I spent a few hours of fun this week reading titles of 1000 best and/or famous books bringing back good memories trying to recall where I was when I read them...some of them I read as a young kid when we didn't have TV growing up in Montreal; some in college, but most at home as a dad while the kids were crying their heads off...reading is a wonderful distraction from real life especially when your spouse takes care of them. Why did I do this exercise? Because for the past six months I’ve been on a reading kick and been devouring novels and short stories like they’re going out of style. Being semi-retired has its benefits sometimes.
Some of my old favorites include Jules Verne (Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea), Alexander Dumas (The Count of Monte Christo), Herman Melville (Moby Dick), Agatha Christie (and Then There Were None), and Robert Lewis Stevenson (Treasure Island).
Lately I’ve found several on-line sites offering free or very inexpensive e-Books for my Kindle. Kindle-ing is a great way to go...while reviewing tons of books I saw many authors and books I’ve always wanted to read but have never gotten around to reading.
I've read about 95 of those thousand famous books. Years ago I began reading best sellers like James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Clive Cussler, John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark, Stephen King and about a dozen others who’s latest books I have a hard time staying away from…I don’t hardly have yard work to do anymore, the house needs a bit of painting here and there and I hope to one day paint something...I don’t think anyone can read 8 hours a day but reading is a nice way to spend a few hours (a few time a day) and I’m not going to stop reading these favorites. (A home office can be a real curse for readers)
But I’ve always had a desire to read some of the early 20th and late 19th century authors...when I watch an old movie from a book by one of these authors or if I don’t have a good answer to (A question really) to Jeopardy 20th century authors’ category it makes me want to read these people.
As I was reading the list of 1000 I jotted down authors' names and book titles that wrung a bell for me...just about everybody’s heard of these authors or books:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald,
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller (I did see the movie and liked it),
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut,
The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway,
On the Road by Kerouac,
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger,
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis,
War and Peace by Tolstoy (On second thought it may be a bit too long to keep my attention…I might order the movie from Netflix instead)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Smith
Herzog by Saul Bellows
Don Quixote by Cervantes
From now on I'll be reading a Hemingway then Patterson...F. Scott Fitzgerald/John Grisham...Jane Austen/Dean Koontz...yup, that’s it……
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
and so it begins...
Today is the Autumnal Equinox meaning the day and night will be approximately the same, 12 hours...the sun rose at 6:40 and will set at 6:45...
to put it in more common terms the 'days' are getting shorter...
Get your compass out of your hiking back pack and check its accuracy by watching the sun set due West on the first day of fall in North America...
to put it in more common terms the 'days' are getting shorter...
Get your compass out of your hiking back pack and check its accuracy by watching the sun set due West on the first day of fall in North America...
Monday, September 12, 2011
“You know if you’re from America ...
Facebook has a new feature that connects people who grew up in the same home town…I haven’t tried it yet because it probably works only for people in the United States…and I only know a few Facebookers from Canada and they’re all way younger than me…
This is how it goes:
You know, if you’re from Terre Haute you…” is the setup and Facebook members take turns reminiscing about things only natives of Terre Haute would know like good pizza joints, schools and teachers they hated or liked, etc.
The truth is I was looking for a blog topic and I liked this one…I’ll call it:
“You know if you’re from America
...you always want fries with that,
...you’ve taken a road trip that lasted at least three days
...you still like Peter Frampton
...you know who Matt Kemp is
...you remember paying $1.00 a gallon for gas
...you remember Little House on the Prairie
...you know all the words to the Brady Bunch theme song
...you know who Bobby Thompson is
...you know the last year the Dodgers won the World Series
...the Cosby Show was one of your old time favorites
...you love apple pie and Chevys
...you love iPods, i-Pads and everything Apple
...you love bar-b-queing in the back yard
...you appreciate the Kindle, savior of trees and book publishing (OK, not all of you)
...you love duct tape and WD-40 to tie things up or loosen them
...you never get tired of the Geico gecko
...you don’t like Le Bron James anymore
...you love your GPS
...you love James Taylor
...you’ve read To Kill a Mockingbird
...you learned yadda, yadda, yadda on Seinfeld
...you’re a blogger...we’re all writers now, uh-oh!
...you’re one of 44% of people who believe in legalizing marijuana
...you feel patriotic eating a hot dog, especially a Dodger Dog
...you’re one who believes in the pursuit of a really great picnic but seldom have one
This is how it goes:
You know, if you’re from Terre Haute you…” is the setup and Facebook members take turns reminiscing about things only natives of Terre Haute would know like good pizza joints, schools and teachers they hated or liked, etc.
The truth is I was looking for a blog topic and I liked this one…I’ll call it:
“You know if you’re from America
...you always want fries with that,
...you’ve taken a road trip that lasted at least three days
...you still like Peter Frampton
...you know who Matt Kemp is
...you remember paying $1.00 a gallon for gas
...you remember Little House on the Prairie
...you know all the words to the Brady Bunch theme song
...you know who Bobby Thompson is
...you know the last year the Dodgers won the World Series
...the Cosby Show was one of your old time favorites
...you love apple pie and Chevys
...you love iPods, i-Pads and everything Apple
...you love bar-b-queing in the back yard
...you appreciate the Kindle, savior of trees and book publishing (OK, not all of you)
...you love duct tape and WD-40 to tie things up or loosen them
...you never get tired of the Geico gecko
...you don’t like Le Bron James anymore
...you love your GPS
...you love James Taylor
...you’ve read To Kill a Mockingbird
...you learned yadda, yadda, yadda on Seinfeld
...you’re a blogger...we’re all writers now, uh-oh!
...you’re one of 44% of people who believe in legalizing marijuana
...you feel patriotic eating a hot dog, especially a Dodger Dog
...you’re one who believes in the pursuit of a really great picnic but seldom have one
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Ah, the Joys of getting older...WHAT???
Years and years ago I remember my father saying to me, "Do you know what the advantages are to getting older?" Expecting pearls of wisdom from the lips of the man who had taught me a few things…
I waited for the answer: "Nothing. There is no advantage to getting older at all”.
End of lesson, grasshopper
And all I’d been doing was waiting to get older.
But I found that they were pearls of wisdom after all.
I waited for the answer: "Nothing. There is no advantage to getting older at all”.
End of lesson, grasshopper
And all I’d been doing was waiting to get older.
But I found that they were pearls of wisdom after all.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
I blog, therefore I am...
There have been some pretty amazing things going on in my life lately and I can make my blog either accurate or interesting, but I can't make it both.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Have you noticed?
The other night Posh and I were having a nice meal in a restaurant dining room that was right next to the bar...a few feet away I could see and hear four young men talking about what they had recently bought at department stores and, oh yeah, all four were drinking lite beers...
At a table a bit farther away I could see four young women shooting tequilas and, oh yeah, three of them had tattoos...
It's different out there now...A lot of things have changed and I hadn't really noticed...
At a table a bit farther away I could see four young women shooting tequilas and, oh yeah, three of them had tattoos...
It's different out there now...A lot of things have changed and I hadn't really noticed...
Monday, August 22, 2011
THINGS I’LL NEVER DO OR NEVER DO AGAIN
• Eat 5 banana splits at one setting…did it in high school to win a $5 bet…
• Outrun my grandkids…no sense in even trying
• Do a cartwheel…never could and never will
• Drink gin…it tastes like juniper berries, which is what it is…crappy…
• Go on a roller coaster…not necessarily afraid of heights but afraid of falling and hitting the ground…
• Try to pogo…tried it once when I was a little kid and thought it was stupid and still do…
• Drive cross country…did it a few times…once when family moved to Calif from Canada and again with my immediate family in a motor home…the second time was great…again is not in the cards,
• Think I don’t need sunblock…a sign of old age
• Drink alcohol with any kind of worm in it…yeah, sure!
• Use mascara to hide the gray in my mustache…everyone knew.
• Wear a leisure suite with flared lapels…I looked cool…everyone was doing it…
• Buy a dictionary or thesaurus…who needs these anymore with computers.
• Buy another set of golf clubs…I’ve purchased 5 sets in my life, all were the latest equipment guaranteed to shave 5 strokes off my game…by now I should be shooting in the 70’s…but I ain’t.
• Play video games…never again…never liked them and my 4 year old grandson beats me all the time; I quit.
• Get a tattoo…yeah, right
• Buy a book…if it ain’t a Kindle I ain’t buying it.
• Play solitaire on the computer…I play Spider Solitaire.
• Buy a time share…you can get one for almost free now.
• Buy new hand tools like hammers, saws…I stopped building stuff…I read.
• Load up my BlackBerry with ring tones, wallpaper, games and stuff…when I go out these days I leave it at home…it feels so good.
• Send a message in a bottle…I live too far from the beach
• Hug a tree…I love them but don’t need to hug ‘em.
• Take a cold shower…never had to and never will.
• Go without food for 5 days…why?
• Go to Thailand…ditto
• Scuba dive…it’s why I play golf where nothing’s gonna bite me.
• Walk the Golden Gate Bridge…too high, too long and too windy.
• Have a body part pierced…would be hard deciding which part.
• Hike the Grand Canyon…dumbest thing I ever heard.
• Para sail…another dumb thing…if God wanted us to fly he would have given us wings.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
WHO KNEW...
There's a new babysitting device available to parents and grandparents...it isn't one that will actually take care of your child or grandchild, but one that will surely please him or her and completely serve a useful function as well...talk about a new green thing...
Give up?
A hint...I now work in my home and am deluged daily with adds, junk mail, envelopes and cheap newspapers that I immediately discard in my trash can...
You should have one because it helps keep our planet green(er)...
It's an electric paper shredder!!!
My youngest grand kids totally love (with my overseeing) to drop papers into this marvelous invention and watch it do its thing...I have to watch the littlest guy so he doesn't click the machine in reverse to see the shreds coming out, or pull the lid off and handle the shredded paper like confetti...well, maybe it's not that great a toy...but the grand kids love me the most and that makes it worthwhile...they like shredding with me better than eating grandma's cookies, at least until they're done shredding...
Give up?
A hint...I now work in my home and am deluged daily with adds, junk mail, envelopes and cheap newspapers that I immediately discard in my trash can...
You should have one because it helps keep our planet green(er)...
It's an electric paper shredder!!!
My youngest grand kids totally love (with my overseeing) to drop papers into this marvelous invention and watch it do its thing...I have to watch the littlest guy so he doesn't click the machine in reverse to see the shreds coming out, or pull the lid off and handle the shredded paper like confetti...well, maybe it's not that great a toy...but the grand kids love me the most and that makes it worthwhile...they like shredding with me better than eating grandma's cookies, at least until they're done shredding...
Monday, August 8, 2011
Golf on Television
Who watches golf on TV ?
Who calls eight friends over and gets a keg of beer and a bottle of Vodka?
Landscape architects, I guess. They sit around the TV, yelling,
"Will you look at that golf path? Pure pea gravel."
Who calls eight friends over and gets a keg of beer and a bottle of Vodka?
Landscape architects, I guess. They sit around the TV, yelling,
"Will you look at that golf path? Pure pea gravel."
Thursday, August 4, 2011
'LOL' ME TO DEATH
I don't know about you but are you tired of seeing LOL on Facebook? I've seen it used too many times, and even in the same sentence...once at the beginning, in the fourth word, in the middle, and at the end...I mean, like, give me a freaken break...say it with words, dumb sh*t...how many times can you really mean you're laughing out loud in a sentence?
You know what else drive me nuts? Facebook one-liners saying "I'm going to breakfast now and it's going to be the greatest day'! REALLY? How often do we all have breakfast and it ain't no freaken big deal...How about telling everyone you just finished eating the best pizza in your life and now you can't decide what you'll have for dessert: a cupcake or a brownie...Really?
Or how about this one...I read it on Facebook a while ago...OK, I DO read Facebook and I post clever, neat and funny stuff on it and I DON'T use LOL...anyhow, I saw one this morning that read "Boohoo...I'm out of French Vanilla coffee creamer...it's gonna be a long day"...really?
How about the geniuses that can't spot that they have the 'Caps Lock' on...do you think they ever read what they just wrote? do you think they have no idea what the backspace button's for? Really freaken clever, eh?
But what I hate even more than all the LOL's are the City Ville requests for virtual crap...what's with people asking for donations to City Ville? I mean, do you have nothing else in the world to do? Do you know how to read? Ever try Goggling something to find out how much you don't know about something? I saw one the other day asking for donations for donuts to feed busy cops! Yup! Really!!!!
Excuse me, but I'm LMMFAO.
You know what else drive me nuts? Facebook one-liners saying "I'm going to breakfast now and it's going to be the greatest day'! REALLY? How often do we all have breakfast and it ain't no freaken big deal...How about telling everyone you just finished eating the best pizza in your life and now you can't decide what you'll have for dessert: a cupcake or a brownie...Really?
Or how about this one...I read it on Facebook a while ago...OK, I DO read Facebook and I post clever, neat and funny stuff on it and I DON'T use LOL...anyhow, I saw one this morning that read "Boohoo...I'm out of French Vanilla coffee creamer...it's gonna be a long day"...really?
How about the geniuses that can't spot that they have the 'Caps Lock' on...do you think they ever read what they just wrote? do you think they have no idea what the backspace button's for? Really freaken clever, eh?
But what I hate even more than all the LOL's are the City Ville requests for virtual crap...what's with people asking for donations to City Ville? I mean, do you have nothing else in the world to do? Do you know how to read? Ever try Goggling something to find out how much you don't know about something? I saw one the other day asking for donations for donuts to feed busy cops! Yup! Really!!!!
Excuse me, but I'm LMMFAO.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Stand by ...
My blogger account went down last week and it's taken me all this time to get it back up...I've been wanting and needing to post but couldn't do it without changing my existing account and coming up with a totally new one with no past history of all the cool and terrific posts I've written...wouldn't want that to happen...right?
now I have to research all my pre-written blogs filed in 'my documents'...there are sooo many it'll be tough to pick one...
now I have to research all my pre-written blogs filed in 'my documents'...there are sooo many it'll be tough to pick one...
Friday, July 15, 2011
It’s It's already July 15… Holy Cow… how time freaken flies…
My morning started off at 6:30 by meeting one of my ex-employees, now a consultant, at Panera in Lake Forest...he's an early bird-guy like me ...he’s one of four consultants who do a lot of work for me... I arrived earlier so I could have coffee, a bear claw, they have the best bear claws, and read a few more chapters of book 2 of the Hunger Games while I inhaled the bear claw.
When he got there I bought him coffee and he wanted a spinach quiche...who ever said real men don’t eat them?
After a brief banter...guys don’t chat...we got down to business reviewing the work he’d done this week and the new work I had designed for him to work on.
This has become a new and nifty way for me to work, having business meetings with semi-employees at Panera, Starbucks or Coco’s instead of conference rooms...I’ve been operating like this for four months and I really like it…and why do I like it? I have no health insurance to buy for these people, no vacations or sick days to pay for...and best of all I buy them breakfasts and lunches all the time and they love it...it costs me very little to operate my business and I have no rent or insurance payments on an office...I should have thought of this years ago.
So I reviewed drawings and sketches, said adios and drove home half a mile away...
I’ve begun loving going to work again.
When he got there I bought him coffee and he wanted a spinach quiche...who ever said real men don’t eat them?
After a brief banter...guys don’t chat...we got down to business reviewing the work he’d done this week and the new work I had designed for him to work on.
This has become a new and nifty way for me to work, having business meetings with semi-employees at Panera, Starbucks or Coco’s instead of conference rooms...I’ve been operating like this for four months and I really like it…and why do I like it? I have no health insurance to buy for these people, no vacations or sick days to pay for...and best of all I buy them breakfasts and lunches all the time and they love it...it costs me very little to operate my business and I have no rent or insurance payments on an office...I should have thought of this years ago.
So I reviewed drawings and sketches, said adios and drove home half a mile away...
I’ve begun loving going to work again.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
I get by with a little help from my grandson...
For years I took my car to the local car wash and I remember walking in to pay but first stopping to browse the 5,000 different kinds of air fresheners and 50,000 other neat things for sale…
Some of my favorites:
• 51% of the price of a dozen air fresheners…such a deal, eh? I remember buying only one once with a colorful rainbow motif; when my daughters saw it hanging on my rear view mirror they told me to get rid of it or hang it off the turn signal so no one would think I was…different…I had no idea what the rainbow stood for...I thought about how often they embarrassed me and I never said a word…
• Half off a ‘classic’ shoe polish box with carrying handle, like I want to carry it to the office, with three different flavors of polish, and buffing brush…
• 25% off a ‘classic’ shoe stand for the closet that could hold 20 pairs of shoes and can be assembled without tools…
• Beautiful pictures of soft leather shoes called Shoe-be-Doo’s, important in allowing mature feet to breathe…that’s exactly what the sign said; hard to forget…the shoes all looked like they were made for Italian tap dancers…
Friday Freebies:
1. A card section with special offers like 100 free B & W business cards from Staples with the offer expiring on Saturday…
2. A free Crest toothpaste kit from Oprah’s TV network when you filled out a survey after watching her show but you had to be a woman…
3. Buy one waffle and get one free at the Waffle Shoppe with coupon expiring Saturday…
• A nice section of paperback books that always caught my attention; including John Grisham, Harry Potter and a classic section of books by famous dead authors like Alexander Dumas (The Count of Monte Christo), the Bronte Sisters, Robert Lewis Stevenson and Herman Melville.
• A deserted shoe shine stand was on the wall next to the check out counter…I’ve been there dozens of times but I’ve never seen the shoe shine guy…I thought a few times about getting a Bronte Sister book to browse on the stand until my car was done, but I never did. Now I’m too cheap to buy a car wash and I do a better job and it’s more fun when I wash it in my driveway with my 4 year old grandson Elijah. When we're done washing we sit in the back of the car (SUV) and eat cookies, drink milk and read our books...
Some of my favorites:
• 51% of the price of a dozen air fresheners…such a deal, eh? I remember buying only one once with a colorful rainbow motif; when my daughters saw it hanging on my rear view mirror they told me to get rid of it or hang it off the turn signal so no one would think I was…different…I had no idea what the rainbow stood for...I thought about how often they embarrassed me and I never said a word…
• Half off a ‘classic’ shoe polish box with carrying handle, like I want to carry it to the office, with three different flavors of polish, and buffing brush…
• 25% off a ‘classic’ shoe stand for the closet that could hold 20 pairs of shoes and can be assembled without tools…
• Beautiful pictures of soft leather shoes called Shoe-be-Doo’s, important in allowing mature feet to breathe…that’s exactly what the sign said; hard to forget…the shoes all looked like they were made for Italian tap dancers…
Friday Freebies:
1. A card section with special offers like 100 free B & W business cards from Staples with the offer expiring on Saturday…
2. A free Crest toothpaste kit from Oprah’s TV network when you filled out a survey after watching her show but you had to be a woman…
3. Buy one waffle and get one free at the Waffle Shoppe with coupon expiring Saturday…
• A nice section of paperback books that always caught my attention; including John Grisham, Harry Potter and a classic section of books by famous dead authors like Alexander Dumas (The Count of Monte Christo), the Bronte Sisters, Robert Lewis Stevenson and Herman Melville.
• A deserted shoe shine stand was on the wall next to the check out counter…I’ve been there dozens of times but I’ve never seen the shoe shine guy…I thought a few times about getting a Bronte Sister book to browse on the stand until my car was done, but I never did. Now I’m too cheap to buy a car wash and I do a better job and it’s more fun when I wash it in my driveway with my 4 year old grandson Elijah. When we're done washing we sit in the back of the car (SUV) and eat cookies, drink milk and read our books...
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Sunny in Palm Springs...
My three grand daughters are avid readers...the oldest, Allison is 28; Sunny, the middle one is 11 years old...the youngest of the three, Thea,is 9 and lives in San Mateo and I know she reads a lot but I don't communicate with her like I do the other two...I more than frequently text both Sunny and Allison and below is an excerpt from Sunny's most recent text to me. Last week her family moved to Palm Springs and we've been texting every day since she left... She has an i-Pad with a downloaded Kindle app and loves it...and I love her for loving it...
Allison loaned me the first book (a hard copy) of the Hunger Games trilogy and after reading it I in turn loaned it to Sunny...after she finished it Sunny could hardly wait to get the Kindle editions of book two and three; and she did.
Saturday afternoon I texted her inquiring if she was finished reading the
third book and this is what she texted back to me a few minutes later:
"Papa, I've been reading every minute since I downloaded it yesterday at Starbucks across the street from our new apartment and I'm almost done...I'm on page 377 of 396...aaahhhh...I don't want to finish it.........OH POO! aaahhhhahahahahahahhhh I finished it..oh my Lord it is so friggin amazing...aaahhhh the ending is so intense I'm tearing up and I'm going to scream...it's not sad...it's just so intense...like seriously, the last 10 words are so intense...READ IT NOW!!!!"
Allison loaned me the first book (a hard copy) of the Hunger Games trilogy and after reading it I in turn loaned it to Sunny...after she finished it Sunny could hardly wait to get the Kindle editions of book two and three; and she did.
Saturday afternoon I texted her inquiring if she was finished reading the
third book and this is what she texted back to me a few minutes later:
"Papa, I've been reading every minute since I downloaded it yesterday at Starbucks across the street from our new apartment and I'm almost done...I'm on page 377 of 396...aaahhhh...I don't want to finish it.........OH POO! aaahhhhahahahahahahhhh I finished it..oh my Lord it is so friggin amazing...aaahhhh the ending is so intense I'm tearing up and I'm going to scream...it's not sad...it's just so intense...like seriously, the last 10 words are so intense...READ IT NOW!!!!"
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Not just another fish story...
Yesterday was the first day in a year and a half I didn’t spend time pretending to catch fish, cleaning, gutting and cooking them with shrimp, clams, vegetables and whatever happened to be in our refrigerator that would taste good in our pseudo-bouillabaisse soup. In the past I could almost taste the fish, shrimp and clams as we sipped the soup and dunked French bread. Occasionally my assistant cook (I forgot what they’re called on cooking shows) would toss in a handful of hot pepper and he’d laugh his head off when I burnt my tongue and had difficulty speaking for a few minutes. The assistant cook would then hand me a giant glass of water to cool my taste buds off.
The little guy moved to Palm Springs earlier this week with his Mom, Dad and big sister Sunny. Almost every morning Elijah would come to my room and take me to the walk-in closet, turn off the light because how could we pretend to be deep sea fishing if we were looking at shirts and shoes instead of clouds and waves. One of the first things he’d do is hand out fishing poles; a macho big one for him and what he would call a Barbie-girl pole for me…the little guy has a sense of humor.
We’d bait our lines and cast our poles out, and naturally he casted the farthest…he’d get a nibble or two then reel in what he called ‘a big sucker’.
We’re going to Palm Springs in a few weeks and I already know that he has a walk-in closet in his bedroom…I’m packing my gear and we’ll have a blast… I’m bringing candy bars and Popsicles so we don’t have to eat dumb-ass fish again.
The little guy moved to Palm Springs earlier this week with his Mom, Dad and big sister Sunny. Almost every morning Elijah would come to my room and take me to the walk-in closet, turn off the light because how could we pretend to be deep sea fishing if we were looking at shirts and shoes instead of clouds and waves. One of the first things he’d do is hand out fishing poles; a macho big one for him and what he would call a Barbie-girl pole for me…the little guy has a sense of humor.
We’d bait our lines and cast our poles out, and naturally he casted the farthest…he’d get a nibble or two then reel in what he called ‘a big sucker’.
We’re going to Palm Springs in a few weeks and I already know that he has a walk-in closet in his bedroom…I’m packing my gear and we’ll have a blast… I’m bringing candy bars and Popsicles so we don’t have to eat dumb-ass fish again.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Cool and wet and good...
I've been burned in the past by hot temperatures in Palm Desert and Palm Springs when we were supervising construction of projects back in 2004 up to 2007...but I have never, ever been in temperatures in the 120's; unless the thermometer in my car is off and it ain't, I saw 128 in the car around 3 in the afternoon...so, what did I do to keep the car cooler? I drove around the apartment project to a dark and shady corner of the site where we had helped move Sarah and her family...I ran back at a blistering hot speed to the apartment knowing it would be worth it when we got back in the car in a few hours.
When we first drove into Palm Desert on Hi-way 111 yesterday morning everything looked hot and dusty...and it was hot and dusty, hot? like it was hot in the car with the AC turned on to max...when we drove thru the center of town it was noticeably semi-vacant...only a few old-folks with umbrellas going to Starbucks for iced lattes...young people were nowhere to be seen...I wondered where they could be...working? maybe, but maybe none of them lived around here...yeah, that was probably it...
We spent several hours emptying the U-Haul truck of a household full of stuff...we got hungry as might be expected and thirsty...we drank water all day and I was elected to go on a food run...I literally ran to my car...well, not at full speed trying to get out of the sun as soon as I could, and finally made as I clicked it unlocked...
Surprise, surprise...I turned the motor on and looked down at a 113 degree reading on the dial...113 in the shade...Holy Hell is what it was...
Looking back and from now on when we visit Sarah (it will be winter) no...we won't even look at the temp gauge...it will be cooler not knowing how hot it is...you know what I mean?
But in the end helping Sarah get into a new home was quite satisfying and the apartment happens to be only one block from her Native Foods store she'll be managing...life will be good...oh yeah, did I mention her apartment has 4 pool and jacuzzi areas and her unit has one at the foot of the stairs to her front door...life might be hot but it will be cool and wet and good too...
When we first drove into Palm Desert on Hi-way 111 yesterday morning everything looked hot and dusty...and it was hot and dusty, hot? like it was hot in the car with the AC turned on to max...when we drove thru the center of town it was noticeably semi-vacant...only a few old-folks with umbrellas going to Starbucks for iced lattes...young people were nowhere to be seen...I wondered where they could be...working? maybe, but maybe none of them lived around here...yeah, that was probably it...
We spent several hours emptying the U-Haul truck of a household full of stuff...we got hungry as might be expected and thirsty...we drank water all day and I was elected to go on a food run...I literally ran to my car...well, not at full speed trying to get out of the sun as soon as I could, and finally made as I clicked it unlocked...
Surprise, surprise...I turned the motor on and looked down at a 113 degree reading on the dial...113 in the shade...Holy Hell is what it was...
Looking back and from now on when we visit Sarah (it will be winter) no...we won't even look at the temp gauge...it will be cooler not knowing how hot it is...you know what I mean?
But in the end helping Sarah get into a new home was quite satisfying and the apartment happens to be only one block from her Native Foods store she'll be managing...life will be good...oh yeah, did I mention her apartment has 4 pool and jacuzzi areas and her unit has one at the foot of the stairs to her front door...life might be hot but it will be cool and wet and good too...
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Follow the reader…
A few days after she bought an i-Pad (with her own money) our grand daughter Sunny down loaded, for free, the Kindle app for it…and then for $7.00 she bought the second book of The Hunger Games trilogy and began reading it on her new electro gadget… she had just finished reading the first book her cousin Allison Hibbard had loaned her: a real book with paper pages and she couldn’t hardly wait to start reading Catching Fire, the next installment on Kindle like she’d seen me doing for weeks. The 11 year old has hardly stopped reading.
The school year ends today and it's sad she hasn’t read too much at home for the past few days because she’s been busy after school and on the phone saying goodbye to her friends…and even sadder, Aliso School is closing down permanently and Sunny’s classmates will be going to one of three schools next semester; the saddest is that Sunny’s family is moving to the Desert next week where she’ll be attending 6th grade Middle school in September. We’ve spent a lot of time together and I will totally miss my reading companion. We've promised each other to do a lot of e-mailing.
The school year ends today and it's sad she hasn’t read too much at home for the past few days because she’s been busy after school and on the phone saying goodbye to her friends…and even sadder, Aliso School is closing down permanently and Sunny’s classmates will be going to one of three schools next semester; the saddest is that Sunny’s family is moving to the Desert next week where she’ll be attending 6th grade Middle school in September. We’ve spent a lot of time together and I will totally miss my reading companion. We've promised each other to do a lot of e-mailing.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
walking to work…
A few months ago I opened up a branch office in Lake Fores intending to stay home a day or two per week to save a few bucks on gas, and have a home office like millions of people in America. And I loved it.
Even though all my employees are now outside consultants who draw our company plans on AutoCAD I still design by hand with ink pens, magic markers on trace paper and vellum…many of the newer and younger project manager clients I have have hardly seen plans drawn by hand…they’re used to seeing computer-drawn exhibits that don’t have a very good conceptual or preliminary design appearance…most of these new people love to hold, roll up and feel the plans…it’s good to be an old timer sometimes… after my clients approve the designs I meet my ‘employees’ at Starbucks so they can begin transferring the plans to computer.
We’ve had two storage places ever since we sold our five bedroom home.The kids moved away and came back and moved away again and came back again…some came back then went away to college or got married…one traveled to Europe and came back…we sold the house when the last one left…I thought about not telling them where we were going to be living but I was out-voted by the mother…
we moved into a two bedroom mobile home in a great location, with lakes and ponds and a tennis court right across the street near a community club house with a swimming pool where I take the grand kids to swim on weekends…I Jacuzzi on weekdays… some of our daughters had a hard time with us living in this senior community…they think of us as trailer-trash. After all I've done for them.
I’ve been going to the storage place once or twice a week to pick up things that I need but often bring them back the next day because my office space is our master bedroom with a bed and dresser, and a drawing board with a computer and printer on it… there’s a TV in there too so I can draw plans, watch golf and baseball games and write proposals, send and receive e-mails, and Google a lot of stuff…it’s a good place to do a lot of reading (have I mentioned I have a Kindle now?) while most of the family watches the 56 inch TV in the living room…Mine’s a 21 inch TV that works quite well from three feet away.
I love my new work space, but I don’t like sitting in the room all day, so as the new office janitor I do a little vacuuming, and then yard work or washing the car…
hopefully the economy will pick up soon but I am not going back to Riverside…working here for the past few months has been encouraging… there’s plenty of office space available now within a mile or two…I’ll be able to come home for lunch to keep making my wife nuts like I’m doing now. I’ll find a place close enough to bicycle to work or, wouldn’t it be nice, to really walk to work?
Even though all my employees are now outside consultants who draw our company plans on AutoCAD I still design by hand with ink pens, magic markers on trace paper and vellum…many of the newer and younger project manager clients I have have hardly seen plans drawn by hand…they’re used to seeing computer-drawn exhibits that don’t have a very good conceptual or preliminary design appearance…most of these new people love to hold, roll up and feel the plans…it’s good to be an old timer sometimes… after my clients approve the designs I meet my ‘employees’ at Starbucks so they can begin transferring the plans to computer.
We’ve had two storage places ever since we sold our five bedroom home.The kids moved away and came back and moved away again and came back again…some came back then went away to college or got married…one traveled to Europe and came back…we sold the house when the last one left…I thought about not telling them where we were going to be living but I was out-voted by the mother…
we moved into a two bedroom mobile home in a great location, with lakes and ponds and a tennis court right across the street near a community club house with a swimming pool where I take the grand kids to swim on weekends…I Jacuzzi on weekdays… some of our daughters had a hard time with us living in this senior community…they think of us as trailer-trash. After all I've done for them.
I’ve been going to the storage place once or twice a week to pick up things that I need but often bring them back the next day because my office space is our master bedroom with a bed and dresser, and a drawing board with a computer and printer on it… there’s a TV in there too so I can draw plans, watch golf and baseball games and write proposals, send and receive e-mails, and Google a lot of stuff…it’s a good place to do a lot of reading (have I mentioned I have a Kindle now?) while most of the family watches the 56 inch TV in the living room…Mine’s a 21 inch TV that works quite well from three feet away.
I love my new work space, but I don’t like sitting in the room all day, so as the new office janitor I do a little vacuuming, and then yard work or washing the car…
hopefully the economy will pick up soon but I am not going back to Riverside…working here for the past few months has been encouraging… there’s plenty of office space available now within a mile or two…I’ll be able to come home for lunch to keep making my wife nuts like I’m doing now. I’ll find a place close enough to bicycle to work or, wouldn’t it be nice, to really walk to work?
Friday, June 3, 2011
King and Kindle---Kool
I have to wrap up what I started yesterday...that Kindle Post about Stephen King's novel, UR...this morning I woke up very early, made some coffee and sat down to begin reading the book I downloaded from the sky yesterday...It wasn't my first Kindle read; that was John Grisham's The Confession; but it was one of the best in a long time...well, not that my other reads were not fun, but Stephen King is an author that makes it difficult to stop reading...
This story is totally vintage Stephen King even tho he spent a good part of the story explaining how the Kindle works, what it can and can't do; I learned a few things about my Kindle like having the thing read aloud to me, which I didn't try to do because I've always hated anyone reading to me...and I don't mean I hated the reader, and I will never, ever turn the feature on, unless I develop blindness in which case I will call Dr. Kevorkian, oh wait, he died yesterday, so I'll have to shoot myself...
The story is about how a college professor orders a Kindle and how he learns to use it... he discovers some unusual features in his that King has a way of doing in his stories...but that's another story...by the way, this one's way too short...I read for about two hours before the family got up, three cups of coffee later I had to stop reading and, er, go to a job site...we'll be starting a new project next week and I needed to take a few photos of the site before we begin designing...I thought about bringing my Kindle along and stopping for lunch at Denny's to read, but I thought it best to get back home to eat and save a few bucks...
It was late this afternoon when I got back to finishing the book and it only took me a few more hours to do it...I wasn't the most fatherly or grandfatherly guy today because I was too impressed with my Kindle and the story...I think King must have adored his Kindle and wrote the story as a love letter...
It's one of the best $2.99's I've spent lately...
This story is totally vintage Stephen King even tho he spent a good part of the story explaining how the Kindle works, what it can and can't do; I learned a few things about my Kindle like having the thing read aloud to me, which I didn't try to do because I've always hated anyone reading to me...and I don't mean I hated the reader, and I will never, ever turn the feature on, unless I develop blindness in which case I will call Dr. Kevorkian, oh wait, he died yesterday, so I'll have to shoot myself...
The story is about how a college professor orders a Kindle and how he learns to use it... he discovers some unusual features in his that King has a way of doing in his stories...but that's another story...by the way, this one's way too short...I read for about two hours before the family got up, three cups of coffee later I had to stop reading and, er, go to a job site...we'll be starting a new project next week and I needed to take a few photos of the site before we begin designing...I thought about bringing my Kindle along and stopping for lunch at Denny's to read, but I thought it best to get back home to eat and save a few bucks...
It was late this afternoon when I got back to finishing the book and it only took me a few more hours to do it...I wasn't the most fatherly or grandfatherly guy today because I was too impressed with my Kindle and the story...I think King must have adored his Kindle and wrote the story as a love letter...
It's one of the best $2.99's I've spent lately...
Thursday, June 2, 2011
"THE KING STILL RULES."
Ever since I received a Kindle for my birthday I’ve been buying book after book on Amazon.com, with literally hundreds of books available for free or very little.
Stephen King has graced us kindle owners with a bit of surprise.
He writes: “You invested/wasted $2.99 on about 4 hours of reading time. You did NOT invest/waste $5 on a movie at the theater. You did NOT get in your car. And therefore you were NOT killed in a fiery crash with a drunk. You are now in a different Ur and have 20 or 50 more years to invest/waste.”
This is the message from this first E-book on a fictional E-book.
Following is a compilation of reviews for his novel UR:
After a mild mannered college professor orders a Kindle, he is met with a pink Kindle that downloads books not only from Amazon.com, but from Urs. Each of the more than 10 million Urs seem to represent a different reality where authors have written different books. "UR" -- is slightly odd shorthand for "universe" -- a delightful little gem that is King's welcome to E-books, with his own patented way of turning an object into a source of fantasy or terror. It's also his take on the parallel worlds idea that advances that there is an infinite number of universes. One version is that every action splits off THIS universe into the next one. Ever wanted to read the unpublished Hemingway book, or six Poe novels?
Reviews, continued:
I read in bed at night, and I thought, hmm...I'm reading a book about a man who bought a Kindle on my Kindle! How strange is that? I'd call it a long short story and not the best one King has written; however, the enjoyment came from the novelty and King's always magical plots involving human beings in all their diversity. I loved it.
It's not very long, and it's a tightly written tale that will have you looking very carefully at your Kindle's "Experimental" menu.
I downloaded this book today and it arrived wirelessly in less than 30 seconds. Every day or two I get free or almost free books on Amazon.com. In a little over a month I’ve acquired 22 books…The Kindle will hold thousands, or at least hundreds; I have to find out one of these days…I like being able to carry several books with me …I never know when I might get tired of reading a certain book and want to switch to a Sherlock Holmes or a Mark Twain short story…I haven’t read this one yet but I thought for kindle readers and Stephen King lovers you should know about it.
Stephen King has graced us kindle owners with a bit of surprise.
He writes: “You invested/wasted $2.99 on about 4 hours of reading time. You did NOT invest/waste $5 on a movie at the theater. You did NOT get in your car. And therefore you were NOT killed in a fiery crash with a drunk. You are now in a different Ur and have 20 or 50 more years to invest/waste.”
This is the message from this first E-book on a fictional E-book.
Following is a compilation of reviews for his novel UR:
After a mild mannered college professor orders a Kindle, he is met with a pink Kindle that downloads books not only from Amazon.com, but from Urs. Each of the more than 10 million Urs seem to represent a different reality where authors have written different books. "UR" -- is slightly odd shorthand for "universe" -- a delightful little gem that is King's welcome to E-books, with his own patented way of turning an object into a source of fantasy or terror. It's also his take on the parallel worlds idea that advances that there is an infinite number of universes. One version is that every action splits off THIS universe into the next one. Ever wanted to read the unpublished Hemingway book, or six Poe novels?
Reviews, continued:
I read in bed at night, and I thought, hmm...I'm reading a book about a man who bought a Kindle on my Kindle! How strange is that? I'd call it a long short story and not the best one King has written; however, the enjoyment came from the novelty and King's always magical plots involving human beings in all their diversity. I loved it.
It's not very long, and it's a tightly written tale that will have you looking very carefully at your Kindle's "Experimental" menu.
I downloaded this book today and it arrived wirelessly in less than 30 seconds. Every day or two I get free or almost free books on Amazon.com. In a little over a month I’ve acquired 22 books…The Kindle will hold thousands, or at least hundreds; I have to find out one of these days…I like being able to carry several books with me …I never know when I might get tired of reading a certain book and want to switch to a Sherlock Holmes or a Mark Twain short story…I haven’t read this one yet but I thought for kindle readers and Stephen King lovers you should know about it.
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