Pete Johns - Blog entries of the highest uptodateness

During the pandemic, when our home became a classroom and an office as well as all its usual functions, and we were all glued to computers to get stuff done, it became apparent that more than one member of the Johns Household could be easily distracted by the other things that always-on internet connectivity could afford.

Today I found a single right AirPod in the grass near a skate park where one of the kids was having fun. Between this little bud, the iPhone in my bag, and the worldwide Apple network, surely we should be able to get it back to its owner without compromising anyone’s privacy. Doing that would be good for the person who lost it and for the planet.

Two Bays Trail Run is my favourite annual running event. The 28km trail run from Dromana to Cape Schanck on the Mornington Peninsula is just spectacular. The 56km from Cape Schanck to Cape Schanck via Dromana is… a little beyond me right now. Each time I participate, either as a runner or as a volunteer, I am more than impressed by the smoothness of the organisation and by the superb positive vibe that seems to fill the entire peninsula. It feels less like a race than you might imagine, and more like a day in the bush with your mates. Some of the views are breathtaking, and some of the steps, if you try to run up them, are also breathtaking. In a different way.

After years of hosting this site at the apex domain johnsy.com, I’m moving back to www.johnsy.com. Much earlier versions of this site lived at the www subdomain, so this is something of a homecoming. If you’ve bookmarked the site or have links pointing to the old URL, no need to worry; everything will redirect automatically.

A friend commented on my recent accessibility improvements: “Do those tools check for color blindness accessibility too? I’m strongly colorblind and your red headings on a dark background, particularly the smaller ones, are near the edge of readability for me.”

Today, 8 December, is National Crossword Solvers Day (in some nations) and I wanted to mark the occasion.

According to a little progress bar I threw together recently, I am now 42% of the way through my current career break and I find myself reflecting on what I have done and what I have left to do.

I’m not sure who first said “Comparison is the thief of joy” and it doesn’t really matter. It’s a pretty good adage. Often times friends of mine who run will seek to diminish their own achievements by comparing themselves with more accomplished, even elite, runners. And I will wheel out this quote for them because my running friends are all pretty awesome folks who smash their goals.

Last year I was at a parkrun event that had 700 finish tokens and (it turned out) 694 finishers. Volunteers were frantically sorting finish tokens as I crossed the line, not knowing whether they’d have enough to get them through to the Tail Walker. Happily, I had a set of tokens in the boot of the car and lent them a batch (I may get them back someday).

I’ve updated this website to use Atkinson Hyperlegible as the default typeface, with Atkinson Hyperlegible Mono for code blocks. This change was inspired by reading the most recent Better Allies newsletter, which highlighted this free typeface from the Braille Institute.