The office dishwasher broke and my colleagues have reverted to university dorm habits. Eventually someone will have to wash these
🏊♂️ 10 weeks since my last swim. This might be tough.
Although I am feeling better after a couple of weeks of being slightly off, this seems a bit too enthusiastic for me
⛑️ Recertified my first aid today. Although I’ve never handled more than a small cut over a few decades with first aid, I feel better knowing I’m at least partly ready if something goes wrong. A good reminder of how fragile we are and how just a small amount of training can make a big difference
Finished reading: Mavericks by Peter C. Newman is a fun collection of vignettes of infamous Canadians throughout history 📚
🎵 Song of the week for my daughter: Possession by Sarah McLachlan from Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
Fresh supplies
A nice video from Becca Farsace about leaving home without your phone.
The portable tape player was especially nostalgic. Reminded me of my bright yellow Sony Walkman. I used to make mix tapes by recording songs from the radio. Took great patience and precision. Hovering over the pause button, waiting for your favourite song, and hoping that the DJ wouldn’t talk over it.
My version of leaving without my phone is taking only my Apple Watch. Far fewer distractions, but I still have music, messages, maps, wallet, and notes. The main missing piece is photos, which was an emphasis in Becca’s video.
🚴♂️ Getting back into a routine with today’s ride
Finished reading: In Lament for a Literature: The Collapse of Canadian Book Publishing, Richard Stursberg gives a stark review of the collapse of Canada’s book industry. Tough to maintain a culture without a literature and ongoing national conversation. Fortunately he includes recommendations for how to fix it 📚
Colleague brought in a large box of delicious doughnuts and were having a Chinese Lunar New Year team lunch. I can do this!
Uh oh, I seem to be immune to caffeine this morning. This better be temporary 😴
Boilermaker by Royal Blood from Typhoons helped me finish off a too early Zwift ride 🎵
Etobicoke Olympium. 📍
🏊♂️ Spending the day at regionals with kid #2
Finished reading: The Dollar A Year Men by Allan Levine is an impressive reminder of what Canada was once able to accomplish by connecting government with industry. I like to believe that something like this is possible again, though it seems much harder now and required an existential war then 📚
🎵 Song of the week for my daughter: Weighty Ghost by Wintersleep from Welcome to the Night Sky. We listened to this one a lot when she was little.
Possibilities
Notifications as action prompts
An effective notification strategy focuses on intentionality rather than mere awareness, prioritizing action-oriented reminders that align with personal goals.
🏃♂️ Added another event to this year’s race calendar. My son is going to join me for this one, which will be fun. His runs have maxed out at about 7km to date, so he has some training to do. I need to convince him that he can’t just sprint the whole thing.
🔗 The Obedient Self: A Philosophical Critique of Self-Optimization — The Virginia Truth
The optimized self must remain unfinished, because only the unfinished self consumes, adjusts, updates, and corrects itself. Permanence would be inefficiency.
It is important to know when we’re actually improving something, rather than just changing it. I’m learning to be comfortable with leaving somethings alone. I really don’t need to check out that new notes app or blogging platform. These are just self generated distractions.