I have chosen to delete my new Facebook account, which was created specifically to access a few groups, which I have decided I no longer need access to.
So goodbye FB again. This time for good. I swear!
Is it time for kittens?
Yes. It is always time for kittens.
Run 935: Soggy summer start
Today is the first day of summer, but it is also the first day in a while in which there was a real chance of precipitation during my run, so I opted to wait a bit before heading out into the cooler-than-normal and cloudy conditions.
As I walked down the river trail, I pondered what to do. Having to run/walk all the way around the lake and back in the rain would kind of suck, so maybe I could just run the river trail to reduce the risk? About halfway down the trail, the weather made up my mind for me by starting to shower. I immediately started my run.
The shower tapered off at nearly the same time I finished the run. I want to think this is just a coincidence and that the planet doesn’t actually hate me.
On the plus side, the run went well! I ignored the suggested workout and ran at a normal pace, which felt fine and comfortable. In fact, my overall pace of 5:42/km saw a BPM of only 147. Nice. The river trail is always a good place to feel better about your running.
I saw a few other runners on the trail and some soggy cyclists. One of the runners smiled at me with that, “Yep, great weather!” look in his eyes. It wasn’t that bad and since it did taper off, I was mostly dry by the time I got home. Thank you, wicking fabric!
Anyway, it was a wet but not entirely unpleasant end to the running week.
Stats:
Run 935
Average pace: 5:42/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Brunette River Trail
Start: 11:57 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:41
Weather: Cloudy, showers
Temp: 14°C
Humidity: 82-79%
Wind: light
BPM: 147
Weight: 168.2
Total distance to date: 6,510 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (105/215/320)
Music: New Adventures in Hi-Fi, R.E.M.
Summer 2025 is here! It’s cool and rain threatens.
The forecast today is for intermittent showers and a high of 17C, which is a few degrees below normal.
It’s also the first day of summer.
How you feel about this forecast will depend on how you view summer in general. A lot of people are in the “Summer is too hot, I hate it” camp, so they will delight in the cooler temperatures. They may be less thrilled with the rain, but something something prevents forest fires. Even though that doesn’t really apply to an urban area like Metro Vancouver.
For me, I just take whatever we get. We’ll have warmer and sunnier days and I will enjoy them, slathered in sunblock and whatnot.
In the meantime, the current conditions are actually pretty decent for running. The rain can hold off, though.
Run 934: Suggested workout
This was a weird one.
My Garmin Forerunner 255 has an option called Suggested Workout where it will…suggest a workout when you start an activity. I have this set to on, because I’m curious what the machine thinks I should be doing. I always dismiss it and run my usual 5K, but this morning, I decided to follow the suggested workout:
8.5 km/h for 35 minutes
This works out to an average pace of just over 7 minutes/km, which is significantly slower than my usual pace.
I started out a few hours later than usual, to hopefully avoid showers in the morning. That part worked, as it was actually mostly sunny for the run itself, but fortunately still with temperatures in the mid-teens.
As I started, I noted that the workout has its own display rather than the one I usually see, showing three things:
Current pace
Countdown timer
Distance
This was different, but OK. The countdown made it seem a little exciting. Only 30 minutes to go! Only ten minutes! Only 5!
But remember where I said 7 minutes/km is much slower than my usual pace? The first km, the watch kept scolding me: TOO FAST. It will let you get above the desired pace for a bit, but if you stay a certain level above the acceptable range for too long, you get the warning. When you drop back into the accepted range, the watch lets you know you have done this, then goes back to the regular countdown view.
Trying to maintain the same speed is hard. Trying to do it when on a trail that constantly twists, turns and dips adds to the challenge. Trying to do it when it’s so much slower than your usual pace is…aggravating.
But I persevered and for most of the rest of the way, the TOO FAST alarms didn’t pop up very often. When I got to the final km–where I usually apply the gas a bit–the warnings began popping up, and for the last 30 seconds or so I just ignored everything and ran.
When the countdown reached zero, I was told the workout was concluded, but the run keeps going after that until you end it. I ran just a bit farther to hit 5K and stopped.
I got a grade for my effort: 88%, which it deemed Good. If I had hewed closer to 8.5 km/h I would have rated higher. I was then asked to rate two aspects of the run:
- The effort. I chose Light. I pondered briefly on Moderate, but Light was right, because I had to force myself repeatedly to run slower.
- How I felt. I chose Strong, because the challenge was in not going too fast.
As you can see by the stats below, they are quite a bit outside the norm. My pace is 6:53/km (TOO FAST), which is over a minute slower than my previous run (5:46) and my BPM was a mere 141. No issues experienced on the run, of course, though I did have to dodge some glass on the trail around the 3K mark. Not sure what was up with that.
Overall, an interesting experiment, but one I am not eager to try again.
Stats:
Run 934
Average pace: 6:53/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 11:17 a.m.
Distance: 5.0 km
Time: 34:25
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 15-17°C
Humidity: 83-76%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 141
Weight: 167.2
Total distance to date: 6,505 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (100/210/310)
Music: Lifes Rich Pageant, R.E.M.
Windows 11: Making photo editing weirdly laggy since 2025
The other night I thought to myself that I’ve been taking photos with my new camera, but hardly ever post any of them. So I went through and tagged a bunch I took on Saturday and found I had 51 apparently worth considering. That’s way too many, but it was a starting point. I did the tagging in Linux Mint, but photo editing is still a bit iffy there, so I switched back to Windows 11 and my main photo editing software, Affinity Photo.
I edited one raw image of a barn swallow, then loaded a second image, of a house sparrow. After doing this, Windows 11 turned into this weird, laggy mess. The mouse cursor would slowly drift across the screen on its own, as if it weighed several tons, never fully stopping, never responding to any clicks, though I could get it to slowly move in other directions. The keyboard was also non-responsive, so I could not invoke task manager by using CTRL-ALT-DEL to see what program had gone rogue., or if it was Windows itself.
In the end, I rebooted the PC. It was such an unpleasant experience I even briefly thought of switching over to the Mac, then remembered the security hell of trying to install mouse drivers on it that led me to abandoning it for what has now been multiple weeks, because I am done with modern computers constantly throwing obstacles in the way of a pleasant, or even just nondescript, user experience.
Windows 11 has been behaving so far since the reboot, but I’ve only edited a single photo. I’ll have the full batch of selected photos from last Saturday posted sometime in 2028, probably.
In the meantime, here is that one photo, of a barn swallow.
This is what I aspire to
Not to be a weird alien (?) sitting on someone’s back or someone holding a mask because they have no face.
Rather, I aspire to produce the weird, mesmerizing art of someone like Chris Silverman. His use of light and shading is fantastic, and his work–done daily on the iPhone Notes app–is always freaky and delightful.
Run 933: Bug out (of my mouth)
It was a little warmer today and a little less humid, but fine.
I did not have any particular goal, but when my first km came in at a somewhat leisurely 5:51/km, I decided to step up the speed a little and finished with a nice Monday overall pace of 5:46/km, with the last one being 5:30.
For the first 1.5 km I did not see anyone else–no runners, walkers, coyotes, bears, pigeons, penguins. Nothing! After that I saw some people, but surprisingly few joggers.
The run itself went without incident. When I pushed I didn’t feel like I was overexerting and my BPM was 152–lower than last Friday, to go with the lower speed. It’s all logical up in the hizzy, as the kids say1I suspect few, if any kids, actually say this..
Well, there was one incident. Around 3 km or so into the run, a bug hit my face, right near my mouth. I swiped at it and it came off on my hand. I think I had murdered it, or maybe it struck me with lethal force. Either way, I wiped the ex-bug on my shorts and kept going. The only other stuff that hit me was cottonwood dander, of which there is still a surprising amount floating about, kind of like the flakes of snow you see before the start of a snowstorm. There was also a pile of poop right in the middle of the trail about 6 km in, and I suspect it was left by a coyote or bear. Bear signs are all over. I’ve even though about wearing a bell to make noise, like people do with cats so they can’t indulge in their natural instinct to murder birds. In this case it would be more to let any bears know I’m coming, so please just move along, preferably back up into the mountains.
Anyway, it was a fine start to the week, as far as running goes.
Stats:
Run 933
Average pace: 5:46/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 9:03 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:59
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 15-16°C
Humidity: 68-65%
Wind: light
BPM: 152
Weight: 168.4
Total distance to date: 6,500 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (95/197/292)
Music: Eve, The Alan Parsons Project
Walk 132: A late spring stroll, with bonus photos
I decided to go out for a walk on the river trail, and so I wouldn’t be bothered getting hot ‘n sweaty, I dressed to run. I even pondered a short run, but it was mid-afternoon on a Sunday and opted not to.
I walked to the lake but stopped to take a few photos, so did not record it as exercise. The walk back I did record, the stats are below.
Here are the photos:
Stats:
Walk 132
Average pace: 9:09/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 4.02 km
Time: 36:43
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 22°C
Humidity: 50%
Wind: light
BPM: 109
Weight: 168.1 pounds
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255
Total distance to date: 939.01 km
Birding, June 14, 2025: No sunblock required
Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta)
Weather: Cloudy, 15-17°C
Today was a shorter outing because Nic needs his beauty nap before volleyball tryouts tonight. As such, we only went to Reifel, which was bird-deficient across vast stretches of the ponds and trails. Still, there were birbs to be seen.
The weather was cooler and cloudy, so the sunblock stayed in the bottle as we hit the trails.
Among the regulars, we also spotted a Northern shoveller, lending credence to them not really migrating away, just lying low and hiding…somewhere nearby? We also saw some wigeons, so at least two of them are back. The coots can’t be far behind.
The cranes were dining near one of the ponds we don’t usually see them hanging out at, along with several groups of adorable ducklings, providing at least one target-rich environment.
The geese were strangely reserved, with minimal honking. It always unnerves me when they’re quiet.
The male mallards and wood ducks are looking increasingly ratty, as they no longer have to keep up the good looks, with mating season over. The female ducks must now tolerate their beer bellies and mullet-free heads.
The biggest change since the last visit a few weeks ago, other than the relative absence of birds, was the marshland given over to being almost completely green now. It is very lush. Speaking of lush, this new type of reed/grass seems to be growing all over the place now, including spots where it is now obscuring some views. It’s kind of weird. I wonder if it’s invasive.
Despite the smaller number of birds, we did get some fine shots and there were turtles at the end. And it was nice to not have to slop greasy goop all over my exposed flesh, even if it does make me smell pretty.
The Shots
Shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18-150 mm kit lens and 100-400 mm telephoto.
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American robin
- American wigeon
- Anna’s hummingbird
- Barn swallow
- Black-capped chickadee
- Brown-headed cowbird
- House finch
- House sparrow
- Marsh wren (heard)
- Rufous hummingbird
- Savannah sparrow
- Spotted towhee
- Song sparrow
- Tree swallow
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- Blue-winged teal
- Canada goose
- Gadwall
- Great blue heron
- Mallard
- Northern shoveller
- Sandhill crane
- Wood duck
Common:
- Rock pigeon
Raptors:
- Bald eagle
Non-birds:
- Black squirrel
- Beetles
- Turtles
Run 932: A matter of degrees
I missed Wednesday’s run for reasons, so had three days of rest going into today’s jog. Would the time off help or hinder? Either was possible!
It turns out it probably didn’t matter, because the important part was the weather–it was cloudy and only 14C, which is near-perfect running conditions. I opted to start out with a little more pep and ended with a flourish–my final lap was 5:28/km. My overall pace was 5:40/km, almost 20 seconds better than Monday’s run. My BPM was a bit higher, at 154, but given the effort, it’s understandable.
Also, I did not encounter any issues, despite the speedier effort. I also didn’t run into any bad luck, given that it’s Friday the 13th.
What I did run into were birds. I saw a strangely large number of birds. At one point, crossing a field post-run after using the drinking fountain by the playground, a barn swallow circled me a few times, flying low over the grass, his wings scissoring effortlessly through the air. In all, I saw:
- American crow
- American robin
- Barn swallow
- Canada goose
- European starling
- Rock pigeon
- Mourning dove
- Northern flicker
- Song sparrow
- Spotted towhee
- Probably others I am forgetting
Anyway, it was a good way to end the week.
Stats:
Run 932
Average pace: 5:40/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 9:33 a.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 38:32
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 14°C
Humidity: 73%
Wind: light
BPM: 154
Weight: 167.8
Total distance to date: 6,495 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: ASICS Trabuco Terra 2 (90/184/274)
Music: Greatest Hits, Fleetwood Mac
Trains and trees and water, June 11, 2025
Posted a day late due to other things taking up my time.
