Pupdate

As the weather has improved it’s been great to get out and about more with Max.

We also had some fun with his mother Nellie coming to visit.

Coding

The new job means I’m back to writing code a lot more. One of my first adventures was into using the ZeroSSL API to automate TLS certificate creation where the prototype I hacked together in Bash needed a complete rewrite with Python.

I also put together a tool for automating label sync across GitHub repos (more about that on an earlier post).

As I spend more time reviewing code I’m planning on writing a bit about that – it seems many of the lessons I saw being learned the hard way with Java 20+ years ago are playing out again for Dart and Flutter.

Rust

I’ve been interested in Rust for a little while, and Take your first steps with Rust on Microsoft Learn is an awesome resource, particularly the memory management module (which I’d commend to anybody developing on a VM language like Java or Dart, as it’s good to be reminded what the garbage collector is doing for you, and the costs that might be involved with that).

Open Source

Another excellent resource on Microsoft Learn is the Build community-driven software projects on GitHub learning path, which wraps around some great GitHub based material.

Podcast

After some months in the works the Tech Debt Burndown Podcast that I’ve been collaborating with Nick Selby on is now live. Get it on your favourite podcast app.

BBQ

I had a go at smoking some brisket, which I think turned out pretty well for a first attempt:

Leadership

I’ve written about leadership on this blog before, as I think it’s an important topic.

Listening to ‘Randall Stutman: The Essence of Leadership’ [The Knowledge Project Ep. #96] was one of those aha moments – I’ve been doing this stuff and trying to get better for over 30 years, and that’s what I’ve been missing. I’m going to give the sample lessons on Admired Leadership a try and see if I’m up for the $1000 package.

Along similar lines I’m enjoying Gene Kim’s interview with Admiral John Richardson – Leadership Development and Balancing Creativity.

Raspberry Pi Stuff

Since I’ve been back into Python I went back to my sous-vide code and updated that to Python 3.

Beating Beat Saber

VR workouts were back for April, and I was delighted to find that a new free set of levels had dropped with OST 4. They’re not easy either, so it will take me a while to clock up those Full Combos at Expert. Meanwhile I finally got the Full Combo at Hard on Ghost in the Camellia pack, and I’ve also been able to crack a few more at Expert on the Green Day pack (just Father of All to go).