morrowlife

Here’s Your Humble and Obedient Blogger just before being brutally fried by his son. Note how Andy remained in the shadows to try to escape being recognized. Fortunately, I got better. Great Art courtesy of Joanne’s exclusive iPhone-cam, taken at the Mob Museum last Christmas Eve (I think), and part of my famous Electronics, Las Vegas, and Machinery series.

It’s been a pretty good few weeks since I last wrote. Joanne and I just got home from Temecula, California. We spent the weekend there to do a bit of wine tasting and attend a wonderful concert. Gerald Albright and Jeffrey Osborne performed. Gerald was very good and Jeffrey was amazing! Go see him if you get a chance, Loyal Readers. He was full of energy, his music catalog is excellent, his performance was spectacular, and it was a beautiful evening. Really, go see him.

Let’s see, what else has been going on? Ryan spent a couple weeks at Joanne’s place. He came out to celebrate his birthday. It was great having him here! He’s really a great guy. Get to know him, Loyal Readers!

I’ve had a few more flights in the glider. I’m starting to get slightly competent as a pilot! I think I’ll get it figured out before too much longer. My next flight is Wednesday of this week.

This coming weekend is one I’ve been preparing for the past eighteen months. On August 2nd, it will be eighteen months since Shannon’s death and the date the children and I go to Clarks Fork and scatter her ashes. It’s a bit difficult for me to finally let go of her remains. But it needs to be done. I need to let her go. We all need to let her go. We need to keep her in our hearts and our thoughts and our memories. We need to talk about her and think about her. We need to keep loving the alive Shannon and let the dead Shannon go in peace.

I’m looking forward to being with all the kids. Joanne has gotten us a beautiful place to stay in Angels Camp. That’s so kind of her. She opted not to go with us, which I’m sorry about and which I understand completely.

Anyway. I expect it to be an emotional weekend.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: video game-playing chimp!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s a reminder of why I don’t eat at Denny’s anymore. This is a piece of apple pie exactly as it was delivered to Joanne the recent evening we decided to abandon my principles and try Denny’s again. Doesn’t that look appetizing? Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken late in the evening on March 14 at a Denny’s in Henderson, NV, and part of my famous Food, Joanne, and Las Vegas series.

Not pictured above: my hot fudge sundae. That was so disgusting I had to send it back. I have no idea what they did to that hot fudge, but I could not eat it, no matter how hard I tried. I finally decided to stop trying.

On to more pleasant subjects. My, it’s been a long time since I posted, once again. In fact, it’s been exactly one month. Lots of things have been happening, as my Loyal Readers might expect. Let’s see if we can recap a few of them, shall we?

I had a torn and partially detached retina repaired early this month. My eye had gotten a large floater while I was in Florida for the AAFS conference and I finally decided to go to my optometrist’s office and have it checked out. He detected something wrong and got me an appointment with a nearby opthomologist early the next morning. That guy discovered the problem and zapped it with his handy laser. It seems to have worked well. The zapping hurt some, but I gritted my teeth and dealt with it. The floater is still there and affecting my vision, but I hope it will settle over the next few months.

On the day of my eye surgery, Joanne and I went to San Francisco to see the Chinese New Year parade. Katy, Cliff, and Mia joined us, of course. It was fun and very interesting. We got great grandstand seats and were very close to the street. We stayed at a downtown hotel that allowed us to walk to the parade, which was nice. We also rode a cable car down to the Pier 39 area and walked around there a bit, which was nice. The afternoon of our last day, we went over to Katy’s place and hung around for a few hours. I always like visiting them. I love those guys!

Joanne decided she was ready to move out of her great big house into a lower-maintenance, lower-cost condo. She put the house on the market for a nice high price and had it under contract two days later. The sale closed yesterday. In the meantime, we went and looked at a couple condos and found what we both think is a really nice place. It’s in Green Valley, which is right where she wanted to be. It’s relatively small, but it has a very big feel. She’s been there for about a week now and we both love it. Corey has moved with her and Ryan opted to go back to the Bay Area. He left during the weekend.

We’ve been working pretty hard (especially Ryan!) the past couple of weeks to get the house ready to sell, get rid of stuff that isn’t needed and won’t fit in the new place, fix things that needed attention before the handover, and move her things. There’s still some work needed – hanging pictures comes immediately to mind – but she’s basically done. I’m convinced she’ll be as happy with her newly downsized home as I am with mine.

I recently discovered that the Best in the Desert off-road racing organizer is here in Las Vegas. I volunteered to help at the Mint 400 technical inspection a week or so ago. It was a fun but exhausting day. I was basically directing traffic. Every one of the racing trucks came right by me. I love racers! The hand-built tech reminds me a bit of launch vehicles and spacecraft. I’m hoping to get more involved with the BITD people in the future.

And that pretty much brings us up to today. Life is good and filled with love. Just the way I like it.

I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: massive maple syrup spill!

See you tomorrow.

Here are Joanne and a new friend at Treasure Island the other night. He’s out in front of one of the restaurants there – Gilley’s, to be specific. The whole casino is sea- and island-themed. And then there’s Gilley’s. Why a country/western-themed restaurant in a nautical/pirate themed casino, I don’t know. We didn’t go inside the restaurant, so Joanne didn’t have an opportunity to ride the mechanical bull She doesn’t seem to have missed it. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam and part of my famous Joanne, Las Vegas, and Statue series.

I’m not sure I would want to play that slot machine. It’s just a bit too lifelike for me, I think.

Had a busy day. I got some work done! There’s lots more to get to,mouth I made a bit of progress on preparing for the February conference. It’s just a bit more than a month away!

Mark’s feeling sick today. He woke up very sick to his stomach and continues to have a very hard time of it. He’s finally having a few okay moments this evening. I’m hopeful!

Mark wasn’t sure he could handle the smell of cooking food this evening, so I had cereal for dinner. I complemented my Rice Krispies with a delicious banana. I’m thinking of adding a cup of tea as a nightcap.

The battery on my iPad is getting a bit low, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: wedding buffet pork pie fight!

See you tomorrow.

Here are Andy and Mark playing KISS miniature golf, standing in front of a giant guitar. I don’t exactly remember how we found out about KISS mini-golf, but I’m certainly glad we did. The course is indoors in a building near the strip that also features some KISS (and many other bands) memorabilia – clothes, signed album covers, and even an old Porsche. Also the awesomest wedding chapel ever. Pretty much the whole place is lit with black lights, except the gift shop. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken a few days ago at the KISS mini-golf center in Las Vegas, and part of my famous Las Vegas, Machinery, and Statue series.

I contend that that giant guitar counts as both machinery and a statue. As usual, Loyal Readers are free to disagree in their own blogs.

It’s 2015! We had a great New Year’s Eve celebration! We went with 18 friends to the Westgate Hotel (the former Las Vegas Hilton) for dinner at Benihana and then an “old school” New Year’s Eve party. Our organizer told us the “old school” designation referred to 50s and 60s music, which I thought would be fun.

Turns out she was wrong. In reality, it referred to “old school” hip-hop music. That worked out to be way better. I recognized a few songs from the 70s and 80s, but most were more recent than that and therefore quite unfamiliar to me. I loved it all! I had no idea I was such a fan of old school hip-hop music. The crowd was fun, the music was great, the DJ was very entertaining, our table was close to the stage and dance floor, and we generally had a wonderful time of it.

Most of us snuck away to go see the midnight fireworks show on the strip. Apparently, seven or eight of the big hotels set off identical fireworks shows from their roofs simultaneously. We could only see three of them from our window, but it was amazing! Highly recommended.

Joanne and I spent the day together today, right up until just a few minutes ago. We didn’t do all that much; after a late start, we came over to my house, made a nice breakfast together, played several Wii games (we both won a few, which worked out well!), sat and chatted, made dinner together, ate dinner together (along with Mark), and then bid a fond farewell so Joanne could get her beauty rest before work tomorrow.

Plus, she has to pack this evening or tomorrow morning for our weekend trip to Denver. The plane leaves at 6:45 tomorrow afternoon, leaving her very little time to catch it after work. I, on the other hand, am planning a somewhat more leisurely day.

I hadn’t played on my Wii for quite some time. When I bought my TiVo, I had to unplug the Wii from my TV because it could only handle a single analog input. A few days ago, I ordered a Wii HDMI converter. It arrived yesterday, so I reinstalled the Wii today. It’s fun, although we only have Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. That’s been plenty of entertainment for me. I wish we had a Mario Brothers game, though. I don’t even know if they have one for the Wii.

I recently read an article by Leo Babauta, who writes the excellent Zen Habits website. Leo frequently writes about living a life free of goals. Rather, he emphasizes mindfulness and the establishment of habits. At first, I had a hard time seeing the difference, but I think I’m starting to get it. Living without goals and to-do lists doesn’t mean you excuse yourself from keeping commitments and completing things. Rather, it means (to me at least), you establish patterns in your life that result in accomplishing what you need and want to do, on time and under budget, without undue stress.

With that in mind, I am not making any resolutions (not that I ever really did), but I do have a few habits I hope to establish this year. Let’s look at my initial list, shall we?

Exercising regularly and early – My desire is to lift weights Monday through Friday, take a nice long walk on Saturday, and take Sundays off. I want to go to the gym at about 8:00 M-F. I appear to naturally wake up at about 7:00, so my current life without an alarm clock won’t be affected by this. Joanne drives to work at about that time, so I would like to chat with her on the phone during my drive to the gym. I have gotten a heart monitor and MVP account on MapMyFitness (thanks, Andy!) to optimize my workouts – and for the entertainment value, truth be told.

Writing daily – I love writing. I would like to improve my skills and perhaps even find a niche where I could grow an audience. I think that starts with writing every day, either here or on a different website that’s accessible to the public. I want to make essentially everything I write public. I would like to publish an article on this website every weekday and on my other websites on a regular schedule.

Reading meaningful content daily – I have always been an avid reader. I spend a large amount of time reading now, but I would like to make my reading more meaningful. To that end, I would like to seek out excellent books, both new and old, and fill my reading time with them. I also want to keep up with the news and other entertaining content, but I don’t want that to take up so much of my reading time that the good stuff gets forced out.

Eating well and in moderation – I would like to make and eat excellent food and to eat it in quantities consistent with good health and a sustained weight of about 180-190 pounds. While I love eating out on a regular basis, I would like to eat excellent food in reasonable portions in restaurants too. I would like to eat only when I’m hungry and stop when I’m not hungry anymore.

Beautifying and simplifying my environment – I love my home. I love the quiet, peaceful feeling here. I love much of the artwork and furnishings. I want to continually beautify my home and yard and continually simplify them as well, getting rid of things I don’t want or need. This will reduce the expense and effort required to maintain my household, make my environment feel more spacious and elegant, and give me an enhanced sense of peace and happiness.

Learning to meditate – I want to learn what it means to be mindful. To that end, I want to learn how to effectively meditate. I believe this practice will give me increased peace.

These habits can’t all be successfully established at once, so I’m going to take them one at a time. I’m starting with exercising regularly and early. I went to the gym yesterday at about 8:00 and I’m going to do that again tomorrow. After I’ve been doing that successfully for a month or so, I’ll pick another habit and work on it until I’m doing it successfully too. I feel a strong desire to establish all these habits right away, so it’s going to be difficult to not try to do too much too soon. I’ll work to stay focused on one thing at a time.

Anyway, that’s my plan for this year, or at least the first half of the year. More habits to come as these get mastered.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: incorrect hamburger order shooting!

See you tomorrow.

Here are some ancient Egyptian cows doing a bit of plowing. They seem a bit ineffective up there on a platform above all the plants and weeds, but who am I to criticize ancient Egyptian farming methods? Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken at the Luxor hotel and casino in fabulous Las Vegas, and part of my famous Las Vegas and Machinery series.

I think we can all agree that an ancient Egyptian plow is machinery, no?

Had a good few days since I last posted. Let’s see if we can remember what’s been going on, shall we? Joanne and I went over to the Luxor yesterday afternoon, hung around their pool (which was freezing) and their jacuzzi (which was about the temperature their pool should have been) and had a delicious sushi dinner at one of their restaurants. We walked around their shops, did some browsing in one or two stores, made our way to Mandalay Bay and back, and generally had a nice time.

Monday, Joanne came over and I acted as sous chef for her creation of her family’s traditional spaghetti dinner. It was excellent! We added a very fancy tossed salad, Italian bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and Italian blood orange soda. She had earlier helped me cut up a little watermelon with the intention of eating it with dinner. We forgot it, so there’s a lot of cut-up watermelon in the fridge right now. Help me, Mark!

On Sunday, Mark and I went to Laura’s house for a combination Melanie’s birthday/my birthday/Father’s Day dinner. It was delicious and the company was excellent. We had a very nice time. Thanks, Laura and Tyson! Thanks, everybody else who contributed! Which didn’t necessarily include me.

Saturday, Joanne and I went with the Dining and Vining meetup group to a Japanese restaurant for their hibachi dinner. The food was excellent and the chef was very entertaining. The only fly in the ointment was that it took a total of about four hours to eat the meal. The service was so ludicrously slow that it came fairly close to ruining the experience for several people. However, the company was great and we managed to have a fun time anyway.

And that brings us to today. I need to go to bed right away because Mark and I are heading to Park City tomorrow morning! I’m looking forward to the beginning of my epic trip. I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that I’ve changed from driving the whole way to flying. I looked at the cost and it appears that flying and renting a car in Michigan will be slightly cheaper than driving, so that’s what I’m doing. Mark and I will take the Taurus to Park City for the reunion, as planned. He’ll drive it home and I’ll hitch a ride to Denver with Andy and Heather. After a two-day stay, during which I expect to see Katy, Cliff, and Mia, I’ll take the Super Shuttle over to the Denver airport and fly to Detroit. At the end, I’ll fly home, where Joanne will pick me up and spend the day with me. While I was kind of looking forward to the road trip (and, indeed, that was originally the whole point of the trip!), I’m happy with the way it’s turning out. I’ll enjoy being with family and Mark and I will have tomorrow’s drive together. Wish me luck, Loyal Readers!

Not a whole lot more to tell tonight and, as mentioned previously, I need to get to sleep before my long, long drive tomorrow, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: 76,000 pounds of beef ribs burn in Ludlow big rig fire!

See you tomorrow.