Day 3811

I watched the astronauts arrive at the International Space Station this morning. It must have taken them two hours to open the door to their spacecraft. These guys had a checklist for everything. Even the most minute proceedure was followed to the letter. I'm a methodical person, but this blew me away. I kept thinking that we should all be a bit more like this. If we had an exhaustive checklist for our daily activities and actually followed it, we could avoid so much trouble.

My checklist would be pretty basic. Make your bed every morning. Brush your teeth. Eat a decent breakfast. If you have a dog or a child, take care of their needs before your own. Don't be in a hurry. And never skip an item on your list. You get the idea. I'm a big believer in leading a disciplined life. I've always been suspicious of people who let their emotions get the best of them. Emotions aren't to be trusted. I'm much more comfortable when someone acts like Spock on those old Star Trek shows.

I think the past three months have been defined by strong emotions. First there was the fear caused by the coronavirus followed almost immediately by the anger caused by the death of George Floyd. I guess fear and anger are pretty basic. I get scared and angry too. I don't really think these emotions solve anything though. There's got to be a better way.

I cringe whenever I hear someone say "we're all in this together." Jeez. "Don't drag me into this," I think. I prefer to solve problems by withdrawing and thinking through things on my own. Of course, this kind of attitude will never solve the problems of society. At best it will only allow you to live outside of society. Is that so bad though? I felt happy when I was the only person inside the huge dome of the 107" telescope at the top of a lonely mountain in West Texas. I could live this way. Maybe I should have been a forest ranger. Is it really that hard to learn to love the sound of silence? Is it that hard to just mind your own business while you follow your own personal checklist?

Today's checklist started with a walk with Dawn. The walk even comes before making the bed these days. The warmer the weather gets, the earlier we need to start. The weather is wonderful before the sun gets too high. I just need to figure out how to get more sleep. I've been going to bed late because I'm having trouble writing the blog. The blog is always the last thing on the checklist and I still want to get to Day 5000. It's not really enjoyable writing about a world falling apart though. I'd much rather write about visits to observatories and the joys of getting published in obscure little magazines.

I washed the car today. I'm not going anywhere, but I do like a clean car. We'll take Dawn on another long walk tomorrow morning. I like a happy dog too. Janet made pulled pork in the slow cooker, so there's tasty food for the rest of the week. Who knows. Maybe I'll even hear something from the Air Force about getting media accreditation. All in all, life is good.

Amy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day