June 1, 2005

Well, today I decided to add a journal to my web page. I’m not really sure why except that I have not kept a journal for quite a while and I miss it. To be honest, I have been meaning to add this for a long time, but have been busy doing other things. I hope this page will give a little more insight as to the inner workings of me, how I think & why I do (or don’t do) some things. If this turns out to be nothing more than mere ramblings that no one is interested in, I will either re-structure the page or simply delete it. So with that said, let’s get this started & see where it takes us, OK?

It’s Wednesday, today, but it feels much like Monday. That’s kind of weird when I think about it because Monday was Memorial Day. OK then – today feels like a regular Monday even though I know it’s Wednesday. I guess that’s a good thing because that means the weekend will be here before you know it and I have a lot to do. It seems that for every 2 items I knock off the “To Do” list, 3 more get added. It’s 8:45 PM and I have been home for about 2 hours now. Since I work in Seattle & live in Tacoma, the commute (50 miles) can take anywhere from 55 minutes to 2½ hours on a really bad day. Today was a little slow going in (1½ hours), but fast coming home (just over 1 hour).

June 2, 2005

Wow – Thursday has come & gone already. It’s 10:00 PM already and my eyes are so tired. Traffic was bad this morning, but I was only 5 minutes late for work. Traffic was worse tonight, so I did a little shopping after work to kill some time & let the traffic sort itself out.

June 11, 2005

Once again I let time get away from me. It is hard to believe that it has already been 9 days since the last entry. Well, the day to day doldrums can be a little annoying, but work has been quite busy, so I guess that is what makes the tie go so fast. It's Saturday - now 11:05 PM and I have been working on computers all day again. I bought a new laptop after my old P-120 Toshiba died - in San Francisco, of all places while I was traveling on business. I specifically got a room at the hotel that had Internet service and couldn't even use it - sheesh! That same week, my PDA lost its memory, so I got a new PDA the other day, too. I need something to help me keep track of all the birthdays, holidays, appointments, etc. Needless to say, I have been busy loading software and learning how to operate the new PDA (noting the back-up/synchronizing instructions). I also transferred (copied) this web site to the laptop. Now I can work on it more easily and hopefully more often. I've got to say that this wireless connectivity is cool, even if it is only 54 Mbps. The other day I was talking to a business acquaintance in his office and was working on the laptop. It hooked up to a truck stop about 300 yards away. I didn't think it would reach that far.

June 12, 2005

Well, it's Sunday today ad I should have mowed the grass, done some laundry and some other things, but I have been busy trying to figure out how to make these computers run faster. All things considered, I don't have much to show for this weekend. I didn't go skating last night & I need to go take a shower now & pick up my son at the airport. He was just on leave for 9 days & went back to Wisconsin to celebrate his 21st birthday.

June 13, 2005

Monday now - I called in sick for work today. I felt like crap this morning but a little better now. Sometimes when this happens I wonder if it was something I ate during the weekend - or maybe it takes from Friday or even Thursday to catch up to me. Who knows? Anyway, we have been plenty busy at work, lately, so I am feeling kinda guilty for taking the entire day off. I guess picking my son up at the airport and getting home at 1:30 in the morning didn't help much. Damn American Airlines got him in 2 hours late after routing him to Minnesota and Texas from Green Bay to Seattle. What a crock! Well, it's done & he's back, so all is good for now. I'll see if I can make up some of the lost time during the week so I don't have to log only 32 hours.

June 19, 2005

Sunday already - Father's Day. It has been a beautiful weekend, but I have mostly been inside. I went to Mukilteo yesterday to help a fried get her daughter's PC wirelessly connected to their wireless DSL router. After 4 hours, I finally called it quits & came home. I got home at about 11:30 & didn't get to sleep until about 2:00. Oh well - I still have a lot to learn about this stuff. I know part of the problem is that the old computer is running Windows 2000 Professional with no updates, no Macromedia Flash & only 64 MB Ram. Ouch! Anyway - time to make a call to dad & wish him a happy father's day & the get to work on the new web site. More later.............

June 25, 2005

Saturday and, again, time is flying. Not much new this week except that my best fried, Bruce called yesterday and told me that he has found a Kawasaki KZ1300 motorcycle that can be had for real cheap.  It will be an interesting project for a year or so if I an get it. I suspect that the engine will have to be totally rebuilt and a lot more work done to it as it has been sitting around collecting rust & dust for about 7-8 years. Anyway - we'll see what comes of it. I have been thinking about motorcycles for a few years now, but decided that a Triumph TR-6 might make a more interesting project. Many years ago Bruce and I had a 1963 Austin Healey Sprite, which is basically he same thing as an MG Midget. Unless you've ever ridden motorcycles or driven a small 2-seat sports car, you probably don't really understand the mystique that goes with it. So I'll have a new project soon..............

Another new & interesting development just happened. The phone just rang and it was someone I thought I'd never hear from again. Claire is her name. The odd thing is that I was so in love with her - I don't know how she could have thought it was anything else. She dumped me about 5 years ago and it damn near killed me. I have never loved anyone so unconditionally in all my life. Anyway, it was terribly uncomfortable, so I just got off the phone. They say time heals all. Somehow, I think the scars are just too deep from that one. I went into a stage of depression or something for about 1 1/2 years and lost about 35-40 pounds. Wow - this has put me in a weird state of mind. I think this is a good place to stop for today.

July 15, 2005

Friday 6:05 PM. This entry is coming from an altitude of about 30,000 feet. I am just flying back to Seattle from 2 days in Ketchikan on business. As much as I like traveling, it will be good to get back into my own bed tonight. I didn't sleep particularly well last night. I'm not really sure why, but I woke up every hour all night long. It was only about 54 degrees outside, but it was about 80 in the room even with the window open until some time after midnight. Anyway, the ship check went pretty well. I am getting anxious to get on to the next phase of the project. I think I took around 150 photos and measured up a lot of different compartments that will be getting renovated. While I was there, I could not keep from asking about Nadiyh. She was he first Russian lady I have met and I would really like to thank her for opening my eyes to the wonder and charm of Russian girls. Apparently, she has moved to Anchorage and I am guessing will never be heard from again by me. I wish her well, as I was very impressed by her ambitions to improve the quality of life for hr and her daughter. When I met her, she was married to a shipyard worker, but I have no idea what has happened since that time.

OK - enough of all that. I am missing my lady and am anxious to get online when I get home tonight. The hotel that we always stay at in Ketchikan is now undergoing major renovations and they have even added wireless internet. This was not available the last time I visited. It was a very slow connection, though and only hooked up at 11 Kbps last night and then 1/2 that this morning when I was checking email. The Ketchikan airport now also has wireless internet although the connection speed was also only 11 Kbps. The strange part was that I had 22 SPAM emails between the time I checked this morning and the time that I checked this afternoon. That's high - even for me - and I didn't have email from anyone who I thought. Oh well, I will try to get caught up a little this weekend. Hmmm - that might not happen, either, because this weekend is the West Seattle street fair. It was this event (last year) where I met John and Tanya. This year they are in Vladivostok, but will be returning on next Wednesday. They left on the 3rd. I am looking forward to their return as they just bought a house recently that I have not yet seen. OK - it is time to turn this thing off and rest my eyes.

September 15, 2005

Hmmmm - I guess I waited too long gain. A lot has happened since the last entry. I have been to Ketchikan a couple more times, Sitka & Juneau, and now...............

Well this is going to be one of the most interesting journal entries of my life. I am sitting at approximately 40,000 ft in a Aeroflot Boeing 767 on my way to Moscow, Russia. Right now we're over Canada, but We will be over Greenland shortly as every LCD TV in the airplane is only displaying our present global position. There is a very pleasant lady sitting to my right who doesn't seem to understand English. Too bad. It might have made for some interesting conversation. Oh well - it is my dream-come-true to visit this country so vast that it takes up 9 time zones. But after studying the Russian language for nearly a year (part-time, of course), I am still not conversational. I will fly non-stop from Seattle to Moscow and hen have to go from one airport to another in Moscow in order to continue to St. Petersburg. It will be interesting to see how difficult it will be to find and take the right shuttle. Anyway, that is the least of my worries. I have hardly heard any English spoken since I checked in at the counter at 1:30. If all goes well, I will be greeted by three lovely ladies at about 7:15 PM local time Friday in St. Petersburg. I cannot even begin to tell you how exciting this is. I bought three 35mm cameras, a digital camera, and a movie camera. I hope I have the bases covered. Unfortunately I have heard that the weather has not been so nice and it has been about like Seattle for the past few days - cold and wet. Oh well, it is what it is. Perhaps the Autumn colors will be in full swing. I brought an array of films and lenses, so I think I will make very effort to take as many photos a possible. For all I know, it is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. We will find a way to make the best of it no mater what the weather does. One interesting note about this flight. I cost only $70 more to fly to St. Petersburg than it cost last time I went to Ketchikan and this flight is 10 1/2 hours vs. 1 1/2 hours to Ketchikan. So really, I could have just flown to Moscow for less than Alaska. And my hotel room costs 1/2 as much as the place we always stay in Ketchikan. Oh well - I just thought I would throw that in there for a comparison. As much as I have enjoyed going to Ketchikan, this is definitely a treat. Well, I am just about as frustrated as I can possibly be with this damn laptop keyboard, so I am going to stop writing for now and see if I can do anything with this.

OK - I messed with the driver and it doesn't really seem to be doing any better. I am going to have to take this back and have the keyboard replaced. Baaaaaaaa!!!! Now I have to live with several of the keys not working.

October 22, 2005

Darn, darn, darn!!!! It has been more than a month already again since the last entry. Well, I returned from Russia on September 22.......

November 7, 2005

Well, I have been working on this web page in all my spare time and have built and re-built several pages that will not upload to the web server correctly. They look great on my computer, but not on the actual web site, so I'm not sure what to do. I have probably wasted over 100 hours already and I am getting very frustrated. At one point, I re-loaded the entire site for a third time and (once again) lost all of the Guest Log entries. It was a last ditch effort to get the pages to display properly, but it still didn't work. I need to find a MS FrontPage expert who can tell me if I have a goofy setting or something in the options or preferences. For now two pages are still hosed, so.......

November 26, 2005

Here it is - the Saturday after Thanksgiving already. Wow! Time is absolutely flying these days. It is hard to believe that 2005 is almost over and 2006 is just around the corner. Work has kept me very busy since I came back from vacation. We have all been working overtime to try to catch up. Aside from that, trying to keep 3-4 computers updated eats up some of my spare time and one of the computer's hard drive is not booting at all now - grrrr! On top of all this, I just found out that SETI has changed its format slightly and I have to join a whole new site to process the data units - effective December 15th. So - life goes on and I must get some work done here at home again today. Somewhere in here I need to make some time to study my Russian lessons. So with that, I will end today's log entry for today.

January 8, 2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!!! Well, as usual, I have let this go for too long. I have been busy working for my employer and enjoying the holidays, too. I did manage to get quite a bit of work done to multiple web sites over the past couple of months. My MSN personal page is now deleted. I have asked for help on my high school web page, but not had a lot of input. Now I am trying something new and editing this right on the web server from my desktop instead of working from the laptop.

Well, what is new here? Hmmmm…..let me think………Well, for one thing, I have no girlfriend now. That’s a drag and I’m not very happy about it. Mostly it just sucks that I do not even understand why, but I don’t want to get into all that here. I made a conscious decision to make 2006 better than 2005 and last year was not really too bad. For the first time in 21 years, I am now making more money than I am spending, so that is a good trend. If all my calculations are right, I will be debt-free when I die – ha-ha. I think I’ll stick with the plan. I guess I bought everything I needed and found out different ways to reduce some of my “wants & needs” anyway. Now if I can just give up smoking & drinking I’ll be way ahead of the game.

My sister, her husband and one of their two daughters moved from South Dakota to Idaho. That’s a good thing – much closer now. I haven’t spoken with my parents for a long time, but that’s about to change. As I said – it’s going to be better this year.

I’ve spent a lot of time reading and learning all about Russia, the history, politics, culture & language these past few months – even more than usual. I guess the one thing I have figured out is that Russia and the Russian people are difficult to understand and even more difficult to explain. So you can just imagine how complicated it can get to try to understand Russian women. It can be very confusing. I am planning to go to Russia again this year. If any of you have been following the news, the Kremlin has a plan to reinstate a socialist (communist) government by the year 2008 (http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?idr=527&id=639687). I usually read the St. Petersburg Times and Moscow Times online each week and sometimes the Kommersant when I have the time. If anyone is interested in any of this, just ask me and I can send you a lot of cool links.

Last, but not least, I have found someone spamming my guest log pretty much daily with sex crap. If this cannot be corrected by my Internet Service Provider, I will have to take matters into my own hands. Maybe I will have to password protect the site or move it to a whole different Internet service. I don’t seem to be getting a lot of help from Comcast lately. I guess I am a pretty small customer – only $60/month for my service. I suppose I could just delete the Guest Log – especially considering it is not getting many entries other than the daily input from the spammer that I have to delete regularly. I’m guessing that the hit counter is mostly them spamming and me deleting it. I am beginning to get the impression that every e-card service out there keeps a log of all email addresses to and from senders and receivers and sells the list to spammers. I do my best to not let the entire world have my ‘private’ email addresses, but they have managed to find it. Now, besides the once daily spamming of my web site, I am also getting spammed about 50-60 times a day by people trying to sell everything from Viagra to fake Rolex watches to an online degree and stocks. Personally, I would NEVER do business with a spammer and I highly recommend to all of you that you also do not. OK – Well, it’s time to take a shower and lay out my things for tomorrow. It will be here before you know it.

Hmmm – I think I should end this entry on a much happier note than that, don’t you think so? Well, it is winter here now and the days are short, but they are getting longer each day. By the end of January we will have an hour more daylight than we did at the beginning of the month, so things are starting to look better already. I am looking forward to the changing seasons and watching everything turn green soon. With new leaves will come a new, fresh attitude and we can all look forward to a nice summer this year. If anyone is interested in going to Russia in August or September, talk to me. Maybe we can work something out. OK – shower time………..

January 29, 2006

Well, the power just went out here. It's about 8:20 PM. I figure there's about an hour of battery life left here, so I'll work offline for a while. I was just on the phone with Bruce telling him that it has been stormy here for at least 4-5 hours today. Well, I only hope the power comes back soon. This place doesn't keep the heat in very well. I'm a terrible procrastinator. I've been saying for weeks that I was going to make preparations for the power going out, but didn't do it - Grrr!!!!! So I have two oil lamps burning and about 6-7 candles and some flashlights. I pulled out the mini walkman and plugged it into the computer speakers so I can listen to some good music. Hmmm - 84% of the battery left after just 15 minutes I'll have to do the math to see how much time is remaining before this laptop shuts itself down. I just called the power company and was told that a crew has been dispatched, so hopefully this won't last too long. It would be just my luck to find out that no one had called. It's funny that way sometimes. Damn this keyboard is annoying. About 1 out of every 10 or 12 keys I touch doesn't register on the screen. I keep hitting the keys again & again. I wish I could make them more sensitive because almost every other word turns into a typo. My typing is bad enough  without that happening - ha-ha.

I spent a good portion of the day researching PENTAX Digital SLRs Finally, the prices are dropping. A few months ago they were going for about $1400, but I saw some newer and better models today for under $750. Damn, that's still pricey for a camera. I really like my SLR, and I have a cheap little Sony digital, but it would be nice to have the best of both worlds. I just have a hard time justifying that kind of cash outlay now. It'll probably be better to wait a while longer. You know how it is with electronics - better, cheaper, faster, with more gadgets for less $$. That's the name of that game. Sheesh! You can buy a decent new computer for about $300 today. That was unheard of just a couple of years ago. OK - I've talked myself into waiting a while longer The thing is - I already have PENTAX lenses and accessories. It would be foolish to go with a different brand at this point. On the flip side of that, I don't use the 35mm SLRs much any more, so what makes me think I'll get a lot of return on a new camera? Hmmm...... Well, I will definitely have to think about this for a while...

March 1, 2006

As usual, it has been far too long since the last entry. I have an excuse this time, though - well sort of..... I have been busy getting back into photography. I purchased a Pentax digital SLR, a lens & some filters, the new Photoshop CS2, and a few other accessories. It took a long time to research all of this, reading the reviews and so on. I'm on a pretty tight budget, so Pentax seemed like the logical choice. If I had gone with Nikon or Canon, it would have cost twice as much and I simply can't afford that. Also, while I was doing the research, I looked into selling photos. If anyone has ideas on this, I would be interested in hearing them. I'm thinking about putting together a 'portfolio' and building a new web site to see if there is enough interest. It would be great to just find a way to make these new toys pay for themselves. I'm not planning a career change at this point in my life.

Aside from that, I have been on EBay a lot and not chatting so much recently. Bruce brought my motorcycle up from Utah last Wednesday and we finally got it around into the back yard. Sheesh! That thing's heavy. Damn - that reminds me......I need to get back on EBay and buy a shop manual.

March 11, 2006

Same as always, it seems that I have little time for these entries. Since the last entry I have been up to Snoqualmie Falls. Wow! In all my years here, I have never been there before. I will definitely be going back there again and again. It is a beautiful place to go for a nice short hike. Even in the off-season, it was quite crowded, though. I can only imagine what it must be like during the summer months. Like most things of this nature, it would be much more fun to do with a friend than to go alone as I do most of my little jaunts.

July 9, 2006

Well, it has been almost 4 months since the last entry. My son turned 22 on June 6th and is planning to get married on my father's birthday - July 19th. He has a beautiful fiancée, Jackie who is from this area. I still don't know when he or my daughter will be deployed to Iraq. What's a dad to do?

Work has been great for a long time, but I haven't been doing so much traveling this year. Oh well, the timing on that is perfect because I'm right smack dab in the middle of a budding relationship with a wonderful woman named Karen. It's particularly interesting because I have a sister named Karen and 'my' Karen has been well-received into the folds of the Eastridge family. AND Karen knows Karen and that can be interesting, too - especially when my cell phone rings and it says "Karen" is calling. Last weekend was the best I can ever remember in spite of the fact that the engine in my car 'let go' in Boise as I was visiting my sister - on my way to Pocatello, Idaho and Logan, Utah. Well, as things would have it, I traded the old Focus on a new '06 Focus & have already put nearly 2000 miles on it in the past 9 days. We got to spend some time with my sister, her husband and daughter before going to spend some time with 3 of her kids and my best friend, Bruce and his family in Logan. Wow - in spite of the whirlwind weekend, driving almost 2500 miles and all that, we managed to get some quality time in together and sat on the front porch talking until all hours of the morning and then some. We haven't had a lot of face time in the past 4 months or so, but we're planning to spend at least a couple of weeks together, go watch a few sunsets over the ocean and spend some real quality time together while we have such a beautiful summer going. I guess it really doesn't matter - it could be pouring down - or even snowing & I'd still be happy to be walking out in it with her.

OK - I'm going to wrap this up for the night so I can finish a couple of other things. BUT - I just thought of something - if you haven't already seen the movie "50 First Dates", check it out. It's ok to sit here & watch by myself, but would probably be better to rent or buy the DVD and watch it with someone you really love.

September 2, 2006

Once again it has been a long time since the last entry. All things considered, this is a good thing because I have been very busy these past few months. Karen came to visit and we went to Port Townsend where we were both 6th grade camp counselors our senior year in high school. From there, we went out to Neah Bay & Cape Flattery, Forks & on down the coast to Seaside, Oregon.

October 7, 2006

Well, as always, I have been neglecting this web site. I planned to spend some time with it this weekend, but I need to get the oil changed in the car today and do about 7 loads of laundry - Grrr!

So much for all of that. I have been doing email and a hundreed other things since I got up this morning, but none of the things on the 'to do' list.