October 2006

Sunday 01- Welcome to the month of October- did my exercises- one of my L16 batteries has died and had to run the generator till I can jury-rig something with another battery- called my Dad and Stepmother to see how their doing- messed around the house fixing things and cleaning- called Jerry and Barb and yapped for a while- Ron D. called and we talked about going to the Wild West Coyote Fest Friday, October 6th - 4pm-10pm Saturday, October 7th - 10am-10pm in JT next Saturday. He also told me about a Guitar shop in JT where he got his guitar fixed and that the owner will have an open stage where folks can play their stuff, -also they have training for school kids; instruments laying about that the kids can pickup and try out with instructors near by to demonstrate how to use them- couldn’t spend much time on the computer cause of my battery problem- went for my evening walk- watched “Mystery” on PBS- too cloudy out for the telescope so I just watched the night sky with my binoculars.
Monday 02- did my exercises- connected a car battery as a jury-rig to my electrical system until I can get to town to get a replacement for the L16, may try golf cart batteries- went for my evening walk- Kath came by with her laptop to fix and her desktop to tweak- Andrew came by to try a new computer device and then we took out the telescope and turned it on the Moon.
Tuesday 03- did my exercises- drove to Yucca and stopped off at Ace Alternators to picked up two golf cart batteries to replace the bad ones. While I was in town I picked up a few supplies at Wal-Mart, Staters, Health Store in JT (I like the gals there), and filled the truck with gas- installed the new batteries and everything seems fine- worked on Kath’s laptop and installed 128 meg of RAM memory I had laying about. I also installed some security programs and did a cleanup of the harddrive- went for my evening walk- Mac called to jaw for a bit-watched “NOVA”- wrote my column and sent it to newspaper.
Wednesday 04- did my stretches- worked on Kath’s desktop and “tweaked” it, then I spent some time on her laptop trying to figure out why AOL died after it updated it’s self and caused system.ini to malfunction on boot. She plans to dump AOL anyways and I will be glad to uninstall it for her- went for my evening walk- Roger T. called to say hi- went over to John M.’s home o help him with his word processor- watched “Bones” on TV- been too hazy the past few days for the telescope so I played with my computers.
Thursday 05- did my stretches- worked around the hose cleaning it up- went for my evening walk- Kath came by and picked up her laptop- called Stoney and jawed for a few- watched “CSI” on TV- Andrew called and we chatted for a long while- updated the website and uploaded it to the internet.
Friday 06- did my exercises- cleaned up around the house some more- almost done reading that biology book I started earlier in the year- UPS delivered an unexpected package from my Dad and Stepmother: a box of shirts. I will call and thank them on Sunday- went for my evening walk- Stoney called and invited me over for dinner. I brought over a computer to replace the old one he has but I couldn’t get it to function properly once I had it all setup. So I had to reconnect his old one back up, the modem and then the monitor wouldn’t work so I spent more time getting those to work. I spent 3 hours working just to leave it the same way as I found it, but the biscuits and gravy were excellent- watched “Numbers” on TV.
Saturday 07- did my exercises- Dale from Landers called to jaw for a bit- still cleaning around the house throwing out old stuff that I don’t need - Andrew called and needed help hanging a garage door so I went on over to help him- went for my evening walk- watched TV program on PBS: Rosemary and Thyme- Ron and Linda D. called to say howdy and that Ron’s back has been giving him much pain- Mike from Hermosa called to yap for a while- nice day but the nights are starting to really cool down.
Sunday 08- did my stretches- went through some old papers I have saved and trashed those I didn’t need anymore- read another chapter of that biology book I love so well, yeah right, it puts me to sleep in the middle of the day- went for my evening walk- watched “Nature” on PBS- installed Kubuntu 6.06 on my laptop.
Monday 09- did my exercises, and on my bike ride visited my neighbor Ron M. who happened to be outside his home as I rode by- worked in the yard cleaning things up- Andrew came by for a bit and went with me on my evening walk- loaded up Ubuntu my laptop. Now I have 3 operating systems on it.
Tuesday 10- did my exercises- I went up to Indian Cove with Linda Sibio; we hiked around and took some really nice pictures of boulders, while we hunted for a waterfall that Linda said was there. Linda is putting together an exhibit of 20 Polaroid pictures with twelve other artists and one of her pictures is water falling into a pond. We never did find the waterfall but had a great time looking for it. We finally ended up at the 29 Palms Inn and Linda took the picture of the pond there as I poured water from a container into it. Afterwards we stopped off at the Sun Runner for Linda to give her condolences to Steve- went for my evening walk- Joel came by with burgers and donuts, yumm- Andrew called needed help moving a van (he had cookies)- wrote column and sent it into the newspaper.
Wednesday 11- did my stretches- got the first coat of paint on the wall in the utility room done- I forgot to tell you that I have finished that dreaded “Biology The Easy Way” book that wasn’t, and has put me to sleep so often. I have now started on a “Geology” book that seems more interesting to me (I didn’t fall to sleep yet)- went for my evening walk- went to Andrew’s and took some pictures of his house with my camera that he wanted. We couldn’t get them transferred to his laptop so I’ll email them to him later on- called and jawed with Stoney for a while about how “Bingo Tuesdays” went this week; about 15 folks showed up and no big prizes won- finally got a hold of Kath to come and pick up her computer tomorrow- no “Bones” on tonight so messed around with the computers the rest of the night updating stuff, emailing pictures, and catching up on some blogs I read. INTEL “finally” has a blog and I replied to a post there; hope I didn't screw that up.
Thursday 12- did my exercises- washed clothes- did weekend update for the website- did a bunch of reading- went for my evening walk- watched "CSI" on TV- Kath finally came by to collect her computer.
Friday 13- did my exercises- sent out CopperMountainMesa Newsletters- cleaned around the place getting things ready for a rain we might get tonight; very quiet day- went for my evening walk- read a few chapters on the subjects I am studying- watched “Numbers” on TV.
Saturday 14- did my stretches and went for a long run- around noon it started to sprinkle some and then it started a light rain about 2pm- I worked on the computer updating and cleaning out some old files, and read some on my subjects I’m studying- got out my old rain coat and went for my evening walk and ran into a tortoise that was ambling along the back roads that I walk. I said hi to him and kept on walking so I wouldn’t disturb him. I didn’t take my camera today cause of the rain so there was no pics of Mr. Tortoise- Joel brought by some spaghetti that was mighty good- Billy called from Redondo Beach to say hi and she sounds much better than the last time I talked to her- talked to Kath about cats for an hour- watched TV program on PBS: Rosemary and Thyme- Mike from Hermosa called and we chatted for a while and I sent him two of my original songs that I wrote and recorded.
Sunday 15- did my stretches- worked on the computer setting up a PDA and downloading some updates for it- called my friend Kula in Palos Verdes and chatted about her wedding that she is having in November- took my trusty scooter for a spin to visit Chuck. He told me that he is running for the Copper Mountain Mesa board of directors this November and he is also going to cook hot dogs at the General meeting. I then drove on to visit Jerry and Barb. I was greeted at the gate by their yapping dogs and big old Bear gave me a lick and a hug. We jawed for a few and I had to leave before it got dark so I could take my walk. On the way home I got a flat right by Chuck’s house. We tried to put air in but the tube was shot. We lifted the scooter into Chuck’s truck and they took me to my home where I rolled my trusty scooter into the front yard where it will sit till I patch the tube- made me some pancakes- went for my evening walk- Mac called and we talked about chocolate cake- watched “60 Minutes”- will try to catch up on some of my reading tonight- got out my old Dell Latitude XPI Laptop and with DOS went online.
Monday 16- did my exercises- Chuck came by and I gave him a tour of my home- Stoney dropped off some canned goods- drove on over to Ron D’s home for a visit, his back is doing much better, and he gave me some Thai food to take home with me- went for my evening walk- did a bunch of reading- was surfing the web on my Toshiba Laptop when all of a sudden my screen went dead! The backlight was lit but there was no display. I hooked it up to an external LCD monitor and it displayed just fine. It was 3am and I was getting tired, so I will try to repair it in the morning.
Tuesday 17- did my exercises- Kula called from O’Hare Airport in Chicago on her way to see her mother in Iowa where the land is flat and they eat a lot of corn- went online to see if I could find how to fix the problem with my laptop’s display. Found what I was looking for and dismantled my laptop, fixed the problem, put it all back together, and now it works fine (had me scared there for a while)- Ron and Linda dropped over to say hi- went for my evening walk- watched “Nova” on PBS- wrote column and sent it to the news paper- been too dang windy the last few days to get the telescope out, so I just did some reading.
Wednesday 18- did my exercises- worked on my solar panels and raised them to an angle of about 35 degrees to the sun- saw some really big jets fly over my house and rushed inside and grabbed my camera and fumbled with it to get a picture of them before the passed by- went for my evening walk- called John M. and jawed for a bit- Andrew call and asked if I would like to come on over cause he is having a barrel fire outside and has cookies. So we spent around 3 hours sitting by the barrel putting wood on it, we had a nice blaze going, and jawed and ate cookies.
Thursday 19- did my stretches- went to town for supplies. Went to Wal-Mart and ran into Ron and Linda D., they were buying me a plant for my front yard (very nice of them). Went to Staters, filled up the truck with gas, and then on to the health food store in JT but the gals I like weren’t there- Ron D. called and needed help installing the DVD he purchased at Wal-Mart and needed some chicken wire (and I have plenty leftover from the stuccoing). We had the DVD player up and running in no time and they gave me a snack to take home with me- went for my evening walk- watched “CSI” on CBS- the rest of the night I just surfed the web.
Friday 20- did my exercises- updated website and sent email Newsletter out- went on the roof and did some more work aligning the solar panels for optimum performance- went for my evening walk- Mac called and jawed for a while- watched “Numbers” on CBS.
Saturday 21- did my stretches and went for a 3-mile jog- Ron D called and invited me over for a visit. While I was there Seimi came by with an Emachine computer for me to look at. It looked in pretty fair condition that he got from a friend in Hemet Ca. but wasn’t working. I took it home with me and started to check it out and found that the problem was intermittent with no video (the worst kind to track down). I tried replacing the RAM; I tried a different power supply. Sometimes it would start but most times not. Will try again tomorrow- Seimi came by with a big concrete bowl for the outside of my home- went for my evening walk- did some reading most of the night.
Sunday 22- did my stretches- called my Dad and had a nice chat- Ron D called and I told him that I was working on Seimi’s computer and what ever I tried wouldn’t work. He invited me over and had some food for me. We jawed for a while- went for my evening walk- went back to work on Seimi’s computer and did a “Hail Mary” on it and cleared the BIOS by moving the pins to reset it. The dang thing rebooted and I was able to get into setup and change a few settings. I got into XP and loaded up Avast anti-virus program and had it do a system scan on reboot; it found Blaster (a worm) and I had it delete it. I removed and deleted all the old users and their files. Also uninstalled AOL and a few other programs. Went into MSCONFIG and removed a bunch of programs at the startup file. Replaced the CD ROM that wasn’t working with another. Installed Sygate (a firewall) and went online. Went into services and disabled MS Messenger cause it kept popping up with adware. It has been working after many reboots and I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Tomorrow I will install XP service pack 2. That is how I spent my evening.
Monday 23- did my stretches and lifted weights- worked on Seimi’s computer: installed XP service pack 2, did a system cleanup, did a defrag, and called Seimi and told him his computer is ready- dug a hole for the cement pond that Seimi gave me and put some rocks around it, then I filled it with water. Looks really nice, even the Cat drank out of it- updated Joel’s “Iron Eyes Cody Environmental Statue” website for him- went for my evening walk- recorded the song I wrote “LWFAW” and put it on the computer. Maybe I’ll send it to Kula and see what she thinks of it- read some more of those books that I have on my list to read as a substitute for watching TV. Maybe I’ll learn something instead of being a creature of the tube!
Tuesday 24- did my exercises- wrote my column and sent it into the High Desert Star newspaper- called Barb and Jerry and told them I wrote about that gravesite they had found and will email them a copy- Seimi called and said he was home and I could bring the computer over. I told him I would after my evening walk- went for my evening walk- took everything I thought I needed over to Seimi’s and hooked it up, but the keyboard didn’t work. I figured that it must me the USB mouse that Seimi provided that I didn’t use when I fixed the computer and is the only thing different. So I drove back to my house and picked up a mouse I had and went back and plugged it in and the keyboard works now. Before I left I showed him the bare basics and he caught on very quickly- watched “Nova” on PBS. It was about magnetic pole reversals and was very interesting.
Wednesday 25- did my exercises- worked around the house fixing miscellaneous little things that needed repairs- started feeling ill so I took my evening walk early and when I got back I went to bed with the cold chills and a throbbing headache- Andrew called sometime later that night and we talked for a while.
Thursday 26- I am feeling much better today. Whatever it was I caught, it hit really bad and laid me down hard; has gone but left me feeling mighty weak- did my stretches- Andrew came by for a visit- Jerry and Barb called me about the column I wrote and said it was very good- worked on the truck some- worked on the website getting it ready for the weekend update- Joel came by with some donuts- Raymond came by for a spell and I gave him an old TV I had that I don’t use anymore- went for my evening walk- Stoney called and we talked about getting him a new computer- after hearing that I was sick Joel came by with some chicken soup which was mighty nice of him- called Andrew and jawed for a bit.
Friday 27- did my stretches and ran a mile- did some work on my computers: the monthly disk cleanup, and defrag- Ron and Linda D. called and I went over there and helped pickup a mattress and move a bed into their yard. They asked me if I had heard the gunfire and helicopters last night, I didn’t, and they told me what they knew. I had also heard more later on from other folks and what I heard on the TV news. I’ll try to piece it together for you: Some time maybe around 10pm Thursday night, Adam Lopez shot out some windows where he resides in Copper Mountain Mesa. Officer Adrian Garcia responded to a domestic disturbance and was fired upon by Adam with a shotgun and Officer Garcia returned fire. Officer Garcia was hit in the hand and the patrol car’s antenna was blasted away. Adam then fled with his girlfriend Tonya Campbell. Wounded and no way to call for help Officer Garcia made his way over to Lee and Marcie Hines home where he received first aid from Marcie and was able to place a call for backup. They brought in a helicopter to help in the search. Adam and Tonya were still on the loose until later on Friday when they gave themselves up to authorities. I saw the pictures of Adam and Tonya on TV and they looked a whole lot different than when I knew them five years ago. Just a dang sorry mess for our little community, because I believe we as a community are better than this- went on my evening walk- watched “Numbers” on CBS.
Saturday 28- did my exercises- messed around the house and did some reading- called Stoney and told him I am bringing my Dell 2350 XP desktop computer over for him to use until he makes up his mind to get a new one or not. Spent the afternoon at his house updating it and setting it up for him to use- went for my evening walk- watched TV program on PBS: Rosemary and Thyme- took out the old telescope and trained it on the setting Moon in its first quarter as its massive body slid pass the southwest horizon of little houses, trees, and power lines. Very impressive!
Sunday 29- did my stretches- called my Dad and yapped for a while- did some reading and then went over to Stoney’s and finished up loading his files and showing him how to use a few things online- called Barb and Jerry and jawed a few- went for my evening walk- Joel dropped by with some cake he’d baked; was good too- read some more finishing up the book “DOS for Dummies” and then messed around with the computers.
Monday 30- did my exercises except for the bike ride- called Lee and Marcie about what happened last Thursday night so I can put it in my column. Lee was having some minor problems with his computer, so I went over to his house and pay them a visit- Andrew came by for a while to use the internet and afterward we went for an evening walk- called and yapped with Mac for a spell- called and howl with Roger T. for a few- Joel came by with a big old “In and Out” hamburger with fries and we worked on his website- did a bunch more reading.
Tuesday 31- did my exercises- Stuart came by with a notice to put into the paper that the Community Center is opening an extension to the Thrift Store in an unused building on the property. It will be open from 12-5pm on Saturdays and also during Center activities for sales and donations- spent the rest of the day reading- went for my evening walk- me and Stoney’s son Jimmy finally talked Stoney in to purchasing a Dimension E520 desktop computer. On his way to bingo he dropped off his credit card and I put in the order for him- watched “Nova” on PBS; about Black Holes in the center of Galaxies- while checking out the night sky with my binoculars I caught Stoney on his way back from bingo and gave him his credit card- wrote column and sent it to the Newspaper. Goodbye to October you’ve been an excellent month!