Plain Stiff

Up in the middle of the night.  Not just failure to move between consecutive sleep cycles but with a notable measure of discomfort.  Putting on my best checklist of sensory comfort to restore sleep had no effect so I took the sleep hygiene advice, arising to the dear recliner in My Space.  Scrolling through recorded shows on the 55" TV I found a relatively old one, an hour long but only stared for about twenty minutes.  Don't even remember what the show was about, other than a science or geography theme.  Before returning to bed, I diverted momentarily to the naproxen bottle, popped one without water, then quickly supine with the sensory comfort check list. Mattress firm, pillow supportive with just the right neck flexion, clothing and bedding comfortable against my skin, room cool but down comforter retained body heat.  Room dark if I kept my eyes closed to obscure minor window light.  Room silent unless I paid no attention to minor ambient sounds outside.  Within a few minutes of naproxen, some transient mid-esophageal discomfort with dissipated, musculoskeletal discomfort dissipated, followed by either one or two glorious sleep cycles that took me an hour past my usual wake time.  If the wrist alarm vibrated, I must have ignored it.  

I can still sense something not quite right, undecided about today's treadmill session which I should still do at lower intensity.

Semi-annual doctor's appointment in a few days.  One more thing to burden her with.

Virtual Purim

My last reasonably normal synagogue event took place on Purim about a year ago.  We had elbow bumps in lieu of handshakes and one of our usual Megillah chanters had relocated to NYC but replaced by others. I dressed as Harbonah, nothing unique about him, but others came in more identifiable costumes.  By Seder, religious activities had moved to screens where they remain.  Unlike shabbos and yontiff, Purim does not restrict electronics so Megillah readings streamed from cyberspace will be common.  Groggers will sound a bit shvok unless somebody has recorded canned grogger grinding to be played back when Haman appears in the text.  Shpiels can be adapted to broadcast.  

Our Rabbis have created a checklist for the festival.  We have to hear every word of the Megillah either in Hebrew or some would allow in Greek.  Easy to do in cyberspace, in fact, maybe better since you can go back later to be sure you didn't miss any words.  Matanot L'Evyonim, or gifts for the poor may even be better as the pandemic has made people in need more visible and people with extra to give more willing to donate.  Electronics has made transfer of funds simple.  Mishloach Manot, or gifts of food, may pose more of a challenge.  We have valid reason not to trust the safety of hamentaschen made in somebody else's kitchen and not to open packages handed to us.  And we can all have our own festive meals at home, but it's usually less festive than the more traditional communal gathering, as well as awkward with the weekly elegant Shabbos dinner just a few hours later.

Purim has always commemorated the ways we have to adapt to our circumstances.

Independent Thought

Was watching an Interview with Richard L. Rubin on JBS within the last few days, recorded so I could watch the hour long interview in about three segments. He had written a book about Jewish in America about how American Jews became fully American but how we retained much of our identity to capture the opportunities that America offered.  Being a Professor of Political Science at an elite liberal arts college, he had a professional interest in surveys and data.  He cited a Pew Report of the American population that included enough Jews to provide sufficient statistical representation.  In the Pew survey of education, the Jews stood out from other ethnic groups.  Asians, who have been highly successful in their American schooling, tended to value determination and discipline as the measure of success.  We Jews preferred acquiring the ability to think for ourselves above all else.  Both attributes continue on long past our school years. Asian exceptionalism clusters around scientific prowess.  The successful Jews seem to acquire a broader spectrum of excellence, not only science but literature, commerce, political presence, public media, pretty much anything but athletics.

Despite this underpinning, when we congregate amongst ourselves more of a GroupThink emerges.  It seems out of character, but drives some of our central institutions.  Maybe to our detriment.

OLLI Resumes

With about two hours to go before my class, my head feels foggy.  Yesterday I served as a research subject as a control in a brain injury study.  I felt challenged by the psychometric tasks, performing some better than others. And the MRI with vibration, my second in a few days, reminded me of a very good amusement park attraction.  If it had the ability to invert or rotate me, it would have been an E-ticket.  Since Osher Institute follows the University schedule, when we have classes, they have classes.  There weren't a lot of students milling around their Main Street business district or around the campus buildings, even correcting for a modest wintry mix outside.  They must be on Zoom, just like OLLI.

Preclasses began last week, an introductory session on Catastrophic Risk, which may have been an actual first class, followed by the first formal session yesterday.  I signed up for a course on how to use Excel better than I do, again with an introductory session last week.   Irrespective of whether my mind returns to optimal in the next two hours, boosted by some coffee, the more lecture type course on the Transcontinental Railroad gets under way.  That's three courses per week, 75 minutes each, which is a good deal less than a college curriculum with 4-5 courses at a time, each with 150 minutes and a fair amount of homework, outside reading, tests, term papers, and some with lab time.  College can be part of life's centerpiece, OLLI cannot, enriching as the time spent there might be.

Another part of college not duplicated is living on campus, now interrupted.  OLLI has its extracurriculars, mainly musical performance or some committee opportunities.  It once also served as an informal gathering place where people would sip the coffee they prepared at home in their thermal mugs, gather at big round tables in the cafeteria for lunch and a weekly guest speaker, or create a personal silo in the mini-library while they type on their laptop or more frequently read a nationally distributed newspaper with traditional newsprint.  Zoom duplicates the classes fairly well but fails miserably in capturing the atmosphere that drives the enrollment experience.  In exchange, I no longer need to devote about a half-hour each direction getting there, which allows me to spread the courses over several days rather than bunching two on the same day.  My coffee need not stay warm for longer than it takes to drink it from a porcelain mug.  And I work in the comfort of My Space.  All decent trade-offs, none ideal.

Tackling the Tanach

Religion and our sacred texts have gotten publicly corrupted.  Not that they weren't before, with no shortage of passages to justify, even mandate, African slavery recited by a who's who of white supremacists, not modified all that much to our present day.  There are real Biblical Scholars and an abundance of people, usually with some clergy ordination, who present themselves with the illusion of familiarity with our sacred texts.  I see this primarily with Old Testament, as it is far longer and more diverse in thought than the New Testament, which I read for the first time last summer.  It also presents with Koran, whose length and complexity is about the same as Torah.  There are some texts among the Eastern religions, and no doubt selected passages are applied to a mixture of public benefit and public detriment, though more regional than global.

Last year I decided I had to read this for myself, with the advantage of big head start.  Between synagogue and college, I had read pretty much all of Torah and Megillot at one time or another, as these are read publicly in their entirety.  I have followed in English translation most of these, though not in sequence.  With a Soncino Five Megillot I was able to do all five with commentary this year.  The other Ketuvim I had read as individual books, but proceeded on to Psalms and Proverbs in sequence, though without commentary.  Chronicles remains on the to do list.  The Prophets are in progress now.  Our Haftarot come as excerpts, not as literature.  The Twelve are individually short, read one at a time.  Then the three Major Prophets starting at the beginning of each and reading about four chapters a day through the end of each.  That leaves me with the historical passages, which I am reading now, to be ended later with Chronicles which are really part of historical text cut and pasted someplace else. The sections of Chronicles that I've read can be rather cumbersome

Having recently paced myself through Joshua, Judges, and both Samuels, it's doable.  There is geographical detail that means little to me, a plethora of minor characters whose names disappear quickly.  And I have no teacher to guide me.  No doubt there are serious scholars of the Tanach that know where the towns are, the significance of migrations, genealogy that gets both fulfilled and disrupted, but for me I appreciate more the gist, or a little more detail than gist.  There are conquests that include genocides.  The capricious and occasionally duplicitous decisions of our religious icons become historical detail that our rabbis never quite discuss in public as they transmit lessons they do not want their flock to register as OK things to do, though not doubt commentators rationalize them in various forms.  In many parts of these texts loyalty to HaShem brings rewards even though as a reader I would look askance at what the person in the text really did.  Not a whole lot different than our world now where repugnant conduct becomes acceptable if authorized by the dominant person who rewards loyalty above all else.  Maybe the Tanach in its own way really is timeless, though the sensibilities it tries to impart are a long way from timeless.  

Gardening Among the Semi-Annual Projects

Rather than declutter as my semi-annual home initiative, something that always falls short of intent, I shifted directions to focus on my gardens in a comprehensive way.  I've done this before in a limited way, selecting roses for one of the semi-annual twelve.  I now have two rose bushes on the side of my house, one thriving, one more of a runt but still flowering each spring.  Last year independent of formal initiatives I improved my containers at the front entrance and successfully planted asters in three cubical containers on the deck.  Caring for them took little effort, consistently applied, with disappointing container results.

This time I want to pursue something more elaborate. The Aerogarden has much more potential than has been achieved.  Containers can be planted outside the front with more attention to soil, plant selection, and plant placement.  Many years ago I established two 4x4 foot defined beds for a square foot garden.  These have never reached their potential, largely because I cut corners.  There are two areas in the back yard that can produce flowers.  And I have my roses.  

By far the Square Foot beds require the most attention.  I've made many mistakes over the years but am willing to exert some effort to planning and execution.  I think one will be allocated exclusively for culinary herbs, the other exclusively for vegetables.  Each has an underpinning of landscape fabric which limits weeds but largely precludes carrots or other root vegetables that grow downwards.  Vines take too much room but produce cucumbers and zucchini.  Tomatoes have produced more green than fruit, overtake the cages which topple, and limit access to and production in adjacent squares, making me wonder whether Square Foot is really the best format.  

On a tour through the Christmas Tree Shop in mid-winter, their seed packets have come on display, which means I need to select and purchase what I want, at least for the herbs that tend to sell out first.  My own vegetables grown outdoors from seed have not generally done well, so perhaps it's time to do my own indoor winter planting.  But by far, the biggest challenge for me in those beds will be to enhance the thickness of the soil, and probably the quality of the soil as well.  I suspect my outdoor containers need better drainage, so maybe a layer of stones at the bottom of each might pay off at harvest time.  And most of all a schedule of what needs doing when without excuses that keep me indoors.  I think I can make it happen this time.

Pens for Different Purposes

Being from an era when pharmaceutical representatives made a point of leaving me with a pen with their drug's logo at each encounter, I never became attached to individual pens, other than a few Cross Pens given to me as gifts or my father's ink pen and pencil set that I inherited. Those all stay in a drawer.  Over the years, though, I've focused more on daily and weekly planning where I've color coded my intents by categories.  What began as a Bic 4-color pen that I kept in the leather mini-loop of my Franklin Planner has expanded to something much more elaborate, further entrenched as a ritual as I established My Space.  My desktop now has a variety of pens allocated to specific purposes.

Daily planning takes place over four sets.  Three are kept in what is effectively a planning bag.  The colors are Black=ordinary activities, Green=professional activities, Red=family or finance, Blue=House, Purple=Notes for each activity.  I have two sets of Bic stick pens.  Black and purple are constant but red, green, and blue come in both bold and pastel shade.  I use either all bold or all pastel.  In the same black nylon bag I keep a set of Dollar Store color retractables of the same colors. I use either all stick or all retractable.  I've had other series, Flair pens that are too broad to put on my limited page and wonderful Magna Tank gel pens that Walmart used to sell.  These had a tendency to leak but vivid colors and a somewhat heftier barrel.  They are no longer suitable as I now use a highlighter for those activities that are part of my semiannual plan.  The gel pens smear with the highlighter.  And next to my desk, I keep a blue and black stick pen at my right hand and a green and red stick pen in a cup to my right with a picture of Honest Abe that I got from his museum in Springfield.  I use that set on occasion, maybe once or twice a week, omitting purple.

Behind the black nylon pen case I keep two marble notebooks.  The gray one gets filled out on Tuesdays or Wednesdays after the evening planning session noting my weight, waist circumference, BP, treadmill attainments and comments about how I slept or felt that past week.  The orange one gets filled out most days with a gel pen rotating from red, blue, black from the Dollar Store.  I call that Hakaras HaTov, three items during the day that went well.  Those pens have a short life span, pretty much depleting over just a few months.  I won't replace them.  Magna Tank would have been ideal for this had they made a better product.

None of this changes my productivity, but reinforces a need for ritual and recognition.  I retain enough variability to require a decision on which set each evening along with a commitment to use the set that I have chosen.  Those few minutes thinking about how I did the previous day and what I expect of myself tomorrow have become a daily destination with ritual objects, however trivial, dedicated to what is among the most important of my daily tasks.

Disposable Tablet

 

My Beneve 8 inch tablet served me well.  I don't quite recall when I bought it, maybe five years ago.  It cost just under $100, likely my first electronics purchase from amazon.com. I don't know when I bought it but I know why.  I had an iPod, of blessed memory, $275 that did everything.  It was about the size of a smart phone but lacked telephone capacity.  The screen cracked but did not shatter.  At about the same time Google decided to get into the device business with a brand they called Nexus.  It cost about $150, had a 7 inch glass screen, and did more than I could hope it would do.  Top notch quality, what I would expect from Google.  Not only did the glass break but fragments separated from the screen.  It would cost more to fix than to replace so I went to amazon intending a direct replacement.  This may have not been Google's best growth strategy. New Nexus was no more.  Shopping part by feature, part by price, I selected another tablet, this my Beneve.  By now I had an android smart phone with internet access, more than enough camera, and telephone capacity.  But I also travelled more and wanted a bigger screen without needing the telephone service.  What I really wanted was portability.  For $100 I couldn't go wrong, though from time to time went a little wrong.

At the  airport waiting for travel to Boston for an Endocrine Society meeting, lacking my laptop, this device malfunctioned.  I tried to get it going, or at least secure a telephone number for assistance.  Eventually I found and called the number, got through with difficulty, and before boarding was taught how to reset this tablet, which I had to do a few times during its lifetime.  The next misadventure came some time later, a permanent discoloration of the screen leaving a pattern suggesting part of an electrical circuit.  It still performed adequately but then stopped accepting a charge.  I could only use it with the cord and transformer at my side, which made it no longer portable.  Finally the cord no longer turned it on, attempts to access reset never succeeded.  Technology had advanced to where my smart phone could do everything this could do and more, though it cost several times what I spent for my Beneve tablet.  I liked the bigger screen, just right for eBooks where portability matters,  I have read Old Testament and Willa Cather's O Pioneers on my smart phone, but reading on the larger tablet was better.  My Beneve had cost about $20 for each year I had it.  Can't go wrong with a replacement.  Yet the Beneve was of far lesser quality than the iPod and the Nexus so I would select a different brand.

That decision would be forced on me, as others must have found the experience less favorable.  The brand is now gone, replaced by several other generics and by reliable low priced options from Lenovo and Samsung.  In past five years options have proliferated, though prices largely static.  Amazon had more than a thousand options with their filtering system still cumbersome.  Walmart online, which gave me an outstanding experience with big screen TV and less good experience with $20 desk lamp, had hundreds.  When sorted by price it got hard to navigate and diverted me.  Figured B&H Photo where my good friend used to work would have a more civilized online purchasing system.  It did, but priced much higher.  Only 6 in the range of $75-100 that I was willing to spend, and none approaching what might be available on Amazon or Walmart.  I picked one from Amazon, $100 which said free shipping until  I went to check out.  Free shipping if I agreed to join their Prime class, which I don't.  But since I already picked one, I then did a web search for that model.  Sure enough, for that $100 I could get one from a company called Newegg.  Checked the company, seems reputable.  I'm just buying a product, not service once I receive it.  Visa data submitted, purchase confirmed.  A little larger 10 inch screen.  Doesn't really answer the question of whether I really need a new tablet, but it's not the first or most expensive thing that I have purchased that I don't really need.  It should arrive soon.

 

Sleep Diary

As I focus on getting better sleep, not for its own sake but as a path to being more functional when I'm not asleep, some experts recommend a sleep diary.  Some are available in cyberspace to capture and print out, which I did.  Most follow a similar format though vary by detail.  Entries are made shortly after wakening and before retiring for the night.  Mine covered a week, some extend for two, but it doesn't take long for a pattern to emerge.  Changing the pattern may prove difficult, as there are probably some fundamental biological realities that create it.  My diary showed predictability within a few days, but it also showed areas of uncertainty.

My Evening Log confirmed two or three caffeinated beverages, all consumed before 5PM.  They did not ask about chocolate, which I do eat after 5PM but not a lot on any day.  Alcohol is one serving on a typical day, never  more. They left the cutoff time at 5PM which can bridge Happy Hour for those who build that into their schedule, but for me it is sherry or port shortly before that or about half a bottle of beer with supper, occasionally the whole bottle.  Exercise is always done before 9PM, on a calendar schedule with rare lapses. Each session lasts 30 minutes.  

My medicines are constant, five chemicals swallowed at suppertime.  This can be an important wild card, as common medicines affect sleep.  Statins are best taken at night based on how they work.  The PPI seems to do better taken at night.  My antihypertensives offer flexibility, taken at night because taking all medicine one time per day enhances the likelihood that they will be taken.  I could try moving the SSRI.  However, I have given myself an extended drug holiday from this with little effect on early awakening.

Naps are more problematic.  Basically I have stopped intentional napping and have not returned to my bed outside of scheduled sleep times.  I did doze off three times this week, the longest estimated at 45 minutes.  While I do not return to bed once up, I will lie down on the living room couch and often take advantage of a reclining chair that keeps me at about 45 degrees tilt. Whether this affects sleep or not is uncertain.  I have tried to avoid the couch, or anything else horizontal, but it's a habit that requires more focus to undo.

My daytime assessment recorded as favorable five of seven days, tired one, morning stiffness and achiness one.  The pre-sleep ritual seems to be taking shape, watching the shows I recorded on the big screen TV in My Space or reading in bed for a short time before lights out.  One day I donated platelets, which pre-empts my scheduled exercise that day.

The Evening Log has more uncertainty.  I fixed the lights out and arise time, adhering to both with little flexibility, the key advice of any Sleep Hygiene initiative.  I fall asleep promptly, or at least I think I do. Most nights I awake twice, some nights once but for the rest of the night, I think.  I am unable to estimate if and when I return to sleep or how long I am awake.  My iTouch watch records sleep time, but it is really in bed time.  I don't have a good way of timing my actual sleep. I have tried a cell phone app to do this, and it captured my wakening better than it captured my sleep.  Identifiable sleep interrupters are invariably nocturia once the majority of nights.  I am sometimes awakened, sometimes already up.  The time at which I need to get up varies a bit.  I seem to be able to return to bed and relax if not resume some level of actual sleep. For two nights, some back and hip discomfort occurred.  I took naproxen once, more to be able to exercise on the treadmill the following day than to restore sleep.  One night I skipped two medicines with no effect.  I bought a new pillow which greatly enhanced comfort going to bed, though little impact on early awakening.  I took diphenhydramine one night which left me dragged the next morning without a material effect on the fundamental sleep pattern.  My self assessment of how I think I slept was mostly mediocre, never wretched, never optimal.  Yet except for the morning after the sleep aid I felt reasonably well each morning.

Making adjustments depends largely on what I want to achieve.  If my goal is optimal function through the day, I'm not doing badly despite the early awakening, which seems largely ingrained into my cycles.  What I have not done, largely via adverse experience, is get up when restless and use the time.  I find myself resetting to awake and wanting to catch up on the lost time in bed the following day.  It has been counterproductive, I think.  A sleep lab might be premature, though it would be nice to know when I am really asleep and for how long.  My environment is now largely ideal.  The schedule seems the right one.  I can still move the antihypertensives and ssri to the morning.  But as long as I feel good when I need to, which is largely true now, estimating my sleep as mediocre does not seem to detract from what I push myself to accomplish.

Failing Keurig Machine

My device comes from Mr. Coffee, reduced from $80 to a 20% off $64 at Target quite a number of years ago. If performs mostly flawlessly, inviting me to sample a variety of flavors over the years at a price well below a local coffee shop.  In the morning I can just pop a pod, fill the reservoir, and expect something hot, wet, and caffeinated while I wash some of the previous supper's dishes or put the laundry to wash.  Trouble free, nearly maintenance free, until it clogs.

That's where I find myself.  A short cup dispensed, which isn't all bad since the coffee in the smaller volume is generally more flavorful than in its full volume.  But the pods leak and even the pods with ooky low priced coffee that you'd never by in a can still cost a good deal more than making loose coffee in a Melita cone. 

Like everything else in the world, all problems are solvable by my web browser.  An algorithm exists for this.  I did the easy stuff first.  Made a cup without a pod, still short and dribbly as the plain water hit the cup.  The unit was descaled with vinegar not long ago so the tubing and pump were probably ok.  That left the needles.  I followed the instructions, disassembling the lower cup, gently inserting my thinnest paper clip into the larger orifice, wiggled it around and rinsed it.  Reassembled the lower pod container, not as easy as it looked, then reinserted it.  The upper needle proved harder.  What I did no know is that it has vents on either side, though a little large for my unfolded paper clip.  Still, I did the best I could, knowing that I might need to get some dental floss or an old toothbrush to really insert something into that needle space.  Then I took a measuring cup, put 8 oz water into the reservoir, let it run a cycle, and nearly 8 oz was returned.  Ready to try the next k-cup.  Not ready to shop for a new machine.

Cold Snap

It's been more wintry this year than last, when it didn't snow at all.  I had made a brief trip to the Poconos about this time last year, trying some snow tubing that got a little slushy and Aquatopia Indoor Water Park that had a tolerable heated outdoor nook with just the right interface of warm water and cool air.  No travel this year due to the Covid pandemic.  Already we've had two snow episodes, neither beyond my shoveling capacity, which is just as well as I've not been able to start the snow blower.  Our two snows came with the ambient temperature just about at the interface of water and ice but once the snow has been cleared from everyplace except lawns and roofs, we have a more significant temperature drop.

Most mornings, still wearing flannel sleep pants and a t-shirt, I go to the edge of our driveway, usually to retrieve the newspaper that my wife likes to read, but sometimes to put mail into our mailbox or deposit a full box of recycling in the olive topped bin.  For the last two sessions, it's been discernably freezing, though not beyond my capacity to finish the brief chores without additional clothing.  Later in the day I typically have an errand or two, or even create an excuse to leave the house, even if a brief drive to nowhere.  With modern ignition systems, the car always starts with no difficulty, though it can take a few minutes for the climate control to warm the interior to its settings.  This time I have a coat, usually a red nylon ski parka with a beanie insulated cap.  Gloves are either kept in the pocket or the front seat of the car, though rarely worn.  Earmuffs also have a home in the car, though this year can be a little problematic coordinating with the often required oral-nasal mask.  But I rarely exit the car for more than the distance between my front house door and front car door or the parking lot and store entrance.  No ice fishing for me.  As much as I want to become more proficient with my camera for which the winter offers an opportunity, the cold gets the better of me.  But it is still bright and sunny to drive around.

Computer Revival

My hard drive failed.  I could tell something was not right as things failed to load promptly, particularly Chrome.  My email booted me out as I was working.  Finally I got some kind of delayed start having to do with (C:) Stage 1 and Stage 2 which went through a repair.  You can find anything on the www so I checked on this and it pointed to a dying hard drive.  Having had an unfavorable experience with Staples Tech services last time, I selected the Geeks at Best Buy who for a fee took it through its paces.  They called me with the diagnosis of a failed hard drive for which I authorized a replacement.  They reloaded most of what would have been lost.  So for $265, about half of what a new computer would cost, I am back into cyberspace with a keyboard.

There were some rough spots when I got home, most notably Xfinity which always refers me to somebody from the Philippines who reads their script without listening to me at all. But in ten minutes I got the information that should have taken ten seconds, pushed the right button on my modem, and I'm back on the internet.

I've set new screen wallpaper, selecting easy rather than optimal. And the computer responds much faster. Sent off a Letter to the Editor on my congressman's wrong vote.  Checked that I could get on FB and Twitter.

The perfect is the enemy of the good.  This falls short of perfect, but so far pretty good.

Project Assessment

The first month of my semi-annual initiatives has come and gone.  Not bad progress.  My Gardens:  Aerogarden in progress.  Chia really not doing well at all.  Have list of herbs I want to plant in one bed and tentative vegetables in another.  I live at the border between zones 6 and 7 which gives me a timeline to follow.  I know what container revisions I need.  I know that the main beds need to have soil added.

Don't know about visiting the kids. Both children's addresses added to my GPS, one only 5 hours away so likely to get a visit.

Financial.  Been keeping up with monthly expense log.  Taking course in Excel to get better at analyzing it.

Applied for Social Security to begin the month following my next birthday.  Application accepted.  No additional information requested yet.

More friends: Could be better

Great Courses: Bought two, both as DVD's.  Started the photography one.  The DVD port on my computer seems to be underfunctioning but I could use the one with the bedroom tv and have the computer serviced.

Three Books:  All done.  Audio: What Retirees Want by Ken Dichtwald from Hoopla of public library.  E-book O Pioneers by Willa Cather also from Hoopla.  The Great Partnership by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, traditional paperback from my Hanukkah gifts.  This is the earliest I have met my intended minimum.

Historical Mansions: Have a list.  Need to decide how far I want to travel and what weather I am willing to endure.  Also subject to what is open due to pandemic effects on tour schedules.

Organizations:  Volunteered for Delaware Service Corps and for local Democratic Committee.  Expect to review scholarship applications for Delaware Community Foundation.

Three Articles: Have subjects.  Not doing well at activation energy.

Book: Took Great Course on writing from library.  Know about character development, focused on how Willa Cather did that in her book.  Plot going nowhere, though not all books really need a plot.  Next phase of DVD.  Somewhere along the way, though, I have to type on Word.

Wt/Waist: At my latest plateau but consistent with exercise sessions and made some progress with nutrition.

Not a bad start.  The writing needs more focus this month. Important to review progress periodically.

Accomplished

Soreness has overcome my large muscles.  While I probably could do a reduced intensity treadmill session, maybe even should do, I opted a second consecutive recovery day following two days of driveway snow removal that maybe would have been better delegated.  Yet getting the snow cleared by hand with a shovel over several paced sessions gave me a significant measure of accomplishment, one worth some soreness that will run its course.  I produced some other achievements.  Apple Walnut Pie takes some organization.  I have acquired enough experience with this by now to take out all ingredients, separated by crust, filling, and topping.  I measure what I will need for each, combine what I can to minimize containers that need washing later, then make the crust in a food processor.  Adding liquid sometimes goes well, sometimes leaves me with a sticky blob, but always better when chilled for a bit.  This time it rolled out easily on a granite pastry board, transferred to a porcelain pie plate more easily than usual, and I remembered to prick the crust after it was in the pan and trimmed to size.  Preparing the apples has also improved with practice.  I know to use five moderately large ones, peeled and then cut one at a time before going on to the next.  I halve each, as it lets me see where it needs to be cut to avoid the core, then slice.  Add to premixed custard in my biggest bowl, then dump all into the crusted pie plate.  Then high oven for ten minutes, followed by moderate oven for 35 minutes.  This time I checked the crust halfway and shielded it with foil, as it typically overcooks.  For the topping I usually use my minifood chopper but decided to take a chance with the larger food processor instead.  All ingredients except walnuts just get whirred a bit.  Walnuts placed in sandwich bag, then pounded with a heavy can of tomato sauce.  For the final fifteen minutes it gets distributed atop the partially baked pie.  It came out just right this time.  

This effort creates a few racks of milchig dishes, which I also scrubbed in pre-determined portions.

Snow removal and baking are usually started and completed on the same day, this time over two days.  That is not true of larger projects that progress one stage at a time over weeks to months.  Without an end point, they become impossible to fulfill.  I set a reading schedule, allotting six months but always completing before that.  The rules have been and still are one audiobook, one e-book, one traditional book distributed over a novel, a book of Jewish theme, and one of general non-fiction.  All done.  What Retirees Want by Ken Dichtwald as an audiobook which I used for a lecture, The Great Partnership by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks as a traditional book, and O Pioneers by Willa Cather which I secured as an e-book from the public library's hoopla service.  All completed five weeks into the calendar year.

There is much to be said about either setting a challenge, as the reading or pie, or having one imposed as snow removal.  All create a feeling of having accomplished something highly tangible.  I can drive where I want because of the sessions with the snow shovel, enjoy the pie for dessert with milchig dinners, have ample kitchen capacity with washed utensils, gave a suitable lecture from the audiobook, understood Jewish philosophy better from one of the masters, and focused on fictional character development by reading a classic.  And at least with shoveling, sometimes I need a reminder that I have that useful personal attribute of Grit, the insight to segment a project that takes more than one step and the tenacity to pursue each of the steps as part of a completed whole.

Wrist Alarm

Been trying unsuccessfully to restore my previously stable sleep pattern.  Read the pro's popular summaries of sleep hygiene.  Did sleep tracking by a smartphone app for two weeks which really didn't tell me anything I hadn't already figured out.  Watched a show on sleep hygiene, where I learned that there are some Cognitive Behavioral Interventions online and where I also learned that a lot of people who go to a sleep lab find that they get their first full night's sleep there.  That's a similar impression that I've had from the few nights I've spent at a hotel, so the barrier may be schedule.  I do not think it is environment.  My bed is comfortable, pillow maybe could be replaced.  Could use some of the $65 accumulated five dollar bills on that, but definitely not for a My Pillow, even if it is a good product. Comforter is warm, though I've made an effort to keep the bedroom a little cooler than I have before.  I cannot see the red numbers on the alarm clock without a concerted effort, which I rarely make.  And sleep latency is well within population norms.

Habits are another matter that need attention.  I exercise regularly two mornings of three, almost never consume caffeine after noon, except for minor amounts of chocolate, will have some sherry just before supper or a beer with supper, never both and none after supper.  And for the past few days I've not returned to bed at all between arising time and pre-determined sleep time.  Putting aside my screens still needs some work but I can set an evening hour when they shut down.  What the experts say is most important is the anticipatory schedule, which I've now set. Into bed at a fixed time with a half hour off screens before lights out.  My prescriptions, now five tablets taken at supper, are one of those wild cards, with only one recent change that I can try moving to the morning if no progress over the coming week.  And they all say the single best introduction is a fixed awake time with prompt arising no matter how you feel.  My iTouch works well for that.  The past few days the wrist nudge prodded me gently, and I proceeded on immediately to morning dental care.

I think I need to be a better taskmaster on this than I have been.  In the few days that I've implemented this I still awake at the same middle of the night times.  I've followed the advice of getting up after a half hour once.  It destroyed the next day, so I just make do and try to stay beneath my warm comforter for now.  Having done that I'm less tired over the next day, have less struggle with exercise or even with snow shoveling, though my mental acuity needed for some of my semi-annual intended projects could be better.  Always start with the easy stuff. Wrist alarm seems a good introduction.  And there's a scheduled doctor's appointment next month.  Sometimes do-it-yourself is not the best option.