Planning my trip to China. Alone if necessary.

Good meeting at tugnet, sort of.  I thought of going to China, alone if necessary.  $4,000 for 12 days including Bejing and Xian where the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta soldiers are.  I can't wait.

November 4 through November 12, 2012

I won't worry about the election if I am flying to China.  So there.

Passport and Visa
Call Terry and Inga to see if anyone there wants to go along.

Have a safe trip.

Remain Happy, Healthy, and Wise, as much as possible.

VDH hike from Fresno things to bring along.

Sony Camera and its two bags.  Charge the batteries first.

Fujitsu and its power cables, mouse, and extra hard drive

The tent in the car and an air mattress which I should buy today or tomorrow.

A sleeping bag.

Metamucil and tooth brush and tooth paste, and hair brush, and razor and shaving cream.

Soap and towels.

A new blanket and pillow for the car.

My 27 inch monitor to show Hal and Les Soss.

My iPad and my Nexus 7.

Extra shirts, socks, and underware.

Have a good trip and add to this list as items occur to me.

Tuesday, 3pm goals...

Complete the Kaiser Senior Advantage paperwork and mail it in.

Complete the Mass Mutual pension paperwork and mail it in.

Eventually call Terry and Inga and see how they are doing.

Attend TUGNET tonight at 7pm and have a great day.

Clean out the trunk excess stuff.

Plan for the VDH hike with Hal from Fresno.

Tuesday up at 11am feeling a bit tired as usual...

Mostly from sleeping during the day and not a regular night time sleep.

Hal called and we agreed to rent a hotel room and meet there for the big hike on Saturday.  This means I will have to skip the All Things Space at Griffith Observatory, but there are worse things that could happen.

Now I only have to find the motel that Hal and I can stay at before the big hike with Victor Davis Hansen.

Looking it up now.

Then do the Senior Advantage paperwork, and the Mass Mutual paperwork and all of my chores are done except for calling the Inga branch of the family back East.

Let's get to it.

Monday up at 1030am feeling a bit under the

weather.  Felt better after taking my pills.

Paid another month of $48 for Met Life Dental Benefits.  No answer so far to my tweet on attending the hhrs at the Nixon Library from 3 to 6pm.  I think I will only go to the HH book signing.

I could go eat at Chick-Fil-A again, since I like it so much.

Also set up my new tent and clean out my car trunk, wash it, fill the brake thing, and do more of the paperwork around here.

Go get a map from AAA on the way to CFA...

Wash clothes again and clear out some of the deadwood.

Sunday before getting tent, projected expenses

Rent 422
Student loan $200
Car insurance 65
isp $30
iPhone $80
Electricity $60

Food and expenses are variable:

$860 not counting food, gas, and such.

$650 time 12 equals $78,000 over ten years time total.

Sunday, almost 5pm. Going to get a 6 person tent.

My choice of a Coleman 6 person Instant tent is on sale for $134.97 and I'm on my way to get it as soon as I shower.  I can camp out after seeing VDH near Tulare nest Saturday.

Talked with Les on his dime for 90 minutes.  Now to go have a great day.

Sunday up at 11am feeling well but unsatisfied.

I'll go to Lake Balboa today and Hansen Dam and somewhere else if I chose to do so.

1230pm and the booming sound comes from an apartment down the hall.

Time to get out of here.

Saturday stayed home and watched dvds and

installed Linux to little avail.  Went to Woodly park to find the Balboa Lake to no avail.

Dinner at Chick Fil A, which was very good.

Friday Up feeling well, sort of, at 11am with nothing to do.

No place to go that I can think of that I want to go.

Saturday at 2pm is linux group at simi valley ymca.

Monday at 2pm I want to be at the Nixon Library for Hugh Hewit's show.

Lots of other great things to do on my Google Calendar.  Updating it now.

Finish the Kaiser Senior Advantage application.

Call Mass Mutual regarding a lump sum pay out for my pension.

Call Terry and Inga regarding Inga's ssn for the tax return to be filed by the estate.

And finally, a great note, I got a refund from the fit2fat2fit.com group and I can forget that forever.

Thursday pm joined TOPCC for $30, watched

presentation on color adjustment on the computer screen, printer, and wall display screen.

Heard about the ymca linux group at simi valley at 2pm Saturday.  Address in my backpack.

Dinner from Ralph's store of chicken tenders, so so, pastrami, also so so compared to Roll N Rye's, and pineapple cake, so so, compared to what I can and have made.

Thursday pm, feeling well, getting ready to go to

TOPCC at 6pm and called American Educational Services at 800 233 0557 and confirmed that they have a payment of $368.36 in the process of being posted as paid.

Then called Raul Berenda of Panorama City B of A who said he would check on an account of Miss Marion Terry and email me back.  I told him about the estate and he will email me back.

I'm trying to get back into the habit of sleeping at night and being active during the day.  What am I?  Nocturnal ?



All of my chores are done except:

Complete the Kaiser Senior Advantage sign up package.

Last of the things to do:

Call Mass Mutual re the idea of having a lump sum payout of my pension?

Call Terry or Inga to get the ssn of Inga sent to the accountant for the tax return.

Now lets go to Thousand Oaks.

Wednesday pm, finally mailed Hal his coaster.

Paid $368.36 or so to the student aid folks.  Almost $200 due on the 1st of August.

Tomorrow do the B of A call, the Kaiser paperwork, call Mass Mutual re my pension entitlements, and continue to enjoy and marvel at the Apple TV.  How did I ever go all these years without buying one and enjoying it as I am right now.  I am watching Oliver on the big tv and typing here at the same time.  Very good indeed.  Multi tasking.

Also the AirPlay works well as well.

The iTunes Cloud or iCloud works well as well.  Very impressive.  Good to play games on or connect the Apple TV to the 27 inch monitor and view the books and such on the big monitor.

Up Wednesday feeling bleary as all too often lately.

Too much sleep in less than optimal conditions.  Maybe worry as well.

Set up new Apple tv on the Vizio TV I got from Marion.  Thank you and good night Aunt Marion.

Call the b of a, call the student loan folks, and call the Mass Mutual folks.

Now to mail Hal his place thing.

Tuesday pm good tugnet meeting

Jay Ross talked in his presentation on windows and pdfs and a lot more.

Dinner at Wendy's.  Good pm.  Too much unstructured sleep as usual.

Tuesday up at 930am feeling a bit blured but ok.

Lots of things to do today.

Mail Hal his gift thing.
Get an Apple tv.
Be at the tugnet meeting by 7pm.
Do the student loan contacts.
Redo the envelopes on my desk in the wide flat box.

Do the laundry.
Doing laundry now.

Monday pm email from Drew re fit2fat charging

Drew said he would take care of the charges by Tuesday and call or email me with the details of his efforts.  This recurring charge bothers me a lot, probably because it will go on forever, I don't want it, and I can't cancel it.

I hope it will get canceled and I can get on with my life.

I stayed home and sauteed onions, and had left overs and an omelet for dinner.  It was good and healthy.

Awake Monday at 11am feeling a little bleary

 as usual of late.  I'd just had a very vivid dream wherein Nancy Sanford had just told me in no uncertain terms that she loved me very much.  I said I loved her very much as well and I awoke to find that I had the message from the lady below.  Kathleen the therapist was also in the gym playing the piano for all of us.  Nancy had cut off the tip of her finger so I told her the story of how my mother had done the same thing.  It must have created a bond between us.

I wish I could find her and "Could we start again, please?"

I got a message from Ocean 19 via the dating service and I wrote a long reply.  I hope to hear from her again, but I have learned not to get my hopes up.

Nothing scheduled for today but lots of interesting things to do in the next two weeks.

Such as:

Hike with VDH and the other guy.
Griffith Observatory All Things Space on Friday, the 3rd of August, 2012, before 6pm in line.
Reagan Library talk by an author.
Watch Hugh Hewitt do his radio show for three hours.
Attend both the TUGNET and TOCC club meetings this week.  Yeah!

Keep on feeling and doing well.

I am eternally grateful for the fact that I feel good physically.
I am eternally grateful for the fact that I feel good emotionally.
I am eternally grateful for the fact that I love my cozy apartment.
I am eternally grateful for the fact that I love my Ford Taurus.
I am eternally grateful for the fact that I have enough money to live comfortably in my well earned retirement from a day job, but not a retirement from life, which I am trying to live more actively than before I retired.

I have friends, new friends to meet, hopefully, family, relatives, and places to see and things to do.

Let's get on with it with interest and gusto.

Great Sunday PM at Whale Watching in Long

Beach.  It cost me $40 for this trip and $25 for the Aquarium trip I missed, but it was worth it.

There really isn't much to see even if there are multiple blue whales exhaling in front of the boat.  We saw a lot and I loved it, but it was still a air/water spout and the top of a shape on the surface for a second or so.  I got lots of photos and even a movie clip, but I doubt there is anything identifiable therein.  We'll see.  Still highly interesting.

Great trip both ways.  Car is wonderful.  Dinner at Roll N Rye of Corned beef and cabbage.

Lots of dvds and comfortable rest the balance of the night.

Up about 9am feeling well, but not entirely rested

due to the computer blaring Rush for hours via the web site.  Try not to do this again.

Thinking of going to see the whales today.

I am reluctant to call Inga or Terry.  I don't want to hear what they have to say if it is only that they are keeping all of the money.  We'll see.

Good Saturday at the Simi Park with the tocc photo

club field trip.  Lots of good photos and a chance to see other people take pictures as well.

Dinner of two Italian cold cut sandwiches, which were very good.  Lots of dvds and net after a good nap in front of the a/c machine.

Poor sleep listening to Steyn and Rush on the computer.

Sleep at night in a cool dark room for the best sleep, as if I didn't know that.

Lesson learned for the cost of missing the $25

whale watching trip I already paid for because it took me too long to make it to Long Beach.  I went to Lancers instead and still had a good day.

Friday up at 11am feeling well getting ready for

Aquarium of the pacific Whale watching trip from 3 to 6p in Long Beach.  I plan to have a great time.

Tomorrow there is a photo shoot at a park in Simi valley for the photo club members.  I want to attend that as well.

We'll see.

Many good things to do here, besides get lazy and fat, as Dr Robert Fields says of his friends.
\

Thursday took Rey and AJ out for dinner.

OK time.  Rey still out of money from his ssi checks.  He has a new court date of about July 26, 2012.

I am tempted to take him to court but I don't want to get involved in his life.

We'll see.

Wednesday attended Tugnet linix group

on White Oak ave in Northridge.  Used Raspberry Pi and all was well.

Tuesday went to Tugnet and joined group.

Good day.

Paid att, changed milage on Taurus at State Farm

Talked with Randy at clientservices@fit2fat2fit.com.  Follow this up with an email to the above address.

Called Kaiser to verify that I have a 5-star senior advantage medical plan now already.

Considering go ing to Lancers for a chicken dinner after a shower.

Go out for a good day after Hal went back to Monterrey, CA

I like the google calendar and am starting to use it a lot.

Up Monday at 6am feeling well. Hal leaves for his

home.

Sunday he and I had brunch at Marie Callendar's and drove to Morro Bay and Morro Rock and toured the place.  It was interesting a lot.

We then drove home the fun way and had a great trip.  My Ford ran like a dream, thank God.

Hal may join me on the VDH hike on August 4, 2012, or not.  I really want to go.

Goals for today.  Pay ATT, get rate lowered for State Farm.  Call Kaiser to check on registration.

Events in the future.

Two lectures at the Regan Library.

Tuesday at TUGNET

Thursday at 1000 Oaks Computer Club.

Dentist apt on Wednesday at 130pm???  Check on this.

Continue to have a happy, healthy, energetic life as long as possible.  Work, love, and enjoy it all.

Tonight pay AT and T, call State Farm tomorrow.

Email the fat 2 fit guy tomorrow, pay the dmv registration fee.

Call Kaiser to check on registration complete.

Call Terry to check on all.

Have a good life.

Up Sunday at 830am feeling well. Now to call Hal

and go have a good day for his Sunday here.

Good day with Hal. Breakfast at Henri's after

a look at tents, sleeping bags, stoves, and such at Sports Chalet.  Good trip to Malibu, Simi Valley, and Pasadena.  Difficult time sleeping in this hot apartment Friday night.

Friday Hal here. We drove to Palm Springs Tram

Had a hard time finding the Tram, but it was fine thereafter.  Lots of conversation and dinner at Lancers thereafter.

Net back on after an hour again to get it restarted

with Earthlink.  It is now back on.

Write down the phone numbers here later, from the envelope.

Cleaned up more of the wonderful apartment but it is still not clean enough for Hal to see.  Try to finish tonight and tomorrow night.

Tram Friday, Saturday Boston Market and then...

Sunday Hal here at least for a while...

Monday he leaves for Monterrey...

Up at 9am feeling well. Calls from Time Warner to

install the new cable, even though I still have cable and it is already paid for through Time Warner.

Call them back to re schedule.

Email back the fat two fit guy to cancel the program.

Wash and change oil on the Ford today.

Print the agenda for Hal.  Can't let him in the apartment until it is cleaner.

Have a good time with him.

Good Wednesday. Returned Blue Ray player and

dinner at Lancers for <$14.  Cleaned more of the apartment and soon to finish.

By 430pm I cleaned the shower, showered and

made two payments to make me current on the student loan payments of  $193 or so every month until the day I die.

I finally feel good and am ready to go to Apple and Frys and then perhaps dinner at Boston Market. 

Be thankful for what you have.  You have so much more than most people that it isn't even funny.  Not so much as Allan, Hal, or Les, but much more than most folks, retired or not.  Always look on the bright side of life.

After Apple and Frys and Boston Market finish cleaning the house and get ready for Hal's visit.

Call Terry soon.

Call Allan soon.

Call Les soon.

Be thankful for what you have and don't focus on what you don't have to the exclusion of seeing the good things in life.

Decide on the Mass Mutual Pension Plan and do something with that soon.

Up Tuesday at 7am feeling well and ready to get on

with my exciting retired life style.

Shower and head to Apple and Frys first.

Wash car and change oil before Hal gets here.

Rotate and balance the tires?

Get the heater repaired.

Be thankful that I feel good physically.

Be thankful that I feel good emotionally.

Be thankful that I love my apartment.

Be thankful that I love my car.

Be thankful that I love being retired, particularly at such a young, healthy, and wealthy age.

Good Monday at home. Cleaned up half of my

apartment in hopes of Hal's visit.  Washed two loads of whites and still have two loads of coloreds to wash.  Threw away a lot of stuff.  Changed chairs and so far it is ok.

I want to exchange the blue ray player for one that works, take back the hdmi adapter for the iPhone, call Terry to check on my status and that of Inga, pay the student loan folks, and think more about the pension from the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles.

Good Sunday at home, mostly. Got a book on

photography and the Vanity Fair magazine on Microsoft.

Not a pleasant way to live like this.  It is better to sleep at night and be out all day.

Good Saturday at home on the net and with dvds

and with books.

Good Friday pm at Griffith, except I had to park and

walk a mile up hill to get to the hall.  Then I didn't wait in line and it was full and I couldn't hear the aux screen so I left and walked a mile back down hill.  Shopped at Wal Mart for $91 and got a lot of good food and stuff.

Hal called and will be here next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for a good time.  Happy days are here again.

I'm cleaning up the place but I doubt he will sleep here.

We'll see.  Also the new blue ray doesn't work now.  I'm checking the cables.

Up Friday at 9am feeling well. Griffith tonight.

Looking forward to seeing Laura Danley tonight at Griffith. 

I should call Terry back but I don't know what to say.  I'm not sure of my status now.  Did she get the letter?  She didn't say a word about it in her ims to me.  Should I call Terry or Inga or what?

Pay the student loan folks today.

Thursday next for Crowley at the Nixon Library.

Good Thursday. Slept well, watched WinWeekly

live, and got ims from Terry about Dick breaking his ankle and Inga having a hard time.  No mention of my letter except she hopes to hear from me.  I'm thinking on calling Terry to check on the situation.  Perhaps I should go to NJ and help Inga, if she wants me to do so.

I guess I'll call Terry later and ask for Inga's SSN for the tax forms.

Other than that, I'm kind of in a holding pattern trying to decide what to do.  I will go to Griffith Observatory for All Things Space tomorrow night, Sizzler again soon, and shopping at Wal Mart soon.

Yesterday I bought $20 worth of Blu Rey dvds and a $37 Blue Rey player which seems to work well since it is hdmi output.

I now have Marion's big hdmi tv set just to the right of this 27" monitor.  Looks good.

Happy Forth of July, 2012 Feeling well, as usual.

I'm anxious to get out of the house, even if only to go shopping at Wal Mart and to get something to eat. 

All seems to be as well as could be expected, and actually much better than should have been expected.

Lots of good things to do, see, experience and lots of things on the horizon to look forward to.

Thank God I feel well physically.
Thank God I feel well emotionally.
Thank God I love my apartment.
Thank God I love my car.
Thank God I have enough money to live comfortably even if I don't get an extra dime from Inga.
Thank God I have lots of places I want to visit, things I want to do, good friends like Harold, Les, Allan, Derick, and possibly the relatives back East.  Time will tell.

Tuesday was a quiet stay at home, eat at home...

pretty good day.  Lots of sleep, good movies, interesting web content, good books, comfortable living environment.

Mostly waiting for a response from Inga and her family as to my financial future.  Will I have any more money than I have now?  Time will tell.

Up Monday several times since I basically sleep

during the day, which is not as good as sleeping at night.  Not as restful and refreshing, but I like to stay up late at night.

Called and made an appointment with Dr fields for Wed, July 18, at 130 pm.

Pay the rent, pay the student loan folks, and go eat dinner at Lancers.

Have a good day.  

I like the Clint Eastwood movies.

Good Sunday at home. Lots of videos and the

internet.  I ate eggs and sausage and a lot of other things, slept well, and too much.

I feel well, but am still wondering about my letter to Terry.

What will it bring?

Thanks but no thanks.

Or...

Up at 1030am feeling well. Harold called and we

talked for an hour.  He is less than enthused with his new girl friend, big surprise.  I could have predicted it, and I did.  It just took longer than I expected.  A year or less?  I hate to be the bearer of bad news.  There is enough of that around as it is.

Got a new book on his recommendation and will read it asap.

I should go out for breakfast soon.

I feel very well.  More well than I have a right to.

Dentist tomorrow.

Griffith on Friday night.

Dodger Stadium Wednesday night.

Have a good week and work on it.

Excellent visit to Palomar, then Fleet Museum and

home again by 10pm after 350 miles and 3/4 tank of gas.  A great trip.  I loved it.

My car ran like a dream.  Dinner with Jack in the box, which wasn't any where as good as it used to seem to be, some of the Palomar dvd and sleep at midnight.