2017 Fall October 9 Monday

2017 Fall October 9 Monday

67 degrees this morning, walk 34:39 minutes

67 degrees is a tough temperature to dress for especially when it follows a 55 degrees morning followed by a warm day. 

Dressed a little warm, but otherwise was an excellent walk.

Pace was 4 seconds slower than the goal.  While I can’t say I met my goal, since I didn’t, this certainly falls into the realm of when something generally meets my goal.  

Overall nice weekend, wish it had been a three day weekend!  I could have used an extra day this weekend.  

While I don’t like having to worry about bad weather, one thing I like about this time of year is the holidays!  From Veterans Day through Presidents Day, I have 7 Holidays. 

As I have mentioned before, while I like my work, I also like the weekends and holidays!

The situation in Washington D.C. is really getting bad when the slimy snake Vice Presidents wastes almost an entire day, $250,000 in plane costs, plus unknown costs for security, football tickets, extra cost of having him around etc. to make some “point” which no one really cares about.

Another game by the lying coward bully.  He is really showing his coward part as he cowers behind twitter, throwing out vicious lying personal insults, too gutless to talk with anyone personally.  

A real embarrassment to America, what a despicable, low life coward hypocrite.  

As Senator Corker says, I just hope we can survive until this lunatic is out of office, hopefully very soon by impeachment or removal for his mental illnesses by the 25th amendment.  Hopefully Senator Corker can cast the vote for conviction of his impeachment.  

What is really scary is the “Nazi Syndrome”, where people kow tow to the lying bully coward hoping they can say later “I was only following orders”.  Not good enough.

I was really ashamed to see the FEMA Director abandon his professional ethics and his probably his personal ethics in a desperate attempt to keep his job as he made fun of a Mayor calling for help.

He should be fired and not allowed to serve in any responsible position, and expelled from his professional organizations.   I really couldn’t believe that he was blowing off and making fun of the Mayor while his agency is obviously incompetent and is unable or unwilling to do his job.

He needs to get off the morning tv shows and do his job.

No water, no food, no utilities and the slimy snake Vice President wasting $250,000 and time that could have gone to providing food and water to desperate people.  What a bunch of hypocrites. 

That’s it for now, Monday, October 9, 2017.

2017 Fall October 8 Sunday

55 degrees this morning  34:55 minutes walk

Coolest morning of the year thus far.  First time I haven’t worn shorts since mid May of this year.  Probably not as cool as I feared, but I like to be ready!  I’d rather be too hot than too cold.

The wind was down this morning, so it didn’t seem that cool.

Pace was 9 seconds faster than my goal pace, which is good.

Recently read about how “for profit” Charter Schools are just literally stealing millions if not billions of dollars by not teaching students and turning in students as “attending” rather than absent.

In some cases, the newspaper investigation indicated they turned in 40 students attending, when there were four and one of them was sleeping.  I am sure it is a common practice, the con men and thieves find an easy rip off.  

Multiple this by a 1,000 similar rip offs or 10,000 and a lot of money is wasted.  I can remember how the “for profit” schools ripped off the student loan program, getting tuition and then not providing an education.  The beat continues.

Of course, meanwhile the extortionist/criminal “de vice” who earned her billions on an illegal pyramid scheme continues to attack public schools and rip off education funds for herself and her cronies.  

Makes you enraged, especially since human lives are being affected by her criminal activities.  Hopefully she won’t destroy the education system like she did in Michigan by bribing state legislatures with contributions and extortion type activities. 

Meanwhile, the response to documented theft by the part of the”for profit” so called education company was basically, “oh my gosh, we’ll have to look at that” by the so called “regulators”. 

Not only is it adversely affecting students for their entire life so thieves can rip off the system with the blessing of the federal government but it puts a bad light on the legitimate Charter schools.  (I doubt there are very many legitimate for profit Charter schools.)

Indeed most of the “for profit” Charter schools appears to be designed to rip off the maximum in public funds, a real shame since it hurts the students.  

Another recent scandal I read was “diversion” programs where instead of prison, persons with drug (and I assume alcohol) problems are sent to supposedly “diversion” treatment programs rather than prison.

Sounds good, except an investigation indicated it basically ended up being a slavery program where they worked for “chicken factories” at no pay and received little if any treatment for their programs. 

Basically the “criminal injustice” system is in cahoots with  chicken factories and judges to provide slaves to work in chicken factories. 

It is so outrageous I wouldn’t have believed it except was in a legitimate state newspaper and I researched it and found it was true, and may even be worse than described.

Again, the response in this state (as with the federal response for charter school ripoff) “oh my gosh, we are gong to have to get around to looking at this”. 

I am going to keep researching this, this is really outrageous and is an abuse of the system.  

That’s it for now, Sunday, October 8, 2017.

2017 Fall October 7 Saturday

65 degrees this morning, no walk (rain and lightning) 

 A little surprised this morning that it was raining again.  Actually the forecast is by daylight it will be over.  

Thinking this morning about the “Community meetings” we had when I was a kid, when everyone gathered together and the adults would meet ad discuss whatever they discussed and we kids would just go and play. 

I think I thought of it due to the  intergenerational aspect of it (I think that is the correct term).  while things change, they remain somewhat the same.  Children continue to play and adults continue to do their thing.

I think the “picture project” (scanning photos to the internet) both in the pictures and also in the fact that our granddaughters are doing it made me ponder on it.  

In many cases the pictures are getting close to (or are over) 100 years old and I have to think that the persons in the pictures would probably never have even imagined what the world would be like today.  

Probably just like we cannot imagine how the world will be even 20 years from now, much less than 100 years!

Of course, any progress has frequently had a reaction that is frequently regressive (look at todays events for proof of that!), so you never know.  

October will include a City Managers conference and a visit to a Formula 1 race (for one day qualifying, not the actual race).  Should be interesting. I am enjoying planning for it anyway!  

It will be nice to go to the conference and see people I have seen for years and it also will be good to catch up on some of the latest thought and techniques for cities, even though I’m not directly involved right now.  

Comparing my two “careers”, I have to say I enjoyed both of them and I have been lucky in finding work I enjoy.  I also have experienced both aspects of an organization, from running one to being a cog in one.  

I would have regretted not experiencing either career, there certainly are benefits to both.  

We rarely or almost never watch any “live” events, even sports.  Since I really don’t read the sports pages and can’t stand the “sports talk” shows,  we can usually watch the taped versions without “spoilers”, although it does happen.

It has surprised us that while pro football and pro basketball (which we don’t watch, although I do normally watch the football playoffs) and college football (which we do watch several favorite teams) have frequently “spoilers” notifications, thus far anyway, we have been able to watch the MLB playoffs without “spoiler” notifications. 

It may indicate a lack of interest in MLB playoffs, or whatever, but we have noticed the lack of “notifications” of MLB playoff scores versus college football, and pro football etc. 

Of course, we are happy about it, for whatever the reason. 

That’s it for now, Saturday, October 7, 2017.

2017 Fall October 6 Friday

71 degrees this morning, walk 35:07 minutes

71 degrees actually felt hot this mooning during my walk.  Not any wind, which could have been the difference.  

Pace was 7 seconds slower than my goal, which I basically consider as meeting the goal.

Of course that brings up the question of “what is the line”.  If I consider 7 seconds slower acceptable, why not 8 seconds, 23 seconds or 58 seconds?  

I actually deal with that every day on where you draw the line before you go to the next step.  Most “lines” aren't as clear as a a time.  Once I go past the time, I think I have to simply say I didn’t meet the goal that day, rather it is one second of 2 minutes.  

Firm criteria are nice to have, but in most cases I have found that they really aren’t appropriate in many cases and that is where the “human” aspect comes in. 

I think robots are great, but I think they have their limitations, and one of the limitations will be limited flexibility in making decisions.  

I have seen “robot thinking”  in the work place where the rules are made for the “exceptions” and not for the “regular ethical behavior” of most employees  and it severely limits productivity and creativity.  This “robot thinking” is by human beings of course.  

Perhaps I am not being fair to robots here!  Actually, the type of thinking that seems to prevail in some workplaces is not “robot thinking”. but inflexible human behavior and assumptions about human behavior, perhaps based on what they would think they would do.

Actually, I am surprised the use of robots hasn’t advanced more than it has based on predictions when I was young.  

Perhaps the limitations on “flexible” situations has been as difficult for robot development as it has been for human being decision making.

I don’t know really what I expected.  Unlike “self driving cars”.  I really thought “self driving” cars would be reality by the mid to late 60’s, instead of driving the same basic concept (although much improved) even in 2017.  

Over 20 years ago, it had been feasible for some time to control an airplane from takeoff to landing without human intervention, so it has always puzzled me on why there has’t been more products developed on that concept.

Weekend is almost here again.  Seems like the week has just started and it is Friday already!  

That’s it for now, Friday, October 6, 2017.      

2017 Fall October 5 Thursday

2017 Fall October 5 Thursday

72 degrees this morning.  Walk 35:22 minutes

Rain almost all day yesterday, heavy at times.  Glad it was an “office day” for me!  Rain makes “field day” very difficult.

The weather app was saying rain this morning also, but at it didn’t rain, at least while I was walking and it still is’t raining.  Somehow, I think my weather app is stuck in another location or it is wrong a lot.

Pace was 18 seconds slower than my goal pace.  I knew this morning I wasn’t walking at a high lope as they say, so it didn’t surprise me.  Humidity was 94%.

Surprised to learn that Formula 1 races will be on ESPN etc. next year rather than the NBC Sports or whatever it is.  One of the things I like about the Formula 1 races is the quirkily announcers (my terms) and was originally one reason I started watching them.  

Hopefully they wont’t try to hype it up and make it something it isn’t in an attempt to become just another slick sports event. 

I always thought that sports were be a lot better without the announcers, so many times they interfere with the event.  A very few enhance it.  

Frankly, we have enough slick sports events which, if you really think about it, is basically meaningless.  

I was surprised the other day when the local paper used almost 75% of the front page to announce a contract extension (or something like that) for the local pro basketball team.  

I realize the impact of a pro major league team on a city, but it seems they are overreacting q  bit to basically what is a contrived game.  I don’t have anything against it, except when the cable tv fees are increased to pay for something I never watch!  

Actually, it always surprises me the relatively low percentage of the population that watches or follows sports.  The news coverage makes you think it is a lot more important than it actually is. 

I saw something on Facebook the other day that I knew was an absolute lie.  It was supposedly from an “internet newspaper”.  I have learned not to believe anything I read or see unless is it on one of the “legitimate” news sources.  It seems that advertisers would be more careful in what type of material they support. 

In this case, it was so stupid that anyone should have known it was a lie, but it was accepted as true by a lot of people, who probably wanted to believe it could happen or had happened.  

Hopefully the day will be relatively dry, I think there has been enough rain fro awhile.

That’s it for now, Thursday, October 5, 2017

2017 Fall October 4 Wednesday

 2017 Fall October 4 Wednesday

74 degrees this morning, rain, no walk.

Rain resumes again.  Definitely means the sprinkler system is off until next Spring, meaning we won’t continue wasting water on keep grass unnaturally green.

Speaking of “aging”, I am always surprised at the advice provided to “older people”.  I consider “older people” about 10 years older than me, but I think the advice givers are thinking in the range of 62 years or so.

One is to pay off your house and don’t have a mortgage.  If you live in the same house, that is great, but I really don’t see the problem with a mortgage with guaranteed house payments (well, for the principle and interest anyway).  Insurance and tax etc. are sure to increase no matter what you do.  

Frankly, I don’t understand the reasoning why you should stretch to pay off your mortgage, especially when interest rates are low.  Nothing wrong with paying off your mortgage or renting, just don’t see the reason for the “special” advice for older persons.  

Another weird recommendation is maintaining  a certain “percentage” of your investments in bonds.  Obviously, I understand the need to have enough in some type of steady investment that you own’t have to sell at a loss in the event of a down market.  However,, saying a certain percentage should be in “bonds”  (which really can vary a lot in value) doesn’t make a lot of sense, unless you are using them for income and plan on holding them to maturity.

However, for the average person over 62, 65 or whatever it doesn’t make  lot of financial sense to have “40% bonds” or whatever just because of your age. 

Several years ago, I saw a question by a City Manager about “what do you do about employees health insurance when they reach 65 years of age”, basically saying we qualify for medicare when we are 65, so somehow that is different want employees over 65 years old should be screwed and have inferior insurance because you can do it.

Only one person said the “correct” answer, “treat them like everyone else!”  Everyone else had some pet formula for treating employees “different”  when they become 65 years of age, meaning save money by providing inferior benefits, even though they expect the same work!  For the first time, I felt ashamed of City Managers

Fortunately, I haven’t worked for any employer who believes that a person becomes a second class citizen when they reach 65 and so should have some kind of “special” (read cheaper for the employer) treatment on health insurance.  We are expected to work just as hard regardless of our age!

Anyway I guess age is one thing that, if you’re lucky, everyone will eventually become older, so it is “karma” when someone who has discriminated based on age etc. becomes older and is in turn discriminated against.  

This came to mind when a person about 20 years younger than me told me “getting old isn’t for sissies”.  It is difficult enough without discrimination and “special” treatment and advice to make it worse!

That’s it for now, Wednesday, October 4, 2017.

2017 Fall October 3 Tuesday

2017 Fall October 3 Tuesday

75 degrees this morning, walk 35:10 minutes

Windy this morning, making even 75 degrees seems somewhat cool, although it wasn’t that strong of a wind that it was an unpleasant walk.

Pace was 17 seconds slower than my goal.  The wind may have been a factor or just one of those days.  

What surprises me about the “pace” is that it is a “per mile” time, so when I am 17 seconds slower than my goal, I actually am 17 seconds times the number of miles.  It puzzles me that my pace would differ by as much as 30 seconds a mile, although it actually differs by an average range of around 20 seconds per mile.

I still am debating changing my “goal”.  There is no use having a goal I can’t or won’t meet.  I was going to say I don’t want to have a goal that I always meet, although there is nothing wrong with that, now that I think about it.

Depends on how you define “goal” or what you expect from a “goal”. 

Learned about the “wind” in this state yesterday and why we cough so much more here than we did in Memphis.

Apparently the wind carries all kinds of mold, debris and grass and trees pollen (and whatever else) from a long ways.  My Doctor told us yesterday “samples” of wind have found pollen from trees which only grow in Arizona!  

As I mentioned previously, I watched “Dowton Abbey” while I was in Starbucks, while stationary cycling etc.  

After I finished that series (very enjoyable) I watched some junk movies and then I started watching the series “the Sopranos” an HBO series about a mafia family.  Why I started watching it, I don’t know, I literally never watch regular shows or series on tv.  

Actually the last series I watched on tv was “Hill Street Blues” , which ended probably 30 years ago.  I still remember it with affection, although I”m sure things have changed so much (cell phones, computers, cultural etc.) I wouldn’t care for it even if I could find to stream, which I’m sure I could.

Anyway, the idea of the “normal”  life of mafia kind of intrigued me, including the fact the “Boss” sees a therapist.  

I am about on the 3rd season, actually almost done with the 3rd season.   While the jarring difference in their life was rather interesting, some of the needless and excessive violence is rather disturbing. Of course, I have to keep reminding myself that it is fiction, probably designed to appeal to the lowest violent impulses in people without losing the audience.  

Of course one of the “sidebars” on the background on the Sopranos (I’m watching it on Amazon Prime, which is another story) noted that one of the purposes of the producers was to just create such a reaction to the casual violence.  

That’s it for now, Tuesday, October 3, 2017. 

2017 Fall October 2 Monday

 2017 Fall October 2 Monday

70 degrees this morning, walk 35:01 minutes

First and most important, Happy Birthday to Aliene!  This is the 20th of her birthdays we have celebrated together!  

Warmed up some over the weekend, 70 degrees is a difficult temperature to decide how to dress etc.  Wind was up a little, making it cooler.  

Still, it was excellent weather for a walk, and I really enjoyed it.

Pace was two seconds below (faster than) my goal.  

I seem to almost always be within 15 seconds or closer on my goal pace.  As I have noted, I don’t know if that means it is basically  a “correct goal” or if it just means it is a comfortable zone for me.  

Just heard about the shootings in Las Vegas, 20 dead, 100’s injured.  Not sure what we can do about it, but it seems that something could be done.  Hard to imagine the sub-animal people who do such things.  Worse yet, the people who financially support such activities.  

Start of the work week, as I mentioned, the weekend sped by.  Sometimes I wonder what it will be like to be “retired” and not have a defined schedule. Of course, even when I “retire”, I plan on doing something that will have some type of schedule.  

Preparing for a speech at Toastmasters tonight.  Every time I prepare and present a speech, I am aware again of the effort that goes into every speech and other roles at the meeting.  

There is always a big difference between giving a “manual speech” and a “non-manual speech”.  As expected, it is is a lot more difficult to prepare and present a “manual speech” that it is to make a “non-manual speech”.

Even if you are kind of loose about following the manual for a manual speech, it is much more difficult to do a manual speech  I always an enthused when I sign up but than as the week goes by and the meeting approaches, i usually lose some of my enthusiasm.

Like everything, I feel it is better to have the discipline of following he manual and making variations as necessary.  

That’s it for now, Monday, October 2, 2017.

2017 Fall October 1 Sunday

2017 Fall October 1 Sunday

67 degrees this morning, walk 34:56 minutes.  

Actually warmer this morning, although it still feels cool out, dressed for cooler weather.  

Thought about sitting on the patio, but …. not quite that warm!  Have to wait and see if I will be able to sit on the patio (in the early morning) again before late next Spring.

Pace was 14 seconds slower than my goal.  Somehow, the goal must be about right, although I still wonder changing the goal (lower) would provide a psychological change in my walking speed.

October 1,  the year is just speeding by. 

Thinking about my unfinished projects, one project is taking picture of my “Hot Wheels” and hats. 

While I make occasional progress, on the the major problems is that I’ not really satisfied with the quality of my pictures and I haven’t found the right setup to take the pictures, with the right lighting etc. 

I believe it is a matter of sacrificing quality for getting the project done.  I think getting the project done is important, but I”d like the pictures to be reasonably good also.

Ditto with the hats, although the picture isn’t quite as difficult.  For this project, it is just a matter of showing he right angle etc.

It has developed into the age-old matter of do I finish the project just to finish it, or do I take my time and do it in the manner I feel like it should be done?  In this matter, there are no deadlines, other than self-imposed.

Recently I purchased three shirts from Men’s Wearhouse at what I thought was a good price on a “2 for 1” sale, which I figured was their best price so I bought 3 shorts (They were 2 for 1 and you could purchase additional at 50% off.) 

I was astounded to get an e-mail  yesterday saying the shirts were on sale now for 3 for the price I had paid for two, which means I had paid a substantial amount more than the special sale. 

In addition to feeling like I had been taken, I also now wander about the quality of the shirts.  I decided I will never buy any more clothes from Men’s Wearhouse since I have doubts about the quality their product as well as feeing like I have been taken by them and I will always be suspicious about the quality of the shirts.  . 

A good reason never to trust a company.  

A related comment about one of my credit card companies, Citibank.  They trumpet a benefit called “price rewind” where supposedly they will pay the difference if you find a better price within 60 days (if you use their credit card).

Of course, there are so many “got cha” small print exceptions and rules, you never really receive any meaningful  refund.  In fact, in regard to a iPad we bought for my wife and my desktop computer, the differences were substantial, but for some mysterious reasons they were “not approved”.

Of course, also, by some mysterious procedure, I was never notified of the reason (although they advised me they had “sent a letter” that I never received in both cases.

I really think they had more claims then they expected so they suddenly found “exceptions” to their promise. 

Doesn’t do a lot for my faith in either company.

That’s it for now, Sunday, October 1, 2017.