Run 548 Average pace: 5:20/km
Location: Langara Trail
Start: 12:36 pm
Distance: 5.02 km
Time: 26:50
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 10-11ºC
Humidity: 71%
Wind: light
BPM: 156
Weight: 156 pounds
Total distance to date: 4262 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
With the days already too short to keep running after dinner, I made the decision to resume running along what is officially known as the Langara Trail, the 2.74 km path that loops around the Langara Golf Course. Today I rented a locker at the school gym and was given the combination to the lock. I think the last time I used a combination lock was in high school. I got the lock open right on my first try, unlocking an achievement. I’m also kicking in an extra $5 to use the towel service, saving me from having to take stinky damp towels home every week.
The run itself went perhaps a bit better than expected given how long it’s been since I ran the trail. I managed to skirt around the tree roots and some patch work has made the trail a bit smoother–at least until The Rains return. It was cool but not uncomfortable so shorts and t-shirt were fine, with minimal sweating. Predictably, my pace on the west side (downhill) was notably brisker than my pace on the east side (uphill). I don’t expect that to change.
Pays off in the sense that I have no idea what I’m doing. Which isn’t much of a payoff. The irony is I just finished a book a few weeks ago (Story Genius) that specifically lays out, in great detail, how to plan out a novel.
For NaNoWriMo 2017 I have made it as far as the “I think I may write a novel” stage.
I have gotten no further.
Well, that’s not entirely true. I’ve set up Scrivener again so I’m ready to go with that if need be. But as far as what I’ll write…no clue. My success rate when going in and latching onto some plot device at the last minute is not terribly good. It is more terribly terrible. This means my effort will likely crash and burn.
Perhaps, though, something fantastic will come to me in a dream tonight. Or tomorrow night. Or maybe the first night of NaNo. After that it probably won’t matter.
Maybe for the eve of NaNoWriMo (tomorrow) I’ll try to inspire myself with another patented* list of lovingly handmade writing prompts.
This is in reference to fall the season, not fall when you snag your foot on a tree root and splat on the ground.
Coming back along the Brunette River trail from my run two days ago, I took this shot. It was tricky to get one without people in it because it was mild and sunny and the weekend. I’m not anti-people, mind you (unless they’re cyclists at Burnaby Lake), I just prefer my scenery shots without people wandering through them, unless they’re people I know.
Mid to late October is that one time in fall I can enjoy. It’s not always raining, it can be fairly mild (today I went for my noon walk wearing a t-shirt) and most of the trees still have their leaves and the leaves have donned their pretty autumn colors.
Brunette River trail, October 28, 2017
I adjusted the white balance a bit in Affinity Photo, using the default “warm” setting. It actually makes the colors, especially of the leaves on the ground, more accurate. My iPhone 6 tends to take photos with a cool tinge to them, which is handy for giving everything a vague dystopian quality, but not entirely accurate vs. reality (or is it? Dun dun dun.)
In a few more weeks it will be much cooler, the trees will look like the blasted skeletal remains of the post-apocalypse and the daylight will last for about twenty minutes. But at least it’ll be nice to snuggle under the blanket on the couch.
Run 547 Average pace: 5:37/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 12:04 pm
Distance: 10.02 km
Time: 56:22
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 14-17ºC
Humidity: 61%
Wind: light
BPM: 163
Weight: 156.8 pounds
Total distance to date: 4257 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
This was a bit of a strange run in that it was both slow and good, like rich Corinthian maple syrup.
Wait, that’s not right.
But the run was still fine. I started out briskly then fell into a much more relaxed pace and in fact from the third to the seventh km my time kept getting slower and slower, even though I wasn’t feeling tired or experiencing any discomfort. I was definitely not pushing as I’m still off peak form and working my way back up. It wasn’t until the final km when I began to step on the gas again and my pace did indeed pick up a fair bit. The average, though, was still 5:37/km.
Interestingly, the bear warning signs have been taken down. I’m not entirely convinced the bears know this, but I didn’t spot any notable wildlife on the trail.
The pending work on the bridge at Still Creek is still pending, as there was no activity there. The lack of rain over the last few days also meant no puddle jumping, today, but a new hazard was in play–the gorgeous yet slippery fall leaves.
The leaves actually weren’t too slippery–though I still have to be careful on the boardwalks because they definitely take on a banana peel quality when laying atop a damp set of wooden planks–but they still present a danger in that their currently copious number means they can fill up large puddle holes, making them appear deceptively non-hole like. They also tend to obscure a lot of the exposed roots, especially along the Cottonwood trail, which, as you might guess, has a lot of cottonwood trees along it.
It’s very pretty, though.
I started out a bit later but in doing so it appears I missed the morning rush, so yay. There were runners and walkers and people with dogs, but everyone was friendly and aware, possibly because it was so dang nice out. It was 14ºC when I started my run a few minutes past noon, already quite warm for October 28, but it then rose to 17º by the end, which is downright comfy for running. This turned out to be a record-setting high temperature, so thank you global warming!
I’ve purchased a knapsack with the plan to rent out a locker at the school gym, so I can run at lunch hour during the week. It’s pretty much too dark to run after work now, which makes me sad in a weird way I can’t quite put into words. Though I’m not crazy about the trail around the golf course, it will have to do. Maybe if I stick to shorter runs I could even consider increasing the number of times I go jogging. We shall see.
Run 546 Average pace: 5:20/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 11:02 am
Distance: 5.04 km
Time: 26:57
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 10-12ºC
Humidity: 77%
Wind: light
BPM: 160
Weight: 157.1 pounds
Total distance to date: 4247 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
I felt un-good in the early morning so I took the day off work. By mid-morning I felt well enough to venture outside and then risked a run, because while my stomach was upset, my legs seemed fine.
Because I wouldn’t normally be running at this time my usual prep routine was a bit off. As in, I was over one km into my walk to the lake when I realized I’d left my AirPods at home. I briefly toyed with running sans music, decided no, I didn’t want to listen to my own breathing for upwards of half an hour, and went back, thus adding about 2.5 km to my walk.
I opted to wear the old-fashioned EarPods instead of the shiny new AirPods. I hate to admit it, but having the inline controls on the wire is very handy when running.
With milder temperatures and sunny skies, there were more people than I was expecting out on the trail, including two massive walking groups, one of which was not going to accidentally startle any bears as you could hear them gabbing from 20 km away. Very excited about nature, I guess.
I was surprised to find parts of the Avalon and South Shore trails partly-collapsed along the northern edge. Apparently the base layer in some sections was insufficiently made, and recent rain has started sloughing swaths of gravel off to the side. I’m curious to see how quickly repairs are made.
Speaking of repairs, the corner near the sports field that had water lapping over half of it in Saturday was being worked on by an earth mover. Once done it should be shored up enough to prevent further flooding. Ironically, to get around the machinery and piles of loose gravel I had to duck onto the field, which is still a water-clogged soup.
Now if they can just fix that one other stretch that floods, it will be possible to do a dry run (so to speak) even under the wettest conditions. A boy can dream.
As for the run itself, I opted to do a 5K and walk out, rather than risk 0ver-extending myself so soon(ish) after the 10K and I was faster at 5:20/km, though that’s still a fair bit off my best 5K pace. It’s funny how slacking off just for a week or two basically kills your fitness level. The run went fine, though, with no problems encountered. It felt colder despite actually being warmer, primary due to a) wearing a t-shirt (one of my old silky-style shirts I stopped wearing a few years back–they’re still in good condition and feel sexy) and b) it being drier gave the air more bite. It was fine, though. Other people are practically jogging in parkas.
I am undecided on what to do for Thursday. The sun will be setting at 6 p.m. on the dot, meaning even if I head out as soon as I can after getting home, the sun will still set about ten minutes into the run. It should be clear, though, and last light is just after 6:30 so I should be able to complete the run before it gets dark for real and the vampires come out. But this is probably the last chance to do a post-work run until late January (assuming we’re not up to our armpits in snow like we were this past January).
Run 545 Average pace: 5:27/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:38 am
Distance: 10.04 km
Time: 54:44
Weather: Rain, rain showers
Temp: 7ºC
Humidity: 94%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 163
Weight: 156.3 pounds
Total distance to date: 4242 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
It only got up to a chilly 7ºC on today’s run (the normal high for today is 14ºC) but I actually only felt a bit cold when walking back after the run, when my body cooled off and suddenly it really felt like 7ºC. I wore my long-sleeved t-shirt and do not regret doing so.
Today was one of those tricky days, motivation-wise. I’d miss running during the week for various reasons, so I knew I’d be off my form (I once read that more than three days off will see some deterioration in form, however minor), plus it was raining steadily even before I headed out.
But head out I did, confident, at least, that there wouldn’t be too many people out on the trail on such a dreary, cold day. There were still more than expected–but most were runners, with a few scattered dog walkers and a couple of those “I love walks in the rain” types. And no cyclists, so that was nice.
I felt fine throughout the run, with the left leg holding up well, with only an echo if the stiffness I’d experienced recently. I wasn’t exactly a blur of speed to start but by around the 4K mark I began to pick up the pace and the last few km, when the rain started to at least ease up a little (but not entirely stop) I significantly improved on things. Maybe I was just eager to get home and get dry.
The trail was a mess of puddles so I was constantly running along the edges and switching from one side to another. At the sports field the usual floody spot was flooded. I tried skirting it on the left but the narrow lumpy, grass-covered hump you have to traverse looked a bit more questionable than usual, so I backed out and went around. The field, of course, was completely saturated, so my feet got thoroughly soaked, no different than going straight through the puddle, really, just less splashing.
The resurfaced part of this stretch is holding up so far. Water pooling up at the edge of the field is not yet high enough to start lapping over onto the trail. Right around the corner, the last part that borders the fields, there is a large swath that has flooded, with water carving through the fresh gravel, forming a semi-hazardous uneven surface. A strip along the left was still bare, so I was able to get by without taking another plunge.
There were new signs all over the place but not telling people to GET OUT. Instead, these were warning that from October 2017 to February 2018 a project to replace the bridge at Still Creek would be underway. It’s the largest bridge on the trail and there is no detour route that can be used, so it would seem that running a full loop would not be an option for some time–except the sign says that the period of no access should only be three weeks. I’m curious to see if the new bridge closely matches the current one.
The bridge at Deer Lake Brook still seems more rickety and in need of replacement, but I’m not a bridgeologist, so what do I know? It actually felt a little more stable today, possibly because I ran over it slower, to avoid slipping.
Overall, a perfectly decent run in less than decent weather. I don’t miss the heat, but I can’t say I’m overly fond of running in the rain, either.
I’d probably average the rating of The Fold to 3.5 stars if I could. Overall it tracks closer to 4, but parts of it bring it down a bit.
This is another “opening a portal to other dimensions maybe isn’t a good idea” story and I’m a sucker for them. The Fold is a quick, snarky romp filled with grouchy scientists, weird cockroaches and quantum donuts.
Anyone looking for a lot of hard science to chew on may be disappointed. The science, such as it is, is deliberately vague, even goofy. The main character is a high school teacher, not a scientist, albeit one with a genius-level IQ and eidetic memory (like photographic memory, but covering all senses, not just sight). Mike Erikson catalogues everything he experiences through metaphorical red and black ants that carry information back and forth, allowing him to essentially treat his mind as a computer with near limitless storage. This comes in incredibly handy as the story unfolds (no pun intended), though Erikson points out the downside to one of the scientists, namely that every horrible thing he witnesses also stays with him as vividly as if just happened.
Erikson is hired by a government friend to check out a secretive government-funded project working on a way to fold space and allow for instant travel over vast distances. Located outside San Diego, the small team of DARPA scientists working on what they call The Albuquerque Door treat Erikson as an interloper, though he assures them he is an impartial observer who would like to see them succeed. They assure him that The Door is very safe.
But things go wrong. Then they go very horribly wrong. Part of the fun in the second half of the novel comes from watching the team grapple with events spiraling out of their control and seeing how they react and adjust (or at least valiantly try to). Without getting into blatant spoilers, the story eventually heads off in a direction that feels more like fantasy, with the science feeling more like magic. It’s a little weird.
The banter between the characters is snappy and the pace never flags. There are no real subplots or distractions from the main event, so it’s an easy read to plow through.
Oddly, perhaps more than any book I’ve read in years, I kept imagining specific actors as the characters. The head of the project, a man named Arthur, brought to mind Morgan Freeman so vividly that I would confidently place a bet on Freeman playing the role in a movie adaptation. Or at least the casting director trying to nab him for the part.
Likewise, the engineer Sasha I saw as Sarah Douglas circa Superman II (1981). I’m not even sure why. The weirdest was probably the inevitable (and, IMO, unnecessary) romantic interest of Jamie, who made me think of Pam from the TV series Archer. Yes, she reminded me of a cartoon character.
The Fold is far from perfect, but the whole thing rolls along so smoothly it’s hard to get upset by what amounts to quibbles. As with most alternate dimension stories, it’s never too wise to spend a lot of time examining the plot, lest you find holes you could squeeze a mirror Earth through.
If you like these kinds of stories and you’re not fussed with the science being a bit flimsy, you’ll find The Fold well worth the ride.
In which I try my old technique of coming up with the title first and the story second. Since this is brainstorming and I rarely control my impulse to be silly this is not terribly likely to yield useful results, but stranger and more horrible things have happened.
Cosmic Tingles (this was actually suggested as the new title for my novel Road Closed, suggested by a co-worker; I just really want to use it somewhere)
Hatful of Hats
The Biomechanical Keyboard
Lost in Thought Experiment
50,000 Words in 50,000 Days
The Girl Who Could Write Better Novel Titles Than Me
National Novel Writing Month starts in two weeks and my current plan is non-existent. I’m still not entirely sure I’m going to participate.
This is probably not how best-selling novels are born.
Maybe I wouldn’t know how to handle the fame of being a best-selling author and it’s all for the best, anyway.
Or maybe I just need to come up with a title with the word “girl” in it. Current novels break down like this:
Self-published paranormal romances on amazon: 22%
The usual big names whose ebooks are always curiously priced higher than the paper versions: 31%
Books with “girl” in the title: 36%
Everything else: 11%
Most of the good novel titles featuring “girl” have already been used, since there are millions of these books out there, enough to form a new continent if stitched together and waterproofed.
But here’s a few from my five-second brainstorming session:
The Girl Who Wrote Novels About Girls
The Girl With the Word Girl on the Book Cover
The Girl Who Dated a Squirrel
The Girl Girl Girl Girl Girl
The important thing is I’m still trying to come up with something, even if inspiration has not only left me, it’s departed to another dimension.
Maybe I could write a novel about other dimensions. No, wait, I tried that last year and failed. 🙁
Maybe I’ll come up with more cockamamie ideas tomorrow as The Rains sweep through the area and the only choices are brainstorming or to stare out the window and despair. Yes, that’s it. Tomorrow will be a grand day of brainstorms! And real storms.
Run 544 Average pace: 5:16/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Start: 10:28 am
Distance: 10.02 km
Time: 52:57
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 9ºC
Humidity: 72%
Wind: light
BPM: 169
Weight: 155.5 pounds
Total distance to date: 4232 km
Devices: Apple Watch, iPhone
It was actually a bit chilly on today’s run, with the temperature never climbing into the double digits. I do not regret wearing the long-sleeved shirt.
With clouds, cool temperatures, and a small but real threat of showers, I expected the trail to be fairly quiet, but it was actually almost as busy as a stat holiday, with several incidents of traffic clogging up.
The walk to the lake was a bit slower than normal, maybe because I was still trying to get warm. I noticed a commentary of sorts on one of the new STAY OUT signs along the Brunette River trail:
Fine, I’ll just publicly consume alcohol right here.
I chose to run counter-clockwise upon arrival to the lake and was uncertain how it would go with a four-day layoff (I missed a run on one of my usual days due to illness). The first km didn’t feel sluggish, exactly, though my pace was not exactly like greased lightning at 5:23/km. I really think it was cold enough that it took me awhile to warm up and find a rhythm. My pace would prove to seesaw throughout the 10K, with the fastest stretches coming at the third, fifth and tenth km marks. In the end I finished with an average pace of 5:16/km, my best 10K of the year, so I’m pleased with that.
The extra time off seemed to help with the stiffness in the left leg. It did feel a little stiff, but only a little, and it took much longer to get there. The walk after was faster and I had no issues.
The trail, as I mentioned, was busy. There were some runners, but mostly it was people bundled up in parkas determined to enjoy the outdoors. I salute them for that, as long as they don’t get in the way, which for the most part they didn’t. The clogging incidents mentioned above were mainly just people converging from different directions at the same time.
By the sports fields there appeared to be some kind of informal run competition of sorts happening. I say this because I saw no special markers, banners, flags or anything else. I also saw, upon just rounding the corner where I head onto the part of the trail bordering the fields, about a dozen runners heading straight toward me at high speed. A wall of runners. I scooted over to the right to avoid being stampeded and they flew by in a blur. About halfway along the stretch here–so a minute or so later–another similar group came barreling at me, including a young guy cheekily running topless and pretending to not feel the cold. He was not pretending that his upper body was perfectly chiseled, however. Oh to be young and, well, perfectly chiseled. I got about 50% of that when I was his age.
There was one other thing I came across on my run, but it wasn’t a pedestrian or a runner or even an accursed cyclist (none were in view today). I was maybe 20 or 30 meters along the Piper Mill Trail when I rounded a corner and saw on the trail ahead of me a dark orange cat. Not someone’s pet, though, as it was about three times too big. It was a bobcat, making this the second time I’ve come across one at the lake. As soon as it spotted me it darted off into the bush, so I never felt threatened by it. It just looked like a really big housecat without much of a tail, kind of like this:
I sent off an email to the Metro Vancouver Parks people, just in case. I’d hate to have a bobcat eat someone’s baby.
This was the first run at the lake where I’ve used the AirPods and playback was fine until just near the 6K mark when it abruptly stopped. I checked the music app on the watch and it looked like it had paused for some reason. I tapped Play and the music resumed and continued without incident through the rest of the run.
I’m going to blame Siri, just because.
While the double-tap on the left earbud at the start of the run properly paused play, I was never able to get the double-tap on the right earbud to skip to the next song, though it’s worked before. I tried once using Siri instead (“Hey Siri, next song”) and still nothing happened.
I definitely blame Siri on that one.
It’s possible that I may not have held the watch up high enough to turn the face on (which Siri requires before it will listen). I can use the actual music app controls to skip ahead–this requires bringing the watch up, swiping left to get to the music controls, then tapping the Forward button. None of this is difficult, but it takes a few seconds to do and you have to look at the watch when you do it. Taking my eyes off the trail while running is something I’m really hesitant to do, as I’ve got direct experience in what can happen in the span of one or two seconds (it involves falling and bleeding and picking gravel out of your skin). In the end I just listened to everything that came up and thanked myself for not having completely awful taste in music.
I may reverse the control scheme on the AirPods and see if that works better.
Overall, though, this was an unexpectedly brisk run on a rather brisk day.
The “brain science” part in the title might make you think this is a dry, analytical approach to story construction, but Lisa Cron peppers this book with plenty of humor, often painting herself as the target, as she details a very specific approach to outlining and planning the story that will drive a novel. The brain science is basically recognition that humans are hardwired to enjoy a good story, due to how important stories were to the survival of early humans. Cron explains this better than my glib rundown would suggest, but don’t mistake this for a book about brain science. It’s not, it’s about writing a novel.
She comes down hard on so-called “pantsing” where a writer just grabs an idea and then wings it, hoping that over the course of 300 or so pages it all somehow works out (hint: most of the time it won’t and the writer will abandon the story. I can vouch for this by my amazing tower of unfinished stories, now in the running as one of the wonders of the modern world). Instead, she favors an approach where you, as the writer, are always asking questions about your story and its protagonist, the most persistent question being,”Why?”, followed closely by “And so?” The latter is asked at the end of a scene, to prompt the writer to explain how the end of the scene leads into the next. The questions prod the writer into thinking through the character’s actions and motivations before committing to the actual writing. No winging it allowed!
Cron is also an advocate of what she calls Scene Cards where each scene of the novel is explicitly detailed on a card (she recommends virtual over physical), with items like the Alpha Point, the plot (cause and effect), the consequences and so on. She rightly observes that writing software like Scrivener is pretty much tailor-made for the level of organization and planning she advocates.
You might think all of this planning would result in a story that is so predictable as to be rote and not especially fun to write, but Cron notes that there is always plenty of room for developments to grow organically and take off in one of several directions–as long as those directions continue to work in service to the protagonist and her motivations/beliefs.
I’m not sure I could commit to the level of planning Cron suggests, but I can’t deny that a writer who does is bound to come up with a story that is solid and able to pull a reader through to the end. In a way the approach reminds me of bestsellers that are derided for the quality of the writing (Shades of Grey, Dan Brown novels) but are successful due to other strengths, such as the storytelling (I’ll admit to never having read a Dan Brown novel, so I’m assuming there’s something other than the prose that compels people to read his books). Even if you don’t write deathless prose, following Cron’s method may still produce something people will enjoy reading.
Story Genius is made more entertaining as Cron enlists one of her friends and fellow author/writing coach, Jennie Nash, to follow Cron’s technique in developing a new novel. The reader gets to watch the development of this novel’s protagonist (a woman who refuses to get close to others for fear of getting hurt and ends up kidnapping a dog and, well, it gets complicated) and how all the parts of the story–background, supporting characters, motivations and so on, come together to create a compelling whole. I was a bit disappointed that the end result of Nash’s work was not made more clear.
All told, this is a meticulous approach to novel-writing and one that will likely bear fruit for the writer who is willing to commit to the techniques described. Heck, even only following some of the techniques, like always asking why, or compiling Scene Cards in the way Cron describes, will likely result in a stronger story. Recommended especially for people who love plotting.
I’ve had a MacBook Pro, officially known as the MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports) model when checking About This Mac from the Apple menu, for the better part of the year, and in that time I’ve grown used to the extremely low travel keyboard it uses, but I’ve finally realized I don’t like it.
Others have mentioned it’s not fun to type on and that may seem somewhat glib, but it’s true, at least as far as my own experience goes. My greatest fear–that the low travel and extreme firmness of the keys would lead to sore fingers during long typing sessions–was unfounded. I’ve typed thousands of words over hours on the thing and my fingers have emerged intact.
But it’s still an oddly joyless experience, something I hadn’t even thought in relation to typing until I started using it. I always feel like I’m on the verge of making mistakes by hitting the wrong keys, it’s annoyingly clicky without any of the benefits of a mechanical keyboard and every time I go back to any other keyboard I regularly use, like the Logitech K780 or even the previous wired Mac keyboard with numeric keypad, I’m reminded of how much more pleasurable the typing experience can be. The new MacBook keyboard feels like something that’s meant to be used only sparingly. Maybe that’s why the touchpad is so gigantic on the newer models.
The 2016 MacBook Pro is kind of an odd thing. Parts of it are great, like the display and touchpad, while others, like the keyboard, are unsatisfying compromises.
It’s actually got me thinking about getting a Windows laptop again because there is no escaping this keyboard now. Apple is on the verge of killing off their last models that used the old-style keyboard (the models date back to 2015).
HP has a new edition of their Spectre x360 coming out later this month. I’ll give it a test drive if it’s carried locally. If the touchpad is tolerable and the keyboard is better, they may just have a sale.
Anyone want a slightly-used MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)?
UPDATE April 2, 2018: My search for a replacement laptop is documented here and here. I am still mulling over a replacement as of this update.
Now that my MacBook Pro is out of warranty, I am starting to experience what I call KA, which is not related to the mumbo jumbo in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. KA is Keyboard Anxiety, the fear that something will happen to your keyboard, necessitating an expensive repair.
And across the scores of professional reviews and hundreds of online comments we’ve seen since this keyboard design debuted, few people say they love typing on it. Many people admit that, like us, they’ve gotten used to the new keyboard, while others actively dislike using it.
Here’s another article on the new MacBook keyboard that highlights issues with the design, which notes how it’s all but impossible to remove the space bar for repair without breaking it, so if the space bar is not working right, you’re likely looking at getting the entire top assembly of the MacBook replaced, since the keyboard is an integrated part of it. The cost of the replacement, out of warranty, can be hundreds of dollars, even if it’s just that single key that is not working. This keyboard design was done in the name of making the laptops ever-thinner and lighter. I think this is probably peak Apple form over function, as they have retreated on their “thin or die” philosophy since the development and subsequent fallout over the butterfly mechanism the new keyboard uses. The iPhone 7/8, Series 3 Watch and new iPad are all thicker and heavier than their immediate predecessors (though not by much).
Also amusing is the official Apple support document on How to clean the keyboard of your MacBook or MacBook Pro. Hold your MacBook (minimum cost $1729 Canadian before tax) at an absurd, near-upside down angle and spray air into it. I especially like the second image where the guy doing the cleaning is apparently palming the MacBook instead of actually gripping it. He’s putting a lot of faith in that left hand:
If reliability problems are as bad as they may be, I suspect this will be a rare case of Apple retreating on a design, though I expect them to spend at least another generation trying to fix it first. If they do abandon it, the result will probably be slightly thicker and heavier laptops, but other companies have demonstrated that light and thin is still quite possible while retaining a more traditional laptop keyboard design.
UPDATE April 3, 2023: Yes, almost exactly to the day, five years later, another update! It turned out I was right, as Apple did indeed continue to use the butterfly keyboard on early 2019 models, but finally stopped with the 16-inch MacBook Pro introduced in fall 2019, which switched back to a scissor switch mechanism. I traded in my MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports) just as its four-year keyboard warranty plan was expiring, getting a nice 2020 M1 MacBook Air. I sold the Air a few weeks ago, as I no longer need a laptop at all, and my Mac needs are now provided by a Mac Studio, which came with no keyboard at all.
