Manu Moreale, writing on his blog about how the digital world often reflects the physical one:

There was a time when forums were the cities of the web but now are more like small towns. They’re the place where people congregate around shared interests. Spend enough time on one and you’ll get to know its citizens. New threads are infrequent, discussions are slow and can develop over months and years and it’s the refuge for those who are tired of the busyness of the big cities but still want some sense of belonging to a community.

And then there’re personal sites, the house in the forest. It’s the place people escape to when they’re tired of the noise. However personal sites are not isolated islands. They interact and stay connected, using links, mentions, emails, and RSS. It’s a part of the web that moves at a slower pace and that’s a feature, not a bug.

I really like this metaphor for your blog being your home in a connected neighborhood, and how the internet is a compelling digital manifestation of the community structures that humans have built in the physical world — but with improbable scales. Manu likens the large social networks like Facebook and X and TikTok to major cities, while I think of them as skyscrapers. Silos, if you will, reaching impossibly far into the sky. So many people crammed into one spot, sharing common utilities, and yet only a small percentage actually know each other or interact directly.

Mastodon might be more akin to mass transportation system. There are large instances and small ones — like planes, trains, or buses — but they all interact and intersect. It doesn’t really matter which one you use because the point isn’t which you’re on, the point is where you go and what you do with it. Sometimes you’ll chat with the people you’re sharing the bus with (the local timeline), but it’s kind of rare.

Blogs, as Manu noted, are the homes. We decorate them differently. We organize what’s inside them in different ways. You might like yours tidy, while mine is a bit of a mess. We stockpile posts and links, hobbies and projects, and then sometimes get a wild hair and clean house. Throw out the junk. Put a fresh coat of paint up and new photos on the wall. But despite how different each individual home is from one another, they all serve the same purpose. It’s where we live and can just be ourselves.

(Email is — of course — just like snail mail, spam and all.)

We can’t help but rebuild familiarity with our physical world into our digital ones.

This is post #21/31 for Blaugust 2024.

Blaugust Linked

After another (let’s be honest, expected) delay on my part, I’ve wrapped up my PenPal conversation with Steve Ledlow of Tangible Life. For our final exchange, Steve told me more about his kids’ dance competitions:

Dance comps for my older two girls are pretty competitive, but each one has some common measurement aspects.  Usually, they are doing both solos and duets, as well as some group numbers for their company dance group.  The ratings are usually done by a group of judges, and the styles range from lyrical, contemporary, tap, hip-hop, jazz, musical theatre, ballet and some that blend those.  It’s really an amazing world to have fallen into because of their passion for it.  I could never have imagined knowing so much about a world I’d never been exposed to in any form before them.  They have both done well, earning convention scholarships and some cash prizes when they place in the top few spots for their respective age groups and level of performance.  I’m so proud of them and watching them on stage these last few years is like nothing else.  Even when I’m unable to attend the events live, they usually have a stream and I’ll even pull over on the road on the way to something else to watch their performances via live stream.  There’s an overused and cliche phrase in the dance world of “my heart is on the stage”, but it is the truth when I’m watching them do their thing.

Now there’s a proud dad! 🙂 We also chatted about using Cotton Bureau to get t-shirt designs online for purchase, and how he’s having some trouble getting his first design approved. I hope that gets resolved soon so I can buy whatever he comes up with!

Read our entire conversation →

It was a pleasure to email with Steve, and I hope that thread stays open. And although I’m going to be taking a little break from the PenPals project for a month or two, if you’d like to be a part of it in the future, please do let me know!

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This is post #20/31 for Blaugust 2024.

PenPals Blaugust

My (not so subtle) attempt to someday guest on “the tech podcast where Dan has abandoned us once again.”

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Mikah Sargent: What is a third-party app that you think everyone should have on their phone?

This was a hard one to answer because the hosts and guests picked such good ones already (I also use CARROT Weather, Libby, and Annotable — they’re great).

So instead I’m going to choose an app that I only just found out about a few hours ago, but I’m convinced that everyone should use, and that’s Unwatched. I discovered this from the boys on Connected, and it’s a completely free app for keeping up with your YouTube subscriptions, with a rockin’ interface. Give it a list of channels you want to follow, and it’ll present an RSS-like list of all their latest videos, ready for you to swipe into a queue or dismiss. There are lots of niceties like per-channel speed settings, a sleep timer, a shortcut for saving ad-hoc videos, bookmarks, and more.

For years, I’ve been using Play to save videos for later (and have currently amassed nearly 900 unwatched videos), but I think (hope) that Unwatched queue system will encourage me to actually watch more of them. The interface is that good. And maybe I can move out all the YouTube RSS feeds I have in my RSS app.

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Kathy Campbell: What is the app you open when you wake up in the morning?

It kind of depends on if I received any notable notifications overnight, but in general, I hope my email client, Spark, first thing. The slower, asynchronous nature of email is one thing that I like best about it, but I also like to be prepared for my day and get back promptly to people if I can or need to. So I’ll look through my latest emails and do a quick triage first thing.

My next-up apps, in no particular order, are Reeder to check news and blog posts that published overnight, Micro.blog for a quick scroll through latest posts from friends, Overcast to start my morning podcasts, and (if I’m vulnerable or susceptible) Instagram where I’ll waste a bunch of time watching Reels.

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Jason Snell: What’s a bit of tech in your life that is getting a little old or faltering and probably could use a refresh?

Well, I’m currently in phase two of replacing a bunch of light switches around our house with Lutron Casseta smart switches, but the current ones aren’t faltering — they’re just not smart. So instead, I’ll say that I’d like to replace our water heater with an instant-hot tankless propane heater. We had one in our last rental home, and the immediate never-ending hot water was glorious. Our current water heater isn’t necessarily on its last legs (although, I think it has exceeded its expected life span), but it also doesn’t always keep up with our needs — even with just my wife and my usage.

But that seems like a whole thing to replace, so we probably won’t jump on it until the current water heater is truly dying.

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Jeremy Burge: Which tech product or concept were you wrong about?

Excellent question! I think I’m going to have to go with the Meta Quest/AR devices. For years I thought the whole AR/VR craze was just a fad. And to some degree, it has been cyclical — right now the world seems to be cooling off on them again — but in my brief time using my wife’s, I was impressed. Gaming is surprisingly fun, and the interface offers a glimpse into the future.

I was enamored by the Apple Vision Pro from the get-go, so I can’t say that. But another similar device that my opinion has changed drastically on, also from Meta, is the Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses. I thought the Snapchat Spectacles looked silly, and the Ray-Ban Stories were also not that great. But the feature set grew enticing enough with the Meta Ray-Bans that I really wanted to give them a go, and they’re indeed awesome for outdoor activities.

A couple of Meta products that I’ve had to eat my words about — who knew!?

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Bonus Topic: What is the best thing you’ve ever eaten while on vacation or traveling?

My wife and I sure had some incredible meals while on our honeymoon to Ireland and Austria, but I couldn’t describe them to you now. What I can recall with absolute clarity is the Big Mac meal I had in Aspen, Colorado after a massively draining hike on a two-week road trip out west. My wife had suffered from altitude sickness, and I carried her pack on my front while wearing my pack on my back during the 9-mile and many thousands of feet descent.

Not only was the beef quality better in Aspen, but my ravenous hunger contributed to that being the best McDonald’s meal I’ve ever had, by far.

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Overtime Topic: What is a hardware or software feature that you can remember enjoying in the past that has now been taken away and that you wish would return?

Great answers again from the guests and hosts. I likewise miss 3D Touch on my iPhone so much. I only used Nuzzle briefly before it was shut down, but that app was super cool too. And I loved the breathing animation on Macs and miss that as well, although I’ve noticed that the LED on the Apple Vision Pro does a similar breath-like pattern while charging, which is nice.

But my true answer is Dashboard on macOS. Dashboard was a feature on the Mac that you could access with a swipe or keyboard button that brought you to a full-screen view of all your widgets. This is before the massive expansion of app widgets thanks to iOS, mind you. My favorite widget was the Web Clipper, where you could “clip” a bit of any webpage and save it as a widget, and then that small web view would stay up-to-date over time. So if the website updated, so did your clipped widget.

All the widgets back then oozed personality, and I loved the hodgepodge of skeuomorphic designs all in that one view. You’d think with all the widgets coming with apps nowadays that it would be the perfect time to bring back that Dashboard view instead of today’s desktop widgets being hidden beneath all your windows.

I hold out hope.

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Until next time, watch what you say, and keep watching the clock. Bye everybody!

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This is post #19/31 for Blaugust 2024.

Crashing Clockwise Blaugust

A weekly list of interesting things I found on the internet, posted on Sundays. Sometimes themed, often not.

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1️⃣ Luke Burrage took on the Herculean task of editing the 100 episodes of the Hypercritcal podcast, hosted by John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin, into new episodes, each by specific topic. That’s right, he cut apart and labeled each topic, and then stitched the like ones all back together so that you can listen to a full recounting of John and Dan’s thoughts about a given theme across the years of the show, (especially) including Follow Up™. [🔗 Hypercritical By Topic // lukeburrage.com]

2️⃣ Avery Trufelman of the 99% Invisible podcast makes a compelling case that the Olympics should be held in Greece every time instead of moving hosting duties around the world. [🎙️ overcast.fm]

3️⃣ I know there are iOS apps that do this (I’ve tried them), but boy I hope Apple build something like this pass maker into Wallet soon. [🔗 Wes Davis // theverge.com]

4️⃣ I really dig Matt Birchler’s concept for a ‘Question’ type of post on social media. [🔗 Matt Birchler // birchtree.me]

5️⃣ Matt Birchler also writes about the possibility that Apple is in a permanent descent from the high regard its biggest fans have had for it for decades. It’s a feeling I’ve had too. [🔗 Matt Birchler // birchtree.me]

6️⃣ Blogging extraordinaire Lou Plummer shared why and how his daily blogging habit brings him joy. [🔗 louplummer.lol]

7️⃣ Last night, I happened across this old Trailside episode about climbing in the Adirondacks that is very of its time, but actually does a great job explaining and showing climbing concepts. If you’re curious about how outdoor rock climbing “works”, it’s a good one. It’s also pretty cool to see the same spots that I climb today highlighted in video from 20 years ago or longer. Oh, and the climber/guide featured here is Russ Clune, who recently wrote a memoir about his climbing adventures and even gave a local talk at The Mountaineer just yesterday. Coincidence? [▶️ Trailside // youtube.com]

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🔗 Take a Chance

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Thanks for reading 7 Things. If you enjoyed these links or have something neat to share, please let me know. And remember that you can get more links to internet nuggets that I’m finding every day by following me @jarrod on the social web.

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This is post #18/31 for Blaugust 2024.

7 Things Blaugust

Today is August 17th, so we’re over halfway through Blaugust 2024 and I thought I would just let you know how it’s going. Bonus, it counts for my blog post for today.

After a few months of mostly not blogging, having a goal to post something every day was a real jump. Kind of cold turkey-ing my cold turkey hiatus. I didn’t announce I was going to do it. I haven’t set a recurring to-do in my task manager — doing those things would add too much pressure, I think. I just know that I want to get 31 posts in and that I should strive to write something every day.

It’s been going well! Although I haven’t posted every day, technically, I have kept up and doubled up on days when I missed. I’ve typically been writing as one of the last things I do in the day. Kind of like homework, that’s just when things with a deadline get done for me. At night, usually while sacrificing sleep. 🤷‍♂️

Although Blaugust has a suggested weekly topic theme or a prompt list to go off of, I haven’t used either of those things. I have a few ideas bouncing around my head each day and then I make the final decision when I flip open the iPad to start writing. Getting started writing isn’t really an issue for me. I just start typing. The fact that it’s been coming easily makes me optimistic that I’ll stick with this and complete the challenge.

Most of the time, I expect my off-the-cuff blog posts to be only a handful of paragraphs long, but many have turned out much longer. I just keep writing until I’ve said what I want to say and run out of words. No outline. No real plan. Just vibes that end up on the page.

I really ought to take this approach more often. Outside of Blaugust, I usually feel like I should be writing something meaningful. Something that takes time, some research, lots of links, and perfect grammar. When the goal is just to write every day, those hang-ups have kind of fallen by the wayside. Not that I want these posts to be poorly written (they still get a Grammarly proofread), I just feel that they can be a little more informal, more me. Hopefully you agree.

Anyway, my goal tonight was to let you, dear reader, how I’m feeling about Blaugust. I’ve done that, and I’m running out of words. So I think I’ll end it here. See you tomorrow!

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Bee Tee Dubs, Check In is one of the coolest (and important) iOS features that you’re probably not using. Let’s say you’re driving somewhere and want to let your significant other (or parents because they insist) know that you arrived safely. But it’s so hard to remember once you get there to stop and send the text that everything was fine. Check In will do it for you. See how to use it here.

It also works for walks at night, hiking, outdoor exercises, climbing alone, and any other time you just want your phone to have your back.

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This is post #17/31 for Blaugust 2024.

Blaugust

My mother-in-law sent a message to the family group chat a few days ago that went something like this: “Hey, there’s still a few weeks left of summer and I think we should all play a long-distance game together. Let’s all download a license plate tracker app, and compete to find the most state plates. It’d be a good excuse to check in periodically so that I know you’re all still alive and well.”

I was all in.

On family road trips growing up, the license plate game was a staple for car entertainment. Granted, we typically played the alphabet version where you’d find letters of the alphabet in order using only license plates, but the idea was still there. You still had to be on constant lookout, afraid that your sibling would snipe the license plate you were scouring.

Then on a trip out to Colorado in college, my professor and I played the alphabet game but with car models as we switched off driving duties. That competition was likewise fierce.¹

So, despite us not being on a road trip, I’m ready to win this battle. And I think my chances are good seeing that I live in a tourist destination. I’m up to six out of fifty states so far. Wish me luck! (Here’s the app I’m using.)

And I agree with my mother-in-law, it’s nice to have a specific reason to check in and stay in touch. I’m pretty bad about it otherwise — I just get caught up in all the other things to do. Maybe start a competition within your own family or friend group to round out the summer?

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This is post #16/31 for Blaugust 2024.

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1. Funny story about that trip, we got super stuck on the letter “O” for the longest time. We didn’t see any models starting with “O”, and we couldn’t even think of a vehicle that started with “O” that we could be on the lookout for. It was hours later that he smacked his forehead and exclaimed, “The van I drive is a Honda Odyssey!” We tracked one down soon after.↩︎

Blaugust

Much like I think it’s important to do hard things, I also think it’s important to make yourself do scary things from time to time.

I’m a rock climber. I’ve been climbing for half my life. I earn a notable portion of my income as a rock climbing guide, helping people to get outside and try out this sport, often for the first time. I still get scared almost every time I go climbing.

Especially when lead climbing (when you’re climbing from the ground up and pulling the rope up with you, clipping bits of protection every so often, but risking significant falls when you’ve climbed above that protection), I waging a mental battle that often more fierce than the physical one of pulling myself up on tiny edges of rock. That battle is one to stay calm, manage my breathing, reassure myself that I’m in control and not going to fall, and just generally keep it all together enough that I don’t make silly mistakes that would lead to me falling and potentially hurting myself.

It would be easy to give up climbing so that I wouldn’t have to face that fear— no, that’s not right. It wouldn’t be easy because I do love climbing. But there are certainly times when out on the sharp end of the rope when I wonder why I put myself through that visceral fear, willingly, no less.

I’m not traditionally a thrill seeker. I like distance sports, not speed sports. I prefer running trails to mountain biking them. I have a healthy respect for moving water and will often wear a life jacket even when others do not. I’m conservative when it comes to finances, always wanting to have a little extra stashed away just in case.

But with rock climbing, I push myself to do the things that I know will scare me. In the past few days, I’ve been in the midst of that mental battle several times. I’ve stepped up to the plate to lead routes that I knew were at the edge of my ability and strength. I’ve fallen off one such route, falling onto a piece of protection that I had placed quickly and didn’t completely trust. It held. Instead of building an anchor and asking my partner to finish the route, I made myself give it another go even though I thought it likely that I’d fall off again. After we had to bail because of an unexpected rain storm, I went back on my own and set up a rappel to go back and retrieve the gear I had to leave behind — even though I wasn’t sure I was in the exact right place, that my rope would even reach the ground.

I think it comes down to trust in yourself. Trust that even though the thing is scary, you’ll be able to figure it out and be okay in the end. That you’re smart enough and capable enough to avoid disaster. That you can succeed despite being afraid. And each time that I prove to myself that I was okay, that I did avoid disaster, and that I am capable, the fear loses a little bit of its power. It builds character and allows you to pursue objectives that don’t seem possible at first.

So when people ask me about rock climbing and question, “Aren’t you scared?” I reply, “All the time.” It’s not whether or not you’re scared that’s important. It’s what you do while you’re scared, I think, that tells you more about the character of a person. And just like everything else, it takes practice to do well.

So go do scary things.

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This is post #15/31 for Blaugust 2024.

Journal Blaugust

My (not so subtle) attempt to someday be a guest on “the podcast that always arrives precisely when it means to.”

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Dan Moren: Would you consider a Mac mini in its rumored new even smaller form factor?

I’m a current Mac mini user (the M1 version), and I adore it! The Mac mini’s appeal has three parts. First, the BYODKM (Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard, and Mouse) factor. You can just drop it into an existing desktop computer setup and basically be off to the races. Second, it’s historically the more affordable Mac. Third, its small size makes it accessible to use in places where most other desktop computers just wouldn’t fit. Entertainment centers, storage closets, mounted under desks; the list goes on.

But with the downsizing of internal components needed for Apple silicon Macs, the current Mac mini — despite it being pretty small already — has a ton of wasted, unused space inside its enclosure. And, as Letterkenny has taught us, if you can only be one thing, be efficient. So getting rid of that space to scrunch down the Mini’s size is a-okay by me. Users will be able to put them in ever more places. However, I do feel for the server farms that have racks of Mac minis that will have to adapt.

All that said, I’m probably not in the market for a new Mac mini even though I’d be a fan of its more diminutive size.

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Stephen Hackett: What are your thoughts on Apple requiring Patreon to pay the 30% App Store commission for its creators’ in-app memberships?

This is a hairy topic that needs more than a few flippant paragraphs, but in a nutshell, I’m disappointed in Apple. Moreover, I think it puts a big ol’ spotlight on the notion that Apple’s App Store fee programs need a complete rethink for the year 2024. Really, they should throw the existing rule book in the bin and start over with a blank page.

One of the troubles of this situation is that Apple has that rule book to begin with. And if they don’t want to be accused of playing favorites or being unfair (unequal?) in its business dealings (and it certainly doesn’t because that’s how Google lost its app store monopoly lawsuit), they should be striving to apply the rules the same way across the board. That Patreon has historically not had to pay the commission is an oversight and an example of Apple not applying the letter of its only rules fairly.

But it’s egregious that the rules were written that way to begin with. And now that they’re enforcing their rules, it’s hurting Apple in the court of public opinion during a period in which their relationship with developers and creators is already frayed. I don’t see how Apple comes out ahead, reputation-wise, one this one without some pretty sweeping changes to how the App Store business agreement works.

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Mikah Sargent: Tell us a little about your notification habits. Schedules, badges, focus modes — what do you do (and don’t do) to sort through them?

My notification habits have changed over the years. I used to let anything and everything through. I’d use Do Not Disturb, but sparingly. These days, I use a little bit of everything to fine-tune how my attention can be grabbed by apps on my phone.

First, while I am pretty liberal with giving apps a chance with notifications — what if they’re helpful? — I’m not shy about turning them back off if they start to annoy me. I’d actually like more controls in every app about which kinds of notifications are allowed.

Second, I use Focus modes to restrict who and what can break through. My main modes are ‘Sleep’ which I turn on manually when I set my alarm each night, and ‘Do Not Disturb’ which I’ll flip on if I’m in a meeting or other environment that I don’t want to be distracted.

Third, I’ve started to adjust how notifications are allowed across devices. I used to think I should have all the same notification settings across my devices. But that just means I was dismissing the same ones over and over again on my phone, Mac, and iPad. These days, I hardly have any notifications enabled on my Mac or iPad, everything just comes through my phone (and watch, by extension) instead.

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Shelly Brisbin: Do you think that Apple should be happy about Rivian adding Apple Music support as opposed to CarPlay?

Personally, I think every car should offer CarPlay and Android Auto support. Customers love them, and it would be a huge bummer to purchase a car without their support after having it for years and years.

That said, I understand why automakers are starting to resist it because they want to own the whole experience. Much like Apple wants to own and control the whole experience of using an iPhone.

But the question was should Apple be happy about Apple Music support coming to Rivians. And I think no. I find it super unlikely that anyone is going to become an Apple Music subscriber just because their car has support for it. They just going to use whatever music solution they’ve already had for their Rivian (Bluetooth, phone speaker) if they’re not already Apple Music subscribers. It’s not going to (hehe) drive new subscriptions to Apple Music.

Apple would be happy if Rivian jumped on board with next-generation CarPlay, but that sure ain’t gonna happen!

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Bonus Topic: What is your go-to travel snack?

I’m not afraid of a crunchy or crumbly snack. I eat of lot of chips and popcorn in the car on long road trips. For air travel, it’s usually some sort of bag of chips or crackers purchased under duress at the airport. But I’ll always make room for the complimentary snacks the flight attendants offer.

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Overtime Topic: What non-support tech interaction do you remember from a parent or older friend?

From the moment my friend Robert pulled out his Palm Treo at a Scouting campout, I was sold on gadgets and technology. Seeing how you could organize and communicate with such a small, personal, and portable device was like seeing the future. That fascination turned into a love for the iPhone when it came out, as well as for macOS and Macs, which Robert also let me play with. I eventually was given Robert’s old MacBook Pro as a gift — perhaps the best gift I’ve ever received — and his old iPhone, which we used to text and iMessage constantly. Robert was very generous with his technology, and without him I would not be writing this blog today!

Until next time, watch what you say, and keep watching the clock. Bye everybody!

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This is post #14/31 for Blaugust 2024.

Crashing Clockwise Blaugust

Morning

A fairly normal morning in the shop. I arrived at 8:45am and got things opened up, set bikes out front, and pulled in eBike batteries to recharge. Organized the rental bikes so that the road and gravel bikes were all on one side and the mountain bikes on the other. Caught up on guided trip requests and scheduling them on the guide calendar. Spent the rest of the time entering new products we received into our inventory/POS.

I clocked out at 12:15pm and then heated up my leftover Chinese food to eat on my drive over to the Baker Mountain trailhead where I would meet my clients for…

Afternoon

A half-day rock climbing adventure that they had booked. This was my fifth time climbing with this family. The grandparents booked their granddaughter weekly climbing lessons with me for a month. We spent the first two sessions indoors, working on movement. The next two weeks were outdoors having fun on real rock, and learning the basics of belaying and how anchoring works outdoors. The grandpa always climbs, while grandma watches.

For this fifth session, I took them to Baker Mountain, which I consider my home crag. It’s in the town where I live, and is pretty accessible via a 15 minute hike. I like it a lot for clients that have at least a little background because it two beginner routes, three intermediate ones, and one quite challenging climb. It’s rare for someone not to find something that pushes them.

Today was no different. After doing a belay review with grandpa and granddaughter, they belayed me while I led up one of the easy climbs to set up the anchor for a top rope. They each played on the easier climbs (5.4 and 5.6) for warm up. Granddaughter flew through them, and grandpa had fun figuring out an efficient way up. Then granddaughter was ready for the harder stuff. I climbed back up, reset the anchor, and then rappelled down so I could belay her on one of the intermediate climbs (5.7+).

This route pulled together everything she had tried so far — face climbing, crack climbing, and even some overhang — and it proved to be the challenge she needed. Instead of flying up the route, she had to reason her way through the best way forward. She took time to hang, scout things out, and try different techniques to make progress. In the end, she was probably on the rope for close to an hour, and while most folks would have given up long before that, her determination was absolute. She did eventually make it to the top, but I’m sure she’ll want to go back to get it more cleanly.

I had to climb once more to retrieve the anchor, so maybe she’d picked up on some tips watching how I climbed the route. (I’ve done that particular climb dozens of times.)

We hiked back to the cars, made plans to get them out climbing again next month (yay!), and said goodbye. I headed home to feed the pets and grab my wife’s eBike so that I could…

Evening

Ride the 11 miles back into Lake Placid to catch the last live music show along the lake. The weather was perfect, and I didn’t want to miss out.

It was my first time riding my wife’s eBike for that kind of mileage, and having the pedal-assist sure was nice for commuting. I wouldn’t want to use an eBike every time, but if the objective is to get from Point A to Point B (and not specifically for exercise), the electric motor helps get you there faster, and you arrive less sweaty.

After locking up my bike by the music amphitheater, I wandered up and down Main Street looking for a restaurant where I could get a quick sandwich for takeout. I didn’t find one, but I did pick up some chocolates for my wife (who had a bad day at work) and a box of novelty-flavored popcorn (salt and vinegar, hint of lime, and dill pickle). As I wandered back to the music, I popped into the pizza shop to find that they sell pizza by the slice. Perfect grab-and-go food to enjoy out on the lawn in front of the show.

I plopped myself down to enjoy my slices, the popcorn, and conversation with a friend who happened to be seated right in front of me. And the music of course! It was a nine-ish person band playing what I’d call “dad rock”. But they were energetic and talented. My favorite bits were the solos played by the trombone, trumpet, sax, and electric guitar players. They played right up until 9pm, at which point the huge crowd dispersed, I grabbed my bike and started the long journey back.

Probably because it’s mostly downhill on the way back, but the return trip didn’t feel like it took very long at all. The eBike’s battery held out (with some babying of it) riiiight up until the very last bit of the huge hill that leads up to my house. I thanked the bike for its service as I peddled sans assistance the last few hundred yards.

As I carried the biked to our back deck where we can recharge its battery, I spooked my wife who heard my rummaging and thought I might be that bear, back for seconds. It’s been a notably good day, with tomorrow promising to be just as good. I’ll be taking a different family out climbing for the third year in a row, we’ll probably jump into a lake when we’re done, and then I’m planning on doing some personal climbing with a friend in the afternoon on some routes that are new to both of us.

But first, sleep.

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This is post #13/31 for Blaugust 2024.

Blaugust Journal

So you remember how I installed that smart bird feeder camera a few days ago? Well, I filled it up with birdseed the next day and was delighted to see it capture videos of cute birds coming in for a snack.

But birds aren’t the only thing hungry around here it seems.

When I checked the camera feed the next morning, I was shocked to see this furry little massive face looking back:

That’s right, I happened to set up the camera just in time to catch a black bear rolling through our neighborhood, and boy was he excited to find our new snack bar. According to our camera, he stood at the “counter” munching on birdseed for an entire hour! From midnight to 1AM, he was stuffing his adorable face!

Apparently he was still hungry by morning because he was caught on camera again, this time pulling down our old bird feeders to see if he could snag anything more. At some point, he much have laid or pounced on the spherical feeder because it’s pretty smooshed now.¹

I’ve got so many of these short clips saved. I love looking at his big ol’ snoot rummaging around for those tiny seeds. And him rolling his squat legs in the air, giving off Big Pooh Bear Energy I have half a mind to put up a sign that reads “Black Bear Snack Bar”.²

I’ve worked as a mountain guide here in the Adirondacks for over two years now, and I’ve yet to see a bear out in the wild. But here one was, right in my own backyard.

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This is post #12/31 for Blaugust 2024.

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1. By the way, I don’t think the new feeder attracted the bear. We’ve had birdseed out for a year now, and the holder has never been pulled over before. It’s just incredible happenstance that I got this thing up in time to catch him rolling through.↩︎

2. Except not really, because I don’t want to help him form a habit of eating from people’s bird feeders. It’s not good for the bears or the people. If he continues hoovering up our birdseed, I’ll have to figure something else out. But was tickled to see it this once. 😁↩︎

Blaugust