Week 4 and it's a day late again. But, I've got a very good excuse this time. Wait till the end as the Instagram Reels say...
I had to pick up an old freelance project I inherited this week, just to make some tiny updates. Like 2 hours of work, if that, normally. This project is a full-on proper Jamstack. Craft CMS backend, hosted on Digital Ocean deployed using Forge. Frontend is Next.js, with TypeScript, hosted on Vercel. CSS is all Tailwind.
What an absolute nightmare to add a button. Just the worst. Update fields in Craft. Commit. Login to Forge. Deploy. Open front-end project. Add Button. Remember Tailwind and add the correct classes. Double-check GraphQL using GraphQLi (back in Craft). Update query in Next.js Project. Fight typescript for an hour as even though it thinks the object could be null, I know it never will be cos it's a static-built website. Commit. Findout Vercel has updated its plans, and now I need to log in as a different user on GitHub to trigger a deployment. Log in as a different user and commit the project.
I truly do get it for more complicated projects, but for simple brochure-ware sites, this is too much for Developers, clients, for budgets.
I need to look into WPengine or Kinsta's static hosting options, as clients don't really understand how they need 3 services to deploy 1 website to 2 different hosts. And why should they, it's our job as decent developers to understand it for them, in my opinion. Otherwise, just use Webflow or Squarespace. They really are quite good.
I finally registered for the GP near our flat a couple of weeks ago and visited for the first time in approximately 10 years. I needed to sort out my travel vaccinations, filled in the form and was told I'd get a callback. 2 weeks and less than 5 days before we fly, I go in again and am told I'll get a callback. An hour later I finally got the call to say they couldn't help me as I was flying out in less than 2 weeks' time. Great.
Anyway, booked in with Nomad, and less than 24 hours later I had all the Typhpid and Polio I could ask for, and £200 lighter. I appreciate that my GP is busy, but just tell me that at the time, not make me wait till it's too late.
But on that note, I am writing this from Kenya. On the flight, I managed 4 films:
A Real Pain - Not as great as I thought it would be. Kieran Culkin's character was just a bit too much of a pain, which I guess is the point/pun of the title. But I found myself wanting to follow the rest of the cast. But that ending shot is something else.
Juror #2 - Sort of as you expect, but some great face acting from Nicholas Holt, and again another cracking ending.
We Live In Time - Just lovley. A charming, real, funny, earnest exploration of love in your mid-30s. I didn't know about the time jumping going in, and thought it worked really well.
Nairobi takes a bit of getting your head around, and I don't think 24 hours is enough to really work it out. But we met up with one of Row's old work colleagues and went for a walk in an inner city forest. Felt like we wasted it a little bit, but we were tired and a bit overwhelmed. Plus we had a 6 am start the next day for the start of our 2 week Safari...