November 2025 Grab Bag

 I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful.  Na Clann were all here for the week, so we got a healthy combination of local adventures, food, Thanksgiving Day episodes, and shopping.  As Nighean Gheal was in South Korea last year, this is first time in two years that we have been together.

For reference, last time we were all together, I had not been laid off as part of Hammerfall 3.0, we still lived in New Home, and we had not had a presidential election.

The world was a different place.

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In Administrative notes, I realized that I had not linked all of the 2024 Turkey entries into the single page dedicated to this purpose.  That issue has been rectified.  Additionally, The Collapse page should be up to date to current entries.  And a new page for 2025 Cambodia And Vietnam has been started (although given how long it has take me to get through was was the first 3 days of our trip, we will be reading about this all through next year).

I still need to bring A Year of Humility to a page near you.  At this point, that sounds like an end of year task.

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This week I had a medical appointment.

This was a rather long delayed one dating from February of this year when I should have gone, when due to my training in Japan I seem to have done something to my right knee.  I was hopeful that I could just "exercise my way out of it", but it got worse, not better - worse to the point that I am pretty much unable to do any kneeling waza at this point.  The good news?  Apparently it is tendonitis as no tear or rip could be found and it has full range of motion.  Exercises for now, with the possibility of physical therapy if that does not work.

Other things discovered during the visit:

- My blood pressure is normal.  I was afraid I was pushing up into pre-hypertension mode, but apparently not.  That is a relief.

- Based on descriptions, I may have Obstructive Sleep Apnea.  A sleep study has been ordered.

- A round of general labs has been ordered

God willing and nothing new, I will be back for an exam in a year.

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As a note to the ongoing sale of The Ranch, we have received no offers after our initial lowball.  At the recommendation of our realtor, we are taking it off the market and will re-list it in Spring.

During my last trip earlier this month, I spent no more than 30 minutes at the maximum checking things out and making sure no new issues had arisen.  This has very much become a rear-guard action.

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For the first time in something like 20 years, I will be doing a public harp performance.

The whole thing came about as a result of the small group I led earlier this Autumn.  One of the icebreakers was "What is an unusual thing that you do?" Mine, as it turns out, was playing the harp.  Word gets around as these things do and now I am performing in the lobby before, between, and after services on 21 December.

Certainly an incentive to practice intensely.

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With the passing of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, we enter the Christmas season - which, based on the way Christmas falls this year, is only 3 Fridays away.  I need to make a sincere effort to be mindful of the season this year as it feels like it will be more compressed than usual.

At least Christmas carols are now fair game.