Tag: progress

July 2nd Update

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2024, Health and Fitness

Here we are – July 2024 !   It seems impossible that this year is half over already, but as personal progress goes, I have already accomplished more this year than I did in all of 2023. 

In 2023…

I broke my arm.

I struggled through months of forest fire smoke drifting down from northern Alberta.

I went through multiple doses of oral steroids and strong antibiotics to combat lung infections caused by ongoing sinus issues.

Due to health issues, I missed more than half of my morning workouts,  and doing weight and strength training was hit and miss at best.

I quit eating or drinking anything containing bakers or brewers yeast and virtually eliminated severe digestive issues. (That has been a huge win.)

I lost ten pounds.

I started hiking (in and out of the city)  with Dan and Molly.

So far in 2024…

I have had virtually no morning workouts missed due to health issues.   (Obviously, I still have asthma, COPD, and bronchiectasis but all are relatively under control.)

I have been doing strength training workouts three days a week and have graduated to eight pound weights plus I  have doubled the reps to my routines.

I have been driving further and more often in the past couple of months, than I have since retiring in 2020.

I made a trip down to Nebraska with my daughter.   That was six days of traveling, hiking, shopping, hotels, restaurant meals, and visiting with family.  And… I made it back not too much the worse for wear.

Dan did work up most of the garden planters but I was able to plant most of the garden.  I have been maintaining it and I have been painting the garden planters (weather permitting).  And… I edged and mowed our front lawn at least once!

Personal growth is about progress, not perfection.   –  Hal Elrod

Take care and have a great day!  💞🌞

June 21st Update

by annemariedemyen, posted in 2024, Health and Fitness

Yesterday was officially the first day of summer and I was finally able to get outside to enjoy a bit of heat and sunshine!    Our spring was one long stretch of cold temperatures, rain and more rain, and strong winds.   My asthma, COPD,  and bronchiectasis have not been happy.

I have maintained my Monday through Saturday morning aerobics and my weight and strength training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.   Since I could hardly blame the weather for poor eating habits, I have also stayed on track there as well. 

I saw both my respiratory specialist and therapist over the past couple of weeks.  Despite the weather, my lungs have stayed clear of any infection and healthwise I am doing okay.   I have been coughing A LOT, especially these past couple of weeks but that is to be expected.  Hopefully, that will clear up as our weather does likewise.

I have been doing a fair amount of driving, which is a good thing.  We have been helping daughter Jen out while she works, getting her daughters around the city for various appointments and events.

Our main ‘event’ this week was granddaughter Madison’s grade eight graduation. 

Maddy accepting her ‘Top Reader’ and ‘Honor Roll’ awards and medals.
Maddy with her sisters Genie & Prim
Maddy with her friend Ronan.

We could not be more proud of our little ray of sunshine.   Not only did she excel in her academics this year, she earned her place on the Saskatchewan Youth Honor Band, and she started working part-time as a hostess at one of our local restaurants.   Everything Maddy does, she does to the best of her ability and she makes it look easy by doing it with her charming attitude and beautiful smile. 🥰

Finally, we have been working on, and enjoying, our yard as weather permits. 

We skipped the pool this year and went with a gazebo to protect us from the heat and bugs – neither of which have been an issue so far.
The garden is struggling but coming along.  I am trying to get the planters painted but that has been a process as well.

Take care and have a good day. 💞🌞

Auto-Correct

by annemariedemyen, posted in life

It started out innocently enough.  I would write a simple text to my sister. “Hey! How are you feeling today?” And hit send.   Moments later she would receive a text that said “Harry, have you been falling today?”. To which she would reply “Are you furry drunk?”

Within months, these obnoxious auto-corrects had taken over my Google searches – no I did not mean how to skin a fox in Yugoslavia! (What would possess you to think I would want to skin a fox anywhere?) Then it infiltrated the body of my emails – “OMG! I am so sorry, I typed ‘shutters‘. I have no idea why auto-correct changed the ‘u’ to an ‘i’.”

Next, auto-correct took to questioning my choice of email recipients. I would choose ‘Bob Smith’ from my menu of contacts and I would get a message “Did you mean Joe Brown?”. “No, I meant BOB SMITH”. 🤯

Now this has gone too far. I think “Cason” and I write “Dominic”. I think “Genie” and I say “Jennifer”. I even do it with inanimate objects. I point to the television and I say “table”. Frankly, I thought I was just getting senile. But no, I was speaking to my perfectly normal sister Elaine last night and the same thing has been happening to her. Artificial intelligence has taken over our brains and inserted an auto-correct function.

I would be fine with this, if auto-correct ever got it right. If this was actually a helpful tool. But no, that is not the case. Auto-correct shirts it up every time.

Before Retirement: Life in the Construction Industry

by annemariedemyen, posted in career

I am looking forward to retirement. I am ready to have time for me. I am ready to be free of the 8 to 4:30, Monday through Friday workweek. I will not miss driving to work in the pitch dark on icy streets. I will not miss the lunchbag sandwiches, salads and soups. I will not miss being tied to a desk for eight hours a day, seeing the sunshine on the other side of the street. There are a number of things I will not miss, and there are many things that I will.

For the past twenty-five years, I have worked in the Saskatchewan construction industry. I worked at a millwork company that made amazing custom cabinets, a metal company that did phenomenal work in stainless steel, brass, aluminum, and steel, and for the past fifteen years I have worked for a company that sells and installs high end residential and commercial construction specialty products. It has been fun, interesting and gratifying.

The best part of the construction industry is the people. For the most part, I have loved working with the clients, consultants, contractors, suppliers, my bosses and co-workers. We are all a part of an industry, and the heart and soul of our industry are the tradespeople. They work through the blazing heat of summer and the frigid cold of winter. They work the hours it takes, and do what they have to do, to get the job done. At the end of the day, they are proud of what they have done. It is not just about a paycheque or personal accolades. It is a house or a hospital or a school that they helped to build, as part of a team of dedicated professionals.

The construction industry has gone through a lot of changes in the past twenty-five years. Some changes have been good, like improvements in products, design and equipment. Some changes have not been as good, in my mind. There have been a lot of new or revised programs that have added a lot of administration but little value to the industry.

Today I attended a meeting focused on digital transformation in the construction industry. It was primarily a presentation of a program designed to manage the administration and documentation of major projects. From what I could tell this particular program seemed credible.

My issue with this meeting was the pre-presentation warm up. The speaker noted that the construction industry is far behind other industries, such as manufacturing, in developing and implementing the technology required to ‘progress’ . He showed a number of small clips, most of which I had no real issue with. He had one on BIM software, one on Robotics, one on drones, one on virtual reality – all of which could be legitimately used as tools to enhance construction projects and deal with issues before they become real life brick and mortar issues.

Than he showed a clip on AI – artificial intelligence. This clip explained how technology could be implemented to constantly scan a worksite, count and record the vehicles entering and leaving the site and scan the workers from the time they step on to the site to the time they leave. It would scan where they went, what they did, record any safety infractions, check their ppe (personal protective equipment), etc. I voiced my objection to technology being used in this manner.

One of the other attendees noted that it is frustrating to constantly be monitoring workers for proper use of their ppe and that this could be a safety management tool, which the presenter quickly agreed with. Except, it would not really help to improve safety on a site. If someone was monitoring this scanner every moment, and if they saw a safety alert pop up, they would have to contact someone on the site to go address the situation. This would still be an ongoing issue for foremen and supervisors to deal with. What this technology would do, would be to provide a record so that if there was an incident, the contractor could go to court, backed with video proof of what part a worker had played in the incident and use it to mitigate any legal responsibility the company would have.

We all want everyone to go home safe at the end of the day. Workers do not want to be injured on the job or anywhere else. For the most part they are conscientious about safety – theirs and the people they work with. However, workers are human. They are working in situations that are not ideal and under conditions that are problematic. They are working with dangerous tools and with product that has the potential to turn lethal in a gust of wind or a slight miss-step. Accidents do and will continue to happen. When they do, injured workers and their families should be taken care of. That is what worker’s compensation and disabilty insurance is for.

Artificial intelligence that is implemented to dehumanize our workforce is not progress. Technology used in this manner is an appalling insult to the front line workers in our industry. Next summer, this will no longer be ‘my industry’ but I hope that those who remain will ensure that it remains an industry where workers are treated with respect and appreciation.