Cycles: 20250204-20250223

Is it sping yet? No? Okay, move aliong.

There’s still not much going on in the garden. Aside from the well-trodden muddy path from the house to the garden shed, everything seems to be in stasis. There is plenty of bird song though and I do find myself looking longingly at the pond waiting for life to suddenly spring from from within. I’m impatient for the next season.

The fire cider is brewing away. I’ve still got a few weeks left until I can bottle it up but its looking pretty fiery indeed. Apparently there’s activity at Pells Pool so a shot of this stuff before and after getting into the pool is a welcomed thought. It’s been a while since I last made some kimchi. I recently picked up a kimchi recipe book so I might try something a little different this time. I managed to pick up a HUGE mason jar with a tap from a charity shop so we now have lion’s mane kombucha literally on tap! I’ve been meaning to find a recipe for a seeded sourdough loaf too. The standard on-day-bake white and rye sesame topped loaf is a firm favourite.

It’s been a busy few weeks so a lot of my digital gardening habits have taken a back seat. This cycle is supposed to reflect the last twenty three days and aside from work, I’m struggling to recall where the time has gone.

I’m behind on my Research by the Sea speaker posts. With only days to go I’m going to have to double down if I want them published before next Thursday. There are still a few tickets left so if you’re able to come down feel free to use my 20% off referral link.

I’ve been meaning to take a look at the watchlist section of my site for a while. Around the time I created the section, I became a little bit too enthusiastic about using json files for content. I have a longer term vision of doing more curation with my watchlist and have since realised that using a single json file for the section isn’t the best approach, especially if I wanted to integrate it into Indiekit. I almost have all of the entires recreated as markdown files and the feed test page. I’ve used this opportunity to add a Cinema On The Cinema rating system as a tribute to the show.

One of my last activities as curator of Research by the Sea was to create a space for our speakers to get to know one another and share the contents of their talk. I didn’t think I could be any more excited about the conference than I already was but the conversations between each of the eight speakers proved otherwise.

If that wasn’t enough, Jeremy wrote a hugely validating post earlier in the week which I ended up reading several times.

Sometimes I really miss [dConstruct] though. With everything going on in the tech world right now (and the world in general), it sure would be nice to get together in a room full of like-minded people to discuss the current situation.

Well, here’s the funny thing. There’s a different Clearleft event happening next week. Research By The Sea. On the face of it, this doesn’t sound much like dConstruct. But damn if Benjamin hasn’t curated a line-up of talks that sound very dConstructy!

That is high praise indeed! What’s more it’s exactly what came to mind when I was first offered the role of curating the conference: dConstruct… but for research!

But like Jeremy says, it’s not just for researchers.

Research By The Sea is most definitely not just for UX researchers—this sounds to me like the event to attend if, like me, you’re alarmed by everything happening right now.

So if that sounds like you too but haven’t yet brought your ticket, there’s still time to grab one with 20% off.

Slightly ahead of my official start date next week, I joined my new team for a kickoff session. I’d met them briefly for a quick round of intros and some initial context setting but this was to get deeper into the weeds. I left the meeting feeling energised and excited about the organisation, team and challenge we’ve been set, similar to the giddy feeling of tearing off a small portion of your Christmas present wrapping paper as a child.

I also wrapped up a small piece of freelance work focused on the UK water sector. I’ve developed a lot of sympathy for the sector, less so for those still receiving their bonuses, but more for the the complexity and crisis it’s currently in. To add to the complexity of the project, our water main burst under our driveway and had to have emergency work. I hadn’t anticipated this to be an ethnographic research project!

I’ve managed to squeeze in a few rides this cycle. There’s a perfect 60 minute loop that’s around 15 kilometres. Its ideal for this time of year when the South Downs are mush.