First off, my last dream before waking up this morning was a positive one. I was doing things confidently; I wasn't looking at things that were concerning. Did that have anything to do with the prior day's actions, where I was pushing myself to do something more than what came naturally?
Then, the day was a good one. PG had a good day health-wise, so she wasn't stressed. We got out of the house and shopped a little, allowing her to move around naturally. There were some clouds, but overall the day was brighter and warmer, with a bit less wind. That was good for our state of mind.
With sufficient warm clothing I took a 1-mile, 20-minute walk this afternoon. Didn't see anything interesting, but didn't expect to, either, and putting on a podcast kept my mind occupied.
Made a record of the second of two video files from a visit to Ohio in 2002. Pushed myself to do it. Lots of wasted video.
Music lessons: took tiny bites, chewed slowly, and learned a little bit more. Continue tomorrow. If I try to do too much, I won't accomplish anything, so pace myself. Slow down. Do it again. Curiosity, not mastery.
Didn't drink soda or eat ice cream. Satisfied with one small piece of Lindt chocolate. Should still be 225 pounds tomorrow morning.
I was watching an episode of Victory At Sea when this screen came up. Automatically, I tried to figure out when this footage was taken.
At far left, I can read "Chester Morris", but not the name of the film or the theatre. A little to the right, there's "Special Agent" at the Central, I believe, and above that I have no doubt that "Bengal Tiger" is at the Strand.
Some minutes later, I have learned that all three films were released in mid-1936, and that the Morris film is named "Counterfeit." What's more, the three stars of "Bengal Tiger" are Barton MacLane, June Travis, and Warren Hull. The New York Times of July 29, 1936 notes that the film is scheduled to open on this day.
But information available says that "Counterfeit" was released May 25, 1936, two months earlier, and that bit about "Second Smash Week" doesn't add up. Not a big deal, though.
Now all I want to do is screenshot it, and that's where it got weird. WIN/SHIFT/S caused the YouTube screen to go black, first in Chrome, then in Edge and Firefox. Anything I'm doing wrong to cause it? Search says try double-clicking and then choosing save from the menu that comes up. Nope -- the save function is there, but it's grayed out. Then to Reddit, where they said hardware acceleration should be turned off, but that didn't change the result either.
By this time, I would have used my phone to get it over with, but I'd left it downstairs. A few more minutes, and I think I've found the answer: It's a feature, applied to copy-protect copyrighted material. OK then, I'll just bookmark it and come back tomorrow with my phone.
Which I did...
Pretty good at staying focused today. Besides the longer walk, I took an hour for practice at home and filled it with meaningful action. No naps, and just one Pepsi in the category of junk food. Good cereal for breakfast, a ham sandwich for lunch, and... and... no memory of what I ate at 5:00. I think it may have involved whole milk yogurt from Whole Foods.
I wish this photo had been better, but at least I got a picture. There were a couple dozen rabbits in the yards I passed during my walk, including this one, who was stripping a young plant of the highest leaves it could reach.
Google Maps and my timeline say I walked a mile and a half this evening. Must have had some extra energy and motivation.
The CPU cooler/fan arrived today, and with the prior research and due diligence, was installed without a hitch. CPU temp went from 75C to the 50's at once, and now is comfortably hovering in the low 40's.
The 2TB SATA SSD arrived this morning, and after the CPU cooler/fan got installed, I used Macrium so it would mirror the soon-to-be-replaced 1TB SATA SSD. Then used Disk Management to change the drive letter and replaced the 1TB drive with the 2TB drive. Tomorrow a part will arrive so I can re-install the 1TB drive for other storage. Also scheduled to arrive is a "be quiet!" brand 92MM fan to replace the 80MM fan presently in place.
Is that enough upgrading? Is that enough expense for now?
About a month ago, I was learning how to use Handbrake to convert video files on a DVD to something that could be viewed standalone. Today, I picked up some more family videos that had been transferred from 8MM videotape to DVD, and ran one of them through Handbrake. Here's what happened:
Forecast last night called for about an inch of snow, and that's what we got. The day before, I'd seen someone outside the building where PG's dentist has his office, and he was using a battery-operated leaf blower to move snow off some branches behind a dumpster. It gave me an idea.
If there is an inch of snow (or very little more) and if the snow is icy dry and not heavy and wet, then would a leaf blower clear the driveway and sidewalk better than a shovel? There's not enough for the big snow thrower, and anyway I had put it back in the shed earlier in the week.
The batteries had been charged after moving leaves for the last time in autumn, but by today both had dropped by about half. I plugged one in to charge and clicked the other in place on the blower.
Answer: with about an inch of dry snow on the sidewalks and driveway, the leaf blower did just fine moving it onto the grass, at least until the battery ran down, which didn't take long on high. On low, the snow barely ruffled. But on high, while the battery still had a charge, I could aim the tube from side to side and hold it just above the surface of the snow, and it moved more at a given time than I could have with a shovel. A narrower focus of the air would have helped give it more power.
The best part was that since the sidewalk had been clear before the snow, using the blower cleaned virtually everything off, and the bit of powder that was left quickly melted in the sun. I burned through both batteries before finishing the driveway, although not much was left. Using a shovel on that area left more behind, but it was still a thin coating, and once the sun came out, the sun on the dark driveway soon melted everything and dried up.
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Offered to help PG clean out the refrigerator, which was stuffed with leftovers from Christmas dinner. I recall reading about a pro athlete who said that now, everyone's giving me things, and I'm thinking, where were they when I was growing up poor? Then there's the Twilight Zone where Burgess Meredith's thick glasses fall off and break just as he has time enough to read at last. Here at our house, we have lots of food -- much more than we had growing up -- but our appetites have diminished.
Anyway, some of the excess had to be pitched, some went in the basement refrigerator and the rest went in its freezer. The glass shelves are now clean, as are the clear plastic bins. Next, the upstairs freezer.
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Gripping, isn't it?
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Aldi for milk, bananas and a cucumber. Walgreens for PG's medicine. Her prescription plan didn't do much on the price, so the pharmacist checked around and found a "coupon" that brought it down by about two-thirds. And hey, I found another penny at the register!
Now, time to practice.
Today, PG made a rice bowl with shredded skinless chicken breast, and I used up the last of the heavy cream in a pot of chocolate pudding. Penzey's cocoa, Lindt milk chocolate, 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1 1/2 cups of whole milk. PG generally doesn't relish chocolate of any kind, but she savored her serving this afternoon.
I enjoyed the chicken-rice bowl, too. Just some Spanish rice with vegetables to go with the meat, topped with taco cheese and salsa. Can't be many calories in that meal. Combined with a quick walk around the neighborhood in early afternoon, despite low 30's temperatures and 15 mph wind, that's going to keep my weight down. I've got an A1C test coming due next week, and I need all the help I can get.
Today's Whatever-Happened-To: Watched the opening credits to a 1957 episode of Maverick, and getting second billing after James Garner was Erin O'Brien.
Picked up a prescription for PG this afternoon. The new law that limits the out-of-pocket cost for prescriptions under Medicare, dropping this year from about $3,500 to $2,000, may have had something to do with the announcement that the premium for her Part D plan would jump from $38 to $62 in 2025. However, there are competitors that did not follow suit, so her Part D premium went from $38 to $0.00. (For this year, anyway. The phrase "low introductory rate" comes to mind.) Thankfully, no non-generics among her meds, so there was no charge for today's meloxicam either.
However, we did have to make one change, because the new Part D has what they call preferred prescribers, and her 2024 pharmacy isn't one of them. But the new pharmacy is just about the same distance from home. And on top of all that saving, I found one shiny penny just outside the door of the drugstore and another one at the register. Net gain for the trip: two cents!! (Both of which are going in the little jar for Tabby's Place. Going in the kitty, you could say.) Maybe we can get them to deliver at no charge in the future.
Who carries any change anymore? Even the bridge commission isn't taking tolls in cash starting this year.
PG received a yearly summary of her life insurance policy, which we usually just scan and file. She had a question this year, though, so I went to the insurance company's website. There was no ID/password combination in the password app, which required me to slog through the reminder process and the subsequent log-in process, all of which included two PINs sent by email and two more texted to my phone. At least it's set up so I won't have to do all that any more.
Awhile back, I had a local camera shop make a DVD of a 25-year-old 8mm home video. I fiddled with it, tried to edit it, failed. Speccy said that the CPU (Intel Core i7 10700 @ 2.90 GHz) had zoomed up to 98 degrees Celsius. I put the DVD aside for 3 years.
Now, as a recent retiree with more time to educate myself, it's time to try again. After a couple of hours of trying, I still don't feel like I have a handle on it yet, although I have learned a couple of things that don't work.
Find VOB files on the DVD: check
Import a VOB file into OpenShot: check
Preview VOB file in OpenShot: appears on timeline, but with blank screen and no audio
Try again. Google some more.
Convert VOB file to MP4 with VLC media player: Good picture, audio sounds like a chainsaw cutting down a tree
Try again. Google some more. Someone on Reddit advised to "Remux VOB to MP4 with Handbrake", which is another language altogether.
Next - read and learn about using HandBrake, and remux it, don't convert it. I think that's what next, anyway. But not tonight, though.
Anyway, I learned something.
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PG was having back pain that neither physical therapy nor her chiropractor could make go away. Eventually, she made an appointment with the family doctor, who prescribed meloxicam. We were concerned that it's an NSAID, but it's a pain medication that treats inflammation as well, and doesn't have side effects of drowsiness or dizziness. It's worked well in her case.
Today, we did some shopping, and she was able to walk around with minimal pain in each of the 3 stores (Costco, Target, and Walmart). Still, due to the prior pain she wasn't used to that much physical activity, so she went to bed and sleep well before me.
I'm practicing ghost notes, reading New Yorker articles about Dick Cavett and Eleanor Roosevelt, et aussi des articles du Monde de Maia Mazaurette.
Yes. The Pittsburgh-New York game with its high score was the biggest clue. Also, since the Braves were still in Boston, that meant it was prior to 1953. Since the Pirates had a terrible record in 1952, I skipped that year and instead checked 1951 for the 11 Pit-NYG games at Forbes Field.
The pictured game was Milwaukee-Indianapolis. Also on the scoreboard is Minneapolis at Toledo, but less than a week later, on June 23, Mud Hens owner Danny Menendez moved the team to Charleston, West Virginia, leading to his indictment.
When the Braves moved from Boston to Milwaukee in 1953, the Milwaukee team in the American Association moved to Toledo, where they were first known as the Glass Sox, but soon settled on Sox.
I get up around 8:00, go downstairs,
Pour a bowl of cereal, a half-glass of juice and fill it the rest of the way with seltzer,
I do not reach for any pills. All I have is baby aspirin and sertraline, and these days I don't feel like I need either.
I finish off Spelling Bee and begin Immaculate Grid
I check the Politics list within Xitter
I put my dishes in the dishwasher and take the iPad into the family room, and sit down on the recliner
If I'm lucky, my cat will come over and lie down on my lap
I can continue getting news from Xitter
I can read another chapter of 1776 or another day or two of The Long Season
I can put in the earbuds and listen to the machine voiceover while reading a story from Le Monde.
I can skim the headlines in the Times, Post, and Google News
From time to time, I check Facebook and Slack for news about the foster kittens. If any, I screen shot the page or copy and paste the relevant text into a NoteTab .txt file, then save it into that month's subfolder in Dropbox. If there are photos, I make a copy and save them into the same subfolder. (This feels more important than the rest of the actions. Those other actions are for my own amusement, but the Kitten Fund is the closest thing I have now to a job.)
Later, I take a walk around the neighborhood, and to keep my mind busy, I put on a podcast or count the rabbits.
I look over the current lesson in Drumeo and work out the sticking (Today, single paradiddles)
I pull out the four printed pages of the drum part for Rikki and work out the sticking for a few more measures. (Today, the first four bars of the first chorus.)
As of early June 27, this is how I envisioned retirement. Then came the Biden-Trump debate and the overwhelming dread it produced. Then came the first Monday after leaving my job, and the suffocating grief it produced.
I collected the WFH gear and stuffed it into a provided box, and took it to the nearest FedEx store to return it.
We had a contractor in for a week, which threw everything off for humans and cats alike.
Then someone shot at Trump.
Then my Welcome to Medicare visit, with an abnormal EKG.
Then my 68th birthday, and a day later, my wife's birthday. That shook me, too.
Then there was a letter from my former employer that didn't make sense, so I drafted a response to mail back the following Monday morning.
Then the plastic line from the cold water pipe in the basement to the refrigerator upstairs split and sprayed water on possessions that need to be kept dry. I felt better about my state of mind while solving the immediate problems: put a bucket under the drip coming from up above the sink; find the squeegee and move the water on the floor over to a drain; find the leak and turn the saddle valve from On to Off, only for nothing to change, so I folded over the plastic line and duct-taped it in place to stop the flow. Just in case, I put a large plastic box under the sealed line and tied the line to the stepladder so it wouldn't thrash around if it did come loose.
The immediate crisis was past, and then I phoned the plumber.
He recommended replacing the plastic line with one made of copper, and replaced the useless saddle valve with one made by SharkBite. As long as he was here, I asked him to replace the other saddle valve that was controlling water for the HVAC humidifier, and replace the pipe where rubber-lined clamps covered the pinholes made by past saddle valves. In a couple of hours, everything was fixed, and I felt better about the plumbing in the basement. I shouldn't have to deal with that kind of problem again. Cost? We could afford it.
Then I contacted the internet provider/cable/phone company to try to get them to reduce the monthly bill, which has risen sharply since the previous reduction. Not only did I get minimal sympathy, the reduction (such as it was) corresponded with the sympathy.
Then Biden dropped out.
Then a spring fell off under the rocker-recliner and I had to play chair repair.
All that in less than a month. PG gave me all the loving support she could. I walked more, ate less, took sertraline. By the end of July, I'd gone from 229 to 225.
Then things got better. I kept walking and drumming, but ate more and stopped sertraline. My state of mind was much improved, but by this morning, I'd gone back up to 232, which wasn't planned.
But now that I'm over the shocks of 2024 presidential politics and the adjustment to being without a paying job, the framework I'd planned prior to retirement is holding firm. I volunteer, doing things to help cats, I learn more about a foreign language, and I learn how to play a musical instrument. Repeat as long as the household's health holds out.
For the first time in nearly 11 years, I have no paid employment. I guess that's one way of putting it.
I'm retired. My last day was last Friday, and there was just enough to do for the day to pass quickly. I did what needed to be done, I looked up and it was nearly 11:30. Same in the afternoon; before I knew it the clock was reading 3:30. There were 50 messages from colleagues wishing me well.
I liked my job, but I understood it was time to go.
This morning, I unplugged everything related to the former job and piled it in one corner of the office. Soon I'll gather it all up and drive to the office and drop it off. Filling that space now are the 2 monitors for my home PC, flanked by the Yamaha speakers the company paid for. The wires that were in place had to be untangled, and in a couple of cases they weren't long enough anymore in the new setup, which forced some problem-solving behavior. Anyway, I learned something.
Ready as I'll ever be for retirement, I guess. I am concerned when I see this quote: “I think we’re all wired the same. We need to be busy. We need to be active. You need to feel like we’ve got a purpose and a place. Relaxation and time off gets the better of all of us. I’m at my worst when I have time off.”
Advice I read somewhere recommended having something to retire to. I have TP for photography and writing and just getting out of the house for awhile. I'm still following the online music lessons, and although I won't earn an advanced degree, an associate's will probably be all I need or want. And third, the Le Monde subscription is giving me practice reading and learning French, not only through reading, but also the AI that reads articles aloud.
The best days are past, but I've also seen advice to focus on the good that is still around. No other realistic alternatives anyway. And away we go.
