Tuesday, December 16, 2025

A Second Look At 2024

It's the time I look back at my 2024 blogs to give myself feedback. The goals delaying one year are relearning from my mistakes, reinforcing my lessons, reminding myself my moments, refreshing acquired knowledge, rediscovering new wisdom, correcting errant blogs, and sharing changes. The 14 blogs are also the 2024 best blogs.

1. Do You Really Care About Other People?
Date: Mon Jan 15
Summary: You must care about yourself to care for other people.
Feedback: There are multiple feedbacks on the blog post and on the Update On A Past Blog. The blog consisted of two paragraphs with wisdom. Boundaries is the one-word summary for the first paragraph. I remind myself boundaries from the blog I'm Tired Stepping Up Making Other People Feel Comfortable written on Mon Oct 13, 2025. Be fair. Stand up for yourself. Don't be taken advantage. Let the other party be angry.

I wrote "Don't sacrifice yourself to care for other people" is the other people don't necessarily pay you back or return the favor. Napoleon Hill said, "The man who does more than he is paid for will soon be paid for more than he does." The statement is false. It's not aloofness does pay in the service industry. It's niceness doesn't pay in the service industry. There are exceptions such as five-star hotels.

Self-respect and self-esteem are required to care for other people.

I repeat my favorite wisdom for the second paragraph. "Motivation or desire is more important than knowledge. Further, a little knowledge is better than a lot of ignorance."

One of the Update On A Past Blog is the day I grew up on Sat Oct 4, 2008. The blog Connecting My Dots Backwards written on Oct 13, 2011 details the immediate changes. The first two sentences I wrote: I reiterate an action on the day I realized I must grow up on Sat Oct 4, 2008. The action was "I forgave everything and everyone. . . ."

2. The San Francisco 49ers Third Super Bowl Lost Hurts The Most
Date: Tue Feb 13
Summary: I shared my opinion on the 49ers overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Feedback: The two sentences "I believe the 2024 Super Bowl hurts the most because head coach Kyle Shanahan did everything correct. He did it right." should be corrected to did almost everything correct and mostly did it right because I mentioned "Multiple reports stated some 49ers didn't know the new overtime playoff rules." Moreover, some sports journalists said a Shanahan weakness is he can't adapt and improvise when his game plan fails. Perhaps, the weakness explains Shanahan can't think ahead and anticipate multiple outcomes before the game and during the game.

I stand by my opinion as of today. Shanahan made the correct choice to receive the ball first in overtime. Go on offense, score a touchdown, and attempt the two-point conversion. There is no punting. The offense uses all four downs or all four chances to get first downs. Score eight points to win or lose the Super Bowl.

I reiterate to myself and to the readers. You can do everything correctly. The end result is a lost.

War of attrition. Chiefs won by attrition. No significant in-game injuries.

3. Throwback Blog: The Lesson To Be Successful Rarely Taught
Date: Wed Feb 28
Summary: The rarely taught lessons are timing, luck, opportunity, chance, learn from mistakes, and motivation or desire.
Feedback: Another factor to become successful is not taught in classes. The factor is nature. Natural talent. The powers to be granted something special to the person. I'm not a biologist. Natural selection must be considered.

Timing, luck, opportunity, chance, learn from mistakes, motivation or desire, and nature are factors to be successful.

4. Underachieve And Did Nothing About It
Date: Sun Mar 3
Summary: I dreamed I was an options trader laid off by Roseanne Barr.
Feedback: I wrote seven blogs sharing last night dreams. The blog represented one of the seven.

5. Homeless Encampment Eviction Day Real Story
Date: Sat Mar 23
Summary: The YouTube comments told the truth on a homeless encampment Eviction day for Oakland's Wood Street homeless encampment from KTVU Fox 2 News on Apr 10, 2023.
Feedback: The real news reporting is in the comments. The real journalism is from the comments acting as news reporters. There are some life lessons people can learn regardless of age. A favorite: You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

6. Self Job Training Graduation Analytics Research Technology
Date: Fri Apr 19
Summary: I documented my Analytics Research Technology job training from Aug 2014 to Mar 2024.
Feedback: The post Analytics Research Technology learning started on Jul 15, 2024. JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Excel, Python, and WordPress. I read one book on Power Pivot from Jul 2024 to Sep 2024. Power Query was a drill reminder rereading selected chapters from Aug 2024 to Jul 2025. I cleaned my code for my webpage Innovate Infinitely after JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

The education is Python and Excel as of the blog post. Did I reach my maximum what I needed to learn and to know for a data analyst is a question for the remainder of 2025. I don't know what new skills to learn starting in 2026.

The WordPress deserves its own paragraph. I started in Jul 2024. I ended in Aug 2025. I used my previous web hosting provider to learn WordPress. The web hosting provider accused me of using too much bandwidth. I closed my account. I found a better web hosting provider. I lost interest learning WordPress. The new web hosting provider is one blessing in disguise. A second blessing in disguise is I cancelled copying my Innovating Common Knowledge blogs to a WordPress blog template for further learning. Google Search Console and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are part of the WordPress learning.

R, R-Studio, and VBA are dead. I see no job postings requiring these skills. Linux is unseen in 99% of job postings I'm qualified. Access is seen in 1% of job postings I'm qualified. Moreover, almost all job descriptions the latest and greatest knowledge in Excel is not required; although, almost all job descriptions imply Excel.

7. Crossing The Line To Become An Adult
Date: Tue Jun 4
Summary: I declared myself an adult.
Feedback: I reiterate to correct the blog and the Update On A Past Blog. Age 46 is incorrect. Age 45 is correct. I was 45 years old when I became an adult.

8. Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog July 2024
Date: Fri Aug 2
Summary: My COVID-19 blog for July 2024.
Feedback: One consistent Shelter In-Place COVID-19 blogs is the surges. The virus mutates; however, there's no second COVID-19 global pandemic. No shut downs. No restrictions. No partial restrictions. The vaccines must be working. Herd immunity protects people from COVID-19. Regardless, friends and relatives are still testing positive.

9. Blame Life For Too Much
Date: Wed Aug 14
Summary: There is too much to do with too little time.
Feedback: The title is true. I made a mistake on the content. The content is mostly bullshit. The individual blogs combined for the title blog should not be combined. The bottom line is blame life and blame the Information Age there is too much to do. Life and the Information Age don't increase the number 24 for the 24 hours per day.

10. Half Ass Doesn't Work Anymore
Date: Tue Oct 8
Summary: People can't half ass to become successful.
Feedback: I want to clarify sometimes half-ass is good enough. Half-ass work depends on the responsibility, the assignment, the request, the resources or support available, and timing. It's a judgment call. A lazy person doing everything half-ass is another conversation.

11. Grown Up Lessons In Second Grade Completing A Word Search
Date: Tue Oct 22
Summary: I recall a word search homework assignment in second grade.
Feedback: I want to reiterate the first grown up lesson. The first lesson applies to everything in life. School, college, workplace, helping friends, helping family, and personal projects. Need more information. Inadequate support. Short amount of time. Can't complete it. Fuck it. Stop doing the assignment.

I wrote ten blogs referencing my past childhood or past childhood in school. The blog represents one of the ten.

12. Throwback Blog: Throwback Blog: A Mixed Bag Of Everything
Date: Thur Oct 31
Summary: Moments from the year 2006.
Feedback: 2006 is the year I talked about the least when it comes to good years. I still agree with the sentence 14 months later. 2006 was a fake happy year. I need reminders 2006 was a fake good year. 2006 was the least good year.

13. The Perfect Error
Date: Wed Nov 6
Summary: I shared my thoughts and opinions on the 2024 US Presidential Elections Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.
Feedback: I made a mistake. The title is incorrect. I'm incorrect saying Harris committed the perfect error. If Harris won, then she fulfilled the political miracle in the history of the United States Of America. A reason why Harris and the Democrats lost was no focus. The Democrats were too spread out. The Democrats were too diverse. The Democrats were too diluted.

I wrote the sentence, "Harris did her best to convince the American people to vote for her in 107 days." 107 Days is the title of her new book which reached number one in the New York Times Bestsellers list for nonfiction. I want Harris to name names who screwed up the Democratics and screwed up her political career.

Harris had little fault for her defeat. She was given one star ingredients to make a five star dinner.

14. My Problems Are Nothing
Date: Fri Dec 27
Summary: My life is happy because my problems are nothing.
Feedback: Another end of the day thought. My life is paradise. Shelter, food, sound mental capabilities, no physical injuries, mattress to sleep, minimal expenses, and internet. I'm not lost in the woods. No drugs or alcohol addictions. No video game addictions.

My problems are nothing relatively speaking. My life is not nothing relatively speaking. A person with nothing doesn't need money. A person with nothing doesn't need shelter, food, and the internet. He or she is nothing. Nothing. Period.

I wrote eight blogs referencing my long-term unemployment. The blog represents one of the eight.

The following blog is a honorable mention: The 10 Percent Physical Is Much Bigger With 90 Percent Mental.

Friday, December 12, 2025

Do You Fully Understand?

I wrote a blog on you're smarter than you think. I also wrote the converse some people are not as smart as you think. Here is a deeper blog. Do you fully understand yourself? Do you comprehend what you're doing? I believe there are more people than you think who don't know what's going on? I share three examples from the late Steve Jobs. Jobs said on 60 Minutes Overtime, "I say Microsoft and Google have a lot in common. Microsoft never had the humanities and the liberal arts in their DNA. It was a pure technology company. And they just didn't get it. Even when they saw the map, they couldn't even copy it well. How dumb do you have to be to not see it--once you see it, you know. But Google is the same way. They just don't get it."

Jobs hated PowerPoint slides. Programmer Tony Fadell presented iPod proposals in Apr 2001. Fadell learned a lesson saying, "Steve prefers to be in the moment, talking things through. He once told me, 'If you need [PowerPoint] slides, it shows you don't know what you're talking about.'"

There was a meeting discussing music copyright protection digital music with Apple and three music company executives in Jan 2002. Jobs interrupted the meeting after the fourth slide saying, "You have your heads up your asses." The presenter responded, "You're right. We don't know what to do. You need to help us figure it out."

Management is a good example such as the pointy haired boss from the Dilbert comic strip. Executives are another good example. Can a CEO describe the company's products and/or services? The managers saying they don't know from the movie Margin Call is a good portrayal many managers don't understand. There are professional sports players who underperform. Don't be surprised if these people bullshit their responsibilities. Few succeed. Sometimes their luck compensates for their stupidity.

Update On A Past Blog

Here are the blogs I mentioned above for further reading. The You're Smarter Than You Think blog was written on Nov 7, 2018. I wrote the some people are not as smart as you think blog Where Is The Intelligence? on Aug 24, 2019.

Thursday, December 04, 2025

Harder To Make Other People Angry

Most people do a poor job making other people angry. It's unnatural to piss off other people. These people are raised and behave to avoid confrontations. It's better to reason or to negotiate than being angry at each other. Proactive is better than reactive.

There are times the anger emotion is valid. The default "fuck you, asshole" rarely works. The other party is unconvinced. The other party thinks, "do better pissing me off." The other party thinks you're not the person to make me angry. Talking anger smart-ass is an art. Trash talking with malice is an art. Communicating degrading criticism is an art. It's like a master sharpshooter intentionally missing the target which is harder than hitting the target. It's like a professional singer singing offkey which is harder than singing on tune. If you want to make other people angry, don't think. Use intuition. Pretend to behave like a professional bully. Be a Homer Simpson. Don't be a Ned Flanders.

Two simple actions may work. One action is ignoring or keep silent; although, passive aggressiveness rarely succeeds. The second action is counterintuitive. Give a thumbs down instead of the middle finger. The PG movie rated family friendly reaction may be better than the R movie rated mature audiences only reaction.

Monday, December 01, 2025

Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog November 2025

California issued shelter in-place orders on Tue Mar 17, 2020. I have been logging the highlights and lowlights. November continued the slow down. I was a little more happier again. Slow news for the COVID-19 events.

Sat Nov 1. Take out donuts at Dunkin. Shopped at Costco.

Tue Nov 4. I voted. Shopped at Target and Costco. Ran errands at the bank. Visited Gamers Heaven Bay Area.

Sat Nov 8. Watched Indiana Hoosiers at Penn State Nittany Lions from the 11:00 in the 4th quarter.

Mon Nov 10. Shopped at Costco and Lucky. More Costco employees wore masks.

Tue Nov 11. Smog checked my car. Errands at Costco, Chevron, and Books, Inc. Ate a quick lunch at Starbird.

Sat Nov 15. West Valley Library book sale.

Wed Nov 19. Ran errands at Target and AAA.

Saturday, November 29, 2025

Costco Oroweat Bread Is Not $7.49

My parents purchased a pack of Oroweat Country Style Buttermilk two loaves of bread at Costco to make stuffing for Thanksgiving Day. I ate a slice of bread. No jellies. No butter. No spreads. The slice tasted terrible compared to the past. Oroweat changed the recipe. Oroweat changed the baking process. Oroweat changed the packaging. No secondary plastic wrap. Either raise prices or lower costs. The answer is obvious. Lower costs. Keep retail prices as low as possible. Inferior ingredients. Inferior materials. Lower workmanship.

I share my experiences. Oreo cookies, spices, some fast food restaurants, fruits, Cheerios, and baked goods. Also, non-edible goods. Shaving gel, toothpaste, soap, clothes, batteries, medical services, and automobile parts.

Be suspicious of no price change since the COVID-19 global pandemic. Question why the price increase is lower than expected during the inflation. Some goods change for the worse. Some services change for the worse. Coke raise prices. The product is the same. People accept the higher Coke prices.

Oroweat made the business decision. Reduce quality to minimize retail price increase. Customers still buy the $7.49 bread at Costco.

There is inflation. There is shrinkflation. There is lower quality. There is lower quantity. There is a combination of any of these.

Tuesday, November 25, 2025

My First Memories

I share some of my first memories.

*First dream. I fell down from the sky at Meyerholz Elementary School in San Jose, CA. I saw wise old Asian men watching from the mountains. I landed on top of a waterslide made of square wooden pieces like a 1970s playground metal slide supported by wooden posts shaped in squares. I slid down to the main playground. The air dried me immediately. I walked home minutes away from the school.

*Pre-school. I attended Wilson Elementary School in Cupertino, CA. My teacher's name was Miss Sue. She was red haired. One school day I cried myself to the time-out section with my brown paper lunch bag. The time-out section was a wall cordoned by a large red and white color gym mat perpendicular to the floor. My brown paper lunch bag was written with my first name and last name. I read when I was four years old.

*Pre-school parking lot. The end of my school day I walked around the parking lot sidewalk saying goodbye to the school buses.

*First stuffed animal. My mom sewed. She made a lamb for me and my brother. My mom named the lambs after my brother's first name and my first name. My lamb was Raymond Lamb. There was a day my brother played with all of the stuffed animals except for Raymond Lamb. I played with Raymond Lamb alone pretending to watch the house for all of our stuffed animals. The house was the glass coffee table in the living room. My brother thank me and Raymond Lamb for watching the house when his lamb and the stuffed animals came home.

My mom made Raymond Lamb with a mean smile :< My mom made my brother's lamb with a happy smile :)

*Living room glass coffee table. I favored clean. I cleaned up the living room by moving all the toys under the glass coffee table. I told everyone the room was cleaned.

*A late afternoon walk. My parents, brother, and I walked to Meyerholz Elementary School to play at the playground. I played on the playground equipment doing everything wrong because nobody taught me how to use the equipment.

Wednesday, November 19, 2025

Parents Are Salespeople, Too

A common family knowledge is children listen to their parents. Children are taught from their parents. Brush your teeth. Candy is bad for you. Go to sleep. Do your homework. Read books. You're playing too much video games. Eat your vegetables. Include your brother or sister. You don't need *insert unnecessary consumer good*. Say thank you.

Parents are parenting. Parents are also salespeople. Parents interact with salespeople buying a car, buying furniture, and shopping for home improvements. Salespeople must build trust, creditability, and sincerity selling a good or service. Parents must build trust, creditability, and sincerity nurturing and guidance. The children are the parent's customers. Parents adapt the ABC in sales which is Always Be Closing. Or parents practice rough parenting ABP or Always Be Parenting.

Monday, November 17, 2025

Past Lesson Blogs

Today's blog is an update on a past blog.

Update On A Past Blog

Here are 31 blogs with the word "lesson" in the blog title sorted by date in descending order from Dec 31, 2024 and earlier. Choose any blog to review and/or to relearn past lessons.

1. Grown Up Lessons In Second Grade Completing A Word Search written on Oct 22, 2024. Some assignments can't be completed for whatever reasons. People do cheat. And don't take everything seriously.

2. Reading Books Reinforce Centuries Life Lessons written on May 7, 2024. A pic blog from books Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw, Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, All The President's Men by Carl Berstein and Bob Woodward, and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Humans deserve kindness. A person realizes life becomes a joke the longer he or she lives. 99.9% of young people are not going to change the world. The word "rat" can be used in joke, metaphors, and anecdotes. Always verify. Give it time; for instance, it was inevitable Richard Nixon resigned. Every human being has at least one redeeming quality.

3. Throwback Blog: The Lesson To Be Successful Rarely Taught written on Feb 28, 2024. I repost timing, luck, opportunity, and chance blog from Sep 12, 2018.

4. A Lesson From The Rich People written on Jun 27, 2023. Understand the true meaning of work more and play less.

5. Life Lessons And Reminders written on May 21, 2022. A pic blog which includes two pages from the book Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden. Remember standard procedures. Narratives can change in minutes.

6. Three Grown-Up Lessons I Didn't Learn When I Was A Child written on Apr 17, 2022. The first lesson is nobody is perfect. The second lesson is actors and actresses don't make one movie and one television show for their entire careers. The third lesson is families change.

7. High School R.O.T.C. Leadership Lesson Another Viewpoint By Rank written on Oct 24, 2020. I rank the leadership attributes and leadership skills by importance.

8. Top Ten Lessons I Learned The Hard Way written on Jun 23, 2019. Never stop meeting new people is number one. Don't take life for granted is number three. Grow up is number four. Earn it is number six. Take care of your body inside and outside equally is number eight. Timing and luck are factors is number ten. These are my favorites.

9. The Lesson To Be Successful Rarely Taught written on Sep 12, 2018. If I can teach timing, luck, opportunity, and chance, then I'm a millionaire.

10. Another Lesson From Never Stop Growing Up Regardless When It Started written on Sep 5, 2018. People come and go in our lives. One reason is we change. People naturally grow apart.

11. Relevant Life Lessons And Trends written on May 23, 2018. Another pic blog. Active parents raise active children.

12. Throwback Blog: Top Ten Life Lessons From The Beatles written on Oct 30, 2017. I repost the Beatles blog from Jul 1, 2015.

13. Never Stop Learning Lesson Emphasized Because One Of The Shermans Past Away written on May 5, 2017. A lesson I repeat. Never stop learning. Innovate infinitely.

14. Top Ten Life Lessons I Learned Watching Sports written on Nov 5, 2016. Support, good coaching, consistency, be professional, and a strong core are some of the lessons.

15. A Lesson From My Bad Years written on Nov 1, 2016. I share a lesson from my bad years in 2002, 2007, 2008, 2013, and 2014.

16. Life Lessons Learned Playing Mahjong Riichi written on Mar 18, 2016. Skip all the lessons except the last lesson which is luck is part of the game. I'm an advanced mahjong player. My luck is terrible.

17. Life Lessons From Space Brothers written on Aug 17, 2015. My number two all-time favorite anime series. The lessons are part of my Inspiration Cheer Up life wisdom.

18. Top Ten Life Lessons From The Beatles written on Jul 1, 2015. Ten Beatles song titles are life lessons: Let It Be, Get Back, I've Got A Feeling, The Long And Winding Road, We Can Work It Out, Carry That Weight, Something, Here Comes The Sun, You're Going to Lose That Girl, and Getting Better.

19. Top Ten Lessons I Learned Working At My Last Job written on Nov 16, 2014. I worked at a retail startup selling wine. Shipping and receiving require training. There is no such thing as 100% customer service.

20. Top Ten Lessons I Learned Incorrectly written on Jul 28, 2014. I'm happy I corrected these lessons. They're no longer part of my life.

21. Top Ten Lessons My Parents Failed To Teach Me written on May 2, 2013. Parents raising children existed for centuries. Parents raising children exist in today's modern world. Unfortunately, some parents make the same mistakes my parents made when they raised me.

New parents remember some of these lessons from my top ten: communicate with your children, don't take life for granted, be mature, learn how to cook, read, and don't ignore problems hoping they disappear.

22. A Life Lesson I Learned Gangnam Style written on Aug 29, 2012. Ignore the lesson. I communicated incorrectly.

23. Lessons From My Office Space written on Jun 17, 2012. The first mistake was I didn't talk and socialize with my co-workers. The second mistake was I didn't realize people supported me in my second company. I believed I was lonely. I believed I was on my own. I had to be strong. I was a coward.

24. Life Lessons I Learned From Alex Smith written on Feb 15, 2012. The fifth lesson summarized Alex Smith's NFL career. Smith experienced bad luck and bad timing. I add a seventh lesson which is grit. Continue grinding. There was no reason to quit.

25. Another Lesson I Learned From My Grandparents written on Oct 15, 2010. My grandparents failed to meet new people and make new friends. People come and go. It's important to be surrounded with people. Make sure the people are good.

26. Derek Paravicini Teaches A Lesson On Life written on Apr 2, 2010. Begin in a friendly way.

27. A Lesson Learned Tonight written on Feb 2, 2010. There are no guarantees in life.

28. A Lesson From The Ants written on Dec 19, 2009. Don't make the same mistake twice.

29. A Lesson On Life Yesterday written on May 5, 2007. It was a reality check. Times have changed in the workplace from my parent's generation and the years before the Great Recession. Workers were on their own to solve problems. Everyone was too busy.

30. One Lesson Of Life Cosplaying written on Aug 28, 2006. The one lesson was don't rush. Take it slow. I add a second lesson of life cosplaying worth repeating is never stop meeting new people.

31. $100.00 Lesson written on Jan 24, 2006. Read the expiration dates for all rebates.

Monday, November 10, 2025

Do Everything One At A Time Is A Strength

Slow down. Relax. Take a breath. Forget multi-tasking. Do everything one at a time. Multi-task one at a time. Be productive rationally. Haste makes waste. Quiet down everyone. Stop panicking. Everything is going to be completed one at a time. Hang on for a second. All tasks are completed in time. Be patient.

Update On A Past Blog

The blog Connecting My Dots Backwards written on Oct 13, 2011 the title is misleading. The blog detailed the immediate changes when I realized I must grow up on Sat Oct 4, 2008. Any previous blogs on growing up should reference the Connecting My Dots Backwards blog.

Friday, November 07, 2025

Beautiful House On The Outside, Ugliness House On The Inside

I live in a middle-class neighborhood. Quiet. Nice streets. Plenty of street parking. Very little crime. A private elementary school. A small public park. Nearby retail stores and restaurants. Easy access to multiple freeways.

The homes are built in the 1950s, 1970s, and 1980s. One-story homes. Two-story homes. Few homes need major repairs. Few homes fully renovated to today's modern look. Most homes maintain their original build. All homes include front yards and back yards.

I jog around the neighborhood two times a week. I see normal neighborhood behavior. Neighbors interact with other neighbors. Some neighbors are friends. People maintain their gardens. People host gatherings when I see multiple cars parked around the house. People fix cars. Children play in the front yard. Homeowners push their garbage cans to the curb for garbage day. Repair trucks are parked in front of a house. Overall, all homes are beautiful on the outside.

Looks can be deceiving. Open the front door. Enter the house. There may be a different look. There may be a different emotion. Many of these homes have problems can't be seen from the outside. It's hard to believe there's something wrong inside these homes. The ugly problems on the inside. Financial debt. Poor medical health. Parents and children fight. Abuse. Distrust. Poor communication. Dirty, messy, dusty, and smelly by neglecting interior maintenance. Clutter. Poor nutrition. It can be hard to believe something is wrong.

Wednesday, November 05, 2025

My Game Over Is Coming Soon

Blogger's note: Today's blog is posted at both Innovating Common Knowledge and Finding Raymond Mar.

I'm running out of time. I'm running low on the number of chances. Resources and support dwindle. Permanent quitting time is near. I've exhausted everything I can think to earn my freedom. There are winners in life. There are losers in life. I belong to the losers. Nobody's fault. Blame life. I receive bad advice. Some knowledge are acquired incorrectly. I reverse setbacks as much as I can. I did my best. The narrative is I didn't do enough.

I'm tired. I'm exhausted. I think of my past self job training from today to 2015. Some may say my training was too good. Completing some training faster didn't guarantee a job. Time is no longer my friend. I'm not going to succeed.

No Longer Awesome Boring

I'm running out of ideas to keep my life fresh. There are more stale days lately. There are more rotten days recently. The present life is getting old. The general routine is unchanged for decades. I fear the present general routine becomes too comfortable I'm unable to adapt to better changes.

Reject The Alternate Life

Fortunately, the otaku life or the anime and video game life is forbidden. No fat man life. No eight hours of video games a day life. The lifestyle eating healthy and exercising is clear and present. I read books. I maintain the household. Self job training continues; although, what else can I learn which matches my strengths? My choices are few. I sleep well. I move forward.

Update On A Past Blog

I wrote an honest blog Permanent Unemployment on Jan 24, 2024. I spoke for some long-term unemployed people like me frustrated with the job hiring system. I mentioned AI replaces human jobs. Job training costs continue to increase which includes money and technology tools. Timing and luck are factors getting hired and getting rejected.

Monday, November 03, 2025

Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog October 2025

California issued shelter in-place orders on Tue Mar 17, 2020. I have been logging the highlights and lowlights. The last two weeks of October slowed down. I was a little more happier.

Wed Oct 1. Shopped at Target and Costco.

Fri Oct 3. Shopped at Target and Stevens Creek Toyota.

Mon Oct 6. The Center For Disease Control (CDC) dropped the universal COVID-19 vaccine recommendation. Patients age 6 months and older are recommended to discuss the benefits and risks with their doctor before receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The CDC said people under age 65 with underlying conditions benefit the most. People under age 65 with no increased risk for COVID-19 benefit the least. Many insurers cover the cost in 2025 and 2026.

85% of the US adult population received the primary vaccine. 23% of the US adult population received the latest booster. Patients don't need a prescription.

Pfizer and Moderna updated their vaccine for the LP.8.1 strain. The strain dominated the US population in early 2025. Novavax updated their vaccine for the JN.1. LP.8.1 accounted for 3% of the cases as of Sep 27, 2025. The XFG strain is the dominate strain affecting 85% of new cases.

Thur Oct 9. Fastest week while doing little productivity. It was the fastest week of 2025.

Fri Oct 10. President Donald Trump received the COVID-19 booster and flu vaccine at Walter Reed Medical Center. Trump received another physical exam. He received a physical exam in Apr 2025.

Mon Oct 13. Got my COVID-19 booster. First day of rain.

Shopped at Target and O'Reilly Auto.

Wed Oct 15. All 13 Bay Area Public Health Departments recommend the flu, COVID-19, and RSV vaccines. People age 6 months and older are recommended to get the updated flu and COVID-19 vaccines. Infants, the elderly, and pregnant women should also get the RSV vaccine.

Sat Oct 18. Neighborhood dumpster day.

Tue Oct 21. Watched a 2025-2026 NBA season opener game. It was the Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Lakers from the 8:00 in the third period to the end.

Thur Oct 23. The MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and the University Of Florida published a preliminary research in Nature. The mRNA COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna can extend the lifespan for people with advanced lung or skin cancer while taking immunotherapy drugs. The vaccines improved the immune system to fight tumors.

Tue Oct 28. Shopped at Safeway.

Friday, October 31, 2025

Throwback Blog: Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog January 2023

Throwback Blog: Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog January 2023

Blogger's Note: Throwback blogs are blogs from my past. I start posting past blogs reflecting what I wrote. It's like my "A Second Look" blogs for which I give myself feedback.

Today's throwback blog is titled Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog January 2023 written on Feb 1, 2023. Bay Area people remember the big rain storm in Jan 2023 causing widespread power outages. The tripledemic COVID-19, the flu, and the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) was weak. California ended the public health emergency on Feb 28, 2023. President Joe Biden ended the COVID-19 national emergency on May 11, 2023. The ending emergencies seemed they happened a long time ago.

California issued shelter in-place orders on Tue Mar 17, 2020. I have been logging the highlights and lowlights. The COVID-19 winter surge tripledemic COVID-19, the flu and the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) was weaker than expected. Strong winter rains. Near freezing temperature lows. Jan started the year slowly.

Tue Jan 3. Went to the bank. Shopped at Smart & Final and Nike Outlet. More people wore masks and more people didn't wear masks.

The biggest rain storm in decades arrived in the Bay Area.

Wed Jan 4. The World Health Organization (WHO) said the omicron variant XBB.1.5 is the dominant and the most transmissible COVID-19 variant. There is no evidence XBB.1.5 made people sicker. The initial research concluded XBB.1.5 is more resistant to vaccines compared to XBB and XBB.1. Infection rates doubled every two weeks. XBB.1.5 was identified in 29 countries.

Thur Jan 5. 90% of people with long COVID-19 started with mild symptoms according to a study published in the American Medical Association. Long COVID-19 is defined as the continuation or development of symptoms three months after the initial infection. Fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive problems such as brain fog are common long COVID-19 symptoms. Women are twice as likely as men and four times as likely as children to develop long COVID-19. COVID-19 patients hospitalized increase their risk with long COVID-19 with longer lasting symptoms. Researchers don't know why some symptoms disappear, reappear, and new symptoms develop. Other symptoms include loss of smell, loss of taste, insomnia, gastrointestinal problems, and headaches. The initial evidence shows lower risk of long COVID-19 from omicron. Most people in the research were infected with deadlier variants.

Mon Jan 9. 89% of the residences in the Henan province in China tested positive with COVID-19. The province is the third most populated. Total infection 88.5 million. A possible reason for the spike is ineffective China vaccines compared to the effective US vaccines.

Tue Jan 10. Power outage started at 2:30am. The household listened to the news with the emergency radio. It was the first time the household turned on the emergency radio due to the weather. The emergency radio was used two times overall. Power was restored at 4:30pm.

Secretary Of Defense Lloyd Austin officially rescinded the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for the military. The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act required the mandate dismissal.

The Washington Post reported an international expert estimates 5,000 people die each day and 1,000,000 people die in China from COVID-19 for 2023. The Chinese government official stated 5,200 people died since the start of the pandemic.

Satellite images of certain China provinces showed cars and crowds at crematoriums and funeral homes.

Wed Jan 11. The US renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency to April 2023. The emergency protected public health insurance coverage for millions, provided hospitals with greater flexibility to respond to patient surges, and expanded telehealth. Hospitals lose flexibility deploying staff, adding beds, and caring patients during surges when the public health emergency ends. Millions are expected to lose health insurance under Medicaid.

President Joe Biden said the pandemic was over in Sep 2022.

Thur Jan 12. A hospital in Beijing in China reported half of its 2,000 staff tested positive for COVID-19. They all recovered taking traditional Chinese medicine. Pfizer's Paxlovid is in short supply. A local manufacturer is contracted to manufacture Paxlovid available in three to four months to the Chinese people.

Fri Jan 13. The Center For Disease Control (CDC) said a possible safety problem with Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 vaccine. Regardless, the CDC recommended people are updated with vaccines. It's possible people 65 and older increases their chances of a stroke.

Sat Jan 14. China reported 59,938 deaths from COVID-19 since Dec 2022. 5,503 deaths were due to respiratory failure and 54,435 deaths were due to COVID-19 plus other health ailments.

The CDC reported the tripledemic didn't happen. RSV and flu cases and hospitalizations declined in Dec 2022; although, some states experienced higher illnesses than other states. COVID-19 hospitalizations increased in Dec 2022. The RSV and flu mostly affected the children.

Mon Jan 16. Multiple celebrities tested positive for COVID-19 after the Golden Globes on Sun Jan 8, 2023. Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Jen Statsky were some of the celebrities. Experts said it was no surprise because many people gathered indoors and poor COVID-19 safety practices.

The CDC said weekly COVID-19 cases topped 400,000 for the last six weeks. Weekly deaths increased with 3,907 reported as of Jan 11, 2023. However, flu cases declined.

Wed Jan 18. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell tested positive for COVID-19. Mild symptoms. Powell is fully vaccinated and boosted up to date.

Thur Jan 19. I shopped at Target to purchase Bar Keepers Friend to clean sinks. I shopped at Smart & Final. I purchased the last pack of chicken.

Fri Jan 20. Shopped at Costco and Sports Basement. The cell phones and service booth was closed. The booth was covered with Costco services displays. Costco was dead inside at the 10am hour. I exchanged a Christmas gift at Sports Basement.

Wastewater samples show COVID-19, flu, and RSV rates declined in the Santa Clara County. Hospitalizations declined 30% from one month ago. COVID-19 hospitalizations were less severe because more people have antibodies and more vaccinated people.

Sat Jan 21. Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the China Center For Disease Control And Prevention said 80% of the people in China is infected with COVID-19. Infections increased during the Lunar New Year. The government reported 60,000 people died from COVID-19 as of Jan 12, 2023.

Sun Jan 22. Watched Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers football game.

Mon Jan 23. Shopped at Smart & Final. There were lots of customers at 9:45am.

The Food And Drug Administration (FDA) assessed the COVID-19 vaccine administered as an annual one shot like the annual flu shot before the flu season. Two doses may be needed for the children, the elderly, or the immune compromised. The goal is improved vaccine coverage rates and simplify vaccine deployment. Currently, most people receive the original COVID-19 vaccine two times separated 3-4 weeks apart. A booster is administered three to four months later.

Wed Jan 25. The North Korea capital Pyongyang was locked down for five days due to an unspecified respiratory illness. Citizens measured their temperatures which are reported to a hospital by phone four times a day. North Korea declared the pandemic ended on Aug 2022.

Thur Jan 26. The FDA pulled AstraZeneca's Erusheld from the market because it's not effective against at least 90% of the COVID-19 subvariants in the US. Erusheld is ineffective against BQ.1, BQ.1.1, and the XBB subvariants.

The CDC said omicron XBB.1.5 accounts for 49% of new cases. XBB.1.5 is adaptable to evade antibodies which block infection. 93% of new cases are the BQ and XBB variants.

Sat Jan 28. Shopped at Costco. It was busy at 9:45am. I avoid parking in the area next to the gas station in the future. I was lucky I found an open space near the entrance.

Sun Jan 29. Watched the San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles football game. I also watched the Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs starting at the 2:00 in the second quarter football game.

Mon Jan 30. The WHO said COVID-19 remains a global health emergency. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world transitions out of the emergency phase of the pandemic in 2023. Reduce hospitalizations. Minimize deaths. The health system manages COVID-19 in a sustainable way. At least 90% of the world population has some immunity to COVID-19. Tracking has declined detecting new variants difficult. Regardless, COVID-19 continues to kill. Resources must continue to research COVID-19.

President Joe Biden ends the COVID-19 national emergencies on May 11, 2023. The federal government roles are reduced for the COVID-19 pandemic response. The medically insured pay some out-of-pocket costs for COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments. The medically uninsured pay fully for COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments.

Tue Jan 31. The following are anticipated changes for COVID-19 government policy when the US public health emergency ends on May 11, 2023:

*The FDA authorizes COVID-19 home testing kits, vaccines, boosters, and products for emergency use. However, insurers no longer are required to cover the costs for home testing kits. Vaccines and boosters are free because the government purchased them. Congress didn't fund future vaccine and booster purchases.
*Medicaid enrollment increase during the pandemic because states can't remove people during the public health emergency. States can remove ineligible people in Apr.
*Title 42 allows the federal government to deny people seeking asylum to prevent COVID-19 spreading inside the US borders. The end of the public health emergency may end Title 42.
*More patients use telehealth to communicate with their doctors on a smartphone or a computer. Patients under Medicare pay nothing because Medicare covers the service cost. Congress extends telehealth for Medicare to the end of 2024.
*State public health emergency varies state by state. California public health emergency ends Feb 28, 2023.
*Hospitals no longer receive an extra 20% financial compensation for treating COVID-19 patients on Medicare.

The House passed two bills to end the COVID-19 government public health emergency. The bills are the Pandemic Is Over Act and the Freedom For Health Care Workers Act. The freedom act ends the mandate federal health care workers must be vaccinated.

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

No Guarantees In Life Including Sports

Sports are percentages. There is pass completion rate, percentage drops, and number of points the defense gives up per game in football. There is field goal percentage and free throw percentage in basketball. There is batting average, walk to strike out ratio, and earned run average in baseball. There is goals against average and shots on goals in hockey. There is no 100%. There is no 1.000.

The percentages, rates, ratios, probabilities, averages, sums, and totals in all sports applies to life. Chances in life applies to sports. Timing and luck in sports applies to life. A basketball player experiences a bad shooting night in a regular season game. A no big deal. A basketball player experiences a bad shooting night in a championship game. A yes big deal. The thought process applies to a quarterback throwing a football, a place kicker kicking a field goal, a baseball player going 0 for 4 with three deep flyouts, a pitcher giving up four home runs, a winger missing too many shots on goal, and a goal keeper giving up four goals.

We blame the players for the bad performance. We blame the players for the miss critical plays. We blame coaches for bad decisions. Think rationally. No player wants to screw up. No coach wants to lose. The chances are there to connect, and sometimes there are no chances. Timing and luck are not there. The game is lost. The strategies don't work out. It's the other result. It's the opposite of the percentage. It's the other side. A basketball player free throw percentage success is 90.1%. The player missed critical free throws at the fourth period. It's the 9.9% failure percentage. Failed. The team lost the game. Regular season is a no big deal. Try again next time. Championship playoffs is a yes big deal. It's unfair. It's the nature of the sports world. A professional sports team not making the playoffs with at least 50% regular season wins is considered a successful season.

The Odds Are Against Professional Dreamers

There are a limited number of active professional sports players who play in the top leagues. There are 1,696 professional football players in the 32 team NFL out of all the professional football players. There are 450 professional basketball players in the 30 team NBA out of all the professional basketball players. There are 780 professional baseball players in the 30 team MLB out of all the professional baseball players. There are 736 professional hockey players in the 32 team NHL out of all the professional hockey players. Those numbers are small. Practice squad and inactive professional players are excluded from the numbers. The chances of professional sports players in a North American big league roster are slim. Life is rolling the dice. Many try to become professional sports players. Few succeed.

Update On A Past Blog

I add the percentages, rates, ratios, probabilities, averages, sums, and totals in all sports to the blog Top Ten Life Lessons I Learned Watching Sports written on Nov 5, 2016.

I wrote a no guarantees blog A Lesson Learned Tonight written on Feb 2, 2010. The blog talked about Conan O'Brien leaving The Tonight Show with a $45 million settlement on Jan 2010. I remind myself there are no guarantees in life; however, death and taxes are 100% certain.

I repeat an update on a past blog word for word from Owners Hiring The Below Average Worker on May 12, 2023:

Life is chances. The right place at the right time. Timing and luck are in favor. The wind blows behind your back. The odds are good. The dice are rolling well. Probability is close to 100%. Here are two blogs related to chances, odds, and probabilities: Roll The Dice When You Wake Up written on Aug 12, 2019 and The Homeless People Rolled Too Many Snake Eyes written on Apr 8, 2019. Death and taxes are 100% certain. Life is unfair regardless of the probabilities. Times continue to be tough going forward.

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Maxed Out On Career Learning

I finished my WordPress self job training last week. Full disclosure. The WordPress was a satisfactory failure. The training resulted in finding a new web hosting provider for my webpage Innovate Infinitely and ending the training project due to costs. The last WordPress tutorial was an offline training I found from the YouTube algorithm. Regardless, I added the skill to my resume.

The remaining self job training skills are Excel, Python, and HTML as of the blog post. Years 2022 and 2023 were peak with the following skills: Excel with Power Pivot and Power Query, Git, Linux, Power BI, Python, R and R-Studio, SQL, and Sublime Text. There is no new job training related to my profession thereafter. Reviewing existing job skills are too repetitious with no additional benefits--borderline boredom and tiredness. It's like no more promotions. There's nothing more going up. My salary is maxed. My rank is at the top ceiling. Anything new adds no additional value; although, I receive information to learn PyTorch for machine learning.

I never thought about running out of new job training skills. I never realized the self job training spanned a decade. Students graduate high school. Students graduate college. The common wisdom is never stop learning; however, all training must come to an end. The student takes the pebble from the master's hand.

Saturday, October 18, 2025

Two Business Lessons I Learned At Cisco

I share two business lessons which were business skills I learned when I worked at Cisco. I didn't learn them in college. I didn't learn them when I worked in the commercial real estate industry after I graduated college. It was an example of learning on the job.

The senior manager was gracious to teach me tables. Report data on tables. Don't use bullets. Don't write long sentences. Don't create boring charts. Use tables. There are column headers. There are row labels. Place the data matching the column headers and the row labels. Most readers don't have the time to read the specific details. Most readers don't want to move their eyes multiples times looking at multiple charts. Most readers want the summary. Most readers want the bottom line. Easy. Simple. Precise.

My department manager taught me to fidget the numbers. The company's fiscal quarter ended. There were deals which closed at the next fiscal quarter. My department manager told me to include those deals in the fiscal quarter ended. Manipulate the department quarterly report. Divisions and departments fought against each other for funding from senior executives. Include everything now. Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. It was my first real experience with business politics.

Update On A Past Blog

The world can reduce the number of Same Shit. Different Day. Everything Happens. by being more honest. The blog focused on people reading and listening to daily events. The update focuses on people's character, behavior, attitude, qualities, and attributes. More people tell the truth. Lower the same shit. Express sincerely. End the cliques. I wrote the blog on Jul 28, 2021.

Monday, October 13, 2025

I'm Tired Stepping Up Making Other People Feel Comfortable

Blogger's note: Today's blog is posted at both Innovating Common Knowledge and Finding Raymond Mar.

The title speaks for itself. Also, I'm tired of being at the short end of the stick too many times. If people want to make me happy, then do better yourselves. Unfortunately, many people lack motivation. It's okay to be angry. Angry is a valid feeling. Angry people don't act like jerks. There are boundaries.

Friday, October 10, 2025

High School Campus Is A Teenage Day Care Center

I dreamed last night I was a student in high school. One class was like a Reserve Officers Training Corp (ROTC) class. It was taught like a ROTC class. Most of the class material was ROTC. The instructor was like a ROTC who was a retired Marine officer.

The students and I were outside the classroom. The instructor told us to go inside the classroom which was like a mini gym. The ceilings were tall. The classroom was four times bigger than a standard classroom. The students were given a yellow piece of paper with questions. There were a few multiple choice questions. There were two fill in the blank. The rest were short answers.

My dream immediately fast forward to the instructor handing back the yellow piece of paper to the students. It turned out we were given a surprised test. All students did poorly. I scored a 73. The instructor punished the students by telling us to go outside and correct our mistakes. I woke up.

High School Is A Joke

My cynical thinking the ROTC like class was a waste of time. I thought back to my high school years. Many classes were a waste of time. Teenagers need to learn mathematics, learn reading, and learn writing. The deeper question is "How much depth do teenagers need to know US history, world history, geography, science, foreign language, and fine arts?" Parents are told by the government these classes must be taken to graduate with a high school diploma. US citizens should know the civil war, World War II, the capital of the USA, and water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen. I reread a few literature books in high school as an adult such as The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Red Badge Of Courage by Stephen Crane, and Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck. Most of the books stank. Physical education was a joke. I don't know today's physical education curriculum.

My high school is a joke opinion may be weak. College bound high school students must take college requisites. I accept. Otherwise, my opinion has merit. Music, art, and cooking do nothing to get a good paying job in today's Information Age. Students who are lazy may have a point. They're bored. The high school standards and high school policies are a mismatch. I admit they're not perfect.

Start The Conversation

Education is passing knowledge to future generations. Any other definition is probably bullshit.

Update On A Past Blog

I add another lesson learned taking R.O.T.C. in high school. The blog is High School R.O.T.C. Leadership Lesson Another Viewpoint By Rank written on Oct 24, 2020. Here is the lesson on words.

*What is the one most important word? We.
*What are the two most important words? Thank you.
*What are the three most important words? If you please.
*What are the four most important words? What is your opinion?
*What are the five most important words? You did a good job.
*What are the six most important words? I admit I made a mistake.

Sunday, October 05, 2025

Three Random Lists

Blogger's note: The three lists below were initially part of the Instant Bullets Blog Sep 10, 2025. The lists were too long to be their instant bullets. I separated the three lists as their own blog.

*A Person's Name Says More Than People Think. The following actors and actresses changed their names. Source: Who was/is forced to hide their ethnicity to make it in Hollywood? from Reddit.

*Margarita Carmen Cansino was Rita Hayworth. Half Irish and half Spanish.
*Helen Lydia Mironoff is Helen Mirren. Half English and half Russian.
*Ramon Antonio Gerald Estevez is Martin Sheen. Half Irish and half Spanish.
*Carlos Irwin Estevez is Charlie Sheen.
*Issur Herschelevitch Danielovitch was Kirk Douglas.
*Kemal Amen Kasem was Casey Kasem. Lebanese.
*Jameel Joseph Farah is Jamie Farr. Lebanese.
*Farrokh Bomi Bulsara was Freddie Mercury. Parsi.
*Krishna Pandit Bhanji is Ben Kingsley. Half English and half Indian.
*Chloe Michelle Wang is Chloe Bennet. Half Caucasian and half Chinese.
*Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff was Doris Day.
*Dino Paul Crocetti was Dean Martin.
*Natalie Zacharenko was Natalie Wood. Russian and Ukrainian descent.
*George Kyriacos Panayiotou is George Michael. Half English and half Greek.
*Jennifer Ellen Chan is Jennifer Tilly. Half Caucasian and half Chinese.
*Eric Marlon Bishop is Jamie Foxx.
*Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson was Merle Oberon. Welsh and Ceylonese descent. Ceylonese is now Sir Lankan.
*Jo Raquel Tejada was Raquel Welch. Bolivian.
*Linda Jean Cordova Carter is Lynda Carter. English, French, Irish, and Spanish descent.
*Catherine Bachman is Catherine Bach. Half German and half Mexican.

*What are some things younger gamers don't understand today? Source: Gamers 30+, what's something from "back in your day" that younger gamers today wouldn't understand from Reddit.

*Clean the wheels from the mouse's ball.
*Buy a game because of the box art and description.
*Demonstration discs in gaming magazines.
*No streamers and no internet to find game secrets.
*Blow air in cartridges.
*Wipe a CD on your shirt.
*Multiple floppy disks or multiple CDs to install a video game.
*Set the channel to channel 3 on a television set to play consoles.
*Change discs to continue playing a game.
*Read instruction manuals before playing the game.
*No patches.
*Character passwords to restore or to continue games.
*Need the manual to look up a password or answer a question to continue installing a game.
*Can't play online because parents expect a phone call.
*The GameShark and the Game Genie.
*Browse the video rental store to rent video games.
*Trip over a controller cord.
*Lose memory cards.
*Draw dungeon maps on graph paper.
*Load a game from cassettes.

*The BoardGameGeek Hall Of Fame. The following 25 games are the first inductees to the BoardGameGeek Hall Of Fame to celebrate their 25th anniversary. The hall of fame focuses on modern board games. Classic games such as Chess, Backgammon, Go, and traditional 52-card games are excluded. Source: The BoardGameGeek Hall Of Fame.

  1. 1830: Railways & Robber Barons
  2. 7 Wonders
  3. Acquire
  4. Agricola
  5. Brass: Lancashire
  6. Carcassonne
  7. The Castles Of Burgundy
  8. Catan
  9. Caylus
  10. Civilization
  11. Concordia
  12. Cosmic Encounter
  13. Diplomacy
  14. Dominion
  15. El Grande
  16. Magic: The Gathering
  17. Pandemic
  18. Power Grid
  19. Ra
  20. Race For The Galaxy
  21. Terra Mystica
  22. Through The Ages: A New Story Of Civilization
  23. Ticket To Ride
  24. Tigris & Euphrates
  25. Twilight Struggle

Update On A Past Blog

The Weekly Show With Jon Stewart podcast interviewed Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin on Sep 25, 2025. Stewart admitted in the post-interview the podcast was a hard listen. The Democratic leadership is weak. YouTube video WANTED: Democratic Leadership with DNC Chair Ken Martin | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart.

The interview reminded me of the blog The Democrats Are Unhappy They Won written on Sep 8, 2025. I listed past major victories including Obamacare, DEI Diversity Equity Inclusion, and more people earning higher incomes. I add the Democrats are on different pages. There are too many goals. The Democrats are too divided. The Democrats are too diluted. The Democrats are too spread out. The Democrats fail to maintain their victories at the minimum.

Thursday, October 02, 2025

Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog September 2025

California issued shelter in-place orders on Tue Mar 17, 2020. I have been logging the highlights and lowlights. There was no summer day 100 degrees or higher. Cooler summer. COVID-19 news was reported as non-top of the hour importance.

Mon Sep 1. President Donald Trump said, "Many people think they are a miracle that saved millions of lives. Others disagree! With [the Center Of Disease Control] (CDC) being ripped apart over this question, I want the answer, and I want it now." Trump was between the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines in 2020 during his first term and the vaccine skepticism with the MAGA and Health And Human Secretary (HHS) Robert F Kennedy, Jr. Trump said Operation Warp Speed was a great achievement. Trump is supporting Kennedy's efforts to revamp vaccine policies.

Wed Sep 3. California, Oregon, and Washington announced an alliance to establish vaccine regulations for their states. The HHS said the three states' COVID-19 policies show distrust in public health agencies. HHS ensures policies are based on science and not on politics. Other states formulate their own policies and recommendations.

Sun Sep 7. 2,000 days ago since Tue Mar 17, 2020.

Mon Sep 8. Shopped at Safeway, Lowe's, and Costco. A few more customers and a few more employees wore masks.

A close family member tested positive for COVID-19 for the third time.

Tue Sep 9. The US death rate caused by COVID-19 was out of the top ten in 2024. The rate decreased from 750.5 per 100,000 people in 2023 to 722.0 per 100,000 people reported by the CDC and the National Center For Health Statistics. The three leading causes of death remained unchanged from 2023 to 2024. They were heart disease, cancer, and unintentional injury.

The CA Public Health Department reported hospitalizations increased, deaths doubled, and wastewater levels were very high in the last 30 days. The state blamed vaccine confusion. For instance, nobody under the age of 65 can receive a booster. If the person under the age of 65 is considered high risk, then the person can receive the booster.

Thur Sep 11. Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, New York, and Minnesota are some states to expand COVID-19 vaccines. These states break away from the federal government health agencies guidance on the COVID-19 restrictions. Anyone age six months or older can receive a vaccine.

Fri Sep 12. Shopped at Costco. Ate dinner at In-N-Out.

Wed Sep 17. California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii formed the West Coast Health Alliance. The alliance announced vaccine recommendations against the CDC recommendations. All residents older than six months can receive a flu shot. All babies receive the RSV vaccine. The COVID-19 vaccine is available for children from six months to 23 months old; adults age 65 and older; everyone younger than age 65 with risk factors or in contact with at-risk people, pregnant women, and anyone who wants the vaccine.

Massachusetts is leading a bipartisan eight Northeast states to discuss coordinating vaccine recommendations. New Mexico pharmacists administer the COVID-19 vaccine based on state health department guidelines.

Thur Sep 18. JAMA Network Open published a study from nine teams of researchers. A universal COVID-19 vaccine recommendation can save thousands of more lives compared to limiting the recommendation to high risk groups. High risk groups recommendation only reduce 90,000 hospitalizations and 7,000 deaths. All groups recommendation reduce 126,000 hospitalizations and 8,000 deaths.

Fri Sep 19. The CDC recommended the COVID-19 vaccine to anyone who wants the vaccine shot. Many major medical insurance companies cover the costs in 2025 and 2026. A doctor prescription is not required. States can disclose a list of at least six vaccine risks to patients.

Many CDC panelists are selected by Kennedy. The panelists question the vaccine's benefits. Regardless, the panelists allow people access to the vaccine. They should consult with their health care provider for which it's not a requirement.

Sat Sep 20. Ate lunch at Amakara. Shopped at Lowe's.

Thur Sep 25. Shopped at Costco.

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

The Green Steno Notebook 11

Blogger's note: There are three consecutive Green Steno Notebook blogs. Today is the third of three.

The picture above is the notebook I acquired on the first day of my new white collar job. I wrote notes during my job training. I wrote other notes, reminders, and knowledge thereafter. I share many of them. Here is the ninth blog.

*Apr 12, 2022. Dream last night. I played for the San Jose State Spartans baseball team. We played to qualify for the College World Series. Men on second base and third base. I hit a walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth inning on the first pitch to the opposite field.

*Apr 12, 2022. Removed arm rests from the laptop desk chair. I thought the arm rests were permanent. Incorrect. Arm rests were bolted.

*Apr 27. Dad installed a new shower head.

*Apr 30. Everyday carry idea. Fire starters made from cotton balls. Cover each cotton ball with 3/4th Vaseline.

*May 20. REI lifetime membership increased to $30. REI Anniversary Sale fewer items for sale.

*May 21. Four forces of nature: gravity, electromagnetic force, weak nuclear force, and strong nuclear force.

*May 22. Albert Einstein's Theory Of Relativity. Energy = Mass X Speed Of Light squared or E = MC^2.

A new theory devised is really an extension of the previous theory. Disprove a theory find a single observation disagreeing with the prediction; however, there can be an exception or an incorrect test.

Werner Heisenberg uncertainty principle. There are limits we know the properties of a pair of particles simultaneously. We know more of one particle and we know less of the second particle.

Space-time is curved. Space-time is not a straight line.

Not finite. There are boundaries.

*May 29. Entropy measures the degree of disorder of a system. Disorder increases if things are left to themselves; for example, stop making repairs around the house. One can create order out of disorder; for example, paint a house. Creating order requires expending energy which decreases the amount of ordered energy available.

Anthropic Principle. "We see the universe the way it is because we exist." There are two versions: the weak and the strong.

*May 29. The correct way below.

*Peel a banana at the bottom.
*Place food required to be cold at the rear of the refrigerator. Maximum coldness and minimize warmness.
*A security procedure. Substitute crossing out words and numbers by adding words, letters, and numbers.
*Peel Post-It notes sideways.
*Bobby pins the scribbly part is downwards.
*The center part is empty when microwaving.
*Use the pizza saver to assist selecting a pizza slice instead of the other hand.
*Put ice cream inside a freezer bag.
*Side sleep on the left side on the mattress. Minimize the chances of digestive stomach pain.

*May 31. Drove from the post office to Costco. Air conditioning on. Switched air circulation from outside to recycle because smog coming out of a black Toyota Camry's tailpipe.

*Jun 22. NFL Commission Roger Goodell testify regarding the Washington Commanders owner Dan Synder's toxic workplace. "We're not perfect, but we do our best."

*Jun 28. Played Puzzle Fighter II for the first time. Slept at 5:30am in the morning.

*Jun 29. Played Puzzle Fighter II for the second time. Slept at 4:00am in the morning.

*Jun 30. Played Puzzle Fighter II for the third time. Slept at 1:00am in the morning.

*Jul 3. Played Puzzle Fighter II for the fourth time. Slept at 4:20am in the morning. Quit. Other priorities.

*Jul 11. Shaved with cold water for the first time.

*Jul 13. Cooking bok choy and other vegetables. One bowl and one plate. Safety. Second batch fully cooked use the one plate to transfer to the one bowl instead of second batch to the almost filled to the top one bowl.

*Jul 16. A gift idea for me. Anything vanilla flavor.

*Jul 28. Broil water at night instead of day. Water cools faster overnight.

*Aug 14. My parents eat whole wheat buns because wheat buns are softer than white buns.

*Aug 19. Air compressed jogging shoes. Too much debris inside.

*Aug 20. Shopped at Under Armour Outlet Store at the Great Mall in Milpitas, CA. Buy one, get one free on socks $24. One pack of socks fit my size. Fitted running shirt $40. Loose workout shirt $25. Poor selections on the shirts. I couldn't find my color. Exited store empty handed.

*Aug 21. Two bathroom carpets at stairway bathroom. Rotated smaller brown bathroom carpet perpendicular to blue bathroom carpet. No carpet overlapping each other.

*Sep 4. Home air conditioner set to 79 degrees. Turned on early.

*Sep 6. Job trained before breakfast. Forecast daytime high 104 degrees. Lower chance of rolling blackout. Perhaps, new procedure on hot days. Job train first. Eat breakfast second.

*Sep 6. 109 degrees. Hottest day on record.

*Sep 7. 1 + 1 = 6. Wrong thinking.

*Sep 8. A complete water shut off is located at the water meter. The house's green knob doesn't shut off the water completely. The house's red knob shuts off the sprinklers. The red knob is stuck--doesn't turn.

*Sep 9. Dad fixed the shower knob.

*Sep 13. Add more clothes during the early washing stage for the washer. Press Pause/Cancel button once. Wait for Door Locked light to turn off. Open door. Add more clothes. Close door. Press Power button.

*Sep 16. 99% Invisible podcast. Google search. Add :reddit with no spaces between the colon and reddit to search at Reddit for information. For example, favorite books:reddit or greatest books:reddit.

*Sep 21. Reinstall Ubuntu 22.04 multiple times. Failed. Reinstall Ubuntu 20.04.

*Oct 2. Heard strange sounds in the dryer. An object? Turned off dryer. Checked inside. Found a soda can pop opener.

*Oct 4. Exit the house from the garage if the floor at the front door is empty after mopping.

*Oct 9. You loose when you're tired. You win when you're insane. Movie from Cold Eyes.

*Oct 10. Installed new car battery. Clean terminals with fine sand paper. Connect positive terminal first. Negative terminal second. No need to remove the perpendicular bar. Loosen the bar.

*Oct 26. Evoland is the video game RPG history of RPG play, graphics, gameplay, and music.

*Oct 30. Ate cold Milky Way for the first time since 2010.

*Nov 7. Replaced windshield wipers. Passenger side blade crumpled when I touched it.

*Nov 10. Costco sold books. A few New York Times Bestsellers. Children books. Examples include Pigeon Ride Roller Coaster and Odder. I was surprised. Must be Christmas.

*Nov 10. Chevron gas station. Pump problems. Slow filling up. Intuition told me to move myself and wait behind my car just in case of topping off. Nozzle topped off spilling gas.

*Nov 17. Need sharp tool in an emergency. Remove the vehicle's license plate. Sharp straight edge length.

*Nov 21. Use a regular towel instead of paper towels when I anticipate washing my hands multiple times while preparing meals. Save paper towels.

*Nov 21. A self-discovery years ago driving. Open the front driver side window and the rear passenger side window for a diagonal line good air ventilation.

*Nov 27. There are matches inside the light brown ceramic bowl in the family room.

*Nov 28. For Nov 24. Create a label with number sequence from 1 to 0 on my monitor below the Windows task bar. The label assists me in navigating programs or togging programs using the shortcut keys Win+1, Win+2, Win+3, Win+4, . . ., Win+0.

*Dec 7. Under Armour Black Friday order delivered one day early. My dad's Amazon order delivered one minute later. I didn't hear the FedEx trucks even though the window is open. Lucky mom was outside to pick up the packages.

*Dec 17. Take off my indoor jacket when I brush my teeth. Lower the chances my shirts get wet.

*Dec 17. Rewrite summary tips jogging. Shoulder blades slightly back. Easier to breathe. More oxygen in lungs. Head straight up. Look forward. Chin slightly up. Arms slightly touching rib cage. 90 degree angle at elbows; loose first, swing arms additional momentum created like hiking with trekking poles. Twist upper body, too? A little. Strong core. Active core. Efficient hip movement. Land your feet at mid-foot. Forward lean. Don't be too upright. Blogger's note: Not an expert at jogging.

*Dec 21. Drove from Kohl's to Safeway-Winchester Campbell. Driving on the streets was slower than driving on the freeway. All signal lights were red when I arrived at the intersection.

*Dec 21. Ate two donuts for the first meal of the day. Stomach ache. No fried foods for the first meal of the day. One donut should be okay.

*Dec 21. Jog wearing boxer briefs. Stinging pain upper right leg. Solution is shave hair off my upper legs.

Saturday, September 27, 2025

The Green Steno Notebook 10

Blogger's note: There are three consecutive Green Steno Notebook blogs. Today is the second of three.

The picture above is the notebook I acquired on the first day of my new white collar job. I wrote notes during my job training. I wrote other notes, reminders, and knowledge thereafter. I share many of them. Here is the tenth blog.

*Aug 25, 2020. Furnace and A/C unit in garage. Furnace on top. A/C condenser on bottom. The power switch is on the left of the unit. Air flows down for the air filter. Top panel removed turns off the unit for safety. The black switch out powers off. The black switch in powers on as long as top panel is inserted.

Used air compressor to air blast A/C unit. Water and some sludge flowed out. The drainage is located to the left of the garden hose in the backyard.

*Sep 8. Don't boil water from the hot water heater. The deposits form the hot water heater are unsafe to drink. The deposits include metallic parts which corrodes water.

*Sep 13. Riichi Mahjong observation. I play online. Players call on dragon tiles and wind tiles early. I might as well discard dragon tiles and wind tiles early. Why did it take me a long time to figure out the problem?

*Sep 20. The Big Short (2015) movie. Use the tabletop game Jenga as a presentation prop. Also, if you don't want to do the deal, then hang up.

*Sep 23. Shower without washing hair. Wash body first. Wash backside second. Wash face third. Shower with washing hair. Wash hair first. Wash face second. Wash body third. Wash backside fourth.

*Oct 11. Listen to 106.5 FM on Sun mornings to keep in touch with today's popular music.

*Oct 12. Rearranged my room. Bookshelves, storage bins, and desk drawers contents. Consolidated desk items. 90% cleaned.

*Oct 18. Dad noticed the ceiling fan blades wabble and shakes when the ceiling fan is on. He checked the screws. Screws are loose. He tighten them.

*Oct 18. Debris on top of my car's intake manifold.

*Oct 22. Accidentally swallowed mouthwash. I lost my concentration.

*Oct 27. Kitchen faucet leaked. Replaced the cartridge.

*Oct 31. G.I. Joe cartoon titled Arise, Serpentor, Arise Part 5 is the episode where the US President knelt in front on Serpentor. "G.I. Joe, why, right here."

*Nov 4. Set aside four white colored socks for my white color workout shirts. These four white color socks and my white color workout shirts tell me it's time to wash my whites.

*Nov 8. Use my florescent desk lamp as additional lightning when I take pictures on my cell phone.

*Nov 13. If I need a rest and there is a folded blanket, then place the folded blanket at the end of my mattress to prop up my legs.

*Nov 24. Clean gutters. Summary. Detach black drainage from downspout at left side of house. Place a ladder on the middle of the roof rafter to sturdy the ladder. If the water is resting on the gutter, then use a hose or fill gutter with water. Shoot water down to downspout. Remove leaves with hand when possible to avoid water on the roof. The roof is designed for water to flow down. Not up.

*Dec 4. For Nov 28. Replacing boot laces. Always buy the laces one size or one unit above. Buy the longer length size laces.

*Dec 14. My dad experienced vertigo. Hospital didn't know the cause. Hospital didn't admit him for an in-patient examination. Dad researched. Found possibilities. Told hospital. Hospital wanted an in-patient examination.

*Jan 12, 2021. hemorrhage: a heavy discharge of blood from the blood vessels; ruptured blood vessel. A rapid or uncontrollable loss or outflow; the loss of assets.

*Jan 16. Toothpaste tube almost out. Squeeze the toothpaste pointing down. Gravity the toothpaste remaining out of tube.

*Jan 26. Jan 2021 feels like Jan 2009; in particular, biggest rain storm of the year with weather warnings. Flood warnings. Wind warnings.

*Feb 16. Bloody nose after I jogged on a cool day. I ate Belvita Chocolate. I suspect chocolate. No chocolate before workout.

*Mar 8. Movie with the stopwatch. Movie is 2 Days In The Valley.

*Mar 11. Denatured alcohol banned in CA. Reason is bad air quality.

*Mar 30. Web articles before the pop-up ad must subscribe to read article. Quickly press Ctrl+A. Then Ctrl+C to copy and paste to Word or a text based program.

*Apr 15. Running land on feet or forefoot or mid-foot instead of heels on ground. Avoid excess stress on Achilles, knees, and calves. Keep legs moving forward. No bouncing. Moving forward longer distance. Blogger's note: Not an expert at jogging.

*Jun 14. Stairway bathroom toilet water main hose burst.

*Jul 8. Neighborhood street lights changed from amber color to LED white color.

*Aug 10. Suggested replace car battery every five years. It's seven years for me because less electronics. I replaced the car battery in 2008 and 2015.

*Aug 24. Interview question. What is culture? My answer is undefined. Culture is an intuitively defined.

*Aug 24. Pre-dream or pre-sleep dream before I went to sleep. I brushed my teeth between pre-sleep and sleep. The pre-dream was my brother and I were at a nearby retail strip mall with a Japanese supermarket. There was an outdoor video arcade with carnival games. Closes at midnight. We exited well before midnight. Mom and dad waited. The four of us drove off in a fire truck. Mom drove. I sat on the driver side rear. We drove south to an indoor shopping mall and strip mall. We shopped inside at 11:45pm. One store was Toys R Us. The Toys R Us looked like a dry cleaners.

*Sep 2. Baking tri-tip. No sizzling. Color is white. Not ready. Color is not brownish. Tri-tip must still be cold inside.

*Sep 9. First time I overwrite an old file to a new file on my new desktop. Old file on my USB drive. New file on my new desktop. I want to backup from my new desktop to my USB drive. I actually incorrectly backup from my USB drive to my desktop.

*Sep 9. The nickel arcade near my neighborhood was Hi-5 Nickel.

*Sep 23. I heard It's All Too Much by The Beatles twice while jogging.

*Oct 22. Headlight restoration. Polishing is more important than applying polish for a clear shine.

*Nov 10. Squirm (1976) is a horror movie involving worms. A childhood horror movie. The Swarm (1978) is deadly bees. Kingdom Of The Spiders (1978) is killer tarantulas.

*Nov 12. Shopping at Safeway. Did price math on my head. I didn't add correctly. Didn't get the extra discount. Don't be lazy. Use a calculator.

*Nov 18. Adam & Eve store. Low inventory. Supply chain problems.

*Dec 1. Home Depot doesn't sell flowers. A Target store may sell flowers.

*Dec 2. Christmas song Christmas In Jail.

*Dec 6. Avoid schools when children are present or when school starts and school ends. Extra driving time because of parents picking up their children and children crossing the street.

*Dec 11. I spilled the boiling water pot filled with vinegar to remove oxidation. I held the pot with my wrists instead of my hand.

*Dec 16. Read my personal bible. Link to download: Inspiration Cheer Up.

*Dec 18. A bloody sock the last two jogs. First time I wore sweatpants jogging. Full moon. Nearby school a neighborhood Christmas celebration. There was a hay ride. Minimal attendance because of COVID-19 Omicron.

Remove fresh blood off clothes. Run cold water from the faucet. Soak cold water with detergent. Repeat soaking if necessary. Soaking 10-12 hours. Hang dry. Best in sun.

*Dec 25. Watched Cowboy Bebop episodes 1-5.

*Jan 1, 2022. For Dec 31, 2021. Everyone has. Not everyone have.

*Jan 9. Wrap towel around my waist. Tuck underneath. Look down at towel wrapped. Wrap down and in.

*Jan 13. The bath scrub brushes sold at Bed Bath & Beyond are different lengths.

*Jan 27. Haircut early afternoon. Jogged after haircut. Full sun. Wore my long sleeve workout shirt and shorts. I forgot to switch my underwear from boxers to jogging briefs.

*Feb 25. Dream last night area with warehouse and industrial buildings. Finished shopping at Costco. Book fundraiser big sale. The catch was a lottery. If you won or chosen in lottery, you purchase books at wholesale prices. Otherwise, you waited. Can't purchase. Most be chosen. Changed from ten winners top of hour to five winners top of the hour and five winters bottom of the hour. Most noted book was Harry Potter first edition Scholastic hardback set volumes 1-7. Initially, I entered warehouse because I saw people buying high-end bedsheets at discount prices.

*Mar 13. Dream professional football quarterback Baker Mayfield and another quarterback fought against each other. Then fought me on a cliff at the high school where I graduated. Then I drove my Toyota Camry out of the high school to an unknown downtown Saturday night before Super Bowl Sunday. There were dancers dancing and wearing masks.

*Mar 14. Another dream people wore masks. Galaktican arcade. There was a public transit station. Bart Simpsons was on a round spinning playground toy. Time passes. Sherri and Terri were on the toy. Some patrons wore masks in the arcade.

*Mar 16. I dreamed last night I was at the west side hills in Fremont, CA. Two entries to enter another dimension black & white colors only. Checkpoints. People can enter or not enter at their will.

*Apr 6. Middlefield Road road trip on bicycles from Sunnyvale, CA to Redwood City, CA. Inspired when I helped my dad with an errand in Menlo Park, CA.

Friday, September 26, 2025

The Green Steno Notebook 9

Blogger's note: There are three consecutive Green Steno Notebook blogs. Today is the first of three.

The picture above is the notebook I acquired on the first day of my new white collar job. I wrote notes during my job training. I wrote other notes, reminders, and knowledge thereafter. I share many of them. Here is the ninth blog.

*Jul 22, 2019. Use a paper towel to remove as much oil off the broil grill before washing. Minimize the chances of a clogged drain.

*Jul 23. Red plastic cups are a kitchen staple.

*Aug 11. Meals contained too much salt. Consumed too much caffeine. Too much adrenaline from today's activities. Combine all three blamed for falling asleep too slowly last night. Playing video games to fall asleep faster last night didn't work.

*Aug 12. adjudicate: to reach a judicial decision on something; to make an official decision.

*Aug 26. The air filter for the home A/C and furnace. The air flows down. The heater is the top. The A/C is the bottom.

Air compressor maintenance. Drain the moisture accumulated inside the tank. Place a towel below the moisture drainage. Recommend wear ear plugs. Turn the red handle below downwards. The towel captures the released moisture. The air compressor filters are black color. Wipe away surface dust. Check oil level at the oil plug near the air filters. Use motor oil. Top level is at the end of the threads or rivets. The copper colored oil can is inside the auto liquids and oil change tools cabinet.

*Aug 31. Left calf sore. I bend my left leg driving after a strenuous physical activity. I should straighten my left leg while driving.

*Sep 7. Sometimes the house is clean when I clean the house. Sometimes the house is dirty when I clean the house. I speculate the windows are open for longer hours. The outside dirt and dust enter the house from the opened windows.

*Sep 20. Forgot my wallet at the gym stationary cycle.

I retrieved my wallet on Sep 21 at 7:05am.

*Sep 23. Purchased a Coke at the supermarket next to the gym. The Coke saved my ass from getting sick.

*Sep 28. I read my personal bible. It was also Steve Jobs day. I read his biography's And One More Thing . . . section. I watched the 60 Minutes interview. I watched the D5 interview with Bill Gates.

*Oct 5. No more protein bars. I don't understand protein bars.

*Oct 6. For Sep 3. If by Bread. A song from the 1970s.

*Oct 10. Begin writing with pencils instead of pens for the Green Steno Notebook. Use both pencils and pens.

*Oct 10. For Oct 1. Air fluff the bathrooms carpets instead of vacuuming. More dust is removed by air.

*Oct 17. A car's battery warning light turned on. Causes can be low battery voltage or alternator stopped charging the battery. The car battery works when the voltage is between 13-14 volts while the engine runs. Replace the battery when the voltage reading is 12 volts or below.

*Oct 19. Use my desk fan to dry the mopped floors faster.

*Oct 21. A channel is missing on the television. Solution is rescan channels.

*Oct 28. I air compress or blast compressed air inside the PSU or Power Supply Unit from my desktop for the first time. Lots of dust removed.

*Nov 3. I felt weak after hiking yesterday. I may have dodged the sickness. Never skip meals. McDonalds is better than nothing.

*Nov 4. Add an empty cup to my daily life items. The daily life items include a can of WD-40, dice, a nickel, and duct tape.

The empty cup is a Bruce Lee wisdom reference. "Emptiness the starting point: In order to taste my cup of water you must first empty your cup. My friend, drop all your preconceived and fixed ideas and be neutral. Do you know why this cup is useful? Because it is empty."

*Nov 7. Use a chopping board to cut bell peppers. I almost cut my left index finger holding the bell paper to save time. I was lazy. I thought of SQL while cutting. Not worth saving time. Use a chopping board.

*Nov 10. My car has disc brakes. Each disk break has two brake pads.

*Nov 14. Create a text file .txt file for a short-term reminder. For example, type "get mail" when I hear the postal worker outside.

*Dec 2. For Nov 24. Warm Belvita tastes good. I toast two pieces of bread. I place Belvita on top of the toast. I read Harry Potter.

*Dec 15. No need to insert my entire hand washing vegetables in a pot full of water. Use my fingers and thumbs only.

*Dec 12. I saw two USPS trucks at Walgreens. I saw two UPS trucks going to the gym.

*Dec 27. Replace the brown color sandals because they hurt my feet with the blue sandals.

*Dec 28. It's the holidays. I play the Harry and Hermione card. I can't concentrate doing homework. I go to sleep. For me, it's take a break job training. Do other productive responsibilities.

*Dec 31. For Dec 29. Use yellow Post-It Notes as appreciation notes. Write "I owe you one beer."

*Jan 6, 2020. Parked in the new Monroe Parking Garage at Valley Fair mall for the first time.

Entered Macys to pay credit card bill. The returns line was long. I looked around. I saw another line for credit card payments. Nobody at the credit card payments line. Paid in seconds.

*Jan 11. West Valley Library Book Sale. More books specialty priced. Highest price was $5.

*Jan 27. No unsafe driving. Night driving on southbound 880 near the 29th Avenue exit. Sudden lane change from second lane to first lane. Don't do it again. Change lanes earlier to avoid sudden changes.

*Jan 29. Old desktop weigh 34.2 pounds. New desktop weigh 29.8 pounds. 4.4 pounds lighter.

Dell laptop 7 pounds and 3 ounces. HP Compaq laptop 6 pounds and 2 ounces. HP Spectre laptop 4 pounds and 11 ounces.

*Feb 2. I forgot to turn on the surround sound for Super Bowl LIV. Dad turned it on.

*Feb 4. A mouth with lots of saliva is a sign of good health, said my dentist.

*Feb 24. The car engine hoses are special made. Take the broken hose to an auto store. Tell the store the car make and model. The auto shop sells the replacement hose.

*Mar 6. Don't eat tomatoes on a physical workout day.

*Mar 23. There is a significant difference between one teaspoon and one tablespoon.

*Apr 8. Seinfeld episode titled The Old Man in Season 4. Foreplay suggestion: forbidden pleasure.

*Apr 10. My mom favors higher prices when she purchases New York steak on sale. The pieces are better cuts.

*Apr 22. My parents rescued a lost cockatiel.

*Apr 27. Bank checks are valid for six months.

*Apr 29. Classic radio station KDFC consecutively played the E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Main Theme by John Williams and Four Seasons-Spring by Antonio Vivaldi. The E.T. song was my ringtone. The Four Seasons-Spring was my connecting receive phone call song.

*Apr 30. There is a difference between steelhead fish and salmon fish. Reminder. Always look at the label.

*May 8. Add panty hose to my survival backpack.

*May 10. Add nonlubricated condoms to my survival backpack. Bright colors are a plus.

*May 17. Stopped eating oatmeal.

*May 18. For May 16. Begin replacing cups to brush teeth weekly.

*May 29. A procedure to drain the hot water heater to prolong the lifespan. Lower the temperature. Connect the hose. Drain water inside a bucket to remove as much sentiment as possible. Use multiple buckets. Point the hose down. The hose is along the side of the bucket to minimize splash.

*Jun 1. Begin cleaning rice by leaving the water in the rice bowl for a minimum of 30 minutes. Minium 60 minutes is better.

*Jun 15. Local newspaper bill is $350.00 for six months. Four days of newspaper delivery. Household choose no renewing.

*Jun 19. Last day of newspaper is Jan 9, 2021.

*Jul 20. Add empty coffee can and matches to the wisdom items. Include two dice, teapot, nickel, dust tape, painter's tape, and WD-40. Reference entry dates Dec 15, 2018, Dec 16, 2018, and May 19, 2019.

*Jul 24. Went back to use shaving gel when I shave for the second twice against the grain.

*Jul 24. Solved a Grandmaster level in Microsoft Solitare.

*Aug 6. Add a rock hammer. Reference Instant Bullets blog Mar 15, 2020. WD-40, nickel, duct tape, blue painter's tape, teapot, coffee pot, matches, and dice.

*Aug 10. The car's parking brake is located at the rear wheels. Not both front wheels and rear wheels.

*Aug 14. Wash the three bathroom carpets. Quick wash setting. Spin cycle extra fast. Air dry in the backyard on top of buckets. Best on a hot day.

*Aug 14. High temperature 103 degrees.

*Aug 19. Searched for a movie on IMDb. The search criteria was IMDb Most Popular Water Storage Movies and TV Shows. Movie I found is Badlands 2005.

*Aug 24. Best must-have products under $100: some female products better than male products for men; some male products better than female products for women; Shop Vac; step ladder; king size blanket for a queen size bed; and safety razors.