I’ve just adding a plugin (“WP Twitter Auto Publish”) which I think will auto post my blog entries to Twitter…
So this isn’t a very imaginative one, but gotta test it somehow!
Update – All seems to work. I’ve deleted the tweet it generated now.
Quick shout out to Scott Hanselman, who recently gave an ACM tech talk on running Linux Apps on Windows, which I would recommend.
First, as is perhaps often the way, an “off-topic” comment of his struck me, and partially inspired this post. I paraphrase from memory.
I always think that we have a limited number of keypresses in our life, so I want to use them well. If someone asks me a question, I blog the answer so that the keypresses live on. E-mails are where keypresses go to die.
Anyway, aside from the stuff I learnt about WSL, there were a couple of other gems in this talk which I wanted to flag up.
This is a flat / peer to peer VPN topology built on top of WireGuard that looks really nice. You connect all your devices (PC, server, phone, docker container, EC-2 instance) to your Tailscale network, and they are all visible to one another with static 10.x IP addresses.
I haven’t had a play with Tailscale yet, but I did set up WireGuard on a raspberry pi, and put the client on my phone, so I can now access my home private network from my phone even when I’m out and about. It could barely have been easier to set up (did have some fun and games with some of the dependencies on the pi, but reddit saw me good). My use case is probably more allowing my kids to play Factorio or Minecraft together even when they’re not in the same house. Obviously there are many other ways to solve this problem, but this one is essentially free.
Tailscale looks even nicer – my reading is that is is essentially adding a management layer to WireGuard, so all your devices can automagically join the network without needing to know all the other devices certificates and IP addresses ahead of time.
Windows Terminal
Windows Terminal is the long overdue replacement (ish) to the Windows command prompt. Scott has another post on the difference between a console, a terminal, and a shell.
Windows terminal basically brings the command prompt up to date, with multiple windows/tabs, configurable menus, and so on.
I’ve been using at work this week, and it is just a much nicer way of managing the varioius command prompts I usually have open for Docker, Git bash, Powershell, SSH, etc. Possibly my favourite thing is the ability to add the Visual Studio command prompt as a menu item. While I hardly ever use it, it alwys seems to take me ages to find it on the Windows start menu.
Apologies for radio silence – it has been a super super busy couple of months; starting a new job, finishing my curacy, getting work done on the house… and that’s before the ongoing covid excitements.
I do have a backlog of photos to upload at some point – I haven’t given up on it all together!
The Bishop of Leeds is pleased to announce the appointment of The Revd Dr James Handley, currently Assistant Curate of Harrogate St Mark, as Associate Priest of Harrogate St Mark in the Ripon Episcopal Area.
The licensing will be conducted by Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley on Sunday 25th July 2021
Well, my curacy has finished!
I received the letter today from the Bishop signing me off – my initial ministerial education is complete.
Like the rest of the world, the past 12-18 months have been like nothing I’ve ever experienced or could have expected, and I don’t think I can even start to do it justice in a short piece like this. But I did want to mark the occasion.
The massive thing about my curacy for me has been the discovery of Self Supporting Ministry as something other than Stipendiary-Lite, and this is a journey I am still on. “There is no one way of being a priest” (++Rowan Williams)
As for next steps – I am going to become an Associate Minister (SSM), and continue to explore workplace ministry in my new software job, and hopefully continue to publish my theological thoughts and reflections along the way.
For now it is celebration and a sense of achievement, and enormous thanks to all those who have walked alongside me on the way, not least of whom is my wonderful wife and children.
I’ve just noticed a little milestone has come and gone.
On the 9th May 2011 – i.e. ten years ago – I posted my first ever 365 photo, which was (I think aptly enough) a signpost:
Since then I have posted 2,006 photos (so picture 2,000 was another milestone I guess), clearly not 365 a year (more like 200), but still pretty good going I reckon.
I really enjoyed the Lent Challenge, with a word to inspire every day, and I am now doing an ABC challenge, where each week is inspired by a different letter of the alphabet.
I do have some other (good) news of a more personal nature, but that needs to wait just a little bit longer…
As I have now entered the fourth, and hopefully final, year of curacy, I thought it was about time for an update (seeing as this blog is supposed to be a record of my curacy journey)!
As I posted in the September last year, I have been trying to think and reflect a lot more about Self Supporting Ministry, and reading as many books as I can find on the subject (and there aren’t an awful lot). Part of the upshot of this was a realisation that I needed to give my day job (and ministry there) more respect – it isn’t something I can just fit in on top of a leadership role and parish ministry.
So my final year of curacy is going to have a somewhat different shape – instead of working 4 days a week in paid employment, and then spending on day a week at church doing parish things, I am rather going to continue in my 4 days a week at work (albeit different days), and then have the other day a week to build in some time and space. To be honest, curacy has been a real struggle in terms of my own head-space, and I have found it really hard not having time on my own to process stuff. I guess the final straw came for me when I realised that I wasn’t giving my best at work, or behaving in the way I wanted to towards my colleagues, because I was essentially running on empty.
I’m anticipating that this change will allow to me to be a bit more intentional in both resourcing and exploring what (priestly) ministry in the (secular) workplace might be about.
In practical terms, it means I have now stepped back from parish ministry and being a member of the staff team at church (which has been an interesting experience in itself). I am very much still a licensed member of clergy, and continue with leading services and preaching – these are things which I believe are at the heart of the ministry God is calling me to. However I am no longer particularly involved in the pastoral and occasional offices, or indeed any specific area of ministry, or church governance (except that I still serve on PCC and Deanery Synod).
Of course, this beautiful new plan was all pre-covid19 – and while I have indeed stepped back from parish ministry, it has been replaced with a perfect storm at my paid job, and home schooling on my days not at work, as well as supporting my wife as a front-line worker. The picture since the start of term in September has been slightly better – work has calmed down, and I have had a couple of Fridays to myself; but to be honest life is still pretty tough in our household, as I know it is for lots of households.
My “365” project has had a fresh lease of life recently, since I started almost entirely using my phone camera. It hugely simplifies the workflow (as the photos are auto uploaded from the phone), and also means I’m not lugging around my DSLR.
It does mean that the photos are more like snapshots, and perhaps less considered, but I’m quite enjoying the freedom of not really having many options around aperture, shutter, etc. It’s kind of the instagram philosophy I guess.
I recently did a live streamed church service from home, and along the way learned what is needed to get certain types of microphone to work.
I have a couple of microphones I use for video work – I have a Rode VideoMic GO shotgun microphone and a Rode SmartLav+ label microphone.
I use my Canon DSLR for filming stuff, and almost any external mic is a huge improvement on the built-in one, so this has worked well.
However, when I plugged either of these into my laptop for the broadcast, I had to boost the gain, which in turn introduced a hum/buzz, and it was also picking up some internal computery noises. No problem, think I – I have an old mixer with mic pre-amps, let’s use that, and provide a line level input to the laptop.
No joy at all – no signal. These mics both have 3.5mm TRS jacks (actually the SmartLav comes with a TRRS, but I have a converter). My Mixer has XLR or 1/4″ TS or TRS inputs, so I try various converters. Absolutely nothing.
I then discover that these sort of microphones (unlike, say, an SM58) need a power supply, in the form of a voltage between the tip and the sleeve – called a DC Bias. This is only around 3v, and if you try to run phantom power down it, you will most likely fry the mic.
I found a few old YouTube videos of inline power supplies people has bought on eBay – but my searches brought up nothing. Until I found this page: Powering Microphones by Tomi Engdahl. I had a look at his circuits, and thought to myself, “I could make one of those”, so I did, and it worked!
It does give a bit of a “thump” when you plug it in, or turn it on, which I guess is due to the capacitor (presumably I have the wrong sort), but it provides a solid, if slightly low, level from the smartlav to the mixer pre-amp. I wonder if 3 AAs might have been a better bet, and 3V is a little low. Or maybe the 2.2K resistor is to high (or low), and provides too much (or too little impedance)? I confess I lose my way a little with microphone impudence, but figured it was worth a shot, as I was unlikely to blow up either my microphone or the mixer from 2 AA batteries.
My final circuit is shown below. I ordered all the parts from CPC Farnell, as follows:
I originally designed it with a single 3.5mm jack, however the order quantity was 2, so I decided to have a stereo 3.5mm output option, with the rings of the 2 jacks directly connected (shown in blue).
The only purpose of the LED is to show when the box is switched on.
A days work drilling out the mount holes for the LED, jacks, and switch, and the job was a good ‘un. It was all a little bit tight in the potting box, and I don’t think a 3 AA battery holder would fit inside, but I’m quite happy with it, and it even works!
A few weeks ago, I was praying with someone, and I had what I believe was a prophetic word from God for them. While it was for them personally, it came back to me this morning as a much wider word for our times.
The essence was about seeking God in the “micro” choices. In the right now. Don’t worry about what’s going to happen in 3 months, 6 months, 5 years, or even next week. Just here. And now. What is God saying to you about the next 5 minutes, 30 minutes? How are you going to be aware of Him, and be full of Him right now? What choice are you going to make about what you are going to do right now.
I think this is a key question for our time, even before Covid-19, but especially since. It seems so much of our “go to” is a device – at least it is for me and my household. Switching on the TV, flicking through BBC News app, checking e-mail, Twitter, Instagram, … How easy to grab for the phone, or laptop, or remote when we have 5 minutes ‘spare’, and are not sure what to do. It’s easy to live live at a hundred miles an hour, and to try and cram as much as possible into every second.
“Devices” aren’t inherently bad – in fact they have been almost literally a lifeline for some people, and hugely important for society. It is astonishing to me that my working and church life has become virtual/online almost overnight. Never-the-less part of my Lent this year was giving up video games (Candy Crush, or Mario Karts, or whatever) – in part because I recognise that it easily becomes something I reach for when I’m bored, or tired, or feeling insecure, or anxious, or trying to put something off, or avoiding something, or there’s a “y” in the day, or it’s after 9am, or … The thing I really noticed was how much extra time and head space this freed up, even though I thought it was only 5 minutes here and there.
The truth is we are constantly faced with choices about how we use our time. Every minute, every second, every breath is a gift from God. Every day we have choice moments – “what am I going to do next?”. Perhaps it’s living with an extremely energetic 9 year old, but I get “What can I do now?” several times a day! Each of these moments, these cusps, are a chance to try and hear the Spirit’s whisper in our ears. “Do nothing for a bit”. “Why not go outside” (if you can). “Do the crossword”. “What about that TV programme you wanted to watch?”. “Pray for you family”. “Make a menu and shopping list for next week”. “Play a game of cards”. “Make that phone call you’ve been putting off”.
I’m not suggesting a super-spirituality – just a kind of walking with God throughout the day. The truth is that I know full well when I am doing something I shouldn’t, or wasting time, or neglecting my responsibilities. But I also have days when I am much more aware and present. Where I’m not reacting to the day’s events, or how I’m feeling, but making intentional choices – pausing at each moment, before each activity, and asking the question “is this what God wants me to do right now?”
The backdrop of this all is of course anxiety – even before Covid-19. Worry about the future. Constant activity. Jesus response to this is “Do not worry”. God’s gift to us is peace.
Some practical pointers, then, from my own experience:
Firstly – slow down! Rushing from one activity to another is a sure fire way to increase stress and anxiety. Just pause between one thing and the next. If you do have a fixed time for something – like a live stream, or a meeting – don’t try and cram in lots of extra stuff before it. Instead be ready for it a few minutes early, and be still. Even something as simple as boiling the kettle or going to the loo can be a pause point – resist the temptation to pick up your device!!
Secondly, make a list of everything you want to do, or need to remember. I am a huge fan of lists, and trying to remember everything in your head is another source of anxiety and stress. It also helps with living in the now. I’ve finished my crossword – look at list – ah yes I need to put the slow cooker on for supper this evening.
Finally when things start to feel overwhelming, when your chest tightens, and tears threaten, you could try something like the “Apple” technique from AnxietyUK (and posted on BBC News). This seems to me to very close to prayer – or at least could very naturally lead into prayer.
Try practising the APPLE technique which encourages you to Acknowledge, Pause, Pull back, Let go and Explore..
Acknowledge – Notice and acknowledge the uncertainty as it comes to mind.
Pause – Don’t react as you normally do. Don’t react at all. Just pause and breath.
Pull back – Tell yourself this is just the worry talking, and this apparent need for certainty is not helpful and not necessary. It is only a thought or feeling. Don’t believe everything you think. Thoughts are not statements or facts.
Let go – Let go of the thought or feeling. It will pass. You don’t have to respond to them. You might imagine them floating away in a bubble or cloud.
Explore – Explore the present moment, because right now, in this moment, all is well. Notice your breathing and the sensations of your breathing. Notice the ground beneath you. Look around and notice what you see, what you hear, what you can touch, what you can smell. Right now. Then shift your focus of attention to something else – on what you need to do, on what you were doing before you noticed the worry, or do something else – mindfully with your full attention.
https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/blog/health-and-other-forms-of-anxiety-and-coronavirus/
May you walk this day alongside the 3 mile-an-hour God, who Himself walked on earth.
May you do no more and no less than He is calling you this day, here and now.
May you hear the Spirit’s soft whisper, saying “this is the path – walk in it”.
Amen.