Health, Finances and Community
* I had a check-up with my doctor to-day. He was pleased. My weight was down (176 pounds at the office, but last time I checked my naked body it was 170 pounds). There is a definite trend down with my current diet. My blood pressure is not the 120/60 I used to get reliably, but 132/85 to-day was pretty good. We will see what blood chemistry looks like, but as I have been using stevia in my coffee it should show a reduction in carbohydrates and triglicerides: otherwise I don't know what to do next! I do have a nutritionist visit scheduled for next week on Friday, so I will have data to present to get professional advice.
* My right forearm has a little spot near the elbow which I am concerned about. It occasionally scabs up. At this moment it looks to be healing but sure enough some later time it will be irritated and I will scratch it and I get another scab.
* Deposited a check and wrote some checks to-day. It will be tight the rest of the month but I have stayed away from everything but supplies for my outdoor projects, so credit use should dip further next month which means I should stay on top of the budget for a while.
* I am all caught up on extra payments to House 70. In fact, come next February I will be one-quarter through the total number of payments I need to buy the house completely! Half of that one-quarter is also pure principal. So you can definitely say that by 2017 I will own more than 10% of the house and probably more like 17%. By end of 2019 I will be half-way through payments, 2022 3-quarters paid and 2024 or so paid off!
* Of course, my goal is to retire in the Spring of 2025 when I am 66. That goal may change, possibly beyond my control, but that is what I want to do to-day. When I retire we should have social security as the core income but investment proceeds from my 10% contributions at work will also be gradually paid down as needed for supplemental income.
* If we achieve our goals of changes to our house early I can work to build up a security fund in addition to this.
* When I went to the bank I saw that St. Johns is preparing for the annual parade to-morrow with "no parking--parade" signs everywhere along Central and Lombard between Ida and downtown St. Johns.
* Also heard the story of a 2:30pm accident yesterday right in front of the bank (Albina Community). A car plows into the bike rack and tree. The man runs away leaving the vehicle there. Apparently he was a drug abuser with hypodermic needles in the vehicle. I don't know if the tree can be saved. I hope they replace the bike rack with a new one--don't think that is salvageable.
* The Couture store is getting a facelift. Alot of businesses are improving or changing along N. Lombard as the street becomes a more attractive place for retail to pedestrians. I see a lot of people walking on N. Lombard that I don't remember happening in years past.
* The "Station" is getting ready to open. It used to be a car repair place. The windows in the main part of the building are still slanted inward from top to bottom. I was concerned they would make them boring like every other place when they were boarded up during construction.
* The little building stuck in by the typewriter store is now completely ready. It fits in rather well, actually...even though it sits right at the edge of the sidewalk. However, so does the typewriter store, and thus it fits in! Fitting in with existing buildings is what good community design is all about!
* Work was exhausting this week, so much so that I just fell asleep to-day as some layout I prepared was loading up. Two hours later I checked and it had not finished loading. I am extremely annoyed by this and will have to start over my work to figure out how to help people migrate their layout (the way I did it apparently corrupted the layout, I don't know). Next time I am saving the entire library at each stopping point.
* Weather to-day was very nice. Got even a bit too hot by 5 p.m. To-morrow it is supposed to rain at times. When it isn't raining I will work on the fence post holes. When it is raining (and after the parade has gone...and people parking on our street have left), I will get posts and other fence supplies. Sunday may also rain, but I will watch for opportunities to work outside.
* My neighbor was power washing her front stoop to-day. I need to get one of those (but not the one she had, made by Karcher--it would occasionally overload itself and blow its own circuit breaker) to prepare the fences and railing for stain (someday).
* My right forearm has a little spot near the elbow which I am concerned about. It occasionally scabs up. At this moment it looks to be healing but sure enough some later time it will be irritated and I will scratch it and I get another scab.
* Deposited a check and wrote some checks to-day. It will be tight the rest of the month but I have stayed away from everything but supplies for my outdoor projects, so credit use should dip further next month which means I should stay on top of the budget for a while.
* I am all caught up on extra payments to House 70. In fact, come next February I will be one-quarter through the total number of payments I need to buy the house completely! Half of that one-quarter is also pure principal. So you can definitely say that by 2017 I will own more than 10% of the house and probably more like 17%. By end of 2019 I will be half-way through payments, 2022 3-quarters paid and 2024 or so paid off!
* Of course, my goal is to retire in the Spring of 2025 when I am 66. That goal may change, possibly beyond my control, but that is what I want to do to-day. When I retire we should have social security as the core income but investment proceeds from my 10% contributions at work will also be gradually paid down as needed for supplemental income.
* If we achieve our goals of changes to our house early I can work to build up a security fund in addition to this.
* When I went to the bank I saw that St. Johns is preparing for the annual parade to-morrow with "no parking--parade" signs everywhere along Central and Lombard between Ida and downtown St. Johns.
* Also heard the story of a 2:30pm accident yesterday right in front of the bank (Albina Community). A car plows into the bike rack and tree. The man runs away leaving the vehicle there. Apparently he was a drug abuser with hypodermic needles in the vehicle. I don't know if the tree can be saved. I hope they replace the bike rack with a new one--don't think that is salvageable.
* The Couture store is getting a facelift. Alot of businesses are improving or changing along N. Lombard as the street becomes a more attractive place for retail to pedestrians. I see a lot of people walking on N. Lombard that I don't remember happening in years past.
* The "Station" is getting ready to open. It used to be a car repair place. The windows in the main part of the building are still slanted inward from top to bottom. I was concerned they would make them boring like every other place when they were boarded up during construction.
* The little building stuck in by the typewriter store is now completely ready. It fits in rather well, actually...even though it sits right at the edge of the sidewalk. However, so does the typewriter store, and thus it fits in! Fitting in with existing buildings is what good community design is all about!
* Work was exhausting this week, so much so that I just fell asleep to-day as some layout I prepared was loading up. Two hours later I checked and it had not finished loading. I am extremely annoyed by this and will have to start over my work to figure out how to help people migrate their layout (the way I did it apparently corrupted the layout, I don't know). Next time I am saving the entire library at each stopping point.
* Weather to-day was very nice. Got even a bit too hot by 5 p.m. To-morrow it is supposed to rain at times. When it isn't raining I will work on the fence post holes. When it is raining (and after the parade has gone...and people parking on our street have left), I will get posts and other fence supplies. Sunday may also rain, but I will watch for opportunities to work outside.
* My neighbor was power washing her front stoop to-day. I need to get one of those (but not the one she had, made by Karcher--it would occasionally overload itself and blow its own circuit breaker) to prepare the fences and railing for stain (someday).