May 03, 2026 Weeknote

#65 - From Dublin

Updates

Eugh - not a great week.

Work has rumours of layoffs, every conversation seems to be 10% heavier as we navigate. I've been through this before, more than once, and the thing I keep coming back to is that the best thing I can do is be present for the people around me. Not with answers, because there usually aren't any yet. Just by being there and being honest about what I don't know either.

I had a workspace refresh yesterday, bought myself some new speakers (Adam D3V) - a real upgrade in sound for my home battlestation. That helped me remove a bunch of cables, and set everything up just so. I bought a new office chair as well, so I can stop sinking during zoom calls. There is something about resetting your physical space that resets your head as well.

No quiz this week. We're between seasons, which means a few weeks off before the next one starts. I miss it already. There's a rhythm to Wednesday nights that leaves a gap when it's not there.

The espresso journey continues. Every shot is getting closer to the standard I want. The grind is dialled in better than it's ever been, but milk remains my personal challenge, either too hot or too cool and not enough foam. Still not consistent enough to call it a skill rather than a streak. The gap is closing!

A quieter week than most. Sometimes those are the ones you need.

Reading. Loves Executioner by Irvin Yalom - a recommendation from a friend, Therapy case studies written like short stories. Not light, but hard to put down.

Recommended Music

I never really know what to do when a band removes a letter from a perfectly good work. Do I omit the phoneme as I say the name, or just pronounce the word as I presume it should be said.

This weeks recommendation comes from BUNKR (see? you don't know either) and is a terrific short album called Signals. It starts with some gentle electronica, and builds gradually throughout to visit the land of skittery drum and bass. There are multiple influences in here, IDM, ambience and techno included.

I absolutely love this - it's going to be in heavy rotation in May.

Highly Recommended.