Random Thoughts -
The big event today was a haircut – I won’t bore you with a lot of detail but I was the only customer there and Barbara spent almost an hour snipping away at my hair. She must have circled me 10 times, each time removing a little here and there just chatting away. I was worried that she might have gotten into a endless loop like when you trim a leg on a table too short – so you take a little more off each leg and find one is still too short and continue until you run out of leg. It turns out that she did leave some hair and it looks good - just short!
Since that’s as exciting as the day got I decided to share some thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head.
ATT is currently running an ad that asks “What would you do with $300 cash back from ATT” as if they were giving you $300. The actors say things like go to a show, make a car payment or hello, mp3 player. The add closes with the classic “ find out how you can get UP TO $300 back from ATT. The add must work, it’s been running for a while. I just don’t want to believe people don’t see that you have to spend much more than $300 and like taxes the “money back” is not a windfall. I don’t like the deceptive manner of the ad.
I saw a Lincoln king cab pick-up truck today. I didn’t know they existed.
The big news today asked the question, “Did Obama snub Hillary?” Of course there is a picture of him apparently looking away when she approaches. The photo conveniently doesn’t show whom he is talking to. I think we are going to have to begin using instant replays in political events to allow candidates to challenge deceptive photographs.
The Alabama primary falls on Mardi Gras day in Mobile – so they are allowing voting on another day.
Cracks were found in the supports of the bridge that spans Destin East Pass. They are drilling core samples to determine the cause. One possibility is that nearby construction may be the cause. They just completed a monster 15-story (ugly) condominium where the bridge makes landfall in Destin. The cracks are on that side of the bridge. It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out.
A military spy satellite lost power and will be falling back to earth – probably over North America. I haven’t heard the cause for the loss of power. The press didn’t make a lot of mention last year when China conducted a test of their satellite killer weapon by destroying one of their old satellites. In doing so they almost doubled the amount of space junk orbiting the earth – any piece of which can put a satellite out of commission if it strikes one. That might have killed this military satellite. A few months ago the international space station also sustained some damage from space junk. Back to the military satellite - The military says not to worry because most pieces should burn up on re-entry. After all we disintegrated a whole space shuttle over the US and only a few pieces hit anything significant. So don’t worry.
Fort Walton Beach is planning to install cameras to catch red light runners and generate revenue for the city.
I like the way the internet has affected our family. With all the blogging going on we really keep in touch and know what is happening in everyone’s lives. Sister Kathy barely has anything to talk about in our weekly phone call (and that is unusual for Kathy) because she reads my blog and already knows what’s happening with me. She even knows when I get my hair cut.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
A Day Planned By Events
I wasn’t very productive today. We did vote but since that was mid morning I didn’t go out to the shop and get all dirty cleaning it up. I can’t go into town all saw-dusty. Do you think the call we got from John McCain convinced us to go vote? Can you imagine him taking time out of his busy day just to call us. He must have been rushed though because he didn’t hear anything I said – he just kept on message.
After voting Penny ran off to lunch and a movie with her friend Pam. I returned books to the library. (isn’t this exciting?) I brushed my teeth after lunch and a small chip fell off my front tooth, the one that I cracked in The Fall last Fall. So after the library I dropped in unannounced to our Dentist. My timing was good. Her assistant, Petra, was arriving the same time as me. She said that we have to fix that and ushered me inside and sat me down. Petra just earned her citizenship this year and today was her first time voting. She was excited. She said it made her feel as if she were contributing. Dr Woo came in and she was more relaxed than I’ve ever seen her. It’s funny because she said I was more relaxed. We chatted about audio books (she has her own little lending library going) and she dug a book out for me to take along for our next trip. She repaired the tooth by filling it with some gunk, hardening and color matching it with some sort of lights. And smoothing it all out. Unless you know what to look for you can’t see the repair. Instead of having what looked like a double gap in the top row of teeth it now looks normal.
It was now approaching 2PM and I figured the day was lost so I brought my car to Timesaver and had the oil changed. The guy there was real talkative, too. We talked about the kayak rack on the CRV. He wants a sit-upon kayak for fly fishing. He looked at my name and said he thinks he went to school with one of our daughters. He said he didn’t know her though. His last name is Evancheck (Sp?). I told him I’d ask if either knew him.
Back home again I finally found online what the spark plug gap should be on the lawn mower. I set it properly and although I got a chug or 2 out of the thing It still won’t start. It may really be time for a pro.
That’s it! A little of dis and a little of dat and a lot of nuttin. At least I got my walking in –I just passed the 2.5 mile point.
I wasn’t very productive today. We did vote but since that was mid morning I didn’t go out to the shop and get all dirty cleaning it up. I can’t go into town all saw-dusty. Do you think the call we got from John McCain convinced us to go vote? Can you imagine him taking time out of his busy day just to call us. He must have been rushed though because he didn’t hear anything I said – he just kept on message.
After voting Penny ran off to lunch and a movie with her friend Pam. I returned books to the library. (isn’t this exciting?) I brushed my teeth after lunch and a small chip fell off my front tooth, the one that I cracked in The Fall last Fall. So after the library I dropped in unannounced to our Dentist. My timing was good. Her assistant, Petra, was arriving the same time as me. She said that we have to fix that and ushered me inside and sat me down. Petra just earned her citizenship this year and today was her first time voting. She was excited. She said it made her feel as if she were contributing. Dr Woo came in and she was more relaxed than I’ve ever seen her. It’s funny because she said I was more relaxed. We chatted about audio books (she has her own little lending library going) and she dug a book out for me to take along for our next trip. She repaired the tooth by filling it with some gunk, hardening and color matching it with some sort of lights. And smoothing it all out. Unless you know what to look for you can’t see the repair. Instead of having what looked like a double gap in the top row of teeth it now looks normal.
It was now approaching 2PM and I figured the day was lost so I brought my car to Timesaver and had the oil changed. The guy there was real talkative, too. We talked about the kayak rack on the CRV. He wants a sit-upon kayak for fly fishing. He looked at my name and said he thinks he went to school with one of our daughters. He said he didn’t know her though. His last name is Evancheck (Sp?). I told him I’d ask if either knew him.
Back home again I finally found online what the spark plug gap should be on the lawn mower. I set it properly and although I got a chug or 2 out of the thing It still won’t start. It may really be time for a pro.
That’s it! A little of dis and a little of dat and a lot of nuttin. At least I got my walking in –I just passed the 2.5 mile point.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Laundry and Other Stuff
I have decided to keep the tradition which started with the women of the Mayflower and do laundry on Mondays. In the book Water For Elephants some of the circus workers get their clothes from the “Monday Man”. In other words they raid people’s laundry hanging out to dry to get fresh clothing. For the last month or so I’ve actually been able to do all the laundry in one day – including putting it away – in between all the other tasks I try to do each day.
It was a nice day today so I finally got around to taking down the Christmas lights on the house. I’ve been a wimp in the cold weather we’ve had and stayed inside through most of it. We are having a normal winter this year for a change. Cold with lots of rain and some mornings with thick fog. My first winter here (1973) was like this. I can remember driving back through thick fog from my frequent trips to Jacksonville to see my then girlfriend Penny. We had snow that year – none here this year yet.
Penny and I decided to early vote today only to discover early voting ended Saturday. I asked Penny if it was a sin not to vote if we made an honest effort and didn’t succeed. I guess we will just have to vote tomorrow on Primary Day.
I finished disassembling my workbench today. Now I finish cleaning up the shop and start putting things in their proper places.
Kitty Update - The count remains at 5 cats. They don’t all show up at 5 o’clock like they used to for dinner so it is difficult to insure everyone gets his share. I'm trying to train them to all be there at one time. Tonight Marmalade , Buzz and Meredith showed up on time and I have yet to see Velcro and Bianca. Saturday was similar to this except when I went out in the sunroom at 10 in the evening to make sure the door was locked all 4 of the ”kittens” were there looking for attention. So I went out and sat down (I have to sit or they get wary) and had 4 cats crank up their motors and make separate passes to get stroked. Sometimes Velcro and Meredith will actually get synchronized and I can pet both of them at the same time with 1 hand. Of course Bianca is too good to be down on the ground with the other 3. She sits up on the picnic table reaching out to me to be pet. That only complicates the matter because I only have 2 hands and petting her takes 1 full time and removes it from the flow of the other 3. Meredith likes to rub my whole arm when she passes. If I’m petting Bianca Meredith will sometimes nip my underarm (gently) to draw attention back to her. I can’t sit out there without shoes because Velcro likes to affectionately nip my toes. The feeder has been working well but with the cold weather the cats eat every piece that is dispenced each day before the end of the day. When it warms up there is always a little left at the end of the day.
I have decided to keep the tradition which started with the women of the Mayflower and do laundry on Mondays. In the book Water For Elephants some of the circus workers get their clothes from the “Monday Man”. In other words they raid people’s laundry hanging out to dry to get fresh clothing. For the last month or so I’ve actually been able to do all the laundry in one day – including putting it away – in between all the other tasks I try to do each day.
It was a nice day today so I finally got around to taking down the Christmas lights on the house. I’ve been a wimp in the cold weather we’ve had and stayed inside through most of it. We are having a normal winter this year for a change. Cold with lots of rain and some mornings with thick fog. My first winter here (1973) was like this. I can remember driving back through thick fog from my frequent trips to Jacksonville to see my then girlfriend Penny. We had snow that year – none here this year yet.
Penny and I decided to early vote today only to discover early voting ended Saturday. I asked Penny if it was a sin not to vote if we made an honest effort and didn’t succeed. I guess we will just have to vote tomorrow on Primary Day.
I finished disassembling my workbench today. Now I finish cleaning up the shop and start putting things in their proper places.
Kitty Update - The count remains at 5 cats. They don’t all show up at 5 o’clock like they used to for dinner so it is difficult to insure everyone gets his share. I'm trying to train them to all be there at one time. Tonight Marmalade , Buzz and Meredith showed up on time and I have yet to see Velcro and Bianca. Saturday was similar to this except when I went out in the sunroom at 10 in the evening to make sure the door was locked all 4 of the ”kittens” were there looking for attention. So I went out and sat down (I have to sit or they get wary) and had 4 cats crank up their motors and make separate passes to get stroked. Sometimes Velcro and Meredith will actually get synchronized and I can pet both of them at the same time with 1 hand. Of course Bianca is too good to be down on the ground with the other 3. She sits up on the picnic table reaching out to me to be pet. That only complicates the matter because I only have 2 hands and petting her takes 1 full time and removes it from the flow of the other 3. Meredith likes to rub my whole arm when she passes. If I’m petting Bianca Meredith will sometimes nip my underarm (gently) to draw attention back to her. I can’t sit out there without shoes because Velcro likes to affectionately nip my toes. The feeder has been working well but with the cold weather the cats eat every piece that is dispenced each day before the end of the day. When it warms up there is always a little left at the end of the day.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Everything Put Together…
Here it is another Sunday. January just flew by and soon it will be leap year February.
Today was a little of everything day. We relaxed in the morning, read the paper and watched Sunday Morning. I made copies of audio books to listen to on our next trip.
Penny made navy bean soup for lunch – excellent. After cleaning up after lunch , since the house is in good shape, I was able to return to my workshop renovation. I took apart the 2nd section of my workbench from the garage. In doing so I destroyed what was my first project here when we moved in . So I was pulling nails that were driven around 1976. I also put a bunch of old glasses and cups in the trash. I kept the old Warner Brothers, Smurfs, Star Wars, Snoopy and Care Bear glasses to check if they are worth anything before I toss them. I don’t think they are. The newspaper I packed with one box of glasses was from Dec 1979. I also kept some NFL glasses that I got from Shell gas stations in the 1971 timeframe. I have about 6 Baltimore Colts and 1 each of the Patriots, Redskins and NY Giants. They gave those glasses away in the locality of the teams and that was the extent of my travels during that period. I need to check EBAY and see if anyone wants the patriots one this year. I also kept 2 little white unicorn cups we bought for Karen and Christy in San Francisco. Oh, and Karen and Christy, I have your E.T. cups if you want them ;>).
We are currently reading Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen and enjoying it. The audio book has an old man read the old man parts and a young man read the young man parts. They both do a fabulous job. I feel like I’ve been transported back to the depression and run away to the circus. Thanks Karen for telling us about this book.
Here it is another Sunday. January just flew by and soon it will be leap year February.
Today was a little of everything day. We relaxed in the morning, read the paper and watched Sunday Morning. I made copies of audio books to listen to on our next trip.
Penny made navy bean soup for lunch – excellent. After cleaning up after lunch , since the house is in good shape, I was able to return to my workshop renovation. I took apart the 2nd section of my workbench from the garage. In doing so I destroyed what was my first project here when we moved in . So I was pulling nails that were driven around 1976. I also put a bunch of old glasses and cups in the trash. I kept the old Warner Brothers, Smurfs, Star Wars, Snoopy and Care Bear glasses to check if they are worth anything before I toss them. I don’t think they are. The newspaper I packed with one box of glasses was from Dec 1979. I also kept some NFL glasses that I got from Shell gas stations in the 1971 timeframe. I have about 6 Baltimore Colts and 1 each of the Patriots, Redskins and NY Giants. They gave those glasses away in the locality of the teams and that was the extent of my travels during that period. I need to check EBAY and see if anyone wants the patriots one this year. I also kept 2 little white unicorn cups we bought for Karen and Christy in San Francisco. Oh, and Karen and Christy, I have your E.T. cups if you want them ;>).
We are currently reading Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen and enjoying it. The audio book has an old man read the old man parts and a young man read the young man parts. They both do a fabulous job. I feel like I’ve been transported back to the depression and run away to the circus. Thanks Karen for telling us about this book.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Reserving Montana
Our flight and hotel reservations are made for or week in Montana in August. I spent most of the day looking at hotel availability and good places to stay. The deciding factor turned out to be what dates were available that I could use with my frequent flyer miles. Then there was a little issue of me making reservations to Bozeman instead of Kalispell and getting that mess turned around before I committed my sky miles. Luckily the reservation came back a little squirrelly so I called the airline and caught the process before the ticket was entered.
We will be staying in the park at the “Many Glaciers Lodge”.
http://www.nationalparkreservations.com/glacier_many.htm?gclid=CJmgwujdkpECFQPrlgodrzeLPA
No phone, TV, cell service or Air conditioning – and really tiny bathrooms!
Now we are looking into Las Vegas.
Our flight and hotel reservations are made for or week in Montana in August. I spent most of the day looking at hotel availability and good places to stay. The deciding factor turned out to be what dates were available that I could use with my frequent flyer miles. Then there was a little issue of me making reservations to Bozeman instead of Kalispell and getting that mess turned around before I committed my sky miles. Luckily the reservation came back a little squirrelly so I called the airline and caught the process before the ticket was entered.
We will be staying in the park at the “Many Glaciers Lodge”.
http://www.nationalparkreservations.com/glacier_many.htm?gclid=CJmgwujdkpECFQPrlgodrzeLPA
No phone, TV, cell service or Air conditioning – and really tiny bathrooms!
Now we are looking into Las Vegas.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Another Rainy Day
It was a cold and rainy day – so we went to a movie again. We decided that going to a movie is a much cheaper recreational activity than going shopping. We went to see Juno and loved it.
My writing is inadequate to describe the movie so here is what the critics say:
"Juno" is hilarious and sweet-tempered, perceptive and surprisingly grounded.
Jason Reitman's "Juno" is just about the best movie of the year. It is very smart, very funny and very touching; it begins with the pacing of a screwball comedy and ends as a portrait of characters we have come to love. Strange, how during Juno's hip dialogue and cocky bravado, we begin to understand the young woman inside, and we want to hug her.
Has there been a better performance this year than Ellen Page's creation of Juno? I don't think so. If most actors agree that comedy is harder than drama, then harder still is comedy depending on a quick mind, utter self-confidence, and an ability to stop just short of going too far. Page's presence and timing are extraordinary. I have seen her in only two films, she is only 20, and I think she will be one of the great actors of her time. – Roger Ebert
(Now we are back to me again) So if you really don’t think you want to see a movie about a pregnant, unwed, 16-year-old, think again. I think it deserves the Oscar nominations it got and would be very pleased if Ellen Page got the best actress award.
With all this cold, wet weather I’m making good headway in catching up with the house. Except for the sunroom where I have stashed the parsley and basil plants to protect them from freezing, Penny’s sewing room (which I leave to her) and the room formerly known as Christy’s room, our house is up to "OK for visitors" status. I’m almost ready to make that final push in the workshop to make it functional again. Isn’t retirement exciting? Now I try to keep up with everything on a daily basis, something i have never succeeded at. Opening the additional storage helped a lot.
My river run training is coming along. I'm walking 3.7 miles at a 3.3 mph paceevery 2nd evening. I am increasing the difficulty by raising the incline. This week it is 3 degrees. Using the computer while on the treadmill is fantastic. There's no clock watching because your mind is all wrapped up with writing.
We are starting to firm up this years travel plans. Mid-Summer we are thinking of seeing some of Montana. In October we will once again do Vermont. Then it is down to Melbourne and Florida Tech for my fraternity’s 35th reunion. In between we will visit Karen, Christy and Kathy as much as we reasonably can. We promised Karen and Tim that we would provide babysitter service once every month or 2 so they could have a date night. Our first trip this year will be to Tampa to visit Kathy and Joe and see my Brother Louie. We may stop and say hi to Karen and/or Christy on the way down. Next is a visit to Jacksonville to see my birthday present from Karen – Monty Python’s Spamalot. We are also thinking about renewing our passes to Seaworld and Busch Gardens to have somewhere neat to go in between.
Tomorrow begins our weekend cycle with Target in the morning.
It was a cold and rainy day – so we went to a movie again. We decided that going to a movie is a much cheaper recreational activity than going shopping. We went to see Juno and loved it.
My writing is inadequate to describe the movie so here is what the critics say:
"Juno" is hilarious and sweet-tempered, perceptive and surprisingly grounded.
Jason Reitman's "Juno" is just about the best movie of the year. It is very smart, very funny and very touching; it begins with the pacing of a screwball comedy and ends as a portrait of characters we have come to love. Strange, how during Juno's hip dialogue and cocky bravado, we begin to understand the young woman inside, and we want to hug her.
Has there been a better performance this year than Ellen Page's creation of Juno? I don't think so. If most actors agree that comedy is harder than drama, then harder still is comedy depending on a quick mind, utter self-confidence, and an ability to stop just short of going too far. Page's presence and timing are extraordinary. I have seen her in only two films, she is only 20, and I think she will be one of the great actors of her time. – Roger Ebert
(Now we are back to me again) So if you really don’t think you want to see a movie about a pregnant, unwed, 16-year-old, think again. I think it deserves the Oscar nominations it got and would be very pleased if Ellen Page got the best actress award.
With all this cold, wet weather I’m making good headway in catching up with the house. Except for the sunroom where I have stashed the parsley and basil plants to protect them from freezing, Penny’s sewing room (which I leave to her) and the room formerly known as Christy’s room, our house is up to "OK for visitors" status. I’m almost ready to make that final push in the workshop to make it functional again. Isn’t retirement exciting? Now I try to keep up with everything on a daily basis, something i have never succeeded at. Opening the additional storage helped a lot.
My river run training is coming along. I'm walking 3.7 miles at a 3.3 mph paceevery 2nd evening. I am increasing the difficulty by raising the incline. This week it is 3 degrees. Using the computer while on the treadmill is fantastic. There's no clock watching because your mind is all wrapped up with writing.
We are starting to firm up this years travel plans. Mid-Summer we are thinking of seeing some of Montana. In October we will once again do Vermont. Then it is down to Melbourne and Florida Tech for my fraternity’s 35th reunion. In between we will visit Karen, Christy and Kathy as much as we reasonably can. We promised Karen and Tim that we would provide babysitter service once every month or 2 so they could have a date night. Our first trip this year will be to Tampa to visit Kathy and Joe and see my Brother Louie. We may stop and say hi to Karen and/or Christy on the way down. Next is a visit to Jacksonville to see my birthday present from Karen – Monty Python’s Spamalot. We are also thinking about renewing our passes to Seaworld and Busch Gardens to have somewhere neat to go in between.
Tomorrow begins our weekend cycle with Target in the morning.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Marriage Preparation
We went to a meeting last night in Pensacola for the FOCCUS program (yes, it has 2 Cs)- that’s the other marriage prep program we work with. (The other is Pre-Cana) It was a typical church-type meeting with nothing exciting. It was interesting that there were 3 people there from Penny’s past 20+ years that were also involved in the program. 2 of them were deacons!
We will be having an engaged couple over for their first FOCCUS session in February. We will see them anywhere fro 2 to 5 times depending on how much work they need in their communication with one another. They are getting married in June so we should have no problem getting the necessary sessions in.
The more interesting observation on this trip is the changes that have taken place in Pensacola. Most of the I-110 roadwork is complete and the new I-10 double bridge is open (That was damaged by a hurricane 2 years ago). We got off the interstate at the University Mall exit. It is now a wide multiple lane (5 or 6 lanes, I’m not sure) exit and it took me a couple of minutes to figure out where I was. It was like a dream where everything is there but seems a little off. University Mall is about to close for renovations. When we stopped for a bite at Crystal near Cordova mall we saw why. Cordova mall now has some better stores – Ann Taylor Loft, World Market and Cold Water Creek to name some. Even the Crystal had changed; it was neat, clean and had good service. It also had Wi-Fi available. A MacDonald’s we passed later also had Wi-Fi. I guess that’s a new trend in fast food. The Krispy Kreme store is brand new and is brick construction. It looked very up-scale. Bottom line is that Pensacola appears to be improving itself nicely. Our town can take a lesson from them.
When I turned on the TV today it was on ABC morning news. I was about to turn the channel when they said they were going to take the Clinton and Obama statements from their little debate squabble and see who was telling the truth – I had to see this, I couldn’t believe that they would actually provide this information. They took each candidates statement – declared it true or false and backed it up with a film clip verifying their classification. It was great. Then they actually talked live with Obama about his falsehoods and he did a marvelous job of obfuscation. As he danced around the question the commentator reminded him about his comment that he would have to see Bill Clinton dance before he would say Clinton was the first black president. So he was asked if he would see him dance. Obama said that Clinton could dance all he wanted at his (Obama’s) Inauguration Ball. I thought it was a good answer.
We went to a meeting last night in Pensacola for the FOCCUS program (yes, it has 2 Cs)- that’s the other marriage prep program we work with. (The other is Pre-Cana) It was a typical church-type meeting with nothing exciting. It was interesting that there were 3 people there from Penny’s past 20+ years that were also involved in the program. 2 of them were deacons!
We will be having an engaged couple over for their first FOCCUS session in February. We will see them anywhere fro 2 to 5 times depending on how much work they need in their communication with one another. They are getting married in June so we should have no problem getting the necessary sessions in.
The more interesting observation on this trip is the changes that have taken place in Pensacola. Most of the I-110 roadwork is complete and the new I-10 double bridge is open (That was damaged by a hurricane 2 years ago). We got off the interstate at the University Mall exit. It is now a wide multiple lane (5 or 6 lanes, I’m not sure) exit and it took me a couple of minutes to figure out where I was. It was like a dream where everything is there but seems a little off. University Mall is about to close for renovations. When we stopped for a bite at Crystal near Cordova mall we saw why. Cordova mall now has some better stores – Ann Taylor Loft, World Market and Cold Water Creek to name some. Even the Crystal had changed; it was neat, clean and had good service. It also had Wi-Fi available. A MacDonald’s we passed later also had Wi-Fi. I guess that’s a new trend in fast food. The Krispy Kreme store is brand new and is brick construction. It looked very up-scale. Bottom line is that Pensacola appears to be improving itself nicely. Our town can take a lesson from them.
When I turned on the TV today it was on ABC morning news. I was about to turn the channel when they said they were going to take the Clinton and Obama statements from their little debate squabble and see who was telling the truth – I had to see this, I couldn’t believe that they would actually provide this information. They took each candidates statement – declared it true or false and backed it up with a film clip verifying their classification. It was great. Then they actually talked live with Obama about his falsehoods and he did a marvelous job of obfuscation. As he danced around the question the commentator reminded him about his comment that he would have to see Bill Clinton dance before he would say Clinton was the first black president. So he was asked if he would see him dance. Obama said that Clinton could dance all he wanted at his (Obama’s) Inauguration Ball. I thought it was a good answer.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Ugly, Cold, Rainy Day
B-r-r-r, It rained until about 3PM today with a gusty wind and cold temperatures. We did our normal Saturday AM visit to Waffle House. The waitress now knows our orders by heart and simply confirms that is what we want when we sit down. She seems to like her job and works hard to do things right. Next we hit Lowe’s. Not much there today. We stopped at Winn Dixie on the way back home to pick up this weeks food.
I ended up spending most of the day straightening up our bedroom. It’s incredible how much stuff can pile up. The radio said there was a possibility for freezing rain or snow. I kept peeking outside but no snow. It was nice to be warm and cozy inside.
Saturday evening church was highlighted by Walt Richardson’s annual Martin Luther King homily “performance”. Like Penny, I savor Walt’s performances- each time thinking this may be the last time we hear him sing. He is such a good person. We are fortunate to know him.
I think that 2008 will go down in my history book as the year of the big clean up/organization. I’ve come to the realization that this is the “later” that we were going to do everything in. We’ve already benefited from the new shed – knowing where things are and being able to find them and use them. After the shop is in order I’ve got many big containers of miscellaneous stuff to look through and purge useless stuff and put useful stuff where we can get at it. I figure it will take a year or two (or more) to actually look into all the nooks and crannies and sort everything out. We’ve been collecting for 35 years now so it’s a big job. There is one fun side to the task. Every so often I come across an old picture or work of art from Karen or Christy’s early years. I’ve shared some of those here. They are nice memories – but they make me feel old.
B-r-r-r, It rained until about 3PM today with a gusty wind and cold temperatures. We did our normal Saturday AM visit to Waffle House. The waitress now knows our orders by heart and simply confirms that is what we want when we sit down. She seems to like her job and works hard to do things right. Next we hit Lowe’s. Not much there today. We stopped at Winn Dixie on the way back home to pick up this weeks food.
I ended up spending most of the day straightening up our bedroom. It’s incredible how much stuff can pile up. The radio said there was a possibility for freezing rain or snow. I kept peeking outside but no snow. It was nice to be warm and cozy inside.
Saturday evening church was highlighted by Walt Richardson’s annual Martin Luther King homily “performance”. Like Penny, I savor Walt’s performances- each time thinking this may be the last time we hear him sing. He is such a good person. We are fortunate to know him.
I think that 2008 will go down in my history book as the year of the big clean up/organization. I’ve come to the realization that this is the “later” that we were going to do everything in. We’ve already benefited from the new shed – knowing where things are and being able to find them and use them. After the shop is in order I’ve got many big containers of miscellaneous stuff to look through and purge useless stuff and put useful stuff where we can get at it. I figure it will take a year or two (or more) to actually look into all the nooks and crannies and sort everything out. We’ve been collecting for 35 years now so it’s a big job. There is one fun side to the task. Every so often I come across an old picture or work of art from Karen or Christy’s early years. I’ve shared some of those here. They are nice memories – but they make me feel old.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Rainy Days and Movies
The weatherperson was correct. It rained all day today. Yesterday I hinted that with the rain we might do another movie and that is what we did. I spent the morning on paperwork and laundry and installing our new pot and pan holder. We bought 2 wire storage drawers to put our large fry pans and skillets in. I put them on one of the large shelves in our laundry room. We moved our electrical appliances from there out to the new shelf in the garage. Somewhere in the future we will have a more logical and organized kitchen.
The movie we went to see was The Bucket List. The movie trailer makes the movie appear to be only about 2 men dying of cancer going out and doing wild things to live it up in their last months. In actuality the list is just the vehicle around which a friendship is built and a wonderful movie created. Everyone knows that the story is about 2 dying men – I won’t give away the plot – but I think the story is better appreciated by the older, closer to facing death crowd. This was confirmed when we walked into the theater and saw a sea of white hair in the audience. Being one of those almost eligible for the senior discount I thought Rob Reiner has put together a beautiful, funny and poignant movie. If you go see it bring some tissues - it is a tearjerker, but a good one.
So after not seeing a movie in months we go see 2 in 2 days. We will not go to a movie tomorrow.
The weatherperson was correct. It rained all day today. Yesterday I hinted that with the rain we might do another movie and that is what we did. I spent the morning on paperwork and laundry and installing our new pot and pan holder. We bought 2 wire storage drawers to put our large fry pans and skillets in. I put them on one of the large shelves in our laundry room. We moved our electrical appliances from there out to the new shelf in the garage. Somewhere in the future we will have a more logical and organized kitchen.
The movie we went to see was The Bucket List. The movie trailer makes the movie appear to be only about 2 men dying of cancer going out and doing wild things to live it up in their last months. In actuality the list is just the vehicle around which a friendship is built and a wonderful movie created. Everyone knows that the story is about 2 dying men – I won’t give away the plot – but I think the story is better appreciated by the older, closer to facing death crowd. This was confirmed when we walked into the theater and saw a sea of white hair in the audience. Being one of those almost eligible for the senior discount I thought Rob Reiner has put together a beautiful, funny and poignant movie. If you go see it bring some tissues - it is a tearjerker, but a good one.
So after not seeing a movie in months we go see 2 in 2 days. We will not go to a movie tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Lunch and a Movie
Pam once again cancelled on Penny today so I took up the slack and spent some time with Penny today. The first thing we did today was to finally unload all the stuff from the car. We had already removed the 2 tool carts (Penny hurt her back lifting the heavy one) so it was clothes and toys that were left. Penny sorted the clothes and weighed them to see if we were going to ship or drive them to the girls. They were too heavy to ship inexpensively so they’ll just have to wait to see us before they get them.
We headed out to lunch at Chic Fillet, made a library trip, hit the bank and then the movie. We haven’t been to the library in 6 months and when I handed my card to the librarian she told me I had expired! She followed that with “You look pretty good for a man who has expired.” I got renewed; we restocked on books including the audio version of Water For Elephants, We went to see the musical comedy Sweeny Todd. It was very bloody but good. Johny Depp seems to like to have sharp instruments to play with.
Back home again it was the normal evening routine. Check the mail, feed the outside cats (all 5 present), give them a bonus – 2 chicken nuggets from lunchtime, and have a light dinner. Tonight is a treadmill night for me so that’s what I’m on right now. My last treadmill walk was used to do some background research for my novel. Since I don’t have to rush I thought it would be better to research some of the technical and geographical references I make in the book. I’m beefing up my astronaut-main-character’s background, his military accomplishments, where he now lives, what he DRIVES, how he ended up where he is. I also got more familiar with the capabilities of MRI and PET scan units since they play an important role in the plot. A former engineer is not the best person to work on a novel. I’m spring-loaded to logic and accuracy and have a hard time writing about something that may be only remotely feasible or even impossible. I’m learning though. I always joke that life would be simpler if we had writers behind us. When you are the writer you can do those things needed for the plot. I just don’t want to use the writing gimmicks that I always make fun of in a book or movie.
It’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow so I’ll probably be in the shed organizing or doing end of year/new year paperwork. Then again, rainy days are good days to go see a movie…..
Pam once again cancelled on Penny today so I took up the slack and spent some time with Penny today. The first thing we did today was to finally unload all the stuff from the car. We had already removed the 2 tool carts (Penny hurt her back lifting the heavy one) so it was clothes and toys that were left. Penny sorted the clothes and weighed them to see if we were going to ship or drive them to the girls. They were too heavy to ship inexpensively so they’ll just have to wait to see us before they get them.
We headed out to lunch at Chic Fillet, made a library trip, hit the bank and then the movie. We haven’t been to the library in 6 months and when I handed my card to the librarian she told me I had expired! She followed that with “You look pretty good for a man who has expired.” I got renewed; we restocked on books including the audio version of Water For Elephants, We went to see the musical comedy Sweeny Todd. It was very bloody but good. Johny Depp seems to like to have sharp instruments to play with.
Back home again it was the normal evening routine. Check the mail, feed the outside cats (all 5 present), give them a bonus – 2 chicken nuggets from lunchtime, and have a light dinner. Tonight is a treadmill night for me so that’s what I’m on right now. My last treadmill walk was used to do some background research for my novel. Since I don’t have to rush I thought it would be better to research some of the technical and geographical references I make in the book. I’m beefing up my astronaut-main-character’s background, his military accomplishments, where he now lives, what he DRIVES, how he ended up where he is. I also got more familiar with the capabilities of MRI and PET scan units since they play an important role in the plot. A former engineer is not the best person to work on a novel. I’m spring-loaded to logic and accuracy and have a hard time writing about something that may be only remotely feasible or even impossible. I’m learning though. I always joke that life would be simpler if we had writers behind us. When you are the writer you can do those things needed for the plot. I just don’t want to use the writing gimmicks that I always make fun of in a book or movie.
It’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow so I’ll probably be in the shed organizing or doing end of year/new year paperwork. Then again, rainy days are good days to go see a movie…..
Friday, January 11, 2008
Damn the Laundry, Full Shop Ahead!
I am trying out my new method of multitasking. I am walking at an easy 3 mph on the treadmill using my wireless mouse and keyboard to write. It works nicely. Thanks Kathy and Joe. Now I can write and exercise. I’ll have to write you an acknowledgement when I finish my novel. If I continue to take as long to write that thing I’ll get back down to the 126 lbs I weighed when I left for college.
Once again today we partook of Penny’s favorite outdoor recreation – shopping. I must admit she has a knack for it. She awoke this morning as if she received a message in a dream and pronounced, “The stores at the outlet center should be having their big clearance sales.” Being Friday it is our normal go to Target day so shopping was on the agenda for today already. Today, however, we would be SHOPPING.
0715 hours - We started at Wal-Mart buying some fabric for one of Penny’s throw projects.
0800 hours - The next stop was Target. They had Christmas toys marked down 75%. Most of the good stuff was gone. We did find a couple of items. We made a killing on an item for me – another rolling multi-drawer tool case. This time it was made by Stanley and was marked down to $25. (We later saw the same item in the other Target for $99.99-but I’m getting ahead of myself) Since Penny has had her eye on certain toys that were not there we decided to check at the other Target – it was on the way to the outlets anyway.
0915 hours– Target in Destin. We found this store had more of the items left and we picked up stuff intended for Jack, Sophia, some games for us and maybe K&T and other stuff. Penny even had a card that gave her 10% off the entire purchase. One item I found and we bought, just because it was a great price, was a little movie recorder. I guess it is like a camcorder. I think it takes MPEG movies but I haven’t looked at it closely. It has 256 kb of internal memory and has an SD card slot for more storage. The thing only cost $12.50. We are not sure who it should go to- so I am announcing the cheap video recorder give away competition. Please submit your entry (100 words or less) stating who you think would put this thing to the best (most fun and/or educational) use. Your entry cannot start with “My Dad was killed in Iraq”. Deadline for your entry is “whenever”. Verbal entries are acceptable (telephone). The decision of the judges (Penny and I) is final.
I observed 2 interesting behavioral characteristics at this Target. The first was women dragging multiple carts full of merchandise. One lady had 14 grandchildren she was buying birthday and Christmas gifts in advance . The 2nd behavior was people finding something and pulling out their cell phone to get instructions. How many should we get? Would so and so like this? We also saw this cell phone thing going on at the outlets (but again, I get ahead of myself). We ended up buying everything from extension cords to toys and everything was 50 – 75% off.
1030 hours – Silver Sands Outlet Sandestin, FL. We hit The Gap, The Baby Store, the Lenox outlet, Aeropostale, (lunch at Guglielmo’s Ciao Bella Pizzaria) the Sony Outlet, Hank and Dave’s and Anne Taylor. We got at least something for everyone, guys included. Karen and Christy made out the best. Merry Christmas all!
1530 hours – head home. I left out an important part of today’s adventure – getting stuff in the car. I still had hanging clothes in the car from our last J’ville trip and the tool cart and othert things we bought last Saturday at Lowe’s. I didn’t get them out of the car because I was waiting to finish my storage project. Needles to say with the 2nd tool cart and the boxes of toys and all the clothes our CRV was loaded. I had to document it for the blog .
1600 hours- arrive home. We had a full day of shopping. When I walked in the door I didn’t get the usual greeting from Brie. Normally when we come in she comes ruinning down the hall to greet us. I went back to the bedroom to see if she was sleeping on the bed but she wasn’t there. I called and I heard a distant plaintive meow. I called again and found it coming from behind the closed door to the room formerly known as Christy’s. I opened it and out ran a thankful cat. I keep my shirts hung in the armoire in that room and we always keep the door closed. Brie tends to follow me around and sometimes she follows me into the room without me seeing her. When I leave the room I shut the door. All day while we were out having fun spending the kid’s inheritance there was this poor little (well, not so little) cat, alone and confused wondering why we had abandoned her.
I am trying out my new method of multitasking. I am walking at an easy 3 mph on the treadmill using my wireless mouse and keyboard to write. It works nicely. Thanks Kathy and Joe. Now I can write and exercise. I’ll have to write you an acknowledgement when I finish my novel. If I continue to take as long to write that thing I’ll get back down to the 126 lbs I weighed when I left for college.
Once again today we partook of Penny’s favorite outdoor recreation – shopping. I must admit she has a knack for it. She awoke this morning as if she received a message in a dream and pronounced, “The stores at the outlet center should be having their big clearance sales.” Being Friday it is our normal go to Target day so shopping was on the agenda for today already. Today, however, we would be SHOPPING.
0715 hours - We started at Wal-Mart buying some fabric for one of Penny’s throw projects.
0800 hours - The next stop was Target. They had Christmas toys marked down 75%. Most of the good stuff was gone. We did find a couple of items. We made a killing on an item for me – another rolling multi-drawer tool case. This time it was made by Stanley and was marked down to $25. (We later saw the same item in the other Target for $99.99-but I’m getting ahead of myself) Since Penny has had her eye on certain toys that were not there we decided to check at the other Target – it was on the way to the outlets anyway.
0915 hours– Target in Destin. We found this store had more of the items left and we picked up stuff intended for Jack, Sophia, some games for us and maybe K&T and other stuff. Penny even had a card that gave her 10% off the entire purchase. One item I found and we bought, just because it was a great price, was a little movie recorder. I guess it is like a camcorder. I think it takes MPEG movies but I haven’t looked at it closely. It has 256 kb of internal memory and has an SD card slot for more storage. The thing only cost $12.50. We are not sure who it should go to- so I am announcing the cheap video recorder give away competition. Please submit your entry (100 words or less) stating who you think would put this thing to the best (most fun and/or educational) use. Your entry cannot start with “My Dad was killed in Iraq”. Deadline for your entry is “whenever”. Verbal entries are acceptable (telephone). The decision of the judges (Penny and I) is final.
I observed 2 interesting behavioral characteristics at this Target. The first was women dragging multiple carts full of merchandise. One lady had 14 grandchildren she was buying birthday and Christmas gifts in advance . The 2nd behavior was people finding something and pulling out their cell phone to get instructions. How many should we get? Would so and so like this? We also saw this cell phone thing going on at the outlets (but again, I get ahead of myself). We ended up buying everything from extension cords to toys and everything was 50 – 75% off.
1030 hours – Silver Sands Outlet Sandestin, FL. We hit The Gap, The Baby Store, the Lenox outlet, Aeropostale, (lunch at Guglielmo’s Ciao Bella Pizzaria) the Sony Outlet, Hank and Dave’s and Anne Taylor. We got at least something for everyone, guys included. Karen and Christy made out the best. Merry Christmas all!
1530 hours – head home. I left out an important part of today’s adventure – getting stuff in the car. I still had hanging clothes in the car from our last J’ville trip and the tool cart and othert things we bought last Saturday at Lowe’s. I didn’t get them out of the car because I was waiting to finish my storage project. Needles to say with the 2nd tool cart and the boxes of toys and all the clothes our CRV was loaded. I had to document it for the blog .
1600 hours- arrive home. We had a full day of shopping. When I walked in the door I didn’t get the usual greeting from Brie. Normally when we come in she comes ruinning down the hall to greet us. I went back to the bedroom to see if she was sleeping on the bed but she wasn’t there. I called and I heard a distant plaintive meow. I called again and found it coming from behind the closed door to the room formerly known as Christy’s. I opened it and out ran a thankful cat. I keep my shirts hung in the armoire in that room and we always keep the door closed. Brie tends to follow me around and sometimes she follows me into the room without me seeing her. When I leave the room I shut the door. All day while we were out having fun spending the kid’s inheritance there was this poor little (well, not so little) cat, alone and confused wondering why we had abandoned her.
Well, I've covered 3.5 miles while I wrote this. I am a slow writer. I guess that's good for me because I absolutely forget that I am walking and lose track of time. Thanks for keeping me company.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
A Little Work, a Little Play
Today as promised was clean-up-the-kitchen day. I spent all morning – 3 ½ - 4 hours doing that. In business they have terms for items you have to buy once and items you have to continually buy. They are fixed costs and recurring costs. If you use this terminology housework is a recurring task. You never finish it.
After cleaning all morning I took time off to play with some of the electronics we got over Christmas. I installed the wireless keyboard and mouse that sister Kathy gave me on my laptop and it works great. I’m going to use it when I’m on the treadmill – that way I don’t put the whole laptop in jeopardy. The new keyboard is larger and easier to use and has more functions than the laptops little keyboard. Now all I have to do is get on the treadmill. I’m a month behind in my training for the River Run. If this works out I can use my treadmill time to blog and continue on my “novel”.
Next I set up the 160 GB DVR/ DVD recorder on our TV in the den. Between the 2 DVRs we should be able to capture all the shows we want. (if the writers ever go back to work) Back in the days when my Dad worked in the steel mill they would end up going on strike every few years, sometimes for months. Any benefits they got did not make up for all the salary they lost. The only winners were the unions – they felt more powerful even though they hurt all their members in the process.
Next I filled out the rebate form for the multi card reader/ 3USB hub that we got free after the rebate. The envelope goes out in tomorrows mail. I then installed that on our desktop computer in the den.
I also cleaned up the files i have on my mp3 player. I deleted the audio books I've listened too, added some music files and another book. We have one more book left from our raid on the Jacksonville library in August. It's time to refill our book supply. We haven't been to our local libraries in 6 months. Maybe tomorrow we will hit one of them.
Kitty update – For the past 2 days all 5 cats have been there for meal time. Yesterday, for the first time, Bianca allowed me to pet her. The cats are funny like that. All of a sudden it’s all right to be touched. It’s quite a scene at feeding time. To use Karen’s original statement - I am full of hands. I have 3 cats circling me taking turns getting pet and Bianca sitting on top of the outdoor table-just in reach also wanting attention. Two hands just aren’t enough.
Tomorrow is Target day and laundry day. Laundry was supposed to be done on Monday. I hate those recurring tasks!
Today as promised was clean-up-the-kitchen day. I spent all morning – 3 ½ - 4 hours doing that. In business they have terms for items you have to buy once and items you have to continually buy. They are fixed costs and recurring costs. If you use this terminology housework is a recurring task. You never finish it.
After cleaning all morning I took time off to play with some of the electronics we got over Christmas. I installed the wireless keyboard and mouse that sister Kathy gave me on my laptop and it works great. I’m going to use it when I’m on the treadmill – that way I don’t put the whole laptop in jeopardy. The new keyboard is larger and easier to use and has more functions than the laptops little keyboard. Now all I have to do is get on the treadmill. I’m a month behind in my training for the River Run. If this works out I can use my treadmill time to blog and continue on my “novel”.
Next I set up the 160 GB DVR/ DVD recorder on our TV in the den. Between the 2 DVRs we should be able to capture all the shows we want. (if the writers ever go back to work) Back in the days when my Dad worked in the steel mill they would end up going on strike every few years, sometimes for months. Any benefits they got did not make up for all the salary they lost. The only winners were the unions – they felt more powerful even though they hurt all their members in the process.
Next I filled out the rebate form for the multi card reader/ 3USB hub that we got free after the rebate. The envelope goes out in tomorrows mail. I then installed that on our desktop computer in the den.
I also cleaned up the files i have on my mp3 player. I deleted the audio books I've listened too, added some music files and another book. We have one more book left from our raid on the Jacksonville library in August. It's time to refill our book supply. We haven't been to our local libraries in 6 months. Maybe tomorrow we will hit one of them.
Kitty update – For the past 2 days all 5 cats have been there for meal time. Yesterday, for the first time, Bianca allowed me to pet her. The cats are funny like that. All of a sudden it’s all right to be touched. It’s quite a scene at feeding time. To use Karen’s original statement - I am full of hands. I have 3 cats circling me taking turns getting pet and Bianca sitting on top of the outdoor table-just in reach also wanting attention. Two hands just aren’t enough.
Tomorrow is Target day and laundry day. Laundry was supposed to be done on Monday. I hate those recurring tasks!
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Do the Storage Shuffle
I finally reached the point in my storage project where I can take a break from that task. Everything else (laundry, dishes, house cleaning) just piled up while I put full time on storage and now I’ve got days of catch up to do.
I have now pulled everything out of the old shed, sealed any leaks (hopefully), installed shelving and proceeded to fill it back up completely in such a manner that everything is accessible - That shed isn’t insulated so everything inside sees the heat humidity and cold. I moved a lot of stuff out of the new shed into the old to make room for stuff from the garage. Yesterday and today was spent moving stuff out of the garage to the appropriate shed. About 4:30 today I finally reached the point where the major task was done. It turns out that we still have a lot of junk. I would estimate that I could still dump about half the stuff we still have. I couldn’t take the necessary time to sort through everything so I packed up miscellaneous stuff in containers for later sorting. Now when I need something to do (which hasn’t been a problem lately) I can break ou a container and sort through it.
Today I ran across this picture of Christy from Montessori school sitting on Santa’s lap.
I also found a story written by Christy. Here is the cover page.
I finally reached the point in my storage project where I can take a break from that task. Everything else (laundry, dishes, house cleaning) just piled up while I put full time on storage and now I’ve got days of catch up to do.
I have now pulled everything out of the old shed, sealed any leaks (hopefully), installed shelving and proceeded to fill it back up completely in such a manner that everything is accessible - That shed isn’t insulated so everything inside sees the heat humidity and cold. I moved a lot of stuff out of the new shed into the old to make room for stuff from the garage. Yesterday and today was spent moving stuff out of the garage to the appropriate shed. About 4:30 today I finally reached the point where the major task was done. It turns out that we still have a lot of junk. I would estimate that I could still dump about half the stuff we still have. I couldn’t take the necessary time to sort through everything so I packed up miscellaneous stuff in containers for later sorting. Now when I need something to do (which hasn’t been a problem lately) I can break ou a container and sort through it.
Today I ran across this picture of Christy from Montessori school sitting on Santa’s lap.
I also found a story written by Christy. Here is the cover page.
The story involves a robbery of food, a stupid detective named Weird O. Strange (whose character Christy assigned to Karen). Shanna is accused of the robbery and is arrested. Weird tells Shanna, "You have the right to remain noisy!". Upon returning home the robbers are discovered to be 2 raccoons. Shanna is released and the raccoons live happily ever after eating all the eggs they want.
After catching up in the house it is back to the shop for me. I trashed it during the storage shuffle and need to get it in shape in case an interesting project comes up. The good news is there is still room left in the new shed to keep us from cluttering up the house.
I’ve got many large trash bags of stuff to throw out – one full trash can at a time. The second one is sitting at the curb now. I’ll keep filling the container until I’ve fed it all to the landfill. There is a bunch of old paperwork that needs to be shredded too. At least the weather cooperated and didn’t force me to cover anything during the process.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Politics and Religion
I talked about these taboo topics with brother Lou and daughter Karen today and I don’t think anyone came away resentful of the talk.
Karen was watching the debates and we discussed some of the candidates. She tracks that stuff more closely than I and I’d like to chat some more with her about them
Lou and I always talk about religion, but I made a comment today to the effect that it doesn’t matter who gets elected they all play the same game. Promises are made to fix problems but no problems are fixed. We still have poverty, drug problems, immigration issues, an education system that dumbs-down the electorate, an unpopular war, leaky borders, health insurance issues… and the list goes on. Legislation gets passed if it appears to be good for children or the new buzz - fights global warming.
I had to get on my global warming soapbox. It’s a great example of how the process works. There is no dispute that warming is occurring. It’s just that we don’t know that we are the cause or that cutting back our co2 output would do anything. Al Gore’s wonderful chart showing the correlation of global warming and co2 looks good but falls apart on close examination. There are periods where warming preceded the rise in co2 by hundreds of years. Regardless of the facts the media and a majority of the voters assume our co2 is the problem and that opens the door for lots of power games. Things that make people feel good and make them think that they are doing good.
Example 1; Ban those energy sucking incandescent bulbs. We can save a bunch of energy (translates into less co2) if all our lights were energy saving fluorescent bulbs. Oh, by the way, the bulb manufacturers (Westinghouse and G.E….) make more money on the bulbs. All fluoresscent lamps, contain small amounts of mercury and it is a concern for landfills and waste incinerators where the mercury from lamps may be released and contribute to air and water pollution. (and the quality of light is crappy).
On the other hand the government is mandating the change to digital television broadcasts in a little over a year. This benefits the electronics industry because it opens up more frequencies and better bandwidths widening their potential product base. That’s more profit for them. Oh, by the way an LCD TV uses 75% more power than a conventional one and a plasma TV uses a whopping 300% more. If you’ve ever stood in front of one in an electronics store (can’t afford to buy one or operate one) it’s like standing in front of a fireplace. So change to fluorescent but don’t miss out on HD.
Example 2: Burn ethanol in your car to rid us of dependence on foreign oil. Oh, by the way, it is inefficient and creates more co2 because of the transportation required. Corn prices are rising all over the world causing basic food items to drain the poor even more. Grain stores are the lowest ever and world population is not shrinking.
We can better spend our money adapting rather than wasting it on non-solutions. The beauty of global warming is that we can believe we are doing good and commit resources but we won’t be around to know if it did any good. Be ready for loosing more of your precious resources to the global warming political footprint.
OK, I’ll get off my soapbox.
Today we did our normal Saturday visit to Waffle House and then to Lowe’s. We found a great deal at Lowe’s. They were having a 50% off sale and we found a 27’ 6-drawer rolling tool cart which listed for $287- was marked down to $258 and sold for $129. It’s a heavy sucker and Penny and I struggled a little to get it in the CRV. Just as we finnishe I looked up and a guy was coming over to help us. We thanked him, but we didn’t need him. It’s just good to know that there are those people out there.
I finally finished cleaning out the shed. I filled 5 large trash bags full of stuff. It took me about 2 days longer to get to this point than I expected. Tomorrow I start putting stuff back in. I hope that process goes faster. It should, but I know better than to make estimates. Rain is supposed to hold off for 2 more days so that’s when I must have things covered up.
Kitty Update- The feeder continues to work. This design has proved to be reliable. I do need to clean it up and lubricate the motor every 3-4 weeks, but I think we can leave for up to 3 weeks and have it feed reliably. On the downside we haven’t seen Bianca in 2 days. She is usually around all morning and then in the evening for feeding time. She also is the only cat I’ve seen in the front yard and across the street in the neighborhood. Hopefully she will show up again. I almost got to where she would let me pet her. – Well, I just looked outside and there was Bianca (and Velcro, Meredith and Buzz) so all is normal in the kitty world.
I talked about these taboo topics with brother Lou and daughter Karen today and I don’t think anyone came away resentful of the talk.
Karen was watching the debates and we discussed some of the candidates. She tracks that stuff more closely than I and I’d like to chat some more with her about them
Lou and I always talk about religion, but I made a comment today to the effect that it doesn’t matter who gets elected they all play the same game. Promises are made to fix problems but no problems are fixed. We still have poverty, drug problems, immigration issues, an education system that dumbs-down the electorate, an unpopular war, leaky borders, health insurance issues… and the list goes on. Legislation gets passed if it appears to be good for children or the new buzz - fights global warming.
I had to get on my global warming soapbox. It’s a great example of how the process works. There is no dispute that warming is occurring. It’s just that we don’t know that we are the cause or that cutting back our co2 output would do anything. Al Gore’s wonderful chart showing the correlation of global warming and co2 looks good but falls apart on close examination. There are periods where warming preceded the rise in co2 by hundreds of years. Regardless of the facts the media and a majority of the voters assume our co2 is the problem and that opens the door for lots of power games. Things that make people feel good and make them think that they are doing good.
Example 1; Ban those energy sucking incandescent bulbs. We can save a bunch of energy (translates into less co2) if all our lights were energy saving fluorescent bulbs. Oh, by the way, the bulb manufacturers (Westinghouse and G.E….) make more money on the bulbs. All fluoresscent lamps, contain small amounts of mercury and it is a concern for landfills and waste incinerators where the mercury from lamps may be released and contribute to air and water pollution. (and the quality of light is crappy).
On the other hand the government is mandating the change to digital television broadcasts in a little over a year. This benefits the electronics industry because it opens up more frequencies and better bandwidths widening their potential product base. That’s more profit for them. Oh, by the way an LCD TV uses 75% more power than a conventional one and a plasma TV uses a whopping 300% more. If you’ve ever stood in front of one in an electronics store (can’t afford to buy one or operate one) it’s like standing in front of a fireplace. So change to fluorescent but don’t miss out on HD.
Example 2: Burn ethanol in your car to rid us of dependence on foreign oil. Oh, by the way, it is inefficient and creates more co2 because of the transportation required. Corn prices are rising all over the world causing basic food items to drain the poor even more. Grain stores are the lowest ever and world population is not shrinking.
We can better spend our money adapting rather than wasting it on non-solutions. The beauty of global warming is that we can believe we are doing good and commit resources but we won’t be around to know if it did any good. Be ready for loosing more of your precious resources to the global warming political footprint.
OK, I’ll get off my soapbox.
Today we did our normal Saturday visit to Waffle House and then to Lowe’s. We found a great deal at Lowe’s. They were having a 50% off sale and we found a 27’ 6-drawer rolling tool cart which listed for $287- was marked down to $258 and sold for $129. It’s a heavy sucker and Penny and I struggled a little to get it in the CRV. Just as we finnishe I looked up and a guy was coming over to help us. We thanked him, but we didn’t need him. It’s just good to know that there are those people out there.
I finally finished cleaning out the shed. I filled 5 large trash bags full of stuff. It took me about 2 days longer to get to this point than I expected. Tomorrow I start putting stuff back in. I hope that process goes faster. It should, but I know better than to make estimates. Rain is supposed to hold off for 2 more days so that’s when I must have things covered up.
Kitty Update- The feeder continues to work. This design has proved to be reliable. I do need to clean it up and lubricate the motor every 3-4 weeks, but I think we can leave for up to 3 weeks and have it feed reliably. On the downside we haven’t seen Bianca in 2 days. She is usually around all morning and then in the evening for feeding time. She also is the only cat I’ve seen in the front yard and across the street in the neighborhood. Hopefully she will show up again. I almost got to where she would let me pet her. – Well, I just looked outside and there was Bianca (and Velcro, Meredith and Buzz) so all is normal in the kitty world.
Friday, January 04, 2008
A Career in the Trash
One task today in cleaning out the old shed was to throw out a 4-foot pile of documentation that I tucked away 4 years ago when I went to work on the final program of my career. In that pile were Military Standards, reliability and engineering design handbooks, computer programs I had written for statistical analyses and reliability test simulations and lots of documentation and historical data we used to track and measure reliability on the AMRAAM missile program.
It felt strange tossing out what used to be critical information for doing my job. Now, apart from nostalgia there is little value to the information and references. It was interesting reading the names of so many people I had worked with. I even found a farewell poem I wrote for Mark Waltrip, a Lieutenant in our office at the time, who was quite a character. He researched and decided the best vehicle for his needs. It was a Suzuki Samurai. He bought one. Two weeks later Consumer’s Reports came out with a scathing report on the vehicle because it had a tendency to roll-over easily. I did make a note of that in my poem. One thing I didn't throw out yet were about 10 green notebooks that I used to log my daily activities. I figured maybe I'd want to sift through them someday and remember all the tasks and deadlines that were so important at the time and refresh my fading memory with the names of people I worked with.
I have disrupted 5 semi-torpid geckos so far in my shed clean out. I’d open up a 3-ring binder and there one would be inside the rings – too cold and lethargic to move. This cold weather is not a good time to be a cold-blooded critter.
I’ve also uncovered a lot of roach do-do and many signs that rodents had inhabited parts of the shed. I found no live bugs or rodents.
I’ve been listening to a book on tape. I finished the 9th and what I thought was the last tape only to find out there was a tape #10 that was not in the box. (we think we bought the tapes used from the library) So I spent a lot of time on the book and don’t know how it ends. After that dissapointment I found and popped in one of the cassettes that sister Kathy had sent me when she lived in NJ. It was all about the big snowstorm they had. The flip side of the tape had a visit to her house by our Mom and Dad and a little of a visit to Sally’s house in CT. Kathy had everyone she could get to say “Hi” to me and Penny and Karen Marie. The tape was made in 1978 so Christy wasn’t in the picture yet. Given some time I’ll copy the tape to CD and give it to Kathy.
It is finally warming a little. We wont have a freeze tonight. Tomorrow is supposed to be quite pleasant. I will finish cleaning out the shed tomorrow and start filling it up again in a more orderly fashion. I’m anxious to see how much I will get in there.
I intentionally used the term “surge” in yesterday’s blog to see if Karen would pick up on it. The news of the day was that it was one of the most overused terms in the news and that we should stop using it. I’m proud to say Karen picked up on it and commented about it. Way to go Karen. You see, “surge” is the new “push”.
One task today in cleaning out the old shed was to throw out a 4-foot pile of documentation that I tucked away 4 years ago when I went to work on the final program of my career. In that pile were Military Standards, reliability and engineering design handbooks, computer programs I had written for statistical analyses and reliability test simulations and lots of documentation and historical data we used to track and measure reliability on the AMRAAM missile program.
It felt strange tossing out what used to be critical information for doing my job. Now, apart from nostalgia there is little value to the information and references. It was interesting reading the names of so many people I had worked with. I even found a farewell poem I wrote for Mark Waltrip, a Lieutenant in our office at the time, who was quite a character. He researched and decided the best vehicle for his needs. It was a Suzuki Samurai. He bought one. Two weeks later Consumer’s Reports came out with a scathing report on the vehicle because it had a tendency to roll-over easily. I did make a note of that in my poem. One thing I didn't throw out yet were about 10 green notebooks that I used to log my daily activities. I figured maybe I'd want to sift through them someday and remember all the tasks and deadlines that were so important at the time and refresh my fading memory with the names of people I worked with.
I have disrupted 5 semi-torpid geckos so far in my shed clean out. I’d open up a 3-ring binder and there one would be inside the rings – too cold and lethargic to move. This cold weather is not a good time to be a cold-blooded critter.
I’ve also uncovered a lot of roach do-do and many signs that rodents had inhabited parts of the shed. I found no live bugs or rodents.
I’ve been listening to a book on tape. I finished the 9th and what I thought was the last tape only to find out there was a tape #10 that was not in the box. (we think we bought the tapes used from the library) So I spent a lot of time on the book and don’t know how it ends. After that dissapointment I found and popped in one of the cassettes that sister Kathy had sent me when she lived in NJ. It was all about the big snowstorm they had. The flip side of the tape had a visit to her house by our Mom and Dad and a little of a visit to Sally’s house in CT. Kathy had everyone she could get to say “Hi” to me and Penny and Karen Marie. The tape was made in 1978 so Christy wasn’t in the picture yet. Given some time I’ll copy the tape to CD and give it to Kathy.
It is finally warming a little. We wont have a freeze tonight. Tomorrow is supposed to be quite pleasant. I will finish cleaning out the shed tomorrow and start filling it up again in a more orderly fashion. I’m anxious to see how much I will get in there.
I intentionally used the term “surge” in yesterday’s blog to see if Karen would pick up on it. The news of the day was that it was one of the most overused terms in the news and that we should stop using it. I’m proud to say Karen picked up on it and commented about it. Way to go Karen. You see, “surge” is the new “push”.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Shelves and Memories
I decided to set up shelves in the old shed similar to the setup in the new shed. Penny and I went to Lowe’s to get materials to make shelves. When we got there she suggested we look at the plastic and metal pre-made shelves to see what they cost. We found we could get the shelving we needed at about double the cost of lumber. Considering the time savings and the fact that my hands are still healing the extra expense seemed prudent. So we loaded up the trailer with shelving and brought them home.
I spent a few hours assembling the shelves. These are plastic shelves with pieces that just slip together with no tools required. Assembly was easy except for the fact that the cold temperature we are experiencing made the plastic brittle enough to crack when I press fitted the support tube into the shelf. I reverted to using WD-40 to lubricate the fittings and a hair dryer to make the plastic flexible again. I was able to use the couple of shelves that cracked as a top shelf. Up there the cracked piece wasn’t needed to hold any tube and so all the shelves are 100% functional.
I began sifting through the stuff in the old shed and there are some good memories in some of the boxes. I ran into some of my lesson plans from my Religious Education days. I have a copy of “Kids Komandments” – 10 commandments my junior high class put together to vent a little. It includes “Kids shall have credit cards” and “Kids should be able to sleep in the mornings instead of going to CCD”. There were some of Christy’s Prom pictures and a whole large container of stuffed animals and high school stuff from Karen’s room. Another box had some of my files from 1991.
Tomorrow begins the task of setting up the shelves in the shed and deciding what stays and what goes. One item that is taking up a lot of space is paperback books. We have well over 1000 of them currently stacked in drawers from our old bed. These were left after the garage sale about 3 years ago. It’s always hard to throw away books. I’ll probably keep some and box up the rest and dump them at Goodwill or a used book store. I may be lucky and find that moisture, heat and time have made them unusable – then it will be easy to chuck them.
The weather is going to start warming tomorrow and will be more pleasant for the next few days. Who knows, maybe I will actually have our stuff in some semblance of organization before it rains again. I’ve got a lot of stuff sitting in the back yard right now. If rain comes too soon I’ll have to hastily put things back under cover and that would spoil this organizational “surge”.
I decided to set up shelves in the old shed similar to the setup in the new shed. Penny and I went to Lowe’s to get materials to make shelves. When we got there she suggested we look at the plastic and metal pre-made shelves to see what they cost. We found we could get the shelving we needed at about double the cost of lumber. Considering the time savings and the fact that my hands are still healing the extra expense seemed prudent. So we loaded up the trailer with shelving and brought them home.
I spent a few hours assembling the shelves. These are plastic shelves with pieces that just slip together with no tools required. Assembly was easy except for the fact that the cold temperature we are experiencing made the plastic brittle enough to crack when I press fitted the support tube into the shelf. I reverted to using WD-40 to lubricate the fittings and a hair dryer to make the plastic flexible again. I was able to use the couple of shelves that cracked as a top shelf. Up there the cracked piece wasn’t needed to hold any tube and so all the shelves are 100% functional.
I began sifting through the stuff in the old shed and there are some good memories in some of the boxes. I ran into some of my lesson plans from my Religious Education days. I have a copy of “Kids Komandments” – 10 commandments my junior high class put together to vent a little. It includes “Kids shall have credit cards” and “Kids should be able to sleep in the mornings instead of going to CCD”. There were some of Christy’s Prom pictures and a whole large container of stuffed animals and high school stuff from Karen’s room. Another box had some of my files from 1991.
Tomorrow begins the task of setting up the shelves in the shed and deciding what stays and what goes. One item that is taking up a lot of space is paperback books. We have well over 1000 of them currently stacked in drawers from our old bed. These were left after the garage sale about 3 years ago. It’s always hard to throw away books. I’ll probably keep some and box up the rest and dump them at Goodwill or a used book store. I may be lucky and find that moisture, heat and time have made them unusable – then it will be easy to chuck them.
The weather is going to start warming tomorrow and will be more pleasant for the next few days. Who knows, maybe I will actually have our stuff in some semblance of organization before it rains again. I’ve got a lot of stuff sitting in the back yard right now. If rain comes too soon I’ll have to hastily put things back under cover and that would spoil this organizational “surge”.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Storage
Happy New Year!
Today I started the final phase of our current storage organization project. I went where no Paul has gone in about 3 years (since our garage sale). I entered the old storage shed. My goal is to clean it out, fix any leaks and fill it back up in an organized fashion. The hope is that between the old shed, the new shed and the garage we can have accessable storage. That means knowing what is there and being able to get it without digging through piles of stuff.
I’ve had success with this in the new shed. I have retrieved a number of items, usually quickly, from that storage area. I’m also tossing a lot of “maybe I’ll use this someday” junk. We have a good idea now after 2 plus years of retirement of what we will use.
So the new year begins with a push to organize – just like every other year.
I do have a few projects to do that were buried in the shed. One is to put my little outboard motor back together and get it running. I’m going to get back to fishing some this year and the jon boat is a better option for that than the kayak. I also have 2 or 3 electronic gadgets I want to look at to fix. One is a small convection oven that has a thermostat problem. Another is my old Sony turntable.
Those projects are may-do items. They have to be worked in with this year’s main projects: Organize the kitchen, redo bathroom, finish old remodeling, train for River Run, finish writing my “novel” and, of course, organize our storage.
I’ve been having fun ordering a bunch of free-after-rebate stuff on line. It seems a number of companies are dumping software. I’ve ordered movie studio software, audio recording software, print shop software, drawing software and it’s all free after rebates. We also found that laptop memory was on sale so we ordered memory to max out Penny’s laptop’s RAM.
The temperature is supposed to drop into the 20s tonight and be in the 40s tomorrow so I won’t be sweating when I work on the shed tomorrow.
Happy New Year!
Today I started the final phase of our current storage organization project. I went where no Paul has gone in about 3 years (since our garage sale). I entered the old storage shed. My goal is to clean it out, fix any leaks and fill it back up in an organized fashion. The hope is that between the old shed, the new shed and the garage we can have accessable storage. That means knowing what is there and being able to get it without digging through piles of stuff.
I’ve had success with this in the new shed. I have retrieved a number of items, usually quickly, from that storage area. I’m also tossing a lot of “maybe I’ll use this someday” junk. We have a good idea now after 2 plus years of retirement of what we will use.
So the new year begins with a push to organize – just like every other year.
I do have a few projects to do that were buried in the shed. One is to put my little outboard motor back together and get it running. I’m going to get back to fishing some this year and the jon boat is a better option for that than the kayak. I also have 2 or 3 electronic gadgets I want to look at to fix. One is a small convection oven that has a thermostat problem. Another is my old Sony turntable.
Those projects are may-do items. They have to be worked in with this year’s main projects: Organize the kitchen, redo bathroom, finish old remodeling, train for River Run, finish writing my “novel” and, of course, organize our storage.
I’ve been having fun ordering a bunch of free-after-rebate stuff on line. It seems a number of companies are dumping software. I’ve ordered movie studio software, audio recording software, print shop software, drawing software and it’s all free after rebates. We also found that laptop memory was on sale so we ordered memory to max out Penny’s laptop’s RAM.
The temperature is supposed to drop into the 20s tonight and be in the 40s tomorrow so I won’t be sweating when I work on the shed tomorrow.
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