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Yet another social media update πŸ€”

Posted March 3, 2024

Thanks to the social media manager in my office, I’m now back on the Gram. She has a goal to increase Instagram followers, so I registered @7minutemiles as a private account, followed @targetcentermn and started looking at the current state of that platform. As some of you may recall, I used to be @kingsbury for years and Colleen had her account stolen by a hacker (Meta support was not helpful).

It’s really amazing to me how much content is generated exclusively for Instagram, especially in the food world. Sports and entertainment is also still going strong and I’m slowly re-discovering golf, skiing and regional travel accounts (Meta appears to limit new accounts to 100 follows a day now). A few people have discovered my new account and sent follow requests, but I’m not sure how much I will publish there.

As Cory Doctorow wrote, now is the moment for POSSE – Post Own Site, Share Everywhere. IndieWeb has also written a lot about POSSE, which I had already started to try recently on both Bluesky and Mastodon. Need to think through this a little more, as I never liked when people would just post the same stuff everywhere.

Still really love the idea of people publishing their own sites and content – whether that is a small business website, a personal blog or something else. What I do here is neither free nor easy, but there are options out there for people if you look. The vast majority of people, however, will likely continue to use services like Instagram and TikTok as their only home to the content they create and publish.

As someone who basically dropped off all social media for a time to focus on my personal site, getting eyeballs on your content is infinitely harder, FOMO is strong and with comments disabled on my site, two-way communication is definitely hindered. And as Zeldman says, “go where the people are.

Still, people like Jason Kottke remain great examples of self-publishing ideas and implementation. I love reading his posts like this one on the latest kottke.org site redesign. My RSS reader follow list hasn’t changed much over the years, but there is still some great stuff that pops up in there from people like Teri Kanefield, Brian Krebs, Charles Edge, Tom Bricker, Mistletunes and Phil Roberts.

Back on the platforms, I got to explore Threads with the new Instagram account and didn’t see a lot of personal value there. The “For You” view was awful and the “Following” option showed that most activity on accounts I care about is remaining on the Instagram side.

I still enjoy reading content on Mastodon via Ivory, which remains the closest experience to what I had with Twitter and Tweetbot. Recently learned I can follow tags there and have been enjoying the “SKIING” tag a lot. Also like Bluesky, but wish I could use a Tapbots app for that service instead of the website.

Instagram on the web is much better than before, but I’ll probably get back to using the iOS app again once I have the full follow list in place. Still happy I hibernated my LinkedIn – it will be there if I need it in the future, but don’t miss it day to day…


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Link: Disney People and State Fair People πŸ‘

Linked February 16, 2024


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Lutsen Fit πŸ’ͺ

Pic posted February 9, 2024

This is probably the best physical shape I’ve ever been – need to use this as motivation for 2024 plans


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🫑 Apple Watch Update

Posted January 20, 2024

It’s been three weeks now since I stopped wearing my Apple Watch daily. My physical health is holding steady, as I still try to get on the treadmill to walk semi-regularly in this cold weather. My mental health, however, is vastly improved without the stress and anxiety of closing the damn rings. I still use the watch during workouts, but otherwise happy to leave it on the charger for the time being…


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An Apple Watch Reckoning

Posted January 2, 2024

The patent infringement craziness has certainly made a big impact on the current Apple Watch market. Looking back through the 7 Minute Miles archives, it appears I’ve been an Apple Watch user now for nearly seven years. My longest move streak during the pandemic was almost 1200 days. Closing my rings and earning awards has been a daily goal. I’d planned on eventually replacing my old Series 5 with an Ultra 2 (temporarily unbanned, pictured above). And yet…

Today my wrist is naked.

My latest move streak ended due to illness and the last few days have felt freeing, as I wasn’t worried about closing the damn rings. So as I start the first week of 2024, I thought I’d try leaving the watch on the charger and see what happens. So far I’ve tried to check on the time a half dozen times, but like having app notifications just on my phone again. Would definitely want to wear it to track workouts (like I used to do with my Garmin) and I do like the always on safety features like fall detection and heart rate monitoring.

Hmm… πŸ€”


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Here’s my ballot πŸ€

Pic posted December 19, 2023

Vote for your favorite NBA All-Stars here


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🫑 YouTubeTV/Fubo Update

Posted December 11, 2023

After giving Fubo the old college try the last few weeks, I decided to “pause” that account for six months. The quality of the interfaces, overall performance of the app and the lack of PBS, TNT and TBS aren’t enough to offset the lack of Bally on YouTubeTV, IMO.


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AEW Dynamite/Rampage βœ…

Pic posted November 29, 2023

$850 seems a lot easier than training for a belt


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🫑 YouTubeTV vs. Fubo

Posted November 26, 2023

Going to try out Fubo for a few days and see if we want to switch from YouTubeTV. Access to Bally is the big one (Wild, Timberwolves, Twins), but 4K is included in Fubo Elite too. Both have DVR and Apple device support, so need to review overall cost and quality of apps…


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One down, 40 to go… πŸ€

Pic posted October 29, 2023

Wolves beat the Miami Heat in the home opener @ Target Center, 106-90


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#WolvesBack πŸ€

Pic posted October 28, 2023

Home opener versus the Miami Heat – “tap to howl”


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First game tomorrow πŸ€

Pic posted October 16, 2023

You could say it’s crunch time


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Rough afternoon for the neighbors ⚾️

Pic posted October 10, 2023

Not the start we needed from Sonny – Twins lose game three, 9-1


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Big Ten Media Days πŸ€ βœ…

Pic posted October 9, 2023

As an alumni of two of the schools, have to say I’m super impressed by the awesome presentation by the league. Mark your calendars for the women’s tournament from March 6-10, 2024 and the men’s tournament from March 13-17, 2024 (ticket on sale TBA)


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Five Years of Bonus Time

Posted October 8, 2023

Hurray! Today marks bonus birthday number FIVE after the big brain experience on the U.S. Bank Stadium train platform in 2018 (here are links to the previous bonus time posts: year one, year two, year three and year four). The whole episode now seems so distant – very happy to have this history here (and still so, so thankful to everyone involved).

Everything health-wise continues to be good – don’t need to go back for any follow-up for another two years and my eyesight has evolved to the point where I can even play golf again without glasses. I do still tend to wear them while driving at night, but that’s about it. My old TBI eye specialist has moved on, so I started seeing the regular family eye doctor this year. He said my prescription has changed slightly, but gave me the option to hold off on a new order.

Feeling more fit since I started a real training plan for the recently cancelled TC 10 Mile and the activity logs for the past year have all been active. Didn’t bike as much this year, but played more golf and logged more real running miles. Bought some actual hiking shoes this year and spent a lot of time at nearby Afton State Park (and almost signed up for the Afton 25K – hope to do that next year, along with Get in Gear and the Milk Run). Still throw my name in the annual London Marathon drawing, but have never been picked. Disney 2025?

Speaking of Florida, we attended our first ever spring training games in Fort Myers this year and had a great time. My brother and his wife drove over from Orlando for some of the games, which was wonderful. Not a lot of other travel this year, but we continued to cross new restaurants off the list, went to a lot of Twins and Saints games and had a good year of concerts (Smashing Pumpkins, Jerry Harrison, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Cure, Duran Duran, Pearl Jam and Peter Gabriel, among others).

And speaking of concerts, I’ve recently returned to the sports and entertainment world in a newly created technology role at Target Center. I’m excited to learn a new league and learn how arenas operate compared to stadiums. While there are a lot more events, the technology infrastructure is smaller and it will be a fun challenge to optimize the operation. Also excited about the Life Time Fitness facilities in the basement of the building – what a great thing to have for Minnesota winter workouts.

Go Wolves! πŸ€


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Food trucks, pickleball and the Wu-Tang

Pic posted October 7, 2023

My work days are certainly very interesting these days – Flo’s Food Truck with the hot honey wings


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Al Shaver, the hall of fame hockey broadcaster after whom the Xcel Energy Center press box is named, turns 96 in three weeks and is doing fine living on Vancouver Island…

— Charley Walters

Quote posted October 1, 2023


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Day 1 @ Target Center βœ…

Pic posted September 25, 2023

Excited to help another league and large venue πŸ€


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🫑 TC 10 Mile training update

Posted September 2, 2023

Finished my third eight mile long run this morning and kept the average pace under 11 for the second time in this training cycle (10:44). Slow and steady with no walk breaks is fine with me right now. On my bike ride two days ago, I made it up the giant hill (200+ ft) with no stop breaks, so seem to be making overall fitness progress. Only 29 days to race day!


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Take a Vet Fishing 2023

Pic posted August 24, 2023

Capacity turnout for the 2023 event @ Fortune Bay Marina


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Just a lovely morning for pro golf in Blaine

Pic posted July 28, 2023

Hard to believe, but Justin Thomas might miss the cut today at the 3M Open. Here is his group leaving the 11th tee (their second hole of the day)


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Nordstrom Rack was a bonanza today

Pic posted July 5, 2023

New Merrell hiking shoes (finally!), along with a new belt, one pair of shorts, two shirts and three pairs of pants. Lots of great inventory at the Woodbury store if you need it


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Toronto FC #6 was a giant

Pic posted June 4, 2023

Stats say only 6’6″ but he seemed to tower over everybody (Loons 1, Toronto 1) ⚽️


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Link: RIP Jim Wolford, 1968-2023 πŸ’œ

Linked May 7, 2023


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🫑 Late night observations

Posted April 26, 2023

A few thoughts from last night:

  • After decades of fandom, I need to be less emotionally attached to Minnesota sports teams. Still love ’em, but wow.
  • Despite my support for Mastodon, I’m not confident in the backend tech stack and organization. This commentary from Justin Garrison, in particular, is very thought-provoking.
  • “When you’re chewing on life’s gristle, don’t grumble, give a whistle”

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