welcome to last week's weeknotes (overdue because I'm a little tired, but I'm alive). I started drafting these on Sunday night, on an incredibly uncomfortable Greater Anglia service from Cambridge into Liverpool Street. I'm finally getting around to finishing this following dinner on Tuesday evening.

miscellanea

• found the "Copy Clean Link" feature in the Zen browser, which can copy YouTube links without the tracking query. I'd be interested to see how it's implemented.
• I learnt you can die by misadventure. that sounds super cool.
• learnt about how pubs were nationalised during World War I to create a better drinking culture for workers at munitions factories.
• I saw the Elizabeth line at Liverpool Street had one roundel rebranded for TfL’s 25th birthday. I’m personally firmly opposed to rebranding of the Tube in any sense, commercial or non-commercial, and it reminded me of the Burberry Street fiasco.

musings

• I feel the craft of software engineering has been poisoned by scale. your service likely doesn't need to scale to one million users overnight. however, I feel there are a few exceptions to this, and Government is one of them. who on Earth decided that the website to book driving tests is only available between 0600 and 2345?
• I hate Greater Anglia's Class 720s.
  • they have a miserable 3+2 seating configuration, with very narrow aisles
  • the seats are ridiculously hard, narrow and uncomfortable. the hour ride to Cambridge caused horrid back pain. I thought I was being fussy, but others on RailUK agree with me
  • there are no tables except for those behind seats. I have the fun choice of either cramping my knees or balancing my laptop on my lap to get some work done. I couldn't imagine commuting on these.
• Man Of The Year by Lorde is good. I'm glad she's got more music coming out
• discovered The Northern Boys and their bars are brill. I can recommend Party Time and Give It to Me.
• I'd like to get a new laptop, before Apple becomes completely enshittified. not sure which to get, though!
• need to play Mirror’s Edge. on first glance, it looks a lot like Prey which I quite liked.

misadventures

• hacked away at some of my book proposal with Josie during our one to one this week. we had another meeting on Wednesday to discuss it, and I'm feeling super hopeful about the project
• bulk ordered some soap and bleach from the Internet
• had lunch with Hugh, we went to a poké place with chicken with half-and-half sushi rice and salad. I've been making a conscious effort to cut down on eating and making healthier choices when I do eat
• went to the AI Signals meetup on Tuesday. it's the first since their rebrand (which I think has been a swinging success!).
  • I managed to shill my upcoming DX roundtable for the book, which I'm super grateful to Hugh for. got a couple of signups, off the back of that.
  • Hugh has done a damn good job of making this one of the best applied artificial intelligence meet ups in London, and creating an extremely cool place to meet cool people. I admire his work.
• wrote some technical tests on Tuesday, for interviews on Wednesday and Thursday. one half is a frontend code review and the other is a backend whiteboarding exercise. they were fun to administer, and I found both candidates interviewed really well
  • on that note, we’re hiring at Lumi! I should write a bit about what I’m looking for in a team, and possibly a follow-up with what I’ve learnt from the experience. everything in life is derivative, even management styles, so I draw a lot of inspiration from the way 37signals is run. I’m a firm believer in managers of one, and helping people into that position
• bit the bullet and bought Copilot this week
• my passport application got approved, so it should be about three weeks until I get a new one!
• had to run errands in Richmond on Friday over lunch, worked from Costa on New Oxford Street. made my way to the Wellcome Library bit for the afternoon.
• went to rock karaoke on Friday night. unfortunately, I had to leave early because I had to catch a train to Cambridge on Saturday morning.
  • belted out Smells Like Teen Spirit, and the pub punters said it was my best performance yet. although I had to leave early, I’ll be back with Bruno when he visits later this month
  • treated myself to the £5 McDonald’s meal after, as a treat.
• my phone died on Friday night, so I had to employ a pen and paper diary to jot down my thoughts. unfortunately, I’m struggling to read my handwriting after the fact.
  • writing down notes reminded me how much I enjoy pen and paper, and how much it makes my thoughts feel better. I should absolutely write some stuff without distractions in a notebook. a handwritten post or manuscript would be amazing.
• excited to get more merch at work at some point. I’d like notebook similar to the ones I had at Ripjar, some high-quality paper with a leather embossed cover.
  • on reflection, I quite liked working there and I slightly regret leaving. I can only hope to foster an environment of learning and curiosity at Lumi. like every company, Ripjar had its problems, but a lot of what I learnt about people and how they tick came from my time there
• went to Cambridge for the weekend, to join Mac for a picnic with some friends. met some people I haven't seen in ages, which was lovely!
  • missed my initial train as I was distracted writing some emails, so got there a little after I intended
  • played badminton and volleyball for the first time, and also played with a good old Frizbee sports disc. it was good to get out and be active for once. I was a little sore for a bit, in fact.
  • had Chinese takeaway on Saturday night, and watched Mr. Nobody. it was... quite a bit of a confusing film, probably because I fell asleep halfway through it. I'll give it a rewatch sometime soon
  • borrowed a copy of Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web and Mobile Usability from Mac's friend. It'll come in useful as I design UIs at work.
  • spent time with Mac on Sunday, playing NYT's Connections. he has money to burn, so got a subscription. working through their archive was pretty fun. had some tropical Twisters and they were pretty good
  • rewatched I Saw the TV Glow on Sunday, which was an experience. it's such a good film, and I find it's a super effective piece of cinema because the message that comes changes depending on your lived experience and who you are.
  • got home and a respectable 2345, and immediately put a wash on.