The One with the Dog Ticket

The One with the Dog Ticket

This week I tell the story of a man on the tram who genuinely believed he didn’t need a ticket because technically the journey was for his dog, not for him. What followed was one of the strangest arguments I’ve witnessed on public transport, which is saying quite a lot at this point. ----- Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else. If you’d like more of me, head to hellodiggy.com [https://hellodiggy.com] There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect. If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog. Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form [https://heyitsdiggy.com/contact].

The One with the Comeback

I’m back. After taking a bit of an unexpected break from the podcast, I thought this episode would be a good chance to catch up on what I’ve been doing, why I disappeared for a few weeks, and how a simple character-count shortcut accidentally turned into me learning app development. Also, important context: I made the mistake of eating a Cajun burger right before recording. I am terrible with spicy food. So if I sound like I’m fighting for my life during parts of this episode… that’s why. IN THIS EPISODE I talk about why I needed to step away from recording for a little while and how difficult it became trying to balance podcasting with everything else going on in life. I chat about getting into a more consistent gym routine, preparing to eventually run the Manchester 10K, and discovering that regular running does actually make you feel better, which is deeply inconvenient for someone who enjoys sitting down. I also get into the strange world of Apple Shortcuts after trying to solve a very small problem that somehow consumed four hours of my life. What started as a simple idea for a text analysis shortcut quickly spiralled into building tools for my Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, including fantasy name generators, shop inventory generators, tavern name generators, and random loot systems. Eventually, I hit the limits of shortcuts entirely and decided to start learning proper app development using Swift and Xcode, with ChatGPT acting less like a chatbot and more like a coding tutor that never gets tired of my questions. Somewhere along the way, I accidentally started building what might eventually become a full D&D companion app. THE BIG REALISATION I’ve realised I learn best when I’m building something I genuinely care about. Tutorials never really stuck for me because once they ended, I had no reason to keep going. But the second I started building tools I actually wanted to use, everything changed. Suddenly I wanted to solve problems, understand systems, and keep improving things. Turns out the secret ingredient was hyper-fixation all along. Who could’ve guessed? LINKS * heyitsdiggy.com [https://heyitsdiggy.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] * Apple Shortcuts [https://support.apple.com/guide/shortcuts/welcome/ios?utm_source=chatgpt.com] * Xcode Developer Tools [https://developer.apple.com/xcode/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] THANKS FOR LISTENING If you enjoyed the episode, I’d really appreciate you sharing it around, leaving a review, or sending it to someone who has also convinced themselves they’re “just building a small tool” before accidentally creating an entire project ecosystem at 2am. ----- Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else. If you’d like more of me, head to hellodiggy.com [https://hellodiggy.com] There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect. If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog. Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form [https://heyitsdiggy.com/contact].

The One With the Brake-Checking Genius

A man gets angry at the wrong person and commits to the bit… all the way into a taxi. ----- Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else. If you’d like more of me, head to hellodiggy.com [https://hellodiggy.com] There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect. If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog. Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form [https://heyitsdiggy.com/contact].

The one with the gas man

What should have been a routine gas safety check turned into a bizarre encounter involving unpaid bill accusations, a “fake” boiler flame, and a faulty testing machine. ----- Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else. If you’d like more of me, head to hellodiggy.com [https://hellodiggy.com] There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect. If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog. Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form [https://heyitsdiggy.com/contact].

The one with the Mini and the Golf

From a beloved Mini to a disastrous Volkswagen Golf, this is the story of my best and worst cars, packed with breakdowns, chaos, and driving mishaps. ----- Thanks for listening. Genuinely. You could’ve been doing literally anything else. If you’d like more of me, head to hellodiggy.com [https://hellodiggy.com] There’s a blog, links to my socials, and the general digital clutter you’ve come to expect. If you prefer to read your podcasts there is a full transcript of every episode on the blog. Got feedback, a question, or a burning need to correct me? The best way to do that is via the form [https://heyitsdiggy.com/contact].