Alopexian Philosphy

Latter Swoon June 2007

2007-06-30T21:31:00.000-04:00

Mon 18 Jun When Paul McCartney's 65....
I'm still stuck on the story of the Frank Franklin, just past the halfway point. Meanwhile, I started making calls for appointments. I added the hernia surgeon to the dentist. I still have much to schedule. Deapite the problems over the weekend, I almost finished my calendar for July. I have nineteen picures already, due to my new method of pulling them off the internet. I also updated my online diary, with the thought of having an intellectual diary as well.

Late last week, I tried to recall when I first went to Shea Stadium. Fortunately I could look up on the internet when the Giants beat the Mets 7-6 in 11 innings. It turned out to be on a Thursday, 21 August, not in July as I'd thought. The writeup must have been the following Tuesday -- not the other way around -- in the Wilkes-Barre Record.

Wed 20 Jun
I've been having my own June swoon. I failed to get to the Robert Alllen workshop. Hopefully, someon will call again so I can attend the workshops.

Sun 24 Jun
It's been another frustrating weekend as both Rosetta Stone and the Verizon internet refuse to work. I started a course with Block, and it went down. I am seriously thinking of changing to Comcast. I am getting nothing done.

Thu 28 Jun
I'm still trhying to get over the impending operation on a double hernia in the groin. I have the arrangements at work. Next I must arrange things at home, which includes Liberty Resources.
My hernia has been aching me on the left side all day. Meanwhile, I bought the third and fourth novels on Alex Rider.

Sat 30 Jun
My hernia has been acting up today, alhtough my sister insists that a laproscopic operation on a hernia is no big deal. My trip to Frankford Lower Bucks lasted an hour and a half. Fortunately I waited until today to get the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew second season. It costs five less at Walmart over Best Buy.

I finished "Skeleton Key" this morning. I would have never figured out how the case would have ended. Anthony Horowitz leaned how to write quite well.

June Swoon 2007

2007-06-17T19:35:00.000-04:00

Sat 2 Jun
I had quite an attack of existential nausea this afternoon. I went food shopping for my mother and brother, after I had gone for myself last night. I spent a considerable amount of time on the new computer, trying to put on programs. I used the compatablity modes whenever I could.

Tue 5 Jun
Verizon online hass not been down since Saturday morning. Apparently they have fixed the digital scubscriber line. Meanwhile I'm lumping the MIT site with organic chemistry and astrophysics. I don't think we covered some of those organic chemistry thirtyone years ago. I wonder if the class received its money's worth at the Wilkes-Barre Campus of Penn State!

Wed 6 Jun
Kill Sirhan Bishra Sirhan!
Block was an insulting mess. I don't have to attend classed for rehire; I can take them online. Furthermore there are 112 classed online! (as of 16 June, still not up yet). I should drop "Everyone's Return".

Tue 12 Jun
I have returned to DIG. Last night I downloaded Dolf De Roos' program.

Thu 14 Jun
I picked up the final two Alex Rider books in an intrigue on how Anthony Horowitz handles his teen James Bond in later adventures. I also wanted to examine the schadenfreue of nearly killing Alex. I read "Colorado Conspiracy" of the Hardy Detective Agency.

Sun 17 Jun
I read "Dangerous Reflection" with the Hardy Detective Agency. Although I did enjoy it -- despite the loanguage (PG15) -- I found the change of Joe Hardy into an adopted child too farfetched. The ideal of an evil twin was entertaining. Because I personally would have enjoyed playing Joe Hardy myself, I found the Joe in that story too light for me.
I started "Ark Angel", the sixth of the Alex Rider series, and I was amazed how well written the beginning was. Anthnoy Horowitz must have learned this craft over decades.
Last night the computer gave me a hard time and the internet went down. Once again I had to reinstall Rosetta Stone. I finally replaced the ethernet connection to fix the internet. The wire was just too loose to keep the internet up to snuff.

Memorial Weekend to June

2007-06-03T19:33:00.000-04:00

Wed 23 May
I sent the email about paying for the next round of sessions as my major project this summer. My minor project on copywriting has already begun, along with the Golden Needle.
Ed Schrachner's "Genius" is worth one more pass before I declare it finished. now I am going through Remote Viewing from Dennis Watley. I am trying to get all this synergized.
Tomorrow I have Toastmasters, the third meeting without a speech. However, I need that new computer first before I think about speeches.
Unfortunately Block will kick in all too soon in June. Of course, I barely went though any of my projects this month. Block has become a nuisance!
Monday night we had visitors, and one is an advocate. Hopefully we'll get some action.
I spent past of my open hour outside in the sun while listening to the first exercise of remote viewing. It reminds me of the psychic energy of Wicca.

Sat 26 May
We went to PathMark last night, and came home at dusk. The temperature rose into the 30º's so all I did outside was mow the from garden and the front lawn. I finished cleaning my room, but the bookcases at the head of the bed need cleaning again. I put in the air conditioner as well.
Downstairs I have much to sling. The modem continues to be inconsistently malfunctioning. I drew about a third of June with a third left to finish.

Mon 28 May
The twentythird anniversary of my inglorious retreat from State College loomed in my mind yesterday morning. I thought of the church I attended that day, and how much time has passed since then versus the time I used to go there to that time in 1984. It was only twenty years earlier in 1964-7!
Then I bought a new computer at Circuit City. Vista may be an improvement over Windows 98, but it is incompatable with many of my discs! My struggle with the internet was no better.

Tue 29 May
The internet ran most of yesterday until late afternoon. It's been off since then, and I'm losing patience. I will pick up a scanner and a printer from Circuit City. Before I confront any other problems, I must abate the obsolete!
I read the second book on Alex Rider, "Point Blanc"", and I was up until 11:30 last night to finish it. Now I must resume my own mystery, for I am only half finished writing it.
I went onto the MIT site (when the internet was working) and I wanter to print the instructions for astrophysics. My printer and scanner are simply incompatable.

Thu 31 May
Last night the internet was back on, but it ran ever so slowly. This morning the internet was back to speed. Meanwhile the website ar Rosetta Stone has a method around the incompatablity with Vista, and it worked. I've yet to do the same with other programs so far. My next visit is the website of Instant Immersion.
Michael Masterson's AWAI program arrived yesterday, but only now am I getting to it. I worked through yesterday, and I almost did so again today. Mom has a swollen left vamp. so I had to dress my brother. Therefore, I have the van (for I had not the time to walk to work), and I"ll pick up the rest of the antibiotic the dermatologist prescribed this afternoon.

But It's a Morning in May2007

2007-05-05T17:35:00.000-04:00

Fri 27 Apr
After I came home from Toastmasters last night, I watched the episode of "Maude's Dilemma", which I bought from Best Buy. The actors looked so old, but then I watched it on a small black-and-white television in November 1972.

Sun 29 Apr
"Walter's 50th Birthday" on Maude was too close to reality for me. Meanwhile, I just do a task at a time. I trimmed the roses of Sharon, transplanted the hostas, finished my calendar for May, and I just varnished most of the deck.
I'm finding my admiration for Alex Pettyfer diminishing, first with the tattos, then the smoking. Supposedly he won't reprise the role of Alex Rider. Do we have another River Phoenix on hand?

Wed 2 May
I have the office to myself today, and I continued to play my old radio shows. Some of these tapes are so old, they should be rerecorded. I've lost eonough shoes from breakage.
Despite the chance to call in private, I cannot get appointments yet and the disspute over the antibiotic the dematologist prescribed remains at an impasse.
I did get started rewriting Frank Franklin and redoing it on the internet, this is , of what I left on the internet.
I've almost gone through all the first season of Maude, and I certainly did not understand it.

Fri 4 May
Today I've finished the transfer of Frank Franklin form two years ago in another notebook. Now I must write and transfer it to the internet.
My first free week produced nothing. It's a discouraging beginning which threatens to continue my movement to nowhere.

Sun 6 May
Yesterday I cleaned the van, washed the deck, and mowed the lawn. I needed the bath. I also put up screens and the storm windows.
Today was cool (16º), so I planted the ferns, the corn and the sunflowers. As we approach the ninth, I hope to plant much more.

Wed 9 May
Sitting in the kitchen, coffee on the boil...
Staring at the ceiling, goodbye olive oil...
I'd thought my trip to the Robert Allen workshop would be my method of conquering existential nausea. I left the workshop full of existential nausea! I felt no improvement over twentyseven years ago, when I had my first bout of existential nausea. Nothing over the two and a half hours was a surprise.

Fri 11 May
I put in an hour and a half overtime just to catch up on one day. I am outside today, the first time since Tuesday. I still have nonbuyer's remorse, but I haven't researched the offer because the internet has been down since Wednesday night.
Toastmasters was okay for muddling through, as I was timer and evaluator, but like the rest of my life, it doesn't seem to be leading me anywhere.

Mon 14 May
The weekend muddled mostly: a little cleaning, a little varnishing, and still nonbuyer's remorse. The news about the internet came out yesterday: the modem is the culprit. I should have suspected it, for it has become more difficult to get online over the past few weeks. I'd thought that the capacity of the computer was at fault. (Ed Note: this statement is not proven as of 3 June.)

Tue 15 May
Now begins the marathon session of the primary. Someone from the Robert Allen Institute called among the campaigners, and I am about to remedy my reluctance of existential nausea from last Wednesday. At this point, I don't see how I am going to get through the training here. Online will be easier.
A touch of summer permeates with temperatures into the 30º's. Meanwhile, I discovered that the Zone Alarm was blocking my brother's access to the internet. Then I went downstairs, and my modem was working as well!
Therefore, I obtained an application from the RAI from the email. I'd thought I couldn't get it until Wednesday, when the modem, comes, so I have a little time.

Thu 17 May
The modem came on Tuesday, but it didn't work right. Last night the internet was down due to the thunderstorm. Therefore, I still haven't been online with the replacement modem.
Yesterday I put in nine hours straight to catch up on one day off. The mail wasn't even done on Tuesday, because no one was here to do it! It seems to be a problem every time I take a day off.

Frid 18 May
Well, the final blow fell on the computer last night. I tired once again to get the new modem hooked up, and after an hour, the consultant and I could not get the modem hooked to the comp. However, when I put the first modem in place, I did get back on the internet. With no disc drive on the comp, there is no way to change anything. It does end the problem of resetting the comp with the modem once I replace the comp.

Mon 21 May
This weekend I never left the property on Saturday and Sunday. I cleaned only half of my bedroom, finding much undone and unfinished. I did throw our a few items. I have no use for any of them. Puprle Heart picked up our first bag of the year.
The modem works intermittently, yet I don't see anything worth a purchase in computers. I should have grabbed one earlier this month. Perhaps next weekend will reward my patience.
I jumped at the copywriting course, but I'm not sure it went through, for the modem conked out right afterwards. I decided the worst case was a course in marketing. It should be helpful.
I should prepare my proposition to the RAI's training for real estate. I see no other way to find out if it's for me.

No Longer Taxing in April 2007

2007-04-22T17:14:00.000-04:00

Fri 13 Apr
The final of the marathonic latterweeks has come on the this fifteenth time. My schedule over the final four days looks hectic, particularly Sunday, so the final grasp for peanuts runs well. After today, I've have more room to get decent sleep every other day.
My thoughts for books continue, especially when I hear songs from over three decades ago. There is just so much to face as the clouds of tax season dissipate.
The other issue remains with my learning capacity. I will need much of the time I receive back to solve the problem. I shall have to solve what I can over the next thirtyeight weeks. I've already signed for Everyone's Return as the only solution to the programs this summer/

Sun 15 Apr
A noreaster hit the area with enough rain to reduce our sparse clientele. Unfortunately today is not the final day for preparation.
On my mind remains Alex Rider: Stormbreaker. I first watched it in French with Spanish subtitles. Alex Pettyfer remains a blond cuty with freckles and cleft, although the plot has a questionable dénouement. Otherwise, the teenaged James Bond has the useable gadgets.

Mon 16 Apr Three hours left at Block
The criticism of "Stormbreaker" goes beyond the change of the critical character. How did this same character stop the car after shooting the driver? Later we see the BMW with the plates of RID3R with only bullet holes. The Portuguese man-o-war also was unbelievable in its ability to electrocute fish. They usually sting , which could kill a human.
Right before I went to work, it began to snow! I had a devil of a time trying to get here in fogged windows. I have the office to myself, and I tried to sleep on the floor without success. I suppose by the middle of the week, I'll switch back to normal after the noreaster leaves the area. Thereafter I'll begin to resolve all I've neglected for fifteen weeks.
Back to Alex Rider, I wonder what it would be like to get inside such a character: to think and feel what he thinks and feels as the story proceeds. Wouldn't it be fun to be a teenager again?

Wed 18 Apr
For the first time this year, I'll be going home after work on a Wednesday, Thrusday, and Friday. Now begins the reorientation. In addition, the dermatologist has placed me back on antibiotics. My internet has been down since Sunday, so I must correct that problem before I can move into other projects.

Fri 20 Apr
At long last, a free weekend approaches, with so much to do. I suppose it's best to take on task at a time.

Mon 23 APr
This weekend had a huge interruption on Sunday with five hours of hair cutting and restauranting. I did get my calendar for May started, after I bought new sheets. I updated my online diary, and this morning I was contemplating my latest mystery, the one I haven't finished since 1996.
I took a survey of the yard. Parts of the fence need cementing, the grass needs sowing in the back, we need plants back around the extention, and I must fence and plant my gardens. Of course, the groundhog has returned, the shed needs roofing and mildew proofing.
I also have several directions to go academically: copywriting, writing, enrolled agency, and ccertified accounting. I must make a list!

Random thoughts about Alex Rider:
The word that struck me in the bonus track on casting the character is "incredibly brave". Why would a fourteen-year-old be so brave? He's reluctant to get into imilitary intelleigence just as George Król is reluctant to get into detection. I also noted that the story gives only significant clues supposedly to keep it moving along \, which may not have been the case of Anthnoy Horowitz's book.

Thu 26 Apr
I return to Toastmasters today for the first time in the new year. I will also be at Barnes and Noble tonight, along with looking at computers at Best Buy.
Alex Rider reminded me of Frank Franklin., and I tried to write it two years ago without finishing it. I have down only about 2500 words, aiming for a novelette of thirty thousand words. Maybe Barnes and Noble has Alex Rider books.

I've Got Pieces of April

2007-04-02T20:57:00.000-04:00

Thu 29 Mar
My Easter basket is 43 today, and it's been 37 years since I shoveled snow on Easter night 1970. Unlike the snowstorm on Good Friday 1982, the storm in 1970 did not ominously predict a bad year with its presence.
Last night at Block was a series of misses. One of my holds returned, but I still couldn't finish the return. I lost a hold, leaving me with one besides the one I had last night.
With the end of tax season just a few weeks off, I must being preparations next week for those appointments.

Fri 30 Mar
I didn't even notice that Easter was this early in 1975; I'd thought that 1986 was the first time on this date. It was on this date in 1986 when I answered the want ad from Vie de France. Sadly twenty years later, that job come the closest to what I wanted to do. Perhaps it's a fine factor in my struggle to reconstruct my fundamental goals.
In Scientific American's "The Ghosts of Galaxies Past", the article postulates that many of the stars in our galaxy actually are part of other galaxies which the Mily Way accreted. It explains Arcturus, which crosses over the disk of the Milky Way from 11 pcs away.

Mon 2 Apr
Thrityfive years ago was Easter, and it'll be another fiftyfive years before it happens again. I was very busy at Block yesterday with five clients who placed me a c-note ahead of my draw. Friday and Saturday nights were a waste.
At this point in time -- way early -- Hillary Clinton runs ahead of other Democrats with 26 million. It occurred to me that the precedents of the wives of governors who could not run again might provide the path to the first woman as president.

Thu 5 April
Last night the bureaucracy showed itself . At one end, the management wants as many students as possible in the course for the enrolled agent, while hyping the prerequisites to senior tax anaalysts and four hundred credits! Gleim, anyone?
On this date in 1969, the day before Easter had my awaiting my first purchase of a television set the following Monday. I had an encounter with Irish the hamster and a highest temperature since I had taken over Mountaintop Route 7 of 47ºF (9º).
Concerning chemical engineering from twentyfive years ago, I thought that perhaps a complete immersion (similar to foreign languages) is necessary to master a subject.

Sun 8 Apr
My first Sunday off this year feels so weird.I finally decided to concede to the schedule at Franklin Mills for the summer. There's little else I can do besides complain.

Mon 9 Apr
I just had a seven-hour marathon because I had started a halfhour ealry. There were nearly forty dataentries and I didn't get through the invoices.

Tue 10 Apr
The appointment passed without incident. I was not needed at Block, so I retired early. Unfortunately, I did not sleep well. I walked to work, and it was cold (nearly freezing) on the tenth anniversary when a van hit me in the crosswalks.
The regular job continues to tax my time. I may have to opt for overtime soon if the work doesn't let up.

Wed 11 Apr
Easters of 1971 and 1982 come to mind today., I begin the final six days of tax season. Each day clears the day of the week as my cold clears up.

Mid-March Madness

2007-03-24T17:14:00.000-04:00

Mon 12 Mar
Last weekend at Block was even worse than the weekend earlier. I had one client for $28, which is really poor for fourteen and a half hours. Of course, the weekend was shortened because of the Schrubbish of earlier daylight savings time. Now, I must arise in the dark, which I hated in October. It reminded me of the harebrained move to daylight savings time on Sunday, 6 January 1974! There just isn't daylight to save!
It is time to ease into the preparation for after tax season. Right now a lull, like the one last year in mid-March, gives me pause. There are only five weeks left, and the weather hints that spring is settling in. I still have snow scenes in the front window. The Easter material comes up soon, preferably after Saint Patrick's Day.

Thu 15 Mar Cavë ïdës Mariï, Caesar.
I thought about the nonsense over reading while on the toilet, and it occured to me that the lasck of progress there parallels the lack of progress in the rest of my life. I placed Adam Morgan on my website for astronomy as a reminder. The obervatory at WBPSU must have seen him!
I brought out Andy Fuel's "Wealth without a Job", and the end of tax season is almost in view as winter melts into spring. Ultimately I hope to have enough leads to pursue by this time in April.
Planning for succes begins with the purpose of life. Well, I have no inherited purpose; I have no purpose.

Fri 16 Mar
We're having a boderline storm in the region with snow in Allentown and sleet here. I am hoping Franklin Mills closes early tonight.
Well, it's one month until the end of the tax season. I finally had a client at 7 PM last nigth, which balanced out last night and Wednesday night.. It's time to plan the afterseason.

It's turning from sleet to snow outside, while I await news that Franklin Mills is closing early tonight. I've yet to have such an event this tax season.

Sat 17 Mar
The icestorm really fouled up today. We left my brother home with the dog because I could not shovel the frozen slop. Despite the sun's being out over twelve hours today, much of it remains frozen and in the way.

Thu 22 March
The frozen slop is taking a long time to melt. Despite continual days above melting, the stuff persists.
What slao persists is a certain "senior" member of Block, who's into bullying. There were four of us there until 9:30. I asked to leave, and she protested. So instead of leaving, the three of us stayed. I am asking management about this nonsense. The receptionist had me I may go.
Meanwhile, the move toward the offseason continues to drag. Sometime next week, I'm going to start making appointments. There may be a delay if we can't find the list of doctors.

The slop persiosts in warm weather with leakiy roofs and piles of frozen slop. I finally arose at 5:30. only to find the overnight maintainance on the computer didn't work. I used the Macavee uninstaller with little result.
My dream from yesterday morning occurred in a geography book in sixth grade. The past few days have had my reflecting on 1974 and 1975, because I intend to construct some of the goals I had considered then.

Of course, the various goals remain ignored. so I must redefine them. It's like rediscovering old songs by finding their lyrics on the internet.

Sat 24 Mar
Yecch! I knew I shouldn't have come to Block tonight. It looks as if I'll just waste three and a half hours here. I'd rather be home. I don't even (no more entry)

Tue 27 Mar
Yesterday will be the last time the earliest Easter I've witnessed came on that date. 1967, 1978,, and 1989 all had Easter on that date, and I remember each of them. From "The Man Called Fintstone" in 1967, through "Shadow Dancing" with Andy Gibb, to seeing Joe Paterno's trip some twenty meters ahead in 1989, each Easter had its individuality.
Last night I finished most of the remained left of the calendar for April. I should finish it tonight. It took nearly three mohts to draw it. It's been a long tax season.

March the Lion, 2007

2007-03-17T21:39:00.000-04:00

Fri 2 Mar
The pace at both jobs slackened this week, so I took today off at Bodek. I received three payments today, which boosted me toward $5000.
I checked on Wachovia's website, which revealed that they don't invest in real estate. I also reached Primerica to finish the last of the corrections for withdrawing monthly premiums from the new account.

Sat 3 Mar
Before I came to Block at 5 PM -- and didn't have enough time to do everything at home the past two days -- the hanging clients resolved the issue and one of my holds may not come back because she took back her W-2's.
I spent some time in the basement with old books barely read and heavily paid. What should I throw out?

Sun 4 Mar
As winter fades int spring, the tax season slackens. I don't look forward to the end of the season, for there is more than enough work outdoors, not to mention the first summer with the extention.
This weekend seems to continue the downward trend since February began. Each weekend is even more worthless than the previous one. I might as well have stayed home both Friday and Saturday evenings. I certainly would not want to do this job all year long. I'd rather be home.
Since 3 PM, it's been quite dead in here. Unfortunately, we're not closing at 5 PM like last Sunday. There are five Sundays left, three this month.

Wed 7 Mar
It was brutally cold yesterday, reminiscent of Willkes-Barre or State College: -10º and windy. This morning it was snowing and still -10º. More snow has followed, but it is not enough to close Franklin Mills. Here I stand about forty days until the end of tax season. Then all the delayed decisions come to roost, taking out the spring.

Sat 10 Mar
I arose at 4:30 AM, and everyone was up. I took my bath, and we went to PathMark around 7:30. A trip to Lou's put us home by 9 AM. I figured we lose an hour tonight, so getting up so early was no big deal.
I did some of my tasks, but I still had to waste four hours at Block. There were four of us there and only one client. I called twentyfour clients tonight (all from the "no answer" list) to go with the sixteen I had called last night. This weekend may prove to be even worse than last weekend. I will have only twelve and a half hours before I must return to Block, due to the spring forward.,

Latter February 2007

2007-03-13T05:20:00.000-04:00

Tue 13 Feb
"DNA" recalls biology in high school. I am casting a critical eye on the class, thirtyfour years laster. I just wish I could read as fast as I used to back then.
Meanwhile, it's trying to snow today, which looks more like slop. I have pills to obtain before I get home in this weather. I just snoozed in the van for fifteen minutes I did not sleep well last night.

Wed 14 Feb
The snow last night turned into sleet and I had some time trying to get to work. I had to office to myself, so I slept on the floor during lunch.
Meanwhile, I had a boring review with an increase of 3.2%, barely keeping up with inflation. I would call it a cap, or a mediocre pay for a mediocre job in medocrity., I certainly will make too much for the saver's credit this year!

Ah! the memories of forty years ago today. It was a clash of mean grandmother and drunken teacher. The illustrious teacher told us the Firday before Valentine's Day that we were not exchanging valentines. Then she changed her mind on Monday. Subsequently, I endured my mother's complaints that evening and transferred that anger into the actual valentines. One of them, who really deserved it for teasing me, gave it back. Mean grandmother, instead of asking why it all happened, merely said she'd give it back as well.
Little did I know how close we were from leaving at that time. Perhaps it merely made the move more enjoyalbe, leaving only drunken teacher until June.

Thu 15 Feb
Last night the snow and the wind suggested an early closing. Nearly 7:30, after most preparers went home, I had my first client. I spent part of the morning trying to clear the ice on the front sidewalk in a windy -9º temperature. The sun shone throughout the day, but it was cold. When I came home, I found the icy covering still along the driveway, making it hazardous to walk. Tonight looks daed again.

Fri 16 Feb
Last night was a bust at Block. I had one "client" who simply wanter to figure out how to file. Single without dependents would have cause her to owe ~$120. I suppose had I done it, I wouldn't have been paid anyway!
I asked for Bureaucrats' Day off, so I'll have one day off before Easter during tax season. At the very least, I must clean up the msees from the changing of the accounts. I should make up a list.

Tue 20 Feb
My day off was not enough to clean up seven weeks of neglect. I had too much unknowns pop up like zits.
When I arrived at work, I found no one had taken out the mail. I hust had fallen by a nearby shop on the ice and whacked my left thigh and less my left elbow. I almost whacked my head on the wall. Then a set of paperwork had remained missing.

Fri 23 Feb
Tuesday and Wednesday seemed to gang up on me. I even expected Block to have a disaster await me on Wednesday night. Actually it was last night that I spent much time administratively and commissionless. My only client did not have a photo ID, so she may come back on Sunday. The halfway point of the tax season is today. I have a session tomorrow afternoon.

The workflow slowed, so I began to transfer the older paperwork from the mills. I also moved some catalogs toward simplifying the storage.

Sat 24 Feb
Despite the cold and the wind, the strength of the sun grows. Last night was such a bust that I went home an hour earlier. A coworker gave me four Science News, which I read when I could stay awake.

Mon 25 Feb
Block was a bust and depressing over the weekend. In all events, I went home early. After the two calles I received yesterday from moron and ego, I was only too happy to leave at five, two hours early. Therefore, this morning I spent time shoveling the slop before coming to the regular job. The good part is that much of the salt ran off the vehicle.
Back at Block, I found the session on Saturday enlightening. I called all the former clients in which no one had sttempted. I did not get chance to continue it yesterday. Our office had 853 noncontacted clients!

Tue 27 Feb
The moron and the ego still bother me two days later. The moron called me to fix the address on the return five weeks after I did it and eight weeks after she'd applied for an imal. The W-2 still had the address as well. To solve this silliness, I had to look for a telephone book for the number to call Harrisburg. Apparently she didn't have a book -- and is thirty, about two weeks older than Matthew Wayne Shepard would be now.
The other amusement was Scott Rodrigues, whose lentigenous face covers this issue of BusinessWeek. He'd be three months older than Matt.
The ego must have been angry at someone and took it out on me. She needed confirmation on all-states for New York (and our specialit is very thorough). She implied that I could tell her whether she owed taxes to Pennsylvania. Eventually the solution was simply to have the specialist call her the next day.
Her imperious mood contrasted with how I reacted when I called Shields back in early September 1987. I asked whether bankruptcy was the only option to end the hold on my registration. When I received the suggestion that I pay the defaulted leans, I didn't snoot, "I don't like your attitude. I want to talk to a supervisor."

February 2007

2007-02-26T20:41:00.000-05:00

Sun 4 Feb
In the first of two crazy weekends, I netted nearly a hundred each day. My appointment never came, although I still had four clients.

Mon 5 Feb
It was a profitable weekend, probably the peak of the season. I'll have better numbers once I get online to my new accounts. I called Wachovia online services. This time they gave me a link instead of having to reproduce or paste into the website. I will test it the brief time I'm home between jobs.

Tue 6 Feb Welllllllllllllll!
The link worked, and I reset the user name and password on both my accounts, but Wachovia wiped out the unser name on Mom's accounts. I will have to fix it tonight. I suspected it this morning (I was up after 4 AM) when I attempted to reset the password, only to receive yet another error.
We've had two mornings at -12º with wind. Wilkes-Barre and State College probably near -20º, which is below zero. Both days I took the van to run errands in between.
I began to prepare my tax return. I almost broke even despite the underwithholding of both employers and the extra income on election day The credit for the federal excise tax on long distance service will put me over. The state unemployment insurance had already pushed me into the black from owning $3 to getting $5. I don't think I'll bother with the saver's credit.
Ultimately, my thoughts must return to what my purpose is in life. In ten weeks, such a pruzzle will return much too fast. There is just so much to do.
My new name and the new password for my chekcing account makes me suppose I've grown from my discovery in summer 2004, and I bid that aspect of my life adieu.

Mon 12 Feb
A phishing email from Verizon reulted when I called Verizon about it. They want no updating of my account, and therefore, ther is no threat to service by 20 February.
The weekend had Saturday as a weak link, so the commissions were around $300, instead of the $400

The Calm Before the Winter Storm

2007-02-19T20:08:00.000-05:00

Tue 23 Jan
I spent the afternoon arranging the mailroom for the builders, which eliminated my sleeping place. I just finished in time to catch the wrong bus. I totally avoided Block on the way home.

Wed 24 Jan
Mike, the balding blond, ripped up the carpeting on the third of the floor where the cage will be. Meanwhile I took the dogbed outside to the van. I tried to sleep without success, although I feel rested. I went to bed early last night -- again at 9 PM.
After yesterday's physical challenge, my little left toe still hurts where the pallet jack almost rolled on it.

Fir 26 Jan
Philipp sent me an email the first time this year. I'll try to respond quickly.
Jerzees provides less in its bags this year.
Meanwhile, I tried again to sleep in the van, where it's too cold and bright. They put in the cages today, which missed the barbed wire, over where I used to sleep.
Beyond all of it, I don't like the big picture. I am trying to unlock organic chemistry thirty years later as a common crossword puzzle.
Last night I had two minor clients to make my night. I began to call clients from last year, and I began a notebook of clients similar to last year.

Sun 28 Jan
It's been a busy day. I've had four clients, and I'm nearly a c-note ahead net of draw. I bought muffins from Acme, and green tea, raspberry and free, to add to the food for us this Sunday. I arose rather last, nearly eight, and we gave Tim a shower. Last night he was on the floor when I returned home, because he'd slid out of his wheelchair again.
I keep going over in my head what I should be doing before tax season ends -- now eleven weeks away. Everything seems to be on hold for three months.

Yesterday morning I was checking online on my account when I discovered that a "Jessica Fusco" had a "bill" payment for $2200! I took our $2000 from my account to make the check bounce, I informed Wachovia that the check was stolen, and I deleted "Jessica Fusco" from my list of bills to pay.
Later I ran both spyware and antivirus overnight to reveal nothing. Chaning the password to my checking account appears to be sufficient to prevent further occurrences. Because there was no account, the check was issued on Thursday. Probably "Jessica Fusco" will attempt to cash it tomorrow. I checked the other account today, and there were no irregularities.

Last year I attempted to get some things done after tax season, and none went through. I joined DIG, without getting into real estate. I stagnated at Toastmasters. I didn't get anything else going.

Tue 30 Jan
I called for a New Deal on my accounts with Wachovia, because the defrauders probably have both numbers. The sad thought remains that I may have given them the access by updating my account. Everything should be back to normal by next week.
Tonight I will go straight home. Like 104 weeks ago, I stayed lated (10 vs 11), and I couldn't finish the return on the only time of the week I don't come in the next day.
The idea of my illustrating my own books has its appeal How Can I tap into that creativity?

Wed 31 Jan
I was contemplating the virtual adventures I had in schoolwork, and I wondered whether I could invent some kind of illustration with the kind of "fun". The reality that I have no purpose in life is existentially nauseating!
I took three chairs out into the mezzanine and snoozed some fifiteen minutes. I can't do yoga, for the truck driver is painting a section of the mailroom floor.

Unhappy Ominous Year

2007-02-19T19:43:00.000-05:00

Mon 1 Jan
Mom continued to act weirdly, once again insisting that she doesn't live here. The achrony seems to expand into atopia. I had an entire day of stress in which I ate little. First it was gas in the colon; now it's malaise.
I did get my calendars done into April. There was nothing else done in the circumstances. I cleaned up a little. but nothing substantial.

Fri 5 Jan
Last night, I'd expected to practice the infamous instant money anticipation.loans; instead, I actually did one. Then I had a regular tax return and the instant money loan went on the card. Even the veterans hadn't dealt with the imals. Because I didn't have my desk at the beginning of my stint, I had to use the adjacent one. Then I remembered, as I was walking though Franklin Mills on my way home, that I'd left my black jeans at Block. I will get them tonight.

Sun 7 Jan
Yesterday, I took down the outside lights for Christmas, and I began to take down balls off the main tree. Today I continued clearing the platform in preparation of taking down the tree. My own decorations will endure for another week.

Mon 8 Jan
The visit to our main doctor produced a diagnosis of mild dementia in the early stages of Alzheimer's. He was more concerned about the visits to the other doctors, rather than any mental problems. I will schedule them for Mom later.

Thu 11 Jan
Last night I had a Celtic client, who made my day. I stopped at the calendar place, in the green neighborhood this year. I bought a Mensa desk calendar for the clients and a wall calendar from the Old Farmer's Almanac. My schedule for the next Muslim week at Block is the same as this one.
Yesterday afternoon produced a question on organic chemistry. I was in reactions of alcohols on Morrison and Boyd. In 16.6 Alcohols as acids, I did not remember the concepts from that section, not 16.7. Formation fo alkyl sulfates. I think the problem lies in how I take in information. I was no longer able to memorize all the material. I had to learn the concepts as extracted from the text! I was doing it better the next year in history and the business courses.

Sun 14 Jan
I spent much of yeaterday and this morning taking down the Christmas decorations. I didn't quite get up the ones for February.
It's another boring Sunday at Block. I came in late only to find that the IRS is accepting returns electronically, but they are not accepting them immediately.

Wed 17 Jan
I bought the pills Monday night, and Mom began to take them yesterday. She took way too many memantines -- a dosage for three day. So I laid out the pills this morning.
Tuesday morning I had yet another one of those academic dreams, in which I am taking a test without preparation. I interpret it to mean I'd rather be academic instead of having life had me the test before the lesson.

Sun 20 Jan
THE MIDWINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT
Here we sit in the middle of winter, in the middle of Schrub's second term,. 731 days left to suffer and curse the rednecked states.

Sun 21 Jan
I just went over the protoreturn, and I'll miss the saver's credit this year by about $420. I should have started my roths last year! It only shows how much more I should be doing for personal finance.
I had yesterday off, and who knos how long it will last. Peak arrives on Wednesday, or management thinks.

Mon 22 Jan
On this thrityeighth anniversary of my first job, I just discovered that I owe them about $70, once I drop the credit on the taxes on long distance.

December 2006

2006-12-25T16:55:00.000-05:00

Mon 11 Dec
I stayed home nearly all weekend. This week has no agenda for the nights, and I plan to take off Friday. We began decorating the livingroom. For the first time since im came home do we have room for the platform.
The previous quote from Brian Tracy gave me a little insight into the link from now to latter grade school. Of course, I still lack both purpose and goals in this pursuit!

Sat 16 Dec
It was thirtynine years ago today that I had a taste of Great Society in Newton, New Jersey. In fact, there is a world history block, which invites us to blog like a historical figure such as Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Today I replaced the loose shingles on the roof of the shead, and cleaned out the gutters in the back of the house. I also put the lights on the main tree. Tomorrow, I shall put the lights up outside.

Sun 17 Dec
I slept too much today, so I guess the only hope I have remains to continue the calendar for January. Last night I started it, and it was such a long time ago that I had to gather the tools not used in four years.

Mon 18 Dec
I awoke past 4 AM and went downstairs to continue the calendar while checking the computer. I think I'm almost finished with the sketches.
Otherwise, my other work does not progress. I came back to work rather buried, along with other problems which wasted time. I still think I'll be bored by Friday's five hours.
I still haven't begun repairs for the extention work. They didn't even hook the spotlights back up to the building on the far side!

Tue 19 Dec
The Arts Institute of Pittsburgh called me last night. I am really seeking the art equivalent of the Longridge Writers. I feel I am about to go through a renaissance. I just deposited my bonus, so I am ready once again to gamble over another winter of discontent.

Thu 21 Dec
Finally it is time for the Alo presentation, a continuation of Bella from yesterday. All the sugary stuff around the place has made me drowsy and bloated.
I came to Toastmasters for the meeting, and there had some delicious meatballs here.

Mon 25 Dec
We spent an eventless Christmas today. I gave out all the presents. I was so tired that I went to bed before nine, only to awake an hour and a half later. I just spent time on maintenance on the computer downstairs. Once again, I did not follow through my intended expenditures.
It rained today; it was definietly too warm for snow, just like my first Christmas this far south a score ago. I walked to Mass at 6:30 AM twice in a row, and both times the field I cross had frost while the air was definitely warmer. The rest of the week will have something for me each day. In three weeks, I'll be plunging into fourteen weeks of tax season once again. This time the goal is seed money for the business.

Fri 29 Dec
The past two days have been rather hectic. Both Wednesday and Thursday nights I spent at Block for updates. I also learned the tax season begins a week earlier than expected -- next Wednesday! The year doesn't look good.
On Tuesday morning I went to my primary physician because I needed a referral for the dermatologist, and I had not been there for over two years. Besides the examination, they want me to go to an optometrist, get a urine test, and get an operation for a hernia! Given the possibility of a worsening domestic stiuation, 2007 looms badly.

I emailed Justin Bilicki, who actually answered. He has a blog at drawblood.blogspot.com . The compnay copywriter did not think much of the training for copywriting. I've heard it all before when I wanted to be a historian! I must make a way!

Yesterday I worked nine hours straight in trying to get all the work done. Today I had five hours, which was almost too little. However, I found out that one of the buyers had been hanging onto orders for which I had no paperwork. I just happened to notice the pile of orders in his office, and two of the orders one of the other buyers was seeking were in that pile. Subsequently I found half of them had been resolved since July. Henceforth, I will be tracking all the overdue orders I give back. I expect to have a method in place for the new year.

Sun 31 Dec
My mother actually scared me tonight, insisting that we didn't live here (after eleven years). My sister's family came as expected, and they brought generous gifts to boot. After tonight's performance, I finally hid the last carkey. Any emergency will not justify my mother's driving. She may be in moderate dementia and rapidly moving toward institutionalization. I dread 2007, espeically with the health problems I face in the future. I expect to look back on this time as a crisis which makes my future seem so dull and ordinary.

Into Winter 2006-7

2006-12-25T16:33:00.000-05:00

Sun 19 Nov
This weekend showed that the inspection ended, and I spent three and a half hours waiting. However, I spent it well, especially on the bonus track of "Wealth without a Job".
We gave Tim a shower in the new one. Meanwhile, I fiddled with the connection of the cable. I had to unhook the clothesline downstairs, because one was atop the cable wire.
I also went through the ethics course online. I tried to finish the halieutics, but the launch stalled.

Sun 26 Nov
The fourth and last day of my brief vacation showed my finally cleaning up my room. I can now put up the decorations.
On Thursday, my sister and family came and went within six hours. Once again, they brought food and didn't eat ours. Only today did I clean up the turkey. With my final rush toward cleaning, we have two bags of garbage for Tuesday, the day we don't send out garbage.
On Friday, my uncle came as usual. On Saturday, our man from the lodge came with a showercurtain and advice for me to fix up the minor details. The political bigshots are coming in the middle of the week.
Today my cowrker from Block showed up for two hours, and we exchanged a few items. Otherwise, I had only a swipe at cleaning up the basement. I have so much more to throw out. I even half filled a bag for Purple Heart.

Thu 30 Nov
I'm halfway through the eight nights of training at Block. Block acquired a bank in May, and it is expanding into bank products. I foresee a time Block moves into financial planning.
At my regular work, the big move for the new carpeting at Accounts Receivable took some of the boredom out of the day., I spent two hours today on the movein, which also included two other moving duties. Yesterday afternoon, I took a half hour just moving them out of the office.
Yesterday, the Republican officials visited to inspect the addtion. Surprisingly, the local newpaper wasn't there as well.

Sat 2 Dec
I began putting up the Christmas decorations in my room. I also put up the tree my sister gave me at Thanksgiving. I began reading some of the stuff I received today. National Geographic had a nice article on Saturn, although it was in the archaic English system of measurement.

Fri 8 Dec
Another busy week to end until next year had my going to Block three times, ending tonight. My opportunity to do something before the year ends will appear over the next two weeks. At this time, I have only Thursday the Twentyfirst with Toastmasters.
A blast of Arctic air plunged the temperatures toward the norm at State College and Wilkes-Barre. It was -5º and windy.
Last night's session at Block produced a booklet of building business, which is an opportunity for me to use the same techniques in other endeavors.
Tongiht is the famous "self study", which I intend to start at 6 PM. I have the van, and I must stop at home before I get there.

Late Fall 2006

2006-11-20T20:26:00.000-05:00

Sun 29 Oct
Because the coupon for the YMCA will expire at the end of the month, I passed on my thought of going there this morning. Therefore, the concept of another church (such as the UCC nearby the YMCA) also postponed with the YMCA. Because we gained an hour last nigth, I was up early enough to crawl to Mass, along with the usual pap.
I cut the grass in the front lawn yesterday to grind up the first group of leaves. I finished grinding the rest of the back lawn and emptied the mower. It's done for the year.
Meanwhile, back with "Wealth without a Job", I am finding much of Andy Fuehl has much of the same themes from Tony Robbins and Dolf DeRoos. Of course, the real task is to put the concepts to use.
It seems as if I'll be palying the role of minority inspector at the polls on Election Day.

Thu 2 Nov
The time I waste every night is appalling. I had nearly two hours lost. Meanhwile, there appears to be a Democratic surge in the polls, despite Schrub's distortion of John Kerry's statement about being dumb enough to be stuck in Iraq. The latest polls show even more projected Democratic seats in the House, including Patrick Murphy's being ahead in the Eighth District. Michael J Fox came out for Murphy. The battle for the Senate remains close.
I've taken off Tuesday as I await the disc on the new voting machines (never came). It'll be a very long day!
I've tried getting off "Wealth without a Job". I may take some time trying to get going on it. My visualization may have to reappear in my stories. I looked over stuff I wrote and drew nearly twenty years ago, and I cannot fathom why I stopped doing it.

Sat 4 Nov
I was raking leaves when the rake broke. Even though we went shopping this morning, we still have some items to buy tomorrow.

Tue 7 Nov
The halfway of the marathon of polling passeed with my neighbor ast the 250th voter. At this point, we could hit 500 before the polls close (We hit 569.).
The national polls continue to show the battle for the control of the Senate doubtful, while the House will become Democratic. Schrub never ended his delusions on his failed policies.

Thu 9 Nov
We finally received a copy of the insurance, so I can take the van for inspection on Saturday. I'd still rather have the owner's card as well.
I've made little progress on "Wealth without a Job". I am still stuck on the purpose of my life. A thought of historical purpose comes to me. Could it be the answer?
The later tallies show us with 51 Senate seats and 232 House seats. The slap to Schrub led to the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld. The problem remains in office until 20 January 2009!

Sat 11 Nov
The day began with no inspection because we lack an owner's card. After getting groceries, we went for tags and the owner's card. Now everything is set for inspection next Saturday.
I had other errands as well, cleaning up a bit in the yards both back and front. Then the door handle to the side screen door broke off. While I went to Croyden for another. I stopped for wine, gasonline and money. I now have the means to get the van inspected. Also at the TruValue, I purchased a sprayer for the hose. Because the builders had taken down the assemblage, I had to put the hose directly into the spigot, and there were no leaks. Still I had to wash the van without a sprayer, which was cracked anyway. it is only now I am getting toard writing about it.

Sun 12 Nov
I cleaned out the van with the shopvac after drying out the refirgerator. Then I began to straighten out the basement. There is just so much to throw out!

Mon 13 Nov
Tonight I must stop at Block. It will be a busy week, although not as busy as the end of the month.. Hopefully the paperwork will run smoothly.

Tue 14 Nov
The paperwork did run smoothly, so I am done with Block for another week. As I was coming to work, I realized that I've never had an ultimate purpose in my life; it's been a series to changing priorities, similar to my changing majors in undergraduate school.
The goals were always shortterm and never put together. Once I settled into my current employer, I became comfortably numb
!
The work has slowed enough for me to think about purpose most of the day. I think purt of the problem of purpose was that whenever I moved toward a purpose, someone would discourage me from that purpose. None of the perceived purposes ever had a chance to develop. I may have uncovered forty years of discontent. Some of the complaint of purposelessness of my autobiography appears even more potentially true! Perhaps a purpose will align my life.
Over the weekend, I purchased Spiderman, and it turned out better than I'd expected. It's hard to realize the movie is four years old. Obviously the computer enhancements brought out the scenes from the comics.

Wed 15 Nov
The struggle for a purpose continued today as the work slackened. My life resembles the oldies station -- the same thing every day with no finish in sight. I search throughout my past to answer the list of what I'd like to do. but the traits don't seem to come quickly. I still don't think I've reached the root of the problem.

Fri 17 Nov
THe weather became nasty in the late afternoon, so I drove home instead of going to Toastmasters. I went to bed just past nine, and I awoke just past four . Eventually I dragged the most of the branches into the woods along with the dog. Then I took out the garbage and the recyclables. I waited until today because the weather was so rainy and windy. We are still getting water in the basement through the stairwell.
Today ran steadily, as I continue to contemplate my purpose. My first move in that direction should be a tribute to Matthew Wayne Shepard's thirtieth birthday, which looms only two weeks away. It still seems that writing -- ironically what I tried to avoid a quarter century ago -- may well be the very answer. It may also discipline my thinking.

Sat 18 Nov
I am sitting at the lobby of the inspetors, awaiting for them to inspect the van. I was the first one here. This morning just past 4 AM, and I began to shift toward what gives me pleasure. Later I was up and searched for astrophysics and biochemistry. I found some nice pictures, which I intend to place on my site. Perhaps I should concentrate on moving towards pleasure rather than to avoid pain. As Andy Fuehl says, avoiding pain is similar to driving away from what's in the rearview mirror. It certainly hasn't worked in three decades.
Another aspect I did not write recently has been the spate of my obtaining lyrics of songs which I have on records for nearly two score. It's good for the memory and music intelligence. Some of those lyrics I would've never figured out. Some I'd thought I knew, and I didn't. Of course, the foreign langugaged ones are the ones wherer I really need the lyrics!

Falll Back 2006

2006-10-28T20:30:00.000-04:00

Tue 10 Oct
There was no final last night, although the class exercise was challenging. One of the K-1's has a "self-employment loss", which the basis limited.
When I arrived home, there was the smell of benzene. The builders had placed drywall on the extention. Fortunately, it was cool last night, so I opened windows. In fact, it was 13º this morning, yet I put on an old sweater, and it was borderline.

Fri 13 Oct
I spent much of my day off shopping and nipping at the mess at home. I still have six stormwindows to put down, and it stayed at 13º today. Obviously, there's little reason to delay the closing of the last six.
In the extention, the drywall is up, and the builders did not come. I expect them tomorrow.

Sun 15 Oct
I spend entirely too much time on the internet to do nothing. The builders never showed up the three days. I finally ran a cleaner in the bathroom just to cut down the dust.
I finished cleaning and closing the six stormwindows. The seal on the pipe out of the washtub opened again. I bent the tube straight, which goes into the effluent, but it looks as though it still leaks.
The election looms too closely. Tomorrow the Bensalem Democrats meet, so off we go! The polls continue to look good, even better against Schrub.

Today I had a grueling bout of existential nausea today as I feel so confused that what I want to do is not getting done. I set up the final on Saturday, and I've not looked at the course since Monday.

Tue 17 Oct
Supposedly the United States hit a population of three hundred million today. I do remember when we hit two hundred million thirtynine years ago. On this date in 1967, I went on a class trip to Trenton, and I fondly remember the planetarium. The concept that Saturn has a surface temperature of 235º below zero stands out in my mind.
Meanwhile, the week advances, and I've done nothing with Block, save start the review of the Enrolled Agent. I struggled again with the leak below the washtub. This time I shoved the pipe as far down as possible and then I screwed the nut. Apparently it no longer leaks, but I'll have to keep something under the pipe to keep the trap from sliding down.

Thu 19 Oct
I had to stop for money and Wal Mart, because mny stapler is wearing out. The card for Tim's account no longer works, and I bought underpants and an umbrella there.

Sat 21 Oct
The less written about the inadequacies of the Mets' pitching and hitting, which combined to allow Saint Louis into the World Series, the better. So, instead of 1986 or 1969, it's 1968.
When I came home last evening, the extention was ready for occupancy. It took all day today to get used to the length. I had a busy day today, even though I arose late at 7:30. After we shopped, I went to Block for the test on the K-1's. When I came back, I did three loads of laundry, with the drainpipe out of the washtub no longer leaking. In fact, I think the pipe slid farther into the drainage.
We had water come down the stairwell into the basement. I'd thought leaves blocked the new drains, but it doesn't appear to be the problem.
As a followup towards paying the Comcast bill last week, I paid Mom's health insurance tonight out of her checking account.

Fri 27 Oct
So continues my bad rooting on the baseball playoffs. I surely hope my handicapping the upcoming election day proves better. Saint Louis -- like 1968 -- leads Detroit, 3-1 in the World Series.

Meanwhile, Michael J Fox ran into ignorant opposition when he made several endorsements for candidates favoring "expanding stem-cell research". Rushshsh Limbaughghgh decided to shoot off , stating the Fox was faking the dyskinesia or hadn't taken the dopamine. Subsequently Limbaughghgh never really apologized.

We went to the bank to straighten out the cards and to go to PathMark. However, I may have a problem with inspection, because we lack the proper documentation.

Mid-October 2006

2006-10-15T19:13:00.000-04:00

Tue 10 Oct
There was no final last night, although the class exercise was challenging. One of the K-1's has a "self-employment loss", which the basis limited.
When I arrived hom, there was a smell of benzene. The builders had placed drywall on the extention. Fortunately, it was cool last night, so i opened the windows. In fact, it was 13º this morning, yet I put on an old sweater, and that was borderline.

Early Fall 2006

2006-10-08T11:44:00.000-04:00

Thu 21 Sept
As I await the second and final session of Real Estate 101 with the team, I leave a stressed day.

Sun 24 Sept
This weekend proved the usual busy one as I tried to get both my Block work and some recording of the Rosetta Stone. Eventually I'll have to replace my computer, so I am forced to store information on my Lycos site. I would like to get some downloaded documents saved as well.
Friday the wooden foundation of the extention appeared on the slab. That extention should be done before it gets cold.
Last night was stifling, almost enough for air conditioning. Overall I still nedd a long weekend to put the house in order.

Thu 28 Sept
It was eight years ago when I again attempted to set my goals over the near future. Meanwhile, this weekend continued the changeover. Yesterday they placed the dual windows on the extention after placing the door going outside, and shingling the roof. The skylight came in yesterday over the sink in the bathroom.

The days pass without anytihing done on Block. How can I get through two courses the first two weeks in October? In addition, I have Toastmasters and DIG those two weeks!

Tue 3 Oct
Once again I awoke around 2 AM and had a hard time getting back to sleep. Meanwhile, the builders put up a new set of gutters in the back, but the gutters push the water uphill. I suppose the work now shifts to the inside.

Thu 5 Oct
Yesterday the builders placed insulation in the extention, and they placed the plumbing in the small bedroom.

I slept through the night with two interruptions. I did not go to the last course; there is simply not enough time. I took my checkbook for the meeting of Toastmasters tonight. I continue to flow through a year almost as disappointing as 1989! At least then I didn't have to be so busy.

Fri 6 Oct
Eight years ago was a different world where I worried about seeing Titianic on tape, and Matthew Wayne Shepard unwittingly walked into a fatal beating on a fencepost outside of Laramie, Wyoming.
I awoke at 1:30 this morning, and I couldn't fall back asleep. When I was at the Court of Oxford Valley Mall, I found "Luther" for $10. I ended up seeing it in the middle of the night. I didn't recognized Marco Hofschneider, but his English was flawless.
Of course, I felt tired this morning, and Only now do I feel rested. In addition, it rained on the way to work, so I put my rubbers on my sneakers. After eighteen years, both rubbers leak, and I had wet feet. Besdies changing footwear, I changed shirts for the last day of Customer Service Week.

The scandal of Mark Foley and the Republican coverup speads daily. It looks as though all the hypocricy has finally come home to roost.

The Mets started off well at Shea, knocking off the Dodgers in the first round of the playoffs: 5-4 and 4-1. It's starting to look as though Saint Louis will be the next opponent.

Summer Wanes

2006-09-17T19:35:00.000-04:00

Mon 21 Aug
Another useless weekend produced little around the house. Today I received some trinkets from Carole Wright: a nobark collar, a toilet seat tightener, and a tree stump remover.
I bought the trilogy of "Back to the Future", which which twentyone years ago launched Michael J Fox to superstardom. I get it dubbed in French and subtitled Spanish, and all three movies. Of course, the main event was my escape from being a hostage of Reaganomics in 1985.

Tue 22 Aug
The internet was down in the evening and at night (around 2 AM). Meanwhile, the weather remains pleasant, although not cool enough at night.
I finished virtually all my work at Block for tomorrow night. Otherwise, I've made little progress. I am reading through the history book, "Man's Unfinished Journey" in an effort to get back my memory from three decades ago. I should try the Silva Method, along with Total Response Systems for my mysteries.
The assemblers showed up today for the new franker and stamper to add a break in routine with a mysterious ironing smell from oue of the ballasts.

Thu 24 Aug
I arranged to take off tomorrow, so I can get some things done before summer ends. Many little tasks go begging, and I don't want to push them all on the Labor day weekend..
I think the critical game for the Mets occurred on Tuesday, once again with Saint Louis. They won a game in the ninth in which John Maine trailed, 7-1. It was similar to the game with Saint Louis on 14 May 1986, in which they pulled off a 7-6 win.

Sun 3 Sept
Yesterday was a washout, especially with the reminents of Ernesto. I must wair for outside to dry. The Phillie commentators appear even more silly as the postulated the Phillies could still make the World Series because the Mets and the Cardinals "are falling apart". Well, David Wright has resumed hitting, Tom Glavin is back pitching, and John Maine is holding his own in the rotation, while Pedro Martinex remains absent! Meanwhile, the Mets passed Detroit for the best record in baseball.
The sun isn't exactly out today, so the drying is taking longer than expected. Still, I don't expect to accomplish much outsdie this weekend.

Sun 10 Sept
I can't seem to write what's been happening. On Friday, Gleim finally sent my package, some three months after I'd ordered it. Nonetheless, I can finally begin my preparation for the test in September 2007.
However, Silva Ultramind has been another issue. The post office insists they had delivered the package over two weeks ago. Our carrier confirmed no such delivery happened. I still have to contact Silva, for both edresses on their site came back.
I looked over the course I'm about to start on k-1's this time, the first time I take this course.

Tue 12 Sept
The course on K-1's started late last night because the substitute instructor didn't come at 6 PM. It is a difficult course, in which Gleim should help see the whole picture.
It will be a busy wek, for I still have DIG tonight and the real estate class st the local high school on Thursday. The first week in October should be the same. Meanwhile, I noticed last night that only six plaques remain on the wall at Franklin Mills, so apparently some prepareres left!
Mom must have been wandering on Thursday, 15 August enough to cross a bridge to New Jersey at 12:36 PM without paying the toll. I took some of Tim's money to pay it. Construction on the extention remains stalled at the trench, even though it hasn't been raining lately.

Sun 17 Sept
Another three-day weekend seems to ooze frustration. My focus runs along Block with the course on K-1. I took down the rest of the conditioners, while the weather resembles early fall. I can't do much outside while the mess of the extention dominates the backyard.
This weekend I went to Pathmark on Friday, then the other places on Saturday. I grabbed my thirtyeighth straight Old Farmer's Almanac at K-Mart, which is a better deal than spending more for extras I don't need online.
Although the disc drive is done, I don't see a replacement for my computer yet. I'd like my next one to last five years and not be obsolete at purchase.

August 2006

2006-08-20T14:52:00.000-04:00

Mon 31 Jul
I bought and downloaded "Amazing Cover Letters" over the weekend, which gave me some insight on what I should be doing. I also took yet another test on Monster. Now I should move into the phase of what I want to pursue.

Tue 8 Aug
Mom has a dental appointment in three weeks, and she wanted to leave for it last night at 9:30! Fortunately, nothing happened, and she actually paid both real estate taxes.
I listened to my ramblings over the past night, and I found a pattern; everything went better when I knew what I wanted, such as 1977 and 1980. It meshes with Dolf Derooa' "Wealth Magnet" and the subliminat tapes.

I seems I become physically ill whenever I have to make a decision. Instead of decding between Robert Allen and DIG, I choose neither. I can't see sepending any time or money with either today.;

Fri 11 Aug
Somuch for my day off! I made a few errands, and I cleaned out the heating ducts.

Thu 17 Aug
Tuesday proved scary when Mom supposedly went to a dental appointment and jourode around Philadelphia. Yesterday I hid the keys in the kitchen, although there is a third set of keys somewhere. I should get a cellphone.
Last night I had my second class at Block. I prepared for it by going through the course online on depreciate. There is a town meeting on Saturday, the Tewntysixth. I also found out the Franklin Mills office is losing three preparers.
I finished listerning to "What Liberal Media?" by Eric Alterman. I didn't need the loads of evidence to agree with Noam Chomsky how the corporate elite slants the news toward reaction.

The Mets had a hard time in Philadelphia: 13-0, 11-4, and 3-0, the first three games. The Mets have a lead in the sixth (won, 7-2).
When I visited Boarders before class last night, I was tempted to get a package of five different kinds of art for about $25. It reminded me that I want to draw a symbolic scene for Matthew Wayne Shepard's thritieth birthday on 1 December. I was thinking about painting something instead of sketching.
Of course, the idea of taking on extra expenses, such as a cellphone, training, or even investing, rears its head. My time at Block last night merely enforces my sense of stagnation.

Late July 2006

2006-07-29T16:42:00.000-04:00

Mon 17 Jul
I finally did a few things this weekend -- the biggest was to replace the shingle on the shed roof. I battled the antivirus and the spyware on my computer. Apparently, neither had been installed, and I had a virus.

Wrigley Field had a surprise yesterday for the Mets. El Duque was duked, allowing the Cubs a 5-0 lead after two innings. In the sixth, the Mets had their biggest inning in their existence: eleven runs, along with the first two grand slams in a game, let alone an inning. Cliff Floyd abnd Carlos Beltran had them, and David Wright had the other for two runs. The Cubs had opened the door for a defeat of 15-7.

I am slowly ridding myself of books I'll never use. I try to fill a second bag of garbage every week. Otherwise, I'm still inefficient in using my free time over the weekends.

Wed 19 Jul
I awoke just before midnight, and I lost an hour trying to sleep. This time I avoided the television, and the internet was working better than ever. The hottest day of the year just missed 40º, and a thunderstorm cooled it off after 8 PM.

Last Thursday, The History Channel had a curious program on how the religious leaders of Israel were also miliatry leaders of the Israelites. Sister Dolorette never told us why the Israelites chose a king in Saul, but the need for a military leader to drive the Phillistines out of the central mountains proved decisively the reason.

I've been having flashbacks of State College, around 1978, when I felt as though I had no choices with my life, a kind of determinism in place of personal power. I think it was a kind of overflow from Catholicism combined with my personal alife, all illusions! My review of French doesn't help keep the despair away, nor the feelings of helplessness, which heavily influenced my current dissatifaction of life.

Thu 20 Jul
I had yet another dream about starting a Penn State. The symbolism haunts me, for I very well know what it means. I should resume my studies for the next score of my working life, and especially along the lines of entrepreneurship.

Mon 24 Jul
I stayed home all day yesterday. Outside of mowing the lawn and garden, I accomplished little. I spent much of my time with Rosetta Stone on Polish, and a little Latin. The Kenneys visited us on Saturday, which didn't help my schedule. I continue to fill another bag for garbage each week to remove physical clutter.

Wed 26 Jul
Mom went to the oncologist today, and she could not find his new place. When I arrived home, the right rear tire was flat. For the first time in nearly twenty years, I changed a tire.

Fri 28 Jul
Once again, I slept poorly. No sooner had I fallen asleep past midnight when a thunderstorm woke me, and the power went off. We lost power in only the section between the parallel streets. Despite the storm, the weather remained warm and humid.

Sat 29 Jul
Both Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez had trouble in their first innings at Atlanta, and then they streaked the Braves down. Meanwhile, the offense took over to give the Mets wins, 6-4 and 11-3. They sit ar 62-41. They are burying their opponents in the National League East.

July Has a Hot Time

2006-07-16T16:13:00.000-04:00

Thu 6 Jul Scrub is 60.
Toastmasters forced me into a speech on recent opinions of the Supreme Court, which are off the manual. Like everything else, I'll have to delay my goals into 2007.
It was somewhat quiet today, which allowed me to get many auzillary tasks done. Mom woke me to take Tim out of bed at midnight. Later I put him on the pot. it turned out that the suppository took longer than expected from last night.

Fri 7 Jul
The good part of a holiday remains a shortened workweek. It looks as though it will be sunny this weekend, so I can get some outdoor work done.
The Mets finally ended the funk and knock off Pittsburgh three straight: 7-6, 5-0, and 7-5, after the initial loss of 11-1. The other four teams jocky each other for second place. None are even, so the wild card looks out for any of them.
I was going to spend at Barnes and Noble last night, but I looks at the consequences and did not. I should limit my literary spending only to books and such when I will follow through. I must make a few such decisions on other matters this weekend. Business persists, which will consume some of my day off on Tuesday.

Mon 10 Jul
David Wright whacked a three-runner at the right time yesterday to pull off a win of 7-6 over the fish. The Mats have had trouble lately, even at home with the Miami Marlins. At 53-36, the Mets go into the All Star break 12 games ahead of Philadelphia. David Wright deservedly goes to start the game in Pittsburgh at third base.
The past few days my left ear keeps blocking. I bought eardrops yesterday, and despite taking out much wax, my ear keeps blocking. It seems to worsen once I arise.
Yesterday I also bought the triple protection for the computers. I am a month early for all three.

On the intellectual front, I wonder how I can use Rosetta Stone for other languages. particularly the ancient Greek I fooled with some three decades ago. Once I get that problem solved, any other learning endeavors will be easy.

Dolf de Roos, in Wealth Magnet, provides some heavy though about abundance versus scarcity. How can I steer it into my life? I need it to combine them with my goals.

Tue 11 Jul
So much of my theory at the Women's Humane Society. I came into a crowdeed room. David Wright came in second to the Phillies' Ryan Howard in the homerun derby last night.
The day passed quickly, for I spent two hours at the Women's Humane Society Then I traveled to deposit a check -- the bank hs no Canadian dollar coins -- and PathMark prescriptions. Uncle Bill was passing through the bakery department while I was selecting a rum cake for my birthday.

July Is Dressed Up and Playing Her Tune

2006-07-04T11:48:00.000-04:00

As Seals and Crofts sang in "Summer Breeze" from 1972

Tue 27 Jun
The Phillies continue to flop, along with the rest of the National League East. They lost to Boston 8-7 in 12, to fall 12 behind.

I took the vehicle for repairs of the right windshield wiper and perhaps the annoying "door ajar" signal. They fixed them both.

Mon 3 Jul
This weekend has moved as slowly as the internet, with little progress. I cut the grass yesterday before the rainstorm -- an improvemnt over the hailstorm earlier this week. Today I went out for the last time, trying to speak to the dean at Block. I gave us -- they were closed, just like the Women's Humane Society. Midnight went with me on a futile trip to get her booster shots.

I have finished my analysis of KS vs Marsh. There is no unconstitutional issue. In fact, Kansas went beyond Walton by requiring the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that aggravating circumstances as not outweighed by mitigating circumstanaces.

Tue 4 Jul
The History Channel has been fascinating in its coverage of the American Revolution. Of all the history I've covered, I found out much more than I knew. Just as there is a tendency to gloss over problems, such as the dark days of 1776, I have taken and assisted in American military history.

Late June 2006

2006-06-25T20:15:00.000-04:00

Mon 19 Jun
So, I begin a new notebook on the ruins of my first attempt to write an autobiography. I held off the writing lessons until next year. Two months since I ended the tax season, I still have little done.

Tue 20 Jun
The heat is on, as summer sets in right before the solstice. It was 21º with a nice breeze this morining. I brought up the last two air conditioners last evening, so all the bedrooms have them.

Hibernal Solstice Approaches 2006

2006-06-18T19:20:00.000-04:00

Tue 13 Jun Miranda vs AZ is 40.
The trip yesterday afternoon lasted much longer than I'd expected. I stopped at Home Depot on the way home for several things, a new air conditionaer the most important. I found an 8 MJ for $160 plus tax, but I didn't have enough money.
I arrived home at 1:05, and Mom was all ready to leave for an appointmnet at 2:45! Therefore, we made it to Yardley almost an hour early.
Tim and I went to Barnes and Noble, where I discovered Pimseur's Polish and AP preparation for French. When we returned, supposedly we still had another halfhour for tests. The cardiologist wanted to check whether the edema in the ankles had a connection to heart problems. We started back for some peanuts, but a halfhour later, there was still no test. The third time I went to Home Depot and purchased the air conditioner, which just fitted in the trunk.
Once home, I finally finished cleaning my room and placed the air conditioner in the window. Now I am ready for the hot weather. However, the pleasant coolness remains -- highs in the upper 20's and lows in the teens.

Mom was very lucid this morning, even noting that my real estate group was meeting tonight. I just don't like my lack of progress over the past month. I also have a Toastmasters' meeting this week. I have three weeks left to my speech.
Purchasing the advanced placement test in French reminded me of my goal of twentythree years ago tomorrow that I wished to lose my monolingualism. I can't claim much progress on that goal either.

Thu 15 Jun
The Mets swept the Phillies this week, leaving them ten losses ahead or nine and a half games. David Wright was magnificient while the players took turns in the effort. Steve Trachsel and Tom Glavine continue to lack effectiveness: 9-7, 9-3, 5-4.
Meanwhile, I went for gasoline and air. The air pump had a stuck hose, yet there was no such indication. I went elsewhere for the other three tires. Toastmasters was a surprise as we met in a smaller room for the first half. Table Topics was colors, and I drew white and won!

Sun 18 Jun James Paul McCarney is 64!
I spent a good time on both languages from Rosetta Stone; I am around the eighth lesson fo the first unit. I will slow down and use the aspects of the programs, especially speaking and writing.
I flooded out the gopher hole under the shed with repellent. I clipped and bathed the dog yesterday. I even lay in the sun at its strength today! I have two open weeks ahead of me, so I must clear up and clean up before the Fourth.

June's Busting Out in 2006

2006-06-12T21:45:00.000-04:00

Mon 5 Jun
I just went through thefirst of the sleep suggestion tapes, and I was out almost the entire time. Learning acceleration was the topic, and I transferred most of the others from disc to tape yesterday.
I called the exterminators, and they are supposed to come for an inspection on Thursday. I couldn't get through to the dentist's; I'll probably have to leave a message. It's still rather dark and cool outside, but I have yet to call a repair service for the swtich on my air conditioner.

Wed 7 Jun
The idle week slides along with little done. I'm still ichy from the poison ivy I must have touched when I whacked weeds almost two weeks ago, as if I don't have enough problems with my skin. It's still cool and damp, and I still don't have the conditioner fixed. I just listened to a suggestion tape during my nap for the third day in a row.

Thu 8 Jun
I seem to drift around sleep while the Mets are on the west coast. After Pedro Martinez just didn't have it on Tuesday night for a loss of 8-5, and Tom Glavine blew a four-run lead last night, the Mets left Los Angeles ahead with a win of 9-7. They remain four losses ahead of Philadelphia, and three and a half games. Atlanta remains in the doldrums.
All four days I walked all the way to work, and I once again went through sleep suggestion on confidence.

Mon 12 Jun
The Mets are rolling along after sweeping the snakes in Phoenix four straight: 10-6, 7-1, 5-0, and 15-2. They come to Philadelphia seven losses ahead with the potential to knock the Phillies out.

I finished some minor tasks of painting woodwork, seeding grass, and fixing wood. I started digging out the two buckets in the front as they rot and fall down.
I finally began to sort through material for the enrolled agent. It looks as though Gleim will take way too long for me to take the test this year. Otherwise, another real estate meeting occurres tomorrow, and I've made no progress!

Memorial Day 2006

2006-05-29T12:50:00.000-04:00

Memorial Day celebrates on 29 May this year, the last Monday in May. I've taken two Fridays off in a row to catch up with my work around the house, and I've still much to do. I spent two hours yesterday finishing covering the deck from last week. Finally, I've finished it for the year. Last weekend I bought my first mower, and it did a nice job on the lawns. There's still some maintenance left to do: weeds to whack, bushes to trim, and branches to clip along the roof. I am trying to finish cleaning my bedroom and the basement for the first time since Christmas.

I made some progress this weekend. I decided upon gambling on Rosetta Stone's Latin and Polish, Gleim's Enrolled Agent preparation, and Nightingale-Conant's Subliminial Programming. I finished Marshall Sylver's book, "Passion, Power, and Profit"
This weekend I had some things done on maintenance. I went on the roof for the first time in years to clip branches. I almost finished cleaning, but there are some isolated spots to finish. At this stage, I have more than enough books to throw out over the next month.

Thu 1 Jun
Yesterday morning, I blatantly mentioned Alzheimer's, memantine, and nursing homes. Everything seemed fine last night. Mom claimed to have taken Tim to a doctor, yet I still have both keys to the vehicle. I still don't know how it happened.
Overnight the power went off, tripping the supressor to Tim's new computer. Apparently it protected it moreso than the other one still there. All we didn't need was to need another new computer because the surge blew out the power pack.
It's been eight years since we had the near tornado overnight, and we're halfway to the next birthday of Matthew Shepard. I have only six months to draw my concept.
I began to listen and record Dolf De Roos' "Wealth Magnet". It looks as though I'll soon have to buy a portable disc player. Wal-Mart had only twelve cassettes among the discs.

Sun 4 Jun
Rain made it difficult to get any work done outside and the drainpipes were blocked. I finally finished cleaning the basement.However, the switch on my air conditioner broke. I will have to get it fixed before the heat comes. This weekend was rather cool.

Middle May 2006

2006-05-22T20:28:00.000-04:00

Sun 14 May
I finished planting my Gurney seeds this afternoon. I cleaned up two bookcases downstairs. There is so much to throw out. At long last, I found my MBA photobook. I can show it at my workplace tomorrow.
Of course, the real cleanup concerns the mental mess behind the physical one. Otherwise, I have many tasks yet. I used up the last of the stain on the deck. Much of the side boards were becoming green.!

Sun 21 May
It was thirtyfour years ago this weekend when I came to Bensalem from Wilkes-Barre to go to Veterans's Stadium. I don't think I had a plan for my future back then as well. In any case, my concern was how well Tom Seaver was pitching, rather than how Richard Nixon was faring.
This weekend I met many of my objectives. I cleaned the hardest third of my bedroom, uncovering much of unfinished intentions of the past. I put two coats on the deck where it showed the most wear. All I have left is a few odds of spots I either miseed or couldn't reach.
After going to K-Mart only to find they don't sell mowers, I found what I wanted at Sears. Then we went to CompUSA and bought my brother another computer. Unfortunately, the computer did not allow the telephone lines in. Our sttempt to hook up Comcast didn't work. We must send for a technician on Wednesday to hook it up. I wonder if the lines attenuate the signal.

Mon 22 May
I had yet another dream of still being in high school and of coming in late. I fell asleep with another of the series on the History Channel about the Da Vinci Code. They were biographing Leonardo in the latter fifteenth century.
On both Saturday and Sunday, I began the day with a run around the neighborhood before 6 AM. I made it short, but I felt the benefit afterwards.

Despite the comeplete meltdown of Billy Wagner on Satuday, the Mets won the other two games at Shea against the Yankees, with David Wright's hits making the difference in one-run games. Philadelphia ran out of steam at one game out, so they're now four games out. Both the Phillies and the Braves are due at Shea over the next week.

Gleim looked silly with the review of the Enrolled Agent examination to become available on 26 May, but we're almost there already. I continue to wonder if I should take the plunge with them. It also continues with Rosetta Stone over Latin and Polish. After seeing so much undone, I am reluctant to spend more money on stuff to add to the clutter; I'd rather save the money.

Early May 2006

2006-05-13T16:16:00.000-04:00

Sun 7 May
Seven days of May passed, and another weekend as well. I have simplified placing the screens up by not doubling them and not cleaning the windows as well -- until fall. I spend most of yesterday trying to prepare for the projects this summer.
Last weekend the mower fially gave out. The motor was steaming, so I suspect it's done. I did replace the line of the whacker, but I've yet to plant. All point to a necessity of taking off next Friday, not to mention the job fair nearby.
The past few days have been trying because I've had a tremendous amount of gas. It seems to have started in the colon and then moved up to the stomach.

Tue 9 May
Sitting in the kitchen...coffee on the boil...
So twentysix years after my first encounter with existential nausea, I am trying to find a purpose in real estate. Jean-Paul Sartre would not be happy.
As the fifteenth approaches, I face dilemmas of what to do with the eight months left until Block begins again. I can't seem to find time to do much of anything with the extra time.
Meanwhile, I am finishing up chapter 37 in Morrison and Boyd, which my course never reached in 1977, and I don't thinkg the course I audited in 1982 covered it either.
This morning I dumped the second groundhog this month from the backyard into the woods along Poquessing Creek. I left it trapped for almost a day to save a trip.

Although I haven't been in Southampton this century, I had little trouble finding the Olympia Bar and Restaurant. I'd been in it back in 1999! Right now I'm sitting in a corner seat near the front. I really shouldn't come too early. After two boring days at work, it does me well to get out

Wed 10 May
I had a delicious meal while the topic of credit scores showed up. Veal parmagian and cocoanutty vanilla ice cream for dessert added to the delights. Obviously it is a large piece of what I want to do. Again I have the feeling that I'm on the right track of what I should be doing.
This morning I was reading my first real attempt at a diary in May 1975. It was rather amusing, but unfortunate that I didn't really get around to it until 1978. Ultimately I want to finish some things I've started some three decades ago.
Politically Schrub's base is started to erode, and it looks as if the beginning of the end of this reactionary era. Perhaps the Republican Party itself will fall apart.

Thu 11 May
We had a small meeting on Tommy Hilfiger this afternoon. I really had no other choice of the other three times both today and tomoorw. Once again, I have a weekend with too much to do. I should start tonight with a large garbage bag.

Fid 12 May
Today could have gone better. It ended with my start of cleaning the basement. I still must tend to the speech and planting. The biggest disappointment easily showed at Hampton Inn, where the "job fair" was three jobs at the place.

April 2006 Ends

2006-04-30T11:07:00.000-04:00

Sun 23 Apr
My first free weekend rained out any plans for outdoor work of cutting grass, planting gardens, or fixing anything. Today I went to Home Deopot for a new slip nut and washer. The old one under the washtub was corroded. I even used new cement. I also bought cement for the fenceposts. One is loose on the southwestern side.
My boss took over the closed filing system. I forced the decision on Friday. now I must get the dictated details. Of course, my usual antagonist was contrarian to my suggestions.

The sun is finally coming out. The trees are burgeoning, and my lilac bush is blooming. Because we are a little farther south, the lilacs usually bloom in April, rather than the traditional May in New England.

Of course, I have three months' worth of work backed up. I didn't expect to get it all done this weekend, but I did expect to get more done than I have. Fortunately, I'll have most of the evenings to nibble at the accumulation this week..

The real work now involves what I'm going to do on the offseason, the next nine months. Last year, I took as many courses as I could for Block. All that did was to raise my ranking. I will decide as I clean up my backlog.

I bought "Borokeback Mountain" on disc the day it came out. To slap the religious reich, I bought it at Wal-Mart. which is where they wanted it stopped. I've watched it several time in French with subtitiles. I still can't catch all the words with the help of reading it in French as I hear it.
After over thirty years of language learning, I'd think I finally picked it up."Brokeback Mountain" also has Spanish subtitiles, but it doesn't have the dubbing. Unfortunately none of these movies are available in German, which remains my second best foreign language.
I think once I master how to learn languages, everything else would be easier to learn. History remains a part of my passion as well. I still have visions of using some of my talents elsewhere. I also envision writing my autobiography someday. Oh, well, let's see what grows this spring.

Fri 28 Apr
I dreamed I was looking for another job, and they found out about it. Otherwise, I awoke without a conclusion. It's the opposite of the realization of the unsavory position I've dropped over the past decade.
I checked the thirtyseventh chapter of Morrision and Boyd, then I looked in the notebook. Apparently my class did get as far as the example of chymotrypsin as the connection between organic chemistry and biological chemistry.

Mid April 2006

2006-04-20T06:59:00.002-04:00

Thu 13 Apr
This final week of tax season has been challenging. Tuesday night I tried to get some laundry done, and I found the source of the water from last weekend. The connection of the pipe out of the washtub came loose. I recemented the joint and placed a can of turpentine under the trap to hold it in place. I still must bring the rugs beack in, once I determine the joint is in place.
Last night at Block, the power went off right before eight, and I left around 8:15. I had one client to cover it.
Once I arrived home, I found the house without power but with telephone. I'd thought it was strange that it seemed we were the only ones without power. When I went to bed, I noticed my clockradio had gone off just past four.
Therefore, I went downstairs to the circuit box. Apparently our switch was off, and all I had to do was to click it back on. Apparently power problems were plentiful this Passover.
Only 23 1/2 hours remain as the final weekend of tax season approaches. Then comes the hard work of deciding action during the offseason I have been diappointed this season, but the lack follows my actions. Once again, I fell into a useless routine.

Fri 14 Apr
I've had two clients tonight -- the second one was an express filer, and my first one ever. Otherwise, it appears to be a slow night. I have yet another reject, so now wer have two to tame. Once again, it's the problem of the taxpayer!
This morining we went to PathMark and Dollar Tree. Then I went alone to my workplace to pick up my decorations. and another return.

Sat 15 Apr
Last night Block was rather quiet, and the trend continues today. I have just about finished the other return, except for rewriting it and placing it in envelopes. Already I have broken even today, so the next eight hours all run me ahead. I still have two clients who have not filed their rejected returns!
There are a few ideas I've run around my head. One I keep having shows an image of my living in an upstairs apartment -- perhaps the one I made in Paris -- but I have the feeling as if I'm in eighth grade and still on that mental plane. I am independently wealthy, and all I do all day is study, with no mention of a paper route.
Superimposed upon everything remains the question of what I am going to do during the offseason. Should I pursue writing, enrolled agent, cpa, or something from correspondence? How do I pursue real estate investing?

We had hogies for the middle part of the day, so I'm taking the strawberries and the broccoli back home. My primary goal over the next week should be to regain the mental ability I'd had thirtyfive years ago. Moreover, i should worry how to put the knowledge into play practically.

Mid April 2006

2006-04-20T06:59:00.001-04:00

Spring Arrives 2006

2006-04-09T20:57:00.000-04:00

Tue 21 Mar
Winter stubbornly hangs on, because it was cold and windy today, relatively toward the regular weather in March. Although I had off last night, I didn't really do much outside of retiring early. -- for unknown reasons I was tired most of the day. I have only four weeks left in tax season, and soon it'll be time to prepare for it.
One of our longtime employes left this week, which serves as another notice I should be doing the same. Otherwise the routine continues its way. Meanwhile I learned someone who took the mail down on Friday couldn't handle the job.

Fri 24 Mar
The neurologist did little outside of confirming no organic causes. I did bring up driving which he confirmed that Mom should not do so. So nothing changed, and we'd like to keep it so.

Sat 25 Mar
I have finished reading all of GA vs Randolph, and I agree with the majority. If the police ask permission to come into a dwelling and there is disagreement, then the police may not, absent a warrant or probable cause with exigence. The next thing would be to find out if the conflicting interests each have capacity.
Roberts claims that the ruling obscures the rules Actually the decision clarifies the rule of consent to the police while minimizing the opportunity for coercion.

Sat 1 April
It will be eleven years when this pattern returns in 2017. I thought of several previous ones, although 1972 seems to be the most persistent, probably because Easter was 2 April. The next time Easter will be on 2 April is in 2051.
In 1967, I tried some traps for April Fools' Day around the house. In 1972, I walked -- after delivering newspapers -- to a local pharmacy -- to buy the New York Daily News and to read about the baseball strike. I used to buy it and two candy bars for 35 cents. In 1978, I was visting relatives here, never realizing that one day I'd be living here. I bought "Londontown" by Paul McCartney and Wings. I don't remember anything about the next three Saturdays for 1 April -- 1989, 1995, and 2000. I suppose one round of memories is enough.
This week the post on the gate and my brother's wheelchair were repaired, so we went to PathMark this morning. For the first time in four weeks, I didn't take off any of the Thursdays for appointments.

Wed 5 Apr
When I came home last night, Mom informed me that we have two appointments on Thursday. On the way home, I defied the American Taliban and went to WalMart to buy "Brokeback Mountain". I spent the evening watching it in English, after attempting the French version. This morning I tired the French version again. My ear isn't quite tunned into the language

Fri 7 Apr
Despite having more time by taking off the first job, I still did not get much done. We had a slight problem yesterday morning trying to get to the oncologist because I'd thought the oncologist was where the cardiologist is in Yardley. Anyway, we reachied there in time, then we went to PathMark. I think I'll take Good Friday off to get ready for Easter around the second job.

The pressure increases, for at Franklin Mills, we lost a preparer to Houston temporarily, and the other one is ill. It's simply bad timing, and I certainly won't mention it to the other job that I'm taking off Good Friday.
Our other appointment didn't come in at 2 AM, so I don't know what happened, but I cleaned out gutters and cleaned the livingroom. Clumps of grass and sowing the garden demand attention. I long for the end of tax season in ten days.
Norton the lobster makes his début today as the warehouse near Boston opens. In June, Tommy Hilfiger will come to my main firm, along with Oxford Golf.

Sat 8 Apr
Surprisingly we're not so busy this second-last Saturday of tax season. It's quiet as we approach a rainy midafternoon.
David Wright has a blog, and I wrote a comment in it. He was born in December 1982, and it seems he's starting to blossom as a player. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get thought Brokeback Mountain, version française
It was seventeen years ago that the Astronomy Club presented the observatories, and the planetarium on the fifth floor of Davy Lab. Right now Saturn, which Patrick Moore's "The Sky at Night" focused on in March, is in Cancer, near Praesepe. The first-quarter moon passed it this week. I saw it on Wednesday night.

It was a score ago today when i first met Keith. A flood of memories accompany such an event. I learned much that space of two weeks, yet it kept giving me more long after tjhe events. I suppose it run with the experience of life. Would I ever had thought that my initial encounters that week wouod change my perceptions, and those same perceptions would change with new experiences of Matthew Wayne Shepard and Brokeback Mountain. I suppose I grew up too fast and matured too slowly. I'm probably a score behind just because of my naïveté and innocence.

Vernal Equinox 2006

2006-03-19T21:00:00.000-05:00

Sat 18 Mar
As the tax season winds into its last month, I am happy to report that the tests are over. We waited 47 minutes for a six-minute CATscan yesterday. Meanwhile I managed to go a full week without a client. There are just no clients to call tonight, because the receptionists have been busy on the lists.

I changed the decorations from Saint Patrick's to Easter today as we moved within a month. Chuck White showed up for 1962-3 with two adventures. We're now just five years away from where I came in. I purchased more language software for Chinese and Japanese. The secrets of Moe Berg continue to elude me!

Sun 19 Mar
I just finished reading BusinessWeek, as the day is proving to be one of endurance. We have a goal of two clients today!

Last night, when I came home, Mom was in a demented state, which included another demand for the keys to the vechicle to go somewhere at 10 PM! I just ignored it and went to bed.

Just after I was told I could go home tonight, some fool came into Block to get his taxes done. Where the hell was he all day long? I fell asleep in my chair at least twice, and I had only one client in the eight hours I was there. Anway, he's rescheduled for Tuesday. I don't have to be at Block until Wednesday.

As Spring Takes Over from Winter in 2006

2006-03-16T21:50:00.000-05:00

Mon 13 Mar
Last night ended a long dead day at Block. I was there nearly eight hours without a client (whch I have equaled with Monday and Wednesday). We didn't even reach our low goal of four clients in the office. I made 63 calls to all the not yet returned clients from last year who had come up to 12 March, but had not yet come this year.

After my round again with "Flipper" in French, I began to realize what I'd like to do in a few years. If I could generate enough unearned income, I could write and do other things I want to do in retirement. With only five weeks left in the tax season, I must be ready when it ends. It would return me to my days in graduate school when I didn't waste so much time making a living, and I spent much of my leisure time in learning. All those books remind me of those ambitions, every time I see them unready and unused.

Wed 15 Mar
My other work seems to pile up while I'm trying to keep up after taking a day off. The day started off very windy as the lion roared. For weirdness, it was very warm yesterday morning before the temperature fell last night. Flurries scattered about leaving no trace with the wind and sun.
I was tempted to go to Tastmasters tomorrow, but it's quirky that I even have a Thursday off during tax season. I have 26 March off, so I purchased "The Man Called Flintstone" to watch on the thirtyninth anniversary of the last time I saw it. Perhaps I'll get lucky and have it in other languages as well.

Thu 16 Mar
Punxsutawney Phil declared winter over, and "The Matthew Shepard Story" débuted in 2002.
I spent much of the morning on the internet, at PathMark, and now at Frankford Hospital. It turned out we need referrals for all these tests, which I had to fix to get the procedures done. The neurologist's office was virtually inaccessible this morning.

Block again remains problematic, maybe due to the bad publicity in New York State -- accusations about Express IRA's mostly. I haven't had a client since Saturday (Fortunately I have no work tonight.), and the one I'd scheduled for yesterday wanted another preparer, who wasn't there that night. I didn't even have calls for the customers from last year!
I did catch an error from 2004, which will cost Block. How could anyone miss having gambling losses without any winnings?

The March Lion in 2006

2006-03-11T22:04:00.000-05:00

Mon 6 Mar
Finally someone came to look at the fence, and I should've known; termites are eating it. Instead of woodrot, the insects are devouring it. How much is this replacement going to cost?
One of my coworkers received a change from the IRS, which placed her as head of household without a dependent. The flowchart at Block clearly shows the need for a dependent of some kind.

Wed 8 Mar
I called the optometrist and confirmed the appointment tomorrow. It will cost $1765 to replace the damaged fence, probably with wood! Undless I can use creosote, I don't see any advantage with replacing the fence with more wood. Also I must contact the neighbors, especially the one in the back.

Thu 9 Mar
Once again, no one knows anything at the optometrist's. Someone told me the appointment was today, yet it is tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I am trying to confront my demons from 1964 by buying "Flipper", the original movie. I have bad memories of being pushed into the movies when I lived forlornly at my grandparets'. I am watching it in Frnch with French titles.

Fri 10 March
The work doesn't look bad the day after I took one off, but it took me late afternoon to break. I'd almost forgotten to get my personal order -- two noiron dress shirts for Block, with 38 days left of tax season.
Last night, I made many calls to clients from last year. I suppose I'll be doing the same this night as well. I don't seem to be prospering at this juncture.

Sat 11 Mar
My cousin looked at the fence and said that there is no sign of termites. Actually the posts are too short to stay in. The back neighbor was gracious enought to tell me that the fence is actually along the property line. I will have to find the costs for new poles.
Psychologically I have altered my perception form 1964 of :"Flipper". In fact, I've been rejuvenated by enjoying the movie as I should have in 1964.

I talked to my sister tonight. I no longer blame my misery on a fictional dolphin. Unfortunately, the smells of the setting are missing. Of course, I look at the movie very differently than I would have then. Luke Halpin reminds me of my character Pete Royer, another lentigenous xanthacroid with gelasins and chin cleft.

Sun 12 Mar
I really must sit down and elaborate on my entries. I should image stream and try to allow my feelings to emerge and purge some of my inhibitions.

Image streaming -- only five weeks left until Easter...no clients so far...only one has come into the office and the goal for today is merely four.
I continue to watch "Flipper" in French, similarly to what I've done with other movies, and I've noticed that only the common words are what I've grabbed. Perhaps I should stop it and say the words I don't know. A more active participation would help me master the language.

Last night I had the same crazy dream about living in Wilkes-Barre and State College. I need Sigmond Freud to interpret this kind of dream. Does it mean I must go back and start over, or does it mean I regret my decisions back then?

In with the Lion of March 2006

2006-03-05T20:25:00.000-05:00

Thu 2 Mar
I began my second half of the tax season, the beginning of Lent, and March, off to a bad start. I could have stayed home it was so bad. I had three clients: one on a COD, and the last owing much to the federal due to married filed separately. The middle one just antagonized me. He should have gone to one of my coworkers, who had all the material. The one belonged to the hillbillies. He was so naïf and overly demanding as to cost, I was prepared to let him walk out. They ended up giving the brat a free return, only after my coworker blew up at me. I still have a number of problematic clients tonight.
I awoke at 3:30 this morning, and I bathed before going back to bed at 5 AM. Therefore, all I'll have to do is put out the garbage tonight. Ihave only six more Thursday nights to go!

Fri 3 Mar
Last night was worse profitwise. I made a few calls to former clients, called a hold, and I fixed a comeback. I'll have fewer tonight, especially if I have no clients. I was available for the next walkin from seven o'clock. A fellow Toastmaster came in for another coworker, for he'd sold a rental property.
Today at the main job brought more grief. A relative of the owners had passed my office many times over the past months, during which I had my legs up over my desk. I was not working at the time, and I don't do it otherwise. Finally she told my boss on Wednesday. At the time, I suggested I simply keep the door of the office closed. She objected to that remedy, even though no visitors can see me, and I told my boss so.
I am presented with a way to get even. Given she assumes what I'm doing behind the door at a certain time of day, I will take the opportuntiy to close the door when I'm not even it my office. I should have done this stuff four decades ago!

Alzheimer's?

2006-02-27T19:44:00.000-05:00

My mother appears to becoming demented. She often loses track of the time of day if she naps during the daytime. At first, the surgeon blamed the drugs from the operation on her colon (a polyp which just turned malignant) After an adventure on 18 January, when she drove off at 2 AM to go to the primary physician at 10:15, she hit a gate and damaged the van. The police kept her until my uncle and I could go get her in Conshohocken.
It took a long time for us to get the vehicle repaired (damage of $2342 to the right front light and the area above the bumper). Recently, I took her to the primary physician, who gave me a prescription to a neurologist. The neurologist remembered her from the operation. He gave her a memory test in my presence on Thurday (23 February), and she scored a 26, which is mild(ly) (demented). He prescribed a medication called memantine for the next four weeks. We will be back on 23 March to assess its effectiveness. I take her for an electroencephalogram on 7 March. She hasn't spoken much about driving, and I have the keys hidden in the basement. Hopefully, the memantine will arrest the deterioration.

Mid February 2006

2006-02-26T12:52:00.000-05:00

Tue 14 Feb
Yesterday progressed only to the point that we exchanged vehicles, and I have my $400 back. The examination proved nothing, although I have a prescription for the neurologist.

Fri 17 Feb
I thought of my travails in school. Could it be that I was so obedient to authority that my peers thought that could make me as obedient? Did they assume that I could not be loyal to my peers and authority?
This weekend will definitely be easier because I'll have three days off after Saturday. Given the 39th anniversary of New Town, next weekend will be the same anniversary of the first full weekend in New Town.
15:07
For the first time this week, I had a nap, and does it feel good! I worked through lunch three days in a row, and it was catching up with me.
The visit to the neurologist is next Thursday at 1:30 at Neshaminy Plaza, near the intersection of Street Road and Bristol Pike.

Sun 19 Feb
It's been thirtynine years from the major event of my childhood. It seems quiet on a Sunday, after I spent longer than scheduled at Block yesterday; instead of 10-6, I was here 10-8:15 because one of my coworkers didn't come in.
I bought "Elements of Mystery Fiction" by William G Tapply. Chapter 3 on the protagonist compels me to pursue George Król as as accountant, who can discover fraud on the books.

Mon 20 Feb
I realized today that my memory of awaking on this date in 1967 and the time to 2045 are both 39 years! Such a timespan doesn't seem so long ago now.
I had a surprise evaluation today, and it was the most accurate on I've ever had at Bodek and Rhodes. Of course, the question now goes back to me whether I want to get out of there, even with help!

Wed 22 Feb
In contrast to Monday, tonight is rather dead. I began the callback program of the thirty-odd clients I had last year. I am quite nervous, but I realize that the list mainly has unresolved contacts, which must be why the district manager wants the calls done by 10 March. Of course, 10 March has two significances -- one in 1969 and the other in 1981. I'd rather focus on 1981, which scatteres the grief from the porevious year.

Fri 24 Feb
The blustery weather blew me in today, and it felt like March a little early. I should've worn my skimask!
Yesterday I managed to get a few things done, so I could retire early. Deapite my halfday off, I am nowhere nearly behind. The increase should up in the check, along with the three hours. For the first time in quite a while, I am finished with reviews and increases before February ended.
This weekend will demand my attention at home. It will probably be my last chance until Easter and the end of the tax season to clean up the place. Of course, I should also consider the changes I want to make, particularly after 17 April. There will be only a short time for preparation.

Sun 26 Feb
My only Sunday off between 8 January and Easter provided me with some time to clean up seven weeks of debris. I will have another bage to go with the garbage this week. I spent part of the morning on career assessment, which only confirmed what I already know.
I am trying to set someone to fix the fence. The front gate broke one of the posts. Recently the back ones are falling down. I discovered that a large branch had broken off and grazed the fence. The branch must have shaken the fence enough to shake some of it loose.
So far today all I've done is clean up the gloss. It will take until April before I can attack the actual buildup of deferred dreams and other aspects of what my boss hinted on Monday.

2nd Week in February 2006

2006-02-11T21:16:00.000-05:00

Wed 8 Feb
Last night, Mike from Enterprise picked me up at work to get a rental -- a silver Buick. I'm driving to both jobs the rest of the week. I bought groceries at PathMark last night, but there are more to get before Saturday morning. We gave my brother a suppository, and he finally went this morning. Therefore, we had time to bathe him while I cleaned up the Reaganomics in his bed.
Life at Bodek continues to be hectic. After the extra burst of activity from two new customers from Choiunard, I still trail behind the paperwork. I must have taken half my time yesterday just trying to get though the paperwork and bills at Chouinard. Meanwhile, I start my ninth last week of the tax season, with the remainder of the second of the peak weeks.
15:09
I've set up an appoitment on Monday for 2PM at the doctor's. By that time, we should be about ready to reclaim the van. If not, we can still go in the Buick. This issue must settle as soon as possible.

Thu 9 Feb
Driving a Buick is another experience, one which I'm trying to enjoy while it lasts. How we're going to switch vehicles remains the largest worry in the near future. Someone called me about my résumé on Monster, which surprised me greatly. This is a bad time of year to be looking for another job. I wasn't going to try Résumé Rabbit until after tax season.

Fri 10 Feb
I finally had a row today. Mom woke me just past 2 AM to take my brother out of bed. This morning she denied it, as he was falling asleep in his motorized chair. Even Schrub doesn't lie any better about the thwarted terrorist attempt on Los Angeles. I guess I finally had it with the manipulation.

I actually enjoy a fanatasy of taking over another body. I'd love to punish someone like Charles Monroe Butler by using his body to torture hom. It'd be condign justice.

Monday looks busy in the afternoon. In addition to the appointment, we'll switch vehicles. It may be more leisurely this weekend if the predicted snowstorm hits about noon. I'm supposed to start at 3 PM, at which time there may be too much snow. Nonetheless, I'll get groceries early morning tomorrow. I'll miss the Buick next week.
21:30
The snow came late and wet. From 3 PM until 8 PM, I awaited a client. I was second a few hours, then next. Block closed early, and I drove in the slop. Still, it was a wasted effort.

Into February 2006

2006-02-06T04:30:00.000-05:00

Sun 5 Feb 11:38
The one wheel fell off the cart as i was leaving the parkinglot at Acme. I tried to carry the cart the rest of the way, and I was about a thrid home when a good Samaratan named Paul gave me a lift. Afterwards, I tired to relax for an hour before coming back to Block.
Last night I figured my federal return, which gives me $153 back in three weeks. I spent a halfhour at Block confirming the figures. I just hadn't filled out an 8880 in my estimate.

BusinessWeek insists that the economy is stronger than we think, for the Information Age has many intangibles outside the statistical norms
21:55
Because of the Superbowl, we closed just after five, when gave me time to mail my retrun at the post office at Franklin Mills. I expect the money to show up in three weeks, just like my return last year. Fiven I made the saver's credit by over $700, maybe I shoud run it again this year..

Mon 6 Feb
The extra two hours gave me time to do two loads of laundry, especially the clothes I wear to Block. I returned by ten, just after the Steelers won the Superbowl. For some reason, I'm up early today, so I'm doing what I missed yesterday. This past weekend should be the last time I work all the weekend when Block is open until next year.

Late January 2006

2006-01-29T20:32:00.000-05:00

Mon 16 Jan
The cold and windy weather continued, although it's milder than either Wilkes-Barre or State College. I walked all the way to work today as I try to lose some weight. There are enough catalogs to go out today as we try to clean out the backlog. I also had yet another pallet to bring in, with no place to put it!

Arizona will lose both its Supreme Cout justices withi n a year.

Tue 17 Jan Benjamin Franklin's 300th
I thought about why I reacted to rejection from interviewers and how similar it was toward my social conflicts in school. I am not quite through "Self-Esteem" by Matthew McKay and Patrick Fanning. I still try to compare what I read with my aliving in my childhood four decades ago.

Wed 18 Jan
I am so stessed out today. When I arose, I was alone in the house with my brother. Meanwhile, the wind and the rain made my trek to work hazardous. When I was walking to the end of Gravelhill Pike, the wind blew down chunks of trees into a backyeard while I watched! It looked like a scene out of television.
The caregiver came late due to the bad weather. Our backyeard is a mess of branches, but no downed trees. Finally around eleven, Mom called to tell me that she was in Conshohocken. Uncle Bill and I were ready to go get her, when we found out that she'd left the house from which she'd called. Eventually, the police had her when she hit a gate.
I had to take a halfday personal and cancel Block tonight, as I sit in bed. Oregon's assisted suicide law was upheld 6-3, with Roberts providing the dissent. It's states' rights, combined with individual rights as well. We know which was for Scalito. Meanwhile, Karen called as well, offering assistance -- and I'll need it.

Sat 21 Jan
I've been at Block for four hours without a client. We went shopping for groceries this morning. I couldn't get an estimate on the damage to the front headlight and the area below it. However, the lights still work, so I can drive it at night.
The weather remains unseasonably warm. It's more like March than January. On the homefront, I await the result of my calls on Thursday.

Sat 28 Jan
The two peak weeks begin today. The vechicle is still under repair, so I'll be going to Acme with a cart tomorrow, just like old times in Kingston. I lack most of my information today, so I'll not be filing this weekend.
On Thursday night, I fell, and my left knee, my left arm, and my right hand still ache. I even have a bruise on my hand.
We began early today at Block, although it may be awhile before the business picks up. Last night, I had four clients, which easily made up a few days last week. Today I need about $500 in sales to break even.

I still await a client.

I had four clients to just break even. I bought another desk calendar of mind-bending puzzles for clients to see the date. The computer doesn't show the date during the sessions.

Sun 29 Jan
There are five of us today, in contrast to the three we had all those Sundays last year. I went to Acme with the cart this morning, only to be reminded what I don't usually go there. The prices are much higher, even with a card, and I spent nearly $25 on a few items. In addition, the cashier almost missed giving me a dollar in change.

New Year's 2006

2006-01-15T19:55:00.000-05:00

Mon 2 Jan
My sister and her family graced and enriched us with their presence yesterday afternoon. My brother-in-law was correct that the battery had died in the van, and he bought us a replacement. They had presents for us, but mine were not really useful, as usual: glass ornaments, a totebrella, and two mugs with cocoa. I really think it was a waste.
The hibernal pause dwindles to hours, and the rest of the winter will be very busy. Given Schrub's deficits and rising interest rates, I should double my additions to shrink the principal on the mortgage.

Tue 10 Jan
My first night at Block produced another pounding on the uniform definition of a qualifying child. Otherwise, we didn't geet much else done. Tonight and Friday I have off, which will become rare over the next fourteen weeks. The aim for the season is $500 more for a new computer, $1000 more for the business, and $1000 more for the principal on the mortgage.
I didn't fall asleep until almost midnight, and I had a heavy nap over this afternoon. Last night was the first step over the next fourteen weeks, just past Easter.

Wed 11 Jan
12:15
At the beginning of a long day, I finally took the book on self-esteem, which has a few exercises with it.
15:30
Much of what I struggled with over my lifetime seems to relate to self-esteem. Even my sixth-grade teacher reminded me of a lack of confidence to control the class. I also went over my personal rough spots, and I can now see where with was lacking. Like Reaganomics, my time at Ashley remains long after it should have, and the poisonous effect remains, because I can't seem to leave it alone.

Thu 12 Jan
Last night I almost had a client, but Monika took him. I suppose I could have done it for the twenty-something commission. I was very surprised we had clients so early.
The weight loss I've missed comes from my lack of self-esteem as well. Instead of taking up other forms of body abuse, I let it manifest tiself in another venue. My portions are too much and I shouldn't eat so often and so late in the day. I am up to 106 kg, and I plan to begin losing a kilogram a week.

Sun 15 Jan
My near disaster last night did not cover it with coffee. It was quite misty when I went back to Block. I had no clients by 6:30, three hours later, so I split my shift and headed toward Boarders. Instead I found a desk calendar about worst-case scenarios.
However, during my first hour, I tried to make coffee. Not finding filters, I tried to do it without, which blocked the filter with grounds. When I tried to carry the mess into the restroom, the plug to the maker caught behind the microwave. The coffee spilled on my right arm, slightly scalding my wrist. Finally I cleaned everything up, and later I made it correctly. The filters had been hiding in the cupboard. Whatever made me think I didn't need filters with this coffee maker?
I can't seem to hear my critic, which is the first step toward rebuilding my self-esteem.

Late December 2005

2005-12-28T18:34:00.000-05:00

Sun 18 Dec 22:22
This weekend was somwhat profitable. I started the main tree and put up the lights outside. I also had to replace my first disc player (almost a decade old), for the cassette recorder on it died. I'd just borrowed "EZ Italian" from Barron's on disc, and I wanted to record it on cassette.

Tue 20 Dec 8:26
After a relatively warm morning above freezing, today was -6º and windy. I could've used my skimask. I await the catalogs for 2006, before I leave for my twelve days of Christmas.

Sun 25 Dec
The day worked out better than I'd expected. Instead of a confrontation over the lack of giving gifts, my sister's family isn't even coming today!
I keep feeling overwhelmed with all the clutter I've accumulated over the past three decades. If I can't remember the reason I bought a certain book, I discard it. I must act upon my goals or give them up.

I didn't want to bring up Schrub, but I can't ignore him. The brainless wimp has finally gone too far and justified my respelling into Nazi German. Where is the outrage that Schrub is spying -- long with the usual lying -- on innocent Americans? This fool doesn't have a clue about protecting us, and the very fact that 9/11 has occurred on his watch should be more than enough clues. In addition to impeaching the Schrub, victims of his illegal wiretaps should sue -- never mind the futility of the exclusionary rule.
I had a dream that I was making up my face. When I awoke, I had the strange thought...

Wed 28 Dec 18:00
What is someone stared back, a kind of "Quantum Leap"? Suppose someone dead looked back, like Matthew Wayne Shepard?

I spent part of yesterday to get the mechanism on the van fixed. Apparently the strangers who forced the automatic door did damage the mechanism.
I didn't go anywhere today. I spent half of it on my online courses with Block. I finished Employe Business Expenses. I started the two I had left: The Alternate Minimum Tax and the Miliatry Taxpayer. I have until Saturday to finish them. I now have 81 credits in my pocket, with six more to go.
I continue to pick out things to sling, but the best thing is to thorw out a few every week. I also must finished what I start, or dump it.

Back to my dream -- suppose I could get into someone else's body. Would I have a choice in whose body I occupied? Would I need a purpose and would I be allowed to alter history?

Eugene McCarthy

2005-12-17T20:08:00.000-05:00

My graduate advisor, Dr Robert K Murray, engaged in a forum back in October 1980 with Senator Eugene McCarthy, who just died: "A Perspective: The State of the Modern Presidency" at Penn State. I did not shake McCarthy's hand because he was still bitter about RFK's entrance into the race for the presidency in 1968 against Lyndon Johnson.
Dr Murray later told us in class -- at the time I was taking "America between the Wars" (1919-45) -- that he'd asked McCarthy why McCarthy waited until the last minute to endorse Hubert Humphrey in 1968. McCarthy still garnered a million votes in that election, which Richard Nixon won by a half million.
McCarthy told (third hand here) a story of when Lyndon Johnson took Humphrey out on his ranch to hunt deer. He tried to get Humphrey to shoot a docile deer. When HHH shot the deer, LBJ gave him a knife to finish the job. HHH couldn't do it, so LBJ slit the throat of the deer. Then he forced HHH to place the mounted deer in his office. McCarthy, also a Senator from Minnesota, was disgusted that HHH caved into LBJ over that incident, and he temporized endorcing HHH because of it. Every time McCarthy went into HHH's office, that deer head reminded him of how much HHH was tied to LBJ.

Tue 13 Dec
After a blistering summer, winter has started cold, -9º this morning. Last week, three snowstorms hit us -- the worst was Friday morning.

Wed 14 Dec
We feasted at Famous Dave's in the huge shopping arena on Grant Avenue across from Forman Mills (Philadelphia). I ate more meat than I usually eat in a week. I needed the fat this morning with temperatures around -11º. Wilkes-Barre was probably -15º and Mountaintop at -17º. Ah! Those days of delivering newspapers in winter remind me of those temperatures near -20º (5 below zero).
I may have opened a pandora's box with my participation in surveys, but I think it's time to take more risks, if not for the payoff, at least for the learning.
I continue my looksy with organic chemistry and linear algebra. I can't seem to find out what was so important about the nullspace. I also continue my Black courses online. I'm over halfway through the employe business expenses. I must finish all the online courses by the end of the year. I will have more time within a week.
I was up at 3 AM, so I added pictures from Christmas/New Year's 1970-71. I've used the same tree, ornaments, and light set for 35 years!

Thu 15 Dec 15:40
Another storm appraoches today -- this time snow which turns into rain. There will be ice with it away from the city. It was almost as cold this morning at -10º, again with little wind. Tomorrow should be warm enough to abate leftover snow.

Fri 16 Dec 14:50
I snoozed over a halfhour this afternoon, so I must have been tired. We received the same old bonuses today. It will help me slightly, and I should be able to avoid using the card the rest of the month, expect for possible presents. I must sell the disasters from last year! So ends my last Friday at my workplace in 2005!

Winter Sets in 2005

2005-12-10T19:10:00.000-05:00

Sun 4 Dec
The New York Giants squeezed by the Dallas Cowboys, 17-10. Meanwhile, I woke to snow (~2cm) on the ground. Despite the thinness and the wetness, I still took an hour to shovel it off.
I still struggle while trying to find the time for creativity. The last session at Block along with my look through the book has led me to the question of how to pull it off. Surely the same skills would similarly help me in the other kind of business I want to conduct.

Wed 7 Dec
I was dreaming again of being in Bruce Murphy's class in prelaw. Tonight I will not have to go to Block -- the general training is over until this date next month. There appears to be a shortage of tax preparers again this year. Meanwhile, I'm back online with the ethics course.
Tonght Tim needs a bath and a suppository. The dog needs a bath as well, for she's carrying coprolites on her rear again. I'm going to trim off all the fur around her anus!
Of course, I'm back to work on linear algebra. It's so ironic that I gave up when the course actually was easing into statistics, which I aced the following year.
At work, the big thing is the changeover of our copier paper, and the gruntwork I must do in preparation.

Fri 9 Dec
I walked through a snowstorm to work this morning. I was so tired that I went to bed at 8 AM, only to be awakened at 3 AM. The snow began soon after. It was very sloppy, and the sun's been out much of the day, so it shouldn't be bad going home tonight.

Sat 10 Dec
I bought "9 to 5", and I haven't seen it since February 1981. It seems to be a long time ago, and much naïveté ago. I look at that situation much differently than I did in 1981. Of course, it also means that I've become much wiser. I bought it to see it again and to hear it in French with Spanish captions.

As Winter 2005-6 Sets in...

2005-12-03T18:45:00.000-05:00

I am trying to come to terms with what Romaine Pattersnon wrote in "The WHole World Was Watching", and what I have from other sources. I want to place it on a permanent site.

Tue 29 Nov 8:10
The monetray problem intensified this week because Mom took $500 out of the wrong account. I am forced to reconcile the difference, to keep disaster from happening with the beginning of the new month.
Meanwhile, I dreamed in color of that very large house, and that I was exploring the attic. Some of the dormers were as large as room. I also had to explain what I didn't visit during the summers of the 1960's.
15:15
As I try to get through the Silva method, I find myself going back to the root of the problem to Nanticoke. I first experienced bullying after we had moved to Ashley, when I had to adapt to a new environment. I've thought about a corollary to existentialism -- by not making decisions, one drifts along aimlessly by default. Then further avoidnace of decisions leave others to make those decisions.
Out three years in Ashley linger much more than I'd thought. I will have to try breaking away from the harmful residue. The constant powerlessness and putdowns must have steered me along the inertia I still feel some four decades later.

Fri 2 Dec
One week remains with the training at Block. It's good that the rest of the week reverts to normal. Nonetheless, I must go through the book, which may just give me clues about mortgage and financial planning.

Thanksgiving 2005/Matt's 29th Birthday

2005-11-26T15:34:00.000-05:00

I intend to work out the revelations of "The Whole World Was Watching" with what I know about Matthew Wayne Shepard from my sources. I would like to place it someplace permanent, rather than on a blog. There are some contradictions, which demand a decision.
The largest one is that Matt was HIV+. Romaine Patterson states that Matt was HIV+ in June 1998, but my sources note that Matt was tested the following September as negative, and the autopsy definitely tested him as negative. The Foundation also states that Matt was HIV+, but it adds no crediblity toward why Aaron McKinney didn't bring it up in the defense, especially with the vicous excuse of "gay panic". Then last year at this time, McKinney claimed (violating his own gag rule not to speak to the press ever again about the case) that the motivation was robbery. Romaine bashes the nonsense of ABC's 20/20 in the same way I did. It only adds to the case that sexual orientation is no excuse for violence, whether perceived or real. McKinney unwittingly proves the very case for making sexual orientation a protected class, because he used it as an excuse to get a lighter sentence! I fear I won't live long enough to hear news of his death.

I have run frustrations with the Block training online. First, the proprietors never told me my online name. I finally uncovered it with trial and error. When I finally made it into the site, it kept crashing. This morning I finally finished the second module, only to crash again in the third of six modules.
19:05
I am in the process of cleaning my room, and I feel overwhelmed at the books and the dreams still untouched. i must decide upon which ones I must give up as unattainable and which ones to pursue with a minit on time. There is no other way, as I must decide on objectives for a career while I'm at it!
I've become so entrenched in my deadend job that I haven't even begun to look for another one over the years. I found more than a few books on the subject. Sometimes I feel as though I'll never realize any of my potential.
The latest Penn Stater focuses on Senator Rick Santorum, who unfortunately also grduated in 1980. Personally I look forward to Schrub's giving him the kiss of death next year, so he can return to a redneck state like Virginia.

Sun 27 Nov
I couldn't sleep at 2 AM, so I went online to Block and finished the training in an hour. I savaged the evaluation. This afternoon I cannot even get into Block training, which only confirms my suspicion that the website is just unready for so much traffic.

RFK's 80th Brithday

2005-11-20T17:36:00.000-05:00

Mom drove for the first time since the operation. Our drive to the oncologist produced an odd situation. One family was actually speaking Polish. I recognized the language, although I didn't catch much of what was said. Another oddity of language occurred on Wednesday night.
I stopped at Block to schedule the training, just because I'd taken the wrong bus. (I started walking to work again on Tuesday.) Apparently, the training began that evening! While I awaited for the class, I was transcribing what Philipp had emailed me. One of the Black workers was registering. This German born and naturalized citizen was born a few months after Hitler had taken over. She could have read what I was writing and easily understood.
Yesterday I stopped at the library and grabbed several books. Four of them were Wiley's CPA from 2004 and far cheaper ($3.25 vs $200). It makes my third review material and far less expensive than the other two in 1984 and 1992. It's an update of more than a decade.
I've yet to thrash out the revelations from Romaine Patterson about Matthew Wayne Shepard. I think I'll do so on my site.

Revenge of the Sith Chemist

2005-11-13T19:50:00.000-05:00

Mon 7 Nov Hey, China, Johnny Rivers is 63!
We seemed to have returned to some form of normalcy although Mon is still too thin. I spent most of the weekend on "Revenge of the Sith", the third installment of the six parts of "Star Wars". Finally, we get to see about twenty years before the original "A New Hope".

Tue 8 Nov
Back in 1976, I didn't have the models for the molecules in organic chemistry, and I needed them! I must have slid over the entire chapter on stereochemical reactions. Now I see the points of the problems and how they relate to the concepts! What was I doing then?

Wed 9 Nov
I brought my model of (S)-(+)-1-cholor-2-methylbutane. It was a simple example where an additional chlorination demonstrates all aspects of the chapter:two carbons at either end would not change the chiral center, another carbon would destroy the chirality, another carbon would generate a second chiral center, and the last would change the original chiral center into a racemic modification of entantiomers.

Thu 10 Nov
Tonight we have four speakers, and I'm presenting the Better Club series.

Sun 13 nov
Last night I began to read "The Whole World Was Watching" at part 2. Romaine Patterson gave me more information about Matthew Wayne Shepard than I think I want to know.
I suspected much of what Matt did in Denver, such as living off his parents while living alone. I also suspected his exploits, but not so much the drugs beyond marijuana, which I consider no better nor worse than tobacco.
The statement that Matt was HIV+ in June 1998 was somewhat disturbing, but it does explain much of the other stuff. I will have to modify some of what I have on the sites.

Late October 2005

2005-11-06T20:25:00.000-05:00

Sat 22 Oct
The past month has been rather hard. I'm overwhelmed at caring for two invalids. Every weekend, I run the laundry. I take care of my brother when I'm home from work. I've been avoiding supper every night, for now that I drive to work, I'm afraid I'll gain weight as I did in 2003.

I just finished my last class at Block, the third one I took offline. I just have to take a final of twenty questions. (Note: I passed it.) Then I'll have training, and I'll begin the second job again in January.

My uncle has visited when I wasn't here. He lives nearby (~4 km), within walking distance. He doesn't seem interested in speaking German. I did find a television station that has Deutsche Welle on twice a week. It also has dramas on at night in other languages, such as Polish and Irish (wybe).

Matt's (Shepard's) seventh deathday (I made up this word) passed rather quietly. I think that everything we could know had already been revealed. I've also deduced other aspects of the final year of his life, but I cannot be certain about any of it.

I didn't expect a grand coalition in Germany, but it looks as if the coalition is the only answer until the next election. My guess is that such a coalition will not last out Schrub's term by 2009. I'm rooting for the frostbelt Chicago White Sox over Schrub's Texans, the stupid As(s)tros of Houston. (Note: it turned out better than I'd expected!)

Sun 23 October
I've finished putting down the remaining storm windows, and I caught up to my blog online. I must take off Tuesday, so I'll get chance to put my room and my affairs in some order.
I didn't get much else done. I cooked my first ham, cabbage, and potatoes. I must prepare a speech for Thursday night at Toastmasters.

Tue 25 October
I started my virtually impromptu speech for Thursday. I finally began to read "Financially Free" from 1986 and Marc Garrison (along with Robert Allen and Utah). Once again, the question is how to do it.

Fri 4 Nov
After a frightening beginning of the week, the shift tends toward normal. Mom seems to have dropped the outheaded talking, and I dealt with a flat tire on Tuesday. However, I must keep an eye on the finances on the other side. Tim's account threatens to shoot way over $2000, even after I took out $200 yesterday. Therfore, I took out enought today to keep it under the maximum.

Meanwhile, Schrub sinks further in the polls, a year too late for the voters to do anything about it. The Republican Congress cut programs further while giving more welfare for the wealthy. Will the redniecks finally wake up?

October and the Operation

2005-10-23T17:25:00.000-04:00

Sun 2 Oct
Mom was not totally lucid, even on Saturday. I must call the surgeon tomorrow. My cousin just called, and the reason that they took the catscans and the other examinations were for strokes and any other problems such as dementia. My sister's family came yesterday, but she never called. I suppose I must wait until tomorrow to get it straightened out.

Mon 3 Oct
The hospital discharged Mom today. The surgeon didn't think much of dementia and said that being in a strange place was part of it. The caregiver left at ten to four, exactly eight hours after she had come. Then today there must have been an accident around Woodhaven Road and Bristol Pike. I had to go around it twice to get home late at 4:30. Therefore, Tim was alone for forty minutes.

Tue 4 Oct
We seemd to have returned to some kind of normalcy today. Mom seems to becoming better, although she didn't take here pills until tonight. However, she's still not eating. I went to Pathmark to pick up some groceries and some percocil, a painkiller. Even the dog was out of canned food!
Tonight Mom went to bed instead of lying on the couch. I had to carry her to bed at 12:45 this morning.

Sun 9 Oct
Lori called tonight to stir some disturbing thoughts. I am already under the strain of taking care of Tim. Mom continues to eat little and to mope around the house.
The caregiver and the substitute didn't show up on Friday, and neither did the visiting nurse. I am returning to my old schedule tomorrow. I continue to struggle just to keep up with Block. This week I have two nights occupied. I must get around them.

Wed 12 Oct
MWS is dead seven years.

Sun 16 Oct
MWS's funeral seven years ago
An ugly reminder reared its head on Friday. I can't expect the buyers to help keep the open files clear. I've been deferring to them too much too long. It's part of the demurs which have me in the job in the first place.
I continue to do far too much while caring for two invalids. I had to go to PathMark two days in a roiw, and then to Walmart this afternoon as well. I've still a cold, the second infection in as many weeks.
Today I begin to put down the storm windows on the northern side of the house. I continue to struggle finding time for Block.
I am stalled at chapter six of Morrison and Boyd on the reactions of alkenes. I have problems at the end of the chapter to do over.

Tue 18 Oct
I am slowly realizing that my entire process towars learning as subject is too inefficient. If anything. Morrison and Boyd is bringing it out. I never went back to check on the concept in the chapter, nor did I follow through and spend the time on the subject.

Preparing for Winter

2005-10-23T06:03:00.000-04:00

Thu 8 Sept
I began to repaint the window frames yesterday, and the task is very difficult; the strippers I use don't work very well -- it takes brute force to knock off some of the unpeeled paint. I placed a second coat on the frames I peeled and I put one coat on the kitchen windows which I didn't peel. That leaves eight windows to do, as I take out the conditioners. It angers me twentyseven years later when I think of what I gave up in September 1978 to avoid (so I'd thought) a deadend job.

I was looking at chapter five of Morrison and Boyd (Organic Chemistry) when I realized that I was looking at alkenes differently than when I took the course in 1976. Wisdom tends to come late.

Among my other errands yesterday: I declared the driveway resurfaced for the eyar, gathered groceries, and a haircut. I used an old coloring to hide my gray hair. Midnight needs some protections from fleas more than the gasoline we just added at $3.40/gallon. to fill the tank. The less about Schrub the better. I just placed a parody of "Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose?" on my newest page. Unfortunately, Schurb palys a guitar on the picture instead of a banjo. "Say Has Anybody Seen Our Brainless Prez?"

Sat 10 Sept
I discovered on the internet that "Terry" will début tomorrow on Canadian television. Both weekends seems to celebrate his life and goals: this weekend on television, and the next weekend with marathons. Shawn Ashmore plays Terry Fox, and the producers digitally prothesize his right leg.
I struggled with the front sill -- there must be forty years of layers of paint on the window frames. I don't favorably look at the other five frames. I scratched only so much before I had to give up. I was peeling off the wood.

Mon 12 September
This bout of achrony is becoming worse. Mom awakened me at 11:45 last night and insisted that I get Tim out of bed. Apparently we had a lively house all night. When I was up at 5 AM everyone was asleep.
I went to Block online to continue my review of business entities. It is a slow struggle, but I want the course down. There is so much to do before I go after the enrolled agent. I have four formal courses and pieces of four others. Then there are the online courses, nd the big one -- employe business expenses -- hasn't shown up yet; it's due this Thursday.

The buyers are moving down the hall, almost of the Credit Department. It all seems futile as my excusions into academia.

Sat 24 Sept
The past two days have been a blur of inadequacy. I took care of Tim yesterday, then the caregiver came at 8:15 this morning. I did get to shop a little, but I spent much at Walmart for "MacGyver" and "Muppets Take Manhattan" Otherwise, I did only a little Block by rewriting my notes.

Sun 25 Sept
We visited late morning, but Mom was quite out of it. They were going to move her out of intensive care when we left. The nurses were quite unhelpful in getting information about the operation.
I gave Tim a bath beforehand, but the suppository failed three times after 1:30. So I will have to wait until tomorrow for any results.
The caregive called at 5:25 AM to request the day off, so I complied. My next trick is to change my hours so I can get home earlier.

"MacGyver" wroughts too intensely for me, even a score after the fact. The situations seem so unreal. "The Avengers" seem to have the same gendre. I ask whether the job itself reflects the frustration I used to have while wading through Reaganomics. If such a hero did exist, what would it be like to have so much power? Could I learn anything from such a spontaneous character?

Wed 28 Sept
The great mixup of the day begins. I am in class at Block in the morning. The caregive consistently comes last: 7:20, 7:45, 7:48. 7:50, 7:50 -- but she is supposed to be there 7-5 every day. Next week, we begin 8-4.

Labored Day

2005-09-05T18:31:00.000-04:00

I finished the weekend by emptying the cans of resurfacer of the deck and the driveway. For the third night of the four, it's a nice night to sit out on the porch.

I looked up the internet to get the boiling point of spiropentane. It actually boils higher than regular pentane (39º vs 36º). Would a cyclic alkane be so strained to overcome lower boiling points as it approaches spherical geometry?

I finished the language tapes today, adding to the space in German with my notes from 1976. There must have been better techniques to learn any langugage. I thought of flash cards, tapes, and Mo Berg.
Medical physiology reminds me of highschool biology with Sister John Ann. There is so much to plow through in that review.

Mom had me up at 1:30 this morning to get Tim out of bed. I suppose we were quite active last night.

I had a thought of rewriting the old adventure in 1978, and calling it "The Case of Chris's Crisis". I have a later view of such a Chris from Dr Kao's lab in 1989: tall, blond, with scattered freckles.

Summer Romance

2005-09-03T16:43:00.000-04:00

Finally the hot weather broke, although I still have heat rash on my arms, legs, and belly, and it's still itchy. Tempertures in the morning are in the teens, and twice, on Thursday and yesterday, I was tempted to stay outside awhile after dark, just to watch the stars. Unfortunately, the weather won't last.

Wednesday afternoon, I had to take the bus to Franklin Mills, rather than into Franklin Mills, so I had to walk through the mall. I went into Boarders to discover that the audio version of Aron Ralston's "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" was available at a discount. I spent much of yesterday listening to it during my brainless job.

My other work progresses slowly. I just finished my review of stereochemistry in Morrison and Boyd, and I can pick up the concepts much better than I did when I took the courses in 1976-7. Of course, going through the well-worn chapters ranks easy, until I reach the chapters my courses never touched, the unknown nine.

Sun 4 Sept
The weekend proceeds as well as expected. I spent yesterday maintaining Midnight with a furcut and a bath. I started cleaning the basement but little else. Today wasn't much better. I can't seem to get the peeling paint off the window frames. Tim has diarrhea, and we had to clean him twice. I tried to send Philipp an email, and the MSN service ate it.

William Hubbs Rehnquiest died yesterday. Now Schrub has two vacancies, just as his incompetence pushed his approval below 40%. Hurricane Katrina brings up the question -- What if it were a terrorist attack on the levees in New Orleans? Would Schrub interrupt his vacation? Allowing oil companies to damage the coast and destroy wetlands, along with cutting funds for the natural defense of New Orleans to give more welfare for the wealthy, have all come home to roost. Will the American electorate finally wake up and throw out Schrub's fascist theocrats? Must we have another Great Depression before this revolt against the twentieth century returns to the 1920's?

Back to Rehnquist: he was the most reactionary of Nixon's Gang of Four. Rehnquist didn't just make up excuses for crooked cops like Byron White, he actually made up excuses for others in criminal justice. (IL vs Rakas, 1976 comes to mind.)
The last time a Supreme Court justice died in office was in 1953, when Chief Justice Fred Vinson did. It turned out to be a tremendous event because Earl Warrn replaced him. I doubt if we'll be as lucky this time.
Rehnquist was an afterthought when Hugo Black and John Marshall Harlan both retired in September and died before 1971 ended. Lewis Powell, a brillain lawyer from Virginia was to replace Black, but Harlan gave Nixon an unexpected fourth coice. The Rehnquisition provided Nixon with revenge until now.

Back to School, I Wish

2005-08-28T20:00:00.000-04:00

I fianally came around to revising my graduate grades:

History 31 112 3.61 to: 43 154 3.58
MBA 54 156 2.88 75 231 3.08
Pol Sci 27 90 3.33 no change
Total 112 358 3.20 145 475 3.28

In essence, if I included all the courses with which I received a grade, it lowers my total with history slighly while raising the grade with the MBA and slightly overall.

Sun 28 Aug
The himidity reigns this weekend For some unknown reason, I have had more than usual pine for a return to school. The weather stimulates my time in State College in 1978, when I first lived alone.
It angers me to remember how much I changed majors, upset goals, and abandoned ambitions, just so I could avoid a deadend job. Well, I've been in a deadend job for eleven years, and it was an improvement over the decade earlier. I am slowly moving toward what I wanted to do, rather than allow financial domination to thwart everything in my life.
I was quite upset in September 1978 when I gave up yet another ambition; I felt so defeated. Then twice it looked as though I'd escaped deadend jobs. Meanwhile I abandoned so much, and only recently am I getting back to all the abandoned plans.

It's Over Now, It's a Summer Romance

2005-08-27T20:05:00.000-04:00

Mon 22 Aug
Today turned out better than I'd expected. I tried a dry run on the speech today, and i emailed a warning that it would be long on Thursday. Then I called at 1 PM to confirm that I could take the final, and no one called me back. So, I intened to go straight home, but the bus came too early. Therefore, I took the wrong bus, and I stopped at Block, where I took the final. It turned out the final was on, just that no one had called me back to confirm.
Then I found a multitude of language tapes at discount. I selected Spanish on disc and Japanese on cassettes. All of these triumphs should not cover the ultimate goals I've set for this year. How do I finish this stuff? Should I get more tapes to record?

Tue 23 Aug
Despite my efforts, I could not get much done to make up the day I'm taking off tomorrow. I hope this is the third and last colonoscopy, unless my uncle tkes my mother. I've already cut down further on the meat I eat. I suspect red meat as the source of polyps. If more people would change their lifestyles, there'd be fewer of such incidents.
Tonight I glimpsed at a story I wrote -- a rather short one - in 1978. I wrtoe rather poetically, and I am tempted to place it on my site.

Fri 26 Aug
"The Professional Salesperson" is indeed one of my weaknesses. I got by last night, but the speech once again lacked reality. For the first time this summer, I have a week with nothing on the agenda ahead of me.
I took an early wrong bus tonight, so I stopped in Boarders and completed the language programs of Berlitz's French and German Today. I took Italian on Wednesday, and Spanish and Japanese on Monday.
Tongiht I looked over my transcript of my graduate course, and I discovered that I had an overall average of 3.20 for the five years I took classes for credit. If I include all the classes I took for credit, then the average goes up to 3.28.

Progeria -- early signs of senility

2005-08-21T20:34:00.000-04:00

When Reagan was my age in 1959, he was already showing signs of progeria.
Sun 14 Aug
I just finished chapter 2 of Morrison and Boyd. I realize now what I missed the first round in 1976. The points are that energy factors govern halogenation. The problems emphasize the role of the energy of activation and the mechanisms of free radical halogenation. Other questions popped into my head as I went through the problems, twentyone years too late. The most important aspect is that I am finisheing things, instead of collecting tasks for the future.

Just when it seems it couldn't get hotter, we hit 38º today. This heat is about a month late. I stayed inside all day to avoid the stifling and enervating heat. I seem to be getting little done this summer, although my classes at Block will abate for a month. Hopefully, I can aqueeze in the tasks during the pause.

Sat 20 Aug
In 1977, I spent this entire week away from the Coal Street project in Wilkes-Barre. We went to Atlantic City on Sunday and left on Wednesday. It was Tuesday in the late afternoon, when we heard some kid on the Boardwalk yell that Elvis was dead. That was the last time I was in Atlantic City and on a vacation.
Wednesday we drove to my relatives, which is very close to my current home. We spent a few pleasant days until we returned home to the projects. I patiently waited for the time when I could return to the Wilkes-Barre Campus of Penn State. I had to wait another two weeks and a half.

I avoided bringing my diary to work, so I have nothing much written here this week. On Wednesday I spent a long day which eneded at Academy Palza with the final class of sole proprietorships. I'll still need Monday and Thursday this week, even with Wednesday no longer class night for a few weeks. I have the final tomorrow and Toastmasters on Thursday.

My adventures with Morrison and Boyd continued to chapter 3 on alkanes. I'm searching for parts I still don't understnad. Chapter 2 was a revelation this time. I could actually see the molecules as they collide, and I found myself extending the concept to other situations.
Halogenation seemed to open the concept of just how chemical reactions occur. In this case, the methane and the chlorine collide, but they need a certain amount of energy to react. It's a statistical aspect often found in physical chemistry. I also considered combustion in the same manner. Later I found out about oxygen as free radicals in nutrition. Somehow the idea of combustion as a radical process never crossed my mind in 1976.

Sun 21 Aug
I bought "Dances with Wolves" and watched it in French audio and captions. The movie is rather magnificent in its view of the Sioux (in contrast to George Custer at Little Big Horn). It is a glimpse of Amerind history. I had to switch to English the second time to understand the Sioux.

Heatwave Continued

2005-08-13T23:03:00.000-04:00

Wed 10 Aug 23::48
We left class early tonight, but the bus never came at 9 PM, so I walked home from Morell, arriving just past 10 PM. I spent part of my lunchtime pouring over the explanations of how halogenation works with alkanes. I don't recall the details well, but more importantly, how I should have mastered the material.

Fri 12 Aug 15:42
The clash between Block and Toastmasters resolved itself when I was too crapulous to go to either. I simply left a voicemail at Block and an email at Toastmasters. I've made no progress at Toastmasters this year, and it's almost time to renew my membership.
I had a recurrence of what I wanted to do this time in 1992, mixed with what I've learned from Roberts Kiyosaki and Allen. I have expressed those thoughts in the guise of the xanthocroid George Król.
On the way to work I had this urge to get into writing from a different aspect. How about adventures in organic chemistry with the atoms' behaving like the numbers on the calendar? I could have some great adventures in more than The Story of Civilization!
Toastmasters even had an advertisement for selfpublishing in this month's magazine. Of course, having affiliations and advertisers on the internet would help reap some income as well. Ultimately the quest remains on how to proceed.

Sat 13 Aug 20:00
I've lived in the Philadelphia area for a decade plus two other summers, and I never remember a summer as hot and humid as this one. It's been weeks since the temperature dropped under 23º. Today the high reached "hot breath" at 37º, human body temperature, the second time in a week. I'll have more tomorrow.

August 2005 Begins

2005-08-07T14:32:00.000-04:00

Mon 1 Aug 15:28
After going through the other places for books in my bedroom, I still haven't uncovered the lectures for investing. Those compdics seem to have disappeared. Meanwhile, I pulled out some of the books I want to finish soon. Overall, cutting the grass was about my only accomplishment over the weekend.
I did have a thought for class on Wednesday: Does being an enrolled agent allow for work experience toward the CPA? As an MBA, I need a year's experience toward it.

Tue 2 Aug 15:30
There is too much to do for me to catch up quickly. I still haven't finished all the invoices for today. The mornings continue warm, about 25º at 7 AM. I am consistently leaving early, and I get picked up the last third of the way. What can I get done once this second class ends in two weeks?

Thu 4 Aug 15:25
The awful truth revealed itself: An enrolled agent and a CPA are two diverse positions. The required experience for a CPA is a year in public accounting. I looked over the gleim website on an enrolled agent. Apparently they have a complete package for $279. I don't see much of a barrier with the costs, although I should lean toward using up what I've already available in resources. My expenditures on books along during tax season probably ran that high.

Sat 6 Aug
Since I began to go to classes at Block, I've been trying to put together what I want to do as the means of improving my income. To work for Black next tax season, I must take a certain amount of credits, more to be certified. I just finished the required course, and I'm going for twice as many classes as I need. I'm also taking courses online. I want to advance as quickly as possible by next year.
Block also has a path called the Enrolled Agent. It's a credential for representing clients in financial distress, particularly with overdue taxes. I am tempeted to try for it next year.
There is also another course of events I could take for another credential, known as the Certified Public Accountant. That is an elusive goal for me, one I first thought about some twentyone years ago. Both courses are independent but worthy to pursue.

Sun 7 Aug 14:10
Once again, I am going through "Empire Strikes Back", with the audio in Spanish and French. My ears are picking up the words! I have passed from avoiding translation to understanding the words themselves.

I am trying to assemble my goals for the next half decade. The capstone remains the CPA, but how can I get the experience without a degree once I pass test? I must find a way around it. It may resolve itself during my pursuit of the other goals of financial planning and real estate investing.

Alopex

Last Week in July 2005

2005-07-30T09:54:00.000-04:00

Sun 24 Jul 19:55
It's been forty years this afternoon, and I still hate camp! Given I have forty years left, I suppose I'll still have it at the end of my life.

Tue 26 Jul
The final lasts an hour with the thirtysome questions. It's been brutally hot this week, threatening to get higher than human body temperature. So far, I've yet to get some window frames painted, the driveway finished, the heating ducts cleaned, or the most important start in real estate. I put too much burden on free days.
Last night the internet ran quickly, which might explain why it was down over the weekend. (Note: it's slow again this weekend.) I took the bus home last night. It was still 28C at 10:30 PM! Midnight, our schnauzer, seems to be healing from the wound of the busted cyst.

Wed 27 Jul 8:06
The walk to work took a strange twist. I dropped off the van for work on the trunk lock, which cut off a third of my walk to work, and then a coworker picked me up with a third to go. So, I'm set for the first class on sole proprietorshps. I'm at work just past 7:30 for the second day in a row.
15:18
It's as hot as Tatooine today as temperatures threaten to hit 38C. Because the electricity was off for several hours, the office was quite ward. My office reached 26C around noon, which is the highest since I moved in some two years ago.
As we slowly moved toward a short workweek, I found out more about the search for open accounts in payables. By running a report, a dozen invoices dropped off. Most of the remainder of my search are in late April and May.
I have a hot walk to Academy Plaza this afternoon, the first of four classes on sole proprietorships. I will leave as late as possible, for I have no idea how long I will have to wait to get into the office. (It turned out that the instructor was rather late, and I had to stand in the heat some ten minutes.)

Fri 29 Jul 21:55
I spent the day marginally getting things done. I had a brief survey of other Block courses, none over four sessions. I still feel like a kid in a candy store. There is so much to learn about taxes and the side subjects.

Alopex

Anthony Kennedy is 69

2005-07-23T17:15:00.000-04:00

This morning proved expensive because I took our Schnauzer for shots against distemper and rabies. First I went in the wrong direction, then I had to detour around the bridge on Richelieu Road. Midnight received more than shots. The cyst that burst left an infection on her rear. The vet had to anesthize her to cut off all the fur. The sore ran roughly two by one cm. We have her on antibiotics and topical wash. We cannot allow her to roan the backyrad freely for the next two weeks. Someone must watch her with the sore.
Sat 20:00
I've been looking through parts of the copies of "The Story of Civilization", which I received on 11 July. I realized this evening how little I know of the eighteenth century philosophy, particularly of the physiocrats.
Alopex

When I Was Happy with My Life...

2005-07-21T11:00:00.000-04:00

I'm summarizing most of my imagestreaming. I just caught up on my blog last night. I'm still uncertain about a ruse when the owner pretends to fire Król. Jona Winter will be the link, but she'll push Pete into the chute, not because he saw something, but because WInter recognixed him from the Forrest Schools.
Thu 15:51
I am still behind in work, because of the hour I'd lost yesterday when a buyer had me look for paperwork she'd had all along. In the mailroom, no one is in, so I am virtually alone in getting the mail out today. I just had a nice nap, which I will need, for I missed obtaining money for food this afternoon. Next week I'll be very buy with two Block classes and a final.
Thu 21:25
It's been twentyfive years at 4:05 PM since I was offered the graduate teaching assistantship in the Department of History. it was one of a series of illusions that somehow I was on my way to control over my life.

Latest on Frank Franklin

2005-07-19T18:30:00.000-04:00

Last night I imagestreamed as I was walking to Academy Plaza. My boss is out this week, so I'm waiting until next week to request Friday (29 July) off. I listened to the tape after I reached work today, along with my streaming on the way. The main product is the foundation of the plot of Frank Franklin. Saturday morning will provide the rescue of Marty and Chad from the Forrest Schools. Then comes the confrontation at Franklin Mills. We'll save Monday for the climate at Derrick and Crete.
Meanwhile I'll introduce the villains, Joan Winter, secretary to Jack Mooney, and Jeff Starr. boss of the crooks at Franklin Mills. I decided to make the owner of Derrick and Crete the hero for having the patience to allow George the time to solve the crime at Derrick and to wrap up the other case Franklin Mills.
I have five scenes in mind: the opening one with Pete, the one with Pete at the top of the garbage chute, the extant of Marty and Pete in Franklin Mills, the attack of Jeff Starr on Brian, and a final scene of the reunion at Christmas.
So far, none of my blogs have shown up on the internet this week (until now). It'll be difficult to plan anything tonight due to my busy schedule. However, the idea of imagestreaming seems to charge some of my creativity. My next strategy should be to construct a plan for my next line of work, should I find it exigent to do so. After all, I may have to take a better job to accelerate my move into unearned income and an easier time making a living!

Phyllis Diller is 88!

2005-07-17T17:50:00.000-04:00

Longevity has become commonplace. Gerald Ford was 92 on Thursday, and now Phyllis Diller reaches 88. One of the reason -- and Business Week just had an article on it -- that retirement before 70 will become rare, save for those who build unearned income.
Last night I took the final for business entities and passed it without review. I must find out the questions I missed before I find it complete.

I am in the process of going through the voluminous number of books I've accumulated over the past score. It's a painful look at all the dreams I gave up after I received my Penn State MBA, ultimately for severe underemployment. Since I cut down on expenses, the extra money goes toward reducing principal on the mortgage. Now I intend to reduce the gap between what I want to do and what I have done. The three biggest ones are real estate and investing, stock broking and investing, and accouinting and CPA. Most importantly is how to close the gap, day be day.

Ugh! Once again a hard rain caused the drainpipe in the back to back up, and once again the water ran into the window well and poured into the basement. I took the rugs outside and hung them on the line in the rain. I figured to give them a washing before they dried.
So I'm back to figuring out how to accomplish my goals. I spent much of the afternoon in my bedroom just going through some old aspirations and dreams in the form of books.

2005-07-16T17:03:00.000-04:00

Well, after much thought, I think I'll begin posting only in here, and ignore the other two outllets I have -- a live journal and a diary. Therefore, there will be mixed posting from here, but all readers do have the choice to ready what they will.

Alopex

Schrub's and My Birthday, 2005

2005-07-11T21:31:00.000-04:00

With the terrorist bombing of London, my thoughts are rather simple. Al-Qaida should target the hinterland, preferably in Schrub's Texas, if they want maximal impact. London may have already destroyed the myth that Schrub can keep us safer than anyone else. Every other myth for the election of 2004 has gone already.
Should Al-Qaida strike, they'll probably do so some months later. Thanks to Schrub, Iraq is now a major staging ground for terrorists -- and we'd thought Nixon's invasion of Cambodia was a mistake in 1970! Of course, the American public doesn't care how many Iraqis are killed, let alone the lies Schrub fabricated to invade Iraq in the first place.

Then there is the biggest Ponzi scheme of using debt to pay for deficits. Interest rates have risen over 2%, which translates into $150 billion more on interest for nearly $8 trillion debt. Some things must be cut from the budget. I'd like to see the Republicans take a beating in the next election in 2006.

ALopex

Chuck White and Independence Day

2005-07-04T09:17:00.000-04:00

I finally read through the online site of Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact on Chuck White up to 1957. There were three artists of the series by that time. Fran Matera, who draws Steve Roper and Mike Nomad, was the one I saw in 1968-71. Looking overall at twelve years of Chuck White, I must smile at the plots and the unrealistic situations. It's no wonder what they toned down Chuck White to a 14-year-old who likes to snoop into suspicious characters, like Nancy Drew.

The Schurb is gearing up to place a fascist throcrat in place of Sandra Day O Connor on the Supreme Court. Alberto Gonzalez might be the ticket, although the theocrats don't like him. I'd love to see Schrub fall apart at this juncture. He's overdue to pay for what he's escaped over the past five year. It must be dumb luck to get past all the historical trends against his even being in office, let alone the worship of him as the son of the god Reagan. Reagan is such a god that his face is on a stamp, even though one usually must be dead ten years to get on a stamp in the United States. Then again, Reagan is a god, so he'll never die, Therefore, the government suspended the rules. Next: the emperor Caligula.

Personally I've found both Schrub and Pruneface gods of inspiration. I'll never allow my brain to fall into desuetude as Reagan did in the late 1950's. I'll also be aware of the longtem effects of alcoholism, although I think Schrub was a moron before all that ethanol killed off his brain cells. There is no way he'd have gone into the Penn State MBA program with a 77 average. Then, Schrub bought the degree, rather than earned it, and it shows in his reluctance to quantify the cost of the war in Iraq. In mny NBA classes, we quantified anything possible. We also had to pass a communication course, which Schrub would have never passed.

Alopex

The Halfway Point of 2005

2005-07-02T01:07:00.000-04:00

Dear Keith:
Happy fortieth birthday, little buddy!

I've spent so much time with Chuck White that I'm starting to think I've experienced his adventures. The 1950-51 year focused on hotrods and exchange students. Both ended well as expected. Then the war in Korea showed up, and Chuck and Joe try to enlistat age 16! Then they nearly foul up the FBI's attempts to capture a pyromaniac at a defense plant.

Today was not helpful. A thunderstorm manged to catch me again after I got on the bus. I was quite soaked as I walked through Franklin Mills. Once out, I kept a steady pace, even though I took the long way home, because the bridge is out.

Worse news came that Sandra Day O Connor is retiring. Schrub is going to use his divine status to ukase a fascist theocrat to replace her on the Supreme Court. In the immortal words of Don Rickles, "Hello, dummy!" Last year the voters adopted the bastard president for the first time in our history. What really gets my laugh is that so many don't want to pay more taxes, yet they also want government to pass unenforceable laws, which will require more taxes. If the Catholic hierachy is so gungho on ramming their perverted view of sex and the Southern Baptists so favored to stick their noses into our private lives, they should pay taxes for enforcement.

Alopex

Chuck White Again!

2005-06-29T22:39:00.000-04:00

Let's begin with the rules. I will be blogging with a variety of subjects. I have a live journal and an online journal. I intend to post the live journal with exerpts of my diary. The online journal will carry various discoveries I place here. This blog will be more spontaneous.

I note the passing of Paul Winchell, whom I knew through "Winchell-Mahoney Time" way back in 1967. I await some funny cartoons about Paul Winchell's entrance into the afterlife.

I just spent another amount of time with the Treasure Chest classice, called "Chuck White". So far, I've read up to 1951. When Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact began in 1946, its main character also began in a series called "Chuck White". Despite its obvious bias and some rather unreal situations, I found Chuck White quite appealing.
Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact (Search under that title.) began as the Catholic alternative to the comics. Chuck White and its situations were the moral equivalent of how a boy escaped a lifetime of crime, one which he really wasn't inclined toward anyway.
When I read off the internet Chuck's adventures from the first three volumes of 1946-48, it felt as if I vicariously returned to my religious roots. Although I ofiicially left Catholicism in 1991, I never abandoned the morals. I once again felt warm and comfortable in Chuck's world. His conversion from no religion to Catholicism as a teenager reminded me of Matthew Wayne Shepard's similar trek to Episcopalianism when he was a teenager. I still have my disagreement over the perverted view of sex, but then Chuck's world was also before Vatican II. Pius XII was pope, the one before John XXIII. Of course, everything turned out in the end. In fact, Chuck finds himself with an opportunity to become an actor in Hollywood at the end of the third volume.
The seires begins with Chuck in trouble with the law, and how Catholicism provides the means for him to escape trouble, which keeps coming at him. He reconnects with the gang in the second volume, and he must prove his innocence.
Chuck White remains naïf, but resourceful throughout 1947. He sells stolen and refinished cars while playing sports. After he clears himself from the accusation that he knew they were stolen, his parents come back together, denecessitating his living with Mrs Blake at the store which the gang had attempted to rob when he was with them earlier.
However, the gang comes back for revenge in the fall of 1947. Meanwhile, no one bothers to explain the explosion on the boat Chuck and his friend Joe Kelly and Joe's father were on. As Harry Truman might have observed, the characters get hurt almost schadenfreue. During his convalescence, Joe writes a play in which Chuck performs. A talent scout shows up, and Chuck goes for a test in New York during Christmas vacation. There he runs into Rankin's gang, who are going to New York to welcome Rankin out of jail. Assaults on his father and he friend finally give Chuck the push to plan to trap the gang for good. Meanwhile Chuck becomes Catholic in a baptism.
Then he runs into a publicity seeker on his baseball team. Despite more adversity, Chuck regains notice of the Hollywood scouts after the original scout had died. Treasure Chest urges feedback on what Chuck should do -- stay in Steeltown or go to Hollywood. Unfortunately, the fourth volume remains lost.

I personally identified with Joe Kelly. His freckled blond looks helped. His devotion to Catholicism reminded me of my own at that age. Of course, Joe's life is much better than mine as well, but then it's all fiction. Still, I'd like to have Chuck White as my friend, although he'd be around 75 now.
The fifth year brings Chuck into danger on the football field. How did he get so good? The Chuck White I knew in 1968 began by outwitting the vandals in Steeltown. Then he brought Sam with him to uncover a scam of a charity. Usually Chuck was a modest boy whose detective skills supposedly came from Uncle Charlie, and neither of his parents were around.
I have continued to struggle with my daily task of reaching goals. I have seen a few results by not buying any more books or tapes. Rather I am using my enormous store of these products. It's cutting waste.
Perhaps praying has its benefit of focusing the mind on goals. Image streaming and meditating are still other forms in the day of instant gratification and mircotechnology. Of course, there's the old rabbinical wisdom that prayer allows us to remember how dependent we are on God, who doesn't nedd us to tell Him our wishes.

Alopex