19 August 2019
Monday
Corresponded with Cliff.
Chat with RB. Had a pleasant chat with RB — it was our third or fourth, I think, and I’m happy to be in touch with her.
R is doing her new job with the council, and seems to be happy to be out of managing a group. Says she really enjoys going in to work now.
She’s had 3 days of vacation, most of which she spent working with Anna-Sophia on something involving protein alignment for a project of A-S’s. A-S is afraid she’s not going to get into medical school, but we’ll see. One of the places she’s applied to is Baylor/Rice and another is Texas A&M. She does not want to be in the same place as S, who is also interested in Rice, but, again, we will see.
RB has a birdfeeder – several, actually – and is enjoying the wildlife in her yard. She is working on getting back up to running after having injured her Achilles. We talked about Achilles stuff, and I told her about eccentric heel drops and said I’d send her something on them. I told her about the Hawaii Geology trip, and then we got into a discussion of volcanos and how hot-spot volcanos differ from rift and arc volcanos.
Tuesday
Replied to an email from Dave C. I wrote in part:
All is good here. I’ve got my first year of retirement under my belt, and it is feeling less weird… I found that it was a bit of a hit to my identity, and am still not quite sure how to answer the ‘What do you do?’ question that strangers ask. But that said, I’m quite happy, and surprisingly uninterested in remaining active (or even keeping up with) HCI.
My main project is learning piano (I’ve been at it for a bit over 2 years, having taken it up in preparation for retirement). I’m having a great time, and with virtually no prior background in music, imagine that it will occupy my mind and hands as long as they continue to function.I’ve also been taking courses — some through a lifelong learning program (i.e. for retirees), and some through the University of Minnesota (which allows those 62 and above to take courses for free). The retiree courses don’t work for me, unless the course is either very focused or have an amazing teacher… the problem is they don’t go very deep, lasting 6 lectures at the most, and do not require extra reading or homework. Thus, to my surprise, I’ve gravitated towards college courses. So far I’ve taken Geology, and probably will enroll in Forest Ecology and Meteorology for the Fall semester. All of these are selected to increase my knowledge of what I see around me when I go on hiking trips, another activity I’ve taken up.
So all of that, along with the usual reading, gardening, cooking and running, more than fill the days. I am working on launching a blog called Late Reviews, where I write reviews of favorite (and generally considerably older) books — we’ll see if that congeals or not.
Also did a few exchanges with JA on the Phantom Ranch trip. (After writing this, I did further research on the state of the trails in November, which is the next period that works for both of us. The upshot is that it will be below freezing at night, nice during the day, and that there is a possibility of ice/snow on the trail near the top. Crampons and jackets would need to come along….)
Wednesday
Got a lot of things done Wednesday. Enrolled in classes for the Fall — Forest Ecology and Meteorology, and wrote FE Professor about group work concerns due to my travel. Also pinged Kuhl about estimate, and got a reply that he will check on it. Also finished weeding the boulevard, and doing some transplanting so that the north part of the boulevaard is ready to mulch, which I will do today.
We had dinner with L & R at Lake and Irving. As before L seems cheerful, but not entirely like his old self. L is now able to walk on his own, for a several blocks, but seems a little stooped to me. It is a bit sobering to see how both Lars and RD have aged…. In a private chat with Katie at the end, R confirmed that and says its painful and that he misses L. He did say L’S memory had come back, so perhaps the missing bit of him will too.
Now (Thursday)
Both pleasant chats — CD and CAH — have canceled or deferred, so the day is open. Activities for today were piano, a run at Minihaha Creek, mulching the north boulevaard, a bike ride to Minihaha park, and more piano along with dinner (herring) on my own as Katie had a dinner with John
Fitness. I’m pleased to see my weight has just slightly dipped below 175, so I am down about 14 pounds from my peak in late April. So I am dropping 3-4 pounds a month, so if I keep it up I should be under 170 by late October (and my Yosemite trip). I am trying to keep doing the eccentric heel drops, but am a bit sporadic about that. But still, the legs in general, and the Achilles in particular, are not complaining (except the legs when I do a lot of squatting while weeding).
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