I'm a retired consult-liaison psychiatrist. I navigated the path in a phased retirement program through the hospital where I was employed. I was fully retired as of June 30, 2020. This blog chronicles my journey.
We got a couple of those ready-made kites the other day, took them out to Terry Trueblood Park and man did they fly! We used to fly kites you had to spend a little time and effort putting together back in the day. It was close to 90 degrees but we barely noticed.
I remember the first time we ever flew a kite. I was in medical school and we lived out in one of the cinder block apartment houses on Hawkeye Drive in Iowa City. They don’t exist anymore. The kite flew like a dream—and got stuck in a tree.
The next time we flew a kite was well after I graduated from residency. We got a kite that I couldn’t stop flying. I flew it in the nearby park, and afterward flew it in our driveway for hours.
I’m learning how to use the video editor ClipChamp, the free version on the new laptop. So, I muddled through a screen recording of playing what’s called the Daily Cribbage Scrimmage on Cribbage Pro, a feature-rich computer Cribbage game on which you can different skill levels of computer players from easy to impossible as well as online with other live players.
I’m used to using an old version of PowerDirector for my video editing. I would have to expend a fair amount of energy and a little more money to install it on the laptop. I can deal with the webcam on the laptop, but using ClipChamp takes some getting used to.
Recently, we donated some furniture to Habitats for Humanity ReStore in Iowa City. We got the idea from seeing our neighbors doing the same thing a few years ago.
ReStore requires you to put the items in your garage or driveway. The request for pickup is an easy on-line form. You have to upload photos of your items. I forgot to take a photo of the stone table top, so I had to use an old photo I took of it after a Cribbage game.
The story of the contrast between how long it took us to get the stuff out to the garage and how long it took the pick-up guy to get it into his truck is an example of what I’ll call the five-minute rule. If it takes the average person 5 hours to get heavy furniture from inside the house into the garage, it will take the pick-up guy 5 minutes to load it into his truck.
I took a photo of the table upside down because we had to take the legs off. Otherwise, we would never have gotten it through the doorway. It weighed a ton. We laid the table top upside down on a rug in the garage. I screwed the legs back on after we got it in the garage and left it upside down.
Getting a couple of sofas and a very heavy dining room table with a stone top out of the house was no easy task. It took us hours. I don’t know how the movers originally got them in the house. This was one of those “you really had to be there” episodes to appreciate.
We had to remove the feet from the sofas to get them through the doorway. They twist off, but they’re also attached with hex head screws. Oh, and those stick-on pads you apply to the bottoms of the feet so your floors don’t get scratched? You have to scrape those off to get to the screws. Just sayin’. Lucky, we had a hex head wrench that was long enough to reach through the hole in the foot. And even after we removed the feet, the sofas had to be turned just right to get it through the doorway. We’re talking less than a half-inch to spare on both sides.
It took most of the morning to get the items into the garage. I never want to do anything like that again.
Now here’s the kicker. The guy who came to pick up the furniture was a tall, wiry, friendly guy who had a hand truck and nobody else with him. The truck had a ramp. It took him about 5 minutes to hustle everything into the truck. Miraculous. I never thought of getting a hand truck. I probably could have rented one from U-Haul.
On the other hand, I doubt we’d have done much better if we’d had a hand truck. The pick-up guy was not just strong. He used Ninja physical maneuvers which made the whole job look easy. Five minutes.
By comparison, several hours after we finally got the stuff into the garage, it took me five minutes just to limp back into the house and collapse.
But Habitats for Humanity really appreciates your donations.
I’ve seen a couple of Cribbage videos on Huddle Around Games, which is a YouTube site dedicated to Cribbage as well as other games.
This one is a tutorial on how to play Cribbage for beginners. He calls himself Zulwarn, which is his name when he plays the online form of a computer Cribbage game called Cribbage Pro. I play (well, mainly lose) on Cribbage Pro, but not on line. I just play the computer, on Brutal level. I guess I like punishment because Brutal doesn’t make mistakes.
The other day I tried to process an online request for a USPS Change of Address (COA), but it didn’t work. It hung up at the “Loading” stage for a half hour and then kicked back to the start of the form without ever giving me a confirmation. Yet, it charged my credit card for $1.10, which I couldn’t get refunded at my local post office, where I submitted the paper COA the old-fashioned way. The clerk said she couldn’t do it and referred me to the dysfunctional USPS web site. This was just the beginning of the buck-passing.
I know that others have experienced this same difficulty because I did a web search on the topic. It’s been going on for at least a year.
I tried contacting the Office of the Inspector General who referred me to my local consumer affairs office in Des Moines. I was already familiar with the 800 number. I found out from the automated reply tree that the COA issue could only be addressed through the dysfunctional online system or by submitting a paper COA at my local post office. No human ever got on the line.
Then I tried the online USPS technical support page. They assigned me a Service Request number and I have to wait for a response.
I know when I’m getting the run-around. This is not about the money. I realize some people lose more money between their sofa seat cushions than I’m losing to the USPS. This is about the USPS essentially stealing from customers.
I’ve set up my very first poll on this blog about the issue. I hope you’ll register your opinions by voting and commenting.
At some time in your life, you may have to protect your artwork from harm. And some experts think that has to involve corrugated carboard corners.
If you ever have to deal with corrugated cardboard, be careful. It can cut you up. That’s how my arms got scratched and bruised, which you can see my video demonstration of how to fold corrugated corners. Approach it carefully from the front, maybe offer it some meat (not your own!).
I caught the Big Mo Blues Show June 14th last Friday night. And I also caught the Big Mo Pod Show as well. Produce Noah got the month wrong for some odd reason. He said it was May 14th. Let it go. Anybody can be temporally impaired from time to time, including me.
Anyway, the theme of the podcast was “Chromatic Rock,” which I gather applies mainly to harmonicas in this context. But in a more general sense, I think it means adding more color to music, mainly by variation in notes. The specific artist in the podcast was somebody I’ve not heard of by the name of Sugar Blue. He blew a tune on the harmonica called “Krystalline,” which is some kind of cocaine.
Big Mo got most of the items in the quiz. He always does pretty well, because of his encyclopedic knowledge about music. His memory is really strong. I bet he even knew what month it is.
Well, here comes my selection from last Friday’s Big Mo Blues Show, a number called “Plain Old Common Sense,” performed by Kenny Neal. Common sense is pretty important. It can keep your head above water and clear of cocaine.
The Rounding@Iowa podcast has many fascinating and helpful episodes, not the least of which is this one on heat-related illness. The days are getting hotter and we need to pay close attention to what happens in our bodies when exposed to excessive heat.
Join Dr. Clancy, Dr. Appenheimer & Dr. Barker as they discuss prevention, diagnosis and treatment of various tick-borne illnesses. CME Credit Available: https://uiowa.cloud-cme.com/course/courseoverview?eid=82296 Host: Gerard Clancy, MD Senior Associate Dean for External Affairs Professor of Psychiatry and Emergency Medicine University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Guests: Ben Appenheimer, MD Clinical Associate Professor of Internal Medicine-Infectious Diseases Assistant Director, Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program Associate Clinical Director, Infectious Diseases Co-Medical Director, TelePrEP, University of Iowa Health Care University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Jason Barker, MD Associate Professor of Internal Medicine-Infectious Diseases University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Financial Disclosures: Dr. Gerard Clancy, his guests, and Rounding@IOWA planning committee members have disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Nurse: The University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine designates this activity for a maximum of 1.0 ANCC contact hour. Pharmacist and Pharmacy Tech: The University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine designates this knowledge-based activity for a maximum of 1.0 ACPE contact hours. Credit will be uploaded to the NABP CPE Monitor within 60 days after the activity completion. Pharmacists must provide their NABP ID and DOB (MMDD) to receive credit. JA0000310-0000-26-038-H01 Physician: The University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Other Health Care Providers: A certificate of completion will be available after successful completion of the course. (It is the responsibility of licensees to determine if this continuing education activity meets the requirements of their professional licensure board.)
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