Sunday, March 19, 2017
2017 Winter March 19 Monday
As far as my personal life, I assume I get “out” of my personal comfort zone when I go to a meeting etc., that I think the type of meeting would decide if I was out of my comfort zone.
Somehow I spent a lot of time with the motel owner, who was quite a character. He gave me a tee shirt for some reason. It was one of those older motels, in this case it was built like a long cabin.
It happen in Seminole, Oklahoma, of all places. We drove down and it didn’t hit me until the dream was almost done where we live.
In the dream we were in an older motel, individually owned.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
2017 Winter March 18 Saturday
60 degrees this morning, Walk 35:30 minutes
Walk this morning was good, although my pace was slow, about 20 seconds slower than expectations.
Hopefully warmer weather is here for the season. Supposed to be especially nice next week.
Learning styles is an interesting concept, had several conversations and e-mails on learning styles. Just had an e-mail about an article that children (and maybe adults) learn in several ways, of course people mostly use a number of ways of learning.
One comment I found especially interesting was that people (in this case, children) in times of stress revert to a preferred dominant means of learning.
One of the ways of learning that would have surprised me several weeks ago is Bodily/Kinesthetic, but I am not surprised now after talking with several people and observe children and even thinking my my past experience with how adults learn.
I think a key to stress is that people tend to revert (or maybe select is a better term) a certain dominant action in periods of stress, whether it is learning or reacting to an emergency.
I think that emphasizes the importance of having basic principles that you adhere too, since in times of streets you will select those principles, whether it is learning for something else.
The NCAA basketball tournament is especially interesting for us since we don’t watch (or rarely) “live” anything on tv, we tape everything including sports and “time shift” to another time. This means we try to avoid news about the tournament through any means, including avoiding he sports page, tv news, Facebook etc., so we can watch the games we are interested in without knowing the results.
In any event, I have been slimming down on Facebook, eliminating all of the political web sties. They may be fun and I agree with them, but it just wastes too much time and they quickly take over the website and literally overwhelm the real reason I have Facebook.
If I really thought it would do any good to comments (it is kind of like singing to the choir) I would spend any amount of time to spread the word about the dangers of the lying bully lunatic and his Nazi, criminal and incompetent appointees but I think it is read only by other like-minded persons.
I think that is one of the real dangers of Facebook etc. in that it reinforces your beliefs etc. rather than expose you to a variety of views.
Even if I see sites from the “other viewpoints” I see mostly the extremists who do nothing to help me understand, since the view is so extreme, I reject it out of hand, whereas a reasonably stated statement, I may consider what they said.
The lies, misstatements and out malicious lies of “fox and friends” (which is truly “trash” media or worse since they are well aware they are spreading malicious lies). etc. hardly gives ma any confidence in the actions of a lying bully and his thugs who believes such lies.
Looking forward to a weekend with nice weather.
That’s it for now, Saturday, March 18, 2017.
Friday, March 17, 2017
2017 Winter March 17, 2017
64 degrees this morning, 35:05 minute walk
Relatively cool 64 degrees. Pace was about 12 seconds per mile slower than expectations.
It is amazing what the iWatch measures and I probably don’t know the half of it. It measures calories, (active and total) elevation gain, average heart rate, steps, distance etc.
The NCAA basketball tournament has become somewhat a cultural phenomenon. I have never been a “bracket” person myself, although I was invited to participate one that had some extra features to keep it interesting. It had some features like bonus points for upsets etc., that made sense.
Unfortunately I didn’t act in time to get involved in it. While I watch it, I don’t really get involved in following it, so I wouldn’t be much good at “brackets” anyway.
Friday today, I am glad to see the weekend come. Not that it has been that bad of a week, I am just glad to have several days off.
Just thinking during my walk how I used to say how nice it might be to have a job I could basically forget after working hours and on weekends, but I wondered if it would get boring.
I actually have a job now, that, when I”m off, I’m really off. It has it’s good points and some negative points, but it is what it is.
It is definitely nice to not have to worry about “work” off of work hours, but somehow the large amount of free time I expected to have never materialized. Like someone said, activities expand to slightly exceed the time available! (I don’t really know if anyone said that or not, but someone should have!)
I am really glad to see Spring arrive Tuesday, even if it is name only! Actually I think it is supposed to be in the 70’s on Monday which is appropriate for Spring!
I am looking forward to sitting on the patio again and feeling the early morning air. When it is happening, it seems timeless and it will always be this way and when it is not happening, it seems like it is timeless in nature.
Had a minor accident in a parking lot the other day (both cars backing. It didn’t look like anything was damaged, so we just went on.
Of course about two days later I notice part of the car is sticking out. I took it to the body shop and they just pushed it back in and said the plastic they use in cars is amazing! I didn’t know if this cost would be a small amount or several thousand dollars, so I was relieved to say the least.
One of the the things about Summer I really like about this area is the late sunsets. I never really quite got used to the early evenings in Memphis. It got light almost an hour earlier in the morning and dark and hour earlier at night because of the time zone.
There is something about the long Spring/Summer evenings when the sun just seems to hand there, watching all of the summer activities that are going on.
That’s it for now, Friday, March 17, 2017.
Thursday, March 16, 2017
2017 Winter March 16 Thursday
47 degrees this morning (feels like 37), walk 35:00 minutes
Walk this morning a little longer (about .10 of a mile) since I got into the groove of walking and started on a second round in one area!
There actually is only only one area where I repeat a part of the walk at all and I started to automatically repeat a part I normally only go on one time.
A little cool for 47 degrees, but not bad.
My pace was about 24 seconds per mile faster than expectations, which was good.
Being lost in thought (or whatever) and not keeping track of where I am is not unusual for me when I am exercising. I can remember when I used to walk on a 1/4 mile track and not remembering how many laps I had done! A good reason to wear a watch! This was when I was in my twenties, so I don’t feel bad about it now.
I have the same problem with weights, even when I only do 3 sets on the bench press, I lose track of how many I have done. Again, this is an age old problem.
I actually never really planned to lift weights (I always liked to exercise, but this was normally walking, running bicycling etc.). However, a couple of employees asked about going to the exercise gym (right across from City Hall at the time) and for some reason I thought it was a good idea and started going myself and started lifting weights etc., something I have never regretted.
Makes you think about all of the “automatic” actions in your life. Perhaps I need to review my “automatic” actions and see how much time I am wasting!
I know in the early morning (from the time I get up until I start my walk), it is amazing how much time I can waste on “piddling”, literally. I have learned not to check Facebook, Twitter etc. or I can easily waste a lot of time. I do still check my e-mail although I normally don’t respond until later.
Perhaps I will make revising my “automatic” time wasters a priority and try to keep a record of how I waste time. (Not counting naps and reading the newspapers).
I think one reason I like the regular paper more than e-news is I can control the time a lot better when I just read the regular paper, maybe not.
Listening to the Harvard Business Review articles on “managing yourself” is rather interesting and may be rubbing off! One article this morning mentioned about how he checks his e-mail twice a day and saves a lot of time.
Frankly, I never agreed with that policy. I check it often and plan on continuing to do so. (With an iPhone, iWatch etc. it is hard to stay away anyway). Frankly it always irritated me that someone thought so little of responding that they would only check their e-mail once or twice a day. Not that I think they should check it every second or have it “ping” (I don’t) and respond immediately but once of twice a day just isn’t realistic anymore.
Of course, I can remember when you wrote a letter and figured you had a week before the response!
That’s it for now, Thursday, March 16, 2017
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
2017 Winter March 15 Wednesday
33 degrees this morning, no walk.
Getting very tired of cold weather, was pleased to hear that warmer winter is coming, but that makes it even harder to wait!
Spring will officially begin at 6:29 a.m., Monday, March 20. Only a couple of more days to wait.
It was strange, I checked for when Spring would begin, ad I ran into a bunch of articles that provided “too much information” but didn’t really answer when Spring began this year. I tried using a slightly different wording and got my answer.
I have to admit the articles were interesting, and included information on the warmest spring, how it is determined when spring arrives, and the history of spring etc.
I have to remember that the answer you get will depend on the question you ask and the wording of the same question can make a difference in the answer!
Thinking more about the idea of “how we learn”. While I think I learn better by writing something out, I need to either hear it or read it first and understand it before I can write it out!
Thinking of advancements, I think technology has changed writing almost as much as anything.
First, the change from pen & paper, or even a typewriter to the computer not only changed the way I wrote but also I’m sure it changed what I wrote.
While I always felt writing “flowed” even when I use a pen, the computer made a major difference n that the words appearing on the screen as soon as they were typed in provided a major source of feedback that influenced what I wrote as well as how I wrote it.
Part of it was the ability to correct errors easily as soon as you made them, instead of using a complicated correction system, you simply hit a key to correct it.
Of course “spell check” etc. even made it easier, although some of the current spell check programs are a little too aggressive and I frequently review what I have written and KNOW I didn’t write the word that came out!
Most of all though, it was seeing the words appear on the screen, from words to paragraphs appearing on the screen and, of course, the ability to change or revise immediately.
Somehow this makes writing have a flow, which is almost musical as you compose and what you say appears on the screen.
Probably it enhanced the ability to write more “free”, since I could change and revise so easily and fast.
On the other hand, it does tend to discourage (or at least not encourage) planning and organization since it is so easy to change everything!
My spelling probably substantially decreased after “spell heck” since the emphasis on spelling decreased since spell check does it for you.
That may be one of the biggest problems with robots and technology, we lose some of our skills since someone/something else takes care of it. On the other hand, that is the major benefit of technology.
That’s it for now, Wednesday, March 15, 2017.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
2017 Winter March 14 Tuesday
35 degrees this morning (feels like 29 degrees) walk 34:01 minutes
Definitely ready for Spring during my walk. Although Spring is technically about a week away (I haven’t looked up the exact time) it certainly isn’t Spring weather right now!
Pace was a 28 seconds a mile faster than expectations. My eventually goal is to reduce my “expected” time by about a minute. This Spring I will be reduced my expected time by a little bit each week and see what I can do.
Without harping on the passage of time too much, I am astounded to look at the calendar and it says “March 14, 2017”! It was actually 20 years ago today when Aliene and I got “officially” engaged, if my memory is correct.
Anyway, the next several months are going to have at least occasional times when it is cool, which makes it hard waiting for Summer to really come.
Of course, it is a matter of perspective, it I lived somewhere where it was a lot cooler, probably the same perspective would think of it as being “cool” until summer arrives.
Listening to the Harvard Business Review articles. Although some of them are relatively ancient, they are still interesting.
Peter Drucker, to name one, always amazes me how he seems timeless in many of his articles and books.
I was thinking about that because of my thinking about “Hill Street Blues” the other morning and many of my favorite novels.
Now, it may take a while, but you suddenly realize there are no “smart phones” or even cell phones. Not everyone has a computer in their home or carry around laptops.
Starbucks probably didn’t exist, “on line” ordering was done by catalogs and maybe by phone, or probably by mail.
I have to admit, I do not yearn for the “good old days”, although there was nothing wrong with it at the time, the advances have been astounding.
Some of the advances are wonderful, some maybe not so good, but I am certainly pleased with most of them.
Thinking about “learning” and how I probably learn by writing it (and in most cases teaching it, or writing to try to pass on the information).
I wish I had realized that years ago when I was in college. Maybe to some degree I did realize it, but I wish I had consciously raised it.
“Spring break” down here. I first realized it when I went to the Mall (as part of my job) and was amazed at the number of people!
Hopefully Spring will also soon be here in reality!
That’s it for now, Tuesday, March 14, 2017.
Monday, March 13, 2017
2017 Winter March 13 Sunday
45 degrees this morning, walk 35:05 minutes.
Light rain when I started walking this morning. Frankly, most days it would have been enough for me to not walk, but after two days of not walking (and two days last Monday and Tuesday)…. I decided I’d walk and take a chance since I could always cut it short.
Instead the light rain stopped shortly after I started walking and I had a nice walk.
It was a “cold” 45 degrees, probably because of the wet weather, there was no real wind.
Walking pace was about 5 seconds slower than expectations.
I have been cutting my nap a little shorter and going to the gym after I post the journal and take a short nap. It is nice.
I have been watching “Dowton Abbey” during my time at the gym (on the stationary bicycle) and also when we stop and drink coffee at Starbucks. I am about half way through it (maybe about 60%) and am already having withdrawal pains as to what I will do after I finish it! Maybe do it again!
Not really, I just don’t watch a lot (or hardly any) movies and this will give me the chance to watch a movie occasionally even if it is over a longer period of them.
I would like to go back and watch the “Hill Street Blues” series, the last tv series I watched, but it would probably be dated, or it may not even be available. I believe it would now be about 35 years since the last episode which is rather hard to believe.
Perhaps I am a little too structured in what I watch/don’t watch, especially since technically I have more time.
I know I am always woefully behind on books I want to listen to, so I rarely listen to “podcasts”, but the last “podcast” I listened to provided me some valuable information and a valuable experience.
The Podcast was about the “Lincoln Summer Home” and I would never have known about it (I don’t believe) if I hadn’t heard the podcast. When we were in Washington DC one time, I went to see it, and the stories surrounding Lincoln and his time at the house made it especially rewarding.
Listening to the Harvard Business Review articles, again reminded that I am a “learner by writing”. He postulates you learn by reading, listening, talking or writing (and a few other minor ways) and one of the weaknesses of our educational system is the failure to address this.
I know I learn by “writing” or teaching it to someone, and rarely forget after that. Probably the reason I always frantically take notes at a meeting. It became a lot better when I started summarizing what I learned for myself and how I would use it in my life.
That’s it for now, Monday, March 13, 2017.
Sunday, March 12, 2017
2017 Winter March 13 Sunday
37 degrees this morning. (feels like 30 degrees). Combination of weather and DST, didn’t walk this morning.
I think one of my concerns is that somehow I will get out of the habit of walking when I miss several days in a row.
I think it goes back to what I was discussing yesterday and where a rule of ‘no exceptions” is appropriate. Obviously when the weather is bad it doesn’t really make any sense to walk and, indeed, most advice is that a break is part of exercise, and is actually necessary and beneficial.
I have felt the benefits of a “break” from exercising too often to disagree with that.
Like always, I think it is how you actually implement “breaks”. I’m not sure how long I have been walking on a regular basis, but it literally goes back to when I was in college, with some breaks, but I doubt if I will stop it now, as long as I am physically able to walk.
Actually, for years I ran, and I can remember my last running, in September of 1996. I caught a very bad cold and basically never ran or jogged again, although by then I was doing a combination of walking and running away. Actually, I always did a combination of walking and running.
Habit is a strange thing and it is easy to let some habits lapse, on the other hand it is easy to let a habit you dislike lapse!
The decent printer we recently bought illustrates the value of buying something that is quality (if you need it). While the quality printer, in absolute terms of money, isn’t that much more than the cheap ink eaters we have been buying, (in percentage terms it is a lot more), it is many times more useful and valuable.
Since we got the decent printer, I have caught up on some items I have wanted to get done and it is so nice to have the printer, copier and scanner readily available. We haven’t figured out exactly how to set up the fax yet. I don’t hardly ever use a fax machine any more, but it is nice to have one if needed.
Almost got my tax returns ready to go yesterday. A couple of minor things I need to find and update and I”ll be ready to go. Of course, I”m not going to sent it in until the last day or at least close to the last day since we will owe money.
I was disappointed in the integrity of Turbotax (Intuit) in raising their prices suddenly on March 16, but then what companies show ethics any more when the national government has a bunch of liars, unethical greedy extortionists and criminals in charge of everything?
I think it really sets a bad tone for the whole country when the so called president (who probably was elected with illegal assistance from Russia) can’t open his mouth without lying and is so anxious for praise he will lie and lives in a world of fantasy.
It probably will take generations for the country to recover, if it ever does.
Anyway, getting the tax return ready this year was relatively painless, thanks to Aliene keeping good records. Painless that is except for the thought of having to pay to support the lying bully’s golf game and frequent trips to enrich himself by unethical use of his own companies facilities.
Light rain throughout the day yesterday, it was a reminder that winter is still here.
I was caught by surprise about DST stating, and wasn’t really aware of it until someone mentioned something Friday night that I realized DST was starting this weekend.
That’s it for now,Sunday, March 12, 2017.
Saturday, March 11, 2017
2017 Winter March 11 Saturday
50 degrees this morning, no walk, light rain, threat of more rain coming in
Although it was 50 degrees or so most of yesterday, it seemed a lot colder than the temperature indicated, primarily due to the wind.
Thinking some more about the HBR article on not making exceptions. Thinking back, I can certainly see where that would have been the right road.
I think the simplest example would be eating, if you “make an exception”, it is very likely you will “make another exception” and eventually lose control of your eating plan all together.
Perhaps the same could apply to driving the car, if your rule is to never speed etc., you won’t “make an exception just this time”.
Kind of goes back to the “X + 1” concept with “+1” when you get caught or have an accident. If you never have “X”, you never have “+1”!
Of course, the concept the author was thinking of was in business where an ethical exception is made “just this once”, or a management rule is violated “just this once due to extenuating circumstances” etc.
If you do have a rule of “never making an exception” to a principle, you have to be lot more careful about what “principles” you have! That may be good in itself, since it would make you think before you decide on principles/standards etc.
However, I can also see where exceptions provided additional varied experience and knowledge that was valuable.
Also, I think some things change over the years, you have to adjust your approach.
I need to review the article again (or at least the concept), it seems that having a “principle” that is a basic part of your life that you will never change and a “principle” or perhaps a standard that may be change as your life changes or you learn and grow as a person or in a position
Obviously I need to do some more reading and thinking on this! Certainly there are some basic standards or principles you would never change (don’t steal, etc.),but there are others that may change, maybe these are behavioral standards that you apply. Anyway, obviously I need to some more thinking on this.
The articles are short, I’ll look at the PDF “study guide” on this and then do some more thinking and reading on it.
I think the second article is also applicable in that people learn by listening, reading and (in my opinion) doing or maybe writing about something or taking notes etc.
In my case, I learn best when I try to explain something someone else, so probably writing in this journal is my way of learning. Even if I don’t always make a lot of sense!
Glad the weekend is here, looks like it may be a rainy day today.
That’s it for now, Saturday, March 11, 2017
Friday, March 10, 2017
2017 Winter March 10 Friday
53 degrees this morning, walk 35:05 minutes
Walk this morning was a little cooler than I expected based on the temperature. Pace was about 2 seconds slower than expected.
Finished my “walking” book yesterday, and, of course, didn’t think about another book until right before I went to ed. I quickly selected the Harvard Business Review “ten articles on managing yourself”.
It was actually a good choice, I enjoyed listening to the first article and started the second. It has some PDF guides on it that will help a lot (I haven’t looked at the PDF yet. Probably need to look at it before I listen any further.)
Several items stuck with me. One was that there is no such thing as doing something “just this one time” My experience is that he is right. There is rarely such a thing as “extenuating circumstances”. The author actually said “never” but I’m not sure if I agree with that.
I do agree that you really can’t do things “just this one time” or you have to develop an entire new principle.
The second one by Peter Drucker mentioned that we learn by “listening”, “reading” or “writing” or a number of other ways..If I understood him right, his opinion was we needed to know how we learn.
Anyway, I”ll need to review the study guide before I listen anymore.
In a way it sounds like Jim Collins, who emphasized “doing what you do best”, rather than spending your time and resources in trying to improve your weaknesses.
I thought he had some great ideas, as usual, the hard part is implementing the program or suggestions on a daily basis!
My experience is that I learn by writing, doing or talking about it after learning something either by listening or reading the information and then trying to talk, write or do what I have learned.
Today is Friday already. Somehow the weeks and then the months just fly.
Another dream, just a snippet, as I don’t seem to be remembering much more than then end of the dream.
Dream 3-9-17 Thursday
At end of dream, I was riding a bicycle and a friend of my mined was riding another bicycle and talking about if I remember the “saber” bike, whatever that was.
Shortly before that I was doing an old yellow compact pickup and had driven on the yard of the house and nudged a tree. A woman had walked out as I was driving up and didn’t seem to see anything unusual about pickup driving on the lawn.
Somehow it suddenly converted to riding a bike.
Don’t recall what I dreamed before that, but it was one of those realistic dreams.
That’s it for now, Friday, March 10, 2017
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