You're Doing It Wrong

This bus was parked by my bus with the “wrong code” display for a couple of days in a row. Every once in a while the bus will show up downtown with the wrong display and we give the driver a hard time (in a teasing way.)

Sometimes I intentionally pick shorter books to read — it’s the same feeling of accomplishment as reading a long book but doesn’t take as long. You can make progress on the to read pile. You can jump into the world of a book and then be done and jump into a new one in a day or two.

Here are some ideas for short books:

Elizabeth Strout is a great writer and her novels are usually pretty quick. Example: My Name is Lucy Barton

T Kingfisher — I just finished What Moves the Dead which is delightfully creepy and quick to read. Nettle and Bone is also really good.

Seanan McGuire — the Wayward Children books. I don’t know how many there are. I’ve read at least 5. They are about the children in portal stories where the portal doesn’t always lead to some magical place where they save the day and all their dreams come true.

Martha Wells – Murderbot — I think there are 5 and a 6th one coming out any minute. If you haven’t read Murderbot, drop everything and go find a Murderbot book. The first one is All Systems Red. The books are funny with action and set in space. I would start re-reading all the books this second if I didn’t have 300 books in my to read pile.

Becky Chambers – Monk & Robot books. I’m reading #2 right now. The Ted Lasso of speculative fiction books. Of the first one I said, “If a book was a cup of hot soup and a buttered roll on a cold winter’s night, this would be it.”

If I was clever I would link these to something but I am writing all these posts in about 3 minutes so they are slopped together. xo!

A couple of weeks ago when I was at the office all by myself I heard thumping outside.

They wash the windows outside at least a couple of times a year plus they send us a notice when it’s going to happen so it wasn’t a complete surprise. But it’s still a little unnerving to see some guy hanging from a rope swinging back and forth and scrubbing your windows.

I guess they had to finish the next day and the washers were out there in the early morning in the dark. I hope they get paid well.

The other thing about this picture is my diplomas. A college diploma and my paralegal certificate. I asked the law clerk if I should throw them away when I retire.

She was horrified. But no one has ever asked me for them or looked at them. If if they did, it was 25 years ago.

Not retiring yet so I can decide later.

Generated with AI ∙ October 9, 2023 at 7:41 AM

At some point this summer I turned a corner when it comes to comfortable shoes.

I loved a stiletto heel back in the day (the 80s) and don’t remember complaining about heels in general.

But for many years now I have prioritized comfort over fashion so I don’t have uncomfortable shoes anymore.

One day, I realized my “athletic” shoes were ancient and needed replacing. I put athletic in quotes because I don’t do anything athletic in them. Walking around the neighborhood and including a hill is my big workout.

I went to a shoe store with the word “comfort” as part of their logo. There, they have people who know what they’re doing to help you find something good. The shoes they recommended are brilliant. They are New Balance and I think maybe subtitled something like: Comfort Foam. I did not understand how comfortable shoes could be until I bought these.

Shortly after that I had a gift card that needed to be used and I got another pair of amazing slip-on shoes No laces. Super comfy (Ecco).

Now my shoes must be at the highest level of comfort. I want my feet encased in super soft but also supportive pillows. They can look dowdy. Don’t care.

Throughout the year I keep a file on my phone where I jot down any ideas (I think “capture” is the word the kids use these days. I capture any ideas…) that I get for a post. It’s more like files, really. On my phone, on my laptop, on the desktop of my home computer. In a text file on the office computer. On an actual scrap of paper or little notebook I keep by the bed.

I even bought a note taking app so I could use hashtags and sync my notes over all my devices except the app maker stopped support for everything but the latest operating systems and a few years ago I gave up updating my operating system every year. It seemed like a giant project that didn’t measurably improve my life. Dumped that app and use Apple notes.

My laptop uses an ancient operating system because I have some old programs that won’t run on new ones.

Back to my blog post notes. I keep them but rarely use them. Until November.

Then, when I’m committed to 30 in 30, I search the notes and inevitably the note will say something like: clock tower, funny bird, 2 cars.

I won’t remember what that means.

I love this so much.

We took over doing Dad’s laundry so we fold his shirts now. I don’t bleach them every time but I try to keep them as sparkling white as he likes them. We also don’t fold them quite this good.

I guess we should borrow the board or fold them when we get there so they are perfect.

One of the get togethers with the wedding couple took place at the Getty. (I just typo’d that “the Garry” and was tempted to leave it.)

This is this a beautiful setting in LA. I don’t know what you would call the area — Getty hill.

You park in a structure and then take a little tram up the hill.

Look at this view. You can see all around from the ocean and if you could move around to the left: Century City, downtown. Probably other landmarks that I don’t recognize or no longer know the name of.

The museum seems fantastic, too, but we were so busy visiting with everyone that we never managed to get in there. I do have regrets about this but now we have an excuse for another visit.

I wish I had some good wedding photos but ours were weak and my pleading with friends to share has so far not produced too many. Trust me, it was a good party.

Here are Bob and I up at City Walk with King Kong.

Our hotel in LA was right next to the LA River.

Don’t you love it? I remember LA got a lot of heavy rains sometime this year and I was curious what it was like out there.

We did another thing I never thought I’d do: take an underground in LA.

I don’t know how long it’s been running but all the cars look like they were shipped in from Used and Beat Up Metro Cars, Inc. As soon as you get on the announcement says not to take out any money or valuables and to call the police if anything happens. Then they give the number.

There was a police presence around the metro station as well and I did not feel unsafe.

We exited at Hollywood and Highland which is where my workplace was way back in the late 80s. Hollywood is not any more glamorous than it was back then but some of the seedier tableaus aren’t that far off from what I’ve seen in downtown Portland lately which is super sad to say. We walked around the old office building which is behind razor wire and the front door and loading dock were all bricked up.

We hopped on a bus and went to the Academy Museum where we saw a terrific exhibit about John Waters and Sophia Coppola doing a signing for her book.

These are heirloom lavender poppies. My sister-in-law gave me the seeds and I love these flowers. They re-seed but I’ve been helping them in the hopes of getting more blooms.

I loathe the NextDoor app except that there is often information that is relevant to the neighborhood that I like to have access to. And also sometimes I want to sell or give something away and I don’t do any other apps so for the time being I use this app.

But if I spend more than 5 minutes a day on it, all I do is mute people and think ungenerous thoughts about my neighbors.

I’m always fascinated by the people who show up on the app and then after one day, they have some super terrible tragedy and link to a GimmeMoney app. It’s a good grift because there are always people who want to give them money. They’re grown-ups. It’s their money. But seems like better ways to help people out.