Weekend Update - October 22nd
Weekend Update
I spent most of the weekend nursing this nasty sinus cold which seems to be finally going away. I had a great night’s sleep on Saturday so maybe I have hit a turning point with the cold.
Visitors
For some unknown reason, this humble blog struck a very responsive cord with many in Germany at the end of the week. The trend continued at a lesser rate over the weekend. I think we had more than 300 Germans visit the blog this past week. Clearly, that is a record.
For the week, we had over 400 visitors.
For the month to date, we are over 600 visitors.
We also had visitors from Malaysia, Singapore, Poland, India, France [2], Korea, Hong Kong, Switzerland, United Kingdom [2], Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, Austria, Belgium, and China.
We had three curious visitors including one from Germany for 22 minutes, one from the United States for 11 minutes and another curious visitor who stopped by and spent 11minutes reading the blog. I forgot to note where the third curious visitor was from.
I do appreciate that you did come out and visit my blog.
Comments are welcome and accepted unless you are a blind, mindless robot and then I will decline your comment.
Woman of the Moment
This is the last regularly scheduled appearance of Mercedes Terrell. I am confident that Mercedes will return for the end of the year best of review.
Come on Mercedes, you can smile for us just once more.
Doug
On Friday, I went out to see Doug as part of a greater series of events. The major one was the meeting with my Dissertation Committee Chair.
We had lunch at Albertacos and we had our usual lunches / dinners; two Number 8s, medium drink, for there.
My Number 8 seemed to have more food than I can recall. I was stuffed and I was finished with my eating for the day except for a slice of bread around 8:00PM to hold me over until the morning.
We had talked about going to the local Tower Records in the Laguna Hills Mall to check out their close out sale on DVDs.
To be honest, I went into the store with no expectations at all. I knew that Tower had always been a high priced vendor so I didn’t expect to see too much of a price reduction to the point the prices would be competitive with DVDPlanet.com.
I was surprised at the nice condition of the store that made it easy for me to find what I was looking for. The stock was well organized by genre and alphabetical within the genre. This arrangement always confuses me when you have an action and drama cross over film. Fortunately, I wasn’t looking for a film like that on Friday.
I did find four DVDs that I wanted to pick up including three that were on my Academy Awards Best Picture list. I only have 27 more films on my Best Picture list left to purchase so I am making good progress there.
Dissertation
My Chair was out of the country and obviously was not available for the requested meeting so I turned around and headed on home. I will try to reschedule the meeting for next Friday.
I did manage to do some of the archival research work over the weekend. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday looking at reports filed by commercial banks on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation web site and then entering the data on a worksheet. I still have to enter the data into an Excel spreadsheet. It is not exciting or thrilling but it did provide some very interesting evidence that one of my theories is correct. That was an unexpected discovery. How I will pull it all together will another question.
Andy Sippy
Andy Sippy is my tailor from Hong Kong. I have been buying suits from him since 1970. Probably, the only reason I still buy my suits from him is convenience. I can stop and see at a hotel, pick out a particular fabric and color, order a suit, and know that in about six to eight weeks, my new suit will arrive and that all I have to do is press it before I wear it.
The suits are well made and last, last a long time. I am still regularly wearing a suit that was made for me in 1997. I finally donated a sport coat that dated to 1988 that I just got tired of wearing last year.
Anyway, Andy will be in town next Thursday and Friday at a hotel in Pasadena. I am planning to see him and order one or two suits. If my luck holds out, I will be able to combine a trip to Pasadena with lunch with my friend Sharon. Granted, Sharon is a bit out of the way from Pasadena but it makes sense since I have already driven the 35 miles / 56 kilometers to get there so the incremental drive on to see Sharon for lunch is not that much. Also, Sharon starts her new job on the 1st and that is further away from the beach where I live so I should strike while the iron is hot.
Jury Duty
I got a notice to report for jury duty starting November 27th. I thought I had at least a year to go before I had to report for jury duty again. Fortunately, I only have to drive about two miles for my jury duty. With luck, I will not get called in for a jury panel and I will be off the hook for another couple of years.
I think that I may not be a desirable juror in a criminal case. I am older and conservative. That is not a great combination when you are a public defender and you have an accused that is charged with something like armed robbery.
On the plus side, all of the really big trials are not held at this courthouse so I don’t run the risk of being stuck on a panel that is sequestered for three or four months.
I also need to make a run to my local Barnes & Noble to pick up some books to read while I sit and wait. I might as well try to improve my mind while I sit around.
Internet Explorer 7
I think I may have made a serious mistake in downloading the latest version of Internet Explorer.
After using it for a couple of days, I don’t think it was that much of an improvement on Version 6. For one thing, it doesn’t resize the page when you have your “Favorites” opened.
Then, it lacks a button to link to the email program. My Yahoo toolbar has a button that will take me to my Yahoo.com email account. How could Microsoft release a web browser that did not have a link / button for email? I used email regularly and most of the people I know use email regularly.
IE 7 has the feel of Microsoft Outlook and that is fine except most simple users like me find Outlook to be an overpowering program and prefer Outlook Express with its simple and friendly email program. I think I may spend part of the coming week or maybe next weekend replacing it with the old familiar IE 6.
Komyo Ga Tsuji
I really missed a lot last week when I went to see the play.
It seems that Japan had launched its invasion of Korea and fought for several years without a conclusive victory. China has or is about to enter the war on the Korean side, a major turning point.
Unrest and discontent with the war at home are growing. The daimyos [feudal lords] are losing confidence in the Shogun [de facto ruler] and some are plotting a rebellion. Gee, that almost sounds like the United States today. People are weary of the war in Korea and it is draining the economy of resources [Johnson presidency during the Vietnam War].
The conflict is going to come to a head soon I think and the lords will be forced to take sides. This, of course, presents the possibility of a civil war.
All of this has placed Lord Yamauchi in that nasty place of being between a rock and a bunch of hard and harder spots. He has a long standing tie of loyalty to the Shogun that everyone dislikes; he is a vassal to the Shogun’s primary rival; and he has to keep an eye on Lord Tokugawa for the Shogun.
Lord Yamauchi’s wife, who is the real brains in the family [Clinton presidency], asked the particularly telling question when she discussed the lord’s promotion to a larger castle. She pointed out that he and two other lords were acting as trip wires for the Shogun in his attempt to control the Tokugawa clan. Then, she asked if it was better for him to align himself with the Tokugawas who she thought would be the next Shogun or to stay with the Toyotomi clan.
Having read history and seen the Korean version of the war and fall of the Shogun, I know that the really smart money will go with the Tokugawa clan.
El Gringo
Today was Sunday and Sunday means late lunch – early dinner at El Gringo. For some reason, El Gringo was crowded today so I did not have a chance to ask the server what her name was. Maybe next Sunday will be a better day for asking names.
I had a Taco Salad with chicken today. It was a very filling meal as you can see. Most of the meal was either shredded lettuce or shredded chicken. I think it was the most chicken that I can recall having in a taco salad or tostada in a very long time. The salsa today was particularly spicy so I enjoyed that even more.
Well, gentle readers that was my weekend. I hope you had a great weekend also.
Be well and stay happy
I spent most of the weekend nursing this nasty sinus cold which seems to be finally going away. I had a great night’s sleep on Saturday so maybe I have hit a turning point with the cold.
Visitors
For some unknown reason, this humble blog struck a very responsive cord with many in Germany at the end of the week. The trend continued at a lesser rate over the weekend. I think we had more than 300 Germans visit the blog this past week. Clearly, that is a record.
For the week, we had over 400 visitors.
For the month to date, we are over 600 visitors.
We also had visitors from Malaysia, Singapore, Poland, India, France [2], Korea, Hong Kong, Switzerland, United Kingdom [2], Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, Austria, Belgium, and China.
We had three curious visitors including one from Germany for 22 minutes, one from the United States for 11 minutes and another curious visitor who stopped by and spent 11minutes reading the blog. I forgot to note where the third curious visitor was from.
I do appreciate that you did come out and visit my blog.
Comments are welcome and accepted unless you are a blind, mindless robot and then I will decline your comment.
Woman of the Moment
This is the last regularly scheduled appearance of Mercedes Terrell. I am confident that Mercedes will return for the end of the year best of review.
Come on Mercedes, you can smile for us just once more.
Doug
On Friday, I went out to see Doug as part of a greater series of events. The major one was the meeting with my Dissertation Committee Chair.
We had lunch at Albertacos and we had our usual lunches / dinners; two Number 8s, medium drink, for there.
My Number 8 seemed to have more food than I can recall. I was stuffed and I was finished with my eating for the day except for a slice of bread around 8:00PM to hold me over until the morning.
We had talked about going to the local Tower Records in the Laguna Hills Mall to check out their close out sale on DVDs.
To be honest, I went into the store with no expectations at all. I knew that Tower had always been a high priced vendor so I didn’t expect to see too much of a price reduction to the point the prices would be competitive with DVDPlanet.com.
I was surprised at the nice condition of the store that made it easy for me to find what I was looking for. The stock was well organized by genre and alphabetical within the genre. This arrangement always confuses me when you have an action and drama cross over film. Fortunately, I wasn’t looking for a film like that on Friday.
I did find four DVDs that I wanted to pick up including three that were on my Academy Awards Best Picture list. I only have 27 more films on my Best Picture list left to purchase so I am making good progress there.
Dissertation
My Chair was out of the country and obviously was not available for the requested meeting so I turned around and headed on home. I will try to reschedule the meeting for next Friday.
I did manage to do some of the archival research work over the weekend. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday looking at reports filed by commercial banks on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation web site and then entering the data on a worksheet. I still have to enter the data into an Excel spreadsheet. It is not exciting or thrilling but it did provide some very interesting evidence that one of my theories is correct. That was an unexpected discovery. How I will pull it all together will another question.
Andy Sippy
Andy Sippy is my tailor from Hong Kong. I have been buying suits from him since 1970. Probably, the only reason I still buy my suits from him is convenience. I can stop and see at a hotel, pick out a particular fabric and color, order a suit, and know that in about six to eight weeks, my new suit will arrive and that all I have to do is press it before I wear it.
The suits are well made and last, last a long time. I am still regularly wearing a suit that was made for me in 1997. I finally donated a sport coat that dated to 1988 that I just got tired of wearing last year.
Anyway, Andy will be in town next Thursday and Friday at a hotel in Pasadena. I am planning to see him and order one or two suits. If my luck holds out, I will be able to combine a trip to Pasadena with lunch with my friend Sharon. Granted, Sharon is a bit out of the way from Pasadena but it makes sense since I have already driven the 35 miles / 56 kilometers to get there so the incremental drive on to see Sharon for lunch is not that much. Also, Sharon starts her new job on the 1st and that is further away from the beach where I live so I should strike while the iron is hot.
Jury Duty
I got a notice to report for jury duty starting November 27th. I thought I had at least a year to go before I had to report for jury duty again. Fortunately, I only have to drive about two miles for my jury duty. With luck, I will not get called in for a jury panel and I will be off the hook for another couple of years.
I think that I may not be a desirable juror in a criminal case. I am older and conservative. That is not a great combination when you are a public defender and you have an accused that is charged with something like armed robbery.
On the plus side, all of the really big trials are not held at this courthouse so I don’t run the risk of being stuck on a panel that is sequestered for three or four months.
I also need to make a run to my local Barnes & Noble to pick up some books to read while I sit and wait. I might as well try to improve my mind while I sit around.
Internet Explorer 7
I think I may have made a serious mistake in downloading the latest version of Internet Explorer.
After using it for a couple of days, I don’t think it was that much of an improvement on Version 6. For one thing, it doesn’t resize the page when you have your “Favorites” opened.
Then, it lacks a button to link to the email program. My Yahoo toolbar has a button that will take me to my Yahoo.com email account. How could Microsoft release a web browser that did not have a link / button for email? I used email regularly and most of the people I know use email regularly.
IE 7 has the feel of Microsoft Outlook and that is fine except most simple users like me find Outlook to be an overpowering program and prefer Outlook Express with its simple and friendly email program. I think I may spend part of the coming week or maybe next weekend replacing it with the old familiar IE 6.
Komyo Ga Tsuji
I really missed a lot last week when I went to see the play.
It seems that Japan had launched its invasion of Korea and fought for several years without a conclusive victory. China has or is about to enter the war on the Korean side, a major turning point.
Unrest and discontent with the war at home are growing. The daimyos [feudal lords] are losing confidence in the Shogun [de facto ruler] and some are plotting a rebellion. Gee, that almost sounds like the United States today. People are weary of the war in Korea and it is draining the economy of resources [Johnson presidency during the Vietnam War].
The conflict is going to come to a head soon I think and the lords will be forced to take sides. This, of course, presents the possibility of a civil war.
All of this has placed Lord Yamauchi in that nasty place of being between a rock and a bunch of hard and harder spots. He has a long standing tie of loyalty to the Shogun that everyone dislikes; he is a vassal to the Shogun’s primary rival; and he has to keep an eye on Lord Tokugawa for the Shogun.
Lord Yamauchi’s wife, who is the real brains in the family [Clinton presidency], asked the particularly telling question when she discussed the lord’s promotion to a larger castle. She pointed out that he and two other lords were acting as trip wires for the Shogun in his attempt to control the Tokugawa clan. Then, she asked if it was better for him to align himself with the Tokugawas who she thought would be the next Shogun or to stay with the Toyotomi clan.
Having read history and seen the Korean version of the war and fall of the Shogun, I know that the really smart money will go with the Tokugawa clan.
El Gringo
Today was Sunday and Sunday means late lunch – early dinner at El Gringo. For some reason, El Gringo was crowded today so I did not have a chance to ask the server what her name was. Maybe next Sunday will be a better day for asking names.
I had a Taco Salad with chicken today. It was a very filling meal as you can see. Most of the meal was either shredded lettuce or shredded chicken. I think it was the most chicken that I can recall having in a taco salad or tostada in a very long time. The salsa today was particularly spicy so I enjoyed that even more.
Well, gentle readers that was my weekend. I hope you had a great weekend also.
Be well and stay happy
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 12:37 PM
2 Comments:
What a weekend! Beats mine by a mile. You're "livin' large!"
Some weekends are better than others. I thought this was an off weekend for me. Next weekend will be better so long as there is no rain.
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