Blog

  • Today’s letter to Tim Burchett

    People in the United States, I encourage you to stop replying to people of power in social media. Instead, every time a congress person or elected official puts out a statement in social media, contact them via phone or email. They can ignore your social media replies but should not ignore your emails and phone calls.

    Today I contacted Tim Burchett:

    I am a constituent. On April 21, 2023 at 6:37am, Mr. Burchett tweeted, “We are broke yet ?@POTUS? keeps funding Foreign countries. Why?”

    I request that Mr. Burchett refrain from such rhetoric without substantiating it. As your constituent, I’m asking that you show in documentation or reputable publications that “we are broke.” I want to see the numbers and Mr. Burchett’s sources.

    As for why are we sending funds to other nations, well, if Mr. Burchett cannot answer that question then clearly he is not qualified for this job. For that matter, it is his job to tell us, his constituents, why. So I demand that Mr. Burchett answer his own question. Why are we funding foreign nations?

    Thank you.

  • Brilliant product designs

    So what genius decided to put Clorox wipes and flushable wipes in the same style container?

  • I’ve declared war on the vines crawling all over my trees

    For years, I’ve begged the children to trim the vines from the trees while I’ve procrastinated doing it myself. I finally removed vines from on of the trees and it looks so much better. I’m excited to continue and cleared 3 more trees today.

    “Cleared” and “removed” are inaccurate. I use an Ax my son gave me for Christmas and chop thru the vine about 3 feet high and then at the ground to remove the bottom 2-3 feet of vine. I am very careful to not damage the bark.

  • ChatGPT

    “How do we steal traffic from Google’s market share?”

    “What if we called our search engine a chatbot? Oh! An AI Chatbot.”

    “Ok. With ads?”

    “No! We will limit functionality in the free version and charge $20/mth for access to our beta version. They will pay to test our software!”

  • I did it! I exercised!

    I actually got on the rowing machine. I was interrupted so it wasn’t as long as intended but it was something. It was a start!

  • How’d yesterday’s exercise go?

    Glad you asked. It didn’t. Hold me accountable. I do have an 8 mile hike planned for Saturday.

  • What do you to be when you grow up?

    I’ve been at this for decades and I still don’t have an answer to that question asked of every 8 year old.

    Quit asking people what they want to be when they grown up. Quit trying to make them define their life purpose. Instead, ask them what do they want to do. If money were no object, what would you be doing with your time right now?

  • A new me

    In my twenties, I enjoyed exercising. I would wake at 4am and be at Court South at 5am with the morning crowd waiting for the doors to open. I’d use the dry sauna, stretch, run the track, use the free weights, sometimes swim and other times play racquetball then finish in the steam-room and possibly ride my bike to work. I never felt better. Then life got in the way.

    I also used to stretch 20-30 minutes in the morning and again in the evenings. I loved my flexibility. At one point, I gave many of my friends and family a Go set and a stretching book by Bob Anderson which was basically the only stretching book at the time because yoga had not taken off and there was no yoga section in the bookstores.

    I lament letting myself go. So tomorrow, April 12, 2023, I begin a journey to get in shape. I invite your commentary and suggestions knowing that I am very limited on time and regularly do not have access to a car. I do have access to a rowing machine and a chest strap heart rate monitor. Let’s get me to drop 20 to 30 pounds, add on muscle and tone, and make my body lean again.

  • c’est la vie

    It is 8:24pm. I have 3 hours of computer work left to do. I have to cook dinner. And there is a third thing I am completely forgetting. This is why you see “cooking at midnight” posts of Facebook.

  • What are my obstacles?

    Me. I am all my obstacles.

  • That was awkward

    We have a young mother who walks in front of our house with her stroller several times a day. Annie, the golden retriever, always barks at her.

    This morning I let the dog out for a walk, off leash, and just happened to go out in the yard with her. I see stroller mom approaching so I begin to place myself between stroller mom and Annie. And I say, “Don’t you do it.” I see a gleam in Annie’s eye and assume she is about to bolt so I quicken my step, slip on the grass, land palm down on our gravel driveway and roll onto my back as I complete my fall. Then a sweet voice says, “Are you okay?” And I reply, “Yup. She’s going to come visit you.”

    Annie instead of running in a scary charge as normal hesitantly walks toward stroller mom while glancing my way then comes back to me.

  • Deep Thoughts

    The hardest part about making mistakes is the repetition.

  • Of Grasshoppers

    Student: I’ve given all I have to give.

    Master: What will you do now?