Songs added in 2022

Shortly before the pandemic, I started tracking what songs I added to my various streaming service playlists every year. For anyone who’s interested in the chronological order of what I split and duplicated among playlists (including songs I listen to in the shower; drum to; write, walk, commute, drive and do yard work to, and … Read more

Last day of Movember

It’s been a successful month, both in terms of walking the extra 60 km I committed to walk for part of the fundraiser, as well as moustache growth went: It’s been an interesting experience. On the one hand, the moustache came in far slower than expected — I need to shave every couple of days … Read more

Another novel en route

I’ve been mentioning over the last couple of months how inspired I’ve been while reading Telling Lies for Fun & Profit by Lawrence Block. I’ve read more books about writing than I could hope to remember, and while many have been solid and given me advice I’ll always carry with me, Telling Lies is proving … Read more

What I read this month

Short and sweet: November proved to be a flurry of activity — not the least of which was my getting Covid — which once again put a damper on getting to read as much as I wanted to. I know… you’d think that getting Covid and having to isolate for days would lend itself to … Read more

So you want to join Mastodon…

I joined the social media site Mastodon three years ago this month, having heard about it as an alternative to Facebook and Twitter, which I’d been growing leery of by that point. You can just look here for a breakdown of what Mastodon is, but in brief: A couple of years back I took a … Read more

Check out this app

I’m not one to get too stoked about apps — or at least not generally enough to hype them — but I gotta give credit where it’s due. Swipewipe had recently been getting a strange amount of (unpaid) promotion from completely unrelated newsletters I get, and it sounded like it had some promise, so I … Read more

Movember – Week 1

It’s been a solid week of progress and fundraising. My burgeoning moustache is definitely growing in (if slowly), and I’ve been way ahead of the curve to meet and well surpass my commitment of walking 60 km for the month. You can see my webpage and keep up with my progress here. (The mobile version … Read more

Movember Day 4

I’ve noticed a couple of things in my walks through some local parkland over the last few days. First, the squirrels are getting chubby. Squirrels are ubiquitous in Toronto. Common enough that visiting for a while, and certainly when you’ve grown up here, you don’t think twice about them. Common enough that with seeing them … Read more

A strong start to Movember

I just completed a walk that took me upwards of 6 km. That wasn’t just because I really should walk more often, but in particular it’s for my Movember commitment to walk 60 km this month. A few observations I made along the way: 1. When I’m walking with intent for distance instead of pleasure, … Read more

Update: What I read this month

In my sporadically taking poor notes, I realized today that I’d totally forgotten to include Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott, in my read books of October. It’s another book from a writer offering advice to writers, which I seem to have an endless taste for. That remains the … Read more