For the first time since October 2023, I have posted an average of two posts per day in a single month (31 days, 62 posts).
This is not exactly one of the great achievements of my life, but it does signal that I was finally able to get into the habit of posting more regularly again, and more specifically, not getting hung up on what to post, just posting whatever.
I believe I have achieved posting whatever.
Onto September!
But first, it’s time for you-know-who again. That’s right, typing cat!
Today it got up to 30C or something. I was not expecting this.
Wear your shorts and tees
And seek shade under the trees
Pray for any breeze
Not great, but better than an AI could do, and I’m pretty sure I burned less energy coming up with it (especially brain energy).
(I do like the scandalous use of rhyming each line, though.)
Sunflowers, looking less sinister than usual. Maybe.
I started about three different drawings, and they were getting too complex, so I started again with the idea of keeping it super simple. I drew a swoopy line and it turned into a purple onion thing. It took less than five minutes Ta-da!
Specifically on why it may be me, and not social media, though to be fair, Facebook is still a raging dumpster fire.
Facebook:
Anyway, as I opined to Nic today while talking about it, I think it really comes down to social media now just being a form of entertainment (and more nominally, for news and information) and I prefer to get my entertainment through other means, so a little social media goes a long way.
Or maybe I just suck at finding good people and things to follow.
Either way, cutting back on it will give me more time to draw. I’m going to draw something right now, then post it, right here! In the next post.
Where: Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 22-29°C
The Outing
Today was a briefer outing, and we started at Piper Spit, which was perhaps a slight tactical error, as the sun was low and to the east, which is the opposite of where you want it, as most of the waterfowl at the spit hang out on the east side.
We made do with the conditions and were rewarded with the return of another migrant, or perhaps “migrant” since it allegedly doesn’t migrate, yet always disappears locally every summer. In this case, a couple of Northern pintails have returned, joining the growing coot population. No other migrants were spotted, but the geese kept honking and carrying on, as if to suggest why can’t we just be happy with them, huh? Huh? HONK HONK HONK.
Goldfinches proved elusive to shoot again, though we spotted a rare warbling vireo, so that was spiffy. We also saw some chickadees, one of which was especially generous and posed for quite a bit.
There were also some dowitchers, but today they were gathered farther away from the pier, boo.
More wood duck dudes are showing full mullet now. Soon the entire lake will radiate with their iridescent beauty. Or something.
We did not stay overly long, but took note that it was already quite warm by mid-morning. It would get hotter still!
Next up was Tlahutum. We did our usual circuit to the big pond before stopping at the community garden before leaving. The big pond was a big bust–no birds! We did see what Nic thinks was a swallow of some sort flying very high above, the only one we saw. The rest are probably relaxing in Mexico now, or wherever it is they go. I know, I am typing this on the internet and could just look it up, but I am lazy love a mystery.
We did see a number of cedar waxwings, including one that hung out atop a tree for quite a long while, occasionally preening, panting or poofing itself out. The others were not quite as close, but a few had their kids in tow.
A heron flapped into one of the side creeks, and we got some decent shots of it standing there, looking stabby, but birds were generally few, possibly because by this time it was around 29C and felt even hotter due to the humidity. At this point we’d also had our fill of walking in the open sun, with no shade at all, and headed off. We wore sunscreen this time, so no burning!
In all, not a bad outing, but this definitely feels like the “between” season, where some migrants are about to depart, some are coming in, but everything is in flux.
The Shots
Soon™
The Birds (and other critters). Rare or rarely-seen birds highlighted in bold.
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
Common:
Raptors:
Non-birds:
Technically, I am down from a month ago (July 31), when I was 166.9 pounds, but I am not down from the start of this month (August 1) when I was 166.6 pounds. Instead, my devilish weight came and went over the last 31 days before returning this morning.
For August, I dipped below 166.6 five times, the lowest being 166.1 pounds. But alas, I was mostly stalled out for the month.
Was it the crackers? It was probably the crackers.
But my body fat still decreased a little, which is good, and the overall trend is still down, even if it literally slowed to a standstill for August.
I keep saying it, but this time I really will have to cut down on the snacking, I am apparently doing more than I realize. No more tubs of lard! If I snack, it will be a few pods of sugar peas or a couple of strawberries or something. No chips, no crackers, no cookies.
We’ll see how that goes.
Stats:
January 1, 2024: 172.3 pounds
Current: 166.6 pounds
Year to date: Down 5.7 pounds
August 1: 166.6 pounds
August 31: 166.6 pounds (unchanged)
Body fat:
August 1: 25.1%
August 31: 24.7 (down 0.4%)
Skeletal muscle mass:
August 1: 29.7%
August 31: 29.8% (up 0.1%)
BMI:
August 1: 23.8
August 31: 23.9
Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds
As I’ve mentioned before, the only social media I really use anymore is Mastodon, but even there I’ve retreated mainly into the role of lurker, occasionally liking or boosting posts, and sometimes replying. I rarely create a post, and it’s mainly because I don’t really know anyone on Mastodon. On Facebook or Instagram, there are people I know–family or friends. I originally used FB like many people, to keep in touch with these people.
Facebook is a massive dumpster fire now, so while there are still lots of people there who I know IRL1I dislike the term “In Real Life” but can’t come up with anything better., I don’t care to keep in touch with them because I tend to keep my distance from dumpster fires.
Instagram was mainly where I posted bird photos, but I’ve pretty much stopped doing that and IG is a dumpster fire, too, it’s just a slightly smaller bin.
But as I pick and choose who or what to follow on Mastodon, I find myself asking more and more, what is it I’m looking for? Have I turned into a U2 song? Have I still not found it? Am I looking for something I will never find?
I think it’s possible, and the broader implication is that maybe social media is just not for me. Maybe it never was, and it only became obvious once I’d retreated from most, but not all, of it.
On Mastodon, I follow a few people ‘n things:
Generally, this gives me a decent mix of stuff that doesn’t get too bogged down in any one area. #sketch is lightly used, so there’s never too many posts to go through. Half of the ones for #linuxmint (and ther aren’t many) are in languages other than English, so I could probably drop that tag (I tried following #linux for a time, but it gets too much traffic, as one might expect on a nerd-centric platform like Mastodon). The others are a mixed bag.
Mastodon itself is fine. Some people are Very Serious or get easily offended. Some seem to easily offend others. It’s probably picked up some of the worst parts of Twitter, but has fewer tools for people to manage who can interact with them and their posts. Improvements are allegedly coming, but it’s been almost two years since the exodus from Twitter and now Bluesky, which is effectively a Twitter clone, but more “fun” is picking up users while Mastodon treads water. There seems to be a level of crankiness on Mastodon that I’m noticing more, probably related to the above-mentioned lack of tools, or related issues.
I don’t care about which site is more popular. Mastodon is big enough for me, but more often now, I find myself just scrolling through and feeling unsatisfied. There are jokes and cogent observations and talk about the Fediverse, and it’s all fine, but…unnecessary? I think the only thing I’d really miss are Chris Silverman’s bizarre and utterly fantastic Apple Notes sketches, and I can always check the notes.art site for those.
Then I think about the last time I lost myself in a sketch. It’s been a while. And I wonder if I’m just passing time scrolling and scrolling, and getting very little out of it. So maybe it’s not even Mastodon, it’s just me falling into a lazy habit and unwilling (so far) to escape out of it.
More on this later as I continue pondering.
Shot on iPhone 12 because I was too lazy to haul out my camera for my walk.
Railroad cart:
Chair by the river:
I used to visit AnandTech semi-regularly for some time, but in the past few years had checked in less often. The site was staying the same, but I was becoming less hardcore about PC stuff. I just wanted something that would work until I was ready for my next system (my current PC is a little over five years old, and the one it replaced ran for about seven years).
Still, I’m sad to see it shutting down as of today: End of the Road: An AnandTech Farewell
While editor Ryan Smith notes the publisher’s generosity in allowing the site to operate as it wanted, what he also says by implication, is that the generosity came to an end. AnanaTech apparently didn’t want to become another SEO-driven content mill, and so it gets shut down.
The good news? The site itself is being kept up (for now–I am skeptical Future PLC will stick to that) and its forums, which date back to 1999, will be kept running (see my skepticism above). But as of today, it’s now a legacy site. It becomes a part of history, part of the past, still worthy of keeping and remembering, but now an artifact, an exhibit of what once was.
But we still have Blue’s News! This was my home page for years when I was gaming all up in the hizzy in the last 90s/early 2000s. And it still looks exactly the same. Also, I no longer have a home page.
I always like these shadow shots, but this one is even better because I included (most of) my weird and orange trail running shoes. Taken just before today’s run.
First, after my last run on August 19, it may have seemed like things were going spiffy. And they were!
Or so I thought.
But after that fourth run in a row, my right knee started to feel not-quite-right. It wasn’t hurting, per se, but was clearly feeling some strain from the runs, and the Baker’s cysts seemed bigger. I decided to take a cautious approach, and kept up with a series of walks and walk/runs, but it wasn’t until today when I somewhat spontaneously decided to, that I ran a full 5K.
It went fine. The right knee is not hurting, though I can feel where it would be, but it seems to have survived both the run and the extended walk around the lake and back home. To encourage myself to not put the metaphorical pedal to the metal, I opted not to time either walk post-run, allowing myself to adopt a more leisurely pace.
Speaking of leisurely paces, I knew to not go all-out for today’s run, but the 10-day layoff insure that wouldn’t be an issue. I could definitely feel those ten days. I started out relatively strong and fortunately capped out at 5:56/km on the third km before picking up the pace a little, then a little more to finish with an overall average of 5:51/km. It was warm, but not hot, somewhat muggy in the shady bits, and I experienced a bit of Dry Mouth Syndrome™ at times, though it was tolerable. I began thinking of how gels might work better than carrying a water bottle in situations like these. Not hair gel, since I no longer need that, but the sporty kind you enjoy on the go. I may look into it. On the other hand, summer is over in three weeks, so maybe I can hold out for now.
The trail was fairly bereft of people, though I did encounter a decent number of other joggers. I also encountered a guy with two kids biking. I told them bikes were not allowed as I ran past, scowling at them on the inside (too much energy to also do it on the outside). No off-leash dogs, though!
Also, I saw two snakes. One was quickly slithering off the trail into the grass, as they usually do. The next was post-run and did the same thing, but seemed a little more relaxed. He (she?) hung out in the grass for a bit, allowing me to get a rare (for this summer) garter snake photo (see below).
Overall, a decent outing, and I’m hopeful that I won’t need to go another 10 days before my next run.
Stats:
Run 880
Average pace: 5:51/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 1:16 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 29:23
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 23°C
Humidity: 60%
Wind: light
BPM: 154
Weight: 166.4
Total distance to date: 6,260 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 6 (45/93/138)