Tom's Diary

Today’s Activities

• Shower. DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.

Log

08:45 AM: I’m up.

09:50 AM: Got caught up on the blogs and Facebook.

11:00 AM: Leaving now with nephew Garrett for Grant’s graduation party.  Back later.

01:00 PM: Hung out around sister Christine’s pool for a couple hours, just shooting the breeze with family and friends.  Kind of reminded me of that song last year from Nickelback, called   This Afternoon,  that talks of spending the afternoon, the evening, and well into the next morning just chilling with fond friends and relatives, and how much fun that can be.

01:15 PM: I ordered 56 pieces of square pizza (two big flats of it).  I was hungry and so apparently, were all the kids.

01:45 PM: Nephew Grant went to pick up the pizza and upon his return, he was mobbed by us folks with the big appetites.  Yep.  The pizza was a big hit.  They may have even liked it more than the sounds of my music.

01:45 PM: Set up the DJ equipment in the lower yard, under the trees near the fire pit.  So far, everything is working well.  This is the first time I’ve used Windows 7 at a gig.  So I’m a bit nervous.  However, I’m not anticipating any problems, as I’ve worked it pretty good on my bench at home and found no bugs.  Just in case the main computer experiences non recoverable difficulties, I’ve brought two iPods.  I can play from them in a pinch.

02:00 PM: I began music play; a mix of mostly new dance tunes but interspersed with numerous classic rock pieces so that the older folk among us (including me) would not grow bored.

03:00 PM: Mom and her friend Jeff arrived in the wheelchair van about ten minutes ago; both of them smiling ear-to-ear.  Getting them through the breezeway out to the patio proved a bit of a challenge; but probably more for them than for us who were assisting.

06:00 PM: Lots of people have come; near a hundred I think.  I left the music table for a while to mill among them and catch up with friends I haven’t seen in a while.  I sure miss [Emmy] being here.

08:00 PM: One lady asked if I’d be interested in DJing her Halloween party in a few months.  I told her that I’ve all but stopped DJing professionally. But I invited her to give me a call and see what exactly she has in mind.  I might do it if I could pay for a significant part of this year’s music subscriptions withe the proceeds.

10:00 PM: I began gradually lowering the master volume on the music; that’s how I ramp down from an evening of fun-filled dancing in the volleyball field.  I also switched over to softer music of the adult contemporary variety, to further cement my message that there will be no more loud music tonight from this point on.

12:00 AM: I’m back home.  Too late to chat with   [Emmy]   tonight.  So I’ll call her in the morning.

12:05 AM: Reviewed the daily traffic stats from yesterday for my blogs.  The monthly keyword hit count moved higher again this time, and now stands at  1691; up from 1669 yesterday.  The new record high is now 1691.  The next goal: 2000.

12:30 AM: Bed time.  More tomorrow.  Good night.

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

None today.

Related Posts and Links

• Today’s Diet: 2011-07-02

Today’s Activities

• Shower. DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.

Log

10:00 AM: I’m up.    

11:00 AM: Talked with the admissions director at Mom’s nursing home, to request that she issue us a “pay down” or “private pay” bill for all services Mom incurred at the home from the time of her admission there, until early May, when we were advised to apply for MA for her. 

01:30 PM: Determined the correct form(s) to fill out to apply for VA survivors benefits for Mom.  Not that she’ll be elligible for any.  But this is a precondition to meet before we can apply for MA benefits for her. 

02:05 PM: Applied for a replacement Medicare card for Mom.  They’ll need this to process her application for MA.

02:30 PM: Nap time.  Back later.

05:45 PM: I’m awake again. 

06:25 PM:  You’ve heard of, “green with envy?”  Well, I like my Sheetz turkey subs to be GREEN with pesto!  I just love that abundant basil flavor that makes those $4 foot-longs every bit as satisfying as the $8s and $10s.  They must OOZE green; else they’re just another cheap sub sandwich. 

06:40 PM: Upgraded the laptops from Vista SP2 to Windows 7 SP1.  No problems.  In fact, noted was significant performance improvement; particularly during searches in my music library.  Queries that took a minute before now give sub-second results.  I guess at least SOME of that down-hype about Vista was true after all.  So no more Vista in this shop.  Vista it seems, earned at least in part, its bad reputation. 

09:00 PM: Watched the   Panama Deception   movie on the DVD player.

10:00 PM: Watched today’s episode of    The Young and the Restless   via the DVR.

10:30 PM: Talked with   [Emmy].  Had to cut the conversation short as my throat gave out; too sore for protracted discussion. 

12:05 AM: Reviewed the daily traffic stats from yesterday for my blogs.  The monthly keyword hit count moved higher again this time, and now stands at  1649; up from 1628 yesterday.  The new record high is now 1649 key phrases therefore.  The next goal: 2000. 

12:15 AM: Bed time.  More tomorrow.  Good night.

Tom Hesley 

Received Mail and Shipments

• Bose companion computer speakers (1 pair). 
• Weekly coupon mailer.
• Information sheet on several wellness programs offered by Mom’s medical insurance carrier.
• A receipt for a co-payment I made on behalf of Mom last week, for some medicines she required in recent months. 
• A DVD copy of   The Panama Deception   documentary. 

Related Posts and Links

• Today’s Diet: 2011-06-28

Today’s Activities

• Shower. DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.

Log

07:00 AM: I’m up.   

08:30 AM: Beginning this week’s blog system backups. 

09:00 AM: Installed the 32 bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium on my Dell Inspiron 9100 laptop.  This machine does not support a 64 bit OS.  So I’m stuck with 32 bit.  Not bad though.  It’s still quite fast. 

09:30 AM: Blog system backups have finished.  Details here.

01:00 PM: Carried several trips worth of junk and garbage out of the basement and placed them on the junk pile out back.

02:00 PM: Washed the business area of the basement floor with bleach; cat cleanup duty. 

03:00 PM: Nap time.  Back later.

04:10 PM: I’m awake again. 

07:30 PM: Ordered a Dell XPS 8300 desktop computer for   [Emmy].  We’re both getting new computers this year.

09:35 PM: iPodded for a couple hours with the new 6th generation Nano.  Nice machine, but it’s very small.  Not sure I like it.  But perhaps I’ll get used to it.  Admittedly, it’s easier to use than I had imagined when I first saw it in the store.

10:00 PM: Watched tonight’s episode of   NBC’s Nightly News   broadcast via the DVR.

11:00 PM: Talked with   [Emmy].   Hmmm.  Now I think I feel a summer cold coming on; the left side of my throat feels a bit irritated and scratchy.  That’s the only symptom so far. 

12:00 AM: Browsed around on the Internet, reading some of the Google blogs to which I subscribe. 

12:05 AM: Reviewed the daily traffic stats from yesterday for my blogs.  The monthly keyword hit count moved higher again this time, and now stands at  1608; up from 1592 yesterday.  The new record high is now 1608 key phrases therefore.  The next goal: 2000. 

12:15 AM: Bed time.  More tomorrow.  Good night.

Tom Hesley 

Received Mail and Shipments

• Consumer Reports magazine; the 2011-06 edition.
• Promo Only’s Urban Radio music series; the 2011-07 edition.
• Promo Only’s Modern Rock Radio music series; the 2011-06 edition.
• Senior Scope newsletter from Blair Senior Services; the 2011-3Q edition.
• Mom’s monthly prescription summary from her medical insurance company.  No suprises.
• Misc. banking papers.
• Misc. insurance advertisements.
• Misc. and numerous medical bills for Mom.
• Sewage bill.
• PNC Flex VISA credit card offer.  Not at this time, thanks.
• MFJ ham radio catalog.
• Gas bill.
• Chase Freedom card offer.  Not at this time, thanks.
• Weekly coupon mailers (2).
• Bank of America VISA credit card offer.  No thanks.
• Metlife auto insurance offer.  No thanks.
• Rubbish collection bill.
• Mom’s Disney Rewards card.  Hmm.  I’ll have to cancel that account.
• Notice of a fare increase from $2.90 to $3.00 for each one-way trip on the Blair Senior Services van.  This will take effect on 2011-07-01.
• Credit card offer from Citi.  Not at this time, thanks.
• Co-payment bill from eye specialists for Mom’s 2011-04 visit.
• Grand opening for Planet Fitness gym in Altoona.
• Co-payment medical bills from Mom’s primary care physician (2).
• The Writer magazine; the 2011-06 edition.

Related Posts and Links

• Today’s Diet: 2011-06-25
• Weekly Backups: 2011-06-25

Today’s Activities

• Shower. DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.

Log

04:00 AM: I’m up, temporarily.   

05:30 AM: Identified 61 more extra long posts to shorten and tighten up on the   Tom’s Love Quest   blog.

05:45 AM: Nap time.  Back later.

07:00 AM: I’m awake again.

08:00 AM: Leaving now to visit mom and to perform the weekly grocery shopping. Back later.

01:00 PM: I’m back home. Notable purchases today: A 6th generation iPod Nano, and I found some iPod wall chargers for $5 apiece.  Normally, these goe for north of $20. 

02:00 PM: Watched today’s episode of   The Young and the Restless   via the DVR.

03:30 PM: Ordered a Dell XPS 8300 desktop computer.  Originally, I’d wanted to go with 16 GB of RAM.  However, that would have added $360 to the total cost.  So I decided to purchase the stock 8 GB instead, which did not raise the price at all. 

04:30 PM: Unpacked my new iPod 6th generation Nano and added the Walking playlists to it.  Man, it’s small; little bigger than a watch actually.  I hope it’s not too hard to access.

05:20 PM: Skimmed today’s rerun episodes of   Dr. Phil   via the DVR.

08:00 PM: Watched the 2011-06-06, 2011-06-12, and 2011-06-19 episodes of the CBS news show    Face The Nation   via the DVR.

09:55 PM: Upgraded my primary DJ music computer from Windows Vista 32 bit Service Pack 2 to Windows 7 64 bit Service Pack 1.  No issues or problems encountered.  The upgrade went about a s smoothly as expected.  This is the first I’ve ever used a 64 bit operating system at home.  So I’m eager to see how much faster it is.  Indeed there have been some noticeable speed improvements. 

10:00 PM: Watched tonight’s episode of   NBC’s Nightly News   broadcast via the DVR.

11:00 PM: Talked with   [Emmy].   

12:05 AM: Reviewed the daily traffic stats from yesterday for my blogs.  The monthly keyword hit count moved higher again this time, and now stands at  1592; up from 1580 yesterday.  The new record high is now 1592 key phrases therefore.  The next goal: 2000. 

12:15 AM: Bed time.  More tomorrow.  Good night.

Tom Hesley 

Received Mail and Shipments

None today.

Related Posts and Links

• Today’s Diet: 2011-06-24

Today’s Activities

• Shower. DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.
• Wash (2) loads of pending laundry.  DONE.  92 loads done in the washer now.

Log

05:30 AM: I’m up.

05:40 AM: Found that the CHKDSK operation I began on this computer last night also hung.  So this hard drive is apparently beginning to fail, and CHKDSK cannot repair it.  Thus, I’ll look into replacing it in the coming days.  I think I’ll go SATA this time; this motherboard supports SATA but the current drive is still IDE.  This faulty drive will likely be among the last IDE drives I employ for my computing.

05:50 AM: Got caught up on my blogging in the   Tom’s Diary   blog.

07:50 AM: Posted the   Tom’s Views –> How Blind Men Find Women Attractive   piece.

08:40 AM: Posted the   Tom’s Views –> Radio Shack NOAA Weather Radio Cube 12-500 (12500) Review   piece.

09:35 AM: Posted the   Tom’s Views –> Radio Shack Composite AB Selector Switch 15-312 (15312) Review   piece.

11:10 AM: Posted the   Tom’s Views –> Less Quid Pro Quo, More Unconditional Love, Please!   piece.

11:55 PM: Posted the   Tom’s Views –> Against NFB’s Self Sufficiency Philosophy   piece.

01.55 PM: Purchased a nine-year renewal for the wpsbc-alumni.org domain.  Cost: $55.36.

04:00 PM: Posted the   Tom’s Views –> What Is Sound Check in iTunes and iPods?   piece.

04:30 PM: Posted the   Tom’s Views –> How To Copy Songs From Multiple iPods Into iTunes Library   piece.

05:00 PM: Baked some fish fillets for supper.

06:00 PM: Watched the 2011-06-10 and 2011-06 12 episodes of   NBC’s Nightly News   broadcast via the DVR.

06:50 PM: Watched today’s episode of   The Young and the Restless   via the DVR.

07:15 PM: Leaving for walk 25 of 100 for 2011, over to Logan Valley cemetery.  Back later.

08:00 PM: I’m back home.  Nice walk.  Partly sunny and a bit hazy.  Warm, but not overly so.  Still, I broke a healthy sweat.  Yep.  At my age, walking indeed makes me break sweats. 

08:45 PM: iPodded for a half-hour or so on the east porch.

08:50 PM: Ouch.  Rocking perpendicular to those widely-spaced porch slats makes for quite the bumpy ride.  Grrrrr.  I feel like I just got off of a bull.  Time to lay some plywood, for sure. 

09:40 PM: Today and tomorrow are the longest days of the year.  Yet it’s barely 9:30, and it’s almost dark here.  Must be all those darn clouds.  I remember when I lived in Dayton, at the extreme western edge of EST, that you could see the last remnants of daylight in the western skies as late as 10:30 PM.  But I’m too far east for that here.

11:00 PM: Talked with   [Emmy] and we watched tonight’s rerun episode of   Hawaii Five-0   live on CBS.  In some cases, I enjoy the reruns more than the first runs.

12:05 AM: Reviewed the daily traffic stats from yesterday for my blogs.  The monthly keyword hit count moved way up this time, and now stands at  1414; up from 1359 yesterday.  The new record high is now 1414 key phrases therefore.  Next goal: 1500.

01:00 AM: iPodded and Facebooked simultaneously.  Hmmm.  I guess that makes me a true multi-tasker.

01:05 AM: Bed time.  More tomorrow.  Good night.

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

None yet.

Related Posts and Links

• Today’s Diet: 2011-06-20
• Tom’s Views –> Against NFB’s Self Sufficiency Philosophy
• Tom’s Views –> How Blind Men Find Women Attractive
• Tom’s Views –> How To Copy Songs From Multiple iPods Into iTunes Library
• Tom’s Views –> Less Quid Pro Quo, More Unconditional Love, Please!
• Tom’s Views –> Radio Shack Composite AB Selector Switch 15-312 (15312) Review
• Tom’s Views –> Radio Shack NOAA Weather Radio Cube 12-500 (12500) Review
• Tom’s Views –> What Is Sound Check in iTunes and iPods?

Today’s Activities

• Shower. DONE.
• Cat duty.  Sister Jojo is taking care of my cats this week.

Log

04:00 AM: I’m up.   

05:30 AM: Got caught up on my blogging in the   Tom’s Diary   blog.  I was a bit lax yesterday.

07:30 AM: Posted the   Tom’s Views –> Chef’s Choice Cordless Electric Kettle 677-2 (6772) Review   piece.

08:00 AM: Purr meow.  P-M-U-E-R-O-R-W!   I love when cats meow at the same time they’re purring, like they’re not sure which they really want to do.  So, they do both.  The purring modulates the meow with a shaking, shivery sound, and the meow gives the purring a squeaky, happy edge that always seems to make me smile.  Neat.

11:30 AM: Leaving now for the Pittsburgh Amtrak train station to head back to Altoona from   [Emmy's]   this afternoon. 

12:00 PM: Arrived at the train station and got some Reese’s peanut butter cups for lunch. 

01:00 PM: Borded the train.  Pretty crowded today.  But I still got my window seat in the middle of the Altoona car. 

01:20 PM: The train departed on time. 

03:00 PM: I thought I’d be more tired since I got relatively little sleep last night.  But I found myself wide awake for all but about twenty minutes of the trip so far.  So I mostly iPodded and peered out my window at “houses, farms, and fields” whizzing by, not to mention cities, towns, and forests.

03:50 PM: The train arrived in Altoona, on time. 

04:30 PM: I’m home once again.

04:45 PM: All unpacking is done and suitcase put away.  I’ll have a couple loads of laundry to do this week.   

07:00 PM: Started a CHKDSK operation on this, my home computer, to look for and repair potential problems on my primary hard drive; problems that may have caused this computer to hang while I was copying folders around from    [Emmy's]   place last week. 

09:30 PM: Skimmed the 2011-06-05, 2011-06-12, and 2011-06-19 rerun episodes of CBS’s   60 Minutes   weekly news show via the DVR, and also deleted all the shows recorded during my absence that I’ve seen already while visiting   [Emmy].

10:40 PM: Talked with   [Emmy].  I think I’ll lay down now, until the daily stats come in from my blogs.  Good night. 

12:05 AM: Reviewed the daily traffic stats from yesterday for my blogs.  The monthly keyword hit count is down a bit again, and now stands at  1359; down from 1367 yesterday.  The record high remains 1388 key phrases therefore.  Next goal: 1500. 

12:15 AM: Bed time.  More tomorrow.  Good night.

Tom Hesley 

Received Mail and Shipments

• None today

Related Posts and Links

• Today’s Diet: 2011-06-19
•  Tom’s Views –> Chef’s Choice Cordless Electric Kettle 677-2 (6772) Review

Today’s Activities

• Shower. DONE.
• Cat duty. DONE.

Log

06:30 AM: I’m up for a little while anyhow.  Today I plan on finishing up nephew Grant’s laptop.

07:00 AM: Facebooked a bit.  Friend count: 365.  Fan count: 91.

10:55 AM: Added details of the Wal Mart visit to the   Shopping Trip: 2010-11-30   post.

11:35 AM: Posted the   Shopping Trip: 2010-10-31   piece.

12:25 PM: Added the 2009-08 issue of   Promo Only’s Dance Radio music series to my DJ music library (20 songs).

02:20 PM: Watched today’s episode of   The Young and the Restless   on the DVR.

03:00 PM: Gathered up the fixings for a batch of 15 bean and ham soup.  I’ll get the meat and chili powder tomorrow during our weekly shopping trip.

03:40 PM: Posted the   Shopping Trip: 2010-11-03   piece.

04:00 PM: Finished going through all 2010 receipts to figure out who owes what between Mom and myself.  Hmmm, I really must not allow myself to fall so far behind on this in 2011. 

05:45 PM: Nap time.  Back later.

06:30 PM: I’m awake and up and about again.

07:00 PM: Watched tonight’s episode of   The CBS Evening News,   to hear about the phase-in of the various parts of   the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010.

07:45 PM: Watched today’s episodes of   Dr. Phil   and   NBC’s Nightly News   on the DVR.

08:10 PM: Added the 2009-09 issue of   Promo Only’s Dance Radio music series to my DJ music library (20 non duplicate songs added).

08:30 PM: Added the Kodaly Quartet’s performances of Haydn’s String Quartets Op. 33, Nos. 1, 2 And 5, to satiate my appetite for Classical music.

10:15 PM: Listened to the Penguins hockey game with   [Emmy]   this evening.  The lost 2 to 0 to the Devils.

10:30 PM: Downloaded the 2011-01-03 edition of Promo Only’s EA DFF music series.  40 new songs in this batch.  Processing it now.

11:20 PM: Well, my heavy eyelids indicate that another day has come to end and that it’s time for bed.  So I’m off to sleepyland but will return with more tomorrow.  So sleep tight and good night to all.

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

• Whole life insurance offer from Mom’s bank.  Not at this time, thanks.
• Balance transfer offer.  Again, not now, thanks.

Related Posts

• Shopping Trip: 2010-10-31
• Shopping Trip: 2010-11-03
• Shopping Trip: 2010-11-30
• Today’s Diet: 2011-01-20

Today’s Activities

• Shower. DONE.
• Cat duty. DONE.

Log

06:00 AM: I’m up for a little while anyhow.  Today I plan on fixing nephew Grant’s laptop; he’s having trouble installing the paid AVG antivirus package..

07:00 AM: Facebooked a bit.  Friend count: 364.  Fan count: 90.

07:40 AM: It’s considerably warmer outside this morning; the temperature has risen to 35 degrees from 31 last night.  So I’ve turned down the basement gas heaters, as it’s starting to get quite warm up here.  Hopefully all that slippery ice outside has melted.

07:45 AM: Headed back to bed for a bit longer.  Back later.

08:30 AM: I’m awake again.  Mom called, asking me to take her some dollars, a newspaper, and nail clippers when I visit her later this week.  Will do.

09:55 AM: Over a hundred spam comments received on my blogs today.  Well, I’m glad folks are paying attention.  But I do not want this type of interest.    So I may have to disable new user registrations if this keeps up, since removing these repeatedly takes too much time.

11:35 AM: Leaving now to visit Mom at the nursing facility.

11:50 AM: Arrived at the nursing home and went to Mom’s room.

12:20 PM: Mom and I visited a little.  She’s rather tired, but perked right up when I offered to fetch her some Texas hot dogs from a place down the street.  Heading there now on foot.

12:30 PM: I’ve returned to the home with our lunch.  Mom dug right in.  For some food items, her appetite is still healthy.

12:45 PM: Talked briefly with Mom’s physician.  I’ll put more details into the Mom’s Status post for today when I write it.

01:00 PM: Then, I accompanied Mom to physical therapy.

02:00 PM: She finished her daily workout, and we went to the TV room on the first floor and hung out there until it was time for me to go home.

02:45 PM: My homeward bound ride arrived.  I said good bye to Mom, and she gave me a nice hug; expressing her joy that I visited her.

03:05 PM: I’m back home.

06:00 PM: Continued work on nephew Grant’s computer.  Solved the missing Dell Dock language file problem by un-installing Dell Dock since he does not use this organizer program.

08:00 PM: Watched today’s episodes of   The Young and the Restless,   Dr. Phil, and   NBC’s Nightly News   on the DVR.

09:30 PM: We decided not to go with AVG antivirus software, as the installations of AVG 2011 (both the free and paid editions) failed at the end with error code 0xc0070643.  So I looked this up in the AVG forums and found that several people have encountered this error over the past few months as well, and so far, there appears to be no permanent software fix available.  This problem can occur for many different reasons, but I didn’t have the belly for reading through an installation log file that was megabytes long.  So I advised sister Christine to get her money back and instead, use the Avast free version, with which I’m more familiar.  Since they do not use this computer to perform many online banking transactions, I figured that the Avast free edition to be enough for them.  But if it’s not, they have the option to upgrade to the more protective paid version.

09:50 PM: Installed Avast then, and it worked flawlessly.  So I then ran a virus scan on Grant’s computer, which found approximately 50 infections.  Wow!  So I cleared them all by deleting the files that contained them.  Hopefully, this didn’t break too many of the programs that he runs routinely.  But he can reinstall the ones that were corrupted.  A to-do for me from all this is to learn more about Windows 7 virtual folders, as mention of these appeared occasionally in the AVG documentation.

10:45 PM: Talked with   [Emmy]   on the phone.

11:00 PM: Watched some of CNN’s   AC 360   news show live.  But things are getting foggy.  So I’m off to bed.  Take care, and I’ll write more in less than twelve hours.  See you.

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

None today.

Related Posts

• Today’s Diet: 2011-01-19

Today’s Activities

• Shower. DONE.
• Cat duty. DONE.

Log

07:00 AM: I’m up.  Today I plan to gather up another bag of rubbish in the cellar, and finish figuring out how much Mom owes me.  Yes, that Mom task has been on my to-do list for a few days now, as I still have five or so grocery and appliance receipts to process from last year.

08:40 AM: Started my day by listening to Mike Oldfield’s  Tubular Bells (Theme from The Exorcist movie)  piece.  This is a beautifully orchestrated tune that I would have made today’s repeater song.  But at over 25 minutes long, one couldn’t repeatedly listen to it very many times, and still have enough time to get anything else done in a day.  So, I only listened to it once.  Still though, for those who have the time, this is a great repeater song. 

09:25 AM: Extended and revised the   Tom’s Views –> My New Maytag Bravos Washing Machine   piece.

12:00 PM: Shoveled and swept the sidewalks around here.  Looks like we got an inch or two of fresh snow overnight. 

01:00 PM:  I’ve called my congressmen to oppose repeal of the   Affordable Health Care Act of 2010.   I encourage all of  my friends to do the same because repealing this bill will only prolong the poor state of our health care system, and force tens of millions of people to do without health care because they can’t pay the going rates for health-related services. 

01:15 PM: Tried calling Mom on her cell phone.  No answer.  Darn, she’s hard to get hold of, and the sad thing is that she’s probably right near her phone, either sleeping or unable to reach it in time. 

01:30 PM: Arranged a ride to take me to visit Mom at the nursing facility later this week.  She’ll probably want some different clothes and some spending money.  So I’ll be sure to gather that stuff up presently. 

03:00 PM: Watched today’s episode of    The Young and the Restless   on the DVR and last night’s episode of   NBC’s Nightly News   news show as well.

04:30 PM: Watched today’s episode of   Dr. Phil,  in which the  ‘Get Real’ housewives come to his stage and interact with the live audience.  Good episode.  Now, it’s nap time.  Back later.

05:20 PM: I’m awake again and heating up some supper. 

07:00 PM: Added the 2011-01-02 issue of Promo Only’s  Express Audio Digital Audio Format (EADFF) to my music library.  37 new songs in this edition. 

07:45 PM: Sister Christine brought her son Grant’s computer to me to correct a problem she encountered while installing the AVG antivirus software package.  I’ll take a peak at it tomorrow morning. 

09:45 PM: Listened to the Penguins hockey game with [Emmy] over the phone tonight on her Internet radio.  The Pens won this contest with the Redwings, 4 to 1.   

09:50 PM: Added the 2009-07 issue of Promo Only’s Dance Radio music series to my DJ music library.

10:15 PM: Ice storm in progress outside, but I didn’t discover it until I was about half the way down our ramp and the walk surface, without warning, became very slippery.  Then, at the bottom, where the ramp meets the concrete, very smooth and clear ice (black ice) coated the entire sidewalk.  I fell and landed on my side.  My right arm took practically all the impact.  Fortunately, nothing jagged was in my path.  But when temperatures hover at around freezing, I’ll be sure to lead with a bag of salt.  This could have been very serious, but fortunately it was not this time around. 

10:50 PM: Watched tonight’s episode of   NBC’s Nightly News   on the DVR.

10:55 PM: Bed time, with a busy day on the morrow.  So take care, and look for more right back here then.  Good night. 

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

• Yellow Book telephone book.
• Weekly coupon mailer.
• Misc. banking papers.

Related Posts

• Today’s Diet: 2011-01-18
• Tom’s Views –> My New Maytag Bravos Washing Machine
• Tom’s Views –> Tubular Bells 2003 By Mike Oldfield

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.

Log

10:00 AM: We’re all up.   Today, now that I’ve got all the new music I have in my music library, I’m syncing all hard drives and performing final computer tests to make sure that the   DJ Gig: 2010-12-31  gig tonight goes without any glitches.      

01:00 PM: I went over to Sheetz and bought us all foot-long steak subs and hot chocolate for lunch.  We thought we’d fill up on some relatively decent food before going to the party tonight, so that we’re less apt to eat a lot of junk there.

03:30 PM: All music hard drives have now been populated with the new music except for one.  This drive, upon connection, started this rhythmic clicking noise, and my computer would not read it.  I think this Seagate unit is still under warranty.  But I’ll check on that next week.  Hopefully, they’ll send me a new one for free. 

05:30 PM: We’re leaving now with nephew Grant for the New Years party.  Back later.

07:00 PM:  The    DJ Gig: 2010-12-31   gig is under way.  I experienced some Winamp Media Library configuration issues that scared me a little.  When double-clicking on single songs in the library, instead of just one song being copied to the play list editor, all the songs in the library view were copied.  This made it difficult to manage the play list and to find the song I wanted to play next, as I had to scroll through lots of “noise” songs in the play list first.  But fortunately, close examination of Winamp’s Media Library settings revealed some values that had changed when I installed the latest version of Winamp a couple days ago.  I changed these back to my preferred settings and the above problem disappeared.  *Phew!*

09:00 PM: The dance floor began to fill with mostly younger folk, but curiously, they did not request as much music this year as last.  Still though, there was plenty of dancing by all.  The adults hung out in the kitchen for the most part, and it seemed that everyone had a camera.  All my sisters stopped by the “DJ Booth” to make sure that [Emmy] and [Mentat} had plenty to eat and drink, and to chat a little.  Very nice. 

10:00 PM: Noticed that music searches take noticeably longer at this gig than at previous ones; probably due to all the extra audio files I have in my collection these days.   I now have just over 92040 files, and the Winamp Media Library search engine appears to be bogging down.  Searches now take several to ten seconds to complete.  I'm used to them taking  less than a second on this computer.  Oh well, I suppose I'll have to bite the bullet in the new year and switch from Media Library over to Windows Search.  That seems much faster.  However doing this will involve writing an updated search filter DLL file that follows Windows Search communication protocols.  Unfortunately, the filter I wrote several years back for the Windows Indexing Service is not compatible with Windows Search.  The bigger my media collection becomes, the more necessary will be this effort to complete.  In the meantime however, I'll narrow the selection of watch folders I include in my Media Library index so as to exclude my old time radio shows or audio books.  I never play these at gigs anyhow, and this should shrink the number of indexed files considerably and therefore, reduce search times commensurately.   This will be especially helpful on my older and thus, slower laptop computers that I use at the gigs. 

11:50 PM: I ended the formal part of the gig with a couple slow dances and finished up with Hanson's Silent Night Medley piece.  This drew many onto the dance floor that had not been there before, although I can't take all the credit for this as people had started to gather in the dance area to watch the ball fall in Times Square. 

12:00 AM: 2011 is here! 

12:20 AM: I began an informal music session, where I took requests from mostly the adults in the room.  These mostly consisted of classic and modern rock tunes.  No more dancing though. 

01:35 AM: Mom called from the hospital to wish us all a happy new year.  She sounds better than yesterday but we still don't know much about how long they'll keep her, or if she's even going to be able to come right home after discharge.  She may have to return to the nursing facility to build back up her upper body strength. 

01:45 AM: We're all running out of steam.  So I ended all music and packed up my equipment and headed to the kitchen to socialize a little and to get one last bite of holiday food. 

02:15 AM: Well, the New Year celebration is over and we're back home.  Sister Christine and her husband drove the three of us  ([Mentat],  [Emmy],   and myself) back home.  I am very tired.   

02:45 AM: We talked fondly of the celebration that just ended.  But sleepiness is getting the best of us.  So we’re off to bed.  Happy New Year to all, and check back often, as I hope to write much more into these blogs in 2011.  Good night. 

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

None today.

Related Posts

• DJ Gig: 2010-12-31
• Today’s Diet: 2010-12-31
• Weight Loss: 2010