Wednesday, November 24, 2021
I slept a good part of the night. I was up by 5:15 but chose to stay in bed a bit longer. I didn’t have to rush; no yoga today.
On my morning walk, I saw Vince and Julie approaching. When their scent wafted down to us, Elsa pulled to greet them. She knew where she could get her pets from.
Today, Julie walked with me, abandoning Vince, who went around the block at a fast pace on his own. Julie told me about a problem she was having with a sewing project. She does professional embroidery and sewing projects. She’s not a seamstress, working on clothing. Her current project is a stuffed animal. She had lots of scrap material and could sell what she made. She complained her granddaughter had messed with the sights on her laser printer. Laser printer!
The other day I mentioned my problem with getting Mike’s gravestone engraved to Lutz. The woman who does the engraving here doesn’t answer her phone. She’s unreliable or downright inaccessible. I explored the inlaying process. Between the expense, the size problem (it would have to be a large stone to accommodate the supers script 2 in Mike’s Ph.D. 2, and my problems communicating with the sales rep for the company, I have abandoned that as a possibility. I could still go with the brass plaque, but it seemed cold. Lutz had recommended laser printing. He proposed I buy one because he couldn’t imagine that anyone here on the island would have that technology. I asked Julie if her machine would work on stone. She didn’t think so. Besides, her machine was too small for the 1’ x 2’ x 3” stone I had purchased, not realizing how much trouble I would have to get it engraved. Julie recommended I try the trophy shop. That’s where I went to explore the brass plaque. The shop owner didn’t recommend laser printing, but I may not have left an opening for that offer. I wasn’t overly optimistic but was more than willing to explore the option.
Julie went off on another topic, grammar. She apparently reads material where she frequently comes across cases where people incorrectly use the subjective voice instead of the objective, as in ‘He came to visit Mike and I’ instead of saying ‘Mike and me.’ I mentioned that “It’s me” is grammatically incorrect. She argued with me, saying it should be in the objective voice because it came after the verb. I planned to look it up when I got home.
I got home relatively late. I thought I had an 8 am appointment with one of my physical therapists. I rushed to take a shower and get out of the house by 7:30. This PT, Terry, is different from Katie but also amazing. I didn’t have much luck with PTs when I lived in Princeton and Ohio. The medical care I got in Ohio was better than what I got in Princeton, and the medical care I am getting here from Kaiser surpasses both.
I was in a hurry to get to the 8 am appointment. I took the high road, Mamalahoa Highway and Palani Rd. Boy, was that ever a mistake. The traffic was stop and go up there. I was never going to make it on time. I didn’t know what the problem was. There is a good possibility it was a school bus or just cars taking their kids to school. They were having trouble finding bus drivers, so people had to drive their kids to school. That puts a lot of cars on the road. There aren’t many turn-offs from Mamaloha. It took a good 20 minutes to get to Hina Lani. The way down toward the ocean was clear. I cut across on the middle road instead of going all the way down to the Queen K highway. The middle road intersected with Palani, which was the road closest to the rehab place.
I was only a few minutes late, only to learn my appointment was at 9. It wasn’t worthwhile going all the way home. The receptionist said I could use some of the exercise machines. I tried one but had no idea what I was doing. The clerk offered to help. She walked me around the exercise equipment. The instructions were printed on the machines. I hadn’t noticed. I did some upper body work, nothing too strenuous, and then went out to sit and read. I read more of David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell. Its message is more is not better. It’s the ole U curve. There’s too little, just enough, an optimal amount, more than you need, and too much. Too much is just as bad as too little. They’re both ruinous.
I learned the other day that a favorite principal of mine had been in a bad car accident in February. His twelve-year-old son died, and he was hospitalized and nearly lost his arm. I hoped the accident was caused by some drunk who crashed into the side of the car. No such luck. The principal skidded on ice. I can’t imagine this man’s agony. I got this information through one of the teachers I used to work with to whom I sent information about my teaching videos on YouTube. She knew the circumstances of the accident, which was not covered in the newspapers. She told me the insurance company had insisted that he couldn’t leave the hospital to go to his son’s funeral. The hospital rigged some excuse so he could go. Can you imagine?!
On the other hand, maybe the insurance company colluded with the hospital to figure out a way around the rule. I also learned the man was back on the job. I wish with all my heart that I could do something to help him in his suffering.
I had a Cryotherapy appointment later in the day. I made a point of not constantly turning while in the machine to get more of the benefit of the cold. Turning every fifteen seconds is recommended. The therapist told me when to turn. It was less pleasant than last time when I turned continually but hardly unbearable. When I got out, she immediately took my temperature, 570. She declared this good Huh! Last time it was the same, and it wasn’t good. She said, next time, she will take my temperature before I get it. Seems I’m a little boiling cauldron.
It was such a lazy day. Most of my days are on the lazy side. I don’t get much done. As they always say, if you want something done, ask a busy person. I’m not busy; I don’t get much done. I napped. I woke up for my appointment with Mama K’s crew. She asked to cancel until they had a replacement for their broken computer. It is tough doing tutoring on Zoom over the phone.
Later in the day, Mama K sent me a text. Twin A spontaneously wrote the following. “I don’t no ware is Toco.” She is moving ahead at the speed of summer lightning; remember, she still struggled to learn the letters of the alphabet during the summer. However, teachers report all three of her kids have language problems. Unfortunately, they provide no details. Mama k sees they’re agrammatic; that means they don’t use the right words or the words in the right order. The sentence Twin A wrote above is an example of such a problem. I think we can deal with that with my method of teaching. Well, it’s worth a try.
I called the trophy store as per Julie’s recommendation. They can do laser printing on stone, marble, or granite, but there’s a limit. It can’t be bigger the one foot by two feet by three inches. That’s exactly the size of the granite I ordered. Done! How much? I didn’t ask. It can’t be more than the $3,000 plus for the inlay or the $1000 for the brass plaque. The laser printing will do more detail, but it’s not as deep as sandblasting. How long will it last? Marble will be good for fifty years; the granite for seventy. Done!!!
Yvette called to tell me that Judy had been trying to get hold of me and was worried. I called her immediately. She said she had called me twice and had sent two texts. Often, my phone doesn’t beep when I get a text. Also, Judy had used the house phone. I never answer that. It will be gone altogether at the end of the month now that I have the new system through Brian and Tommy. Judy called to ask if she could borrow my folding chairs for the Thanksgiving dinner. They were more suited for her table, which was high. Paulette came by, and I gave her three of them. Yvette had the fourth one downstairs for her desk chair. Judy called later to ask if they could have that one too. I sent a text to Josh and Yvette and heard nothing. When I checked, I saw my message had not been delivered. I have no idea why that happens. I called them. Yvette brought the chair up, put it in my car, and drove it up to Judy’s house.
The verdict came in on the Ahmaud Arbery case. I don’t know if it should or should not have been murder one. It was assumed it was a hate killing. I was struck with a comment the defense attorney made some comment about Arbery’s ‘dirty long toenails.’ I thought that was an odd thing for the defense attorney to have made. It was obviously very disturbing. Some pundits speculate she was trying to evoke unconscious bias in the predominantly white jury. My first thought was the attorney felt the three men were guilty and was prejudicing the jury against them with that comment. My next thought was no; the attorney sensed that the judgment would go against the defendants and set up a basis for a mistrial based on the impact of his comment. I assume she hadn’t done anything that could get her disbarred, but it could get the men a second trial under more favorable circumstances.
Yvette came up to give me a quick Facebook tutorial. I posted information about my videos on teaching phonics. The ones I posted were lost on the thread. How did I bring up only my own posts? She told me to click on my image. Worked like a charm.
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