One of the challenging things that I deal with in myself is that I actually watch and listen when people talk. I think about what they say and what they do, and then I act accordingly. If someone says they don't like a certain thing, then I try not to do that thing.
If someone says they feel left out, I do what I can to include them more and more. I like to help, and that gets me in trouble too because a lot of people don't want my help. Often, people will say things in passing and I pick up on it and I react to it and I plan and act accordingly.
And then they act surprised. And they say, that's not what I meant at all. And I have to explain, it's what you said. You were very clear and very adamant. To me, actually paying attention by listening and watching is respect.
I don't see a lot of respect from other people nowadays toward me or towards anyone around them. I was told recently and I've read in a couple of places that in our society our attention span has fallen below the attention span of a goldfish.
Scientists have studied goldfish and through their observations concluded that goldfish have an attention span of about nine seconds. With our devices and our screens and other distractions all around us scientists have determined that humans in our society can only pay attention for about 8.4 seconds. Less than a goldfish.
I'm not a goldfish and I'm not going to let a goldfish be better at paying attention than me.
https://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish/
+++
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Friday, May 1, 2026
Music tastes have changed ~
As I have gotten older my music tastes have changed. I like a lot more instrumental music. I like a lot more relaxing music. And I don't really like a whole lot of words,
Once I got away from a lot of the songs that I listened to when I was younger, and then I went back to them, I realized how sad so many of them were. They told about sex, or chasing a woman, or losing a woman, or drinking alcohol. But so many sad songs. Great beats, great riffs, sad lyrics.
One of the things I've been trying to do is change the way that I think away from the negative to the positive. It's challenging, because I'm a "what could happen" kind of guy, and I think of lots of scenarios, including the bad ones.
I still enjoy my music, but I tend to listen to instrumental stuff a whole lot more now, just so I can get away from those words programming my brain that my wife is going to leave me for somebody else, or I need to have a drink of alcohol, or I need to do this or that.
It's kind of like with advertising, I've gotten to where my bubble is pretty well defined and I don't let in a whole lot of advertising. When I end up in a situation where I see commercials on a screen, I love the ones on TV if it's really TV but the ones on YouTube I've eliminated through a subscription and I really don't like having everything interrupted.
Social media has gotten to a point where it's almost every other thing that you scroll through is an ad. I don't like that so I've tuned out a lot of social media.
But the lyrics of the songs just get me now when I pay attention and really listen to those songs that I loved. I still listen to some of them. I have a jams playlist that I play when I'm mowing. I enjoy putting on rock and roll when I'm driving around in my car. But I really don't like letting those thoughts in.
I've come so far I don't want to jeopardize the progress that I've made.
+++
Once I got away from a lot of the songs that I listened to when I was younger, and then I went back to them, I realized how sad so many of them were. They told about sex, or chasing a woman, or losing a woman, or drinking alcohol. But so many sad songs. Great beats, great riffs, sad lyrics.
One of the things I've been trying to do is change the way that I think away from the negative to the positive. It's challenging, because I'm a "what could happen" kind of guy, and I think of lots of scenarios, including the bad ones.
I still enjoy my music, but I tend to listen to instrumental stuff a whole lot more now, just so I can get away from those words programming my brain that my wife is going to leave me for somebody else, or I need to have a drink of alcohol, or I need to do this or that.
It's kind of like with advertising, I've gotten to where my bubble is pretty well defined and I don't let in a whole lot of advertising. When I end up in a situation where I see commercials on a screen, I love the ones on TV if it's really TV but the ones on YouTube I've eliminated through a subscription and I really don't like having everything interrupted.
Social media has gotten to a point where it's almost every other thing that you scroll through is an ad. I don't like that so I've tuned out a lot of social media.
But the lyrics of the songs just get me now when I pay attention and really listen to those songs that I loved. I still listen to some of them. I have a jams playlist that I play when I'm mowing. I enjoy putting on rock and roll when I'm driving around in my car. But I really don't like letting those thoughts in.
I've come so far I don't want to jeopardize the progress that I've made.
+++
Thursday, April 23, 2026
Electric football game ~
I remember when I was a kid getting a football game. It was electric, but it was digital. It was a sheet of metal on short plastic stands that held it off of the ground and it plugged in. And it had a little mechanism underneath it to vibrate the metal really fast.
The players that came with it were plastic and they were on little green bases that had four tiny, almost grass-like feet sticking out just below the bottom of the base. And when you put them on the field or the sheet of metal and you turned it on, the vibration would make them move along on the field.
Sometimes in a good direction, sometimes in a not so good direction. As long as we kept the game on the floor or on a table, it was good. I'd set up the men. I'd turn it on. I'd watch as everybody scattered in different directions.
It was kind of silly looking back on it. It was nothing like Madden football on video games nowadays. It wasn't even anything like the Coleco handheld football game where you had a little digital red dot.
You had to press buttons to make it go up and down and then sideways to run down the field. But it was fun. Sometimes I'd put a dinosaur on the field and see if it would run. It would not. It was too heavy.
I could put army men on there and the army men would jump around and move, but they tended to be too heavy also.
I don't think this game contributed to my not being into sports. But I enjoyed playing it for a little while, and then I didn't play with it anymore.
Fun memory.
+++
The players that came with it were plastic and they were on little green bases that had four tiny, almost grass-like feet sticking out just below the bottom of the base. And when you put them on the field or the sheet of metal and you turned it on, the vibration would make them move along on the field.
Sometimes in a good direction, sometimes in a not so good direction. As long as we kept the game on the floor or on a table, it was good. I'd set up the men. I'd turn it on. I'd watch as everybody scattered in different directions.
It was kind of silly looking back on it. It was nothing like Madden football on video games nowadays. It wasn't even anything like the Coleco handheld football game where you had a little digital red dot.
You had to press buttons to make it go up and down and then sideways to run down the field. But it was fun. Sometimes I'd put a dinosaur on the field and see if it would run. It would not. It was too heavy.
I could put army men on there and the army men would jump around and move, but they tended to be too heavy also.
I don't think this game contributed to my not being into sports. But I enjoyed playing it for a little while, and then I didn't play with it anymore.
Fun memory.
+++
Sunday, April 19, 2026
Dealing with assumptions ~
One of the interesting things I've had to deal with in my life are the assumptions of others.
People would not see me on Sunday mornings so they thought I didn't go to church. Early in my career I worked shift work and often worked Sunday mornings. But when I would go on Sunday night or Wednesday night people would greet me with "missed you on Sunday!" It just rubbed the wrong way.
Working shifts also meant that I was "too busy" or that my schedule was "too confusing" for others, especially my parents. They never did get the hang of my shift work and it led to several misunderstandings.
Because I was involved in Cub Scouts people have assumed I was an Eagle Scout. Sadly that is not the case. When I was a kid I was in Cub Scouts but never got involved in a Boy Scout troop.
Becaus my wife and I had four children many people assumed that we home-schooled. Each of our children attended public schools when they were growing up. Three of them attended public colleges/universities, two of them on scholarships for part of their time in college.
Because my wife and I like to travel people think that we've been gone on another trip when they don't see us. That's another assumption that often sounds strange when it comes up.
In my profession I was taught that "assuming" anything was not a good way to operate and that it made an "ass" out of "you" and "me". When I have applied this in the real world it has often helped me avoid issues but has also generated other issues.
I wish people wouldn't assume things about me. It's like I always told my people at work, just ask. If I can answer the question I'll answer it.
+++
People would not see me on Sunday mornings so they thought I didn't go to church. Early in my career I worked shift work and often worked Sunday mornings. But when I would go on Sunday night or Wednesday night people would greet me with "missed you on Sunday!" It just rubbed the wrong way.
Working shifts also meant that I was "too busy" or that my schedule was "too confusing" for others, especially my parents. They never did get the hang of my shift work and it led to several misunderstandings.
Because I was involved in Cub Scouts people have assumed I was an Eagle Scout. Sadly that is not the case. When I was a kid I was in Cub Scouts but never got involved in a Boy Scout troop.
Becaus my wife and I had four children many people assumed that we home-schooled. Each of our children attended public schools when they were growing up. Three of them attended public colleges/universities, two of them on scholarships for part of their time in college.
Because my wife and I like to travel people think that we've been gone on another trip when they don't see us. That's another assumption that often sounds strange when it comes up.
In my profession I was taught that "assuming" anything was not a good way to operate and that it made an "ass" out of "you" and "me". When I have applied this in the real world it has often helped me avoid issues but has also generated other issues.
I wish people wouldn't assume things about me. It's like I always told my people at work, just ask. If I can answer the question I'll answer it.
+++
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Substack as social media ~
When Substack started I went ahead and started an account there and I posted a couple of things and then let it lay around. I've started posting on it more regularly. Mostly I just wanted to get my foot in the door with them and I wanted to see how it developed.
It's an interesting platform and makes blogging and updating people through a subscription easy and fast. You can quickly convert it to a paid subscription and you can engage your community via notes and other interactions.
I think of it as a blogging platform with a lot of social media aspects. The thing that I don't like is how so many of the marketers and wannabe marketers have jumped in there and every post that I see is about how to expand your reach and how to make money on Substack and how to take it to the next level and how to grow what you're doing.
I don't want any of that. I'm counter cultural in that way. I just want to post my thoughts for the world to see and let them go where they go. If lots of people see them, awesome. If nobody sees them, that's okay because all the bots see them and I will live on inside of artificial intelligence.
I just think it's funny in a sad way how Substack posters all are trying to make money off of you paying them to help you do something that you can already do for yourself.
I guess that's what it's all about. Here's this convenience platform but I can make it even more convenient for you to grow beyond your wildest dreams and you can't do anything except focus on numbers.
Ridiculous.
Man, I'm crabby today LOL
+++
It's an interesting platform and makes blogging and updating people through a subscription easy and fast. You can quickly convert it to a paid subscription and you can engage your community via notes and other interactions.
I think of it as a blogging platform with a lot of social media aspects. The thing that I don't like is how so many of the marketers and wannabe marketers have jumped in there and every post that I see is about how to expand your reach and how to make money on Substack and how to take it to the next level and how to grow what you're doing.
I don't want any of that. I'm counter cultural in that way. I just want to post my thoughts for the world to see and let them go where they go. If lots of people see them, awesome. If nobody sees them, that's okay because all the bots see them and I will live on inside of artificial intelligence.
I just think it's funny in a sad way how Substack posters all are trying to make money off of you paying them to help you do something that you can already do for yourself.
I guess that's what it's all about. Here's this convenience platform but I can make it even more convenient for you to grow beyond your wildest dreams and you can't do anything except focus on numbers.
Ridiculous.
Man, I'm crabby today LOL
+++
Saturday, April 11, 2026
Age and wisdom ~
I saw a meme float by in my Pinterest stream that had a quote supposedly from Ernest Hemingway. The quote said that "The great fallacy was the wisdom of old men. They do not grow wise, they grow careful."
The definition of fallacy is a false notion, a statement or an argument based on a false or invalid inference, incorrectness of reasoning or belief, erroneous. So I find the quote a lot more careful because of the experiences I've had over the years and I'm trying not to do things out of urgency which I did for so much of my life.
But I still like to think that I'm doing it out of wisdom and not just being careful. Being careful is is exercising wisdom in a lot of cases. For the past few years, I've listened to the book of Proverbs, one chapter at a time each month.
That means every year I read Proverbs 12 times or more. I may not get the last chapter because there's only 30 days in a month, but reading a chapter at a time, one for each day of the month, has really worked well for me.
And, as it soaks into my brain. I steep in it, I feel like I'm getting wiser. I also wonder at the source of this quote, if Ernest Hemingway truly said this, he said a lot of things that people quote, and he's a celebrated author and famous guy that happened to be an alcoholic who lived in Key West and was involved in plane crashes and generally hiding from the world while he generated books.
So I don't know that I agree with him that it's a fallacy that older men are wise. I also again wonder why we celebrate these kind of people. This guy was no shining knight and not the best example of a stable male personality that was dedicated to a wife and children.
In fact, he got into a lot of trouble in multiple ways. And like so many of the other artists that our society celebrates, I just wonder why we celebrate this guy.
I actually think that's part of why I write and blog because we celebrate him because we have his words in writing in a book that we can go and get off of a shelf.
I want my words out there so that someday maybe somebody will celebrate me in that way.
You never know.
+++
The definition of fallacy is a false notion, a statement or an argument based on a false or invalid inference, incorrectness of reasoning or belief, erroneous. So I find the quote a lot more careful because of the experiences I've had over the years and I'm trying not to do things out of urgency which I did for so much of my life.
But I still like to think that I'm doing it out of wisdom and not just being careful. Being careful is is exercising wisdom in a lot of cases. For the past few years, I've listened to the book of Proverbs, one chapter at a time each month.
That means every year I read Proverbs 12 times or more. I may not get the last chapter because there's only 30 days in a month, but reading a chapter at a time, one for each day of the month, has really worked well for me.
And, as it soaks into my brain. I steep in it, I feel like I'm getting wiser. I also wonder at the source of this quote, if Ernest Hemingway truly said this, he said a lot of things that people quote, and he's a celebrated author and famous guy that happened to be an alcoholic who lived in Key West and was involved in plane crashes and generally hiding from the world while he generated books.
So I don't know that I agree with him that it's a fallacy that older men are wise. I also again wonder why we celebrate these kind of people. This guy was no shining knight and not the best example of a stable male personality that was dedicated to a wife and children.
In fact, he got into a lot of trouble in multiple ways. And like so many of the other artists that our society celebrates, I just wonder why we celebrate this guy.
I actually think that's part of why I write and blog because we celebrate him because we have his words in writing in a book that we can go and get off of a shelf.
I want my words out there so that someday maybe somebody will celebrate me in that way.
You never know.
+++
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
Softball game ball ~
I was recently digging around in my basement and found an box filled with some really old life memorabilia.
A softball signed by a bunch of people I don’t remember took me back to that softball game when I was in my late 20s.
I was not into sports at all growing up. In high school I enjoyed being in the band but didn’t really enjoy the football games we sat through and played at. No basketball, no soccer, I tried high school wrestling but my family didn’t have time or money for that.
After my wife and I moved to Georgia we got involved in a church. One summer they had sign-ups to be on the church softball team. i had never played softball on a team like that, and I wanted to get to know more people, so I signed up. My shift work kept me from a lot of the season but I played a few games.
I had explained to the coach that I had not played ball growing up. He took the time to explain things to me, and put me the outfield during the games. Whenever I was up to bat I tinked the ball and was usually thrown out before I made it to first base.
One game late in the season I went to bat. Everyone in the other team’s outfield came in close to the lines between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd base, laughing about how easy this was going to be. I connected solidly with a pitch and the ball flew over their heads all the way to the fence! I ran as fast as I could and made around to 3rd base. The next batter got a solid hit and I ran and touched home plate. I had scored!
I got a second hit my next at bat. It was solid and went far! I ran as fast as I could and thought I could make it all the way around. The coaches were yelling at me and I thought they were cheering me on when they were actually telling me to stop on 3rd base. I got tagged out before I made it to home base.
We won the game, and our coach had everyone on the team sign the ball. He made a big deal about presenting it to me as the game ball. It was great!
And it was one of my few good sports experiences. Fun!
+++
A softball signed by a bunch of people I don’t remember took me back to that softball game when I was in my late 20s.
I was not into sports at all growing up. In high school I enjoyed being in the band but didn’t really enjoy the football games we sat through and played at. No basketball, no soccer, I tried high school wrestling but my family didn’t have time or money for that.
After my wife and I moved to Georgia we got involved in a church. One summer they had sign-ups to be on the church softball team. i had never played softball on a team like that, and I wanted to get to know more people, so I signed up. My shift work kept me from a lot of the season but I played a few games.
I had explained to the coach that I had not played ball growing up. He took the time to explain things to me, and put me the outfield during the games. Whenever I was up to bat I tinked the ball and was usually thrown out before I made it to first base.
One game late in the season I went to bat. Everyone in the other team’s outfield came in close to the lines between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd base, laughing about how easy this was going to be. I connected solidly with a pitch and the ball flew over their heads all the way to the fence! I ran as fast as I could and made around to 3rd base. The next batter got a solid hit and I ran and touched home plate. I had scored!
I got a second hit my next at bat. It was solid and went far! I ran as fast as I could and thought I could make it all the way around. The coaches were yelling at me and I thought they were cheering me on when they were actually telling me to stop on 3rd base. I got tagged out before I made it to home base.
We won the game, and our coach had everyone on the team sign the ball. He made a big deal about presenting it to me as the game ball. It was great!
And it was one of my few good sports experiences. Fun!
+++
Friday, April 3, 2026
Second place ~
As a Christian, I read the Bible. I don't study it the way others seem to study it, but I do devotions and I do read proverbs every day and I go through the Gospels and Acts and the letters of Paul.
One of the things that Jesus taught was to be a servant and not to think more of yourself than that. Paul expanded on the idea and said that as Christians we should be content with second place.
In my life, when I have expressed contentment with less than first place, I have been chastised. I have been encouraged to do better. I have been told my performance was not what it could have been. And I was skipped for rewards.
When I look at news outlets, I don't see any of them celebrating the person who came in second place. Not even any of the Christian news outlets. They all celebrate who won, who came in first, who the supposed best is.
I find it fascinating that we're so caught up in our society with performance and being better than others that people seem to skip right over this teaching in the Bible. In fact, they turn it and say that God made you and loves you more than anything else and you are the best. They say that we are entitled to things as children of God and we can walk into the throne room of heaven and demand things because we're the best of creation. And even if you were the only human being God still would have sent his son to die for you.
That's what they teach. And then I read this little message saying be content with second place and make yourself a servant. Jesus didn't even say anything, he just went and got the wash basin and towels and started washing his disciples feet. And then said go and do as I have done.
Tough lesson, hard to grasp. I'm glad God blesses me in second place.
+++
One of the things that Jesus taught was to be a servant and not to think more of yourself than that. Paul expanded on the idea and said that as Christians we should be content with second place.
In my life, when I have expressed contentment with less than first place, I have been chastised. I have been encouraged to do better. I have been told my performance was not what it could have been. And I was skipped for rewards.
When I look at news outlets, I don't see any of them celebrating the person who came in second place. Not even any of the Christian news outlets. They all celebrate who won, who came in first, who the supposed best is.
I find it fascinating that we're so caught up in our society with performance and being better than others that people seem to skip right over this teaching in the Bible. In fact, they turn it and say that God made you and loves you more than anything else and you are the best. They say that we are entitled to things as children of God and we can walk into the throne room of heaven and demand things because we're the best of creation. And even if you were the only human being God still would have sent his son to die for you.
That's what they teach. And then I read this little message saying be content with second place and make yourself a servant. Jesus didn't even say anything, he just went and got the wash basin and towels and started washing his disciples feet. And then said go and do as I have done.
Tough lesson, hard to grasp. I'm glad God blesses me in second place.
+++
Monday, March 30, 2026
Not Arby's ~
I survived something recently. After church, my wife and I were driving somewhere. She started talking about something and it was obscure to me what she was talking about. She went on and on for about five minutes.
It was a very in-depth discussion. But it was one-sided because it was just her talking about something I didn't understand. I didn't know what she was talking about. I felt very lost.
But after about five minutes she paused and she kind of turned towards me and she asked me, "what are you thinking?"
Often this question gets me into trouble, especially when I answer it honestly. So I tend to say nothing or grunt politely. Because I was so lost and I didn't really understand what she was asking. I just kind of looked at her quickly and said "not Arby's."
She scrunched up her eyebrows andsaid, "that doesn't make any sense. What do you mean?" And I kind of smiled and said, "exactly." And I lived to tell the tale.
I said it because I was playing off of the old commercial where they would have a Arby's hat floating over somebody's head around lunchtime and say, what are you thinking? And the person would say, "I'm thinking Arby's."
I chuckled about that the rest of the day. I still can't believe I got away with it!
+++
It was a very in-depth discussion. But it was one-sided because it was just her talking about something I didn't understand. I didn't know what she was talking about. I felt very lost.
But after about five minutes she paused and she kind of turned towards me and she asked me, "what are you thinking?"
Often this question gets me into trouble, especially when I answer it honestly. So I tend to say nothing or grunt politely. Because I was so lost and I didn't really understand what she was asking. I just kind of looked at her quickly and said "not Arby's."
She scrunched up her eyebrows andsaid, "that doesn't make any sense. What do you mean?" And I kind of smiled and said, "exactly." And I lived to tell the tale.
I said it because I was playing off of the old commercial where they would have a Arby's hat floating over somebody's head around lunchtime and say, what are you thinking? And the person would say, "I'm thinking Arby's."
I chuckled about that the rest of the day. I still can't believe I got away with it!
+++
Thursday, March 26, 2026
Grew up in fear ~
I grew up in fear. I've talked about it before here but I have a new experience with it.
I grew up being afraid of things. My parents taught me that there were bad people out there waiting to take my stuff as soon as I went out. They wanted to steal my money. They wanted to break into my car and take my stuff. They weren't very afraid of identity theft but I was scared of that.
It's taken me a long time to work through those feelings of fear. And get to where I don't think them as much as I did. But they're still hovering in the back of my mind.
I had an episode of that recently on some travel. My wife and I had gone to see our daughter and son-in-law and granddaughters. We had a great trip! On the way back we stopped to eat at a sit-down restaurant instead of grabbing something fast and driving. And the whole time that I was inside enjoying talking to my wife and the meal I kept thinking "Somebody's going to break into my car."
Did I lock the door? Somebody's gonna steal our suitcases. Somebody's going to steal my computer. Somebody's going to steal my chocolate, whatever. Sad, I know, but that's how I was raised, to be careful so that the bad guys don't get your stuff.
The only way to be careful is to think about it and double check and make sure that they don't have an avenue to steal from you.
Weird.
+++
I grew up being afraid of things. My parents taught me that there were bad people out there waiting to take my stuff as soon as I went out. They wanted to steal my money. They wanted to break into my car and take my stuff. They weren't very afraid of identity theft but I was scared of that.
It's taken me a long time to work through those feelings of fear. And get to where I don't think them as much as I did. But they're still hovering in the back of my mind.
I had an episode of that recently on some travel. My wife and I had gone to see our daughter and son-in-law and granddaughters. We had a great trip! On the way back we stopped to eat at a sit-down restaurant instead of grabbing something fast and driving. And the whole time that I was inside enjoying talking to my wife and the meal I kept thinking "Somebody's going to break into my car."
Did I lock the door? Somebody's gonna steal our suitcases. Somebody's going to steal my computer. Somebody's going to steal my chocolate, whatever. Sad, I know, but that's how I was raised, to be careful so that the bad guys don't get your stuff.
The only way to be careful is to think about it and double check and make sure that they don't have an avenue to steal from you.
Weird.
+++
Sunday, March 22, 2026
Manual window cranks ~
I have a pickup truck. It's almost 20 years old. It's red. It has four doors and I enjoy driving it. I bought it so that I could join the ranks of people that could show up somewhere, throw stuff in the bed of the truck, carry it, and then unload it quickly and easily. No muss, no fuss.
The pickup truck has manual windows. Instead of flicking a button, I have to actually turn a crank to turn the windows down and then put it back up. If I'm driving, I'm probably not going to adjust the windows on the passenger side or in the back seat.
But there was frustration there because I have guards over the windows so that I can leave the windows cracked and let the heat out without rain getting in. The truck came with them and they work great.
When driving down the road the window crank was in the right place with the window up, but if I wanted to crack the window and let some air flow without rain coming in, the crank would be right where I put my left knee when I'm driving.
So I would end up rolling the window down on just a little bit further, get rain on my face or the side of my head and be aggravated. I finally made a note to look up how to change the position of the hand crank on my truck's window.
I found a YouTube video that made it very clear how to use a piece of paracord to pop a little clip on the window crank and then I could put it wherever I wanted and put the window crank back in as if it had been there the entire time.
The trick worked! The clip popped. I didn't lose the clip, and I got the window crank exactly where I wanted it.
I love YouTube. I love learning little tricks like that and then using them successfully.
Woohoo!
+++
The pickup truck has manual windows. Instead of flicking a button, I have to actually turn a crank to turn the windows down and then put it back up. If I'm driving, I'm probably not going to adjust the windows on the passenger side or in the back seat.
But there was frustration there because I have guards over the windows so that I can leave the windows cracked and let the heat out without rain getting in. The truck came with them and they work great.
When driving down the road the window crank was in the right place with the window up, but if I wanted to crack the window and let some air flow without rain coming in, the crank would be right where I put my left knee when I'm driving.
So I would end up rolling the window down on just a little bit further, get rain on my face or the side of my head and be aggravated. I finally made a note to look up how to change the position of the hand crank on my truck's window.
I found a YouTube video that made it very clear how to use a piece of paracord to pop a little clip on the window crank and then I could put it wherever I wanted and put the window crank back in as if it had been there the entire time.
The trick worked! The clip popped. I didn't lose the clip, and I got the window crank exactly where I wanted it.
I love YouTube. I love learning little tricks like that and then using them successfully.
Woohoo!
+++
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Please be rude ~
I read an article this past week about how one of the big AI companies encourages people not to be polite to their AI because of the extra cycles it takes to process the please add thank you. Their reasoning was that we're already using gobs of electricity on everything else, Please cut it out so that we don't get into trouble for destroying the planet.
A computer processing company wants you to be rude or not polite in order to save the planet.
The urgency being driven there is so subtle and yet I can see where the people that are joked about as our tech overlords are trying to drive a certain behavior which is reduce consumption in order to quote unquote reduce the use of limited resources because we're going to use all the resources to dominate you.
Pretty funny.
A computer processing company wants you to be rude or not polite in order to save the planet.
The urgency being driven there is so subtle and yet I can see where the people that are joked about as our tech overlords are trying to drive a certain behavior which is reduce consumption in order to quote unquote reduce the use of limited resources because we're going to use all the resources to dominate you.
Pretty funny.
Saturday, March 14, 2026
Talking with my aunt ~
I remember being in the little house and talking to my aunt when I was a boy I don't remember what year it was, but I remember being in the kitchen of the little one-bedroom house that my aunt and uncle had built on an acre of property that my grandfather gave them.
My uncle divorced my aunt at some point. And she ended up living in that little house again for a little while. But because it was so far from the main house and because of her nervousness she didn't stay there for very long alone.
But I remember being in the kitchen of the little house with her. There was a radio playing and the song "Rhinestone Cowboy" was playing. It was in the 1970s, so that was a hot song.
I think she was talking about her husband and other things going on. And because I had learned to comment on things from my parents I made some sort of comment. I was 13 years old and so that means it would have been 1977.
I remember my aunt telling me that I was wise for my age. And that I knew a lot of good stuff.
In the mid-1980s I got to stay in that little house while I went to the University of Central Florida. Even later in my life that little house became mine.
Now I enjoy staying in the little house whenever my wife and I get an opportunity. I enjoy the rustic nature of it and the fun that we've had there. And I look forward to future fun and my children having fun there.
Good stuff!
+++
My uncle divorced my aunt at some point. And she ended up living in that little house again for a little while. But because it was so far from the main house and because of her nervousness she didn't stay there for very long alone.
But I remember being in the kitchen of the little house with her. There was a radio playing and the song "Rhinestone Cowboy" was playing. It was in the 1970s, so that was a hot song.
I think she was talking about her husband and other things going on. And because I had learned to comment on things from my parents I made some sort of comment. I was 13 years old and so that means it would have been 1977.
I remember my aunt telling me that I was wise for my age. And that I knew a lot of good stuff.
In the mid-1980s I got to stay in that little house while I went to the University of Central Florida. Even later in my life that little house became mine.
Now I enjoy staying in the little house whenever my wife and I get an opportunity. I enjoy the rustic nature of it and the fun that we've had there. And I look forward to future fun and my children having fun there.
Good stuff!
+++
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Sucked in by AI ~
I'm reading more and more stories about how people are using the so-called "artificial intelligence" services to plan their lives and do all sorts of things. I hear a lot of good things about how people use it to generate letters and crank out reports.
But I'm also reading disturbing stories of people talking to these things and breaking with reality because they're believing that they're talking to a higher intelligence.
I'm shocked because this is kind of what happened before with computers. Salespeople would go around and if a salesperson had just papers and charts you weren't very impressed. But if a salesperson pulled out a screen and they showed the same sorts of things on a screen and used a keyboard to move through the pictures all of a sudden you felt like were dealing with somebody that was so much better and this was modern and much better than anything else.
I'm seeing similar things with the large language model artificial intelligences that are being marketed today. It's scary.
And then I'm reading stories about people as they use these things, starting to ask existential questions about spiritual things and life guidance and all that sort of stuff. And they lose their minds because they think that they're finally connected to the "higher consciousness" that New Agers have been selling all this time.
I do have some hope because I have started seeing stories about how people are pointing out that these things are probably just really fast pattern matchers, and it's not really intelligence, it's just really fast language matching.
And that's what computers do. We make decisions based on a lot of inputs that we don't even understand are happening in our own brains. We're basing them on smells and nerve endings that we don't even realize are feeding us data and we're fast.
And then when a machine is demonstrated to be able to make a yes or no decision a million times faster than we can, at least we think it can, all of a sudden we want to let it tell us how to run our lives and run our operations and do everything for us so that we can go and do other things.
But it's a computer. I'm a human. The computer doesn't rule me. Some people would argue about that too, but that's a different subject.
Large language model artificial intelligences are cool tools that are being adapted and used by early adopters and the rest of us are just kind of trailing along behind going, wow, how did they do that? And why did they do that?
Be careful out there. Remember what you're dealing with.
+++
But I'm also reading disturbing stories of people talking to these things and breaking with reality because they're believing that they're talking to a higher intelligence.
I'm shocked because this is kind of what happened before with computers. Salespeople would go around and if a salesperson had just papers and charts you weren't very impressed. But if a salesperson pulled out a screen and they showed the same sorts of things on a screen and used a keyboard to move through the pictures all of a sudden you felt like were dealing with somebody that was so much better and this was modern and much better than anything else.
I'm seeing similar things with the large language model artificial intelligences that are being marketed today. It's scary.
And then I'm reading stories about people as they use these things, starting to ask existential questions about spiritual things and life guidance and all that sort of stuff. And they lose their minds because they think that they're finally connected to the "higher consciousness" that New Agers have been selling all this time.
I do have some hope because I have started seeing stories about how people are pointing out that these things are probably just really fast pattern matchers, and it's not really intelligence, it's just really fast language matching.
And that's what computers do. We make decisions based on a lot of inputs that we don't even understand are happening in our own brains. We're basing them on smells and nerve endings that we don't even realize are feeding us data and we're fast.
And then when a machine is demonstrated to be able to make a yes or no decision a million times faster than we can, at least we think it can, all of a sudden we want to let it tell us how to run our lives and run our operations and do everything for us so that we can go and do other things.
But it's a computer. I'm a human. The computer doesn't rule me. Some people would argue about that too, but that's a different subject.
Large language model artificial intelligences are cool tools that are being adapted and used by early adopters and the rest of us are just kind of trailing along behind going, wow, how did they do that? And why did they do that?
Be careful out there. Remember what you're dealing with.
+++
Friday, March 6, 2026
Button batteries ~
Button batteries must be one of the biggest scams running in department stores ever. They charge huge amounts for these, but if you go online you can find the same exact batteries for five and ten packs that are half the price of a one or two pack in a department store.
Paying half price for three to five times more just makes economic sense. I actually buy button batteries in bulk and I keep them in a zip bag in my closet so that when my smart devices or my watches run out of battery every once in a while instead of going and paying outrageous prices I just pull out my pouch replace the battery and keep rolling.
Just search Amazon or any of the other online stores for the button battery that you need and you'll be amazed at the price savings you'll get. Check it out!
Paying half price for three to five times more just makes economic sense. I actually buy button batteries in bulk and I keep them in a zip bag in my closet so that when my smart devices or my watches run out of battery every once in a while instead of going and paying outrageous prices I just pull out my pouch replace the battery and keep rolling.
Just search Amazon or any of the other online stores for the button battery that you need and you'll be amazed at the price savings you'll get. Check it out!
Monday, March 2, 2026
Plants on the deck~
This is my third year having the same plants on the deck. I have two pots of lemongrass that I rooted from lemongrass that I bought at a local Asian market. I have two flower box things with basil and rosemary in them. I tried cilantro in one and it did okay for about three weeks but the cilantro gave out and withered and died.
This is my third year of having a flower box of petunias right outside the kitchen window on the deck. They're red petunias and this time I bought jumbo red petunias. They're taller and the flowers are bigger. They get beat down by the sun so I water them and the basil and lemongrass every day. And then when the afternoon thunderstorms come the petunias get beat down by the rain and the blooms look terrible for a day and then they start blooming again and they look beautiful.
I have a grapevine in a pot that I started four five years ago now. I was so excited to try to grow a grapevine. I thought about the Bible and all the talk about grapes and grapevines and all that. The first year it did nothing. Then the second year it actually had grapes on it. They went full-term and we got nice purple grapes. When I bought the vine it didn't say muscadine, I don't know if it got cross-pollinated with muscadine grapes locally or if that's what they were to start. But I was so disappointed that they were that weird musty muscadine flavor grapes. I put it back up in its spot and I water it every day. I don't really get very many grapes off of it but it's fun to see the grape leaves and think about Greek dishes where rice is wrapped in grape leaves.
This year I'm trying a hydroponics experiment in 5-gallon buckets on the deck again. I put two cherry tomato plants in hydroponics buckets. No pumps, no fancy things, just nutrients in water and plants poking out of the side of buckets. They did well last year, we'll see how it goes this time.
I'm enjoying my plants on the deck. Fun!
+++
This is my third year of having a flower box of petunias right outside the kitchen window on the deck. They're red petunias and this time I bought jumbo red petunias. They're taller and the flowers are bigger. They get beat down by the sun so I water them and the basil and lemongrass every day. And then when the afternoon thunderstorms come the petunias get beat down by the rain and the blooms look terrible for a day and then they start blooming again and they look beautiful.
I have a grapevine in a pot that I started four five years ago now. I was so excited to try to grow a grapevine. I thought about the Bible and all the talk about grapes and grapevines and all that. The first year it did nothing. Then the second year it actually had grapes on it. They went full-term and we got nice purple grapes. When I bought the vine it didn't say muscadine, I don't know if it got cross-pollinated with muscadine grapes locally or if that's what they were to start. But I was so disappointed that they were that weird musty muscadine flavor grapes. I put it back up in its spot and I water it every day. I don't really get very many grapes off of it but it's fun to see the grape leaves and think about Greek dishes where rice is wrapped in grape leaves.
This year I'm trying a hydroponics experiment in 5-gallon buckets on the deck again. I put two cherry tomato plants in hydroponics buckets. No pumps, no fancy things, just nutrients in water and plants poking out of the side of buckets. They did well last year, we'll see how it goes this time.
I'm enjoying my plants on the deck. Fun!
+++
Thursday, February 26, 2026
Email subject lines ~
There's so much spam email flying around it's incredible. It's kind of sad and disappointing to watch email have descended so far, but I get it. It's easy to automate and easy to flood people with useless information trying to part their dollars from them.
Distractions, grabbing that attention, pulling us away from what we thought we were going to go and do or look at or read.
I remember I had a manager at work who was big on the military method of subject lines. Every subject line had to have a prefix in front of it followed by a colon and he wanted only four prefixes. INFO, COORD, ACTION, and a couple of others that I don't even remember.
What was funny is I had read articles about that method years before. I really liked r concept but nobody used it outside of the military and I didn't get very many military emails so I didn't know if they even used it. But he told us to go forth and use it.
Nobody else on the team did except for me. I loved it. Now I had a way to tell people very clearly about my email. This email is just information. This email is calling for some sort of action. This email is coordinating something with you.
It didn't go over very well when I started sending the manager emails with those prefixes. He did not like being told he needed to take action on something. But I was right and he did.
I have a friend who, when things are leading up to a big event, he starts putting "please read" as the prefix to his email subject. The first couple that I got I just deleted. I finally opened one up and it really didn't have anything that pertained to me in it. I told my wife this guy needs to understand. I automatically filter anything that says "please read" as nothing I need to read.
She and I talked about it. She didn't understand. So I told her if someone has to beg me to read their email then all of their other emails I don't have to read. I probably don't have to read this one either.
Clogging the system with useless information. What's funny is another person on the same staff that my friend is on sends out very meaningful emails full of information about the entire year of events. Not just tidbits of information shared one at a time with a subject line of please read.
One benefit is any email that starts with "please read" usually gets filtered by my systems and put in a folder where I never see it.
But anything that starts with INFO: or COORD: or ACTION: ends up marked as important and right in front of me.
Hilarious.
+++
Distractions, grabbing that attention, pulling us away from what we thought we were going to go and do or look at or read.
I remember I had a manager at work who was big on the military method of subject lines. Every subject line had to have a prefix in front of it followed by a colon and he wanted only four prefixes. INFO, COORD, ACTION, and a couple of others that I don't even remember.
What was funny is I had read articles about that method years before. I really liked r concept but nobody used it outside of the military and I didn't get very many military emails so I didn't know if they even used it. But he told us to go forth and use it.
Nobody else on the team did except for me. I loved it. Now I had a way to tell people very clearly about my email. This email is just information. This email is calling for some sort of action. This email is coordinating something with you.
It didn't go over very well when I started sending the manager emails with those prefixes. He did not like being told he needed to take action on something. But I was right and he did.
I have a friend who, when things are leading up to a big event, he starts putting "please read" as the prefix to his email subject. The first couple that I got I just deleted. I finally opened one up and it really didn't have anything that pertained to me in it. I told my wife this guy needs to understand. I automatically filter anything that says "please read" as nothing I need to read.
She and I talked about it. She didn't understand. So I told her if someone has to beg me to read their email then all of their other emails I don't have to read. I probably don't have to read this one either.
Clogging the system with useless information. What's funny is another person on the same staff that my friend is on sends out very meaningful emails full of information about the entire year of events. Not just tidbits of information shared one at a time with a subject line of please read.
One benefit is any email that starts with "please read" usually gets filtered by my systems and put in a folder where I never see it.
But anything that starts with INFO: or COORD: or ACTION: ends up marked as important and right in front of me.
Hilarious.
+++
Sunday, February 22, 2026
Meat run ~
I recently went on a meat run to Walmart. It's funny to go into the chest freezer out in the garage and find it almost empty. We don't eat as much meat as we used to, but we do like to buy it and cook it.
In summertime I like to grill chicken and pork. We don't get steak very much, but we enjoy ground beef in the form of hamburgers quite often. Although we have been enjoying ground turkey and turkey burgers more often than beef.
But I went out to the chest freezer this week and found that we were almost out of stuff. So I made a Walmart run. I went in the morning. My hope was to find some discounted things with the yellow tags on them. And I saw quite a few of those. Steak is still outrageous and so I didn't buy any of that. But I bought a bunch of other things.
I remember growing up when we would have the very occasional time of going and eating dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house next door.
Grandpa would brag about how he had pulled steaks out of the freezer. I always wondered about that freezer and how he had so many steaks in there. And the steak always tasted good!
But I like keeping meat in the freezer so that when we want to have something we just go to the garage, open up the chest freezer, and pull some meat out and defrost it, and have at it.
Good stuff.
+++
In summertime I like to grill chicken and pork. We don't get steak very much, but we enjoy ground beef in the form of hamburgers quite often. Although we have been enjoying ground turkey and turkey burgers more often than beef.
But I went out to the chest freezer this week and found that we were almost out of stuff. So I made a Walmart run. I went in the morning. My hope was to find some discounted things with the yellow tags on them. And I saw quite a few of those. Steak is still outrageous and so I didn't buy any of that. But I bought a bunch of other things.
I remember growing up when we would have the very occasional time of going and eating dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house next door.
Grandpa would brag about how he had pulled steaks out of the freezer. I always wondered about that freezer and how he had so many steaks in there. And the steak always tasted good!
But I like keeping meat in the freezer so that when we want to have something we just go to the garage, open up the chest freezer, and pull some meat out and defrost it, and have at it.
Good stuff.
+++
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Fake eyelashes ~
One of the sad trends that I am watching is the way young ladies use fake eyelashes.
I understand the desire for the beauty of the flashing eyes. But I see so many young ladies with eyelashes that are just outlandish. They don't even enhance the beauty, they just look outrageous.
I see ads for magnetic eyelashes. They show how you can superglue a magnet to your eyelid and then connect eyelashes to it so that you have this beauty enhancement easily accessible to you.
That just seems wrong. And then when I encounter someone with obviously fake eyelashes, all I can think is how sad, you're beautiful without them.
To me, it's akin to shaving your eyebrows and then using a tattoo or a pencil to draw in clown eyelashes or eyebrows. It just doesn't seem right. And that's the thing, we're so balkanized and split up that people are doing things that just really don't seem right.
Weird.
+++
I understand the desire for the beauty of the flashing eyes. But I see so many young ladies with eyelashes that are just outlandish. They don't even enhance the beauty, they just look outrageous.
I see ads for magnetic eyelashes. They show how you can superglue a magnet to your eyelid and then connect eyelashes to it so that you have this beauty enhancement easily accessible to you.
That just seems wrong. And then when I encounter someone with obviously fake eyelashes, all I can think is how sad, you're beautiful without them.
To me, it's akin to shaving your eyebrows and then using a tattoo or a pencil to draw in clown eyelashes or eyebrows. It just doesn't seem right. And that's the thing, we're so balkanized and split up that people are doing things that just really don't seem right.
Weird.
+++
Saturday, February 14, 2026
Custom mobile phone mount ~
Before mobile phone mounts became cool to have in your car and everybody just kinda used them willy-nilly and all that I actually rigged up my own mobile phone mount.
I bought a mobile phone mount that the phone could sit in. It clamped onto the phone. Then I bought a metal strap, cut it, and curved it so that it would velcro to the dash sticking into the crease between the dash and the windshield. Then I bent the end of the strap so that I could velcro the phone clamping device to this piece of metal sticking up.
It was funny because people thought it was ridiculous that i wanted to look at my phone while i was driving. I did it because i had a gps thing that i was capturing waypoints with and I enjoyed watching the waypoints that i had captured before scroll by as i drove.
I had a couple of older friends that rode with me and said, "You know, that looks a lot like a sword sitting on your dash and if you're in an accident that could impale you and kill you." I just laughed and said "yes i know, just like the steering column could do that and just like the engine could do".
I now have nice supposedly military-grade suction cup devices that stick to windshields and discs that you glue to your dash. They do okay and it's nice to be able to move it around and put it where i want. But i tend to find a spot and just leave it there.
Fun to think about and remember...
+++
I bought a mobile phone mount that the phone could sit in. It clamped onto the phone. Then I bought a metal strap, cut it, and curved it so that it would velcro to the dash sticking into the crease between the dash and the windshield. Then I bent the end of the strap so that I could velcro the phone clamping device to this piece of metal sticking up.
It was funny because people thought it was ridiculous that i wanted to look at my phone while i was driving. I did it because i had a gps thing that i was capturing waypoints with and I enjoyed watching the waypoints that i had captured before scroll by as i drove.
I had a couple of older friends that rode with me and said, "You know, that looks a lot like a sword sitting on your dash and if you're in an accident that could impale you and kill you." I just laughed and said "yes i know, just like the steering column could do that and just like the engine could do".
I now have nice supposedly military-grade suction cup devices that stick to windshields and discs that you glue to your dash. They do okay and it's nice to be able to move it around and put it where i want. But i tend to find a spot and just leave it there.
Fun to think about and remember...
+++
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Social media thoughts ~
I recently saw a headline that said that Gen X and Gen Z feel like social media is damaging them. I paused after I read it and then I skimmed the article and decided it was silly because social media is optional.
I know, I know, you would argue that social media is required in today's day and age. But it's not.
I used social media for quite a while. I used it to expand my church's reach. I offered online groups and encouraged community through that venue.
I did that for several years and it was quite successful. But as I watched each different social media platform come online and get invested with marketers and then watched the users that were infected with the idea of earning money off of their friends and people that they didn't know start marketing themselves, I just had to shake my head.
It's so sad to watch. People say you have to be on social media in order to be connected. And I disagree If you work the phone and you work your text messages and you reach out to people outside of your circle you can connect with lots of people just fine. Social media makes it convenient, and then In that convenience the marketers have your attention.
Oh, by the way, here's an ad for a product that you may not necessarily support nor be interested in but we're gonna show it anyways. And in amongst your posts. Anybody looking at your stuff gets distracted and off we go.
They've won the attention game.
Anyways, I'm not against social media. I still use it on a very limited basis. I try not to post about products or anything. I just share. me. And that's what I feel like social media was all about until the marketers got involved and everybody felt like they had to emulate the marketers and all that.
Oh, well.
+++
I know, I know, you would argue that social media is required in today's day and age. But it's not.
I used social media for quite a while. I used it to expand my church's reach. I offered online groups and encouraged community through that venue.
I did that for several years and it was quite successful. But as I watched each different social media platform come online and get invested with marketers and then watched the users that were infected with the idea of earning money off of their friends and people that they didn't know start marketing themselves, I just had to shake my head.
It's so sad to watch. People say you have to be on social media in order to be connected. And I disagree If you work the phone and you work your text messages and you reach out to people outside of your circle you can connect with lots of people just fine. Social media makes it convenient, and then In that convenience the marketers have your attention.
Oh, by the way, here's an ad for a product that you may not necessarily support nor be interested in but we're gonna show it anyways. And in amongst your posts. Anybody looking at your stuff gets distracted and off we go.
They've won the attention game.
Anyways, I'm not against social media. I still use it on a very limited basis. I try not to post about products or anything. I just share. me. And that's what I feel like social media was all about until the marketers got involved and everybody felt like they had to emulate the marketers and all that.
Oh, well.
+++
Friday, February 6, 2026
Second guessed and left out ~
I spent a long career adhering to rules and being second-guessed on every one of my decisions. The last half of my career I was in management and I was second-guessed even more and left out over and over and over.
Now that that career is over, I'm sensitive to these things. The stress and the trauma of always being told that I was wrong and being told that I made a wrong decision and put lives in jeopardy and caused people problems makes me get very defensive very quickly.
Over and over, I was proven right in almost all of my decisions at work, even the ones that I didn't like and nobody else liked, I was right for what I did. My delivery wasn't always great, but I was right.
Now I'm finding that I slow down and I don't really share my decisions the way I did. I just kind of let things go and smile when they turn out the way I thought they would.
It seems that many people are intimidated by someone who can make quick decisions and be right. It's not fun and it's not a great way to live, but I sure enjoyed it. And I'm really good at it. And I like who I am and what I do.
When I get second-guessed and left out nowadays I don't put up with it. I move on to something else and put that behind me. Just like my career.
+++
Now that that career is over, I'm sensitive to these things. The stress and the trauma of always being told that I was wrong and being told that I made a wrong decision and put lives in jeopardy and caused people problems makes me get very defensive very quickly.
Over and over, I was proven right in almost all of my decisions at work, even the ones that I didn't like and nobody else liked, I was right for what I did. My delivery wasn't always great, but I was right.
Now I'm finding that I slow down and I don't really share my decisions the way I did. I just kind of let things go and smile when they turn out the way I thought they would.
It seems that many people are intimidated by someone who can make quick decisions and be right. It's not fun and it's not a great way to live, but I sure enjoyed it. And I'm really good at it. And I like who I am and what I do.
When I get second-guessed and left out nowadays I don't put up with it. I move on to something else and put that behind me. Just like my career.
+++
Monday, February 2, 2026
I Enjoy Thomas Sowell ~
I have read a couple of books by Thomas Sowell. He's an economist that also comments on things. Over the years he's written a lot of really good stuff and has a lot of really good quotes out there. Many of the quotes are memes that float by in my streams.
The books that I've read by him were usually compilations of columns that he wrote for newspapers. I enjoyed them and I got a lot out of them. My favorite chapters were the columns that he titled Thoughts on the Passing Scene.
In those, he would just shoot off one-liners for an entire column or, in my case, chapter in a book. Those comments were inspirations for me and my style of writing. I'm not as erudite as he is, and I'm not the best raconteur.
But I learned a lot from him. And even though the way I passed economics classes in college was to find the biggest guy and then sleep on the desk behind him during lectures, Thomas Sowell's ideas on economic policy are sound and he explains them well.
Check out "Barbarians Inside The Gates" by Thomas Sowell:
https://a.co/d/16Nr8CX
+++
The books that I've read by him were usually compilations of columns that he wrote for newspapers. I enjoyed them and I got a lot out of them. My favorite chapters were the columns that he titled Thoughts on the Passing Scene.
In those, he would just shoot off one-liners for an entire column or, in my case, chapter in a book. Those comments were inspirations for me and my style of writing. I'm not as erudite as he is, and I'm not the best raconteur.
But I learned a lot from him. And even though the way I passed economics classes in college was to find the biggest guy and then sleep on the desk behind him during lectures, Thomas Sowell's ideas on economic policy are sound and he explains them well.
Check out "Barbarians Inside The Gates" by Thomas Sowell:
https://a.co/d/16Nr8CX
+++
Thursday, January 29, 2026
Purposefully slowing down ~
I have been doing is purposefully slowing down lately.
For most of my life I lived on a hair trigger. Everything would send me into a really fast reaction. Good, bad or indifferent, I was going to react.
A question would be asked and I gave an answer. Something was talked about and I had something to say about it. As I got older I tried to slow down, but my work was such that I still had to keep a sharp edge. So I did.
Now, as I am getting older I'm pausing a lot more. I'm thinking a lot more. I'm trying not to say negative things or even comment on things that I really don't agree with. It's challenging because many of the people around me are talkers, and there is no gap in the conversation for me to process what's been said and respond in a calm and decent way.
It's hard to get a word in edgewise. So I stick with being quiet.
I've also found that when I try to make decisions and people disagree with my decisions conflict arises. I've faced conflict a lot and I've handled it a lot. Good, bad, or indifferent, I got a resolution. Now I just kind of back off and let things go the way they're going. If I think they're headed for disaster I may say something, but sometimes I think "you know, they are adults and they're making good decisions I don't really think they're going to like where they end up" and let it go at that.
It's led to friction. Where I used to be the one snapping and quickly commenting now others do that. Sometimes it's fun to watch them get angry where that used to be what I did. I smile and I shake my head and I go and do my thing.
But I find it fascinating slowing down and contemplating my responses. Before I would just shoot from the hip. Often times there's no response to be given because none was requested. I'm even trying to develop the habit of asking, do you want me to listen or do you want me to suggest things?
I like this new pace. Very challenging.
+++
For most of my life I lived on a hair trigger. Everything would send me into a really fast reaction. Good, bad or indifferent, I was going to react.
A question would be asked and I gave an answer. Something was talked about and I had something to say about it. As I got older I tried to slow down, but my work was such that I still had to keep a sharp edge. So I did.
Now, as I am getting older I'm pausing a lot more. I'm thinking a lot more. I'm trying not to say negative things or even comment on things that I really don't agree with. It's challenging because many of the people around me are talkers, and there is no gap in the conversation for me to process what's been said and respond in a calm and decent way.
It's hard to get a word in edgewise. So I stick with being quiet.
I've also found that when I try to make decisions and people disagree with my decisions conflict arises. I've faced conflict a lot and I've handled it a lot. Good, bad, or indifferent, I got a resolution. Now I just kind of back off and let things go the way they're going. If I think they're headed for disaster I may say something, but sometimes I think "you know, they are adults and they're making good decisions I don't really think they're going to like where they end up" and let it go at that.
It's led to friction. Where I used to be the one snapping and quickly commenting now others do that. Sometimes it's fun to watch them get angry where that used to be what I did. I smile and I shake my head and I go and do my thing.
But I find it fascinating slowing down and contemplating my responses. Before I would just shoot from the hip. Often times there's no response to be given because none was requested. I'm even trying to develop the habit of asking, do you want me to listen or do you want me to suggest things?
I like this new pace. Very challenging.
+++
Sunday, January 25, 2026
Fun computer stuff ~
I love doing fun and different things with computers! Over the past few years that's shifted to where I do them mostly with my phone because it's handy and with me all the time. And I've reached a milestone that I don't know if it's good or bad or not.
The milestone is: I know how to do something on my phone, but I'm not sure how to do it on my computer. This something is to have a folder of recipe images and pick one of the recipes randomly and have it emailed to me on a specific day of the week or month.
When I went back to college, after certifying as a controller, I majored in computer information systems. In my junior and senior time, in my 11 year college career, I did a lot of simple programming. I really enjoyed it.
At work, I demonstrated abilities to automate things and used those abilities to get different positions, working in an office or automating things that we did or used every day. Very custom solutions for problems that we needed solved.
It was fun, but it was always on a computer and it was almost always using some form of basic programming language. A lot of Windows batch files and scripts, but mostly Visual Basic and then Basic and other things.
One of my favorites after I had been programming for a while was Auto-It. It's a scripting system that allowed me to use my basic programming skills and allowed me to actually create Windows apps just with scripting.
I would compile them and then I had a fully executable little app. It was hard because a lot of questionable things were done with Auto-It by people out there on the internet, but I never did any of that stuff.
But now I want a random recipe from a folder and I'm finding that I reach for my phone to do it instead of a computer keyboard. Because of that, the puzzle shifts. I have to find a way to synchronize the folder to my phone or put them all out on the internet and then pick randomly from there and just send a link so that you can pop it open or something like that.
I just think it's funny that my first thought was, how do I do this on my phone?
Progress...
+++
The milestone is: I know how to do something on my phone, but I'm not sure how to do it on my computer. This something is to have a folder of recipe images and pick one of the recipes randomly and have it emailed to me on a specific day of the week or month.
When I went back to college, after certifying as a controller, I majored in computer information systems. In my junior and senior time, in my 11 year college career, I did a lot of simple programming. I really enjoyed it.
At work, I demonstrated abilities to automate things and used those abilities to get different positions, working in an office or automating things that we did or used every day. Very custom solutions for problems that we needed solved.
It was fun, but it was always on a computer and it was almost always using some form of basic programming language. A lot of Windows batch files and scripts, but mostly Visual Basic and then Basic and other things.
One of my favorites after I had been programming for a while was Auto-It. It's a scripting system that allowed me to use my basic programming skills and allowed me to actually create Windows apps just with scripting.
I would compile them and then I had a fully executable little app. It was hard because a lot of questionable things were done with Auto-It by people out there on the internet, but I never did any of that stuff.
But now I want a random recipe from a folder and I'm finding that I reach for my phone to do it instead of a computer keyboard. Because of that, the puzzle shifts. I have to find a way to synchronize the folder to my phone or put them all out on the internet and then pick randomly from there and just send a link so that you can pop it open or something like that.
I just think it's funny that my first thought was, how do I do this on my phone?
Progress...
+++
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Resurrected peace lily ~
I have a Peace Lily that I resurrected. At least that's how I think of it. It's a potted plant that my wife was given when her mother died. A bunch of her sisters in the spirit pooled their money and bought her a really big pot with a really big Peace Lily in it.
It was really beautiful. My wife is not the greatest with potted plants. She does okay, but she tends to put them out in direct sunlight after they've been inside and used to being inside for months and years.
She'll put them out to get the rain and then she'll forget for three days and they get baked in the sun. She's an irregular waterer, which is okay with some plants, but not okay for the majority of the ones that we have.
Plants like a constant environment with a constant flow of water, even if it's a little bit each week. They adapt and live according to what they're getting on a regular basis. If it's not regular, they don't do well in my experience.
My wife did good with her Peace Lily at first. It was too big to put on the deck with the other plants that I had and so she had it on the front porch. It got beat down by afternoon sun for six hours or so and I told her during summer she would have to water it every day. I helped her by setting up an automatic drip solar system that would water it every day between certain hours just to keep it moist. I think that helped a lot and it flourished on the front porch.
Winter came. It got cold. It dropped to 10 degrees which is very different where we live. It dropped to 10 degrees three or four times and the peace lily died. All the leaves turned black and everything just looked really bad and dead.
She brought it in after it had been beat up by the cold she dropped it in our big bathtub. When spring came and nothing grew we put the pot under the deck and left it.
I went under the deck for some reason and was scrounging around for something. I saw this big pot and I remembered how big the peace lily had been. I was starting a new thing with lemongrass. I bought lemongrass at one of the asian marketplaces near us and rooted them, then put them in tall pots on the deck. My hope was that the lemongrass would repel mosquitoes. It helped a little but I love the smell and I love the look.
But I looked at the peace lily pot. I scraped the top of it and scraped all the dead stuff off. I thought to myself that with the root system that that big peace lily plant had there had to be something down there that might come back.
So I put the pot up on the deck. I let it get beat down by the Sun every day, but I watered it every day, too. An entire jug of water.
It sprouted leaves and it sprouted more leaves and it started growing and doing its thing. I was happy to see that the peace lily came back!
In the fall I was crabby about it because I really didn't want a big plant like this inside. I also knew that watering it inside would be a pain because it's a big pot, I mean it's two feet across. And heavy! So I bought a tub and put some pavers in the bottom of the tub. I put the pot on top of the pavers and rigged up something so that we could dump water in the pot and it would drain, but not stay in the pot. It would go in the tub of water underneath. And then I bought one of those battery operated siphoning pump things and I would use the drained water to water the peace lily every other day or so.
The plant flourished over the winter! I was amazed. The plant flourished during spring. I kept rotating it so that the leaves would have to tilt to get the sun from the windows, but we've decided to keep the peace lily inside and let it keep growing.
My hope is that it will bloom sometime this year. I'll keep using my little siphon pump thing to recirculate the water in my little watering system I've set up.
It's fun to bring plants back like that, especially when they have meaning like this one does.
+++
It was really beautiful. My wife is not the greatest with potted plants. She does okay, but she tends to put them out in direct sunlight after they've been inside and used to being inside for months and years.
She'll put them out to get the rain and then she'll forget for three days and they get baked in the sun. She's an irregular waterer, which is okay with some plants, but not okay for the majority of the ones that we have.
Plants like a constant environment with a constant flow of water, even if it's a little bit each week. They adapt and live according to what they're getting on a regular basis. If it's not regular, they don't do well in my experience.
My wife did good with her Peace Lily at first. It was too big to put on the deck with the other plants that I had and so she had it on the front porch. It got beat down by afternoon sun for six hours or so and I told her during summer she would have to water it every day. I helped her by setting up an automatic drip solar system that would water it every day between certain hours just to keep it moist. I think that helped a lot and it flourished on the front porch.
Winter came. It got cold. It dropped to 10 degrees which is very different where we live. It dropped to 10 degrees three or four times and the peace lily died. All the leaves turned black and everything just looked really bad and dead.
She brought it in after it had been beat up by the cold she dropped it in our big bathtub. When spring came and nothing grew we put the pot under the deck and left it.
I went under the deck for some reason and was scrounging around for something. I saw this big pot and I remembered how big the peace lily had been. I was starting a new thing with lemongrass. I bought lemongrass at one of the asian marketplaces near us and rooted them, then put them in tall pots on the deck. My hope was that the lemongrass would repel mosquitoes. It helped a little but I love the smell and I love the look.
But I looked at the peace lily pot. I scraped the top of it and scraped all the dead stuff off. I thought to myself that with the root system that that big peace lily plant had there had to be something down there that might come back.
So I put the pot up on the deck. I let it get beat down by the Sun every day, but I watered it every day, too. An entire jug of water.
It sprouted leaves and it sprouted more leaves and it started growing and doing its thing. I was happy to see that the peace lily came back!
In the fall I was crabby about it because I really didn't want a big plant like this inside. I also knew that watering it inside would be a pain because it's a big pot, I mean it's two feet across. And heavy! So I bought a tub and put some pavers in the bottom of the tub. I put the pot on top of the pavers and rigged up something so that we could dump water in the pot and it would drain, but not stay in the pot. It would go in the tub of water underneath. And then I bought one of those battery operated siphoning pump things and I would use the drained water to water the peace lily every other day or so.
The plant flourished over the winter! I was amazed. The plant flourished during spring. I kept rotating it so that the leaves would have to tilt to get the sun from the windows, but we've decided to keep the peace lily inside and let it keep growing.
My hope is that it will bloom sometime this year. I'll keep using my little siphon pump thing to recirculate the water in my little watering system I've set up.
It's fun to bring plants back like that, especially when they have meaning like this one does.
+++
Saturday, January 17, 2026
Water Music ~
I've always enjoyed Water Music by Handel. I remember hearing it in college in a music appreciation class. His Music for the Royal Fireworks is right up there with it, especially since they tend to be packaged together on albums by orchestras and symphonies.
But I love listening to it when I'm driving or when I'm doing things and I want to just think differently. It cracks me up that this classical music was sponsored and paid for by kings and nobles and now I get to play it whenever I want instead of having to hire a quartet to sit in the corner of a room while I do my thing. I just play it on a smart speaker or even better in my headphones so I augment my reality with music for the nobility.
If you've never listened to Water Music you should give it a try, I highly recommend it!
Here are a couple of links:
YouTube
https://youtu.be/mAyiidg25uE?si=23yj_2bl2Slato35
YouTube Music
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lQO1WV0uMAbb4FNLy8Qqc0KMssKPPUP6c&si=Oi_9VdhbYJCW5YFZ
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/album/0cxRAewBpYrtxOYH5fius3?si=wScHFP_0TUi78YsSKGWTPw
+++
But I love listening to it when I'm driving or when I'm doing things and I want to just think differently. It cracks me up that this classical music was sponsored and paid for by kings and nobles and now I get to play it whenever I want instead of having to hire a quartet to sit in the corner of a room while I do my thing. I just play it on a smart speaker or even better in my headphones so I augment my reality with music for the nobility.
If you've never listened to Water Music you should give it a try, I highly recommend it!
Here are a couple of links:
YouTube
https://youtu.be/mAyiidg25uE?si=23yj_2bl2Slato35
YouTube Music
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lQO1WV0uMAbb4FNLy8Qqc0KMssKPPUP6c&si=Oi_9VdhbYJCW5YFZ
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/album/0cxRAewBpYrtxOYH5fius3?si=wScHFP_0TUi78YsSKGWTPw
+++
Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Tried to make glowing bubbles ~
It's funny, I finally gave in and tried an experiment that I've been seeing pass by in my streams on the internet. Recently I went out on my deck around 10:30pm. I got a bottle of bubbles. And I cracked a glow stick and got it glowing.
Then I cut the glue stick open and poured it into the bubbles. Then I blew bubbles to see if the bubbles would glow as they floated away.
Sadly, they did not glow.
I blew a lot of bubbles in the middle of the night. My wife and I thought we saw a couple of them with a little bit of a tint of glow in the reflection, but they did not glow.
It was a fun experiment and I got to check it off my to-do list so that's always a bonus. But you've got to be careful with that stuff on the Internet, some of it's a little bit crazy. Like the balance beam thing that I'm doing in the basement. But that's a different story.
+++
Then I cut the glue stick open and poured it into the bubbles. Then I blew bubbles to see if the bubbles would glow as they floated away.
Sadly, they did not glow.
I blew a lot of bubbles in the middle of the night. My wife and I thought we saw a couple of them with a little bit of a tint of glow in the reflection, but they did not glow.
It was a fun experiment and I got to check it off my to-do list so that's always a bonus. But you've got to be careful with that stuff on the Internet, some of it's a little bit crazy. Like the balance beam thing that I'm doing in the basement. But that's a different story.
+++
Friday, January 9, 2026
Dangerous internet things ~
I enjoy surfing the web. I don't feel like the Silver Surfer but I do have certain places that I haunt. I enjoy certain news sites, that way I get a filtered view of the world. I enjoy Instagram, although I use it less and less because of the every-other-post-is-advertising thing.
I actually look at Pinterest almost every night when I'm at home, but I'm more just mindlessly scrolling and grabbing screenshots of memes that I think would be fun to see in the future when I'm sitting on the couch or wanting to post something but don't know what. Encouraging memes, stuff I can use on postcards, that sort of thing. I also get ideas from Pinterest. I built a rain capture rig that was modeled after something I saw on Pinterest.
But anyways, a few weeks ago some of the fitness guru people that drift through my feeds. They were talking about how squats and horse stance exercises will extend your life. So I now have my phone remind me to squat every couple of hours. Fully clothed, mind you, but squat down and hold that in a resting position for at least 10 seconds, sometimes up to two minutes.
I do horse stances infrequently but when I do them my thighs burn and my body says, what are you doing? Another thing I saw was people balancing on boards that were on wobbly bases. The main wobbly base that I saw was a PVC pipe that was two and a half or three inches wide.
It was almost like they were skateboarding, but there were no wheels. They were just balancing and wobbling back and forth. They claimed that the wobbling imbalance helped them strengthen their core and their lower extremities and improve their balance overall. And that seniors and people close to being seniors could benefit from doing balance exercises like they were doing.
I've seen the boogie boards. I've seen the balance strap deal like you're walking a tight rope, but it's two inches off the ground. So, I was convinced about the pipe and board.
I went to Home Depot and bought a handle so I could stabilize my grip. I positioned the handle inside of a door jam in the basement and then I positioned the pipe in the middle of the door. It was a double door frame, so plenty of room. Then I positioned the board and put one foot on the side leaning down. Put the other end of the board down. other foot on the other side of the board and promptly fell down after I got up I figured out that I need to hold the handle before I get on this thing so I hold the handle and got on it again it was a fun imbalanced exercise I enjoyed wobbling back and forth and pretending I was skateboarding or surfing very limited space and I was afraid that if I fell a certain way I'd cut my forehead on a filing cabinet or worse bang it on the concrete floor of the basement and then have to be rescued by my wife again.
But I've successfully done this wobbly exercise for a while and I am noticing some tightening and muscles that I wasn't really aware were there for a while. Now I am painfully aware of them.
I love the internet!
+++
I actually look at Pinterest almost every night when I'm at home, but I'm more just mindlessly scrolling and grabbing screenshots of memes that I think would be fun to see in the future when I'm sitting on the couch or wanting to post something but don't know what. Encouraging memes, stuff I can use on postcards, that sort of thing. I also get ideas from Pinterest. I built a rain capture rig that was modeled after something I saw on Pinterest.
But anyways, a few weeks ago some of the fitness guru people that drift through my feeds. They were talking about how squats and horse stance exercises will extend your life. So I now have my phone remind me to squat every couple of hours. Fully clothed, mind you, but squat down and hold that in a resting position for at least 10 seconds, sometimes up to two minutes.
I do horse stances infrequently but when I do them my thighs burn and my body says, what are you doing? Another thing I saw was people balancing on boards that were on wobbly bases. The main wobbly base that I saw was a PVC pipe that was two and a half or three inches wide.
It was almost like they were skateboarding, but there were no wheels. They were just balancing and wobbling back and forth. They claimed that the wobbling imbalance helped them strengthen their core and their lower extremities and improve their balance overall. And that seniors and people close to being seniors could benefit from doing balance exercises like they were doing.
I've seen the boogie boards. I've seen the balance strap deal like you're walking a tight rope, but it's two inches off the ground. So, I was convinced about the pipe and board.
I went to Home Depot and bought a handle so I could stabilize my grip. I positioned the handle inside of a door jam in the basement and then I positioned the pipe in the middle of the door. It was a double door frame, so plenty of room. Then I positioned the board and put one foot on the side leaning down. Put the other end of the board down. other foot on the other side of the board and promptly fell down after I got up I figured out that I need to hold the handle before I get on this thing so I hold the handle and got on it again it was a fun imbalanced exercise I enjoyed wobbling back and forth and pretending I was skateboarding or surfing very limited space and I was afraid that if I fell a certain way I'd cut my forehead on a filing cabinet or worse bang it on the concrete floor of the basement and then have to be rescued by my wife again.
But I've successfully done this wobbly exercise for a while and I am noticing some tightening and muscles that I wasn't really aware were there for a while. Now I am painfully aware of them.
I love the internet!
+++
Monday, January 5, 2026
Superchick song ~
There's a song in my playlist that I really enjoy, but it doesn't mean the same thing to me that it meant when I first listened to it. SuperChick is a Christian rock band that my daughter turned me on to when she was a teenager.
They had some good songs and I enjoyed them. The one that I enjoyed the most was "Rock What You Got".
When I first started listening to that song I was in a position at work that was very challenging. I felt way out of my depth and thinking through those words helped me a lot in that position and in other positions that followed.
I remember listening to that song three or four times in a row one night while I was on a treadmill at a hotel. I had to travel with my boss and several other people to a big meeting and they were all out doing whatever they did together and I stayed back at the hotel to prepare for the meeting, to work out, and get some alone time.
Now when I listen to that song and it says "light up the lot, don't ever let them make you stop" I enjoy it, but I chuckle because I think of it more for other people now instead of me. But it's a good song.
If you're looking for something different to listen to, give it a tumble.
https://youtu.be/Yb51mH3DApw?si=c6tevPR7_hs_lPzO
+++
#song #music #memory
Thursday, January 1, 2026
Dropping expectations ~
No expectations. One of the things that I've gone through many times in my life is being disappointed by people. Relatives, friends, coworkers, churches, fellow shoppers, fellow drivers. Lots of people.
Every time that it's happened, I've come to the realization that I had expectations that I shouldn't have had and I dropped my expectations lower and lower.
It's hard because I'm told over and over by people that I should have the highest expectations and I should expect the most and the best out of people and situations.
And when I tell even my wife and family "I'm dropping my expectations to zero and I have no expectations now" they get offended because, well, that's just wrong.
I went through a meditation lesson where the theme was "expectations ruin things".
And the idea is that to attain maximum adaptability, you should drop all expectations and accept everything as is, as it comes. no matter what.
What's funny is I'm right there with them, but I've been beat up so many times for saying and expressing this that I cringe when I hear it said in a lesson like this.
It's really weird. Sometimes it's challenging to balance everything and to understand. I take comfort in my belief in God and how I know that God is conspiring for me. For me and not against me.
It's still interesting though, trying to have no expectations so that I can be supremely adaptable.
+++
Every time that it's happened, I've come to the realization that I had expectations that I shouldn't have had and I dropped my expectations lower and lower.
It's hard because I'm told over and over by people that I should have the highest expectations and I should expect the most and the best out of people and situations.
And when I tell even my wife and family "I'm dropping my expectations to zero and I have no expectations now" they get offended because, well, that's just wrong.
I went through a meditation lesson where the theme was "expectations ruin things".
And the idea is that to attain maximum adaptability, you should drop all expectations and accept everything as is, as it comes. no matter what.
What's funny is I'm right there with them, but I've been beat up so many times for saying and expressing this that I cringe when I hear it said in a lesson like this.
It's really weird. Sometimes it's challenging to balance everything and to understand. I take comfort in my belief in God and how I know that God is conspiring for me. For me and not against me.
It's still interesting though, trying to have no expectations so that I can be supremely adaptable.
+++
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)