2018 Spring May 18 Friday

67 degrees this morning, no walk.

Still have head cold and coughing.  This is getting really tiresome! I hoped I would be able to walk today, but I knew better than to try.  

iPhone “screen video”

I recently was very pleased to learn that I could take a “video” of my phone screen.  I think that could be valuable to remembering some information and storing it.  (The video is stored on iPhoto).  I haven’t had any reason to try it yet, other than to check and make sure it works and, better yet, it is simple!

So much technology has a major weakness in failure to provide instructions that are simple to understand.  So many times, the programs fail to even emphasize that a table requires that you click on an “edit” button etc, the writers assume you know it.  My experience is that most people don’t and simple instructions would really help.

Several years ago I took a course on “Instruction Writing”, and it is difficult to write instructions in a clear and concise and understandable.  

I think a major factor in instructional writing is being able to view it from the users viewpoint (which can vary widely).  Difficult to do and obviously not being done.  

One thing that is really irritating is when a major change is made on a program and no real notice is provided, just the sudden change with no real information provided on how to deal with the change.  

Happiness in old age?

I have been recently reading a book by John Leland, “Happiness is a Choice You Make”.  It is a study of the “oldest of the old”, persons over 85 years of age. 

I believe it was originally a newspaper project where he visited with persons over 85 years of age over a period of time.  

He came up with some interesting perspectives on aging, as well as happiness.  

One finding I found especially interesting was that the older people may be happier (even though they may be sick, frail etc.) in one aspect is because they are well aware that “the future is the present”.

He mentions that many younger people are concerned about future happiness, since they see a long future horizon whereas older people see the present as being their best chance for happiness since their futures are limited.  

I guess you could say happiness (or at least contentment) is a matter of perspective, not necessarily situational.  

Parting Thoughts

Tomorrow is my daughters birthday (I won’t mention her age, but it is hard to believe she is that old!) and my granddaughter will graduate from high school Sunday.  

Time passes!

That’s it for now, Friday, May 18, 2018.