My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on January 5, 2019

This “finding the sweet spot” post was started as I was closing my books on 2018 and winding down the year. The New Year’s Day mark was still a couple days away and while contemplating what 2019 would surprise me with, I wrote down a few goals (and resolution ideas).  A few of the thoughts on the list were half-started from previous years and to be truthful undone or never prioritized. A few are difficult to quantitate (subjective) and likely require continued focus … and a few others are just always influx.  I suspect this is a yearly ritual for many?

The whole exercise started me thinking about our personal timelines and contemplating work, play and aging — where exactly is  life’s sweet spot?

GOAL: “…to be content regardless of my circumstances.”  — Philippians 4:11

As humans, we all seek to find “Nirvana,” or as taught in Indian religions, the “state of perfect happiness, harmony and freedom.” Personally, I’m guilty of spending too much time reflecting on the past and looking to the future … and not time focusing on today. Contentment is not a “fixed state of being,” but instead needs us to appreciate “the now.” We can choose to focus on the positives of the moment instead of wasting time dwelling on our shoulda-coulda-woulda shortfalls. Too many of us highlight our mistakes and downplay our successes … or run on the never-ending treadmill of envying others.

That stated, setting goals, working hard and striving to achieve are great and can be motivating … but shouldn’t have anything to do with our personal day to day contentment. Better to see “today” as life’s “sweet spot” instead of dreaming about tomorrow or reminiscing about the past.

I for one am counting my blessings and so thankful we have liberty and freedom in America. In having that, everything else is a bonus. Come to think about it, for those of us living in the U.S. … we have already “found life’s sweet spot,” and it is TODAY.

Of topic etymology tidbit:

Liberty and freedom are distinct. As the political theorist Hanna Fenichel Pitkin has observed, liberty implies a system of rules, a ”network of restraint and order,” hence the word’s close association with political life. Freedom has a more general meaning, which ranges from an opposition to slavery to the absence of psychological or personal encumbrances. 

– Saved years ago from a New York Times article in 2003

Category: Faith, History, Misc, Personal, Productivity, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: contemplation, contentment, etymology, freedom, goals, happiness, liberty, nirvana, resolution, sweet spot, thoughts

Posted By RichC on January 4, 2019

Aviation has bogged in the last few decades, but with computer assisted quadrotors, private space ventures and renewed supersonic travel … perhaps the next couple decades with be inspirational?

Supersonic jets may be about to make a comeback – Reinventing Concorde

Category: Aviation, Innovation | No Comments »
Tags: aviation, concorde, flight, quadrotors, space, Travel

Posted By RichC on January 3, 2019

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Category: Archive, Education, Holiday, Personal, Video | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, christmas, coat, dressing, mp4, video

Posted By RichC on January 2, 2019

Are you looking at top quality dividend stocks? RPM International is a buy and hold stock that has a track record of increasing cash dividends to shareholders that can’t be match by many companies. Today it was down 1.87% to $57.68/share and is starting to look attractive again (at some point I’ve got to believe Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway will be interested in this company … and I’m not alone). 

RPM Declares Quarterly Dividend
January 2, 2019 (BusinessWire)

RPM International Inc. (NYSE: RPM) today announced that its board of directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.35 per share, payable on January 31, 2019 to stockholders of record as of January 16, 2019.

This action marks RPM’s 45th consecutive year of increased cash dividends paid to its stockholders, which places RPM in an elite category of less than half of 1 percent of all publicly-traded U.S. companies. Only 41 other companies, besides RPM, have consecutively paid an increasing annual dividend for this period of time or longer, according to the Mergent Handbook of Dividend Achievers. During this timeframe, the company has returned approximately $2.4 billion in cash dividends to its stockholders. At a share price of $60.00, RPM’s dividend yield would be 2.3 percent.

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Category: Financial | No Comments »
Tags: $RPM, berkshire, dividend, hathaway, investing, stocks, trading, value, warren buffett

Posted By RichC on January 2, 2019

Each year since 1976 Lake Superior State University posts its list of “banished words.” Usually, we’ve all heard (or used!) the overused words and phrases — this year is no exception. I thankfully have only repeated a few, but have certainly heard most of them overused.

The 2019 list, along with reasons for banishment by nominators:

Wheelhouse, as in area of expertise – Chris, Battle Creek, Mich., “It’s not in my wheelhouse to explain why dreadful words should be banished!”; Currie, Ottawa, Ontario (Canada), “Irritating, has become a cliché, annoys me, offence to the English language, etc.”; Kevin, Portland, Ore., “It’s an awkward word to use in the 21st century. Most people have never seen a wheelhouse.”

In the books . . . 
as in finished or concluded – Sandy, White Lake Township, Mich., “It seems everyone’s holiday party is in the books this year, and it’s all there for friends to view on social media, along with the photos of the happy party attendees.”

Wrap my head around – Linda, Bloomington, Minn., “Impossible to do and makes no sense.”
(more…)

Category: Blogs, Misc, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: annual, banished, list, lssu, words

Posted By RichC on January 1, 2019

This year our our 2018 Christmas letter included a quote by the Dalai Lama and it reminds me that our time on earth is finite. Once a grain of sand has passed through the hour glass, it is gone … so make each day count this 2019.

There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do, and mostly live.   – Dalai Lama

Growing up in the 1960s and 70s, it is obvious that the decades and memories from the last century are “the shrinking part of my life.” We are now almost 20 years into the 21st century, meaning nearly one half or my adult life has taken place in the 2000s (yet I continue to act like prepping for a Y2K computer meltdown was just yesterday). A reminder over the holidays came when a 7th grade teacher mentioned that to his students, anything pre-911 is considered ancient history!

Upon reflection, I thankfully have very few regrets and would like to continue down that path. There weren’t many things left unsaid to my mom or dad, or mother-in-law and father in-law, before they passed.  I regularly reinforce just how much I love my kids and granddaughter … and live life to the fullest each day, week and year. My “walk with the Lord” could always use some improving … and perhaps focusing more on that in 2019 is a great New Year’s resolution?

 “Each day is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift to Him.” — T.D. Jakes

I am so thankful that the Lord has SO bountifully blessed me with His mercy and the undeserving gift of grace … and the surety that accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior, I have eternal life. I want the same for you and would welcome a chance to share the Gospel with you.

“My gift of undeserved grace is all you need.”  — 2 Corinthians 12:9
Amen!!!

Category: Faith, Holiday, Quotes | No Comments »
Tags: 2019, anigif, dalai lama, Faith, new year, reflection, resolution, timeline, y2k

Posted By RichC on December 31, 2018

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Category: Music, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: classic, jack flash, jumpin', keith richards, mick jagger, mono, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, rolling stones, vinyl

Posted By RichC on December 30, 2018

Twice this past week I used medical instruments in my workshop. The first repair was to use a non-needled syringe to suck out some moisture in a pump switch … thanks Brenda, it was handy (although I have used them before “with a needle” for delicate parts lubrication).

Second, was to use the surgical instruments given to me by my son-in-law Drew to tie a bowline in a very short monofilament line – this zipper pack of tools is SO HANDY!

In the past, I’ve also used a variety of dental picks from my father-in-law … everyone should have at least a couple of these medical instruments in their toolbox! 

Category: Hobby, Photos, Tidbits, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: instruments, medical, picks, toolbox, tools, tweezers, workshop

Posted By RichC on December 29, 2018

A little central vacuum cleaner modification with a short snipped segment of polyethylene tubing did the trick for cleaning out some lint build-up in the laundry room. Brenda was having a difficult time with the normal sweeper tip, so just like the home-made snoot for under the refrigerator, I duct taped a plastic tube to get under the lint cleanout screen on the LG stacked dryer.

Category: How-To, Ideas, Misc, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: cleaner, cleaning, duct tape, plastic, snoot, sweeper, tube, vacuum

Posted By RichC on December 28, 2018

Those of us who manage our own computers likely do our share of “desktop” cleaning and are regularly warned by our anti-virus software that we need to do more than prevent viruses and hackers from accessing our computers.

The current “free” anti-virus companies all push to sell their paid software … and regularly highlight registry problems … no matter how many times you regularly clean/correct/fix it with their tools.

For my part, I habitually use CCleaner on my Windows 10 installs. I happily upgrade each version and click the “Run Cleaner” button at the end of a week thinking “I’m clearing out the crud.” In recent years I’ve even gone so far as to run their registry scan and it always finds something highlighted under the “problem” field. I click the “Fix selected issues” button and voilà it gets magically fixed. I feel good and move on only to do it all over again after checking it again.

Hm, what do others like MalwarebytesLabs and Microsoft think about “cleaning the registry?” It might be a lousy practice and could end up causing problems. I may re-think my practice and side with those thinking it is a marketing ploy to sell their computer scanning packages?

What Is A Registry Cleaner?

Registry cleaners came to prominence over 10 years ago when computer performance was nowhere near as fast as it is today. Essentially, a registry cleaner is a tool that scans your Windows registry for registry keys that are of no use, or potentially leftover remnants of malware that has been removed. It then gives you the option of removing this dead weight in your system. Vendors of registry cleaning claim that by cleaning up the Windows registry, you have an opportunity to speed up your computer. Or at least this is what Piriform wants us to believe.

Do We Actually Need A Registry Scan?
Quite honestly, no. You see, Microsoft has refused to release their own registry cleaner tool, or endorse any third party registry cleaner. And this is within reason. Microsoft’s stance is that they don’t want users messing with the registry since it probably brings attention to the most bloated part of Windows. Simply put, messing with your Windows registry without knowing what you are doing can trigger serious errors that can render Windows inoperable.

If this is true, why do so many people choose to use a registry cleaning tool like CCleaner?

Piriform’s CCleaner is Snake Oil
Piriform (now owned by Avast) is run by smart individuals who get marketing. Do not let them fool you. They want you to believe that their Windows registry cleaner is the 2nd coming. Piriform has cashed in on our eagerness to increase PC performance and fed into our undying euphoria of deleting things on our computer that we believe are useless. Piriform and CCleaner aren’t the only ones out there. Others include the Wise Registry Cleaner, Glarysoft Registry Repair, Frontline Registry Cleaner, and Auslogic Registry Cleaner.

LINK

Category: Advice, Computer, Productivity, Software, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: anti-virus, avast, ccleaner, cleaning malware, Computer, defender, microsoft, protection, registry, scanning, tech friday, techfriday, windows10