A couple of days ago I was strangely and suddenly compelled to take a picture of myself in the mirror, like how people used to do selfies in the old days. Perhaps it was because I always seem to look better in the mirror vs. when I take an actual selfie and the selfie comes out horrible and ugly. Maybe I look better in reverse.
After looking over the image I noticed how filthy the bathroom mirror, which is also reminiscent of the old days when people took selfies in front of mirrors. No one thinks to clean the mirror first.
I could have cleaned the mirror and taken another photo, but I was afraid I would lose the moment, so I used Affinity Photo to clean all the splotches from the mirror. It worked reasonably well, so hooray for technology.
And the photo:
The dirty mirror and me, March 30, 2018.
By the way, it’s not graininess you see on the bottom of my face, it’s stubble. It’s also deliberate and looks way better in person. For real. Yep.
I was originally planning on updating my PC this spring but thanks to crypto currency miners driving the price of video cards into orbit I’ve decided to hold off and peruse my massive backlog of games for titles that will still run on my current rig, which is about four years old.
Instead I started playing Diablo 3 again. Like World of Warcraft, it acts as comfort food because it’s pretty mindless. You click, things die. You click more, more things die. You get loot. Your character gets increasingly ridiculous looking. It’s fun. Since I last placed (coincidentally four years ago) they’ve added seasons, which locks your character into a “start over” mode that gives you a few trinkets and baubles for completing various goals. I’ve completed one of nine goals. I probably won’t finish them all and I will be sad, but only a little, because there’s good clickin’ fun in the meantime.
I’m almost worried that Diablo 3 is now distracting me from my writing the same way WoW was. Don’t ask about my writing…
Run 574 Average pace: 5:49/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 1:47 pm
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 29:20
Weather: Clear, some cloud
Temp: 12-14ºC
Humidity: 40%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 163
Weight: 167.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 4455 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8
Today’s run can be divided into Good and Bad.
Good:
the weather was pleasant and mild, the sun actually felt nice
my knees surprisingly didn’t bother me
I didn’t experience any other issues, though I could feel a bit of that “not-quite-in-shape” burn
two geese standing right next to the trail at an especially narrow point did not react as I passed close by, apart from one shifting slightly. There was no hissing or pecking, from either the geese or myself.
the bugs at Deer Lake Brook were gone, possibly having already died from old age
the new bridge is in at Still Creek
Bad:
I had the first taste of dry mouth for the season, as it was rather breezy
my knees actually felt worse on the walk back after the run, though they’re fine now
I was surprisingly slow at 5:49/km. I think the weekly pace (ie. running only once per week) is catching up to me. I plan on running on the holiday Monday to start getting into regular runs, totally for real this time.
the new bridge at Still Creek is closed, so you still have to use the old one. For now they co-exist peacefully.
a weirdly large number of cyclists on the trail getting in the way and such. Also briefly a horse, though the rider stopped just short of moving onto the “no horsey” part of the trail.
Signs of spring were all around, too:
the water fountain by the dam was awakened from its winter slumber
the “Icy conditions” signs have been removed
general increase in green, with trees budding and blooming all over
The skunk cabbage is also on the verge of blossoming, too. This is the time of year when it looks pretty and isn’t stinky.
Pretty before the stink.
Four (!) trees have been cut down since my last run at the lake, including several that had been leaning rather precariously. A fifth that had a large branch angled over the path, requiring you to either duck under or go around has also been amputated. This past winter has probably seen more trees come down (via storm or chainsaw) than in the seven years I’ve been running here.
Overall, I am left a bit nonplussed by the run. I was hoping to get a pace in the 5:30s range, but at least the knees were fine. Well, I shouldn’t say fine. I’ve come to realize that for awhile now (several years, at least) my knees have been very tender whenever I have to use them, like when I kneel on the floor to tie a shoe or scrub something off the kitchen tile. They feel weirdly sensitive. I can replicate this by going into a crouch. I have no idea if running caused this, or if it’s hereditary (my dad had bad knees) but I’ll keep running for as long as I’m able to or possibly get bionic knees.
One other positive was the BPM holding at 163. It’s been remarkably stable, which seems like a good thing. As I get in better shape it should go down. I just need to do more stuff to actually get in better shape. 😛
The Fitbit One is a step tracker that, unlike most, does not strap onto your wrist. It comes with a clip but I always kept it in the watch pocket of my jeans where it tracked faithfully.
I am using the past tense because my Fitbit One is now dead, murdered by washing. To be more precise, when I did my last load of laundry this past Friday I forgot to take the Fitbit out of that watch pocket and realized this with five minutes left in the wash cycle. It came out dead and remains dead. It is tracking in technology Heaven now.
I’ve actually done this once before and the Fitbit One not only survived, it gave me a bonus 1400 steps from tumbling around inside the washer for 45 minutes. The difference this time is the button on it had collapsed into the unit and while it still worked fine after the button collapse, tracking just as it always has, I suspect that this created a gap for water to get in and zap everything to heck and back.
I looked into replacing my deceased device, but apparently Fitbit quietly stopped making the One awhile back. Local stores don’t stock it. The closest replacement is the Fitbit Zip, which only tracks steps and is shaped a bit like a watch, sans strap. But I have my Apple watch now for tracking and it’s on my wrist where it more easily guilts me into meeting my goals (see here for more), so I think I’ll just stick to the one device.
I feel a bit silly killing the Fitbit One like this, but I appreciate the slight de-cluttering of the technology in my life.
Run 573 Average pace: 5:27/km Location: Brunette River trail
Start: 5:25 pm
Distance: 5:05 km
Time: 27:34
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 6ºC
Humidity: 75%
Wind: light
BPM: 162
Weight: 166.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 4450 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8
I had another weird glitch with the music before starting my run. I told Siri, though my watch, “Hey Siri, shuffle R.E.M.” It processed the command and then…no music. I look and instead of R.E.M. it’s showing…Supertramp? I bring out the phone and there’s a pop-up that says something like “Ruh roh, where’s the internet??”, which was odd because I had a couple bars on my cell signal. I make sure the AirPods are connected and they are, so that’s good. The music app doesn’t show the Supertramp song, although the watch does. Instead it just says “Music”. No song title, nothing else. When I press play it actually plays. But it’s Supertramp.
So I just issue the command through the phone again and then…it works. No other issues after that.
Technology is weird. I wonder if the iPhone is hinky. Or maybe it’s cosmic rays.
It was also chilly out, so maybe it was that. The chill was making the phone cold and afraid to work properly.
It rained hard in the morning and I was not enthused about running, so I waited and all of a sudden it was 4:45 p.m. and I’m thinking I should go or I’m just going to slump on the couch, getting up only to use the bathroom and to fill my face with food (not from the bathroom). I wore my long-sleeve shirt, which was a wise move, but shorts were fine. It wasn’t windy, so that helped to keep it from feeling as unseasonably cool as it was.
I ran the river trail, again by first walking to the far end, then starting from the end. The left knee was fine, the right knee was a bit sore but not too bad and for the second half of the run it settled down much more than in the last run. But I did notice that at times it seemed to jiggle a bit–the actual kneecap. I’m thinking more than a compression sleeve is worth getting.
I tried not to push on the run, but did at one point when I was catching up on another jogger. She was on the left so I moved to the right. She had a giant phone strapped to her left arm. I don’t think I could ever do that, it just looks so awkward. Plus I’d feel like I was constantly tipping very slightly to the left. As I caught up to pass she suddenly looked over her shoulder, as if she intended to move over to the right. This created an awkward moment because I was in the space she wanted to move into. I turned on the afterburners and increased my pace for a few hundred meters. My lungs felt the fire. I mostly eased up after that and was pleasantly surprised by the final result, a 5:27/km pace, with the BPM at 162, no different than my much slower previous runs. Yay.
Here’s how the last three have gone:
5:57 > 5:38 > 5:27
So it’s a good trend. I should note that the river trail is not really a trail at all, but a very compacted gravel road. As such it’s a lot wider and smoother than the trail at Burnaby Lake, so I always tend to be faster on it. Still, an improvement is an improvement and I’ll take it.
I will once again promise myself to run during the week now that there is daylight to do so. We’ll see how it goes.
I’d easily give Strange Weather four stars, but one of the stories just didn’t work for me. Having said that, this is still an easy recommendation for both fans of Hill and horror in general.
The first story, “Snapshot” has a nice Twilight Zone vibe going on. Set in 1988, it tells of a surly, strange man with a not-quite Polaroid camera that does more than just take your picture, it takes you, a piece at a time. The man encounters an awkward, clumsy, but bright teenage boy and…things happen. It’s better to just read and enjoy the story.
The second story, “Loaded” is about a murderous psychopath who acquires a lot of guns and goes on a shooting rampage and kills a lot of people. And that’s it. In the Afterword Hill describes it as “my attempt to make sense out of our national hard-on for The Gun” and while the story certainly has plenty of guns and gun-related violence, it didn’t work for me, even as I imagine Hill leaning back in his chair, pointing a finger gun at the monitor after writing the last sentence of the story and saying, “Nailed it!” If “Loaded” were a movie, it would be an unrewarding slog, a series of killings that say little more than “a psychopath with guns is probably not a good thing.” I also felt the characters didn’t always act believably. The reporter makes a long string of stupid decisions for no apparent reason, while I think the psychopath would likely have killed himself after one particular event in the story.
spoiler
specifically after he accidentally shoots and kills his son
The forest fire that serves as a backdrop is maybe meant to be a metaphor, but it could have been cut from the story and not affected it at all.
I did think it was clever setting the story in Florida, though, allowing the character of Kellaway (the killer) to represent everyone’s crime headline favorite, Florida Man.
The third story, “Aloft” is a fantasy involving a petrified skydiver who, on his first jump, lands on a cloud that turns out to be more than just a cloud. It’s funny and weird and the background story that intersperses his travails on the cloud is touching and engaging. The whole story just hangs together tightly.
The final story, “Rain” is a bleak, nasty tale that asks the question, “What if it rained super-sharp shards of crystal?” If you guessed “a lot of people would die”, you’re right! Things tie together a little too conveniently at times and the whole “Comet Cult” group that serve as neighbors to the main character, seem more in service to the plot than being necessary to the story. Still, Hill skillfully paints a truly frightening picture of a world where the weather can suddenly kill. A certain president with a fondness for tweeting insults adds further to the story’s sense of despair.
Overall, Strange Weather is a terrific collection, even if “Loaded” was a misfire (sorry) for me.
I’ve decided it makes the most sense to take my 2009 NaNoWriMo novel The Ferry, and attempt to self-publish it this year. I’ve chosen it because it’s actually a complete novel, so it only needs another draft or two to be ready, vs. actually finishing one of my other novels. It’s not my best work, but it’s words on a (virtual) page and has action, romance and horrible monsters from some other dimension. And that’s not a sly reference to some political angle.
Steps in my plan:
Choose a novel to complete – DONE
Prepare the novel in the writing tool of my choice – DONE (I am using Scrivener, the story was originally written in Word)
Read up on self-publishing – IN PROGRESS (I’ve read a few books and will go back to review as the story gets closer to being ready)
Find an artist and pay them to create a decent book cover – TO DO
Find an editor to read over and revise my manuscript – TO DO (when I’m closer to ready)
Spiffy up my “serious” website (stanwjames.com) – In PROGRESS
Decide on pricing strategy, any marketing, etc. – TO DO
We’ll see how it goes, but if I don’t do something this year, I’ve decided I’m going to give up and spend all of my free time playing Diablo 3. ALL MY FREE TIME.
Run 572 Average pace: 5:38/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 12:56 pm
Distance: 5:04 km
Time: 29:37
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 11-12ºC
Humidity: 56%
Wind: light
BPM: 163
Weight: 167.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 4445 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone 8
So close to having a total of 4444 km.
Today’s run had me filled with trepidation before heading out. The weather was gorgeous, with mild temperatures and sun, so it wasn’t that. It was those pesky knees.
My trepidation grew when I got to the lake. I could feel where the knees had gotten sore on last Saturday’s run. I put that aside and started up some jogging music…only to find the right AirPod was not playing. I did a few things to no avail. The right AirPod was running in a virtual cone of silence. I finally decided to try unpairing the AirPods. Just as I did this I remembered that pairing requires the charging case, which was sitting at home 4 km away. Oops.
And so began a rare music-free run. I could feel the knees almost immediately. Not good.
The left knee quickly settled down, though. I felt some of the usual stiffness toward the end, but it was fine otherwise. The right knee was definitely sore–not enough to stop or slow me down, but enough to notice. Then it spread down my shin and for a few minutes my whole lower right leg ached. This passed quickly and eventually even the right knee hit a point where it didn’t feel that bad. A bit sore, but no more.
I finished feeling less dread than when I started. I may try a compression sleeve on the right knee on the next run, as I’m fairly certain the soreness will persist unless I take a good long break from running. If it doesn’t get worse than it is now, I may be okay.
For the run itself, it again felt hard, but not as hard as last week. The start and end I pushed and felt the ol’ lung burn, but during the middle section my breathing settled (I kept the AirPods in my ears since that was the logical place for them, but could still hear my own rasping until the breeze picked up). Overall, it was a mix of struggle and Zen. Zuggle.
A sure sign of spring was in the air today, too. Specifically, clouds of bugs as I approached the bridge at Deer Lake Brook. I’d forgotten what fun it is to run into huge swarms of horrible little insects. I’ll be better prepared next time.
My BPM was the same as last week at 163, which was good. My time improved noticeably, going from 5:57/km to 5:38/km. Still on the slow side but under the circumstances pretty good.
I counted six people on bikes, but since I’ve forsaken complaining I will say nothing else about that, except to note there were no bike-related incidents.
In the end I am left a bit nonplussed. The improved performance was nice, the fact that my knees didn’t explode was good, but that fact that they hurt at all when they haven’t in over 4,000 km of running is concerning, because it’s unclear if this is the start of a trend or something temporary. I also wonder if my weight is a factor, since I’m not as svelte as I would normally be (167.8 now but finally starting to trend back down. This is still 14 pounds more than last October, before The Fattening began.)
With Daylight Saving Time underway, I may aim for a post-dinner run on Tuesday. We’ll see if the flatter, friendlier Brunette River trail is more forgiving on the knees.
After realizing I am not ready to spend $1,000 on a new computer/office chair but am ready to spend $200, Jeff and I went out tonight to grab a MARKUS from IKEA, the budget pick in The Wirecutter’s guide to The Best Office Chair. I went for the Vissle dark gray as I prefer fabric over black leather and as a bonus, it’s $60 cheaper. After discount it was even less, only $129. It was so cheap I was tempted to spend $29 on the optional KOLON floor mat. Actually, I wasn’t, I just wanted to work KOLON into this post. I can’t help it, I still think half of the names at IKEA are sly Swedish in-jokes on the rest of the world.
After assembling the chair with the mandatory Allen wrench, Jeff wheeled it over and I’m sitting in it now. My back is a tiny bit sore because it is unaccustomed to being straight instead of slouching. The chair has lumbar support so I expect things to improve quickly. It is already a treat to have a chair that can be adjusted to the right height without requiring a pillow on the seat.
The arms are not adjustable, but if the chair is at the correct height it shouldn’t matter and hasn’t so far. In fact, when I’m typing my arms aren’t touching the armrests at all. I will likely lean an elbow on them from time to time, using the armrests to help support my chin under my hand as I think deep thoughts about my writing. Was that sentence awkward? Let me lean back and contemplate this.
Anyway, there’s not much else to say yet at this early point in the chair’s new life under my butt. Plus it’s a chair, it just sits there. It doesn’t really do much else.
Note: This book is free, but is only available if you sign up for author David Gaughran’s newsletter (as he graciously points out, you can unsubscribe from the newsletter immediately after if it gives you the heebie jeebies or something.)
Amazon Decoded is essentially a companion piece to Gaughran’s Let’s Get Digital, his guide to self-publishing that focuses primarily, though not exclusively, on Amazon’s Kindle market. This short book obviously does focus exclusively on Amazon and it offers detailed advice and explanations for self-publishing authors, both new and more established.
The tone throughout is very conversational and Gaughran admits to areas where his knowledge is incomplete, such as in how Amazon’s “Also Bought” listings affect sales and rankings. But there is still a lot of good information here, including what not to do. Much of this involves being careful how you promote your book, as the “wrong” audience can muddy the various lists Amazon generates and impact book sales. Gaughran illustrates these points with his own promotional blunders, adopting a good-natured tone as he recounts his marketing goof-ups.
This is a very quick read. As Gaughran points out, it’s more a booklet than a book, and I recommend it be read alongside Let’s Get Digital if you intend to self-publish through Amazon’s kindle store. For others it provides some insights into the virtual machinery of Amazon’s Kindle store, but perhaps not enough to warrant a read just for that alone.
