first full week of the year and I’m still recovering from c3flu from Congress. it's been a miserable journey, but I'll hopefully get better.

miscellanea

• Microsoft Office is dead. Long live Microsoft Office. in a rather baffling name change, Microsoft Office has been reborn as the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.
• interesting article by Terence Eden as to why his ePassport didn't work the gates at Heathrow. in short, it's his FIDO2 ring.
  • speaking of, I'd like a ring for my passkeys. I feel like that would be more stylish than a YubiKey around the neck, even though a lot of devices don't support NFC
• found this very good article on the NHS adoption of Palantir's Federated Data Platform, and how some trusts are building and using their own (better) alternatives

musings

• Zen is a frustrating browser. seems like there's a bug which fucks with language packs, so I'm stick with squiggly lines under every other word I write. that, plus the constant memory leaks, means I'm fed up and I think I might switch back to Arc soon
• this week, I've swung between having quite a bit of energy and being massively fatigued. for the first time in a long time, it's felt good to move, good to be active and good to be alive. however, I've also felt so, so tired, and like everything takes so much effort.
• no, Monzo. I do not want your uncompetitive pension and investment offerings. leave me alone. stop sending me push notifications.
• my computer storage is full. I really need a new laptop. 😭
• my glasses keep slipping off my face, I need to get them adjusted
• so that’s why I don’t eat KFC. I won't forget that any time soon
• TfL apparently provides personal travel wrap ups if you register your card. why is everyone getting in on this trend?

misadventures

• my lip split during Congress, been moisturising with petroleum jelly in an effort to heal it
• managed to finish Pluribus this week. sucks that it ended on that cliffhanger
• wrote up and silently published weeknotes for the last two weeks of the year
• gave myself ample time to walk to a doctor’s appointment on Monday, which I'm really happy about. killed two birds with one stone, and also picked up some medication
  • my GP was really helpful in the moment, she promised to make a referral for me and also sent for some bloods. however, I still haven't seen the referral in the NHS app.
• got a light dusting of snow on Tuesday. surprisingly, the country did not collapse
• I considered not submitting a CfP to codebar Festival this year, but got roped into it by Hugh and Arora. Kim's also getting me to organise codebar Festival Fringe again, given it was an absolute hit last year!
• went to Tesco, got some greeting cards to send some Congress stickers to friends.
• had my blood tests on Thursday, and managed to knock out some other errands. posted some off Christmas gifts and Congress stickers to friends, as I don't trust the postal service during the seasonal rush
• went to the London Night Café on Thursday evening. finally got over my writer's block, and started on my Teaching Programming across Disciplines chapter.
  • writing is much more pleasurable than I remember it being. it's quite nice to string my thoughts together in a way that someone else can appreciate
• finished a first draft my TPaD chapter on Friday, and circulated it among some people for some feedback. I'll hopefully hear back next week
• printed some flyers. why does the print shop’s site need an AI assistant for simple FAQs? this is truly a bubble and I hate it.
• met up with Iris on Saturday, had dinner with her at Park's Kitchen and then we went to see 28 Days Later: Live in Concert at the Hammersmith Apollo.
  • we shared some chicken pan-fried dumpings (mandu) and I had spicy chicken with steamed rice.
  • the orchestral performance at the Apollo was eclectic. haunting and eclectic. I never watched the original film, so this was a stellar first experience for me. the venue was quite nice as well
  • I can't believe they achieved such an empty London without any CGI, getting up at dawn to film. it's also fascinating the majority of it was shot with a camcorder
  • Saw a Worldcoin stand in Hammersmith on the way home
  • Iris got me ears, and I wore them after the Apollo. some guy barked at us. I love London
• caught up with Andrea on Sunday, and we talked about life plans. it's nice to be excited for the future again, and it feels good to dream.
  • I've got a lot lined up for 2026, including getting a place of my own, building some cash savings, doing a philosophy course and finishing two books.
  • I've also got FOSDEM, EMF, GPN, eth0 and Congress on the agenda for this year. I'm welcome to any other event suggestions people might have!
  • I feel like I should do stuff by myself. in fact, I want to do more stuff by myself. probably GPN?
• did a really good soft scramble for brunch on Sunday. I'm quite proud of myself.
• building some internal tooling for work next week, I'm so excited!