More Surprises

More Surprises
Doug stopped by last night instead of showing up on Wednesday. His arrival was motivated by the impending loss of Internet connections because of cable company repair work. He needs the Internet for his work and Dad’s Internet was working just fine although it is slower than a cable modem.

I got an email from Amber the Stylist last night around 10:00 PM. Actually, Amber sent the email much earlier. I was involved with the series premiere of the Science Fiction Channel series EUREKA last night.

Amber said that, as of July 29th, she was no longer associated with the Molly Moon Salon. I knew that Amber would be leaving the salon and hair cutting business in the near future because she will be graduating from college in September. I was under the impression that Amber would be cutting hair for a couple of months until she found a new job.

This was a real surprise for me.

This afternoon, I received another email from Amber. She has a temporary location now. I’ve been to the new temporary location when her former salon was remodeled. I don’t particularly care for the new location because parking is poor and the salon is a walk up a steep flight of stairs.

My next appointment with Amber is scheduled for a Tuesday and she is not working on Tuesdays any longer. I guess I will call Molly Moon salon and see what my options are tomorrow.

Programming Note
I may not be posting to the blog as regularly as usual for the next few days because of the colonoscopy on Friday morning. I should be back to what passes for normal by Tuesday of next week.

Dinner with Doug
Doug and I went to the LA Food Show for dinner tonight. We both enjoy the food and service but it is not Morton’s by any stretch of the imagination. The Show was more crowded than it has been in the last few times that we were there.

I tried a new egg roll that features chicken, broiled corn, black beans, onions and cilantro. It was very good and not that spicy. Doug opted for the traditional egg rolls with avocado, bacon, cheese, and chicken instead. The Show has increased the serving size from four to six portions which will make these perfect for when I go to the Show with Lisa and Vivian.

The last time I spoke with my Brother he mentioned going to Denny’s for Patty Melts. He considered the Patty Melt to be a signature meal. I had always thought of Denny’s and breakfast omelets. The Show had a Patty Melt on the menu and I decided to try it. It was good but nothing to write home about. I don’t think my Brother would have given it two thumbs up.

Doug wisely selected the Bar-Be-Qued Bacon Cheeseburger. Judging from how little food was left on his plate at the end of the meal, he really enjoyed it.

We also talked about going to Morton’s for the charity hamburger lunch. We decided to have lunch there on August 17th, all other things and schedules remaining equal and unchanged. It will be a good time to go because it will be right after I see the oncologists.

My Friend Sharon
My friend Sharon called, actually she was returning my birthday phone from yesterday, just as we were starting to eat our egg rolls. Sharon said the Show was one of her favorite places to go for food.

Sharon said she would call me later on after dinner. I hope she calls before I go to bed.


Be well and stay happy.

Whole Lotta' Shakin' Goin' On

Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On
5.4 Richter Scale earthquake hit Southern California at 11:42 AM.

Fortunately for me and Doug, it was a non-event. Neither one of us experienced any damage where we live. I think Doug was about twenty miles and I was closer to forty miles from the epicenter.

The earthquake motion was limited to an up and down sensation at my flat. There have been news images of some unreinforced masonry buildings with partial wall collapses. There are not too many of these buildings left in Southern California. Earthquakes have culled the weaker buildings over the years.

The rest of the day has followed the usual post earthquake pattern. The local television stations have covered the earthquake continuously since it happened. They have broadcast the viewer calls that usually include mostly older people who can add nothing to the news. Of course, there are the always requisite images from the liquor store with lots of broken bottles that have fallen from the shelves.

Dr. Kate Hutton from the California Institute of Technology’s Earthquake Laboratory gave the first news conference. She was poised and calm and treated the event as an every day event. It is true that we live in earthquake. We have earthquakes all of the time here according to Dr. Hutton.

While this is a moderate earthquake, it did nothing to reduce the overall stress on the San Andreas Fault. The San Andreas Fault is a giant fault system that starts in Northern Mexico and then runs almost the length of California before plunging into the Pacific Ocean north of San Francisco. The last really big earthquake on the San Andreas Fault was in 1857 so we are due to have a really big earthquake in the next hundred years.

A hundred years; that’s a long time.

I am personally prepared. I have my emergency first aid kit, my water for a couple of days, and food for about two weeks, if I make it last and skip breakfasts. Next month, I have to replace my food and water. I hope there is a sale on at the market.

I have avoided using the elevator in the building for now; no sense getting stuck in the elevator in an aftershock.

One of the nice things, if you can call it that, is that earthquakes can happen at any time of the year unlike hurricanes. So, this earthquake has about a five per cent chance of being a precursor to a much larger earthquake.

Oh joy.

The television news reported that epicenter was between the third and ninth holes on a golf course in the Chino Hills. I suppose the Golfer would find this fascinating.

The mayor of Los Angeles has never met a television camera that he didn’t like. This would have been a perfect opportunity for him to get unlimited television coverage. Unfortunately, he was on vacation in London; too bad Mr. Mayor.

The Princess returned my phone call today. I called her to let her know that both Doug and I were fine. She saw a feature on her office building’s CNN lobby when she went out to lunch. She turned to her coworker and I said that her Dad had probably called her. She was right.

We talked about other things like Sharon and the earthquake epicenter being on a golf course; something to share with the Golfer. The Princess asked how the high school reunion worked out for me. I said that I went and had a good time but the prospects were not all that good for me. The princess pointed out that I could try an online dating service like match.com or chemistry.com. I think I will stick to the old fashioned method of finding a female companion.

Other Drama, or not, in My Life
I phoned my friend Sharon to wish her a happy birthday. I know that Sharon is sensitive to her aged and left her a message that asked if the earthquake could be traced back to her birthday and her age. I also told that I was fine.

Sharon was probably at work when the earthquake struck and has been busy with corporate communications and public relations.

I had another student in one of my classes ask me for a letter of recommendation for his graduation portfolio. I have had only one class with the student. I explained that my letter was not going to have as much weight as one from one of his major field of study instructors. He said he knew that but still would like to have one from me.

I’ll write a letter for him.

The student who first asked me for a letter of recommendation really liked the one I wrote for her. Obviously, I felt very good about that.

My Brother called this morning. He wasn’t calling about the earthquake. He wanted to know the origin of the 21 gun salute at a military funeral. He had been talking to his friend George and the question of where the salute came from came up. He told George that he would call me because he was certain that I knew the answer.

I did, being a history major in college and self taught military history student.

The Science Fiction Channel’s series, EUREKA, returns to television tonight. I am looking forward to the series starting up again.

Dinner with Merit
I went to El Gringo for dinner as usual.

Merit greeted as usual when I walked in. some of the other customers looked at me because she didn’t greet anyone else who entered while I was there. El Gringo, on Tuesday nights for me, is like Norm walking into Cheers.

I decided to try something new tonight. I ordered a bar-be-qued chicken quesadilla with cilantro, onions, cheese, and black beans. I really liked the quesadilla; it was light and not a really big filling meal like some of the dishes at El Gringo.

I will probably have it again next week. This assumes, of course, that my colon will be up to normal food including el Gringo’s spicy Mexican style foods.


Be well and stay happy.

I Want to Believe

I Want to Believe
I want to believe; I really do want to believe.

First of all, I am an X-Files fan and have been for some time. Having provided the full and fair disclosure, I will share my comments about the film.

Judging from the box office results according to Doug, USD$10 million for the weekend in the United States was not very good at all. In fact, it was a poor opening. Some studio executive said, “they made the film for the fans,” which sounded like so much panic and desperation.

I think the film lacked the chemistry between Mulder and Scully was a key feature in the first film and television series. I did like Amanda Peet’s performance; she could have helped the franchise by providing a female interest for Mulder after he and Scully discovered they have irreconcilable differences. Regrettably, Peet’s character was killed off in the film.

I can be happy since I saw the film at a bargain matinee and saved a pile of money. The savings paid for my trip to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. I don’t think there will be an X-FILES 3 film so I won’t have to worry about the cost of admission.

Weekend Update
When I was walking back to the Prelude after catching the X-FILES film, I saw a young Asian American, I think, woman who had dyed her hair a reddish purple color. On top of the colored hair, she was also wearing some of those sheepskin boots and a bright floral print dress.

This morning would have been a good day to have my camera with me.

Why would you want to wear sheepskin lined boots in Southern California in the middle of Summer?

It made no sense to me. I’ll accept any and all possible and plausible explanations; even the ones that are deniable. She was not the sort of young woman that you might want to bring home to meet your parents.

Saturday was another music concert day at the temple across the street from where I live. Normally, I am generally music tolerant except for yesterday. Saturday was polka music; not my choice ever. It was warm and sunny so I had my windows open to enjoy the weather. But, with the amplification, I was forced to enjoy the polka music as well.

I went to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for my usual, once a week ice blended drink after watching the X-FILES film. The crew that was working made a perfect drink for me. That was a great way for me to wrap up the middle of the weekend; middle in terms of activities.

I noticed that one of the units on my floor is for sale at USD$419,900. It is smaller than my flat but it does have a better view unless you like sun in the early morning and being close to a very busy street.

Either the owners are getting discouraged or they are selling their units. We only have five units for sale now. This is down from eight in the Spring.

I do feel much better about what my flat is worth; not that I am going to sell it anytime soon and move. That would be silly and foolish of me.

Visitors
This was the first week in this month where we had more domestic viewers than we had foreign viewers. This was a surprise for me.

We had visitors from Italy [4], Canada [25], Portugal [2], France [13], Texas [12], Singapore [7], Germany [10], Japan [10], Finland, Argentina, United Arab Emirates [2], Poland [6], United Kingdom [12], Belgium [3], Taiwan [2], Mexico [9], Spain [3], Australia [3], Egypt, Netherlands, Indonesia [6], Austria, Kuwait, Turkey [4], Hungary [2], Vietnam [5], Venezuela [2], Denmark, Norway, Ecuador, Malaysia [2], India [3], Slovakia, Iran [2], Colombia, Korea [3], Puerto Rico, Bangladesh, Romania [2], Thailand [4], New Zealand, Sweden, French Guiana, Croatia, China, Ireland, and Brazil.

This was the first time that we have had visitors from Bangladesh and French Guiana.

I do appreciate all of the visitors who stop by and visit the blog.


That was my weekend. I hope your weekend was good as well.


Be well and stay happy.

Getting Ready for the Weekend

Getting Ready for the Weekend
I got ready for the weekend with two good classes on Thursday. We had some fun for a change with some of the discussions.

I won’t be going to the tattoo exposition this weekend. I am not a fan of funky body art. I just don’t see what purpose they serve. Besides, I will save on the gasoline that I won’t use driving the fifty miles to the venue.

The X-FILES – I WANT TO BELIEVE film opened yesterday. I plan to see the film over the weekend at my local multiplex. Unfortunately for me, the bargain shows are the earliest showings so I will have to get up early and get going.

Looking ahead, new episodes of EUREKA will start playing on next Tuesday. That will be nice.

It will be warm and sunny at the beach all weekend. What more can I ask for? I will have to grade papers so I will do that on Sunday afternoon, out on the balcony. I will make certain that I remain fully hydrated with some cold Heineken’s. If I finish the grading, I always have a book to read.

I need to call some of the family over the weekend; mostly the Princess and my Brother. It has been some time since I spoke with them.

Everything is looking up for me for the weekend.


Be well and stay happy.

Dinner with Merit

Dinner with Merit
I had dinner with Merit last night at El Gringo. I sat at an inside table; it was warm enough to eat outside but I didn’t want to share part of the evening with small children.


Merit greeted me with, “Where were you last week Charles?”

Some of the customers looked at me and probably wondered what Merit was talking about since we don’t look like we are related.

I explained to Merit that the school called a special staff meeting for last Tuesday and they served some cheesy pizzas. Merit said she understood asked how I liked the pizza. I said that I would have preferred to have had dinner with her instead.

I suppose that I could have skipped the pizza slices at school and driven to El Gringo for dinner with Merit. Driving to El Gringo would have resulted in fresher and hotter food for my dinner plus I would have had some conversation with Merit.

Merit and I talked about what we did over the weekend. I graded papers. Merit spent the weekend at the beach; she looked significantly tanner last night.

I suppose there were some other things going on in my life but they seem to have slipped past my mind.


Be well and stay happy.

The Day Off

The Day Off
Tuesday is a day off from teaching. Since I didn’t get into bed until 11:15 PM or so, I indulged myself with a late sleeper routine today and didn’t get up until 7:00 AM. That is an old Navy custom for sailors who had the Midwatch.

Some old customs are well worth saving; this is one of those.

I ran some errands today. I went to the market because I was low on some basic staples that included Arizona Tea Company’s Arnold Palmer Light Tea. I bought five, one liter bottle. My definition of what a basic staple is maybe different from your’s.

I was sad when I went by the frozen food aisle. Apparently, the market had suffered a power outage and the freezer stopped working. I almost volunteered to help toss out the ice cream but changed my mind when I saw one of the workers drop an ice cream carton and the melted ice cream came pouring out.

There was nothing left for me to salvage and enjoy.

So tragic.

I did some assignment reviews for some of my students. Their writing is improving and that is rewarding for me.

The school was in turmoil yesterday over a visit by some General Accountability Office auditors. We were asked to dress in our suits, just to impress the auditors I guess. That was a waste of time for me, besides being uncomfortable. The auditors never made it my class so all of my extra preparation went down the drain.

Today was a really dull day for me.

Some days are like that; we all need dull days to balance out the chaos in our lives.


Be well and stay happy.

The Class Reunion

The Class Reunion
My high school class had its 45th reunion on Saturday evening. It was held at a very upscale venue and I think this helped bring the attendance down dramatically from the last one five years ago. Tickets were USD$100 a piece.

I went with the intention of having a good time and maybe meeting a single woman from my class who lived locally. Unfortunately for me, most of the women there were either married or lived too far away, so long as gasoline prices remain high.

I got along very well with a number of married women who left their husbands home. I had a wonderful dinner with one of the married women and she kept trying telling her single friend that I was worth looking into because I had a great sense of humor. Susan said if she had known how funny I was that she would have spent more time with me in high school. Her single friend has been divorced for only a few years and is looking for a good man.

Several of the married women know that I am single and interested in female companionship. I think they hate to see anyone who is unmarried so they may work on my behalf and I may get some interest in me after all.

I will have to wait and see how this all plays out for me.

Missed Items
I forgot a couple of items from Friday’s posting. I must be getting older now.

One of my former students asked me to write a letter of reference for her portfolio that she will be using in her job search. This was the first time that a student has asked me to write a letter for them.

Then, on Friday afternoon, I had a phone call from a recruiter. The recruiter wanted to know if I had any interest in a job he was trying to fill. I think several other recruiters had the assignment but were unsuccessful. I told him that I was not interested in the position after he described it to me. The job would have represented a big step backwards for me and I knew that I would have been unhappy there.

Weekend Update
There was not too much to the weekend for me besides the reunion.

I spent Saturday morning and part of the afternoon working on fixing a software hang up with my Firefox 3.0.1 program. The program froze on me. In the end, I went back to a restore point and reset the program. This was more than I wanted to do. Now, I have to go back and re-enter all of my bookmarks and that is such a pain.

Today was a sleeping late morning and paper grading day for me. My grade books are all up to date and that is good for me since it is the beginning of Week 7 of an eleven week long term.

Visitors
We had a big drop in domestic visitors this month. We had less than 40% come from the United States. There were no new or first time visitors, as far as I can remember.

We had visitors from Chile, United Kingdom [6], Iceland, Germany [21], Japan [16], South Africa [4], Texas [7], France [18], Italy [3], Indonesia [6], Brazil [8], Philippines [6], Guatemala, Australia [5], Singapore [8], Turkey [2], Canada [17], Korea [5], Austria [5], Spain [9], Saudi Arabia [2], Finland [2], Malaysia [2], Greece [3], Mexico [6], United Arab Emirates [4], Netherlands [6], Norway [2], Thailand [2], India [3], Hungary, Israel [2], Iran [2], Portugal [5], Colombia, Switzerland, Egypt, Poland [2], New Zealand, Taiwan [2], Vietnam [2], Qatar, Belgium, Ukraine, Latvia, Ireland, and Venezuela.

I do appreciate all of you who visit the blog on a regular or irregular basis.


That was my weekend. I hope your weekend was fruitful for you.


Be well and stay happy.

Me and the Doctors

Me and the Doctors
I wasn’t feeling all that well on Wednesday after spending too much time at the clinic. One of my teacher friends said that I looked tired yesterday at school. I guess that I was tired after all.

Doug came out from behind the Orange Curtain to join in a trip to the clinic today. The trip was billed as a surgical consultation. It was a go over the paperwork for the colonoscopy procedure; sign the consents, pick up the prescription, and discover that the procedure had been changed from July 25th to August 1st.

I asked why the procedure date was changed. The nurse said the supervising physician would not be available. The procedure couldn’t go forward without proper supervision. That made sense to me.

I asked if the tests that I had taken had come out satisfactorily. I was concerned when the nurse said the clinic had managed to misplace their copy of my medical file. The last I wanted to do was to go through another round of tests. I knew they had a copy of my ECG printout; I handed it to the nurse.

The nurse excused herself and went to check on my x-ray results and the blood tests. She came back and said that “my x-rays were beautiful.”

I said that “was my inner beauty shinning through.”

That cracked her up and made her lose her concentration. I had her laughing for the rest of the interview. It was fun for me.

Another nurse went over what food I can’t eat during the procedure. Essentially, I get to live on clear liquids for two or three days. I am so not happy with the prospect of chicken broth and Sprite and bottled water.

Of course, I will now have to call the oncologists on Monday to reschedule my August 1st appointment with them. Hopefully, I can get rescheduled for August 8th or 15th. I suppose that I could ask for an afternoon appointment and see them after I finish and recover from the colonoscopy that starts at 6:00 AM.

August 1st will be a long day for me.

Looking Ahead
The big event this weekend is my high school class’s 45th reunion. That will be Saturday night for me. Maybe I will meet one of my female classmates who happens to be single like me.

That would be epic.

I have some grading for school. I need to prepare a lesson plan for the substitute who will teach my Thursday night class on the 31st when I am home cleaning out my digestive tract.

I had thought about going to the theater on August 2nd. I think that is not going to happen now. I will pass the tickets on to my old assistant because I know she and her daughter both love the theater.

Then, there is the usual cleaning and washing to do around the flat.


I hope you have a great weekend.


Be well and stay happy.

A Sad Day

A Sad Day
I got home from teaching last night around 10:40 PM or so. I had a blinking light on my answering machine. I figured that the message was from some telemarketer. It was my Brother; he asked me to call him if I didn’t get the message too late.

I was tired and I decided that almost 11:00 was too late to call him.

I phone my Brother this morning after I had my breakfast.

My Brother called me to tell of the passing of a very good friend of his and a friend of mine. His friend passed away on Saturday from a heart attack. From what my Brother learned from his call about the death, our friend had not taken care of himself medically and this probably contributed to the passing.

I was surprised and shocked. You tend to feel more nervous when you find people who are younger than you are passing away.

School
When I opened my school email yesterday, I learned the Government Accountability Office [GAO] will be visiting our campus next week. Our campus was selected to be the representative of the company.

Oh joy.

The school is having a special staff meeting tonight to brief the staff about the visit. Normally, I would have skipped the meeting since I am only a part-time teacher and I don’t have a reason to be at the school on Tuesday since that is a day off for me.

I decided to go to the staff meeting for two reasons; first, they will serve free pizza and soft drinks and second, because I have a Monday morning class. The GAO may visit my class and I want to be prepared just in case. Having trouble during a visit would not be a good career move for me.

Since it is an off-day for me, I can dress in my denims and wear a shirt that is not tucked into my pants. Comfort rules for me.

Programming Note
I have a bunch of tests tomorrow at the clinic. These tests are in conjunction with my upcoming colon surgery consultation on the 18th and a colonoscopy on the 25th.

I may or may not publish a blog tomorrow, depending on how long I am at the clinic and how I feel afterwards. Some days are better than others for me.

School Meeting
The meeting at school was useful. It should not be too bad for me. I am a little bummed out because the administration asked all instructors who will be teaching on Monday and Tuesday to wear the usual business attire. Normally, we get to wear business casual during the Summer.

The pizza was sort of dried out before I got to the table with the pizzas. I had some bar-be-qued chicken pizza. It was filling and that is about all I can say the pizza.


That was my day.


Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update - July 13th

Weekend Update
I did some laundry this weekend. The pile of clean clothes has been shrinking lately and I needed to do something about that.

The air conditioning system at school has been out of action for the last two weeks. It has been blowing out only cold air and there is no way to have any heat. It is close to impossible to learn when you are so cold that you cannot hold a pen.

It is supposed to be fixed this coming week. I certainly hope so.

I went to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf after the movie today for a large ice blended with half mocha and half white chocolate. The idiot barista told the mixer to use hazelnut instead of mocha. That made the drink taste like crap; no tips ever for that store. It is a convenient place to buy tea for the Princess.

Cinema
I finally got my movie viewing straightened out today.

Excellent.

I will go see THE MUMMY on August 2nd or 3rd and then I will catch STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS on the 16th or 17th. I will finish off the month, for now anyway, with the X-FILES I WANT TO BELIEVE, Mulder and Scully again, on the 25th or 26th. I suppose that there are other films coming out in August but these are the only ones that I currently want to see.

I went to see JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH today. It was a so – so film. I thought that it was an extra light version of INDIANA JONES. JOURNEY opened in third place in the United States with a box office of about USD$24.6 million against a reported cost of USD$85 million.

The film had a lesser quality and level for computer generated images. It seemed like it was made with some scraps off the cutting room floor of Industrial Light & Magic. Brendan Fraser’s character was played more for comic relief than as adventure actor. There were some actions scenes but they were not that exciting.

The film was designed to be part of a multipart series. It would appear the next film in the series will be a search for the lost city of Atlantis. At least Anita Briem is much more interesting than Rachelle Weisz and that is something to be very thankful for.

Visitors
We had another good week for visitors. The visitor count was about 50% domestic and 50% international. Nice balance.

We had visitors from Japan [14], Mexico [5], Guatemala [3], Canada [15], Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Norway [2], France [7], Iran [4], Texas [13], United Kingdom [10], Netherlands [6], Bolivia [3], Germany [6], Russia, Singapore [5], China [5], Guam, Italy, Poland [4], South Africa, Czech Republic, Portugal, Korea [4], Thailand [5], Malaysia [3], Spain [3], Indonesia [6], Croatia, Ecuador, New Zealand, Estonia [2], Turkey [3], Brazil [2], Sweden [2], Dominican Republic, India, Switzerland [4], Morocco, Chile, Taiwan, Philippines [2], Finland, Austria, Australia [2], and Ireland.

This was the first from someone in Guam and Morocco. It is always nice to see a new face visiting the blog.

I do appreciate all of you who took time to visit the blog in the last week.


That was my weekend.


Be well and stay happy.

Friday

MRI Scan
I had my MRI scan this morning. It was uneventful for me for the most part. I still get a bit anxious when the MRI operator pushed the button that sent me into the scanning tube. The whole process from start to finish only lasted about 45 minutes. The only difficult part came when the operator injected a trace dye in my arm. That was on the painful side for me. Fortunately, the pain was gone in about five minutes.

Cinema
It looks like I got my release dates confused. THE MUMMY is opening next weekend. I can go see JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH instead this weekend. I will have to get up early to catch the cheap showing. Saving some money is always important for me.

Food and Drink
I got an email from Morton’s the Steakhouse today. As many of you know, Doug and I love to go there. As Doug says, anytime is a good time to go to Morton’s.

Morton’s is offering a Sunday only special for a Prime Sirloin Hamburger from now until the end of September. The photo had the hamburger served with cheddar or American cheese and sautéed mushrooms with French fries. It looked tasty to me.

Personally, I would have wanted the hamburger to come with melting Swiss cheese, some raw onions, and some fresh avocado. Now, that would be close to perfect in my mind.

I will catch up with Doug over the weekend and see if he is interested to making another run to Morton’s for what looks like a killer hamburger meal. I am so ready for it now; I could go on this Sunday.

Doug
Doug called me this afternoon because he was bored; he was waiting to get new tires put on his Honda. The old tires had lasted for 65,000 miles – 104,000 kilometers which is good for original equipment tires.

I told Doug about the Morton’s hamburger promotion. He is definitely ready to go try one of the hamburgers. I think we will be paying a trip to the Santa Ana Morton’s for a very nice lunch; maybe we can have Becky for our server again.

Doug also cleared up my movie release information. THE MUMMY is supposed to come out in August and avoid being bunched too close to another similar genre film with Brendan Fraser as well as avoiding THE DARK KNIGHT that opens next week. Doug had no thoughts on JOURNEY so I am on my own here.

Word 2007
At first, I hated Word 2007. It was just unworkable for me. Basic functionalities like font selection and font size would not work at all for me. I essentially tossed it in the recycle bin and used Word 2003.

I think that the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 may have cleared up some of my problems. I have been able to make the 2007 Version more like the 2003 Version by adding icons to a tool bar; this almost recreates the old Word 2003 tool – function bar.

Perfectomundo.

Microsoft giveth and Microsoft taketh away. I used to love the mail function in Word 2003 that allowed you to include the Postal Service bar code so the mail can get handled electronically and faster. In Word 2007, this function was removed.

Bummer.

Looking Ahead
It seems as if my weekend will be on the slow and boring side again. I may catch a movie tomorrow or not. Of course, there will be some laundry to do but no more than a load or two. Sunday will be set aside for grading papers and lesson plans.

Taken as a whole, it looks like a very nice Southern California Summer weekend to me.


Be well and stay happy.

One of the Troubles with Blogging

One of the Troubles with Blogging
I am often faced with the fact that I have nothing to say on days like today. This usually happens after I have large weekend posts, last Friday and Sunday. I tend to dump everything into the blog postings and then have nothing to say today.

I forgot to mention the Prelude managed to average a nifty 28.5 miles to the gallon on the last tank of gasoline. I could have done better if I had driven a little slower. Still, I am pleased that my almost twenty year old car can turn in this level of performance.

Then, I made a decision to generally limit myself to only one large ice blended, half mocha, half white chocolate with whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce in the cup and on the whipped cream drink a week. I do particularly enjoy these very cold drinks. I don’t enjoy all of the calories but my oncologists would like to see me drink more of these ice blended drinks.

Reheating the remains of my chicken burrito from last night at El Gringo was not what I had expected. It tasted a bit on the flat side.

Looking ahead, the newest film in the MUMMY series comes out on Friday in the States. If all goes well, I will probably find time over the weekend to see it on the big screen. I have enjoyed the other films in the series. I think it will be nice to have the film shot in a place other than Egypt.

I get to have another MRI scan on Friday morning. This is not too difficult for me; Doug will not be coming up for the scan since it is uncomplicated. I don’t think the scan will interfere with seeing the film.

Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Residue

Weekend Residue
The Prelude logged 349,000 miles or 561,000 kilometers on my way home from having dinner with Merit tonight. With a little luck, the Prelude ought to clear 350,000 miles sometime in August.

With a little more luck on my part, I may be able to see the Prelude reach 500,000 miles but that will take some time to achieve.

Sweet for me.

As usual, I had Dinner with Merit at El Gringo tonight. I had a chicken burrito and I was only able to finish about half of it. I will finish the burrito off at either lunch or dinner tomorrow.

Merit and I had discussed the need for a new Summer photo last week. Merit agreed to the idea of a Summer image. Unfortunately, the photos were a disappointment for me so I deleted them from the camera. Maybe I will try again next week or just give up and continue to use the images that I have now.

I had a nice long phone call from the Princess tonight. We talked about a lot of things, mostly the 4th of July and the status of her tea supply. It is on the lowish side so I will send her some more tea next week. The Princess told me how one woman in her office was raving about one of the teas and how she tried to find some locally in Seattle.

I went online and found the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf web site. I sent the Princess the URL to her office email so she could send it around to others in the office that were craving specialty teas.

I am a really good Dad I think.


Be well and stay happy.

Reflctions of the 4th of July

Reflections of the 4th of July
Personally, I had a great 4th of July.

I walked down to the beach to catch the local fireworks show. It was great; it lasted almost two hours. The explosions were loud and colorful and not obscured by low clouds and fog this year.

Embarrassed, Angry, Hurt, Cry, Ashamed?
I really enjoyed my local fireworks display. It was loud and bright and colorful and long. It lasted almost two hours. I got my exercise in my walking to and from the beach. Granted, it took longer to walk home than it did to walk to the beach; the trip home is mostly up hill.

I returned home in time to see a rebroadcast for the 4th of July celebration from Washington that was held outside, on the Mall. All I can say about it was I am so glad to have missed. I didn’t know whether to cry; feel hurt, ashamed, angry, or embarrassed by the performance.

The performance was one that simply churned my stomach. It seems as the program was prepared to entertain the so-called “elites” of Washington, most of who are useless yuppie scum. You could tell that these people were so out of touch with Mainstream America. Who wears a suit and tie to the 4th of July fireworks? No American that I know.

Of course, these useless elites were seated in chairs behind a metal fence; I guess to keep the common people away from them. I noticed several members of Congress sitting with the elites including some members who are in positions of leadership.

The entertainment was pathetic in my mind. Two of the performers were opera singers and one was an actor-singer whose career has been in performing in stage performances. Not what you could call appealing to the Mainstream of America.

Never heard of any of them. Probably just as well, too.

There were two rock and roll performers; one had his last big hit fifty years ago and the other had his last hit thirty years ago. Oh, I almost forgot; the performers included a winner from television show American Idol.

Pathetic, simply and horribly pathetic.

Then, there was the orchestra.

In a word, pure crap.

Ok, two words then.

Aside from one or two John Philip Souza songs, there was no patriotic music. I can’t understand how you can celebrate our Nation’s independence by excluding songs like “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” or “Dixie” or “Over There.”

You cannot simply avoid the impact or role the armed forces have played in our Nation’s history. Our Nation, rightly or wrongly, was largely built by the American armed forces.

In my final analysis, it seems that political correctness won out over history. We don’t want to offend anyone.

Screw that notion.

I like, I mean that I really like, the sounds of freedom whether it is the music or the sound of an F/A 18 Super Hornet flying low and fast overhead. That will always work for me for as long as I live.

4th of July 2009
I plan to take another walk down to the beach; assuming that I am still physically, otherwise, I can drive myself there. I will spend part of Memorial Day 2009 loading my Apple Nano with a bunch of John Philip Souza songs and a bunch of other military songs or songs that are associated with our Nation’s wartime history like Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” or “Puff the Magic Dragon.”

I think I’ll need maybe three hours of music. That ought to cover the fireworks and the walk back home. That will be a much better way to remember our history.

Cinema
I haven’t written about the cinema is some time; mostly because I have not been to the cinema in some time. I went a couple of times when Doug was staying with me after my surgery and when I started on the chemotherapy routine.

I was thrilled to read in Friday’s paper that the missing 25 minutes from Fritz Lang’s masterpiece METROPOLIS has been found in Argentina. The Friedrich Murnau Foundation has authenticated the scenes. Now, all I have to do is wait for a couple of years until the newly restored and complete film is available. Then, I will be purchasing a complete copy of the film.

Perfectomundo.

METROPOLIS was one of the first science fiction films. It has influenced succeeding science fiction films like BLADE RUNNER, FAHRENHEIT 451, and STAR WARS, except for Jar Jar Binks. We can hold Lucas responsible for Binks.

I went to see four films over the weekend and I think this was a good set of results for me. I saw two on the 4th, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. This schedule allowed me to relax and loaf around as well.

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL was the first film that I saw. I loved it for a variety of reasons such as tying up the story line with his father from THE LAST CRUSADE and Indiana Jones’ relationship with Marion Ravenswood. I thought the CGI was superb.

I wonder if the next episode will involve aliens from outer space. That is assuming we have a fifth episode.

Then, I saw WALL-E which was a continuation of Pixar’s dominance of high end computer generated animation. I had my breath taken away when I saw how well the metal on one of WALL-E’s eyes had aged and responded to the weathering. It was fantastic as our Governator might say.

I have added both films to my list of films to be acquired. Doug said WALL-E would be out in time for Christmas.

Perfectomundo.

My last film was today. I saw MONGOL today; it is a joint Chinese – Russian film about the early years and subsequent rise of Genghis Khan. I rather liked and enjoyed the exterior shots of Mongolia; the film had one of those cast of thousands look and feel to it and some CGI soldiers as well. The film was in Mongolian and it had decent English subtitles.

It was a nice way to end the cinema session for this weekend.

Me and the Cancer
I don’t have too much to say about my cancer. It has been a week since I had my final dressing removed. The underlying skin on my arm is slowly recovering. It is slightly discolored. I have been applying some lotion to it to speed the recovery.

I am still sensitive to the cold; mostly in my fingers and my toes. The sensitivity is slowly draining out of my system as my body flushes the residue of the chemotherapy medicine. I have still a lingering cold sensitivity but it is getting better with each passing day. Hopefully, my sensitivity will be gone in another week or so.

Visitors
June was the best month ever for the blog in terms of visitors and page views. We had 1,494 visitors who viewed 2,468 pages.

Cool.

We had more international visitors [57%] than we had domestic visitors [43%]. We had visitors from Japan [13], Australia [5], Canada [12], France [10], United Kingdom [6], Germany [15], Texas [5], Mexico [4], Italy [7], Indonesia [4], India [2], Korea [4], Poland [3], Singapore [4], Czech Republic [2], Sweden [2], Hong Kong [3], Thailand [4], Macau, Peru, Belgium, Israel, Iran, Switzerland, Portugal [4], Venezuela [4], Spain, Finland, Netherlands [2], South Africa, China [2], Austria [2], Ireland, Romania, Dominican Republic, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Estonia, and United Arab Emirates.

I think this was the first that the blog has had visitors from Estonia and the Dominican Republic.

I know I have undercounted the international visitors this week. The daily traffic count is approaching 60 visitors per day so I may miss some visitors if I don’t check regularly. Not checking happens as it did this week when I substituted for another teacher on Wednesday and didn’t cheek the visitor logs until Friday.


I had a great weekend. I hope that you did as well. I should have posted this blog on Sunday; oh well, life happens.


Be well and stay happy.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July
It is just so great to be an American today. I love my country and all that it has given and done for me.

I am so proud to be a citizen of this great country. I am also proud of having served my Nation’s armed forces as an office in the United States Navy.

If you are enjoying the 4th of July in the United States, be sure to thank a veteran because freedom is never ever free. It is bought and paid for with the lives of better men and women than those who never served and constantly complain about our country.

Remember that. It is important.

232 years ago today, 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. Have you ever stopped to think what those men did and sacrificed so you could enjoy the freedoms you have today?

Probably not; most sunshine patriots never do.

I’ll save you the task of looking them up.

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists, eleven were merchants, and nine were farmers and large plantation owners, men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

Some of us take our liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Patriotism is NOT now a sin, nor has it ever been a sin. The Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.

At times like today, I am reminded and comforted by a quotation for Stephen Decatur, a naval officer who served and helped form the beginnings and traditions of the United States Navy.

He proposed simple toast one evening, “Our Country, Right or Wrong.”

That works well for me.


God bless the United States of America.

Warm and Sunny

Warm and Sunny
Today was one of those nice Southern California days that remind me why I live here. I would have gone to the beach today but part of my right arm, where the PICC Line was, is still on the raw side. I didn’t think the sun exposure would be good for the healing process.

I must have been wearing a “Come Talk To Me” sign today. I was approached by complete and total strangers in the market, Staples, and the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Three much less than interesting women approached and began to talk to me.

I ignored them which was more than they deserved.

Today was a day for errand running. It was so nice for me to be out and about in shorts and a short sleeved shirt for a change. Maybe I will begin to get some color back in my legs and arms now.

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf was one of my stops. I needed to have a large ice blended drink. Actually, I didn’t need the drink; I just wanted one because it would be very cool and taste great as I sucked on the large straw. I should probably limit my large ice blended drinks to Fridays when I don’t have to get up early on Saturday in case I have trouble dropping off to sleep at night. I should also limit my drink runs to Coffee Bean to one a week so I don’t regain too much weight.

The Princess called me yesterday on her way home from the office. She had received her Christmas in July gift from Coach. She said, “I love it Dad; it’s perfect. I’m using it right now.”

I told her the gift receipt was in the mail and that she would get it at home either yesterday or today. The Princess said she had no need for it. I like to shop for her at Coach because they always seem to have something that she will like and use. That, plus the fact she walks by the local Coach store in Seattle to catch her commuter bus making it easy to change her mind.

Simplicity in my life is a very good thing.

I also sent her husband, the Golfer, a supplement from the Los Angeles Times that covered all of the public courses in Southern California. The Golfer is a PGA teaching professional and he is likely to want to play a new course when they visit us either for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

I sent Doug a message last night during my break from teaching. I had the idea of showing a film about state and local government in my classes and asked him for some suggestions. I came up with CITIZEN KANE and ALL THE KING’S MEN. I’m certain he can come up with some better titles for me.

Doug phoned as he was taking a break from helping his friend Robin move. Doug suggested that I consider MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON as film for my class choice. That was a great idea and I have the DVD on the shelf too. I checked the film and, at 130 minutes, it maybe too long for the class. Still, I think it will work for me.

Programming Note
I am not going to be posting an entry tomorrow. I will be substitute teaching an evening class in Ethics. The school must have been desperate to have gone to the bottom of the barrel to ask me to teach that subject.

I will pick up a few extra dollars; always good for me. Some of my existing students are in the Ethics class and have said they are looking forward to having me substitute. I think I should feel good about their comments.

Dinner with Merit
It is Tuesday and that means Dinner with Merit at El Gringo.

I enjoy going to El Gringo for dinner and the conversations with Merit during the meal. I wish they would scale back their portion sizes because it is way too much for me to eat. The food is good and properly prepared. I know that I could take some of my meal home but I don’t think it would taste all that well if I reheated it in the microwave oven the next day.

Tuesday is Taco Tuesday at El Gringo where you get two tacos for the price off one. I had two soft chicken tacos; I could only finish one and half of another taco. It was just too much food for me.

I had a great chat with Merit tonight that was mostly all small talk; what we did on the weekend, how Morton’s was, and other stuff like that. Nothing very exciting tonight. Some nights are like that although we did agree that I should update my photo of Merit since it is Summer now.


Be well and stay happy.