Happily Imperfect

I’ve had my Gravatar account for a long time —18th January 2017, something I managed to find by exporting my data and querying the JSON file included (which only gives the UNIX timestamp)— but I’m about to close it. Why? Because it serves me no purpose. At BEST it was a quick way to get my details added to a comment box on some (WordPress mostly) sites, but at some point in the last few years it changed to only populate the URL, that is normally asked for, with a link to my Gravatar profile,…

I’ve made a few tweaks to the Mac menubar app I vibe coded the other day. Sidenote: I really ick on the term vibe coded. But what else would I call it? Largely driven by a change to the BBC Radio 2 lineup with Sara Cox now (finally) getting the breakfast gig. It does put her in direct competition with Grimmy on 6Music but at least now I have a choice in the morning, before Laurene on 6Music mid-morning. Largely inspired by the app I used to build something similar(ish) myself before which my…

I’m blaming the heat, but I have lost all motivation for writing. I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m writing a novel, and I’m at the stage of saying the rough draft is complete. So what I need to do know is read through a chapter, make some notes, and then rewrite. I’ve been at this stage for a few weeks now. It’s probably notable that I’m taking more time to craft my longer posts here, and have even toyed with writing a memoir (part companion to the novel, part procrastination). So I’m…

We are currently looking to get a new washing machine. Looking online at the usual big stores and every single one has an awful AWFUL website experience. These are large companies who are typically owned by a large conglomerate who should, somewhere in the depths of their organisations, have people who know how to build websites well, and certainly they’ll know how to code things so they work well on a mobile device. Right? RIGHT? Wrong. The worst, so far, is Curry’s. I’d clicked through to…

Every now and then one catches my eye and I have one of those little “oh yeah, I have tattoos” moments. Then I start to think back on not just why I got it, but who I was when I did. Most days I barely notice them. They’re simply part of me now, as familiar as the freckles on my arms or the scar on my knee. But every so often I’ll catch sight of one whilst reaching for a mug, pulling on a T-shirt, or walking past a mirror, and for a moment I’m transported back to the day it was done. I have…

This little site is doing the rounds so no doubt you’ve seen it linked to already. If not, why aren’t you following Kottke? The premise is simple, leave a short recording with your location tagged on the map. Why? Well the creators say: VoiceDot exists so that people live and love each other. So that no one ever reaches for what is not theirs — someone else’s land, someone else’s home, someone else’s peace. That is the whole idea. There is no other.The stories here are all different — joyful,…

For those of you in the UK. Do you remember who got the coveted Christmas number 1 slot in 2009? Do you remember how it came to be? I ask only because I randomly saw this post from my own blog. Thanks for reading and keeping RSS alive. Visit my site for more.

Jack and I were away for the weekend in Vera (our motorhome). We stayed at the very lovely Blair Drummond Campsite. Yet I bet most people who read the title of the post presumed I was going to talk about the nearby Safari Park —I will in a minute. I picked up Jack up from nursery on Friday, and we drove straight to the campsite, had ice cream before dinner, set up Vera for our two night stay, found the play area, and ended the evening (after dinner and showers) playing with his frisbee whilst…

Life Notes Busy busy at work, which has dominated most thoughts this week. Vera MOT passed thanks to my father-in-law having the tools, know how, and bloody mindedness to replace the failed headlamp unit. What a faff, but what a hero! Friday I picked Jack up from nursery, and he and I headed to Blair Drummond campsite for two nights. Just the boys! (Well, minus Dave, bit too warm to leave him in the camper van during the day). What a great time I had, completely switched off from everything,…

That ship has sailed. It sailed years ago when we all happily leapt on to Facebook, then Twitter, and before that Google already had all our data anyway. We willingly, naively perhaps, made ourselves the product. Tech will always tech, tech bros will always monetise without thought of ethics. We made this bed. Can we remake it? Thanks for reading and keeping RSS alive. Visit my site for more.

Many years ago, when I was single and had money, I bought some lego kits and then —for reasons I can’t really recall— went on an eBay splurge on some Lego Minifigures. I don’t think I was trying to build a collection, just realised that for a few quid (I think the most I paid was £3 + P&P) I could have some little fun lego people. I have a LOT of them but most of them are from common sets and are worth precisely as much as they cost at the time. However, a couple of years ago I was trying to…

This was the title of a post I’ve had stuck in draft for a while. It was also the post that got the most ‘votes’ to be written and published, which was handy for me as it was almost done anyway. Revisiting old drafts is always an education, I could see where I was going when I wrote the original draft, but I realise now I had stopped because I couldn’t quite square it away, wasn’t really sure where it was going. The time away from the draft helped make it clear and finishing it off didn’t take…

I work from home most of the time and, from where I’m sitting right now, I can see the main road at the end of our little estate, the houses beyond it, and beyond those the edge of the Crags, a local hill crowned with a line of rocky cliffs. The view reveals itself in layers. Beyond the houses, a small copse of trees fills the foreground before the land rises gently towards the foot of the Crags. As I write this the sky is overcast. A light smirr hangs in the air, while low cloud softens the…

My blogging mojo comes in fits and starts. I’ve been enjoying having a little more freedom in approach since switching to, essentially, two streams of posts; these shorter (or at least less considered) Notes, and the longer Musings style, umm, essays? Since writing about not being able to finish a Draft I’ve managed to finish three (all are scheduled) but I started noticing a level of writing fatigue. I think that’s what I’d call it. Admittedly, like most, I do this hobby around a busy full…

Is this metablogging? Perhaps. I’m not going to dwell on that though, there has been plenty written about that avenue / type of post, instead I’m gonna be honest. My writing process If anyone has read any of the entries of Manu’s (now Zachary’s) series People and Blogs you’ll have seen this question asked: What does your creative process look like when it comes to blogging? I always read this section in detail and with great fascination because, for a long time, I didn’t think I had a process.…

My (step) father-in-law has been helping me try and remove a headlamp from our motorhome. It has not been a fun job. We may have done a swear. Or three. I tried it myself for about an hour late last week, to no avail. It’s one of those awkward jobs that was, probably, very easy to do when the van was being built, but then they’ve attached the bumper farings etc, which are riveted in place, and so you need to be a contortionist to even reach your hand into the right position. I’m 186cm tall (6′…

Life Notes Monday was a day off, already can’t quite remember what I did with it. Oh yes, a wander round the shops and some sushi. Nice to hang out with my beautiful wife, sans Jack for a change. Tuesday was the day of the Alanis Morissette gig, and it was glorious. The weather held, the crowd was in good spirits, and OMG what a voice. I was fully in bits, tears streaming down my face at one point. Not that that is anything unusual but this was much more specific that my usual overwhelm around…

The Tour de France starts today. I’m still debating shelling out for HBO Max so I can watch stages live on my iPad while I work —the joys of working at home— but I’ll be following along regardless. It should be a fascinating race this year, even if the winner is more than likely to be one of only two men. Barring a crash, Pog will win it. I think. I’m not alone in that prediction. Intrigued to see how some of the teams will adapt, and as ever, will be fascinated as I watch the team tactics…

Jack insisted on showing me around the Safari Park last weekend. We have season tickets, and he knows the place so well that I spent the day being marched from one attraction to the next. We visited most of the animal enclosures, including the Dinosaur paddock where Jack made sure I stood in just the right spot for a dinosaur to squirt water at me! He’s so cheeky and thought it was utterly hilarious of course as 4-year-old boys are wont to do. After that we stopped in the BBQ area, which…

Happy Birthday America! You did it. 250 years old. Well done!We just won’t ask those guys over there about it though (you know, the natives). Anyway, as Aimee Mann says: Today’s the Fourth of JulyAnother June has gone byAnd when they light up our town I just thinkWhat a waste of gunpowder and sky You’ve still got a bit of growing to do though, which kinda shows at the moment, guess we’ll calling it growing pains? Maybe some examples of things that are a little older than you might help give you…

Not sure that title even makes sense to be honest, but on we go! I listen to BBC 6Music most mornings when I’m working. The joys of working at home, my music choice, my coffee, my desk and a window I can open as wide as I wish. However that means keeping a browser tab open all the time, something I’m clearly not great at as I kept closing it/the browser and so I looked for a solution. I found one, adapted it for 6Music, and have been using it since then (2021). Over the past few weeks I’ve been…

Dear Self, You visit Bubbles every day, and with good reason. You are finding new voices, interesting sites, and realising that the internet you loved all those years ago is still out there, you’d just forgotten how to look. It’s a great resource. And boy those upvotes are addictive. Thing is, you’ve lost your focus. You’ve let that little bump in your stats —the one you get when you’ve posted something new— go to your head. You are writing posts with half a mind on getting upvotes, rather than…

Half way through the year already, and it seemed like a good time to look back at my New Year resolutions. I’m not normally one for resolutions, but avoiding them hadn’t exactly been a winning strategy either, so I thought I’d give them a try. As I said in January: Given that I remain unfit and overweight, and have spent the last 4 years trying a variety of different approaches, none of which have worked, I’m thinking that maybe I should just try New Year resolutions? What’s the harm, right? If…

One of the Summer Sessions gigs that takes over one part of Bellahouston Park, last night saw Alanis Morissette headlining a line-up of amazing female led bands. Local Glasgow band Lucia and the Best Boys were already on stage when we arrived and delivered a stripped back set. First time hearing them and already eyeing their Barrowlands gig in October. Great voice. Then one of my favourite bands took to the stage —Skunk Anansie. Big riffs, huge energy, and Skin was her usual mix of heavenly…

Since late last year I have been slowly (very slowly) removing digital artefacts from a few places in my life. It partly goes hand in hand with the death plan I’m building —more on that later— and partly just a reaction to my loathing of having too much clutter, something that feels like a constant battle with a 4 year old in the house! At least my own digital artefacts are within my control. I’ve tried to explain some of my thinking about this before but ultimately whilst it was separate…

Moments, a beautiful photo sharing, quiet community, site has revealed their pricing. As an early member —sorry Founding Supporter— I get the opportunity to pay $89/year for some additional features. Is free still worth it? Is their paid for tier good enough to stump up the cash? I’ll admit when I first signed up for Moments I thought it was far far too polished to be a free service and, I was right, it is of course being monetised. I knew it was coming, it was literally too good to be true…

“Hate is a strong word”, my mother used to say. The irony of my choice of post title isn’t lost on me. Here I am writing about the dangers of reducing the world to simplistic opposites, and I’ve deliberately given this post a title that does exactly that. There were gentler alternatives. “I dislike binary thinking” would have been more accurate, but considerably less clickable. Perhaps that’s part of the problem. I have three or four different posts sitting in my drafts folder and, on…

Life Notes Survived the heat wave. We got to the high 20s here which, frankly, is both scary and so totally out of our norm that it was a struggle. I do wonder what kind of world my son will grow up in. Speaking of, I had a day at Blair Drummond Safari Park on Saturday with Jack, got there at 9:30am, left at 4pm. He loves the play areas, and the animals —we spent 20 mins at the giraffe house alone. He’s just the funniest, curious, most lovable wee guy at the moment! Long may it continue. Vera…

Sad news indeed. I traded emails with Om many years ago, it was no doubt on the topic of the nascent blogging boom that was happening at the time, and whilst I don’t recall the specifics, I do remember the kind consideration. Always a sensible voice, there was a balance to his writing, a gentle worldliness, that I always enjoyed. My thoughts are with his friends and family. Thanks for reading and keeping RSS alive. Visit my site for more.

Wear a helmet, says Bino Seconded! Before I met her, my wife came off her mountain bike whilst and even WITH a helmet on was in hospital for a few days and now has a metal plate in her head, and no memory of the incident at all. I’ve always always worn a helmet, I don’t differentiate between ride types. As Bino also states: While we’re a country with a strong cycling culture (behind the Netherlands & Denmark) a helmet is not mandatory. The focus is rather on safe infrastructure and traffic…