Photo for today’s IndieWeb Meetup NYC!

Black Mirror, Season 5

A few days ago I watched season 5 of Black Mirror, a show I have a sort of love-hate relationship with. The premises are usually pretty interesting, but the morals feel heavy-handed and often don’t even say anything of actual substance beyond “Technology is bad” and “Privacy is good.” It tries to be a modern-day Twilight Zone, but I feel like most of the plots in Black Mirror were actually done better by the original run of the older series. (As a note, I’ve seen the first two episodes of the current Twilight Zone revival and they’re fantastic. I need to get around to watching the rest of it at some point.) Anyway. Season 5 returns to the series' original 3-story-per-season format, which helps to keep things fairly tight and focused, unlike the sprawling, interconnected mess that was season 4. (Okay, “Arkangel” was pretty good, and “USS Callister” was at least a fun heist episode, although it over-relied on a bunch of tropes which rubbed me in the wrong way but that’s a subject for a different blog entry.) So far, critics seem to be loving the first episode (“Striking Vipers”), just apathetic to the second episode (“Smithereens”), and absolutely loathing the third episode (“Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too”). My feelings on the episodes are pretty much completely inverted from that – “Striking Vipers” was just okay (with a decent, but hollow, payoff at the end), “Smithereens” was a lot of setup for a story that didn’t have a lot of substance, and “Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too” is probably my favorite episode of the entire series so far. Some more detailed thoughts have been pinging around in my head for the last few days so I figure I’d share them. I’m going to try to limit any actual spoilers here, but you probably need to watch the episodes to have a point of reference; this isn’t a review, but neither is it a recap.

Current sleep/pain/etc. checkin

Let’s see, where am I at right now… Sleep: I got a weighted blanket on Meh. I’ve slept with it two nights. First night my sleep was aborted because of a… thing, second night I slept pretty well under it and woke up sore in the morning as if I’d been lifting weights for the last several hours. Interesting. My new CPAP mask has been working pretty well for me. Although somehow I managed to not only take it off but take it apart in my sleep last night. Wat. The… thing: I was feeling a mysterious pain in my left leg and hip starting on… Tuesday, I think? and it was getting worse and worse, and felt a lot like the DVT I had back in November 2017 which threw a clot and turned into a pulmonary embolism which wasn’t exactly a fun experience that I have any interest in repeating anytime soon. So I went to the ER to get it checked out, and it turned up… nothing. So, good news, no DVT. The doctor suggested I just take it easy for the next few days, which I am trying to do, and oddly enough I’m feeling a lot better, go figure. Also I’m glad I’m with Kaiser because the whole thing only cost me $15. But it’s hard for me to take things easy because I want to get my home clean, because my birthday is coming up soon and I am intending to host a completely unrelated pizza party at my home. (Incidentally, if you are in the Seattle area and are interested in pizza and you think I know you well enough to let you into my home, let me know and I’ll maybe extend you an invitation to the party!) Fortunately a friend is coming over tomorrow to help me out with the cleaning stuff (for which I am incredibly grateful!) but I am oh so very tired. So I mean I’m taking things easy at the moment, but I’d rather not.

Finished reading: The Most Beautiful Thing I’ve Seen: Opening Your Eyes to Wonder by Lisa Gungor (ISBN 9780310350439)

Concourse N Terminal
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
10+ miles at #SFRC today. #screentime vs #greentime. Have you gone outside today and filled your view with #green? (Hey @btconf friends!) It’s too easy when you’re tired, to just stay inside, going through screenfuls.

Flew back from Toronto last night, woke up at 06:00, awake, but tired. Picked up some coffee, and drove solo to #SFRC. Felt ok at the very start, yet awful just half a mile in. Kept pushing to the Tennessee Valley parking lot for a quick pit stop. Gathered myself and took off up #Miwok, feeling exhausted after 100 meters or so. Took deeper breaths, appreciated the sunshine, the blue skies, tried to distract myself with the nice green views(1).

Made it to the Miwok cut-off and decided I wasn’t doing the full SFRC route. Deciding to cut it short provided enough of a sense of relief to push extra hard the rest of the way to Coyote Ridge. Felt encouraged by the oncoming trail runners. After they passed I heard mountain bikers creeping up behind me, on a narrow single-track with a cliff off to the left? What were they thinking? I hate to admit I was annoyed; focused it all into breathing and leaping up the trail faster than they could crank their low gears. Made it back to the main Miwok trail, breathing hard, and let them pass now that there was room to do so.

Ran up Coyote Ridge to the top and took in the views of the South, tips of the #SanFrancisco skyline poking up behind the #MarinHeadlands(2), and the North, clear views of #MtTam(3). Inspired, ran down Coyote Ridge to Fox in personal record time.

Paused at the Fox and Coastal fork(4), unsure which to take. Drawn to the sea, I ran down Coastal toward the beach. Tennessee Beach was so beautiful, blue sky gradients contrasting the red brown rocks to the north(5), bands of blue ocean and frothy surf to the west(6), rising up the coarse sandy shore(7). There was still a bit of green left on the hills to the south(8).

#Running back along the valley trail, I looked back to admire the lagoon ringed by lush greenery, the Pacific in the distance(9). As I turned, the sunlight glistening on the water caught my eye(10).

#Marin #trails #trailrun #trail #run #runner #50ktraining #optoutside #getoutside #fitstrongfierce #California #nofilter
#SFRC #screentime #greentime #green #Miwok #SanFrancisco #MarinHeadlands #MtTam #Running #Marin #trails #trailrun #trail #run #runner #50ktraining #optoutside #getoutside #fitstrongfierce #California #nofilter
@Ungeniused Winchester Mystery House Model
The Place
Scoring has begun! #bikelyn #pedalpalooza
#bikelyn #pedalpalooza
Brooklyn Park
#bikelyn #pedalpalooza — with anomalily, JK
Peet's Coffee & Tea
Terminal B
Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport (SJC)
La Victoria Taqueria
The Lobby Lounge
Original Gravity Public House
Pizza My Heart
The Lobby Lounge