A few Measly Steps a Day

Am delighted to be here now too. Thanks for inviting us from FB, Delightful!
Certain that you'll remember who I am. I'm a Barbara Sher fan from being a "stepper" on her forum with you, long ago. I came to visit you one time in person when I was visiting your state. I think I got to meet Molly too when she was an oldster, so it was a really loooong time ago.

Congrats on your A/C install - I need to get my A/C fixed on my sedan. It's a sauna sort of torture to NOT have it working correctly.

OK, since I haven't been here yet, I guess I need to spell out some goals...

1. Finish billing that I'm behind doing. I've been doing the strategy of working on it a bit at a time. Now, I just need to do some final edits and make sure everything is perfect before I send it off by email. Except that I'm almost a year behind. Well, they have probably appreciated holding onto the $$

2. Send off $$ (that I haven't yet gotten payed for) in the billing I have been "forgetting" to do. I have a remote "job" that I split with another artist who needs to get his share of it. I have already gotten a money order for him after figuring out his share. So I only need the envelope and to get a stamp on it. Tricky because I'm visiting a friend who doesn't have envelopes, etc. But I have stamps! Probably I can just buy some envelopes for my friend's house.

3. Spray seal my new, clean seat covers for my car that are going to replace the torn, funky ones. (Eventually install them when dry before next Tuesday.)

4. Figure out how to clear the plants that have overgrown next to my old car that my friend who got cancer stopped working on 20 months ago. These are HUGE bromeliads that are maybe, five feet tall. I need at least three feet of access to the passenger side of the car. Eventually, crawl under the car and determine where I am in the repair process. I've decided I'm going to put this car back together myself. Screw trying to find another mechanic who is only going to overcharge me. My old friend who is still sick says it's about four hours of work - for me...after finding and figuring out the parts - once I figure out what to do.

5. Look at more YouTube videos about how to put it together myself. Study. Take notes. Once the

6. Get my juggling clubs out of the back of my friend's truck where they got wet in an unexpected rain storm - put them somewhere to dry out before they mold. (Juggling is my new baby stepper "exercise".)

7. Call the old guy (92) who first taught me something about mechanics and tell him how wonderful it has been for me my entire life to have learned something about how to fix a breakdown on the road. If I can re-build a carb, I can put together a half-way finished clutch job, right? (Especially since the hard part of sewing the engine to the tranny is already done.)

OK....as if that's not enough... I'm sure now that I've made this list - I will do something entirely that is not on the list.

Hello Juggler & Trixiecat. I too am a refugee from Barbara Sher's forums and began this thread with Delightful when Barbara closed hers down for good. I had had my premonitions about 6 months before the shut down was announced, so had time to research alternatives and finally settled on this one.

I also saved as many interesting threads and posts as I could find time to locate. Fascinating stuff. For example my own post from Feb 2010:

Found this pearl of a quote on another forum site:
I can not suffer enough to change the past.
That idea alone can found a religion. Lynx

And now today I have 2 people offer cynical jabs at a proposal I am bringing before the other owners of my condo. Like they are trying to make me suffer for daring to even propose we talk about some hard truths of owning property together. Somehow they must believe

If they make me suffer enough I'll stop working to change our choices and actions.

Next time I'll just skip the courtesy of advance notice and send it out when I know I'm—and it—is ready.

So, where was I? Oh, yeah, welcome!
Revu2

Hi, Juggler,
It's good to see your posts again. And of course I know who you are.
This may be a repeat. I thought I posted something yesterday, but I can't find it.
That's an impressive list of goals. And some of them will make a big difference. So yay! Go for it.
Me - my big goal is coming up in April. I'm doing camp Nanowrimo (again) and the goal is to write 50,000 words in a month. I've done it before. And the years I haven't done the whole 50,000, I've written between 10,000 and 40,000 which is enough to make me happy.
My other goal is - I hate to even admit that this is a goal - to clean out my garage. I started it. It's a hoarder type garage with spider webs, dust, and junk. So it may be a bigger project than writing 50,000 words.
The days of COVID isolation are drawing to a close. I've had my two shots, and I'm starting to get back to being a normal person (who wears a mask and carries sanitizer in her car.) It feels weird. I'll be picking up my grandson from school two days a week, and I'm starting to get together with friends. But now, isolation feels normal and human interaction seems weird.

Good stuff to everyone reading this.

Today is the third day of Nanowrimo. It's a challenge to write 50,000 words during the month of April. So far, I've written 101 - so a little behind schedule. Today's steps - write - work on the garage, and cook for tomorrow.

Happy Easter, everyone.

I compiled 8 "Study Moments" about how condos work 10 years ago on one of stints of service. In my professional life, I emphasize to my clients that boards do better when they self-educate. So, I'm re-sending the series, one per day except for Easter Sunday.

I'm doing myself a bit of good, too. Swore that somewhere it was written we had to use Robert's Rules of Order. Still might be there, but I couldn't find it.

Have a client the next 2 Wed. evenings. Everyday I make happy discoveries. Reddit has a streaming channel now, and braver souls than I stream themselves performing music and redditors can support them with reddit coins that you can buy and I support the artists can redeem for cash again. I have no idea, but I think it's interesting.

D, write on, write fluidly.
Revu2

Thanks, R.
Things are going well for me right now. I have the plot summarized so I can keep writing without having to stop and wonder what will happen next. I'm half way through with my clean-the-garage project. This is a biggie. My garage used to look like the "hoarders" photos. But I got most of the webs down from the ceiling and I have clean spaces to work on, and a lot of the junk is given away or thrown out. Remember the pig? Tom shared the pig with a friend (actually it was the friend's idea.) Anyway, we now have about a hundred pounds of pork. (apologies to any vegetarians reading this.) It's manageable, and apparently we have a functioning freezer that Tom cleaned out. On a positive note - Tom and I are eating low-carb diets - which goes will with a hundred pounds of pork.
Here's me signing off.

I wish millions of people were clamoring for my books. (Except that my first one really isn't that good.)

14,000 words written in April so far. My goal is one hour a day which translates into 1000 words per day or 30,000 words. Which is perfect for me right now.

Hello AFMSAD,

Poof, a week flies by. D. write on, keep your pace, keep the chain going!

We had a short power failure today, so my S.O. and I walked to the high-end mall which still had power and strolled around commenting on stores which are still opened, will open, or are gone.

Before this shelter-in year, I once hiked to the local university and claimed one of the study rooms when I needed it. It worked great several times. But, they've been understandably hyper-safe so I can't do that tomorrow. Though supposedly a place of thinking and learning, their charges (students) act like their sense of immunity to harm is a real thing. As soon as they had opened the greek houses this summer they had a bunch of fresh c-virus cases to deal with. 139, I think.

Is the whole of higher education is a status-conferring ritual with little substance? I read about the lead of a teachers' union pushing back against re-admitting students into K-12 schools. She was quoted in the news, "there's a lot of fake news and disinformation out there ... " And I thought, "you're the head of a union of teachers. Can't one of your members figure out where to find trustworthy information with references that you believe?"

That's what I've been doing since Feb. 2020. So I had confidence Moderna and Pfizer, JnJ, etc. were going through all the stages all clinical trials go through. I read the WHO's summary update on research that said surfaces were less a risk than at first believed. That those clear face shield were worthless, better to stick with masks and the 6 ft rule. And so on. The WHO report cited sources for further digging.

Again, if teachers are lost on how to independently research the truth in the flow daily news, what rights do they have teaching "critical thinking?" Or anything?! Alright, off the soap box.

Hope the power's on tomorrow as I have two critical calls to attend.
R

You raise an interesting question, R. While I agree that the lead of a teachers' union should be able to distinguish fake news from real news. It's getting harder and harder to do. Especially if, way in the beginning someone were to watch Fox News and mistake it for real news. I know a lot of good, intelligent people who did that. Yes, there are clues - facts changing from month. And it's very hard for people to reject something they believe to be true. And it scares me that with more and more things going to electronics, it's going to be harder to differentiate between fact and fiction.

Well, actually my point is that teachers, instructors in determining what's valid, should use the tools they teach to research and get to the best sources, compare sources, and use their discernment. This is a major health, economic, and political event happening live during their lifetimes. In other words, be active and do their own checking vs being passive.

They do know this because it's part of their training on teaching critical thinking. Many K-12 teachers a Masters Degree and this is what you're taught in grad school. My barb is they don't apply what they know. Thus, is 'education' an empty ritual where the adults can't even apply what they supposedly teach? The goal is to prep young souls for living, not to churn the processes taught back into school settings and nowhere else.

To be in a leadership role (union president) for people that presumably know these tools and to not be able to show the public you're up on what's true is a discredit to their profession. Any one of their members could nail down the truth.

On the other "side," the school board doesn't take undue risks or consult a crystal ball—it makes decisions on reopenings based on the same sources that the governor and health departments use. Those sources come from collated data from separated government departments across the state or country. WHO's data comes from collating data from national governments. When a school board vets in public session what the data is and whether to approve reopening any citizen (or head of a teachers union) can also see what sources they are leaning on.

Anything we need to 'track down' is there somewhere to be found on the WWW. Medical journal abstracts? Tables of the raw data? Literature reviews. All there, you have to search, judge the quality of the source, and you have to think.

I once read a great blog by a teacher who casually tossed off during class that an article wasn't to be believed. And the students were fascinated, how did he know that? The source, the care with data collection and description, whether it matches what else you understand, the date, other works cited, and so on.

I know this is a philosophy and stance that the weight of determining the truth rests in ourselves, not in passively accepting things that happen to catch editors attention. Propaganda and spin are nothing new; readers have always held their own responsibility to see through the hype and lies that anyone with a pen can spew.

Anyway, I won't excuse the teachers without a written note from their parents.

R

I agree. The head of the teachers' union should be able to differentiate between real news and fake news.

I'm in the trough of my biorhythms, so keeping quite contentedly at home for a few days.

Meanwhile, got through an emotionally important annual meeting at our condo. Seems, somehow, some owners, without using the "I" word think I care too much. I guess either suggesting they care too little, or prehaps just the right amount.

Todo's

• Wrangle an agreement on timing + text to send to one of the owners.
• I have a tiny bit of paid research tomorrow ($20 for my half hour).
• A pair of books to read.
• Slip in a walk, and perhaps reading in the sunshine.

Revu2

After a year of not doing much and not seeing many people, all of a sudden, I'm driving around and doing a lot. It's a shock to the system, but probably a good one.

Plumbing problems are temporarily fixed. I have heat. It's a good life.

I should be excited. I'm going to be working on the disaster preparedness plan for our church. I'm emerging from the world of COVID to the larger world of outside with other humans. It's an adjustment. Today, I'm off to get an allergy shot, and later I'll be picking my grandson up from school. Here's hoping the grouchies dry up.

Sure, get excited, why not? Disaster prep is great.

I suspect your April writing goals are chugging along.

Here, I'm smack up aganist some people's astonishing ability to expend more energy and time denying engagement that just saying yes and getting to work would take. We spent 3 inconclusive hours talking about fair work among owners. In 3 hours, with several teams, we could have cut a chunk out of several projects.

I got approval and grudging agreement to sit in on a call with one distant owner who has a service watching their properties. When she said she was in Asia, and I said, no problem, we can figure out something and still use Zoom. Then their rep wrote that she has full authority, do we need a letter?

Well, full authority from her or the owners if they'd bothered to lift a finger over the past 6 years they've been owners. All we asked for was 45 minutes and now we've all put in more than that reading and responding to email. Sad people.

I told them I'll get back to the thread early next week. I have some accounting work to do for the condo this weekend.

Geez.

Thanks for letting me vent.
R

Happened to come across a reference to legendary soccer coach Bill Shankly. Find it in the quotes thread.

About the same time, I realized that a way to picture my approach to making change stick is to find the seam, place a wedge, and skillfully hammer away. Crack growing? Keep hammering.

Has this been written by anyone? It took some fancy google skills but I found at least one leadership blogger onto it. Savoring it a section at a time.

This relates to my condo challenges. Where are the seams? There's one at first move (doing research and writing up a recommendation). An enormous one is the changeover of owners! We have several due this year. As the incoming prez I have a legit role to connect with them and present my plans and policies.

Anything written opens a seam and most people consider writing a type of work. Fun is to be overdone, Work underdone.

I sense I'm onto something when I awaken with ideas + energy. I have a new toy, a recorder built into a 35gb USB drive. I mean—I have walkman cassette recorders (2 of em) and recording on my flip phone (that takes over a minute to access) and this thing sweeps them aside. Pick up, click on, wait for the double blue light, speak. Then I have several ways to rough in a transcript of what I said.

Busy starters set their own urgent schedule. We need a Reserve Study (30 years of estimated major expenses) for the resale certificates. I'm on it. I have something to add as a narrative of how we envision ourselves managing this over 30 years. Some of the expectations implicit in condo living, winning, aggressive attitude (It's on us to watch our expenses or vendors, poor quality, & Inflation will pick up clean).

In the cycles of my merry condo 'team' we are at a low point. Morale mysteriously refused to budge from bottom, owners are racing to avoid obvious responsibilities. As Bill Shankly might say, situation excellent to rebuild the club.
Revu2

Good wishes for your condo issues. They would be a real problem for me.

My issues - the bad ones - bad visit to the dentist and my washing machine still pumps its water into my bathroom. My method of dealing with it - for now - is to take laundry to the laundromat. The problem as I see it is that the plumber snaked out the wrong pipe. When I get around to dealing with this, I will probably be *****y.

My good issues - Writing is fun, and I mostly know where I'm going. Working on the disaster plan - I usually hate paperwork, but for some reason I'm enjoying this project. I'm basically doing it all myself, so I don't need to disagree with anyone. Right now I don't have a single problem. I have to get info from a few people - I emailed them, and so far people have been getting back to me faster than I would have. When I have the whole plan put together, I'll submit it to the Vestry, and they can haggle over changes if they want to, but it will be one session of discussion only. Things aren't supposed to be this easy. I'm probably forgetting something. I have to get ready for my granddaughter's birthday party. - just going to it, not creating it.

HI World. Only milling about through some old files looking for an acronym once shared on the Barbara Sher site using SLOW. Came across this gem.

I have a great respect for incremental improvement, and I've done that sort of thing in my life, but I've always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. I don't know why. Because they're harder. They're much more stressful emotionally. And you usually go through a period where everybody tells you that you've completely failed.
Steve Jobs

Much more emotionally stressful. And there are periods where you're utterly alone. I'm at that place now. Even my partner can't resist rolling her eyes. Well, step out of the way you're blocking my path.

Came across this while looking for someone's acronym for SLOW. Haven't found it yet but did find a couple of my own to put on reminder cards:
CALM
C -calm your breathing
A - access the full situation
L - list your action options
M - Make your best move

8/12/15 LOSST: CALM — Life Off Script Self Talk - Calm my breathing, Access the full situation, List options for action, Make the best move
Revu2