Nice Spring day at Doyle Park.

I got up at 11:00 AM, Vicki and I went to Lucky's and picked up some charcoal lighter fluid. Then stopped at CVS for some diet soda pop.

Then we went to Franklin Park, there we saw that it was a little crowded and the picnic tables were all taken, so we headed on down to Doyle Park.  Doyle Park is beautiful, it's right on Santa Rosa Creek, and there are a lot of big oaks there.

We brought 4 chicken quarters, legs and thighs.  I saved some old used briquettes from previous users, added about 10 of my own briquettes, i made a little mountain of this stuff and then i added a lot of charcoal lighter fluid.  Whoosh, flames...

Added the chicken straight on the grill.  This is where i learned a lesson.
A.) I didn't bring a squirt bottle.  B.) BBQ Sauce is quite flamable.  When the
sauce drips on the coals it causes flames.   Normally you would quench the
occasional flames with a squirt bottle but i didn't have one.  So, adding A.)
plus B.) together we come to the following conclusion.  It is appropriate to
wrap chicken in foil before cooking, and let it steep in it's own juices.

Now the reason for going to the park in the first place was that i need practice setting up my tent.  I got the pieces out and looked at everything, gave a half hearted attempt to raise the thing and was unsuccessful.  So, tomorrow, i'm thinking about going back over there and putting some chicken in foil and cooking it that way, while the chicken is cooking, i want to enlist Vicki's help to set up the tent.  I feel reasonably assured that between the
two of us we can set this tent up.  If we can't well i'm just a sorry excuse for a man.

The park was real nice.  A gentle breeze was blowing. The sun was shining. The group next to us was celebrating a birthday.  There were probably 20 of them.  They were kind and even let me borrow a bic lighter to ignite my charcoal.  What kind of boyscout am i, not bringing a pack of matches to a BBQ?

Oh yeah, as a kicker, i forgot to mention, Vicki bought a pint of Macaroni Salad, and boy was it good with all those spanish olives in it!

Mid May!

I think that all the signs are pointing to a good summer.  The Buick is behaving reasonably nice.  I've been giving her good gas.  The higher octane seems to make her ping less.  I haven't been out to the River in a long time.  Back when I had the Dodge, I used to
make the loop, up Fulton, out River Road, all the way to the Coast road., south down the Coast road, and turn back inland at Bodega Bay.  The Dodge used to like it when I opened her up heading out River road.  Then there were the ess turns on the Coast road on the way back home, barely doing 20 MPH on the esses. These days, i get car sick on the Coast rd.  Fortunately, this isn't so bad when I'm the driver.  I remember a trip with Zack, we
had to pull over a few times so that i could barf.  This was in his new Toyota and it may have been the new car smell that made me sick.  I remember touring the wine country in his VW bus.  Anyway, his VW Microbus was an altogether slicker ride. There was plenty of room to stretch out and stuff.

I'm thinking with the prices of gas guzzlers coming down i might be able to trade up to a Van.  Van would be nice cuz I could carry stuff around out of the elements.  Then there is camping, picnicking, and DX (Distance) work with Ham Radio.

Meditation:  Meditation is a quiet state of mind and a stillness of the body.  I notice that my breathing slows down considerably when i'm meditating.  I really wish i had some control over my heart muscle.  It seems to beat 2x per second.  Pulse rate of 120 per minute is not
that unusual for me.  You would think, that if one could calm their mind and slow their breathing that naturally one could slow their heartbeat as well.

I think this is called a cold front.  It's dropped considerably in temp over the last few days.  I have friends who live in Alaska and I hate to be such a whimp, but it's 70 degrees in here and i'm freezing cold.  To make it worse our forced air system only has two modes and they both won't work at the same time.  So once we get a few warm days, the management switches the forced air from "Heat" to "Cool".  There's nothing i can do with the thermostat
that will make things better at this point.  I'm relegated to using the hand crocheted afghan that Gloria knitted for me. I still have it, and it is nice and long, so i can double it up
and cover myself nicely.

Oh that reminds me, i sent out a letter the other day and I addressed it to myself, and i put the destination address in the return address area.  Wasted 2 good stamps and felt like such a fool.

Wow, I've typed and surfed my way thru another evening. Pesto just reached up and tapped me on the shoulder.  That means in kittenese, 'It's time to start thinking about breakfast bub.'

Thanks to NBLUG, Make Magazine, Community Bicycle, O'Reilly Publishing, The Chicken Net, and Ham Radio in general,  for providing some focus and direction in
my life.

Thanks to John, Mark, Mark and Blake, Family, and Friends, and my sweet Vicki, it's been a sweet ride and i surely wasn't alone.

Don't forget about slashdot.com and wired.com!

PS:  Still looking for a good Volunteer Position that won't cross too many boundaries.  Something without real high expectations.  Let me know if you need my help.

PS:  If you know anybody who wants to let go of a big gas guzzling van, please let me know.  lots of windows are a big plus for me.

Stay safe and god bless, brr it's chilly, goodnight

April is gone!

I'll miss April's short showers and rainbows. I plan on getting two
new tires.  I'm replacing the front tires.  I think 215/65/r14 should work.

This year i'll have to smog.  The oxygen sensor that they put in so many
years ago sure is holding up nicely.  Let's see, headlights, oxygen
sensor, trying to think of any other work that has been done to the Buick.

I ran all over the place yesterday.  I finally got down to Wal-Mart and
found myself six pair of sox, three pairs of underwear and four pocket tee
shirts.  Not bad, but my first tee shirt didn't last one day, i got pizza sauce
on it.  I swear i really should wear a bib.

As usual, i've been helping Vicki with her computer.  i scanned her
computer twice last night.  Both scans came up empty handed.  We
deleted a lot of fluff out of her Resume folder, and hid a few icons. The
biggest problem is that her power button is sticking.  I honestly don't
know how to fix it short of taking the switch apart and maybe sanding
some rough edges down a bit.  So, keep the karma flowing, maybe we
can source Vicki a better computer.  I'll take her to CRC (C)omputer
(R)ecycle (C)enter next Saturday.  See if anything pops out at her.
Maybe a new laptop!