Totally skipped August

9/26/08

At Nina's. First time in a long time. I totally skipped August . The
coffee shop is hopping laptops on tables are like--I don't know what.
People texting away on their cellphones. Two older guys trying to help
each other figure ring volume and how to assign different alerts to
emails.

This cellphone is a replacement I got a few weeks ago for the T-mobile
Wing whose speaker had died. I just now got my connectivity again so
that I can post from here to Blogspot.

I have been making a sporadic effort to post some pictures on Some
Kinda Possible. Need to do a card for Dorothea. The birthday note that
I sent her while she was at camp with Liam never got to her.

My manager gave me and two of my colleagues the day off. We all have
been working early and late, weekends. Thursday was a successful
conversion to an upgrades database. Usually a weekend sort of thing,
it was forced through late at night because our DBA was to be on
vacation.

The other thing that I am interested in is getting copies of building
permits for our house.

--
David
www.schons.net

brewberry refinance

7/24/08

Brewberry's. I haven't sat to write in a coffee shop for awhile--quite
awhile. For one thing, I have mostly been off coffee since April; just
starting again now with the occasional decaf.

One thing that occurred to me as I was biking was that if I want write
regularly, I may need go back to the coffee shop scene. I could drink
tea. But idea of going somewhere else besides home to do something
works. The question is how to work it in.

This morning is a bit like a mini-vacation. I got up at the usual time
and did the usual things, including biking to work, though with a
slight variation. Biked along the river road to Hidden Falls-Crosby
Farms-I 35E and then along Shepard Road to work.

I was in early, before six. I was there to get the phone number of
notary who was to come to our house for a closing on a refinance. Last
evening, Dorothea and I were going over the faxed summary documents
that I had gotten earlier in the day. I was expressing my misgivings.
She had lots of questions. Plus, the magnitude of her and Madeline
leaving today for the last two days of the Rag Brie was just catching
up with her. Her suggestion: postpone. So that is what I did from the
phone in my cube--leave a message on Notary Joe's cellphone. It was
about 6:30 AM.

I am interested in the notion of getting energized to write because of
the men's group I am in. Time will tell.

--
David
www.schons.net

Fifth of July

7/5/08

Sitting on a bench at Mounds Park, littered with garbage on the Fifth
of July, listening to a podcast of Seymour Hersch on Fresh Air,
railing rightly so against Dick Cheney's expansion of the war into
Iraq, I find myself, paradoxically, an advocate of a stronger
executive. I don't think we'll see our way out of our current problems
without it.

Last night we went to the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum.
Sadly disappointing. Afterwards, a beer at Great Waters held us over
to watching the fireworks from the sidewalk by the downtown power
plant. That was spectacular. (The Taste of Minnesota has new owners
who're trying to make an impression.) noticeably multi-ethnic crowd.

--
David
www.schons.net

Painting the 35W bridge

What a splendiferous day. You couldn't ask for a better summer day. Liam just got on first. Last time up, he drew a walk. Pretty good, considering that he was afraid of the Spider's 70 mile an hour pitcher. Now he just scored a run.

I left for a bike ride about 3:00. Dorothea was to leave at 4:00 with her book club for a four-day trip to Ely. Liam was over at a friend's. Madeline was at the public pool.

I stopped to watch the 35W bridge construction. The fellow who is doing the oil painting was there. The construction crew was just preparing for the crane to lift one of the large sections. I got pictures of both.

The painting is realist. Bur even though the scene that he was creating was faithful and accurate and beautiful, it totally left out the crane and the concrete section.

Now, Liam's team has taken the field but he's on the bench, so I don't feel guilty writing. Sure haven't written much lately.

After the 35W bridge, I headed for the Cedar Lake trail and Lak Calhoun. I wasn't paying correct attention to the time when I got a call from Liam. 5:20. I needed to get home, which I did at 6:10. Late. He was very gracious.

Continuing a long tradition of putzing with computers during a long holiday weekend...

Last night, I horrified myself. Returned from a bike ride of the bridges with Madeline and Dorothea. (Our house to Ford Parkway Bridge to Minnehaha Falls to Lake Street Bridge.) And, back in the basement, was fiddling with the dual display that I had gotten working between the laptop and the new flat screen. I did something whereby I lost the ability to control the screens. Ah, horror.

This morning, I disconnected the laptop from everything and rebooted. When I plugged the flat screen back in, voila!, it worked. And better than before, in that I got the behavior that I was really looking for--just the laptop display on the 20 inch monitor. So, I can plug the keyboard, mouse, and monitor into the laptop, close the lid, and forget about it.

I know this stuff is boring. But at least it is getting me back into the blog mode.

There are pictures (of trip to D.C., of Liam's birthday, Mother's Day, the Mayday parade, etc. at http://www.flickr.com/photos/somekindapossible/.

Today, my mobile blog is not mobile

I am at a PC. A PC in the basement, no less. So, the blogging is not so mobile today. There are lots of things that I haven't gotten to. The most immediate, though, is that I bought a flatscreen for the 3rd computer. I have the laptop connected. Tired of sitting at the dining room table with the laptop. Now, though, I am in the TV room with the children. Different experience. Also, I am pretty sure that I want to go ahead and move to Blogger. When my domain name was up earlier this year, I was emotionally ready to give it up, but was not technically ready to do so. The next time it comes around, either I will be ready to give it up, or, schons.net will not be my blog address, but it will be my web address. I just dragged a bunch of pictures to Flickr. The pictures extend from the Mayday parade to the D.C. trip.

Budding Birch

5/7/08

Sitting on the couch of the front porch. Gorgeous nice day. The birch
tree is beginning to bud. Last Sunday we finally put the patio
furniture out on the back deck. Haven't had to mow yet, but will soon.

Fairview Avenue is turning into my favorite, translucent green tunnel.
Dorothea has ridden her bike to work twice already. I have done the
bridges once. Yesterday, however, Dorothea had ridden her bicycle to
work, and it was raining in the afternoon. I thought it likely that I
would have to go and pick her up. But she ended up riding home anyway.

I think I will doze until it is time to take Liam to his second weekly
baseball practice.

--
David
www.schons.net

Day 7

7:33 AM, sitting at Nina's, waiting for my tea to steep, killing time
so that I don't eat my bar until 8:00. This marks a week without
coffee. Day 7 of Medifast. To food and eating what I imagine methadone
is to heroin and addiction. The sun is out--a rare occurrence of late.
I don't have much more focus. Tea done.

Just sunk in--this place is deserted.

--
David
www.schons.net

Mom falls

11:34 PM last night, phone rings. Nurse from Country Manor, Diane,
says that my mom fell in her bathroom and pulled the cord, that my
mom's blood pressure was 240 over something, and she wanted to send my
mom to the emergency room. Okay. Diane was using a cellphone, and sh
said that my mother probably wouldn't be able to hear me. She
couldn't. Kept saying "I can't hear you." Writing down the number for
the St. Cloud Hospital ER.

I got called because my sister barb didn't answer her phone. I
called--busy. Eventually we had several conversations, both called the
ER. Consultations with Dorothea. Many. Lying awake. Contemplating
driving to St. Cloud. But that was before I knew about the
weather--late-season blizzard to the north and west.

Waited an hour to give the ambulance to get there. Mom alert and
oriented. Several hours of tests. Then waited for Barb to call with an
update. About four, she did, saying the mom was sent home on a "care
cab," with meds for dizziness and a bruised knee.

Now what? (From the Honda in Y parking lot.)

--
David
www.schons.net

Kim's Choe Mien

On with a sweater and out to the porch to listen to the rain. Home
from work. Awaiting Dorothea who's picking up from Kim's Chow Mien.
This is a first.

There was a big storm a few days ago. It was Monday, because I drove
Madeline to her violin lesson. Piano lesson--excuse me. She hasn't
played violin for five years.

There was a honkin' cold front came through. Temp dropped from 80° F
to 50° F. Moderately heavy rain by the time we got to Lake Calhoun.
Just enough rain and night so that I did not like driving. It was as
low moving system, such that when we got back over here, it wasn't
raining, hardly at all. After bedtime, though, cut loose--thunder,
lightening, hail. But it wasn't threatening like a summer. Maybe
because it was cold, or that the lightening and thunder were far away.
But no; I think the lightening was pretty close.

We're supposed to get an inch of snow tomorrow.

Day Two of Medifast. I have done my five meals today, and will make a
hamburger patty and salad for dinner. So far, the night before I have
made a shake with Liam's Bullet blender, picked out four other
packets--soups, oatmeal, pudding--and pack all in a lunchbox. Shakes
and pudding seem like they'd be best at home. Want to take bars for
quick breakfast.

--
David
www.schons.net

Passover Seder

I am in the tub. I brought Wing in with me, leaving it on the
footstool next to the tub. The PDA was still on vibrate where I had
set it last night during the Passover Seder at Amy's house.

I was interrupted from reading The Everything Guide to Buddhism by the
Wing buzzing. Text from Madeline asking if I want to take her driving

--
David
www.schons.net

Spring rain

Salvation in a box. Seventeen pounds of Medifast is on its from
Louisville via UPS.

Yesterday day morning, I noted the last little piles of snow were gone
from the north-facing shadows of front yards across the street.

Plans are now made for Washington, D. C. trip. Alan called. Airline
tickets bought. Hotel reserved. Who is to watch the children? remains.

--
David
www.schons.net

Endocrinologist

Monday I left work early to pick up Madeline at 3:00 from staying
after school for help with math. First day of spring. When we got
home, we took Stella for a walk. We were jacketless. Stopped at the
music store and bought her a new mouthpiece for her clarinet. Then
over to Garden of Eva to give them ten dollars to put Liam's name up
on their sign for his birthday.

Tuesday was enormously windy. I walked to Buffet King, perhaps to
splurge before visiting the endocrinologist for the first time this
morning. The wind blows so hard that the car is buffeted as I sit in
it in the parking lot before going in.

--
David
www.schons.net

Escape to The Coffee News Cafe

At the Coffee News Café. Had to get out of the house; dirty dishes on
the kitchen counter (and unloaded clean dishes in the dishwasher)
almost drove me out of the house yesterday morning, and did today.
Yesterday Liam complied with my request for help. I didn't want to go
through that again. Reminds me of college roommate days, sadly. I was
an offender then.

Last night was a house concert at Al's house. Nikki and the Roommates.
Two women and a guy. Electric bass/backing vocals, guitar/lead vocals,
guitar/dobro/backing vocals. The lead singer has a great blues voice,
actually plays the guitar--not just strumming--and is interesting to
look at. Dorothea and I stayed for the second set; usually, we leave
after the first.

Last week, I went in for my yearly mole check and to urgent care for
ringing in my ears. Crickets in the distance are getting closer.
Saturday morning Urgent Care doc saw some irritation in one and some
fluid buildup in the other ear--nothing conclusive. Recommended
Sudafed for four days, then ENT. Dispelled my notion of wax buildup.

Also made an appointment for the endocrinologist. (Am I getting old?.)
This for a clinic and a doc recommended by Sean. Dorothea as well
knows the doc. But he's not taking new patients. Sean emailed in my
behalf, and the guy responds about his father, colon cancer, etc.
Yikes.

Dorothea went to our neighbor Peggy's funeral Thursday. D. Noted that
most of the comment on Peggy's life at the small gathering concerned
the last twenty years of her life, from sixty-two to eighty-two. By
that calculus, I haven't done anything because I am not sixty-two yet.

--
David
www.schons.net

Edgar B. Speers

Sitting in the shade of the Nels J with the morning sun at about two
'o'clock over the breakwater light houses. Just finished watching the
Edgar B. Speer enter the port--to pick up coal. Coal, coal, coal. "low
sulfur western coal," but nonetheless. Got my fix of standing under
the aerial lift bridge and having the descending deck stop inches from
my upturned face. New is the understanding of the gussets of the sort
that failed on the I-35 bridge. At first the ice was flowing toward
the lake in the channel; the approach of the thousand foot laker
reversed the flow. A crewman on the bridge exchanged "I love yous"
with a woman on the side. My fingers are now too cold to continue.

While we were having breakfast, some young women labeled waste
containers as "Commingled Recycling" and "Food Waste." now, late
morning as I sit in the breakfast room, reading, drinking tea, looking
at the lake, the women cleaning--sweeping, mopping--asking: "Is this
garbage?"

I just got the call--the tribe is back, and it is time to move on.

--
David
www.schons.net

Lunch ladies

Amazing Grace in the basement in Duluth, lingering over the ice cubes
from my Italian soda--ice made from Lake Superior water, I am sure.
The spacey, beautiful young woman who made my sandwich and suggested
the Cullen Skink soup. This after the woman in line ahead of me
recommended recommended the tomato bisque soup, saying that she liked
it so much that she calls to make sure they have some left before she
comes over. The spacey sandwichmaker in the tie-die then erased from
the board the "trout" bisque. "Out?" I asked. "No," she responded,
"it's the same as the Cullen skink. People didn't know what Cullen
Skink was until we put these fliers explaining that it is trout
bisque, so we don't have to call it trout bisque anymore." liam had a
turkey sandwich.

Sometime I will tell you about the St. Paul School District
lunchladies in the heated pool on the hotel roof last night.

--
David
www.schons.net

Melancholy Saturday morning

Just 7:00 AM, just finished listening to a bit on public radio about
"global baseball" and as I turned south on Western, there's the moon,
in just about the same spot that it was yesterday--though I am an hour
later, it being Saturday. Madeline just texted me "never mind dad"--I
was supposed to be available to pick her up from a sleep over.

Listening to the discussion of baseball--we were just contemplating a
drive to Chicago, maybe going to a Cubs game. But the reality that we
don't currently have a trustworthy vehicle for the trip is sending us
to our default vacation--an abbreviated stay at The Inn on Lake
Superior in Duluth.

--
David
www.schons.net

Drivers license written test

Sitting on a bench in the waiting area of the Drivers License bureau,
about 2 30, waiting while Madeline takes her written test. On
University Avenue in the Midway district of St. Paul, this place has
a diverse clientele.

--
David
www.schons.net

Full Moon

This morning, I walked out the door this morning to the sight of a
nearly full, just above the horizon, right at the end of the street,
copper-colored, setting moon. I have pulled over and parked in a
parking, facing west, and am watching the moon descend into the trees.

Yesterday I sent this email to Dorothea:

Vernal Equinox--Thursday, 12:48 AM
Full Moon--Friday, 1:40 PM

Couldn't be too much earlier than that--the full moon is less than
twelve hours after the equinox.

Happy Anniversary.

--
David
www.schons.net

Lite My Fire

Happened to land on KQRS. Used to be truly FM, with body counts; now,
shock-jock classic rock. Every once in a while, I'll listen, just to
get a sense of the other side. They're out there.

Not yet 6:00 AM, driving to Y. I heard the entire long version of Lite
My Fire. Can't help but think of Jose Felliciano, Ed Sullivan. Still
enjoy. Was in the mood. The long organ stretch satisfying, especially
that it sounds like he did it with one hand. They did something right.

Now sitting in the Y parking lot. The garbage truck driver gets in
through the gate by hitting the button with the edge of his door.

--
David
www.schons.net

Thought storms

Thought storms crash against my body as solar flares against the
atmosphere, and I have about as much control--none--over one as the
other.

--
David
www.schons.net

Icy crashes

The view was darkness and blanket of twinkling lights from the top of
the Dale Street-Concordia Avenue hill this morning.

Yesterday as I was driving to work, coming down the hill from West
Seventh near the intersection of Lexington and Montreal to Shepard
Road, I passed a car that had apparently quite recently slammed into a
light or power pole. The temperature was above freezing, but there was
glare ice in the early morning shade. A retirement-age man was sitting
behind the wheel. He looked like he was waiting.

I was sure what to do. As I got to the bottom of the hill and turned
onto Shepard, they was another car crash. The police were there. As I
passed, it occurred to me that they may not now of the old man crash
around the corner.

At next corner, I pulled over and called 911.

--
David
www.schons.net

Christmas, 1960

And of course I need to analyze more closely the Christmas presents
the Ed MacMurray's sons are opening up--Christmas, 1960. That was my
second Christmas; I was almost two. I would've known what was going
on.

--
David
www.schons.net

The Apartment

Ed McMurray gives the cabby $1.00 for a cab fare, and the cabby is
appreciative. The Shelley Winters switchboard operator character tells
someone that they owe her forty-five cents like it matters. The cabs
on the New York City streets are all Chryslers, Plymouths, and Dodges
like the 1958 Chrysler Royale that I was born into, only with bigger
fins.

--
David
www.schons.net

City lights

220. Been a long time. Anything to do.with my getting to the Y every
day this week? Hmmm. Light out this morning waiting for green at Dale
and Concordia, on a bit of a hill-- can see back through rearview to
the Midway and ahead to the river bluffs to the east. Actually when it
is dark, like it was yesterday, you can see the blanket of city
lights. In daylight, not so far.

The choker cubicle neighbor also told me that he's got his ticket to Brazil.

--
David
www.schons.net

Dali Lama moment

My cubicle neighbor Craig did a very convincing version of almost
choking to death today. "Are you all right? Can you talk?" ". . ." How
do you spell Hiemlick?

Some time afterward, I said something to the effect that you never
really do know what is going to happen in a Zen sort of way, to which
he replied "funny you should mention that. I have been interested in
Buddhism lately." and he pulled a book out of his drawer--by the Dali
Lama.

--
David
www.schons.net

Blood. Vomit. Bile. Toe cheese.

Blood. Vomit. Bile. Toe cheese. On The Morning Show this morning, they
played a song because it had the word "mucus" in the lyric. We are on
the same wavelength.

--
David
www.schons.net

49 137

3/5/08

Snot. Boogers. Ear wax. Puss. Mucus. Saliva. Poop. Grease. Plaque.
Bacteria. Eye gunk. Urine. Did I miss anything?

Last Monday was the first time that I entered the age "49" in the
elliptical trainer, and was greeted with a reduction of one off the
maximum heart rate. Not only am I now 49, I am also 137.

--
David
www.schons.net

lunar eclipse

2/20/08

I am sitting on the landing, looking out the window at the eclipsing
moon just above the roofline of my neighbor's house. Pretty neato.
Eclipses are slow, though. The surface is about half covered in shadow
now.

--
David
www.schons.net

3-D moments

2/19/08

Madeline finished driver's ed today. When I went to pick her up at
5:30 at the high school, there were all these disaffected looking
teens milling about, waiting to be picked up, holding green
half-sheets of paper, their tickets to freedom, the certificates
signifying that they could take the written exam.

Before you know it, you're dead.

Liam took out my trombone, brought it up from the basement, and opened
up the case in the middle of the kitchen floor. One of those arresting
3-D moments.

2/17/08

NYTimes picture of Egyptian newlyweds dancing on a bridge over the
Nile River. I like that phrase.

Yet another bit of time melancholia: Jacob Wetterling would be 30. His
disappearance has a direct impact on me today in my concerns about my
children.

Splendid Table as I stopped the car by the front door of my work this
Sunday morning. A "pancake" in Ames, Iowa makes me want to drive there
on 35.

As I walked in the door, one guard was pacing in the lobby, the other
sitting behind the desk, chin in hand, looked asleep, and Lynn Rosetta
Casper's voice filled the air.

She had just gotten done talking to someone about Pyrexes cheese--raw
sheep's milk, timeless ritual of herding sheep to and from the
mountains. Perhaps the pacing guard is waiting for those times to
return.

Six-word memoirs--Not Quite What I was Planning--Smith magazine.

Martha's on Friday to visit with Daba, an Amity from 2001-2002, who
lived half the year at Martha's house. Talking about what she knew and
what has happened since made for a melancholy sense of the passage of
time. A lot has happened.

Steve, the owner of the cafeteria at the Riverbank building where I
work, raised his prices this past week. That's probably the third time
in ten years.

A squib, a squab a day. That is what I am looking for.

--
David
www.schons.net

Comics eating

2/16/08

At Subway on West Seventh behind the Alexandria girl's JV volleyball
team--some of them, anyway and their moms.

2/13/08

Things never are what they once were, I thought as I looked at Liam at
the breakfast table, reading the comics while eating cereal.

Guys, laptops, cellphoned, and coffeeshops. What is in the air?

--
David
www.schons.net

Wow. I totally missed January.

Had a great deal of difficulty remembering what day it was. Couldn't
decide between Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday--go directly to work;
Wednesday, school bus. The decider was only one carton of milk in the
frig. The milkman comes on Tuesday.

--
David
www.schons.net

Lake Superior

Gratuitous TV everywhere. I am sitting in the breakfast room of The
Inn on Lake Superior, looking out the window at the emerging horizon
line. Wonderful, beautiful, spectacular. Marred, however, by the TV
on in the background. TVs are now flat-screen.

--
David
www.schons.net

Grackle cackle

On the bus, on the way to the Y. Grackles cackle and flock to the top
branches of a remaining elm, individuals and unit. A truck passes
below them, and they alight as a flock. High over head, toward me
diagonally across the street they come before veering back across the
intersection, over the corner apartment building, to the next nearest
big elm, in the apartment building's backyard. The cackle begins
again, birds perched in top-most, and continues as stragglers arrive.
Next, on some unobserved signal, birds flock to the power line,
telephone wires stretched along the alley. Cacophony redux.

Finally, back towards the original boulevard elm. But no--the leaders
fly over and past, some other objective luring. As the leading edge of
the group passes the tree, members of the back land in the upper
branches, and begin to chatter en masse. Those who had been the
leaders now are the stragglers called home.

Bus arrives.

At the YWCA, the spruces are silent. When I arrive earlier in the
morning, those trees are alive with the festive cackling of a flock of
birds. Perhaps also grackles, though I imagine chickadees. And now
wonder if I will ever see a flock burst out of the spruces.

Now much later in the day, I am at the Walker with Dorothea. It is a
free first Saturday. Dorothea wanted to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit.
There is a forty- five minute wait in line. I left. We'll meet up
again when she is through.

--
David
www.schons.net

Starbuck's

I just missed the bus (again). My timing from .the house is off; takes
me just a minute or so more than I think it will.

Sitting in Starbuck's. I hate ordering at Starbuck's. There is
low-in-the-sky, small, far away looking moon, with a prominent planet
nearby. Wonder if I will remember to look on my weather calendar?

--
David
www.schons.net

Gossip Girl

Last night, I watched Gossip Girl with Madeline and Liam. Obvious adults (supposedly teenagers) cavorting in a pool, scantily clad, drinking, taking other drugs, being sexually intimate. A guy hits his head and falls into the pool. 911. Now they are all in trouble because the pool is the school pool. But I must say that I was impressed with the choices and turns. People end up doing "the right things." If they had be true to reality, those kids would not have called 911.

 

A few days ago, I sent an email to livingdot.com, my internet provider. I was wondering about upgrading to MT 4.1. I know it is a total makeover from MT 3.2, and am not sure that I want to go through with it. They do have WordPress now. So I think that they are going to install both and I can experiment.

 

Dorothea is at a funeral. A nun friend of her died just before New Year's, suddenly, of a heart attack, while baking bread. The woman was 68. Sounds like the nun, Aggie, was a mentor to Dorothea when Dorothea was in her early twenties; Aggie introduced Dorothea to migrants.

 

Spell checking didn't work.