Using Claude to help finish book series 📚🤖
I asked Claude to find all the books I’d missed from series that I’d started
I started reading: Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson. I’ve read that if I can get through the first couple of hundred pages, this is a great series. I’m up for the challenge! 📚
Listening to The Call by Broken Social Scene from Remember The Humans. Great to have a new album from this collective 🎵
Finished reading: The Republic of Alberta by Tyler Dawson make a compelling case that the rest of Canada needs to be paying attention to Alberta separatism. I remember how traumatic this was with Quebec and am not keen to do this again 📚
I counted myself in 🇨🇦
🎵 Song of the week for my daughter — Right Back to It (feat. MJ Lenderman) by Waxahatchee from Tigers Blood. I think this is Waxahatchee’s best song.
Finished reading: Although I preferred the mystery of his previous book, Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley is still a fun read 📚
Gregory Jack: The New Republicans were real. They’re worse than I thought:
Now we know that there is no single, rational way to deal with this administration. The lesson for Canada is that diagnosis is not capacity. We can say sovereignty and “elbows up” as often as we like, and talk endlessly about the Arctic, pipelines, building Canada and middle power diplomacy. Unless we can actually build, buy, permit, deploy and defend at speed, sovereignty remains a slogan and security an aspiration. My original prescription was basically right. What I underestimated was how inadequately we are equipped to follow it.
RunnerCast is a great, single purpose app that tells me one thing: how is the weather for my run?
Prior to RunnerCast, I’d open up the Weather app on my phone and squint at various metrics. Now, I’m presented with a straightforward set of colours on a timeline and declarative sentence about if I should go now. I also appreciate that I can tweak my tolerance for temperature, precipitation, and other weather features to match my preferences.
Another helpful feature is that you can add in upcoming events (like the half marathon shown in the screenshot) to start preparing mentally for whatever is coming up on race day.
I’m fond of apps like these: well designed, specific, and useful.
🏃♂️ Proud to run alongside my son this morning for his first half marathon. We shaved about ten minutes off his two-hour goal!
Finished reading: The Governors General by John Fraser is a good companion to The Prime Ministers book. The Governor General as an important and misunderstood part of Canada’s government that deserves more attention. This book is a fun and personal start 📚
Finished reading: The Faith of Beasts by James S. A. Corey keeps delivering on the promise of the first book in the series. I’m a fan of the “clever humans fight overwhelmingly dominant aliens” genre. Remains to be seen if the humans actually win 📚
Nine Inch Noize is a great mix of nostalgia and novelty 🎵
Finished reading: Despite a gloomy subject, The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker was a delight to read 📚
Having to reset all of my devices allowed for a helpful reset of my systems
After a passcode issue led to resetting multiple Apple devices, a simpler, more intentional setup was established by selectively reinstalling essential apps and minimizing distractions.
Office tension continues to rise as we enter the second month of a broken dishwasher
Finished reading: A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan continues this epic series. Hard to believe I’m only half way through the fourteen book series! 📚
🧘 300 hours of meditation: why do I keep going
Consistent daily practice of mindfulness has helped me improve focus and equanimity, although transferring these benefits to daily life presents challenges that require ongoing effort.
Project Hail Mary is a very fun movie 🍿
🎵 Hooray, new music from both Wintersleep and The New Pornographers is out this week