Forcing Myself

After doing great for a while and seeing beneficial results, I let my sleep hygiene initiative atrophy, first for a legitimate reason of illness, but never restored this project to baseline.  I would wake up on time but not get up.  Today I did, though more from obligation to myself than really wanting to.

The same could be said of exercise, going great, hiatus for illness, never restored though it could have been partially restored.  Just have to set a time and be on a moving treadmill at that time.

Not all is lost.  I still use the electric toothbrush and flosser as soon as I get up, weigh and check waist circumference weekly.  BP checks have gotten fewer but the relative consistency of the readings suggests the spot checks are sufficient.  Dishes get done. Doing them relaxes me and gives me the illusion that I've accomplished something tangible.  I keep up with the laundry, no sense of self-coercion on this. Some of those health measures just haven't done as well despite acquiring some measure of well being when I was doing them.

Maybe creating an obligation, maybe having somebody other than me keep the checklist.  Start by hitting the personal Reset today.  I'm up on time, morning dental ritual done, dishes done, coffee at my right hand.  Treadmill later this morning when stiffness eases.  See how it goes.

Assessing Progress

Just about a month has gone by since my current list of a dozen semi-annual initiatives got under way.  Mixed report but not an unexpected one.  Planned to join two organizations.  Got myself a meaningful assignment from the Delaware Historical Society.  Planned three day trips to places I've not been before spread over three states.  Barnes Museum is now open.  Don't know about the American Museum of Jewish History.  Went downstate to Fenwick Island, where I've been a few times but veered off at Trap Pond where I've never been.  And there are experiences like White Water Rafting.  Should be able to do the three by year's end.  National Park.  Takes planning but doable.  Probably a targeted trip.  I have my two subscriptions to the Forward and to the Atlantic.  I've been reading them, commenting a lot to the Forward which makes it easy to give feedback.  Much harder for the Atlantic which is written on a much higher analytical plane than the Forward.  Writing the book that makes me famous has languished.  So has my initiative to create a process to expose Trumpanzees who thought they could create discord anonymously.  Books have not gone as well.  The anti-Trump book by Joe Walsh just did not capture my intellect.  I read an ebook by Nobel Laureate SY Agnon, translated by my Rav James Diamond.  A unique Jewish book.  Probably too short to really count as one of my three designated books.

Physical measurements have gone nowhere.  I have not felt my best and cut back the treadmill.  Faithful to omitting calories from 10PM-6AM but no progress from the scale or tape measure.  Not made any new friends yet but immersion in historical society just beginning.  Implosion of on-site OLLI has added to this challenge.  

Son's wedding is still a go.  I've been keeping up with financial filing.  Could be more dedicated to focusing on my bedroom but rotated the mattress and had the down comforter professionally cleaned, so its primary task of a place to sleep seems satisfied.

Still five months to do these things.  Not a perfect start but not a substandard one either.  Plod along.

Virtual Tisha B'Av

Three Weeks have largely passed me by.  I made no adaptations this Coronavirus year, not that you can really mandate sadness as reliably as you can manipulate diet.  yutorah.org had their offerings which I did not pursue.  There are kinnot available and the OU has a program every year for Tisha B'Av that I'll probably tap.  I probably will read Eicha on my own, not fast past dawn, and not really feel part of a communal mourning.  The observance is about feeling, which has eluded me this year.  Maybe community has as well.

WaWa Returns

While bored with what was on live TV, I streamed some favorite recorded shows, settling for a Modern Marvels episode on convenience stores.  WaWa, the dominant chain in our region, had a significant presence as state of the art approaches to processing customers in and out.  My own purchases are rather predictable, mostly gasoline, typically on Friday.  When I was working, coffee would sometimes be a separate pre-highway stop, and maybe a vegetable-bagel sandwich which seems discontinued from the current menu, as Modern Marvels suggested that fate for items that do not sell, do not attract customers, do not generate a profit, or are labor intensive.  While coffee generally has a better price than the coffee or breakfast chains, it is also easy to make at home and when necessary transfer to my own travel mug so since retiring, WaWa coffee has never been a priority, though I can be swayed by the $1 any size promotions.  They have Hoagie Fest periodically, $5 for a large custom hoagie.  Not the best by any means but a best buy.  And they have promotions on milk shakes, $2 for the pint size or $1 for a 32oz soda available in more varieties than anyplace else from a machine that I find intriguing.  And they have a cash machine that rarely brings me in for that alone but which I access if inside the store for something else.

As a food and fuel supplier, they were able to remain open during the Covid-19 closures, though utilization, at least on my part, changed significantly.  I drove less so some Fridays I did not fill my gas tank, or if I didn't want to go inside to the convenience store, I sometimes went someplace other than my usual WaWa.  And I never went inside.  My one indulgence, coffee, was not on sale.  More importantly, they eliminated the self-serve aspect which I depend on to customize what the mood brings me.  They have displays of type of coffee, different whiteners, different sweeteners, some additives.  It's not the same when you need to tell the lady at the counter what you want when you could be choosing among white, brown, or no sugar yourself.  And at full price, it's better just to use my k-cups.

Some recent advertising revealed the $1 any size promotion had returned.  Not that I need to make a special trip for coffee.  But since I needed gas, I went inside and found the self-serve completely restored except for the missing cinnamon and chocolate shakers.  Special on Blueberry Cobbler.  I filled my cup to 20 oz, added only light cream, and a travel top.  As a bonus, the promotion on milkshakes has also returned.  Later maybe.

Fly Infestation

Periodically we have a buzz of house flies congregating mostly in our kitchen and dining room.  They annoy us, get into the dishwashing tubs, rarely into the fridge where the coolness does them in or at least slows there metabolism.  They're back, too many for a fly swatter, too big for fly tape. 

I assume they laid eggs someplace in our house on a previous visit though I've not seen any larval forms preceding the presence of adult forms.  They seem to cluster most near our northern kitchen and dining room windows.  A quick survey of internet advice on control did not sound optimistic once the adults prevail.  We don't have a lot of exposed food around.  I could spray some Raid along the windows, probably will, but need to be careful to avoid food storage that we keep nearby.  In the past they have shown short life spans so the annoyance should dissipate but I'll do my best to hasten that chemically.

Heat Wave

While nobody really knows what creates climate or predicts its variability very well, some patterns have gotten sufficiently familiar to maintain some predictability.  We will have a snow requiring driveway clearing every winter, though we didn't the last one.  There will be a few deluges, though flooding would be a notable event.  And it gets hot for part of the summer, usually with enough humidity to alter activities.  That's where I've been the past week or two.  I made it to the Delaware shore one day, an afternoon with a pleasant breeze to break the outdoor heat.  But for the most part, being an indoor cat has suited me better.  No fishing, more out of concern for me than the fish.  My gardens have taken sufficient root to not need a lot of supplemental water, except for my new sapling and especially for the zinnias planted in the pre-built wooden corner boxes on my deck.  Those have looked a bit droopy some days but revive quickly when added water seeps beneath the soil.  The first flowers have arrived with only small but timely amounts of care on my part. 

Air conditioning has become a high priority these past few weeks, either at home or in the car.  Walks across parking lots or at gasoline pumps have not taken a serious toll but added effort of weeding my main garden has become noticeable, so I've not been doing it in a serious way.  I have looked at the crop:  leaf herbs doing well, seeded vegetables not yet.  The inspections have been brief.

In the spring, I set up the deck for some outdoor living.  Umbrella does not work right.  Antigravity chair comfortable but not the best place to hang out on a steamy afternoon, even though the backyard faces north.  Being indoors has its opportunity for cleaning, writing, loafing.  None yet taken to best advantage.  Not even loafing.

Use the Dishwasher Maybe

Coffee mugs have a way of accumulating.  Figure I consume my three daily cups, using a keurig k-cup means I need a clean mug each time as my machine requires new water to be placed in the warmer rather than having its own reservoir.  Then an herb tea later in the day.  Maybe a glass of wine or soda or a beer with supper.  Plus my wife's share.  It can mean a lot of cups and glasses, far in excess of any plates or utensils.  My milchig dish rack holds four cups on the outer vertical holders, then I can put more on the grid, but I also need the grid for space occupying cooking utensils and plates.  The dishwasher can do the whole thing except the delicates though typically the upper rack where the cups go fills up while the lower rack has mainly forks and spoons with a plate or two.  I really don't want to hand wash as many drinking vessels as I have out today, so perhaps the dishwasher is still the best alternative.

Added Waistline

As the second half of the calendar year gets underway, I diverted my health goal from treadmill landmarks, which I achieved, back to anthropometric measurements which have gone nowhere for several years.  Weight and Waist get measured every Monday morning, a lot of the week's progress usually gets entered every Wednesday, along with a statement of how I feel.  In retirement, as a senior citizen, I've been as attentive as I've ever been, taking my prescribed medicine daily, measuring my BP a few times a week, doing the scheduled treadmill session with few lapses, and not consuming any calories from 10PM to 6AM every day.  Three weeks into the program, my weight remains static but my waist increased by one inch, which I should have noted since my pants have fitted less well along the middle, though the belt holes have not changed.  This will have to be accomplished with some more severe diet modifications, though I have not approached snacks in a voracious way since the second half of the year began.

I do most of the grocery shopping and the majority of supper preparation so I have pretty good control.  Breakfast has been inconsistent at best.  My routine is coffee, though when I have gravlax at hand I will make a sandwich with a bagel and cream cheese, so there is a breakfast.  Suppers have been moderate.  Triple Decker Sandwiches have been gone for a while.  Need to attack the snack end, I guess.  Efficient food production and corporate competition keeps the goodies good and economical.  No trip to the supermarket avoids Tastykake if the price is right or cookies or chips or pretzels.  I try to ration but maybe have not been doing as well as I thought.

As coronavirus has expanded indoor time, some ordinary activity such as OLLI, shul, walking a mall, traversing a parking lot to get somewhere, and undoubted a lot of other subtle but additive calorie utilization has also depleted.  It will be hard to recapture that so if I am to get to the physical measurement goals by year's end, the grocery shopping and consumption will need to be modified.  I think I am up to the challenge.

Back to Campus

This season the ads for return to school usually begin, though the stationery items that I already have in excess started a few weeks back.  Traditionally I look through the ads, not just pens and markers but clothing, sometimes electronics, and storage items intended for cramped dorms but useful to me too.  Until this spring, retirement has made me a little like a college student with more discretionary funds than I had when I was a real student.  My Space is already saturated.  I will probably need dress clothing for my son's upcoming wedding but nothing else.  Even eyeglass renewal is optional, as the prescription change may be too small to justify the expense.  Cookware and small appliances from previous seasons remain in their boxes.  Osher Institute will only assemble online next semester.

My own diversions, cooking, writing, and gardening, do not have a seasonal surge matching back to school.  Even summer vacation with travel has become much subdued by the Coronavirus restrictions.  So I look at Boscov's Back to Campus newspaper insert with nothing to buy.  More importantly, Labor Day has been a traditional transition point: school, the Holy Days, football, wearing a jacket.  Guess I still will need to wear a jacket, though I don't need to add one.  In some ways, our pandemic has effaced some of our calendar and the structure it gives to our year.