I finally pulled the trigger on Suunto 9 during the sale a few weeks back. It took a while to arrive and was actually lighter than what I expected when comparing the specs against my Pebble Time Round. With news about the Garmin hack going on, can't say that I didn't feel smug about my choice. One thing I worried about Garmin (Suunto 7 as well), is that they are too smartwatch-like. No, not the Pebble-era of smartwatch-ness, but the Apple-Watch-era of smartwatch-ness, a.k.a. the bad kind that strangles you in an eco system. What I wanted was a dedicated device that is the running equivalent of a bike computer and I think Suunto 9 fits the bill better than most other choices. Pebble will remain my choice for daily routines and notifications. I still haven't logged any runs on the watch due to COVID though, but I did tracked the past few days of sleep on it - doesn't sleeping also count as a sport though?
Lunch on the day of workplace satisfaction survey felt particularly delicious: flat iron steak laced with just the right amount of fat and smashed potatos baked to perfection. Yum! Even the box of fruit had the half-translucent-almost-jello-like kind of sweet melon - the kind you would see Suneo enjoying in a hot Summer afternoon, fresh out of the fridge.
Interpreting the ultra in ultramarathon as that in Ultraman immediately renders the sport and related events much more futuristic and appealing.
Tried out the Kensington SlimBlade trackball over the weekends and I liked it a lot.
My index finger got sore from excessive scroll-wheeling and mouse-clicking recently and I shopped around for more ergonomic alternatives. It's a shame that pointing devices as futuristic as trackballs didn't gain more traction: I blame the prevalence of flat design. To be fair, not all of the trackball designs seem that confortable to use. I didn't like any of the recent Logitech offerings (all thumb-operated/wireless trackballs). While it's nice to have open source offering in this space, Ploopy's scroll-wheel implementation seemed no better than an ordinary mouse. The SlimBlade seems to be one of the few trackballs has integrated scroll-wheel functionality as opposed to actually adding a scroll wheel. The CST/X-keys L-Trac was the only other contender with very well received free-spinning scroll wheel, but I preferred the size, design, and lower profile of the SlimBlade.
Back to SlimBlade: I did need to apply some Vaseline to get the ball to spin freely in its socket at the beginning, as the one I received does show some age. Instead of storing settings on-board, SlimBlade relies on it's OS-side driver software, which means on Linux we need to go through X-org/libinput for customization: not that it needed much at all though. The scroll-wheel function utilizes the vertical axis of the trackball and produces a very satisfying click when activated. The official demonstration features the scroll-wheel function with a holding-a-knob gesture; some user reviews I read indicated another common way is to hold trackball in place with one finger and pivot it using another; my preferred way is to rest one finger on the metallic ring outside the trackball and scroll away. Despite the SlimBlade's low profile, I find an old ErgoDox wrist rest to be just the perfect fit for an even more comfortable hold. I'm really happy with the experience so far - looking to replicate this at work if I feel tangible long term improvement in comfort.