Microposts

Festive moose

Finished reading: I wanted to like The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen by Linda Colley. The main thesis is that as societies became more complex and conflicts more intense, governments needed to develop written constitutions to cede rights to their citizens and keep them participating in wars. I found getting through the details a tough slog that distracted from the broader narrative. πŸ“š

πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ Running in fresh snow can be nice. The ambient noise of the city is muffled and the snow cushions your foot striking the ground ❄️

Pathway through a cemetery with trees above and snow on the ground

Finished reading: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. Well worth reading. I appreciated the absence of giant, apocalyptic battles and the focus on the maturation of a single wizardπŸ“š

πŸŽ„Decorating

πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ I expected the rain on today’s zone 2 trail run. The hail and wind gusts were a surprise. Hard to hold zone 2 while being pummelled by ice! πŸ’¨πŸŒ§οΈπŸ₯Ά

πŸ“Ί I’m looking forward to season 2 of Slow Horses. Season 1 was a surprise favourite for me

πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈAn easy, zone 2 run today. Almost dark by 5pm

Likely doing this a few times today 😴

Making coffee with an Aeropress

πŸ“Ί Outer Range on Amazon Prime is pretty good. Mysterious and creepy with great Wyoming scenery. As with many shows like this, I worry that the premise can’t sustain more than a season. We’ll see with this one, though the last episode seemed to unravel quickly

🎡 A moody soundtrack to my afternoon

An Apple Music choice of essential trip-hop albums

The legal test the government must pass: not was it right, but was it reasonable?

The Constitution, it is said, is not a suicide pact. I would say it another way: the law is not an ass. Written between the lines of any statute is an abiding expectation of reasonableness.

πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ I’d planned for an easy zone 2 run this morning. Picked the wrong running group though. Time to update my zones anyway. I likely shouldn’t be able to hold zone 5 for so long

Time for a stout

Cornerstone stout beer

Getting tense

Catan board game

Saturday night

Glass of scotch

Rediscovered Maybe It’s Me by Treble Charger in my music library. Instantly transported back to undergrad at university. I’m always impressed with how music anchors certain time periods 🎡

The new Checklists search attribute in Apple Notes is really helpful for my weekly reviews. I’ve setup a smart search that shows all of my recent notes that still have incomplete checklists. Great for finding those forgotten tasks in meeting notes πŸ—’οΈ

Screenshot of the smart search interface in Apple Notes showing the checklist search criterion

Finished reading: The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. DjΓ¨lΓ­ Clark. A fun, short storyπŸ“š

Winter has arrived ❄️

Finished reading: Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge. A fun mix of murder mystery and sci-fi, in which groups of people emerge from thousands of years in stasis to find human civilization has vanishedπŸ“š

Finished reading: A Short History of Canada by Desmond Morton. Somewhat like vegetables, I know that reading about national history is good for me, just not that exciting. That said, this book was well written and interesting. Now, back to sci-fi πŸ“š

As a public servant for 15 years (and counting), I enjoy Yes, Minister on the BBC. More accurate than we’d like to believe #mbnov

I’m enjoying these Yoga for Every Runner sessions in Apple Fitness. I’m certain that mobility is important for staying active πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ

Although it is 8ΒΊC outside, the household consensus is that we’re still warm enough inside. We’ve never gotten this far into November without turning on the furnace

Ecobee thermostat showing 18.5ΒΊC

Curious wind patterns have pushed all of the leaves on the back deck into a narrow pile

Neighbours dropped off a surprise feast of mini sandwiches for mbnov

I figured waiting until the last minute for the first day of mbnov would provide inspiration for a clever post. I was mistaken

Lucy is helping again with candy distribution. Hard to get a stable photo, her head is swinging around to take in all the sights, sounds, and smells πŸŽƒ

Finished reading: Tiamat’s Wrath by James S. A. Corey. I’ve enjoyed each book in the series and this one was not an exception πŸ“š