Week 3: Production Issue
Tootsie (our cat) has been super cuddly and clingy this week, like squeezing between us in the night and purring loudly in my ear or persistently trying to sit on us while we’re working. Behaviour changes like this always worry me a bit because of his conditions, but after observing him more I think he’s just stealing our body heat.
Content warning: pet illness
Tootsie has FIV and FeLV which both weaken his immune system and ultimately shorten his life quite a bit. We knew this when we rescued him, both mean he can't go outside so we don't feel as bad about keeping an indoor cat. Generally he's a super happy and friendly cat, but every time his behaviour changes a little I have a slight moment of "oh god is this him starting to die?" which is a fun thing to deal with.Lately I haven’t had as much chance to code in my day-to-day job, and it doesn’t take long to start wondering if you’re actually capable any more. However this week I helped fix a production issue for the first time in ages. It felt really good to jump into a technical problem, especially in a repo I didn’t know at all, and I feel more qualified again 😅
Every year, FT Product & Technology run an internal conference called Engine Room. It’s normally good, but this year was amazing – I work with some really talented people. The talk that really stuck with me was by Nayana Shetty who has been measuring her time-at-desk and hydration to make sure that she’s taking care of herself while we’re all working from home. I’m hoping there will be some kind of write up on the Product & Technology blog
Friday was a challenge and I’ve spent a lot of the weekend with work stuff in the back of my mind. This isn’t healthy and I’m normally very good at compartmentalising. I have app limits on my phone but what I really want is for Screen Time to completely block me from opening Slack at the weekend
On Sunday we played The Hunt for the Cheshire Cat which is like a treasure hunt across part of London. I love this kind of thing and it was super fun, and this particular game has been designed to work with lockdown rules. I haven’t felt the benefit of living so central since the pandemic started, but getting to just leave my flat and do this reminded me why I’m here
I started reading. I used to read so much but it kind of tailed off in my mid-20s and I haven’t read a book for months. It’s kind of cheating because it’s a re-read but I needed something to get me back into the swing, I picked up The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde which I read about 15 years ago and loved. It’s fun, not too heavy, and some good escapism. This time I’m definitely going to keep picking up books and will not be deterred by trying to read The Picture of Dorian Gray again
Oh dear, our washing machine has started leaking into the flat below (very likely related to our plumbing issues). It’s been disconnected until Wednesday 😩
We binged all of Fleabag over the weekend, one sitting per season. I enjoyed it a lot, especially Olivia Colman