Running
This run was saved by Apple Watch notifications… Well more specifically it got me to my meeting on time that forgot about as I thought I still had another 30 min so wasn’t in any rush. Come to find out I had 10 and Siri gave me the heads up in time.
Sun was really shining down for this run but ducked into the trees for a second to get this photo. Just kind of ran on cruise control today and tried not to check the watch except to see how many miles had ticked by.
I realized a couple miles in today that there was still smoke in the air from the fires but assumed it wasn’t too bad. I did get a text from my wife almost when I was done saying her school was not allowed to have kids out today due to the air quality but here I was out there running. 🫣
Portland Observatory
Running the other day I ran by the Portland Observatory which is on my list to actual goto when it is open but I haven’t had a chance as it isn’t open year round.
I find older cities and towns fascinating as the town I live in doesn’t have the same type of historical story or maybe more specifically not as many older buildings still being used today. Granted there is history where I live but not to the same extent as Portland, ME (or other places). There is so many buildings I see during my wandering around Portland that I wonder what it originally was used for and all of that just like the Portland Hey Building and Portland Co. Pattern Storehouse that I only breilfy wrote about before.
So when I saw the picture above on my flight home, I decided to spend some time with this wonderful Free High Speed Delta WiFi while watching movies to do a little digging about the Portland Observatory. This is the summary of what I found.
The tower was built in 1807 by sea captian who turned entrepreneur Captain Lemuel Moody. It was constructed in a remarkably short period of time (4 months from April to July) due to the simplicity of the observatory’s design and the use of local materials and labor. Despite its quick construction, the observatory was a well-built and sturdy structure, able to withstand the harsh weather conditions of the Maine coast.
Photo Copyright of Maine Historical Society
It was a commercial venture to give ship owners a competitive edge if they paid Moody a subscription fee of $5.00 a year to alert them when their ships were arriving. With a telescope at the top he could see incoming ships from as far as 30 miles away and then could hoist signal flags identifying the vessels coming in.
This signal tower also increased the efficiency of Portland Harbor and the Observatory remained a working marine signal tower run by the Moody family until 1923 when the invention of the two-way radio made it obsolete.
The original cost of constructing it was a mere $6000 in 1807 and during the peak of the observation towers services it generated an estimated $1,000 in revenue per year from these fees, demonstrating its importance and value to the maritime community.
In 1866, the observation tower actually survived the Great Fire which destroyed much of Portland. This helped solidify the observatory as a symbol of the city’s resilience and determination to rebuild the town after the devastating fire.
The Portland Observatory is the only remaining historic maritime signal station in the United States.
Wanted to get a run in this morning before a busy day of work and then flying. Plus how can I pass up one last morning run along the water and then through the city.
Decided to meander around the streets tonight before dinner. Didn’t have a solid plan as I just didn’t want to run too far but the weather was nice.
Went for a longer run this morning as it is going to be a long day of meetings at work. Decided to hit the Back Cove again and now that it is lighter outside in the mornings I ran across a lot of people.
After getting into town so late last night I didn’t think I was going to wake up and run today. However, with it being so much more sunny at 5am here I shot out of bed thinking I overslept. I didn’t and knew I wouldn’t fall bask asleep so I went running.
Writing with Obsidian
For the past couple of posts I have made, everything has been written in Obsidian and then pushed to Micro.blog via Micro.Publish created by Otavio Cordeiro.
Not only have I used Obsidian to create and post those, they have mostly been done on my iPhone as well. I have also found that using Jarrod Blundy’s wonderful iOS shortcut called Multimedia Uploader to get pictures on my site is the perfect addition. I can then copy that link and put it in my Obsidian document, so I can finish any extra writing as necessary prior to hitting publish.
This new process has been working well, and I not only have been doing it for my longer posts as part of WeblogPoMo2024 but also on some of my shorter posts about runs and other random thoughts that would not come through my Status.lol.
Not sure if I will continue with this for the long haul, but right now, this has also renewed my want to use Obsidian as I can use it on my various devices. A great example is this specific post: I started it on MacOS, but I am finishing it up on the plane on my iPhone prior to takeoff.
It was a warner one than I anticipated but I know my body is not heat ready still with all these changes in temps. However, I pushed through the miles for this run as I know my evening will be spent in airports and on airplanes.
The kids slept in this morning so I took that time to quickly get a run in. Legs felt heavy today so probably good that this week had some lighter millage in. I didn’t know how wet the conservation area was going to be but not all that bad on the trail.
Thankful that my early morning meeting got canceled as I was able to actually get a run in earlier than I normally would. It was so nice outside too as it was cool but sunny with a little bit of dew on the grass.
Really I can’t complain how this Friday has started out, I got an early run in and came home to try another newer coffee for me from Groundwork.
WorkOutDoors App
I really do like my Apple Ultra watch and am glad to only be rocking one watch on a daily basis unlike a couple years ago. However, having the Ultra well over a year now and knowing the Apple Watch itself has been out so long I still can’t believe that the missed opportunity to have a route mapping function on the watch with in the stock Workout app. Typically I don’t need it often but when I map out some really long runs on my phone I have to pull it out from time to time to make sure I catch the right trail or street, two things I don’t love doing when I am out running and also further makes me not want to run with out my phone.
Now, yes there are a couple apps out there that can allow you to get turn by turn directions but most are not great or require an additional subscription to use and I had found a hadful of them don’t work that great or are complex to setup. Also, you run into the issue of are you going to run just that or the Workout app as well and how do you flip back and forth.
With all of that said and even with some of the limitations that are still there I was pointed in the direction of WorkOutDoors app from Mat Routley which I have actually found to be a solid running map navigator. I have used it a handful of times now and been running the workout app at the same time but in the background. Flipping between them if I need to for any reason is a pain but I am getting used to it. However, my last longer run I started the Workoutdoor app then started my workout app and then went back to the workoutdoor app until about a mile or so left because I knew the direction. It didn’t kill my battery for being out there for 2 hrs and 45 min of two GPS apps running and timing.
I had to buy this app but honestly I have no issues paying for an app that does what it says and it woeked better than others that wanted more of a subscription base. I will say this app has a lot of settings but I think that is what I like about this, check the settings you want on your phone, load the GPX map you want to follow or map it in the iOS app and go. Nothing to crazy just filling the gap that the WatchOS left in the Workout app. Maybe someday that will be corrected but for now I don’t mid this setup and again it allows me on longer or more complex runs to leave my Garmin again at home.
The start of this run it was very misty out but then cleared up. Overall just plugging away at some miles but being careful of the geese I came across as I saw some little ones out there too, and I know they’re protective.
Bolo
Every now and then I run across something that has me remember something from my past and today it was a computer game called Bolo by Stuart Cheshire. Don’t be mistaken by the 1982 game that was for the Apple II as I am talking about the 1987 game.
I mean what wasn’t there to like about this very basic game, you were a tank on an island for a winner or team take all. In the game you could capture pillboxes (automatic gun turrets), refueling bases, build walls and boats, join alliances, farm trees, and lay mines. You could find other built maps or even create your own to add to the challenge if you wanted to play alone or even with others.
“Bolo is the Hindi word for communication. Bolo is about computers communicating on the network, and more importantly about humans communicating with each other, as they argue, negotiate, form alliances, agree strategies, etc.”
To top if off if you were lucky enough you could play against others on a local network at your school which is what some of my friends and I did. It helped that this was back when Mac computers were starting to show up in school and my dad was the Middle School Principal so he would let a couple of us go into the computer labs after school. Most of the time there was only 2-4 of us so we would boot up as many computers as we could and set most of them to be on autopilot with various “Brains” we had downloaded to the disks we had.
In my stumbling around to find out more about this old game I used to enjoy I found where you can play an old version online in the Internet Archive.
Quite a bit of wind on one of the long straight sections right in my face. Not horrible but really made I hard to listen to my audiobook. Other than that the run felt good and couldn’t beat some sunny cool weather for a change.
Rained all day again today so got lucky to only have a little mist from time to time. Was good to get out for a run after a very derailed work day. I think the legs are ready for an easier week as I couldn’t find another gear without trying to put in more effort.
