TubaOrNotTuba

Back when I was in the band. It is not what you think. My band had, typically more than 50 people at a shot and we were not terribly popular nor did we become rich and famous. However, I have been listening to a number of interviews given by people who were in bands in the traditional sense. Rock bands. Today in part because there’s a new book coming out, I ended up with a series of moments with people who are famous on the Canadian rock pantheon. And it was highly interesting. Those people live a life very different from my own but eventually we all must retire. And culture would have it that we write a memoir. Now just to keep us on track here I am not starting my memoir. At least not this year. I have been colouring the set of skills required though. If you write or talk every day and you take the time to record what you’ve written or said you end up with a great pile of content. There might not be anybody else interested but just in case. After all being in a band is its own reward. Do I miss my time in the band sitting on my throne? Yes, but then I’m the one that shifted from the throne to a chair. A tuber is heavy and awkward. And would I go back to being the tuba player? Yes, because I could then turn that into a chapter in my eventual memoirs. Hang in there. I have lots of expectations for the life ahead of me. Expectations are not plans. And if you ever come across a book in the discard pile at your local bookstore that talks about life as a tuba player it could be me. Or even worse the drummer who changed to the tuba chair.

As a self-directed learner I have come to realize two things. I am my own best student and my own worst teacher. Sure, some skills come quickly but others even with a lifetime never get to the point where you are satisfied. Lately I have been paying attention to music and speaking. Both are skills that I have to a certain degree but I’ve set the standard rather high. I have been listening to musicians of an international caliber and I realized that I will not be joining their ranks. As for speech I am getting better at understanding and we know that there comes a time when you need to find a better teacher then yourself. I can still read slowly and I can guess the pronunciations and I do listen but my level of practice is very very low. Perhaps if I open the door and talk to that fox outside yet signs of understanding. Much like a dog but with a different heritage. You can see that I’ve not got this all figured out. Maybe I should just be content with just skills I have mastered. Try to refine them. But a little feedback goes a long way. I guess what I want to say is is self-directed learning is wonderful in principle but it falls short. So let’s look at other things. Temperatures are back into double digits. I had this great fear at the line will start to grow again with all that is entailed. Can we just get some snow in here and slow things down a little bit. I mean, the big green machine is still parked outside but I can fix that. You know, a little push and shove, I probably get the beast inside the garage even if it has a flat tire at the moment. Anyhow we’re halfway through November and there is probably a song about that and I can say this sentence in several languages so all is good.

How much do I miss being at work? Actually, I do not. Some things that I did on a day-to-day basis have not been part of my routine for almost a decade period time goes by fast. However, certain part of our lifestyle have been with us for too long. Among others, windows. With a capital W. The operating system that has taken over the western world. And it has bugs. Which never seemed to go away. They just change places so that when you go to find them again you have to rethink the system. We managed to pick up some kind of an aggravation to our DNS service. In through one of those cracks in the wall, we ended up being re-directed to some spam page. And, we’ve been fighting our way out of that swamp for months. Today in one of my more stubborn motions I removed the network services tab from the system profile. If you have never gone there do not. All of my information is two operating system versions old. I made it all the way to seven and I think we’re now on 10. The names are similar but you have to dig deeply to find what you’re looking for. And since I cannot read the screen I have to give clues to someone else and let them go through the weeds. Right now the main desktop computer in the house seems to be back in business. Probably not for long because this is something that we do not know where the bug came from. But I am less cautious than I used to be and I’m willing to go down pass I would normally have only taken if I could see where I was going. That option is gone. What it means is that I am thankful with a capital T to be no longer in the workplace. What I took as routine back then is now something I only have to worry about every decade or so. If I live long enough I will see other versions of the operating system and I remain confident that somewhere underneath will be the same machine that was presented to the world back in 1985. Something like that. For those who say why not just move to a different operating system you must realize that we have a lot of time and energy invested in what we have. And when it works we are content. Collectively. Reformatting the machine and reinstalling the operating system is not among my options for right now. I have moved my focus to a tablet and it’s only when we go back to the desktop machine that we’re worried about things like does the DNS respond properly.  I told you I would be talking code. Among other events, the new snow tires are installed and the vehicle inspection has been done.

Something I had never considered. How a very small seed could be used in so many ways. In the news today a movement to bring back millet. I would not recognize a millet seed if I tripped over it although should not because it’s very small apparently. But, it grows in bad land. Dry land. And now in India they want to bring it back. Seems it can be used to make beer which is fine. But, why would it be necessary to find a new way to make beer when we already have barley. Well that’s the other part of the story. Barley is a valuable crop and right now there’s an extended war going on in a part of the world where barley is a major crash cash crop. The effect? To cause the price of barley to rise. I checked this with the family expert indeed so. Not to the point where your next case of two four will be up in price but it could happen. And so, if someone wants to bring back an old crop to do a common new job, more power to them. Apparently, we don’t grow millet around here. This is potato country. But, it could happen. I wonder if you can grow this stuff in the sand. You know like down on the beach. Worth testing out I suppose. I checked with someone else and barley will not grow in sand. Potatoes question mark maybe. I really need to bone up on my agriculture, I guess. Someday. I have no reason to go back into the world of farming. Drove by it recently.

I am aware that my lifestyle makes it seem that each day is filled with excitement. Perhaps. But some days are less shiny than others. Today I put the hose back on the reel. Yes, that same garden hose that brought in from outside frozen and wet. I left it for a day until it would flex and then, this afternoon, I put it back in its storage reel. I do not like the storage reel but it is necessary. Hoses should be free but they’re not. And so, although I could hardly see what I was doing, I stretched out the hoses, plural, and then put them back on the reel. Slowly with attention to detail and an acceptance that there would still be water in the hose that would be used to wash my feet. No shoes obviously. Wet concrete is slippery. Oh well. I now know that I have two different sections of hose and that it is really easy to get the ends mixed up. Right now due to the oversight on my part I cannot attach the spray nozzle. On some sunny day in the spring that will be sorted out. For now the reel is loaded with garden hose and it will stay inside waiting for warmer weather. It looks like all we have left to do is to move the big green machine inside and we can claim the 2023 is closed. I know, I still need to find my winter boots and myths and tuque but that is a subject for another day. I warned you. My life is filled with ups and downs and some of the downs add up. I will not get to star in a movie of the man who put the hose away.

I found myself daydreaming about public transit today. No big plans to go any place but also no way to do so. I live in a bit of a desert when it comes to public transit. Anyhow insight over the different ways I’ve used to get from place to place in my short life. If we start with the automobile there has always been one in the yard. However occur does not last forever. In fact their life tends to be rather short. Disposable if you will. I did spend several decades riding the city bus there a vehicle would be good for a couple of decades tops. I think the seats wear out. Most of the airplanes I’ve taken we’re reasonably new. A couple of decades and the companies move on to something lighter and faster and better. We have some marine transportation around here but where would I go? I do watch one boat sail past pretty much every day. But again where would I go? And then it came to me. If I had to invest money in a vehicle that would last for a long time I would follow the lead of the government and purchase a train set. Not sure why but a lot of the coaches that I traveled on when I was much younger are still in service. For the main part they were built before I was ever born. I cannot address conditions in other countries but here in Canada we try to keep everything going as long as we can and trains fit that pattern. Low friction and good motors and seats are used for short periods of time by any individual. Unless of course you decide to travel across the country which can take the better part of a week. But I do not know anyone that can afford to do that. And what about the bicycle? Well what about the bicycle? Great for going next door but all the long hauled stuff depends on the motor and I am a very unreliable motor. I know, random thoughts.

Have you ever had that feeling where you wish you had done something earlier question nothing is substantial is I wish I’d bought apple when it was worth $0.05. No let’s go with just tasks that need to be done around the yard each year. And some of these be better done in the middle of summer. I know not terribly practical but still. Today I decided to bring the garden hose inside for the winter. Currently the temperature is still above freezing barely. And so the hose sitting there with water in it has taken on and inflexibility. I wanted to drain out as much of the water as possible before moving inside but the simple act of pulling the hose from the real stretching it out and then letting the water drain left my hands indeed of warm water. Under that app kind of warm water. I suppose if you live in a place where the weather is always warm you never get to play these games. But I live in Canada. We have seasons. And the one with all the snow is just around the corner. Yes I could leave the hose outside. I mean once it’s frozen it can’t get any worse right. Well apparently it can frozen water expands and the hose while inflexible will burst. So I’ve done my little bit and the hose is now inside and sometime tomorrow it will have warmed to the point where I can reload it onto the real and say job done for 23. No I’m not going to go to an inground system nor am I going to build a building just to hold hoses. Each year I will go out curse the fates that make things so cold at this time of year and then get busy. In passing my hands have warmed back up too a fair temperature. Fine motor control is still missing but sometime around separate time that should return. I hope. I do not want to wait for spring on that one.

If you’ve been reading here for a while, you have probably learned that I have vision issues. Not so bad that I cannot find humor in life. And, along the way I discovered humor for eye doctors. To put it in a funny way they have a certain way of looking at the world. In this case I watch someone known as doctor G. I’m not going to try and spell his name for voice recognition software. Two difficult. Take it from me he has learned how to keep people laughing. Apparently it started out as an aside for his colleagues and developed into a bit of a sideline when he goes on speaking tours. Most of his work is short form no more than a moment or two just enough to get my interest however he’s recently decided to go into a longer format. Lectures, if you will, that lasts for more than 30 minutes at a time. He takes on the kind of subjects that would mainly be of interest to people learning to be an eye doctor. For the rest of us it’s just an opportunity to learn. This afternoon I finally gathered what is meant by a detached retina. Before that I learned what happens when a child pokes their finger in your eye. I will keep listening because he is decided to expand the format and each time I am sure I will learn something that will be of good interest and great knowledge. That is how he sees the world. He does dumb things down occasionally, but that probably comes from years of talking to people who had no clue what he was actually talking about. I relate to his humor and that is important to me. So if you come across skits by someone who is actually a doctor and who is trying to teach you what you don’t know already, focus on it. Make it yours. I imagine there are others besides doctor G but for now he provides me with what I need.