Category: Uncategorized

Update

September 20th, 2025

It’s been three years and three months since retirement. I have started new things, shelved old ones and sit at another crossroad.

My current schedule is doubles tennis Monday and Friday morning, weather permitting. Thursday is a piano lesson, down to once a week when twice did not allow sufficient time for practice. Let summarize each in turn.

My spouse found a doubles group while chatting with her friends, one of whose husband is in our core group. We have a small list of substitutes when someone has a conflict. I played tennis in a previous life as mostly entertainment and exercise. That still is the main reason I play, though exercise is the driving purpose. I find my playing inconsistent to the point of obnoxious, not to mention the groans of my teammates, so I have started tennis lessons. I have benefitted but not as much as I would like. I’ll see how it goes and assess soon.

Piano is also from a previous life, as a teenager actually but my interest was reawakened. We attended a few Unitarian Universalist congregation meetings where I met two key people. One is a man whose retirement ‘job’ is tuning, refurbishing, refinishing and repairing pianos. The other person who is 101 years old tomorrow, is my piano teacher. I had played trombone in high school and the first year of college and have an appreciation for music but I have learned so much I did not know. A woman whose sister had passed wanted her sister’s piano to go to a good home and the piano ended up with me. My interest is mainly pithy classical pieces that are mostly over my head but I am working toward a better knowledge of several pieces, including Claire de Lune (Debussy), Moonlight Sonata (Beethoven) and Piano Concerto #2 (Rachmaninov).

I continue to read many books, mostly but not all fiction. My love of movies continues though I end up watching most of them alone, partly because I rewatch my favorites, especially as they become available in 4K and partly because I enjoy action, science fiction, romance, westerns and really any very well done story regardless of genre. I have no one with whom to enjoy these movies and I guess that desire for company comes from enjoying movies so much when I shared such entertainment with my four sisters.

To summarize, the crossroad is simply yet another moment in time. I have done some things and found some interests but there has been no enlightenment that makes this different from prior times.

I am playing with the concept of journaling but when it becomes an onus, I naturally bristle.
Seriously Picking Up Guitar

February 18th, 2024

I recently decided to start playing guitar. I had played at playing in the past and learning a few songs but never advanced significantly. This time will be different. I am studying the basics, theory, chords and getting in some type of practice on a daily basis.

Given the internet, google and the like, I started looking through articles. I find many articles and videos difficult to follow. There is little step by step and by the time you figure out the first comments, you are lost and have to go back and replay over and over. In some cases replay is not sufficient largely because the presentation is superficial.

Searching through results, I came across Breakthrough Guitar. I immediately liked the thorough step by step progress with each video leading to the next. Several days of mixed Breakthrough Guitar and other videos led to Breakthrough Guitar as a preference. There are multiple ways to subscribe: monthly, yearly and lifetime. The usual warnings of a fixed number of days to make a decision seem unnecessary and the bonus discounts seem always available. I tend to prefer one time purchases when they make sense so after about a week, I chose the lifetime one time fee. I found it interesting that even after purchasing this, I continued getting reminders I had ‘N’ days left to make the decision.

I learned a tremendous amount in the following week and continue practicing daily. The following items are some highlights: the term action with respect to string distance from keyboard and less trauma to the fingers, lighter weight strings for the same reasons, scale pattern 1, pentatonic scale, dexterity exercises and backing tracks. I have also learned how to play scale pattern 1 in various keys based on the first note if the sequence.

I am more than satisfied so far as many lessons remain and my subscription brings additional lessons as they are developed and added. I still try other You Tube videos but usually find those difficult to follow with the detail followed in Breakthrough Guitar. I’ll revisit these thoughts periodically to gauge progress as I continue to learn.

I am working my way through all the lessons. I will have a better overall impression once some time has passed.
A Little Diversification

February 10th, 2024

Initially, I mentioned retirement and this June 17th will be two years. I was very stubborn the first 1.5 years as I wanted to soak up the ability to do only what I wanted. My wife has pushed for diversification and finally, I am ready to listen, due to readiness as well as harmony.

I used to play guitar years ago, but eventually stopped playing. I have restarted making sure this time to go through study and research as well as daily practice. The chords are coming back and my fingers are slowly getting used to pressing the strings. I learned some new things, such as making sure the ‘action’ was not too high, major patterns, and pentatonic patterns so far. I was pointed to backing tracks so I can practice playing along. I combine this with fingering exercises, chords and dexterity drills.

I deleted Star Trek Fleet Command as it sucked up half my day and still progress was slow. I was also tempted now and then to quicken the pace by paying $20 for this or that ‘package’. The game is designed to suck you in and pepper you with seemingly good deals that manage to continually tempt purchases. Over and done.

I continue puzzling; my last two were 2000 piece followed by 1500 piece. I have chosen the next as a 2000 piece tall ships harbor view. I plan to Mod Podge the 1500 piece which is a picture highlighting the main tourist sites in London, I purchased a puzzle table whose regular base supports 1000 pieces but also purchased an add on tray that takes up to 2000 pieces.

I continue to work on AI. For a while, I was not able to progress past points as my MacBook Pro was Intel i9. Given AI really needs GPU, I upgraded to the newest MacBook Pro with the M3 chip, 12 CPU cores and 40 GPU cores. I have now restarted a book that recounts the step by step process to create a GPT like AI that handles text, conversation and shows usage of a publicly available LLM and then shows fine turning. This particular book focuses on person assistant and chatbot. My intention is to create a personal assistant that will additionally be tuned as a house AI.

My reading during retirement has vascillated from Western, Zane Grey or the like, historical fiction, e.g. James Clavell, historical fact, e.g. The Sack of Constantinople and the miracle at Midway. I have added a daily article or two from Philosophy Today and various articles on AI. I also have a life time Babbel subscription where I concentrate on Spanish and French, the French because I took years of study in secondary school.

I am adapting to this new diversified list of activities. So far, I am enjoying the expansion.
Star Trek Fleet Command: Addiction or Choice

January 28th, 2024

A few years ago, I played STFC for a short time. I quickly found that players with greater resources and time in game made it virtually impossible for a new player to progress unmolested.

Staring this past June 29th, I once again tried the game. The general formula of start from scratch, learn, build and progress has always appealed. I love the space and ship setting and the promise of research toward progress, greater ships, etc. I determined to advance much farther than I had perviously.

I joined an alliance looking for helpful comments and the ability to take on larger challenges. It quickly became apparent that STFC is geared toward Player Vs Player (PVP) with some accomodations to Player Vs Computer (PVE). The game is designed to inundate players with a pay to win agenda. There are constant advertisements to jump quickly through the ranks. It turns out that rules of engagement such as inability to attack players too high above or below you is a total sham as I was repeatedly destroyed by players at level 50s and 60s to my levels between 14 and 35 while I could not attack players with much smaller differences above or below my own. The whys and wherefores never added up.

Additionally, though a daily list delivered certain resource freebies, the glacially slow advancement was only improved by playing hours on end with constant promise of freebies that were marginal at best. In spite of all this, I persevered to level 35 and was close to level 36. I had succumbed to limited purchases. It seemed each level of progress became increasing hard to get and resources grudgingly given as smaller and smaller percentages specifically designed to push purchases.

At this point, I was accused of addiction to the game. I argued I decided how much time to spend and only purchase when sufficiently productive and not on a regular basis. I played the game because I loved certain aspects and was willing to do the day to day grind. There were players in the alliance whose daily chatter was bemoaning the constant grind. There were players who spent consistently and became bullies that attempted, and succeeded in many cases, to prevent lower players from progressing.

In the end, I decided to stop playing and delete my account which presented dire warnings as to no ability to revert that decision. PVP could only be avoided by constant play as shielding was only available if one earned certain resources. Any stop in playing would eventually result in loss of shielding and destruction via PVP players.

Partly due to accusations of addiction and partly due to being forced to play to avoid PVP, I decided to delete my account. I will go back to games that do not force such hours and conditions. I would only return to such a game if there were PVE only servers and rules of engagement that were properly followed. The only similar game I had tried was EVE but way back when I tried it I still encountered the bully players and would likely find it much the same as STFC. For now I have returned to Civilization VI which I can play whenever I feel like it with no penalties and Skyrim which is completely PVE.

Happy (or Not) Gaming !
Yet Another Post (yap)

January 28th, 2024
For instance, after discussion I searched for articles or suggestions concerning self reflection. It has been suggested as a way to self improvement and understanding. Perhaps my insistence I know myself is precluding learning.

Consequently, I read from search results:
I find it immensely annoying reading an article while being bombarded with advertisements and suggestions such that following the article itself is an effort. One has to actually differentiate from what you want to read versus links that are off target.

The two I found most interestng were sciencedirect on self reflection and edinborough self awareness and values. Neither were as pithy as might be expected. I will continue to search and self reflect.

I was attempting to check spelling of a word and encountered more annoyance. Typically, looking up a word or checking its spelling has been part of functionality. Now I find I have ued 1 of 20 free requests and am prompted to purchase additional. It sounds like time to abandon wordpress or jetpack, something I have been pressed to use instead of wordpreess, and return to simplicity. All this was pushed under the guise of AI and a come-on toward advertisement,.

Anyway, for now, I have written something and noted my efforts toward self reflection. What next?
Another New for the New Year

January 9th, 2023

In fairness, the idea started generating toward the end of last year, probably in December. My wife and I met another couple via Wine Tasting. Honestly wine has not been a high point in my experiences but given my new friend and hopefully kayak partner loves wine and is very knowledgeable, I have decided to learn from him as well as some searching on my own part.

One of my first comments to him was that I have, when wine occurred, usually preferred white as opposed to red, largely based on red wine induced agita. We were each choosing three wines. A meunier was suggested by the other couple so I chose a meunier, a cabernet sauvignon and a rosé. We sipped while learning about fermentation. It seems agita might be a result of multiple factors and not necessarily attributable to white wine per se.

In the end, I preferred the ‘red’ meunier over the white and rosé I selected. I also believe that steel versus barrel fermentation might lend a clue to my gustatory ‘wine’ senses. We have since had a second tasting of sorts and I learned yet again.

White wine usually but not always enjoys a short life with a peak and a denouement. This unfortunately means that many whites I have ‘stored’ for another day are likely past their prime or no longer drinkable.

I intend to continue my journey in pursuit of adding some favorite wines to my list.

Salud!
Welcome to Medicare

January 7th, 2023

I retired June 17, 2022 and have been going through the process of converting my working insurance to Medicare. This has been complicated by the fact I am a type 2 diabetic and waited a little later to retire.

I initially filed for Part A prior to my 65th birthday and did not opt for Part B at that time as I was still employed full time. I was assured that would not be an issue when I elected to start Part B at retirement. Once actually retired, it was an up hill battle to get Part B without penalty even though I could prove continuous insured status. The process and forms and phone calls made a very laborious process. Once completed, I still had to argue my Part B should not incur a penalty due to signing up later.

I believe the major issue is that one hand and group does not communicate with any other. I had to track down and speak with or fill forms for almost every situation and entity regardless what had already been surmounted and supposedly documented.

The latest events were the most arduous and I hope will be the last big issues I face. I wanted coverage for continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) and depending what source, they were not covered, covered by supplemental, covered by Part B, covered by supplement plans, etc.. In the end CGMs are covered by Medicare Part B only if the patient is insulin dependent though that fact itself was hard to establish after many forms and phone calls and conversations. I called in turn manufacturers Abbot (Libre & Libre 2), Dexcom (G6), suppliers, United Health Care (UHC, my MedicareRx and supplemental insurance provider), Medicare, my endocrinologist, my general practitioner (GP), and my local CVS pharmacy as well as OptumRx, my UHC MedicareRx mail service provider.

After all were seemingly in agreement, CVS still reported that Medicare was rejecting my prescriptions from the doctor. Medicare required specific documentation from my doctor which was not known or understood and apparently not communicated. I went from pharmacy to doctor to provider to manufacturer and repeated that cycle several times. Medicare said CVS was showing rejection internally on their computer system that was NOT being communicated or rejected by Medicare Durable Medicare Equipment (DME). He believed CVS was banking on patients paying cash through frustration and giving up.

Finally when the sensor and receiver appeared at CVS, the receiver was listed as covered but the sensor was still rejected by what seemed a Medicare message. The error appeared to be a code mistake which, once corrected, allowed purchase (covered, but not fully). I then found out that Dexcom required sensor, receiver and transmitter and still needed one final prescription.

Last night and today I have finally started using Dexcom G6 and I hope most of the process is behind me. While some Dexcom G6 attributes seem positive, so far I want to return to the fray and get my previous Libre 2 system supplied with new sensor patches. They require only two parts, sensor and meter. Hopefully, prescriptions going forward will start working without intercession.

Once again, Happy New Year. I hope 2023 is a steady improvement over the previous three years.
Belated Happy Year and Summation

January 6th, 2023

Happy New Year to all ! We made it through the holidays and into 2023. I am surely not the only person who had peaks and valleys during 2020, 2021 and 2022. I am looking forward to increasing normalcy in 2023.

Although I retired last June 17th, almost seven months ago, I just finally succeeded in getting some prescriptions through Medicare rather than my old company insurance and its history. It was confusing and convoluted as to what was covered under Part A and Part B, not the obvious pieces easily read anywhere one looks. Add to that Medicare prescription coverage and supplemental insurance and it can quickly become a quagmire.

My partner and I celebrated our second Christmas together with a tradition called “Our Seven Days of Christmas” where we exchange small personal gifts starting the 19th and each successive day ending with the final gift on the 25th. We also have embraced our local library services. We both attend a conversational spanish group, she attends a book discussion group to which I have attended one, and finally I am part of a writer’s group called North Fork Pen from which I derived MRFortenberry Pen. I know it looks like Mister but the MR actually comes from first letter of first and middle name.

One of my sisters became a Delta flight attendant (FA) last year and is enjoying multiple places and experiences. My wife and I will take a Viking Cruise in 2023 which will be our real retirement and honeymoon ‘trip’. We are especially looking forward to that.

I am reading books and articles at a much greater clip than the lows I fell to during the last two months of 2020 and much of 2021.

Hopefully everyone can look forward to some positives. I wish you all the best.
Trying out some site suggestions

December 6th, 2022
Share five things you’re good at.
1. Software and computers. I spent 35 years designing and writing software, using computers and operating systems daily, and some hands on with routers and switches are well.
2. I have a pretty good view of Marvel comics over the years as I was introduced at around 6 years of age and have collected since then.
3. I read spanish and french pretty well, with a dictionary, but do not speak fluently in either. I took many years of french and spent many years building my knowledge of both. I recently joined a spanish conversation group and am pursuing a proscribed spanish course in Babbel.
4. Genealogy has been a hobby or passion depending events over the last 25 years. I have recently gotten back into the data after a hiatus.
5. Thirty-five plus years of constant typing have built a certain proficiency. That now ties into my writing aspirations.
Better Later Than Never

December 6th, 2022

I had promised one week for next update and today makes two weeks. But, that’s an improvement over previous gaps.

Those two weeks have been rather hectic personally so other than exercise, which I refuse to miss, some things remained undone.

The latest status on Scrivener/DropBox/iPad/iMac has not really changed. I am able to populate the dropbox directory(ies) with files but it’s still a mystery how one would just put the whole project there and finish on iPad, go to iMac, and resume from the last update on the iPad which should have synced to the iMac. I will get back to this around and about other events.

On a personal note, we went to a wine tasting with another couple and there are shared interests to explore. As the weather warms, which seems far away from now, I look forward to the possibilities.

Writing has taken a back seat recently also and that will change this week. I need to continue my current path and prepare something for the upcoming North Fork Pen meeting at the Mattituck Laurel library.

On an entertainment note, if you have not checked out ‘Magpie Murders’, it should go to the top of your list. I am also enjoying ‘Shetland’ on Britbox. As to reading, I am currently at various places in three books, actually four as i think of it. I need to finish one or more of those this week as I have some ‘Want to read’ books on my list.