2026-04-11 22:50
Bit of site housekeeping this evening, improving styling for some of the older components on the site. Always satisfying to use modern CSS to achieve the same outcome as before but with fewer lines.
Notes
2026-02-04 12:22
Another gym sesh this morning. After a couple months plagued by bugs and colds, it finally feels like I'm building consistency again.
Also started a new workout program, put together with help from Gemini. I'll write a proper post about that soon.
2026-01-17 11:12
We did it. We finally bought a new mattress.
We were fed up with our Nectar memory foam mattress. Well, I was. A few years ago, it developed a dip on my side of the bed - insert weight-related comment here. It was still in warranty, so Nectar sent out an independent company to check it. The guy who came out acknowledged there was a dip, but it wasn't a big enough dip for Nectar to send out a replacement. Thanks Nectar.
I don't know why I continued to put up with it. But, after a couple weeks of sustained bad sleep and waking up achy and sore over Christmas, enough was enough. This time, we've ditched memory foam completely and gone for a medium-firm pocket sprung mattress. My back cannot wait.
2025-12-04 12:26
Booked a flu jab. Work have offered to pay for it, so seems silly not to.
Now if I could just stop getting colds...
2025-12-04 12:21
It's that time of year again. Family are asking me for ideas about what to get me for Christmas and I have no idea. I'm struggling to think of one thing, let alone multiple things to give people options.
2025-11-11 20:01
Time waits for no man. It also passes more quickly as Christmas approaches. Don't ask me the science behind that, it just does, ok?
This evening, I drove past a house that had Christmas lights already up. I'm no Scrooge, but that's officially too early. Ellie's birthday is at the end of November, so we wait until that's been and gone before we turn our attention to Christmas. Plus, the weather in November has so far been pretty mild and it doesn't feel cold enough to be thinking about Christmas yet.
2025-10-30 18:00
Repaired a puncture on Ellie's bike today. The last time I had to do that was probably 7 or 8 years ago.
I remembered pretty much everything I needed to do. The only thing I had forgotten is that you need to leave the adhesive on the inner tube for a minute or two before you apply the repair patch.
It was also nice showing Ellie how to find a inner tube puncture by submerging it in water and looking for the bubbles!
2025-08-13 13:59
Even though I should be finding the time to post more, in my defence, life has been pretty busy. The summer holidays are here and the change in daily routine takes a while to settle in to.
I've also just had a week off, spent down in Devon in a small town called Brixham, near Paignton and Torquay.
We took Ellie to Paignton Zoo, enjoyed beach days, ate good food, and enjoyed the coastal walks. However, I will not miss driving on the steep thin roads.
2025-06-20 09:42
Yikes. Over a month since my last post.
Isn't it weird how momentum works? You spend time and effort generating good momentum and posting becomes an easy habit. Then, for whatever reason, you miss a few days and if you don't force yourself to post, you lose it all. Back to square one.
It's not like I forgot to post, either. About two weeks ago, I realised I hadn't posted for a while and told myself I had to get back into it. Then a weird thing happened: because I'd lost the momentum, jumping back in felt harder to do. The momentum I had previously felt unachievable, or the effort to get it back was more than I was willing to put in (at the time).
Little and often. That's the key. Let's see if I can build a habit of posting at least once a week.
2025-05-15 22:34
Just finished Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. What a game!
Will have to write a proper post about it to get all my thoughts down.
"Audentes Fortuna Iuvat".
2025-04-26 11:04
Donning my tech support hat this morning, trying to get notifications working again on Susan's iPhone XR. Some apps send notifications. Most don't. Seems like a problem with iOS 18. Fun times.
2025-04-24 20:37
The tummy bug has struck the Gammon house again.
We were at a family BBQ on Easter Monday and as the week has gone on more of the family have become ill.
Ellie didn't finish her breakfast this morning and after she barely touched her lunch, the school called us to come and get her.
I've experienced waves of feeling rough throughout the day, with a headache and achy muscles to boot. I will now starve myself until I know with 100% certainty that I'm hungry and the worst of the bug is over with.
Here's hoping for a incident-free evening...
2025-04-22 13:18
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.
2025-04-09 19:26
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.
2025-03-18 09:49
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.
2025-03-14 12:21
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.
2025-03-03 12:57
Back from a weekend in Amsterdam for my brother-in-law's 40th birthday celebrations.
Had a great weekend but I am absolutely broken.
Ate some incredible food and will post more details about it when I have more time.
2025-02-14 10:25
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!
2025-02-05 11:43
Had a nice surprise waiting for me at the office today.
After the hectic week I had working on the latest No Man's Sky update, the lovely Hello Games team sent me a big box of chocolates to say thank you.
The No Man's Sky updates can be huge and sometimes stressful, but I enjoy working on them. So thank you, Hello Games, you're good people!
2025-02-03 13:26
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.
2025-01-07 08:32
Norovirus has found its way to our house.
Send thoughts and prayers...
2025-01-03 21:54
In an attempt to diversify the content that I post, I've decided to start recording my favourite tune of the week.
2024-12-31 10:23
Our shiny new diverter valve actuator motor arrived today and we have hot water again! It's only when you can't have a hot shower or run hot water to wash the dishes that you realise just how much we take it for granted.
2024-12-28 15:08
Today, a rather important part of our boiler - the bit that controls whether heat is applied to the central heating system or to the taps - decided to die.
It died whilst set to heat the central heating, meaning that the house is lovely and warm but we have no hot water to wash with.
At least I now know what a diverter valve actuator motor is. Every cloud.
2024-01-30 22:12
Used a curved monitor at the office today for the first time. Seems silly/obvious now that I've used one, but it didn't really occur to me that horizontal lines on the screen are slightly curved and I'm not sure I like it. Won't be rushing out to buy one anytime soon.
2023-07-14 12:48
Sometimes things fall apart, so that better things can fall together.
Marilyn Monroe
Similar:
Some things have to end for better things to begin.
Unknown
2023-07-13 12:43
Worrying does not take away tomorrow's troubles, it takes away today's peace.
Randy Armstrong
2023-02-04 08:51
I picked up a copy of Hob: The Definitive Edition after it went on sale in the Nintendo Switch eShop back in January. It had been sat on my wishlist for a few years, so it was good to finally get to play it.
Probably the most impressive thing about the game is the world itself. Trees, grass and lush vegetation on the surface, with machinery and cogs underground. That machinery springs to life when you solve puzzles or unlock the next area of the map, moving huge parts of the scenery in such a satisfying way.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. My only gripe was that the game did chug a bit during visually intensive moments, but that's more of a limitation of the Switch hardware than the game itself.
2023-02-01 17:01
Susan and I were left feeling all warm and fuzzy inside this week when Ellie brought home her first family portrait from preschool.
All three of us have been drawn wearing red lipstick, so I can only assume that the one in the middle with the biggest belly and head is me!
2022-09-20 12:25
After 10 days off, which included a bank holiday for the Queen's funeral (that fortuitously extended my time off by another day), it's back to work for me.
Time off always seems to go by quickly, and, whilst this past week was no different, it did feel like a good break. Despite catching a slight cold, I feel rested and ready to go again.
7 weeks until my next break. Let's go!
2022-09-17 12:05
Each morning, when I open the curtains in her bedroom, Ellie says, “The colours are back!”. It's so cute that she thinks the colours go to sleep at night.
2021-12-20 00:00
No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.
Socrates
2021-06-27 12:25
- The week is off to a miserable start with heavy rain. It's actually pretty chilly, too. But then shorts and tshirt is my go-to remote working attire of choice.
- An Etch office poll to see if staff prefer to stack cups up or down on shelves provides incredibly divisive (I stack mine facing down).
- England won last night (Tuesday) to finish top of Group D. They'll face the runner up of Group F, which'll be either France, Germany or Portugal. 😬
- Lots of meetings today (Wednesday). Spent some time researching font rendering in browsers. I feel like there's more I can be doing in this area to make website text look better.
- Got a client meeting coming up for some idea generation. Also took part in the weekly Etch Play live show on Twitch.
- Finishing the week with some Figma prototyping.
2021-03-18 17:43
As of today, I have officially been working remotely for an entire year. It weirdly seems like a long time yet has somehow passed quickly.
Part of me always thought I would work remotely one day but the pandemic has made that a reality much sooner. It may have forced us all into remote working but for me that's the way it's going to stay, too, now Etch are a remote-first organisation.
Twelve months ago I started a remote working timeline to document how I was feeling and some of the big pandemic updates that were happening. I managed to keep that going until day 173, by which point it had become incredibly boring and repetitive but it was definitely a worthwhile exercise during a difficult time.
2021-03-16 09:29
I've always been pretty bad at remembering to book time off, sometimes going months and months before taking a break. It's something that I've gotten worse at during the pandemic. In my mind, I reduce the importance of any time off by telling myself, "I can't go anywhere anyway!".
It's a weird way of thinking because time off during the pandemic has actually felt less stressful than during 'normal' times. You can't go anywhere or see anyone, so there's no expectation that you need to make the most of your break by doing something every single day.
Sounds like good downtime. Now, if I can just remember to spread the rest of my annual leave evenly throughout the rest of the year...
2014-03-28 21:00
One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.
Master Oogway, Kung Fu Panda