Learn our secret plan so you can too! — It’s been nineteen years since our younger daughter laid out the outline for holiday shopping that we have used ever since. Her genius, inherited from her loving parents, has allowed all of us to complete our shopping long before most of the frazzled masses have even begun. The details can…

Making their and your life easier — My wife is not severely disabled, but she does need help from me, so I have found several hacks that help both of us. The first one is visible in the main photo above. It’s a little white motion sensor that I can easily program to alert me to motion…

My sixth-grade class honors our retiring teacher — I’m not sure what the official name was for my first-grade class. This was in the 1950's when the term “retarded” may not have been viewed as shockingly incorrect as it is now. Perhaps they called us slow learners. If most of my classmates were evaluated today, they’d be seen…

Even more astonishing, he’s a Trumper — I met Steve when I hired him to remove a Whirlpool tub in our bathroom. We never would have ordered such a thing, but someone else had specced out this house but couldn’t qualify for a mortgage. …

It’s more than you might think — When I worked at an Apple store after retiring, I’d often try to introduce my customers to Apple Card. Most immediately rejected my sales pitch. Their body language was definite, with some even holding up a palm to push away any further discussion. I get it. It seems like everywhere…

What a brilliant idea! — My most favorite podcast is Mac Geek Gab, a weekly potpourri of Apple tips, computer gear, and more. As they themselves say, you don’t need to be a geek to listen, but if you listen long enough, you might become one. This week I was especially interested because a listener…

Ten years from now, I’ll know where it is — I use IOS Notes and its Scan function to save many things like book covers, manuals, warranties, receipts, medical records… and it’s all searchable! But here’s a tip that I wish I had thought of years ago. Yesterday I made a new Notes folder called “Where Did I put it”. …

Because it’s worse for both of you — This morning I read “Questions from an Unsuitable Caregiver” by Orrin Onken. Orrin asks a number of partly tongue in cheek questions about caring for a partner with a chronic disease. He asks questions such as “Should dinner be what the cared for person wants to eat or what the…

Lessons learned from my mom getting scammed — I am learning so many lessons about finance and fraud that I never wanted to know. My mom has been attacked and scammed out of most of her money. She didn’t have much to begin with but it is still a tangled web to unweave. Just three weeks ago I…

Don’t mess with Tony — Kids can be cruel. Socialization tames most of us eventually, but at my elementary school playground of the early nineteen fifties, only the presence of teachers prevented us from devolving into savagery, and the teachers couldn’t watch everyone at once. I am and was a wise ass. To be more…

New floor, new carpet — We are having new carpet put into two rooms this week. …

Or whatever thing it is that you want to get better at — I was broken for a few months last year. It wasn’t COVID, though some of the symptoms made me very suspicious of that. One of the more annoying things was that I lost strength. I struggled to do three pull-ups and six or seven push-ups were all I could squeeze…

Dennis and I against the rest — We didn’t have a proper baseball field. Nor were we playing baseball; it was softball, with its larger and softer ball, heavier as well, hard for anyone to hit very far, never mind scrawny sixth graders in 1958. No, our field was just a grass field, sunk lower behind the…

I came across DoneIt when it was very new and very rough — I live by a to-do chore list. It’s not that I wouldn't remember to do these things. I would certainly remember all the daily tasks and even most of the weekly ones, but I might not remember them until later in the day. So I list them and check them…

And good riddance regardless of the cost — Our home in our new retirement community came with a whirlpool tub. …

Don’t go quietly into that good night — Shower between 9 and 10 am; the water pressure is better. But if you aren’t going out, why shower at all? Or get dressed? It saves on laundry. Shop mid-week when the stores are less crowded. Advanced shopping tip: you don’t need to shower for Walmart, and you barely need…

Your beast of burden awaits your command — My poor wife has fallen so many times in the past six years that we have lost count. I think it’s somewhere between 14 and 18 times, some accompanied by broken bones, but every one adding to her pain and disability. It started at a garden place. I had stayed…

100% — I know it’s corny, but that’s what my Grandma said before she left us and moved to Australia with her lover. We lived in Hungary and didn’t have much money, so it felt like a last farewell. It was. She died two years later, killed in a car accident with…

The darling emperor of the productivity pundits has no clothes — Which 20 percent of sources are causing 80 percent of my problems and unhappiness? Which 20 percent of sources are resulting in 80 percent of my desired outcomes and happiness? — Tim Ferriss, The 4-Hour Work Week Wouldn’t it be nice if we could answer these questions easily? The 80/20…

The truth about stars and the power of one 15-year-old girl — Chickens are unable to see in the dark. As soon as evening comes, they head up to their roosting spots to protect themselves from unseen dangers. Because of this, chickens are not very advanced in the field of astronomy. …