December 2018

Sassbot

I ended up writing 400 words of fic and working nigh-on continuously on the bot, adding myriad improvements and setting things up for the future.

The first big thing was that the community moved from IRC to Discord, so I had to get the bot ported over asap! That took me two nights, with the most essential functionality available that first night. Initially the move seemed uncertain, such that there may have been a split or dual-usage, but as Discord got more familiar it emerged as the clear favourite. Following that, the bot was initially ported to be available on both media at once, but IRC support was dropped fairly quickly, lifting a huge burden off development and testing time.

During the month an incident happened that put us in contact with the Australian community, especially its resident bot and developer, Winnie and Dawnbug. That may spark off interesting collaborative arrangements.

Its todo list and scope has grown, and there is more to come!

Laser

The engraver still hasn’t arrived. I’ve been in contact with the importer, who’s had some supplier trouble. It miiight make it before Yule season overwhelms the post, or else in January.

Sec cons

Purplecon was highly informative and very well put together. Unsure if it will continue, but I would definitely go back, as the more… sensible… part of the week.

Kiwicon was an experience. It’s definitely the fun conference. I had lots to bring back to everyone, including new Te Reo words for papa, insight in the security aspects of tech we’d been looking at for work, some swag for colleagues, and the knowledge I do okay in big conferencing crowds for myself.

That last one will come in handy for next year’s Worldcon!