Kev QuirkModify

2026-06-04 19:42:00

WordPress really is a nightmare, and this post by Pup On Tech really capsulated that! Should have just used a flat-file system or an SSG from the start. 🙃

2026-05-23 21:44:00

My note taking process has evolved a lot over the years. Originally I used my iPad with the Apple pencil, but having to charge it every few days was a pain. Then I switched to the Remarkable 2, which was great and I didn't need to charge the pen. But as I produced more and more notes, it became awkward to search for them. Unfortunately, handwriting to text, and handwriting search both require a monthly subscription.

Screw that.

So I switched to the Supernote Nomad, which (in my opinion) has better tooling for finding notes than the Remarkable. I mentioned this in my how do you take notes post. I created a new system for taking notes, and it worked well. It still had it's frustrations, but I could generally find what I was looking for on the Nomad.

Then I started writing the occasional journal entry, and for that I decided I needed a physical book and fountain pen. I don't know why, it just felt more personal and more permanent doing it that way. Being left-handed, fountain pens can be difficult, so I got myself a Lamy Safari with a left-handed nib.

It writes lovely, especially for the ~£25 ($30) price. So I got myself another one and put red ink in so I can "highlight" certain notes in my journal. It is a really nice experience, and as my journal entries mount up, I can easily flip between pages.

And then it dawned on me...it's not the technology that I'm using for notes that's the problem. It's the fact that I'm using technology in the first place!

Going analogue

As a test, I dug out an old notebook that we got a freebie from work (it's a really nice one - I figured nice paper would help) and started using my Lamy for note taking in work too.

Using a slightly adapted version of my note taking system, it's been glorious! Flipping back through physical pages and easily finding my notes for a particular day has been very refreshing. Everything is in my notebook now, and I rarely use OneNote as a result.

I decided to go all in, I sold my Nomad back in January and haven't looked back since.

Pen upgrade

The Lamy is a nice pen, but I wanted something a bit more substantial (and made of metal) as the pen gets a lot of punishment being bashed around in my bag all day. I was happy to spend more money, but didn't want to go crazy, so I ended up buying a Kaweco AL Sport in a lovely stonewashed blue colour.

Unfortunately Kaweco don't offer a specific left-handed nib, but I've found it to be nicer to write with than the Lamy anyway. It doesn't scratch as much - not that the Lamy is particularly scratchy, but the Kaweco is soooo smooth.

So what was the problem with the tablets?

I realised that my main frustration with both the Nomad and the Remarkable is that there's a 1-2 second delay on every screen change, so if I need to flip back 10 pages, that's like half a minute of pissing about.

Half a minute doesn't sound like a lot, but I can flip back 10, or even a hundred pages in my notebook in a second. It just feels smoother.

Final thoughts

My note taking system now surrounds the specific paper I have in this fancy notebook from work (wide ruled lines, and a side margin) and I can't find anything else that's the same. Everything I find is either shitty quality paper, narrower lines, or no margin.

Luckily for me, I've been able to find some spares hang around the office, so I have a cache of half a dozen or so, which should last me a few years.

I'm totally converted to analogue note taking at this point, and I really enjoy the process of writing with the fountain pens. I just need to force myself not succumb to my constant desire to start collecting things - as I don't need 50 fountain pens, just like I don't need 50 watches...but I have them!

This post kinda went all over the place, sorry about that. 🤷🏻‍♂️

2026-05-16 20:06:00

I saw this on the fedi this morning and it made me let out a big sigh. I was an early adopter of Bitwarden, having used it for nearly 10 years at this point, after LastPass were acquired by LogMeIn.

If this does come to fruition (I really hope it doesn't) I'm not sure what I'd do. My wife and I have a family account and share many credentials, so whatever I potentially flip to would need to be super simple to use, like Bitwarden.

The fact that Bitwarden is so simple yo use, yet so secure, is a testament to how good of a product it really is. So I'd rather not jump ship.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves

In the Fast Company post that Jan-Lukas links to, there's a quote following an email from Bitwarden's "chief customer officer", Gary Orenstein, saying:

Orenstein says via email that Bitwarden is not seeking a buyer, and that Sullivan’s [new CEO] appointment “reflects a continued focus at Bitwarden on scaling the business and serving customers globally.”

That gives me some hope, but it could also be corporate bullshit - let's be honest, it wouldn't be the first time.

I'm not going to make any rash decisions though. I get a tonne of use from Bitwarden, so I don't want to move unless I have to. Even if they are sold, I'd have to consider my options once I know who they've potentially been sold to.

For now it's business as usual for me and my password manager.

2026-05-16 02:37:00

So I recently upgraded my home internet to full fibre, after which I also decided to upgrade my router as there were some things I wanted to do with my network that my ISP-provided router wasn't capable of.

I replaced my mesh system with a UniFi one a couple years ago, so it made sense to stick with the UniFi brand and go with one of their routers, so £250 later, I had a Cloud Gateway Max on its way to me.

I figured this would be a straightforward process, but my god was I wrong!

First attempt

So I took a backup of my Cloud Key¹ config and figured I could unplug that, plug in the Cloud Gateway, restore the config and be done. I assumed there would be a couple things I needed to tweak, but for the most part, it would be a simple 10 minute job.

Fuck. No.

You see, dear reader, in order to configure the Cloud Gateway you need an internet connection. No internet connection, no configuration. So by unplugging my ISP router -thus killing the internet to my entire house - I couldn't even get to the point where I could enter my ISP credentials, let alone configure the bloody thing.

Without the internet connection all I could configure was the IP and MAC of the router. Absolutely pointless!

There may be a way of doing this without an internet connection, but I couldn't find it and it certainly wasn't obvious.

Attempt #2

So I had to reconnect my old rig - the ISP router, the Cloud Key, and access points. Then I hung the Cloud Gateway off the ISP router so it could get an internet connection.

Luckily this worked and I was finally able to configure the thing. After which I disconnected the Cloud Key, assuming the access points would all fail over to the Cloud Gateway when I restored the config backup from the Cloud Key.

Nope!

You see, the config back from the Cloud Key is a completely different file format (*.unifi) to what the Cloud Gateway was expecting (*.unf).

What the actual fuck!

Attempt #3

Soooooo back online went the Cloud Key, and I had to remove all 4 access points from there, just so I could "adopt" them with the Cloud Gateway. Then I had to manually setup my SSIDs and DHCP so it all matched the old rig.

But finally, after 3 hours of fucking around, a job that I thought would take 10 minutes was done.

Final thoughts

UniFi is really good kit and has lots of features, but I don't understand why it has to be so difficult to set up.

It feels like UniFi is the Apple of the networking world - they do everything they can to keep you in their ecosystem and up sell.

Want our wifi? You're gonna need one of our routers, or this arbitrary piece of hardware for that.

Oh you want to move an AP to a new management device? Yeah, you can't just move it - you need to do these 5 steps instead.

Had I not already spent over a thousand pound on this UniFi kit, I would have chucked it all on eBay and gone with something else, but alas WiFi Apple has me in their walled garden!

Anyway, it was a painful process, but it's working. And to be fair to UniFi, once it is all setup, it's rock solid and feature rich. I won't be upgrading again any time soon though, that's for sure!

Now I just need to familiarise myself with all the nifty features the Cloud Gateway offers, so I can improve my network. Fun times!

2026-05-13 02:19:00

As many regular readers know, we live in the North Wales countryside, which means it can take time to get the latest and greatest when it comes to technology.

As a result, we were previously "limited" to FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) which had a max speed of 70Mbps. As a result, we got okay internet speeds:

But then I saw the ISP vans in the village, and I asked them what they were doing - "oh, we're upgrading the village to full fibre" she said.

I had to have it!

As soon as FTTP (fibre to the premises) was available, I placed the order with my ISP (who offered me a great deal that's only £5 per month more), and this is the result:

Is it worth it?

In all honesty, I haven't noticed the difference. We didn't have any buffering issues when watching things like Netflix or Apple TV, so I'm not really sure why I upgraded in hindsight.

I thought it would be this incredible difference where my internet would then be rapid, but the truth is, it's complete imperceptible. I remember when I upgraded from a 56k MODEM, to ~2Mbps broadband and it blew my mind. I was thinking this would be the same, but no.

I do think the increased upload speed is going to come in handy when it comes to things like syncing my private git repos back to my Synology, but aside from that, there's not much in it.

Had I paid full price (~£20 more per month) I don't think I'd have been too happy, but since I got a good deal, I'm not too bothered.

2026-05-11 16:25:00

Hard agree with David's comments here - he and I regularly exchange emails, actually. I try to reach out to authors whenever I read something that resonates with me. I'll also try to share their work via posts like this too.

For me, blogging is the original social network; just because we're on our own spaces doesn't mean we can't be socially connected. That's why I offer comments, and a reply by email link on all posts, including my RSS feed.

So yeah, start communicating! 🙃