Month: September 2025

Extension and procrastination

When I pull one of my old writings “out of the archives,” am I cheating? Does it really matter whether I post something every day, as I have for more than five years now? Should I go back to my old habit of only posting when I have written something new?

I realized Sunday night, while I was engrossed in watching the very odd Packers-Cowboys football game that ended in a 40-40 tie, that I had not posted my Monday post yet, and I could not concentrate on the blog. Oh, I could have turned off the television but, you know, Packers game. I searched and found something I had posted approximately 10 years ago.

Was that cheating? I ask myself that question every time I dip into the archives. I did start the every-day-posting thing to challenge myself to write every day, and so it definitely qualifies as cheating myself.

On the other hand, I probably have barely a dozen people who read my blog every day — and thank you, friends, I really appreciate you! But that means it’s very likely that something I wrote 10 years ago is brand new to the vast majority of folks who wander into this space, and maybe that will be the piece that gets some readers to come back again.

I’m a little more than 100 days away from posting something — anything — for the 2,000th consecutive day, and so I’m reluctant to have to reset the clock at this stage, and anyway I don’t want to alarm my handful of regular readers — “What happened? Is he OK?”

So yes, I am cheating when I repeat myself for no other reason than to keep the streak going, but now the streak is five years old and counting. The alternative to a rerun is writing a post to the effect of “I’m just writing this to keep the streak going” (which I also have done a few times), and instead re-posting something I’m glad I wrote years ago provides a little more value. 

I keep meaning to start writing a few days in advance, so that when I have a night when I’m enjoying a football game, I don’t have to fret about a blog post. Writing ahead makes so much sense that I’ve added it to the long list of things I’m procrastinating over.

It’s occurred to me that I should write a book about procrastination, since I’m a certified world-class practitioner. I may get around to that, one of these days.

Do the right thing

From the archives – Sept. 25, 2015

Whatever you attempt to do, even with the most noble intentions, someone will say you shouldn’t do it. And once done, someone will say you shouldn’t have done it.

If it’s the right thing to do, do it anyway.

If you’re not sure it’s the right thing to do, do what you think is best.

Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing – wait – prepare – but do not mistake procrastination for prudence.

You can feel the difference, most of the time. Waiting can be a conscious decision, but in those cases it feels like determination. Procrastination generates anxiety.

The sounds of 78

For about 10 minutes in 2016 — well, actually, 13 weeks — I produced a podcast called 78 Revolutions Per Minute, in which I shared stuff from my rather prodigious collection of 78 rpm records.

I have somehow accumulated hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand, of these 10-inch bygone relics. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the invention of the electric microphone, which replaced the previous technology of singing and playing into a megaphone-like horn attached to a recording stylus which vibrated the sound directly onto a wax disc, which was then reproduced onto the brittle shellac records that had to be handled with extreme care.

My collection includes quite a few of those pre-1925 recordings, and sometimes I’ll listen to Harry Lauder or Aileen Stanley and ponder the thought that the sound of their voices is more than a century old.

Hard to believe the podcast was nine (!) years ago already. While I had fun with it, I am still waiting for downloads of 11 of those 13 episodes to hit double digits. I’m sure there’s an audience for 78 rpm music, but it didn’t find my little efforts back then.

One of the reasons I bought my fancy-schmancy Audio Technica turntable is its ability to play 78s, but it’s been awhile since I took advantage of that feature. I whiled away part of my Saturday afternoon doing just that. I hung around the 1950s for the most part — by then the technology had advanced to vinyl records that spun at 45 or 33 revolutions per minute, but companies continued to make 78s until almost 1960.

(In fact, 78s survived even later in some parts of the globe, and I’ve seen references to Beatles songs on 78. My beloved Nitty Gritty Dirt Band even released some promotional copies of “Mr. Bojangles” on 78 in 1970. I may hunt one of those down if I ever win the lottery.)

As my 71-year-old copy of “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley & the Comets boomed out of my Bose speakers, I was again amazed at how good a well-preserved record sounds on the right equipment decades later. 

I need to go exploring through my old records more often — it’s why I bought them, after all. Why collect old stuff if you don’t look at it or, in this case, listen to them? Who knows? Maybe the world is even ready for more episodes of 78 Revolutions Per Minute.