Robins and snow

We just had a little bit of snow a few minutes ago.  Nothing much.  It would be easy to miss.  We have plenty of robins and until today, we had a warm spell.  Warmth melts the snow and water seeping down makes the earthworms come to the surface.  That is where the robins find and eat them.  We are seeing tiny bits of green leaves appear.

Do it from here

I went to grad school at the beginning of the current digital age. I have seen how more and more of our lives involve electronic ways of doing things, from flirting to shopping.  That tends to mean less need for travel and gasoline but also less need for movement and using our bodies in ways other than punching keys.

Sorry, Sir, Knowing myself is not possible

There are too many components in me and way too many unknowns.  I am learning about all sorts of unanswered questions about what is in the air I breathe and what effects they have or don't have on me.  My wife tells me about things that happened on trips we took together that I don't remember.

You may remember that an early Greek philosopher said that a basic principle in life is "Know thyself".  I agree that knowing myself is a good goal and is something to work toward.  However, that goal is not actually achievable.  Being beyond me doesn't mean that I should not work toward self knowledge but it does mean I am not going to get there.

Clock-watching

Here is a link to a results page for a search for "clock-watching." t.ly/WQyqx

 I think I could be termed a clock-watcher.  I tend to anticipate a coming event.  I often get ready too early but I picture being just on time, not early.  I tend to compare clocks around the house and other sources of the current time, such as internet-connected devices and the web page at time.gov.  

I have seen cartoons about being late and the difficulties such a habit can create but I haven't seen much about being early.

I was impressed by a grad school course that was about human minds and habits when the subject of astronomical observations came up.  The personal differences in habits and speed of recognition and recording an event needed to be recognized.

A vote for Mary's books

I am reading "Replaceable You" by Mary Roach aloud while Lynn does jigsaw puzzles.  Mary's books are unusual, witty and informative.  "Replaceable You" covers parts of the human body that get replaced, sometimes successfully and sometimes not.  "Bonk" is about human sexual intercourse, that important process that made us.  

I like Amazon Kindle ebooks.  They are virtually weightless, immediately available, arrive as a sort of phone call. Many of my friends dislike ebooks for lack of heft or scent or simply being electronic instead of paper.

I look up things

But I often find that whatever I used as a search term, there happens to be a band by that name.  Pages and pages of where I can get recordings of them, what happened to them, where there are memorials to them.

When I asked myself what do I remember of the many poems of Ogden Nash that I read, the "Don't anther" poem of yesterday came to mind eventually.  But the first thing was one of his "Strange Case" poems.  It is the one about a married couple who get off on boredom and travel the world seeking boring experiences.  It turns out that somebody made a movie, a cartoon based on his idea.  So, instead of pages and pages related to a band, I got pages and pages of info on the cartoon: cast, artists, producers, etc.  Never found a clean copy of Mr. Donnybrook's Boredom.

Off to college

Our older greatgranddaughter plans to attend college in the fall.  She is intelligent, imaginative and energetic.  I wouldn't be too surprised if she shines there.  

When I was her age, I thought plenty about the war going on.  I didn't feel I had shown any special ability for military service.  Both my homeroom teacher and my guidance counselor went out of their way to advise me to go to college.  I had thought I might be destined to be a psychotherapist and public school teaching seemed similar and within my budget.  I hadn't planned on the largely female group of students.  There were pretty, intelligent, attractive women everywhere.

I can recall the instant my daughter drove off in our car to investigate college.  It was an emotional moment for me.  I have learned that college can be a doorway into adult life.  It certainly was for me.

Can you feel it?

I was ready to write today about spring beginning tomorrow.  I went to look up the time of the equinox and was surprised to read that it was just an hour or so away. Spring began today at 9:46 CDT.  You may be on some other time that US central daylight but here it is spring.  Feels that way, too.  Despite deep snow outside, it is reported to be 53°. 

Poetry

From an ad, I was reminded of the poetry and word gymnastics of Ogden Nash.  I spent quite a bit of time enjoying his silly poems like "The Strange Case of Mr. Donnybrooks's Boredom".  One of his poems I liked so much, I memorized it:

If called by a panther,

Don't anther!

Now, aren't you glad you read that?  Just a moment of reading and it may have saved you a serious injury or worse.

It is Daisy Goodwin whose books "101 Poems that Could Save Your Life" and "Poems to Get You Through the Day (and the Night)" got me into poetry memories.

Interface interference

Somebody designs a handy web page with handy buttons here and there which can be clicked on to produce handy results.  I learn to use it and I am delighted.  What a fine product that company produces!

Then Smarty in the back office does a study.  Is the color of the page improveable?  Do fewer errors occur when the diddling-do switch button is moved to the other side?  Can we fit more helpful buttons up in that corner if we make all the buttons half size?  Results of the study come in and they imply that a few changes to the design of the page will result in faster production of the product and 20% more adoptions.

Result: Smarty gets a bonus but I get frustrations and more errors.  I had enough errors before but now I get more.

Note to Smarty,

Hands off the interface!