Tom's Diary

08:50 AM: I’m up.  Sister Mary Ann called a few minutes ago to say that she’s be on her way up here in a half hour, and wondered if we needed anything at the grocery store.  Well, believe it or not, though we just went   shopping   yesterday, there are actually a few items we either forgot, or realized we needed after all, for the holiday dinner tomorrow and for the rest of [Emmy's] visit. 

09:30 AM: Applied all pending updates to this computer and it took nearly twenty minutes to shut down.  Come the first of the year, I really must reformat this machine; haven’t done so in nearly two years, and numerous programs have accumulated on it; programs that I’ve installed but decided subsequently that I didn’t require.  Though I’ve been lax on the annual reformatting, I do believe it the best way to maximize overall computer performance, because it keeps the number of ”old” programs to a minimum. 

09:40 AM: Today’s chores include:

• Cat duty
• Showering
• Sweeping the south porch (still some sawdust out there from the   wheelchair ramp project)
• Dispensing Mom’s meds

01:30 PM: Went   shopping,   again.   Hopefully this time, we have everything we need for tomorrow’s holiday meal.

02:15 PM: Worked the   Thanksgiving dinner, 2009   effort.   See     here    for more details on today’s activities.

05:15 PM: Worked the   Christmas lighting, 2009   project.  Put up ten more strings of LED blue lights. 

05:45 PM: Had a plate of spaghetti for supper and now, I think I’ll take a little nap.  Catch you in a bit.

07:00 PM: Back on the blogs here.  I’ve added lots of posts  today, to document some of the major events of my life.  I’ve not written much into these yet.  But the details will be forthcoming as the occur to me.

07:55 PM: [Emmy] is listening to the Penguins hockey game on my Sangean Internet radio; more details    here.  I noticed tonight when we “tuned in” to WXDX 105.9 FM in Pittsburgh, that they’ve raised their net cast bit rate to 128 kbps.  Sweet!  I think it had been 32 or 48 kbps until tonight.  As result, Mike Lang’s voice sounds very crisp and realistic; without those “air planing” sounds you often get with low bit-rate MP3 or WMA streams.   

09:00 PM: Worked the   Christmas lighting, 2009   project some more.  What else?  I put up more lights.   

10:15 PM: The hockey game is over.  The Penguins won, although [Emmy] didn’t seem very thrilled.  I don’t think she’s feeling well.  Indeed, she must be quite sick, since she did no cheering throughout the entire game.

11:15 PM: Blogged for a few hours this evening; adding new posts, categorizing others, and revising still others.  It appears that daily bandwidth is rising.  I must step up my writing and get more posts out here.  Working on it.  Working on it!

12:10 AM: Watched today’s episode of   The Young and the Restless   with [Emmy].

12:20 AM:  We heard our first Christmas song on Hot 100 FM.  It was the 1956 classic,  Jingle Bells   by   The Singing Dogs. 

12:30 AM: Well, it’s time for bed.  With another momentously busy day tomorrow with an early rise for turkey preparations besides, I need my beauty rest.  :-)   So, happy Thanksgiving to all, and good night.   

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Diary Revisions: 2009-11-25
• Mom’s Status: 2009-11-25
• Shopping Trip: 2009-11-25
• WXDX Using Higher Bit Rate

Today, I either added or modified the following posts in this blog for improved clarity, appearance, indexing, and search-ability:

Tom Hesley

Flagstaff Hill resembled a forest within the city.  It was the “eye” in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the city storm.  Though relentless vehicle traffic buzzed about this spot in all directions, within its triangular borders, one found calm.

Key memories surrounding this very special place:

• 1974-05: That spring, a few of us stayed at school over an early May weekend and decided to trek to Schenley Park.   On the way there, we passed Flagstaff Hill.  I remember admiring it from the road, though on this day, we didn’t climb it to the top.
• 1978: [First Love] and I walked to this place twice; once in chilly mid March, and again in mid May once the temperatures moderated.
• 1979: In the fall, I occasionally walked here by myself from McKee Place with my portable radio, listening to 13-Q.  Trade school was tough then, and while the warm weather lasted, I often came here to unwind and release the day’s stresses.
• 1983: I brought [Shanee] here in late June.  As we lay across from each other with our heads closest to the up-side of the hill, I twisted my neck and the result was a nasty headache that lasted several days. 
• 1989-06: [First Love], [Zacca], and I watched a play that one of the colleges was putting on.  They had set up a stage at the bottom of the hill, and the audience sat on the hillside to watch; like an amphitheater.  However, it was the freaky rain storm that passed through that made this occasion memorable for me, because this was the first and the only time I’d ever observed rain falling on one side of the street but not the other.  On our side, where the hill was dry.  But across the road, on the SchenleyPark side, it rained and haled.  [Zacca] and I could see the front heading right for us.  Surprisingly for such a violent storm, it moved quite slowly. 
• 2001: I visited this place once again, by myself, to reminisce about the two dates with [First Love] here.  I often sought answers to pressing problems by coming here and posing the questions in my mind.  Often, good answers occurred to me as I looked west from mid-way up the hill, toward south Oakland and all its bright lights.
• 2008-08: [Emmy] and I came to watch a movie, Transformers, although we didn’t stay. 

Any girl I ever wanted to date while living in Pittsburgh, I’d fantasize about bringing them to this simply wonderful love spot. 

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• 13-Q Memories
• Today’s Business: 2009-11-25

08:00 PM: I was pleased tonight to learn that station WXDX FM in Pittsburgh has switched to a much higher bit rate on their Internet stream. Now, they’re streaming at 128 kbps instead of the 32 or 48 kbps they were using during the last hockey game that [Emmy] and I caught the other night. Hopefully this change-for-the-better is permanent and that more Internet stations will follow suit, including our favorites like KDKA, KQV, and KYW. It’d be nice if they all employed at least 128 kbps AAC transmissions. But I know, we’re still quite a ways from that utopia yet.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2009-11-25

First, sister Mary Ann picked up

• the pies for dessert tomorrow (3 pies)

Total cost: $44.00

Then, we discovered that we’re lacking in several essentials for the   Thanksgiving dinner, 2009   project, that will reach fruition tomorrow.  So, sister Mary Ann and I went to Martin’s grocery store and bought the following items:

• Glad plastic wrap (1 roll)
• Mussleman apple sauce (2 jars)
• Dole pineapple ( for Mary Ann’s pineapple souffle)
• Bread (also for the souffle)
• Domino granulated, white sugar (2 pounds)
• Dry parsley (1 can)
• Freezer storage bags (2 boxes)
• Aluminum foil (1 regular-sized roll)
• Broccoli crowns ( 2 heads)
• Parkay spray margarine (1 bottle)
• Butter (3 pounds)
• Galliker 2% milk (1/2 gallon)
• Extra large eggs (1 dozen)
• Colby-jack block cheese (1 pound)
• Liquid margarine (in the squeeze bottle) (1 bottle)

Total cost: $47.87 

Grand total: $91.87

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2009-11-25

Log

01:15 AM: Blood sugar: 269.  Not sure what insulin she took to cover this.

09:05 AM: Blood sugar: 167.  Covered with 8 units of log insulin.  She’s groggy this morning and still sounds like she has a slight cold.

01:00 PM: Blood sugar: 67.  No coverage needed, and she’s eating lunch right now.  Her body appears to be getting used to these lower sugar readings.  Before she’d feel badly with readings below around 110 or so. Now, even at 67, she experienced no shakes.  Her system likes the tighter regulation and more aggressive application of insulin these days. 

05:30 PM: Blood sugar: 141.  Covered this, and her spaghetti dinner with 10 units of log insulin.

09:30 PM: Blood sugar: 113.  No insulin coverage needed at this time.  She’s been highly energetic and in great spirits once she got awake this morning.  The upcoming Thanksgiving dinner has put her in an exceedingly good mood. 

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2009-11-25