Defragging my internal hard drive

Defraggng my internal hard drive
Yes, I know that it is impossible to defragment one’s mind. I look at this concept as a way to clear odd and now irrelevant ideas from my mind. I do this periodically; I think it helps me.

I was opening some mail after I returned home from school yesterday. I had let the mail pile up. I had a letter from an insurance company that threatened to stop sending me unsolicited and unwanted mail unless I responded immediately to their final letter. The only thought that crossed my mind as I tore the unopened letter apart was that the insurance company keeps its promise and doesn’t write me anymore.

The blog had a visitor from Chunky, Mississippi this past week. I was struck by the potential of the humor that might occur if you lived in Chunky. What if you were somewhat overweight and lives there?

For the record, I am slowing losing weight. I weighed 184.5 pounds on Friday morning after my shower. It has been easy for me to lose some weight; I eat smaller portions and I don’t consume as much sweets with their empty calories as I once used to do.

I stopped at Giuliano’s on my way home from school yesterday; Erica took my order for a large sandwich and a chocolate brownie. At one time in my life, I would have consumed the entire sandwich in one meal; now, I will take four meals to finish it off.

For the last month or so, I have been eating Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine dinners. I won’t argue the fact the dinners are frozen and microwavable and probably do not taste as well as a freshly prepared meal would taste. They are relatively low in calories so that I can get out of dinner with about 600 to 700 calories; I usually have a small salad with the main meal.

Last week, the blog had 180 visitors including one from Chunky, Mississippi, who viewed 214 unique pages. I do appreciate all of you who stop by the blog.

One of my former students sent me an email this week asking for help in how to properly cite a United States Supreme Court decision on a paper that she was writing. I will admit that I had to look the proper method up in my Publication Guide because Supreme Court cases do not usually appear in business school dissertations. I sent her the answer about two hours after I received her request. She thanked me when she saw me at school.

It does feel nice to be helpful and appreciated.

My drive to school on Saturday was epic. The roads were almost empty of slow moving traffic; that is such a joy to be able to drive at full speed. The five or six days of ran washed all of the oil and other stuff off of the road surface so the traction was great; I took some turns faster than I normally would have and the Prelude held its grip of the road perfectly. Granted, I was driving east into the rising sun. The sky was clear and close to cloudless so I was very glad to have my Bausch & Lomb sunglasses on yesterday.


I took this photo of our local mountains this morning. It is not the best photo of snowy mountains because my camera is an older model and the mountains are about forty or fifty miles away. The series of rainstorms probably dumped five or six inches of rain on the area and left several feet of snow in the mountains. It was a good start at ending the drought that has hit Southern California.

I don’t think I am going to be doing in the next week or so because of the scheduled surgery and recovery. I will be back when I feel better.


Be well and stay happy.

Earthquakes, Fires, Floods, Mudslides, Drought and now Tornados

Earthquakes, Fires, Floods, Mudslides, Drought, and now Tornados
I thought I had lived through all that Mother Nature could toss at Southern California. I have been here for every major earthquake since 1952. I thought I had seen it all.

Yesterday, a tornado or tornados struck the Orange County coast; none were near Doug. Compared to tornados that strike our Midwest, our tornado was a minor one; an overturned SUV, some roofs blown off, some boats blown out of the water, and some damage to homes. I don’t think there was any damage to trailers or mobile homes.

Of course, there was thunder and lightning. There was what seemed to be a large strike that was about two miles from the building.

This was all from the weakest of the three storms that are supposed to roll across Southern California for the next few days.

It is raining again. I heard some thunder but I think the lightning strike was fairly far away because I didn’t see any light flash.

Driving to class was a nightmare yesterday because a tractor trailer rig crashed and blocked four lanes on the freeway at the beginning of the afternoon commute. There was only one lane open and traffic was rapidly backing up. I exited the freeway as soon as I could and took alternate routes to get around the accident.

That was no fun at all.

I expect the drive to school tonight will be worse. How much worse is open to question. I will be leaving on the early side for school though.

On the plus side, my third hospital book arrived yesterday so I am set for reading while I am recovering.


Be well and stay happy.

Writing in the Rain

Writing in the rain
I am not actually writing in the rain. That would be silly for so many reasons. First, I would probably develop a case of pneumonia and that would cause my surgery to be put off for some undetermined time. Second, the new Lenovo T500 laptop would get soaked. I know that water and electronic equipment do not play well together.

I ducked out of the flat this morning to run a few errands. Rain began again as I was out. I heard some thunder as I went into my building at the end of the trip.

I am not looking forward to the drive to school tonight. It will be long and on the messy side. Southern California drivers, as a rule, do not drive well in adverse conditions like wet pavements.

Yesterday and today are shaping up as days when former students, co-workers and current students are phoning or emailing me.

Two current students emailed me last night about getting some extra tutoring in one of my Project Management courses. This is not the best time for tutoring since I am going into the hospital on the 27th for surgery. I gave them a couple of days when I will be at school.

One of my former students asked me how to properly cite a United States Supreme Court decision for a paper she was writing. This was relatively easy to help her.

Then, I had a former co-worker call me and ask for help on how to prepare a motion for his credit union’s board of directors. It seems the examiners would like to see more detail in the reports and minutes. I gave him a couple of solutions for the board of directors’ reports that should work for him and a suggestion on how to increase his income without taking on any undue risk or asset liability management problems from the examiners.

ethel’s Chocolates sent me an email saying the candy I had ordered for Molly, Natalie, and Rachel will be delivered on Thursday. That should make them happy.


Be well and stay happy.

My hands seem to be better

My hands seem to be better
I was looking at my hands this morning while I waited for the toaster to brown the muffins inside of it. Based on a quick once over, non-professional look, they seem to be better.

Of course, Natalie would be able to tell me more accurately; she is studying to become an esthetician. Natalie told me that an esthetician works with a person on the condition of their skin and how to improve it.

She could probably do a term paper on my hands.

The current widely recommended H1N1 influenza treatment plan of washing your hands regularly in hot, soapy water plays havoc with my skin. The washing seems to accentuate the drying and cracking processes.

By my count, I have been off of Xeloda now for three weeks.

Excellent.

I still have my symptoms of peripheral neuropathy in my toes and heels. It feels like I am walking with pads on my toes and heels. The feeling seems to be going away. The peripheral neuropathy began two years ago when I was taking a combination of Xeloda and Oxaliplatin for my cancer drug therapy.

I did my full tour of duty, eight cycles, with the Oxaliplatin and I can truly say that I do not miss the drug. I am extremely happy that I was able to endure the treatment because it helped kill off the cancer cells. One of its most pronounced side affects is an extreme sensitivity to cold; obviously taking it in even what passes for Winter in Southern California was no fun for me. I looked silly driving the Prelude in April with heavy fur lined leather gloves.

Getting ready for the hospital
I spent part of the weekend putting things in order for the hospital stay. I finished up most of my lesson plans and I only have one set of lecture notes to prepare. Then, I need to photocopy the material and put everything in envelops for the substitutes.

I have resisted the temptation to read one of my new books. I started to read Lords of the Sea before I knew that I was scheduled for surgery.

Planning ahead, I ordered the candy for St. Valentine’s Day. I expect that it will be delivered before February 14th but I do not believe anyone will be terrible upset about an early delivery.


Be well and stay happy.

Getting ready for the Hospital

Getting ready for the Hospital
I have been busy getting ready for my hospital stay. I have been practicing sleeping on hard or lightly padded surfaces, think hospital beds. I have also focused on the dinning pleasures of broth and jello.

I have not had much success with those ideas. I keep returning to thoughts of much more pleasurable dining experiences like at the L. A. Food Show, the Original Tommy’s Hamburgers, Fatburger, and Morton’s The Steakhouse.

One of my better plans has been to stock up on good books to read. I have two books on hand now and a third should arrive the week before my surgery. Both of the books are histories and were written by academics. I have never been able to finish one of these types of book in a day like I can with a good Clive Cussler or Tom Clancy novel

Excellent; slow reading takes up a lot of time.

One book is about the birth of the Athenian navy and the rise of democracy in ancient Greece. The other book is an alternative view of the fall of the Roman Empire.

The books will help me kill time while I am in the hospital when Doug is not there to visit me. Doug is planning to stay up at my flat while I am in the hospital. This will make it is easy for him to see me and also spend some time with his girl friend.

Perfectomundo.

Everyone is happy.

I wonder if I will be visited by any of the Oncology Clinic nurses.

I guess that I will have to wait and see what develops.


Be well and stay happy.