Posted inGrowing older Philosophy

Why I don’t like the term “new normal”

New normal is a term that's bandied about a lot, but to me it needs to be retired. Wikipedia says that new normal implies that something which was previously abnormal has become commonplace. OK. Makes sense. But I still don't like the term. For one thing, what the heck is "normal"? Often this word is used in a moralistic or judgmental sense that is much different from, say, a doctor informing a patient that her test results are normal -- meaning, within a typical range. Not long ago normal sex was considered to be between a man and a woman, not…
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Posted inHealth Home life

Deep thoughts on switching my breakfast to regular oats from quick oats

It's only been one day, but optimistic me is considering this to be a life-changing moment -- switching my breakfast cereal from microwaved quick oats to stovetop boiled regular oats.  Sure, I've meditated every morning since I was 20, and for most of those 49 years I figured that one day meditation would reveal, if not the Secret of the Universe, at least some mini-secrets of how my own mind works.  But with age comes a bit of realism. I've now lowered my sights on how deeply I'm going to be able to penetrate the mysteries that surround us. So…
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Posted inSports

Oregon Ducks football team throws my psyche in a tailspin…again

I've got a friend who doesn't watch college football games live, only recorded, because he gets so emotionally involved with wanting a team to win, his psychological health suffers. So when he knows the final score, he can watch the game with equanimity.  After being raised to a height of happiness during the first part of yesterday's Oregon - Stanford game, with Oregon leading 24-7 at halftime, bit by bit, mistake by mistake, the Ducks football team chipped away at my emotional high until I felt like shit when Stanford scored a touchdown in overtime and Oregon whiffed on four…
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Posted inSalem Sustainability

In a warming world, we’re all responsible for Hurricane Florence

Living as I do on the West Coast, in Oregon to be exact, it's tempting for me to be thankful that we don't get nasty hurricanes like Florence, which has dumped an astounding amount of rain on North Carolina and neighboring states, and killed 11 people so far. Florence already has set rainfall records and left tens of thousands of people in shelters and more than 1 million homes without power. Officials confirmed at least 11 deaths, including one Saturday in South Carolina. But Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and other officials repeatedly warned Saturday that although people might think the worst…
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Posted inArcimoto

Arcimoto should get some long-term reviews before retail sales begin

I'm a fan of the Arcimoto FUV (Fun Utility Vehicle), a three-wheeled electric motorcycle being made in Eugene, Oregon that's been in the works for quite a few years. Retail sales are expected to begin by the end of 2018.  Since I've got a low pre-order reservation number, #129 out of a total of about 3,000 (according to the Portland Business Journal story), I've been thinking about what I need in order to feel comfortable buying one of the first Arcimotos.  A test drive, for sure. But I've watched lots of short videos where people take an Arcimoto for a…
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Posted inNeighborhood Sustainability

Smoky air in Salem points to global warming as culprit

Here's a not-so-cheery air quality map for the Pacific Northwest. In two words, it sucks. When I set off for a dog walk about an hour ago, the setting sun was as red as the Unhealthy coded color for most of Oregon, including Salem, where I live.  There aren't any wildfires in our immediate area. But smoke is drifting into the Willamette Valley from British Columbia and Eastern Washington. Wildfire smoke has been an annoying aspect of summers in Oregon for the past few years. It wasn't always this way. I've lived in Oregon since 1971. Summers are much hotter…
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Posted inHumor

Today’s (sort of) Larry David moment

Amazingly, in the 15 years I've been blogging, I've only written one previous post about a Larry David moment. That was way back in 2004, "Larry David would be proud of me." Excerpt: I don’t consciously try to emulate Larry David, but perhaps watching so many episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is having some kind of subliminal effect on me, amplifying my inherent Larry David tendencies. Last night we had dinner at a Thai restaurant in Silverton with four friends. So it was two vegetarians, Laurel and me, sitting down to dine with four meat-eaters. Picking up our menus, my…
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Posted inBicycling

Eurosports in Sisters treated me and my new Specialized Roll bike well

Yesterday a kickstand ended up costing me over $600 at the Eurosports store in Sisters, Oregon. But the price tag didn't bother me, because the kickstand came with a new 2019 Specialized Roll Sport. You know how it goes... you go into a store looking for one thing, and walk out with a whole other thing.  In my case, saving a few ounces by not having a kickstand on my 2007 Specialized Rockhopper mountain bike had worn thin after twelve years of leaning the bike up against something whenever I wasn't riding it. So I decided to splurge on a…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Buy a lakeside home in Spring Lake Estates, near our house

When a house is for sale near us, naturally we hope that it will end up in the hands of someone we'd like to get to know. Ideally, someone liberal, environmental, neighborly, friendly.  So if this describes you, or someone you know who's looking for a home in the country, check out a new listing for 10322 Liberty Road S in rural south Salem (Oregon).  A great feature of this house is that it's right next to Spring Lake. We're several lots away from the lake, but this house is right there. Here's screenshots of part of the Zillow listing.
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Posted inArcimoto

Our Nissan Leaf experience may have a lesson for Arcimoto early adopters

Arcimoto is a Eugene company that's making a cool three-wheeled electric motorcycle billed as a FUV (Fun Utility Vehicle). I was one of the first to plunk down $100 as a pre-order reservation. My #129 place in line means I'm an early adopter. Or at least, a potential one. I'm still undecided about whether I'm going to pay upwards of $12,000 for an Arcimoto. The final design hasn't been revealed yet, nor has the final pricing with options. My experience with being an early adopter of the all-electric Nissan Leaf gives me some pause about jumping headfirst into the Arcimoto…
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Posted inHome life Television

Another DirecTV year with no Pac 12 Networks. Curses!

Since 2012 I've been cursing DirecTV and the Pac 12 Networks for not working out a deal to offer us Pac 12 sports fans a way to see ALL of the football games and other events, not just the ones shown on ESPN, Fox, or other channels.  Every year around this time I Google "DirecTV Pac 12 Networks" to see if there's any hope that I'll be able to watch ALL of the Oregon and Oregon State football games this fall.  I put ALL in caps, because early on DirecTV had the annoying habit of telling me that I'd be…
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Posted inGrowing older Humor

Here’s some things to look forward to in old age, young people

I'm 69. When I was a youngster of, oh, 50 or so, I'd look upon the age I am now as so impossibly, horribly, inconceivably old, that I'd shudder at the thought of becoming, cursed be the name, a senior citizen.  So now that I've become what I once dreaded, an old person, I figure it's my duty to point out to young people some of the good things that come with geezer'ness. In no particular order, young un's, because my mind no longer works well enough to encompass the concept of ranking, here's some of the marvelous delights that…
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Posted inArcimoto

Three good reasons why I want an Arcimoto FUV

I've got an early pre-order number, #129, for the Arcimoto FUV (Fun Utility Vehicle), a three-wheeled electric vehicle that's classified as a motorcycle, yet has some desirable car-like features: seat belts, rollover protection, crumple zones, a roof. The title of my previous post from early July, "I've got both Arcimoto anticipation and anxiety," reflected my generally positive attitude toward this unique vehicle, and also some concerns. Since, I've given more thought to the pros and cons of becoming an Arcimoto owner. I still haven't driven one,  but I've come up with three good reasons why buying an Arcimoto makes sense…
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Posted inHome life Living with a catheter

I’m trying to cultivate my experiencing self, rather than my remembering self

There's nothing wrong with memories, nor with anticipations -- which basically are imaginings of future events which could become memories. If we couldn't remember the past or envision the future, we wouldn't be fully human. I've read about people who have a brain defect that leaves them almost totally in the present, and they can barely function. But as I wrote about yesterday on my Church of the Churchless blog, I'm trying to be more attuned to the present moment.  Partly this is because I've developed a chronic health problem that makes it tough for me to travel. So for…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Investing

Great 2018 investing analysis: “Do facts matter anymore?”

In these Trumpian times it often seems like we live in a post-truth world where reality is whatever someone wants it to be. But investing is one area where facts can be ignored for a while, but eventually always come back with a vengeance. So when I saw that our investment advisor's most recent quarterly musing about how things are going both internationally and here in the United States was titled, "Do facts matter anymore?," I read it more closely than I usually do.  Since I'm pretty sure this analysis only goes to clients, I've blacked out the name of…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

Photos of 2018 Salem Art Fair & Festival

I hugely enjoyed today's Salem Art Fair visit.  Here's photos, and commentary, of what caught my eye (and also my stomach) this afternoon. I share photos of my Art Fair purchase, a coffee mug with an unusual bumpy glaze. The Art Fair is a great $5 bargain, especially since this also pays for entry to evening entertainment. I'm probably returning tomorrow.
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Posted inMeasure 37 Neighborhood

A real estate sign speaks volumes about citizen activism

A few weeks ago a new sign went up along Liberty Road S, just north of Spring Lake Estates, where my wife and I live. It meant a lot to me, for reasons I'll explain. Here's a photo of the land being offered for sale. The property extends beyond the crest of the hill. The acreage suitable for a vineyard is shown in the photograph I took, which includes a shadow of me taking the photo. Back in 2005 I wrote my first blog post about these 217 acres, "Measure 37 hits close to our home." For a lot of…
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Posted inWeb/Tech

July 2018 DirecTV update changes user interface from bad to horrible

A few months ago DirecTV sent out an update to our Genie DVR receiver that sure wasn't an upgrade, because my wife and I found the user interface harder to use than the old version. But now, July 2018, DirecTV has managed to screw up the user interface even more. Last night, June 10, I fired up the receiver to see what was available for us to watch.  It took only a few seconds for me to realize that a bunch of our recordings had disappeared. The menu looked different, also. But there on the left side it said "All…
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Posted inArcimoto Home life

I’ve got both Arcimoto anticipation and anxiety

I've been following the saga of Arcimoto, a three-wheeled electric FUV (Fun Utility Vehicle) for a long time. So long, I can't remember when I plunked down $100 for a pre-order reservation.  I must have been among the first to do this, since my reservation number is #129, and I believe they total more than 2,700 now. Over the years I've gotten numerous emails from Arcimoto headquarters in Eugene, Oregon, which is just fifty or so miles from where I live, Salem. It seems like production for retail customers like me is always just around the corner, but that corner…
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Posted inBooks

I wish Bill Clinton had collaborated with Daniel Silva, not James Patterson

I'm a big fan of spy/thriller/espionage/solitary killer novels. Yeah, they fall into the category of "popular fiction" rather than literary fiction, but that's because...duh...they're popular.  I read lots of non-fiction because I want to learn something. I read popular fiction because I want to escape into an entertaining alternative world. Recently I've had two books sitting by my bed for nighttime reading: "The President Is Missing," by Bill Clinton and James Patterson, and "The English Spy" by Daniel Silva.  I tried to alternate reading each book on successive nights. But it didn't take long before I read Silva's book every…
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