It’s been more of a getting-back-to-my-routine type of week.
I had a lot of outstanding work that I had let go of before leaving for a few weeks, and that work had become more urgent and more important, so I set time aside to work on it. I managed to progress well, but a few things still need to be done.
I had two full days taken up by training, something that I really enjoy and judging by the feedback I get and the feedback from the training company that I work with; I am good at that job. I try to build a relationship with the people I train, and I try to make it fun and instructive. The best way I have found to do that is to use an active teaching method. That is, getting the people to work on tasks, case studies and just generally use the thing they’re being trained. I find it makes the day go quicker but also gives the trainee practical and hands-on experience that is put to use immediately. My trainees often start working on problems and difficulties in their day-to-day working lives instead of the case studies. Honestly, I have no problem with that, as they are just as good, if not better, case studies to work on during the training.
I applied for the ARIN Fellowship program a while back and thought nothing further of it. ARIN, if you don’t know, is the America Registry for Internet Naming, and each year, they open a fellowship program to develop and reach people interested in the policy development process and better understand topics such as Internet Governance, Internet Number Resource Policy and other topics. I was selected, and through some good fortune on my part, I will be travelling to the conference in San Diego. I’m really looking forward to participating and developing sustainable participation on my part over the coming years.
It has been a while since I last travelled to the US, but the old routines are starting to come back. I have been lucky enough to travel 2-3 times a year for over a decade to different cities, but I’ve never been to San Diego, so I’m looking forward to discovering it a little, even if I won’t have a lot of free time.
Newt week will be a bumper week again, with two full days of training lined up and, most likely, the purchase of a new printer. My Canon inkjet printer shit the bed and is too expensive to repair based on where I live. And to be fair, I never liked the fact that the ink cartridges were expensive and almost impossible to find here. I have chosen an HP printer using the relatively new ink tank technology. It should be nothing cheaper to run in the long run and last longer than the crappy print heads in the Canon. I guess time will tell.
Reading
I’m nearing the end of a couple of books that have been on the go for a while and ones that I stopped reading for a bit as I spent some time away from home. I’ll likely finish them both in the next few days or so, so I’ve started looking for other books to pick up.
In the true tradition of how my brain works, rather than picking a book I have already purchased, I decided to buy a new book (The Internet Con - How to Seize the Means of Computation by Cory Doctorow) because it was on sale. To be fair to myself, I tend to do this and often store books for later reading whilst taking advantage of sale prices.
Of note
Apple had its (most important?) keynote this week, where they outlined the next iPhone and Apple Watch models. The keynote was a very well-put-together presentation, which was unfortunately marred by a silly and frankly patronising skit with “Mother Nature”. It was well-acted and told a good story, but it was vacuous in detail and skirted over a number of realities. For example, Apple touted their first carbon-neutral product, the new Apple Watch. This is an achievement, and I don’t want to take away from that entirely. Still, it’s best to understand what that really means as it is just calculated on carbon offset credits, which we all know can be obtained financially, fraudulently, and by other means. And no, I’m not suggesting for a moment that Apple has done as such, but it would be nice to clarify the details behind the carbon-neutral rating!
Additionally, in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning with John Dickerson, Tim Cook answered questions about Apple’s continued use of Twitter. Honestly, I can’t see any justification for them to continue advertising and spending millions of dollars. And I’m holding Apple to a higher standard precisely because Apple asks to hold it to a high standard. I think this is a mistake from Tim Cook, and I think this will blow up in his face over the next few days.
Have a good week.
