January 2012

Happy New Year- I can’t believe the wonderful weather we’ve been having- temps in the mid 70s!
I did my stretches, dumbbells, core trainer, and lifted weights.
I hung around the house just being mellow calling friends and family to say Happy New Year.
I decided that I’m going to spend fifteen minutes a day drawing something, even if it is just stick figures. Today I drew my radio while I sat outside in the sunshine. I also did my Latin lesson sitting there. I started reading “365 Starry Nights” by Chet Raymo as I have been doing every year for the past so many years.
I drew up a sign that says CREATE using a black ink marker and hung it over my bedroom door; I’ll make a better one later.

Monday 02- again another perfect day; the ants are even coming out of their holes.
I did my stretches, yoga, and went for a mile run.
I washed my clothes and shoes in a bucket using an old plunger type thingy that works pretty dang well for the small stuff. While I was at it I watered the plants.
I did my studies; today I drew a cactus and did a Latin lesson. I haven’t found anything to add to my studies. Completing reading aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” left kind of a hole. John said he’d help me with my math, so I’ll be doing that, but I think there’s something else I want to add, just don’t know what yet.
I do have to start editing my two books and continue to write the third which I have but one chapter completed.
I went for a walk listening to an astronomy lecture by Alex Filippenko about: Gamma-ray Bursts.
I read a bit from the book “Robinson Crusoe”.
I practiced my guitar.

Tuesday 03- the weather is perfect!
I did my stretches, dumbbells, ran a mile with weights, core trainer, and lifted weights.
Sherry came by and dropped off a bunch of firewood for me! She is so sweet!
I did my studies outside again. I found an old study book whose pages are faded by age that I must have bought in the 80s. It is called “1100 Words you Need to Know” (1983). Seems like I did the first week’s lessons of the book way back when and then quit. I will continue on with it now.
I went for a walk listening to an astronomy lecture by Alex Filippenko about: Galaxies- types, how they were formed, and dark matter.
I watched two UC Berkeley videos of Biology 1A lectures 1 and 2; review of chemistry and course outline.
I went outside at 11:00 for an hour or so waiting to see the Quadrantid Meteor Shower, but they were a no show here on the west coast (not a one!). I heard on the Atlantic side there were many.
I read a chapter from “Robinson Crusoe”.

Wednesday 04- the weather is still pleasant with temps into the high 70s.
I did my stretches, yoga, and ran a mile
I sat outside and did my studies.
I watched Biology lecture 3; it was basically about the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, microscopy and electron microscopes- regular and scanning.
I did my stretches and went for a night run.
I read a chapter from “Robinson Crusoe”.
I found my old Palm M125 that hidden away in storage. It was broken and I had taken apart ten years or so ago. I tinkered with it, fixed it, and put it all back together in working order.

Thursday 05- the weather is a little bit breezy, but still nice with temps hanging around 70.
I did my stretches, yoga, dumbbells, core trainer, ran with weights, pounded on the heavy bag, and lifted weights.
I did my studies outside.
I watched Biology lecture 4; cell structure microtubules, microfilaments, and intermediate filaments.
I went for a walk listening to an astronomy lecture by Alex Filippenko about: active galaxies- quasars and such.
I did my stretches and went for a night run.
I read a chapter from “Robinson Crusoe”.

Friday 06- the weather was in the 70s again; I ain’t complaining.
I did my stretches and then left to pick up Kelly and go to town.
We went Rite Aid to drop off a prescription and then to the post office where we picked up our packages and Kelly got a money order to pay her rent. Got back to Rite Aid to pick up meds and then went on to Yucca Valley. We had lunch at the Sizzler- our waitress was Jackie- we ate like little pigs. WalMart was our next stop. At the checkout stand Kelly had forgot her wallet in the car and had to run out to retrieve it. She came limping back in saying she slipped on some sand and twisted her foot, but was okay. There’s a pet store over by Vons called Pet Plus I think and the ladies who work there were might nice and helpful. We shopped at Vons where she limped around as we shopped. She got a $10 coupon on her Vons card, and in lots of pain, limped back into the store to spend it because it would be expired by the time we came this way again next month; I told her she was crazy to do this. It wasn’t until we went to Starbucks to get coffee and to use the internet on her new Kindle that she started really feeling the pain in her left foot; I could tell it was really bad by the tears in her eyes. In fact it was so bad that I decided that we should leave and not stop at Staters to get fried chicken and a few other items like we had planned. On the way home she was in so much pain that we both decided it best if we went to the ER to see if it was broken. I waited in the waiting room for two hours after they took her in the back for x-rays and whatever. I sat there with nothing to do but watch folks as they walked by me with butt cracks peeking out from their pants; I mean what’s that all about? Is it some kinda fad or something? So I learned that most folks who come into the ER on Friday nights are overweight and have butt cracks exposed. One big guy (no butt crack) was brought in by his wife or girlfriend (butt crack). He looked very sick or mentally disturbed and I was afraid that he might pass out right there or start fighting with everybody. I wasn’t alone in my thinking as the guy (butt crack) sitting across from me had the same thoughts I learned later after they took the big guy into the back room and he felt it safe to talk. Kelly (no butt crack) finally came out on crutches; she had broken some small bones in her foot. We had to go get some new meds for this and went back to Rite Aid in 29 Palms. There, while we sat waiting for the prescription to be filled, was a man who told us about how people from other planets wouldn’t live here because of our bad government (overweight and butt crack); we gave him a wide berth and let him ramble on. After we left there I stopped at Staters and got the rest of what we both needed as Kelly sat in the car. Then I took her home and brought in all her groceries. I’m going to start calling her by the nickname Lucky, I told her.

Saturday 07- the weather was a bit breezy with the temps into the high 60s.
Because of last night’s episode at the hospital’s ER room and checking in on Kelly through Skype, I was up until 4:30AM or there abouts and woke up after noon sometime. So I decided to just do my stretches and use Sunday (my day off from exercises) to catch up.
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I spent the day calling and yakking to friends and family. Kelly seems to be okay for now resting in bed with a cast up to her knee on her left leg.


Sunday 08- still windy (8 to 20MPH) but the Sun is out shining down upon our little community.
I did my stretches, yoga, core trainer, and dumbbells, ran a mile with weights, punched the heavy bag, and lifted weights.
I read a few chapters of “Robinson Crusoe”.


Monday 09- the weather was pleasant.
I did my stretches, but that’s all I did before John Massey came over to pick me up and go hunt for gold at this abandoned mine he found in the hills south of where we live.
I went to the Neighborhood Watch meeting. I wasn’t feeling very well and didn’t stay for the CMM board meeting.
I cooked up some chicken in a pot with potatoes and carrots, but somehow I didn’t do it right, a miscarriage of chicken soup; it tasted awful. I ended up throwing it away outside in the vacant land across the street. I went out there the next day and some poor hungry critter had eaten it all up.


Tuesday 10- another nice day but I wasn’t feeling too well to enjoy it. I did do my stretches, completed all my studies, and listened to an astronomy lecture by Alex Filippenko about: the Hubble Constant.
FedEx delivered another Palm M105 that I ordered for $6 on eBay.
I read a few chapters of “Robinson Crusoe”.


Wednesday 11- the weather was a little overcast and temps got up to about 65 degrees.
I did my stretches, yoga, dumbbells, core trainer, lifted weights, ran a mile, punched the heavy bag, and rode my bike; I felt better today!
I did all my studies; Latin lesson, drew something, and did a lesson in the 1100 Word workbook.
I went for a walk listening to an astronomy lecture by Alex Filippenko about: the discovery of dark matter.
I watched lesson 5 on the Berkeley biology course about: the laws of thermodynamics and how it relates to the metabolism of the cell. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and how energy is derived from losing a phosphate atom through a hydrogen bond or some such to form ADP (adenosine diphosphate) with a helping enzyme is able to create more energy; I now understand the process but find it hard pulling it from memory and putting it into words right now. There’ll be more in the next lecture.
I watched “Castle” and an old favorite I used to watch as a kid “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” on Hulu.com.
I read a chapter of “Robinson Crusoe”.


Thursday 12- the weather got nice again, but temps still in the 60s and a little breezy.
I did my stretches and ran a mile.
I did my studies.
I went for a walk listening to an astronomy lecture by Alex Filippenko about: more on dark matter.
I watched lesson 6 on the Berkeley biology course about: enzyme structure.
I watched an episode of “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” and the first episode of “Sea Hunt” starring Lloyd Bridges.
I read a chapter in “Robinson Crusoe”. I woke up very early and read another chapter and then went back to sleep.


Friday 13- the weather was nice into the mid 60s and little breeze.
I did my stretches, lifted dumbbells, yoga, core trainer, lifted weights, ran a mile, punched the heavy bag, and rode my bike.
I did my studies: Latin, drawing, 1100 Words workbook.
I went for a walk listening to an astronomy lecture by Alex Filippenko about: CMB and very large structures in the universe.
I watched lesson 7 on the Berkeley biology course about: cell membrane, structure and metabolism.
I read a chapter in “Robinson Crusoe”.

Saturday 14- overcast and dang cold outside!
I did my stretches.
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I finished reading “Robin Crusoe”.


Sunday 15- dang windy today!


Monday 16- the weather is a little breezy and not too cold.
I did my stretches, lifted dumbbells, yoga, core trainer, lifted weights, ran a mile, punched the heavy bag, and rode my bike.
I spent the better part of the day building some shelves in my computer room for food storage. I will paint them tomorrow when it's not windy.
Verizon Phone Company finally got my phone working again around 2pm; it has been out since Thursday or there abouts. It seems like other folk’s phones were out in our area because I seen four Verizon trucks drive by my house today.
I did all my studies, Listened to an astronomy lecture on the expansion of the universe, and watched Berkeley biology lecture 8 about: Regulation of enzymatic activity.


Tuesday 17- The weather was a little bit on the cold side today but not that bad.
I did my stretches.
I painted the shelves. I didn’t have enough wood for the very bottom shelve but I did find a small piece to fit there temporarily.
Roger called to drive and drop off the Stoneymobile at the mechanic’s.
I updated my camera’s firmware.
I did my studies.


Wednesday 18- the weather was nice today with temps around 64 and a very slight breeze.
I did my stretches, dumbbells, core trainer, yoga, lifted weights, rode my bike, punched the heavy bag, and ran with weights.
I sat outside and had breakfast and did my studies.
I finished the shelves today by painting the metal parts white. Once they dry I can mount the wood onto them.
I went for a walk listening to an astronomy lecture by Alex Filippenko about: expansion of the universe.


Thursday 19- the weather was cooler and cloudy today.
I did my stretches and ran a mile.
I did my studies.
Roger called to drive and pick up the Stoneymobile at the mechanic’s.


Friday 20- The weather started out very nice but grew ominous later in the evening.
I did my stretches, dumbbells, core trainer, yoga, lifted weights, and punched the heavy bag.
I went for a walk listening to an astronomy lecture by Alex Filippenko about: multi-universes.
I watched lesson 8 on the Berkeley biology course.


Saturday 21- The wind was blowing very hard and fast- picking up small coarse gravel and peppering my face as I moved around outside to secure my things from being blown to Texas. It was really that bad.
Chris came by to pick up my old Honda motorcycle that I gave to him that’s been sitting since 2004.
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
The electric power went out in our area for 5 or 6 hours.


Sunday 22- The weather cleared up midmorning and stayed nice throughout the day.
Darlene from Dhamma Dena brought Ruth Denison’s two computers over for me to fix. I formatted the hard drive on the Dell desktop and installed Win7 and all the critical updates along with Microsoft Security Essentials. I’ll work on her laptop tomorrow.
John Massey came by and we jawed for a spell about astronomy and other realms of science.


Monday 23- Rain and wind!
I did my stretches, dumbbells, core trainer, yoga, lifted weights, and punched the heavy bag.
John came over for a few hours and used my computer to do some research.
I did my studies.
Darlene came to pick up the desktop and laptop I fixed for Ruth Denison.



Tuesday 24- The weather was clear skies mostly with some wind thrown in.
I did my stretches.
I went to town to get some special cat food for Kelly’s cat and picked a few things up.
I saw a car for sale in a parking lot of an auto shop and stopped to enquire about it. I took it for a test drive where it immediately ran out of gas and I was able to coast into a gas station. I put three bucks into the tank and drove it back. I asked them a few more questions about the car, but the girl there said she’d have to get back to me on it.
Then I went to Kelly’s house to give her the cat food and we buried her cat Elvis who passed on a wee bit ago.
I did my studies.
I watched lesson 9 on the Berkeley biology course.


Wednesday 25- The weather was a bit breezy with a few clouds. Temps were around 64 degrees.
I did my stretches, lifted dumbbells, yoga, and core trainer, punched the heavy bag, lifted weights, rode the bike, and ran with weights.
I did my studies.
I went for a walk listening to an astronomy lecture by Alex Filippenko about: the last lecture about the Drake equation.
I watched lessons 10 and 11 on the Berkeley biology course: Cellular energy production, anaerobic and aerobic.


Thursday 26- Beautiful day with temps of 76 degrees and clear skies!
I did my stretches and ran a mile.
I did my studies. I put a whole bunch of new words from the book “1100 Words You Need to Know” into my flash card program. I also put a few new Latin words into the program, and then did a review of both.
I went for a walk listening to an Astro 7B lecture by Joshua Bloom about: cosmology.
John Massey came over around 5pm for dinner and to do a little stargazing when it got dark. Lots of fun for me to have someone over and doing a little astronomy!
I went online to find that my package containing a power unit for my NEC MobilePro 900 is in my mailbox and made a mad dash down there to pick it up and get back to plug it in to charge it up!
I watched lesson 12 on the Berkeley biology course: Photosynthesis- the light reactions.


Friday 27- The weather was mostly cloudy and overcast with temp into the mid 60s.
I did my stretches, yoga, dumbbells, rode my bike, lifted weights, core trainer, punched at the heavy bag, and ran with weights.
I did all my studies.
I went for a walk listening to an Astro 7B lecture by Joshua Bloom about: different types of possible universes.
I watched lesson 13 on the Berkeley biology course: Photosynthesis- CO2 fixation and related processes.

I received an email from a friend of George's saying that George had passed away in his Wonder Valley trailer this past Monday, January 23rd.
George was a really neat guy with some wild and crazy ideas and it was great receiving those emails of his. He would come by my house in that old van of his complaining about the thieves who worked post office losing his mail, the VA messing with him, or them there criminals out yonder in Wonder Valley. He was real happy when he got that 'new' truck recently.
Such sad news :(
If any of you are in contact with his family, would you please forward their information to me to that I can notify them.
Sorry to hear that you left us George. Give them as much hell as you gave them here wherever you end up :)



Saturday 28- The weather was cool and a little hazy.
I did my stretches, core trainer and ran a mile.
I called family and friends to bother them if they were so unfortunate to answer their phone.
I headed down to our Potluck with some turkey stuffing and rice I cooked up. There, almost thirty of our community’s finest showed up- Tim Atzei cooked up a concoction he called Mac and something. Elaine brought her family; husband Kevin, and two sons Timothy and Matthew (their first time at the community center). Karry Kearns provided us all with beverages. Dave Royer baked up a fancy French (I thought he wrote trench) lemon tart pie thingy. Marybeth Rubin made some curry bites that were delicious. Marybeth and husband Alan had property here for thirty years and have just moved in permanently six months ago. Chris Jonas made his famous world renowned macaroni salad. Rose Matich brought along her husband Joe and steamed up her peas and corn for us to enjoy. Mary and Chris Koval created a lemon pumpkin dump cake (Mighty fine), and chicken mushroom mac casserole. Ruth Malton surprised us with red jello. Marie Morrison whipped up a German Chocolate Cake! There was plenty of fun in the Treasure Room especially when young Cody was clowning around with a woman’s wig and a bra- the girls got a kick out of that.
I watched two new episodes of “Fringe”.


Sunday 29- It is beautiful outside today!
I did my stretches, hopped on the Harley and took it out for a little ride and collected my mail along the way.
I spent the rest of the day doing whatever I wanted, and later in the evening I watched an episode of “Castle” and one of “EndGame” because I felt like it :)


Monday 30- It was a little overcast today with altocumulus clouds peppering the sky, I think we got your clouds Ginger :) with temps in the mid 60s.
I did my stretches, yoga, dumbbells, rode my bike, lifted weights, core trainer, punched at the heavy bag, rode my bike, and ran with weights.
I did my studies. I’ve been slacking off the Latin for a bit because I need to get caught up with the audio portion before I feel I can continue on the written portion.
I went for a walk listening to an Astro 7B lecture by Joshua Bloom about: the cosmological constant and Hubble’s law.
I watched lesson 14 on the Berkeley biology course about: Somatic cells- mitosis- and gametes (meiosis) inherit genomes… Yikes! I should just stick with astronomy :) Nah, I really need someone I can discuss and go over this with…



Tuesday 31- The sky was a clear bright blue, but the temps didn’t get over 65 degrees.
I did my stretches, core trainer, and ran a mile.
I had some pretty strange dreams last night and the night before, but mostly last night. I feel I have some arranging of my life to get in order and set my priorities straight in my mind.
Also, today I finally came to the realization that most people don’t want or need to know the truth. I believe that they are so used to being lied to that they don’t expect to hear the truth, but expect to be lied to instead. And if you are the messenger of the truth it will somehow end up being your fault which you’ll need to defend. I find this strange, but interesting.
So today I was kinda down in the dumps. I did manage to do my studies.
I went for a walk listening to Latin lectures.
I spent the rest of the night in deep thought; at least for me it seemed deep :)
Goodbye to January!