Hello!
I hope you have had a great fortnight. Mine has been busy in more ways than one: birthday celebrations, a return to public speaking, coffee catch-ups and sports being the highlights.
My daughter was up to visit at the weekend, so we took the opportunity to see Granny Mac and celebrate her 90th birthday. When we visit, we always ensure we complete a circuit of Forfar Loch first. This is a tradition that has been going on now for over 26 years.
On our visit, I reflected on the baby photos that adorned the walls of Granny Mac’s flat. While there is still a resemblance between these photos and my daughter and son, it’s probably time to quietly update these with reminders that they are, for all intents and purposes, fully grown adults with their own lives now. I’ve said this before, but my friend Jean was correct - children do grow up incredibly fast.
On Tuesday I delivered my first presentation in a while at a CodeTheCity event in Aberdeen. I faced a room of very experienced software developers and data scientists and talked to them about how a hobby project has gradually morphed into an Esports leaderboard which is giving fantastic insights into individual gameplay but also parental structure.
It was really cool to meet up with Ray Barry again after nearly 25 years and exchange stories about what happened next. We worked together at AppsCo / Appsmart until 2001 when the company liquidated. I’d always remembered that the product source code was bought by Microsoft for $1 million (which was their intention), however, I learned on Tuesday that I was wrong! Turns out Visual Delphi programs weren’t as lucrative as I had believed!
My presentation took about 45 minutes and, happily, seemed to go down well. What surprised me the most was that the Q&A took almost as long! I got so many ideas from the audience about improving the quality of the data extracted, and also how it could be displayed. Full credit to Ray for the heat map idea I am currently making great progress with! Storing the data deltas was a fantastic enabler too.
If you are interested in accessing the slides, take a look here: CTC Data-Driven Gaming: Moving Towards an Esports Analytics Platform
I caught up with Lorna on Wednesday at Cafe Cognito, which is roughly halfway between where she lives and my school. It was really good to hear all the news, despite some of it being concerning, and I hope those worries are eased as soon as possible. I was over the moon to hear that Lorna’s hard work had resulted in a CyberFirst award for Portlethen Academy.
My son and I had ventured out of our comfort zone to play Pickleball at Ferryhill last week (although I forgot to mention it). While testing our experience against some more seasoned players was great, we both preferred the space at Newtonhill’s Bettridge Centre. There was also a slight mixup in communication regarding the time so we arrived just before the end of their session, rather than 15 minutes early as we’d planned! That said, we learned a lot in our short time on the court. We now plan to continue to develop our game (we tend to play fast shots from the baseline, rather than the slow game at the net so that is a priority to improve) and keep an eye out for any local open tournaments or events that we can join in with. My favourite part of playing Pickleball is catching up with my son. Not only is it a good workout for me, but he regularly cracks me up with his jokes, sometimes to his advantage on the court of course. However most of the time, astonishingly, we are evenly matched skill-wise.
The following weekend I stayed close to home, tidied the garden and did some “sit-down family meal” cooking which is proving challenging after our return to school. We all have lots of different activities so are tending to eat at different times. I’m also still on medication which affects the time I can eat, so I can’t wait for that to come to an end! We all enjoyed an extremely generous portion of cajun chicken pasta before my partner and I headed out to see a band we’d wanted to catch for ages: The Funky Red Pandas.
Unfortunately, due to some parking issues, we just missed their set. The Chandeliers were headlining and had a strong group of opening numbers. We had an ok time, the bar service was the most irritating part of the evening, to be honest. Would we go and see them again? I’m not sure, but we need to find another gig featuring the Pandas and GET. THERE. EARLY.
On Sunday we stayed close to home again and tried out Cafe Neuk for lunch. Their coffee and cake were excellent, but I think we chose poorly from the lunch menu.
Week 37 was a bit of a blur, mainly because my partner caught really bad flu (we think from the above gig) and I ended up in hospital with the ongoing infection (or whatever it is) I’ve had since June. I was nervous but made the best of it by just being curious about all the new experiences of being at ARI as a patient for the first time in decades. All the staff were fantastic and I knew it was going to be a good day when the first medical professional I met shared the same birthday. Not just the day and month, but exactly the same birthday!
I also experienced a CT scan for the first time. This involved being injected with what felt like hot espresso to highlight my arteries. It was a weird, but exhilarating few minutes! Without going into too much detail, the physician also manipulated the area of infection which has had some positive impact on the level of pain and discomfort. I’ve more antibiotics to consume over the next week or so, but I feel a lot more informed about what the treatment options are and what their (not insignificant) life impact would be. I’m now on a waiting list for an operation, which might be a long time in the future, but I’m grateful to be on the list.
I continue to be struck by how life can be such a mix of joy and challenge. This fortnight has been quite a journey. The highlights - like reconnecting with old colleagues, sharing laughs over Pickleball with my son, and diving back into public speaking - remind me how rich life can be when we stay open to new experiences and cherish our connections.
I'm feeling grateful for the support of family, friends, and healthcare professionals. It's these moments that put things into perspective and make me appreciate the everyday adventures all the more.
Over the next few weeks, I'm curious to see how the Esports leaderboard project evolves with the new ideas from the CodeTheCity event. I'm also looking forward to more Pickleball matches, hopefully catching that elusive Funky Red Pandas gig, and whatever else life has in store. Here's to making the most of every fortnight, come what may!
Until next time, take care and enjoy your own adventures, big and small. See you soon xx