Spent a lot of the week helping with various aspects of US election coverage next week. Some assorted tasks and a real deep-dive into web performance and maps, the latter which I’ve not done much work with before. Managed to get a 75% performance improvement in a crucial area which I’m quite happy with.
This week in numbers:
Ebay listings created: 2
Red-meat consumed: 0 grams
Headphones thrown away: 1.5 pairs
Starting to like React Hooks. Yeah, I’ve not been thrilled at them until now.
LF and I went to Baron’s Bites, which was a League of Legends pop-up/takeover of Butchies. Was it worth the twenty-minute queue? No. But I got a badge, which I gave away later that same evening. I paid £11 for their finest plant-based nuggets which started out strong and ended in regret. The queue seemed friendly.
The Apple Intelligence update dropped. Um. It’s not great, is it? Here’s a doozy: “Cow sighting; desperate for cow manure”. Here’s another: “One soup through a straw, deemed suboptimal, but went well without complications”.
Halloween fell on Thursday and a few people at work dressed up. I went dressed as myself — scary, I know. I assumed that nobody would be dressed up on the second floor where I spent the day, but was pleasantly surprised at a convincing Markus Braun getup. A close second place goes to the white rabbit on three.
AG and I met up with YS who was in London on holiday, and after a little bit of mulling around and comparing notes on technology, we went to dinner. I finally got to tick Chatora City off the list. Solid meal, all slightly smokey but in a clean, delightfully intentional way. The spice was a little too much so we drowned our sorrows with mango lassi.
The dual threat of halloween and MT’s birthday added up to a Smurf-themed party at the weekend. For the second time this week I went dressed as myself (why mess with a classic?). Got there early, and pretty quickly a crowd reminiscent of the blue man group rocked up to The Kernel. Other groups doing the Bermondsey Beer Mile loved it. At some point I was anointed with Smurf-cap.
The Thames Clipper is delightful: Really must take it more often. Sat down, watching the sunset while drinking a breakfast tea. Got through a chapter of the Staff Engineer's path. Maybe good for doing some work while commuting?
Challengers (2024) was a pretty decent tennis movie. As many characters asked, “Are we talking about Tennis?” No, nothing in the movie the movie has anything to do with tennis, reader, and I don’t know why you’d think that. A little too long, good soundtrack, 4/5.
Human Traffic (1999) is fun storytelling applied to a story where, really, nothing happens. But not in a Seinfeld way — it’s more like the movie equivalent of hanging out in the smoking area all night at a rave. Incredibly fun cast, great soundtrack, 4.5/5.
