Too Much Broken Stuff

Bari Weiss' had a shortlisting of provocative articles from the concluding calendar year, including an outstanding piece by Alana Newhouse, editor of Tablet Magazine where she traced the origins of our many broken  systems.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/everything-is-broken

Systems don't work.  Trust in organizations has dissipated because the leadership doesn't deserve the respect they seem to demand.  I was kept on hold for two hours by a financial institution trying to move my son's custodial account to his own adult account, something already 15 years overdue and not done largely because of the previous hassles trying to do it.  My doctor's office properly tried to ascertain if it was safe for me to keep my appointment amid respiratory symptoms.  They notified me to come, but when I came the receptionist again tried to ascertain if I should have come.

My home needs major preparation for when end of life frailty forces me to vacate it.  Trying to find a suitable pro has not gone well.  My earbuds only cost a dollar at the dollar store but only last a few hours in my pants pocket.  The ones that cost more don't last notably longer.

When I take my car or computer for repair, they no longer ask my story of what I wrong, but go right to the instruments with ineffective remedy when a quick assessment involving cognitive skill would have done better.  Some of the younger doctors go right to the imaging too, without historical  or exam justification for doing what they ordered.

Our judges, Torah's pinnacle of requiring integrity, underperform our sports referees who may be our last bastion of meting out equity among combatants.  My synagogue evokes flashbacks of Hebrew School and USY cliques.  Our least capable professionals seem to be the ones most adamant about being addressed by their titles. Our public officials pander to the evil that tips the balance in their direction.  We've gotten too quick to punish adverse events without correcting the systemic errors, be they medical, police, or social.

It's all broken.  Worse, I'm not sure anyone wants to incur the imposition required to not have all these malfunctioning systems and products.

New Year's Eve Shabbat

Covering the hospitals on Christmas and surrounding days always assured me not having to do that for either Thanksgiving or New Year's.  Each could be festive, though the final day of the calendar year was nearly always a work day.  Festivities take place after work with the legal holiday something of a denouement with Bowl Games or just not having to go to work or check mail that day. 

Retirement takes a different perspective.  I no longer have work obligations on New Year's Eve so I can spend the day making a special dinner, much like on Thanksgiving.  This year it coincides with shabbos.  Since the span between supper and the Big Steel Ball knocking down New York comprises a lot of snacking with a split of bubbly when the Apple lights up, I've planned something of a contiguous indulgence from kiddush to welcoming the calendar transition.

Snacks tend to be milchig.  So will shabbos dinner.  Coulibiac, or Russian Fish Pie, always seems festive, making a small compromise with commercial puff pastry.  The price of mushrooms has gone up as has parsley.  Still I opted for Shop-Rite bunch parsley though leaves of my outdoor pot herb garden probably could have gotten me by.  Just enough steps to keep me engaged in cooking activities, not nearly as many as Thanksgiving.  A vegetable.  Got carrots.  Glaze with maple syrup or honey should contrast the fish pie, which already contains rice as the starch.  Cheesecake for dessert.  For some reason, amid a national cream cheese shortage, Shop-Rite has been selecting their house brand bricks for one of their leader sale items.  Add some sour cream or unflavored yogurt, sugar, graham crackers and eggs plus some patience in bringing items to room temperature and a multiday treat comes forth.  Sparkling cider in its finest form also on sale, to avoid the evil soda.

After supper snacks have been accumulating.  Cream puff mini's with a digital coupon, a few types of crackers.  Corn chips with salsa. We don't pop popcorn on shabbos, though.  

Kiddush to Big Steel Ball spans about six hours, though.  As attractive as these indulgences seem, unlikely I really want to make this one continuous meal.

Choosing My Olli Courses

While their new system of assignment of oversubscribed courses by lottery has removed any urgency to submit my next set of Osher preferences before anyone else, I've been putting the worksheet under other papers to the right of my laptop too long.  I want to enroll in three or four courses at a time, a little less than I undertook in college and a lot less than was assigned in medical school.  One will require performance on my part, either drawing, watercolor, or music, the other three didactic in some way.  I look forward to in-person resumption, as much of the benefit of the OLLI program has been a form of loneliness therapy.  Efficacy of a chat and coffee far exceeds a screen and email.

Procedure of selection generally involves creating a grid Mon-Thurs as I don't want Friday classes, then early AM, late AM, early PM, avoiding late afternoon sessions.  Then, going through the catalog one subject at a time, I entered possibilities in the appropriate square of my grid.

Once completed, I circled the one in each of the twelve boxes I found most appealing, then pick four.  Almost there.  Drawing conflicts with a lot of other things I might consider, watercolor does not, so even though I would prefer pencils, I'll try watercolor and one of the other classes that meets at the same time as drawing.  Some classes only run for half the semester, invariably the first half, which is why my final selections could use a little more analysis.  I'm good at sticking to what I decide.  Misgivings rarely appear.  Give it another day, then submit the registration electronically.

Facebook Survey

FB invited me to answer some questions.  I don't know if they invited everyone, which would skew their sample as people with an axe to grind would be more likely to take them up on the offer, or whether they randomly invited a subset of users.  I took the bait and answered honestly.  Basically it has become another advertising medium like the newspaper and TV, offering me content for my attention but inserting commercial notices to offset their overhead for doing this.  And the consumers seem to be on the decline.

As a service, to which I have now subscribed twelve years, the more purposeful allure has run its course.  I renewed old friendships, some more firm now than when we interacted in school decades ago.  Little expansion has occurred.  Indeed, there is some contraction with presentations from some of my favorite  people much less frequent, sometimes essentially absent.

People used to exchange thoughts.  Now people resent the exchange, perhaps in parallel with resentment of challenges to ideas elsewhere in America.  People promote their agendas.  I know who is in Free America/ Smart America/ Real America/ Just America from what appears under their name.  People focus on milestones, responding in large numbers to birthdays and anniversaries.  There are condolences when an obit appears, though not many laudable summaries of the life just completed.  It has become Sound Bites for the eyes.

Most of life, which FB once reflected far better than it does now, has little to do with milestone events.  To get from one birthday to the next there are activities in some form every single day.  Special efforts to make dinner or take a course, fondness for a pet which still appears regularly, travel to a new place, the new restaurant, meeting somebody famous or highly accomplished, having a regrettable day at work.  FB could have captured lives.  Its users opted not to let it do that.

Contiguous Sleep Cycles

My upper respiratory infection has been trending to resolution with symptomatic intervention.  Cough drops, some therapeutic, some more tasty, have done what they should.  Fluticasone may be taking effect  on the rhinitis, or perhaps I am just recovering.  NyQuil has proven the most valuable, not so much because of any anti-tussive or sympathomimetic properties but because it enables me to transition from one sleep cycle to the next seamlessly.  This rarely happens spontaneously nowadays.  My iTouch buzz even woke me this morning from a more significant part of the sleep cycle.

Despite some effort to understand sleep and sleep hygiene better as it increasingly affects me, the role of transitions from one cycle to the next seems ill-defined.  Nature did not intend it to be wakefulness, though perhaps a periodic scan for predators each night might have evolutionary purpose.  Probably not as much purpose as full alertness when daylight arrives.  Even if mediated by exogenous chemicals, I appreciate the more continuous nightly snooze, even if I don't understand its mechanism or how the NyQuil components compensated.  Though, for sure, it is not a suitable chronic sleep aid.

Semi-Annual Cycle Winds Down

Christmas has come and gone bringing me to the final week of this semi-annual project cycle.  I didn't do badly at all.  My weight hovered just above target.  I looked back over my health log to discover that I had lost about 4 kg a year ago which is when I banned a few items from the shopping cart.  It has been pretty static for the entire 2021 calendar year as has my waist.  But I did well with treadmill consistency, if not intensity.  I will focus more on intensity in the coming half year, letting the anthropomorphic results play out as they will.

My intent to write a book fizzled entirely.  Bad habits, mediocre commitment, unwillingness to do what it takes.  An attempt to go All In for a month totally failed.  Yet it's an important frontier to me, so it remains as my Frontier Initiative for the coming cycle with better focus on set times and milestones.

I did well on reading, as I usually do.  That repeats as my Self Initiative.

I want to entertain in my home, meaning a combination of tidying and making friends and taking initiatives.  Planned three, did one.  Give it another go as my Friends Initiative.

I wanted to offer assistance to an OLLI Committee.  Latching onto one was not as straightforward as I expected.  It's hardly an impenetrable USY Clique.  Give it another try with more persistence as my Community Initiative.

Went to three day trips with new experiences.  One of my reliable and gratifying initiatives.  I  made a few modifications to this Travel Initiative.  This cycle the trips will all be in my bordering state of Maryland.  Having driven its width for the first time, there's a lot there to sample.  I will accept not only a day trip to a new place or new experience but allow a short overnight or two night stays if that enhances the experience.

Having a YouTube presence could have made a fine Long Term project.  I learned how to do a basic presentation, settling on a cell phone video instead of camera, tripod, microphone.  It would really cost more than I want to spend and don't feel sufficiently motivated to pursue this.  It will be abandoned, for now if not forever.  My replacement Long Term Initiative will be to complete the renovation to My Space so that it also becomes my Sanctuary, my go-to place for motivation and for comfort.  Once done right, always done.

I submitted three articles to publishers, more counting Medscape, which I probably should give up.  The writing came early in the cycle, some good stuff, a lot of false starts.  Then a stretch of half-hearted efforts.  I really like expressing myself.  I'm not a troll on internet response opportunities, but I think what I express should have substance, require planning, go through an editor, and appear for others to read.  It remains my Mental Initiative with better focus on set times to write, places to offer the writing, and mileposts to keep me on track.

The family room upgrade got started but it needs professional help.  I could make progress for an hour or so but never the five-hour stretch that it would take to transform this to optimal living space.  Better to abandon this project.  Instead, for my Home Initiative, I always enjoyed the challenges and rewards of my gardens.  A change this time.  Outdoors for vegetables, front entrance for herbs.  Rethink and replant Aerogarden.  Last time I enhanced soil in the beds.  This spring I will need to cut back adjacent overgrowth that hides some of the surface that full planting requires.  Made lots of mistakes in previous years, learned from them.  Fewer mistakes this time.  The effort brings me a small measure of cheer, something in short supply.

My Family Initiative included targeted time with my wife, something I expected more of in retirement.  To accomplish this, I allotted a trip, one of serious tourism.  I got some resistance.  Instead, we settled on an interesting road trip to Mammoth Cave National Park and a few days in the Poconos.  This time I shifted some of the categories.  Family is still targeted wife togetherness though in smaller regular aliquots, special dinners, TV time, small two person projects.  Things that would not get much resistance.

Purchase Initiative has become surprisingly hard since I don't really want anything that I have to save up for.  I bought a car on short notice as my dear Honda became undriveable.  Not a planned purchase at all.  Having gotten a gift certificate from B&H Photo from my kids for my birthday, I set out to spend it.  I don't even know what most of the doodads that they sell are for.  Delegated this to my wife who selected a hand scanner towards the end of this semi-annual cycle.  I desire experiences more than things.  My landmark anniversary approaches next summer.  If our health and public health allows, this may be the opportunity for spending a little on post-retirement travel.  That's the initiative, to be introduced on our mid-point anniversary on Valentine's Day.

Financial Initiative also takes some thought, since I have ample funds, now augmented by a monthly Social Security check.  I've been logging my expenses each month, placing on an Excel spreadsheet, and tabulating expenses by category each quarter.  It's tedious on the days that I transcribe this, gratifying when I'm done.  This continues.

So this semi-annual cycle reaches its conclusion.  Some successful, a few abject failures but at least giving me an ideal of what motivates me and what I am willing to commit to.  Very much looking forward to the revisions and continuations as they start playing out next week.

Twas the Day Before Christmas

Without elaborating an opinion, more places seem to be shutting down this year.  Most of the stores close at about 6PM.  By then shabbos will have already commenced.  Nothing open tomorrow except gas stations, places for medical urgencies, and  first responders.  A day of rest, maybe respite.  Churches open.  Synagogues too, as the legal holiday coincides with our weekly observance of shabbos.

Have enough gas.  Need mini-challot, so off to Shop-Rite this morning.  Ingredients for cheesecake on sale, so get that too and make the cake in a few days.  But for the most part, let the year count down, some projects completed, others to continue, others to be abandoned.

Bagel and a Schmear

Not been to Einstein Bagels in a long time.  It used to be a Sunday morning destination when I had one of their $1 coffee mugs, where I would take my weekly planning pouch, sip the coffee while I outline the coming week.  The deal disappeared as did the mug.  From time to time they would also offer a bagel with cream cheese and coffee for $1.99 with a coupon, that I always had.  Brew HaHa across the street at the next strip mall had better coffee so I went there instead.  Then, between retiring and Covid, and the creation of My Space, I just did coffee and planning at home each Sunday morning.

Einstein's returned the coupon, this time $3 instead of $2 but adapted to other price rises, still worth purchasing one time, which is all they allow for this.  I went as a treat to myself for doing something important, though I cannot remember what.  Being early winter with a mask to protect the public if not myself, my bifocals promptly fogged so I couldn't see anything on the menu board.  As I got closer to my turn the fog was less.  I could see some of the bagel options, selecting what they called Ancient Grains.  I could not see the cream cheese selections, but veggie is always safe.  Then a cup to take coffee from their dispenser, ultimately selecting house blend.  Handed the cashier a $5 bill and the coupon.  She scanned the coupon which discounted the total at the register, handed me my change and my bagel in a small bag, and off I went to the coffee dispenser.  

With Covid, they closed their indoor eating tables but still had some outside.  Despite it being mid-December, I took an outdoor table, took small bites from the bagel, sipped coffee, and had a restful few minutes before returning to my car with the rest of the coffee.  

At home, I have bagels in the refrigerator most days, plain cream cheese despite a recent national shortage most of the time, and the ability to make coffee.  Einstein's does not compete successful with coffee, as I have far more than two varieties.  Their bagels and cream cheese are each superior though.  Keep my eye out for the next coupon.

New Smoke Detectors

 When the old smoke detectors consistently went off with ordinary cooking, then chirped incessantly, it was time to make a decision.  Dismantle them and take my chances or get new ones.  In the decades since last replacement, technology has changed.  Home Depot had a selection, No Frills not among them.  Apparently new installations all allow AC power with battery back-up, though we have no wiring to connect this.  In some units you can change the battery without disassembling the unit.  My second choice.  Ultimately I opted for two basic detectors run with transistor radio batteries that came with each unit.  

The base that attaches to the ceiling seems pretty standardized.  I had screws remaining but on the lower level the screws were insecure so I just repositioned them using the base as a template. Other than not having a Philips head screwdriver worth using it installed.  Then activating the battery took some doing as the terminals were not labelled positive or negative.  It turns out the manufacturer inserted plastic guides so they would only fit one way.  Screw the business end to the installed base, test it with the little button, and we're safe until the contents of the stove sets it off.

I though the upper unit would be easier as the screws were already in their proper position.  All I needed to do was loosen them, take off the old base, put on the new base, and add the electronics.  I did not anticipate the old base adhering to the ceiling as a consequence of fresh painting we needed done last year.  Prying it off took some ingenuity and some work.  Once off the screws did not fit perfectly into the new base but close enough to keep it secure.  Perfectionists don't do well.  Made sure it wouldn't wiggle, then installed the battery and completed the assembly.  A quick test of efficacy and we now have a safer home.

Dollar Store Demise

With much publicity, Dollar Tree announced an across the board quarter mark-up to all items.  Some are worth 25 cents more, like the low dose Nature Garden Sleep Aid that prompted my visit but I couldn't find.  Other items probably aren't worth the dollar.  Pundits place the shoppers in two genres.  One group are people trying to get by who just cannot spend supermarket prices on certain staples, school supplies, snacks, and OTC remedies.  Others are people like me with ample funds who just enjoy puttering around, selecting bargains with no restraint, and counting the total as I go.  

This visit rather alienated me.  Profit margins must be strained, cashiers at a minimum with no self-cashier, shelves empty, an image of grunge with toiletries and OTC section strewn across the shelves.  Snacks, which I shouldn't be eating, no longer included the small boxes of cheap pastries, replaced by those two-packs of cake or buns that you get at the gas stations during road trip stops.  No longer bargain.  No longer fun.

Pharyngitis

After sitting adjacent to the lamp on my desk in My Space, the bottle of fluticasone received some preparatory shakes before squeezing the dispenser to deliver two sprays to each nostril.  It is intended for allergic rhinitis but should serve a similar purpose for infectious rhinitis.  My throat has gotten sore, enough to impede sleep though not sore enough to limit me to liquids.  No fever.  No systemic illness.  Yet a suspicion of Omicron Coronavirus can be hard to dispel short of a negative home test.  I might, as quarantine would affect some upcoming plans.  While my preference has been for sweetened Luden's Cough Drops, which I acquire when they go on sale, generic Hall's Honey Lemon serve the purpose while staying less medicinal than the more anesthetic Cherry Menthol variety.  Not seen Sucrets in a while or Chloraseptic spray.  Could look for them when I seek the Corona Test.  

While not systemically symptomatic, or at least I think not, I have some sleep deprivation.  As the illness progressed, I aided my catch-up with generic Dollar Store Melatonin, which would still be worth the new price of $1.25 if what they have at Walgreens is not competitive.  Learning something from two stops at very different places on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, cheap high proof whiskey can be swilled in a way that clears sinuses.  I did that successfully, though at the price of a burning tongue.  Perhaps I can spend a portion of the $5 bills I've accumulated on a bottle of good bourbon that has less lingual sting.

Despite a petty illness, not quite at its peak methinks, it remains a work day with things I can still do.

Transitioning the Calendar Year

Our next two Shabbatot coincide with American legal holidays, Christmas and New Year's Day.  They are also transition points for me personally.  While working, I could expect Xmas to be an active day or weekend, sometimes a long one, taking call for patients who did everything they could to avoid the hospital.  As a result, I always had New Years off, taking it as minor revelry at home with some champagne as I watched the Big Steel Ball knock down New York.  More importantly, it was the first day of my new semi-annual initiatives, which always began a little behind the 8-ball needing some catchup sleep.  So it goes this transition too, though in retirement, Christmas is a day off.  An uncertain shul day, but I have a reason to go this year, even if a personal imposition.  I set my twelve initiatives on good paper in indelible ink with colored gel pens.  I transition the whiteboard after Christmas and begin doing them on New Years.  Some are maintained, some replaced.  While I've focused on weight and waist measurements, this half-year I will be shifting to treadmill performance, the anthropomorphic measurements having remained static for over a year.  I want to be more consistent with expressing myself, usually via writing.  Those projects continue though with a better performance focus and mileposts.  My day trips continue, again with more focus, allowing for an overnight adventure.  My Family Room being a lost cause, I shifted the home efforts to My Space and my gardens.  I've derived benefit from logging expenses, both from the data generated and from my reliability in doing this.  It continues.  I need to do better as a husband, I think, whether my wife agrees or not.  That becomes a focus for the next six months.  I'm satisfied with what I've chosen to pursue.  After months of ennui, I feel more of an inner drive to see what among these I can accomplish and how much satisfaction or frustration each effort generates.

Ranking My Initiatives

As this is one of my two semi-annual planning months, I modified my usual approach a little.  As has become customary, I set up my twelve categories, listed everything in the proper paper box knowing some initiatives are appropriate to multiple categories, the using an Excel Spreadsheet, listed unique projects.  It came to 46, of which I can select 12.  After having the program alphabetize them, I ranked them by importance which is only one of many inputs in choosing which 12.  I insist that whatever is chosen comply with a SMART system:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Timed

Many of the 46 are not, though I don't yet know which.  From that and categories, I should be able to set the final list in the coming week.

Baalabooster

My left deltoid feels sore this morning, about 18 hours after the pharmacist inserted some liquid to stimulate antibodies protective of Covid, in some or all its forms.  No systemic adverse effects thus far.  My energy is no better or worse than it has been, adequate for intended treadmill session.  My mind and spirit seem unaffected. Each could be better.  Each has been worse.  I've largely recovered from the driving stresses of this week's road trip, able if not eager to move along to my next set of irritations.

Wild Wonderful West Virginia

First day of road trip to Mammoth Cave got us to Charleston, the capital of West Virginia with a handsome Capitol dome off the right on the highway.  While I intended the trip as relaxation, which it was for the first half of the drive, problems with the GPS not adequately compensated by road signs succeeded in returning me to frazzled.  GPS, both Toyota Scout GPS and Waze, each failed for interruption of internet connection in the mountainous regions of the state.  Finding a hotel and getting there when we were already somewhat lost did not go well.

Settled, fell asleep, awake early and ready for hotel's hot tub before proceeding on, supplemented by some needed coffee and starches at the buffet.

Western Maryland seemed dotted with small but not tiny towns, some which have seen better days.  At one time they probably were anchored by factories of major industrials, now seem more dependent on the colleges and correctional facilities that generate income from outside.  West Virginia seems less town dominant with a major highway having vast stretches with only traveler rest stops for food and gas.  The state university, including its medical center, seemed off the beaten path, with other locals who we asked directions to it as we picked up snacks not being sure where it was.  

Our early December travel probably deprived us of some more flourishing mountain scenery of a month previously.  A few wild animals represented on our trip only as road kill, a skunk and a red fox standing out.

Finish coffee, ease my aching back in the warm jets of the Jacuzzi, more substantial breakfast later.

Packing for My Road Trip

Two days of driving anticipated to get to Mammoth Cave, then two days back.  Nearly all of it is Interstate which connects towns large enough to support Walmarts and Walgreens.  So I'm never really up the creek if I leave home without something that I turn out to need, my Visa card accepted most anywhere.  Yet some level of anxiety of not having what I need when I need it persists.

Clothing is fairly easy, as I'm pretty good at keeping my duds organized. Just go over the bins and drawers in sequence, taking what I think I am likely to need, or even might need amid weather that transitions from fall to winter.  Closets also maintained in a way that I can take a flannel shirt, jeans, sweatshirt and the like as I walk along its length.

Much harder to assess what I will do while away.  At the park I will need a camera.  It is also my opportunity to do some of the things that end up on my daily list, propagated from one day to the next except shabbos, that I never really do.  I could draw since that only requires a pencil.  I could take my coloring book and pencils, something that relaxes me sufficiently and predictably to make me remiss in not assigning time for that at home.  Watercolor too cumbersome.  Think I'll leave my harmonicas home.  Probably ought to take laptop.  What about tripod?  A chance to make a YouTube video.  The park offers license-free fishing.  Would be remiss not to pack a rod and minimal gear.  Have a Torah reading assignment.  Make extra copy and squeeze practice into spare moments.  Also time to outline my next semi-annual projects.  Take the outline.  Wouldn't be without my Samsung Galaxy J7 Star which allows me to hear an audiobook and read an e-book, each in  progress.  And the hotel has an indoor pool.  Should plan to take advantage of that, as well as scheduled treadmill sessions.  And choosing courses for the upcoming OLLI Registration can be done through cyberspace.

Most of this stuff I've been wanting to do but haven't made the commitment to do, or at least puttered along with excuses to do something else like cleaning around the house instead or keeping appointments.  Need to divest that for a week, enjoy scenery as I drive, stop at places I would otherwise have not stopped to rest and look around.  Vacation has gotten overdue, which makes it especially welcome with the likelihood of taking too much stuff with me to anticipate more contingencies than I should.

Reconsider Social Media

Facebook has again gotten out of hand.  After no Twitter, I'm back to a little Twitter which is limited but slowly accelerating.  Each diverts from things that I want to do more.  As I get to the month of semi-annual planning, starting with how my projects fared for the current cycle, I need to consider how badly I really wanted to do what I affirmed previously and reviewed daily, then take that bucket of time, energy, and resources in that direction.  FB and Twitter are not in that direction. 

Upcoming Vacation

While my next getaway, an overdue one, temps me just days away, some of the preparation poses a challenge.  Laundry all done, decide what to take.  It's a two-day drive in each direction covering four states, each with its own toll systems and one that does not accept my Pennsylvania EZ Pass and none that offer a discount for having one.  My account has $18 left, but I'll probably need to enhance that before I leave.  Don't know what to expect for December weather in mid-Kentucky.  Mammoth Cave apparently would make a good wine cellar, easy planning for that.  Should plan for rain too.  Long sleeve weather.  Since I'm driving, I do not have to worry about packing excessively.  Probably fill my wheeled duffle for contingencies. 

I've done two-day drives previously, most recently to Charleston and back a few years ago.  I like the quiet of the highway, really an integral part of getting away and returning home.  There's usually necessary driving breaks with an unexpected search of what's around the area where we take our break.  A winery maybe, a distillery in Idaho once. Often lunch in a town I will never visit again.  Sometimes a roadside sign will prompt a detour.

Mammoth Cave allows fishing so take a few items for that.  A good justification for replacing the broken rod tip on my most versatile rod.  And camera.  Leave laptop home, or take it. Could go either way.  Probably take it.  Passport leave home.  Can get rain poncho from a Walmart if it looks like one will be needed, but take a decent umbrella.  Camera yes for sure.  Tripod, probably.  Don't know where my selfie stick is.  And some chargers.  And some extra cash.  More escape than indulgence but could use a little of each.  They are overdue.

Electronics Failure

My new Camry, new for me though three years old, has electronic doodads that I don't know how to use, though with appreciation to the many people who insisted I become reasonably literate, I can follow the instructions posted on other electronic doodads.  It took some effort to bring the Toyota app from cyberspace to my android phone to the car's screen, not helped at all by an unanswered call to the Toyota dealer's help line, which they invited me to use.  But Entunes seemed to work OK.  I paid $15 for a year of Scout GPS which also worked.  Until a few days ago, when my full screen got replaced by a single Yelp option.  I could not restore it despite doing my best to follow online instructions, theirs and general Google results.  It seems Entune failures are rather common.  The dealer's help line at least returned my call.  While I expected somebody to run me through the programming, that was not to be, so a personal appearance has been scheduled.

Solicitations to Spend

While retail has had some turmoil, we still spend money in substantial amounts right after Thanksgiving.  Our promoters offer us Black Friday, Local Saturday, Cyber Monday, and now Giving Tuesday.  No shortage of invitations to any of these.  While there are many worthy non-profits, I think yesterday's Tuesday left me saturated with solicitations.  One of the best things I ever did for myself and a select number of non-profits has been to make my Tzedakah systematic, distributing a certain amount on a certain day each month.  Cyber Tuesday just got out of hand.  Maybe move it to Palm Sunday.

Liquid Mess

Had some errands to do, most importantly replace faulty smoke detectors.  Got two at Home Depot.  Total Whine has their main outlet in the same shopping center so I got a few things there as well.  My new car's trunk being pretty empty, I put the three bottles there but heard them shifting position as I drove.  Later in the afternoon I went to take them inside to find that a 1500 ml bottle of port had broken.  Not a big financial loss but a challenge to clean up.

I took the two intact bottles inside, wiped them off, and put them in a secure place.  Then took the largest fragment of the broken bottle and tossed that,  Next, separated big fragments for recycling.  Now the liquid.  Fortunately the Toyota trunk has rubber flooring, textured to capture liquids while retaining a dry surface, which is probably good for people who do a lot of water sports.  I don't have equipment that sops up 1500 ml liquid but a mop came closest.  Then a sponge.  Good enough for now.  See what's left, and try a towel or two today.  Big mess but with a trunk containing only the snow brush I will soon need, not much damage.

Hanukkah Arrives

First candle had its thirty minutes of flame.  Gift opened.  Latkes eaten with applesauce.  Turnover of events: Thanksgiving, Shabbos, Hanukkah.  Special kitchen effort for each.  Then Medscape, Doctor, platelets, Birthday, special guest, vacation.  All before the majority get their holiday.  Vacation sounds good.

OTC Sleep Aids

Sleep Hygiene captures the natural, from set times to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.  After getting by for a while, it became time to see what the chemicals could do, cheap stuff from the Dollar Store that undercuts CBT both in price and convenience.  Our Dollar Store offers two options, melatonin chewable tablets and diphenhydramine.  I had both on hand.  Having taken their melatonin twice at bedtime with a negative outcome, I tried one during the daytime, which makes more sense since melatonin levels were already elevated when I took them after dark.  Good result.  I didn't sleep during the day but could detect a relaxation that I might be ready for sleep.  A good horizontal four hours ensued, feeling a bit refreshed  by mid-afternoon.  At a prespecified normal sleep time, still reasonably awake but ready to call it a night, I swallowed two 25 mg tablets of diphenhydramine.  Within a half hour I was asleep.  Most importantly, I did not have awakening between sleep cycles like I usually do.  Often I feel dragged when I do this, but this morning I feel reasonably refreshed, not at all sleep-deprived.

This is not something to do nightly, even though the results seem favorable.  But either has its utility when I've been experiencing interrupted sleep over an extended time that carries forward to the day.

Post-Thanksgiving Dishes

Dinner went well except for the apple cake that fell apart when I tried to unmold it from its bundt pan.  As much as I try washing dishes as I go, priority needs to go to utensils used in early preparations that I will need later.  Except for the food processor used early, there are not a lot of One and Dones.

Just as executing a pre-planned menu takes some sorting and organization, so does cleanup the next day.  I start with what already soaks in the fleishig tub until it fills up the dish drying rack.  Then move leftwards to counter, stove, cutting board, and dining room table.  Some flexibility is needed.  There are utensils that cannot soak in a tub, others that need hand drying as soon as washed.  I do the glassware separately with a brush and skillets with a synthetic form of steel wool.

One rack at a time, this will take most of the day.  Yet I find it surprisingly relaxing.  Elements of frustration rarely emerge.  I can see my progress at every step.  Few things convey the gratification of accomplishment before completion.

Could Use Some Assistance

 

Even the housecleaners don't want to clean my house.  Since cleaning ladies of my mother's era have given way to cleaning teams, they have workers comp but don't want to take a chance using it.  Fortunately, where there's a market, somebody will fill it at the right price.  People want to or have to move, downsize, get ship off to Skilled Nursing Facilities, and depart this world without their stuff that somebody else has to cart off so the survivors can inherit a house of larger financial value.  And then there are that minority like me who have no intention of maximizing sale price but just want to live in the same house in a better way.

Cleaners abound on Angi's List and other sites that match contractors to home needs.  Organizers don't, but I seem to have latched onto somebody willing and at a price that I expected.  We begin next month.

Dark and Cold

Only two weeks since setting the clocks back an hour. It's still dark when I make my first cup of coffee and retrieve the newspaper from the end of the driveway.  Most mornings there's a poor soul walking the dog amid the dawn chill.  They have playtime later but some probably have second thoughts about their obligations to their Best Friend.  My own short stroll outdoors remains brief, too brief to justify adding to my night clothing.  With poor light, I've not been dumping the recycling en route to the newspaper, as it is not always obvious which is the bin with the green lid.

Which deters me more, the dark or the cold?  Probably the dark. It should be chilly this season.  That's what keeps my geographic setting invigorating.  I should not need supplemental illumination at my usual waking time ever.  That is how our brains and sleep patterns evolved.  The cycles of nature include sunrise, sunset, and seasons.  Definition of when we should be up and about based on a clock that drives a consistent wake time sometimes runs contrary to the mechanisms that we have to best cope with the world.

I expect it to get darker and colder as we move from fall into winter.  I could change my wake time, as my personal schedule in retirement has few external contingencies, but responding to that 6:30AM buzz on my left wrist irrespective of how I feel that morning has helped enormously in framing the day that follows it.  I could delay retrieving the paper until dawn has progressed sufficiently to let me put the recycling in the proper receptacle at the same time.  As Thanksgiving approaches, I could express appreciation for my schedule that part of each year allows me to partake of the transition from night to day.

Soon the temperature will fall below freezing.  Outdoor containers may need to spend their nights indoors.  The strolling dogs and their owners may be in more of a hurry to get the business done quickly, with exercise and playtime expanded indoors.  The newspaper will still arrive each morning, with its obligatory retrieval while the first k-cup brews.  And it will be even darker and colder.

End Points

Thanksgiving week has given me a very empty whiteboard where my wife and I record our weekly appointments every Sunday.  Dentist and OLLI class on Monday, then Thanksgiving.  No other fixed appointments.  My weekly list of things I either intend to do or hope to maybe do remains as long as ever but absence of appointments means I can direct my attention to a few, particularly those with firm end points that never reappear on these lists once completed.  Those One and Dones.

It's not always straightforward when many of my desired tasks reach completion, though.  If I clean the kitchen, isn't there always one more thing I could have done?  Go fishing but when I have achieved adequate recreation by doing it?  End points are sometimes elusive.  I can check off when each Medscape submission reaches the editor or when I've made my monthly donations to Jewish causes.  If I set myself a target of reading two chapters a day from The Book of Mormon, I know when the task can be checked off that day, though not for that week.

So much of what I perform has short term finite completion criteria but often stay on with another intermediate landmark to prod me along the next day or the next week, often indefinitely.  Most projects, though, go better with some defined end point, at least for that day, but a surprisingly large fraction lack even that guideline.  We do what we can measure.

Those Snoozed Have Returned

While op-eds of the toxic or intrusive nature of social media abound, I've not been inundated by anti-vaxxers, anti-Semites, not an alarming input from Trumpists or proselytizers.  I use my ability to regulate what appears on the screen pretty well, though unwelcome advertisers each get a second or two to imprint my cerebral cortex in exchange for the fees that support my access to what has been more useful than harmful.  I do less well creating a barrier to nudniks, those people who have some personal merit, ranging from a smidgen to a lot, who have nothing better to do than incessantly fill up my FB feed.  When it gets out of hand I snooze them for thirty days.  As much as I enjoy the interactive nature of the Post-Dispatch and the thoughtfulness of its reporters, I really don't need to scroll through thirty posts.  Even more so for somebody I don't know at all but who found me somewhere and for somebody who I also have never met but knows other family members who can sometimes post provocatively and sometimes abhorrently.  They all get snoozed more due to excessive volume than repulsive content.  

Apparently a month ago my patience must have reached its limit, as all three of those snoozed have returned on consecutive days.  So far none are out of hand, though the P-D's volume is skirting the edge.

Or I could snooze myself, which I have, something with its merits and limitations. Not yet.

Converging Tasks

FB sent me a memory reminder from two years ago.  At the time, I had been making preparations for Thanksgiving, but several other projects needed some juggling at the same time.  For some reason the latter half of November might emerge as my busy season in retirement. My Thanksgiving menu has taken form, ingredient list available, with next step to confirm what I have and what still needs purchase. But before that I committed to a medical presentation, now completed except for the thank-you notes.  My monthly Jewish donations come due.  Monthly financial status review precedes Thanksgiving.  I have a Medscape column to compose and submit, a few more OLLI classes before the semester concludes.  Right after Thanksgiving we have Hanukkah with my wife's birthday and daughter's visit during that interval.  And then a somewhat overdue vacation that still needs preparation.  Somewhere in that interval I need to establish a new safe deposit box and decide what goes in it.  

No single project seems daunting but their accumulation in a short time definitely alters the time flow of retirement.

Lower Desk Functional

In my pursuit of having something to show for my effort each day, I devoted attention to my lower desks.  First, my two desks are part of my identity, not fully attained until I entered private practice where I purchased a massive wooden executive model at a DuPont company clearance sale.  As an employee I had a desk to call my own.  At home I purchased a top and two metal files from Conran's as my primary work space which serves as the focal destination of My Space now.  And our living room has a nook just right for a secretary style desk, pleasantly styled but not frequently used, to demarcate the part of our living room that I consider mine.  The desk in My Space has a dedicated place for lighting and for my laptop and for my coffee cup.  The wooden downstairs desk has been more an invitation to place stuff that needs a flat surface when you enter the house from the nearby front door.  It also functions as a receptacle for papers that need to be relocated from the kitchen table to enable eating.  For weeks, maybe even months, it has housed a pile of papers on the right half surface, books and assorted non-papers on the left half.  Making it functional has been on my daily task list almost as long.  Finally, clearing this became the afternoon's principle initiative.

Taking some unused files and adhesive file folder labels, I took all the papers off the surface, sorting and filing as I went.  A few things needed to go upstairs, either for filing or to be placed in a more proper location, a few things could stay.  Not only do I now have a surface suitable for sitting and enjoying the massage unit on that desk's chair, but I have sorted papers that can go in usable files.

Despite my possessiveness about that nook, I do very little there.  Write checks, mostly.  It is an attractive space though, nicely decorated, pleasant to look at, and the massage cushion keeps it as a destination.  And most importantly, perhaps, I retain possession.

Fully Absorbed

My minimal, difficult to maintain attention span took a sudden reversal.  I had been watching some YouTube's on religion, more anti than pro, of late, scrolling past anything that took more than 15 minutes.  Comments by the late Christopher Hitchens repeatedly captured my interest, so I proceeded to check his most prominent book, God is Not Great, from the library.  The transfer of an e-book electronically failed so I requested the print version which I began reading.  And reading. And reading some more.  About a third of the book, when my intent was a chapter a day for ten days.

He writes of a more global attrition, or maybe a wishful attrition that has not happened yet, unlike my focus on decline that has already occurred.  He takes the view that religious institutions with the discipline they impose on adherents generate evil, which they do.  They also generate art, literature, music, and intricate discussions.  My spin seems more that the experience of being there falls short of other options that can be pursued instead.

After interminable Hebrew School flashbacks while I sit at services in my own congregation, with a Rabbi feeding me strings of interAliyah Sound Bites, though not at all evil, it's good to have my mind challenged in this more profound way, not so much about the merits of the Judaism that I have inherited, but the idea of deity and its historical legacy that we make so many often unconvincing excuses to defend.

Perhaps even more importantly, I had begun to doubt if I had the capacity to focus on any ideas or undertakings without the use of a timer to keep me captured on what I was doing.  This reading went on for hours, only needing short breaks to better absorb what I had just learned.  I really do have the capacity to grant full attention and derive pleasure.  I wasn't sure before.

Following Sleep Hygiene Protocol

When my wrist alarm buzzes, I arise from bed.  Almost no lapses.  For any sleep hygiene recommendations, a uniform time to depart bed serves as the core.  And it has helped.  Gentle wrist alarm from low end smartwatch was a good purchase.  Middle of the night insomnia has been more intractable.  After mostly unsuccessful riding it out in bed, one of those shouldn'ts, I've started getting up, walking across the upper hall to My Space, and turning on the big screen TV.  The browse option comes in well here, as I can usually select something that I know to be boring.  Within a half hour, I've dozed off in the lounge chair, just like the sleep hygiene guru's recommended.  Mostly I re-awaken before the iTouch buzzes me to start the day, returning to bed feeling a little better, though not always in store for one more sleep cycle.  For the most part, following this protocol has enhanced my perception of rest.  I'm more ready for the day ahead.

Staying at Home

Not a whole lot of reason to leave my house this week.  I should get a haircut and set up a new safe deposit box but not much would happen if I delayed these.  The library book I requested has arrived, so that needs a personal appearance to retrieve.  And in all likelihood I will need something from the grocery store.  But there's I can fulfill most of this week's agenda within the rooms of my home except for tending to the snowblower which forces me onto the driveway.  Yet my private escapes have been to quiet time at a couple of county parks.  Nothing adventuresome or even unique, more familiar.  But it's outdoors.  So even if I could pursue this week's activities fully indoors, I still need some exposure to this season's chill, if only for a few short bursts.

Affirming Good Times

My perspective on religion as an institution has been floating between synapses for a while, the institutional side not faring very well, the ability to generate thought imprinting more favorably.  Not just my religion, something inherited and socialized more than sought out and purchased.   But it does deal with death better than secularism once death has occurred.  Judaism acknowledges death, but we really affirm the life that was.  

Some memorials have clustered of late.  First a Jewish pillar of my childhood, a synagogue stalwart who would be the first to greet me on my return any shabbos morning, long after I had relocated.  This week also brought the Yahrtzeit of another beloved congregational lady, a woman of talent, pleasantness, and commitment, whose surviving husband brought stability to our congregation in precarious times.  He needed a minyan so he and his son could recite Kaddish in her memory.  Though I could have been doing other things, I helped assure ten men attended.  We gathered far o than that.

This shabbos, I recite Kaddish for my father, it being my custom to do this on the Saturday preceding yahrtzeit, then light the candle on the actual day later in the week.  I assume ten men will come to enable this, but in recent months it's not been a slam dunk.

Along a similar theme, the Post-Dispatch, which I've been reading since college since only they and the other P-D the Plain Dealer had color comics on the back, accessible in the student lounge from University subscription, ran a FB notice inviting nominations for favorite teacher.

Our icon by overwhelming consensus was the Senorita, that pillar of Spanish who really turned us into mensches.  I tried to nominate her posthumously but was blocked, not because of her passing but because she did not teach in the Post-Dispatch's circulation region.  Still, I searched for her obit and found it.

 https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/lohud/name/norma-rodriguez-obituary?pid=149373359

I hadn't known of her PhD or her brothers or her age or her short term parochial school experiences before becoming the fixture in my school.  She generated many  highly distinguished alumni, much indebted to her.  She had come as a distinguished invited guest at our high school reunion, where I had the privilege of not only chatting but updating her on who else in the class had become physicians, a few very prominent.  She also indicated that she was on chemotherapy and making end of life arrangements with another classmate who had become an attorney not far from where she taught us.  She apparently passed away within a few months of that event.  Another pillar whose life contributed so much.

So I'll observe Kaddish and Yahrtzeit as scheduled.

Working with a Timer

My attention span, which has always been paltry, seems to have really tanked.  Yesterday, I undertook some things I really wanted to do: write an essay, sort papers on the family room couch, exercise on the treadmill, create a psycho-path to make navigation in my bedroom safer, make macaroni & cheese for supper, attend an Osher lecture.  Some have set durations, like cooking continues until it is done or a class has a fixed duration even if my fidgeting diverts me to check e-mail or FB posts while the Zoom session continues.  Others are better done by deciding in advance how long I want to spend, then setting the timer for that duration.  Treadmill always goes to completion, as the countdown offers landmarks.  Tidying and writing just could not engage me for more than a fraction of the interval dedicated to it. For the paper sorting I got frustrated quickly and abandoned the task.  For the bedroom I did better, not completing the duration but satisfied with what I did.  For the writing, I set an hour, lasted about a third of that using the library's timer, but just ran out of thoughts to keep me in synch with the outline that I had successfully placed before pursuing text.  

Some productivity experts recommend a Five Minute Rule, setting a timer for that interval, starting the project, then deciding whether to continue or abandon.  I usually last more than five minutes, so that may be worth a try, at least to avoid the procrastination that results in not pursuing an initiative at all.

Picking the Must Do

As age related frailty becomes more evident, my capacity to do a lot of things on my daily task list has faltered.  As compensation, though perhaps with benefit, I have been picking one or two things that require attention.  Yesterday that was my platelet donation, last week the transition from old to new car.  Treadmill sort of anchors my Must most days but does not comprise the designated highlighted task.  Sometimes it's writing, especially towards a Medscape submission deadline, sometimes it's making something slightly elaborate for supper, sometimes I target an area for cleaning.  More importantly, I usually successfully tackle what I designate for the day's focus.  And if I can do one successfully, why not expand to two?

Could Use an Adventure

Our Covid-19 pandemic becomes gradually less intrusive with each passing week.  Delaware Choral Arts held a live concert with restrictions on attendance.  In-person worship has returned to my synagogue.  Osher Institute plans to open its building and conduct live classes with the coming semester.  In-person dining remains shvok, though travel has become more commonplace.  I do not know how our theme parks have done or if campers, hunters, and explorers have resumed their personal challenges.  Thrill experiences were put on hold.  Those who seek them out must be eager to move forward.

I've never been a real thrill seeker.  I used to like amusement parks, especially the roller coasters, until my inner ear judged otherwise a few amusement parks ago.  At the water park, I will try a tame slide but devote more time to the lazy river or wave pool.  On the highway I drive at the speed of traffic and defer to the aggression of the NASCAR wannabes.  No hang gliding, bungee jumping, or parachuting.  No taking my chances as a pedestrian in an unsafe neighborhood to experience diversity up front.

It's not that I reject adventure, just define it in a risk averse way.  I regret not having set a day of white water rafting as one of my day trips or going out deep sea fishing, or even snorkeling at a resort.  There are suitable thrills that go beyond simply new experiences.  Covid-19 should not serve as an excuse for what is really being timid.  

A Mind Focus

While sipping my first cup of coffee ordinaire, looking over the intended tasks highlight as components of my semi-annual initiatives, a few themes emerge.  I can work on the house, or I can tweak my intellect, or usually some combination.  It tends to work better if I select one.  Since both have been underperforming for a few weeks, I think I'll spend the bulk of today in My Space producing great thoughts in the form of commentary, maybe a NEJM article, my OLLI class, get back to my Consult Maven blog neglected for an extended time.  Minimize errands or shopping.  If I do housework, it will need to be project focused instead of maintenance.  And exercise as the calendar demands.  

I can do this successfully today, if not every day.

Not Very Smart Watch

To maintain sleep hygiene, I pretty faithfully arise when my wrist alarm buzzes.  This being clock change, I expected it to adapt as my cell phone does.  However, it links to the cell phone, which I left downstairs on the kitchen table.  The watch buzzed when it said 6:30 just as programmed.  However, it was really 5:30 but I got up anyway and went to the kitchen to begin my day with coffee.  The cell phone had adjusted automatically and the watch then linked, only to go off again in another hour when it read 6:30 a second time.  I can count of the alarm.

Plodding Towards Winter

Been sleeping through my wrist alarm a couple of times this week.  The buzz seems less jolting, even when it arrives when I am already awake, too weak to interrupt my final snooze if I am not already awake.  When buzz appreciated I get up.  Looking out the window it's dark.  Retrieving the newspaper from the end of the driveway, it is not only dark but with a chill.  When I sleep through the signal, when I look to the window, light has begun.  My biological clock runs a little differently than my exogenous electronic reminder, though I tend to adapt quickly, perhaps even have a better day when I arise in response to the smartwatch.  

This is the final shabbos on Daylight Saving's Time for the season.  During my work years, I would make chicken before heading to work on Friday mornings during Standard Time.  I still might, though being retired, I could allot time for this in the late afternoon.  It seems better just to have it all done, awaiting assembly on a suitably set shabbos table, as candle lighting precedes customary meal times.  

My plants need some consideration.  I've mostly set the outdoor gardens for winter, plucking all plants but rosemary, sage, and parsley.  They can take their chances though I may cover the rosemary.  Front entrance containers leave me more options.  Next year my herbs will only be in containers except for sage and rosemary which do better in the backyard beds.  Those square foot gardens, whether or not they remain square foot patterns or go back to rows, will be allotted to vegetables.  Container mints seem indestructible.  Don't know about chives, which still look straggly enough to replant next year in a container with better drainage.  Parsley grows easily and can be replanted.  Container sage did not grow large enough to harvest.  Dill and thyme could have done better.  Maybe just leave them to nature and try again next spring.  

And then there's the snow blower.  A must this year, as it failed the one time I needed it.  My ability to use a snow shovel safely has passed.  I'm even willing to follow the repair suggestions on the internet or have it revived professionally.  Not willing, yet, to purchase and assemble a new one.

Winter clothing has been transferred except for the wooly hats and gloves.  And next week, Standard Time, the wrist alarm matches window daylight.

Thanksgiving Preparation

Thanksgiving, while a small gathering, takes place at my home.  It also challenges me with preparation, both as chief chef and as host.  Three weeks remain, to include cleaning, shopping, meal preparation, some lessons in small talk, maybe a few YouTube sessions on family congeniality, with shabbos and dishwashing to follow.  Thus far I do not know who will need feeding or transport.  My daughter had been joining us but delayed her return to the East Coast by about a week.  My son and daughter-in-law now live within driving range but have not announced their plans.  It is unlikely I will need a turkey.  The single breast half should get us through shabbos.

In past years, I've made both soup and appetizer.  I think I'll omit the latter this year.  That brings menu categories to:

1. Motzi
2. Soup
3. Salad
4. Dressing
5. Turkey
6. Cranberry 
7. Sweet Potato
8. Vegetable
9. Dessert
10. Beverage 

Basic categories allow a lot of flexibility, laws of Kashrut providing the most restriction, along with practicalities of expense and ease of preparation.  I don't need any new utensils or appliances.  I will need to decide whether to use cookbooks or online recipes, though I really like the bread from one of my cookbooks.  Probably alcohol-free unless my son comes.  Having banned the evil soda from my home, I think wine would be his preferred substitute.  

I tend not to decorate as a theme, even for Hanukkah which this year follows Thanksgiving by only a few days and has its own cuisine.  

If my Thanksgivings now have a paucity of people, they retain the abundance of food and my satisfaction with assembling the parts to make the weekend festive.

Electronically Challenged

It's been a tough time for me with Hi Tech.  My computer got hacked.  My new car has too sophisticated a front screen for me to use properly.  My GPS of 2011 vintage leads me to places that no longer exist without the ability to track the locations that replaced them.  And my cell phone, trouble free for the three years that I've had it, made paying the monthly bill a hassle, then used up my monthly allotment of 10G a week before the next payment.  I don't even know what counts as 10G, or really even what 10G is.  And my bottom rung tablet does not charge as it should.

There are resources, some Geeks, some company representatives, that come to the rescue, some expertly, some the NP extenders for the Geeks who really aren't up to the tasks that get hard.  After a few calls, my computer email has returned to baseline less the years of Sent Folder, which I rarely look at but still miss having.  Toyota cell phone app got downloaded and appears on the screen, only to discover that the GPS program which I need the most, requires a $25 annual subscription.  And I still don't know how to get my cell phone screen, which has a GPS, to appear on my car screen, or even how to mount my cell phone onto the dashboard so I can see its Waze GPS App safely while driving.  After trying to update my Magellan Roadmate GPS map online, I deferred to Customer Support which I expect to be forthcoming.  T-Mobile has one more month of service before I consider other plans that for comparable price annoy me less.  And the tablet can stay in its charger longer.  There's a reason why it cost under $100, and I rarely use it.

No Appointments

Blank day on my whiteboard.  No OLLI classes.  No Jewish stuff to do.  No medical appointments.  No concerts to attend.  Those all appear on my weekly whiteboard but today has no entries. Not even an appointment with myself, other than maybe to do that extra treadmill day that comes following months that have other than 30 days.  

I've had some success designating days as housework or writing, though they usually end up as hybrids.  There are my semi-annual projects, all with designated deadlines, now in their final third of time allotment.  Some have reached completion, most perking along.  Today would be a good day to focus on one or two.  Physically I feel as well as I have for a few weeks, citalopram seems to have restored my disposition if not my mood, and nothing on email or FB to pose a serious distraction.  The best day to move myself head.

Broken Cap

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie Spice only comes out in the fall.  It sells out before Thanksgiving.  I missed out  year and largely used up the previous year's as its versatility livens up coffee as well as making a useful cinnamon substitute.  It's back, so I got a jar.  When I took the jar home the cap split and the plastic that separates the cap from the jar dislodged, leaving a sprinkle of spice in the reusable shopping bag.  I pack my own groceries at TJ so I cannot point a finger at the cashier, but I would have expected a more durable cap.  This is the second that split that way, a previous one when dropped.  I taped that one together.  This time I moved the good cap from the almost empty Pumpkin Pie Spice jar to the new one and notified TJ on line.  However, I now have a fresh jar to last another year or two.  The plastics manufacturer will need to design a sturdier cap, especially if TJ insists on it.