Seen on Mastodon, author unknown:
The Wisdom of Ned, #1
A series I may or may not continue, in my usual style. The first one is based partly on personal experience.
Wisdom of Ned #1
Beards are only low maintenance if you treat them like abandoned bird nests.
How I will be handling stressful events going forward
Of late, I’ve found myself getting too easily upset about things, whether it’s the collapse of democracy, milk prices going up again or our local strata council making silly decisions. I get tense. I get angry. I utter profane things under my breath. Sometimes over my breath, too. I don’t sleep as well. I could be incubating an ulcer, for all I know.
I made the decision that I needed to change how I react to stressful events over concerns of both my mental and physical well-being. I had some ideas:
- Meditation. I have thought about this many times, but I am rejecting it, because my brain just doesn’t work in a way that would easily allow meditation. You may think this is a cop-out, and you may be right. But I make the rules here and my ever-busy brain says find another way.
- Exercise. Well, I do that, and it helps. Just not enough. I can’t exercise all the time, though if I did, maybe I’d develop mutant powers, so I won’t rule this out entirely.
- Fingers in ears, saying, “La la la!” I like the simplicity, but I’d probably need to be seven years old for it to be truly effective, and evidence suggests my aging is not reversing.
- Mindfulness training. Basically, learning a bunch of techniques to better train your brain to cope. It can be quite effective, but I’m lazy and looking for a quick fix. I’ll use this as a last resort.
And finally, my chosen solution, after rewatching the Harry Enfield sketch, “Women: Know Your Limits!”
When something upsets me, I’ll now say the following, either to myself or unwitting recipients nearby:
I don’t know anything about the gold standard [substitute upsetting item here in place of “gold standard”], I’m afraid, but I do love little kittens. They’re soft and furry.
That’s right, I’m just going to dismiss reality. It can’t upset me if I take no heed of it. I know my limits! My mind will be ever-full of kittens, so soft and furry.
Here is the sketch for reference:
Seriously, though, when am I getting a new phone?
My phone history, apart from what we now quaintly call “landlines” began in 2009 with a Samsung flip phone and effectively ended in January 2021 when I bought an iPhone 12.
During that 12-year period, I went through 7 phones (get all the juicy details on each in this post):
- Samsung M320 (it cost $40, which seems surreal now)
- iPhone 4
- Samsung Galaxy S3
- iPhone 5c
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 8
- iPhone 12
Other than the dalliance with the S3, you may have noticed an early pattern: I got a new phone pretty much every year. Then after the iPhone 6 I skipped a generation. With the iPhone 8, I skipped two generations (the 10 and 11–the 9 never existed). And now, I have skipped four generations, with the fifth about to launch next month.
The main reason is phone tech improved. They got faster, got much better cameras, and starting around five or so years ago reached a point many would consider “good enough.” Everything since then is iterative, not revolutionary, in the same way computers get better or TVs improve. You only notice the differences if you go a long time between upgrades.
My current phone, which debuted in September 2020 and which I purchased in January 2021, is reporting 83% battery health, yet there are days when I plug it in before bed, and it’s still at 90-95% charge, because most of the time I don’t use the phone at all.
I rarely check social media, which I have largely abandoned save for Mastodon, anyway. I message a few people, take photos here and there, check the weather, make actual phone calls very occasionally and not much else. I never play games on my phone. I don’t read on it, nor write long messages. I may occasionally scan my email. Sometimes I use the calculator. I’ll add food to the grocery list.
I actually stopped using the Photos app after Apple’s misguided1Misguided is apparently now Apple’s north star when it comes to design, especially for software revamp in iOS 18.
Basically, my phone is just a tool I sometimes use for certain things. I’m not one of those people that must breathlessly check the socials every time I get a free nanosecond. I am content to amuse myself with my own thoughts. Since getting my “good enough” iPhone 12, the tech lust to get a newer phone has disappeared.
The cause hasn’t been helped by Apple crawling up its own butt and becoming a terrible company in the past five years, either. I would not buy a new iPhone at this point, even if they scrapped the shockingly misguided2See? UI refresh known as “Liquid Glass”.
Or Liquid ass if you go by Apple’s original YouTube thumbnail:
Anyway, this leads to the question I pose in the title of this post: When am I getting a new phone?
I think it will come down to a combination of things, most likely something like this:
- When Apple stops supporting the iPhone 12 with updates, which will probably happen in a few years, though I have no immediate plans to update to “iOS 26” because of the awful aforementioned Liquid Glass revamp. Even here, security updates would probably extend the life of the phone to 2028 or 2029, years that once existed only in bad near-future science fiction.
- When battery life becomes unacceptably poor. I think this may take a good while to happen, especially with my usage.
- If I find a deal on a new/newish phone that is too good to resist. I have no idea how likely this is, but it ain’t happened yet.
- I decide my iPhone 12 cameras are now potato quality (they already are if you zoom in at all) and can no longer tolerate them. This is actually not very likely. I have an actual mirrorless camera for taking good photos of things.
Looking over the list, it seems I’m likely to keep cracking wise about my iPhone 12 for some time yet. But we’ll see.
Run 950: The return of an annoying cyst-uation
I apologize for the criminally awful title. And will explain.
Good:
- Cooler
- Cloudy
- No need for sunscreen
Less good:
- Still very humid
Bad:
- The return of Baker and his cyst1Again, what an honour it is to have a cyst named after you
Conditions were not bad. The clouds and lower temperatures helped, but the high humidity still meant the air felt a bit soupy and there was much sweating to be had.
It’s BC Day, which also meant more people on the trail, including several silly types wearing jackets, but clearly less than there might have been, due to the heavy cloud cover.
I had suspected a Baker’s cyst was forming behind my right knee after the previous run, so started out at a more moderate pace, with the first three km all just over six minutes. I finished on the Cottonwood Trail and was able to improve my overall pace to finish at 5:55/km and for what it’s worth, did not experience any pain or discomfort during the run.
Now I must research whether a knee brace or something can help reduce the ol’ BC (not the province) while running, because I’d rather not have to actually take a break, if possible.
Otherwise, a perfectly cromulent run to start the week.
Stats:
Run 950
Average pace: 5:55/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 9:58 a.m.
Distance:5.03 km
Time: 29:49
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 18-19°C
Humidity: 73-70%
Wind: light
BPM: 149
Weight: 165.5
Total distance to date: 6,580 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (175/390/565)
Music: Sweet Dream (are made of this), Eurythmics
Birding, August 2, 2025: Hot pigeons in love (or not)
Where: Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 24°C
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
It was a shorter birding trip today as I did a rare run/birding double header. I have over 38,000 steps as I type this.
It was a sunny and pleasant mid-afternoon at Piper Spit, and with the no feeding rule still in effect, two things can be observed:
- Far fewer people on the pier
- The waterfowl tend to hang out farther away from the pier because no free snacks
We are still yet to see any new migrants arriving, but soon™. We did see several ducks that appeared to be hybrids of mallards and whatever else a mallard finds sexy (and vice versa).
But the variety and, in some cases, numbers were way down. Pigeons? Plenty! And some of them quite frisky. Blackbirds? We saw one. Gulls? Also, only one. Geese? Multiple gaggles.
Still, we shot what we could, and some birds cooperated by getting all showy with flapping and splashing and scooting across the water.
In all, not a bad little outing and none of my photos were accidentally overexposed, hooray.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
Here is an unedited shot of a pigeon (except for cropping) to prove I took photos, while I go through all of my shots.
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American robin
- Barn swallow
- Red-winged blackbird
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
American coot(not yet!)- Canada goose
- Long-billed dowitcher
- Great blue heron
- Mallard
- Wood duck
Common:
- American crow
- Rock pigeons (in love)
- A ring-billed gull
Raptors:
- None!
Non-birds:
- A squirrel
- Some pollinators
Run 949: Sweat it out
I normally don’t run on Saturday, but the doctor appointment bumped everything a day ahead, so Saturday it was!
Apart from about 50 million more people on the trail, it was fine. The only time it got semi-crowded was at the Deer Lake Brook bridge, when a jogger, a parent and the parent’s wee kid got bottled up while navigating the stairs. This amounted to mere seconds, though. And I passed two other joggers! I mean, they were very slow, but still.
Speaking of slow, the temperature was fine (20-21C) but the humidity was still pretty high around 70-74%. This meant today’s run felt harder than Thursday’s when it was 27C. While my BPM remained the same at 151, my pace dropped to 5:50/km, which is not bad, but not exactly zippy, either.
I am noticing what may be the beginning of a Baker’s cyst behind my right knee, so I will keep an eye on that. It did not affect my run.
Overall, not a bad effort, though as the title indicates, it was very sweaty. I was very frequently wiping away sweat from my eyes. I prefer running when there is less copious sweating.
Stats:
Run 949
Average pace: 5:50/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:03 a.m.
Distance:5.02 km
Time: 29:19
Weather: Sunny with high cloud
Temp: 20-21°C
Humidity: 74-70%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 151
Weight: 166.6
Total distance to date: 6,575 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (170/377/547)
Music: Reckoning, R.E.M.
Post 31 for July 2025
I don’t know why I posted so little this month. If I hadn’t been running and birding regularly, I’d have barely posted at all!
As often, I did crank out a bunch of posts right at the end of the month to at least get an average of one-per-day. I will reflect on my lack of gumption or whatever it is, and see if things change in August. If not, then I’ll just post lots of AI slop1!
- OK, I probably won’t. I won’t. I promise. Not even AI dogs playing poker. ↩︎
Stabbing the abs: A health update of sorts
I have had a low level ache in my abdomen for a few months now. At first, I thought it might be tied to my kidney infection earlier this year (Tip: Do not get a kidney infection. It is no fun.) Eventually I realized it didn’t really fit the pattern of an infection (pain, then ongoing pain that doesn’t go away until treated), as there are times I don’t notice it, times I can’t ignore it and others when it’s just sort of there.
Yesterday, my doctor, after extensive poking, figured it might be a sore abdominal muscle that is still sore. This is the ideal cause, as some stretching and exercise should get it back to normal. As a precaution, he also had me go in for some blood work, something I’ve done so often this year it is a non-event now.
While still in the exam room, he wanted to test his theory by applying anesthetic to the suspect muscle, then see if the pain persisted with further prodding once the area had become numb. To do this, he had to inject the anesthetic into the muscle, which he did twice (the second time because he thought he may not have injected far enough to actually get into the muscle).
I had to admit, while getting blood taken is old news, I wasn’t so sure about how I felt about having multiple injections into my belly. It turned out to be no big deal, though it was a bit weird to have this numb part of my abdomen for the rest of the day.
In nay case, the bottom line is this: We need snazzy robot bodies.
Five random thoughts, July 31, 2025
In random order:
- The “Liquid Glass” UI redesign being spread across all of Apple’s operating systems has pretty much confirmed in my mind that Apple’s best designers have either left the company or are being overruled by people who have no sense of design.
- I’m not sure if I like having a Conservative prime minster who ran as a Liberal.
- I did not have getting multiple injections into my abdomen this month on my bingo card (see: Stabbing the abs for more.)
- I continue to be puzzled and occasionally flummoxed by the lack of awareness exhibited by so many people when in a public space.
- Smartphones are a good thing, social media owned and operated by Big Tech is a very bad thing.
The hover fly that hoovered up my time
I decided one day to do a doodle of a hover fly I photographed on a flower instead of a bird, as I normally do.
It feels like I spent about 500 hours colouring the flower, and in the end I’m not really that happy with the result. It’s fine. I may go back and tweak it, somehow. But here it is for now.
Note: The gray part of the fly’s abdomen looks unfinished, but that’s actually how it looked in the photo. If I go back, I may use some ol’ artistic licence to address it, because it does look odd.
Update:
I have fixed the fly (please have your fly spayed or neutered) and made the background a bit different. It’s an improvement, I think.
A bee, from my phone (camera)
Taken after today’s run. Just don’t zoom in.
