The saga continues

Wednesday June 21, 1978

I woke up at 9:00 eat and goofed around. At 10:00 I played Pong with Andrew and beat him 4-2. I really don't do too much in the mornings except read the paper, play the piano or clarinet. I played a game of monopoly with Andrew and Chief I lost mainly because no one would land on my monopoly. I ate and then I went to the church to practice singing for Westminster Terrace. We got there about 1:30 sang and they had refreshments at 2:20. I was goining to go swimming at 3:00 but the the pool was closed, I got home and played kickball at Bobby's. We were having fun they were beating me 15-12 but I had last ups my kicking was superb but my fielding wasn't so hot when Bobby had to eat at 4:30. At 6:00 I came over again and Matt came over at 6:30 so we continued our game. I scored four runs in that inning to lead 16-15 but they wanted to have one more inning so I let them. Matt to lead off the inning hit one to me but I dropped it. Another time Bobby was running from 2 to 3rd and I was right there and I missed him. Mat finally popped out to me to end the inning. They were leading 21-16. I was up I hit two- two run homeruns. To make the score 21-18. I then scored two more runs to make it 21-20. I then made two outs. I got a man to third and with two outs I got a little base hit to score him. Bobby of course had to act like a baby. I went home watched T.V. until 8:00. I didn't do much except play pong with Andrew he finally beat me 4-3! At about ten I starviewed I couldn't see much I'm really getting upset about not finding anything! I went to bed at 11:00.

Thursday June 22, 1978

I woke up at 10:00 and ate about 10:30. I did alot of work outside picking up sticks. At 11:30 I did some other chores like clean my desk and pack for Switzerland and collect the collect the garbadge. I ate lunch at 12:30. I goofed around until about 1:30 when Bobby came over. I was supposed to go swimming but Dad was late as he always is didn't come. We played kickball just hitting and not playing a game first we started kicking left-footed but then we kicked right. Actually we kicked worse then we thought we would. I then went over to Bobby's. We did the same thing except try and try to kick it over the fence. He has a smaller yard so it was alot easier. I hit a couple home runs. But Bobby kept hitting them against the bar and missing by inches. Finally he got 5 home runs but he got them because I dropped the ball. I got home at about 3:30 then I didn't do much until 4:00 when my Dad came to bring me to the church to do work. The work is the most boringest of them all. I had to eat at 5:30 after dinner I watched the news and then I went swimming. I treaded water for 10:00 and did the front float for one second. The reason why it was only one second is becuase I can't get my ears wet.
At 9:00 I got out of the pool and went to work at the church. At 9:15 I went to the Fichters and played with Mark while Dad talked we left at about 10:15 when we got home. Then I watched T.V and went to bed at 11:00.

Friday 23 Cols Ohio

Today I woke up at 9:00 I ate and didn't do much. When I say I didn't do much is when I look at the paper bang on the piano and do other things not worth mentioning. I went over to Bobby's to play kickball. Bobby and Matt were leading 17-6 when I went to eat. I then played a monopoly game which lasted a long time. He ahd alot of money and was beating me but then game went up and down. But after awhile I really had bad luck. I hit his most dangerous Monopoly twice and that was it. I didn't do too much and then I ate. I went to Bobby's and we did many things like block kicks, play kickball and run around. I got home at 9:00 and then Bobby came here and we caught fireflies we had ten fireflies but they wouldn't light up inside. I watched the Dodgers - Reds game. The score was 0-0 when I went to bed at 11:30

June 18th 1978, Sunday
Today I woke up at 8:05 then I eat goofed around and went to church and went to a church picnic. At the picnic I hike for a while with Andrew and Chief. When I got home about 3:15 I went with Andrew and Chief to play putt-putt golf. I first game I did terrible! I shot a 70 out of 90 possible shots. Andrew came in second and Chief came in first with a 43. The next time I did better and got a hole in one and one a 50 cent discount ticket for hitting a hole - in one at the right time. Chief got 7 hole in ones but not at the right time. I finished with a 54 alot better but I lost second place by one stroke! My Brother finished off with a 53. Chief hit a remarkable 33 3 under par! I got home at 5:00 had popcorn at 6:00 watched T.V until 8:45 and listened to the end of the Clippers game. The Clips lost 10-6. I then watched the CBS Mystery Theater which was about a goast who came to kill people. I went to bed at 10:25

Monday 19

I woke up at 10:20 eat and went to paino lesson. I was supposed to have my piano lesson at 11:30 but the person who was supposed to come at 11:00 came at 11:30. So I had to wait a half-hour. I got home at 12:30 and eat and hoped that my telescope catalog woulde come but it didn't come. I didn't do much from from 1 till 3 but then I practiced basketball until 3:30 and went to Bobby's and played kickball. Me and Matt won 5-4 well not really because Bobby had to eat. I went home and eat myself and then went to play kickball again. John and I were leading 5-4 when I had to leave because I wanted to go swimming. In the 5-4 game with John I played exceptionally well on defense. I made a diving stab for the and smacked it down and caught Bobby in suprise between 2 and 3. But one time Bobby's teammate Dustin hit a hard one right to me but I dropped it. John is 6 so I really was the whole team. I was quite suprised were leading then because Bobby's better than me and Dustin's better than John. Well once I beat Dustin and Bobby singlehanded in a game of wiffleball 1-0 so miracles can happen. I went swimming and and the pool was packed but about 8:30 me and Dad were about the only ones there. Tonight I watched par of the Monday Night baseball game in which there was a 4-4 tie between New York and Boston. I did some stargazing and did o.k. I still can't find Uranus but I did find alot of connstelations like Dracko, Virgo, Ursa Major. I went to bed at 11:15.

Tuesday June 20, 1978

I woke up at 9:30 and ate read played the paino and then ate lunch. I didn't get any catalog today. I'm very Mad, I really didn't do too much until 2:00 when I played tennis at the school. My sweatband was super wet. Luckly I didn't get any athlete's foot because I usually do when I play tennis. I got home had a snack and took a nap. I woke up at 4:50 and played T.V video games with Andrew. I had beaten him 4 games to 2; 4-3 ; 4-1; 4-0. He hasn't beaten me yet. I ate and then played kickball with Booby and John, they came over here. Bobby beat us 10-3 there could have been more runs but me and Bobby kicked left-footed. I made some fine defensive plays as well as bad ones but overall my defense is improving greatly since last year. I watched T.V listened to the Clippers game and then played another Video game with Andrew. I beat him 4-3 in a series. I went to bed about 10:20.

C-SPAN rules!!

I was watching C-Span this morning and they had the farewell speech from the fallen New Jersey governor, James McGreevey on. He had confessed to being a gay American and was saying good bye. In his adderss he made reference to a Kipling poem dealing with "triumph and disaster". I was not familiar with the poem so I looked it up online. Where else on TV can you learn of a great poem. I love C-Span.

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

$142,900 house

That's the sale's price of the house next door I looked it up online.

Here's an entry from J.K's Summer Journal: June 16, 1978

Thursday 16, 1978

Today was the last day of school and I had Joe overnight. I really am in a hurry so a will write about this day tomorrow. I am writing about yesterday today. I got out of school at 2:15 but I was on patrol so I didn't get home until 2:45, When I got home with my report card which had a C in math and a A in reading. At about 3:00 I went to the library looking for some books on telescopes which I have been looking for the 4 weeks, I've had some books on the reserve list but all the books I wanted were either out of circulation of someone else was using them. I got a telescope catalog in the mail and looked at it until Joe came over we played soccer and listened to his soccer tapes. We ate. Then we went swimming at the Y.M.C.A and got home played soccer in which we tried to inate real games. We watched T.V. until about 10:00 and then we we made funny recordings . We went to bed at 11:30 but talked until about 12:30 and then sacked out.

June 16 Friday

I got another telescope catalog in the mail I was not to intertested in it. This morning I woke up about 8:20 with Joe. We played soccer. I got a haircut and I look like a fool. I'm trying to memorize the names of players on German soccer teams. My friend Bobby and I played a wiffelball game against my brother and won. I stayed up up till 11:00 by myself and it was kind of spooky watching Night Gallery, Frankenstein and a scary program. I went to bed at 11:30

June 17 Saturday.

I started off the morning waking up at 10:20. I ate goofed around and then ate lunch. I didn't get any Telescope catalog in the mail today. Seeing that it's saturday I won't get one until Monday. I've written into 4 companies and have gotten two responces. I get the addresses from a magazine called Sky & Telescope. At about 2:00 I watched a Baselball game and went swimming at 3:00. I got home at 4:30 watched T.V in which the Reds won 6-5 Indians lost 4-3 I hate both teams! I also saw the White Sox Defeat the Royals 6-1. I recorded highlights of a game of Soccer from Germany were Dortmund defeated Shaliake 2-1 with Toby Charles and his funny English accent. I really did nothing from 7:00 til 9:00 then I went outside with my 7x Binoculars and could only find the Big Dipper. I get very excited about telescopes and stargazing but it seems everynight I'm unsuccessful. I went to bed at 11:00.

house for sale

The neighbors house is now for sale. It is being offered by AlaCarteRealty.com. I went out to the website and could not find it listed yet, hopefully it will appear in the next few days. I also noticed that Tom the realtor has moved on. I was walking the dog past his house the other day and noticed it was empty. I was a bit puzzled at first but realized that his kids are approaching school age. It's strange leaving in a community where half the people move out once their kids are old enough to attend school.

It's the day after the election and it looks like Kerry is going to lose. He has not conceded yet but might later this morning. This whole business has gone on too long. Even I turned off Shields and Brooks in the middle of their punditry on PBS, I couldn't take anymore.

More Neighborhood eXcitement

On Friday as I was going to work I saw about 5 men in Stuey's old house next door. I'm not sure what they were doing but they all looked like contractor types. Today, I saw a man cutting the grass next door with a riding lawnmower. I can barely contain my excitement. I'm just curious about who our new neighbors will be. Also on Thursday afternoon I saw a man wearing a suit step in the house carrying a briefcase. He looked like he might be an appraiser. I'm unable to make any connection between him and the 5 guys I saw there Friday morning.

Last night there was a party at the house across the way from Stuey's house. There were about 15 cars parked on the street and at one point someone stepped outside and put on a juggling show with flourescent lanterns. I observed the whole show from my kitchen window. It was well done, accompanied by booming music.

Currently Jacksonville Jaguars are playing against the Indianapolis Colts at the Dome. The Jags keep getting the ball down to the red zone but are unable to punch it in for 6. This just in, a Jacksonville field goal has given them a 16-14 lead with about 14 minutes left in the 4th quarter.

Again, I've managed to spend another weekend putting off yard work. As I like to say, I'll get to it "at some point".

More Empty Houses

The house next door to us still sits empty. There is a bag of phone books out front gathering rain and is there no one there to take them home. I haven't brought my phone books in from the cold either. The whole phone book concept seems outdated nowadays. If I need a number I'll go look it up on the web rather than pull out some 2000 page tome to get a listing that might be out of date.

Also, no one has yet moved into Elizabeth's house down the street. I've seen a red pickup in the driveway at times during the day but I've seen nothing going on there. Also around the corner and across from the park is a house that sits empty. It belong to an older woman who has moved somewhere else but has not bothered to sell her house. There are shrubs out in front that have overgrown and obscure the home. I met her neighbor at a Canterbury Board meeting and he was hoping that she would sell it some time.

Now that hound dog Rex is back I have an opportunity to "patrol" the neighborhood again but haven't talked to anyone lately, just observations on empty houses.

I don't miss the roar of motorcycles from next door but Stuey was a pretty good neighbor although I had perhaps 2 conversations over the four years we lived side by side. I hope to be able to chat a bit more often with whoever moves in next door.

Another departure from the neighborhood

I was walking with Rex down the street last night and I saw Elizabeth and Ken loading up the horse trailer in their driveway. The trailer was attached to a large SUV with Washington state plates. The house sold a few weeks ago and the last time I talked to Elizabeth she told me she was moving to Washington with Ken which is where he is from.

Today when I took Rex on our morning jaunt and walked past her house and saw the trailer and SUV were gone. There probably on the road right now. I'm not sure when the people who bought their house are moving in. Also, the vacant but professionally winterized home is still vacant and I doubt anyone has been in the house since I saw the workers over there last Saturday.

Brant and I went to the Colts game Sunday, the home team one in decisive fashion 35-14. It was the first game I'd been to since they lost to Tennessese in 2002. Perhaps this is the year the Colts get to the Superbowl.

Where is Stuey-Lee

I had a next door neighbor over the past four years who I hardly ever spoke to. He has apparently left his home without biding me farewell. He went by the name of "Stuey".

I noticed a moving truck in front of my neighbor's house earlier this week. I thought that he had a roomate moving in or out. On Thursday I noticed an awful lot of stuff brought out for the garbage. I still wasn't sure what was going on.

Today I saw a pickup truck with a dome for a flashing light on top, nothing too official just something similar to what you would see on highway department maintenance vehicle. I saw a guy leaving the house with a few garbage bags full of stuff. I walked over to him and asked, "Do you know where Stuey went to?"

"I'm just working here, I'm hired to clean out the house, it's my job, I don't know nothing else.", he replied. I walked back over to my house trying to figure out what was going on. There are no "For Sale" or "For Rent" signs out in front, if he had sold the house to a friend or family member I imagine he wouldn't hire a guy with a semi-official looking pickup truck to clean up. I wonder if he was foreclosed out of the property. I wouldn't think so but I don't know what else to speculate.

Later this afternoon, after the truck was gone I walked back to the house. I saw a small green and white sign in the front window. It said, "This house has been officially winterized: 10/10/2004." Below the text was a signature presumably of the man I had spoken to earlier today. The front door has a relator's combination lock on it. Perhaps at some point the home will be put on the market.

I never knew my neighbor very well. I talked to a roomate of his a few years ago and once this past summer when I was playing ball with Rex I kicked it over my privacy fence and it went into his yard. I went over there to retrieve it and spoke with him briefly. I never heard much from him except when he and his friends were revving up their motorcycles which they were known for doing at all hours of the night.

Across the street from him, I saw another neighbor moving out. There was a "for sale" sign in the yard about a month ago and I assume the house has sold and she is moving on. I think she just moved in last year. Who knows? Just another neighbor I don't know much about.

I did call Brian Boak who lives down the street from me on Thursday. I invited him to go to the Colts game with me but his mother is visiting from Atlanta on Sunday and they are celebrating her birthday.

I got in touch with Brant and we are going to the Colts game on Sunday. I hope they win as the Colts are my pick for the survival league this week.

Rex released today from CCI

I've just given my blog a new template. It looks pretty cool, perhaps it shall motivate me to write more. Does anyone read this thing? It's been months since I 've seen a comment on it.

Rex was released from Canine Companions for Independence today. He has been in advanced training for about 6 weeks but has been a bit difficult. Rex is a real high-energy dog and we doubted he would pass, still there was hope that he would have made it through the 6 months of Advanced Training and been placed with a handicapped person. Mary is going to Columbus on Sunday to pick him up and take him home. We hope to adopt him out to a family that would like a very nice active dog.

I was watching TV monday night and the "American Experience" had a show on about Robert Kennedy. I only saw the last 10 mintues and it was painful to watch knowing how everything was going to end. The footage from the funeral train was really moving. I got the vibe as a train as a metaphor for life, passing by in a linear fashion a glimpse here and glipse there, onward to the next town.

I ripped most of my "Schau ins Land" CDs into my iTunes so now I can listen to German news and culture without having to find my CD wallet.

At the end they showed the funeral and read from the quote that is on his tombstone.

"He who learns must suffer. In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God"

Aeschylus

What I'm reading right now.

In the fiction category, I'm going through Robert Wilson's "Instruments of Darkness". It's about a British expat in West Africa looking for a missing person amidst intrigue ranging from sheanut trees to dead bodies in swimming pools. Reading the book makes me want to see on a veranda in 105 degree heat and drink whisky on the rocks. All of the European characters are portayed as half crazed drunks trying to hide some deep secret, escape the past or both.

Also I'm reading "Joel on software". It's a collection of articles that Joel Spolsky has written on his website He has some good ideas, one of them being practing your writing skills my updating your blog regularly.

I was talking to Woodie today about his cabin on Lake Wawasee in northern Indiana. He was telling me that he has to close his place up for the winter but wants to keep the heat running so he can go up there over the Holidays and use the place. We were talking about ways to monitor the temperature remotely and I suggested purchase a large digital read out thermometer, mount it on a wall and point a webcam at it. He could just log in from work check his webcam and note the temperature up at his cabin. It would be a hi-low tech solution. Or you could employ some sort of image recognition software that could actually "read" the temperature post it to a database and fire a trigger if the value got below 60 degrees.

a great movie

"Lost in Translation"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335266/

I rented it and saw it twice last week. The picture was amazing, it really made me think about a lot of things.

It's one of those ambient movies where the pacing is slow and you have to let the atmosphere tell the story. Also there aren't many characters aside from the leads but Japan itself is a character and serves as a metaphor for alientation and disconnected feelings.

I'm going to order the soundtrack online. I tried to find it at Target, attempted to download it from Itunes but no go. I don't even know of a dedicated record store in the Indianapolis area.
I could go to Barnes and Noble but I never have much luck finding stuff there.

I keep on listening to the song "Sometimes" from the group "My Bloody Valentine" that is from the movie.

I'm back from my trip in Europe and I tried to post earlier this week but it the blogger site timed out and it never got up there

it's been a while

I was in Europe for two weeks with my wife and mother.

We were in Paris, the Swiss Alps and visited my relatives in Switzerland.

I am now back on the job. It wasn't till I got back here that I realized how sedentary this job is.

One sits in the cube and sits and sits.... There is an occasional meeting to attend but there are some weeks when even that doesn't occur. At lunch there's always the opportunity to get out of the cubicle into your car and head to the nearest fast food drive in for a nutritious meal.

Except for the trip from Paris to Basel, we didn't take any lengthy train trips. Perhaps one day we will take the Glacier Express. I think that train runs from Zermatt to Saint Moritz.

I' m eagerly waiting the Microsoft XP security patch.

I wonder what new "features" it will offer

Went to Bub's in Carmel tonight with a crew from my wife's work. I did not have the big ugly but did have 6 highly nutritious "V" wings.

"If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new"
Voltaire

Bertrand Russell quote:

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts"

I was first became familiar with the name "Bertrand Russell" while watching the movie "Taxi Driver" where the Wizard (Peter Boyle) is speaking to Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) outside a coffee shop.

tour de France
 
With 90% of sports talk radio devoted to talking of trades and draft choices it's nice to see some actual sport taking place.  OLN (Outdoor Life Network) is showing the Tour de France daily.  Yesterday I saw Lance Armstrong battling his way to second place through the Pyrenees.  It's incredible watching the cyclists make those steep climbs.
 
Today was a short segment on the tour into the city of Nimes so not as exciting as yesterday.  The race resumes on tuesday when they head to the alps.
 
It's been pleasantly mild this July with relatively low humidty and temperatures in the low 80's. 

my car sucks

For the forth time in 9 months my car has broken down

there are the occasions of ailment

# Oct 15: battery dies

# May 1: serpentine belt snaps

# May 15: tensioner assembly collapses

# tonight: I have no idea what happened but the car died in the parking lot at Fountain Square. I waited 2 hours for the tow truck to show up. Ironically, I was planning on attending a Buddhist meditation class at Fountain Square. Going south on College the car was making all sorts of weird sounds and having a hard time getting acceleration from a stop. Well, while the rest of the class was learing about samsara, I was experiencing the real thing. Thankfully I was able to accumulate merit and practice patience and put the results into the path.

reading an old Article in the Atlantic Monthly about Robert Moses, the man who was the driving force between many of the bridges, tunnels, parks and parkways in the New York area. When I was growing up in Niagara Falls, NY we lived right off of the Robert Moses Parkway and that was the first limited access highway I became aquainted with.

Ironically Robert Moses never drove a car, I don't believe he ever had a drivers license.
The man who designed all these highways never himself drove down them.

I'd like to list these improbable occupations I've run across in my life:

I had a roofer once who lived on the first floor of a 5 story apartment building.

A mortage broker who rented an apartment.

I tried to think of some hypothetical ones:

A dentist with no teeth

A teetotaler that runs a bar

..list to be continued...

Ta gai lem holle dai!

nice long weekend, mostly spent in leisure

I've finished reading "Amnesia Nights" by Quinton Skinner. It's a good book that kept me guessing up to the end as to what the outcome would be.

The amazon link is here below.

Amnesia Nights

I've started reading "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote and am about 1/3 of the way through. Not much suspense in this one as I've read it before and am aware of the fate of the Clutter family. Still a fascinating read and the book that kicked off the "true crime" genre.

I saw two DVDs also, "Spellbound" and "The Basketball Diaries". The later has the infamous classroom shootout, with Leonardo DiCaprio wearing a trench coat and laying waste to his classmates. At one point I turned on the subtitles and had a revealing moment in regards to song lyrics. In one scene a basketball game is under way to the tune of the Doors: "Riders on the Storm". The lyrics came through on the subtitles and when I saw the line "Take a long holiday" I was taken aback. I don't know why but somehow I thought that Jim Morrison was chanting some Native American prayer or eastern phrase ala "Jai Guru Deva Om" in the Beatles "Across the Universe". To me the Doors lyrics always sounded "Ta gai lem holle dai -- Let your children play". Weird

I also went to a cookout at my friends Richard and Vickie's house and ended up manning the grill. Richard kept asking me how to barbeque chicken and then asked me to prepare and cook the food. I was more than happy to assist him soaking the poultry in the bbq sauce and tending to it on the charcoal grill.