The Daily Parker

Politics, Weather, Photography, and the Dog

Not the most boring deployment ever

I've added a new feature to Weather Now: user profiles. It's only the most basic implementation and, at the moment, doesn't actually do anything. But it will lead to a whole range of features that the application hasn't had since it was an old Active Server Pages app in 1999.

Unfortunately, the deployment required setting up additional features on the weather API, so that user IDs travel from the UI to the API securely. The deployment took two hours, and threw up several pipeline failures for a reason having nothing to do with the API changes.

Anyway, now that the base user profile feature works, I can now add:

  • User preferences for measurement systems (metric or Imperial);
  • User-selected home locations;
  • User-selected home page weather lists;
  • Multiple custom weather lists; and
  • Lots of other personalization features.

At some point I'll also finish importing the whole (9-million-plus record) gazetteer, so users can search for more places.

Now, however, I'm going to make some lunch now and take Cassie on a very long walk in the amazing autumn weather we have today.

Lovely walk in the woods

As promised, I took a 25-kilometer walk up the North Branch Trail yesterday, which did not disappoint:

The weather cooperated brilliantly (though it did get a little warm towards the end), and my multiple applications of SPF-50 sunscreen seems to have kept me from crisping. The trail, of course, is lovely:

In total, I got 40,707 steps, which would have been a personal record back in the day but I'm pleased to say didn't even get into my top-10 step days since 2014.

Cassie spent the day at her usual day camp, but still got an hour and a quarter of walks. Of course she didn't accompany me on the 4-hour trail hike, but she nevertheless plotzed before I did:

Also, a shout out to my Hoka Stability shoes. My feet feel just fine today, and in fact given the forecast (23°C and sunny) I will probably get another 10 km today. Or, at least, spend lots of time outside.

The forecast was correct

As of 3pm, the 37.2°C temperature at O'Hare made today, officially, the hottest day of 2024—and we even broke the previous record, set in 1973 (36.6°C). My house has has cooled down slightly from a couple of hours ago, but I still get to walk home from doggy day care in a 39°C heat index.

We're taking the shortest route possible. And I plan to shower more or less immediately on getting home.

Heat wave continues

The forecast still predicts today will be the hottest day of the year. Last night at IDTWHQ the temperature got all the way down to 26.2°C right before sunrise. We have a heat advisory until 10pm, by which time the thunderstorms should have arrived. Good thing Cassie and I got a bit of extra time on our walk to day camp this morning.

Elsewhere in the world:

Finally, Garmin has released its latest fitness watch that doubles as a freaking Dick Tracy wrist phone. I mean, first, how cool is that? And second, how come it took 90 years after Dick Tracy got one?

Exhausting weather

I had planned a longer post this evening, but I had about 2 hours of chorus work to do and I didn't have any energy for half an hour after getting home. We may have our hottest night of the year tonight, with a forecast low of 26°C, before having our hottest day of the year tomorrow. (We had 36°C on June 17th; tomorrow could be 37°C.)

So I'm going to drink another glass or two of ice water and pat Cassie for a bit, then gird myself for tomorrow's sticky walk to doggie day care.

Good morning...?

Funny thing about visiting the West Coast: staying awake past 10pm is not fun, and I wake up at 5am. Plus, Hazel decided that I was her person last night, so at various points of the night I had a 20-kilo pittie in the crook of my knees or pushing me off the bed. (Note to Cassie: this is why you sleep on the couch.)

We have typical Seattle weather today, so we'll be dodging raindrops, and possible making a Brews & Choos visit. Updates as conditions warrant.

Cassie's Sunday failed to suck

I mentioned that the weather today is amazing, but yesterday's was also pretty good (if a bit humid). Cassie and I walked about 18 km throughout the day and spent most of the rest of the day outside.

But Cassie's day started pretty well even before we set out:

Sadly, neither of us could get to the last little bit of peanut butter at the bottom of the jar. (I labeled it "dog" because no one wants to get her peanut butter confused with the jar for people.)

We trundled off to the Horner Park DFA early in the afternoon:

And met her friend Butters, who decided to dig a hole next to a bench and settle into it:

(Apparently Butters does this often.)

We also had a slice at Jimmy's Pizza and some QT at Spiteful Brewing, finally getting home to some real couch time around 8.

Finally, I want to show some puzzling user experience design. I changed my phone to French because I'm visiting Provence next month and I need the practice. I'm also using Duolingo to build my skills, and in fact just started CEFR level B1 today.

Most of my apps immediately started displaying French messages, and Garmin even started sending me emails in French. One app didn't seem to get the memo, though. See if you can guess which.

Bien fait, Duolingo!

Happy DNC!

The Democratic National Convention opened today here in Chicago, so naturally that's the main topic in today's lunchtime roundup:

Well, that about covers it, until later this afternoon at least. I may have to walk Cassie a couple more times because it's 24°C and sunny, which we don't get a lot in August.

Beer failures

Yesterday, Cassie and I walked 16.4 km (just over 10 miles), including a 10 km walk that I'd planned only to be a bit less than 7 km. I wanted to stop by Ravinia Brewing's Logan Square taproom, but alas, when we got there, the patio was closed. So we went to Burning Bush instead. In all, we spent most of the day outside in the perfect weather. We'll do more of the same today, just not quite as much walking.

Another brewery that didn't make the cut for the Brews & Choos Project—it's too far from the nearest Metra station—made the culinary news Thursday when the state fined them for their latest infusion:

The state has fined a suburban brewery an undisclosed amount after they served a special infusion of Jeppson’s Malört with cicadas, celebrating the insects’ 2024 emergence. Noon Whistle Brewing Co. in Lombard made headlines in May for combining Chicago’s infamous liquor with bugs foraged from a neighboring park.

The Illinois Liquor Control Commission’s March report includes a blurb that does not mention Noon Whistle, but it refers to a licensee selling an infusion containing cicadas: “The licensee was cited for the violation and was provided education on the issue.” A message to an ILCC rep wasn’t immediately returned. Noon Whistle’s co-founder Mike Condon confirmed the fine over email and wrote he preferred not to share more info.

Chicago went through a phase, in the late 2010s, when bartenders were gleefully infusing spirits, like bourbon, with pork. There weren’t reported fines. However, presumably, they weren’t hunting pigs and curing their own bacon. They weren’t hunting wild pigs, they were buying a product from a store or butcher. There’s no such facility to procure food-grade cicadas.

Cassie, for her part, enjoys the occasional cicada. She snapped one up just this morning on our first walk. It was still buzzing when she swallowed it, so I can only guess how it felt going down. I'm sure Malört would not have made it better.

Fluffy invasion

A combination of a mild winter and the decline of natural predators has led to a rabbit explosion in Chicago:

The abundance of rabbits could be due to the milder winter Chicago experienced this year, said Seth Magle, director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

The brutality of a cold winter and limited food availability during the snowy, frigid months can take their toll on the rabbit population. But if winters are mild, then with spring comes abnormal population growth, Magle said.

And now, with summer produce season in full swing, the overabundance of rabbits can cause headaches for gardeners, whose crops often fall prey to hungry bunnies, Magle said.

“These are species that are very well-adapted to cities. We’re planting stuff all around that they love to eat. Then you add in these mild winters — I think you have a bit of a perfect storm for rabbits,” Magle said.

As Cassie can tell you, they're everywhere in my neighborhood. I'm a bit disappointed in the local coyote population as well, though they may simply have too much food to eat right now.