Posted inCurrent affairs Philosophy

Let’s all be compassionate Warriors of Reality in 2021

My hoped for New Year's resolution is that as many Americans as possible vow to do better at being (1) more compassionate and (2) more in touch with reality. I see these goals as being complementary.  Compassion requires a clear-eyed view of what is causing our fellow humans, animals, and other living beings to suffer. If we aren't correct about what is real, versus what only exists within our own mind, we'll be thrown off track by misplaced concern. For example, here in Oregon there's currently a push by some to demand that businesses shut down by Covid restrictions, such…
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Posted inGrowing older Health

I finally fill out an Advance Directive. But not a POLST.

Well, it only took me about forty years. Better late than never, as the saying goes. Tomorrow I'm taking an Advance Directive to my family physician when I go for my annual physical exam, so it can be made part of my medical record. I've had this booklet from Oregon Health Decisions sitting at the bottom of a pile of papers in my office for a year, at least. This booklet replaced a previous booklet that I lost or threw away. It's kind of strange that I've been so reluctant to make my end-of-life wishes known, since I was the…
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Posted inEntertainment Film

The Prom is a great feel-good movie (ignore The New Yorker)

Hah! A seventy-two year old father, me, showed in one instance he's more culturally with it than his forty-eight year old daughter, Celeste.  Usually Celeste has seen, or at least heard of, cinematic offerings before me. After all, she lives in Orange County, which is a lot closer to Hollywood than I am here in Oregon. But in a post-Christmas FaceTime call this afternoon, I asked Celeste if she had seen The Prom yet. No, she hadn't. And it appears she wasn't even aware of this Netflix production. I highly enjoyed The Prom. So did my wife. I don't get…
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Posted inHumor

The Dreaded ChristmasLess Newsletter is funny and dark

For your holiday amusement, here's the 2020 Christmas letter from Nancy, a friend of my wife. Nancy has a great sense of humor that leans toward the dark side -- which I find highly appealing. I've changed the names in the letter just in case anyone doesn't want their identity splashed across cyberspace. Enjoy.... The Dreaded ChristmasLess Newsletter Not much going on this year. I got to know my couch better. Discovered new flavors of Cheetos. Immediately answer all emails, texts, IM, voicemail, tweets, Instagram, GroupMe, anything really as I am just so gosh darn happy to communicate in some form with…
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Posted inPhilosophy Sports

Pac-12 championship game shows how sports imitates life

Yesterday the Oregon football team defeated USC 31-24 in the Pac-12 championship game. The win was satisfying for me in many regards, some of them philosophical. Not that philosophy was on my mind as I watched the game with rapt attention. I got so nervous in the fourth quarter I was shivering with excitement and worry, so had to put on a sweater to make it through the final minutes. There's something about a well-played close football game like this one that resonates for reasons well beyond the obvious. Sure, Oregon was the underdog, a 3-2 team that was in…
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Posted inHome life

Our 2020 Christmas letter finds some humor in Covid

This year it wasn't easy for me to write our 2020 Holiday Greetings. Usually it is. But 2020 was such a depressing year, with 300,000 COVID-19 deaths in the United States, at first I wondered if a Christmas letter from Laurel and me was even appropriate. Laurel convinced me that it was, after seeing a serious first draft of the letter. She argued that looking on the light side of disturbing situations helps us get through those tough times.  OK. That was convincing. So I started over. Here's the result in both PDF and JPEG formats.Download 2020 Christmas Letter PDF
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Posted inLiving with a catheter

SpeediCath Flex Coude Pro is the best male catheter

Since May 2017 I've used a catheter after having a urinary retention episode that showed my bladder had become atonic, a fancy word for not working any more as it should, likely due to my lengthy history of an enlarged prostate. I haven't written a whole lot about my experiences with a catheter. Recently I decided I should, starting with a post that has a rather plaintive title, "I've learned a lot about using a catheter. But does anyone care?" In that post I listed some questions that I wanted to address in other blog posts, regardless of whether anyone…
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Posted inLiving with a catheter

I’ve learned a lot about using a catheter. But does anyone care?

In May 2017 I had a urinary retention episode while on vacation in central Oregon that kicked off my life with a catheter at age 68. Now I'm 72 -- still doing the intermittent catheterization thing five times a day. It took me about three months before I was able to first write about my situation in "Given my peeing problem, be warned about asking 'How are things going?"" Since, I've written fifteen other posts about my life with a catheter. That's a thin (thankfully) plastic tube that is inserted into the urethra and thence into the bladder to remove…
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Posted inHealth Home life

Monkii 360 is my favorite Covid-era home workout device

Here in Oregon health clubs have been closed for most of the pandemic. I'd been working out three days a week at Courthouse Club Fitness, so needed to find an alternative way of getting in my usual dose of aerobic exercise and weight training. I've bought five devices that seemed promising. Three of them currently are sitting unused. I'll mention them briefly, then share what I like about the #1 and #2 favorite home workout devices. (I walk two miles a day with our dog up and down some fairly steep hills, so my device focus has been on strength…
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Posted inWeb/Tech

How to get MacOS Big Sur to show a flag next to emails

After installing the MacOS Big Sur upgrade, I was dismayed to find that the beloved red flags in the left column of Mail, which I'd used a lot to indicate messages I needed to do something with, had disappeared.  When I clicked on "Flag" in the menu bar, a flag would appear in the email message itself, but not next to it as was the case before Big Sur. Thankfully, a bit of Googling revealed a simple fix. Just right-click the "Subject" box near the top of the screen and make sure "Flags" has a check mark next to it. …
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