2016 Fall November 8 Tuesday

61 degrees this morning, walk 35:53 minutes 

Almost didn’t walk this morning, looked like rain and  ground was wet.  

Rained most of day yesterday, at least on and off.  Only rained really hard for several minutes.

Concerning the elections, I read in the local newspaper  that the state legislature was going to be “more of the same” believe it or not.  I guess people get what they elect, but I still blame the “term limits” for not encouraging people to run for office who are more qualified and have a longer term view.

Most of the candidates appear to be running on the platform of “reduce taxes and  school choice” (i.e. shoveling money to their friends in the Charter school business who have learned to game the Charter school system)-Not that there aren’t good Charter schools, but it seems like public schools funds are continually being reduced.  

It seems they should have some long term view of what the State needs, “reducing taxes” without any reason or program is hardly much of a platform except for someone who wants to pander to the lowest part of human nature.

Of course, the majority are like the State Attorney General, there is all kinds of money to shovel at their favorite causes, wild goose chases targeting the federal government as the devil  that employ  a lot of his friends and political supporters , I expect,  while they destroy the state education and service delivery systems.  He was so scared of a “public audit” he wanted to use more state funds to get this favorite auditor to audit the books!  (The “public audit’ turned out ok anyway, but makes you wonder what he was trying to hide.)

Election Day today!  It is hard to believe it is finally here.  It always bewilders me why so much attention is paid to the national level and so little to the local level.  The local level is where you will have the most impact, since realistically the average person has absolutely no impact at the national level.  

I read somewhere that one reason sports are so popular is that there eventually is a “decision”.  Like it or not, a decision is made  In a way, elections are somewhat like that except living with the decision can be a lot more difficult!

Another dream, these are “partial dreams” since I didn’t remember the entire dream.

11-7-16:

Dream:  Walking down a “buffet” line, fish are whole fist with heads.  (All I remember from this dream).

Second dream.

Apparently dreaming I was City Manager, got a call about a matter, find out the guy lives in a bus in my front yard.  (Remember, this is a dream, not reality, thank goodness!)

He lived in a sort of old school bus with several little travel trailers connected.

I remember thinking I was glad I just rented the house!  

Question about “home occupation”

Same name a s good friend whose died recently, obviously different person.

Can’t remember the question. 

That may be the way a lot of life is!

That’s it for now, Tuesday, November 8, 2016

2016 Fall November 7 Monday

60 degrees this morning, walk 36:22 minutes 

Earthquake last night, first one I have ever actually felt.  I heard two before, I’m not sure which is worse, hearing them or feeling them.

I was sitting in my chair (a fairly heavy chair) and I felt it wobble and then bells (I assume church bells) started, apparently set off by the earthquake.

i have to admit, it was not a good feeling to be in an earthquake, even a relatively light one.  

We found out it was a 5.3 (later changed to a 5.0) about 60 miles away.  

It was near a city with extensive oil pipes and oil storage.  Some karma in that, since the oil companies created the earthquakes.

I understand the earthquakes are deep so they don’t do a lot of surface damage (depending on what you mean by “damage”).  

Anyway feeling that one earthquake was more than enough earthquakes for me.

Start of the work week, looking forward to a three day weekend this weekend (Friday is Veterans Day).  It will be a nice break.  

I had a chance to learn more about the iWatch yesterday.  If it is a toy, it is one heck of a toy!  I am amazed at what all it will do.

When I got it, I had planned to continue wearing my other watches, since I really like both my “dress watch” and my “informal watch”, plus a couple of inexpensive exercise watches.  

I will continue to wear them occasionally because I like them, but the iWatch really has a lot of capabilities . 

To be honest, I had never paid much attention to my “exercise heart rate”, so I had to scurry and research “activity heart rate” to see what it was supposed to be based on my normal heart rate.  It was ok, or actually excellent, I think.  Obviously it was well below the standard “maximum heart rate” (220-my age).  I’ll research it some more to see what it  means.  

Also, the GPS is helpful in that it provides he exact distance plus it provides a map of where I w walked.  It is good enough I can tell which side of the street I was on.  

Perhaps even better, it saves everything and provides historical reference, averages etc.

Even better, I can use it for outside cycling, stationary cycling and even my weight lifting.

Of course, it is only good if I use the information, but it will be good to spot any trends, if I am getting slower (or faster) etc. 

Listening to “The Great American Classics” lectures while I walk.  While I never read her (or at the least one poem of so), Emily Dickinson impressed me and I hope I have time to sit down and read some of her poetry.  

While I may not read any of her poetry, I would like to.  I don’t have any intention of even reading Thoreau or Walt Whitman, at least based on the lectures.

There was a 60% chance of rain this morning when I walked.  The weather forecast for this area is so wrong so often, I didn’t even consider not walking, I just assumed the weather forecast was wrong.

Not that I am complaining that it doesn’t rain when it is forecast!  Now, if it was the other way….

That’s it for now Monday, November 7, 2016

2016 Fall November 6 Sunday

2016 Fall November 6 Sunday

60 degrees this morning 36:39 minute walk

Well, I finally did it.  I forgot about the time change and got up an hour early.  Didn’t notice it until I looked at my iPhone, then I went back to bed for an hour! 

We had a family birthday gathering last night, so we didn’t even think about changing the clocks, even though it was mentioned several times yesterday.

We try to have a birthday party for “everyone” (other than the small children who have an individual birthday party, and do it twice a year. 

We used to do it quarterly, now we do it semi-annually (January to June, and then July to December) since, with children etc.  people are much busier.  

Fortunately I had decided I was wasting too much time “piddling” before I started my walk, so this morning I decided I was going to get going, which is why I noticed the time change relatively  fast.  

I used to use the “fall back” of Daylight Savings time ending to try to train myself to wake up earlier, but now I’m satisfied with when I get up and I really don’t want to get up earlier.  i frequently wake up about 30 minutes earlier than I normally wake up and I just go back to sleep!

I really note how time passes so fast when you see children grow up.  I believe once you get pas t the rapid changes (probably up to 21 or so, or maybe 40 years old, you start to notice just how fast time goes by.  

Used my Watch for my walk this morning.  It gives you all kinds of information besides the walk including the distance, your heartbeat, the elevation changes you walk etc.  I still need to figure out how to open up the information after I “save” it!

The Citizen Policy Academy had a  session yesterday (the only Saturday session) and then we had the birthday party, so yesterday was busy.  At the Citizen Police Academy  we saw the “Canine” units which was interesting.   

Some of  the the more interesting things I learned were why dogs are so good at smell (the  sensors in their mouth and nose), they are having fun and think it is a game (they can be biting someone and their tale is wagging.  

They do it for a “reward” of a play toy!

What was really interesting (and slightly scary) was that when the cap a dogs weak tooth, they cap it with a metal cap  which gives them an especially threatening appearance!  

Listening on my walk to “Great American Literature”.  

The lecturer is now reviewing Emily Dickinson.  I hadn’t realized that her poems weren’t discovered until after she died.  

She had published 9 poems “anonymously” so she was completely unknown until after she died. They discovered 1775 poems.  Many of them were on little pieces of paper etc.

This is another American authors I have probably never read, and probably won’t  However I have enjoyed listening to the lecturer and hearing about interpretation of it.

That’s it for now, Sunday, November 6 2016.

2016 Fall November 5 Saturday

60 degrees this morning.  No walk due to other activities today.

Voted in “early voting” yesterday.  Very long lines, took about an hour and 20 minutes (line was about an hour).  Very efficient once we got into the door. Considering the length of the line it w ent fast.

It is a good thing they have “early voting” now, I expect a single day would be almost impossible for this election.  

I didn’t have any problem deciding who to vote for this  year on any person or any of the “State Questions”.   

Voting is always somewhat of a complex action.  In your heart, you know your single vote isn’t going to count.  However, you know that if everyone thought that way it would be a disaster (and it may be anyway), so you vote.  

I think the problem with voting is that the “Mass Delusions and the Hysteria of Crowds” is frequently in effect as people vote exactly opposite to what will benefit them. 

I looked up “mass delusions” and I was surprised at how many episodes there have been, not related to voting.

I think if you looked at voting you would see a lot more episodes.

What is really scary is the “big money” that is involved now.  “Initiatives”  or “State Questions” aren’t really the “people” sponsoring them, it is now big money, trying to ram through special treatment for themselves.  It is not just business, in this state the colleges are trying to get a lot of money in the guise of  a raise for teachers.  Of course there is a raise for teachers but a large portion goes to a slush fund for the colleges.  

The problem is the state legislature won’t take necessary action to make sure teacher raises (and other necessary projects) are funded.  They pander to get votes based on meaningless “tax cuts” that actually benefit the high income more than the lower income and brag about a $40 per year “tax cut” as if that is a good thing rather than adequately funding necessary state services.  A real shame.

Kind of like the mileage rate for employees in this state.  A law was passed (snuck through) that state employees who are REQUIRED to drive their cars will now have the mileage rate set by a bunch of  overpaid state agency bureaucrats who will probably get huge raises based on “savings” of reducing the mileage rate for  already underpaid state employees instead of using the generally accepted federal tax rate.

Of course, the first action I read on this (before they even started to determine the rate) was “expect it to be lowered”.  Hardly a fair impartial process. illustrates the true goal. 

I always laugh when I hear someone say they think government should be “run like a business”.  I guess that includes paying off top officials who make mistakes millions of dollars to go away, or raising prices like the drug companies do even if you kill people, illegally coordinating setting prices, paying excessive salaries  and the other unethical actions of business people.  

Not that there aren’t a lot of good ethical businesses and business people, I expect many more good than bad, but there are many examples of excessive greed and unethical behavior.

Speaking of, Samsung just had to recall a bunch of washing machines that explode or something.  Certainly reinforcing my decision to never, ever buy a Samsung product of any type.  I wonder how that company can live with itself, especially after the situation with the employees.

A Saturday meeting of the Citizens Police Academy is today.  It should be interesting, although I am glad there is only one Saturday meeting.  

That’s it for now, Saturday, November 5, 2016. 

2016 Fall November

2016 Fall November 4 Friday 

55 degrees this morning.  Walk 36.58 minutes

Dressing for my walk, 55 degrees sounded cold, however it was actually fairly warm.  Foggy, I don’t know if it holds in the warmth or not, I always thought it made it feel colder.

Glad it is Friday, while I enjoy working, it is nice to have  a break.  

I am continuing to learn about the iWatch. As I become familiar with it, it is easier to learn new aspects of it.  

I saw quote this morning “A problem cannot be solved with the same consciousnesses that created it”.  It is attributed to Albert Einstein.  

Considering that Einstein thought in math terms, he may have been saying that to solve a problem you created, you have to take an entirely new view of it.  

I believe it is a matter of avoiding buying into a problem and failing to consider new alternative because of the “sunk costs”, whether those costs are time or money or whatever. 

I thought about the definition of “consciousnesses”  could be anything from a new person to just thinking in a different way from when the problem was created.

Of course, “problem” can even be a matter of definition.  I guess a “problem” requires some sort of action.  If you are happy with a situation, you probably don't consider it a “problem”, since you are content.

Maybe that is a way of prioritizing time.  It could be something I have tended to view as a “problem” perhaps isn’t a problem and I need to just forget about some of the “problems”.

Defining a “problem” and whether it is even a problem seems like the first step.  I don’t think there is any objective measurement of defining a “problem”.

Maybe that is one thing I can do is write down what I consider to be “problems” and think about what priority I should set on each problem.

Then I would need to review how the problem came about and what I was thinking when the “problem” developed and what “consciousness” I was in when the problem was created.  

Of course it also could mean a problem should be solved by other than the person who created it.  

However, I have to feel that the person who  created the problem may be the best person to resolve the problem  since they are familiar with the events/actions that created the problem in the first place!

Anyway, the quote caused me to think about problems, which is good. 

I will need to look at the context of his quote and thin some more about it.

The ‘Citizens Police Academy” is almost over.  I have enjoyed it and learned a lot.  I will be glad to get my evening back,, but it was a good use of my time.

Will do some more thinking about “problems” and “consciousnesses”!

That’s it for now, Friday, November 4, 2016. 

2016 Fall November 3 Thursday

64 degrees this morning  No walk (rain or at least had rained and threat of rain)

Cubs win the World Series!  

While there is nothing wrong with sports as such, I don’t like the overwhelming importance of something that is basically just an artificial construct that should just be entertainment.  

However, I am glad to see the Cubs finally win a World Series!  For some reason I started following the Cubs years ago (around 1986) and Aliene was also a fan.  

I recently noted where “sports” had been expanded to people watching other people play video games!  This appears to be about as interesting as watching grass grow, or paint dry, but, whatever people like is fine with me.

I just saw where a electronics “game” company maker (Electronic Arts) reported that “engagement” with one of its recent games was 2.5 hours per day.  2.5 hours per day on a meaningless game is amazing!  I assume they mean the more involved players, not the average player who purchases the game.

I recently read where “sports” have now been expanded to huge machines fighting each other “to the death”  (whatever that means).

The article was about the US and Japan building huge robots who are going to fight each other.  Not quite sure when this is going to happen, although to be honest, I can see the challenge in building a robot to do that, I’m not sure how much interest the actual “fight” would be. 

I continue to learn more about the “iWatch” and what it can and can’t do.  I do wish it had a “driver mode” where it would delay any notices etc. It may well have it, although I try to limit any “notifications” anyway from the iWatch.  

Actually, as I wrote that, I realized it does have a “mute” function which is very easy to implement, which I will need to do so.  I also don’t need it going off in meetings etc. any more than I want my phone going off. 

My phone has been measuring my “steps” for some time.  While I consider myself to be a relatively active person, I have been surprised at how many times I don’t make “10,000 steps” or  something close.  

Considering that my morning walk normally is well over 50% of the 10,000 steps, I wonder how active I am when I’m not walking!  

Another dream yesterday morning.  Not sure why I am dreaming so much, or maybe it is just thatI am remembering them better for some reason.  

11-02-15

Dream in large older home (may have been, in my mind, home when I was a kid, the way i remember it as much larger than it was).

Not sure what we were doing, but Aline was there and then had to go someplace

My brother in law came in and we talked and looked for something.  He went to sleep.

I walked out and someone who I didn’t recognize stopped me and excitedly took me in to show me a piece of paper.

I was looking at the piece of paper to see what was written when I woke up.

Again, have no idea what all this means!

That’s it for now, Thursday, November 3, 2016.

2016 Fall November 2 Wednesday

71 degrees this morning, walk 36:49 minutes

Used iWatch for morning walk this morning (with backup from my normal watch I used to time my walk).  Seemed to work well, calculated not only time, but also the distance, steps, calories used, heartbeat etc.  

The more I use the iWatch, the more I am impressed with it.  The battery life isn’t going to be a problem, at least as long as I don’t wear it to bed to get  a sleep report, and even if I should do that, i probably could arrange to get it charged.  So far, I have had well over 60% battery left at the end of each day, although that could change as I use it more.

I’m sure, like most computers, it does a lot more than I will ever realize, but I am gradually learning!  

As I mentioned previously, the biggest problem will be evaluating the “apps”.  The poor quality of the “reminders plus” app made me suspicious of the article (and the magazine) I read about it, since I have a feeling the article was a paid tout for the apps it mentioned, considering the extremely poor “reminders plus” app.

As I have mentioned before, overall I am very pleased with the Apple apps over 3rd party apps.  The “Notes”app is really good and has really improved the past year or so.  

Actually the “notes” and “calendar” make a pretty good “reminder” app.  Evernote also has a good reminder feature if I remember to use it!

Today marks 2 years and one month in my present job and 2 year and 4 months since we moved to this area.  

Finishing up the “Citizens Police Academy” program of the City I live in.  Actually I am impressed by the program they have here.  I think it is a good example of what can be accomplished when a city commits to providing for service to the citizens and not pander to the lowest level of cutting taxes etc. without considering the resulting cuts in services. 

Something the state legislature should learn here, instead of pandering to buy votes and paying off their friends and contributors and lobbyists.   

Another dream, for some reason I am dreaming up a storm.  Most of them I don’t remember long enough to write down, but I am really having some vivid dream.

11-1-16 dream.

Dreamed I drove to a  local library and parked in a covered parking right next to the library entrance.  Obviously this is not a Library I am familiar with!)

Went into the Library and set and read the papers, listening to new age music.

A librarian gave me a bottle with a little bit of whiskey in it (Jim Beam I think).  I don’t drink alcohol, but I finished the bottle.  (I realized in the dream I don’t drink also and I decided in the dream this would confirm that practice!)

I want to throw the bottle (and a lot of water bottles for some reason) away, but all of the trash baskets were full.  I finally went out in the garage and lest it a big trash bin.

For some reason I was putting stuff in a trunk when I realized it was someone else’s car.

I walked back to my car and a truck with a camper (speeding into the parking garage ) almost ran me over.  I was screaming a the driver as I went to my car.

I woke up.

It wasn’t any library I know of course, with covered parking right next to the library!.

No idea what all of that means.

That’s it for now, Wednesday, November 2, 2016.

2016 Fall November 1 Tuesday

69 degrees this morning, walk 36:32 minutes

Banged my toe (next to my “big toe”, although this toe is actually my “longest toe”).  Didn’t know if I would be able to walk this morning or not.

I know I had banged it, but it really wasn’t that bad.  Of course, this is one of the toes I have arthritis in, and I also banged it several weeks ago and bruised it badly.  So I hit the same one yesterday morning.

I was planning to call the Doctor to see about an x-ray to see if I broke it, but it does feel (and look) a lot better this morning, so I think I can avoid that.  I just don’t like to take the time it takes to do stuff like that (emergency x-ray) unless I have to.

Probably all of this banging won’t help the arthritis any.   I  still can’t spell “arthritis”, spell check really helps.

Start of November!  Hard to believe 2016 is going so fast.  Today the new law on our “mileage” goes into effect.  The record keeping will literally take an hour a day.  Shows how stupid, ignorant and vindictive the state legislature is.

Record breaking hot temperature!  I can deal with it!  I don’t know the exact date, but this year may set a record for the latest frost.  I can deal with that also!  Of course, most years when it is like this, it is a hard winter later on.

Really like the iWatch, I am finding out more about it all the time, including the unfortunate fact there are some exceptionally bad “apps” out there for both the watch and iPhone.  A lot of great ones also.

One that deserves special mention in the “App Hall of Shame” is “Reminders Plus”.  All it does is beg you to upgrade.  Delete.  Why they don’t let you see how it works first is a puzzle to me.

Tried to use my iWatch to pay for my Starbucks yesterday, have to learn a little bit on that yet.  

It is amazing how convenient it is as  a watch, as well as a lot of other things.  I actually like most of the Apple apps better than “3rd vendor” apps, although there is no reminder app for the iWatch for some reason.  

Went to a movie last night (first one in several years), “Girl on a Train”.  Especially if you read or listened to the book, see it!

Another dream.

10-30-16:

Dreamed at I was some kind of family gathering  Some serious discussions on something, I”m not sure what.  

For some reason I was on a bus (possibly talking to someone) when the bus (it was a local city bus) took off and I had to wait until the next stop to get off.  

When I got off, I had to get off on a huge pile of sand.  and had to step up from the bus on top the pile of sand to get off.

For some reason my car was there, but I didn’t have the keys.  There was another car there but no one was around.  The back door was open on that car.

I had noticed a road on the bus ride down that I noted I could take back that looked like a short cut.

I woke up.  Took me awhile to realize it was only a dream.

(no rationale as to why I didn’t simply ask the bus driver to stop and let me out!  But it was a dream!)

That’s it for now, Tuesday, November 1, 2016