Turning this off also means I’ll no longer have a backup of my photos on Apple’s servers (which may not be a bad thing if the above story hints to the stability and security of their infrastructure), so I’ll need an alternative. Here’s my plan, because I love a good plan and also lists:
Store photos in another cloud service. I have OneDrive, and it’s already automatically uploading photos from my phone to its cloud server, so this part is happening now.
Store photos in a NAS (local network storage). I’ve had a Synology NAS for awhile and have now set up the Synology Photos app to backup my photos from the phone. I’ll move the photos over in batches (I have…a few) until they are all in place, then will have the app on the phone set to only upload new photos going forward.
Once I have both of the above in place, I’ll delete the photos I have stored in iCloud and then turn off iCloud Photos. This will also make it easier to drop all Apple services save for Apple Music (I’m still paying for 200 GB of iCloud storage), and make it easier to move to a different phone in the future if I decide to do that.
You may be thinking I am souring on Apple–and you would be right! But that is a rant for another day.
The forecast called for mostly cloudy/cloudy today, which was fine by me, as I wanted to avoid the strobing effects and glare of Friday’s run. Just as I got to the lake, the sun started peeking out from behind the clouds and I cried out in my heart, “No!”
But then it clouded up again for the actual run. Also, I started the run over two hours earlier than Friday, to avoid the sun being higher in the sky. Anyway, it worked. No strobing! No glare! Just a nice, uneventful run.
Because I ran counter-clockwise, it was easier to keep control of my pace and my overall BPM dropped back down to 154, while my average pace fell to a still perfectly cromulent 5:57/km.
As an experiment, I overdressed to see if I would be overdressed.
I was overdressed.
Let me explain. I was expecting it to be 4-5C, but it turned out to be 6-7C. The difference might seem small, but it’s right at the border between what feels most comfortable to wear. I opted to err on the side of caution to see if overdressing a bit would actually feel a bit uncomfortable, but it was fine.
Even though it was Monday, everyone on the trail, whether running or walking, seemed to be all smiles and happy to be out. I mean, I don’t blame them. It was dry, relatively mild and no wind at all, so great conditions for a mid-November walk.
What I wore:
Running jacket
Long-sleeved shirt
Running pants
What would have been fine (especially with no wind):
Long-sleeved shirt
Sleeveless base layer
Running shorts
Wednesday’s conditions so far are looking very similar, with a decent chance of rain but similar temperatures on Friday. I will dress with my refined weather knowledge.
A shot of the Avalon Trail looking in the clockwise direction. I didn’t curse the distant cyclists because they are allowed on this part of the route (I also realized that they are very distant, so you may not even be able to see them).
And a shot from Cariboo Dam, illustrating just how little wind there was:
Stats:
Run 733Average pace: 5:57/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:13 a.m.
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 59:48
Weather: Cloudy, some late sun
Temp: 6-7ºC
Humidity: 78%
Wind: light to nil
BPM: 154
Weight: 161.7
Total distance to date: 5415 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (87 km)
Another weirdly sunny and wind-free mid-November day for us to shoot birds with our cameras. Both places were teeming with songbirds looking for late season berries and seeds. Maplewood also had a lot of waterfowl along the shoreline.
Spotted sandpiper at the river, Maplwood Flats.Chickadee, Maplewood Flats.Killdeer on the seashore, Maplewood Flats.A rare Cedar waxwing sighting, Maplewood Flats.Robin in the golden hour, Colony Farm.
Like, you’re trimming your nails just fine and suddenly sneeze and cut way too close and then for a week you have this painful, sensitive area on the tip of your finger.
I almost did this today, minus the sneezing part, so really, I was just being inept.
I’ve been culling blurry or otherwise bad photos from my OneDrive folder, so it doesn’t get filled with…blurry and otherwise bad photos. One terabyte of storage is a lot, until it’s not.
As I cull the photos (closing in on 2,000 so far) I’ve rediscovered some that I quite like. I may have posted some of these before, but the heck with it, I am posting them together. These are typically shot in RAW and then adjusted or tweaked in post.
Spotted towhee from April 10, 2021Juvenile bald eagle from April 17, 2021. This was badly underexposed, so it was fixed in Affinity Photo.Robin looking a bit weird, as they do, April 10, 2021
Who knew the sun would be my nemesis again in mid-November?
I was very unmotivated to go out for a run today and started late as a result (I have been running in the morning even with the summer heat long gone, as I prefer having the afternoon clear for other stuff). This proved to be an interesting decision.
After talking myself into doing a 5K on the river trail, I then upgraded that to doing a short loop at the lake. After initially thinking of running counter-clockwise, I decided to go clockwise instead and started off, dressed in two layers up top and shorts, which proved sufficient (I had gloves but didn’t wear them).
As I was nearing the 3K mark and thinking about turning around to head back and finish off my loop, I passed a man who mysteriously batted at the branch of a pine tree. To be clear, the branch was hanging over the trail but was well above him. He seemed a bit odd. Then a putt-putt car with a park worker appeared, and I navigated around that. For some reason, these two things suddenly convinced me it would be a bother to turn around, so I just kept going and ended up doing a full 10K.
The start of the run along the Avalon Trail was a bit tricksy due to much of the path being slick and shiny. This effect was further enhanced by a near eye-level sun glaring straight onto it. It was painful to look at, but that segment is not too long and I was into the shady woods soon after. The shady woods felt noticeably cooler.
Many sections of the trail had frost or slick stretches of water, but I kept my footing throughout. The real fun started on the back 5K along the Cottonwood Trail. By now the sun was shining from the south to the north (coming from my right side) and the trees, now sans leaves, contributed to a distinct strobing effect as I ran past them. It made it very hard to even see where I was going as my vision was filled with a constant flashing. It would probably have been actually seizure-inducing to light-sensitive people. I tried putting up a hand to block it, but this made it nearly impossible to actually run. Try it sometime!
After the Cottonwood Trail, it wasn’t so bad, but there would be one more bit of fun and it involved my least favourite four-legged animal to encounter on a run after bears. I was nearing the very end of my run, on a twisty section of trail past the Spruce Loop. Ahead of me, a woman was throwing something down the trail for her dog to chase after, which was already dumb, because she was throwing toward a blind corner. I eyed the dog, who seemed very energetic. I knew an incident™ was in the making. Sure enough, as soon as the dog turned around and saw me, it made a beeline for me, ready to pounce in that “friendly” sort of way. I did my best to pull away, and the woman called the dog. As it turned toward her, I looked back and said, “Leash your dog!” My tone was not particularly neighbourly.
She leashed the dog.
My run literally ended moments later, so I walked to the turtle nesting area, took a few photos, then gave myself a minute to calm down, let her go by, then exited the park.
I only looked at the watch once during the run and saw a pace of 5:55/km for the 5th km, which seemed about average and expected. But my overall pace was a wacky fast 5:44/km. For three of the ten km, I came in under 5:40/km. My BPM was up, unsurprisingly, at 160, which is okay given the speed and cold, but well above what I aim for. I guess if I’m not actively monitoring my speed I tend to just go really fast, a runaway runner.
Annoyingly, my watch failed to measure my heart rate for both the second and third km. Since this is early in the run, I don’t think the missing BPM would have resulted in a higher average. I am about ready to trade my Series 5 Apple Watch in for the 25 cents or whatever Apple will give me. Except then I’d have to buy more Apple stuff. I could buy four polishing cloths, I guess.
Overall, a nutty sort of run, both good and bad. I’m glad I got out, though.
And here’s a shot of the duck pond again, now fog-free, with actual ducks in it, and a patina of ice forming over half of it.
Stats:
Run 732Average pace: 5:44/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 12:34 p.m.
Distance: 10.03 km
Time: 57:30
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 6ºC
Humidity: 55%
Wind: light
BPM: 160
Weight: 160.2
Total distance to date: 5405 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (77 km)
This took longer to draw, not because I lavished extra detail on it, but because I screwed up. I sized the reference photo down way too small, so I ended up with a micro-sketch of an extremely tiny towhee. It did not scale up gracefully, being made of pixels and all, so I basically drew a proper-sized one over top of it. I didn’t really notice my goof-up until I had pretty much finished the original drawing.
No, I don’t really use Twitter all that much and may use Mastodon even less, but I like the idea of being on a decentralized social media platform that isn’t about hate and being clever at the expense of others. We’ll see how it goes.
I woke up to a severe weather alert this morning that didn’t involve rain. I was intrigued!
Fog Advisory
Severity: Moderate
Possible threat to life or property
Alert in Effect
From 3:26 AM (PST), November 16, until 4:59 PM (PST), November 16
Description:
Near zero visibility in fog is expected or occurring.
Where: Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria.
When: Now until late this morning.
Hazard: Hazardous travel due to zero visibility in fog.
Remarks: Dense fog has developed due to a ridge of high pressure that is trapping moisture near the surface. The fog is expected to dissipate late this morning.
I can’t recall the last time I ran in dense fog. I thought it might be fun, so I headed out early to make sure it wouldn’t dissipate before I could get to the lake.
It turned out to be slightly horrible!
On the plus side, I dressed for the cold (it was 0C when I headed out and 1C when I started the run) by wearing three layers up top and my running pants. I was not cold at all. It also helped that there was virtually no wind at all.
Visibility on the trail was actually fine, the fog would only be a hazard for people driving 80-100 km/h on the highways. I don’t run quite that fast and never on a highway, so I was good.
However, what is fog? It’s low level fine mist. When you walk in it, you don’t really think about it. When you run in it, that mist will adhere to things like glasses–which I wear!–and start obscuring your vision.
When I reached the bridge at Deer Lake Brook, I stopped to take a quick photo and to use the soft part of my gloves to wipe this misty residue off my glasses, because it was having the effect of making the fog seem about five times thicker than it was. I managed to turn the mist into a smeary mess, but with a clear bit at the top of the right lens, allowing me a tiny window to navigate through. I did this for about a km, then stopped on the next bridge at Still Creek, and gave the glasses a more thorough wipe. This fixed the smear and reduced the enhanced fog effect to about two times, which was good enough to finish the run.
Knowing this, I will not knowingly run in the fog again. Time to update my running conditions list again! But now I’ve done it and have the knowledge and experience to share and cherish.
As for the actual run part, I went clockwise and just maintained a steady pace. This was made easier by the reduced visibility.
Around the 2K mark a man walking the other way warned me of ice past the bridge. I thanked him and indeed there was a rather slick stretch. I tread carefully, remained upright, and encountered good conditions for the rest of the run.
My pace was 5:57/km, which given conditions, is pretty good. BPM was 154, also fine, considering the temperature ranged from 1-4C. Summer it ain’t.
Here’s that view from the bridge at Deer Lake Brook:
And a bonus photo of a spooky-looking pond, often occupied by not-so-spooky ducks:
Stats:
Run 731Average pace: 5:57/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 9:07 a.m.
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 59:44
Weather: Foggy
Temp: 1-4ºC
Humidity: 84%
Wind: light to nil
BPM: 154
Weight: 160.2
Total distance to date: 5395 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (72 km)
But I remember the olden days when book series were relatively uncommon, and seen mostly in a few specific genres, like fantasy and science fiction.
Now we have zombie apocalypse stories that span 10 books. What is added to a zombie apocalypse story by increasing its length by ten times? More zombies, I suppose.
I don’t need more zombies, though, I just need one really good zombie story that is contained within a single novel, so I can read it, enjoy it, then move on to something else that probably has fewer zombies in it. I like variety, my time is limited. Help me, invisible market forces!
This feels like it should have been a tweet, except it’s too long. Maybe I should start a Mastodon account.
