https://www.gordonmclean.co.uk/blog by @snowgoon@mastodon.social
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Life 75% · Tech 14% · Writing 6% · Culture 2% · Art 1% · Crafts 1%
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I love Louis Armstrong but I fear this new version of WordPress may be the death knell for me and, given I’ve been using WordPress since 2004 (version 1.2), I guess I can say it’s been a good run. I have pondered moving away from WordPress a few times now, the bloat makes the dashboard feel slow, I’m far too reliant on plugins (I’m not THAT bad a coder, just lazy!), and it feels very much like a product that is showing its age, with feature built on feature, leaving an odd jumble of ways to…
It seems that, no matter where I turn, I can’t escape the talk about how we use our phones. It’s understandable they are an inescapable part of our lives, and for many of us, myself included, I can’t imagine life without one; the ability to contact someone anytime anywhere is a given of modern life. It wasn’t always such but I won’t bore you with tales of my childhood, of arranging pub meets via answerphone messages, of not having the internet at our fingertips and learning by doing or reading.…
On holiday in the highlands of Scotland. Commence quick photo dump. Thanks for reading and keeping RSS alive. Visit my site for more.
Family holiday, Big Sands beach, cycling, kite flying, fire pits, and only missing Granny Morna who is convalescing. Jack in his element charging about outdoors. We’ve had sunshine, rain, hailstones, 20mph winds all in the space of 10 mins! Cycled from campsite to the town, and beyond, 10.5 miles. Jack is 4.5 yrs old and managed the whole thing! Thanks for reading and keeping RSS alive. Visit my site for more.
I can’t recall where I read those words —Stop waiting to be ready— they feel at once trite, and yet remain simple, to the point and, annoyingly, hit the nail on the head as far as I’m concerned. A similar saying would be ‘The right time is now’. This one time at boot camp A few years ago I’d been starting to get back into jogging, but felt like I needed something more, something to push me, and then I heard about a gym that was offering a bootcamp. I knew some people who went to the gym,…
Today I completed a job that I’ve had on my list for a few weeks. The specifics of the job —fixing the broken grey waste pipe on our motorhome— aren’t what matters. As ever, I prepped, researched, bought some bits I thought I might need and when I finally got around to actually looking at things properly it took me about 15 mins. I’m sure there is a lesson there, in fact I know there is as I do this all the time. Procrastinate my days away doing other things (gosh like redesign my blog!) rather…
Life My sister would’ve been 45 on Tuesday. A reflective day but on the whole not too bad. Finally making my peace with her death? I hope so. Took myself for a wee bike ride on Wednesday before picking Jack up from nursery (on his bike). Nice just to have a wee pootle around the town on two wheels. Need to get my road bike ready and plan some actual rides! Speaking of bikes, we took Jack to Decathlon today to get an upgrade! His current bike is getting too small (already). Now on 16” wheels and…
I like to capture ideas for posts as there are so many that flitter through my brain. I’m prompted by what I read on a blog, or in an article, or by something that someone mentions in passing, or a random life event. I have 34 drafts, 34 posts started with a few paragraphs and thoughts rapidly dumped into Ulysses —my writing app of choice— where I’ll tend to let my brain guide me as I write. That means a post that starts off with one thought can meander to another —I’m sure you have noticed…
Scotland in a nutshell. Started out overcast but no rain forecast, so Jack and I got our bikes out and headed over to the park. A few spots of rain when we arrived, 30 mins later the heavens opened. We stopped for lunch and by the time we were done, the sun was out! An hour later a few more spots and a large dark cloud was looming so we headed home, 5 mins later it was heaving it down! We abandoned the ride and called for a rescue! Mummy came and got Jack and his bike, and Daddy got to ride…
Sir David Attenborough is 100 years old and formed a large part of my love of nature through is TV documentaries through the 80s and 90s. I can remember when TVs went HIGH DEFINITION and Planet Earth (I think) was one of the first shows to take advantage and wow it looked so so good. I read his autobiography many years ago, he is a fascinating, kind, inquisitive, brave, and all round good guy. We should celebrate him, and people like him, more than we do. Highly recommend you watch Making Life…
I have a Yamaha P-115 digital piano, it’s been propped up in the corner for about three years. Today I took 20 mins to shuffle some things around in my office (our spare room), and it’s set up. And my son is currently sitting bashing away at the keys. I need to try and remember when I started piano lessons, I can remember how much I loathed them at times, but now I’m glad I have the basic ability to play. Might be good for him too. Thanks for reading and keeping RSS alive. Visit my site for…
My weight and my attempts to exercise have been mentioned here many times. I am more than happy to hear constructive comments and suggestions, but bear in mind that what I’m really about to discuss is my emotional habits, not the fact that I eat more than I should, and don’t move my body often enough. I’ve been weighing myself weekly since the turn of the year —to be fair, I’ve been weighing myself on a fairly regular pattern for almost three decades now— yet despite that or maybe because of…
I’m pondering different routes into my site, one idea is to build collections of related posts. I’ve got over 3000 posts, so I’m hoping I can make better use of them. So I’m looking for suggestions, have you come across any interesting “curation” ideas? Hit me up in the comments! Thanks for reading and keeping RSS alive. Visit my site for more.
This is, sorta, a note for myself. I’ve spent the past few weeks redesigning my site, and with it re-thinking my approach to both this blog, and the many I enjoy reading. One thing I did was reduced the barrier to post here, simply by having this category as an ‘aside/miniblog/notes’ place for thoughts, links, and random little posts as I see fit. Which has meant that some days I realise that I haven’t posted to my blog for an ENTIRE DAY (the shock, the horror!) and that I can do that now…
I’ve spotted this in a couple of places over the last few weeks and find it an interesting approach. You post a bit of JSON script on your site, and then someone can ‘vouch’ that you are human if they have the required browser extensions. I think I’ve got that right. I am not convinced. Especially when the latest post I spotted is by someone who is anonymous on their own blog? And while I wholeheartedly believe they are a human, they’ve already taken as step away from being just that on their…
It’s that time of year again, temperatures rise, flowers bloom, and butterflies take wing. Their erratic flutters catch the eye and we watch, trying to predict where they are heading, to guess the path they follow. An impossible maze of off beats and breezes. They have direction, as incidental as it may seem. They are determined to keep moving. They move for food. For family. To exist. They rest. Slow their wings to a standstill. Reveal their beauty to all. They pause, then. A flap of wings,…
Jack isn’t quite old enough to sit through the Star Wars movies but that day is coming —presuming I can get him out of the Marvel universe long enough, Spidey and his Amazing Friends is pretty good though!— and I do wonder what he’ll make of it. Just another old movie that Dad wants him to watch? Which makes me wonder what his ‘Star Wars’ movie will be? Do movie releases still have that big an impact? I think so, but in 10 years time, when he’s 14, will it still be the same? Probably not.…
Life It’s been 4 years since we had a great day and to celebrate we booked a babysitter, and had a fantastic meal at a local Indian restaurant, Anayas, before wandering back to get ice cream at Dino’s which makes THE best milk ice cream (well technically the best was Galone’s but that shut down many years ago). 4 wonderful happy years. Sunshine! Isn’t it amazing how much a little sun changes the world, makes everything seem a little better, makes people a little friendlier. Of course it’s…
Saturday morning, Becca’s at work, so it’s just me and Jack. He’s requested a morning in the house, he’s had a busy week so always happy to let him listen to his own body and mind and make these decisions. I’ll cut the grass later but mostly just hang out with my son. Yay! Thanks for reading and keeping RSS alive. Visit my site for more.
I’ve always been quietly impressed by those who can grasp an idea, hold it deeply, and communicate it clearly to others, building the passion they have for something into a drive and commitment to it that others want to mimic. Some of these things become zeitgeist, capturing a mood or a moment so well that what started as a simple, personal, idea, is catapulted into the minds of others and —because we live in a capitalist world— is quickly monetised into a system or a product. Think; The Power…
A steady week, sunshine makes all the difference to my mood and the variety of things we can do. Life Glorious sunshine all weekend, so managed to get a start on building a slide/swing/climbing frame for Jack. Mundane things, cutting the grass, little fixes and improvements to Vera, some walks, a lot of stretching, such was my week. And that’s ok, I enjoy the quieter routines of daily life more and more as I get older. Life is as simple as we make it. As I mentioned last week, my…
I’ve had this post in draft since March 2021, no doubt triggered by an article about iPods or MP3s ‘back in the day’. As is the case with these things, I’ve recently stumbled across a few different posts which all harken back, and touch upon, some of my own thoughts that I never fully fleshed out. So I’ve dusted this off. Ohh and I’ve marked where the original draft ended too, more for my own knowledge than anything. As a self confessed geek I take some pride in being reasonably well organised.…
The determination to move away from the addictive doom-scrolling of social media has given me pause, given me space to look around at how I use the internet and figure out where I get most value and where I WANT to get it from. TLDR; unsurprisingly, it’s connection to people. When social media first appeared it really was about the people using it; admittedly for us early adopters who were already well established online within our own little niché of semi-similarity minded people — think…
Life As predicted, a quiet week. Steady at work, steady at home. Productive in small ways, with a lot of little things moved forwards. Managed to get some exercise in, both at the gym, on Zwift, and a wee walk one evening too (even if I did get dive bombed by a heron). Not long back from a weekend up in Perth — meeting up with family, watching my son and his cousin play together. Restorative fun times. The simple joy of just nipping away for the weekend in the motorhome just confirms what a…
Manuel is usually opionated and occasionally correct. I agree that nuance is missing from a lot of discourse on the internet, and it’s a reason I wholly encourage blogs to have comments so enable a little back and forth. As someone who’s never ‘gone viral’ and never wrote or posted anything with that in mind, […] The post Reasoned nuance appeared first on Happily Imperfect .
There is no escaping the galloping rise that AI is seeing across the tech world. It’s spreading out everywhere, not quite like a virus — although I’m sure they are already prowling about out there — more like the exploring tentacles of an inquisitive octopus. I have used, and will continue to use, AI for […]
PM Starmer has issued stockpile guidance. The short version (without the rhetoric): • A battery or wind-up torch – torches are a safer option than candles. • A portable power bank for charging your mobile phone. • A battery or wind-up radio to stay updated during a power outage. • Spare batteries for torches and […]
Dreams varying from mundane, to horrifying, from opaque to vivid. Time to get back in the magnesium supplements for me, I think. As ever when I wake through the night, my brain kicks into gear and I ponder projects, come up with ideas, then promptly forget them when I go back to sleep. I’m sure […]
My work week follows a pattern most of the time. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday are half and half meetings and “doing” time. Friday has fewer meetings. Wednesdays are meeting and deadline days. So I don’t really plan anything other than attending the meetings, and getting the reports done. And I seem to have fallen into […]
I’ve been running boringNotch — an app that takes the black ‘notch’ in my MacBook and aims to make it useful — for a while now. I’ve tried others but realised why none of them enthuse me.They are trying to solve a problem that shouldn’t exist. I’ve never had a ‘notch’ before, my brain doesn’t […]
