Weekend Update

The Cable Guy
The cable guy finally showed around 5:40 PM or about forty minutes late on Friday. On the plus side, I did not need a new cable box. He was able to fix things by boosting the signal strength to my cable box. No new cable box and I was fixed and back in business.

On the minus side, he told me that Time Warner is going to replace the cables to the two units above me. Normally, I could care less what happens above me so long as they are quiet. Unfortunately for me, their cables run through one of my closets. This means the workers will have to have access to my closet to complete the cable replacement. I am going to be faced with the choice of giving up part of my work day or sacrificing part of my Saturday to accommodate the workers.

Neither choice is very desirable for me.

Rational Thought
Beer is proof that Gods loves us and wants us to have a good time. Benjamin Franklin, American inventor, writer, and statesman.

Carbon Dating Myself
I can remember there were no pop top beverage cans. I can also remember dating the inventor’s daughter when I was in college.

Lunch with Vivian
I had lunch with Vivian the Office Assistant and budding financial analyst from where I used to work on Friday. Spending time with Vivian is one of the best ways that I can think to pass time.

We went to the local restaurant next door to the office because it is convenient and we could get in during her lunch time. Vivian likes late lunches so that works out fine next door. I had a large salad for lunch with some iced tea and one slice of bread. I had no dessert because I am eating healthier now.

My healthy eating has produced a slow and steady weight loss. I do not have any weight loss goals. I am just happy with the loss so far. Vivian and Evelyn both remarked favorably on my weight loss and how good I looked. Their comments made me feel even better. They both gave me a big hug and that is a nice way to start lunch.

Lunch, like all lunches with good friends, did not last long enough for me. I could have spent the rest of the afternoon talking with Vivian while she worked. The thought of the dreadful drive home on the 405 Freeway at the start of the weekend brought me back to reality in hurry.

I promptly left the old office and headed home after we finished our lunch.

Vivian is changing her hair style. When I first met Vivian in 2004, she was wearing it long, down below the middle of her back. It was nice. Then, after I was laid off in 2005, Vivian cut her hair so that it was very short so that it was barely to her ears; I thought she looked incredibly beautiful then. On Friday, I saw that she is letting it grow out a bit. Her hair was in a funky sort of in transition that was neither long nor short. I think it will end up around her shoulders and that look should be dead solid perfect. Of course, I have no votes in the how Vivian’s hair should look election.

I should ask Vivian if I can post her photo in my blog. Unlike the periodic Babes or Women of the Moment, Vivian is the real thing only better than Coca Cola and just as sweet.

Woman of the Moment
As you can tell, we have a new Woman of the Moment. She is Miki Black, a model and singer. I must admit that I have never heard any of her songs but then I tend to listen to a Classic Rock and Roll radio station. The station plays songs that were hits before she was probably born.






According to her website [http://www.ohmiki.com], young Ms Black is 63 inches / 160 centimeters tall and measures 35-22-34 inches / 89-58-86 centimeters. Very nice indeed.

I was able to download lots of photos of Miki Black and that was good. The bad side, and there always must be a bad side to balance the good side, is that they are small photos so I will double up on the photos. I trust there will be no complaints.

Donut Friday
It was Donut Friday on Friday.

Yummy.

Everyone was on a short term sugar high from the donuts. One of the women in the office asked me to pick up a special one for her. It was not difficult at all but when she saw it, wrapped in paper napkins, on her desk when she came in, she was just so happy that I had remembered her donut request and that it was all there for her, ready to eat.

Buying a dozen donuts is not going to make or break me. It is however a very useful way to build links with the staff so that when you ask them to do something beyond what is normal for you, more often than not, they will gladly do what you ask of them.

I exercised some minimal restraint and had a maple covered bar. I know that it was directly responsible for a big jump up in my blood sugar count for Friday morning. I watch what I eat and I try to cut out most of the sugars when I can. I do allow myself one donut a month. That will not kill me; some months I will have more if I go to a breakfast meeting and there are pastries available for the attendees.

Sugar high in the morning and lunch with Vivian and then a crash in the evening.

School and the Dissertation
I did not get much written because the roof workers were here on Saturday. Then on Sunday, Doug and I were supposed to go to lunch. I took the rest of the day off and rested and read after lunch was rescheduled.

Market
I had to go to the market at the end of the week because I was running out of food in the place.

Some of my friends have suggested that I could meet Ms Right or Ms Wonderful while searching for a cantaloupe melon or the right piece of fresh fish. I must be picking the wrong time to go to the market. Most of the women that I see in the market are just not for me.

It is very difficult for me to become even modestly interested in a woman who makes no effort to make her self presentable. I am all for exercising and that stuff but I draw the line at coming directly from the gym, all hot and sweaty, to do the food shopping. That just does not excite me at all.

Then, there are some others who signal me to not even bother. I know to not consider and avoid a woman who has a large bag of cat food or a large amount of cat food cans in her shopping cart. She is a cat person and I just do not get along with a cat person. I suspect that I never will be able to get along with a cat person. I do not think that it makes any difference whether she has only one or two cats or a whole mob of cats.

If I had paid attention to my beliefs, I would have never ever become involved with the woman that the Princess hated and Doug did not care for. She was a cat person; she had two cats when I first meet her.

Calendar
I went out shopping for a calendar for next year today. It looks like I will be back to Office Depot in another month to pick up the 2007 edition of the simple, spiral bond calendar that I have been using for twelve years. I hate having to write the times off day in but I refuse to pay for something that is not right for me.

I was in Barnes & Nobles’ local bookstore after I ran some errands Saturday morning. The really nice looking leather bond calendar, complete with times of day and only one year’s worth of weeks, doesn’t look like it will lay flat on my desk. The ability to lay flat is a key decision criterion for me.

The leather calendar certainly looks very nice and rich. But, for me, I am more interested in how well it is likely to perform in an office environment.

Hamburgers with Doug
Lunch on Sunday got postponed to next weekend.



That is a Kingburger from Fatburger; I would have had that for lunch.

Doug’s friend Robin had an extra ticket to the Angeles baseball game this afternoon. Since the game starts at about 1:00 PM, that effectively kills off any lunch plans that we had made. We are set to go do lunch on either Saturday or Sunday. My preference would be for Saturday so that I can get everything done then and be able to sleep in on Sunday morning like I did today.

Komyo Ga Tsuji
This is the Japanese historical serial that I have been watching for the last few months. I have been meaning to toss up a comment or two about it but keep forgetting to do so.

Last night was a tipping point in the story line; the young samurai that series revolves around distinguished himself in a pitched battle to seize a castle. In the bloody fighting to take the castle, his oldest vassal dies while leading the “forlorn hope” into the castle. He said he is dying happily because his lord now will have a castle of his own.

The old vassal is somewhat like Sir John Falstaff to Prince Hal, based on what I have seen of their relationship through the series. He helps the young samurai lord with his speech to rally his soldiers on the eve of the battle to take the castle. It is certainly no “once more into the breach dear friends, once more” or “Band of Brothers” speech but it must have been effective since they took the castle.

The young samurai had to redeem himself in his master’s eyes. He was lax and allowed the forces in the castle to sally and attack his position. He was able to beat back the attack with some losses. His master, Hadashi Hideyoshi [I think I have it spelled somewhat correctly] told him not to return until he has taken the castle.

It remains to be seen if he will be rewarded with the castle. Precedent and logic seem to argue for him keeping it. Strategically, it is not in the best possible location since it would be on the edge of Hadashi’s territory and thus among the first objectives in the next series of battles by an opposing warlord or clan.

Last night’s show took place in 1588 so it is not too much longer before Japan will launch its attack against Korea. The Korean attack was the basis for the two year, Korean historical series, The Immortal Yee Soon Shin.

I am amazed that, during this series, The Immortal Yee Soon Shin series, and the film, AZUMI, Tokugawa Ieyasu is usually presented as being not very skilled or competent, a minor player on the greater stage of Japan’s history. Yet, in the end, he is the one that the history books seem to remember most.

I am looking forward to next week’s episode to see if the young samurai will receive the castle. It will be interesting to see if the loyalty and sacrifice paid off for him and his family.

Smoking
I decided to give up smoking cigars. Actually, I will stop buying them. I gave up my pipe smoking some fifteen years ago and I have been fine without them. I still have some of my pipes; the ones that have special significance for me. All I do with them is dust them periodically.



I only have two cigars left from my current box. I think I will smoke them over the next month or two. I do not see any reason to toss out perfectly good cigars just because I am going to give up buying the cigars.

My cigar smoking level is not that great anyway. I think I probably smoke around forty cigars a year. If someone were to offer me a cigar sometime in the future, I would accept it unless it looked like a really cheap cigar. I won’t smoke a cheap cigar even if it is a gift.

Visitors
We had a good range of foreign visitors this past week. We had visitors from Canada [6], India [2], Germany [2], United Kingdom [2], Portugal, Japan, and Singapore. We also had two visitors from the Great State of Texas, which often thinks of itself as an independent state.


I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Be well and stay happy.