Warm Weather in Sacramento

We've been having some especially nice weather lately. Temperatures have been in the upper seventies and even in the eighties. Today was another warm day - and a good day for car washing. So, I turned on the garage radio to 94.7 FM (Smooth Jazz) and took my time cleaning the car. Car washing is kind of a ritual with me. It seems that I have to do it in sort of an obsessive compulsive fashion, to be satisfied with the results. Anyway, the job was completed and afterwards I headed over to Home Town Buffet for dinner. Pretty good meal, for the money.

When I returned home I decided to catch the last quarter of the Kings game. Another heartbreaking loss for the Kings. There have been way too many of those this season. It doesn't look likely that they will make the playoffs. Probably time to clean house and start anew.

Nancy called from Fairfield a few minutes ago. She and Kelly will be doing some work on a scrapbook tomorrow. She has been taking some pictures during her stay and I plan to add them to the blog when she returns. I should see some good photos of the baby.

NCAA starts in Sacto tomorrow. Louisville plays at nine in the morning. They'll be playing Stanford. Got to get up and root for my home school. I'm confident that they can handle Stanford.

I decided to stay up late last night - to watch an On Demand (Comcast) movie, an old one - "Wall Street". I was only going to watch a portion of it, but I got so intrigued seeing Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen in their younger years that I watched it all the way through. That threw me off a little bit on my awakening time, so today has been somewhat of a light weight day. I really did enjoy seeing the movie again. It proved to be relevant as well. The DOW dropped almost two hundred and fifty points today. Spooky!!!

Comp USA is closing their Sacramento stores and they have started to discount inventory. I thought I might find something of interest when I went over to the Arden store tonight, but no such luck. The discounts are only in the ten to thirty per cent range (actually most products are ten to fifteen per cent off) and that applies to mainly "display" and opened package items that don't really look so great. There is still a way to go before the prices get to the "bargain" stage. In Sacramento, bargains don't last very long. Consumer Education is alive and well in this city.

Kenneth called to update with me about the master bedroom shutters. We need to do some additional measurements this Sunday (when he returns to take on the hot attic) before ordering them. I imagine they will be installed in about a month, or so. It takes three or four weeks after ordering, before they come in. That should be fine.

Dogs In The Park

Nancy got up early today to leave for Fairfield. She is going to spend some time with Kelly and Kristi and the baby. I awoke a little later then I do normally. I probably needed to recapture that hour I lost from the change to Day Light Savings. As usual, I woke up hungry - so it seemed like a good time to fix a "Big" breakfast. And I did. Eggs, bacon, hash browns, coffee - the whole nine yards. After breakfast I did a few chores around the house and later in the evening I went for my neighborhood walk. I encountered Wiggy and Eddy, with their canine caretaker, Carlene, along the way. Carlene and I talked awhile about Eddy's lineage; she feels it's in question, as there is the real possibility that he isn't a full bred Westie. His papers say different, but his appearance is nothing like Wiggy's. She knows for a fact that Wiggy is all Westie. But Eddy, well... he's different. She isn't really concerned, as whatever he may be, he is a truly lovable dog. As is Wiggy. Mike, a neighbor whom I had not met previously, and his dog Tefla, joined us at one of the park benches which are along the lake. Tefla is an Airedale looking kind of a dog. That's not what she is, but she resembles one. At least I think so. Miked told me what she is, but I've forgotten. It begins with a "V". Guess that I'll just have to do some Googling to find out for sure. The dogs decided they wanted to all sit on the bench - so they did. All three of the dogs sit together and we patted their heads and petted their coats. Carlene could see that they also wanted to romp around the greenbelt for a spell. She knew that they needed to do some sniffing and other doggy kind of things. Mike and Carlene unleashed their pets for awhile. After some sniffing, they romped around the greenbelt, but kept their distance from the lake. All of the dogs seemed to be real happy and free and that went on until they wore themselves out - running up and down and back and forth by the lake. They got along together real well. Carlene said that they had visited like this before and they enjoyed playing together. Pretty soon it started to get dark - and we all headed home. Great fun with the dogs today!

Tonight I watched a show that I had saved a while back. The Dateline show about The Da Vinci Code. It was somewhat of a precursor to the Lost Tomb. I just haven't taken the time to view The Da Vinci Code yet - at least not in it's entirety. I plan to do so soon.

My final endeavor for the day was to learn more about the Archos 604 and the 604 Wi Fi personal video/audio devices. Both products have won several awards. The prices have recently dropped on both devices. Apparently the new 704 model isn't too far off. I know quite a bit about both products, but at this point I can't justify making a purchase. I doubt that I would use a personal video device enough to spend three to four hundred dollars on one. With a docking station, to record videos and the like, that is what it would cost. When the price drops even further, I might consider getting the Wi Fi unit. I can think of a few situations where I might have a need for one.

Heat in the Attic

It's been a productive day. Kenneth came over after breakfast and took the measurements for the new shutters to be installed in the master bedroom. While I did some preparations for the attic project, he went outdoors to do some much needed yard work (cleaned fountains, trimmed hedges, etc). Nancy also did a lot of outdoor work today. See, it really has been a productive day. Everyone got into the act. Kenneth and I started the project - running co axle cable through the attic - late in the afternoon, hoping that it would be cooler by that time. It wasn't! Kenneth almost literally "baked" while crawling around in that claustrophobic attic space of ours - and we still didn't get the cable situated properly. The pitch of the roof is the biggest problem, along with the heat. We had to abort - it just got too draining for Kenneth and there was no easy way to reach the location that was needed to drop the cable. He is going to give it another try - next week - after we get some more equipment. Tough kid - and up to the challenge. Also, we'll start at a time that will better optimize the chance for cooler temperatures. We're making progress, but it's not yet a done deal! The HD DVR project will have to stay on hold another week. Darn!

On the other hand, the master bedroom project is moving along nicely. As mentioned, Kenneth will be doing the installation on the shutters in about a month's time. I've been adding some accessories to the room over the last couple of weeks (pictures, lamps, rugs, etc.). Check out the picture at the bottom of the blog page. Still lots to do, but the daylight saving time switch will help. I really like the extra daylight!

Today was rather uneventful - deliberately so. Nancy and I had a quiet morning and later in the day we decided to stay home and fix dinner, rather than go out to eat. It was a good choice, because we fixed a great meal - steak, baked potato, salad and pastry for dessert. Afterwards we saw the movie Borat. I have been hearing so much about Borat lately that I wanted to see what all the commotion was about. It is controversial. And rightfully so. It teeters between moments of "poor taste" and "abominable taste". It even manages to be funny at times. It's - in a nutshell - ingenious and outrageous! As for viewing the proposed sequel - I'll have to think about it. The next movie that we watch will probably be, "The Last King of Scotland". I know it will have more depth than Borat and it should also be more satisfying. I guess it was an OK experience viewing Borat - if for no other reason than to form my own opinion so as not to just listen to the spin of others as far as it's value to the film industry. Personally, I think it has a somewhat limited value when compared to films that I consider really exceptional i.e. Hud, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Sound of Music, Wizard of Oz, etc., but for this movie's genre (movies that uses toilet humor, bigotry, anti-Semitic jokes, anti-gay and racial slurs - all of it packaged in a way so as to offend virtually everyone) - it works rather well. No doubt, Baron Cohen (Borat) is laughing all the way to the bank.

Lab Work - Shots - Tech Stuff

This morning I awoke early, in order to get my lab work completed at Kaiser before having to deal with the onslaught of people who typically visit the hospital on Friday. I don't know what it is about Fridays and hospitals, but that day seems to be the worst day of the week for me to have an appointment. I was also due for a tetanus shot (which is now combined with a whooping cough vaccine as well), so that was taken care of as well. Afterwards, Nancy and I fixed a big breakfast - very tasty! We had eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, fruit, fruit juices and coffee. Since I had been fasting for fifteen hours prior to my lab work, it really hit the spot.

This afternoon I took my walk around the neighborhood and later in the evening Nancy and I worked on the HD TV/Comcast DVR hookup. I still have to run a co axle cable extension across the house attic to reach the spot where I want my connection, so it will be a couple of more days before HD is up and running. It's getting there, though.

Looking forward to another sunny day tomorrow. It's the last day before we change to daylight savings time. Starting Sunday, we should have sunlight until a little past seven PM. That works for me! More time to be outdoors!

Great Weather - Fun Day!

Our local weather was nice and warm today. That's an especially nice experience since it is only early March. I ran some errands today. One, in particular, that I have been wanting to do for some time. I picked up a Comcast Digital DVR box this afternoon. Tomorrow I will hook it up to my HD Plasma screen. I'm looking forward to viewing some shows in high definition. The other errands were more routine, but made more enjoyable than usual as it was a really pleasant day to be outside.

Nancy went to Fairfield today - to see Kristi and baby Brandon. Both are doing just fine. I've been asking Nancy to take a picture of their dog - Shadow. She is eligible for my celebrated Dog Wall of Fame (it's in the garage, in case you've forgotten). She does lots of tricks and now must take on the additional duties of watching out for baby Brandon. That is certainly "wall of fame" credentials. I've attached her picture to the blog (right hand side). Congratulations to Shadow, you're now a renown member of the Dog Wall of Fame!