Sunday, February 18, 2024
There is absolutely no shortage of productivity methods and content out there, especially in the “influencer” racket. I’m quite sure that there is no one true way to be productive. In fact, I think there’s some merit to switching up my approach on occasion, just to reinvigorate my interest.
To that end, I’ve really appreciated the MacSparky Productivity Field Guide. I find the roles based approach suits me really well, as I try to juggle multiple parts of my life, while the intentionality it creates helps with prioritizing and staying engaged.
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Wednesday, January 3, 2024
I kept busy in 2023 with triathlon training. As a reference point for next year, here’s a comparison of 2023 with 2022.
My running was surprisingly consistent. Although the totals are almost identical, I do think that my structured workouts were much better in 2023. Each run had a purpose and all were part of a bigger plan.
There was a trade off for cycling between indoors and outdoors. In 2023, I couldn’t quite get aligned with most of the outdoor group rides.
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Sunday, December 31, 2023
I read some great books in 2023.
My favourite fiction book was The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. Non-fiction was Enemy of All Mankind by Steven Johnson.
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
As a follow up to my Duel of the Defaults post, I’ve made a few changes. These are all based on further adopting app defaults to simplify things.
📰 RSS: I’ve swapped out Feedbin for iCloud as the backend for NetNewsWire. Although I really like the Feedbin service, my primary use of it is to access my feeds via a web browser at work. In an attempt to limit my feed reading to just once in the morning and once in the evening, switching to iCloud means that only my personal iPhone has access.
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Saturday, November 4, 2023
Episode 097 of the Hemispheric Views podcast held a fun Duel of the Defaults! competition.
Here’s my list. I’ve really shifted to defaults over the past year. I’m conflicted about this: I really like a good indie app, yet find my needs don’t justify the complexity of using non-defaults.
✉️ Mail Client: Apple Mail 📨 Mail Server: iCloud Custom Email Domain 📝 Notes: Apple Notes ✅ To-Do: Reminders 📷 iPhone Photo Shooting: Camera.
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Thursday, September 28, 2023
Discussions about transit often end up about funding. To help make these discussions productive, I was pleased to co-author a paper through the Transportation Association of Canada titled Importance of Transportation Funding: Framing the Issues.
Working on this with David Kriger, Nick Lovett, Yonghai Xiao, Vahid Ayan, Andrew Devlin, Tamim Raad, and Haytham Sadeq was delightful.
Here’s the abstract:
Transportation funding is becoming an important topic of discussion at all levels of Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) councils and committees, reflecting discussions that are taking place throughout the Canadian transportation community.
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Tuesday, September 26, 2023
As predicted, after a couple of months with the Apple Podcasts app, I’m back to Overcast.
I think that Apple’s Podcasts app is great for anyone new to podcasts, given it has a strong focus on discovering new shows. I’m looking for a podcast app that simply plays my carefully curated, short list of podcasts. With Apple Podcasts, I kept finding new episodes of shows I didn’t intend to subscribe to in my queue.
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Thursday, January 26, 2023 →
What I think about when I say goodbye to my beloved dying pet
But it was still deeply upsetting. My eyes started to water just writing about it. The good death of a beloved animal who has led a good life is both sad and OK. The inescapability of mortality means we have to accept it but we don’t have to feel good about it.
Reading this brought back memories of our prior black lab, Ceiligh, and our decision to euthanize her once she was diagnosed with significant and incurable cancer.
In addition to everything described in this essay, two other factors made this a very difficult decision:
- We made the choice on her behalf. Of course, we made the choice to reduce her suffering, but it was still an active choice for which we were accountable.
- Our kids were young enough to not have experienced much loss yet, while also old enough to understand what was happening. Explaining to them why this was the best outcome was difficult.
We valued Ceiligh’s role in our family and welcomed her predecesor, Lucy, knowing that the choice might arise again, while also knowing how much she would enrich our lives.
Saturday, December 24, 2022
I read many more books this year than in recent, past years. Although this was intentional, I’m glad it worked out. I really cut back on my various internet feeds, so that I was less distracted away from books. Purchasing a Kobo and connecting it to the local public library was also helpful.
The most influential non-fiction book for me this year was Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. Plenty of practical and insightful advice in this book.
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Monday, December 19, 2022
I’ve been interested for a while now in better understanding the underlying mechanics of computers. I’ve also been keen to do something other than stare at a screen. Turing Tumble is a fun solution to both of these goals.
Turing Tumble is an educational game in which you build a mechanical computer that is powered by marbles. The game comes with a comic book that guides you through ever more complex computing principles, adding more sophisticated parts as you progress.
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Friday, November 18, 2022
Other than knowing if I was physically capable of finishing, the main source of uncertainty when I signed up for my first triathlon was how much it would cost. Starting out, I had one pair of running shoes and some goggles from my kids' swimming lessons. So, I knew I’d need to invest in a lot of gear.
Here’s the list of what I ended up buying along with some commentary.
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Thursday, August 25, 2022
As a follow up to my earlier post, now that I’m on the eleventh book of my vacation, I can confirm that the Kobo Libra 2 is exactly what I’d hoped.
The screen has been easy to read in all lighting (especially bright sunlight on the dock), the page turn buttons are reliable, and the public library integration has been seamless.
Perfect for cottage reading!
Thursday, August 18, 2022
We’ve seen a beaver swimming from one end of the lake to the other, most evenings at our rented cottage. Today we paddled out to investigate.
We found three separate lodges, though I could only really get a good picture of one.
As well as a dam that was blocking a culvert at the end of the lake.