Tom's Diary

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.

Log

08:45 AM: I’m up. 

09:05 AM: Working the   Laptop Shuts Off: 2010-07-15   issue.

12:00 PM: Talked with [Emmy].  She’s getting ready to travel back here tomorrow.  I took a beef roast out of the freezer that we’ll likely eat on Monday.  My mouth is already watering.  Yum!

11:00 AM: Sisters Diane, Christine, and JoAnn came to clean Mom’s living areas here in the house; they vacuumed, mopped, dusted, and tidied things up.  That was great.  Then, brother-in-law Richard and I moved some furniture around for Mom and it now looks like a new place.  Well, not really, but sort of. 

03:00 PM: Listened to a Casey Kasem top 40 countdown from this month in 1979 for the past three plus hours.  Donna Summer and Anita Ward occupied the top three spots in this show (Donna Summer had two songs in the top three — Hot Stuff and Bad Girls). 

03:15 PM: [Mentat's] sister just arrived to take him home.  Good by, [Memtat].  Had a great time and I’ll see you again next month when we head to the alumni convention.    Thanks so much for visiting the past couple days. 

04:15 PM: Watched yesterday’s episode of   The Young and the Restless   on the DVR.

06:30 PM: Just got back from sister Christine’s.  Mom and I drove there for an hour or so to relax and mingle with family.  Nice.   Now, nap time.

08:30 PM: I’m up again.  I’ve missed my naps the past few days but have enjoyed the company equally.  So I’ve missed out on nothing. 

08:50 PM: Well, the camp session began today that I’ve attended traditionally but skipped this year.  I’m a little sad not being there but the decision to stay home was a good one I think. 

09:25 PM: Walked to Sheetz for some Breyer’s ice cream and noticed for the first time this year, those mid-summer buzzy evening time crickets singing in the back yard.  Yep, summer is getting on.  Talking to [Emmy] now. 

10:30 PM: Fixed Mom’s staticy phone line.  This problem has plagued us for several weeks now, and it appears to have been caused by some loose wire nuts in the basement.  So, I cleaned the connections and tightened everything up, and the static disappeared.  Hopefully it will stay away for a while. 

11:25 PM: Just got off the phone with [Emmy].  There’s been a thunderstorm brewing here for the past half hour or so.  It’s not terribly close but has produced sever deep, window-rattling rumbles.  I hope we have at least one violent thunderstorm this summer.  The past several years, the storms we’ve experienced have been rather tame.  I’d like to see just one this summer where you hear the thunder at the same time that you see the lightning.  But perhaps I should just be thankful that the weather has been as tranquil as it has. 

12:25 AM: Sister Christine called and we chatted about family matters for a half hour approximately.

01:10 AM: Posted the   How To Attract Women   piece to the   Tom’s Love Quest   blog.  While incomplete at the moment, this work hopefully conveys the supreme importance I place on honesty in all things; particularly when playing the dating game.  I’ll add more prose as the concepts become clearer and more refined in my mind. 

02:20 AM: Bed time.  Look for more right here tomorrow.  Good night.   

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

• Notice from Social Security that they need not review my case at this time.
• 1 credit card offer.  Not at this time, thanks.
• Misc. banking papers.
• Promo Only’s Urban Radio music series; the 2010-08 edition. 

Related Posts

• Laptop Shuts Off: 2010-07-15
• Today’s Diet: 2010-07-17
• Tom’s Love Quest –> How To Attract Women
• Views Revisions: 2010-07-17
• Weekly Backups: 2010-07-17
• Weight Loss: 2010

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.
• Order Mom’s meds — she’s getting low on several.   DONE.

Log

08:15 AM: I’m up.     

09:45 PM: Added the February through March, 2010 issues of Promo Only’s Country Radio music series to my DJ library. 

10:20 AM: Sent in my dues and fees for the upcoming   WPSBC Alumni Association   convention this August. 

10:45 AM: Ordered this week’s batch of prescription meds that Mom getting low on.  We’ll pick them up sometime in the next few days. 

02:15 PM: Watched today’s episode of   The Young and the Restless   on the DVR. 

03:15 PM: Added the April through June, 2010 issues of Promo Only’s Country Radio music series to my DJ library.  Now, it’s nap time.

05:45 PM: I’m back up again. 

07:55 PM: Talked to   [Ron]  just now.  He’s going to camp and I was just telling him how much I was going to miss being there with him and the crew.  He and a few others are definitely the high points of camp.  Perhaps we’ll go next year but I’m glad we took this year off. 

08:30 PM: [Mentat] called to confirm about tomorrow, and to ride me for not yet sending in my alumni convention check. 

09:15 PM: Watched tonight’s episode of   NBC’s Nightly News   on the DVR.

09:30 PM: Bleached my sheets and pillow cases tonight, in preps for [Mentat's] visit tomorrow.  They came out looking much whiter than is typical; probably because I used two cups of bleach instead of my usual one cup.  Plus, I let them soak for six hours in very warm water, and I only filled up the washer with just enough water to cover them (about a half-tub full).  I’ll have to remember this recipe the next time I do them. 

11:20 PM: Talked with [Emmy].  Told her that I spoke with [Ron] earlier about camp.    She asked about him and enjoyed hearing that he’s really looking forward to attending next week.

12:40 AM: Put the clean sheets and pillow cases back on my bed and iPodded for a little while.  Repeater songs today include:

• Dream Baby – Glenn Campbell
• Una Paloma Blanka – George Baker Selection
• I Like It [With Rap] – Enrique Iglesias with Pitbull
• The Things We Do For Love – 10cc
• Dynamite – Taio Cruz
• Telephone – Lady Gaga
• Turn Me On – Kevin Lyttle  
• Your Love Is My Drug – Ke$ha
• No Sugar Tonight – The Guess Who
• Hooray For Hazel – Tommy Roe

They’re coming out with some highly energizing music these days.

01:15 AM: Watched a bit of CNN’s AC 360 but now, I’m done for the day.  So good night, and I’ll be ready for more of life as soon as I get some rest.    Sweet dreams.   

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

• FEMA paperwork regarding our flood insurance policy.
• The Writer magazine; the 2010-07 issue.
• Bed Bath & beyond catalog.
• Credit card offer.  Not at this time, thanks.

Related Posts

• Facebook Tid Bits: 2010-07-14
• Today’s Diet: 2010-07-14
• Weight Loss: 2010

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.
• Pay all pending bills (12). DONE.

Log

07:45 AM: I’m up.  Looks like a cooler but hazy day coming up today, with high temperatures forecast to be in the low to  mid 80s.   

08:00 AM: One week from today, our friends will be going to camp.  As you know [Emmy], [Mentat], myself, and several others opted not to attend this year.  I’ll likely miss it a little; as it’s a perennial summer activity that I’ve enjoyed most every year since 1995.  But we’ll find other ways to keep busy this summer, without assaulting our diet routines to the extremes that we did when attending. 

10:40 AM: Finished paying all pending bills (12 in total this month).  Many obligations a diabetic (Mom) has. 

10:50 AM: Took the   weekly system backups.

11:00 AM: Posted the   weekly site stats   report.

11:30 AM: Finished writing checks and stuffing envelopes for all 12 pending bills. 

12:25 PM: Posted the   Bitter Sweet Attention   piece to the   Tom’s Love Quest   blog.

04:30 PM: Spent an hour plus at the pavilion with [Emmy], listening to our iPods.  Lately I haven’t been listening to Internet radio down there as much as the music that’s stored on the iPod Touch itself.  But I’m still glad that moving my WAP to the attic (getting it closer to the pavilion) and applying all the software updates enhanced WiFi reliability.  Still though, I’d love to have an outdoor WAP at the pavilion.  That would probably cover the whole yard with strong reception. 

05:45 PM: Cooked a pound of top sirloin beef steak and split it with [Emmy].  We also enjoyed some fried onions, mushrooms, and green peppers along with cherries and ginger ale.  Yum. 

09:30 PM: Downloaded Fefe Dobson’s  Fefe Dobson  album from Amazon and added it to my music library. 

12:00 AM: Sister Christine called to chat.  We talked for forty minutes. 

01:30 AM: Watched the 2010-07-05 episode of   Dr. Phil; titled  Teens Obsessed With Love   on the DVR.  Good show.  We skipped the 2010-06-29 and 2010-06-30 episodes of Dr. phil however, as these were reruns. 

01:40 AM: Time for bed now.  Good night, take care, and hopefully we’ll have another nice day tomorrow.

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

• Receipt for Mom’s specialized diabetic footwear, purchased this past April.
• Kohl’s $10 gift card.
• Life insurance offer from AARP.  Not at this time.  But thanks.
• Mom’s latest dental bill.

Related Posts

• Site Stats: 2010-07-10
• Today’s Diet: 2010-07-10
• Tom’s Love Quest –> Bitter Sweet Attention
• Weekly Backups: 2010-07-10
• Weight Loss: 2010

12:52 PM: Is Max and Erma’s still on Lyons Road (or just off of it)? It’s been years since I’ve visited [the south Dayton area, though I lived there for over nine years].

03:24 PM: Hey Mel. How’s it going? You ready to return to camp yet? We miss you. It’s not been the same without you.

05:23 PM: Hey there, [Ann]. It’s been a while. Are you attending the alumni convention this summer? I’ll be there. I must give my treasurer’s report after all.

05:32 PM: Wished niece Catie good luck at her recital performance later this evening.

08:03 PM: Of course. So the question becomes: What’s your true color of your hair? This, or the blonde?

08:15 PM: Cool! The color you’ve chosen  works well for you.

10:59 PM: I enjoyed a light yet very warm day of activity. He wrote around 1200 words, iPodded at his pavilion, went grocery shopping, visited sisters, caught up on email, ate handfuls of mulberries which are just now coming into season, admined his blog sites and was thrilled at the continued increases in bandwidth, and tinkered… with ways of getting his documents indexed faster by search engines. No solution for that found however.

11:13 PM: [Commenting on a picture taken of the Israeli sea side that a friend posted.] Hmmm. No wonder both the Palestinians and Israelis fight so hard to stay there. This is beautiful.

11:30 PM: I like this picture [an old college friend posted recently]. It’s so Garthian.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2010-06-12

[Mentat asked if I'd be gong to camp this year of 2010.  I responded as follows:]

Dear   [Mentat],

Well,   [Jack]   is skipping out this year to conserve money for the foot parties.  Further, I think he’s disenchanted with camp, like me.  They’ve cut out so much since I resumed attending in 1995, that there are very few activities available anymore that I enjoy.  They don’t do the ten- or twenty-mile hikes anymore, and this year, they’ve shortened the sessions by a day (to ten days, down from  eleven), and omitted a session besides.  This means that our session will likely be very crowded, and with the faulty PA system there, I don’t relish the dining room noise at mealtimes when so many campers attend.  It’s hard to hear announcements about the activities. 

So nope.  I’m not going this year.

Tom

Related Posts

• Bad Food At Camp
• Camp Fatigue: 2010
• Perhaps No Camp This Year
• Today’s Business: 2010-01-06
• Today’s Business: 2010-01-10
• Today’s Business: 2010-03-14
• Tom’s Love Quest: No Romance Lately At Camp

Today’s planned activities include:

• Cat duty.  DONE.
• Dispense Mom’s meds. DONE. 
• Shower. DONE.
• Fill out and Return all requested forms to the financial planner.

08:30 AM: I just rolled out of bed. 

11:30 AM: Extensively revised the    No Romance Lately at Camp   post.

12:30 PM: [Jack] called to say that he had a wonderful time at last weekend’s foot party and to tell me all about it.  Then he and I chatted for a while about camp and the rumoured changes they’re making this year to the session schedules. I told  [Jack]   of my misgivings about attending this year, and he understood.  In fact, he confessed that he’s had similar qualms about going in past years, though he’s never backed out of attending, at least not yet.  He said that [Emmy]  and I would be missed if we choose to stay home.  Nice. 

03:00 PM: Worked the   Christmas Lighting: 2009   project.  Yep, it’s time to take down all those strings of lights, and so, I began   that   part of the effort this afternoon.

03:55 PM: Received mail today includes the following items:

• Mom’s checking account bank statement
• Coupon mailer
• Confirmation that my recent funds transfer indeed happened as arranged

07:30 PM: From the DVR, I watched episodes of the following shows: 

• The Young and the Restless,  today’s episode  
• Dr. Phil,  today’s episode
• 60 Minutes, the 2009-11-22 episode

08:20 PM: Created audio journal episode:   AJE-2010-01-12-20-05   on the Victor Reader Stream, where I discussed talking to [Jack] today (mentioned above), and his telling me that [Elsee] has posted some of the private messages I’d sent to her, to the main board.  This troubled me, and I plan on writing a piece on it on the   Tom’s Love Quest   blog.  To see it once it’s finished, click   here.   

10:30 PM: Talked with   [Emmy].

10:35 PM: Started transcribing audio journal episode:  AJE-2010-01-12-20-05,   on  Elsee’s Betrayal.

01:30 AM: Posted the   Elsee’s Betrayal   piece to the   Tom’s Love Quest   blog.

01:35 AM: Finished transcribing audio journal episode:   AJE-2010-01-12-20-05,   on   Elsee’s Betrayal. 

01:32 AM: Okay, I’m all written out for today.  So I’m leaving for nine hours or so.  So take care, and I’ll see you when I return.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Christmas Lighting: 2009
• Mom’s Status: 2010-01-12
• Tom’s Love Quest: Elsee’s Betrayal
• Tom’s Love Quest: No Romance Lately At Camp

From audio journal episode:  AJE-2010-01-09-14-11. 

Every year at this time, as mentioned previously, I attempt to identify activities that do not seem to be getting me where I wish to be, and then, setting out to change or stop them.  What I’m considering today is my yearly attendance at camp Beacon Lodge; that place that brings to mind great memories of times past, spent there as a boy, as well as some not-so-great ones I experienced as an adult.

In fact, over the last few years I’ve been undecided about attending, at least until the camp sign-up forms come out each February.  Even after filling them out and sending them, I sometimes regret parting with the registration fee. 

True, up until now, I almost always ended up going, and who knows?  I may still go this year too.  But the real passion to go, the desire that starts me to pining for camp in May or June, and saying, “Oh man, I’m really looking forward to it this year,” that desire’s been weak.  To understand why, I’ll go back to the beginning and recall why I started going to camp in the first place, you know, to figure out if it really did for me what I hoped it would back then.  Does camp continue to do so?  Or, has it failed to meet my hopes and expectations lately?  Yes, lately, camp has failed in many regards.  So the question is: Will I spend latter July there again this year, despite my growing dissatisfaction?  My answer: I don’t know yet.  So to figure it out, I shall, in the posts listed below, brainstorm the issue and hopefully find certitude in one answer or the other. 

Some reasons for not going that come to mind are:

• Too much bad food
• Too little romance
• Too few activities that interest me

See the links above for more details on each concern.

Plus,   [Emmy]   says that she might not go either. So, I don’t know.  We’ll keep mulling this over and should have a definite decision by next month, when they mail out the sign-up forms.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Bad Food At Camp
• Camp Fatigue: 2010
• Definitely No Camp: 2010
• Perhaps No Camp This Year
• Today’s Business: 2010-01-06
• Today’s Business: 2010-01-10
• Today’s Business: 2010-03-14
• Tom’s Love Quest: No Romance Lately At Camp

From audio journal episode:  AJE-2010-01-09-14-11. 

As this new year came in, out went my certainty about going to camp this summer.  What’s weakened my resolve to attend is this:  Last year, I was doing pretty well on my diet as summer arrived.  Then, I went to camp.  Indeed, the food they serve is not part of my normal dietary fare; consisting of lots of refined carbs; specifically, white flour.  They offer white flour-based courses at nearly every meal that have lots of added sugar as well.  So when I go there, I gain lots of weight as a result.  I eat way too much, and I’m sure that part of the reason for my gluttony is the presence of these refined carbs and empty calories. 

I’ve tried in vane to avoid these foods by taking my own healthier dishes.  I remember one year we took all kinds of nuts, dried fruits, sardines, anchovies, and cans of soup as well; the Campbell’s Chunky variety.  But still, I was unable to resist “the bad stuff,” though that year, I gained only five pounds, whereas other times, when I took no “better” food, I gained eight to ten pounds.  Taking my own food curbed, but did not completely avert my perennial tendency to pack on the pounds at camp.

Yes, history shows that keeping on a healthful diet is hard to manage at camp, not only because the food is not normally what I eat, but also because everyone else there is eating it. This encourages me to jump off “the wagon”.  There’s ritual.  There’s activity.  There’s socialization that goes on in the dining room at mealtime.  So to proclaim that, well, I’m just not going to go there and eat that food, turns out to be futile.  You know, that’s cutting out quite a bit of the fun of the camp experience.  So, excising all meals and eating only the food I brought is just not doable.  I often affirm on the first day that I’ll only eat at the dining hall one or two meals per day, and eat my own stuff otherwise.  But like most New Years resolutions, I typically end up forgetting that, and attending all three camp meals daily.  If I don’t go, then I’m just hanging out by myself while everyone else is talking, laughing, enjoying the taste of the food, and having one hell of a good time in the dining room.  Despite the noise, it’s fun to sit around the table with friends, laughing, debating, and interacting in general.  The dining room is a place where people connect and share at camp.  But it’s also the place where I get into big trouble when it comes to keeping my weight down.

Now if it were just the issue of gaining eight pounds each summer, I’d probably just shrug my shoulders, suck it up, and accept this as part of the normal camp phenomenon.  After all, most people who go also gain weight, and besides, I can come home afterwards and lose it again in a month or so.  Or can I?  In fact, it’s surprisingly difficult to get back on the same track of healthy eating in the weeks that follow that I was so firmly planted on prior to camp.  Sometimes several months go by before I get the new pounds off, and get back on “the good foot” in terms of my diet.  Historically and sadly for me, camp wrecks the rituals and practices that I so meticulously establish here at home during the first half of the year.  Indeed, it’s quite challenging to simply resume those rituals immediately after check-out on the day of departure.  As I said, it can take me three or more months to wean myself off of refined carbs again, that I get so used to consuming at camp. Thus, I’m worried about attending because I fear that, as in years past, I’ll regain much of the weight that I’ll spent the first half of this new year struggling to lose.  I would have lost 14 pounds total last year, instead of the 6 I actually managed, perhaps, if not for camp.

Now I don’t mean to say that camp is the only place where I screw up my diet.  But it’s one place where I goof it up the most.  If we visualize the entire collection of my dietary mishaps as a large tree, camp would be a huge branch on that tree that really needs to be pruned, and I’m thinking now that maybe this year, I should whack it off, and just not attend. 

I won’t declare that I’ll never go to camp again, because maybe I just need a year or two off.  You know, there are lots of folks who don’t attend, every year. Some come every other year while others stay away for three to five years at a stretch.    I might just need a break. 

Will I actually take it?  Stand by to find out.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Bad Food At Camp
• Camp Fatigue: 2010
• Definitely No Camp: 2010
• Perhaps No Camp This Year
• Today’s Business: 2010-01-06
• Today’s Business: 2010-01-10
• Today’s Business: 2010-03-14
• Tom’s Love Quest: No Romance Lately At Camp

Today’s Activities

• Cat duty.  DONE.
• Dispensing Mom’s meds. DONE.
• Shower. DONE.
• Send out five pending memorial checks for the   WPSBC Alumni Association.
• Pay all pending bills.  IN PROGRESS,
• Fill out and Return all requested forms to the financial planner.
• Go grocery shopping.  DONE.

Log 

08:45 AM: I’m up. My current weight is unchanged from yesterday, at 181.5 pounds.

08:55 AM: Sister Mary Ann just emailed me to say that she’d be visiting us this coming Monday, arriving at around noon.

09:30 AM: Swept all sidewalks and ramp; we got a dusting of snow overnight.

10:10 AM: Leaving for our weekly shopping trip with sister Jojo.

02:30 PM: We’re home again, and I’m putting things away and documenting the   shopping trip   now.

02:55 PM: Taking a nap.  Stand by.

06:15 PM: I’m back up again.  Mail received today follows:

• An offer from Verizon for their DSL high-speed Internet and DIRECTV package for $70 a month for the first six months, then $94.99 a month for the next six months.  I’ve torn up so many of these, I can’t even count.
• Income statements (W2s) for 2009.
• A packet from some church in Oklahoma, inviting us to order a metal cross from them, as well as to send them any prayer requests.
• A bank statement from one of my checking accounts.
• Home telephone bills (Mom’s and mine).

06:45 PM: Posted the    Uncle Jack Sargent Died   piece.   I just found out today from Aunt Joan that Jack died on January 5th, 2006.

07:30 PM: Processed all pending grocery receipts.

07:55 PM: Posted the   Shopping Trip: 2009-12-23b   piece.

09:15 PM: Spent the last hour plus in contemplation, on my favorite bedroom rocking chair. 

11:40 PM: Talked with   [Emmy].  We’re discussing if we will in fact, attend camp this year.  In past years, our YES answer came so easily and without reservation.  This year though, the both of us are quite reserved about going, fearing that we’ll screw up our diets if we attend.  Well, we’ll continue discussing it until next month, when the forms for signing up arrive. 

01:10 AM: Fixed a bug on the   Recent Revisions Page,  that caused posts added or revised more than twenty-four hours ago to be displayed.  [Emmy]  mentioned tonight that she thought that duplicate posts were showing up from day to day in this list, that had not actually been changed during the last day, and in fact, sometimes, one would expect see the same post over several days appearing if I revise it multiple times over that same period.  However, posts that I last changed nearly two days ago appeared, erroneously, due to an apparent bug in the PHP function strtotime(), that incorrectly computes the current time minus 24 hours.  So I rewrote the code for the   Recent Revisions Page  so it no longer relies on this function, and things appear to be working correctly on that page now.  This fix has been applied to all my blogs. 

01:20 AM: Posted the list of changed or or added posts from this blog,  here.

01:25 AM: Posted the list of additions and revisions to the   Tom’s Love Quest   blog,   here. 

01:55 AM: My heavy eyelids are telling me that this day needs to be over now.  So, I’m going to bed.  *Yawn*   Good day, it was too.  Good day.  Hope yours was equally as fun.  Take care, friends, and I’ll catch you right here again later. 

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Diary Revisions: 2010-01-08
• Mom’s Status: 2010-01-08
• Recent Revisions Page
• Shopping Trip: 2009-12-23b
• Shopping Trip: 2010-01-08
• Tom’s Love Quest: Quest Revisions: 2010-01-08
• Uncle Jack Sargent Died

Dear [Mentat],

[Emmy]   and I are unsure if we’re attending camp Beacon Lodge this year.  With so much unhealthy food and refined carbs there, and so little good stuff around, it’s all too easy to pack on the pounds, and all too hard to get them off again afterwards.  We’ve found that it can take months after camp ends, to re establish the good eating practices we had before going.  In fact, we’re still recovering from last summer.  But we’ll know for sure if we’re going by the time the camp papers come out in February. 

We’ll probably be there; as long as we can devise a way to bring plenty of our own preferred foods with us. It’d be pretty hard not to attend, knowing that so many of our friends are going.  Since that’s the only time we get to see most of them, I expect that we’ll put aside our health concerns, and go.  We’ll see.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Bad Food At Camp
• Camp Fatigue: 2010
• Definitely No Camp: 2010
• Perhaps No Camp This Year
• Today’s Business: 2010-01-06
• Today’s Business: 2010-03-14