Today Is Journal Day for all who celebrate.
The day kind of got away from me and I almost forgot. Time to break the seal on next year’s Hobonichi Techo to get it ready.
Author: Patrick Rhone
Annie reminds us to practice by doing.
Also, a reminder… Blogs are living things that should grow at the same rate we do.
Living Off The Legacy – Handy Heights
Living off the Legacy” follows elder cousin, George Jefferson Sr., on a foraging, fishing, hunting, and food preparation journey through our family’s ancestral land, showing us how he lives off the legacy our ancestors left. A film by Patrice E. Jones. This film was a part of the 2024 Prototype Film Residency.
A lovely short film filmed and directed by my sister Patrice featuring our Cousin George about the footways of our ancestral land.
Nicholas Bate reminds us there is a time (many of them in fact) for going slow.
I made a little more progress on the walk-in shower remodel today. Installed the backing board. Here’s a before and after.
A Health Update
You may remember my writing a few months ago about making major changes in order to get on top of my type 2 diabetes. Well, I had a follow up appointment yesterday, labs done, and the results are in. Here’s comments from my doctor:
How exciting!!! Your a1c has dropped from 6.9 to 6.3! That is excellent. Your cholesterol has also dropped! And the HDL cholesterol (the heart protective cholesterol) went up from 41 to 55 which is excellent. You can still consider starting a statin drug — not for your cholesterol– but to help reduce your risk of stroke and heart disease given family history. For sure start the aspirin as we discussed. Kidney function is normal.
Also, my weight is down over 20 pounds as of this writing. My blood pressure which for years has run a bit high is back to the low normal range. But, most importantly, I continue to feel great and have not had a “sugar crash” that I can remember. Pretty proud of all of this.
Turns out, if you change things, things change.
Simultaneously – Garrick van Buren
Very interesting.
My iPhone 11, even though I have had it for five years now, is still getting software and security updates from Apple, and the battery is still decent for this phone’s age (around 80% maximum capacity). My iPhone 11 is still plenty fast (for me), and the camera still takes decent quality photos (for me).
Steve Best is keeping his phone. I have a 12 mini and have no plans to change it anytime soon.
Sketchnote Lab Live Tickets, Sat, Dec 14, 2024 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite
Join Mike Rohde for a one-of-a-kind event where he tackles a real-world problem live. Watch as Mike demonstrates his visual problem-solving process using sketchnotes, shares actionable tips, and works against a deadline to find solutions.
Mike is an excellent and patient instructor. Recommended if you are at all interested in this sort of thing. Only $10 too!
Some really interesting, and infrequently discussed, data about homelessness (shared with me by my wife):
- Within 18 months of emancipation 40-50% of foster youth become homeless.
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Nationally, 50% of the homeless population spent time in foster care.
Related, my wife and I were struck by how few unhoused folks we saw in New Orleans.
Home for Good New Orleans is a community-wide effort to achieve low to no unsheltered homelessness in New Orleans by the end of 2025.
How? Give them a place to live.
Seems to be working.