Hello, Iโm Barry (he/him), a software engineer and technology leader with experience building teams, websites and apps. I live in a village in Hertfordshire, UK, with my wife and two sons.
This is my personal website where I post all my articles, notes, photos, bookmarks and checkins using my own software. View the full archives.
Read more about me, how to contact me and how to follow me.
Weeknotes
Recently
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Week 235 - Donut
I woke up on Monday morning in a Premier Inn family room in Portsmouth. We had stayed overnight (see last week) and it was... -
Week 234 - Ships
My car is back from the bodyshop at long last. Iโve missed it. This week I had my annual three-day run of Valentineโs Day... -
Week 233 - Rain
Will the rain ever end? A few sniffles and coughs in the house this week which I inevitably caught, so I was... -
Week 232 - Dinosaur
My car is away being repaired after it was clipped in a car park before Christmas. Iโm borrowing a Mercedes A-Class from the... -
Week 231 - Key
I was back in our Cambridge office this week for a couple of face-to-face chats and a free lunch. The company are announcing... -
Week 230 - Snooker
This week, I went back up to Ally Pally for the Masters snooker. I think this is the seventh year in a row (ignoring Covid)... -
Week 229 - Escape
On the last day before returning to school and work we all challenged ourselves at the Agent Brains escape room in... -
Week 228 - Games
I really enjoy the post-Christmas lull. Weโve caught up on sleep, enjoyed long walks around parks in Stevenage and Hertford,... -
Week 227 - Christmas
Christmas week followed a welcome and familiar pattern: we hosted a set of parents (mine this year), I did the cooking and L... -
Week 226 - Repair
Itโs been my last week of work for the year. Apart from planning a few new customer engagements for January, itโs been... -
Week 225 - Lunch
We had our company Christmas event this week. It was a much scaled-back affair compared to last yearโs overnight party at a... -
Week 224 - Piano
Last year I forgot to get L an advent calendar. The last-minute Paw Patrol effort from the corner shop wasnโt well received.... -
Week 223 - AI
Itโs Black Friday/week. I had previously noted down potential presents for L and the boys which I hoped would be discounted.... -
Week 222 - Negroni
Double Nelson for week 222. It was my birthday. While our boys were at school, L took to me to the opening morning of the... -
Photos from our visit to Wes Anderson: The Archives at the Design Museum in London today.




Categories
- #film
- #indie
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Week 221 - Power
It may be the changing of seasons and gloomier days, but Iโve found myself a little down this week. Getting outside for... -
Week 220 - Bang
I joined Andy at the Leicester Square Theatre for Russell Howardโs warm-up show. Scrappy, in-progress shows where the... -
Week 219 - Paint
Itโs November already. Itโs school half-term. The leaves are changing colour. Halloweโen is over. Christmas awaits. While I... -
Week 218 - Otters
H reached double figures this week, celebrating his tenth birthday ๐. His family treat was an otter-feeding experience at... -
Week 217 - Lawn
This Tuesday marked 25 years since I posted my very first blog post. It was the first of 84 entries on my travelblog which I... -
Gigs in October: The Beta Band at the Roundhouse and Gene at Hammersmith Apollo.



Categories
- #music
- #gene
- #thebetaband
- #london
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Week 216 - Flying
I spent the last week in sunny San Diego for work. I met up with the rest of our Professional Services leadership team for... -
Week 215 - Bongo
I had two London gigs this week in one weekend. Crazy. First up was The Beta Band at the Roundhouse with Andy. They played... -
Week 214 - Last-minute
Iโve booked flights for another work trip to our San Diego HQ next month. Thereโs not much glamour in transatlantic work... -
Week 213 - Grown-up
We visited a local secondary school with H this week. He has two years to go at his primary school but we wanted to get an... -
Week 212 - Together
I organised a two-day in-person workshop for my team this week. Although Iโm contractually linked to our Cambridge office,... -
Week 211 - School
We travelled back from last weekโs holiday on Ibiza. It wasnโt exactly a warm welcome home at Stansted airport: we had an... -
Week 210 - Ibiza
Iโve been on holiday with my family. We spent the week in the sun on Ibiza, near Cala Pada beach. We stayed in a resort on... -
Week 209 - Firsts
The rest of the family came back from their stay at Lโs parentsโ and normality resumed. Iโd missed their happy chaos. At... -
Week 208 - Banana
My wife and children are staying at her parentsโ, enjoying the neighbourโs swimming pool, bat-watching and the local... -
Week 207 - Yurt
I had a busy few days of work at home while the rest of my family joined Lโs parents glamping in Northamptonshire. They... -
Frost boys wearing our Arsenal shirts, climbing the stairs into the Emirates Stadium. Dad wearing 14 Gyรถkeres, sons wearing 9...

Categories
- #arsenal
- #family
- #personal
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Week 206 - Spicy
I spent the day at the Oval on Thursday for the first day of the fifth test of England v India. The weather forecasts were... -
Week 205 - Ticket
I was one of the lucky few to see Oasis on the first night of their reunion tour at Wembley. Andy and I met up with Matt who... -
Oasis - first night at Wembley 2025

Categories
- #music
- #uk
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Iโm off to Wembley later to see Oasis ๐ฅณ which completes the Britpop Big Four of gigs within the last two years: Blur (Wembley in 2023), Suede (Ally Pally in 2024), Pulp (O2 in June) and now Oasis.
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Week 204 - Kong
I took the day off on Tuesday for a well-needed lunch in London with old friends/colleagues. The sunny weather had ended but... -
Week 203 - Alarmed
I got through to the final boss elbow consultant. He made my arm click when rotating but was optimistic Iโd be able to fully... -
Week 202 - Garden
Iโve been tracking my blood pressure twice a day for the last couple of weeks. It was prompted by a routine check-up where... -
Week 201 - Mice
Iโve been hearing scratching noises in my office wall recently, especially behind one of the power sockets. I unscrewed the... -
Week 200 - Super-soaker
It must have been hot this week: the bedroom Dyson fan was turned to 10, curtains were shut in the daytime and the paddling... -
Week 199 - Bucket
Pulp were even better than I expected at the Oโ. Andy, Matt, Mike and I joined the other nineties indie kids, along with a... -
Week 198 - Gaming
We have a Switch 2! I missed the pre-orders and so assumed Iโd have to wait, but on launch day I found one in stock at Argos... -
Week 197 - Elbow
Another welcome Bank Holiday Monday. The sun was shining and so I took my youngest across the road to the park with his... -
Week 196 - Glasses
Iโve been enjoying a nostalgic look back through archives of the Warwick Boar โ the student newspaper I worked on from 1997... -
Week 195 - Winners
The last time I saw Rialto was in the nineties with Andy while we were students. We saw them again this week at Scala. Big... -
Week 194 - Flowers
Yet another welcome bank holiday Monday to start the week. Ignoring the boysโ protests, we dragged them away from their... -
OpenAI buys Windsurf for $3B. Not bad for โjustโ a VSCode fork. As an early Windsurf paying customer, Iโm curious but wary of what comes next.
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Week 193 - Repair
Itโs been shorts weather. Lovely. I decided to invest in our backup setup at home. Although our Macs and photos are backed... -
Week 192 - Smell
Poppy the cat had a couple of accidents this week. First, she weeโd on my pants left in a washing pile in our bedroom. The...