My Ongoing Walking and Running Training Activity: Going for the Steps, Slowly

Today I exercised out in the back yard [soft running] and on the living room floor rug rock-running.  The other day I watched a YouTube video extolling walking for fitness' sake.  It touted doing up to 10,000 steps per day.  I have been monitoring my Fitbit and Angel Sense watches, and watched some live major league baseball innings while simultaneously rocking my feet forwards and backwards, in he process adding steps on my wrist device.  Yesterday I amassed 7,500 steps while, with today's sunset, I went over 8 thousand. Well, let's see how tomorrow goes.Becoming fitter with walking and running may, at my age and with this gloomy medical condition, have slowed down a lot.  but it won't be until Saturday morning, May 23rd, when I test my training progress during Gainesville's next Depot Park 5K.Speed doesn't matter here, only distance covered. Just call me the "slow AF geezer"...Funny, a little while ago I searched on my phone's Facebook for photos taken at last Saturdays'West End Community Parkrun 5K west of Gainesvilleon Newberry Road, but the pictures hadn't been processed.  Well, I'll check it out again tomorrow or Wednesday...

The Beautiful Mind, a Beautiful Day, Medical Matters

One of my all-time favorite movies is the 2001 semi-fictional biographical thriller A Beautiful Mind, starring Russell Crowe as John Naah, the Novel laureate (Nash really won that award) for economics who went through a serious protracted trial with his schizophrenia.  His"friend"of many years, a hallucination, was Charles Herman, played on screen by Paul Bettany.  The way the film portrays this character...one moment he's invisible and the next he's right up in your face...made a formidable impression on me.  If something like this happened to me, I would be very upset about what was going on in my mind...especially if there were a pattern of repetition to the phenomenon. How could I bring this experience up in conversation, possibly risking in the process being called crazy? In the Bible, following the resurrection of Jesus, his disciples were walking around, largely despondent and discouraged. Suddenly the risen Lord would appear to them out of thin air,  this being the part of the text that threw me back a bit.  I will need to be careful about what I observe in life and how to process and react to it.  I do know that, as far as I can discern, my home is relatively secure with any intruders unlikely to make an unwelcome appearance. So the only feasible alternative is...

Today I went with Melissa to consult with her physician's assistant dealing with the oncology following her 2024 cancer treatment and what the future plans are regarding appointments and procedures.  Also, we went to UF Health at the Oaks Mall where I had a lab blood draw and provided a urine sample.  We're dealing with this cancer ordeal arm in arm, loving and supporting each other through it all. I'm praying for complete healing, acknowledging the Lord's supremacy in everything.  Right now it's April 20th, 2026...let's see where the calendar takes us...

Early Rising, Day Planning

I woke up and got out of bed this morning a little past three...did ten minutes of running in place while brewing coffee.  Now I'm sitting here looking ahead to the coming day, just a little past four.  One item on my agenda is to go down to my local public library branch, update my card and account, and check out one or two interesting books.  Unlike the case with 2nd and Charles a few weeks ago, I have no intention of picking out books out of desperation because I'm too tired and can't find a place to sit.  i do know that this is now post-Easter and we're now back on the regular calendar. It's a foregone conclusion that further exercise for me today will tax my ability to accomplish it.  If i do more back-yard inner perimeter laps, then I know what to expect.  And my eating will be measured and recorded., with the notion that spacing of meals and snacks is to be recommended. Yesterday evening i did watch a YouTube video listing and explaining 7 simple habits I could easily adopt...probably would be better off writing them down and implementing them, 1 by 1.  i want to install and begin using a smartphone app that identifies wild bird species by their songs...this afternoon on the back porch sounds like a good time to get that going.  And hydrating a lot more, that sounds good. Life is good, and I am a person in charge of my own happiness...

New Day Beckons New Direction

 Here we are again, at the start of a new calendar day. It is nearly five, and back in 2/71 I would again be waking and rising before sunrise to get a head start on things.  I just brewed a pot of nice-flavored coffee, sitting here to write this.  I have some ipf running to do.  Anita and family are to begin their long drive here from Austin, planned arrival some time late Friday...looking forward to seeing her.  I'm holding back on my invective against certain media figures...maybe I'll give them a chance to be more reasonable.  Were this 1998 att the post office, we'd right now be finishing up our incoming Gainesville scheme mail.  Since I'm not planning on going anywhere today, let's just see what the day brings without fanfare...

Filling in the Blog Gaps to Cover Missing Days

For the most part, I have continued to be faithful in writing and posting daily blog articles.  Sometimes, though, a calendar day will come and go without any posted article from me.  But I have a way to get around that: backpost "yesterday's" article!  Which is exactly what I'm doing this morning.  The trick is for me to search my short-term memory for information I can write about, as if it were ongoing and not just something that happened the previous day.  "Officially", tomorrow is Christmas Eve, the 24th of December.  That's the date I'm posting this blog entry about filling in missing days with blog articles.  I looked up "back-posting" on Google and got answers related to crocheting, for all the good it did me.  Still, I fully intend to make use of this blogging ploy to fill in as many of my blogging gaps as possible.  Merry Christmas!

Catching Up on Late Blog Articles

 I'm writing this article retroactively, by one calendar day, as I've slipped a little behind in my daily habit of posting blog articles.  With the cancer treatment regimen I'm in the middle of, the radiation therapy, now with 19 sessions behind me, appears to be causing the side effect of brain inflammation.  This can lead to pain, and Melissa has been great at communicating this with my physicians.  Now I have some medicine that should mitigate the symptoms.  The radiation treatments are scheduled to run to the end of 2025, and i'm fervently hoping (and praying) that I'll be able to sustain them without too much trouble on the side.  Tonight they had a college basketball game on TV between Florida State and Dayton.  The Flyers, playing at home, were clearly better shooters and ball handlers: it wasn't even close.  Well, let's see if I can't crank out today's article before midnight rolls around...

Coming Up on Cool, Pleasant Weekend

 On this final day of October, 2025, I find the outside to be cooler and windier...and much sunnier.  I am continuing to recover from my brain surgery of exactly a week ago, with further potential treatment options forthcoming.  Predictably, tomorrow morning will be yet another Saturday, planted in local tradition with the weekly Parkruns I've grown habituated to attending (I've completed 90 events since 2019).  The distance involved is 5K (3.1 miles), and I feel I can easily cover all of the required four laps through the park walking.  Yet Melissa has her doubts based on how she sees my current state of being, and I'm inclined to go along with her final recommendation on the subject...at least for this upcoming weekend..although I am on an overall higher level of physical fitness.  My outlandish-looking head-top surgery staples should be removed from my sorry old scalp sometime late next week, and until then I'm consigned to dealing with the headaches arising from that earlier procedure.  My endurance and sense of balance are fine, and I think I'd enjoy a nice, noncompetitive Parkrun walk with the temperatures in the forties.  But this involves getting up early in the morning and being "on time" for the 7:30 start while making sure I'm wearing their barcoded wristband.  I think Depot Park is a nice location, and we can always get some coffee afterwards. In any event, I want to be positive and proactive with my recovery. I want my future to contain some realistic promise for it and see this weekend as an opportunity to better my condition.  I do so much need some respite from this dreary diagnosis.  As for posting links of my blog articles to my page on Facebook, I've abandoned that notion after this site (that is so lax with security protections) blocked me yesterday. Facebook isn't working for me, and I won't work for it, ever again.  And if anyone trolls me for a comment I post on it, they're getting it right back in their face...

Happy Hump Day of the Year

If Wednesday can be called "hump day" for the week that starts on Sunday and ends Saturday, then July 2nd can likewise be termed "hump day" for the year...that is, for non-leap years.  For exactly 182 days precede today and 182 are to come in 2025.  This morning I was watching the Weather Channel and the good meteorologists sitting around on the curved blue couch, apparently with nothing better to do, posed this question to the viewing audience: what is your favorite "half" of the year, January through June or July through December?  The poll's answer was that more thought July through December is better...I wonder, though, what the response would be if the question was posed at the beginning of January! For if you're standing smack in the middle of a calendar year, then one half is what you've just lived through and the other is right in front of you, about to happen.  So I suppose the responses that most folks gave...at least those who watch the Weather Channel in the morning...showed that they are generally optimistic about the future, that the next six months will be better than the previous six.  As for me, I am personally so much bound to focusing on each single day as it comes that I don't allow myself to get too hung up on "favorite" stretches of time.  I can find good and bad in every month and season I've lived through so far, and I'm guessing that that's probably going to continue.  This July, though, is considerably more trying for Melissa and me than in the past because our dear son Will passed away last year on the 18th...but that wasn't not July's fault, and I'm looking forward to good times and experiences on this early side of the "hump" in 2025... 

Easter Celebrated with Family

I hope all of you who celebrate Easter have enjoyed this holiday today.  You have to be something of an astronomer to determine, on your own, on which date this honoring of Jesus' resurrection falls within each calendar year.  The formula is: Easter (as celebrated in the West, not in the Eastern Orthodox churches) lies on the first Sunday following the first full moon following the first day of spring...for some reason it goes that way, maybe you can enlighten me on why.  Melissa and I spent it at home, with various folks in our family stopping by to enjoy lunch with us...what a blessing.  Later on in the day I watched the conclusion of the ongoing PGA golf tournament, the Heritage Classic held in Hilton Head, South Carolina.  Justin Thomas held on in sudden death to win his first tourney in some years...good for him, I guess.  I'm not a golfer...the irony is that were I one, I probably wouldn't have any interest in rooting for one over another in these tournaments.  After all, I'm a runner and I absolutely could not care less about the premier runners in the world or this country...or even in my own home town of Gainesville, for that matter.  That's another thing that maybe you can enlighten me on why...  

Happy Income Tax Deadline Day

April 15, Tax Day, has come and is about to end for 2025.  Having worked for the post office here in Gainesville for 37 years before last year's retirement, I am well acquainted with the extraordinary measures they would take on this day, with SW 34th Street traffic backed up from the main processing plant's entrance as folks would wait to the last minute to file their taxes, and then dump off their returns at night to get them postmarked "in time" before midnight.  Nowadays, of course, we have software to do most of the tedious work and calculations while payments can come electronically out of our bank accounts or refunds likewise deposited into them.  Melissa and I, because of the tragic circumstances in 2024 with our family, had more difficulty than usual with our filing, but we somehow managed to get it all finished with several days to spare.  I remember back in Trump's first term when he was pushing his own vision of tax "reform" through Congress and Ted Cruz opined that filing one's income tax should be simple enough to do on the back of a postcard.  To which I would offer one of my rare "thumbs up" to the junior senator from Texas.  In any event, it's over for another year...

Tail End of 2023 Here

Now that it's officially past Christmas day, I suppose a lot of people regard the upcoming week preceding New Years Day as the time for refunds and exchanges of gifts not wanted or the wrong shape, size or color.  For me it's a brief period for me to reflect on the year winding down and contemplating ahead to 2024.  If the next calendar year is anything like it was in 2020 when we had the insane presidential election, the Covid crisis outbreak and the nationwide protests following the George Floyd killing, I'd better brace myself.  Yet I have high hopes for my health, self-improvement, fun and adventures as well as for my loved ones. I am optimistically looking forward to 2024, and sensationalism and media manipulation can just take a back seat to my own agendas, thank you very much.  May this week prepare you for what's to come, including bringing a sense of perspective and balance to your own lives...

NYC Marathon Taking Place Today

Of all the marathons that I have NOT run...and the now-extinct Ocala Marathon is the only one I have...it's the New York City Marathon, held on the first weekend in November, that captures my imagination the most.  On YouTube I've been able to get a runner's-eye-view of the race on three very different videos: one from 2019 features a Chinese-speaking entrant who is relatively fast and the other two are from last year, one filmed by Alex, who has made numerous other race videos in the area and ran an average (for me) race and the other by a novice who ended up walking much of the distance.  In all three I got a great sense of the geography of the city's five boroughs, in this order of the race: Staten Island (at the beginning), Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Bronx, and then Manhattan again at the end.  If these three videos showed all there was to running the NYC Marathon, I'd say "Sign me up and stick me on a plane."  But after viewing other videos of the event, it seems most of the effort goes not into actually running it, but rather first getting approved to enter it over all the other aspirants through either their February lottery or by joining with a charity and generating a lot of money.  Also, since we're talking more than 50,000 runners clogging the streets of New York, every time anything is considered, be it making hotel or restaurant reservations, picking up bibs at the required exposition at the Jacob Javits Center, checking in a post-race bag in Central Park, just getting to the starting line (no subway access to Staten Island) and going through the security check there after which there are hours of standing around before the race actually starts, we're talking endless lines and waits...ugh!  Yet those who speak of this event think it's a great thing and keep wanting to return next year.  I think that if I could escape somehow all that extraneous tedious b.s. and just start it like in all those racing videos, I'd think it worthwhile as well.  But if someday I do run a big-city marathon or, more likely, a half-marathon, then it will probably be in another place.  I wrote about it this morning because right now that same New York City Marathon is ongoing, to last throughout the day as they have staggered the massive number of runners into five waves and subdivided them further. It's a bit cooler there and windier than last year's race...a lot of the runners also seem to underestimate the fluctuations in altitude throughout this not-so-flat city: NYC does have some badass hills as well as a lot of extended upward and downward sloping!  I think a TV channel is covering the event, but most likely it will focus on the top finishers.  Funny that for someone as enthusiastic about running as myself that I am so clueless about the top athletes in this sport...

New Year a Good Arbitrary Time to Seek Habit Changes

I like to think of the new year as an opportunity to break away from old destructive personal habits and set out on new goals.  From what I've picked up from others and my own experiences, changing one's life is largely a matter of changing those habits one at a time, and in measures that are attainable.  So, 2023 is a year like the others in that I'd like to improve my skills in certain areas and eliminate any toxic habitual behavior.  The temptation is to try to do a lot of things differently from the beginning, but right now I'm considering how to divide up and prioritize my projects.  Should be fun...of course, it's all a continuum whether it's January or July.  I've heard that it's best to focus on one habit in an area at a time and diligently see the change through for one hundred straight days until it becomes ingrained within me.  But first I need to sit, think, and write down what I want to change...the new calendar year is an arbitrary but convenient time to assess where I've been and where I want to go...

"Aught" We to Stop Referring to Decades?

Dr. Rick, the dude on the Progressive insurance commercials who has committed his efforts to helping young adults to stop acting like their parents, has one less item to work on. The tendency for baby boomers like me to group decades together from the previous century (Fifties, Sixties, Seventies, Eighties, Nineties) came to an abrupt wall with the advent of the twenty-first.  The opening decade of this century is technically called the "Aughts", but I kind of like to use "Zeros" although nobody really uses either term...or even any name at all for this crucial span of time.  Lots of neat stuff happened in my life during this period, and significant events (like the 2000 election, 9/11, the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars, the Christmas tsunami, Katrina, Obama's election) occurred...but the Good Doctor has yet to feel any need to dissuade straying young'uns from grouping it all together as a decade.  No, young and old alike seem to have a mental block about time once the calendar shifted over from "19" to "20". You might think then that once 2010 came around than at least, at that time, folks would resume with the decade talk, calling it the beginning of the "Teens"...but nothing doing.  And now, deep into the Twenties, I had yet to hear any such reference to the times we live in, with most people I imagine thinking more of the roaring 1920s when the term does come up instead with the associations of Prohibition, silent flicks and Calvin Coolidge.  Are we truly finished with the decades talk?  I've heard references made to the "2000s", but as far as I'm concerned, that term covers every year in this century, not just the first decade...

Marking Time by Age or Calendar Year

Normally, I don't mark time by my age and birthdays...but yesterday's was a big deal because I turned 65, which seems to be a major dividing line in how my society separates people, depending on what side of that magic number they're on.  Aside from all the questions about signing up for the various Medicare plans, there has recently been a major distinction regarding vaccinations between those below or beyond the 65 year threshold.  Even before the Covid vaccine first came out several months ago, there was a special, fortified flu vaccine designed to protect the elderly...starting with those age 65 or above.  Now the booster shots for Covid are currently unavailable to the general population age 64 and below...a group to which I belonged just two days ago.  I plan to get both of these shots in the next few days, although I don't enjoy being stuck with a needle anymore than anyone else.  As for my opening comment about marking time, after I began elementary school I was primarily noting the passage of years by either my grade or the calendar year, not so much my age...although attaining 18 was significant as I was then eligible to vote.  As for the military draft, I miraculously managed to fall within the exact time period of President Nixon abolishing it and Jimmy Carter reinstituting registration...so my age didn't mean as much with that as it would were I just a few years older and concerned about being drafted for Vietnam. I now wonder whether I'm going to start thinking more of my physical age as a year marker now that I've passed the 65-year hurdle...

Presidential Primaries and Caucuses Nearly Upon Us

It's January 12, a little more than three weeks before the Iowa caucuses kick off the voters' actual participation in the 2020 presidential campaign after months of media spin, dubious debates, and endless opinion polling.  With the Republicans, incumbent Donald Trump will be the nominee although he has some opposition on different state ballots from opponents like Bill Weld, Joe Walsh and Rocky De La Fuente.  Most eyes will be on the Democratic contests, as no one really knows how the votes will go in the different states.  One thing is certain: once Iowa and the February 11 New Hampshire Primary take place, we'll have a couple more contests and a little breathing space until March 3's Super Tuesday when many, many states will be simultaneously holding their primaries...Florida's won't come until March 17 and by that time we may already have a runaway leader.  By the way, those three Republican candidates running against Trump will be on the ballot in Florida.  And Florida's primary is closed, meaning you only vote within the party you're registered for...a compelling reason to never register without a major party affiliation.  The primaries will go on to the first week in June...and then it will be the national conventions, the Democrats holding theirs July 13-16 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin while the Republicans have theirs August 24-27 in Charlotte, North Carolina.  I already know which candidate I will vote for in the Florida Primary, but if she drops out of the race by then...a distinct possibility...then I'll just have to rethink it a bit...

Alachua County Friends of the Library Sale Going On Through Wednesday

This afternoon Melissa and I paid a visit to the Alachua County Friends of the Library book sale, held every April and October at a warehouse on the 400 block of North Main Street.  It's fun to go in there and browse around...you never know what you'll find.  Melissa found several books of interest and I bought three for myself: A Separate Peace by John Knowles and two novels of Joseph Conrad: Victory and The Secret Agent...all three for a total of 75 cents!  I also picked up an interesting looking 300-piece jigsaw puzzle for a couple of bucks...this is the place to go for puzzle enthusiasts: there is a large assortment to choose from and you can't beat the prices.  This sale is a big event in Gainesville, lasting from Saturday through Wednesday...the large room houses all genres of used books and includes sections like the aforementioned jigsaw puzzles, audiobooks, DVDs, music CDs, vinyl records, old magazines, and a "collectibles" book section where the prices are a little steeper.  During the opening Saturday and Sunday of the sale this place is usually packed with people, so if you're a bit phobic about crowds you might want to avoid it...or if you're like me and simply dislike being in midst of jostling, coughing, and sniffling multitudes, you ought to limit your visit time.  Within each genre section books are displayed in no particular order...to cover it all you have to read each title, which can get tedious in a hurry...especially when people are crowding all around you, some blocking your access.  Since I already have plenty of reading material at my disposal, I just browsed around and kept my eyes open for anything of special interest...we'll see how good these books are that I purchased...

Some Comments About My Running

At the start of November I had big plans for my running, with three local long-distance races available to enter: the Tom Walker Memorial Half-Marathon on the 11th, the Cupcake Half-Marathon (or 10K if I chose that distance) on the 18th, and the Turkey Trot 10K on Thanksgiving morning, the 22nd.  I didn't run any of them, for various reasons.  I did accomplish a 14 mile practice run earlier in the month (taking very small, slow "old man" steps) and since Thanksgiving have begun a regular morning regimen of running the course I designed, up and down streets in my subdivision and the neighboring one, time constraints and weather permitting.  My basic course is 3.3 miles long...I made an agreement with myself that the bar for success is to simply cover the course, be it through running, walking, or a combination of the two.  So far I've mixed my running with a little walking at the start while during the second half I've run the rest of the way.  My goal is to progressively lengthen the course until I reach seven miles, which I want to make my daily, regular training distance.  This will put me within easy shot of any of the distances I like for future races (10K, 15K, and half-marathon).  There is a 15K event scheduled on Saturday, December 8th in SE Gainesville, but I'm not exactly enthusiastic right now about entering it...we'll see.  My main current goal is to establish a better outdoor running routine...the cooler weather couldn't have arrived at a better time...

Tuesday's List: Upcoming Running Races in Gainesville Vicinity

Usually this is the time of year in which I am the most likely to enter a running race...or two...or three.  Seeing how I live in Gainesville, Florida, and how this community has embraced running over the years, there are plenty of racing events to participate in.  The following list goes through March, showing races in the Gainesville vicinity.  Notably absent is the Run for Haven 10K that has been held around St. Patrick's Day in Tioga and which I had run the past three years...sad if it's not being held anymore.  In any event, there are plenty of races to choose from.  All races listed are in Gainesville unless otherwise specified...

2/17 Sat   FIVE POINTS OF LIFE 5K & KIDS MARATHON
2/18 Sun  FIVE POINTS OF LIFE MARATHON & HALF-MARATHON
2/24 Sat   JOEY'S WINGS 5K
3/3   Sat   RACE THE TORTOISE 5K (in High Springs)
3/3   Sat   RUN AMUCK WITH THE DUCK 5K
3/10 Sat   ARES VENGEANCE TRAIL RACE: 6H, 13.1m, 5K (in Alachua)
3/17 Sat   CLINT LACINAK/ST. PATRICK'S SHAMROCK 5K
3/17 Sat   DOVES AND SNEAKS 5K
3/24 Sat   GREAT INFLATABLE RACE: 5K novelty run
3/24 Sat   TRAIL OF PAYNE 10K
3/25 Sun  EQUAL ACCESS CLINIC NETWORK 5K

The above list probably isn't comprehensive as there are usually lower-profile races also held in the area.  I'm also holding out hope...slim as it is...that the Run for Haven 10K will take place this year...

Tuesday's List: Making a Mental Perpetual Calendar

We have always been cursed with a highly irregular calendar system, in spite of the French Revolution's attempted revision to make days of the week resonate with dates of the month...  Many years ago I devised my own mental perpetual calendar to solve this problem: I published it in my February 25, 2009 article: [link].  My system requires adding three different numbers and taking their remainder after dividing by seven to find the day of the week on which any particular date lies...

Here are my assigned numbers:

****BY DAY OF THE WEEK****
Sunday: 0
Monday: 1
Tuesday: 2
Wednesday: 3
Thursday: 4
Friday: 5
Saturday: 6

****BY YEAR****
1956,1984,2012...3 (leap years)
1957,1985,2013...4
1958,1986,2014...5
1959,1987,2015...6
1960,1988,2016...1 (leap years)
1961,1989,2017...2
1962,1990,2018...3
1963,1991,2019...4
1964,1992,2020...6 (leap years)
1965,1993,2021...0
1966,1994,2022...1
1967,1995,2023...2
1968,1996,2024...4 (leap years)
1969,1997,2025...5
1970,1998,2026...6
1971,1999,2027...0
1972,2000,2028...2 (leap years)
1973,2001,2029...3
1974,2002,2030...4
1975,2003,2031...5
1976,2004,2032...0 (leap years)
1977,2005,2033...1
1978,2006,2034...2
1979,2007,2035...3
1980,2008,2036...5 (leap years)
1981,2009,2037...6
1982,2010,2038...0
1983,2011,2039...1

***BY MONTH***
Jan (leap year):3
Jan (non-leap):4
Feb (leap year):6
Feb (non-leap):0
March: 0
April: 3
May: 5
June: 1
July: 3
August: 6
September: 2
October: 4
November: 0
December : 2

Once you memorize the above...the days of the week are easy, the years follow a 28-year cycle and have a pattern to their number...only the months' numbers may seem arbitrary. You add the assigned number of the month, the numerical date, and the assigned number of the year all together, divide by seven and take the remainder to find the day of the week.  I suggest that at the start you just memorize the numbers of a few years around 2017...say, 2015-2020...

Some examples:

a) July 11, 2017 (today's date)
       3  +  11  +   2=  16...dividing by 7 yields a remainder of 2, so it's Tuesday.

b) November 22, 1963 (the day Kennedy was assassinated):
       0  +  22  +  4 =  26....dividing by 7 yields a remainder of 5, so it was on a Friday.

c) July  4, 1976 (Bicentennial Day)
      3    +  4    +  0 =  7....dividing by 7 yields a remainder of 0, so it was on a Sunday.

d) December 25, 2017
      2  +  25  +  2 = 29....dividing by 7 yields a remainder of 1, so Christmas this year falls on Monday.

I admit it: memorizing the numbers may seem a little challenging, but you can also take it year-by-year and just remember that this year, 2017, is "2" and then you only have to know by rote the months and be able to divide mentally by 7.  That still may be a bit too much for many, and besides, nowadays folks can usually just look at their smartphones.  But it was still a fun little project of mine, and the more you work at it, the easier and quicker this system is to use.  And if you're stuck in a long line somewhere, you can practice this instead of automatically checking your messages and Facebook...