Lost relationship
Jan. 15th, 2026 09:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bill_schubertThere was a time when Dana's son and I were pretty close. He worked with me putting together the company we ran and in trade I gave him space and money to restart his life. We joked about the failings of the various religions and the questionable morality of the people who harassed and excluded minorities. He was (and is) probably smarter than me and in many ways more studious. He reads history to the extent that he could have majored in it.
He has done well with building his life and is successful by nearly every standard but has drifted philosophically, religiously, and politically to the far right. He is now a full fledged right wing religious Trumpist. I wouldn't know that but for a few comments when we were together. As with most people I don't engage and he's smart enough to not poke the bear. He did comment on how renewable energy was not a valid system and did not work and, by implication, should not be funded. His reasoning had some good logical points but much like Swift's "Modest Proposal" it was the sum that was was impractical and self defeating and socially faulty. Of course he saw no problem with it and I did not engage. His mother is on FB. She commented favorably on a post that had some pretty accurate parallels between what Hitler did for Germany and what Trump is doing to the U.S. His wail of unfair and untrue spoke more to the validity of the comparison than to any successfully fact based defense of the current president. She had stomped on what is obviously a nerve. Methinks he does protest too much.
He and I will connect once or twice more as Dana gets older but have no reason to be close again. The way of the world.
I've got one more day, I think, to say I'm clear of any traveling virus. My mind keeps jumping to 'I'm getting sick' whenever I feel anything different in my throat. But so far all those anomalies are just that.
After a week of doing as close to nothing as one can get while still being vertical I played pickleball yesterday. It went OK but I'm amazed at how much I was feeling the pain during play and even more when I got home and continuing today. The answer is to never stop playing again. My body will slide downhill faster than a skiier on Everest. I'm playing again today and again tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll work it out. I've got a PB friend whose wife gave him a ball machine for Christmas so he's ready to do some drills with the machine. Doing so does much better with two or three people who are on the same page. Always nice to have one of the players shagging balls and refilling the hopper. I'm hoping to get on a schedule with him. More is better.
He has done well with building his life and is successful by nearly every standard but has drifted philosophically, religiously, and politically to the far right. He is now a full fledged right wing religious Trumpist. I wouldn't know that but for a few comments when we were together. As with most people I don't engage and he's smart enough to not poke the bear. He did comment on how renewable energy was not a valid system and did not work and, by implication, should not be funded. His reasoning had some good logical points but much like Swift's "Modest Proposal" it was the sum that was was impractical and self defeating and socially faulty. Of course he saw no problem with it and I did not engage. His mother is on FB. She commented favorably on a post that had some pretty accurate parallels between what Hitler did for Germany and what Trump is doing to the U.S. His wail of unfair and untrue spoke more to the validity of the comparison than to any successfully fact based defense of the current president. She had stomped on what is obviously a nerve. Methinks he does protest too much.
He and I will connect once or twice more as Dana gets older but have no reason to be close again. The way of the world.
I've got one more day, I think, to say I'm clear of any traveling virus. My mind keeps jumping to 'I'm getting sick' whenever I feel anything different in my throat. But so far all those anomalies are just that.
After a week of doing as close to nothing as one can get while still being vertical I played pickleball yesterday. It went OK but I'm amazed at how much I was feeling the pain during play and even more when I got home and continuing today. The answer is to never stop playing again. My body will slide downhill faster than a skiier on Everest. I'm playing again today and again tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll work it out. I've got a PB friend whose wife gave him a ball machine for Christmas so he's ready to do some drills with the machine. Doing so does much better with two or three people who are on the same page. Always nice to have one of the players shagging balls and refilling the hopper. I'm hoping to get on a schedule with him. More is better.
Brought a little bit of rain back with me
Jan. 13th, 2026 08:11 ambill_schubertIt was raining in Seattle when I left and is a little drippy here this morning.
The Seattle airport, SeaTac, was weirdly a bit of a mess. The security set up was not nearly as efficient or as well equipped as the one in Austin. To get on the plane we had to go outside on the tarmac where the jets were taking off and landing (far away from them but still on the same ground with jet fuel and noise and fumes) then up a set of ramps to get into the plane. I can only assume they are doing lots of work somewhere and this is the temporary result of that work. But the difference between the Austin airport and the Seattle airport was striking. We'll see how temporary that is in five months when I do it again.
The flight was uneventful. I was wearing my hoodie and put on the Bose sound killing head phones, flipped up the hood, put on four or five episodes of Pluribus, and disappeared from the world for a few hours. I've got a routine. Crawl into my cave and return when the metal tube has deposited me near where I'm going.
All is well here, nothing went amiss while I was gone. Beaux is very happy to have me back and I was thrilled to see him. Similar experience with Dana and Toby but in Beau's case lots of enthusiasm and body wagging.
My weight is unchanged after a week of different eating and everything else and no exercise. So that is encouraging. It will be nice to get back in the groove with measured food and pickleball. Time to get serious about losing that last ten or fifteen pounds. I've already reached my initial goal only to find it is not actually the one I want. But I'm happy with the progress and ready for more.
A week off from exercise is too long. I can feel it. And the immediate snap back to form that I enjoyed when I was younger isn't going to happen now. I'll need to put in a lot more effort and focus to get back to where I was a week ago. It slips away so quickly.
I do miss being able to go down to the Timber Ridge library at 6AM and read the physical WSJ paper with one of the residents. He never even looked up when I arrived but acknowledged me on his way out. Companionable silence, coffee, and someone to have the paper ready.
But I trade it off for quiet house and morning coffee and feeding Beaux.
I've got lunch today with my networking group but that's it. Such a nice schedule. A couple of other things to do with scheduling later in the week and accounts of one kind or another but nothing pressing.
I do kind of like my schedule.
So I wait for a couple of days to be sure I didn't pick up any virus during the travels. Finger's crossed. I didn't notice anyone who looked sick and did spend some quality time washing my hands in the airport.
Time to walk the dogs.
The Seattle airport, SeaTac, was weirdly a bit of a mess. The security set up was not nearly as efficient or as well equipped as the one in Austin. To get on the plane we had to go outside on the tarmac where the jets were taking off and landing (far away from them but still on the same ground with jet fuel and noise and fumes) then up a set of ramps to get into the plane. I can only assume they are doing lots of work somewhere and this is the temporary result of that work. But the difference between the Austin airport and the Seattle airport was striking. We'll see how temporary that is in five months when I do it again.
The flight was uneventful. I was wearing my hoodie and put on the Bose sound killing head phones, flipped up the hood, put on four or five episodes of Pluribus, and disappeared from the world for a few hours. I've got a routine. Crawl into my cave and return when the metal tube has deposited me near where I'm going.
All is well here, nothing went amiss while I was gone. Beaux is very happy to have me back and I was thrilled to see him. Similar experience with Dana and Toby but in Beau's case lots of enthusiasm and body wagging.
My weight is unchanged after a week of different eating and everything else and no exercise. So that is encouraging. It will be nice to get back in the groove with measured food and pickleball. Time to get serious about losing that last ten or fifteen pounds. I've already reached my initial goal only to find it is not actually the one I want. But I'm happy with the progress and ready for more.
A week off from exercise is too long. I can feel it. And the immediate snap back to form that I enjoyed when I was younger isn't going to happen now. I'll need to put in a lot more effort and focus to get back to where I was a week ago. It slips away so quickly.
I do miss being able to go down to the Timber Ridge library at 6AM and read the physical WSJ paper with one of the residents. He never even looked up when I arrived but acknowledged me on his way out. Companionable silence, coffee, and someone to have the paper ready.
But I trade it off for quiet house and morning coffee and feeding Beaux.
I've got lunch today with my networking group but that's it. Such a nice schedule. A couple of other things to do with scheduling later in the week and accounts of one kind or another but nothing pressing.
I do kind of like my schedule.
So I wait for a couple of days to be sure I didn't pick up any virus during the travels. Finger's crossed. I didn't notice anyone who looked sick and did spend some quality time washing my hands in the airport.
Time to walk the dogs.
all my dreams are real
Jan. 12th, 2026 12:42 pmliminal_spaceafter a few false starts, my mindset is coming together to move on some of the challenges and experiments i've set for 2026.
/reading more/ is again at the top of my list, and while i may set a concrete goal to a year-long total, it will be small to make sure i'm not pushing quantity over quality. the first finished book of 2026 was /in the mouth of madness/ (sutter cane), which was a decent read with a few surprises along the way.
i'm currently reading /a gentleman in moscow/ (amor towles) and it's a MUCH slower read than i anticipated. i'm enjoying it tremendously — the language is lovely and makes me linger — but i keep waiting for more to happen. even if the external action is a bit slow, the inner world keeps me engaged. plus, there are gems like this:
"But when the Count opened the small wooden drawer of the grinder, the world and all it contained were transformed by that envy of the alchemists—the aroma of freshly ground coffee.
In that instant, darkness was separated from light, the waters from the lands, and the heavens from the earth. The trees bore fruit and the woods rustled with the movement of birds and beasts and all manner of creeping things."
~
today and tomorrow are pretty quiet days, so i'm hoping to get some cleaning done, bread made, and writing down on paper. i was thinking about tackling the kitchen for a full reorganization and declutter, but i'd more than today and tomorrow for that task, so i'll backburner it until....later.
stay shiny, people. xo
/reading more/ is again at the top of my list, and while i may set a concrete goal to a year-long total, it will be small to make sure i'm not pushing quantity over quality. the first finished book of 2026 was /in the mouth of madness/ (sutter cane), which was a decent read with a few surprises along the way.
i'm currently reading /a gentleman in moscow/ (amor towles) and it's a MUCH slower read than i anticipated. i'm enjoying it tremendously — the language is lovely and makes me linger — but i keep waiting for more to happen. even if the external action is a bit slow, the inner world keeps me engaged. plus, there are gems like this:
"But when the Count opened the small wooden drawer of the grinder, the world and all it contained were transformed by that envy of the alchemists—the aroma of freshly ground coffee.
In that instant, darkness was separated from light, the waters from the lands, and the heavens from the earth. The trees bore fruit and the woods rustled with the movement of birds and beasts and all manner of creeping things."
~
today and tomorrow are pretty quiet days, so i'm hoping to get some cleaning done, bread made, and writing down on paper. i was thinking about tackling the kitchen for a full reorganization and declutter, but i'd more than today and tomorrow for that task, so i'll backburner it until....later.
stay shiny, people. xo