REFLECTIONS

Yesterday I took a fairly long nap. I tried to make it a 15 minute "power nap" by setting a timer but I kept resetting it until I gave up and slept for a long time.  I can't stop once I start. Sometimes I'm not even tired.  I just take the nap to get energized the way I've read about. In case you've never heard of it a power nap is   "a short sleep taken during the working  day in order to restore one's mental alertness". Some articles I've read claim everyone should take a nap to gain great benefits.  It just doesn't work for me. I feel worse. I feel hungover.  But I don't want to miss out on the benefits. I spent some time looking for an answer. According to what "they say" I was stuck.   I almost gave up until I found two sites which held a different view. <><><><><> This first one was a bit too harsh, saying that napping is bad for your health.  Daytime Nappi

  At first I wanted to disable her in order to preserve my privacy.  I was curious so I decided to try her out before doing do. Then I just could not put an end to her.  Besides, I have nothing much to hide anyway. I forgot to mention yesterday that you don't actually see her like this. She's only in my imagination. What Cortana would look like if she became an android someday.  I bet she can be programmed to cook and keep house. Between watching the Yankees post season baseball series and learning how to use Windows 10, I have not been able to do much blogging. Here's an interesting quote: "But her real standout characteristic, and the one Microsoft's betting heavily on, is the ability to strike up casual conversations with users; what Microsoft calls "chitchat."  ~Brad Molen

Right now I'm trying Google Keep as my main to-do list but I'm going to also use an application I've tried before called "Do It (Tomorrow)". I have anxiety about missing out on something important and that's why I keep trying different to-do lists; hoping I'll find the perfect one.  There is no perfect to-do list for everyone.  We have to find what works for us. With Google Keep I'll separate my to-do lists from my list of projects.  Projects are made up of a collection of to-do items. I'm going to use "Do It (Tomorrow)" to help prevent a feeling of rushing myself. That rushed feeling interferes with my enjoying myself right this moment. Hopefully this combination of to-do list applications will be just what I need. If not I'll go to pencil and pad with Google Keep as a holding/organizing area. Oh no! Here I go again! This video explains the very easy "Do It (Tomorrow)" program. Notice the coffee stained pa

Now that Wunderlist is going to be discontinued, I'm trying Google Keep. https://keep.google.com/ Besides saving notes, images and other things it can be used as a to-do list. I found a useful article about " How to Make Your To-Do List Doable". The link:  How to Make Your To-Do List Doable The article: There's no better feeling than checking something off your to-do list. Done! Finished! Mission accomplished! Yet it's so easy to let a whole day or week go by without knocking one task off your list. How does that happen? Well, your to-do list can be a tool that guides you through your work, or it can be a big fat pillar of undone time bombs taunting you and your unproductive inadequacy. It all depends on how you write it. Think of your to-do list as an instruction set your Boss self gives your Assistant self. Like a good computer program, if the instructions are clear, specific, and easily carried out, you're golden. If not, you'll get undesi

I posted about getting organized before so maybe I'm just being obsessive and compulsive.  It's a little different now. Getting organized requires some time but time spent organizing is time spent not enjoying the present moment.  Why do I want to be organized? To have some control of my life but I believe that it's possible to control only about 30% of life. The rest depends on genetics, accidents, my decisions from the past, other people's action, etc. There will always be some anxiety if I dwell on it.  But I want to feel secure against complete disorder and confusion. If I'm not prepared something harmful may happen to me.  I don't want to miss out on something because I don't know what's happening. There is a need to ease my fear of not making the most of my life, of being disappointed. I want to avoid complications and confusion but too much organizing will actually result in more complication and confusion instead of less.  Ye

Here are some similar images and a short video. You may need to use full screen and louder volume.

I'm finally starting to realize that I have epilepsy.  The seizures are mild but real.  Instead of denying it I have to accept it.  This is the second time that I was not allowed to drive for six months. So I'll try to get enough sleep, avoid stress and find the right medications. This past week Lynette made pulled pork in our slow cooker for dinner with some friends.  They loved it.  We both hated it.  Maybe they were just being kind. Yesterday we saw the movie "Split".  I did not care for it.  It was slow and not realistic. Afterwards we ate at the Outback restaurant.  We overate steak and a chocolate cake topped with vanilla ice cream!     Today I had my four hour IVIG treatment.  I took an hour nap, ate a peanut butter sandwich with cranberries in it and searched through the web on my tablet. I'll try to post more often.

NERVE SYNAPSE The Image from the 1/15/17 post. Here are 3 videos to explain how it works.  The videos get more involved as you go down the page. This last video explains a little about the way it affect how we feel and act; also some street drugs.

I tried doing this several years ago and just could not keep up with it.  Maybe I just lost interest.  My guess is that I started a 30 day project then learned that it was not for me.  It was a mistake. It was something I really did not want to do. Even so, I felt like I had failed at it.  This discouragement led me to just drop the whole 30-Day thing. Here's the video about trying something new for 30 days: For my next attempt I'll try to: 1. Give the project a few days to try out.  If I feel it's worthwhile I'll continue.  Otherwise I'll choose some other goal. There's no shame in stopping a goal that's a mistake.  If I'm going the wrong way there's no shame in correcting course.  (As an example I need about 8 hours of sleep.  If I try to get by on less I'll feel miserable.  So I'll stop and  just switch to another project.) 2.  The goal must be realistic, not almost impossible to do.  (A bad habit might take longer than

Sometimes I spend too much time evaluating my life.  But it can be helpful if you don't become obsessed with it. From the site: (From  Funny Days, Weird Holidays & Celebrations 2016 | Days Of The Year ) After spending a little time (not too much) on this and making any changes that might be useful; I like to go back to just enjoying life. Are there any thoughts you'd like to share?

I found this video on  Linda's Peaceful Place   It's from YouTube.  

This is scary even though it could be useful.  They'er so small they could go anywhere.  They could invade your privacy, bring diseases and who know what else. The problem with this robot bee is the wire, not very practical. The next video shows what might happen someday. Published on Apr 28, 2014 NewBees -- The future is already here: www.robobees.info "If we carry on with chemically intensive agriculture model, it is quite possible that we may affect our pollinating insects to such a degree that we reach a global "pollination crisis". This is the imaginary future we do not want. This future where bees and the biodiversity they help maintain, have finally fallen victim to chemically intensive industrial agriculture."

I was hoping to make a little money by joining Google AdSense. That was when I noticed I had an unbelievable number of views from Russia. As soon as I stopped putting AdSense ads on my blog the Russian views gradually declined until they stopped altogether. From Russia Date on left. # of views on right Now the statistics look more realistic even though I can't understand why France is so high. Something strange is going on.   The statistics are not real.   I'm finished with Adsense.  Besides, the blog looks better without ads. Maybe I'll also just stop looking at the statistics; but I'm curious. Do you have any thoughts?

I find this amazing!  I imagine that soon there will be robots to do construction work, maybe even dig in the coal mines.  It will be great for safety but what about unemployment?  People will have to be trained for other lines of work. This would make a great Christmas or birthday present. Watch the video for details.  You'll have to enlarge it to full screen to be able to read the descriptions. 

I believe we have limited freedom, about 30% free and the rest is not under our control. It is not our choice about: ~how wealthy our parents are so they can give us the best and ensure our future, ~how the genes we inherited affect our health and intelligence, ~catching diseases, ~getting into accidents, ~marrying the wrong person, ~the religion we were brought up with and so on. Here's what scares me.  Besides not having the power to choose how our life is set up for us, some say we can't do anything  using free will.  Even our thoughts are not free. Some neuroscientists have said any decision you make is not truly free but actually determined by neural processes outside of your conscious control. It's like really being an android, not what we think of as human . The quotes below are from the link  Neuroscience and Free Will Are Rethinking Their Divorce "Luckily, for those who find this state of affairs philosophically (or existentially) perp

I use google Calendar because I can set it to send me email reminders. Also, I print the month's calendar for a copy on my desk. To download go to google. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Then I print a weekly schedule that I created from a spreadsheet.  It has the usual things I do like exercise, take trash to the dump, check when bills are due, etc. I pencil in appointments and other one time events. I know it's sort of obsessive/compulsive but at least I don't schedule the usual things I do; like when to shave, get dressed, have a snack or go to the bathroom.  That would really be strange. My main fear is that I'll lose control of my life if I don't somehow organize it. But the truth is how little control I actually have.  I guess I control maybe 30% of my life.  The rest is chance: accid

Why do I want to make a to-do list?  I want to make better use of my time without becoming overwhelmed.  I can't do everything.  It's not worth trying to do too much and I want some slack time to do nothing, just relax. Now I'm not so busy that I need a complicated method.  An easy method for the best use of my time is what I want. I don't want to learn how to set up flags and colored stars to make priorities and whatever. It's Fun to make lists but I don't want to spend all my time and energy only making lists rather than actually taking action. My mistake was in not paying attention to the difference between a to-do list and a project list . A project could be something like "I want to keep the house in good condition" , which I can name as something like House Maintenance . But this doesn't explain how to do it. If I list the things I need to do for this project, Wunderlist calls them subtasks; I can now transfer them to my to-