Pupdate

Max’s second Christmas and Milo’s first, the outfits came courtesy of their mums’ doggy mum, and caused much excitement when they arrived as they brought the distinctive smell of her house.

A very Covidy Christmas

As I was drafting this post I left myself a note to comment on getting a booster jab, but that all got overtaken by events.

My wife called from outside the school where she teaches on Thu 16 Dec to say that she’d tested positive on a lateral flow test, and needed to book a PCR test. We weren’t at all shocked when the confirmation came through, but our plans to host her family for Christmas were ruined.

Two days later it was my daughter’s turn, two days after that my son’s. We scheduled Christmas 2 for Sun 2 Jan.

And now that won’t be happening as planned either, as I’ve just had to go for a PCR test. How it took me two weeks in a house full of infectious people to succumb will probably remain one of the mysteries of the universe.

Streaks

When my daughter has previously commented on keeping up app streaks whilst we’re on holiday I’ve scoffed at how silly it is. But my streaks are different…

Apple Fitness

Since early on in the pandemic I’ve been closing all three circles for move, exercise and standing, and doing a workout each day. Not travelling all over the place has been very good for consistency.

But on Dec 27 I neglected to do a top up VR workout after what must have been a not quite sufficiently vigorous dog walk, and that’s the end of a 651 day streak.

Stack Overflow

I created an account on Stack Overflow in 2014, and then found that I couldn’t do what I needed to do without jumping through many hoops to earn sufficient reputation. So it’s been fallow since. This month I found a topic to answer questions on (GitHub’s GraphQL API), so I’ve finally started earning some reputation and badges.

The ‘enthusiast’ badge for visiting 30 days in a row seems like an easy ask, but maybe not over the holidays. I’ve managed to drop the ball twice already.

iPad SSH

Just like the best camera is the one you have with you, the best device is often the one in your hands, and when I’m away from my desk my iPad is usually in reach. My main use of SSH from it is checking on my Raspberry Pi Sous Vide, but there are times I need to jump onto other hosts.

iSSH was one of the first apps I bought for my iPad 2, and it was excellent, but sadly the maintainer threw in the towel on keeping up with iOS updates. So when I got my iPad Mini 5 I started using Reflection, as it was free an perfectly adequate.

Sadly it seems that iOS15 has broken Reflection, making it very forgetful of keys and connections :(

So… time to try something new. I’d seen recommendations before for Blink Shell, and it’s a one off purchase rather than a subscription. I’ve not done anything to push it yet, but so far so good, it seems easy and intuitive.

Always Be Celebrating (ABC)

There’s a lot of dire stuff going on, but there’s also some great stuff happening, and it’s good to celebrate even the small victories life throws.

I’ll definitely be raising a glass of something fizzy to toast the start of 2022.