|
Post by Steve on Dec 18, 2018 14:22:47 GMT -8
Well, a bit late for morning, but I made it here, so...
I meet once month with a few friends who used to meet for Spanish conversation! Interesting to note, only one person speaks fluently after years of being married to a native speaker. I am moderately ca[able after years of long trips to Mexico, one of the others stumbles hopelessly and subtitles are spoken in English, and the fourth is native Austrian and speaks fluent German and Swedish (his wife is Swedish).Whe he speaks Spanish with n interesting mix of influences (his English is still interesting to listen to, despite 40 years of typical; West Coast Corrosion. But when he takes off in Spanish and we sit with stunned looks, he asks "Did you understand what I meant?" and we agree that we did. He then adds "Well then I have succeeded." And indeed he had.
So tomorrow will be interesting. We are headed for a sushi place! Sushi. Raw fish. I'm in the mountains. At 2000ft, no commercial flights coming, so how fresh is a fish that was mailed from San Francisco? I will poke at my California Roll with my chopsticks and swap every bite with wasabi. Always fun to meet the gang. think tomorrow will finish with a choice to meet next time for Chinese or start the cycle agin with Mexican.. This is a small town, devoid of thirty international options.
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Dec 19, 2018 16:00:22 GMT -8
I survived. I sat in a dark restaurant and listened as one of my friends read a long list of curious names and the many types of fish thatI guess I was supposed to be deleting. She hit on one with only three things and the mention of orange sauce. Sold! Simple sounded good. But then, to my surprise, after there others ordered their choices. ALL the sliced sushi rolls were served on one platter. I am so not aware of sushi restaurant protocol. Is it's like a Chibese style where everybody just eats from the collection.
I ate a variety of bites, they all tasted pretty much the same to me. I mostly enjoyed the hit of wasabi! But it all tasted good, so it was a success. Happy news is that next month it's back to tacos.
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Dec 20, 2018 10:31:01 GMT -8
I'm sensing a need to make some changes here. I have made many comments about the original plan: to provide helpful links and some communication options for a specific community of mostly house-bound, low-income Seniors. The fact that the forum sat unused for eleven months, only to be discovered by a chance mention of its existence in a question to Support brought a flurry of unexpected attention and a number of new members has been fun to see! And now a minor dilemma.
Tomorrow there will be a meeting for a new manager to introduce herself, but she invited me to stand up and mention the forum. I now think I should wait until January so I can make some modifications. The dilemma?Making it fit two purposes. I want to open the doors to other Senior communities here in this area, but also leave it open to people from anywhere else. That means I want to keep the area already named Cottonwood Corner to be only for residents while leaving a few parts open to general conversations available to all members.
Between now and New Years, I will be revising, clipping some good comments from the Good Morning thread to add them to the phone and yv threads. Then I think the whole Good Morning thread is old news and can go! A new start in January. I mean, who wants to look back weeks or months? What value is that?
So things have quieted, most of the new members have not come back (!) but I will assume they will. So the forum will stay open, just expect to find some changes.
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Dec 21, 2018 6:43:16 GMT -8
It's officially Winter. Why is it so warm? Oh wait, I know,...never mind. So the big reveal of this forum brought a burst of visitors (as many as 70+ on one day) and of course sevela new recruits. But the curiosity seems fading, the number of visitors who stop for a look has dropped to 20+ per day. Who are these people? What are they hoping to find? They can't all be robots gathering info for search engines, and I doubt the nefarious hackers are preparing to plant misleading stories, so I am stumped. I guess I should invite the few who are members and visiting ( moss , @rounds ,@bluzeman , candy ) to offer any comments to help steer some revisions that are more interesting to this outside the local town interest. Many of the tips are in fact broadly general, so I suppose they are of interest. But I'm guessing. So good morning, registered people. Hello, visitors! I hope you find something of interest.
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Dec 22, 2018 20:26:49 GMT -8
Watch out, this is an old Christmas song that I think I can guarantee you have never heard! Bold claim, but when I was a kid, my dad liked this song and I grew to like it too. I was telling my helper about. she found it on YouTube (this song is from the late 40s or 1950), she played it and laughed all the way. Here is the unforgettable Yogi Yorgenson. Enjoy.
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Dec 24, 2018 6:09:31 GMT -8
Back on track, it's actual morning.
It sure is interesting to see how things change. Last night's local news was showing interviews with Christmas shoppers buying ...marijuana gifts! One guy was picking up some edibles for his grandma, a smoker who also enjoyed a cookie once in awhile. Another was picking up stuff for his own celebration of high holidays but also included some doggy snacks. Gotta keep the pooch all mellowed out.
So much for a white Christmas here. Instead, a wet afternoon and evening, the only snow is up around 3500ft, heavy snow at 6000+.But I'm happy with rain.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2018 8:01:59 GMT -8
Hi Steve, I understand what your saying about your friend being able to find the fare, with a cell phone. But I'm very much into internet security and personally, what you described is a tracking device. Just like taking a picture with the tracking features on , on a cell phone can let a person know the address of where the picture was taken. This is all okay, presuming people are all good and friendly. I'm more of a suspicious and cautious person.
Cell Phones have caused A LOT Of problems. Used to be that you went to work and got your calls or messages when you arrived home. Now, people expect you to answer your cell phone 24/7 and if you don't then you are questioned as to why you didn't answer.
You never had that problem when people had to go through the secretary or switchboard of a office to get you. Many jobs say no personal calls.
Personally I never use or have my cell phone on. When I am at work I am working, no use for a cell phone.
In the pay phone days, you had to make a effort to get in touch with someone while out. It was actually a important call that you were making. You also needed change on you. Money is disappearing from our society too, with the credit cards and electronic usage of transferring money. True the cell phones come in handy but with everything gained their is something lost. This world of convenience has taken a lot from us. People now rather deal with a machine than with each other. It's sad.
Sounds like you had good times in Oaxaca. Did you have friends there or did you adventure it alone?
Bluzeman, It's very sad what Walmart and Amazon have done to our stores. People don't realize how important that mom and pop shops are to everything. Kids need a summer job they got one at the mom and pop shops. Everything is a circle, it goes back to the way it was and I hope one day we will get back to less technology and more person to person ways, like it used to be.
Have a great holiday.
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Dec 25, 2018 15:50:42 GMT -8
Bueller? ....Bueller?
<crickets!>
Everyone is doing Christmas, so no visitors today. Maybe tomorrow.
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Dec 27, 2018 6:11:51 GMT -8
Now starts the week of revision I have planned. I.m actually glad the holiday season is drawing to a close since Halloween somehow rates as a major event now, and of course the merriment carries on through New Years. I have a few big changes I want to implement, including a few changes to this forum!
I am working on creating a link with a County agency for Senior Services and of course I think this forum is a good fit. Now I just need to "sell" it and get the County to see extended value.
But I don't want to discourage the new members from deciding to participate! I never understand why, when almost all content is available to anyone, some will actually join ... and then give up? But I will be optimistic and let's see what happens.
|
|
|
Post by moss on Dec 27, 2018 8:11:20 GMT -8
Good luck Steve. My Christmas travels took 1,700 miles through 3 states. I'll eventually get back to normal one of these days. Hang in there.
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Dec 27, 2018 12:02:41 GMT -8
Time on my treadmill gives me a chance to fire up my mental movie projector. I can end up on a favorite hike where I started at 8000ft and wandered up a wonderful trail to "summit" a rounded mountaintop at 10,000ft to enjoy the view while I ate lunch. I can walk and find the flowers I was used to seeing and the treadmill is quietly keeping me from stopping to smell the leaves!
Bit today I was listening to an interview with an architect in India who just won a prestigious award for design. He was really interesting as he described his philosophy of design, the importance of surprise and shadows in and around a building. It put me to thinking about a video I could never make because it was 30 years before everyone had a smartphone to record absolutely everything! The video I wanted is still in my head: I am sitting on the lawn in the quad at the UofW. In front of me is a wide cement walkway and a double set of steps with shallow rises/ At the top, one building is the School of Any, on age other side, the School of Music. The music students are practicing something on the piano.
The sun is behind me, and as others are walking up the steps, their shadows are only visible to me as black rectangles on the faces of the risers. As they ascend the steps, the rectangles and the piano music combine in a terrific visual of an amazing player piano with the scroll rolling through to provide the sound.
I have many times wish I could get back to Seattle to go sit near the steps on a sunny afternoon/ This time with my iPhone to get my long-awaited video.
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Dec 30, 2018 14:29:18 GMT -8
A quiet Sunday, for sure. I was postponing my treadmill time by rearranging my Podcasts and music selections so I could bring up a new 30 minute selection to listen to as I trudge on. Yesterday was shopping day and as I pushed the basket around following my helper, I finally announced that this was counting as my treadmill walk for the day. She agreed. And today, just as I was ready to start the machine, my phone rang! Saved. A friend from Kentucky called to talk. A nice surprise, that killed 90 minutes, and now I think it's too late. I'm a shameless slug.
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Dec 31, 2018 7:44:55 GMT -8
The countdown begins. I never pay attention to New Years Eve. I'm just no fun. No party, no champagne, no confetti. And there is no amount of money that would entice me to stand packed into Times Square to wait for the ball drop, secure in knowing that police sharpshooters are on rooftops to pick out some possible shooter in that crowd! Uh, no. And the fact that the forecast is for pouring rain? Oh no thanks. So I will be happy to go to bed at 10 and skip watching fireworks from Australia, China, Rome, or even the Possum Drop in Tallapoosa, Georgia (but if I lived closer to Tallapoosa, I might be interested. Note that Tallapoosa used to be known as Possum Snout. How cool is that?) I suspect it will be quiet here at Cottonwood.
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Dec 31, 2018 18:26:06 GMT -8
Jumping the gun; I wanted to make the change but not wait until Midnight. So now it's 2019.
And BTW, how is the text size? It is a bit bigger then "normal" 'cuz it's set for older eyes.I really have a hard time setting any color for others since I work with inverted colors. So that I can have a comfortable black page with readable white text, you all have a start white page. That blinds me. So trying to find a color that works, I have set the header to a bluish (?) color that looks greenish to me. Not a color I would have chosen when I was a graphic designer doing jobs for clients! If the color is wretched, let me know. My work here is done
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Jan 1, 2019 18:42:17 GMT -8
The Day Ends... but with news of Ultima Thule! Two interesting people involved with this: Nancy Roman and Brian May.[/div][div style="text- Nancy Roman passed away only last week! She was described as having looked at the stars in her youth and always wanting to know more. She did a good job. Brian May was the guitarist for Queen! Yes, that Queen, with Freddie Mercury. Brian was studying astrophysics when he took a detour for Queen. Then a year or so ago, he completed his Phd, and now Dr. May has written a song to celebrate New Horizon. Sounds pretty nice. Ultima Thule is one billion miles farther out past Pluto.
|
|