April 2026

Wednesday, 1st April, 2026

One hard drive has sold. Always amazing how selling a bunch of random bits and pieces soon adds up.

Shown the X4 to four people, one said it was cool and the other three said “isn’t it too small?”. I find that funny and ask “well how big does it need to be?”. Which they have no answer to, and their question comes from the fact that other e-readers are bigger. Anyway, I like it.

Day 3 and I fell off the morse wagon.

I should setup Claude code and make something. I’ve been fiddling with trying to make a hiking trip planner that combines gps routes that I’ve made, a schedule of times for driving there, climbing etc. and notes about parking or whatever. Tried to make something in tiddlywiki but haven’t found a simple solution for adding durations plus the gpx map is a bit of a faff. There’s dokuwiki where the map is quite easy and the text although not checked on the adding of times via some plugin.

What I wanted was an overview map so I could see all my routes and options or look up a summit and find the route and perhaps change things like “if I drive the night before, when will I get home?”

Part of me also thinks I should just extend the google sheets I use with more screenshots or links to the gps routes. Given the hardest part is the schedule and I’m using other websites to make my routes and walking estimates.

I download at Kamoot and GaiaGPS. Both nice but not quite what I want. I pay for OS maps and it can do a lot and it has time estimates…maybe I should investigate that more.

I use plotaroute to make all my maps. They have a premium option and I looked at how much it is…£20 a year…why don’t just pay for that! Supposedly includes OS maps, which I also pay >£20 a year for. Think I just need to be more organised with tags and names and then I’ll be set. Probably keep the spreadsheet for durations but can just spend a bit of time tidying and then can link to plotaroute.

Thursday, 2nd April, 2026

Jack has made a nice site with Claude code using 11ty. Thinking about doing the same but then I went to pika.page and liked it (again). For me it’s the entry of the blog that’s the problem. Where I write it and how I get photos and text in. Maybe Claude can’t make me a pika.page style editor which then pushes the content to the static site.

Or maybe I’ll sit outside in the sun with my book about time.

Did take the X4 to the play park with the kids and read some there. Then when we were back at home on the trampoline, I dislocated my finger but somehow pushed it back into place almost immediately. Probably from the shock horror of seeing it at a wrong angle. Seems okay but sure does hurt.

Well everything has sold, bar one hard drive that I need to list. Two of the drives have sector count errors, which means they either need overwriting or using some hidden, reserve sectors. Would take about 16 hours to run that on the computer, and may not fix it. So I’d rather sell them with the issue for a knocked down price. I have explained it in the listing but I’m sure someone will come back. If so, I’ll just refund them and let them keep it as it’s of no use to anyone.

So…now what? I achieved the “sell stuff equal to the Neo”. This is where I should have some life values or something that I can test decisions against.

Probably I shouldn’t buy it.

Saturday, 4th April, 2026

We were in the library and there was a comic strip style book about asylum seekers from the perspective of a kid. I read it. Then thought “I need to shut the fk up complaining about things”

Speaking of complaining, I’m not really looking forward to Disneyland Paris. 🤷

When I simplifed this site, I got rid of several years of entries and basically made it a single page website. I even deleted the git log so they were all truly gone. It was refreshing, but a tiny part of me thought maybe I should’ve kept them. Well, turns out I did (or mostly did) because of an experiment converting the site to a dayone journal. Goes from 2021 to mid 2025. I’ll just leave it there for now.

I have a grandfathered tier of “plus” in DayOne. Means I don’t pay a subscription, which is nice and so maybe I should be using it more. It’s a very nice app. I have the family journal in it, which has suffered in recent times. Maybe I should try my keyboard to phone method. The surface one is fine but kinda want an old Mac wireless one. Then 3D print a phone stand and setup somewhere and write up our day.

I’ve been reading Project Hail Mary, and so not been on the computer, but I think writing up the journal would be time better spent than on the computer.

Sunday, 5th April, 2026

Happy Easter! 🐣

The Apple wireless keyboard (A1644) is surprisingly cheap. I thought I’d have to get the really old one but think I can probably get one of these for under £20. They’re not the TouchID ones, but that’s perfectly fine. USB c charging.

Think I need a Mac for when iPhones go crazy and need restoring. Windows arrangement is crazy, I must’ve spent 4 hours trying to sort out my daughter’s phone. Maybe the phone has issues but boy are there a lot of Apple devices errors as to why I can’t update…🤬

Now the recommended method, via Reddit, is to use iTunes and not Apple Devices…plus disable so many windows features.

Tuesday, 7th April, 2026

Found this site, to waste more time.

Wednesday, 8th April, 2026

I keep bidding on Apple keyboards but then losing by £1, mostly as I don’t want to pay very much. Then after I lose the auction, I think that maybe it’s best I don’t buy one as I don’t really need it and it’s just some clutter. I could use the Bluetooth keyboard I have right now but I don’t, so why would I use the Apple one? Because it looks nice and completes the setup better…if I wanted to do it, I’d already be doing it.

Will probably still buy one. Find an auction that ends 3pm on a Tuesday or something like that.

We decided my wife needs a new phone and daughter gets her old one. Apple has a lot of models these days…AI helped narrow it down though to 16e or 17e. I setup alerts on hotukdeals and this morning 20% off on Amazon for the 17e! Could get a better model as refurb but she’s not interested in that and I think the 17e is the ideal spec. We’re going away but I ordered anyway and I rescheduled delivery on Amazon so all good. Was going to have it delivered to work but they need a code or confirmation in the app at delivery and that would be difficult so skipped that idea.

Made me realise my phone is pretty old. 13 Pro is 2021 I think. The battery is getting a bit weaker but it still lasts all day…just about. I’m not really interested in a new phone, maybe except the 48MP camera but wonder if I can see a difference.

I did wonder about an android phone, but tiny things keep me in Apple, like home kit and screen time controls. iMessage, less so as everyone just seems to use WhatsApp…not that I really like it but there we go. Photos are nice but I don’t really use it, I never got the Mac to manage it and think I’d rather install immich (w/e) and set that up. But I can’t be bothered to move, it’s just easier to stay on iOS. Supposedly iPhone 13 will keep getting updates into 2029.

Off to Disneyland tomorrow. If I’m a grumpy old dad, I’d say why can’t the wife and kids go and I’ll stay at home and look after the cats. But I’m sure it’ll be wonderful. 🏰🪄🫧🔮

Sunday, 12th April, 2026

Disneyland was good but also exhausting. Be nice to get home.

Finished three Andy Weir books whilst away (The Egg is perhaps a short story vs a book!) and then browsed to see what else was on my e-reader. I didn’t take the X4 because I wanted to read at night in the dark as we share the room with the kids - although they frequently go to sleep with full lights on.

Anyway, started Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism. Only just started but I think I’ll like it.

the key to thriving in our high-tech world … is to spend much less time using technology.

This is exactly what I feel about computers/devices.

Whilst I was away, a friend joked me with as to if “I was missing my computer”. Not at all.

Anyway, back to the book.

Monday, 13th April, 2026

I really want one blog, that I look after, write in and slowly improve and add to over time. I need something easy to write in. Like Wordpress or pika but I shame myself when thinking about those as they’re for “people who don’t know how to make websites”. Which I know is rubbish and makes no difference. Then I say “I don’t want to pay for something I can do myself for free”. Fine but I still haven’t done anything.

So what’s it going to be?

Probably nothing, as that’s the tradition.

The new iPhone 17e for my wife arrived. Even though it’s the “cheap one” it still looks every bit as premium as a regular one. Plus coming from a 12 Mini, it seems leaps and bounds better. Do I need one? 😅

I’m getting into the meat of Digital Minimalism book now. 30 days of not doing what I don’t want to do - perhaps stopping for 30 days makes more sense - but stopping what? Reddit for one. YouTube? Maybe, I remember some TUI YouTube feeds thing, which I think may be part of the solution so I watch a handful of channels that I like and then not watch crap for an hour more. But I think I’m meant to stop for 30 days, as I really don’t need YouTube for anything. I’m kinda thinking no computer full stop. Or maybe no internet browsing. The only thing I’m thinking is I still want to make this blog (yeh right) and still yet to try out Claude code for a few app ideas for myself.

Is hill walking route planning a good use of time? I think so as I like walking but maybe planning out hills that I’m probably never going to get to for years is maybe unnecessary.

I do sit on a computer all day at work, and it’s easy to do some life admin or even maps for the upcoming walk, so no computer at home is feasible.

I do need something else to do. I’ve been enjoying reading books on the kitchen sofa. I kinda want to learn morse code and daily practice is said to be the best way.

Usually moderation of everything in sensible amounts is the best solution. Not going without and not doing too much. But I suppose the purpose of the 30 days without is to break the habit and then form better ones.

Wednesday, 15th April, 2026

I won that Apple keyboard. Just got rid of electronics clutter and here I am buying more. If I ever buy a Mac mini, now I’ll have a keyboard 🤪

Pika export is a nice folder structure of markdown files and images. AI tells me it almost perfectly fits with Jekyll and 11ty is so flexible it would work just fine. So that’s nice to know. Although I do like keeping images with the blog post in it folder vs a single images/ folder. Makes naming things easier.

Started talking to Claude to ask it what I should do given my blog situation. Wrote a big long explanation and then it told me to use Hugo and NetlifyCMS (has a new name, but I forget it). I don’t like that answer.

I like the idea of using it to make a static site. Maybe Jekyll or 11ty. Take my existing design and finally add the things I want and sort it out perhaps? Still want a single blog but I can’t get past the fact that the radio blog fits nicely - the domain, the content.

Perhaps as a compromise, I’ll keep the radio blog but somewhat duplicate some content. I think the radio blog could have more specifics about radio vs regular? Bulk of my radio posts are actually nice hill walks with a bit of radio usage at the end….which I rarely talk much about unless there’s something of interest. Or I just point both domains at the same site and let people deal with it.

First step is still the same, make a new site. Write content. Then there’s domains.

Anyway, I’m sure by this evening I’ll have changed my mind.

Had a hospital appointment to check up on my finger. Which was fine but had to wait an hour for a 15 min appointment. Decided to write up yesterday’s radio hill walk on pika. As odd as this sounds, it was nice doing it from my phone. Maybe if I hadn’t forgotten the X4, I would’ve just read a book. Anyway, it was easy to do and got the job done. I still struggle with tagging - one per post or lots.

I do write 90% of these posts from my phone in 1Writer, so maybe I’m a phone blogger…I think I find it less distracting than on a computer, and can do it anywhere and anytime. So maybe that should inform my decision…

Maybe I should install Wordpress and the iOS app and just roll with it. (Can’t do it).

Pika.page are clearly wise to using their editor and exporting, as you can only do it once a week - at least with markdown and images. I sat on the sofa for a while this evening and thought of lots of things I needed to do on the computer. Then I got to the computer and just watched YouTube, and have since forgotten all those things. Oh well, probably not important, just busy work. Or making a new blog or something.

Thursday, 16th April, 2026

Moots of excitement over Obsidian today. I don’t know where to begin but I think it’ll cover lots of bases for me.

I even had the thought that I don’t need blogs and I can just use obsidian. But hopefully it’ll let me write more posts and I can copy paste the text or maybe automate it somehow.

After finding a very good mapping plugin, I think I can skip trying to make my route planning tool and just use it in obsidian. It’s a bit complex but the docs suggests it can do everything I want. Probably once I figure out the first one, the rest will be easy.

Having the iOS app is nice too. Makes it better than just markdown in a folder.

Also Apple shortcuts and automations are nice and I should’ve used them before.

Friday, 17th April, 2026

Two things, or maybe three.

Been going to bed far too late this week. My watch tells me I’m bad and I feel it.
Going to bed late means I don’t read and it’s also because I’ve been wasting my time on YouTube or Reddit.
Reading a little last night reminded me of my train of thought about quitting the computer. Which is a little opposite of spending all night messing about with obsidian.

Saturday, 18th April, 2026

Got a new to me Magic Keyboard to use with my phone for writing notes, blog, journal etc. I do have a perfectly good Bluetooth Microsoft surface keyboard…so why another? It’s mac and white and most importantly, tenkeyless. This makes it a little nicer on the desk, or table, or bureau, wherever I am to write. Fits the symmetry of the iPhone better too. I printed a very small iPhone stand that folds up (meant to be a keychain one) to use to hold up the phone. It’s nice.

Slightly annoying is that it’s Lightning connector and not USB-C. I’m sure when I looked up the A2450 model it was USB-C. It’s fine as I have lightning cables, and my phone is old enough to still use lightning, but it would’ve been nice if it was usb-c as everntually, everything will be usbc. Probably by eventually, I’ll have bought something else anyway.

Was looking in my dynalist files last night…perhaps for inspiration about how to setup Obsidian. Found an export of my original Drummer blog. Was fun reading back though it.

Sometimes I don’t want to take notes for myself. I like public wikis and blogs as then my notes are fo everyone. Maybe noone will look at them but seems better to keep them there than in a folder hidden on a computer which I probably struggle to remember where they are.

In safety, the most preferred solution is to remove the risk entirely. I don’t own a petrol lawnmower, so I don’t have a tank of petrol in the garage anymore, and no tank can’t burn.

If I have no notes then I don’t need a storage system…?

Sunday, 19th April, 2026

The more the kids use the computer, the more I look for somewhere else to sit. Now that it’s not freezing, I’m in the garage with my Apple keyboard and printed phone stand and this is where I’m writing. The worktop is a bit messy, and the keyboard must be slightly different to the one I’m used to as I keep hitting \ for enter and sometimes other keys. However, it’s a nice typing experience and I’m pleased. I did think about getting an iPad so. The screen is bigger but then the kids will just snaffle the iPad and I won’t see it again. Whereas no one takes my phone. I could get a laptop that’s just mine (hello Neo) but I worry it’ll be prone is distractions and just another device to watch YouTube / look at reddit on when I don’t really want to. I obviously could use it to do productive things (whatever those might be) but I still like the idea of fewer devices in the house.

So I’m thinking about a new phone 😅. I’m quite drawn to the new iPhone 17 Pro as I think it has the 48 MP telephone (unless that was the max - I can’t remember, still half way through a conversation with Gemini about comparing iPhone models) and when I’m out hiking, I do often use the telephone to frame the interesting features. I rarely use ultrawide, I just find the distortion too much, I suppose I could crop it a little, but I find the standard lens a good focal length for capturing the broad summit views. What I do like to take though, are photos of other summits in the distance, and this I use the telephoto for. They’re okay on my 13 pro - it has a telephoto lens but 12 MP, so any zooming and it’s a pixel mess. Also occasionally I’ll see a mountain hare or eagle or other more interesting wildlife and it would be nice to capture that so it’s more than just a splodge on in the frame.

These phones are more than the Neo, and basically MacBook Air prices. However, it is the most used device and the camera aspect is instead of me carrying a camera - which I could do but the three lenses in the device is nice. I do have thoughts of bringing a medium format camera with me up a mountain - and in fact there’s a nice thread about it on the SOTA reflector. But this isn’t going to replace my phone - maybe I’ll do it this week…not sure what 120 film I have but it’s probably going out of date.

I’ve done my Mountain Goat to get to 1,000 points and now I’m not sure what my purpose is. What my purpose should be is to have nice walks out, enjoy the scenery, get some peace and quiet, get some exercise and have a bit of fun on the radio. I still can’t help being drawn to checklists and completing sets - like doing all the munros, or doing all the Central Scotland summits (I’ve done all the Eastern Scotland ones but then that’s where I live) - and so I’ve lost interest in the summits close by. Have to say, I do get a bit tired of all the driving when I want to go further afield. This week coming I could take Monday off and have a long day, but the weather looks disappointing, especially when the whole of the rest of the week is blue skies and sunshine. The only other day I can sensibly take off work is Friday, but I have to do the school run, and so I don’t get much time. However, I’m going to do it and go on Friday vs. My plan of going on a long walk in the drizzle and cloud to tick off another Munro. I’m going with Fraser, so it’ll be a nice day out anyway.

Reading that Digital Minimalism book in bed at night is probably not the best way. I tend for forget about the book when I go to sleep and then remember it again when I start the next night. This is fine for fiction books as I remember the story but I’m not doing anything with it later. Whereas this book is perhaps instructive and I should be thinking about what I should do.

Last night it was about walking and solitude. That resonates with me! The book is written with social media and phones in mind, whereas I think for me, it’s the computer. Sometimes I will look at reddit on my phone for too long - I have set zero minutes for screen time but I think that doesn’t work as I just skip it at the start, whereas giving myself 10 minutes then it stops helps cut me off when I’m on it. I’ve not investigated a way to completely remove it from my phone - I’m just visiting in a browser - and if that would be better - i.e. do this 30 days with no reddit to break my idle impulses to open it up to see if there’s anything interesting (rarely is the answer).

We sorted out one of the boy’s Yoto card collection, and I made new cards for the audiobooks that are only on my phone. So now he can listen to anything and not ask for my phone to control stuff. He also wanted to print a new box to hold them all in, and of course there are already 100s of designs on makerworld and we just picked one. I dug about in my colours and found several I’d ordered by never opened. I’ve not done much on the printer recently, so it was nice to have something to print. I think I should finish or maybe redo the 5” rpi rack I was printing and actually setup the pis in it.

There are a few other projects lingering that I’ve not started yet. Again, I should probably finish them - a few radio antenna, and a mic I want to make. I’ve got all the bits, just need to actually do it. They’re the perfect thing to do in an evening - not particularly difficult or a big project. Just never work up the motivation to do it - or just tired.

My excitement for Obsidian peaked and died very quickly. I think I’ll stick to using it for work, as it’s nicer to read the text than VS Code was, but not sure about the whole note system and everything else for home use. Feels like creating work. I reminded myself of my dynalist setup, which once upon a time was supposed to be my note system. Still has a bunch of notes in it from way back, some are useful and some aren’t. Mostly a collection of lists. I’m just not sure what I want to make notes on.

Read a book, make notes, change your life. Maybe.

Analyse spending to see where money is going. This boils down to “don’t buy stuff”. Most everything else either has no option or I look for the cheapest at time of renewal. All the kids activities cost money, but not going to not do them. Streaming stuff - we have Netflix, Spotify and BBC TV licence (bloody tax). It’s me who spends money on stuff!

There’s logs of “useful” things, like doing x with car, or met so and so, and whatever that I might want to remember later. I think I like the idea of capturing those things. Just never seem to get round to it.

Then there’s a DayOne family journal I like to keep - although it’s been bare for quite a while now. I tell myself I’d rather spend time writing in that, than some well organised system of notes. But I do neither.

I’ve not even touched the subject of paper notes, typewriters, and pens etc. Least you get lovely physical things if you go down that route.

Perhaps I should try and migrate myself away from here into my personal daily notes, and then anything and everything can go into them. Which might be surprisingly as often this site is everything and anything! Probably time I wasn’t hiding in the garage and was doing something.

I also like this keyboard as it has a physical on/off button, which makes it simpler to disconnect from my phone.

I wish I had a farm…or mostly just a big space with a barn so I can do fun stuff, radio things etc.

Monday, 20th April, 2026

I’m not sure work and personal stuff should live in the same obsidian vault. Mostly as I don’t want personal stuff sync’d onto my work computer.

I’m still not sure about obsidian either. I’m fine with it for work, although I did wonder if I should just use onenote. Particularly as I often screenshot stuff to save for later. Onenote would mean it’s all online and sync’d, could access from anywhere and copilot can digest it all. Maybe I’ll paste my pages into it and try it for a while.

Part of the problem is that I opened dynalist recently and I remembered how much I like it. It’s also so easy, has a phone app and an outliner by default.

Obsidian is nice, much nicer than a few years ago when I first tried it.

Part of my problem is that I’m not in the habit of making notes about stuff, and so I’m not thinking about writing things and so it doesn’t happen.

Went for a walk at lunchtime and wondered what I’d do if our house burnt down. I mean, like step by step. I don’t have much confidence in insurance providers to act with speed. Probably thinking this as our home insurance is due for renewal.

Tuesday, 21st April, 2026

So thinking of using micro.blog for my main site…last time I replaced this site with it but it didn’t last. Micro.blog has some shortcomings but overall it’s pretty good. I’m not interested in the new inkwell RSS reader (good job as I’m on the micro.one version and so don’t get it) and maybe other things being made but for a hosted blog it’s pretty good. Adding images is a bit of a method (pika is so easy) but it’s not that bad.

I think replacing this site was the mistake. This is my daily waffle, navel gazing, complaining, therapy session, idle thoughts noone is really interested in. Whereas the other site is more for stuff I’ve actually done. Plus I have more attachment to this site as I built it from scratch. It’s not a theme and a SSG and away I went, and I kept missing it and the “maybe I’ll add more to it”.

I’ve not changed DNS yet but I was thinking about it last night whilst using micro.blog and remembering all the things. I’ll think about it today but it feels like a low hurdle to overcome: a site that I’ll actually write stuff in vs. one I don’t.

A reason I took away the archive and only keep x number of posts on the page here is often I don’t want to remember what I wrote. It got written that day to be said. Micro.blog doesn’t need that. Maybe this stuff should be private anyway. 🤫

The only thing that will nag at me is “it’s not self hosted, what about backups, I could make the site, why am I paying for this (luckily it’s $10 per year so that shouldn’t come into it).” If pika was $10/year I’d be using it immediately. Anyway, it doesn’t matter a jot if I change my mind again. Just have to install all the apps on my phone again.

(Also if I had a Neo I could use the micro.blog client or mars writer (w/e) to add content).

Work doesn’t like git, so that decides the obsidian thing and sync etc. I’d still like to access my work notes outside of my work laptop, and so probably just going to use OneNote. It’s not cool, if note taking is ever considered cool, it’s just a blank page for me to write notes and then find them later. And really, I should apply the same approach to my personal notes.

Now it’s evening and I’m not 100% sure about micro.blog. (There’s a surprise).

I found some notes from 2021 where I’m trying to make the same decision about micro.blog. Five years ago and I still have the same issues.

Pika has added search, which is nice, although not something I’d noticed was missing. I find it funny how I get so worked up over £4.50 a month - and agonise over subscribing to pika because of it. I think it’s also as I look at the $60 number. I go to the supermarket and spend more than £4.50 on snacks. There’s also me not controlling everything - even though if I dig deep enough then I don’t control everything on most of my sites. I don’t host it at home, it’s still some vps or cdn or whatever. It just doesn’t cost anything. It’s also the principle of paying for it. But, these days I don’t want to bother hosting things or looking after stuff.

Still consider binning it all. Just don’t bother and then I don’t have to worry. Just keep my radio blog, but maybe add a few non radio posts for stuff.

Made a list of my web apps I use / need. Not actually that many and so thinking of consolidating onto a small VPS or maybe even just a pi at home. Whilst doing this, I thought about photos backup. This uses about 800GB. I wonder if I can cut that back by culling a bunch of photos I don’t need. Quite the job to do it.

Wednesday, 22nd April, 2026

I went to bed thinking I should just pay for pika for a few months and use it. Their markdown and images export makes it super easy to migrate away if I don’t like it or stop using it. I woke up thinking I should just suck it up and spend the time to write stuff in my existing static blog that works just fine.

Last night I also used Claude to convert an old landing page - that I originally stole from someone’s tumblr - to more modern CSS and make it somewhat responsive. I was just using the web browser free version and it took a few goes but it go there in the end. This was with the idea I’d not bother with a blog on my main site and just have a landing page. I even started looking at domain names for the idea of starting a single, new blog that’s everything altogether but without the burden of the past. I gave up on that idea pretty quick as I couldn’t think of anything good and I don’t need another domain. Still sort of think making a new site will help me start a fresh, just where and how and what to decide…small details.

As usual, I don’t really know what I want and so I don’t go anywhere. Plus I’ve been dropping in and out of various sites and so any posts that I have made are scattered about.

Once it’s been a week since I last went hill walking, I get a bit antsy and think it’s about time I went out again! This week is super busy at work, and so my day off is Friday. It’s fine but I typically have less time on Friday’s due to the school runs. The forecast is good though, so hopefully that remains true.

Another thought I had was moving this site to neocities, and then using this domain for the blog. Why? Not sure, I just like neocities. Looked at bearblog too - easy to get sucked into the lifetime subscription but probably shouldn’t start with that. Also tiddlywiki’s in there somewhere.

Not read with the X4 much…

Thought about selling all the lego trains and building a real model railway. Just because it can be much smaller and fit in somewhere but still be interesting. I should investigate prices before I start thinking about it too much, probably even more expensive than Lego! Wondered about selling some of the boy’s lego too - or sell some sets and then buy some different ones. My wife is pretty good about keeping pieces together in the box once they’ve been built and then put away.

Also deleted about 160+GB of photos last night. Mostly raws from 5-10 years ago that I’ll never ever go back to. Was quick to do as at some stage I’d decided to make a raw and final folder in each albums folder to keep the files. Some events I also had my uncle’s photos but often those would be 50GB for one day. I have my own and don’t need his. The bigger task, which I may never do, is culling low quality shots per event. I started looking at some of the photos and had plenty of nostalgia and “oh don’t we look so young”. So that’ll mean it’ll take even longer. I like when Jack puts an older photo at the top of his daily posts, I’d like to do that such that I surface things I miss.

If I had macOS computer, would it simplify everything?

I have an iPhone and so the obvious integration between them is good. Photos from my phone would be easily accessible and manageable, I could pay for iCloud 2TB tier and just keep everything in it, and still get web access and sharing with others (like I have with nextcloud). Apps I like would be accessible, particularly DayOne that I’d like to make more use of. I could use the micro.blog app to manage my website (if I want that). It’s unix-y enough to do things easier than Windows. My email domains are taken care of by iCloud. I could do iCloud sync for obsidian. I could use Tinderbox. It would also just be my computer that no-one else uses, so I don’t have to cater to others’ needs. The new Framework Pro came out, looks nice but pricy (it is the pro model).

I now have a mac keyboard, a Bluetooth mouse and a usb c monitor already that I could hook it up to if I wanted.

But is this all just me trying to justify buying a Neo, that I don’t really need? Do I want everything in Apple world, do I want to be paying for iCloud? I could just use Apple passwords and not bother with vaultwarden anymore.

The ease of it is great, it just makes my “I should self host everything and only use open source software” idealism cry. That option just comes with more effort…maybe.

Oh well, another thing you me to write the same thing about every day and make no progress forward - but at least not backwards….I hope.

Set this site up to build and be pushed to neocities. Maybe when the domain expires I won’t renew it, main site to landing page and be done. Or maybe it’ll be home to a new blog or maybe nothing. I just really like nothing. I remembered I made some goals a while back. There still here. I like how the numbered bullets don’t work so they’re all #1.

Thursday, 23rd April, 2026

Last night’s “lying in bed thinking about websites” thought was that I should use tiddlywiki for my main site. It is appealing. Single html file but fully functional. Plus I always feel like my natural state is wiki.

I have one already but obviously I’d need to start again. (And rebuild the same thing).

Was talking to Claude about setting up a new tiddlywiki. Was good to explore ideas for structure and if gives me the wikitext to do some of the filters and lists etc. probably they’re simple but I just never can learn them.

Sometimes I like the basic tiddlywiki theme and layout but then other times I want it to be different. There’s a notebook theme I always look at and do like, except that sidebar. I don’t like that but maybe Claude can fix it for me.

Friday, 24th April, 2026

During the day I think of these things I want to do on the computer. Then by the evening when I have time to do it, I’m not interested. Mostly just being a bit tired but also it seems like a chore.

I wanted to finish my time book - Splitting the Second. It’s both very interesting and boring at the same time. Some sections go into more detail than I really want but there are plenty of sections that are interesting. It’s a comprehensive book on time and how it’s measured and how that’s changed over human life, plus the application of very accurate time keeping.

Now we have very accurate time, it gets impacted by Einstein’s special relativity where “moving clocks go slow”. It’s somewhat of a hard concept to grasp 🤓 but is it time being affected or the mechanism that is used to keep time? If I could somehow build a nanosecond accurate quartz clock would that also go slow. They did experiments with radio signals coming back from the Viking landers on Mars and when Mars was behind the sun the radio waves slowed down going around the sun, and they travel at the same speed…or something like that.

Relativity was in Artemis book about how the other species didn’t know about relativity.

Glorious sun today and off out into the hills with my hiking buddy. We haven’t actually been out together for a couple of months now, for various reasons. Be doing a local hill, which will remind me they’re still interesting even though I’m not chasing points and I’ve done it twice before.

Tuesday, 28th April, 2026

We’ve gone full lockdown on devices with the kids. Turned all the screen time apps to max! (Max restrictions obv).

I lose interest in computer things quickly. Sometimes before I even start whatever I’ve been thinking about.

Simultaneously, I looked at M1 Mac minis, thinking they’d be cheap. Not as cheap as I thought they should be.

Wednesday, 29th April, 2026

Fitted new brake pads to my bike - wow what a difference! Although the previous pair came with the bike…that I bought 5 years ago 🫣 Anyway, nice to sort it out. I sort of want to build my own bike from select parts, to make it unique (because it’ll cost more “I built my own $3,000 bike for only $5,000”) and to then reallly understand how all the pieces fit together. Just not sure what type of bike. Had thought about a mountain bike, as I don’t really like mine, but I rarely use it - I think because I rarely use it and “don’t know how to ride a mountain bike” that I don’t like it. It feels unstable, hard to control, slips easily - which I think is because it has 29” wheels and a long wheelbase and wider wheel fork angles. But the internet tells me all these things makes it better to ride, and how it’s made for stability. Maybe it is better than a regular bike and I just don’t know how to ride downhill on mud and stones.

Or I make myself a new commuter bike - which I use everyday. Probably the better choice. But then I’ll look at prices and think it’s better just to buy a new one but that wasn’t the point - and so I’ll do nothing.

Thursday, 30th April, 2026

Talking to a bike friend, he suggests just buying one. Probably sensible. I like the Alpkit sonder bikes, except they have so many options I have no idea what to get. Obviously going into a store would be best but the nearest is 2.5/3 hours away. Maybe I’ll ask AI what I should get and see if it can explain the differences between the various seats, pedals and particularly stem post connectors…

M4 Mac minis are just gone. No store has any. Probably for the best. I’ve been saying I’ll get a Mac mini since the M2 (never get 1st gen apple products, and in fact best to get the 3rd gen) but always put it off and then a newer model is coming. When you don’t need it immediately it’s easy to keep putting it off until the next model comes out.

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