Miter saw setup, “Whale Wars”, office work, “Gonzo: The Life and Works of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson”

(posted from home)
(This post covers 25 - 31 December, 2008)

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Wednesday, 31 December –

I intended to go into Martin Library this morning to read the papers but checked the web site for their hours and learned they’re closed all day today. I paid bills through 1400 then went for a walk on my six-mile loop. Today’s temperature was near freezing with wind gusts to 50 miles per hour so I considered skipping the walk but then figured I could just turn back if it was uncomfortable. But the cold and wind encouraged me to dress extra warmly and I was fine—and in fact I loved being out there as the sunset put on a pretty display of pink clouds against the ultra-blue sky for the last half-hour of the walk.
That evening we watched “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson”, an excellent documentary. It made me glad to be so happily average in my ambitions.
After the movie we tried watching a bit of the New Year’s Eve coverage but quickly decided we’d rather go on to bed and read.

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Tuesday, 30 December –

This morning when I arose I decided I’d get out of the house and go somewhere—Cabela’s maybe. But I made the mistake of sitting down at my desk and thinking I’d just clear out another estate item or two and before I knew it, walk time was here. I walked the four-mile course today and had the great luck to see three bluebirds, perched on successive fence posts right along the road and in the sun. On the way home a kingfisher patrolling along the creek landed in a tree only a few yards from me- what a magnificent bird.

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Monday, 29 December-

I worked in the office for an hour or so then Labashi and I drove into the Martin Library for a ’book fix’ this morning. I read the Times, Journal, and Post, then picked out a David Baldacci mystery and a compendium of what are supposed to be the top mystery stories of the 20th century. I returned Randy Wayne White’s ‘Black Widow’ and James Patterson’s ‘Cross’. I liked the former most of the way through but thought it got lost in the final chapters. I had mixed feelings on the latter— I liked the character of the protagonist but we seemed to be flying over the story and just taking a sample here and there, then rushing off to the next gory scene. Labashi was all over the map—literally. She picked out novels about Versailles, Hong Kong, and Ireland.
Afterwards we had burgers at Fuddrucker’s and made quick stops at Starbucks (mocha!) and the Salvation Army (dropping off stuff ) on the way home.
I walked my six-mile route on this nice, airy, near-50 day and saw a red-tailed hawk lit from underneath by the sun. We cruised the Web that evening.

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Sunday, 28 December –

I worked on estate stuff for a few hours and then copied my video files to Labashi’s PC to have another backup copy. I had copied the files to the portable hard drive I bought for this purpose but realized I could lose everything if I just accidently dropped the portable drive.
That afternoon I walked my six-mile route around home. We both spent the evening on the Web. I’ve been spending a good bit of time on DealNews, thinking I’ll find some great bargains but I’ve not seen anything I both need and can get cheap.

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Saturday, 27 December –

This morning we set up Labashi’s sliding-arm miter saw. She’s anxious to get started building some cornices (or valances, I’m not sure of the difference) to enclose the cellular shades she put up in our offices this week. Assembly went fine but it took us a minute to figure out what was going on with the laser guide. As you bring the saw arm down the laser line moves to the left. But as it turns out that’s normal. You must align the laser line with the saw positioned at the top of its travel, then ignore the fact that the line moves left as the saw descends. That works fine. And in fact you can choose which side of the line you want to cut on and it will do that perfectly.
I spent the afternoon working on some plans for a winter trip, again to south Florida. Then I took my regular four-miler on this foggy, mid-Forties day. I can’t wait to get back to gator country.
We watched the extras on the Dexter-Season One disk for our evening’s entertainment.

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Friday, 26 December –

I was supposed to help Labashi set up her new sliding-arm miter saw today but got hung up on some bills for the estate and before I knew it, it was mid-afternoon and walk-time.
Since I started the walk a little earlier than usual, I did the six-mile course and did it at a fast pace. Once back home I had a mojito-rum and coke and that put me into a deep sleep until suppertime.
We were planning to watch the extras on the ‘Dexter’ disk but got caught up in the ‘Whale Wars’ Marathon on TBS. Pretty cool!

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Thursday, 25 December –

Merry Christmas! Labashi and I stayed home and had a very relaxing Christmas this year. We spent most of the day on our PCs and then I rode the motorcycle over to Pinchot Park for a walk. I started out a bit too late so shortened my walk to about 45 minutes to get back to the bike before dark. The trail from the east-side boat launch to the dam and back was muddy so it wasn’t the most enjoyable of walks but I was glad to be out as the sun set.
That evening we watched the end of ‘Dexter- Season One’. We have mixed feelings on Dexter. We enjoy Michael C. Hall and the twists and turns of the plot but the gore is a bit much. And as we near the end of the season, we’re reminded of the feeling of manipulation we got from ‘Lost’—even the music in the end-titles reminds us of ‘Lost’. We’ll try a few episodes into Season Two and then decide whether to go on.

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“Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary”, “Up the Yantze”, first video posted

(posted from home)
(This post covers 21-24 December, 2008)

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Wednesday, 24 December –

We had an icy and rainy day today. I had promised Labashi I’d start moving books and computer stuff out of the guest room in the basement and into my new office. I find I just can’t part with some of my collections of books and I still kid myself that I’ll sell some of the computer stuff on Ebay. (“Yeah, right!”, she says) But I did manage to get two large bookcases moved up and I’ve made a large discard-some-each-week pile.
I signed on to the laptop mid-day and immediately had an incoming Skype call. This was a great one. Orat called using his Skype-enabled webcam and he had the grandkids on his lap. We had our own little video conference. The kids didn’t take long to turn it into a chaotic exchange but I just loved seeing them again.
That evening we watched more ‘Dexter- Season One’.

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Tuesday, 23 December –

I worked in the office most of today, generally handling estate tasks. I do tend to get a late start on my work, however. I like to browse through my email and now a whoe series of news sites… like CNN, DailyBeast, Slate, Salon, NewsMax, CBC (Saskatchewan, Manitoba, BC, and The North), Anchorage Daily News, Fairbanks News Miner, NPS MorningReport, York Daily News and York Dispatch, The Economist. I don’t look at all of them every day but hit each a time or two during the week.
In mid-afternoon I took my regular walk and that evening we watched ‘Up the Yangtze’, an award-winning documentary about the effect of the rapidly-filling Three Gorges Dam on a family and their neighbors. The family is cash-poor but lives fairly well on their garden. But the family has no money for school so the daughter must go to work on a cruise ship—one of many taking tourists to see the last views of the river before the dam fills. This is the kind of documentary Labashi just loves— it’s another world. Highly recommended.

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Monday, 22 December-

Today I worked for an hour or two on estate stuff, then spent an inordinate amount of time uploading a video clip to the blog. I kept getting errors until I finally figured out that Blogger video doesn’t like the Opera browser I generally use. The clip is from our Alaska/Yukon/NWT trip this past summer, a driving shot as we approached the Arctic Circle on the Yukon’s Dempster Highway.
We’ve had cold and wet weather for the last week or so and I’m starting to think of Florida. Thank goodness yesterday was the winter solstice and our days will now start getting longer. Our day here in south-central PA is a little over 9 hours long now. In Florida the day is about an hour longer now. But in Fairbanks, the days are under four hours long right now! Holy frijoles!

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Sunday, 21 December –

Correction: when I posted last night, we were planning to watch ‘Dexter’. Instead we watched ‘Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary’, an interesting documentary about a German woman who had served on the secretarial staff for Hitler right up to his suicide. Cinematically, the movie is quite boring since it’s merely a static interview with the woman—in German, with subtitles. But if, in your mind’s eye, you see what’s happening as she describes it, it’s incredible. Recommended.
I spent most of the day on the web. Labashi would like to have some travel documentaries so I was poking around. I wanted to check out the instant-movie viewer so viewed a documentary about Glacier National Park. Borrrr—inngggg. Looks like travel videos aren’t a strong category for Netflix.
I had a long Skype conversation with Orat today, mostly about estate stuff. Late in the day I took my regular walk. Labashi and I watched a Dexter, Season One episode that evening.

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Video: Approaching the Arctic Circle

Well, now! I've just learned how to post a video on the blog. Let's give it a try!

We shot this clip from Mocha Joe last July on the Dempster Highway (the 450-mile gravel road from Dawson City, Yukon to Inuvik, North West Territory)...

Office / estate work, ‘A Perfect Fake’, ‘Escape to Canada’, ‘Encounters at the End of the World’, ‘Dexter’

(posted from home)
(This post covers 12 - 20 December, 2008)

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Saturday, 20 December -

Labashi and I both wanted to get out a bit today so drove into York to window-shop. We checked out HDTVs and furniture for them at Circuit City and Best Buy. But neither of us are impressed enough to make the jump—it’s just too much money. We saw some great Blu-Ray DVD footage here and there but were disappointed in the quality of the HD broadcast stuff—way too many jaggies!
I also checked out laptops and found some decent deals but nothing special enough to jump on.
We had lunch at Five Guys and thought we’d then pick up some small items at Wal-mart but as we neared we saw the area was jammed with traffic. We high-tailed it for home.
I walked my four-miler comfortably on this 32-degree day and then had an out-of-season mojito.
That evening we watched more ‘Dexter-Season 1’.

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Friday, 19 December-

For some reason I was awake a few hours last night. I probably would have been awake for an hour or so but got caught up in reading ‘Black Widow’ by Randy Wayne White.
I slept in an hour or so to catch up with my sleep this morning. Most of my ay was spent looking for bargains on the web. My laptop is having a few problems and I think it may be dying.
I also spent an hour or so catching up my log on the estate work after the series of meetings yesterday.
The weather was miserable today: icy rain all morning and then a steady rain most of the afternoon. I suited up in rain gear I bought for the fishing boat and did my four-miler anyway.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘Dexter-1’

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Thursday, 18 December –

Today Labashi and I drove to Chambersburg to handle a series of meetings and tasks for Mom’s estate. That took all day so I missed my daily walk (but that’s ok; I should probably take a break once in a while anyway).
That evening we watched episode 4 of ‘Dexter- Season 1’.

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Wednesday, 17 December-

Today I had to get out of the house. I drove down to the Dallastown Starbucks and read the Times then into the library where I read more newspapers and found two crime novels for my late-night reading.
I then went to the Stonybrook gun shop to check out the used-guns cabinet and jaw with the owner, John.
That afternoon I did my four-miler just before dark. That evening we watched the first three episodes of ‘Dexter-Season 1’ with Michael C. Hall. I had read a strong recommendation for Dexter on Slate and thought we’d give it a try.

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Tuesday, 16 December -

I spent most of today on the phone and on the computer, working on my executor duties—tracking down info, paying bills, etc.
Late in the day I walked my four-miler listening to CBC Editor’s Choice podcasts.


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Monday, 15 December-

I spent the day working in the office (mostly estate tasks) before taking my walk-4 late in the day. We have a front coming in tonight and it’s pumping warm air up from the south. I walked in my shirtsleeves on this 63-degrees-but-windy day (but the high tomorrow will only be 36).
That evening we watched ‘Encounters at the End of the World’, a Werner Herzog documentary about Antarctica. This one’s a winner. Recommended!

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Sunday, 14 December-

This morning I drove into Staples and bought the office chair I had found yesterday.
I assembled the chair and then installed a webcam for use with Skype. Several other family members are installing Skype and a webcam. Hopefully we can keep in touch and see the grand-nephew and grand-nieces more often.
I saw two bluebirds and a red-tailed hawk on my ‘walk-four’ today.
That evening we watched the Survivor-Gabon finale. Go, Bob!

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Saturday, 13 December-

I’ve been working in the office so much I wanted to get out today. I stopped at Circuit City to look at High Def televisions. But if I’m already looking to rein in my cable bill, I don’t see how adding HD feeds would be possible. And if you don’t get the HD feed, the picture is actually worse than analog—way too many jaggies and moiré patterns. While there I spoke with a guy about my PC dilemma. I have over 500 video clips from the Alaska trip and need to back them up, do some editing, and burn them to DVD. All with a nearly-full hard-drive on my laptop. I ended up buying a copy of Nero 9. I think I can transfer files to Labashi’s desktop to free up some space, then install Nero and work with the video from my portable hard-drive.
I stopped by Staples for a few office supplies for my executor duties and had some luck. A few weeks ago I had looked at a replacement office chair but it was too expensive. But after speaking with the manager about something else, I mentioned I was interested in the chair sometime in the future and he said it was going on sale tomorrow—30% off.
I walked-four late in the day, then we watched ‘Escape to Canada’, an interesting documentary about the decriminalization of marijuana and the passage of gay-marriage laws in 2003 and the follow-on backlash to both. It seems odd to me that Labashi and I have spent so much time in Canada in recent years and weren’t really aware of these. But then again, we spent our time traveling and seldom even listened to a news broadcast.

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Friday, 12 December –

Today I mostly worked in my office. This is the time of year we get a lot of annual bills. Our cable and internet deal is about to expire and if I’m not careful the rates will skyrocket. We’ll have to make some decisions about cutting back. We had gotten lucky a year ago and locked in a great rate but with that expiring and the new year’s increases, our bill will skyrocket some 30 per cent. I looked into going back to Dishnet but they don’t have any good deals and we’d lose some channels we like. But we don’t really need all the stuff we had on the sweetheart deal. I also restarted our Netflix account today so had to go through and rebuild the queue. I also had a few estate tasks today, mostly bill-paying.
Late in the day I walked-four. That evening we watched ‘A Perfect Fake’, an odd little documentary about men building fantasy women, both in the form of as-realistic-as-possible dolls and via computer-generated graphics (movies). The documentary tried a little too hard to convince us there’s something to it. Yes, the dolls are more realistic than previous generations but it’s just ridiculous to think they are anywhere close to simulating a person—heck they don’t even move. The computer-generated graphics are also improving but have a long, long way to go.

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‘John Adams’, Schmuley, ‘The Visitor’ and lots of estate work

(posted from home)
(This post covers 6 – 11 December, 2008)

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Thursday, 11 December –

I worked my estate to-do list until 1400, then ran a few errands by car. I walked the four miler in a steady rain and soaked my feet and legs.
Late in the day we took delivery of my new recliner chair. We had moved my old green mission-style recliner into my office/den and it now serves as my reading chair. This new one is exactly the same make and model but in a nice, rich reddish-brown leather which matches the new living room color.
I walked-four in a steady rain but the 40-degree air felt much more comfortable today than last week’s blustery 40.
We watched Survivor-Gabon and saw a good blind-siding move which changed the balance of the game.

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Wednesday, 10 December –

I worked on estate tasks all morning and half the afternoon, then walked my four-miler. We both spent the evening on the web.

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Tuesday, 9 December-

We spent all day in Chambersburg today, attending meetings and running errands related to mom’s estate. That evening we went out to dinner with Maypo and the missus. No walk today.


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Monday, 8 December-

I spent the day preparing for an estate meeting tomorrow. That afternoon I walked-four, listening to another part of the multi-part CBC series called ‘Spin-Cycle’ on Editor’s Choice (broadcast sometime in Feb. 07)
We watched ‘The Visitor’ with Richard Jenkins (the Dad from ‘Six Feet Under’). Walter Vale is an economics professor and widower living in Connecticut and leading a boring life. One day he goes into New York, returning to an apartment he keeps for occasional returns to the City. He finds a young immigrant couple living in his apartment and becomes enmeshed in their lives. Recommended.

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Sunday, 7 December -

I spent the morning and part of the afternoon with The Executor’s Guide and on meeting preparation for Tuesday.
On this very cold and blustery day (low Thirties and winds gusting up to 50 mph), I bundled up well for my four-miler, again listening to CBC “Editor’s Choice” podcasts. I heard a very interesting piece on political spin-doctors and journalists in Canadian and BBC broadcasting. The main point was the changing news-cycle of 24-hour news and how it has caused the quality news to go deteriorate and forced broadcasters to take chances in reporting breaking news to get it first, though not necessarily right.
We didn’t have a movie tonight and watched ‘The Amazing Race’ season finale.

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Saturday, 6 December –

First snow of the season today! It’s only an inch or so but very pretty, particularly on our hemlocks and white pines.
It’s a bit early in that I remember from my long-ago deer hunting days that we’d often hunt the first Saturday of the season (today) without snow and the second one with it.
This year’s first blast of cold came late and wasn’t as cold but we’re in for a few days of highs in the low-thirties—coldest highs of the year so far.
I spent the day reading the Executor’s Guide and preparing for a meeting with a lawyer next week.
In the afternoon I walked-four, listening to CBC’s ‘This Week in B.C.’ and “Editor’s Choice” podcasts. I particularly enjoyed an interview with Rabbi Schmuley Boteach of ‘Shalom in the Home’. The man makes a lot of sense and is very funny. I see he has a web site at www.schmuley.com.
That evening we finished the ‘John Adams’ HBO mini-series with Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. And after seeing the extra features—including a good documentary about David Attenborough (the writer on whose book the series is based)--- we realized how good it really was. The attention to detail and realism of the background was incredible. The story looked unflinchingly at both Adams achievements and his failings.
Highly recommended.

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‘Hancock’, ‘Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2’, executor setup

(posted from home)
(This post covers 1-5 December, 2008)

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Friday, 5 December –

I spent much of the day working on estate tasks and researching various topics to help me understand the legal, financial, and insurance terms and concepts.
Today was a colder day but a pair of the lightest-weight longies kept me comfortable.
That evening we watched three episodes of ‘John Adams’.

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Thursday, 4 December-

Today I loaded up the Executor’s Guide ebook and began reading. I didn’t get far, though. As I’d read, I’d be reminded of something I want to ask or research further and that turned into lists and more lists. I’ve also accumulated quite a stack of paperwork already and had to get that organized and filed so I can find it.
I did my four-miler in a light rain today. On the way back I was passed by a twenty-something woman running with her two dogs. She appeared to have helium in her running shoes. I’ll have to look for those shoes at the running shop.
That evening we watched the first two parts of ‘John Adams’ with Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. Good stuff!

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Wednesday, 3 December –

I cleaned up the office and shopped online this morning. I bought a small Christmas present for Labashi (we always say we aren’t going to exchange presents but do something small) and researched books for estate executors.
I rode the motorcycle in to the bank to give it some exercise and cash in my loose-change piggy banks ($120!) and used the money to buy Quicken WillMaker Plus. The book I was looking for (‘Executor’s Guide’) was bundled free with this book/software combination. Hopefully these books will not only help me understand wills and we can use the software to write our own wills.
I walked four miles at Rudy Park. Today was my first walk on the York County Heritage Rail Trail section constructed earlier this year. The trail currently dead-ends only a mile and a half from the park but next year another section is to be built down to Route 30, and then a third section into York. Once that so-called ‘Northern Extension’ is complete, it provides a connection to the 20 miles of trail of the York County rail-trail which continues another 20 miles as the Maryland North-Central Rail-Trail to Gunpowder Falls State Park. Cool!
That evening we watched “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2”. I see it gets a 63 on the tomatometer and I’d say that’s about right—toward the lower end of the spectrum of what’s worth watching. It was okay.

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Tuesday, 2 December –

I didn’t sleep well at all last night and thought I’d sleep in but that didn’t happen so I dragged a bit through my day. Yesterday I had noticed two small problems with the cold-air induction system on the Miata (a split air duct and missing screws in the air box) so took care of those. I also drove up to the garage and talked to the owner about the transmission. He’ll check into the 90-day warranty on the used transmission and we’ll see where we go from there.
I had a doctor’s appointment mid-day for a periodic physical and blood testing for my statin prescription. He also gave me a prescription for my month-long battle with the sniffles so I spent an hour or so running that down.
Back home I thought I’d take a quick catch-up nap. Two hours later I came out of a deep, groggy sleep. I took a day off from walking today.

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Monday, 1 December –

This morning I worked on email, web, and some executor stuff then took my walk mid-day. I hoped to beat the rain but it caught up to me in the last mile and soaked my legs and feet again. By the time I changed clothes, the sun was out and the clouds all gone. If I had just walked at my normal time I’d have missed the soaking.
That evening we watched ‘Hancock’ with Will Smith. Not bad as superhero movies go. Recommended.

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