Humble brag, but I have jetlag, and therefore I find myself wide awake at gone 2am. Seems as good a time as any for an update. Recently: We just got back from a trip to Australia, for Web Di… Read More

I absolutely gave up on weeknotes last year, but I have sort of missed doing some type of regularly scheduled update, so I'm making it easier on myself by not having to think in small increm… Read More

It's the last day of our winter holiday and I was thinking to myself that I ought to have done a Year Notes, like all the cool kids, but I just couldn't be bothered. Much like weeknotes, I'v… Read More

Just minutes after hitting publish on last week's notes, my mum emailed me to inform me that my dad had been rushed to hospital with severe pancreatitis. Pretty sure it was our fault for enc… Read More

When I last left off, we were in Anderson Valley. The work-from-airbnb with friends experiment was a success, but we learned that next time we need to bring lumbar support for everyone becau… Read More

A day late for actually Week 531 and I could have waited until the end of this week, but I'm procrastinating. I'm procrastinating because I have my last Japanese class of this semester, and… Read More

Had a brief covid mini-scare and stress tested how easy and quick it is to get a test in San Francisco. Sort of easy, but a pain in the ass to locate if you're not web-savvy. A lot of "wtf… Read More

Alex changed jobs, so we took the opportunity to take some trips now that we’re vaccinated. We started with a week out in Hawaii, just to chill and see one of Alex’s oldest frien… Read More

Andrew Hyder died. A truly a wonderful man. I'm not sure what to say about it other than he was young and healthy and his body still betrayed him, and I feel very lucky that I was able to wo… Read More

Considered fully vaccinated as of this Friday just passed. Which, honestly, is a bit anticclimactic since it doens't suddenly change a lot of things. But, it does bring a new peace of mind t… Read More

The only thing worth mentioning this week is that today I was vaccinated for COVID-19! Alex and I were able to get the one-dose Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine today at UC Davis Health… Read More

Huge amounts of anxiety around vaccinations. They're opening it up for anyone over 16 to get them from the 15th April here in California, and I'm so impatient and I just want this done and o… Read More

Stationary bike arrived. Declared putting it together yesterday's workout, so wish me luck on future endeavors. I had a practice go on it and it's much harder than I expected. This week I fi… Read More

Not much to report for the last few weeks. We're just on the cusp of it being 1 year since we arrived home from Japan (1st March) and pretty much went directly into a lockdown. It's sort of… Read More

I had a birthday this week. A pandemic birthday! I realise that just about everyone, except February babies, has had a pandemic birthday by now. Alex supplied a dozen donuts and some lovely… Read More

Not much to update. We survived the inauguration. In lieu of anything interesting to say, here's a special little treat for those week notes readers: a very painful, slow, video of me playin… Read More

It's 2021 and my 500th week living in the wonderful US of A, and this week we had an attempted coup! What more could I ask for to celebrate this wonderful round number. The week was somewhat… Read More

As many people have pointed out, January 1st won't see things suddenly be much better, but I am glad to see the back of 2020. The election back in November was a huge relief, although I con… Read More

Skipped September's update because it could loosely just be summarised with "everything was on fire". It's one thing to be in shelter-in-place but still able to take pleasant walks, but it'… Read More

It's extra appealing right now to want to log anything when it feels like I'm doing absoluely nothing. Once upon a time, I used to log movie reviews on Mike Stenhouse's oo5, but once he reti… Read More

I moved to the USA nearly 7 years ago, but this is the first Independence Day I've actually spent in the US. Traditionally, due partially to Alex's work calendar, we spend this time of year… Read More

We’re on monthly updates now, because a month is about the right amount of time to feel anything happening. San Francisco is still in shelter in place through May. I have been nowhere… Read More

I mean, just when you think things couldn't be more miserable, eh? The last week has been particularly intense, with the news cycle being what it is. On an extremely personal and selfish lev… Read More

I mean, I think it’s 345. Honestly, I have lost all sense of time and believe I could be off by a week. Let’s just say I’ve survived March and April began at some point re… Read More

Week 341 was destroyed by jetlag after getting back from Japan. I just could not get into the grove of the timezone at all that week. Fortunately, I had some early morning Public Digital cli… Read More

Just got back from 2 weeks in Japan. In week 339, we (Dana and I) were supposed to be attending the Ikenobo World Seminar with 4 days of classes, but it was cancelled due to Coronavirus out… Read More

I wrote this once, on mobile, and accidentally closed the browser and it lost everything. Computers. 336 was my last week at Netlify. Folks were generally very kind and nice about my leav… Read More

When I first joined Netlify over 2 years ago, I took over sprint planning for a while. As many teams do, they were doing a sort of scrum-lite. They didn’t have an estimation scale… Read More

The most notable thing about this week was that I gave my notice at Netlify after just over 2 years.People assume you quit because you’re mad or something went wrong, but sometimes it… Read More

2020! Took two weeks off for Christmas and New Years and it started decently but I’m on day 10 of a winter cold.Christmas dinner this year was hosted by a friend and was extremely… Read More

Doing well on the “do some exercise every day” thing. I’ve been able to fit in some Switch Fitness Boxing for 18 days in a row (bar one, the election day… I just cou… Read More

In to the home straight of 2019. It has been 15 weeks since my last week notes and in that time I… went to London with Dave Guarino, then Bucharest and Amsterdam with Alex.went… Read More

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and although Alex’s recent slide is a bit full on, it’s not entirely wrong. I think what he should have said was that Responsive W… Read More

I spent this weekend at Write/Speak/Code. I’m having a day off today. Alex got us a robot dog. I really, really, want a furry pet, but Alex is very allergic to almost everything… Read More

I’ve become one of those people who gets angry about plastic straws and I know that it’s not going to save the planet and governments have to set policies that stop companies usi… Read More

My San Franiversary was this last week, so it must be week 312 or so. 6 years! That flew by. Some summaries and findings: San Francisco still sucks. I actively dislike the “city… Read More

Snuck up into the 300s while I wasn’t paying attention. For those new here, the weeks are the number of weeks since I emigrated to the USA. The idea being that one day I’ll un-em… Read More

Actually, weeks 289 and 290 since I did something interesting enough last week to warrant mentioning it still a week later. Was fortunate enough to visit Tokyo again for week 289 –… Read More

I had a birthday. That was pretty good. I think of myself as a person with not many friends, but the ones I do have are pretty top notch. Jake came to town, and brought me 21 cans of Heinz B… Read More

Couple days late, but I’m just now somewhere I can do my weeknotes. The week before I was taken out by a particularly viscious/viscous cold and spent a majority of my time in bed. T… Read More

One of my more bourgeois week notes this time, but I’m currently sat in the Cathay Pacific first lounge in Hong Kong waiting for our flight home. We just finished up a really lovel… Read More

I’m in the kitchen at work mourning the loss of my intern. She’s not dead or anything, but today is her last day and we’re all very sad about this fact. I also just got ba… Read More

This last two weeks felt long. I don’t remember why I missed week notes last week, but I am betting it was something to do with being asleep. Notable events: Chrome Dev Summit was both… Read More

This time last year, I was at Chrome Dev Summit. I ran into Jason Grigsby, who I am always glad to chat with. He mentioned, slightly off-hand, that he was writing a new book about Progressiv… Read More

Missed a week due to being on a plane to Long Beach for a wedding. The way I’ve been managing to do week notes again is by literally putting a 15 minute placeholder in my calendar so n… Read More

It is week 273, which will be forever known as the week that I finally got my first ikenobo ikebana diplomas. I’m like a legit flower arranger now. My name will be forever in some 500… Read More

I got a new phone, which is literally the most exciting thing that happened this week, so take of that what you will. It’s a Pixel 3, so of course, the main thing is having to retrain… Read More

Yesterday, I went to a conference for the first time in ages (HeavyBit’s DevGuild) and it was actually professionally useful to the problems I’m facing at work. I’m not sur… Read More

This week started off with Alex’s birthday. We went to Alameda for a daft brunch and a walk around a piece of shoreline we have newly discovered called crab cove. I saw zero crabs. We… Read More

A slow week in terms of things to show for it, but felt busy regardless. Things I made Embroidery. I don’t recall ever having done any before (maybe cross-stitch?) but I had bought thi… Read More

Instagram story of bird rescueI love my neighbour birds, but sometimes they’re a challenge. The scrub jay couple that live in a big tree near us wake us up every morning at the bedroom… Read More

San Francisco on Wednesday night I started my weeknotes when I moved to the USA, and I lost count somewhere along the way, but I think we’re at week 267. XOXO This week started with me… Read More

A couple of months ago I read Jenny Odell’s transcript of a keynote she gave at a conference. It’s a good talk and well worth a read/watch, but the part about her bird encounters… Read More

I made a comic for my dad’s 60th birthday recently. It’s the first time I’ve made a comic and the first time I’ve ever really dealt with making something in print. It… Read More

I made a comic for my dad’s 60th birthday recently. It’s the first time I’ve made a comic and the first time I’ve ever really dealt with making something in print. It… Read More

I got an email a few weeks ago from a German technology magazine asking me some questions about Progressive Web Apps. I responded, but the email eventually bounced and I assume the sender ne… Read More

I became a US Citizen today. I’m still British. It turns out that it’s actually relatively difficult to lose your British status – you actually have to apply to give it up… Read More

I’ve been asked a few times what it was like being in Nice last year. I am only writing it down now because memory is a tricky thing and if I don’t now I’m liable to forget… Read More

One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed attending a school studio to learn oil painting is that someone else is setting constraints to push my skills. I’m a really, really slow painter i… Read More

I recently finished a painting for a small show at a nearby assisted living facility, featuring portraits of residents and staff.  I don’t usually (ever) do portraits. I&rsq&hell…Read More

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It’s been quiet around these parts, but I have a good excuse. I’ve been busy. As you may already be aware, in July of 2013, I emigrated. I left my beloved London to set up home w… Read More

April was pretty decent. I got to attend two very good conferences and I got to speak at them. TXJS, Austin, USA Austin! One of my favourite cities (mostly because I love tacos). Was ver… Read More

I’ve had a fair few people ask about the Jawbone Up I’ve been wearing since November (the second version, not the recalled first one – although, as you’ll read, perha… Read More

As I mentioned, I wrote for the Pastry Box Project for all of 2012. Now, it’s hopefully going to be printed in dead tree form with the royalties going to the Red Cross. That’s k… Read More

“I’m making this slightly theoretical point because it helps to explain why I don’t agree with Sherryl Kleinman’s suggestion that women who use terms like ‘guys… Read More

I just finished playing Firewatch.  The story is good, well voice acted, and beautiful. It only takes about 3 or 4 hours to play it through. There’s an extra money spinner that&rs&hell…Read More

theverge: SCIENTISTS GAVE THIS PREYING MANTIS TINY 3D GLASSES TO TEST ITS DEPTH PERCEPTION The mantises were then shuffled into a “3D insect cinema” and shown computer-generate… Read More

99percentinvisible: The mysterious domes marching into the sea off Cape Romano, Florida Read More

99percentinvisible: Smushed against a greenhouse wall, flowers look like paintings.  Read More

I finished working for Code for America back in October, so I’m available for freelance work again.  Drop me an email if you would like to chat!   Read More

slavin: “Dyed snail excremental that have been altered by a diet of colored paper. The snails are fed a strict regime of colored cellulose paper and because they cannot assimilate the… Read More

The story is told of a focus group for a new $100 electronic gadget. The response in the focus group was fabulous, people all talked about the features of the new device with excitement. At… Read More

I’ve been blogging over on my IoT site for the last couple of months. Reviews and tinkering with smart home stuff, just for fun. Anyway, go read that to see what I’ve been up to… Read More

If you track this process over a long enough time-period, you’ll find plenty of cases where a word’s meaning has shifted from negative to positive, or vice-versa. For instance, s… Read More

supersonicart: Tina Lugo for “Devolution.” Intense paintings by Tina Lugo for her part in the 4 person group show “Devolution” currently on display at FIF… Read More

Back from XOXO. Noticed Andy Baio tweeting that some folks quit their job the day after getting back from the festival. I wonder what they left to go and do? Probably something they don&rs&hell…Read More

I’ll be speaking at PHP NorthEast (a PHP and UX conference) next week in Boston, providing the closing keynote. The opening keynote is Steve Krug, so, uh, no pressure, right? I believ… Read More

Writing a follow-up seems necessary at this point, because my last post garnered more attention than I had anticipated, and the comments on it were much more, well, ridiculous than I think I… Read More

We’ve barely started the new year, and already there’s been a spat about a conference and their lack of diversity. Rather unfortunately, they picked 22 white, young, men and onl… Read More