copy of all my info and not relying on their database.
My sister is here which means she entertains the kids and I can do some things around the house. Like tidy the office, put away random stuff and dismantle the telescopic pole that broke a couple of weeks back. Ordered replacement sections for it and dried off the others. I do need to clean down my bike as it’s quite muddy. It was bad after the trip on the 4th and then when I used it on Thursday, the gears were crunchy. Using it cleared it up but should clean it down and use some of the chain lube I have before it sits in the garage for a month or more.
After everyone in the family being ill in some form or another since about mid-November, it seems it’s my turn now. Have a general tiredness, feeling cold and achy. Was okay this morning but now I need a lemsip and hopefully that’ll perk me up. Or maybe I’ll lie down.
The lemsip and lie down did help, although the fatigue came back this evening. Hoping it passes as I want to go out mid week with a local hill climber, plus also it’s about to be the holidays.
Had a meeting that went poorly yesterday. Probably could’ve been avoided but easy to look back in hindsight. It’s just annoying. I’m mostly annoyed because I think it makes me look like an idiot. This is the one of the few times I interact with these people and this is what they see! I suspect I’m exaggerating the situation and as soon as the meeting ended they forgot about it and didn’t think a second longer on it.
Have swapped my day off so going out hill walking today. Hopefully that’ll distract me and then I’ll get over it.
Next week is last week of work and school before the holidays! It’s crept up quickly. 🎅🏻
Had a glorious day out today. Was cold, circa freezing, but still and bright sunshine. Was a reasonable amount of snow on top of the hill. I took a shortcut/tried to join the river too soon and ended up trying to get down an almost vertical face. Holding onto grass a whilst edging along the face of the hill/cliff. I did stop and think of my wife saying “don’t do anything stupid”. There was only one bit were if I fell it would be a 5m drop and I might break something, but I got down okay 😅
Met another cyclist on the way back and had a nice chat with him about the hills and routes.
Had a long conversation with a German friend I’ve made via ham radio, do we speak over radio but predominantly via Signal, about what we’d do with our lives if we didn’t have to work to live. Like running a table top games store, or learning to be a mechanic for a NGO, or (and this was his suggestion) Or I give sex workers a ride to their work and help them storing their money at a safe place. It was quite a detailed conversation. But for now it’s stupid meetings, PowerPoint slides and spreadsheets.
I need to tidy the office. It’s a mess and making me feel flustered. Still want to purge stuff. Not sure what though. Need more books and pens and writing pads and not computers. <10seconds later> maybe I need to buy another used T490 as the T460 is getting a bit tired. Also there are two computers in the garage literally doing nothing.
It’s like my home radio setup. I go between wanting a tower and all the things to, have nothing, because I’d rather go out and use the radio in nature.
I’m building up to changing my main blog. Maybe tonight I’ll do something. But I have a big backlog of radio summit activations to write up too. And pointless YouTube videos to watch.
I do make work for myself. On my radio blog I wanted to write up every summit I visit, but boy that’s work. Especially as now I’m 10 behind. I have written up reports on the SOTA forums, so I guess I can just copy that but it still takes time with all the pictures.
It would be amazing to do this. Although the amount of tools, space and knowledge you need is overwhelming.
I’ve not written on here in a while…he says again… Felt like I had so many things to write down but now it’s 10:30pm and I’ve written nothing and feeling tired and know I should go to bed.
I want to redo my main site but still don’t know what.
I want to make one of these for the kids. We bought a yoto player for the little one and everyone loves it, but I don’t want to pay for more of them (although would be a good solution) and so I’ll build one. Except the reality is, I’ll never get round to it, and probably it’ll end up being more expensive. I actually don’t want to make it exactly like these ones as I’d rather just have a small screen they can pick things from to listen to. Really all I need is a rpi, some speakers and a small touch screen. I have most of those lying around, just not the screen.
Another morse key arrived in the post - a cheap, tiny one from the US. It shamed me into how I’ve already stopped learning.
I’ve got a backlog of SOTA summits to write up - maybe 7 or 8 over the past week. It’s quite a slog to get through them but really I should do one a night and I’ll chip away at them. It’s only as I was off most of last week that I did quite a few. I maintain all these sites but then they just become chores to do. If I had nothing then life would be simplier? Recently I’ve bought various radio things off eBay, and then they arrive and I realise I didn’t really want them, I just liked the idea of them. So now they clutter the garage for projects that I’ll never get to. I should fix them up and sell them on, except I have to fix them up first. It’s just a chore that I don’t want to spend time on. There are so many things about that are like that - things I’ve bought with some idea in mind but then I never do it. The office is also a tip and really needs sorting out. So many chores.
I used to do a lot of computer admin at work but since going to 4 days a week, I don’t really have much downtime to do my own thing. Probably good but now I spend it going out if I can and then it’s just the evenings. I don’t know what I’m complaining about and it’s more just an observation.
I’ve been looking at Land Rover Defenders…the older style and the short wheelbase 90.
Would be so fun as an adventure car for the hills. I also like how it has two bench seats in the back and so the kids could actually come with me, and it would be a fun trip. I’m hesistant to do anything about this whim, and perhaps it’s just that and it’s more expensive than some random radio part or a new camera etc. It’s a car which drains money. Plus they’re not cheap, even the old ones, but I guess they’re in high demand and perhaps if nothing else it would retain its value. We don’t have much space on the drive and I can see my wife getting annoyed with it. We really don’t need it…I’m not going offroad, most places might be some end of path track that in the winter could be snowy or icy but probably much of the year it’ll be fine. Now it would be useful for going on longer trips where the electric car just doesn’t have the range, and where I might want to sleep overnight in it. Although everyone says it’s a terrible choice for overnighting. It would be a bottomless money pit…but no-one ever buys a car for good financial reasons.
A friend asked me who I use for domains. Then where I host my sites and then what VPS provider I use. Perhaps I should said “what do you want to do?” first.
I’ve done seven hills this week! Including waiting for the snow gates to be opened and following the gritter/plough over the mountain pass, mountain biking across ice, climbing four hills in one day, breaking a mast, forgetting guy ropes, and using my friend as a guy - he’s a good guy 😅
I’ve been writing them up on my radio blog but now I have seven in the backlog and not sure I can face it. I suppose one bite at a time. Probably not going out for a week or maybe longer now, so no rush. And I need to wrap my family presents to then post them off…hmm maybe later.
Work Christmas lunch tomorrow. It’ll be nice but I always want to bail out and skip it beforehand. It’ll be nice as just the team, the big event with everyone is afterwards and that I’ll definitely skip.
