As we approach the start of a new fiscal year, I’m thinking through performance metrics and targets for my capital finance team.
A classic metric in finance is comparing forecasts to actuals: take a look at what you expected, relative to what actually happened, and keep that within some tolerance – like 10%. Nothing wrong with this. We want small variances! But, this is a lagging indicator. Whatever caused the variance happened out on a construction site many months ago and is only now showing up in the financials. We can use this to get better, perhaps, at forecasting. It doesn’t retroactively fix the problem on site.
I’ve been thinking through potential metrics to get ahead of issues, measure our internal project communications, and adherence to governance. Basically a metric for how surprised we are each month by financial changes.
First, some background, without turning this into an AACE paper. An important role for my team is the assembly of an Estimate at Completion (EAC), which is basically what we think the project will actually cost by the end of delivery. It includes incurred costs, approved change orders, commercial claims, and trends. Adding these together yields the EAC and there’s all sorts of discipline around them. In addition, the project has a risk tracker that quantifies the likelihood and financial impact of a whole host of things that could happen, but haven’t, yet. The EAC is expected to fluctuate each month as risks materialize, trends and claims are adjusted, and new scope gets approved.
So, my experimental metric is tracking the proportion of a monthly change in the EAC that can be attributed to an item in the risk tracker from the previous month. In other words, our estimate changes because a risk we were tracking materialized. This is much better from a controls perspective than unexpected things happening each month that change the EAC.
I don’t want to get too hung up on “attributable”. I’m sure there will be changes that can only be partially attributed to a specific risk, as well as changes that could be attributed to many risks simultaneously. I’m good with at least a predominance of attribution to something in the risk register. This does, though, require that we have some good version control on the register. So that we don’t just change what it says to suddenly be attributable to what happened. This will be a new step of archiving the risk register each month, since we ordinarily want it to be continuously updated.
Of course, no one expects that all changes would be anticipated. This affects the target to be set. Given we’d be new at this, something like 80% of changes to the EAC this month being attributable to a risk from last month seems like a reasonable starting point. Aiming for 100% right away could drive the wrong behaviour.
That’s my proposal. We’ll pilot it on a few contracts and adjust, as necessary. If the metric is trending well, that gives our forecasts credibility and our executives comfort that they’re well informed. If it is trending poorly, we’ll know there’s work to do, likely through more careful risk reviews.
Although I don’t hate Liquid Glass, it is odd enough to motivate exploring approaches by indie developers. To be honest, I’ve really missed using indie apps, so this is a great excuse to make some changes.
Many of Apple’s apps emphasize discovery too much. I like opening Overcast and only seeing a list of unplayed podcasts that I’ve chosen to follow or opening Albums and seeing colourful album art exclusively from artists I like. These apps are designed for me to access content I’ve chosen, not to upsell me on other things.
Like many others, I’m accumulating some vague ickiness with Apple these days. I’m nowhere near switching, but want to reduce some dependencies. Of course, I’m still using lots of Apple devices and services, so this is a very small step.
Thereās renewed excitement around RSS these days, which is great to see.
Terry Godier received lots of well-deserved attention for the new app Current and its approach to the āriver of newsā. Manton Reece has also recently released a beta of Inkwell, as his take on a modern RSS reader. Having tried Inkwell out for a few days, thereās a lot to like here too. The emphasis is on what is new today or in the past few days without any unread counts. Then thereās a āfadingā tab for older items that includes an AI generated summary for recent posts in each feed, along with an option to receive a weekly email with these summaries. As a companion to Micro.blog, thereās also great integration with blogging that looks compelling.
My approach to news has been different. Iāve tried to minimize the number of feeds, newsletters, podcasts, and other inputs that Iām subscribed to. This is much more of a trickle and I have no issues with keeping up. I augment this with a subscription to The Economist as my main source of general news. Each day they highlight a few different articles from the weekly issue, along with a daily summary of major events. I appreciate that The Economist has a broad, international perspective and many clever writers. They also seem fond of Mark Carney, so Canada has shown up fairly frequently in their reporting.
Iāve been using Reeder as my integrated source for everything: RSS feeds, newsletters, podcasts, YouTube subscriptions, and the Micro.blog timeline. Having just one app for all of this has been satisfying and, I believe, reduces distractions from bouncing around among apps. Reeder is really well designed and has an often used swipe gesture to mark an item for reading later. My usual morning routine is to scroll through the inbox, sending interesting items to Later, and then reading through these later in the day. Opening up the app just a few times a day is plenty for keeping up.
Despite all of this, Iām going to try using Inkwell for a few weeks. I like Mantonās overall approach and the integration with Micro.blog. A good test of success will be if I find myself posting to my blog more frequently, thanks to this integration. Iām also going to experiment with also following the blogs of many people whose social feeds Iām following. This has been an area of friction in my approach. I have a mix of RSS and social feeds from the same people that often overlap. Switching to Inkwell for these might help.
After a few weeks Iāll have a much better sense of if this approach is working. Easy enough to go back to my old ways, if not. I think it helps to experiment with different tools and approaches every once in a while. As long as I donāt forget my general principles: subscribe to just a few, high-quality sources, based on my interests. There are many things Iād rather be doing than refreshing my news feeds.
The BeeStation was very easy to setup. Within about five minutes of plugging it in, it was available on the sidebar of Files.app on my devices. Although it comes with two apps: BeePhotos for photos and BeeFiles for files, I found both rather clunky and unnecessary, given I’m using Parachute.
Parachute is a great app focused on one thing: backing up an iOS device. The only trick with this is that it can’t use the standard Files.app interface to access the BeeStation. Rather, I had to enable local access on the BeeStation to turn on the SMB Service that is then accessible by Parachute. Once you know this, it is an easy toggle of two checkboxes in the Advanced Settings of the BeeStation.
Once Parachute had access, I set up a source and destination for files and one for photos. Both of these backups are then automated via Shortcuts to run late at night (there’s a clear help video in the app on this). Parachute takes care of the incremental backups (that is, only backing up new or modified files). These are my regular backups. I then also make “restore points” manually via dragging and dropping files in Files.app.
I feel much better having a backup solution that is fully independent of Apple. I also appreciate having a physical device on my shelf that has all of our files and photos on it. Good to have some peace of mind.
In my recent, semi-regular review of my notifications settings, I was extra ruthless. As usual, notifications are off for the vast majority of apps. Just a handful are allowed into a twice daily summary and messages from family are immediate.
I used to rely on notifications for ambient awareness of what’s happening. Now I’m mostly only allowing action oriented notifications, like habit reminders in Streaks or moments in Waking Up. More importantly, given the limited number of notifications that appear, I now almost immediately do whatever the notification is about. This has made them much more relevant and is helping me build the habits that I claim to prioritize.
Turns out the best notification strategy isn’t about staying informed, it’s about staying intentional.
As my penance, I’m now sending her a weekly song to make sure that her musical foundation is sound. These won’t necessarily be the best, most popular, or my favourite songs (though sometimes they will be all three). Rather, they will be influential to my musical tastes and worth her consideration.
Given how this started, the first song is Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel. There are plenty of his songs to choose from. I think this one is a great place to start.
There’s a lot to like in Mark Carney’s speech at Davos. I certainly didn’t expect Thucydides and Havel to get cited.
Carney was clear about the problem. For example:
More recently, great powers began using economic integration as weapons. Tariffs as leverage. Financial infrastructure as coercion. Supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited. You cannot ālive within the lieā of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination. The multilateral institutions on which middle powers reliedā the WTO, the UN, the COPāthe architecture of collective problem solving ā are greatly diminished.
Along with ideas about how “middle powers” should proceed:
This is not naive multilateralism. Nor is it relying on diminished institutions. It is building the coalitions that work, issue by issue, with partners who share enough common ground to act together. In some cases, this will be the vast majority of nations. And it is creating a dense web of connections across trade, investment, culture on which we can draw for future challenges and opportunities. Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu. Great powers can afford to go it alone. They have the market size, the military capacity, the leverage to dictate terms. Middle powers do not.
But when we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what is offered. We compete with each other to be the most accommodating. This is not sovereignty. It is the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.
And a pitch for Canada:
Canada has what the world wants. We are an energy superpower. We hold vast reserves of critical minerals. We have the most educated population in the world. Our pension funds are amongst the worldās largest and most sophisticated investors. We have capital, talent, and a government with the immense fiscal capacity to act decisively. And we have the values to which many others aspire.
Canada is a pluralistic society that works. Our public square is loud, diverse, and free. Canadians remain committed to sustainability. We are a stable, reliable partnerāin a world that is anything butāa partner that builds and values relationships for the long term.
Nor can we trust the American people to rise up against tyranny in any great numbers: they are not who they think they are, and far short of what they once were. Americans as a people today are unequal to their nationās history and to their own sense of greatness. This is being demonstrated to us, every single day, in the clearest possible terms.
Out of a swirl of emotions that include anger and fear, I think the dominant one for me is sadness. America was obviously not perfect, but it at least had aspirations that I could admire and a long friendship with Canada that brought us both prosperity.
Of course, as Gerson points out, the real test will be what Carney and Canada do next:
In short, the Canada that Carney is describing is one that isnāt satisfied with half assery and speechifying. What would be truly provocative is if Carney didnāt just say the right things, but also demonstrated he was dead serious about following through with a plan to make this country tough enough to withstand Americaās increasingly crazy bullshit.
For awhile now, I’ve been archiving almost everything that I read online to Micro.blog Bookmarks. Originally this was because I was using it as my “read it later” service, but now I’m using the Reading List in Safari instead, as part of my return to defaults.
I have a vague sense that if I keep track of everything that I read, I’ll be able to analyze it in some meaningful way to identify trends or new ideas. But, I’ve never actually done this and I’m not even sure what I would learn, even if I did.
Partly in response to A Metabolic Workspace by Joan Westenberg, I’m going to stop doing this. Anything that is actually interesting, like Joan’s post, will get captured by my Commonplace entry script with which I provide at least some summary of why I captured it. Simply archiving every url has no use to me.
Otherwise, I’ll go back to using Micro.blog Bookmarks for its original purpose, which is to capture highlights in articles that I want to blog about. This workflow is good and targeted to a specific use.
A side benefit of my kids being old enough to drive, is that I actually get to hear their music now.
At home, they’re always listening with their AirPods, unlike when I was a kid. My parents had to endure our music: my brother and I both had component stereo systems with large speakers. Plus, we lived across the hall from each other, so we had to play our music loud, to be able to hear it over the other’s music!
In general, both of my kids have pretty good taste. Though, of course, some of the new music is too weird for me. I’m always pleased when I hear one of my favourites show up on their playlists. Evidence that I raised them right.
One nuisance with using a portfolio of fitness apps is that each one has a different idea for what my heart rate zones should be. Although not usually a problem, I do get different summaries of my training intensity across apps and, therefore, slightly different advice.
One solution is to just pick one app as canonical which for me has been HealthFit. As a supplement, I also went through and manually set them all to use the same zones, based on HealthFitās āPercent of Heart Rate Reserveā method. I like that this method incorporates my resting heart rate and that I get slightly wider gaps between zones at lower intensities.
Although my resting heart rate is automatically calculated from my watch, my maximum heart rate is more subjective. For this Iāve taken my maximum heart rates from recent HIIT workouts which I think is close enough for my needs.
Iām mostly doing this because I want to be more precise in my workout intensities this year. Feels like a worthwhile experiment.
In what is now an annual tradition, my son and I went for a polar bear swim in Lake Ontario. We usually go on January 1st, but yesterday was -20Ā°C which seemed almost dangerous. “Only” -10Ā°C today so much more reasonable š„¶.
I’m often asked why I would do such a strange thing. Part of it is for the tradition and challenge. The more thoughtful reason is symbolic. The bracing cold, excitement of running into the lake and back, and bonding with my son feels like a great way to shake off last year’s residual complacency and start the New Year with an adventure.
Just over a month ago, I was booting up our last remaining Mac for some routine maintenance. After watching Dock icons bounce for literally minutes, I had to ask why we even have an iMac from 2019. Turned out the answer was: because I’ve owned a Mac since 1997. That didn’t seem like a good enough answer.
My wife and I both have iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches, plus we’re required to use Windows laptops for work. This is why I almost never used the iMac and, consequently, why whenever I found a use for it, I had to endure far too many minutes of waiting for it to boot up and launch an app. So, I decided to recycle the iMac and we’re now an iOS-only house (ignoring my son’s rarely used gaming PC).
The simplicity is nice and it helps keep me away from screens, since having a Mac was a good excuse to fiddle with software. This was partly made possible by my intentional adoption of mostly Apple default apps. Until the recent Apple ID debacle with Paris Buttfield-Addison, everything seemed good. Now that this glaring dependency is obvious, I do have some concerns. Specifically, all of our photos and files are only on iOS devices and only backed up via Apple’s backup service. This is no longer wise or sufficient. When we had a Mac, I’d happily used Backblaze for many years and now need the equivalent for iOS.
I asked for some advice on the friendly Hemispheric Views Discord and got pointers to some alternative webservices, along with this cool project. At the moment, I’m tempted by the Synology BeeStation, which seems to be a “local cloud” storage device. Having a physical drive in my home is appealing as a supplement to our online backups.
I’ll keep investigating. Any suggestions are appreciated.
I spend a lot of time reading, across many devices and sources. Much of it is meant to be informative and useful, not just entertainment. The problem is that without some system to capture and process what Iām reading, I don’t think that I’m capturing any meaningful insights.
A commonplace book is a time-tested method for collecting quotes, ideas, and reflections and has appealed to me for a while. I started experimenting with Quick Notes in Apple Notes, journal entries in DayOne, and analog capture in my Field Notes notebook. Each approach had merits, but I quickly realized I was creating three parallel systems driven by technical convenience rather than clear purpose.
The Real Problem: Retrieval, Not Capture
The challenge with commonplace books isnāt capture, itās retrieval and action. I can fill notebooks with quotes, but if I canāt find them when I need them, whatās the point?
I already have a Safari shortcut that works well: it copies highlighted text from a webpage, prompts for my thoughts, then creates a DayOne entry with the quote, my reflection, and a proper citation. This was the standard I needed to match everywhere else.
The fragmentation problem became clear. When I wanted to reference something Iād read, where would I look? Quick Notes? DayOne? Field Notes? A system that makes me search three places isnāt much of a system.
Establishing Principles
Rather than continuing to accumulate tools, I needed principles:
One source of truth. All reading insights should go to one place, regardless of where Iām reading. The capture method is secondary to having a single, searchable archive.
Quality over convenience. Friction in capture isnāt a bug. If something isnāt worth 30 seconds to capture properly, itās probably not worth keeping.
Structure should emerge from use. Donāt design an elaborate tagging taxonomy upfront. Start minimal and add structure only when you have a specific retrieval problem to solve.
Donāt redesign around new hardware. I was partly being influenced by having just switched to an iPad mini with an Apple Pencil. The Quick Notes feature felt compelling, but the novelty of new hardware shouldnāt dictate my information architecture.
The Decision
DayOne became the clear choice. It already contained my existing captures with full context and time-stamping. The Safari workflow proved the format worked: quote + thought + citation.
For captures from other sources, I accept manual entry. Yes, itās more friction than a quick note or photo, but thatās the quality control mechanism. Not every highlighted passage deserves permanent archiving.
Field Notes remains in my daily workflow, but its role is different now. Itās for processing thoughts, not storing them permanently. When I capture analog notes, I flag them for weekly transfer to DayOne, if theyāre still worth keeping after some time has passed.
Note to My Future Self
When Iām inevitably tempted to add another capture system, Iāll return to this: the problem is never the tool. The problem is fragmenting my attention and information across multiple incompatible systems.
The goal isnāt the perfect commonplace book. Itās having a system reliable enough that I actually use it, simple enough that it doesnāt become a project itself, and effective enough that I can find what Iām looking for.
The field guide is a thorough tutorial of using Appleās Reminders, Notes, Calendar, and Freeform applications. Done in MacSparkyās easy going and comprehensive style, no feature is left unexplained.
Iām a pretty knowledgeable user of Reminders, Notes, and Calendar. So, I didnāt learn much. That said, I knew this going in and did get new momentum to actually use these three apps more effectively and consistently. So, for me it was worth it. Anyone new to these apps will certainly benefit.
As for Freeform, I had never really used it. Iām planning to upgrade a rather old iPad with an iPad Mini and Apple Pencil and think that Freeform will be much more useful with that setup. The field guide included some extra use cases for Freeform that sparked several ideas.
If youāre curious about Appleās built-in apps, this field guide could be really useful. The apps have become rather powerful and integrated tools.
Part of the appeal of triathlons for me is that you need to stay adaptive and resilient, always adjusting to race conditions and feedback from your body.
Today was a good example. Cold weather and intense winds led to the swim being cancelled. So, the triathlon became a duathlon. Although I missed the swim, it was the right call. Still, it takes a moment to recalibrate to starting with a run, adjusting your transition strategy, and sorting out a pace target.
The winds made the ride rather harrowing, lots of gusts, plus a headwind for the big escarpment climb š„µ. Then on a steep descent, we got buffeted around while peaking at 70 km/hr. After one particularly strong gust, a rider behind me shouted out some profanity that was totally warranted.
At least the second run was mostly well sheltered and I could push the pace a bit.
Overall, still lots of fun though. This is my fourth time racing this event and theyāve all been well done.
Canada is clearly at an inflection point. We neither asked for nor wanted this, but ignoring it and carrying on isn’t a solution. So, what should we do? I’m in favour of a big rethink, via a Royal Commission. Given how long this would take, though, we need to get going on at least investigating options.
Here, then, is my list. Note that I’m absolutely not an expert and I’d get voted out of office immediately if I ever managed to become a politician. So, I provide these in the spirit of contributing to a national conversation. No doubt there are better ideas out there. Let’s pick some and start trying stuff!
Eliminating inter-provincial barriers to trade is the obvious one and evidently could be done within a month. Simultaneously frustrating and emblematic that something debated for decades could actually make significant progress so quickly, once we got motivated.
While we’re eliminating inter-provincial trade barriers, why not really embrace free trade, including the elimination of supply management?
Actually prioritizing our sovereignty in the Arctic. Our most recent defence policy statement hints at this, but we continue to expect our armed forces to do too much with too little. The recent announcement of working with Australia to upgrade our Arctic radar equipment is a good example of something we need more of. Underpinning all of this is figuring out how to actually procure equipment. Plus anything we do in the Arctic must properly engage with First Nations.
Raise the HST by 1%, offset by income tax reductions, and dedicate the funds to cities. This one would get me booted out of government quickly. That said, Canadian cities remain under-resourced, relative to the services they need to provide. They need a source of revenue that grows with the economy.
The CRA should prepopulate our tax returns. They already have most of the information. Just fill them in and allow us to adjust if necessary. Of course, this would require simplifying our tax system, which is the real point.
The sun rises, seasons change, and I reconsider my note-taking system. Some things are endlessly cyclical.
These days I use a split system: personal notes in Apple Notes (using a simplified Forever Notes structure) and work notes in OneNote, following the PARA method. My daily logs feed into ChatGPT for a summarized weekly note. Itās efficient, structured, and searchableābut also sterile and fleeting.
This week, after a nudge from Lee Peterson in the Hemispheric ViewsDiscord, I dusted off a Field Notes notebook I last used in 2015 and started writing again.
Each day gets a fresh page. I list my two or three most important tasks, then jot down whatever comes up. Iāve even revived Patrick Rhoneās Dash/Plus system.
As plenty of folks will tell you, paper is nice. I also like how it keeps my phone on the charger instead of in my pocket, waiting for me to type something.
Iāve stopped being precious about my note-taking. My needs evolve, and so should my system.
For my fellow, like-to-be-informed Canadians, I recommend the Sutherland Quarterly. As a subscriber, each quarter you get a short book (around 100 pages) on a current, important topic.
So far, Iāve read:
An Emergency in Ottawa by Paul Wells on the trucker convoy
Fleeced by Andrew Spence on Canadian banking
Justin Trudeau on the Ropes also by Paul Wells on Trudeauās challenges as Prime Minister
Superintelligence by The Logic on AI in Canada
And Iām about to start Jasper on Fire by Matthew Scace. Each has been really good: informative, well written, and relevant to Canadians.
Subscriptions are available for both print and digital, while each book is also available separately.
Over the past three years, I’ve traveled more than 7,600 km through the virtual worlds of Zwift (adds up to a ridiculous 11 days and 11 hours on the saddle). This has all been on my main racing bike in a somewhat awkward setup that I described earlier:
I donāt have enough space in my house for a spot fully dedicated to cycling. So, Iāve got the bike trainer tucked in a corner of the basement and then I slide our basement couch out of the way and move the bike in front of the TV when Iām riding.
The whole setup is a nuisance, especially for some of those really early morning starts. Moving furniture around while in the dark and only half awake isn’t great. So, I’m considering the new Zwift Ride.
I think the pros are (in order):
Always ready without any setup required
Stays inside, so stays clean
Preserves the racing bike, avoiding all the indoor sweat (so much sweat š„µ) and wear and tear
Optimized for indoor riding and for Zwift specifically
While the cons are:
Only works with Zwift. What do I do with it if Zwift goes away or I want to switch to a different platform? (Although, there are developments)
Riding it doesnāt build up comfort and familiarity on my actual racing bike (although after close to 12 cumulative days on the bike, how much of this could be left?)
Given all of this, I’m leaning towards getting the Zwift Ride. There’s a spot in the basement with enough room for it and I like the idea of just getting on and riding. However, the recent tariff nonsense seems to have cleared out the Canadian inventory. So, I have some time to think this over, before making the investment.
For more on the Zwift Ride, DC Rainmaker has a good video.
I’ve been a happy AeroPress user for many years now. A few weeks ago, I was gifted the Flow Control Filter Cap. The cap acts as a pressure activated valve that prevents any drip through the filter, until you press on the plunger. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much of a difference it has made to the consistency of my coffee
Before trying the flow control cap, I would not have said the AeroPress was unduly inconsistent. So, this isn’t a complaint about the original design. Rather, I now have fewer errant grounds making it through to the mug, can hold the brewing longer for a more robust flavour, and am less likely to make a mess while brewing. I can also reliably generate a nice foam at the end of the brewing.
The only small downside is that it is more challenging to get the used filter and grounds out of this cap. The filter tends to stick to this cap much more than to the original.
To complete my transition to coffee influencer, here’s an unnecessary, slow-motion video of making coffee š
Thereās an odd glitch with my Apple Watch: anytime I finish a swim interval, it claims there are still two meters left. Then after about five seconds, it realizes Iāve stopped, decides Iāve finished a lap after all, and moves to the next interval.
It isnāt the pool, Iāve tried several different ones. Even stranger, it isn’t accumulating by lap. If I finish a 25m sprint: two meters short. A 500m interval: also two meters short. So, it isn’t caused by misestimating the length of the pool.
Anyway, not a big problem. The only real impact is that my intervals are always slower on the watch than in the actual pool, since several seconds get added to each one. This makes it look like I’m much faster on longer intervals, since the delay has a bigger impact on short swims.
Thanks to a pre-Christmas flu and general busyness over the holidays, my triathlon training took a dive.
This past week, Iāve really tried to get back into it. As a result, my watch and phone have been pointing out that my training load has spiked and are suggesting caution.
At the same time, my readiness to train has been correspondingly increasing. Iāve been using this increase, plus generally feeling good, to keep the training intensity at the right level without overdoing it.
Seems to be working so far. Now that I feel like Iāve regained momentum, Iāll ease off on the training progression to stabilize on a more modest increase over weeks. I donāt need to relearn the lessons of overtraining and injury!
Gƶran Winblad has a good video on how to use RTT and HRV as one indicator in training. Worth investigating for your training too.
I lamented recently what a mess my Apple Music library had become. I was tempted to delete the whole thing and start again, only to end up doing nothing. What’s the big deal? It’s just a collection of songs. I search through them, find something I like, and hit play.
I just, I find that I have this, like, abundance blindness where I have an infinite number of songs.
So, it kind of wraps back around on itself to be like, who cares about any of it?
It’s just way too much.
And the urge to clean everything up came back. So, I did it: deleted every album and playlist! It feels nice to start all over, add back in the essentialalbums, and appreciate the scarcity of good music again. I’m continuing to use the great Albums app to keep the focus on actual albums, which are the proper way to appreciate music.
Last month, I posted a series of album covers for music that shaped my preferences. The gimmick was that there was no context or explanation, just an album cover. Now, I’d like to provide a few notes.
As part of the overall framing, these are influential albums for me. They aren’t all necessarily my favourite albums by these artists or ones that I still listen to frequently. Rather, what I listen to and enjoy now, are strongly connected to these albums.
The list is also available on Album Whale, if thatās preferred.
Led Zeppelin III: My Dad had this record (this will be a theme) and there was a dial you could turn that would rotate the images within the album art. That was cool. More than that. though, what an opening track! Immigrant Song just launches the whole album. Rock is my default genre (with an inclination towards alternative and indie) and that has to start with listening to Led Zeppelin as a kid.
Tripping with Nils Frahm: Definitely my newest musical influence and it isn’t entirely accurate to pin it to this specific album. The reason I chose it, among all the rest, is the live performance. Part of the appeal, for me, is the musicianship and intricate assembly that comes across in the live, solo performance. There’s a whole thread of music from Nils Frahm, through Max Richter, Floating Points, Olafur Arnalds, and Jon Hopkins that I’m really enjoying these days.
Pearl Jam, 10: Grunge is high school and that’s when lasting musical impressions get made. Of all the great bands that came out of the grunge scene (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains), Pearl Jam is the one that has stuck with me, even up to 2024 with the great Dark Matter album. Quite the legacy.
Rush, Roll the Bones: My interest in Rush also starts from my Dad’s record collection. In this case, though, Roll the Bones is the first Rush album that I bought myself and, so, has special importance. I’ve consistently enjoyed their clever lyrics and impressive musicianship.
Radiohead, OK Computer: Surely on many people’s lists. In addition to great music, this was when I started to see the potential for music as art, rather than just entertainment.
Depeche Mode, Violator: Hard for me to believe that only a year separates this from Pearl Jam’s Ten. I listened to this album a lot and it leads to a long enjoyment of industrial music.
Kate Bush, Hounds of Love: I don’t have an origin story for Kate Bush, her music just always seemed to be there: quirky, innovative, and captivating.
Bjork, Homogenic: A spiritual successor to Kate Bush? Definitely exciting, creative, and beguiling.
Peter Gabriel, So: Peter Gabriel has been a consistent favourite and introduced me to many great artists through his Real World record label. For me, this is his definitive album.
Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon: Another one from my Dad’s record collection. How much more needs to be said about this album? An obvious classic that really emphasizes an album as a cohesive product, rather than a collection of songs.
Sarah McLachlan, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy: First of all, a great album. Second, I was listening to this at the same time as some heavy industrial and metal bands. This confused many of my friends, but reinforced, for me, the joy of diverse musical interests.
Afro Celt Sound System, Volume 1: Sound Magic: Via Peter Gabriel, this was an exotic amalgamation of many musical styles and led me to an appreciation of what was then called “world music”. Although I think their third album is their best, this is more influential for me.
The Tragically Hip, Up to Here: Iconic in Canada and helped me appreciate my nation’s history and stories. They followed up with three fantastic albums and then I mostly lost touch with their music until Gord Downie’s epic last tour.
Nine Inch Nail, Pretty Hate Machine: Starting my angry teenager phase. I’ve stuck with NIN ever since, though I can’t relate now to the teenager that I was.
Supertramp, Breakfast in America: Another one from my Dad’s collection. At the core, it is their musicianship that drew me in and influenced my musical tastes.
The Clash, London Calling: Perfectly captures the primal energy of punk rock.
Massive Attack, Mezzanine: This one started my ongoing affection for bleak, creepy, and paranoid music.
Yo La Tengo, I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One: Classic shoegaze and indie that is a clear theme of my current tastes. Yo La Tengo was a big part of early grad school which has lots of nostalgia for me.
Ali Farka Toure, Talking Timbuktu: This sounded really fresh and exciting to me when it was released, especially when contrasted with the mostly industrial music I was listening to at the time.
Rage Against the Machine: This was late high school and I was ready for music as social commentary, especially packaged as fierce, disciplined rebellion.
Night Sky: A slow build with a sci-fi mystery. Sissy Spacek and JK Simmons are great. Clearly a second season was planned, but it ends okay for a one season show
Dark Matter: A decent multiverse show. Really picks up in the last couple of episodes
Mr and Mrs Smith: An entertaining show, modelled after the movie, though the last episode was disappointing
Shogun: A great historical drama with compelling characters and fine attention to detail
Unchained Season 2: Really makes the Tour de France understandable and exciting. Such an epic event
The Acolyte: Just fine, though uneven. I didnāt like the ending
Adding The Peripheral to the list with Outer Range and Night Sky makes me reluctant to watch sci-fi shows on Amazon Prime. I enjoyed each of these well made and smart shows, only to have them all cancelled.
Well that was “fun”! The Muskoka Ironman 70.3 was very well organized with great volunteers and an excited crowd of spectators.
I was within a few minutes of last year which I’m very happy with, considering the interruptions to my training with a trip to Portugal and introduction of a new puppy (neither of which I regret).
Not much new to report, relative to last year, in terms of the course. Still super hilly and challenging with some great views of the Canadian Shield. Given the challenges of the run, in particular, I don’t think I’d recommend this as a first 70.3. Definitely should be on anyone’s list that is looking for additional courses though.
As always, a huge thank you to my wife for her continued support and excellent race crewing. And thanks to the One Academy crew for all of the training hours together. These races are not a solo effort.
![The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]](https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/300x/https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%2Fcontent%3Fid%3DrffwDwAAQBAJ%26printsec%3Dfrontcover%26img%3D1%26zoom%3D5%26source%3Dgbs_api)
