The Daily - Friday, September 14, 2018

Writing Challenge- Day #16

HURRICANE FLORENCE UPDATE

Winds have been picking up all day. We have significant gusts and rain started around 6 PM. The forecast puts the center of the storm right over my house by tomorrow afternoon. Fortunately, it will be down to a Tropical Storm (or perhaps just a Depression) by then. It is about 110 miles away as I write this.

I have had several surprise messages of well-being throughout the last day or so. I also have had the usual missing care from other family members. That makes me sad.

HEALTH & FITNESS

Jogged another 1.75 miles this morning using some older ASICS shows. The wind had already picked up quite a bit, and the air was moist and sticky, but not unbearable. I wanted to go longer but stopped myself because I had other things I had to get done.

My blood pressure was a bit high today, and finally came down to normal this afternoon. Perhaps Florence had something to do with it.

GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS

Current list of streaks:

• Writing: day 16
• Blood Pressure Readings: 7 days in a row. Initial readings were higher than they have been (about 130/90). Tried meditation and a breathing exercise to lower it. Finally it came down to 122/80 by 2 PM.
• Logging to SparkPeople: 6 days in a row (still need to enter food and activity data)
• Intermittent Fasting: 3 days
• Daily Exercise Routine: 0 
• Cardio: Jogged 1.75 miles
• Strength Training: Nope
• Stretching: Nope
• Meditation: Yes, 25 minutes overall.
  
  (In order to count this one, I am making it a bit challenging. A day will only count if it contains at least 30 minutes of cardio, at least 30 minutes of strength training, at least 10 minutes of stretching, at least six hours of sleep, and at least 10 minutes of meditation.)
• Meditation: 3 days (all-time = 40): morning meditation was difficult. I could barely finish the ten minutes because I wanted to get out for a run before the weather turned bad. I had a second meditation period in mid-afternoon to try to bring my blood pressure down a little; that did not work. 

PERSONAL GROWTH

From Eckhart Tolle:

"When the ego is at war, know that it is no more than an illusion that is fighting to survive. That illusion thinks it is you."

TIPS & TRICKS

Vinegar is an amazing helper around the house. And it can also be great in your yard:

The Daily - Thursday, September 13, 2018

Writing Challenge- Day #15

HURRICANE FLORENCE UPDATE

I worked from home again, mostly to stay off the roads and out of the way of those that really need to drive. We have had periods of sunshine, but it has been mostly cloudy. It is definitely windy and very humid. Florence is approaching.

Our internet access has been a bit flaky. That could be related to the storm or just me having an older PC.

Even if we lose power, as we are expected to, I will hand-write notes and then post them to the blog after the storm is over.

HEALTH & FITNESS

Another nice 2+ mile jog this morning. I listened to Week 4 of the NHS series, with a little of Podrunner's "135 BPM - Amplifier". to finish the session.

Nice meditation session this morning before heading out to jog.

GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS

Current list of streaks:

• Writing: day 15
• Blood Pressure Readings: 6 days in a row (holding steady around 120/80)
• Logging to SparkPeople: 5 days in a row (still need to enter food and activity data)
• Intermittent Fasting: 2 days
• Daily Exercise Routine: 0 (I did jog for 30 minutes, stretched a little and meditated, but did not do strength training)
  (In order to count this one, I am making it a bit challenging. A day will only count if it contains at least 30 minutes of cardio, at least 30 minutes of strength training, at least 10 minutes of stretching, at least six hours of sleep, and at least 10 minutes of meditation.)
• Meditation: 2 days (all-time = 40) [The app tells me I missed a day -- darn it!)

PERSONAL GROWTH

I have been doing the rolling of clothes and other items and I have developed several shortcuts. I think I may do a video on some of them. I managed to do more cleaning and purging today; I will post pictures soon.

FINANCES

When should you tap into your emergency fund? Here is some good advise from the Dave Ramsey organization.

POLITICS

Our Liar-In-Chief simply cannot stop! Today (or yesterday) he lied to the whole world about how well his so-called government did when dealing with Hurricane Maria and the disaster in Puerto Rico. More people died there than in the 9/11 "attacks" yet the citizens of Puerto Rico had to fend for themselves for months. Why? Probably because they are Hispanic, not #45's top priority, especially since he cannot kick them off their own island. I bet he would love to build some magnificent golf courses and resorts on free land.

PODCASTS / VIDEOS

One of my favorite authors and speakers is Timber Hawkeye of the "Buddhist Boot Camp" podcast. I loved today's episode on "Self-worth."

The Daily - Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Writing Challenge - Day #14

Spent the day working from home. It was a busy day, much of it keeping an eye out for the start of Hurricane Florence. It was a sunny morning, and then it got very cloudy. It is raining lightly now.

HEALTH & FITNESS

I received a new pair of running shoes (Zoot shoes I got at a bargain through eBay) and had to take them for a run this morning. Almost two miles at a 17 minute mile pace. I think the Zoot shoes are the most comfortable running shoes I have ever worn.

GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS

Current list of streaks:

• Writing: day 14
• Blood Pressure Readings: 5 days in a row (holding steady around 120/80)
• Logging to SparkPeople: 4 days in a row (still need to enter food and activity data)
• Intermittent Fasting: 1 day
• Daily Exercise Routine: 0 (I did jog for 30 minutes and meditated, but did not do strength training or stretching
  (In order to count this one, I am making it a bit challenging. A day will only count if it contains at least 30 minutes of cardio, at least 30 minutes of strength training, at least 10 minutes of stretching, at least six hours of sleep, and at least 10 minutes of meditation.)
• Meditation: 6 days (all-time = 40)

PERSONAL GROWTH

The key to success: a three-day work week. According to billionaire Richard Branson, less hours and more enjoyment in the work we do lead to greater success  [Source]

Billionaire Richard Branson is pushing business leaders to embrace the idea of flexible work arrangements, claiming that with today's cutting-edge technology, there is no reason people can't work less hours and be equally — if not more — effective.

TIPS & TRICKS

Close your internal house doors during a hurricane! There is evidence that doing so could save your roof and thus minimize other damage to your home. [Source]

After conducting scientific wind tests, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety concluded that when high wind enters the home during a storm (as it could through an open or broken window), it creates strong upward pressure on the roof. If this pressure grows strong enough, it can eventually cause the roof to blow apart, allowing rain to come in and leaving the home exposed to the elements. In short, causing catastrophic damage. 

PODCASTS / VIDEOS

Watching How-To videos on YouTube has proven extremely beneficial to me. Watching how folks solved problems has released problem-solving juices; all of a sudden I have been coming up with some great ideas on improving issues that have lasted over a decade. So, watch some videos, learn lots, even in unrelated areas and you may experience the same trouble-solving benefits. I will share some of these solutions as I implement them.

The Daily - Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Writing Challenge - Day #13

Today, our family celebrates the birthday of one of our family members. We only wish we were closer, that we were together to celebrate. We send you our love, regardless of the distance that separate us. You are always in our hearts.

And the USA observes the anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center. It has proven to be the most expensive demolition effort in the history of mankind.

In 1297 Scottish rebel William Wallace defeats the English. FREEDOM!

HEALTH & FITNESS

Great jog this morning. I covered over three miles for the first time in months. It was a slow jog (18-19 minute miles), starting by listening to Laura of the NHS Couch-5K podcasts, and ending with listening to Steve Boyett's 133 BPM "Common Ground" track from Podrunner.

Tuesday is bowling night, and today was a challenging day. The bowling center was very hot and humid, and that never helps bowling conditions. We had fun, and that is all that matters.

HURRICANE FLORENCE

Our area is in full Hurricane mode. Two major highways had lane reversals to help with coastal evacuation efforts. This usually means our highways are super congested. On top of that, we are beginning to experience weird weather; this afternoon we had a strong, very isolated thunderstorm that was exciting and a bit scary. Please visit the National Hurricane Center website for more information.

GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS

I am going to begin listing my streaks here.

• Writing: Day 13
• Blood Pressure Readings: 4 days in a row
• Logging to SparkPeople: 3 days in a row
• Intermittent Fasting: (I will re-start tomorrow)
• Daily Exercise Routine: in order to count this one, I am making it a bit challenging. A day will only count if it contains at least 30 minutes of cardio, at least 30 minutes of strength training, at least 10 minutes of stretching, at least six hours of sleep, and at least 10 minutes of meditation. The count starts tomorrow.
• Meditation: 5 days (all-time = 40)

FINANCES

Tomorrow I must catch up with "EveryDollar" entries. This is the danger of not keeping up with it; trying to be accurate and being behind are enemies to financial success.

PODCASTS / VIDEOS

Warning: do not watch videos that start "10 great gadgets …" unless you have lots of self-discipline! I watched two of those today and ended up spending $100 at Amazon. Granted, these are things I need for long term projects, and I did get a huge bargain on one of them (saved over $60), but many of these things could have waited. Indeed, I could cancel the orders if I wanted to, but I am not planning on doing that. I do have the money in the bank, I was planning on getting the things anyway. I am very happy with the purchases I made and I cannot wait to get them delivered after Florence is out of the area.

The Daily - Monday, September 10, 2018

Writing Challenge - Day # 12

The European Union (EU) recently announced that they were working on discontinuing what in the USA is called Daylight Savings Time (DST). The EU citizens found that the time change was no longer applicable to a society that is not, for the most part, largely based on agriculture and farming. Europeans argue that if the aim of this time change is to maximize use of daily time, then the time change is highly ineffective at doing so. I completely concur. I firmly believe the disadvantages of DST significantly outweigh its benefits. It is time to ditch an obsolete construct and settle on Standard time. It is not as if every community in the USA follows it, anyway. I think it is time to let the time be the time and stop monkeying with the time, for time's sake! Time, after all, is just an illusion, a human construct designed to get more things done, often at the expense of actual living.

HURRICANE UPDATE

Hurricane Florence is heading our way, perhaps not as a direct hit to the SC coast, but close enough to cause havoc. Schools in our district have already been closed through next week. Our governor has issued mandatory evacuation orders for all coastal counties. Store shelves are just about empty, even this far inland.

HEALTH & FITNESS

I did a partial workout today. I simply ran out of time (and some motivation) to complete the whole thing. It is hard to get back on a workout routine once you have been off for a week or two. Tomorrow will be better.

PERSONAL GROWTH

I briefly looked online today on ways of making common, free cardboard boxes more usable for organizing efforts. Here is my suggestion: use an old pillow case to cover the box.

Shoe box with top cut off. Not pretty.

Shoe box with rolled cleaning rags. That would work.

Found an old pillow case. Slip box into pillow case.

 

Cover box with pillow case. Gently tuck material into box.

Same cleaning rags inside newly covered box. Much nicer. Easy project.

Nice covered box back in laundry room.

FINANCES

I recently mentioned the use of Mint for budgeting and expense management. Annielytics has an excellent blog post titled "8 Ways to Customize Mint to Make Budgeting Easier" that should be helpful to anyone considering or starting with Mint.

WARNING: You may owe taxes next April! Please read the article "Millions of taxpayers could wind up owing for 2018" and make adjustments to your withholding amounts as needed.

Get ready to feel the effect of #45's tariffs; please read "Why everything you buy at Walmart and Amazon is about to cost more".

POLITICS

What in the world is a mayor in Louisiana thinking? According to a news report, the mayor of Kenner City has banned the use of Nike products perhaps as a reaction to Nike's decision to use Colin Kaepernick as their spokesperson for the latest "Just Do It" campaign. I don't think the mayor of any city should interfere with free commerce and free enterprise based on their political viewpoint. Government business should be conducted without influence of personal opinions. This mayor has left their city open to a lawsuit, although I doubt Nike will do that. Nike's sales have gone through the roof as a result of their decision to hire Kaepernick. By the way, I admire Mt. Kaepernick for his valor and bravery and his firm convictions; in many ways, his courageous actions forced us to open our eyes to issues that had remained buried under the rug of ignorance for far too long. We may not have liked what he brought to light, and facing these issues has made us a better nation.

TIPS & TRICKS

An easier way to roll jeans:

TECHNOLOGY

Do you log out? It is not uncommon for computer users to allow connections to websites (such as banking sites) to expire before they logout. Often, users just close the window or tab without logging off. This is not a good practice as it potentially leaves the connection to the account vulnerable to hacking. The best thing we can do is to always log off from any resources we have connected to.

The Daily - Sunday, September 09, 2018

Writing challenge day 11.

Sunday, a day usually reserved for spiritual time and relaxation. Unless it is this Sunday, which was hectic and it lacked a lot of the spirituality that I normally like to focus on.

I joined my Tribe for some beautiful dancing on its fifth anniversary of starting, and also the last time dancing at our current location. Unfortunately, I had to leave early to run errands and pick up my daughter and do some preparations for Hurricane Florence.which seems to be heading straight for SC.

I managed to accomplish a lot today. In the afternoon I went back to Dollar Tree to get more organizing boxes. Here are some before and after pictures:

The shorts are now in nice boxes; top container for sports, bottom for dress shorts.

Before: Shorts (sports and dress) in available cardboard boxes

After: Shorts (sports and dress) in inexpensive nice boxes

The second part is cleaning, purging and organizing the remaining two drawers of my dresser.

Before: second drawer -- what a mess!

After: middle drawer (t-shirts, head wear, swim suits)

 The bottom drawer was last.

Before: bottom drawer -- what a mess!

After: bottom drawer (swim items, run/exercise items, winter wear)

I also managed to cook a yummy Mexican dish called "Mole Verde." It came out great. I will have to share my recipe and tricks will all of you at some time.

Speaking of tricks, I realized during the rolling of many items that one of the tricks to a successful Army roll is to make sure that the area where you begin to roll is narrower than the place where the roll is going to tuck into the garment. The second thing I realized is that you don't really need to roll every single inch of the garment. It works almost as well to fold the part you are going to roll in half and then roll that much smaller amount of garment. In some clothes you can fold the garment into thirds before you begin rolling. Much faster and easier on your hands.

That's it for this post. Much more to clean and organize, but it will wait until tomorrow.