Posts

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2025-05-20 13:48:23

Day 2 of "me week". A coffee chat this morning, then a swim. A nice morning start! Then…

I am terrible at DIY. Just SO bad. But every now and then I get an idea for a little project that I think I can do and I go for it. So I now have several metres of furniture board and a load of grab adhesive, and chaos WILL ensure this week. 🤣

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2025-05-19 16:30:48

I stand at the bottom of an enormous tree.

Day 1 of my "ME WEEK”. I started with a trip to the local-ish arboretum that we recently (in a stroke of complete middle-agedness) became members of.

It was AMAZING how fast my thoughts clarified as I walked around and admired the beauty and awe and diversity of the trees.

The return to my town was, frankly, a jolt.

I'd love to start every week like this.

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2025-05-17 12:32:23

If I am guilty of one hypocritical and paradoxical thing, it is of being closed minded about the fact that other people should be open minded.

I won’t compromise on wanting others to compromise.

And the contradiction bothers me greatly.

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2025-05-16 19:50:12

I’m sensing a change in how people are talking about AI.

There's more open criticism. And I feel like even those bullish about it are starting to sound like they don't quite mean it.

Maybe that's me that’s changed?

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2025-05-16 18:04:56

A screenshot of the WordPress editor. I have selected three paragraphs. One is Italic. At the top are symbols. A plus sign implies adding something. Back and forward arrows imply undo and redo. There are block selection and moving controls that I recognise. Then there’s some… err… some rectangles? And a three-line icon that usually means alignment. Then there’s a three dots menu that will be “more” and a button that collapses the controls. On the right is a bar with text and background colour options. And a typography box that lets me choose a size. That has a three dot more menu. Hmm. I wonder.

OK, WordPress. This is just silly now.

I know I'm a top-toolbar guy. And I've looked there.

But how do I make multiple paragraphs italic?

This is basic text formatting. And I can't do it?

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2025-05-15 13:03:56

My website. It says “Hi, I’m Ross. I build websites”

Kept one of those scammy, cold-calling web agencies chatting for 15 minutes while I made lunch. Ended with:

“We do web development. Do you need any help with this website?”

“No. That’s what I do for a living. I do it myself.”

“Oooh, you’re a web developer? Sorry to bother you. Goodbye.”

I mean… is it not clear?

I get what they’re trying to do. But does this high-volume, low-effort sales process work for ANYONE???

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2025-05-14 07:06:35

I have just learned that some people… astonishingly… incredulously…

…eat their chocolate digestives with the chocolate side down!!!

MONSTERS!!!!!

😂

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2025-05-11 23:52:10

The WordSesh talk is recorded! Hurrah!!!

A reflection: Dang, you REALLY have to ham it up to get any emotion to come across on camera. I thought I overdid it, but no. I could have gone wild and it would still look like I’m only vaguely excited. 🤣

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2025-05-11 15:04:05

I don’t do public speaking often so it’s a big deal (for me) when I do.

I’ve done three screen tests at this point.

I just had to cut 1,000 words from my loose “script” to get it into time.

I commissioned my kid to make me a custom pixel-art avatar for my slides.

I take these things seriously!!!

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2025-05-08 22:55:18

Quite pleased with the summary of my talk which will be shown at WordSesh next Tuesday (9am UTC!):

"I'm going to use (and really stretch as far as it will let me!) the metaphor of side quests in video games to explain how side projects can benefit your career.”

I'm having a LOT of fun writing this.

Sign up – it's free!

Oh, there's a whole bunch of other serious talks you can see too. If that's your thing. 😉

wordsesh.com/sessions/level-up

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2025-05-08 17:38:30

I’m now so old I’m watching the generation below me despair that the generation below them thinks they are uncool.

Lol!

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/m

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2025-05-08 09:11:05

I’ve recently been mentoring someone towards being a software developer. It FASCINATING going right back to the roots of solving problems with code. I remember this from classes I took a whole 30 years ago:

– Abstraction
– Encapsulation
– Decomposition

These are still the core principles behind any language or programming paradigm.

Separation of concerns. Good naming & APIs. All the key things are wrapped up in these ideas.

You should learn and practice these as much as the coding bit.