Looking back on 2014

Looking back on 2014

Good friend is incarcerated in a mental hospital, it's been
going on 2 years. I hope he's okay that can be a harrowing
experience. I know i was in the locked ward for 8 weeks.
That's nothing, i guess, barely time enough for the snow to
melt. Saw some professional body builder types they were
Navy boys. Such muscle definition i would love to build
like that. I remember how it burns to work your muscles.
Dad is hitting the gym three times a week and he's in his
mid seventies.

Well, I got my blood workup on Thursday, I should have
known not to do this going on a weekend. The nurses
went home and left me hanging for the weekend without
one of my primary medicines. The pharmacy is great but
they aren't open on the weekend or late at night. It's all
set up, to be as painless as possible.

Blake and I may be going trail busting next week, to see
first hand the effect of the rains upon the Laguna de Santa
Rosa I'll bring my binoculars and the HT (Handy Talky)
ask me about it some time, it's the ham radio version of a
walkie talkie, but it's more like a walkie talkie on steroids.
I'm running the equivalent of 3 AA batteries and i put out
around 2 watts, this lets me talk all over the county and
more. I've heard San Jose and Sacramento on our local
repeater.

I came up with something to do with the bike instead of
just leave it sitting here all the time, my buddy Jake will
take it (he needs it)... For a while until he gets himself
a better one. So, tonight i'll pump up the tires and get it
ready for him. I'll meet him at Support Group and turn
it over to him.  He needs to return it after he gets a better
bike. He said that the cable isn't a problem for him he can
repair it himself at Community Bikes.

Looking Back On 2014

I would be remiss if i did not discuss the latest in the
ongoing saga of Pesto my tuxedo kitten (cat)...
She is only taking in liquids and very little at that. She's
lost a lot of weight. She still sleeps in my bed with me.
She even crawls up on my chest and rests there while
i'm trying to sleep. At least she doesn't weigh 20 pounds
any more.  So, i'm humoring her, this morning it was
cereal and milk, this afternoon it was the broth from
a can of salmon that i opened.  She wanted potato chips
but refused salmon. I don't know what's going on with
her.

And back to the medicine situation. I haven't been
sleeping much, I laid down last night at 11:30 and
tossed and turned all night long until I officially got up
at 7:00 am.  I made a fruit smoothie and settled into the
computer for some peaceful quiet computer time.  I
noticed that Bonnie and Kat had been in Sacramento.
They left some very nice photographs on Facebook.
Bless them, both of them are great moms.  Kat finally
had to give in and get a girl doggy so that she could
have some estrogen vibes flowing in the QTH
(Household). All those boys and Kat.  How weird.

okay :)

-marcus

Leaves are turning to gold

Well, Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away. I'm not sure
which day it lands on but I know it's close.  All the trees on
Mendocino and Fifth have dropped their leaves. A friend of
mine is making some money sweeping up the leaves in front
of the businesses on 5th st. He also used to do the windows
along 5th st. Pretty enterprising guy, hope he made some
decent coin from those deals.

Pesto gave me a real scare, she stopped eating for a couple
of days.  I thought she had diabetes.  So i switched her
from dry kibble to moist canned cat food, and the change
was miraculous her dandruff went away, she stopped
shedding, and gained back some weight.  So, it's not even
that spendy. I can get big cans of cat food the same size
you might feed a large dog and squeeze three meals out of
it.

Still haven't got the bike fixed.  I would really like to stop
procrastinating and do that once and for all. Allison says
she wants to ride the bicycle, to and from the WMCA.

Been making google eyes at a young gal from support
group.  I actually think she likes me for me and not for
something i can become or might be.

Missed group tonight.  Should have asked Allison to go.

anyway, i have to pull a pork chop off the stove. Oh,
yeah.  I bought pork loin at Cash and Carry. I can hack
a lot of chops off a single loin. I actually cut it in three
pieces and freeze two of them. Then I will take them
out of the freezer and let em thaw in the fridge for a
day or two and then i'm ready to saw off hunks of pork
chops at my leisure. Pretty cool.  Also been getting
salad dressing by the gallon.  I picked up a nice spice
the other day, it has cayenne pepper, sea salt and
lime juice extract totally organic, no chemicals and stuff.
I like it a lot.

-marcus

It's mid autumn 2014

Mid Autumn 2014

I am asking in my meditation and prayer each day for
the willingness to release my old habits of eating and
the willingness to embrace new patterns.

Pesto is getting quite large.  I pick her up every once in
a while just to show her that I am a dominant male.
Other times I brush her completely from head to tail.

Looks like things are lining up for getting the bike
fixed this weekend.  I not only have a $ 20.00 bill I
have the desire and motivation to do it.  It's the same
thing I've described before, go to Community bikes and
pay $ 10.00 an hour for qualified help and hands on.

The Ford, the ford is behaving like a well heeled
steed.  It's really neat.  I like the cruise control it's
so much easier than feathering the gas on and off with
my foot. I just set the Cruise Control and let the
engine do it for me.  Also there is Overdrive available.

So, the plan for the weekend is to put the bike in the
back of the Ford and swing by the Saturday morning
food group, then make my way out to Wright Rd.
For the bicycle repair.  Needing repair is either the
front or the rear gear shifting, I can't remember at
this point.  Allison wants a bike, too. So, I can just
take her down there and we can both work for 5
hours and get her a $ 100.00 bike.

I haven't procured a new bird yet.  I look at the
empty cages all the time and wistfully remember
Burdy Burd.  He was such a trooper.  He was
great.  He could even say, 'Hi Burdy Burd'.

I have been Skyping with my Dad quite often and
I find it to be a very nice form of communication with
close ones.  Also Skype with Alan S. KE6IDU.

Gotta get the ham gear together and get ready for
field day next year. I wonder if i should take the bike.
Might be cool to run around the lake and stuff for
exercise.  Boy this drought is really something the
reservoirs are all really low and the water table is getting
there too.

Anyway, g'night

-marcus

Writers block.

Writer's block is the bane of all who seek to put pen to paper. Whether it's your ideas, motivation, or just your brain causing it, here's a few tricks to breaking that block.

You're staring at your page and you just can't seem to get the words out. You have ideas, but they're stuck at the customs checkpoint between your brain and your fingers. We've featured a few of these before, but these are some of the best strategies to really get yourself through the worst of it:

• Leave things when you're doing well: Force yourself to hold on the parts you're excited to write, and stop mid-sentence if you have to. You'll always be ready to come back and write more.
• Just write anything to get the words flowing: John Brandon at Inc. breaks his writer's block just by starting to write anything. This tip is the easiest to do. You can write something weird, funny, stupid, the most mundane thing in the world, or anything at all.
• Write about how it feels not to be able to write: Getting those first few words down is the toughest part, but now there's no excuse because you always have something you can write about. It won't be good, but it doesn't need to be.
• Keep an exciting scene or idea on hand: Jaime Todd Rubin at 99U recommends pulling out an emergency scene that your particularly eager to write. Whipping out an emergency scene can do three things for you: ensure that you make some sort of progress that day, reinvigorate your excitement for what you're writing again, and gives you time to see why you running in to writer's block to begin with. 
• Maintain a writing schedule: When have a set time to write, your brain will get better at being ready to scribble coherent thoughts over time. All you have to do is show up.
• Get verbal: Author Dayo Olopade suggests thinking aloud to get the creative juices flowing. Use a voice recorder and try and explain what you're trying to say out loud.

No matter what you're writing, it's a creative endeavor. We often get stumped when it comes to creativity because we're afraid that we aren't good enough, or that our ideas are bad. Embrace your bad ideas and get the words flowing. Eventually you'll have a fine-tuned, well-designed piece of work, but you have to spill the words onto the canvas first.

Allison mentioned Indian Summer.

September and all the students are back in school.
the Yaesu FT-2200 quit working last night.
The bike needs repair. I don't feel much like writing
right now.  I want to go camping. I should start
feeding Pesto individual portions twice a day.
I have a 1/2 cup measurement I could just use one
of those twice a day and she would be fine.
I'm thinking about sending the FT-2200 to HRO
in Sunnyvale.  The new truck is great.  It works
very nicely.  Aunt Bonnie is coming over soon and
I will put Skype on her laptop. That way she can
keep in touch with the cousins.

New Mentor Peter and I had a very nice chat
tonight in Cotati.  I had run out of brown rice and
was eating white rice but it wasn't healthy so I
have to get some brown rice tomorrow.  Brown
rice has some residual protein and a lot more
fiber.

I've been picking up these Pork Tenderloins and
they go a long way of keeping me fed with meat.
I'll cut the usual tenderloin in three pieces and
put two in the freezer and keep one out and just
saw steaks off the end of the cut. They are so
juicy and tender, i can't believe it.

-marcus :-)

Summer is almost over.

Yes, soon summer will be over.  I have wanted to go camping,
but i can't seem to get my life in order, I just want to spend one
night in the tent, in my sleeping bag.  I see bundles of firewood
at the grocery store and think, "that's just what i need". They
also have Mesquite BBQ charcoal. I wonder what cooking over
coals would be like. I would probably sleep like a baby.

Need to get the bike fixed. I bought a pump for the tires. I don't
know for sure if i need new inner tubes or not. Both wheels are
flat. The back rack needs to be re-attached. The main problem
with the bike is that the rear gears need their control cables
re-done.

Well, I just had a nice fruit smoothie.  I have yet to get the exact
amount of ice cubes for the perfect thickness.  I like it pretty
thick. Then it seems like ice cream.  yummy yummy.

Pesto the cat is doing okay but she takes after her master. It
seems that she could probably weigh 1/2 as much as she does
now and still be healthy.  But, who am i to judge?  She has food
any time she wants it, she has fresh drinking water.  And, I
give her loving when I can. She's a good kitty.

okay, g'night till next time.

-marcus

I am on a new path, this is a path that really challenges me.
It's a spiritual thing, plenty of praying and meditating. No,
Sugar no Flour. weigh and measure each meal.  I'm still
grappling with that, I want to rebel so badly. But i've been
pretty good about weighing and measuring.

Here I'll commit the food plan here tonight.  It starts with,

*** Breakfast
8 oz of sugar free fat free yogurt,
1 apple,
2 oz of steamed brown rice
2 tbsp of flax meal,
ice and water.  blended together smoothie style.

*** Lunch

6 oz of protein,
6 oz of salad
6 oz of vegetables
2 oz of steamed brown rice

*** Dinner

6 oz of protein
6 oz of salad
6 oz of vegetables
2 oz of steamed brown rice

No eating between meals, meals should be taken at the
same time every day so that the body knows what to
expect.

It's not some miraculous play that solves everything.  I
still crave foods that i can't have.  I still feel hungry
between meals.While nobody is perfect sticking to the
plan has obvious advantages, if not only for the colon
cleanse, then for the flavor of a lot of this food. I've
also been watching salt too, and without any junk food
what's actually going into my body is much healthier.
It's getting easier to prepare foods and what not.

One thing that bugs me is 6 oz of salad is almost a
whole bag of salad.  So, i have to either go over my
6 oz on the scale or put 1 or 2 oz of salad back in the
fridge for some other day.

I made my self some delicious oil and vinegar.  I took
a bottle of balsamic Vinegar and put 3 cloves of
garlic inside, then i did the same with a small bottle
of extra virgin olive oil.  The result is tasty and sorta
savory if that's a thing.

-marcus

Remembering to journal.

Writing a journal is an interesting concept. It provides a
relief and can be a concrete way of  'getting it all down'
on paper.  Yes there's stuff that you don't talk about in a
public journal like this one.  Hey, there's stuff I don't
talk about anywhere.  That's why the release from blogging
is so rewarding. Here I go again without a topic. 

What are useful topics for me to discuss, food, my pets,
the vehicle, my bicycle.

I cooked a 9 pound pork shoulder last night in the oven
from 7:45 pm till 1:45 am. At 275 degrees. I used Honey
Mustard BBQ sauce on it and added some Sriracha to that
for a bit of bite. Sriracha is an Indian condiment, it's a
medley of garlic and red chilis. The only problem with this
is I tend to eat my way around the roast. Just eating up the
sweet parts and leaving the bland stuff for later. I also noted
that it's much better heated.  Right now I'm having a bowl of
instant mashed potatoes with salt and hand cracked pepper,
but I'm all out of butter so it's not perfect. I think in a few
minutes I'm going to have a fried egg sandwich. That'll
be very tasty, I have American cheese and mayo.

Birdy bird my Cockatiel died the day after they cooked the
apartment.  I took him out in his cage but i guess i brought
him back too soon.  Yeah the place was like a sauna and
I still didn't think he would be so sensitive.  I feel pretty
bad about losing him. He had been a boon companion.
For the better part of 10 years.  Pesto is a good girl too.
She doesn't beg much and just eats about anything I give
her so long as it's 'cat food'.  I tried giving her canned
food for a while, and gourmet cat food at that, to the tune
of $ 1.00 a day.  I'm sorry that was just too rich for my
blood, I went back to good old Purina kibble.  She's okay.
She doesn't howl like the old kitty did, I just thought that
the old kitty was in heat when she howled like that.

My Bike needs the rack put on the back.  I lost the screws.
That's a shame, cause the rack is useful. I'll look around
tomorrow and see if i can find the screws. I put them in an
Altoids tin box. I have the nicest seat on the bike.  It's a
gel padded jobber and it's very comfortable.  I just have
to carry an extra chain so that the seat doesn't get ripped.
It has a quick release on the seat post and can be removed
quite easily.  Maybe next Saturday I'll get the work done
on the bicycle.

Well, off the top of my head that's all i can come up with
tonight, so I'll sign off now.  Good night!

 

Meatball Sub

Well, it's almost been six months without bedbugs.
The bedbug guy from 'the hitmen' eradication team
will be here this afternoon, but i hope it's soon
because i want to go get a pizza at Papa Murphy.
Pesto is really plump, I wonder if she has diabetes
or a thyroid disorder.  She's so darn large and she
sleeps all the time.  It's funny, the sun is going in and
out behind clouds today.  I can feel the radiation on
my face when the sun is out from behind the clouds
and then a nice cool feeling as it ducks back behind
the clouds. I wish it would stay behind the clouds
all the time.

Had a meatball on dutch crunch, with provalone
and peppers and onions.  That is my favorite
sandwich, I currently like it even better than pastrami.
The meatball is very mild and soothes the stomach.
The meatball sauce is very moist and flavorful.
Don't get me wrong, I still like a Pastrami on light
rye.  But anyway there are probably a hundred
different sandwiches that are very tasty.

I started Javascript at Codeacademy.  I'm currently
stuck on lesson 13.  I have to write a program that
well, let's see...  Program that picks from 3 different
states. I can't remember what they are right now but
it's complex enough that I'm really scratching my
head over it.  Maybe I should go back to Python
another programming language. Which is slightly
more forgiving.

Wow, It's sweltering in here.  I wish the sun would
just go behind the clouds and stay there, I don't need
to be warm right now.  Sheesh...

Given some thought into getting a new rat.  I still
have not picked out a bird yet.  I did find some
arrows at Walmart.  I think i'll buy 6 arrows and
three broadheads and three target points.

Anyway going to go sweat in shame here, see ya.

-marcus

Thinking about turtles

Today I was thinking about turtles.  They are cool.
we had a pair of turtles when we lived in Campbell
Ca.  Seems that the guy at the pet store was a newbie.
He sold us some soft shelled turtles that were more
expensive than the box turtles we were supposed to
get.  They, called and we took them back to the guy.
We didn't get the box turtles after all.  They were
living in our bathtub so you know that wasn't going
to last.

I want to bake a Papa Murphy's pie one of these days.
Papa Murphy is take out pizza, where you get the
pie with all raw stuff, and bake it at home, they weigh
close to 5 pounds for a combination. They are BIG!!!
The only problem with this setup is getting the pie to
the apartment in one piece, being 5 LBS they are a
little on the floppy side.  The store I'm thinking about
is near the College on Mendicino. 

I picked up a new set of headphones with a boom mic
and a web cam.  To the tune of around $ 35.00 This
will surely help me make Video calls to family and
friends.  I don't know how else to describe them.
The cans (headphones) are comfortable, they fit fine.
The camera is a wee little thing, but it takes
exceptional video.  Who knows maybe some day
I'll be seeing you on Google Chat or Skype. 

Pesto is a heavy kitty, I was showing her off to Scott
in video conferencing last night, Scott gave me a walk
around tour of his flat.  She was resting on the arm of
my couch right behind my head. He said introduce me
to this kitty of yours, and i plucked her off the couch
and held her up to the camera and she wanted to get
down.  She comes up on the bed at night and purrs
her little heart out, but she hates to be picked up and
held.  I think it's mostly because of her weight.  She,
tolerates petting and brushing and like I said her little
motor really starts revving when she gets brushed or
any kind of attention.

Scott, was conducting the tour of his flat with his
iPhone, that was pretty cool.  Lets all hope that he
gets rehired by J.C. Penny, as a full time employee
this time, we can hope and pray for this.

Theresa, called a week ago, I'll have to give her a call.
I wonder if she has Skype or Google + hangouts.
Well that's about the sum and total of my free writing
stamina for today.  So, now a proofread and a publish.
And another post will be finished.

-marcus

.22 ruger airgun

Yes, I know I get it, you need to write every day.

I will try hard to write more as days go by.  Facebook
is great, everybody is so nice. I'm going to be doing the
Skype thing.  I think that once my dad has his Skype
set up we can talk for less on the Skype line.

I just recently installed Skype and had a lot of problems.
Then I checked in the 'unused desktop icons' folder and
found that I already have Skype installed.  I tried a few
contacts and there was no connection. Don't know
what's going on with that, but I'll try some more later.
Seems to me like it kept stalling at the 50% mark.  I think
it's $ 3.75 for a month and $ 20.00 for a year.  I just
wonder if they would take a traveler's check or a money
order.  Sure hope so.

I picked up taco shells, a quart and a half of double
fudge brownie ice cream, ground meat, grated cheese,
romaine lettuce, a turkey breast, a rack of ribs, some
cat food and some kitty litter.  That was all at Target.
Of course the reason i was at Target was because I
wanted to pick up a bread making machine. They
didn't have them or they were all sold out.  I'll call
back and talk to customer service about a rain check.
The ribs are pretty much thawed.  I'm thinking about
just putting them in the oven at 200 degrees for like
5 hours.  They should be done by then.  Not much
meat on these pork baby back ribs anyway.  I ate the
whole quart and a half of double fudge brownie ice
cream.  A quart of milk, 3 tacos with romaine and
grated cheddar and jack.  Then I jumped in a hot shower
and soaked until I felt like a wet noodle.  That left me
dripping with perspiration.  Which strangely enough
feels real refreshing.

I misplaced the screws to screw the bike rack onto
the back of the bike.  I want that so that I can hang
paniers on the there.  So far the bike only has 2 speeds
slow and slower.  It's okay, I'll get around to getting it
fixed sooner or later.  Was going to pick up a Ruger
.22 cal Airgun but there's no place to shoot it. So I
might skip that.  It's not like they are going to stop
selling air guns.

Pesto is obese, I can't believe that didn't trigger the
spell checker, 'obese' apparently that is the correct
spelling.  Nice that there's a spelling checker built into
this blogger.

Well the blog started quickly, and now it will come to
a rest as quickly as it got started.  Look for more in the
future.  I'm all in on this Blogging adventure.  Hope that
something comes of it.  Toodles TTFN

-marcus

Okay, my tummy is slushing around like a half full
tank of gas.  I picked up a terrible stomach flu.  I was
incapacitated for about 15 hours.  And it was BAD.
Seems like every time I went horizontal i wanted
to leak and there was no time to spare in getting
to the water closet. 

I keep looking at my empty bird cage and thinking
i need to get another bird.  I'm thinking that i'll get
the typical budgie, (parakeet). Or maybe a pair.

The diabetes is slowly taking hold, i have frequent
urination and blurry vision. 

I took the car to the shop and i paid $ 150.00 for a
tune up.  The result is that the car is worse now than
it was before it went in.  I replaced parts, plugs and
rotor, and cap, and wires...  No improvement at all.
I was really looking forward to some improvement.

Well, Friday was supposed to be the CW (Morse -
Code) class and i missed it cause i was sick in bed.
Now I just have to ask myself, do I really want to
commit to 2 hours a week and a drive up to Airport
Blvd.  Of course I looked up the place on a map, 
and there will be friendly faces there for sure. Ha ha. 

The problem with warming the car up for 15 minutes
in the morning and 5 minutes an hour later is that it
burns up a lot of gas.  I'm going thru 2 gallons to
warm up the car.  It's kinda disgusting.  I have
thought about selling the car back to the state of CA.
and starting over.  I heard there's a deal, cash for
clunkers.  $ 1,500 for a running car.  That's not far off
from what i would like to get for it if i were to sell it.
I get so many compliments on it, you wouldn't believe.
I was thinking that i could probably ask $ 2,500 for
it.  That may or may not be a pipe dream.

Since I've taken up the pipe i only seem to smoke
my tobacco every 3 or 4 days or so.  I would like
a nicer pipe, a clay pipe maybe, or one with a bend
in it like Sherlock Holmes uses.  My $ 10.00 special
is pretty hokey.  Well time to edit and surf off to
somewhere else.