Using `cal` and plain text to track things
Tue 05 September 2023 by R.L. DaneI know everyone's got their preferred notes app/platform, but I've been using SimpleNote for several years now, and I'm quite fond of it. Not only does it have very usable mobile and cross-platform desktop apps, it also has alternate apps like nvpy (a GUI) and sncli, an excellent command line client.
Using sncli, I can edit my notes in (neo)vim, and what's not to love there? Simplenote also has the added benefit of on-demand syncing, and using almost no battery power on mobile, which I can't say for custom solutions like using markor (mobile) and vim (desktop) and syncing with Syncthing. I do love Syncthing, but I only let it run when plugged in to save power, so I cannot rely on it to sync my notes on demand. So, SimpleNote has been a perfect solution for my needs.
I track all kinds of things with SimpleNote (mostly in neovim via sncli): my shopping list, notes from therapy sessions (go to therapy, y'all!), my car's mileage, the days I give my cat his medicine, my blog post ideas (yes, I need to write more regularly 😉), and recently, my exercise.
My weight has gotten a little on the chonk side since 2020 (sigh), so I'm working my way back up to exercising three times per week.
So far, I've been tracking my exercise with a simple format in SimpleNote:
YYYY/MM/DD Cal Time Dist Difficulty notes
---- -- -- --- ---- ---- ---------- -----
2023/08/02 326 45 3.0 1/1 ell
2023/08/03 Swimming ~30 minutes
2023/08/05 Swimming 50min med diff
2023/08/07 393 50 3.48 2/1 elliptical
2023/08/16 345 50 3.29 2/1 elliptical
2023/08/25 1 hour intense swimming
2023/08/30 333 44 3.00 2/2 elliptical
That definitely did a good job of representing the data, but I wanted a visual representation of the days I exercise so I can keep track of it and encourage myself to do more.
I remembered my old friend cal, the UNIX calendar:
August 2023
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31
I figured out I can leave the numbers in on the days I exercised, use periods for the days I didn't, and leave out any weeks where no exercise happened. I ended up with a file that's broken up by month with a visual representation of every month preceding the actual data:
August 2023
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
. 2 3 . 5
. 7 . . . . .
. . . 16 . . .
. . . . . 25 .
. . . 30 .
2023/08/02 326 45 3.0 1/1 ell
2023/08/03 Swimming ~30 minutes
2023/08/05 Swimming 50min med diff
2023/08/07 393 50 3.48 2/1 elliptical
2023/08/16 345 50 3.29 2/1 elliptical
2023/08/25 1 hour intense swimming
2023/08/30 333 44 3.00 2/2 elliptical
It's not much, but it's progress. ;)