Category: Miscellany 2025

Weeknotes #106: Happy Lunar New Year

AI experiments, personal reflections, life updates, and intriguing challenges explored.

Week commencing Monday, 27 January 2025

A sea view at Seaview

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 5/7. (86%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 58,567

The weeknotes are a bit different this week as I spent some time reading and playing with a number of AI tools, specifically using my own material—like these weeknotes—to see what the models might do with them.

Let’s talk about AI

  • Once again, there’s a lot of chatter about AI. The Chinese DeepSeek models made a big splash this week and caused US technology stock prices to plummet. It’s so overhyped.
  • Unrelated, I am experimenting with Google’s Notebook LM, using last year’s weeknotes and a collection of old blog entries from 2002/3. Even though the app says my data is not used to train the AI, I figured it’s public anyway. This is where the real power of AI will come to most people: when it can be used on their own data.
  • – I asked for a cast of characters, which came out OK, but I guess it’s a surprise for people I know IRL called Frank who the AI assumes are the subject of a drag musical. For clarity, they are not the same.
  • – Related, the AI says my weeknotes highlight “a lifestyle that values social connections, shared experiences, and cultural engagement”. I think that’s mainly because I don’t write about the hours I sit at my desk typing product requirements for work.
  • – I was pleased it said that the overall tone of the weeknotes is generally positive and reflective, but it’s missing so much information about me it made me think about how I am characterised online.
  • – In another task, the AI couldn’t distinguish between me and my father when writing about countries where I have worked.
  • In response to this, I asked ChatGPT if it knew who I was. It basically regurgitated materials I have online, which (I think) is good. Other AIs, including DeepSeek, didn’t come back with anything.
  • Google Notebook LM will produce what it calls an Audio Overview which, for me, was like somebody had created a podcast about my life as viewed through those blog entries. It was uncanny. And, yes, I think it’s very much like the fortune reader whereby much of the generic stuff sounds really personal but isn’t, but it was unnerving listening to a podcast about yourself; there was enough reality alongside the generic to make it seem like it knew more about me. It was capable of referencing cultural changes between the early 2000s and today, which made the analysis seem very real. A bit like listening to my own obituary. I can’t decide if I liked it or not.
  • There are a lot of interesting capabilities. I wonder how much longer before I decide to pay for access to more powerful models and tools?

Life

  • I am trying to arrange broadband for a place in Spain while not speaking Spanish nor understanding the format of many things. It’s more stress-inducing than I imagined.
  • On Wednesday, we passed into the Lunar New Year of the Wood Snake. At my Tai Chi class, we all wished each other a happy new year.
  • This week, I learned the government has a Hammersmith Bridge Taskforce. The taskforce met 16 times between 1st October 2020 and 25th November 2021. The bridge is still closed. Pretty terrible such vital infrastructure isn’t funded so it can be repaired.
  • Our first visit to the Isle of Wight for 2025. Delighted by how lovely it was.

Media

Weeknotes #105: more office days, winter lights and Burns night

A busy week of home updates, social events, and reflections.

Week commencing Monday, 20 January 2025

This image shows a large, illuminated "WINTER LIGHTS" sign in bright white neon lighting, creating a striking display against the dark evening backdrop. The sign is part of the Canary Wharf Winter Light festival installation. Several people can be seen around the sign, including some taking photos of the installation. The scene has a misty, atmospheric quality, with the lights from surrounding buildings and the illuminated sign creating a warm glow in the winter evening.
Taking pictures of lights

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 5/7. (71%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 2/5. Total steps: 49,575

Life

  • Monday, a new fridge freezer was installed. Feels bigger but is the same size. Unlike the one that disappeared in the van, the fridge bit works as expected. Now, we can shop properly again.
  • Same day, I cracked and started doom-scrolling the news. Then I remembered, and I went back to being calm again.
  • We got another door quote. £4,000 cheaper than the last one. Then we got references because we’ve never used the second quote company. Came back good.
  • I had two office days this week. Tuesday ended with more leaving drinks for Andy. This time I made the train home.
  • Related, tired by the end of Wednesday meant I skipped my Tai Chi class. That’s a non-resolution broken.
  • Getting home after being in the office on Thursday, a day with no evening work social event, was nice. But I am reminded how short evenings are after I have commuted and opened the door.
  • I thought I might check up on my pension transfers. This is a blood pressure-raising moment as money has gone from one provider, but the new one says it’s waiting. They told me not to do it, but I did it anyway.
  • I am consolidating a number of providers with one of my existing ones. They sent a note to say it was going ahead because they’d detected the new provider wasn’t a scam. It’s the same company; good to know they consider themselves safe.
  • Winter Light at Canary Wharf is always interesting. But, goodness, a lot of people.
  • We made a Burns Night dinner and watched a related BBC Scotland show. It included whisky, and it didn’t give me indigestion.
  • A dinner for Chinese New Year in Covent Garden on Sunday evening. Lots of steamed dumplings.

Media

Weeknotes #104: a quiz, a leaving do and a lingering sense Christmas

A fun and eventful week with social events.

Week commencing Monday, 13 January 2025

A night-time photo of a Christmas tree on Shepherd's Bush Green in London, taken in mid-January. The tree is decorated with bright white LED lights and is surrounded by temporary metal barriers. The scene captures that particular post-Christmas period in London when some festive decorations remain up into the new year, creating a lingering sense of the holiday season even as winter properly sets in.
A lingering sense of Christmas

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 4/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 4/7. (57%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 38,460

Life

  • Got the quote from one of the big London firms to fix the rotten wood around the door. I am not sure what else we can do with £5,000, but it won’t be this. I assume they don’t want the work. Alternatives are being searched for.
  • Pub quiz is back. It was great fun, as always. Most frustrated I could not remember Carl Douglas’ name (the singer of Kung Fu Fighting). Somewhere in the middle again!
  • Big corporate thing on Wednesday. I watched it remotely. It was very well done, but it took most of the afternoon.
  • Thursday to the office, followed by a leaving do. Fun evening that ended up in a pub where the karaoke accompaniment was a live guitarist. We watched. Nice to see MB over from Japan.
  • Related, a very jolly member of Shepherd’s Bush station staff told me I’d missed the last train. I don’t think the big smiles were due to my predicament. Uber to the rescue.
  • Relatedly related, talked football all the way home. Felt vaguely knowledgeable because the family WhatsApp keeps me up to date on events at Goodison Park.
  • Relatedly, the Christmas tree is still up— and illuminated— in the middle of Shepherd’s Bush Green. Do they need to leave it up all year now?
  • A mainly quiet weekend, a decluttering of books went to charity. The weather has been terrible. Sunday, friends for dinner. A lovely afternoon.

Media

  • Watched the first episode of The White Lotus. The plot is based on new guests arriving at the White Lotus resort, bringing their own set of problems. They felt disconnected. But not a lot happens, and it’s slow going and felt like hard work. The characters, however, are fascinating but not likeable at all.
  • Randomly watched a YouTube video about the end of Southern Television, the ITV franchise for the south of England, and one about a man who lives in a tiny house on wheels, hidden inside a truck. It looked quite smart.
  • Also went back to one of my pre-pandemic favourite channels, The Endless Adventure, and discovered I’m five years behind on their adventures.
  • Tried to listen to Tim Cook on the Table Manners podcast, but found I couldn’t quite stick with it. I think it was too long for my liking.

Weeknotes #103: cultural start to the year

Week one: a week of culture and great food.

Week commencing Monday, 6 January 2025

Palladium Pantomime 2024

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 6/7. (86%). Morning walks: 1/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 67,017

Life

  • I guess we are fully in 2025. Can I keep this going for another year? I’d like to think so.
  • The first day back at work was hard. Although I did get out for a walk beforehand – and afterwards – so the week started well.
  • Watching TV one evening, I wondered what is the point of saying they are ‘live’ when BBC One continuity announcers introduce themselves in the early evening? Do any viewers care (I understand TV people might)?
  • Tuesday, to Robin Hood, this year’s Palladium Pantomime. Julian Clary starred as the titular character, with Jane McDonald as Maid Marian, and a supporting cast of panto regulars. All in all, a spectacle of extravagant costumes, celebrity cameos, and a thin plot. Absolutely brilliant.
  • Saturday, first delayed train of the year to Birmingham, primarily to see the Ikon Gallery’s partnership with macLYON: Friends in Love and War; works by over twenty artists from the British Council Collection and macLYON that explore the theme of friendship. I’m trying to see more art because I don’t understand it. This was wonderful, but I am sure I didn’t appreciate it properly.
  • Later, the Cuban afternoon tea was great, but there’d been a mix-up and we’d been booked in when the main service finished. The Sri Lankan dinner was excellent, and we’re on the hunt for a local equivalent.
  • In between, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra: CBSO Explores: Friends in Love and War, featuring the world premiere of Héloïse Werner’s siren suite for soprano and orchestra. Not the usual type of performance we’d see, but really interesting to experience.
  • Sunday, to see the National Trust’s Birmingham Back to Backs. It’s the last surviving court of back-to-back houses in the city. The houses, built back-to-back with shared courtyards, offer insights into the lives of ordinary people in the 19th and 20th centuries. A really well-done and recommended tour.

Media

  • More ‘talking shop’ about radio, as Dermot called it. Paul Gambaccini, broadcasting for 50 years, has a neat story about Sir Elton, also Scott Mills and Rev Kate Bottley. Lovely listening on BBC Sounds.
  • More “lovely listening”: The Shipping Forecast: A Beginner’s Guide, beautifully celebrating one hundred years of the Shipping Forecast on the BBC. It made me look for a map of sea areas.

Weeknotes #102: countdown

New Year activities, media, and reflections on personal moments

Week commencing Monday, 30 December 2024

The image shows a small Christmas tree decorated with coloured lights and ornaments, positioned next to a TV displaying what the Colosseum in Rome lit up at night. Silver tinsel garland is visible along the top edge of the frame, and there bookshelves in the background.
Here comes 2025

Quantified Self

  • This week: I blame the holidays: Stand 5/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 3/7. 52%. Office days 0/3. Total steps: 33,288

Life

  • The last one with a 2024 start date. I am filing it under 2025, regardless.
  • I worked Monday and Tuesday. Not many people in: quiet. Thursday was busier, but I got away for the first train south of the year.
  • Tuesday, while in my study, I switched on Radio 2 where it was Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Kitchen Disco, which seemed a bit too much of a party for me starting at a screen for work. I let it play into Tony Blackburn and then into Bob Harris’ Sounds of the 70s, opening the show with the very sad news that DJ legend Johnnie Walker had died. JW had a remarkable presenting career spanning almost 60 years, from the pirates to today. While not the 70s party playlist scheduled, it was a show full of music and memories and seemed very fitting.
  • New Year’s Eve was with friends and a lovely evening was had. Somehow, the clock jumped from 1am to 3am remarkably quickly.
  • Queer (at the BFI) on New Year’s Day. Daniel Craig’s portrayal of a 1950s gay man grappling with loneliness and addiction is really good – different from Bond – but the ending confuses. PY found an explanation.
  • Friday we had an aborted walk on the Isle of Wight: the narrow country lane we needed to start the journey was busy with cars going too fast.
  • Sunday, it rained a lot. Just in case parts of Ryde flooded we left a bit earlier than planned.

Media

  • Radio 2 All Stars: Mark Goodier, Owain Wyn Evans, and Angela Griffin. She still worked in Burger King whilst starring in Coronation Street.
  • “The left’s greatest sin seems to be, and I speak as a sort of leftist, is that it would rather be right than effective”, Stephen Fry guesting on Triggernometry