Read a couple of long articles in the Sunday New York Times about attention deficits caused by too much scrolling and interaction on social media. None of it is a surprise, just confirmation about how I'm already feeling. I really want to concentrate on analog activities. Reading, writing, anything that isn't cyber.

I've pretty much weaned myself from TV, though at the cost of doom scrolling. It's time to really do something about it.

This will sound strange, but I feel myself strengthened and rejuvenated by reading the New York Times. Doomscrolling by comparison is empty calories. The Sunday paper is nothing like the online version; there is so much more in-depth reporting in the newspaper, accent on paper.  Reading it cover to cover including the Book Review and the magazine takes up most of an afternoon.

Unfortunately, that's nothing compared to how much doomscrolling I do. Being semi-retired means I have a lot of free time and I've fallen into the habit of spending hours which turn into days online.  

I've made some good moves. When I'm at the store, I rarely do any computer work, except to make orders. No point-of-sale and all that entails. 

I read every night for at least an hour, which gets me through a book every week or so. (Actually, I've fallen behind, but that's my goal.) 

I also leave my phone in the bathroom at home, or safely in my pocket when I'm out. I don't use the phone for anything but picture taking and phone calls.

When I drive the half hour to and from the store, I don't listen to music or books. I'm alone with my thoughts, and that's the way I like it.  

When I'm home alone I will sit and contemplate things, talk out loud to myself, try to figure out life.  

It's my laptop that is my downfall. I'm as addicted to social media as anyone, and I find myself currently falling into the black hole of YouTube.

Enough already.  

I'm not making any grand declarations. My intention is to ween myself from the internet as much as possible. I think if I can check the news once in the morning and once at night, that will be enough. If I check Facebook and Reddit but once a day and no more than an hour, that will be an improvement.

With all the free time? I don't know yet, but I'll figure it out. 

Made a dedicated trip to Portland to visit the Portland Art Museum one day and the Japanese Gardens the next day. 

So we went to the museum yesterday, starting on the top floor for the Mark Rothko exhibit. There were really only four paintings of the style I expected, the others were early career paintings. The four paintings were fabulous and I spent a fair amount of time examining them. Photographs really don't do them justice.

Next floor down was an extensive Rick Bartow exhibit (a Native American who spent most of his life in Oregon)nwhich I loved and Linda also liked. We ended spending quite a bit of time there, soaking it all up. I looked up some of his prints online and there were a couple I liked that seemed almost affordable. I'm not sure how you'd go about buying them.   

More of a quick tour through the rest of the exhibits, which still took most of the afternoon. 

Today we'll check out the Japanese Gardens, maybe make a quick detour to Powell's Books. 

If I have to retire, I might as well do something with my time. 

 

NEXT DAY: Went to the gallery where the Rick Bartow's art is and bought a couple of prints. A little pricey but also wonderful. 

Then on to the obligatory Powell's Books visit. Found four of my books in stock, which is always kind of a cool thing to see.  

Went to the Japanese Gardens in-between rainfalls. We always seem to be lucky that way. Beautiful, but a little cloudy and wet and not quite full blooms. But very pretty. Another gallery of art. Seems that once your eyes are open to art, it is everywhere: restaurants, public spaces, and stores.  

So here's the big takeaway from the trip. Indulging a slightly nicer visit, better hotel, better restaurants. The differences between a higher end hotel and a middlin' hotel are subtle but noticeable. Whether worth the extra cost probably depends on how much money you have to waste. Probably not something we can do every time. We probably spent 10% of the money on three nights as we spent on thirty nights in Australia, which we did economy sized. But that included some long flights and other expenses. 

Had a couple dinners with Todd and Sharron. They seem to be thriving. Meanwhile, back in Central Oregon, Tobin and Felicia are going full-speed ahead on Origin Millworks, making tables and furniture and other things with their little sawmill. Both guys seem to be doing great.

The store continues to function at a high level--far beyond what I would have considered even possible. I wish I didn't to have to hand it over to Sabrina at the end of the year, but I hope to stick around and be a glorified stockboy.  

Visiting museums and bookstores on trips to new cities seems like a good retirement thing to do. I don't seem to have any fear of crowds anymore, which is a miracle. Not going to say I'm cured of my agoraphobia, but I will say that it doesn't seem to be anywhere near the problem it once was. 

Visited friends Wes and Ev on our way home, had a nice visit.

Glad to get home to our own routines and the manic cat, Schrodinger.  

I write on this blog almost everyday, but it is more of a diary than an interactive thing. Even though I don't think I'm saying too many disgraceful things in my private diary, I still don't feel comfortable posting it. 

I'll try harder to come up with some interesting subjects more often, if anyone is still coming here to check. I guess I just don't feel like I need to intrude myself upon the world. I have plenty of opinions, and I think I even have some business and writing insights, but I've also said most of them...more than once. 

Anyway, just putting this out there until I can think of something more substantial to say.