May’s update was late, and June’s is in danger of rolling into July, so here’s a few highlights from my life in and around tech…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the work front, it was a short month – I was on holiday for the last week and with public holidays too there was lots to cram into a few short weeks. Nevertheless, I still managed to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The @Node4Ltd<\/a> podcast we recorded a few weeks ago was released today ??. It's internal only (I'd love to create an external version) but it really hit me how using a proper studio with professional equipment (and a great editor ??) makes a huge difference to production quality ?? https:\/\/t.co\/cHWlo0QTlj<\/a><\/p>— Mark Wilson (@markwilsonit) May 23, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
But the biggest activity in the month was presenting at Node4’s Infrastructure Symposium. One of our Practice Directors brought all his teams together to learn about the products and services that we jointly deliver. With four (or five, depending on how you look at it) companies all merged, there’s been a lot of change at Node4 over the last year or so. Getting everyone together is a great way to break down boundaries and understand the direction we’re headed in. And for me it was a chance to outline that our cloud offers span public, private and hybrid delivery models – and that we will deliver what’s right for the client, not for us. We call this Pragmatic Cloud (and I freely admit we didn’t come up with the term, but it I like it a lot).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also celebrated my 9 year anniversary of joining risual\/Node4 in May. And, for those who were confused by my comments last month<\/a>, I was saying that my recent move has been overwhelmingly positive and I’m in a better place than I have been for a long while!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Away from work… <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- My youngest son, Ben, passed his driving test. I was ready for a big insurance bill, but what I wasn’t ready for was: a) no decrease on the bill for the 19 year-old’s insurance (now with 2 years’ experience); and b) a 350% increase in premiums between him passing his test 2 years ago and the 17 year-old passing now. Even with a black box, parents as named drivers, etc. the car insurance bill for the two old cars that our family share with the teenagers was around \u00a34500. For contrast, the bill for my Volvo (with just me and Mrs W as drivers) actually fell and is now back under \u00a3500. Public transport is just not reliable enough where we live, so the choices are: a) drive the teenagers everywhere; or b) pay the money. I’m still getting over this assault on our savings… some families just won’t have that money and I dread to think how many uninsured cars there are on the road as a consequence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Car insurance quotes for newly-qualified teenager now up 3x on what we paid 2y ago for the eldest. Family car insurance bill looks like it will be \u00a34-5k, maybe more. We\u2019ll find the money, because we have to, but I wonder how many people don\u2019t and just drive uninsured\u2026<\/p>— Mark Wilson (@markwilsonit) May 18, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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- My eldest son, Matt, continues to race his bike up and down the country. After a catastrophic failure of the fork steerer tube, his Canyon road bike was hastily replaced. That meant a drive to Wakefield to collect the new bike, but it is rather lovely. I don’t get to all his races these days but I did manage to watch him in Ixworth and I was in the team car again for the Lincoln GP. Unfortunately, when he went to Ireland to race the R\u00e1s Tailteann I had to make do with watching for updates on Twitter!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Another great afternoon of crit\u2019 racing at Ixworth today. P7 for #VeloMatt<\/a> so another 10 points towards his Cat 1 licence (and first race on new bike). Added bonus in that I got to meet @AlexDowsett<\/a> who was gracious enough to pose for a selfie with me #CyclistsDad<\/a> #RideRevolution<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Q4ost8oH5s<\/a><\/p>— Mark Wilson (@markwilsonit) May 6, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Another full on day that found me back with Zak in the #RideRevolution<\/a> team car for the #LincolnGrandPrix<\/a> ????
Not #VeloMatt<\/a>\u2019s day but teammate Dan was one of the select group of finishers, in 28th https:\/\/t.co\/6Pacn3DKHN<\/a>
(Only an 80% complete team photo!)#CyclistsDad<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/hcuTO7eUzL<\/a><\/p>— Mark Wilson (@markwilsonit) May 12, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nIt feels very odd having a few weekends without #CyclistsDad<\/a> duties\u2026 #VeloMatt<\/a> rode the #UCIGravelWorldSeries<\/a> @GrallochGravel<\/a> race today ??????????? and next week he\u2019s off to the R\u00e1s Tailteann #Ras2024<\/a> stage race ??????. I\u2019m back at home\u2026 trying to catch up on my admin<\/p>— Mark Wilson (@markwilsonit) May 18, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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- Ben and I have been planning our Interrail trip – and now we have bought our passes along with inbound\/outbound travel. Plus, we’re going to be taking the NightJet sleeper train from Berlin to Vienna! There were a few challenges with seat availability (things have changed since last time I went – we can use high speed rail, but there’s limited availability and we need to pay a supplement). This is more of a problem when dates are fixed so we had to change our route a little. On the flip side, with the start and end locked in, the middle section of the holiday is now free for us to be flexible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Bought our @Interrail<\/a> passes today\u2026 this is getting real now!!! ??? https:\/\/t.co\/d4fOrgV8TM<\/a><\/p>— Mark Wilson (@markwilsonit) May 11, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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- I completed the home network upgrade. Was the switch from AmpliFi to UniFi worth it? Time will tell. It’s certainly more flexible but it’s cost me more and my house does not lend itself to structured cable runs. Maybe I should have just replaced the broken AmpliFi mesh point but it felt like I could fall into the trap of the sunk cost fallacy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s the end of the Wi-Fi upgrade\u2026 the final power supply arrived a few minutes ago, so the house is now UniFied up, with an AP on each floor (and in the Man Cave), in the best way I could do it without a reliable Ethernet backbone\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/ejh29BILso<\/a><\/p>— Mark Wilson (@markwilsonit) May 9, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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- On the home automation front:\n
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- Octopus Energy sent us a Home Mini, which should give more granular data on electricity consumption, once I get the Home Assistant configuration right (I’m still tweaking).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- I’ve also continued to play around with Home Assistant, including a bed occupancy sensor (which I can link to turning off the lights). I will admit that’s probably a step too far into nerd territory.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Some more tech to play with this weekend – thanks @OctopusEnergy<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/5AX0xxIVZZ<\/a><\/p>— Mark Wilson (@markwilsonit) May 2, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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- The month ended with a short break in Spain. Originally scheduled for May 2021, we never did get to go on a family holiday to Barcelona and the Costa Brava, though Matt made it out there on a training trip to Girona earlier this year. So, half the holiday, with only one of the “children” (though he is now twice the size!), Nikki, Ben and I spent a glorious few days in an around Begur<\/a>. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Writing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
These retrospectives are a bit of a blogging catch-all, but I did write a post on LinkedIn that turned into a blog in its own right. You can read it at the link below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n