Hermes 3000

People’s name in red? Hrmmm, well OK I will give it a whirl.

Catalina – nice of you to help someone in the store about coffee filters. But, but, BUT you have a great vendor there in Oakland. Oh my, do you have a wonderful vendor. I could save on shipping if I were to relocate to Oakland. They sell pounds of great coffee. You need to accept what they have an inkling to roast. Though there is always an espresso available. We had to take, get, coffee roasteé when I could not for a few weeks. The roasts were fantastic. If you like coffee and have your own grinding set up give them a try. Freshly roasted coffee from them is a treat.

Yesterday I quoted Allen Lane (“Don’t try. It’s bigger than both of us!”) and never got back to who he is and why I was quoting him. He was a star of B-movies for westerns. He was best known for portrayal of Red Ryder and as the voice of Mr. Ed. Yep, the talking horse. That quotation is the only reference to how a horse could talk. Yes, it is good to suspend your disbelief and just believe in what is on the screen for you.

Austin Kleon (wait, do I color it in red if they are not seen here?) has a weekly 10 Things of interest. This week was interesting, to me at least. Item #4 is especially good. “Advice to writers: Nobody wants to read a book.” (The original was in red, so yeah. If you are going to write books and have not done so yet just get it over with, write something bad put it in a drawer and walk away. There is a nice collection of digression in his article on the matter.

—- MichaelRpdx

Allan Lane once said, “Don’t try. It’s bigger than both of us!”
Paying attention is, well if not important, it is something that can really … what am I saying? I was getting around to saying here that I had just now noticed that this Hermes 3000 has an elite typeface, 12 characters per inch, and the other Hermes 3000, the one with all the characters for Spanish, French, and whatever else, that one has a pica, or 10 characters per inch. I had typed on the two of them without noticing the difference. Until I decided to swap back to this machine and use it for a while. What other things do we take for granted? (note the presence of the 1 and O characters on this typewriter. I had missed them. It was one of the, no it was the reason to swap back.)

I am looking for a short story called or something like “A Parable of Laziness.” It is from John Steinbeck. It involves a man on a hot afternoon, a widowed woman, (or does it?), a rug with a rumpled corner, Oh drat. Perhaps I had written about this story from Steinbeck and if I did write about it perhaps I had included it in something I logged, written about in a blog, and…0h Wait. I did. It is in The Log from the Sea of Cortez. But wait, I had looked there, the table of contents has Introduction, log, glossary and then I quit reading there. But a search found it:

The log from the Sea of Corte, John Steinbeck
if only for .”A Parable of Laziness” which is a great telling of Bogle’s “Don’t just do something, stand there” dictum.

So back to my copy of Steinbeck’s book (of which I am too lazy to type out) and yes, there it is because had I read on earlier and noted “index” in the table of contents I could have jumped to the back of the book and found “laziness, 185-6” and gone to the pages and enjoyed reading it again. No widow in the telling, the woman is Helen C. Of which the tale ends with “He is happy; Helen C. may be happy; and the rug is not disturbed at all.” The rug is crooked. Does it care? Why should the man impose his need for “I am, in effect, trying to impose my will, my insular sense of rightness, on a rug…” Now all of this is getting to an observation from Soren Kierkegaard, “Of all ridiculous things the most ridiculous seems to me, to be busy.” Ah yes, why are we busy? Imposing our wills on the world around us. Are we making it better?

— MichaelRpdx (boy, now that is a first draft, to be rewritten!)

Feeling like I belonged in a time past. Except I was there for most of them. The emergence of rock and roll. Computers being born and immersing themselves in our life. Drugs getting illegal (LSD 1968) and popular. The riots of 1968 (Chicago for the Democratic Convention) and a worldwide set of riots I did not know of until later. The invention of “Chicken Nuggets” – rolled in sugar and fried in fat, that was 1982 or so back then. Disco, killing music or so they said. (Pengilly’s was alive them and I understand it is alive now. If I make it to Boise) “Rubber Soul” inspired by Bob Dylan, or so I read. Cities with “tall” buildings being five stories high. And “First Interstate Bank” when they legalized that kinda thing. My longing for those days ranges from early 1960s to mid-1980s. Anything earlier and I don’t remember and well I was just a toddler and don’t recall any of it. After the mid-80s is just too recent. Too recent? Thirty-five years is “too recent” har!

There were some things that I bet people now are feeling the jones for. A minimum wage that could fund time in college. Or beers for 25¢. Or … they were my good times. And I went down a rabbit hole today. Rubber Soul, Revolver, 1969 (CSN), and a typewriter.

I bought a typewriter from my high school English teacher (and debate coach) for $25. I lost it in the late 80s. I was getting into computers. Because I could do it and I needed to have a way of living.  Yes, I was stumbling through life. Well, so much for my typewriting of the time.

I used to watch bats catching bugs around the lights of the stadium’s parking lot. This was on the walk home from the bar with 25¢ beers. I do not recall why I was walking home those nights. It may have been a mile or less, but the memories! This came after “Rumors” a year or two after that time. I was just going through life. Not knowing if I was going to live or not. A couple of years out of being treated for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma,

Perhaps I don’t go beyond the early 80s because I passed through the “5 Year” he is still living point. Perhaps. But I have the nostalgia for those days,

— MichaelRpdx :: h3k

I should be happy today. We have passed a big landmark. I have not been a patient in a hospital for a year and a day. Well, yes, I did have many years without being admitted to a hospital. But this retirement just has not been a time span without visiting the hospital. Last year I had a mother of all prior conditions. In 1977 they really didn’t wave a solid grip on treating cancer, Hodgin’s Lymphoma. So they blasted me with Cobalt 60 and poisoned me with, another other things, Mustard Gas. As it turns out the radiation planted the seeds for heart failure and, in my case, a weakening of my lung. 1 woke up one morning puking up blood. Only this was the second time. The decision was made to remove the upper left node of my lungs. 1 was done with that last year on the 25th and then home. That whole thing came after my other adventures. So I am out of the hospital.

You would think that I would be happier. This year makes it less happy. This year has been the pits. I am looking forward to a more normal time.

I must apologize to a writer, a poet, who wrote this. I have missed getting her (I am pretty sure it is a woman’s) name. And going back on Facebook to find a thing you have left is pretty damn hard.

We isolate now
So when we gather again
No one is missing

Hope you are also.

Hey! Out of hospitals for a year! Yay!

— MichaelRpdx :: h3k

I think I need a new obsession. Who am I kidding? Pens, fountain pens are great. But I am adding to it, Yep, another obsession to go with it. Making my handwriting legible. Sure I can, mostly, write things that other people can read. Well, sometimes. Heck, I cannot even read my own handwriting. It should be called my scribble. You would think that after five years plus and around 4,000 pages written I could read it all. Nah. Not a chance.

I did spend a lot of time going as fast as I could. I would spend 40 minutes, an hour each day at it. To what end? Yes, there are benefits. Waking up my brain being a huge one. But still, it would be great to be able to go back over the past. And so I am now working on my script, my handwriting, to make it legible. When I have that done I can work on making it beautiful. I have seen quite a few examples of people’s handwriting. It is gorgeous. I would like to have handwriting like that.

I got out today for my One Daily Walk. Still working up how far I can go. Last year I did a ten miles stroll. I was shooting for a half marathon, a little over 13 miles. I still hold that goal. But the lung surgery (removing the upper left node) put a dent in my aerobic conditioning. So most days I get out and go up the hills here (it used to be easy) and keep going. If it ever gets too bad the city busses can get me home.

Sourdough bread, yeah everyone is doing that now. But hey! I was doing it before others were. In the fan group who were doing it, not the bakers who do it because they prefer the levan that way. There is a loaf to be rising up now. I am hoping for it. I have been waiting for three loaves in a row that I consider good. Seems like I have the third on its way. Then I can start in on experimenting and making stuff that isn’t what I want but it is a learning loaf. That is fun. Fresh bread and home roasted coffee, those things make a day great.

— MichaelRpdx :: h3k

I am obsessed. My name is Michael and I am obsessed.

I don’t know when it started. It grew on me. I did not admit to it early in my life. But now, well now, I need to admit it and live up to it.

I find something that is neat, bicycling, Linux 0S for computers, roasting coffee, watercolors, woodworking… the list of things that I have been obsessed goes on and on. I hear about something I read up on it. I buy a thing. Then another. And another. And it goes on. At least with software for Linux it is all free. Want to do video editing? Which one do you want? Download the top three or four and try them out. Yes, that is cheap. Not so with everything. But, you know, I have to have things and try them.

Lately, my obsession is with fountain pens. Why? They do write beautifully. Especially colors! I have a set of cartridges there are six colors there. But the blue is not quite right. So I bought a set of three Japanese, ooohhh Japanese!, a sampler set. And then, as I do I was in a group on the internet, there is always a group on the internet, I heard about a company in Pennsylvania that made inks. Oh so pretty! “Weathered Brick” is a brownish-reddish I am waiting for, along with two other inks. They are only nine-ounce ones. And pens. I am looking at four pens, all different. I “needed” to have the four pens to find out what one is right for me. Well, there is a set coming from China – eight pens for $10. I had to try them. And then today. Yeah, today. I was watching reviews. Wouldn’t you? And there was one on “Five Best Pens for under $5” OK it was put out in January but it was also Australian. Hey, that means 71 cents USD to one AUD. Wow! That means pens for around $3.50. I watched. Hey! There is a pen I ordered today! And those! They are like the TWSBI pens, err sorry, pen I have. I checked eBay and still today you can get a set of four pens for $7.50. Holy cow. I did.

Because I am obsessed. What is a couple of weeks of waiting for a shipment from China Post? I could have bought one for $7.95 … but I am obsessed.

— MichaelRpdx :: h3k

P.S. – Why have so many inks to choose from and only a pen or two?

Do you recall the library card you had as a kid? If you had one there were columns for date checked out and date returned. Four or six columns per side. One summer I filled up the card. A librarian didn’t believe I was reading the books, until she asked me about the four I was returning, four was the limit for a kid, and I went on and on about them. This was a time I had read all of The Bobbsey Twins (don’t do that now) and the other youth books they had available. So I started in on the adult stuff. I was pre-teen then. But I recall checking out the Gone With The Wind and the Autobiography of Eddie Rickenbacker, a WWI flying ace. Both of those books were 2,000 or so pages long.

A couple of years ago I was in Goodreads, an online book tracking place. Do reviews, track of what you had read, set goals, that kind of stuff. I was into 30 books or so in the summer and revising my goal of books to read. Ahhh! Retirement! All that changed when I had a stroke. Eventually, I was able to read. But not like I used to read. I have slowed down. My stamina is much less than it was. I have been working on it.

This weekend I finished 330 pages of NOIR, from Christopher Moore. It was a bad thing to do to a nice book. When the book started I kept my nose down and continued to read. Until finally, FINALLY, I finished the book. It is the longest thing I have read in two years. Mostly because it is a great book. A noir novel written in the last 10 years? They quit writing noir style novels … a long time ago. OK, it was set in 1947. So that fits. But wow! There are enough metaphors in that book … nah, no slick wordplay from me. Read Moore to enjoy the words. Because they are good.

OK, I am mostly asserting it is a good book without giving any examples. Know that it starts with the protagonist discovering his boss dead on the floor. Then he backs up a week and tells how it happens. Thanks mostly to “toots”, a woman you can see on the cover of the book. It helped me get through my lack of stamina and onward, I hope, to more reading. I have a TBR pile from the library.

—— MichaelRpdzx :: h3k

P.S. The international Hermes 3000 is awaiting some good cleaning. I have a can of PB Blaster. This is a first for me. Wish me luck.

P.P.S I am looking forward to not getting too caught up in Fountain Pens. They arrived. A hat tip to Joe Van Cleve for including Twsbi pens in his video on them, They are great pens. Now to work on my scribble and turning it into writing.

National Coffee Day? How did I miss it? I am kinda lucky. I just happened to try a new roasting method. um, let me explain. I roast my own coffee. My wife loves it. We share some in the morning. Every day. It is usually Guatemalan though I have snuck some Java into the rotation. This, coffee roasting, has been going on since 2008, or sometime back then. I started out with very dark roasts. Then I got a bit lighter and now, well I am trying to hit “city” level of roasting. This was motivated by Tom of Sweet Maria’s talking about how they used to stop the roasting when the first crack started. And so I did. The coffee is resting now. I will have a report on it in a day or two. I might have to check with Sweet Maria’s about when they stop their roasting for a “city” level roast. Just as a sanity check. So I observed National Coffee Day with a new roasting style.

Woo Hoo!

~ MichaelRpdx :: h3k

Open Culture, a web site and mailing list that talks about free (as in beer) things in life. Like books, education resources, stuff like that. They recently talked about “tending your garden.” This comes from Candide. You know, the one with Doctor Pangloss who goes on and on about how we live in the best of all possible worlds. In view of that, I thought I would talk about some of the wonderful things around us. About the good things found in these times.

Traffic, Have you noticed? You pull up to a place where you want to make a left-hand turn. You used to wait. And wait. Perhaps long enough to consider making a right and going a different route. Not anymore. Now you pull up. Traffic to the right is waiting at a light. Traffic at the left has not arrived yet. It is time to go. And go you do.

Driving. With the smoke, we didn’t do much driving. I just got back from filling the car. “Is five gallons right?” “Yep, that is.” Five gallons for the month. Because the last time I filled it up was on August 28. And that was in Salen, about 55 miles away. And we went down to visit my mother-in-law as part of the usage. Actually, that was five and a half gallons. For a month. If you are about to retire you can enjoy some of that not spending on gas.

Food at home. No mistakes here – we love to eat out. But not so much anymore. There just is not any places to eat out anymore. So we cook at home. Fortunately, we both cook well so we have been eating well. We also live close to Bob’s Red Mill. Bob’s is a place where they mill flour. They are world-class winners for their oatmeal. But they also have seitan, high gluten flour, cornmeal, polenta, pea flour, garbanzo flour, and a wide range of other foodstuffs to experiment with. Which we have and are enjoying.

I cannot remember the other things that are, have been good. it is a running cup overflowing for us.

— MichelRpdx :: h3k

When you believe in things you don’t understand you suffer.

~ Stevie Wonder, Superstition

Oh man, memories are flooding back. I lived in Albuquerque for five years, 85 to 90, and the description of #8 breakfast burrito…aaahhhaay what wonderfulness. I had plenty of them. Mostly at the Frontier across from UNM. They were close to where I lived at the time. I would also get a freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee. It is good to hear they are still there. Thanks Joe.

Watch the debate? Nah, I don’t think so. I’ll wait for the highlight reels.

We have been watching, on Netflix, a Swedish drama. Rebecka Martinsson. It is something like a cross between an American cop show and an Australia one. In the American ones there are guns being pulled out all the time. In the Australian ones, it is rare. Maybe one: time in an eight-episode series. They just don’t go to guns to solve problems. But holy cats! They have people committing themselves to an asylum, as one example, to people getting personal. OK, second example. They have a bunch of people being open with their sexual lives including affairs at work. Not a whisper of harassment. It is, if you are OK with subtitles, a great thing to watch.

— MichaelRpdx :: h3k