Cold day to start the week...

This picture shows a store near my apartment.  The balloons are for the Chinese New Year. 

I walked along this street taking pictures of stores. Many stores closed during the 10 days of the Chinese New Year.

I am almost through Micro, the last book by the late Michael Crichton.

I watched the movie Fast Food Nation, a fictionalized account of a story in this non-fiction book.  I did not care for the movie, so I got the book again from our local regional library.  I will read it again.

I downloaded a new library book to my Kindle Fire today. I have not looked at my Fire for about a week, the battery was drained completely,.

I am going to Mass every Sunday (sometimes on Saturday evening).  I have not changed my thinking on what is written.  I told you already I don't believe in the virgin Mary at all.  The four gospels are good fiction with not an ounce of truth in any part of it.

Nolan and me will meet with the local Catholic priest here in about two months. to show him the three poems the late Raymond Geraths wrote during the 1970's and 1980's.  These are the three poems we put on the Kindle page.  Creation, an Epic Poem; Redemption, an Epic Poem, and Sanctification, an Epic Poem.  Here is a sample  from one of the poems:

To divide creation into stages

We find that there are three.
It carries down through all the ages:
The thought, the dream, the realty.

After Hell’s fire,

After Heaven’s void.
After God’s desire,
Not to be annoyed.

By, on empty space,

Where joy and laughter reigned.
To solve the case,
A summit veiling they deigned.

Love and wisdom spoke,

From the height of knowledge.
No room for a joke,
In this eternal college.

If you have a Kindle you can download each of these poems to your Kindle.  The first two poems are listed at 99 cents.  Sanctification is listed at $2.99 as it is very long poem.

What I show you here is the first part of Creation, an Epic Poem. 

Steven

Weekend is here...

This picture shows the apartments in Kunming and in all major cities in China.

There are very few single family homes in China. Most people own and live in apartments like these.  They are what we would call condos here but called apartments in China.

The apartment I lived in was on the fifth floor with no elevator.  So I walked up five stories and down five stories every time left the apartment.

We had seven floors in our apartment building, the top limit with no elevator. 

Power in Kunming goes off occasionally.  One apartment building near me had both an elevator and a generator so when the power went out all around us, this apartment had power and the elevator worked.  This building had 12 floors, so it had an elevator.

Raining here today.  I plan to spend this weekend reading Micro.  I read for about 2 hours last night. 

Game Change is on HBO this weekend.  I read the book three years ago.  The movie concentrates on the convention that chose the crazy Palin. 

I watched a program on C-Span 2 that had the authors, the producers of the show and one of McCain's aids on it. 

No garage sales around here as it is still winter here. 

Daylight Time starts this weekend.  Remember to Spring Forward later tonight or tomorrow morning.

If I get tired reading today I plan to watch the first season of Dowton Abbey on my Kindle Fire.

After Micro I will read The Orphan Master's Son, a novel of North Korea.

Nice to have weekends here where we don't work.  In China, with no weekends like we have in the U.S. 

Have a great weekend.

Steven

End of the week...

This picture shows me with a girl.  I don't know her name. We were shopping for a new car and when she saw me she wanted a picture with me.  She put my arm around her before we took the picture.

I saw her one more time, at a restaurant a few days later. She waved to me from afar but we never talked again.

I made a mistake on the temperature for the fudge. I told you earlier I thought was suppose to get it to 324 degrees.  But reading the marshmallow creame jar I see I transposed the numbers, as it is suppose to get 234 degrees.  I made my second batch of fudge last night, getting it to the correct temperature.  It is harder this time, but not as hard as I want it to be.  I think I may be caused by me melting the chocolate instead of chopping it up.

I followed directions to a T this time, following directions from the jar exactly except melting the chocolate instead of chopping it up. 

I will not make a 3rd batch of fudge. I will wait until next Christmas time to make fudge again.

I lost over 40 pounds in China and I want to keep it off this time.

What are your plans for the coming weekend?  In China everyone works on Saturday and Sunday so weekends were nothing special there. 

I will check out garage sales for this weekend to see if any are near here.

Steven

H today

Carrefour, the grocery store in Kunming (and Shanghai) have flat escalators in order to take your shopping cart up and down three floors of the store.

This one goes up and the other side goes down.

I took a long walk this morning to take my cowboys boots to the shoe store to get new cleats on it.  I then walked to Starbucks at Safeway to get some coffee.  This afternoon, it is much warmer so I rode my bike to get my boots and go the library.

I decided to order the book How To Train Your Dog Like Pro from Amazon as it has a DVD with it.  I got it from the library but I want my own copy of it.

I am sleeping throughout the night now.  I do not drink coffee in the afternoon at all anymore.  I do however, get up around 5:30 each morning.

I am reading Micro now.  You can sure tell it a Michael Crichton book, as he lectures at time about the science of the projects in the book.

Tomorrow morning is fudge-making day again.  I need to get some more butter at the store tonight.

Steven

Hump Day today...

If you want fresh fish, you cannot get it fresher than this, live fish in a grocery store in Kunming China.  The same thing happened in Shanghai also. 

Some tanks have so many fish in there that I would never buy one.

I went on a long walk yesterday, the day of Dad's birthday. He turned 90 yesterday.  Today (March 7) is my younger brother's birthday.  Four days ago, on March 3, was my youngest brother's birthday.  Two of my sons have birthdays near the end of this month.  My ex-wife has a birthday on March 11.  An ex-girlfriend has a birthday on March 12.  My late mother's birthday was March 19.  March is a big birthday month for me.

It snowed here yesterday morning, but by the early afternoon it had all melted.  I went on my walk around 2:00 pm and got back home at 3:30. 

I am going to Mass again since returning from China.  I got a 1962 Missal from Amazon.  This has the old prayers both in English and Latin in it.  This Missal is pre-Vatican II. 

Not to worry though, I still have many questions about the teaching of the Catholic Church.  I certainly do not believe in the virginity of Mary. This is just the Church's effort to force down women in the Church. 

I do not believe anything written in the New Testament.  The four gospels, written by people we do not know, are just good stories and have no basis in fact. 

I am still looking for an Irish Setter puppy or dog.  I found a puppy but the breeder wants $1,000 for the puppy.  She is in Oregon City.  Another breeder in Bend wants $650 for a hunting Irish Setter or a companion Irish Setter.  I saw a young girl walking three young Irish Setters across the river here a few days ago.  I will try to find her again in the next day or two.

I am reading a book in my Kindle Fire about getting a puppy and training the puppy.  I wonder it I can handle getting a puppy instead of a full-grown dog. 

I also have a book here from my local library, Train Your Dog Like a Pro, with a companion DVD. 

I must go easy reserving books from my local library. It is a regional library and gets books so fast. 

I have finished only two books since returning from China, both library books:  Rin Tin Tin: The Life and Legend and The House of Silk.  Both are great books. I am now reading Micro, the last book by the late Michael Crichton. 

It is very cold outside this morning.  28 degrees but the sun is shining. 

I picked up what I need to make fudge again. This time I will get the temperature to 354 degrees to see if the fudge sets up right this time.

I got a new Shakespeare book yesterday.  It is The Oxford Shakespeare: Complete Works. I really like to read Shakespeare plays.  I joined a Yahoo group that is on Shakespeare. Right now we finished Macbeth.  I copy each posting to Word and then, when the play is done, I put it on my Kindle 3.  Next is Julius Caesar. 

I have a new book on my Kindle 3 called Shakespeare After All, a good book of essays on the plays.

Now that I am back in Oregon, I do plan on going to Ashland later this year to see both Shakespeare plays and plays by modern authors.  It indeed will seem strange going there by myself.  In the past I always went with someone but this time I will go by myself.

I got some Morning Joe from Starbucks Coffee.  I like my coffee black and strong.  It is so very good. It is so much cheaper here than in China. Starbucks in China costs me about $4.00 a cup for a cup of black coffee.  A pound of coffee there cost me almost $14.00.  I have some decaf coffee here if I want to drink coffee in the afternoon.

I know, such a long post today.

Steven