The Tao of Charles

Teaching
I got a call from the Associate Dean on Monday afternoon. He has some trouble with my tentative teaching schedule.

The school has a limit on instructors teaching in more than three areas or disciplines. My schedule had me teaching in five disciplines, one for each class. I think he counted wrong, I think my Composition II class and my Written Analysis class should count as one discipline.

But, that is just me thinking here.

Still, the Associate Dean knew or should have known about the three discipline rule when he created the teaching schedule. The school’s rule is not new.

I am most bothered by this because it may have an adverse effect on my income. If the Associate Dean reduces my teaching load, then my income goes down. That will make me very unhappy and it will destroy any loyalty to the school that I might have had.

This is not how I learned about leadership. One of my leadership instructors was a United States Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant. The Gunnery Sergeant said leadership was really quiet simple, all you had to do was to take care of your snuffies [young Marines] and everything else would fall into place for you. I have applied this approach throughout my business career and his teachings have always worked just as he predicted they would work.

The Tao of Charles
The potential loss of teaching assignments can be balanced out as part of the Tao of Charles.

The Tao speaks of balance in the universe and a continuing need to rebalance the universe from time to time, usually when the pendulum has swung too far in one direction. The Tao must balance polar opposites like good and evil, joy and sadness, poverty and wealth, and success and failure.

The decline in income balances out my decline in debts from when I paid my mortgage off.

The decline in my morale from a possible job loss balances out the surge in my morale from the doctor’s announcement that my cancer is in remission.

And, the universe returns to a harmonious balance.

Visitors
We had 616 visitors last week which is a nice number for the blog. We had an unusual shift or surge in foreign visitors last week. 66 percent of the visitors came from overseas with the two largest countries being Singapore and Germany.

Giuliano’s Italian Delicatessen and Number 437
I went to Giuliano’s on Saturday for a sandwich. It had been a while since my last visit.

Giuliano’s has adopted and installed a computer based order entry and tracking system. The system was probably necessary because the counter staff is not the sharpest group of tools in the kitchen. I can tell the new group of counter staffers lacks customer service training; two of them were talking while my completed order languished on the counter.

Oh yes, after going there for almost thirty years and being referred to as “Chuck,” I was now Number 437.

That made me feel so detached and there was a loss or diminution in our relationship as customer and supplier.

Dinner with Merit
Tuesday is usually Dinner with Merit Night. We have been doing this for maybe six months or more.

That was not to happen this Tuesday.

Merit wasn’t working. Another woman was filling in for her. The replacement was on the attractive side in a short and older sort of way. Too bad she was not one for smiling very much. If I remember, I will ask Merit about her when I see Merit next week.

Teaching – Part II
I phoned the Associate Dean this morning before I left for my styling session with Molly. I wanted to know if he had made any progress on my teaching schedule for the next term. The next term starts in a little over a week and I would like to be able to prepare for my classes.

The Associate Dean said that he wracked his brain on my teaching schedule yesterday. Then, he gave up and passed the schedule challenge on to two department chairs, Tweddledee and Tweddledum, to resolve [apologies to Lewis Carroll]. The Associate Dean said that I should get a phone call today from one of them or from him.

I am writing this portion of the blog after 5:00 PM on Wednesday so the phone call ain’t gonna’ happen today.

I don’t have a great deal of confidence in this possible solution. It looks like he is passing the buck to others so I won’t be upset with him and he can still play the “nice guy” role. Unfortunately, I have been part of office politics for too long to not be able to recognize this tactic.

As I said to Doug when we had lunch and more about that later on, I am going to explore other teaching opportunities. Doug asked why. I said I was only acting in my personal best interest which happens to be earning money. Doug then smiled and said, “Ahhhh.”

Hair Cut and Molly the Stylist
I went to the Molly Moon Salon this afternoon to see Molly to have my hair cut. Molly said she was styling my hair.

Never, ever argue with a woman who has a razor in her hand and other sharp instruments.

Molly did the best job of styling my hair since I was in the United States Marine Corps Reserves and I had my hair cut “high and tight” for drill weekends. I explained to Molly that one reasonably foreseeable consequence of cutting or styling my hair along the lines of what I wanted would likely translate into a 25% to 50% increase in my patronage, depending on how fast my hair grows in the post-chemotherapy environment. A 25% increase in business was something that caught her attention; being the owner, I knew that it would resonate with her.

I asked Doug what he thought of my new hair styling. He thought it looked fine. Doug is a lot like his father and does not use many flamboyant adjectives.

I drove home from South O. C. with the sunroof open and my Lakai baseball cap off. My hair was obviously blown about by the speed induced wind. But, I was able to smooth it into shape by running my fingers through my hair. It looked just it did when I left the Salon.

The next time I get my hair styled, I will ask Molly if I can add her photo to the blog. You and I will just have to wait and see what develops.

Lunch with Doug at The Original Tommy’s Hamburgers in South Orange County
I met Doug at the new Original Tommy’s Hamburgers for lunch today.

I had planned to have a Mega Combo today but changed my mind at the last minute and had a Number 1 Combination with chili cheese fries and medium drink with refills. Doug ordered the same. A Number 1 features a double chili cheeseburger. In spite of being smaller, it was very filling and satisfying.

Doug said he will be coming out to hang out at my flat next week. The stay is largely a business necessity. His cable company will doing maintenance work on the cable system off and on all week long. Doug uses the cable company for his Internet connection. He needs the connection so he can work and naturally earn money.

I am glad that he will be going to the hospital with me on next Friday. I am planning on taking some thank you brownies to the nursing staff of the three groups who took care of me while I was going through my chemotherapy. These aren’t ordinary brownies; they are made with Belgian chocolate, weigh out at about three and a half ounces, and come in a dozen flavors.

I will definitely need some backup.

The Frozen Yogurt & Ice Cream Store
The visit to my acquaintance’s new yogurt and ice cream store had to be delayed until next week. The store is not ready to open; city permits and stuff like that are causing the delay. I can wait a week for some chocolate ice cream.


Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update - August 24th

Important Programming Notice
This is a modestly significantly notice for you gentle readers.

Today begins my two week quarter break from teaching. This is a time when I take a break from blogging and posting. I need time to relax and reflect on life.

I live at the beach so I may take some walks along the beach and encourage the young women who may be playing beach volleyball. Misty May-Trainor and Kerri Walsh are not going to be playing beach volleyball and winning gold medals forever. We need to develop our future Olympians.

Then, there is the always present cinema. I need to go see THE CLONE WARS and TROPIC THUNDER. Maybe there is another film to add to my very short list; I will ask Doug what he thinks when I see him on Wednesday.

I plan to have my haircut while I am out of break. I will be seeing the recommended stylist for the first time so the results ought to be interesting.

I have a couple of lunches to go to; two this coming week. My friend Sharon is supposed to call me soon so she can take me out to lunch or dinner. I am not counting on her call very much. Of course, there will be the usual Dinner with Merit on Tuesday.

My acquaintance from school will be opening her frozen yogurt and ice cream store. Obviously, I will be there to support her efforts and wish her a lot of luck. I may also sample the ice cream; she said that she would have chocolate ice cream

I am teaching two new courses this coming term. That means I have two sets of lecture notes and exercises to prepare.

As you can read, I do have some activities planned for the time away from the classroom.

Keller Graduate School of Management
I received my MBA from Keller several years ago. Keller had a program where alumni could take post degree courses at a steep discount. The courses were on your transcript but they could not count towards another course of study and degree at Keller.

That was fine with me; I already had three master’s degrees with my MBA so one more master’s degree was not really necessary. I did like the idea of having the courses on the transcript. I really used the program and probably took fifteen or twenty courses. Some would say that I abused the program.

Maybe I did abuse the system.

Anyway and moving forward.

My teaching schedule and the course offerings from Keller coincided for their September term and there was a class that I was interested in. I went to the Long Beach facility to register for an International Business course on Saturday morning. That’s when I found out the program had changed. The discount now was only 15% of off the regular tuition rate. I lost all interest in the course and rediscovered how nice it can be to sleep in on a Saturday morning.

I thanked the young clerk who was helping me and drove home. I went by the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and picked up an ice blended.

No sense letting the trip become a complete lost; the ice blended helped make the afternoon better.

Me and the Cancer
I went to the hospital for my scheduled appointment. This was the appointment where the oncologists would lay out the long term treatment plans for me. The oncologists and the surgeons would also have made a decision about the lesions on my liver after their Tumor Board meeting.

That was the plan.

The plan did not develop as nicely as Dr. Dhouri had thought it would. The surgeons did not have time to review my case so the Board meeting will take place this coming week and I will go back for the results on September 5th.

Less likelihood of plan failures.

Maybe I can work this example into my project management course for the coming term.

Dr. Dhouri looked much different on Friday than she had the week before. Last Friday, she wore non-medical clothes; a blouse, skirt, and low heeled shoes. Dr. Dhouri wore a grey tee shirt, one of those ill-fitting hospital pants, and running shoes. She wore a knee length laboratory coat on both occasions.

The Dentist
I visited my dentist on Saturday afternoon. It was my six month checkup, cleaning, and scraping session. The short story is my teeth are all there and are in good shape. I need to brush and floss more frequently; I knew that.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
I went to the Bean, as Doug calls the store, when I took a break from reading and grading papers. I’ll talk more about the grading later on this week. I decided I needed an ice blended to help me get through the task.

I order a half mocha and half white chocolate ice blended with whipped cream and caramel sauce in the cup. I learned that the drink, as ordered, comes with chocolate sauce. I have been over charged, for the caramel, and short changed, for no chocolate sauce, for months now.
I was not a very happy person.

The take away from all of this has been a recognition that the staff is poorly trained and lead; I knew that. Knowing this still did not make me feel any better.


I hope you all had a great weekend.


Be well and stay happy.

Finals Week

Finals Week
Finals Week is here. How I used to dread this part of teaching. Now, I don’t anymore.

So far, in my final grading, three students have failed in two of my courses. There will be more regrettably. Since none of my classes have a final examination, I view this as the students failed themselves. All of the courses require a final written project of some sort and weekly assignments. The students failed themselves because they did not complete the project and assignments.

I nagged and reminded them all quarter long about completing the assignments and project. Some of the students actually lied to me when I asked how their project was coming along. They said everything was fine and then there was nothing to turn in on the last day of class.

One of my failing students was supposed to graduate next month. Now, because he failed, my class, major area of study requirement, he will not graduate and will have to repeat the course. I wonder how he will explain that to his parents.

Oh well, it is not my worry anymore.

Programming Note
I may not have a posting tomorrow night because I have a late meeting at school to attend. The meeting ends at 6:00 PM and the traffic will man that I have an hour more to drive home. I just may call off posting since I doubt that I will have too much to add to today’s posting.

My Friend Sharon
My friend Sharon called me this morning.

Sharon was driving to her office and I guess she wanted or needed to talk to someone about the drama in her life lately while she was driving. Sharon said that one of her former bosses had just died from cancer and that hardly anyone went to the service.

Not the best possible topic for a cancer patient whose cancer just went into remission. But, why dwell on me?

It seems that she is busy because her current boss is on vacation. He went away and left a new branch office opening in her hands. Of course, it is not ready to open and there are construction related problems to deal with.

Sharon arrived at her office and that was the end of the phone conversation.

Dinner with Merit
I went to El Gringo for my regular Tuesday dinner with Merit.

I did not have much time to talk with Merit because she was by herself and there were two large family groups that came in with me. We did have a brief conversation. Merit congratulated me on my cancer going into remission.

I found out that I will have to change my dining location for the weekly dinner with Merit from Redondo Beach to Hermosa Beach. That is not the best of all worlds; but, it is highly manageable for me.

My Friend Sharon – Part II
My friend Sharon called me on her way home from work.

We talked for about 90 minutes about a potential problem her employer might get involved with. It is nice to be wanted, if only, for my knowledge. Sharon had a sound idea for a solution; she likes to bounce her ideas off of someone else. I reaffirmed her concept of the problem and then offered a solution of my own for her.

Sharon did say she wanted to get together with me for lunch or dinner real soon. Long term readers will recall that Sharon said that back in May when it was my birthday.


Be well and stay happy.

I Really Must Have Been Tired

I really must have been tired
As I drove us to the hospital on Friday morning, I commented to Doug that we must have had a heavy dew overnight.

Doug said that it rained overnight. There was thunder and lightning from around 11:00 PM until midnight or so. All I could say was really?

I went to bed after I got home from school and ate a quick dinner. That must have been a little before 11:00 PM. I slept very soundly as I usually wake up when there is any thunder.

Later on, after we finished at the hospital, I watched the noon local news. The weather news reader said the National Weather Service recorded over 400 cloud to ground lightning strikes between midnight and 3:00 AM on Friday morning. The rather large storm cell touched land at Redondo Beach and then drifted north into Malibu before starting to fall apart over the coastal mountain range.

Remission [Reprinted from August 15th]
Remission is certainly a very nice word to hear from your oncologist.

I went to see the oncologist with Doug this morning. The oncologist reviewed where we are in the cancer treatment with us. I asked her to give me a one or two word descriptor for my condition. She used the word remission.

Perfectomundo.

I had sort of expected this result since the scans in May could not find any trace of cancer in my body. The colonoscopy came up with no polyps when the procedure was finished two weeks ago. My most recent MRI scan showed the liver lesions had not grown from the time they were discovered last October.

Even with all of this good and very positive news, I am still not out of the woods. Colon cancer is one type of cancer that tends to have a higher reoccurrence rate. I am likely to have stay under observation for years to come. I expect to have to wait for another year or more before I can have my colon reconnected and properly functioning again.

Still, this is not all that bad for me to endure.

My case goes before the hospital’s Tumor Board next Wednesday where the oncologists and surgeons decide what to do next. The big question for now is what to do with the liver lesions. The lesions are relatively small so they could be removed I think fairly easily.

Doug and I will go back for a conference visit with the oncologists next Friday and find out what the Tumor Board decided to do next.

Weekend Update
I watched my Oakland Raiders play American football on Friday night. The team played well and should have won the game. The players were undone by inept play calling by the coaches and lost by a score of 17 to 16.

In the closing minutes of the game, the Raiders were driving for a score following a 72 yard run that left the football on the nine yard line. In a series of brilliant play calls that reminded me of the purser who was rearranging the deck chairs on the RMS Titanic, the Raiders, using an exhausted running back, managed to drive to the one yard line on the next play only to give th4e game away.

Now, they had three chances to score some points. Easy enough you say. The next play called for a running play that went nowhere. The ball carrier fumbled the ball. The other team recovered and went on to score and win the game in the final seconds of regular playing time.

That was so discouraging.

On the plus side of life, I did find some new Faline Song images. I may post these new images either this week or next week. For those of who have become recent visitors to the blog, Faline is one of my favorite Women of the Moment.

Visitors
The blog had another good week for visitors. The blog is now averaging just over 100 visits per day. This effectively has put an end to my tracking where visitors because sitemeter.com only tracks the most recent 100 visitors. Looking ahead, there will be days next term that I will not be able to track visitor activity because of my teaching schedule, a late night class followed by an early morning class the next day.


Not very much of a weekend for me it seems. I hope you had a good weekend.


Be well and stay happy.

Remission

Remission
Remission is certainly a very nice word to hear from your oncologist.

I went to see the oncologist with Doug this morning. The oncologist reviewed where we are in the cancer treatment with us. I asked her to give me a one or two word descriptor for my condition. She used the word remission.

Perfectomundo.

I had sort of expected this result since the scans in May could not find any trace of cancer in my body. The colonoscopy came up with no polyps when the procedure was finished two weeks ago. My most recent MRI scan showed the liver lesions had not grown from the time they were discovered last October.

Even with all of this good and very positive news, I am still not out of the woods. Colon cancer is one type of cancer that tends to have a higher reoccurrence rate. I am likely to have stay under observation for years to come. I expect to have to wait for another year or more before I can have my colon reconnected and properly functioning again.

Still, this is not all that bad for me to endure.

My case goes before the hospital’s Tumor Board next Wednesday where the oncologists and surgeons decide what to do next. The big question for now is what to do with the liver lesions. The lesions are relatively small so they could be removed I think fairly easily.

Doug and I will go back for a conference visit with the oncologists next Friday and find out what the Tumor Board decided to do next.

I hope you have a great weekend. I know that I will.

Be well and stay happy.

Odds and Ends

Odds and Ends
Holmes was right about the email. But, of course, he would be right. Holmes is the world’s finest consulting detective. I was able to send my email and it was apparently delivered.

I spoke with the Associate Dean this morning about my teaching schedule for the next term. He said that it was fairly set in my case. There are some other programs that do not affect me and are still up in the air because of teachers leaving the school. It looks like I will be teaching Written Analysis and Composition II for the third consecutive quarter; no new lecture notes there. I will be teaching Fundamentals of Tax Preparation for the third time. I don’t think I will have to worry about new lecture notes since Congress hasn’t messed with the tax codes.

It looks like I will have two new business classes and new lecture notes to prepare. One course is Managing Corporate and Virtual Teams and the other is Project Management Techniques. I ran into a couple of my former students today and they both said that I was going to be their teacher in the two new classes. I have had the students in four or five classes before so there will be no need for class or instructor introductions.

I haven’t had too much desire to cook my dinners since I started the chemotherapy regime and because I live alone. Doug talked me into to cooking again so I would eat healthier. I had some Dover sole that I sautéed with lemon and lime juice and some sun dried tomatos and my gringo rice. The meal tasted very nice.

On my way home from school, I swung by my local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for an ice blended drink to have while I worked on the daily sudoku puzzle after lunch. It was fairly decent although I felt it was over mixed because the ice had melted more than I would have liked.

Blood Test
I had a blood test on Tuesday. I look upon these events as being necessary evils or at least painful punctures of my arm.

It also seems that I have become someone the staff recognizes. I find that to be fascinating because so many people go in and out of the facility on a daily basis.

The security officer at the front door has remembered me and Doug from our trips there every three weeks during chemotherapy sessions and oncology visits. She asked where my backup [that would be Doug] was. I said I was only there for a bleeding and a blood test and that I would be back on Friday with my backup.

I had new staffer draw my blood. I asked if she could take the blood from my left arm because it seemed easier for the staff to find and hit one of my veins. She said that she recognized me from before and that my left arm was fine with her. She was able to hit the vein and I filled the vials up quickly.

I wonder how she knew or remembered me. Maybe I am a nice person who is cheerful and friendly and polite and not a sour puss or angry at the world.

Dinner with Merit
Dinner with Merit was sort of a bust on Tuesday. El Gringo was crowded when I arrived. I was surprised because I thought everyone would be home watching the Olympics telecast. I was wrong.

Merit was working by herself so she was running around all night long. Her assistant who cleans the empty tables and sometimes brings the meals arrived as I was leaving. Our conversation consisted of my order for dinner and a statement that I was happy and well. Hopefully my dinner next week will be better.

I do need to rethink my Dinner with Merit schedule since I am scheduled to teach a class on Tuesday nights. That should not be too difficult for me.


Be well and stay happy.

Elementary my dear Reinhardt. Elementary.

Elementary my dear Reinhardt. Elementary.
Holmes and Reinhardt were sitting outside, under an umbrella at the local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Holmes was drinking some Bogawantalawa Estate Ceylon black tea; Reinhardt was sipping his usual ice blended drink, half mocha and half white chocolate with whipped cream.

“How can you drink some tea that you can’t even pronounce Holmes?”

Holmes smiled and took another draw on his pipe, “Elementary Reinhardt, I must support the Queen and the Empire, even if you Yanks refuse to recognize the benefits of being part of it. Ceylon, after all, is part of Her Majesty’s empire.”

“Oh yes, the Empire.”

“Do tell me more about this mysterious email address you were complaining about on the drive to this fine tea shop.”

“It’s a coffee and tea shop Holmes.”

Holmes sighed, “And to think that you were once part of the Empire. I thought we had civilized you into tea drinkers but I see we managed to fail on that count.”

Reinhardt explained, again, how his acquaintance had given him her email address and how he had been unable to send her an email.

Holmes could see his friend’s frustration. These Americans, with all of their gadgets and technology, were certainly going to change civilization, if not ruin it, in the process if they were allowed to continue on this never path of continual invention and discovery.

“I say Reinhardt. By any chance, did you bring the note from your acquaintance with you?”

“Yes,” and Reinhardt handed the folded note to Holmes. “Even if you are England’s greatest consulting detective Holmes, I seriously doubt that you will be able to solve this mystery.”

“World’s finest consulting detective,” Holmes drained his now cold cup of tea. “Could you fetch another cup of this fine tea while I analyze the note?” Reinhardt got up and entered the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to refill Holmes’ cup of tea. He still had about half of his ice blended left to drink. Reinhardt returned to find a smiling Holmes.

“You smiling because I have a hot cup of your Bogawantalawa tea for you or because you have solved the mystery?”

“Both, actually.”

“What did you learn?”

After taking a long sip of the tea, Holmes held the cup in his hands for a moment and smiled. “Actually, quiet a lot about your mysterious acquaintance.”
“What could you have possibly learned from reading that simple note?”

“To begin with, she is educated and very intelligent. Probably is very good to excellent in a conversation; you understand, knowledgeable about many subjects. Oh yes, I think she is younger than you.”

“Really?”

“Why, yes, of course. She undoubtedly smiles and laughs a lot.”

“True.”

“She seems to be preoccupied with another matter not relating to you. But, I feel this is only temporary. She seems to have a strong sense of direction and purpose. Is she English or Scottish by chance?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Not French? Good cooks but poor soldiers ever since ’15 at Waterloo. Nothing like a regiment of British grenadiers forming a thin red line to make you feel safe and secure now.” Holmes took another long draw on his pipe; the tobacco in the bowl was about consumed by now. He tapped the ashes into the cement container that was adjacent to their table. “One good aspect of being here in the Colonies is ready access to great tobacco Reinhardt; not like that vile Balkan tobacco you seem to indulge yourself in.”

“Not French Holmes,” Reinhardt remarked, “And it’s the United States of America. We like to think that our Marine Corps is one of the finest groups of warriors in the world. Give me enough marines Homes and I’ll chase the devil out of hell.”

“Always bragging again Reinhardt. Further, I think your acquaintance was under some time constraints; she had to be somewhere else shortly. Smart young woman, getting away from you and all.”

“So much for British humor Holmes. So how do I send her an email? You haven’t explained that to me yet.”

“Ah yes, the easy part,” Holmes reached into his battered leather attaché case and pulled out a small red covered book and handed it to his American friend. “You’ll find the answer on page eleven. You tried to send the mail using a hyphen in the name section. You cannot use a hyphen in the name section; I think is an underscore. Try sending her another message.”

Reinhardt went inside of the store and successfully sent a message. Then, he looked at the book’s title, Emailing for Yanks by Sherlock Holmes, World’s Finest Consulting Detective. Reinhardt shrugged and stuffed the book into his pants pocket. He almost ran into Holmes as he walked back to their table.

“Come along Reinhardt, we have much work to do. I have just received instructions from the Foreign Office recalling me. It seems my old friend Professor Morriarty has escaped and joined up with the Russians. The PM thinks they may be stirring up trouble in the Caucuses and that spells trouble for India and the Northwest Territories”

“What are you talking about Holmes?”

“Don’t stand there man; the game’s a foot and we must lave now.”

Weekend Update - August 10th

Weekend Update
This was one of those slow blog weekends for me.

I know that I was supposed to post on Friday. I got caught up in a professional football game that featured my sometimes beloved Oakland Raiders. Granted, it was a preseason game. The Raiders still prevailed against their cross bat rival, the San Francisco 49ers. The final score was Raiders 18 and the 49ers 6. After the game was over, I went to bed.

It was just as well that I went to bed because I had nothing to say on Friday.


I did some laundry today. This is one of the parts of living alone that could be improved upon for me. It does feel good to know that I have clean clothes to wear.

My new suits arrived from Hong Kong. Doug thought they looked very sharp and he almost agreed with me that one of the suits could pass for something Michal Clayton might have worn. I am almost looking forward to going back to wearing suits at school when the Fall Term starts in September.

On Thursday, I traded a class with my friend David Freed. I gave up a Composition I course, a course I have never taught before, in exchange for a State and Local Government, a course that I am teaching two sections this term. This was an even up trade since the classes were at the same time and on the same day. I think the State and Local Government course is the easier of the two to teach.

I think my schedule should be finalized next week. If things work out for me with the schedule, I may sign up for a post-MBA course for my professional development. The course would also make me eligible to teach another course or two.

My Acquaintance and the Mysterious Email
An acquaintance of mine from school gave me her email address last week. She will not be returning to school to teach because she has other activities that will take all of her time. I decided to send her an email with the blog URL so she could see what passes for drama in my life and, of course, to exchange my email address as well.

My acquaintance also invited me to the opening of her new frozen yogurt and ice cream store. I could never turn down an invitation to a new ice cream store. I do hope the store will have chocolate ice cream.

I was surprised when the email bounced back to me. Her email service said that her account did not exist.

Strange indeed; I’m certain that Holmes, being Holmes, would be able to deduce something remarkable and uncanny from the returned email.

Amber the Stylist
I received an email from Amber the Stylist over the weekend. She has a new permanent location that appears, at least from my maps, a much better location than the temporary location and in the same general area as her old location. I think the new location is within walking distance of a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf store.

Perfectomundo.

Once my teaching schedule is finalized, I ought to be able to make an appointment to have Amber cut my hair again.

Then, there is the long term issue of who will cut my hair for me to consider. I believe that Amber is likely to move on to another career in the next six to nine months. One does not go to college for four years and earn a degree and not pursue a career in the new field of endeavor.
That would be the logical decision.

Visitors
We had another great week for visitors. The traffic pattern shifted back to where the majority of the blog visitors [55%] came from overseas; overseas includes Canada and Mexico by the way. Foreign nations are listed in the order that I record them and not necessarily by volume. I also miss some foreign visitor traffic because sitemeter.com only provides information on the last 100 visitors and some may lip bye my notice.

We had visitors from Sweden [4], Vietnam [6], Hungary [2], New Zealand, Brazil [6], Poland [4], Portugal [2], Texas [7], Germany [14], Turkey [7], Canada [14], Belgium [3], France [14], United Kingdom [11], Italy [3], Malaysia [4], Argentina, Indonesia [9], Australia [5], United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Japan [10], Netherlands [8], Korea [6], Singapore [7], Philippines, Mexico [5], Egypt [3], Norway [2], Austria [2], China [4], Israel [3], Panama, Thailand [4], Honduras, Finland, Slovakia, Iran, Peru, Macau, Venezuela, Russia, Spain [3], Chile [2], Colombia [3], Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Ireland, and Bulgaria.

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

With the 2008 Olympics just beginning, I am expecting a fall off in blog traffic over the next two weeks or however long the event takes. The blog and I will survive during the Olympics since it only happens once every four years.


I hope you had a great weekend.


Be well and stay happy.

Samuel Gompers and Harry Bridges Must Be Spinning in Their Graves

Samuel Gompers and Harry Bridges Must Be Spinning in Their Graves
You probably don’t know who Samuel Gompers or Harry Bridges were. That’s fine; I wouldn’t expect you to know this.

Samuel Gompers is largely recognized as the founder of the modern American labor movement. One of his major results was the creation of a national holiday in honor of the working man and the labor movement. Labor Day is celebrated by organized labor and the rest of the nation on the first Monday in September.

Harry Bridges was the long term leader of the Pacific Coast longshoremen and dock workers. Bridges and his union fought countless battles with the shipping companies that resulted in several deaths of union workers. Labor Day is a major event for the union today. The Los Angeles and Long Beach locals unions organize the biggest Labor Day parade in California.

So, why you ask, is Charles going into the history lesson.

Because a labor union local at a Tyson chicken plant in Tennessee negotiated a new labor contract that dropped the traditional Labor Day holiday for observance of Eidi al Fitr.

Eidi al Fitr is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. This year, the holiday will be observed on Thursday, October 2nd. Since Ramadan is based on the calendar on a lunar cycle, the holiday will change every year. That ought to make plant operations tricky to arrange.

So much for labor solidarity and labor tradition.

Obviously, this decision has not gone over very well with many Americans. Some Americans are in favor of a boycott of Tyson food products. I can do that easily; I can eat California chicken and more fresh fish.

Doug would say that I could eat more beef or pork too. I could do that easily enough.


Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Residue

Weekend Residue
This is mostly stuff and things that got omitted for whatever reason from the Sunday Weekend Update. I can’t get everything into one posting; that, plus it gives me something to say on Tuesday.

When I had my colonoscopy on Friday, the nurses hooked me up to heart monitor. It was nice to see that I still had a heart after all of the years working as a loan officer. They removed all of the sensors when I was finished.

Nice.

When I had my emergency, the nurses hooked up to the heart monitor again. I think they used the “it will stick to the patient forever” sensors. When everything was finished, the nurses simply pulled the wires out of the sensors and, then, they disappeared. I guess they were hungry since it was lunch time.

I suppose it was too much to expect county paid nurses to exhibit any care or concern for their patients.

I spent Friday and Saturday discovering where they had placed the sensors and then slowly removing them so I wouldn’t suffer too much when they pulled some hair off with them.

I received an online survey form today. I participate in a couple of online survey programs. I logged onto the survey site only discover that the site would not accommodate any operating system higher than Windows 98 and any browser that was not Internet Explorer 5.0.

Do you know anyone who is still using Windows 98?

I certainly do not.

Anyway.

My Brother called to talk to me about the colonoscopy. He shared my pleasure with the results of the test. He also said that my nephew had found a job in Seattle, doing something he really likes, that is only a mile from his apartment.

My Brother also said that he had visited defamer.com and read some of Doug’s postings. He said they brought a smile to his face.

Cool.

Tomorrow, the Prelude will turn over 350,000 miles just after I leave the flat on my way to school. I don’t think I will be able to take any photos of the odometer rolling over. I think I’ll wait for the 400,000 mile mark for the next photo.

Dinner with Merit
hI went to El Gringo for dinner as usual. Merit the Server was working but she was very busy tonight.

I had a new dish tonight. It was four small chicken tacos. I really liked the meal; it was not as large as the regular meals at El Gringo so I could finish it and not feel as filled up as I used to be with the normal meals. I think I will have the tacos with pork next week.


Be well and stay happy.

Weekend Update - August 3rd

Colonoscopy
I had my colonoscopy on Friday.

This is not my favorite medical procedure. It is necessary because the discomfort from the procedure is nothing compared to having your abdomen cut open and part of your colon cut out.

The hospital has everyone show up at 6:00 AM so they can make certain all of the paperwork is correct. This is a fancy way of saying we need time to cover up and correct mistakes that were made by other employees.

I may be intelligent but I have no idea what forms are required for the procedure.

I waited around for about ninety minutes until a resident took my vital signs and asked a bunch of questions. Some of the questions were repetitious. I put up with the questioning because the resident needs to learn. That, plus the fact that she looked like she was barely out of high school, let alone medical school.

The doctor would performed my procedure didn’t come to work until 8:30 AM.

It is a very good thing for me that I learned how to hurry up and wait while serving in the United States Navy.

My turn for the procedure started around 9:45. The nurse asked me the same questions as the resident asked me. It seems no one shares information.

Oh well, life happens.

The procedure went well. I didn’t watch Dr. Kim insert the tube into my colon. I dozed off and on while she stuffed the tube down my colon.

After Dr. Kim finished the examination, I noticed that she was wearing make-up. Most of the female residents and doctors do not wear make-up. She had on glitter on her eyes and that looked very nice. I think the only other female resident or doctor who wore make-up was Dr. Donna Varella. Dr. Varella has been the favorite doctor for Doug and me.

The good news from the colonoscopy was there were no polyps in my colon at all. This means there is a much lower likelihood of colon cancer reoccurrence. It also means that the oncologists and surgeons will be more inclined to reconnect my colon in a year or so. That is good for me.

I was taken back to the staging area so I could change my clothes and go home. I was changing my clothes when several large drops or blobs of blood came out of my rectum. This was probably caused by me giving myself an enema on Thursday night and again on Friday morning plus the colonoscopy tube being inserted.

The nurses seemed to panic at the sight of blood. They pushed me back into bed and called Dr. Kim back to deal with the emergency. I smiled at her and said, “We can’t go on meeting like this.”

Dr. Kim smiled and laughed. We talked about what might have happened to cause the bleeding. It was all sort of matter of fact and calm. Dr. Kim said the rectum was very irritated so she was not surprised that it bleed. She stuck a plug, more like a thick gauze pad to help stop the bleeding. Dr. Kim gave me some instructions on what to do if the bleeding continued or got worse.

As it turned out, everything cleared up by the later afternoon.

I have a follow up appointment to see Dr. Kim again in September.

Since there were no polyps to cut out, I wasn’t on any eating restrictions except no solid food until dinner. I could live with that. I went to Giuliano’s for a sandwich and to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for an ice blended to go with the sandwich for my dinner. I also scored a piece of chocolate truffle cake for dessert.

Perfectomundo.

Haircutting and Me
I received an angry email from Amber the Stylist on Friday. She was upset because I hadn’t called or emailed her about changing my next haircut appointment and that she learned about the change from Natalie the Receptionist.

I felt like sending her a similar blast and saying that I was sorry that she received the notice in the manner that she did but I was more concerned with my health and what was happening on Friday. I decided against doing that because it would be so childish.

Instead, I just may give up on going to salons and go back to the discount hair cutting places because my hair style is not that complicated. The discount hair cutting solution is so much less distasteful for me. It is also much less expensive.

School and Teaching
I stopped the Associate Dean’s office on Thursday. I had a couple of questions for him. I was concerned that my quarterly evaluation was on the lower than it should be side. The dean said that my department chair grades harder than most other department chairs. That made me feel better.

I also wanted to know what my teaching schedule might look like. Of course the schedule is still very tentative; but he is looking at me to teach four or five classes. Three classes would be night classes and two would be day classes but I won’t have a Saturday class. I think three classes would be new classes for me so that means more lecture note preparation than I would prefer.

I told the dean that I was tentatively pleased and happy with the tentative courses.

I was talking to my Thursday morning Composition II students about the need for them to complete the course evaluations. I may or may not get a bonus at the end of the term depending on the student evaluations.

We got to talking about teaching styles and teaching philosophies. One of the students said I was like a “quiet version of Mr. Freed,” one of my friends and fellow teacher. Mr. Freed and I teach some of the same courses. I shared this comment with Mr. Freed and the Dean; they both roared in laughter.

University of Utah Football – Go Utes
It is almost time for college football again. I am so happy that I may not have a Saturday class so I can enjoy watching college football on television.

I got the monthly alumni newsletter from the school on Friday. I clicked on the Ute Football icon so I could see what has happened to the team. The future is looking good for the team. It plays Michigan in Ann Arbor this year and Notre Dame in South Bend in 2010. This will provide the team with national television exposure that will only help with recruiting.

The Utes are picked to finish second in the Mountain West Conference behind BYU. A second place finish should be good enough to gain an invitation to a mid-level post season bowl game.

It looks like the Princess and I will be having a good football season.

Cinema
I went to see THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR this morning.

I had high hopes for the film because I really enjoyed the first two films in the franchise.
Unfortunately for me, the film let me down. It has some nice CGI but CGI cannot carry a film like this. You need clever dialogue that will build some chemistry between the actors. The dialogue was woefully inadequate.

Brendan Fraser looked like he was phoning in his performance. Maria Bello appeared to try to fill the vacant shoes Rachael Weisz who starred opposite Fraser in the first two films. Bello is a good actress who deserved a much better script. Perhaps, Bello can help save the franchise with a motivated Fraser.

Luke Ford plays their son. He reminded me of Hayden Christensen in STAR WARS EPISODES TWO and THREE. He was stiffer than a plank of southern live oak.

The only good thing about the film is the performances of Michelle Yeoh and Isabella Leong, who plays Yeoh’s daughter in the film. Their performances were near perfect, given a less than a suitable script for them to work with.



If there is a fourth film, I hope the writers can leave the Luke Ford character out of the film.

Weekend Update
Having a .large ice blended for dinner was not the best of all possible decisions for me. I ended up tossing and turning all night long. I should know better by now.

I tune into the read the BBC Online news summaries because I want a better international coverage than I can get from the domestic news providers. I just love the British understatements when they report on London weather; they use the phrase “sunny intervals” to describe what we in the States would call “partly cloudy.”

Visitors
We had another good week for visitors this week. While we didn’t have any new national visitors, we did move back into a foreign visitor position with 54% coming from outside of the United States.

We had visitors from Texas [18], Canada [19], Mexico [5], Singapore [13], Italy [6], Argentina, Germany [25], Malaysia [4], Belgium, Thailand [6], Switzerland, United Kingdom [12], Iran, Netherlands [3], Croatia, France [8], Vietnam [4], Australia [8], Japan [6], Brazil [7], Finland, Honduras, Korea [6], China [2], Sweden [2], Austria [4], Slovakia, India, Guam, Hungary, Indonesia [3], New Zealand, Poland [3], Norway, Colombia, Peru, Saudi Arabia [2], United Arab Emirates [5], Hong Kong, Portugal, Spain [2], Bahrain, Luxembourg, Denmark, Philippines [3], Venezuela, Morocco, Palestine, Turkey, and Ireland.

I do appreciate all of you who took time from your days to visit the blog.


That was my weekend. All in all, I consider this to be a close to excellent weekend for me.


Be well and stay happy.