Woke up early and drove to the lake to do an open water swim for the first time in 2025. Water temp was in the upper 60s, with wind creating a slight chop. The overall swim group has gotten slower as people have aged, so distance is only about a mile now to allow everyone to finish before 6:40. I get a better workout in the pool, but there’s no substitute for the lake to practice sighting, dealing with cold/rough water, and getting used to a wetsuit.
Today is my rest day, so slept a little later than usual and then went into the office.
At work, the CEO made a reference to “Chatham House rules” when referring to a private comment made in a group conversation whose attribution would remain anonymous. I’ve heard the reference before but not looked it up until now. According to the authority (Wikipedia), Chatham House is a British think tank based in London whose offical name is “The Royal Institute of International Affairs.” It is the origin of the non-attribution rule which provides that a participant in a meeting may discuss the content of a meeting in the outside world, but may not discuss who attended nor identify what a specific individual said.
I didn’t see much of anything notable in today’s WWDC. The enhanced windowing support in an upcoming iPadOS release looks interesting/useful, but other announcements seem incremental.
Another beautiful morning. Ran 10 miles with the running group at 7 AM. Temps were in the high 60s but felt warmer due to high humidity. Came home, did a 1 hour high RPM spin on the bike trainer.
As predicted, the Verge has an article this morning about the Apple WWDC. I don’t see any other high profile articles on Apple News regarding the Switch 2 launch… the pundits have moved on.
Beautiful day today – high 60s. Swam 4000m over lunchtime at the outdoor gym pool, perhaps got a little sun. I did a 20 mile virtual bike ride on Zwift in the early evening before dinner.
Tech news is all about the Nintendo Switch 2 release, which occurred a couple nights ago. I saw some local Target stores having limited stock available mid-day yesterday but had sold out by dinner time. I expect the focus to shift soon to Apple for their Monday WWDC 2025 announcements.
Air quality in the Chicago area today is being affected by the Canadian wildfires, and the sky is hazy at mid-day. The Apple weather app says the AQI at my location is 116, which isn’t terrible but not great. The app helpfully breaks down the types of pollutants, listing CO at 317 ppb, ozone at 35 ppb, PM10 at 47 ug/m^3, and PM2.5 at 25 ugm^3. Some of this is getting in the house, even with the air conditioning off and the windows closed. My Amazon air quality meter says the internal PM count is 10 ug/m^3, which usually reads at 0 except when I’m cooking.
I’ve only been told twice in my lifetime that I resemble a certain celebrity, and both times referenced the same person. The first time I heard the celebrity’s name, Jim Caviezel, I had no idea who the person was since they had been in movies that I hadn’t seen. However, the second time occurred when this celebrity, an actor, was in the lead role of TV show “Person of Interest”. I got to use this information today in a work meeting where the opening icebreaker question was to give an example of a celebrity or public figure that you resemble.
An old wooden covered bridge near me in Long Grove has a history of being struck by trucks that exceed its height limit. After one particularly damaging hit a few years ago, the town rebuilt the bridge with a steel beam structure hidden by a wood covering. Since then, the trucks have been paying the price – today marked the 67th hit since the rebuild.
I went on an easy run in the evening with a friend for over an hour. Despite air quality, the weather is otherwise gorgeous.
Notable:
Raddle (https://raddle.quest) – An online daily puzzle created by Sandy Weisz, head of a Chicago-based puzzle design studio. I learned about it from Sandy’s newsletter, “Puzzling in Chicago”. Figured out today’s puzzle without the need for hints.
