Styles of Dress

I'm up to 1993 going through pictures in the envelops that they came back in after the 35mm film was printed to 3x5 inch pictures. This may be the first  time most of these prints have been viewed during the past 25 years. Carolyn could go into some detail in explaining this one but it is the way they were dressed when they came to our house for Thanksgiving Dinner. Ben baked a Turkey and brought it which was a long standing custom. Elaine and I were a bit out our normal dress style to attend a formal dance at the Cosmopolitan Club in Lincoln as guests of Cousin Ted and Muffy.

Siblings & Spouses

Just a few days ago, I had a blog page with Mother and us 5 siblings. I mentioned that while it was certainly a "keeper", we needed one with the siblings spouses. While working through 1991 today, I came across this one that was taken at the time of Mark and Dena Sorge's Wedding. It is these kind of pictures that become very valuable to save. I went through some 450 pictures from 1991 today and realize that a relatively small number of them will be of much value  except to those whose direct ancestors are shown. I'm sure that most of those pictures had value at the time they were taken and I shouldn't cut short the pleasure that I get these days in going through them individually.

Elaine's Exercises

This is not one of the more glamorous pictures I've ever published of Elaine but indicates her very successful forward stretch before needing to step forward. Aleyah had already taken her down the hall for a 9 minute walk. She explained that this series of "standing" exercises was to strengthen leg and back muscles as well as balance. They also included standing on one leg with her eyes shut and touching a 4 inch ball with first one foot and then the other for a count of 10. Aleyah is always most complementary of Elaine's efforts which keeps her extending what she is able to do. I went out for a walk down to ride the Nu-Step for a while and listen to an elderly resident play some old Czech songs on the piano. I also spent some time in the Library looking at the old Time/Life book series that we gave the Library when we moved up here.

Inadvertant Delete

When one moves to a "Retirement Facility" like we did nearly 2 years ago, it takes a while to learn your new role. Many of the task and activities that occupied your time in previous life are no longer relevant. Partially because of your own declining physical and mental ability. It takes some time to learn new activities that are within your abilities. Time is no longer the restraint that it was during your previous life. I have spent many hours working with the thousands of pictures that we have accumulated over the 70 years of our marriage. The Objective being to pass on to future generations those items of interest to them. The project was facilitated a year ago when Jon bought us a 35mm slide scanner for use in moving images through the computer to a Flashdrive for storage. I have also used the computer scanner to process print pictures to a Flashdrive. Jon has copied most of these onto Flashdrives of his own, but I continue to develop indexes and information to perfect our product. Currently, the picture shows my listing of our 25 envelopes of printed pictures during 1990 with a few words describing contents.  This afternoon I attempted to type the listing on my Mac Book Laptop with Open Office,org Program. After about 4 lines I hit something that just deleted everything I had written, that was bad enough but I went back to the beginning and was down to about the last quarter, when it happened again. I used all the search features and found nothing of what I lost. There was no warning or indication that something bad was going to happen. Carolyn told me this evening that she indicates "save as" while working on such items. I will certainly do that as I begin again and can accept the fact that I'll do the best I can in the time I have to do it.

Mother's 90th

Here is a picture of our Mother and 5 children in 1990 taken out at the Hughes Cabin in celebration of her 90th Birthday on August 7th. The party was a major family gathering with some of Mother's and Dad's siblings and their  family members in attendance, as well as all of Mother and Dad's protege at the time. Mother died on December 6th of that year following a stroke. Dad had died on December 15th the previous year. I came across this picture this afternoon while going through many envelopes from 1990.  While there are many pictures that are being preserved for descendants of the "Florence and Tony Vrana" Family, this is one of several that should have high priority. I trust that we have one including spouses, that is even of higher priority.

A Birthday

The question is: "What does an Old Man do on his 94th Birthday?" The answer: "Very Little". During the past several months, I have scanned many pictures from 35mm slides and prints to Flash Drives for eventual distribution to family. While they are indexed to a certain level, it can always be improved upon. I'm shown here reading from the flash drive at my left and writing an improved index with my laptop on the card table. We have a wealth of family, travel etc. pictures taken from the time we were married 70 years ago until the present time. During my earlier scanning, I did a lot of sorting out of items not deemed to be of interest to next generations. As an excuse for looking at pictures, I'm improving my index and also adding a few with 2nd thoughts . Our Seward family enjoyed a Mexican Dinner this evening with Cake and Candy back at our place. An Old Man may not do very much physically but he certainly gets tremendous pleasure from all the Happy Birthdays and Best Wishes.

Birthdays Over the Years.

With my Birthday coming up tomorrow, I pulled  out my "Over-the Years"  binder this evening and reviewed the 15 pages of how I celebrated my birthdays beginning with this one when I was 5 in 1930. Mother planed a party that included cousins and neighbor kids and I was proud of my birthday cake. While we had several significant events for my birthday including last year when the 3 boys and Carolyn were all here, we didn't consider them celebrations like the 5th and 90th. Our family was here to help celebrate our 70th Wedding Anniversary earlier this month, so I'm only hoping for phone calls tomorrow. Back in 1948 before Elaine and I were married, "I cultivated corn on the south quarter, drove the truck to town to have it worked on while I went to the Dentist. Took Elaine to Lincoln to the Open Air Theater. Joe Lewis knocked out Joe Walcott." Our most popular place to celebrate birthdays and Anniversaries, has been the "Olive Garden" in Lincoln. 

Owens Family

John, Julie, Sadie and Jack came over to visit this afternoon. It's always a pleasure to have them here with cookies and toys being main attractions. Actually, John brought along the "Kit" for me to provide a saliva sample to send into Ancestry and get nationality information on me. I would be pleased to have it confirmed that I'm 50% Czech, 25% Irish, and the rest a mixture of Germanic Europe. Elaine's came out with a bit of surprise as: England, Wales & Northwestern Europe 61%, Germanic Europe 21%, Sweden 10% and Norway 8%. The Scandinavian background was a bit of a surprise. When you realize that Elaine and I are both 2nd generation Americans, it makes you realize that our Great Grandchildren are quite a mixture. In reality, at the time of Elaine's parents were marriage back in 1918, Albert was considered English and Flora German. When my folks were married in 1920, Dad was considered Czech and Mother was half Irish. The only one not 1st generation was Mother's Father who was 2nd & 3rd generation and a European mixture. We believe that when our parents were married that some may have thought of them as "mixed marriages".

Elaine's Family History.

Elaine and I did our first "set down" session out in the garage this afternoon. We set up 2 of our kitchen chairs stored out there, and began looking through files, notebooks, etc. Carolyn did most of the sorting of our many files that we had set up back at our house before we moved and rather hurriedly, many things were put in the garage. We were pleased with the condition of all the files and brought a few things back to our apartment for incorporating into other files. Much of what we went through today was Elaine's geneology work on her family. It contains many pictures, news clipping, completed forms, correspondence obituaries and some of Elaine's writing about farm life as she remembered it.We really need some guidance in developing an outline of how it should all be organized. While the forms listing names, critical dates and relationships are most important, I believe much of the rest of it might be put in story form. It already contains written information on Immigration and settlement in Missouri which would make a good beginning point.

Red Beer

I joined this table of "Red Beer" drinkers at Happy Hour in the Coffee Room at Brookdale this afternoon. This seems to be the favorite drink for a majority of residents here. I may have drank some years ago before Elaine and I were married but I have no memory of it. I remember seeing it on the Bar in Bee while stopping for ice cream as we went through town.  Mr. Fougeron, seated at my left, told of a "tongue-twister" saying that he used to determine his drinking limitation as a young man. When he was unable to recite it correctly, it was his signal to quit drinking. Mr. Gustafson is from David City and LeRoy Fiala is our Czech singer who's son owns and lives on the old Spike Shipley place.

Elaine's Ankle Problem

Janet Jeffries played her guitar and sang a lot of Country and Popular old time music at Brookdale this afternoon. She was formerly with the "Kramer Sisters" that have sung here in the past. I felt fortunate in getting away to hear her after several hours of working with Elaine on a foot problem. Carolyn came down and took her to the Clinic this morning where she saw Dr. Plasek. (Dr. Summa was out of town). His diagnose was :an inflamed tendon sheath" with "rest" and the application of ice for 15 minutes every 2-3 hours. She had therapy with Josh yesterday afternoon and didn't feel a problem until later in the day. She had sat reading and when getting up, fell forward. She had difficulty getting around all evening and I had problems getting her put to bed. She slept fairly well but unable to get to the bathroom. After getting her to breakfast and dressed, I called Carolyn who came down right away. She got her regular weekly beauty shop appointment canceled and to the Doctor. While the treatment didn't bring about any swift improvement, the ice, wrapping and soaking got it to where she was able to go to supper tonight and get around with her walker. Hopefully, it will be better tomorrow.

Red Carnation

I received the Red Carnation at the June Birthdays event yesterday. Elaine put it in a vase on the kitchen table so we will enjoy it in the days to come. The chocolate milk shake doesn't show up very well but it was excellent. I went down to get the soft ice cream this evening and Elaine got an excellent fix on it. She had a work session with Josh this afternoon; he puts her through the traces. I went to the "Know your Brain" session this PM. This was session 3 of a 4 session Chapter with film and discussion. Rosellen led the discussion on "Brain Health and the Social, Purposeful, Emotional and Spiritual Dimensions." I am the only Male with a group of 6 ladies. Rosellen is most receptive to suggestions for new programs to promote social interaction.

Entertainment at Brookdale

We have been provided with some enjoyable musical entertainment here at Brookdale recently. Last night the Kiwanis Kitones came up and sang for us. They even sang "Happy Anniversary" to Elaine and I. They are learning a few new songs but several were numbers that I had sung while with them. Jonathan Jank favored us with a solo. Jack Duensing and Phil Wurst continue with the group since it's beginning in 1971. This afternoon Lonnie Piits Played his accordion. He also brought along 3 of their 4 daughters with 2 of them playing the Piano. Lonnie thought he had finished their presentation when crowd request led to his playing the "Praha Polka" with Le Roy Fiala doing the vocal. It was the highlight of the whole performance.

Lonnie always brings family and his band stories with him. He told us today of his band playing for a Polka Dance over at Clear Lake, IA and go on to Ohio for a big Polka event. That can be contrasted with his telling of a 4 inch rain downpour over their farm in just a few hours. He told of the water rushing over the field terraces and washing our fences where corn stalks had piled up against woven wire. I talked with him later about his terraces and of his wife now working at the David City USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service office. He had remembered his Dad having had the terraces put in years before he inherited the farm. Elaine delighted in telling him that our youngest son played a button accordion and was stationed in Washington D.C. with many years with NRCS and SCS.

Excellent Meals Today

I have written favorably about the meals served here at Brookdale and noted that some are better than others. Today we hit the Jackpot of an excellent Dinner as well as Supper. In addition to what is shown for Dinner, we had a Spinach, Bacon/Cheese Salad and a Blueberry shooter (yoga) dessert. The 6 breaded Shrimp were special. For supper we had a Cinnamon Applesauce salad with a Cinnamon roll. My bowl of Chili soup had a great mixture of hamburger and kidney beans, just the way I like it. In their efforts to please everyone, Elaine's was heavy with Tomatoes and only one bean. We were offered an M & M bar for dessert. Elaine and I split a bar and took a banana for breakfast. I would rate my servings for Dinner and Supper today at a 10. We will go back into the Dining Room at 6:30 to hear the Kiwanis Kitones sing.

Father's Day Golf

With the U.S.Open underway at Pebble Beach, CA, it seemed appropriate to reflect on our visit out there in late June, 2000. Sorge's hosted a Family Reunion so we took advantage of visiting some of the attractions in the Merced area. Tim, Laura, Tony and Maggie were the only ones of our immediate family wearing green tee shirts along with Elaine and I. We hadn't looked at these pictures for some time and had mistakenly remembered tending the flag on the 18th hole. In reality, I'm not even on the picture of the 18th Green, but know I was there. Carolyn was down this afternoon for her weekly filling of our pill cases. She not only keeps the cases loaded but also gets the prescriptions filled to do so.

The boys all called this evening for Fathers Day. Verlon had been watching the golf as well and told of his having seen the course while in National Guard Training out in that area some years ago. He recognized that the course was getting smaller with the shore line erosion that continues to take place. Gary Woodland birdied the final hole to win at -13. Brook Koepka came in 2nd at -10.  Justin Rose, Chez Reavie, Xander  Schauffele and Joe Rahm all tied at -7 for 3rd.  It was good to see Tiger Woods in his red Sunday shirt and Phil Mickelson.

Garland High School Alumni Reunion

Here is part of the 53 people who attended the Garland High School Alumni Reunion Luncheon in the American Legion Hall there this noon. Wilma Beckman Gard is shown here at the podium calling the meeting to order. This may have been our lowest attendance but the last graduation class was is 1966 which was 53 years ago. I was the oldest having graduated in 1942. We had several more people congratulate Elaine and I on our 70 years of Marriage. One fellow even mentioned that he noticed that Brother Don and Gladys were catching up with us. Here is a picture of our table mates which shows some of the "younger people"  (left >right) Allen, Bob Krieser and Harvey Strizek. Bob will be President for the coming year and with his committee plan next years event. There was some discussion a couple years ago about "calling it quits" but some of the "younger" grads felt strongly that the organization should continue and end when it's time dictated-not to be stopped ahead of time. It seemed that as long as there are people willing to accept the Officer position and plan a reunion, it should continue. The 2020 Committee is: Bob Krieser, Pres.; Lodeen Vollstedt Koranda, Sec'y & Ila Bock Deinert, Treas. They are to be congratulated.

A Great Day

Elaine had a busy day of Therapy with Aleaha here this morning and Josh in the afternoon. I went through my regime of Setting and Standing exercises and also rode the Nu-Step bike for 12 minutes. Jo Ellen, Assistant Minister at the Seward United Methodist Church brought an Anniversary Card and came to visit this afternoon. Carolyn also came bye later this afternoon. We haven't counted our cards but have never received near what we have this year for our 70th Wedding Anniversary. We will be driving over to Garland tomorrow for the GHS Alumni Reunion Luncheon, It will be my 77th since graduating in 1942. It's been a great day.

Concordia History

Jerry Pfabe presented a program at Brookdale this afternoon on "The History of Concordia". We had company so I missed the first few minutes but picked up on the pre-WWI time frame. Concordia University, Nebraska is a private, coeducational university in Seward, Nebraska, established in 1894. It is affiliated with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod as one of its nine schools in the Concordia University System. Jerry broke his presentation down to segments of about 20 years. The large audience included many individuals who had been a part of the facility. My personal relationship is somewhat unique with Concordia being the first College I attended and the last. In the spring of 1949 while living at home with our folks on a farm 10 miles north of Seward, my school teacher sister needed a course to keep her qualifications current. With it being a blizzardy winter, she asked me to accompany her as we drove in for night classes. I took a 3-hour geography of South America course under Dr. Helwiege. Received credit and transferred it later to the University of Nebraska and subsequently to George Washington University where I received a BA and MBA. Years later and in retirement, a friend and I decided to take up the game of golf and signed up as Graduate Students to Audit Carl Everts' Beginning Golf  Course. We learned well and golf became a vital part of my retirement. Dr. Everts is in the Independent Living area with his wife and participated in the Dr. Pfabe presentation this afternoon.

"The Blessed Earth"

I first heard of this book last September when Ted Genoways spoke about it at the Seward Library. (The "T", first letter of his name, is covered on this book.) After having been on the "waiting list" for the past several months, my name came up and I'm on p.44. " Journalist Ted Genoways, himself the Great-Grandson of a Nebraska seed corn producer, (and a Nebraska resident) met Rick Hammond's daughter Meghan and her fiancee Kyle Galloway while covering the fight against the Keystone XL Pipeline in Nebraska. In "This Blessed Earth" following the Hammond's from harvest to harvest and witnessing the many contemporary agricultural forces working against them, Galloways explores the rapidly changing world of small traditional farming operations. Intertwining the Hammond's rich family history with their search for a sustainable farming future, Galloways creates a vivid and nuanced portrait of a radically new landscape and one family's fight to preserve their legacy and the life they love".

I have been very favorably impressed with the detail that Genoways has used in these opening pages I've read. Having been a part of USDA and myself a farmer,  it is most impressive.     

Home Health Care

Elaine continues to get physical and occupational therapy from the Home Health Care people. This lady is a nurse who checks on Elaine's health and abilities. She and her husband have a family and live here is Seward. The exercises that Elaine has had seem to have helped strengthen her to where she can get around much better inside our unit without using the walker. Things are pretty quiet around here after all the family having been here last week for our 70th Wedding Anniversary. We received a card at our supper table in the Dining room this evening and another in the morning mail. Elaine has saved all of them in a basket which we will go back through and re-read. We might even spread them out on the living room floor for a picture. We have heard from many old friends that we hadn't had contact with for some time.

Kids, Grand Kids and Great's

This is the 3rd and last of the Family pictures that were taken out at the Cabin on Saturday as we celebrated our 70th Wedding Anniversary. Elaine and I are seated in the middle holding our Great Grandchildren, Elaine has Sadie and I am holding Jack. Our four children are standing in back: (L-r) Jon, Carolyn, Verlon & Tim. Grandchildren are: (L-r) Anna, Heather, Julie, Maggie and Tony. Jon is our youngest and the father of Heather and Anna. Carolyn is our 3rd and married to Ben, Julie is Carolyn's daughter and the Mother of Sadie and Jack. Verlon, our oldest never married. Tim is our 2nd and the father of Tony and Maggie. They have all headed for home so it is pretty quiet around our place today. Carolyn was down for a few minutes before Dinner.

Family

This is a picture taken yesterday out at the cabin after our 70th Wedding Anniversary Luncheon. This is of Elaine and I, our four children and my brother Don and his wife Gladys.  Don was my Best Man at our wedding and Gladys was a Bridesmaid. He and Gladys were married one year (June 6, 1950) following ours. Carolyn is our 3rd Child, Verlon our 1st, Jon the youngest and Tim the 2nd. Though I am four and one/half years older than Don, he and I have always been very close Brothers. Our Anniversary was recognized just exactly like we had hoped for. We really appreciate the effort of all our immediate family to be there yesterday along with Don, Gladys, Kathy and Mary Beth. Carolyn and Ben did an excellent job of planning the event and doing all the work to carry it out.

Family Picture

Carolyn and Ben hosted our 70th Anniversary Luncheon this noon at the Hughes Cabin. All of our immediate family attended and are on this picture. The lady kneeling down behind Maggie and Tony is a friend of Maggie's from Atlanta. My brother Don and wife Gladys were driven up by their daughters, Kathy and Mary Beth. We took many pictures which included every one there but this was to be our immediate family. Elaine and I are seated in the middle holding our Great-Grandchildren, Sadie and Jack. Their mother is setting next to Jack and I and John is standing behind Julie.  Anna and Heather are seated next to Julie with their parents, Jon and Mary directly behind them. Ben and Carolyn are standing in the back row behind Elaine and I. Verlon is next to Carolyn. Tim and Laura are standing at the right end in front of their Maggie and Tony who are seated. All but Verlon will be leaving early tomorrow morning so we have enjoyed having them back up to Brookdale this evening to say our Good-bye's

Celebration Continues

Sons Verlon and Tim along with Grandson Tony had Dinner with us this noon at Brookdale. We ate in the private Dining Room. We had Fish or Chicken, and my fish was very good. Some of us participated in a "Pie Social" this afternoon for any resident that completed a questioneer on Brookdale treatment. We had filled out the item so Jon and I attended. After a little while, I suggested to Jon that he get his Mandolin and sing some Civil War songs. He did and it went over pretty well, they wanted more as we were leaving. Our Kids are meeting with their Vrana Cousins from Nebraska for supper tonight at Lazlo's in Lincoln tonight. We got a call from Lois who lives in Syracuse, NE this evening. She and Elaine have been longtime friends. We also continue to receive Anniversary Cards.

All Our Immediate Family Here

Jon, Mary, Anna picked Heather up at the Omaha airport and got into Seward before 9:00pm last evening. Jon brought along his Gibson Mandolin and played us some Civil War Music this afternoon. He has also started copying my Flash Drives of scanned family pictures and the listings of them. They are staying at one of the Motels south of town. Tim and Laura were able to pick up Maggie and Hanna from the Lincoln Airport last evening and went on to Omaha where Tony was able to fly in late. It was after midnight by the time they all got into the Liberty House here in downtown Seward. The 3-Boys and I met with Ken Morgan our Tax Consultant at 10:00am this morning. We got some good ideas of things we may do to facilitate the transfer of our Estate Assets. With all the family in town, Elaine got to the Beauty Shop at 1:00pm and home in time for a Therapy session with Aleaha. She is shown here doing a "standing" exercise.

Wedding Anniversary Day

Verlon and Tim ate dinner with Elaine and I here at Brookdale this noon. We were fortunate that it was a very good meal. We continue to have very good conversations with all the folks that are here. Carolyn and Ben had us up to their house this evening for dessert. We were also joined by John, Julie and the kids. By now Tim's are on their way to the Lincoln Airport to pickup Maggie and her friend Hanna. Tony was late in flying from Raleigh to Atlanta where he was going to join the girls and instead is flying to Omaha where Tim's will pick him up later to- night. Jon's are driving out from the DC area and will pick up Heather in Omaha flying in from Florida. It would be a coincidence if Tony and Heather may be on the same flight but I don't think they are. Our Anniversary Day has been very special. Jan brought us a beautiful bouquet of home grown roses and a card at noon. Jan and Chuck

have grown roses for years and it has become a tradition for them to bring us some for our Anniversary. We lived within a couple blocks of each other until our coming up to Brookdale. Jack found the Angle food cake and Strawberries very tasty as we had dessert at Hughes this evening. We have received numerous cards; enjoy and appreciate every one of them.

Family Arriving

Tim and Laura got in yesterday and picked Verlon up from the Lincoln Airport this afternoon. We are getting in a lot of visiting which has extended into this evening. Jon's will get in tomorrow and we plan for all of our immediate family to get-to-gather tomorrow evening, on the actual day of our 70th Wedding Anniversary.  Another small event is planned for Saturday noon. We have received many cards and congratulations as the result of Carolyn putting information on our 70th Wedding Anniversary in the Celebrate Section of the Sunday Lincoln Journal Star. As near as we know, we are the first of the Ancestors in Elaine's family or in mine, to have reached this level of Wedding Anniversaries.

Interesting Day

Josh was here this pm to work with Elaine on some exercises. He even took her out to walk down the hall. She used her walker and he observed her breathing and balance. Carolyn took us to a Dr. Summa followup visit this morning and got a good report. I  took advantage of showing him my record of blood pressure testing daily over the past couple weeks and asked about the need for my old BP medication. It had been discontinued by Dr.'s at Bryan. After seeing the BP record of out testing, he agreed that there was no need of further medication. 

This is a picture of the entree of our supper meal here at Brookdale this evening. We did have a cottage cheese salad with some peach slices on top and an ice cream bar for dessert. In all fairness I need to say that they worked most of the day cleaning kitchen equipment. Much of it was done outside our Patio area with steam hoses etc. We were furnished sack lunches at noon which was adequate because of the kitchen cleaning but this tonight was one of the worst meals we have ever been provided. It may have been prepared yesterday because of the dryness of all components. We also had to ask 3 times to get hot coffee. By-and-large, we are very satisfied with the meals served and the service provided. We are willing to forgive an occasional bad meals but think they could cook up a good batch of soup that would satisfy most of us old people.

70th Anniversary

Here is a clipping from Today's Lincoln Journal Star Newspaper. Our Daughter Carolyn entered it in the Celebrate section of the paper. We received several responses to it already including guests with a Card and Rubarb Pie. Tim and Laura flew into the Lincoln Airport this afternoon, rented a car, ate with the Owens family in Fallbrook, and drove on out to visit with us this evening. They are staying at the Liberty House and will be joined their with Tony, Maggie and her friend Hannah, on Wednesday. We covered a lot of territory in our visiting this evening. Verlon is scheduled to fly into Lincoln from Richmond, VA on Tuesday. Jon, Mary and Anna are driving out from the Washington, DC area and will pick of Heather at the Omaha Airport on Wednesday. She will be flying up from Florida. So, all of our immediate family will be here for the time of the 70th Anniversary on the 5th of June.

Highlights

This was a quiet day on the "Home Front". Carolyn was over early and picked up a list of supplies that she picked up down at Walmart. When she delivered them I was well into my morning nap. I did spend quite a bit of time on reading my Journal and writing the Highlights. I am pretty liberal in my selections and have something from about 90% of the Journal pages. It provides a good listing of activities and names of people, places and things, involved in our lives. It is the first place we look when trying to remember when something happened. Once we get the date we can go to the Journal for detail. Other years, this was something that we did after the end of the year but I'm down to April of this year and will try to write as we go along. With all our medical activities it seems well to get them listed. Plus it gives me a feeling of doing something productive.