Wow! Lots and Lots of Tricksters!

We may have come close to a record number of Trick - or - Treaters tonight. We even had to use our surplus candy. All and all, there were over two hundred and flirty kids and parents that visited our home tonight. There were some really neat costumes, as well. The kids were well mannered and always thanked us for their treat. Mr. Axman showed up and I think he really scared a few of the little ones. He may have even scared a few of the big ones as well. Baby Brandon and group came over to help out. Baby Brandon, Kristi, Kelly and Brandon went for a short trick- or - treat outing; around the block to some of the homes in the neighborhood. Baby Brandon was dressed as Tigger. This, of course, was his first Halloween.

After the trick - or - treaters subsided, we had a delicious spaghetti dinner that Nancy prepared. Everybody was exceptionally hungry and we really enjoyed the meal. Each year the number of visitors continues to rise, so next year we will be prepared for three hundred kids. We almost ran out of candy this year. The event was a whole lot of fun, as always, and a good time was had by all.

The Halloween pictures are posted to the right and at the bottom of the blog page. The link to a video, showing a few of our Trick - or - Treaters, is located directly below this text. Enjoy!!!

http://s178.photobucket.com/albums/w275/jimdaviselkgrove/?action=view&current=TrickorTreat07.flv

Ready for the Trick - or - Treaters

We have a few things left to do, before the arrival of this year's trick-or- treaters. We now have two hundred bags of candy ready (Nancy bagged almost all of the candy). It's hard to know just how much we will need, but based on counts from previous years, we should be in the ball park. As you can see from the blog picture, my buddy Maxwell is on the job again this year. I hope to capture some pictures and video clips of our guests. If so, I will post a few. Happy Halloween to all!

A Halloween Greeting

Today's post is from Mr Axman. Just click on the link below. Have a great Halloween!

http://s178.photobucket.com/albums/w275/jimdaviselkgrove/?action=view&current=HalloweenGreetingfromMrAxman07.flv

Halloween Is Near

As you can see from the picture to the right, we have just started to do our Halloween decorating. Nancy and I prepared some candy bags tonight. We are anticipating around two hundred kids to arrive at our door step - if the weather is good. We won't carve the pumpkins until Tuesday night. Our scary guy, the one Nancy made around ten years ago, will go out at the same time. I'll be posting more pictures, as we progress.

Treadmill Exercise - Starting Seventh Month

Today marks the beginning of my seventh month of exercising. In that time, I have went from a two and a half mile distance, to over four miles. It is taking a little over an hour to accomplish that goal. I doubt that I will increase my speed to any great degree during the next quarter, but I may increase the distance. The challenge is still the same; the mental factor (getting into the right mindset). Physically I can handle the workout and it has become less taxing now that I watch a movie while using the treadmill. That has made a huge difference over my former method of just listening to music each workout. That became a little boring. I like the visual stimulation.

There is no question in my mind that there are benefits to following an exercise program. There are also some risks - particularly when using a treadmill. But so far, so good. I'm hopping that my commitment doesn't waver over the next six months. But, as they say, stuff happens. I'll do an update at the next quarter - in January.

CES Badge

I received my CES badge in the mail yesterday. That pretty much completes the folder that I take with me to Las Vegas. I'm flying out of Sacramento a little earlier than I did last year (of course, I'll also have to get up earlier). That will give me more time at the show on the first day. I'll pick up the rental car immediately after arrival, but I won't check into the hotel until late that afternoon. That way I can spend most of the day visiting the various exhibits. I'll have another full day, the next day, to enjoy CES and afterward I plan to have my dinner meal at either the Bellagio, or the MGM Grand. The "Cirque" show (Ka) that I will be seeing is at the MGM, but I really like eating at the Bellagio buffet. They have great crab legs and they have a machine that cracks the crab legs so that you don't have to go through the hassle. All of the food at the Bellagio is excellent and even though it won't be as convenient as eating where the show is located, I'll most likely have my dinner meal there. This year's CES should be a fun event. I'm really looking forward to going!

Outing to Bennies and Fry's

Tom Henry and I had dinner at Bennies today and afterward we ventured over to Fry's in Roseville. I experienced exceptionally good service while at Fry's. Nathanael demonstrated a Logitech web cam (Vista certified) that I was considering and he did such a good job that I decided to stop looking and I just went ahead and made the purchase. I plan to use the web cam with my twenty eight inch Viewsonic monitor. While at Fry's, I took a picture of Tom.You can see the results to the right and at the bottom of the blog page.

SightSpeed 6.0 - Another Skype?

I'm always open to trying new programs that enable me to do video conferencing on my PC. Of course, they need to be reasonably priced (free is good), and they have to work as well as the one I currently use - Skype. I don't actually do video conferencing all that often. Not many of my long distant friends have an interest in setting it up and I see my local friends often enough (face to face) that it is just not a high priority to add video to our phone conversations.

However, I recently came across a free download, called SightSpeed 6.0, that appeared interesting. It caught my attention because it mirrored some of Skype's features, but it also had some exclusive applications as well. If you have an interest in video clips, to email or post to the web i.e. for a blog site or other website - check out SightSpeed and see what you think.

The link below will take you to a video clip that I made using the SightSpeed software:

https://app.sightspeed.com/video/1wqez9g128zs877x7vqryrwa45i23ayh"

Lab Test A-OK

I received my quarterly lab test results, via e-mail, from Kaiser Hospital the other day. They have a good system whereby you do not have to wait for the results to be mailed, you can go online and access your records by using a password. Just as I suspected, some numbers were slightly elevated from the last quarter, but my total cholesterol, along with the other key indicators for good health, were within the range my doctor said they need to be. However, I'll need to pay a little closer attention to my diet, if I want to get the numbers nearer to what they were for my previous reading. So, overall I'm satisfied. One area that I'm working on, my glucose reading, actually went down a bit. It went from 93 to 90. I guess the class that I took regarding the risks of getting diabetes helped. At one time I had a reading of 101 (fasting). I've pretty much stopped eating foods with a high sugar content. Barring some unforeseen event, I should live another quarter. That means keeping up the exercise (treadmill) routine and continuing with my fish and chicken diet. As they say, this getting old is not for sissies!

CES - Not That Far Off

I'm looking forward to going to Vegas and to attending CES in January. It's always really hectic, attending CES - but a lot of fun. It looks like the guys will be going again, except for Tom. He is expecting Wendy to arrive from China around that time.

I just ordered a battery kit for my Canon portable printer. Last year Tom let me borrow his battery - Tom has the same printer. I've been needing to get one for some time now and I finally found a reasonable price - from Amazon. The primary purpose of the portable printer is to print out a South West boarding pass for the return flight. If you go online early (up to twenty four hours prior to your flight) you get better seating. So, with my laptop and portable printer I can print out my pass while I'm at CES. You learn these little tricks, after attending a couple of shows. The advantage of having attended several shows is the information and knowledge that you acquire to avoid the extremely long lines created by the huge number of people who come from all over the world to attend CES.

Big Bang Theory

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I'm enjoying the new sitcom "The Big Bang Theory". However, I'm also watching some more academic oriented shows regarding the Big Bang, specifically the Nova series that addresses the Big Bang and other scientific discoveries - i.e. Black Holes (mind boggling). Since reading Carl Sagan's book on The Demon-Haunted World, my interest in science has increased. Physics and biology are of particular interest to me and I'm looking forward to getting more involved with these subjects. Nova does a good job of presenting extremely complex topics in such a way that a layperson can have some understanding of the subject matter. It can be really fascinating to find out just how much scientific investigation is going on. A lot of resources are devoted to trying to figure out just how "we" got to where "we" are in space and time. I plan to pursue these questions more frequently and to promote their discussion at our Friday Night at the Movies gatherings.

Mid-Season Records - Not So Good

It may not be such a great idea to watch college football on Saturday morning- particularly if you are a fan of Louisville (U of L) or Kentucky (U of K). It can be a downer. I was elated when Kentucky beat LSU last week, but after seeing today's game - not so much. Both teams just have not been as competitive as their fans would have liked. They are both good teams, but you have to be much better than "good", to make it to the top in their divisions. Maybe next year?

More Organizing

I've recently been doing some organizing in my computer room - hence, today's blog picture. It seemed appropriate for what I'm currently focused on - sorting stuff out and tossing things that I no longer use. I took the shot while attending the California State Fair in August.

Halloween Card

Dave always sends us a nice card at Halloween. We especially like the one for this year. Halloween is only a couple of weeks away. We're getting ready for two hundred plus kids to visit our home. It's always a fun time! Thanks for the card, Dave.

You can see Dave's Halloween card to the right and at the bottom of the blog page.

Twelve Hour Fast

I have my quarterly lab work to do tomorrow. So, no cereal for my usual late night snack. That's a bummer, since I just bought some new lightly sugared cereal to try. I like having cereal before going to bed. I need to fast for twelve hours before testing. I'm going to be hungry in the morning, but I'll have to wait until I get back from Kaiser.

I don't really know what to expect regarding this quarter's lab results. I'm not sure that I'm been as rigorous when it comes to my diet. I was pretty stringent the previous quarter. That slip may increase some of the significant numbers (Glucose, HDL, LDL,Triglycerides) that I'm trying to keep in check. Maybe the increased exercise routine will offset my less than perfect dieting. I should know in about a week.

Greek Food Tonight

Daphne's is a good place to eat, when you are in the mood for Greek food. I like their half chicken and their combo meals. Tonight I had a combo. I ordered gyros, along with a chicken and a steak kabob. You also get rice and salad with your order and a few small slices of pita bread as well. It's a tasty meal and with the coupons that they frequently have available, the food is priced reasonably. You can see a picture of their counter, to the right and at the bottom of the blog page.

Grocery Shopping at Raley's

I spotted the Chrysler 300 that you see on the blog page while shopping at Raley's today. Oftentimes when you see a 300 you will also see an expensive set of chrome rims. Chrysler did a good job of designing the car to accommodate larger size wheels. This one is not a Hemi (300C), but the wheels gives it a distinctive look - even though it is not a top of the line model. I like the changes that Chrysler has made to the 300 this year. There are some tweaks to the car that hold true to it's original and unique look, while upgrading some areas that needed attention. Specifically the interior. I've only seen the new 300 from Internet photos and from the company website. However, I think I could spot a new one (2008) - even though it is probably easy to mistake it for the same year as the car in the photo. I expect I'll have a better feel for the 2008 model after I look at it more closely when the auto show comes to town next month. I'm really looking forward to that event.

Sunday Football

After our Sunday breakfast, I usually like to check on the scores for some of the Pro Football games. Today, I suppose I was hoping to find a game to watch that was as exciting as the college game I saw Saturday afternoon. Kentucky beat the number one team in the nation, LSU. Watching the triple overtime game was fun - although it was a real nail biting contest. When it comes to the pros, I rarely watch an entire pro game. A quarter, or maybe a half, is usually enough. Today I saw the last half of the Patriots vs Dallas. Tom Brady is an exceptional quarterback and Randy Moss (81) can also get the job done. The other eighty one, playing for Dallas, is also a great player, but today it was all Pats. Right now, they look unbeatable.

Later in the evening I washed Nancy's car, and while doing so, Karen drove by the house with her dogs - Bejue and Roxie. We chatted for awhile, but by then it was getting dark. It's getting dark by seven o'clock now.

Nancy and I had dinner and afterwards I watched Sixty Minutes and Shark. While doing my treadmill exercise tonight, I started watching the Zodiac on DVD. I've only seen half of it, so I'll hold off on my opinion of the movie until I've seen the ending.

Dinner and the Mall

Tonight Nancy and I had dinner at Vince's in Elk Grove (great steaks) and afterwards we did some shopping at Kohl's and Trader Joe's. On the way home I decided to stop my the Elk Grove Auto Mall to see the new 2008 Honda Accord. I have been reading a lot about it in my car magazines, but it was time to see it up close. I can say that I was impressed while reading the reviews on the Accord and even more so - now that I actually got to take a good look at the exterior and interior of the car. It is an exceptionally nice vehicle. I think Honda will sell a lot of Accords, providing consumers are accepting of the slightly larger dimensions and the somewhat higher base price. It has gone up a few hundred dollars. We are not in the market for a new car, but if we were - I'd certainly consider the Accord. It is the kind of vehicle that makes it so difficult for the domestics to compete. The Accord has become more "domestic" (it is manufactured in America) than the cars the "big" (not really so "big" anymore) three are producing. Ah yes... as Friedman says, it is a very flat world we live in.

Trip to the Grocery

I really wasn't planning to shop for fish, while at Raley's Grocery today. I had already eaten at Fin's once during the week. This time it was going to be chicken and asparagus that was to be my primary reason for grocery shopping. However, when I spotted a "Marlin" in the parking lot, I just had to take a cellphone picture. As you will note from the photograph, our rainy season is off to an early start. I hadn't seen an American Motors Marlin for many years, so I was curious when I came across this one. I would have taken more time to observe, but the rain wasn't all that accommodating. Anyway, I did get a decent shot of it - which just goes to show the importance of having a camera in your cell phone. My LG phone is nothing really special, but it does provide a keepsake photo at times. Without it, I would not have hooked this fish today.

Exercising While Watching Movies

I'm liking this new setup - where I watch a DVD while doing my treadmill exercise. Tonight I started "Wild Hogs". I never finish a movie in one setting, so I'll see the rest of "Wild Hogs" on Saturday (Fridays and Mondays I don't use the treadmill). The DVDs are a good distraction while exercising and it makes the time go by faster - or so it seems. In a couple of weeks I'll be at the six month mark for using my treadmill. Not too bad, since I really didn't know how long I would stick with it once I decided to start an exercise program - back in April. I've keep a log since the first day - to track my progress. As always, it's a day by day thing.

Dinner at Fin's

This evening, Tom Henry and I went to Fin's for dinner. We had halibut. As usual, it was fresh and tasty. Tom bought a pound of halibut to take home and cook on his grill. Fresh fish - taste good - and it's good for you.

Before leaving for Fin's, Tom and I had decided that after dinner we would set up his new HP tuner express card - in order to view and record TV programs using the computer. Using Vista Media Center and a remote control, you can turn your laptop into an entertainment center. The installation went well on Tom's new HP laptop. By the way, Tom bought the laptop at Staples, so anytime within a two year period he can upgrade to a newer model at very little cost. Great deal!

We got a kick out of recording a portion of "Kid Nation", using only the supplied small antenna. We found that the rendering time to make a DVD is exceptionally long. It appears that without an extraordinarily fast CPU, a person would need and abundance of patience when burning a one hour show. We'll need to do more research on this quagmire.

You can see a picture of Tom with his new computer - to the left and at the bottom of the blog page.

First Rain of the Season

We're getting a pretty good rain tonight. It's actually a little early in the season. I don't know if that is a precursor of things to come - we really could use a wet winter, as the past couple of years have not been all that moist. Anyway, the rain most likely would have played havoc with Izzie's painting the new six panel interior doors that are to be hung (time to remove the eighteen year old plain slab doors). Fortunately we had to put that on hold until next week. One of the doors has to be ordered and it will be five days to a week before it is ready. Izzie wants to do the painting of all the doors in one setting. So, that project will be delayed for awhile.

Our projects are going pretty well, with just an occasional glitch here and there. I've got to buy some new hardware for the front door. The handle is acting up, so we've decided to just swap it out for a different one. I'll have to do that tomorrow, some time before meeting Tom for dinner. We're going to eat at Fin's tomorrow evening. It should be fun. I haven't seen Tom for a couple of weeks. We have some catching up to do.

Holiday Tradition

For the third year in a row, we'll be going to San Francisco to see the Christmas Carol at the ACT. We made reservations today and it looks as though we'll have somewhat better seats than we had last year. Last year's seats were OK, but this time we will be a little closer to the stage. I'm looking forward to seeing the production this year. ACT changes the production each year and the cast for this year's play looks to be exceptional. Seeing the Christmas Carol during the first week of December really sets the tone for the holidays and gets you in the Christmas spirit. It's actually not that far off.

20th St. Art Gallery - Aspens by Dennis Stanford

I came across this painting on Saturday, from a gallery postcard that was placed in the lobby, while we were at the B Street Theatre. I think that the colors are beautiful and perfect for depicting the fall weather we are just starting to experience in Sacramento. The painting is representative of the scenery you would expect to see while driving up Highway 50 to Apple Hill. Dennis Stanford is the artist and a scan of his painting, titled Aspens, is posted to the right and at the bottom of the blog page.

B Street Night

We decided to see a preview performance at the B Street tonight after receiving a call on Thursday, from the box office, that tickets were available. Their mailer, announcing the play, did not go out on time to announce the weekend performance. So, the theatre decided to call the patrons who regularly attend the preview shows. This is the first performance that I can remember that did not have a full house. However, I'm glad they notified us, as we enjoyed tonight's show, "A Skull in Connemara". The play is a really offbeat Irish comedy that takes place, for the most part, in a cemetery. Like I said. it is very offbeat!

After the play, Nancy and I ate at Sai Jongs (Korean food) and after that we did a little shopping for items we need for tomorrow morning's "Big Breakfast".

We had a good time tonight. We'll be returning to the B Street in about a month, to see a children's play - a Christmas play, actually. It should be fun and a good precursor to the holidays. You can see a cellphone picture that I took of Buck Busfield (wearing glasses), Timmothy Busfield's brother (West Wing), to the right and at the bottom of the blog page. Buck is the founder of B Street, along with his brother Timmothy. Timmothy has starred in several productions, but none recently. The theatre is one of the largest growing theatres in the country. Before too long they hope to move into a new three million dollar facility. That one will be considerably larger than the current building(s). Nancy and I enjoy the theatre, as do many Sacrament-ans, so it should really add to the arts in our city.

Refinished Front Door

We like the new color of the front door. Izzie spent several hours sanding and painting it. He put three coats of Kelly Moore semi gloss paint over the old varnish. This was after a primer coat. So, now we have - at least when we look at it - a "new" front door. You can see Izzie's work to the right and at the bottom of the blog page.

More Home Projects

We seem to be on a pretty good roll with our home projects, so we decided to continue the process through the rest of this week and also a few days into next week. Our grandson, Kenneth, did several little things over the weekend, but the major things we usually leave to the pros. I found a general contractor who was available and looking for work, primarily because of the extreme slowdown in construction in our area, and he has been doing some plumbing and carpentry work for us this week. A couple of days ago, Izzie replaced our eighteen year old water heater with a new and more efficient unit. That job took about a half a day - and today he spent a full day on refinishing our front door. I had originally planned to buy a new door, the weather had really taken a toll on the door that was installed when we purchased the house, but Izzie said that it was probably a more solid door than the ones that are currently being installed in most homes. So, he made a bid to refinish the old door. After checking out the prices for new front doors, I decided to take him up on the deal. I picked out some new hardware (brass handles, lock, peep hole) from Home Depot and Izzie sanded down the varnish on the old door and painted the entry portion of the door a medium blue. Nancy picked out the color and it looks good with the new brass handle and lock. We left the interior portion of the door the same, as it had not been damaged over the years. All of the weather striping and framing has been replaced, so it's like new again. Izzie did a good job.

I plan to have Izzie do some more work next week. I'm still deciding what I want him to do. I've got a couple of interior projects in mind. I'll be posting a picture of the work he did on the door, probably tomorrow or Sunday.

Change in Exercise Routine

Today I added a new device to the exercise room, in order to make sure that I don't stray from my weekly exercise routine. I had been thinking about adding a television and a DVD player to the exercise room for some time now, although exercising to music has basically been satisfactory for the most part. However, after my vacation in Louisville, I realized that I rather enjoyed using the exercise facility at the Drury Hotel, primarily because it has a TV in the exercise room. I found that by watching a program (CNN, a talk show, or a sitcom) the time went by faster. So, I now have a Phillips HDTV/DVD set that sits on a shelf in front of the treadmill. I watched a movie tonight, "Away From Her", with Julie Christie, Olympia Dukakis and Gordon Pinsent (an excellent movie, by the way) and as before, when I was visiting Louisville, the exercising seemed to go faster. I've been doing slightly over four miles on the treadmill, five days a week, now for a month or so, and that takes me a little over an hour each exercise day. I think the HDTV will help keep me on task and I plan to watch several movies a week while I exercise. You can see a picture of the equipment to the right and at the bottom of the blog page.

A Covey Kind of Day

I was introduced to Stephen Covey's writings several years ago, as part of my professional development training as an instructor for the Sacramento County Office of Education. I attended a number of training sessions that dealt with each of Covey's Seven Habits. I've pretty much internalized the mindset that was nurtured during the Covey training and I find the Seven Habits to be a useful tool for self development. I'm eclectic when it comes to literature that relates to self improvement and I don't think that there is any one author or facilitator that has all the answers, but I do like Covey's approach to life. This all relates to today's activities, since I deliberately decided that I would really attempt to focus on Covey's third habit (put first things first) and try to get a few things done that I had been more or less procrastinating about. So, as a result a new water heater is going to be installed this week and the front door will get fixed prior to the rainy season. I think that tomorrow I'll work on the first habit (be proactive) and initiate a couple of things that I've basically just been contemplating - but as of yet have not taken any action (organizing my computer area for one). I'll update and provide some details in a future post.

Sunday Projects

Baby Brandon, Brandon, Kenneth and Kristi came to our house today. They arrived right after our "Big Breakfast" (which was yummy, I might add) and we immediately started working on the weekend projects. We didn't finish until around 7:30, or so, and a lot got accomplished. Kenneth and I installed some shelving in the exercise room (for a TV and DVD), added another towel rack to the master bath and assembled a new exercise machine that I just purchased from Big 5 Sporting Goods (for muscle toning). Kenneth actually did all the real work and I just monitored what was going on.

Kristi and Brandon cleaned the house and also did some work on the lawn and flowerbeds. Nancy got to play with Baby Brandon for most of the day, which she loves to do. In the afternoon she went out to pick up the pizzas. They were real tasty, along with the salads she fixed. Together we ate two large pizzas - we were all pretty hungry by that time.

I captured a shot of Baby Brandon playing with one of his many toys. Apparently, this one, is his favorite. I can't remember what it's called, but he really enjoys seeing it light up. The picture is posted to the right and at the bottom of the blog page.