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I splashed the cash on a new presentation remote/pointer. After a bit of research, I plumped for the Logitech R700†, which (as you would hope) has buttons to control the flow of the presentation you are talking to, but also has a red laser pointer, and a nifty display to show a countdown timer. It vibrates when you are nearing the end of your time by way of a heads-up. Only problem with the Logitech R700 is that it’s not ‘out-of-the-box’ compatible with KeyNote - all but the 'start presentation' button on the device work as expected, though. A quick download of Karabiner-Elements App and the creation of a quick rule has fixed that.
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On Friday, my son drove me to The Mall. I needed new jeans and chinos and he needed a pair of work trousers. Nothing much interesting in that, per se, but what was interesting was the driving experience. My son has only been driving since May, and I’ve not been driven by him since before he was hit by a coach a couple of months ago, and it was the most pleasant experience.
His confidence has come on in leaps and bounds, and I felt no anxiety. The drive involved country lanes and a section of motorway, and I was just able to sit back and enjoy the experience of being driven.
I spent some time on the structure of my forthcoming talk. Starting to (slowly) take shape now, rather than being a scattered assortment of ideas and anecdotes. Next week it goes into Scrivener so I have maximum flexibility to move things around and see the structure / narrative arc.
Client leads to top up my fractional work are progressing. I’d like them to progress faster, but that’s life.
Other than that, I battled a bit with ChatGTP when it decided it couldn’t create CSV files. A minor issue with an easy work-around. I have’t automated that process, yet, so this comes as a timely reminder to not just consider the ‘happy path’.
I also added an AI generated field to one of my AirTable tables. As with any such feature, the ‘stickiness’ is in knowing the quirks of the particular AI to get what you want. A prompt that works in ChatGTP won’t necessarily give you the same outcome in another LLM. Obvious, yes, but worth remembering.
I watched both series of ’The Gone’. Both very good - lots of atmosphere, red herrings, tension. But the endings? What is it with this almost universal need to end series with a cliff-hanger?
In addition to scripting some of my talk, I wrote a new poem (in draft, with a bit of tarting up to do). The idea came at a time when I didn’t have my reMarkable with me, so had to use what I had. I wrote about it on The Ode Map.
Listening: My new ‘album on repeat’ is “LABRINTH, SIA & DIPLO PRESENT... LSD”, along with the remixes version.
Logitech R700
New haircut
Darth McGraw, in The Mall at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol
