2017 Spring May 11 Thursday

66 degrees this morning, walk 35;10 miles

Heavy rain last night, but clear at time of walk.  66 degrees is a tough temperature to dress for since the “reality temperature” can vary a lot.  

Walk was enjoyable, although my pace was slow (28 seconds per mile slower than  my goal).

I have thought about establishing a “dynamic goal”, that is a goal to do better than my average walk each day.  May be better to establish a weekly average and make that my goal.

Of course technically there is a danger I may walk slower to have a slower goal, but I don’t really see that happening.  

I actually have a firm goal in mind, completely unrelated to any physical or health concept, just a number that sounds good!

Listening to the book “To Hell and Back” this morning (about Europe from 1914 to 1949) heard or developed a couple of interesting concepts.

The book mentioned “Fighting for ideals they couldn’t live for, so they died for them”.  I may not have that quite right, but I think it illustrates the futility of war.  

Another thought was that “war destroys what we are fighting for”.  

I think one of the saddest parts of “Gone with the Wind” (or any similar book or actual event) is that the world they run off and fight for is destroyed and they will never return to that world that they are fighting for.  

Obviously there are times when there is no real action but to fight back, but at least it should be undertaken with the realization that nothing will ever be the same again and what you are fighting for won’t exist when the fighting is done.

This has been one of those weeks where it is now Thursday, but I keep thinking it is Tuesday or  even Monday!  Several weeks ago, it seemed like the weed was going too fast (on Tuesday I was already thinking it was Friday) and this week is exactly different!

Getting back to the article on the “Administrative State”, I have had to get over the thought that it feels like it it is written by one the the lying bully’s appointments who have Nazi or Fascist tendencies, it does contain some good thoughts.  

One thought is that the “Digital Revolution” is moving from the “disruption stage” to the “deployment stage” and many of our institutions are still adjusting to it.  

Just following that thought (and not really following the article), I think an obvious “painful adjustment” is the retail “brick & mortar” sector, which I observe (from the viewpoint of a non-participant) on my job and in my daily life.  

Obviously not all retail is adjusting and in reality, no one knows what adjustments are needed.  I think some sort of combination of on-line and brick and mortar may be one adjustment.  I know I hesitate to purchase on-line because I really don’t want the hassle of sending it back if it wasn’t that I expected.  Having a physical store (like Walmart) to return an on-line item to is a real comfort.  

In a less obvious matter, other institutions (such as government, health care, education etc.) also has to adjust to the digital revolution and I’ll discuss it in future posts.

That’s it for now, Thursday, May 11, 2017.