Social Media Gaps

As I create and review the twelve semi-annual projects to pursue for the remainder of the calendar year, there are a few themes.  Only two of the twelve require a partnership with anyone else, and a rather subordinate partnership at that.  They do require resources and they all have anticipated impediments.  Being retired and almost quarantined, time is no object.  Money for what I want to do is ample, except for one long-shot project where working on it seems more gratifying than accomplishing my most grandiose undertaking.  What I need to control are the distractions or amusements that divert my attention from priorities.  FB and Twitter need to be tamed.  FB can be a resource or a time sink.  Twitter is mainly a time sink, though it accesses me to some great minds and the need to limit the size of my responses has made me a more meticulous editor of the things I write. But once signed on, I could be signed on for a long time, surfing aimlessly, bantering with old friends, yet never using the talent, particularly on Twitter, to advance my own personal agenda.

I've tried rationing time I spend by setting a timer.  No access on shabbos, yom tov, or between 11PM-5:30AM restricts this time sink, but I also do not use this time for other items on my six month list.  What I needed to do was set blocks of time that I could use more productively and ban access to social media.  My solution, now working well in its third session, has been to just not open FB or Twitter on the days divisible by 4.  I've had prototypes of this which have succeeded. On days divisible by 3, I am off from my treadmill sessions to recover from the previous two days. As a result, I rarely miss the scheduled days, short of an injury that sidelines me.  Sermo had gotten out of hand, partly as a distraction, partly as an irritant as this physician service lost its intelligensia to the sloganeers and maybe even trolls.  I allowed myself access only on days that end in zero.  If coincident with shabbos, the usage gap would expand to three weeks.  Eventually I didn't miss it and haven't gone on it at all.

Twitter tends to be something like a subway service, always in motion for people to step into and out of the car at their convenience but never really controlling the format.  FB is more of a defined community and therefore more alluring.  I have noted the size of the community has depleted much as it did on Sermo.  Fewer people post regularly, or even sign on regularly, but those who designate this as their forum seem to have increased their entries per capita.

My self-experiment seems useful thus far. I don't miss not being there once replaced by activities from writing to functioning as my home's balaboosta engaged in enhancing my living space.  Recreation is more targeted, and FB and Twitter in the process of being redefined as something other than recreation. I seem to be on the right track.

Creating Sub-Categories

  Clutter got to me, with its remedy hastened by a need to clear an upper hallway for urgent ceiling repair and painting.  I also set optimal use of my bedroom as a goal for the second half of this calendar year.  Everything depends on categories.  There's Keep-Toss-Donate.  I started sorting by ownership:  mine-wife-son-daughter.  Two boxes contained Mine.  Then out of the main hall into mostly my bedroom.  Next subcategory: final resting place.  Bedroom-MySpace-Downstairs, all into separate boxes and transported.  The the hard part, what is all this stuff?  Some snack bags and a marker helped.  Sewing stuff already had a designated container as did buttons.  I found combs, a lot of combs.  They now have a bag.  There are plastic bracelets.  There are metal bracelets.  Tape measures have become common give away items.  I had enough for another clear mini-bag.  My unused camera and film stash got another bag, mainly for obsolete devices that use film and for digital obsolete devices that need a chip smaller than 4G that no longer appear on retailers' shelves.  And some great camera bags and fanny packs to go with this stuff.  Pens have a cardboard box as designated receptacle.  Grooming supplies posed a dilemma.  Probably easiest to sort as shampoo, dental, lotion which all have receptacles in the bathroom.  Found oodles of hardware and tools.  These need a dedicated home after sorting, so into a big bag, then transported downstairs.  The Endocrine Society gives away a lot of lapel pins and other decorative items, combined with lapel pins of other sources into another see-through bag.  Some now have open pins without an attachment receptacle so I have to shield the sharp points.  These subcategories have no limits until I reach either miscellaneous or not otherwise classified.  Eventually.

College Mug Collection

When attending college, I never had much with the university logo unless it came my way for free.  Bags from the Bookstore, spiral notebooks, a few promotional items, but I never bought a t-shirt or beer stein, largely a matter of price.

As I became more secure in income, and had to visit campuses more frequently, especially as my children went on their tours, I started purchasing a mug from each bookstore, amassing a significant collection, most designated milchig and unused.  A few decals from the declasse drinkware separated from the porcelain.  This week the handle of one which would be hard to revisit broke off in a kitchen mishap.  I had never actually consumed a beverage from it but liked the pewter logo amid the red background, not even dishwasher suitable because of it.  Once the handle had been glued back on, I think unused items that are difficult if not expensive to replace could use a more secure home.  Off they went to My Space on a shelf under the big screen TV.  Makes for a nice display, even if I am the only one who enters this Holy of Holy room.

Ironically, I largely stopped adding to my collection a few years ago.  Campuses remain a destination when I travel.  What has changed is the ownership of the campus bookstores.  They used to be part of the university.  In recent years, Barnes and Noble has muscled in on the action, boosting the prices significantly on most any logo item.  Mugs have been elevated to Drinkware.  Oy.  

Small Tangible Victories

It's been a week of progress.  I can sit on my deck.  The first zinnia sprouts appeared in the deck planters.  I can sit on the swivel chair in my bedroom with speakers from a mini-stereo aimed at my ears.  I can walk through my upper hall without stepping sideways.  Electronics recycling is bagged for transport to the DSWA center within the next few days.  My medical instruments have been gathered into a single bag.  None is a goal by itself, but part of a larger mission of enjoying the space my house has to offer now that I inside it much of the time.  There is more to do.  Gather cameras, use up film, place them in a designated photographic location with film cameras designated for the museum and several digital ones, some obsolete, designated for use.  Plan big, do small.

Finding Treasure

As I get to the second half of the calendar year, while my initiatives to pursue have not yet reached final form, I am committed to making my bedroom the kind of place I would like to seek out.  Most Sleep Hygiene advice, which I have begun to follow recently with considerable benefit, advises restricting the bed for two specific activities.  But my bedroom has a lot of stuff that can expand its use.  I want to place a mini-stereo system there.  My office had two stereos, one in the waiting room to block any conversations in exam rooms and the other in my personal office, a truly compact model.  The larger was kept in storage, harvested last winter, and placed on a flat surface sans speakers and remote which remain at large.  The smaller, I came across yesterday, just opening boxes that were taking up space.  Found the remote in an adjacent hall amid a pile of miscellany, so that one gets a nook in the bedroom while the bulkier one finds its way to DSWA electronics recycling unless I find the other speakers and remote first.

Our upper ceiling has a crack requiring repair and repainting, forcing me into the upper hall.  More treasure.  Found my vacuum's utility accessories wedged against a wall.  Harvested four bags of childrens clothes which I took to a bin for donation.  Wife's papers are insatiable.  They comprised multiple bags, now relocated to a single Staples cardboard storage file size box where they can be placed upright, which beats the random pile.  The box can then be stacked someplace else.  Found a belt, el cheapo model falling apart but containing a good pewter buckle.  Lots of medical equipment separated into a box of medical equipment.  Another box designated as Dad's Stuff to be combined with Dad's Stuff from the bedroom. Found a Walkman which is a radio-tape player but not a full tape recorder.  Found a color watchman.  Put batteries in it but it did not play as it predates digital broadcasting requirements.  With sadness, off it goes to electronics recycling.  Got some FM radios just right for fishing or the beach.  Some earphones to test for viability.  Have a fondness for cheap metal bracelets.  Found three that need some links removed for proper fit and an unopen one that I once got as a Hanukkah gift for my son.  Probably makes more sense to keep it for myself.  And while I have metal bracelets, I also found some stretchable plastic ones with messages.  Now duly labelled and in a snack bag.  Restoring either of my bed desks was a lost cause.  My fondness for them when they functioned well aside, new home in landfill.

I made some rules.  No bags for piling things, only boxes where papers can be upright and the boxes stacked.  Ownership assigned, about half mine, half my wife's.  I deal with mine periodically, the rest can be expected to remain in the boxes unattended for perpetuity so those will eventually find their way to a defined section of the basement.  Kids stuff not very plentiful, though I was pretty ruthless about assigning most of their school papers to the recycling bin.  Toys bagged for donation.  Took some papers to Staples for shredding.  Our shredder malfunctioned.  Important enough to replace, though not really suitable for high volume.  Not much financial material upstairs.  I harvested what is not obvious shredding or recycling and moved those papers downstairs

While I worked like a farm animal this week to do this, its progress gives some accomplishment even if I never use the Walkman or get around to resizing the bracelets.  I will install the mini-stereo without fail.

Walking Sideways

This month brings not only definition of the next six month's categorized projects but some though as to why I want to do them.  There is always a home category and it usually involves either a regional decluttering or a systemic way to deal with stuff, much of which is either not mine but in great quantity or not mine but intrusive to mine despite a relatively small amount.  Since closing my storage space last winter, the stuff is still in boxes placed on the flat surfaces of convenience.  I find myself walking sideways amid constricted paths and wanting better definition of space that is not shared.

I've done a good job creating inviolable work space, abysmal job with storage decisions, and never really defined recreational space other than my treadmill which is off limits to storage of any type despite a significant flat surface.  The sideways walk includes upper and lower halls, my bedroom, the laundry room, access to the family room, parts of the basement, parts of the kitchen.  This needs to be fixed.  It will take the whole six months if I want to do it at all.  A better option may be to designate my recreational space:  the deck and access to it, the front entryway, my gardens, defining my bedroom as my sanctuary, the kitchen.  Then the spaces acquire a purpose with using them as the end point, or maybe enjoying each as the end point.  Removal of impediments then becomes not the goal, but part of the process of achieving the goal.

Bedroom as sanctuary probably meets the SMART goal definition.  It is specific, my defined space of the bedroom is available to do what I like their with other parts walled off in some way.  It is Specific-Sensible-Significant.  Measurable may be more difficult without a clear end vision but it is Motivating-Meaningful.  It is almost Achievable with one big obstacle that I can probably minimize.  I see having recreational and restful space as Relevant-Reasonable.  And I set the Time as four months.  This is now my defined Home Goal for the coming half year.

My New Tree

Our State Representative sent a Facebook message that the local power company was giving away 1000 saplings, divided among three varieties, to 1000 property owners selected by lottery.  I filled out the form and got a picture of my back yard from the power company advising me the best spot to plant the sapling to avoid wires.  Didn't know I had been selected until my River Birch arrived from the USPS along with my other mail.

I planted it in the place suggested, not a big project.  I had never heard of a River Birch and don't even have a good reason for opting for that tree over the other two.  Apparently it's a hardy tree, growing to about 20 meters in height at a rate of about half a meter a year.  It does not do well in alkaline soil.  I don't know the pH of mine.  If it fails to thrive, I can test the adjacent soil and add something acidic.  More likely it's fine, since when I planted roses I had to add bone meal to make the soil more alkaline.  But once established, it seems to thrive with benign neglect.  My kind of tree.

Lasted 15 Minutes

Despite my generally tendency to keep my two meters distance from Jewish agencies long before social distancing became the norm, there have been a few that deserve my loyalty.  I have been very respectful of the American Jewish Committee and of the Anti-Defamation League, taking advantage of their seminars and agency contacts to not only the movers and shakers but to the thinkers.  Each of these, and some other venerable Jewish organizations that have contributed much to the world, had its origins but repurposed itself as one key issue resolve and another took its place.

I found myself particularly irritated at an introduction to an ADL seminar, introduced in something of a diatribe by their executive director, a worthy man who may have had the unfortunate challenge of succeeding his retired predecessor who I regard as the most inspiring agency leader who I ever met personally.

The ADL was formed in that era when many of our organizations from unions, to scouts, civic advocacies appeared on the American scene, largely a consequence of immigration with common interests and recovery from a Gilded Age which presided over an economic inequality and leverage of the rich over the struggling not seen again until recent times.  It's precipitating event was a public expansion of anti-Semitism in response to the murder of Jewish Bobby Franks by two Jewish assailants.  Needless to say, the image of Jews murdering each other creates a very negative stereotype, and quite an inaccurate one.  The Anti-Defamation League grew from that event, intended to marginalize anti-Semitism in America.  While American anti-Semitism never quite got fully marginalized let alone disappear, it is much less in America now than in 1924.  In fact, in recent years it has become more expanded in America and globally, and with some measurable mortality.  Still we should try to avoid those Type 1 errors of attributing improper significance.

Recent events have shifted how we need to promote ethnic benevolence.  Jewish Covid-19 conspiracy theories exist but really impact hardly anyone.  Racial horrendo's have come more to public awareness, each police driven death as a sentinel event or capturing unwarranted brutal conduct by police officers on usually Black captives on cell phones no longer surprises anyone.  Putting somebody's knee on a captive's airway seems more like what a feline huntress would do to a gnu.  It has no place in any kind of professional conduct, not even overt warfare where a captured soldier is simply disarmed and put with the other POW's.  Any member of the discerning public seems motivated toward proper treatment of individuals in a way I've not seen since public outpourings for the children bombed in an Alabama church nearly sixty years ago.  This time it's about the indignities of African-American life.  Jews are supporters.

Yet the executive director's opening remarks diverted to Jewish problems, and in a way that detracted from the mission of the event to share ADL expertise with the Black community under assault.  It's not about us this time.  Anyone who mistakes that falls within my concept of a schmendrik.  Abe, the iconic ADL director who contributed so much to my analysis of equity and who I had the honor of meeting once, knows what a schmendrik is.  The African-Americans don't, but I think they got to see one doing a self-serving diatribe as a diversion from serving them.  I left the Zoom meeting while he was still speaking.  The rest of the seminar may have been worth enduring this.  I'll let others offer the feedback from where I left off.

Enhancing Kitchen's Function

While I still had a substantial income, I diverted a significant annual bonus to revising my kitchen.  Most of the upgrades were cosmetic: painting, wallpaper, new floor, new sink and cabinet facing.  A few were functional, particularly lighting and quartz countertop.  Now it has to function, as it contains everything I need, unfortunately probably more than I need.  We have a way of allocating any flat surface from the refrigerator to each chair with whatever fits at the moment.  I finally declared no more and set kitchen function as a priority to be addressed in a purposeful way every day.  Our refrigerator got a forced purge, partly from Pesach and partly from a shattered glass bottom shelf, replaced at considerable expense, along with the broken frame that held it.  While there is still room for improvement, I can find pretty much what I want in the refrigerator.  I have kept the cabinets mostly purposeful, designating a place for everything.  Drawers not as good but not bad.  It's those flat surface that hold mail that never get open, journals that have never been formally subscribed, food from supermarket that never really has a clear decision of what I want to reasonably access and with what level of ease.  I set the priority this week, starting with the table.  Almost done.  Then the island.  Then the counters, then the chairs, then the floor, then the cart.  Never quite the pantry.

Afternoon at Cape Henlopen

Change in scenery after travel restrictions has been long overdue.  Not that I don't like my house which can be restful, challenging and times exasperating.  I just need to be someplace else sometimes.  Cape Henlopen State Park offers both a fishing pier and a beach.  It had been my intent to divide my day among the two, but later than planned arrival pushed me preferentially to the seashore.

I took what I needed and some things I probably didn't need, as internet access on the beach had a oddly welcome absence.  Beach chair set up, easy to find a territory with a two meter radius of separation from other sun worshippers.  Masks off, New Testament opened to where I left off at First Corinthians for the daily four chapter quota, some camera shots of the beach and some waves breaking, a couple of relatively ineffective spritzes of newly purchased spf 50 sunscreen.  Regrettably, left sunglasses in car.  This being early in season, the water felt chilly.  Nobody other than a few hardy kids got seriously wet.

So who shared the space with me?  It was a work day, for many a welcome return to work day.  Not a lot of working age men there.  More women of all ages than men.  With school out, whether a place where attendance is taken or in front of a screen at home, I would have expected many more children and young parents.  Fear perhaps.  Attendance at the shore seemed predominantly an older cohort, most younger than me but not by that much. 



Some of the en route amenities could have been better.  I typically stop at a WaWa for lunch and snack.  Soda machine shut down, milkshakes and hoagies too expensive and more economical bagel sandwich removed from menu.  DQ alternative for better milkshake at other end of parking lot fully closed.  Grotto Pizza carryout lunch special about half again what is charged at home.  Finally settled on a slice of rather good wood-fired pizza from a strip mall near the local high school.  Cash only.  I was surprised at how little cash I had, since most things are purchased by card, though I've not been to the ATM for a withdrawal in months. 

One of the purposes of a welcome respite is its conclusion with a more energized return to daily priorities.  That part of the mission seems fulfilled.