Olio / Hodgepodge / A Mixture

Most of my postings are a mix of things, but this one is likely to be such a mixture that nothing stands out as a possible title, hence the title.

I was concerned that my Macbook was fried this morning when I couldn't get the screen to light up. I had left it open and the larger cat of the two, Humphrey, was laying on the keyboard while I was taking care of stripping the beds for a day of laundry. Since I am typing this after the fact, you already know that it wasn't but it was definitely warm and I had to power it off before I could reboot it and see that indeed it was truly working.

The load of laundry I started, I started without detergent. (I must not do enough laundry to forget such a critical component.) I did put in the scoop of Oxy Clean and set it up for presoak. While they weren't all that soiled being primarily the sheets off of the guest bed, I am rewashing the load with detergent but this time without the Oxy Clean and presoak. What with sheets, towels, and regular laundry, I have at least two more loads to do. I don't mind the washing nearly as much as the folding. Now with the two cats, it is difficult to find a cat hair free surface to do it on. Thank goodness I haven't moved the TV out of the guest bedroom. Now that most of the trail supplies are moved out of the guest bedroom and the fact that I've also kept the cats out, gives me a surface to fold on. Plus, the TV can provide a distraction.

I'm knocking the easy things off of my long list of things I have to do before I travel across country on my motorcycle. This week I picked up a box to mail clothes, essentially to myself at my parents' address, and tried out my new straps that hopefully will keep my 85 liter backpack held upright on the backseat of the motorcycle. Now all I have to do is go camping to get it loaded and ridden rather than just strapped on.

Since I missed the April 30th Toastmaster meeting, I was not a speaker as originally scheduled at the May 7th meeting. I now do not have a speech scheduled before I'm scheduled to ride out for the trip to Alaska, but I have one prepared. (You'd think that with all my use of scheduled in the previous two sentences that my life is well planned. It's not.) I am the Toastmaster for the first time at the May 14th meeting. My theme is "And I Quote." I still need to call the other participants and confirm all of their attendance. In addition to speaking to the uses and abuses of quoting, I plan on referencing one of my favorite quote sites: http://www.brainyquote.com/ and an article in the June, 2009, issue of Reader's Digest.

My reference of Reader's Digest is not all that positive. Their featured wrongly cited misquote is wrong. They prominently use the example: "If you stop telling lies about me, I'll start telling the truth about you." Their claim, in the article titled "They Never Said That," is that the person to whom, Lincoln, it is most often attributed never said that. Now I don't know whether Lincoln never said anything similar to that or not but they have a rather significant typo in their version. It is missing a "don't." As I've heard it, it should be: "If you don't stop lying about me, I'll have to start telling the truth about you." But still, accidentally or intentionally trying to obtain credibility by a false quote is a good contribution to my theme.

There is definitely a tradeoff here. I'm of very mixed minds about getting this last point across and by doing so admitting that I read Reader's Digest. Saying I read it for the jokes reminds me of my college days of "reading" Playboy for the articles, well, come to think of it, also the jokes.

I have received my 48-page instructional brochure on "Program Planning and Proposal Writing." This is yet another thing for me to schedule. I still like the thought of developing my expertise for proposal writing and offering that expertise to the Marilyn Westbrook Garment Fund and its sponsor the National Lymphedema Network but also to other non-profits. While whatever writing I do for the NLN will be strictly volunteer, I am not adverse to having it develop into a true job.

Speaking of jobs, I am reaching a milestone and am to officially submit my "retirement" paperwork. I need to talk with someone knowledgeable as well as find hopefully cheaper health insurance. Ideally I will be able to get unemployment after this milestone and am somewhat concerned that "retirement" paperwork may preclude unemployment. If I don't find an alternative to what is essentially Cobra health insurance, I will have to "retire" to get insurance.

Memorileum

This post is intended to celebrate the significance of nothing and absence can be quite significant.

Yesterday, and for quite a few days before that, I overindulged, not so much in the quantity of food, although I'm sure I ate too much as well, but in the type of food. I keep telling myself that even vegan food can be bad for me. With high fat content vegan cookies, refried beans with guacamole burrito, mashed potatoes with vegan no trans fat margarine, and the list goes on, I had eaten myself into an upset stomach that a newly purchased Tums Ultra bottle wasn't making a dent in.

Now I know why I was doing it, a hopefully mild form of depression. Even if mild, I'm not motivated to do anything, except eat and watch TV, which, except for fixing the food, are both demotivating. When watching TV, I tend to stay up later because of the effort it takes to go to bed. After I eat, I am lethargic to the point that all I want to do is watch TV.

When my father was in college, I read his Behavioral Psychology text. At the time, I didn't agree with all of it and probably still don't but with my greater understanding of nutrition and the role it plays in a persons immune system or even chemical balance, I may agree with it more now than I did then. Besides, I have been able to smile at myself in the mirror and lift my spirits and attitude. Smiling for others improves any interaction you might have with them, reinforcing the improvement. I know that I like to think when I walk, hike, or even cross-country ski but those thoughts can sometimes take on a form of worrying. So, what I've been doing recently is follow some advice I picked up out of The Secret: "[Think] thank you" as I stride, "thank" on my left foot and "you" on my right foot. I don't know whether or not it has the effect that the book alludes to but it does tend to mentally relax me with a true feeling of gratitude and my mind no longer races around without going anywhere.

All of this is making a short story long but I also know why I am hopefully mildly depressed. In addition to the stock market collapsing, I live in a memorileum. Literally everything reminds me of Marilyn, even the things that are new to me are distinguishable by their lack of direct ties to Marilyn, although many of them can have a memory tie. An example of the latter is the MacBook I'm using right now. After we moved to Pacifica, Marilyn went to a digital picture class where the instructor was able to do some amazing things with a Mac. Marilyn said she wanted a Mac but didn't want me to get one for her. I got this MacBook last January, not because of Marilyn but because I was fed up with the hardware and software quality that I had gotten from PCs. There is even a Marilyn story for the hiking boots I am wearing right now. In early 2005, Marilyn wanted to make a quick stop at REI for some birthday shopping. I headed over to a nearby Starbucks for some headache prevention. (It is so good to be off of caffeine.) I got done before she did and wandered into REI looking for her. She was still shopping so I went by the hiking boot area and noticed these on sale. I bought them. I can't believe they are that old.

Even on my walk around the neighborhood this afternoon, to mail a couple envelopes and return three misdirected envelopes, I was reminded of Marilyn. There is this monstrosity of a house just around the corner on Glacier. It is a full three stories tall. They got away with the third story because the access to it is through pull down stairs, making it an attic. (This is something like the PT Cruiser being a truck.) I know this because on one of my walks with Marilyn, she went into the construction site and we went up those pull down stairs at least part way to see the size and finish of the rec room attic. I would have never done something like that on my own. Thanks to Marilyn, I've been in quite a few Pacifica houses.

So, I've changed my behavior, at least for today. I have gone on a one day fast of water and Metamucil only. I have left the TV off and will see if I have the will power to leave it off for good. I intend to start eating again tomorrow, but just the wholesome low fat foods I should be eating.

I also intend to do more, not just because doing more will give me more to write about, but because new memories...