Spring 2014 5 22 Thursday

66 degrees this morning, although it didn't seem as cool as 70 degrees did yesterday.  Thursday, already!  Time passes.

I read two stories this morning, one in the Wall Street Journal about how "suburbs are coming back"  and a story on the on-line USA Today that "cities are still growing at the expense of suburbs".  Since anything regarding cities and suburbs is interesting to me, I read the WSJ story earlier with great interest and then read the USA Today with equal interest and some bewilderment!  There is a logical exclamation that the USA Today was using past census date (updated) and the WSJ was probably basing the story on recent empirical  trends.  I'll need to go back to WSJ story now and read it again.

I expect that it actually depends on which City you're talking about although (if I recall correctly) some of the most progressive cities are mentioned as the areas where the suburbs are "coming back".  I'll research this a little.

Speaking of cities, I think Memphis is a city with a lot of potential to be a great city, and I think the suburbs contribute to it and hopefully will continue to grow..  The Memphis Mayor (Mayor Wharton) has displayed some courage and foresight in making Memphis much more livable and attractive, and some of the suburbs (unfortunately now excluding Lakeland, which is going backward) are also making major advances to being "livable".

One of the Memphis Grizzlies (the basketball team) mentioned Memphis was "gritty" and a "blue collar" city, or words to that effect.  That actually is probably someone true, but it also is part of the Memphis tapestry of a variety of incomes, people, housing, and urban geography that makes it a very attractive and exciting city.   I wouldn't mind living in the downtown area, myself (although I hate to thing of what would happen if "THE" earthquake should happen).  

Coming up on six months of being unemployed.  I have decided I am going to write a blog about being "White, Old, Male and Unemployed".  Not to mean other unemployed people don't have it worse, but my experience is my experience and I won't apologize for how I feel.  I am shocked that the obvious age discrimination, but while I was on the "other side" and hiring people, some of the older people we hired (or didn't hire) expressed the horrors of being old and unemployed and looking for work and discussed obvious age discrimination .  I am going to a job fair this morning and I am sure I will feel a good dose of it.  On the other hand, I can understand the need to provide younger persons employment, although with the "new" career of a series of short-term positions.  I think the flat discrimination against old people is what is absolutely unacceptable.  

I really feel the younger generations are going to get a nasty surprise when they get old (we all do, or accept the alternative) and don't have sufficient retirement income.  I think now is the time to look at how to resolve that problem.  

I am about to tackle my 3000+ photos I took on the trip to China (and  about 50,000 pictures of other occasions, including Christmas's long past!).  It is time to sift through the photos and send many away and highlight others.   My desktop computer is actually running slower trying to sort through 50,000 photos (many the fault of the Apple "Faces"  aspect of iPhoto).  I will have to delete, delete, delete and then figure out how to backup my photos.   I will work on my videos/movies after that.  

I didn't try to sit on the patio this morning, may have been a good day for it, but I have a busy day ahead, although "busy" is relative anymore.  

That's it for today, Thursday, May 22, 2014.

UPDATE:  Both of the stories on Suburbs and Cities (Wall Street Journal and USA Today) were using the same data!

Spring 2014 5 21 Wednesday

70 degrees this morning. Should be a great morning on the patio!

Still some "jet lag" effects on sleeping patterns, but otherwise reentry has been good and the jet lag effects aren't that bad.  

Thinking some more about the Front Line program on solitary confinement, I had never really thought before the effects of total mindless rage, to the point that a person slams themselves against a steel door for hours and bleeds and other.  I was actually stunned by the program.  There are some actions that even writing can't really get across the overwhelming rage that someone feels.  I have seen it in residents who feel they have no say in a situation, and perhaps I vaguely feel it for brief moments about the way the spoiled brat professional politician and the board of fools are destroying Lakeland.  However, I can move, the resident normally gets some response (maybe not in the current Lakeland), but the prisoner has absolutely no say or even any response to his or her focused anger.  I'll look more at this.

One of the aspects of China I noticed I miss is the sound of the language itself.  I expect if I could understand it, I wouldn't notice it,but the musical nature of it is intriguing, with there being major differences in men and women speaking it.  I actually also enjoyed most of the food, much more than I expected.  

Sitting out on my patio again.  I guess I am pushing it, it probably is just a little too cool yet for early morning patio.  (The rest of the day is fine, but enjoy the early morning the best.)  I am going to sit out here for a while, but probably will give up and go in.  

I have a "virtual coffee"  (through FaceTime) later this morning.  I wish I had invested in a headphone/microphone combination for this, I'm sure it won't be the last one I have.  

At the last hotel we stayed at, they had walnuts to put in your oatmeal (this was the "western" breakfast buffet of course).  I liked it so much I am adding walnuts to my oatmeal, along with the cinnamon, blueberries and honey!  Pretty soon, I'll wander where the oatmeal went!  I eat that and an apple with peanut butter every morning.  I may need to delay the apple and peanut butter to later in the day, it is becoming a big breakfast.  

Evernote-I keep hearing about how good it is and I have been a "premium" subscriber for years.  I just recently have really started to use it, organize my notes etc.  I think I can use it to replace some database programs I pay more for.  It is so hard to get assistance on it.  That is a major reason I like Apple products, if nothing else I can go to the Apple Store and get assistance on anything Apple sells.  I'm not aware of any other product that does that.  

I wish Apple would buy Evernote!  That would really be a fascistic combination.  Evernote just has such a long learning curve and they have very little support, although eventually someone responds to me.  However, either I don't explain myself well, or they are that familiar with the program themselves.  I think they have a "in the rut" type of thinking on what the program should do and they don't envision what I am trying to do.  For years, I basically just listed the books I wanted to read (so I could refer to it) and my car mileage and occasionally some other things.  I learned the "notebook/note" system and now hopefully learning the reminder system.  I am also keeping articles in it instead of on my computer.

I really enjoy the "online" USA Today (I think it is the best on-line paper), but it is so hard to retain articles (other than on the iPad itself).

I am attending a "Veterans" Job Fair tomorrow.  I have never been to one, so it will be interesting.  

Winter 2014 March 16 Sunday

45 degrees. Rain, high wind.

This is going to be a "toss and pack" week as we get our house ready for sale.  Want to get out of Lakeland before the city policies destroy the residential living environment.  

Coming through Arkansas, I wondered if I had taken a wrong turn and was at the Port Authority for New Jersey!  Continued traffic tie-ups and delays created by road construction.  For some reason, Arkansas allows very long stretches of road construction to stall traffic.  The State does do a good job of providing notice of the construction and providing recommendations for taking an alternative route.

The on-line version of USA Today has been quick to read the past week or so, since a large of the stories were on the "South by Southwest" event, which I have absolutely zero interest in.  Nothing against the event, I think the overall intent (to provide bands and music and now tech, exposure is great).  However, this morning, in the New York Times, I read that corporations have taken over the event and corporate logos, required use of corporate social media to get into the publicized events etc. gave me the reason.  Again, nothing against corporate sponsorship.  It seems USA Today could have set up a section for South by Southwest instead of littering its "news" section with what was really advertising.  (The actual story concerned how the corporate sponsorship of big names who are frequently advertising in themselves may be hurting the original purpose of the event, to provide exposure to new musicians.)

A lot of wind and rain yesterday.  Hopefully it will be much better this week, as Spring approaches, at least on the calendar. 

Winter February 3 Monday

27 degrees this morning.  Thought it was going to be slick out based on "freezing rain", but wasn't bad at all.  Did my usual exercise routine, except  riding the bike outside.  Some of the small trees and plants do have ice on them and the trash cart was frozen shut.  Our weeping willow looks like it has laid down and fallen asleep.  (It is still small, but is large enough to be a real pain to try to tie so it is straight).

I didn't think it would take me long to read the on-line edition of the USA Today this morning (I read it while I eat breakfast) since it appears to be all about the Super Bowl, Super Bowl ads etc. that I could care less about.  I'm not much of a pro-football ban anyway (I probably hold the record for falling asleep while watching every Super Bowl ever held!  I feel asleep at the 1965 Super Bowl and at least dozed during every one since.  I'm not making fun of it, I can understand the passion for it, especially if your team is in it (I was for Denver, but....)  I feel that way about baseball, but pro football just isn't my favorite sport, although I enjoy college football.  

Back to the on-line edition of the USA Today, this morning they had some very informative stories this morning that took me longer to read than normal, they were so good.  I "saved" them and hope the app doesn't crash before I get the info.  USA Today actually has some excellent articles, among a lot of fluff.  I enjoy skimming the News, Monday and Tech sections (and occasionally the travel).

For example, it has an article about the "digital" news organizations basically being pyramid schemes (pump them up and sell them high) since the advertising support just isn't there.  (I always wondered where they thought the advertisers were coming from.)  Another about 'on line consultants" that will be valuable in the future, another about health (100 years ago, giving birth was almost as dangerous as breast cancer now, the average American RETIRES at age 62, 100 years ago, the average American DIED at AGE 51!!!  Amazing, if true!  In addition, the average person had 35 years of leisure (Holidays, vacation, retirement etc.) in 1990 and in 1870 the average person had 11 years of leisure!  If you earn $70,000 you are in the top .1% of the WORLD.  (This is from a story by Motley Fool).  

Still like my "Fitbit Force".  I am starting to wear it instead of a wrist watch (I can get the time by punching a button, but then every cell phone, computer and other gadget has a clock on it also.)  It seems to be a little too eager to count my steps (or I walk a lot more than I think I do.).  I did change the settings for sleep to "sensitive"  (and immediately saw my "time actually asleep"  (i.e., not awake or "restless") drop by an hour, but it isn't supposed to change the step counting.  

Busy day ahead.  May be some tough decisions to make in the next week.  

Winter 2014 January 10 Friday

46  degrees this morning.  Seemed cooler than that.  Walked, but drove to ATC rather than biked since streets were still wet.

 I am always surprised at who the minor events in life are so important.  This morning my newspaper delivery was late (but came right as I was leaving for the the gym), but, more important, the carrier accidentally gave m a USA Today instead of the Wall Street Journal.  While I am on the stationary bike, I normally read the Memphis Commerical Appeal, then the Wall Street Journal and then the New York Time.  So all morning, it just seemed like something was out of place!  Add in the fact I drove (rather than  cycled to the  gym.

As I have mentioned previously,  the Wall Street Journal has the worst on-line newspaper, so I am always disappointed when it does't arrive. For some reason the on-line version is very difficult for me to read, just the way it is organized (or not organized).

Today is Friday.  I still am surprised that the week goes fast, even when "every day is a Saturday except for Sunday")  There is a definite difference between the weekdays, and especially between the workdays and weekends that are more defined than I expected. 

Speaking of the Book Club I noted yesterday, I enjoy it a lot more than I thought I would.  It is interesting to be around intelligent people who like to read and have read the same book and take the time to discuss it.  We know we have an hour and we know we are there to discuss a specific book, so there is no hurry and it gives a chance to really discuss it.

I can remember reading "Catcher in the Rye" when I was a kid (probably about 14) and thinking that there are other people out there who have weird thoughts also!  (Not exactly the same, but not the standard either.)  I read a lot of books when I was a kid.  When I was in the 7th Grade (and later) I read any book I could sneak past my Mom, although I continued to read a lot of standard library books.  We would go to the Library (in Holton, Kansas when I lived n the farm and in Russell when I was in the 8th through 12th grade.

Watch the "Frontline" report on the fraud at the SAC Capital Fund.  It was somewhat discouraging to see the large scale cheating, especially when I remember 2008 and how none of the individuals actually were punished in any way, especially for the mortgage fraud.

I have been reading about the CES show.  It is amazing (and sometimes disturbing, but always amazing)

Summer 2013 September 19

73 degrees today, very nice, neither too cool nor warm.

My experiment with trying to "have it all" and read the Commercial Appeal, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times is actually going well.  I thought I would be overwhelmed by the amount of time it takes to read them, but it hasn't.  I have had to set priorities. 

 I actually have a lot of respect for each paper in it's respective world it attempts to inhabit.  (I also read the on-line version of the USA Today.  I like it, but I also never look at the videos.) It is worth the time, and, if I am out of town, I can look at them on the Internet.  (The Commercial Appeal has the best replica edition by far.)

I have learned to skip the "junk" news about "celebrities" (except for local ones that Michael Donahue writes about), crime, puff pieces etc. Each paper seems to have it's own brand of news that is unique and I actually find little overlap.  Like several t-shirts I have read "So many Newspapers, so little time"  (Well, they actually read "books", but same thought.

My early mornings, from 3:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. are so packed, I have no flex time built in.  So anytime I have an early morning meeting I have to cut something.  I tell people (if I"m late) I didn't get up late, I just ran out of time!  I always leave time for my 27 minutes nap in the morning after I walk, ride and shower.  

Today is election day here.  I will be glad to see all of the signs gone and not trashing up the city.  

 Still listening to the Willpower Instinct.  I plan on deep-reading chapter 2 of the book this weekend and making notes on it.  Probably becoming better organized will be my "willpower" project.

Either tomorrow or Saturday will officially end the Summer of 2013 and Autumn will start.  Overall, it's been a good Summer, a little cool, but a good Summer.  

Summer 2013 August 22

74/76 degrees this morning, still somewhat cloudy.

I realized this morning how much shorter the days are getting.  Like the frog in "gradually boiling" water, I didn't realize how much later the sun was rising.  I used to note the sunrise and sunset in my daily journal and maybe I need to start again to realize the passage of the seasons.  

Listening the the book "Willpower"  (I'm sure there are many books with that title, I'll check on the author), and learning some very interesting ideas, especially about the pursuit of "pleasure" and "happiness". 

I get my audiobooks from Audible and, as an Amazon.com company, they have the famous horrible customer service if you have a question or need help, so it is difficult to do anything other than "listen" to the book.  I can't really go back and listen to certain parts as I can with a CD due to limitations imposed by Audible which don't make any sense.

Anyway, the book has some interesting comments about why we always think "tomorrow" we we will have more time and why people get addicted to video games, eating etc.  (it's not that it brings you pleasure, it's that you always think the NEXT time will be pleasure and fulfillment).   I'm sure those are relatively common ideas, but I like the way the book presented it.  This will probably be one of those times when I get the physical book so I can review some of the specific ideas.

The book had one example of what had to be a highly unethical (if it had been done now) study that tied in electrodes to subjects brains and than allow them to "pleasure" themselves as much as they wanted.  People pushed the button so often they frequently even wouldn't eat and had to be forced to quit.  (This is a rough idea of it, I need to research this some more).  

Otherwise, life continues. It is so busy, I find myself multitasking too much.  For example yesterday I realized I was (at the same time):

-Eating breakfast

-Watching "Mad Money"

-Reading the "USA Today" web site

No matter how good I am at multitasking there is no way I could really maximize any of them.  Actually that is ok, as long as I realize I'm not really doing all three tasks well.  Obviously eating breakfast doesn't really matter whether I am effective or efficient.  All I want to do from watching "Mad Money" or reading USA Today (website) is get the highlights.

USA Today has the best website newspaper of any newspaper I have seen.  I never watch the videos (due to time limitations), but I like the way the stories are arranged, I can skip all the junk stories about sports, "celebrities" etc. and just read what I want.

Actually the Memphis Commerical Appeal has the best "e-newspaper" of them all, it is an exact replica of the actual newspaper and, unlike the New York times and Wall Street Journal, it is actually easy to navigate and read.  Really as good or better than the physical newspaper, although I prefer the physical newspaper.

When I am out of town, I always ready the Commerical Appeal on-line, but really don't have the patience to read the New York Times or Wall Street Journal on-line.  They are poorly organized and awkward.  

I was reading some City Manager comments on the City Manager section on "Linked in" and I was stunned at some of the comments in answer to a question about "a good City Manager is always in trouble".  Hopefully I misunderstood some of the comments or they were half-way joking.