October 2018 Archives

October 5, 2018October 5, 2018

20181005 Escalation

Escalator up from the metro station at Amsterdam Centraal Station

I took better photos today, but they were for private use. I met up with Phil and Hilary Roberts in the morning. We went out for a delicious brunch at Little Collins, and spent most of the afternoon wandering around Amsterdam in the warmth of a brilliant autumn day.

Daily self-care checklist:

Walk: lots
Photography: lots
Bass: no
Snacks: packet of peanut M&Ms on the metro back with Fiona, and a dark chocolate coconut ball from Madame Cocos (Vendor at the Albert Cuyp markt. I’ve had them before, from a vendor at the embassy festival in Den Haag last year. They’re amazing.)

October 4, 2018October 4, 2018

20181004 Henry

Close-up of a Henry vaccum cleaner in black and white — I’ve been doing a lot of cleaning lately

October 3, 2018October 4, 2018

20181003 Radiotopia

Close-up of a radiotopia sticker — Radiotopia (from PRX)

Home of some of my favourite podcasts:

Find more at Radiotopia.fm

October 2, 2018October 4, 2018

20181002 The pears

October 2, 2018October 4, 2018

20181001 Life Science

Rainbow caught through the cantilever pillars of the O|2 Building for Human Life Sciences at Zuidas Amsterdam

I went to visit Dave in Stonehaven on Saturday. We had a great time, and talked a lot about cameras, because I’ve been planning to get a new (“new”) one to replace our old Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200. We walked out past the war memorial and to Dunottar Castle, which is just absurdly scenic. Dave came up with the idea of doing an October photo-a-day challenge to exercise our picture muscles!

My new camera plan came together yesterday in the form of a second-hand Panasonic DMC-FZ1000 in perfect condition. The photo above was still just from my iPhone, because I happened to see a lovely bright rainbow just after I dropped Fiona at school yesterday. I snapped it in haste while I was stopped at a traffic light. In the live photo version, the window wiper comes along a fraction of a second later.

October 1, 2018

Mouse mats

On the left, the Wallace and Gromit mouse mat that, based on photographic evidence, I have had since at least December 2002. I think it was a Christmas or birthday present from “Alex” (via Abi). It is literally crumbling at the edges, and I regularly stab my wrist with the sharp edges of broken plastic.

On the right, a Fnatic Boost Pro Gamer mouse pad that I’m moving to. I’m not a pro gamer and never will be. But Alex was getting a new keyboard from them, and the mouse pads were on sale, so we threw one of them in for me as well. Will it last 16 years as well?

For reference, here is Alex sitting at my desk back in December 2002. Custom-built PC in a heavy steel tower case from QuietPC.com in the background, with a Microsoft mouse resting on the mouse mat. (That was a good mouse. I’ve always liked MS hardware.)