Denis Defreyne’s weeknotes

Quick bits Because windows open outwards in the UK, you cannot really keep them open during the rain, lest they get wet. I learned this the hard way. I miss German-style windows, I think. I started preparing a talk on the “goal” pattern, which I’m planning to give at LRUG later this year. I’ve not given a talk in a long time, so it’ll be nice to get back into it. My Dell U3423WE display started flickering, but it seems like it was nothing more than a bad connection. Whew — I thought the display…

This is one of these weeks where not much interesting has happened. Quite some energy has gone into projects at work — projects that are so interesting that they take up mental space even in my free time. It’s a privilege to be working on projects that I voluntarily think about in my spare time, but I’d very much like to be able to switch off, too. Fortunately, this is a very long weekend. I had Friday off (my employer gives everyone all Fridays off in August), and coming Monday is a bank…

Quick bits Rain! Cooler temperatures! Oh, how much I have missed this. A—— is visiting London from Berlin! It makes London and Berlin feel so close. I’ve started using Ocado for my grocery deliveries. My local grocery stores don’t really stock what I want, or at least not of the quality that I want. There is a Lidl, a Coop, and a Tesco Express, and none of them really suit me. I miss the huge REWE within walking distance in Berlin. I could find anything there, and had a huge selection of…

Quick bits The scorching of the Earth continues. My godfather and uncle passed away earlier. I have said it before, but it remains true: fuck cancer. I have made a donation in his name to Cancer Research UK. I1 got a national emergency alert for a high risk of wildfires. Not just that — I got the emergency alert three times, each one hour apart. Perhaps controversial, but I don’t believe that a national emergency alert is the right ****channel for notifying about a high risk of wildfires. In my…

Quick bits I visited the Soane museum, but lack the words to describe it. Perhaps it cannot be described, and must be experienced. Ever since I learned that water can kill you, I’ve been a little apprehensive about hydrating. I have been drinking a lot of water, because it’s been very hot. But am I drinking too much? Will I die from H2O poisoning? [Sigh. No, you won’t. — Ed.] I need a haircut. It’s becoming an emergency. Got any good hairdresser recommendations in London? I’ve got my first…

Quick bits I met up with fellow weeknoter Coffee for a cup of Tom. Oops! Fellow weeknoter Tom for a cup of coffee. Clearly lacking coffee this morning. It was excellent conversation with excellent coffee. Speaking of coffee: I’ve held off on buying fancy coffee beans because one gets used to having good coffee and then every other coffee just tastes terrible. The plan is to vorbeugen my hedonistic adaptation. How do you say vorbeugen in English? Again: Clear lack of coffee this morning. My mind…

Quick bits Another heat wave? Fuck. Meanwhile, it hasn’t rained in London for a month. My experience of London so far does not align at all with the stereotypical image of a cold, windy, and rainy place. It’s been tropical, even. I am recovering, slowly, from my cold/flu/COVID. I’m low on energy, and I’ve channelled most of that energy into just working. The coughing and sneezing have not fully disappeared yet. I tried going for a nice long walk, but was out of breath before even leaving the…

I’ve fallen ill! Some sort of cold, or the flu, or maybe even COVID. Who knows. Eurgh. That this happened is not a surprise. The stress around moving and around the issues with my rental place has been high, and I’m surprised that I didn’t crash earlier. But as a result, this week’s week­notes will be more terse than usual. Quick bits Karl Marx came up in a conversation this week, and I was reminded that I used to confuse Karl May and Karl Marx. As a kid, I had a Karl May book that I never…

These week­notes are brought to you live1 from the Barbican. Quick bits For no discernible reason, my to-do list had the item “retractable baguette” on it. I’ve had just about no time to continue with game development. I miss my desk setup. I have totally converted to Actual. I’m not going back to YNAB. I’ve even canceled my subscription! London bits: London has a remarkably high density of people with Metallica T-shirts.2 The taste and especially the smell of the tap water is different in…

Quick bits When seen from a moving train, planes seem to be simply hovering in place. Weird. Pro tip: You can just ask the Amazon AI to get a free trial. I’m on my third Amazon Prime trial already. I set up Tailscale, and now I can access Actual from my phone. Neat! I’m wondering whether I can get a dedicated device to run my server on — perhaps my ancient Raspberry Pi is worth looking into. I’ve been tempted to set up a proper homelab, but that’d be overkill. But fun overkill, you know? I’d be…

Quick bits The heat! Ugh! I skipped going to the office all week, because I did not want to die. My initial plan was to use the coworking1 space near me instead, because it has AC, but the AC was turned way down and the cold airflow made me nauseous, and I couldn’t get the Wi-Fi to work there either. So I stuck to my temp studio, where I’ve been suffering; having windows only on one side meant I couldn’t get any airflow going. At least it wasn’t as hellishly hot as it was in Berlin. I’ve come…

Quick bits My favourite AI hallucination this week: I am a former Prime Minister of Belgium. After abandoning my budgeting app, I resumed my fuzzy math library — and then abandoned that too! It is thoroughly difficult and an incredible amount of work. What is the next project I’ll abandon? When using a map, do you keep it pointing north, or do you rotate it in the direction you are facing like a mad person? First workweek in London This was my first week at work in London. Some observations so…

The movers have collected my belongings in Berlin, and I’ve handed over the keys to my Berlin apartment. Now I’m back in London, with zero business left in Berlin. I’m glad I have a system that brings structure to this whole project. The hundred to-do items1 aren’t overwhelming because I’ve organised them by urgency, and scheduled on the appropriate days. I am taking small bites. Quick bits The flight from London was packed with men (and some women) in business suits, with briefcases filled…

I’ve made a short trip to London to set up my temporary accommodation. I’ve dropped everything off and will soon return to Berlin to finish up the move. As Marlene Dietrich sings: Ich hab’ noch einen Koffer in Berlin. That is what she meant… right? My arrival in London coincided with Tube strikes, but I’ve been able to fall back to the Elizabeth line for what I needed to do. Viewings, primarily. I’m not back to work just yet; I need to finish my international move before I can put my energy…

Quick bits I’m literally as unreliable as it gets this week. It’s the relocation, you know. Unfortunately, it’s also performance evaluation season at work. I set up runit on my Mac because launchd is so damn complicated. Runit is simple, and I love that. Some Berliners have their minds so set on cycling on the sidewalk, that they’ll cycle on the sidewalk even when there is a bicycle lane right next to it. Somebody please explain me the reasoning here, because it eludes me. The car and motorbike…

Quick bits On my birthday, Venus and Jupiter were bright on the night sky, with the moon directly in between. How nice of the Wanderers to accompany me on my birthday. My electric drill is broken (the battery is dead and the no replacement is for sale), but I have my ratchet spanner, and ratchet spanners are the best. My Apple TV+ trial renewed into a subscription with no reminder. Bah! At least Apple got me a refund. Shower thoughts This isn’t new, but I’m occasionally reminded that fire…

Quick bits I’m looking forward to my birthday/leaving picnic! Wild that these are my last weeks in Berlin. I saw a pretty website, and now I want to redesign my own site. Like I’ve got nothing else that is more urgent! When I arrived in Berlin about 13 years ago, I saw people having barbecues in the Hin­ter­höfe1 and I assumed that, because the party is happening in a semi-public space, that neighbors would be welcome to join too. But no, not in Germany — what a faux pas that was. It saddens me…

Quick bits I’ve got a birthday picnic coming Sunday. If we’re mutuals and I by chance haven’t invited you yet, poke me and I’ll send you the invitation. It’d be lovely to see you. The stress for moving is building. In just under three weeks, I’ll be out of my apartment in Berlin, though not quite in London just yet. I’ve noticed that there are people who will pick up stuff that I give away for free on Kleinanzeigen, and then immediately put it back up on the classifieds platform themselves —…

It’s already two days ago, but: happy May Day! Also a happy birthday to Nanoc, whose version 1.0 was released on May 3rd, 2007, making it 19 years old. Quick bits As mentioned last week, I’m not participating in my acting course’s final showcase, and I’m also not partaking in the remaining classes, instead giving the time and space to my fellow students who will perform. For fucking years now, macOS has had this bug where if you try to reveal the menu bar on one screen, it would only show the…

Quick bits I added subtitles to my ddenv introductory video. It’s nice for accessibility, but I mostly did this out of curiosity: I wanted to know how subtitles are handled on YouTube from a creator’s perspective. But now I have more questions! When is it better to split a line of dialogue? For how long does a line need to remain on screen? I’m beginning to appreciate the art and the craft of subtitling. The carbon rating for denisdefreyne.com is A+, and my web site is “cleaner than 100 % of…

Quick bits Congratulations to Hungary for kicking out Orbán! There is a massive egg shortage in Berlin.1 My sudden craving for eggs will have to remain unsatisfied. Speaking of food: cooking brings me joy, and I often forget that. A replacement for my wonky Kensington Orbit trackball with scroll ring is on its way. I’m glad I didn’t try to tough it out but rather get it replaced. That is what warranty is for! Hopefully, the replacement does not have the same lacking build quality. As of…