Purple Days and Golden Nights: February 2020

Saturday, February 29, 2020

2020 Winter February 29 Saturday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_20

#Winter_of_20

38 degrees this morning, 69% humidity

Yesterday was a wonderful day, after a cold start. High approximately 67 degrees, (start of day was 32 degrees), sunny, little wind.

Supposed to be in the 80’s this weekend, but it is now 38 degrees and the weather app says 72 degrees high. I’ll take it! 72 degrees is a lot better than 42 , etc.

I have to take back something I said about the Library Book Sale. I saw some other photos which showed an excellent crowd, plus they generated more money this year! Even though I didn’t go, I am really glad to see it was a success.

I love books and am glad to see people are still buying them! I find it very hard to toss a book or even give it away. We normally donate our books to the Library, figuring someone will buy and read them. I don’t feel quite as bad about weeding them out when I figure someone else will read the books!

Probably better than letting the books sit for years on my bookshelves, or worse yet in a box!

While over 3 moves, we have substantially “weeded” our books, we still have a lot of books. Of course, the more you weed, the harder it is to weed, since you keep the books you really like.

If I just kept the books I read, I wouldn’t have many books. If I kept the books I think I might like to read or reread, I would have a lot!

Some advice I got several years ago (pointing out I could always buy a book that I wanted to read or reread helped a lot! It made it a lot easier to dispose of my books knowing that I could order them (or get them at the library)!

Our local library (it is an excellent County system) is closed for renovations and we have quit using the library for the duration. There are plenty of other libraries that I go by all the time, and there is a temporary library, but I had several late returns (very minor late fees), but I still don’t like it)!, so I just decided not to mess with it.

The same person who reminded I could always buy or borrow a book mentioned about taking pictures of T-shirts, hats , etc. Excellent idea, I just haven’t figured how to stage the pictures yet!

I actually wear very few of the t-shirts and hats, I just keep them to remind me of where I have been or done , etc. It makes sense to take pictures of them, I’ll figure out the staging.

So far, we haven’t had any storage pressure that I have to get rid of my hats and t-shirts (and books), but I’m sure the time will come.

I do plan on making a “t-shirt/hat” quilt with may have them, with a theme based on where we lived, and maybe on our travels.

February 29, the once every 4 Year's Day! (Spell check insisted that “Year’s Day” should be capitalized, so I decided, what the heck, capitalize them!)

That’s it for now, Saturday, February 29, 2020.

#Resist

Friday, February 28, 2020

2020 Winter February 27 Thursday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_20

#Winter_of_20

26 Degrees this morning, feels like 19 degrees, 72% humidity

Yesterday was a kind of nasty cold, it seemed to bite right through you. A day that makes you think of Summer coming!

I am glad to think that “Spring” is less than a month away, or at least by the calendar. “Spring” frequently just means the bitter cold (or what call bitter cold) is gone, but cold weather continues, especially at night.

I know it is difficult to trust that it will be warm enough to watch a baseball game until about mid-May.

One of our cars required a “timing belt”. Actually I should say it was “recommended," but it is difficult to not take a “recommendation” that could leave you on the side of the road with a ruined engine!

It cost about 9 times what I remember it costing 45 years ago! I was actually surprised it wasn’t more. The car as low mileage for its age, so I wasn’t sure if I should believe him or not, but they said the belts normally should be replaced every 7 years.

What is strange is that just a few days ago, we had discussed the cost of a timing belt and when our cars would require one!

Still a lot better than a monthly car payment, and we haven’t had to do anything else to it. We went ahead and had it done, since reliability means a lot.

It is kind like a Doctor sending you for a medical test, and you do it, even though you are almost sure it will be negative. There is always a small chance it will turn out positive!

They lying coward lunatic was squealing his lies and blame tonight, trying to avoid responsibility for incompetence and irresponsible behavior. This lunatic is an embarrassment and real danger to America.

As I have mentioned before, what is really bad is the enabling cowering cowards who kiss his shoes and only praise him, too gutless to tell him the truth, that he is a pathetic embarrassment and is destroying American.

Watched a tape a news conference by this pathetic loser, the lies and failure to accept blame for his actions of this racist ignorant crook is amazing. I really can’t stand to listen to his squealing lies and blaming on everyone but himself.

All he wants to be is be re-elected and he doesn’t care what lies he needs to tell to attempt to be re-elected.

New printer is going to be installed tomorrow, hopefully it is much better them the Canon printer, which has always been a problem. I am looking forward to having a reliable printer, although somehow I almost never have a reliable printer.

That’s it for now, Thursday, February 28, 2020.

#Resist

Thursday, February 27, 2020

2020 Winter February 27 Thursday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Jourmey_20

#Winter_of_20

26 Degrees this morning, feels like 19 degrees, 72% humidity

Yesterday was a kind of nasty cold, it seemed to bite right through you. A day that makes you think of Summer coming!

I know it is difficult to trust that it will be warm enough to watch a baseball game until about mid-May.

What is strange is that just a few days ago, we had discussed the cost of a timing belt and when our cars would require one!

Still a lot better than a monthly car payment, and we haven’t had to do anything else to it. We went ahead and had it done, since reliability means a lot.

It is kind like a Doctor sending you for a medical test, and you do it, even though you are almost sure it will be negative. There is always a small chance it will turn out positive!

All he wants to be is be re-elected and he doesn’t care what lies he needs to tell to attempt to be re-elected.

That’s it for now, Thursday, February 25, 2020.

#Resist

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

2020 Winter February 26 Wednesday

#Purple_Day_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_20

#Winter_of_20

33 degrees this morning, feels like 23 degrees, 81% humidity,

Yesterday, looked nice, but was cold.

I had an Office day yesterday which was nice.

Speaking of “minimalism” a bit more, probably one of the best actions I can take is to cancel the newspapers and just read them on-line. Since they don’t get here in time to read, it shouldn’t be a problem to cancel them.

Just difficult to pull the trigger on a lifelong habit. There have been times I enjoyed my early morning newspaper habit so much, I think I think it will eventually start getting here on time, but I have a feeling those days are over.

While we support recycling, sometimes I wonder how much of the items are really recycled. We go to lot of effort to recycle and it is important that the items be recycled if possible.

I can’t blame the company picking up the recycling, the markets just aren’t there and in many cases the recycling capacity is just not there.

Somehow, the markets need to be developed for recycled materials. I have no idea how to do so, hopefully someone will be able to do so.

Typical, that there is a major virus a possible pandemic, and the squealing lying coward lunatic is traveling at taxpayer expense on a “rally” and all he is worried about is how big a crowd he draws, in India yet.

At least none of them will vote for the chronic liar and criminal!

Of course the “supporters” of the squealing lying coward lunatic are saying the news medial is “overhyping” the virus to make him look bad. Considering th squealing lying coward lunatic and his ignorant actions, crude behavior and inability to take any criticism, it is difficult to make him look “worse”.

The state government here is a classic example of why the people who say “government should be run like a business” are wrong.

Almost like the lying coward lunatic, they are appointing people who have no idea what they are doing, it is just that they are buddies, or somehow are seen as loyal to the governor, no matter how unqualified they may be.

Meanwhile, they are running off a lot of people with substantial experience and they are losing the institutional memory of how to get things done.

Government is the “provider of last resort," doing things that aren’t measured since they are available to all citizens and things that private enterprise just can’t provide.

That difference in itself is a major reason that it is simply not true that “government should be run like a business”.

Worst yet, 60 people are losing their jobs who provide a great service due to these ignorant bean counters who don’t understand what providing government service is all about. By the time the “contractor” screws these up, it will cost a lot more money to put together a decent service again. Disgusting.

That’s it for now, Wednesday, February 26, 2020.

#Resist

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

2020 Winter February 25 Tuesday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_20

#Winter_of_20

41 degrees this morning, 90% humidity.

Yesterday light rain most of day. Generally a miserable day, high 40’s most of day.

Talking about “minimalism," I picked up my office chair. It is nice, but now I have an office chair to get rid of! As soon as I get my new printer, I will have a printer to get rid of!

Of course I didn’t have much choice but to buy an office chair and printer, but it still doesn’t make it easy to dispose of the old ones. I think they are still good enough to donate to a charity we give things too.

One thing I miss about the last city we used to live in is that they would pick up anything once a month!

Thinking some more about “minimalism," probably “e-books” and “e-Magazines” do a lot to eliminate “stuff”.

In a way, it is rather sad but the Library here has an annual book sale. It used to be packed with people buying books, but I haven’t gone for several years, since the last thing I need is more clutter.

From pictures I saw, I think a lot of other people feel the same way I do, the crowds seem very sparse.

The Library Book Sales was always really fun, and had a huge crowd and it was a sense of expectation. There was the expectation of finding something you wanted, or something you didn’t know you wanted.

Now, I would just have a sense of dread at more clutter and something else to get rid of.

I mostly use the library for physical books and order e-books if I can’t find it at the library, or just don’t read books as much.

Obviously on-line magazines and newspapers are a huge savings of clutter. I get maybe two magazines now and the rest I read on-line.

I still get two newspapers (the local one, the Wall Street Journal, and the Sunday New York Times). I enjoy reading physical newspapers, but I basically read the local one electronically now and just throw the physical one into recycling. The Sunday New York Times will be very hard to give up, since reading it on-line will never be the same!

I really don’t read magazines and newspapers on line near as through as I do a physical newspaper.

Of course e-mail is a major savings of clutter, although junk e-mails waste a lot of time. I don’t even bother deleting them anymore, takes too much time to even delete them.

That’s it for now, Tuesday, February 25, 2020.

#Resist

Monday, February 24, 2020

2020 Winter February 24 Monday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey-20

#Winter_of_20

50 degrees this morning 87% humidity, feels like 44, wind 14 mph

Yesterday was a reasonably good day, rainy, but reasonably warm, high of 53 degrees.

Weights (sit-ups, barbells, bench press)

Stationary bike

Went to a “rally” for Amy Klobuchar. Enjoyed it. We were about 10 feet from her when she came out and I recognized her smile right away. Reasonably good crowd, we got there early and got chairs.

She had been in Minnesota, Arkansas and here today, which is a lot of travel, even by jet!

Iy takes a special type of person to be a politician.

I ordered a printer Saturday and purchased an office chair yesterday. They are putting it together and I will pick it up today or Tuesday.

My office chair was really getting bad since the surface of it was flaking off. As I mentioned, even our pest-control person told me I needed a new office chair!

We hear a lot about “minimalism," getting rid of “stuff” and not accumulating so much.

A Newsletter I get focuses on “trends” and one story highlighted that we are actual using fewer resources since we are purchasing less “stuff”.

I remember reading about Steve Job and how he lived in an apartment with almost nothing in, and a number of books have been written about living without a lot of “stuff” or getting rid of unused items.

I also have read articles about older people don’t know what to do with “heirlooms," furniture , etc., because there kids aren’t interested in it and in many cases you can’t give it away.

Many people are having “downsizing” parties where people come and just take what they want because they can’t get rid of it and they would like to have people who will use it rather than just throw it away, or sellout to a dealer , etc.

I am worried about how to get rid of an old office chair and printer that doesn’t work also.

The Newsletter letter mentioned that “stuff” peaked about 2000 and has been on he reduction since.

Of course technology has a lot to do with that “e-books” , etc. The Newsletter mentions the “smartphone” has more capacity than 200+ pounds of hardware and media that just 30 years ago

That’s it for now, Monday, February 24, 2020.

#Resist

Sunday, February 23, 2020

2020 Winter February 24 Sunday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_20

#Winter_of_20

48 degrees this morning 71% humidity, high chances of rain today.

Yesterday was relatively nice, wind was up which made it cooler than the temperature indicated.

Attended the Neighborhood Alliance meeting yesterday morning. It was interesting, reminded me I need to keep up with local activities more.

I really know now why residents have a hard time being involved in local government, as important as it is. Life just gets in the way.

I don’t follow events near as close as I should, hopefully I will start. It would be interesting to see a study down as to “who has the power” in this city, what group or groups really run things. Maybe it isn’t the case, but I doubt it.

Maybe I can do it! It would certainly be interesting, but I doubt I’m qualified to do it Actually, a start would be to review how one major decision was made.

Sunday morning already, time goes so fast. It goes fast during the week and on weekends.

It seems like just a day or so ago I was commenting that January was already half over and now February is almost over! Just one more week.

I finally ordered a printer after much study, review and gnashing of teeth, since printers never seemed to work for me.

I don’t really care for inkjet printers, but it didn’t make any economic sense to buy a laser printer and spend $200 for cartridges every few months.

I ordered an Epson with the “2 year ink”. I figured I’ll probably save enough money in a year to pay for the printer and I have found inkjet aren’t that bad.

I get a Newsletter I like to read. I certainly don’t agree with everything he says, but it is interesting. In fact on some of his opinions, I wonder how someone that smart can be so stupid.

He was discussing the virus and said a “The only thing we know about China government is a government and government lies”

Not the most optimistic of persons! Of course he is he one that says there I a 99% chance of a cyberattack, and I expect he is already right, we just haven’t heard about it.

The big work juggled around yesterday morning was how city government is becoming “transparent”. I really think they mean well, but “transparent to whom” is the question no one asked.

At leas they are talking about it.

That’s it for now, Sunday, February 23, 2020.

#Resist

Saturday, February 22, 2020

2020 Winer February 22 Saturday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_20

#Winter_of_20

36 degrees this morning, 51% humidity Wind 13 mph, “feels like 28 degrees”

Yesterday was another cold day, although later in the day it warmed up to 41 degrees.

Today is the Neighborhood Alliance meeting of the city we lie in. It is always interesting, if predictable. An excellent idea and there is a lot of information provided .

I do wish the local Neighborhood Alliance was more active, but then I’m not doing any or work ether!

Was sent some information and a video on Telsa autos which was truly amazing regarding the future (and somewhat the present. I doubt that I will ever get a Telsa (maybe I can rent one once), but it is fascinating what they can do.

Perhaps somewhat more important is the emphasis by Telsa on battery development

I am a strong supporter of battery development, as I have noted before. I think Telsa is having to develop better batteries for its vehicles. Range is such a factor in electric cars and a larger battery capacity could be a huge factor in other areas.

I think the end result will be better for all, with the development of batteries for wider uses. Hopefully it will eventually lead to batteries that power houses , etc., to avoid our dependence on electric grids.

The braying lying coward lunatic has really gone insane, apparently intent on destroying the justice department and our intelligence departments so the Russians can walk in and take over, or at least help him steal the election again.

The lying coward lunatic is insane as is the conspiracy theory moron who is there “temporary” but is intent on destroying the intelligence agency in 10 days.

It is time for the cowering cowards in the Senate to step in and stop this insane lunatic.

It is really scary to see this bunch of fools running the government into the ground while stealing all the tax $ they can all so the lying coward lunatic can have 4 more years to preen and act the fool and steal tax $ for his bankrupt companies and to play golf on tax $.

I really thought I would never see the time when a juvenile insane idiot runs amok lying, stealing, attacking people with lies and sadistic gross lies and have a bunch of cowering spineless cowards in the Senate letting him destroy the country.

We are in the process of learning more about computers as we try to organize our photos, both so they are organized, but also to allow others to access some of the pictures they may be interested in.

What is good about a project like this is that I learn a lot in the process. Somewhat like the research on batteries eventually benefitting a lot more than just electric vehicles.

That’s it for now, Saturday, February 22, 2020.

#Resist

Friday, February 21, 2020

2020 Winter February 21 Friday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_20

#Winter_of_20

20 degrees this morning, 81% humidity.

Yesterday was cold, didn’t get that warm and the wind was blowing. Thank goodness I had an office day! Of course, tomorrow will be worse, and I have a field day, but that’s the way the job is.

Weights this morning (sit ups, dumbbells, bench press).

Weather is currently 20 degrees, it was forecast 24 degrees , but is forecast to warm up to 47 or so.

I am waiting for Winter to end, very tired of the cold weather.

We are developing a short trip to “warm weather” as a cold weather break to help us make it to the start of warm weather in mid-May. As usual, I am making an intensive of our plans, trying hard not to plan every second!

Spring Major League Baseball is starting tomorrow (Saturday, February 22), which at least means Spring and Summer are on the horizon so to speak.

Watched a “police chase” last night on tv with a guilty pleasure. I definitely don’t want to see anything bad happen, but it still is fascinating. Unfortunately the tape ran out before the live chase ended! We heard later it ended safety, so to speak).

While I really like technology such as spell check, etc., I really wonder if it ]will eventually create problems with spelling by automatically correcting our spelling.

I find myself making errors in spelling and then not bothering to correct them because I know (or hope) spell check would correct. One of the best features of Siri is that I can ask it to spell a word and it usually zips it out, with pronunciation. I certainly have to admit I don’t miss looking words up in the dictionary!

Technology has done so much for productivity. I don’t miss having to correct and retype my letters , etc., at all! I can remember when the first electronic calculator came out (and cost about $400) and people who made a lot of calculations gladly purchased it because it made economic sense for them!

Of course, probably starting 20 years ago you could get one just as advanced free as an advertising gimmick.

Probably a breakthrough for me was when laptops first came out and were usually obsolete in 6 months or a year because of advances in technology! At a conference, a speaker said that if you spent $750 for a laptop (this was years ago, probably in the late 90’s early 00”), and it was obsolete in six months, if you got $750 or more in value by the technology, so what?

I realized he was absolutely right. If the technology will improve your productivity, or even be worth it by eliminating repetitive tasks, so what, it is worth it!

This was actually a real breakthrough in my thinking, one of the many watersheds of thinking in my life! A time when change is good!

That’s it for now, Friday, February 21, 2020.

#Resist

Thursday, February 20, 2020

2020 Winter February 20 Thursday

#Purple_Days_and_Golden_Nights

#My_Journey_20

#Winter_of_20

39 Degrees this morning, 69% humidity

Yesterday was a nice day, again a little cool, but very nice. Fortunately I had a field day, so I was able to enjoy the day, except the day was so hectic.

2-20-20 or 2-20-2020. A very unusual date, I think we need to celebrate dates like this. Actually there will be a number of Palindrome dates in the future (1-21-21 12-21-21 12-22-21 , etc.)

Really felt good to have my iPad and AirPods returned, unharmed. Generally, it will do anything I need to do. Of course, I can’t use it for some things (pencil etc) since it is over six years old.

I use the AirPods a lot at work and for personal phone calls, They work great and I would really have missed them. I had to replace them I would want the AirPod Pro and they are really on back order.

I am seeing some small signs of spring. Unfortunately, it is the crass growing up in the cracks of our sidewalks! Not quite what I was looking for in “Spring”!

I am especially waiting for the first Crocus and then the trees (usually the Bartlett Pear trees), which manage to get frozen by blooming too fast.

Watching the Democratic debate, I wonder how they have the mental, physical and psychological capacity to handle it (or any national politicianI). I guess that is why they are up there and most people aren’t.

Years ago, I noticed how some very popular politicians (in this case state politicians) are “always on” and frequently remember faces so well they can call you by name a year later after one meeting.

I’ve wondered if people are born with that or develop it. Of course, some politicians don’t have it, but most do. I think the “single purpose” politicians that started in the 90’s lead to some of the really horrible policies (and government officials) we have now.

Still haven’t started coughing again I am soon going to start swimming again and walking outside. Well do it gradually and monitor my coughing Frankly, if I have to change my exercise habits to avoid coughing, I will do it.

One feature my Apple phone has that I really like is the “don’t disturb, I’m driving”. So far I only use it on my work phone, since regulations strongly advise that we can’t talk on the phone while driving.

It does have an override for urgent calls, although I haven’t seen how it works yet.

One product I am looking forward to from Apple are the “tags” that you can attach to any item you don’t want to lose and then can find them with your phone. I will be interested in how they work. Supposedly they will have batteries that can be easily replaced, which is good.

I hadn’t really used the “Find My” app much until I lost my iPad and it is amazing how well the App works.

That’s it for now, Thursday, February 20, 2020.

#Resist