An orange in an apple orchard
One of the things that has pissed me off lately, is Safari deciding any press of the down arrow key should keep scrolling ad-infinitium to the bottom.
Solution: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/459274/the-up-and-down-arrows-not-working-correctly-in-safari
I’m just going to assume there was a reason for this feature in the first place that doesn’t involve stupidity.
In cleaning out my patio’s storage unit, there was this one box that I just wondered what the heck was due to the unexpected heft of it. Much to my surprise it was full of some of my mother’s books.
After wondering just how many copies of the holy bible did we have, I was both surprised and amused to find her copy of Lady Chattery’s Lover (1928, D.H. Lawrence) mixed in along with a couple less controversial novels like Hotel (1965, Arthur Hailey) and Cleopatra (1937, Emil Ludwig). Not sure how to feel about the combination, but let’s be fair, while far less explicit the Bible probably has as much sex in it as Lady Chattery, if not more š.
Being the odd family, my grandfather had recommended it to her in high school and in turn she had recommended it to me in high school as a book she had enjoyed. Reminds me that I never did get around to scratching it off my reading list, lol.
On my way to an appointment, I was making a left turn when someone going straight decided to cut me off and take to the turn lane at throttle, causing me to slow down. A few moments later a car comes zooming out from the outer side of street and plows straight into him. It almost looked like they were aiming to swerve into the wrong side of the street after running the light or something.
Quite literally, a few short breathes could have separated me from disaster if that first person didn’t cut me off. It was maybe the only time I’ve felt like shouting “That could have been me!” at the sight of an accident and listened to my heart pounding in my chest. Plus by virtue of the car I’m driving, Yukari has anti-lock breaks and life back in Newnan taught me to just calmly slow a bit when crazy people do crazy things in turn lanes. Folks turning around the Publix did it so often that such antics don’t even affect me any more. In my old car that lacked ABS, or if I had been a hothead instead of a calm cucumber, I could have ended up joining them. Ditto if someone had been up my butt. I was able to stop abruptly but safely and then get the heck out of the line of fire instead of becoming a third party.
With how hard the past couple years have been, it’s kind of been a reoccurring prayer of mine for the lord to keep walking by my side as he always has; Not to be forsaken. I’m kind of inclined to take this incident as a sign of God’s attitude on the matter, that he’s either right beside or at least has good folks watching over me. Because the only other way I can interpret that moment would be the lord shouting, “Die, mother !@#$%^” and that alternative would be very negative compared to how unscathed I was in such a very dangerous moment. So, I’m choosing to believe the positive of these two points of view.
One of the reasons I believe God is real rather than our world is pure Chaos, is that over the years I’ve had some rather close calls and quite frankly, random numbers don’t like me that much.
There’s a joke that a friend is fond of that ends in a payment terminal displaying, “Kill him at once” instead of “Approved / please remove your card”.
As I find myself remembering this joke, I kind of hope we never reach the point where computers declare that someone should be killed. Which oddly makes my mind flash to Project Insight rather than Sky Net.
Growing up, I decided if I ever had to fill out a time capsule describing my generation that a VHS copy of Terminator 2: Judgement Day would have to be in it. For me, it’s kind of defines the time I grew up in, lol. But I have to admit, as terrifying a concept as a defense network declaring humanity a threat and launching judgement day upon humanity is, I think S.H.I.E.L.D.’s idea in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, is far more alarming. Project Insight effectively called for roving surveillance of the people they were charged with protecting, and both the computing and military infrastructure necessary to automatically catalogue potential targets and the tools to assassinate that target. Although, I would kind of like to think on Fury’s watch rather than HYDRA’s that agents deployed would have been more common than deploying the nearest helicarrier for a kinetic strike š .
Much healthier than I would usually make when doing lunch at home, and frankly itās a day when Iād be more apt to have McDonaldās or La Madeleine than make something at home.
Figured since todays plans calls for being more active than ordinary, a whole sandwich and a nice salad would be more filling than either half and chips or only a salad. Plus the net result is a sandwich more in line with the docās advice than making it two, and incorporates more greens and veggies since I was already making a sandwich.
Remains to be seen if it proves filling enough, but I suspect that with an apple in between it should get me to dinner reasonably well. What I should really do is investigate some type of light salad dressing, even if salad dressing is basically defined in terms of fat and salt, lol.
Finding myself in the position where it’ll take too long to cook versus need to eat before I chew the world apart, I opted to visit the local burger place. It’s kind of sad that it’s the least healthy thing I’ve eaten all week, but it’s also the most satisfying thing I’ve eaten all week.
Yeah, I think tonight’s a cheat day as far as the healthy eating goes, lol.
In general, Iāve tried to be more mindful of sodium and fat content in the things I order, and work in more fruits.
So far, switching out my snack habits has worked better than expected. For the most part I donāt have much fruit in my diet, because itās rare Iāll eat it all before itās either time to toss it or freeze it. Which pretty much describes my relationship with bread, lol. Apples and oranges for example, are working quite well as a hydrating snack with a decent shelf life.
Regular eating is a bit more difficult. In my own cooking, I donāt use a lot of salt beyond whatās in powdered spices, and I probably donāt want to know how much that is. Pretty much everything involving restaurants or fast food has a lot of sodium in it, and I reckon if water is the universal solvent then sodium is the universal seasoning š .
Tonightās meal was brown rice, red lentils, shredded carrot, bell pepper, mushrooms, and some tomato. This incorporates two things I donāt normally cook with: brown rice, since I usually make white; and lentils which I like, but never really have cooked with. This is a spin on something Iād usually make with a lot more seasoning and some ground meat or chicken added. Heavier in the lentils, made for an enjoyable meal. In retrospect I think it might have been worth while adding some unsalted nuts or a bit of bread/oil to make it more filling.
On the flip side, this made a good opportunity to polish off some strawberries and blueberries Iāve been meaning to finish while theyāre still good, and declare it desert. Which come to think of it, I donāt really tend to eat desserts so much when left to my own devices.
Just the same, Iām not sure if I want to know what my blood pressure is before bed.
Going through a cache of documents that have been waiting for triage since my mother passed away, or more literally, āOh, wow, so thatās where these ended upā, I was a bit surprised but it also explained why some things I expected to find cleaning out my documents drawer, werenāt there.
Principally the interesting stuff falls under birth and death certificate kind of things, but for family who have been dead so long, keeping them is more a formality or just in case thereās useful info for looking up ancestors kinda documents. Itās decades late for there being any use for things like my fatherās death certificate or discharge papers that I need worry about. Mostly stuff my mother may have had some use for twenty or thirty years ago. A good bit of which become rather transient, compared to those, and ended up in the āoutā pile rather than the keep pile.
One thing that I didnāt expect however, to find, was my grandfatherās discharge papers from 1945! After 78 years, the paper was so incredibly thin and flimsy, I almost thought it might be an old napkin or something else that ended up in that box. Nope, just incredibly old paper, lol.
Hereās hoping Iām in better shape than that paper, if I make it to 78. Thatās in fourth some years š
Based on how Iāve felt today and yesterday, Iām thinking the assessment is Iām getting old and long since too round around the middle.
Based on the happy trails instructions, Iāve tried to take it easy. Strenuous activities generally curtailed and kept to minimum. Combined with the increased level of hydration, walking to and from the refrigerator and the head are probably the majority of what physical activity has looked like. Stuff like putting the garbage out or longer treks across parking lots, being the minority.
Combined with greater time to recover system integrity, Iām thinking that the difference between today and yesterday can be summarized as caffeine. Yesterday was a little bit of headache and an expected level of drowsiness, given I hadnāt taken the effort to make coffee since Saturday morning. Getting back to work and being glad Iām plopped in front of a Mac book instead of hauling cargo around for a living, I opted to keep the coffee consumption light for me, at closer to 2-3 cups than 4-6. So not overdoing it but not devoid of caffeine either.
It still remains to be scene whether my natural disinclination to get out of bed, has more to do with adding a woobie to my blanket, or not having anyone to get up and take care of before going to work. Just the same however, I spent part of yesterday searching for a doctor and this morning setting up an appointment for next week.
Hereās hoping Iām alive and relatively well by the time I visit the doctor. And hoping this sentiment isnāt jinxed, lol.
Peeling ten EKG sticky pads off my hairy chest, really made me hope that the pads are really efficient at connecting the leads and that the glue’s strength isn’t their best quality.
Yesterday while doing a bunch of deep cleaning in the afternoon, I felt unsteady and a bit tingly. Rested a while and seemed to be okay. About an after after dinner, I noticed numbness towards my fingers/hands and when it worked up my forearms, I decided to check out urgent care. Time of night being what it was, they weren’t taking anyone that close to closing. Taking family advice, I went to the ER instead of waiting until morning. Given the proximity to food, I figured my blood sugar must have been up or something.
Discomfortingly, they conducted the triage relatively quickly. It’s the only time I’ve been to an ER and not had to sit around forever, and the first time I’ve ever been to one for myself rather than accompanying a patient. Higher heart rate of 120, blood pressure was something like 140/90, and sugar of 140. But well enough not to be threatening after an un-alarming set of bloodwork and a bag of saline. Things settled down from there enough not to worry them too much for immediate danger. Since the nastier side affects of a stroke didn’t manifest, their figuring is that I was dehydrated and overtaxed myself with the amount of heavy activity. Orders are to drink plenty of water and take it easy over the next three days and follow up with a primary care, who odds are will proscribe a low dosage of blood pressure medication.
I think my momma said it best: getting old sucks. But given the alternatives, I think I’d rather make it closer to 90 than 35. Getting fatter around the middle and living like a couch potato doesn’t quite help. Odds are, this is part of what I get for trying to be more active on my weekends š .
On the flip side with the dogs gone, I don’t have any obstacles to searching for a doctor. Aside from that great joy of figuring out which doctor to go to lol.