Nik Dot Codes and tries other things

Review of the start of 2024

One quarter down, 3 more to go

It’s bloody April already!? How? I remember the beginning of the year with hope in my eyes about the year ahead and all that it would bring.

…And like every other year that hope went downhill pretty sharpish!

Due to illness, and a moment or two from me - I had to stop running, and my TTRPG days stopped all of a sudden. As of today I’ve only done 3 runs (the most recent of which I crapped out my ankle!). On top of that, the kids have been little disease vectors, so I’ve also had a 3 month cold, sinus issues, headaches, general aches, tiredness, all the fun stuff.

Not at all to say that the year has been bad, just different to what I expected. On the good side of things…

  • I’ve been accepted on (and have completed my first module on) a Data Engineering masters.
  • I’ve discovered the solarpunk and low powered tech community that has gripped me, giving me ideas for things I want to develop in the future.
  • I’ve managed to get my arse into gear and started reading again.
  • I’ve gotten involved with the NHS Data Engineering community and Let’s Do Digital and am working towards producing tutoring material for clinicians.

and the list goes on with other things that I can’t remember at the moment.

What that also means is I really haven’t done much with the website or the TTRPG world. So here’s another empty promise, from today that will change! Deep in my notebooks of ramblings hidden around the house I’ve got a number of ideas of what I want to talk about for the near(-ish) future. As a preview, we’ve got…

  • Getting prepared for an Ultraviolet Grasslands 2e campaign in 11 weeks time and a Shadowdark campaign.
  • Solarpunk ramblings.
  • Running ramblings - I’ve got a half marathon coming later this year.
  • My involvement with Let’s Do Digital and the NHS Data Engineering community.
  • Java (& Scala & Julia) for data engineering.
  • And plenty more!

So, as a quick recap - this year’s been different - bit of a shitty start but with good things coming along yay!

Till next time.