Archive of Simons Now page for 2024
23 December 2024
It's Christmas Eve Eve and all is quite - kind of - we have been a bit manic getting ready for Christmas!
Work
A few bits and pieces in the run up to Christmas but mostly quiet. Suspect January will be very busy.
Hobbies
The rebuild of the station and goods shed building on Whitesands Quay is practically complete. I have completed the detailing except for the gutter at the back and final pass weathering.
2 December 2024
Had a cold snap and the weather is back to what has bcome a normal end of November, almost balmy at times. Bluesky has really taken off over tha past three weeks and it might just replace Twitter for most people I know.
Work
Have been working through Andy Bells fantastic Complete CSS course that he released last week. Given me a lot to think about with CSS and I need to spend some time formulating a few new ways of doing things!
11 November 2024
First patches of blue sky this morning after two weeks of dull television dead channel grey skies... Bluesky has had a sudden awakening but I fear people will drift back to Twitter again.
Work
Slight slow down with incoming work, yet I am still quite busy!
22 October 2024
Not got much colder than the end of September - we have even had to turn off the heating on some nights. Leaves are now starting to turn and we are getting thick mists over the brooks.
Work
Have been working on one of Europe's top Modelling agencies' website and also lending an SEO hand in the merging of three sites into one on a new (for them) platform, for a very prominent rights organisation.
Hobbies
The rebuild of the station and goods shed building on Whitesands Quay is coming along nicely. This time i got in some 2mm basswood sheets that I have not tried before and it has proved to be resilient and very light. The laser cuts it quite easily so I have managed to cut out some frameworks for roof and pillars in one piece. Once completed I will write up an article.
30 September 2024
Summer is certainly over, it has got colder and a lot wetter. We put the heating on for the first time yesterday as the house was getting cold and a little damp - too much for the log burner to vanquish.
Work
US Uni project went down well - have a raft of smaller projects on the blocks at the moment and a lovely 3 into one site migration to plan out!
Hobbies
Have decided to rebuild the station and goods shed building on Whitesands Quay. Drawaings done for the station building hald and the goods shed will be a much more modest affair in keeping with a light railway.
9 September 2024
Quite few weeks working hard on some things and listening to the cricket on Test Match Special. Last test this year on at the moment so that summer over.
Work
Finished the bulk of the large project for a US University with only meetings and any follow up to do. Was an interesting project.
Hobbies
My friend laser cut me a small board game called Propuh and I 3D printed and painted a figure for him - just finished the painting and it has come out well but not played the game yet or given him the figure. Propuh Grannies
Gaming
Started playing a free text based adventure online that is something special. It has been in constant development since 2009 and is called Fallen london and if you have a go please do try and find me in it!
29 July 2024
We have finally had a few days of sunshine - overall has been a misserable summer weather wise but to be fair I think I prefer it cool.
Work
Built a quick fun test site for Haute cuisine for Bookkeeping
Hobbies
Little bit of figure painting every now and then. printing and painting some figures.
Gaming
Spend a couple of nights at a friends house with four of us playing board games - excellent session!
Games played:
- Senjutsu: Battle For Japan
- Crokinole x2
- Scythe: The Rise of Fenris (game 3)
- Café
- Catch the Moon
- Snapps
- Hey, That's My Fish!
- The Climbers
- Flamme Rouge x2 (ongoing tour)
- The Red Cathedral
- Village Rails
- Expedition: Northwest Passage HMS Terror Edition
8 July 2024
Not done any more work in the garden since building the bin store. The weather has been too wet and cold! Need to feed the lawn and give it a cut - but has been too wet. Did i mention it has been a bit wet this summer?
Work
Finished off some Election based work for a client last week - not directly politics but it was a big enough event to need addressing.
Hobbies
Have replaced the PFA Release liner Film on the resin tank on my Elegoo Mars 3Pro 3D resin printer and what a difference that has made! The old one had got cloudy and had a few scratches and dents - these all meant a more fuzzy print. Also changed the resin I use to the newer 8K water washable resin and although it is brittle the quality is superb and that led me to printing and painting some figures.
Gaming
Playing Stone Age and That Time You Killed Me.
17 June 2024
Following the wood store I built a bin store. Hard work but fun. The compressor and spray gun I purchased some years ago, but had not used, is brilliant and a lot less messy than paining by brush!
Ideas
About Now Ideas is an interesting site that allows searching of small sites like this that have About, Now and Ideas pages. This site now has all three!
Hobbies
Was inspired by some tree bark to slightly change the plans on Whitesands Quay and put in some rock faces in a couple of small areas.
Gaming
Have finished Death Stranding - but the game allows you to continue on with the deliveries and building routes. I'm setting myself tasks now but playing less of it.
Got a three player game of Great Western Trail v2 last week and it really is a good game!
14 May 2024
Popped down to the coast to see family and in doing so missed out on the Aurora Borealis that a lot of the UK could see. Where we were there was a little too much artificial light from the town whereas back home our house is out in the dark countryside and people from our village were putting images of the aurora up on socials. Family first though so i don't mind!
Meanwhile I appeared on a second Episode 674 of Edge Of The Web Radio hosted by Erin Sparks which we recorded in early February! Again a lot of fun to do!
Have ordered a load of wood to build a new log store to my own design. Weather forecast has changed form cloudy to thunder on the day it is all due. Of course.
Work
Various bits and pieces happening. interested in building processes using the Screaming Frog v20 with NGrams for internal linking opportunities - could save a lot of time and provide new opportunities!
Hobbies
I had hit an impasse for 10 months but am now back to the narrow gauge railway modelling and have made great progress with the building modules on Whitesands Quay.
Gaming
I have been playing Death Stranding as it now out for the Mac - it's an odd game - too many cut scenes at the beginning but it gets going and is fairly free form which is interesting! Atr the moment I am building a load of roads - more for the fun of it rather than anything else.
Not been playing anything on Board Game Arena - please do invite me for a game of something! Me on board Game Arena.
Reading
Back to reading Hello World by Hannah Fry.
3 April 2024
Easter was not how we planned as my mother in law was feeling unwell so we stayed at home and did a bit of gardening. Don't know exactly how but I also got some modelling mojo back and made some significant progress with Whitesands Quay!
Meanwhile I appeared on Episode 672 of Edge Of The Web Radio hosted by Erin Sparks which we recored in early February! They recorded enough for a second episode too.
Work
Big old job on at the moment helping migrate a shed load of sites for a global firm - will keep me out of trouble for a few months.
If you want me to have a look at a project of yours, please do get in touch.
Hobbies
I had hit an impasse for 10 months but am now back to the narrow gauge railway modelling and have made great progress with the building modules on Whitesands Quay - I will be writing that up on here soon.
Gaming
Finished Balders Gate 3 on Steam multiplayer at the end of March and it was good. Long long game though - although we were really thorough investigating everything!
Reading
Have put Hello World by Hannah Fry aside for the moment and am reading The Boy Who Led Them by George Chittenden. It is about 18th Century smuggling in Deal, Kent.
03 February 2024
Interesting start to the year. Linkedin has suddenly taken off for the SEO community who might have now finally thrown the towel in on Twitter. But then again it might be what happened on Mastodon in November 2022 when a large number joined, but slowly went back to Twitter because the majority stayed. Shame. So ICQ am posting a little more on LinkedIn now, let's see how long that lasts.
Have tried 3 times now to understand and implement webmentions here but keep on failing! I'm going to try again but give it some serious thought first.
Work
Lost some clients in 2003 but mostly due to circumstances beyond their control. Always sad because we get on so well with our clients. However the space was quickly filled without even looking for new clients!
If you want me to have a look at a project of yours, please do get in touch.
Hobbies
Started the new year by not having any time to do any model making - still need to make a lot more time for that in 2024.
Gaming
Currently playing Balders Gate 3 on Steam multiplayer and this has taken up quite a biut of spare time but is great - other then Larian Studios releasing PC patches weeks before Mac patches causing issues with multiplayer games - whihc are the most fun. We are on the third chapter, Balders Gate and have reached the max level 12 but with plenty of quests to solve. It is great fun! Not been playing anything on Board Game Arena - please do invite me for a game of something! Me on board Game Arena.
Reading
Reading Hello World by Hannah Fry. I really like Hanna Fry, she exudes passion about knowledge and I absolutely loved her keynote talk at the Autumn 2023 BrightonSEO.