Time Flies

Everyone knows from The Doctor that time is "like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff."

... and still I felt like as soon as I would start something an hour or two or three had passed with very little to show for it.

I have good intentions; I have plans; I set goals; I try to be reasonable about how much I can do without neglecting my other more immediate responsibilities. Some days I can zoom through. Lately, I think that I am working, maybe even thinking in S..L..O..W.. Motion.

A Quarter of His Life

I mentioned how bad I feel about keeping my 3-month-old puppy confined and denying him to jump, run, climb and much of his play time.

The person I was speaking with matter-of-factly stated that it was better to crate him for one day than mess up his leg forever and he wouldn't remember it anyway.

It really bothered me. First, I always think it's ludicrous when people say the baby won't remember, the puppy won't remember. I have no idea what puppies remember. With human babies, I decided that I would try to provide colorful, varied experiences even if they can't remember. My child would be completely different if I had kept them in the closet for the first 3 years. Even though they can't remember the first three years now.

Second, it isn't for one day. It's for one month. At 4 months old he will have spent one-quarter of his life recovering from this injury. That's huge!

I know that I don't have any other choices but I feel totally justified in empathizing with his whimpering.

Summertime Slime - Elmer's Glue

It's summertime again. Maybe not by your calendar but all the signs are here:

Tons of Empty Elmer's Glue Bottles!

1. The beaches begin to fill up. I went to local public beach, IRB and parking was tricky. There were no free spaces. Did you know towns and cities expect people to PAY for parking?
2. The water is filled with swimmers and boats. The water is perfect: calm, not to warm, and clear. why would anyone be anywhere else!
3. Dawn is before 7am and Sunset is after 8pm. Sunrise starts sneaking in just a little bit earlier and earlier and everyone including the sunset loves slowing down and spending the late afternoon at the beach. 
4. We see Watermelon for sale every where. I love watermelon. Good thing because I get to enjoy: watermelon soda, watermelon mint tea, watermelon smoothies,watermelon italian ice and of course watermelon.
5. We see tons of flowers blooming. we have areas that are very manicured and areas that are au naturel. Now all the flora are feeding the bees and butterflies. I love watches the insects flutter from bloom to bloom. 
6. Nests. Every year we have several nests to watch. We regularly have at least one dove nest, one mallard duck nest. Its summer when those chicks leave their nests. Every summer the mallards take their "sord" meandering thrhough our yard, out our driveway, across the street to who knows where. The dove chicks stay in their nests until summer when they ty to fly. Last year a nest in the rafters of our gazebo had one fledgling land on my head. The onset of summer also brings the mamma sea turtles onshore to build their clutches (a borough they dig and put 100 or so fertilized eggs in).
7. And of course my daughter, now 11 craves creating slime! I have no idea why but she loves creating slime every summer. She tries different recipes. Then she tweaks the recipes here and there for endless variations. I should buy Elmer's Glue by the  gallon drum!

Online Sales of My Art Items - An Initial Investigation

I have been having so much fun with my arts and crafts. A couple of people have said I could sell them.


Tonight (technically last night since it's way past midnight now), I looked at selling on Amazon and Etsy. I tried to sell something on eBay years ago and got no bites. Also, I don't like the bidding aspects.

Amazon was very pricey but I know there is value in just the name. If I plan to sell under 40 items each month, there is no monthly charge. For a $5.00 item, the $0.99 per item listing fee + 15% (min$1.00 referral fee). That $1.99 per item is a pretty hefty chunk. If the item were $20.00 the fees would be $3.99.

Etsy is considerably cheaper. For that same $5.00 item, there is a $0.20 per item listing fee + transaction fee of 3.5% in this case $0.175 + processing fee of 3% in this case $0.15. That's 53 cents per item.
If the item were $20.00 the fees would be $1.50.

Well, I guess I need to take another look at eBay.

Helping Mother-in-law Get Navy Veterans Benefits Part 2

I received a response from January 12, 2016 request with ezdd214.com for the DD 214 from the National Archives.  I just received a letter from the National Personnel Records Center at the National Archives on Friday March 4th. It's dated January 26th. They allow 30 days to receive payment ($25.00). Yikes, I have NEGATIVE 9 days to get them the money. There's a phone number  (314-801-0800). I called. Due to high call volume, they are not taking calls at this time. Ok. There's a number for making in person visits (314-801-0850), maybe they can help. Basically, the same response. Ok. I'm just going to send it in anyway. Maybe the beuracratic gods of red tape will have mercy on me.

Groups

It occurs to me that groups must be pretty important to us. English really only has one word that means love but group has been split atomically. Is it because we want to belong to a group? Does it help us to give meaning to our lives? Or is it that we name these "groups" to ensure our own uniqueness?

Here are a few synonyms of group that I was thinking of while I was collecting seashells by the sea shore: team, community, club, committee, gaggle, pack, squad, herd, pride, murder, congregation, troop, colony, battalion, litter, brood, gang, flock, posse, generation, mob, school, and bunch. That's 23 different ways to say group. As I continue to type,  I continue to think of more. I have no idea why it is so important to distinguish that a group of dogs is a "pack" but a group of geese is a "gaggle" or a "flock." Yet, it's nearly impossible for me to name the different feelings of love I feel without resorting to Greek words, metaphors or examples.

Experimenter - The Movie

"You could say we are puppets. But I believe that we are puppets with perception, with awareness. Sometimes we can see the strings. And perhaps our awareness is the first step in our liberation."— Stanley Milgram

It's an entertaining and interesting movie starring Peter Sarsgaard and Winona Ryder about the "obedience" research of Dr. Stanley Milgrim in the 1960s. I personally, didn't remember Milgrim or the controversy surrounding his research. I was familiar with the results of several of his research projects. The film itself is a kind of project: the main character breaks the fourth wall, some scenes are portrayed with the backgrounds projected behind the actors, and much of the emotion of the film seems to be left up to my interpretation. There are important human behavioral questions brought up. Two that particularly interest me are: why will we hurt others just because we are told to; and are we justified to hurt others in order to learn. There are at least two sightings of actual "elephants in the room." I am not sure if the elephants represent that Milgram was justifying what the subjects endured in the name of his own research or that our society still doesn't act any different than the Germans did carrying out Hitler's atrocities.

Everyone would like to believe that "I would not have shocked the stranger." How we can learn as individuals or as a whole how to get there? How can we get to a point where we no longer do what we're told just because we we're told?  How can we be sure that we will act within our conscience?