how to build a car - adrian newey

I think I may have got this book as a present. Or maybe I bought it for someone else and then also wanted it for myself. Either way, I got it a few years ago and tried to read it once. I don't know why I stopped; I was enjoying it then, and I enjoyed it properly this time around.

I'm pretty damn jealous of Adrian Newey! He seems to have had an incredible life of doing what he loves all over the globe with some incredible people. His is also obviously very good at what he does, and has shown his worth at the top level of a very competitive sport.

I've always loved the idea of being part of a small, scrappy team doing something competitive. I think I might value my personal time too much for it though. Although I guess if part of it was for me, I wouldn't mind working on it so much.

The book has some really great tales of triumph and solving complex technical problems. I'd like to do more of that.

tags: books

permalink | posted by nathan on Friday, the 23th of July, 2021, during the most productive hours of the day

moving out part 1

The flat is a huge tip, boxes are being packed, sofa cushions are being washed, and it's sweltering hot. Moving weekend has started!

tags: life

permalink | posted by nathan on Saturday, the 17th of July, 2021, while on his lunch break

our garden

We're moving out of our flat this weekend! We've lived here for 3 and a half years, and it's really flown by! It's a bit bittersweet. I love London, I really like the area where we live and the flat itself isn't bad. But changes are good, and it's for better things!

Outside our living-room window, we have a pseudo-balcony. It's actually just the top of the bay-window of the flat below us, but it's a tiny bit of outdoor space. A couple of years ago, Beth bought some window boxes, and since then, we've been tending to and enjoying our little garden.

It died a little when we went on holiday a couple of months ago, as it often does when we go away, but we can usually nurture most of it back to life. One of our projects this year was a cucumber plant; a spare taken from Beth's parent's house. It was a bit worse for wear when we came back, but has picked up since, and has given us our first cucumber!

It's not huge, as I think its growth was stunted when the plant ran out of water when we went away. Still, we ate it, and it was delicious. More are coming, as well!

We'll take most of the garden with us when we move, and they can have a new life in Beth's parents' house. The plants have been really lovely to have, and a fun project to upkeep. One of the main conditions for the new flat is that it needs outdoor space for more plants!

tags: life, gardening

permalink | posted by nathan on Wednesday, the 14th of July, 2021, in an early evening lull

blog update

I felt like I wanted to be productive this evening, so I added a better tag exploration system and a calendar page to the blog. I'm caring so little about the code that it's getting pretty messy, but it's still fine for now.

I still need to fix the timezone/BST bug - the blog doesn't understand what they are at the moment so all the published times are an hour off. It's not very exciting or interesting to fix though, so it might stay that way for a while...

tags: meta

permalink | posted by nathan on Friday, the 9th of July, 2021, getting inspired before falling asleep

alba: a wildlife adventure

I love short games. I don't care if an experience is only a few hours, if those hours are free from filler and don't waste my time. I'd much rather have a game leave me feeling like I want more. I got that feeling with Alba: A Wildlife Adventure.

The game has you playing as the titular Alba, on holiday on a Spanish island with your grandparents. The mayor is planning to build a luxury hotel on the decaying nature reserve, and it's up to you to get enough signatures on your petition to save the reserve.

You do this by tidying up the island, and generally doing good deeds. Along the way there's an ongoing quest to photograph every animal and bird on the island.

It's very simple and heart-warming. But it has a nice message and doesn't try to be anything it's not. Taking photos of flying birds was sometimes frustrating, but apart from that I have nothing negative to say about the game.

Make more short games, people!

tags: games

permalink | posted by nathan on Friday, the 9th of July, 2021, during the most productive hours of the day