What some of you will care about most: It’s likely that there will not be a Gold/Diamond Open Access study next year. It’s essentially certain that I won’t be doing such a study.
Until early this month, that was largely because (a) the sponsoring agency wasn’t sure they wanted to keep doing it and (b) I was feeling my age (81, if you want to know0 and thinking I wasn’t really up to it. [Yes, my annual wellness exam–including the short version of the dementia-screening that the Orange Menace seems to “think” is some sort of genius test–came out fine. But I’m still 81 and slowing down,]
What changed this month to make it even less likely…
For a while now we’ve been thinking of downsizing, but weren’t sure how to do it, especially since my wife cooks her own food and wants a full-size kitchen and we both insist on a single story.
Last month, we figured out how we might be able to do it; an adjacent city has two 55-and-over age-restrictied manufactured-home communities in a great location. (You can think of them as mobile home parks if you like, although very few of these doublewide structures are in any real sense mobile.. )
This month, we found one that suited us. We’re now in contract, with all contingencies removed. Some time in early December, we should start the ‘fun’ of really downsizing and moving. There is no way that I’ll have the energy or time to do the study, even if I was so inclined.
So, in a few months, we should be doing our part in generational shifts by making a lovely home suitable for a family (with kids, given how our neighborhood’s been changing) available for purchase. And we’ll be a few miles away, meeting new people only one generation younger than us–or even less.
Part of downsizing has already happen; discarding most of my absurdly large print history. A couple of years ago, I tore my columns and articles out of several hundred journal/magazine articles and recycled the journals/articles. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve recycled the stack of torn-out articles, the paperback editions of my own books that appeared in hard and paper versions, any duplicate copies, and proceedings that included something by me. I knew I’d never look at them again anyway, and it’s pretty clear that my “archives” won’t have a home. (Yes, I also discarded all the ITAL Newsletter and ISQ issues I edited.) The new place won’t have as many bookcases. The clubhouse does have a modest recreational library…and the city we’re moving to has an excellent public library, which I intend to use heavily as long as I’m able to read and appreciate the books, which I’m hoping will be a few more years.
So that’s the news.
Discover more from DrWeb's Domain
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
