Pre Covid I used to travel to the US pretty frequently for meetings and development sessions. Getting the random remote worker signed off for travel was pretty easy because everyone was in the same place apart from me.
Post pandemic and now half the group works remote and getting travel approved is a monumental task because orgs are like "well we kitted it out for the remote folk so now you must use webex to the max" and from a job relationship perspective I've never been more alone.
One out of @woodpunk book here, DHL delivered my parcel to the wrong house where the woman who lived there was out, left £400 of goods on the doorstep and claimed that it'd been signed for by me.
Tom Barber Mars Data Engineer
boosted
Let me use an #OpenSource project I'm involved in - @thunderbird - to demonstrate the importance of simply asking for donations.
In Dec 2022, for the 1st time, we introduced a one-time, in-app appeal. When our users updated to the newest release, their default browser opened the page I've attached.
They only saw this page ONCE.
We received an astounding $3.5m in donations, doubling our 2022 revenue goal in one month. It was the project's biggest month in history.
I climbed my yacht mast twice on Friday, today I am dead and can barely walk my quads are killing and walking is hard work.
I've gone back and looked at videos and stuff, I can't work out if I did something wrong or my legs just weren't cut out for lugging my fat arse up the mast.... 🤕
On the bright side, at least I did it!
To update your VO5 Logbook car address on the gov.uk website, you have to do it between 7am and 8pm.... what on earth prevents you interacting with a web form outside of those hours? 🤯
Such a lovely day it would be a shame to be stuck indoors...
My first homebrew beer in years and my first attempt at an All Grain brew. We'll find out in 2 weeks whether it was a success or not....
Tom Barber Mars Data Engineer
boosted
I've had the idea for a weird kind of Twitter client for years. With Mastodon being all open, I've decided to do the experiment:
What if your Timeline looked like iMessage. A normal timeline confuses me to no end because everything is out of context.
My experiment, Ebou, is a Mastodon client that looks like iMessage. Conversations are grouped by friends and sorted by recent postings.
It is super basic right now, but this already feels much more natural to me 😀
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64417054 You know you've fucked it, if Rod Stewart is calling Sky News to tell you to fuck off...
Tom Barber Mars Data Engineer
boosted
Come help us lift and shift the Determined docs. https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~01ea16c5ddfa074052 #upwork
Tom Barber Mars Data Engineer
boosted
Folks are treating the recent tech layoffs as something spontaneous. They were not. The current layoffs were orchestrated by a hedge fund (TCI Fund).
This hedge fund demanded that the big tech companies lay people off because they were being paid too much. Let that one sink in: a hedge fund manager saying that you're being paid too much.
Note that TCI is demanding that Google lay off more people.
This 0C weather is absolutely messing with my bike training. Supposed to be doing a bunch of zone 4 or 5 stuff and its so cold I struggle to get and maintain zone 3.... 
Tom Barber Mars Data Engineer
boosted
Just tried the #ChatGPT version of googling your own name and well this was the result… Pretty much everything here is out of date and the whole second half is completely wrong. I have never worked at the WSJ or Chicago Tribune or written a book…
Continued on my woodworking quest this weekend and knocked up this lumber cart, can now move around in the garage which is great and wheel it outside when the weather doesn't suck!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64238116
The fucking state of the laws in England for wild camping are an absolute joke. You can't wild camp... on moorland, without the owners permission. To go with "if you own woodland you can stay for a maximum 28 days each year"
Its an absolute joke, "get out into nature, but not at night time, with a tent, unless you pay someone for the privilege"
I know I'm getting old... trapped nerve in my right shoulder blade area for the past 3 weeks.
Not the first time, but still a pain in the backside.
Tom Barber Mars Data Engineer
boosted
Boost this toot if you're planning on sticking around Mastodon whether or not it becomes more popular than the birdsite.
I walked into the bathroom and put these down on the side and glanced down and realised how much they will hopefully change my habits in 2023.
To be fair it's been going on a while, but I did have to go and dig into a bag to find something to take this photo with.
I'm enjoying life twitterless, smartphoneless and spending more time with books and a slower pace of life.
