4 months to save 2020

Hey there,

Hope you’re doing OK this week? It’s Robin from CFD Engine & my week has been one of planning/strategising (i.e. procrastinating) after I realised that we only have 4 months to save 2020.

It’s almost September & that’s a strange time for me. Schools are going back, the “summer” is over (I haven’t had the grill out in 2020) & I’m starting to wind up my financial year (it ends in October). It’s an odd mix that feels like a new beginning & at the same time that the year is drawing to a close.

My financial year might be beyond repair, but there are 4 months (or 17 weeks, or 124 days) for us to salvage something from the dumpster fire that is 2020.

So, for the remainder of the year, I’m going to focus on increasing the quantity & quality of my content. I’m going to try a few new things & see what sticks. But, at the bare minimum, it will include…

OnCFD

I’m pleased with how the first few issues of this email have gone & I’m committed to making it a valuable addition to your inbox. I don’t have specific goals for it beyond writing something useful (or at least mildly interesting) every week. Your replies are always welcome. Your feedback makes it all worthwhile & helps me improve future notes for everyone.

Two OnCFD Favours – please share your feedback on these emails with me & please share OnCFD with any friends who might dig it 🙏 your help is much appreciated.

Themes

I owe you an update on my AWS process update (the current theme) & to be honest I’ve got nowhere near it. Nowhere near being able to share it anyway. #CFDlife & home life have clashed during the pandemic to ruin almost all good intentions. I’m hoping the new school year will unlock progress on lots of things, this in particular. Then onwards to the next theme, any ideas?

Podcast

I’d really like to see the podcast back before the year is out. It’s harder to produce episodes than you might imagine (or at least I make it hard work) so it’s not really sustainable in it’s current form. I need a new plan that includes fewer formal founder interviews & I need to tempt Simon back so that we can revive the Social 🙏

A Little Book

I’ve been writing a little OpenFOAM book. A non-technical, high-level primer for anyone thinking of diving into OpenFOAM. I’ll share more about it in future emails but, now I’ve mentioned it, you can hold me accountable.

Anything else?

I’ve got a few other things bubbling away that might surface in the remainder of the year, but this feels like a realistic focus for the end of the year.

Feel free to bounce this email back to me in January if/when I’ve not made them happen.

How has 2020 been for you? Is there enough time for you to save your year? Or has it not been too bad, all things considered? Keen to hear back from you, as always.

If there’s anything I can do to help save your 2020 then let me know, always happy to help.

Until next week, keep calm & mesh on,