Tech Where I choose not to work: the values behind it Choosing where not to work matters. Here’s why Arkilon Ltd and I steer clear of certain industries, guided by ethics that reduce harm, protect people and planet, and focus our skills on positive impact.
Life Featured I can travel! Continuing my recovery from my injury, I am able to get around on my own with crutches, walk unaided a little, and finally: travel again.
I can walk! After a major ankle injury in March 2024, multiple surgeries, and months in the hospital, I can finally walk with support! My doctor is optimistic about a full recovery by summer. I’m losing weight, returning the wheelchair, and stepping into a stronger, happier me.
A new journey in 2025 After nearly 7 years at Tripla, I'm reflecting on an incredible journey—from being one of the first engineers to helping grow the team, leading platform development, and supporting our IPO. Ready for a new chapter as I join a B2B startup as Engineering Manager in January 2025.
Personal Featured I can stand! I've been recovering from a severe injury to my left ankle. I've been completely off my feet for over 190 days. I stood for the first time since the accident this weekend and I couldn't be happier.
MtG Featured My first deck, and everything is an otter! I made my first Deck in Magic: The Gathering, where I turned all creatures into otters for some creative gameplay. It’s a lighthearted take on how otter-themed enchantments and synergies can lead to a winning strategy. Check it out if you’re into MtG or just love otters!
Tech Featured Some thoughts about product, leadership, and teams Leadership in tech: Foster open communication, embrace diverse viewpoints, and make purposeful products. Balance strategic thinking with quick decision-making. Cultivate empathy, encourage speaking up, and support your team. Remember: AI is a tool, not the solution. Lead with humility and respect.
Food Pizza Sauce recipe I had some friends over for dinner and drinks last weekend and they asked me to share how I made my pizza sauce, so here it is.
Life Featured A Decade in Japan: From Six Months to Forever Ten years ago, I moved to Japan for what I thought would be a brief stay. Instead, it became a life-changing journey. From struggles with roach-infested apartments to finding love in Tokyo, this post recounts my evolution from newcomer to long-term resident, sharing a decade of experiences in Japan.
Projects Featured Bringing back the pizza calculator Bringing new life to an old project is always good fun. In this post, I talk about How Many Pizzas and how I brought it into 2024 with a modern technology stack.
Barkeeper Featured Barkeeper has its own blog Barkeeper is a fantastic tool that helps venues mange their online presence and drive new customers.
Food My pea and ham soup recipe I'm not really a food blogger, but I was asked about this recipe by a friend of mine - so here it is for all to enjoy. One New Year, I was craving pea and ham soup but had to make some adjustments to how I normally would
Barkeeper Introducing Vector: Peace of Mind for your venue Vector serves as a purpose-built communication tool exclusively designed for bars and clubs to securely exchange vital information. It handles lost and found items and cloakroom management, while also helps to combat antisocial behavior and improve loss prevention.
Using AI to calculate a fair review score for a venue In this post, we explain how we use some AI and old-fashioned content scraping to generate a fair review score for a venue. We call this "FairScore" and it makes up part of our product, Barkeeper
Projects Designing a static / dynamic website builder hybrid This is part of a series about the technology behind one of my projects, Barkeeper. In this post, I'll give a rough background about what Barkeeper is and how I approached its website build system.
Politics Featured My thoughts about the UK Supreme Court ruling on Indyref2 The historic judgement by the UK Supreme Court on Wednesday, November 23rd 2022 was as disappointing as it was unsurprising. The Court has ruled that the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to hold an Independence referendum. This post is about what I think about that.
LGBT Transphobes over Scotland Right at the start of the "Yes Scotland" movement, there was a blog that provided great content on the various things happening on the campaign trail. It was called Wings Over Scotland. Now, the blog is a hub of awful transphobic frothing.
Let's get it right this time The First Minister of Scotland and her Government have fired the starting pistol for the next independence referendum. Scotland will be going to the polls in October 2023 to decide if it should become an independent country. You can find out more details about the Scottish Government's plans
LGBT Gay life in Japan Japan has a reputation around for world for doing things a little differently than everywhere else. The Gay Scene there is no different.
Politics Let’s get our eyes back on the goal Right now, when Brexit is set to throw us back into an economic downturn that will hurt for 30 years we should be more determined than ever to make sure that an Independent Scotland happens.
Tech The tale of the invisible man - a conference story Ruby Kaigi is a Japanese technology conference for Japanese people that does great work to make sure that their talks are available in both English and Japanese.
Personal Goodbye, Mathie Goodbye Graeme. Thank you for your long and valued friendship. You’ll be missed, but never forgotten.
Activism Featured Homophobia is more rife than assault rifles in the USA When elected politicians actively stir up hatred against the LGBT community, it legitimises that hatred and makes bigots more comfortable in that hate.
Tech Re-introducing prawn-graph - it's back! Simple graphing for PDF and Ruby There might be a slight sense of déjà vu about this topic, since a few years ago on my old blog I wrote a similar thing. That time it was an attempt to motivate me to actually make an update to prawn-graph. This time, it actually is updated. Over 6
Politics On 'internet piracy' and 'copyright infringement' Peoples' usage patterns change, as more and more people are connected to the internet and the speed and quality of those connections increases the more people will be looking for instant gratification from the entertainment industry.
