In brief because I can only remember slightly less than an elevator’s pitch worth of description for each.
I’m fighting crazy cult women. I think it more a game of wits than a physical battle. I cannot recall why I was fighting them or how I fared.
Running along a scenic mountain trail. If I remember correctly, this started with me walking with a friend then transitioned, as dreams do, to me jogging alone along a trail that ran through bare trees that suggested winter or fall. As I kept running, my speed increased, first to an impressive sprint, then to something absurd and impossible, where I had to deliberately apply the brakes when jogging around a corner to prevent the momentum from flinging myself off the mountain. I wish I could move like that. Or maybe I don’t. It seems dangerous.
The last dream was in some kind of meeting room. I was sitting at a conference table. Across from me was Elon Musk. He was jacking up his office chair super high while sitting on it, laughing, and saying how he could do things like that. I said I could do the same thing and didn’t need a billion dollars to do it. I then threw a pink eraser at him. I have no idea what happened next. Hopefully I left.
I feel like people checking recent posts here are going to leave, thinking, “This guy is really into birding and running and not much else”. But there’s more to me than that. I have other hobbies! I have opinions! I write lists!
But I have been going through some interesting times that have pushed me away from writing about other stuff here on the blog and I’m hoping to add more of that back so it’s not all 5K runs and here’s a Black-capped Chickadee. (Though I feel part of it is the desire to share and mull things over in a public space has withered away a little, though I can’t articulate exactly why this might have happened.)
In the meantime, here are some semi-random posts of mine you may find interesting. I have a certain, specific sense of humour and if it doesn’t match yours, some of these links may not do anything for you, but if you’re a nostalgia nerd, some probably will.
I will put an update at the top of this post if I add more links later.
Most of the fiction comes from writing prompts and these are essentially first drafts, so they may be a bit unpolished or even unfinished (I note the unfinished ones).
Why? Because I was looking at my tags (all 100 million of them) and Nic noticed one that was so long it wasn’t wrapping properly in a column. I said it was probably for a review of the movie 2012, which I remembered correctly. Then we reread the review and Nic pointed out I had said the fissure in the Sistine Chapel appears between God’s finger and David, when it is, in fact, Adam. So I fixed it. The post was written on November 14, 2009.
I have a quote by journalist James Fallows at the top right of my blog which reads:
In my experience, what anyone serious about writing likes is having written.
Now, it’s entirely possible that Fallows came up with this on his own, unaware of Parker’s original quote, and the tone is different–appropriately, Parker’s version is more direct and cutting.
I’m unsure if I should keep the Fallows quote, switch to the Parker one or maybe put something else completely different in that upper right corner. Maybe I’ll put my own quote there. Or a cat. I will ponder.
Today, Instagram updated its logo wordmark. CNET had a nice image of the before and after, presented below as after and before:
Instagzam vs. Instagram
Although I don’t think AI was used in the creation of the new logo, it still smells of it in the way AI messes up things, like:
Goofy kerning
Goofy mix of cursive and non-cursive letters (apparently trying to call back to the previous logo the same way someone riding a bike off a picnic table and crashing calls back to Evel Knievel)
Goofy letters (notably the R, G and S. Someone on Ars Technica commented that the S looks like a side boob and now I can’t unsee it.)
Despite all the above, still looking limp and bland
My take? Yes, it’s bad. The old logo is instantly recognizable, legible and stylish. The new one is a graceless “reeks of committee” thing. It’s also exactly the kind of logo I’d expect a big (and awful) tech company like Meta to produce in 2026.
This led me to other logo redesigns of recent years, such as the also awful one for Pringles:
Here, I think they really hit it in 2009, though 2001 is pretty good, too. The flattened, gormless 2021 redesign is so bad that the longer you look at the face, the less it looks like a face and just a set of weird shapes. It also inspired me to do this:
I am your nightmare.
You’re welcome!
Another good (bad) example is Jaguar’s recent logo redesign:
Cool cat vs. A mix of letters
It went from instantly recognizable to something absolutely generic that says nothing (it’s still way better than Instagram’s, even at that).
In conclusion: Logo design is a fine balancing act between art, character, and image (the type you project). We live in an era where almost every logo out there is being flattened, simplified and stripped of all character and identity (see also: Jaguar’s impressively bad update). The only reason I can think why this is happening is companies are going cheap by making logos so simple they can be slapped on anything at any size with no need for adjustment. If it’s not this, then somehow bad design has become good design, the same way 2 + 2 = 5.
With more people talking about the idea of a dead internet, I find weird comfort in the gaming site Blue’s News, which served as my homepage over 20 years ago and looks pretty much exactly the same now as it did then:
You can almost smell the HTML.
I still don’t get the three lines at the top, though.
Like a lot of people, in 1990 I bought Queensryche’s fourth album, Empire, because the song “Silent Lucidity” was such an effective clone of that big, spacey Pink Floyd sound. I’ve said before that if you dropped the song onto either of the post-Waters Pink Floyd albums, no one would have batted an eye.
But Empire is more than just “Silent Lucidity”. It also features the title track, which is about the usual decline of urban America, its descent into violence and guns, guns, guns (“Got an AK-47 for his best friend/Business the American way1“).
But there’s a spoken word section that recites the following:
In fiscal year of 1986 to 1987, local, state and federal governments spent a combined total of 60.6 million on law enforcement. Federal law expenditures ranked last in absolute dollars and accounted for only a sixth percent of federal spending. By way of comparison, the federal government spent 24 million more on space exploration and 43 -times- more on national defense and international relations than law enforcement.
This seems like a pretty clear statement of “more funding for police = better!”, which was naive in 1990 and in 2026, with police in most American cities being very well-funded, and ICE terrorizing citizens, the reality is that well-funded law enforcement has created a de facto police state in America. And solved none of the issues that the song “Empire” speaks to. Whoops.
But “Silent Lucidity” is still a very nice Pink Floyd homage.
If the lyrics had been more openly sarcastic, they would have worked better, but that might be just me. ↩︎
View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run: It doesn’t look hotter, but it’s hotter.
Today’s run was the opposite of Monday’s: hot and gross. Monday it started out at 19°C, which was nice. Today it was 24°C and I felt every one of those five extra degrees.
It started out seemingly well, with an initial pace of 6:08/km, but I slipped to 6:18/km and after that it was Slog City™ to the end. I stopped twice, once at the Nature House to hydrate at the water fountain and again just after entering the Conifer Loop, because I was tired. I didn’t stop for long either time and I don’t think they had any real effect on my overall result, except for allowing me to push on just a bit longer.
I also did a short loop and made it tighter than usual so I’d have less walking to do on the way home. That part worked well!
No particular highlights on the run, of course, and near the end some dope passed by on an electric scooter. I told him they weren’t allowed on the trail, but he probably heard it as, “Why does that sweaty man who looks like he’s dying mumbling at me?”
Anyway, I started late and paid the price. Lesson learned (in theory). I’ll start earlier on Friday, I totes promise.
Brunette River, pre-run: I was too tired to take photos after.
Stats:
Run 1,053 Average pace: 6:20/km Training status: Productive Performance Condition: +0 Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop) Start: 11:39 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 31:50 Weather: Sunny Temp: 24°C Humidity: 55% Wind: light BPM: 151 Weight: 170.0 pounds Total distance to date: 7,070 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (50/108/158)
I realized some years back that for all my Apple-bashing here on this blog (it is legion, and kind of embarrassing, though some of my takes on various Apple events still amuse me) I actually had a lot of Apple products:
iPod (nano and Classic)
AirPods
iPhone 12
iPad Pro
Mac Studio
Apple Watch
That’s just what I have now. I’ve also had Mac minis and a MacBook Air and Pro in the past. Of the still-have items, the only ones in active use are the iPad Pro (2020) and AirPods (3rd gen, and being used with a Samsung Galaxy S26, not an iPhone), so I’ve pretty much moved out of the Apple ecosystem. I no longer use Apple Music, Apple TV, iCloud, or any other Apple services. Once you break from the services, it gets a lot easier to move away from Apple, especially if you aren’t also beholden to an Apple-specific app (I still use Procreate on my iPad Pro, but am drawing more on a Galaxy tablet lately, so I can make the switch if needed).
And I’m happy with the decision to move away from Apple. I can’t and won’t drop every thing from every company I object to. It would be overwhelming. I’d end up being a monk living on a bamboo mat in a monastery up in mist-shrouded mountains. Monks are cool, but I still enjoy using and messing around with tech. Plus I’d probably look funny in a robe.
But I do what I can. And much as I loathe moving over to Android because of Google’s ownership and their nutty desire to shove “AI” into every part of Android, I make do.
Apple got the message from me: I’m done with it, its products, and its services. I’m just one little drop in their trillions-valued bucket, but I’m content with that. For me, it’s nice to have local backups again, to have more direct control over my tech, and to not feel trapped in what looks like a garden but feels more like a cell1OK, even I’ll admit that’s a bit melodramatic, but I couldn’t resist..
Anyone want a used Mac Studio? It doesn’t have Tahoe installed!
Today, the difference was all in the timing and weather.
Once again, it was sunny and warm, but the max temperature today is expected to be 25°C, which is a bit cooler than it’s been on recent run days. That helped, because it meant it would not be as hot, no matter when I headed out.
But I also left much closer to my usual start time and it was a mere 19°C at the start of the run, which feels almost comfy at this point in the summer.
The result is a much better pace (6:10/km), better BPM (147) and even a lap (the fifth) where my pace almost dipped below the six-minute mark (it was right on the nose–6:00/km).
The trail was pretty lightly occupied, probably due to the earlier start, and I didn’t experience any issues. The higher humidity was not a factor, given the lower temperatures. I still got all sweaty up in the hizzy, but not as much.
I went clockwise and this time decided to go up Roberts Road if the Trail Closed sign was out. But it was not, and it appears the trail work is complete, so I was able to finish my run without any puddle jumping. Neat.
A good start to the week. I implore everyone to go out and touch trees. Or at least get near them. You don’t have to run, I just do it because it’s cheap exercise.
Still Creek, post-run.
Stats:
Run 1,052 Average pace: 6:10/km Training status: Productive Performance Condition: +1 Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) Start: 10:27 a.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 31:00 Weather: Sunny Temp: 19–21°C Humidity: 68–63% Wind: light BPM: 147 Weight: 169.9 pounds Total distance to date: 7,065 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 265, Samsung Galaxy S26, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Scarpa Golden Gate ATR 2 (45/100/145)
In which certain aspects of the food chain are demonstrated live.
Serpentine Fen
The start of our trek at Serpentine Fen, featuring the Serpentine River.
As we often do, we saw some Great Blue Herons at the fen, standing in or near the river, waiting to stab fish. We saw a little action, but didn’t notice any great blue success.
That would change farther down the river, where some gulls were hanging out. One took off, circled over the river, came in to land and promptly snapped up a sizable fish. It then started gliding around the very still water and dunked its head in, coming up with an even larger fish that took several large gulps to swallow. I swear I could see the fish twitching from inside the gull on the way down. It was a vivid demonstration of how gulls can hunt and eat more than just French fries.
We also watched a pair of Kingfishers chase each other about in the sky above us. Whether it was love or war I could not determine.
We also saw a sole Hooded Merganser, which allegedly don’t migrate, but like coots, pintails and shovellers, seem to hide somewhere during the summer.
One of the three viewing towers has a hole in the (wooden) floor and it seems to be getting a little bigger each time we visit. I guess if you stick to the parts of the floor where the planks are intact, it’s still safe?
We also saw a million grasshoppers because it’s grasshopper season. They continue to demonstrate the power of excellent camouflage, as I often did not see them until we got close enough to prompt them to vamoose.
It was nice to return to the fen, even if birds were a bit in short supply. This is expected in summer, but we could at least appreciate the lush vegetation and warm weather.
Blackie Spit/Crescent Beach
Small bay at Blackie Spit.
Blackie Spit’s parking lots were full, so we had to park on a nearby street. This meant we started a bit further down on Crescent Beach, where I saw a hydrant that I had to shoot (with my phone). Nic said he overhead some guys walking by commenting on the weirdo shooting photos of the hydrant. Yes, I am that weirdo!
Here is the hydrant:
A sturdy little plug.
We saw bunches of herons here, along with some Greater Yellowlegs, and Killdeer. Sadly, most of them were a bit far away, but we were lucky to see them at all, as the tide was actually in when we arrived (it’s usually not just out, but way out).
The beach and picnic areas were very active, so with birds, especially songbirds, a bit on the rare side, I took more scenery shots of boats and random objects.
Brydon Lagoon
Looking north across the lagoon.
Our final stop was Brydon Lagoon, which gave us a single Grebe and our first Wood Ducks. There were gulls here, too, but instead of hunting, they were mostly bossing around the ducks, establishing just which floating objects they could sit upon. We saw one rather young Wood Duck that still could not fly and it was either parent-free or the parents were letting it test its freedom. It seemed to be fine.
Overall, a perfectly cromulent day of birding. The fall/winter migrants should be arriving soon, so variety should be improving. Also, the mostly absent squirrels might return. I have no idea where or why they are hiding. Maybe they don’t like the sun. I mean, if you were fur-covered, would you?
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto unless otherwise noted.
Gull flying over the fen.
Gull landing on the river.
Gull gobbling up a sizable fish it plucked out of the water.
Grasshopper, great camo, wrong terrain.
Grasshopper, great camo, better terrain.
Belted Kingfisher in flight over the river.
Belted Kingfisher at rest on the river edge.
Great Blue Heron looking alert.
A muddy shallow where the water looks like the No. 2.
Heron sizing up potential prey.
Heron attack! (It missed.)
Artsy interpretation of high voltage wires.
European Starlings gather on an electrical tower.
Black and white shot of antennae on top of a pump station.
A tour boat running past Blackie Spit.
A boat with people, rust and two hitchhiking gulls.
Looking out from Blackie Spit, smoke haze in the distance.
Kayakers establishing landfall on a tiny spit.
A Cedar Waxwing looking elegant as ever.
A sand wasp furiously digging a hole, as they do.
A happy (?) Mallard.
Deluxe grooming Mallard.
A young White-crowned Sparrow.
A Canada Goose dreaming of…honking? Flapping? Pooping?
A gull standing on a piling with signs on it.
A Pied-billed Grebe plies the waters of Brydon Lagoon.
Mallard spreading out on a grate.
A Wood Duck swimming through very green water.
A gull observes from above.
A young Wood Duck just swimming around on its own.
