----------------------- Page 1----------------------- Jan 01, 2007 -------------------------------------- New Years day. We got up a little later today. It's raining outside but I went out in the rain and put the vent cap on the dryer pipe so Libbie could use the dryer today. I wrote the AVSA library report today and sent it to Nancy. Had some troubles with the router - tried editing the routing tables and messed it up so after removing the router from the closet and hooking it to my laptop, I was able to reset it to default by holding down the reset button for 15 seconds. All is well. I was originally trying to get the Slug to go out on the internet. Not much success. Jan 02, 2007 -------------------------------------- Didn't need groceries today so I went to Target for bagels and while there picked up some pasta for dinner tonight. Lib came home later in the day and said that Kroger had Lean Cuisine on sale so she bought a bunch. I went back later and bought turkey lean cuisine and a meatloaf. For dinner we had the pasta. I got the Slug web server working finally. My laptop seems to cache web pages. Need to stop that in the html code of a page. Jan 03, 2007 -------------------------------------- Spent the day playing with the slug now that it will serve web pages. Next item is to compile my own program for the thing to read environmental parms. I envision a slug with a usb memory stick at Stoneybrook. It will monitor the router, monitor temperatures and maybe even do tepephone management. In the evening we had turkey burgers which were very good. It was a nice day out. Today was garbage day instead of Tuesday because of the New Years holiday. I went into the living room and filled up a garbage bag of video tapes we have never watched and put them out into the trash as well as some old flourescent tubes. Bought Dodge and Cox International for my Roth today. Keeping an eye on CSE for my regular high yield account. I'm thinking of rolling my TDSP money into the Roth for a few extra percentage points of gain (or loss). Jan 04, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went over to Litmus this afternoon and photographed some sculptures for Jim. Went home and got them put up on the web late at night. Jan 05, 2007 -------------------------------------- Jim sent over a list of pics he wanted slides made. I cropped and adjusted the list and put them up on the web. Dinner this evening was shrimp with Shiraz and steamed vegetables. Jan 06, 2007 -------------------------------------- I worked on setting up the Debian Linux machine in the mroning then we left for North Hills Met boradcast at 12:30. We got there in plenty of time including some wrong turns, getting off at the wrong exit and trying to find the theater. Enroute my contact came out of the left eye so it wasn't a good trip there. The opera was wonderful - I had my doubts but was pleasantly surprised. We tried shopping in the Target there right afterwards but they had a small grocery dept. Ended up at Harris ----------------------- Page 2----------------------- Teeter for shrimp and steamed vegetables (Southwestern Corn). We had the Shrimp with Chardonnay. Jan 07, 2007 -------------------------------------- Had coffee and a bagel before going out to McDonalds to get a paper from the machine. Later in the day we went to Target which was pretty crowded. I wanted some storage boxes that were on sale but they had none left. Picked up some fruit and more bagels. Lib had to make an exchange of underwear. Came back and had homemade pizza - I spent the evening reading the online NY Times and also downloaded some of Il Puritani. Jan 09, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to Krogers for groceries then went up 64 to the Home Depot bridge to cross over to Target. Noticed a new Borders which I stopped in to visit and look around. Did not buy anything but looked at a watercolor book. Got storage boxes in Target as well as bagels. Stopped next door in Lowes to pick up a new outlet and 6 way plug to replace the one which seemed to be bad. Dinner was the pasta I picked up in Krogers today. Jan 10, 2007 -------------------------------------- First thing in the morning I cut the power to the office outlets and replaced the one my computer plugs into. After restoring the power I was working at the computer and the outlet power died again. It must be an earlier device in the wiring chain that's bad. I Started re-doing the slides for Jim. My earlier attempt at enhancing the contrast ended up with a color shift so I'm re-doing them all to only crop and change the exposure where necessary. For dinner we had 16 bean soup cajun flavored using the leftover ham from Christmas. Jan 11, 2007 -------------------------------------- Some luck with setting up an x server as well as using the slug to retrieve additional packages. Uploaded Jim's slides to ProDigital before leaving for lunch. Went to the Bluebird lunch at the Blue Rain Cafe at 12:30. Present was Janet, Jennifer, Karen, Nancy and Jack as well as Lib and I. Did some reading on the One Wire File System for Linux. Dinner was leftover bean soup with Corn Bread. Successfully compiled the GNU MAKE program which tells me the dev environment is setup OK. Jan 12, 2007 -------------------------------------- Tried to straighten out the N&O today but no luck. I faxed them my Visa which they said they have no record of the $110 payment. The fax cost $1.50 at the pack and ship store. Went to Tigerdirect to get a new router for Stoneybrook but they were out of the Trendnet which we have at Downing Place. In the afternoon I cleaned the garage floor and driveway with the blower. Heard from Stephanies cousin about wedding photos. I originally said no since i didn't know she was Stephs cousin. Dinner was leftover bean soup and corn bread but the soup got burned in the pan. Finished the 943 form for Bluebird today - this is the rollup of W-2's and includes our FICA amount which is over $2,000. ----------------------- Page 3----------------------- Jan 13, 2007 -------------------------------------- Had trouble getting to sleep last night and woke up tired this morning. We went to Brueggers and Harris teeter to get baels and shrimp for dinner tonight. Left at 1 for the ballet - Monet "Impressions in Memorial Auditorium which was very nice. The first number was by a broadway choreographer, Corbett, which I didn;t like as much as the second piece, "Gardens of Giverny" by Weiss. I could see the Balanchine influence. One point it was ruined by a screaming baby. The piece is being taped by UNC for Great Performances next year. I would love to see it again. When we got home I won a bowl on eBay - it's a large 14" serving bowl in the Lenox series "Summer Greetings". Paid $45 plus $12 shipping. Dinner was shrimp, steamed veggies and two buck chuck Shiraz. Jan 14, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went out and bought a paper at McDonalds this morning then scanned a little on my computer afterwards. Jan 15, 2007 -------------------------------------- Today's a holiday. The eBay person in Georgia said he will ship our bowl tomorrow. I spent the day burning DVD's for AVSA. Jan 16, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to the grocery store in the morning and also stopped by Borders to look at Adobe Classroom in a Book for Encore DVD. The book was $46 plus tax so I passed. Struggled through the afternoon trying to make Encore build the 2006 DVD. My success rate was not very good. I need some Encore training. The web wasn't very useful except I did find a newsgroup with the new 2.0 Classroom in a Book as a CHM file which I downloaded. It's better than nothing. I decided to postpone the Thursday drive to Sarasota until Saturday. Pat called and said our unit needed some cleanup. I know that. Dinner was pork barbecue on a bun which I got this morning at Krogers. Libbie had her Martha Stewart radio interview today. Sue sent the audio copy files. Pretty nice. Jan 17, 2007 -------------------------------------- Talked to the N-O circulation dept for the 4th time in the past two weeks. They will refund $132 which I think is still low but I want to cut my losses. Bought an index fund for my IRA this mooorning - symbol is LEXCX. It has equal positions in 25 equities with little or no turnover. Track record has been good and fees have ben low. Sculpting tonight was good. We have a pretty girl in the group, Kim, who is very enthusiastic and also very good. The model is stunning - the best body I have ever seen. I spent quite a while studying her before sculpting. Kim toaght me a few things about using an armature to keep the clay upright. She also uses stainless steel tools from Dick Blick. The time tonight went very fast. Jan 18, 2007 -------------------------------------- We had a dusting of snow this morning. School is called off - Lib went in aroudn 9. at around 10 I ----------------------- Page 4----------------------- dropped off a squirrel at Krogers. Dinner was barbecue on a bun. Jan 19, 2007 -------------------------------------- Today turned out to be a nice day. Caught a squirrel so I dropped him off when I went to the Ctredit Uniuon for trip money and to deposit the N&O check. Made an image file for the MN convention and burned 10 DVD's using both PC's. This worked well. Caught a second squirrel at lunch time and dropped him at Lufkin when Lib and I went to Blue Rain for lunch. It was pleasant - I tried their coffe whcih was excellent then ordered the vegetable sandwich. Next went to trader Joes for OJ and almonds for the trip tomorrow. Temp today was in the fifties - not too bad. Dinner was shrimp with southwestern corn and Shiraz wine (2 buck chuck). The packing went well. Caught a third squirrel this afternoon and got rid of him while driving Lib to the Credit Union and the Post Office to mail the CD's. Jan 20, 2007 -------------------------------------- Left at 7:01 AM - the temp was 35 and ths sun was rising as I drove down 1010. Stopped before getting on 40 and got $10 worth of gas. Listening to the audiobook, Nature Girl, I missed the Florence exit. Stopped at the next exit and got gas at Kangaroo for $1.91. Stopped at McDonalds next door but the line was too long so I used the bathroom and headed South on I-95. The trip was uneventful but I missed another exit for 301 in Baldwin on I-10. Chose to keep going West to i-75. Drove through a forest fire in the Osceola Forest for many miles of smoke and burned trees. Got gas in Lake City at I-75 for 1.27 - the highest price around. Lib called when I was passing through rooksville - the Met just finished Lucia with Maria Callas rerun. I got in around 5:40 - did not do a Publix run but instead picked up a turkey sub in Subway next door. Reset the router and upgraded the firmware. Hopefully this will fix the change IP problem. Fell asleep listening to the rest of the Carl Hiaasen novel. Jan 21, 2007 -------------------------------------- Made a run for the paper while the coffee percked. Had one of my Target bagels with it then picked up a flapper valve in Walmart. Don't like it because it doesn't time the flush, however it was only 88 cents. Left in the afternoon for Selby then went to the beach for Siesta Drumming. There was quite a crowd there - took some pix which I shared with Lib later that evening. Called Lib during drumming and she mentioned the availability of a free airlinevoucher from Sue. Dinner was a Lean Cuisine chicken egg roll. Jan 22, 2007 -------------------------------------- Late in the PM did a Walgreens run for band aids, toothpicks and aspirin. Didn't have the adult regimen stuff. Went to Home Depot and got the proper flush valve. Stopped in Peter and Christa's for wine and conversation - Peter needs another board member which I agreed to do. Wrote up a quick resume when I got home. ----------------------- Page 5----------------------- Dinner was a thai chicken dinneBought online ballet tix for Sat night. Was fortunate to get mezannine row c. The Met opera theater showing was sold out and the Sarasota Opera Butterfly performance was sold out as well. Finished listening to Nature Girl. Jan 23, 2007 -------------------------------------- Put the timing flappper vale in and I really like the thing. took a walk around at noon. Saw Henrietta floating in the front lake. Jan 24, 2007 -------------------------------------- A cold rainy day - left at 12:30 to pick up Lib. Stopped in Bradenton at the Hess for gas. While crossing Tampa Bay it started raining pretty good. It was also cold outside - I had shorts on since it had been wearm the past few days. I parked in the terminal on the 7th floor near the elevators and went to the shuttle area to find Lib. I thought her flight was at 1:50 but it was at 2:05 instead. We met at the shuttel around 2:20 then went to baggage to retrieve her stuff. The weather is pretty swful - it;s supposed to rain all night. We went out to the club at 7 for dinner - it was pub night which means everything was $10 or so with no tablecloths or linen napkins. We enjoyed it anyway. HAd a glass of wine before going over during sunset which we couldn't see but toasted anyway. For dinner I had Scrod covered with a mustard dijonne sauce. Lib's Salmon in Orange reduction sauce was better but mine was good. Jan 25, 2007 -------------------------------------- It's still raining - Lib went to Curves while I did computer stuff. It cleared around noon - we went for a wlak around the place then drove over to Selby. Picked up some bagels at Einstein on the way there. Came back and saw the sunset where we had crackers, cheese and a glass of wine. Dinner was at 6:45 - rib night. I had a 10 ounce prime rib with potato, veggies and 2 glasses of Shiraz. I felt woozy leaving and driving back. Jan 26, 2007 -------------------------------------- After breakfast Lib went to Curves and I played with the PC. Still trying to write some one wire software, Pat called about some potential software he would like written for a Doctor who designs medical devices. Jack arrived around noon - we wnet for a walk around Stoneybrook then came back and played computer all afternoon. He helped get the Slug device running the ipcheck program into dyndns. He's really deaf and can hardly hear anything. He left when we got ready for dinner at 6:50. Dinner was at 7 - I had the Penne Pasta which was pretty salty, probably the artichokes. Lib had the meatloaf which looked like a nice choice. I had 2 glasses of Shiraz with dinner. We danced a few slow and fast dances - "Lady in Red", a nice slow dance because Lib was wearing a red top. Didn't dance to "Prety Woman" but did a Brenda Lee song, "I"m Sorry". It was a pretty enjoyable evening - we came home at 9. ----------------------- Page 6----------------------- Jan 27, 2007 -------------------------------------- A beautiful warm day outside. Lib went to Curves then after my lunch of leftovers we went to St Armands and walked around the art show. It was pretty good with lots of nice art - Lib liked some sculpture by a Las Vegas artist. We cut across Siesta Key to take in the scenery then got home to get ready for the Ballet. Had a tuna sandwich for dinner then left for the Ballet a little before 7. We got there around 7:30 and picked up our tix in Will Call. We were on the end of row C in the mezzanine. These were pretty good seats altough I couldn't see the rightmost part of the stage. The Bach Concerto was a classical Balanchine with black and white costumes and constant weaving and swaying by some very nice ballerinas. I enjoyed the piece very much. The firebird was amodern interpretation with color projections and interesting costumes. The dancing was very accomplished and lovely. Jan 28, 2007 -------------------------------------- Picked up the paper on Honore. Saw some cows around a trough this morning. There are cattle on the ranch!!! After the paper we took a walk - it was pretty chilly. Talked with Mike Maynard about the Bluetooth project he wants me to start. We left in the windy cold to see the Siesta Drumming - it was interesting, the usual core group of drummers but not as many people. It was hard to see the sun since it was so cloudy. It briefly peeked out before going down - we then left after taking a walk around the drum circle and had soup and sandwich at Paneras. In the PM I tried to make sense of the make command and makefile on the slug device. I tried assembling my own file. Went to bed early at 10 PM and slept soundly. Jan 29, 2007 -------------------------------------- Our last full day here. Lib did a lot of cleaning. I did a combination of reading about Bluetooth, trying to get a makefile going and packing my stuff into boxes for the trip. For dinner and sunset, we went to Publix and got shrimp and Beringers Pinot Noir. We had a super clear sunset - not a cloud in the sky. This means the giant ball dropped without a spectacular light show. Oh well. Took a look at the Weather channel to see our travel weather and found that Raleigh is in store for a wintry mix on Wednesday. Went to bed early since we have to get up early to leave in the morning. Jan 30, 2007 -------------------------------------- Got up early and Lib put the sheets into the dryer. She was upset that I took a towel for my shower - she said they take longer. Had a bagel, filled the thermos with coffee, loaded the car and took off at 8 AM. Hit congestion from a one car accident immediately when we got on I-75. Not a good start to our trip. The gas light came on at mile marker 285. We stopped in Brooksville, marker 301, and got 11.1 gals at 2.11 per gallon and a couple of bacon, egg and cheeseburgers. Stopped an marker 29 in Georgia just before Brunswick and topped off our tank at 1.99 per gallon and also got a 6 inch turkey sub. I had some awful diet pepsi instead of water because I couldn't find the water spigot on the self serve coke machine. I didn't like the station - it was a Pilot. Our next stop at around 7 PM was on 401 in NC for Smithfield BBQ. We each had BBQ sandwiches and I took a much needed bathroom stop!!! It was dark at this point but at least we were close to home. Got in around 7:30 which wasn't too bad with the stops. We had one incident on the trip - our windshield was cracked by a rock in Georgia - sowewhere between ----------------------- Page 7----------------------- Brunswick and Savannah. We had many other hits to the car by road debris - unbelievable. Jan 31, 2007 -------------------------------------- Called the insurance company today and also a glass place. They can repair the glass for $59 or replace the windshield and I would have to pay a $100 deductible. The DHL guy brought a Presto programmer for the Cardio Medic job that I'll be starting. Feb 03, 2007 -------------------------------------- Lib did a lot of cleaning today because Joe was coming tomorrow. I finished the W2 and W3 forms for the taxes this morning. We listened to the opera, La Boheme, this afternoon. Afterwards we went to Target for ribs, milk and bagels. For dinner we had ribs with beans and rice and Shiraz. Afterwards we had ice cream and listened to music. Feb 04, 2007 -------------------------------------- I picked up a paper this monring at 7 at McDonalds. Around 10 Joe drove in from Marks house in Winston Salem. HE visited with us for a while then we went out for brunch at Courtneys. We walked there because Joe wanted to do this. It was cold and brisk but we needed to get out and walk. The restaurant was crowded with the after church crowd. I had a Colorado Egg and ham which was delicious. After a while we walked up to Seagroves Farms and walked around the loop. Brandon and Camy came over to pick up Joe for the Superbowl - it was nice seeing them again. We had Libs pizza for dinner - I didn't watch the "big game" but instead read. Feb 05, 2007 -------------------------------------- Spent the morning in the Family Room with Joe then he left for the greenhouse and went out to lunch with Libbie and the guys at Smithfield barbecue. Pat sent the Esotherm device today via UPS 2 day. Joe left this afternoon for Clinton, TN. We heard he got into his hotel by 9 after dinner at Outback. It was a nippy day outside - despite full sun the high was in the twenties. It's going to be cold tonight. Dinner was leftover chili. When Joe left for the greenhouse this morning I went to Tigerdirect and picked up a pair of Bluetooth dongles for my VB program. Feb 06, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to the dentist this morning and had a good checkup. It's still cold outside. It was 23 when I went to the dentist at 10:30. Ordered a scale from Amazon - I'm going to get serious about weight loss. Did the Krogers run - dinner tonight was Western barbecue I picked up on a managers special. Worked on a Bluetooth data generator in VB today. Lib and I walked up to the Seagroves property and ;located the stakes for lot 77 which adjoins the Troutmans. Feb 07, 2007 -------------------------------------- It's warming today. Overnight was only 41. Spent the day on the VB Bluetooth prpogram. I have sculpting tonight - I really don't want to go but will. The Esotherm package arrived this afternoon. I saw that it arrived on the internet - didn't know it was here because I didn't here the UPS truck. ----------------------- Page 8----------------------- Sculpting went well - Jim showed how to make my statue less flat. our model is really beautiful. What an incredible body - very petite. I brought my portrait home that was left in the rain for 6 months. It's pretty funny looking. Feb 08, 2007 -------------------------------------- Received the source code and compiler via email today. Spent a few hours trying to set it up - had trouble with the make file and the version of the linker before getting it all set up at the right versions. Pat ordered a crystal for me - the 8 mhz is not a good value for a 115200 baud rate. Dinner was pasta. In the evening I tried to put some of the Seagrove pictures on the web site at Joe's request. We listened to the Opera House on WCPE and just heard that Al Ruocchio died today. This was at the same time that Larry King was carrying news of Anna Nichole Smiths death. Feb 09, 2007 -------------------------------------- Did some tutorial reading and making notes of the Salvo RTOS. Had to drop a squirrel off so I went to the CU and Target for fruit. They always have apples for .89 and also got some .50 oranges. Joe asked for the Seagrove pix to be posted so I tried with Google but failed. Ended up taking out an account at fotopix.net and uploading the pictures. Dinner was pork chops, apple sauce and corn. Afterwards I went back to reading about Salvo. Feb 10, 2007 -------------------------------------- Lib and I went out this morning when she came back from the greenhouse early - we went to Staples and got a box of paper and then tried to go to Trader Joes but it was too crowded. Stopped at McDonalds on the way back for a newspaper - they had a nice tribute to Al Ruocchio on both the front page of Local and also in the obits. Did some reading this afternoon of Bluetooth then got distracted on Photo.Net. Listened to the Opera downstairs - Cav and Pag. Dinner was pork chops, peas and Chardonnay. Feb 11, 2007 -------------------------------------- Took two squirrels away this morning. Feb 12, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked on BT some more. Trying to figure out how to get the 115k interrupts to work without latency from the Salvo operating system Mike suggested I call Andrew at Pumpkin for advice. The thermistor probe arrived this morning. It's pretty sensitive. The Al Ruocchio funeral is this afternoon - hard to believe he's gone. Lib and I looked at prices of airline tix to Baltimore so she could go North to help Sue. Feb 13, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to both Krogers and Trader Joes this morning. Made copies of the Nematode letter at Staples - best price in town at 3 cents each. Picked up a small box of Russel Stover for Valentines Day in Krogers and some Ricotta Raviola in Trader Joes which we had for dinner this evening. ----------------------- Page 9----------------------- Feb 14, 2007 -------------------------------------- Weighed myself this morning as a baseline. 246.5 Long way to go!!!! Couldn't get the BT chip to respond. Called Roving Networks in both Illinois and California. Did not like the condescending attitude of the support guy. Turns out we had Rx and Tx swapped. The signal coming back to the CPU looks pretty poor however. Today was Valentines Day - I gave Lib a small box of Russel Stover. She made some Jambalaya before I headed out to sculpting. My sculpture is a disaster - it's falling on itself. I'm thinking of taking some clay at home and starting over. In the meantime I agreed to write 50 words for Jim's submission to the art show. Feb 15, 2007 -------------------------------------- It looks like I dropped 1.5 pounds which is great news. Did not work on the Esotherm at all today. Listened to the WCPE opera house in the evening - Deborah read a statement about ocntinuing after Al's passing then queued up the tape of the opera Al made before he died. Wrote a 50 word artists statement for Jim. Returned the Al Gore video to Hollywood then walked around Lowes looking at fountains and handiboard cement siding boards possibly for my fountain in the fish pond. Dinner was a pork chop wiht apple sauce and steamed peas. Feb 16, 2007 -------------------------------------- Uploaded pics to Anne's CVS for printing for her violet show. Also started doing a :best of" slide show for the show. This looks like too much work. Went to the greenhouse today and met Libbie to go to AgriSupply to get a tire tube for the wheelbarrow. Bought the wrong tire size - it doesn't fit our axle. Pat Ford called about or freezer door - it won't close. Ordered a repair service to take a look. It supposedly needed a bolt and nut. Dinner was Carolina barbecue with corn veggies and frozen chocolate yogurt for dessert. Feb 17, 2007 -------------------------------------- Measured the wheelbarrow axel then went to Northern tool. They had the correct wheel but I needed to return the wrong one to AgriSupply so I drove to Garner. They also had the correct size so I exchanged for the correct size which was $1 cheaper. Stpoped by Krogers and got some more Pacific Rose apples whcih are on sale for $1.50 per pound. Replaced the toilet flapper valve in the downstairs bathroom with one that times the water flush. Hopefully this will mean you don't have to hold the handle down. Feb 18, 2007 -------------------------------------- While I read the newspaper, Libbie went over to the GH to water. I was on the computer when she came back in the morning and asked to check the status of Sue's flight on the computer. Southwest said it was arriving so she took off to the airport. she called me from the Cary Parkway saying she could see Sue's plane in the air descending to RDU. They called on the way back saying we should wait a little before going out for brunch. Around 11:30 we drove to Courtneys - I walked back. I had the seafood scramble which was great but too much food. We had a lazy afternoon doing nothing - for dinner Lib made her thin crust pizza - 3 of them. The power failed from the high winds around 6 PM. The generator took over as expected and ran the house including the furnaces for about 1 1/2 ----------------------- Page 10----------------------- hours. Later in the evening the winds died down but it was pretty cold. I drove Sue over to Walgreens for Benadryl that she needed for hives. Feb 19, 2007 -------------------------------------- We got called to the greenhouse at 4 AM - the cover had blown off the endwall and it was 19 degrees outside. We temporarily patched it up and picked up bagels on the way home. Came back around noon and did a more permanent fixup. It called us again at 7 PM but this time the thermostat was on 55. Fixed it and picked up 2 chinese meals on the way home. We had Szechuan chicken, Mongolian Beef, Hot and SOur soup and 2 eggrolls. We were totally exhausted fixing up the plastic. Feb 20, 2007 -------------------------------------- The rent check came today from Stoneybrook. I put some of it in the Scottrade account and the rest I'll use to pay Lib's Visa. Libbie and Sue left this morning at 10:30 and got into DC around 4 PM when Libbie called. Dinner was leftover Soup and barbecue on a bun. Feb 21, 2007 -------------------------------------- A nice day today - warm outside. Stayed inside most of the day - took a nap in the late afternoon before going to Sculpting. I finally made my statue stand up but it's no prize. Enjoyed the evening. I had leftover Chinese dinner when I returned at 10 then watched the females from American Idol. They're definitely better than the mails. Feb 22, 2007 -------------------------------------- A quiet day - cut some Poplars down in the back yard. Dinner was the leftover Chinese dinner. Feb 23, 2007 -------------------------------------- Tried getting hold of Libbie but no answer - finally called Sue who was at a Doctor appointment. Libbie had stopped in to Holly's and called me when she left there at noon. She arrived around 4 PM. We drove to the greenhouse to see if some Fedex plants had come then went over to Subway to get a turkey sub for dinner. Lib had some stomach problems at Sue's this week. She also said the ground was snow covered. Feb 24, 2007 -------------------------------------- The other Esotherm arrived by UPS this morning. Worked on code a little then got ready for the opera. Enjoyed Eugene Onegin at the Stadium 14 with Renee Fleming andDmitri Hvortesky. We stopped at H-T in North ills and picked up shrimp at 9.99 per pound and had it with SW corn and Shiraz. Feb 25, 2007 -------------------------------------- ----------------------- Page 11----------------------- Went out to the bus stop by Krogers and picked up the Sunday paper. Looked for a replacement printer but no luck. Worked om the AVSA CD for Anne's violet show and got it ready. Mailed it on the way to RLT. It was raining pretty good on the way there. The play was Raisins in the Sun and how dreams can be shattered. A guy loses his late Dad's insurance money to a scam, the house his mother bought for all to move into is in an all white chicago neighborhood where the neighborhood association raised money to buy their house at a profit. There was a lot of emotion in this. Good play. It ran long - weleft the theater around 6 PM after a 3 PM start with only one intermission. Tried to watch the Oscars but Pat called when it started. Dinner was a very thin crust pizza that Lib saved from a few weeks ago. I fell asleep in the middle but stayed up till the end - it was over at 12:30. Feb 26, 2007 -------------------------------------- Started working on the spreadsheet for the Esotherm. Went outside and carried a few weelbarows of logs from the backyard. The electric fence wire got broken - repaired it by splicing. Booked the air part of our May trip - tix to Orange county and tix from Denver. Libbie booked separateley a round trip to Providence for next week. Dinner tonight was a Lean Cuisine. This was good because Wednesday is my weigh in, I'm trying for 1 pound a week and this week has been tough. Feb 27, 2007 -------------------------------------- Checked the scale this morning - I'm exactly the same as last Wednesday which is not good. I want to be down one pound tomorrow. Feb 28, 2007 -------------------------------------- I made my one pound today!!!! Dinner was Pork sandwiches and veggies. Mar 01, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to the Shannons tonight for dinner at 6. We had a very nice time. Barbara served Pork loin and vegies. Jack gave us the house tour and showed some of his stained glass work. Mar 03, 2007 -------------------------------------- Listened to the opera, Simon Bocanegra then during hte last act Libbie and I went to Trader Joes and Target for ribs. Dinner was ribs with veggies and Shiraz. I picked up a new printer in Target - an Elson All in One that I'm happy with. I decided not to travel to Sarasota tomorrow for the homeowners meeting on Tuesday. Mar 04, 2007 -------------------------------------- Photographed violets this afternoon for Bluebird. Dinner was Libbie's traditional pizza. Mar 05, 2007 -------------------------------------- ----------------------- Page 12----------------------- Bought some tickets for Carolina Ballet and arranged for a rental car in California. Hertz will let us return it in Emeryville. Mar 06, 2007 -------------------------------------- Groceries this morning. Also, the garage door opener would not work. Went to Lowes and bought a new one before picking up groceries in Krogers. Returned the Lake House movie whoich I copied beforehand. Dinner this evening was pork shoulder and veggies. Jennifer's family cooked the pork this past weekend. Mar 07, 2007 -------------------------------------- Libbie left this morning - I took her to the airport at 9:30. We scanned another pack of pix she found before she left. She called from Baltimore and then Providence. She had snow on the ground in Baltimore but in Providence it was very cold but sunny. Temp was 20 there. We had 70 today. Started working on sending the temps out in degrees C instead of voltage. Dinner was Lean Cuisine. I fell asleep in the early evening watching American Idol. Mar 08, 2007 -------------------------------------- What a day!!! It started out normally - I put the old door opener into the minivan and also the packing material then headed over to the greenhouse to get the rest of the garbage. I noticed the car turned over slowly but at the greenhouse after loading it up, it wouldn't start. Put the generator battery in and then bought a new battery at Walmart after the dump trip. Went home to work on the battery and discovered when burying the new power cable they cut both the Roadrunner cable and the water line so we had no water and no cable. Fixed up the battery and went back to the greenhouse and put the generator battery back. Ran the generator for 5 minutes and didn't like the foam in the oil. In addition, it;'s a little low. Mar 09, 2007 -------------------------------------- Found out today that the phone line is also bad froom the street construction. Put a line repair request in to Southern Bell. Their recording said it will be fixed by Tuesday. Picked up a paper today at Krogers but didn't have time to read it. Worked a little bit on the EZ AVR boards. Mar 10, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went over to Krogers and rented Thank You for Smoking. Really like this movie. In the afternoon I listened to Meistersiunger for 6 hours. Wow. Such glorious music. The phone is still noisy - it coms and goes. Wanted to go to Walmart for oil and filters but too tired. Dinner was Stouffers French Bread pizza. Mar 11, 2007 -------------------------------------- After the newspaper run I talked with Lib but the phone line was incredibly noisy. Late in the morning BellSouth came out and put a temporary cable in by the street. I rented JackAss 2 which I hated. How ----------------------- Page 13----------------------- terrible. Worked on the Wiki using DocuWiki and a complete LAMPS distribution which was pretty easy to setup. No registry or installation required. Dinner was French Bread pizza. Finished soldering the EZ AVR boards and washed them with alcohol in the shop this afternoon. Mar 12, 2007 -------------------------------------- Finished up the Spreadsheet and logging program for the Esotherm today - it now reads Bluetooth data from the Esotherm and displays the results in Centigrade, Dinner was at 9 PM - turkey Lean Cuisine. Rented Lake House today from Krogers $1 machine. I like this movie. Finished wiring the controls up to the garage door opener. I like the neat job I did. Mar 13, 2007 -------------------------------------- Prepared an invoice for Dr Maynard this morning. Also changed the Toyota Oil and filter as well as the Downing Place Oil and filter. Worked on the Wiki on a Stick. I did the Kirov ballet trip in 1999. I like this software. This morning I returned the Lake House with Sandra Bullock and also did the Tuesday grocery shopping. I liked the movie. Talked to Libbie this monring - she's going to the Doctor with her mother before the airport. Her flight back today is at 2 PM through Baltimore. The plane was delayed because they had jetway gate problems in Providence. I left at 4:50 for the airport - Lib called my cellphone just as I was passing Parkway Ace and then again as I was making the turn onto Evans. Everything was fine until crossing Lake Crabtree - that's where the traffic started. On the way back we chose to take the highway which was a mistake. We were bumper to bumper from the Wade Ave split for the rest of the way. Even the new section of 1-64 was stopped because one lane was closed due to construction. We went over to Krogers for chicken and potato salad for dinner. Mar 14, 2007 -------------------------------------- Started the morning working on my personal Wiki. I think this is going to work out OK for me. One of the biggest advantages is the automatic linking between pages. Once the info is in place, it's easy to get at. I did some yardwork this morning. Took 2 wheelbarrows of dirt out of the future pond, cleaned up the twigs in the front yard and pulled the big log out of the creek by the tire swing. Inside I took out a new username for ezcard, tomgle103, and filled out the security questionnaire again. The last time the answers eemed to be screwed up so I did it a little easier. The answers are captured in the Firefox scrapbook under finance for a record of the answers. Mar 16, 2007 -------------------------------------- We had a pretty good rain all day today - almost 2 inches. Good thing it was warm out. Mar 17, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to Target after the opera and picked up ribs for dinner tonight whcih we had with steamed corn and a bottle of Shiraz. ----------------------- Page 14----------------------- Mar 18, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went out for a paper this morning, worked a little on setting up a debug environment for Rodin. We left for the ballet at 1:00. Forgot to turn off at I40 so went to Western Blvd to go downtown. No big deal. The ballet was marvelous. Our seats were in row G. Very good. There was a 3 year old next to us but she was great. Firebird was great - good dancing, traditional Balkanchiune choreography and colorful costumes. The ending was cool - a huge rope loop comes down and the Firebird gets onboard and is lifted about it all. The last piece was very modern with geometric projectins and dancers in white or gray leotards iwth geometric shapes on each. The program description was long winded. The first number of the afternoon was a traditional Tutu ballet with 8 girls and 4 guys. Dinner was Libbie's traditional pizza which she had time to make even though we got home at 6 PM. Mar 19, 2007 -------------------------------------- Lib went with me to Trader Joes - picked up almonds, Shiraz and a ravioli which we had for dinner tonight. Also got more OJ but it wasn't 1.99 anymore - price went to 2.99 Soem guy came out this afternoon and hand dug the phone cable line to bury it. Lots of work for him. Mar 20, 2007 -------------------------------------- Did a grocery run and also went to Walmart to pick up my 35 years with Libbie. While in Walmart also got some more pansies and choreopsis. Dinner was barbecue pork on a bun with steamed corn. Mar 21, 2007 -------------------------------------- The telephone quit today - nothing but noise. This is getting frustrating. Dinner was chicken tenders on buns with steamed peas. It was a little cooler today - I took a shorter wal - only up the side of the lake and back. Lib picked me up on Buckingham Way. Mar 22, 2007 -------------------------------------- Lots of activity today. Replaced the ballast in the floursecent of the playroom plant shelves. Added the Jtag to the Rodin web server. Now it puts stuff out the uart but still not online. Took a full 4 mile walk today - bought a bottle of water on my walk. Mar 23, 2007 -------------------------------------- I went around to various plaes looking at mini refrigerators then when Lib came home we went to Home Depot and bought a 3.6 cu foot one. Also went to Lowes to get water filters for her on the way home. Picked up a table for the porch while in Lowes. It has a tile top and will be used as an end table for the two chairs outside. Dinner was left over chicken fingers and bbq pork. Mar 24, 2007 -------------------------------------- Got the IP part of Rodin working. Found some errors with calculating checksums - cleaned it up then ----------------------- Page 15----------------------- went to the Met HD performance, Barber of Seville. Totally loved it - it was well sung, well staged and delightful. Talked with Jim and his friend Jim about this performance and their New York trip to Meistersinger. Came home then went to an anniversary celebration dinner at Lucky 32 - the dinner was New Orleans and I had the Mahi Mahi with Voodoo saouce. Mar 25, 2007 -------------------------------------- After the paper today I went to Home Depot for glue and clamps and went to the greenhouse and installed the conduit for the outlet for the refrigerator. Came home and went into the woods to retrieve the 14-2 electrical wire used for the satellite dish. Took a shower and got dressed for RLT which was at 3. It's a beautiful warm spring day - the 80's. The play, House of Blue Leaves, was pretty dark and disturbing. Not my cup of tea. We had Libbie's traditional pizza for dinner then I finsihed my book, Dance Dance Dcance by Murakami. Tried working on the web server but couldn't concentrate. Maynard Ramsey sent an eMail later in the evening that he still couldn't receive data. Mar 27, 2007 -------------------------------------- Did groceries in the monring after working on the web server some more. Did a 4 mile walk - temp was in the low eighties today. Mar 29, 2007 -------------------------------------- It rained today so didn't spend much time outside. Worked on the PC plot program today. Did a run to Trader Joes for almonds, OJ and pasta. Had the Pasta for dinner. Mar 30, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked most of the day getting the plotting routine I gott off the web working. Did not make it outside for the walk today - it was late in the day to go. Around noon, Lib and I went to Home Depot. She returned a water filter and I picked up electrical stuff to build an outlet for the light stands as well as surface wire hardware for the back porch. Dinner was leftover BBQ on buns with snow peas. Watched Little Miss Sunshine on DVD this evening. BEsides drugs and language, the movie was pretty good. Mar 31, 2007 -------------------------------------- I thought I finished the Esotherm program but later found I didn't implement the correct screen. Returned Little Miss Sunshine and rented Borat. After today's opera, Lib and I went to Target for Ribs and bagels. Dinner was ribs with Shiraz and corn. Afterwards we watched Borat which I didn't like very well. Apr 01, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went out at 7 and picked up a paper at Krogers. After the paper I started working on the Bluebird website. Lots of work - it took the rest of the day. Temp is cool today in the lower 70's - I walked the 4 miles in a long sleeve flannel shirt. Afterwards wen back to the web site. Also updated MAAVS. Took ----------------------- Page 16----------------------- the DVD back in the PM and got a few groceries. Dinner was Lib's super pizza. Very good this time!!! Apr 06, 2007 -------------------------------------- Started working on taxes today as well as working on the Esotherm program. Apr 07, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked on Esotherm in the morning. Just as the opera was to sytart, Lib called my mother. Talked to Vicki because her birthday is tomorrow. Mom received the chocolate rabbit we sent earlier in the week. Dinner was ham with yam and wine we picked up in trader Joes today. We went to both Lowes and Trader Joes. Apr 08, 2007 -------------------------------------- An extremeley cold day - hardly made it to 50. After the paper I worked on the back porch doing the conduit for the light. Today was Easter but Easter dinner was pizza. I got Lib a chocolate bunny and peeps for Easter. Apr 09, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to Home Depot this morning because there was a freight causing down by Town Hall. Turned onto Laura Duncan and picked up some conduit fittings and plastic conduit. When Lib came home I went back and got another fitting but this time at Lowes in addition to some lampshades she wanted. Dinner was ricotta pasta. Watched Dancing with the stars tonight. Very nice. Apr 10, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked on Esotherm then went to Krogers for groceries and Lowes for some more electrical fittings. Finished wiring both lamps. Went to Ace in the PM to get a different switch for one of the lamps. Tried the different switch and I like it muchbetter. Will get another one like it for the other lamp. Walked around the lake on my way back from Ace. It's cool in the sixties - wore a long sleeved flannel shirt. Dinner was easter ham and baked yam. Very nice. We watched dancing with the stars and american idol afterwards. Leeza Gibbons was kicked off "dancing". Tomorrow wwe find out who leaves idol. Apr 11, 2007 -------------------------------------- Did more wiring on the back porch then workd on EsoTherm the rest of the day. Dinner was bean soup. Apr 12, 2007 -------------------------------------- ----------------------- Page 17----------------------- Busy day. Worked a little on Ramsey medical margins for printing then Lib decided to change the fish water but didn't have the chlorine remover product. In a few minutes she called to say the fish were dying. We thouht it was residue in the pail she used to clean the iflter so we put them into fresh water in a separate tub and went to Petsmart with a water sample. It was rush hour so getting there was slow going in traffic. They told us the fish were killed by chlorine. Research on the web confirmed this. All the fish are dead. We thoguht we had it solved when we dropped one in the outdoor pond and it seemed to swim. Later it was dead. Dinner was Bean soup. Apr 13, 2007 -------------------------------------- Cleaned up the fish mess on the back porch - put the carcasses in a plastic bag and sealed it and then into the trash bag. Tested the wiring on the back porch - it popped once. Took the outlet over my chair apart but didn't find anything. Put the Bluebird numbers into the tax program and printed out returns which I then put into envelopes and handed to our mailman in the street. The taxes are complete and on their way in the mail. I ordered a relay board for Koi water management so we don't have the fish disaster again. Dinner was bean soup and corn bread muffins. Apr 14, 2007 -------------------------------------- A great day. Played with Ramsey Medical somewhat and got the printing working OK. NExt tried to mow the grass - the mower wouldn't start but a quick trip to McDOnalds got me a few gallons of 2.94 gas. The mower started right away. Did a little but it was time for the opera - Turandot which was wonderful. Read some more of my book on the back porch while listeneing to Turandot. Got quite a bit of the Ramsey Medical program working but having touble with online help. Dinner was mixed veggies with ribs and Shiraz. Yummy. Apr 15, 2007 -------------------------------------- Finished the Ramsey program after reading the paper. It's a yuck rain day with lots of heavy rain coming down and high winds. Apr 16, 2007 -------------------------------------- A much nicer day - warm and in the 60's. Finished routing the wires on the back porch. The new outlkets and the lamps over our chairs are now live. Dinner was the last of the bean soup with Lib's homemade corn bread. We took a ride to check out the greenhouse - drove around it with the little car. All looks OK from the wind - no damage. We also went to the Post OFfice and used the kiosk to priority mail a box of DVD's to AVSA. I don't think anyone cares about these but I did it anyway. Apr 17, 2007 -------------------------------------- I guess I'm driving to Sarasota tomorrow. After the grocery run I mowed the backyard and rotated the tires on my car. Everything looks like a go. Spent some time organizing data on my PC and the MyBook Drive. As before, I'll take he mybook with me. Built a CD for Harry Weber and packaged it up to mail tonight. Bought some more DODFX for my Roth IRA. Should have done this years ago. Picked up a batch in Jan and it's up 8%. Bought an equal amount. Will see how it goes. ----------------------- Page 18----------------------- Apr 26, 2007 -------------------------------------- Got up early and did last minute packing and cleanup. Turned off the water and waterheater, set the thermostat, filled my thermos and left at 6:52. There was some stop and go traffic in Tampa just before I-4 but then smooth sailing. Traffic was pretty heavy - lots of RV's towing stuff. Stpped in Brooksville for gas and an egg McMuffin. Theere were 3 buses full of kids in the McDonalds from Alabama going back from Disney World. Gas was 2.85. Next stop was Savannah at 2.75 then Florence for 2.79. I had a fruit salad in the car for lunch and listened to Opera the whole trip until the CD changer in my car quit. Made it home around 6 PM. Traffic at the interchange in Smithfield was terrible cause it was rush hour. For dinner Lib made Pork Chops and broccoli with cheese. Went out afterward to pick up some Frozen yogurt at Krogers. Apr 27, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked all day on the Pisces Koi pond manager. Took out one of the relay boards, printed out schematics and bill of materials and using the microscope, I assembled it. I'm amazed at how compact it is. Lib changed her flight to LA so that she could fly to Providence then fly from there out to Calif. This saves her buying a ticket to come to Raleigh. IT was a wet day this morning and then pretty warm. It's 71 now at 9:30 PM. Dinner was pasta. Apr 28, 2007 -------------------------------------- This afternoon we thoroughly enjoyed a live Met performance of Il Trittico. Talked with Jim and his friends afterwards. Went over to Harris Teeter and picked up some shrimp for dinner which we had with Shiraz. May 06, 2007 -------------------------------------- Spent a lot of the day making DVD's for AVSA. I have 15 of the MN convention and will have 10 of Ohio. Also worked osme more on enhancements to the pond manager. May 07, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to the greenhouse this morning and worked on the fan junction box in house 1. IT was hanging loose "temporarily" from several years ago. But covers on everything that was exposed in houses 1, 3 and 4. Dinner was left over barbecue sandwich. May 08, 2007 -------------------------------------- In the morning I worked some more on the pond manager. The temp is wild - all over the place. At 1:05 I left for the airport for Lib's 3:40 flight to PRovidence. Took a nap when I got back. She called around 10 after American Idol to say she arrived and she and Bill went straight to the hospital in Fall River. For dinner I had a LEan Cuisine pizza. ----------------------- Page 19----------------------- May 09, 2007 -------------------------------------- This morning I brought two squirt bottles to Jennifer at the greenhouse and dropped off a squirrel. On the way back I stopped at the Credit Union to deposit a rebate check, went to Lowes for Roundup and grass seed then Krogers for shaving cream and a new razor. May 10, 2007 -------------------------------------- Pretty much finished up the software on the pond manager. It's a wrm day - 87 degrees. May 11, 2007 -------------------------------------- Watched Employee of the Month and 40 year old virgin. Both were exce;;ent movies. Went to Lowes twice for water pipe fittings for my pond flush system. I need to adapt the dishwasher solenoid to the pond. Mowed the lawn at the greenhouse then came home, took a shower and went out for a haircut to Great Clips next to Krogers. I like my haircut. Came home and used the blade oin the string trimmer in the front yard. Dinner was Bojangles chicken dinner. Haven't had that in a long time. May 12, 2007 -------------------------------------- It's a glum morning - the power went out at noon. The generator stopped working after a while - the low oil light was on. Checked the dip stick and it looks OK if not a little overfilled. May 16, 2007 -------------------------------------- Got up promptly at 6 and finished packing, had a quick breakfast, then was out the door by 6:20 AM. Arrived at the airport park n ride 3 before 7 for my 8:20 flight. All was going well - even purchased a coffee at Greensleeves in the airport. About the time we were supposed to be boarding they announced we would be delayed one and a half hours because the crew for our flight had just left Chicago. I called Lib who was on the way to the airport in RI with the bad news. 10 minutes later they announced we were going to board in 5 minutes because they found a crew. I got the exit row and we had an incredibly smooth flight into Phoneix. I found a starbucks in Phoenix where I bought a small coffee and sat in a very comfortable easy chair reading until time for my flight. The flight to LA was rougher. Joe met me at the airport at Orange County. I picked up a Mazda 3 at the Hertz counter with my Scorecard coupon. Had a very leisurely drive through Newport Beach to Huntington Beach. Traffic was light. Later we left Joe's to pick up Lib who was coming in on the 5 PM flight. Her flight was showing 15 minutes early arrival time. She called me from the plane on the ground when we were halfway to the airport. Christa was driving. After a little chatter at Joe's we took a walk down the pier and came back ----------------------- Page 20----------------------- to Joe's for hamburgers, cut and baked potato fries then to bed. I couldn't get my PC to work on Joe's encrypted network. May 17, 2007 -------------------------------------- Lib and I had breakfast then took a walk on the beach down to 15th St and walked back inland. We enjoyed the many little yard gardens along the way and photographed some of them. Roses really grow well in southern California because of the lack of humidity. Just before 10 we left for the Getty with Christa. I always enjoy the gardens and architecture of this museum. Christa had never been there. Had lunch on the terrace of the getty. I split a turkey wrap with Lib. Christa also had a Turkey wrap. We waited for this huge piece of modern art with player piano rolls to play on the hour in the entrance building. I experimented with using the movie mode of my camera to grab two quick clips which came out very well. In the evening we walked downtown and had dinner at El Rancherito which Christa had worked at last summer as a waitress. I took a photo of the group at the table and send a pic to Arlene. When we came back, Christa wanted to watch 50 years with Bob Barker who was retiring from "The Price is Right". I fell asleep during the show. May 18, 2007 -------------------------------------- Lib and I took a walk after breakfast but turned back going South on the beach because it was misting rain. The rain stopped on the way back. Came back and chatted a while with Christa before walking downtown for lunch on the pier at Ruby's and then I went back while Christa and Libbie had a pedicure. At Ruby's I had too much food - a BLTA which is a BLT with Avocado. Very yummy. While the girls got pedicures, I worked on pictures and some email. Christa's parents are coming over tonight at 4. When they arrived we walked over to the Huntington Brewery and had drinks and appetizers outside and chatted. They're very nice - it was their anniversary. When we got back to the apartment Joe made some very creative pizza which was yummy. May 19, 2007 -------------------------------------- After breakfast we got into Christa's car and went to the college. We were very early - the ceremony didn’t start till 10:30. It was dark in the gym but comfortable. Afterwards we watched the duck dump on the pier then got dressed up for the party at El Sobille? We met the rest of Christa's family at the restaurant and also her teacher friends. Afterwards several of the single teachers came back to the apartment where they all went out with Christa for a few drinks. Very nice single young woman. ----------------------- Page 21----------------------- May 20, 2007 -------------------------------------- Christa took us to Laguna Beach. Walked to the top of a water tower but it was pretty cloudy and overcast. Went down to the ocean and walked the lovely grounds of the Montage resort. The landscaping was outstanding. Joe made dinner when we returned - Carnos elsoda on Toortilla's. May 21, 2007 -------------------------------------- We had breakfast with Joe and Christa then left there at 9:30. I stopped in a Fry's in Manhattan Beach and Libbie did a Curves there. We got back on the highway and headed out of town in a dreary overcast. It even started raining a little later around the Getty. Got gas and Wendy's at the start of the San Jouquin - 3.69 per gallon. Enjoyed the long ride up to Berkley. Traffic was no problem all the way. Stopped at the Amtrak and got our tickets then checked where we drop our rental car off. After checking into the Holiday Inn we had inner at Skates on the Bay at sunset. We had a lovely seafood dinner while the sun set. Took lots of pix. Topped off the tank at 3.35 on University on the way back. Missed the hotel and went a mile or so past it before back tracking. Got onto the internet from the hotel room and did some email. Jim has sculpting starting again this summer. May 22, 2007 -------------------------------------- Up early naturally in the HI Berkley. Breakfast started at 6:30 and we were one of the first. I had a bagel and coffee thena sour cream donut - I couldn't resist. After breakfast, we checked the baggage with Amtrak. There was a group of school kids standing in the door of the station amking tons of noise. They were taking a train to Sacramento. I left the carry on with Lib in the station and took the rental car to Hertz at the Marriott down the street. After returning the car at the office, the Hertz guy drove me to the train station. Lib was outside at this point. We read the paper a little then I climbed the tower over the tracks and took a few pix of the various trains coming and going. Finally when I came down, the California Zephyr was pulling into the station. We walked forward to our sleeper and boarded car 0631 room 11. Our attendant Sergi showed us to our room and is our car attendant. We did the first call to lunch at 12 and sat with a pair of ladiess. BArbara was getting picked up by her son in Truckee and Hazel was going to Pittsburgh. She wouldn't travel by plane. In the lounge car we met a couple of guys from VA who were returning from a conference in San Mateo hosted by Make Magazine. ----------------------- Page 22----------------------- May 23, 2007 -------------------------------------- When we woke this morning the train was unusually quiet and stopped. We went to breakfast at 7 AM and found there was a rock slide up ahead and we were waiting for the tracks to be cleared. We had to back up the train to I-80 in order to change crews. The new crew arrived via automobile at the tracks and I-80. At least we had a scenic vista. We could see the plains and the hairpin the train was going to take snaking it's way down the mountainside. The overnight temp was 20 degrees and the theroy was that melting snows froze and the rocks fell onto the tracks. After watching some incredible scenery including a herd of wild deer or elk, we eventually crossed the Bonneville salt flats. We went to the first lunch call where I had an Angus Burger and Libbie had the grilled chicken. While eating lunch we crossed the southern end of the Great Salt lake. At the Eastern edge passed a copper smelter and then into Salt Lake City for a refueling stop. We got off the train in Salt Lake City and couldn't believe the sad state of the Amtrak station. It basically was a trailer set up in a railroad yard. My laptop picked up a wireless signal as we were leaving Salt Lake City but I wasn't able to connect. May 24, 2007 -------------------------------------- I woke early - around 4:45 AM and approx 5, our car attendant, Sergio, woke us for Denver. We gathered our stuff and gott off in Denver. it's a long walk carrying our stuff from the sleepers at the front of the train to the station. We had to wait for our baggage in the Denver statsion and then show our check-in tags to prove it was our luggage. Denver was a little chilly, especially for me wearing a short sleeved shirt. There was a yellow cab almost immediateley outside the station. The fare to the DoubleTree was $18 plus a $4 tip. They let us check in early which means we got to go to a room and get a shower. Had breakfast with Pat Hancock and Barbara Jaquez from Loyalton, CA (loyaltonbarbara@aol.com) near Reno. Barbara is a High School teacher who has volunteered to do Pat's web site. I think she would be a great AVSA library person. For breakfast I had pancakes which are huge. Afterwards I tried connecting to the wireless network in the lobby but it was useless. They want $10 for a connection in the room. We skipped lunch and started the photography shortly after noon. We were done by 4:40 PM. Erwin, Libbie and me had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Service was not great - they didn't come ask about another glass of wine. We split a rack of ribs and had a glass of Ravenwood Zinfindel. Returned to the room to start digital housekeeping with all the digital pics from the past few days. ----------------------- Page 23----------------------- May 25, 2007 -------------------------------------- Pancake breakfast in the restaurant and then I went to the Hands on PH workshop which was probably one of the best informative workshops in AVSA. I had some doubts about whether the workshop would produce anything usable becaus ethe entertainment value is low but the information in scientific terms is pretty high. Anne and Richard are very interested in the data in this workshop. It was held in the Rosso's restaurant on round tables. Each participant received a bottle of distilled water, some measuring cups and a stirrer, a ph meter, and a bag of soil to measure. I met Libbie afterwards and we walked out towards the shopping center across the street. We found a Subway and split a toasted turkey 6 inch sub. Did the showroom and commercial sale in the afternoon then went to Olive's talk at 3 PM. She did a wonderful talk on Design. Olive is a great entertainer as well as a good designer. For dinner we had the commercial dinner at 6:30. AVSA results were announced . Bluebird got 10 new members, Pat Hancock got 29 and Rob and Olive got 89. I went online in the hotel business center and looked up Robs site to see what he's doing to get so many subscriptions. We determined that he puts it in your face when you order. The order page offers to sell you a magazine or order a subscription to the magazine. May 26, 2007 -------------------------------------- I got up early and got cleaned up then took a walk down the street with libbie to Mcdonalds for breakfast. I had paancakes. It was nice not to pay $25 for breakfast and we also got a nice walk since the rest of today we'll be stuck in a plane. We visited the show again, I took some more pics of Dave Harris and his plants. We took the hotel shuttle at 10 AM. I was surprised how far away the airport was. We didn't get to the airport until almost 11. The security lines were very very long. We spent almost 30 minutes weaving throught the long line. We ended up with the line that had an experimental explosives detector before the metal detector. The flight was pretty smooth. We had drink coupons but chose juice instead since it was a noon flight and too early for alcohol. We arrived 20 minutes early in Nashville but left 10 minutes late because we waited for a late plane from Austin. There was group of girls going to Raleigh who seemed to be going to a wedding or womething - they were laughing, talking and drinking wine while looking at fashion magazines. On both legs of the flight Lib and I had the middle seat empty. We were ontime in Raleigh. I took the parking lot shuttle to get the car while Lib waited for our suitcases. Before going home we stopped at Paneras for dinner. We both soup and a half ----------------------- Page 24----------------------- sandwich. I had the Veggie sandwich and a French Onion souip. May 27, 2007 -------------------------------------- Read the paper in the morning and then played catch up with everytthing on the computer and the bills, etc. Too lazy to go to Home Depot for plaster. May 28, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to Home Depot for plaster and stuff to start the bathroom. It was Memorial Day and not the day to be here but Lib and I survived. I started taping the seams in the bathroom in anticipation of plaster. Lib made her yummy pizza this evening. May 29, 2007 -------------------------------------- After a grocery run I opened the new can of plaster and started plastering the taped seams. Dinner was hot dogs and veggies. May 30, 2007 -------------------------------------- Sanded the first coat of palster and with Lib's help we vacuumed the powder. Applied a second coat of plaster to everything. Dinner was trader Joe's Pasta. May 31, 2007 -------------------------------------- I sanded the second coat of plaster in the morning then when Lib came home we went to Home Depot to use the 10% off coupon to get a bathtub, sink, toilet and faucets. Unfortunately when we got the tub upstairs we found that it had two large cracks in the porcelain. Returned it and spent quite a time in the store looking for a left hand tub. Finally found a left hand cast iron Kohler which was very heavy. I nearly died getting it out of the mininvan into the garage. Dinner was chicken fingers and fresh asparagus. Jun 01, 2007 -------------------------------------- This morning I did the third and final coat of plaster in the bathroom. In the middle of it somebody was banging on the front door - an errant plumber sent to the wrong address. When Lib came home in the afternoon we went to Lowes for some 2x4's and then Target for fruit, bread and ribs. Lloyds ribs were on sale for 9.99 so we bought 3 packages - 2 go in the freezer for the future. We used the 2x4's on the stairs to slide the cast iron tub up. Took down the fan and screen, climbed a pine tree outside and tied a nylon rope to it. attached the come aong inside to the rope and the other end to a rope wrapped around the tub. Jacked the tub up the stairs. Boy was I exhausted!!!! Dinner was crab cakes with asparagus and Chardonnay. Heard from Joe Oconnor of QYX who is looking for a reference. ----------------------- Page 25----------------------- Jun 02, 2007 -------------------------------------- Painted the ceiling today with Stowe white which was left over from the porch 6 years ago. The primer looks OK. Decoded to also prime the walls which were sanded from the wallpaper paste. The bathroom looks pretty good with the white paint. Went to Sears Cary and found that paint has mpoved to Crabtree. Bought two gallons of the trim paint so we don't have to go to Sears again. Dinner was ribs and Shiraz with asparagus. Jun 03, 2007 -------------------------------------- Today I rollered the ceiling with popcorn paint. Later Lib helped me cutting in around the edges with the sponge. It all seems to have worked out OK. Dinner was traditional Libbie pizza. I dropped a piece on the love seat upside down which was a minor panic. We did a quick cleanup. Jun 04, 2007 -------------------------------------- Hooked up the ceiling light, the fan and the A/C duct. Had to go to Ace for longer screws - on that trip I went to Trader Joe's and got Gorgonzole cheese pasta in addition to nuts, wine and cereal. Lib and I worked on tearing up the old linoleum on the floor using a scoring knife, water and a scraper. It reminded me of a Louvre painting, the Scrapers. I found the painting and sent it to Lib. Dinner was Gargonzol cheese pasta. I looked up the cheese on Wikipedia. It's an Italian cheese that holes are drilled into then a modl inserted which gives it a blue veining. IT was OK. Jun 05, 2007 -------------------------------------- Today was tub installation. I wheeled the thing down the hallway and into the bathroom, When Lib came we slid it into the corner standing upright and then lowetred it into place using the come-along. Later in the day I hooked up the drain plumbing and tested it with a pail of water. All seems to be OK. Ran out to Krogers and Trader Joes for grocery. Dinner was crab cakes oin buns with tomato. Jun 06, 2007 -------------------------------------- This was plumbing day. Cut pipes and soldered them witht he torch. Got the shower control ready to go then shut the water off, soldered it in place and re-assembled the control cartridge. Turned the water on and everything seemed t o work OK. Tomorrow is carpentry. Dinner was fireroasted vegetable pasta from Trader Joe. Afterwards we watched Carolina Ballet "Swan Lake". It was pretty good - I stayed up for the whole thing. Jun 07, 2007 -------------------------------------- This morning I tore down the half piece of sheetrock above the tub and decided to fir the wall out all the way to the ceiling. May put tiles all the way up as well. Did the carpentry around the faucet and ----------------------- Page 26----------------------- shower with 2x4's as well as the rest of the tub. Had to go to Home Depot to get 5 more studs. While there met a very attractive girl in a blonde pony tail, tight jeans, body shirt and form fitting Home Depot apron. She said she works Mon-Fri. Wonder why she told me that? Lib and I returned to Home Depot at 5 and bought the ceramic tile for aroiund the tub. Need 532 of the 4 inch tiles, 27 decorative, around 30 bullet nosed 2x6 tiles, a 50 lb bag of thinset mortar and tile nippers. Brought all this home and cut out the wonderboard for the faucet side of the bath but it needs work to fit. Dinner was chicken fingers on a bun. That's it for tonight. Took a nap in the evening. Jun 08, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked this morning cutting and fitting the wonderboard around the bathtub. Got it all up on the wall but now need to screw it all down every 8 inches. In the afternoon I put all the screws in but the sheetrock next tot he window has no backing. Need to take the window trim off and replace the sheetrock with something more formidable. Took a 4 mile walk today - the heat index was 102 with a real temperature of 96. Had tuna sandwiches on toasted hoagie rolls before leaving for ADF at 7. We found lots of parking at Duke - I missed the Towerview Drive and ended up going in at the 751 entrance. Not much of a problem. The Garden of Earthly Delights by Martha Clarke was quite a performance. The piece starts with wind howling and all the dancers in sheer see through unitards walking across stage as a group on all fours. This continues with couples ocassionally wildly coupling before resuming their crab walk. In a while they progress to walking on 2 feet and sample an apple. The apple eventually results in them leaving paradise. The nextseen is hell with bodies dropping upside down from the rafters and a general bachanal of frenzied movements, laughter, shrieks and howls. The music is very in tune with the dance performance, one of the best I've seen a ;ong time. Eventually the dancers are in their burger outfits which resmble pilgirim garb. Thre is a rape and several murders as the final scene unflods where the dancers have discarded the robes and are back in a stress hurried world. The leotards are quite anatomically revealing. Besides the see through tops which showed breasts, nipples, ribs, abs and navels, there was no panty line. We were treated to anatomically correct dancers with genitals on display. I ould tell which ones were shaved and no. Jun 09, 2007 -------------------------------------- A slow start this morning. I took the trim off the window and removed the loose sheetrock. Took a break and scanned the ADF brochure from last nights performane for my Wiki, also started a Wiki section for ADF 2007. Finished taping, marking and prepping the wallboaord for plaster. Had to make a Home Depot run for another 2x4 and a sheet of plywood. Dinner was ribs with Shiraz and Southwestern corn. Jun 10, 2007 -------------------------------------- After the morning paper I plastered the bathroom shower walls - did all the taped joints. Good thing I don't have to sand this. The cement mix was lumpy. I need to find another way to mix this stuff. Worked on AVSA stuff a little today and took a 4 mile walk. It's pretty hot in the mid nineties with lots of humidity but very dry. ----------------------- Page 27----------------------- Jun 11, 2007 -------------------------------------- Started the tiling job by going to Home Depot and buying a tile cutter and mud mixer. My first batch of tile came out OK as I experimented with the best way to apply tile. The Tile cutter is a dream - simple score and brea. Can't do without it. Took another 4 mile walk today - it's a little cooler than the past weekend. Dinner was spinach and cheese ravioli I picked up in Trader Joe's today. It finally rained this eveing. This afternoon I worked on planting the Marigolds in the back porch planters. Jun 12, 2007 -------------------------------------- Did the grocery run this morning before mixing mud in the bathroom. Went to Target first to get plastic boxes that are on sale. Picked up a few grocery items but got the bulk of stuff from Krogers. Mixed some mud and finished the left side of the tub to the ceiling and started the right side of the tiling. Finished around 2 PM and did nothing the rest of the afternoon. Dinner was Ciopini, the seafood stew mix I picked up at Trader Joes. It was delicious. Lib made Zucchini bread to go with the dinner. Early to bed tince I was very tired. We had a nice rain this afternoon which was good to see since we haven't been getting much and everything is drying up. Jun 13, 2007 -------------------------------------- It started raining in late morning and by noon we had a full thunderstorm. Finished the left side all the way to the ceiling then did two half courses of the back wall of the tub. Dinner was crabcakes from Trader Joes with zucchini bread. Very tasty. Ran out to Home Depot for more bull nose side pieces. I was short four because didn't account for the four going down the side of the tub. Also picked up some grout while there. Jun 14, 2007 -------------------------------------- Finished the tile on the back wall all the way to the ceiling. Ran out to Home Depot at 3:30 PM to get one more decorative tile and also a grout trowel and sponge. Spent some time worjing on the Life Bits Wiki which needed some ADF updates. They're now done so am going to go back and work on 2006 which isn't done at all. Dinner was a turkey burger with Vidallia and tomato. Jun 15, 2007 -------------------------------------- While working on my Life Bits this morning I was quite surprised to find that we saw Martha Clarke in 1999 performing Vers La Flamme. In the meantime, I'm still catching up on last year. Scanned the ICCP program from July. Murf kept me too busy to do this. I'm using the Wiki this year so that hopefully the editing iwll be easier. Did a Home Depot trip for paint and returns of leftover tile stuff. $75 in returns! Stopped at Borders for a Make Magazine Vol 10 then home on bumper to bumper 55 traffic at 4 PM. Once home we installed the two soap dishes in the tub. Dinner was ribs with snow peas and Shiraz. Fell asleep during the daytime Emmys. ----------------------- Page 28----------------------- Jun 16, 2007 -------------------------------------- Did a little work in the bathroom installing baseboard under the window. We went over to Krogers in the PM and got corn to accompany our hamburger which we had before going to ADF. The Acts to Follow was interesting but not great. Afterwards we walked towards the sound of hundreds of young people dancing in the quad. It seems to be a High School camp of lots of young people. Stopped at a very crowded Goodberrys on our way home. The ADF performances which I also put into Life Bits: Legacy in Progress - Choreo Collective About 6 dancers in muted browns danced ballet moves. The7y kept trying various piroutes, stands and spins as if ina dance rehearsal. IONS - Anna Smith Milling involved 3 dancers in white tops, brown pants who started together slowly and then at rando one of them would spill off on her own in a frenzy. Swinging on a Bench was great. A red bench is brought out and a couple sit back to back and turn heads, make faces to each other and then dance is some very crisp prone moves. This was some of the best technical dancing of the night. Le Moment De Partir Caroline Calouche. This started out boring with Caroline her back to the audience wearing balck bikin bottoms and a halter top. She used her arms and hands in gestures to indicate an animal or insect leaing the egg or larva stage. When she stepped out of her hands and turned, the music changed form a rainstorm with sounds of thunder to Bach. She then danced lively with leaps and arm and leg thrusts. The piece ended up with her bent over seemingly like an insect with four legs. this was very well choroegoraphed and extremely well danced. Thillina By Balanchandran. This seemeed to be classical Indian dance. The performers stomped their bare feet for sounds and also wore ankle bells. Four females in mostly red and gold colorful Indian garb with lots of jewelry and one male in white pants and top with gold trim. The male had gold arm bands and red fingertips and toes. He danced the center position of this troupe. IT was different, lively and entertaining accompanied by Indian chanting and sitar music. There was a large Indian contingent including kids in the audience. Conversational Interludes - Heather Nabors. Two dumpy looking dancers in gray sweat pants and matching tops performed a sequence of conversational gestures such as wait!, what?, I don't get it, I understand. The choreography was original, I just wish they had better looking dance bodies performing this. Your Call is Important to us - Sidelong This was the highlight of the evening. The dancers captured in movements the dialing of digits, the voice responses and then music on hold using vivaldi music in which they feigned sleepiness, lying down and boredom. Ringback was the rolling of heads, frustration was the clenching of hands ----------------------- Page 29----------------------- and upward looking squichy faces. The costumes were also brilliant - light tan pants with varied colors of solid pastel tops. This dance was colorful, humorous, told a nice story and execution was flawless. Besides. Christine Kiernan - white tops and brown bottoms danced duet style, I didn't think any of it was remarjable, !Hey! - Aloban Elved. I hated this number by a dancer with too long blonde hair and the ;ooks of a transvestite with mans boots, mans pants, an orange top showing breast buds. She gyrated and danced upside down to lively music undulating her whole body while on her shoulders. Somehow hips, legs and torso were able wiggle. Didn't like this at all. Promise. A large company in spotted black and white skirts with aqua blue panties and white tops. The two girls who started dancing were not bad but the third girl entered, Carmen, who misstepped a number of times and faltered other times. Either needs more practice or not talented. The number ended with 8 or 9 dancers but like the title, this piece promises more than it delivers. Jun 17, 2007 -------------------------------------- Didn't do much this morning - worked on the Life Bits wiki, added the program from yesterdays Acts to Follow. Left at 2 for RLT. Renewed our subscription for next year then walked the Rose Garden. It looks like they sprayed something on the roses and damages the petals. We enjoyed the Full Monty which ran long. Didn't get home till a little after 6. Joe called for Fathers Day - we talked about the amp he's installing in Tennessee and also a little about his trip here on Aug 11. Dinner was Libs excellent pizza. Jun 18, 2007 -------------------------------------- Picked up groceries at Trader Joes before starting on todays bathroom work. Mixed half the bag of grout and started using the rubber float to press grout into the seams. Had to stop periodically to clean the tiles. This wore me out. When Lib came home we washed the tiles once again then used a cheesecloth to buff the haze off the tiles. The job came out pretty good but a few more spots need ouchup. Dinner was pasta - the four cheese ravioli I picked up in Trader Joes today. I really need to get started on the AVSA convention slides. Jun 19, 2007 -------------------------------------- Before starting the day, I worked on LifeBits, downloaded Marjories processed images then did a Krogers run. I found the Cobblestone buns but when Lib saw them she said they were he wrong ones. Oh well, I tried. Put additional grout on a few spots in the tub, then when Lib came home we got the room ready for painting. The painting itself went quickly because there aren't many surfaces to paint. Dinner was turkey burgers with grilled beets. Listened to music tonight and read a Karen Robards ----------------------- Page 30----------------------- book, Superstition which I've had for quite some time. Jun 20, 2007 -------------------------------------- Painted the bathroom today. IT was pretty easy since there aren't many walls. Dinner was crabcakes with tomato. Jun 21, 2007 -------------------------------------- I worked on AVSA slides while Lib painted trim. I also patched the two holes in the closet and touched up the wood filler on the window frame. Dinner was turkey burger and corn on the cob. Pilobolus first did Bzerky, a new piece representing a circus performance. The dancers were in brightly colored clown costumes and did twirls, pairings and lifts. I liked the "berserk" sequence where theyindividually danced berserkly, twirling, shaking heads and throwing out feet. Next was pseudopia which featured a solo male in range suit head to toe, tumbling over and over while lifting his body horizontally on his hands. Rush was the new work by outside choreographers featuring lots of chairs, a round white circle and black costumes. One dancer walks very fast sneakily carrying a suitcase. Rene does some very graceful sliding and twirling, even when lifted, her arms and legs are gracefully extended in a long black dress. The end was the suitcase carrier with a girl on his shoulder walking from chair to chair in a circle. Duet was a new number featuring the new girl Annika in a flowing white dress thing. She's incredibly flexible stretchiing backwards over her head and arching backwards. In one sequence she carries her male partner. He caries her between his legs, on his feet and various other impossible ways. The finle is :Megawatt" featuring a driving rhythm where the dancers come in swimming on their backs to the beat, moving themselves with head and shoulders. We stayed for the discussion afterwards which put us too late for Goodberrys ice cream. Jun 24, 2007 -------------------------------------- I cut the hardiboard pieces all day and put them down ready for glueing and screwing. Lib made her yummy pizza as usual. This time she used pieces of real tomato in the sauce from tomato sandwihes all week. Jun 25, 2007 -------------------------------------- Spent the day putting down thinset and screwing the Hardiboard to the floor. This was much more work than I bargained for. My body was really sore from pressing down on the drill to put down the screws without striopping the heads. Jun 26, 2007 -------------------------------------- ----------------------- Page 31----------------------- Tiled the floor today around the toiled and under the window before stopping for the day. Ended up buying a tile saw in Lowes to cut L shaped pieces. Went to Krogers at 4:30 because I worked all day on the floor. Eiko and Koma this evening was interesting. We had BLT before going over to ADF. LEft a little early because storms were threatening. Left Apex in a light rain but it didn't rain in Durham. We used our parking vouchers at used the Reynolds parking garage, Jun 27, 2007 -------------------------------------- Thius was an incredibly busy day. Worked on the Esotherm for Ramsey, met with Chris about replacing some rotted wood on the fascia and eaves and mixed up mortar to tile the floor. Finished the tile job late today by completing the bathroom. Jun 29, 2007 -------------------------------------- Hooked up the toilet today but later found it leaked. Also grouted the tiles at the top of the bathtub. Was originally going to caulk this but decided to grout it instead. Dinner was turkey burgers and corn Lib picked up at the Farmers Market. Jun 30, 2007 -------------------------------------- This morning I put the toilet back together where the tank was leaking. Re-seated the rubber washers and tightened everything and everything worked. Had to go to Home Depot to get some screw on caps and return the faucets for the sink. Removed the old sink and soldered on some pipe thread adapters then screwed on the new caps. Also picked up some duct booster fans in Home Depot. Returned the 8 inch I bought yesterday and got a 6 inch today. Removed the plastic covering from inside the tub and cleaned the tape residue with lighter fluid. Also installed the trim handle and shower head. Dinner was flounder stuffed with crab and some more corn on the cob before going to Acts to Follow at ADF. Acts to Follow was hot. Baldwin is not air conditioned. The first act was Tangophilia where a fat woman in high heels danced with a guy. It was awful but the live music was great. Next a group of young girls in tap shoes did a few tap numbers. This doesn't belong at ADF. It was refreshing to see the third number by a guy who has danced in Lion King. Three dancers did sequences of sculptures in a work titled "So Far". I liked it but Lib thought the lifts were so so. "Purple Duet" featured a pair of sisters in purple dresses doing very simple moves to simple choreography but they did it well. "Spit it Out" was bizarre. We started with a pile of white paper, more paper was thrown in from the wings. The music was the sound of shredding paper. A dancer in white did various contortions before spitting out a chunk of paper to gagging sounds. Intermission was 15 minutes then part two. "Flows from Root" had 3 guys in jungle paint and masks and three girls in white pant suits. A seventh person banged two sticks together and also sang live. Really liked the piece although I didn't understand it. "Elemental" featurd three girls in white wedding dresses with white faces dancing to ghostly music with chains clanking. They obviously were spirits who were restless. Very weird. "No, I agree" featured two girls nicely choreographed starting without music having a silent discussion with hand ----------------------- Page 32----------------------- gestures. The music starts, they do very nice movement, then resume the silent conversation at which point they seem to agree and hold hands for their bows. "The Pudding was Served Clumsily Agin" was delightful. Four girls in white pants and white t shirts dance some very nice movement. They spend various times tucking and untucking their tee shirts. The lead dancer has a white hooded shirt and ocassionally has the hood in her mouth. In the end all the girls lose the shirts and also the pants revealing colorful purple, black, light blue or lime green underwear and coordinated bra tops. Pretty interesting. The highlight of the night was "Fate" by Roger Belman. Two dancers in black, evenly matched in body types do some beautiful pairs and synchronized movement then break into some asymnchronous repeats. The girl has some nice lifts where she wraps around the guy as he effortlessly holds her horizontally. In the end they go to opposite sides of the stage, backs towards each other. Well done!!!!! Jul 01, 2007 -------------------------------------- Slept in until 7:05. After reading the paper, installed the sink and then tried catching up on Life Bits. Finished the tub spout then moved over to the sink. Lots of trouble hooking up the sink drain cause it leaks. Twice to Home Depot today and still not fixed. Jul 02, 2007 -------------------------------------- Glued a femal fitting onto the flush wall fitting of the sink drain. The fitting was obtained from a street el. It's not great but at least it holds water. Caulked the tub today. We're almost finished - just a few more niggly things to do. Dinner was BLT. ----------------------- Page 33----------------------- Jul 03, 2007 -------------------------------------- We finished the bathroom today!!!!!! I put up the shower rod - Lib bought shower curtains which we hung. I trimmed the bathroom door so it clears the threshold. Bought a masonary drill to drill the tiles and installed the threshold. Used the same drill to drill the tiles for the shower rod. I can't believe it, but it's done. Dinner was BLT. Jul 04, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to Home Depot and got a miniblind for the bathroom. Lib sewed some curtains from a second shower curtain she bought. I also installed a door stop so the closet and bathroom door knobs don't hit anymore. Lib said it's been like that for 30 years. Dinner was crabcakes. We had Hebrew National Hot Dogs for lunch which came from Trader Joes yesterday. I installed two duct booster fans in the attic for the playroom. Jul 05, 2007 -------------------------------------- Wired up the duct booster fans. What a disappointment!!!! The air flow seems hardly changed from before. Jul 06, 2007 -------------------------------------- Figured out what to do about the fountain on the back porch. I'm going to build a fiberglass chute to contain the rocks for the waterfall. This was First Friday and it's fairly hot outside. We started at Visual Arts then went over to Artspace and had a glass of wine at each place. Talked a little with Paris Alexander about his tall sculpture made of an Orange crystalline material. Went to Dinner at Cafe Luna where I had the veal canneloni which was very good. Jul 07, 2007 -------------------------------------- Started looking at the plumbing for the pond today. Need to sweat a few pipes to some pieces of copper I have. Hooked up the duct booster fans in the attic - I'm not happy with how little they contribute to the airflow. We need a whole duct booster blower or fan. Dinner was crab stuffed flounder and a bottle of Shiraz. Jul 08, 2007 -------------------------------------- Read the paper as usual then worked on soldering pipes. Stopped at the greenhouse in the morning to pick up some conduit to run the water and wiring thorugh to make it a little neater around the hot tub. We photographed Streps and our sucker pluckers today for the website. Hope to have a website update by Wednesday since we're leaving Friday for NJ. Lib made her wonderful pizza again. Jul 09, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to Home Depot today and picked up 2 extension cords to hack up and use for the dishwasher solenoids I installed on the pond. Finished the plumbing as well, cut the bathroom linen closet shelves to size and also installed a mirror which I picked up in Home Depot today. Mowed the front ----------------------- Page 34----------------------- street grass today which wiped me out since it was hot out. The new hard drive arrived from NewEgg. It installed well into Mazeppa giving that computer 500 gigabytes. Dinner this evening was fresh eggplant. We went to the Argentine Festival which started at 7:30 instead of 8 because it was two performances tonight. It was a long night - a total of 3 hours in the theater. Didn't stay for the second post performance discussion because it was 10:45 PM when the performance ended. Jul 10, 2007 -------------------------------------- We had a bird on the back porch today because Lib left the door open overnight. She finally shooed him out the door. I patched up the holes around the pipes under the sink on the back porch. Dinner was pasta at 5:30 since I had to leave for sculpting at 6. 64 was pretty crowded - stop and go until the beltline. should have taken Old Raleigh Road. Our model tonight is Jennifer, an NC State Senior who is roomates with Christa, our last model. She's Mom's Apple Pie - a very nice girl with a fit body. Spoke with Anne this afternoon about DVD's and Lib's clubs reaction to the MN convention DVD. Jul 11, 2007 -------------------------------------- This is a busy day. Working on AVSA pictures - we have darn few to choose from. Jul 12, 2007 -------------------------------------- Continuing the AVSA work. Had to pack early this afternoon because of sculpting tonight. Enjoyed sculpture this evening with Jennifer. Came home and went to bed after walking around checking doors. We are leaving at 5:15 tomorrow morning. Jul 13, 2007 -------------------------------------- The alarm rang at 5 and we were out the door at 5:15. We parked in the parking garage. With our new suitcases and boarding pass we were able to go directly to the gate. We had a very short 45 minute flight to Philly. Had to wait a little while for the Hertz bus. Saw lots of other car rental company buses - some of them passed by several times. Jul 14, 2007 -------------------------------------- This afternoon we went over to Arlene's house and used her computer connection and did some help with the backyard. I managed to take apart Rich's laptop which has a broken swivel. We found the swivel is cracked from when he dropped it. We went with her to Costco to get party fixings. Took 3 cans of Coors back to Mom's for our pizza which we ordered from Dominics. Found that Marjorie's Mother died so we stpped into Walgreens and got a sympathy card and then did Dominics. Walked back to the corner late for Lemon ice. Jul 15, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went over to the church after breakfast for the anniversary Mass. This was a big deal - I took Mom in her wheelchair while Vicki wheeled Helen down the street. When Mass was over we loaded up the wheelchair and stopped by Mom's to get shorts then went straight to Arlenes. Everything went smoothly. It was a nice party, the catering was great. I drank Sam Adams all afternoon. Left early ----------------------- Page 35----------------------- back home. Lib and I went out later to see Ellie's house and also find a mailbox for the sympathy card. Jul 16, 2007 -------------------------------------- We left this morning at 9:15 after walking to the corner for bagels. I wanted to leave at 9 but it didn't happen. Got lost in Piscataway by turning down Randolphville Road. Eventually found 287 and Rte 1 for a smooth trip into Yardley and I-95. Stopped at the exit after Yardley and got gas for 3.03 and a McDonalds biscuit. It was raining. Got stuck on I-95 going into Philly. We stoppped at one stop for 30 minutes but suddenly everything started moving again. At check-in we went through security on concourse D then found our plane was in concourse E. Had to do it all again and got to the gate just as they started boarding the A group. Walked onto the plane. Weather was a little bumpy but on time. We stopped at Trader Joes on the way in for milk, cereal, pasta, almonds, etc. All my Carolina Phlox wildflowers were gone - eaten by an unknown critter - probably the rabbit. Jul 17, 2007 -------------------------------------- I'll be sculpting tonight instead of ADF. Managed to change the tickets last week. At sculpting I tried to get her torso correct. I don't like her back at all. We had record rain this evening - over 2 inches. Worked all day on AVSA slides then left for sculpture after a crabcake on a bun with tomato. I was tired going over there but pepped right up when I started working. Jul 18, 2007 -------------------------------------- This morning I finished the initial batch of AVSA slides then started work on the waterfalls. The dishwasher solenoid doesn't work. Will replace it with a new one tomorrow. In the evening we went to Past/Forward after having a barbecue sandwich. After the performance I used a buy one get one free coiupon at Goodberry's for a custard parfait. Past Forward was good. The first dance was "How Long Brethern" about slavery. Woman in long gray dresses and aprons danced while picking crops. We then went to the Underground railroad where spotlights circles as frightened girls danced hiding behind obstacles before bieng caught by the spotlight. The next act was very dramatic with dancers seemingly hanging at the gallows. The circling and shaking was very effective. All this was accompanied by Negro Gospel singing and live vocals from two very good singers. The next number was very lively with some incredibly energetic dancing, swinging side to side, kicking toes out. The finale featured woman in gangs forming trains as they smoved in unison stomping their bare feet. The curtain goes down on a very long train of these woman with red spotlighting. Very powerful imagery. 18 dancers plus two vocalists did this number. The PErez number was less satisfying. Images of dancers holding various geometric objects as other dancers sat on the floor watching. The spots flashed giving us one image before miving onto the next. The last number, Skylight. was incredibly energetic. Dancers in yellow costumes each danced individually under a sequence of spotlights before joining th eline of dancing at stage back. The drium music was great - like a Siesta Key Drum circle. This was nonstop dancing. What a workout. Two small Asian dancers had very high kiks. The whole thing was a choreographic delight. Jul 19, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to sculpting this evening after renumbering AVSA slides this afternoon. Lots of work. The sculpture is taking shape - worked on proportion of legs and added some detail to the back. Next time ----------------------- Page 36----------------------- will be our last. I may do hands and then separateley a head. Jul 20, 2007 -------------------------------------- Friday I continued working on AVSA slides. Almost done. We had BLT's before going to the MFA performances at ADF. The first number was Pathetique in which two separate pianists played Beetoven while a group of dancers danced to the music. The second number was Hawaiian "Kahea" in whcih a girl danced in traditional flowing Hawaiian robe but topless with a lei while a Hawaiian guy played a drum. The mood changed while a series of slides showed the traditional hula dancer evolving into the commercialized tili doll. She finished by pulling up a white top and wearing a grass skirt and danced while a toy hula doll moved and shook. The next, timedrift, was weird. A man and a woman seemed to lose each other over time. A star field was projected and the dancers swayed in unison forward and backward. They took different positions on the stage not facing each other as if lost in time. The first number after intermission was "self-similar". I didn't care for this - it was two dancers in red and white candy striped leggings, eventually joined by a third. Projected images via video cam of them on the large screen added special effects. I didn't care for this technique. "Transformed and Function- ed" by Linda Harrell showed off her 13 years of dancing with Alvin Ailey and others. She danced while old footage of gils in dance class played on the screen. Many references to black dancing and being in dance class. It was the best of the night. "So it's like ... the deer is dead" was a whimsical piece that involved three girls. Two showed affection while the third was left out. Then she was the one while the third stared up at a pair of antlers suspended from the ceiling. Jul 21, 2007 -------------------------------------- Today is Libbie's 60th birthday. She went to the greenhouse while I picked up a birthday collage I made and had printed in Walgreens. I made reservations for 5:45 at Parizade. Couldn't find the place in Durham. I tought it was on Ninth Street. It was a block over in Erwin Square shopping center. BEcause it was 5:45, we were the first ones in the restaurant which opens at 5:30. We shared an appetizer of scallops then I ordered Mushroom Risoto and Libbie ordered Salmon Alfredo with Asparagus. We had Pinot Noir by the glass. Dinner was over at 7:35 which meant we were late for the 7:30 MFA perfromance at ADF. We only missed the first performance. The second one spoke to Libbie. To the music of Willie Nelson and a voice over about dancers bodies declining over time, the range of movement becomes limited. She sat in a chair and moved her arms. The dancers name was Gerri Houlihan performing "Semi Good Looker". She's from the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and was older than most dancers. A "voice over" started with the words "as a dancer's body ages, her range of motion becomes more limited. Gone are extensions of the arms and legs, movement becomes more difficult. The aging process continues with slower movements of a more limited range ". Then to music of Willie Nelson "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" she sat in a wooden upright chair and gracefully moved her arms and her feet, spent some time sitting there waving them to the music, and then slowly got up to perform her number. She concluded with a second Willie Nelson song, once again using slower and more deliberate motion. Delirium was a dance couple that looked like someone in rehab. I didn't get the Palm tree and fan or the blood coming from her breast. Atthe end she dumped styrofoam peanuts one the ground and danced in them before turning on the fan blowing the pellets as the curtain came down. ----------------------- Page 37----------------------- After the intermission we had "Marked Territory" which had a live guitar player. Two couples danced, one of the guys also played a trumpet while sitting on a couch. Another forgettable performance since I didn't remember too much about it. Lullen in a New Plantation Economy featured blacks in plantation dress and two people at stage front and stage rear running in place. I think this represents the passage of time. There was some very nice dance by the group of dancers. The last dancer of the evening, Ruth Andrien, a veteran for 20 years with Paul Taylor. Her number was "Becoming". She looked back in a mirror at her youth while a dozen dancers, all 20-something year olds, performed traditional Paul Taylor movements to a score of Astor Piazzolla music. Very fitting!!!!! She obviously was watching herself in her youth. When the dancers held hands in a circle of dance she joined in. The circle of dancers reminded me of a Matisse painting "The Dance". Jul 22, 2007 -------------------------------------- This morning we slept in until 7:20. I got the paper from the Krogers machine as usual while Libbie went to the greenhouse. Marjorie and Anne came up with the missing slide picture which I packaged and finished. In the evening I uploaded to Pro Digital and ordered the slides. Anne and Richard are supposed to record the cassette this evening. Libbie made traditional pizza. I heard from Marjorie again saying she's now ready to start the new intro's. Lots of work. Jul 23, 2007 -------------------------------------- Had trouble getting up this morning. Worked on organizing the DVD's on the new hard drive then burned a stack of DVD's for AVSA. I now have 5 of MN and Cincinnatti. Working on Tucson. Watched the Tucson DVD. Had to go to the Credit Union to deposit a check from my Scottrade account for $900 to cover the Visa bill of $1870 which is due tomorrow. Checking balance covered the rest of the bill. Returned some books to the newly re-opened library and also put a little account of Libbie's birthday celebration on the Condon group. She leaves for Providence tomorrow morning. Heard from Anne this morning that Richard was too tired last night to record the cassette. He'll do it tonight for mailing tomorrow. Jul 24, 2007 -------------------------------------- Took Libbie to the airport for a 6:30 AM flight. I had sculpting tonight. Had a Wendy's single with fries for dinner when I returned at 10. Jul 25, 2007 -------------------------------------- Left this evening for Litmus - photographed Jim and Adam's sculptures and picked mine up. Tried to use strobes but they put out too much shadow so I reverted to the Ott Lights. Jul 26, 2007 -------------------------------------- ----------------------- Page 38----------------------- Didn't feel like messing with the pictures today so I didn't. Lot of time and messages back and forth over sweeping John at Stoneybrook. The board wants to fire him. Lunch and dinner was BLT to use the tomato without it going to waste. Jul 27, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked on the pix from Litmus today. They're pretty good. The AVSA tape arrived. I liked having some down time from AVSA but now I have to get back to work. Took the 4 mile walk today - first time in a long time. Had some trouble crossing 64. Lots of traffic. Lots of bikinis by the pool as well. Dinner was BLT. Jul 28, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked on my ICMP send routine adding the source and dest addresses. Sized all of the pictures for Jim and Adam and created a CD to mail to Jim. Dinner was a Panini. Watched Igby Goes Down on IFC. Weird film about a misadjusted rich kid who is a wise ass with beautiful nympho girlfriends he meets. Jul 29, 2007 -------------------------------------- Slept in a little but then went to get the paper and read it. Worked on the Rodin EZ for my AVR web stuff. Dinner was Lean Cuisine. Aug 01, 2007 -------------------------------------- Built a support under the fiberglass waterfalls., Left in the PM and picked up Libbie at 7:10 on her Maine to RDU trip. She drove to Providence then got onto a plane through Philly. Plane was opntime. We had a subway turkey sub on our way home. Aug 02, 2007 -------------------------------------- Put some blocks into the pond, covered them with black pond liner and integrated them into the base of the falls so it looks "natural". Dinner was turkey burgers with tomato and onion. Aug 03, 2007 -------------------------------------- Put up the screen around the base of the waterfalls then troweled on some thinset. I odn't like how it's running and slumping. Dinner was crab cakes. Aug 09, 2007 -------------------------------------- Left Sarasota at 5:30 this morning to get a jump start on Tampa traffic. Got gas and a biscuit in Brookville. Went up to Gainesville to cut over on 301. Traffic was acceptable and pretty light but it was a hot day. The max temp was 109 in Florence, SC. Had to take a dump at the GA-SC border at a ----------------------- Page 39----------------------- rest area then got gas at the very next exit. This tank made it all the way home. Aug 11, 2007 -------------------------------------- Spent the morning doing some last minute cleanup around the house. Picked up the lapworths and Joe and Christa at the airport in the afternoon. We had a 60th birthday celebration for Libbie in the evening. Dinner this evening was barbecue provided by Jennifer and potato salad and cole slaw. Lib baked a Blueberry pie but we had two birthday cakes. I picked one up and so did Joe. I made a little video which I put on You Tube. Aug 14, 2007 -------------------------------------- Left in the morning for the mountains. Stopped at the Folk Art Center just before Asheville then went downtown to the Honey Tupeloe restaurant. I had a bean burger which was delicious. Walked around the downtown area a little and took pictures then drove to the cabin which was just before Bryson City. For dinner we went downtown and had a bucket of chicken in Bojangles. Aug 15, 2007 -------------------------------------- Lib and Joe went to Bo's in the morning and picked up some biscuits. We had all day in the mountains without going anywhere. while the gang went inner tubing, I went up to the top of Clingmans Dome. Went into downtown Bryson City to dinner at an Italian place, Joe was mad us and didn't go. We weren't happy with his behavior. Aug 16, 2007 -------------------------------------- We left the cabin early, stopped in Whittier to get some pics. The car needed gas aorund High Point so we had a lunch break at Wendy's and also a gas stop. Dropped Christa off at the airport on time for her 3 PM flight. In the evening we had a simple meal of hamburgers and corn. Aug 17, 2007 -------------------------------------- Left this morning a little after 9, stopped at the greenhouse to say hello then got on 40 to Wilmington. Arrived at Marcia's around noon. We went up the intracoastal in their boat to lunch at Dockside, a small seafood restaurant. After lunch toured the Wrightsville waterfront then went onto Wilmington and walked along the riverwalk and back via the historic downtown. Got onto the highway, took pictures of the Calif sign then went around 100 miles to the Rest Area where Smithfield BBQ is at. Got gas next to Smithfields and got home just as it was turning dark. Aug 18, 2007 -------------------------------------- Lazy day today. Went early to Krogers to get cereal and the newspaper. Took a walk up into Seagroves and looked at the new foundations. Talked to a young couple with family looking at their new foundation. Came back, had a light lunch, then went on a Ralleigh tour starting with McGregor West then making our way to tour downtown Raleigh and the capitol. Walked into the capitol, to the ----------------------- Page 40----------------------- legislative building, toured some of the history building then home. Stopped into Harris Teeter for shrimp and corn for dinner. Libbie and I shared a bottle of Shiraz. Afterwards I burned some of the images to 3 CD's for the Lapworths. Aug 19, 2007 -------------------------------------- We drove the Lapworths to the airport this morning pretty early then had the rest of the day for ourselves. I need to get going on the AVSA DVD. We had a performance of Urinetown this afternoon. Saw a few sprinkles of rain on our drive back. Libbie made her pizza which was good as usual. Sep 02, 2007 -------------------------------------- Did the usual newspaper run this morning but didn't walk. Stayed inside and worked on catching up some Wiki stuff and building the pond manager. Sep 03, 2007 -------------------------------------- Labor Day. It's still hot and dry. I chose not to walk today. Sep 04, 2007 -------------------------------------- Did a Krogers run this morning. Didn't need much but I had some coupons so I got more than I should have. Heard from Joe - he's concerned about Pacific Standard going into bankruptcy. Got some of the one wire stuff running today. Read some of the Murakami short stories, "After the Quake". Do not like the story about a 6 foot frog who talks. Dinner was bean burgers with tomato on a bun. Yummy. Didn't think there would be garbage pickup today since yesterday was Labor Day but the town website said it would happen. I moved the cans to the street and they got picked up. Sep 05, 2007 -------------------------------------- This must be a record. I haven't updated this journal in over a month so now I'm going to try to do it. This morning I walked out in the woods with the Town of Apex backhoe guy searching for a logical path for the new powerline. They're going to locate the transformer by the water meter and run the power from there. They had 6 vehicles here this morning to run the power line and locate the other utilities. Worked some more on getting the Pisces water manager going. Market is down 150 points today over fears about housing effects on the economy. Received the simple lan card today - I like it. Just a simple serial interface to a web server. Going to use it to monitor the fish pond management. Walked the 4 miles this afternoon - it felt good. Temps are still in the mid 90's and very dry - no rain for quite a while. 18 kids got off at the apartments from the High School bus. wow. Dinner tonight was eggplant parmesan that Libbie made. Sep 06, 2007 -------------------------------------- There's a low off the coast - hopefully it will bring us some rain but it's doubtful. Our last rain was less than an inch on August 21. They trenched in the power line from the street to our box in the backyard. ----------------------- Page 41----------------------- I walked but was hot and tired. Libbie picked me up in Buckingham on her way back from Rex Healthcare. Dinner was a beanburger which I really like. Pavarotti died today - CPE had a special tribute before the opera house started at 7. Sep 07, 2007 -------------------------------------- This morning I think I finally got most of the pond manager relays working. Now I need to do the RS485 interface that will interface to the web browser chip I bought from Avotec called "Simple Lan". In the evening we left for First Friday. Went first to Gayle Shott studio on Lenoir in Boylan Heights. Then we went to Moore square and saw a Fatata sculpture at Visual Art Exchange. Had wine there and also at ArtSpace. Finished with an 8 PM dinner at Cafe Luna. I had the tortellini stuffed with lobster and prawns. Libbie had the veal canneloni. Sep 08, 2007 -------------------------------------- This morning I tried looking for hte Pavarotti funeral on the web - found that CNN was carrying it so I downloaded the media player and listened to it. Would like to find the whole thing somewhere. Dinner was stuffed flounder and Chardonnay. Sep 09, 2007 -------------------------------------- HAd trouble getting my paper this morning - didn't have enough coins for the machine at McDonalds so had to go into Krogers to gt a paper. After the paper Lib and I walked the Seagroves property. The tropical storm didn't make it inland today so it was hot and dry. Seagrove Farms was actually dusty. Was surprised at the basement walls they installed without footings. Found some Pavarotti funeral clips on Youtube from RAI in Italy. Watched Bocelli sing and listened to the chit chat from the RAI hosts, in English! Dinner was Lib's pizza but she ran out of white flour. We had whole wheat. I mounted the circuit boards for a master hub for the fish pond manager. Sep 18, 2007 -------------------------------------- Spent some time in the shop cleaning up old papers as I looked for our septic permit. I wanted to see what size pump we have in our system since I have to replace the current one. Dinner tonight was crab cakes on buns. Sep 19, 2007 -------------------------------------- Stepped on a nail today with my heel. My sock got all bloody and it's hard walking on that foot. Ordered Crocs from Boston today so this doesn't happen again. Supposed to go to sculpture tonight but I bailed out of this session. Too much stuff to do at home without doing more. Sep 20, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went out and measured the length of the septic pipe to the field. It was 300 feet. Using this and a Graingers catalog I was able to put together a spreadsheet of pump sizes and head capacity to pick ----------------------- Page 42----------------------- one for our purpose. Sep 21, 2007 -------------------------------------- The Crocs came today. Lib and I went to Walmart and got socks then bought Shrimp in Harris Teeter for dinner. My foot isin extreme pain with the puncture wound in my heel. I got the web server displaying variables today from the AVR chip. This is a big first step. I'm now working on the rest of the software to query relays. Dinner was shrimp. butternut squash and Siraz. After dinner i downloaded the Randy Pousch lecture about Sep 22, 2007 -------------------------------------- Lib and I walked up to the Seagroves entrance and took pics which I posted on Picasa. They put sod down and a fence along 1010 which looks pretty nice. My foot is still sore but usable. After lunch we went to Lowes because I had a coupon good for $10 off a $50 purchase. We b ought 2 lattice grids and 2 plastic 1x4 boards. Went into Target for ribs for dinner as well. Sep 23, 2007 -------------------------------------- After the paper this morning I went outside and finished up the trim on the lattice work under the deck. Got cleaned up and left at 2:15 for the RLT play "Intimate Apparel" which was very moving and enjoyable. It was in the downstairs theater - we had seats on the side looking right down on the actors. Afterwards we had Libbie's thin crust pizza. Later in the evening I ordered a 37" Olevia TV from NewEgg. It was 649 after rebate plus $60 UPS shipping Sep 24, 2007 -------------------------------------- I did trader Joes this morning. We had the cheese tortellinin pasta for dinner that I got in Trader Joes. Also picked up some McIntosh apples which were small and in a little bag. They're pretty good. Sep 25, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked today on updating the booklet with the Mayors letter and then some more on my rs485 network software. Am doing a state machine for receiving 485 packets. Dinner was beanburger on buns I got in Krogers this morning. Mowed the lawn in the backyard today because it was getting a little tall. Sep 26, 2007 -------------------------------------- Tore down the rotted fascia boards and the soffitt under the valley. Found a colony of ants living in the moist rotten wood. The TV arrived later in the afternoon. I put plastic over the hole and worked on hooking up the TV. Lots of inputs on the back for components!!! Dinner was cole slaw and crab cakes. ----------------------- Page 43----------------------- Sep 27, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked on hooking up the TV to the satellite S-Video and to the attic antenna. Had to go to Tiger Direct to get a cable but the audio cable is still too short. I'm amazed at how many digital stations there are. When Libbie came home I worked on the porch soffitt and got the 2x6 replaced at the valley and also the plywood . We watched 1984 in the evening after having pasta for dinner. After the movie I went upstairs and added Richards latest changes to the convention booklet. Sep 28, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked outside on the porch installing the other 2x6 header and ripped down the rotted plywood. We had a squirrel nest built with insulation in the soffitt. Vacuumed it all out then closed up the rest of the soffitt with plastic where it's open. Went to the greenhouse later in the PM and nailed 1x2's down which we bought earlier in Lowes. Dinner was Chinese takeout with Shiraz. Sep 29, 2007 -------------------------------------- Took the day off and did not work on the porch. Got a sound driver installed on my laptop so we can watch movies on the new TV from the laptop. We watched "10 items or Less" after dinne. Went to Target and picked up some ribs and apples. Dinner was the ribs with Butternut Squash and Shiraz. Sep 30, 2007 -------------------------------------- After the paper this morning I cut the rest of the replacement soffitt for the front porch and also added the first fascia board - a 1x6 PVC board. I'm out of wood. Watched "Cashback" on my PC - enjoyed the movie about a guy who can pause time. He then undresses attractive females and paints them. Finished up the MAAVS book today - added Laurene's registration list and also a few additions to the awards. Oct 01, 2007 -------------------------------------- I still wasn't sure if I should go to Sarasota but after talking with Lib I was convinced to go. Gathered most of my stuff throughout the day. Taking some electronics - cables, prototypes for fish manager, etc. Also put the TV into the car. Didn't work on the porch at all. Finished up the booklet and sent it to PIP for prinitng. Had a quick Krogers trip for milk and buns for my burger. Dinner was Bean burger and butternut squash. Oct 02, 2007 -------------------------------------- Left home at 6:38. Made it to Clayton - 42&4o by 7 AM. Traffic was pretty light but there were a surprising number of people on the road at this time of the morning. NC was pretty cloudy but it got brighter in SC. The sun came out and the sky was blue but this was not to last since it starting raining in Savannah. Almost had an accident ----------------------- Page 44----------------------- in South Georgia - a pickup pulling a trailer came down the entrance ramp onto I-95 and immediateley pulled into the left lane where I was traveling. I was forced onto the shoulder at 70 mph and managed to hold my hand on the horn. The truck was inches from my side door - both of uw were in the left lane. The rain got real bad in Jacksonville - couldn't see a thing and there were several inches of water on the road. Several cars were in the ditch off the road. I later heard that Jax received 8 inches of rain. The rain continued most of the rest of the trip on and off. In Sarasota the sky was a mixture of clouds and blue but it was thndering and lightening. Bought some fixins at Publix - cereal, milk, juice and aspirin. For dinner I had a Subway turkey foot long from the place next to Publix. Hooked up my laptop and the telephone and found that PIP finished the booklet. Oct 03, 2007 -------------------------------------- A beautiful day. Configured the wireless network to use WEP with the key being 919 362 8532. This meant I had to add a key to the entry cam and also to the Soundbridge. Both tasks were relaticeley easy. The camera was done via the web browser and the soundbridge had an entry screen using the remote. Today I removed the TV from the car and also go shopping for a coffee table to use as a TV cart. The TV was easy to move into the condo on the dolly. Went down Tamiami and found the perfect cart in the unfinished furniture shop. Matched the stain to our current furniture by bringing an entertainment unit shelf to the store and bought the stain. It was pub night at the clubhouse. I had a NY Strip on a salad base. Very nice piece of meat. The restaurant was pretty full - I had trouble finding parking. Oct 04, 2007 -------------------------------------- Left at 6:30 for Tampa. Got gas in St Pete for 2.78. The gas station was crowded at this time of the morning. Crossed the bay - traffic was stopped on the otherside. Called Lib from the car. Got to the hotel around 8. Supposed to start at 8:30 so all was well. Elizabeth from my QYX consulting days was there. She's a blonde and also a pretty smart cookie. She dominated conversations. I had a turkey and ham sandwich for lunch. Took a walk around Stoney in the late afternoon. Dinner was a half rack of ribs with baked potato, salad and veggies. Very good. Oct 05, 2007 -------------------------------------- Applied some of my Atmel learning on the WinAVR to the tuxgraphics web server which I'll use for the Stoneybrook monitor. I got it to compile OK. Now for some customization. Went to the clubhouse for a BLT for lunch then tried to take a walk but got caught in the rain after turning around a few blocks away. Moved the table out to the porch and did a second coat of stain. I like it much better this time. I picked up some gloves in Target to protect my hands and they worked well. Didn't get any stain on my hands unlike yesteday. Went to the clubhouse around 7:30 and picked up a horseradish crusted salmon for dinner. Oct 06, 2007 -------------------------------------- ----------------------- Page 45----------------------- It started out pretty overcast. Talked to Lib but she had just poured her cereal so I called back. Try calling Mom at Robert Wood but she didn't want to talk. Took a walk out to the nature area in front. It seems longer than the once around the block walk. Discovered a water spot on the kitchen ceiling. Not sure what's going on there. Looks like a water leak but it's not getting worse. Worked some more on the Stoneybrook web server. I need to be working on the fish pond server because that's what I brought with me. HAd a BLT from the restaurant for lunch. Dinner today was the NY Strip from the club. Oct 07, 2007 -------------------------------------- Left in the late afternoon for Siesta drumming. Lunch and dinner today was the leftover steak from yesterday. Sunset is at 7:14 PM. It was pretty spectacular on Siesta Beach. Lots of nice scenery as well. Oct 08, 2007 -------------------------------------- Today I had a chicken sandwich for lunch with fruit and saved a BLT for dinner. Cleaned the apartment somewhat and did laundry. Oct 09, 2007 -------------------------------------- Left Sarasota at 5:30 am. I made coffee but didn't have cereal left. Did a gas stop in Brooksville at Racetrak for 2.60 then did the McDonalds drive through for an Egg McMuffin. Did the trek through Gainesville and 301. It was rush hour in Gainesville but acceptable traffic. Did a pit stop at the Georgia welcome center - very nice facilities. In the middle of SC I topped off the gas tank and picked up a hamburger and fries from McDonald. Got into Raleigh around 4:30 PM. Oct 10, 2007 -------------------------------------- Got packing for York. Not sure about the temperatures - I'm hoping for warm. Walked around the yard to get plant material for my design. I also downloaded source code for the butterfly to see if I could change it to be MAAVS specific. Oct 11, 2007 -------------------------------------- We left for York around 7 AM. Took 540 by the airport without any problems. Stopped in Henderson at McDonalds for biscuits and coffee. I had my thermos so didn't need to buy any. Our next stop was after the Baltimore Beltway where we stopped at Wendys then across the street for a filllup. We got to York around 2:30 which was fortunate because Lib wanted to watch Sue in Calgary. Sue was on at 2:58 PM. That evening we had dinner in the restaurant - sat with Karen and Olive. I had lobster bisque soup and a cajun chicken sandwich. Oct 12, 2007 -------------------------------------- ----------------------- Page 46----------------------- We had breakfast across the street in the McDonalds in Walmart. I also bought a razor since I forgot mine. I touched up my design with another hosta leaf since the one from yesterday wilted. The show was pretty slow, our sales were not very great. We had the costume party tonight - Lib and i were "From Russia with Love". The dinner was roast beef which was pretty good. Oct 13, 2007 -------------------------------------- The morning was slow. I worked on pics and ran over to Walmart for AAA batteries for my tape recorder so i could record Nancy Kasts presentation. At 2 I did the presentation. Found Michelle to give her my flash drive to get the results for the show. I was the emcee for the dinner . All went well. We sat at the head table with Marie, Carol, Barbara Stewart and Rodney. For dinner I had fish. Oct 14, 2007 -------------------------------------- PAcked up the plants in the frost 46 degree temperatures then drove over to the McDonalds in WalMart. I left Libbie in the car with the engine running while I ducked in for breakfast and coffee to go. Tried to get coffee at a McDonalds in Lancaster but they were so slow that after Lib used the bathroom we left without getting anything. This was across the street from some kind of water park. Arrived at Arlene's around 11:30. Dropped the plants off, got some directions from her and went to the hospital. Mom looked pretty good - alert and sharp. I took some pix then went to the nursing home to het Helen. She didn't know I was coming but I wheeled her wheelchair to the car and parked in the parking garage. Got lost finding 18 in Piscataway but ended up on River Rd next to Johnsons Park so it was easy to find 18. Stayed for 40 minutes then took her back to the home. What an awful place. Stayed a little more with Mom then went to Arlene's. Nancy and Jack came over with Lauren then Vicki and Bob came over. Bob looked terrible. Had a nice roast beef dinner that Arlene made. Finished it with Apple Pie and coffee then went to bed. Oct 15, 2007 -------------------------------------- We got up at 6 and went downstairs. Arlene was up, Rich was still getting dressed. After some Cheerios for breakfast and filling my thermos from Arlene's coffee pot. Arlene and Libbie left in Arlenes car and I followed to the hospital. Got on street parking and walked in the front door and up to Mom's room on the 5th floor. We stayed about 15 minutes before Evette, the aid, came in to change Mom. We said goodby and then tried calling George McDonald from downstairs. They invited us to stop but we were unable to connect so we continued driving. Got off the TPK at Exit 4 and onto 295. Found a stop with 2.41 gas and an old fashioned McDonalds which we think was new but built in retro style. Got stuck at an accident in Maryland for anout 30 minutes. Libbie called Sue several times then finally Sue called just as we were making the 495 E-W split. We instantly switched to the West Exit and arrived at Sue's to see her construction completion. Stayed for about an hour then hit the road. Got to take the HOV lanes South which was pretty nice. Traffic was very heavy but we sailed along. Stopped for lunch in Fredricksburg then did a gas and bathroom stop in South Hill. Lib took over driving and got us home by 7 PM. Did a quick washup then went out to Paneras for dinner. I had a Chipotle chicken sandwich with con questa soup - a corn and bean soup. Oct 16, 2007 -------------------------------------- ----------------------- Page 47----------------------- Lots of catching up on the PC. Oranized pictures, tried uploading Nero to maavs.org for Arlene. Did a grocery run - both Trader Joes and Kroger. Dinner was pasta but I got sleepy and fell asleep during the Dancing with the Stars results show. Oct 17, 2007 -------------------------------------- Hooked up the Ademco alarm panel I received from an eBay vendor and started getting a feel for the proramming of it. Did some work on the MAAVS site adding Ken's new manual and culture folder. Did a Home Depot run to get the PVC boards for the front porch Fascia. Dinner was crab cakes - I mixed up some slaw to have with mine. Lib is still in pain from her fall in the garage a week ago. Oct 18, 2007 -------------------------------------- There's a light rain in the air today. Didn't do any construction - instead I played with the alarm and read about the ECP bus that someone has hacked. In the PM Lib and I went out to get a new telephone in Waverly Place for her and stopped into Harris Teeter for drain cleaner and corn meal. I unplugged the sink drain in our bathroom by using the long nose pliars to remove a hairball and also pouring gunk down the drain. Dinner was 15 bean soup that Libbie made today along with corn bread. Yummy. My free HDTV antenna from WRAL came today. I assembled it but did not install. Wonder if I could hook up two antennas - one aimed at Chapel Hill and the other at WRAL. Oct 19, 2007 -------------------------------------- Did a lot of reading about remote controls. I want to use an AVR to intercept some of the TIVO commands then translate them for the Olevia. Dinner was 15 bean soup and home made corn bread. Oct 20, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked on Remote Control reading and when I got ready to work outside, Lib came home. Insetad we washed the porch sliding glass windows. Dinner was barbecue, veggies, cole slaw and Shiraz. Oct 21, 2007 -------------------------------------- Read the paper this morning, spent a little time on "Pisarro" the AVR remote control translator then went outside and started cutting boards for the porch fascia. Got all the big pieces up before lunch at 1:30 then we got ready for RLT. Today was the battle of Shallowford about a small NC town that thinks the Martians are coming after hearing the Orson Welles radio broadcast. The time is 1938. The daughter of the owner of the local general store, Mocks Store, thinks the attack is real and when the townfolk go out to hunt martians with their shotguns and rifles, she decides to jump in bed with the local nerd since times are different. There's lots of things she never did and now was the time. When she finds it was only a radio play and worse, the nerd knew, she gets upset but all ends well as they make up and she agrees to go to NY with him to see the Worlds Fair. Great enjoyable play. Came home and scanned the program then got caught up on the Wiki. ----------------------- Page 48----------------------- Oct 22, 2007 -------------------------------------- Look at reworking the ember breakout card that has an Atmega32 on it for use as a Bluebird monitor CPU. Next went to the greenhouse and Lib and I pulled both shade cloths today (house 1 and 2). Worked on the front porch and finished the cornice then went to Home Depot and picked up a set of aluminum ramps. Because they were $150, I was able to use a coupon to get $15 off. Went with Lib to the greenhouse to fetch the riding mower. The ramps made it easy. Dinner tonight was barbecue sandwiches and homemade slaw. Oct 23, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked on MAAVS pictures a lot of today. In the late morning I used the tractor and mowed the front and back lawns. Late in the day Lib and I returned the tractor to the greenhouse. The new aluminum ramps work great. Dinner was barbecue sandwiches. Between dinner and Dancing with the Stars at 9, I worked on the MAAVS pictures. Watched the Dancing show, Mark who we thought was not very good, got kicked off. The program ended at 10 after which I went upstairs and finished the website by midnight. They're certain we will get significant rain tomorrow which will mess up my painting chances. Oct 24, 2007 -------------------------------------- I started painting the front porch fascia boards at 8:30 am and all of a sudden we had a thunderstorm downpour. Nov 13, 2007 -------------------------------------- Woke up at 5:30 but by the time I got dressed, made the coffee, had breakfast and carried stuff to the car it was 6. Traffic was OK most of the route. Stopped in Brooksville for a biscuit and topped off the gas tank at 3.07. Next stop was exit 10 into South Carolina for gas and a bathroom break. I had apples and dried fruit in the car for the trip so no need to stop. Troubles at exit 25 in Lumberton - about a 6 car pileup had me stopped for 45 minutes. More trouble at one lane in Benson. Got home around 5:30. Did a Krogers run and had Bean burger with veggies and tomato on a bun. Frozen Yogurt for desert. Watched Dancing with the Stars - Edita and Cameron were kicked off. I'm going to miss Edita. Went to bed at 11:30 after falling asleep on the couch. Nov 14, 2007 -------------------------------------- A busy day. Studied the web server implementation of the Wiznet chip. Wento Walmart for oil and a filter then stopped in the greenhouse on the way back. Also got some gas at 3.11 at the BP across from Seagroves. Deposited the checks at the Credit Union then proceeded to change the oil for my 20,000 mile change. I was going to rotate the tires but instead I finished painting the fascia board on the front porch. The rain really damaged the paint job last time. ----------------------- Page 49----------------------- Nov 15, 2007 -------------------------------------- Waited fir the rain to slow down this morning before leaving for NJ. I wasn't too thrilled about going up there in the first place. Got stopped for 30 minutes at Lorton, VA and then again at the Delaware bridge. Arrived at 8 PM. Libbie and I walked to Dominics and I had a couple of slices of pizza for dinner. Lunch was at McDonalds in Fredricksburg where I also got gas at 3.07 per gallon. Nov 16, 2007 -------------------------------------- Walked to the corner and got some bagels. Next we had to take Rich tot he station - we both went outside without keys and locked the door behind us. Christine was in the shower but came to the door and let us in. Made it to the strain exactly on time. Next stop was to drive up to Watching Ridge. We met with Glenn and Pat and got a tour of the facility. It's very nice. In the afternoon we visited Aunt Helen and talked to the Social Worker at Cedar Oaks. Stopped by Barbara Schaeffer's to talk to her about being Power of Attorney. She agreed to do this. Met with Vicki and Arlene in the evening after picking up Rich at the station. His train was late at 5:45 PM. Picked up some sandwiches at the Quick Check for dinner. Vicki was upset that I was doing all this and not focusing on Mom. I told her she asked me to do this. She left very unhappy because she thinks Helen is settled at Cedar Oaks. Nov 17, 2007 -------------------------------------- Visited with Barbara in the morning after talking to Arlene and Rich about this stuff. Rich said it's not a big deal to move some of Helen's furniture. We got going before Rich brought Helen over to visit Mom since that would involve a lot of work to get out. We went down the turnpike and got off at exit 8 and had to take 295 North around Trenton to get to 95 to cross over to Yardley. One lane on the bridge was closed so we ha to wait to get in line. Parked in downtown Yardley next to Kramers bakery. Bought some Eclairs and then walked around downtown Yardley vositing the canal and the library. Took lots of pictures. Stopped in Aberdeen at Taco Bell for lunch around 2 PM. I drove all the way to Petersburg on I-85 before Libbie took over. Got gas in Petersburg at a good price - 2.96. Previous gas was 3.07 in Lawrenceville, NJ. We had a traffic stoppage at the Mixing bowl in DC. Traffic was stop and go until below Potomac Mills Mall. Lib took 540 all the way to 55 then down to Panaras bread for dinner. I had a caesar chicken sandwich and baby portabello mushroom soup. Got home around 9 - all was well. Nov 18, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to Krogers very early and got the paper as well as milk and cereal. When Lib came back from the greenhouse we took a walk through Seagroves Farms to see the construction progress then got in the car and looked at inkjet printers in Target. Went over to Circuit City and bought a Samsung laser printer. Hooked it up without troubles and Libbie printed a stack of invoices. Dinner was her delicious pizza. Nov 19, 2007 ----------------------- Page 50----------------------- -------------------------------------- Worked on organizing pictures today, sorting through the stack of mail and reading up on the Wiznet module for the CCI contest. I'm going to build an NCID client with LCD display. Dinner tonight was chicken tenders and Southwest corn. Dancing with the stars is on tonight. Nov 20, 2007 -------------------------------------- Did some reading on the wiznet module this morning then spent a lot of time and money in the grocery store getting thanksgiving fixins and also fruit cake ingredients. Lots of stuff. Nov 21, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to the eye doctor at 9 this morning for my annual visit. Nothing has changed. Worked on connecting the Wiznet up to Jacks Caller ID server in Florida. He's in NJ helping his sister move. Picked up a xmas tree in HD. Was going to use our $10 off oupon at Lowes but Home Depot had $19 xmas trees so we bought one. Will use the Lowes oupon some other time. Nov 22, 2007 -------------------------------------- We had a nice thanksgiving dinner with the Turkey breast, cranberries and squash with Chardonnay. Mom had thanksgiving at her house at 1 with everyone over including Arlene and Vicki's grandchildren. We heard from Joe that he was deep frying a turkey at his house. Nov 23, 2007 -------------------------------------- It was supposed to rain today but the rain has been spotty. We really need it. I'm glad we noticed that the Fall colors were pretty 2 days ago because the rain will take the leaves down. Got a Black Friday newspaper today and treated it like Sunday. Thick paper with lots of ads. Dinner was thanksgiving leftovers. Nov 24, 2007 -------------------------------------- Still having the leftover turkey fixings for dinner. Nov 25, 2007 -------------------------------------- Picked up some LED's for our xmas tree. Nov 30, 2007 -------------------------------------- ----------------------- Page 51----------------------- Today was all request and the selections were lovely. I was woerking on the Nieto schematic listening to the radio. Dec 01, 2007 -------------------------------------- First of the month. Found out Joe was going to NJ for Christmas. We started looking at cheap flights up there. Went to Lowes late in the day to get a part for the fertilizer injector. The nylon fitting is shooting water out. It destroyed the telephone. Picked up a new phone in OfficeMax because I had a $10 coupon. Ended up getting 2 phones because the purchase had to be over $20. We'll keep the second as a spare. Dinner was chicken breast with squash and barbecue sauce. We had a bottle of Shiraz also. Dec 02, 2007 -------------------------------------- Did the newspaper then at 10:30 went to Lowes for plumbing parts to replace the nylon fittings of the injection pump. Got it all done and the water leaks taken care of. Came home and worked on the PCB layout some more looking up footprints of all my parts. Also added an interface for a thermistor to accomodate using this as a microwave oven controller. Dec 03, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked on a new version of the layout. Had to change the drill holes to match what was available and rewired everything. Sent it all in to AP circuits in the morning. Went over to the greenhouse at 11 PM because it was 51. House 2 heater would not light. Went home to get another thermocouple and went back to the greenhouse. The heater was working. Left it for the night. Dinner tonight was Trader Joes Farfalli. Dec 04, 2007 -------------------------------------- Did the tour around town today. I started looking up Digikey part numbers but left that task for later. Did the grocery run then Lib came home and went with me to TigerDirect for the digital frame then up to Grainger to get the thermocouple, Put it in but the heater didn't start right away. Played with the gas valve and it finally started. Came back in the evning and the pilot was blown out. Relit it and the heater started right up. Made it through the night. Dinner was crab cakes and slaw. Dec 05, 2007 -------------------------------------- What a day. I waited all morning for the Fedex delivery but worked on my Digikey order. Got the order in at noon and then went to the greenhouse to work on the heater. The startup is intermittent so I wanted to find out why. Decied to replace the gas valve with a simulated valve after lunch. Lib and I went to the Blue Rain for lunch. Had a very nice veggy sandwich which had eggplant and portobello mushroom. Waited a long time to pay our bill. Lib stayed behind and paid while I went home to look ----------------------- Page 52----------------------- for a resistor load. Found a 50 ohm 10 watt one. When used in place of the valve the voltage went to zero!!! Did some troublehsooting and tracing of circuits and found a bad ground. Fixed the gound and now have reliable gas lighting. Missed the FedEx guy - tried looking for him around the neighborhood but no luck. Lib called the office - it will be on the truck tomorrow. Dinner was pasta. We monitored the heater over the telephone all night long. Dec 06, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to the greenhouse at midnight this morning to heck on the heaters. Couldn't get house 2 to light. I called back home and told Lib we had a problem. She was sleeping. We implemented "Plan B" which was to run tubing from house 3 into house 2 so that we were able to heat house 2 with the house 3 heater. Waited until 10 for my FedEx pakage to arrive then went over to the greenhouse to do diagnostics. The heater still won't start. The voltage is OK, measured the gas pressure. It was OK at 14col inches of water. Checked house 1 to see if this was ballpark. Went to Grainger and bought a new gas valve. Found the old one was rated at 130,000 BTU's and this was a 200,000 BTU heater. It seemed to work OK all these years. Put the new valve in and the burner flame came on instantly. I hope this fixes the problem. Went back and made a socket for the new wiz device that came today to Libbie. My technique of nuking a standard socket to get the pins seemed to work. The footprint in the new boards fits perfectly. The DC-DC converter footprint is screwed up. In addition, I'm not sure .1uf is a good vlalue for the AVR reset. I'll look this one up. Dinner was pulled pork barbecue and cole slaw. Yummy. The greenhouse seems to be behaving itself. Lib told me that Bill called while I was out. I replaced the gas valve with the one I picked up at Graingers. The gas valve does seem to be bad. Overnight the valve had voltage but it wouldn't turn the gas on. Talked to Pat at Stoneybrook Prudential Palms. She didn't know our place was not rented. What a dipshit. She said she'll try to find the person who reserved it last year but didn't return the signed contract. The problem is the morons running the Prudential office had no clue this was going on. Dec 07, 2007 -------------------------------------- Took apart the pilot and cleaned it. Drove to Graingers and picked up an eletronic pilot re-igniter for the heater. Installed it late at night but didn't finish the job. Will come back in the morning. Dec 08, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to the greenhouse in the morning since I wanted to be home for the opera. It's the first of the season. Struggled with the sparket - I'm not happy with the placement and don't think it really works. If I blow the pilot out it seems to spark forever ----------------------- Page 53----------------------- without lighting the pilot. Don't know what's wrong so i buttoned it up the best I could and went home defeated and tired. Dec 13, 2007 -------------------------------------- Mary called in the evening and said she and Mary Elaine were 50 miles South of South of the Border and were going to stop in. libbie and I went into clean up mode and got the place straightened up. When they got here we were able to have chicken strips with butternut squash and a 7 layer salad Libbie made. She also put some of the Trader Joes cookie dough in the oven which gave us fresh Chocolate chip cookies with the chocolate Frozen yogurt. Dec 14, 2007 -------------------------------------- Went to the greenhouse and replaced the panel next to the bathroom. It's probably one of our last warm days to do this. The old plastic was shredded. Inspected the wood underneath and all looked well. Pulled all the sharp staple ends out and put the new plastic up. Dinner this evening was 7 layer salad and leftover barbecue. At home I rotated the tires since I did it at 10,000 miles and this was 20,000. The Toyota manual says every 5,000 but I think 10,000 is good enough. Dec 15, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked on DHCP and also the picture frame. Finished the picture frame software and think I figured out why DHCP is not working. I followed the example and after tracing the code I found the example assumes a parallel interface into the Wiz chip. I'm using a serial PSI interface. Left at ten to 12 for the 1PM Romeo and Juliet performance. The opera was fantastic. Anna is so good it's amazing. She's beautiful and has an incredible voice. She plays very well with the tenor. Strangeley, this only had one intermission for a 5 act opera. At the opera found out from Jim that La Scala is going to be in the Cary theater Sunday, the day I'm going to drive. We're going to have heavy rain tonight so perhaps it's good that I delay for a day. Went to Cary and bought tickets. They wanted cash only so we emptied our wallets and came up with $40. It started raining incredibly hard on the way home from Cary. Dinner was shrimp we picked up in Harris Teeter across from the theater. For veggies we had Steamfresh mixed veggies. ----------------------- Page 54----------------------- Dec 16, 2007 -------------------------------------- Read the paper and then gathered my stuff for the trip. Left for the opera at 2 PM. We were the first ones there. The theater does not have stadium seating but the performance of Aida was very grand and over the top. I enjoyed it immenseley. After the performance we stopped in Panera Bread for dinner. I had French Onion soup and a portobella sandwih on Foccia bread. Great. Packed up my stuff for the trip tomorrow. Dec 17, 2007 -------------------------------------- Left home at 5:58 AM. Libbie made my coffee while I showered. Filled my thermos and off I went. Took I-40 to 440 intead of 1010 since it was dark and I didn't want any hassles. Stopped in florence for a biscuit and top off the gas. My gas overflowed and I ended up washing the car around the filler tube with the windshield washer fluid and sponge. Traffic was not bad. It got heavy after Gainesville but all the traffic left the highway wehn I-75 reached the turnpike. This was a surprise. Cruised through Tampa at 3:30 PM with no problems. Lots of speed traps in Waldo. At one point there were three cars pulled over. Got into the condo at 4:30. Talked a little to Libbie then went out to Publix for milk and cereal. Had to return because I forgot to get coffee. Everything here looks good. Hooked up the telephone and it started right away. Dec 18, 2007 -------------------------------------- Got up at 7 and worked online a little. Studied replacement DHCP code to write the chip buffer instead of the buffer in the Atmega. Went over to Peter and Christa's around 11. They invited me over for dinner tomrrow. Took a walk around the golf course. Stopped into the club office and picked up the forms to transfer membership to Bill for Golf. Stopped into Pat's realty office. We're still not rented. They're about as incompetent as they come. In a whole year they didn't have our place listed for rent. I listed our place on Craigs List this evening. Dinner was a Garden Veggie bean Burger. I don't know why but I like those things. ----------------------- Page 55----------------------- Dec 19, 2007 -------------------------------------- Worked online a little and did some condo cleanup. Vacuumed outside and inside. Washed the floors, dropped the small TV off at Goodwill and picked up an outlet strip and detergent in Publix. Installed the outlet strip in the internet closet. This will allow me to reset the router and vonage from the switch. The place is looking pretty nice. Went over to Peter and Christa's for dinner. I had tuna mousse for an apetizer then peter cooked rice and veggies with saffron and muscles, shrimp, chicken and beef. Went over there at 5 and returned home a little after 9. Called Lib and chatted with her a little about our evenings. Ran around and did some last minute cleanup before falling asleep reading the Nicholas Sparks book. I don't think I'll be getting up at 5:30 tomorrow morning to leave. Dec 20, 2007 -------------------------------------- Got up a little after 6 this morning and got busy cleaning the countertops and carrying stuff to the car. Turned off the water and water heater and got going at 7:39. Picked up some gas in Bradenton at Hess. Price was a terrible 3.07. Later stopped at McDonalds just before Kissimme for a biscuit. Traffic through Orlando was busy but it kept moving. My next gas stop was Richmond Hill on Rte 17 where I got gas for 2.84 and also stopped in McDonalds for a hamburger, fries and coke for lunch at 2 PM. It was a handy stop and my last of the trip. Just for laughs, I noted the time was 3:50 PM when I was 50 miles from Pedro's. I got home via hwy 42 exit in Clayton (Smithfield?) at 6:30 PM. When I got in Libbie had Zatarains chicken jumbalaya on the stove for dinner. Spent the evening reading email, updating pictures, transferring files. Dec 24, 2007 -------------------------------------- We woke at normal time, had breakfast and packed the car. Left for the airport at 7:05 AM. Arrived there just before 7:30. The parking garage is pretty full - parked on the 7th level in Row U. This is outdoors. Our flight got off on time and was very smooth. At Philly we were the only ones on the Hertz bus. Got a silver Toyota Corolla which had a dented bumper and dented back door. I had the parking lot guard note that on the contract. We stopped in Cramers in Yardley - it was Americana. A high school choir was singing Christmas Carols and they were serving coffee outside the bakery. Inside there were big lines for pickup and for paying. We walked in and a girl took our order right away. ----------------------- Page 56----------------------- We got a box of eclairs. We had one in the parking lot and then drove to Piscataway - traffic on Route 1 was not bad. We got there around 2 PM. We met the new aid Jewel who got lost on her way to Piscataway since she went to Parsippany. The party was at 6 PM. Everyone except Stephanie was there. All left by 9 PM or so. Joe came over in the afternoon - he and Christa got engaged on the 22nd then took the red eye on the evening of the 23rd, arriving in New York at 5:45 AM. Dec 25, 2007 -------------------------------------- Christmas was a quiet day. We had a ham that Libbie cooked with mashed potatoes and birds. Jewel does not eat pork so she had fish. We gave Joe and Christa books for Xmas. Went to 10:00 AM Mass this morning with the Sroczynski's. Gave Mom the Picture frame for Christmas. She seemed to like it - I included pictures from the last 20 to 30 years. Dec 26, 2007 -------------------------------------- A run around day. Visited Helen at the nursing home then went over to Watchung Ridge to determine what the hold up is. They are saying now she can't move until Jan 2. It appears to be a matter of finances between Cedar Oaks who have been paid for December and Watchung Ridge who wants to start with the new month. Dec 27, 2007 -------------------------------------- We got up early, had Special K cereal for breakfast then had to leave the house at 9:30 because the aide showed up for Mom. Left in a very cold 39 degree rain down route 1 to Philly. I picked up a coffee in Dunkin Donuts on the way out of town. We stopped in Langhorne for gas and bathroom then made it to the art museum at 11:40. There was a special Renoir Landscapes exhibit which we purchased tickets for. We spent 2 hours in the Rnoir exhibit then had lunch in the cafe before resuming our tour of the rest of the museum. We left pretty tired and let the GPS take us to the airport. Since we were early, at the airport we used the GPs to find a restaurant called "A Taste of Philadelphia". Dec 28, 2007 -------------------------------------- It's nice waking up back home. I spent the morning organizing pictures and putting stuff in storage boxes in my shop as well as catching up with the index card inventory. Lib came home early and did last minute cleanup in prep for Bills arrival. He called from Richmond and said I-95 has been slow going with lots of traffic and stop and go. Friday is not a very good day to travel, especially with some ----------------------- Page 57----------------------- light rain. They arrived around 6:30. Joe made pizza which we had with Sam Adams beer and Shiraz wine. Early to bed. Dec 29, 2007 -------------------------------------- Woke at the normal time this morning - Joe and Christa made French Toast downstairs for everybody. They used olla bread and a mixture of egg and cinnamon they premade yesterday and cooked a very nice breakfast complete with sausage. Bill and Barb took off at 8:10 AM for Florida. Christa went back to sleep while Joe worked on the back porch on his ocmputer. Dec 30, 2007 -------------------------------------- A pretty rainy day. We ended up with 2 inches of rain. Went out in the evening to Cabarras to celebrate Joe and Christa's engagement. Dec 31, 2007 -------------------------------------- Joe left for Mark's house this morning to spend the New Year with them. We walked the Lake - one of the few times this Fall/Winter. Dinner was leftovers from our dinner at Cabarras last night.