When I stopped blogging I also cut down my reading on the web. I just didn't have the headspace or concentration to keep up with it all.
I exported the feeds from /reader as OPML (for backup purposes) and was pretty ruthless in what I retained — a core of only about 20 feeds.
Since planning the return I looked back at that export and realised that most of the feeds in there didn't really appeal to me any more. I've re-added a few, focusing on people and their stories, but most are no longer relevant to where I want to be.
If I were a person with a uterus I’d be furious about the Dobbs decision and I’d be equally outraged that life goes on as usual knowing that other people with uteri were being enslaved by their state governments as a result.
When I was considering joining Kraken my major motivation was wanting to actively work in an organization that's combating climate change. Especially with a young son, it felt irresponsible to be so worried about something and yet not actively doing anything about it.
One of the unique things about Kraken, besides the people, is that it's not just a software company. It's part of a larger group of companies that are all addressing different aspects of the energy transition.
Parts of the group are working on grid flexibility. Others are working on electrifying households with solar panels, heatpumps (installation and manufacturing), and EVs. And others are building and managing wind farms and solar farms.
And on the inside you can see the work of the entire group, the work of the energy transition, all happening at pace. All deploying their part of the solution. It's so very clear that all of this is the future.
When you can see the future like this, a future with clean air generated with an abundance of clean electricity used intelligently, you can't help but be motivated to show up and do your part to make it a reality everywhere.
It's like being part of a solarpunk story, but it's not fiction. If this sounds interesting to you, we're hiring worldwide. I'm happy to answer questions as well, so email or @ me on Mastodon.
news.scripting.com now has 250 items per tab, where previously there was a limit of 100. I wanted more news each time I went there. #
I couldn't be happier that an open microblogging site is booming after spending a full year developing FeedLand. Timing couldn't be better. I love that there are users who are excited about the software I make.And I truly appreciate Elon Musk for letting them all go.#
# Five months on from my last public post I am returning to the blog.
I stopped under the guise of trying to work out exactly where I was going with it all. Having redesigned the architecture and styled it as a quasi-PKM system I felt left with nothing to fill it. Stepping away seemed like the best way to regain some much need clarity.
I should have realised by now that if I'm not happy blogging then it often points to a wider problem, usually with my mental health. And so that proved to be the case here.
But let's take a step back.
In early July, I wrote in my journal that I was experiencing difficulty reading and writing, everything seemed to be a struggle and I couldn't focus. I had forgotten writing this, misplaced it on the timeline of events – it's importance will become apparent later. Around this time I was starting to think about what I could do to the blog, how I should approach it, but any moves were put on hold when the family and I all caught covid.
Despite being triple-jabbed, I seemed to have it reasonably bad – first being put on some antibiotics due to a chest infection and then a course of steroids to prevent it developing into full blown pneumonia. Each time I spoke to a doctor I was asked numerous questions about my chest and breathing, any worse and they would have probably whisked me into hospital. It's certainly what they were hinting at.
This caused me to be off work for four weeks with ongoing shortness of breath, headaches, lethargy, brain fog and memory issues, among other things. A further visit to the doctor raised the spectre of 'long covid' leading to a series of blood tests and a chest x-ray. The results all came back fine 1 so, by the start of October, we were looking for other causes for my symptoms.
My wife has been telling me that my personality has changed over the past few years; when you start mixing this with memory problems the shadow of dementia starts to form. After a long chat with the doctor and some memory tests this was, fortunately, ruled out. Instead, my symptoms were labelled as the physical manifestation of anxiety and depression and I was referred for counselling.
Looking back, the memory and focus issues may have been exacerbated by covid but not caused by it. If I had only remembered writing about it before. The irony.
I have private health insurance through work so have gone this route and had an initial consultation a couple of weeks ago. The therapist says there is definitely an underlying depression that needs treating but, due to my memory and focus issues, that's not possible at the moment. I have therefore been put on antidepressants 2 to stabilise my mental state such that I am receptive to ongoing treatment.
My next appointment is next month and we'll see how it goes from there.
I'm still a survivor, but it's about time I did more than just survive. This time, I'm taking my mental health more seriously than at any time before. I need proper help and am ensuring I get it.
Part of the reason for returning to the blog is to be almost a journal of my mental health journey. I think I also need it. Having something to focus on, something I can build and control. I miss it.
I don't know what form posts will take from here on out. There will be updates mixed with the normal geekery but, beyond that, who knows.
I'm just glad to be back.
it took a long time to get over covid but it wasn't long covid ↩
# In a way, I have been prepping for my return ever since stepping away. Quite a bit has changed.
To remove the focus from the blog itself I changed the home page to a 'Hello' page, inspired by Alastair Johnston. That has now moved to /hello and been replaced with a new, simple home page. By necessity, the blog moved to /blog — and that is where it's going to stay.
For a few years now, the whole ethos of the blog has been to focus on "today" — that's what you'd see even when there were no posts. I've moved away from that. Now, when not signed in the blog will show the last day with a post. Also, when going back and forth between days, it will only show those days with posts.
The biggest changes have been with feeds, both the creation and consumption of them.
The live feed now supports markdown using the source:markdown item-level element. As I post in markdown it's pretty cool for a feed to support the raw source.
Because I use custom markup in (b)log-In I have to convert that to normal HTML before adding it to the feed but that's fine. It was always intended for HTML to coexist with markdown where required.
Markdown support is also now built in to /reader. If an item within a feed includes the source:markdown element that will be used by default instead of the description or content elements.
rssCloud allows for instantaneous updates via RSS. You ping a server when your feed updates (I am pinging Andrew Shell's) and others can receive notifications of those updates. Both the live and daily feeds send pings when rebuilt so, if your feed reader supports rssCloud, you can get my posts straight away. Why wouldn't you 😅
Even bigger, /reader now supports rssCloud notifications. When I subscribe to a feed it checks for a <cloud> channel-level element and "subscribes" via the relevant server. On receipt of a notification it polls the feed and pulls in any updates straight away rather than waiting for each 6 hour refresh. How awesome is that?
Once I'm certain that my implementation is solid I can remove those feeds from the regular refreshes to reduce the load and time they take.
Dave has been a great help even when my own mistakes were stopping it all from working and it's been great to work together on this. It's really got my coding juices flowing again.
I was gutted when I realised England vs USA was the same night as Wet Leg. While waiting for the band to come on, I checked the live match report and realised how fortunate we were.
It’s a while since I’ve seen the venue so completely rammed. We’d arrived early to secure a good spot by the left rail, but ended up moving back after every tall person in the East Midlands arrived to stand in front of us, again. Still, Wet Leg were superb, although they played for only 40 minutes — might be the first time I’ve left Rock City before 9:30pm.
Rock City, Nottingham
25th November 2022
Support from Coach Party.
I recently moved to a house that has an open fire (my first one), and I’ve quickly fallen in love with the whole process of maintaining an open fire.
A little over a month ago my wife, 2 kids, 2 dogs, cat and 4 fish tanks all upped sticks and moved to the Welsh countryside. It’s a much bigger house than we had before, with 2.5 acres of land, a double garage (for my motorbikes) and a couple of outbuildings.
We’re hoping that it will be a much nicer way of life down here. We intend to have a vegetable patch, more animals and generally be closer to nature. A smallholding, if you will.
This house has an open fire in the lounge, it’s actually the first house I’ve ever lived in that has an open fire. Lucky for us, my wife grew up with one, so she knows how to lay it properly.
She taught me, and it’s my new favourite thing to do. I love every single aspect of it. From chopping up firewood derived from trees on our land, to stacking it in our firewood store. To cleaning the fire every day, and laying a fresh fire. And of course, enjoying the cozy atmosphere only an open fire can bring.
Our fireplace
Colour me surprised
The fact I’m enjoying having the fire so much has really surprised me. I always thought they would be too much hassle to manage and that I’d find it tedious, but I find the whole thing quite cathartic actually.
Maybe part of it is because we’re saving money by burning wood from our land, or maybe it’s the fact that an open fire needs constant attention and I’m learning something new. Whatever it is, with the energy crisis at the moment, I’m thanking our lucky stars that we have a wood burning fire instead of a gas fire.
There’s no point or conclusion to this post really. Maybe I’ll write more about the kinds of things I’m learning as our new life in the country develops. Would any of you find that interesting? Let me know using the button below.
I couldn't be happier that an open microblogging site is booming after spending a full year developing FeedLand. Timing couldn't be better. I love that there are users who are excited about the software I make.And I truly appreciate Elon Musk for letting them all go.
It was nice to mostly take a break yesterday. I know Thanksgiving is just a United States thing, but I like that it’s non-offensive to everyone… Let’s just chill and reflect on what we’re thankful for. Now back to work! Coffee at Rêve in Lafayette and rolling out M.b fixes. ☕️
#
