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 📚
Finished reading: Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin is a short, fascinating, and entertaining book all about black holes 📚
📺 Thoughts on recent television shows
Some short notes on recent seasons of shows that I’ve watched: Outer Range Season 2: Still nicely strange, though not as good as Season 1 Night Sky: A slow build with a sci-fi mystery. Sissy Spacek and JK Simmons are great. Clearly a second season was planned, but it ends okay for a one season show Dark Matter: A decent multiverse show. Really picks up in the last couple of episodes Sugar: A fun crossover of detective and sci-fi Mr and Mrs Smith: An entertaining show, modelled after the movie, though the last episode was disappointing Shogun: A great historical drama with compelling characters and fine attention to detail Unchained Season 2: Really makes the Tour de France understandable and exciting.
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 📚
Finished reading: Blood Meridian, Or, The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy is bleak, nihilistic, and compelling 📚
🔗 Matt Gurney: Anson Mount saved Star Trek
Because Anson Mount saved Star Trek. And I’m not afraid to say so. In fact, I’m 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).
Finished reading: The Rise and Reign of the Mammals by Steve Brusatte is a comprehensive and detailed tour of all of the mammals, past and present, that stays engaging. Such tremendous diversity and curious lifestyles 📚
Dog couch
Finished reading: The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson is a good ending to The Wax and Wayne series. Although the Cosmere hints were intriguing, they also got a bit confusing. Presumably to be clarified in later books 📚
🏊♂️🚴♂️🏃♂️ 2024 Muskoka Ironman 70.3
Well that was “fun”! The Muskoka Ironman 70.3 was very well organized with great volunteers and an excited crowd of spectators. I was within a few minutes of last year which I’m very happy with, considering the interruptions to my training with a trip to Portugal and introduction of a new puppy (neither of which I regret). Not much new to report, relative to last year, in terms of the course.
🏊♂️🚴♂️🏃♂️ Getting ready
Finished reading: The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson is a fun continuation of the series. Intriguing to see the world of Elendel open up to a wider perspective 📚
George discovered digging. So George had his first bath
Finished reading: Justin Trudeau on the Ropes by Paul Wells is a short, informative, entertaining, and timely look at Justin Trudeau’s tenure as Prime Minister 📚
Finished reading: As Gods by Matthew Cobb is a really good look at the science, politics, and ethics of genetic engineering 📚
🎧 I’ve been enjoying The Universe podcast: a fun conversation about astrophysics. Katie Mack is great at explanation and John Green is a good audience stand in
Finished reading: Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee contains lots of fun stories. Only make sense though if you’ve read the series 📚
Training load and rest days on the Apple Watch are nice improvements. I’m curious to explore the Vitals App too
Finished reading: Witch King by Martha Wells is good. I enjoyed the clever interweaving of the two time periods and the vivid world building 📚