April 2006

Saturday April 01- Ron D. is home from his retreat- Worked late into the night on web design- called Billie and she sounds better then the last time I talked to her.
Sunday 02- Andrew called and needed collaboration on a very old and banged-up computer (keyboard lockout) and spent the better part of the day working on it. We decided it so old it ain’t worth the fix and will lend them another old computer that works- Linda S. left a message that she has found her dog and sounds very ecstatic- visited John M. and installed Encarta encyclopedia on his computer- Andrew came by to pickup CD with system utilities on it.
Monday 03- went to John M. home and picked up that aluminum awning that we took down last week and carted it back to my house after helping him clean up his yard- went on over to Linda S. home and picked up a story that she wrote about her “lost but found” dog, which I will put in my column and took some pictures of her and her dog to put on the website, she looks very good like a great weight has been lifted from her shoulders- at 4:20 I came up with a really good idea for new GUI for computers.
Tuesday 04- wrote column and sent it into the paper.
Wednesday 05- visited with Andrew and discussed computers then we went over to see the Buffalo, which he hasn’t seen yet. While there Scott gave me five bags of stucco.
Thursday 06- sent in my taxes while I was in town getting supplies (been over a month) and gas is up to $2.79 a gallon- really nice day- finished my two online courses and started another “XTML”.
Friday 07- went to Roger T. and picked up some DVDs and some DOS programs-worked 3hrs on Joel’s website.
Saturday 08- Ron D. came by and we recorded 3 tracks for my song “Little Boat”- Mike L. called me from Hermosa Beach and we jawed for a while.
Sunday 09- Stoney called and is having problems with his VCR, went over there and fixed it and while there tried to install his HP Printer but the system won’t recognize it will have to regroup and try another day- visited John M. and did some work on his computer, had to uninstall Sygate Firewall because it came up with errors. I think it may have to do with Service pack 2 and will bring over Zone Alarm and install it another day instead.
Monday 10- worked around the house getting it ready for Kula and Tom’s visit on Wednesday- went over to John M. and met his son Chris who is a computer person like me and we installed Zone Alarm and jawed computers for a while- did some more recording of my songs.
Tuesday 11-really gave the house a final cleaning- Tom M. called to say they’d be here tomorrow around 12:30- did recording of my song “My Mind is Crazy”.
Wednesday 12- sitting here writing and updating this Blog in great anticipation for Kula and Tom’s arrival- 12:45 Tom and Kula arrive! We have a really nice chat and I give them the 50 cent tour of my place- they bring burgers from Carl JR. and cookies too! I had a very nice time with my friends and was sad to see them go.
Thursday 13- went over to Stoney’s to try again to setup his printer. Found that the problem was in the BIOS and that Com 1 parallel port was disabled probably due to the fact that this is an old network computer and a printer wasn’t needed and so the network Administrator disabled the port. Prints fine. Gave Stoney his birthday gift.
Friday 14- rainy day so I just stayed around the house and did my online XML class.
Saturday 15- it is visit my neighbors day; Ron G, Buffalo folks, and met a new neighbor Jason who bought Kinney’s old shack with a few of his friends from Landers.
Sunday 16- Ron D. came by and helped me record and mix some songs and did a multi track too! Dropped over to the Buffalo Folk’s for a visit and then saw John M. at his home.
Monday 17- went over to Stoney’s and his daughter Judy is down for a visit with her grandson Dustin.  They come all the way from Pittsburgh Ca. Dustin talked me into a game of catch with a football and we played for an hour or so and I just know this is going to hurt me for the next few days- finished class 3 in my XML- went over to Ron and Linda’s to give Linda her Birthday gift and said hi to Ron who was in the tub.
Tuesday 18- finished class 4 in XML- did my column and sent it to the newspaper.
Wednesday 19- went over to Andrew’s who was entertaining his mother who is out from England.
Thursday 20- Dale K. called and we jawed for a while- some folks who saw my “Bob’s Solar Page” and have an ecology website emailed me and asked if I would be willing to post to their Blog. I will and I did.
Friday 21- visited the Buffalo Folk and had some kind of small burrito- finished class 5 in my XML.
Saturday 22- lazy day- did my online classes.
Sunday 23- finished all my online XML classes.
Monday 24- another lazy day!
Tuesday 25- Ron brought by some of his homemade chili, YUM! Scott came over with his 4x4 Bronco to move my trailer over to behind the house where I don’t have to look at it. The 4x4 wasn’t working and it was really an arduous time spent with shovels digging out and moving a few feet and digging out and moving a few feet… We finally decided to bring his van up and hook the wench up to it, which worked fine, and we got her moved- wrote column for the newspaper and sent it in.
Wednesday 26- Andrew came by with his computer and we got it working better- got a call from Linda S. that she has finished her drawing and I went over to her home to photograph it.
Thursday 27- finished painting my battery room roof with snow coat- Joel came by with some pizza from our favorite pizza parlor little Caesars in 29 Palms.
Friday 28- tarred trailer roof in preparation for painting it with snow coat- worked on website and updated it and sent out newsletter.
Saturday 29- Ron D. came by with a load of food he acquired, I took some and we took the rest to the retreat- painted trailer roof with snow coat.
Sunday 30- worked on computers- put 12 vdc fan in the freezer in hopes that it will help keep the food fresh longer- I was kicking back on my porch when Jeff Chipman landed his hang glider in a field not more than a quarter of a mile away. I grabbed my camera, jumped in my truck and headed over to see if anyone was injured. As I drove up Jeff was walking the glider over to the side of the road; he looked like some kind of big bird. Well he said he was all right and that he started with a few other hand gliders, who were still in the air around Twentynine Palms, on Highway 18 up where the ski resorts are some 35 miles from here. As we were dismantling his glider, which is held together with Velcro and other flimsy stuff, for transport and waiting for the recovery crew to arrive Jeff was telling me that he got as high as some 12,000 feet! I told him that I was as high as I wanted to be at 5’10” tall. Jeff works at the Getty Museum in the Computer Department and since I work with computers my self I invited him up to my house and “talked shop” while we waited for his friends to arrive.

March 2006

Wednesday 1- went over to Andrew’s and worked on computers/network.
Thursday 2- Joel came by and I did an update on his website and also renewed his domain name for another year.
Friday 3- must have done something but I cannot remember ;-)
Saturday 4- Buffalo folk call and ask if I want to watch them stucco the house; I never seen it except last Friday (that’s what I did Friday!) when I went over to Roger T’s neighbor’s house and watched them do it-Andrew calls and is back from LV with computer parts and I go and help him. Loaded Win 2000 Pro on a system when I was there.
Sunday 5- worked on my computer and surfed the web for an article I am going to write on Web2.0.
Monday 6- went to town for supplies (finally after a whole month) I just rather stay up here in Copper Mountain Mesa and hide out in my tech cave-went and visited John M. to see how he is doing cleaning up all that dog hairs left behind by his last tenant.
Tuesday 07- nice day but a little windy- jogged and rode bike- working on a daily reading list of what books I need to read- restrung my Martin guitar- tore down my scooter and started cleaning it for repair- enrolled in two online classes: Web programming basics with JavaScript, Server 101, and Small business networking toolkit
Wednesday 08- went over to Andrew’s and did an install of Win2000 on 3 machines.
Thursday 09- Joel came by with some pizza and we worked on his new website I’m building for him; did the graphics and a little html.
Friday 10- went and visited with the buffalo folks for a while.
Saturday 11- cold and windy so I stayed home all day and worked on some websites and caught up on some reading.
Sunday 12- real cold and windy; snowed in Joshua Tree and Yucca, but not here- went by buffalo folks but they weren’t there so I talked with Ronny who is watching the place for them- later that day I went with Linda D. and shot some photos of the snow on the mountains and got some mighty nice pics of abandoned cabins around sunset and we were really cold!
Monday 13- real nice day compared to yesterday- went over to John M’s and helped him move a desk and setup his computer for him- went for a nice 2-mile walk.
Tuesday 14- Semi dropped by and lent me a “Rami Dass” DVD- Haus came by to jaw awhile- washed clothes- Linda S. called and I went over there to p/u new flyers for her missing dog and fixed her car bumper that some idiot smashed into- Lee drove up and showed me his new Jeep- Joel brought over a lot of cat food he don’t need no more and I worked on his website and got a new domain name for him- wrote column and sent it into newspaper.
Wednesday 15- went over to Andrew’s to mess around with computers but he wasn’t home- dropped by the Buffalo folks for a visit, they gave me an address sign that lights up and is powered by solar- Andrew came by with new Jeep which he bought from Lee (now I know where he went)- loaded up Win2000 Pro on old laptop.
Thursday 16- did my online classes that took about 3 hrs- Joel came by with some Chili-Mac.
Friday 17- Buffalo folks asked me to give Jason a ride home and had a tour of Jason’s home which he had build by himself, I am very impressed!
Saturday 18- went on a photo shoot with Linda D. and walked around Borland Pass with dog. She is trying to help me learn about the camera settings and how the dang thing works- had lunch at Stoney’s; hamburger steaks with mashed potatoes and gravy- Buffalo folks call and have chili fries for me, will eat them over the next 2 days- Mike L. calls from Hermosa Beach and we talk for an hour or so.
Sunday 19- finally rained! – Finished Book “A Guide to the Stars” by Patrick Moore. Mike L. calls again from Hermosa Beach and we talk for an hour or so
Monday 20- did my online classes and completed chapter 2 in all 3 of them, took mist of the day to do this-
Tuesday 21- spent the better part of the day doing my federal taxes- Stoney came by with cake and ice cream after bingo- wrote my column and sent it in.
Wednesday 22- went over to Andrew’s and did the computer thing.
Thursday 23- Joel brought by some Monkey bread, good stuff!
Friday 24- worked on my website and scooter- real nice day and did a bunch of exercises; ran, walked, and biked.
Saturday 25- recorded a couple of my songs onto the computer; they need a lot of work- called my friend Billie who lives in Redondo and she told me she is sick and is worried.
Sunday 26- worked on scooter determined to git it running, spent 4 hrs on it and it started and ran really great, then I rode it about a quarter of a mile when it got a flat tire- decided to do my online courses and recorded “little Boat” on the computer so that the day wouldn’t be a waste.
Monday 27- John M. called and asked me if I would come over and help him dismantle an old aluminum car port and said I could take it if I wanted it, I did and spent about 4 hrs there, he even threw in an old tire repair machine- that evening Linda D. call to ask if I would help her setup her satellite TV and that she had some food for me to take home- Great stuff!
Tuesday 28- wrote a really great April Fools column and sent it into the newspaper.
Wednesday 29- finished online class “Small Business Network”- Linda D. had some leftovers from her work that me and Semi could to take home, so much I’ll be eating it for days- John M. called and is having problem playing from his CD on his computer (no sound) I knew what it was and took over a cable that plugs into the CD from the sound card.
Thursday 30- Linda S. and I went out and put up some more posters of her lost dog and then she gave me lunch- my friend Kula called me on her cell phone while on her way back from Los Vegas to her home in Palos Verdes, we talked for about an hour- Joel came by at 7:30 and we worked on his website till 8:45
Friday31- just cleaned around the house, did some reading and online course- Joel came by with updated graphic and sent an email later with revised text for his website.

February 2006

Wednesday 01- Joel came by for pizza and we setup his domain name for IronEyesCodyEnvironmentleStatue.com way to long I told him but that’s what he wants.
Thursday 02- went to Stoney’s for bbq chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Friday 03- started cleaning up the yard and will spend a few days at it.
Saturday 04- still the cleaning yard.
Sunday 05- Linda D. finds a big dog and it seems that it had fallen out of the van when the backdoors came open that was transferring the dogs from Peggy’s to wherever they were taking them. I email Dominie about finding the dog and she will make arraignments for Jill G. to pickup later in the week- went to Mac’s for a visit and helped him out on some computer stuff.
Monday 06- my stepmother Aki calls to tell me that my Dad is in the hospital and will keep me up to date- Peggy is gone from John M.’s home and I went with him to take some pics of the bad condition of the place when the Police return possession of it to him.
Tuesday 07- went to Andrew’s and worked on his computer all day and we installed MS Server on it.
Wednesday 08- call Aki at home and my Dad picked up and we had a nice chat, he is a little weak but feeling fine- went to Linda D.’s to see Big Ben (the lost dog) and then swung by Semi’s and had a visit and he came to my place later to read emails- visited John M. for a while that evening.
Thursday 09- went with Lind S. to look for her lost dog Shati, it was seen over by Del Oro and Cascade streets- went to Yucca to get supplies and stopped by the guitar shop and pickup some strings and a tuner- Andrew dropped by that evening for a chat.
Friday 10- spent the day waiting for Jill G. to come and pickup Big Ben from Linda D.’s house, when Jill came by we loaded him in her van but she couldn’t take the other dog we call Brown Dog because she just didn’t have room for him at her place.
Saturday 11- worked on recording my songs with the MR-8 and spent most of the day doing that- went over to my new neighbor Ron who designs websites.
Sunday 12- mostly worked in yard and around the house cleaning, and recording some of my songs.
Monday 13- USDA food distribution, Stoney dropped by.
     Tuesday 14- been reading Sue Grafton’s book “Q is for Quarry” and finished it up; great book– wrote column and sent to newspaper.
Wednesday 15- went to Andrew’s and worked and played with computers/network-that evening received an email from my uncle that my brother-in-law had a heart attack and passed on.
Thursday 16- wrote an email to my niece, and called my family- My Dad went to the hospital but is out now and doing fine; so I didn’t post those days cause I was worried and disorganized.
Monday 27- moved rubbish in Stoney’s yard to trash bin-went to buffalo Folks place and helped repair underground telephone line to house.
Tuesday 28- wrote column for paper and sent it to newspaper and updated website.
     

On Exercising

On Exercising:
     I spend between 30 minutes to an hour each day I exercise. It is said that it takes about 3 months to make or break a habit; I’ve been doing this for about 3 years straight. Sometimes a friend will come over to exercise; I tell all my friends that they are welcome to come and workout. I feel that it’s the best health plan you can get (or one can afford).
I try to do some kind of exercise of some sort everyday. I may go for a jog one day and ride my bike or walk on other days. I alternate between jogging, biking, or walking, and sometimes I do them all when I feel good. When I jog it is more like the double time we did in the military, not to fast that you run out of breath, but not so slow that a walker can pass you. The distance that I go varies between one half to 3miles.
I usually lift weights everyday. I use a bench press and free weights. I adjust the number of repetitions and weight depending on how I feel cause I wouldn’t want to over do it and pull something.  When I try something new I go slow at first and build it up to a higher level over many weeks, sometimes months.
Days off are important to give my poor old body a rest, so I take them when I go to town or I have some project to do that requires the time and or energy to complete it. Rainy days are another reason for me to take a day off.
Spas are a nice place to workout and meet people. But the time spent just driving to one, unless you have one local, may be time taken away from other activities. The money spent on membership could be used to purchase your own equipment. One big plus to working out at home is a cleaner environment and to be more focused on what you’re doing. You wouldn’t have to compete with anyone racing by while you jog, or putting on more weights then you can handle to show off. I know! I am guilty of these!

January 2006

Sunday Jan. 01, 2006- at 00:00 I went outside as folks started firing off their weapons, setting off explosives, and honking horns. I took the horn path and honked it a few. That morning went over to help the buffalo folk move their old red fire truck. Jeff had a flat tire and gave him a can of fix-a-flat. Hoss and Sandy came by and brought me a gift and card. I showed them the pics and video I took of their wedding. That night started reading “365 Starry Nights” by Chet Raymo; I anticipate it will take a whole year to complete. Completed chapter in Biology.
Monday 02- it is a very windy and rainy day. One of my L16 batteries went and died on me and replaced it with an extra one I had. Cleaned all the terminals and filled them with water, now their good to go. Jeff dropped a replacement can of fix-a-flat for the one he borrowed.
Tuesday 03- wrote my column for the newspaper; just wrote about Kaye’s passing, nothing more.
Wednesday 04- went to town and picked up supplies and mail. Seimi called to tell me that one of Linda S. dogs escaped; the one that looks like a red fox dog. Watched USC game (
Thursday 05- Sam brought cookies to me for fixing his sister-in-law’s computer, yumm- Buffalo folk’s truck stuck and need help getting it out of sand. In the process of helping them my truck gits a flat and I drove it to far (hard to tell on these washboard roads of ours) before I knew it was really flat and it began to shred. Put spare on and ready to go again- Completed chapter 2 of Biology.
Friday 06- helped Buffalo folk get telephone pole off van- went to the community center and came up with two tires (195 R14) that will replace the flat one from yesterday- updated website and pictures, sent newsletter- watered plants.
Saturday 07- still feeling kind of sick but I now think it is only an allergy, saw Judith yesterday at the center, she looked sick but said she had an allergy too- dropped by Semi’s home for a visit- went to store that evening with Buffalo folk- Lately at night I go outside trying to learn the names of stars in the Orion constellation. I wonder what my neighbors think when they see me pointing at the night sky and calling out names in a foreign language.
Sunday 08- went to Stoney’s house and tried to get flat fixed but couldn’t get it off the rim so I’ll cut it off at home. I sat for a while and watched Stoney repair a clock. Maybe I’ll get me an old clock to repair, looks interesting- Dan Woodman who lives in Landers called to ask for my help, says he is going to get a group together for a Giant Rock cleanup in March. Told him to email me the info and I’d put it up on the website.
Monday 09- cut off bead of tire so I could remove it from rim- setup feeding of the buffalo with the buffalo folks- Lee dropped by to jaw some- Dinner at Stoney’s; had beef and noodles- Got my telescope out to observe Orion, the Great Nebula and the Trapezium.
Tuesday 10- fed the buffalo breakfast- while I was biking; met Bob from Milwaukee driving a blue truck, he now lives on Applegate off of Poleline road and loves it out here, afterwards I found old cast iron sink that somebody abandoned on the side of the road -On the way back from picking up my mail saw Stoney’s SUV parked at the center with something hanging underneath, turned out to be metal connector to the shock and the axel was sheared off. Went to his house to remove it and tie shock up so it won’t drag on the ground till he gets it welded. We finished the noodles from yesterday- Saw Sam and told him we were even on the fix I did for his sister-in-law’s computer- picked up cast iron sink with truck- Fed buffalo dinner- Sent in my column.
Wednesday 11- went to Stoney’s and put on tire that I found at the center for the spare- Lost folks asking for directions to Cady road and Mars; easier to just jump in the truck and show them. Fed buffalo dinner.
Thursday 12- fed buffalo breakfast- burned two CDs for Hoss and Sandy of their wedding and took them over to their place- fire trucks and ambulances out at Joan’s house and took Joan’s mother to hospital. I notified Semi- fed buffalo dinner- had dinner at my house with Stu and argued about Microsoft- dropped by Stoney’s and watch him repair some clocks till 10:30.
Friday 13- fed buffalo- went to town for supplies and stopped by the health food place in JT to get a “Welcome Home” gift for Ron and Linda and to talked to the pretty gals there. Linda Sibio was outside putting up flyers of her lost dog. I told her that I had put her lost dog story in my column- last night to feed the buffalo.
Saturday 14- went over to Ron and Linda D’s home to welcome them back from their vacation.
Sunday 15- worked on getting my “Computer Room” organized- Linda S. came by with more fliers for her lost dog and I put the dog’s pic on the website- had dinner at Stoney’s; salmon paddies and mash potatoes and bacon gravy- John M. came by with info on squatting.
Monday 16- visited with Ron and Linda and setup antenna on their TV.
Tuesday 17- while riding my bike, met my new neighbor Ron who is fixing up the place across from Kern’s old house, he plans to move in soon- wrote and sent in column about Richard DuBoise passing.
Wednesday 18- went to Yucca and purchased a futon bed that makes into a couch from Big Lots and spent the rest of the day trying to figure out the instructions on how to put the damn thing together.
Thursday 19- spent day cleaning house- Joel came by for dinner and brought spaghetti and some kind of Chinese dish he made up and we watched the movie “Unfortunate Events” which I enjoyed.
Friday 20- visited the Buffalo Gal for a while and Stoney saw me there and dropped off some “Ranger Cookies” he baked- Lee, Stu, and Marcie came by my house after going to Lowes hardware down the hill. Stu wants my old mattress for his ma when she comes visiting, so I loaded it up in my truck and took it over to his house- then went to Stoney’s that night and just jawed for a while.
Saturday 21- started work on the Memorials page for the website. I’ve been thinking of doing this for a few years now, but been putting it off. Since Kern’s passing (he was one month younger than me) I thought that I better get going on it, and a lot of other stuff too! So I spent all Saturday writing HTML and going through pictures and writings of people in our area who passed on. I have gotten all of 2005 done and will continue with 2004 and so forth. I was trying to word a paragraph saying “more to come” or “more to be added” and “If you want someone added let me know” but none of these seemed appropriate, so I am going to leave that alone for now. May add a guest book after awhile.
Sunday 22- built a door for my bedroom to keep Cat out of there. Cat had jumped up on my laptop table and it all came falling to the floor. Well that ain’t going to happen again, that dang cat is going to stay out of my bedroom for now on! Laptop is ok and so is Cat. Gave Cat a slap on the butt and he got really indignant about it and I had to offer him tuna to get him off the roof and be my friend again.
Monday 23- was supposed to go over to Stoney’s after I did my exercises and fix his roof. I called him and left a message that I was coming over, and after I hung up he came speeding pass my house and honked on his way to who knows where. Talked to him later and he said he had forgotten all about it- spent my day reloading an OS upgrade on an old laptop computer and reading.
Tuesday 24- that morning while I was riding my bike I met a wonderful gal called Dominie and her brother on the road. Had a nice chat with them. They were on their way to take photos of some pups up for adoption. We traded email address- Ron D. came by at noon with his dog and we all went for a 2mile walk down Borland Pass. Ron even brought over some chicken soup, a movie “Million Dollar Baby” (great flick, but will haunt me for a few days) and an old pair of sneakers for me- later I got a hold of Stoney and went over and did a patch job on his roof- wrote column and sent it in.
Wednesday 25- that morning while jogging saw a police car in front of Peggy’s home, I went over to ask if everything was all right, they were just leaving some kind of notice on her gate- went to town and ran into Ron D. at the health food place. We went next door to the thrift store and had a look around. I bought an old Basic Language programming book for 25 cents.
Thursday 26- Linda S. called to ask if I’d like to go with her to look for Shati and put up some flyers, we spend a little over an hour doing this- Buffalo gal has made me a plate of chili-fries which I will eat tomorrow because I am on my way over to Stoney’s for dinner and we are having hamburger steaks- that night ordered a Fostex MR8 Digital Multitracker for recording some songs I’ve written.
Friday 27- went to Raven Books with Ron D. and purchased a Sue Grafton book “ Q is for Quarry” and another Patrick Moore astronomy book- Linda S. came by and we went out looking for her lost dog again and while we were looking we helped a feisty little old lady in a truck get unstuck from the sand; met Dennis on Lear Ave. and he gave us some eggs (he sells them) and said he keep an eye out (he only has one) for the dog, afterwards we went to her house and I met her boyfriend Blake who does movie editing and looked at some of Linda’s paintings (very talented couple)- that night finished reading “Beyond The Blue Event Horizon” by Frederik Pohl.
Saturday 28- went over to Lee and Marcie’s house and jawed with them and their son and wife- my friend Mike L. from Manhattan Beach called and we had a long chat about computers and caught up on things- that night I saw a truck stopped at the gate of the Buffalo folks and drove down there to check it out, on my way there found a little rabbit laying in the middle of the road so I stopped and picked the poor thing up and took it home and sat up half the night caring for it.
Sunday 29- when I got up I went and checked on the rabbit and it seemed ok so I took it outside beyond my fence and let it go; rabbit hopped away- spent the rest of the afternoon working on my old Toshiba 166mz laptop- Stoney called and said his smoke alarm is beeping and asked if I would come by and replace the battery, he also gave me a really old but very nice mantel clock.
Monday 30- very nice day cleaned up yard and worked around the house.
Tuesday 31- cleaned up trailer and threw away about six old computers that the rats chewed up when I kept them in the van- UPS here with my Fostex MR8 Digital Multitracker- wrote and sent in column- spent the rest of the night reading instructions for the Fostex and found out I had a bad set of headphones that I will try to fix.

December 26-29 2005

Monday Dec. 26- Roger calls to say he is real sick. On the way to get my mail stopped by Lee’s to tell Stu about Wessel’s email and to look at new fountain Lee has on front yard. Wrote my column for the newspaper and sent it in early for the holidays.
Tuesday Dec. 27- Not feeling well; a cold, the flu, an allergy? Went to town and got supplies, gas, and flu remedies. Dropped off chest of drawers and Wessel’s info for Denver trip at Stu’s house. When I returned Sam was at my driveway with his sister-in-law’s computer to fix, a rush job cause she goes back to Carson Thursday. Found that it had only 128megs of ram to run XP. Called Sam later and told him we need to purchase a 512meg from Crucial.com, he said ‘go ahead’, and had it shipped overnight delivery. Stoney dropped by after bingo with pumpkin pie.
Wednesday Dec. 28- Mostly worked on Sam’s sister-in-law’s computer. Loaded Avast anti-virus and Spybot and found all kinds of Trojans and Spyware. Decided get an ok from Sam to scrap the whole OS and do a reinstall of XP. Sam says, ok.
Thursday Dec. 29- Scott comes by at 9:30 am! Looking for some help finding an address on Lear ave. I go, we find. 10:30am UPS here with 512meg memory. I reinstall XP and backups on Sam’s computer. 4:00pm Sam here for computer, and all work on it is done. Buffalo folk bring by some ham soup, yumm. Finished book “Gateway” and started second book in the series “Beyond the Blue Event Horizon” by Pohl.

December 21-25 2005

Wednesday 21- Jeff Reed called and needed a jump for his truck. Got mail and on the way back visited Roger Toomes for a while and saw his new color laser printer. Ten I stopped by Lee Hines and met Erick, who helps out at the center, and his two sons who were running around the yard. Sat around and jawed for a few and Marcie served us up some toquetos with avocado dip. Left the Hines and dropped in on the Buffalo Gal. Nice warm day!
Thursday 22- Did the full exercise routine and boy am I tired! Did the wash, watered the plants. Stopped by the Buffalo folks and they gave me a small Christmas tree. Stuart Watson came by that evening and we talked about gals and the lack of them out here. Jeff came over too, and brought back the eMac I lent him.
Friday 23- Stoney dropped by with those cookies he made. Finished the book “The Road Ahead” and started reading one that Jeanne Kula gave me “Howard Hughes The Secret Life” by Charles Higham.
Saturday 24- Mac McDermott invited me over for dinner with him and his family. I brought over the computer that I promised Dennis his son. Spent most of the day over there and on the way home noticed that Stuart was home and dropped in. Had five phone calls on the answering machine when I finally got home.
Sunday 25- Christmas! Called family and friends and wished them a merry Christmas. Stopped by the Hines’s to drop off my gift to them. Lee was ailing in bed with a bad back, I didn’t see him, and so I took some pics of Marcie by their Tree. Had my Christmas dinner at the Buffalo Folks home, they are sure mighty fine people.

Car crash update and other stuff

Janis Watson Robertson, 46, of Joshua Tree who had a fatal crash, she was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from her car as it overturned, on Coyote Valley Road. I was told that she was a caregiver for Fred Frederiksen for many years (14yrs?). Folks erected a cross made out of 4 by 4’s to mark the site of the crash.
     My friend Joel who lives down the road has taken ill with the flu. He was so sick he couldn’t get out of the bead to answer the phone and now I know why he didn’t return my calls. He almost went to the hospital he said. I guess the flu season has arrived.
     John Massey is back at his home after a few years working out of state. He has a lot of work on the old place cause it was used as a dog shelter by the lady he let stay there while he was gone.
     I went to town this last Tuesday and that makes twice in one month!

Backpack

I use a backpack to carry my stuff with lots of pockets (started carrying one in college) to put my cell phone, pda, wallet and other stuff like a coin bag, eyeglasses, notebook (the kind ya write in with a pencil), radio, a few protein bars, and a small first aid kit. And I am 54yrs old.
And here a comment for your "How Geeky is too Geeky" When I am at the checkout at a store and while the store's computer is processing my credit card I say "working...working" like the old Star Trek computer. I get some strange looks from the clerks!

On keepin my blog current

My friend Tom Merritt told me the other day when he was asking my expertise on a computer matter that I haven’t kept up on my blog, that the last post was in Oct. So this is my attempt to update and keep it current.
     I was awaken by my fat cat who I let stay inside during the winter months. After I let him outside I went back to bed (I am a creature of the night), it was only 7am! I was awoken again at 10:30 by a phone call from Roger Toomes asking me if I heard the news about a fatal car crash on Coyote Valley Road Wednesday around 2pm. I didn’t I told him but promised to listen later on when the news comes on the radio.
     I did my exercises; jogged 3.5 miles, lifted weights, and rode the bike about a mile. I try to do this everyday. It took an Hour and a half today. Yesterday I took my neighbor Anita who lives down the road with the Buffalo to town to get her boyfriend Scott a Christmas gift. Boy she sure can nag a lot but it was great fun and it took the whole day so I didn’t do any exercising that morning.
     I called Stoney around 3:30pm to see if he and Lee had picked up an old tractor he had purchased, but Lee’s back was out and they couldn’t do it and will wait till next week.  He mentioned that if he can git the energy to git out of his chair he will go into the kitchen and bake some cookies. I told him to burn a pan for me; I like burnt cookies for some reason.
     I caught the news at 4pm on Z1077 and they said that yes in deed there was a crash and that a lady, Janet Watson, was killed. I don’t know if she was speeding or what, but it is a shame that it happened so close to Christmas and that her family has to deal with it at such a time. Janet was only 46 years old.
     After the news Joel Levy showed up with spaghetti, made from all things, Barbeque sauce! It was good and we ate it all down.
     I spent the rest of the night updating my computer’s software and reading. One is by Bill Gates called “The Road ahead” which was published in 1995 and is already outdated with most of the predictions of Bill Gates coming to pass. The other book is by Frederik Pohl called “Gateway” which I have read many times and love.
     It is 12:30am Friday now and I just checked the temp which is at 29 degrees! It’s good to have a woodstove!

A well known company recently had a confidential memo revealed which boiled down to cutting health care costs by discouraging unhealthy folk from seeking jobs at its stores and hiring more part-time student workers. I read the memo, and to be fair, they are trying to deal with a system that is broken, the U.S. health care system. If you get hospitalized in the U.S. ( Unless you’re a wealthy Saudi waiting for a transplant ) you’re pretty much on your own and at risk of losing your home, car, and any savings they can get at, even if you have health insurance. There are more bankruptcies from medical reasons than any other. It amazes me that people illegally sneak into the U.S. and receive health care which is paid for by our government and people who live here have to go there to obtain affordable care. Is Universal coverage the answer? Maybe Hillary was right in 1993!

//bob

Coyote Fest (October 7-8, 2005)

Ron Dehart and I went to the Wild West Coyote Fest (October 7-8, 2005) in Joshua Tree last Sunday. There was some real fine foot stomping music, vendors selling their wears and some fine lookin gals!
Performance Artists were:
* Mohave Rhythm * Honky Tonk Train * Fetish * Thrift Store All Stars * Naughty Boyz * Cock Robin * Unherd * Ted Quinn * Jeff Hafler * Tim Easton * Juke & Glenn
Fire Performers:
Chris Pfranger, Sara Munro, Krista Cranston, Mark Jollif, Stephanie Silver * Joey Michaels * Purple Mountain Matinee * Arjuna & Kundalini Rising * Johnette Napolitano * Zapp

Our little Community is now where the Buffalo roam! Our neighbor Scott Sorensen recently brought two buffalo from Catalina Island to his property on Winters Road. Dang I got to tell ya them critters are massive. The big one Scott calls Chief is gentle but he can stomp ya by accident. Scott also has two hogs and two calves. If he gits two more of anything else I am going to watch and see if he starts laying a keel for an Ark.

Thought for the week: Don?t take sides between friends. 

Two Calves 

Some Pigs!! 

My Southbay Vacation

I just got back from a mini-vacation to the South Bay where I took care of my friend’s, Jeanne Kula and Tom Merritt, cats at their nice home located on the hillside of a canyon in Palos Verdes. I visited some old friends and old haunts while I was there. A lot has changed since I’ve visited some 5 years ago: more people, more cars, and more buildings.
I had parked by the ocean to watch the sunset, but when I prepared to leave my truck wouldn’t start. I called a towing service for a jump. In a while a tow rig arrived and a beautiful Goth lady stepped out of the cab and gave me a jump. I said to her,’ pardon me but I don’t want to sound sexist but I’ve never seen a women tow truck driver before.’
It was nice to git away for a while and git a new perspective on things. As I returned to the High Desert I smelled the distinct fragrance of the Grease Woods on a rainy day and I knew I was coming home.

My Dad the Tennis Pro in front of the family home. 

Jeanne and Tom's Home 

Rocky the Squirrel 

The very successful Tom Merritt