Working With Text Files
LaTeX
LaTeX is a typesetting system. It allows high-quality documents to be generated from text-based files.
Last year I started learning how to write LaTeX documents because I wanted to standardise the look of my company’s policies and contracts. Being able to track changes in what are just text files was also hugely appealing. As of right now we have all of our policy documents and business-to-business contracts as LaTeX files.
July 2025: I’ve not done anything with LaTeX for a while simply because I’ve not needed to.
Neovim
Neovim is a text editor (and an off-shoot of the Vim editor).
I write code for a living and like a lot of other developers I use Visual Studio Code. It’s good but I have a weird desire to use Neovim although it is a long, slow learning curve.
June 2025: I followed a set of videos by Mr Jakob about setting up Neovim from scratch with the sorts of plugins that I need to replace VS Code.
Emacs
Emacs is a text editing environment. It is more than just a text editor and is highly customisable.
Exactly like Neovim above, I want to explore Emacs as an alternative to Visual Studio Code. I like Neovim but it feels like it is a text editor with extras bolted on to allow you to create your own integrated development environment and I wonder if Emacs will be more cohesive.
June 2025: I’ve just started to look at Emacs and am largely using Mastering Emacs as my initial guide.
AWK
AWK is a programming language used to parse data in text files.
Being able to parse a plain text file and extract or summarise data or calculate totals is incredibly useful. I’m still a beginner with AWK really buy enjoy using it every time I find an excuse to do so.
May 2025: Used AWK to process a CSV data export from Pocket and generate a list of Markdown links (blog post).
Learning How To Use Technology
Pico-8
The Pico-8 is a “fantasy console”. It emulates a consile from around the 8-bit era which never existed but is a great environment for making, sharing and playing tiny games and other computer programs.
News coming soon.
Inky Impression
I have a love of e-ink screens and being able to drive one from a Raspberry Pi, something else I have enjoyed using for many years, would be very cool. Assuming they come back into stock then I plan on buying a 13.3” screen to play with.
Health & Wellbeing
Early in 2025 I changed my lifestyle and started eating better (cooking from scratch more, eating more fruit and vegetables, stopped eating sweets and crisps and other snacks) and doing some exercise (indoor cycling, running and CrossFit).
See more detailed notes about my goals and progress in the Fitness Goals section of the blog.
Running A Marathon
Between April and June 2025 I did the Couch to 5K plan. After completing it I had the ambitious idea to run a marathon, ideally the London Marathon, in 2028 to celebrate turning 55.
July 2025: I did my first two Parkruns this month and manage times of 35:35 and 35:27.
Eco Homes
I have a yearning to buy some land and have an eco home built for myself.