Week 16 of 2020 brings Slack etiqette suggestions, Easter DIY, fitness parenting, credit card disputes, video mixes in Filmora9, wireless chargers, Glitterbox virtual festival, Killing Eve, My Left Nut and Friday Night Dinner.

Work

Following the Easter weekend, I decided to extend my break with a few extra days at home to focus on some DIY and spend some quality time with the family. More on that later but it meant only two days of work for the week.

Remote working continued to test me, especially trying to chase people for updates and information which I’d typically get off my arse and speak to people face-to-face. I have found some people are harder to contact than others, but I do appreciate they want to focus or have other commitments. I did tweet about using suitable statuses in comms apps like Slack, choosing “focus time” or “break time” to manage expectations. It’s something I try to get in a better habit of, even adding working hours to a custom stauts, but it does take some extra effort and not everyone notices or honours them.

Life

Extra time with the family allowed us to get handy and creative in real life:

  • Mrs J recreated two iconic portraits with the kids; Girl with a Pearl Earring and Salvidor Dali
  • Our shed (summer house) got a lick of paint over a few days whilst the sun was shining
  • Plenty odd-jobs around the house and garden that seem to often get neglected due to other distractions

I’ve also started doing more exercise with the kids where possible. Joe Wicks (aka The Body Coach) started running daily PE lessons on YouTube Live so we started doing them in the garden (for some extra space) and I’ve been running 2km with the boy followed by chasing my daughter on her bike for a few kilometres to get some fitness in with them both. I’ve resurrected my Strava account for the runs too – “friend me” if you’re on there and fancy some friendly competition.

Finally, we’ve made some progress on the refund for our cancelled holiday (which I’ll reserve names until we are fully resolved). Following endless calls to the customer service number, to which we often got “just wait” replies and zero escalation, I’ve now taken it to our credit card company as a dispute. They reassured me it should yield better results but managed expectations it could take 6-8 weeks, especially through these difficult times. Lesson learned? Always make large transactions on credit cards for this exact reason; they have teams of people prepared to chase disputes when many of us simply don’t have the suitable time or capacity.

Sides

I’m taking a break from any serious side projects at the moment, after wrapping up series 2 of Make Life Work and getting House Finesse Spring Break out.

I did create a video of the House Finesse mix we could potentially share on our YouTube channel. I used a Windows app called Filmora9 which is quite user-friendly and versatile. You can trial the app which renders with a huge watermark across the export but I’m mindful Youtube might remove the mix due to copyright infringement. To test the waters, I’ve uploaded it as an unlisted item and will leave it for a week or two, then I’ll know if it’s worth producing a version without a watermark.

Tech

As mentioned above, this week I’ve been getting in to more video editing with Filmora9.

I also invested in a combo wireless charger for all my Apple devices. One reason was to try wireless charging of my iPhone 11 – a feature I’ve not even tested yet but could be handy in my office setup. That said, combining all the cables for Watch, Airpods and iPhone on my bedside was the main instigator. Charging my iPhone is seamless and the extra lightning adapator is convenient for Airpods but I’ve found the Watch charger is unreliable for me. Power seems to be transferring with the contact point getting warm but it appears to be draining it instead.

Elsewhere, I’m now exploring some treats for my birthday including a new Mac and, if budget allows, some new DJ decks. I need something better for producing my mixes and suitable specs to support audio/video production so considering a MacBook Pro but currently holding off with pending announcements due of new kit coming soon. I’m also eyeing up some Pioneer DDJ-400’s along with some reasonable speakers in the studio. Best consider some extra egg-cartons to sound-proof the room too…

Entertainment

Defected hosted another “virtual festival” on Friday, this time with a very heavy Glitterbox roster including many of favourite DJs such as Purple Disco Machine, Bob Sinclar, Mousse T and (new to me) Natasha Diggs.

I also decided to hook up an old record player with the Marshall speaker to listen to some vinyl over the weekend. It reminded me how much I miss the feel of “real” media (especially after seeing Natasha Diggs in her NYC set) and the sound is definitely superior to digital equivalents.

Killing Eve on BBC returned to much fanfair last week and it didn’t disappoint. Jody’s performance is as strong as previous series and I can’t wait to see where it all goes.

My Left Nut on BBC is a tough one to watch – another “coming-of-age” story, this time based around a young Irish lad who discovers a lump in his nether regions.

Friday Night Dinner on All4 returned recently for a 6th series and continues to tickle the chuckle bones. Some ridiculously far-fetched moments but, oddly, relatable.