From a0800c936b434e735005d7c154ebc5e976bde00b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Thomas Date: Fri, 6 May 2022 22:21:44 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Blog: vibe check #3 --- scripts/list-posts.py | 42 ++++++++++----------- src/content/blog/2021-01-27-albums-2020.md | 19 ---------- src/content/blog/2022-05-05-vibe-check-3.md | 35 +++++++++++++++++ src/content/posts.json | 2 +- src/routes/blog.svelte | 2 + src/styles/thomaswilson.css | 7 ++-- 6 files changed, 63 insertions(+), 44 deletions(-) create mode 100644 src/content/blog/2022-05-05-vibe-check-3.md diff --git a/scripts/list-posts.py b/scripts/list-posts.py index 73f27b2..afd93c6 100644 --- a/scripts/list-posts.py +++ b/scripts/list-posts.py @@ -16,30 +16,30 @@ blog_posts = glob.glob('./src/content/**/*.md') hash_map = {} for file in blog_posts: - post = frontmatter.load(file) - print(post['title']) - slug = post['slug'] - frontmatter_keys = post.keys() + try: + post = frontmatter.load(file) + slug = post['slug'] + frontmatter_keys = post.keys() - published_date = post['date'] - print(published_date) + published_date = post['date'] + # We want a datetime, note a date + if isinstance(published_date, date): + published_date = datetime.combine(published_date, datetime.min.time()) - # We want a datetime, note a date - if isinstance(published_date, date): - published_date = datetime.combine(published_date, datetime.min.time()) - - - - details = { - 'title': post['title'], - 'date': published_date.isoformat(), - 'book_review': 'book_review' in frontmatter_keys, - 'preview': post.content[0:180], - 'slug': slug - } - hash_map[slug] = details - + details = { + 'title': post['title'], + 'date': published_date.isoformat(), + 'book_review': 'book_review' in frontmatter_keys, + 'preview': post.content[0:180], + 'slug': slug + } + hash_map[slug] = details + except: + print("!!!") + print("Caught Error in following file, ignoring") + print(file) + print("---") with open('./src/content/posts.json', "w") as file: json.dump(hash_map, file) diff --git a/src/content/blog/2021-01-27-albums-2020.md b/src/content/blog/2021-01-27-albums-2020.md index 6f3b354..e69de29 100644 --- a/src/content/blog/2021-01-27-albums-2020.md +++ b/src/content/blog/2021-01-27-albums-2020.md @@ -1,19 +0,0 @@ ---- - -title: "My Top Albums of 2020" -author: "Thomas Wilson" -date: 2021-01-27 -draft: false -slug: "2021-01-27-top-albums-2020" -tags: - - project - - albums ---- - -Just a quick blog post to highlight that I've published my 2020 _Top Albums of the Year_. You can find it [here](/albums-2020). Seriously, go check it out. - -I really enjoy making little specially art-directed pages like this. It feels very "this is what the internet was made for". It's just a quirky little bespoke designed page which oozes my love for music. No tracking, no adverts, just a quirky font and cool colour scheme. - -If you want to take a look at last year's albums, check out my [Top Albums of 2019](/albums-2019) - -Anyway, hope you're keeping well. diff --git a/src/content/blog/2022-05-05-vibe-check-3.md b/src/content/blog/2022-05-05-vibe-check-3.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..82b3cd6 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/content/blog/2022-05-05-vibe-check-3.md @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@ +--- +title: "Vibe Check #3" +author: Thomas Wilson +date: 2022-05-06T21:08:00Z +slug: 2022-05-06-vibe-check-3 +draft: false +--- + +Three of the past four weeks have been a four-day work week. It's been wonderful. And yet still I'm posting this a week later than I'd like. The weather has been overcast, but everything in balance, even good weather. Still, _some_ rain would be nice. + +To burden the spring metaphor further, April has often felt like it's in service to future things. Professionally, there's a lot of flow, with little turbulence (but high variation). Personally, I'm doing things which bring me joy. I don't feel a craving to have done something, but rather to be doing. + +I've re-started one-one French tuition with a woman on the internet living in the South of France, who doesn't speak much (any) English. But we converse happily enough for an hour a week while I stumble my way through understanding 15% of what's said to me. It's tough, but I think it's getting easier. + +I've read (mostly via audiobooks), and continued writing everyday. I've purchased more inks for my pens (after purging my collection 5+ years ago). Writing feels joyful. + +My task management system is being tested by a lot of things that need doing. It's the corporially-struggling canary in the mines of my productivity. I'm still undecided if the pressure of knowing the things I'm _not_ doing outweighs the benefits of knowing the things I'm not doing. It's also okay to delete, defer, and re-schedule things. Past me was optimistic about what present me could do. + +While we're moaning, I've also cut down on snacking as much as I could. Nothing sweet before lunch, and no unintentional snacking between meals only. No boredom biscuits. I hate to say it, but I feel so much lighter during the day, and now I find myself less hungry less often. It took a few days to move past severe snack withdrawl. Your body isn't always your friend, it's just a ~~serviceable~~ good house. + +Highlights of the month include: + +- Sewing some spring-themed cushions, to replace the Christmas themed cushions (it is May) +- Taking an adventure-themed staycation: climbing, canoeing, and cycling (plus a lunch after each) in a three day window. Day four was recovery. +- Being given Easter eggs and chocolate. I _love_ chocolate (see snacking note above) +- Seeing a school friend for their thirtieth birthday, and regressing ~50% of my life away with people I've not seen in about as long +- Drinking red wine with a best friend while overlooking the botanical garden in Oxford + +Books I've read this month: + +- [Shadow of the Gods](https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/John-Gwynne/The-Shadow-of-the-Gods/25534879), by John Gwynn. Strong recommend for this book for anyone with even a passing interest in fantasy. Really fun, great concept, clearly written, there's a Rat God and a Dragon God. Yes yes. +- [Leviathan Wakes](https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/James-S-A-Corey/Leviathan-Wakes--Book-1-of-the-Expanse-now-a-Prime-Original-series/6888165), by James S A Carey. Another strong recommend. It's a book with space ships, and I'm far more versed in dead gods and trees that fight (see above), but this sci-fi romp has great characters draped over an epic plot. I look forward to reading the entire series. +- [This Party's Dead](https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Erica-Buist/This-Partys-Dead--Grief-Joy-and-Spilled-Rum-at-the-Worlds-Death-Festivals/26655491), by Erica Buist. Picked this one up on a whim because I'm a sucker for a book about death. I wasn't expecting it to be so memoir-y, but I've not put it down yet so she's doing something right. +- [Islam Explained](https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Islam-Explained-by-Ahmad-Rashid-Salim-author/9781646113231),, by Ahmad Rashid Salim. After realising that I knew precious little about the core beliefs of one of the world's major religions, I thought I'd do the bear minimum and read an "introduction to" book. This book does exactly that, but sometimes with too much verbal padding. +- [Amongst our Weapons](https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Ben-Aaronovitch/Amongst-Our-Weapons--The-Brand-New-Rivers-Of-London-Novel/26655429), by Ben Aaronovitch. The latest in Aaronovitch's *Rivers of London* urban fantasy series, which is secretly a love letter to London but with river gods. This is the first one I'm reading while not living in London and it's exactly the same feeling, I love it. diff --git a/src/content/posts.json b/src/content/posts.json index 1863de0..d71ea6f 100644 --- a/src/content/posts.json +++ b/src/content/posts.json @@ -1 +1 @@ -{"hangover-square": {"title": "Hangover Square", "date": "2021-05-25T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "I was gifted this book by my mother, so I feel terrible for what I am about to say about it. It was gifted with the best of intentions: someone or other famous reported that it mad", "slug": "hangover-square"}, "wow-no-thank-you": {"title": "wow, no thank you", "date": "2020-09-01T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "Samantha Irby came onto my radar in 2019 after a reading slump from that time I was burned out by my job in a VC startup. _We are never meeting in real life_, her previous set of e", "slug": "wow-no-thank-you"}, "project-hail-mary": {"title": "Project Hail Mary", "date": "2021-06-03T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "When you read a Dan Brown book you leave it ready to put on your tin foil har. Andy Weir books make you feel ready to don a lab coat. He writes books that are clearly well research", "slug": "project-hail-mary"}, "hamnet": {"title": "Hamnet", "date": "2020-10-18T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "_Hamnet_ follows Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare, and her family - her brothers, children, in-laws - as well as several of the greater village populous. The book makes very ", "slug": "hamnet"}, "kings-of-the-wyld": {"title": "Kings of the Wyld", "date": "2020-12-13T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "_Kings of the Wyld_ is a fantasy book which feels like three or four middle (or-upper middle) aged dudes getting drunk, playing Dungeons & Dragons, while classic Rock and Roll play", "slug": "kings-of-the-wyld"}, "on-connection": {"title": "On Connection", "date": "2020-11-14T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "Kae Tempest is a London-based artist who works with words. I first discovered their work in 2016, with the release of _Let Them Eat Chaos_ - a conceptual spoken word album which im", "slug": "on-connection"}, "queenie": {"title": "Queenie", "date": "2020-09-26T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "_Queenie_ is an excellent debut by Carty-William. The novel's titular narrator pins you to the page - she has a strong and unique voice, yet also unreliable and unlikable at times.", "slug": "queenie"}, "the-phoenix-project": {"title": "The Phoenix Project", "date": "2020-12-02T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "*The Phoenix Project* (TPP) is a a fiction book for nerds (said the nerd, on his blog). It's a parable for people who design, build, or deploy software. I want this article to jus", "slug": "the-phoenix-project"}, "an-absolutely-remarkable-thing": {"title": "An Absolutely Remarkable Thing", "date": "2020-11-08T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (AART; because I'm not paid by the word here) is a wonderful Sci-Fi(-ish) adventure by Hank Green, one of the content creators in the first wave of t", "slug": "an-absolutely-remarkable-thing"}, "utopia-avenue": {"title": "Utopia Avenue", "date": "2021-02-09T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "_Utopia Avenue_ is David Mitchell's latest piece of fiction in the meta-novel he is writing. Which is to say this book is set in the same mild-fantasy universe as several of his ot", "slug": "utopia-avenue"}, "after": {"title": "After", "date": "2021-05-05T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "**Declaration of interest** I am a spiritual person. I didn\u2019t come into this book desperately seeking answers, or in need of comfort or certainty. You\u2019re never going to get that fr", "slug": "after"}, "magician": {"title": "Magician", "date": "2021-03-15T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "The first in Feist's *Riftwar Saga*, Magician has the air of a pulp fantasy novel. First published, abridged, in 1982 and unabridged a decade later, this book oozes nerds in the '", "slug": "magician"}, "the-silence-of-the-girls": {"title": "The Silence of the Girls", "date": "2021-01-24T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "Pat Barker's take on the classic story of the Battle of Troy is told from the perspective of Briseis, the noble taken slave when Achilles sacks Lyrnessus. Consigned to life as a be", "slug": "the-silence-of-the-girls"}, "sistersong": {"title": "Sistersong", "date": "2021-06-13T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "_Sistersong_ is the debut novel from Lucy Holland. Set in Dumnonia, the Celtic kingdom which lasted between the 4th-8th century in what is now South West England, it follows the th", "slug": "sistersong"}, "first-you-write-a-sentence": {"title": "First You Write a Sentence", "date": "2021-02-04T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "I loved this book. _Will_ love this book again, because I know I'm going to read it again. And then probably again after that. Moran's two hundred page treatise on the process of w", "slug": "first-you-write-a-sentence"}, "once-upon-a-river": {"title": "Once Upon a River", "date": "2021-04-04T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "This is a lovely book where classically fairy tale things happen. Set on the River Thames in Oxford around the turn of the 20th century, it follows individuals and families as a gi", "slug": "once-upon-a-river"}, "cats-cradle": {"title": "Cat's Cradle", "date": "2020-10-03T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "After _Slaughterhouse 5_, _Cat's Cradle_ is the second Vonnegut book I've read. I've heard wonderful things about Vonnegut, and this book exemplifies a lot of those, namely uncomfo", "slug": "cats-cradle"}, "mrs-death-misses-death": {"title": "Mrs Death Misses Death", "date": "2021-04-17T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "Godden has been writing and performing poetry since she decided to move to London instead of going to university. \u201cGodden is a poet\u201d headlines my review because it is so evident in", "slug": "mrs-death-misses-death"}, "how-do-we-know-were-doing-it-right": {"title": "how do we know we're doing it right?", "date": "2020-09-20T00:00:00", "book_review": true, "preview": "Sykes' collection of essays covers a surprisingly large amount of ground for a relatively short book. She turns her attention to a lot of the inner turmoils that seem to plague mil", "slug": "how-do-we-know-were-doing-it-right"}, "2020-08-29-apple-what-are-you-doing": {"title": "Apple, What are you doing?", "date": "2020-08-29T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "I have loved Apple solidly for eight years, since I was 20 and gifted a Mac Mini for Christmas. I wrote my Masters thesis on that thing in a ground floor bedroom of a student house", "slug": "2020-08-29-apple-what-are-you-doing"}, "2021-03-06-design-workflow-build-components": {"title": "The Frustrating Mismatch of Design by User Journey but Build with Components ", "date": "2021-03-06T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "How do you design a good app?\n\nIt's a charmingly amateurish question, but I've spent the past five years primarily trying to design and build web apps and I don't know the answer.\n", "slug": "2021-03-06-design-workflow-build-components"}, "2020-09-25-things-i-learned-7": {"title": "Things I learned this week #7", "date": "2020-09-25T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "- **This unknown origin**: No one is quite certain where the term \"rule of thumb\" came from. It has been mistakenly attributed to a British Judge's rule that a man can beat his wif", "slug": "2020-09-25-things-i-learned-7"}, "2021-02-19-things-i-learned-28": {"title": "Things I learned this week #28", "date": "2021-02-19T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "- **This collective noun**: If I was to make a list of small-talk and first date conversation topics it would go something like this: food, the tube, podcasts or books, and then co", "slug": "2021-02-19-things-i-learned-28"}, "2020-11-19-figma-variants-without-buttons": {"title": "Introducing Figma Variants with 5 Components that aren't Buttons", "date": "2020-11-19T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "Figma recently introduced Variants - a way of extending and varying your components. Components in Figma, and in modern web development, are reusable and encapsulated elements of a", "slug": "2020-11-19-figma-variants-without-buttons"}, "2020-10-23-things-i-learned-11": {"title": "Things I learned this week #11", "date": "2020-10-23T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "- **This thing about how we sleep**: In Western Europe, about 35% of young adults sleep with a soft toy every night, and about 44% of people keep hold of their childhood soft toy. ", "slug": "2020-10-23-things-i-learned-11"}, "back-to-bear": {"title": "Back to Bear, Goodbye Notion", "date": "2019-08-15T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "This piece turned out a little long than expected because I really want to clarify that this is not a \u201cWhy Bear is better than Notion\u201d article. It is a \u201cWhy Bear suits my needs rig", "slug": "back-to-bear"}, "2020-08-21-things-i-learned-2": {"title": "Things I learned this week #2", "date": "2020-08-21T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "- **This useful thinking tool**: good writing starts with observations, and moves to analysis. Making the transition is difficult. One way to spot a mental crutch is to see where y", "slug": "2020-08-21-things-i-learned-2"}, "2020-10-16-things-i-learned-10": {"title": "Things I learned this week #10", "date": "2020-10-16T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "- **This Tiny City**: St. David's is a city with a population of about 1,000 people. In 1886 it was stripped of its status as a city, being described as \"lonely, and the neighbouri", "slug": "2020-10-16-things-i-learned-10"}, "2021-06-05-weekly-43-vision-problem-action": {"title": "The Weekly #43: Vision, problem, and action", "date": "2021-06-05T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "The Weekly is a weekly essay where I write about something I\u2019ve been thinking about in the last seven days. They\u2019re under 1000 words, and this week I want to talk about vision and ", "slug": "2021-06-05-weekly-43-vision-problem-action"}, "2020-09-06-javascript-promises-introduction": {"title": "Why are you like this, JavaScript? An introduction to Promises by using Fetch.", "date": "2020-09-06T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "Let's start with a correct, but pretty dense, definition: JavaScript Promises are a first-class abstraction for handling asynchronous actions, like:\n\n- Fetching data from a remote ", "slug": "2020-09-06-javascript-promises-introduction"}, "2021-10-28-how-to-onboard-new-software-engineers": {"title": "How to onboard new software engineers without paying high interest", "date": "2021-10-28T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "In the past four months I've hired about five software engineers (including interns). So I've been thinking about how we onboard new engineers to the team. This has been especia", "slug": "2021-10-28-how-to-onboard-new-software-engineers"}, "2021-05-06-weekly-39": {"title": "The Weekly #39 (or #1, whatever)", "date": "2021-05-06T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "I\u2019m going to stop writing my \u201cthings I learned\u201d blog posts. They don\u2019t serve me in the way that they used to. As [I wrote recently](/blog/2021-04-27-excommunicate-your-ideas): kill", "slug": "2021-05-06-weekly-39"}, "2020-10-31-things-i-learned-12": {"title": "Things I learned this week #12", "date": "2020-10-31T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "- **This high fat diet**: Whales, like dolphins but also humans, are mammals. This means they feed their young with milk. As you would expect, the blue whale has the largest mammar", "slug": "2020-10-31-things-i-learned-12"}, "2021-02-26-things-i-learned-29": {"title": "Things I learned this week #29", "date": "2021-02-26T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "- **This lineage of cats**: Chartwell House, in Kent, England, was the home of Winston Churchill. It's now owned and operated by the National Trust, a British institution, allowing", "slug": "2021-02-26-things-i-learned-29"}, "2020-11-27-things-i-learned-16": {"title": "Things I learned this week #16", "date": "2020-11-27T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "- **These Tattoos**: In the late 1880s, a man called Sutherland Macdonald became the UK's first professioanl tattoo artist. Although he was already an artist, he started the tattoo", "slug": "2020-11-27-things-i-learned-16"}, "2020-12-05-things-i-learned-17": {"title": "Things I learned this week #17", "date": "2020-12-05T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "It's time of year again: Spotify have released their _Rewind_ - showing you what you listened to throughout this year. After the _year_ (or decade, or complete non-year, whatever h", "slug": "2020-12-05-things-i-learned-17"}, "2021-03-13-things-i-learned-31": {"title": "Things I learned this week #31", "date": "2021-03-13T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "This week we celebrated International Women's Day. My love and support goes out to anyone who identifies with that label. Let's keep pushing for fair representation and pay, acknow", "slug": "2021-03-13-things-i-learned-31"}, "2021-08-11-things-i-learned-35": {"title": "Things I learned this week #35", "date": "2021-04-11T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "The slightly cold-snap here in London continues. The optimistic sewing and sprouting that took place in my garden (such as it is in urban West London) have largely had to retreat t", "slug": "2021-08-11-things-i-learned-35"}, "2022-02-28-vibe-check-1": {"title": "Vibe Check #1", "date": "2022-02-28T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "It's basically March and the days are finally getting longer! On Sunday, the sun was up to greet me as I made coffee. Tiny sweet peas and strawberries bud on the window sill. Th", "slug": "2022-02-28-vibe-check-1"}, "2021-04-27-excommunicate-your-ideas": {"title": "Excommunicate your ideas", "date": "2021-04-27T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "Your side-projects deserve a decisive, merciful death at your hands. You dragged them into this world, you\u2019ll fling them out. And do it quickly.\n\nI want to talk about killing our m", "slug": "2021-04-27-excommunicate-your-ideas"}, "2022-03-02-concentrate-on-concentrated-tests": {"title": "Concentrate on Concentrated Tests", "date": "2022-03-02T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "The flavour of a test block lies in the calling of application code, and the assertions on its behaviour. Everything else (set-up, tear down, tidying, and side effects) dilutes a ", "slug": "2022-03-02-concentrate-on-concentrated-tests"}, "2020-12-20-how-are-we-going-to-write-about-2020": {"title": "How are we going to write about 2020 from 2022 onwards?", "date": "2020-12-20T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "2020 has been a terrible year in so, so many ways for so, so many people. At the very least, the Covid-19 pandemic has stolen a year from us all. I would say most of us have gone t", "slug": "2020-12-20-how-are-we-going-to-write-about-2020"}, "2020-09-04-things-i-learned-4": {"title": "Things I learned this week #4", "date": "2020-09-04T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "- **This world**: The Word _Kipple_ is a word invented by SciFi writer Phillip K. Dick, to mean the kind of rubbish/trash that accumulates if humans don't intervene. [source](https", "slug": "2020-09-04-things-i-learned-4"}, "2021-01-09-things-i-learned-22": {"title": "Things I learned this week #22", "date": "2021-01-09T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "This week the UK Government has brought us _Lockdown The Third_, a threequel in the franchise after the straight-to-TV movie that was the November lockdown. Cases, deaths, and hosp", "slug": "2021-01-09-things-i-learned-22"}, "2020-10-02-things-i-learned-8": {"title": "Things I learned this week #8", "date": "2020-10-02T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "This week's _Things I learned_ is a little shorter than usual because I've been moving house. I hate every part of moving house. Anyway, enough excuses, here are some of the things", "slug": "2020-10-02-things-i-learned-8"}, "2020-10-10-five-useful-questions-new-job": {"title": "Five (and a bit) useful questions to answer in your first week at a new job", "date": "2020-10-10T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "I've just had my first week at a new job (I'm now a frontend software engineer at [Oxwash](https://www.oxwash)), which is cool. I find first weeks intense because I have to balance", "slug": "2020-10-10-five-useful-questions-new-job"}, "2021-01-23-things-i-learned-24": {"title": "Things I learned this week #24", "date": "2021-01-23T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "- **This fitness research**: I've long been a fan of interval training to help improve my running and cycling speed. High intensity interval training (HIIT) is a method of training", "slug": "2021-01-23-things-i-learned-24"}, "2020-12-27-things-i-learned-20": {"title": "Things I learned this week #20", "date": "2020-12-27T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "This week's post comes a little lighter, on account of it being Christmas and all. I didn't want to break a streak, but also I want to get back to eating far too much and doing far", "slug": "2020-12-27-things-i-learned-20"}, "2021-05-05-customer-centric-like-a-robot": {"title": "[LinkedIn Post] Being so customer-centric your customers think you\u2019re a robot", "date": "2021-05-05T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "(This is a cross-post of [a short article I wrote on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/being-so-customer-centric-your-customers-think-youre-robot-wilson))\n\nStop me if you\u2019ve", "slug": "2021-05-05-customer-centric-like-a-robot"}, "2020-03-22-why-i-chose-react-native-for-app-in-2020": {"title": "Why I chose React Native to build a new app in 2020", "date": "2020-03-22T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "I am currently in the process of building herabouts - an app that\u2019s like a tour guide, only cooler. Most of my previous engineering work has been web-based (react and vue) because ", "slug": "2020-03-22-why-i-chose-react-native-for-app-in-2020"}, "2020-10-24-writing-for-recipe-cards": {"title": "Tiny thought: Writing for recipe cards", "date": "2020-10-24T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "_Tiny Thoughts_ are little (500 word) essays. They're concise.\n\nI've spent the past three months consciously trying to write and read more. I want to improve my ability to refine a", "slug": "2020-10-24-writing-for-recipe-cards"}, "2021-04-12-dash-cycle-01-reorganising": {"title": "Dash Cycle #01: (re)organising", "date": "2021-04-12T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "I'm building DashDot: a privacy-focused interval training app that doesn't suck. The second cycle of development lasted March 15 - April 12. Let's look at where we are.\n\n## Goals\n\n", "slug": "2021-04-12-dash-cycle-01-reorganising"}, "2022-02-22-atomic-habits-is-a-really-good-book": {"title": "\ud83d\udcd6 Atomic Habits is a really good book", "date": "2022-02-22T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "I spoke to thirty founders, and they all do these three things before breakfast.\n\nMy nine journaling prompts for other CEOs and founders\n\nOne rule for flawless interviews.\n\n[and so", "slug": "2022-02-22-atomic-habits-is-a-really-good-book"}, "2020-02-24-hereabouts-devblog-1": {"title": "Hereabouts devblog #1", "date": "2020-02-24T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "Hi, my name\u2019s Thomas Wilson but I often go by my just my surname. I\u2019m 28 years old, currently based in London, England, and I design and build software for a living through my smal", "slug": "2020-02-24-hereabouts-devblog-1"}, "2020-09-20-interviewing-experience-2020": {"title": "My experience finding a new job as a software engineer in summer of 2020", "date": "2020-09-20T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "In late summer of 2020 I moved from freelance software engineer to a full-time position. I want to outline this process for literally anybody who's interested because I've found it", "slug": "2020-09-20-interviewing-experience-2020"}, "2020-04-02-hereabouts-devblog-2": {"title": "Hereabouts devblog #2 - March 2020", "date": "2020-04-01T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "Hi, I\u2019m Thomas Wilson, I\u2019m a web and mobile engineer building [Hereabouts](https://www.hereabouts.app) - an app that\u2019s like a tour guide if the tour guide was like [Roman Mars](htt", "slug": "2020-04-02-hereabouts-devblog-2"}, "2021-02-13-things-i-learned-27": {"title": "Things I learned this week #27", "date": "2021-02-13T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "- **This seventeenth century petition**: In 1674 in England, a pamphlet was made and published, titled _The Women's Petition Against Coffee_. The women (or alleged women, we don't ", "slug": "2021-02-13-things-i-learned-27"}, "2020-03-15-ugly-but-functional-ux-design": {"title": "Kickstarting UX Design with ugly working documents: Screens, Components, Actions, and State.", "date": "2020-03-15T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "UX design resists standardisation or templates. It can\u2019t be a one-size-fits-all approach, and the nature of the product, audience, and production team all mean that something diffe", "slug": "2020-03-15-ugly-but-functional-ux-design"}, "2020-08-07-where-i-go-for-ui-inspiration": {"title": "Where I go for UI inspiration", "date": "2020-08-07T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "Like anybody who makes interfaces for apps/websites, I spent a lot of time looking at _Design Inspiration_ (read: UIs, real or imaginary, made by other people). This is a really go", "slug": "2020-08-07-where-i-go-for-ui-inspiration"}, "2022-04-26-complicated-and-not=-that-useful": {"title": "Complicated and Maybe Not That Useful \u2013 Modern frontend tooling", "date": "2022-04-26T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "**Prologue** Hi there, this is \ud83d\udd2e Future Thomas \ud83d\udd2e here. I'm re-reading this post while editing and, my friend, a lot of the first-draft of this post sounded like borderline heresy ", "slug": "2022-04-26-complicated-and-not=-that-useful"}, "2021-01-31-frontend-is-fullstack": {"title": "Tiny Thought: Frontend Engineering is a Fullstack Problem", "date": "2021-01-31T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "_Tiny Thoughts_ are little (500 word) essays. They're concise.\n\nHypothesis: Frontend engineering cannot exist in isolation from backend technologies.\n\nWhat sparked this: Thinking a", "slug": "2021-01-31-frontend-is-fullstack"}, "2022-04-17-why-is-this-pr-so-big": {"title": "'How did this PR get so big?' \u2013 Advice for separating aesthetic and functional changes in code", "date": "2022-04-17T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "A few weeks ago I was working on some change in our codebase. One thing lead to another and the diff I submitted spanned eighty-some files, and over a thousand lines of modified c", "slug": "2022-04-17-why-is-this-pr-so-big"}, "2021-04-08-just-enough-software-design": {"title": "How much is just-enough system design for new apps and software?", "date": "2021-04-08T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "I wrote this because of a paralysing problem in coding: how much should I design my new app\u2019s architecture before I dive into code if I can only learn about my app\u2019s architecture b", "slug": "2021-04-08-just-enough-software-design"}, "2021-02-12-website-design-2-0-changelog": {"title": "Website Design 2.0 Changelog", "date": "2021-02-12T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "I've redesigned the blog. This post just covers the technical whats and hows of it all.\n\n## What's changed ?\n\n- **New Dark theme colours**: Look around. Look at this dark purply-gr", "slug": "2021-02-12-website-design-2-0-changelog"}, "2021-05-21-productivity-is-a-daily-ritual": {"title": "The Weekly #41: Productivity is a daily ritual", "date": "2021-05-21T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "The Weekly is a 1000-word-or-less essay on something I\u2019ve been thinking this week. Let\u2019s talk about how productivity is (basically) a scam and how daily and weekly rituals are the ", "slug": "2021-05-21-productivity-is-a-daily-ritual"}, "2021-01-29-things-i-learned-25": {"title": "Things I learned this week #25", "date": "2021-01-29T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "- **This etymology**: The word \"peculiar\" has come to mean odd or unique, so obviously its Latin root word (_\u200cpeculium_) means somebody's cattle. Cows were pretty valuable assets b", "slug": "2021-01-29-things-i-learned-25"}, "2021-02-27-github-actions-xcode-tests": {"title": "How to run Xcode tests for a SwiftUI iOS codebase with GitHub Actions", "date": "2021-02-27T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "Tl;dr\n\n1. Make sure you've got a repo on GitHub.\n2. Make sure you've got at least one set of tests in your Xcode codebase.\n3. Create the file below in `yourproject/.github/workflow", "slug": "2021-02-27-github-actions-xcode-tests"}, "culture-i-devoured-autumn-2019": {"title": "Culture I devoured in Autumn 2019", "date": "2019-10-30T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "This season turned out to be surprisingly busy with culture. I started the month by talking at two tech events in London, meaning I arrived into the full body of the month having p", "slug": "culture-i-devoured-autumn-2019"}, "2021-04-02-things-i-learned-34": {"title": "Things I learned this week #34", "date": "2021-04-02T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "# Things I Learned #34\n\nWe\u2019ve made it to the Easter weekend. Spring has arrived here in London, which is to say it was 20 degrees C earlier this week and this morning it was 0, win", "slug": "2021-04-02-things-i-learned-34"}, "2021-07-08-out-of-office": {"title": "Out of office: summer 2021", "date": "2021-07-08T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "Summer has always been a time for _doing_ and living. It doesn't feel right to force at least one piece of writing out of my brain every week. Discipline and routine are useful t", "slug": "2021-07-08-out-of-office"}, "loss-and-ed-2017": {"title": "Loss and my ED\u200a (\u200aED awareness week\u00a02017)", "date": "2017-03-03T00:00:00", "book_review": false, "preview": "