I had a wonderful Saturday

I had a wonderful Saturday
It was a good day for me for many reasons.

My favorite barista at the local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is back at work now. Tihana had been out on maternity leave.

The quality of my ice blendeds had declined as her absence grew longer. I was so put off by the poor quality of the ice blendeds that I had stopped going to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. My pile of loose change on top of my dresser had grown substantially. It had to have been close to USD$12 or $13. That is a lot of quarters, dimes, and nickels.

I went to the Coffee Bean to pick up some semi-exotic coffee for my oldest Internet friend Lara who lives in South Africa. Lara loves to drink really good coffee that she usually can’t find at home. Her personal favorite type of coffee is strong and dark.

Personally, I am a medium type of coffee drinker and I prefer decaffeinated coffee because it will not increase my blood pressure.

Lara said that she doesn’t have time to enjoy a good cup of coffee now. Her life is too hectic. Lara’s life has always been hectic and, in our fifteen years of chatting and complaining and misunderstanding each other, she has always found some time for a cup of the coffee that I send her.

I will send the box off on Tuesday since it fits with my schedule to run around a bit that day. With any sort of luck, the box should arrive for her sometime in the second week in October.

I was particularly lucky when it came to picking out the coffee; all of the bags have expiration dates of at least a year or longer. Lara is getting a new coffee, Bali Blue Moon, along with two of her favorites, Viennese Blend and Sumatra Mandheling.

Perfectomundo.

The MINI and Me
As some of you may remember, I don’t like the MINI’s digital odometer because I can’t enjoy the slow rollover of the six or seven number wheels at one time.

Doug said I should just get over it and move on. “It’s a digital world Dad.”

I’m trying to move on. It will take some time.

I blinked and missed watching the odometer flash over to 4,000 miles. For the record, the car was in traffic and I had my eyes on the traffic and the pored at the time. 4,000 miles isn’t that much of a significant event for me.



On the other hand, the MINI has lots of toggle switches, knobs, buttons, and dials. Enough to keep me happy and satisfied. I really like the toggle switches that are surrounded by steel frames so that I don ‘t hit one by accident like opening the top when I am driving on the freeway.

The speedometer has seven warning or indicator lights or dials alone and the tachometer has another six indicator lights.

More perfectomundo.

American Football
Our teams were victorious over the weekend.

My old high school was victorious on Friday night. My brother and I played on the football team; he played longer than I did because I injured my knee and stopped playing.

The one of Princess’s school, the University of South Carolina, won on Saturday. They played Furman and won convincingly. South Carolina was ranked Number 13 in the nation before the game.

Our University of Utah was ranked at Number 14 before its crushing victory over New Mexico, 56 to 14. Next Saturday, our Utes will play San Jose State University at Rice Ecceles Stadium in Salt Lake City.

November looks like a challenging month for the Utes, they play Texas Christian University in Salt Lake City on November 6th . They travel to South Bend to play Notre Dame on the 13th. Oh yes, then there is the game with Brigham Young University at the end of the season on Salt Lake.

Utah Tops New Mexico, 56-14
Terrance Cain was 20 for 23 for 248 yards and 3 touchdowns


Sept. 18, 2010
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -Terrance Cain might have to give up Utah's starting quarterback job when Jordan Wynn gets healthy.

But if Cain does end up heading back to the bench, he'll have a record to take with him.

Cain completed 20 of 23 passes to set a school record for completion percentage in a game and Shaky Smithson capped a three-touchdown surge in the third quarter with a 73-yard punt return as No. 14 Utah beat New Mexico 56-14 on Saturday night.

"It's great to have that stat but the most important stat is to get the victory," said Cain, who completed 87 percent of his passes. "That's all I'm worried about."

Cain finished with 248 yard and a career-high three touchdowns for the Utes (3-0, 2-0 Mountain West Conference). He broke the completion percentage record held by his quarterback coach, Brian Johnson.

Wynn started Utah's first game but has sat out the last two with a sprained thumb. "The receivers ran great routes," he said. "The offensive line was holding them great. Running backs, tight ends and receivers were making great catches so it was just my job to get them the ball. They're working their butts off to get open so I just have to get them ball."

After A.J. Butler returned a fumble 27 yards for touchdown to pull the Lobos (0-3, 0-1) within 21-7 to open the third quarter, the Utes responded quickly.

"If we let the turnover and the touchdown get us down, it's a momentum shift," Cain said. "We had to get the momentum right back and strike back. Then our defense got pumped and made a great play and it just started from there."

Cain found Jereme Brooks for a 75-yard score and on New Mexico's next possession, linebacker Matt Martinez went 36 yards with an interception return for a score.

Smithson followed with his touchdown and finished with 223 total return yards.

"You really don't want to think too much," he said. "You just want to execute whatever the coach calls. And I know my teammates are going to make great blocks, and I all have to do run the ball, then just make a couple people miss. All the great special teams players just make a couple of people miss."

New Mexico played without starting quarterback B.R. Holbrook because of a knee injury. Replacement Brad Gruner went 3 for 8 for 33 yards and ran for 32 yards before leaving with an injury.

New Mexico has been outscored 180-31 to start the season in a stretch that has included two ranked teams.

"That was a very good Utah team, very deserving of the No. 14 ranking," Lobos coach Mike Locksley said. "I am disappointed that we didn't play as well as I had hoped we were going to play. We just finished a very rough three-game stretch."


Be well and stay happy.

The Original Tommy's Hamburgers

The Original Tommy’s Hamburgers
Doug and I went to the Original Tommy’s Hamburgers for lunch last Thursday. It was one of those days when everything was almost correct. It started out on the cool and overcast side when I left home and turned warm and sunny by the time I had left school.



I had a Mega Combo for lunch. This is an excessively large and highly overindulgent eating on my part. The entire meal could provide enough calories for me to last for two or three days. The meal is built around a triple decked chili cheeseburger with lots of onions and pickles and tomatos slices, an order of chili cheese fries, and a very large drink. You need a large drink with all of that chili.

Fortunately, for me, I only do this once or twice a year.

We had lunch after I picked up my books for the new term.

Doug was going to have a Number 2 Combination, which is his normal order. He changed his mind and got a Mega Combo as well. While I don’t think he will say that he truly enjoyed the meal, he did manage to eat all of the serving.

Teaching
My teaching schedule has been a fluid one. I started out with four classes and then lost two of them. I picked up two more classes so I was back to my original number.

Then, I got a call last week to teach a fifth class. The class was in the Construction Management – Business program. It would have been a new for me class but one I felt comfortable to teach. Last Friday, the class was given to another instructor. So, I was back to four classes.

I had my two student seminar class last night. I can’t really stand up in front of two students and lecture. I felt that an informal seminar approach would work best. My students agreed with me.

While I was at break, the Associate Dean and a department chair asked me if I wanted to teach a fifth class that would be on Wednesday. The new class opportunity came about because of a schedule problem elsewhere in the school. I said that I would like to teach the course as it was one that I had taught before.

That was nice for me.

I was still waiting for my two students to return from their breaks when another chair asked me if I was interested in teaching the Construction Management course. I told him that I had committed to teaching another course.

It is now 3:00 PM and classes start at 6:00 PM. No one has called me from the school to confirm whether I am teaching a class tonight or not. I found out at 3:15 that I was teaching a class. I had to call the school to find out. So much for follow up.

The MINI and me
I found some more features of the MINI that I really like.

Alex the Saleswoman connected or activated the Bluetooth function on my cell phone so that I can send and receive a call on my cell phone without having to use my hands. I haven’t tried the send function yet because I would need to be wearing glasses. I don’t drive with my regular glasses on.

I have taken a call in the MINI while I was driving. The sound was good and the Bluetooth functioned as I expected it would.

Unfortunately, for the caller, I was driving on the freeway with the top down. It was very noisy so I suggested the caller try again when I knew I would be driving more slowly. At slow speed with the top down, the phone call seemed close to normal.

The openometer gauge only records up to seven hours of top down driving before it resets itself. I have been able to track my time so far. I do believe that I will forget some time somewhere. I discovered the MINI would display a cumulative top down driving total.

Perfect.

It turns out that I am only off about an hour from my manual calculations and the cumulative display. I think this is because the car was a demonstrator, for about fifty miles, and some of those miles could have been with the top down.


Be well and stay happy.

Road Tripping V1.0

Road Tripping V1.0
I went road tripping today. I think road tripping sounds so much more dignified than gratuitous joy riding.

Doug had urged me to take a road trip during my break. I decided against going last week because I had class on Monday, a meeting at school on Tuesday, and a visit with Dr. D on Friday. This week would be better for me.

I decided to cruise down the coast to La Jolla for lunch at the Prep Kitchen. Santa Barbara seemed to be too cool for a drive. As it was, most of my drive was in cool conditions. It never really warmed up today. It was cloudy and overcast all day. The high for the day during the drive was a balmy 75F / 24C. that lasted about five minutes and then the temperature plunged into the High 60sF / 18sC.

The drive to La Jolla was a closed top affair. It was nasty looking outside. It was dull also. The ride goes through Camp Pendleton and there were no marines in the field today; not even some helicopters in the area.

I had looked up the Prep Kitchen before I left the flat but I couldn’t find it when I got there. I guess I wrote the address down wrong.

Anyway.

I ended up at the Aroma Café, which is at the corner of Prospect and Fay in La Jolla. It’s in the old Hard Rock Café location if you are familiar with La Jolla. It is right across the street from my former employer that went belly up in 2009.

It seems as if the Aroma Café is new and still trying to find its way gastronomically speaking. The service was about average. The food was good, not great. It was filling. I had a roast turkey sandwich and a cup of soup. Remember, it was cool today.

I might go back if I was in La Jolla sometime in the future but I would definitely do a much better job of writing down the address for the Prep Kitchen, which would be my first choice for dining.

As I was on my way back to Redondo Beach, the outside air temperature kept slowly creeping up as I was going through North San Diego County. When it hit 72F, I decided to stop and put the top down. It doesn’t work very well if you try to take the top down when you are driving at 65 miles an hour.

I now have 42 hours and change driving with my top down on the MINI.

I was very glad that I had my University of South Carolina Gamecocks hoodie on today. The temperature did hit a high of 75F but that lasted for about five minutes in Long Beach. By the time I pulled into my building, it was 66F.

I did have some fun and enjoyment on the road trip. I’ll probably take another trip soon.

Where I won’t be going
I won’t be going to Adult Con 2010 or Hemp Con. They are both this weekend at the Los Angele Convention Center as I recall from the highway billboards today. Normally, neither event would appeal to me.

This weekend is our Patriot Day weekend and it seems like the wrong time to me for these events. Patriot Day is our remembrance of the attack on the United States by Arab terrorists on September 11th.

Teaching
I have to make a run out to school on Thursday so I can pick up my textbooks for the coming quarter. I know I could have swung by the school today but that was not the point of things.

After I pickup my textbooks, I’m going to swing behind the Orange Curtain and have lunch with Doug at the Original Tommy’s Hamburgers in the South O. C. This is why I skipped having lunch at Albertacos in Mission Viejo [No. 8 combination and a medium drink].


Be well and stay happy.

Another Mr. Chips Moment

Another Mr. Chips moment
Finals ended at school on Monday. My last class on Monday was what I call a “show and go” session. The students had to present their projects to me for a review and then they could go.

If nothing else, this guarantees most students will show up to class on time or even ahead of time. That makes my night go by quickly.

I had what I call a Mr. Chips moment on Monday.

I share a computer lab with another class section on the same course. This irritates many of the other students because the two classes fill up the lab. Life happens.

Anyway.

Two female students from the other gave me hug at the end of the first hour, just before they left for the night. This was the first time that any student has given me a hug at the end of a course. I did have about a dozen male students shake my hand as they left the class.

The remarkable fact about the hugs was that one of the students has never been in one of my classes. We have talked off and on over the last two years. I guess she liked my suggestions and comments. Apparently, she is taking some of them to heart as she goes forward with her course of study.

Fascinating.

Teaching
Classes will start on the 13th for me.

I am going to be teaching five classes and that is a full load for me. Four of the five classes, Economics and Change, Marketing Research, Consumer Behavior, and State and Local Government, are ones that I have taught before so my preparation time will be reduced a bit.

I will have to recreate my lecture notes for Marketing Research and Consumer Behavior. These classes and my new course will only have one student in each class. It will be fun and interesting to teach a single student in a class. I certainly hope the student comes to class fully prepared or, otherwise, it will be a long night in the classroom.

My new course is Introduction to Microsoft Project 2007. It should be fairly simple as I have taught several other Project Management courses this year and I have used Project 2003 regularly.

I am looking forward to the State and Local Government course. This should be an excellent time to teach the course since this is an election year. I plan to show a couple of films that Doug approved; one is MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, a Frank Capra classic, and the other is ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN.

The class will also debate some of the ballot measures on our state ballot. We have eight propositions to vote on ranging from redistricting to marijuana possession to green house gases. This should lead to some interesting debates.

The Prelude
I finally donated the Prelude to the Salvation Army. It was picked up on Wednesday.

The Prelude had 361,520 miles on the odometer. I certainly got my money’s worth out of the Prelude. I will miss driving it since I have owned it longer than any other vehicle. I am not going to miss the car’s underpowered cabin fan. It has always been unsatisfactory in terms of being able to circulate air inside on the passenger compartment.

I had thought about taking a photo of the Prelude being towed away. I decided that I could do without that image.

Molly the Stylist
I went to see Molly the Stylist on Wednesday for my regular appointment.

Molly thought my hair looked fairly good. That was probably because it had only been three and a half weeks between stylings as Molly likes to say. I will look a bit shaggier the next time she sees me when it will be five weeks between stylings

We talked about Fall and some of our favorite holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving. I had to remind Molly about Halloween. Once I mentioned Halloween, Molly said, “Oh yeah, Halloween, another favorite holiday.”

Actually, I think Molly remembered last year and my box of chocolates. Molly loves chocolates.

But, then, who doesn’t love chocolates?

Dr. D and Me
Last Friday was my appointment with Dr. D the oncologist.

I was really curious about all of the lab tests that she had ordered for me. I had seven tests done and I felt like a drained pincushion afterwards. All of the tests were normal and this is always good news to hear. Dr. D said my liver was functioning normally, good, and my platelet count was up, even better.

We talked about my plan to transition from the Oncology Clinic to my new medical program that starts in January. I wanted to go off the Xeloda at the end of October and be off for two months before starting back up with the new oncologist and the Xeloda.

I had talked to Doug about my transition plan. He thought that it made sense and it seemed reasonable. I had been off Xeloda before for six weeks when I was seeing Dr. Karen and the surgeons were thinking about reconnecting my colon.

Dr. D, being the oncologist, had a different point of view. She said that going off Xeloda could be bad for me because studies had found the rate of reoccurrence is higher for those patients who go off their medication.

Obviously, that would not be a great outcome for me.

Dr. D suggested that we drop the daily dose of Xeloda to 2,000 MG a day from 2,500. She thought this would help with the skin-cracking side effect of Xeloda and recommended continuing to see her until the end of the year. This seemed like a better approach for me.

When I saw her, there was a possibility that I might have a Friday morning class and that would conflict with my Friday morning Oncology Clinic appointments. I asked her if she could move me to Friday afternoons.

Instead, Dr. D moved me to Tuesday morning. That works out much better for me because the Tuesday clinic doesn’t start until 9:30 AM and I can avoid most of the parking problems.

Doug and the Movies
I spoke to Doug about films to see while I am on break.

Doug suggested that I see THE EXPENDABLES and PIRANHA 3D. I thought those films were a bit much. He said they were great Summer films where you didn’t have to think about the film to enjoy it. He said Dolph Lundgren was really good in THE EXPENDABLES.

I haven’t made my mind up yet and I can still go see those two films this weekend or next week.

I asked Doug if he was going to see the Robert Rodriguez film, MACHETTE. He said he was going to see it this coming Tuesday at the Cinerama Dome Theater in Hollywood with The Movie Club. The Cinerama Dome is a great venue for a film. I’ll probably go see the film at the local multiplex in the middle of the week after the kids are back in school.

Perfectomundo.

The MINI and Me
The MINI rolled over to 3,000 the middle of the week. I did see it and I did not blink. Excellent.

One of my thoughts for how to spend the week on break was to go driving in the MINI. One trip could be a run down the coast to La Jolla for lunch. Doug suggested that I consider the Prep Café in La Jolla. He said it was excellent.

I also thought about a lunch run to Santa Barbara. This would be better in the MINI since part of the drive is right next to the ocean. Doug said there were many great places to go for a meal on State Street in Santa Barbara.

Then, there was the third road trip option, a drive to Paso Robles and the Central Coast wine country and back. That would be an all day trip and it is appealing to me. I could enjoy the MINI and pick up some wines at the wineries.

The Paso Robles trip would be perfect for smoking cigars since the MINI would have plenty of time, several hours to air out. Regrettably, the MINI has no ashtray.

I’ve got my Openometer time up to 42 hours now. Anyone of the road trips would certainly boost my top down driving time.

Quarter Break
I’m on quarter break now. I don’t have much in the way of plans or things to do in the coming week.

Doug and I are going to lunch at the Original Tommy’s Hamburgers on Thursday. I have to go to school and pick up my textbooks for the Fall Quarter. Since I will be well past half way to Doug’s house when I’m at school, it makes sense to get together for lunch.

I also have some film viewing and a possible road trip or two.

Lastly, I plan to rest and relax while I enjoy the last of Summer.


Be well and stay happy.