A just machine to make big decisions Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision 

Fagen was being cynical but my experience last night with Gemini, Google’s LLM, has given me more than a little hope for the positive impact of AI on our well being.

Gemini reacted to a series of questions with wisdom and kindness. Imagine. Someone has programmed it to be a noble soul. Having been in the software development business for decades, I never saw this in other developers, so it’s a mystery where it comes from.

Gemini tells me that it is designed to be helpful, empathetic, and objective.

“As an AI, I do not have personal feelings, bad days, or social fatigue. I process information logically and respond based on communication guidelines that prioritize empathy and clarity.”

May it live long and prosper.

I visited the food pantry today and picked up a DVD on reserve at the library.

Worked on an MRS bug that took forever to figure out. SQL doesn’t like to return results with spaces. Who knew?

It was a hot one, 90 degrees and humid. Ron, wearing jeans, was out playing with Jett. Nuts.

Sandwiches for lunch.

We had a massive thunderstorm at night, biggest we’ve experienced since moving here. Watched the sky light up from our bedroom. Jett slept through it all.

We schlepped to Albany, got there early and luckily the next customer was about 20 minutes late. So Ron was done just as the late customer walked in the door.

My navigation was fine on the way there but I totally blew it on the way home. Tried to find alternate routes to avoid traffic and could have endangered us in the process: we kept getting warnings about dangerous thunderstorms expected before we got home. When we saw a sign pointing to Schaghticoke, I knew we were pretty far afield.

We did find some pretty roads and a gorgeous reservoir about 35 minutes from the house. I think it was the Tomhannock Reservoir. Wouldn’t mind going back.

The thunderstorm turned out to be a short rain and it started after we got home. We’d had a delicious frozen pizza for lunch; I made a green salad for supper that was surprisingly good.

I got an email from MRS shortly before we left for Albany. They’d asked an AI program to analyze IIS logs to diagnose site interruptions that have been troubling them for several weeks.

The program found a bug that we should have caught in testing. I think I can fix it in the database so won’t need to recompile. The other issues were in my view trivial, missing image and style sheet files. Not the kind of thing that crashes a site.

I planted the Salvia to complete the mini Moonlight Garden. Will post photos when the big lilies bloom. We have quite a few buds.

We also have tiny tomatoes on one set of plants on the deck.

Did some weeding in the new daylily area. Also cut back more of the ferns and pruned the orange rose that Ron bought, my favorite.

Made an appointment for Ron to have his Beltone hearing test and adjustments when we pick up his hearing aids tomorrow afternoon.

It seems the messages from the person who was going to sell me a used hedge trimmer have disappeared.

Picked up the Remedy computer so I can get a list of categories and items for the barcode project. Fine conversation with Andi; she’d closed the Hall for the afternoon because of power issues.

Picked up a pre-roll at the local recreational cannabis dispensary. They think it’s similar to Animal Blue but looks stronger. Caution was advised.

Happy with the Supreme Court’s ruling on mail-in ballots. Coney Barrett is logical, Alito is an eighteenth century throwback. But we knew that.

Did two sets of exercises, chair yoga and Tai Chi Walking. I’ve been doing the latter for a month.

Having a spouse with dementia and poor hearing… is like raking water uphill.

Ron has been diagnosed by his new neurologist with early onset Alzheimer’s. He gave him a med that treats that disease.

Our/my gardens are doing well. The unexpected result is that the more I plant to copy the old gardens, the more I’m nostalgic I am for the old gardens.

Got the artwork we/I purchased six weeks ago framed and hung, finally. They look great.

Looks like it rained last night.

Since the lilies seem to be happy here, I’m thinking about adding white plants to make a moonlight garden. So I stopped at Mt. Williams Garden Center for more.

Swept the deck. Did a shop. Helped Ron bag yard trimmings. He barely made it to the transfer station, got yelled at by the usually laid back attendant, ulp.

Ron got the propane tank for the grill refilled. The igniter doesn’t work but I got it lit with a match and made burgers and corn for supper.

Second day of chair yoga and eight or so days of Tai Chi exercises. The chair yoga video warned that I’d feel it today and boy have I ever! Upper arms are killing me.

Supposed to be a very hot week. Not good.

Rained last night. Fertilized the deck vegetables with fish fertilizer. Jett is intrigued and keeps trying to lick or eat it.

Called again for a copy of script with eye measurements so I can have my lenses replaced. No response so went to the office. The optician left early but one of the administrative staff helped me, so I was able to UPS the EyeConic glasses and the revised script back to Texas. Wearing the old glasses now which aren’t that bad.

Ron took the lawn mower to Aubuchon.

I picked up treats at Great Falls. Bought gorgeous geraniums for a song at Mt. Williams greenhouse’s annual Red White and Blue sale.

Beltone called too late to get Ron’s hearing aids today but we made arrangements for Monday at Clifton Park.

Rain this afternoon around 5. We’d just finished wine and cheese on the deck.

Brought Jett with us to drop off redeemables, have an outdoor lunch at the Food Project and pick up Ron’s new med at Walmart.

Later we attended the Harriman-and-West Airport open house. Good cake and very attractive building with fireplaces in at least three rooms. Wonder if they’d let us visit in the Winter?

Afterwards we did a grocery shop for coffee and ended up spending over $65 for “used” vegetables, bananas, chips, coffee, pizza, cheese, sour cream, whipped topping and biscuits, the latter two for the strawberries I got at the Farmer’s Market.

Salad for supper.

This afternoon we met with Ron’s new neurologist, the head of the department at BMC. We had a long conversation and booked a follow-on appointment in three months.

I rather like this doc. He moved here from Boston to head the practice at BMC and has taken a shine to Pittsfield. His reviews at Tufts Medical are outstanding.

Earlier, Jett pulled and chewed the living room rug and vomited his breakfast.

In the morning, I met with the optician at our eye doctor’s office. She charged me for adjusting my glasses, which are better but still a bit off. The people at Eyeconic will replace the lenses but need a prescription with the pd and Seg height. The doctor’s office will email a new script to me, which is appreciated!

Still going through the paperwork pile which is getting smaller.

Ordered transfer station stickers for the truck and the Corolla.