This is the first time I’ve hit 50+ posts in a single month. Sure, a bunch of the posts were photos, which feels a bit like cheating, but I still had to go outside to take the photos and all that junk, so there!
Speaking of, here’s a photo. When I went for my run yesterday at Burnaby Lake, I found they had done a clear-cut of the trees near the dam. I assume they were dying, damaged or dead. Or maybe they just hate trees. Anyway, these three are now giant stumps. There are several other ex-trees not far from these ones as well.
This is one of those books that sets out to do one thing, in this case guide you through using voice dictation with Nuance’s Dragon software to improve your writing output. And author Scott Baker succeeds in providing a concise, clear and confident set of advice, covering everything from set up to hardware recommendations, the common pitfalls to avoid and more.
A lot of the advice also applies in general terms to using any kind of voice dictation, though Baker as much admits that Dragon is the only credible option for the best results (and is more expensive now that the Premium version has been discontinued in favor of the pricier Professional version). Dictation has the potential to dramatically improve your writing speed on first drafts–Baker advises against using it for editing, as do other authors I’ve read who are otherwise strong advocates of dictation–and Baker encourages the reader/writer to use it whenever they can.
He also addresses a problem people generally have with voice technology, whether it’s dictating or just speaking a command to your smart phone–it can feel somewhat embarrassing to do in public. Baker gamely insists people won’t care and my transit rides suggest he may be right, but he provides solutions ranging from dictating in your car on the ride in to work, to dictating as you leave the train and head to the office. With the increased speed of dictation over writing, even 10 or 15 minutes can yield great results.
Baker’s website also includes video tutorials for buyers of the book, as well as a blog where he regularly reviews microphones and other hardware, as well as provides a useful bunch of links to resources ranging from books, microphones, software and other accessories.
In all, this slim volume is an excellent way to acquaint yourself with Dragon dictation software, but more than that, it’s a good primer on why dictation is worthwhile to begin with, full of practical advice and good tips.
I’ve gotten feedback from three people on my seven story ideas and so far the results are:
Time Enough : 2 votes
Wake Up: 1 vote
Mean Mind: 1 vote
Lost youth: 1 vote
Time Enough is Stage 4 cancer person using time travel to get rid of the cancer.
Wake Up is the guy living another life in a coma as doctors and family try to reach him.
Mean Mind are psychokinetic good and bad people trying to use their powers to change the world or keep others from changing it.
Lost Youth is the other time travel story, with someone going back 20-30 years in time, but with all of their memories left intact.
I’m still discussing the ideas, so the winnowing has not begun, but I’m only extending my deadline by a week. That will still give me three weeks to work on an outline and, if need be, jettison the story for another likely candidate. This is why it’s good to have seven of them instead of one. That’s what I tell myself, anyway.
More soon, though I am giving Stage 4 (alternate working title) some thought now.
On a side note, I am still deciding what tool to use for the writing part, though I am still planning on working on mixing in voice dictation. I’ll be trying that out more extensively this week.
My quest to get below 160 pounds remains elusively out of reach, with my weight in a holding pattern, completely unchanged from August and barely changed for the year to date. I am really good at neither gaining nor losing weight, it seems.
Several times I started getting close, dipping down to 161.5 pounds, but my weight trend ticked upward in the second half of the month, due to less exercise and unchanged snacking.
I did continue to stay donut-free, so yay for that.
Last October I was 153 pounds. It was then I began to gain weight, bloating up past 170 pounds. My main goal is still to get below 160 first, then down to 150, but my super-secret goal is to not see my weight start getting out of hand and into fat as it did one year ago.
To quote Dan Rather, Excelsior! (I think he actually said that once or twice. Maybe.)
September 1: 162.9 pounds September 30: 162.8 pounds (down 0.1 pounds–basically a rounding error)
Year to date: From 162.3 to 162.8 pounds (up 0.5 pounds–unchanged from August)
And the body fat:
January 1: 18.5% (30.2 pounds of fat)
September 30: 17.9% (29.1 pounds of fat (down 1.1 pounds)
Run 598 Average pace: 5:43/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:11 pm
Distance: 5:02 km
Time: 28:42
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 18ºC
Humidity: 45%
Wind: nil to light
BPM: 172
Weight: 163.4 pounds
Total distance to date: 4570 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8
Taking on faith the accuracy of the weather forecast (I know, I know) I headed out today in shorts and t-shirt. It was already 17ºC, which was the forecast high for the day, so I suspected being cold would not be an issue. It ended up climbing a degree for the run.
It was cloudy and a 0% chance of rain was promised in the early afternoon, so I donned my non-water resistant AirPods and headed out.
When I got to the lake it started to sprinkle. Fortunately it never amounted to more than that, so I stayed fairly dry, despite the intermittent raindrops.
I had to whizz when I got there and another person went into the Jiffy John™ just as I arrived. This set the tone for the run, the day, everything. She was in there for a weirdly long time, while her friend/neighbor/relative shuffled around awkwardly nearby. I finally went and started off counter-clockwise. Because I began on the south side of the dam, I actually hit the 5K mark before getting to the marker, which was a nice change.
The trail was busier than I expected, given the cloudy skies and sprinkles. People were variably dressed in anything from shorts and t-shirts to winter jackets. I found the humidity made it feel quite warm, especially with the utter lack of wind.
There was a cyclist near the end and when we made eye contact, he nodded in a friendly way at me, so obviously my face was not doing what I would have expected it to be doing.
And it seemed like everyone was walking in a way to form a wall across the trail. A couple of times I nearly had to go right off the trail to get around, even after making my presence known. I’m not sure why today was like this.
I started out well, so well that I made myself slow down, then I basically collapsed in the second km, eventually recovering to where the fifth km was actually the fastest. I was five seconds slower than the last run, which is just enough to sting a smidge, but worse, my BPM was way up, to 172. So I worked harder to get worse results.
On the plus side, I was concerned about the knees going in, but they were fine, and I didn’t experience any other issues, either. Post-run, I did a lot of the run/walk thing and that all went well. In fact, it seemed like I had more energy after the run.
Overall, then, a mixed bag. Maybe (haha) I’ll try running during the week again. We are now looking at the sun setting before 7 p.m., though, which means that I would be finishing my runs only about 20-25 minutes before.
I recently updated my Apple Watch to the latest version of watchOS. It includes a feature where it will detect if you are starting a workout activity and ask if you want to start recording the workout.
Tonight it asked if I wanted to start recording an indoor run.
I was playing air guitar at the time. While sitting in a chair.
May need a little tweaking.
(Either the watch software or my air guitar technique. I’m not sure which.)
It got into the 20s today and actually felt a bit warm. It was nice.
Judging by the 10 day forecast this may be the last hurrah for summer this year. I’m not complaining, mind you, just looking back wistfully on the long, warm days of yore. You know, earlier this month. And today.
But I’ll admit, a lot of the trees are very pretty right now, even as we prepare for The Rains.
By turns suspenseful, creepy and sad, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock is a simple story that centers around how easily decent people can do terrible things.
Framed around the disappearance of a teenage boy at a state park, the story shifts between events leading up to the disappearance of Tommy Sanderson, and the aftermath of the disappearance, with the search, police investigation and the mother, Elizabeth, and younger sister Kate, trying to cope.
Tremblay, who has a short essay about the story at the end of the novel, makes reference to his work as generally ambiguous, but I would describe what he does here not so much as deliberate ambiguity, but more a technique to create a specific mood, even if it ultimately has no payout for the story itself. Tremblay is, in a way, tricking the reader into believing things in order to spook them.
Much like his previous novel, A Head Full of Ghosts, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock presents seemingly supernatural occurrences, some of which are explained, others of which are not. The problem with this approach is twofold–the unexplained events do add to the atmosphere of the story, but do not materially add to the story beyond that, and as Tremblay has used this technique in two consecutive novels, it risks becoming a predictable shtick. As I progressed through Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, it became clear the supernatural aspects would have no bearing on the overall story or its outcome and at that point those elements almost became irritants that distracted from the real story of how three teenage boys came under the spell of a disturbed young man in his early 20s.
Surprisingly, the breaking of writing rules didn’t bother me at all. Tremblay frequently shifts the POV from one character to another, often in the same scene. There are police interviews that are literally presented as transcripts, though the story overall is not written as an epistolary. Journal notes are presented as huge walls of text.
I was also surprised at how unaffected by Elizabeth and Kate’s emotional suffering. I sympathized over their loss, but didn’t feel much else, and I can’t say exactly why. Tremblay writes well, but there is something in the prose here that created distance and pushed me away instead of pulling me in.
Overall, I did enjoy the story, but don’t be fooled by the pretense to supernatural or non-psychological horror elements. They don’t really inform the story, and act more as decoration around the edges, even if they are presented in a skillful and evocative way.
Also, Tremblay clearly did his homework on Minecraft. 😛
Recommended if the premise and central theme interests you, but not a must-read. A Head Full of Ghosts does a lot of what this book does, but with a fresher take on its subject.
And that means eggnog has started showing up at Save-On Foods. Fallnog, perhaps.
Also, it just seems weird that a few weeks ago it was 30ºC and now it’s cold enough at nights that drinking hot chocolate is inviting and my little desk fan is gathering dust.
I even started looking at base heaters on the Home Depot website.
The transition from spring to summer, on the other hand, is this teasing, long build-up where the days gradually lengthen and get warmer, flowers bloom, trees bud and blossom, and finally you bask in the verdant green of summer.
Summer to fall is more like admiring the view from the top of a flight of stairs, then someone pushes you down and at the bottom it’s suddenly 15 degrees cooler and everything is turning brown.
