Phone calls

Hello gentle readers.

I usually don't get many phone calls at work. That's OK with me; I work in a product development type of job so being alone allows me to think things through. Today was a day for phone calls. I was nice to have someone different beyond the office staffers to speak to.

One of the best calls was from a former student.

[A long time ago, back when I had dark hair and more of it, I was a part time community college instructor in banking and finance. Some of my students have maintained contact with me and some have not.]

As usual, the former student had a question about lending. She likes to call me because I don't make her feel silly for not knowing the answer. She wanted to get ready to meet some potential new business clients for her bank. The former student works in loan administration and has her fingerprints on almost all of her banks loans, sort of like a Ms Yes or a Ms No.

My former student wanted to know what sort of a business discounts accounts receivable?

How many of you know the answer to the question?

The simple answer is factoring.

I told her that she should avoid this business like it was a dark chocolate cake and when you are trying to fit into the new dress. It is all bad and nothing good about it. I explained why her bank should avoid this line of business; her bank is too small for the activity.

When we finished talking, she said she was going to go kill or maybe skin alive one of her bank's business development officers. I feel sorry for the business development officer but stupid is as stupid does and if you don't think things through clearly at first, you sort of deserve the consequences.

I felt good that I had spread a little knowledge and helped a friend out.

I am not saying that factoring is wrong or a bad business activity. I once worked for a factor back when I had a full head of dark brown hair. In her situation, her bank was too small to get involved since supervising a factoring credit requires a lot of time and talent.

I am beginning to enjoy the Spring Break traffic light drives; two days in a row with only an hour to get home after work. That is sweet.

I get a cup of coffee every morning from my local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. The two barristas that are, or I should say were, there know what I drank and often had it ready for me because they could see me walking towards the store.

Now, Lindsey and Luis are gone but not forgotten by me anyway. I suppose I will get used to the new crew in time. Perhaps, it is better that I not become attached to the barristas since I know they will change regularly.

The weekly sitemeter report came today. After the big jump in readership following a link in an Atlantic Coast Conference basketball blog, readership has returned to the normal levels. When I looked at the lower level, I felt like I was Henry V, giving his monologue before the Battle of Agincourt.

"You few, you happy few, you band of blog readers."

Surprised you. How bankers do you know who can quote Shakespeare?

I am a man of many talents and skills and a master of very few.

Be well and stay happy you happy band of blog readers.

no topic tonight

Good evening gentle readers.

I was going to think about a topic on the drive home tonight. But, with traffic moving along briskly and steady, I had to concentrate on my driving. I got home in just over an hour with a stop along the way to pick up my shirts from the laundry.

The Younger [and only] Brother called me after he read the blog about our high school classmates that are no longer with us. It was a sort of sober call for part of the time. Then, we talked about sports. My college made it into the Sweet 16 while his old school watched the conference playoffs from the comfort of Heritage Hall.

If you live in Los Angeles, you will understand. If you don't live in Los Angeles, please don't move here. We have more than enough people. If you have a really strong urge go out West, then I suggest you consider either Montana or Wyoming. Those states have lots of room for you Easterners.

My afternoon was on the down side for a moment or two. One of my co-workers came into my office and did a "life sucks" rant on my parade. I can understand the co-worker's frustration with work and life. I tried to be cheerful and agreed with most of the rant. I did provide a rationality test that seemed to be positive.

I agreed with my co-worker that the thought process used was valid. But, sometimes, the corporation is not always a rational creature. I think I helped out a bit.

I was reading in the Los Angeles Times [our local newspaper] about the possibility of having a NFL team in Los Angeles in a couple of years. That was such a depressing story for me.

What good would aNFL team for me?
Short answer is absolutely, positively, nothing at all.

We currently get four, count 'em, four free NFL games every Sunday, rain or shine. Unfortunately, I can only watch three of the games since two are broadcast at the same time. Of course, I do have to get out of bed on Sunday to watch the games so that is a minimal sacrifice of some sort I suppose.

I have been to only one NFL game in Los Angeles since 1969 when I got out of the United States Navy so there was no real loss when the Rams and Raiders left town. I did go to maybe 20 semi-NFL games when I went to the USC football games with Preppie. This was back before The Princess came along and changed everything.

Personally, I don't think the NFL will return to Los Angeles anytime soon. The really BIG reason is the public won't pay for a new stadium for the team. The voters won't approve a tax hike to pay for a stadium after they voted down one for more police and fire services.

The other reason is we have two good college teams here as it is and they give you a much better experience without charging you a small fortune to go to the games. Actually, we have one great college team and one average college team that dreams of greatness.

I had thought about writing and working on my dissertation tonight. But, I feel tired and will write over the weekend.

Looks like I have time for some foolish television viewing or recreational reading before I crawl off to bed.

Be well and stay happy.

Monday Monday

Monday Monday, gentle readers; I so did not want to get out of bed this morning. I was ready to just roll over and pack it in for the day. But being the good corporate centurion that I am, I hauled my sorry butt out of bed and went to work.

On the plus side, it is Spring Break here for the week so the traffic was down considerably and that made the drive better. Of course, the roads still had more than there reasonable quotas of living examples for why the gene pool could use some chlorine every once in a while. The drive home tonight was only an hour and that was slick.

I tried something healthy for dinner tonight after yesterday's pig out at Albertacos. I had a broiled swordfish steak with Italian bread crumb crust on oven dried tomatoes and a lettuce and tomato salad. The meal was great but the tomatoes took an hour and fifteen minutes in the oven. I started cooking dinner at 6:00 PM or thereabouts and say down for dinner at 7:40 PM. I was definitely hungry.

I went through my mail after dinner tonight; actually, I read some of it while I was waiting on the tomatoes. My old college fraternity is going to celebrate the fraternity's founding in April. I think I will be able to go and that should be a good time for me.

My high school alumni association sent me the annual newsletter and pitch to renew my membership. I'm not sure why I am a member; my brother isn't a member as far as I recall. There were a bunch of articles that held no interest for me; my class did not have an article.

The only section that held my interest was the Obituaries. I am seeing more and more people that I know on it. I don't think of myself as being old but you can make a point that 60 is certainly not very young anymore. What does trouble me is there are a bunch of people younger than me on the list.

Oh well, there's nothing I can do about aging is there now.

The big event at work today was seeing where everyone stood in the basketball pool. It looks like most of the players got blown out by favoring Duke, Kentucky, and Wake Forest. Those were all good calls but those calls ended up on the short end of the scoreboard when the final buzzer went off. It looks like one of the administrative assistants is going to go home with the cash from the pool now.

I think I will go off and ponder who to invite to go to the fraternity party in Salt Lake City and then call my brother to talk about our friends on the Obit list. Not the best way to end the day.

Be well and stay happy.

I'm Over The Loss Now

I'm Over The Loss Now

Yes, gentle readers, I am over Utah's loss [again] to Kentucky in the Round of 16.

They played very well against a better team with a deeper bench. The Utes have a great deal to be proud of. They had a great season with a new coach [Ray Giacoletti] from a small school and a small basketball program [Eastern Washington State is not a powerhouse by most measures] and beat BYU twice.

And, they are absolutely better than the other 284 NCAA Division 1 teams that watched the Round of 16 from the comfort of their campus dorm rooms and apartments. That fact puts Utah in the Top 5% of the schools.

I would hope the national television exposure will help with recruiting. Lord knows, Utah needs some help; no, make that a whole bunch of help. I was drifting through the Fox Sports web site yesterday and checked to see if Utah picked up commitments from any of the big name high school seniors.

You guessed it; not a one signed on with the Utes.

Maybe it is the snow or the fact that Salt Lake City is still heavily influenced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [Mormons]. Maybe no basketball players are skiiers. If you play basketball and like to ski, then Utah is the perfect place to go to school. Olympic class slopes are less than an hour's drive from campus.

The Princess went to Utah like I did and she grew up in the O. C. with warm sunny days and sandy beaches where snow only appeared on television. She liked it so much she stayed there after graduation and worked until she went on to MBA school at South Carolina.

South Carolina only made it to the NIT this year in basketball and they football team watched the really good bowl games from home again this year. Maybe Steve Spurrier will turn around the Gamecocks football program.

Now that basketball season is over, how much longer until the NFL season starts? I think it is about five, six months or so. I think I can wait that long.

Anyway.

I was looking out of my office window this past week. Look, we all look out of our office windows from time to time. You know it; I know it, deal with it.

There is a building adjacent to the one I work in. It is undergoing a complete renovation. It probably needs it because it is maybe 40 years old, give or take a couple of years. The workers gutted the top floor and tossed all of the debris out of the windows. I had to get used to the thuds from the no longer needed doors crashing on the parking lot pavement.

This week, the workers started on the third floor. This is not surprising since it was the next floor going towards the basement. I was surprised and disappointed and maybe a little saddened when the workers took sledge hammers and punched through the exterior wall so they would be able to dump more debris on the parking lot.

In doing so, the workers destroyed mosaic tile panels below each of the punched out windows. The building, you see, has a very unique band of abstract mosaic tile that surrounds the third floor. I know the workers will never be able to match what was there before. I think this is the only building inLos Angeles with the tile band. I may be wrong on this count.

I would have thought they could have cut the panel out whole and saved the bulk of it. Granted the section where the saw went would have been lost but that would have been a single vertical row of the small tiles and not that significant in the grand scheme of things. The lost tiles could have been covered with new moulding and hardly anyone would be able to notice the changes.

Life goes on and so do I.

I did get to watch my Korean historical drama series last night. It was Episode 44 of The Immortal Yi Soon-Shin. The show takes place in the late 16th century. You have to be Korean or a student of Asian history to appreciate the series. For some reason, I am fascinated by the show and I am not Korean nor was I an Asian History major in college.

The show is sorting of reaching a major plot point. The Japanese are getting ready to launch an invasion of Korea. This would have been just before the rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate that ruled Japan for close to 250 years. The writers have portrayed the Japanese as evil, blood thirsty, power mad, and generally not very nice. Naturally, the Koreans are shown as being very virtuous and honorable.

I wonder if the writers had any official guidance from any officials in a Korean ministry since the show comes close to being anti-Japanese propaganda. I suppose the Koreans have every reason to not like the Japanese after thirty five years of military occupation that ended in 1945.

Moving along to other accomplishments.

I finished the book the Girl Friend gave me ; all 782 pages of it. The ending left me sort of at loose ends. It was not as neat and tidy as I would have preferred.

Later on today, I going to see The Big Guy and then we will make a journey to Albertacos for our lunch. Most everyone I know has a favorite place to go for Mexican style food. Albertacos is our favorite place. I don't get to go there as often as we did in the past since The Big Guy is off doing student film crew work on the weekends and driving on his own.

Albertacos is a close to 60 mile drive, one way. Mid-range unleaded is at $2.59 at my local station so I am not driving there for a munchie rush satisfaction.

And so gentle readers, I need to get going because I places to go and things to do yet this day. [Anticipatory burp.]

Be well and stay happy.

I was going to toss out a nifty post tonight

Hello gentle readers.

I was going to toss out a nifty posting tonight. I was almost finished when I went to click on the spell check function. Internet Explorer froze. Since there is no save or recovery function in blogland, I lost my posting.

I was beside myself with anger. It was a really good posting too.

So, what should I do now?

I will go follow my doctor's instructions to have one alcoholic drink a day. I think I may have several days worth of treatments instead.

Be well and stay happy.

Open Letter to Oliver Stone

Dear Oliver,

I know you love a great conspiracy better than almost anyone else; you've made movies about them.

Here's a conspiracy that just calls out loudly for a movie.

Consider the notorious East Coast bias in college basketball. It seems that the decks are always stacked against teams from the West. It has been impossible for a West Coast team to be well in the NCAA March Madness for years. The last successful West Coast team was the UCLA Bruins under Coach John Wooden.

Every year, it seems that Utah gets put in the same bracket as Kentucky and then Utah loses to Kentucky. It just isn't right or fair. Utah deserves a shot in a bracket without Kentucky for a change.

The movie concept has all of the key elements you would need for a great blockbuster film.

It has larger than and stranger than fiction characters; Bobby Knight of Texas Tech, Rick Majerus from Utah who never met a meal he didn't like, and Coach K. from Duke are three that pop into my mind. I'm sure your staff can find dozens more zanies to populate a film.

It seems ripe for Hollywood cameos. Have the finals in L. A. at Staples Center and you can fill the screen with cameos from players like Jack Nicholson.

Speaking of zany characters, have you consider those crazy people who dress up like school mascots? Some may be close to certifiable. They are always good for the stock fight between mascots as the game goes on.

Don't forget the hot chicks. There will be plenty of young girls in short skirts bouncing around as cheerleaders. That will draw the teenage males into the cinema for sure and certain.

Music is no problem Oliver. All you need to do is leave a microphone open and pick up the school bands. Sure they are loud and tend to play the same songs over and over again; but, hey, that's no different than most popular radio now.

The film practically writes itself.

So what do you say Oliver? Have your people call my people and then do lunch?

Be well and stay happy.

Sweet thing, sugar, honey, babycakes

Sweet thing, sugar, honey, babycakes are not ingredients for any recipe that I know.

The Princess said this was just "the way things are in the South, Daddy." I think she was right. Actually, it seems to me to be a highly developed form of tip hustling from servers. The bar tender at the hotel did it and she called me all of those terms of endearment in less than three minutes.

When we were at dinner at Morton's in Atlanta, our server, who was a very attractive but very married young blonde woman, kept putting her hands on my shoulders when she came by our table to check on the meal. For a moment, I thought I was in a Southern Baptist revival meeting and they were fixing to do a laying on of the hands.

I looked around for a big dunking tank and such like that.

I aksed The Princess and her friends if they could give me a really big "Amennnnnnnn". They gave me the big Amennnnnnnn. Boy, did I ever feel saved.

The Princess wanted to know why I thought our server was tip hustling. It seemed obvious to me. There was no need to touch my shoulders to learn how the meal was going. One quick glance at the emptying plates would be an excellent clue as to how the meal was going. I told The Princess the server was very married.

The Princess was surprised to know that. I said I looked at her wedding ring finger as soon as I sat down at the table. This is a bad old habit of mine from when I was a youngster and a junior officer in the United States Navy. One of my Navy ROTC instructors told us to look first for either a ring or a tan line to avoid unpleasant entanglements. It made a lot of sense then and it still makes sense to day. She had a chunk of diamond on her finger that looked about the size of a pea.

It was big alright.

Besides, I live in Redondo Beach and work in Los Angeles. That's 2,000 miles more or less from where she was. I think that was her picture in the dictionary alongside the phrase "geographically undesirable."

Too bad for me. She did have one of those to die for Southern accents. Oh well, I was over as soon as I walked off of plane in Los Angeles.

I saw a young Latina walking around the baggage claim area, wearing only tight shorts, a too small tee shirt, designer sunglasses of course, and incredibly unsafe high heels.

Aaaah so good to be back home in Los Angeles.

We had rain again today. Naturally, it was heaviest during my drive home. I think I was able to average around 15 miles an hour so it took me close to two hours to get home. What a waste of time.

On the plus side, I did feel good driving my high fuel economy Honda as I crawled past those lumbering SUV gas hogs. Mid-range gasoline is now around $2.50 a gallon by my house.

Anyway, time for me to go drift off and do something useful like take out the trash while the rain lets up, gentle readers.

Be well and stay happy.

Stupid is as stupid does

Hello gentle readers.

Today, I have a tale of rank stupidity for your gentle minds. It is all true because it happened before my very eyes and the strongest thing that I drank all day was decaf coffee.

I was first in line to make a left turn. The traffic light was red so I wasn't going anywhere fast or slow. Then, the light changed green and I started to move forward and make my turn.

I caught two cars entering the intersection, heading towards each other, against a red light out of the corners of my eyes. One started to make a U-turn and the second car clipped the rear end of the turning car. Both drivers were women and both were talking on their cellphones. I was the ideal witness because I saw everything.

For a brief moment, I thought about waiting until the Los Angeles Police Department black and white cruiser to show up and give the officer a witness statement. Then, I realized I might have to wait for a long time since there seemed to be no injuries. I would also have to deal with those crazy women.

I boogied around their mess and scooted on home. I had things to do and places to go before dinner.

My doctor called me to go over my last set of tests. My blood pressure medicine is working well. The cholesterol is on the high side and he put me on some medicine for that as well. He said that I have to take the medicine everyday until I want to die. My blood sugar is good so I don't have to worry about my diabetes in the near future and that is good.

Not the best bedside manner but highly effective.

And, I am not on a restricted diet so I can go to Morton's the Steakhouse with The Big Guy for Chuckay in May. Chuckay is a month long celebration of all things Chuck. That is really good for me.

I think this is enough for tonight. I am still a bit off from the weekend flight to Hotlanta [Atlanta] for The Princess' birthday celebration.

Be well and stay happy.

Back in Los Angeles

Helloooooooo blogistas.

Your humble writer has returned from his visit to see The Princess in Atlanta. It was a memorable trip for me.

I flew to Atlanta on the red-eye flight because I figured there would be a lesser chance of small children and crying babies. I also paid the extra bucks to fly first class to further reduce the chance of loud noises during my flight.

I sure guessed wrong on both counts. There were two babies in first class. One was in a row in of me and front and two seats over to my right. The other was two rows behind and one seat to my left.

They took turns crying; off and on, all of the way to Atlanta.

The Princess asked me what I did. I said I had two Bloody Marys and a Scotch on the rocks. They helped me to relax and drown out the noises.

I should have known something was going to happen on the flight. It was an hour late leaving Los Angeles because one of the scheduled flight attendants got sick. The airline tried to call in a relief for the ill crew member. The airline had trouble finding a replacement until one of the flight attendants who was traveling as a passenger volunteered to work the flight. If she had not volunteered, then the airline would have to replace the entire crew because the cabin staff would have worked too long.

I would imagine that finding ten flight attendants who are willing to hop out of a warm bed on a Friday night and fly to Atlanta would be real difficult. Then, you have an airplane and its full load of unhappy passengers to deal with. Nasty situation there.

I hope you were out there rooting for our Utes basketball teams Saturday. The men's team beat UTEP and as a reward they got to play Oklahoma. They beat Oklahoma by 9 points on Saturday to make it into the Sweet 16 round of play. The reward for beating Oklahoma is they get to play Kentucky. If they prevail over Kentucky, they will most likely get to play Duke. The women's team won also, beating Iowa State by 12.

I had a great visit with The Princess and her Roomie and Weekend Roomie. The Weekend Roomie must be a really great friend since she only shows up on the weekends and eats a lot of the food in The Princess and the Roomie's place.

I took them to Morton's, the Steakhouse because the portions are large. I enjoy the beet there. The Princess loves their crab cakes. I asked for an extra order of crab cakes to go so The Princess and the Roomie could enjoy crab cakes while watching basketball today. The Roomie and The Princess had a chicken thing. The Weekend Roomie did the right thing and had beef.

Based on what The Princess said, most all of her friends were surprised to learn her father was simply flying into Atlanta to take his daughter and her friends out to dinner for her birthday and flying back to the Beach the next morning.

I also learned that people talk differently in the South then they do here at the Beach. I was in my hotel bar waiting for The Princess to pick me up. I waited in the bar because I could see the driveway and stay warm. Since I was the only customer or potential customer in the bar, I struck up a brief conversation with the lady bartender.

In less than three minutes, she was calling me, "Honey, Babycakes, Sweetie, Baby, and Sweet Thing." And, I had never met her before. Then, The Princess pulled up and rescued me from an obvious fate worse than death.

Fascinating.

After I landed in Los Angeles and while I was waiting for the shuttle to pick me up to take me to my car, I phoned The Princess to let her know I got home safely and to check basketball scores. The woman standing next to me at the shuttle stop gave me a sort of nasty look when I was on the phone. I guess she doesn't have children of her own and therefore would not understand why a father would call his daughter after a long flight to let her know he was safe.

I used to be tolerant of cell phone users. After the shuttle ride, I am losing my patience. There was a woman on the shuttle who was calling someone and telling the person all about her 85 year old father's medical troubles and the medical troubles of his 83 year old girl friend.

She could have at least lowered her voice. I mean I could hear clearly and learned more than I want to about being old and getting ill. And all of this was over the ambient noises of heavy traffic, a diesel engine in the shuttle, and, of course, jet aircraft taking off.

In the end, it was all well worth the time and trouble because The Princess said my coming to see her made her birthday very special.

Dads like to hear that.

And so gentle readers, I could go on and tell you more about the trip but I want to go sleep in my own bed and get a solid night's sleep. Besides, my week is likely to be dull so I can fill in on the trip over the next few days.

Be well and stay happy.

Utah won

Hola blogistas.

It was a wonderful day this afternoon when Utah won its first round game in the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament. They beat university of Texas El Paso in an exciting and close game that came down to the last two minutes.

I suppose some of you are wondering how I was able to keep up with an afternoon basketball game since I work. We can't just drop everything for two hours in the middle of the day and watch the game on television now can we?

The Princess was providing me with email updates every few minutes or so. She works in the non-profit sector and maybe they are a bit more relaxed or alternatively her boss could just be a really big college basketball fan. Anyway, it was nice to be able to read of the Utes victory.

Utah plays Oklahoma on Saturday and that should be a real test of the young team and their first year coach. If Utah does win out, they will probably play Duke in the regional finals. I would not be putting much money on the Utes up against an experienced team like Duke.

I was checking the weather forecast again today. It looks like I just might miss any rain for Southern California tomorrow and any rain in Atlanta. That would be very drive and sweet. Besides that, it makes packing for the trip to Atlanta easier and I can travel lighter. Traveling light is a major advantage when you have to hike through Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta.

I need to go study some before I call it a night. I plan to get a solid night's sleep since I am taking the red-eye to Atlanta tomorrow night and do not think I will be sleeping much on the flight.

Be well and stay happy.

Where's Chuck been?

Hello gentle readers.

Guess what?

I wasn't here to post a blog last night. But, you knew that already. I was off doing useful stuff for me.

Last night was the annual owners meeting for the building where I live. Sure, I know you are saying, "Well Chuck, you could have blown off the meeting and spent the time here with us." This clearly was an option but it would have cost me $25, the fine for missing the annual meeting.

The annual meeting was a bore. It was conducted improperly but who cares. I did not run for office in the homeowners association. If someone would have nominated me, I would have used that great line from William T. Sherman on elections, "If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve."

If the Big Guy was there, he would have pointed out the Hot Chick at the meeting and asked who she was. It is true she meets the Big Guy's Hot Chick definition and appears to be single. Neither I nor I hope the Big Guy would go out with her.

The Hot Chick is a policewoman. She has handcuffs and knows how to use them. She has pepper spray and knows how to use it. She has a metal nightstick and knows how to use it. She has a firearm and knows how to use it.

All I could think about is what would happen to me if I went too far with her.

Nasty, evil, ugly times [shudders].

The Hot Chick would be perfect to take along to some party or event where you were concerned about your safety although I think it might be difficult to slip her 9mm into a small, lady's handbag.

By the time the meeting was over and I had my dinner, it was almost bedtime for me. So I just checked my email instead and hopped off to bed.

Have you ever helped a friend and later find out they disregarded all of your advice?

I think that just sucks. I had helped an out of work friend in her job search. I found her a job to apply for that she was qualified. I had given her a near perfect resume submission cover letter. All she had to do was change the date and address of the recipient.

Click print, fold, seal, and mail and the job was done.

Instead of using my really good letter, she either made up one of her own or used an old cover letter of her own. When she read it to me over the phone, my stomach started to churn and I knew that she was not going to get a call for an interview.

I stopped counting fatal flaws at four in the middle of the second paragraph.

Why are some people so dumb? Why do people ask others for help and then just ignore the assistance completely? At least, I would have gotten the recipient of the resume cover letter greeting correct.

Yesterday was nice in terms of the weather. It was warm and sunny again. Of course, I was at work so all of the nice weather went down the climatic drain for me. It was cool and overcast when I drove to work and it was getting cool and overcast when I drove home from work. The view from my office window was nice. I will have rain in Atlanta this weekend when I go see The Princess and her roomie. If I had stayed here at the beach in Los Angeles, I would have had rain so the weekend weather looks like it will be a draw.

All in all, it was a good day for me. The week is more than half over and that is good. I need to go do some useful stuff like fold up my laundry and think about what I will take with me to Atlanta.

Be well and stay happy

Big shout out to The Princess

Here's a big shout out to The Princess.

Today is her birthday. I won't say which one except to say that she didn't have to use a fake ID to get a drink when she celebrated with her friends.

For the record, The Princess is my favorite daughter.

For the complete record, The Princess is my only daughter.

Anyway, moving along, today was a semi-crummy day. Firstly, it was warm and sunny today, just about the complete opposite of the weekend weather and that is no fun at all.

Secondly, my alarm did not function well this morning so I woke up an hour late. That meant I got stuck in the commute traffic on the I-405 Freeway. I wouldn't use the term "Rush Hour" because there is no rush unless there is a stiff breeze blowing and you have your windows rolled down.

Thirdly, I saw who else in Utah's March Madness bracket. If Utah wins out, they end up playing Duke in the bracket finals and that is not exactly anything close to a cup of tea, coffee, or latte. It is a very good performance for a first year coach who was not expected to achieve much more than a winning season and maybe beat BYU once or twice.

The Princess, who went to Utah like I did, and I talked about the basketball team when I called to wish her Happy Birthday. We concluded that it was a great year to be Utah alum and to wear the Utah logowear. The Princess proudly wears her Utah 2005 Fiesta Bowl Championship sweatshirt in Atlanta now. I am wearing my Fiesta Bowl sweatshirt now.

The day seemed to go fairly quickly for a Monday. Everything seemed to come together. I left the office about twenty minutes later than I usually do and ended up at home about the same time as I do when I leave on time. There is no accounting for Los Angeles freeways.

I have been plugging along with doctoral disseration and one could say that I am making actual progress. It is slow progress but I am moving the ball forward and getting closer to completion. When I finish, I wonder what I will do next in regards to school.

I read about a study in the paper today that seems to suggest more educated adults have a better chance of fighting off Alzheimer's than those without higher education. I would like to continue to take classes but only for fun. Maybe I could claim the tuition as a medical expense deduction.

Naw. The IRS wouldn't allow that most likely.

I can't see any really good reason to get into another educational - degree program after I finish the Doctor of Business Administration.

Wait. I take that back.

If Salma Hayek or Lucy Liu were going to be my study partner for two years, well, then I would sign on for the program in a Los Angeles minute which is about three of your normal minutes or more if your point of view is New York City.

I think it would be fun to be able to go to take college level courses and not care about my grades except to get the "Gentleman's C." I would hate to have to work and study clutter up my educational fun.

Well, I think it is time to go do some more reading in the book the Girl Friend got me. I am now up to page 462 out of 782.

And so gentle readers, be well and stay happy.

Utah lost

The University of Utah lost in men's basketball to the University of New Mexico last night in the Mountain West Conference tournament finals.

That sums up my Sunday gentle readers; grey, gloomy, dim, ugly, in other words, no fun whatsoever.

Anyway, I am moving on to see what sort of an at-large bid Utah will receive for the NCAA national finals.

I went out with the Girl Friend last night. It was a sort of weird time. She took me out to dinner at a local restaurant that had been featured in the weekly Food Section of the local big newspaper, the Los Angeles Times. The Times featured an interesting chicken recipe and I thought I would have that for my dinner.

Surprise! Surprise! The chicken dish was not on the menu.

I settled for some swordfish that ended up a bit over-cooked and therefore on the dry and tasteless side. My swordfish came with some spaghetti with a red sauce on it. I call it red sauce because it was bland and tasted like it was just emptied from a can and then quickly heated to go on the pasta. It reminded me of really diluted ketchup instead of a rich, thick, and flavorful Italian tomato sauce.

Definitely not something that I would cook.

Moving onward, those of you who know me know that I love desserts. I wanted a light simple dessert. The waiter mentioned the restaurant has coffee flavored gelato. I asked for two scoops because the waiter said the scoops were small. The waiter didn't tell me the dessert normally was served with three scoops of gelato.

I was so furious with the waiter that it is a good thing I was not paying for dinner.

Then, we walked a block to the cinema. We ended up watching the Get Shorty sequel, Be Cool. The sequel was mostly good and enjoyable. It seemed to lag in parts and go off on uninteresting tangents. I was disappointed by the excessive use of cliches and inside of Hollywood and music industry jokes that went right over my head like an airplane. I would not recommend that you rush out and see unless you are either a John Travolta or Uma Thurman fan or you can see it at a bargain matinee. Maybe wait until it comes out on DVD and rent it.

The local harbor foghorn woke me around 3:00 AM today. That was really cruel since I did not get home until around 1:30 AM.

The administrative assistants in the office will be happy on Monday. They will be the beneficiaries of my Girl Scout cookie shopping. I probably can have a few cookies each day but I didn't want to add to my blood sugar since I am a borderline diabetic. I want to do everything to avoid crossing over and become diagnosed with Adult Diabetes and have everything that goes with that sort of an outcome.

This week looks like it will be a short one for blog posts. I won't be making a Friday post since I am flying off to see The Princess for her birthday and the next Sunday post maybe delayed until Monday because jet lag.

And so, gentle readers, I hope you all or as we say in our South, y'alls, had a wonderful and sunny weekend. I had mostly fog and overcast. I think the sunshine broke through the clouds or at least I think it was the sunshine.

Be well and stay happy.

Star Trek Enterprise was a re-run

Star Trek Enterprise was a re-run tonight. Next week looks like it will be a re-run also. As I recall, this was a two or three part episode.

Bummer.

On the plus side and there were many today, my friend Carol found out she is going to have a baby girl in a couple of months. I am very happy for her and her husband. I suppose the grandparents to be are happy as well.

Actually, I believe that children are God's way of punishing us for our wild lives when we made life miserable for our parents. There is nothing like getting up at 3:00 AM in the middle of winter to take care of a baby that needs to be changed and fed. It is even more fun when the baby has lower digestive tract distress. I know all about this joy. I have done this more times than I care to remember.

This is why I like the idea of small grandchildren. They can be returned to their parents when they get unruly or begin to leak odious fluids.

Another plus side was my doctor's visit. He said my low level blood pressure medication was working nicely and promptly gave me a year long prescription refill. He also gave me a low level cholesterol prescription since I am borderline for cholesterol troubles because I have high blood pressure, am over 45, and have a history of diabetes in the family.

I used to think my doctor had a good patient rapport style. Then, he told me that I have to take the prescriptions every day until I want to die. Not the best bedside manner but he certainly was really effective in convincing to me take my medicine religiously now.

The doctor was also pleased that I have lost about 15 pounds in the last five months. I knew I had lost weight because I had to take my belt in an extra hole and my pants were looser fitting. It was easy to do; I cut out candy completely and chocolate almost exclusively, reduced my food intake, ate healthier, and exercised moderately.

Not a bad day when you add it all up.

Tomorrow, I have to run around and do birthday gift shopping for The Princess. I can do that all in three stops. Then, I am going out with The Girl Friend for dinner, she is taking me out to dinner, and to the cinema. I don't know what we will see but I will probably talk about in a day or so.

The blog has Site Meter attached to it. Mostly, I was curious to see how many people will come and read the rambling. I was looking at the visitor logs, don't worry you are anonymous to me. I was amazed to find I have a semi-regular visitor from somewhere in India. That was really fascinating.

The weather was almost good today. It was warm and sunny in most parts of Los Angeles today. That was good except that it was only warm and sunny when I was inside of my office working. Otherwise, it was cool and foggy. I will probably hear the local harbor foghorn again tonight or tomorrow morning.

But, it will be warm and sunny tomorrow so I can be out buzzing around in my shorts and golf shirt for a change. I will enjoy getting some more color in my skin again.

So, gentle readers, it looks like I should go do something useful and productive.

Be well and stay happy.

I feel tired tonight

Hello gentle readers.

Yes, I feel tired tonight.

There is no obvious reason for me being tired. Scrolling through hundreds of pages of a document [it is 278 pages right now and will grow by another 40 pages or so before I am finished with it] on the laptop is not hard work, except for the finger on the scroll wheel in the mouse and, of course, the eyes that have to read all of the drivel I have written so far.

I did get a brief note from a new acquaintence in China tonight so that was a very nice way to start going through the email in box at home this evening. She is an English major and I offered to read her final student paper. I can give it a reading as a native English writer so that may help with her final marks.

As you know, I live in Redondo Beach and I know you will not be surprised to find out that I am close to the ocean. Last night or early this morning, around 3:10 AM to be more precise, I was awakened by the sound of the local harbor foghorn. I have a perfectly good clock radio that works just fine. It was set to go off at the usual time, several hours later. Instead of being able to roll over and go back to sleep, I just flopped around until the alarm went off.

Bummer.

The Big Guy called me today to discuss his car being serviced. The service went well and he was finished early, always a big plus. I phoned his sister The Princess to celebrate Utah's win in the first round of the Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament. That was sweet.

The Girl Friend called to talk about what we were going to do this weekend. There were a couple of ideas that floated about but we settled down on a fairly simple one. She will take me out to a casual dinner and then I will take us to the cinema. I don't know what we will end up seeing but it seems like a nice Saturday for me; I am out of the kitchen and that is good.

I guess the logical thing for me to do now is to go to bed and sleep off my tiredness. I have a bunch of things to do over the weekend so I might as well get a good night's rest.

Be well and stay happy.

Lunch today

Hello gentle readers.

I took the day off because I thought I had to be home for part of the day to screw around waiting for the cable guy to show up to fix things. As you know from reading one of the earlier blogs, the cable box got reset electronically and is now working.

Your humble scribe had already committed to the day off with his boss. That really sucks when you have to burn a perfectly good day off.

I was able to save the day off by [a] running around with errands that I would have burned time on over the weekend [and we all know how important weekend time is to anyone] and [b] driving into downtown Los Angeles to have lunch with a very old friend and former co-worker.

The Co-Worker sprung for lunch today. That was so way cool of her. She excelled when she ordered two, double chocolate cake slices for dessert. One cake slice was for us to split and one cake slice was for me to take home for later. The Co-Worker knows I love chocolate.

I will have the second cake slice on Friday. I don't want to add that much caffeine from the cake to my system. My doctor has me monitoring my blood pressure and I want to avoid having to go on any blood pressure medicine beyond the low dosage diuretic I am on now.

I have an appointment to see my doctor on Friday and I have to fast starting Thursday at 6:00 PM so that means no dinner for me. I am not expecting too much to come out of the appointment beyond an extension of the diuretic and maybe I will get put on a low anti-cholesterol medication. The doctor say my cholesterol is sort of borderline right now.

The Co-Worker is a very valued friend and confidant. We shared a great deal together. She is also The Princess favorite; The Princess still thinks I should have married the Co-Worker long ago. Marriage would have been difficult as we both have extremely strong personalities that would have clashed much sooner rather than later. For example, The Co-Worker has one of those little, dust-ball, yip-yip dogs and I would rather have something like a German Shepard. You can see where things would have gone. I think I would have ended up on the sofa with the Shepard to keep me company and warm. Not the best of all prospects for a long Winter's night.

Yes, we do have long Winter's night in Los Angeles. It gets just as dark here as it does anyplace else. Granted, we don't have snow on the ground or ice on the roads. We have idiots that can't drive in foul weather. They forget that you need to slow down when the visibility is poor and leave more room between you and the car in front of you. They drive excessively fast and then are shocked when they get involved in a collision.

Newsflash dummies: If you plan ahead, you don't have to speed! [gasp, eye-roll, gasp].

I found a fascinating new recipe to try sometime soon. It looks really healthy plus it is tasty sounding as well. It is broiled halibut on oven roasted tomatoes. I think I will serve it with just a salad and some more vegetables, probably Italian vegetables, instead of pasta, rice, or spuds. Toss in some yummy California wine, Sterling Vineyards 2003 Sauvigon Blanc would be excellent, and some fresh French bread and I am done except for the cleanup.

[Anticipatory burp].

I think I will go off and plod ahead with the book The Girl Friend gave me. I am up to page 307 of 782; still a long way to read.

Be well and stay happy.

Today seemed slow

Hello gentle readers.

Today seemed slow to me for some reason.

I don't know why. I was busy and active all day, except for when I was on the slow moving non-freeway coming home tonight. I only had two phone calls all day long. But, then, I rarely have phone calls anyway.

One call was from a current co-worker and the other was from an old co-worker from a couple of jobs ago. The old co-worker thanked me for sending her a job posting but she pointed the job was working for the Wicked Witch of the West and would be a long killer drive everyday.

Then she asked me if I still cared for her. I said of course I do and she said why did you send me this crummy job. She did have a good point. My only reply was that I was thinking about her and that was the best available out of a really bad hand of job openings.

I had no visitors either at work today. The staff in the office doesn't count. I think I have only had three visitors in the last year. I must do an excellent job of hiding out from vendors.

I think I am feeling depressed because Michelle the stylist did not give me a hug tonight like she usually does. Oh well, the world will not end for that I hope. She seemed to be a thousand questions tonight, more so than usual. Most of the time, she lets me ramble and babble on while she cuts my hair.

On the flip side, I had no bills in the mailbox at home tonight. And,there were no more political ads or mailers to toss out either.

On those happy notes, I think I will drift off to bed and get a good night's sleep.

Be well and stay happy.

The television is back on

Good evening gentle readers.

My television is back functioning tonight after spending three and a half days trying to find a phone number for those clowns at Adelphia Communications. I can see why the company went into the bankruptcy toilet a couple of years ago and is still there today.

Crummy service will sink a company every time along with corrupt management.

They did not want to hear from unhappy customers so they pulled all of the local service numbers. Now, you have to find them on the Internet to get a phone number.

The next struggle will be to get a refund for the four days I had no cable service.

[Note to self: check out satellite television service to replace Adelphia while on your vacation.]

Tomorrow is local elections and I have not figured out who to vote for. Most of the inch or so of campaign mailers paints everyone else as an absolute scoundrel while portraying the sender as a paragon of virtue and honesty. I think I may just vote no wherever I can.

I got an email from my niece that is getting married in July. She needed some addresses so she could send out the invitations. I don't know why my brother lazed about and passed off the task to me. I know he has my address and that of The Big Guy.

It looks like I will be going to Seattle in July. I wonder if it will rain? Probably so. Now all I need to do is figure out what to get the newlyweds. And, then find a way to get it to Seattle. There's always Federal Express.

This is a short blog posting because nothing much else happened to me today that was significant in the grander scheme of things.

Be well and stay happy.

No rain today

It was so nice to wake up this morning and see the sun for a change instead of more rain.

The weather is Southern California like today with the temperature about 70F or 20C. There was a light breeze coming off of the Pacific Ocean as I sat on my balcony and read while I smoked a St Valentines Day cigar.

The cigar was pretty good. It had a robusto [dark tobacco] wrapper. That style of wrapper makes for a stronger tasting smoke than what I usually prefer. I prefer the natural style of wrapper. Wrapper, for those of you who do not smoke cigars, is the outer layer of tobacco.

I suppose I should be "mad as hell" because my cable television box failed me on Thursday night. I finally got a hold of customer service at the provider. The representative was not that helpful but did arrange a scheduled service call by a technician for Wednesday afternoon. The bottom line result is I will be without television for about a week.

I certainly hope I get a credit on my next bill for the week of no service.

Granted, I missed or will miss a couple of shows that I enjoy but life happens and that explains why there are reruns.

On the big plus side, I will miss out on all of the last minute television commercial for the candidates for mayor of the City of Los Angeles. None of the candidates seems to be able to take a higher moral ground approach. They have, true to tradition, resorted to name calling, distortions, and general mud slinging that are hallmarks of American politics.

The Big Guy called this afternoon. He is crewing in a student film for one of his friends. He was early for the crew call so he walked across the street from the location site to a Starbucks. He was slipping some double-triple-mocha-iced-grande caramel thing while listening to Bob Dylan as he sat at one of the outside tables.

Life in Southern California is good to today.

I would have gone to the location. The director put out a call for extras. I asked The Big Guy where the location is. He said "Ummmm...Dad, you're too old, we need extras my age...the location site is supposed to be a rock band concert venue."

Life can also be harsh.

I was checking my email on Friday night; naturally, because there was no television. Friday was a day for me to buried under requests to authorize ICQ contacts and notices that I was added to others contact lists. I think there were 15 or so requests.

I never knew I was so interesting. Anyway, one was from a young Chinese woman. She had added me to her contact list. She came online while I was deleting all of the spam in my inbox.
I sent her a hello and we ended up chatting for an hour. It was a very nice way to spend an hour for me. It remains to be seen if we chat again.

The Girl Friend was over last night for dinner. I prepared some pasta shells and stuffed them with ricotta cheese that I had added some oregano, basil, sage, thyme, and cilantro too. I topped the shells with an alfredo sauce with shrimp and lobster. It turned out very, very well. We drank our favorite Sauvigon Blanc wine from Sterling vineyards. Sterling is located in Napa Valley, California. The wine was a 2003 and really went very well with our meal.

I picked up our desserts from my favorite Italian deli, Giuliano's, that I have been going to since about 1980. I could tell The Girl Friend liked her CreamHorn because she ended up eating it with her fingers and she is usually much more proper than this. But, since we were alone, I suppose she felt she could relax with just me there.

For the record, I ate my Oreo cake with a fork.

We finished off dinner with after dinner drinks. The Girl Friend had an Amaretto over ice and I had a shot of the St Valentines Day single malt Scotch whiskey. I drank some Amberlour straight up and it was very nice. I will add this whisky to the list of single malt Scotch whiskies I carry around in my head for when I go out to fine restaurants. This was a very good end to an excellent meal.

This is also a good way to end this blog gentle readers. I need to go off and catch up on my emails so I can read with a very clear conscience tonight.

Be well and stay happy.

I made the meal from scratch. I had no recipes to work from, just an idea of what might work well together. It looks like my idea turned out just fine.

Crimes against humanity or really bad judgment

I think it was a crime against humanity.

I was driving home on the 405 this evening when I saw the crime. It was a Hummer SUV. Hummers are bad enough. This crime was compounded by the color scheme of the SUV, shocking hot pink. To make matters worse, it was lifted an extra two feet in the air so the axle was about even with my driver's side window.

Hideous is a very charitable word that doesn't even come close to describing how bad this SUV looked. Never in a million years would hideous very be adequate.

For those of you gentle readers that are non-locals, the 405 is an eight lane Interstate that masquerades as a parking lot most of the time.

Anyway.

The sight was very upsetting. Fortunately, my light lunch was fully digested at the time so there was no mess.

And so gentle readers, I hope you have a fun filled weekend.

Be well and stay happy.

I needed to chill yesterday

Hello again gentle readers.

It is, I, your faithful blogger.

Yesterday was one of those really really ugly days that deserved to be forgotten. It did not rain here. We had what I would call a heavy mist; nothing that an intermittent windshield wiper couldn't handle. No thunder. No lightening. No high winds. No earthquakes. Just a heavy mist.

You would think the local drivers could handle a heavy mist after having driven through almost three feet of rain. This was clearly not rocket surgery here now.

Boy, was I ever wrong.

Our local drivers froze up like a deer caught in the headlights. They had to slow to a bare crawl. It took almost two hours to cover what I can normally do in an hour and 15 minutes. Oh yes, there were no accidents on the road that caused any delays.

Oooops; full and fair disclosure time. I did see the car next to me get rear ended by a driver who was busy on her cell phone. I could see her, in my side mirror, chatting away, not paying any attention to anyone but herself.

But after being on the road for an hour, I said screw it and kept on driving. If I had done the proper thing and presented myself as a witness, I would have been stuck for God knows how long and I was tired and hungry and cranky.

All I wanted to do was get home, have dinner, and then put on my comfy jammies and relax. I did just that and I felt much, much better.

Now, I am over the people who can't drive their gas guzzling, road hogging SUVs on anything except a bone dry pavement with no wind and good sunlight.

I still need to do my relaxing stuff because The Girl Friend says it is good for my health to rid myself of stress. So I am off to relax and read before toddling off to bed.

Be well and stay happy.

the week is half over

Hello gentle readers.

I don't know about you; but, my week sort of went by so far in fits and starts. One day things seemed to be moving fast and the next day events made a glacier look like it was moving at Warp 5.2.

Oh well.

Friday is a day to look forward to. It is donut Friday; I buy donuts for the office on the first Friday of the month. I have my special orders and requests for calorie bombs and calorie grenades from the clerical staffers; one wants a chocolate covered custard filled one, another wants an apple fritter, another is looking for a big cinnamon roll, and the fourth just wants anything that is glazed.

I also buy a box of donuts for the parking lot guys that valet park my car. I think of this as an investment in protection for my beloved Honda Prelude. The Prelude turned 315,000 miles on Sunday after the big Douguary Dinner celebration.

Maybe I should put a disclaimer on the office donuts that I am not responsible for any of the foreseeable consequences of indulging in the food. Some of the obvious consequences would be sudden clothing shrinkage and boyfriend/husband upset.

I got an email from the Barbie Doll today. She was surprised that I had not seen the movies she had questions about. I love the cinema but I can't go see every film out there. There are about new 300 or 400 films available to see each year. That would mean I would have to see 7 or 8 films every weekend. I would like to try to accomplish that but The Girl Friend is very likely, no will, object to that serious cut back in Chuck-time.

The Girl Friend says that her Chuck-time is the best time of the week for her. That time ain't too bad for me either.

I have to cut this blog short. The Girl Friend is coming over for dinner on Saturday and I need to clean the place up a bit.

Bleeeek.

I am going to try something new for dinner. I am preparing stuffed pasta shells with a shrimp and lobster alfredo sauce; plus a sort of Caesar salad, wine, and some dessert from the local Italian deli. I think it should be a perfect meal.

Tune in to the same Bat Channel and the same Bat Time on Sunday for the food and wine reviews.

Be well and stay happy.

no subject line

Hey, it was a slowish day. I don't have to come up with a catchy subject matter or topic line everyday now. Some days, I need to give the brain cells a break.

The Girl Friend gave me a book for St Valentines Day; I think I already told you that. Anyway, the book is titled "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell." She said it had great reviews and that the book was about magicians and fairies in England.

This is a reading test for me. My tastes in books tend towards two extremes. One is military history and a related area of historical fiction. The other is science fiction. This makes me a Jack Aubrey, James T. Kirk, or Han Solo kind of reader. You know, "put a shot across their bow and see what develops" type of reader.

With any luck, I will finish the book by Spring. It has 782 pages with a handful of not very good drawings. Hopefully, by then, one of my more favorite authors will have something for me to read and I can indulge myself. I will drop a hint or two with The Girl Friend around my birthday time so she can go book shopping for something.

Birthday shopping for her will be simple. I just make a semi-short drive to the O.C. Tiffany's and pick up a bangle. My daughter says every woman loves gifts from Tiffany's and that I should immediately dump any woman who doesn't like Tiffany's and then run like hell for the hills.

The Princess has a point here.

The bangle only comes in one size. Silver bangles only come in one color. There are no batteries or moving parts to break and, of course, there is no assembly required. So what's not to like about the idea of a bangle. It's a perfect gift from the guy who is either clueless or wants to make a killer emotional statement to his friend who is a woman.

We had no rain anywhere that I was today. That makes about five days in a row with no rain in my parts of Los Angeles. Maybe this is the end of the rain or maybe it is only the lull before the storm.

Even though we have received the heaviest rainfall in over a hundred years, we will still suffer from the affects of a five year drought. It will take at least one or possibly two more years of rain like this to erase the drought. That is a sobering thought and one of the prices one pays to live in Southern California.

Southern California is actually a semi-desert region naturally. If we did not import water, no one would want to live here and San Francisco would be the biggest city on the West Coast.

Scary thoughts there Chuck.

And now, gentle readers, I must turn my writing talents, such as they are, back towards my dissertation.

Be well and stay happy.