Microposts

Unwanted house guests

Day 15: Prairie clouds πŸ“·

Blue sky with clouds

Day 12: Tranquility πŸ“·

Calm lake with sunset

Day 11: Maroon sign of spring πŸ“·

Purple iris flower emerging from the undergrowth

Day 10: For several years, we’ve participated in a fundraiser for Pancreatic Cancer Canada that sells pots of purple pansies πŸ“·

A pot containing several purple flowered pansies

Day 9: Magnolia blooms are imminent πŸ“·

Magnolia tree with a dozen flower buds just starting to open

Finished reading: Although surprisingly little actually happens with the plot in Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers, the characters and world building are great. Along with fascinating questions about what it means to be human and how to value traditionπŸ“š

Day 8: Toronto Union Station πŸ“·

North side of Union Station train station with the CN Tower in the background

First outdoor ride on the new bike. Great to be out of the basement, though I swallow fewer midges on Zwift πŸš΄β€β™‚οΈ

Day 7: We appreciate and enjoy our provincial parks πŸ“·

Day 6: Cloud silhouette πŸ“·

Shadowy clouds against a blue sky

Day 5: Earth πŸ“·

Mountain framed by trees with a river

Day 4: LRT tunnelling at _Thorn_cliffe Park (bit of a cheat on the prompt) πŸ“·

Construction site for tunelling the Eglinton Crosstown LRT

Day 3: One of my experimental setups in grad school was a tinfoil room with a hive of bees πŸ“·

A room that is covered in tin foil with a bee hive inside a cage

Day 2: The oldest photo in my library is of my grandfather in his navy uniform from 1945 πŸ“·

A portrait photo of my grandfather as a young man in a navy uniform

Day 1: Ran up a lot of switchbacks to get to the top of Signal Hill in Newfoundland πŸ“·

The Toronto Half Marathon was great! So nice to be out for a proper group event again. And I had a wonderful race crew for cheers and end of race snacks

Family photo of my kids with me at the end of the raceFamily photo of my wife with me at the end of the race

Tomorrow’s race will be fun! I haven’t been in a proper event for awhile πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ

Race bib for the Toronto half marathon

Finished reading: Harrow the Ninth (The Locked Tomb Trilogy Book 2) by Tamsyn Muir is really imaginative and well written. I found it rather confusing though. Lots of characters and plot points to trackπŸ“š

Severance is fantastic. An intriguing premise, with great acting, and careful attention to detail in every episode. Well worth watching

The weirdness of Raised by Wolves shifted from intriguing to distracting between seasons 1 and 2. Although the second half of season 2 was better than the first, overall the season wasn’t successful for me

Although it seems like a luxury, $70 for always dry shoes is worth it. Especially with spring weather πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ

pair of running shoes drying on a shoe dryer

Happy Lucy

Completed an FTP test this morning. Important to do, though super challenging πŸ˜“πŸš΄β€β™‚οΈ

I’m letting my Pinboard subscription expire. I’ve added 3,500 bookmarks since 2010 and the service was valuable when actively engaged in research. I haven’t looked up a bookmark in the past few years though. Now I’ll rely on Apple Notes and Micro.blog Bookmarks

Don’t forget to tie your shoes

Just fixed a small issue with my Elite Suito bike trainer: the magnets stopped working, so the resistance couldn’t be automatically adjusted. This is obviously a major feature of the trainer and particularly important for Zwift rides.

Fortunately, a quick conversation with their support team identified a fix that required replacing the trainer’s circuit board. Having recently built a gaming PC with my son, this wasn’t too complicated, though someone with less experience would likely be intimidated. The process took about 20 minutes and I took the bike for a quick Zwift ride to confirm all was well.

Although I’d much have preferred that the trainer hadn’t broken, Elite support was quick and helpful.

I’m really enjoying these videos by Mark Lewis on fitness and motivation

I appreciate his message of only striving for above average and carefully considering the trade offs between training and the rest of your interests.

Finished reading: Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse is a great story about a monster hunter on a Navajo reservation after a climate apocalypseπŸ“š

Finished reading: The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi is a fun β€œsoldiers in space” book with some interesting ethical conceptsπŸ“š