Trying and Trying Again

I'm back with a progress report.  I've not given you one of those in a while.  

First, I am more fit.  I don't know exactly how to give a measure on that one except to say that the 2 mile walk I took last week didn't wear me out.  I have to work quite a bit harder to get my target heart rate up for effective exercise than I did 4 months ago.

Second, I've lost 27 pounds.  I still need to loose a few more but it's been good to say goodbye to some of those pounds that had taken up permanent residence.  I have less arthritis hip pain and I'm more stable than I've been in several years.

Learning to play the piano? Well, that one's not gone so well.  I've got to have a concrete, near immovable goal to keep something like that on the top of the priority list.  On the other hand, I am involved with my boys 4-H Robotics and Shooting Sports clubs as well as a couple of other organizations.  Something is bound to get pushed aside.  I'm not giving up on the piano but it's just going to have to be a lower priority for now.

Genealogy research.  Oh my, I've missed a huge deadline I'd set for this.  I've got a family tree that needed updating and publishing for some very patient family members. I've been working with a computer issue for months and I've been afraid to do a lot more work for fear of loosing information. I must get the computer issues cleared and get back on track.

I've been able to continue my fiber arts education.  Thank goodness knitting and spindle spinning is portable.  I learned some new knitting techniques while making Christmas presents. Swedish Twisted knitting came easily for me.  The Latvian Braid was more difficult but was worth the effort for its striking effect.  I've gotten pretty consistent with spinning singles on my spindles.  I'm about ready to take the next step and learn to ply them into yarn.  There's no rush.  I'm enjoying the simple spinning process.

My final goal involve spiritual growth. I'm making progress there.  I'm still not where I want to be or where I need to be, but I'm making small improvements.

Overall there have been some great successes and some failures. Just having the goals spelled out has helped me have a direction and focus.  Knowing I have a goal to sit down each week and make an accounting of some sort for my  time has helped keep me accountable.

I had an opportunity to sit and watch some good, old movies with my family this past week.  One that really touched me was Shenandoah with James Stewart.  Mr. Stewart's movies are good sources for little one line bits of wisdom.  The one I remember most from Shenandoah is, "“If we don't try we don't do. And if we don't do, what are we on this earth for?”

I'm on this earth to try and to do.  The Cub Scout motto is 'Do Your Best.'   The 4-H motto is 'To Make the Best Better.'  I'm trying to live up to both of those.

As Luck Would Have It

I've had a bit of luck with my new computer this week.  It's only taken 3 months of off and on attempts to get a couple of programs to play nice together.  I've corresponded with the software manufacturer.  I've consulted my household computer guru.  I finally decided to take drastic measures.  I started over, undoing all my previous work. I kept a log of every thing I did and recorded it's effect on the software.  I'm three days into this painful process now and everything is still working well.  At least everything that I've managed to reinstall and reconfigure.

I got this little message in my email inbox a couple of days ago.

AN IRISH FRIENDSHIP WISH

May there always be work for your hands to do;
May your purse always hold a coin or two; 
May the sun always shine on your windowpane;
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain; 
May the hand of a friend always be near you; 
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.
 But - you HAVE to send this within 1 hour 
 From when you open it!
 Now...............Make A wish!!!!!!

Do you ever get email messages like this?  It's  a sweet sentiment right up until the bit of  extortion at the end.  Really?  I need to spam my friends in order to have all these blessings?  I don't think so.

I get messages like this from time to time.  Some promise free meals or computers or some other act of unexpected generosity from some mega-corporation or in this case, Almighty God Himself.  What good luck, right?  Somebody please send me a list of the recipients of the gifts these emails promise.  I'd like to see it.

What does it mean to be lucky or to have good luck?  My definition of luck is being prepared when the right opportunity comes along. Luck doesn't just happen.  You have a hand in creating your luck.

I have a friend who has a knack for meeting incredibly interesting people.  You could call it luck but I think it has more to do with his being willing to talk to strangers and ability to put them at their ease.  It's a gift but he's worked to develop that gift.

I've known people who had a knack for bad luck as well.  Does bad luck find them or do they put themselves in situations that have a good chance of turning out badly?

It takes a lot of hard work to make good luck happen. A positive attitude is likely helpful in the pursuit of the leprechaun's gold. 

Get out there and make some good luck for yourself this week.  May the Irish blessing follow your efforts.

Keep Your Eye on the Target

It's been a week for working to overcome setbacks.  Make that two weeks of overcoming setbacks. 

I've been trying to work through a computer software conflict for several months now.  It's been difficult to diagnose with my very limited, self-taught computer skills.  I've got one program that I use frequently that does not want to work on my new laptop.  It works just fine on my old laptop with the same companion software installed.  I decided to take drastic measures, with the help of my husband.  I very carefully backed up everything I could think of to back up and loaded it all back on my older, quirky computer.  Data, software, and licenses all migrated back to the older machine. The hard drive is so crammed that I have to be careful not to have too many programs running simultaneously.  I handed my sparkly new laptop over to my husband who, with the patience of Job, wiped away all evidence of my data and restored it to factory settings.  Then he, painstakingly loaded the offending software.  It didn't work.  He applied a fix the manufacturer had suggested.  It didn't work. He applied a further fix he'd discovered.  EUREKA!!  One program loaded and a couple dozen others to restore.  The computer transfered back to my hands.

With care, and taking notes at each step, I loaded my data back on the laptop from my backup.  The questionable software still worked.  Then, with trembling fingers, I installed the suspected conflict causing culprit.  BAM!  Errors return to my computer screen.  GAH! So close and yet I still don't know how to fix the issue.  Curse you, Microsoft!  I'm going to have to find a geekier geek.  I need a ultra-superior database geek master.  I have a name. I have contact information.  Will he respond?  We'll see.

 

On a more positive side, I had my second swim lesson this week. My swimming skills are only slightly better than those of a dead man.  Even though I walk by a pool several times a week now, finding time to get in an practice has been challenging.  I'm making the effort although I still feel as awkward as a girl at her first dance.  I'm at the practicing baby-steps stage.  Put face in the water? Check.  Breath out through the nose and mouth? Check. Practice breathing out while moving arms as if swimming? Check.  Practice breathing in at appropriate times while moving arms as if swimming? Check.  You get the idea.  This is a creepingly slow learning process for me.

 

My teacher has amazing patience.  She walks with me up and down the pool while I practice gliding and floating.  She talks me through helping my feet find the bottom of the shallow pool when I stop mid-way. (How can 4 feet of water feel so much deeper?) She encourages and coaches me.  It's impossible to not want to do my best even if my best isn't very good right now.  This week, my big, drum-roll worthy accomplishment was managing to get three breaths in while attempting to put all the moves together.  Mind you those three breaths didn't come one after the other but there were three. That's three more than I've ever accomplished in my 50-ish years.  I'm excited.  I know from experience that with practice those three will gradually increase in frequency and ease.

 

About 12 years ago I was a mid-rank Tae Kwon Do student. One of the requirements at our testings was that we break boards with certain techniques at each rank level.  Hand techniques weren't typically a problem.  Foot techniques were much more difficult for me. This particular testing, I had to successfully complete a spinning side kick.  Performed incorrectly, it is a blind technique that rarely works unless you're large enough to force it. I'd practiced and thought I was prepared.  Alas, the adrenaline and nerves that come with testing will make any flaws worse. I attempted the break once. Nothing. Twice. Still no broken board.  We were only allowed three attempts.  I gathered myself as best I could and made my last attempt.  The board was still there, facing me, unbroken.  I was discouraged. My teacher gave me an assignment.  He said I needed to practice the kick 500 times.

 

There are two kinds of practice.  There's 'practice' and 'perfect practice'.  It's not practice that makes perfect, it's perfect practice that makes perfect.  I was practicing on a hanging kicking bag.  It moves in a particular way, with an almost stationary wobble, when a strike is clean.  It swings wildly when the transfer of energy is sloppy.   I set a goal of completing 500 good kicks over a week or two.  Each afternoon, I'd go out and start.  I tried to get in 50 good kicks each day.  I can't tell you how many it took.  I remember that at first I was getting one good strike every 4 or 5 attempts.  I'm sure I was well into the thousands of kicks before I reached 500.  I remember how good the last set of kicks felt. I was able to go back to my teacher and break the board with a sense of satisfaction.

What did I do that made the biggest improvement?  I learned I had to see my target in order to hit it.  I had to change my position so I could see where my foot needed to be. I've used what I learned from that experience many times since.  You are more likely to reach a goal if you can see it.  Measure it.  Touch it.  Fix it in your mind and find the path to reach it. Don't be afraid to ask for help but be a willing and teachable student.

 

If only computers were as easy to understand as swimming.