### What are #weeknotes ? Weeknotes are a great way for me to reflect on my week. I publish them in public because I believe it’s worth spreading our learnings to others. ### Personal stuff What a cracking week, I've: * Met up with Aurelia's friend from university, having a lovely dinner at a Vegan place in Newcastle called [The Ship](https://www.instagram.com/shipouseburn/?hl=en) * Grabbed a coffee and catch up with a friend at [Canny Goat in Heaton](https://www.instagram.com/thegoatheaton/?hl=en), putting the world to rights over a oat flat white * I _finally_ received my updated birth certificate, having been asking for this since 2022. It's nice being able to prove who I am! * Booked in our appointment at the local registry office for our 'intention of marriage' appointment, very exciting times for that * We're hoping to get married in the next few months, with the focus on having the right people around us Vs. having a big party (as we can always have a big party later) * Hosted a board game evening; celebrating a friends birthday at the same time! We played [Fuse](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171273/fuse) as our starter/warm up game and did very poorly (but had fun playing it), then diving into a big [Elder Sign](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/100423/elder-sign) game * We're spending this weekend at Aurelia's parents house; more on our fun travels in the next Weeknote! ### Professional stuff It's been a great week for work stuff too, here's what I've been up to: * Attended the [Tech NExt](https://www.technext.co.uk/) festival; a technology festival celebrating everything amazing happening in the North East. I left feeling buzzing about all the great things folks in the North East are building! Stellar work as always from [Jamie Hardesty](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiehardesty/) and the [Sunderland Software City](https://www.sunderlandsoftwarecity.com/) crew * Hosted a fireside chat as part of the Data and AI day alongside [Ian Cunningham](https://www.linkedin.com/in/iancun/) on "From Burnout to Breakthrough: How AI is Giving Teachers Their Time Back". It's never been about AI replacing teachers, it's about giving teachers a helping hand, getting them back to what they're good at - teaching! * Continued my one woman Government Digital Service crusade by hosting my second lunch and learn. I'm focusing on 101 level stuff, teaching the basics first, with even more exciting case studies and workshops in the pipeline. I'm getting some great feedback, folks seem to be enjoying the bitesized approach to learning * Signed an extension for another 6 months, so I'll be running havoc inside [hedgehog lab](https://hedgehoglab.com/) for a little longer! There's an internal war about people's opinions on Bounty's (the chocolate bar), clearly I need to start taking the lead here as Bounty's are GREAT You can find my other weeknotes here #weeknotes