crkbd LP 3x5

02/23/2022

This is essentially an LP Corne version of my Skeletyl, and I am very into it but I still haven't found Kailh Choc switches that I like.

We've been watching loads of gameshows this week. The Airbnb we stayed at didn't have great internet and I had dreadful reception on my phone. We've been into: Tipping Point (I don't know why I love this; it's so stupid), The Chase, and Pointless, but the winner by a wide margin has been Richard Osman's House of Games. There are so many fun games, and the Answer Smash round is something I do in my head all the time anyway.

Why do I feel like this ends with me making a fool of myself on some daytime TV quiz show?

Somerset 2022

02/18/2022

This year I am taking more holiday. Like everyone, my life feels like it hasn't moved for two years, and over the past couple of months I've felt like it's significantly affecting my mood, and my overall attitude to my life. I feel totally uninspired by taking pictures, right now, and that is something that has always been able to lift me up.

Tabitha, Monday: haha curling is so stupid
Tabitha, Thursday: I hope there's curling quarter finals on highlights today!

OlliOlli World

02/13/2022

I loved the first two OliOlli games. Played hours and hours of them on Vita and then again on Switch. They're the perfect auto-runner and, in many ways, share a lot of commonality with the decent Sonic games.

Making a working <= 36 key layout

02/06/2022

The pursuit of minimalism in keyboard layouts is as much an exercise in programming muscle memory as it is indulging Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Making a usable layout on something that only has a few more keys than the English alphabet has letters is pretty tricky.

I feel like I've ranted about this before but I searched and couldn't find it so maybe I just thought about it and then didn't.

I am absolutely sick of having to eject USB hard drives before undocking my computer. Obviously this rant comes with a complete lack of awareness of the low level implementation of hard disks over USB but I am utterly sick of needing to move my laptop, and having to sit and wait whilst my computer fails to make this happen.

When I grudgingly disconnect hard drives, that is the last I want to hear on the matter. I'm not interested that Time Machine is in the middle of something. Time Machine had better stop what it's doing right now and get with the programme because I have other plans. I am not going to force eject via software, I am going to force eject by yanking the cable out and I will accept the consequences (of which there should be none because it's 2022 and if we can land on the sun, I should be able to unplug a hard drive as I see fit).

Here's what I want:

If I don't use a connected external drive for a little while, then go into some sort of brace mode where you're functionally ejected but if I decide I want a file on you, you spin right back up and get on with it. If I pull the plug you don't complain at me.

If you're some sort of backup drive then you had better always be ready to pull the cord and eject and deal with it. Everything you do should always be immediately resumable if I decide to pull the plug because I'm done having to care about this. Always know where you are, and you'll always know how much work you have left. The fact that you're not done is not my problem (OK it is but it shouldn't be).

And that's it. If I yank a drive and there's an app open still accessing that drive; show me an error telling me that app needs to quit or something. If I'm stupid enough to pull the plug when I'm actively using it, there's probably a reason (even if that reason is I'm an idiot and I didn't realise).

Honestly I am so sick of "oh hey I know you tried to eject this drive but are you really sure because there's a backup running - there's only two hours left are you sure you don't want to wait?" obviously no I do not want to wait I'm trying to leave my house stop being difficult.

And that is why I hate hard drives.

We're listening to Placebo. I used to adore this band in my teens. I would bring a copy of Without You I'm Nothing on Minidisc when I was on shift at Subway. That sentence perfectly encapsulates about four years of my youth. I don't often get nostalgic for that time, but singing along to "You Don't Care About Us" whilst putting dough on to prove and slicing tomatoes on a Saturday morning is a very happy memory for me.

"You're too complicated; we should separate it"

Being an emo kid never leaves you.

Brighton Mist

01/16/2022

You know in Inception where the people in your dreams become aware that someone is there who shouldn't be? I sometimes feel like that when I'm walking around the city; like people are looking at me in a really negative way.

Solve Wordle

01/09/2022

It's completely pointless to cheat at this game, which is why I've done it.

Rebecca

01/07/2022

I have had this book on my list for ages, but I've been a bit intimidated by it. I started it a couple of nights ago and I can't put it down. The prose is so beautiful, it immediately makes me think that it's what Tolkien and GRRM aspire to but fall maddeningly, mind-numbingly short (that's right: two adverbs).

I love this passage describing a flowerbed. Particularly the highlight.

I think I might hate wireless audio more than anything. I am listening to music on headphones and someone turned on a speaker (in the other room!) that my phone also knows about. My phone decides this must mean that I am no longer listening on the headphones that are in my ears, and must immediately connect to that speaker and resume playing what I was listening to full volume. Do the people who design these things even use them at all?

Sometimes I hate this future we've made for ourselves.

Scrabble

12/29/2021

I don't play much Scrabble because Charlotte is way better at it than I am and it's not the most fun to play something repeatedly and lose. Today I played my highest-scoring move, with "favours" on the end of "walking" for 94 points.

Of course I was playing against Tabitha at the time, so instead of a smug celebration, I just made my baby sad.

Coffee

12/28/2021

I've wanted to make a video of the pourover process since we got this setup. So typically I chose a day with really terrible light to attempt it. I actually like the way it came out though.

Lighthouse

12/28/2021

We stopped at the lighthouse on the way to the supermarket earlier. Something about this area is so grey and depressing but it makes me feel really happy.

Next year I want to review every vegetarian and vegan Pigs-in-Blankets product. This year we have had some great crisps from Tesco and M&S, and some lovely actual fake Pigs in Blankets from Sainsbury's. Next year I want to make it official, and do as many different products as I can.

I have noticed in 2021, we're beginning to see an increase in the American tradition of sausage wrapped in pastry/croissant/bread, and this is not acceptable. For a country that largely treats bacon as a religion, substituting it for pastry at such an important time of year is tantamount to heresy and I will not stand for it.

BastardKB Skeletyl Amoeba Handwire

12/26/2021

Never thought I'd be able to do something like this, but once you can connect a wire to something, and you get the theory, it's fairly straightforward to build.

WSK Pain27

12/25/2021

I've wanted to build one of these for ages but every time I looked it's been out of stock.

Afternoon Tea at The Grand

12/25/2021

Charlotte won afternoon tea at The Grand on a school raffle. It was for two but we couldn't not bring Tabitha!

Doughnuts

12/17/2021

I took a day off work last week and walked into the city to get some doughnuts from Flour Pot as they only do them once a week.

Next