Good morning. It is 7:30 AM here at the moment. And ‘Dave is doing very well.’ I actually cleaned up a large amount of the clutter in the main salon over the last week. This is because I got finished with some projects that, at least in my mind, were easier to do if I did not put everything away the minute I was done with it. Because, I knew I would need it again in 20 minutes or the next day.
One thing to keep in mind when you’re designing your boat. If you can figure out a way to make even remote objects very easy to get to. (Of course you also need to figure out a way to remember where they are.)
The primary deterrent on a Alegria for putting things away, is that most of them are quite complicated to put away. You have to go to the correct cupboard and remove quite a few boxes and bags. You need to find the correct box or bag, and put the object in it and then reverse the process. It’s not as simple as it sounds. So I procrastinate. And sometimes live with clutter.
On a Alegria we have always used boxes and bags to help in the goal of organization. I am often on the lookout for a small, sturdy, and well-made, cardboard box, that I want to fit in a certain place. Actually, it is not that incredibly difficult to make such boxes, from larger sheets of cardboard salvaged from larger boxes. And I have done that several times. But, I prefer to just find one.
Bags are nice because there is no dead space in them. Unless you fill a box completely full, there is obviously wasted space. But bags do not offer physical protection, and have their own problems. Everything’s a compromise. Especially on a boat.
But, I meant to start out by saying that you obviously have noticed that I’ve been tinkering with the blog. I suppose I should subscribe to my own blog, so that I will find out what happens when I edit a page that is ordered been posted. I sincerely hope that it does not send you an email alert every time I make an edit. I apologize if it does. That’s what the delete key is for.
I will continue to tinker with the blog from time to time and try to make it easier for you to read what you want to read, quickly and efficiently. But, it is not nearly as user-friendly a system as I would hope for. So, I need to learn how to approach those goals.
A couple of rules of Life, that I have on a mental list in my head:
Do-it-yourself, means lower your expectations to something that you can accomplish. (Janet invented that one.)
Successive approximations. I don’t really expect to get it right the 1st time. I take my best shot and then look at the results, and try to see where I can improve things. But in this case, web design is so complicated that the previous axiom applies. I have to lower my expectations to something that I can accomplish.
And I remember the billboard that I saw many years ago, “If getting it right the 1st time is not your thing. Don’t take up skydiving.” So, I removed skydiving from my bucket list. By the way Janet did skydiving for a while. But she stopped before very long, because it was too expensive.
I just read the article in this next link. In case you would rather not be bothered to click it, it is a short article from the New York Times about the repressive regime of the current Prime Minister of Turkey. I think it sums up what little I know of the situation:
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/08/14/is-this-the-end-of-the-arab-spring/in-turkey-voters-still-have-power
I’m certainly absolutely aware that I’d do not know the whole story. And, obviously I’m not a Turk. And, obviously it is their country, and since I believe in democracy, it ought to run the way they want it to. And, so, I mean no disrespect to any Turk and I am not trying to tell them how to run their country. It is only that I prefer to live with honesty and tolerance of other people’s opinions. Based on what I’ve been told, it sounds like the Prime Minister, and many important people do not share those beliefs. So, I have the tolerance to respect them. But I still prefer honesty and tolerance.
Malcolm’s boat sale continues. I may not have calculated correctly, the date that the auction ends. Again, I wish both him and his boat the very best. He would like to get as much money as he possibly can. And his boat would like to get a new owner that will take good care of her, and take her to wonderful places to visit.
Yes. I admit. I believe that boats think. Whether they do or not, it seems, at worst, to be a useful illusion.
Have a great day,
Dave
Alegria1976's Blog 