I have been reading a lot of articles about artificial intelligence and how people are using AI to enhance their productivity. Also articles on how people are using AI to confide in and journal with, and to gain insights into their own lives with.
I've read articles about people losing their minds and going into psychosis because they put all of their belief in a computer-based artificial intelligence. Come on! just like with any tool it comes with good and bad effects. People who overuse it or use it for improper things or put unfulfilled beliefs in it usually get different and odd results. Like the people that are outliers that are ending up in psycho wards and that sort of thing.
But there's a lot of hype about AI these large language models that have soaked up all the data that their creators can feed them, whether it was legal or not, spit out really cool responses that seem very realistic and very useful.
I use AI in a information tidbits so that I can have my phone whisper things in my ear to help me learn stuff. For a long time I had to go and search for individual websites, capture what was on the website into a text file, edit it so that it was in the right format, and then feed it to my system. Now with AI I ask for a list of facts and it spits out a list of facts very easily in a format that I can easily adapt to what I'm doing.
I did give in and subscribe to one of the voice recording systems that has an AI with it. They offer the ability to get insights from your notes and the ability to quickly summarize transcriptions into action items and emails and the like. I've been using that for about six months. Recording my thoughts about trips and feelings and other things happening in my life.
So I went to the AI in that system and asked it what the overall vibe was of my notes. I figured I would put it to work and let it give me some feedback on what I sound like to the machine. The response was pretty positive.
The AI said that my notes reflect a balance of excitement for new experiences and a thoughtful navigation of personal and practical improvements. It also pointed out that I am learning to value a softening approach, pausing rather than constantly pushing, and this indicates to the AI a maturing perspective towards self-compassion and incremental growth.
I really liked its response! But this response reminded me of another article or two that I've read about the dangers of using AI to analyze journals and feelings and possibly as a therapist thing.
The articles warned that The AI is seeking to give you an answer that you want and can quickly turn into an echo chamber of whatever you're thinking about and desiring to hear others say. So I chuckled at the response of the AI to my notes, filed it away, and moved on.
I don't really get into echo chambers, but I do like it inside my bubble.
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Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Friday, August 21, 2026
My kaleidoscope ~
I remember having a kaleidoscope when I was growing up. I loved to take it to a bright window and put it up to my eye and spin it to make the designs change inside of it. So many colors and so many changes.
I always wondered how it worked but then I just enjoyed looking at it and then I'd put it away and move on to something else just like kids do. Over the years I've enjoyed putting screensavers on my computers.
Sometimes I'd put a kaleidoscope but it would be too much for the people around me so I would turn it into something else. Now, I enjoy playing a kaleidoscope video on YouTube on my living room TV.
Relaxing and trippy all at the same time.
Fun!
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I always wondered how it worked but then I just enjoyed looking at it and then I'd put it away and move on to something else just like kids do. Over the years I've enjoyed putting screensavers on my computers.
Sometimes I'd put a kaleidoscope but it would be too much for the people around me so I would turn it into something else. Now, I enjoy playing a kaleidoscope video on YouTube on my living room TV.
Relaxing and trippy all at the same time.
Fun!
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Monday, August 17, 2026
Tinting my own windows ~
I remember when I was a teenager, or maybe 20, tinting my own car windows. It was a four-cylinder Subaru hatchback and my father and grandfather had convinced me when I bought it that a four -cylinder engine couldn't support an air conditioner because the air conditioner would cause the engine to burn up.
So I drove around central Florida in a hatchback with no air conditioning. Every time I drove to work I prayed for green lights.
One summer I really wanted to have tinted windows but I really didn't want to pay somebody to do it because that was expensive. I saw in the Sears catalog where I could order window tinting. The write-up made it seem like it was a pretty easy process even though I had no idea what I was doing. I ordered the window tinting and anxiously waited.
When it came in I backed the car into the driveway of my mom and dad's house. I spread everything out on the dirty garage floor because I didn't think that I needed to sweep in order to do this. There were no surfaces to lay the window tinting on to work with it.
And so I of course laid it on the floor of the dirty garage. And while I was going back and forth to the directions and the window tinting and cleaning my car windows, getting them ready, once I peeled the window tinting backing off of the sheet that was going to go in my back window, I had to go over and get something off of the freezer that was in the garage.
And I didn't think about it, I just kind of stepped over the window film and my foot sprinkled granules of sand all over the sticky side of the window tinting. I put it in the window and went to smooth all the bubbles out and could not smooth them out very well because of the sand.
There was no extra window tinting to use to do it again and so I ran with it and just put it in with the sand and the bubbles. The side windows I did better on and didn't get any sand in them and I got most of the bubbles out of them.
In Florida you could do the front windows so I did the front windows too and that turned out okay. But I had to ride around with the windows up and it was hot and that was a rough few days while I waited for the window tinting to dry.
But I did it! I was successful in tinting my own windows. I looked through bubbles every time I looked in the rear view mirror and most of the time I'd be upset with myself. But sometimes I actually laughed about it and just kind of shook my head.
Even today after so many years I'll go to do something and I'll think, "Hmm I need to think through this one more time so I don't mess it up like I did that window tinting." And by mess it up I mean make it not look as cool as it could have.
It worked and it looked awesome to me. I like bubbles :-)
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So I drove around central Florida in a hatchback with no air conditioning. Every time I drove to work I prayed for green lights.
One summer I really wanted to have tinted windows but I really didn't want to pay somebody to do it because that was expensive. I saw in the Sears catalog where I could order window tinting. The write-up made it seem like it was a pretty easy process even though I had no idea what I was doing. I ordered the window tinting and anxiously waited.
When it came in I backed the car into the driveway of my mom and dad's house. I spread everything out on the dirty garage floor because I didn't think that I needed to sweep in order to do this. There were no surfaces to lay the window tinting on to work with it.
And so I of course laid it on the floor of the dirty garage. And while I was going back and forth to the directions and the window tinting and cleaning my car windows, getting them ready, once I peeled the window tinting backing off of the sheet that was going to go in my back window, I had to go over and get something off of the freezer that was in the garage.
And I didn't think about it, I just kind of stepped over the window film and my foot sprinkled granules of sand all over the sticky side of the window tinting. I put it in the window and went to smooth all the bubbles out and could not smooth them out very well because of the sand.
There was no extra window tinting to use to do it again and so I ran with it and just put it in with the sand and the bubbles. The side windows I did better on and didn't get any sand in them and I got most of the bubbles out of them.
In Florida you could do the front windows so I did the front windows too and that turned out okay. But I had to ride around with the windows up and it was hot and that was a rough few days while I waited for the window tinting to dry.
But I did it! I was successful in tinting my own windows. I looked through bubbles every time I looked in the rear view mirror and most of the time I'd be upset with myself. But sometimes I actually laughed about it and just kind of shook my head.
Even today after so many years I'll go to do something and I'll think, "Hmm I need to think through this one more time so I don't mess it up like I did that window tinting." And by mess it up I mean make it not look as cool as it could have.
It worked and it looked awesome to me. I like bubbles :-)
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Thursday, August 13, 2026
Cashew nuts ~
I remember when I was growing up that getting cocktail peanuts during the holidays was a special treat. It was always fun because they were salted and they tasted so good.
As we got older my brother and I would demolish a can of them! My mother actually had to restrict us and say you can only have a few at a time. My mother liked cashew nuts but because they were more expensive she didn't really get them very often. Sometimes she would receive them as a gift at Christmas. Sometimes she would buy a can and tell us that we could only have one or two cashew nuts because she had bought them for herself as a treat. She said they were her favorite. And we respected that and would go through the Spanish peanuts or the cocktail peanuts fast like we did.
But I never knew what the difference was between all of those different kinds of nuts.
As I've gotten older I've learned to enjoy Brazil nuts where I didn't really like them very much growing up. They were so dry! But they're actually quite good and make an enjoyable snack in the afternoon. I never liked pistachio nuts. I still don't like to have them in the shells but if I spend the money and get them already out of the shell they're actually really good.
But I didn't know that cashew nuts were so different from other nuts. I learned just before a trip to Guyana about how cashew nuts are actually part of an apple and that they stick outside of the bottom of this small apple.
And I was amazed after learning that at the age of 60 to meet someone on a trip less than a month after learning about how cashew nuts are actually grown who had a tree that he grew cashew nuts and apples on. We talked about how different that was with the nut poking out of the bottom of the apple.
It's amazing all the fun things you can learn through reading and scanning through different things on the internet.
I enjoyed learning about cashew nuts.
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As we got older my brother and I would demolish a can of them! My mother actually had to restrict us and say you can only have a few at a time. My mother liked cashew nuts but because they were more expensive she didn't really get them very often. Sometimes she would receive them as a gift at Christmas. Sometimes she would buy a can and tell us that we could only have one or two cashew nuts because she had bought them for herself as a treat. She said they were her favorite. And we respected that and would go through the Spanish peanuts or the cocktail peanuts fast like we did.
But I never knew what the difference was between all of those different kinds of nuts.
As I've gotten older I've learned to enjoy Brazil nuts where I didn't really like them very much growing up. They were so dry! But they're actually quite good and make an enjoyable snack in the afternoon. I never liked pistachio nuts. I still don't like to have them in the shells but if I spend the money and get them already out of the shell they're actually really good.
But I didn't know that cashew nuts were so different from other nuts. I learned just before a trip to Guyana about how cashew nuts are actually part of an apple and that they stick outside of the bottom of this small apple.
And I was amazed after learning that at the age of 60 to meet someone on a trip less than a month after learning about how cashew nuts are actually grown who had a tree that he grew cashew nuts and apples on. We talked about how different that was with the nut poking out of the bottom of the apple.
It's amazing all the fun things you can learn through reading and scanning through different things on the internet.
I enjoyed learning about cashew nuts.
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Sunday, August 9, 2026
Fake luxury ~
I think I realized or I figured out why so many people are getting tattoos. It appears to be a pursuit of fake luxury. Because people see it on their entertainment and the people that they admire are the rebels that have these things and they want to emulate them.
It's almost as if they want to express their individuality by being just like everybody else. I've thought that about nose rings lately too. All these young ladies piercing their noses in different places.
I remember I had a cousin who got earring piercings on her ears all the way around the ear. Then she'd get upset when people looked at her. But it just looked weird. It's like all these tattoos.
When I see them I feel bad because they look dirty and they look like criminals and they look like they're trying to be something that they're not. I understand people wanting to memorialize loved ones or what they think are exciting moments in their lives.
But to do it by covering part of your body with an image that will fade and costs quite a bit of money just doesn't compute for me.
And that's okay. I don't have to have a tattoo. I hope they enjoy theirs.
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It's almost as if they want to express their individuality by being just like everybody else. I've thought that about nose rings lately too. All these young ladies piercing their noses in different places.
I remember I had a cousin who got earring piercings on her ears all the way around the ear. Then she'd get upset when people looked at her. But it just looked weird. It's like all these tattoos.
When I see them I feel bad because they look dirty and they look like criminals and they look like they're trying to be something that they're not. I understand people wanting to memorialize loved ones or what they think are exciting moments in their lives.
But to do it by covering part of your body with an image that will fade and costs quite a bit of money just doesn't compute for me.
And that's okay. I don't have to have a tattoo. I hope they enjoy theirs.
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Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Clean comedy is fun ~
My wife and I have enjoyed watching Drybar Comedy on YouTube for two or three years now. We've developed a habit of watching an episode or two of a series on a streaming service and then just before we go to bed, we'll switch over to YouTube and look at the latest drybar comedy offerings and pick something to watch.
Funny comedians. Good crowds. But it is funny how so many of the jokes end up talking about farts, or toilets, or that sort of thing.
But it's a lot of fun!
It's also funny watching comedians from outside of the clean comedy crowd go to Drybar Comedy and do a routine. Most of them do fine. Some talk about how they're not supposed to say certain words. One of the funniest ones like this was Adam Carolla,
And we did see Jeff Allen live near where we live. We've gone to a couple of clean comedy shows at churches near us. They were not even close to the caliber of Drybar Comedy, but they were still fun.
But it's funny after watching clean comedy for so long, watching "regular" comedy again. And when every punch line ends with or starts with the f-word or some other curse word, it's just not the same. We watched one show on YouTube that was not Drybar Comedy, and we actually turned it off because we didn't want all those words floating around in our living room. We're not prudes, but it just didn't seem as much fun to us that time.
We were on a cruise once, and one of the comedians had been on Drybar Comedy, and we had seen his bit. So we made the effort to go to one of his shows. We were disappointed that he was foul-mouthed and derogatory and negative instead of how he had been on Drybar Comedy.
I get it. It's hard to just tell stories and jokes and not fall into the pattern of everybody else.
Like I said, I'm no prude. I can let fly with some words that will curl your nostril hairs if I hit my thumb with a hammer or get hit by a car. But we really enjoy Drybar Comedy. One day we want to go out to Provo and see it live.
Check it out at
https://www.youtube.com/@DryBarComedy
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Funny comedians. Good crowds. But it is funny how so many of the jokes end up talking about farts, or toilets, or that sort of thing.
But it's a lot of fun!
It's also funny watching comedians from outside of the clean comedy crowd go to Drybar Comedy and do a routine. Most of them do fine. Some talk about how they're not supposed to say certain words. One of the funniest ones like this was Adam Carolla,
And we did see Jeff Allen live near where we live. We've gone to a couple of clean comedy shows at churches near us. They were not even close to the caliber of Drybar Comedy, but they were still fun.
But it's funny after watching clean comedy for so long, watching "regular" comedy again. And when every punch line ends with or starts with the f-word or some other curse word, it's just not the same. We watched one show on YouTube that was not Drybar Comedy, and we actually turned it off because we didn't want all those words floating around in our living room. We're not prudes, but it just didn't seem as much fun to us that time.
We were on a cruise once, and one of the comedians had been on Drybar Comedy, and we had seen his bit. So we made the effort to go to one of his shows. We were disappointed that he was foul-mouthed and derogatory and negative instead of how he had been on Drybar Comedy.
I get it. It's hard to just tell stories and jokes and not fall into the pattern of everybody else.
Like I said, I'm no prude. I can let fly with some words that will curl your nostril hairs if I hit my thumb with a hammer or get hit by a car. But we really enjoy Drybar Comedy. One day we want to go out to Provo and see it live.
Check it out at
https://www.youtube.com/@DryBarComedy
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Saturday, August 1, 2026
Like Bruce the shark ~
Sometimes I feel like I identify with characters and movies and stories so that I can explain why I am the way that I am. One that I've happened upon recently is identifying with Bruce the shark in the animated movie Finding Nemo.
I love that movie even though it's got the whole Disney sadness in it and people work from that place of sadness to a place of happiness. But as Nemo's dad makes his way with Dory to go and find and rescue his son, they meet these sharks that are having a shark anonymous meeting and it's like they're in a 12-step program trying to avoid eating fish.
That's kind of the way I feel when I meditate or when I try to go through those things that are supposed to help me stay calm and not react strongly or just not lose it. I feel like Bruce. I get that scent of blood in the water, or challenge in my face, and off I go.
I was trained and honed into a relentlessly driven performance machine that could solve everything so that it all turned out okay in the end every time. I did that through a lot of methods, and at times I did have to be emotional about it where that's frowned on now.
It actually works in the short term, which is where I lived most of my life in the short term. But I like that analogy because it encapsulates my experience. I don't like the analogy of being like Bruce because I'm not an addict and I don't look for opportunities to get upset, or at least I try not to.
It just happens. And my strategies of staying quiet and not saying anything fall apart when I'm in pain. I'll have to think through this a little bit more.
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I love that movie even though it's got the whole Disney sadness in it and people work from that place of sadness to a place of happiness. But as Nemo's dad makes his way with Dory to go and find and rescue his son, they meet these sharks that are having a shark anonymous meeting and it's like they're in a 12-step program trying to avoid eating fish.
That's kind of the way I feel when I meditate or when I try to go through those things that are supposed to help me stay calm and not react strongly or just not lose it. I feel like Bruce. I get that scent of blood in the water, or challenge in my face, and off I go.
I was trained and honed into a relentlessly driven performance machine that could solve everything so that it all turned out okay in the end every time. I did that through a lot of methods, and at times I did have to be emotional about it where that's frowned on now.
It actually works in the short term, which is where I lived most of my life in the short term. But I like that analogy because it encapsulates my experience. I don't like the analogy of being like Bruce because I'm not an addict and I don't look for opportunities to get upset, or at least I try not to.
It just happens. And my strategies of staying quiet and not saying anything fall apart when I'm in pain. I'll have to think through this a little bit more.
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