Thanks to the England game going to extra time my 26 day streak of 10,000+ steps a day ends here.

Man alive that was stressful! Get in England. #worldcup ⚽️

This hot weather we’re getting in the UK at the moment is causing havoc with Touch ID. I’ve never had it fail on me so often.

This is a very interesting article about the influence of Facebook and Google has over society and the unbalanced discourse that has been growing over recent years. It’s been a recurring concern of mine about Micro.blog and the many calls I’ve seen on there for diversity. They have rarely, if ever, included calls for people who take a more conservative stance. Balance is something that is needed if the service is to avoid the pitfalls that created the echo chambers we find on Twitter and Facebook now.

Very enjoyable Friday afternoon designing webpages for the studio I’m working for a day a week. Genuinely really enjoying being able to stretch myself on new types of projects and working in new ways.

Whilst it’s been enjoyable having the World Cup on a lot at the moment, the Championship fixtures were announced today. Forest kick off the season to the team my best mate supports, Bristol City. Great way to start the season. #worldcup #nffc

This week has been the first one for years that I’ve spent more time doing design work than I have working as a barista. It’s been so enjoyable, not to mention exhausting, and at times frustrating but here’s to some more weeks like this in the future.

Productive day working on client projects, managed to solve a problem that had been driving me mad and holding up. Always nice when that happens. Finished up my day with dinner at Wagamama’s for a friend who is moving to Spain and then a nice walk to get my 10k steps done.

Been working with a local web design studio the last couple of weeks, they use Sketch so I’ve finally been forced to use it. Giving it a go with one of my freelance clients now, really enjoying it so far.

Made the move back to Apple Music yesterday. Spotify just doesn’t click for me, I don’t find it as nice to use. Apple Music isn’t perfect but it works for me.

It’s World Cup day, a month of football on tv nearly everyday. Looking forward to it! ⚽️ #worldcup

Finishing the weekend with some music, a glass of wine, and Cereal magazine. Great to have a productive and restful weekend in the sun, even if I do have pink arms now… God is good.

Church this morning and then a chance to continue hanging out with my church family in the sun with a church picnic in the park. Lovely way to top up the vitamin D.

Finally got around to using the latest update of Things on my iPad with a keyboard attached. Incredible work.

Back from work in time for the WWDC keynote just in time. This is usually my favourite event Apple do, software has all the exciting things.

Just back from seeing Solo. Enjoyed it on the whole but can’t work out where it fits in the timeline, some bits just don’t line up.

Switched the domain of my blog this morning from philbowell.com to philbowell.blog. Think I’ve managed to transfer everything all ok, and got the redirect working fine. Wondering if there’s a way to only redirect pages beyond the home page. I’d quite like to make the .com a bit of an index to point people to either my portfolio or my blog depending on what they’re looking for. Something for another time for now.

Changing the main domain I use for my freelance design work to use philbowell.design. Not sure what to use as my email: phil@ seems like repetition; hello@ seems ok for initial contact but weird for ongoing relationships; desk@ seems a bit impersonal… any suggestions?

Ending the working with a beer to celebrate an exciting email I got this afternoon while watching the Giro d’Italia highlights from today.

Hmmm, this Instapaper thing seems a bit sketchy. Anyone got any replacement recommendations aside from Pocket?

So 1Password just released a new version of their Mac app. Seems like they are really pushing you towards the subscription model, but something about that just makes me feel uncomfortable.

Reflecting back on a really nice weekend. A great balance of time with friends and family, being productive, and time to myself to recharge the batteries. To go with is all we have the arrival of summer with the sun shining and weather warm enough for shorts all weekend.

If there’s one thing Britain does well, it’s pomp and pageantry. Love it. The Royal Family is a massive part of our heritage, so great. Also, it’s so nice to see Windsor again, forgot how nice a place it is and actually am missing that it was just over the road and that I used to go most weekends.

Relaxed start to the weekend meeting my parents for breakfast. Now watching the Royal Wedding before a bit of portfolio work this afternoon.

A couple of weeks ago I decided I was going to try and watch less TV/Netflix in the evening. I decided I’d allow myself an hour or so when I got home from my shift at the coffee shop to unwind and then I’d turn it off and do something productive or useful. Seems to be working pretty well so far. I’ve been able to improve the new theme for my blog a bit, posted far more regularly, read more articles, read more non-fiction books, listened to more music, and made progress on my new portfolio website. Here’s to this resolution lasting.