Finished reading: I can’t decide if I liked Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. The first book of the series, Gideon the Ninth, was one of my favourite books of 2021. The second, Harrow the Ninth, was frustratingly confusing. Nona was similarly challenging: lots of names, hints of conversations, and plot twists. Felt more like work than entertainment 📚
🏃♂️ Dynamic run training in Training Today
I’ve been using Training Today for a while now to track my readiness to train (RTT). They’ve recently released a new feature that provides dynamic training for running based on RTT which takes into account your current recovery and health to make sure you don’t overtrain.
Generating the workouts is easy. In the iPhone app, you choose the type of run (speed, endurance, recovery, etc) and then the app shows you the structured workout, targeting your current RTT. There are options to adjust the RTT (though that seems like cheating) and to shorten the run, if you’re pressed for time. Once you select “Create Workout”, the run is sent to your Apple Watch.
On the watch, the Training Today workout shows up near the top of the list in the Workout app and behaves like any other workout. The interval times and heart rate zones with alerts are passed along, making it easy to follow the workout.
There are a few obvious enhancements, which the developers have already promised. The first is the addition of cycling and swimming workouts. The second is creating actual fitness plans across multiple days.
I’m really intrigued by an app like Training Today. Our smartwatches are continuously monitoring us and tracking our fitness. Why not have them also program tailored workouts? That said, I have an actual triathlon coach that creates a comprehensive fitness plan while also providing expert advice and motivation. My watch isn’t this sophisticated — yet.
🏃♂️ Part of today’s trail run was mostly made of broken bricks
🏃♂️ Today’s run burned off the last of the March Break cervezas. Back on the program tomorrow
🎵 Right Back To It - Waxahatchee is a stand out song on a great album
Such nerdy fun
Finished reading: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson continues this entertaining series. A nice break from the “heavier” fantasy books 📚
Finished reading: I enjoyed Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson. Some of his usual attention to detail without getting too dry and a nice emphasis on Chinese culture and history📚
Finished reading: Although difficult to describe, I enjoyed The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada. A strange, slightly creepy story about modern work life 📚
Finished reading: The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik is a great sequel to A Deadly Education 📚
Finished reading: Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator by Keith Houston is more fun than you might expect📚
Finished reading: My Murder by Katie Williams has an intriguing premise, good twists, and is well written. A great book📚
My plan for the week
Finished reading: The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older is a fun, short murder mystery on a gas giant planet 📚
Finished reading: I enjoyed My Effin' Life by Geddy Lee more than I expected. A great testament to hard working, talented friends. Also a great excuse to revisit Rush’s music. I’d missed their last few albums and it was a pleasant surprise to discover them📚
A toasted old fashioned kind of night
Trying to avoid Apple’s Journal app 📔
I have 9,698 entries in DayOne across 4,312 days. This is one of my favourite and most consistently used apps. And, yet, somehow I am tempted to switch to Apple’s Journal app. This post is to remind me why that is a bad idea.
So, here’s a list of DayOne features I use that Journal doesn’t have:
- I use DayOne on my iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and the web. Journal is only on the iPhone.
- DayOne is my memory archive. I can search for entries with many attributes (like dates), while also organizing with tags and separate journals. Plus, the On This Day feature is great for revisiting old entries. Journal only lets you filter by entry type. There is no search feature.
- There are many ways to get content into DayOne, including via Shortcuts. Journal is much less accommodating and, oddly, has no Shortcuts support. A related feature in DayOne is templates, which I use frequently and Journal lacks.
- Given how valuable (to me) content is in DayOne, I appreciate the broad set of export features. Best I can tell, there’s no way to export from Journal.
Given all of this, why am I drawn to Journal?
The primary answer is an appeal to simplicity (which Journal certainly has). I do worry sometimes that my structure of separate journals, tags, and templates in DayOne is unecessary complexity. A secondary answer is my policy of favouring default apps when they’re good enough. Journal is likely quite adequate for many people, especially those that journal to get ideas out of their heads, rather than as a memory archive that they review.
Having written this down, the answer seems clear: keep using DayOne. Perhaps, though, I should revisit my DayOne structure to get some of that appealing simplicity from Journal.
🔗
This would be a first-contact scenario involving two species that have lived side by side for ages. I wanted to imagine how it could unfold. I reached out to marine biologists, field scientists who specialize in whales, paleontologists, professors of animal-rights law, linguists, and philosophers. Assume that Project CETI works, I told them. Assume that we are able to communicate something of substance to the sperm whale civilization. What should we say?
Fascinating to think what this would be like and what we might learn
