Maps or models, eh. Is there a difference? What is the difference? Does it matter?
Early in the week I rejigged the layout of the desk in the shed, swapping the MacBook from being in the centre and the monitor to the side. Now the monitor is front and centre. With the greyer days this week I got the light back over the door and on most of the time. I’ve had some good days in the shed, and one great day. The move around helped, more space for my hands, pads and multiple mugs as I drink through the day. Working with a group of really constructive people for most of the week helped too. Man, so good to work with a group that want to keep doing continual gradual improvement to a service and go about it in a way that is so focused on betterment ot just change for change’s sake. Chef’s kiss and all that. It felt like good work.
I took a little time out to catch up with some friends in the industry and had a couple of mentoring sessions, organised through Mega Mentor. If you’ve not caught up with some friends recently, I recommend it! Do it! Send that message now! And if you’re looking for mentorship, head to the Mega Mentor website. Other mentors are available.
I have views on being a mentor, seeking a mentor and having a mentor, not all for right now. This week I had a strong feeling as a mentor sometimes when you talk with people they are waiting for you as a mentor to set them off, like you’re a career advisor at school. Don’t wait for the mentor to nudge you onwards. Do some of that yourself. Come along with an idea of something you’ve started already, something you’re in the middle of. Maybe it is just the relationships I have had before as a mentor but those already happenings feel the most engaging sessions, relationships even.
I finished the third season of the TV show Dark. Which means I have finished all of Dark. I watched the last few episodes in the shed because the constant rumble of thunder in the shower reduced the dog to a panty state, drool dripping onto the settee, carpet, and wherever gravity drew it towards. Crowd noise on or off for the empty-stadium football? Weather noise on or off for TV shows, please. Dark was super good, even though it inflicted a few involuntary flinches. So much cracking of skulls with rocks. 😬 I didn’t need a map though. All in the head. TV show swot, me.
Sim City Build It got deleted off my iPad. I was enjoying it, developing the area, but… it’d become like a Tamogotchi, check in every day, sometimes a bit more, occasionally a bit bit more. The whole repetitive nature of the cycle of making resources in the game wore me down. Set that being made and set that other thing being made so later I collect that to add to that other thing I got made. And then add that with other things I’ve made to create buildings, as long as I have them all made already. Otherwise go back and set another thing being made. The ever expanding loops. It just became too tiresome, joyless, a joyless chore. I just want to watch my conurbation… happen, like I used to in earlier version of Sim City. I didn’t get that feeling of a city growing without my interventions. So, deleted. Yeah, I’d sunk some time into it but so what? You got to draw the line somewhere. Plus the price of cheesecake in that city’s economy oh boy. As a city mayor I wouldn’t stand for cheesecake that expensive and I couldn’t change it. Wrong.
The boy and I got our environment monitor up and running. A kit from Pimoroni, a lower end Raspberry Pi, and some other bits and piece and we were away making it. (There’s some really good instructions on Pimoroni’s website)
We’re now sharing environment data from the end of the garden (the monitor is attached to the shed). Tehnically we’ve two sensors: sensor ID 47639, a particulate matter sensor (which reads like one of the subtitles from Dark), and sensor ID 47640, a temperature/humidity/pressure sensor. You can see them on this map. I am enjoying see what our sensor thinks is the temperature and what Dark Skies reports it as. And making the data open feels good. I’ve really enjoyed making physical products/things again the last couple of weeks (I have also had some time to create a prototype device for a client with another Pi and a small touchscreen).
What have you been making recently?
I published a run note for June. My running this week has been a bit off to be honest. It’s Friday and so far I’ve only been out on Tuesday. I wanted to give my leg a rest on Monday and Wednesday. Yesterday my legs felt a little pang. so rest again. Today the same, but I am gonna get out after I publish these and see where I go.
Talking of publishing ma boi Scott got his blog’s first post out there. Support people talking openly and support them constructively.
Still providing my next door neighbour with a start of the day cup of home-made freshly drip-brewed coffee. He’s still chuffed every time.
And finally July has snook up on me. My current main work contract is up next month — next month! — so I am going to have to start looking and chatting to people and places. I’ve shared a few interesting roles the last few months but not really taken a moment to think “Is that for me?” I will be now. I’ve had a couple of chats already this week after sharing the news on Twitter and LinkedIn, and yes my ten questions for a new role were used. If you hear or know of anything that you think I’d be good at and/or interested in, let me know. Being good at the role and the role being interesting are definitely my two main acceptance criteria.
This post tagged with:
weeknotes,
2020 weeknotes