Friday, April 30, 2010

So sorry...

The picture of road I posted earlier today appeared a few days ago. So sorry for showing it again.

Instead, this is another "surprise" pictures from Bill. You can click on the picture to get a larger version to see the boaters better.

Steven

Tis Friday today

Hello:

This picture is from the road in Bolivia.

I am watching 24, the seventh season. This was last year. I have been recording this year's series, but not watching it as I wanted to see the seventh season first. I have 8 episodes left in this series. 24 is ending this year.

When 24 started nearly 8 years ago, I had to use videotapes to tape the series. I taped all of the series before watching it in full during the summer.

I did not read much last night as I was watching 24 late into the night.

I was going to skip making coffee today, as I got up just after 5:30 this morning. But around 10:00 am I was so desiring coffee, I made some for myself.

For lunch today I made egg salad sandwich. I love egg salad. I made it quite a bit when I was in China.

I need also to start opening my canned products as the summer is coming up again soon. I have quite a few canned peaches left. I have just two jars of applesauce left. Canned prunes are quite plentiful still. I still have 5 jars of sauerkraut, which I do not eat. But it is so easy to make. I give it all way.

What are your plans for the coming weekend? Me? Probably go a long bike ride around Stayton and out of town, if it does not rain.

Steve

Thursday, April 29, 2010

A solution

You can see the video if you copy the heading in the post below. Not the immediate past one, but just one more where you see the http://www.youtube.com link in title to the posting.

Just copy and paste the link to your web browser and you will see the video.

My thinking is that the man's pants are hard and that is why he can sit the way he can.

So, again, copy the title to the post that has the htt://www. in its heading. Then paste it to your web browser.

Steven

does not work

OK, the links do not work. If you want me to email it to you, then send me an email at schwindt68@hotmail.com and I will forward the email to you that has this link.

Steven

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=6NPF0A_vGC4

I am indeed sorry but the links in the last 2 posts do not work.

One last time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=6NPFOA_GC4

This will be the last one I will try do this.

Steven

the link did not work

Hi again:

That link in the last post does not work.

Try this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch popup?v=6NPFOA vGC4

I wish I could copy and paste into this blog but that does not work, or at least I cannot figure out how to do it.

Hope this one works.

Steven

watch this YouTube video

OK, can you figure out how this guy is sitting in the airport?

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=NPFOA_GC4

I do not know if this link works as I had to type it in instead of copy and paste. I cannot tell from this posting if it works, so I will post it to check it there.

Steven

H today...still raining

Hi again:

This picture is one of the "surprise" pictures from Bill in Eugene.

I am about 200 pages into Too Big to Fail. Starting with Lehman Brothers and then onto Goldman-Sachs and Fannie and Freddie. AIG shows up too. All of these, except Lehman Brothers, were given big bailouts to survive, but the concept of they are too big to fail, a false issue that I hope dies with the new regulations coming from Congress.

It is raining out again today. I need to go the store later today so I will watch the weather closely so I can ride my bike there.

I awoke at 5:00 this morning, so I got up and started work then. I got some coffee from Starbucks the other day. Bold Coast is such good coffee. Very tasty and nice and dark.

Got any plans for the weekend?

Steve

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Tuesday after...nooooon




Hello:
These are the last two pictures of this road in Bolivia. I just cannot imagine what they were thinking when they made this road.
I am almost finished with The Greatest Trade Ever. The hero is now getting paid for all of his grief at paying the insurance for two to three years. Paulson was upsetting his investors by buying CDS, basically insurance that the CDOs would fail. He was right, and got paid big dollars when the CDOs failed.
I have Too Big to Fail to read next. I really want to read The Big Short, but it is not on the Kindle yet and not yet at the library even though I reserved it as soon as it came out.
Now it is raining again.
Steve

Monday, April 26, 2010

Monday....Monday....





Hi again:


These pictures are the worst road in the world. What is going to happen when those two truck meet?


The road is in Bolivia. I will attach a few more tomorrow when I post another message on this blog.
30 years ago the post-it note came into being.
I certainly am enjoying reading The Greatest Trade Ever on my Kindle. Too bad we did not see the coming downturn in 2008. We could have made millions like a few people did if we could have bet against subprime mortgages.
I watched BookTV yesterday of an author of 13 Bankers. This author, like others I have seen on Book TV during the past few weeks, says our government favors corporations and banks as that is whom the government bailed out. No individual got money back. Not any of the Madeoff investors who have to "claw back" the money they received from that crook.
I have other books reserved at our library here about the great recession we are in now. The Big Short is one and there are four others on my list. I have Too Big to Fail here to read soon. Other books are No One Would Listen and The End of Wall Street.
I found out I do not like to read novels now. I much would rather read non-fiction books now. I will read novels of some of my famous authors, Dan Brown, David Baldacci, and a few others.
How is your week starting out?
Steven





Sunday, April 25, 2010

Sunday now...


Good morning:
This picture is from my bike ride around this neighborhood. These are early spring flowers.
I made some chocolate-covered filberts the other day. I need to dip each one in chocolate instead of having them all at once. They certainly are good.
I am watching The Graduate this morning. It was seminal film. I did find out today that Dustin Hoffman is only seven years younger than Ann Bancroft, but in the movie she is twice his age.
I am reading The Greatest Trade Ever on my Kindle. The library did not have it and I wanted to read it, so I found it on the Kindle page for $9.99. This morning I downloaded two more free books. I now have 73 pages on my Kindle. I can hardly wait until the Kindle gets folders.
How is your weekend going?
Steve

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Weekend is here...


Hello:
Here is my rhubarb,. I will be cutting some next week. I need to fertilize it. On the other side of our porch is my garlic and peas.
I was reading my Kindle last night. I read three articles. I have a good book on my Kindle now, The Greatest Trade Ever... about how John Paulson earned so much money betting against the housing market. No one believed the housing market would go down.
I have another book waiting for me at the library, Too Big to Fail. I will go there soon to pick up that book.
I was going to ride my bike to a garage sale this morning, but the directions from MapQuest were wrong so I did not go there.
I have a headache today, not a big one but it hurts a little.
Steve

Friday, April 23, 2010

Weekend is near...

Hello:

This picture is a big Rhodie at a house that used used owned by a doctor when I was young.

I am reading The Last Testament but it is not a very good so after 100 pages I may give up on it.

I plan to mow the lawn later today once the grass dries.

I went to Starbucks the other day to get some of their new "bold" coffee. I got Bold Coast. It sure is good coffee. Very tasty and the best I have made here in my French press.

What are your plans for the coming weekend?

Steve

Thursday, April 22, 2010

H today

Hello:

I have been called to jury duty again on May 10. I was selected for jury duty late last year, but I was not called. When I called the court the night before I was to report, I got the message then that they wanted jurors with numbers 1 to 62. I was 167. So no reporting then.

But now I am number 55 so my guess is that when I call the night before I will be reporting for jury on Monday May 10.

The county used voting records for jurors, but some years ago they changed it driver's license records.

The picture here is a big flower in this neighborhood. I went on a bike ride last Saturday to get pictures of spring flowers in this area.

I finished Union Atlantic in two days. I heard the author on C-Span 2 say he turned the book just before the housing bubble burst. It is about a bank called Union Atlantic that gets into major trouble when it bets that the Japanese stock market would continue to rise. But staying in that market for too long forces the bank into a major crisis. Too big to fail, the bank officials said but not according to the New York Fed Chief. Good book, but beware there are some sexual scenes that some may find offensive.

I am reading another novel, the first time I read two novels in a row in a very long time.

It is suppose to warm today so my clothes from the washing machine will be outside on the clothesline.

Steve

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Raining here today...


Hello:
This picture show a sure sign that spring is here.
I am stilll reading Red Azalea. It sure is a good book. It shows what happened in China during the Cultural Revolution. The author was sent to Red Fire Farm, where hundreds of women and men were sent from the city to work there. The farm did so poorly it could not even support the workers there. The workers there ate the produce of the farm, even though the workers, like the author, worked from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm each and every day.
I am in the part of the book that takes place in 1976, the year Mao finally dies. He has not died yet, as the author is taken away from the farm to become an actress to conduct a play for Madam Mao. But I know after Mao dies, the new premier calls Madam Mao and three others the Gang of Four, and arrests them once China catches the gang.
Once I finish Red Azalea, I plan to read Union Atlantic. Some time I will read two novels in a row, but not now.
Steve

Monday, April 19, 2010

Startof the week

Hi:

I took a bike ride around my neighborhood yesterday. I took pictures of spring flowers. This is a picture of red azalea.

I put this picture here because I am reading a book called Red Azalea, an autobiography of a lady who grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution. I started the book yesterday and I am not that far into it yet. But, as I told you, I like to read books on China. The author is the oldest of four children by one or two years, so she must act as mother to her siblings.

The Cultural Revolution is abomination, one of Mao's worst policies. Mao is the world's worst dictator of all time. He killed over 100 million people during his reign over China.

But the people of China still honor this crazy nut, not realizing how bad he was for China.

Hope your week goes well.

Steven

Sunday, April 18, 2010

So nice today...


Hi:
This is another picture of a dog doing something wrong. I will leave it to your imagine to figure out what this dog is doing on the laptop.
It is very nice out today. I plan on going on a bike ride in a few minutes. I will take my camera with me to get some shots of Spring in Stayton.
Nolan is off to Portland for two weeks to sleep most of the time. He needs nine to ten hours a night but during tax season he gets only six or seven hours, so he creates a sleep debt that he makes up for during the next two weeks.
I made some egg salad for lunch but ate only half of my sandwich. I don't know why I cannot eat very much at meal time, but this is happening to me I do not each much anymore. I am slowly losing weight, the weight I put on since returning from China.
I lost 50 pounds in China, mainly by not getting any sugar. Here in Oregon one cannot avoid sugar. Brownies, cake, candy... so easy to make and so easy to put on weight here. I probably added over 20 pounds in the year since I returned from China.
Off to the outside now.
Steve

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Saturday still..but afternoon now


Hi again:
Yet another dog cartoon. Getting a little gross but not too...yet.
Another bifurcated night again. Up after six hours of sleep way too early, then back to bed for another two hours after staying up for about an hour.
I finished The Book of Spies this morning. Good book with a slightly unrealistic ending. My next book is Satchel, a biography of the baseball pitcher. After that book the next one is Union Atlantic, a novel about the start of the financial meltdown.
I am going to crack some filberts later today and make some chocolate-covered filberts.
Steve

Early morning on Saturday



Hello:
The pictures are air flights over Europe today and regularly. The top picture shows what Europe looks like on a regular day. The bottom picture shows the air flights today. The volcanic cloud from Iceland is preventing the airplanes from getting up. What a big difference... These pictures came from the James Fallows email I get every morning. He is a writer for The Atlantic.
I got up at 4:00 this morning. I don't know why. I may go back to bed later this this morning.
I have about 100 pages to go in The Book of Spies. It is a good book, but like I said yesterday, it is not a page-turner. If it turned out of to be a page-turner, I would have stayed up late into the night to finish it last night.
I plan to spray our lawn later today to get rid of the weeds.
The weekend is here...what are your plans for this weekend?
Steven

Friday, April 16, 2010

F now...

Hello:

This cartoon is one of three that I have that I will post in the next few days.

I watched W. today, the life and times of our ex-president. It was a good movie showing W. as a bad guy in his early days and a born-again in his later days. Born-again, what a joke.

I will never be born again, as it is against my nature and beliefs. I have no belief in God or any other divine being.

I am reading The Book of Spies. It is a good novel but not a page-turner like they way I like novels.

I have 8 other books here to read after I finish this novel. Some are short, some are long.

Have a great weekend.

Steven

Thursday, April 15, 2010

H Day and tax day...

Hello:

Look closely at this picture and see what you can find. It is fairly obvious.

Today you can get a free coffee at Starbucks if you take your own mug. I just got back from Starbucks here where I got my free coffee and then I sat down there to read an article on my Kindle about beating obesity in America. It is from the May issue of The Atlantic. I downloaded it from The Atlantic website and added it to my Kindle.

I downloaded five articles from The Atlantic on Tuesday. I must start reading those articles as now I have 71 pages in the table of contents on my Kindle. With 12 items per page, I have more than enough to keep me busy for a long time.

But there are too many good books from our local library. Like I told you before we have a regional library here with access to any book in the libraries in the Chemeketa Community College area.

The weekend is coming. I hope you have a good one.

Steve

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

W today...

Hi again:

This picture is from Regis High School.

I am now reading a book called A Book of Spies, a novel. This is the first novel I have read since reading Angelology. I figure I am reading four to five biographies and other non-fiction books to every novel.

I did my taxes today, owing nothing on either.

I picked up three more books at the library today, but I do not plan on reading one of them. I don't know why I reserved that book. The book is A Better Way of Dying. I may read it in the next week or two or I may not.

Tomorrow at Starbucks you get a free coffee if you bring in a reusable mug. You get the free coffee only if bring your own mug. I will try it here early morning tomorrow.

Steve

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

U now...

Hello:

The picture here is the Salem Ditch, the other side of the street from the last picture I posted here. On the left is a CPA office. To the right is the side of a newspaper office. We call this stream the Salem Ditch although it a nice stream that runs through downtown Stayton, but too bad about the name.

Another nice day coming up. It is about time we see consecutive days of no rain days.

I am almost finished with the tea book. I found out that Earl Grey tea is made up of a tea and a flavor of bergamot added to the tea leaves.

Not much else happening here. Hope your week goes well.

Steven

Monday, April 12, 2010

A new week begins...

Hello:

This picture is from James Fallows email to me. He talks about the age of the Air Force 1, which is 20 years old. He compares the age of AF 1 with the age of the plane that crashed in Russia, carrying the Polish President and other high officials from Poland. That latter plane was 26 years old.

I believe the plane crash was caused by pilot error.

I have a friend in Poland from my days at Maple International Language Institute in Xi'an China. I sent her an email expressing my deepest sympathy for the loss of her president.

It is another nice day out today.

I am reading For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History. It is about the East India Company sending an individual to China in the late 1840's to get the seeds of tea so the British Government could start growing tea in India instead of buying it from China. China threatened to grow its own opium, cutting off the main British export to China.

Green tea and black tea are the same plant, unknown to the British in the mid-19th century. I will explain it all once I finish the book tonight. It is an excellent book.

Steve

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Nice weekend


Hi:
This picture is Little Red Riding Hood, or so it seems.
I finished Bretz's Flood, about the geologic feature in eastern Washington that shows evidence of a massive flood in the far past. This theory was not well accepted when it proposed in 1924, but over the next 30 years proved he was right.
My next book is For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History. Like I have been telling you, I enjoy reading books on China. This one is a book on the 19th century in China and England.
Today I will mow the lawn here. Yesterday, I did laundry and hung the clothes outside. So no lawn-mowing with the clothes on the line outside.
Today is also the day of the Shaw breakfast. My dad usually buys me one to go and delivers it here. I then make 3 breakfasts out of just one big breakfast.
Have a good day on this last day of this weekend.
Steve

Friday, April 9, 2010

Date wrong in previous post


Hello again:
I made a mistake in my last posting. I kissed a girl in August 1964, not in 1968. By that time in 1968 I was working in the cannery, getting ready to start my first year at the University of Oregon.
After enjoying kissing that girl in 1964, I had to tell my mom that I was not going the seminary. I had her tell my dad and then my dad had to tell my grandmother. I immediately registered at Regis High School. Due to my late registration, I got a locker next to Ken Young, instead of one higher up in the S list.
The picture here is the Salem Ditch as it runs through downtown Stayton. It runs from the Santiam River farther upstream to the east of Stayton and empties into Mill Creek farther to the west of Stayton.
Looks like we will have good weather this weekend.
Steve

Weekend is near...

Hi again:

The picture here is my former 8th grade teacher, Sister Rose Imelda. She was the principal of St. Mary's Grade School in Stayton. She died, according to my brother, in 1999. She was a member of the Sisters of St. Mary. She was a good teacher, and helped me, together with the two priests in our parish, decide to become a priest.

But kissing a girl in the Tunnel of Love at the Oregon State Fair in August, 1968, convinced me I did not want to become a priest and miss out how much fun it is to kiss a girl.

With my current belief system, it is good I did not become a priest. I hardly believe in God now.

What are your plans for the coming weekend? Me, mowing the lawn if the weather holds.

I was sick during the night here, getting up around 1:00 am. My stomach was upset and I had diarrhea very bad. I am better now, but not hungry at all.

Steven

Thursday, April 8, 2010

H today

Good Morning:

It rained very hard here last night, keeping me awake for about an hour after I went to bed.

I am almost finished with Impeached, a book on the impeachment and trial of Andrew Johnson. He won the Senate trial by one vote, 35 for impeachment and 19 against. It takes a 2/3 vote to a conviction so the one vote of 19 left the impeachers one vote short.

I need to mow the lawn here again, but it is too wet today. I hope this weekend is nice so I can get the lawn mowed.

I have another five books awaiting for me at the library, plus one set of DVDs.

Our library has Library2Go link on its site. I can download books to my computer but not to my Kindle. The program I use is Adobe Digital Edition. I would rather read the books on my Kindle than my computer. Books can be downloaded to the Barnes and Noble Nook and the Sony Reader but not the Kindle. ADE uses Adobe DRM (digital rights management).

I hope your week is going well.

Steve

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Tuesday afternoon....


Hello:
My brother Ken sent me this picture, called Half Time at the Dog Show. Must be female dogs....
I must have a small bug. I got up at 4:30 this morning, wide awake. I went back to bed at 8:00 am and slept for two more hours. Plus I don't have an appetite.
I am enjoying reading Impeached, the story of President Johnson and what was happening in the 1860's. I finished on Sunday The Big Burn, what was happening in 1905 to 1910. As I mentioned, I have two books on terra cotta warriors found near Xi'an China. I will read one of these books but I will decide that once I get to those books.
But my next book is Bertz's Flood: The Remarkable Story of a Rebel Geologist and the World's Greatest Flood. I wanted to read this book before I went to China three years ago, but it was new then and I could not get it at the library before leaving. It is not the flood of the fictional bible, but the big flood of Missoula. NOVA had some programs on this in the past. It is those floods that give the Willamette Valley its deep, fertile dirt. In some places in the Valley the topsoil is over 100 feet deep, all as a result of these floods over time.
A few years ago when the DOT widened Highway 22 to four lane, about 8 miles to the west of Stayton, they dug out a big smooth rock. This rock was huge, the only rock around too. It was at least 30 feet high and a few hundred feet round. This is called an "erratic" a rock dumped by the flood.
I do hope your week is going well.
Steven

Monday, April 5, 2010

The day after the Easter bunny came...

Hi again:

The day after the easter bunny came. I have as much faith that easter bunny is alive as I believe the Christ resurrected. I have no faith in either, but this is not the time for another rant by me of the untruth of New Testament stories. Suffice to say, I don't believe any part of the new testament.

Not much happening today.

I am continuing to read Impeached: The Trial of Andrew Jackson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy. If you think today is partisan, read this book, to see how partisan it was in the late 1860's where the R's held huge majority in both the senate and house. Instead of being called right-wing back then, these Rs were Radical Republicans.

I am getting over a slight cold. I take a 24 cold pill every night around 8:00, and it helps me during the day.

Steve

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Saturday now...



Hi:
The bottom picture, so small, is the audience of the Globe Theatre in England.
The top picture is a spring day in Stayton.
I finished The Big Burn this morning. Took a little longer than I expected but it is such a good book, not very long, but quite informative. Read about 1910 fire in Montana and Idaho.

I have 10 more books from my library here now. My next book is Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy.
I have two books from the library on the terra cotta warriors found just outside of Xi'an China. I will decide which book to read after I finish Impeached.
When I do back to China I will go to Xi'an to photograph the terra cotta warrior museum there. I was there on my first trip to China, with my new camera. I lost the pictures I took there when I tried to transfer them to my computer. Somehow I made a mistake when I tried to transfer the pictures to my computer there.
Today is the first day the Pony Express rode across the west. But did you realize that the Pony Express lasted only a year and a half. The telegraph overtook the Pony Express, ending it 18 months later. But it lives on in legend. A TV show a few years ago lasted 3 years on TV, twice as long as the Pony Express lasted.
Time for a bike ride if it not raining out now.
Steve

Friday, April 2, 2010

Stormy again

Good morning:

Google is back to being Google again after the joke yesterday.

The weekend approaches. I hope the weather turns better again so I can do some things outside. A bike ride and working in the yard are my plans for the weekend.

I was going to try to see Clash of the Titans, but after hearing a review of it on Morning Edition today I don't think I want to see it now. It got a terrible review there.

The Star Theater in Stayton has gone 3-D. A new type of digital 3-D according to its website. Showing there is Training your Dragon, a show I do not want to see. I will wait until a better show appears there before going to the theater in Stayton again.

When I was younger here, in grade school and high school, we would go to the Star Theater every Friday night no matter what was showing. I saw Thunder Road about seven times over those years.

I found the song Thunder Road on uTube last week along with so many other songs from my youth. It is fun seeing what I can find on uTube.

Someday I will list for you the songs I found on uTube.

Steve

Thursday, April 1, 2010

18 years ago today...

Hi:

Well, it has been 18 years to this day that I had my accident with a train. I told that story in detail on this blog a few months ago.

But this is the same day the accident happened only 18 years ago in 1992. I was going to do this at 6:20 pm today to mark the exact time it happened, or so I am told.

I don't remember the day of the accident at all...on to past Easter that year to about two or three days before I left Salem Hospital. Those six weeks are gone from my life and I have not remembered even one event during that time.

Much happened after the accident. Two years after it my wife asked to leave the house, leading to a divorce a year later. I spent two years in China but now I am back in Oregon. I think I am going back to China in July for a few months at least. My ex-wife got married again two years ago. I am not married yet.

Did you see today that Google renamed itself TOPEKA? In a 1:00 am press release today Google announced this.....on the 1st day of April. This happened after Topeka Kansas renamed itself Google in an effort to get the high speed internet Google is now offering to cities around the U.S.

April is here now but March seemed to go out like a lion: it rained for at least 3 days straight earlier this week.

April showers bring May flowers....?????

Steve