Tuesday, July 14, 2015

#1468, Tuesday, July 14: Alien arguing style


Post 1468, Day 195 of 2015
- 1,656 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

What is the bargaining point between what I want and what someone else wants, if they don't seem to be aligned?

In general, I know what I want at any given point in time, any situation. I like to think I know why I want that thing, as well - although, admittedly, that may not be true.

Because I have a large measure of introspection in my personality, and am old, I usually have previous history with this want, and have therefore given it some thought, either before or after the last time I wanted it. Worse, I can articulate what I want and why I want it.

In short, if you want something different than what I want, and we're trying to work it out, I am a total prick. Not because I will behave badly, but because I will force you to hear the complete rationale of why I want what I want, and why it is the way to do it.

Here comes the dick part: I won't 'fight' for what I want. I will state my case, usually taking longer than anybody else's attention span to do it. When I sense that I am not being persuasive, I give in/give up.

Here's the thing. I love a good discussion, love arguments (where emotions dominate and the discussion becomes adversarial) only a little less. But being 'right' is less important to me than being understood, and certainly less important than friendship and love.

Not that I don't really like being 'right', but I have come to understand its value, and it is a lot less than I thought in the past.

But the fun of a civil discussion with someone who disagrees with me? I won't give that up, until I see that it has become futile. Futility ruins the fun, so I quit - I'm done at that point.

In a personal effort to exemplify what I wish anyone else would bring to a discussion, I allow that I may be completely wrong. I allow myself to be persuadable. And I allow myself the right to disengage.

Other people find this very disconcerting. I wish they found it disarming, instead.

Which brings me to my other point: I try to do all of this without introducing a large dose of emotion into what is, or, in my opinion, should be, a matter of intellect.

That drives some people crazy. It is something I learned from being screamed at, frequently, as a child - emotional reaction, especially attempting to equal the intensity - makes things much worse.

Of course, not everybody sees it that way. Some people's experience leads them to believe the one with the most emotion, not the one with the best argument, 'wins' the debate. And some people believe that expressing any opinion or idea different from their own is a threat, or an argument.

To which I say, I thought everybody loved Star Trek's Spock and Data.

Maybe not. Or maybe they loved them because their approach to discussion was so alien.


Food and Diet Section

Today's Weight:                   207.8 lbs
Previous Weight (7/13):           210.0 lbs
Day Net Loss/Gain:                - 2.2 lbs

Diet Comment
It isn't the first time I've dropped a kilo or more in a day - usually, it is an accumulation of things over a few days that contributes.

Food Log
Breakfast
Protein shake with almond-coconut milk, kefir, kale, large organic egg, whey powder (36g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, fermented coconut water, chia gel, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon, celery and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch
Roasted turkey breast chopped salad: shaved Parmesan cheese, baby kale, baby spinach, chard, cole slaw mix and balsamic vinaigrette.
Snack
A cup of beef bone broth from Core.

Dinner
Roast beef and Dubliner cheese.

Snack
Quest bars.

Liquid Intake
   Espressos: 3Coffee: 0 oz.; Water: 80+ oz.;

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Monday, July 13, 2015

#1467, Monday, July 13: Communication degradation


Post 1467, Day 194 of 2015
- 1,655 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Communication between humans is a tricky thing. At its most basic, say between mother and infant, it is perfectly simple, non-verbal, and complete.

Add a layer of symbolism (I'm looking at you, human languages) and things get more complex. Now internal monolog (aka, consciousness, aka, 'thinking') modifies all received messages.

Add a layer of indirection (media), and you are playing a game of 'telephone' and the message sent has little chance of being the message received.

Digitize that, completely removing the non-verbal human envelope that is the basis of all interpersonal communications (remember the mother-and-infant communication?) and all that's left is a shout into the void and the hope that some small part of the communication is received, by who and how it was intended.

I haven't seen many examples of that working in practice. Good communication involves, at a minimum, a code mutually understood between transmitter and receiver. In humans, this involves more than one sense - and some complexity even when only one sense is involved.

Think about it. In a conversation between two interested people (interested in communicating with each other), each spoken word has inflection (audio), expression (visual), gesture (tactile and visual), and a context involving all the senses, including the sense of smell and space-time. None of these parts of the message is available if the word(s) get reduced to, say words on a page. 


A good writer will provide this context, and describe the sensory part of the communication as well, but the conversation becomes inefficient, and requires an increased commitment on the part of the receiver to decode.

My guess is, more often than not, that decoding is inaccurate.

My personal experience with new modes of interpersonal communication like emails, IM-ing, group messages and texting has led to me disliking, to a greater or lesser degree, all digital communication. The misunderstandings pile up, and soon, thanks to other factors, the original message is not only lost, but replaced with something with no resemblance at all to the original attempt. Sometimes it is funny, but I've seen people hurt and injured due to this.

I am not exempting this blog, either (I knew you were waiting to bring that into the conversation) (LOL). Smartass! But you have to remember, this blog is mostly masturbatory - just me talking to myself in a small public room. If you walk into that room, I expect you to be non-judgmental. No, really, stop laughing now!

There's nothing wrong with it. It's natural.

The masturbating part, anyway.


Food and Diet Section



Today's Weight:                   210.0 lbs
Previous Weight (7/10):           209.4 lbs
Day Net Loss/Gain:                + 0.6 lbs

Diet Comment
Weekend weight-gain, not too bad.

Food Log
Breakfast
Quest bars (after my tri-yearly fasting blood work appointment).

Lunch
Salmon salad (Wild Alaska pink salmon, celery, mayonnaise) on baby kale, baby spinach, chard and cole slaw mix.
Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
Roast beef, Dubliner cheese, cole slaw and celery with home-made mayonnaise.

Snack
Quest bars.

Liquid Intake
   Espressos: 3Coffee: 24 oz.; Water: 86+ oz.;

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Friday, July 10, 2015

#1466, Friday, July 10: "Nothing succeeds as planned."


Post 1466, Day 191 of 2015
- 1,652 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I try to be flexible with my schedule, to allow me to take advantage of any last minute opportunities for fun and profit.

I have rules, though: Commitments must be honored. First come, first served in that regard. In light of which, I only commit to gigs, doctor's appointments, and air travel. Or RSVP-type events.

So my tentative plan for this weekend - to go down to New York City - gave way to a canceled and then reinstated gig tonight.

While I am, on the one hand, disappointed to have to make last-minute changes to what would definitely have been a fun (and long-overdue) time, there are other people depending on me to make this gig. It will be a lot of fun, and may lead to more gigs down the road, and more fun. It is at a beautiful outdoor location by the Seneca River, I like my band-mates and have played with them before, and the music is out-of-the-ordinary and challenging.

It will be a gas.

But... Once again, planning proves useless. It isn't always the case, but even the most set-in-concrete plans don't turn out exactly the way they're planned. Reference Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: "Nothing succeeds as planned."

Thank goodness that doesn't mean that nothing succeeds.


Food and Diet Section



Today's Weight:                   209.4 lbs
Previous Weight (7/9):            210.8 lbs
Day Net Loss/Gain:                - 1.4 lbs

Diet Comment
Well, that's good. Especially since I'll be eating dinner at an Italian restaurant later tonight. Not easy to stay on-plan when you're gigging like that, and food is part of the pay (and also, playing at dinner time).

Food Log
Breakfast
A Quest bar.

Lunch
Turkey Sloppy Joe over broccoli with shaved parmesan (the other portion from last night's dinner). Not shown: home-made cole slaw.
Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
At Basta! On the River: 2 shots of Jameson's.

Snack
Quest bars.

Liquid Intake
   Espressos: 2Coffee: 24 oz.; Water: 72+ oz.;

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Thursday, July 9, 2015

#1465, Thursday, July 9: The Real Master


Post 1465, Day 190 of 2015
- 1,651 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Maybe it is all navel-gazing, maybe all this search for meaning is itself meaningless.

I am not sure that my life is better knowing that it is all illusory. How could I be? It's all an illusion.

My awareness of anything having to do with my perceptions, my thoughts, my spirituality, etc. - all illusion - all just fantasy, along with concepts like control, improvement, whatever.

All my thoughts - meaningless. Simple narratives to explain my subconscious/unconscious interactions with the environment (illusion!) to myself. How true are they? Impossible to gauge. Gut bacteria may have more influence on my life than any thought, expressed or not.

Any actions I take? Who knows what subconscious motivation I am covering up with rationale?

This blog and this comment? Meaningless, too, I guess. How could it be otherwise.

Everything is meaningless.

Thank you, to all the poets, writers, playwrights, composers, et al, who questioned the meaning of existence, but you needn't have bothered.

On the other hand, here I am, doing my meaningless stuff, every day, including right now. Why? Because, meaningless as it may be, it's my life. As far as I know, anyway. And I have to live it, or stop, and I can't stop. That is, unless my life is just an extension of the intelligence of gut bacteria, (the real Masters of the Universe).

If that's the case, I guess the decision on whether or not to live isn't mine.


Food and Diet Section



Today's Weight:                   210.8 lbs
Previous Weight (7/8):            210.0 lbs
Day Net Loss/Gain:                + 0.8 lbs

Diet Comment
Late eating, a second dinner (after my gig at Tilted Kilt) I called a snack - I was hungry after my gig, and that added some weight today.

Food Log
Breakfast
Protein shake with almond-coconut milk, kefir, kale, large organic egg, whey powder (36g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, fermented coconut water, chia gel, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon, celery and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch
Salmon salad (Wild Alaska pink salmon, celery, mayonnaise) on baby kale, baby spinach, chard and cole slaw mix.
Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
Turkey Sloppy Joe over broccoli with shaved parmesan, and a Quest bar for dessert.
Snack
Quest bars.

Liquid Intake
   Espressos: 4Coffee: 0 oz.; Water: 92+ oz.;

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

#1464, Wednesday, July 8: Relocation requirements


Post 1464, Day 189 of 2015
- 1,650 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I have four requirements for where to spend my retirement:
  1. Ability to live on my pension income, looks like about $2300/month after taxes.
  2. Good health care availability (and affordability).
  3. No snow or ice.
  4. No car ownership or driving.
Any place in the US pretty much meets the second requirement.

Syracuse is one of the few places in the US that is affordable and enough and has excellent health care availability and infrastructure. However, it seriously blows on the 3rd and 4th items.

Unfortunately, no place in the US that I am aware of meets all four requirements, hence, my long-term plan to move abroad after retirement.

I figured these were deal-breaking requirements, but I am currently enjoying my life so much here in Syracuse, where I can still earn a little extra cash income through playing and am still healthy enough to drive and survive the six-to-eight months of bad weather here, that I have postponed that move abroad.

Any change in circumstance, however, and I will give away everything except a few suitcases of clothes and I will expatriate.

The only reason not to is the difficulty of being remote from my friends and family. However, Syracuse is plenty remote from them now. I see much less of them than I thought I would back here, and now believe that after retirement, visits will be even more difficult, especially with a full playing schedule.

The money I expect to save from moving to another more affordable location, by my figures, should enable me to see more of them, not less.

I find the whole concept of relocating, restarting, rebooting my life attractive, especially as it seems to be a choice made under positive circumstances. It is an adventure I embrace.



Food and Diet Section



Today's Weight:                   210.0 lbs
Previous Weight (7/7):            210.4 lbs
Day Net Loss/Gain:                - 0.4 lbs

Diet Comment
A late dinner (after 11pm) prevented more weight loss. Today's large amount of dining out may not help, either.

Food Log
Breakfast
A Quest bar.

Lunch
At Core:
Steak, bacon and bleu cheese salad: Chopped romaine + mesclun mix, grilled steak, bacon, cranberries, walnuts, tomatoes, gorgonzola, and bleu cheese dressing with a touch of sriracha.
Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
At Tilted Kilt:
Spinach Chicken Salad: Spinach and bleu cheese dressing with grilled chicken, hard-boiled eggs, chopped bacon, dried cranberries and bleu cheese crumbles.
Snack
Roast beef and cole slaw and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake
   Espressos: 3Coffee: 32 oz.; Water: 100+ oz.;

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

#1463, Tuesday, July 7: Boring politics, corrupt power

Post 1463, Day 188 of 2015
- 1,649 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Politics seems like nothing but advertising to me. Laughable. Irrelevant. Omnipresent.

And, like advertising, it is extortion-focused.

Create a problem. Sell the solution, or better yet, sell a solution that creates other problems you can sell solutions to.

Politics, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and so on... All the same. Create a problem or invent something to be afraid of, then advertise your solution.

I'm bored with it. At best, it is aggravating. At worst, destructive. Every time I think it could also get interesting, it turns out I'm mistaken; I've been mistaken a lot in the last thirty or so years.

And it is so dishonest. So dishonest that almost everybody gets tainted. It's contagious, because you can't tell the truth from the lies, and everything you see or hear is suspect. If you believe some political 'fact', you end up spreading lies, spreading that disease, even though you have the best intentions.

It's the corruption of power, of authority. I have never known a person who had either, or thought they did, who was honest, even when that was the intention.

It is an old maxim that power corrupts; and that extends to those whose power comes from either officially acknowledged or self-professed expertise, authority.

One of the areas where the experts, corporations and government use their power to harm the public is diet. The experts said butter was bad, use margarine. They helped create a deadly increase in heart disease. Now they're trying to solve that problem by banning trans-fats. It'll be interesting to see what the unintended consequences (may not be dietary) are to that program. All we know for sure is somebody will make a lot of money off it.

And the populace is kept ignorant, subdued, unable to discern which course of political action or inaction furthers their self-interest. That's no accident. Information is controlled by a very concentrated number of corporations. And corporations have only one agenda:

Profit.

Food and Diet Section



Today's Weight:                   210.4 lbs
Previous Weight (7/6):            212.4 lbs
Day Net Loss/Gain:                - 2.0 lbs

Diet Comment
Almost low-carb eating yesterday (darn breakfast cookie), and this is the result.

Food Log
Breakfast
Protein shake with almond-coconut milk, kefir, kale, large organic egg, whey powder (36g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, fermented coconut water, chia gel, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon, celery and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch
Roasted turkey breast chopped salad: shaved Parmesan cheese, baby kale, baby spinach, chard, cole slaw mix and balsamic vinaigrette.
Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
Roast beef, eggs and cheese.


Liquid Intake
   Espressos: 4Coffee: 0 oz.; Water: 78+ oz.;

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Monday, July 6, 2015

#1462, Monday, July 6: Reconnecting

Post 1462, Day 187 of 2015
- 1,648 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Reconnecting with friends and family has two meanings for me.

Firstly, and primarily, I really enjoy spending time in the presence of my friends and family. Since I'm pretty isolated here in Syracuse (only four of my friends have made it up here in the six years I've been here, and half of them were here in the first six months), that generally means I haven't seen friends or family since the last time I was in or near their neighborhood. So, almost any time I spend time with them, it is reconnecting after an absence.

The second part is that this experience has taught me the reconnection part is unnecessary - I don't feel disconnected from them because I feel a non-physical bond. The empirical evidence for this is how, whenever I see them, no matter if it has been months or years since our last contact, we pick up right where we left off, just with a slightly longer "What have you been up to?" conversation.

Friendships and family relationships are intact.

Of course, there are exceptions: People's circumstances change, and sometimes it affects how they view their relationships. And, sometimes, people get estranged when that happens, and go off in different directions. 


Reconnecting with them is different, because they are, if not fundamentally (do people ever really change?), then superficially, not the same as they were before, and that can create a chasm that needs bridging (or not - letting go happens, too).

I have no words for how grateful I am for the love and friendship the people I cherish lavish on me. Some feelings just don't translate well verbally (and I'm talking to you, too, music!).


Food and Diet Section



Today's Weight:                   212.4 lbs
Previous Weight (7/2):            208.0 lbs
Day Net Loss/Gain:                + 4.4 lbs

Diet Comment
A long weekend of party eating and this is the result.

Food Log
Breakfast
A cookie. I know, but I was going to skip, then was tempted at work.

Lunch
Omelet with peppers, onions, baby kale greens, cheese and spicy tomato oil. Not shown: Bacon.
Snack
At Core: A cup of beef bone broth.

Dinner
Roast beef and cole slaw, with cottage cheese and a Quest bar for dessert.


Snack
Cottage cheese.

Liquid Intake
   Espressos: 2Coffee: 24 oz.; Water: 80+ oz.;

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Thursday, July 2, 2015

#1461, Thursday, July 2: Man plans, God laughs

Post 1461, Day 183 of 2015
- 1,644 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

The original plan for today was for me to drive to Sharon, MA to visit my sister and her family.

But I hadn't slept well last night, and decided to leave Friday morning, instead.

Then, after a particularly difficult and stressful day at work, I came home and took a nap. My sleep was interrupted, after about two hours, by a phone call asking me to sub for the bass player in the house band at my favorite open mic.

Deal!

I had a great time - a wonderful night and a great start to the holiday weekend.

So much for the value of making plans.

You have to roll with things, in fact, I'm not sure there's an alternative. Resistance is futile. Always make the best of it.

Now, I'm on vacation, drinking expensive whiskey and having a great time!


Food and Diet Section



Today's Weight:                   208.0 lbs
Previous Weight (7/1):            206.6 lbs
Day Net Loss/Gain:                + 1.4 lbs

Diet Comment
Two desserts, a little bread, and bam! Weight on, brother.

Food Log
Breakfast
A berry protein smoothy: Almond-coconut milk, kefir, frozen organic cherries, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries, an extra-large organic egg, whey powder (36g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, fermented coconut water, chia gel, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch
Omelet with peppers, onions, baby kale greens, cheese and spicy tomato oil.
Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
At Core:
Chicken Cobb salad (shredded kale and romaine, grilled chicken, avocado, bacon, hard-cooked egg, broccoli, mushrooms and bleu cheese dressing).
Snack
Quest bars.

Liquid Intake
   4 EspressosWater: 90+ oz. Lots of Jameson's Special Reserve. Vacation!

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!

 

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

#1460, Wednesday, July 1: No comment

Post 1460, Day 182 of 2015
- 1,643 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I'm grateful that, once again, I woke up today, setting a new personal record for longevity.

And grateful to find that all the people I love are still here.

See you tomorrow.


Food and Diet Section



Today's Weight:                   206.6 lbs
Previous Weight (6/30):           209.2 lbs
Day Net Loss/Gain:                - 2.6 lbs

Diet Comment
That's a nice weight loss from a pretty average day's eating, dropping well below the trend line - in fact, moving the trend line slightly. On the last day of the first half of the year, I am at the exact same weight I was as on the last day of 2014. Six months up and down, ending with no change.

Food Log
Breakfast
A Quest bar.

Lunch
At Core:  A Beef Bone Broth Bowl, with kale, arugula, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, black beans, chicken and bacon. And a medium cup of soft-serve ice cream (chocolate-vanilla twist, if you care) for dessert (the stand is right next door, which doesn't seem right).

Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
At Eskapes:  Lentil soup, then blackened salmon, lettuce and tomato on pita toast, and a home-made oatmeal/macadamia/walnut/blueberry cookie for dessert.

Liquid Intake
   Coffee: 8 oz.;  3 EspressosWater: 90+ oz. A glass of pinot noir

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!