A few Measly Steps a Day

two things...

high blood pressure and irritability both can be caused by poor sleep. so maybe the defective CPAP machine is to blame for your state.

okay, that wasn't supposed to be posted so quickly. the computer trackpad is doing weird things...

anyway, the second thing is this: what makes an experience good or bad? my therapist asked me this very recently.

after i got home i remembered the Story of the Zen Farmer

HI Team,

Interesting that when Delightful turned in the machine she got a good nite's sleep. Hm. Maybe the testy sleeping pattern was a way for your unconscious to protest?

Thanks SPG for the reminder about the Zen Farmer. The blogger makes the common conclusion:

Quote:

Maintaining an open and receptive awareness—and not clinging to any outcome, desired or dreaded—we give space for life to flow, with all of its unknowable twists and turns, and its possibilities, too.

After hearing this story + this moral, I never see a personal example. OK, show how this worked for you were denied entry to a country because of a bureaucratic blip?

Like anyone who is not a hermit, I live my life interacting with other people who all are actively pursuing their private or corporate outcomes. Often, if I relax, really concede or surrender, they get their outcome which might not be the best for the situation. If it's a quick or minor thing, so be it, but if it has implications for our ongoing relationship or other areas of my life, well, no, spoiled person, you can't just get your way by throwing a fit or, no, incompetent company, I'm can't give up because your lack of service will cost me thousands in taxes I shouldn't pay.

My other quibble is that I never voted, vowed, or vetted that the flow state is the preferred state no matter what. Life flows regardless, and sometimes I must be a boulder, sometimes the shoreline, sometimes the surface, sometimes the bed, and sometimes I'll need to step out and find a better stream.

Good thinking, R.

IOW, know when to hold 'em; know when to fold 'em (sort of).

I mean all this "bend like the willow" may be nice, but as you wrote, it's important to kick major behinds when the situation calls for it.

Serenity to accept what I cannot change, courage to change what I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

Bad things will happen. When they do, we can make them worse by dwelling on them, stewing in anger, or we can accept the bad things and the bad feelings without making them any worse. if it's a little thing, this is good advice. If it's a huge thing, letting go is hard to impossible. There's my deep thought for the day.

Re the sleep machine - they work great for some people. The do not work for me. In fact they make sleep a lot worse. A lot, lot, lot worse. Apria has a 1.5 gold star rating on yelp. They have a Facebook page for flowing success stories, only almost all the posts (including mine) talk about what horrible service Apria provides. When I returned my sleep machine, a lady there said she waited on the phone for a half hour and never got to talk to anyone. I was nodding vigorously as she complained. The woman who worked there was taking it all in. Clearly, it wasn't her fault. They are understaffed. I said several times, "It's not your fault. Apria is a terrible company." I hope it helped her. She did say that in her last job, she had to foreclose on loans, so this was actually an improvement.

As for me, maybe if I'd gotten the support I was supposed to, the CPAP would have helped me. As it was, I had two really bad nights, and my BP hit a dangerous high. So I'm not going to give it another try. It's not worth risking a stroke. Know when to fold them. And I can make the whole thing a lot worse by dwelling on Apria. I complained to my doctor, to my insurance company, and on the Apria's Facebook page. That's all I need to do. Time to let go.

Good stuff, and a good night's sleep, to us all.

That's glowing success stories, not flowing success stories.

I'm glad you acted quickly and with resolve to the CPAP problem. I'm waiting for a new machine, so I wonder if they'll send me yours? (No, I'm going through a different DME supplier.)

I recall that you got good sleep during your sleep study. So it suggests that if you had a machine that was set up properly and working properly, maybe the therapy would work for you.

Those CPAP devices are pretty crude things, though. They're essentially a computer-controlled reversed vacuum cleaner.

Hi, SPG,
Re the sleep study - they did the study without a CPAP. The just monitored my sleep to see if I had apnea. The time they found mild apnea, I had a bad night's sleep. The time they found moderate apnea, I had the best sleep I'd had all year. I interpret it to mean that my biggest problems are something other than apnea. If I can get to the point where I stop breathing, my sleep is more sound than if I don't even get to that point. Anyway, I returned the machine, and I'm sleeping better. Maybe my doctor has some other tricks up his sleeve.

In other news: I'm still editing "Through Unfamiliar Waters." I'm finding so much that needs improvement. It's humbling. I got interesting feedback on "Refuge and Warm Tea." He said that the story was good; too bad about the cover. I like the cover for the paperback. I didn't have the option of the same cover format for the e-book, and I agree with him. Maybe I'll have another go at the cover.

My to-do list:

prepare for taxes
do what I can with our disaster plan for church and email it to the bishop's committee members. (People who do the thinking in the church.)
fix insurance mistake with my physical therapy provider.

There are more, but those are the biggies.

Good stuff to us all.

I liked "Refuge and Warm Tea" the best of all three. I recall that you wanted to feature underground bees. I think the bats worked out great. I love bees, and if I were writing a story I'd want them to be heroines, too.

Hi crew, our condo annual meeting retry is today. There's an owner with a 'maybe' to step back onto the board. We meet and noon PDT; I log on 15 minutes beforehand. It's more out of my hands.

In preparation, I'm reminding myself of where the "arena" is in this place, and that I was there, in it, doing all I could. And "submit" to the others, they can do the same, step inside the work. Otherwise, their yapping is merely sheets flapping in the wind, signifying nothing.

Re taxes: got a great fright looking over my 1099s but figured out one of my clients sent a correction without marking it a correction. Whew!

I'm enrolled (pending getting official notice) in a lecture class at the local U. Non-credit for $5. About 100 students. Large hall. The lecturer didn't use a mike last time because he wasn't happy with it.

The best benefit I get is my library card is expanded to many more privileges because I'm a student.

I'm 70 years old. I've always taken keeping up my side of matters seriously. Most of that stuff I didn't dare do in my active student years are now back in play. I've already left early twice when they had a quiz or small group discussion. Then there might be flipping off the reading assignments because my spoken participation is discouraged so I don't need to be prepared to the gills. For Once in My Life.

The most fun to imagine is skipping class. Cutting school. Playing hooky. Intentionally staying dumb. Like the Sam Cook song about having a crush and confessing "I don't know what a slide rule is for ..."

It sounds wonderful, R. The class auditing, I mean. Oh my state university library was wonderful. It shared the building with the bursar's office and had the entire top floor to itself and half the lower level. Sometimes I'd just pop in and read the newspaper. They'd actually lend out computer programs, so I'd use MathCAD to crunch data for my tedious physics labs.

I audited classes while enrolled as a full time student, and I'd participate only if the professor got no response from anyone else. Certainly I'd skip midterm and final exams, but I don't remember skipping class for a quiz.

Once during an Open House at my daughter's college, I audited one lecture. The professor asked a question, something like, "What can an indigenous population do to avoid colonization when a foreign-run companies build and open manufacturing plants?" One girl with a stutter suggested sabotage (The Luddite response). Then crickets. But then the professor looked right at me and faintly raised one eyebrow, so I thanked her and suggested education and training to learn the "imperialist's" language with the dual aim of finding employment within the factories, (perhaps even learning how to service the products and automation) and navigating international law. We were, after all, in an institute of higher learning, so I figured that was a home-run answer. The professor passed no judgement on either response.

You go for it, R. The happiest times in my life were my college years, and the time I was raising my daughter. There's something so wonderful about learning. Especially they way you're doing it, learning without pressure.
Me - I fiddled with the cover for the e-book of "Refuge." It's not as good as it could be, but it's much better. (I hope.) Meanwhile, the editing continues. Thanks for the comments, SPG. I know my writing has improved over the years. That's why I'm re-doing TUW. After that, I'll try to fix up "Temporary Address" the first and least wonderful of my books. I shudder to think of what I'll find.
My to-do list - My taxes info is ready, and I hope I fixed my insurance question. I looked over the church's disaster plan, and put it down, completely confused. Then I realized, that I was thinking simple emergency plan, and they were talking about earthquake, fire, war, etc. So I'll separate the two in my head, and I should be able to do what I need to do with it.
Happy Spring Holiday to you.

Yesterday delivered the day I've worked towards since January 1—the shutting of doors behind me. To wit:
* off the board. All praises
* no clients, no jobs, no worries
* taxes done. That estimated tax sent in January, fully coming back because of a technicality.
* insurance company sent their adjustment letter.
* Much lower than the vendor's bill because of double billing for some things and trying to claim it was an emergency call when they actually were summoned during business hours.
* started reclaiming my space from work archives and clutter

There's always something else, right? Minutes due from the annual meeting. Time to get our oil and filter and locate a reputable garage for our oil change. I looked at the manual with thoughts of doing it myself, but Nissan on our Maxima decided to hide the filter behind a wheel. Most of this car is super well designed, so I'm feeling that was done to discourage casual DIYers.

Anyway, I'm getting that foot-loose sense that retirement is supposed to bring. It's about day 93, and it's definitely about time.

Do you think you could access the oil filter from underneath? If so, a set of car ramps might be worth investing in, if you have the space for them. Maybe a neighbor has a pair and would be willing to let you borrow them every few months.
About car ramps

Hi Measlers. SPG, I watched a video on this procedure and they def took off the wheel. Also, don't have the space and would have to work curbside. I've done that before with out 78 Toyota Corolla Station Wagon when we owned it. Replaced the water filter on that one and would do the oil changes because everything was within sight and reach.

But, it's not all that much money, considering. Around $100 I'm guessing: $40 for the oil and filter which I would have to cover anyway, and $60 for the work.

Another laugh on me: I failed to notice that the uni class I was sweet on had a restriction that excluded me. Wow! Zero for Two. Which raises the question, do I try yet again?

Pros:
1. It will get me a student library and UPass card good for extra privileges like access to online articles from home and discount performance and museum tickets.

2. It's $5.

Cons:
1. There's really isn't much in their catalog I'm interested in.
2. It requires loads of time to read materials and get to classes (especially seminars) ready to participate.
3. Reading and attending classes comes with missed chances to do other things.
4. Classes are during the day and interrupt my flow states.

My biggest motivation was the $5 student ID. Alternative to that is $100 for a borrower's card (no inter-library loans or off-campus access to journals and such).

Plus, my volk-classes in Carl Jung's psychology and film criticism are loads of fun, free, and have exciting things to read or view for prep. So, I'm already living the student life. People are thrilled that I'm showing up. And I'm learning tons without trying too hard.

I sense where I'm heading. I'll sleep on it overnight and render a decision to myself soon.

R, I feel your joy about the Jung class and the film criticism class. You go!

SPG, thanks for all the positives. I'm becoming more positive about my writing. - which will make marketing easier. I mean, how do you market something when you're thinking, "well, there are couple of slow parts, and the ending isn't exactly . . . but if you just look at . . Anyway, I don't feel that way about Refuge, and when I get finished editing Unfamiliar Waters, hopefully, I will feel good about that one too.

I'm glad you liked thew bats. Here's the dilemma I had with them. Originally, there were hundreds of bats in the cave and they first scared Jody and Emberlee when the girls entered the left fork of the tunnel. Then, as I was editing, I read the line about Liam kicking up snow, and I wondered how bats made it through winter and if they even existed in the northern Yukon. So I looked it up on the net. it turns out that there are five species of bats in the Yukon, They live in trees, not caves, and they migrate south for the winter. Bats in general either migrate or hibernate. If You wake up a hibernating bat, it will fly around, and then go out and look for food. I get to choose between a good story line, and science. So I cut the hundreds of bats down to one small colony. I rationalize, that a few bats could have stayed too long and ended up in a cave in the winter, and been startled by the humans, etc. etc. So I stretched the truth, but didn't actually break it.

We had a wonderful winter in California with all the rain that we're supposed to have.

Me, signing off.

A common todo: buy something.

OK, which one, who makes it, how much will it cost?

I'm dabbling with a Lumix ZS70 24-750mm compact digital camera because it's sitting around and we're planning yet another once in a lifetime trip and I want to get cozy with it before we go.

Like all digital cameras it uses a memory card. The manual has the specs, but there's a big range of options. Figured out by reading lots of articles (photo fans delight in sharing their knowledge and thoughts) and thinking through concerns.

First, how do I identify exactly what I want?
Second, what capacity? 32, or 64, or 128, or higher GB?
Third, which brand name or can generic copies serve?

1. The card label has lots of information. I need it tagged U3.
2. The higher the capacity the smoother other operations go, such as read and write speeds. The manual only recommends up to 128 GB. So that's the call. I want 2 so all's not lost if one fails.
3. SanDisk is the premiere brand.

Ha. That's it. I had internet connections fail last night so missed bidding on several cards. Bot 2 on ebay this morning, though.

Next, the battery. The one in the camera is about 7 yrs old, and they are only rated for about 7 years ... hm. Long threads on batteries left me with the understanding that I needed to buy Panasonic branded batteries. I'll get 1. The main reason is reputational, Panasonic doesn't want low quality products carrying it's brand. They also understand the demands their cameras make on batteries, and make sure their own batteries are ready to meet them. And third, off-brand batteries have taken unknown liberties in order to make cheaper batteries, and said changes might cause it to fail.

I'm ready to make that order, probably tomorrow.

On one thread, someone complained about the cost of Panasonic batteries (about $45). But look, with a battery and a $25 128 GB card, I can store between 11,500 to 34,900 photos. That's .004 to .0013 cents per picture.

How does this compare to shooting color negative film? Shooting 1 36-frame roll a month has a total cost of about: $360 yr or $30/month [for 432 pictures]. That’s $0.42-$0.83 per shot and developed photo.

Not to mention the time it takes swapping rolls of film and then getting it to and back from the processors.

Moral: For digital camera supplies, buy the best because it's worth the price for the insurance and assurance of dependability. And take lots of shots.

Occasionally I've gotten an excellent "no-name" battery at a low price. That was the case for my previous laptop.

But usually the batteries are duds, which was the case for the knock-off Canon batteries I bought. One worked fine for a few charges, but then its ability to hold a charge diminished. The other battery seems okay.

I vote or paying more and getting a good battery.

I keep trying to embrace the digital age. I do appreciate all of the good things about it. Online meetings means less commuting and less pollution. online banking means less paper and fewer trees cut for paper. I'd never be able to publish a book without digital help available to me for free. And I'd never know you two or any of my other online friends. But . . . . I hate having a problem that I can't solve with the pre-programmed answers and not being able to talk to a human. And I hate all the scams and viruses that are out there. (That reminds me - I need to do a scan of my computer. )
Mental note to self - check EVERY hidden email address.

I'm getting closer to publishing the second edition of "Unfamiliar Waters." So I'll edit and check for the million typos that I seem to miss each time I think it's my last time through the manuscript.

Good luck.