The weekly weeknotes are no more… whilst it’s great to catalogue my life, each post was taking 3-4 hours to write (and much of it is on Twitter anyway!). Even in chunks through the week, that’s a lot of time, though I seem to have found another time hoover to fill the void (edging out Twitter): Sim City.
I may still publish some weeknotes in 2018… they might just be in a slightly different format…
So, what’s been happening over the last 3 weeks?
Locked on a train
Hey, @EMTrains. Perhaps you could change your procedure to and check the train is empty before locking doors? Luckily I managed to grab attention of platform staff to let me out of 1F02 at Sheffield… pic.twitter.com/ESl38ozvx4
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 18, 2017
(After the train arrived at its destination, I sent an email and used the lavatory before getting off but it seems the Train Manager was more keen to get away than I was…)
Azure subscription woes (caused by credit card changes)
A withdrawn credit card led to some worrying emails about my (PAYG) Azure subscription potentially being disabled.
Although this article says:
“When you update the payment method, Azure immediately processes the payment for all outstanding charges”
it needed a support call to get Microsoft to charge the card and put my account back where it should have been…
Some tweets I liked
On ideas/new technology…
When it’s an idea: “It’ll never work!”
When it works: “It’s a fad!”
What it’s not a fad: “What’s this doing to our society?!”The bicycle, telephone, motor vehicle, television, headphones, personal computer, Internet, smartphones… #VR, #AR, #AI, $crypto…
— Jamie Skella (@JamieSkella) December 12, 2017
On software maintenance…
Wonderful quote about the right mindset for software maintenance. #springone pic.twitter.com/aFMEGNn2Gf
— Richard Seroter (@rseroter) December 5, 2017
And a couple I didn’t
Exhibit A:
Google is a giant machine that eats energy to make an encyclopedia.
Facebook is a giant machine that eats energy to make yearbooks.
Bitcoin is a giant machine that eats energy to save and trade value.
— Jeremy Welch (@jeremyrwelch) December 16, 2017
Wrong. The first two exist to sell advertising and make money. The products are a side-effect! https://t.co/5rLpwItLXB
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 18, 2017
Exhibit B:
2010:
AWS: Cloud is real
Other vendors: Lol, bookseller, real money is in virtualisation2017:
AWS: Serverless is real
Other vendors: Lol, real money is in Containers— Cloud Opinion – BRB (@cloud_opinion) December 24, 2017
2010: Azure: PaaS is real; AWS nah… IaaS is where it’s at ;-) Sometimes you have to do what the market is ready for. Some customers are ready for functions… and some haven’t even got their heads around production VMs in the cloud, let alone containers… https://t.co/nARNaLnyxq
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 28, 2017
Photography
I got the chance to give a presentation about architecture (in IT form) to some colleagues, which let me draw parallels with architecture (in construction form). That gave me a reason to pull together some images from a visit to Kings Cross and St Pancras International last summer:
I’m presenting to the #risual Cloud Infrastructure team today about architecture (in an IT context). I’ve used these pics that I took last summer at London St Pancras International and at Kings Cross. Both feature stunning architecture (in a building context) pic.twitter.com/SxhlhYlWzc
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 15, 2017
I like this image of my son’s (frozen) bike loaded on my car ready for a morning or cyclocross racing:
Sunday morning #cyclocross #lookslikeamuddyone pic.twitter.com/N4Tq1gJua5
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 17, 2017
And then I got creative on Christmas Eve:
Fizz pic.twitter.com/bpxMrAeIXo
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 24, 2017
Ready for Father Christmas… pic.twitter.com/ORMMdXs8x0
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 24, 2017
Rhubarb and ginger… #AnotherAlcoholicStillLife pic.twitter.com/nKFFhR3xAc
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 24, 2017
Could there be a correlation between the alcoholic theme and my being relaxed enough to see photographic opportunity?
A trip to York
My family had a little mini-break in York between Christmas and New Year (narrowly avoiding the chaos that ensues when the UK gets a few centimetres of snow…). Of course, being on holiday inevitably led to more photos:
National Railway Museum pic.twitter.com/NOA3LMJxIO
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 28, 2017
Spotted in a pub in York… #RulesOfTheInn pic.twitter.com/8YuKFw42JG
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 27, 2017
Ghostly tales on the streets of York pic.twitter.com/nEkKri2B2M
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 28, 2017
Viking history pic.twitter.com/nDxYndXxof
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 28, 2017
Loving this T-Shirt (and the others in the series…) #HystericalHeritage pic.twitter.com/OKhlb1Hz3g
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 28, 2017
This was disappointing though (especially on a bright sunny day with no sign of ice):
Unfortunately the #York Bar Walls are closed today due to the ice ??
— City of York Council (@CityofYork) December 28, 2017
This wasn’t – it was a great recommendation from Brian Cain (@BrianCainUC)!
York’s Chocolate Story pic.twitter.com/3V2OPFEH3N
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 28, 2017
More alcohol…
A proper pint in a proper glass pic.twitter.com/mrERdVWaQc
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 28, 2017
Beer-barrel snowman pic.twitter.com/j6XGC4aKdU
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 28, 2017
I didn’t try this place but I will if I’m back in York again…
Much better than a kebab! pic.twitter.com/raP8j6ENbk
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 28, 2017
I really liked this cafe:
Fab cycling-themed café in York @yourbikeshed pic.twitter.com/wzYXYRUpGJ
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 29, 2017
And I finished the trip by going full-circle…
Another trip to the @railwaymuseum pic.twitter.com/sqiNlcYkt0
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 29, 2017
Incidentally, the collages are created using Diptic on iOS.
A bit of DIY
Tada! Not bad for some old shelf supports, scrap 2×1”, MDF and a stool #DiyXboxDrivingRig pic.twitter.com/Eb90M7CUKs
— Mark Wilson ???? (@markwilsonit) December 31, 2017
Happy New Year
So, that wraps up another year – and 2018 will be this blog’s 15th! Thanks to everyone who keeps reading and who follows me on other social media channels. I wish you all the very best and a happy new year!