Thinking about the loss of Patrick Stewart today.

I literally grew up watching TNG: it was on in the afternoons when I was in kindergarten.

I've never really considered anyone in my life to be a role model, but I'd say Picard is the closest thing to a role model I had.

Patient, curious, open-minded, non-judgmental. These are qualities I'd like to believe I learned from Picard and have in sufficient measure.

Patrick Stewart brought the character to life and impacted the lives of many people like me.

RIP 💔

Behold! My second fake/virtual paystub from flight simming this week

I am semi-seriously researching the career path to an airline pilot.

How do I know if it's just a phase or an actual, real, long-term interest?

Antidepressants have made it so much easier for me to maintain a routine.

Last week I started a routine of going to the pool after work on Tuesdays and before work on Thursdays.

This week, there was no question, no grumbling, no "ugh this is so hard" resistance. I finished work on Tuesday, got ready, went to the pool.

This morning, I was up earlier than normal. Spent some time in flight sim, closed it down and went to the pool at my usual time.

Not only that, but it actually FELT GOOD to do!

I realize that's only two weeks. But I've also meditated and journaled every day for 20 days straight, which I haven't done in over a year.

Without bupropion, life felt like it was on hard mode. It has solved many of my executive function challenges - though not all!

I've been pseudo-fixating on flight sims lately. I just realized that my friend put me on to them in April, so that's over 6 months this has been carrying my interest. That's pretty rare for interests for me.

I'm at a point where I'm following a commercial airliner pilot's career path and flying regional jets with close to real world procedures and checklists.

It's definitely got the depth and complexity my brain loves, and it's in that sweet spot of just challenging enough to be incredibly frustrating when you get it wrong, but so incredibly rewarding when you get it right.

Woot! Hit 300 active minutes this week... that's two weeks in a row I've hit 2x my goal of 150.

I'm physically tired today... I definitely pushed my body a lot this week with two vigorous swims. Time to take it easy for a couple of days.

Had a good swim this morning... didn't push myself as hard as Tuesday. Did 300m in about 15 minutes - 10 minutes in cardio HR zones, 3 of which was in anaerobic/max zones.

I'm really more focused on heart rate than I am about interval timings. I'm more interested in improving my cardio health than I am achieving specific swimming goals. Swimming is just a means to an end.

It felt really great to be up, out, and active first thing in the morning.

Slept okay... up at 6 feeling reasonably rested. Headed to the pool for an early morning swim 🏊‍♂️

Decided to do a cross-country road trip to be in Toronto for the holidays.

I haven't had holidays with my step-kids in years... normally I stay home in the RV with the dogs while my wife goes back.

Not really looking forward to being in Toronto in December/January, but I love road trips and I am looking forward to spending time with family.

Actually, looking at Garmin Connect now, it classified yesterday as "overreaching" for my training status 😂

Only Wednesday and I'm already at 228 active minutes for this week.

Went for a 15 minute warm-up walk then swam 500m in about 26 minutes with lots of rests in between laps. Heart rate was above 130 for the vast majority of that time. I definitely find it easier to push my cardio in the water... I hate feeling hot and sweaty. The water keeps me cool and comfortable.

This is actually the first time since January that my "training status" in Garmin Connect is "productive". It's usually "recovery", with some occasional "detraining" or "maintaining".

A bit stiff and sore today but feeling great about being more active.

My Garmin smartwatch notified me that I hit 300 active minutes this week. I think that's the first time since I bought this thing in January.

I rarely hit my weekly goal of 150, let alone double it.

Went to the local public pool twice this week to swim laps, spent some time in the hot tub, and went for a bunch of walks.

Antidepressants ftw

A couple of weeks ago we started a Hello Fresh subscription, and honestly, there's few subscription services I'm a fan of other than this.

I actually love it. It's saving us money, it changes up our meals, and we don't have to go through the weekly rigmarole of what the meal plan for this week will be.

I've been more physically active lately, which has led me to notice that it takes a LONG time for my body to settle down after being active.

For example, I go for a 40 minute walk, and my RHR is elevated for at least 6-8 hours afterwards.

I also find it impacts my sleep... if I'm active within 6-8 hours of my usual bed time, I usually have a much harder time falling asleep. My body feels unsettled.

Wonder if that's going to improve over time if I continue to be more active, or if there's something I could do to improve that. Maybe I'm not hydrating enough?

Ergh, been a rough few nights of poor sleep, and I am le tired.

Last Monday, our foster pup Zack went to his forever home after spending 4 weeks with us. We originally were going to adopt him, but we decided a week in that our hearts weren't ready to welcome a new dog into our family yet.

Last night, we welcomed Mochi to our home to foster. She's a 14 week old husky/malamute mix, who absolutely has a lot to say and is apparently really high energy, though we haven't seen that yet.

This one might be a real test of our training skills. We'll see :D

I'm starting to suspect I might have an egg allergy as well... two days in a row I've had eggs, and I'm fairly certain no dairy, but I had the same reaction as I do to dairy: heart fluttering, jittery feeling, increased resting heart rate and increased stress metrics.

▪ “astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions”

▪ “the largest theft of labor in human history.” 

▪ AI has started a “doom loop” that will “threaten the economic foundations of its essential suppliers.”

"Actually those were not our words. They came from Microsoft’s director of applied science, Brent Hecht, and we were able to uncover his statements and many other instances where tech executives talk in unfiltered terms, through the lawsuit."
- mother jones

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/09/openai-chatgpt-microsoft-copyright-legal-case-documents-revelations/
#noAI

Had a follow-up appointment with my NP this morning... she said it's promising that I'm feeling good so quickly on bupropion, but she also expects I might plateau and I might need to increase my dose.

Definitely going to keep an eye on that in the coming days and weeks.

> At once new myths come into being—political and economic myths with extravagant promises of the best of futures in the present world. These myths give the individual a certain sense of meaning by making [them]
part of a vast social effort, in which [they] lose something of [their] own emptiness and loneliness.

Edited to be more gender neutral as the original author used male pronouns.