The Year Is A Third Gone

The Year Is A Third Gone
Wow, where did the year go to?

Here it is the end of April and the year is a third gone. The year has gone by fast for me. I don’t know about the rest of you but I, for one, am hoping for a slow down in the remaining months of the year.

It is only five and a half months until the Princess’ wedding in Atlanta.

Woman of the Moment
It is time to say good bye to Park Ye-jin. I think she has been a very nice Woman of the Moment. I just wish I could have found more photos of her to add to the display.

Full and fair disclosure: I did find more photos of Park Ye-jin and Hong Su-hyeon but the files were very small, generally less than 10kb. A small file like that does not work well with blogger.com’s photo transfer and display functions.

I would rather limit the number of photos and preserve an element of visual quality.




Some of you may be wondering who will be the next Woman of the Moment. You will just have to return tomorrow and find out whose photo is racing the blog then.

Programming Note
Since this coming Sunday is the traditional Chuckay Dinner, I will be delaying the weekend Update from Sunday the 6th to Monday the 7th. I want to enjoy my dinner and I do not want to have to rush home to finish it.

Cleaning
I did some more cleaning in the spare bedroom where Doug has been sleeping. Today, I tossed out a bunch of out of date user manuals and old program CDs. As a result of my cleaning, I now have a huge collection of empty CD jewel cases. I have enough to last for years to come, even if I create a backup CD every week.

I tried to talk Doug into taking some of the empties home with him but he said he had a full supply.

I also added some more cables to my collection of extra cables and connections. I am highly confident that I will not use any of the cables or connections. I hate to toss one out because I will need as soon as the trash trucks pulls away from the building. I guess this is part of my Scotch heritage coming bubbling up in my psyche.


I know this is a short blog but Mondays usually are short postings.

Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update - April 29th

Weekend Update
I live across the street from a Jewish temple. This is a statement of geography and nothing more. The temple has an outdoor music program in the Spring and early Summer on Sunday afternoons.

Today was the start of the series. Today’s performers featured electronic music; Doug might like it and he would probably call it electronica . I would call it noise. It is loud enough to disrupt any serious work that I had planned for the day or at least the afternoon. I wonder what the music type will be next week.

I realized as I as driving home from school on Saturday that agreeing to teach this coming Friday night was not a good idea for me. I will be missing one of the last episodes of Stargate SG-1.

What was I thinking when I agreed to teach?

Visitors
We had one visitor who was interested in looking at the photos I guess. This visitor managed to go to fifteen pages in about four minutes. Another visitor was here for fifteen minutes and looked at only two pages. I must have been writing very well on those days or the photos were particularly good.

We had visitors from Korea [3], United Kingdom [12], Japan [3], Texas [5], Malaysia [2], Ireland, Kuwait, Canada [4], Denmark, Hungary, Turkey, Singapore, France [2], Spain, Chile, Viet Nam, Australia [2], Belgium, Norway, and Portugal.

I wonder what I said that was so compelling to bring out all of the United Kingdom visitors.

I do appreciate each of you that took time from your busy schedule to visit Balancing Checkbooks.

Holy Conspiracy Theory, Batman!
I decided to download the latest version of ICQ on Friday. This would be version 6.0. I wasn’t thrilled with the way Version 5.10 was running on the new laptop. I thought it might have something to do with the Windows Vista Operating System.

I clicked on the download button and was switched over to Internet Explorer as a browser to download the new program from CNet.com. I can accept that; some sites are not compatible with the Mozilla Firefox browser that I have gotten used and grown to like and enjoy using.

Internet Explorer would not allow me to download the program,. It was automatically blocked and there was no way around the block. I think there was no way to stop the automatic block.

I just went back to Firefox and downloaded the new version and installed it without much trouble.

Do you suppose Microsoft is using Internet Explorer to damage a competitor?

Conspiracy theorists want to know.

Woman of the Moment
This is the next to last edition with Park Ye-jin as the Woman of the Moment. I like her as an actress so I will be seeing her for another 60 or so episodes in the Korean historical epic drama on television.



I am still deciding on who will be the next Woman of the Moment. About the only thing I have decided is that she will an American actress. That leaves a lot of choices out there.

Sleeping
I have been sleeping well lately. This is a good thing for me. I usually sleep for about seven hours or so; some days a little longer, especially if there is nothing worth watching on television.

The other day, I think it was Thursday, I woke up and I found myself sleeping on my stomach. I do no think I have slept on my stomach in more than forty years. In the Navy, I learned to sleep on my back because that helps prevent you from falling out of your bunk when the ship is rolling around.

Then, when I got married, I learned to sleep on side to cut down on the snoring. My ex-wife said that I snored a lot. I was always asleep at the time so I can’t certain.

Waking up on my stomach was an unusual feeling for me. I could not turn off the alarm with my usual right hand because I was facing the wrong way. I was momentarily confused. That can be scary.

I haven’t slept on my stomach since Thursday as far as I know. I will try to pay attention to what I am doing when I wake up on my stomach.

My Friend Sharon
My friend Sharon phoned me on Friday night.

Sharon wanted to talk to me because it had been a while since we talked before. She was on her way to get her hair cut and have stuff done to it. Sharon said that she would not be able to talk for too long because once she got to the salon, she was going to be busy for three hours.

What takes three hours to have your hair cut and stuff?

Sharon was still bummed out about not being to go to Morton’s with Doug and me for the traditional Chuckay Dinner. Sharon is going to Las Vegas next weekend. She said that she had missed two Morton’s Dinners with us. Actually, it was three but Doug and I are not counting that high.

That was the extent of the conversation; she arrived at the hair salon sooner than she thought she would arrive.

Speed Options Model Gallery
Speed Options has changed their model gallery. Previously, they had only listed the models that were featured in one of the monthly issues. This was good because the models usually had more than fifteen photos to select from for the Woman of the Moment. Fifteen photos is sort of a minimum that I think are necessary to pick from. Some images will not be that interesting or include a larger display of her flesh than I want to have in my blog.

I was at the Speed Options web site on Friday evening, looking for future Women of the Moments. I had time to kill before Stargate SG-1 was on the Sci-Fi Channel.

The magazine is now listing almost any model who wants to submit her photos. Some models are listed with only eight or ten photos; that’s only good for a few days. For example, Cora Linn, one of the first Women of the Moment back in 2006, had eighteen photos on the web site before the change. Now, she has only two photos and those were not her best ones. For those of you who don’t remember Cora or joined the blog after I posted her, I thought I would drop in a couple of my favorite photos of her.





El Gringo
As usual, I went to El Gringo for my late lunch – early dinner today. I had two soft grilled mahi mahi burritos with rice and beans. They were great, well made and not sloppy at all.

Jess the Server was there again today. It was a better than usual day because I was the only one in the place so we could talk more than normal. But, just as soon as she brought my food, in came the other customers and that ended any further plans to talk.

I told Jess that I would see her in two weeks because Doug and I are going to Morton’s for the Chuckay Dinner. Jess said Morton’s was a perfect place to celebrate a birthday; especially if you love beef the way Doug and I do.


That was my weekend gentle readers. I hope your weekend was more exciting than mine.

Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Bonus Feature - Eiko Koike

Weekend Bonus Feature - Eiko Koike
Hey gentle readers, it's the Weekend!

That means it is time for another Weekend Bonus Feature edition with Eiko Koike. I hope you have a great weekend.





Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Preview - April 26th

Weekend Preview – April 26, 2007
Well, the weekend is about here now. I ought to be looking forward to fun and frolic but having to teach an accounting class on Saturday afternoon certainly takes all of the wind out of my sails.

I agreed to teach a substitute class next Friday night. I am not thrilled by the idea of teaching on Friday night. The pay is nice and I have almost all of the students in my accounting class on Saturday. It will be a good opportunity to remind them to come to my class and to do their homework.

Right now, I am planning on going to the cinema on Sunday and see HOT FUZZ. I talked with one of my students about the film. He said it started off on the slow side but then picked up nicely. I said that it sounded a lot like SHAUN OF THE DEAD with a slow start up. He agreed that they had that similarity.

Naturally, I will be at El Gringo for a late lunch or an early dinner on Sunday. I hope Jess the server will be there.

I ordered some books today because Barnes & Noble sent a 15% off coupon. Savings money is always a good idea, especially if it is on books that you would purchase anyway. I ordered The Journey to the West, a great Chinese classic novel, a new Clive Cussler book, The Navigator, and the new Peter David book, The Darkness of the Light. The books should arrive in about a month and a half. I have to wait until the Cussler and David books are released in June. I want to get the free shipping. It felt nice to save 30% on the purchase.

The Prelude
I think I mentioned that the Prelude took a small rock in the front windshield a few weeks ago. The impact left a small chip in the window and that was about all.


On my way to class this morning, I must have hit a bump or drove over something. The little chip has developed a very nice curving crack now. I can’t feel any sense of the crack when I touched the windshield.

This is one more thing to get repaired. Unlike the new front axles or the new fuel injectors, a crack in the front windshield could happen any time. I guess I will have it taken care of in the next few months.

On the positive side, the Prelude is performing better after the last major service work. Fuel efficiency has improved by about 20%. At USD$3.35 a gallon, that is a real savings for me. I know I ought to convert the savings into dollars per liter but I don’t have the inclination to do.

Teaching
I got an email from my department chair today about low average class attendance in my Saturday afternoon class. I asked her for any suggestions since she volunteered to help me raise the attendance.
She had no suggestions.

I didn’t think that she would. How I am to compete with Southern California in the early stages of Summer? Most of my students are young, 20 to 25 and they lack any strong desire to be in class. I can’t blame them; I would not be there unless I was being paid.

Next Saturday, May 5th, will be Cinco de Mayo in Southern California. It is an excellent opportunity to go out party with friends and drink cervezas [Mexican beer] and margaritas [tequila based]. Cinco de Mayo commemorates a victory by the Mexican army over the French in Puebla during their war for independence.

I was talking with one of the teachers during a break period today. I was curious to learn if some of my students had the same trouble of getting to her class on time. They do. The other teacher even went so far as to offer a bribe of fresh bagels if they all arrived on time. She said the closest the class every got to arriving on time was around 8:20 AM when class is supposed to start at 8:00 AM. No bagels for them.

That made me feel good.

I know their late arrival has nothing to do with me as a teacher.

Woman of the Moment
Here we have Park Ye-jin. I don’t think that there is too much that I can to this simple statement.



I will try to have the Weekend Bonus Feature up early on Friday for those of you that may want to start your weekend early.


Be well and stay happy.

I Feel Like A Weekend Bonus Feature

I Feel Like A Weekend Bonus Feature
I guess you could say that I was bored today. I did some work but there was nothing that was truly newsworthy or even blog comment worthy for that matter. Any time is a good time for Eiko Koike photos.



Letters
I created and mailed some letters today. I was communicating in the old fashioned way with paper and ink. Actually, it was ink-jet because my hand writing can be illegible sometimes.

One letter was to an attorney who works with financial institutions. I have known him for years. He asked me to send him my resume. He often knows about senior management level positions becoming available before the incumbent has been told it is time to go. He may end up pointing me in the right direction for new job.

The other letter was to a friend who is a younger than me lady. I was returning her phone call after she called me to say she would love to go to dinner for Chuckay Dinner at Morton’s. I wanted to let her know when I would pick her up.

I received a “The number you dialed is not a working number,” answer when I phoned her this morning. This was not what I had expected to hear this morning. I sent her a letter to tell her what time I would pick her up. I also asked her to give me a call and let me know her new number.

The New Laptop
One of the other things I like about the new laptop is the Windows Vista start up program does not have that annoying tune that populated Windows XP. That was a great improvement.

I also think the decision by Microsoft to allow people like me to retain the old Windows 95 style of layout was very thoughtful. I suppose that it would be too much to ask them to make the old Windows 3.0 version available.

Woman of the Moment
I decided to include the photos; those that I could easily find of the other female actress in the current Korean historical epic drama with Park Ye-jin. I could only find three images of Hong Su-hyeon. She was born on February 15, 1981; same month as Doug and she is 66.5 inches / 169 centimeters tall. I think I could have found more information if I read Korean.

Park Ye-jin



Hong Su-hyeon





It is an imperfect world, learn to deal with it.


Be well and stay happy.

Car Ideas for the Future

Car Ideas for the Future
I had been leaning towards buying a Cooper Mini convertible when I replaced the Prelude. The convertible Mini makes a lot of sense to me since I live at the beach in Southern California. Then, when you factor in global warming, it will be almost perfect convertible driving weather year round.



Obviously, with traffic being what is here and only going to get worse, I was also leaning towards an automatic transmission. Manual transmissions tend to die a slow death on the slow moving freeways here.

Then, yesterday, I was reading our local newspaper’s business section when I came upon an article about the Nanjing Automobile Corporation’s plans to start building the MG TF sports car in England this year. Nanjing plans to build a sports car by 2009 and the company plans to enter the United States market.

That got me to remembering when I was young and almost carefree.


I once owned a 1973 MGB convertible, like the one in the photo, for a little over a year. It was a mechanical piece of [insert your own favorite adverse adjective here]. The front windshield frame came warped from the factory so I was going through a new windshield about every three months. The dealer could never fix the windshield gasket leak that tended to flood the passenger side of the car whenever it rained. The car came from the factory with a cracked distributor cap that took the dealership almost two months to figure out why the car was backfiring and stalling for no apparent reason.

My ex-wife hated it because it was windy and it messed her hair. The only female who loved to ride in the car with the top down was our German Sheppard but then she had very short hair.

Still, I am likely to make the repairs to the Prelude so waiting until 2009 to buy a new car is not out of the question for me.

I know some will say how can you buy a Chinese made car?

Easy.

My Chinese laptop from Lenovo functions just fine. My prior experience with a genuine, made in England version of the MGB certainly has to be classified as a horror story that is worthy of George Romero film. My future expectations are set very low so it would be easy for a Chinese product to exceed them.

Lastly, I have almost two years to see how the car develops in England before I have to make any buying decisions. I can see it at a auto show in Los Angeles before I buy it. I can wait and see what develops.

Of course, Honda could get smart and produce a version of their S2000 model with an automatic transmission. Then, my decisions would be reduced to what Honda dealer do I buy the car from and what color to I select.

Doug and the Coachella Music Festival
The annual Coachella Music Festival is this weekend. Doug and a group of his friends are going out to the event. This is something he has been looking forward to for a long time.

He downloaded the show schedule last night when he arrived here after his class.

Judging from his comments and language, he is a victim of a conspiracy, in his mind anyway. All of the groups he wanted to see are playing opposite each other or they play one after another but in different venues so that you can have a good spot for one and then be in the back for the next venue.

He was sending text messages to his friends about how terrible things were going to be for him. They were commiserating with him for a good part of the evening in text messages and then I went to bed.

This, too, shall pass and he will survive the event.

The New Laptop
I am still getting used to the new laptop.

Overall, I just really like this machine. I am even beginning to like Windows Vista Business version of the operating system software that came with the machine. I was almost going to say that I loved the machine but that would be an oxymoron since it has a Microsoft operating system.

It has some interesting system default settings that I think I like. It uses a smaller display so that it can take advantage of the wide screen capabilities. I like this. I don’t have to scroll across a screen to read an email. I suppose that I could have set the old laptop up with this functionality.

The system also disconnects from the Internet in a fashion; after I have been away for a while, it breaks the connection to the email server. I think this is a good feature. I also like the fact that it locks itself up when it goes into a slumber mode.

The decision to but the ThinkPad from Lenovo was one of my better ones.

Job Searching and Interviewing
I had a job interview yesterday with the president of a large credit union. The credit union is looking for a Chief Credit Officer. I can do this job almost standing on my head. It is relatively easy and has a simple goal of increasing the size of the loan portfolio with good quality credits.

I know how to do that; I’ve done it lots of times before.

The president said he was interviewing the candidates this week and then planned to invite the top two or three back for a group interview with peers I guess either next week or the week after. I think I should be in that group. Anyway, I ought to know by the end of the week whether I made the cut to the final round or not.

Woman of the Moment
Park Ye-jin is an interesting actress and singer. I can’t say that I have heard any of her singing. She certainly looks younger than her age. Unlike Eiko Koike from the Weekend Bonus Feature, Ye-jin does not have many photos of her in bikinis.




Oh well, life goes on.

Be well and stay happy.

Monday Blahs

Monday Blahs
Monday blahs are another way of saying I don’t have a lot to write about today and this blog is going to be a lot of odds and ends.

I had to struggle with the Sunday sudoku puzzle. This was to be expected since the puzzle was rated as “Tough.” It took me three starts at guessing and placing numbers. I did get it finished. I felt a strong sense of accomplishment when I put the puzzle down.

I called the Princess on Sunday. Her uncle wanted to know what the wedding was going to be. It is scheduled to start at 5:00 PM, nice. We talked about the plans and progress so far. The Princess said that she had been out trying the wedding food samples.

The Princess raved about how good the grits in a martini glass were. She said they really tasted good because the chef had added cheese to the mix.

Grits is a uniquely Southern dish. It is course ground corn and the ground corn is boiled until it is semi-solid. Grist can be served at any meal although it is usually served for breakfast. I plan to try some of the grits in the martini glass when I am at the wedding.

There was no rain or at least no rain that I could see at the beach on Sunday.

I went to El Gringo for lunch – dinner on Sunday. Jess the Server was working then. She was glad to see me. It is nice to be greeted by the server with a warm and friendly, “Hi Charles, good to see you. Can I get you your usual drink?”

I had a shredded beef burrito with sour cream and guacamole. It was larger than the usual burritos and it was a complete meal for me. It was filling beyond my biggest expectations. I washed the burrito down with some Barq Root Beer. The only problem with root beer is I tend to end up with a lot of gas in my stomach.

Woman of the Moment
We can’t have a day without a Woman of the Moment. I hope you enjoy Park Ye-jin’s images today.





I will write some more tomorrow.

Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update - April 22nd

Weekend Update
Well, what sort of a weekend was it for me?

On balance, I think it was a good weekend for me. I had a chance to chat online with my friend Ling who now lives in Shenzhen, China. We have been chatting off and on for almost four years now. We first started chatting when Ling in her junior year of college. She wanted to practice English with a native speaker.

Ling told me that she had applied to graduate school in the States. She wants to take a Master’s degree in computer engineering I think. I could be wrong. She has applied to a number of schools but none is in Southern California. All of her choices are located on the East Coast.

I said that I could visit her at school. Ling said she thought I had planned to visit China this year. That was when I explained to her that I was paying for a marriage this Fall. Ling understood immediately and said a school visit would be just as nice.

I had planned to go to the cinema and see HOT FUZZ this weekend. I changed my mind and decided to stay home and do other things, like writing the blog, instead. I am confident the film will still be around by next weekend.

We had rain off and on for most of Friday. That was no fun. Saturday was bright and sunny and I spent the afternoon in school. Sunday is supposed to have some more rain. The rain is supposed to start late this afternoon. I hope that I will be home from El Gringo before it starts to rain.

Southern California does need the rain. I think we are at less than 20% of our normal rainfall. Our rain season is about over. This means we are very likely to have a very bad brush fire season this Summer and Fall.

Visitors
This was an off week for visitors. We had no visitors that stayed for more than a few minutes at the blog.

We did have a nice collection of foreign visitors to the blog. My writing must have appealed to the English and Canadians. We had ten visitors from the United Kingdom and seven from Canada. I did check and all of the visitors from the United Kingdom were from England.

We also had visitors from Texas [2], France [2], Romania, Ireland, Japan [3], Hong Kong [2], Mexico [2], India, Italy, Indonesia, Turkey [2], China [2], Korea [3], Poland, Sweden, Greece, New Zealand, Viet Nam, United Arab Emirates, and Spain.

I do appreciate each of you who took time from your days to visit the blog. Having visitors is one reason why I continue to write. If no one visited the blog, then there would be no reason to write. I know what has happened in my life.

Woman of the Moment
I had thought about putting the Woman of the Moment closer to the top of the blog instead of burying it towards the end of the blog for a change. I trust that this will meet with your approval.



On a related note, I decided to feature Denise Richards, an American actress of some talent, as the next Woman of the Moment. Like many American actresses, the only photos that are easily available are ones that are taken at celebrity events. Even so, she is interesting and I think the photos are worthwhile.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly News about the Prelude
I took the Prelude in for service on Friday to have the speed cable replaced and to have the major maintenance performed. The horrible grinding, thumping noise is gone now that the speed cable has been replaced. I can also know exactly how fast I am going now. I think this is good for me.


The Prelude is almost nineteen years old and has been driven for 342,000 miles / 550,000 kilometers so far. I have been very lucky so far as there have been no major repairs required for the car.

Things are now starting to wear out. This is to be expected. I found out that I need to replace both front axles and the four fuel injectors. This will cost me about USD$2,000. Then, there are some other minor things to replace. These will be an additional USD$200 or so, maybe less depending on where I have the work done.

Fixing the fuel injectors will probably pay for themselves since any repairs will increase the car’s fuel efficiency and save me money on fuel. The car is a front wheel drive so the axles ought to wear.

If I have all of this work done and later on this year I replace the transmission, I am going to spend around USD$5,000 on the Prelude. If I do this, I will want to keep the car for another two or three years to get my money back out of the repairs. Then, it will be over twenty years old.

I need to make some decisions soon about the Prelude.

Giuliano’s Sandwich
Doug and I went to Giuliano’s for dinner one night last week. He had a chicken sandwich. It was a grilled chicken breast in a roll. He said it was a good meal.


I had a small Italian sausage and peppers sandwich with mushrooms, onions, and marinara sauce. It is a tasty meal that I enjoyed. It is on the messy side as you can see from the photo. I ended up eating it with a knife and fork. A full or regular sized sandwich is too much food for me unless it will be the only meal of the day.

Dissertation
The dissertation took another interesting turn on Friday.

I got an email from school that announced that one of my committee members received a promotion and will be moving to a different campus soon, probably before I finish. I sent him a congratulatory email. In it, I wondered if he will remain on my committee or not. I guess I will learn soon enough.


That was the bulk of my weekend gentle readers

Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Bonus Feature - Eiko Koike

Weekend Bonus Feature - Eiko Koike
It is Friday and it is the start of the weekend. That means it is time for the Weekend Bonus Feature. The sun just came out at the beach today so I will favor you with some sunny Eiko Koike photos. I could just as easily have favored you with Eiko photos of her in the shade for that matter.





Be well and stay happy.

Weekedn Preview - April 19th

Weekend Preview
The Weekend Preview, in a word, is soggy.

The local weather forecast is calling for a 90% chance of rain on Friday, making it an excellent day to get one’s Prelude serviced. Saturday is forecasted for cloudy skies but no rain. This is probably a good day to go teach school. Sunday has more rain forecasted. I think I will go see HOT FUZZ at the cinema on Sunday.

Teaching
Saturday’s class should be interesting. The students are supposed to turn in a group project. I suspect they will come close to failing on it. One of the students recently purchased a new laptop computer that he likes to bring to class. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know how to use it yet or load programs into. This student is trying to emulate a couple of other students who take notes with their laptops.

I do not believe the students know how to work in groups. I have given them a procedural outline that they ought to follow of selecting a group leader, assigning various elements of the project, proofreading the work, and selecting one person to integrate the final document.

I doubt they will follow my suggestions.

I was disappointed with my Microeconomics class. I had warned them at the beginning of the term that this was going to be one of the toughest classes in their program and that the examinations were killers. I gave them chapter quizzes and a second set off quizzes to take at home to help prepare for the midterm and final examinations. I also gave them a comprehensive review that consisted of going over the examination and telling the students each questions subject matter.

Unfortunately, my preparation did not work. I had 60% of the class fail the examination. Fortunately for the students, this examination is not a large part of their grade so they have ample opportunity to recover and still get a good grade for the course.

Chuckay Dinner
Doug told me that his potential schedule conflict for the Chuckay Dinner at Morton’s had been eliminated. I had been considering moving it back until the middle of June so we could avoid schedule conflicts.

We have set May 6th as the dinner. We will try a new Morton’s location in Anaheim, near Disneyland. My friend Sharon usually goes to these dinners with Doug and me. She already has something to do that night and will miss out on a great dinner.

Woman of the Moment
I am going to try to show similar photos of Park Ye-jin. I sort of think this approach tends to produce a nicer visual picture. I was reading about the Korean historical drama series that she is playing the leading actress. It says that she has a tragic end. I’m guessing that means a nasty early death. That will be too bad for me.



Voting for Sanjaya – Part 3
Now that Sanjaya was voted off of the American Idol television show, Doug and I are losing interest in the show now. In the interest of full and fair disclosure, I should say that I was never really interested in the show. I merely got caught up in Doug’s voting for Sanjaya as part of listening to Howard Stern on Sirius satellite radio.


Be well and stay happy and have a great weekend.

Getting the Prelude Fixed

Getting the Prelude Fixed
For the last few months, maybe longer, I have been hearing a nasty noise that I think is coming from around the left front wheel. Since the Prelude is a front wheel drive car, anything that affects the front wheels is both serious and probably very expensive.

The noise is a combination of a rhythmic thumping and a bunch of rocks in a can being shaken and not stirred. It used to be only audible on an intermittent basis but it has gotten progressively louder and for a longer term.


I took the Prelude into the Honda dealership to see if the mechanics could find the source of the noise and then correct it. For the record and for full and fair disclosure, I had taken the Prelude into the dealership about a month or so ago for the same problem. The mechanic who worked on the Prelude found one problem but not the noisy one.

It only took the senior mechanic five minutes, the length of the test drive, to determine the cause of the noise. The Prelude has a bad speed cable that connects from the front wheel to the dash where it drives or powers the speed indicator display. It has to be replaced.

The part was not in stock. I guess this comes from driving a car that is almost nineteen year old. The dealership has ordered the part and I will bring the car in on Friday so they can replace the cable.

The good side of things is I can have my next 15,000 mile / 24,000 kilometer service done at the same time. This means I will not have to spend half of a day at the dealership in the near future. Additionally, the speed cable is not a safety issue so I don’t have to worry about a front wheel flying off of the car while I am driving on the freeway at high speed.

I just have to deal with the noise until Friday. I can do that.

On the subject of cars and dreaming that I won the big lottery prize, I might buy myself a new Bugatti Veyron 16.4, priced at a sensible USD$1,500,000. The Bugatti is made in France. I don’t see myself indulging my desire for speed that much. I know I couldn’t find a place to drive anywhere near close to what the car is capable of doing.


I suppose I could rent the California Motor Speedway for a day. NASCAR races there a couple of times a year and their cars will hit over 150 miles an hour / 240 kilometers an hour on the big oval track.

I think a better choice might be a hand built Morgan from England. It is priced more reasonably at around USD$110,000 or so. It will go faster than I can drive it legally. Besides, a convertible goes so much better in Southern California where we can drive with the top down for up to seven months; longer if we are willing to bundle up.


The only drawback with a convertible in Southern California is women in Southern California who don’t want to have their hair messed up by the wind. I would have to find a girl friend that did not mind the wind in her hair or alternatively, had very short hair.

I will worry about these and other decisions once I win the big lottery prize.

Woman of the Moment
I decided to go with a theme today for the Woman of the Moment. These images are based on Park Ye-jin’s role of Chulin in the Korean historical drama Dae Jo Young. These were the only period costume photos that I could find. I suspect that more exist but I don’t read Korean so I could not search all that well.

Yesterday, I forget to mention that Park Ye-jin has been in twelve film and television productions in her brief career.



Voting for Sanjaya – Part II
Doug was busy last night voting with my land line phone and cell phone. I asked him how many times he voted. He said he wasn’t sure but he voted more than once on each phone line.

The late mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, would be so proud of Doug and his voting record of voting so often in the balloting.

In his blog posting from last night, Doug suggested that the prank voting for Sanjaya come to a merciful end and that we no longer will have to wonder what he hair will look like. I suppose this was after he had voted.

Dinner Tonight
I think we will end up at Giuliano’s for our dinner tonight. We were talking about what we should do for dinner tonight while we were watching American Idol. Doug mentioned that a “sausage and pepper” would be very tasty. That is an Italian sausage and peppers sandwich that is served hot. Doug will probably go for a full sized one. That is too much for me. I am leaning towards a small hot pastrami sandwich, something I can finish and not kill myself.

Of course, once we are in Giuliano’s, we will probably have to pick up something for dessert. I will pick something without much chocolate in it. I don’t know what Doug will pick. The selection is fairly large and rather tasty.


Be well and stay happy.

Waiting to Vote for Sanjaya

Waiting to Vote for Sanjaya
Doug is sitting here, waiting to vote for Sanjaya. I somehow got sucked into this show with Doug and a lot of other people. Since I only have one television, I am willing to let Doug have his choice of shows to watch.

Doug is well prepared to vote. He already has the number to call in. Last week, I think he voted in the Chicago style of voting; he voted often for his candidate.

I am sort of glad that the Search for the Next Pussycat Doll follows American Idol. Doug got me hooked on that show as well. At least, it will be over in another two weeks and I can get on with my life, such as it is.

Chuckay
On the subject of getting on with my life, Chuckay is around the corner. Chuckay is a month long celebration of all things Chuck; it also coincides with my birthday.

How clever of me.

The big Chuckay Event is the traditional dinner at Morton’s the Steakhouse. Doug and I have been going to Morton’s for fourteen years. I had tentatively picked May 6th as the date for the Chuckay Dinner.

Doug may be busy that weekend with a music video production with a bunch of his friends from film school. This may mean we will have to push the dinner back to as late as mid-June. We have a lot of conflicts with our schedules.

Some of the other dinner venues are easy to manage since I am out behind the Orange Curtain on Saturdays in May. Doug and I can go to Albertacos, Fatburger, and the Original Tommy’s after my Saturday afternoon class.

Water Main Repair
I got organized yesterday after I posted the blog. I took some photos of the water company workers who were busy fixing the break in the water line.



Woman of the Moment
These are less period costume photos of Park Ye-jin. She is 26 years old having been born on April 1, 1981. The statistical information is limited to her height; 65 inches / 165 centimeters.



Dinner Tonight
I went to the market today because I was running out of essential food like bread and Arizona Tea Company’s Arnold Palmer Tea drinks. I also picked up some steaks for our dinner tonight.


I grilled the steaks and served them with garlic mashed potatos and cilantro and chives. I gave Doug a crown of broccoli because he really likes it. It was a very tasty and filling meal for both of us.

We exercised restraint tonight. We passed on going to Giuliano’s to pick up some dessert. I am not certain this was a good idea because I had developed a desire for something sweet to eat.


Be well and stay happy.

The Day The Well Dried Up

The Day The Well Dried Up
For some unknown reason, the water supply was turned off to the building. I phoned the city government and they said to phone the water company that provides the water. I phoned the water company and they said it was not them and suggested it was the building maintenance staff.

I don’t think the building would have turned off the water supply without notifying the residents before doing so. At least, I hope they wouldn’t do that.

No shower or shaving for me this morning. I am not a pleasant guy today.

I decided to phone Doug so he could be prepared if there was no water when he planned to arrive for the night. This was not a happy bit of news for him because it meant he might have to stay at home, behind the Orange Curtain, and face a two plus hour drive into the studio tomorrow. We ended the call with a statement from Doug that he would check in when he was between classes.

I went downstairs to check on my mail, sometimes it comes early in the day. Today was not one of those days. I did run into my neighbor who told me the water was shut off around 10:30 AM this morning. I knew this; he didn’t know when the water would be put back online.

I was about ready to go back to the flat when I heard some equipment sounds coming from the street in front of the building. It was a work crew from the water company. They were digging into the road.

Something was wrong with the water main line.

I phoned the water company again.

This time, I found someone who could answer my questions. Yes, the problem was with the water main line and the problem was reported around 1:45 PM today. This was two or three hours after I called the water company; but why complain about the past. The phone operator said it might take a couple of hours to fix but she was confident that the break or damage could be fixed in a couple of hours.

I am not that optimistic that the break can be repaired in a couple of hours. The workers are going to have to dig up the road surface and then dig down to where the pipe is. This assumes that they are currently digging in the right spot. Once they get to the pipe, they still have to fix the as yet undetermined problem.

If the water company phone operator is correct and I am wrong, this then is obviously good news for Doug since his last class is out at 9:00 PM. He could still drive out here and avoid the killing drive to the studio in the morning.

I will still have to sit and wait for things to improve for me.

Woman of the Moment
This will be the final images for Mao Kobayashi unless, of course, you go out on the Internet or use Goggle Images to find more views of her. I think it would be helpful if you knew Japanese if you decide to search on your own for more photos.




I decided to stay with an Asian actress for Woman of the Moment theme. Tomorrow, we will start off with a Korean actress and singer, Park Ye-jin. I first saw Ye-jin in her role as Chulin in the Korean historical drama DAE JO YOUNG. She plays the daughter of the nomadic tribe’s chieftain. This program is largely male dominated so she is what we could call the leading actress in the production. Her character is a warrior and she is the woman with the sword in her hand. The other woman is Hong Su-hyeon. She plays the Korean king’s niece.


What else I did today
I did work on school stuff. Grading papers can be a challenge when the students do not have a solid grasp of the English language and proper grammar.

I went to take a look at Amber’s my space page to see how she is doing. I guess she wants her privacy because she converted the page into an invitation or permission only site.

Good luck Amber.

That was about all there was for me today. Now, all I have to do is wait for the water to come back on.


Be well and stay happy.