Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween
It’s that time of the year when we celebrate. I am prepared as usual. I haven’t had any trick or treaters stop by my flat in years. This is probably because this is a security building and there are very few families with small children in the building.

I saw Sharon Tay on Sunday evening on the local television news program. It was nice to see her back on television. I guess she must have been on vacation or ill during the Southern California fires.

Doug and I went out driving yesterday. I drove for about an hour or so. This was my first time behind the wheel since the operation. Everything was fine and I had no real discomfort.

I was driving the Pathfinder since it is easier for me to get into. I do miss not having a sunroof in the Pathfinder. I can get used to that because the Pathfinder has a much better air circulation system inside of the truck.

I am thinking of donating the Prelude to charity to simplify my life and reduce my vehicle insurance bill somewhat. I like the donation idea because the Prelude is so old and in need of about USD$5,000 in repairs.

The Princess called yesterday to see how I was doing. We talked briefly because I was taking a nap at the time. She and the Golfer are fine and settling into married life.

Naps are nice to take from time to time.

Doug and I went to see Ang Lee’s new film LUST, CAUTION. This is a NC-17 rated film set in China in the early days of World War II during the Japanese occupation. We both thought the film was over long, by thirty to forty five minutes. The cinematography was excellent; we both agreed on that. I thought the film went over board on the explicit sex scenes that created the rating. I didn’t think they were necessary and the film could have been produced with an R rating instead. I don’t think either one of us would be in a position to recommend the film.

Dinner for us tonight was a trip to Bonello’s Pizza. I had a pizza with sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, and anchovies. Doug had a pizza with only pepperoni. It was a very filling meal and one that will carry over for my lunch tomorrow.

I am getting better each day and I feel good now.


Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update - October 29th

Visitors
The visitor report is a combination from the last two weeks so it is not representative of a normal week’s visitor total.

We had visitors from a lot of place as you might expect. They came from Thailand, Canada [15], Japan [12], Philippines [5], Texas [8], Singapore [4], Ireland [2], Hungary, Australia [2], Poland [3], Taiwan [3], Korea [4], United Kingdom 10], Brazil 2], Malaysia [2], Iran [2], France, China, Germany [3], Croatia, Israel, Chile, Qatar, Greece, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Spain, and Czech Republic.

Why did we have two visitors from Iran? I know my subject material is not oriented towards an Iranian, especially with the Women of the Moment images.

We also had some visitors that stopped by for more than ten minutes. Two visitors stopped by for thirteen minutes each. Then, we had one for fourteen minutes, one for fifteen minutes, and one for sixteen minutes. And finally, we had one visitor who stayed for twenty seven minutes.

Errata and Other Intellectual Debris
I suppose you know that we have had a major firestorm in Southern California this past week. It was the only local television news show for four days. I had noting to do but sit and what the ever recurring images of flames burning structures and confused news reporters out in the field and fire and smoke.

I had hoped to see Sharon Tay out in the field. Alas, she was no where to be seen. I wonder if she was on vacation last week or is no longer working at the local CBS television station.

As a side note, Sharon’s web site is still not operational. It’s been like this since May. I wonder if it will ever be functional.

The Speed Options web site, for those of you that want to create your own Women of the Moment, has not been updated since July.

My plans to accomplish some work around the flat on Saturday got off to a less than auspicious start. I was going to get up early and do a couple of loads of laundry. I either hit the snooze alarm too many times or the clock radio was not positioned properly so it could receive the signal.

I checked my old high school football results for Friday night. They were not victorious. Losses happen. The team now has a record of five wins, two losses, and one tie.

In the other hand, our University of Utah Utes played well on the road in Fort Collins, Colorado, beating a not very good Colorado State University 27 to 3. All elements of the Utah team came together on Saturday. The defense played particularly well, only allowing Colorado State a field goal after holding them three times inside of the ten yard line. Our Utes are now 6 and 3 for the season and will play Wyoming and New Mexico at home and BYU in Provo on Thanksgiving weekend.

With a win or two more, the Utes look like they could end up in a second tier post season bowl game in December. That would be a very nice finish for what was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Utes.

Who knows, with the way My Brother’s University of Southern California Trojans are fading, Utah could end up playing USC. That would be epic. The last time they played, Utah upset USC.

I was more successful with my laundry efforts today. I managed to get three loads of wash done this morning. It may take me a day or more before I fold the laundry up and put it away.

I think I could have written some more stuff but why use ideas that I can carryover for Monday?

That was my weekend. I hope you had a good weekend.


Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Bonus Feature - October 26th

Weekend Bonus Feature - Mai Hosho
I know that I said I would be dropping the Woman of the Moment feature. I think I will run out the Weekend Bonus Feature Woman with Mai Hosho. Mai is a Japanese actress who is thirty [01-29-1977] and is 64 inches or 163 centimeters tall.

Weekend Preview - October 26th

Weekend Preview
Let’s see; where I am now in my recovery?

I have been sleeping well lately and this is good for me.

When I was in the Torrance Memorial Medical Center for the surgery, my room was adjacent to the fifth floor nurses’ station. That was noisy as you would expect, nurses have to talk and take care of the patients.

There was a Latino in the room next to me. It seemed as if everyone in the very extended family decided to visit him, small children were dressed as if they were going to church and had no place visiting the patient at 9:30 PM. Hospital rooms are small. It is a hospital after all.

So that meant all of the thoughtless, inconsiderate, uncaring people went out in the hall and carried on their conversations in loud voices. Did these people have no consideration for anyone else? How could they be so inconsiderate and uncaring?

I finally complained to my nurse and she finally took some action and asked them to either speak softly or go to the first floor lounge that was designed for conversations.

I picked up my release from my doctor so I can go back to teaching. She thought the incision was very nicely done and there was no sign of infection. She counted 21 staples in my abdomen. That was nice.

One of the things about having lower abdomen surgery is that everyone wants to look at the surgeon’s handiwork. The surgeon came in and visited me everyday as did the family practice doctor from my medical group. Naturally, the surgeon took a look at her handiwork; so did the family practice doctors.

Every time the nursing shift changed; it was look and show time for them. This all takes away any sense of privacy that you had hoped for. It was one thing for the surgeon to look at her work and that was only once a day. It didn’t seem too invasive for me. I can see how and why the nurses would want to look at the incision since they might notice the beginnings of an infection or other trouble before the surgeon saw me next. The surgeon is older than any of the young nurses so I doubt it was anything new to her. I suppose that it might have been new to one or more of the young nurses.

Anyway and moving on to other things.

I talked to Doug this morning. He went behind the Orange Curtain yesterday to go do some laundry and take his mother out for her birthday dinner. Doug is planning on coming back up to my flat on Sunday afternoon. I caught Doug as he was waiting to go see LARS AND THE REAL GIRL in Aliso Viejo.

I got my release from the doctor yesterday. I will be back in the classroom on November 5th. That will be nice for me expect for all of the class work that I will have to grade from being away for three weeks. My department chair is happy also.

I plan to get up early tomorrow so I can get a jump on my laundry. I am about out of clothes. I will also work on cleaning the flat up tomorrow as well.

I also spoke to the Princess yesterday. I called to check in with her and let her know I was doing with the recovery process. This weekend is the big Halloween Party in Atlanta. I asked her if she was still going as a Bridezilla. The Princess does have the dress for that costume.

The Princess told me that she was going as Princess Leia.

“May the Force be with you Princess.” The Golfer is planning to go as a nun and be the designated driver. I guess the Princess will be having a lot of fun at the party.

My cousin from Connecticut called me on Wednesday. I think it was the first time that I have spoken to him in decades. He called out of concern because of the fires. We talked for about half an hour about the fires and our families.

That is what is ahead for me.


Be well and stay happy.

The Princess' Wedding

The Princess’ Wedding
I could go on and on and on about how wonderful the wedding was. Of course, I knew it would be a wonderful experience and my expectations were exceeded beyond my imagination.

It was an outdoor wedding in Atlanta. Weather in Atlanta is almost always a tricky proposition. In our case, it was perfect. No humidity, no heat, and, most important, there were no insects to bother and torment the wedding party and the guests.

The venue was a local park. It was in a natural amphitheater that was surrounded by mature trees. It looked out on to a small lake with ducks and other water fowl that swam around.

We had a great long entry down a granite staircase. It was almost good enough to double as an exterior screen from GONE WITH THE WIND.

I will admit that I was in pain and not in the best of spirits. I sucked it up and carried on because I was not going to let the Princess or the guests down.

The ceremony was brief and simple. Everyone seemed to be so pleased and happy with the plans the Princess and the Golfer made. The new son-in-law is a professional golfer.

I couldn’t eat anything so the great dinner was lost on me. I spent most of the dinner period outside, trying to stay calm and comfortable.

The Princess said I made the best father of the bride speech that she had heard.

The wedding video is in the final editing process. It is around 80 minutes long. This was a faster turnaround that I had expected. Doug and I saw a preliminary version that was about 20 twenty minutes long. I thought it was excellent; Doug thought the music selection could have been a little better.

I shared the video with my friend Vivian. Vivian loved it and said it looked like a perfect story book wedding.

It was.

Normally, I would insert some photos from the wedding here. I’m waiting for Doug to distill down the over 850 photos that he took into a smaller and more workable 200 or 300 images.

I’ll put some images up as soon as I can.

My Recovery – Part 1
My recovery is going along nicely.

I had three meals yesterday and slept soundly. I have been out and active as I build my strength up. Today, Doug and I saw MICHAEL CLAYTON. I really liked the film and was very glad that we had a chance to go see it.

My doctor gave me a prescription for Vicodin as a precaution in case I have any pain problems. So far, I have only needed a single Advil PM at night to help me sleep and then I am good for a solid seven to eight hours of sleep.

Tomorrow, I am going to see my doctor to get a release so I can return to teaching. I am looking forward to getting back into the classroom soon.


Be well and stay happy.

I'm back after a fashion

I’m back after a fashion
I’m back gentle readers.

In my last regular posting, I said I felt poorly. I had no idea how bad off I was until Monday afternoon when the emergency room doctor told me that my intestine was completely blocked. I had been scheduled for surgery in a couple of hours.

My surgeon took out a section of my intestine and left me a nice, manly scar. She did a good job of patching me up. On Wednesday, another doctor inserted a stent in my left kidney to improve its drain function. I had a really nasty psychotic reaction to the drugs after the procedure.

The Princess flew out to see me for a few days last week. That was really thoughtful of her and understanding on the part of her employer.

I talked with her and Doug about changing the blog or even stopping it. Major changes in your life, like the one that I had, tend to place things in the proper perspective. The Princess encouraged me to continue the blog because she thought it would be good for me. I agreed with her.

I will continue the blog but with some changes. I will be ending the Woman of the Moment feature for the time being. I don’t think I will be posting as frequently as I did before. I need to build my strength up now so I can get on with my life.

I am home from the hospital now and resting. Doug is staying with me for part of the time to help out. I am unable to drive right now.

Most of the future posts will be about the wedding and the surgery. I’ll try not to bore you with them.


Be well and stay happy.

A Note For the Readers

Posting on "Balancing Checkbooks" unfortunately will be light this week. As my father, Charles is under the weather and will be getting his strength back up from my sister/his daughter's wedding this past weekend. It was a lovely affair.

Stay Tuned for updates perhaps later this week, but more likely next week.

Felling Ill Is No Fun

Feeling Ill Is No Fun
I am getting better now. Feeling ill is certainly no fun. Yesterday was sort of a mess for me.

I didn’t sleep all that well the night before. I decided to take a nap after lunch so I would be rested for class last night. My nap was interrupted by the building fire alarm that rang for about forty minutes. It is rather loud so that killed most of my nap.

Then, I went to school earlier than usual to take of care some administrative stuff before class. The drive was better than usual so that was nice for me for a change. The drive home was nice too; the freeway traffic flow was low.

I was watching the noontime news on one of the local television stations. Like most places, we have names for specific regions or areas. For example, I live in the South Bay while Doug lives in South Orange County. For those of you that remember the television program “The O. C.,” there is a part of Southern California called the Inland Empire, also known for its Area Codes of 909 and 951.

I bring this all up because the weather news reader – clown kept confusing cities in the High Desert and placing them in the Inland Empire. It is a difficult task to do because they are close to 50 miles – 80 kilometers apart and they are separated by local mountain range. I was so frustrated by his stupidity. If you are going to talk about the geography of an area, you ought to know the major elements.

The weather news reader – clown is an idiot. Normally, I would cut a new person on the job some slack. We all would. Unfortunately, the clown has been here for over six months and that is long enough to learn the location of various major cities in the region.

My next rant is about traffic reports.

You can get a traffic report about every five minutes in Southern California. The reports are designed to help you avoid accidents on the freeways, a solid idea in theory.

Unfortunately for me, the local news radio stations seem to think the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles is worthy of coverage on every report. Other parts of the region get covered less frequently.

I was driving to class on last Wednesday. I read a report that said there was an accident that was blocking two lanes of traffic on a freeway that I was on. I got over to the traffic lane that was furthest away from the reported accident and hoped I could slide through smoothly.

Wrong.

The accident was in the lane I had moved to. A Federal Express delivery truck had crashed and partially was hanging over an overpass guard rail. What a mess. Had the report been marginally accurate, I could have avoided most of the mess by driving on surface streets until I was past the mess.

Yesterday was a better day for traffic reports for me. I heard about a mess on one of the freeways that I would take and how the accident, three lanes were blocked from an overturned truck, had backed up traffic in the area. I followed surface streets around the accident and saw the stopped vehicles on the freeway that I was driving parallel to. I got on the freeway and rolled on to school.

Woman of the Moment
This is the next to last posting of Tamao Sato as the Woman of the Moment.




I don’t have anyone in mind for the next Woman of the Moment so I am open to taking any suggestions from the readers. We could even do a revival of some Woman of the Moment from the past. All you have to do is post a comment with some one’s name and we will see what happens.


Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update - October 7th

Weekend Update
I had thought about going to see the new Ang Lee film LUST, CAUTION on Sunday. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to the cinema. I was feeling poorly on Saturday and I decided to stay home on Sunday and get myself well for the trip to Atlanta and the wedding.

I did some other stuff but mostly I sort of blobbed around with my general discomfort.

Tomorrow will be better for me.

Visitors
I think we were a little off on our foreign visitors this week. We had visitors from Japan [10], Korea, Netherlands, Ireland, Germany [5], Taiwan, Texas, Canada, Sweden, France, and Singapore.

We also had one visitor who stayed around for twenty one minutes.

I guess I either wrote something really good or I had some great images up on the blog.

Nina from El Gringo
I started going back to El Gringo when Doug was up here. We went on a Thursday night and had a new server. Having a new server is the rule rather than the exception at El Gringo.

I think Doug and I went there about four weeks ago. Nina was the server. She was new to me and new, of course, to Doug because he prefers El Burrito Jr. for his local Mexican style food.

As I recall, Nina did a good job as our server that night. She was attentive and concerned that our meal was fine. Nina impressed me enough to go back for a second meal with her as the server. I think I impressed Nina when I went back for a second meal because I noticed and commented that she changed her hair style and color.

I wonder if her boy friend noticed the changes.

Nina was working this past Thursday when I went in for a Number 2 Combination of two soft, spicy mahi mahi tacos, rice and beans. She had changed her hair style again. Nina asked me for my name because she wanted to remember me. So I told her.

Sweet.

Nina was concerned that I had only eaten about half of my order. I said there was nothing wrong with the food or the service. I just was not that hungry on Thursday. I was in El Gringo early on Thursday so Nina was not too busy. I asked if she worked any other nights at El Gringo. I was thinking ahead in case I had to teach a class on Thursday night next term for example. I was surprised to find out that Nina worked at one of the three El Gringos on almost everyday of the week; some days she worked lunches and some days she works dinners.

Excellent. Now all I need to do is ask her again so I can write the days down because I was unable to remember them when she told me.

I won’t be at El Gringo this Thursday since Doug and I will be going out to dinner at his favorite ribs place in Atlanta. I will be back in two weeks to see Nina and see if she missed me.

Hershey’s Candy
I ordered some Halloween candy for the Princess and for Amy the Server. I have been sending the Princess Hershey’s candy since she went off to the University of Utah after high school. The Princess asked me to make sure it didn’t come too soon because she has a wedding dress to fit into yet.

I figured if I ordered in the first week in October, the candy would arrive just before the wedding or maybe after it.

As luck would have it, things did not go as I planned.

I ordered the candy on the 2nd; received a confirmation email on the 3rd; and the package was delivered on the 4th. So much for a late delivery.

Amy’s candy is a completely different story.

I ordered her candy on the 2nd; received a confirmation email on the 3rd; and the package was lost. I received a tracking confirmation that a UPS shipping number had been assigned to it. I waited the normal time to see if it popped up on the UPS online package tracking program.

When I checked the shipping status on both packages after school on Thursday, I found out that the Princess’ had been delivered and Amy’s was nowhere to be found. I figured that Amy’s package would show up on Friday and I could track it.

Wrong again. It did not show up on Friday at all.

Losing patience, I first phoned Hershey’s who quickly pointed their chocolate covered fingers at UPS. That made a certain perverse sense to me since the UPS trucks are a chocolate color after all.

My phone call to UPS did not produce any happy news. UPS said Hershey’s generated a shipping label with the tracking information and forward the information electronically to UPS. No UPS driver had scanned the package so it was somewhere in the Hershey’s warehouse.

Oh great.

Back to the chocolate fingered clowns in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The next customer service person was not that helpful initially. I began to complain in a forceful manner without losing my temper. My big concern was that I had ordered a container of chocolate for Amy that featured a Halloween design. It is one thing to get a Halloween container of candy and then it is another thing to get a plain container of candy.

The customer service person finally came up with two alternatives. First, we could wait until Tuesday to see if UPS and Hershey’s could find the package and send it on its way. Second, we could order a reshipment at no charge to me.

Normally, I would have waited until Tuesday since it would have been delivered behind the Orange Curtain in time if it was shipped on Tuesday. I hate to waste things, even if there is no charge to me.

In the end, I went with the no charge reorder because there was no way to insure that the special Halloween themed container would be available on this coming Tuesday.

Now, I am sitting and waiting for another email from Hershey’s with the new shipping information. I ought to get that email sometime on Monday. Then, Amy should have her candy in the Halloween container on Thursday or Friday if all goes well.

There is also the possibility the first order may turn up and Amy will receive tow shipments of the candy. If that is the case, then, Amy can make lots of friends at her job.

On the plus side, I will be out of town and slightly out of reach so Amy will have to wait for a few days before she can yell at me for picking a large container of the candy. I have my defense already thought out. I will merely remind her that she was the one who said that “she loves Hershey’s candy.”

I can also say that she could share some of the candy with her co-workers at Fleming’s in Newport Beach plus there may be trick or treaters knocking on her front door on October 31st.

I’m certain that the late Johnny Cochran would have a nifty defense slogan to use right about now.

Microsoft Windows Live
I don’t particularly like Microsoft Outlook because it has more than what I need for a simple, email program from my laptop computer. I have used Outlook Express for years and have been perfectly happy.

Outlook Express is or was a simple email program. I kept all of my calendar and address information on my Handspring Visor PDA. Perfect solution for me.

My new laptop came with the Windows Vista Business operating system. That was one reason why I purchased the Lenovo laptop. It also came with Windows Mail. Windows Mail is a replacement for Outlook Express. There is no alternative; I have to use Outlook if I want to use a Microsoft program.

Of course, as Doug would say, “Dad, Safari works fine.”

Thanks son but I don’t have an Apply laptop.

I could always go with another email program like Eudora but I don’t want to learn a new program.

My one complaint with Windows Mail is that is unstable. It locks up regularly so that I have to reboot the program on a daily basis. Some days, I have to reboot the whole system to get the email program to download my incoming email messages. This is not what I had in mind for the email program.

Why does Microsoft replace a perfectly good program with one that has flaws?

Because it can.

Granted, I didn’t pay anything for Windows Mail. I would have been willing to pay some reasonable price to have Outlook Express again.

American Football
It was a good weekend for my football teams for the most part. South Carolina won on Wednesday so the Princess was very happy. My Raiders did not lose this weekend; that was because they did not play this weekend.

Utah beat Louisville 44 to 35. It would have been 47 to 35 if the Utah head coach and quarterback had been mentally alert in the closing seconds of the first half. With about ten seconds left and the ball on the Louisville 17 or so yard line, the Utah quarterback passed into the middle of the field with no time outs remaining. The receiver was tackled and the half ended. Kicking a field goal would have been a simple chip shot for the Utah kicker.

It was a sloppy game. Utah led at half 27 to 7 and then barely held on to win in the second half. Utah is a team that suffers from emotional schizophrenia. You never know which team will show up at kickoff; the good one that beat UCLA or the bad one that got shut out by UNLV.

Utah is now 3 and 0 against Louisville in a series that goes back to the late 1990s.

Looking ahead for Utah, I think they have a chance at ending up with a 6 and 6 record, possibly even better. Unless they win at least four of the remaining games, the team will get to watch the post season games from the comfort of the dormitories.

I think the Utah head coach needs to learn how to focus and motivate a team. Maybe he should drift over to the Film Studies Department and check out KNUTE ROCKNE ALL AMERICAN. It’s a 1940 film that stars Pat O’Brien as Rockne and a relatively unknown Ronald Reagan as Frank Gipp. It has one of the greatest football motivational speeches ever in it.

As an alternative, Coach Willingham could check out HENRY V. I personally prefer the Lord Olivier version; but the players, some of whom may not be the sharpest tools in the locker room, might prefer the modern color version with Mel Gibson. He needs to dial into the soliloquy by Henry V just before the Battle of Agincourt. If that speech can’t get the players up, then I doubt anything will short of a cattle prod or a very hot branding iron.

The old high school team did not so well on Friday night. They lost an away game 14 to 7 to San Gabriel High School. That is not too bad of a loss. San Marino High is now 4 and 1 for the season. I read a local area paper and the game appears to have been closer than the score. My old school played and had more total offense than San Gabriel.

I also found out from reading the local paper that last week’s victory of 75 to 0 was not a misprint. The win less school lost again badly, 45 to 0, this past Friday.

I don’t think my Brother is a happy football fan today. His University of Southern California Trojans, a 41 point favorite lost to Stanford on Saturday night. USC can probably kiss the national championship goodbye and possibly a conference championship as well. Their quarterback is no longer in contention for the Heisman Trophy. He may still get drafted in the first round so al is not lost I guess.

Programming Note
In case you were unaware, I am going to my favorite and only daughter’s wedding in Atlanta this coming weekend. I have to go because I am father of the bride and I have to give her away.

There will be no regular or Weekend Bonus Feature blog postings from Wednesday October 10th until Monday October 15th.

You all can give yourselves a well earned rest from reading the blog.

Woman of the Moment
I had thought that I should not have a Woman of the Moment today because of my image conversation measures. I did have a WOTM on Friday. Then, I looked ahead and considered that next week would be a slow week for blog postings because of the wedding. In the grander scheme of things, I felt a WOTM would be appropriate for this post.

I took time to check out Tamao Sato on IMDb. She had appeared in 19 films and one television appearance in her career. Nice. Alas, we are down to only viewing Tamao in her bikinis.






Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Bonus Feature - October 6th

Weekend Bonus Feature - Mai Hosho
I don't know much about Mai Hosho except that she is a Japanese actress who is 64 inches - 163 centimeters tall. She was born in January 1977. According to IMDb.com, Mai has appeared in 15 films. I saw her and Tamao Sato play nurses in SUICIDE CLUB.






Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Bonus Feature - October 6th

Weekend Bonus Feature - Mai Hosho
I don't know much about Mai Hosho except that she is a Japanese actress

I Took the Day Off & Weekend Preview - October 5th

I took the day off
I took the day off yesterday because I was still bummed out. I didn’t eat well. It is an odd day for me when I don’t eat well. I think I went to bed around 8:30 PM which is early for me.

Next week ought to be better for me.

Weekend Preview
I guess the biggest event of the weekend will be watching the two concluding episodes of my Korean historical epic drama. That will be nice but I wonder will be broadcast next week in its place.

Then, there is the Japanese high school limited episode series on Sunday night to watch.

The new Ang Lee film, LUST, CAUTION, opens today. I could have rolled down the 405 to Irvine if it was playing there. It turns out I will either have to go to West Los Angeles or Hollywood to see the film. I will have to ask Doug which venue he recommends. Sunday looks like a good day to catch the film.

Bits, Bytes, and Misfiring Synapses
This is one of those odds and ends paragraphs where I do a mental dump. Nothing is really worthy of special mention like Woman of the Moment for example.

I had a comment from a visitor to the blog yesterday. He had read a blog entry from 2005 where I mentioned my friend Shuyen. The commenter wanted to know if my friend had been an art student in Berlin. Unfortunately, Shuyen was a very good business student and not much of an artist.

I was watching my weekly Korean serial on Wednesday. They ran an advertisement from a food supplement company. There are a lot of similar ads on the Korean language television shows. This company was talking about the fact their supplement now had a Kosher certification.

That struck me as unusual. I wondered how Korean-Americans were Jewish. It didn’t seem like there were a lot since not many Koreans are Jewish. According to the CIA World Fact Book, Koreans are Christian 26.3%, Buddhist 22.3%, and no religion 49.3%.

I had to buy a new battery for the Prelude today. I went back to Sears and had them replace the battery. Because the old battery was still under warrant, I saved about 45% of the cost and installation of a new battery.

Sweet.

Today was Fall like at the beach. It wasn’t all that cool or overcast. It was just windy so all I had was bright blue skies overhead. I couldn’t wear short sleeves and be comfortable. I put on my University of South Carolina Gamecocks hooded sweatshirt and was toasty warm. The Gamecocks also did very well in their football game against the University of Kentucky. It looks like the Gamecocks should move up again in the rankings on Monday.

One of the great things about a windy day is our Flag stands out in the breeze. I drove over to my credit union to pick up some cash from the ATM. I went by a McDonald’s restaurant that has three flag poles out in front. They had one of our Flags at the top of each pole.

Perfectomundo.

It also reminded me of when I served on the good ship USS Leonard F. Mason and I was the Officer of the Deck. I always enjoyed looking up at the mast to see the Flag standing straight out in the breeze. The good ship USS Lucid, my other ship, never went fast enough.

The visitor traffic seems to be recovering. The daily totals are a little lower compared to before I made the change to the Woman of the Moment to conserve images. Weekends continue to be the slowest days of the week; that is not a surprise to me.

Woman of the Moment
Time for more Tamao Sato and her bikinis. This is a great way to end the week.






Be well and stay happy

Depressed in Southern California

Depressed in Southern California
You’re wondering how anyone who lives at the beach in Southern California could be depressed. Well, I am.

I am depressed over my Wednesday morning class. Four of the six students failed to show up for class.

How can they fail to come to class?

Are they going to show up late for work when they get out of school? I hope not. I used to solve the problem of not being able to get to work on time by firing the employee and marking them not eligible for rehire on the termination form.

Simple and elegant solution to tardiness; the real benefit was that it improved the attendance of the other employees at no extra cost.

I didn’t feel much like eating my dinner tonight. I ended up with a slice of bread with peanut butter and a half dozen crackers with cheese. Not very much of a meal. I suppose that I may end up with a looser fitting pair of pants tomorrow.

My Korean historical epic drama will end next weekend. On Saturday, the program showed that was Episode 97. I checked the broadcaster’s website and found out the program has only 100 episodes. I guess this weekend’s two episodes will cover an awful lot of ground since he has yet to found his new state.

I went to the market on Tuesday. I had hoped to pick up a Mocha Mudslide from the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf inside of the market. They were still out of the necessary powder for the drink and had no idea when they would get the drink powder in.

Hershey’s Chocolates
I ordered the Princess’ usual Fall order of Hershey miniature candies. It satisfies her sweet tooth plus provides candy for her office. She didn’t want the candy to arrive until after the wedding, logical and reasonable.

I figured ordering the candy on October 2nd would result in the candy being delivered toward the end of the month.

Perfectomundo.

I had an email from Hershey’s when I got home from school today that said the order was in stock and that it was shipped today. I phoned the Princess to warn her that the package was coming and would arrive probably Saturday or Monday.

“Yummy.”

The Princess was happy with the early delivery. She just won’t have any until after the wedding.

Visitors
It seems the visitor count has fallen off dramatically since I adopted the rationing of the Woman of the Moment images.

Oh well, conservation hurts. We will survive this and go forward better for it.



Be well and stay happy.

More Leftovers and Other Crumbs on the Table

More leftovers and crumbs on the table
I had the last of the leftovers when I got home from class last night.

I finished off the remains of the Smoke Norwegian Salmon Bruschetta as my late night meal. It was smoked salmon on the toasted bread with cream cheese and fresh cilantro and fresh and sun dried tomatos. I added some capers to the meal. It was a very nice way to end the day.

Still, it was more food than what I could normally eat. I think I will just have some appetizers the next time I go to Fleming’s.

Job Searching
I think I may have mentioned that I am in a job search that is looking for a Chief Credit Officer. If I haven’t, I am in a job search.

I can do the job in my sleep. Maybe I should; it would be easier to do that way.

I called my headhunter [management recruiter] yesterday for an update on where I stand with the search. The headhunter expressed a lot of dissatisfaction with the process and with his contact at the client. He was really frustrated.

The headhunter said he was going to send his contact in the client’s Human Resources department an email that said he would pull all of his clients unless he heard from them within 48 hours.

I thought this brinksmanship style of negotiation went out of favor with John Foster Dulles. This style works only if you hold all of the bargaining chips. We didn’t hold any.

Now, I will be the first to admit that I know nothing about managing recruiting.

But, it seemed to me this was the wrong approach to take since the company could easily say bye bye and walk away. I decided to share some insights that I had about the company with the headhunter so that he wouldn’t create a cascade failure. After listening to my thoughts, he decided to take a more conciliatory approach with the company.

After my phone call was over, I felt much better. I had done something good.

Woman of the Moment
I will do some more good and cut the blog short. Now is a great time for the Woman of the Moment.






Be well and stay happy.

Leftovers

Leftovers
I had some leftovers from my dinner with Doug last night at Fleming’s in Newport Beach for my lunch today. For the record, our dinner was great. Amy was our server and I enjoyed the really warm hug from her. I think Doug liked his hugs as well.

Amy wanted to know why I hadn’t called recently. I said that I was waiting for you to get over your oral surgery. Amy had her wisdom teeth removed and then had another surgical procedure. She had the last stitches removed last week.

“The last time I spoke to you on the phone, I could tell how painful it was for you to speak.”

“Yeah, I’m still a little swollen as it is now. You’re right but please call me.”

“Sure, I’ll call you Amy.”

I enjoyed the meal but the size of the portions was unreasonable. Fleming’s seemed to want to overwhelm me in food. The portion could have easily feed two. As I drove home, I was mentally appalled at the amount of wasted food every night. I fail to see any benefit from all of the excesses with the food.

Doug and I talked about the upcoming Douguary Dinner. As many of you know, I tend to plan far ahead. I had suggested that we could have it at Fleming’s so Amy could be our server.

Doug said no. We had to go to Morton’s for Douguary. Douguary belongs at Morton’s and to go elsewhere would be so wrong.

In the end, I think Doug is right. Fleming’s is nice and the beef is certainly very good. But, it doesn’t compare to Morton’s and probably never will. Morton’s attention to detail is much better.

For example, at Fleming’s, you are served with a plate of vegetables and dips to eat while you think about your order. Our platter had a radish on it that was turning black from decay. That would have never happened at Morton’s.

I ordered lobster tails because I had had been eating a lot of beef. Lobster is served with melted butter except for my meal last night. The food runners knew or should have known that the lobster tails required melted butter. I didn’t get the melted butter until I had finished with the lobster.

Lastly, when you dine at Morton’s, the managers will walk around and speak to each table individually and they will attend to any problem immediately. The Morton’s managers know and understand how to make a customer feel welcome.

At Fleming’s, customer service is an after thought. The managers do ask how everything is but only as they dash past your table and on to the next one. The Fleming’s managers do not appear to consider waiting until the customer has finished eating the food in his or her mouth before asking them a question about the meal.

Moving on to the next course.

Visitors
We had a total of 482 visitors to the blog in September. This was a nice increase over last year’s total 331. The total visitor count since June of last year, when I had to start over with Sitemeter.com was 7,190.

Nice of you all to stop bye.

Our National Anthem
One of my friends sent me a video clip about our National Anthem the other day. We had both served in the United States Navy during the Viet Nam War. I think we consider ourselves to be patriots.

Unfortunately, the video clip was a complete and total failure for me.

It made me feel bad to be an American. The author of the clip demonstrated that he or she knew so very little about our country and its heritage.

The fort was Fort McHenry not Fort Henry. Fort Henry was captured by elements of the Army of the Tennessee under the command of Ulysses S. Grant in 1862. Fort Henry was the first victory for General Grant

There were no women and children inside of Fort McHenry as the video clip author would have you believe. They had been evacuated to the countryside with the arrival of the British fleet. Everyone knew the fort would be bombarded and attacked.

There were no colonists at Fort McHenry as the video clip author would have you believe. The 1,000 or so defenders were citizens of the United States of America. The battle was fought during the War of 1812; well after we had won our independence from Great Britain.

Why can’t people do some simple fact checking about such an important event, the writing of the words to our National Anthem?

Accurate information is readily available from United States government web sites like the National Park Service. Hell, even Wikipedia go its facts correct about Fort McHenry.

In the end, I am still proud to be an American but ashamed of those who know so little about our Nation’s history. Maybe if we made it harder to become a citizen we wouldn’t have such glaring errors.

I wonder how many innocent people have seen the video clip and had their minds and impressions altered by their viewings?


Be well and stay happy.