How I See It: Reflections on spirituality, technology, and the art of everyday life

Weekly Update 03/21/26 – 03/27/26 (Xfinity Billing Issues, Internet Outages, Dental Treatment Decisions) This weekly update covers ongoing issues with my Xfinity internet service, including repeated disconnections caused by billing errors, as well as a dental consultation that resulted in decisions about upcoming procedures. As part of my ongoing Weekly Update series, this post documents both the technical and personal challenges encountered during the week. Things are going well. The biggest thing this week has been a ridiculous battle I have been going through with Xfinity. A few weeks ago, I needed to upgrade my internet service to an unlimited data plan. The plan I was on had a limit of 1.2 TB per month, and I had gone over that limit two months in a row. So I needed an unlimited plan. I checked around, thinking about changing providers from Xfinity to something else, perhaps back to CenturyLink. What I found out shocked me. Back in the 1990s, I had a choice for high-speed in...

Weekly Update 03/14/26 – 03/20/26 (Work Progress, Hearing Loss, Healthcare Navigation, Personal Reflections) This week’s update covers progress at work, ongoing medical recovery, hearing changes and next steps, navigating primary care access, and a few reflections tied to personal history and current events as part of the ongoing Weekly Update series. This has been a good week. Things at work are going well. I’m learning a lot. We have a new person, what they call a Product Owner, for FACTS. From what I’ve seen, this is the person responsible for handling our project. But I still report to James. Medically, my foot is continuing to heal. I’m taking it easy on it, constantly. OK, I take it off for showering and changing clothes; otherwise, even when I sleep, it’s on. I’m wearing a special shoe to protect the foot after surgery, though my foot is just broken. It’s a little awkward as the special shoe is shorter than the normal shoe on the other foot. Also, now when I walk, it sound...

St. Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ecological Disasters!   According to legend, St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland and into the sea. According to the story, he chased the snakes away after they attacked him while he was fasting on a hill.   Of course, in our modern age we recognize this for what it was: a massive ecological disaster. Not only polluting the sea with snakes, but also removing a beneficial predator from the ecosystem. This supposedly happened in the 5th century. Who knows, the absence of snakes, if they existed at all, might even have contributed to the Great Potato Famine of the 19th century.   Today we understand that ecology is a balance that humanity is usually better off living with rather than drastically altering. All of God's creatures have a role to play.   Perhaps Patrick never heard the story Ramakrishna told in the 19th century about the snake and the holy man.   A holy man passed through a village where a poisonous snake liv...

Weekly Update 03/ 07/ 26 – 03/ 13/ 26 ( Broken Foot Diagnosis, Workplace Scam Attempt, Daylight Saving Time History) Weekly update covering a foot fracture diagnosis, a workplace impersonation scam attempt, and the history behind daylight saving time. I have good news and bad news. The good news is my toe is not broken. The bad news is that my foot is. A couple of weeks ago I was walking out of my bedroom when I managed to catch my pinky toe on the metal leg of my bed. It hurt terribly, and I was concerned that I might have broken my toe. The pain subsided as the day went on, but it still hurt to walk on uneven ground or put on my shoes. Since there is not much that can be done for a broken toe, I just let it heal. A couple of days later, I was stepping into the shower when I stubbed the same toe on the edge of the tub. Again, the pain was severe and then subsided as the day went on. A few days after that, I accidentally kicked a shoe that was on the floor and the pain came back again....

 Weekly update 02/28/26 – 03/07/26 (Injured Toe, Blood Moon Eclipse, Fake War Videos) Weekly update covering a painful toe injury, a missed lunar eclipse, music playlists, and thoughts on fake war videos and space program stories. On 02/27/26, I was walking across my bedroom when somehow I managed to bash the little toe on my right foot into one of the legs of my bed. This was the start of my foot ordeal. The pain when it hit was excruciating and lasted most of the day. I was immediately afraid I had broken my toe, but since there is nothing to do about a broken toe except let it heal and possibly tape it, I did not go to the doctor. The pain subsided in a few hours, but it still hurt when I walked, and the swelling made it painful to wear my shoes or walk on uneven ground. This went on for a couple of days with me avoiding walking, not even going for my morning walks, and the pain slowly subsided until I was getting into the shower and re-hit the toe. The pain came back at ...

Weekly update 02/21/26 – 02/27/26 (Dental Work Experience, Blog Indexing Issues, and Political Reflections) I hope everyone has had a good February! This week, I got started on dental work. On Wednesday, I got two fillings, one on the left side and one on the right. The process was mostly painless. The biggest shock came when they were working on the tooth on the right side. I do not know what kind of drill they were using, but man, it was loud. It sounded like they were using a jackhammer on my head. There was a little shaking, but the noise was unbelievable. I think it must have been transmitted directly from the jawbone to the ear. It was odd having to have both sides of my face numbed. The oddest part was later, when I tried to drink from a cup. My upper lip was swollen and very numb. When I put the cup to my mouth, I simply could not feel it or the water in it until the water reached the back of my mouth. I am going to be spending some time this weekend working with Ch...