πββοΈ Coming across this World War 1 monument, seemingly in the middle of nowhere while running on a country road, was a good reminder of the sacrifices people have made for us

πββοΈ Coming across this World War 1 monument, seemingly in the middle of nowhere while running on a country road, was a good reminder of the sacrifices people have made for us
π΅ Although more cheerful than the last few albums, Wild God by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds is still steeped in spiritual yearning
Finished reading: A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers is delightful. The Monk and Robot series is fun. Sort of like a mirror universe Murderbotπ
Finished reading: The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker is richly detailed with interesting characters and intriguing plot. A nice sequel to The Golem and the Jinni π
Wednesday, August 21, 2024 β
πββοΈ I find it easier to keep good form at faster paces. So, practicing staying tall at a more moderate pace
πββοΈ Inspired by finishing The Lost Art of Running to pay attention to my form. For this run I focused on running tall and looking forward. Tough to maintain on the hills
Finished reading: The Lost Art of Running by Shane Benzie has lots of great anecdotes and tips. I know my running form could be better and this book has both inspired and empowered me to improve π
A new mug from my daughter, along with some high expectations
A top ten favourite feature of iOS 18: eliminating those pesky clipboard alerts
Calm after a storm βοΈ
Finished reading: Starter Villain by John Scalzi is a fun, easy vacation read π
π΅ no name is distilled Jack White
Finished reading: Provenance by Ann Leckie is an entertaining political thriller in space. Nice to learn more about the universe beyond the Radchaai π
πββοΈ All runs here are hill training
πββοΈ The dogs are vigilant lifeguards while I swim
Wednesday, August 14, 2024 β
Finished reading: A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith is an entertaining and informative exploration of what is actually required to colonize space. A good counterbalance to all the sci-fi Iβve been reading π
Wednesday, August 14, 2024 β
Lunch companions
Wednesday, August 14, 2024 β
Chose a run over leisure
Finished reading: The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal is a good entry in the Lady Astronaut series. I enjoy these alternate histories of space exploration booksπ
πββοΈ The easing in continues
πββοΈ Easing back into a routine
Finished reading: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a surprisingly amusing story about the robot apocalypse π
π§ Given the rewrite of Overcast, I’m switching back from Apple Podcasts to try it out (yes, right on time). Although the audio engine is better and there are some other, nice refinements, I think my favourite feature of Overcast is that it just shows me a clean list of the podcasts I’ve actually chosen as subscriptions. Apple Podcasts pushes discovery too hard for me.
Finished reading: Adam Frank cleverly uses interest in UFOs to get at the science of extraterrestrial life in The Little Book of Aliens π
Finished reading: Slow Productivity by Cal Newport has some interesting concepts for how to manage pseudo productivity. Almost makes me want to have the type of job that would allow me to really apply the advice π
Finished reading: Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin is a short, fascinating, and entertaining book all about black holes π
Finished reading: I enjoyed A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab. Moves briskly with an interesting plot, good characters, and intriguing magic system π
Finished reading: Blood Meridian, Or, The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy is bleak, nihilistic, and compelling π
π
Because Anson Mount saved Star Trek. And Iβm not afraid to say so. In fact, Iβm here to shout it from the rooftops: thank you, Anson Mount. You were just what we needed.
I endorse this claim
As usual, against my better judgement, I’ve installed the public betas. I’m mostly interested in the new fitness features of watchOS 11. Although I already have something like Training Load in the HealthFit app, Apple’s take is intriguing. For me it is the simple things, like structured swim workouts and being able to see what the next interval is in a custom workout that will make the biggest differences.
To get watchOS, I had to install iOS 18. Overall, some nice incremental improvements with nothing too significant (at least until some of the Apple Intelligence features get added).