< Notes...

The epic saga that started over a month ago has finally concluded, and Martin is now in possession of his The New York Times’ “The Deluxe Birthday Edition” book. That post has seeing more of the world than all of us combined. 😅

The saga that we started remains ongoing—as in, not finished yet—as you can see below (last status at the top). First, and last time, we send a post to the Netherlands. If this happens with every international post, I truly pity the Dutch.

Today’s our dear friend Martin birthday! 🎂🎁🥳 We have been friends for almost two thirds of my life. Our family is forever grateful to him and for him, seventy times seven. May you celebrate many more birthdays, Martin, in good health, and peace! ❤️

Just sent Martin his birthday gift to the Netherlands, for which we paid $85.20 on postage. Not too bad. The real surprise, though, came to be the extra fee he will need to pay upon delivery: $40. When I asked why, and if I could pay for it in advance here, I was told that it was Netherlands-specific charge, and that there was nothing I could do about it. Ugh, TIL.

A very dear friend of mine is turning 70. I have known him for more than half of his life and, yet, I don’t know what to get him on his birthday. I am at a loss! See, he is one of those for whom shopping is very difficult. He is not that into technology. He doesn’t use Apple products. He doesn’t wear watches, nor any kind of jewelry. Ugh! So hard! I only have two months—barely!—to choose, shop, and ship.

After sharing with a friend my step count for the last two weeks, and telling him that “the heat here has been excruciatingly punishing”, and because of it my daily step count has decreased to a laughable number, and that I was trying to compensate by working standing up for hours to no end, but still felt guilty about it, he replied:

“It’s a bit slack but with the heat, what can you do!?”

😂 Isn’t he the best friend?

“IKIGAI - The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life”, reads the cover of this book. Can it be called a secret, when it’s written in a book? I figure it’s a secret, if you don’t buy the book. Lucky for me, Martin gifted me this one.

Here I go, to live a “long and happy life!” Well, at least to read about it. One must start somewhere, right?

The first one who told me about the 10,000 steps per day was my friend Martin. He has, almost religiously, walked that amount per day ever since I met him, sometime around 1986. It seems he was right all along:

“The first company that produced pedometers came up with the 10,000-step benchmark without any data, as that was considered an auspicious number,” says Lieberman. “Since then, plenty of studies have shown that steps a day is a reasonable way of measuring physical activity. As you increase your step count, you reap increased benefits, but it tails off between about 8,000 and 10,000.”

Hutchinson agrees: “There’s nothing magic about 10,000 steps a day, but it is pretty good advice. In general, the best target is probably ‘a little more’ than what you’re currently doing.”

➝ Via Kottke.