Readjusting back to work life today after a week off for Ellie's half term. Time off is always nice but the bad habits always creep in when you remove the structure of school and work during the week.
My worst habit during time off is going to bed much later than normal. I still get up around the same time each morning, so I feel more and more tired the longer that I let it go on.
Anyway, the time off was enjoyable. We went swimming, played crazy golf, visited the Winchester Science Centre and its awesome planetarium, had BBQs and spent time with family over the Easter weekend.
There is so much chocolate to eat and I'd rather we didn't have it in the house at all because it is derailing my summer body goals.
Popped in to Tesco on my way home from work to get a few bits.
A tinny-sounding 'Gotta Get Thru This', the 2001 Garage anthem by Daniel Bedingfield, was playing through the shop speakers. "Tune!", I thought to myself as I walked past the carrots and potatoes, chucking a bag of organic spinach into my basket.
It wasn't until I was back in the car that it dawned on me: the music playing in Tesco now includes songs from my own childhood. No doubt picked to make shoppers feel nostalgic and happy.
Did it make me feel more nostalgic? Yes, but that's not the point. I'm now one of the old guys in Tesco and I don't like it.
Recently, I discovered that our porch light had been wired in to our upstairs lighting circuit, instead of the downstairs circuit that it should be part of.
There's no need to ask me how I find that out. You can probably guess.
One of the most frustrating parts of being a homeowner is discovering that the previous owners cut corners or didn't take the same level of pride in their work as you do. "Out of sight, out of mind", is good enough for them.
Anyway, one of the best mindsets you can adopt is that whoever did the job before you did it badly. Kill the power at the fuse box first and always test wiring with a voltage detector before you touch anything!
While browsing my Spotify home page, I noticed some audiobook suggestions that are labelled "Included in Premium". Normally, I listen to music when I work, but I thought it worth giving these a try - I'm already paying for them, after all. Whether I can concentrate on work while listening to a story remains to be seen. Hopefully, I won't constantly have to skip back to re-listen to missed sections.
At the start of February, I purchased a walking pad so that I could get some steps in whilst working at my standing desk.
The WalkingPad Z1 has been such a good purchase, I'm really happy with it and I will write a more detailed post about it soon. However, step count aside, I've noticed an additional benefit that I've not seen mentioned before: focus.
My ability to focus and crack on with a work task has surprised me. It's like part of my mind is occupied with walking and that makes it easier to concentrate.
I know that music, or certain genres of music, such as those with a consistent beat or rhythm can help some people with concentration. Walking, like running, is rhythmic, so this makes sense.
I'll have to do some digging and see if there have been any studies into this.
It's been a frustrating couple of weeks trying to get my PC to be more stable when playing games.
Helldivers 2 continues to be hugely frustrating. One day you can play for hours without any problems and the next day it'll crash back to Windows within 30 seconds of starting a mission.
I'm not alone, either. This is a problem that huge numbers of PC players are experiencing, as a search for 'PC crash' on the Helldivers subreddit highlights.
I've also had issues with No Man's Sky and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, although recent Nvidia driver updates seem to have ironed those out.
At least I'm learning lots about PC optimisation in the process. I think I'll look to buy a larger SSD soon because I can't currently fit my most played games on the SSD Windows is installed on because there's not enough space!
Last week, I had a bit of a mental week, working on the latest update page for No Man's Sky. These pages are always a ton of work, but I enjoy doing them.
Afterwards, the Hello Games team mentioned me on their LinkedIn post, which was really nice. It still feels surreal to be involved in a game that I've enjoyed playing—and still do—so much.
A couple of years ago, I added 'notes' to the site. This was essentially what the microblog is now: short updates without headings organised in a feed.
I've decided that I want to post more on this site and the microblog is a friction-free way to do that. But, as the microblog would contain a lot of noise that wasn't work related, I was keen to separate it from my design and dev posts.
Lots more to do but happy to put this live tonight after about an hour of work.
