The Fluffbucket Diaries

Printing out to read after I put my phone away for the night: “Why kids need a strong network of supportive adults, and how to build that tribe” (Washington Post)

Taffy Brodesser-Akner is back with another entertaining profile (her last one was this great piece on Tom Hanks) in The New York Times.

“Jimmy Buffett — the nibbling on sponge cake, watching the sun bake, getting drunk and screwing, it’s 5 o’clock somewhere Jimmy Buffett — has been replaced with a well-preserved businessman who is leveraging the Jimmy Buffett of yore in order to keep the Jimmy Buffett of now in the manner to which the old Jimmy Buffett never dreamed he could become accustomed.”

“For those of us who spend all day at a desk, Dr. Rosner said, it’s best to drink only when we feel thirsty.”

“Everyone’s Resolution Is to Drink More Water in 2020: Why are we so obsessed with hydration?” (N.Y. Times)

Per the Post site: “They’re not synonymous with Midwestern, white or conservative. They care about the news. They’re not the only ‘real’ America.” Good read.

“Five myths about rural America that muddle the political realities” (Washington Post)

Finally registered at my local Roman Catholic parish tonight. Genuinely tickled that the only parish registration forms they had were in Spanish. My 35-years-ago high school Spanish — and the nice Spanish-speaking receptionist — came in handy as I filled out my form. 😬

“Soleimani posted memes antagonizing Trump on social media” (Washington Post)

Just a reminder from Trump’s 2016 Democratic rival: “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”

I first tried Old Style – a bit of Chicago in a frosty plastic cup – on a hot day at Wrigley Field nearly 20 years ago. It’s the only setting in which I will have an Old Style.

“How Chicago Bars Got So Many Old Style Signs” (WBEZ-FM)

Just bought the kid a video game involving a goose that terrorizes a village. I think I’ll turn in my parenting badge now.

Here’s some great advice from The New York Times, whether you’re in New York or some other city, or in suburbia or the country: Put down your phone and look up.

Been thinking about Chris Brogan’s recommendation to come up with three words to guide their upcoming year. (H/T again to @Ron on Micro.blog for writing about it!) It wasn’t hard to come up with words – but it wasn’t easy to zero in on which ones to use. I changed them around twice before settling on this year’s words.

Healing. The husband recommended this rather than “Health.” I forget why, but I kind of like this word instead.

“Healing” encompasses the usual diet and exercise intentions, but it’s broader than that. I’ve been dealing with chronic pain – mainly abdominal and menopause-related, but lately spreading to my back and hips – that I handle with multiple doses of ibuprofen a day. (I suspect my doctors are so skittish about opioids that such medication isn’t even an option in their view.) Also, my knees are grinding and probably will require surgical attention. My hunch is that immediate attention to my eating habits will help, followed by a few more breaks from the ball-and-chain work habits I have. And yes, a doctor’s appointment or two are in order.

This word also covers other areas beyond physical health, like mental/emotional and spiritual. All of these areas – physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual health – certainly tie into the next word.

Perseverance. I am generally a lazy sort, which explains my utter lack of physical fitness and desire to retire at age 53. (That, of course, is not going to happen.) However, as I head into my 54th year this spring, my sense of mortality has intensified considerably. I preface any plans these days with “God willing,” and I begin 2020 with a heightened sense of urgency. It saddens me to realize not only how much time I’ve wasted in my life, but how much time I threw away because I dwelled on mistakes made through the years.

As much as I hate football now, I have a favorite player: Philip Rivers, the longtime Chargers quarterback, devout Catholic, and father of 9. He lives by the Latin motto Nunc coepi – Now, I begin. The motto didn’t originate with Rivers, but with Catholic figures such as Ven. Bruno Lanteri and St. Josemaria Escriva. The point, reiterated in Catholic tradition that goes beyond Lanteri and Escriva, is this: Begin again, pick yourself up, no matter how many times you fall. Keep beginning – in all you do, with God, with family, with friends – despite whatever stumbles you’ve made. Nunc coepi.

Perseverance is also a big theme in Catholic tradition and theology. There is “final perseverance,” or the preservation of the state of grace until the end of life. This certainly will play a part in this whole 2020 pursuit of perseverance in my own life, especially given that sense of mortality I mentioned. But perseverance in faith also means imitating God’s perseverance and patience with us; this, Pope Francis has said, strenghtens us not only to keep going, but to help those around us.

All this leads, in a way, to the third word.

Silence. I have spent hours upon hours of my life distracted with time wasters, particularly news media, social media, and other digital dalliances. (I even have a folder of apps on my iPhone called “Time Wasters.") Largely removing Facebook from my life freed up a lot of brain cells, but that leaves other sources of noise, including Twitter and news websites.

My hope is that this word will guide me to step away from the digital noise, both on a daily basis and with periodic digital “fasts.” There are other ways to observe silence: turning off the car radio, keeping a regular Holy Hour at a local adoration chapel or church, occasional retreats. After seeing how much my anxiety and depression subsided with the end of my Facebook habit, I look forward to pulling back on Twitter and – even, or especially, during this election year – news media.

Here’s to a healthy, peaceful, and sane 2020, friends.

This Linda Ronstadt documentary on CNN is reminding me, somehow, of this “Plow King” ad from “The Simpsons.”

Watching the CNN documentary on Linda Ronstadt and appreciating the fact that she was my first rock concert. (I think I was in junior high; it was the tail end of her Boy Scout uniform era.) What a voice.

Happy New Year, folks. May it be less skittish than a Lab mix hearing celebratory gunfire in the distance.

Logged off work early — just in time to set up new DIY monitor shelving for the home office. Whee.

Between Joe Biden telling miners to learn to code and Mike Bloomberg vowing to turn the White House into an open office, I am really not looking forward to the 2020 campaign season.

(H/T @JMaxB for the link.)

“Rare video shows a puffin using a tool to scratch an itch” (Washington Post)

Yes, democracy dies in darkness. But I also read the Post for great oddball items like this.

Considering Chris Brogan’s “My 3 Words” approach to prepare for the coming year.

It seems simple: “Choose any three words you feel will guide you forward.” It’s just going to take a lot of thought. But I love the idea.

(Thanks to @Ron for recently posting about it.)

“For all its forward-thinking companies and liberal social and environmental policies, the state has mostly put higher-value jobs and industries in expensive coastal enclaves, while pushing lower-paid workers and lower-cost housing to inland areas like the Central Valley.”

Conor Daugherty, “California Is Booming. Why Are So Many Californians Unhappy?” (N.Y. Times)

As a native Californian who has made a home in the Midwest for more than 20 years, I can’t imagine going back. I have family there, yes, but the state’s exorbitant cost of living alone makes it deeply unappealing.

“Jason Mendelson said his father’s death on Christmas — a day that he was strongly associated with because of his music and television productions — ‘was a pretty serendipitous thing.’”

“Lee Mendelson, Producer Behind ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas,’ Dies at 86” (N.Y. Times)

ESPN2 is now showing the 2018 Classic Tetris World Championship. This makes the national spelling and geography bees look like professional wrestling.

“Don Imus, who spent more than half a century in radio and television skating along the edge of propriety and occasionally falling into the abyss of the unacceptable, died Dec. 27 … He was 79.” (Washington Post)

“The pope says priests should be where the people are. … And to those who might say that God could not possibly be here, I say he is.”

“This Catholic priest celebrates Mass in a casino. He calls prayer a ‘sure bet’” (L.A. Times)

Maureen Dowd: “The politics of purism makes people stupid. And nasty.”

Just saw “The Lion King.” Spoiler alert: Beyoncé kills all the hyenas.

“It has come to a point where you can rely on the Philippines for all sorts of things: trolls, click farms, whatever you want.”

On behalf of my people: I’m sorry, Internet.