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a picture of me sitting on my favorite workout machine getting ready to start my workout

We’ve started a new year, and two new months, (January on the Gregorian calendar and Shevat on the Hebrew calendar), and one of the things I gave a lot of thought to during the end of last year was getting back on track. I’ve been working out pretty regularly, but I know that I want to add more of this to my schedule. Also, I’ve been a slacker when it comes to tracking my food. For a while, the Weight Watchers app was pretty much inaccessible, so tracking food became a task that got done in the Livestrong app, workouts were (and are) being timed and logged with RunKeeper, and I’m using my Basis band to track the number of steps I’ve taken, number of calories I’ve burned, and my sleep habbits, among other things. So for me, that one app change kind of screwed the whole thing up. But starting last week, I started tracking my food in Weight Watchers again, since they’ve made a lot of changes to the app and it’s now pretty much accessible.

As far as the Basis is concerned, I love it, but am still disappointed that there’s not a full API (Application Programming Interface for the ess technically-minded), that we can use to manipulate and analyze our own data. There is a JSON feed, from which we can sort of pull data though, and I plan to write a widget that will let me display how many steps I’ve taken and how many calories I’ve burned on my sidebar. It’s just going to take some time because I’m working on other work-related stuff, and so that becomes not a top priority.

One of the things I have on my getting-on-track list is to pay attention to my spiritual life. I’ve slacked on this too, and would like to get that back together, especially prayer. I’m OK with the one-off mitzvot, and those that are sort of one-off, (candle lighting, for instance, happens once a week), but daily prayers have always given me some trouble. I still haven’t figured out how to keep myself from letting that one go yet. But I plan to try to be more regular with that this year.

Now to the writing goal. I’ve started writing on a regular basis, and this year I want to start posting more of that long-form writing. My original goal was two hundred and fifty words per day, and I’ve managed to meet that one regularly, so I’ve upped the goal to five hundred words per day. I’ve started using the wordPress new Quick Draft feature to write down ideas and save them as draft posts, which will make posting on a regular basis a little easier since I’ll already have partially-formed ideas ready. I’ve also pued together some sources with writing prompts for when I get stuck.

I also want to start preparing to give more speeches for Toast Masters. I gave one speech already, and want to start doing more towards the various qualifications. Good thing I can pretty much speak on anything I want. I may also post some of those in modified form as posts, if they’re appropriate to this space.

Finally, I plan to play Beep Baseball again this year, and we’re working on getting our local team, (the Augusta Hammers), off the ground. I had a lot of fun doing that last year, it served as an extra work-out source, and I got to travel, which I love. I want to get a guide dog this year as well, and would hopefuly like to do that in June or so.

given all this, I ought to have a busy year. And it’ll be interesting to look back at this a year from now and see how much of this I’ve accomplished. I may post more on what I’m doing in order to reach my goals at a later point.

Now it’s your turn. What kind of goals do you have for this year? Go ahead and share them in the comments.

Until next time.

Evans, Georgia, United States
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Here in Augusta, it’s somewhere around 15 degrees F. We’re not used to temperatures like this. all the schools are on a two-hour delay for today and tomorrow. From what I hear on the news they’re calling this a polar vortex, which pretty much sounds like mother nature’s pissed and taking it out on all of us. I’m humbly asking all my friends and relatives up north to take this shit back. There’s a reason I don’t live up there. Seriously though, everyone stay safe and warm.

Evans, Georgia, United States
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It isn’t the food, (well, OK the food’s pretty great), and it isn’t the gifts. It’s eggnog. I don’t consider eggnog food. It’s in a category all by itself. I think it’s probably what the angels and the righteous drink in the World to Come, and if I have my way it’ll be served at the Messianic feast, along with lots of other goodies.

Anyway, Trep has posted his recipe again this year, and since I’ve got a mixer now, I might actually make it. So without further adeu, here’s the recipe with instruction, and some well-chosen comments.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 6 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 cups whipping cream
  • 2 cups milk
  • 3/4 cup brandy, rum or bourbon (optional but highly recommended)

PREPARATION:

  1. All liquids should be very cold. Refrigerate in advance.
  2. Beat the eggs for 2 or 3 minutes with an electric mixer at medium speed until very frothy.
  3. Gradually beat in the sugar, vanilla and nutmeg.
  4. Turn the mixer off and stir in the cold booze, whipping cream and milk.
  5. Chill some more before serving (if you can wait… I never can).
  6. Sprinkle individual servings with more nutmeg.

Makes a little over 2 quarts (after taking several ‘samples’ for quality control purposes)

What are you still doing here looking at the screen?! The kitchen is that way!

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I’ve decided to get started on my new year’s resolutions early. This is because I would really not like to be in the position of coming up with something at the last minute, not paying attention to what I’m resolving to do, and thus failing at it because I give it less attention than it deserves. I’ve also decided that one of the things I’m resolving to do is to write something every day. I’ve been doing this, but I haven’t posted most of it. So I’m adding a little something to that: Not only do I want to write something every day, but I want to write something that I can post to either of my sites. This is because, like anyone else, I’d love to increase my traffic, and I also think it is a great way to track my growth as a person in several areas of my life.

So where does “Doing More with Less” come into this? More is of course the writing itself. Less is the fact that I’m either using a text editor to write things first, adding all the HTML markup there and then posting it to the sites using WordPress’s “add new post function”, or using my iPad or iPhone to write stuff down as it occurs to me as well as posting from somewhere other than the computer.

I’m of course still focusing on my health, and part of the writing task I’ve set for myself is to write more frequent progress reports of that venture. I want to do this because being able to go back and look at past thoughts and progress will allow me to see how I’ve grown and what I need to improve on in this area. But they’re also fun to write. So more of those during the coming month and year.

So here’s to accomplishing goals, and working towards the ones that will take more work to accomplish. Before I end, I’d like to know, (if you’re willing to share), what goals you’ve set for yourself, and what you plan to do to accomplish them.

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I actually did a lot of work today. I fixed my ultrabook, which took a drive repair and a system restore back to a previous date. I cobbled together a WordPress plugin to allow me to exclude the date from posts on a case-by-case basis, and then I had a meeting for a web design project that’s in its final stages. Now, it’s time for fun, something I don’t think you can ever have too much of.

Most of the time, my fun usually involved Denise and Wil, who I’m trying to get writing more on his site so I have stuff to link to when I mention him in my posts. 😛 And on a lot of occasions, there’s beer and food involved. We celebrate everybody’s birthdays together, and the holidays, and we always manage to turn even ordinary days, and sometimes our problems, into something to laugh about.

I also like to play games, go places, and of course read and write code, which can be fun in its own right. But more importantly, I try my best to make every situation fun. Of course, there are limits, but I find that having fun is my best coping mechanism. If like didn’t have a hint of fun in as many spots as possible, I’d go crazy. And that would definitely be the opposite of fun, because I’d have to be committed.

I believe that life is too short not to enjoy it. This doesn’t mean I take the haedonistic approach. I don’t leave for pleasure for its own sake. But I think it can only be good to try to wrest as much joy as you can out of life, because you only have one, and if you spend all your time sad, it can only do you harm, and I’m not in to that. Somedays, this is hard. It’s not always easy to have fun or find joy. But I think if I try my best to do so, then along with being productive and loving and a kind person, the day isn’t wasted. And there’s nothing I hate more than wasted days.

Until next time.

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Today has been full of unexpected tasks, namely the complete reconfiguration of my user account on my ultrabook. This all started when I attempted to update my username and password in my anti-virus suite, and it went downhill from there. There were several crashes, and when the computer finally restarted normally, all my settings and software were disappeared. Given the problems the thing is exhibiting, I’m beginning to wonder if the SSD drive in it is failing. As if I need something else to replace.

While I worked, I started listening to the next book in the Prey series by John Sandford, Eyes of Prey. I haven’t gotten that far in to it but so far, I think this one might be the best one so far. It’s incredibly creepy. I plan to post a review when it’s done.

I’ve taken on the task of writing every day, and so far this week I’ve managed to write at least something each day, although most of it has not and will not be posted. But this is the only writing I’ve been able to get done today. It helps that I can walk away from the computers and sit outside and write. It’s a lot less stressful out here.

Tomorrow while i’m disconnected I plan to catch up on this week’s Torah portion. It’s the one with the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. I read the corresponding part in Legends of the Jews, which is a compilation of all the legendary material from the Midrash on the biblical characters, and in that material she gets a name (Zuleika) and there’s a ton more drama. If you’re interested you can find the collection online by doing a Google search for Legends of the Jews.

It’s past crunchtime so I’ll end for now. Until next time. Shabbat shalom, and everybody else have a great weekend.

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This month, we’re meeting two weeks in a row due to the Thanksgiving holiday coming up in the US next week, which coopts our normal meeting date. We started off the meeting with a review of the individual roles: Timer, speech evaluators, ah counter, (the person who looks out for crutch and filler words used by the other Toastmasters), and the grammarian, me. I get to look out for misuses of the english language. I admit that this can be one of my favorite tasks, especially when it comes to Denise, because I love to pick on her for her southernisms. But I promise, I’ll try not to exhibit any triumphalism in doing it. Triumphalism is our word of the day today, and I got to pick it. I need to get some sort of dictionary app for my iPad though, so I can look up words on the go, like when situations like this come up.

Once the meeting got started, we heard a rousing speech from our division governor, who spoke about the goals she has for our clubs, and how she would love for us all to be excited about what we do for Toastmasters. Next, we heard from one of our toastmasters who has an incredible talent for telling the best stories. He shared a Puerto Rican folktale with us, and he also shared truffles, which means he automatically gets my vote for best speech, because there was good food involved, and I love food. 😛 After this, we heard a speech on the procedures we follow each meeting. This was in response to an educational talk our division governor gave us last week at the end of that meeting. Since this speech was no longer story time, I think it faced a bit of a disadvantage. But that’s just my humble opinion.

After the speeches we voted, and then went on to table topics, which are a set of speeches designed to flex our impromptu skills. Since today was hat day for our club, the first prompt had to do with why people chose the hats they did. I wore my normal head covering. Next e voted on the table topic speeches. Then we got the timer’s report from Denise, during which we took the opportunity to pick on our division governor. Our group tends to be pretty laid-back, so we manage to get in all the stuff we need to for the meeting while still having fun. Next we heard the speech evaluations, which are always a great time to receive feedback when you’re speaking. I didn’t realize how important these were until I gave my first speech last week, and the feedback I received during my evaluation was extremely valuable and I’m looking for ward to speaking again becasue of it.

I think our meeting went exceptionally well tonight. Things seemed to flow natually and everybody was on their game. I’m looking forward to future meetings going this well. I probably won’t liveblog each meeting, but there were a few people on Twitter who expressed some interest in Toastmasters, and I thought that an example of how a meeting can run would be a nice sneak-peak in to what Toastmasters is, and that hopefully some of those who expressed interest will consider joining with some aid from this account.

Until next time.

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I’ve finally taken the time to get the WordPress app configured on my iPad Mini. i have it configured on the iPhone, but without a bluetooth keyboard to use in tandom with the phone, posting here can get tedious. So now that I have the iPad configued, I can do things like write from Wil and Denise’s couch, laid back on the pillow with my feet up. Now if I could just figure out how to capitalize on this…

Until next time.

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This has been one of those days. It’s the kind of day where you know before you even get out of bed that you are going to have a serious spoon shortage. (don’t worry, I’ll explain what I mean by spoons in this post, so keep reading). And not only is there going to be a shortage, it’s going to be severe, and it might even be a spoon deficit. When you wake up and you realize that getting out of bed is going to be hard today. And thinking is going to be hard. And so is eating, or reading, or paying attention, or anything else that would still allow you to classify yourself as a useful human being.

Why do I keep referring to spoons?

As promised, here is the spoon explanation. You can read the original exposition of the Spoon Theory here, but in case you don’t want to click the link, here’s a breakdown. This theory applies if you have one of those invisible illnesses. The ones that get you the “you-don’t-look-sick” treatment.

Imagine you start your day with twelve spoons. Some days you might have less, but we’ll keep it simple for now. Now imagine that there’s another person. A real hard-ass who will take your spoons without mercy. Each task you have to do during the day, (and this includes waking up), costs you a spoon. And because there’s this hard-ass waiting to take your spoons, once you use one, you don’t get it back. OK, so cracking open your eyes costs a spoon. Getting in the shower, shaving and everything that goes with showering costs you another spoon. Then you have to eat. And there goes another spoon. Work? Let’s not talk about work. Just know that you could end up using a lot of your spoons doing that. Then you get to the end of the day and you only have a couple spoons left. You still have to cook, then eat, then clean up, and possibly do stuff around the house. And you’d like to do something fun. But you’re limited on spoons so you have to make a choice about what you’re going to do. You can borrow spoons from tomorrow, but then you have to figure out how to get tomorrow done with les spoons.

So back to today. Today, there were very few spoons. Getting out of bed was hard, getting lunch was hard. By t, things had gone totally downhill. I ate some yogurt for dinner because I didn’t feel like doing anything else, and wasn’t really hungry. And bedtime will be in a few minutes. As soon as I finish this post. Which has taken me close to two hours to write, and not because of a serious amount of thinking. I really hope tomorrow is better. Wil and Denise are coming over, and we’re supposed to go out and have some fun, which I’m looking very forward to. And Pesach starts tomorrow night, and there’s the Seder. So I’m not canceling tomorrow. But for today at least, everything sucks.

Evans, Georgia, United States
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I’m trying to be nice about this, I really am. Mainly because I don’t want to push away my sighted readers. But I came across something incredibly stupid today that I think demands a complete fisking. So today, we’re going to visit E-how and find out why this article is wrong on every single level. But first, let’s get some things out of the way. As I said I’m going to try to keep from offending my sighted readers. To that end, I will try to provide constructive answers, even though quite frankly I’m foaming at the mouth. So if I say anything offensive, let me know in the comments, but try not to take it personally. I really do love all of you guys. There’s going to be a little visualization exercise at the end of this, and a pop-quiz. (No, not really a pop-quiz). So let’s start at the beginning.

Having a disabled person in your life can be a challenge. Many blind people have never had sight, so they cannot relate to color, shape or perspective. Here are steps you can take to help a blind person live with his or her handicap.

The first thing that realy bothers me about this article is that it has one hundred and thirty-seven (137) likes on Facebook. Now, some of these could be simply because there isn’t a hate button, but I doubt it. And if it has that many likes, then there are a lot of uneducated people out there, and I sincerely hope that all those people go out, find and talk to actual people who happen to be blind for their own sakes.

And now to the meat of it. Specifically, this bit about blind people having no perspective about shapes, or just plain not having any perspective at all. Lots of blind people know about shapes. We can even identify some of them. Just because our eyes don’t work doesn’t mean the rest of us doesn’t work. We have working brains in most cases, get educations. Some of us even have degrees, and (gasp) jobs, which I’m pretty sure you can’t get if you don’t start out by being able to identify shapes. Some blind people, even though they’ve never had full sight, can identify colors, or at least the basics. And no, I don’t know anyone who has learned to identify colors by the way things feel. That’s a huge myth unfortunately perpetuated by the movies. So is that thing about blind people feeling other people’s faces to find out what they look like. I don’t know anyone who’s ever done that to strangers, unless you count the people who want to use that as an excuse to hopefully cop a much more involved feel.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4snGt8OzUV0]

This wasn’t the clip I was looking for, but it illustrates how the face-feeling myth gets propagated.

So by this point, we’ve established that

  • Blind people know what shapes are and how to identify them
  • And blind people really don’t feel people’s faces to find out what they look like. There are usually other motives, like sex.

On to the next bit.

Put everything back in the same place after cleaning. If you have someone help you clean, make sure they are advised to do the same.

This one isn’t actually a bad idea. But I assumed that this was just the decent thing to do. The only quibble I have with this is that, while there’s no problem with cleaning or getting help to clean, most of the blind people I know can pick up after themselves. We may need some assistance with things, (like cleaning glass), but generally blind people are perfectly capable of cleaning up, and should be doing that by themselves.

Keep everything on a blind person’s desk exactly where he or she left it. This applies to braille paper, CDs, radios, telephones and computer accessories.

This is also a good idea. Most of us, (and I’m sure that includes sighted people), hate it when other people move crap around, or don’t put things back, and blind people are no different in that regard.

Try to keep all hallway and cabinet doors closed. Warn the blind person if you plan to have a particular door open for a prolonged period.

Ooooooo-kay. I mean, if the door opens on the hallway, maybe I could see that. But just because there’s a door or cabbinet open doesn’t mean alarms need to start going off. Blind people learn their surroundings, learn where doors are, and pretty much learn to move around them when they’re open.

And here’s where it starts getting really stupid again.

Keep restocking supplies of anything the blind person uses regularly. This includes food and drink, bathroom items and paper towels.

Here’s a better idea. Take your blind housemate or spouse or friend to the store, Ask if they need anything if you’re going to the store by yourself. I suppose if you want to occasionally pick up something because you notice it’s running low, that’s fine. But blind people who are responsible, independent adults can and do make decisions about what they need and what needs to be replenished. I hated this part especially, and the items that come after it, because they assume an incredible patronizing tone which is extremely offensive, and will make most blind people I know foam at the mouth.

Take out the trash regularly. Check for food that has been accidentally dropped on the floor or not returned to the refrigerator.

No. Definitely no. We can, and unless there’s some other physical disability that prevents this involved, be expected to do this on our own. Same with food being put back in the fridge. In this case, if you wouldn’t do it for a sighted housemate, don’t do it for the blind one. But do make a point of remind that some food has been left out that needs to be put away.

Remember to turn off the lights before you leave, particularly if you are a part-time caretaker. Most blind people have limited incomes.

If this article had been entitled “How to take care of an elderly blind person” possibly with dementia, This might be relevant. But to assume that you should turn off lights because the poor thing is on a fixed income is just patronizing and stupid. Ask if they want the light left on. Most of the time, you’ll probably be asked to turn it off. But the point is, ask. Don’t just assume.

Help the blind person braille a list of important phone numbers, account numbers and any other personal information they might need to access when you are not available.

Once again, ask. Most blind people will take the initiative and ask for phone numbers and account numbers they need, and put them in their phones or wherever they keep other important information. But the important thing is to ask, and not assume.

Some blind people have problems opening doors with keys. You can buy a lock that requires both a matching fingerprint and a code for entry. It also comes with a standard key as insurance should it stop functioning.

OK, this is just stupid. Incredibly stupid. Unless there’s some other physical disability involved, we don’t usually have extra trouble opening doors with keys. Does this person really think we all live in apartments or houses with special locks?

And here’s my absolute favorite:

Keep all sharp objects like knives or scissors out of reach.

Damn. I was going to murder my guide dog, but they took my sharp objects away!

This evidences the “poor thing, she’ll hurt herself” mentality, which I hate with a passion. If every blind person were actually subjected to this sort of treatment, we’d never eat steak again. (which would be a special kind of hell, in my oppinion). But seriously, childproofing, (and that’s pretty much what this little nugget suggests), for people just because they’re blind is really demeaning. I’m surprised this idiot didn’t just go ahead and advise caregivers to roll out the potty chairs, because, you know, blind people are so incapable of taking care of ourselves. So what if we cut ourselves. If it really gets bad enough that it needs stitches, then maybe it might be time to worry. But most of us know how to clean a cut and put a bandaid over it like anyone else. And we need to shave. What are we supposed to do, get help bathing too?

Thankfully, this stops right here and we don’t have to go any further. And I hope I’ve made it easier to see why someone might get offended over this sort of thing. It’s patronizing and objectifying all at the same time. Just visualize for a minute how you would feel if someone seriously wrote an article on how to take care of a sighted person, and suggested that we put pictures on everything to make it easier for you to figure out what it is. I can’t think of anything dumber than that, because I don’t spend most of my time demeaning sighted people, unless I’m joking. If you have a blind person in your life, whether it’s a friend or spouse or colleague, talk to them. Ask questions. Hell, you can even do it in the comments, and I’ll try to answer as best I can. Just don’t go to eHow looking for advise on how to help blind people, because if you do that, and follow some of the advise you find, you really will make a complete ass of yourself, and whichever of us you’re dealing with will likely hate you for the rest of your life. OK, probably not for the rest of your life, but they will be really pissed. and hurt because you didn’t just ask. And if you’re that person’s parent, he or she could retaliate in your later years by putting you in a nursing home when you don’t really need it. (Just a joke. That probably wouldn’t happen. But they’d be tempted).

Until next time.

Evans, Georgia, United States