Tomorrow is Septuagesima Sunday and that makes this a perfect time to set up my 2020 Lenten Project. To help me hold to my Lenten discipline, I've downloaded the free Habitshare app to my Android phone (see the #screenshot above) and entered Daily Prayer as my first “habit” – a discipline I want to maintain throughout Lent.
Yesterday I caught a YouTube broadcast of Dr. Taylor Marshall with Dan Burke. Dan explained toward the end of that show how he and others used the social aspect of the #Habitshare app to help build and maintain good habits.
The social aspect of Habitshare, giving and receiving support from friends who also use the app, is one of its strong points. The app can be operated in a private mode, in which one uses it to record progress but chooses not to add friends, and not share any data with anybody.
Since I've just now set up my Habitshare, I don't yet have any friends to share it with. Do you have the Habitshare app on your Android or iPhone, and would you be interested in sharing a similar project with me? Let me know, okay?
#SeniorLiving #SevenTwoProject #Lent
by Roscoe
My early generation Bose Wave Radio is back at my bedside after a six-year absence. And this makes me SO happy:
I've always been a radio listener, preferring that over TV viewing in most instances. And this little unit has been my favorite since first purchased many years ago.
For the last six years I've loaned it to Sylvia to provide background music in her seamstress shop downtown. Now that she's closed that shop, my Bose is back home. And I'm listening to it play the local classical music station as I sit here in my home office typing this post. Sweet!
Oh, that little yellow radio sitting on top of the Bose? That's my Sangean DT-400W, a fine pocket-sized AM-FM portable. Highly recommended.
#SevenTwoProject #photograph #radio #personal
by Roscoe
Much handier than spreading note cards over a big empty table top (which I don't have anyway) is VYM software. It helps me keep up with the details of a big project.
The big project in this case is my impending move to the Phillipines from South Texas later this year. I check the mind map generated by VYM at least once a day, in the morning when I set my daily chores, and often in the evening during my nightly review.
The Mind Map seen at the top of this post shows the state of the project as of today. The move itself will take place this Summer, most likely in August.
#SevenTwoProject #SeniorLiving #MindMap #planning
by Roscoe
Yesterday I set up a personal chat channel / server in the Discord universe, another door opened into my online presence. Basically, just because I could.
Chat rooms on the Internet are interesting places and I've visited many over the decades. Usually I lurk until I become too offended by the obnoxious behavior of the trolls or idiots that frequent such places, then I quietly leave.
Some well-moderated rooms, especially those that focus on a particular theme or purpose, contain polite, knowledgeable dialog among members. Those are pleasant places to visit. I've found a few like that over the years, and have even served as room moderator at the request of the room owners occasionally.
Recently I've been waiting for a certain social media platform which shall remain unnamed to restart its chat room feature. That platform has promised restart deadlines over and over again which have not yet been met. Very frustrating, that.
My setting up this Hey Roscoe chat room is probably mostly a reaction to that frustration. I don't really expect anyone (other than me) to ever visit it. But... there it is.
Posting the screenshot above is part of my SevenTwo Project for this week.
#personal #screenshot #SevenTwoProject
by Roscoe
I am scheduled to be the Lector at this evening's Mass, so this morning I practice the readings.
With the day's first coffee in the mug before me, my book is opened to the Mass readings and I read them aloud, over and over so my mouth will become familiar with saying the words, with phrasing the sentences properly.
Some Lectors prefer to do the Readings cold, to wait until they're standing in front of the Church with the big Missal book open before they look at the verses they're going to read. I am not one of those!
Given the condition of my vision (glaucoma and compound cataracts in both eyes) it's never certain that I'll be able to see the words on the page when I have to read them. It is more than a little scary to be standing in front of everyone, with the book open and microphone turned on, and have the words in front of me begin to fade in and out of focus and swim around like fish in a bowl. Yes, that happens to me sometimes.
By practicing the readings before hand, by becoming used to saying what I have to say, I'm more relaxed when I'm up in front of the microphone and better able to work through whatever trickery the old eyeballs may pull.
So I practice.
#SevenTwoProject #photograph #coffee #Catholic #book
by Roscoe
We had a lot of fun at last night's party for the Knights of Columbus Assembly to which I belong. There was a good meal served, a chance to visit with good friends in a relaxed setting, music playing, raffles. She and I each won a raffle prize, by the way. Sylvia even got to do some line dancing.
#SeniorLiving #SevenTwoProject #fun #party #photograph
by Roscoe
... I'm finally ready to start transcribing.
Last week at our monthly business meeting the Recorder (Recording Secretary) was absent and I was asked to take the minutes of the meeting. Though that's a chore I don't particularly enjoy, (honestly, who does?), I agreed to do it.
While the meeting is in progress I do two things: I run a voice recorder app on my phone, and I take down notes with pen on paper. Then, when I can find a solid block of uninterrupted time in my home office, I'll: 1.) copy the recorded audio file onto my computer, 2.) open a template in my word processor, 3.) set my handwritten notes nearby for ready reference, and 4.) begin transcribing the minutes of the meeting into the word processor as I listen to the audio.
The photo above shows the tools all in place and ready for me to start. Sometimes I can breeze through the process and have an acceptable draft of the minutes ready to print in just a few short hours. Other times... well, I hope this will be one of the easy times. But with my glaucoma and cataracts acting up, this could take a few days.
#SevenTwoProject #SeniorLiving #health #personal #chores
by Roscoe
... sort of.
Insomnia has always been something I've had to deal with. Waking in the middle of the night has become such a frequent habit for me that I've come to think of myself as a natural segmented-sleeper.
Often I'll put head to pillow by 10:00 PM or so, wake fully after about three or four hours, then spend another hour or two working at the keyboard or surfing the Internet before falling asleep again. With two alarms set, one for 5:00 AM and the second for 6:00 AM, to ensure I'm awake enough to start the coffee and wake up the wife and help her so she can be at work on time, I'm hard-pressed to get the seven or eight hours of sleep I need. Especially if my “insomnia break” lasts longer than two hours, as it frequently does.
If I eat too much too close to bedtime, my insomnia will be accompanied by a touch of indigestion. That's why the “Antacid” tablets are on the table near my bed. Chewing a few will sometimes help me fall asleep again.
And during the allergy season these insomnia episodes are often accompanied by purely evil sinus woes. Hence the allergy pills are kept close, too.
These over-the-counter medicines don't always put me back to sleep, but sometimes they do.
#SevenTwoProject #SeniorLiving #personal #health
by Roscoe
Yesterday I received a text message from the Grand Knight of my Knights of Columbus Council here in San Antonio, TX. He told me about a temporary situation our Council is facing and asked me, as one of his officers, for my help. Of course, I told him I'd be happy to help.
This morning I found the above image sent to me by a brother Knight in the Philippines. It's the cover of a publication from his District pertaining to their mid-year organizational meeting. God willing, I'll be meeting some of my brother Knights of the Visayas Jurisdiction later this year when I'm in Cebu City.
Whether I'm here in South Texas, or 8,500 miles away in the Philippines, I'll be connected to and working with my brother Knights. It is comforting to know that.
#SevenTwoProject #SeniorLiving #personal #KnightsOfColumbus
by Roscoe
Over all the years (decades) that I've been playing chess I've belonged to a number of chess clubs. As primarily a Correspondence Chess (CC) player, I welcomed the time long ago when we changed the method of sending our moves to each other by post cards sent over postal mail, to using server-based Internet chess clubs.
lichess.org is the server-based Chess Club where I play all my CC games now. And today I started another game there, opening with my White pawn to the Queen's four square.
This screen shot of my opening move is the second and final entry of this week's #SevenTwoProject
by Roscoe