Well, I've managed to get my weight up to 243, which is a personal high for me. Too much Christmas stuff at Dina's (although she was good before Christmas), Grace, Angela (of all people) and well myself. I never held back when we went out to my favorite hangout, the Honeytree or when Michael & Dina took us out for dinner. So what do I do about it?
Barb found these diet pills put out by Jillian of the Biggest Loser. $20 and a 21-day plan. I noticed first off that I needed to run to the can more often. In fact I had to hurry to the bathroom more than once! I did go down to 237 but when we had lunch with Pastor Mike & Judy and saw what Mike lost on South Beach, we decided to try it.
Barb agreed to prepare all of the funky stuff I had to eat so why not - give it a rip!
Since I am on day 4 now as I write this, I'll summarize the first 3 days.
Mistake #1. Sunday was NFL Championship day. The NFC & AFC Championship games to determine who plays in the Super Bowl. So I decided it would be nice to have "last meals" and bought a large frozen pizza for dinner. We went to Dominik's for B'fast where I had a Dagwood sandwich and fried potatoes. From there it went downhill. As we watched the games, I ate cheese, cheese and crackers, 3 beers and finally most of the 3 meat pizza. I think Barb had 2 pieces and we left one. Monday morning, I found that I had gained 2 lbs. and was at 239! Big mistake.
Day 1:
Breakfast was 6oz of V8 vegetable juice (hot & spicy yum!), 2 strange vegetable quiche cups made with spinach, eggs, low fat cheese, green peppers and hot sauce.
Mid-morning snack - a mozzarella cheese stick
Lunch was grilled chicken breast on a romaine salad with balsamic vinegar dressing and sugar free Jell-O for dessert.
mid-afternoon snack was celery stuffed with Laughing Cow light cheese.
Dinner, grilled salmon (yuck) replaced with left over chicken we had for lunch, steamed asparagus and a tossed salad with a light Italian dressing.
My evening dessert was a vanilla Ricotta cheese thing Barb made. Very good.
Day 2:
Breakfast was the hot & spicy V8 vegetable juice, 3 poached eggs and 3 slices of Canadian bacon. In retrospect, 2 slices of Canadian bacon would suffice.
Mid-morning snack - 2 turkey roll ups made with Boston lettuce, low fat turkey slices and cilantro Mayo made with low fat Mayo, chopped cilantro leaves, lime juice, soy sauce and garlic. This is a very nice snack.
Lunch was chopped salad with tuna. The salad was chopped lettuce, cukes, tomatoes, celery and an olive oil dressing with llimejuiceand garlic. I vetoed the avocado that was in the recipe. Unlike most folks, I happen to hate avocado. I had another Jell-O for dessert.
My mid-afternoon snack was once again celery stuffed with Laughing Cow light cheese.
Dinner: baked chicken breast served with roasted egg plant with red & green pepper, fresh basil and olive oil and a small tossed salad. Seems to be a lot of veggies.
My evening dessert was another Ricotta cheese thing Barb made but with some coffee powder and unsweetened cocoa powder. Again, a very good combination but Barb rewarded me with a sugar free fudge sickle too.
Day 3:
Breakfast was not my favorite. She prepared an omelet with asparagus, mushrooms and cheese. Not too bad with hot sauce but I told her I would prepare the omelets from now on. I agreed to eat anything she put in front of me and that was difficult. lol
Mid-morning snack was another mozzarella cheese stick.
Lunch was interesting because we had a lunch date with our good friend, Jan. We decided that I could eat a Chef's salad with their blue cheese dressing. I also drank ice water. A beer would have been nice or even a diet coke but not during the 2 weeks of phase one.
Barb made me Ham roll ups for my afternoon snack which were the same as the turkey ones but using ham instead. Very good.
Dinner was a broiled sirloin steak, which Barb cooked very well, steamed broccoli, sliced tomato and a really horrible mashed cauliflower. OK, she used her blender to mash them instead of her hand mixer so it was pureed instead of mashed. I ate them but it was hard!
Tonight's dessert was another ricotta cheese thing with slivered almonds. Tasted OK but I preferred the other two she tried out.
As I go through this experience, I will try to keep posting my meals.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Facial Lesions
This whole thing started several weeks ago when a "mole" on my face seemed to be in a bad position and when I washed my face it kept breaking open and bleeding. After awhile Barb says I should have it checked out. She is a veteran of facial lesion surgery and in her case, the lesion was precancerous.
So, after I return to Florida, I call the Ft Pierce VA clinic and they set me up with my Nurse Practitioner who agrees that it should be looked at closely. They schedule me to go to the West Palm VA Hospital for an appointment with a Dermatologist. He looks at it, removes it and says that he'll send it out for biopsy but he thinks its a wart. A week later, I get a call from a scheduler at the hospital who wants me to come in the next day for my surgery. Eh ah, what surgery are we talking about? He says "for your facial cancer". This is news to me but I've come to find that the professional staff at the clinic and hospitals are super, conscientious people who try to do an excellent job. The support staff are bureaucrats who think the VA owes them something and we should be happy that they even talk to us. Someone dropped the ball.
So I go to West Palm and met very nice Doctor Pat. She looks me over and then sets me on the table with the 3 big lights over it and proceeds to numb me and then cuts out around the incision that the dermatologist did. Now I think she removed a huge chunk of my face but Barb says "wow, I thought it would be bigger". What the hell, not her face. LOL
So now I have an incision closed by 5 stitches and it actually hurts - aches like a toothache for several hours.
Today they remove the stitches and I find that I have a clean bill of health. The "chunk" did indeed have malignant cancers cells in the center around where the first incision was made. The outer edges had no sign of bad cells so that means I'm safe for now. Good news for all concerned especially me!
So, after I return to Florida, I call the Ft Pierce VA clinic and they set me up with my Nurse Practitioner who agrees that it should be looked at closely. They schedule me to go to the West Palm VA Hospital for an appointment with a Dermatologist. He looks at it, removes it and says that he'll send it out for biopsy but he thinks its a wart. A week later, I get a call from a scheduler at the hospital who wants me to come in the next day for my surgery. Eh ah, what surgery are we talking about? He says "for your facial cancer". This is news to me but I've come to find that the professional staff at the clinic and hospitals are super, conscientious people who try to do an excellent job. The support staff are bureaucrats who think the VA owes them something and we should be happy that they even talk to us. Someone dropped the ball.
So I go to West Palm and met very nice Doctor Pat. She looks me over and then sets me on the table with the 3 big lights over it and proceeds to numb me and then cuts out around the incision that the dermatologist did. Now I think she removed a huge chunk of my face but Barb says "wow, I thought it would be bigger". What the hell, not her face. LOL
So now I have an incision closed by 5 stitches and it actually hurts - aches like a toothache for several hours.
Today they remove the stitches and I find that I have a clean bill of health. The "chunk" did indeed have malignant cancers cells in the center around where the first incision was made. The outer edges had no sign of bad cells so that means I'm safe for now. Good news for all concerned especially me!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
I didn't want to lose this blog that Patti Anne mentioned on Twitter.
God twitters creation
God: Gosh its dark in here.
7 days ago
God: There thats better.
7 days ago
God: Hey guys im finally on twitter! Whats up?
7 days ago
God: guys?
7 days ago
God: oh right. i’m the only thing in existence, haha.
7 days ago
God: shut up i wasnt talking 2 you RT @Satan I TOO EXIST
7 days ago
God: BOOORREEDD with endless void gonna make some stuff
7 days ago
God: Hey look what I did today! Separated the darkness from the light. Universe looks like a black and white cookie.
7 days ago
God: I shall call the light day and the darkness Eileen.
7 days ago
God: Darkness doesnt look like an Eileen. Lets go with night
7 days ago
God: Also i created heaven & earth.
7 days ago
God: also i created apostrophes but im not gonna use them
7 days ago
God: thats enough creating for now. Catch ya tomorrow
7 days ago
God: RT @Satan: WHAT IS “TOMORROW”
7 days ago
God: oh i forgot 2 mention i created time too. Busy day.
7 days ago
God: kind of lame creating 2day. Created a firmament. Not sure what that is
6 days ago
God: OMme so much 2 do 2day you guys! Got to bring 4th land from the waters AND create plants and trees. What should i do first?!
5 days ago
God: should have done land first. plants sank
5 days ago
God: fixed! Trees now ON TOP of land.
5 days ago
God: sorry no tweets yesterday guys. Made the sun moon & stars. turned out 2 be more work than i expected. Theyre bigger than they look
3 days ago
God: another busy day. Made @beastsofthesea, @birdsoftheair, and best of all: @penguins. Those turned out so well.
3 days ago
God: made some more kinds of penguins.
3 days ago
God: Poll: What else should i make? a. beasts of the land b. creatures in my own image c. more penguins
2 days ago
God: Answer my poll!
2 days ago
God: maybe it was a mistake to create the internet b4 invention of computers
2 days ago
God: all right penguins it is. Yay!
2 days ago
God: oops. Penguins don’t like the desert.
2 days ago
God: or Indiana.
2 days ago
God: or the sky.
2 days ago
God: ill try the rainforest. Everything thrives in the rainforest.
2 days ago
God: Not penguins.
2 days ago
God: screw it. Made a bunch of other beasts of the land. Not as awesome as penguins but much less picky.
2 days ago
God: also created fake fossils and planted them in the ground 2 make the earth appear much older than it is. Just a little practical joke.
2 days ago
God: i need more followers.
2 days ago
God: #FollowFriday @adam @eve
2 days ago
God: @adam @eve I am the LORD your God who separated the light from the darkness. You shall have no other God before me for I am the LORD your Go
2 days ago
God: &#$%ing character limits. Point is, yay! I made you! Hi! Do what i say.
2 days ago
God: @adam: such as #noteatingapples.
2 days ago
God: @adam what do u mean why? Because im ur god and i said so.
2 days ago
God: @adam why r u bugging me about this? u can have all the mangoes u want and theyre way better.
2 days ago
God: @adam well youre just going to have to take my word for it.
2 days ago
God: @adam WHAT is ur DAMAGE with this apple thing? Eves not tweeting about apples. Shes just off – um –
2 days ago
God: @eve Hey!
2 days ago
God: @adam @eve: EPIC FAIL at #noteatingapples. Both of u r BANNED
2 days ago
God: so yesterday was really stressful. Im taking a break today. No more tweets til tomorrow.
1 day ago
God: Check it out, baby panda sneezing! http://tr.im/DsZ5 (took a break from my break to create YouTube.)
1 day ago
Thursday, October 1, 2009
been awhile
It’s been some time since I've opened this site up. Just lazy I guess since I haven't really been overly busy. Well, I guess I have been working on the house since I've been back plus a day in Bradenton for Dr Audry and a day in West Palm getting glasses.
Today I cleaned the front entryway with my pressure washer. These stupid gnats seem to like my front screen - lights on or off. Anyway, there are thousands of dead carcasses hanging on the screens. Can't blow them off, got to pressure wash them. While I was at it, I pressure washed the front walkway, the recyclable bins, the dead grass at the foot of the driveway and the loose paint on the stone on the front.
The stone is a round 18" in diameter stone with stained glass hummingbirds and flowers embedded. I made this a number of years ago in Ellenton with Charlotte Wahler. I miss Charlotte. She's a great lady and a great teacher. Her & her husband, Bob are great people.
I had to paint the stone because the lawn people in Ellenton got fertilizer on the stucco part, which rusted, into the stucco. To cover it up, I have to paint it periodically. I should make a new one. The paint is on and now I have to scrape the paint from the glass.
Today I went to Sister Judy's to help her with her computer. Hers runs terribly slow for some reason. It's a Compaq and should be Ok but never is. I really don't know what to do to speed it up. I did forget to put an antivirus back on it. I'll have to make a note to go back.
My Bucs are pitiful this season. Last Sunday's loss to the Giants kind of reminded me of pre-1986 teams. This week Josh Johnson, second year backup QB will start. Not too enthused right now even if I did take them in my pool this week. The boys in Wisconsin will get a chuckle out of it.
Today, Carmela came by and got the weeds out of our patio. She returned later and swept the envir-sand into the cracks. I really didn't need her to do it but she started it so. I don't think Barb was too happy spending $30 on doing it but between my back and her ailments it was the smart thing to do. Carmela told me about her church in Vero Beach. First Church of God on 58th Street. Sounds like a big church but maybe we'll try it.
Today I cleaned the front entryway with my pressure washer. These stupid gnats seem to like my front screen - lights on or off. Anyway, there are thousands of dead carcasses hanging on the screens. Can't blow them off, got to pressure wash them. While I was at it, I pressure washed the front walkway, the recyclable bins, the dead grass at the foot of the driveway and the loose paint on the stone on the front.
The stone is a round 18" in diameter stone with stained glass hummingbirds and flowers embedded. I made this a number of years ago in Ellenton with Charlotte Wahler. I miss Charlotte. She's a great lady and a great teacher. Her & her husband, Bob are great people.
I had to paint the stone because the lawn people in Ellenton got fertilizer on the stucco part, which rusted, into the stucco. To cover it up, I have to paint it periodically. I should make a new one. The paint is on and now I have to scrape the paint from the glass.
Today I went to Sister Judy's to help her with her computer. Hers runs terribly slow for some reason. It's a Compaq and should be Ok but never is. I really don't know what to do to speed it up. I did forget to put an antivirus back on it. I'll have to make a note to go back.
My Bucs are pitiful this season. Last Sunday's loss to the Giants kind of reminded me of pre-1986 teams. This week Josh Johnson, second year backup QB will start. Not too enthused right now even if I did take them in my pool this week. The boys in Wisconsin will get a chuckle out of it.
Today, Carmela came by and got the weeds out of our patio. She returned later and swept the envir-sand into the cracks. I really didn't need her to do it but she started it so. I don't think Barb was too happy spending $30 on doing it but between my back and her ailments it was the smart thing to do. Carmela told me about her church in Vero Beach. First Church of God on 58th Street. Sounds like a big church but maybe we'll try it.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Wouldn't it be great if Michigan beat Notre Dame!
Last year was a disappointing year for us Michigan fans. Lloyd Carr retired and Rich Rodriguez was named head coach. Coach Rod came from West Virginia and had been successful where ever he coached. He lead Michigan to the worst season ever 3 - 9. It was embarrassing.
The usual problem with being a bad team is that your good players desert you for other schools and recruiting is a bitch. Now we are the bottom of the heap (ranked #38) and in a classic rebuilding year.
Coach Rod utilizes the spread offense which is what most college teams have been using as of late and he is somewhat known for being quite an inovator of the system. Last week, Michigan handily beat Western Michigan, a good MAC school but a MAC school. This week, we get to see them play a decent team in Notre Dame. This is kind of a must win situation since Michigan was the doormat of the Big Ten last year and a continuation of losing to good schools could lead this young team to a downward spiral. Go Blue!
The usual problem with being a bad team is that your good players desert you for other schools and recruiting is a bitch. Now we are the bottom of the heap (ranked #38) and in a classic rebuilding year.
Coach Rod utilizes the spread offense which is what most college teams have been using as of late and he is somewhat known for being quite an inovator of the system. Last week, Michigan handily beat Western Michigan, a good MAC school but a MAC school. This week, we get to see them play a decent team in Notre Dame. This is kind of a must win situation since Michigan was the doormat of the Big Ten last year and a continuation of losing to good schools could lead this young team to a downward spiral. Go Blue!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
It's Tuesday already?
Of course it is. Labor Day weekend was a good one. Saturday, Barb & I had our wedding vows renewed, Sunday was spent at Angela's watching Byron make chili. Monday morning we went to the Clarkston Labor Day Parade to finally see Lauren march with her high school band. She just spent a week at band camp so hopefully they look good. They did and so did she. I was surprised to see how serious she takes it. She was eyes forward and never cracked a smile when she marched past us. Her eyes told us that she saw us but she was all concentration. I guess so she didn't mess up her precise steps. It was cool seeing her march though. I hadn't attended a parade in years and didn't realize that everyone parading would be throwing candy to the kids. Wow, the kids cleaned up. We had to laugh when Barb noticed that one of the groups marching was advertising a Dental Service and they threw a ton of candy out.
After the parade, Barb, Dina and I went to our favorite restaurant, The Honeytree for a late breakfast. Sarah who is our favorite waitress waited on us. Since it was already 11:00, we were all pretty hungry but I resisted my normal strawberry jam with my toast. Not losing much weight but I'm not gaining either which is hard when you live with the Jozwik's.
Later in the afternoon, Dina's Aunt Dolly came by so we all hoped in Michael's truck and drove to Motor City Casino in Detroit. This seems to be a favorite past time for the Jozwik's. We drove down through Detroit and I'm always amazed at the number of burnt up or boarded up houses along the freeway. Kind of reminds me of the pictures of Beirut that used to run on the national news. Barb & I kind of broke out even.... well, Barb won $15 and I lost $15. When we met up at 5:30, Dina was hungry so we decided to hit their buffet. $24 a person! We knew that Greektown Casino which is close by offers theirs for $9.99 so we were surprised. Michael said, let's see if our comps will pay for it all. They swiped their card and sure enough, all 5 of us had a free meal. Michael said that a few weeks back, they won $2,800 and that added to their comp points. The food was far superior to Greektown's so we knew why t was more expensive and there were a whole lot of people eating so the question of Michigan's economy came back up for discussion. I am truly amazed that in a state that has 29% unemployment, there are so many people gambling. How is this possible? Mystery of life, I guess.
This morning is overcast and 65 degrees. The weather report calls for mid 70's but rainy for the next 3 days. Time to start thinking about our trip home to Florida. Of course, the weather down there is still mid to upper 80's and thunderstorms so maybe we need to wait until that weather quiets down as well. I can handle mid to upper 70's not so much 80's. Tropical Storm Fred is out in the Atlantic but they project it to stay in the Atlantic so there's no threat of Hurricane right now.
After the parade, Barb, Dina and I went to our favorite restaurant, The Honeytree for a late breakfast. Sarah who is our favorite waitress waited on us. Since it was already 11:00, we were all pretty hungry but I resisted my normal strawberry jam with my toast. Not losing much weight but I'm not gaining either which is hard when you live with the Jozwik's.
Later in the afternoon, Dina's Aunt Dolly came by so we all hoped in Michael's truck and drove to Motor City Casino in Detroit. This seems to be a favorite past time for the Jozwik's. We drove down through Detroit and I'm always amazed at the number of burnt up or boarded up houses along the freeway. Kind of reminds me of the pictures of Beirut that used to run on the national news. Barb & I kind of broke out even.... well, Barb won $15 and I lost $15. When we met up at 5:30, Dina was hungry so we decided to hit their buffet. $24 a person! We knew that Greektown Casino which is close by offers theirs for $9.99 so we were surprised. Michael said, let's see if our comps will pay for it all. They swiped their card and sure enough, all 5 of us had a free meal. Michael said that a few weeks back, they won $2,800 and that added to their comp points. The food was far superior to Greektown's so we knew why t was more expensive and there were a whole lot of people eating so the question of Michigan's economy came back up for discussion. I am truly amazed that in a state that has 29% unemployment, there are so many people gambling. How is this possible? Mystery of life, I guess.
This morning is overcast and 65 degrees. The weather report calls for mid 70's but rainy for the next 3 days. Time to start thinking about our trip home to Florida. Of course, the weather down there is still mid to upper 80's and thunderstorms so maybe we need to wait until that weather quiets down as well. I can handle mid to upper 70's not so much 80's. Tropical Storm Fred is out in the Atlantic but they project it to stay in the Atlantic so there's no threat of Hurricane right now.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Sunday September 6 thoughts
Lots happening in my life. First of all, yesterday Barb & I were actually re-married in the Catholic church. Father Tom presided and Dina & Michael were our able Maid of Honor and Best Man. It was kind of chilling to see that my wife apparently still loves me so much that she wanted to do this. She is my best friend. Observing were Grace, Dolly & John Imbrunone (and Sylvia), Michael's Mom, Toni Koop and his sister Mary Blackstock. Oh, Father Collins, visiting from Africa, also stood by Father Tom's side during the service. Observation, that morning when Barb came down I said to her "Happy Wedding Day" and she stopped and gave me the sweetest smile I've seen in awhile. Score one for Larry! After the ceremony, we went to Carrabas for dinner. Toni & Mary had other plans so they didn't come. We had a nice dinner and good company.
Michael is building a tool shed for Mary at the farm. I have been trying to help out but with my back, I've been limited to about 4 - 5 hours a day. This morning, my back absolutely refused to cooperate so I'm giving it a day off. Michael's still out there and I feel bad not being there to help somehow. Maybe tomorrow will be better. The tool shed is being built to last. We dug a 4 foot hole for the foundation and built it up with concrete block before back filling. Michael has a carpenter who rough framed the structure and a mason who did the concrete work. Now the base is being built up with stone work. In other words, we went out to the old rock walls and picked rocks of all shapes and sizes for build up the base to a height of about 4 feet. The mason did the first layer before he went on a 4 day Labor Day weekend and we've been continuing. He'll be surprised to see that he only has about another foot or so when he returns. Probably not happy either. The carpenter is a joke. Michael planned this with pressure treated lumber and come to find out, you need a special nail when you construct something using this lumber. Apparently the carpenter never knew that so we will have to re-nail everything as soon as the stone work is done and before the top layers of T 111 is nailed on. It'll be a cute structure.
Now that our "wedding" is done, we are waiting for Barb's niece Amber wedding day on the 9/19/09. Then we are free to go back to Florida. We'll lallygag our way back by stopping at the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and possibly a quick visit to Pastor Mike & Judy in Hiawassee, Georgia. Barb hates to impose on anyone so I guess it'll be a quick visit. I just hope the hot dog days of summer are done in Florida when we return. With a little bit of luck.........
Today we're going to Angela's so that I can write down Byron's chili recipe. He claims that he just "throws it together" without measuring so I'll try to be a bit more accurate. I really love his chili! He usually serves it with his cornbread too which also is very good. Is Byron's better than David Fowler's? Well, just different.
Michael is building a tool shed for Mary at the farm. I have been trying to help out but with my back, I've been limited to about 4 - 5 hours a day. This morning, my back absolutely refused to cooperate so I'm giving it a day off. Michael's still out there and I feel bad not being there to help somehow. Maybe tomorrow will be better. The tool shed is being built to last. We dug a 4 foot hole for the foundation and built it up with concrete block before back filling. Michael has a carpenter who rough framed the structure and a mason who did the concrete work. Now the base is being built up with stone work. In other words, we went out to the old rock walls and picked rocks of all shapes and sizes for build up the base to a height of about 4 feet. The mason did the first layer before he went on a 4 day Labor Day weekend and we've been continuing. He'll be surprised to see that he only has about another foot or so when he returns. Probably not happy either. The carpenter is a joke. Michael planned this with pressure treated lumber and come to find out, you need a special nail when you construct something using this lumber. Apparently the carpenter never knew that so we will have to re-nail everything as soon as the stone work is done and before the top layers of T 111 is nailed on. It'll be a cute structure.
Now that our "wedding" is done, we are waiting for Barb's niece Amber wedding day on the 9/19/09. Then we are free to go back to Florida. We'll lallygag our way back by stopping at the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and possibly a quick visit to Pastor Mike & Judy in Hiawassee, Georgia. Barb hates to impose on anyone so I guess it'll be a quick visit. I just hope the hot dog days of summer are done in Florida when we return. With a little bit of luck.........
Today we're going to Angela's so that I can write down Byron's chili recipe. He claims that he just "throws it together" without measuring so I'll try to be a bit more accurate. I really love his chili! He usually serves it with his cornbread too which also is very good. Is Byron's better than David Fowler's? Well, just different.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Have to learn how to do this properly and other thoughts
This morning, I wanted to finish the post I began yesterday. I went looking for my saved draft and actually found it but I couldn't figure out how to continue writing it. I decided that perhaps I needed to post it and then edit it but that didn't work so now I have an unfinished post cluttering my page. Oh well, there's an unfinished picture of George Washington that is quite famous and after all, how many people are actually going to read my blog?
Today should be a kick back, lazy day for me. Dina & Michael took three of their grandchildren across the state to an amusement park. Barb is still trying to get over her sickness which had her in bed most of the day yesterday. I'm up in the air about giving my step-son Pete my laptop and replacing it with a new one. I don't mind doing it but my fear is that he'll never use it and also I'm a month away from Windows 7 coming out. I hear it's far superior to Vista. Heck, Windows 95 was superior to Vista. Well, maybe not.
Yesterday, I finally spoke with Jim Summerville, CPA who does Metro Club's annual Form 990. Since he complemented me on the shape of Metro's records, he's my new best friend. We had a nice chat about Metro Club and I was able to help him with the compliance section of his 990. Maybe he thinks I'm his best friend since I offered up some good ideas (in his words)that he never thought about. Nice to know I can still hold my own with active accountants.
I saw a tab where you can monetize your blogs by allowing an advertisement on your page. My guess is that you get paid for every different person reading your post. I wonder if I can set that up and then email everyone I know to read my blog just to see how many hits I can generate. If everyone I know sends it to the folks in their address book............. I'm not sure I want a lot of unknowns reading my thoughts anyway. After all, they might grab David Fowler's chili recipe!
Speaking of chili. My son-in-law, Byron makes the best chili that I've ever tasted. He claims he just throws stuff in but it's consistently good stuff. I have to sit and watch him do it like I did with Bud Kenyon's sausage gravy.
Today should be a kick back, lazy day for me. Dina & Michael took three of their grandchildren across the state to an amusement park. Barb is still trying to get over her sickness which had her in bed most of the day yesterday. I'm up in the air about giving my step-son Pete my laptop and replacing it with a new one. I don't mind doing it but my fear is that he'll never use it and also I'm a month away from Windows 7 coming out. I hear it's far superior to Vista. Heck, Windows 95 was superior to Vista. Well, maybe not.
Yesterday, I finally spoke with Jim Summerville, CPA who does Metro Club's annual Form 990. Since he complemented me on the shape of Metro's records, he's my new best friend. We had a nice chat about Metro Club and I was able to help him with the compliance section of his 990. Maybe he thinks I'm his best friend since I offered up some good ideas (in his words)that he never thought about. Nice to know I can still hold my own with active accountants.
I saw a tab where you can monetize your blogs by allowing an advertisement on your page. My guess is that you get paid for every different person reading your post. I wonder if I can set that up and then email everyone I know to read my blog just to see how many hits I can generate. If everyone I know sends it to the folks in their address book............. I'm not sure I want a lot of unknowns reading my thoughts anyway. After all, they might grab David Fowler's chili recipe!
Speaking of chili. My son-in-law, Byron makes the best chili that I've ever tasted. He claims he just throws stuff in but it's consistently good stuff. I have to sit and watch him do it like I did with Bud Kenyon's sausage gravy.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
A great day
Monday, Dina & Michael took Barb & I to watch the Tigers/Rays game at Comerica Park. The ride down was interesting because #1 Michael drove (Dina drives 99% of the time) and #2 he drove straight down Woodward Avenue to the ballpark. Woodward Avenue runs from Pontiac to Detroit. It encompasses some of the richest real estate in the area but also some of the worst as well. It's disheartening to see beautiful old churches boarded up in the ghetto areas.
Our first surprise was the great seats that they got for us. They were in the Tigers Den which are behind homeplate and are wide, wooden chairs with a cushion and a little table between two seats. Must be how rich people watch baseball! A waiter kept coming by to see if we needed anything. The odd thing was his prices were the same as the concession stands and much quicker service. (no lines to stand in between innings)
Our second surprise was that son-in-law Byron came to the game with a woman he works with and he was sitting, in the Tigers Den just two rows in front of us. Temporarily at least - apparently the real owners
Our first surprise was the great seats that they got for us. They were in the Tigers Den which are behind homeplate and are wide, wooden chairs with a cushion and a little table between two seats. Must be how rich people watch baseball! A waiter kept coming by to see if we needed anything. The odd thing was his prices were the same as the concession stands and much quicker service. (no lines to stand in between innings)
Our second surprise was that son-in-law Byron came to the game with a woman he works with and he was sitting, in the Tigers Den just two rows in front of us. Temporarily at least - apparently the real owners
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday morning
Mondays are good and bad for a retired guy. Monday morning means the weekly stepping onto the scale. This morning I find that despite the day in Pinconning and the day off to the casinos, I lost a pound and now weigh 232. I like to weigh 218 so I have some serious weight to lose. Why can't I get motivated to exercise more? It would be easy to run out to the gym - but I don't. I could walk around the neighborhood listening to my ipod - but I don't. Maybe back in Florida I will walk the golf course more?
Monday also means I get to feel guilty for not calling Mom over the weekend. I called a few days ago but I need to make it a twice the week deal at least. Maybe later this morning.
Monday means Peter King's "Monday Morning Quarterback". It arrives in email form with a link to SI. Oh it's arrived - more later.
Monday also means I get to feel guilty for not calling Mom over the weekend. I called a few days ago but I need to make it a twice the week deal at least. Maybe later this morning.
Monday means Peter King's "Monday Morning Quarterback". It arrives in email form with a link to SI. Oh it's arrived - more later.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
A good day ruined
Today, Barb & I went with Dina and Angela to two casino's located in the western part of lower Michigan. We seem to be fixated on hitting every Michigan Indian casino this summer. We have only missed two and they're both in Detroit.
We took Dina's car and it was a very long drive. We went first to Four Winds which is located on exit 1 of I 94. In other words one mile from the Illinois border near Chicago. It was a nice place and although we all lost a bit, we had a good time. Poor Dina took it on the chin and dumped a tidy sum which I won't reveal. We all felt bad for her though and that was just the beginning of her bad news for the day.
We then drove east back to Battlecreek and the new casino Firekeepers. It is a nice place where Angela managed to hit a small jackpot and actually walked out with $170 bucks more than she walked in with. I had been up but didn't know when to quit and I ended up losing about $75 for the day. Since it was Dina's gas and the casino comped my lunch I didn't feel real bad for myself. Barb lost a little bit and Dina continued her losing ways and her doldrums continued. I knew that once we got going and began joking around a little that our spirits would get better so I decided to read my sporting news magazine for awhile. All the sudden I heard Dina say "Oh, no". I looked up and saw a state police vehicle taking our "picture' with radar and sure enough he pulls us over and gives Dina a ticket for speeding. Poor Dina she was feeling down and now this. Nice way to cap off what was a bad day for her.
There was rain in western Michigan but a beautiful day back in Waterford. Tomorrow Dina & Michael are taking Barb & I to Tigers stadium to watch them play the Rays. Should I wear my Tigers shirt or my Rays stuff? Ordinarily I would wear the Rays gear but since they traded away Scot Kazmir, I feel like they've already given up on the season while the Tigers are still in the thick of it all. Hmmm decisions, decisions.
We took Dina's car and it was a very long drive. We went first to Four Winds which is located on exit 1 of I 94. In other words one mile from the Illinois border near Chicago. It was a nice place and although we all lost a bit, we had a good time. Poor Dina took it on the chin and dumped a tidy sum which I won't reveal. We all felt bad for her though and that was just the beginning of her bad news for the day.
We then drove east back to Battlecreek and the new casino Firekeepers. It is a nice place where Angela managed to hit a small jackpot and actually walked out with $170 bucks more than she walked in with. I had been up but didn't know when to quit and I ended up losing about $75 for the day. Since it was Dina's gas and the casino comped my lunch I didn't feel real bad for myself. Barb lost a little bit and Dina continued her losing ways and her doldrums continued. I knew that once we got going and began joking around a little that our spirits would get better so I decided to read my sporting news magazine for awhile. All the sudden I heard Dina say "Oh, no". I looked up and saw a state police vehicle taking our "picture' with radar and sure enough he pulls us over and gives Dina a ticket for speeding. Poor Dina she was feeling down and now this. Nice way to cap off what was a bad day for her.
There was rain in western Michigan but a beautiful day back in Waterford. Tomorrow Dina & Michael are taking Barb & I to Tigers stadium to watch them play the Rays. Should I wear my Tigers shirt or my Rays stuff? Ordinarily I would wear the Rays gear but since they traded away Scot Kazmir, I feel like they've already given up on the season while the Tigers are still in the thick of it all. Hmmm decisions, decisions.
Friday, August 28, 2009
It's been awhile
Recently, my beloved daughter, Patti Anne began her own blog and I felt a bit ashamed of dropping my own blog waaaaaaaaaay back when. I hope to resurrect it with this first post.
Currently, Barb & I remain in Michigan. We arrived in early July and it is now late August. Several reasons why:
1. Florida summers are hot and miserable.
2. We promised Barb's niece, Amber that we attend her wedding. (I wish she made it earlier)
3. Barb & I will have Father Tom at St Ben's bless our marriage in a ceremony to coincide with our 30th anniversary. Wow, 30 years!
If I go back to last December, we have spent 7 of 9 months here. A month in December where we celebrated Christmas and then I worked on Metro Club. We left in January to go home when our burglary took place but returned just after the first of February to help Dina & Michael with their tax business. We went home in mid-May for 6 weeks and then returned. I think we are more comfortable in Michigan than Florida. At least more comfortable than living in Ft Pierce. I believe it's time to bite the bullet and sell out in Ft Pierce. I'd like to get a small apartment in Michigan where we would be on our own but still close to family. I would be closer to drive to Albany as well. I'd like to be able to spend more time with Patti Anne so that Alice will be more comfortable with me. She is such a little cutie.
Today is an icky, rainy day good for reading and net surfing only. I am still trying to diet but feel that the current one is not really good for losing weight. It used to be so easy to drop 10 - 15 lbs. now it's murder. I think exercise is the answer but my back is not allowing much of that. I may have to try Atkins, Weight Watchers or that stupid cabbage soup diet. I am really sick of diets though. I haven't had a beer in two weeks or better and football season is coming up soon. What to do? What to do?
I have to set a goal of calling my mother more often. I called her several times and left messages at least 4 times but finally got through to her yesterday. We spoke for 28 minutes. I am sad that I can let a couple of weeks go by without making a concerted effort to call her, I have to do better than that.
Currently, Barb & I remain in Michigan. We arrived in early July and it is now late August. Several reasons why:
1. Florida summers are hot and miserable.
2. We promised Barb's niece, Amber that we attend her wedding. (I wish she made it earlier)
3. Barb & I will have Father Tom at St Ben's bless our marriage in a ceremony to coincide with our 30th anniversary. Wow, 30 years!
If I go back to last December, we have spent 7 of 9 months here. A month in December where we celebrated Christmas and then I worked on Metro Club. We left in January to go home when our burglary took place but returned just after the first of February to help Dina & Michael with their tax business. We went home in mid-May for 6 weeks and then returned. I think we are more comfortable in Michigan than Florida. At least more comfortable than living in Ft Pierce. I believe it's time to bite the bullet and sell out in Ft Pierce. I'd like to get a small apartment in Michigan where we would be on our own but still close to family. I would be closer to drive to Albany as well. I'd like to be able to spend more time with Patti Anne so that Alice will be more comfortable with me. She is such a little cutie.
Today is an icky, rainy day good for reading and net surfing only. I am still trying to diet but feel that the current one is not really good for losing weight. It used to be so easy to drop 10 - 15 lbs. now it's murder. I think exercise is the answer but my back is not allowing much of that. I may have to try Atkins, Weight Watchers or that stupid cabbage soup diet. I am really sick of diets though. I haven't had a beer in two weeks or better and football season is coming up soon. What to do? What to do?
I have to set a goal of calling my mother more often. I called her several times and left messages at least 4 times but finally got through to her yesterday. We spoke for 28 minutes. I am sad that I can let a couple of weeks go by without making a concerted effort to call her, I have to do better than that.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
9 Holes of Golf today
This is week 2 of the golf league but week 1 for me. Last week I had a funky feeling in my chest and decided it wasn't really worth it to try playing. Turns out I was OK but I don't like to push the issue. Today I woke with very little back pain and felt really good. Last night we were to go to dinner with Judy & Ed and others but as luck would have it, I become nauseous an hour and a 1/2 before we were to leave so we canceled out.
I shot a lousy 39 but not bad considering the lack of play I've had. Took 4 1/2 points. My opponent started slow but finished well. I had a 6 and a 4 the last two holes and lost the match by 1! I stopped at the 19th hole with Norm afterwords. I stayed only long enough to say hi and drink a beer with the guys. I must have left 6 - 7 beers that were bought for me. I guess the guys were happy when I left - more for them. LOL
Lots of things happened this week. I had SPRC issues to deal with, a discussion with Joey Sweat, our youth Pastor. I like Joey he just seems to have his head up his butt in the worse times. Computer work to transfer the sheets for the Golf league to Mike Giglio. Mike was funny, he thought I might want to keep doing the computer work and let him and Ed run the league. Gee I can do all the work if I want. Not.
Now I have the Church Profile to finish by Tuesday. A lot of detail that I don't have. I have to remember to schedule a an appointment with Pastor Mike on Monday. Probably will need Jan Everette too.
We spoke with Dennis Berg this afternoon. He is in Clyde, North Carolina now. I told him to send me his tax info. I have comped tax work for him for 9 - 10 years now - no sense stopping now that I can't use his home for a hurricane shelter. All that tax work and we used his house 1 night! What a deal......for Dennis. He is having a lot of problems with his health. His cancer seems to be stabilized but he's been having other difficulties. Poor guy! Poor Helen. She's had pure misery taking care of him for the past two years! She's buried a husband, her brother and a son. If we thought they were odd when we met them 27 years ago when Dennis was 32 and Helen was 54 imagine now when Dennis is 59 and Helen 82! I remember Dennis introducing him and Helen as "the odd couple".
We went to the Riverside Theatre this week to see the stage play - The Boyfriend. A musical that was a lot of fun. Judy's neighbors, Ron & Suzy went along. We went first to The Patio for dinner where I managed to score an end cut Prime Rib. I think Barb's inside cut was better. Oh well, once in a while I get a fabulous piece of meat sometimes not. The show made it worth while.
Today I spoke with Bev & Janet. They are in California visiting Lisa. I forgot to ask about Aunt Marge. Chances are they didn't contact her. Unfortunately, She can be difficult but Barb & I like her a lot and Bud too. Bev is having anxiety about her house here. She'll practically give it away to get out of the monthly costs. Unfortunately she has to have someone want it. It should sell. Today a lady called to see if she could rent it for $700 or 800 a month. What to do? Get a few bucks to help pay the bills or try to sell and get out from under. If someone wants it they may not take it with a renter in place.
I'll have to finish this tomorrow with another post. The Patriots and the Jaguars game is on. Go Jags!
I shot a lousy 39 but not bad considering the lack of play I've had. Took 4 1/2 points. My opponent started slow but finished well. I had a 6 and a 4 the last two holes and lost the match by 1! I stopped at the 19th hole with Norm afterwords. I stayed only long enough to say hi and drink a beer with the guys. I must have left 6 - 7 beers that were bought for me. I guess the guys were happy when I left - more for them. LOL
Lots of things happened this week. I had SPRC issues to deal with, a discussion with Joey Sweat, our youth Pastor. I like Joey he just seems to have his head up his butt in the worse times. Computer work to transfer the sheets for the Golf league to Mike Giglio. Mike was funny, he thought I might want to keep doing the computer work and let him and Ed run the league. Gee I can do all the work if I want. Not.
Now I have the Church Profile to finish by Tuesday. A lot of detail that I don't have. I have to remember to schedule a an appointment with Pastor Mike on Monday. Probably will need Jan Everette too.
We spoke with Dennis Berg this afternoon. He is in Clyde, North Carolina now. I told him to send me his tax info. I have comped tax work for him for 9 - 10 years now - no sense stopping now that I can't use his home for a hurricane shelter. All that tax work and we used his house 1 night! What a deal......for Dennis. He is having a lot of problems with his health. His cancer seems to be stabilized but he's been having other difficulties. Poor guy! Poor Helen. She's had pure misery taking care of him for the past two years! She's buried a husband, her brother and a son. If we thought they were odd when we met them 27 years ago when Dennis was 32 and Helen was 54 imagine now when Dennis is 59 and Helen 82! I remember Dennis introducing him and Helen as "the odd couple".
We went to the Riverside Theatre this week to see the stage play - The Boyfriend. A musical that was a lot of fun. Judy's neighbors, Ron & Suzy went along. We went first to The Patio for dinner where I managed to score an end cut Prime Rib. I think Barb's inside cut was better. Oh well, once in a while I get a fabulous piece of meat sometimes not. The show made it worth while.
Today I spoke with Bev & Janet. They are in California visiting Lisa. I forgot to ask about Aunt Marge. Chances are they didn't contact her. Unfortunately, She can be difficult but Barb & I like her a lot and Bud too. Bev is having anxiety about her house here. She'll practically give it away to get out of the monthly costs. Unfortunately she has to have someone want it. It should sell. Today a lady called to see if she could rent it for $700 or 800 a month. What to do? Get a few bucks to help pay the bills or try to sell and get out from under. If someone wants it they may not take it with a renter in place.
I'll have to finish this tomorrow with another post. The Patriots and the Jaguars game is on. Go Jags!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
David Fowler's Chili Recipe WPLP (or KPRC)
David Fowler was a talk show host at WPLP in Pinellas Park Florida back in the 1980's. One day, he had a discussion about home made chili and mentioned that he had won awards with his recipe. Of course all of his loyal listeners asked for it including yours truly. When I received it, I placed it in my recipe file and promptly forgot all about it. Recently, I decided to dump much of the things I had collected but never used and came across his recipe.
As luck would have it, Joey Sweat, our youth pastor has organized a chili cook off for 1/6/08 and so I thought hmmm let's give it a try. Barb being Barb said "no way are you bringing chili you haven't tried". So today I decide to give er a rip and followed the directions almost exactly. (sorry David) I say almost because I have only light beer and the recipe calls for a can of Budweiser. Oh well. The recipe also says to pull it off the stove and let it sit overnight so i did but prior to putting it into the refrigerator, I had to sample it. Wow! It is fabulous. I can't wait until 1/6!
On a sad note, I Googled David Fowler and learned that he had died back in 2004!
Here is the recipe as I received it back in the mid 80's:
David Fowler's Nine times First place Trophy award winning Chili recipe.
This is not chili, and I don't know how to write a recipe using the terms and such that one finds in the real thing. Read on. Change nothing. You'll note that quantities are vague. Use common sense and taste.
Stuff in this Mess:
1 0r 2 ponds ground beef, the best
1 standard can tomato paste and sauce and whole peeled tomatoes
1 large green pepper
1 large white onion
2 ribs celery
2 to 10 Jalapeno peppers, the canned in oil kind
½ a raw potato
1 can Bud beer
1 shot or two of olive oil – do not use cooking oil (I use Contadina brand)
1 standard envelope chili mix, such as McCormick’s or whatever, but not some weird, esoteric brand…just the plain stuff and a half envelope of taco mix
Some Oregano and Thyme and crushed red pepper and black pepper and a bay leaf or two and some grated parmesan cheese, such as in the green cardboard tube, and salt and, as to the spices, I use around a ½ a teaspoon or more – it’s up to you as are all the quantities and it’s also your problem or pleasure, don’t blame me.
Method of Preparation:
New simplified directions!!!
Brown the beef a little bit, not a lot…leave some pink. Dump everything into a pot and add water sufficient to keep it from burning while you simmer it for an hour or so.
Now, I must add, for the sake of decency that prior to the dumping you must have finely chopped, sliced and diced the vegetables.
Got that?
Do it.
Dump together as noted and so forth, and by now it’s simmering nicely and you’re keeping an eye on it and adding a bit of water here and there and the lid’s on the pot, slightly askew, a sprinkling of parmesan and always stirring and sampling and simmering and, three hours having passed, you let it cool and poke it into the fridge and wait until the next day and that’s that. It ain’t chili - its better!
You want beans? Fine. You also tell unfunny jokes, force your dog to wear rubber booties on rainy days, and are basically miserable. However, if you must….please use drained and rinsed kidney beans and their name is sufficiently disgusting to me or, even better, drained and rinsed black eyed peas, though I recommend neither and how do you spell recommmmmmend anyway?
I figure it may take a lifetime for you to get this right, so forget it. You go on and read that junk in the papers on Thursdays and clip coupons and buy cookbooks.
I don’t care.
You really must mess with this thing a few times to get it to your taste and if you’re the type who follows recipes exactly, I’m already thanking you for not inviting me to your table even though I said change nothing in this recipe. If that intimidated you, don’t cook this chili that isn’t chili.
Typing and mailing this thing’s been tough on me.
Be kind when you call.
Think kindly when listening.
Thank you,
DF (David signed this with his initials)
I have a scan of the original recipe if anyone wants it.
As luck would have it, Joey Sweat, our youth pastor has organized a chili cook off for 1/6/08 and so I thought hmmm let's give it a try. Barb being Barb said "no way are you bringing chili you haven't tried". So today I decide to give er a rip and followed the directions almost exactly. (sorry David) I say almost because I have only light beer and the recipe calls for a can of Budweiser. Oh well. The recipe also says to pull it off the stove and let it sit overnight so i did but prior to putting it into the refrigerator, I had to sample it. Wow! It is fabulous. I can't wait until 1/6!
On a sad note, I Googled David Fowler and learned that he had died back in 2004!
Here is the recipe as I received it back in the mid 80's:
David Fowler's Nine times First place Trophy award winning Chili recipe.
This is not chili, and I don't know how to write a recipe using the terms and such that one finds in the real thing. Read on. Change nothing. You'll note that quantities are vague. Use common sense and taste.
Stuff in this Mess:
1 0r 2 ponds ground beef, the best
1 standard can tomato paste and sauce and whole peeled tomatoes
1 large green pepper
1 large white onion
2 ribs celery
2 to 10 Jalapeno peppers, the canned in oil kind
½ a raw potato
1 can Bud beer
1 shot or two of olive oil – do not use cooking oil (I use Contadina brand)
1 standard envelope chili mix, such as McCormick’s or whatever, but not some weird, esoteric brand…just the plain stuff and a half envelope of taco mix
Some Oregano and Thyme and crushed red pepper and black pepper and a bay leaf or two and some grated parmesan cheese, such as in the green cardboard tube, and salt and, as to the spices, I use around a ½ a teaspoon or more – it’s up to you as are all the quantities and it’s also your problem or pleasure, don’t blame me.
Method of Preparation:
New simplified directions!!!
Brown the beef a little bit, not a lot…leave some pink. Dump everything into a pot and add water sufficient to keep it from burning while you simmer it for an hour or so.
Now, I must add, for the sake of decency that prior to the dumping you must have finely chopped, sliced and diced the vegetables.
Got that?
Do it.
Dump together as noted and so forth, and by now it’s simmering nicely and you’re keeping an eye on it and adding a bit of water here and there and the lid’s on the pot, slightly askew, a sprinkling of parmesan and always stirring and sampling and simmering and, three hours having passed, you let it cool and poke it into the fridge and wait until the next day and that’s that. It ain’t chili - its better!
You want beans? Fine. You also tell unfunny jokes, force your dog to wear rubber booties on rainy days, and are basically miserable. However, if you must….please use drained and rinsed kidney beans and their name is sufficiently disgusting to me or, even better, drained and rinsed black eyed peas, though I recommend neither and how do you spell recommmmmmend anyway?
I figure it may take a lifetime for you to get this right, so forget it. You go on and read that junk in the papers on Thursdays and clip coupons and buy cookbooks.
I don’t care.
You really must mess with this thing a few times to get it to your taste and if you’re the type who follows recipes exactly, I’m already thanking you for not inviting me to your table even though I said change nothing in this recipe. If that intimidated you, don’t cook this chili that isn’t chili.
Typing and mailing this thing’s been tough on me.
Be kind when you call.
Think kindly when listening.
Thank you,
DF (David signed this with his initials)
I have a scan of the original recipe if anyone wants it.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Boycott Savage Nation?
Michael Savage is an announcer who operates out of San Francisco which is surprising since the San Francisco city legislature has condemned his opinions. San Francisco is one of the U.S.'s more liberal cities as you might know.
Well, apparently he is continuing to pick on the Muslims in this country, enough so he has been targeted by CAIR (Council on American Islam Relations) or rather his advertisers. The latest to drop the Savage Nation? Officemax. They join Wal*Mart in pulling ads away from the Savage Nation. Well, in a twist, Michael Savage is suing CAIR for "encouraging advertisors to go else where's". Now ACT for America, another conservative action group is asking their members to call Officemax and tell them that they will boycott Officemax until they change their policies. Interesting. CAIR, a Savage Nation and ACT for America fighting each other.
I've often thought that far right Conservatives are just as bad for America as is far left liberals.
Well, apparently he is continuing to pick on the Muslims in this country, enough so he has been targeted by CAIR (Council on American Islam Relations) or rather his advertisers. The latest to drop the Savage Nation? Officemax. They join Wal*Mart in pulling ads away from the Savage Nation. Well, in a twist, Michael Savage is suing CAIR for "encouraging advertisors to go else where's". Now ACT for America, another conservative action group is asking their members to call Officemax and tell them that they will boycott Officemax until they change their policies. Interesting. CAIR, a Savage Nation and ACT for America fighting each other.
I've often thought that far right Conservatives are just as bad for America as is far left liberals.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
CNN's Most admired people
Tonight CNN said that President Bush and former President Clinton were the most admired people in the U.S.. Hillary and Oprah Winfrey were the most admired women. Good Lord is this possible? The President with his problems? Bill Clinton? Gees what a sad state this country is in. There used to be a problem deciding from many and now we have these two? Hillary or Oprah? Egad. I would venture that there's not a politician to be found that would garner any support for being admirable. They're all crooks.
It would seem that we could go out into the sports world and find someone. Used to be that we admired our sports leaders. Barry Bonds? I don't think so. I do admire Tiger Woods and Brett Favre but Peyton Manning has too many stupid commercials that seem to run continuous at times.
I'd bet that Mark twain could write a really good blog concerning the most admirable man or woman in the U.S. this year. I only know I can't come up with any.
It would seem that we could go out into the sports world and find someone. Used to be that we admired our sports leaders. Barry Bonds? I don't think so. I do admire Tiger Woods and Brett Favre but Peyton Manning has too many stupid commercials that seem to run continuous at times.
I'd bet that Mark twain could write a really good blog concerning the most admirable man or woman in the U.S. this year. I only know I can't come up with any.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Jesus was born for you (and me)
Today we received a great Christmas card from Barb's niece Shelly in Michigan. The sentiment from the card struck me so i decided to write it down before i forget it!
Jesus was born for you
If you have ever laughed,
if you have ever cried,
if you have ever believed,
if you have ever doubted,
if you have ever been loved,
if you have ever been lonely,
if you have ever been burdened with trouble,
if you have ever felt blessed by joy,
if you have ever drawn
one breathupon this earth -
then Jesus was born for you.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
A Night in Bethlehem
Tonight we had a special thing go on at church. As the title suggests, we had a Roman Sentry at our entrance to the Family Life Center armed with candy canes and directing people to register. Barb & Kay Olsen were "Census takers" who registered people. The addresses collected are to be used to mail photos taken by yours truly next to the Christmas tree. I took like 50 photos of people and another dozen or so on the events itself.
Next to me was a nativity scene with a young family with their baby boy. The boy was like 6 months old and extremely cooperative. Next was a station where the people could personalize a frame that we will be sending their photos with. I believe the next station was used to teach folks to mold a statue. There were stations for making jewelry and sachets for your dresser drawers. Pastor Mike had a synagogue and occasionally blew on a horn called a shofar. Whenever he blew it, we all kind of jumped. It was loud.
We had probably twice as many folks attend than I figured since we really didn't have a lot of advertising. A surprising number of "new" people for which the name and addresses were collected from. We will send their photos to them but I imagine some church propaganda as well. It was a good night and I believe all attending had a good time. Judy Cloyd said that next year we should hold it earlier in the month and earlier than 6:00 P.M. and have some food of some sort. Since Judy will be retiring along with Pastor Mike, I guess it's up to her sucessor.
Next to me was a nativity scene with a young family with their baby boy. The boy was like 6 months old and extremely cooperative. Next was a station where the people could personalize a frame that we will be sending their photos with. I believe the next station was used to teach folks to mold a statue. There were stations for making jewelry and sachets for your dresser drawers. Pastor Mike had a synagogue and occasionally blew on a horn called a shofar. Whenever he blew it, we all kind of jumped. It was loud.
We had probably twice as many folks attend than I figured since we really didn't have a lot of advertising. A surprising number of "new" people for which the name and addresses were collected from. We will send their photos to them but I imagine some church propaganda as well. It was a good night and I believe all attending had a good time. Judy Cloyd said that next year we should hold it earlier in the month and earlier than 6:00 P.M. and have some food of some sort. Since Judy will be retiring along with Pastor Mike, I guess it's up to her sucessor.
Friday, December 21, 2007
The Joy of working with Microsoft Windows XP
My sister Judy, wanted to video phone with her Granddaughter Emily the way I video phone with my daughter, Patti anne. It's a neat thing really. Set up a web cam, connect through Windows Messenger and have an unlimited, free talk with your loved one. The neat part is seeing them live on screen.
Now when I first installed it at home, I installed the Logitech software, connected the camera and logged into Windows messenger. Boom on line and on screen. No problems. Maybe 10 minutes. Hooray for Windows Vista! I try to do the same with Judy and unfortunately ran into the first error message. Windows XP must be upgraded to Service Pack 2. Ok, we go to Microsoft's upgrade and try to upgrade. Now the fun begins. First of all they said she needed 74 different upgrades. Ok so we say go ahead. An hour later we're finished installing all 74 upgrades and try to install the web cam. Nope, still need to upgrade Windows XP to Service Pack 2. So back we go and the first thing I notice is that the computer has slowed considerably. Hmmm what to do? I started checking various things out and realize that there's all kinds of different problems. Well, previously I noted that the fan to her power supply tends to whine at times and a bad fan can do really bad things to a mother board so i decided that she should have it checked out and since she had virtually no personal stuff in her computer, lets do a reinstall of the operating system and start fresh.
The next day we're back, everything is running fine and really quick so we figure it was a good step. Perhaps we had managed to download a corrupted file? maybe there was a glitch while downloading? Who knows. So let's install this web cam and get on with our life. No way, the tech didn't give us SP 2! Ok, let's do it, nope there's 74 files to be downloaded again. Damn I didn't put put SP 2 on the list for the tech. Dummy me. So we download it all and go on to SP 2. Try to find it. Ha! After a bit I allowed the Windows upgrade to search for required upgrades and eventually it found SP 2. So now we download it and no problem. Success at last.
Wait, after we successfully install the web cam and start Microsoft Messenger , it says they require an upgraded version of Windows Messenger. Ok, so we find the Messenger upgrade and wait for it to download and install. We start the new Messenger and get an error message that we need the current upgrade. Click here. Hmmm so we click on the here and downloading it comes. After another 20 minutes we finish and try it out - wow everything works. Now to test it. Judy calls Chris, her daughter and her son-in-law, Joe answers and says Chris is not home AND their computer is down. Tee hee what next?
So I go home and use my system to call Judy and another problem arises. Unfortunately Judy isn't computer literate enough to help so back I go. Just a bit of tweaking the web cam software. I now try "calling" myself. It rings but of course there's no one to answer so back home I go.
Voila after what seemed to be 6 - 8 hours we succeed! No one better ask me to help install a web cam again! I'm done unless they use Vista.
Now when I first installed it at home, I installed the Logitech software, connected the camera and logged into Windows messenger. Boom on line and on screen. No problems. Maybe 10 minutes. Hooray for Windows Vista! I try to do the same with Judy and unfortunately ran into the first error message. Windows XP must be upgraded to Service Pack 2. Ok, we go to Microsoft's upgrade and try to upgrade. Now the fun begins. First of all they said she needed 74 different upgrades. Ok so we say go ahead. An hour later we're finished installing all 74 upgrades and try to install the web cam. Nope, still need to upgrade Windows XP to Service Pack 2. So back we go and the first thing I notice is that the computer has slowed considerably. Hmmm what to do? I started checking various things out and realize that there's all kinds of different problems. Well, previously I noted that the fan to her power supply tends to whine at times and a bad fan can do really bad things to a mother board so i decided that she should have it checked out and since she had virtually no personal stuff in her computer, lets do a reinstall of the operating system and start fresh.
The next day we're back, everything is running fine and really quick so we figure it was a good step. Perhaps we had managed to download a corrupted file? maybe there was a glitch while downloading? Who knows. So let's install this web cam and get on with our life. No way, the tech didn't give us SP 2! Ok, let's do it, nope there's 74 files to be downloaded again. Damn I didn't put put SP 2 on the list for the tech. Dummy me. So we download it all and go on to SP 2. Try to find it. Ha! After a bit I allowed the Windows upgrade to search for required upgrades and eventually it found SP 2. So now we download it and no problem. Success at last.
Wait, after we successfully install the web cam and start Microsoft Messenger , it says they require an upgraded version of Windows Messenger. Ok, so we find the Messenger upgrade and wait for it to download and install. We start the new Messenger and get an error message that we need the current upgrade. Click here. Hmmm so we click on the here and downloading it comes. After another 20 minutes we finish and try it out - wow everything works. Now to test it. Judy calls Chris, her daughter and her son-in-law, Joe answers and says Chris is not home AND their computer is down. Tee hee what next?
So I go home and use my system to call Judy and another problem arises. Unfortunately Judy isn't computer literate enough to help so back I go. Just a bit of tweaking the web cam software. I now try "calling" myself. It rings but of course there's no one to answer so back home I go.
Voila after what seemed to be 6 - 8 hours we succeed! No one better ask me to help install a web cam again! I'm done unless they use Vista.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Tipping for the Holidays
The mailman is easy - our guy Aris is very conscientious and never seems to forget that we'll be away on vacation and carefully keeps our mail for us. We normally give him a $10 or $20 tip when we return and at Xmas we give him a card with $25. He always seems appreciative and gives us a thank you card.
The paper person who we never see, leaves a bit to be desired in her service to us and so she gets $10. This year she gave us a note saying that she is moving on and won't be delivering beginning in January. Hooray!
Our dilemma is the trash guys. Sometimes 2 other times 3 of them. Usually there's one guy who remains the same and the driver we can't see so we're not sure but I'm under the impression that the one guy who seems to be on our route every time is in charge. I will often give them bottles of water, particularly in the summer when it's hot. Once when I was fooled by there being 3 and I thought 2 I told the guy that I needed to grab another bottle and he said not to worry, he's fine. so does that make him in charge? Who knows? Maybe the 15 - 20 times a year I give them water is enough for the year? I'm not sure what to do about them. I hate to ignore them.
The paper person who we never see, leaves a bit to be desired in her service to us and so she gets $10. This year she gave us a note saying that she is moving on and won't be delivering beginning in January. Hooray!
Our dilemma is the trash guys. Sometimes 2 other times 3 of them. Usually there's one guy who remains the same and the driver we can't see so we're not sure but I'm under the impression that the one guy who seems to be on our route every time is in charge. I will often give them bottles of water, particularly in the summer when it's hot. Once when I was fooled by there being 3 and I thought 2 I told the guy that I needed to grab another bottle and he said not to worry, he's fine. so does that make him in charge? Who knows? Maybe the 15 - 20 times a year I give them water is enough for the year? I'm not sure what to do about them. I hate to ignore them.
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