News
February 2006
2006.02.28–Alfred, Ohio. Beads? Yes, this is Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, in N’awlens. Can you think of another term that is so associated with a city?
2006.02.27–Alfred, Ohio. I’ve been taking a real interest in what I eat these last couple of weeks. You know that I’m trying to drastically reduce the amount of sugar and other highly refined foods I consume. It isn’t easy. In fact, it appears to me that it is an addiction that most of us suffer from. For example, today I had a blueberry muffin with a little butter and coffee for breakfast. Oh, it was really sweet. At lunch, I bought a bag of salad and a yogurt. The yogurt contained 25 grams of sugar. Snacks at work these days consist of a trail mix of nuts and dried fruits. This evening I ate leftovers and since Jeanie wasn’t home to chide me I broke down and ate two chocolate chip cookies.
Going to the grocery store has become a frightful trip for me. Once you pass the produce aisle, nearly everything in the supermarket contains sugar or something else that is highly refined (stuff made from white flour for example). Worse, I’m now beginning to crave the sweet stuff. Really! Even though I’m beginning to feel more energetic from not eating much of it recently, I find that I’m thinking about the sweets… a lot.
2006.02.25–Alfred, Ohio. This evening we went to Joe and Angie’s for a visit. We played foosball, ate pizza, and watched a movie.
A wonderful lazy Saturday morning. Perfect!
2006.02.24–Alfred, Ohio. Jeanie and I went to dinner tonight at Ruby Tuesday’s and saw a movie afterwards. This was a nice change of pace.
Russell has a new and improved look to his blog. He also has some funny new rules that are worth reading.
Crocuses are in full bloom.Patrick Martino is a modern day Marco Polo. He wrote a fabulous account of his adventures in Gansu and Xinjiang, China.
2006.02.22–Alfred, Ohio. Happy Birthday Christy!
I received an e-mail yesterday that contained a message from the Dalai Lama. It contains a few bits of wisdom. It doesn’t strike me that he would object to it being reprinted (see instruction #14).
Instructions for Life
by Dalai Lama
- Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
- When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
- Follow the three R’s
- Respect for self,
- Respect for others and
- Responsibility for all your actions
- Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
- Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
- Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
- When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
- Spend some time alone every day.
- Open arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
- Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
- Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
- A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
- In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
- Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
- Be gentle with the earth.
- Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
- Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
- Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
- Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
The unique thing about this chain letter was the Good Karma that can be achieved by forwarding it on. At the bottom of the note it contained this table:
| Forward this mantra e-mail to at least five people and your life will improve | |
| 0–4 people: | Your life will improve slightly. |
| 5–9 people: | Your life will improve to your liking. |
| 9–14 people: | You will have at least 5 surprises in the next 3 weeks. |
| 15 people & over: | Your life will improve drastically and everything you ever dreamed of will begin to take shape |
All bets are off if it doesn’t leave your hands in 96 hours. Baloney! I can’t tell you how many chain letters have died quietly in my inbox. I will not forward them. Just the same, I’m hoping that at least 15 people see this on my site.
2006.02.21–Alfred, Ohio. Happy Birthday Bim! What a good neighbor Bim and his family have been over the years. I could not have asked for a better family to be neighbors with.
Tonight was the visitation at the funeral home for Grammie. I thought it went really well.
2006.02.20–Alfred, Ohio. What a difference a good night of sleep will make. Jeanie helped out at her parents house and I got caught up on a few chores around here.
Angie and I had lunch together today at the Pizza Hut in Pomeroy.
2006.02.19–Alfred, Ohio. “Grammie”, Jeanie’s grandmother, passed away today a little after 10:00 a.m. We have spent a lot of time at the hospital this week. It all runs together by now but here is what I recall.
Grammie
Events such as these are physically and emotionally trying. I walked away from it with a much better understanding and appreciation of Butch and Kate. I’ve known them for over 27 years but feel much closer to both of them as a result of spending so much time together this week.
A thought occurred to me while going through this. I am now highly motivated to write down how I would like to have my own demise handled so there can be no doubt or confusion about what should be done in various situations. I intend to spell out in detail at a later date a few things that I would like to see.
I’ve heard Jeanie and her family speak highly of me for helping out this week. I need to set the record straight on this and point out that I was merely the most available person for the task. If we still had small children at home that needed my care or I had to work, I would not have been able to spend nearly so much time helping out with Grammie. Others would have come forward in my absence.
2006.02.18–Alfred, Ohio. Spent the night with Jeanie and Kate watching and caring for Grammie.
2006.02.17–Alfred, Ohio. Spent the night with Bev, Butch, and Kate watching and caring for Grammie.
2006.02.16–Alfred, Ohio. Talked with Jeanie and could tell that things were not going well so I left work early and headed for the hospital. I arrived around 3:00 p.m. and spent the night with Butch and Kate watching and caring for Grammie.
2006.02.15–Alfred, Ohio. Not much memory of today other than work.
2006.02.14–Alfred, Ohio. Valentines Day!
Kate called around 4:30 a.m. Grammie is not doing well and is heading in for the hospital. Jeanie headed right in. I followed and arrived a little after 7. Twelve hours later I left thinking that she would probably recover.
2006.02.13–Alfred, Ohio. Today, I bought a lucky lottery ticket.
Yesterday, I failed to mention that Doug gave us a bottle of 2003 Purple Trillium, Burnet Ridge wine made in North College Hill, a mere two streets over from where my Dad lives.
2006.02.12–Cincinnati, Ohio. Happy Birthday Samwise!
Dad, Jeanie, Joe, Angie, Dennis, Doug, and I had breakfast at Frisch’s this morning. The guest of honor slept in. :) We had a very enjoyable visit with everyone. We will catch you next time Sam!
Andy sent a couple of pictures my way today. Last night in Randallstown, MD they got 20+ inches, neighboring cities got as little as 8 inches. Frederick got about a foot. Steve also sent in a couple of pictures today. He also reported over 20 inches in Boston and it is still snowing. Brrr…
Steve in Natick Center
l. Mary Ellen in Natick Center, r. 20+ inches of snow in Randallstown, MD
Last night Doug stopped over at Dad’s house and told his tales of sailing in the Atlantic. Brrr… The pictures he showed us were beautiful. The stories he told made it sound quite treacherous. Sailing in a cold Atlantic with gale force winds with one problem after another. Another ship had taken the same route some years earlier and all four perished. It sounds as if he was lucky to get out of that one with so little harm done.
The ride down and back was pretty brutal for me. I was able to complete a book titled Sugar Blues by William Dufty. The author takes a very dim view of refined sugar so I “swore off sugar”. Jeanie, Joe, and Angie took delight in tormenting me about it. We will see. Give me until the birthday month and we will see if it makes a difference.
2006.02.11–Alfred, Ohio. Packing up our mules and heading to Cincinnati to visit my Dad today. Joe, Angie, Jeanie, and I intend to make this journey… blizzards or not!
We ran into Terry at the post office. How neat! I’ve been meaning to look him up for longer than I care to admit.
2006.02.10–Alfred, Ohio. I’ve been behind in my postings. Getting the forum started has taken a more of my time than I anticipated. Today I’m going back a retroactively adding a few things. First, a belated Happy Birthday wish to Misti! Next, a wedding photo of Andy and Cyndi, and finally a photo of Andy for his birthday a while back.
2006.02.08–Alfred, Ohio. Joe and Angie stopped in to visit tonight and play Trivial Pursuit. A funny situation came up. The game is very old and Joe claims that science has changed since one of the questions was written. The card read, “What mammal is closest to man”. The answer on the card was ape. Joe thinks that science has since decided that the chimp is closer. Which answer would you deem to be correct? What the card says or what you know today to be correct?
Received this message in a bottle from Doug today.
Shipwrecked
We made it, but not without incident. Our voyage was a success, but very eventful. For most of the 4 ½ day trip, we faced gale force winds, rain and cold. The scenery down the Intracoastal Waterway was beautiful. Yesterday, we finally made Charleston Harbor, then put out to sea for the last 15 miles. Dolphins swimming along side, bouncing on 3 ft waves, the sea air, it was cool.
When we cut in to the river channel from the Atlantic, being careful and following our navigational markers, watching the depth finder, charts, and GPS, we ran aground… shipwrecked in the Atlantic. Somehow Michael got us turned around before ruining the boat and nearly capsizing, and made our way into the cut, then finally to the slip at the Marina. The extent of damage is not yet known, but the rudder is definitely jacked up. Anyway, got home early this morning and all is well.
2006.02.05–Akron, Ohio. Happy Birthday Dennis!
We woke up in Akron to our first real snow of the season. We had an uneventful drive back and then settled in for the evening at home and watched Superbowl XL.
2006.02.04–Akron, Ohio. Jeanie and I finally celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary. We drove up to the Carousel Dinner Theater in Akron and watched the off-Broadway show I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. The meal was good, our waiters were dreadful. The show itself was OK and had several humorous moments. It was not as funny as we were expecting, but the vocals were delightful. It was nice to get away, even if it was a couple of weeks late.
Home alone update: last night Jeanie showed me the location of two more remote controllers. Beam me back to the Amish country.
The Frogtails Forum begins its third week today. It has really taken off with an average of 17.5 new posts a day. If you are reading this and have not seen it yet, I encourage you to do so. You are cordially invited to become a member.
2006.02.03–Alfred, Ohio. Happy Birthday Misti!
Doug sent a DVD titled Newton’s Dark Secrets. It is a NOVA production as seen on Public Television. I enjoyed watching it and learned a few things about Sir Issac Newton that I didn’t know. He was a genius beyond comprehension.
Home Alone
We have a TV in our house. I know very little about how to operate it. I know how to turn it off and turn down the volume. I have little desire to turn it on or change channels. The TV is connected to a satellite receiver. It is also connected to various other components that I’m only beginning to use. One component we have attached will play CD’s and I’ve learned how to operate it. Last night I asked Jeanie about playing the Newton DVD and found that it was similar to playing a CD. Neat!
Here is what actually happened… the TV was already on so I pushed the button to open the DVD tray. It is true, it worked just like a CD. The green lights are both on the DVD machine for DVD (vs VCR) and play. I pushed the DVD button on the satellite receiver and viola, the screen appeared. On closer examination I see that it is a merely a movie menu requiring some action on my part. Uh oh! Now what? We didn’t go over this scenario last night.
With a mouse or keyboard, I’d know exactly what to do at this point. It must be a remote controlled function. Which remote? It doesn’s seem that the satellite remote would have anything to do at this point so I focus on the other one. The other remote has up/down arrows for volume, level, and TV ch up/down. I try each of them. Nothing. Maybe it is the satellite remote. I push all of the arrow keys on it. Nothing. Back to the original remote… (thinking)… I recall that you can control more than one device with this thing so it must be set on the wrong one. The buttons say VCR-maybe but I don’t think so, TV-doubtful, DVD-most likely, CD-maybe, rcvr/tape-doubtful. I’m going with the DVD button. I try all six arrow buttons again. Nothing. DVD button, ENT button, and all six arrow buttons again. Nothing. I try every conceivable combination I can think of pointing the remote directly at the devices, the ceiling, the floor, out the door… nothing. Hmmm… I walk over to the DVD machine and push play. The movie starts.
That was easy. Now the movie is over and I’m looking at that cursed menu again. Scene selection is now highlighted. I’m guessing that if I push the play button on the DVD machine again it will go with that. What I’d really like to do is skip that and try the DVD-ROM features. What would Sir Issac do? I carefully examine the remote controllers again. Not counting fast forward and skip track buttons, there are ten arrow keys (four are sideways) and five component keys. Oops! There are blue component keys at the bottom. Now I see that I have tape, tuner, CD, DVD, video1, video2, video3 choices as well. The DVD machine is grey. Does that mean I push the black DVD button or the blue one? In addition to the large ENT button in the center of the device there is an OK button labeled disc, a rather large button without any markings or labels on it and several other buttons that I can only guess what purpose they may have. In all, there are 54 buttons on this remote.
The satellite remote has purple up/down arrows and pink ones. I try them all. It also has component selection buttons of VCR, TV, DVD, VCR2, AUX, and DirectTV. In all, it has 42 buttons. The possible combinations between these two devices boggles the mind. Newton invented calculus in order the determine the orbits of a mere nine planets. Before going that route, I’m going to look around to see if we have another remote controller somewhere or if the batteries are even working. Now the thought occurs to me that with all my button pushing today, Jeanie may never be able to get these machines to work together again. Maybe I’ll hide the remotes and just play dumb.
2006.02.02–Alfred, Ohio. Groundhog day! It was cloudy all day in these parts. I’m hoping Spring will soon be here. We have bulbs coming up already.
Doug wrote today and I thought it worth sharing a portion of his note.
2006.02.01–Alfred, Ohio. Joe and Angie stopped in tonight for a game of Trivial Pursuit. Good fun!
