Hello, I’m Barry (he/him), a software engineer and technology leader with experience building teams, websites and apps. I live in a village in Hertfordshire, UK, with my wife and two sons.
This is my personal website where I post all my articles, notes, photos, bookmarks and checkins using my own software. View the full archives.
Read more about me, how to contact me and how to follow me.
Weeknotes
Recently
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Week 182 - Celebrate
So much birthday-celebrating this week. First, C had his early birthday party at DJ’s Jungle, starting with soft play, then... -
Week 181 - Eggs
I caught the early train into London on Wednesday for a breakfast meet-up. Joel had kindly invited a group of people he’s... -
I’ve released a new minor version of #micropublish that supports the new2022 IndieAuth spec change to support Server Metadata for endpoint discovery as an alternative to the existing (legacy) headers/body methods.
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Week 180 - Substance
I watched a few films and plenty of TV this dark, wintry week. For some reason I hadn’t seen Dead Man’s Shoes, despite... -
Week 179 - Loaf
It’s been a very quiet week, Monday especially so with my US colleagues off work. Of course there was a change in president... -
Week 178 - Maximum
I finally felt better after post-Christmas stomach cramps. I had the same pains a year ago so there’s a pattern: I wouldn’t... -
Week 177 - Freezing
Back to work. I’d had almost three weeks off for Christmas, and felt a few night-before nerves similar to the ends of school... -
Week 176 - Fire
We made it out for New Year’s Eve - to Jenny and Ian’s in the village for drinks and lots of party food. Our boys are still... -
Week 175 - Christmas
As is now traditional, I marked the start of Christmas festivities by picking up the meat order from our village butchers. H... -
Week 174 - Church
I finished work before Christmas a little earlier than previous years because of a few extra holiday days I needed to take... -
Week 173 - Rainbows
Our gas boiler had its annual service but also needed a new expansion tank and sensor. That’ll be £770, please. Ugh. I’m... -
Week 172 - Wind
H has been accepted into the advanced group of his Players Academy football training sessions on Monday nights. We’re very... -
Week 171 - Advent
The Christmas tree is up and decorated. I’m not sure why but L relented and allowed us to use multi-coloured tinsel this... -
Week 170 - Eating
It was my birthday this week. I don’t always take time off work to celebrate, but with a few holiday days left in the bank I... -
Week 169 - Electronic
I had another brief, last-minute trip to Munich this week. I flew out on Thursday afternoon and was back home late on... -
Week 168 - Night
Two actual nights out with my wife this week! The first was to see The Bluetones in Hitchin on Thursday. It was our fourth... -
Week 167 - Magic
I had a couple more nights by myself this week while the rest were still away. I cooked myself an amazing ribeye steak (and... -
Week 166 - Trophy
It was H’s ninth birthday this week. He’s now at an age where he no longer wants toys. Instead he received a football kit... -
Week 165 - Hike
This week I flew to Munich for just 24 hours to visit a customer for a workshop. It was a pretty short and expensive but... -
Week 164 - Nuclear
My cold from last weekend kept me off work this Monday. I was still foggy the next morning so didn’t risk the drive up to... -
Week 163 - Celebrities
I joined Andy in London for another live recording of Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast (or as the cool... -
Week 162 - Running
It was the one week each year when I don’t need heating or cooling in my office. So much rain though. I was in the air when... -
Week 161 - Watch
I was in the office for a couple of days this week and felt very tired as a result. How ever did we all survive doing this... -
Apple Store, Regent Street, London on the Apple iPhone 16 and Watch 10 launch day.
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I was just adding a gig I’m going to on Last.fm when I saw my “member since” date: 16 August 2004 😯. That’s 20 years of scrobbling (since its Audioscrobbler days). Newer than my Gmail account but older than Twitter.
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Week 160 - Flights
I flew back to Altium’s HQ in San Diego this week for a few productive days of workshopping. It’s a long way to travel -... -
Week 159 - Cricket
The boys went back to school this week to start a new year. They’re growing bigger (and cheekier) than ever. Both bounced... -
Week 158 - Car
I sold my Audi S3 this week. I bought it new almost 11 years ago and it’s been an excellent car. It’s taken me to-and-from... -
Week 157 - Maize
We continued our Holt holiday. My aunt and uncle live in Norfolk so we met them in Wroxham for lunch at the hotel and spend... -
Week 156 - Beach
A shorter working week because on Friday we drove up to Norfolk for a summer holiday. We returned to the cottage in Holt we... -
Week 155 - Bang
Andy and I went back to the Leicester Square Theatre this week, this time to see Russell Howard. A few weeks ago he was... -
Frost boys on our way to The Emirates
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Week 154 - Ten
We celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary this week, spending three lovely nights in Nice. The boys stayed with L’s... -
Week 153 - Munich
I was in Munich for a few days this week, joining our European sales teams at their annual conference. It was the first time... -
Week 152 - Gig
It’s been a busy week supporting a customer with an issue, involving some late calls and emails with west-coast Americans.... -
The Manics and Suede at a sunny Alexandra Palace on Thursday evening
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Week 151 - Alarm
England won their Euros semi-final against the Netherlands with a last gasp goal but fell short in Sunday’s final against... -
Week 150 - Electric
Labour won the General Election. And for the first time in my life I’ll be represented locally by someone I voted for. I... -
Week 149 - Builders
A bad start to the week: the remedial work I’d struggled to arrange over several months for my garden office with the... -
Week 148 - Healthy
It’s our 10th wedding anniversary coming up in August. I’ve decided to work on a little project (shh, top secret) as a... -
Week 147 - Socks
The Euros have started in Germany. The boys have their wall chart to fill in and we’ve been watching most of the matches.... -
Week 146 - Kart
The boys were off school on Friday for teacher training so we caught the train into London for a museums day. First stop was... -
Week 145 - Robot
I was happy to be back home after my US trip, with a bank holiday to catch up on sleep. I think I’m just about readjusted... -
Week 144 - Headquarters
For my second work trip in a fortnight I visited our HQ in sunny San Diego. On the 11-hour flight out I did a bit of work... -
Week 143 - Amsterdam
I returned to Amsterdam this week on a customer visit. I used to travel back-and-forth to the Netherlands at a previous job... -
Week 142 - Rosé
Lots of furniture deliveries this week. We now have a second sofa (dark green, big, a bit upright), an armchair (darker red... -
Week 141 - Voted
As part of my new role I’ve got some work travel coming up later this month. First, a few days in Amsterdam for a customer... -
Week 140 - Chairs
We now have six new colourful kitchen chairs: in yellow, green, light green, grey, black and white. My wife, queen of... -
Week 139 - Home
The boys (and their mum) are back at school so the house is quiet again during the week. Even though I work from an office... -
Week 138 - Typewriter
Back from holiday I officially started a new role at work leading Enterprise Engineering. I spent my first week joining...