Despite my best intentions, I managed to pick up the new MacBook Pro, the 16″ one. Readers of my newsletter knows that my previous MacBook bought the farm, and I hadn’t planned on replacing it. Alas, things happened, and I found myself in need of a proper Mac again. So I’m typing this on the brand new MacBook, with its brand new old school “Magic Keyboard”. And it’s good, the best Mac I’ve ever had, but that’s always true when I pick up a new model.

I’ve got this freelance writing gig that I’ve been putting off for the last week or so. Today is the day I change that. I’m writing it here so that I can be held accountable should that not come to pass, because I had planned the same thing yesterday, and that didn’t happen. I got stuck working on a design instead. It’s so easy getting sidetracked with more interesting stuff, isn’t it?

The holidays are all but over. It’s been nice but hectic, and now it’s not, which is nice. I feel tired, in need of rest. There are just a few more things that I really need to do before the year is over. I’m saving them for later.

There’s an actual newsletter from yours truly scheduled for about an hour from now, as I’m writing this. Yeah, I’m as surprised as you are, but there you go. I hope you’re a subscriber, otherwise sign up here.

Exhausted. My body thinks it’s time for vacation mode, but there are still a few things left to do before I check out completely. So let’s do this then, shall we?

I’d like to say that the workweek is over and that I’m on vacation now, but that’s not really the case. The Divide & Conquer is closed for the holidays though, and all out clients have logged off for the year too. That means I can wrap up my last few tasks in peace at least.

Which I’m not. I’m getting my gaming rig ready for sale instead.

These days… Checking off todos left and right, but they keep piling up. It amazes me how holidays come as a chock to people. Oh well, we’re not taken by surprise, time has been set aside for this flurry of panic tasks. But still. Wow.

Photo entirely unrelated.

It’s been a couple of days, totally and utterly swamped. My calendar is packed because everything has to happen this week. It’s worse than ever, possibly due to the slow Autumn. But hey, that’s fine – it’s just a week, then I’ll try and not do too many things until next year.

I did say yes to two freelance articles, for a Swedish publication. It’s long overdue.

I didn’t touch the design for this very site. December seems to have been a bad month for my live experiment. That being said, I’m probably just a couple of hours from being able to deploy something live, should I want to. We’ll see how it goes, but I honestly don’t see where those hours would come from at the moment.

Anyway. These things aren’t daily at the moment. We’ll see how that goes too.

Friday the 13th, that’ll sure spook some people. I want to say NOT ME but if I do, I bet everything will break on this afternoon’s presentation, so I’ll just shut up.

I will however link fellow developers to Smashing Magazine’s latest book, Inclusive Patterns. I’m looking forward to reading it!

They’re welding something outside the office window, so I’ve seen flashes in the corner of my eye all day. It’s surprisingly exhausting, and has given me a light headache. The construction work next door has been a real pain for months now, with constant drilling and breaking of concrete, that sort of thing. Hopefully the welding means that they’re wrapping up, but I’m not counting on it. The only peace and quiet we get is when they’re away for lunch, so maybe we should blast some shitty music their way when they’re eating, so that we’re even? Unfortunately that would mean that we’d hear said shitty music too, so maybe there’s a slight flaw in that plan…

Slow days. No, wait, I meant the exact opposite. Writing this, I realize how much I’ve missed keeping this daily missives going. I wish I had something interesting to report, but I can’t, so I won’t. You’ll have to make do with a photo of Paazu instead. He wants pancakes.

Design is a process. This, up until yesterday morning, was something I was working on. Now it’s discarded. There you go.

Spent some time working with the redesign today. I got a couple of ideas in the shower, mocked them up real quick, and now they’re simmering overnight. I might’ve trashed the design I had in mind, or maybe I’ll go back to it after all. But that’s a decision for Tomorrow Me, Today Me is going to bed.

The past two days has taken its toll. I’ve tried to do as little as possible, but it’s been hard. No plans for the weekend, and all projects are on hold for a little while longer. You understand, I’m sure.

I got some sad news this morning, so it hasn’t been a particularly productive day. The scope of it hasn’t really hit me yet, but it will, I’m sure. I’ll let it, it’s better to feel something, even if it’s loss, than to push it down.

Go hug someone you love. You don’t know when they’ll be gone.