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Published on Sunday, 7 December 2025.

1st December - 7th December

There’s no real idea of "winding down for Christmas" where I work. Clients release budget and work ramps up towards pre-break deliverables. This is the long way of saying I’ve been busy!

I had my annual review; good feedback from my peers. I am skirting the fine line between "invaluable" and "bottleneck" which is kind of a good thing in some ways 😂

Related to work, I’ve been learning a bit of Python while I pull together a small internal tool. It’s a nice looking language and surprisingly powerful; coming from a JavaScript background, it’s been nice to work with. I imagine I am committing all kinds of sins but, so far, I am the only person who has to use it so there’s no pressing desire to polish it until it actually works.

We had our annual IMPACT Awards do. My team was nominated in several categories — for two products I actually worked on which was exciting. Sadly, the Gold eluded us but a Silver and a Bronze will do nicely. It all goes towards boosting our profile within the company and showcases the excellent work we do.

A chance chat with Chris, the handyman we use for jobs I need a hand with, and I learned that Alan Garner who wrote "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen" is still alive and lives around the corner from me!

I’ll pick up my copy once I’ve finished "The Dark is Rising" Sequence, apparently it references local landmarks so it should be an interesting read — I knew it was set in Cheshire, I just didn’t realise how local it was.

I was hoping to get through Susan Cooper’s Sequence by Christmas but that’s looking unlikely so Garner may have to wait until the new year.

I feel like I’ve been falling behind with Christmas films too; this time last year I’d watched twice as many. I have a feeling I’ll hammer a fair few once we start prepping for the day. Wrapping presents usually involves a couple of films in the background.

Links of Interest™

• Knowing when to leave
• my data should not be your cookie jar
• 🔗 Static Site Generators
• Malicious Traffic and Static Sites
• Grow, Like a Tree Not a Cancer
• The Web Runs On Tolerance
• Trump administration orders enhanced vetting for applicants of H-1B visa
• Here’s how much money Los Camp! make from streaming… - Los Campesinos!

Fin

Kudos

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So, if you liked this post, click the button. You don’t have to but I’d be ever so grateful!