Blogs Posts by Nick McHardy
Welcome to my blog, where I cover tech, games and whatever else that’s interesting in the universe like vinyl, fusion jazz and side projects.
This website is inspired by the web of the late 90s - no, not just the style of the site - but also harking back to a time when people would set up websites (probably on Geocities or similar) and write about anything that interested them. Most of the websites looked terrible (my first few sites were no exception) but it was so liberating having your own site. So here’s my modern-day version of that late 90s vibe.
Not sure where to start? Here are some blogs to get you started:
There’s also a 🍊 Garden Diary to check out. It’s sometimes updated as the seasons change.
Latest Posts
📅 Posted 2026-03-01
(3 minute read)
Every now and then, I’m reminded of values. Or more correctly, mis-matched values, at times and places I least expect it. It’s like there’s a hidden undercurrent that I’m not aware of, like a rip in the ocean, and it strikes when I’ve completely forgotten it’s a thing that can happen. I need to be more prepared as it usually comes as a bit startling.
Let me explain. This happened just yesterday, but it’s not the first time, so I thought worth writing about. I even remarked to Cynthia that I was going to write about ‘values’ and she said it was a very serious topic. Yes, it is!
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📅 Posted 2026-02-28
(7 minute read)
I know I missed a couple of blogs recently but alas, I was busy and totally forgot all about it. And I also didn’t have a blog ready in the pipe so I could just polish and publish. I was going so well on my 2026 target too!
A reminder I’m doing a weekly blog thing this year, with posts being published every Thursday (except this time, oops). One of my rules is “no AI generated content”, so instead it’s just me writing about whatever I feel like for that week. I’ll be putting some AI snippets in where relevant, such as when I wrote about Me and my friend Claude, but otherwise this is pretty old school and I think much better for it.
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📅 Posted 2026-02-05
(6 minute read)
Thursday again. Wow, this comes around fast. If you’re just joining me, I’ve been writing a blog-a-week since the start of 2026. Every Thursday. And it’s been going well, because I front-loaded my CMS with a few blogs as I thought of them ahead of time. Now I’ve got to the end of the pre-written material and I need to start picking up topics off my list.
Today’s topic is my first proper exploratioin of Claude Code, an AI coding assistant from Anthropic. He’s pretty much a peer programmer who you can pull into various typical software development tasks.
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📅 Posted 2026-01-29
(6 minute read)
… or at least it was for me.
Crucially (pun intended) before the giant DRAM price spike in late 2025, I built a new gaming PC. There was really completely wrong with my old PC and it had lasted me many years but it was just at that age of starting to show struggles with the latest games like Blue Prince. Blue Prince doesn’t feel like a very taxing game, however my PC did struggle to render the outdoor scenes where there was a lot of scenario in the frame. I’m using parts of my old PC right now to draft this blog and it continues to serve me well despite having a GTX 1070 from who-knows-when.
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📅 Posted 2026-01-22
(8 minute read)
For the past few years, I’ve really bulked up my CD collection. And just because it’s 2026, I’m not going to stop right now, at least not until I have all the albums I’m really keen on. Problem is, I keep discovering more albums I must have!
Why I collect CDs in 2026
While perusing the CD racks in an op-shop, there is a dopamine hit when you find something really good, you haven’t got, or is worth a bit on the used market. Sometimes I’ll check, mostly from a “is this CD even worth buying for $1 or would it be a waste” perspective. Sometimes I’m torn about buying something without listening to it. I haven’t got as far as bringing a Discman along, but I guess that’s an option.
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