Writing

    When Something Isn't Broken, but Everyone thinks It Is

    Teacher_and_student

    It's ironic that I've worked in schools for the majority of my adult life. Except for a year here and there, I didn't enjoy the 12 years I spent in public education. It could have something to do with attending 13 schools during that time. The years I liked happened because of special teachers, the kind who know how to engage kids and who treat them like the little humans they are.

    It's been popular in the press and in political circles for many years to claim that public education is failing. Standardized test scores are treated like the holy grail in this data-driven age. State legislatures pass laws to do things like mandate that students be taught their multiplication tables, implying that they are not learning that already, when of course they are. In a nod to tradition, people who don't know how to send an email pass laws that force instruction in things like cursive writing while eliminating jobs for people who teach art, music or who work in the library.

    Conservatives aren't the only ones who denigrate education, but they're the people who want to take money from the school budget and give to shady for-profit and poorly supervised charter schools. They also favor giving to religious schools teaching that man and dinosaurs walked the earth together. In many southern states, segregation academies get public money for their mostly white student body, while the public schools in the same area are underfunded. Take a look at the study from Pro Publica that I've linked to.

    Somehow the right-wingers have convinced people that there are teacher's unions everywhere that care nothing about children and that exist only to extort money from the government. In my home state of North Carolina, a law exists that forbids any public employee from joining a union. There are no negotiated contracts. There is no right to strike. Teachers and every other school employee takes what the state decides they should have, or they go work somewhere else. Many teachers already have a second job. I've seen them waiting tables, behind cash registers and at the plasma center. Our legislators even abolished higher pay grades for advanced degrees, while simultaneously complaining about teacher quality.

    Of course, there is a bell curve when it comes to the competence of teachers, just like there is a bell curve in every other profession. Most teachers care a great deal about what their students are learning. I've listened to many, many excited explanations of new ways to teach first-graders addition or high schoolers chemistry. You can see the real passion in so many teachers and the work they put into their lessons. I've seen plenty of them stay at school long after they could have left for the day, just so they could provide extra help to kids who are behind.

    The US as a whole is doing pretty damn well for a country that supposedly has a failing educational system. These days I work in higher ed at a private university and I don't hear our professors complaining about unprepared students in their classes. As someone who works in IT, I can also tell you that these young people are learning tech skills somewhere because keeping them on the straight and narrow path and out of places where they shouldn't go is a full-time job.

    Next time you hear someone start the old "our schools are failing" routine, stop them and probe a little deeper. The chances are that they've bought into the big lie.

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    Radarr - Movie collection manager for Legal Usenet and BitTorrent users

    Radarr
    Radarr


    When I was a younger man, I'll admit to living the pirate life for music and movies. I was around for the original Napster and the birth of BitTorrent. That all came to a screeching halt one weekend when I sat down at my computer and couldn't connect to the internet. I called tech support, and the stern-sounding lady on the phone told me to go to my computer and read what was on the screen. It basically said, "If I ever download something illegally again, my Internet will be turned off forever." There was one checkbox, and it just said "OK." I had to check it to get my Internet back. That was the sudden and dramatic end to my life on the high seas. Since then, I have resisted using a VPN or other methods of accessing content illegally. For one thing it adds a lot of friction and for another, in the streaming age you can get just about anything you want without breaking the bank.

    There are legal torrent sites, most notably Archive.org. You can find others with a simple search.

    A useful automated too to aid in downloading torrents via an RSS feed is Radarr. It also works on Usenet. Radarr's features include:

    • Adding new movies with a variety of information, such as trailers, ratings, etc.
    • Support for major platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, etc.
    • Can watch for better quality of the movies you have and do an automatic upgrade. eg. from DVD to Blu-Ray
    • Automatic failed download handling will try another release if one fails
    • Manual search so you can pick any release or to see why a release was not downloaded automatically
    • Automatically searching for releases as well as RSS Sync
    • Automatically importing downloaded movies
    • Recognizing Special Editions, Director's Cut, etc.
    • Identifying releases with hardcoded subs
    • Identifying releases with AKA movie names
    • SABnzbd, NZBGet, QBittorrent, Deluge, rTorrent, Transmission, uTorrent, and other download clients are supported and integrated
    • Full integration with Kodi and Plex (notifications, library updates)
    • Adding metadata such as posters and information for Kodi and others to use
    • Advanced customization for profiles, such that Radarr will always download the copy you want

    It takes some time and some skill to get Radarr set up correctly, but there are good instructions provided.. There is also extensive documentation..

    ✉️ Reply by email

    Secrets and Confessions

    Two_Men_Talking

    If you have any familiarity with 12 Steps groups or if you've seen movies like 28 Days or TV shows like The Wire, then you may be familiar with two of the steps that scare the hell out of newcomers. They are the 4th and 5th Steps of the recovery program first laid out in the 1930s and followed by millions since.

    1. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
    2. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

    I'm not a believer in a supernatural God, and I've been sober a long time, so don't let the seemingly religious references throw you off. The principals behinds performing these two practices are beneficial. Rather than trying to forget the past, it's better to face up to it. People doing this take the opportunity to look at their resentments and to see what part they may have played in them. Every so often they find that they don't have any responsibility, such as in cases of abuse. Frequently with their beefs with exes, old bosses or family members, they find they did have a part to play. Even just figuring out the why of our relationship issues is helpful. Typically it comes down to fear. We are afraid we are not going to get something we want, or we are afraid we are going to lose something we already have. The most common way to manifest fear is through anger.

    After we've taken the time to take a good look at ourselves, comes the next step, where we ask someone, maybe a trusted friend but more typically a respected person in the recovering community to hear us admit, out loud the list of things we've done wrong, that we feel guilty about and the part we have played in all the important difficult relationships in our life.

    The first time I did this, I did it with an old-timer named Pete on a weekday afternoon. I was 22, but definitely an alcoholic in need of recovery. I was so scared I was shaking but over the course of an hour or so I laid it all out. Pete laughed at many of my confessions, giving examples from his life where he'd done the same thing, sometimes to a greater degree than I ever had.All my life I'd felt different from other people, terminally unique they call it.I found out that day that I wasn't all that different from I guy I really respected.

    Since then, I've had more than one opportunity to hear other people admit their garbage. At the end, I always ask them "What is your deepest darkest secret?" You can see them struggle to let go of that secret, but they always do. It's always a relief not to ever have to carry that around with you anymore.

    We are as sick as our secrets. They foster feelings of shame and guilt. They make us feel different and unworthy. People pay a lot of money for therapy to have someone hear them out. That's OK. Whatever it takes. I've been luck over the past 38 years to have a community of people who have listened to me without judgment when I've needed to get stuff off my chest.

    I do the very best I can be today to live a life where I can be honest with the people around me. I don't lie to my wife or my boss or my children or my parents. I'd rather tell them something they would rather not hear than carry around a bunch of emotional baggage that secrets cause. You don't have to an alcoholic or an addict to use the principles behind this way of living. People have used this philosophy to get relief from all kinds of destructive behavior from gambling, to over eating to compulsive sexual behavior and co-dependent relationships. There is hope for everyone.

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    Celebrities as Heroes

    Bob Feller

    When I was in junior high school, my family frequently went to minor league baseball games at an old brick stadium in Gastonia, NC where we lived at the time. At that age, I lived and breathed the game, memorizing stats, collecting baseball cards and counting down the days until the game of the week came on television. As a promotion, the local team had a Hall of Fame player named Bob Feller appear one night to sign autographs and meet the fans.

    Feller was the greatest pitcher of his era. He entered the major leagues when he was 17. Before he turned 21 he already had a 24-win season under his belt. He played the game from 1936-1956, with a four-year break to serve in the navy aboard the USS Alabama where he saw combat and rose to the rank of chief petty officer. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, receiving the highest percentage of votes than any player preceding him.

    At the park that night, after he finished signing all the programs and talking to the fans, instead of leaving and going back to his hotel, he surprised me by going into the box seats to stay and watch the game. He was sitting all by himself and I just couldn't help myself. Even though I didn't have a ticket for that section, I went down there anyway and asked him if I could sit with him. He told me that I absolutely could. I talked his ear off. When I mentioned that I knew he was in the Navy, he really became animated, Despite all the accolades he'd gotten for his athletic career, he seemed to be more proud of being a sailor than for anything else. As the game progressed, he commented on the players and their skills, always complementing them. He was just a gem of a human being.

    Defining someone as a hero is a curious practice when you think about it. The term gets used loosely. I usually consider a hero to be someone who has displayed some sort of bravery or overcome serious obstacles. In some cases, heroes are people who have gone above and beyond to help other people. There are many musicians, actors, and athletes whose talent I really admire, but I don't consider them to be heroic for that. In some cases, though, the people in the entertainment business have done other things that make them someone to look up to.

    Pete Seeger worked to end segregation and performed for striking workers all over the country. When he was brought before Congress and accused of being a communist, he refused to name names when asked about the activities of others, unlike Ronald Reagan who squealed on his fellow actors.

    Robin Williams made secret visits to hospitals to visit and entertain children, and was well known for using his connections to help other people. An avid cyclist, he once went out to help a stranger who had a flat on his bike in front of Williams home. When the problem turned out to be more complicated than that, Williams went and got one of his bikes and just gave it to the guy. I don't know if any of that rises to the level of heroism, but he was sure a nice person.

    Other than Bob Feller, I haven't had many run-ins with celebrities. Maybe the closes I came was getting a call from Ron Kovic, a paralyzed Vietnam veteran who wrote a book called Born on the Fourth pf July about his post-war experiences. Tom Cruise played him in the movie by the same name. Kovic, who was 100% a hero for numerous reasons, called me to encourage me in the work I was doing to organize veterans and military families in the early days of the Iraq War. I was blown away by his kindness.

    We're all entitled to consider anyone we want as a hero. Just choose wisely and put some though into it.

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    What Constitutes Your Perfect Day?

    carol2

    I actually have quite a few days that are very close to perfect. I don't need to win the lottery or be gifted a new car to achieve perfection. All I want is a day filled with things that are already my favorites and I am a happy man.

    My perfect day starts early, like 4:30 am. Easing downstairs in a silent house to turn on a single lamp for a little soft lighting before dawn is OK with me. I'll ease into the kitchen to brew a cup of coffee. The first one of the day is always the best. While I drink it, I'll catch up with my personal email and social media. On a perfect day, i'll have messages from a few Internet friends, and definitely have some new pictures of some of my grandkids in my messages. Wonder Woman generally wakes up in a good mood and I'm always happy to see her make her way to the living room where we do most of our hanging out.

    She will have a cop of coffee and a small glass of juice or half a banana before she goes for her run. It will be a short one and when she gets back and grabs a shower, we will go to the diner at the end of the street where we are regulars. The waitresses all know us and haven't offered us menus in years. I'll take yet another picture of my wife from across the table. That's part of the ritual. I have a couple hundred from inside that very restaurant.

    When we get back home, we will hang out together. She reads or watches something on her iPad. I've got three blog posts to write, so I'll start working on them. After I finish the first one, I'll probably set my computer down for a few minutes and grab a quick nap. We will forage for something to eat in a couple of hours. By then, I will have heard from one or more of the kids or maybe my Mom. I love my family dearly and staying in touch means a lot to me.

    After lunch would be a good time to see the three closest grandchildren. It doesn't take much to make them happy. Just a trip to Dairy Queen or going for a walk at the park is enough to satisfy them. The kids are great huggers, both to say hello and goodbye. That makes me happy.

    When we get home, Wonder Woman and I will probably watch a movie, which we do in our spare bedroom, reclined on the bed where she rests her head on my chest so I can kiss the top of her head every couple of minutes or so. She will generally watch anything I pick out. I keep a running list and I just pick whatever sounds good at the moment.

    Tonight we had a perfect day conversation that went like this:

    Lou: You know what would be awesome?
    WW: What?
    Lou: If you order us some pizza!
    WW: That would be awesome!

    I don't have to cook AND I get pizza. That's perfect.

    After dinner, I'll finish my daily blogging, stopping to watch the videos she plays for me on her iPad from the other end of the couch. Her favorite genre are videos making fun of men for doing typical man things. Tonight it was a guy who answered multiple trivia questions in a row but could not remember the text his wife sent him just hours before with a grocery request that included a picture of what she needed.

    We will go to bed early on the perfect day, because unless we are driving back from a trip, we always go to bed early. My preferred ritual is to read blog posts in my RSS reader until I can't keep my eyes open. I sleep pretty good. I have a lot of perfect days.

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    My Computer Had Nice Things to Say About Me Today

    Reddit

    You present as highly open to experience, continuously seeking out new technologies and workflows to optimize your productivity. You exhibit strong conscientiousness, meticulously documenting and sharing your findings with others. You are likely introverted, preferring to engage with the community through informative and educational style posts. There is no indication of emotional volatility or negativity, suggesting low neuroticism. You are extremely agreeable, as you are consistently helpful, polite and considerate in all your communications. This combination of traits drives you to discover and share the best tools and techniques for Mac and iOS users. You are likely very organized and detail oriented in all areas of your life. You might benefit from exploring your emotions more and being more tolerant of work flows that are not perfect..

    Scanning my email for links to share is a daily habit. I post "This Week's Bookmarks" every weekend. That's a collection of random, but hopefully interesting, web pages I've collected over the preceding seven days. I'll post anything from recipes, to photo exhibits to anything that might someone say "whoa!" Today I found a site that will do a personality analysis of any Reddit user. I couldn't get my name typed in there fast enough. I've been on Reddit since 2006. Since I started blogging I post something there every day.

    Your frequent posts and comments across multiple online platforms related to Mac apps, iOS apps, and Obsidian reveal a high level of online activity. The depth and detail of your posts further suggest a dedication to these topics and a proactive approach to sharing information.

    As illustrated by the general summary above, my Reddit personality is the non-political, non-autobiographical side of me. That side comes through, I hope, in most places I go. Since the beginning of my interest in technology, dating back to the early 90s, I've enjoyed not just using a computer but finding ways to make computers do what i want them to do. The average person I encounter might be open to hearing an app recommendation or two, but I have seen too many people develop glazed eyes when I get wound up about my current list of cool things to share. That's what makes the Internet the best audience. People can opt in or out at their leisure.

    You demonstrate resilience in your responses to dissenting opinions, offering logical explanations and defending your positions. This suggests a good ability to handle pressure and stress.

    If you've ever spent much time on Reddit, you know it can be an extremely toxic environment if you feed the trolls. I've weathered my share of nasty comments from weirdos who are upset about software of all things. Examples include being called unethical because I use a VPN that advertises on YouTube (Nord). Anything that interferes with video watching gets vitriol. I regularly get accused of being paid to write positive reviews, as if all these poor indy developers out, there have the money from their 1.99 apps to hire writers. Some trolls call me a racist because I point out the unreasonable hatred faced by a certain Ukrainian software company from Russian provocateurs.

    I'm going to disagree with the AI assessment that I am an introvert due to the "informative and educational" style of my posts. My real life personality can be a little outsized at times. I seldom like the things I like just a bit. If I'm into something, I'm really into it. I'd much rather share concrete information than make small talk, perform amateur psychological assessments of people I know or, God forbid, prattle on about the weather or lawn care. If nearby conversations devolve into chit-chat, i usually don't have much to say. When I met Wonder Woman, we spent months asking each other 'What's your favorite X". I think sharing your passions with another person is the best way to spend time with them.

    I suppose I am organized and detail oriented in some ways. That doesn't translate into being neat and orderly in general, though. I manage to be a prolific blogger. I try to learn something new every day. Making those things a priority means I don't set aside time for things like washing my 20-year-old car or decluttering my full to bursting closet. Priorities, right?

    You share your expertise without overt self-promotion, focusing on providing helpful information rather than boasting or comparing yourself to others.

    I try not to use lines like "In my 30 years of experience" or "on the log I write that gets thousands of hits a day" because only an arrogant asshat would play that card on the first hand. I will sneak in humblebrag on a blog post, however. LOL

    That last line in the overall summary — "You might benefit from exploring your emotions more and being more tolerant of work flows that are not perfect" stems from my ongoing exasperation at seemingly knowledgeable people who buy high-end computers but refuse to use helpful applications because they might "make my computer run slow." Everyone is entitled to a pet peeve and that's mine. Of course I have a whole rant about that.

    This is quite possible the most self-centered blog post I have ever written. I'm just relieved that my computer thinks so highly of me.

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    I Love Snacking, Snacking Is My Favorite

    Pickled Eggs

    When I'm hungry, I don't usually pine for steak or lobster. What I want is a plate of cheese and crackers, or a tin of smoked oysters, a handful of Chex Mix or some homemade pork skins. I shudder at the thought of going on a road trip without stopping by a convenience store for a Diet Coke and a bag of chips and quite possibly a Reese's Cup. Before bed, I am partial to a plate full of watermelon cubes either with some Feta cheese or sprinkled with Tajin, a Mexican spice that is great with fruit. I love an easy to peel Clementine at any time of day. I'm in my third consecutive year of eating crackers and Slim Jims every weekday morning.

    I enjoy cooking, and I'm pretty good at it. Furthermore, I've studied nutrition extensively, so I know how and when to prepare special meals before endurance events and how to create tasty dishes from scratch. There are several places within a few miles of my home to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, open year round. As a dieting veteran, I'm able to accurately estimate macronutrient and calorie counts for most foods without relying on an app or a book. I'm married to a conscientious eater who is so in tune with her body that she managed to complete a 2200-mile-long distance hike weighing the same on Day 156 as she did on Day 1. 

    I wanted to establish those credentials before making my point. Whatever I put in my mouth, I do with full knowledge of the benefits or lack thereof. Left to my own whims, I would rather snack any day then cook. Having small treats throughout the day or in certain circumstances is basically what I live for. One of my favorite parts of any holiday season is the foods associated with them. There are other ritual times to snack, but really, I'm just about always ready.

    A lot of this behavior is a holdover from when I was a constantly training endurance sports guy. I went for years eating six small meals a day to manage my weight and energy and to fuel for long bike rides or backpacking trips. Now that I'm older and not as active, these old habits wreak havoc on my waistline. It is an ongoing battle.

    Although I enjoy some sweets. I prefer savory foods. When I completed the Appalachian Trail, I'd eaten so many Snickers and Payday bars that in the past 11 years, I haven't had either one of those previous favorites. I ate honeybuns smothered in peanut butter for breakfast on the trail. It was years before I ate another one, but I will occasionally have one now, preferably with some delicious gas station coffee.

    I have a few unusual favorites. I enjoy a good pickled egg now and then. We have many Asian markets where I live and they just about all carry locally made kimchi, which is a Korean dish of fermented cabbage, onions and dakon radish with hot peppers. A few bites of that right of the jar does me just right. Indian mixed pickle is another delicacy. Order some as an app next time you go for some tikki masala. I like just about any kind of canned seafood. Sardines, kippers, mussels — I'll eat all of them. When I go camping, I eat my weight in beef jerky and GORP (good old raisins and peanuts). Oh, let me not forget pickled okra, I love that.

    If you ever make your way to North Carolina and stop by the house, I promise to make you dinner, but if you just want to join me for a few snacks, that will be alright too.

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    On Framing and Language

    pro-choice

    When I was in high-school, I took Speech as an elective my senior year, thinking it would be an easy credit. I've never been shy. I thought my vocabulary was good enough to serve me adequately. I knew little about debate, extemporaneous speaking, expository speaking and the other forms of competition. A good portion of the course was taken up by the study of semantics, the study of meaning in language, including the interpretation of words, sentences, and text in context. It's a key component of understanding how linguistic signs and symbols convey specific concepts and ideas. I grokked it immediately. The class turned out to be a lot of fun. Although I didn't win any awards at the speech competitions we went to, I got a lot from the class. My formal education ended when I was 18, so I've had to make the most out of what I learned back then.

    When I got involved in political activism and went through training to talk to people about issues, I learned how good the conservative movement had been at choosing the words to frame their positions on things. The prime example is the abortion issue. By calling their stance "pro-life" they assumed the moral high-ground. Who could be against life? The left has tried to label them as anti-choice and anti-abortion but their movement is still known by the name they choose for it. They did the same thing during the early stages of the Affordable Care Act debate when they coined the named "Death Panels." Most reflexive opponents of the act could not tell what exactly a death panel's job was, they just knew that Democrats wanted to kill them. Politicians worldwide use framing. The Brexit "leave" crowd made their argument about taking back control, emphasizing sovereignty and immigration limits.

    The left has had some success with framing as well. One of the reasons that Dr. King was successful is the way he framed the struggle for civil rights in the context of American values like freedom and equality. People advocating for vaccines do better when they present their case that by getting vaccinated, you are protecting your loved ones rather than just giving survival stats.

    Sometimes, people in tech take ownership over phrases that were once used as pejoratives, like laying claim to the titles geek and nerd. Most people with blogs choose to call themselves bloggers rather than writer as not to appear pretentious, even if they are, in fact, fantastic writers.

    I love language. Sometimes I've had a hard time putting into practice that it's not what you say, but how you say it. It's been a 60-year learning process, but I am getting there.

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    Dear Internet - A Letter to My Constant Companion

    2024-12-31 at 20

    Dear Internet,

    I know it's weird to be getting a letter when we spend so much time together, But I have a few things I need to share with you. None of it is too big a deal. The info will be yours to do with what you want. Let's get started.

    First, I want to ask you to be nice to new folks when they enter a community. Every so often they don't know the unwritten rules under which we operate. Believe it or not, there are still grown adults who don't have much social media experience. Can you imagine how much courage it takes to get involved with us, considering our reputation? Just say hi to them and if they need constructive criticism, do it gently or offer it in a private message. If they ask questions that have easy answers, teach them how to fish by telling them how and where to look things up instead of being snarky and asking them if they ever heard of Google. 

    Let's all take steps this year to curate our experience. Let's try to use the tools that filter the stuff that stresses us out. Don't feed the trolls when it is so much easier to just block and hide them forever. If someone you have a relationship with has a bad hot take, maybe don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Give them a second chance. Perhaps even forgive them. If, instead, you discover that they have some disqualifying belief system, well, that's a different story. No one is going to ask you to be friends with bigots for the sake of harmony. Have standards and stick to them.

    Try coming up with a helpful project this year. Hell, if it takes up too much time, charge a fee. I look at things like Robb Knight's Echofeed and Slash Pages, or the blog prompts from Scott Jones. Jedda and I started Blogroll.club. You could write book reviews like Alexandra or movie reviews like Matt Birchler. Try writing a tutorial on something you are good at. Makea weekly list of bookmarks to share with people. You can do this.

    Lastly, be an advocate for the people who need advocates. You know exactly who I am talking about. It has become acceptable in this country to demonize and denigrate people who don't match the profile of the typical voter belonging to the majority party. We have a president-elect who told four members of the house, all women of color, to go back where they came from - and he wasn't talking about Minnesota and the Bronx. Members of the LGBT community are constantly being harassed and accused of things they don't do. The people who gather our food, mow our lawns, build our houses, process our meat and more are being terrorized by threats. Honest journalists who tell us when the emperor has no clothes are being threatened by the incoming FBI director. Even common people are being labeled as enemies from within for not being real Americans. Don't stand for any of it. Don't be silent. Silence favors the oppressor.

    I appreciate you taking the time to read this letter. If you have any questions, just ask.

    Lou

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    What's Your Favorite Decade?

    70s

    Starting with the 1960s, I have now lived in or through seven different decades. I don't have many memories of the supposed decade of love other than the first moon landing and the ongoing war in Vietnam. From 1970 onward, all kinds of things are stuck in my mind. I've always had preternatural ability to remember facts and facts both from my own life and from the world at large as I've experienced it vicariously through the media.

    Before I get into my favorite decade, let me first dissect my least favorite, that being the aughties, 2000-2009. The first year was marred by the Supreme Court essentially appointing everyone's favorite nepo baby frat boy as President of the United States. The year after that, the US was attacked by 19 Saudi Arabian terrorists, something that caused us to go to war with two countries that are not Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Gratuitous flag waving and war fever led to reelecting the frat boy, thousands of military dead and trillions of dollars wasted. About the only good thing to come out of the decade were some killer TV shows like The Sopranos and The Wire.

    The ten-year span that I liked the best in the sense of it being an era was the 1970s. That’s the time period that saw me go from kindergarten age to high school. The music from the 70s has never been equaled in the rock era. Seminal albums from Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Rolling Stones and Carole King all came out in just one year, 1971. Many classic movies were released, including The Godfather, Rocky and Star Wars. Television classics like Roots, All in the Family and MASH played on over the air TV. In sports we had two Olympics that gave us stars like Mark Spitz and Sugar Ray Leonard. Baseball saw the Yankees return to prominence. Football saw great seasons by the Dolphins and Steelers among others.

    Politically we saw the system work when Richard Nixon was forced to resign. Congress finally extended oversight over the FBI and CIA, ending decades of abuse. The draft and the Vietnam War ended. The nation elected an honorable man president in 1976.

    The 70s were not perfect. There were tragedies like Kent State and the Greensboro Massacre. Inflation was rampant throughout the decade. The Iranian hostage crisis happened. Still, the US memorably celebrated its Bicentennial. By the end of the decade most of the last vestiges of segregation were gone.

    I’m a personal fan of the current decade too but more for internal reasons than external ones. I’m happy the US isn’t at war. I’m happy that the biggest sports star in the US is Caitlyn Clark, a 22-year-old woman. It sucks that 14 out of 15 of the year’s biggest movies were sequels. Also, WTF is up with the music scene? Politically, the US is a cesspool. I’d rather get back to living under Nixon than suffer Trump for the next four years. At least Nixon did things like start the EPA and open relations with China.

    I’d love to hear from you about your favorite decade.

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    Remembering Jimmy Carter

    Jimmy Carter wearing an Allman Brothers t-shirt

    I was 11 years old in 1976 when Jimmy Carter was running for president the first time. He had been the governor of Georgia, a state that borders my own (NC). All I had ever known about US presidents was that they were either bad people (Nixon) or boring (Ford). Carter was exciting. He was nice and famous for his big smile. He had been a farmer like my grandparents, who loved him.

    During the Carter era my brother, sister and I traveled through Georgia with my grandparents to two shrines for Southern Democrats. The first was Warm Springs where FDR often vacationed to seek relief from the pain in his polio stricken limbs and where he died in 1944. The second shine was Plains, Jimmy Carter's home town where his somewhat ne-er-do-well brother Billy operated a gas station and his mother, Miss Lillian lived.

    Richard Nixon was the first president I was aware of. I started reading newspapers as soon as I could read and my initial encounters with the political press were during the Watergate era. Not only were stories about the corruption in the Republican party always in the paper, the Watergate hearings were held broadcast live on every channel and like the geeky little kid I was, I watched them. I remember when Nixon resigned and how happy and relieved the adults in my were.

    Life in America in the late 70s was rough. Inflation was as high as it had ever been. It started creeping upward during the Ford administration but it really skyrocketed after a while. The after affects of the Arab oil embargo were still having a dramatic affect on life in the US. Unpopular mandates like the 55 mph speed limit and the voluntary reduction of home heating use was implemented. Then the Iranians took over the US embassy in Tehran and took the staff hostage, triggering a crisis and eventually collusion with none other than Ronald Reagan. Yeah - that Ronald Reagan - the same one who started selling the Iranians weapons just a few years later.

    I don't remember people disparaging President Carter during those years. Life was tough, but people believed that he cared, that he was facing problems head on and that he had a very hard job in very hard times. Most people felt like he had done a lot for world peace when he facilitated the Camp David Accords that resulted in a peace between Israel and Egypt that has lasted until this day.

    Ted Kennedy, blind to the anything but his own personal ambition challenged an incumbent president from his own party in the 1980 election. Carter defeated him and polled well against Reagan until shortly before the election, being weighed down my Iran, primarily.

    In the years since 1980, Carter has nearly achieved sainthood - a tough go for a Southern Baptist. It became fashionable to classify his presidency as a failure, although most people who repeat that have a difficult time articulating why or defending any reasons they put forth. Instead, we got the union busting, inflation riddled, tax-cutting for the rich, budget ballooning, arms to Iran puppet of the right-wing, Ronald Ray-Gun.

    Since Jimmy Carter left the white house, his basic goodness and humanity has never, ever wavered. He has represented the US admirably and performed with unmatched wisdom in advocating for world health improvements that have saved millions of lives. The pictures of him volunteering for Habitat for Humanity into his 90s are famous.

    I'm sad tonight to know that I'm going to be on a planet without Jimmy Carter on it for the first time ever.

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    Enduring the Interstate

    Bonaventure

    Today was one of those day when we just had to endure slings and arrows to get what we wanted. We traveled by car from our home in SE North Carolina down Interstate 95 to what will hopefully turn out to be the lovely city of Savannah, Georgia. I didn't even have to drive. I didn't have to navigate. The only thing I had to do was avoid irritating Wonder Woman, who had to fight with stop and go traffic for hours. What should have taken about three and a half hours instead took nearly six. We got off and on the Interstate more than once trying to find a less congested route to no avail.

    Honestly, I didn't have it too bad, I wrote a couple of blog posts and half listened to some ultrarunning podcasts, while Wonder Woman, who ran 15 miles just before we left home, tried to find a comfortable sitting position for an aching hip with little success. I'd offered to drive but she elected not to take me up on the offer, not that I was insistent.

    What little we saw of our destination city was nice. We are staying in the historic district. The streets are lined with giant old hardwoods. There are park like squares close by and many, many highly rated restaurants nearby. We had to cross the Eugene Talmedge Bridge over the Savannah River to get into town. I don't know what it is about Southern cities keeping the names of devout segregationists on public landmarks. Talmedge, who was governor in the 30s and 40s, pursued openly racist objectives such as restoring the white primary and enforcing segregation of the state universities. The bridge was built in 1991, and they named it for a sorry old cracker. That's a shame.

    We plan to tour the city with a special side excursion to Bonaventure Cemetery. We are also going to load up on Dramamine and go out for a boat ride in hopes of encountering dolphins. Wonder Woman will undoubtably run from one end of town to the other. I'll look for stuff to write about. We will be recovered from the car ride from hell tomorrow, I'm sure.

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    Obsidian Plugins for Writers

    Man using a MacBook Air to write

    I do almost all of my personal and professional writing in Obsidian. In 2024, I’ve composed almost 500,000 words after clicking on the purple icon in my dock. Ranging from app reviews for Reddit and my blog to instructional documents for JIRA Confluence, I find Obsidian a great tool for composition and formatting. All of this is made easier by employing a few of the free and source plugins from the Obsidian ecosystem.

    • Better Word Count - This plugin counts not only the total words in your current document, but also the word count in any section you make. Features include: Words, Characters, Sentences, Footnotes, and Pandoc Citations in current file, in your vault or typed today.
    • Editing Toolbar - While I don’t find it difficult to write in markdown most of the time, having the toolbar available for more complex edits or edits with a lot of text is handy. is a plugin that provides a toolbar similar to Microsoft Word, and adds a minimal and user-friendly text editor modal for a smoother writing/editing experience .
    • Language Tool Integration- Language tool is a commercial product with a free and a paid version. This plugin supports both versions and is a consistently excellent spelling and grammar checker.
    • Readability Score - This small plugin analyzes all or part of a document using the Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formula. Your score appears in the status bar. It considers the length of the words and sentences you write.
    • Text Generator - I am not a fan of anyone on the Internet using AI to create content. I don’t see an issue with using generative AI to come up with ideas, craft titles, create summaries of notes or to generate outlines. You can also use this plugin for proofreading, although there isn’t much benefit in employing it over Apple’s writing tools for macOS 18.2 users.

    What Makes Us Who We Are?

    Identity

    I often wonder "Why am I like this?" and "Why do I feel this way? " Those aren't the most original questions. Philosophers and psychologists have been pondering them and attempting to answer them for a long time. Trying to figure out if it's nature (hereditary) or nurture (environment) can be a fun parlor game. Alternatively, the truly curious folks, who also have good insurance or a lot of money can undergo analysis in any one of several flavors, Freudian, Jungian and so forth. 

    I'd really like to know how I ended up such a political outlier. Both of my parents are Republicans, although my Mother was a Nixon despising liberal until she married a conservative a few years after I left home. Despite living in a red state, never attending college, serving in the military and working in manufacturing, plus being straight, white and cis-male, I'm an AOC, Bernie Sanders type, a loud one. 

    Some parts of who I am are definitely genetically influenced. Alcoholism, unfortunately, is a problem that's affected people in my family for more than just a single generation. Luckily for them, my siblings have a STOP button and can drink moderately or not at all when they choose. For me, only total abstinence from everything mood altering has been the only solution. I've never been bitter or jealous about it, though. I just didn't win the genetic lottery.

    As anyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows, I consider myself to be the luckiest married man on the face of the earth. I absolutely lucked out when I met my wife. I was 47 and did not have a good track record when it came to maintaining a happy home life. Somehow, though, the two of us have not had a difficult time staying enamored of one another. We spend every possible minute together, and each of us takes care of the other in different ways. How, so late in life, did I acquire the skill to be happily married year after year?

    Despite being an average student, I've always performed well on standardized tests. I failed half the math classes I took in high school but scored as high on the SAT as friends who got into engineering school. It was test scores and charm (or manipulation my Mom called it when she was mad) that allowed me to participate in programs for gifted kids in school, not my grades. My only contribution to my own mental development has been an insatiable life-long love of reading and being curious about a long list of things. My brother and sister also had great test scores, but they backed them up with good grades and post graduate studies at flagship universities. Our parents, the children of farmers, both have degrees now, but they didn't get them until their 30s. I tell my wife that I used to be smarter because I scored lower on mental acuity tests given to me in rehab than the ones I took as a teenager. In any case, I was blessed genetically with thinking skills I certainly didn't work for.

    There are numerous other characteristics I'd like to have more insight into. I have the skills of an extrovert but the disposition of an introvert. What's that about? Like many, many people in recovery, my preferred sports (before my knees gave out) were all endurance based. Why? Why am I a procrastinator? What makes me go from calm to irate in a nanosecond, but only once or twice a year? I'll probably never get satisfactory answers to those questions, but I'll be OK with that. It will just give me something to think about.

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    Things I Don't Understand

    Keyboard

    I recently gave a big shoutout to my Internet friend, Annie on my links blog. The tag line for her Mastodon account is one of my favorite series of consecutive words on the Internet. "Wtf’ing every day, I’m basically a professional now." Every time I read that, I'm like, me too sister, me too. There is just so much about the world and about people's motivations that I just do not get. Here are a few examples.

    Very Expensive Restaurants

    I like to eat. You can take one look at me and figure that out without trying too hard. I also like to go out to eat because cooking is one of my chores and having someone else do it is a real treat. Furthermore, we are relatively debt free and have a comfortable income. Having established all that, I have no desire to frequent the most expensive places, either in town or on vacation. I feel absolutely pampered with a meal that costs between 2030 dollars. Anything over that makes me feel like I'm throwing money away. Nothing, absolutely nothing, tastes that good. I don't care how fancy the inside of the establishment happens to be or where it is located. I like good service. Tipping well is a sign of good morals, and wait staff deserve to make a living wage. I just don't want to cough up 40 or 50 dollars to a server for a party of two (which I will do if the bill calls for it) because they work at a fancy joint when the waitress at Golden Corral busts her butt for a fraction of that. It doesn't make sense.

    Mechanical Keyboards

    My first computer was an IBM PC with a loud, heavy mechanical keyboard. It was in the days when we were all trained to die of thirst rather than risk spilling a Coke on our precious computer peripherals. These days I type a lot. I'm on a computer many, many hours a day. I have a definite preference for all my tech needs, but I've never once considered going back to the 80s or 90s experience for my keyboard needs. I don't like loud. I don't like heavy. I don't like expensive. I don't like dumb.

    Voting Against One's Own Interest

    When I see working-class people with Trump stickers on their cars, I wonder what their motivation is. Republican policies are undoubtedly hostile to average Americans. Huge cuts are made to social programs, education, health care and public services to cut taxes for corporations and the 1%. There is no demonstrable benefit to middle and lower income voters from GOP policies. The incoming administration wants to cut veterans benefits for all the working-class men and women who served in the costly Republican wars of the early 21st century. GOP senators are publishing op/ed pieces on how badly they would like to cut social security and medicare. Literally WTF is anyone with a mortgage and a car payment doing supporting these predatory plutocrats?

    Refusing to Learn 21st Century Skills

    I am continuing my recent campaign against technological illiteracy in the 21st century. I stepped on plenty of toes recently by mocking people who type GOOGLE into Google when they want to search for something. People told me it was none of my business and that it didn't hurt anything, and I came back at them with both barrels. Billions of dollars are lost every year in lost productivity because people with a proven educational track record of having the ability to learn are not held accountable for pretending to be stupid when it comes to using a computer. When automobiles adopt new technology, people learn how to use it. When you have to use a touch screen at Bojangles to get a sausage biscuit, people figure it out. Why can't they remember to restart their computer when they have a problem? What can't they learn how to find a file on their PC? No one makes them, that's why. Institutions would rather pay an IT department to hold the hands of otherwise competent adults than they would enforce basic tech competency on the workforce.

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    My Holiday Was Pretty Good, How Was Yours?

    tree2

    Wonder Woman and I drove from a family celebration at her folks' house to my mom's on Christmas Eve, a two-hour trip. When we arrived, we spent about an hour visiting and giving reports on various family members. We also opened gifts. We gave mom a puzzle from her favorite company, one of several she received. She gave me a tech widget from my wish list (a dual hard drive bay). Wonder Woman got running socks from her preferred company, Injinji and a new robe. This morning I got up and hung out with Mom, answering tech questions, while Wonder Woman went on her run. When she returned, Mom made shrimp and grits, a Christmas tradition. She told us that she's been buying local shrimp from the same fisherman's family for 44 years.

    We set out after breakfast to the home of my daughter and her family, a four and a half hour trip. As usual, Wonder Woman drove while I completed a couple of blog posts while we listened to various ultrarunning podcasts. I also may have taken a nap. I'm not sure. The weather was clear, and the sun was bright as we made our away across North Carolina's coastal plain and into the Piedmont. 

    When we arrived, we unloaded gifts and carried them to the door, where my six-year-old grandson was delighted to see us. We spent the day visiting and responding to messages from our other kids and grandkids. We got a video of the youngest granddaughter, who was happy to demonstrate to her mother that yes, Santa will indeed bring more than one gift if you ask. Our oldest granddaughter gave the whole family a gift by waiting until today to announce that she had been accepted to her first choice for college, Mary Washington University in Virginia. 

    We had one scare. Our grandson who has mobility issues, took a spill today and had to go to the emergency room. Luckily, the wait was not too bad, and he didn't break anything, so it worked out mostly OK. He's a stoic guy. One of the funniest moments of the holiday happened yesterday when he and I were in the living room of my mother-in-law's house. I thought I overheard Wonder Woman telling the story of one of my less than stellar moments from the kitchen, where she was making giant pans of lasagna with her sister. I asked my grandson, "Is you Nana talking junk about me in there?" He didn't crack a smile, but there was a gleam in his eye as he gave me three very solemn nods to affirm my suspicions.

    Like many folks at my age, my greatest joy during the holidays is enjoying my family. A day like today was just about perfect. We had a fantastic Christmas dinner. We discussed the past and the future and laughed and laughed. My granddaughter made delicious deserts that fit everyone's diet requirements. For Wonder Woman and my daughter, that means gluten-free. For me, it just means that there is room on my plate.

    In the coming days, I'll visit with my Dad to help him with some end of year computer tasks. I have family visiting from out of state, tickets for the new Bob Dylan biopic and reservations for a getaway in Savannah, Georgia before the New Year. My heart is full and I lack for nothing. Wherever you are, I hope you had the holiday you wanted and a time to enjoy whatever you enjoy. Merry Christmas from Wonder Woman and I!

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    2025 Goals

    IMG_8142

    Blogging

    It's still fun to me to post every day, so I don't plan to stop. I may start writing more reviews of iOS apps to mix things up. I've thought for months that'd I'd stockpile some posts or at least some ideas, but nope. Every day is a blank sheet of paper. I just come up with topics at the last minute. I need to keep better records, because I've duplicated myself a couple of times.

    Tech

    In the past 12 months, I've updated all my Apple tech: laptop, iPhone, iPad and watch. I'm going to have to come up with a fancy excuse to get anything major in 2025. I'd love to get a Mac Mini or another machine to set up as a self-hosting device and/or Plex server. Unlike a lot of people, I operate solely from a laptop at home with no external monitor or keyboard. Wonder Woman would beat me to death if I insisted on setting up a desk in another room.

    As a Citizen

    I will continue to be an outspoken and vocal critic of the MAGA movement in every possible venue. I will not let pro-Trump speech go unchallenged in my presence. I'm not going to obsess over the news or watch the daily clown show, but I will stay informed. I will financially support civil liberties organizations

    Professionally

    My goal at work is to continue to show up as long as it's tolerable. I had to deal with a couple of crazy rude staff members this year. Time will tell if the administration adequately dealt with that behavior or if it will be culturally tolerated. I'm there to help people. I enjoy it, but I'm way past the point in my life where I have to deal with nutjobs.

    Travel

    I have a standing offer to go to the Alps with Wonder Woman, but I have to up my walking ability first. She knows my mountain climbing days are behind me but she wants me to be able to go for walks along river banks and around lake sides. I'd also like to make a trip to Austin where my son lives.

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    My Reaction To Your Reaction

    Me and Wonder Woman

    As the calendar year winds down, so does the end of my first year of regular blogging since the 90s. I started off sporadically, mostly writing about tech. I eventually began reviewing apps, something I still do - every single day for the last 265 days. In March I branched out into more personal, autobiographical stuff. Because that still wasn't enough to keep me busy, and because I got a free domain name, I started a links blog in June to share the interesting things I find online, hoping to find other people who are interested in similar things. I didn't have any idea if what I had to say would click with anyone. Lot's of people I follow on Mastodon are comp sci majors involved in advanced development and I'm just a guy who hangs out in the server room. I also started blogging immediately after discovering the current iteration of the indyweb, without spending any time learning the culture or the unwritten rules. In the end, everything worked out. The developer folks with the giant brains appreciate hearing about cool apps. The indyweb at large seems to have one over arching rule, try to be a good person.

    Based on Mastodon comments, emails and some rudimentary analytics, these are the posts that resonated the most with people this year..

    Non-Toxic Masculinity - My most widely read post was about my journey as an adult to redefine was masculinity means.

    When I was younger, I was attracted to traditional masculine roles and activities. I played high school football. I enlisted in the infantry. My first civilian job after that was working in a men's prison. It's not that I now feel like any of those are bad things, necessarily, but I don't need all that testosterone fueled chest thumping and the intimidation and violence that go with them in order to feel like I'm a real man, whatever that means.

    The Perfect Blogger I like to wite about the experience of being a part of this community and y'all seem to like to read about it. This post got a lot of reaction.

    It's not that I want to see myself in every blogger, quite the contrary. I want to read women bloggers, trans bloggers, POC, millennials, Gen Z, international writers. I want to make my world bigger.

    My Partner - It really made me happy that people liked this appreciation piece I wrote about Wonder Woman, my wife, Carol. I frequently mention her and I wanted folks to know why. I think I succeeded.

    She has good genes does my wife. She is a careful eater and a devout exerciser. In her late 50s with 13 grandchildren, she doesn't appear to have aged a day from when I met her at a hundred-mile bicycle ride in 2011

    The most popular posts from my links blog were ones I compiled of topics that the blogging community appreciates.

    For Linkblog Fans - a collection of places where folks share the best of the Interent with each other

    OMG.LOL is the Best Thing on the Internet - the home of my Mastodon instance, /now page and about page is awesome and if you don't have an omg.lol account, you should.

    Some Advice on Not Drinking - This was a no-judgment zone with some practical advice for anyone who wants to avoid alcohol for a night or for a lifetime, written from the heart.

    For my fellow App Addicts, these were the most widely read reviews from 2024. People were really curious about these programs. This blog by far is the one people read the most with 280,000 hits since March. I'm happy to have the experience of writing for a wide audience and to share my hobby and experience with the world. I hope I have helped people.

    FreeTube - Maybe the Most Underrated App | AppAddict

    Applite - An App Store for Homebrew | AppAddict

    ToyViewer - A Preview Replacment | AppAddict

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    Opting Out of Pop Culture

    PopCulture

    Disclaimer: I do not think people who have a lot of pop-culture knowledge are bad or that they are wrong for being familiar with things I know nothing to little about. Don't @ me.

    I will admit to being mostly ignorant of pop culture, mostly because of avoidance. I don't think I've watched a network television show since season 2 of Survivor, and that's been more than twenty years ago. Furthermore, I haven't listened to a commercial radio station by my choice since high school. I was excited when Christopher Reeves made the first Superman movie in the 80s, but I've just about totally opted out of the entire Marvel Comic Universe. This means I've missed most, if not all, the top-grossing movies of all time.

    I'm not a total cultural Luddite. We subscribe to most of the streaming channels and regularly watch them, but I opt for as much British TV as I can get (but not Doctor Who). I never watch the Superbowl or the World Series or the NBA Finals. The best I can do is catch a few stages of the Tour de France every July. I recently saw Gladiator 2 and today, Wonder Woman bought us tickets to see the new Bob Dylan biopic starring that kid they hold lookalike contests to match.

    I rarely read books published within the last year unless I receive one as a gift. Beyond that, I love to read book reviews and keep up with what's hot but surfing the Internet has ruined my concentration skills and sitting still with a novel is just an advanced form of torture these days. I find a lot of modern fiction to be pretentious and difficult to read anyway. I'd rather stick with golden age science fiction or a good detective novel.I enjoy non-fiction, but that's hardly pop culture, is it?

    What interests me not at all is celebrity news and gossip. I do not care one whit who is married to whom. I might pay attention if one of them says something political, just to make sure I don't give a conservative any of my money or brain space. So yes, I know about James Woods, Jon Voight, Kelsey Grammar, and people like that. I don't like them. I like folks like Bruce Springsteen and Beyoncé who, although they probably have no clue anymore what regular people are like, are still loyal to us when it comes to our country's leadership.

    The closest I get to discovering new music is through Apple Music playlists. The genres I like are (other than classic rock) Americana, Alt-Country and Folk. Occasionally, they'll add in a group new to me or songs from after I stopped buying music, which was approximately 2006. Wonder Woman makes me listen to Nickelback and that red-headed English guy and various late-stage music that I occasionally enjoy, but not enough to learn anything about them.

    Don't try to talk to me about super-hero movies or any of the other franchise series like Mission Impossible of the one where Vin Diesel drives cars. My eyes will glaze over, and I will move away from you. I don't know anything about Harry Potter apart from that the woman who wrote the books is a TERF bully who picks on Olympic athletes. I can possibly name one or two people from YouTube (Mr. Beast and PewDiePie)and one from TikTok (Gerron, the funny Irish guy). These days, I hardly even know any podcasters because I no longer have a commute where I can listen to what they produce.

    I hope we can still be friends.

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    The Joys of Being a Grownup

    crop

    I cringe whenever I hear some uninformed person going on and on about how easy people in prison have it. “They have it made. They get three hots and a cot and free medical care!” Never mind all the danger, the loss of freedom and the monotony, one thing prison does is infantilize the incarcerated. It takes away many of the privileges of adulthood.

    When I was a kid, I wanted to be grown so badly. I loved talking to adults and hanging out with them when I could. Being an adult looked like the greatest thing in the world. You escaped from the dictatorship of your parents and your school, and you got to do whatever you want. I could not wait. I didn't even make it to the end of my senior year of high school under the umbrella of my family. Furthermore, I joined the military and left for basic training nine days after I graduated. Of course, that experience didn't involve a lot of freedom, but you definitely got treated like an adult. I got married a week after I finished that experience and by the end of the year, I had my own place, an income, and the freedom I always wanted.

    Of course, commensurate with freedom comes responsibility, but I'm feeling hedonistic tonight, so I am concentrating on the freedom aspect of it. The true freedom doesn't come until your kids are out of the house and self-supporting. In fact, I would say that true freedom doesn't really occur until near the end of your days as a wage slave.

    As I was nearing the end of my career, I'd been at my job for over a quarter of a century. I earned the maximum number of annual leave days each year that one can earn, and I never, ever, ever let any of those days go unused. I also had a huge number of sick days on the balance sheet. Every morning, I had the freedom to decide, “Do I want to go to work today?” I wasn't in the habit of abusing my privilege. I had people I cared about relying on me, but I knew in the back of my head that I could have a mental health day whenever I needed.

    Other wonderful adult privileges I appreciate to this day or deciding when I want to go to sleep and when I wish to wake up. I had an enforced bedtime past my 18th birthday, and I hated it. I love to read, and being able to continue a book at night in a dark house while everyone else is sleeping is just divine. Likewise, although I do have to be at work on time, I can still get up as early as I want to be on my computer or sleep until the last minute. Nobody is the boss of me! We have to be grateful for things like that after being mandated by parents, our children and other circumstances.

    Unlike prison inmates or soldiers, I can choose to wear whatever I want. I do the Steve Jobs thing where in public I go with the same style of pants and a black shirt every day. It's not a uniform, it's just easy, and I've been like that for years. At home, I opt for comfort and tend to hold on to shorts and sweatpants until they disintegrate. 

    Oh — there's food too. I grew up in one of those “you have to eat everything on your plate” houses. There were only a few things I didn't care for, but my Mom made them anyway. I haven't had to eat a serving of green English peas since 1979. I'll never eat them again, either. I don't even have to worry about being a good example to my kids anymore. I can have cereal for supper and pizza for breakfast and no one is going to stop me because I am a gown-ass man and I can do what I want, and I love it.

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