Use Your Head to Increase Your Heart Rate

July 25, 2018

I was told that you actually have to keep increasing the amount of exercise you do, because the benefit comes from increasing your heart rate; and once you’ve reached the point where your exercise isn’t increasing your heart rate, you’re not getting as much benefit.

I said, “Nuts to that!” Once I’ve completed my normal workout, I just throw in a couple of squat-thrusts, or other exercises that aren’t normal to the routine. Just changing what I do seems to throw my body off track, and increase my heart rate nicely. I’m going to take advantage of that, instead of wasting my time doing ever-more repetitions or longer runs.

So if you’ve bought into the “You must keep increasing exercise to maintain” bit, save yourself some time. Use your head, not your time, to increase your heart rate.

When the Rubber Hits the Road

July 25, 2018

I noticed that the music in my car sounded off. I tried fiddling with the settings—bass, treble, balance—but couldn’t get it to sound right.

I sighed and chalked it up to aging ears and partial hearing loss.

Then I got new tires, and suddenly the music sounded right again. I’m guessing that the thicker rubber insulated the car from road noise, and stopped messing with my ears.

Note to self: When the music stars sounding  funny in the car—check the tires.

Give Me a Sign

July 24, 2018

I don’t know how many times I’ve signed up to volunteer for something and was told, “Meet at the east end of the building.” Or heard, “Volunteers should meet at the Barkley pavilion of XYZ State Park.”

So I show up at a building and walk around it; or follow the other cars driven through the park by confused people and hope somebody can figure it out. I have actually seen people leave a volunteer event in disgust because they were tired of trying to figure out where to go.

After one election, several of us called the Election Commissioner because we hadn’t been able to find out where to park in order to vote. I saw several elderly people driving around confused, and I myself hiked across a grassy field to get to the polling place—which had adequate, if unmarked, parking, once I got there.

I don’t even want to mention how long I looked for the church office.

If you want people to participate in your event, I’ve got one word for you: Signs.

Signs saying, “Volunteers” or “Parking” with an arrow pointing in the correct direction. And don’t be sparing—put them all through the park, so that no matter what entrance people come in, they can find the correct pavilion.

Give me something to work with.

Give me a sign.

July 30, 2018

The day after I wrote this, but before I posted it, the paper published a letter from a woman who said that it was very difficult to find the office for early voting, because of bad signage. See, it’s not just me.

The Sound of Music

July 24, 2018

Whoever decided that extremely loud music enhanced any kind of outdoor festival was wrong.

It’s not really a relaxing outing when you have to scream to be heard, or not talk at all. You can’t chitchat with friends and family, or talk with the people selling their arts and crafts.

In short, it’s just not any fun.

Are Movie-Makers Up to the Challenge?

July 24, 2018

Dear Movie-Makers:

I saw a trailer for another version of the How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and I sincerely hope that Dr. Seuss would be appalled. I certainly was.

I don’t see any need to turn books like Stuart Little, Paddington, or The Grinch into PG-rated movies. Not even to make them interesting for adult audiences.

They’re G-rated books. I know you can stretch yourselves, use your creativity, and make enjoyable G-rated movies out of them.

Consider it an intellectual exercise.

Mixing the Old with the New

July 22, 2018

I just saw a couple of episodes of a show called “Reverie.”

It’s sort of like “Parker Pyne uses the holodeck.”

(If you don’t know who Parker Pyne is, brush up on your Agatha Christie. And read the short stories. They’re fun.)

His Citizenship Means a Lot to Him

July 22, 2018

A man who became a naturalized U. S. citizen in 1999 was sentenced for aiding and abetting al-Qaida in a plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge. He’s getting out of prison in 2020.

Now the government wants to strip him of his citizenship, on the grounds that his terrorist affiliation demonstrated a lack of commitment to the U.S. Constitution.

He’s objecting, and a judge sided with him, saying that U.S. citizenship is precious, and the government hasn’t proved that any misrepresentations the man made on his citizenship application influenced the decision to grant him citizenship. That’s probably true. However:

Call me crazy, but plotting against your adopted country doesn’t indicate to me that you hold it or your citizenship in high esteem.

Citizenship is precious. I wonder how he’ll show his appreciation once he’s out of jail.