Message 1139

I forgot to mention yesterday that I worked some more on my memoirs on Monday. Last night I watched a Netflix DVD of a movie called Towelhead. It was a coming of age story of a 13-year-old girl who was half American and half Arab who had a troubled home life. It dealt also with racial prejudices, not only against Muslims but also against blacks. The whole cast was new to me, but they were all good. I give it four stars. I feel good today.

Message 1138

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s message that I finished reading The Economist on Sunday. Last night I watched a Netflix DVD of the movie Winter’s Bone. It was a pretty grim story about Missouri hillbillies living hardscrabble lives. The main character is a 17-year- old girl who has dropped out of school to take care of her little brother and sister and her mother (who has become mentally incompetent) because her father has disappeared to cook meth. The sheriff comes to say that the father has jumped bail and can’t be found and that he signed over all their property as part of his bail. If he doesn’t appear in court next week the family will have to move out of their house. The daughter then spends the movie trying to find her father and in the process disturbs all the other hillbillies who think she will snitch to the cops about every ones’ involvement with meth. Despite its downer flavor, it has a somewhat happy ending. The photography and acting are very good, but because of the grim subject I give it only 3 stars. I feel good today.

Message 1137

Yesterday afternoon I went to a Cul-de-Sac get together on Middle Court that was organized by Mary Solomon and her next door neighbor. Herb Stickles was there. He is the man from Hewlett Packard that we sold our house to. He is retired now and is considering moving to Menlo Commons. All the other people were new, and there were lots of little kids. Eddie Solomon was in pretty good shape. He had just taken one of his pills, so he was getting around pretty well. Justine was there with her husband and 9-month-old son, who has some red in his hair. It was fun to talk to the people I knew and to meet the new people. The snacks were good too. It was supposed to be from 4:30 to 6 PM, but I was the second person to leave at 6:30. In the evening I read some more on my Kindle and watched the news about the hurricane damage on the East coast. I feel good today. I just took my blood pressure and got 124/77 with a hart rate of 61, which are good numbers.

Message 1136

Yesterday Josh brought food from Boston Market and watched the pre-season game between the 49ers and Houston Texans with me. Except for the first play of the game, the 49ers looked terrible. I never saw so many empty seats at a 49er game. The fans must either be bored with pre season, or they were afraid of all the fighting in the stands at the previous week’s game. After the game we watched the Giants game against the Houston Astros, which the Giants eventually won in extra innings. Houston supplied the competition for San Francisco in both sports yesterday.

After the game Larry and Judi invited me to go to a movie with them. We saw Sarah’s Key, which was about the French collaboration with the Nazi’s in rounding up Jews to be exterminated. I must be getting weary of all the

Message 1134

Yesterday Julian brought Annie over for about 45 minutes while he went to a doctor’s appointment. Afterwards they drove up to Bear Valley to spend a couple of days. Last night I watched a Netflix DVD of the movie The Social Network. I thought it was very well done. I give it 4 stars. I feel good today.

Message 1135

Yesterday I got a call from my dermatologist’s nurse that the biopsy results showed that the thing on my hand is not a melanoma but is a squamous cell carcinoma. She will call me again next week to come in for treatment. Last night I went out to dinner with the Morrills and Ariagnos. We went to Sultanas and I had my usual salmon and Greek salad. There were no good movies showing in the theaters that the others had not seen, so I brought along some DVDs and they selected Miller’s Crossing, a Coen brothers movie. Judi had made a fresh peach pie, so we ate that after the movie. I got home in time to watch Charlie Rose. I feel good today.

Message 1132

Yesterday I had an appointment with my dermatologist. She froze a few spots and carved off the thing on my hand. She did not think it was melanoma, but she is having it biopsied. She will call with the results in a few days. Last night I watched a Netflix DVD called Casino Jack and the United States of Money. It was a documentary about Jack Abramoff and others involved in the lobbying scandals early in the Bush 43 first term. I have been watching a lot of documentaries lately. It was very good. I learned a lot of things I did not know. I give it 4 stars. I feel good today.

Message 1133

I just got back from having breakfast with Reggie at Heidi’s Pies. Note that I have added Alex to the distribution list at Ethan’s request. Last night I had dinner at El Cerrito with Julian and Annie. They enjoyed their two days at Disney Land. Now they are going up to the mountains for a couple of days. I feel good today.

My neighbor across the hall, Bill Steele, has come down with prostate cancer and had to move to a nursing home. Because he was the contact I gave you for how to check on me if you do not get a daily message from me, I have asked Val Smith, who works at Menlo Commons, to take over Bill’s role. His number is 650-854-2100. He is here five days a week, but you can call him anytime, if necessary.

Message 1131

Yesterday I watched a Netflix DVD of the movie The Nazi Officer’s Wife. It was a documentary about the life of a Jewish woman in Austria and Germany during World War 2. She survives and has a child in spite of great difficulties. I give it 4 stars. I like true stories. I am just about to take a shower to get ready for my appointment this afternoon with my dermatologist. I feel good today.

Message 1130

I finished reading The Economist yesterday. For dinner Larry and Judi invited me to go to Jeffrey’s with them so I had a bacon cheeseburger and a milk shake. Last night I watched a documentary on the life of William Kunstler on PBS World. It was very interesting. The regular PBS channel is only doing fund raisers. I feel good today. I just measured my blood pressure. It is 129/70 with a heart rate of 67, which are good numbers.

Message 1129

Yesterday Julian and Annie came over and watched the first half of the preseason game between the 49ers and the Raiders. Joshua also came at the end of the first quarter and brought subway sandwiches and pizza for all, but he stayed for the whole game. The 49ers won, but it was only preseason. I also read over half of The Economist that came on Friday. I feel good today and have completely recovered fro missing a night’s sleep.

Message 1128

I have now caught up from the night’s sleep that I missed.What an ordeal that was. Now I am going to give up on trying to get rid of the catheter. I just took my blood pressure and it is 104/64 with a heart rate of 65. These are good numbers. I feel good today.

Message 1127

Yesterday afternoon I had an appointment with my urologist. I asked his opinion on my resuming self catheterization. and he said it would be fine, but for me to come in right away if I had any trouble. I had big trouble last night, so I went in this morning and had the nurse replace my catheter. The trouble was that I had so much pain that I could not sleep. I had to get up every few minutes to urinate, but only about 30-ml would come out. By morning I even vomited. It felt so good to be able to sleep again, I went right to bed and only now have gotten up. Before I went to bed last night I watched a DVD of the movie Inside job. It was a documentary about the 2008 financial collapse. It was extremely well done. I give it 5 stars. Now that I have been able to sleep I feel good again.

Message 1126

I just got back from having breakfast with Reggie at Heidi’s Pies. Vanessa could not make it today because she is getting ready to leave for England tomorrow with Beech for a vacation. Yesterday I finished reading The Economist, which kept me occupied so I did not have a chance to read any more on my Kindle. I did manage to take a shower though. I feel good today.

Message 1125

Yesterday I read some more on my Kindle. In the evening Joshua brought in Pizza, and we watched the Giants lose another one-run game in extra innings. After he left I watched a Netflix DVD called Picnic at Hanging Rock. I was an Australian movie based on a true story that happened in 1900 in which 3 girls about 13 years old from a boarding school disappear from a class outing and are never seen again. It is a mystery what happens to them, but the movie turns out to be boring because it is never clear what is going on. I give it 2 stars. For some reason The Economist came yesterday instead of last Friday, so I started reading it and got about half way through it. I feel good again today.

Message 1124

I realized yesterday that I have messed up the numbers on some of these messages, but I am trying now to get back on track. Yesterday I met Annie at McDonalds in Redwood City and let her play in the kids section while Vanessa went to the doctor. Annie had a ball and ate all of her chicken nuggets and drank most of her chocolate milk. I downloaded three more Neal Stephenson books on my Kindle. They are a series. The first one is called Quicksilver, and I read it a few years ago, but it is worth rereading, so I have started with it. I feel good today.

Message 1123

Yesterday Joshua brought over Subway sandwiches for my birthday lunch. He is back from his trip to Amsterdam and his string of Phish concerts, so he is back at work today after two weeks away. Yesterday I watched a Netflix DVD of the movie The Sixth Sense. In spite of having a good cast I thought the concept was absurd so I give it only one star. In the evening I finished reading the new Wilbur Smith book Those in Peril on my Kindle. It was about Muslim pirates in Africa, and was fun to read. I feel good today.

Message 1114

I met Helen and Jim at Starbuck’s yesterday. It was nice to see them again after missing them for a few weeks. In the afternoon I did a load of laundry. For the rest of the day I read some more of my Wilbur Smith book on my Kindle. Because there is no Charlie Rose on Saturday, I turned in early and had a good sleep. I feel good today. I just measured my blood pressure, and it was 130/75 with a heart rate of 67, which I all pretty good.

Message 1113

I had a good birthday yesterday. Vanessa took me to lunch, then to Beech’s art class to se his painting, then To Annie’s school to see her and her teachers and classmates. Jason and their girls took me to Ten Fu for dinner, then I went to a movie with Larry and Judi. We saw Final Destination 5. I was terrible. I give it zero stars. It was nothing but violence and gore. I feel good today.

Message 1122

Beech and Annie and Vanessa called me this morning to wish me a Happy Birthday. I am going up to their house to see them and have lunch at 11 AM. Last night I read some more on my Kindle. I am feeling good today.

Message 1121

I just got back from having breakfast with Reggie at Heidi’s Pies. Beech and Vanessa stopped in there to say Hello to everybody, but they did not eat. It was good to see them though. Last night I watched The King’s Speech on a Netflix DVD. It was very good. I give it 4 stars. I also read some more of my new Wilbur Smith book on my Kindle. I feel good today.

Message 1120

I felt so good yesterday that I worked some on my memoirs for the first time in six or seven months. I just got a call from Andrine who wanted to wish me a happy birthday early because she is going to be gone on her cruise with Mary on Friday. Bill is going to take the first shift with Joe. I advised Andrine not to take her phone on the cruise because if something happens with Joe there will be nothing she could do about it anyway. I did not have a DVD yesterday so I read some of my new Wilbur Smith book on my Kindle. Like all of his books I can hardly put it down. I have been lazy today and slept in for longer than I should have considering that I need to take a shower and do some grocery shopping. Aside from being lazy, I feel good today.

Message 1119

Yesterday I finished reading The Economist. In the evening I watched the last two episodes of True Blood Season 3. Now I have to wait for Season four to come out on DVD. It is interesting to watch the stock markets around the world crash. I wonder how far it will go today. I hope this teaches the Tea party retards a lesson, but I doubt it will. Maybe the American voters will wake up though. The market yesterday went down to almost exactly the point where I got out of it a few years ago. I am glad now just to be a spectator. I feel good today.

Message 1118

Yesterday I went to a family brunch at Maureen’s. It had been planned to be at Julian and Vanessa’s place, but the venue was changed at the last minute. It was very nice to see all the kids and their parents, and the food was very good. Julian says he has not had a migraine in several months because of the strict diet he has been following. Beech came to my place for the afternoon after the brunch so I could teach him how to play poker. I taught him five card draw, five card stud, seven card stud, and Texas hold ‘em. He picked them all up very quickly. Last night I watched a Stephen Hawking program about his new book on the Discovery channel. It was very good. I also downloaded a new Wilbur Smith book on my Kindle. I read some more of The Economist, but have not yet finished it. I feel good today.

Message 1117

Yesterday I picked Josh up at SFO at noon when he returned from Amsterdam. We had burgers for lunch at the Dutch Goose on the way home. I finished reading Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama. I now need to get another book for my Kindle. Maybe I’ll get Obama’s second book. Yesterday I read more than half of The Economist. In the evening I watched another episode of True Blood. I feel good today.

Message 1115

I think I have a melanoma on the back of my right hand, but all the dermatologists are on vacation and I can’t get an appointment until 23 August. I hope that is soon enough. It was great to see the old gang at Heidi’s Pies yesterday. Last night I watched a PBS show, but it was not very good. I then watched another episode of True Blood. I feel good again today.

Message 1116

Yesterday I went out to dinner with The Morrills and Ariagnos. I drove this time and everything worked well. After dinner we went to see an Irish movie called The Guard. It was a comedy/thriller that was very good. I give it 4.5 stars. Having been in Ireland, I especially enjoyed it. I am feeling good today. Yesterday I also gave Judi the last pages of her book the I had finished proofing. This weekend she has to enter all the corrections and create the index before she takes it to the printer.

Message 1114

I am writing this message early in the morning before Reggie picks me up to take me to Heidi’s Pies. Last night I went out to dinner at Gombeii with Larry and Judi. I had my usual pork cutlet, but they insisted on paying this time. I have finished Judi’s book except for the Appendices, and I gave her what I have done so she could get started on it. In the evening I watched another episode of True Blood. I skipped Charlie Rose last night so I could get up early this morning. I will watch him at noon today instead. I feel good today and am looking forward to seeing everyone at Heidi’s Pies. Unfortunately Vanessa has a doctors

Message 1113

Jason just called me and wondered why he did not get an email message today. I checked and found I had forgotten to send one, so here it is better late than never. Jason came over last night and watched the Giants game with me. During the game we went to El Cerrito and had dinner. After dinner we picked up a few things from Safeway and came home to watch the end of the game which the Giants lost. Today I have been working on Judi’s book. I have nearly finished, so she picked up what I have done around noon.

Message 1112

Well, it seems like the financial crisis has been averted, or rather kicked down the road. What a disgusting scene. I made a lot of progress on Judi’s book yesterday, but I still have a long way to go. Last night I watched a couple of more episodes of True Blood season 3. Tomorrow I will be going to Heidi’s Pies, so I will have to take a shower today. I still feel good.

Message 111

Yesterday I worked on Judi’s book. In the evening I watched 60 Minutes and then a PBS Nature show about the Black Mamba and Masterpiece Mystery. I turned in early and had a good night’s sleep. I feel good again today. I hope my vomiting is over forever.