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Last Update: March 3, 2025

John Shinnick 3.0: It's All About Me

~ Quote of the Month ~

I can't complain but sometimes I still do. (Joe Walsh)

Joe Walsh is one of my favorite rock and rollers because he doesn't take himself too seriously. This line is from his song "So Far" and it's so true of me.

Another Meager Update

It took a month, but somebody noticed I hadn’t updated my website. I seem to be losing interest. This month I’m dropping the idea of saving off the previous month’s article from each of the four main sections, so if you don’t see ‘em the first time around, too bad. I’m still saving off the things from previous months, just not on the web.

This will be another abbreviated month. First things first, assuming I post this on March 3, it’s my birthday. 74 is kind of a nothing birthday. I didn’t plan anything special like have in years past. No stay at a B&B, no travel adventure, nothing. Just aging. But it’s been nice hearing from friends, and lately just kicking back has been good and necessary. Fatapples (my typical morning restaurant) stuck a birthday candle in a frosted muffin to make a nice birthday cake, nice gesture.

The big thing is that I’ve finally gotten my End of Life stuff in order: A Trust, a Power of Attorney for Healthcare Decisions, and a Power of Attorney for Financial Decisions. I should be all set now and it’s a huge load off my mind, finally finishing after about 15 years (from the first time my doctor told me I should have an Advance Health Care Directive.) It makes my to-do list much more civilized.

I’ve been tapped for jury duty, the first time since I retired if I’m not mistaken. I call in a week from Wednesday to see if I have to report. It’s funny that when I was working, I seemed to get called once every year, but when I retired and had much more time for such things, they stopped calling. Go figure. Speaking of governmental stuff, I had to go to the DMV to renew my license. No problems. For such a vilified organization, I’ve never had a problem with the DMV.

And of course, it’s tax season. Fortunately, I’m utterly thrilled with my government and just love supporting it with my annual donation. Yeah, that was sarcasm. I’m so ashamed.

Not much is happening musically. It’s generally been too cold to play out on the porch and I miss that, but I’m sure things will warm up soon. The Blues Daddies is still kind of hit and miss with practicing. More of a social thing, and that’s okay. I don’t really miss performing. Once a month my church band plays, and I just played bass with some of the other church musicians in a performance of Nick Lowe’s “What’s So Funny about Peace, Love and Understanding” made popular by Elvis Costello. Good fun.

74 - No Big Deal

As for my house, I’ve started in my annual crusade of post-winter weeding. What an ordeal. I’m taking my time with it, and if I’m done by the third week of March sometime, that’ll be a triumph!

Health-wise, my A-fib started acting up. My usual pattern had been that I’d go into it for maybe 3-5 days, then come out of it for about a month or so. Then in late December I went into it for a prolonged period. I went in to see my cardiologist who changed my prescription a bit. But it’s was nothing to be too alarmed about, and in mid-February I flipped back to having a normal heartbeat. Go figure. Otherwise, I seem to be my usual self. I still walk a fair amount, though with the cold weather I don’t get out quite as often as when it’s nice. But overall, things are pretty good with my health. I still could lose 25 pounds, but that’s nothing new.

So that’s all for now. Maybe March will have more excitement to it!

Indeed, no big deal.

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