There was a story a few months ago regarding the very last standing Blockbuster video rental store. It's situated in a small town called Bend, Oregon.
Having recently finished Netflix I felt myself at a loss for something to watch and it was then I began to long for the beauty of the video rental store.
There's still plenty to watch on Netflix if you like reality shows or sitcoms or true story series. Not me. Here in Canada, the Netflix selection sucks hard and the algorithm used to make suggestions is less than evolved. Not only is it not accurate, it shows me the sames shows across all categories.
Like the people who used those two closing Blockbusters in Alaska, I live in a province where 30 minutes outside of the capital, the internet is colossally expensive and just adequate for streaming a movie. The bandwidth has been marginally improved but the price is still prohibitive for most people.
I liked the days of heading off to the video store. Not only was there more variety, there were actual human curators who knew that Science Fiction had nothing to do with narcotics trafficking. If ever I was stuck choosing something, there was a warm blooded mammal who could tell me a little more about the movies over which I was deliberating, helping me make my decision.
Plus, there are a lot of films out there you would never hear about if you weren't able to browse past them.
Saturday, 10 November 2018
Thursday, 19 July 2018
Tips for Retirement - Dress for the Day
No, I don't have all of the answers. Your retirement will be different from mine. This is largely based on what you did before retirement, what sort of pension you're getting, and your temperament.
If you really enjoyed your job then perhaps you'd be interested in teaching your skills to others. Here in PEI, there is a thriving Seniors College and also Community School. These teach all sorts of skills from using the computer to learning to play an instrument to learning how to knit or hook a rug.
If your pension is like mine, you probably won't be stirring from the house very far. I'm okay - I'm not going starve or be unable to pay my bills (with the possible exception of those cretins at Maritime Electric.) I won't be taking any overseas trips until Old Age Pension kicks in, in a few years. Day trips are fine though, because I don't spend nearly the same amount of money on gasoline. PEI isn't big, but after 30+ years there are still lots of places I haven't been.
Your temperament and personality will determine a lot. If you're an introvert, mixing with the masses probably won't be for you - all the time. The occasional hubbub of the crowd is good from time to time. It'll give you your "fix" for people, possible remind you why you don't mix that often and gives a nice guilt free opportunity to putter around the house for a few days, perhaps reading or indulging in your favourite solitary hobby. For me, especially this summer with the high temperatures, that means reading.
Here is my first tip for retirement:
Dress for the Day
In the morning, get dressed!
I have depression issues and often it's difficult to get out of bed and actually do anything. At first I loved getting up and lounging all day in my pyjamas. This, despite the daily cleaning, grocery wrangling, and the list of chores. I soon discovered I was getting nothing done and the anxiety and guilt started to mount, the horrible loop I slip into when I'm feeling depressed.
I have discovered that dressing as though I had something to do, whether or not I thought I did, helped me feel set for whatever the day had in store for me. Instead of watching garbage pile up I felt prepared to bundle it up and get it out. Once I got started it was nothing to get on with the next chore or visit to the supermarket. It's an easy way to get the day rolling and once the ball starts you'll find there are lots of little things you can do that give you a sense of accomplishment.
Another benefit is that once you are dressed, if something unplanned comes up, you can jump to it before deciding it would just be too much effort to even get dressed.
None of it has to be world shaking either. If you spend half an hour a day cleaning, that's three and a half hours a week more than when you were watching the dust-woofies floating across the room. Use the same approach for the garden and all the yard work which I love. At the end of the day, an hour a day in the yard means seven hours a week! Just a bit each day adds up quickly, gives you a great burst of gratification and you will learn that broken into smaller tolerable, almost any task can be accomplished.
I'll have a more observations in the days to come
If you really enjoyed your job then perhaps you'd be interested in teaching your skills to others. Here in PEI, there is a thriving Seniors College and also Community School. These teach all sorts of skills from using the computer to learning to play an instrument to learning how to knit or hook a rug.
If your pension is like mine, you probably won't be stirring from the house very far. I'm okay - I'm not going starve or be unable to pay my bills (with the possible exception of those cretins at Maritime Electric.) I won't be taking any overseas trips until Old Age Pension kicks in, in a few years. Day trips are fine though, because I don't spend nearly the same amount of money on gasoline. PEI isn't big, but after 30+ years there are still lots of places I haven't been.
Your temperament and personality will determine a lot. If you're an introvert, mixing with the masses probably won't be for you - all the time. The occasional hubbub of the crowd is good from time to time. It'll give you your "fix" for people, possible remind you why you don't mix that often and gives a nice guilt free opportunity to putter around the house for a few days, perhaps reading or indulging in your favourite solitary hobby. For me, especially this summer with the high temperatures, that means reading.
Here is my first tip for retirement:
Dress for the Day
In the morning, get dressed!
I have depression issues and often it's difficult to get out of bed and actually do anything. At first I loved getting up and lounging all day in my pyjamas. This, despite the daily cleaning, grocery wrangling, and the list of chores. I soon discovered I was getting nothing done and the anxiety and guilt started to mount, the horrible loop I slip into when I'm feeling depressed.
I have discovered that dressing as though I had something to do, whether or not I thought I did, helped me feel set for whatever the day had in store for me. Instead of watching garbage pile up I felt prepared to bundle it up and get it out. Once I got started it was nothing to get on with the next chore or visit to the supermarket. It's an easy way to get the day rolling and once the ball starts you'll find there are lots of little things you can do that give you a sense of accomplishment.
Another benefit is that once you are dressed, if something unplanned comes up, you can jump to it before deciding it would just be too much effort to even get dressed.
None of it has to be world shaking either. If you spend half an hour a day cleaning, that's three and a half hours a week more than when you were watching the dust-woofies floating across the room. Use the same approach for the garden and all the yard work which I love. At the end of the day, an hour a day in the yard means seven hours a week! Just a bit each day adds up quickly, gives you a great burst of gratification and you will learn that broken into smaller tolerable, almost any task can be accomplished.
I'll have a more observations in the days to come
Monday, 4 June 2018
Detours and Tulips - the rural life
There have been far too many cars zooming up and down my quiet country road in the past couple of weeks. Normally, the day is good for half a dozen vehicles, most of which are farm machines of one sort or another and there are a lot of different things to see in that regard alone.
It took me the better part of a week to catch on that the road one over is having a culvert replaced. It's one of those low valley "have to accommodate the road" sorts of things.
I don't recall this particular road having drainage problems, but frankly it's been over a year since I've been on 257 and anything could have happened.
So now the road is torn up, they're dug a great ditch there and they're putting in new drainy stuff.
Also, it's that Vanco time of year when the tulip fields are in bloom and people feel obliged to stomp all over the fields despite the many clear and well placed signs.
In fact, the only pleasant thing about the detour is that it takes you right past the tulip fields.
The final stop on my way home was to take a shot of the stream that runs under my own road. It's been a dry spring so what is usually a rushing torrent this time of the year looks like a mid-summer stroll. No doubt the beavers that live just around the far corner in that shot are well ahead in building lodges and dams to slow things down.
That's it for today! Hope your day is as pleasant.
There have been far too many cars zooming up and down my quiet country road in the past couple of weeks. Normally, the day is good for half a dozen vehicles, most of which are farm machines of one sort or another and there are a lot of different things to see in that regard alone.
It took me the better part of a week to catch on that the road one over is having a culvert replaced. It's one of those low valley "have to accommodate the road" sorts of things.
I don't recall this particular road having drainage problems, but frankly it's been over a year since I've been on 257 and anything could have happened.
So now the road is torn up, they're dug a great ditch there and they're putting in new drainy stuff.
 |
| The Big Dig |
 |
| Big Drainy Stuff |
Also, it's that Vanco time of year when the tulip fields are in bloom and people feel obliged to stomp all over the fields despite the many clear and well placed signs.
In fact, the only pleasant thing about the detour is that it takes you right past the tulip fields.
That's it for today! Hope your day is as pleasant.
Monday, 28 May 2018
So, my apologies to anyone trying to reach me by phone today. Google has updated my phone to the point where it's stuck in a boot loop and won't turn off.
The intertubes tell me if the phone can be powered off, a soft reset will occur, but for that to occur the phone will have to stay in the boot loop until the battery is discharged. Probably only a couple of hours.
I still am very skeptical this will do anything as the phone was already somewhat pooched this morning anyway. I tried to send a text message to a friend, but the idiots at Google insisted all text input would have to be done by voice.
Thanks Google, very nice if I'm hiding in a closet trying not to be kidnapped raped or killed. I definitely want to be talking and not typing.
So once again the intertubes to the rescue. Apparently you can resolve this aberrant voice input nonsense by disabling this that or the other thing. Fine and good if all the user controls aren't greyed out and you are prevented from disabling all the little things.
I eventually found a way to enable the ability to disable the things and so, disabled them. That is when the fit hit the shan and I was standing right there, face close and filled with hope.
Shit, barely afternoon on a Monday and I need a drink.
The intertubes tell me if the phone can be powered off, a soft reset will occur, but for that to occur the phone will have to stay in the boot loop until the battery is discharged. Probably only a couple of hours.
I still am very skeptical this will do anything as the phone was already somewhat pooched this morning anyway. I tried to send a text message to a friend, but the idiots at Google insisted all text input would have to be done by voice.
Thanks Google, very nice if I'm hiding in a closet trying not to be kidnapped raped or killed. I definitely want to be talking and not typing.
So once again the intertubes to the rescue. Apparently you can resolve this aberrant voice input nonsense by disabling this that or the other thing. Fine and good if all the user controls aren't greyed out and you are prevented from disabling all the little things.
I eventually found a way to enable the ability to disable the things and so, disabled them. That is when the fit hit the shan and I was standing right there, face close and filled with hope.
I pause here, momentarily, to recommend the reader locate and read an interesting book by George Orwell entitled 1984. Also, pretty much anything written by Philip K. Dick.So, now the phone is quietly booting and rebooting, sort of like the dead husk of a winter housefly as it circles the drain.
Shit, barely afternoon on a Monday and I need a drink.
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