Pupdate

March was reasonably dry (and even sunny sometimes), so the boys were able to get out for some nice long walks :)

Milo also finished his third chemo protocol. I’m overdue a diary post about that, but the short version is that he’s doing well :)

Skiing

The month started with me skiing in Westendorf, and I’ve already posted a full trip report.

My fitness tracker is now complaining at me that my exercise has dropped precipitously over the last few weeks :/

New Phone and PC

iPhone 16E

I last got a new phone when the iPhone SE2 launched in 2020, so it’s fair to say it’s a little tired. The battery was starting to struggle to get through a day, and the storage was full enough to require shuffling for updates. Time for something new, and the successor to the SE has emerged in the form of the 16E.

It’s a bit bigger that I wanted (for pocketability), though it does fit my jeans pocket just fine. On the other hand the larger screen is easier on my middle aged eyes.

Battery life seems to be tremendous. The Apple modem appears to work really well. Overall I’m very impressed :)

I also got a new Quadlock case for it, which arrived just before the end of the month.

Upgraded silent PC

Pretty much the only component left in the DB4 case from my last Silent PC build is the GPU. Full report on the new system is in my Silent PC upgrade post. Switching from Windows to Linux (Kubuntu) has been a lot less drama than I feared it might be :)

Sick

Just after my return from Austria I came down with some sort of cold/flu. It’s the first time in over 10y that I’ve been so ill that I had to take time off work – it was a struggle just to lie on the sofa. I was taking max doses of ibuprofen and paracetamol and still couldn’t keep my temperature under control. And the cough lingered right up until the end of the month. Not good. Hopefully the arrival of Spring means we’re moving on from all the winter bugs that have been going around.

OpenWrt

My first pull request for OpenWrt got merged :) Having used it for over a decade (with a few posts here over the years) it’s great to finally have the chance to contribute back.

More to come hopefully, as I’ve been working on OpenWrt integration for NoPorts, which I’d like to get upstream into the official packages.

Events

The end of the month was a little busy with events.

Rossfest

Rossfest was a wonderful celebration of the life and work of Ross Anderson, and brought together people from the many communities he helped bring to life. I wrote last year about the impact Ross had on me, and it was great to be among so many others with their various stories to share. The dinner at Trinity College was particularly good, with some lively conversation about various security topics. My thanks go out to Frank Stajano and everybody else who helped pull the day together.

Monki Gras

A few days later it was time for one of my favourite events of the year – Monki Gras. I was a little less diligent in attending talks than I may have been in the past, because I got pulled into some amazing ‘hallway track’ conversations. It was great to spend time with old friends, and meet people doing fascinating work. So I look forward to some of the follow ups.

James (and Jess, and Rob and the rest of the crew) – amazing work as always, and I look forward to 2026. Kate (in case you’re reading) – it was wonderful to meet in person, and talk about blogging (amongst other things).

sbomify

I’ve been collaborating with Viktor Petersson since the inception of sbomify, so we used our time together at Monkigras to grab a photo for the announcement of me joining as an advisor. Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs) is going to be a huge thing over coming years, and I’m hopeful that sbomify can become the premier platform people use to create and manage their SBOMs.

Vespa

I’ve mentioned my Vespa here before. I got it as a non runner in 2009, and it’s been my ride to the station and back ever since. For the first time ever it failed it’s annual MoT safety check, though on things that do wear out over time – in this case brake pads and the exhaust. It was running beautifully quiet with the new exhaust, until it suddenly lost power and then wouldn’t start again. I’m hoping it’s just a clogged carburetor.

Solar Diary

For the first time in ages there was more sun than in the same month in previous years :) Hopefully it continues.