Up Late

Football conference championships caught my attention, the right respite from some snow removal soreness.  I root for the Chiefs out of loyalty to Iggles icon Andy Reid.  His team blew it, their premier quarterback losing his poise as the opposing team accumulated points  The other game had two California teams.  Since my daughter lives in the Bay Area and the LA Rams have pretty much abandoned my once town of St. Louis, I leaned toward the Niners who also came up short, outplayed in the second half.

Time Zones being what they are and the game being undecided until after the two minute warning, my customary bedtime got postponed, not helped at all by some intrusive thought, bothersome enough to delay my entry into the sleep cycles but not bothersome enough to remember the next day.  For the first time in a long time, I greeted the 6:30 wrist alarm with a Later, which turned out to be 70 minutes later.

Adapted to being awake.  Fleishig dishes done.  Minimize social media today.  First cup coffee within reach on its coaster in My Space.  Just a time shift for the day.

Sore Legs

As the first month of this calendar year reaches its end, I'm still 100% compliant with my intended treadmill performance, adding three minutes to the duration and 0.1 mph to the speed.  Two days on, one day off.  Unfortunately my legs can attest to the extra effort.  Still two more sessions to go, same time, same speed.  When doing less, at the turn of a 31 day month, I would do three consecutive days on.  May not be a real good idea this month.  One day may not be enough to recover legs with exertion driven improvement in their function.  I think it better to modify this to two days off as we move to next month.

Recreational Day

Cannot remember the last day I've allocated my recreation as the principal activity.  I'm not even sure what really constitutes recreation.  There are many things that result in satisfaction or relaxation or some combination.  I like doing dishes by hand, almost always do despite having a pretty good dishwasher.  I find expressing myself satisfying but not engaging in feedback of what I have expressed.  Sometimes my camera goes where I go.  I like petting and playing with other people's dogs but don't really want to be saddled with the care of my own.

And then there are the more classical hobbies, pursued and might like to pursue.  Creations in the kitchen usually afford a fair amount of pleasure.  I like drinking coffee and beer.  More recently I've been introduced to bourbon and still like to sample wine.  It is the variety that attracts me more than the excellence of any single sampling.  

I usually find visiting someplace away from home refreshing.  Doesn't have to be far.  New preferred, not essential.  And often getting there becomes a greater source of satisfaction than being there.

And the classics.  Gardening, fishing, creating pictures with pencils or pigments, going to the putting green, my mostly dormant harmonica.  Not good at any of them, not planning to get good at any of them.  Yet readily available and mostly a welcome diversion from what I might be doing instead.  This could use some more focus.  Maybe even some designated time, as in a recreational day.

Rejected by the Organizers

Eventually health realities will remove me from my home, leaving the house with all the inanimate objects for an heir or his designate to move out of here.  I was hoping to spare my children that onerous task by straightening up while I still can but after some effort, my heart really wasn't in it, even though I probably still have the strength.  I could work about 45 minutes on it, seeing some evidence of before and after.  I really needed to pay somebody who, for a set hourly fee, could do a more sustained effort.

With Angi's List and the like, I tried to hire cleaners.  They vacuumed, mopped, did the fridge.  They did not move stuff.  Next an organizer.  One did not call me back.  Three came to take a look.  Their orientation is mostly filling dumpsters.  Mine is creating paths so I don't get injured.  No interest on their part in doing something hard, or maybe even less familiar than their usual recommendations for discarding.

Looks like either I will have to do as much as I can myself.  My descendants and their hired agents can do the rest in my absence.

Writing an Extra Check

Made some donations though a few days behind schedule.  My wife donates small amounts to everyone, which I found out when I logged our December expenses onto Excel.  Mine are done monthly, one moderate one to a Jewish cause each month, once with a note of appreciation to the agency to accompany the check, now for efficiency online.  A few times a year I have targeted contributions independent of the monthly ones, some large enough for IRS documentation, usually in October.  Then as Social Security made my income rise a bit, I added a secondary Jewish donation, a small amount to an agency that does special things.  And there are yahrtzeits, condolences, and other occasions that generate contributions.

It takes place on the 20th of each month, or thereabouts, with delays for shabbos or having some uncertainty of where to contribute.  Two special checks went into the mail, both to support the good work of old friends.  One became a minister of a semi-rural church in picturesque New England.  They have online services each Sunday that appears on Facebook.  This week they had a financial appeal.  I sent them something.  This being the approach of yahrtzeit, I always send a contribution to the current version of my mother's synagogue, long since repackaged, where her memorial plaque hangs.  I learned last year that a high school friend remained in the area, attends that synagogue, and started collecting small toiletries and other items to distribute to the homeless.  I sent a second check for her use.

All better destinations than lying fallow in my checking account.

Replanting the Aerogarden

I've had an Aerogarden Hydroponic Garden for years.  It was steeply discounted.  When I used the original seeds, tubes, soil, and tablet feeds that came with it, it flourished, though one plant overtook the others creating a root mess.  Like many things, they sell you the unit at a discount but gouge for parts.  I have little choice but to replace the proprietary fluorescent bulbs at a premium price periodically but have tried to go cheap with the other elements.  Potting soil I always have.  Herb seeds I always have more than I can plant outdoors.  Nitrogen supplements have not gone well.  And one plant still takes over, this time tarragon, usually basil which grows like a weed in a hydroponic setting.  

After leaving Aerogarden untouched on my Daily Task List for months other than topping off the water, I set a fixed time to give it another go.  It has six tubes.  French tarragon dominates, needed a big harvesting trim.  Some chives with benign neglect are holding their own.  Not enough for flavoring, maybe for a light garnish.  And one tube has slowly growing thyme or oregano, I can't tell which.  That left me three tubes to replant.  Coriander never takes well.  Dill sprouts then withers.  Basil takes over and I have two flourishing plants in terracotta chia pots adjacent to the aerogarden.  Start with sage.  I had plenty of sage seeds.  When I took the tube out, the soil only covered the upper half, so if it ever got roots they would have a gap between the soil and the water, though since the soil felt moist, there must still be some diffusion.  I pushed the soil to the bottom of the tube, added some seeds, tamped it down, and replaced the tube in its set location.  Then some water, then a cover, once a transparent mini-applesauce cup, with a marker to tell me that cylinder has sage.  Next some parsley planted with the same procedure, then some oregano.  Topped the reservoir with water and check for germination in a few days.  Sometimes you make it and sometimes you don't.  Plus, I now have a lot of harvested French tarragon in search of recipes.

Sidestepping the Conversation

Electronics with its postings no longer creates real conversations.  In its nascent days we could open an AOL chat room, type a sentence, know who else is in the room, and they would respond.  To do that the rooms had to be small and the sentences short.  With expansion, we get more elaborate posts and more elaborate responses but they really aren't interactive.  You could argue, perhaps, that our Talmud depends on posts and responses of sages centuries apart but nobody read those interactions for centuries either and redacted them to suit contemporary purposes.  Cyberspace is now, though a little less now than an in-person conversation.  Direct conversations usually don't last very long, and since those engaged are on site they are not distracted from other things they need to do  that day.

No, Twitter, Bari Weiss, Facebook, Reddit and all those other forums are really more like expanded Letters to the Editor than they are to immediate jolting conversations.  

How to manage this?  Having just paid money to subscribe to Bari Weiss with her guest columns and shunning of politically correct, its prime attraction, the others who paid money as well want conversation more than I do.  When I post, the responses can be numerous, overwhelming other things that track me to my goals.  I found that I really don't want to have a discussion, particularly one that takes all day.  I just post what I want, opt not to be notified of responses and move on.  I can always go back and read what I want.  Do I care how anyone is affected by what I think?  To a point, but not to become a disruption.  For now, I think it better to write my thoughts and move on, staying detached from the minds of others.

Sleep Tracker

Second use in a row that my android sleep monitoring device failed.  I have one with my iTouch watch, highly inaccurate, not that my Prime Nap app is a whole lot better.  It does log the sleep and wake times at each end correctly but my failure to stay asleep as I transition from one sleep cycle to the next it often misses.  Its algorithm uses surrogates of sleep such as lack of motor activity suggesting REM but has no way of identifying the CNS wave types that better define the stages.  So even when Prime Nap records, it has little correlation with my own assessment of how the night went.  I think it went OK last night, delayed onset of sleep but restful once there.

Haven't Done Yet

Transition of the year, or for me the half year, generates enthusiasm for initiatives.  Then I have to do them.  Exercise on schedule has gone great, achieving an extended duration and speed on the treadmill.  It comes at the price of sore legs, rested one day of three but never with full recovery.  Yet I feel accomplished for keeping to the schedule, knowing that in the future I will need to allow for the undesirable soreness.  Writing has not gone as well.  I have the first article online, a thoughtful diatribe with little following.  Yet the goal was submission, not acceptance.  The more involved expression has gone nowhere.  Eventually I will begin my forays into our adjacent state of Maryland.  I have a list of places I could visit.  Only need three. Covid has made it unwise to invite guests.  I listened to a book and started another.  My interest is stalling but with a timer and some grit I can finish it and them move along to a novel in the form of e-book.  OLLI registration has been submitted.  I would like to attend in person which will make it easier to latch onto a committee.  Logging monthly expenses has been a struggle, between vacation and oodles of donations.  Dedicating time to my wife each week, as desirable as this is, lags.  We each need our space.  Garden planning has gone well.  Garden doing less well.  Somehow I never quite specify time to revive my aerogarden, even though that could be done easily and without major time investment.  Clearing My Space also crested quickly, then has languished.

SMART Goals must be realistic, and these are.  They must have deadlines, and these do.  Those deadlines, though, are far enough into the future to allow excuses for doing other things instead.

Came Out Especially Well

Much of my recreation, or at least satisfaction, has moved to the kitchen.  I have developed a few go to preparations:  Lasagna in the manner of Artscroll, Macaroni & Cheese in the manner of Horny Hardart, Fish Market Apple Walnut Pie, and shabbos dinner.  Except for shabbos dinner, which is usually one of multiple variants of chicken, with occasional beef cholent or dairy instead, the others all have recipes.  Yet even fixed recipes have their variations.  For lasagna, the sauce and cheese will vary depending on what's on sale.  Recipe calls for mozzarella, which I almost never use.  Sometimes I will buy it pre-shredded, more often of late I run the cheese through my minichopper.  The pie gets half butter, half Crisco for the crust.  Usually I moisten with water, sometimes apple juice.  The kind and number of apples varies with sale prices and availability.  Sometimes I grind the walnuts for the topping, more recently chopping them coarsely in a baggie and mixing with the other ingredients.  Usually I spice with cinnamon, sometimes with Pumpkin Pie Spice.  Macaroni offers me a chance to experiment more.  Tubular macaroni comes in a variety of forms.  I think the Automat used Penne Rigati but I like to change it.  Pretty much abandoned elbow macaroni.  Cheese tends to be some type of cheddar.  I vary the portions of bechamel sauce ingredients and the thickness to which I let it heat before melting the cheese.  The tomatoes come from a small can with chilies, sometimes mild, sometimes original.  Salt is kept a little less than the recipe requires.  Sugar gets added to the tomato mixture, a little more than the two tablespoons the recipe indicates improves it.  It calls for white pepper and cayenne, which I've learned to substitute with black pepper and a dash or two of hot sauce.

All elements came together especially well yesterday.  Shredded rather than ground cheese.  Used Penne. Monterey Jack on sale so I used that 2/3 with cheddar 1/3.  I was a little more patient in letting the bechamel thicken before adding the cheese, which melted more evenly than it usually does.  Made it a little sweeter than usual.  Mixing pasta and white sauce was done in stages to make distribution  better.  It poured evenly into the lasagna pan and baked just right for 45 minutes.

Ideal texture, ideal taste.  Just right.

Part of the Conversation

After some consideration, I paid the $50 subscription to join the Bari Weiss virtual community.  I also jointed two segments of Reddit.

Social media has become something of a wasteland, perhaps the toxic dump of cyberspace.  Conversations abound, trolls lurk,  You don't get to choose who else shares that forum, but that was also true in college where I had no control over who the Admissions Office would place in the classrooms with me.  Unlike Twitter, though, it wasn't anybody and everybody.  And the rules of idea exchange were better defined.

Reddit and Weiss at least define the conversation by subject.  Weiss charges a fee and targets her kind of people, which is about as close to my kind of people as I have come across on the internet.  Reddit seems to have mostly sincere people thus far, at least in the two subject areas that I have selected.

I'll see how it goes, but thus far, nothing particularly offensive.

Outdoor Herbs

While some snow dominates the forecast, the sun will still run its cycles, as will the seasons.  Time to move my mind and its intents forward to warmer times when my interest in kitchen creations merges with soil and seed.  My backyard herbs have not done well except for rosemary and sage, which do not always survive the winter.  Those planted in containers right outside my front door bring me more joy, if not more taste.  Some have done better than others.  I never run out of mint, both peppermint and spearmint, though the culinary uses are limited.  Basil has done well.  It has a lot of kitchen applications, but usually requires a lot of it, especially for pesto.  My coriander and dill have been fickle, thyme leaves hard to separate from branches but useful without separation for soups.  Parsley does well, the Italian form that adds character to all sorts of things.

TV cooks always have abundant leaves right in their kitchens and windowsills.  I will aspire a notch less, what I want in the amount I need in pots outside my front door.

Schmoozer Shortage

Pandemic generated behavioral changes nearly two years in evolution, long enough for new norms to emerge. Meetings now by Zoom which has also nudged into family gatherings, though not yet socialization with friends and neighbors, which remain largely fallow.  It has brought forth a certain etiquette, among them not interrupting a person speaking.  Unfortunately, our norms of conversation don't go that way.  Deborah Tannen in her You Just Don't  Understand devotes a chapter, maybe more, to the importance of spontaneity in verbal exchanges.  These include instant clarifications and also responses at the time they mean the most to the original listener.  We've lost that with Zoom.  Social media doesn't make a good surrogate.  People tweet or post or send an email.  We receive the message which takes us to a branch point of respond with words or emoticon or move on or delete.  We do it within our own time frame, usually long after whatever stimulated the original thoughts have long passed.

Engaging people requires a certain amount of schmoozing which comes in many forms.  There are parties where people circulate while holding something liquid, typically a disinhibitory liquid.  We once had real conversations, eroded by TV in my youth and irreversibly by more sophisticated screens now.  Once you could go to the doctor and have a history taken.  Now you fill out a form and get x-rayed.  After shabbos services, when food is served, traditional small talk has gotten smaller.

Those vital interactions, known in Yiddish as schmoozing, still exist but less accessible.  One more civilization reversal in the guise of progress.

Rewarding Myself

Off to a good start for the calendar year.  My legs have gotten a mite sore from pushing the treadmill sessions ahead but I've remained faithful to the schedule.  My reward has been a self-mutter of Good Job and the scheduled recovery day.  Writing has not gone as well.  I have outlines and aborted attempts but not the anticipation of reward, be it seeing my name in print or even perhaps the ability to sell my ideas for money.  I've done well at responding to what others have written but have not really pulled my weight in disseminated just as valuable thoughts and offer superior expression.

I've tried a reward system, no social media until the current article is ready for an editor.  Haven't missed not being on FB, Twitter, or Reddit, so its return may not be the best incentive to prod my stalled project along.  I'll give it another two days.

Grocery Orgy

We needed stuff.  I had run out of dental plackers, one of my beneficial start the day new habits that I was able to introduce.  We had no seltzer, that fizzy substitute for the evil soda. Ice cream had run out.  Our freezer still had some room for more, as many of the past week's meals began with defrosting.  To make a leisurely though mostly purposeful stroll through Shop-Rite even more attractive, the weekly ad that comes in the mail every Thursday announced discounts on things that add versatility to meal planning or brighten my time in the kitchen.  Apples and sour cream on sale at the same time generates Fish Market Apple Walnut Pie.  Some things I avoided, those potato chips on sale though corn chips pass.  As much as I wanted Vienna Fingers for $1.88 a package, it remains on the Don't Get Obese limitations.  In exchange, there is pasta and frozen phony meat facsimiles that make meal preparation simple and filling.  I always need coffee when it goes on sale, even when I don't.  Can never have too much Lavazza at $3.99 a package.  Half price, always good, lasts indefinitely, though ground too fine for my Mr. Coffee K-cup machine's plastic strainer insert.  House brand K-cups, coffee ordinaire, but staples.  Two boxes when significantly discounted.   Some things you need to buy a lot of to get the computerized cash register to deduct the savings.  Don't know where I would store ten large cans of tomatoes.  I can use three jars of pasta sauce eventually.  One for lasagna.  Cottage cheese and frozen spinach not discounted this week but the pasta sauce will keep until they are.  Halfway healthy snacks:  whole grain fruit bars certified Kosher, pretzels which are maybe a tad better than potato chips, yogurts that had been victim to supply chain limitations on availability, the cereal that I like munchable from the box.

While the basket and reusable grocery bags looked rather stuffed by the time I scanned them through the self-cashier, some things I did not get.  Salad greens advertised were not available on the shelves.  Better to get these at Trader Joe's, which is also my source for bread and cheese.  Kosher meat has gotten prohibitively expensive.  Usually a few packages have clearance discounts, though more common later in the week.  I needed mini-challot, again none on shelves early in the week.  I don't even look at the Kosher deli or bakery anymore as prices exceed what I am willing to pay, even discounted.  They had no whipping cream, the perfect addition to the blueberries I got on sale and perhaps to the Apple Walnut Pie.  Self-care items from deodorant to home remedies have inflated in price.  Don't need a lot of these, but their manufacturers and retailers know that they are price inelastic for people at the time of need.

This past week I watched a six part summary of  the food industry on Curiosity Stream.  Consumers want, suppliers both create want and satisfy want.  And a vast maze of supply chains have made the things we want global and for the most part affordable.  At my shopper perspective, I still have ample choice, have given up very little on account of price, and what falls through the supply chain snafus, as yogurt did recently, eventually gets its turn with shipping containers, railroads, and trucks.  I bought enough to eat well this week and beyond.  The preparation options bring me some joy as I combine ingredients to make items where great taste comes forth.  And for all practical purposes, if I go out for coffee, it is for the social or escape elements, not for the beverage. 

Believing or Not

Had an enjoyable electronic exchange with a Political Science professor from a mid-sized state college in the Midwest.  He had written a book called The Nones, which I listened to on Hoopla audio, then sent him my review of the book.  Using public data, he described those who had opted out of religion without actually declaring atheism as drifters, people always in limbo with unstable employment, marginal education, and few commitments to anything.  That differs from my concept of Jewish Nones, people who either profess no religion or more commonly no denomination, yet are industrious, educated and with social attachments.  In his response to me, he noted that he has a project on Jewish analysis which challenges him because we don't really define ourselves by belief, as he does as one imprinted to a Baptist childhood and part-time pastor activities.  We are measured more accurately by the things we do.  Some are ritual like adherence to dietary laws or Shabbat observance, the common American yardsticks.  Others are less definable, like financial generosity to Jewish and secular social initiatives.  But generally we don't have people depart because the Rabbi has taken  a political view contrary to ours but might if marginalized by an influential macher.  We can believe pretty much what appeals to us if we perform our mitzvot.  As I go through death anniversary lists on Wiki most days, selecting out Jews of accomplishment, more secular than religious, many have adopted atheism as their ideology yet remain part of the Jewish civilization by attending worship at limited times or sending their children to Hebrew School.  Others have been marrying non-Jews decades before the Conservative Rabbis did the lecture circuit to condemn this in the 1960s.  Their children may be Nones or Christians, but they are not drifters with no purpose or meaningful personal or professional accomplishments.

The General Social Survey which has been tracking American social norms, including religion, since 1972 tries to ascertain belief as a choice between Bible as literal transcription of Divine word, Divinely inspired, or useful myth and legend, which separates fundamentalists of all types from secularists.  In some ways it exposes a gap between Rabbis who promote literalism from secularly accomplished constituents who don't, but no choice of religiosity makes a Jew ineligible for the benefits of being Jewish or absolves us from our behavioral expectations.  Most American Jewish institutions have adapted to this, largely giving up on shunning, though not entirely abandoning, at least conceptually, degrees of Jewishness.  Our leadership, which is itself rather fluid, values our usefulness far ahead of our beliefs and our performance of mitzvot.  It may make us unique, and for the present era even enduring.

Within My Shoveling Capacity

It snowed.  When attempting to retrieve the newspaper from the end of the driveway, which I could not find, though part of my morning ritual, I needed closed shoes.  The amount of snow came at the lower prediction of our SDS Weathermen.  A few shovel scoops for the walk.  Some brushing of the cars.  A little more effort on the driveway.  If our development's snow plow comes at all, the added burden remains within my shoveling capacity.

Still disheartened from the repetitive non-starts of my gas powered snow blower, it is time to just spend the $200 for an electric one.

Zone 7a

Retrieving the newspaper from the end of the driveway for my wife to read when she first goes downstairs has developed into a morning ritual, right after starting my first k-cup and maybe washing a few dishes.  I wear night clothes for the short trip, typically with flip-flops.  Seasonally cold and dark for this short errand.  While it provides momentary stimulation to begin each day with more prolonged stimulation once the caffeine has been absorbed.  I don't think about warmer weather ahead, though the earth and my geographic 7a zone will eventually heat up enough to support any number of vegetables and herbs.

Gardening mostly brings joy with a few disappointments or frustrations to balance.  I set this in its global form for the current semi-annual projects.  Aerogarden and chia pots with herbs avoid climate considerations.  Chia going well.  Aerogarden needs some revision.  Not nearly as much joy from these as what the outdoor efforts achieve.  I will need to revive the front containers a bit, though last season went OK.  The backyard needs real work.  Trimming branches to better expose my two 4x4 foot beds.  And deciding what and where things go.

While I could purchase established vegetable plants, having mostly failures from attempts at indoor winter planting, I'd like to give the from seed indoors another go with tomatoes and pepper, maybe eggplant.  My soil probably is not thick enough between surface and weed block cloth for serious root vegetables, though I like beets and they are expensive in the supermarket, so possibly a square or two of these as direct plantings.  Lettuce and chard never do well.  Green beans flourish but can be tedious to harvest.  Cucumbers take up more space than they are worth and are cheap at the supermarket.  And this year, plant in sequence rather than all at once.  Better planning.  With some luck, better joy when harvest arrives.

Almost out of K-cups

Last one on carousel.  Few more in a box elsewhere in the kitchen that I forgot about.  These have become morning staples, though not entirely indispensable.  I have ample ground coffee with two functioning inserts that fit my Mr. Coffee on sale machine.  There are two French presses, two Melitta cones with a reasonable supply of #2 filters, and enough cash on hand for a pick-up at WaWa or a leisurely sip at Brew HaHa.  Not having morning coffee was never jeopardized.  Having my morning routine of washing dishes and retrieving the newspaper while a k-cup brews could have collapsed.

It didn't.  Restoring the new supply made it to my daily task list as a priority.  Everyplace sells them but the best match of price and quantity comes from Christmas Tree Shops and Costco.  While the latter sells more established brands, including their own, and I much appreciate the large sturdy box once depleted, Christmas Tree Shops had the advantage of proximity and variety, so I went there.  While my cell phone calculator would enable me to figure out the best buy with certainty, I opted for the ability to estimate learned in junior high math, along with the reassurance that my level of prosperity does not mandate the rock bottom per-unit price.  I could also consider what experience I might like to have with the next 60-100 morning mugs.  All discounted brands not widely advertised.  Consumer choice depends on price but also on taste, prior experience, variety, size, attractiveness of the box and many other investments that sophisticated manufacturers make to allure me to their product ahead of other products.  I like variety packs, but settled instead for 60 units of basic ground coffee that they labelled donut shop blend, more image than reality.  Good price.  Had before.  Reliable.  Won't run out again for a while.

After putting the box in my cart, I headed to the back of the store to look for more of a dental item.  I didn't find it but found the box of Christmas Clearance k-cups in boxes of 18.  Wide selection, a third off, some flavored, some not, all specialty offerings but what I assume are upstart suppliers.  Got one of those too.  Made myself a cup of that as soon as I returned home.

I don't know how close I come to the model of consumer behavior.  Stimulus was need, though once I arrived at the choices it shifted to want.  Display, packaging, perceived taste, experience, value, and anticipation of making the coffee all became inputs into the decision-making apparatus of my CNS.  When the choice are too many, true at Christmas Tree Shops but not at Costco, there is a risk of dissatisfaction with any final selection.  But having returned home, restored the revolving k-cup rack next to the coffee brewer, and place the remaining k-cups in a safe place, my usual mornings can continue another few months.

Completed Tasks

While my daily task list is long, few of the more complex ones get a checkmark at the end of the day.  Uncompleted excessive intentions have become ingrained for decades.  A few easy ones like weighing myself every Monday morning get completed without fail, but most that have no clearly finite completion point get carried to a subsequent day, usually the next one.  Yesterday went especially well, though.  Mostly finite stuff:  new camera battery got its initial charge, beard trimmed nicely, did a little better than quota on first audiobook of the calendar year, kept up with daily two chapters of the Book of Mormon, read from the Forward and Atlantic, omitted snacks after 8PM, took my pills, adhered to assigned wake and bedtimes.  And then a few unique accomplishments.  Had a thank-you note to write, sent off an important financial form, paid my annual Wellcare premium, responded to an essay on KevinMD, put away laundry that had been sitting in the basket a few days, interviewed a home organizer, and did some serious preparation for an article on my declining relations with my synagogue that I am intent on completing this week.

Many of these one and done tasks generate accomplishment.  They also reinforce a commitment to moving along with those more complex multistep tasks where the end point never gets fully established.  But for a New Year, I seem on my way.

Changing the Measurement

For a while now, I have been tracking my weight and waist measurements as surrogates of health, achieving progress about a year ago when I altered what I permitted in the grocery cart, then leveling off at the new level.  My weekly list of health related initiatives has become far more comprehensive.

1. Treadmill two days of three
2. Weight measurement weekly
3. Waist measurement weekly
4. Blood Pressure tracking
5. Stretch Daily
6. Upright during waking hours
7. Sleep Hygiene standards daily
8. Take medicines each evening
9. Omit snacks 8PM to 6AM daily

Health and functionality have an overriding importance, one that either enables or undermines all other activities.  As I pass the age of mandatory Social Security payments, stable health has been my good fortune though the arc of advancing years has imposed its presence.  With the New Year, I have shifted my measurement of progress from the scale and tape measure to the settings on the treadmill and the timer.  The first session went well.  An additional two minutes was added to my program, same speed, same cooldown, same tune to hum to pre-occupy me so I don't stare at the timer, which also took a new format. This being the first weight/waist day of the calendar year, there was a slight uptick just beyond the random variability of my scale and tape measure.  Took medicine.  Omitted munchies.  Payed attention to sleep.  BP, stretch, and upright all need more focus.

Not a bad start.

Staying Cheerful

My New Year's initiative began in good faith but collapsed about a third of the way through the calendar year's first Shabbat shacharit when, for failure to acquire a minyan, various fillers were imposed.  The rabbi being away, he gave the President a Dvar Torah from somebody else to read to us.  Probably a Never Event in its own right.  And one of dubious quality that got plenty of mental comments.  Then a rather academic drush from the Cantor to fill space.  From a chapter written by a friend.  Great source for a seminar in an aspect of prayer, wretched having it read to us for as long as it took.  I wanted to leave.  I did leave, to stroll to my car and get an update on my son who just tested positive for Covid with annoying but not life-threatening symptoms.  Then back for the rest.  Little banter.  Maybe Judaism is a series of time boxes that need to be filled, whether worthwhile or not.  

How I respond to something put my way remains my ultimate autonomy.  I could have remained cheerful as intended.  I didn't.  Sometimes you need to take broken things to the local landfill.  My shabbos morning experience has been broken.  Too big an impediment to my personal cheerful mission.