Winter 2015 February 18 Wednesday

25 degrees this morning, 46:22 minutes walking (a little ice occasionally) 

Ice and snow still freezing/refreezing, but basically gone.  Actually relatively nice day yesterday in the afternoon. 

Hopefully it will be nice the next couple of days and this weekend.

This is the weekend of the “Library Book Sale”.  I don’t really need any more books and I don’t intend to buy anything, but I like to go, just being around other book lovers is fun.  

I’m going to take a moment and note how disgusted I am with the Kentucky basketball team as a concept, not necessarily with the players (I don't think much of the coach and what I do is bad).  A bunch of “one and done” basketball players is a pro team, not a college team.  They take the place of college students who really want to go to college and who really want to pl;ay basketball.  

I’m not even sure why I even care, but somehow a bunch of pros for one year just doesn’t seem fair.  What really was irritating  was the announcers fawning over the bunch of pros instead of telling it like it is, that a bunch of pros for one year isn’t really a college team.  

What is really disgusting is how the announcers fawned over the pro team instead of telling it like it is, that it really isn’t a college basketball team, but  a pro team that is going to be gone after one year. 

Speaking of this, I recently read an article about how “faceless”anger is growing.  People make threats etc. against people on the internet and then are shocked when they are taken seriously.   It is like they assume since they don’t know people, (and, except for possibly Facebook,  and public figures )they don’t even know their name

The overall thrust of the article is that many people, especially  if it is against someone who is “faceless” since they aren’t really a “person” to some people, especially when the internet is involved with the high energy anonymous ways of accusing  and attacking people.

Of course, it also carries over to going way overboard in what becomes gang media attacks.  

While we still have some time, we are getting ready for the second round of looking at housing alternatives this week.  There are a lot of factors involved in a decision like this, especially since we don’t have to make a decision if that makes any sense.  

Sometimes computer programs are enough to drive me nuts.  It seems like the persons who are smart enough to develop such wonders could somehow to a better job of conveying  how to operate them and make their self-repairing in a sense.  (I am currently referring to a “time/activity” program, but the same applies to Evernote etc.)

What is ever worse is when, like Apple iTunes, is completely changed and they don’t even bother to tell you of the changes, even when it dramatically changes how you operate it. 

I think they forget, “anything is simple once you know how to do it”.  But if you don’t know, it is as complex as any math problem.

I am slowly but surely reconstituting my “books read” program on the computer.  I looked at all kinds of programs and finally decided I couldn’t beat the  simple spreadsheet on my “Google Apps” although I am sure there  are better programs .  I ‘ll take what I can get    

It will be interesting to see how many books I have read (probably correct to about 20 books either way) in the last 26 years!

That’s it for now, Wednesday, February 18, 2015

                              

Winter 2015 February 17 2015 Tuesday

25 degrees this morning, no walk (snow/ice)

Didn’t walk again this morning, the ice melted and refroze last night and I figure it isn’t worth the chance of slipping someplace on some ice  that may have redeveloped.  

Since we didn’t have to go anywhere yesterday, we didn’t, since the roads were icy most of the day.  It was a holiday anyway, so it was one of those strange days where you stay in the house all day.

I don’t necessarily like or dislike such days, but there are a welcome relief sometimes. 

Yesterday, the paper carrier for some strange reason, threw my paper on the other side of the road from my house (or more logically, it blew of slid over there), so I set here all day and looked at it until it thawed enough this afternoon for me to walk across and get it.  Actually in good shape.

In theory I can read it on the internet, but “e-news” has become so full of “promoted” news, it is almost impossible to read, at least the major local paper.  

It seems they are shooting themselves in the foot, but I guess all they can look at is how many ads they can sell.

I remember when I was a kid, the local papers would carry ads that were obviously basically and obviously fraud come-ons (selling at home etc.), and I always thought they should be investigating them rather than running ads for them.

That are the type of ads they run, you learn fast not to click on them, since they are misleading and frequently are merely ads  for snake oil type products disguised as news.  

I am sure if it had not been a holiday, it would have been a “snow day”, although, since my office is in my house perhaps it is logically that I can’t get a “snow day” as such.  That is ok, I’ll take no snow days and working from my house anytime!

It seemed to warm up and melt yesterday afternoon, but started to freeze again early last night.  

Hopefully, Winter is having it’s last gasp and it will be an early Spring and Summer.  I am ready.

I am back to habits I had years ago, reading 3 and 4 books at the same time (well. I read a chapter or two of one, then go to the other etc.).  It is the “library mode”, so I can finish the library books within the allotted time.  

I  finished Kevin Powers “The Yellow Birds” yesterday, and am reading Evan Osnos, “Age of Ambition, Chasing Fortune, Truth, & Faith in the New China, and Sarah Poter, “How You Can Trade Like a Pro”.  I’m starting H.W. Brands, “Ulysses Grant, the Man Who Saved the Union”, which I may or may not finish due to it’s size.  

Looking forward to a couple of books on fiction (one historical fiction) as soon as they come into the Library.

As I have probably mentioned, the Library here is wonderful, I can put a “hold” on books and recheck them by the internet.  

Back to work today, probably will be an “office day”, not necessarily because of the weather, but because of what I have to do.

Hopefully it will warm up today and the ice and snow will go away.

That’s it for now, Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Winter 2015 February 16 2015 Monday (Snow/Ice, House Hunting, Holiday)

Winter 2015 February 16, 2015  Monday (Snow/ice, House Hunting, Holiday)

22 degrees this morning (8 degrees wind chill), no walk (snow/ice)

Holiday today.  Also freezing rain etc, snow (take your pick) so probably won’t get out much today, depending on what happens later.

Just thinking of odd facts, this is probably the longest I have slept in the same house for a continuous period since 1988.  We have not spent a night elsewhere since late August of 2014, which means we have been her a almost six months and are likely to be here until at least April and possibly June before we stay in a hotel etc.

Not complaining, the thought just went by me this morning.  It is rather an odd fact.  

I actually like hotels, but it is nice to not have to worry about packing and unpacking etc.  

Fortunately, Aliene is a super packer.  (She managed to pack two suitcases that weighed about 49.8 lobs apiece for our trip to China. If it had weighed over 50 pounds, we would have been charged like $75 or more.)  

There have been times when I went on a business trip and Aliene packed my bags into two suitcases (for example), and I’d come back completely unable to get the items back into two bags.  

Looked some more at houses yesterday and starting to at least narrow some decisions down.  We know some basics of what we want and don’t want.  

I had forgotten how much time looking at houses takes.  Actually, one of our favorites (as of today) we found purely by chance.  And this is based on a limited locational area, since we are only looking at a specific area.  

Actually, it is on the fringes of the city we currently live in and not in the city we would like to be in, but we will just need to factor that in also.  

One important factor is if it is close to a YMCA that we would realistically drive to the YMCA.  I would like to be close enough to  bicycle to it (off road) but so far there is only one house which  might be even close, so driving  will help.  

Again, a YMCA close isn’t a deal breaker, just something we would like.  I would like the chance to go swimming in the morning, at lease occasionally and Aliene would like ot participate in “silver sneakers” or similar activities. 

Of course, access to a main road for me to get to work is also a factor.

Anyway,  we are busy considering all he factors involved, and it is fun to discuss it and try to come to a decision. 

This decision is a completely different decision than any decision we have had to make before.  This is the first time we could live anywhere we wanted to regardless of where I worked. 

It is also the first time we hadn’t had to  to consider that we might have to suddenly sell the house if I changed jobs.  It could still happen, but that would be completely voluntarily on our part.  

Unless the weather changes, this probably will be a Holiday in the house!

That’s it for now, a cold and icy Monday, February 16, 2015

Winter 2015 February 15 Sunday

36 degrees this morning 45:22 minute walk

Beautiful day Saturday, I think the temperature got up into the  80’s.  Another day of the Winter of 2015 out of the way!  

It supposed to get cold or even “winterly” today or tomorrow.  

I really don’t see how people in Boston etc. stand living in the kind of winter they have, especially all the snow.

Saturday consisted primarily of funeral services for Aliene’s cousin, including the lunch, services etc.  If there is a way to do this right, they did it right.  It truly was a “celebration” of his life and family and friends gathering to say goodby and to recognize his importance in their lives and the world.  

Aliene and I started to look at houses, we realized that, especially if we buy a house, it is not tearily to find something, by the time we go through all the hoops of offers, inspections, getting a loan etc.  We saw some houses we liked, some we couldn’t afford etc.  

There are both positive and negatives to leasing and to owning, so we will just investigate and see which is best for us.

Looking at my books, wondering which ones I can still “weed”.  I read an article about how you can look at possessions that somehow take ownership of you rather than you control them, as they somehow assume an importance that is difficult to understand.  

As the author noted, once you read a book, you think how much you would enjoy reading it again.  True, but you probably won’t read it again.  As the author mentioned, you can donate them to the library and let the library take care of them!  (Not literally, since most of the books are probably sold for fund raisers, but the thing is, the few books you want ot re-read are  available if you really want to read them.  

There are a few books that I will keep just because I like the book (unfortunately I feel that way about all of them), but I am going to have to set priorities.  

Same with clothes etc.  and other possessions.

Also, I have to think what my friend mentioned to me, that people just don’t care that much for antiques or “stuff”.  (I don’t have many, if any, antiques, I do have a lot of “stuff”

We are looking at a number of living alternatives, all of which could be substantially different in concept, space and  style. 

I think a major thought is just having he flexibility to do what we eventually decided to do,                 and the less stuff we have, the more flexibility we have

That’s it for now, Sunday, February 15, 2015         

Winter 2015 February 14 Saturday ("Our (City) Standards are Lower")

33 degrees this morning, walk 45:31 minutes

Valentines Day and a three day weekend with (hopefully) nice weather!  Couldn’t ask for a better combination. 

`Many times I have complained about the City we currently live in having low planning standards and a lack fo concern for qualify of life for residents.  

You can see it in a lack of connectivity, low traffic standards (not requiring turn lanes etc.), and allow a multitude of signs, not requiring sidewalks and just cheap, crappy development making it an inferior place to live.

I think the City has a very poor record of being open to new ideas, it is just a small closed group making all the decisions.

Even a business writer for the local paper comments (in response to a question on why the architecture and landscaping is so horrible in this city that:

“I think that answer lies in what our local municipalities (suburbs higher standards) will approve to have built in their communities.  That goes for landscaping and those terrible pole signs you see everywhere on busy streets too.  Our standards are lower”.

As I have noticed before, it is very obvious, the city we live in and the city next to us.  You cross the boundary and you can literally see and feel the difference.  Poor planning, poor construction, allowing anything to go as long as it is a business without regard to how it lowers the quality of living here is very evident.  

It is further evident by a very obsolete recycling system, no planning of pedestrian/bike trails, all planning with obsolete standards.  

Like a lot of other people, we are eventually going to vote with our feet and move to a city that cares more about residents than catering to developers who want to build crap and move on.

We do have a funeral today, one of Aliene’s cousins.  We had a gathering last night, which was nice, except for the reason and the services are today.  

Experiences such as this remind me how important it is to value daily experiences and don’t put off experiences or getting together with friends and family, if that is what is important.  

I know from experience how easy it is to get caught up in daily life, when daily activities become so important that you lose sight of the important things, or at least events or activities you don’t want to miss.

That is one thing I really value about my current job (although it may sound odd) is that I can’t work more than 40 hours per week, so I’m not even tempted and I can use my off-time for other activities. 

I am beginning to wonder what I will do after I finish my current “walking book”.  I have been listening to the series so long, I probably feel like it is a part of my life!  When I finish it will have been over 100 hours of listening (actually about 110).  Considering that I listen about 50 minutes per day, that is about 120 days of listening or 4 months.

Put another way, it is 2 1/2, almost 3 “work weeks” of solid listening. 

Actually, I’m sure I will find something else, my walk gives me the chance to experiment.  

One thank about the series, it is not boring.  While I realize the characters aren’t really historical, many of the events are actual events, which is interesting.  

That’s it for now, Saturday, February 14, 2015.

Winter 2015 February 13 Friday (Crocus, Spring, Accidents, Gas)

37  degrees this morning (28 degrees wind chill)  45:27 minutes walking.

One of the Nature areas here yesterday reported the first Spring flower (I call it a crocus, they called it a daffodil), has appeared,  who cares what is it called as the fact it is here!

I am tired of the cold, even though it really isn’t all that cold.

I am looking forward to seeing the first crocus (or whatever) “in the wild” because it means Spring is headed here!

The problem then is just waiting for Spring, or at least warm weather to get here.  Somehow it seems to remain at least fairly chilly until mid May. 

I really like the rush of flowers, tree leaves and grass that erupt as Spring arrives.  It is truly amazing.

Of course it also brings storms, bugs, snakes etc., but I guess that is all part of it.  Of course, the sun, heat, swimming pools being one etc. more than make  up for the negatives j

Observed two accidents happen within 30 minutes yesterday.  The fist was right in back of me (the car that was hit was right in the back of my car) and was fairly minor.

The second was right in front of me and was a four car accident, all a case of  one car hitting the back of the next car.  

For some reason, the first three cares weren’t hardy damaged, the fourth, a pickup was very badly damaged and I’m sure, totaled.  It’s entire front end was damaged and the driver was a little shaken up.

I wonder if the fact the first three cars probably had some “give” and when the pickup hit the back of the 3rd car, they had locked up and didn’t absorb the energy, so the pickup was badly damaged. Whatever it was, the pickup was totaled.  

It was weird because was looking right at them, probably about 30 feet away and even when I heard the “bang”, it took me a while to realize what had happened.

Needless to say, after that I  stopped and took a short break.  I’m not really superstitious but the old saying “things come in threes” is hard to break!

Gas was $1.90 per gallon today, 36 cents higher than when I got it for $1.54.  I assume it will only go higher. 

I was disappointed to learn that the new station near our house an “On Cue” plays the same game every other station other than 7-11 plays, advertising the cheapest gas at (say) $1.90 for the 10% gas, then changing $2.29 for “ what they call “100% gas.  

That is fine, as long as they advertise it.  But then, they charge like .50 to 1.00 more per gallon for “premium unleaded” , which brings it up to over $300.  In my opinion that is almost criminal, it is so misleading

.

Anyway, 7-11  is say, $1.99 for regular, 2.09 for mid-leve1 and 2.29 for premium.  Of course, no one has to purchase premium at other stations, but it seems at least unethical.  

That is why I am only using 7-11 for any an all  gas purchases and anything else I buy from a convenient store that has gas pumps. 

 Watched the “Frontline” show on the process of dying.  It was an excellent show and handled well as to the process of setting priorities when the possibility of years of life left becomes days. 

That’s it for now, Friday, February 13, 2015.

Winter 2015 February 12 Thursday

 30 degrees this morning.  45:56 minutes walking

Colder air is coming in as Winter weather is apparently returning here.  Definitely noted the change to colder weather.

My office (at my house) has a tendency to run hotter than the rest of the house. That has been fine this winder, but may create some discomfort as the weather changes.  (It also gets colder in summer.)

I am reading a book about China and saw a reference to “The Call” , which apparently is what they call it when foreigners become intrigued with China.  Apparently it is not something new.  

Fro some reason my newspapers are arriving relatively early, although nothing like the service I got in Lakeland.  At least, on a normal day, I can finish reading the papers before I go to work.  

Of course, the problem with newspapers is that my interest in the articles “expands with the time available”  (I think I”m saying that right.)  I can skim them, or read more throughly, depending time available.

I’ve found that if I set something aside until I get “A round tuit”, the “round quit” never comes, so I try to read it when I first read it, or if I notice something I”d like save, I put it in Evernote or my reminders.

A wonderful thing about e-newspapers is that  it is easy to s ave information you want later.  Of course, so it is easy and you save too much and don’t get “a round tu it” so the cycle starts again until I purge every thing in a year of so!

I still enjoy reading the paper, although I also like the USA Today web site.  With all of the videos, stories about sports and “celebrities” disguised  as news, it is a quick read, but has some good information sometime, especially about apps etc.

The local paper is offering a $500 bonus to new newspaper carriers, so at least they are trying to recruit some better news carriers.  Except for the time of delivery, I can’t complain about the current carriers.

We realized today how soon we will have to make a decision about our house.  We obviously aren’t looking forward to moving, but will if they try to raise the rent too much or don’t get the driveway fixed.  Or if we find something we really like. Or some combination.  Probably in the overall scheme of things we would like to stay here unless we can find a house we really like.

I like a lot of things about owning a house, including the  tax benefits and that we can make changes we want, but our major concern is earthquake damage.  

We like the location here, the neighborhood and the house, so it would take just the right house to get us to move, if the rest stays the same and and the driveway is fixed.  We are lucky that the management company is really excellent.

I actually forgot that this weekend is a 3 day weekend (Presidents Day).  It will be nice to have a three day weekend.  

I always consider the time after Presidents Day as the “dry period”, since there are no Holidays until Memorial Day, I think the longest period between any holidays.

Of course, there is Spring, etc., so there are a lot of good things to this time period also!

That’s it for now, Thursday, February 12, 2015.

Winter 2015 February 11, Wednesday

45 degrees this morning. 45:35 minutes walking

Working through my “reading list” on Evernote, which includes books I’ve noted I might want to read for the past five years (or more).

I try to review the books and then get them from the Library.  Thus far, I am reading about 1 of 4 books.  There is no magic number I plan on reading.  Almost all of them look interesting, it is just the matter of how much time to I really have to read and I’m setting priorities.  

So far I have WANTED to read all of them, it is a matter of which ones I want to spend the time reading.  

In a way, it is kind of like sorting through books to “weed” to donate etc., except it is the reverse and I am “weeding” the books I am actually going to read.  

The Library Book Sale is next weekend.  I will go, but more for the atmosphere than the books.  There may be a book or two I will buy, but if I don’t buy anything I won’t be disappointed.  They literally have thousands of books and magazines etc.  Sometimes I find some interesting magazines, one year I found a bunch of magazines on the Civil War, so they never really become “old news”. 

I used to volunteer for the Library Book Sale, I didn’t this year.  i am still setting priorities for my time, if that makes any sense.  

I don’t want to get committed to something and then feel hemmed in on my time.  I really want to keep my time open so I can do consulting or writing work.  The fact that I can’t work over 40 hours per week in my job allows me quite a bit of time more than I used to have.  Although I am busy now, I  would like to orient some of my time into using some of my skills, if I can.  

On the other hand, sometimes I resent having my time committed so there I go!  I enjoy going to Toastmasters, but I feel the loss of one night a week, probably a holdover from the times when it was normal for me to have two to three meetings a week, so free evenings were valuable.

Time will tell, I am still learning of possible resources etc. 

I guess it is good that I still occasionally think about what I am going to do ‘when I grow up” rather than concentrating on how I am going to use my time and feeling bored.

I still have a lot of things I have to do, setting up computer equipment etc. , still sorting stuff to donate  etc.

Of course, soon, I will be concentrating on the completing my income tax returns.  As I have mentioned before, it will be an especially difficult year, with two states, some retirement plan conversions, moving expenses, job hunting expenses, car expenses etc.  Fun, fun, fun!

I am listening to the “Edge of Eternity” , the 3rd book about the time from 1900 to 1999 (I never an remember if it is the 20th Century or 21st Century, I think it is the 20th).  Anyway he is up to the Civil Rights movement.  

i never realized until it said it in the book that “Blowing in the Wind” is a protest song about the Civiil  Rights movement. I guess it fits, but I had always taken a broader view of what it meant, but that is the beauty of music. 

Planning on an office day today, hope I can get caught up.

That’s  it for now, Wednesday, February 11, 2014.

Winter 2015 February 10 Tuesday

45  degrees this morning. 45:29 minutes walking

It is interesting how the Internet/Web is replacing my memory for trivia etc.  I notice it in other people  also. 

I simply don’t bother to remember or even write down many items because I know I can find it on the internet faster than I could locate it in any files, even Evernote.

Of course, it also replaces all kind of paper reference books.  

It is convenient and quick to search the web and there are some things I probably would’n even brother to look up if is wasn't  for search engines. 

I like to think if it wasn’t for the search engines I would have a shelf of encyclopedias.  I probably would have but I’m not sure how often I would use them.

I am amazed at what I can find by using even snippets of words or parts of a phrase or name.  

Of course, the problem sometimes is you have five different answers and then you have to decide which is the right one!  Sometimes, they even contradict each other.

I have to comment on the Brian Williams (NBC Anchor) situation.  While I can understand people being upset, angry, disappointed or whatever, and certainly critical,  I really don’t understand the vicious, petty and unwarranted attacks on him.  

If the persons doing the attacks were perfect, they may have a  a reason, but they aren’t.

It isn’t just Brian Williams and NBC news, it is the general reaction on anything like this.  

Certainly it is hard for the cable tv news networks to claim they are so respectable when they lie about their stories, and exaggerate or even make up the facts to suit their point of view.  

I really preferred the time when the news media at least gave the appearance of being neutral and just give the news.  I really don’t need news “interpreted” for me.

Just beautiful weather here.  I went outside today for a little bit and set on the patio and it was wonderful.  Not near as nice as the Lakeland house patio, but, I’ll have to work with what I have.

Cold weather is coming in, but we’ll enjoy the wonderful weather we have here. 

Today will be a “field day”, so I hope the wonderful weather holds today!

Doing my taxes and seeing the impact of taxes on retirement income, if they give a “tax holiday” to businesses to bring money back to the United States, I hope they also give a limited “tax holiday” for retirement income also.  (Lower taxes to move it to an IRA or even just to withdraw it so everything doesn’t cost 30% more!

I certainly am encouraging anyone who will listen that a Roth IRA is the only way to go, other than if the employer gives a “match” for other retirement plans.

That’s it for now, Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Winter 2015 February 9 Monday

41 degrees this morning. 46:49 minutes walking

I read recently that growing old is like boiling a frog in water, except instead of the water getting  hotter, time just keeps going faster.  

Of course, I don’t really feel like I’m “old” yet, so I guess I don’t feel the boiling water yet!

Wonderful weekend overall, weather yesterday (Sunday) was especially nice.  I thought I heard geese (or some kind of birds) flying north this morning, which may mean it will be an early Spring.  I believe the birds before I believe a rodent!

We actually sat outside and read yesterday, it was that nice here.  If the wind had been up, like Saturday, it would have been too cold, but it was very still.

I have been working on my “books read” list, trying to transfer it to the computer.  I forgot how time consuming it was and I am going to follow the same procedure I do on a lot of projects, “if you’re going to eat an elephant, do it one bite at a time”.  

All I have to do is remember to eat a bite each day.  (I remember seeing a quote once that said “start each day by eating a frog, everything else will seem easy” or something like that.)

Nothing in this saying (or the one about frogs) means I endorse eating elephants or boiling frogs.  

That kind of is like eating “duck”, there is nothing more unappetizing than eating duck.  I ordered it once years ago, and I couldn’t eat any more than a bite and I think I spit that out.

That was one Chinese food I didn’t like.  I liked almost everything in China except for anything related to duck or their coffee.  A few hotels had “regular” coffee, but most of them had a machine that split out some wretched combination of coffee, milk, sugar and than frothed it up, it was unbelievably bad.  

On the other hand I developed a real appreciation for Chinese tea, which in most cases came free with the meal.  (Water cost you)  In many cases you could get tea, Coke (or similar carbonated beverage) or beer free with the meal but water cost extra and coffee was unavailable.  

I’m not complaining, I didn’t go to China to have everything the same as in the United States, I”m sure they have the same comments except vice versa when they visit here.   

Speaking of food, we were discussing food allergies with someone the other day and I recently really I am very allergic to “figs”.  Several years ago, someone gave me a fresh, off the tree (bush?) “fig’” and I got really sick.  I just thought it was a chance bad fig, until I had a salad with figs in it a month or so ago, I got really sick.

Maybe too may “fig newton” cookies when I was a kid!.

I plan on fixing my bicycle and start riding on a regular basis again.  I have really missed it.  When I started working, my schedule just didn’t allow my early morning ride, but with my home office now, I can ride in the morning on weekdays.  

When I ride in the morning, I carefully equip the bike with a high intensity helmet light, a head light and high intensity rear light etc.  When we moved, somehow I misplaced the light (I think I accidentally donated it).  Until I started working, it didn’t matter because I rode during the day.

Probably have to have an “office day” today, although it is supposed to be a wonderful day  today.

That’s it for now, Monday, February 9, 2015.

Winter 2015 Februry 8 Sunday (Spicy Farkel and Multi-taskng)

51 degrees this morning, 45.48 minutes walking

Played “Spicy Farkel  last night with our Granddaughter.  It was fun and it bought back the  times we played Spicy Farkel” in Lakeland.  It is fun but brainless enough you can enjoy the conversation etc. also.  It is something we really miss and it was fun playing it with our Granddaughter.  She picked up fast on the game.

Reading the Stephen King book, “Revival”  Thus far, it has really caught my attention, as many Stephen King books do.  I know I have a good one when I am start thinking, this COULD happen, even though it is so far out of the realm  of real possibility, it could possibly happened.

 I probably really like about 75% of King’s books .  He has written several books that are, in my opinion, just  boring or he takes himself too seriously.  However, the overwhelming number of his books are an enjoyable read, which is extraordinary considering how many books he has written.  

Sometime I will need to look and see if have read more books  by him than any other author. It is probably fairly close for 4 or 5 writers.  

Although I don’t so much any more,  I used to find an author  I liked and read all of their past books as well.  Finding a new author I liked was like finding a hidden treasure that could pay off for months of delightful reading. 

Of course there are also authors I liked that I stopped reading.  Some, I just realized I knew the plot and it was just the “same old, same old” and I’d get bored almost as soon as I started reading.  On the other hand, some authors I enjoyed the “same old” plot and looked forward to reading something I know how it would turn out, just the characters are different!  

Looking at my library  of books, I see many I would like to revisit, but I know I won’t (or assume I won’t) since there are just too many new books I haven’t read yet.  That isn’t always true as sometimes I re-read a book and am amazed at what I missed the first time, or sometimes, how “life” has caused me to look at the same circumstances in a different way.

The same is really true of movies etc., while I don’t go to many movies and haven’t re-seen one for a long time, if I had the time, I would like to watch a movie a second time to see what i missed the first time, assuming I liked the general concept of the movie

Movies are another area where we “intend” to see a movie, but somehow miss it when it is at the theatre, miss it on TV and then never watch it on DVD.  

I think part of it is not wanting to commit the time to “only” watching a movie, we have gotten so used to “multi-tasking”, although I understand that actual “multi-tasking” is impossible.

Some things (such as watching a movie ) it tis impossible to “multi=task” at.  While I feel it is possible to work on two projects at once (I do it all the time), I think it probably isn’t really saving that much time, than if I just concentrated on finishing one project and then starting on the next one (or finishing a book and than watching a show etc.) 

On the other hand I know I had to get used to an environment of working on many\ different projects “at th same time” (Maybe said “in the same time period is the best way of putting it).

However, it is just  the way we work, so I believe it is good to learn  that way..

Beautiful day yesterday, except for the  wind.  Looking forward to another splendid day. 

That’s it for now, Sunday, February 8, 2015.