OmniFocus 4.7 (now in beta) offers a new feature: the Planned field. I’ve been testing this and using it liberally since updating my devices; this feature isn’t available unless you migrate your database on all of your devices to the 4.7 beta.

Planned fills in where so many of us were (mis)using defer dates. Unlike defer dates, however, a planned date doesn’t obscure a task from your project lists or perspectives. It does, however, enable some creative perspective uses.

Planned is kind of a third-level filter for me, where deferred dates often were. My general practice is to flag tasks that need attention soon, ideally in the current work week, and then use planned dates (formerly deferred dates) to give me a list of things I intend to to do today. Due dates mean that something is actually due that day, and I try not to monkey with the feature’s intention.

I’m looking forward to being able to nudge planned dates back using Omni Automation.

The Planned field will revise how I use defer dates for sure, which will be more respectful of my Forecast perspective. It’s a nice addition.

I converted this weekend, already long due to having Fridays off in the summer, to an extra-long weekend, using a vacation day for Thursday so Rhonda and I could make a quick overnight getaway to the excellent Grounds for Sculpture. The weekend was otherwise populated with a graduation party yesterday and hanging out with old friends last night. There are baby back ribs on the smoker as we speak.

Grounds for Sculpture

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Rhonda and I finally nipped away for an overnight stay near the Grounds for Sculpture. We took the boys back in 2019, and after a big lunch at Meatheadz Cheesesteaks, we were no match for the day’s heat. Rhonda and I have always meant to go back.

I always wondered about the place before we took the boys, too; I’d see signs for it on 295 on the way home from visiting my grandfather in Milford, NJ. I had developed an appreciation for sculpture working at the Berman Museum at Ursinus; they had a notable collection of Lynn Chadwick pieces displayed across campus, and even at a private school nearby. As told to me by the collection manager, the museum had a very valuable collection of his maquettes, too.

Grounds for sculpture is especially enjoyable because much of the art is displayed outdoors (there are indoor galleries as well). The scope of the art ranges from small pieces on pedestals to life-size installations of humans lazing at a picnic. There are many installations that are massive as well. It’s a very cool place to wander around irrespective of your fluency in sculpture.

Bellview Winery’s Gruner Veltliner

We hit some wineries this weekend, but one special treat was a bottle of our local Bellview Winery’s Gruner Veltliner, which I picked up to take over a friend’s house. Rhonda and I polished it off in short order. It’s an Austrian grape known for producing a crisp, dry white.

Watermelon Salad Hack (Serious Eats)

Speaking of the party last night, I wanted to bring a watermelon salad along, to only because watermelon is delicious, but because I saw this trick on Serious Eats and wanted to experiment with the technique. You macerate the melon with a small amount of granulated sugar for a half hour before tossing your salad together. The fruit did shed a fair amount of liquid during its stay in the colander. Everyone seemed to like the salad. Sadly, I took no pics.

Rhonda and I took the boys to Grounds for Sculpture back in July of 2019, nearly six years ago to the day. It was a scorcher, and everyone was eager to find air conditioning. The two of us always swore we’d go back one day, which we finally did. We wanted to experience the sculpture, and have a bite at the bespoke-looking Rats restaurant.

I used Tripsy to plan our overnight getaway; Tripsy nicely organized our room (Courtyard by Marriot in Hamilton), the Grounds’ tickets, which I ordered online, and our OpenTable for the Rez at Rats.

Working Dog Winery

One of my central dilemmas over being the de facto trip planner is making small decisions that can impinge on the entire trip. We couldn’t check in until 3 pm and we both liked the idea of dropping our bag off at the hotel before going to the museum (requiring more driving than necessary, but allowing us to keep our luggage out of a broiling trunk). I moved our tickets for the museum back to 4 pm., tinking we’d need time to check in at 3 pm at the hotel and then drive over to the museum. But we were early to the hotel, and had some time to burn. I did the only natural thing that occurred to me in the moment: look for a local winery. It was easily 4 pm when we pulled ourselves out of Working Dog Winery, having split a bottle of Chardonnay and chatted with each other and the staff. There were two other chardonnays and additional whites were wanted to try, so it’s on our short list of places to visit again.

Grounds for Sculpture

We nearly flaked on our 4 pm admission tickets, having burned up so much time chatting and sipping wine at Working Dog. The gent at the gate let us know that, because there was an event happening, we were free to tour the grounds even though it was nearly 5 pm, the time at which the Grounds closes to the public. Which is exactly what we proceeded to do. We were both a fine mood from the bottle we’d split, and eager to have some dinner, so we split our walk between before and after dinner sessions. In the waning light of dusk, the hard sun gives way to a gentler glow about the property and sculptures. We had a great walk after dinner, an experience I’d recommend to anyone. The grounds would be beautiful just after dawn or as the sunlight wanes. Rhonda took some of my favorite pics.

Rats

One particular fixation for us from our visit in 2019 was Rats: this French-inspired bistro is cleanly integrated into the Grounds themselves, and welcomes the thirsty visitor with a bar aside the Grounds’ koi pond, patio seating, and a flowing collection of dining rooms indoors. I booked a seat outside for us, but we moved the adventure inside because of the heat.

I was concerned about the cocktail list: there was nothing classic that suggested to me that the bartender would be able to make an appropriately proportioned gin martini. I asked for two of the same, 6:1 ratio., up with olives.

What followed was a comedy of mixology, with the waiter returning to confirm what I had asked for. One suggestion he made, after conferring with the bartender, was that asking for a drink “up” meant asking for a drink without vermouth. I responded that that would have been a request for a dry martini, but OK. I explained again what I was asking for, and we were in fact treated to a couple of nice cocktails, evidently stirred and not shaken. Dinner was excellent, although we had some bread pacing issues that were rectified by eating with glutinous intensity. We split some mussels, and then Rhonda had steak frites (made with a hanger steak no less), and I had the pork chop, which joins a growing list of restaurants that are using sous vide to push out some flawless chops.

The gentleman we chatted with at Working Dog said that Rats had a nice wine list, so I opted for a bottle of Hugel reisling. The winery is in Alsace, and I went through an Alsacia Reisling phase back when I was first getting into wine, having read that James Joyce favored the varietal. It was great. We got dessert too and then toured the grounds for a bit.

Vallenzano Winery

Our ride up and back took up north and south along good old Route 206. This is a long and straight road up through the Pinelands and connects the blueberry capital of the world, Hammonton, NJ, with Trenton, the capital of New Jersey. I found a couple of wineries along the route home to try if we were feeling like it, which we were. As was the case with our check in, we were early getting out of the hotel, and our enthusiasm for trying one or more of the dry rosés at Stokelan Estates was foiled by our early arrival. Regrettably they weren’t open yet, so we alighted for nearby Valenzano Winery. We were gifted with a bottle from this place once and it was a sweet wine, but the menu revealed some dry selections.

We tried their rosé, which the server explained was made with Merlot grapes. It was a fruiter version than the Outer Coastal Plains versions we’ve been enjoying, but a solid departure where the others overlap in profile. It was a bit more berry up front, with a bright, fruity nose. Nice and dry on the palate though. Their Vidal Blanc was also very good; described as the Pinot Grigio of the East Coast by Valenzano, it’s a light, dry, drinkable wine, with some citrus and minerality.

Baglianis

We can’t be close to Hammonton and not stop at Bagliani’s for a salami. Which we did. I had to device a circuitous route in, as there’s a big festival going on now that blocks up the middle of town. But we made out just fine.

One of the benefits of living near the Jersey Shore (and Delaware Bay and its tributaries) is easy access to blue claw crabs. I have been steaming them the same way for maybe 20 years: in a cup of white wine, a can of beer (12 oz if you’re counting), and some chopped garlic softened up in some olive oil. The crabs get a dusting of old bay before they steam. I drop a big nub of butter in when they’re done and spoon the remaining liquid over the crabs and some pasta.

We’re late to the crab party this year for some reason, but patience is its own reward.

It’s hard to believe we’ve burnt through almost half of July already. Rhonda and I have a quick getaway planned for later in the week–more then, with pics. I’ve been shopping online for a new four-thirds digital camera but I’m not sure I’m ready to take that plunge. Maybe in a Sunday Serial in the future.

Coppola Chardonnay

Rhonda and I nipped out to the Maplewood for a quiet dinner on Friday. I switched out the Kendall Jackson Chard we usually get for the Coppola, out of curiosity. It’s a less luscious, brighter take on the varietal. Affordable and good.

Superman

I’m cheating since I wrote about Superman earlier in the weekend, but it was a really good flick. I came up on Superman starting with the Super Friends TV show, which wasn’t good, and then the Christopher Reeve films, of which I have fond memories (the first two only) but Reeve’s Boy Scout portrayal cemented, in me, my preference more conflicted, vulnerable characters like Batman, Daredevil, and Punisher. Superman has always been a monolith where others are more human: fractious, duplicitous, obsessed, yes, but alternately selfless and committed. James Gunn’s Superman is no Ubermensch; we enjoy a Superman just as conflicted and unsure of himself as we humans are.

Superman is an ideal. He represents the best we can aspire to be. He’s not the hero you relate to, à la Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s ongoing struggle to pay his rent and buy Aunt May her damn medicine. He’s the hero who inspires you, who shows you the way.

James Gunn’s ‘Superman’ movie is corny. Which is why it gets Superman right

The sun gives Superman superhuman powers; I get a pool and spritzes. Being Supes was fun for a couple of hours, but I’ll take the pool.

Home

I got stuck a couple of miles from home due to a flash flood. It was maddening to be in walking distance of home and not be able to get there. When I finally pulled into the driveway and a broad grin spread over my face, I reflected that that might be how Aaron will feel when he first comes back from college in the midst of his first semester. Coming home is a simple pleasure that I experience every day, but is something you realize you take for granted when circumstances impinge upon custom.

We all want a soft place to fall.

Rhonda brought a dog home just before the COVID shutdown, in March 2020. Here’s a pic of her coming come with Rhonda and the boys from January of 2020:

She was probably a dog who was kept around for breeding. She wasn’t fixed when we got her. She always seemed to be in a kind of survival mode. She was sweet and gentle, and if a dog can like something, I’d say she liked living here. One of her most endearing behaviors was, during COVID, when I was working at my desk, often on Google Meet, coming up to me and putting her front paws on my thigh and looking at me.

The boys named her Chi Chi, but I quickly rechristened her “Tippy” because all we heard during the COVID shutdown was her tipping and tapping up and down the hall. She was always in motion.

We’ve taken in a number of dogs who were hard up for a place to land, and I’m always impressed by how they handle it: with grace and elan. Or like nothing really changed. Food? Check. A pack leader? Check. Let’s do this.

Would that we could all cultivate such equanimity.

I’ve been making these since forever. I put them on the Weber over indirect heat for at least an hour. They’re brushed with equal parts grocery store bbq sauce, Bachans, and honey, during the last 20 minutes on the grill.

Rhonda and I stopped by the local brewery (it feels good to type those words).They had a contraption that printed their logo on the beer. I had a kölsch and Rhonda and I split the stout. Rhonda tried the West Coast IPA, which was great.

Yesterday, late afternoon, we got hit with a flash flood in Vineland. Apparently it rained pretty hard for hours in the afternoon. I was in Williamstown, and didn’t notice extreme weather.

I tried a couple of routes to get home but decided to wait it out for a bit in the car, parked a couple of miles from home. Eventually, I decided to try again and devised a circuitous route, which worked out. Rhonda and Aaron walked down the street to see me drive through the flooded-out section of our road.

We were able to nip out for a pizza, so things worked out in the end.

All four of us took in James Gunn’s Superman this afternoon. Nothing like a matinee!

David Corenswet imbues the DC icon with a jocular, joyful sense of humor which threatens, at the outset, to silo the character in the kind of boy-scoutish wholesomeness that defined Christopher Reeves’ version of Superman, and the dour, all-too-seriousness of Henry Cavil’s portrayal. But Superman reveals an unexpected depth, considering the character’s legendary unassailability.

Gunn’s signature style comes through in Superman. There’s one combat sequence, where Mr. Terrific dispationately dispatches with a squad of lackeys, while Lois Lane, protected by a force field, observes the battle from safe harbor. A poppy song accompanies the scene. It’s like the opening scene of Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, where the team battles a space monster to the tune of Mr. Blue Sky by ELO.

The casting in Superman is: suberb. Again, Corenswet is decidedly not Cavil. Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner is spot on; Hal Jordan would have been competition for Superman, so choosing the US-Agent-like Guy Gardner is a great choice. The “Justice Gang” and Metamorpho make for an odd mix of allies; this felt very Suicide Squad-ish, but delightful. Mr Terrific steals the show: utterly rational and unemotional–only Superman can crack the façade. I was leary of Krypto the Superdog but found the portrayal clever: Krypto is annoying, difficult to heel, utterly oafish but lovable, and deus ex machina when required. In the end, it’s Superman’s drunk cousin’s dog. What a guy.

Corenswet plays Superman with a humorous weariness; it’s genuine, not saccharine. As I watched the film, I intuited Gunn’s intimation: Superman is more like you–like me–than he has ever been portrayed. To this end, Superman delivers a soliloquy to Lex Luthor at the end of the film. It wasn’t a subtle touch.

This is certainly the most enjoyable Superman yet.

Jason Snell, [waxing excited][1] about what Spotlight can do in Tahoe:

The new Spotlight also has integrated one of the most useful and unheralded features of macOS: the ability to search the menus of the app you’re currently using. You’ve been able to do this for ages from the Help menu or via the Command-Shift-slash keyboard shortcut, but if your muscle memory always takes you to Spotlight’s Command-space, you can now search all the menu commands in your current app from there, too.

Finbar and Paletro are two cool utilities that do this now.

I’m oddly fixated on how much less I like Safari’s tabs search mode compared to Chromium-based browsers. The keyboard shortcut for Safari is easy enough but I can’t seem to build the muscle memory. I wrote about Tab Switcher and Tabby, both of which I like in different ways. Here are a couple of ways to skin said cat, one of which is a paid app, and the others are AppleScript-based.

Witch

Which is a utility that modifies your Mac’s default command-tab switching feature. If you create an action thus…

…you can view a list of Safari’s open tabs in the resulting overlay. You can even search. As with Tabby and Tab Switcher, you can set a keyboard shortcut to activate the list. It works with other applications with multiple documents, too.

AppleScript

Here’s an easy AppleScript that will activate Safari and open tab search:

tell application "Safari"     
    activate    
    delay 0.2   
tell application "System Events"      
    keystroke "\\" using \{shift down, command down}  
end tell 
end tell

You can launch this from Launchbar or any fine Mac launching utility.

Shortcuts

At least on the Mac, this AppleScript will work just fine if run from Shortcuts.

Work is Monday-Thursday for the summer; I get up a little earlier, but I’ve been swimming and rowing for my am workout (and maybe some meditation… I might write about that later). We got some good pool time in this weekend and I swapped out today’s prosecco (usually Cupcake or Josh) for Coppola’s take on a favorite. I smoked ribs today and took zero pictures. Anyway, here are some things for you to check out. Nerd warning; software ahead.

BundleHunt

Bundlehunt is a discount-app site; they regularly feature software for discounted prices, albeit with limited licenses sometimes. I picked up Typinator, PopChar, and a duplicate finder utiliy. It’s a great way to try out an app you’ve been eyeing up.

Typinator, for me, has been interesting. I’ve been using TextExpander since it was freeware by a med student named Peter Maurer. It was a utility that ran in System Preferences, not a standalone app. I have the original pricing for the subscription, which was painful at the time but it’s only twenty bucks a year.

I have no complaints about TextExpander, save whatever it is that causes it to not work when 1Password’s Lock Screen is active. Aaaand that it doesn’t look like a Mac app anymore. But that’s a small detail; Iwas happy to be able to use it on Windows, as was the case with 1Password. And it’s not really an app you interact with save for adding a new expansion or changing one.

But still–I’m a sucker for a Mac-assed Mac app. I got a couple of Typinator seats and am adding my most used snippets to it so that I can try it out. I will say that it seems to use about half of the memory of TextExpander.

One more thing about Typinator: the PopChar integration is sick. I’ve made great use of PopChar in the past, but haven’t found much use for it recently (in fact, I bought PopChar X from BundleHunt back in 2022). In digging around the app, I found an integration that reminds me of using Launchbar to find emoji: you can invoke Typinator’s search menu, and then type “pop:” and the character you’re searching for. It’s fast and includes all of the unicode characters on the Mac. I’ve been using Launchbar’s emoji search liberally, but this extends things considerably.

SummerFest 2025

Just like Bundlehunt, SummerFest is a chance to get your paws on some higher-end Mac software at a discount. The always-interesting Tinderbox is there again, as is my old favorite, Nisus Writer Pro, which I used in place of Word for many years. I grabbed a HoudahSpot license this time; I’ve been interested in it since rejiggering my documents following the Johnny.Decimal system. I’m curious about Panorama X.

Laura Croft: Guardian of Light

I barely game at all, but occasionally want something casual for the iPad. I saw a review of this Tomb Raider game and decided to try it out. It’s a lot of fun, boasting great mechanics and a balance of styles: combat, platform, and puzzle-solving.

I row six or seven days a week, 20-30 minutes, zone 2 a lot and intervals twice or thrice a week. I’ve been able to maintain my weight loss (80+ pounds) between rowing and diet.

I learned on vacation a couple of years ago that just treading water in the pool at the hotel we stayed at in Ocean City, NJ, burns plenty of calories. It beats rowing, in fact, according to my Apple Watch. Summer 2023, I worried about gaining weight on vacation. Last summer? Not so much.

Having opened the pool, I wondered if I might supplement my morning row with a swim. And wondered too if swimming in our humble backyard tub would compare to the more spacious in-ground pool in OCNJ. So I tried it this morning: I swam in the pool, doing breaststrokes and backstrokes and making four-foot-deep dives to the bottom, swimming from side to side.

I checked Apple Health after and it reported a decent burn for a pretty chill dip in the pool. I compared this to a couple of different rowing sessions: an easy recovery piece and a hard 2K.

Activity	Duration	Intensity	Active Calories	Source
Rowing	30 minutes	Easy	167	Apple Health
Rowing	2k (8 mins)	Hard	127	ErgData
Swimming (backyard)	30 minutes	Easy	354	Apple Health

I added the fifth column, Active Energy, because different apps report different data. Apple Health differentiates between the energy you burn by exercising and what you’d burn just being. ErgData, on the other hand, combines them. I take this to mean that the calorie expenditure reported by ErgData is exaggerated. Concept2’s Calorie Calculator bears this out. In looking into this, I read that some swimming apps report the same way.

I’m circumspect about losing meters this season, having logged 2 million meters during each of the last two years. But: it’s nice to have a low-impact and efficient alternative, if just for a short season.