- I have barely made any progress on writing (other than blogging) this year. Something I need to address PDQ.
- I got a tax rebate. Quite a large one. Basically in the 2023-24 tax year I only worked for five months, and then spent seven months taking a bit of a break and trying to work out what I was doing with my life. For that five months, I was on higher rate tax – but obviously I didn’t actually earn anything like enough over the course of the whole tax year. Basically I accidentally did a thing that was favourable to my tax position.
- An old habit from being a tech journalist: I like to have a reasonably up to date computer for each kind of platform (Mac, Windows, Chromebook) so I can keep on top of things. It was time for an update to the Chromebook, as the only one I had was a Pixelbook Go which was a lovely device, but now is a bit long in the tooth.
- I chose an Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 715, which is a convertible and was on offer at a pretty low price. Also: if you buy a Chromebook Plus, you get a year’s worth of Gemini Advance for nothing. As it’s normally £18 a month, that’s £216 of value (I was paying for it, as I need to be able to research this stuff). Obviously Chromebooks generally are the spawn of Satan (although it’s fun installing Linux on them) but it’s a pretty nice machine.
- The resounding feeling of the week is being cold.
- I had a touch of RSI this week, which got better.
- Unrelated, I starting playing Path of Exile 2, basically because I found the whole thing about Elon Musk claiming to be a top ten player then being caught getting boosted funny. I am not a fan of the game so far.