Weeknotes for week 23, 2023
The week of June 5th.
Monday was the Apple WWDC keynote where they announced the Vision Pro.
I've since been bingeing analyses, hands-on impressions and WWDC sessions.
Spatial photos and videos seem like a killer feature. I love that you watch them through a dream-like portal.
I find it all super fascinating, but I still don't have any idea if I'll get one.
Tuesday was the National Day of Sweden, so I had the day off.
I went on a long hike followed by a pub dinner (and dessert!).
I accounted for leap days in some code and found in it a stark reminder of the mortality of man and projects.
Basically, the code validates the century-less date part of an ID number. 000229 is valid since it could represent February 29th, 2000 – a leap year. It wouldn't be valid if read as 1900, since that's not a leap year. Nor are 2100, 2200 or 2300 – but 2400 will be.
Every now and then I write some code where I need to either account for the far future or decide not to. The former can feel like overkill and the latter can feel sloppy. And where do you draw the line? Either way, you're reminded that you and/or the code in question won't be around forever.
My partner and I finally made specific plans for a summer road trip.
Our original plan was to drive down from Yorkshire via Bristol (and a brief detour to Wales), and then go to various places in Devon and eastern Cornwall.
But our EV has a dainty battery, and Cornwall seems to be a public charger desert, to the point where we decided to skip it this time. Picking a hotel just for its proximity to a public charger is no fun, and few hotels have their own chargers. If they do, I don't trust them to be available or in working order.
Instead, we'll spend a few days in Lyme Regis (Dorset) and go on day trips.
I'm optimistic about the future of EVs – they're amazing when you can charge where you park – but we're not there yet.
It feels great to have booked a hotel, anyway!
Silo (2023– ) is just about good enough to keep watching.
My partner has started a Mad Men (2007–2015) rewatch, and I've joined in. Some things feel laid on quite thick on a rewatch, but I don't remember feeling that way the first time around. It's very well written and sparingly hilarious.
I watched Safety Last! (1923) – Harold Lloyd rather than Buster Keaton, but in the same vein. Famous for the "hanging from a clock" scene. It was good but not Keaton good.
I have been eyeing the SwitchBot Curtain for a while. I saw it on sale so I bought a pair for our bedroom.
So far they're pretty good. A little noisy, and the cats were startled at first, but they seem to be getting used to it.
It's very nice to have the curtains automatically close in the evening and open in the morning.
It's also a great touch (literally) that you can tug on them to trigger opening or closing – no need to get your phone out or set up a button.
On the Saturday we had fancy lunch at the garden centre, walking there and back – some 40 minutes along the canal.
On the Sunday, we went to a car boot sale. We used to go all the time when we lived in Sweden, but had never been to one here.
It was pretty good, though we didn't end up buying anything (after resisting a Franklin Mint Marilyn Monroe doll singing "Happy Birthday Mr President").
After that, we had friends over for a lovely BBQ in the sunshine. Drank imported Trocadero.
Soon after we'd finished eating, weeks of sunshine gave way to thunder and lightning.
We retired inside and watched two thirds of Black Sabbath (1963) (it's an anthology) in a thunderstorm. It was great.
I enjoyed: