We had a fun family night out to see the Candlelight Tribute to Taylor Swift at Longboat Hall. Interesting to hear the music reinterpreted by these talented musicians

A string quartet up on stage holding their instruments while surrounded by candles


The new Apple Watch integration with Training Peaks is really nice. Like my Garmin friends, I can finally just roll out of bed and do what my watch tell me to without having to manually create workouts πŸŠπŸš΄β€β™‚οΈπŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ


DayOne has integrated Journaling Suggestions already. A nice addition and now there’s no compelling reason to use the new Apple Journal app. I liked the promised simplicity of the new app, only to find it too simple. My journal is extended memory, so I rely on search, which isn’t in the new app.


Lucy tried the gecko food. Didn’t work well with her system, but she has no regrets

Chewed up package of gecko food in the foreground and a guilty looking black lab in the background

πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ Forgot to turn off the workout before getting back in the car. Got some impressive running paces! πŸ˜€

Screenshot from the Fitness app showing 1:17/km and 1:29/km paces

Nice addition to HealthFit: a visual summary of training load to see if you’re optimizing stress and recovery

Screenshot shows a coloured bar from blue to green to orange to red that indicates training balance

🏊 πŸš΄β€β™‚οΈ πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ Alright, signed up for the Ironman 70.3 in Muskoka. I enjoyed the race last year and look forward to a repeat


Even more defaults

As a follow up to my Duel of the Defaults post, I’ve made a few changes. These are all based on further adopting app defaults to simplify things.

  • πŸ“° RSS: I’ve swapped out Feedbin for iCloud as the backend for NetNewsWire. Although I really like the Feedbin service, my primary use of it is to access my feeds via a web browser at work. In an attempt to limit my feed reading to just once in the morning and once in the evening, switching to iCloud means that only my personal iPhone has access.
  • πŸ‘“ Read It Later: Switching to Safari’s Reading List for this. The feature is well integrated into the system and more than sufficient for my needs.
  • 🎧 Podcasts: After some back and forth and back again, over to Apple Podcasts.

These choices are largely motivated by an attempt to limit the number of inputs and potential for distractions. That said, these default apps are still powerful and effective.


πŸŽ„ Tree is up and decorated

Charlie Brown novelty tree. Very spindly with a single drooping ornament

πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ Light rain, wind, and NIN playlist made for a gloomy ambience on today’s run

Waves crashing into a rocky shoreline with trees in the background under a cloudy, grey sky

I don’t understand Apple’s algorithms. There’s no way I listened to 100 Gecs Boiler Room Session 51 times. Once was fun, but it is 1 hour and 26 minutes long. I would remember listening to it that many times

Screenshot from Apple Music Replay claiming I listened to the album a lot

πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ A bit gloomy on today’s off the bike run

A boardwalk covered in rain through trees without leaves

Trying out a new home screen with my personal focus.

  • Screen Time at the top left to keep me honest and Day One on the top right to make journaling easy.
  • I’m testing out relying on Siri suggestions as a large widget which is working out well, so far.
  • Just Notes in the dock with everything else accessible via a Spotlight search.
  • Last part is large Calendar, Reminders, and Music widgets with a swipe to the right in the Today View. These are consistently available across all focus modes.
Screen shot of the home screen

πŸ”— How paltry the return by Jen Gerson

β€œNow more than ever, soft and hard power are important,” Joly noted, correctly, ignoring the fact that Canada increasingly has neither, and doesn’t seem to be doing much about that.

Making a good case that we don’t take ourselves seriously anymore


Finished reading: I’ll admit that I was hesitant to read Mistborn: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson. The original Mistborn trilogy came to a satisfying end for me and I knew that reading this book would open up to the whole Cosmere universe. I’ve simply decided that I don’t need to be a completionist. And, I’m glad, because this was a fun story that paired well with the trilogy πŸ“š


In a pleasant surprise, my cellular carrier just boosted by monthly 4GB to 20GB at no cost. I’m not accustomed to this kind of good customer serviceΒ from a carrier


Finished reading: All Souls Lost by Dan Moren is fun. Has the same lightly humorous tone as the Bayern Agenda series with a supernatural, rather than sci-fi, plot πŸ“š


Hmm, I beg to differ Apple Music

A screenshot from Apple Music. A search for β€œhappy indie” yields Nine Inch Nails

I’m not ready ❄️

Weather alert calling for snow