Ponderings and Musings

A number of years ago there was an Internet forum called “Topix” that was quite popular in the city we lived in at the time. The locals had found their way to this site to trash talk just about every aspect of living in the small Upstate New York city. The conversation slammed restaurants, hospitals, city officials, politicians, neighbors, friends, prostitutes, and priests. The shocking thing is a lot of this discussion named names; people’s dirty laundry was aired in an unbelievable manner. Back in the early 2010s I swore off the site as I felt that it was like walking through a sewer while wearing nothing but a fig leaf, and everyone was watching you do it.

Move ahead to 2019 and just a little bit ago I came to the realization that Twitter, at least as the way it’s represented through its algorithm to give you riveting content first, is pretty much an exercise in the same slog through the muck. Twitter became quite dank in the run up to the 2016 election, and as I think about it, probably even before then when it gave Trump a voice to carry on his Birther Conspiracy against President Obama. But revenue is revenue in the heads of many a social media CEO, and why worry about quality when you can fleece enough money from the masses and then try to cultivate a “edgy” image of a caring individual.

I’ve complained about Twitter for years but I still hold onto my original account, mainly because of the number of friends I’ve made through the haze over the years and somewhat because I wouldn’t be able to contact them any other way. In an obvious effort to rationalize my Sybil-like feels about Twitter, there is good news buried amongst the inaccurate tweets, banal memes, and reductive “analysis” that Twitter features way too often.

It’s funny that I’ve never made the comparison between that hell hole of “Topix” with Twitter, but that’s all Twitter has really become. A place where you can scream into a void and find someone that agrees with you, no matter how idiotic your screaming is (and yes, that includes my contributions to the site from time to time).

Seeing Twitter in this new light is making my gears turn again. My only concern is: where would I find access to late breaking news and how would I keep in contact with the people I have met over the years through Twitter?

I think it’s time for another Twitter-free weekend to find out.

I’m in the waiting room at Northwestern Medicine Memorial Hospital while my husband is having his second colonoscopy procedure in as many years. This procedure is a follow-up to last year’s procedure which discovered the presence of Prostate Cancer. We are hopeful that he will get a clean bill of health today.

I was telling him that Northwestern Medicine has made me the most comfortable as a patient or spouse of a patient that I’ve felt in these circumstances at any time in my life. Everyone we’ve ever been in contact with has been very professional, calm, and seemingly knowledgeable. As a geek I’m impressed with their use of technology. It appears to all be based on Microsoft technology. The presentation is simple to understand and there hasn’t been any perceived glitches. The typography of their information panels as UI is very impressive. The only thing I’m curious about is the lack of walkable computing; there are computers everywhere. I would think folks would be walking around with Microsoft Surface tablets are something. Perhaps we haven’t been in those areas of the experience yet.

A quick aside: When did we move from saying “Hello” to “This is (insert name here)” when we answer the phone? I’ve noticed that folks answering their cell phones here in the waiting room are introducing themselves with their name. Perhaps it’s because of the nature of the call. How did we ever survive without Caller ID? Remember when that was a novelty? Now it’s a given.

I have a couple of hours to wait for Earl to finish his procedure. I’m going to busy myself by doing a little work and just relaxing here in the waiting room. I love the people watching.

I look forward to the good news at the end of Earl’s procedure.

So in the first half of the 20th century we thought it was a great idea to use asbestos in our buildings. In the last half of the 20th century we decided that wasn’t such a great idea and at great expense we’ve been doing our best to get rid of it.

At one time we thought the Milky Way galaxy was it. We now know there’s billions of galaxies out there.

What makes us so cock sure that we have physics right? We know what gravity does but we don’t know why gravity does what it does. We know it’s there and we know why it’s there but we don’t know how it’s there.

It’s 1:09 PM Central as I write this. I’ve been to this Starbucks before; I’m near Logan Square. This particular clock doesn’t move and the one on the other side does its own thing, but it does move. Someday I’m going to mention to one of the baristas that I could fix these clocks for them, but then I wonder if they’re like this to prompt blog entries.

I was scheduled to fly this afternoon but it’s too windy. My husband is working the Cubs games this weekend, so I’m out exploring and getting some exercise. It’s a very relaxing weekend.

I’m still looking forward to reaching the point in my life where I can just live the way I want to without worrying about my blood pressure, my weight, how much I’m working out, how much caffeine I’m drinking, whether I should drink alcohol or not, and trying to find a moment in my diet to figure out where I can inhale the mist of a ground up cheeseburger being blown by my face without having to face the ramifications of health professionals telling me I’m obese.

I love going out with my family and friends, having a few drinks, enjoying a nice meal, and having a wonderfully relaxing experience doing so. I see people all over The Windy City doing this. They’re skinny, they’re laughing, they’re fit, they’re beautiful.

I want to smack the beers right out of their hands.

As Suzanne Sugarbaker once said, “In fact, after work I might drive my car through a Taco Bell”. I would delight in driving the Jeep physically through a Taco Bell if it knocked Gorditas and Tacos made out of Doritos and Burritos out of the hands of pretty people who can eat these things without being scolded for being overweight.

Can you tell that my annual physical is coming up soon?

As my primary physician stabs at the computer, reviews the meds I have to take to extend my life, and then draws vials of blood to make sure I don’t have worms or something, he’ll tell me that I’m overweight and I should do something about it. I should exercise more. I should go to the gym.

I hate the gym. I really hate the gym. I derive absolutely no enjoyment from going to gym. I know that’s anti-American and that I should be jetting around the neighborhood in sweat pants, sweaty and breathless because I should be squatting something in the air with many repetitions, but I can’t think of anything more tedious than grunting and swearing trying to lift dumb bells when I could be outside walking, cycling, swimming, or just enjoying life. If I’m going to pay a business it’s going to be for food, not for the privilege of using their exercise equipment.

I’d rather save my money and fly an airplane.

My maternal grandparents are rejoicing as on Friday their youngest grandson drank coffee for the first time in 36 years. Yes, I was 14 years old when I had an after dinner coffee with Mom and Dad in their green wallpapered dining room. I didn’t care much for the experience and I really never got into drinking coffee.

Our semi-weekly housekeeper stocked up our Keurig supply with coffee pods this week and I noticed that amongst all the flavors of tea and hot chocolate that we enjoy, he had added some hazelnut coffee selections. I’ve been enjoying a vanilla hot tea in the morning from time to time and I decided I’d give a cup of hazelnut coffee a try. It was quite delicious! Oddly enough, it made me very productive for a Friday and I felt a tinge more of focus than usual. And it didn’t taste bad at all.

So today I went to Starbucks and had a cup of their Blonde Roast and it was wonderful. I sailed through some coding I wanted to achieve and again I felt focused. Again, I drank the coffee black, I figure if you’re going to drink coffee it should taste like coffee, not some sort of frappachappawhoowhoo whip cream concoction. No cream, no sugar, just coffee.

“Coffee, the finest organic suspension ever devised.”

I’m thinking a cup once in a while will help avoid that extra helping of diet pop I have too often. I figure coffee has to be better than the artificial crap in the chemically laced pop I drink will similar effects on my focus. Moderation is the key.

I totally get how it helped Captain Janeway beat the Borg.