2019 Spring March 31 Sunday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Spring_of_19

30 degrees this morning, fells like 24 degrees, 79% humidity 

Promises to be a miserable day today!  At least the wind isn’t high, at least right now.

Last day of March, 2019, hopefully the last day of weather like this.  Actually supposed to warm up some, but will generally be chilly tomorrow, although not quite this cold.

Over the years, I have accumulated a lot of t-shirts, generally either event, product or similar t-shirts.  This means many of them have some sort of memory associated with them, either good or bad.  Mostly good, fortunately!  

I always assumed a t-shirt would last a few years and then would start developing holes or tears etc or just wear out.  

Surprise, of course, I think I have about 3 shirts that are unwearable, although many have sagging collars etc. that I would’t wear out of the house.  Many of the t-shirts are 25-30 years old, (or more), so they have been around for while!

So of course I have developed a number of t-shirts that I wear around the house, some that I wear outside and others that are somewhere in the middle.

I have a number of t-shirts I don’t wear because I am (in my subconscious mind) “saving” them for wearing “whenever”  (at some vague future time).  This is the type of thinking I try to avoid, it is probably the reason for 80% (or whatever, but a bunch) of the “stuff” in my life!

Kind of like old letters, school items etc., I always think that “someday” I will review them and organize them, for whatever purpose I’m not sure.  

Or, more likely, I will frantically dispose of them some day when we are moving  etc., although I will try to avoid that.  

Back to the t-shirts, I have decided it is time to make good on my promise and start to “weed” out t-shirts and have them made into a quilt and start wearing the t-shirts I haven’t worn for years, some I have never worn.

There will be a little preparation, I will take pictures of the t-shirts for the record, and then kind of plan the quilt.

Of course, the problem is, I wanted the quilt to have a theme, even “event’s”, “early to later”, some type of theme.  However, I have about decided it will be a “quilt with a theme that these t-shirts are ready to go!”.  

There are some t-shirts that I’m not ready to give up, others I may not even want in the quilt for whatever reason.

Anyway, I have about decided to forget about any type of theme etc.  My next step is to choose the shirts I want to go into the quilt, take pictures and do it!  One action I also need to take is to confirm how many t-shirts it takes for a certain size of quilt so I can have a goad on how many t-shirts I can “weed”.

It may not be a major reduction in “space”, but they do take up more room that you think they would.  At least it is a start!

Thats’s it for now, Sunday, March 31, 2019.

#resist

2019 Spring March 30 Saturday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Spring_of_19

42 degrees this morning, rain, humidity 93%, wind 15 mph

That (the temperature etc), about says it all!  Miserable weather out there!  Still not as bad as they forecast, freezing temperature, although that could be later!

Glad the weekend is here, it seems like it was just Monday and now it is Saturday morning.  

Had what I used to call my “annual physical” this week. Always a relief to have it over and find that overall I am relatively healthy.  

Baseball started last week, which is always good, kind of like seeing the first crocus or the first Robin, it means Spring is coming, even if it may be a few months before hot weather arrives!

While I love summer, the actual “Summer Day” of June 20 or 21 is always a little sad, because it means Summer has started, but it also means the longest day of the year is over and the days are going to get shorter and end of Summer is beginning.  

We have been getting a lot of “scam” calls about fixing our roof after the hail storm.  As far as I can tell, the roof is fine.  

The callers are very aggressive and Aliene had to tell one of them we will all the police if they come on our property.  She has gotten very good at handling scam calls of all types!  

Of course, since I know absolutely nothing about roofs, I have no idea if the roof is damaged or not, which is what they play on.  Probably we will call the insurance company and see if they have someone they recommend to just look at it to be sure.

Of course, I need to make sure the insurance company doesn’t consider me just calling a “claim”, another scam in itself!  

Saw a bunch of deer near our house the other morning when I was coming back from exercise, we don’t see deer that close here (thank goodness).  Now if only the snakes etc. stay away also.

Had a pneumonia shot the other day, which is probably good, but it sure made my arm stiff and sore.  It is getting better, but I didn’t expect it.  

I decided to get the shot after the Doctor told me about a 39 year old who died from a specialized type of pneumonia!  He wasn’t trying to scare me (I don’t think), just kind of warn me that someone who has a type of asthma probably needs to be careful. 

We are probably getting spoiled with our health care costs.  I have my work insurance, which is excellent and then medicare, so, while we still have health care expenses, it certainly could be a lot worse and will be after I retire. 

Saturday morning on a weekend, the weekend seems like it is just starting and stretches in front of me.  Of course, it will go fast as usual and suddenly Monday will be here!  

I read that, to prepare for retirement, you should take several weeks of vacation and just act like normal life (don’t take and trips etc.) and see how you like it.  

Not a bad idea, except that, as I have discussed before, the perception is still that it is for several weeks, not for the foreseeable future!  

I plan on doing something else after I retire, something, just not sure what yet.  I don’t want to do anything I consider “work”, with the notation that I don’t consider “work”, work even now!  

It is too bad that “work” has been imbued with a negative perception, since I have never considered my job “work”, it was and is just what I do. 

That’s it for now, Saturday, March 30, 2019.

#Resist

2019 Spring March 29 Friday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Spring_of_19

63 degrees this morning, humidity 70%, wind 10 mph.

Fitness Center yesterday 

-Walk 22:55 minutes, 16:40 pace, 1:37 miles, 97 bpm

-Swim 14 minutes

Reasonably good weather yesterday, some wind and rather cool, but overall nice. 

As part of my speech exercises, I have been trying to read the “Cliff Notes” of books I either didn’t read, don’t remember reading and/or wished I had read.  

I guess there is some realization that at this point in my life I am unlikely to read many of them, although who knows what I may do when I retire (at least partially) and have time to read.  

I am currently reading the notes on Theodore Dreiser and “Sister Carrie”.  When I started reading the notes, I realized I had never read the book, so it has been interesting.  

Actually, I am more likely to enjoy reading the actual books if I read the “notes” before I read the book, at least for some books.  

Of course, I have to decide if a book is a “forever book”, which will always have some meaning in contemporary society, or at least in the current time, considering that the books range from several hundred yeas old to recent publications.  

Anyway, a quote from “Sister Carrie” jumped out at me, “Nothing much happens, so time passes quickly”

I think I would have to disagree with that, yet also I can see the point.  It seems that “if a lot happens”, time passes fast, but also I can kind of understand how “if nothing happens” time passes fast.  Intuitively to me, if “nothing happens” time would pass slow, but I can see how time would also pass fast if nothing happened! 

I believe the concept of “time” has risen to my conscious mind, since the quote seemed to jump out at me.  

Probably a result of what i read about treating the weekend “like a vacation”, rather than simply several days off!

I think the key is in the perception again.  As I have heard many times,  “perception is reality”  (at least up to a point).  

I know I have a strange perception of time.  When I have a lot of “free time”, sometimes I am so aware of the alternatives of how I could use the time, I don’t get anything done!  

It doesn’t happen so much any more but when I worked a lot more hours and basically only had Holidays as “free time”, sometimes I had so many activities planned, I didn’t get anything done!

Supposed to be nice today, very cold (possibly freezing) this weekend.  

That’s it for now, Friday, March 29, 2019

#Resist

2019 Spring March 28 Thursday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#SpringI_of_19

61 degrees this morning 61% humidity.

Wonderful day yesterday, a little windy. 

Read a an article about “thinking about weekends like a vacation”, which made a lot of sense.  

The general thrust of the article was that we need to rethink the weekends. I understand the essential concept, if you think of weekends in a different way, it won’t seem like the weekend is just another weekend, so to speak.

Of course, this assumes you like vacations.  

One reason I like to try to explain an article etc., is it helps me understand the concept if I try to explain it. In this case, I have a feeling I understood it intellectually, but I realized I really can’t explain when I started trying to explain it.  

It was kind of like the article about “time”.  I really was interested in the concept, but when I tried to explain it, I realized I understand the concept, but not well enough to explain it.

So I have two concepts to research.  One is the concept of “why we feel like we never have time” and the other is “planning your weekend like it is a vacation”!  

I understand the concept of both ideas, but apparently I need to research them some more.  

Reading, watching or listening to concepts like this and then realizing I understand the concept, but I really don’t comprehend how to implement it in reality.  

We had a short hail storm in this area last weekend, which, in some areas, destroyed some cars and some roofs.

Fortunately, as far as I can tell, we didn’t have any roof or car damage.  (The car was out during the hail storm.)

What has been rather disgusting is the calls we are receiving offering to come check our roof etc. (although we hang up as soon as we get the drift of the conversation).  We aren’t nice about it, but then I don’t see any reason to be nice to someone trying to scam us.

On some of the phone calls, the “scam” warning even comes up!

I am almost sure one of the numbers is a phone call where they ask for someone and when you tell them they have the wrong number, they say “now that we’re talking”, they bring up the “opportunity” to donate.  

i have read that “robp-calls” are up a lot.  it seems like, even with a service that is supposed to detect and block scam calls, (both home and cell), they still have increased.  

Thieves are always with us.  At least I have no conjunction about just hanging up or just refusing the call if it is on my cell phone.

That’s it for now, Thursday, March 28, 2019.

#resist 

2019 Spring March 27 Wednesday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Spring_of_19

53 degrees this morning, humidity 62%.

Yesterday was beautiful weather temperature in mild 60’s, with no wind and sunny.  Of course it was an “office day” for me so I was stuck inside!

Exercise yesterday:

-21:34 Minute walk

Swim:  14 minutes

Pace was 34 seconds slower than my goal. 

Hopefully today, Thursday and Friday will be beautiful weather.  It looks like this weekend will include freezing temperatures.  As I said about Bradford Pears.  They tend to get frozen!

Basketball season is at it’s height now.  I think the only “our team” that is left is Wichita State University (where I got my M.A.) in the NIT.  I have maintained warm feelings for Wichita State University.  

I follow them in sports and campus developments, although I have only returned to the campus one time and don’t belong to the alumni association.

When we stopped by several years ago, I wasn’t surprised I didn’t recognize the campus when I counted out the years since I graduated!  However, I was pleased with the progress the University has made considering the lack of support by the Governor and Legislature for education.  

Wichita State University was making a big play to have a competitive football team when I attended, but they quit trying several years later and dropped football.  

Looking back, i had a part time job there that kind of was the basis for some future jobs. I worked for the “Polk City Directory”, which involved going to people’s houses and documenting their names, family profile etc.  

I actually enjoyed it and never had any problems even though I was in parts of town that weren’t exactly touted by the Chamber of Commerce.  

A few years later, when I was in my “career job” with a City, I was put in charge of collecting back utility bills, including personal house visits. Again I basically enjoyed it and was actually reasonably successful at it.

Looking forward to good weather today, although I understand the wind will be a little higher.  I have a “field day”, so I will be outside most of the day and will appreciate  good weather!

Wednesday already, eh middle of the week is here and soon the weekend will be here!

That’s it for now, Wednesday, March 27, 2019.

#resist

2019 Spring Marh 26 Tuesday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Spring_of_19

41 degrees this morning, 100 % Humidity

Weather is just on the subpar side, too cool for Spring1  The sun not shining has a lot to do with the overall perception!

I read something yesterday about why we feel like we never have time. I didn’t have tome  to read it in detail, so I’ll have to go back to read it in more detail.  

i got two threads of thought out of the article.  One was that “control” of time is a factor. I actually have a lot less control over my time during the day than I used too.  I can feel it almost every day and it does bother me.  

Fortunately I still have substantial control over my activities, which helps a little. 

I think even though I used to work a lot more hours, I expect I felt I had a lot more control over what I did. 

Another factor was how “meaningful” you felt what you are doing is.  Actually I think everything I do is somewhat meaningful.

I think that is one reason I don’t like having to call about a defective product, or about a problem, I lose control off that time.  

I’ll have to research this some more, it has some interesting concepts.  

A report on the electric razor.  I have kind of come to terms with the fact I will use the electric razor on some days and the old blade system of shaving on others.

The electric razor basically does a good job, except that over a period of several days of continued use, it seems to lose it effectiveness and I have to use the regular razor one day.   That may be just my perception, but my perception is a lot of reality in this matter1   

I gave a speech on “digital assistants” (Amazon Echo or Google Home).  They truly are awesome devices and keep  getting better! 

Of course if I think about it, it is one more way we depend on electricity, the internet etc.  I read the books about how fragile our electric distribution  system is and how it is so easy to hack into even the most important and secure system.

I just read a book where hackers took over the operation of ams, electric systems, flights etc. that created world wide chaos.  

Actually, I don’t sit around worrying about it, I’m not really in a position of doing anything to prevent it.  Although I don’t like the concept of dealing without electricity etc., I”m not going to sit around and worry about it either

That’s it for now, Tuesday, March 26,2019.   

2019 Spring March 25 Monday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Spring_of_19

50 degrees this morning, 81% humidity.

Exercise yesterday:

-walk 27:14 minutes, pace was 42 seconds slower than goal.

-Swim 13 minutes

Another weekend is over, start of another work week.  Last week of March already!

One ritual we have had since we got married is we clean our rings every six months, during March and September.  Basically they are cleaned and inspected.  Actually the wedding rings are inspected, all the rings we want are cleaned.  

It seems that March arrives and we begin planning getting our rings cleaned and inspected.  I always look forward to it, not only because it is kind of a ritual or anniversary I enjoy, but also it means Spring is almost here!  

This is one year that I don’t have to worry about rushing to get my income tax in.  This was one of those rare years when I didn’t have to pay money, so it got sent in early!

I have to admit it is astounding to me that we pay more income tax than a business does (percentage wide) and it is even a lot more because the business can deduct all of their expenses, interest, salaries, etc. while I get to deduct nothing.

Another ritual that I don’t care for as much is the annual check-up (more or less).  It involves review of blood tests etc.  I am always a little on pins and needles until I see the results of the blood tests and Doctor visit.  

Of course, what is, is, and if there is something wrong, I need to know so I can do something about it, but it still doesn’t change the way I feel about it

My MacBook Air battery is starting to suddenly go down, although it is enough I can usually get done what I need to get done, but the battery life isn’t anything like it was in the past..

The computer is approaching six years old (in AugustI), so it is also starting to show signs of it’s age.  There are some programs that it runs hot on and i eventually have to shut it down, but, at least yet, they aren’t essential programs.  

I used to update my computers every three years to keep in the  Apple program  where I could go in and work on programs etc.  However, Apple stopped it, so I now run my computers as long as I can, in this case almost double what I used to do.

I am surprised at how long some of the devices last.  As I have noted, my “original iPod”, which is 12 years still runs good on it’s battery, as do all of my old iPhones and my original iPad.  Of course, that doesn’t make them any faster!

Kine of like life, I may still run, but I’m not getting faster.  Hopefully I can keep my software and firmware updated so it isn’t obsolete!

That’s it for now, Monday, March 25, 2019.

#resist 

2019 Spring March 24 Sunday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_19

#Spring_of_19

56 degrees this morning, humidity 96% 

Yesterday started with rain, than sun, than rain, than sun, and then a thunderstorm with rain and hail!  In other words a typical day in this area!  

Actually got up to 72 degrees at one point!  When I got up it was 60 degrees, by the time it was time to go exercise it was 50 degrees! 

After complaining about the newspapers not coming, yesterday they both were actually here, I don’t know what time because I have quit bothering to watch for them.  I think they think it is “on-time” at 7 am., when it is too late for me to even think of reading the newspapers.  5 a.m. was ok, but I consider “on time” to be 3:30 am. like the service I got in Lakeland!  

The early morning is truly “hypertime” when time seems to speed up to double, or even triple or more the regular time!  There is never enough time in the morning!

“Time” is probably an abstraction all by itself.  You either have none, or a lot depending on what is going on!  

It has been years since I have been “bored”, in fact I can’t remember the last time I was  “bored”.  Even if I am in a boring meeting or whatever, I can always occupy myself with my thoughts!  

I can remember when I switched careers, I thought I could have a lot of time, which didn’t prove right at all.  Even when I was between jobs, I was busy and never got bored.  

I don’t know how I can work fewer hours, yet have less time, but that seems to be what has happened.  

I always remind myself I can choose how to spend my time, within reason. A long time ago, I realized that time has to have some “balance” to it, but it still seems like there is never enough time!

Picked up our AAA baseball tickets last week for this summer.   Baseball being my favorite sport is perhaps the ultimate irony in my worrying about “time”. (Actually there are a number of sports I like, but baseball is the only one we actually personally attend on a normal basis.)

However, one thing I like about baseball is the game is literally played without regard to time (sometimes to it’s determent!), but it is so relaxing to sit and watch, especially when you are attending the game on a nice day or evening.  

The “Opening Night” is in early April.  We actually have tickets for the “Opening Night” this year.  Both looking forward to it and dreading the cold weather, since in April and early May it is still relatively cold many evenings.  While we can watch it from inside it isn’t near as much fun. 

That’s it for now Sunday, March 24, 2019.