Another photo from the walk around the Stanley Park seawall today, this is a shot of trees and ex-trees along the cliffs above the seawall.
I walked 33,164 steps today
That’s 26.44 km. The number will actually go higher before I got to bed, unless I magically teleport around the condo for the rest of the evening.
Nic and I went for a walk around the Stanley Park seawall. As it was a beautiful, sunny day it was packed with people the way a Snickers is allegedly packed with peanuts. We delighted in the scenery, even as we had to avert our eyes from the men who had taken their shirts off to expose their extremely white flesh. It’s definitely early summer.
In a rare turn of events, I did not get sunburned, but Nic did get some red on the back of his neck. [Nelson laugh here]
I’ll slap together some of the better photos, but for now here’s one I like of the underside of the Lions Gate bridge.
Weight loss report, June 2019: No weight loss
The seemingly bad news of not losing any weight is a bit deceptive. While it’s true that my weight was exactly the same on both June 1 and June 30, suggesting no progress in weight loss, there was, in fact, progress!
First, the year to date figure has me down 0.6 pounds. A trivial amount, sure, but still in the right direction.
The telling stat, however, is body fat. Over the course of the month it went from 19.8% to 18.5%, a dip of 2.2 pounds. This is a very good sign, and it reflects how I began to curb my snacking and exercise more in the latter half of the month.
Just in the past week I did my first set of three weekly runs in a long time and, despite eyeing it covetously, I passed on a free Boston Cream donut.
So while more actual weight loss would have been nice, I’m pleased with how things went for the month. Here’s to continuing the trend in July, but with more actual weight loss mixed in.
The stats:
June 1: 166.9 pounds
June 30: 166.9 pounds (no change)
Year to date: From 167.5 to 166.9 pounds (down 0.6 pounds)
And the body fat:
June 1: 19.8% (33.1 pounds of fat)
June 30: 18.5% (30.9 pounds of fat) (down 2.2 pounds)
Run 612: What goes up…
Run 612 Average pace: 6:01/km Location: Brunette River trail Start: 6:15 pm Distance: 5:04 km Time: 30:21 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 20ºC Humidity: 57% Wind: light BPM: 157 Weight: 166.6 pounds Total distance to date: 4640 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 2, iPhone 8
Today’s run was both a disappointment and perfectly fine, even quite good in some respects.
It was just a few degrees cooler than Tuesday and cloudy. Showers earlier in the day meant it was more humid, which meant I sweated more, but that’s all.
A cramp threatened near my right shoulder for a bit, but I focused on staying loose and after a few minutes it went away without fully materializing. I had no other issues otherwise.
Because this was my third run in a week, something I haven’t done in about two hundred years, I deliberately set a slower pace. This led to the one real disappointment, though hardly unexpected: I was, in fact, slower. But I was a full nine seconds off Tuesday’s pace, which surprised me.
Another surprise, albeit a pleasant one, was my heart rate. It was down again, to 157, which is very nice. The surprise was in the heart rate chart. Usually I see a spike near the beginning and end of a run, then a jagged series of small ups and downs through the run. Today’s run was close to a straight line. While my pace per km fluctuated, my BPM remained very steady. Kind of weird.
Other than that, the run was fine. I’d have been happier to have stayed under a pace of 6:00/km, but I still felt good, so I’ll call this a victory, especially since it is the first time in quite awhile that I’ve done three runs within the same week. Onward to the weekend!
Using my smartphone for good, not evil
Actually it would be more fair to say I’ve been using my smartphone (currently an iPhone 8) for harmless nonsense, which is still better than using it for evil.
I’ve made a few recent posts to the blog during my morning commute, using the Ulysses app to slowly tap out a post and then upload it directly to my blog. I marvel at the technology, even as I lament how few will see my carefully-considered nonsense. I even just recently had a two-day stretch of zero visits on June 21 and 22. This is bad even by my own sad standards. I clearly need to work on the SEO and other acronyms to boost hits. More clickbait! More gossip! More whatever it is people want. Maybe just a redirect to Facebook.
It feels like the writing muscles are finally starting to halt their atrophy, as I am using more little blocks of time to write errant thoughts down, moving ever-so-slightly closer to perhaps engaging in some fiction writing again.
Mainly, though, I am not using my phone for social media, except for using Slack at work, which is not really in any way fun, so doesn’t count. There’s hardly any clickbait.
What do I use my phone for? Here’s a list. I like lists.
What I use my smartphone for, in order of most to least
- Listening to music
- Sending and receiving text messages with my partner. A lot of this includes Bitmoji nonsense, which I love and adore.
- Logging food/water in the MyFitnessPal app
- Adding or removing stuff in the Reminders app
- Checking stats in the Activity app
- Occasionally checking email, either personal (Gmail) or work (Outlook)
- Checking calendar appointments (almost exclusively work-related)
- Adding errant thoughts using the Drafts 4 app
- Adding errant and less-errant thoughts using the OneNote app
- Sometimes checking the weather or news
- Using the flashlight function
- Making or receiving an actual phone call
- Playing a game
- Writing a blog post (this one may move up the list over time)
What I never use my smartphone for
- Making the world a worse place (to my knowledge)
- To smash open walnuts
- As a level
- To play music without earbuds or earphones. Seriously, why do people do this? Do you do this? Don’t do this.
- To plug in a nice set of headphones (zing!)
Book review: Keep Going
Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is a delight. Austin Kleon not only has an awesome name, his art is a fun and quirky mix of collage, cartoons and wordplay. This is someone who sees art all around him, then dives in to make even more.
The focus on the book is primarily aimed at creative types, specifically writers and visual artists, but most people can glean useful stuff from the sensible, thoughtful ideas he shares. Many may seem common sense, like finding a “bliss station”–a space where you can focus on your creativity, whether it’s a physical spot or just time you carve out of the day–but Kleon presents them as a piece with his own thoughts, creating a unified, accessible whole.
Kleon emphasizes experimentation, not getting hung up on the pursuit of perfection, and focusing on making art that makes others–and yourself–happy. He is big on gifts, less so on selling your stuff on Etsy, or somehow trying to make money from your creativity (he is not opposed, as he does it himself, obviously, but warns of the danger in trying to commercialize something you love and are passionate about).
He urges the reader to take social media in small doses, to turn your day to day life over to a virtual “airplane mode” from time to time, to not focus on doing things just to generate likes or clicks.
Keep Going is a short book, all the better to get through it and start applying what Kleon advocates. I read this on an iPad Pro and definitely advocate reading it in a format large enough to appreciate the numerous sketches, cartoons and notes, whether it be through tablet or even quaint old paper. The illustrations are all black and white, so a larger e-reader should work, too.
A solid thumbs up for creative types seeking easily-acted on inspiration and tips, and still recommended to others for the positive approach to life.
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Run 611: Faster with no raccoons
Run 611 Average pace: 5:52/km Location: Brunette River trail Start: 6:26 pm Distance: 5:03 km Time: 29:29 Weather: Partly sunny Temp: 22ºC Humidity: 36% Wind: light BPM: 160 Weight: 168.5 pounds Total distance to date: 4635 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 2, iPhone 8
For the first time since 1907–when wearing athletic shorts outdoors could get you arrested–I did two runs in three days.
Even better, I proved Sunday was no fluke, improving my average pace by another six seconds (though the river trail is more forgiving, as I’ve noted before). Even better than that, my average heart rate was drastically lower, from 177 previously to 160 today.
I started out trying to not go too fast and burn out quickly, but still managed an opening pace of 5:31/km, positively zippy compared to recent runs. The second km it caught up to me as I slid back to 6:06/km.The fourth km was my fastest, which is unusual, at 5:28/km. I don’t have any real explanation for why the pace was like the proverbial roller coaster, except that I may have been automatically putting on the brakes when it felt like I was going too fast.
With no issues–no cramps, knees there but not a problem–this was about as good a follow-up to Sunday as I could have gotten. The weather was much warmer at 22ºC and it was a lot less humid, but with the sun mostly tucked behind high cloud, it actually felt fine. If I continue on a regular run schedule moving forward, my next run would be Thursday, where it is forecast to be 17ºC (good) with light rain (not so good). Motivation will be tricky, but we’ll see if I can build on the smidgen of momentum I’ve built up, instead of buying a giant bag of potato chips and snarfing them on the couch.
Book review: The Frighteners
The Frighteners: Why We Love Monsters, Ghosts, Death & Gore by Peter Laws
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was better than expected. Going in, I was unfamiliar with Peter Laws, apart from the blurb for the book mentioning that he is a reverend and perhaps a seemingly unlikely choice to author a book about why we are delighted by things that scare us (he devotes an entire chapter on this near the end, and also addresses it at the beginning). A writer when not conducting church services, Laws has authored novels about a professor aiding in the solving of religious crimes, and also reviews horror and similarly themed movies for The Fortean Times, the delightfully wacky magazine devoted to the weird and out there. This is relevant, because Laws demonstrates wit and verve throughout The Frighteners.
Laws has done his research on why we seek out to be frightened by various things, but this is not a carefully considered study and analysis, it is very much Laws providing expert testimony and studies, while adding in a lot of his own personal take on the various spooky subjects, neatly divided into their own chapters. There are fictional frights—scary movies and TV shows, but also could-be-real frights like ghosts, werewolves, cryptids and more. Then there are the sadly real, like serial killers, their “murderabilia” and crush videos (don’t look up the latter if you are at work or anywhere else on the planet. Trust me on this.)
Laws doesn’t defend the more dubious aspects that some people seem to crave, but he does attempt to understand motivations. And he highlights that most of us—even people into murderabilia (mementos from famous crimes or killers) have our limits. For example, a couple that run a curio shop in York sells things like strands of Charles Manson’s hair, among other ghoulish “delights”, but the American half of the couple admits she turned down the chance to sell bricks from Sandy Hook, because she lived nearby and had no emotional distance from the killings.
A lot of the fare Laws covers is lighter, and even silly. Zombie-themed escape rooms are a big thing now, and Laws partakes not as research for the book, but because he just loves them so much (he went to Transylvania for his 40th birthday), going out of his way to squeeze every last bit of drama from them, like the hero of a horror film.
In the end I was carried along by Laws’ enthusiasm for the macabre and frightening, and his gleeful delight in the same. He provides enough research, expert interviews and other material to elevate the book well above “I like scary stuff, let me talk about it”, so if you find the subject matter interesting, this is an easy recommendation.
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Run 610: Faster, with bonus racoon
Run 610 Average pace: 5:58/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) Start: 10:29 am Distance: 5:04 km Time: 30:04 Weather: Cloudy Temp: 14ºC Humidity: 77% Wind: light BPM: 177 Weight: 167.6 pounds Total distance to date: 4630 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 2, iPhone 8
Back on my weekly schedule, I headed out today under very different conditions, with cloudy skies, a high of 14ºC and humidity high enough to eliminate dreaded dry mouth syndrome or DMS as the imaginary experts in my head call it. I also chose to run clockwise for a change of pace.
The results were unexpected.
On the expected front, I thought my pace would be better–the clockwise run tends to be a little easier to navigate, with more inclines heading down instead of up and generally just being a wee bit less technical. I was correct on this part, my pace was better.
What I didn’t expect was that it would be what is likely the best back to back improvement in pace ever–a full 30 second improvement. This is the average pace, so my actual time to complete the run today was 2:26 minutes faster. That is an astonishing difference. I went from a plodding 6:28/km last week to 5:58/km today, the first time I’ve managed to crack the six minute mark in awhile. I am delighted by this.
I am also delighted by having no issues, despite pushing myself harder, save for two: a minor twinge in my right ankle that sorted itself out quickly, and an elevated heart rate–an uncomfortably high 177. Not unexpected given the dramatically faster pace and my general lack of fitness. Curiously the Apple Watch was unable to record the full hear rate chart, claiming there were not heart rate measurements. Maybe this is the first sign that Apple thinks I need to move on from the now lowly Series 2 to something newer and shinier and also by total coincidence way more expensive.
One other less delightful aspects was getting gravel in my shoe less than 10 meters into the run. At least it was small enough to not be annoying (I have provisionally picked out new shoes and will be looking at them this week). Also, weirdly, there was a racoon on the trail right at the start, too. I encountered it twice, actually, the first time walking the trail to the Jiffy John® and the second time when I retraced my steps back to the 0K marker to begin my run. Each time it quickly trundled into the bush and waited for me to pass, which is fine by me. Raccoons are kind of cute but also kind of scary. I tend to think all of them have rabies for some reason. I probably watched some bad TV movie about it when I was younger.
Despite the cool and cloudy conditions–which were delightful for running–it was busier than expected, though no great traffic jams happened. A lot of fellow runners apparently also found the weather to their liking.
I am planning to run Tuesday after work, totally for real this time. The current forecast is pleasant, so I shouldn’t have rain mixed in to further dampen (ho ho) my enthusiasm for running more than once a week. Jeff is onboard for holding back dinner until my run is over. We shall see.
Overall, this run was unexpected in terms of performance, and while I don’t expect to match the pace again right away, it’s nice to know I can still do sub-6:00 minute runs.
Photo of the Day, June 17, 2019
This was actually taken a few days ago. Flowers on the Fraser River.
Run 609: Two weeks later, five seconds slower and one coyote dashing
Run 609 Average pace: 6:28/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 12:26 pm Distance: 5:03 km Time: 32:30 Weather: Sunny with high cloud Temp: 22ºC Humidity: 54% Wind: light BPM: 164 Weight: 167.8 pounds Total distance to date: 4625 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 2, iPhone 8
Last weekend I didn’t run and it wasn’t because I was just too lazy (mostly). I stayed up way too late Friday and Saturday, slept horribly and felt like simply walking around without bumping into the furniture was a big enough goal, never mind a proper run.
Today I was braced for the results to be worse due to the extended absence. And they were!
But not by much.
My pace was 6:28/km, five seconds off the last run’s pace–but still better than the run before that. BPM and other stats were very similar, so the run was not really all that different than the one two weeks ago. I found a comfortable pace early on and stuck to it, experiencing no issues along the way.
I caught a fleeting glimpse of a healthy-looking coyote ducking into the bushes ahead of me on the main trail, probably waiting for some snack-sized off-leash dog to wander along. There was also the remains of a water station from an event earlier in the morning at Piper spit. It’s 2 km into the run, I was half-tempted to grab some water because it was a little dry, though not as much as the previous run. I still need to find some solution for hydration that doesn’t involve some gigantic water bottle.
Speaking of dry, I was walking along the Avalon Trail post-run and a parks putt-putt car came up, leaving a tick cloud of dust that hung over the trail for a surprisingly long time. My shoes were similarly dust-covered, something I’m not really accustomed to seeing in mid-June. Ah, climate change!
Anyway, the run was totally acceptable and the slower time was no surprise. I swear I will start running more often any day now.
Book review: American Nightmare
American Nightmare by George Cotronis
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
American Nightmare is a themed horror story collection, with every story taking place in 1950s America. Ultimately the theme doesn’t add much to the stories, serving mostly as window dressing (everyone smokes, for example), and the stories themselves are a mixed bag, typical of most horror collections. This is not a bad read, but you might want to wait for a sale price to grab it.
Also in the tradition of horror collections, a lot of American Nightmare is Men Behaving Badly, with abusive husbands figuring prominently. The real monster is us. And also the tentacled horror in the lake.
Story by story:
Grandma Elspeth’s Culinary Enchiridion for Domestic Harmony. An abusive husband gets his just desserts (or dinner, rather) while the son watches with horror and wonder. But mostly horror. A decent intro to the book and is the first (but not last) to feature tentacles.
CHIAROSCURO. A weird tale that swaps between first person POV for scenes of a soldier in WWII and second person for the then-present day of 1958, as the former soldier and now-detective with an odd affliction that prevents him from recognizing faces, goes after a murdering couple that dresses as Raggedy Ann and Andy.
The author repeatedly references famous paintings to literally illustrate scenes, lending an odd sort of whimsy to the story, but it’s bloody and violent and ends with a lot of gunplay. It almost feels like it would work better as a longer piece, but it’s an interesting and surreal bit of mayhem.
Bow Creek: Kids living in a bucolic small town discover All Is Not What It Seems and those who see the ark underbelly either join or die. The End. Really. Slight, perfunctory and did not really do much for me. It tries to create a 50s horror movie vibe (and references the same), but it only partly succeeds.
Glow: Frustrated teen finds space rock that seems to have something to do with Cthulhu. Screaming (of others) follows. Not bad, but given the potential it seems to fall short.
Lucy’s Lips: Misunderstood high school girl leaves town, comes back with the circus, may have some ties to Cthulhu. Sort of features tentacles and might be trying to make a statement (not a nice one) about promiscuity, whether by accident or design. Did not grab me.
Pear People from Planet 13. As you might guess from the title, this is a comedic piece that riffs on the monster movies of the 50s. Weirdly gory and a little too on the nose, maybe.
Ghost Girl, Zombie Boy and The Count. A self-loathing killer meets some very interesting kids trick or treating. Another just desserts story, but written with some verve and wraps up appropriately.
The Two Monsters of Levittown. A clumsy attempt to address Nazis, racism, medical experimentation and just who are the real monsters, anyway? This could have worked better, but the writing is just too unsubtle, bludgeoning all of its points like a mallet to the skull.
Double Feature: What seems like a charming story about a teen couple watching a double feature at the drive-in descends into horror at the very end. It’s not quite a twist ending, but I was almost disappointed by it. This is one where I felt the journey was more interesting than the destination.
In the Blood: Totally Cthulhu, complete with the tentacles. Military experiments on soldiers prove disruptive to a nuclear family. Violent, gory, with that air of hopelessness one expects from a good Old Ones story. Despite this playing directly into expectations, it was just okay. The 1950s/Cold War setting could have been exploited better.
The Black Pharaoh of Hollywood. An ancient pharaoh (are there other kinds, really?) uses a desperate screen writer to return to the living. This was is well-written, but is undermined by an ending that feels forced, not earned, particularly in how the protagonist makes his decisions. Good, but could have been better.
The King. An old woman/witch mails seeds that grow weird black oak trees that make people commit literal blood sacrifices. This one pays lip service to the book’s theme and is just weird. Nothing is really explained and sometimes in a horror story that’s for the best. There’s some characters-doing-things-to-advance-the-plot business here, which I hate more than weird black oaks that prompt blood sacrifices.
A Night to Remember. A cancer-ridden man in a dinner encounters a strange, possibly Lovecraftian fellow who has a message. The Titanic does not figure at all, sorry. This one goes for ominous and mostly works.
All the Marilyns. An unconvincing look at a smart young man who years to move beyond his small town and somehow turns into a murderous psycho. Maybe I missed the subtle transition, but it felt jarring and off-putting.
Looking back, it seems I didn’t care much for most of these stories. The majority are decent, but flawed in some way. You could probably do worse for a horror collection, but you can also do much better.
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