Kicking and Strutting, Drugs? Yes, Please, From Russia with Oil I had successful surgery on Tuesday. They removed the last of my colon and gave me a full-time ostomy. I feel like I got hit by a truck. It's funny Keck is a teaching hospital, so every morning, ten doctors come into my tiny room as a group
Unsteady Apostle, The 5 am Club, Ice The Fake Food Group I went into clinic Tuesday for my weekly IV fluids. This treatment has gone on so long that I think the kids of my original IV team have taken over trying to stick a vein. In fact, on Tuesday I broke in my new IV team. They got my line
Vince Guaraldi, Good Grief Cell Phone Replacement, This Toe Tag This toe and no further. I am soaking my toe as I pull together my notes for this week's blog post. I have been suffering from an ingrown nail for way too long. I have so much else going on with my body; the pain of it has
Lincoln Highway, Choices, & The Summer Reading List. We have finished up a big around-the-building project. We turned and leased two apartments. I like it when there is more than one unit to show, because it's so much easier to sell something when it's a choice between two options. Having two options takes no
The Heat is On, Welcome to Air Tags and the Dog Days of Summer I am very susceptible to the summer heat, more than I should be. I don't absorb enough water with the "kit" I have left after my treatments for Crohn's disease. So, my activity level has dropped off significantly. I'm not particularly eager
One Step Back Ancestor Worship One Step Back A month from now, I am removing the last bit of my Crohn's illness. My prognosis is that I will have better energy and regain some of my stamina. Everyone in my house is happy about that. First, the dog who yearns for the time
AI Art for People Who Can't Draw, Gardening in a Time of Drought I have been through some changes in my past times. Now I am expanding from writing to new activities. I am looking for short-duration, low-energy output, and low-stress hobbies. Early in my Crohn's disease journey, I nixed cage fighting and a hot pepper eating from my hobby options.
Keeping Up The Pace All Alone With Your Thoughts I was all excited last week to reach 52 weeks of posts that the little voice in my head told me that I could skip this week. But unfortunately, "that is not entirely correct," I told myself. So I said I could miss last week but that since
Climbing Mount Everest, Waiting in the TSA Line, Drinking a Gallon of Water I was listening to NPR in the car this week, and a quick little story tickled my interest. A woman who is an avid climber broke a bone and looked at a long recovery. She wanted to find a way to ensure she did the work to get better and
Secrets in the Legion Of Honor Today is the end of my two weeks of house sitting for my sister in San Francisco. I am not used to living in a place with stairs. It finally occurred to me this week that I should carry everything around in a backpack this week to save some steps.
My chance to be Mr. Mom in the city by the bay. Dogs are harder than children. This week I am at my sister's house in the Haight Ashbury District in San Francisco. Not quite a vacation but an activity I can reasonably handle with naps. I am house sitting and getting her kids to their various activities. As I
Passions that hide in plain sight making art in Vermilion Sands I have a powerful drive to do right by others and slack off on doing right by myself. It's described as an obliger type by Gretchen Rubin. According to Gretchen, there are four general personality types. In her books and podcast, she offers tactics to make your strengths
To the Beaches! It's going to be hot in town this weekend, and we have already decided to head to the beach on Sunday. The beach has been such a lovely escape during the covid. When we could not go to the movies or have dinner with friends, we started jumping
If I only had a second brain There is a productivity trend to build on the Getting Things Done framework using software that combines capturing ideas on the fly and sorting them into notes that can be acted on coherently. I have become engrossed in developing my own app. It could be the most useful computer tech
Go have an adventure Summer is upon us. Living in Los Angels summer is mostly a year-long event. I am thinking of summer as a frame of mind. Last week I was listening to Gretchen Rubin's podcast [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&
Deadlines and Screwdrivers - The Dudes Abide I love my life when everything works out as planned. For the rest of the time, I have deadlines. I have a weekly publishing deadline set for Thursdays, so if I have not written over the previous week, I make myself sit down in the morning and gather my thoughts.
What was that? Time moves like the ocean currents. You can't see them move, but you feel the effects as you drift along. Anchors I like to say something happened ten years ago when it was 40 years ago in reality. Of course, ten years is a long time, but it&
It's a Trap! I used a Star Wars reference for May the 4th and May the 5th. This week's topic is from a book I just finished with a mission to save us from ourselves. Keeping on top of run-away smartphone usage is a losing battle without a clear idea about
The Cracker Jack Prize When the task is about getting a prize at the bottom of the box, I become distracted by the search and forget to enjoy the caramel corn along the way. As a child, I was obsessed with cracker jacks. Our uncle would come to visit and bring a multi-pack of
Now Look! Time for Timer. What, you dropped the ball? When your little voice head has to scream at you, pay attention to what to do instead. I have a childhood voice stuck in my head from an after-school cartoon character called Timer. He had a long run of episodes with rhyming
I am finding brilliance in the smallest available package. I was walking the dog and noticed an unkept strip of ground, primarily weeds, but there was the tiniest flower popping out against the background of dirt and mundane weeds. It made me consider that it does not take a significant output to create a stunning impression. The tiniest thing
Using a Top Five Lists, This Far No Further In the Hobbit - LOTR movies, the wizard puts his foot down and tells a demon that he, "shall not pass" and "this far and no further". I would like to report that the treatments I have been taking for my autoimmune disease have put their
Today Is Brought To You By The Color Purple. > "Point to the stars, don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all the heavenly glory." ( an unknown sourced song source, but it was a song lyric.) Over the last six months, a big part of my treatment has been mental work. When you
Voting for who you want to become. I am a fan of James Clear. He wrote a book about habits, Atomic Habits. I have read it probably three times since the covid lockdowns started two years ago. Being trapped at home, I wanted to develop the habits of highly effective people for myself. My motivation has been
AI Controllers & Nitrogen Cooled Magnets Small Scale Fusion Power Plants from the Private Sector Coming to a Power Grid Near You The value of accidents, The necessity of small bites, & What I am reading Physics is something I can nerd out to, so I want to share my current mouth breather crush this week. Small scale fusion power plants. A power that is less dangerous than atomic energy as we
