diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index f9c6000bdd4..a4e418cd143 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -403,7 +403,9 @@ jobs:
   notebooks-branch:
     if: github.repository_owner == 'quantumlib'
     name: Notebook Tests against PR
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    # TODO - switch back to ubuntu
+    # runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    runs-on: macos-13
     steps:
       - name: Check out source repository
         uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4
diff --git a/docs/simulate/qvm_basic_example.ipynb b/docs/simulate/qvm_basic_example.ipynb
index 2fbc7c6958e..267ec26ddbc 100644
--- a/docs/simulate/qvm_basic_example.ipynb
+++ b/docs/simulate/qvm_basic_example.ipynb
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@
     "try:\n",
     "    import qsimcirq\n",
     "except ImportError:\n",
+    "    # FIXME temporary comment to trigger testing\n",
     "    print(\"installing qsimcirq...\")\n",
     "    !pip install --quiet qsimcirq\n",
     "    print(f\"installed qsimcirq.\")\n",