One of our more obscure systems had a relatively complex outage this week, and I'm left wondering why one might use stored procedures in modern application design. They're difficult to version and test, and with relational databases you're already getting complex aggregations happening inside the query and data-mapping layers! Major kudos to the engineers who figured this out and repaired the database schema.
I repped the FT at Silicon Milkroundabout again - really starting to enjoy these. There's something quite nice about chatting to technologists about what they're doing, what we're doing and where they might find a fit at the FT. Exhausting though.
Rakugo artist Katsura Sunshine performed at our office this week. I hadn't had much exposure to Rakugo but always imagined it to be quite dry so nearly gave it a miss. Very glad that I didn't, because it was incredibly fun - and might even be a highlight of the year. Katsura Sunshine did an intro and told several stories, including Jugemu (relatively short) and I think I'm now hooked. It turns out there are several English-speaking performers now - so definitely something to check-out in a theatre sometime.
It was our Christmas party on Wednesday, at Winter Wonderland. There were rides and special attractions which were honestly just ok, but what made the day really special was the company. Really fantastic to see so many colleagues and friends in one place. We migrated to a heated hut and were served bavarian-themed food & drink whilst being serenaded by an enthusiastic man with a keytar. Truly a special memory.
This week also marked my annual review. Overall: Pleasantly positive, and it was nice hearing that some of my more difficult moments this year were celebrated and well received. The growth feedback is incredibly useful too, there weren't any major blindspots and the framing others have provided will be useful in trying to improve. Saving a more thoughtful commentary for a year-in-review post.
I'm still running. On Friday I chugged some orange juice and ran 10K through Wimbledon Common & Richmond Park. It's the furthest distance I've ever run and surprisingly it was only a little more difficult than 5K. While I'm still primarily focussing on improving cardio fitness over pace or distance, I'd like to do more "long" runs like this and think I've accidentally signed up to a 10K race next year. We'll see.
ZOE's objective this week was to start eating more than 30 plants per week. In the UK it's proving surprisingly difficult. We just don't have many vegetables. Other than doing meal-prep and tracking down the elusive few salad places, I can't yet see how to introduce more diverse vegetation into my diet. Not fun.
I know it's Sunday, but Wednesday was just lots of fun. Highly recommended.
