----------------------- Page 1----------------------- Entry: Jan 01, 2004 -------------------------------------- Lib made ham and eggs for breakfast with toast. I wired up the switch for the wireless controller but didn;t get to do much with it. We walked around the lake in the afternoon. Around noon our Jan 17 bride came over to pick out her album choices. We watched the Rose Parade on A&E this morning then watched their dream home at 7 PM. Tried to watch Great Performances New Years in Vienna but I fell asleep. Dinner was chili. Entry: Jan 02, 2004 -------------------------------------- Communicated with Titina - looks like she will be coming tomorrow monrning. Debugged the key interface - lots needs to be odne. Went over to the greenhouse and replaced the tube in House 4. Not finished - the cable broke near the fanjet because it was rusted. Heard from Gloria - she cancelled me from doing her wedding this April. This is too bad since I wanted to do a beach wedding. Communicated a few times with Trina about a shoot tomorrow. This evening she forgot her makeup and was looking around for replacements at CVS and Walgreens. Dinner was tomato soup and a hma sandwich. Entry: Jan 03, 2004 -------------------------------------- Got everything ready in the garage for a shoor with Trina at 9 this morning then checked my eMail and found she cancelled. Excuse was she had to run back to her Mom who was not doing well. Oh well, I'll use the time to do wireless debug. Got some productive debugging done. In the afternoon we replaced the Fan Jet tube in house 4. On the way home I stopped in Krogers and picked up some baby back ribs which we had with Zatarains beans and rice and Shiraz wine. Very nice. Entry: Jan 04, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I worked more on wireless then met with a bride at 11 - July 3 wedding but they didn't sign. Went over to the greenhouse and filled Libs car with trash from house 4 and replaced 25 feet of the steel cable which rusted through. Came back and got the alarm function working on the wireless. Can't seem to reliably silence the alarm after it goes off which you are supposed to by pressing the enter key. We had crab dip and crackers with our egg nog this evening then traditional pizza while we watched a dateline story about 6 people losing weight for their 25th HS reunion. Afterwards we watched Nova Mars Landing story and then My Cousin Vinny. Entry: Jan 05, 2004 -------------------------------------- I was supposed to work on pictures today but instead did some reading on the web, studied DVD burners then worked a little on wireless. Nothing works now - very disappointing. Hung another suet feeder between two trees in the front. Was entertained by the birds and the squirrel in the fornt yard. High is 75 today - this is supposed to end tomorrow as we go back into the forties. Dinner was ham omelets. Entry: Jan 06, 2004 -------------------------------------- Was supposed to do pictures today but ended up researching DVD burners and DVD software. I have Adobe Encore and want to try building a presentation or two. Went to Krogers for tuesday groceries and also mailed mom's birthday card in the box in front of the house instead of driving to a box. Dinner was 15 bean suop with homemade corn bread. In late evening we went to the ----------------------- Page 2----------------------- greenhhouse to figure out why heater 4 is not igniting. The gas valve has power but no flame. Will try replacing the thermocouple first then the gas valve. Entry: Jan 07, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on Fred until 11 when I had a bride come over to look at pictures. Afterwards I changed into grubs and went to the greenhouse to look for a thermocouple. Bought a new one at Home Depot and installed it. The heater still doesn;t light. Went home to get the new has valve I had and also some wrenches. Installed the new valve and tested it - the furnace now lights. Finishe dup at 4 PM and went home tired. Lib was at Logans this afternoon so didn't join me at the greenhouse. Dinner was barbecue sandwiches from Jennifer with barbecue sauce. Very tasty - it was accompanied with homemade corn. Entry: Jan 08, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked onpictures today - started the Watson wedding. Putting them on the web as I create them. Some of them are very good. Lib went to greensboro today and returned around 5:30. We had 15 bean soup when she came home. For lunch today I finsished the barbecue from yesterday. Entry: Jan 09, 2004 -------------------------------------- It's a snowy day. We were supposed to get only flurries but it started snowing at 7 and by the time it wsas all done at noon we had 3 inches. The roads are a little icy since the high today was only 33. It's going to freeze tonight. . This morning i read about some stocks and also researched Palm programming then got going on the Watson wedding pictures. Finished at 4:45. Was supposed to have a woman come over at 4:45 about her daughters wedding but she canceled because she didn't want to drive on the roads. She wouldn't make another appointment either. Exchanged eMails with Joe several times over the LL Bean xmas presents he sent us. Dinner was Healthy Choice frozen dinners. I had Beef Merlot which was very tasty. Entry: Jan 10, 2004 -------------------------------------- Vacuumed the backporch after the xmas tree. Went oer to the greenhouse to take pictures of Lib's Breckinridge order. Tested the generator because it's supposed to go to single digits tonight. Listened to the opera, Werther, on the Met this afternoon while reading about DVD's on my computer. My two Classroom in a Books came from Amazon - Photoshop and DVD authoring. After the opera we went to the greenhouse to make sure we were ready for the cold night. Dinner was barbecue sandwiches with salad. Lib made a homemade pumpkin pie and we had a fire going in the fireplace. This was our first fire in two years. Entry: Jan 11, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning the temp was 14 in our woods, the TV said it was 12. We made it thorugh the night without getting called by the greenhouse, hooray! Lib and i went to Sams after calling Mom for her birthday. It's warming up into the thirties today but more snow is forecast for Thursday. Worked on wiring a Jtag up to the dish Network receiver. Converted 6 pins of the phone jack but later found that all my phone jack cables is only 4 wires. need to either find a 6 wire version or hang a cable out the back to attach a Jtag to without using the phone jack. Lib made traditional pizza for dinner. I read a little more of East of Eden in front of a nice warm fire. We stopped in Blockbuster in Maynard Crossing on the way back from Sams looking for East of Eden. Blockbuster online says they have ----------------------- Page 3----------------------- this movie but not so. Entry: Jan 12, 2004 -------------------------------------- I found that the pictures I uploaded Friday to Candid2000 had a problem. Was not happy but reloaded the pix - this may delay the album which was ordered last Thursday and expected to ship last Friday. Spent some time looking at how to use the Atmega and Jkeys software. Dug this stuff out as well as a dishnetwork receiver. Forgot to upload Ellie's wedding pix so I sent them to EasyPrins. We'll see how long they take from EasyPrints. Dinner was fetuccini which was from the fresh pasta cooler at Krogers. Entry: Jan 13, 2004 -------------------------------------- The Watson wedding pictures arrived via FedEx this morning. The album came a short time later. Started assembling the album upstairs. Also worked a little on the Jtag reader for the dishnetwork receiver. Did the Krogers trip and purchased mostly produce and veggies - this is a trend I like. Received the wedding check for this weekend in the evening. Dinner was salad and bean soup. Entry: Jan 14, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did some reading on PPP and AVR's then Lib called from the greenhouse at 11:45 that her car wouldn't start and she was going to Logans. Went over with the battery charger but it didn't seem to be charging the battery. Went to Logans in my car and delivered the violets and Orchids. On the way home stopped at the CU to deposit my wedding check and rebate checks then went to the greenhouse. The battery didn't charge at all. Went home and got the quick charger. It wouldn't charge the battery either so I went to Walmart with the battery and bought a new one. The cr started OK. Lib had to stay at the greenhouse because the Wyatt Q truck was coming between 3 and 4. When we went to Logans earlier we had lunch which was a barter agreement with the Logan grill guys, Rick. Dinner was Healthy Choice dinners and salad. In the evening we watched Joshua Bell on Great PErformances. In NY it was 10 degrees and snowing but here it was around 50. The DVD burner arrived today - hooked it up and played a Bocelli DVD. It's pretty nice. Also found out what the grinding noise was inside my PC - the video fan on the motherboard is having problems running when it's cold. I suspect this will mean a new motherboard. Entry: Jan 15, 2004 -------------------------------------- Got the house ready and assembled a few album pages for a bridal couple of Ellie's and Daryns weddings. Ellies prints arrived today that I submitted on Monday and payed for priority shipping. The bride's mother signed up for the middle package for Nazarene church on Penny Road. Dinner was pasta which we had before the bride arrived at 7 PM. I'm not sure I like evening appointmnets. Entry: Jan 16, 2004 -------------------------------------- I have a bride coming today for a Duke Chapel wedding. Went to Office Max and got some rewritable DVD media for my new drive. The software that came with the pioneer is ggod and bad. The packet writer is bad because it crashes my system. The DVD player is good because the Roxio player I downloaded doesn;t play copy protected disks. The Pioneer software allows this. Using the Roxio stuff I put all the Met operas I had on a DVD. This is cool. Dinner was Chinese which we had after Heather signed with us. I was very happy to get a Duke Chapel wedding but intimidated by all the rules. ----------------------- Page 4----------------------- Entry: Jan 17, 2004 -------------------------------------- Played with the DVD stuff a little more then packed the car for the wedding today. Left at 11:15 to set up the studio - started shooting formals at 12:10 and the group pictures at 12:30. We finished at 1:30 but redid the bride and groom formals because they had not warmed up to each other yet. The wedding ran out of food before everyone was served. We finished up at 5:45 and collapsed on the bed in ur bedroom. After resting for 15 minutes or so we ordered Chinese dinners with hot and sour soup and eggroll whcih we had with wine. I passed out on the couch then went upstairs to bed where I couldn't get to sleep. Got up at 12:15 Entry: Jan 18, 2004 -------------------------------------- We slept in a little then had breakfast and read the paper. I emptied the car from yesterdays wedding. Daryn and Marissa came over around noon - we gave them their album then I started researching flipbook software. Built a flipbook for Marissa's Mom but when testing it I discovered that it's in UDF format which I don't want. Will try again, but this time will also add music. Lunch was tuna sandwiches on the back porch. It's in the high 50's today. Worked on putting together a DVD or slide show of Daryns wedding but not much luck. Dinenr was traditional pizza which came out very good. Entry: Jan 19, 2004 -------------------------------------- Played at cleaning up my PC as well as downloading some of Maranathas pictures. I'm not happy with the group pictures. Need to put that zoom lens away when shooting indoors. Looked at a small fixed focal length lens on eBay. Dinner was beets, grilled chicken and slaad. Entry: Jan 20, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went to Krogers this morning and also went searching for a CD wallet. Checked out Office Depot, Target, Office Mac and Best Buy. Ended up purchasing one at Circuit City. While in Target bought a copy of Swimming Pool. Came home and watched Swimming Pool on my PC. Didn't too much else productive today. It's a little chilly with a high of only 40. My individual portfolio went over 59k today. Need to keep fine tuning my portfolio. Dinner was Healthy Choice frozen dinners. I had Beef Merlot and Lib had Chicken Chardonnay. Entry: Jan 21, 2004 -------------------------------------- Heard from Hana today - it got me motivated to start looking at pictures I did and also to start thinking about building cabinets in the garage. I want doors to cover up chemicals and also to put my photo equipment away. Went to Crossroads with Lib to look at exercise balls. Dinner was barbecue sandwiches with the last of Jennifers barbecue Christmas gift. Entry: Jan 22, 2004 -------------------------------------- Ran the garbage can to the street then did some research. Subscribed to Value Forum this morning then bought 500 shares of SJT on margin. Price should appreciate because they've pumped a lot of oil in November and December. Expect a price target of 25 by June plus the divvy. Hope everything holds up OK. Temp this mornign was 25 but expecting to go to 50 in the afternoon. Took the shelves ----------------------- Page 5----------------------- apart in the garage - going to build a cabinet for garden tools and photo equipment. Went to home Depot and got some initial materials to start the project. Dinner was salad and spaghetti. Listened to the opera tonight on CPE (Lohengrin) and read some more of East of Eden. I'm almost finished with the book. Probably tomorrow. Entry: Jan 23, 2004 -------------------------------------- Started framing the garage closet but first moved the gas heater over 40 inches so it won't be so close to the closet. Spackled a little then used the radial arm saw outside to notch and dado the 2x4's. Lib called and said she was having lunch with Roger. This was good because I kept going on the framing project. They are predicting some ice for Sunday. Need to gas the cars and cans to be ready. Moved some money around today and tried to buy some NFIpC but it didn't execute. Dinner was chicken with mashed potato and gravy and lima beans. Listened to Merry Wido this evening on the MP3 player while reading East of Eden. I'm down to the last 50 pages. Entry: Jan 24, 2004 -------------------------------------- Started working on the shelves in the garage. Lib came home at 12:30 so we went to Home Depot and got a sheet fo plywood. Continued working through the opera, Madama Butterfly. It was the best interpretation of this opera that I have heard in a while. Stopped working at 5 and picked everything up in prep for an ice storm we're supposed to get tomorrow. They're calling for 1 to 2 inches of sleet then a 1/4 inch of ice. I think we're ready for it - it looks like it will be a quick shot before ending. I'm tired - was trying to press on to get all my cutting outdoors done before the storm tomorrow. Dinner was some barbecued pork with rice and beans and ravenwood zinfindel. The pork was boneless. Entry: Jan 25, 2004 -------------------------------------- It was clear when we got up this morning. Lib ran out to get donuts before the snow started. Around 9 the snow started falling while Lib was talking to Sue on the phone. George and Mary have left Su's for Dorothys. They come here Tuesday. It looks like it will stay cold all day and not change to freezing rain which is good news for the power situation. By 6 PM we found there were no power failures in the area. We had some of the bean soup for lunch from our xmas ham. Dinner was traditional Lib pizza. Entry: Jan 26, 2004 -------------------------------------- We woke to an icy frozen landscape but the ice storm never materialized. They claim another coating of ice is possible starting at noon oday. Lib drove on the ice to check the greenhouse - she stayed a little bit then came home. The freezing rain this afternoon stayed South of here which was good news. I worked on the humidity control of Fred a little bit today and got it working. It's ready for the greenhouse now. Dinner was chicken creole that Lib made with canned chicken and Zatarains Creole mix. She also added some diced tomatoes. It was spicy and very good. I started reading the DaVinci Codes. Entry: Jan 27, 2004 -------------------------------------- Got the humidity fiunction working on Fred 6. Will build a second one in a Drake receiver box. It's a nice metal box. George and Mary arrived at 5 PM after driving from Lorton VA. The weather in DC was going to be bad so they got going South and traveled slowly. For dinner Lib made spaghetti with ----------------------- Page 6----------------------- salad. Entry: Jan 28, 2004 -------------------------------------- George,Mary and Lib left at 8:30 this morning. Lib later called at 7 PM that they were in Gainesville. The temp warmed into the thirties but thre's still lots of ice and everything is glazed over. I went to the Credit Union and then the greenhouse to deposit the Carolina Rhode check and then check on things at Bluebird. Jennifer, Stewart and the propane man were all there. For lunch I had the leftover creole then for dinner i made a Mrs Paul Thai Shrimp bowl. It wasn't bad and had lots of shrimp in it. Rented Thirteen adn Bully from Blockbuster. Worked in the afternoon building the second Fred 6 card. Entry: Jan 29, 2004 -------------------------------------- An icy day but it's full sun and going to be 50. Nancy called - she said she's going to the greenhouse at 9:30. Around 11 a snow plow came Downing Place - I went to the greenhouse. While walking around back to check on things I fell on the ice. Left there and came home - my ink cartridges came from buy.com which means fedex ground was delivering today. Entry: Jan 30, 2004 -------------------------------------- More of the ice melted today -- sunny and high of 50. Started working on the garage cabinet again. Also communicated with a girl in Fuquay about doing a shoot next week. Hopefully will be done by then. Jennifer is covering the greenhosue this morning - Wake finally went back today so her kids are in school. Captured two squirrels today - numbers 5 and 6!! Dropped them off at the industrial park near the greenhouse and checked in on the greenhouse. Dinner was French Bread pizza. Also worked on Fred 6 - it started working immediateley. All functions seem to be working but I haven't tested relays yet. Rented Sex and Lucia at Blockbuster - its the censored version. Ordered the uncut version from Amazon along with E Tu Mama Tambien. Entry: Feb 01, 2004 -------------------------------------- BB King on A&E and read the paper then worked most of the day putting up shelves in the garage cabinet. Wanted to finish up the shelves so that painting could begin. Super Bowl was today but I worked at the computer instead and also had PBS MOzart concert on. I'm now able to control the TIVO from upstairs. At noon I went to Chape;l Hill and bought an AVcast kit by PEracom for $59. The company is out of busines and the guy in Chapel Hill has several hundred of them available. It nicely transmits the Tivo IR signls on the cable lines and decodes them in the family room. Entry: Feb 02, 2004 -------------------------------------- Started at 7:30 this morning with the smelly Kilz on the greasy garage shelves. Later I dropped off squirrel number 10 and then painted the rest of the shelves until I ran out of paint. Went to Lowes to get more paint and also a cell phone car charger. Had a Krogers self reising pizza for both lunch and idnner. Finished painting the shelves late at night for the first coat. It's supposed to rain tonight but the temp will be in the upper 30's. ----------------------- Page 7----------------------- Entry: Feb 03, 2004 -------------------------------------- Delivered squirrel number 11 to the industrial park then stopped into the greenhouse and did my Krogers shopping. Came back and worked on the cabinet door frames - also installed one set of big closet doors. Lunch was baked beans and potato salad - dinner was Beef Merlot by Healthy Choice. Entry: Feb 04, 2004 -------------------------------------- Squirrel number 12 got delivered this morning then I went to the Credit Union and deposited the BB checks. Jennifer called me out to the greenhouse since she had a lot of money she wanted me to take. Picked Lib up at 5 from the airport. her flight was 10 minutes early. She called my cell just as I was crossing the bridge over I-40. We picked up a pizza at Schianos at Laura Village for dinner. Entry: Feb 05, 2004 -------------------------------------- Lib went to the greenhouse and I finished up painting the garage closet and putting the last trim on. I'll defer putting the doors on until after I finsih up some photography work I have to do on my computer. Dinner was Chicken Creole which was a Zatarains mix, diced tomatoes and a can of chink chicken. Entry: Feb 06, 2004 -------------------------------------- Didn't do much of anything today. It was dreary and raining outside - moved in a little into the new closet in the garage. I thought my Tivo remote had come but instead i received some cables I didn't need. Wrote to the vendor on eBay and he's going to ship the correct item. Dinner was creamed tuna on toast. Lib was a little under the weather this evening. Entry: Feb 07, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on MAAVS web site stuff this morning. Lib and I took a walk around the lake during the Opera quiz of Rigoletto at the Met then picked up some cereal in Krogers for her. Came back and finished making the CD's of Hana's tfp session from December. Now I need to start the Benziger wedding. Dinner was the boneless ribs with rice and beans and Ravenwood Zinfindel. In the evening I did some DVD research for the AVSA library offerings, specifically the Ken Burns effect. Entry: Feb 08, 2004 -------------------------------------- Watched Breakfast with the Arts - Grammy nominees then went upstairs and started doing the Benziger wedding. Finished Lauras pix at around 5 and uploaded the order to Candid2000. Did not get an eMail so there may be a problem. Watched the Joan Rivers Red Carpet and then the Grammys afterwards. Lib made pizza but ran out of bread flour so the crusts were thin. Entry: Feb 09, 2004 -------------------------------------- My order wasn't at Candid2000 - resent it then found it was there twice. Called them to get it deleted. Finished the second batch then uploaded them. The pics are done!!!!Now I go on to the W2's. Dinner was chicken strips with beets and string beans. ----------------------- Page 8----------------------- Entry: Feb 10, 2004 -------------------------------------- Hanna came over this morning at 9 and we chatted about weddings for an hour. I looked up her B&B on the web - very nice. Afterwards went to Krogers for groceries. In the PM worked on the W-2's and the W-3 for Bluebird. Finished it all up - a relief! Dinner was spaghetti squash with tomato sauce - very good!!!! I booked the Grand Canyon hotel for our Arizona trip. Entry: Feb 11, 2004 -------------------------------------- Dropped off squirrel number 14 then went to the Post Office and Barnes and Noble. Their prices on Adobe tutorial books are outrageous. Later Lib and i went to Sams because there is a snow storm predicted for tomorrow - she's out of cereal and we need a new microwave so we picked up that stuff then she had to go to meet the Wyatt truck at the greenhouse. Earlier in the day a tractor trailer showed up at our house with six cases of pots. I put them into the Taurus to bring over to the greenhouse but Lib showed up so I was able to transfer them to the minivan. Dinner was spaghetti squash and salad. Entry: Feb 12, 2004 -------------------------------------- We woke this morning to rain instead of snow. It looks like we dodged another bullet but we'll see how it goes into the day. Dinner was hamburgers with a squash veggie mix. The second FedEx package finally arrived at 4:30PM. It was supposed to be here yesterday before 10:30AM. The 5x7 pictures are not good - bad cropping. Have contacted Candid 2000. Entry: Feb 13, 2004 -------------------------------------- Spent the day trying to deal with Candid 2000. The first person, Tena had nothing to say except to send them the pictures. Her supervisor, Stacy, called later and said to resubmit and send the others back. I spent $9 in postage and sent the pictures back but I have little faith in them re-printing them in any kind of timely fashio. The good news is that Art Leather will be the gating items so we have a few weeks to wait. I filed a claim with FedEx to get my shipping funds back. Dinner was salmon with wild rice and Fat B* chardonnay. Entry: Feb 14, 2004 -------------------------------------- Put together Maranathas cd today because she's going to pick it up tomorrow. Had a bride, Preah, come over at 1:15 today so I got started late on the opera, Queen of Spades. Went over to Krogers for celery and bread for the turkey today. Lib cooked a turkey with mashed potatos, cranberry sauce, stuffing and green beans with Yellowtail chardonnay. Entry: Feb 15, 2004 -------------------------------------- Read the paper and watched the weather - it's supposed to rain then change to snow. The tmep is 44 this afternoon. Did osme reading on Misterhouse as a means to supply a display and keyboard. Did some reading on the laptop about all this downstairs while Lib had a fire going. The all day rain finally changed over at 9 PM and ended at 11 with a light dusting on everything. Round two comes ----------------------- Page 9----------------------- Tuesday. We caught squirrel number 15 today. Entry: Feb 16, 2004 -------------------------------------- Spent the whole day reading about Misterhouse and how it works. Implemented an MH server and a few perl routines in the late evening. Temps warmed up into the upper thirties. We ended up with just a dusting of snow last night and a little bit on the roads but they were mainly clear. I walked down the driveway in early morning to take pictures and get the newspaper - met the meter reader at the street. Dinner was leftover turkey, dressing and potatoes with cranberry sauce and water. Entry: Feb 17, 2004 -------------------------------------- It started snowing like crazy this morning, so much that I decided to go to Krogers before it got any worse. It ended up tapering off by noon - the precipitation came earlier than predicted and more intense than predicted. A second wave was supposed to form off the coast in the evening and get us again but it never occured. I spent some time building the Benziger picture selections again. Candid 2000 never printed the pictures I uploaded to them Friday. I've given up on them and will send the pictures to EZprints. Libbie hepled me make some additional selections for Laura's book. Dinner was a spaghetti squash with tomato and turkey. I didn't like the turkey on the squash. We had yogurt later while watching Oprah and the Sex and the City Girls talk about their upcoming last show this sunday night. Entry: Feb 18, 2004 -------------------------------------- Ordered the Benzger 5x7 wedding prints from EZPrints - I gave up on Candid2000 and their slowness, broken servers and poor customer service. Built one collage of a getting ready sequence. Cleaned the garage floor and set up the lights then Hana came over at 1 and we shot pictures of casual ware the rest of the afternoon. Lib came out for a while and helped with posing. Dinner was turkey, mashed potato and gravy with some squash and basil. Entry: Feb 19, 2004 -------------------------------------- Hana called this morning about doing some photography. I said come over and she was there at 11. We did some casual then her friend Scott came over with his massage table. He left and Libbie left to go back to the greenhouse but Hana stayed and we did some toolgirl shots. Dinner was spaghetti squash which I'm tired of. Entry: Feb 20, 2004 -------------------------------------- A beautiful day in the 70's. Jennifer called that she had money at the greenhouse and since Lib was in Greensboro at a Historical Society meeting I was in charge. Spent the afternoon doing nothing - answered a few eMails about the AVSA convention and photography. Entry: Feb 21, 2004 -------------------------------------- Cleaned the place up alittle - Preah is bringing the check over. She showed up at 2 during the ----------------------- Page 10----------------------- Stravinsky opera and signed up for May 29th. Next we went out and walked around the lake and stopped in Krogers to pick up ribs. Dinner was ribs with Ravenwood Zin and beans and rice. Entry: Feb 22, 2004 -------------------------------------- In the morning read the paper on the backporch - it's a nice 60 something outside. Did some research on Mailstation hacking because they're cheap at Office Max - $30. Had donuts then a salad and dressed for the opera. Balanchine celebration was the performance - we bought our tickets at the door. Loved the performance. First number was a bonus - it was reflection by two people to Tchaikovsky's Meditation. The stage had a huge gold frame and a red draping material spilling out the corner then covering a isngle riser rising up the left side . Th e ballerina was stanidng in white on the riser. Second number was Allegro Brillante which featured pairs doing dances together and of course a main pair. Third piece was La Sonnambula by Stravinsky - very large dance number - 18 dancers in ball costumes - the scenery was a ballroom. Weiss came out before the perfromance and called this the main course followed by Rubies which he called the Cherries Jubilee. My favorite was the sleeper who danced on her toes in a dream state carryring a candle. The male grabbed the candle and pushed her back and forth and twirled her round. There was a jester who was very lively and performed an energetic series of jumps, leaps and movements. Rubies was also a large number with the dancers in red with white bottoms and a black backdrop and red glitter. The dancing was very fast and very good. We got home and had traditional pizza with turkey sausage left over from earlier this week. Entry: Feb 23, 2004 -------------------------------------- We caught squirrel number 16 today!!!! Also received a certified letter from Sarasota about Bay Club dock construction. I spent all morning and afternoon reading about windowing software and also various compilers. Installed the Watcom compiler but the libraries for the windowing software doesn't have watcom libraries. We went out at 5:30 and picked up a Kroger Rotissirie chicken and potato salad. The PC Windows library routines are working well - I put together a panel and keyboard handler in the evening. Entry: Feb 24, 2004 -------------------------------------- Downloaded MS Maps 2004 from the web today and burned two CD's as well as an install on Manon. Picked up groceries at Krogers then went to the Credit Union to deposit Preah's check and the CD rebate check then went to Crossroads. Found cement sheets of siding at Lowes then went to Office Max and bought a Mailstation and got a stack of free blank CDRs. Free after a rebate that is. Worked some more on the serial panel interface to the TNC. Dinner was pasta with Bombolina Sauce and mozarella cheese. Entry: Feb 25, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did a lot of financial reading today - my CGPt is starting to recover after El Paso restated their reserves and consequently had their credit rating lowered. Will sell when it fully recovers and get something more stable. Their are better issues with similar yields. Went to the greenhouse and repaired a heat duct over the aisle that fell down. The wire seems to have corroded that was holding the tube on. Downloaded and installed a new version of MS Streets, Streets 2004. Also downloadedMSN Jan 2004 and made Hana's CD's from last week. Dinner was chicken and Lima Beans. Rented "Under the Tuscan Sun" which we watched. Very well photographed. The story ----------------------- Page 11----------------------- reminded me of Year in Provence which we both read last year. Entry: Feb 26, 2004 -------------------------------------- The snow started today at noon but ended by 3 - we only got a dusting. The siewalk and roads are only wet. Cut some cabinet doors before the precip started. Need to dado out the top edge now. In the PM I worked on burning some DVD's - also looked at the AVSA slide show with the cassette and slide projector. Dinner was Healthy Choice Merlot. Lib had Chicken Tuscany. We watched Under the Tuscan sun in the evening again with the directors comments but I fell asleep through the middle of it. Entry: Feb 27, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning we looked at the overnight snowfall - the sidewalk and drivewy seems to be slushy. We had sloppy stuff falling all night with some pretty good winds. It continued raining through the morning - I went over to Blockbuster at 10 to return a movie andpick up some of Lib's ingredients for Chicken Cacatiore. The Guenthers arrived at 7:30 - we had the chicken and also some Doritos and wine. Bruce went out later for wine and ice cream for desert. Entry: Feb 28, 2004 -------------------------------------- Didn't do much today - it's a beautiful sunny day. Caught another squirrel - Lib went to the greenhouse with Sue and Bruce and dumped the squirrel. We rented Pirates of the Caribbean and watched it after a Chinese takeout dinner. Entry: Feb 29, 2004 -------------------------------------- Picked up Bagels at 8 from Brueggers then worked on Libs computer upgrading the harddrive while the Guenthers were still here. Beautiful day outside!!! Hana came over with Zeric to pick up her CD's. Received a call from Marie wanting to do a shoot but I didn;t feel like it. The thinkpad upgrade went unbelievably sucessfully. Copied the hard disk using disk image, mounted the new drive in C, repartitioned it with partition magic then installed WinDates so Lib could track weddings. Finished up installing Louisiana Lagniappe and some of the TAVS pics from last year. We had some leftover Chinese for lunch then Lib made traditional pizza for dinner. We watched the Oscars and the red carpet show in the evening. There weren't many fashion mistakes this year - mostly tasteful beautiful stuff. Entry: Mar 01, 2004 -------------------------------------- A beautiful day again - sunny and warm around 70. Went to Best Buy and got a new 200 gig harddrive for 199 before a $70 rebate. Also got a compact flash card reader for avsa and a Rolling Stones DVD of their 4 concerts. Returned the Mailstation to OfficeMax after I found that replacing the processor wasn't very easy due to the fine lead pitch. No advantage to the LCD and keyboard - I can get a laptop on eBay for around $100 as a better alternative. The hard drive installation went well - it booted OK with the old drives contents. Next I installed Photoshop CS and played with it a little but didn't do anything serious. Grain surgery seems to not work. Dinner was leftover chicken cacciatore which Lib mixed with fresh spaghetti. We watched more Oscar stuff including Oprahs special from the Kodak theater. ----------------------- Page 12----------------------- Entry: Mar 02, 2004 -------------------------------------- Had a good checkup at the dentist this morning. Talked with Dr Paul about new technology he will be getting then talked with hygienist about the merits of an Oral powered brush versus just an egg timer. It was a nice day - I worked on DVD's and actually produced the chapter one DVD from the Encore Classroom in a Book book. So far I really like the Adobe series - I learned a lot of photoshop from the PS Classroom in a Book. We had spaghetti caciatore for dinner then afterwards went to Sams to return the Nicholas Sparks book we bought but already have. I bought a case of oil and deodorant but the bill got to be higher because Lib also renewed our membership. Stayed up trying to finish chapter 2 of the Adobe book but went to bed tired before completing it. Entry: Mar 03, 2004 -------------------------------------- Spent some time working on another DVD menu - then I changed the oil in the minivan after a trip to Walmart for a filter. Found the A/C is not working - tokk another trip and got 3 cans of R134 refrigerant - this did the trick on the minivan A/C. Also shimmed the latch on the greenhouse back door to make it work smoothly. It was hardly gripping - now it goes into the latch at least a 1/4 inch. Dinner was pasta (Ravioli). Went over to Krogers for road snack food and also a Sunday Fudge Pie for desert - 2 individual slices. Packed the car and now ready to go. Entry: Mar 04, 2004 -------------------------------------- Got up normally and left after breakfast - around 7:09 AM. Stopped in Florence around 9:30 for biscuits and coffee. Kept going until a gas stop just below Savannah - 1.75 for middle grade because they had no regular. Continued til below Jax where we had Wendy's salads and got gas at 1.71. Lib took over the driving - lots of bikes going to bike week. Left them at Daytonna and had smooth sailing the rest of the way. Arrived at the Vero Hampton at 6 PM. Took a walk around the outlet mall and bought 4 pairs of sneakers at Reebock and a complete set of flatware at the Lenox store. Lenox didn't have our bowls anymore. Lib was looking at some Oneida ware at home but without the serving pieces. We got the whole set for 8 including servers. Dinner at the cracker barrel was unremarkable - I had the fried shrimp special which had lots of shrimp and 3 veggies. We must have been hungry since we had the cornbread muffins and biscuits with our meal. Entry: Mar 05, 2004 -------------------------------------- We slept in until 7:21 then got dressed and went down for breakfast. I had a wrapped bagel and Danish. Left for Miami a little after 9 - got gas first to top off the tank then headed down 95. Clear travel until Lauderdale where it was stop and go. Almost immediateley after 95 ended we turned left and found bayshore drive and drove along the waterfront to the Convention Center. Found parking in the shade almost right away and did the show. Left for a slice pizza around 2 down the road then returned and sat through a 3 PM lecture on mini Orchids. The guy was uncouth - Lib didn't like him. Took lots more pictures then collected all our purchases - left the convention center at 5 and headed North on 1 then 95 until we got to the East West. It was terrible and took over an hour to cross Miami. The TPK was congested but moving along. Stopped in Napls for gas and McDOnallds. We wanted a Wendy salad but McDonalds was more prevalent. Paid 1.79 for regular. Prices are rising. My Big Mac was not a bargain either - fries, hamburger and drink was $4. Arrived at Island Reef at 10 PM. The trip so far has been good. ----------------------- Page 13----------------------- Entry: Mar 06, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I ran down to Publix at 7 and got bagels and CC. Picked up some coffee at 7-11. We walked Selby in the morning and stayed for lunch. Lib and I shared a turkey and ham wrap then picked up an ice cream on the way home at Albrittons. I spent the afternoon downloading pictures out on the porch. Later in the day I tried turning the PC on and found it would not boot. We think that leaving on the porch in the humidity did it in. Not sure. It magically came back alive Sunday night so I'm writing this a day late. I was afraid the hard disk died. Dinner was marinated chicken on the grill that Lib cooked with wine and California veggies. Entry: Mar 07, 2004 -------------------------------------- Took a walk this morning then got ready for the opera. Left at 11:30 so we could do the pancake breakfast. I only had 2 pancakes - trying to eat light because of the opera. I totally enjoyed werther although George and Mary are not much into opera and probably didn't like it. We parked at the Methodist church down the street. Took a picture of an interesting girl in tights and a police hat. We tried to go out to dinner at Fish tales but they were closed so we went to Bonefish Grill - very good. I had Ahi Tuna with Mango Salsa. In the evening the computer came to life when I tried booting. Amazing!!! Started reading a Karen Robard book today Entry: Mar 08, 2004 -------------------------------------- We walked the waterfront today looking at sculptures and taking pictures. Left Sarasota a little after lunch - around 2. Tanked up on Siesta Key at $1.79 and didn't stop until we got to Savannah about 7 PM. Saw an accident in Starke and also smoke from a brush fire in the western sky. TV at home said it was a big fire west of Jacksonville. There weren't too many motorcycles on I-95 in con trast to the trip down. Our hotel is the Hampton Gateway at exit 94 of I-95. An old fashioned hotel with outdoor corridors. Unloaded the Orchids into the room because it will be in the thirties tonight. Left the Lemon tree in the car. Went over to the Cracker Barrel next door for dinner. I had grilled catfish, Lib had the pork chops. She had a comment that with all the hotels around the Cracker Barrel it was like circling the chuck wagon which was an appropriate comment. The weather channel is showing that we will miss the storm front by a few hours. It extends diagonally from Savannah to the Northwest leaving I- 95 in the clear. My computer is not working. Entry: Mar 09, 2004 -------------------------------------- Had a Hampton breakfast at Savannah then got going at 8 AM. Travel was pretty easy - arrived in Apex at 1 PM. It's supposed to snow this evening but never happened. We did the Krogers Old Timers day today. In the afternoon I was able to download Traviata with Renee Fleming from this past Saturday. Entry: Mar 10, 2004 -------------------------------------- Day one of our return. I was numb from all the driving but lots of catching up to do including a broken laptop. Researched some replacement laptops on eBay. The good news was that it really is my ----------------------- Page 14----------------------- laptop and not the hard drive. Backed up everything to Manon. Entry: Mar 12, 2004 -------------------------------------- This afternoon I had an appointment with a NYC couple and their sister about a Sept wedding. I had an extra hour and ran to the credit union but they were an hour early and came over while I was at the Credit Union. Also checked out DVD players in Walmart. Entry: Mar 13, 2004 -------------------------------------- Spent some time today organizing pictures, preparing for a new computer. Listened to Don Giovanni a little this afternoon then had to leave becuase we were photographing Franchelle and Todd at Regency Park at 4. Afterwards we got wood at Home Depot for shelves and ribs at Krogers for dinner. Had the ribs with Zinnfindel and potato and sour cream. Entry: Mar 14, 2004 -------------------------------------- After the newspaper went over to the greenhouse and started the shelves. Finished up at 5 PM. They came out pretty good. Returned some 2x4's to Home Depot and picked up a Freschetta pizza from Lowes next door. A very tiring day!! Entry: Mar 15, 2004 -------------------------------------- It's a rainy day. Went out to the greenhouse to put metal roofing over the new shelves to shield them from water and to deal with the termites again. Did some online research on termite protection. Bought some spot treatment from Home Depot. Dinner tonight was Zatarains Creole mix. Entry: Mar 16, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did some DVD work this morning then the laptop arrived via UPS. Couldn't get my drive to work in the new laptop so I moved Libbies drive into the new machine then put my drive into Libs machine. Ran scandisk on it all afternoon. Next I will defrag the disk. Went to Krogers this morning but nowhere else. Caught squirrel number 20 today and dropped him off behind Krogers because it was raining. Dinner was barbecue from Jennifer along with rice and beans. Yummy. Entry: Mar 17, 2004 -------------------------------------- Cleaned up the office a little, then Hana came over. I gave her some photo shop lessons. Franchelles pix came - Ir esized then to 8x10 and resubmitted to ezprints. Made them portrait mode and changed the contrast a little. Dinner was the rest of the barbecue pork and some baked beans which nicely complemented the barbecue. For desert we had Chunky Monkey ice cream which was very very nice. Heard from Joe today - he bought some FBR. Hope it does him some good. ----------------------- Page 15----------------------- Entry: Mar 18, 2004 -------------------------------------- The day started nice but then turned to dreary cold rain - 52 degrees. Returned the Gone with the wind video then spent some time learning Encore DVD. Cleaned the garage with Libs help since a model is coming tomorrow. Bought some Glade air freshners for the back room to mask a foul odor we have back there. We don't know where it's coming from. Bought fresh pasta at Krogers when I got the air freshners and we had that for dinner. Heard from Weta - she still wants articles for the N&O. Entry: Mar 19, 2004 -------------------------------------- Lib went to aerobics at 8 and I went behind Krogers to drop off the possum we caught in the trap overnight. Came home to set up the lights and carpet for Aletha who is coming at 10. I was wary of a no show but she arrived a little early - I adjusted the lighting while she waited then we started the photo session. I had fun - she was a nice girl, cooperative but inexperienced. She left at 12:30 then Lib came home and we sat out in the sun on the back porch having lunch and enjoying the spring like weather. Took a trip to the greenhouse and Home Depot to look at replacement bench tops - they didn't have any welded wire with small openings. Dinner was a pork chop with salad and lima beans. Just before dinner Maranatha dropped off her photo list. I'm pretty full now with stuff to do with greenhouse bench and siding, Alethas CD, Maranathas stuff, Lauras book and the ongoing wireless development effort for monitoring the greenhouse. After dinner we took a trip to Lowes to look at fencing but came up empty handed. Came home from Lowes and had chocolate pudding. Entry: Mar 20, 2004 -------------------------------------- Repaired the four foot bench in the greenhouse today. Stopped by Ace to see if they had fencing for the bench top but they only had 2x4 spacing. Will try Agri Supply during the week. Listened to Rheingold on the Met htis afternoon while working on pictures. I'm not happy with the way the 10d is putting out low light pictures - it needs help. Tried various test pictures to see if I oculd nail the problem. Focus seems to be soft. Dinner was a pork chop with salad, brocolli and potato and Yellow Tail Chardonnay. Entry: Mar 21, 2004 -------------------------------------- After reading the paper Lib and I went to the greenhouse and pulled shade on house 2 and house 3. We came back dirty and put a pole in the ground for our Bluebird house which hasn't been used since we put it up over 10 years ago. Lib stayed outside on the porch reading instead of going back to the greenhouse. I spent some time correcting the images from Aletha then building a CD and also a collage. I like how it turned out. Dinner was traditional pizza using Newmans Bombalina sauce. The food channel was running a pizza marathon with pizza contests and pizza recipes by famous chefs. We were right in tune! Entry: Mar 22, 2004 -------------------------------------- In the morning I started looking at the streps for Bluebirds web site. We're going to add a separate section for companion plants but I need to distinguish among chiritas, streps, episcia, minis, trailers, etc Blockbuster called and told me I had a movie late - went over there and they found Gone With the Wind on the shelf - it wasn't late at all. Daryns parents came over at 6:30 and we went through the ----------------------- Page 16----------------------- wedding pictures - picked a few out for re-order. In the evening I read a little on Monte's site about lighting. The old Zuga site is a mess. Dinner before the Watsons came over was peas and creamed tuna on bread. Entry: Mar 23, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on database development in th emorning then stopped by th elibrary andpicked up and Office XP book to read about Access databases. I'm looking into searching. Tried some phot database programs but wasn't satisfied with anything. Will create my own because it will give me everything I'm looking for. Did the Krogers run - picked up a turkey breast. Spoke with Heidi in Philly this evening. She is busy redesigning my web site. I spent a lot of the evening working on updating the bluebird web management programs - great inventory and great violets. They now include other categories of violets such as streps, chiritas, trailers and minis. As soon as I figure how to structure the web site I will modify great publisher to create web pages. Today was a nice sunny day but a little chilly around 50 degrees. Dinner was pasta with Newmans Sockarooni sprinkled with cheese. For desert we had chocolate chip pudding. Entry: Mar 24, 2004 -------------------------------------- Took Franchelles picture over to her office. Will meet with her at the rehearsal. Went over to the greenhouse and chainsawed the pampas grass then took down the tree in the back that was broken up in the air. When I got home I offloaded some PC files onto CDRs. In the evening my PC wouldn't boot anymore. Booted an old hard drive with XP on it and allowed it to fix the original C drive which was now on D. Lib is having trouble with Logans - they haven't been taking Orchids due to personnel changes. Dinner tonight was Zatarains frozen entrees. I had bell pepper with sausage and beans. Entry: Mar 25, 2004 -------------------------------------- A nice day. Worked on adding streps to the database then started modifying great publisher to put out the new pages. Lib found a few bugs in great inventory that I fixed. I took Lib ot the credit uniuon then we walked around the lake. My montage of "32 years with Libbie" arrived today - I'm happy with the way it came out. For dinner we went out to Lucky32 - a very nice meal. I had roasted scallops, Libbie had Oakwood chicken which was smoked chicken over pasta. We had a bottle of Mondavi Chardonnay with dinner - total was $71 including tip. A nice evening out. We picked up desert in Krogers - Making Whoopie ice cream. Entry: Mar 26, 2004 -------------------------------------- Tried getting the companion page to come out correctly. Finally nailed it late in the PM. Lib and I walked the lake - a beautiful day in the high seventies. We went to Franchelles rehearsal at 5:30. She didn't get there until after six - she didn't have a shot list like she was going to bring. I guess we'll just wing it for this one. Dinner was homemade chili with cornbread. Very tasty. Finished the Whoopie Pie ice cream for desert. Watched a 20/20 story on fat camp about group of youths trying to slim ----------------------- Page 17----------------------- down over the summer and how they fail when they finally get home and back into a routine. Did a lot of reading of both the camera manual and the Q Flash manuals before bed. Entry: Mar 27, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I charged batteries and set up lights in the garage to test lighting scenarios. My goal was to shoot at f2.8 using a fill light and the Q Flash. We left for the wedding shortly before 2 arriving at White Plains at 2:15. Couldn't get both flashes to fire manually so I ended up with the Q Flash on auto and the fill flash on manual. It seemed to work Ok. The wedding pictures went smoothly - the reception was a diferent story. I had trouble focusing on the bouquet toss because of poor lighting. We got home at 8 PM and did not stay for the goodby exit. Entry: Mar 28, 2004 -------------------------------------- A slow monring. Enjoyed the back porch for breakfast then watched A&E Metropolitan audition winners for 2004. Downloaded Salome we missed yesterday from the Met. Found some reviews about the 7 veil dance and the Soprano. In the PM Lib and I walked to the library before closing to return a book and donate some magazines. Instead of pizza by Libbie we had a pie from the new Paradise Pizza on 1010 near the greenhouse. Entry: Mar 29, 2004 -------------------------------------- A nice warm day in the seventies. Spent most of the day working on the violet companion menu page. Have it working mostly except for the stock numbers. Went outside and picked up a few branches before coming in to go back to work. Researched scanners on the web and possibly will get an Epson 3170 to scan old slides. Hard to believe but it is a flatbed scanner not a dedicated film scanner. Dinner was leftover chili with homemade corn bread. Vey nice. Entry: Mar 30, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on the violet database updating it to get its' data from a single directory, GreatData. Did the Krogers runa nd stopped by Blockbuster - rented MatchstickMen and Somethings Got to Give. Entry: Mar 31, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on most of the day on Maranatha's pictures. Missing one picture in a collage. Called and talked to Anthony about getting it resolved. They probably got some digits transposed. What a relief to be finished with this. Started looking at the AVSA DVD again. Dinner was a frozen healthy choice of Santa Fe Rice and chili peppers and beans. Very good. Entry: Apr 01, 2004 -------------------------------------- April already!!! It's a cold rainy day outside - we ad a pretty good hail storm last evening. The ground was white but the temp in the evneing was 52. Started working on the AVSA DVD and sucessfully ----------------------- Page 18----------------------- burned one -my first creation. Had trouble with crashes at first but found a solution on the Adobe message boards which said to rename one of the Ulead drivers. I did and we rendered a successful DVD whcih I tested on the downstairs TV. My copy of "Unfailthful" arrived today. Very quick service. I ordered a remainder book from Amazon today - a National Geographic pictures of the cenury book for $3. The Thinkpad 770 DVD drivers disk didn't arrive yet. Took some more violet photos and updated the database - also touched up the Great Publisher program with heading descriptions for the companion pages. Lib is adding descriptions - we'll be ready to launch this week. Entry: Apr 02, 2004 -------------------------------------- Watched some of the Unfaithful DVD. In the evening we dozed to the directors commentary of Matchstick men. I spent the morning researching how to build a PDF version of the Bluebird Catalog. In the afternoon I started building the Visual Basic code that built the html code that went into the PDF. I ended up with a freeware program called html2doc. It takes a list of html files and creates a pdf. In the evening we did Szechuan Chicken takeout which we had with Chardonnay. This caused me to doze and then go to bed at 10. At around 10:30 we got a call from the greenhouse about cold temperatures. Strange enough in that the outdoor temp is 45 yet the greenhouse called saying it was 49. Went over and looked around - could find nothing wrong. Returned around midnight. I stayed up and worked on the pdf catalog until 1:30 AM. Added the prices and also the pages for minis, chiritas, trailers and other plants. Previously I had the standard violets working. Entry: Apr 03, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked some more on the web pages - got the pdf index page working and also an order form built. The opera started early today - Walkure. I took pictures when Lib came home at the beginning of the opera and then spent the afternoon labeling and classifying the images then put them into the database. The opera was over at 5:25 and sunset was at 6:38 so we took advantage of the time to repair the torn plastic covering the cool cells. Had to replace a ten foot by two foot section over house 3. Lib smoked the greenhouse while I did the repairs. Took some sunset pix then went to Krogers to pick up ribs for tonights dinner. Had ribs and ravenwood zin for dinner. Set the clocks ahead this evening - time changes tomorrow morning. Updated all the images on the web site after dinner but not the html. Will do that tomorrow when I can think clearer and test all the links. Entry: Apr 04, 2004 -------------------------------------- I uploaded the new bluebird files this morning while watchng breakfast with the arts. Lib brought donuts at 11 then we cleaned up and left for the Messiah at 1. We had tickets at Will Call. The surprise was that the performance was in Memorial Auditorium instead of the small theater. We were Row E - very nice seats off to stage right a little. The Messiah was uplifting - incredibly colorful, skillfully danced and a visual treat. Got home at 4:30. I ran out with the mortgage check and dropped a book off at the library. Lib made traditional pizza - it was incredibly good. Outside it's a little chilly and very windy. Spring is supposed to be here but I wonder where. Entry: Apr 05, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I printed out the tax returns. I added the Monet studio accounting which results in all m ----------------------- Page 19----------------------- y money getting refunded except for a penalty for last years ira contribution. Entry: Apr 06, 2004 -------------------------------------- A very busy day. Worked on the Avatar in the morning then went to get Kroger groceries. After groceries took a ride around Raleigh scouting locations for photography. Ruled out the arboretum and Western Blvd. McGregor bridge is pretty nice, the Rose Gardens aren't bad either. Came home and finished up MAranatha's pictures as well as Joy and Mikes. Learned a lot from some PS7 tutorials I donloaded. Seems to be a good Photoshop tutorial. Dinner was chicken breast and mixed veggies. Entry: Apr 07, 2004 -------------------------------------- Hana came over in her wedding dress at 9 this morning. We went to the bridge at McGregor then drove over to the Raleigh Rose Garden and did the rest of the pictures. Stayed out until 11:30. The mail brought me a National Geographic Millenium from Amazon that I bought for $2. Spent some of the afternoon downloading pictures and working on my Avatar program. Dinner was Healthy Choice Whiskey Chicken. Entry: Apr 08, 2004 -------------------------------------- Wa sworking on the Avatar program when Lib called telling me I should come over to get pictures of Nancy. Did the pictures then came home and did pictures of a tray of plants that Lib brought home. Dinner was Barbecue Sandwiches on the back porch. We walked to the Gole furniture store this afternoon to look at gas logs. I think we will get the 24 inch logs. Entry: Apr 09, 2004 -------------------------------------- I worked in the morning on updating the bluebird database and then the we bsite with Nancys picture. Updating the databas eis a lot of work because the pix need labeling, cropping and inserting into the database. Adding Nancys picture was somewhat easier because it was just adding two more rows to the picture table on the experts page and then uploading everything. At 6:45 we went over to Fuquay and scoped out the bed and breakfast that Hana will get married in tomorrow. On the way back stopped in downtown for a Margarita and idnner. Picked up some reyers M&M ice creamfor deseet. It's not as good as the stuff Edys used to make because Edy used mint ice cream whereas Breyers used Vanilla Fudge. Entry: Apr 10, 2004 -------------------------------------- I got another section of the AVSA DVD built this morning then Maranathas pictures arrived so I started putting the album together while Nabucco played live from the Met. We had to leave at 3:30 for Hana's wedding. We found out her name is Jena, her middle name is Hana. The wedding was outdoors at 5 at the Mineral Springs Bed and Breakfast - it rained on and off but Hana's family is very nice and we enjoyed the time there. A horse drawn carriage added the finishing touches. We were ----------------------- Page 20----------------------- home around 8. Entry: Apr 11, 2004 -------------------------------------- Read the paper on the back porch and enjoyed the frogs around the pond. The rain didn't come overnight. Around lunchtime Lib and I went out to look for a tire patch kit. Walmart was closed for Easter but the old Western Auto on Kildaire Farm Rd was open - bought a patch plug refill kit. Found that the tire had a screw in it - put the patch in and am keeping my fingers crossed. We want this car to leave at the airport for our trip this week. Reviewed Hana's pictures - they came out incredibly well. I'm going to try a magazine type story as PR for the bed and breakfast. Spent the rest of the day building the dvd for the AVSA show and tell. Lib made her homemade pizza - very nice. Stayed up until 1:30 AM trying to get the DVD menu working. Entry: Apr 12, 2004 -------------------------------------- Spent most of the day figuring out the Adobe encore software. I got the play all button to continue to the next timeline but the next one after that won't continue on, it instead returns to the menu. Downloaded a new versioin of Proshow gold - significantly improved with Ken Burns effect and title effects. Also higher quality and faster rendering. Had to go to a pirate site for a serial number - my Norton kept complaining baout viruses at the same time WinPatrol kept finding home page changes and other maliceware. What a site!!!! Pure garbage. Thank goodness for some of the guardian software I have. Dinner was pasta with tomato sauce. After dinner I tried a couple of new dvd burns I made - menus are still not correct. Don't know what's wrong. In addition, the 77 laptop won't read homemade DVD's. Heard noises in the kitchen - set up a mouse trap and almost immediately caught a mouse in the cabinet below the placemats. Entry: Apr 13, 2004 -------------------------------------- Disaster today - my PC won't boot. Decided to purchase a new large hard drive, 250 mbytes, in circuit city and re-install Win XP. This is a long drawn out process requiring lots of utilities. Decided to collect most of the utility programs into a single directory in order to put them all on a single DVD. Was not able to burn a new DVD for the AVSA meeting - packed up everything for our early morning departure. Entry: Apr 14, 2004 -------------------------------------- We got up at 5:30 to get going for our 8 AM flight. Left home around 6 AM. No breakfast - I dropped Lib at the terminal then drove out to the remote lot. We got into group B - our flight was on time. With the exception of crossing the Smokies, the flight was pretty smooth. Our only food was some crackers and Lorna Doones from the airline. Arrived in Phoenix 30 minutes early. Hertz didn't have a mid sized car - they gave us a Mustang convertible. After opening the trunk we went back and ended up with a silver Toyota Corolla. It was a very nice car. Lib navigated us to I-10 East which we take to Tucson. Seeing LA on a sign, Lib called Joe and actually reached him. Chatted for a while as we drove out of Phoenix. Arrived in Tucson around 1 and had lunch in the hotel restaurant. Our room is on the second floor overlooking the pool with an Orange tree in the window. Very nice. The ----------------------- Page 21----------------------- broadband internet service is worthless. Lots of "page not found" errors. Terrible service. Met Anne and Marjorie in the lobby after lunch. Went out to Radio Shack and looked at RF modulators. The clerk said that Old Pueblo was a nice restaurant - went there for dinner and had dinner on the patio. Very nice environment of flowers, fountains and palm trees. Anne, Marjorie and few others were having dinner there. Went to bed exhausted immediateley afterward. It's very late using East Coast time - :Tucson is 3 hours behind. Entry: Apr 15, 2004 -------------------------------------- Since our biological clock is still on East Coast time we awoke very early. Went up to Brueggers a half mile from the hotel. Afterwards we we sett up the photography station in the showroom. Got the staff to set up tables and we located an extension cord from AVSA properties dept. Went out at lunchtime and bought an RF modulator at Circuit City after taking a lady named Alice to Ellens dress shop on Broadway to get a red hat shirt. Photography started early at 2:15 instead of 3 PM. We spent about 4 hours doing pictures. After we packed everything up we made our way to El Fuente. Enjoyed the Mariache band and good food. Made our way back down broadway through the downtown office skyscrapers to get to the hotel. Entry: Apr 16, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went to Brueggers for breakfast then walked around taking photos of some show filler material. Later in the morning we had a hands on design class which was a lot of fun. Lib and I did the "painted desert". Great fun.HAd a club sandwich for lunch in the hotel restaurant. Met a local woman who was into growing roses. She had lunch with us. At noon Lib was employed as an auction runner. Took a few pix then went to the room for a rest. Later found Libbie acquired all the Russian leaves for $1700 - a new record. Both Janet and Jack, AVSA presidents, were bowing down to Libbie as she entered the showroom because of the huge purchase. In the evening went to the commercial dinner - Joyuce and Kent seemed to be in charge. We had a good time - each person talked about their first violet. It wass an effective ice breaker. Entry: Apr 17, 2004 -------------------------------------- We got up early, packed the car and were out the door by 6:30. Stopped at Brueggers for Bagels and coffee. Just before Phoenix got a tank of gas - only needed 6 gallons. Drove through Sedona - bathroom break at the Chamber of Commerce. Got gas in Flagstaff then had Wendys salad when we got to the Canyon. Drove in, checked into our hotel and then walked to the rim. Awesome but cold and windy. Took the west shuttle one stop and enjoyed the view. After a very crowded shuttle ride to Yavapai we drove back for sunset which never happened. Sat on the porch of the El Tovar for a while and enjoyed the canyon as well as people watching of a large group of Japanese tourists. There were large black clouds looming over the sunset. Went back to Yavapai and got dinner in the cafeteria - we both had Chicken Pies and coffee and tea. While having dinner it started snowing outside - we ran to the car in a blinding snow. We got thoroughly soaked. Drove to our room in the dark and furious snow. Went to bed almost right away. A very exhausting day. ----------------------- Page 22----------------------- Entry: Apr 18, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning was bizarre - there was an inch of ice and snow on our rental car. Libbie used her supermarket card to scrape the front windshield and ran the engine to thaw the rest of the windshield. Instead of breakfast we drove to Yavapai overlook and got blasted by cold wind. Met a mother and three kids who who were camping in the park - they were from Connecticut. Breakfast was in the cafeteria - three big pancakes and a large cinnamon roll. After this we drove to the village and took the shuttle out to Hermits rest. Met a couple from Miami - I took their picture in the large Hermitis rest fireplace. They also went to the Orchid show in Miami last month. Lib bought a sweat shirt their and I got a rim history book. We left there and went to the hotel to check out. Drove to Mathers point and walked around there before returning to the Marketplace Deli for a turkey sandwich with cranberry dressing and 12 grain bread. After this we took the shuttle out to the East end which was the Kabab trail head. Walked down the trail a few hundred feet but Libbie didn't want to go further. I walked away from the trail and then ran when I heard the shuttle bus. Jumped on the front and walked through looking for Libbie and the doors closed when I got to the back. I went back but Libbie was stranded. She took the next shuttle in 10 minutes and we rejoined. Took a last look, stopped for crackers and water outside the park then headed back. A long line of cars had to be passed just outside the Canyon since the leader wasn't even doing the speed limit. Our little Toyota Corolla has pretty good pickup and handling. Enjoyed the snow on the San Francisco peaks on the way to Flagstaff. We were stopped on I-17 44 miles from Phoenix by an accident. Traffic was stop and go the rest of the way. Checked into a $53 Hampton Inn on 51st Ave about 8 miles from the airport. It was a nice hotel - drove to 75th St and stopped at an Outback for dinner at 8 PM. I had a slab of ribs with fries and a 22 oz Fosters beer. This was way too much food - I felt miserable afterwards and passed out in bed. Entry: Apr 19, 2004 -------------------------------------- Last night wasn't so great - I had an ear problem then awoke at 1, 3 and 5 with diarrhea. Lib gave me an Imodium at 5 and that quieted things down but I was still queezy. We had a Hampton breakfast - I went easy and only had OJ, coffee and an English Muffin with Orange Marmalade. Stopped for gas at the gas station next to the Hampton and filled up then drove to the airport. We left around 8:30 and very smoothly found the Hertz drop off. They took us right away to the terminal - we got an A ticket on Southwest which is the first boarding group. I was worried we were late. The flight left {hoenix on time - I only had their crackers and water. Didn;t want to push anything. The flight was very rough - I saw on the TV weather that there was a severe strom over Texas. Once we reached the Mississippi the flight smoothed out a little. The good news was it was a side to side rocking motion instead of the up and down chop which I don't like. We got our luggage and found my suitcase was inspected by the TSA - it had all the lights and wires. Stopped in Krogers on the way home and got dinner and some breakfast fixins. We got home around 7:15 including the Krogers trip. Entry: Apr 20, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning my ears stiull have not equalized. Right ear feels like it has fluid in it. Would love to get it clear. Spent more time this morning installing apps on Manon that need to be on the new drive. Went to Krogers for the Tues grocery run and picked up ear drops that don't work. Worked restoring more of my programs on the hard drive. Dinner was 3 cheese ravioli. Went to bed late then read a little of the Karen Robards book I was reading on the plane. ----------------------- Page 23----------------------- Entry: Apr 21, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did some more program work this morning before working on pictures for EzPrints. Submitted everything then started organizing and also downloading the rest of the Tucson trip pictures. Took a look at our show pictures and have to admit they are very good. Lib's pics of the GC were excellent. Loved some of them. Lib and I walked in the back woods to investigate a natural pink dogwood. It's about 20 feet high and blooming pink!! For dinner we had chicken tenders and mixed veggies. Late in the evening I installed Flib Book software on my PC. I'm going to experiment with building a virtual tour of the AVSA convention. Stayed up until 12:30 PM working on reading the FlipBook stuff. Entry: Apr 22, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning my ear is finally clear but I seem to be having palpatations that are annoying. I can hear my hear beating in my throat. I need to momentarily leave the Flipbook stuff to get Laura's album built sometime today. Labeled all the violet pictures, scanned the Russian plant tags then started bulding the FlipBook in earnest. I'm really happy with the progress using the software. Lib and I walked this afternoon to the furniture store - tried ordering the gas logs but the guy who knew about them wasn't there. Dinner this evening was Healthy choice chicken and almond. Very tasty. Resumed downloading the windows dvd install. The DVD has all versions of windows from pirates. Entry: Apr 23, 2004 -------------------------------------- Spent a lot of time working on the clickbook album for AVSA. Found a clickbook installer which looks promising. This thing forces the product to run from the harddrive. Dinner was healthy choice. Entry: Apr 24, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on the AVSA pictures this morning planning to be inside today for Gotterdammerung which starts at noon. During the opera received several calls from the Healds about the wedding two weeks from now. This was annoying since it was during the best part of the end of the opera. Dinner was Ravenwood Zin with ribs from Kroger Afterwards tried watching American Splendor but fell asleep watching it. It didn't seem that great a movie in spite of the good reviews. Entry: Apr 25, 2004 -------------------------------------- Not having much luck with my PC - the drives keep getting corrupted. Finally got to the point where it won't boot at all. Ended up ordering a new motherboard and CPU as well as a new case and power supply from Newegg. Dinner was traditional pizza. The no PC is a blessing since I finished up Lauras album - Lib and I crawled around on the floor putting it together so it can be mailed tomorrow. Also started assembling Maranthas album. It's hard to do without a POC identifying the picture numbers. ----------------------- Page 24----------------------- Entry: Apr 26, 2004 -------------------------------------- Tried again to boot my PC and install XP SP1 but the thing wouldn't even turn on. Went to the greenhouse and got the Art Leather box ofr Benziger packaged. Took it to the Post Office, stood in line, and mailed it Priority Mail. Went to Best Buy and purchased an ATA/133 IO card for large hard drives. Will use it on my new PC. Found that Tiger Direct is in Raleigh. Tried cancelling my Newegg order but they said it already shipped. Will wait for it to come. Spent some time working on /Maranthas album. It's hard to do reading from the picture file numbers since my PC is down. Mowed the lawn, trimmed with the weed trimmer and blew the driveway off. It started pouring around 3 PM - my reaction was to roll the car out and leave it in the driveway to get cleaned off. My May 8 bride had to be rescheduled from tonights engagement session because of the rain. Dinner was Healthy Choice chicken. Went to Krogers afterward and bought Death by chocolate oce cream. Downloaded a corp version of Win XP with SP! this evening on my laptop. Now I need to get it to a burner or possi bly install the HP USB burner on my laptop. Entry: Apr 27, 2004 -------------------------------------- Got tracking numbers today for my mobo and case. Went to Krogers and when I returned the motherbpard was here. Sat on the back porch and read the manual. found the agp slot can only use 1.5 volt cards. Went online t look up my old cards. The one from 4 years ago is agp 2x, 3.3v only, whereas the ati I purchased last fall for avsa projects is 4x 1.5v compliant. While online I noticed that fedex said the case was delivered at 3:05 PM. Checked the front porch and it was there though I didn't hear it come. Started building the thing. Fired it up after dinner and it boots OK. I chose to use an old 40 gig drive as the c drive. Dinner was chicken tenders and lima beans. Desert was death by chocolate ice cream. Continued working the new PC until 1:30 am. Discovered a Microsoft knowledge base article warning about corruption with large drives during sleep and hibernation. Downloaded a patch to fix this. Entry: Apr 28, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on adding more programs to the new PC. Downloaded an Ontrack recovery program that seems to be doing the job. Found that when the corrupt drive is on the main ide controller Windows refuses to or else has a hard time booting. Put it on the new ata/133 controller and although windows boots much slower, at least it will boot. Finished MAranathas album while the recovery softare was operating. Missing two pictures for her book. Will get busy on that tonight when recovery is done. Will have to load Photoshop onto the new machine as well as adobe acrobat. Clinton of DNA group called - he needs the software sent to him agian. It's a little chilly outside - high today is only 7. Brrr. Spent the rest of the night sucessfully re-installing my PC files. Dinner was turkey burger. Entry: Apr 29, 2004 -------------------------------------- Re-ordered three pictures for Maranathas album. Loaded the flipbook software again on the PC - everything looks to be restored almost fully. This afternoon we went over to highgrove at 2 and did some pix of Leslie on the stairs. What a beautiful venue. Had some equipment problems with batteries. There were no batteries in the Alien Bee controller and also the camera battery died. ----------------------- Page 25----------------------- Dinner was Marie Calendar pot pies. Entry: Apr 30, 2004 -------------------------------------- Burned a bunch of Audio books to CD. In the PM Lib and I went to OfficeMax to retrieve her business card order and also to pick up more folders and invoices. I bought some CDR's that have a rebate associated with them amking them free, however the two rebate forms wants two UPC codes and the box only has one. Will probably scan and print the additional. Dinner was Healthy choice meals. I started trying to select violet files for making AVSA slides. Entry: May 01, 2004 -------------------------------------- It's supposed to rain later today. I spent more time organizing pictures on the new PC setup as well as setting up software. Burned a CD for Libbie to try on her computer of the AVSA FlipBook. Listened to Die Tot en Stat untilo Lib came home in the afternoon then tuned to CPE and listened to Tosca which is the first off season opera now that the Met has concluded their season. Dinner was thick Pork Chops with applesauce and Lima Beans. We also finished a bottle of Chardonnay. After dinner we watched House of Sand and Fog from Blockbuster. It was a very good, very rivetting movie. Libbie had read the book - we both enjoyed the movie. Also rented Pollock today. Entry: May 02, 2004 -------------------------------------- A rainy day. Finished up the AVSA CD show today - ended up purchasing the xflip program for $20. Started balancing my checkbook today and discovered that my Fed tax refund has been deposited - almost $3,000. Kristen came over at 3 and picked out her album. We then went over to McGregor and took couple pictures in front of the covered bridge. Her wedding is next Saturday. Downloaded the camera which meant installing the download program on the new hard drive. Entry: May 03, 2004 -------------------------------------- It's another rainy day. Went to the credit union and deposited the NC refund check as well as two wedding checks. Debated whether to order the 2.8 lens or not. Could use it in dark churches without a flash. Picked up our gas logs that came in from Goles in the late afternoon then worked on Franchelles CD. We got a great selection of pictures - I'm mostly pleased with the result but am less pleased with Leslie's pictures. Will have to work on them somewhat to eliminate shadows. Dinner was pasta. Started watching Pollock on my PC DVD player - I don't think I ever saw it before. Entry: May 04, 2004 -------------------------------------- Dropped the CD off at Franchelles this morning then went to Krogers. Lib came back from violet club this afternoon but didn't get any feedback from the Cd presentation. About 5 PM I decided to go to Southeastern and buy a second pocket wizard for this weekends wedding. I had contact with two ----------------------- Page 26----------------------- more brides for upcoming weddings - one in June and one in October. Dinner was hamburgers and baked beans. We watched Calendar Girls this evening - a pretty funny movie. Entry: May 05, 2004 -------------------------------------- Watched the Diane Lane Walking on the Moon movie in the AM. I like this movie!!! In the faternoon James our bug guy came and sprayed the whole house as well as all the doors and windows on the outside. We signed up for the $280 one year treatment because this gives us a guarantee of no bugs. After he left our printer wouldn't print anymore so Lib and I went to Walmart and bought some ink cartridges and then stopped into Ace in Apex to get wicking material she needed. I did extensive lens testing in the garage comparing prime with zoom in both edge and center as well as changing iso and changing jpeg vs raw. I ended up ordering a 24-70 L lens from BH Photo using overnight shipping. Dinner was chicken tenders on buns with tomato and barbecue beans. Later in the evening we caught a Balanchine celebration on PBS then watched dance in america following with Mendellson music. Entry: May 06, 2004 -------------------------------------- My new L lens came today. Hooked it up and did some lens testing in the garage with a newspaper on the wall. This lens is clearly much better than the 28-135 - it has clear pictures wide open and the edges get very good stopped down. It's equal to my 50mm prime. Went to Northern Equipment for a wheelbarrow tire but ended up buying a socket holder and a star drill. The socket holder is pretty cool - much needed in my toolbox. May have to return for the metric version. Finished Maranathas album and called her. They came right over and picked up the album. My 7 PM appointment for tonight postponed but didn't give me a new date. Dinner was Marie Calendars Pot Pies and yogurt for desert. Entry: May 07, 2004 -------------------------------------- In the afternoon I tried knocking a hole in the fireplace blocks to run the gas line to the cleanout in the fireplace for the gas logs. I want to get started on this project so it will be ready to use this Fall. We went over to the rehearsal at Nazarene church at 7 - took some pictures to scope out the scene. The church is very well lit. Afterwards we went to Lucky 32 for dinner. I had Jambalaya pasta and we ordered a very nice bottle of Chardonnay. When we arrived a limo was dropping off some kids in prom clothes - it must be prom night even though this is a Friday. Entry: May 08, 2004 -------------------------------------- Charged batteries, had a bacon sandwich then we left at 12:30 for todays wedding. Wedding was at 2 and over by 4 - very short and sweet. We enjoyed photographing it. Had some trouble getting the flash to work in manual mode so had to switch to auto whcih means I had no control over f stop. Should have set up for aperture priority. Afterwards we discussed going out for dinner but ended up with Zatarains frozen meals topped with Krogers Butterfingers ice cream. We watched the Diane Lane movie "Walk on the Moon" from DVD. ----------------------- Page 27----------------------- Entry: May 09, 2004 -------------------------------------- Read the paper as usual then got the PC ready for Alice and Rob. Moved everything downstairs and set it up but when they arrived the thing died. Lib set the laptop up for me and we spent two hours with Alice and Rob going over the pictures. They are all pretty dark and need some help. Afterwards I just vegged out - spent some time on the computer downloading a CS Suite tutorial then have been working off and on with Superb support trying to get my SSL certificate working. They were able to make it work by changing the link to the mofstyle sheet to an https one. This causes the lock icon to appear. Entry: May 10, 2004 -------------------------------------- A very busy day. I worked on drilling a hole in the fireplace for the gas logs. I have about another foot to go before I break through. Put Leslies pictures on the website - they didn't turn out very good but I needed to get them there before the wedding in two weeks. Dinner was pasta - no desert. Afterwards we watched Girl with a Pearl Earring - the movie was so-so. Entry: May 11, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went to Sams today for Salmon and Tee shirts - my collection is getting low. On the way home did the grocery thing in Krogers and made it home in time for Barbara Becatti and her daughter - they gave me their list and picked out an album. I steered them towards black mats for her gray cover. I like the black mats since they seem to make the pictures stand out better. Afterwards I went outside and progressed a couple more inches in the fireplace drilling project. I successfully saved Girl with the Pearl Earring to my hard drive. Also ordered an analog to digital tape converter so i can save some of our old vhs tapes to dvd. While online I decided to get ahead and ordered more address labels and black ink to print license labels for Libs packages and to make sure we have printer supplies to keep up with the rate we are consuming. Received a very complementary eMial from Anne today about the AVSA convention CD. This is the first pass at a flip book version. Joy Stalker is due to pick up her pictures today or tomorrow and in addition we have a couple coming to look at us for an Oct 16 wedding at Page Walker. Entry: May 12, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went to the greenhouse in the morning to trim the bushes and remove the plastic from the Kool Cells. Met Leslies sister there - she had the portrait choices and a picture frame for Leslie's wedding. My order for labels and an Epson inkjet cartridge came via UPS. On the way to the greenhouse this morning I also dropped the DVD "Pearl Earring" off at Blockbuster. Stayed up late at night getting the picture ready for EZ Prints. Was delighted to find they lowered their prices - an 8x1 is now only 1.75. This is the lowest anywhere. Dinner was Salmon and veggies and a glass of Chardonnay. In the PM I finished punching the hole through the fireplace for the gas log. This was hard work but I found if I hook up the ComaLong to the bar to withdraw it I can save some of my energy. ----------------------- Page 28----------------------- Entry: May 13, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I sent four jpg images of violets to Weta for the open house this weekend. Measured for the gas line then went to Home Depot for gas pipes and fittings. The compression fitting for the tube to the gas logs was purchased at Ace - I brought the tube in and matched it up. Also picked up a gallon of Roundup "Ready to Use" and went around zapping weeds along the driveway and throughout the woods. Heard from Amy Scott, one of Greta's customers. Downloaded Disk 2 of the Indesign training but had to buy 6 more gigs from EasyNews to download disk 3. Disk 3 downloaded overnight. Dinner was crab cakes with Chardonnay. The video digitizer arrived from Buy.com but there was no time to hook it up today. Entry: May 14, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on the gas line hookup. Went to Home Depot in Cary for a few more pipes and also stopped in Office Max where I used a $10 off coupon and picked up more DVD's. The Total Training series wiped me out of blank media. . Now the gas line goes from the fireplace to where it is going to tap into the main line. will reserve that activity for early in the morning some day when I will have the whole day to work on it. Dinner was salmon and veggies with Chardonnay Entry: May 15, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on seting up the video capture device then went over to the greenhouse for violet days. On the way there stopped at Krogers for water and donuts. Took pictures of violet days then went home to do more videos. My diane Lane movie, Lady Beware, arrived. Started digitizing it to hard disk from vhs tape. When Lib came home at 3 we went for a walk around Moore Square for Artsplosure in Raleigh. It was an enjoyable afternoon. Came home and had salmon and veggies with Chardonnay. Afterwards I drove Lib to Krogers for Andes Mont Ice Cream. Earlier in the day we had decided we were not going to get any but ended up going back for an ice cream run. Entry: May 18, 2004 -------------------------------------- No car today - took it to Leith for A/C repair. Authorizd a new PCV valve and carbon cleanout, and a repair to the oil pan gasket. Dinner was chicken and veggies. Went to the grocery store later in the day when Lib came home. My hard drive seems to have a write problem - ordered a new one from Newegg. Entry: May 19, 2004 -------------------------------------- Walked to the car dealer and picked up the car. Didn't get dirty becasue we had a bride scheduled who never showed up. Talked to Leslie's mother about the print - seh's not happy with the other ----------------------- Page 29----------------------- rooom showing on the right. Dinner was pot pies. We had a little thunder shower todau. Finished up Alices pictures and also one of the Moneral Springs bed abd breakfast. Entry: May 20, 2004 -------------------------------------- A busy day. Hooked up the gas to the fireplace and leak tested it. Before this even started I ran an import permit over to the greenhouse that Lib couldn't find. Next went to the greenhouse again and looked at the cool cell water tank which was overflowing. I think the float was set too high and adjusted it. The hard drive came wfrom Newegg but I'm having trouble installing it. Nothing works when I try to install XP or else copy the old drive over. Don't know what to do. Amy called after missing yesterday - she'll try agian tomorrow. I'm not thrilled about her wedding since it's the day after the Duke wedding which will give us a back to back working weekend. Patched up the hole in the cinder blocks where the gas line went through using patching cement. Will give it another coat tomorrow. Dinner was spaghetti squash. This afternoon we went to Walmart and got a new toaster as well as a lot of other stuff we didn't need. Entry: May 22, 2004 -------------------------------------- Today the laptop won't boot at all. I suspect it has something to do with cleaning up the cloned version. Charged my batteries for todays wedding and had chicken salad sandwiches with Lib on the back porch for lunch. The big activity for this morning was getting Alices pictures into EZ Prints. We left for the wedding at 3:06. It's a 6 PM ceremony. No photography allowed during the ceremony so we did some recreations afterwards. All went well - it was hotter than blazes. I sweated until I was thoroughly soaked. We enjoyed the HighGrove and had a little dinner from the buffet of shrimp, ham, some dips and veggies with a roll. I drank tons of water. ----------------------- Page 30----------------------- Entry: May 23, 2004 -------------------------------------- Spent the morning downloading pictures and archiving to CD. Gathered my stuff for the Sarasota trip. I cloned the old harddrive of the laptop to the new drive. Will take a chance that this will work in Florida. LEft for the Airport at 6:00 for our 8:35 flight. There is the threat of thunderstorms in the air - we checked the weather channel and it looks clear below SC but the first few hundred miles may be bumpy. Our flight was slightly delayed - we left about 15 minutes late. The flight was better than expected - a few bumps then once we got to altitude it was a smooth trip. I went to the HErtz counter while Lib waited for our luggage. Got an Oldsmobile Alero that was pretty rough. It feels like it has a bad CV joint. We had a bad ride all the way to Sarasota. At Island Reef there was a sign on the door that the elevator was being painted so we walked up the stairs with our suitcases to the 5th floor. It was tiring but probably good for us. Entry: May 24, 2004 -------------------------------------- Got up early and went to Publix for bagels, cream cheese and OJ. Picked up some coffee at 7-11. After breakfast left for class at 8:10. Was mildly lost looking for University - turned up one street too early but then found University and pulled into Albertsons for water before arriving at class at a little before 9. Didn;t get started until a little after 9 as Monte set up lights and what not. At noon I took the car to the airport at Sarasota and traded it in for a Nissan Altima which was a much better car but unfortunateley was a smoker. That evening we went to Sweet Tomatoes with the class for a nice salad buffet Entry: May 30, 2004 -------------------------------------- Watched a little of Breakfast with the Arts but was busy downloading wedding pictures and archiving to a CD. Entry: May 31, 2004 -------------------------------------- Lib went to the greenhouse for a while then came home early. I tried reviving my thinkpad with the new hard drive. Can't seem to clone the existing drive. Nothing on it is recognized after cloning. Worse, it won't boot. Spent a lot of time on this thing. Dinner was barbecue chicken with Libs barbecue sauce. This afternoon Lib walked around the lake with me. Entry: Jun 01, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went to the credit union and deposited Marys check as well as Bills Carolina Rhode then mailed the mortgage money. Did the Kroger grocery run but didn't make out so well. Already had salad and OJ - oh well. The driveway alert came via Fedex gfround so I hooked that up above ground to test it. While testing I painted the first coat of the cabinet doors for the garage. Ended up burying the cable in water pipe just below the pine straw then utilized the in ground water pipe for the run under the Liriope through the foundation into the crawl space. Snaked the wire into the front hall closet and tested the system with just the onboard sonalert. Looked through some catalogs for external sonalerts to add to the system. Dinner was spaghetti squash with tomato sauce and parmesan. Entry: Jun 02, 2004 ----------------------- Page 31----------------------- -------------------------------------- A busy day. Went to home depot for a timer for the living room fan and also a wireless doorbell. Used the ohmeter and figured out the 4 contact switch is only as SPST so I osldered some wires to it and hooked it to the dreiveway alert. Put the receiving bell in the porch. Tested it when Libbie drove in - it works OK. Will have to get another now that I know this works. Painted the cabinet doors and installed them. Late at night I went out after dinner and put on the knobs. Dinner was chicken, salad and rice. Entry: Jun 03, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went to Home Depot and got the second wireless doorbell. Hooked it up then went to Best Buy and Bluebird for the 900 Mhz phone. Got one that was $14 and had a $12 rebate. Hooked it up in the greenhouse then went home and set up the lights. Tested the translucent light with strobe and it looks like it will work. MAde some lighting adjustments then went outside and transplanted a few more Liriope in the front and watered these and the ones from last month. Entry: Jun 04, 2004 -------------------------------------- A rainy day. Lib and I went to the golf course at sunrise and tried finding the sunrise but no luck - it was a cloudy morning and then on the way home it started raining. I'm glad I transplanted some Liriope yesterday. Spent a lot of time photoshopping the pictures from thursday. Dinner was a farmers market special with corn, lima beans, chicken tenders then blueberry and peach pie for desert. Entry: Jun 05, 2004 -------------------------------------- Woke at 5 AM this morning and got ready for Jem at sunrise. We drove over to the golf course and it was cloudy. Took some pix then came home and set up the studio lights to do a few more in the garage. When she left I installed quicken on my desktop machine and balanced the checkbook and entered some of the bills which were accumulating. Set up the sunpack in the garage and did some test firings. In manual mode only the power slider seems to have an effect which is OK with me. The Pictage package came - seems a little pricy to me, 20 cents a pic posting fee and twice my normal cost printing fee. Dinner was barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes and lima beans with Ravenwood Zin. Watched Larry King and the tribute to Ron Reagan who died today. Entry: Jun 06, 2004 -------------------------------------- Was mildly interested in A&E - they did Tony previews. Researched flush albums online and got some good ideas for wedding product pricing. It's a dull, dreary day outside. No rain but lots of clouds. Transplanted about 6 more Mondo grass clumps in the front. I want to do a half dozen a day for several days. Found that my Sept 5 couple will sign with us for wedding coverage. I'm going to look into online proofing of my photography. Dinner was Lib's nice pizza. Entry: Jun 07, 2004 -------------------------------------- Talked to Leather Craftsman today - they faxed me a price list. It looks like Pictage offers nothing but online hosting which I will do myself. ----------------------- Page 32----------------------- Entry: Jun 08, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did the grocery store then then rented Mystic River and Panic Room. Did a lot of reading on the inytrnet about photography. Dinner was pasta. Entry: Jun 09, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went to the credit union in the PM. The 3170 scanner came today - it doesn't have a manual so I'm experimenting with using it. Rented Maze at Blockbuster baout a sculptor. I have an mpg clip of some of it so wanted to see the movie. Dinner was chicken ceate a meal sweet and sour. I liked it because of the veggies. Watched the funeral proession of Reagan going to the capitol in the evening. It was very somber and yet joyful with the pageantry and music. Communicated several times with Bill because he lsot a flash card then eventually had the pictures taken at ISO 1600. Entry: Jun 10, 2004 -------------------------------------- Mowed the lawn today. Experimented with the Epson 3170 some more. I'm a litle disappointed with the slides but that may be because the originals of our LA trip are so terrible. Dinner tonight was a farmers market special with salmon and corn. We watched the casket lying in the rotunda on Cspan. It sounds a little boring but it was quite interesting to see the sadness on the people. Mowed the lawn today because I have people coming over tomorrow. Entry: Jun 11, 2004 -------------------------------------- While working on pictures for Alice and Joy's weddings I watched the Reagan funerl on TV. Had a client come at 11 then Lib came home and we went to Sams. I wanted prices for a 19 inch monitor and LCD projector. We had lunch at NY Pizza before going into Sams. Lib was interested in the book "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" but we didn't get it. Came home and watched more of the funeral on TIVO. Dinner was crab cakes and corn. Got the crab at Sams and the corn at Krogers. I enjoyed both. Went to Pilobolus at duke tonight. Parking was a problem since there was a Latin Jazz concert going on. We finally parked along the road where they put a new building in and walked to Page - it was a little bit of a hike. The first number was "Megawatt" with a loud driving beat and the dancers unusually crawling on stage on their backs feet first. They then did backstrokes on the floor propleeing themselves and then a very energetic series of flip, roll and thrust jump outwards. There are some crazy dancing called "bees" and "arms" where they shake violently while dancing. Second number was trio and was the Orpheus story where 3 black figures move about in fog while a man and woman do a duet. A white sheet suspended from the ceiling contains one of the girls totally clad in red. shw swoops and dives, eventually the girl in the duet is enclosed in the web. Third number was duet and consisted of some very nice one on one partnering where the female is at first a stiff doll tossed overhead, dragged across stage and in general treated as a piece of cardboard. Towards the end she gets very fluent and loose performing the ultimate in dirty dancing. Fourth piece was an oldie called Untitled" from 1975. Two girls in long flowind dresses dance with male dancers underneath. They give birth to the two nude men and then perform a comic routine being carried about by the nude guys and dancing woth two guys in 1890's costumes complete with derby style hats. At intermission we stood in line while it was thundering and lighting outside and bought tickets to the Russian dance group. This one was separate because we had an Entertainment coupon for buy one ----------------------- Page 33----------------------- get one free. Stopped in Goodberrys on the way home - streets were wet and lightining was flashing in the sky but it was dry. I got the concrete special whcih was vanilla with pineapple and banana chunks. Too much ice cream. Entry: Jun 12, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked a little on the pictures for Alice and Mineral springs. In the PM we picked up ribs at Krogers and had that with rice and beans and Ravenwood Zinfandel. The Zookbinders catalog came so I worked on that for a while. Bought a Rodin sculpture on eBay - Eternal Springtime. Spent some time on eBay looking at ideas for my sculpture since my wax is now here. Entry: Jun 13, 2004 -------------------------------------- Watched Balanchine on A&E this morning while reading the paper. Chased down a 19 inch monitor at Office Depot for $97 after rebate. It's a KDS which is what I currently have. Nice monitor except for some flicker. Signed up Lynne for her June 26 wedding. They have been engaged for 12 years!!! Cleaned the back porch with the vacuum and the mop. Afterwards Lib and I went to Eckerds and bought watches - buy one get one free. I got a Timex with nightlight. Very nice. It was 34.99. Lib's was free, normally 29.99 wihtout the coupon. We also got her AVSA watch a battery. Entry: Jun 14, 2004 -------------------------------------- Today I started preparing a flush mount album of the Benziger wedding. I like the way the black and whites are turning out - very artsy. In the morning I watched the part of the Jodie Foster movie, Panic Room, that I fell asleep during yesterday. Returned the movie to Blockbuster. Dinner was crabcake and veggies. During the afternoon I did an extensive cleanup and took a minivan full of stuff to the dumpster. The Rodin Eternal Spring came today but I didn't look at it much since I was involved in the album. Afer dinner I went back to preparing pictures. Entry: Jun 15, 2004 -------------------------------------- Took some additional trash from upstairs to the street. We've got a good start going on the upstairs cleanup. Dinner was turlkey burgers and baked beans. Entry: Jun 17, 2004 -------------------------------------- Libbie called in the morning saying the fans were cutting out. Went over and looked at things but they stopped doing that. Nancy was there after her trip to New Zealand. We chatted about things then I left. Went back to work on Laura's pictures for the flush album. Dinner was pasta. Waited for Gina to come by but she postponed at 5:30. She said she wants to do it next Tuesday evening. Entry: Jun 18, 2004 -------------------------------------- Was going to finish up Laura's book but Libbie called from the greenhouse saying the fans would only run for about one minute then quit. Went over and determined that the 24 vac was overheating and ----------------------- Page 34----------------------- cutting out. Went to Graingers and bought a 60 VA unit to replace the 35 VA. It works and runs a lot cooler. On the way there I stopped in TigerDirect in Raleigh and looked around. Nobody was at the memory counter so I tried BestBuy. They were out of most typs of memory so I next went to the greenhouse and replaced the transformer. Went home and walked four miles in 98 degree heat advisory weather. Came home dead to the world. Passed out on the floor. Took a shower to get cleaned up for a client wehn the power went out. It was out for an hour. Marjan and Jim signed up with us after a rocky couple of weeks. Dinner was corn and chicken breast with barbecue sauce. Entry: Jun 19, 2004 -------------------------------------- Tonight there's a free ADF performance but I was lazy and chose not to go. This morning we drained the hot tub and when Lib came back from the greenhouse we cleaned it out then refilled it. I went for a 4 mile walk while it was filling. Dinner was turkey burger, fresh corn and Shiraz. Entry: Jun 20, 2004 -------------------------------------- Looked at the Sunday ads for a new laptop then worked on Laura's pictures some more. Have decided to order the template software from zookbinders. Dinner was Libs pizza while we watched Clintons book interview on 60 minutes. He's still slick willy. Entry: Jun 21, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked at getting Laura's album finished. It looks like it's there and ready for upload to EZprints. Entry: Jun 22, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did the Krogers run this morning then Pat Heald called about the wedding. Put together a proof CD for her and had it ready for when she came at 4 PM. I have a potential client coming tonight at 5:30 (after work for her). Gina came and signed up with us - her wedding is at the Apex bed and breakfast on Kelly Road. Entry: Jun 23, 2004 -------------------------------------- A busy day. Went to TigerDirect then BestBuy, Office Depot and Circuit City looking at laptops. Also did some looking online at eBay and others. Discovered that my belts are showing on the front tires so I took it to Walmart and dropped it off for four new tires. In the meantime Preah called for her proofs so I put a CD together. Dinner tonight was ncle Bens Rice Bowls. Entry: Jun 24, 2004 -------------------------------------- Left at 7:15 for Atmel class. I wasn't too thrilled at going at first but got inspired once there and want to get into some new AVR projects when I get home. The presentations were very good, I learned of a few new products by Atmel. They provided a bagged lunch _ I chose the turkey sub which came with an apple, chips and a chocolate chip cookie. We got out at 2 PM. The only presentation I didn't like was the ARM stuff becasue the presenter was French and hard to understand. In the evning we had grilled chicken and rice and beans for dinner. ----------------------- Page 35----------------------- Entry: Jun 25, 2004 -------------------------------------- Deposited the wedding checks this morning then went to Circuit City, Compusa, BestBuy and research at home to find a laptop for running Photoshop. The East Coast School guy called to veify my credit card - he didn't have the CV2 number on the back and was entering 0 and his terminal was kicking it out. After freviewing all the PC options I decided to go with a Thinkpad from Newegg. Will wait till tomorrow to see if there is a weekend special on it. It's a thinkpad R40 with 20 gig drive, 256 mb memory, wireless, 15 inch screen and is $1299. with free shipping. The Benziger pics came today - some of them need revisiting for a flush album. We left at 5:45 for the rehearsal for tomorrows wedding. Drove through Fuqual on Academy street - very nice old homes in this section of town. Checked out the Methodist church - wow, what a nice property set back from the road with lots of surrounding grass. Afterwards we came back to Lucky32 for dinner. I had Spice and Fire Sirloin steak whcih came with rice and black beans, string beans and salad. The dressing I chose for the saad was raspberry vinagraitte which was the best salad dressing I ever had. We had Mondavi Chardonnay with dinner and stopped at Krogers for Chocolate cherry truffle ice cream for desert. A very nice evneing. Entry: Jun 26, 2004 -------------------------------------- I ordered the Thinkpad from Newegg. Spent some time charigng batteries, unloading the camera, reading baout PPP. I ifnally figured out how set up XP as a PPP server. Had to add a virtual modem in the setup. The greenhouse called with a temp alert a 1 PM. Decided to leave early for the wedding and check out the grrenhouse. Left at 2, found nothing wrong and arrived at the church at 2:45. Most people didn't get there until 3:15. The wedding is at 4 but at 3:30 the flowers were still in the hallway and the bride wasn't dressed yet. She got dressed at 3:45. The wedding went smoothly - flash was forbidden and walking around was forbidden. I forgot the cable from the camera PC connector to the Pocket Wizard so went with the QFlash only. We arrived first at Kildaire - most of the gests took 1010 which is 2 miles longer and has lots of lights. We took 55 to Rt 1 to Cary Pkway and did well. The wedding was disorganized and it seemed like everyone was a smoker. The DJ said it was to go to midnight, we left at 10 very tired. For dinner we had sandwiches in the car between the ceremony and reception. Entry: Jun 27, 2004 -------------------------------------- Read the papers early then got ready for a 1 PM client. They looked at everything but left without signing then called about 10 minutes later and decided to sign up. I told them to mail the check and I'll mail the contract. Afterwards I walked from here to the lake and met Lib at Krogers and we went around but I got into her car at Krogers and came home after the walk so my total mileage was 3 miles instead of 4. Anne called about the AVSA slides - I need to get working on this stuff again. Found the Beatles song "birthday" in my MP3's. Lib wanted that for Joes birthday this week. In Krogers she got him a bunch of party stuff for his birthday. Dinner was traditional Libbie pizza. Entry: Jun 28, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on the slide documentation for Anne today. Sent her some contact sheets and an Excel spreadsheet documenting the slides. Hopefully this will work for slide documentation otherwise I will have to mail her something. Started putting together an AMD machine for my office that I can use as a second computer for AVR code development and stuff. Took a nap in the late afternoon - I was very tired today. Dinner was pasta. For desert I bought Krogers Andes Mint Creme De Menthe ice cream. ----------------------- Page 36----------------------- Entry: Jun 29, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did Krogers this morning after checking my Fedex tracking for the new laptop. They're saying July 1. Went to the Credit Union then bought a vertical fan at Walmart and then Krogers. Rented Cold Montain and watched Kalifornia in the afternooon. Miss Ellie came by this evening to drop off the flowers for tomorrow. Had a long chat with her and the wedding business. Dinner was crab cakes and beans then we watched Cold Mountain. It was a pretty good movie but very long. Later I spent some time looking at pics on Zuga getting ideas for standing brides. Entry: Jun 30, 2004 -------------------------------------- The Thinkpad I ordered from Newegg came today but had to leave it behind and go to Chapel Hill. We photographed Heather today at The Well on the UNC campus. Left here at 11:45 and arrived on campus at 12:30. Had a hard time finding parking and we almost got a ticket with the place we chose to park. They directed us to a public pay lot. The sun was in and out of the clouds all day but we managed to get some cloudy moments for the photography. Have not looked at the pics yet. We stopped in Taco Bell in Apex on the way home for lunch - I had two soft Tacos. Dinner was salmon with peas and carrots. Entry: Jul 01, 2004 -------------------------------------- Tonight we had a real treat with ADF. Parked in our usual place but we were slow getting out the door and consequently got there 15 minutes before the hour. The lead was the tap dancer butterfly. she's very thin and flaps her arms as she gracefully taps across the stage. Next a laid back black tap dancer moves his feet but relaxes his upper body in a jazz style. The last tapper looks unlikely but gave a real treat with his feet. The Indian dancers were ext - bare footed but with bellls on their ankles. They equalled the tap. The last was the Flamenco where heavy duty stomping of heels and facial/body expressions are everything. Flipping your skirt or waving your jacket are imnportant parts. The treat was each dance group dancing at the end in a challenge - perfromiong with each others music. We stayed for the very entertaining post performance discussion. Entry: Jul 02, 2004 -------------------------------------- Brian Dean came by this evenign and dropped off the Mavric AVR kit I ordered from him. I'm going to put a PPP stack on the thing for my own use. The parts sure are tiny - may have to use the microsocope for building it. Entry: Jul 03, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I built up the Mavric board. Libbie walked with me around the Lake - it was a struggle, I'm way out of shape. Lib fixed a turkey with all the trimmings for dinner but we didn;t have wine with the meal which was good. Entry: Jul 04, 2004 -------------------------------------- Watched a little breakfast with the arts then went upstairs and worked on the Mavric AVR chip. ----------------------- Page 37----------------------- Entry: Jul 05, 2004 -------------------------------------- Today is the Fourth of July holiday. Libbie stayed home while I did the 4 mile walk then we both layed out the flush mount book on the floor for the Benzigers. I continue to fine tune the new Thinkpad. It's a real nice machine. Dinner was turkey slices with potatoes and stuffing. No luck on getting hte Linux machine working but I renamed the old Manon into Renatta and set it up as a develpment machine on the other workbench. Entry: Jul 06, 2004 -------------------------------------- The extra hdd adapter from IBM arrived this morning via UPS. Did the Krogers thing then mailed the Zookbinders package at the Post Office. Did not walk because of time. Had to go to Raleigh to exchange the Athlon chip - they gave me a new one at Tiger Direct. It didn't help - still no boot. Will try a new motherboard from Newegg. Left for Shen Wei at 7. Had a turkey samdwich before leaving then stopped for gas on 55 by the Home Depot. Parking was almost not good at Duke then we lucked out and found a space. Shen Wei did "Connect Transfer" where dancers in Leotards crawled across a giant canvas and they were the brush putting down various colors of watercolor. We stayed for the post performance discussion. Very good - Shen Wei is one of the most creative people at ADF today. Entry: Jul 09, 2004 -------------------------------------- Heard from Zookbinders this morning about some of the pictures which will be cut off at the edges. The new motherboard came from NewEgg today. Got it installed in the PC then started researching operating systems - Linux or Windows. Settled on Windows because of better printer driver support as well as easier management and tools I can write myself. This evening we waited for Jem who din't show up at 4 so we photographed Desiree and her boyfriend instead. Went to Duke for the Russian Festival - it was a long program that could easily have been two nights worth of dancing. We didn't stay for the talk because it was late and we were tired. Coming back on the Durham freeway was bumper to bumper because of paving and single lane. Entry: Jul 10, 2004 -------------------------------------- Installed Windows Server on the new computer today. Everything seems to be working fine. Got it working as a file server and as a web server. Did some online reading about CSS style sheets so I can do the front page of Turandot, the new web server. This evening for dinner we had the last of the salmon with fresh veggies and fruit. Entry: Jul 11, 2004 -------------------------------------- Talked with Anne today about the slides. After doing some research online I decided to send the rest of the slides out instead of trying to do them myself. Walked with Lib. We did the nature loop today at the beginning of the lake. IT suposedly is 0.3 miles. I didn't walk home but rode back with Lib instead. Dinner was traditional pizza. Finished Preahs collage today which was my goal. Entry: Jul 12, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on the server today and got it working as an MP3 server. No I can play MP3 files using a web ----------------------- Page 38----------------------- browser. Will look into doing rs232 control using this server as well. Also researched UPS backup online. Decided to check out TigerDirect tomorrow. Also Best Buy will have the reamers on sale as a new release. Looked into how to get Preah's proofs printed. Started by filling out a form at WHCC.com then worked on getting together 5 prints to eMail them so they can print them for free. Walked the complete 4 miles today then had Rice Bowl and Lima beans for dinner. Ran out to blockbuster and rented "Winged Migration" which is a documentary about migrating birds around the world. Very interesting stuff. Entry: Jul 13, 2004 -------------------------------------- On the way to Krogers stopped at TigerDirect and picked up a UPS for the server. Also stopped by Best Buy to check their PS prices and get a DVD - dreamers and also picked up another CD library case to organize my software and CD/s. The UPS is pretty nice - includes a cable to monitor voltage as well as test the thing. Nicely done. It rained a little while I was having backporch lunch so I postponed walking plans. I watched about 3/4 of the dreamers this afternoon. I don't see why it's rated NC17. After a nice dinner of chicken tenders, cottage cheese and fruit and Teryaki veggies we went to Krapp at Duke. At first we were leary of the depressing language in the prgoram but it turned out to be an energetic performance. Four men and two women danced as if we watched into an insane asylum There was accordian playing, piano playing and singing. At one point the girls were basketballs hopping up and down ebing "bounced" by the men and "passed" across court. Very effective - I felt like they really were tossed about. In other skits pocassionally the siren would sound and dogs would bark - the dancers lined up against a wall and went through a series of movements before resuming their roles. In one skit the women were bandaged up - one of them only had one free arm - both wore black panties that revealed their cheeks. When the bandages were removed from one woman she was left tpoless. Very small breasts. Another sequence has the guys dancing and singing without their shirts. Briefly the woman removed their shirts and danced around topless also. One girl had medium but firm breasts, the other who previously was topless is flatter chested. We stayed for the discussion which was as lively as the dancing. The dancers only spoke Spanish so the quations were through an interpreter. This gorup only played warehouses with bleachers - never a formal theater. Lots of questions about crotch grabbing to lift the girls and guys - they said (otngue in cheel) it was an Argentine greeting. Going to the concert the Durham freeway on ramp at A;exander was closed. We went up Alexander further and got onto the highway. Entry: Jul 14, 2004 -------------------------------------- I read up on ocx controls then found a serial control named Apax1.ocx on Sourceforge. Downloaded it to Turandot in the windows\system32 directory and manually registered it using the following command: Regsvr32 [/u] [/s] from the MS knowledge base. My specific entry was Regsvr32 Apax1.ocx Windows Server 2003 reported success. I'm now ready to use it - I think! Entry: Jul 15, 2004 ----------------------- Page 39----------------------- -------------------------------------- Tried playing some more with ActiveX - read a few online sources and some eBooks. Worked oon Preahs proofs - got them all made one up then ftp'd them to whcc. Took my 4 mile walk - it's a little cooler today - never even made it to 90. Got a call from an agency in St Pete Beach about doing some tfp on one of their models. I did some online research of photographing various models in different states of dress and iundress. Dinner this evening was chicken tenders with cottage cheese, fruit and brocoli and caufilower veggies. Entry: Jul 16, 2004 -------------------------------------- Teresa came over today at 9 and we had a lot of fun shooting her nude in the garage and then in the backyard. In the afternoon I walked 3 miles but Lib picked me up at the Apartments behind Krogers so I didn't make it 4 miles. She thought I had a bridal appointment at 2:30 but Jennifer had postponed. We went to the Duke rehearsal in the evening and experimented with lighting and talked with the wedding coordinator. At 8:30 we went out to dinner at Lucky 32. I had the Calypso chicken which is from their South Beach menu. No wine!!! Entry: Jul 17, 2004 -------------------------------------- A busy morning. I put Teresa's pictures together while charging batteries, printing maps and pringint Heathers instructions. We left at 12:15 and arrived at Duke at the same time as the Limo. Took lots of pictures and sweated like crazy. After the ceremony we went to the old well and took more pictures then did the reception at the Doubletree. We came home around 8 and had cottage cheese with fuit for dinner. In the evening I eMailed the Teresa pictures to Rose at Red productions. Entry: Jul 18, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning it's the same hting - print maps, recharge batteries, archive yesterdays pictures. Left for Holly Springs at 15 to 1. We hung around the brides house for over an hour - didn't get any pictures taken until it was time to go then we snaped a few and had to leave. The church was great - very different black baptist church. Nice minister, had a good time. The reception at the Ramada was very subdued. It ended early and there was no dancing. We ate dinner there - roast pork and potatoes. Layed on our bed for a while when we got back. Entry: Jul 19, 2004 -------------------------------------- The morning after our big weekend. My first batch of proofs came back from White House CC - I'm very pleased with the quality and the turnaround. Had several back and forth eMails with Preah then settled on a wallet for her. Cropped and adjusted it. Found out I need to have each folder separate for the thrifty digital service which means I can't put a few extras in from Desiree - I need a whole $12 worth. This is 35 of the 5x7's. Lunch and dinner was eggplant with veggies and tomato sauce - very very yummy. The Healds came over in the evening and we spent from 7:30 to 9:30 reviewing pictures and making selections for their album. In the end it was a happy evening - lots of good pictures to choose from. Entry: Jul 20, 2004 -------------------------------------- ----------------------- Page 40----------------------- A busy day - I did the Krogers run and also returned the videos. At 2 Rob picked up his album then I walked the 4 mile run. Three International performances. Olga Pona, Russia, A Little Bit of Nostalgia. Dancers in black tops and white pants or skirts dancer around and with white cylinders with zebra stripes. They were identified as Birch trees from the video that played at stage rear. The precept was kids playing in the woods - nicely done. Toru Shimazaki, Red, had two round tables at stage rear in chich various dancers danced dressed in Red jumpsuits while other dancers in the foreground did some energetic moves. The performance was incredibly lively. and colorful. Miguel the Argentine dressed his dancers in white blouses and short red school girl skirts. The number was "Something Beneath" Towards the end the blouses were unbuttoned and chests were bare. The dancers did much group dancing unbuttoned including coming aout to the very front of the stage with a bright white spot on them. At the end they took the shirts off and walked off stage. At the discussion Miguel said that womans torso's are beautiful and should be exposed. Men's are so why not woman. Entry: Jul 21, 2004 -------------------------------------- Libbie's birthday. Tried organizing some of the AVSA slides today then communicated with Ashley, a goth model in Apex. Took a trip to Sams and got an air conditioner for the garage as well as a clock. Had to go to Walmart for a scale to replace our bathroom scale. After an eggplant lunch we went to Crossroads 20 to see "The Terminal" with tom Hanks. Stopped at Benigans and looked at the menu - didn't like the smoky atmosphere of the place. Went out at 7:15 to meet Preah at 7:30 over at the church and gave her the printed proofs. On the way home we stopped at the lake and walked around - it's relatively cool for July - around 80 in the evening. Entry: Jul 23, 2004 -------------------------------------- Was supposed to be doing AVSA stuff but I started the day working on Jem's shoot from yesterday. Anne called early - about 8. Finally got to editing the AVSA list from list and searching down the images we need. Took Lib to the airport at 4 for her 5:45 flight. Talked to her around 8:30 and found she still had not taken off. I napped downstairs trying to catch up from the last several days. Entry: Jul 24, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on AVSA slides all day - finally finished up in the evening. Entry: Jul 25, 2004 -------------------------------------- After reading the paper I set up the studio in the garage. Jem came over around 2 - we started by looking at the shoot from last time then went into the garage shooting her in a white blouse then nude. We then went outside and did some shots around the yard then triedto get her rising nude from the fog created by the fog machine. The fog gets blown by the slightest little breeze and also dissipates quickly. Good session anyway. I had a Healthy Choice teryaki chicken for dinner then went back to some more of Kristens picures. Entry: Jul 27, 2004 ----------------------- Page 41----------------------- -------------------------------------- Finished up Kristens pictures and collages today - put some samples on the web site for her to look at. Entry: Jul 28, 2004 -------------------------------------- Built a step and repeat program for Preahs photos. Point to a pic, specify quantity and press execute and it creates the same file the desired number of times with a different filename each time. Uploaded Preahs pix and then submitted the order this morning. Picked Lib up at the airport at 5:15 - left at 4:45 and returned at 6:00. Her plane was delayed 15 minutes. Dinner was Healthy Choice then we reviewed some Amy Scott proofs and sorted them into vertical, horizontal and discards. Entry: Jul 29, 2004 -------------------------------------- We looked at Libbies pictures and selected a few dozen for printing. Sized these and uploaded them to whcc then placed an order for 4x6's along with Amys printed proofs. Sent Amy a proof CD. The slides came back from Utah where they were created from digital. We looked at them in the living room and proclaimed them OK. We went to rehearsal for Cheri and Matt at Apex Baptist then waled to dinner at the Mexican restaurant. Had a Margarita with a combo dinner of a chile renelo, burrito and quassadea. Afterwards we went to the Post Office to mail the slides to Anne. Entry: Jul 30, 2004 -------------------------------------- Purchased a series of Photoshop Actions to assist with collage building. this was after evaluating some standalone programs that I rejected because they were too random. The actions let you individually place each picture in the collage. I then used this to build a collage for Preah and sent it to her. Kristens pictures came - most of them are pretty good, may have to send a few of them back for reprinting because they're off color or dark. Stayed up late attaching her photos to mattes. Dinner was some of the leftover chicken stir fry from last nights mexican dinner along with fresh corn whcih was a little young - the kernels were small. Entry: Jul 31, 2004 -------------------------------------- Started charging batteries and gathering equipment for todays wedding - Chreri and Matt at Apex Baptist. Got the AVSA computer CD ready to mail and also gathered all my recepits to submit to Gary for re-imbursement. Scanned the receipts and also did a little recepit scanning and cleanup. We had lunch on the back porch - tuna over garden salad. Entry: Aug 01, 2004 -------------------------------------- Class this afternoon. It's a mad scramble this morning to finish up last minute stuff before going over to RTP for the start of my Photoshop class, Digital Discoveries with Suzette Allen. I went through my pictures and picked out some samples to use for class. Went up Davis to Chruch in Morissville then to 54 and Page to the Sheraton. I registered OK, sat in the auditorium for orientation between two ladies from the West Coast and then went to class. We set up our desktops and loaded in actions and brush presets. The first day was quite good. In the evening we had dinner buffet - I had chicken teryaki with some veggies but no desert. ----------------------- Page 42----------------------- Entry: Aug 04, 2004 -------------------------------------- Todays's the last day of class. Drove in via the Cary Pkwy and highway 54. Was almost OK except 54 was backed up a few miles at the light in Morissville. Gave my $10 for the dinner for two for Suzette and Jon. Breakfast was definitely downgraded - they set up some biscuits and coffee in the hallway - no tables, or anything. Everyone stood around or sat on sofas and chairs. Bought a mahogany frame from the frame guy in the hallway then went to class. In class we signed a card for Suzette - session was over at 1at which we received certificates and class pictures. Dinner was Pork chops and corn. Entry: Aug 05, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I took the Cary Parkway to 54 and continued 54 all the way to the Imperial Center which has the Sheraton. Breakfast was set up in the hallway. I bought a mahogany frame for $25 for Preah. The last day was a review and coverage of a few things we missed during the week. After getting our class pix at 1 we were sent on our way. Had lunch with Libbie and then moved furniture out of the family room so Lib could shampoo the rug. Went with her in the PM to return the machine to Capital Vac in Cary. At the same time this afternoon I contacted Sarah about her sisters wedding and Marjam about wedding formals Aug 14. Dinner was scallops with uncle bens veggies and broccoli. Entry: Aug 06, 2004 -------------------------------------- Back home at last and now it's catch up time. I set up a bridal consultation on Wednesday with Sarah for next May and also a bridal shoot next Saturday with Marjan. Spoke with Anne several times - had to make more corrections to the AVSA CD. Dinner tonight was pork chops and corn with Butter BEans from the Farmers Market. Instead of walking today I mowed the back lawn. Entry: Aug 07, 2004 -------------------------------------- The tape arrived from Anne today. I cleaned the table in the office and set up the recorder. Digitizing the tape was surprisingly easy and in less than an hour I had 80 mp3 files representing the 80 slides. In the afternoon we went to the flea market and walked around looking for a mirror for the spare bdroom. Didn't find anything I liked. There is an unfinished mirror at CJ Woodmaster which can work OK. I also made arrangements with a teenager in Cary to pose next Sunday. Dinner was steak, Shiraz wine and brcolli. After dinner I sletp for an hour downstairs then went up and spent some time on the computer building the DVD version of the slide show. Entry: Aug 08, 2004 -------------------------------------- Read the paper on the proch - it's a chilly morning. I closed all the sliders. A&E was doing jazz so I went to my computer and worked on the AVSA DVD show. It looks pretty good. At the same time I'm assembling Kristens album. Libbie and I walked around the lake today - expected more people because of the nice weather. They're probably all getting ready for the start of school Tuesday. Libbie mentioned how ineffective Desiree has become because she can't stand up to do her job at the greenhouse. A bad situation for us. I told her we're not the sheltered workshop. ----------------------- Page 43----------------------- Entry: Aug 09, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did a partial cleanup in the shop then took a carload of stuff to the dump. Lots of books, magazines and old electronics. The place still looks overcrowded. I'm making room for a photo work area. In the PM Lib and I walked around the lake then stopped into Krogers and got some cards for Jessicas shower, Aunt Helens birthday and a roast chicken for dinner which we had with a baked potato. Entry: Aug 10, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did the grocery run this morning and went to the credit union. Workd on Encore Menu's most of today - think I have it figured out enough to work OK. Walked 4 miles around the lake this afternoon then we had chicken and brocolli/caulifllower veggies. Lib fixed an eggplant for lunch. After dinner we vacuumed and cleaned up a little in the dining room since I have a brides sister and her dad coming tomorrow morning. Entry: Aug 11, 2004 -------------------------------------- The person came at 8 this moning - he was going t o visit a few other photographers. I don't have much hope for him. Took inventory of Kristens pictures and ordered the missing from WHCC. Went back to working on the AVSA DVD - recorded the one bad MP3 file then started on Arlenes pictures again. Dinner was leftover chicken and Uncle Bens teryaki veggies. Worked on more of Arlenes pictures while the Concert for George was on PBS. I fell asleep during the concert. In the evening I paid the delinquent Bellsouth advertising bill and we drove to the mailbox to mail it. Entry: Aug 12, 2004 -------------------------------------- Finished up Arlenes pics this morning and FTP'd them to WHCC. The slides arrived for AVSA except Anne is going on vacation Saturday. Will probably hold them for a few days. Lib and I went to the Farmers Market this afternoon and stocked up on produce. Dinner was leftover chicken with corn and brocolli. Entry: Aug 13, 2004 -------------------------------------- This is the calm before the storm - tropical storm Bertha went through with vey little rain - Charlie is pounding Florida today - it's our turn tomorrow. My Card Reader arrived as well as the rest of Kristens pictures. We watched the storm a little then did the full 4 mile walk around the lake. Lib joined me from the apartments then I went home with her. Dinner was hamburgers with onions, tomatoes and whole wheat buns. Sent Arlene a check for the hotel deposit. Later in the evening we watched the 100 songs in 100 movies. Did not watch the stat of the Olympics. Spectacular stuff but boring. Entry: Aug 14, 2004 -------------------------------------- Early this morning we filled the 5 gallon can for the generator and went to Lowes to get a new S56 balde for my chain saw. The old one is dull as can be. We're ready for Charley today. In the late ----------------------- Page 44----------------------- morning I archived files and organized files on my hard drive. Was running out of room and need to move stuff around and burn some CD's. Charley looks like it is breaking up as it makes landfall around Myrtle Beach. The storm turned out to be a bust. The rains stopped at 4 - I worked on the Becatti pictures until a little after 5 then Lib and I went to Krogers for Ribs and Blockbuster for "The Pianist". Dinner was sweet potato, LLoyds Ribs, Shiraz. We emjoyed the Pianist after dinner although it was a long movie. Checked on the storm before bed and it was now North of the Norfolk area. Florida got pounded but we were spared. Entry: Aug 15, 2004 -------------------------------------- A gloomy morning. It's cool out so I read the paper on the backporch while Lib folded papers for orders. Spoke with Michelle this morning - we postponed her shoot till next Saturday. Lib informed me Saturday was busy with the cardio screening we want to take. It rained the rest of the day - worked on Cheri's pictures then built some collages and eMailed them to her in Boone. Lib and I did a Sams trip for essentials, mainly popcorn but also Salmon and cereal. Dinner was a very nice traditional pizza. Entry: Aug 16, 2004 -------------------------------------- The sun came out today. Received Arlene's prints back from WHCC and they are terrible. Left a phone message and sent an eMail to WHCC. Barb Becatti picked up her CD at noon then I went for a 4 mile walk. In the evening we had salmon and sweet potato for dinner. I also finished up Kristin's album today - she's coming over tomorrow evening. Entry: Aug 17, 2004 -------------------------------------- Lots of refund checks and also Marjan's check today - I deposited all in the Credit Union then went to Krogers for Tuesday groceries. The bug man sprayed the inside of the house this morning then did the foundation outdoors. Walked 4 miles today then had some watermelon on the porch for lunch. Kristin came over at 6 for her album - dinner was turkey burgers with veggies and onion and tomato. After dinner I heard from Lynn - she's coming over tomorrow for her proof CD. In the meanime Barb wanted another CD for her mother so I made 3 more copies because I found her copy was missing filenames on some of the pictures. Entry: Aug 18, 2004 -------------------------------------- Put Lynnes proof CD together this morning. Her wedding was June 26 but I haven't even looked at her pictures. They turned out pretty good and thankfully the formals were shot raw. Lynne came over this evening - found out that she needs 3 parents albums and not the two that I ordered. Will fix tomorrow. Walked 4 miles today - hurray. Dinner was Salmon and Uncle Bens veggies. Heard from WHCC today about the dark contrasty prints - they are working the problem and will call today when it's fixed. Entry: Aug 19, 2004 ----------------------- Page 45----------------------- -------------------------------------- We had a rabbit this morning eating the Liriope in the front yard. Need a gun. Lib took the garbage can to the street which was filled to the top with workshop stuff. Called Art Leather to replace two boxes that were damaged and also to order the missing album for Lynne. Worked on Leslie's pictures today using some of the techniques I learned in Suzettes class. When the power went off in the PM I started working on cleaning up the workshop so it will be usable with the computer table in the playroom. Lots of work still needs to be done - junk that hasn't been used in years got thrown out including my parts cabinets. We took a trip to the dump with all this stuff and the orange chair from upstairs. Dinner was veggies with a piece of steak Lib chopped up. Entry: Aug 20, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I swept out the garage and set up the studio and A/C in preparation for Marjan this afternoon. Finished up Leslie's pictures and started to FTP them to WHCC. Still don't know if WHCC is back online. Marjan came over at 2 and we used the new brown backdrop to shoot her bridals. It was 90 outside but the A/C did OK in the garage. She was alone so Libbie helped her put the dress on and lace up both the corset and the dress. Afterwards we took a walk around the lake. It was only 3 miles for me because I forgot Amy was coming over so I left home, met Lib at the Apartments then walked around the lake and came home with her. Amy picked up her printed proofs then we ordered three flavored Moo Goo with eggrolls. Dropped off the movie "The Pianist" when we picked up the chinese food. Bill called looking for a serial number for winzip. Entry: Aug 21, 2004 -------------------------------------- Mailed the slides to Anne this morning at the Post Office. Line was small, it cost $7.15 to send them. Came home and as we were having our salad for lunch Michelle and her family arrived. She was a very pretty girl - we got lots of nice pictures. We spent about two hours doing poses in the garage studio. The A/C held up pretty good - it was a hot day outside. Afterwards did a 4 mile walk around the lake. It's supposed to rain, the sky looks threatening but I made it around dry. I wanted to note that the Kudzu is fragrant and in bloom this week where the path goes from the top of the dam to the apartments. Dinner was ribs with a sweet potato and Ravenwood Zinfindel. Entry: Aug 22, 2004 -------------------------------------- Watched a little AE but it was about handicapped puppeteers so didn't watch much. Studied the specs for a mag stripe reader then went to the Farmers Market with Lib. On the way home stopped at the Raleigh Rose Garden and took pictures of Roses. Looking for backdrops for the Michelle pcitures. Walked 4 miles around the lake and then started working on the Marjan pictures. Finished uploading her pictures at 9:30 PM. Have to make a proof CD for Heather - will do that in the morning after building a CD for Michelle. We had traditional pizza this evening then I went upstairs and continued working on pictures. Didn't quite finish - got Michelles family pic done but I want to lighten and crop the others. Entry: Aug 23, 2004 -------------------------------------- Today was a very intense day. Started the morning out by sizing and darkening Michelles picrures ----------------------- Page 46----------------------- then building her a CD which I put into the mailbox. NExt it was Heather and Carlos CD. In the meantime Barb showed up here at noon for another CD for her mother in Colorado. Went for a walk with Lib but rode home with her whihc means it was a 3 mile walk instead of 4. I also finished the order this morning with WHCC for Leslie's prints. Anne reported that she received the slides and is ready to start labeling. The AV magazine came today with me mentioned in the letter from the president by Janet and also in the library section by Anne. Finished up HEaters CD then took it to the Post Office along with the receipts for Gary Gorden, AVSA Treasurer, for the slides. Dinner and also lunch was eggplant with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese. In the evening I researched options for parents albums. Entry: Aug 24, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went to the credit union first this morning then did the Krogers Tuesday run. Did some reading about Suzettes photoshop techniques as a class review. Dinner was turkey burgers with baked beans. Entry: Aug 25, 2004 -------------------------------------- Cleanup day!!! I worked on a collage for Mike the minister at Cheri and Matts - actuall I started late last night learning how to do blending in a collage. Ordered the missing slide for AVSA - slide 53 was a dupe of best species and it should have been blue boy blossom. Spent a lot of time throwing stuff away in the shop and vacuuming the floor. when Lib came home we loaded the van and went to the dump with the thing full. Moved the desk out of the playroom into the shop to be used as a layout table for finished album pages. Dinner was Salmon and veggies. Arelenes pix came today - took them to the PO and sent them to her priority mail. Also Leslie's prints from WHCC came as well. Entry: Aug 26, 2004 -------------------------------------- Updated MAAVS with Sept gesneriad meeting in DC per Laurene Jones request. Did some research on propane conversions then decided to order a propane conversion kit for my generator. I'll probably locate the generator under the porch to access natural gas easily but it means having to run an electrical line from the breaker box. Did my 4 mile walk today - surprised myself when I ran all along Old Raleigh Rd to meet Lib who was parked at the entrance to Buckingham. Rode home withe her. Spoke with Marjan about her pics - she want s the 3/4 seated bride in an 11x14. Had a nice lunch with Lib today at Logans - had lunch there, I had a veggie on sunflower bread and Lib had chicken strips on spinach. Afterwards walked around looking at garden sculpture. Dinner this evening was fresh corn and butterbeans we picked up at the farmers market. After dinner went for another walk - this time to the back of Buckingham. Entry: Aug 27, 2004 -------------------------------------- I worked on a collage of marjan in some of her other poses and then submitted it all to WHCC. Cleaned up the desktop in my work area and started matting some of Leslies prints. Did my 4 mile walk at noon then when Lib came home we had lunch and went to the Farmers Market to get corn, peaches and butterbeans. We drove across Centennial campus and went to the Raleigh Rose Garden where we bought Raleigh Little theater tickets for the season. Then we walked around the Rose Garden for 15 minutes or so - I was looking for a picture of a cluster of white roses for my files. Came home and worked some more on matting prints for Leslie. Dinner was corn and butter beans. ----------------------- Page 47----------------------- My weight goal is to get down to 240 by Jessicas wedding. So far I'm at 245 and have held there for over a week but I feel that someday it will suddenly drop. Picked up a Richard Evans book at the library - The Perfect Day. I read the first 20 chapters before bed. Entry: Aug 28, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I worked on Leslies album some more then took a ride around Apex taking pictures. Lib fixed a nice salad with tuna on it. Afterwards I walked the lake - the four miles was dragging, probably because I had lunch first. Before lunch we went to the Apex Flea market - that place still is not doing well. it was empty with not many vendors and many empty stalls. Vegetaed the afternoon away then Lib and I went to O'charleys for ribs for takeout. We had shiraz with a double rack of ribs, French Fries, Coles Slaw and a very nice yeast roll. Entry: Aug 29, 2004 -------------------------------------- Read the paper this morning looking for almost free CDR's from the computer and office stores. Not much luck - my supply is running low thanks to all the brides and AVSA, etc IT's a glum morning - a Tropical Storm is off the coast and expected to cross over here tomorrow - Gaston. I'm finishing the AVSA DVD - hope it's done today or at least this week. We went to Pump Boys and Dinettes this afternoon at RLT. Enjoyed the musical very much about 5 guys in a gas station on hwy 57 across from two sisters who run the Double Cupp and are waitresses - the Dinettes. It was a well done musical. We went over in the rain but drove home under blue skies. I walked the lake when I got back - walked to the corner with Carol Herner and her dog then she turned around. It was lightly sprinkling when I returned. Worked ona collage for Leslie's church person as an advertisement. Lib made traditional pizza then back to more pictrues. Stopped the DVD for now. Entry: Aug 30, 2004 -------------------------------------- A busy morning. I built some collages for Leslie - two Highgrove ones, one church one and two comp cards for Michelle. Uploaded everything and ordered prints. Next I worked on the AVSA DVD adding music and captions to the movies. Renedered the venue movie. Still need to create the credits movie, then render the credits and fireworks. It rained al day today with hurricane Gaston making its' way across the state. At 3 PM the eye had passed us so I walked - the Kudzu is not as intense today but the dam is really overflowing. Ran part of the way in the lakes finger keeping up with a nice pair of skimpy shorts in front of me. Dinner was Healthy Choice Princess Chicken. The high today was only 80 - I had Hot Chocolate in the evening. Ridiculous. Entry: Aug 31, 2004 -------------------------------------- Still rolling along - did the Krogers thing this morning. Then worked on finishing the AVSA DVD. While it was burning I went out for my walk. Heard from amy with pictures and also got a list of pics from Preah. Tom and Denise will be coming over Saturday to pick pictures for their album. Dinner was Japanese stir fry with chicken added. ----------------------- Page 48----------------------- Entry: Sep 01, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on Preahs pictures a little then went to Home Depot for a disposable paint brush and maskig tape. Came home and did pics some more then went on my 4 mile walk. While I was out Ellie called - she wants to come here tomorrow for a funeral in Rocy Mount Friday. Wow, talk about timing. I have 3 albums underway this week and a wedding on sunday. Busy, busy, busy. Dinner was chicken tenders with veggie alfredo. Afterwards I tried consolidating Preahs list while watching the LAtin Grammies. This was hard because of the hot woman they have performing. Entry: Sep 02, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on Preahs pictures then mowed both front and back lawns, string trimmed and then blew the driveway off. Changed the oil in the car - it was at 102k - last oil change was 92k. Cleaned out the barbecue grill - replaced the flavor bars and the ignitor. Ace Hardware had all the parts. Ellies plane was early today - found her 4:20 flight landed at 3:50 - we got to the airport at 4:17 and picked her up. Lib fixed barbecue chicken and Calif veggies for dinner. We later went out and met Davids flight from Chicago at 8:20. His plane was a few minutes late. Entry: Sep 03, 2004 -------------------------------------- I got up first this morning and after I showered I went to Brueggers to get bagels. Ellie and Dave slept until 9 - their alarm didn't go off. They wanted to leave at 9 to go to the funeral in Rocky Mount. On the way from Brueggers I stopped at Krogers for Cream Cheese and McDonalds for a gas fillup. Finished Preahs pictures in the morning. Now I'm ready to upload her stuff to whcc but first I need to verify quantities of each print type. Did my 4 mile walk today and was also releived to see that Frances is going to hit Miami. We should have a nice day Sunday for the wedding. Entry: Sep 04, 2004 -------------------------------------- We called Denise today and postponed this afternoon until Monday. After bagels went to Clayton with Ellie and Dave and checked out Marjon's venue for tomorrow. Stopped at a Post Office in Clayton adn Libbie mailed the flush album to zookbinders. came home for a lunch of barbecue and potato salad, chips. Afterwards we took a ride to the raleigh Flea Market - got caught up in major tailgating for the football game. Ellie bought some golden Books for her classroom. On the way home stopped at AC Moore and got the right marker for Jesicas quilt. I'll find a poem to put on it. Dinner was salmon, fruit salad, sweet potatoes and apple pie for desert. We finished a bottle of Woodbridge Chardonnay. Entry: Sep 05, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I charged batteries, read the paper and chatted with Ellie and Dave. Took them to the airport at 10:30 for their 12:25 flight. Afterwards we surfed the web, had a quick fruit lunch then left for the wedding. took pictures of the ladies - they weren't all dressed yet. Did some outdoor pictures of people then the ceremoy started. Captured the people walking towards the gazebo then the ceremony. The wedding was very nice - we had a table with the DJ during the reception then the ----------------------- Page 49----------------------- Iranian dancing started., The wedding was at 4 PM and we left around 9. Entry: Sep 06, 2004 -------------------------------------- Was going to go for a walk this morning but it started sprinkling so I went to OfficeMAx instead. Purchased envelopes and CDR's. Tom and Denise came over at 1 - we finished up around 3:30. They were clueless about picking pictures. Dinner tonight was eggplant casserole with onions and tomato and also barbecue sandwich. Later in the evening I started building a collage for Denise. Lots of pages in their album. Entry: Sep 07, 2004 -------------------------------------- Had a dentist appointment at 8:30 - bad news. While working on my bridge they broke the plastic off the lower however Dr Paul says the upper 4 unit one should be replaced because it's not covering well. It's $850 per tooth x 4 teeth. Leslie sent an eMail that she received her album. Dinner was eggplant caserole. Went to the library today and returned Perfect Day and took out the 5 people you meet in heave and writing about your life. Entry: Sep 08, 2004 -------------------------------------- A rainy day. I finished Preahs new collage then started working on Amy's pics. The 8x10's are OK but in her book she nees help with story telling. I sent her an eMail about this. We had tornado warning all day - hurricane Frances dumped tons of rain. Lib went to quilting tonight - she brought a 7 layer salad and also made one for me this evening. Entry: Sep 09, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked outdoors today - it's a nice day after the past three days. Replaced two foundation vents - bought a second one when I bought silicon sealer in Home Depot. Walked the whole 4 miles today - it's been a few days. At 2:30 Lib and I left for dwontown. Met sculptor Jim Fatata - I'm going to start sculpting with him next week.Toured his studio then went to the Visual Art Exchange and browsed around. Went home afterwards. Dinner was chicken breasts and veggies. Entry: Sep 10, 2004 -------------------------------------- I worked on finishing up Preahs pictures and uploaded everything to WHCC and put in an order. Hopefully this will come back before we leave next week. In the afternoon Lib and I went to Sams for groceries. Dinner ended up being ribs from Charlies with Shiraz. The Cole Slaw seemed to be bad. We didn't eat it. Entry: Sep 11, 2004 -------------------------------------- Libbie left early this morning for New Bern with the violet group. It's a beautiful day outside. I spent ----------------------- Page 50----------------------- some time today working on Tom and Denises order. Heard from Arlene this morning on the way to Aunt Jeans funeral. I corrected the AVSA DVD and finished that up today for mailing to Anne. Lib came back around 6 and we ordered Chinese which we ate at home but we skipped the wine. Entry: Sep 12, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did a 4 mile walk today - it's a beautiful day. Probably the end of summer. Worked on updating the MAAVS web site with the convention data including formatting the show schedule. Ken gave it to me as ascii text. Dinner was traditional pizza. Entry: Sep 13, 2004 -------------------------------------- I worked on some of Tom and Denises order today - heard from John Glembock. He came back from the Musnicki funeral and was thinking about genealogy again. I took a look at Birthwrite again and found that it was a little out of date - none of the Sroczynski or Lanner girls had their spouses in the database. Lib called from the greenhouse - she had an inspection going of plants for an intern going back to Indonesia and called me over to get some pictures. I obliged. Dinner was tuna sandwiches with tomato. Entry: Sep 14, 2004 -------------------------------------- Made a credit union run with Ginas check and Leslies check. Did the groceries this morning but not too many because we're going away the end of this week. Took my 4 mile walk but it started raining when I was coming back across the library parking lot. Walked the last 3/4 mile home in light sprinkles which then picked up and rained all night. The hyacinth flower on the pond has wilted. Dinner was healthy choice chicken parmesan. I continued later in the evening until I finished the Tom & Denise collages. Now I need to work on the larger photos for ordering tomorrow and with luck they'll work on them while we're away. Entry: Sep 15, 2004 -------------------------------------- Got the orders in for the big pictures for Amy and Preah. Entry: Sep 16, 2004 -------------------------------------- We left at 7:30 but got tied up on the Cary Pkwy for 30 minutes with truck thatbrokedown at High HYouse. Stopped to pee at McDonalds in Henderson - had to go real bad. Next problem was Just after Fredicksburg - had to take a reala bad dump. All was well - got gas just before Lewes but didn't get food. Tried to keep going to see what the ferry story was - we didn't have reservations. Arrived at the ferry termnal at 3:00. The next boat was at 4:15. The ride was very relaxing - there were some big swells and the boat rocked back and forth. Met a lot of very helpful people who wanted to help us find our motel. Met up with ----------------------- Page 51----------------------- Arlene and Rich at their house then went out to dinner at the Lobster Shack - a very nice outdoor raw bar. Got back to the hotel around 10:00. A long but pleasant day. Entry: Sep 17, 2004 -------------------------------------- Got up at 7 then went downtown looking for a breakfast place. No luck - went over to the docks by the Lobster Shack and found a pancake house called Capt Mikes. I had pancakes which were huge but light and fluffy. Libbie had an omelet with cheese, bacon and eggs. I had coffee and she brought her green tea. After that we drove around looking at Victorians before parking and walking along the ocean. Walked through Angel of the Sea, met a couple celebrating their 10th anniversary and took their picture on their camera. Afterwards we went to the lighthouse and walked around the bird sanctuary, the beach and the jetty. Found the church, walked around it then went to Arlenes house. Wrapped flowers, had pizza, took pictures and met a few girlfrineds and Davids sister. We also went to the nail salon this morning and took photos of the girls getting their nails and toes done. Went back to the hotel to download the camera and rest a little before going to the 5 PM rehearsal. Walked around and took pictures of the rehearsal then we went to the Cape may firehouse by the retreat center. There was a very nice dinner buffet of meatballs and stuffed Ziti and wine and beer. Christine drove mom and Aunt Helen there - she was on another planet as usual. We tried to make breakfast plans but things just got confusing. My mother said she won't eat breakfast, Christine said her cell phone is dead, I couldn't get an answer about meeting for breakfast - I'm sorry I asked. At the hotel I tried downloading but had to install the driver disk for Lib's camera. Had trouble reading the disk until I wiped it on my shirt and put it back in. It read the disk OK and installed the drivers. We reviewed what we took then I went back to the journal and a little story I'm writing for entertainment. Entry: Sep 18, 2004 -------------------------------------- Left the cell phone on in case Mom called and wanted to got breakfast. We went to Uncle Bills out on the Ocean Blvd. HAd a front booth looking out on the water. I had 3 pancakes - service was pretty poor - nobody helped s for a long time. Arlene had a minor crisis when Rich left her behind instead of taking her to the hotel the girls were getting ready at. Lib and Arlene got a ride there from Rich Mateo. I went over to the boys who were supposed to be ready at 10:40 but they all didn't get there until 11 AM. Photographed the guys then left late for the girls. Didn't get to the girls hotel until 11:25 but two of the girls weren't even there yet. Marijah and Steffie were ----------------------- Page 52----------------------- late. Eventually photographed everyone then went to the church. The bride ended up being a few minutes late for the church ceremony. Set the reflector up for the family pics then went to the beach for the bridal party pictures. Went out to the jetty for some kiss pictures then did a few at the retreat house in front of the statue. Kim was the driver so we also got a few with her at the retreat house. My favorite friend of Jessicas was Jackie, one of the Cape May girls. She was very curious about cameras and photography , carrying a 35mm in addition to her Canon S80. She was complaining that the canon had a delay and was slow in recycling to take another picture. She was also a very slinky girl who wiggled nicely and had a potographi figure. We did all the traditional bridal shots as well as many family groupings. Arlene wanted a grouping of Tom, Vicki and Arlene so we grouped and Libbie took the picture. We worked long and hard hours. Drove back to the hotel at 8 PM - had a circuit breaker pop in our room then we had ants all over my travel case. Theyu reset the breaker and gave us an ant trap for the bathroom. I watched Andre Richieu while downloading some of the flash cards from today. Entry: Sep 19, 2004 -------------------------------------- We started out loading the car at 715 when I discovered I didn't have my wallet. We took everything apart looking for it - finally found it in the back glovebox of the minivan. I took it out before the wedding yesterday so I could carry flash cards and batteries in my pocket. The weather is crystal blue clear skies and chilly at 62 degrees. A beautiful day. We did a McDonalds breakfast drive through shortly before 8 then bought ferry tickets at 8 for the 8:15 ferry. Ate our breakfast waiting in line. The ferry ride was a gentle sway back and forth and fore and aft as we sailed over whitecaps on the river. Crossing time was 1 hour 40 minutes. We hit the pavement of the Lewes terminal at 10:00 AM. The Annapolis bridge only had 2 lanes so we had a 30 minute delay merging to cross the bridge. Saw several miles of bikes on the other side crossing with police escort. We had a lunch and gas break at Fredicksburg then made it home at 6 PM which included a run through Krogers for milk, frozen pizza and yogurt. We watched a little of the Emmys then I went upstairs for some computer catch up work. Entry: Sep 20, 2004 -------------------------------------- WE woke this morning and it was 52 outside. Libbie hurriedly went to the greenhouse and shut off the humidity venting. We need to close up the kool cells today with these kinds of temperatures. I started the morning sorting through my mail - John Glembocki sent a lot of material that I updated the family genealogy database with. I learned a few things I didn't know about his siter and mother. Barb Becatti came over today and left her daughters order and also discussed some collages. We had soup for lunch because the salad was mushy - afterwards we went to Home Depot in Cary for plastic and lathe battens then went to the greenhouse and closed up the cool cells. It was three days earlier than last year. My weight held at 232 after the wedding. I was down to 230 just before but slipped to 235 ----------------------- Page 53----------------------- before going to NJ. Now I'm back on track - 220 by year end would be nice and eventually below 200 when I turn 60. Dinner this evening was Healthy Choice Chicken Margerihta. Not very good but quick and painless after the greenhouse Entry: Sep 21, 2004 -------------------------------------- Finished up Preahs and Amys pictures today. Was missing some of Preahs order so I re-ordered from whcc along with Amy's pictures. Did the Krogers run but did not walk today - too much to do. For dinner we had egglant with tomato sauce and parmesan. Entry: Sep 22, 2004 -------------------------------------- I worked some more on Tom and Denises album then went for a 4 mile walk. For lunch I had an apple when I returned. Libbie fixed chicken sandwiches for dinner at 5:30 before I left for sculpting. I left at 6 and had a good evening sculpting. One of the main things I learned was to get the silhouettes correct from each of the 90 degree views. Chuck in our class finished his sculpture - he's now looking for more challenging poses. Came home at 10 then checked the computer for emails and alos looked at some Rodin work. Entry: Sep 23, 2004 -------------------------------------- Stepped on the scale this monring and it's looking like 228!!! This is great news. I credit the walking and portion control. Spent some time this morning looking at Rodin pictures and also sculpture on eBay. Finished uploading the Tom & Denise pics to whcc today at 12:20. This is a little past their same day deadline of 12 but hopefully they'll finish them anyway and get them out today for delivery Monday. Did my 4 mile walk. Lib was at swimming when I got back. Played with eBay and bid on a David by Santini but I dropped out at $42 after starting at 10.49 I also bid on and won (the only bidder) the DVD Maze which I've wanted for some itme. Dinner was pork chops and some very delicious butternut squash. The butternut was small but very very good. Entry: Sep 24, 2004 -------------------------------------- Well, Preahs prints didn't come today. Instead the 8x10's for Amy arrived. This is frustrating. It looks like they sent them UPS ground. I started a little bit on the Becatti pictures. I also archived JEssica's to 4 CD's. Did the 4 mile walk today then Lib and I went to wait for Preah who never showed at the Baptist Church. From there we ordered Charlies ribs at 7 PM and had them at home with Ravenwood Zin. They left out the Cole Slaw whcih was OK because it wasn't good last time anyway. Entry: Sep 25, 2004 -------------------------------------- I worked a little on Cheri's album and also worked on updating the genealogy databas ewith the latest from John Glembock. Took a walk around the lake - called Lib from the library to meet me at Krogers. We went once around then I drove home with her. ----------------------- Page 54----------------------- Entry: Sep 26, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on pictures then went to the ballet to see part one of the Balanchine. We loved it. First number was a Bach Roccoco then Tchaikovsky Reflection. Intermission then Tarantalla then they ended with a Doinizetti piece which we didn't feel was polished. Of course the lead dancer was a substitute. Dinner was traditional pizza. Entry: Sep 27, 2004 -------------------------------------- I worlked on the 5x7's of the Becatti wedding. Finished them all. Went to Staples for blank DVD's for AVSA then hit the used bookstore next door for some computer books and a Karen Robards book. The start of the hurricane came through - there was a todnado that skipped over the greenhouse and skipped over our house. It knocked the power out for one hour = we drove to the greenhouse in the rain to see if the generator was running. There was power over there so no problem. Entry: Sep 28, 2004 -------------------------------------- Finished up Amy's album today - missing one picture which I submitted to whcc for printing. Did the Krogers run and stopped at the Credit Union with Preahs check. It rained all day today - remnants of Jeanne. It was a miserable day. I did get to finish my book - the 5 people you meet in heaven. I loved it - nice romance at the end. Burned all the AVSA DVD's that we'll need also today. John Glembock sent a bumch of pictures which Libbie and I looked at in the evening. Lots of good stuff. Dinner this evening was turkey burger with tomato, onion and baked beans. LAte in the evening I paired up all of Tom and Denises 5x7's to figure out what I was short. Found two short which I ordered with the Becatti 5x7 prints in the late night. Entry: Sep 29, 2004 -------------------------------------- I started working early today. Started by taping all the mattes. Ran out of tape so ran to Ace and got two rolls of tape to finish the book. I seem to be missing one collage wich I can't believe we missed. IT's not even checked on the picture list. This is a minor setback. I'll get the Becatti 8x10 prints together and add this one to it but I'm not sure I can make the 11 am deadline to get it back Monday. Went to sculpting this evening after a 7 layer salad - lots of compliments about my artwork - Jim said it's one of the best he's seen by a student for the first time. Our model, Chuck, wanted to know what preparation I did to do this. I said only photogrpahy. Received a tfp request from a girl who wants her tattoos photograhed. Entry: Sep 30, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went out in search of art supply stores - drove down Glenwood looking for Askew Taylor - didn't find them. Next went up Wake Forest Rd looking for Artarama - no success. Found out later they are in Holly Park shopping center on Wake Forest which is next to the beltline. Stopped in at the NC Art ----------------------- Page 55----------------------- Museum - photographed some sculptures including Age of Bronze by Rodin and a greek Venus. Fell in love with the Canova "Venus Italica". Dinner was chicken breasts with mixed veggies. The debate was on but I worked a little on the Becatti collages. Entry: Oct 01, 2004 -------------------------------------- The frame for Amys picture came at noon via FedEx. Worked on re-organizing the genealogy web site in the morning. A little later the UPS guy came with the 5x7's for Amy's album. Sent her an eMail saying all is here - she picked it all up at 4. The backing hardly had time to dry on the 24x20 frame I assembled for her. Drove to the lake an wlalked around from 5 to 5:40. At 6 we left for the First Friday Gallery walk but first we stopped at the grenhouse to smoke. While Lib lit the smokes I perused the Entertainment book looking for dinner coupons. No luck. We started the Gallery walk by visiting Artspace. We got some cheese, crackers and a glass of wine. started upstairs because that's where the the wine was. Visited many galleries, talked to some artists then did the same downstairs. Chatted with Paris Alexander about his sculptures - we were allowed to touch the marble one. There was a pregnant venus marble labeled Venus de Raleigh. A young lady said it's a Raleigh fertility statue - she better not touch it. Also saw a girl in a very attractive black lingerie top in a gallery for "Sush". Briefly visited Visual Arts Exchange - they had a miniatures painting exhibit - all small 5x7 paintings. Walked to Cafe Luna and waited 35 minutes for a table. I had Lobster Ravioli and Lib had Bowtie Salmon. Bill was $32 - no wine because I had enough at the Gallery walk. It was a very enjoyable evening. We're already talking about the next First Friday. Entry: Oct 02, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I updated the Bluebird website with new inventory, deleted white pots and changed blue sticky cards to yellow. Also added a managers special to the front page. Did a quick cleanup of the dining room and met with April about her May 7 wedding. She didn't sign. Had a salad for lunch while Lib had her doggie bag from last night. Walked the full 4 mile lake circuit at 3. Lots of people in the park including 2 shapeley females in shorts I followed for a while. Lib is cooking a turkey breast this afternoon. Received a call after dinner from April and she signed up with us - they will mail the contract and deposit. We had the turkey with stuffing, potatoes, veggies and Chardonnay. I didn't need more wine but drank it anyway. Entry: Oct 03, 2004 -------------------------------------- We slept until 8 this morning, very unusual for us. Read the paper then finished up Cheri's collages - just in time because I heard from Barb Beatti looking for her collages and wanting to know if we had the prints. LEft at 2 for our 3 performance at RLT - "Cuckoos Nest". It was in the Gaddy theatre which is almost in the round. RLT outdid themselves with props and staging. The play was very enjoyable. The RLT staff got us into the production as we entered - seeing if our papers were in order to go to the "day room". I worked on some changes to the Becatti collage before Lib had dinner ready. We had turkey with all the trimmings. Afterwards I heard from John Glembock - he talked to both Irene and Frank Glembocki about family history. I may be adding some family history to the website. Communicated with a girl named Jamie about doing a tfp shoot. ----------------------- Page 56----------------------- Entry: Oct 04, 2004 -------------------------------------- Lots to do today. Tom and Denises last picture came in - their album is done. I did the raw conversions for Marjan and built her CD then got it into the mail. The Santini sculptures arrived today - David and the Bather - they're beautiful. I didn't expect this. Did the 4 mile walk after a turkey sandwich for lunch. We also had turkey sandwiches for dinner. Heard from John and Ted with name updates but didn't have time to update the page - will do it tomorrow. After my walk Libbie and I worked on sorting and pairing pictures for Cheri's book - we need to determine which ones are missing or which need to be redone. I also loaded her selections into a spreadsheet to get totals - this was late at night. At 8 PM we went to the greenhouse to repair the flapper valve in the toilet - had to go to Home Depot to get a new one. Amazingly the entire thing took less than one hour. Entry: Oct 05, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I went to the greenhouse to change the 100 watt light bulb and bring Libbie her camera for the joint TAVS-Danville violet club meeting. I also deposited Bills check in the credit union plus a wedding check. I now have all of Barb Becatti's pictures on order at whcc as well as a few for Hana. She wanted her wedding pictures which I haven't done anything with. I was too lazy to do a full walk today so Lib and I walked just around the lake by driving there. Dinner was a frozen Smart Ones - I had Chicken Supreme which was very good. Worked on updating the Glembocki genealogy stuff - changed the tree pages to "Apex Pine Plains Regstry of Ancestors". Entry: Oct 06, 2004 -------------------------------------- No pictures today - heard from Denise. She wants an 8x10 of her grandparents. Went to Artrama and also Askew Taylor on Glenwood. Bought some sculpting tools. The large David by Santini arrived today. Did a full 4 mile walk around the lake late in the afternoon. It was about 75 today. Fall is approaching but at least it's dry. Thinking of ideas for an abstract sculpture. We had a dinner of baked beans and hamburgers but we had it at 6 PM when I had to leave for sculpture. Quickly had the burger and beans then ran out the door - made it to Litmus with a few minutes to spare. Bought some clay from Jim and got some advice on applying clothing material to the sculpture. Finished up the last session at 9:30 then hung around another 15 minutes chatting. Came home and found that Lib forgot about Gina's rehearsal. Entry: Oct 07, 2004 -------------------------------------- An off day. Spent a lot of time reading and looking at art but did nothing concrete. Went to Home Depot and bought a pipe to build a sculpting stand. Researched a few on the web - I'll use the pipe for the turntable which will adjust up and down and have wood legs supporting it. Did the 4 mile lake walk then got the dining room ready for a bride and her mother - Sarah Wood. They were thrilled with my albums and prices and said they wanted to sign with me. Dinner was stir fry chicken by Lean Cuisine. ----------------------- Page 57----------------------- Entry: Oct 08, 2004 -------------------------------------- Today was a day of procrastination for the direction to take Monet. Wish I knew what to do about a pricing chart. Had a bride and her Mom here Friday night. They really liked my work and absolutely loved the 16x20 from Cheri's wedding. It was fun talking with them because the raved over my work so much. They didn't have a check book but said they would be back to sign Monday. Dinner was pork chops and butternut squash. Entry: Oct 09, 2004 -------------------------------------- Got a direction for the monet price chart. Started coding up Monet pricing. Also worked on jessicas proof CD but quit at 11:45 PM because I was too tired. Lib went to Roger Peelers for lunch so I was on my own. Touched up Denises picture order and got it ready to go. Also did some taping of the pictures for Cheri's album. Dinner was O'Charleys ribs takeout and a bottle of Shiraz. Entry: Oct 10, 2004 -------------------------------------- Finished Jessica's CD this morning then took it to the mailbox along with April's contract. Spoke with Arlene and got some genealogical updates of the web site pictures. We went to Gina's wedding at 1:45 but I had to come back because I forgot the family photo list. The wedding was short and sweet - we were done by 5:30. Picked up a Freschetta pizza at Krogers and had it for dinnner. Entry: Oct 11, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on a collage for Amy then submitted all the stuff to WHCC for printing. Also re-doing the 11x14 from Darren's wedding into a mounted 16x20 for the new dining room layout. We went to Sams this afternoon - also stopped by staples to pick up a package of DVD cases for AVSA. Dinner was salmon and teryaki veggies. I took a 2 hour nap this afternoon - verythings catching up with me. Barb Becatti stopped in on her lunch hour to pick up her photo order. Christine, a pretty soccer coach, stopped in late in the evening to talk about photography. Entry: Oct 12, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did the Krogers thing then was getting ready to walk when Jim called and said we could come over at 7:30 to finish the model. Walked just the 2 miles around then went home and continued working on Monet Studio web site. Libbie left with me at 7 and saw the other sculptures as well as mine. She helped me rub some of the ripples out of the surface. Did not finish - stayed there intil the artists were done with their meeting which was about 8 or 8:30. Entry: Oct 13, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked this morning on glembocki.info website. Went to buy a paint brush at askew taylor then got a ----------------------- Page 58----------------------- call from Lib that Jim could give me the key to his studio and I could work while he stayed at his rental property on Park Place and shovel gravel in his driveway. Jim came over later in the evening and worked on his sculpture while I finished sculpting my torso. Left a little after 6. Dinner was chicken teryaki by Healthy Choice. Not very good. Lib went quilting while I went back to working on the web stuff. Now I need a "tool girl" pose for Hana and a sculpting stand. Entry: Oct 14, 2004 -------------------------------------- I didn't get out to walk today - was pretty busy with taping Cheri's album which I finished and working on the Monet prices. I started looking at the VB program again to publish html to the web for a photographic shopping cart. Dinner was salmon with baked sweet potato. I posted a casting call for models on both Musecube and OMP. Got a girl from Musecube right away. Entry: Oct 15, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went to the credit union and the post office this morning. Mailed te prints to Arlene and Jessica. Dave Morgan and Michelle came over this evening - they picked albums, left a check and bought two additional albums. For dinner we had blt on english muffins. Entry: Oct 16, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on my sculpting stand a little. Had to go to home depot for wood and bolts. Desiree locked the keys inside her truck in our driveway after she and Lib went to Rogers to get lightstands with her pickup truck. Dinner was ribs, baked potato and Shiraz. Entry: Oct 17, 2004 -------------------------------------- I spent all of today looking at shopping carts, installed two carts on the Turandot server after installing Apache and PHP. Took a walk wit Lib around the lake. Dinner was traditional pizza. It was a pretty nice day. Entry: Oct 18, 2004 -------------------------------------- I did some more reading on shopping carts today. Sarah came over and signed the contract for her wedding next year. Barb stopped by and picked up Cheri's alum. Dinner this evening was turkey burgers with Zatarains rice and beans. Entry: Oct 19, 2004 -------------------------------------- Lots of errands today. Did the credit union, the dmv to renew Libbies minivan, Northern Tools to get a ----------------------- Page 59----------------------- tube for the wheelbarrow and then the Post Office to mail Hana's wedding CD and then the usual Krogers Tuesday run. Replaced the tube in the wheelbarrow and while I was at it cleaned up the shed and built a shelf. Need to do a dump trip but Lib had the car filled with plants for a talk tonight at Fearington. I went to Krogers again in the evening and bought a rolling pin for my clay. Took a little nap and was groggy the rest of the night. Installed a commercial chopping cart, Xcart, on my server to play with customization. Dinner was Lean cuisine pork and veggies. Entry: Oct 20, 2004 -------------------------------------- We had our vascular screening today at 10:30. Couldn't eat anything for 4 hours before so no breakfast. The screening was blood pressure on upper body then on ankles. They also did an ultrasound of our bellies looking for an aneurism of the main artery going down the center of the body. We came home and had BLT sandwiches because we did a dump trip with the stuff from the shed and stopped at a vegetable stand on the way home to get tomatoes for our sandwiches. After lunch we checked out the new Target in Apex looking for a baster for watering violets. No luck but we got our ribs and wine in the grocery portion of the store. Went to the greenhouse and measured for the replacement wood to repair where a truck hit the building. Dinner was chicken breasts from the grill with a white yam. This was our first white yam - it didn't have much flavor. ----------------------- Page 60----------------------- Entry: Oct 21, 2004 -------------------------------------- Worked on understanding import tags in Adobe indesign. This is the program i will import the MAAVS address list into for the convention booklets. Started working on the garage shed building. Visited the new Lowes for the first time and got our materials. Tore down the trim around the garage door, the 2x4 fascia on the building front and then replaced some of the sidingin the front. Will next get some siding to replace side along the road. Went back to Lowes in the evening and got the siding materials. Dinner was barbecue chicken with butternut squash. Entry: Oct 22, 2004 -------------------------------------- Started tearing the siding off the garage building. It was a little chilly and the clouds would ocassionally make it look dark and dreary before getting light again but no rain. Desiree and Joey took al the scraps to the dump in their truck. We found active termites in the building. Dug a trench and filled it with two gallons of Dursban as a treatment. I was exhausted and all the siding was off the building - too tired to ocntinue. Went home at 3 and had a barbecue sandwich then went back and finished putting up the siding. The cement sheets are heavy. Afterwards Lib and I went to Lowes for paint and battens. Ordered chinese from the Lowes parking lot then drove to the place next to Krogers and it was ready. Had this with Chardonnay. A mellow ending to a tiring day. Entry: Oct 23, 2004 -------------------------------------- We worked hard today. Did some computer work in the morning then at 10 started painting the garage building. Finished that in an hour or two then helped setup the pressure washer for Libbie to pressure wash the bathroom side of the garage for painting. While she did that I replaced a panel on the entrance side then put up all the batting on the newly painted siding. We left there around 5 PM very tired but feeling accomplished. It turned out to be a nice sunny day as well although there was a slight chill in the air and an ocassional cold breeze. Dinner was ribs with black beans and rice and Ravenswood Shiraz. Afterwards we watched the PBS special aboiut the history of Broadway. I dozed on and off during this. Entry: Oct 24, 2004 -------------------------------------- We woke to a rainy morning which dampens our painting plans a little. I messed around on the internet downloading Il Trittico. The rain stopped around noon - went out to the greenhouse and put new glazing onto the bathroom window and a new sill support under the window. Had to leave because it was two and our performance starts at 3. Went to RLT, "You can't Take it with you". It was very enjoyable - we agree with grandpa in the play - if you don't like doing something don't do it. Enjoy life. Lib made pizza dough in the morning then refrigerated it - we had homemade pizza which was very good. Heard some more from John Glembock about Albert and Edward. Edward will meet us in Hopewell. Entry: Oct 25, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went out to the greenhouse at 9:30 and started painting the end wall of the garage. Finished up the wall and the trim in white. had to put two coats of paint on the peak fascia board. Painted the new front fascia board and installed it late in the afternoon. It was a dark foggy morning while I painted. The sun later came out in the PM but I was done. Denise came over and picked up the 8x10 for her grandparents. We had turkey burgers for idnner with leftover rice and beans. ----------------------- Page 61----------------------- Entry: Oct 26, 2004 -------------------------------------- We left around 7:30 AM for NJ - traffic was fairly light all the way although I-95 was busy as usual. Stopped at Taco Bell for lunch in Aberdeen - that exit is building up. Thre is now a Home Depot and Target there. It got real dark and coloudy around Richmond but the skies cleared up over NJ - temps were not bad in the 60's. Mom had Turkey breast with all the trimmings for us when we arrived. Entry: Oct 27, 2004 -------------------------------------- We had bagels from the corner deli then went to Hopewell on 28 to 206 taking a shortcut just before Somerville. Traffic wasn't too bad - got to the church and cemetery around 9. After wandering around a little we met Ed Glembocki there. We were on the cell phone to Mom looing for Emily's grave. Her marker was turned aorund in her row so we didn't see it. John came a little later - he got tied up in 287 traffic and didn't arrive until 10. We had lunch at a pizza place in downtown Hopewell then went a visited Lotties farm and Frank Stanski next door. Had a very nice visit with him and his mother. Scanned lots of pictures. Cmae home to Moms with John where we had two Dominics pizzas and some of Moms left over turkey. Entry: Oct 28, 2004 -------------------------------------- We left Mom's house around 8:30. Traffic on 287 was stiull pretty heavy and creaked aling but at least it was moving. Took the TPK all the way instead of getting off onto 195/295. We had biscuits at the end of the TPK then drove all the way to South Hill for gas. Arrived home at 4:45 PM. I was too tired to do much in the evening except there was a telephone message from Gina looking for her proofs. Entry: Oct 29, 2004 -------------------------------------- Today I talked with Chris about his May 28 wedding in Highgrove and made an appointment to meet with him Tuesday evening. I spent much of the day updating glembocki.info with the pictures we obtained. Did a small grocery run, mainly to get shaving creme that I left behind in NJ. Took out a subscription to the US Census for 19.99 and sepnt much of the evening looking for Skillman census records but I can't find where they fit into the county census findings for 1930. Dinner was salmon and mixed veggies. George and Mary called excited about their mornon ball team winning the world series. I don't see what they see in this stuff. I was going to do greenhouse carpentry today but it started raining in the afternoon so postponed the work. Entry: Oct 30, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went out to Lowes first thing and picked up a sheet of siding. Went to the greenouse at 10:00 and started ripping siding off the entry area. Cut some new sheets and put them up as well as put up new corners. Dinner was salmon with veggies and Chardonnay. This was a full day. Entry: Oct 31, 2004 -------------------------------------- After the newspaper in the morning I picked up some one inch lumber at Lowes for a homemade doorframe then spent the whole day building the door frame. It's a lot of meticulous work routing the hinges, hanging the door, attaching the threshold. Libbie pressure washed the siding around the front door prepping it for painting. After traditional pizza dinner I went back out and bored a hole for the latch to close. It was dark when I went back to do this. ----------------------- Page 62----------------------- Entry: Nov 01, 2004 -------------------------------------- Trimmed out the doors and corners at the greenhouse today. Did not finish - ma few more battens are left. Lib joined me later in the day and painted some of the white trim around the door and garage door. Went home exhausted from a day of painting. Dinner tonight was Voila pot pie flavor with beef. It was pretty good. Entry: Nov 02, 2004 -------------------------------------- Not much time today. Went to the grocery store for our weekly provisions and then to the church whre I voted. Lines were non existant. I then got dressed in old clothes and went to the greenhouse where I finished the last two battens then painted the garage building. A long day. Came home at 5 then showered and got ready for a customer meeting at 6:30. They didn't sign up which is too bad. Maybe it's too bad for them because my rates are going up anyway. Dinner was Viola pot pie flavor. Very nice. Did not watch the election results because they would be bogus anyway. Started working on the MAAVS souvenier book by loading pagemaker on my computer and importing some of the schedule and awards. It seems to be going OK. Finished the awards before bedtime around midnight. Entry: Nov 03, 2004 -------------------------------------- Started right away on the MAAVS souvenier book It went pretty well - I was bale to get it over to PIP by noon. In the PM I worked on genealogy a little bit. Needed Joseph's apartment mates in 1910 which was on the previous page of the census. Extracted that then Ken Barbi called with a room change for the book Made the changes and burned a new CD. I have sculpting tonight so not a lot of time for this stuff. Sculpture tonight was like dying and going to heaven. Our model was a very beautiful 26 year old Meredith graduate student, Christen. Wow, what perfection. My sculpture is screwed up - paper is coming through the back and legs. May start over this weekend. Entry: Nov 04, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did errands this morning - Credit Union, Lowes, Office Max, Target. It's a rainy misty day so did a little work on Glembocki.info - added the 1920 census. Yesterday I did the 1910 census. Later in th afternoon I added the 1930 census images. It's work because it needed photshop work to crop andpaste the images together along with column headers. I did a library run this morning and got a sculpture book showing body proportions. Read a little of Newsweek on the elections and how the country overwhelming rejected the Democratic message or lack of it. Dinner was turkey burgers and rice and beans. Yummy. I like the onion slice on the burger. Entry: Nov 05, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning went to the greenhouse and put up the fascia board then put 2x4's around the inside garage door and a door sweep on the bottom. Finished by putting the rest of the screws into the hinges and then buying caulk at Ace. Ned to get home and cleanup for my eye appointment. At Dr Tuckers I ended up purchasing the $40 eye photo which I didn't think was worth it. Also, replaced the lenses in my glasses which were in bad shape with the coating coming off. Went back to the greenhouse and caulked a lot of stuff and stapled down the plastic on the edges which we removed to paint. Canceled my genealogy subscription to get my $20 back before 7 days then we left at 5:40 for the rehearsal. Beltline traffic was bad but hwy 64 through Knightdale was terrible. We got stuck in light after light and long lines of traffic. Got to the rehearsal at 6:45 thinking we missed it but it hadn't ----------------------- Page 63----------------------- really started because everyone else was in traffic as well. We watched a little then left there at 7:00 and went to ArtSpace then the Visual Art exchange. Had dinner at Cafe Luna - I had Lobster Ravioli. We also ordered some Chardonnay which I didn't need since I already had two glasses at the galleries. Entry: Nov 06, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I started by charging batteries then spent some time catching up on bookeeping with Quicken. We left at noon for the wedding and arrived at the church slightly before 1. Everything went smoothly at David and Michelle's wedding. The crowd sang happy birhtday to me and they had a birthday cake next to the wedding cake. We were finished at 6 then went home for a little birthday celebration with a cake. Dinner was a couple of Healthy choice meals - I had honey roasted chicken with string beans. It was tasty but small. Went to bed after perusing a Rodin book. Entry: Nov 13, 2004 -------------------------------------- We did McDonalds breakfast then Lib more or less manned the booth this morning while I gathered stuff together and got ready for the 11:00 presentation. The DVD went very smoothly - I had lots of positive comments. The assembled AVSA board members decided to offer the DVD for sale as well as rent. We had a Subway turkey sub for lunch then I covered the booth while Lib went to the growers forum. We went to the banquet - I had a very nice Filet Mignon. The awards were short thank goodness - lots of goodbys to friends. Afterwards we went to a Brats party in two of the rooms. It was a very nice group of people. Entry: Nov 14, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning Lib and I got up the usual time then went to Mcdonalds for breakfast. Got back by 7:30 and started carrying boxes to the hotel back door. Barbara and I left at 8:10 right behind Libbie. Stopped at Fredicksburg for gas then again in South Hill for food and also Barbara wanted to buy a lottery ticket. Barbara is fun to ride with - we got to her house at 1:30 - I-95 traffic was fairly light so we had pretty smooth sailing. Libbie came home around 4:30 - she stopped for a Denny's lunch with Roger and also stopped to unload his plants at Magnolia. I started working on pictures - have to build a Cd for Michelle and David as well as get the MAAVS web site pix in shape. Entry: Nov 15, 2004 -------------------------------------- Today is overload day. While I spent the morning unloading the laptop and cameras the UPS guy came with three boxes of prints for me and then Lib came with a pile of mail. It's amazing we were only gone for the weekend but everything is so far behind. I worked most of the afternoon processing proofs for David and Michelles wedding. Heard from Anne - she will have the Lone Star club over for a meeting and is going to show the DVD. I told her about the MAAVS experience. We had a very nice chicken dinner before sculpture class. On the way to Litmus I stopped in Office Depot and got labels for the proof CD's. My portrait is coming along nicely in class - Jim showed me how to do the eyes and ears. I'm going to use this technique on the woman sculpture. Entry: Nov 16, 2004 -------------------------------------- I fasted this morning then went for my physical at 10:15. Beforehand I mailed the discs to David and Michelle and her Father in Oklahoma. I like the doctor I had at Cary Medical - very personable and able to answer all my questions. The bad news is I have borderline high blood pressure and he gave ----------------------- Page 64----------------------- me a prescription to treat it. Afterwards I did the Krogers thing then had potato soup for lunch. This was not good because of the sodium content of processed soups. I was really tired today so I took a two hour nap - got Joe's flight schedule today. He arrives 6 AM on Friday. We had barbecue chicken and lima beans for dinner. After dinner I went to the library and got a book about high blood pressure I saw on Amazon. Interesting reading - I decided to seriously attack the diet and salt issues. Entry: Nov 17, 2004 -------------------------------------- Read about diets and hyprtension in the morning then went out and got some recommended supplements to try blood pressure lowering. In the PM Libbie and I went out and got a blood pressure measuring machine. Left at 6 for sculpting after working on the head of my piece before class at home. Dinner was only Lma beans in the microwave. I took some pics of Kristen at Litmus - she's a cute girl - very talkative tonight. Entry: Nov 18, 2004 -------------------------------------- Brought my sculpture home last night - it needs lots of work. The BP was 127 this mroning - very good. Worked on MAAVS pages some. Dinner was Lima Beans with a few chunks of chicken. Entry: Nov 19, 2004 -------------------------------------- Got up at 5 am to meet Joe's plane. Hung around in the morning then drove over to Chapel Hill to have lunch with Andrea. She's a very nice girl. Lib likes her a lot. We left Joe in Chapel Hill and drove home - he came home a little later. We chatted with Andrea some more before she and Joe had to leave for the rehearsal. Lib and I had salmon and baked potato for dinner. My blood pressure is looking fine - I doubt if I ever had a problem. Entry: Nov 20, 2004 -------------------------------------- Today is Brandons wedding. Picked up some bagels at Brueggers and had breakfast on the back porch with Joe and Andrea. The left at 10 to get Joes tuxedo and to attend a wedding luncheon. Worked on more of the maavs pages then we left at 5:10 for the 6 PM wedding. Parked directly in front of Exploris - it was a very elegant wedding. We watched the photographer and didn't like her. She used a dinky flash, didn't get all the people involved in the pics. Her pics were mostly average to poor but she did use a lot of lenses on her camera. Entry: Nov 21, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I woke pretty early then read the paper and found we're having a party here tonight from Kelly Whitfill. Finished the MAAVs updates, blew the leaves off the driveway then chatted a little with Andrea and Joe before they left for the greenhouse. Joe met Libbie in Krogers on his way from the hotel to our place. The grill caught on fire this evening while Joe was cooking sauusage - grease fire in the catch pan. The grill was over 1000 degrees. Put it out with the fire extinguisher. The grill seems to be OK but it needs a cleaning. Entry: Nov 22, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I worked on orders for Denise, Preah and Arlene. submitted an order for the 5x7's at ----------------------- Page 65----------------------- 12:30. Got an eMail from Joe that his flight is stuck on the ground for a thunderstorm in Houston. We saw them off this morning at 4 AM. Dinner this evening was lima beans before going to sculpting. I finished my portrait tonight - it really looks like the model - amazing. Lots of help from Jim on ears, lips, etc. The hair was done by me - I'm pretty happy with it. Had an orange when I returned home. Entry: Nov 23, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went to the credit union then Krogers for $100 worth of fixings for our turkey dinner this week. The weather outside is dismal rain that won't clear until Thursday. Entry: Nov 24, 2004 -------------------------------------- Still raining today. Lib and I walked around the lake then picked up a few more thanksgiving fixins at Krogers. Dinner was salmon and veggies. I got my blood report OK - everything is OK except chloresterol and triglycerides. Possibly diet will help this. Went to the greenhouse and met aurika from the Ukraine while I mounted the telephone box back on the wall. It needs painting. Entry: Nov 25, 2004 -------------------------------------- Watched the Macy parade in the morning while I reviewed the wireless monitor for the greenhouse. Entry: Nov 26, 2004 -------------------------------------- The sun is shining nicely today even though it's a little chilly. Started looking at the wireless component of the greenhouse monitoring system again. Much needs to be remembered. Got some pics back via UPS today then went to the greenhouse and painted the tel jack and a batten over the door. Next Lib and I pulled the shade off houses 3 and 4. Wen home and had turkey sandwiches for lunch. My blood pressure is pretty high today - probably the thanksgiving dinner and the wine. Need to get back to where I was earlier in the week. I never knew how good I had it. Walked the lake then for dinner we had turkey and trimmings with the wine from Brandons wedding. Less wine but no help on BP. Entry: Nov 27, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I read about implementing a temperature node for my home netwrok. I want to add sensors on the back porch, garage, crawl space, attic and upstairs hallway. Sketched out a circuit using an Atmel 2313 which is an AVR with one uart. Dinner was turkey with butternut squash. Entry: Nov 28, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did some more work on Arlene's 5x7 pictures - they're ready to go to whcc.com. Today I also did some major updates on glembocki.info. Later in the day Lib and I walked the lake then looked for trees at Winn Dixie - none this year. Found a Fraser fir at Foodlion then went home to get the minivan and bought it for 29.95. On eBay I bought a programmer and a 12v cirarette lighter cord for my Garmin Emap gps. Dinner was standard pizza. ----------------------- Page 66----------------------- Entry: Nov 29, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning I uploaded the 8x10,s, 11x14's and 5x7's to whcc for Arlene and Preah. Also changed the supply line to the water heater - it was a project waiting for about a year but never got around to it. Also want to change the anode rod but can't get it loose. Entry: Nov 30, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did the grocery thing in the morning then spent the day reading about home automation. Went back later to Krogers with Lib and picked up a remote control for our gas logs from Gole then the 8 inch cake boxes from Krogers for the fruit cakes. Dinner was veggies with turkey pieces imbedded. Entry: Dec 01, 2004 -------------------------------------- Dropped Denise's pictures off then did a Credit Union run. Lib and I walked the lake. Dinner was chicken fingers on buns with broccoli for the veggie. Blood pressure is down but not satisfactory yet. Need to do some serious weight loss. Entry: Dec 02, 2004 -------------------------------------- This morning is the beginning of Cary Academy holiday fare. Went to the greenhouse and photographed the pottery and plants that Lib and Jen were going to take over to the sale. Visited the sale in the PM - it looked like a bunch of junky craft stuff for xmas giving - not my thing. Lib sold some xmas cactus but not any pottery [ieces. For dinner I had a salad then veggies with peppers and onions scattered on top. Lib came home shortly thereafter for one hour then went back to Cary Academy while I read my Karen Robads book with the gas log providing heat. Entry: Dec 03, 2004 -------------------------------------- I tried to buy a gun this morning but the verification system was down after they took all my data. Will try again over the weekend. Lib spent another day at Cary Academy selling plants but I was able to talk her into going to First Friday this evening. We did the gallery walk - I did not take any wine. There was a juried art show in the hallways - ArtSpace holiday show. Afterwards we slowly walked to our 8:30 dinner reservation at Cafe Luna. I had 4 cheese and a pear stuffed pasta in cream sauce but no wine. We shared a chocolate cheese cake for desert. A very nice evning. We finally got home around 10:15 PM. Entry: Dec 04, 2004 -------------------------------------- Lib did the Cary Academy thing again today. I spent the afternoon with David and Michelle picking out pictures for their book. This evening dinner was a nice bowl of veggies. I put a little tomato on mine. One week from today I go to Sarasota. Entry: Dec 05, 2004 -------------------------------------- Did the paper thing in the morning then started working on putting a simulated album together for David and Michelle. Built all the collages and loaded everything onto the web. Dinner was a ----------------------- Page 67----------------------- traditional pizza. Entry: Dec 06, 2004 -------------------------------------- Picked up my gun this morning at Dicks sporting goods. They got a new MArlin with scope in so I switched to that because the price was only $119. The other one was going to be $159. Spent a lot of the day reading about rs485 networks. I managed to get pictures uploaded to whcc for Michelles Dad in Oklahoma as well as a bunch for Arlene. I'm almost done with Arlene's pix. They were handy to help me make my minimums. Dinner was chicken tenders and carrots and brocolli. Entry: Dec 07, 2004 -------------------------------------- What a busy day!!! Went to Krogers then to Lowes for a 1x3 then to the greenhouse to install it under the cool cells. HEard from Gina who sent a list of pictures which I worked on then Heather sent her list which I also worked on. It's a warm day today - up into the 70's. I leave this Saturday for Florida. I'm not sure why I'm going since I'm too busy here. Entry: Dec 19, 2004 -------------------------------------- After reading the paper today I took a walk to the South end of Siesta Key then went to Selby and walked around and also cruised some condo construction sites in downtown Sarasota. Entry: Dec 20, 2004 -------------------------------------- GGot up at 5:30 this morning and started washing the sheets and towels. Cleaned everything in the condo by 9:00 so I walked about a mile North on Midnight Pass. Left at 10:12 - it was chilly in the fifties but the sun was strong and felt warm. Picked up some Oranges at Albrittons then got gas in Bradenton at Hwy 70 exit at a Hess station. Had a very nice drive to Tampa - arrived at Hertz around noon for my 2:30 flight. Loved he little Corolla I had - it was a 2005 model with 3000 miles. I drove it 540 miles total. I had to pay two extra days beyond my one free week coupon. The total with tax ended up costing $105. which wasn't too bad. The plane ticket was $142 round trip. I had a very enjoyable and productive stay - the flight home was delayed 10 minutes coming from West Palm. We landed at 4:15 instead of 4:10 - by 4:30 I was sitting in Lib's car. It was a very smooth trip - I read some more of Karen Robards Beachcomber on the plane then fell asleep for a short while. Raleigh was very cold - it was 26 degrees when I landed. Dinner was salmon with veggies, sweet potato and fruit cake for desert. Afterwards I tackled the mountain of mail. Entry: Dec 21, 2004 -------------------------------------- First day back - a mountain of mail and pictures to sort through. I started Heather's album, David Morgan stopped by for hhis pictures and late in the evening Brenda came over with money for her pictures. Dinner was salmon and veggies. Very nice to be back although it's a little colder. We did a little Christmas shopping this afternoon - Lib picked up some DVD's for Mom and a gift certificate frm Walgreens for Aunt Helen. Entry: Dec 22, 2004 ----------------------- Page 68----------------------- -------------------------------------- Finished the 5x7's for Morgans weding then Libbies new Thinkpad arrived - spent a lot of time adding programs to it. We went to Target and got two robes for Lib. Stopped by Krogers and picked up a roast chicken for dinner and also some more Christmas cards for my family. Lib finished writing to her family. I got Gina's extra 5x7 into WHCC as well as Brendas order. Entry: Dec 23, 2004 -------------------------------------- Went to the greenhouse at noon and replaced the plastic on the side wall which was torn to shreds from age. Lib ordered a new plastic for the back wall - it too didn't survive the wind very well. It's supposed to be warmer next week when the plastic gets here. Dinner was leftoer chicken with veggies. Entry: Dec 24, 2004 -------------------------------------- The day before Christmas - a cold front has moved in - it's in the thirties today. We had two USPS delivery guys in our driveway this afternoon - our regular mail and an express package from Andrea. We went to Lowes for paint for our bedroom - both ceiling and wall paint. Will start that after Christmas. Also ran into Target and returned one of the robes Lib had goten earlier in the week. Dinner was homemade Chili. Entry: Dec 25, 2004 -------------------------------------- A quiet christmas morning. Spoke with Mom late in the day - she wsn't home when we called her earlier. Lib and I didn't exhcange gifts - we opened everything that came in the mail. Joe called in the afternoon - he's going to Christmas dinner at Andrea's parents house. Lib fixed a small turkey breast which we had with all the trimmings including Chardonnay. Entry: Dec 26, 2004 -------------------------------------- We looked outside for snow but there was none - it was supposed to start at 2 am. It finally started as ice crystals around 8 when I went to the street to get the paper. Read the paper and kept warm by the gas log. The snow finally ended at 9:30 - we got a dusting but it was mostly on the road surfaces and not the grass. At 10 we started painting our bedroom ceiling. Finished at lunch time, took a long break then went back and finished the room and moved back in for the night. Entry: Dec 27, 2004 -------------------------------------- The day after the big paint job. The snow has nicely melted - we ended up with only a dusting yesterday but streets are icy. Lib went to the greenhouse and I looked into PDA interefaces to my TNC based greenhouse monitor. In the PM we went to Lowes for bathroom paint and a new bookshelf for Libbie's books. The old one is beat up pretty badly. Dinner was leftover chili. I spent time in the evening reading the end of Beachcomber by Karen Robards. Got to 50 pages from the end. We are being plagued by a mouse - I have two traps setup but no luck so far. Late at night we took a ride out to see Dr Beavers lights - he ahs several acres coverrd with Christms lights. ----------------------- Page 69----------------------- Entry: Dec 28, 2004 -------------------------------------- Cuaght the mouse this morning. Dinner tonight was fresh sausage that Lib picked up on 1010 at Williams grocery as an experiment. They were very good but probably not a smart food. Finished up the 8x10's for Morgans wedding, now I have the 5x7's to go. The compuer will be here tomorrow. In our mailbox today was the UPS pictures that were weather delayed last week due to the Minnesota snows. They are the 4x6's for Maranantha's mom. Entry: Dec 29, 2004 -------------------------------------- Painted the bathroom ceiling today. Took the mirror and towel racks off the wall and Lib spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the wallpaper glue off the walls. Dinner was chicken tenders on Pepperidge Farms hoagie rolls which were toasted. Very nice. Entry: Dec 30, 2004 -------------------------------------- Libbie didn't come home for lunch today - she went to the movies with nancy and her grandchildren. I bought a 802.11g networking kit and replaced the wireless router in our closet. Also bought a wireless print server but am having troubles getting it to work with an Epson printer. Painted the bathroom this afternoonn - started with what's left in the flat green paint - covered the area around the vanity, the door and half of the window wall. Lib came home at 4 and grabbed a paint brush and started helping me do the edge work. Still think the room needs another coat. For dinner we tried out Dixie Belles barbecue whih opened in the old Burger King in front of WinnDixie at Laura Village on the corner of 64 and Laura Duncan. Entry: Dec 31, 2004 -------------------------------------- Looked at the bathroom and decided it needed another coat of paint. Lynn is coming over at 1 today so I can't get too dirty. She's pregnant and may need the bathroom so we cleaned up the downstairs that we were using. I went to the Post Office with a picture for Joy's mother then went to Lowes and got a new bathtub faucet and shower. A new faucet was the same price as a replacement faucet until I decided to upgrade and got a faucet with a porcelain handle and built in temperature monitor. Also purchased a stud finder - will probably use it to put the crown moulding up in our bedroom. Late in the afternoon we went to Sams. Arlene called just before we left - she accidentally erased the pictures on her camera card and needed recovery software. I sent her a program called "recover my files". She couldn't get it to open but found another program on the web which recovered her files. I stayed up and watched the ball drop in the evening. We had Andre champagne with shrimp and sweet potato for dinner.