Blindingly Clear Sunny Day

Blindingly Clear Sunny Day
It was a blindingly clear, sunny day this morning. There were no clouds in the sky at all. It was sun in my eyes on the drive to the school. The skies were clear because we had some strong breezes and rain overnight that cleared the stuff out of the sky and allowed to the sun to shine through.

Woman of the Moment
I thought that I would put the Woman of the Moment up in the front again today. The idea came to me as I passed under a bridge on my way to school this morning.



Job Searching and Interviewing
I got an email from the chairman of the board of directors at a credit union where I had applied to become their president. They wanted to know if I was still interested in the job and gave me some dates that wanted to schedule an in-person interview. I replied and said that I was and picked out a day for an interview. The interview will be in two weeks. This was a nice way to start my evening.

School Teaching
I finished the term today. I completed my grade books and I had all of my students pass the classes. I will admit to making some last minutes adjustments to a couple of student’s class participation grades to allow them to pass with the lowest possible passing grade.

That made me feel good; it also made my department chair feel good.

There was a minor amount of excitement at school today for me and for one of my students.

One of my students was dropped by the attendance software as a result of an error. I had to scramble around and get her readmitted to the class and then re-enter all of her grades for the course. I ended up staying at school for an extra two hours to get my student’s situation fixed.

I felt very good about that. It was a nice way to end the day.

El Gringo
I went to El Gringo for my dinner tonight, expecting to see Valerie the Server there.

Instead of Valerie, I had a new server. Lindsey was the new server. Lindsey said that Valerie was now working on Taco Tuesday and Saturday nights.

I don’t know if I will convert to going to El Gringo on Tuesday nights to see Valerie or stay with Lindsey on Wednesdays. Right now, I am leaning towards alternating Tuesday and Wednesday nights each week. That would allow me an opportunity to see both on a semi-regular basis.

Decisions, decisions.


That was my day gentle readers.

Be well and stay happy.

Make Up Tuesday

Make Up Tuesday
Today is Make Up Tuesday to recover from the missing blog posting that was due on Monday. I had a sugar low and took a nap. The nap sucked up my time for writing the blog.

Woman of the Moment
I decided to move the Woman of the Moment up to a more prominent location today. I thought this would save some time for those readers who just like to come here for this feature.





DAE JO YOUNG
Of course, Dae Jo Young survived and escaped being trapped in the fort with one other warrior as he faced a large nomad army from a week ago. It was obvious he would escape and survive because the series would have crashed without him.

I did miss something from going to the Douguary Dinner. There are some minor gaps in the story line but I think I will be able to figure them out over time.

Just as I predicted, the young general managed to score one easy victory over the invading Chinese army by use of trickery to create an ambush before falling victim to the better lead Chinese army. Unfortunately, the young general failed to listen to his seasoned commanders and underestimated the enemy. He blundered into the same ambush he used against the Chinese and died along with over 30,000 of his warriors at the Battle of the Yalu in 661 AD. He lost as many men as Publius Quintillius Varus did in the Teutoburg Forest in 7 AD.

His death means that the only man that Korean king’s niece will marry will be Dae Jo Young because he will be the man to save the country and defeat the Chinese army.

Dae Jo Young has taken on an informal leadership role in the fight against the Chinese invaders. In Sunday’s episode, it appears as if he has been instrumental in organizing the Korean resistance movement when a group of Korean guards killed the Chinese soldiers in the town so Dae and the garrison from the small fort can escape.

One of the citizens gave Dae a map of the Chinese supply depots. The next episodes will probably deal with the destruction of the supply depots. This would be a serious blow against the Chinese because they will be an army a long way from home without any supplies. Living off the captured land is not much of an option since most of the food and other militarily valuable supplies have apparently been taken south in advance of the Chinese army.

Going without much food is bad for morale for any army unless it is lead by a charismatic leader like Henry V., Robert E. Lee, or Thomas J. Jackson. Without full rations, the Chinese army is fundamentally weakened and has a limited ability to maneuver and fight. It also becomes subject to attacks by partisan groups when they send out foraging parties.

BAD LUCK BRIDE
This is a satisfactory program for me. The plot line is not as compelling as some of the other limited series programs. I think I will continue to watch it but I doubt that I will comment on the program much.

Furniture Shopping
I went to the two local branches of two large, national furniture chains this morning since I did not have any lesson plans to prepare for school this week. The first one I visited was a waste of time since they did not have what I was looking for. But, since I was in and out in less than five minutes, I don’t think I wasted too much time.

The other store did not have what I was looking for but they did have a salesman who was very helpful and gave me a couple of good ideas on where to go for the furniture. I know that I will go back to him first for any future furniture purchase that I may have.

Job Searching and Interviewing
It has been a mixed bag for job searching and interviewing so far this week for me.

On Monday, I got a call from a recruiter that I had met with about two weeks ago. She and her boss were very pleased with my background and felt that I was an ideal candidate for the position. She called to say the client had decided to hire someone who was already in the position. This made no sense since the client was not offering all that much more for someone who was established in a similar position at another company. I suppose maybe they value working for their company is worth a lot more than I do.

Work is work and always will be.

This morning, another recruiter called me. We had talked maybe two and a half weeks ago about a position in Central California. She had thought I was perfect for the position. Her client had finally gotten back to her and wanted to schedule a telephone interview with me for next week.

I like the idea of a telephone interview since the drive to the work location is about three hours or so long. It could be longer depending on weather and traffic.

All in all, this was a nice way to start the week.

Douguary Dinner
I am only going to show you photos of my dinner. I had a salad, a small steak with potatos, and the Morton’s Godiva Chocolate cake for dessert. Amy the server brought me some extra ice cream because she knows I love ice cream; even in the Winter when it is cold. Amy also picked out my single malt Scotch whisky for me.






Be well and stay happy.

Too Tired to Post

Too Tired to Post
I stayed at school too long today and missed my regular lunch. This left me with a sugar low and a lack of energy. I will do a better job tomorrow. I will leave you with the Woman of the Moment instead of a witty blog posting.






Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update - February 25th

Weekend Update
I managed to get rid of the old sofa bed – convertible sofa that had broken. I went online and found a company called Got Junk, booked a pickup, and then waited for the truck and workers to arrive. They showed up on time and removed the sofa bed in about fifteen minutes including paperwork and incredibly slow elevator in my building.

I did some useful and productive things today [Saturday]. I polished my shoes for tonight and I also polished my new shoes as well. I will have to give the new shoes a regular spit shine but that will have to wait until the next weekend.

I had an epic night’s sleep on Thursday and again on Friday. I managed to pull down eight solid hours of uninterrupted sleep. That was wonderful. I did not do so well on Saturday but that was probably because of the Douguary Dinner and my very full stomach.

Douguary Dinner
We had the usual and traditional Douguary Dinner last night at Morton’s in Santa Ana. We, Doug and I, like to go there for two reasons; for me, lots of free parking and for Doug, a good valet parking service.

Our table of ten was like the red carpet at a Hollywood movie premiere with the flash bulbs going off about every ten seconds. Everyone seemed to own digital cameras and brought them along with them. I was not to be left; besides, someone had to take photos for the blog.


That is me at the end of the table and Amy is the one who is giving me a hug.

The dinner was excellent but then that is what you expect from Morton’s. Amy the Server and our Favorite Server was our server at dinner. Because we were a large group, she had another server assist with our meal.

The meal was significant for many reasons. Doug tried and liked the wine I picked out for the meal. The wine was a Pinot Noir from Northern Napa Valley in California. It was excellent and I assume that everyone liked it since we went through three bottles during the course of dinner.

Amy made a production out of the dessert for Doug’s birthday. She had a procession of servers bring out the Godiva Chocolate Cakes. Doug’s had some candles and he got two scoops of ice cream to go with the cake.

Doug agreed with my suggestion that we consider inviting Vivian to the next Douguary Dinner since she works in the film industry and she is very attractive. You can never have too many attractive women at your table.

I will write more about the dinner tomorrow to fill up the post Weekend Update let down.

Visitors
This was a good week for visitors to the blog. We had visitors from the United Kingdom [3], Canada [7], Philippines [3], Thailand [2], Australia, China [6], Singapore [3], Ireland, Japan [4], Romania, Netherlands, Texas, Taiwan, Brazil, Cote D’Ivorie, Italy, Kuwait, Switzerland, and France [3].

Last week was the first time, in my memory, that we had a visitor from the Cote D’Ivorie.

We had three curious visitors last week. One stayed for ten and two stayed eleven minutes each.

We had two visitors who were more interested in looking around I think. One viewed ten pages in four minutes and one viewed six pages in one minute. That last one must have been a speed reader.

So far this month, the viewership has been strong. I know we will not exceed January’s totals because this month has three fewer days and I was not blogging as much as I usually do and did in January. I will post the monthly totals for February on Thursday night.

Vivuary and Vivian’s Woman of the Moment
February, as many of you know, is also called Douguary for the month long celebration of all things Doug. And many of you know that Vivian is a good friend and former co-worker.

I had sent Vivian a cartoon about Microsoft on Friday afternoon to cheer up. Vivian, like many of us, tends to slow down on Friday afternoons. Vivian laughed at the cartoon and sent me an email thank you for the cartoon and for having Doug give her a call. Vivian works for a company that finances films and it is always looking for more sources of films to finance. Doug is doing two internships at film production companies that are based at the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City.

Hollywood is about relationships and putting deals together. I hope Vivian can put deal together out of Doug’s phone call.

Anyway and more to the point, Vivian wished me a fun weekend. I responded and said that this was the traditional Douguary Dinner Weekend. That was when I learned that Douguary is also Vivuary.

Vivian said that I should make Vivian Hsu a Woman of the Moment in honor of Vivuary. Vivian had found Vivian Hsu while she was out searching Amazon.com for all things Vivian. I will have Vivian Hsu be the next Woman of the Moment.


I should remember and invite Vivian to the next Douguary Dinner in 2008. She would fit in perfectly since she is in the film industry and everyone else who will be there is in the film industry in one form or another. That is a good reason.

The best reason to invite Vivian is that Vivian is very attractive. You can never have too many very attractive women at your table at dinner.

School Teaching and the End of the Term
This is the end of the term at school. I spent part of Friday afternoon and evening printing out late homework and class project assignments. Saturday, I read and then graded the papers and homework assignments. This was one of those “it has to be done” jobs. I also worked on my lesson plans for two make-up classes.

On Thursday, I was in the instructors’ lounge between classes when I and another teacher were talking about the weather and where we went to school. I discovered that another teacher who joined our discussion got her Master’s of Business Administration degree at the University of Utah.

Go Utes!

She and I talked about Salt Lake City and life there. We do seem to have something in common. I have not met too many people who have gone to the University of Utah while I have been in Southern California.

Coins
I had a bunch of coins, mostly pennies, which were lying around the place when I decided to cash them for the folding paper kind of money. I had no idea how much I had in loose coins but the bag I used to carry them certainly was on the heavy side. It turns out that I had just over USD$22.00 in coins.

I had to pay a fee to get the coins counted in by the machine. I figure that paying the fee was worth it because I have no idea when I would have converted the coins into folding bills.

El Gringo
I was going to go to El Gringo for a late lunch or early dinner today. I decided to pass on El Gringo because I was still filling full from last night’s dinner at Morton’s with Doug and his friends. I guess I will have to wait until next Sunday to see Jess the Server.

Furniture Shopping
I had also planned to go furniture shopping today. That did not happen.

I felt a little loggy and bloated after the night before. I can visit a couple of local stores during the week and see if they have what I am looking for in the way of a bed and bookcase. I also think I will have a better time of shopping without the weekend crowds. I would like to get the bed and bookcase ordered by the weekend so I can have the weekend free for my haircut from the new stylist and what ever else develops for me.

Woman of the Moment
Here we have Mandy Lynn from Long Island, New York. She will be with us for another week and part of the second week. Then, I will put up Vivian’s Woman of the Moment Vivian Hsu.





These photos belong together and not spread out over two days.

DAE JO YOUNG
I missed Saturday’s DAE JO YOUNG because of the Douguary Dinner. We arrived at about 6:00 and then left just before 9:00 PM. I will try to catch it tonight before I go to bed.

BAD LUCK BRIDE
Maybe I will stick around and watch some of it tonight.


That was my weekend gentle readers. I hope your weekend was as fun filled as mine.

Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Bonus Feature - Eriko Sato

Weekend Bonus Feature - Eriko Sato
It's Friday already. I don't think that I will be able to make a regular posting today. I may push a regular posting on to the usual Weekend Update posting on Sunday. In the meantime, I hope this will keep you coming back to the blog.






Be well and stay happy.

The Big Let Down

The Big Let Down
Today is a big let down day as far as the blog is concerned.

I tossed out a rather nice blog posting yesterday and now I am sort of out of material. For example, I was able to weave in references to two classic battles in the ancient Western world, Salamis and the Teutoburg Forest, along with a classic American film in my comments on DAE JOYOUNG.

I can’t do that every day now.

The New Stylist
I made an appointment to get my hair cut by the new stylist. I go in for a cutting on March 3rd.

I decided to have my hair cut on March 3rd since this weekend is the traditional Douguary Dinner and I did want to have the “just come from the barber [stylist] look” for my hair. I do hope this new stylist will work for me.

I had been with Michelle, my last stylist, for almost four years. I had gotten used to her way of not cutting my hair the way I wanted it to be cut. Michelle had her own ideas of how my hair should look and rarely paid any attention to what I wanted.

So much for putting the customer first.

On the plus side, the first hair cut with the new stylist will give me something to write about in the Weekend Update for March 4th.

Woman of the Moment
The new Woman of the Moment is Mandy Lynn from Long Island, New York. I found her in the Speed Options website Model of the Month section. The images are from the February 2007 Model of the Month web site feature. She has an active web site of http://www.clubmandylynn.com for those you who crave more information about her.

For the statistically inclined reader, Mandy Lynn is 62 inches / 157 centimeters tall and is 32D – 22 – 33 inches / 81 – 56 – 84 centimeters. Her weight was listed at 95 pounds / 43 kilograms.

As far as I can tell, she has had not been in any films, based on a search of the Internet Movie Database. Mandy Lynn has been in several subsidiary Playboy publications and in several calendars as well.



Changing Weather
The sun came out today but it will be gone by Thursday and Friday when the weather forecast is calling for some rain. We did have some very nice dark clouds this morning and early afternoon. Looking ahead, I will have a cloudy drive to school on Thursday and that will be good for me.


Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update - February 19th

Happy New Year
Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

I know I am a bit late but it is better to be a day or two late than to ignore the event altogether. I hope everyone enjoys the Year of the Boar or Year of the Pig, depending on how you call it.

Weekend Update
Let’s see what happened this weekend.

I graded homework and advised students on their paper structure and content. I’m not certain that I reached some of my students who seem bent and determined to write their papers in their own style and ignore the school’s writing standards. In the end, I do not have the desire to fight with them. Next term, they will be taking another writing class from an instructor who is much more demanding than I was this term. They will have to work much harder to earn their grades.

I enjoyed being able to wear shorts and a golf shirt for most of the weekend. I think Monday is sort of out for shorts since the weather forecast is calling for rain in the morning.

We did have some rain overnight and on into Monday morning. No shorts today. I was sleeping so I missed most of the overnight rain. The water on the pavement will make the Pathfinder a little dirtier when I go out today.

Visitors
We had visitors from Singapore [4], Korea [2], Japan [3], United Kingdom [4], Texas [3], Australia [3], Poland, South Africa, India, Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Canada, and Portugal.

There were no curious visitors [stayed more than ten minutes] or lookers [view many pages in a short time] this week.

I do appreciate all of you who visit the blog and thank you for stopping by.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know
Doug asked me, rhetorically, one day, why is it that young Asian women always seem to want to give Sir Winston Churchill’s famous “V for Victory” symbol when they are photographed?



The photos are of Mao Kobayashi, a young Japanese actress, who was in DELICIOUS PROPOSAL for a few episodes. She will also have her own Weekend Bonus Feature series in a couple of weeks.

I thought that was a very good question and it was one that I could not answer.

Do any of you readers out there know why this is the case? I know that are readers from Japan, Korea, and China who visit the blog regularly who may be able to answer the question.

Microsoft Patch Tuesday
Tuesday was supposed to be the day for a major Microsoft security patch download. It must have either been a huge download or else it was delayed because I didn’t receive my patch until late on Friday night or early on Saturday morning.

I wonder how long it will be until Microsoft sends out its first patch for any version of the new Windows Vista operating system?

Woman of the Moment
This is the last of the Gong Li Woman of the Moment features. Tomorrow, we will have a new Woman of the Moment and I think you will enjoy her appearances in the blog.



Dae Jo Young
The show is moving along nicely now that the evil Chinese have mobilized a 700,000 man army to invade Korea. There were some large continuity problems with Saturday’s show. At one point, Dae Jo Young was suffering from a snake bite fever. He had passed out and his hostage, who he saved from the snake, had a chance to escape but she did not. The next scene for Dae Jo Young had him riding a horse and acting like he was completely healed. Of course, the female hostage was nowhere in sight.

I think I ought to explain the transition from where I left off with the story narrative. Dae Jo Young had left his home to escape being killed or executed. He was headed for his father’s small frontier fort that was right in the path of the Chinese army.

That reminded me of Leonidas and the 300 Spartans.

Moving on.

On his way there, he is captured by the daughter of a local nomadic chieftain [khan] who claims him as her slave. Fast forwarding the plot line a bit, he grabs the daughter as a hostage and escapes with the loyal supporters in hot pursuit. As if by miracle, they escape capture only to have a snake bite the daughter – hostage.

Dae Jo Young sucks the venom out of her leg and gets a slight dose of the venom, making him ill. He dragged or carried her as far as he could to where he collapsed in a large cave. Instead of leaving him, the daughter nursed him back to health I suppose.

Either this is love or a very early case of Stockholm Syndrome.

Meanwhile, back in the Korean capital city, the less than honorable noble families are nervous about the possibility of losing their fortunes. They demand the king do something; not an unreasonable demand, given the situation. The battle hardened veteran and warlord who has twice defeated the Chinese invaders volunteers to lead the Korean army north to meet the Chinese.

Not surprisingly, the nobles objected and said he should remain at the capital. Militarily, that was the wrong decision. Instead of sending the battle hardened veteran, they send his son who has never led an army in combat before. They do send along two, seasoned, subordinate generals to help him.

We all know that he will never follow their advice because he craves glory so he can marry the king’s niece. The king’s niece said she will marry the bravest and best warrior in Korea.

That will be Dae Jo Young.

I think the son will take his tactics cues from Publius Quinitilius Varus who managed to suffer one of the worse military defeats in recorded world history when he blundered into the Teutoburg Forest in 7 AD and promptly lost a running battle with the Germanic tribes. The XVII, XVIII, and XIX Legions, one third of the entire standing Roman army at the time, were destroyed and were never reconstituted. Some historians believe this loss was a cause of Emperor Octavius’ insanity.

One of the fascinating events from Saturday’s episode was the Chinese empress, who had real power in an age when women were not even seen or heard, organized the supply program for the invading army by resupplying them by sea. This is an effective and efficient method so long as you have control of the sea.

I can see what will happen when the Chinese lose control of the sea. It happened to the Persians after the Battle of Salamis when the Greek navy destroyed the Persian fleet. When what was left of the Persian army finally reached home, it was shattered as a fighting force and probably less than one man in ten returned alive.

Sunday’s episode was interesting. Dae Joyoung came up with a plan to evacuate the isolated fort and save the soldiers there. At the close of the episode, most all of the soldiers had been evacuated in a very orderly and silent retreat. The garrison walls are manned with straw dummies to confuse the nomadic tribes.

Dae Joyoung and one other man had remained behind to hold the fort against the nomadic army long enough for the troops to make their escape. Then, the two men were instructed to join up with the column.

I was reminded of a classic John Wayne – John Ford cavalry film, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON, where Wayne, playing the part of Captain Brittles, tells young Lieutenant Cohill to take two squads and hold the position and deny the use of the river ford to the hostiles long enough so he can get the column with settlers and wounded soldiers away.

Of course, no one did a film like this better than John Ford.

The Sunday episode ended as the nomads discovered the fort was garrisoned by straw dummies and they are about to attack. Dae Joyoung and the other warrior are about to fire [shoot arrows at] on the nomad commander when the khan’s [chieftain’s] daughter arrives to tell the nomads to with draw. Dae is ready to release his arrow but stops at the last moment and tells the other warrior to not fire.

I guess he must have some strong emotional feelings for the khan’s daughter.

I am a little bummed out about missing next Saturday’s episode because of the Douguary Dinner. I want to see how they will escape. Hopefully, there will be a catch up on Sunday night.

Southern California Real Estate, Dutch tulips, and other investment follies – Part II
I saw that there is another unit for sale in my building yesterday.

I think it is a bit smaller than my unit but not by much. Judging from the photos I saw, it is on my side of the building, overlooking the park, and I think it is not on the top floor. It is priced at USD$480,000 for a two bedroom and two bathroom flat of about 900 square feet or 83 square meters.

This seems like a more reasonable price but it is still a lot of money to pay for a small, by Southern California standards, flat in a building that is aging rapidly.

Theater
I was going to go to the theater last night [Saturday] but my back was bothering me something fierce. It was very difficult to sit or stand up. I decided to not put myself in a period of discomfort and suffering. This was a wise decision on my part.

I also started to come down with a sinus cold and that was even more discomforting for me. I ended up the evening all bundled up in a sweatshirt and my flannel pajamas. I did sleep well and I felt much better in the morning.

El Gringo
As usual, I went to El Gringo for my dinner on Sunday night. Jess the Server wasn’t working tonight so the conversation with the first time for me server was almost non-existent beyond the meal order.

I had a carne asada tostado. It is a pile of carne asada [spicy beef strips] that is covered with a mound of shredded lettuce, diced tomatos, and shredded cheese. I washed everything down with an Arnold Palmer [half iced tea and half lemonade].

Yummy meal.

Monday Lunch
I had lunch today with some old co-workers from the company that I had a long term consulting project last year. We went to a local sandwich shop – restaurant for lunch. One of the others had recommended it for the large portions and freshness of the food.

I did have a large ham and turkey and Swiss cheese sandwich on rye bread. The ham and turkey were thick piles of sliced meat. But, there were only two thin slices of Swiss cheese in the sandwich which I thought was on the odd side. I almost had a cup of Navy bean soup but decided to pass at the last minute when I remembered about the large portions.

We talked about the company and how it is progressing since we stopped working there. The company has made some progress but it has not reached its full potential. It seems to lack some key management players in a variety of spots.

My Friend Sharon
My friend Sharon called me this morning. It was one of her “look how well I’m doing” phone calls. Sharon seems to be doing well at the new job. She wanted to tell me how bad things were at her old company.

Then, Sharon told me how several other companies were trying to recruit her to work for them. She said the only problems with the other jobs were the commuting distances. She would have to drive longer distances with the flow of traffic in each direction so her time to reach work and return home would be much longer and more disappointing.

I told Sharon that Doug and I would think of her when we go to Morton’s this Saturday for the traditional Douguary Dinner. I said we would each eat a Chicago style rib eye steak and Morton’s Godiva cake in her honor. Those are her two favorite dishes.

Life goes on and it sometimes balances out at the end of the day.

Bad Luck Bride
BAD LUCK BRIDE is the new limited series Japanese language program that is taking the place of DELICIOUS PROPOSAL on Sunday nights. I watched the first episode on Sunday and I will watch it again next week before I decide to stay or go.


The show stars Ryoko Shinohara as aging news anchor reader [middle thirties] at a Tokyo television station. Her news show ratings have been declining. The station is replacing her with a younger and minimally talented news reader who used to read the weather reports.

The station offered her a role in a reality television show where if she does well she will have a prime time program. The reality program is about becoming a fake, farmer’s wife; something that she knows nothing about. She has to find a farmer to marry for the show and then get the process filmed for television.

The only question that I have is will this be enough of a plotline to hold my interest for another ten or eleven weeks? I’m guessing that this will not be sufficient to hold my attention. But, time will tell in the end.

That was my long weekend gentle readers.

Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Bonus Feature - Eriko Sato

Weekend Bonus Feature - Eriko Sato
I decided to toss up another Weekend Bonus Feature since the blog will not be back until Monday evening.


Eriko must have been tired after a hard day of photography on the beach.

Weekend Bonus Feature - Eriko Sato

Weekend Bonus Feature with Eriko Sato
I was going to post this Weekend Bonus Feature on Friday. I changed my mind and decided to post it today since I posted a larger size, regular blog on Friday afternoon or early evening. We still have about six or seven more weeks of Eriko as the Weekend Bonus Feature.





Obviously, I have absolutely no idea what television show or film these photos came from. They certainly are interesting and sort of make me want to see the whole show or film.

Be well and stay happy.

Brain Farts and Other Minor Traumas

Brain Farts and Other Minor Traumas
I had a major brain fart on Thursday when I was at school.

After my morning class, I went out to the Prelude to change books in preparation for the evening class. I retrieved the evening class books and then went back into the school building. I left my keys in the trunk lock and they were in broad daylight so anyone could have taken them and driven off with the car.

I was so embarrassed when I rushed out to my car ninety minutes later to get the keys and retain the Prelude.

On balance, Thursday was not the best day of the week for me.

Lincoln’s Birthday
Abraham Lincoln, probably our Nation’s greatest President, was born on Monday February 12th.

We used to celebrate February 12th and February 22nd, Washington’s Birthday, as national holidays until President Richard Nixon issued an executive order in 1973 or 1974 that combined the two holidays into one, the third Monday in February, to honor all of our Nation’s Presidents.

That was a big mistake.

Which leads me to my next observation.

One of my students in my Monday morning class skipped the class because he thought it was a holiday. He wasn’t born when the holiday observance was changed and yet he tried to use that as an excuse to skip class.

That was so bogus and he got called on the carpet for it by his classmates.

School Teaching
The term is coming to an end now. Next week is the last week of the term and the students are getting rightfully nervous now.

Some students, the ones in my Microeconomics class, have a very legitimate right to be concerned and nervous. Their final examination is largely a vocabulary and reading test. I looked at one final examination question for three or four minutes and concluded I could not answer it. I looked the answer up and still did not understand the logic of the answer.

Another teacher who has a section of Microeconomics and I talked about the exam. We concluded that it did not truly measure student learning. This is especially difficult for some students because they never received a strong foundation of English in high school.

After next week, I ought to be able to get back to posting a blog daily from Sunday through Thursday.

Programming Note
Since Monday will be the Presidents’ Day holiday, the Weekend Update will not be posted until Monday evening. I may post an extra Weekend Bonus Feature for those of you that like to start your week out with the blog and my life.

Woman of the Moment
This will be the final appearance for Michelle Yeoh as the daily Woman of the Moment. Gong Li will close out with the next blog posting. That means that you can look forward to a new woman and a new face in the blog next week.





Weather
It was warm and sunny today at the beach. I was out buzzing around today in my shorts and a golf shirt. I had my Lakai skate board shoes and Lakai baseball hat on as well.

Life was good today at the beach. Someone has to live at the beach; that might as well be me.

The Monday and holiday weather forecast is calling for rain. I will not get upset if it rains on Monday. I will be busy with other things like grading late homework submissions and doing last minutes reviews of course project papers.

I can stay inside and be comfortable and warm.

Doug
Doug and I had a simple steak dinner in Tuesday when he was here for his internships. It was a good meal and it filled us up. We finished our dinners with a desert from our favorite Italian delicatessen, Giuliano’s.

We may or may not go out for dinner on Monday since his school is closed for the holiday and he could arrive earlier than his usual after class 10:30 PM appearance. His plans are still up in the air so I won’t know what will happen until probably on Sunday or maybe Monday morning.

Weekend Preview
The big event for the weekend will be the theater. I have tickets for a play on Saturday night at the Pasadena Playhouse. All I know about the play is that it is about race relations in the military in the 1970s.

That hardly seems like a good subject for a play.

I will go watch the play with an open mind and I will write about it in the Weekend Update on Monday.

Year of the Pig
I sent my Chinese friends a Happy New Year email card. Sunday is the beginning of the Year of the Pig. I didn’t think that being born in the Year of the Pig was a good choice for birth years. One of my Chinese friends said that it is considered a good year to be born in because the Pig people are kind, honest, and friendly.

For the record, the Princess was born in the Year of the Dragon and Doug and I were both born in the Year of the Rooster. According the Chinese zodiac, we should all get along well.


Be well and stay happy.

Bad Hair Day

Bad Hair Day
Today was a bad hair day for me.

Actually, it was very windy here today so the wind was blowing my hair all over the place. Having your hair messed up by the wind is kind of good thing for me because it means I have hair on my head. I don’t have a Donald Trump-like comb over to worry about.

Life is good.

Wind and Rain
I think it might rain tonight or early tomorrow morning. Rain would be good because we are seriously short of rain so far this year. Rain would also be good because it would leave clouds in the sky in the morning. That would make my drive to school tomorrow something less of a challenge; I won’t have to be driving into the bright, rising sun.

The winds have blown any thought of a cloud out of the local sky right now. I had to run out to Giuliano’s to pick up some dessert tonight. The sun was extremely bright and I was very thankful for my Bausch & Lomb sunglasses. I worry about the other drivers who don’t use sunglasses.

I have been wearing Bausch & Lomb aviator style sunglasses since I was a young Ensign on the good ship USS Leonard F. Mason. You have no idea how bright the sun can be until you have been in middle of the Pacific Ocean at noon on a cloudless day.

That, gentle readers, is painfully bright.

I caught the nightly weather news reader’s presentation of tomorrow’s weather. It looks like I missed getting wet as the storm went through the area without dropping much more than a few isolated drops at the beach. It also seems likely that it will be sunny in the morning for my drive to school. Fortunately for me, I also have a late class tomorrow and on Thursday so there is no sun when I will drive home around 9:30 PM.

Looking ahead, the forecast is calling for temperatures to be around 80F / 27C by Friday.

Sweet weekend and time to break out the shorts maybe.

Sleep
I really slept well last night and I felt wonderful today.

Of course, I slept well. The night before I only picked up five or so hours of sleep. I had absolutely no trouble falling asleep. I think I was off in slumber land almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Today, I am rested and alert and I don’t have too much to say today.

Job Searching and Interviewing
I had a kind of job interview this morning.

A recruiting firm contacted me for a position that they had been hired to fill by a large credit union. They felt I was an ideal match for what their client was looking for. This was not a true interview but more like “does Chuck know how to dress for a senior corporate level position and can he communicate properly?” interview.

Almost all of the questions were soft ones like what type of a management style or philosophy do I work best in?

I think I did well in the visual interview. I had worn one of my suits with a white shirt and conservative tie. I naturally wore my polished wing tip shoes. I felt like I made the proper impression. It remains to be seen if I will get a chance to talk to the client credit union.

Woman of the Moment
I think tonight should be Gong Li. It seems like I have a 50% chance of being right with this selection.




Be well and stay happy.

Too tired

Too tired
I was too tired to post to the blog today. I did not sleep well last night. Actually, I did sleep well once I fell asleep. It was the falling asleep part that was difficult for me.

I was sucking down some Dove Sugar Free Chocolates while I was watching the final episode of DELICIOUS PROPOSAL. I failed to realize that the chocolate contained caffeine until it was around 1:00 AM this morning. I think I ended up with about five or so hours of sleep this morning.

Tomorrow should be better.

I figure that Eriko Sato is a satisfactory substitute for a blog posting. If for no other reason, these photos are worthwhile because they illustrate why a man should never become too attached to his girl friend's or wife's hair color or length.






Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update - February 11th

Weekend Update
It was a slow weekend for me.

I had a couple of phone calls from Doug as he was installing some of my software on his mother’s new personal computer. Overall, the installation has not gone well for Doug. She didn’t listen to my suggestion of buying the computer before Microsoft Windows Vista came out in the general public launch. Now, she will have to either go without or buy an upgradeable program or wait until the Vista compliant program is released.

I plan to wait to buy a new laptop until after the first Windows Vista Service Pack is released. I ought to be preparing my blogs on a new laptop by mid-year.

We did get some rain here overnight. It was not too much of a rain storm because I managed to sleep through it completely. Before the storm came through the area, our rainfall was 1.3 inches / 3.3 centimeters. Our normal rainfall at this time of the year should be 8.5 inches / 21.6 centimeters.

I think I may have found a new stylist. A friend of mine recommended her to me. I figure I have nothing to lose since Michelle has not returned to cutting hair from her maternity period. The stylists in her shop seem to be unable to recognize the difference between a half inch and a full inch of hair.

I was reading in the morning newspaper sports section that Real Madrid will hang onto the aging soccer player for the balance of the season and not release him to play in Los Angeles. Thank goodness I am not a soccer fan or I might have been devastated by the Real Madrid decision.

Visitors
We had another good week of visitors with visitors coming from Korea, Austria, United Arab Emirates [2], Malaysia, Hungary, India, China, Poland, Germany [3], Canada [2], Italy, Iran, Japan [2], Texas [3], Australia [2], Belgium, United Kingdom, Turkey, and Romania.

I can see why someone from the Emirates, a moderate country, might want to stop and view the blog. I am having some trouble understanding why someone from Iran would want to visit the blog and be exposed to color photos of women, some of whom are in bikinis.

We only had one curious visitor who stopped for just over ten minutes. We had two looking visitors who viewed nine pages in five minutes and nine pages in four minutes.

School Teaching
I am still not happy with my class assignments for the next term. I suppose that I should be happy that I didn’t end up teaching Statistics or Mathematics or Writing.

On the plus side, I will be able to watch my daily Korean soap opera, PURE IN HEART, because I won’t be teaching at nights. Of course, I don’t think the show will last too much longer. Friday night was Episode 144 and the main story arc is about at its logical end. I don’t see how much longer the show will go on unless they plan to close out the half dozen or so subsidiary story arcs. That could take another fifty or sixty episodes assuming there are no new arcs introduced.

Since two of my classes are accounting classes, homework will be easy to grade. There is only one right answer with accounting unless, of course, your teacher came from the Enron Corporation or the Arthur Anderson accounting firm and then there could be multiple answers, depending on the question.

One of my current classes is on Wednesday nights. That means I get out of a St. Valentine’s Day dinner and gift exchange with a girl friend because I will be in class until about 9:30 PM. This would be a much better benefit for me if I had a girl friend right now.

El Gringo
I will be going to El Gringo today for a late lunch or early dinner. I hope Jess the Server is working there today. I don’t know what to have for the meal except that the really spicy El Gringo Burrito is not on any list of mine today.

Today was a Number 2 Combination of two, soft chicken tacos, rice, and beans. It was not too spicy so that was good. The beans and rice were nice and hot.

Perfectomundo.

Jess was the server today and service was excellent. This may have been because I was the only customer at El Gringo at the time; every little bit helps you know. Jess was talking about her nursing school today. She is starting a new semester or quarter on Monday so that offers a new level of tension and anxiety for her.

DAE JO YOUNG and other television viewing
The show is becoming a little more fleshed out and I can see how the story line will develop from now on out.

So far, Dae Jo Young has saved his adoptive father from assassins sponsored by the Tang Dynasty in China. He also met his probable future wife, a niece of the current Korean emperor. The niece is sort of a liberated woman in an ancient world so she does not nicely fit into society. He can marry the niece and then become the warrior king, thus fulfilling his destiny and the prophecy.

I find it interesting to see how the Korean noble families or clans are cast in these epic dramas as being weak and spineless and venal and lacking any sense of patriotism and generally only interested in increasing their wealth. They do not support the military that keeps the Chinese and Japanese away from the country. They are presented as being disloyal; in this series, the leading families have already conspired with the Chinese ambassador to assassinate the Korean supreme military leader and his principle deputy.

Nice group of people to have influencing the emperor.

When Saturday’s show ended, the Korean spies had discovered the Tang army was being mobilized for an invasion of Korea. The Korean noble clans were in a panic about the Chinese duplicity and did not know whether to fight or flee. My guess is they will not fight but they will be too panicked to flee.

Dae Jo Young was about to be killed for one reason or another by his adoptive father. The Korean Supreme Military Commander was getting drunk; his deputy was getting very nervous out of the frontier and therefore closer to the Tang army. Dae Jo Young’s father is alive but out of the picture and has been for the last three weekends.

They basic plot line for the show is revenge. Dae Jo Young must avenge the torture and murder of his mother. He also has to become a ruler. This secondary plot line gives him the future ability to say, “Off with their heads,” and have heads roll in revenge for his mother’s suffering. I suspect he will be a very firm and merciless avenger.

Good for him; they deserve what is coming to them.

My Sunday night limited Japanese language series, DELICIOUS PROPOSAL, is coming to an end tonight. I figured that out when the station showed some previews on a new series that will be in the old time slot starting next weekend.

DELICIOUS PROPOSAL is reaching its end now. Last week, the only son of the family spurned the marriage to the daughter of a banker whose bank would help prop up the family business. The son gave a Japanese sort of Edward VIII abdication speech to his father, with his to be wife present, so he could marry the woman he loved. The father had a heart attack. It will be easy to conclude the show tonight.

Lastly, the Japanese station has started to show a modern remake of the samurai classic FURIN KAZAN by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring Toshiro Mifune. I don’t see why the classic needed to be remade; the current director has none of style or grandeur that Inagaki displayed in his seminal SAMURAI TRILOGY that also starred Mifune.

Toshiro Mifune, to me, is the quintessential samurai actor after seeing him in so many Kurosawa films like RASHOMON and SEVEN SAMURAI. He seems to capture the essence of the samurai characters much more effectively and with more passion than any other actor that I can think of right now.

So far, I am not impressed by the directing or the acting. I doubt I will spend too much time with the new limited series.

I can’t call programs like DELICIOUS PROPOSAL a mini-series since it will be on for twelve or more episodes. I think limited series is the best description for the programs.

Woman of the Moment
Today, we feature Gong Li and I hope you enjoy the images. I think we will change to a new Woman of the Moment at the beginning of next week.




Be well and stay happy.