The life and times of a software and web developer
Being a distant friend on the internet is incredibly difficult sometimes. When those I have come to know are facing problems, my first instinct is to try and help - to reach out - to be there. I wonder how much a quiet message telling somebody that you read their post, and that you're out …
I'm sitting in the study at home (a rather grand title for the junk room, but it sounds sophisticated), at the old desktop computer, trying to think of where to start. We have been at a rugby match all day - watching our younger children play their first competitive game of the season. They lost …
While scrolling through Tumblr this morning I started reminiscing about the "meetups" they once helped their users stage. You could register a meetup on the site, and they would advertise it, and send out a pack with table cards, badges, namecards - everything you might need to dress up a couple of tables in a …
I've been sitting in front of the computer in the junk room for the last hour, thinking I should post something or other, but no words are appearing on the screen. The tap that so often releases a torrent of idiocy into my little corner of the internet doesn't seem to be cooperating. There's really …
I sat down at the desk in the junk room to write a blog post an hour ago. All I have done so far is listen to music on Spotify. Music from my distant past. While writing this, Wilson Phillips are singing "Hold On", and I'm remembering drawing a picture of them in the back of my college art sketchbook.
It's lunchtime at work, and I'm forcing myself to take a break. On a given day I sit here for hours - sometimes not leaving the chair all day, and then wondering why my legs are stiff when I get up to go home. Of course I cycle to work, so I'm not completely unfit, but I really should do something more. Years ago, I used to go running a couple of times a week - maybe I should try and make time for it once more. It's all about forming habits really - getting into a routine.
You know how you head into the weekend sometimes, and you have plans to do so many things - things for yourself - time to yourself. And then the weekend arrives, and all those ideas get blown away by a gust of wind. Yeah. That.
After a day spent fighting virtual fires within the software leviathan I have been constructing for the last six months, I'm now sitting in the garden, slowly feeding kindling into a chiminea, gazing into altogether more real flickering flames.There's something about tending an open fire. I'm not sure if it's the smell of wood smoke, …
I seem to have fallen off the "post every day" horse quite spectacularly in recent weeks. I'm thinking this is a good thing. I know one or two people look out for my posts, and that's all sorts of wonderful, but if I have little to report, it always seems a bit forced.I was going …
I bought a music magazine this morning for the first time in years. I was wandering around the local stationery shop with Miss 13 - who had some money burning a hole in her pocket - and happened upon the magazine rack. While half-keeping an eye on her, I started flicking through the various magazines …
