Notes on week 46 of 2024:
are also known as weeknotes,
cover 9 to 15 November 2024,
published 23:45 Friday 15.
Top 3 notes:
New client(s),
Juggling stuff,
ADHD meds.
New clients(s)
I picked up 1 new client this week, and collaborated on a proposal with another. This means next month I can cover all my bills + some. No more relying on my savings, which is nice.
I haven’t yet asked for permission from my existing or new clients to blog about the work openly. But I know I’ll start getting mentioned in socials soon. Maybe I should start typing internal, client facing week notes? I like that idea 🙂 Have scheduled it for next week.
Eventbrite has paid me for The Facilitator’s Unconference 2024, so I paid fellow organiser Mark his expenses. Now waiting on an invoice from the venue, before paying Fiona and myself for our time.
On the voluntary / currently unpaid side of things, I did stuff for:
UKGovCamp 2025 (ukgc25) - weekly organisers meeting, technical setup and treasurer stuff,
Community People’s Unconference - conversation with Maryblessing about a Nigeria event,
The Community Community - monthly leadership meeting, Happy Hour and event planning,
DeliverCon 2024.2 - event retrospective meeting (aka retro) part 1 with Elodie and Sam,
OggCamp 2024 - event retro part 2 with Gary, Terence and fellow volunteers,
Liberating Structures London - promoted the prototype reboot event.
Juggling stuff
In last week’s uncompleted note, I had an empty section titled, "Something has to give...".
I now realise I was coming out of the tail end of some depression / undiagnosed seasonal affective disorder. It’s been 2 weeks since the clocks changed, which tends to hit me quite hard at this time of year.
But the big reason is Janet’s been away all month, due to a family bereavement. Not having her next to me when I’m sleeping is challenging - I miss her. Last night for example I tried a hot bath, applying all my Protopic ointment and having the bedroom windows open (I prefer a cold sleeping environment). But I was still tossing and turning at 4am 😞 That typed, I’ve got quite a bit done today. Plus I’ve been taking my very limited supply of ADHD meds all week (see below).
Upside of last night’s temporary insomnia, is that I went through my public Trello board and trimmed it, which made me feel better. List trim all the things!
ADHD meds
I currently take 72mg of prolonged release Methylphenidate. I take the whole dose in the morning when I wake up and it helps me focus throughout the day. It does a pretty good job and has certainly helped me this week.
But:
I will run out next week,
my nominated pharmacy can’t get hold of any more,
Boots’s prescription stock checker is also empty (and I’ve tried various places around the country.
Computer says no.
There are reports of supply shortages on various government and NHS websites, but nothing about a solution. So I reckon I’m gonna have to change medication, probably to Lisdexamfetamine Mesilate. Will message my Doctor’s tomorrow. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻
Listening history
As I’m not a big reader, this is an experimental section to share podcasts I’ve been listening to.
I set up an IFTTT applet to log details of my Spotify listening history in a Google Sheet. But turns out it only logs music, not podcasts. Will look into that later. In the meantime, here’s my manually typed podcast listening history for this week, in reverse order.
Friday
The documentary podcast - Faith on the fly: The airport chaplains
The rest is politics - 340. Question time: Assisted dying, texting Macron, and the politics of scandal
Thursday
Hacker public radio - HPR4249: Audio streams on the command line
Late night Linux - Linux matters 42: Somewhere over the Keybow
Digital community leaders - Lizzie Hipkins - Google senior community manager
Hacker public radio - HPR4247: Installing GuixSD - part deux
Wednesday
Agile mentors podcast - #124: How to avoid common product team pitfalls with David Pereia
Connected knowledge - Unlock your organisation’s hidden potential with AI-Powered knowledge curation and delivery
Farming Today - 12/11/24 - Avian flu in American cows, Scottish agriculture act, apple harvest
The rest is politics - 339. Trump, the middle east, and Ukraine
Tuesday
Inside health - Olympian Sir Chris Hoy wants more tests for prostate cancer - should it happen?
The life scientific - Raymond Schinazi on revolutionising treatments for killer viruses
Monday
Good bad billionaire - Roman Abramovich: premier league oligarch
The documentary podcast - Poisoned flood: South Sudan life at 50°C
The BBC sleeping forecast - A gentle soundtrack to help you drift away
Open browser tabs
Another experimental section, this time to try and nudge me to read / close the browser tabs. Here’s what’s currently open and unread on my mobile:
In summary:
so many browsers tabs,
things are getting better,
I miss you Janet xxx.