Both Sides of the Window

 Please don't ask why I have two or more sizes type in this post.  I only typed it in one size.

It has been a long time since I posted anything, New Years day to be exact.  Why, I don't know, but that's the way I am.  I go hard after things I'm interested in, and then for no reason at all, I lose interest and stop. I'll try to do better than this. It shouldn't be to hard to raise my posting from nothing to something.

See ya next time.

Yesterday was New Years Eve and Yun and I spent a quiet evening at home watching a Korean soap series with English subtitles.  Called Emperor of the Sea, it can be found on aznv.tv.  It has 51 one hour long episodes.  Yun and I are up to episode 20 and are greatly enjoying it.  At the time the story unfolds (850 AD), the Korean peninsula was divided into three kingdoms: Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla.  This series depicts the lives of groups of merchants fighting for possession of Chinese shipping rights along a 1114 mile long, sometimes natural and sometimes man made "Grand Canal".  The grand canal stretched from Hangzhou, about 100 miles below Shanghai, to present day Beijing.  It is replete with the slice and dice sword fights expected of series involving old kingdom feuds and has the also expected love story interest.

TOMORROW Yun and I celebrate our birthday, and TODAY, Michelle and Steven had us drive up to mid-town Atlanta to be treated to breakfast at The Flying Biscuit.  Really great non-chain restaurant.  Really good biscuits and the apple butter is excellent.  Then, they took us to the Atlanta Aquarium were we spent several hours wandering though the tanks of fish.  Yun and I have visited only one other aquarium, in Chattanooga, and Atlanta wins hands down.  Frankly, it's hard to believe that there is any other aquarium that is better, unless it is the one that has the Blue Whale.  Oh, that's right, no Aquarium has one.  After that, Michelle and Steven took us for lunch at the Vortex as well, We had, arguably, the best burgers I've eaten yet.  I'll get the name from Michelle and Steven and edit this site to steer you there.  I do know it was on 10th Street in mid-town about 100 yards from the Metropolis but on the opposite side of the street, headed away from I-75, next to a strip club.  Good food and good service.

All in all, it was the best birthday celebration that Yun and I have ever had.  Best of all though was that the Kids shared it with us.

More later (There's always more, later not so much.)

.      

Having been chastised for not writing lately I decided that I need to resume placing I's and O's on a computer hard drive, which I think is the same as putting pen to paper.  It's true, however,that I haven't written much in the last month or so.  In fact, my last posting was on Nov 18, 2007 and before that it was on Nov 1.  My posting record before that is available on line, for the one or two of you who don't already know. It's easy to blame my lapse on more pressing daily matters, but, when you're retired, as I am, that is difficult, if not impossible to do. 

I'm closing for today because it is time to walk the treadmill.

More later (There is always more, later not so much)

What is your daily commute like?  What is the weirdest thing you've seen on that commute? 
Submitted by E. 

Actually, my commute goes very well.  After I  roll out of bed, I dress in sweats and go into the living room and kitchen.  Takes about  5 minutes.  Has to be one of the fastest commutes on record.  Enroute to work (actually, play as I am retired), I exit the bedroom and walk about6 yards to the living room, and I'm enclosed in the house so I don't see and weird things or weirdos.

This is Thomas R. Welch reporting to you once again direct from the homestead on the south side of Atlanta, Ga.

I found this site on Reddit:  http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
It contains a word meaning game that you can learn word meanings and donate free rice to the worlds hungry at the same time.  Open it up and read what it is about.  I don't think you will regret it.  Every time you select a word meaning the founders of this site provides 10 grains of rice to the UN for distribution.  Caution, it does consume a lot of time you may want to use doing something else.  Also, I have no idea idea how many grains of rice it takes to add up to one pound.   So, when I read that this program started on 7 October 2007 and, as of 17 November 2007, 2,457,120,420 grains of rice had been donated, it didn't mean anything, and still doesn't.  I am thinking that I can figure it out by extrapolating how many grains are in an ounce, and then a pound.  Or, I would if I had a scale that weighs grams and ounces.  Maybe there is another way of doing it.  I don't know.

Michelle asked Yun and I to bowl on the Wii the other day when we were at her and Steven's place.  That Wii is something else.  Yun and I are addicted to bowling on it.  It's a lot of fun, plus, if you use it as it was intended, that is do the same motions you would if you were actually bowling, or playing baseball, or boxing, etc., it is a really good workout.

We are trying very hard to  make things as easy for Sassy as we can.  I carry her outside, and then back inside, because her back thighs and legs hurt her so much.  There are times she makes an attempt to run like she used to, but only for a brief few seconds.  We are so sorry for her, but there's nothing we can do but continue to love her as we always have.  I want to mention that,in reality, Sassy is Michelle's baby.  When Michelle got married and moved out, she saw how attached we are to Sassy, and Sassy to us, that she let Sassy stay with us.  It is a wonderful kindness that Michelle gave Yun and I.  We can never repay her for that.

More later (There is always more, later not so much)

This is Thomas R. Welch reporting to you again direct from the homestead on the south side of Atlanta, Ga.

Everything is great at the homestead, not perfect, but all it would take to be perfect would be for Yun’s skin condition to clear up. 

New televisions are working well, and so is the Wii.  I’m still Wii bowling a little above professional level.  I know that Wii bowling is not the same as being on an actual bowling lane; but still a good score.   

I watched a news story yesterday about a competitive eating contest, wherein one Joey Chestnut stuffed in 103 Krystals Hamburgers, in eight minutes, to gain the title of World Krystal Eating Champion, and a $10,000 prize.  I have no idea how many Krystal burgers it takes to equal one McDonald Quarter Pounder, but being a fairly generous person, lets assume it takes eight.  This means then that Mr. Chestnut consumed the equivalent of at least 12.87 Quarter Pounders.

I don’t care if Mr. Chestnut eats 12.87 Quarter Pounders if he is hungry, and I don’t care if he eats that much to win $10,000 in a competitive eating contest, but when we do this type of thing are we sending the subliminal message to the starving masses around the world that we don’t really care about them?  I’m afraid so.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

Emailed the below suggestion to Senators Chambliss and Isakson.

“Sir,

It strikes me that now would be a good time to recommend a study be
conducted to determine the feasibility of constructing a canal connecting our waterways on the east coast from the Mississippi to the countries major metropolitan and agricultural areas.  This would provide us (1) water from a source that is now draining into the Gulf of Mexico, and (2) possibly reversing a dead zone wherein aquatic life can not live which, by some accounts, is the size of New Jersey.  All the data regarding river paths and land elevations are already in the possession of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  Then, if it is feasible, you should introduce a Bill to make it happen.  I did not mention cost because (1) some things need to be done regardless of cost, and (2) if we can afford a trillion dollars (and I actually think it's going to cost us a lot more that that), for Iraq and Afghanistan, we can afford a canal system.

Thank you for your time,

Sincerely,

Thomas Ray Welch”

More later (There is always more, later not so much)

This is Thomas R. Welch reporting to you again direct from the homestead on the south side of Atlanta, Ga.

Our friend Mike passed away and the funeral was yesterday.  Yun and I met him and his wife Chun Ja all the way back in 1972, when they came knocking on our apartment door seeking Korean companionship.  Yun and I had just come from Korea, and so had they.  Anyway, we all hit it off and remained in touch ever since.  Mike was a decent man and we loved him.  His wife, Chun Ja, is alone, but she has a good support structure around her and she will be find.

I've been playing with the Wii.  My favorite game is bowling and I'm not too bad on it.  My high game is 248, and I'm bowling consistently above the PRO level, but just barely.   The main thing is that I am burning some calories.  It's a little strenuous bowing frame after frame non-stop for an hour.  On the other hand it's a lot of fun.  I work at it for an hour a day, trying to move as though I really am bowling, and I get Yun has played a couple of times but I guess its not her thing as she mainly is my cheerleader.  She is trying very hard to encourage me so I don't lose interest.

Yun is having an allergic reaction to something.  I believe that it is due to her insisting on eating two different types of fish.  She loves it loves every time she eats it she has the same type of reaction.  I've urged her not to eat it but sooner or later she does anyway.  I bought her some benadryl today.   It helps her some, but also makes her sleepy.  If nothing else she got some good sleep today.

Sassy and Lady are both well.

More later (There is always more, later not so much)

This is Thomas R. Welch reporting to you again direct from the homestead on the south side of Atlanta, Ga.

I mentioned yesterday that we bought Wii, set it up and enjoyed it.  But only one person could play at a time which is not good if we wanted to compete against each other, which we do.  So, we went out and bought a second set of controls.  I guess I figured out the Wii installation because basically you just pushed the appropriate button on the remote when the Wii program told you to.  I tried to get the second control set up but it doesn't work.  Set up the Wii to accommodate two players.  Put the batteries in the new control.  Pushed the button inside the battery box, like the instructions say.  I don't understand what it is supposed to do, bit I did what it said.  A series of lights on the bottom of the control started blinking, just like the instructions say.  When the lights stopped blinking, just like the instructions said they would, I pushed the power button.  Nothing!  So, I am on hold with just one control until Steven comes tomorrow to bail me out, like he always does when it comes to computerized stuff.  If he can't get it working I'll figure it was defective when it was sold and take it back for either refund, or exchange.

Two players on just the one controller is not cool, but it gets the job done.  I have already noticed a distinctive difference Yun and my playing styles.  I stand and go through the movement just like I would in a bowling alley.  Yun sits in a chair and sort of thrusts the control forward while releasing "B" button.  Works for her, she has a pretty good score.

We make sure we know where Sassy is all the time.  This isn’t hard to do because she’s staying closer to us than normal.

Oh, I decided to number my reports sequentially.  It gets a little difficult coming up with titles.

More later (There is always more, later not so much).       

This is Thomas R. Welch reporting to you direct from the homestead on the south side of Atlanta, Ga.

I reported earlier that our girlfriend Sassy has blood in her urine which turns her urine brownish, caused by a cancerous growth.  She is having  trouble walking, more so each day.  She has four cancer growths, one in the chest, one on the bladder, and one on each side down by where her hips are.  The Vet says that treatment will not help with cancer that wide spread and that she will likely live weeks to months.  Sassy is still taking her antibiotics, and at some time we will have to put her own a pain killer.

I carry her outside and back inside as she is having trouble negotiating the steps, and she likes to lay in the driveway in the late afternoon her kingdom.  She's already eaten dinner but ate a little less than normal, although her appetite is still pretty good.  She has started to regurgitate food.  Not every meal, but it's something she didn't use to do.

But you guys know she is getting all the love and attention she can handle.  What Mom and I doing is to let Sassy do anything she wants to do, basically what she does now.  And we intend to spoil her more than she is now, if that's possible.  She is a special girl friend and we all love her.  And she knows she is loved.  That's the most important thing.

Mom went out yesterday and bought a Wii.  We played one at Michelle and Steven's place and really enjoyed it.  I'm not very good putting things together, and we decided to ask Michelle and Steven to do it when they next come down, but I couldn't rest with that thing sitting in the box calling my name, so this morning I put it together.  Played it right away.  All the games are fun, but bowling, boxing, tennis, and baseball also give you some exercise if you play the game as you're supposed to.

We watched a good 30 year old movie about WWII tonight.  I don't recall the name and am to lazy to look it up.  Good suspense, no gratuitous violence, and no cursing.  Good movie.

More later (There is always more, later not so much).   

I have lived under the leadership of 11 Presidents.  Men like Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon (before Watergate), Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, and Clinton.  Their accomplishments aside, and they were many, as were their failures, I believed we could trust these men had our interests at heart.  When Bush 43 became President I also thought we could trust him to do what’s right for us.  Then came Gulf War II started to rid this country of Saddam Hussein’s use of his (we now know) fictional Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).  Somebody lied about WMD, thousands of US military and civilians have died because of it and no one has gone to jail because of it.  He refuses to allow the heads of Congressional Committees to review documents they deem necessary for their oversight of the Administrative Branch of Government; these guys have the highest of security clearances for God’s sake.  He has failed to secure our borders, increasing the chance of terrorist attacks on United States soil, and allowing perhaps up to 20 million undocumented people to live in this country.  He created the Department of Homeland Security which increasingly violates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act which violates the privacy of the U.S. public.  Equally importantly, he took a balanced budget Government to one 9.4 trillion in the red ink.

And then we have the House of Representatives and the Senate.  Is there anyone in the United States who believes that there are Congressmen or Senators who are not on the take, whether it be from lobbyists or private citizens?  I’m not even going to list any of their involvements; you can read as well as I, and are probably already aware of their violations of their office.  Is there anyone in the United States who believes there are Congressmen and Senators who will not do anything it takes to get elected and then to stay elected?  They listen to their constituents? Yes, probably, especially the ones who can do something for them.  They keep their promises? No. They support the constitution and the bill of rights? From what I read they only support those parts that they can bend to support their aims.

I know, I know, I must have been awfully naïve to have ever believed any elected official would ever put our interests over his or hers; I no longer believe that.  Now, I think we can't trust any of them, any of the time.

 Actually, I don't even know why I bothered to write this because nothing we write, say, or do, makes any difference.  And guess what, this rant hasn’t even made me feel better.

 
More later (there always more, later not so much)