Brunette River showing more green along its shores, plus a bonus great blue heron in the lower-left corner. Ignore the bit of the new SkyTrain maintenance yard construction also on the left. As the vegetation does it thing over the next few months, most of that should be blotted out, preserving the illusion of untouched nature.
Sometimes I feel like my life is just there to provide fodder for my fiction. I wonder how common this is for people writing fiction. Sure, you change the names, maybe the profession if it’s mentioned, but I have cut whole chunks from my life and put them into my fiction, sometimes well-disguised, other times not. Sometimes I just carry the feel (or vibe, as the kids say) over from my reality, not actual details.
I have a feeling I am stating the obvious here, but we all learn things in our own way, at our own speed.
I wonder what fiction I’ll be writing by year’s end. I’m not sure if I want to know, and at the same time am deeply intrigued.
I missed Wednesday due to petition sign-ups (don’t ask) and skipped Friday because I was feeling lazy and ennui-ish. I paid for it, though, because yesterday the weather was fairly benign, if not pleasant, and today it was rain, rain, rain.
I opted to wear my light rain jacket and on balance I think it was the right call, though I dislike running with a jacket of any kind. Better than getting soaked, though.
I knew things were going to be a bit dodgy when my pace for the first km was a lowly 5:52/km. I trudged on, got a bit faster, then slower, then finished by getting faster again, enough to keep my overall pace to a not-terrible 5:51/km.
I did experience a minor issue for the last few km, a mild stitch in my lower left abdomen. It was weak enough that it didn’t affect my pace, but was enough to at least notice. No other issues, though, other than just getting wet and not really enjoying it.
As expected, the weather kept the trails pretty clear. I probably saw more joggers than pedestrians, plus a few ducks and a goose that was sitting in a weird spot really close to the trail, because that’s what geese do.
In the end, I’m glad I got out, despite the weather. I will celebrate by eating an entire carton of ice cream1In my imagination. That stuff is expensive.!
Run 859
Average pace: 5:51/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW, short loop)
Start: 1:00 p.m.
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 29:23
Weather: Light rain
Temp: 10C
Humidity: 85%
Wind: light
BPM: 152
Weight: 169.0
Total distance to date: 6180 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (320/589/909 km)
On Mastodon, Geoge Takei linked to a story about a Jeopardy answer (that is, question), that got the “real name” of Sideshow Bob wrong. Sideshow Bob, as any longtime fan of The Simpsons (now in its 800th season) knows, is the murderous sidekick of Krusty the Clown.
The incorrect question as it appeared on the show:
The inspiration for the character’s name, from the writers of the episode that revealed his real name:
All well and good so far. Jeopardy put in some u’s instead of o’s. But the site (comicsands.com, which is part of Takei’s media holdings) then went on to include this:
Good ol’ Krust the Clown1Takei got repeatedly dunked on Masotdon for this, in case you were wondering. I’ve used screenshots because the typo will likely be fixed in the future. The internet never forgets..
Anyway, this is a long way to go to point out a minor typo, but I gotta get the post count here up. Also, Krust the Clown just sounds funny.
These shots were taken on the first day of spring. The weather was sunny and pleasantly warm, so I grabbed my camera and went to Lower Hume Park. Lo, there was a heron out fishing in the Brunette River, and a few other birds about.
Spring is starting out strong this year, as it is coinciding with the last bit of the unusually warm weather we’ve had over the last few days. It’ll be back to seasonal or seasonal-ish after that.
For now, though, it is pleasant and sunny and things are getting greener (in a good way).
I try to avoid ordering from Amazon at all now, but occasionally they really seem to be the only option for certain items. When I order, it pleads with me to resubscribe to Amazon Prime by interrupting any purchase with this screen:
The part I need to click to continue with my order is that blue text toward the bottom left (I have made it considerably larger here for legibility):
After this, the observant shopper might notice the total price seems higher than it should be. That’s because if you’ve added enough to your cart to qualify for free shipping ($35 or more), Amazon will still select paid shipping for you, so you can save two entire days time in getting your items1Which is not guaranteed, of course. After selecting the “No, I prefer free and waiting an entire 48 hours longer” option, it will finally let you process the transaction.
I would not object to federal legislation that:
Banned this screen altogether
Or forced Amazon (or any offending company) to make the “No thanks, SKIP” option the top and largest thing on the page. The page would look like this:
Anyway, Amazon is a bad company and every executive that is part of it should feel bad. I also feel bad. I’ll buy something local and artisanal next time to compensate.
Also, this was the last run of Winter 2023-24, as tomorrow is the first day of spring, woo.
I got out early and the run was much better, as 12-14C is only slightly warmer than normal for this time of year, so my body wasn’t having to adjust to weird, summer-like temperatures. I was still able to comfortably wear just a t-shirt and shorts, though.
I got off to a good start, then managed to keep pace for the second km, then flagged a bit in the middle, picking up again for a solid finish and one of my best overall times in a while at 5:42/km. My BPM was also a nice 151. I admit I did feel like I was pushing in terms of my current stamina level, but this is good, because it should help me to improve my overall fitness, as long as my knees don’t suddenly explode (they have been fine so far this year).
But the real nice part was the lack of crowds. Mid-morning on a Monday and I only saw a few people walking and some others jogging (more the latter). It was nice to have the space again. The sunny weather was a bonus.
As for my SPIbelt1The official name is Small Personal Items Belt, hence the whole SPI thing, the elastic is all but shot now and the belt, even when I have the phone nuzzled into the small of my back, no longer holds securely, so it’s time to get a new one. I realize, looking back, that I’ve had this since I got an iPhone 6 back in 2014, so it’s not like I didn’t get good mileage out of it. I guess I’m just cheap. But now I must overcome my cheapness, because having my phone bobble around while running is not desirable. I could skip the phone and load music onto my watch, but I’ve never been fond of the limits there, either.
But overall, a good run to start the week. Wednesday is looking cloudy and slightly cooler, so should be fine. We will see.
Run 858
Average pace: 5:42/km
Training status: Overreaching
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW, short loop)
Start: 10:39 a.m.
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 28:42
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 12-14C
Humidity: 67-63%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 169.5
Total distance to date: 6175 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (315/581/896 km)