Now

Holiday #

During the Christmas period, I didn't take any leave besides the normal public holidays.

There was nothing stopping me of course but historically my family hasn't made a big fuss about doing anything for the holiday period.

I also figured it'd be neat to help out those who are on call which I was able to do as an SRE. I even got to wrangle a particularly nasty event and run an incident review which was good practice.

Having said that, I've decided to take leave and sort of spontaneously booked a trip to Queenstown, which is where I am now as I write this update.

I've never been to the South Island before now so it's a first as well!

I'm planning on stopping off in Wellington on my way back to catch up with a few people too.

Work #

I've already reached 90 days with Lightspeed (working on Vend) and I've been enjoying it a lot.

Hands on is definitely a way to describe it, in a good way, so the new experiences and learnings are really cool!

I'm hoping to publish a few things that we've been working on too, whether here or on the official tech blog. Some of it is useful and other bits are just generally interesting to talk about.

Of course, I also need to writing practice ;)

Reading #

I can't say it's a habit at all but between working on October and getting a new Kobo Libra 2, I've been trying to get back into a reading habit.

I had been enjoying Bookly for a bit but I think it became a bit too much of the measure becoming the target where it'd be cool to rack up points and reading hours as opposed to actually reading a book for enjoyment.

I'm currently reading Ruined by Design which does a good job summing up a lot of the ethical concerns about Silicon Valley. Nothing new but a good tour for the uninitiated.

Perhaps a bit hyperbolic at points but overall, I can't complain. I don't think I'd be putting it on my best of year list though.

utf9k #

Ah, how could I forget! I recently redesigned the site so if you see anything out of sorts, definitely let me know. As always, I can be reached at hello@utf9k.net.

There are probably a few more bits to polish since I wanted to get the bulk out the door first. I find it a lot easier to look at something with fresh eyes when you get it deployed and all the existing context about the current state of affairs can be wiped from your mind.