Welcome into the world, Bobby Arthur Dunn! Our 3rd grandchild and 1st grandson. Born this morning 06:01, 8lbs 13 ozs. Can’t wait to see you in a few weeks, son!
Category: General (Page 1 of 2)
The Hobbit – I love my new Kindle, just not using it so much. I’m about 3/4 of the way through the book!
I’ll use the Kindle more in the evening now before getting some shut-eye (if I can pry my eyes off the iPad and those daft YouTube shorts).
I’ve just finished Duma Key by Stephen King, now it’s time for Under The Dome.
I’ve decided to revisit “Make Time” by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. I’ve been a GTD fan-boy for years, but I need something that’s simple, less heavy maintenance-wise… and fun. I’ll probably put a review up about the book when I’m done.
2 months down already? Wow.
Things are good, it’s been super busy at work, and me & Liz can’t wait to welcome our 3rd grandchild (and 1st grandson) Bobby into the world. Any day now…..!
This month will see the clocks rolling forward – very much looking forward to longer evenings. Loads of gar-Dunning to do.
This month will seal up the first quarter of the year. Loads to do this year!
I’ve already submitted the first of my (many) horticulture assignments – really hoping to make progress on another assignment this month – all about “how plants work”!
I’ve started GH900 and AZ204 studies, although work being so busy has meant not as much as I would have liked to do.
I’m still undecided about whether to set up a complementary YouTube channel. It might be fun -but it might all be more work than I have time to devote to. I’ll continue to drop in blog posts for the moment while I organise my thoughts about YouTube.
January was a tricky month!
After an amazing Christmas break, January seemed to run so sloooooow.
Getting back to work has been a little tough due to health issues, and 2026 is shaping up to be a super-busy year. Loads of organisational structural change. Not a bad thing, but getting better organised has been my job for January.
And I’ve mostly done that. I’ve worked out what I want to study this year, work we’re doing in the house and the garden and sorting out my “life pockets” – those categories that everything fits into.
Managed to sort out my planner requirements for the remainder of the year with what I think could well be my ultimate analogue planning tools.
Made the usual million lists (or boards, in Todoist – more of this sometime soon) of things I’d like to achieve every quarter and every month for both work and home. I’m feeling in a good place to do them, for once!
Home-wise, there’s loads to do. I bought a new propagator recently, so I’m immediately sorting my plant seeds for this year. Our shed outside has some wood damage, so I’ll need to get that sorted and repaired. I’ve already ripped the interior apart to reorganise all my tools and stuff. Other Gar-dunn-ing jobs this month include moving a few trees around, clearing pots… and probably having a mega tip run at the end of Feb.
The lawn looks like The Somme thanks to our nutty English Springer Spaniel Marley, and the terrible wet weather. I’ll probably have to wait until May before I can start doing repairs on it. Drainage is really rough, and Marley’s carved his own little runway out.
Joined the gym (again), so looking to get some upper body stuff going, as well as shedding the odd stone or 8.
My dad’s grandfather clock, which he built back in the 90s, will be repaired and serviced at last. It stopped working about 5 years ago and Mum never bothered to get it repaired. It’ll be great to have it working again. Not cheap… but it’s a lovely bit of furniture – and having it working again will bring back some fond memories of him.
And last, but absolutely not least, my grandson Bobby will come into the world. The Dunn line will go on!!
Right. let’s get this Feb Party started. š
February sees me reading:
The Hobbit (J.R.R Tolkien) -Dang it. I’m still 60% of the way through this book, didn’t read any of it in January. Time to finish it!
Blaze (Stephen King)
Once I’ve completed Blaze I’ll be listening to the full-cast editions of the Harry Potter books from Audible. Not exactly stimulating the grey matter, but definitely fun.
Other books are far too nerdy and boring but necessary for my learning things in 2026 – GitHub, Azure and Horticultural things!
I decided to take Naomi’s (from Todoist) excellent post, suggesting we use the whole of January to decide on the best learning activities to take.
I think it’s really helped me pause for breath and play around with a few learning topics.
And here’s my selections for ’26.
- Horticulture Studies – this is a course I picked up around August last year, but I have not found the time to work on (lots of building projects going on last year!). I’m working through the first few modules now, and am hoping to get my first assignment in shortly. Learning and working on horticulture projects is a great way for me to learn about the gardening things I love to do – and hope to do for many years to come.
- AZ-204 Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure – Microsoft certification. This will become increasingly important as my workplace is now shifting significantly to the cloud. I’m looking forward to getting stuck in to it. Time to blow the dust of my Azure subscription.
- GH-900 GitHub Foundations Certification – useful for personal projects I’m working on, but even more so as it’s clear that Microsoft are ploughing dollars into GitHub. I’m betting that Azure DevOps will get morphed into GitHub Enterprise in the next few years. This looks like a fun little qualification, and will almost certainly help me bring a few Git skills up to date.
January sees me reading:
The Hobbit (J.R.R Tolkien) – I took a break from this book in December to read all of A Christmas Carol, and all of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall Trilogy!
Lizey’s Story (Stephen King)
Slow Productivity (Cal Newport)
Happy New Year!
I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year break. The home looked great, we had wonderful food, drink and company, walked our nutter Springer Spaniel at the beach and the park, and I read loads. The perfect Christmas holiday, canāt wait for the next one.
Unfortunately (Iām kidding, itās all good), there are 50 weeks in the way before the next Christmas break, so Iād better get my act together and fill in the gaps with the best life I can make.
Iāve got a few things I want to do. Whatever it is, I want to see it through, and be relentless and steadfast in getting stuff done. Tenacious, yup, that’s the word.
Aside from the usual ālose weightā goal for every year (modestly budgeted for this year, despite having a ton of weight to lose), Iāve got some key things I want to achieve, based on my life āpocketsā:
Purpose: I will refine my productivity system to work better for me. I reintroduced paper into my system last year ā I love it ā and Iām going to make it work better for me in 2026. Iām also toying with the idea of starting a YouTube channel ā something fun and possibly even the launchpad for a side hustle into and beyond my retirement. Iāll be getting the planning paper out in January!
Health: More dog-walking needed! Good for me, good for Marley. Better food choices and exercise. Simples!
Money: Less is more ā better financial decisions, savings strategies and investing for retirement.
Home: There were huge expenses last year getting things done inside and outside. Weāre getting the exterior of the house painted this year, and weāre refining and improving inside the house. Minimalism will be key this year, stripping out whatās not needed and focusing on quality for what remains.
Work: The biggest item on my list is to say No. I donāt do it enough and consequently fall behind on other, more important projects.
Leisure: Read better. I read around 30 books last year, I want to read more paper books, and use my new awesome Christmas gift ā the Kindle Paperwhite signature edition. Bigger screen, awesome battery life, wireless charging. My garden is so important to my physical and mental health. I want to get better at what I do, thereās lots of infrastructure things to get right ā a good year for getting stuck in. Oh, and completing my Horticulture course.
Learning: Iām studying Azure this year, as well as my Horticulture course. Iāll also be continuing with DevOps and testing learning this year for my job.
Relationships: Listen deeper and talk less! Cultivate my relationships with my best mates (we call ourselves The 4 Old Gits), family, and our wonderful Springer spaniel, Marley. Iāll be proud to welcome my grandson Bobby into the world next month too!
Right. Letās get this party started.
This year’s watchword is TENACITY.
Cell (Stephen King)
The Hobbit (J.R.R Tolkien)
Slow Productivity (Cal Newport)
A Christmas Carol (Dickens)
Dreamcatcher (Stephen King)
From a Buick 8 (Stephen King)
The Hobbit (J.R.R Tolkien)
Getting Things Done (David Allen)
Haven’t quite read as much in October as I would have liked, but I’m really enjoying The Hobbit. A fun read.
Also continuing with Stephen King books I’ve never read before, very different styles for each I think!
Finally, it’s the annual revisit of Getting Things Done, all about the wonderful, common-sense framework for, well, getting things done!