Some of you are probably asking yourselves, “I wonder what Vince has been up to lately, we haven’t heard much from him in a while?” Sure there have been a few comments here and there, but nothing much since last Sunday. I have been just taking it easy. You hear that, Judy? I freely admit that I really haven’t had my nose to the grindstone getting a lot done! I am chocking up last week as vacation time. While I don’t feel the least bit guilty about my decision to relax in the comforts of our own home, I do have a perfectly good explanation (if one should be needed) for my decision to take a step back from the chores around here. That excuse is summed up in just one word, RAIN!. It just keeps coming and coming and coming. The average annual rainfall in this area is 20 inches and we have had over 13 inches with over 10 of those inches since Monday. It has been heavy at times, but there has just been a constant wet. The weather maps have been my best friend during all of this. When I see the green turn to white, over our area, I hit the future button to see how long before more green, yellow or red will appear. If it looks like I will be in the clear for awhile, I quickly put on my boots and head outdoors to do my chores. The boots have become a necessity because of all the mud.
Weather Gauge
Ok Ok, some of you may be thinking . . please stop with the rambling excuses and let’s hear something of substance. What does relaxing mean to Vince? I can break that down into a couple of things. Yes, there has been the dreaded TV watching — the great demon in our home. The thing that Judy despises, especially when it promotes loud sleeping noises coming from my recliner while poor Judy is trying to focus on her knitting. Sometimes she even gets stereo when Rita decides to join in the harmony. Besides the occasional music, show selection can be challenging at times. No violence, no swearing, no thrillers, no mysteries, not much of anything on the TV meets her approval. Romantic love stories, comedies and football are acceptable when the whole viewing audience is present. If you are a TV watcher, you know that the number of shows that fit her requirements are harder and harder to find. So, while the cat’s away, this is a good time to catch up on, “I’m not watching this” type of programming
The other thing I find occupying my most of my time is learning more about “stuff” I have wanted to learn more about but never had the time. Lately I find myself interested in learning more about electronics (circuits, leds, power supplies, etc.), programming (html, java, python) and wikis (hyperlinking text). Text like this catches my attention, “maximise the possibilities for re-use by slicing information up into the smallest semantically meaningful units with rich modelling of relationships between them. Then we use aggregation and composition to weave the fragments together to present narrative stories” Now that is exciting stuff, don’t you agree?
Another topic I have dabbled in from time to time is brain health. I saw Judy just recommended a book to you on brain health and she asked me to take a look at it. Anytime I read a book with scientific content, I first look at the references to see if they appear credible. In doing so this one caught my eye: “The Woman Who Changed Her Brain: And Other Inspiring Stories of Pioneering Brain Transformation”. No, I thought to myself, could this be about what first comes to my mind? I’m sure this is not the same kind of transformation I am envisioning. Anyway, back on topic. I have read a few books on the importance of maintaining a healthy brain and I have even taken an online course on this topic. If you are interested in learning, I suggest you take advantage of the many free courses available over the internet. The course I took related to brain health is from Coursera and its entitled, “Learning How to Learn”. I highly recommend this course and it’s FREE. To get the free version of this course, you audit it. Don’t sign up for the certificate. If you do decide to take part, please let me know what you thought.
That’s about it for this week. I hope you will look into brain health and I will keep you update on how Judy’s brain transformation is progressing. This should make for some interesting posts!
Wanda Jordan says
Vince
There a lot of good mysteries shows that are clean on P B S only way could get spell checker to take. We watch them on thursdsy . Saturday and Sunday nights. There are a whole lot of BBC mysteries you can download from internet . I’m like Judy can’t stand some of stuff now on the boobtube. New medical shoes are good too one called Good doctor,New Amsterdam and Chicago md. See what you t honk . I also watch a lot of ME tv. All the old good stuff li me Perry mason,madix, riflemsn, sunset strip and more .
Enjoy your rain and I can’t wait till mushrooms start to grow .
pat says
Thank you VInce. You deserve a vacation too. You worked all your life. So enjoy it. Life is too short.
Jackie says
I was wondering how you we’re fairing with all the rain. I’m sorry Judy, but I think it is only fair that Vince is taking a “vacation” as well. As for the electronic suggestions, that sounds like Greek to me and I’m afraid I have no interest though I have looked into coding as my son owned a software company and I wanted to be able to converse with him intellectually lol. I purchased the book Judy suggestedand find it an interesting read. I looking forward to your take on Judy’s brain transformation which made me laugh by the way. Have a great week and I hope Judy comes home soon.
Helen says
You know, Vince…I WAS wondering what you’ve been up to! I’ve been waiting for your PFTR posts! Your telling about Judy’s list of things not to watch reminds me a lot of my sister. She, too, is a hoot!!
Enjoy your little vacation, even if it brings a lot of mud! I am going to look into your link on brain health…we all need to do what we can to keep our minds sharp.
Over here in NEOhio it’s spitting snow already. I’m not ready for the gray skies that winter brings to our area, that’s for sure.
Linda in NE says
It’s good to hear you’re enjoying your “alone time” while Judy is gone. Too bad about all the rain, but hey, that part of the country needs all the rain it can get….only maybe not all at once.
His and hers TVs can be wonderful…just saying. For instance, my husband loves those corny old Western movies & shows while I like the NCIS shows, Madam Secretary, Blue Bloods, and since we cut the cord & went with Hulu Plus I’ve been watching things like Midnight, Texas and The Librarians. Without two TVs we’d probably just throw the single one out in the driveway and drive over it a few times. LOL
Pat Anderson says
Thanks for the update Vince! Not sure that I think that studying programming, etc is much of a vacation, but if it makes you happy, I’m happy! Seems like Judy is having a lot of fun with Addie so you should have down time since you have the chickens and Rita to take care of. Maybe a Reader’s Digest update on brain transformation would be a good post for you in the future…
Nelle Coursey says
As a matter of fact, I was wondering what happened to you. If you got censored or if you were just rained in and couldn’t do anything. The bad news is there is another Hurricane out there and if it continues to come this way, we will be in for another rain!! I think we have had enough for a few weeks. However, the Almanac is saying this will be a very wet and cold winter! We will see.
dezertsuz says
And that was chock full of interesting things! Maybe I’m a geek, but I actually liked that sentence you quoted. It had a nice rhythm to it. =) I know the rain has been inconvenient, but you’ve needed it so badly. I don’t think you have to worry much until the Ford guy moves his cars downtown. LOL