Text colors:  White = Technical data;  Yellow = Music related;  Red = Important events;  Magenta = Personal;  Blue = Hyperlink

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2020      2021      2022      2023      2024      2025      2026      2027      2028

******************************************      2023      ******************************************

12/24/2022  Made a loaf of bread and Laurie made a pumpkin pie.

12/23/2022  In the early morning, after 2 AM, I heard a sound like firecrackers going off, in two volleys. The first one involved 8-10 reports, and the second was about half that. Ollie jumped up and started barking, and we went outside to see what was going on, but it was quiet after that. On the Ollie walk, we saw Steve & Skip, and Steve was pointing down Albers about something. There were police who had cordoned off the street by Allott, and Steve was talking about gunfire! Sure enough, the police were documenting a crime scene at the house next door to my friend Tim! Couldn't find anything about it online yet. Candy Bear 2, got 5 Stars on Level 42.

12/21/2022  Happy Saturnalia! Saw a lady today that I hadn't seen before with a tiny little dog, from the house next door to Tim's. Candy Bear 2, got 5 Stars on Level 55.

12/20/2022  Ollie walk, saw a nice gray dog that had wandered away from it's home, and gave him a pet. The owner was at their house and was looking for the dog. We also saw the little white poodle on Woodman out for a walk, while the German Sheppard was leashed in the yard. Ollie was good in both cases. A contractor came to look at the PIH garage today to do an estimate.

12/14/2022  Los Angeles announces a water emergency and decreases lawn watering to once a week. 3rd Open House, and text to LAPD, and maybe something will come of it.

12/13/2022  Trimmed the Bougainvillea and weed whacked during my 2nd Open House. My arms are so scratched up it looks like I was in a knife fight, and two of my fingers were punctured pretty well, ouch.

12/12/2022  Felt a little under the weather this morning, no doubt from the vaccinations yesterday. Saw Steve & Skip and got kisses from Skip once I put (jealous) Ollie behind the gate.

12/11/2022  Got my flu and Covid booster shots today in North Hollywood! Made a loaf of bread. Arm was a little sore tonight.

12/10/2022  Stopped at the Blue Dog on Sepulveda for a bite. They had a new menu, no Chi-Chi burger anymore (what?), and the booths were gone. The service was nice, but it seemed the food just wasn't the same quality as before the pandemic. They still had Old Rasputin though. It was Ollie's first time there and he got some chicken. Went to See's Candy on La Cienega in Baldwin Hills. I thought it was north of I-10, but it's not. Had a nice drive through West LA though.

12/09/2022  It was 40° F this morning and the car was frozen over, a little. Had my 1st Open House today!

12/08/2022  Got 5 Stars on Level 3 of Candy Bear 2 by analyzing it mathematically and finding a route that hadn't been discovered since the program was released, I think.

12/07/2022  Released my video on YouTube and notified everyone. Thank you to Presley Cash in Los Angeles, CA, Sergio German Stinco somewhere in Patagonia, Argentina, Susan Forton-Wise in Detroit, MI, Sharla McCully in Tumwater, WA, Kule Franco Richard in Western Uganda, Mika Inanna in Cranbrook, British Columbia, just to name a few. Thank you all very much!

12/06/2022  Finished the Queen Frannie video. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it, for my friend Queen Frannie.

12/02/2022  While sitting in my front yard, a homeowner who flips houses, working with a local Realtor, threatened to kill my dog, and then called the police and lied to them that I had a gun and was waving it at people and threatening to kill them. Needless to say, the SWAT team came with all their guns drawn, and aimed at me, and I was handcuffed and stood in the street for over an hour. The police were very professional.

11/26/2022  Performed 8 takes for the Queen Frannie video, 4 of them were complete and could be used. Eventually boiled it down to 2 takes, Take 2 and Take 8, and I used them together to get a fatter sound.

11/24/2022  Thanksgiving; cooked a small, 11 pound turkey. It turned out great.

11/23/2022  Performed 36 takes for the Queen Frannie video and only 1 was complete, although it wasn't as good as I wanted.

11/25/2022  Saw a show on TV called "Family Massacre" which only deals with stories about families being massacred. Wow!

11/20/2022  Made a Tamale Pie for dinner. The recipe is on the back of the cornmeal box.

11/16/2022  Dinner tonight with Rafael Gevorkian and Realty Group in La Crescenta. It was a very nice Thanksgiving day meal, and we had some excellent wine and good conversation. There was a harpist there playing music, and when I heard it, I was reminded of a trip to I made to the Queen Mary in Long Beach for brunch one Sunday morning. They had a harpist there on an elevated dais, so I never got to talk to her, but the music was hauntingly beautiful and we sat nearby to hear better. At the dinner, I asked her about that, and I was surprised to find out that it was her. Her name is Peggy Skomal and she's quite the virtuoso on the harp. In fact, she has an amazing instrument that has an acoustic chamber, and foot controls for the accidentals. It was very nice. I was hoping Rafael would let me perform a song or two, he asked if I brought my guitar, which I always do, but between dinner, drinks and Peggy, I never did. Next time for sure.

11/15/2022  Modified the first Bridge of "Queen Frannie" into a new Bridge by moving measures from the Outro, and started arranging the song accordingly.

11/14/2022  Testing the new WAV file against the original "Queen Frannie" video to see how the Bridge will fit.

11/12/2022  The original "Queen Frannie" video is off in time and needs to be redone.

11/11/2022  Working the video and the WAV and trying to make them fit.

11/08/2022  Finished editing the song in Motif with the first Bridge. Heavy rain today.

11/07/2022  Played initial attempt at a Bridge into the Motif. The problem here is that there are not enough measures to fit it all in properly. I did get it to fit, but it was all very quick and didn't sound good. May need to modify it.

11/05/2022  Started working on converting the Instrumental into a Bridge, worked out chords, and lyrics from the initial writing. Dr. Hogly Wogly's Tyler Texas BBQ for dinner! Yummy!

11/04/2022  Restrung guitar and played "Queen Frannie" through a few times.

11/03/2022  Still working at 117.3 bpm, later it changes to 113 bpm. Removed guitar strings and conditioned the fretboard. Made a loaf of bread.

10/30/2022  Linguine with shrimp.

10/29/2022  Talked to Ellie Boracci today on the phone. BBQ chicken on the grill.

10/28/2022  The Day of the Argument.

10/27/2022  Roughly determined the "Queen Frannie" song tempo at 113.8 bpm using the metronome. The pool pump at the ABH is failing and getting really loud.

10/24/2022  Bek showed up just before dark at the ABH. The water usage dropped after this visit, but still 3 days a week.

10/23/2022  Moved the Plex DB to D:/ so it doesn't interfere with searches on C:/. Played through a set.

10/21/2022  Working "Queen Frannie" video. Played through a set.

10/20/2022  Working "Queen Frannie" video. Played through a set. Leaning Tower pizza.

10/18/2022  The golden shower tree was cut back today, for the first time ever, thank you Officer Delatori from the LAPD.

10/17/2022  Saw a little squirrel this morning get hit by a car. I thought it was just running around crazy, but when me and Ollie went to see it, it made some soft murmuring noises and then expired, poor thing. Started using pre-rendering to avoid low memory issues.

10/16/2022  At 2 minutes 43 seconds of the original "Queen Frannie" video, the bird clock sounds in the background.

10/15/2022  Took Ollie to the vets for anal gland expression. They didn't clean him up properly and I got juice on my shirt, nice. Made a loaf of bread and roasted a chicken for dinner.

10/14/2022  Installed Plex server to allow files to be displayed on the TV.

10/13/2022  Researched Look-up Tables, or LUT's as they're called in the industry. Downloaded a plug-in and some LUT's. Pulled the UPS out due to failed batteries. Shrimp and pasta for dinner.

10/12/2022  Saw Marlene & Bella walking to the school. She didn't say anything, but she kept looking back. Worked out the pixilation technique I'll use in the video. LAPD Mike showed up about the music, it was too loud and I turned it down.

10/11/2022  Texted LAPD for ABH plant trimming all the way to the street and reported water usage to 2 other agencies.

10/10/2022  Continued working on the "Queen Frannie" video.

10/09/2022  Pulled the battery on the UPS and checked the voltage. I seemed OK, but failed under load.

10/08/2022  Removed the UPS and cleaned the studio. Received two complete orders of Chinese food.

10/07/2022  Recorded the Intro portion of the "Queen Frannie" video. The UPS failed and crashed the computer.

10/06/2022  Blue bin from PIH. Computer maintenance and video work. Steve came by to help dump the water heater, but it's too heavy for the two of us.

10/04/2022  Bek was at the ABH and turned the lights back on without the floods. "Queen Frannie" video work.

10/03/2022  Saw Steve and Skip this morning and Ollie sniffed Skip without barking or squealing. He got a little riled up after that, but not as bad as usual. Someone was at the ABH and turned all the lights off, that was nice. Computer maintenance.

10/02/2022  Saw a nice lady this morning by Heather's with a small, white dog, maybe I've seen her before. We spoke briefly at Albers & Sunnyslope, and her dog was as crazy as Ollie. Found HandBrake file conversion software.

09/30/2022  Didn't sleep well after 2AM worrying about ABH, SLAJ & PIH. Sent LAPD issues and pics.

09/29/2022  Roasted a chicken. Took pics of the front yard to sent to LAPD. ABH lights on all night, took pics at 2AM.

09/28/2022  Saw Michelle on Albers. Working "Queen Frannie" video.

09/26/2022  Ollie walk, saw a sign on a car, "Connie's Cleaning". Mama Icha movie. Shrimp with capellini for dinner.

09/25/2022  Ollie walk, saw a nice lady with a "Terpene" t-shirt on and started to say something, but Ollie tried to bite her, asshole.

09/23/2022  Made a loaf of bread and two pizza's today.

09/21/2022  Someone stole our blue recycle trash bin last night. Way to go, everyone needs an extra one of those.

09/18/2022  Replanted the sunflower since it was almost dead. It didn't survive.

09/17/2022  Used Ollie's new choke collar this morning to try to get him to stop pulling. It worked somewhat, but he still pulled.

09/16/2022  Candy Bear 2 Level 80 has a fatal flaw, silver keys have to be opened in sequence. Made bread, played through a set, and had shrimp and spaghetti for dinner. New collar for Ollie arrives in the mail, to get him to stop pulling.

09/15/2022  Ollie walk, saw Snoopy & Leona and said "Hi" in preparation for playing some music there this afternoon like we had arranged. Later, I got ready and went over there, and her hairdresser Tom told me that Leona's son Ivan did not want me on the property. Leona's memory is not good these days, and I'm sure it's just a mix-up, but it was too hot to stand in the street to play, that's why Leona invited me inside where it's cool, so I just went home. This would have been the 3rd time I performed over there, and when the temperature comes down, I'll probably play in the street for her again. I still haven't played "For Lovin' Me" by Gordon Lightfoot, which she inspired me to learn because her late husband Richard Coogan used to sing it at the Sportsman's Lodge, and maybe even the Smokehouse, when they were having dinner. Leona said, "He had a good voice, but how am I supposed to feel when he sings that song in front of other people?". We had a good laugh over that.

09/14/2022  Ollie walk, saw Steve & Skip, and a nice lady on Burbank with a tiny black dog that Ollie was actually nice to.

09/10/2022  No walk due to rain. Candy Bear 2 "4 Quarters" map.

09/09/2022  Ollie walk, saw Steve & Skip. They were having a big movie shoot on Ventura Canyon around Suzie's house, I think they were using their garage. Ollie got off the leash and went for the big brown poodle, although he didn't do much but make noise. A lot of folks commented on how cute little Ollie was.

09/08/2022  Ollie walk, it was 83° F already, saw Steve & Skip by the car. Egg, ham & cheese sandwich for breakfast. Started having computer browser issues with Firefox where some sites don't load that were loading only a couple of days ago. I deleted the software and sent them a message as to why. In their reply, they sent me a link that Firefox couldn't open!!! WTF? I think this is an issue with Windows 7. I think Microsoft is putting the screws to other software developers to push Win7 out of the market, and one of the techniques they're using is to make the web browsers non-functional, and then blame it on advancing technology, or compromised security, when in fact it's being done deliberately. I used an Apple laptop to perform the same functions flawlessly that none of the current browsers could do on my Win7 machine. Went to see Leona about playing some music on Thursday when her hairdresser comes to do her hair. It was her idea because it's too hot outside for me to play, and she wants me to play for her. She said she would make the arrangements and make sure it's OK with Tom, and that I wouldn't be in the way. She invited me to sit at her porch while I was there, but I stayed outside the gate just to be courteous.

09/07/2022  Ollie walk, saw Steve & Skip by the car.

09/06/2022  Ollie walk, he got really hot especially after talking with Willow. ABH yard maintenance organized by LAPD (It hasn't occurred again since).

09/05/2022  Labor Day; Ollie walk, spent most of the time talking to Leona. She asked if Nancy had ever got a hold of me, I said no. She said she had to set off her house alarm to ward off someone she thought was suspicious outside. I told her about the song "For Lovin' Me" by Gordon Lightfoot that she had mentioned before, and I sang a few bars for her. She liked it. She said she gets her hair done on Thursdays now, and asked if I would come by then to play. I said I would, but it was too hot outside, so she was going to let me come inside in the air conditioning. No problem. Saw Marlene & Bella, and Raef & his wife & Moose, while standing at Leona's. Computer; Mac file transfers. Shrimp with linguine for dinner.

09/04/2022  Recorded the first performances for the "Queen Frannie" video. Performed 9 takes of which 3 were OK. These would survive until I figured out they were sloppy in time on 11/12, and had to be redone.

09/03/2022  Ollie walk, saw Steph and the kids, walked together down Burbank, she's renting, looking for a husband, and may have to move back to Florida. I think that's more than I need to know. Computer; Mac file transfers. Claybourne Fiasco, 30 minutes away became out of stock!

09/02/2022  Ollie walk, no Steph. Blueberry pancakes with ham & eggs on top for breakfast, nice. Made two nice pizza's today.

09/01/2022  Ollie walk, already 72-75° F, no Steph but waved to Suzie. Spoke to Officer Delatori on the phone about stuff.

08/31/2022  Ollie walk, Saw Steve & Skip and Marlene & Bella. Computer; Mac cleanup continues. LAPD, no response about SLAJ fence.

08/30/2022  Rinsed Frannie's teeth for drying. Moved the last roll of chain link fence to the PIH dumpster. Ollie walk, no Steph again. Egg, ham & cheese sandwich for breakfast. Installed a union on the AC unit drain line that had got clogged. More Mac cleanup. Contacted the LAPD after a period of mourning for Frannie. Roasted a chicken.

08/28/2022  One week since Frannie passed. Ollie walk, met Steph on the north side of Burbank who is cute and skinny and has 3 little dogs. Trader Joe's, left Ollie home alone. More Mac cleanup.

08/25/2022  Ollie walk, saw Marlene & Bella. Egg, ham & cheese sandwich for breakfast. Candy Bear 2 maps "4 Quadrants" & "Silo Spree". Mac cleanup.

08/24/2022  Lucky walk, I should start calling it the Ollie walk. Saw the German Sheppard on Woodman with a little white poodle who came out on the sidewalk, under the fence. We've seen the poodle before walking around on the sidewalk in front of the fence, but it's been a while. Ollie wouldn't let the old Asian lady pet him. Egg, ham & cheese sandwich for breakfast. Candy Bear 2 maps, worked out kinks in "Silo Spree"; "4 Quadrants". Played through a set.

08/23/2022  Lucky walk, saw Steve & Skip and Leona & Snoopy. Can't play CB2 because I cut my thumb, but "Cocktail Glass" made it to the Community Levels!

08/22/2022  Lucky walk again; I had put the walks on hold because Frannie couldn't take the heat during the walk. I had to carry her a few times. Saw Tim, and the folks who had the big bulldog who used to pull every time he saw Lucky. They acknowledged that their dog had passed away. Text from Officer Delatori. Cut my thumb really good cooking dinner.

08/21/2022  Sunday; 10 AM, I woke up on the couch and found Frannie had passed away earlier this morning. I was taking care of her until about 6 AM, and then fell asleep on the couch. I loved her so much, I hope she didn't suffer. I had been up with her every night and day for two weeks trying to help her recover, but she was too old, and some of her organs had failed, at least that's what the vet said. That didn't make it any easier. I decided I would start a music video for her, like I imagined previously when I wrote the "Queen Frannie" song on May 5, 2021. Cleaned up all of Frannie's stuff. Took her for cremation to a place over on Ventura Boulevard by Laurel Canyon because it was the only place I could find that was open on Sunday. Stopped at Tommy's for breakfast. Later I had a nap with Ollie.

08/20/2022  Frannie's not doing well, she's wandering. I stayed with her as much as possible. At 4 AM the next morning, I thought she was gone, and I started playing music for her. She moved though, and I thought she would sleep until daylight.

08/19/2022  Friday; thought it was Thursday since I heard a trash truck over by the apartments. Taking care of Frannie.

08/18/2022  Got some supplies from the veterinarian for performing subcutaneous fluid injections. Gave Frannie the meds for nausea and appetite stimulation, then did a fluid injection. A while later, she seems to be better. She fell asleep on the couch for the longest time since she's been home from the vets. I was up all night with her again, but she seemed to sleep longer.

08/17/2022  Force fed Frannie some soup with the syringe from her pain meds, I should have thought of that earlier. Texted Officer Delatori about Frannie. Up all night with Frannie.

08/16/2022  Up all night with Frannie, moved out to the couch at around 1 AM because she was restless and left the bed. Took her back to the veterinarian today at 9 AM, they're going to observe her and give her a subcutaneous fluid injection. Got Frannie home again around 6 PM, and then I was up all night with her. Notified Officer Delatori about Frannie.

08/15/2022  Moved out to the couch with Frannie around 4 AM. I didn't see Frannie eat at all today, so later on I gave her a small amount of honey that I spread on her tongue. She seemed ok with that. SLAJ did "lots of good things in...backyard".

08/14/2022  Up all night with Frannie.

08/13/2022  Breakfast this morning, Frannie had toast but didn't want egg, and Ollie didn't want toast and had the egg. Frannie didn't eat or sleep properly today.

08/12/2022  Friday; Frannie has her doctors appointment today for teeth pulling and a checkup. Dropped her off and picked her up later. She had rapid respiration all night, and had trouble sleeping. We moved out to the couch around 1:30 AM. She finally went to sleep in one of the beds on the floor.

08/11/2022  It's 78° F this morning. Lucky walk, saw Marlene & Bella go by. Bella was wanting to play with Ollie it seemed. [It's weird that we went for a walk, with the high temperatures and all, one day before Frannie's appointment, 12/23/2022, TAH]. Egg, bacon & cheese sandwich on pumpernickel for breakfast.

08/09/2022  Frannie was up early again, so me and her and Ollie just went and laid on the couch till it was time to get up. Took a look at the NIC problem on the computer and found that the device was seeing networks, just not mine. Used another computer to verify the signal from the modem was correct. The only explanation is that the NIC has lost sensitivity, probably due to age, and won't be reliable any more. Pulled and replaced it with another "old" NIC, but this one works fine.

08/08/2022  Ordered a new debit card. Reset the Wi-Fi modem because the computer won't connect. Found the problem is the NIC.

08/07/2022  No Lucky walk still, because of the heat. Candy Bear 2, my map "Fear Bunnies" has been published to the Community Levels! Got 5 Stars on it, but that didn't last long. Found a charge on my checking account from 7/16 that I don't recognize. Called the bank after-hours number, because it's Sunday, and they recommended that I cancel the card, which we did. Later I found the charge was legitimate, just delayed, but it took a while to figure out because the company was under a new name.

08/06/2022  Saturday; Frannie was up early, so we napped on the couch. Officer Delatori stopped by around 1:30 PM and left her card. Everyone was busy and we didn't hear her. Reset the computer battery back-up again.

08/05/2022  It's 77° F already. Candy Bear 2 Season 22 starts.

08/03/2022  Took 1st place in Candy Bear 2 Season 21!

08/01/2022  Hard boiled some eggs, but they weren't cooked enough. Talked to Martha and it's 12 minutes for hard boiled.

07/31/2022  Pulled and whacked more weeds in the back.

07/30/2022  Cleared weeds from around the pool deck and cleaned the pool. Cut back the SLAJ Ficus from a 10 ft. ladder, holding an electric hedge clipper, in the high heat. I got heat stroke because of it.

07/29/2022  Frannie & Ollie saw a little min-pin/terrier mix dog while I was prepping the car. Candy Bear 2, ran through "Fear Bunnies" a few more times.

07/28/2022  Candy Bear 2, played some "Fear Bunnies" and accumulated more data. I recalled that I based the map "Ship Crash" on the movie "Pandorum". I also looked up a movie I saw as a kid, "The Stranger" (1973), about astronauts landing on a similar planet as Earth, but then being chased by the authorities. I couldn't stop watching it when I first saw it, it was scary. I had to do deep searches of the internet to locate it, using just phrases I thought might be relevant.

07/27/2022  Saw Leo & Juma, and later Marlene & Bella, while we prepped the car. Moved the ABH trash cans to their side of the property line. I've had this discussion with Bek twice already. Checked out Java programming language, I could learn it. Saw the cleaning lady at the ABH take in the trash cans that were full, and waiting for pickup tomorrow. The green one was really heavy, but she wrestled it back up to the house. Computer BSOD. Sausage spaghetti for dinner.

07/26/2022  Hard boiled some eggs. I didn't document how they came out, but they were probably soft. Candy Bear 2, had a good run on "Fresh Tulips". Went to the CB2 Discord discussion page, and one person who played my maps said they weren't good because they were too easy. Not all of them were easy, though, and that person is kind of a troll, I found out later.

07/25/2022  Built the Courtyard fireplace.

07/24/2022  Built the Courtyard furniture.

07/23/2022  Put up the square sail over the Courtyard.

07/22/2022  Trimmed the Bougainvillea. Pool maintenance. Contacted the author of Candy Bear 2, Kevin Gong, about the maps I've made for his software. He said they pay for maps for upcoming projects, but CB2 is fixed, except for Community Levels.

07/21/2022  Candy Bear 2, "RMS Titanic", fixed it till it worked. Started a new map, "Flower Field, which later turned into "Fresh Tulips". Need to contact Kevin Gong to work out a deal for maps. My new mattress arrived, vacuum-packed. Once you unpack it, you're supposed to wait 48 hours before using it to ensure that it expands back to it's maximum extent. I must have got drunk tonight, even though I can't remember that, because I felt it in the morning.

07/20/2022  Dog food cans arrived, strewn, dented and beef (I ordered lamb).

07/19/2022  Submitted "Warhol Soup" to Candy Bear 2. Afterward, I saw one or two hangers that needed to be removed, bummer. It's not bad that the hangers are there, they just make it easier to finish the map, and aren't necessary after a previous edit made them moot.

07/18/2022  Candy Bear 2, submitted "Base Ball", and started "Warhol Soup" and "RMS Titanic" maps.

07/17/2022  Hard boiled eggs.  Saw a show about Atlantis, I might have seen it before. Candy Bear 2, found some more errors in "Base Ball".

07/16/2022  Candy Bear 2, found a few flaws in "Base Ball". Now I'm looking for a car scene to make a map of. I found this cool car, a 1956 Novi, but I picked an Indy car scene instead. That link shows a similar scene, I couldn't find the original photo that I used. Tried to install a triangular sail over the Courtyard, but it's too small. Ordered a bigger, rectangular one. Homemade Sloppy Joe's, I used one of Martha's recipes, but modified the brown sugar to 2 tablespoons.

07/15/2022  Lucky walk to monitor Ollie and see if he takes a normal crap. It was runny, but he did some. We saw Steve & Skip and Judith twice. Finished the PBS show "8 Days to the Moon and Back", it was really good. Candy Bear 2, submitted "Lion Eyes" map for review and started "Base Ball". Took Ollie to the new veterinarian, his anal glands were only partially expressed and he had an infected, or something, anus. He needed two shots, and I got a cream I have to apply to that general area. It could be worse. The outdoor furniture set arrived today. I checked out the sail instructions and hardware, and got things ready for installing it.

07/14/2022  Tried to express Ollie's anal glands again with no success. Took him to the emergency vet on Ventura Boulevard, but there was a 4 hour wait because it wasn't an emergency. Decided to take him somewhere else tomorrow.

07/13/2022  Expressed Ollie's anal glands at the kitchen sink and actually got something. The procedure is much easier on a large dog because it involves inserting your finger...well, you get the idea.

07/12/2022  Saw Steve & Skip at the car. Candy Bear 2 server is down, tried twice. Reported ABH excessive lawn watering to "savewater.ca.gov". Ollie is having some trouble with his hind end.

07/11/2022  There was a car with expired Pennsylvania plates parked in front this morning. It was gone before I could report it. Candy Bear 2, modified "Brooklyn Bridge" map until it worked. Tried to submit it but the server was down. Started "Shuttle Atlantis" map. We saw Jackie and her nice dog, a German Sheppard, but Ollie & Frannie scared them away! Came up with some song lyrics, "Pig & whistle...junk in trunk", I don't know, wtf.

07/10/2022  Made bread and two pizza's today.

07/09/2022  Candy Bear 2, submitted "City Perspective" map for review. It was later added to the Community Levels. Worked on "Brooklyn Bridge" map later on. Scrambled eggs, sausage & toast for breakfast. Threw crap back into the SLAJ's yard that was contaminating the pool. Was going to trim the Ficus, but it's too hot.

07/08/2022  Watched a show about Country Music and Willie Nelson. SLAJ has dumped yard waste into our yard again, asshole! Got too drunk and argued with Laurie. Went to bed early with Frannie & Ollie.

07/07/2022  Saw Steve & Skip at the car. Later, Gary came down to look at the PIH construction. Candy Bear 2, tried to submit "Owl Face" map but the server was down. Submitted it later when the server was back up.

07/06/2022  Sausage spaghetti for dinner. Drank too much and went to bed early.

07/04/2022  Hard boiled some eggs. Candy Bear 2, submitted "Spiral Galaxy" map. I now have 9 maps and the previously submitted BC16

07/03/2022  Candy Bear 2, submitted "Hill Climb", "Fear Bunnies" & "Big Guitar" maps. Roasted a chicken, had baked beans that tasted like Mom's.

07/01/2022  Candy Bear 2, tried to submit "Big Guitar" map but the server was down. Got some huge plastic bags for storing the baked bread. I was using two gallon size bags, end to end, but this will be easier. Hamburgers for dinner.

06/30/2022  Made a loaf of bread, the largest one yet. It wouldn't fit in the gallon bag. Candy Bear 2, tried to submit "Big Guitar" map but the server was down. Laurie is negative for Covid.

06/29/2022  Hot again today. Laurie home due to not feeling well from Covid booster shot. She went in for a PCR test just to be safe.

06/28/2022  The crashed car across the street was gone this morning. I talked to Jan as she was leaving, and we were surprised that no one heard it go. I was up once at about 4 AM, but I didn't hear or see anything going on over there when I looked out the window. I saw Berta & Juma, and took Frannie to see them. Later I saw Steve & Skip, but I had Ollie & Frannie, and Ollie was screaming with jealousy at Skip, even though Frannie was OK. Candy Bear 2, to run the most recent Map Editor requires Java  11, which requires an Oracle account to download. I've been using the older version and it's lacking some features. Opened an Oracle account. Uploaded "Space Craft" and "Alfred E Neuman", and started work on "Big Guitar". Bek had his whole family over at the ABH, they left at about 6:15 PM.

06/27/2022  Early start at the PIH, walls are going up.

06/26/2022  Candy Bear 2, started the new map "Space Craft".

06/25/2022  I saw the electrical meter reader trying to get around to the back of the house, but the gate was shut and he couldn't get it open. I helped him through the gate, and he said to call for a refund if we think the bill is too high due to other meter readers estimating the costs because they couldn't get through the gate. I keep it unlatched now so it's not a problem. The gate is old and dragging on the ground anyway, I have to replace it one of these days. Scrubbed the pool, and Frannie & Ollie went for a swim on the Baja Shelf!

06/23/2022  Made a loaf of bread and two pizza's.

06/22/2022  Candy Bear 2, submitted two maps, "Back Track" and "Ship Crash". The latter was eventually accepted into the Community Levels with little to no modification.

06/20/2022  Hot day today, didn't record the temperature.

06/19/2022  Candy Bear 2, worked on maps.

06/18/2022  Sprayed for bugs around the pool area. Candy Bear 2, worked on maps.

06/17/2022  Swept and scrubbed the pool.

06/16/2022  It's my birthday today. Spent it trimming the Ficus at the ABH. This involves standing on a 10 ft. ladder with an electric hedge trimmer, down at least 50 ft. of property line, and the clean-up afterward. Just what I don't need, you assholes! Got a text from Marc later.

06/15/2022  Lucky walk. Saw the two white dogs on Allott again, this time the tan'ish one smelled my hand, and Ollie sniffed them both, and Frannie too! Weed whacked the front yard so I could trim the stupid-shrubs-I-never-asked-for, at the ABH, right down the line. Tomorrow I'll do the Ficus, since they won't.

06/14/2022  Weeded in the back yard around the flat rocks.

06/11/2022  An abandoned car, with the front end completely smashed and destroyed, showed up this morning across the street. It's not in front of my house, but I reported it to the city, so other folks must have also. It will sit there for seventeen days before it disappears on June 28. Seventeen days, WTF?!

06/06/2022  It was 67° F already this morning.

06/05/2022  Lucky walk, saw Steve & Skip, and the white dog on Allott, and a new white dog there, just like the first one but with tan'ish marks, and a fast, low bark that was really cool.

06/04/2022  Saturday; slept in this morning until around 7:45 AM. Clipped Frannie's toe nails. She absolutely doesn't like that, and it requires two people and a muzzle to get it done. Trimmed the Ficus by the SLAJ and threw it overboard!

06/03/2022  Hard boiled eggs. Hummingbird feeder.

06/02/2022  The AC unit is overflowing and making a water mark on the roof. Removed the side panel and cleaned out the drain. I had to cut the PVC drain pipe because someone didn't put a union in the line. Used duct tape to hold the drain pipe together until I can repair it.

06/01/2022  Moved the green trash can into the street until the blue can is replaced. Tried to use pieces of PVC pipe as a fence post extension by the PIH due to the construction there may cause the wall to come down and the dogs might get out. I got a couple of plastic privacy fence rolls, and I thought I could put them up down the property line. The PVC didn't work though, as I was tie-wrapping them to existing fence posts, and they would slip around and fall.

05/31/2022  Lucky walk. Rigged up some light deflectors on the roof flood lights, called Alfredo at 4:53 PM. Fencing arrived.

05/30/2022  Made a loaf of bread.

05/29/2022  Weed whacked by the ABH fence. Found a new company called Claybourne Co. and opened an account.

05/28/2022  Finished cleaning the pool. Weed whacked on the north side by garage and sidewalk. PIH construction appears to be removing the garage (this was not the case), so I needed some fencing to keep the dogs in the yard. Ordered some fencing online.

05/27/2022  Trimmed Bougainvillea.

05/26/2022  The wheels came off of the blue recycle trash bin, ordered a new one. Call from Alfredo. Candy Bear 2, got 5 Stars and a High Score on Level PB5!

05/25/2022  Cleaned the majority of the pool. Called Alfredo at 2:20 PM and left a message.

05/24/2022  Cleaned the pool filter.

05/23/2022   Hummingbird feeder. Took Frannie & Ollie to pick up Laurie at LAX. Frannie took a crap on the sidewalk outside of the International Terminal, right in front of throngs of people waiting to cross the street. It was so funny, that poor girl!

05/22/2022  Made a loaf of bread. Used a paper towel on top to cover it, but it stuck to the dough and made a big mess. There has been a "movie shoot" going on at the ABH that is permitted until 6 PM. It's dark now, 8:40 PM, and they have lights on all over in the front of the house. I texted them to complain, and had to text back twice more and threaten police action if they didn't stop. They finally got the message and shut it down, assholes. I used quotes around "movie shoot" because you'll never see that footage anywhere near television or the movies. These are rinky-dink productions that may never even make it to the Internet! Here in LA, they're required to give the local residents some information regarding the filming, and a production contact. That's how I knew who to text.

05/20/2022  Finally got the call from Ellie that I was waiting for.

05/19/2022  I had some weird, cool dreams last night, I can't quite remember. Saw a movie today on the human Endocannabinoid System (ECS), discovered in the early 1990's, where receptors in the body are believed to be used for maintaining homeostasis.

05/18/2022  Had a power outage today. The UPS didn't seem to work, or if it did, for only 10 seconds, maybe. The PIH is really trashed.

05/16/2022  They're tearing down the PIH.

05/15/2022  Came home from Jamul. Made a loaf of bread.

05/14/2022  Went to see Bob & Ellie, traffic from Trestle's to the border, I'm sure. Made a loaf of bread for Ellie. Didn't make my move again, loser.

05/13/2022  Yard guys dumped waste from SLAJ's Ficus. They were just going to come into the yard without permission, even though I specifically told that asshole he can't do that. He told them to do it anyway! I sent LAPD a photo.

05/12/2022  Up early this morning with Frannie & Ollie to take Laurie to LAX for a conference.

05/11/2022  Got a text from Ellie saying I could stop by this weekend. Sent a complaint to AirBnB about no cleaning at ABH.

05/10/2022  Battery Day! Changed the battery on the Win7 system motherboard which had recently failed. This may be the first time I've done that because I usually get a new motherboard prior to the battery expiring. This battery lasted at least 12, and maybe even 13 years, so it worked good. They're rated for 10 years. Changed the battery on my Yamaha Motif 7 Synthesizer also. The display on the keyboard showed the battery was still above the minimum, but it's even older than the computer by 7 or 8 years! Plus I was missing edits that made me think the display was somehow erroneous. In either case, after changing it out, it displayed the highest voltage it ever has, and the missing edit problem went away. Sent Ellie a text about the weekend.

05/09/2022  Researched LA City residential lighting codes.

05/08/2022  The date on my computer reverted to Jan 2009 again after rebooting last night. This proves "That f-ing battery is definitely dead!" as I wrote it in my logbook. CR 2032 is the "usual" type of 3 V Lithium battery, and it was; I had some in the cupboard. Received notice of lighting code violation.

05/06/2022  Worked on "Honey", found the proper "lreq" [or "vreq"] for Bass @ M4.4??? This was the last log entry for work on that song. I have the audio file on my phone now, so I can play it anytime. After rebooting due to UPS reset, the date on my computer reverted to Jan 2009. Reset the date. This is indicative of a low battery.

05/05/2022  "Honey", modified D Key Patterns.

05/04/2022  "Honey"

05/03/2022  "Honey"

05/02/2022  "Honey". Ordered some CR 2450 Lithium batteries for the Motif 7.

04/29/2022  "Honey". 1st bucket delivered.

04/28/2022  "Honey". Pizza. I didn't indicate if I made or bought this pizza, but I must have made it, I don't usually write down when I order pizza.

04/27/2022  "Honey". Drove to Covina with Frannie & Ollie to take Laurie to see the doctor. Went to the park and had a walk, and then played "Queen Frannie", among other songs, while the kids laid in the grass.

04/26/2022  "Chicken juice" is all I wrote here, but it's listed before "Mowed front lawn ~1 1/2 hrs." I don't usually roast chickens in the morning, but when I talk to Frannie & Ollie, I refer to "chicken" as "chicken juice". So, this may be a reference to the canned chicken I gave them for breakfast. It's all I can come up with.

04/25/2022  The DWP guy came today to read the meter, but he couldn't get through the gate. I had heard Ollie barking, so I looked out the window and saw him there, and went to open the gate. Finished entering and documenting the song "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro. So far it sounds good.

04/23/2022  Found computer partially crashed before going to bed, had to force it off with the power button. It restarted ok, and I cycled it off and on again, which is my method to ensure that anything still open from the crash will be closed properly.

04/22/2022  Found an error in the Yamaha Motif 7 Owners Manual on page 70. The word "mores" should be "Modes". It seems that some, or all, of the edits I'm making on the Motif aren't staying in the machines memory. It's hard to quantify, but it's certainly happening. The keyboard went on sale in 2003, so that's like 19.5 years ago, so I suspect that the battery my be more depleted that the display indicates, which was 3.1 VDC, which should be fine. The manual lists the battery as CR 2450, but the Maintenance Manual says VS 246400, which I found out is an alternate number for the same battery.

04/21/2022  Heavy rain overnight.

04/20/2022  Lucky walk. Continued working on the song "Honey". Reported the ABH for no cleaning. These idiots have renters in the morning, and then again in the afternoon, without anyone going there to clean, during the Covid pandemic, WTF!!!

04/19/2022  Lucky walk, saw Steve & Skip down the street. My DAW software Cubase AI-8 appears non-functional, it's e-license is expired. Not that I use it much, but for all I've done to keep it current, I needed it today to open an old project and it didn't work. It stated that hardware changes have caused the deactivation. I did have a HDD failure a while back and used AOMEI Backupper to copy my system and transfer it to a new disk. I've also installed some other hardware, like a USB-3 card, but I think the new hard drive did it in. Maybe I can re-establish the license, I did pay for the software. Opened Pro Tools First to see if that's working. I had to re-activate some plug-ins due to those same hardware changes. Had some problems with the e-license USB dongle and I couldn't eject it. Later, I shutdown the system and moved the dongle to a rear USB slot where it will always load, and be out of the way. This might be overkill, but I can't stand trying to remember to put the dongle in each time it might be required. The yard guys at the ABH today were throwing the Ficus debris back over the fence into my yard. I yelled at them and made them stop, and then contacted the LAPD and sent some pictures. I had to take another 1/2 hour to throw all the crap back!

04/18/2022  Tax Day. Used the old metronome to figure out some song tempos. [I put a new battery into the metronome, but later on, when I was working on "Queen Frannie", I found that it wasn't completely accurate. Maybe I should check it again against the final version of the song and see if I can get the right tempo. Probably some capacitors inside have aged causing any RC circuits to be off by a small amount. 12/29/2022 TAH].

04/17/2022  Pulled Bob's old BOSS metronome out of the closet. Laurie's old dressing gown had moths, she said to throw it out.

04/14/2022  Finished trimming Ficus.

04/13/2022  Had a doctors appointment for a physical in Covina; all good. Played guitar in the park with Frannie & Ollie for about 45 minutes, talked to some nice folks with a dog. Jersey Mike's for lunch. Started trimming the Ficus by the ABH.

04/12/2022  Big windy overnight & cold in the morning. Cleaned & refilled the hummingbird feeder. I had to superglue the broken threads in the plastic, that's why it was leaking & hard to secure. Beef pasty for lunch. Downloaded Candy Bear 2 level editor and setup the Wi-Fi access for running maps from the computer.

04/11/2022  Roasted a chicken. Cooked hummingbird juice. Notary public.

04/10/2022  Mowed the front lawn.

04/06/2022  Lucky walk, saw Steve & Skip from a distance. It got hot today, 94° F. Cancelled the SupplyHouse.com order. Received the new pressure control valve, used the internals to fix the existing installation. Found that the adjusting screw for the existing valve is 1/4 inch shorter than the new one, that's why it was initially turned in so far. Used Teflon tape to seal the master bath sinks, everything looks good and nothing is leaking. Ate Laurie's Asian noodles when I wasn't supposed to.

04/05/2022  Forgot to call SupplyHouse.com. Made up banana plug to TRS cables.

04/04/2022  Ordered a new 3/4 inch pressure regulating valve and a repair kit. I had thought it was a 1 inch valve, but there was plaster over the markings and I got it wrong. Signed up on SupplyHouse.com to try to cancel the order for the 1 inch repair kit, found out I have to call for that. Received the banana plugs.

04/02/2022  Body & Mind, Long Beach. Stopped at the Pasty Kitchen on Katella on the way home.

03/30/2022  Took apart the water pressure control valve as it was leaking and not controlling the pressure. Wrote, "...unit is 1 inch" but found out later that it's 3/4 inch.

03/28/2022  It started to rain today, checked the roof and all the drains.

03/23/2022  It looks like the Presonus skipping has stopped. I've been closing down Audio Box these days, maybe that's where the problem lies. Maybe the software has been updated without my knowledge. [Looking back now, it still skips at first, 1/7/23 TAH]. Ordered two replacement Moen 4000 ceramic faucet cartridges for the master bath.

03/22/2022  Worked on the master bath sink faucets. One of the valves appears bad.

03/21/2022  Had pizza belly last night, just a bit this AM. Frannie peed on the rug while I was on the pot. Me & Frannie & Ollie fell asleep on the couch till about 9:30 AM.

03/20/2022  Some stupid Jebus game on BlueStacks had the following spelling errors in their advertisement, "Accpet" for "Accept", and "Daiy" for "Daily". [Much later, the former was fixed but not the latter, 1/7/2023 TAH]. Reordered O-rings and silicon grease from Home Depot. Somehow they cancelled the last order, or something. They didn't have the stuff, it seems. Still no grease available. Went to get the o-rings, stopped at Ace Hardware also to get 1 7/8 inch o-rings that HD didn't have. Tested the o-rings out at home and they both fit OK. Baked a loaf of bread, it fell, and made two pizzas, the best.

03/13/2022  There was a stupid bachelorette party at the ABH, with people yelling and screaming, at what would normally have been 9 AM on a Sunday morning! It woke people up at our house. In this case, daylight savings ended at midnight, so it was technically 10 AM, but these nincompoops thought it was ok to start yelling and screaming at that hour, of that day. Fucking morons!

03/05/2022  Candy Bear 2 crashed and I had to exit.

03/04/2022  Lucky walk. Had a pickup at The Higher Path. My order was set aside, and then the product sold out. The guy couldn't find it at first, and then warned me about how good the contents were after. He was right.

03/03/2022  Lucky walk.

03/02/2022  Hamburger chicken-a-la-king with noodles for dinner.

03/01/2022  Too cold for a walk this morning. Someone came and fixed/restarted the abandoned vehicle across the street. Painted the dark color in the master closet on the west & north walls.

02/20/2022  Worked out the Key of Am for the song "A Letter from the Shelter" by Tony Carey, from the double album "Pink World". [Checked online and the Key should be Em. They're very close though, only a fifth away, 1/7/2023 TAH].

02/19/2022  Looked up Chevy Volt underbody air deflectors. Listed a bunch of songs that I play, but don't remember why. Maybe I was updating the song list on my website.

02/18/2022  Friday; made pizza. Finished upgrading all the Pac-Man 256 weapons.

02/17/2022  Found the Right channel of the amplifier was turned down (Ch 1 on the front). Must have bumped it while cleaning.

02/01/2022  LOTF (?). Lucky walk, Ollie was freaking out over a dog on Sunnyslope & Albers. I told the lady I would walk around, but she said she would instead. Took the Skip walk path and cut my hand picking a lemon. Saw Steve & Skip later at home when Frannie & Ollie were inside. Skip gave me kisses.

01/09/2022  Pancakes with pineapple and bacon. Computer was at the Restart screen! Reset UPS and restarted.

01/08/2022  Water is still leaking at the refrigerator. First, I crawled under the house to see if the water was coming up through the floor. And when I say crawled, that's all the room there was under there. I went in about 20 feet, around two corners, and had to back out the whole way. It was freaky, but I didn't see anything unusual. Back in the house, I got down on the floor and noticed a hairline crack in the filter housing causing a tiny jet of water to spray on the floor! I guess I didn't have to crawl under the house after all. Turned off the water, replaced the filter and reset the filter timer. [All of the water issues at this time are a result of the pressure control valve starting to fail. It happened slowly, so it was harder to troubleshoot. Repaired the valve on 3/30/22.]

01/07/2022  No Lucky walk today, didn't write down why. Found water leaking from in front of the refrigerator door. Cleaned everything out the refrigerator, and moved it out so I could look behind. Upon moving the refrigerator, I could hear water leaking and I found the water hose connections were loose and could be turned by hand. I quickly isolated the water supply. Cleaned up and re-tightened all the connections. Refilled the fridge and water is still leaking, it looks like it's seeping up from under the floor! Put a towel down and I'll check it in the morning.

01/06/2022  Lucky walk, went east on Albers due to another dog by Gary's. Went on Skip's route mostly, cutting corners. Kluckin Chicken for dinner. I thought I saw water on the floor by the refrigerator, maybe some ice had fallen there.

01/05/2022  Candy Bear 2, set a new high score. The inspection team showed up at the hospital today and all went well, back to the normal wake-up time.

01/04/2022  The abandoned car across the street is still there. Two M's.

01/02/2022  Tried to access Mission Federal CU and couldn't get in, had to call them.

******************************************      2022      ******************************************

12/31/2021  New Years Eve! Too cold for a Lucky walk this morning. Candy Bear 2, Level 29, no solution yet for 4 Stars. [On 12/19/22 I got 5 Stars on this Level, 1/7/2023 TAH]. Filet mignon with huge shrimp, baked potato and mixed veggies for dinner, nice!

12/30/2021  Made a loaf of bread. Went to Home Depot to buy some drain hoses, the old ones are shot. Interestingly, the old hoses were Tygon tubing that I had from my San Onofre days, no later than 1989, over 32 years ago! Side trip to Sunset Herbal for D33. Two M's.

12/29/2021  Laurie work early, back to bed, then later, due to Frannie, on the couch. Candy Bear 2, made 1st place. Parking enforcement stopped to see, and hopefully mark, the abandoned car across the street.

12/28/2021  Laurie work early, back to sleep on the couch. Someone peed between two mats on the floor, soaking the floor under them, and ruining the mats. That really pissed me off, but the fucking door was closed, and I can't blame Frannie for that.

12/27/2021  Laurie work early, didn't hear her go. It's really cold out. Two M's.

12/26/2021  Sunday; Laurie work for a while. While refilling the hummingbird feeder, Ollie saw some squirrels on the other side of the street and he started running toward them. I yelled to him to stay and he stopped at the street. Lucky walk, saw Steve & Skip. Candy Bear 2, new personal high score on Campaign. It was really cold out later when I plugged the car in.

12/24/2021  Made some pizza.

12/23/2021  Rain overnight. Reset car to 12 amps at 2 AM and started slow (see 12/30/21) siphon. Laurie work early, car blinking 3x, gift boxes in rear. Candy Bear 2. Fixed up rain gutter boards and siphon.

12/22/2021  Laurie work early. Reported a white BMW, license ZCTZ 331,  parked on the street with 2020 tags. It was gone the next morning.

12/21/2021  Happy Saturnalia!

12/17/2021  Ollie slept in the living room, there was pee on the rug in the Library. Got up to help Laurie, and Frannie did dookie on the floor, and pee (mostly) on a mat. The outside door was closed at the time.

12/16/2021  Frost this morning, Laurie work early; stayed in bed, Ollie slept in the living room after staying with Laurie for a while. At 11:45 PM, the assholes at the ABH, sitting in the driveway with their car running and all the lights on for 30 minutes or more, sped out of the driveway and took off racing up Sunnyslope towards Burbank Blvd.

12/15/2021  Frost this morning. Two M's.

12/14/2021  Rain last night and pouring now. Spaghetti with beefy juice.

12/13/2021  Lucky walk, used the gentle leader again on Ollie, he didn't like it. His nose was bloody a little on top where he was scraping the ground trying to remove it. It might work for larger dogs, but I don't like it for Ollie. I stopped using it. Got the house ready for rain; cut weeds and set drains.

12/12/2021  Sunday; couch [this is a reference to Frannie's habit of waking up to go pee, and then going out to the living room to go back to sleep. She won't go back to bed, I've tried. TAH]; breakfast; CB2, now 3rd. On Freethought Matters, the weekly, 8:30 AM (Los Angeles) TV show sponsored by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), the topic was children's forced religious indoctrination. I know, it's horrible, I went through it myself. I have many scars from that indoctrination, like the idiotic religious songs that can't be removed from memory. I've said before that I'd have a PhD by now if it wasn't for all of the wasted memory space those songs are taking up! Those stupid songs never did anything good for anyone, they just weigh you down like a boat anchor. No one under the age of consent should ever have to endure religious indoctrination, it should be against the law! Wrote a little Santa song based on the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"-TV-show-song the elves sing, "We are Santa's elves (WaSe), Can't you fucking tell? Who would ever dress this way, oh, WaSe. WaSe, gee, my butt-crack smells, Santa never let's us bathe, oh, WaSe. WaSe, We are horny as hell. And when were through you best not tell, oh, WaSe." Sort of like that, you know, but progressively getting worse.

12/11/2021  Ollie never came to bed with me and Frannie last night. He must have gone to sleep in the living room. CB2, system reset to Home. Laurie made a snide comment about working in the yard and music. Made blueberry pancakes with bacon. Later, made pizza, used oregano on the sauce. Best pizza I've made so far. Two M's.

12/10/2021  Lucky walk, used the gentle leader on Ollie. He didn't like it, but got used to it a little, I guess. Baked a loaf of bread. Two M's.

12/09/2021  Rain overnight. Someone peed on the floor in the Library, but not on the pee mat [Later it was determined that Frannie was doing most of this peeing. 1/10/23, TAH]. Two M's.

12/08/2021  Ollie pissed on the bed last night after I changed the sheets. I had to strip the bed and spray the bed cover. In this case, I blamed Ollie, so I'm sure it wasn't Frannie. I must have caught him in the act, I can't remember exactly. Spatchcocked chicken with potato's and peas. Two M's. UPS alarm overnight.

12/07/2021  Laurie home again for conference. Ended up on the couch with Frannie & Ollie for a while. Two M's.

12/06/2021  Laurie home for conference. Unplugged the car, the passenger window was down.

12/04/2021  Saturday; couch. Had to get up twice to reset the charging system on the car. The 2nd time (5 AM) it wouldn't reset, there was no power getting to the cord. Checked the receptacle at the house and it's burned out and failed. Ran the long cord into the garage and powered the charger from there [In the future, the receptacle at the sink would fail, moving the source to the bathroom. Later that receptacle would fail and I would replace it with a heavy duty outlet which is still operating. 1/10/23, TAH].

12/03/2021  Lucky walk, saw Steve & Skip.

12/02/2021  Lucky walk, saw Steve & Skip, Ollie went crazy. Came up with a song name, "You Little Fucker". There you go.

12/01/2021  Lucky walk. Spent 2 hours picking up the SLAJ leaves, till 12:45 PM. Swept the pool, used two packages of shock treatment. Went out at 4 AM to reset the charging system on the car, found moisture on the plug. Wrapped a plastic bag around the cord to protect it.

11/30/2021  Got up twice last night to reset the charging system on the car. Lucky walk, saw the girl with the brown dog and Ollie went crazy. Truck at PIH removing rocks and concrete from yard. Came up with some Satanic lyrics, check the notes.

11/29/2021  Lucky walk, we saw some dogs and Ollie was still a little crazy. I used the choke collar for him, since he was good to a dog on Saturday with only the choke collar on then. It didn't work. Steve called and he needs some wood cut.

11/27/2021  Used the new Black & Decker toaster oven for breakfast this morning. It works nice and doesn't leave crumbs on the counter [Found out later that it does leave crumbs on the counter, the old B&D toaster oven didn't. They can't make the machine better today than they did 20 years ago. Brooklyn pizza and chicken roll.

11/26/2021  Had some gastric issues this morning around 5 AM. Slept on the couch with Frannie & Ollie until 9 AM, and I feel better now. I saw that a desktop icon on my computer was missing, but I can't remember which one. Opened Windows Explorer and it crashed. Restarted the machine and the icon is still missing [Sometime later, after rebooting or something, it did come back. It was the icon for AOMEI Backupper, but I have no explanation for it's disappearance]. The Black & Decker toaster over arrived today, put it on the counter. Baked a loaf of bread.

11/25/2021  Thanksgiving. At 12:20 PM, I saw what appeared to be lawn sprinklers going off at the ABH in the back yard. A geyser of water over 10 feet in the air was coming over the fence. It turned off at 12:25 PM.

11/24/2021  The car charged all night last night. I had raised the plug off the ground with an insulating material. Lucky walk. Laurie home early due to Thanksgiving. It looks like all the crappy painting is done next door at the PIH.

11/23/2021  Got up twice last night to reset the fucking car!

11/22/2021  The car isn't charging properly. I checked it a couple of times last night, but it only charged 5 miles?

11/19/2021  Foggy, missed the lunar eclipse last night. Lucky walk, saw Lola and her momma, and her and Frannie had a moment. Egg, ham & cheese sandwich. Painting the trim on the PIH.

11/18/2021  Lucky walk, saw Steve & Skip, and the curly brown dog, and Gary & Earlene separately. Painting PIH.

11/17/2021  Wednesday; Lucky walk, saw Leona, met Snoopy, talked about Star. Leona has a haircutting party today at 12:30 PM with a hairstylist who did Mary Tyler Moore and Andy Griffith. Talked to the girl with the curly brown dog as she was going by Leona's. Overnight mail.

11/16/2021  Found a company, Cartwright Productions, at our home address.

11/15/2021  Lucky walk, saw Michelle & Henry on our way back down Albers, just at Sunnyslope. She didn't look good. Stump removal at PIH.

11/14/2021  Couch. Installed VirtualBox for BOINC, Rosetta needs it.

11/13/2021  Baked a loaf of bread. Made pizza. Worked outside by the back door and water hose removing concrete debris and trash from the Earth.

11/12/2021  Saw Steve & Skip go for a walk and come back. He was playing with a puppy that looked like it went to the house just south of the ABH. Workers are removing the tree in the front yard of the PIH. The toaster over is delayed until Tuesday [It came, was damaged, returned. Ordered a different brand because it was leaking crumbs also, new one here 11/26].

11/11/2021  Workers are taping the windows at the PIH, for painting. They're power-washing now, I'd like to see how they're going to do the side of the garage infringing on our property.

11/10/2021  Laurie work early. Couch with Frannie & Ollie. Indigestion and fucking constantly blowing snot all night and morning long, goddamn it!!!  Responded to LAPD and included a report on the ABH party. I smelled of alcohol when I leaned into the car to pick up Frannie & Ollie.

11/09/2021  Lucky walk. Logged complaints and sent photos to LAPD. Forgot to add the information about the ABH party, will do tomorrow.

11/06/2021  Saturday; couch with Frannie & Ollie. Laurie appointment in Pasadena this afternoon. Hummingbird syrup. Baked a loaf of bread. Burned it a little when I forgot about it trimming the Bougainvillea!

11/05/2021  Laurie left her phones at home again, all week long. Saw Steve & Skip out by the car. Lucky walk, saw people watching the street for some filming. Saw the lady with the brown, long-haired dog, not the curly poodle dog, and chatted with her about Ollie. Frannie was going to sniff her dog but Ollie kept barking. There was a huge party at the ABH tonight. When I went out to plug in the car, people from the party were using our trash bins located in the street, in front of the car, in front of our house, as tables to hold their drinks while they smoked and texted. There were 3 or 4 gnarly looking "people" out there, and I wasn't about to go into that mess, so I had to call the police. Later on, there was a low noise from the party that sounded like chanting, and it got louder, and louder until it drowned out our TV, and then it stopped. I went to look out the window, and people were pouring out of the house onto Sunnyslope Avenue. Hundreds of people lined the street, 3 and 4 people deep on each side, at least, yelling and chanting and shining lights on themselves from cars and flashlights, while others drove vehicles up and down the street. I was already on the phone with the police for the second time, after the chanting, when the police finally showed up. Some people didn't see the cops and were speeding out of the driveway, and the police seemed to go after them. I hoped so, anyway. I contacted Bek, but he wouldn't believe me because he only has the street camera to go by. It wasn't until the huge mob assaulted the street that he acknowledged a problem, asshole.

11/04/2021  Car charged completely overnight, I checked it at least twice. Lucky walk. Made a note about LA Building & Safety.

11/03/2021  Had to reset the car charger once last night, and heard about it this morning. Lucky walk.

11/02/2021  Laurie work, she sped off like she was pissed. Lucky walk, Ollie was pulling but seemed nicer to people. Saw the skinny, walking lady (Suzie?) and he was nice to her. The SLAJ's yard guy came and destroyed our yard. I'll take pictures tomorrow.

11/01/2021  Lucky walk. The SLAJ wanted to access our yard for the maintenance of his trees. At first I said yes, but after further research, I told him no, as I didn't want to establish a precedent for the stupidity of him putting the trees too close to the property line. Roasted a whole chicken.

10/31/2021  Couch, breakfast. Candy Bear 2. Frannie peed on the rug by the futon after I opened the door for her to go out.

10/30/2021  Saturday; couch, no walk. Candy Bear 2. The Planetary Society S/D my account because my credit card expired.

10/29/2021  Lucky walk, saw the girl with the big, red dog again by Leona's. Workers at Heather's house are still dumping dirt in the big dumpster. I would like some of that dirt to fill in my yard (I never did get any of it). Look for an outdoor cord and toaster oven; did it.

10/28/2021 

10/25/2021  Rain, checked all the drains. Candy Bear 2. Cheese roll and Cheerios. Note, "Was supposed to mark something here...[10/28 It was important]"

10/24/2021  Couch with Frannie & Ollie.  Baked a loaf of bread, and made another batch of dough for buns. Prep for rain, swept the street so the water and trash will run off.

10/23/2021  Saturday; couch, breakfast, Candy Bear 2. Downloaded and installed LView Pro 2006. Later, I got an access code to disable the nag screen. Investigating alternate computer OS's. Balena Etcher tool for writing ISO's to USB Drives, and Axiom Linux distro. Mission Fed, can't login, stupid fucking thing. I just got done with those fucks, and their website still sucks. Windy today, SLAJ's leaves are in the pool, spent about 5 hours total cleaning the crap up, asshole. The ABH flood lights were on all night long again. I went out and took pictures.

10/22/2021  Hazy this morning, no Lucky walk. Saw HUGE, stupid birthday signs across the whole lawn of the ABH. It's ugly and ridiculous, NIN for music today! Did some computer work regarding Nero and the Registry, left it all alone. Bought Pac-Man 256 special with Beam (0.99) and Coin Doubler ($4.99).

03/21/2021  Went to Santa Clarita to see the rescue dog Ollie I found online. He was awesome! I took another dog also, Frannie, who is older, but she's never going to leave this shelter unless I take her. I wanted to start my own personal shelter just for the poor old dogs who may never see a real home again. Poor pups. Took Ollie and Frannie home to start bonding!

******************************************      2021      ******************************************

03/13/2020  Called and reported a gray Honda Odyssey for being parked illegally on the street.

02/01/2020  Pandemic started around here, somewhere.

******************************************      2020      ******************************************

03/23/2019  Morning walk; saw the hat lady twice, and we spoke when she went past Star. She said Star was barking at her dog because her dog is female. I replied that I understood, and that I would do the same if I was him. It was a little suggestive. Went to the Bernie Sanders rally at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles today. Drove to the Metro RedLine, North Hollywood Station at Chandler and Lankershim, and Chandler was closed for quite a ways for the Vegan Street Fair. It was my first time there, and I was hoping they would have a park-and-ride type parking arrangement, but the Vegan Street Fair was in the way of me finding that out. I ended up parking in a public parking area. Took the RedLine to Grand Park, with a short stopover at Union Station because the station signs don't indicate Grand Park, even though all the maps do. It's the only station that I noticed along the route we took where the station signs don't match the map signs. At the rally, they had cordoned off the park and were letting people in only after searching their bags and performing a hand metal detection. A lot of people showed up, they later claimed 15,000 (I'm near the middle of the red oval), but I think it was much more than that. We got in pretty close to the stage, and we saw folding chairs at first, but later realized they were VIP areas, everyone else had to stand like cattle. We ended up standing there for over 3 1/2 hours, until we couldn't take it anymore. As we were going down into the subway Bernie was signing off, so we didn't miss anything, and we got to the train first. Stopped at Ralph's on the way home, and then had (Ralph's) roasted chicken with (homemade) rice and (frozen) veggies for dinner. Hot tub.

03/22/2019  Lucky walk, scrubbed Star, saw Steve & Skip. Laurie has an interview today in Covina. Unplugged the car and saw Jan at Wayne's by the trash cans. Did my workout today. For lunch I made a PB&J sandwich with the bread I baked. The PB&J held the bread together, and the bread kept my fingers from getting PB&J on them, so it all worked out. Computer sync. Laurie had dinner with her friend Elise, in Covina or West Covina, and came home home with some Mexican food. Meant to use the hot tub but I fell asleep on the couch.

03/21/2019  Thursday; trash. Lucky walk (x). Rain on and off today; folded clothes and washed two loads of dishes. Got everything ready to bake the next loaf of bread. Modified the recipe again, hopefully it will work. Waiting until 7 PM so that the house smells like bread after I pick Laurie up from Burbank Airport. Computer sync; finished removing as many RealPlayer entries from the Registry as I could. There are still some references to the program path, in "_RealProxy" which is Windows related I think, and "RealJukeBox.wma.1" which indicates it's Windows Media Player, even though it only points to the RealPlayer program that isn't there anymore. I could probably delete both of them without any problems, but I won't for now. Deleted two Tweak7 entries also. When we got home from the airport we saw Steve & Skip walking back to their apartment, Laurie had not met them yet. The bread turned out to be the best yet!!!

03/20/2019  It may have rained a little last night. Walk, weeds, waved to Serey. Dishes, laundry, saw Jan at Wayne's as she was leaving around 10 AM. Made some bread but it didn't rise properly. I recorded the ingredients so I can alter them accordingly the next time. Computer sync; continued removing the RealPlayer entries from the Registry. Bacon, flat noodles and mixed veggies for dinner. Sharla's upcoming trip. Hot tub. Sharla again.

03/19/2019  Morning walk, petted Star, saw Steve & Skip, another white poodle was there also. Breakfast, shower (x). Pulled weeds. Saw Jan at Wayne's later on, she saw me looking at her from the kitchen window I'm sure. Computer sync; removed RealPlayer from the Registry, or started to, had to research what was there first. Mac & Cheese with sliced hot dogs for dinner. No hot tub tonight, probably weather related.

03/18/2019  Lucky walk. Saw a lady across the street at Wayne's, she looks like a caregiver and walks to the house, so she lives close by or takes the bus (this is Jan, Wayne's friend who I'll meet later). Trimmed the Bougainvillea to try to talk to her, and she was taking out the trash and checking me out I'm sure, but we didn't speak. Cleaned the electrostatic precipitator. Workout, no swim. Computer sync. Played through a set, but had trouble with AudioBox. When the software updated last, it deleted the old monitoring program that came with the product because they're no longer supporting it. I had to open Reaper and set up a standard three channel project to route the audio. It worked fine after I got it arranged, but figuring out what happened and why took some time and frustration. Sharla Facebook comment. Hot dogs and potato chips for dinner. Hot tub.

03/17/2019  Walk, weeds, Round-Up. Computer sync; started MAME HS table TXT file. Leftovers, Hot tub.

03/16/2019  Lucky walk, petted Star, pulled some weeds. EH&C sandwich for breakfast, substitute Canadian bacon. Petco for treats. Computer sync; subscribed to Blue Origin rocket website. Tri-tip with potato's and corn for dinner. Hot tub.

03/15/2019  Morning walk; petted Star, saw Steve & Skip when we got back home. Someone is going away for the weekend (x). Swept the house. While watching the "1000 Miles of Sebring" car race in Florida, they mentioned there was going to be a launch from Cape Canaveral that they would be able to see from the racetrack. It was delayed 90 minutes, and it was dark when the launch occurred, but they got an image of it...when it was just a blob of light against the sky, just after the SRBs were jettisoned (it was a Delta IV, and the video calls them SRMs). Check out this Blue Origin suborbital flight also, it's incredible. It has nothing to do with the other launch, but I saw it on YouTube. Did my workout today. Computer sync; the stupid porn shoot at the ABH next door is flashing fucking light in the windows and I need to find a way to stop it. They should have to block it because it's very annoying and I feel like it's going to cause me seizures. I closed the closet door, which is a mirror, so that they might have to put up a block because of the reflections. I don't know if it worked, the flashes continued, but then eventually stopped. Played through a set outside by the pool. Finished the goulash. Ended up falling asleep on the couch.

03/14/2019  Lucky walk, saw Gary's wife out trimming the roses and we had a chat. Her name is Naylene, or Nierene, I didn't get it right (it's Earlene, I found out later online). She said they have trees in pots if we want to plant some in our front yard, which, she noted, needs a tree or two. Today is the return appointment for the Volt at Allen Gwynn Chevrolet at 10 AM. I called them at 9 AM to make sure everything was go, and a guy, who mumbled his name so I can't tell you who he was, basically told me that they have no idea what's wrong with the car, so it will be 4-6 hours for discovery alone, and that it stood a good chance of staying overnight. I asked him, since they were the ones who got information from the vehicle remotely, that they must have some idea of what the problem is from what the car told them, and that must have had some bearing on the text that they themselves sent, so someone must know something. He supposedly had no information for me. I told him I need some transportation like a loaner or rental car, and he said all he can do is call Lyft for me. I cancelled the appointment and I'll reschedule it when I can get a rental car over there, or pitch a tent in their parking lot. Computer sync; investigated the issue of applications "pinning" themselves to the Start Menu when you run them. Last of the Master Yoda. Leftover goulash. Hot tub.

03/13/2019  It's a sunny day so far, took Lucky for a nice walk. Saw the white, three-legged dog in passing. Pulled some weeds. My left hand is thrashed with cuts and abrasions from pulling the yellow clover. EH&C sandwich for breakfast, substitute Canadian bacon instead of ham. Computer sync. Workout, nice. Updated RealPlayer and it was hosed. It locked up the system at times and popped up nag screens. I finally converted all the .rmj files to .mp3 and deleted RealPlayer once and for all, including the stupid Library that it hangs over your head at the end to try to keep some kind of foothold on your computer. It's practically Malware. I sent them a paragraph about why I uninstalled it. I used to like RealPlayer, but they don't seem to care about anything but advertising. I'm trying to move away from that. Hamburger goulash. Hot tub.

03/12/2019  Walked Lucky, no Willow, saw Star. Ms. Edmonds drove a mini out of her garage just after we saw Star. I checked her out and gave her a nod. I took the Volt to Allen Gwynn Chevrolet in Glendale this morning for an appointment at 10:20 AM. They texted Laurie because the car has the Check Engine light on and it's been acting weird lately sometimes. It seams that the Volt can contact the dealership by itself when it thinks it needs to report stuff. I didn't know that, and it should have been known. What else is it sending back? Loads of crap I'm sure, without our knowledge. The dealer indicated that they had something happen recently that set back the Service Department to the point that they wouldn't be able to get to the car today, that it would have to be left overnight, or brought in at 6-7 AM in the morning. I didn't want any of that, so I went in and made another appointment for sometime in the future when I can wait for the car without leaving it. I made an appointment for Thursday, March 14th at 10 AM. What a waste of time and energy. They could have contacted me and pushed the appointment back. Went to CVS for Laurie and the prescription has been sent by mail. Sun and light workout. Computer sync. Puffy Delivery; Alien OG and finally, Purple Punch cart. Hot tub.

03/11/2019  Monday; today is The Voice at The Hotel Cafe Open Mic Night day, but Laurie is flying out later this evening and I have to drop her off at Burbank Airport. Walked Lucky, no Willow, saw Star (x). No workout since it's cold and overcast. Found out today that Janice Freeman died on March 2, 2019 of a blood clot brought on by pneumonia. Her husband performed CPR until the ambulance arrived. I saw her at The Hotel Cafe on Monday, December 10, 2018. Hot tub.

03/10/2019  Lucky walk, no Willow, scrubbed Star. Decided to make home-made pizza tonight for dinner, including dough from scratch in the bread machine. The dough was dry so I should increase the water next time I make it. We made two pizzas from the dough and stretched it until it was pretty thin. In hindsight, it might have been better to use the entire 1 1/2 pounds of dough for a single pie so that the crust was thicker, and not so crispy in the end. It didn't help that the dough was dry. It all turned out good though. Hot tub.

03/09/2019  Earlier than normal walk this morning, no Willow or Star. Cleaned house. Computer sync; website Photos. Picked up Laurie from the airport late because of plane issues, something about the windshield, and they had to switch planes. Leftover chicken dinner. Hot tub.

03/08/2019  We saw Willow again on our walk this morning. I noticed that the treat I left on the wall was gone, so she knows that I came back since Wednesday, when I last saw her, to leave that treat. She let me pet her for a little while knowing I had another treat in my hand. I think she likes me. Well, she puts up with me for the treats. I saw some large weeds that had crept in where I had weeded before, in front by the orange tree, so I decided to clear them out. Saw my neighbor Serey a couple of times while I was out there, and she said, "I don't want to hit you" as she was getting in her van to back up. It was funny. She can run me over anytime she wants. I got a blister on the palm of my right hand from the tool I was using to pull up the large weeds. Computer sync; modified website page Photos to add different images and remove a few. Made sort of a version of Chicken a la King over rice for dinner tonight, it was really good.

03/07/2019  Thursday; trash day, SV blocked by the cans, waited for them to be moved. Finally took Lucky for a walk around 8:30 AM and only then did they get moved (x). SV was there way past 9 AM. It was there when I went to Ralph's around 11 AM, and gone when I came back, but it showed up again shortly after that. I know who's home and the sun is shining, so I did my workout today. Found a phone number for Jim Duncan on a website. I lost his number when my phone fell off the car in Hollywood a while ago. I have no idea if it's any good, I was just hoping he would text me about an upcoming show, and I would get the number back that way. EH&C sandwich for dinner. Whiskey. Hot tub.

03/06/2019  It's still raining a lot. Hydrogen hydroxide on the floor, added second Tygon. Took Lucky for his walk when the rain stopped for a while (x). Cleaned up the house a bit including the bread machine from the first overflow fiasco. Made Snoqualmie Falls Lodge pancakes for lunch, nice. Made bread again with three cups of flour, but I still didn't reduce the other ingredients so it came out runny. It made a loaf that turned out OK, but the proportions were off. Computer sync. Took Lucky for a late walk and we ended up seeing Willow, who let me pet her, but she wanted a treat. Unfortunately I didn't have one at the time, so she barked at me a little when we started to leave. I went back with a treat after I took Lucky home, but Willow wasn't there, so I left the treat on the wall at the corner.

03/05/2019  We saw Steve & Skip on our walk this morning. I've been scrubbing Star dog a lot more these days too. He waits for us in the morning and loves little Lucky. Computer sync. Videoed lightning in the Valley. Made tuna casserole for dinner.

03/04/2019  I was harvesting oranges again and I saw Serey, and we had a nice conversation about the oranges. Workout with no swim, I'm not heating the pool anymore to cut costs. Weeds, computer sync, leftovers, and hot tub, in that order.

03/03/2019  It only sprinkled a little this morning, the Sun is shining and things are drying out. I was trying to think of a Pass Phrase today, and for some reason I thought of a passage from the book "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" by Richard Bach. I went online and cobbled together a text version of the story, I loved it as a kid. It was cool to read it again. I read the review of Part 4 which was published in 2014, but I don't know if I'll like that part, we'll see. Petco, weeds, computer sync, and leftovers. Hot tub tonight, the people in the Amazing Big House next door were flying their drone overhead when Lucky started barking.

03/02/2019  It poured all night last night. It rained on and off most of the day up until like 2 PM. Had pancakes for breakfast. During a break in the rain I took Lucky out, and it started to rain on us. I'm having problems with Google in that it's very slow these days. Switched to DuckDuckGo and Startpage, I'll check them both out. Set my home page to DuckDuckGo. I ended up deleting Firefox and reinstalling it, but then I had to redo all my settings. It helped for a while, but it's still not as fast as it used to be. WTF!? Padrino's Detroit style pizza for dinner. The neighbors behind us had a party tonight. It wasn't loud but the lights were bright and shining in the bedroom door.

03/01/2019  Pulled yellow clover in front and back, it was growing since I was gone. Computer sync; Firefox is slow.

02/28/2019  Thursday; drove back from Vallejo. Left the city at about 12:30 PM and got home around 5:50 PM with one stop for water and gas. I was hauling ass. When I was unloading the car, I saw our neighbor Serey parking and we exchanged pleasantries on her way into the house.

02/25/2019  Spent the next three days in Vallejo while it rained and flooded. Cleaned the apartment, played some music, had time for myself, tried to get a picture of the lady in the red dodge (10:30-10:45).

02/24/2019  Up at 3:30 AM to get ready for The Voice audition. I was walking over there by 5 AM, and I was near the front of the line. I sang "I Wish I Knew You" by The Revivalists and I killed it, for still being sick, no less. Met Angel out in line, he's from Riverside. I had a bunch of stuff I needed; antihistamine, cough drops, saline nasal spray, moisturizing mouth spray, and a pack of Kleenex just to keep everything working long enough to sing for a minute and a half.

02/23/2019  Drove to San Francisco and checked-in to the Hotel Beresford. The Chinese New Year, Year of the Pig parade through the East side screwed up traffic. At first we thought there was a huge accident due to all the emergency vehicles with their lights on. I only found this out in the audition line tomorrow.

02/22/2019  Friday; drove to Vallejo.

02/21/2019  Picked Laurie up from Burbank Airport at like 9:30 PM.

02/20/2019  Did my workout today.

02/19/2019  Tully was obnoxious all night, had to go to the spare room. On the Lucky walk, I saw Ms. Edmonds leaving her house, she gave me a wave from inside her car. Made a breakfast sandwich and continued with the computer sync. Looked up Louis Anastas (IMDb) from the party at Te'Kila the other day.

02/18/2019  Monday; President's Day, not for Dumb-old Chump though, fuck that asshole. Lucky walk, breakfast sandwich, and computer sync. Worked out and swam 30 laps, business as usual.

02/17/2019  Feeling a little better today, although still like shit. The new box of cereal I bought is stale and I have to take it back. Swept the house and cleaned the Poopy Hole. Computer sync; Blog. Looked up Chris Edmonds (IMDb), a guy who lives near us who wrote a book, and is advertising it on his wife's car. They have a big black poodle named Henry, and I run into them on occasion while they walk the dog. I still feel like crap, I should have got the Sudafed 12 hour.

02/16/2019  I am sick as a dog this morning. The Sun is shining though, so I took Lucky for a walk. I saw Gary & his wife working on their front yard, and we chatted for a few minutes. Went to Ralph's for groceries and antihistamine. Did a full workout with a swim. Hamburger Helper for dinner, just like back in school. Fell asleep on the couch.

02/15/2019  Took Lucky for a walk at some point when it stopped raining. It started sunny but got cloudy. Pulled some weeds. No workout due to cold and cloudy. Leftover Tony's; the salad was shot, they must use preservatives.

02/14/2019  Thursday; couldn't walk Lucky this morning because it was pouring down rain, all night long, and at 9:30 AM it's still pouring. Computer sync; Blog. Pulled a lot of weeds in back and some in front. Tony's Mexican for dinner. I'm starting to not feel good, like I have whatever it was that Laurie had, and with my audition coming up, that's a really bad thing. She's had it for weeks, and I have my audition in 10 days, at 7 AM. [See 2/10/2019 for last contact.]

02/13/2019  It's overcast today, raining on & off. Lucky walk. Collected some oranges hoping Ms. Edmonds would drive by again and see me, I saw her go by recently. Computer sync; Blog. Installed Tweak7, a Win 7 tweaking utility, but I didn't like it, so I deleted it. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 video card is a Kepler architecture. Looked up hotels in San Francisco for our upcoming trip. Settled on the Hotel Beresford because it was cheaper, and they only charge $25 for pets. Everywhere else it was $100. Opened the roof area in the Library around the leak, and put a towel down to try to keep the surrounding area dry.

02/12/2019  Took Lucky for his walk (x). Tully was good again last night. Friended Presley Cash on Facebook. She's an actress also. I would like to collaborate with her! Followed Delaney on Facebook and left a message on one of her posts. Computer sync; Blog. Found a discrepancy in "Asleep at the Wheel" where the first line had changed over time, and I only noticed it while listening to the song on Bandcamp. I fixed the source files and documented what I found. Went to Te'Kila on the invitation of my realtor, Rafael Gevorkian, who was having a little get-together with some of his old clients. I had a few drinks and some good conversation, I met Joe Nicassio and Louis Anastas (IMDb). Got a card from Joe and swapped phone numbers with Louis. It was nice, I'll be going again if they have another get-together.

02/11/2019  Monday; The Hotel Cafe Open Mic Night. After walking Lucky (x), I had breakfast and watched a little "Death Wish" with Charles Bronson. Computer sync; Blog I'm sure. I did my workout in the sun, but I didn't swim because I have to get ready for The Hotel Cafe. Later at the club, I met Presley Cash who has her own music. We talked about Missouri a little, where she grew up. Inside I met Sunni, a 28 year old who was auditioning in San Francisco at 2 PM. She sat at my table for a while and then left, and another young woman, Katy Whalen (sp.) came and sat down. We talked, and she couldn't believe how often I had been coming there, and still hadn't been selected to perform. At one point she got up, I figured to get a drink, but when she came back, she said she had asked them to let me play, and they refused without being selected from the fishbowl. I had nothing to do with this, but she said she works in music production as an Audio Specialist, and she thought she could get it done. She really liked me and gave me a hug when she left. She was cute, I hope I see her again someday. Tully was good last night after two nights of going crazy (she's 19 yr. old).

02/10/2019  Sunday; Tully was bonkers last night too, I went to the spare room and shut the door. Took Laurie to Burbank Airport for her 3 PM flight to Sacramento. While we were texting, I realized she thought my audition was one week earlier than it was, the 17th instead the 24th. I was too tired for the hot tub tonight. [This was the last time I was around Laurie before I got sick, with what she had, on Thursday.]

02/09/2019  Tully was super crazy last night and I lost a lot of sleep, I should have used the spare room but I didn't. Casa Vega for an early dinner (linner, or lunner? or lupper!). Hot tub later.

02/08/2019  Cleaned the house. Had eggs for breakfast. Took Lucky for a walk. Picked Laurie up at Burbank Airport, her hand scan was cancelled and she had to figure out what happened. Tri-tip for dinner.

******************************************      2019      ******************************************

09/10/2018  Monday; Lucky walk. Doctor's appointment today, just a checkup. Tonight is the 2nd Voice Open Mic Night at The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. Had dinner beforehand at Trejo's Cantina, down the block and across the street. Didn't get picked to sing tonight, again. I was first through the door though, maybe there was one dude in front of me.

09/09/2018  Lucky walk; watered the orange tree. Watched a one hour Twilight Zone episode titled "On Thursday We Leave For Home", from 1963. I love that show. Computer sync; completed Interacting, on to Lensing (9:45 PM).

09/08/2018  Tully overnight again. Lucky walk; Jimmy Parks is having a yard sale today. Pulled some weeds around the yard, but the sun is out so it's getting hot already. My wrist feels much better today. Computer sync; Interacting. Ordered Monster Thai for dinner and it was just OK. Serena Williams loses the US Open after arguing with a referee. Hot tub, saw the big, ugly opossum again tonight.

09/07/2018  Lucky walk; my right wrist is shot, put a wrist brace on it. Cleaned up new sprouts on the stumps in the back. Computer sync. Somehow, Tully got out of the yard. We searched the neighborhood and found her on Sunnyslope just South of Albers, casually walking across the street. Tried to order out, but the web site wouldn't work (didn't indicate which web site). Leftovers for dinner.

09/06/2018  Lucky walk; the sun is out already and it's hot, no outside work today. Computer sync; there are discrepancies between Win XP and Win 7 in the file attributes. When I update files on Win XP from Win 7, not all of the fields are being updated, like the title. Manually changed a file, but I can't worry about it or I'll never finish syncing. DR details; my right wrist is sore from cutting the Ficus yesterday. Chicken sandwich and chicken noodle soup for dinner. Texted Jim Duncan.

09/05/2018  Lucky walk; talked to Leona for a while. Ficus stump removal; I accidentally hit my foot with the saw and jammed my right hand. Double shocked the pool, will add algaecide after the water clears. Computer sync; added NoThumbnailCache to CU in Registry (?). Chicken cubes with elbow macaroni and shaved corn on the cob for dinner. Hot tub; no opossum, but Lucky saw the mouse.

09/04/2018  Lucky walk; saw a woman in jogging attire running East down Albers with a nice butt. From the spare room, I made a video of Serey coming out of her house through the sliding glass door. Finished cutting up the Ficus from yesterday. Computer sync; yada, yada, yada. Chicken with rice and green beans for dinner. Hot tub; saw the opossum again! Tully again overnight.

09/03/0218  Lucky walk. Ficus trimming and removal. Computer sync. Leftover pizza for dinner. Hot tub; saw a mouse go by on the fence, and then a big opossum! Tully overnight again.

09/02/2018  Lucky walk. Laurie to Urgent Care in Beverly Hills; arm not broken but needs brace. Computer sync. Detroit style pizza for dinner. Tully wouldn't leave me alone again last night.

09/01/2018  Lucky walk; saw the girls again next door playing music and chatting, we exchanged pleasantries. Ficus gravel removal. Laurie made enchiladas from leftovers for dinner. She also fell out by the gravel pit in the back yard, where I was separating the trash from the dirt, and skinned her knee, cut her toe, and fell on her arm. We learned later that her arm had a small fracture.

08/31/2018  Lucky walk. Watered the orange tree and waved to Serey. Cleared rocks by the Bougainvillea. Computer sync. Mo Barbeque from Leaning Tower Pizza for dinner. Saw some girls out by their cars at the ABH.

08/30/2018  Lucky walk. Put up a laundry line where some of the Ficus used to be. Computer sync; cleaned up a bunch of stuff. Sausage Mac-N-Cheese with corn on the cob for dinner. Hot tub. Responded to a Facebook post by Sharla.

08/29/2018  Lucky walk; saw Serey but didn't get a chance to talk. Computer sync; Clusters again. Leftover chicken enchiladas for dinner.

08/28/2018  Lucky walk, Tully to vet. Ficus gravel removal. Computer sync; Clusters. Went to the Farmer's Market but I didn't write down which one. Probably the one by the mall on Riverside. The pork chops were bad, threw them out, so we had leftover Indian food.

08/27/2018  Tully was a nuisance last night, that girl. Lucky walk; saw Serey on the back porch after her shower, probably combing her hair, nice. Ficus gravel removal. Computer sync; Space. Arranged to take Tully to the vet at 10 AM tomorrow. Indian food today for dinner (based on having leftovers tomorrow)?

08/26/2018  Rally at Chandler Bikeway at 11 AM. Stayed until around 1 PM. Many people showed up and it was fun. Had lunch at The Fat Dog off of Magnolia by Vineland. Skipped dinner after the late lunch. (Last entry on website from here until 2/8/2019 due to having not entered it yet. Started again on 1/21/2022 due to requiring a timeline of this period).

08/25/2018  Lucky walk. Talked to Leona and told her I was a singer and I auditioned for The Voice. Ficus gravel removal. Computer sync; fixing tags.

08/24/2018  Took the Lucky walk, saw Willow and gave her a treat. Computer sync; Space images. Found the Meta Tags in the files were not entered correctly. A semi-colon is required between each Tag, but instead commas or spaces were used so the Tags just ran together. Worked to fix this problem, it will be an ongoing issue. Did my workout and swim. Saw an article on UCTV titled "Imaging the Brain", it was really good. Chicken shish kabobs with rice and veggies for dinner. Hot tub; Laurie suggests but I said no, implied due to my hernia.

08/23/2018  Saw Steve & Skip on our walk, talked about the trash on the street coming from the ABH. Laurie job interview 10 AM. Went to store and return box (?). Computer sync; Space images. Network down, rebooted both machines. Ice cream from the corner store, Creamology Cereal Bar. They mix ice cream and breakfast cereal, that's it. You can get ice cream by itself, but why would you, they have ice cream PLUS cereal.

08/22/2018  Signed up for a political rally on Sunday, 8/26/2018 @ 11 AM on the Chandler Bikeway in Burbank. That's on the corner of Buena Vista and Chandler. Posted it to Facebook also. Computer sync; Space images. Workout and swim. Cooked the steak we got at the Farmer's Market, it was really good! Tully wasn't too bad tonight.

08/21/2018  On our walk, we didn't see Willow at first, so I left a treat on the wall. On the way back around, I saw that it was gone, and Willow was there and she wanted more! Computer sync; Space images. Network went down again and I had to reboot both machines. Went to the Farmer's Market at the Riverside Mall. It was small but good, and there was some nice eye candy. Leftovers for dinner, cleaned out the fridge. Hot tub. Tully drove Laurie to sleep in the living room.

08/20/2018  Monday; took Lucky for his walk. Swept the pool, but the vacuum head bristles were falling out into the water. I replaced it with the old vacuum head, which also had some bristles falling out, but not nearly as bad. Unfortunately the plastic was weak, and halfway through the job, that vacuum head broke at the bolted connection. Both are now trash. I was sweating bad. I stripped down and I'm airing out my truss. I didn't write that I jumped in the pool to cool down though. Computer sync; Space images. Did my workout and swim. Cooked meatballs with red enchilada sauce over rice with corn and peas for dinner. Mmm! Hot tub.

08/19/2018  Lucky walk. Watched the Easter Island show on DVR. Computer sync; Space images. Big party next door at the ABH again, they left a mess out in the street. Pork chops with grilled pineapple and peppers for dinner. Watched the Little League World Series (LLWS), Mets vs. Phillies.

08/18/2018  Woke up at 2:50 AM to use the restroom and the lights were on in the ABH pool. There were some girls over there swimming...with their bathing suits on, awww! Me and Lucky picked up some trash on our walk. Laurie cooked breakfast. Cleaned up the tools around the Ficus and pulled some weeds. My hernia is bothering me, had to put the truss on. I should've had it on to begin with. Computer sync; Space images. Sent Sharla Letter Number Two. Leftovers for late dinner due to LNT. Hot tub, they're having a party at the ABH.

08/17/2018  Morning Lucky walk, spoke to Leona about MS. Cut back the Bougainvillea in front and watered the orange tree. Jumped in the pool after that to cool down. Computer sync; Space images. Did my workout and my left elbow is sore, but I don't know why. Took some Advil. Played through a set, but my elbow hurt too much to continue. I must have bashed my elbow on something and didn't realize it. Salmon for dinner. Elbow still hurts a little but the Advil finally kicked in.

08/16/2018  Trash day. Lucky walk. Saw my neighbor Serey when she got out of her car and we had a nice chat. Also saw the old man across the street who said he was surviving the heat (His name is Wayne. I won't know this until Halloween when I meet the neighbors next to Wayne's, Jonathan & Heather). Cleaned up the pool, saw Serey at the sliding-glass door. Computer sync; Space images. Made sausage and noodles for dinner.

08/15/2018  Took Lucky for his walk. Laurie phone interview 8 AM. Cleaned the cab of my truck out a little, Serey wore a tank top to her front door. Computer sync; Space images. Through radio station 88.5 FM we went to see Death Cab for Cutie at 1 PM at The Record Parlour in Hollywood, across the street from The Hotel Cafe. Afterward we had dinner at Chris Santos' Beauty & Essex which is in the same building as The Hotel Cafe. It was all very convenient.

08/14/2018  Appointment in Beverly Hills for my hernia. Laurie phone interview. Computer sync; Space images. Roasted chicken for dinner from Ralph's.

08/13/2018  Monday; the very first Voice Open Mic Night at The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. Had dinner beforehand at Stout across the street. Tully was very loud last night.

08/12/2018  Lucky walk, petted Star right in front of Leona. Computer sync; network crashed, rebooted both machines. Leftovers and hot tub.

08/11/2018  Took Lucky for his walk. I saw the young woman at the corner of Sunnyslope and Albers standing on her porch in her nightgown stoop down and pick up her little dog. She smiled and waved and said "Good morning" and I did the same. All I could think of was the view up her nightgown and how I would like to see that. Computer sync; came up with a method to organize files in a directory by date using prefixes "a", "b", "c", etc. Network slow, rebooted Win XP & 7. Chicken breasts for dinner, the remaining corn on the cob from the Farmers Market was nasty and we had to discard it. Hot tub.

08/10/2018  Friday; Lucky walk. After we got back, I was watering the orange tree when I saw a lovely young lady coming from the apartments with a small, cute dog, and the dog was staring at me. I said "Hi" to her and spoke to her dog, but like an idiot I really didn't talk to her properly and get her name. She was beautiful and I wanted to touch her. Next time I'll talk to her and get her name. Laurie to appointments. Computer sync. Goulash for dinner, cleared out old, rotten veggies. Hot tub.

08/09/2018 Computer sync; ID'd all files in Eclipse Vacation. DR details, not working good with a hernia. Salmon and veggies for dinner, the salmon was excellent but the veggies were a little overdone. No hot tub, Laurie has appointments tomorrow.

08/08/2018  Today is my appointment with Dr. Andrews for my hernia. Made another appointment for next Tuesday for a meeting with the surgeon. Phone map incident again. Spoke openly with Michelle, Dr. Andrew's nurse when she started asking me personal questions about depression and such. I told her my situation and she wrote some stuff down. Later I talked to the doctor about it also. I mentioned that in my last relationship, my problem had Borderline Personality Disorder and he shook his head and said, "Wow, that's bad, you want to stay away from that!" Had brunch at Jerry's and the food wasn't the best there either. Computer sync. Leftovers, what was left that was edible. Hot tub.

08/07/2018  Went to Oxnard today for an appointment that Laurie had for work. Afterward we went down to the beach and walked out to the ocean. There was heavy traffic both ways it seemed. Grandma's Thai for dinner and it was bad. The dumpling dipping sauce was almost all oil and we had to throw it out. The dumplings themselves were crumbly, the remaining sauces were thin, and something on my plate smelled but I couldn't identify it. It wasn't a pleasant odor, I threw it out. Someone over there must have had a bad day, and they passed it on to us. Never wrote them up for it either, should have.

08/06/2018  Took our morning walk. Computer sync; the local network is not responding again with the laptop, rebooted both systems. The local network was back up, but I had issues with the PW when I tried to login to the laptop. Replaced the faulty keyboard with one from Laurie's really old computer in the garage (see 7/26/2018). It has extra buttons for music and Internet that could be programmable. Called the doctor and made an appointment to check my hernia on Wednesday, August 8th. Looked up some information on the Bacchanal club that used to be in Kearney Mesa, in San Diego. I saw Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Nick Lowe there, it was always fun. It's closed now.

08/05/2018  Walked Lucky and removed gravel from around the Ficus. Computer sync; found the FujiFilm files were not dated correctly. Fixed those and verified Canon and Olympus. Trying to delete all the old "Thumbs.db" files while I go. DR details. Told Laurie that I think I have a hernia, tomorrow we'll call the doctor. Leftover spaghetti for dinner, and hot tub.

08/04/2018  Lucky was a little sick this morning prior to our walk. Laurie's plastic cup near the edge of the counter fell, and the plastic straw was broke. Computer sync; Personal directory, there were a lot of differences.

08/03/2018  Friday; Lucky walk, petted Star again. He's starting to get used to me touching him. Leona said the dog had been kicked by men in his previous life, so he's been slow to come around, but he's getting there. Computer sync; the local network is still not working. Added my User Name to the list of permissions for each HD. Added a User Account for the laptop on Win 7. Unfortunately this causes the computer startup to suspend at the User Selection screen. I need to find a way to force selection of my account. Rebooted both machines and waited a while, and the local network is working again. Leaning Tower Pizza for dinner, and hot tub later.

08/02/2018  Didn't make our full walk this morning as were interrupted by a stout, brown dog that looked like Lucky, only bigger. After that, Lucky just turned and started walking home, he was done. Swept and cleaned the pool. It was already about 90° F outside, and I got so hot I had to jump in to cool down. I had sent Kathy Winget (Lewis) a text based on a phone number I saw on Facebook, but she never responded, so I guess the number is old. DR details. Started watching "The Revenant", DVR'd it for later. Kabobs for dinner. Me and Lucky fell asleep on the couch. I checked out the network problem, but everything looks OK.

08/01/2018  Walked Lucky and petted Star. Today the neighbors behind us removed the grape plants that Janet Bernson planted that were coming over into our yard. I had watered them when the heat was so high because the grapes started to shrivel up. I have no idea why the new owners didn't water the plants or even keep them, I only got to eat a few immature grapes, but they were good. They eventually put in Ficus that is dropping leaves into my yard and the pool, even after I spoke to them over the fence that I was removing my Ficus because of the leaf problem. Thanks for that. [They eventually put in a stupid tree that produces huge clumps of leaves that float in the wind, directly into my fucking pool!] DR details; door was shut and it got too hot, have to leave it open. Did my workout and swim. Ordered from StoneyApp today, lame selection. They screwed up and had my order in Orange County. I called them at 8:45 PM when I didn't hear back about the delivery. The local network between the laptop and Win 7 stopped responding.

07/31/2018  On our walk this morning we saw the two dogs, one black, the other a skinny, tall min-pin. The owners are usually not very talkative so we only get to see them briefly, and we don't know their names. I used Win XP to get the files off my phone. It maybe that the phone is so old that it won't work on Win 7, who knows. Updated Facebook with the new data I collected from reviewing the videos for The Voice submission. Got about $29 back from returning the bad meat we had recently. The Volt wouldn't shutdown properly. After waiting for a few minutes and trying again, it did shutdown. It looks like the physical key is only for opening the doors (there is a physical failsafe key that is hidden in the fob). Computer sync; pictures, finished through FujiFilm. Had salmon for dinner, nice.

07/30/2018  Took Lucky for his walk. Saw Serey (Nhek-Lin), the cute, Philippine neighbor to the north, walking her dog. Continuing with The Voice video so I had to skip my workout. Found MySpace won't play any of the media I have on their site. I read an article that said anything uploaded more than 2-3 years ago won't work due to changes in MySpace. Another article said it was about Adobe Flash so I updated it. That still didn't work. In one discussion it was suggested that Flash had to be removed completely and reinstalled. I gave up and tried switching to YouTube, had to verify that account by phone text. Installed VEGAS Movie Studio Platinum 15 Suite including the free plugin's by Boris FX, HitFilm Boost Pack, iZotope, and NewBlueFX. Ran Movie Studio 15 and when I tried to use Help, the system locked up. I waited for it to recover, and I eventually had to terminate the program. I ran it again to make sure it wasn't broke, and it ran, I'll just avoid using Help. I finally gave up on Movie Studio since it was too cumbersome to review and edit with the huge video files. The program works fine, but I decided to just made a new video. First I tried using the DXG-A85V, but it's too close even with no zoom. Then I used my phone. It took three takes, but it came out good. After that I had issues trying to get the file off the phone and onto the computer. I ended up using the phone to upload directly to YouTube. I got the link to my video in to the The Voice successfully!!!  I saw an ad somewhere that Michael Sherry, as Sherry & Le Bohn, was playing in Santa Monica for a free show on Tuesday, August 7th. Relaxed in the hot tub.

07/29/2018  Walked Lucky. Computer sync; commercial music, looked up some of the music that I found. Working on The Voice video. Downloaded the videos I made on Facebook to see if I can copy specific performances and splice them together. Noted that the last Facebook Live show I did was about 11 months ago. Working with the videos is cumbersome and time consuming, having to review and take notes on everything. I upgraded VEGAS Movie Studio Platinum 12 to 15 Suite.

07/28/2018  Gravel removal. Had to jump in the pool after to cool down. Computer sync; file transfer. We walked to dinner at Ireland's 32, on the corner of Burbank Boulevard and Woodman Avenue. The Voice announced today that they will be having an Open Mic Night at The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. If you submit a video, you can be selected to be a featured artist and get to sing three songs. I have to get started started on my video! Fell asleep on the couch until 2 AM.

07/27/2018  Lucky walk. I'm not hacking as much due to reducing my meds. Watered in the front yard and the orange tree. The high sustained heat is drying everything out. Cut the weeds around the small tree. Computer sync; downloads and other stuff. I had modified my website prior to the Songland submission where I swapped one song for another ("Childhood's End" for "Asleep at the Wheel") so it didn't look published before. I don't know if it really mattered, since just being on my website probably doesn't constitute publication. Either way, I put it back the way it was. My workout felt good after reducing meds. Laurie left the "Dirty" sign on the dishwasher and I put dirty dishes in with the clean ones.

07/26/2018  Need to cut back on my meds for a while to get my voice in shape for when we get back together with Jim & Judy Duncan. He said to give him a couple of weeks to get his knee reconditioned and then to contact him [we never did hook up]. Finally, officially, continuing with the computer sync of the files and directories. Network (Homegroup) was not working this morning, rebooted. The letter "G" stopped working on my keyboard (Gateway KB-0817), I need to swap it out for another one eventually (see 8/6/2018). With the help of Lucky, I knocked over a cup of water on my end table at the couch. Had to pull everything out and dry it off. The mushrooms in the fridge were bad and they weren't even opened.

07/25/2018  Wednesday; gravel removal, workout in high heat, DR details. For dinner we had Kabobs Laurie made with no veggies.

07/24/2018  Ficus. Researched Jim Duncan. DR details. The pool was 94° F today, it was too hot, almost.

07/23/2018  Ficus gravel removal. DR details. Did my workout. Afterward, I smelled something burning so I went out front. At the house next door to us there was a pool guy's pickup truck in the street with the bed of the truck, where he has all the chemicals improperly stored, fully engulfed in flames. Shortly thereafter a LA Fire truck was there to put it out, and clean up the hazardous waste in the street. The heat from the flames damaged the grass. I noticed that an old hose of mine was stretched out across their lawn. I leave this hose out in my front yard under the Bougainvillea. It's a piece of shit hose that was at the house when we moved in, so I didn't care that much about it. Apparently the poor pool guy was desperate, who wouldn't be, and saw the hose there and hooked it up on the spigot at my neighbors house. Unfortunately for him, or if he knew anything about extinguishing a fire, that hose would only do more damage than good because of the nature of the chemicals involved. It's never good to use water on chemicals, it can actually increase the reaction rates of some substances. The pool guy found this out in practice, and then he promptly stole my hose. He was there for a while with the fire department, and his truck had to be towed because the rear tires were melted, so he probably was pissed off and just threw it in the back of his truck, I don't know. I expected it to be coiled up on the lawn somewhere, but it's never been seen since. Went on a Hornblower Cruise in Marina Del Rey with the radio station 88.5 FM to see the band Passenger. I wasn't familiar with the music, but a harbor cruise and live music, I'm there. While we were waiting outside the boat, there was an older couple there, and the gentleman looked like he was having issues walking (knee surgery). They asked us to take some pictures of them. When we boarded the boat, I offered to help him across the gangway, which he accepted, and we went and found seats near each other so we could talk. We had met Jim & Judy Duncan, Jim being a celebrated country music radio DJ and producer for many years, working alongside many of the great DJ's of all time including "Shotgun" Tom Kelly. He met Wolfman Jack and went on tour with Toto for some reason (boy, the stories he told of those times!). We exchanged information and hoped to see each other again at another 88.5 event.

07/22/2018  On the Lucky walk we saw Steve & Skip, gave Willow a treat, visited Star, and a dog across Allott from Star. Ficus gravel removal. Moved files around on Win 7, defragged, and made another backup (134 GB). Rearranged the drive letters on both machines due to EasySuite causing all the letters to increment whenever it was reinstalled. I forced EasySuite to the highest letter drive (I:/). Backed up the Win XP machine also. The pork chops were spoiled, the large ham steak was spoiled, used the small breakfast ham with veggies and biscuits for dinner. Sharla texted me, done.

07/21/2018  Took Lucky for a walk and gave Willow a treat. I put it in my hand and stuck my hand through the fence to show her I wasn't afraid, but she smelled it pretty quickly and took it and ran. That was it. She expected it from that point on. [Eventually the owners did some work on their front yard and have prevented Willow from using that area, presumably to allow the lawn to grow out, but then they didn't plant grass and all that's growing are weeds.] Formatted the new RAID system and partitioned it into two-2TB volumes. Performed Disk Cleanup and removed any junk in preparation for making a backup copy of the Win 7 machine. I was vacuuming also as I went, and while I was running Spybot, I accidentally hit the on/off (pronounced Oh-En-Oh-Ef-Ef) switch on the power strip and inadvertently crashed the machine. It recovered and resumed and I eventually ran Puran Defrag. Finally got the Win XP machine running again to continue syncing the computer's, and to run BOINC. The CMOS was reset, most likely because the onboard battery is depleted. It thought it was Jan, 2005. Installed the SATA card in the 1x PCIe slot and tried to run the main HDD through this controller. It didn't work. I think the PCIe card is not being recognized properly because the slot is at least 10 years older than the card. I think I tried this test before, so now I've done it again. Defragged Win XP. Cowboy burgers for dinner followed by the hot tub.

07/20/2018  On Lucky's walk, we saw Steve & Skip and they were feeding Willow some treats. I've been trying to make friends with Willow dog since we moved in, and we've made headway, but it's been slow. It almost seems like her owners want her to be mean and bark at people, sort of like a living intrusion alarm. I met her owners one day when they had her out for a walk. They allowed me to approach her and pet her, but I don't think anyone really knew what was going to happen. Nothing happened. She let me pet her and she was OK with Lucky, but this was after seeing her practically every morning on our daily walks, even though most of the time she looked like she wanted to take a chunk out of my ass. I was a little tentative when I approached her, but I also know she would have sensed any fear, so I had to be the alpha dog. I started taking treats with me on my walks so I could make her my friend. Ficus gravel removal. Modified or deleted unnecessary items in Task Scheduler. Had my workout and swim. Got the components together for the RAID setup; the housing and two identical 4 TB drives, Western Digital Red's, which have twice the life expectancy than a normal drive. Set it all up and got it working, no problem. Now I can start archiving everything on the RAID, nice. Had some salmon for dinner tonight but it ended up being bad. We'll return it and get our money back. Hot tub. Got my telescope out because Saturn is overhead, and Mars is making a close approach to Earth. With my 5 inch reflector you can easily see the rings of Saturn, but on Mars there is a dust storm right now, so it's just a big red spot.

07/19/2018 Thursday; Tried to print the King Tut tickets, but my printer has a problem. Had to convert the PDF's to JPG's to use the Epson printer that won't print over the Wi-Fi. Went to the King Tut exhibit and had lunch at Philippe's in China Town. Sharla texted me at 7:41 PM.

07/18/2018  Ficus gravel removal. DR details. The USB card arrived today but it was too late to work on. Kabobs for dinner.

07/17/2018  Ficus gravel removal. Updated NERO 2017 and registered the software. Updated BOINC. Grandma's Thai for dinner. Ordered a low profile USB 3.0 card, and an eSATA RAID unit which also has USB 3.0, for the Win 7 machine. I'm having lag issues with the AudioBox 1818, which is a USB 2.0 device plugged into a USB 2.0 socket. I thought that maybe I could improve the performance by plugging it in to a USB 3.0 socket. I also need a storage device that will last, where I can store backups of all my systems and not worry about losing data.

07/16/2018  Tully was a nuisance last night with her waking me up all night long. Ficus gravel removal. DR detail work. Had my workout. We were going to see the King Tut exhibit at the California Science Center tomorrow, but Laurie found out she has a phone interview, so we have to move Tut to Thursday. Sausage, cucumber salad, red beans & rice, and biscuits for dinner.

07/15/2018  Removed the gravel around the Ficus. Checked on the A/C unit to see what it will take to clean it, but I couldn't get the covers off without taking the entire top fan assembly off. It's working now, I don't want to push my luck. Still no calls from any of those HVAC companies (they never did). Did some work in the DR. Leftovers for dinner. Messaged Sharla about Tony's garage sale this weekend, for some reason, I can't remember.

07/14/2018  Cleaned up the carnage in the kitchen window. Cut some Ficus. Worked the trim in the DR, the vacuum cleaner is OK now that it cooled down. Through Presonus News, I got UJAM's Virtual Guitarist Sparkle free by being a Studio One owner. The A/C unit froze up today for some reason so I had to turn it off, even in this heat. I called around to four HVAC companies and left messages with all of them. None of them ever returned my call. I'm trying to figure out how you can run a successful business that way. I went up to see if there was maintenance I could do on it, but it would require more dismantling than I can perform right now. The unit looks good and relatively clean though, so I kept it off until the ice melted, and it worked fine after that.

07/13/2018  Friday the 13th! Trimmed the Bougainvillea again. Removed gravel from around the Ficus. Did my workout today. Finished sanding all the flat areas in the DR. The vacuum cleaner overheated cleaning up, I had to go get the old one from the garage. We had a small fly infestation on some plants in the kitchen window. I sprayed some ant killer and it seems to be working. Leaning Tower Pizza for dinner.

07/12/2018  While walking Lucky this morning, I spoke to Leona who said a guy parked by her house, on the other side of the block, to go to the epic 4th of July party at the ABH. He told her that he was going to pay $800 per person to get in, with all the booze you can drink, and supposedly, being able to crash there too. There were hundreds of people at the party and they destroyed many things at the house, not the least of which was the lawn; it was completely trampled. Laurie moved Tully's litter box temporarily, and when she put it back, she set it so that the opening was against the wall. Messaged Carrie for some reason. Cut back more Ficus.

07/11/2018  Got up a little early today. Cut back the Ficus in preparation of removing the stumps. I had to jump in the pool to cool down after that. Roger Federer lost in the quarter finals at Wimbledon to Kevin Anderson of South Africa.

07/10/2018  Laurie took Tully to the vet for an in-depth blood analysis. I asked her to see if they can help her with her dehydration again. Dug around the Ficus, it wasn't bad since the sun was behind the clouds. Continued sanding the wood in the DR. Leftovers for dinner, whatever they were. Messaged Sharla about something. New HS in Spider 1236!

07/09/2018  Took Lucky for his walk this morning and I saw a young woman walking down Albers smoking a joint. We talked for a little bit when she asked me if I knew what type of tree she was standing next to. I didn't know, but she was cute and I was going to ask her for a puff when she drifted off down Sunnyslope, never to be seen again. Dug up around the Ficus some more, it was only 96° F this morning. The NIC was gone again at 11:30 AM, I rebooted, and then later on in the afternoon. I wish I knew what was causing this. I looked up the driver for the OnNetworks N300MA Micro USB Wi-Fi Adapter to see if there were any issues, didn't find any. Reinstalled the driver. Sanded a bit in the DR, it made a lot of dust. I need to cover or remover everything before I continue. Watered the grapes again.

07/08/2018  The temperature was about 100° F when I first went out , it was 114° F at 11:25 AM. DR paint removal; finished removing the bulk of the paint, only need to sand the wood, which I started. Carrie posted Mom's birthday as 7/8/1939, Frank Kraft posted "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" by Willie Nelson, and I updated some of my personal info on Facebook. Watered the neighbors grape plants because they're not doing it, I don't know why, and the heat is damaging the fruit that is hanging in our yard that I was hoping to harvest. NIC was lost, had to reboot.

07/07/2018  It was 98° F this morning and it rose to 112° F, then dropped back down to 106° F, eventually going up to 120° F and then dropping to 117° F. Saw that Sharla responded to my post on Facebook about the high temperature yesterday. Maybe she doesn't hate me after all.

07/06/2018  Dug around the Ficus again. It got to 130° F today.

07/05/2018  Dug up around the Ficus. Did three sessions in the DR. Took the last concrete block out in the trash.

07/04/2018  Fourth of July; Went to George & Linda's in Vista for a BBQ lunch. I invited the boys and they eventually showed up, but by then there wasn't a ton of food. We thought they weren't coming, so we had seconds! Alex brought his new girlfriend, Heidi, from Texas, and we had a nice time chatting and eating. Back at home later, the neighbors at the ABH had a huge party and there was no parking available on the street.

07/03/2018  Trimmed the neighbors shrubs in the front yard down the property line. I tried at first to physically move the shrubs, but they had put in a cheap underground drip irrigation system that would have to be moved also. When they were putting the shrubs in, I went out to complain that they were on, or over, the property line, but the workers wouldn't move them. I told them I was going to trim them along the line, but they didn't care. Now I have extra work to do around my yard because of these dumb-asses. They planted trees right there too, a few feet from the property line. If I don't want them on my side of the line, it will be up to me to cut them back in the future, I'm pretty sure about that. It would look funny though, a tree that was only growing out to an invisible vertical line. Tried the sander in the DR.

07/02/2018  Tully was meowing all night long, Laurie took her to the vet. Started clearing the gravel around the Ficus so I can try to uproot one of them to see what's going on down there. Worked in the DR a few times today; the sander arrived. Had my workout and then wrestled with the Bougainvillea in the front yard to trim it back. Shish kabobs, corn and asparagus for dinner.

07/01/2018  I'm feeling much better today, we took Tully on our morning walk with her leash. Cleaned up the Ficus I cut on Friday. DR paint removal; using the heat gun, raised the temperature from 425° F to 500° F. My left elbow, or muscle, is sore from holding the heat gun, I have to switch hands now and then. Chicken tenders and potato cakes for dinner. Contacted George & Linda and arranged to stop by on the 4th of July. More adult filming next door today.

06/30/2018  I woke up at 5:30 AM and was sick as a dog. I puked and shit until 10 AM or so, and then I had to go outside because the smell of toast in the house was making me even more nauseated. I took a nap in bed, and later outside on a lawn chair, puking more and sneezing so much snot I couldn't even breathe. Had some soup later and started to feel better. [This incident is probably what caused a hernia on my left side, 3/2/2019.] There was an adult film shoot at the house next door.

06/29/2018  Friday; Laurie has an interview today at Saint Vincent's Medical Center in downtown LA. Cut back the Ficus by the pool after looking it up online in case it's toxic. Measured the chain link fence post dimensions by the pool filter so I can eventually mount the pump control box on some rails. Looked online for the parts. Stuffed green peppers from Costco for dinner. Hot tub and swimming later.

06/28/2018  Finished sweeping the pool, had to jump in to cool down. DR; work from bottom to top in the crevices.

06/27/2018  Watered the orange tree and cleaned up weeds by the side of the house. DR paint removal. The 110 S in downtown was temporarily closed today when a protester climbed on a street sign over the freeway. It was all over the news. A buff dude was dancing, and stripped down to his shorts after placing some signs. I can't remember what he was even protesting about, PETA maybe, something like that. Signed up on the website ALZ Connected. Skipped my workout due to getting too much Sun on Monday. Went to a concert in Hollywood for the radio station 88.5 FM and the band The Record Company, a trio from LA. I could only find one reference to this show, on the 88.5 Facebook page announcing the show a week prior, but even that didn't mention the venue. I wrote down "La Cantina", but I can't find anything there either.

06/26/2018  Removed paint in the DR. Took Lucky to the vets at 4:30 PM for an illness he has. The drive home was bad, Google vs. Waze. Had leftovers for dinner.

06/25/2018  Monday; removed the last wooden fence post by the pool heater, but I couldn't remove the concrete block from the hole because there wasn't enough room. I cut the 4x4 and left the concrete in the hole. Cut the drain pipe from the pool filter because someone had installed a 90 degree elbow, and it should be straight through instead. The vibration from cutting the PVC at the drain caused a small leak in the upper flange which I tightened up. I back flushed the pool filter down the side of the house, and some in the yard by the shed. I refreshed the Diatomaceous Earth (DE) in the filter and everything is good. Did my workout today, but I ended up getting too much sun because of the fence work.

06/24/2018  Wrote up my Plan and sent it to Sharla. Walked to Grandma's Thai Kitchen.

06/23/2018  Worked on the shrubs by the pool, and the stump by the neighbors garage. Hot tub.

06/22/2018  Did my workout today. Cleaned the pool a little, it needs more. Worked in the DR. Hot tub.

06/21/2018  Got rid of two pieces of concrete in the trash today, and more boxes. Worked in the DR. Noted the neighbors bushes at 5523 Sunnyslope, are over the fence and the front shrubs are over the property line. This property will come to be known as "The Amazing Big House", or ABH, for the description they gave it on the Air B&B website. The last thing you ever want as a homeowner is an Air B&B next door to you. People go there thinking it's Cancun, and they trash the place and have huge, fucking noisy parties that you can't do anything to stop, it seems (on 11/9/2021, I submitted complaints to the City of Los Angeles about this property). Fixed the pool light problem. Actually I found the problem was that I miswired the timer and blew the receptacle on the side of the electrical box. Rewired it correctly.

06/20/2018  Arrived home today. Had noodles for dinner and hot tub later.

06/19/2018  Tuesday; left Sharla's heading to Los Angeles.

06/18/2018  Talked to Sharla about Laurie. She said she would do anything to help, but didn't mean what I need her to do.

06/17/2018  Today is Father's Day, I got no response from Alex & Marc. I ended up getting drunk and passing out. When I woke up in the upstairs bedroom at Sharla's, I took Lucky and we went to sleep in the car, mostly because I couldn't stand to spend time with anyone else since no one cared about me anyway. Laurie came out later to see what was going on, but if you can't figure it by now, there's no hope at all.

06/16/2018  Saturday; it's my birthday today and the boys didn't contact me. Travelled to Sequim for Tony's Celebration of Life party. I was allowed to play a song during the ceremony, "I Shall Be Released", by Bob Dylan, and it went well.

06/14/2018  Spoke to Sharla. Laurie was overcompensating Tuesday night at the hotel.

06/13/2018  Arrived in Olympia.

06/12/2018  Tuesday; left for Olympia to see Sharla, and attend Tony's Celebration of Life party in Sequim.

06/07/2018  Dumped the concrete block from the fencepost in the trash. Cut the roots on the pool-side stump. Went through timeline back to 8/1/2017 in old notes. Found an error in Bio on 8/30/2013, it should be 2012! [Fixed 11/7/2018.]

06/06/2018  Went to Orchard Supply Hardware to get new saw blades and gloves, etc.

06/02/2018  Cleaned up around the fence areas I worked yesterday. Used a stainless steel fitting, tied with some kite string, to act as an anchor for the Duck thermometer so it can now roam around the pool. Used kite string also to replace the spring(?) that secured the chlorine dispenser just like it was before, secured near the side of the hot tub.

06/01/2018  Finished pulling up the fence post and filling in the hole. Cut the 4x4 off the concrete block, I could reuse it since the wood is in good shape, and cleaned the loose dirt from the concrete. I had an apparatus holding the chlorine dispenser to the thermometer in the pool and it stopped functioning today (I didn't record the details but it involved a spring(?) from the hot tub into the pool). Finished pulling up the wood frame around the crawl space.

05/31/2018  Took down a section of wooden fence to see how much work it will be. Started removing another fence post also.

05/30/2018  Started pulling up the wood frame around the under-house crawl space that was left in the dirt when the concrete was poured. It was overcast all day so I didn't workout.

05/29/2018  Found information regarding a jam session we attended back in August 2009 with some of Laurie's co-workers from Tri-City Medical Center. [Added this additional information to "Recent Venues" on 3/1/2019, only because I was so far behind in updating my Blog, and guessed that it was in July.] My thumb has been sore for a little while now since I poked it with a Bougainvillea picker on 5/14/2018, through the trip to Olympia also. All this time later, and I popped a piece of a picker out of my thumb like 1/4" long! No wonder it was sore!

05/26/2018  Dug around the two live stumps in the backyard. They have signs of Roundup damage (I sprayed them sometime before), but they're still growing. I had to add an exception in Firefox to use AltaVista.com as my home page.

05/25/2018  AltaVista.com has been removed from Yahoo's security certificate. Double shocked the pool. Cooked rainbow trout on the grill for dinner, it was really good. Cleaned up the backyard speakers and rewired them.

05/24/2018  Thursday; got back from Olympia, our first visit up there in the wake of Tony's passing.

05/23/2018  Wednesday; left Olympia for Los Angeles.

05/19/2018  Drove to Sequim, WA, to Tony's apartment. Met some of his friends and I played some songs on his guitar.

05/16/2018  Wednesday; arrived in Olympia.

05/15/2018  Driving to Olympia, WA, to see Sharla.

05/14/2018  Monday; Laurie has an interview in Los Angeles today. Cleared dead plants from around the front of the house. While picking up material, I poked my thumb on a Bougainvillea branch that had a huge picker. I cleaned it and it didn't look like there was anything in there. Sharla's ex-husband, Tony Mauhar, died last night when he suffered a stroke while cleaning his boat in Sequim, WA. Tony was a good friend of mine and we talked often. He was also a lawyer and he would give me advice on occasion.

05/13/2018  Took down the wooden gate and pulled another wooden fence post. The Windows Experience Index was last updated today (7.2/7.2/4.2/6.5/5.9), see 8/11/2017 for past data. [this computer entry was made on 1/16/2019].

05/12/2018  Pulled another wooden fence post.

05/11/2018  Cloudy today. I fixed the Courtyard speakers, the wires weren't connected and they were corroded and dirty. I cut them back and wrapped them up out of sight, and reconnected them to the speakers.

05/10/2018  I filled the recycle bin twice this morning with the old, water damaged moving boxes from the Courtyard, for trash pickup. After the bin was first picked up, I quickly refilled it with more boxes and set the can on the other side of the street. No problem. Later when I went out to bring the bins in, I heard the cracking sound of a tree branch breaking across the street, and I saw it fall on a fence. I went to look at it, and there was considerable damage to an old wooden fence where the 10" branch hit it. Over the next few days, the branch was cut up and removed, and the fence repaired. Cleaned the Courtyard up and washed it down where the boxes had been piled up. It looks nice out there now. Started trying to find the speaker wires for the outside speakers.

05/09/2018  There was a huge pile-up on I-5 N in the Grapevine. I stuffed concrete, fence and stump trash into the garbage cans.

05/08/2018  Pulled an old wooden fence post out today and backfilled the hole.

04/16/2018  Taxes. It looks like we bought the Epson WF-3640 printer from Costco today, I have that name written in my notes. This printer ended up not working over the Wi-Fi at all, and was very difficult to operate. To print a file from a memory stick, it has to be in JPG or TIFF format only! No PDF printing, you have to convert everything to JPG!!!

04/15/2018  We didn't see it, but it looks like Tully fell into the hot tub where she was laying on a towel. We could only tell because her hind quarters were wet. I swept the pool today.

04/14/2018  High winds again. Tully fell into the pool when she lost her footing from the wind. I saw it and dried her off.

04/13/2018  High winds.

04/01/2018  Amazon, push lawnmower and rake.

03/27/2018  Registered with StoneyApp, now Stoney Delivery, which is a recreational delivery service.

03/23/2018  Friday; went to see Lynda Carter at the Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood with some people that Laurie used to work with. It included dinner and the whole thing was quite nice. Les Moonves was there with his wife, personal friends of Lynda's, six months before the sexual misconduct allegations against him.

03/21/2018  Raining. Came up with the song title, "God Damned Stupid Mother Fucking Piece of Shit" (GDSMFPoS).

03/16/2018  It may be a little late, but I registered the VL4 on the Digitech website. Don't ask me why it took this long, I don't know. I don't have any record of doing it prior to this date. I updated my Fixya.com profile. I also added a discussion of the recent VL4 repair work that I just did, on someone's question related to getting their VL4 wet. I wanted to make sure I recorded all the issues I had for future generations. Looked up a replacement refrigerator water filter, the installed filter needs replaced. Unfortunately for us, the past owners damaged the latching mechanism that ejects the old filter cartridge. I was able to get the old one out eventually with a paint can lid removal tool [when it came time to replace it six months later, I couldn't get the filter I put in, back out. This tells me that the old one probably wasn't in all the way]. Ordered replacement filters.

03/15/2018  Stump & DR. Found the receipt for the VL4, I think I was looking for the purchase date, for some reason.

03/14/2018  Today I found what looked like animal puke on, and apparently in, my Digitech Vocalist Live 4 (VL4) effects processor. I disassembled it to clean it out, and I didn't take it apart properly, and all of the buttons fell out of their holes. I had tried to find some information on how to take it apart, but I couldn't find anything. After getting it apart, I could see what I should have done, and getting it back together wasn't that hard. It gave me a little scare though, with parts just dropping out, but it's all back together and working fine.

03/10/2018  Saturday; today is a Rain Day! DR work. On our Lucky walk, he crapped on the neighbors lawn while the pool guys were walking to the backyard. When you gotta' go, you gotta' go.

03/09/2018  Shed stump and DR. Had a late workout which I didn't finish due to time and temperature. I made Sloppy Joe's for dinner, from a pouch, with home made steak fries and mixed veggies.

03/08/2018  Worked on the shed stump and the DR.

03/07/2018  In the DR, I'm removing the paint working my way to the bottom. I dug up around the shed stump because it's growing after the last rain. The other stump by the neighbor's garage is growing also. I used some Command hooks to hang a large banner of the Solar System in the master bedroom. There are dimensional drawings in the notes.

03/04/2018  Tonight is Oscar night. I was stripping paint in the DR. I sprayed the Yellow Clover with an approximately 50/50 mixture of water and bleach to try to kill them. The yard is infested with the clover and it's very difficult to kill. [That mixture didn't do much other than to brown the edges of the leaves, 5/1/2018.]

03/03/2018  My poison ivy rash is nearly gone. In the wall space underneath the hallway drawers, there is nothing covering the subfloor and you can see right down to the ground through the slats. I noticed earlier that things stored in these drawers were cold when I went to get them. This is the reason, the drawers are basically outside! I wonder who did a crappy job like that? I measured three sections under the drawers where I can install barriers. I had found a piece of plywood in the attic that was being used as the attic door, but it didn't fit properly. When I looked in the attic, under some insulation I found the actual attic door that was originally in the house. The previous owner didn't even know the original door was up there, and just put a piece of plywood that didn't fit partially over the opening. WTF! I cut the sections for the flooring out of that plywood, and caulked around them after nailing them in place. The wall space is now isolated from the environment and the bugs. There is an extra drawer at the very bottom that was covered over in the hallway by the floor molding. I made measurements and drawings to try to replace it. El Pollo Loco for dinner.

03/02/2018  Cleared paint from one of the DR valence boards to see how hard it's going to be.

03/1/2018  The poison ivy rash on my arms is getting better. Cleaned up the pile of dirt in the front yard by the orange tree. I distributed some of this dirt, but it's filled with trash and broken glass, and so I have to clean it as I go (3 hours). Thanks again to the previous owners. More DR work; pulled the valence down in the wood section, where all of my time is being spent to get the dressing table in place. Someone else cooked dinner, and the kitchen is a mess.

02/28/2018  The NIC was not being recognized again, I had to reboot. Check how long ago this last happened. It's too cold to work out so I worked around the yard.

02/27/2018  DR paint removal. It rained today so I backed my truck down the driveway a bit so water doesn't fill the bed. I went back to Fixya.com and reposted the latest pool heater fix from 2/21/2018. I received an avalanche of comments from people who had the same problem, and now they can all fix their heaters. I am now one of the top commenter's on that website.

02/26/2018  Tried to catch up on my notes, I was behind in bringing it up to date. Spent a couple of hours in the DR. Had pepperoni pizza for dinner. I think these were some frozen specialty pizzas that Laurie had got that were suggested from someone at work before. I think that's why I recorded it the way I did. They were good, for frozen pizza.

02/23/2018  Cut back much of the major sections of the vines on the old chain link fence. In the process I got poison ivy all on my hands and arms. After conducting some research I discovered that even ivy that wouldn't normally do anything if you touched it, can be quite different once you cut it. I am very susceptible to getting a rash from poison ivy or oak, and I've had some massive run-ins with poison oak in Santa Barbara County. Massive. Imagine all the places it could get, and that's where it got. Not good. Went to a concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Had access to the gardens and a free wine tasting. Magnificent.

02/21/2018  I'm still getting the Fireman's Switch cutout on the Raypak pool heater, and the old method of mechanical agitation isn't working as well. I went back into the heater electronics and looked closely at the 14-pin connector that holds the cutout switch, and I finally found the root problem. The solder connections between the circuit board and the connector pins were broken ever so slightly. It was difficult just to see the cracks, but when you flex the pins, you can clearly see the end of the pin move in relation to the solder around it, showing that the connection is broken. This can happen for a number of reasons. If the solder was not at the proper temperature when it was applied, it can cause a "cold junction" and it may not work at all. Mechanical vibration can also cause stress between the metals of the different parts which could allow cracks to start forming. Once a crack is started, corrosion will seep in and cause oxides to form that will act as insulators to block the signals. A combination of these factors is a guarantee for failure, and a pool heater is the perfect environment for adverse chemical reactions to occur. As difficult as it was, I performed the repair in the field. I isolated the circuit board as well as I could to access the solder connections. Using rosin core solder, I reheated the connections that I saw were damaged and applied some solder until it was fully melted and distributed. It was messy. If you can remove some of the old solder with a solder-sucker or some wick, it will make it easier. I tried that as best as I could, and in the end I got all of the broken pins re-soldered. I don't think I hit them all, which is ideally what I wanted, but it wasn't easy, and the ones I missed showed no signs of damage to begin with. After applying this fix, I haven't had one error signal from the Fireman's Switch. (See 2/13/2018 for the first fix, and 2/27/2018 for online documenting).

02/20/2018  Amazon, sieves.

02/16/2018  Attended an 88.5 FM Cal State Northridge event  in Westwood at an actual studio. I didn't record the information because I've been so busy, but I'm sure I can find it eventually. We saw a male guitar duo perform.

02/15/2018  There's a new place in Sherman Oaks open for recreational weed called The Higher Path on Ventura Boulevard across from Hazeltine Avenue.

02/14/2018  The Squirrel Incident occurred today when I was taking out the trash. A big squirrel was in the orange tree by the garbage cans, and I saw it either trying to take an orange, or it already had one in its hands. It was jumping around in the tree, and when it finally saw me, the orange fell on the ground and the squirrel stood still, hoping, too late, to avoid detection. The orange continued to roll into the street where it could have been crushed by a car. I didn't advance any further, but I called out to it with some squirrel sounds I know. That squirrel started down the tree and toward the orange, but it left the booty and just ran across the street. It looked at me for a second and then made it's way around a neighbor's fence where I couldn't see it anymore. It was a big orange, and a squirrel probably couldn't run very fast while holding it, I don't know. Maybe the squirrel would come back after I leave and retrieve the orange, but by then, it might be orange juice in the street. So I dumped the trash, and picked up the orange and put in in the grass on the other side of the street. This would also make it safer for the squirrel so it doesn't have to cross the street again, at least for this orange. I started walking back toward the house, still not seeing the squirrel. At the last point where I could still see, I stopped and waited, and watched, for just a few seconds...Sure enough here comes the squirrel, around the fence, across the grass, to where I had placed that sweet, sweet orange. It was probably watching me the whole time. I saw it look up in my direction as it picket up the orange, as if to say "Thank you!", and then started off toward the fence.

02/13/2018  Cleaned the internal parts of the Raypak pool heater and found a ground wire loose. I was able to tighten it up by adding a couple of lock washers to the fastener. There's been an intermittent error coming in about the Fireman's Switch, which is a set of contacts used to stop the burner prior to shutting down the heater. Obviously, if the Fireman's Switch is open, the burner won't light, therefore it won't heat, which means it needs to be fixed. In my application, the switch was not being used, so that made the error even more unusual. The problem is, though, that a jumper was installed across the contacts and it was still coming in. That could only mean that the connector was probably corroded a little and needed to be reseated, which I did, and the error cleared. I posted this information on the website Fixya.com where other people were having the same issue with the same heater manufacturer, and a lot of people thanked me.

02/12/2018  It's Laurie's Birthday today! I've been so busy, and Laurie doesn't have a job right now, and I don't have any money. I didn't know what to do about gifts, and subsequently, I didn't get her anything. I felt terrible, but that's how it was.

02/11/2018  The pool is clear now but needs more scrubbing, the double shock killed the algae. I hurt my shoulder somewhere around this time due to scrubbing the pool and sanding the DR walls (2/26/2018). It was pretty severe and lasted for a long time. I wasn't able to keep working normally with my shoulders during this period while it healed.

02/10/2018  Saturday; did some work in the Dressing Room (DR). Double shocked the pool and scrubbed the algae. On my walk with Lucky we met a lady named Leona on the NE corner of Albers and Allot, and her dog Dixie Girl [Dixie passed away and Star is here now, 11/7/2018]. Her first husband was Ivan A. Parry Sr., an actor who had small parts in a few TV shows and a movie. I couldn't find anything else online about him, but I think he was a Broadway star also. After he passed away, she re-married an actor named Richard Coogan (Bio), whose family is from New York City. They owned the property at the old Polo Grounds baseball stadium in Manhattan, thus the place names Coogan's Hollow and Coogan's Bluff came to be. He was a radio actor in New York starting in 1943, and was one of the first actors to make his mark on TV. She told us about her neighbor, Gary, on the NW corner of Albers and Sunnyslope, doing commercials including a COPD one. Used the reciprocating saw and started removing the stump in the front by the driveway.

02/08/2018  Amazon, Makita reciprocating saw.

02/07/2018  Did something with Certificate files in Firefox.

01/16/2018  Talked to a representative from a roofing company that was doing a quote on our neighbors house, and asked him to leave his card. We spoke briefly and he asked if I had a key for the solar panels. I said no, but that whatever I need I would get so that I could do the maintenance myself if necessary. It seemed that he got peeved at me when I said this, and then he never left his card (2/26/18). [Much later in 2019 I looked them up and they are so small they don't even have a website, and I wouldn't have them work on our house]. Put rubber feet under the couch to keep it from moving around the living room, seemingly by itself. The NIC got uninstalled again, this has happened before too. Ran Spybot and Malwarebytes and they each found some stuff. Did some research on paint removal chemicals.

01/09/2018  It rained yesterday and last night and there are no problems in the new house so far with leaks.

01/06/2018  I ate a really hot pepper in my take-out Thai dinner that incapacitated me for about 20 minutes. I thought is was lemon grass and I really chomped it. There was only chocolate milk in the fridge, and without that, I would have been in real trouble. It was that hot, and I like hot foods. This was probably the worst incident of this nature that I've had to date.

01/01/2018  Monday; created an account on the Lorex website and tried to gain access to the DVR without the password. I couldn't do it so I had to contact Lorex by phone. They gave me some supposedly "one-time" codes that would allow me to set a new password, but they could very well be backdoor codes in the software. Not all of them worked, in fact they kept supplying groups of numbers until one did work. Setup the screens with names and verified the system preferences.

******************************************      2018      ******************************************

12/24/2017  Had brunch on the Queen Mary in Long Beach Harbor. It was magnificent, with harp music and ice sculptures.

12/16/2017  Two week gap for the Holidays.

12/15/2017  The second set of BNC couplers came for the Lorex Security HD DVR, the first set was porch-pirated. I need these because "someone" didn't leave enough room for the incoming cables from the security cameras to be routed to a safe and stable position, even though they were the ones installing the cables. I know, it's hard to believe. I saw that the previous owner, the "someone", had put a screw in the wall and hung the DVR box there, behind the TV. The problem with that is you have to be able to push the front panel buttons you idiot! I got some 3 foot coax extenders and some couplings so that 1.) it was professional, and 2.) I could put the DVR flat on a shelf so it could be operated. I know these are advanced concepts and stringent demands, but that's just the way I am. Recorded the technical information for the system for future reference.

11/25/2017  Pulled down some of the ivy by the side fence.

11/13/2017  I saw and recorded a program on BBC America where the dolphins were herding schools of fish from below, and birds were dive bombing them from above. There was an amazing set of images where birds were moving up and down in the water amidst the dolphins and bait fish, it was surrealistic. I posted the video to Facebook. Installed Studio One 3 Artist & sound sets & the Eventide plug-ins. Registered on the Plug-in Alliance website.

11/12/2017  Our new neighbor behind us, Janet Bernson, is an artist, The Healing Artist is what she calls herself, who is having an exhibit opening in Burbank and has invited us to come and see it. It was really cool, and most of the pieces were for sale, so Laurie bought one named "Hot Dog on a Stick". Janet makes art from trash she finds on her daily treks across Los Angeles. Researched the USB ports on the Win 7 machine to see what version they are. All of the ports are USB-2. I did get a Windows system suggestion before to move a device to a "high speed port", so I assumed at the time that the system might have a few USB-3 ports, but that's not the case. I have no idea which ports the system thinks are high speed, or if it was just wishing I'd buy some to add on. In these days of non-determinism, either case is valid. Opened an account on Eventide for some plug-ins for Studio One 3 Artist which came with the AudioBox 1818. I downloaded the AudioBox driver v1.3 vice v2.4 to try the VSL feature (I guess there was an issue with Win 7 and v2.4). I'll upgrade it later if necessary. [Last entry in Contour Loose Sheet note group.]

11/11/2017  My website was offline temporarily due to my credit card reaching it's expiration date. Once you set up automatic payments, when the card expires, you've forgotten all about it until whatever it was that you were paying on goes away. I could have also checked my email more often and I would have seen the reminder they sent that the card didn't work, but that sounds like a cop-out. The AudioBox 1818VSL arrived today and I opened a Presonus account.

11/09/2017  Ordered the Presonus AudioBox 1818VSL to use with the Win 7 machine. For some reason, since I moved into the new house, I haven't been able to reconnect the M-Audio Delta 1010 with Win 7. I think the distance between the Delta 1010 breakout box and the computer buss is too long, especially with the PCIe to PCI bus converter in the middle. Ironically, M-Audio has removed every trace of the Delta 1010 system from their website, as if it never existed.

11/05/2017  Assumed Tully seizure due to spittle and liquid on the floor by her poopy hole (litter box).

11/04/2017  The stupid thermostat in the new house was set to heat to 80° F!!! Who would program a house temperature controller for that? What a piece of shit whoever did that, stupid idiot. The heat was blasting out, I couldn't breathe, I checked the rest of the program and it was all over the fucking place. Obviously it was programmed by someone who had no clue what they were doing, the last owner of the house no doubt. The dude was a lazy, cheap ass, no fixing shit dick wad and he programmed the heater to 80° F. He never did anything to the yard, that at one time was ready for grass, and just let weeds grow until the maintenance guys could mow the weeds. Lazy, lazy Persian Jew. I mention that only because I know other guys just like him that are equally lazy and indifferent. It's like they've given up on life and couldn't give a shit about anything. As an atheist, I would think that being a Jew would be depressing in and of itself. Add to that a domineering wife who probably beats them down all the time, and I could see where these guys might be coming from. But please, have a little self respect or get the hell out. The Win 7 computer crashed and was unresponsive, but it started back up normally.

10/20/2017  Worked the laundry room, and the washer and dryer were delivered.

10/03/2017  Between now and the next entry on 11/4/2017, I was still doing all the things I listed before, and probably more, I just don't have a detailed accounting of it. It's probably in that pocket notebook that I need to find.

10/02/2017  Loaded the truck with garage items for transport. Sun and swim today, but nobody came to see us.

10/01/2017  Painting the dining room, living room, library, laundry, and the master bedroom. Prepping for laundry installation. Removing a stump in the front yard, removing old fencing that is no longer necessary, removing foliage, cleaning pool pump area and pool. I might add more to this list, but suffice it to say that I was doing  a lot of shit during this move-in.

09/23/2017  * See notebook for additional information *, I think this was in reference to a pocket notebook that I was using during the move. When I find it, I'll transfer the data to this Blog. In any case, between now and the next entry on 10/1/2017, my time was spent doing all the things listed in that entry.

09/22/2017  Friday; took Lucky for a short walk. Readied my truck for service. Sun and swim again and our friends were there.

09/21/2017  First day in the Sunnyslope house. I'll have about a month to work here before we have to be completely vacated from the Contour house. Sorted the keys and started cleaning the master bedroom. Found an outside air leak in the master bedroom TV receptacle. It's not much, and when the receptacle covers are in place, it should be stopped, I suppose.

09/20/2017  Another long walk with Lucky. Tonight at 7 PM we'll get the keys to the Sunnyslope house. Computer sync; Reaper media files still. In "Asleep at the Wheel" I found a Tom-tom file that was 788 MB. This happens if I don't stop the recording at the end of the song, and it just records silence for hundreds of megabytes. I setup a default screen personalization for Aero with a single background image, not cycling though the images, hopefully to make it more stable. I can now switch to this screen setting when I run Cubase AI8. Ran Cubase and adjusted some Preferences Jeffrey T. Metzger, American businessman extraordinaire, was caught on an audio recording shouting homophobic and sexist profanities at his neighbor, comedian Kathy Griffin today. Sun and swim and we got peeked!

09/19/2017  Took Lucky for a long walk again. We saw Kristen and had a chat. Today is the boy's birthday, they're in San Diego. Have a nice day, guy's. Computer sync; Reaper media files. Found that I didn't fix the Bass track on "Time-Sweet Belize", all the notes were full measure notes. Contacted painting companies in the Valley and around LA, but no one can get to it soon enough. I guess I'll have to do the painting myself. Fend for yourself dinner.

09/18/2017  Took Lucky for a long walk this morning. Computer sync; Reaper media files still. I inadvertently deleted some files in "Unravel Me" V21, but that shouldn't matter much. Found out that Cubase AI8 will not run in High Contrast or Basic Desktop Themes, you have to use Aero to load it. WTF!? Per Steinberg, if you can't use Aero, you should downgrade to AI7!!! Leftovers for dinner. There was a small earthquake tonight around bedtime, Laurie's first in California.

09/17/2017  Computer sync; reviewing Reaper media files still. Deleted Vox files that were not the correct size, indicating that the file is an incomplete take and is therefore useless. Cleared the "Unravel Me" directory and recovered 4.26 GB just in this directory alone, although it probably had the most garbage because it was the first song I started working on. Walk-through at the Sunnyslope house with the Realtor Raphael and the owner. There are many open items in this house that the owner has specifically indicated that they will not fix before they leave. Like the water damage in the garage under the kitchen sink and the roof. Cooked some sole fish for dinner but I don't think I cooked it enough, it was a little mushy.

09/16/2017  Got a call today from Laurie's work (Cedars-Sinai Hospital), they found a loaded gun in the bathroom! Computer sync; verifying some Reaper media files. Dr. Hogly Wogly's Tyler Texas BBQ for dinner! It was good!

09/15/2017  Drove Laurie to work so I could pick up Tully's meds. I stopped giving Tully these meds when she got overdosed at the cat hospital in Burbank, but I couldn't bring myself to tell Laurie, with all that's going on. Took Lucky for a walk at the Cheviot Hills Recreation Center in West LA, just across from Fox Studios. Computer sync. Sun and swim with a little peeking. Picked Laurie up at 5:30 PM and ordered take-out for dinner.

09/14/2017  Tried to take Lucky on a short walk, but he decided he wanted to go the long way. Pulled all the old packing boxes I stored under the house out, and distributed them for filling. A small amount of the packing paper had water damage, but everything else looks good. Computer sync. Agreed with Laurie not to contact Jessifuck until after the end of the month. I think this was because I wanted to send her the report on their fucked-up house, but Laurie didn't want to do anything to prevent getting her deposit back. Made hamburgers, mac & cheese and mixed veggies for dinner.

09/13/2017  Wednesday; another Facebook Live session is upon us. I was wearing my black eclipse tee shirt and my ripped jean shorts. In my notes I wrote the word "Busy" I think in reference to my life being busy with the move and all. I also documented one song, "Forgotten In Time" at 17 minutes in. Computer sync; no details. Getting ready to move into Sunnyslope house, expect gaps in blog coverage. Sun and swim with only one little peek.

09/12/2017  Took Lucky for a long walk. Computer sync. I saw a wireless network today when I was working on my computer and the network name was "trumptheasshole". I thought it was pretty funny so I recorded it.

09/11/2017  Anniversary of 9/11. Took Lucky on a short walk. Computer sync; installed Avast antivirus today. Had a workout in the sun, and a swim, but no vids (I don't know why, it's in my notes).

09/10/2017  Sunday, went to Whole Foods and then washed Laurie's car.

09/09/2017  Researched the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS). Computer sync.

09/08/2017  Took Lucky for a long walk today. I "updated" Malwarebytes the other day and the XP machine was never right again. I couldn't open Mozilla Firefox, in fact, I had to reinstall Firefox after deleting Malwarebytes. Saw bad reviews online about this latest Malwarebytes software. My desktop preferences were altered, and the link to the background image I was using was broke, and I had to alter the way I was using the background image, and I didn't cause any of that. I finally got things back to normal. Sun and swim and lots of peeking, nice!

09/07/2017  I'm feeling better again today. Took Lucky for a long walk. Computer sync; My Songs and My Records sync'd between the different drives. Dinner at the Hamburger Hamlet.

09/06/2017  Wednesday; I'm feeling a little better today. Sun and swim, no peeker. Notes recorded regarding Computer sync, and an old (2/18/2015) phone call that we recorded involving Brimco. Played through set, didn't do Facebook Live tonight, probably due to my sore throat. Hamburgers, mac & cheese & mixed veggies for dinner. Starting with this entry, until 9/13/2017, and for 11/4/2017 through 11/12/2017, notes were recorded in two separate logs, the New House on Contour loose sheets, and Teela's Wirebound Notebook. The comments will just be merged, and this note will suffice to document the discrepancy.

09/05/2017  I'm sick again today with a sore throat thing. Leftovers for dinner (pizza or Sloppy Elk, I didn't write it down).

09/04/2017  Labor Day; took Lucky for a local walk. Computer sync; came up with the date convention of YYYY_MMDD for prefixing to dated files that I want sorted chronologically in a directory. It's very useful for organizing historical files in a single directory.

09/03/2017  Had cereal and pizza for breakfast. Computer sync. Recorded a video from the TV about the iguanas on Fernandina, Galapagos Islands, and posted it to Facebook.

09/02/2017  Took Lucky for a long walk this morning. The fire is still burning, it's up to 5000 acres now. Pancakes & bacon for breakfast. Computer sync. Cooked the Elk burger we got from Tony and I made Sloppy Elk! It was really good.

09/01/2017  Took Lucky for a short walk. Got a call from Sandy Kline today, she thought she was talking to her daughter Kristen, or she was on another line and I got butt-dialed by mistake, or something. That's what it sounded like though, that she was talking to Kristen and I was just listening to what they were saying, it was weird. She was talking about the window in their house where they watch me do my workout, saying, "I always stand way back. Did you talk to him about it or something?". I'm sure I said in my text yesterday to Sandy that I could do my workout in their living room if they wanted, just to see if I could stimulate some conversation. I only listened to the phone for a moment, and when I realized what was going on, I hung up so as not to embarrass anyone. Sun & swim with Lucky, he dunked twice. Ironically we had a peeker today, even after the phone call. Went through  a huge backlog of vids. Laurie home early to see John Williams, what's his name, at the Hollywood Bowl. Leaning Tower Pizza for dinner, tried some new rotisserie chicken. There's a fire in La Tuna Canyon of 500 acres that's polluting the air.

08/31/2017  Took Lucky on a long walk this morning. Continued Computer sync. Texted Sandy Kline, Kristen's mom, about our upcoming move down Sunnyslope. Investigated the Motif 7 SCSI port; SCSI-2 (50 pin D-sub, half pitch), mLAN8E or AIEB2 expansion cards. Other data is recorded about disk sizes and formatting. Had a power outage today which lasted until 7 PM, I didn't record when it started. Went to Jerry's for dinner. The A/C was tripped by the outage and the house didn't cool down.

08/30/2017  Wednesday; Laurie has a trip to Sacramento today, up early to drive to Burbank Airport. Saw Adrienne and her pups on Contour on my way home. I won't be able to perform Facebook Live due to having to be at the airport later. Played in the sun with the kids, worked out and swam, and only got peeped once. 104° F today. Leftover venison for dinner.

08/29/2017  Computer sync; reviewed peeker vids from yesterday and found some nice stuff; cleaned up Utils and Utils/Old. Trimmed some fronds and the lemon tree in the yard (4 hours). Today it got to 108° F.

08/28/2017  Continued transferring files from the old system (XP) to the new system (7). I will be continuing this into the foreseeable future, and I will refer to it as "Computer Sync". The particulars are in my notes, but it's too excruciatingly detailed to document here, unless it's warranted. Had my workout and swim today and got peeked quite a bit. It reached 107° F. I played through a set and saw Kristen walking Catalina. I thought she was back in town! Pork loin for dinner with fried potato's, carrots, and applesauce. Noted that Textpad was not installed on Win 7.

08/27/2017  Had problems with the Search capability in Windows Explorer while comparing it to Explorer++. Made a reference here that it "...must be that Registry script that removed the Libraries." I don't recall when I removed the Libraries, but it must have been a little while ago, I don't think it was yesterday. I referenced it previously on 8/25 also. Come to find out, there was no error at all, I was just starting to get used to Explorer++ and the old Windows Explorer was doing what it always did, NOT what I asked it to do. Sun and swim today, no workout. I don't even like to get too much sun on my non-workout days. Cooked pulled chicken and rice with salad for dinner.

08/26/2017  Setup directories and started transferring my data from the Win XP machine to the Win 7 machine. I have two methods for this, one is a special cable I bought a few years ago that will connect any two computers, and the other is over the WI-FI. The WI-FI is actually faster because it's newer. The cable is a little old and has the connection software encoded in a "pod" in the middle of the cable being powered by the USB port. Went to Universal Studios to see a movie but I didn't write the name down, and now I can't remember it. It was a movie Laurie wanted to see about Indian girls disappearing. I tried to look it up, but failed. I'll have to revisit this later.

08/25/2017  Friday; started using Explorer++ today because of issues with Windows 7 File Explorer, which is so annoying that it's constantly trying to figure out what you want to see, or jumping around on the left panel where you can't tell where you are, etc. I've already disabled the stupid Libraries from the system, which itself caused a minor flaw to surface, but it's worth it not to see those idiotic Libraries. From this point out I am only using Explorer++ [1/16/2019, still true, although it won't do Tag searches. For that I have to grudgingly use File Exploder. TAH]. Had some fun in the sun with my workout, and a swim, but I eventually ran out of time to do Facebook Live, which I was going to perform since missing on Wednesday. We had some venison from Tony at the eclipse and so I looked up some recipes. I cooked the venison in a stew, searing each piece by hand. It turned out really good. Finished chocolate ice cream for dessert.

08/24/2017  Lately, so many applications are saving data to the "My Documents" directory that I can't find MY documents anymore. I don't get it. This was supposed to be an area for ME not my programs. It's gotten so bad with audio plug-ins and such, that I had to make a new directory, which I called "Personal", where I moved all of my stuff out of "My Documents", and no program will ever put anything there. Another tip I have is to use numbers to prefix a directory name to drive the most important directories to the top of the list. Many times directory lists can be so long, putting a few of them at the top saves a lot of time at the expense of a few characters in the directory name.

08/23/2017 Wednesday: no Facebook Live today as I ran out of time. I had to upload my eclipse videos and make a clip for posting online. This took more time than I thought it would. I also took the rental car back and had my workout and swim. I thought I saw evidence that Kristen was back in town.

08/22/2017  The only accommodations I could find in Redding was a crappy hotel that charged double the rate due to the mass of people that were coming from the eclipse. What a shame. Made it home by 5 PM.

08/21/2017  Today the eclipse occurred around 9:15 AM. I found a parking spot around 8 AM at Road's End State Recreation Site, in the main loop right down by the grass and picnic benches, even after I drove past big signs announcing that the lot was full, and there were people everywhere looking for parking! The Universe smiled on me that day. Either that or no one was going down there because of the signs, and the spot was hidden by an RV next to it. I set up my telescope and observed the sunspots prior to the eclipse. Afterward, trying to leave the area was nearly impossible. I could wait a while, but Laurie had to be in Portland for a flight. We all left in a caravan, and when we got there, I took I-5 S and everyone else took I-5 N. I called it the Great American Traffic Jam. It just proved that if we had to evacuate quickly for whatever reason, many people won't make it. It was the worst progress in traffic I have ever experienced, other than being stuck on a freeway on-ramp in West Virginia in a blizzard because the traffic was completely stopped everywhere, and having to spend the night in a pickup truck (1976).

08/14/2017  Arrived in Lincoln City today and checked out our pad. Unfortunately for us, the picture they used shows the neighbors dock on the lake, which has huge signs forbidding access that you couldn't see in the photos. Our dock was barely a dock, but I swam from it and we launched a paddleboat from it. The house was grungy and lame, the beds were really crappy, and I had to clean a whole bunch of stuff. It was a big disappointment, but I found some extra blankets and sheets and used them to cover the grody furniture so we could sit down without cringing. Oh, and we had to get carpet deodorizer and one of those fresh scent vaporizers that plug in the wall for the living room area.

08/13/2017  Left this morning on our trip to Lincoln City, Oregon for the Great American Eclipse. We all piled in the car for the trip up, but Laurie has to be back for work, and so me and Lucky and Tully will drive back by ourselves. With a group of other people, we rented a house on Devil's Lake so we could prepare for the eclipse.

08/12/2017  USC beat Utah at the LA Coliseum 11-7. I read an article that said Utah hasn't beaten USC while on the road since 1916, 103 years, and never at the Coliseum, of course, because the Coliseum isn't that old.

08/11/2017  Took Lucky for a long walk today. Took some time for myself, I needed it bad. Worked out in the sun and had a swim also. Installed the new memory sticks in the Win 7 machine. Moved the existing RAM to the open slots and installed the new, faster RAM in its place. System now shows 8 GB of installed memory! On the Gateway SX2802, because it's a small form factor (SFF) design, the CDROM drive has to be removed before you can futz with the memory slots. It's not that hard, just a couple of screws, but it looks intimidating. The Windows Experience Index increased 21% overall since the last update, and gaming graphics increased approximately 41%. Most of those increases were likely due to the addition of the graphics card. After that I had problems getting Pro Tools First to play sounds over the speakers. Switched to Reaper and I had the same problem. Checked the Delta 1010 control panel and software return 1/2 was set to a level of minus infinity. Turned it up and it works fine, I don't know how this setting got changed. During this investigation it was determined that the Delta 1010 does not require the 3 VDC (orange wire) to operate. I had suspected that, but now I proved it (Delta 1010 operable on Win 7, 7/23/2017).

08/10/2017  Took the Volt in for maintenance today in Glendale. Computer video doesn't seem to have crashed overnight, there were no reports. Researched the video modes and settled on Windows 7 Basic. I setup two cases, one with screen and power savers and one without, so that I can easily switch them when I need to perform or record. I realized that Windows Aero is just an inconvenience and a detriment to my computing environment. Continued editing the Tasks, rebooting at least four times. Task Manager is looking better and the system seems to startup quicker. What do normal people who aren't computer literate do about this crap? I wonder...The new memory sticks for Win 7 arrived today, I'll install them tomorrow. Picked up Laurie at 6 PM and drove to see Kelsey in El Segundo. We had dinner at McCormick & Schmick's in El Segundo, it's not listed on their website, but it was there.

08/09/2017  House inspection today for the Sunnyslope property, had to skip my workout. I didn't perform Facebook Live either, which, for a Wednesday, I would normally do. Hmmm, I'll have to look into that. While investigating the video card issue, I found that the Services, and especially, the Tasks, were out of control, and so I started deleting and chopping them back. Found a couple of articles about the video problem, one was a Registry hack and the other a discussion of Windows Aero and how some NVIDIA products don't behave well in it. I switched the desktop to Classic instead of Aero, and it's much more stable.

08/08/2017  Took Lucky on a long walk today and I talked to the parrot there at 4023 Dixie Canyon Ave. (it's in my notes). I also saw Karen, who I had met previously (7/28/2017), who was walking her dog. It just so happens that her husband stopped to pick her up while we were chatting. If I recall, Karen seemed to know who lived in that house and that they had birds. Had some problems with the new video card in that it freezes for a few seconds every now and then, and reports that the driver stopped responding. Updated the driver and began investigations to see what the problem is.

08/07/2017  I had a haircut appointment with Cassie, but she couldn't make it, and she had a colleague of hers, Dan, cut it instead. I didn't say anything at the time, but later I told her that I just have this thing about guys doing my hair, I don't like it. It's not about any phobia's or anything, it's only about how I feel when a woman touches me compared to a man, that's it. Getting a haircut is kind of an erotic thing, and it doesn't work for me when a guy is doing it. I didn't have good experiences with men cutting my hair as a child either, which I was forced to do, after which I had to endure ridicule and laughter, so, yeah, that might have something to do with it. But more than likely it's because of the relationships I've had, and how being touched by my hairdresser was the only female contact I would have for long periods of time. Got a new video card today with 2 GB DDR3 RAM. It's not huge, but it's better than on-board graphics. Pulled chicken on toast with peas for dinner.

08/06/2017  Met Laurie's cousin Kelsey, who lives in Hawaii, at LAX and took her to Hermosa Beach. NY Steak for dinner!

08/05/2017  Attempting to get Cubase AI8 to work. Updated the Steinberg Data TXT file. Inserted the dongle and it installed OK. Re-registered AI8 and it worked perfectly, although the data about the different licenses and eLicenser's is kind of messy on their website. Installed updates for AI8 and Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver. After that, I installed Pro Tools First (downloaded 7/27/2017). Together with that, you have to download and install the iLok License Manager and create a new Avid (Pro Tools) account online. During all this I was having to access the directory "\Users\...\AppData", which is a hidden directory, and to make it easier to navigate, I un-hid the directory and all of its contents. This worked great for what I was doing, and afterward, I didn't want to see that directory anymore, and so I hid it again and all of its contents, right? Not quite right. This is where the problems start. The Start Menu was hosed; it was gone, mostly. And Firefox wouldn't do anything; I didn't write down exactly what it did or didn't do, but it too wouldn't function. Can you see the problem? Right! The state of the subdirectories prior to un-hiding them is unknown, but some, if not all of them, must have been visible. It just so happens that the Start Menu and Firefox, and practically every other piece of software that you have, uses the AppData subdirectories to store information. When I hid them ALL, the system couldn't see them anymore and it broke. I un-hid them again, and this time, I only hid the directory AppData, not the subdirectories, and this put everything back to normal. I figured this out easily since I already knew that the Start Menu was in AppData. I wrote it here for your information or amusement, whichever you require at the time. Pro Tools First eventually ran, but when I opened the Hardware settings, the program crashed (I haven't messed with it too much since then, if I recall. 12/27/2018 // I just recently deleted it as Avid no longer supports it, and I never used it. Later it would crash and never load. 12/22/2022, TAH).

08/04/2017  Walked Lucky this morning and saw Adrienne with her pups. Played with Cubase AI8 today to see what's different in this version, and I watched the setup video. Only 299 more starts without having the license installed! The USB-eLicenser arrived today so I transferred the license to the dongle so I can transfer it to the Win 7 machine.

08/03/2017  Went to the TreePeople Park again today, partially hoping to see if Gene would be there too. He wasn't. I got a schedule for the upcoming shows at the amphitheater. I have the car today to go grocery shopping. Made a batch of chocolate ice cream batter without Belgium chocolate milk. It's never as good without it. Installed Cubase AI8 but the license is an issue, to transfer it I have to have a Steinberg dongle. Looked up dongles online and I found one and bought it, supposedly with a 3 year protection plan (I wrote it in my notes but I don't remember getting any paperwork for it). It will be here on Saturday. Beef kabobs and red beans and rice for dinner. Laurie made an offer on the house on Sunnyslope today. [This was the last entry in which I was able to gather data from my old Droid which was lost on Fountain Avenue in Hollywood after I left it on top of the car on 12/17/2018. (See that entry for more details when it's finally posted.)]

08/02/2017  Wednesday; is here and it's time for Facebook Live! Because it's so humid, I wore a blue striped pullover shirt and shorts. I know I performed "Counting Stars" by One Republic, but I didn't review this video to get the full setlist. I'm going to come back to this issue some day since I now have a list of all the sets I did, and the songs, and where the data is lacking. Lucky has an eye appointment today so we stopped at the TreePeople Park. My voice was really strong this morning, and I was singing openly while we walked through the park. I turned around at one point and I saw a guy with a ball cap and a big Husky (Alaskan Malamute) coming toward us. I was a little surprised because I thought we were alone, and he was close enough to have easily heard all my singing. He said about his dog, who he called George, "He's friendly", so Lucky and George bonded for a minute. It was Gene Simmons and he was trying to hide his face with his hat. I commented on how big and beautiful George was, and I was petting him, and Gene looked at Lucky and said, "He's just a snack!". He then pulled George up the stairs and disappeared in the trees. I realized as he was turning to go who he was, and so I started singing again while he was going up the steps. Later I posted on his Facebook page. I had a hair appointment today also, but Cassie cancelled by calling Laurie's phone, which had been left in the car by mistake, and no one knew. Lucky's eye turned out to be completely healed, thank goodness. Jerry's for dinner, brisket for both.

08/01/2017  Cleaned the hummingbird feeder this morning and made a new batch of nectar. The humidity is really high today and it was raining a little. Found out about a utility program called SFC.exe, the System File Checker. I mean, I knew about it before, but I never fucked with it because I didn't have a need to. Just to see what it would do, I ran it on the Win 7 machine and it didn't find anything wrong. On the Win XP machine, it was a different story. I should have run it first with the /verifyonly switch to see what SFC.exe might think is a problem (probably in both cases, although later I learned that Win 7 has different protections than XP. Thanks again Microsoft). In any case, if you do this on Win XP, or anything prior to Vista as far as I can tell, there aren't enough protections on the files, and the stupid program will "refresh" your system with all the OLD files that were there before you had them updated over the years. Needless to say, Winblows Update will now find all the old files as being out-of-date, and you'll have to sit through all the updates again that you had already applied before. Texted Collin about sativa content (7/24/2017). Installed the latest version of MAME on Win 7. I don't like it as much as the old one, but it's OK. Had to download some files to get KLAX to work, but I found a new source of ROMs. Installed Cubase AI8 that I recently upgraded for $10 (6/21/2016). It requires a Steinberg dongle to run that I have to get on Amazon. Went to look again at the properties on Sunnyslope and Addison.

07/31/2017  Took Lucky for a long walk this morning. Had an email exchange with Rafael. Sun and swim workout with the kids. Posted a photo of the old roller coaster ride "Jumbo Jet" that used to be at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. I rode this coaster from a time before we were even tall enough to get on it by standing on the backs of our high-tops. It was awesome. That reminds me of when I rode Riddler's Revenge at Six Flags Magic Mountain 11 times in a row without getting off the ride! That day had been very light attendance, and there wasn't anyone in the queue each time the train came back to the station. My ex-brother-in-law Jason rode it with me, but could only take 6 times before he had to get off the ride. There were plenty of witnesses. I told the operators to just keep it going until the park closed, which was like in a half an hour. The ride duration is listed at 3 minutes, times 11 rides, there you go. After the 11th ride they shut it down, even though I pleaded for one more. It was the single greatest roller coaster event I've ever had, so far. Played through a set and it was excellent. The two girls down the street, Utah & Bailey rode by on their bikes again while I was performing. I call her Utah because she has Utah plates on her car. I met her once but I can't remember her name, I was so surprised that I was talking to her, she's really cute.

07/30/2017  Had to vacate the premises today from 9:45 AM until around noon for Jessifucks parents to come here and lie to the appraisers. Spent the day looking at houses, Laurie likes Sunnyslope. Got a MyPurMist handheld steam inhaler from Bed Bath & Beyond. I used it twice today and I'm breathing much better.

07/29/2017  Fell asleep on the couch last night until 3 AM. Went over the house listings. Did some organizing of the computer. Had a note that said, "deleted [all] Auslogics and installed Puran Defrag", but I installed Puran on 6/3/2016. This note must be that I finally deleted all the Auslogics programs.

07/28/2017  Took Lucky for his usual morning walk and I met a woman named Karen who had a 20 year old dog (I saw her again on 8/8/2017). Got one little peek today during my workout with the kids. Laurie is supposed to tell Jessifuck today that the only reason we'll comply with her illegal demands is due to threat of eviction. I don't know if she did. Had a 6 PM house viewing with Rafael Gevorkian, a local realtor that we met in our search. Went to dinner at the Great Greek restaurant in Sherman Oaks. It was fun, there was music and dancing, very nice. I just love the Avgolemono soup, which I discovered when I was in Greece in the early 1980's.

07/27/2017  Took Lucky's "cone of shame" off since his eye is not bothering him anymore. Downloaded Pro Tools First, a free version of Pro Tools for becoming familiar with the interface. It will record up to 16 tracks, but I think it's limited in how much it will do until you send them some money. I got the Volt up to 71 miles and took a picture on my phone. Investigated tenants rights under threat of eviction. I was cooking kabobs for dinner when the power went out. I checked our electrical box, but I didn't see a problem with any of the breakers. I went outside and played an acoustic set in the garage, waiting for the power to come back on. After I finished playing, I noticed that my neighbor Sandy's A/C was running. That's weird, unless the power is down on my side and not hers. Hmmm. I continued cooking the kabobs over the stove, camp fire style, waiting for the power to come back on. I went out front and saw that the boys on the other side of the house had lights on in their garage. Now that's really weird, so I checked the electrical box again. I called the DWP and they asked me to go back out to the electrical box, and, one by one, they had me open and then close every outgoing breaker in the box. I already knew how to do this, and I had already checked for tripped breakers, but they won't continue helping you if you don't do as they ask. So I did. They finally said they would send a technician over to look at the situation. A while later a guy showed up with all the gear. I took him over to the electrical box and he surveyed it for a moment. He then reached up and cycled the mains, and the lights came back on. Dude, was I embarrassed. I checked all the outgoing breakers, but I didn't even think about the ONE incoming breaker, what a dumb ass. I fessed up to it with the DWP guy and Laurie.

07/26/2017  Wednesday; yet again, we get together for Facebook Live tonight! I was wearing an Eagles shirt I got at The Classic West festival and some shorts. I performed the songs "Lucky Boy", "Nobody Home" (small chord mess up), "DMS", "Forgotten In Time" (chord problem), and "Tomorrow Through Yesterday", at least, but this list looks short. Researched memory and video upgrades for the Win 7 computer. I want to double the RAM to 8 GB and install a dedicated video card to reduce the load on the CPU when I'm recording or editing video. For what I need, I've selected the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 half-height video card. Jessica Canyon (Jessifuck in my notes, the slumlord. I wouldn't touch her with a ten foot pole, that bitch is so cold) has begun harassing us, and threatened to illegally evict us from her house if we don't vacate the property for a day so appraisers from the city of LA can come through, under the false premise that she is living there and not renting it, and inspect it for refinancing purposes. Apparently you can get a financial advantage if it's not being rented. We refused at first, but we're on a month-by-month arrangement after having fulfilled a year lease, and Jessifuck said she would have no problem giving us 30 days notice if we didn't do what she wants. They even tried to bribe us with money. I put more pictures of me and Laurie up around the house, and I wrote our names all over the boxes still packed in the garage so there would be different faces and names from what the appraisers might have, hopefully raising questions. Her parents were completely agreeable to this extortion and are going to be the ones to facilitate it. I hid my video camera on the mantle before we left. They put sheets over some of the furniture to make it look like it was in storage, but the cat and dog food, and water bowls on the floor, all over the house, and litter boxes, will be hard to explain. We asked them about that and they just laughed and said, "We'll just tell them that we brought our pets with us today", in reference to OUR fucking pets you stupid morons!!! They don't even know the animals names, duh! Laurie prevented me from confronting or refusing the situation. The house is at 13417 Contour Drive, Sherman Oaks, CA, 91423, if anyone looking it up might wonder what they're getting into.

07/25/2017  Made some chocolate ice cream batter. Researched ASIO and Reaper some more. I eventually found a website which described an issue about a Registry Key that is lacking the permissions for Reaper to access, which leads to the ASIO driver not loading. I looked in the Registry and sure enough, no one was allowed access to the key. I added permissions for SYSTEM, Tim, and Admin and it worked. Thank goodness! I can't remember the exact Registry Key, but it can be found online. The Playback device has to be the speakers to hear anything. The Record device has to be the Monitor Mixer to hear the Delta 1010 through the computer speakers. The Record device has to have "Listen To..." check marked to hear it on the computer. That should help. Made spaghetti for dinner.

07/24/2017  Drove Laurie to work to help her sore back out. Stopped at Coldwater Canyon Park again with Lucky. Later I verified the Delta 1010 ASIO driver and found that it was OK in all the apps except for Reaper. I'll have to work on this. Master Yoda. Sun and swim with the kids, all by ourselves.

07/23/2017  As an experiment, I inserted a spare SATA PCIe card into the Win 7 machine to see if it would be recognized, and it was. I then shutdown and swapped the SATA card for the PCIe to PCI converter card, and this time it was recognized also. Now the sound card showed up in the Device Manager and the Control Panel. Excellent. I need to install all my music software now starting with Reaper. ASIO vs. WASAPI, need to do some research (ASIO is best).

07/22/2017  Laurie is feeling better today. I looked up more info on the Delta 1010 sound card to see if there was something that I was missing trying to get it to work. Checked all the voltages in the external box I just got done building and everything was fine (big surprise, NOT). Had dinner from Maria's Kitchen and it was good.

07/21/2017  Took Lucky to see the doctor about his eye. It's still scratched so he has to continue wearing the "cone of shame".

07/19/2017  Wednesday; time for Facebook Live again tonight! I didn't record what I was wearing, but I played an acoustic set in the living room with the TV playing a video of Yellowstone Park in the background. Some of the songs I played are "Lucky Boy", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", and "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. Laurie had back spasms and couldn't make it to work today. I went to work on the Delta 1010, but its power was off while I tried to load it and the system didn't find it, duh! Shutdown and restarted the computer and I checked the BIOS settings. I still haven't got the Win 7 system to recognize the PCIe to PCI expansion card and the Delta 1010 sound card.

07/18/2017  Today I have decided to move up in the world a little by swapping my two computers. I've been using the Win XP machine for a long time as my primary system. But more and more, as time goes on, it's harder to find software that will run on it. More precisely, the newest software won't run on Win XP. You can still get plenty of old software that will run, but it's old. Now it's time to start using the Win 7 machine instead. I use this system already for lot's of stuff, like video editing mostly, and running BOINC, but now I have to use it full time. I cleaned as I went, and moved the system towers and auxiliary equipment. It all went well, and the only issue I had was that the sound card was not recognized when I first booted up. I didn't get it working today. I'm calling this Win 7 Day. Ordered pizza for dinner, nice.

07/17/2017  Sun and swim with Tully and Lucky and our peeker. Played through a set. Two days at Dodger Stadium really messed up my respiratory system, but it cleared up after a while.

07/16/2017  Attended The Classic West festival at Dodger Stadium, day two. Earth, Wind & Fire, Journey, and Fleetwood Mac.

07/15/2017  Attended The Classic West festival at Dodger Stadium, day one. The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, and the Eagles. Loge 162, A-3/4, sweet!

07/14/2017  Ants were in the hummingbird feeder this morning. I have to use ant spray on the pole holding up the feeder every now and then or they'll drain the damn thing. Modified the old power supply case to fit the PCIe to PCI converter. I had to cut out a rectangular portion on one end of the case where the bracket of the converter PCIe card would normally fasten to (this converter has two slots, so I had to make the opening wide enough for two cards to be installed). Eventually I got it all to fit nicely in the box. I should post some pictures. Me and the kids played in the sun with our guest. Storage Wars was at The Best Little Cat House in Burbank with some cat equipment they found. That's the place that overdosed Tully when she stayed there, I would steer clear.

07/13/2017  Downloaded the sheet music, or should I say the "tabs", for the song "Driftwood" I was looking for the other day from Ultimate Guitar Tabs. I played the song through a few times, it's so nice. I used to play this song a lot while I was busking. Updated Spybot and ran it on restart for the Win XP machine due to sluggish response. Later I realized that I had re-enabled Windows Update to check for updates, and I didn't turn it back off. On my version of XP, this causes a continuous 50% drain on the CPU making it sluggish. Microsoft probably does this intentionally just to piss you off and get you to buy a new OS or hardware. I wouldn't be surprised at all. I don't need their stupid updates anyway. Cleaned the entire Win 7 machine, including the desk and everything. The heat radiator was dusty and the fan was working harder than it needed to. There is an open PCIe slot that I want to use for installing the new PCIe to PCI converter I got, so I can migrate my Delta 1010 PCI sound card over to the Win 7 machine. I'm not sure if it will work properly, but I have to try it out and see. I found I could modify an old power supply case to house the card while it was slotted on the converter, and so I started that procedure. I cooked steak with corn-on-the-cob and potato's for dinner.

07/12/2017  Wednesday; I'm ready for another Facebook Live set. Wore my red pullover guitar shirt that I bought at the Walmart in Moses Lake, WA, and some shorts. I don't normally shop at Walmart because they censor what they sell based on their religious delusions, it was just the only place open at the time. Here's the setlist I have in my notes: "Lucky Boy", "DMS", "Forgotten In Time", "10,000 Years", "Childhood's End", and "Tomorrow Through Yesterday" (screwed up a verse). It seems like there should be more songs than that, I'll have to re-verify. The kids and I worked out by ourselves today.

07/11/2017  We had a Lucky doctors appointment today, so we had time to visit Coldwater Canyon Park, across from Beverly Hills Fire Dept. Station #2, Beverly Hills, 90210. I watched Neil deGrasse Tyson interview atheist extraordinaire Seth MacFarlane on  Neil's StarTalk TV show from 1/4/2017. It was really good. Seth personally helped pay for all of Dr. Carl Sagan's papers and memorabilia to be archived at the Library of Congress in The Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive. I love you, Seth!

07/10/2017  Rafael Nadal lost a 5-set marathon against Gilles Muller in the fourth round of Wimbledon. Me and the kids worked out and swam in the sun, and someone was watching us. Played through a set, only loaded the main files.

07/09/2017  Looked through my physical sheet music to find "Driftwood" by the Moody Blues, which I used to have a sheet of, but I couldn't find it. The problem is, sometimes the songs were printed from the Internet without being saved to the computer, or they were photocopied from a book (only used for private study, scholarship, or research). I have a collection of songs on my computer that includes 782 files, some of which are duplicates (in different Keys and such, one is a setlist from a get-together back in 2009). Those files are only a portion of the actual sheets I have, and although I've tried over the years to organize the physical sheets completely by artist, they're sometimes grouped in the form of setlist's, or by genre, which makes it harder to find a particular song. One of these days I'm going to have it all organized properly, but until then, I can't find "Driftwood". Played "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" by The Band, with Laurie helping out on vocals, and "new chords". I think this is in reference to the fact that I used to play the song in the open position, but started using barre chords instead.

07/08/2017  Sun and swim with Laurie and the kids, Tully and Lucky. Made a batch of vanilla ice cream, churned it later. Went to dinner at the The Bellwether on Ventura Blvd.

07/07/2017  Lucky got sick again last night. Made chocolate ice cream batter and churned it after it set. Me and the kids played in the sun and pool and we got peeked. There were two big transformer explosions today on Beverly Blvd. that knocked out power in West LA and Cedars-Sinai hospital. Laurie had to go to the Command Center because the hospital is on emergency power. Later we found out that all three electrical feeds to the hospital were fried and a major cable has to be dug up and replaced. Wow. Played through a set. Mini meat loaves for dinner with potato's and corn.

07/05/2017  Wednesday; here we go with another Facebook Live session. I was wearing a black button down shirt and shorts, and there were many problems. I played the songs "Lucky Boy", "Only The Strong Survive" by REO Speedwagon (screwed it up), "Nobody Home" (nice!), and "Virtual Reality", and maybe some others too, I'll have to verify the setlist. Twice today the house alarm system started talking in a computer voice that a battery somewhere was low. I tried to find out what was going on, I removed the controller thinking it was a detector. This just made things worse. Every time I opened a door, the alarm went off. The owner gave us a phone number to call, but it was almost useless. Eventually, with a factory preset password, I was able to get the stupid thing to stop alarming and talking. I eventually pulled the power and disconnected the battery so we never had problems with it again. The alarm guy said the system had been active up until about two months ago because the owner didn't ask them to cancel it in writing. Sun and fun, worked out with the kids and had a peeker. The new neighbors across the street where Sue used to live are having some sort of party on their front lawn, with moms, and kids, and a couple of party performers. They're singing songs and sitting in the grass. I think it's a Jewish thing because of some of the chants I heard, I don't know, but they're being really loud. Why they can't do that in their backyard, I have no idea. Came up with a new song title, "Lemonade Soup" (don't ask me, it was written in my notes and I'm just putting it out there. It's probably related to the juicer and the lemons).

07/03/2017  Had to go to the DMV to renew Laurie's handicap placard, and we stopped at Canter's for a pancake breakfast. Back home to sun and swim for the long weekend party. I played through a set, and later we watched the movie "Free State of Jones" starring Matthew McConaughey. It was ok, but it was long. I looked it up and it only made $25 million for a budget of $50 million. That's not too good.

07/02/2017  For the skylight repair, I needed some weatherproof roofing sealant and some tape sealant. The tape is to condition the wood around the opening and give a flat, stable surface for the sealant between the tape and the skylight. It cost me $35 in materials and five hours of my time. Mind you, this was time spent on a roof, in the sun, by myself, moving around a 6'x4' skylight, and setting it in place without any leaks. Thanks again to the slumlords Jessica Canyon and Bob Guiney for not doing the job correctly the first time, and for screwing us over with no compensation (they've supposedly indicated that the house was rented "as-is" and therefore have refused to fix anything. All the while our hard earned money goes into heating and cooling the entire San Fernando Valley. Fuck you, that's what I say. Fuck you. That address again was 13417 Contour Drive, Sherman Oaks, CA, 91423, if anyone was curious). Had dinner at Sadaf Restaurant in Encino.

07/01/2017  Start of 4th of July Celebrations. I mention this because in Los Angeles, all of LA, for days leading up to and after the 4th, there are people setting off fireworks like crazy. Most of the noise you hear is probably from illegal fireworks (which can be easily purchased in Nevada) since the legal fireworks are timid and don't do much. You can also see them in the form of mortars and rockets, and it's not like just a few here and there. They're going off all at the same time, all over the city, in every direction, as far as the eye can see. Starting today, it ramps up until the 4th, at which time there is a tremendous roar that comes over the city and doesn't slow down at all until maybe noon on the 5th. I'm not kidding. The noise is incessant, all night long, in every direction, with mortars and rockets simultaneously lighting up the sky. When you wake up in the morning you would think it was over, but it isn't, and it went all night long. It's fucking crazy. My allergies are really bad and the air in the house is unhealthy. Looked into what it will take to fix the stupid skylight.

06/30/2017  Looked up a power supply distributor and found Best Buy on Van Nuys Blvd. only two miles away. That's close enough to walk, so I left at about 10:36 AM and arrived back home at about 12:05 PM, an hour and a half, and I took my time getting the right unit, an EVGA - 80 PLUS 600W ATX 12V/EPS power supply. It's a nice one. Installed the power supply and it works great, it's very quiet. Me and the kids played in the sun today without any guests. I cooked goulash with sweet potato fries and biscuits. It was good.

06/29/2017  Lucky has a doctors appointment this afternoon. The XP computer is down, the power supply is suspect. Cleaned and reassembled the computer and it still wouldn't boot. Looked for a replacement power supply online. I cooked hamburgers for dinner.

06/28/2017  Wednesday; let's get together for Facebook Live! I wore a nice blue nylon pullover shirt and shorts. For warm-up, I played four songs outside in the garage earlier, "Lucky Boy", "I Never Cry", "Nobody Home", and "Counting Stars". For my performance tonight, I played "Lucky Boy", "Counting Stars" (started twice), "I Never Cry" (good), "Forgotten In Time", "The Tully Song", "The Decay", "Virtual Reality", "The Universal Anthem", and "Changing Times". Worked out and swam in the sun with the kids Tully and Lucky, and the peeper.

06/27/2017  Texted George Bacchus, Collin Davis, Craig (from the skate park in Vancouver, WA), and my brother Dale to see if any of them wanted to go with us for the eclipse as we'll have extra room. I had already texted Alex and Marc, but they won't be able to make it. Too bad. It was predicted to be hot again today, I didn't record the temperature.

06/25/2017  Look at it go. It reached 114° F today. Not a record, but it was warm. Searched for house rentals for the eclipse and Laurie booked her return flight. I'm going to take the two days to drive back with Tully and Lucky.

06/24/2017  It reached 106° F today, spent some time around the pool. Made and churned a batch of vanilla ice cream. Had dinner at the Valley Inn on Sherman Oaks Way.

06/22/2017  Watched a film from 1967 called "The Day the Fish Came Out", and, well, it's a weird-ass movie filled with stereotypes and sexism, if not downright misogyny. In my notes I called it "stupid", but I couldn't stop watching.

06/21/2017  Wednesday; another night of Facebook Live. I wore a purple striped pullover shirt and shorts, and my allergies are acting up due to the high humidity and pollen count. Performed the songs "Lucky Boy", "Evangeline", "Time For Me To Fly" by REO Speedwagon (I screwed up a chord), and "Unravel Me", at least. This may not be a complete list since it's rather short. I'll have to update it later when I can verify the setlist. Me and the aminals (sic) played in the sun today and we had a peeker.

06/20/2017  It was already 79° F at 7 AM. I sent a friend request to the Saddle Ranch Fiddlers I met the other day, Michael Sherry and Stephen Perricone. They thanked me for sharing their Facebook page.

06/18/2017  The cable and internet are out, all Spectrum services are unavailable. They wouldn't come back on until after 3 PM this afternoon. I think we should get a rebate for the time we lost, and for the inconvenience. I tried to make pancakes but the batter wouldn't cook properly. I think the mix was too old and it wouldn't set up properly. I threw it all out. Went to Jerry's for breakfast with Alex and Marc. They left for home at about 2 PM (there was no TV or internet!), and I let them take the Yamaha PSR-240 keyboard with them to practice on. The rest of us went and played in the pool.

06/17/2017  Went to the Blue Dog with the boys and Lucky for brunch (it's pet friendly). Of course we have to sit outside with Lucky, but we have a booth that we try to get. Later on we had fun in the pool with Alex and Marc. Pizza for dinner.

06/16/2017  Today is my birthday. Did some laundry. Reviewed the video from yesterday's session. I worked out in the sun today and got peeped. Alex and Marc come by for the weekend to celebrate my birthday. We had dinner at the Saddle Ranch Chop House at Universal City Walk (this location closed on 1/2/2018). They have live music there that wanders around the restaurant, and when it was our turn, we had then play "Daniel" by Elton John. This is a song I used to play for the boys before they went to bed, so they should know it. I'll have to look these players up later on, they gave me their card. Nicki Lynne is in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood. Tried to get out there to see her.

06/14/2017  Wednesday; welcome to Facebook Live in LA Live. I wore a blue tank top shirt and shorts, and started off by talking about the heat wave we're having here. I performed the songs "Lucky Boy", "Counting Stars" (good), "Nobody Home" (screwed up the chords), "DMS", "Forgotten In Time", "Childhood's End", "Tomorrow Through Yesterday", and "Changing Times". Ellie was watching my performance, I love you! I saw Kristen & Catalina this morning. She said that they make cookies now and then, and after her walk, she went and got some cookies for me. Thank you Kristen! Made a batch of strawberry ice cream batter. Looked up a phone number for Kristen and found it. She lives in Everett, WA and comes down to LA on occasion, where she grew up. Did my workout in the sun, but no one was watching.

06/12/2017  The sun was out early today. During breakfast I watched a TV biography of chef Gordon Ramsay. Me and the kids played in the sun today and we had a peeker. I wrote down an idea about a new song called "Mountain Of Stones". The Golden State Warriors won the NBA Finals for the second time in three years. Talked to Laurie about Roger and her health.

06/11/2017  Laurie had to work today due to the LGBT Pride Parade in West LA. I walked Lucky and saw Debbie Robbins and her little white poodle Annie. She was getting her mail in a shirt with no bra, and she has a huge rack. I was obligated to stop and chat with her. I took her some lemons [11/14/2018; I learned she passed away on 10/25/2017, TAH]. Churned the vanilla ice cream from yesterday. Had Costco ravioli for dinner and it was good.

06/10/2017  Overcast mostly today. Had lunch at the Cactus Taqueria on the way home from Costco. Made vanilla ice cream with two whole vanilla beans. The Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup. Laurie cooked salmon for dinner.

06/09/2017  Made and churned some chocolate ice cream. Me and the kids played in the sun today and someone peeked.

06/08/2017  Took some lemons over for Kristen.

06/07/2017  Wednesday; another Facebook Live jam session coming to you from Los Angeles. I didn't do much in the way of dressing up, a pullover shirt and pants, sort of casual. I performed the songs "Lucky Boy", "Nobody Home" by Pink Floyd, "Counting Stars" (a little chord error...), "Virtual Reality", "Childhood's End", "Tomorrow Through Yesterday" (good), and "Changing Times". Laurie had a day long conference in Sacramento. She was on the same flight as LA Mayor Eric Garcetti as he was going to Sacramento also. Me and the kids played in the sun today all by ourselves.

06/06/2017  Finished reviewing videos for now. Met a lady on Dixie Canyon who has a nice dog, and a nice house. I have a note that "I think the date for application to that music show has passed. Check it out. "The Playlist" Casting #". The deadline was supposedly June 2. I think they pushed this back, it was first documented in March 2017, and I don't think it ever made it on the air. I don't think I actually submitted anything for this show, I don't have a Username or PW recorded. The drain downstairs got plugged again and it took me a while with the plunger to clear it (1 hour). Thanks slumlords.

06/05/2017  My wrist feels better today, although it still appears to be a little swollen. Cleaned the kitchen window so I could see out better. Me and the kids played in the sun today and we had an audience next door. I texted Laurie for the first time about the solar eclipse in Lincoln City, Oregon. Cooked steak, fries, and corn for dinner.

06/04/2017  Spoke to Jim Rader this morning and he said that he had some skunks living under his house. This is where the skunk went that I saw the other night. Saw Harry dog who had a nice, new lion haircut. After grocery shopping, we saw a big stray dog running house-to-house down Valley Vista Blvd. west of Van Nuys Blvd. We stopped and I was able to get the dog to come to me, and she was very friendly, but she didn't have a collar. We asked at a few houses if anyone knew who she was, but no one recognized her, so we put her in the car and took her home. We made up some flyers and distributed them around. We had a vet try to find a chip, but they couldn't find one. Later that evening we took her to the animal shelter where they were finally able to read a chip. They took the animal in at that point and we never saw her again. Some people said she was a Portuguese Water Dog, but the chip indicated she was a standard poodle.

06/03/2017  Performed an acoustic jam session to warm up for seeing Chris & Art tonight. Drove to Silver Lake and we found the house, and parking, easily enough. They have a nice, small place with a beautiful, multi-level backyard where we hung out and I played some music. Chris looked great! Dinner was excellent with steak and shrimp. Met their dogs Daisy & Lucy.

06/02/2017  Tried to continue reviewing my Facebook video, but I couldn't because something with Facebook is not allowing me to stop the video and restart it at the same place. Each time I stop it, it resets back to the beginning of the video!!! I wrote up a description of the problem and submitted it to Facebook Engineering. Checked out some new computers online. Worked out in the sun today by ourselves. Cooked pork chops and rice with corn-on-the-cob and applesauce.

06/01/2017  Saw Kristen and her dog Catalina out for a walk this morning. I think she said she's in town for her daughters baby shower. My wrist still hurts, and I forgot to take Advil, so it hurt even more by the afternoon. I think the strawberry ice cream is bad, somehow. Laurie thinks maybe it was made with cream or milk that might have been going sour. I started reviewing the video from yesterday's show.

05/31/2017  Wednesday; finally back to Facebook Live since I injured my wrist. Sporting a black shirt and pants, I played the songs "Lucky Boy", "Counting Stars", "Unravel Me", "Then I Explode", "The Tully Song", "Tomorrow Through Yesterday", and "Changing Times". It wasn't perfect, I had to cough and clear my voice every now and then, but my notes say, "Nice haircut", and, "Nice" in reference to the last song. Note number 2 for today says, "RM@S open", but I have no idea what that means. I'm sure it's "code" for something. Made and churned a batch of strawberry ice cream. It looks weird but it must be my imagination. Laurie tried it later and liked it. Did my workout late since the yard maintenance guys were late, and the sky was overcast. Installed a security update for Windows XP SP3 (5/15/2017) I found on the Microsoft web site. Why it wasn't installed already I don't know, but it raises a lot of questions.

05/30/2017  It was overcast this morning. I left a note for the pool guy about the algae. Played through a set including "Lucky Boy", "Counting Stars", "DMS", "Forgotten In Time", "Key To The Past", "The Decay", "10,000 Years", "Tomorrow Through Yesterday", and "Changing Times", while some girls on bicycles went by twice to see me play. The light is on in Kristen's room.

05/29/2017  Monday; Memorial Day. Got a newer, better wrist brace at CVS.

05/28/2017  We were supposed to go see Chris & Art in Silver Lake, but they cancelled this morning. Rescheduled for this upcoming Saturday. Had pizza from Ms. Pizza Connection on Magnolia, it was really good.

05/27/2017  The marine layer burnt off and we all enjoyed some time at the pool. Churned the chocolate ice cream. I now have chocolate, vanilla, and blueberry ice cream in the freezer.

05/26/2017  It was overcast all day, the sun never came out. It must be the June Gloom. Made a batch of chocolate ice cream.

05/25/2017  Heavy marine layer. Later in the afternoon it broke and cleared up. Made and churned some blueberry ice cream.

05/24/2017  Wednesday; today is my normal Facebook Live day, but my wrist is hurt and I won't be able to perform. Made a new batch of hummingbird food and cleaned the feeder. Those silly birds love me. Workout in the sun while the neighbors watched.

05/23/2017  My right hand and wrist hurts today, I don't know why. I found an old wrist guard I had in my closet and started using it. Researched the Key for the song "Counting Stars", it's in C# Aeolian, and since the Aeolian mode is the minor mode, that's C#m.

05/22/2017  Worked out with the kids in the sun. Had a practice session later on.

05/21/2017  Sunday; today is The Voice audition day. I got up at 3:30 AM to get ready. My hair was OK, but I wasn't able to work it very well. I wore clothes typical of what the band One Republic wore for their video of the song "Counting Stars", a pullover tee shirt and jeans, and my Nike Air Jordan XXXI's. I had my sunglasses in my jacket pocket and somehow they got broken, right in half. During my audition, I blew a line where I repeated the section I just sang instead of the section I was supposed to sing. At that point it's technically over, and pretty much a fail. I asked the producer if I could do the section again and she said yes, so I jumped right back into it and made the exact same mistake. At this point, I knew it was over for me, and I turned to try to compose myself when a female singer in our group actually spoke and said I should just do the chorus. I said, to no one in particular, that the chorus IS the section I messed up on. I recall just skipping that section and continuing on, but the damage was done. This is the only audition I've ever had where I messed up the lyric. I met a gentleman, Sterling, who was a singer, and he said he used to work in Vista. We chatted for a while, it was nice. I drove home with my busted sunglasses propped on my head. Me and Laurie went to the Blue Dog afterward with Lucky, and it was very hot outside. I got some new sunglasses from the Sunglass Hut at the Fashion Square Mall on Riverside Drive.

05/18/2017  Me and Lucky got to stop by the TreePeople Park again today. I have an appointment for a haircut with Cassie and Laurie has an event at UCLA. Larry the Heater Guy came by about the candle smell but couldn't find anything wrong. Right in front of me, though, he admitted to not being able to smell very well because of a problem he has with his olfactory system. I smelled the air and it smelled like soot, and so I told him that. He used the scenario that if it hadn't run in a while it might have accumulated dust, but then I reminded him that it runs every night because I have it set to 68° F. I said maybe something fell into the heater, but he couldn't smell it. I said I would open the windows and run it for a while, and all Larry could do is agree. I churned the chocolate ice cream before going to get my haircut. When I picked Laurie up from UCLA, I was driving around the area to avoid parking, and she got mad at me because I complained about it, or something. I apologized and things were better by the time we got home.

05/17/2017  Wednesday; Facebook Live, Live in Los Angeles. I was wearing a gray and white striped button down shirt and pants. In this episode, I started off having big problems with Facebook, and because of that, I cussed a few times. OK, well, maybe more than just a few times, but it was frustrating and I was trying to get past it, which I did, eventually. The rest of the video is good, but during the recording I got too hot, so I started loosening things up a little, which led me to have to take my shirt off during the song "Virtual Reality". Sorry about that. I performed the songs "Lucky Boy", "DMS", "Forgotten In Time", "Virtual Reality", "Tomorrow Through Yesterday", "Unravel Me", and "Changing Times". A burning smell, like a candle burning, started coming from the heater this morning. Laurie will notify the slumlords about it. Churned the vanilla coconut ice cream and made a batch of Ghirardelli chocolate ice cream. Fun in the sun workout with peekers! While I was getting ready for bed, a candle soot smell started up in the house again.

05/16/2017  Sent an e-mail to Ellie about Bob. Sent an e-mail to Roger about a bill he sent me. Laurie checkbook incident. Switched to 1/2 med intake. Made vanilla coconut ice cream batter.

05/15/2017  The owner of our house, Jessica Canyon, is married to Robert Eugene Guiney of The Bachelor TV show. Their house is a big pile of crap and it should be condemned. [They forced us to leave the house, under threat of eviction, to try to show some entity in Los Angeles that they were actually living there so they could capitalize on special rates that only apply to homeowners who actually live in their houses, not rent them out, 11/11/18 TAH]. The energy costs of this "house" were very high. It's more like a sieve it leaked so bad, with a roof that has a hole in it, and a fireplace with no flue to block the chimney. I'm not kidding, no flue. The air conditioning unit is severely undersized, and can only maintain, at best, about 25-30° F difference between the inside and outside air temperature. If you have the thermostat at 75° F, by the time the outside air temperature reaches about 100° F, the A/C is on continuously, and can never catch up, and the inside temperature then just keeps going up, while your money runs down the drain. If the air temperature reaches 130° F outside, it will be 100° F inside, that's with the A/C on!!! We had chocolates melting in the kitchen, and we couldn't cool ourselves down except to stay in the pool, or go to the store. Piece of shit, I say. Me and the kids played in the sun today and we had an audience! Played through "Counting Stars" a few times.

05/12/2017  Drove Laurie to work for her MRI today. As we were driving up the hill, southbound on Coldwater Canyon Drive, I saw Jay Leno driving the opposite way in what appeared to be a black Shelby Cobra, with his big head sticking out. On the way home, me and Lucky stopped by the TreePeople Park again. The kids and I worked out in the sun and went for a swim. I have the note "Paige & Jack" in the sidebar of my handwritten logs, but I can't remember why, or who they are. I think it was the folks renting the house next to Fred's who stopped by about possible noise from their wedding party, I'm sure that's it. Laurie got a callback about her MRI.

05/11/2017  Me and Lucky stopped by the TreePeople Park this morning and I took some pictures with my phone. Normally I don't carry my phone on a hike since it's so heavy, but I have to lug it with me if I want to take photos. Checked out the song "Ophelia" by The Lumineers. It's good, but not as good as "Counting Stars" by One Republic. I must have seen Roger today, but I didn't document it anywhere. Had dinner at Goldie's on 3rd Street in Beverly Hills.

05/10/2017  Wednesday; let's do it, Facebook Live in Los Angeles. I went with a white pullover tee shirt and jeans. No playlist yet, but I have a note that I "did OK, had to stop "First" by Cold War Kids acoustic version due to screwing it up so much". Walked with Lucky up to the Petco to get some treats for Tully. Made some more chocolate ice cream using morsels.

05/09/2017  The Rump fired Comey today.

05/08/2017   Me and Lucky walked up to Ventura Boulevard this morning to deliver a letter that was incorrectly dropped at my house. Entered some background images for a Facebook atheist contest. Ate all the chocolate ice cream.

05/06/2017  It's a rainy, overcast day today. Fred Fox's house is covered in plastic (I later found out they have leaks. The house is worth $2.5 million and it's not that old). I have the following note, "The Playlist deadline is June 2, 2017, they suggest uploading two songs". It's for a new TV show called "The Playlist" on NBC.

05/05/2017  Cinco de Mayo! Checked the skylight and found it was only held in place with two screws, apparently just so it doesn't blow away with a big gust of wind. It has a label on it that says "Energy Saver", but that only applies if someone other than an idiot installs it (1 hour). Didn't play guitar today for some reason.

05/04/2017  Visited the TreePeople Park again this morning with Lucky. I washed the Volt today, but first I had to move my truck out of the way. To do that, I had to clean the tree debris from the hood and doors and wash the windows enough to see out. It was pretty bad, but eventually I got it done. I drove around the block a little to exercise the truck. The passenger door of the Volt is squeaking when you open it, and it looked like there was a buildup of paint protector, or polish, on one point that was making contact when the door moved. I cleaned it up and it stopped squeaking. Saw Roger again. Had dinner at a Moroccan place in Beverly Hills, on Robertson north of Wilshire, called Tagine. I love Moroccan food. This place is co-owned by Ryan Gosling.

05/03/2017  Wednesday; once again we get together for Facebook Live. It's been a little cooler so I went with a black button down shirt and jeans. I performed the following songs, "I Never Cry", "Puff the Magic Dragon", "Asleep at the Wheel", "Forgotten In Time", "Childhood's End", "Tomorrow Through Yesterday", and "Changing Times". The yard guys were clearing pine needles off the roof with leaf blowers, and because the skylight is not sealed, they blew needles and crap all over the living room floor (1 hour to clean up). I'll have to go up there and see what the fuck is going on, and what I'll have to do to fix it. Even if we complain to the landlord they would just tell us "that's the way it is", and they wouldn't do anything about it. Texted Roger about tomorrow (check for context).

05/02/2017  Laurie suggested the song "Counting Stars" by One Republic for my upcoming Voice audition. I checked out their YouTube video and it has 1.77 billion views (as of 11/10/2018 it was 2.511 billion). She's going to see a specialist today about her numb lip. Debated the chlorine level in the pool with the pool guys, not the brightest bulbs. Made blueberry ice cream batter where I mixed a small portion of blueberry compote directly into vanilla ice cream, and then hand swirled the compote into the final mix. It's really good. Posted on Facebook about the St. Louis Catholic Archdiocese dropping their support of Girl Scouts because they stopped discriminating against gays. A lady who claims she's with the census bureau came by asking about Sue's house across the street and whether anyone was living there. She had beautiful black curly hair (writing this I wonder if it was a wig), and eventually asked for my name and phone number. I was a little leery, but I thought maybe...Beef with red enchilada sauce and rotisserie roasted corn-on-the-cob for dinner tonight.

05/01/2017  Played an acoustic set today, "Under the Boardwalk", "Lucky Boy", "The Tully Song", "The Stranger", and "Puff the Magic Dragon". Laurie saw the big gray cat at the water bucket this morning, I put out some food to see what happens.

04/29/2017  Made a batch of chocolate ice cream today which I'll churn tomorrow.

04/27/2017  Had an appointment with Roger today and he wasn't there. I waited for a while and then left. Something got messed up with an email, or text, or yadda, yadda, yadda. Met Laurie in West Hollywood for dinner at the Granville on Beverly Blvd. and I had the beef stroganoff.

04/26/2017  Wednesday; time for my Facebook Live set again, this time with a white striped pullover shirt and shorts. I played "Lucky Boy", "Under the Boardwalk" (this one sounded bad), "DMS", "Forgotten In Time", "Virtual Reality", "Tomorrow Through Yesterday", and "Changing Times". Me and the kids played in the sun today and someone was watching, with binoculars!

04/25/2017  Discovered that my Voice audition has been changed to Sunday, May 21 at 7 AM. My neighbor Sandy is cutting down a large tree in her front yard that keeps dropping leaves all over her car and could damage her garage or the road. I sent her a friend request on Facebook (which she later accepted 11/8/18 TAH). Looked up my form of ADHD and it's "Hyperactive-Impulsive ADHD". Did some research on AD also and amyloid β PET imaging. During this research, I submitted something on myself. I can't remember what it was and my notes aren't detailed enough, but I looked up what day my birthday was (Thursday) and I submitted "Application #5750, Tim Herman". Hmmm, I'll have to look into that. Sent Roger a write-up about the house, Laurie's hip, and moving out of the Contour house.

04/24/2017  Tully the Cat came and laid with me during my workout. She's just in the way, but I accommodate her. She gets tired of it after a while and saunters off. It looks like we had company again.

04/23/2017  Churned the Philly Vanilly. It only reached 90° F today, which is still warm, but not "that" warm.

04/22/2017  Made Philly style vanilla ice cream today, it has to set overnight. It got up to 102° F today, that's warm for April.

04/20/2017  Drove over the hill this morning so I could see Roger this afternoon. Went to the TreePeople Park with Lucky. Met Rosa at the Visitors Center who told me that on the 2nd Saturday of the month there's a park dog walk. Storage Wars Texas went to the Twisted Root Burger Co. in Deep Ellum, Dallas, TX. Me and Laurie went there and had the deep fried pickles which is one of their specialties.

04/19/2017  Wednesday; performed again for Facebook Live. Wearing a gray pullover shirt and shorts, I started off with the song "First" by Cold War Kids. Walked with Lucky up to Petco to get some treats.

04/17/2017  Me and the kids played in the sun today and someone was watching! Modified workout for full viewing.

04/15/2017  Signed up for The Voice audition for 7 AM on 5/20/2017 in the South Hall of the LA Convention Center again. Tax day, finished my taxes with another big goose egg. Had dinner at Manuelito's Mexican Restaurant in Canoga Park.

04/14/2017  Went to the TreePeople Park today with Lucky. We took a trail we hadn't taken before that was out of the way. and it  went out on a spit of land that had canyons on each side. It was very quiet, and we were probably the first people to be on that trail today, and I was enjoying the view when I heard it. A rattlesnake, loud and unmistakable. I looked and saw the snake coiled about two feet off the trail, black with red beady eyes, it must have been 5-6 feet long and two inches in diameter. I quickly snatched up Lucky who was walking behind me and I kept my eye on him while we slowly moved away a little. It was a beautiful creature. He watched us too, and a few minutes later he uncoiled and moved off into the scrub. I had another ADHD appointment today with a guy named Richard. He wants to send me to someone else who will perform Rorschach tests for a half a day. I told him I'd get back in touch with him if I decide to do the tests. I never did them.

04/13/2017  Liked Tony Carey's Facebook page. Laurie lips numb, checked BP and laid down on the couch at 10 PM.

04/12/2017  Wednesday; performed on Facebook Live tonight wearing my black motorcycle tee shirt and jeans. One song I played was "The Stranger" by Planet P (Tony Cary). Me and the kids played in the sun today and someone was watching!

04/11/2017  Had a normal movement this morning with just a hint of Devilo. :)

04/10/2017  Major gastric distress, evacuated most, and eventually all, of the Devilo. Now I'm waiting for the ice cream.

04/09/2017  Gastric system locked down, evacuated some after falling asleep on the couch.

04/08/2017  Had brunch at Jinky's Cafe in Studio City and I had an omelet with Devilo hot chili, 10+ on their scale of 1-10. It was so hot I could only eat half of it. I only had popcorn for dinner because my stomach was headed for trouble.

04/06/2017  Today I had two appointments, one for an ADHD specialist named David, and Roger. The specialist referred me to someone else. I ran into a hummingbird when I left the house today. I had to go somewhere and I literally ran out the front door to go up the steps and the bird was flying by. I think it bumped into me mid-flight. Had dinner at Toca Madera in West Hollywood. Don Rickles died today.

04/05/2017  Wednesday; and it's Facebook Live again tonight. Wore my Ensenada tank top and shorts while I went on a rant about video games. Sang "Roy Rogers" by Elton John, at least, but I have to review the video for the full setlist.

04/04/2017  Today is the day I'm going to refer to as "The Brandy Incident". Bob got up today and one of the first things he did was to get the brandy out of the liquor cabinet. He then raised it up, and nodded to me as if he was asking for my approval, I guess to drink our brandy, even though it was his, but he had no clue. It was 9:35 AM and he said he needs it because it's "therapeutic" to him, for his throat, I think he said. I called him on it and said he was just a drunk, and that when he accepted that fact, we would all be much happier. Needless to say, the drunk got angry and took his football and went home, supposedly to never return. Poor Ellie, I feel sorry for you. I love you Ellie, you know that.

04/03/2017  Bob and Ellie are over for a few days, Monday through Wednesday. Went to La Paella in Beverly Hills for dinner.

04/01/2017  Went to dinner at Larsen’s Steakhouse in Encino, I had filet mignon.

03/31/2017  It was windy again today. I watched the Channel 4 news a little when they covered the wind, but me and Lucky didn't make it. The pool was a mess, I cleaned it up. Larry the Heater Guy is supposed to stop by today. He must have stopped by when I was swimming. Apparently he has to get some more parts and won't be back until Monday, today is Friday. Me and the kids played in the sun today and someone was watching!

03/30/2017  Drove Laurie to work for my appointment with Roger later this afternoon. Went to the Pan Pacific Park with Lucky. Later on, me and Lucky walked by this tree that had fallen recently in the high winds and a Channel 4 news crew was there covering the downed tree. We walked by slowly and checked them out, but they didn't stop us and ask us for an interview. I thought Lucky would be enough to garner a response, look how cute he is. No Larry the Heater Guy today.

03/29/2017  Wednesday; another episode of Facebook Live. You might have seen me in a green pullover shirt and shorts. I don't have the complete setlist for today, but I made a note that I didn't warm up enough and I had yuck in my throat. Me and the kids (Tully & Lucky) played in the sun today, but it was windy. No Larry the Heater Guy today.

03/28/2017  Larry the Heater Guy came and replaced some stuff, but couldn't test it because of the power outage. He said it should work when the power is restored. Played through an acoustic set of cover songs in the living room with the windows open. The power came back on after the heater guy left, and the heater still doesn't work.

03/27/2017  Played through a set. There was a power outage today that went through the night. I went and pulled the battery out of my truck to power Laurie's CPAP through an inverter. It worked good.

03/26/2017  Made tomato ice cream with mozzarella and toasted pine nuts, no kidding. It was really good, but it was almost savory instead of sweet. Cactus Taqueria for lunch and leftovers for dinner.

03/25/2017  A guy, Larry, came to look at the heater for a second opinion, he can't get the parts until next week.

03/24/2017  The heater in our rental house has failed, what a piece of shit. Someone came to fix it, but the landlord wants a second opinion so it won't be fixed today. The Obamacare repeal vote failed!!! So Dumb-old Chump said this morning that if it didn't pass, he was going to move on, and the fight was over. He also threatened GOP lawmakers that they would lose future Senate and House seats if they didn't pass it. Let's see what lies he tells now. Used the new juicer to juice a shitload of lemons. Made Thai green curry sirloin with mushrooms and carrots over macaroni for dinner tonight.

03/23/2017  Drove Laurie to work again today since I have an appointment with Roger this afternoon in Encino. Stopped at the TreePeople Park and it was cold and windy. A worker there told me to put Lucky on a leash. Had dinner at The Ponte in West LA.

03/22/2017  Wednesday; that means Facebook Live. I wore a gray button down shirt and jeans. Two of the songs I played are "Forgotten In Time" and "Unravel Me", I need to review the video for the rest. Our neighbor Sue is moving and the moving trucks are in the street. Made a batch of ice cream, that's all I recorded. Posted to Facebook about knocking on wood to alert the spirits inside. Me and the kids played in the sun today, and we had guest's.

03/21/2017  Drove Laurie to work since I have a doctors appointment today. I honked at some people near the hospital and Laurie got mad at me. After I picked her up and took her to see Roger, me and Lucky walked around the block in the spitting rain to a little park called Arnaz Mini Park.

03/20/2017  The new juicer arrived today, unpacked and read instructions. I got mad at Laurie, a little, during dinner prep.

03/18/2017  Made a new batch of vanilla ice cream today. Had dinner at Tequilas Cantina & Grill in Burbank.

03/17/2017  Friday; performed Facebook Live today to make up for Wednesday. I was sporting a black pullover tee shirt and shorts, and my beautiful Air Jordan XXXI's with Air-Sole brand insoles. No set list as of yet.

03/16/2017  Back at the TreePeople Park with Lucky this morning. Today we walked into Coldwater Canyon Park where it adjoins the TreePeople Park. We walked up the hill to the very top, up a steep and perilous trail, with Lucky climbing by himself because I could barely carry him. It was a beautiful and stunning panorama to look out across the San Fernando Valley, and down to people on trails below us. On the way down, the trail was so steep Lucky couldn't make it by himself, so I had to carry him. I went slow and we made it just fine. Roger.

03/15/2017  Wednesday; and it's Facebook Live again. I wore a white and gray button down shirt and shorts, half-ass casual. The connection to Facebook was terrible, and the audio skips so badly I had to block this video from view.

03/14/2017  Played a few songs today to check out the new amp. I got the drum sequencer from the garage and tried to hook it up to use the samples inside, but it doesn't work that way. The drum triggers are the only input I could determine would activate the samples, which means you have to play in the drum parts.

03/12/2017  Made some butter pecan ice cream and churned it. Zach texted me about a new business venture he had with a weed delivery service.

03/10/2017  Used the speaker wire to made up the new speakON connectors, then installed them. My voice was very sore today so I didn't sing or play. Made a batch of vanilla ice cream and churned it. Also made a batch of peach ice cream from some jarred peaches in the pantry. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to churn it because the freezer bowl needs to be refrozen. Just after I got done with the peach ice cream, the power went out for about ten minutes.

03/09/2017  Went to the TreePeople Park with Lucky this morning. Got a 100 ft. spool of 14 gauge speaker wire from Ace Hardware.

03/08/2017  Wednesday; Facebook Live today. I thought I would dress up a little tonight so I wore a blue, long sleeve, button down shirt and my good slacks. This is the primary way I've dressed for my auditions, with my sharp jacket of course, although I usually perform in just a tee shirt and shorts, or jeans, so I don't overheat.

03/07/2017  Found the electrostatic precipitator was off, and probably had been for a couple of weeks. Cleaned it and put it back in service. If the power goes out, the precipitator doesn't restart, you have to remember to turn it back on. I don't like that design, but there may be safety reasons for it. This could be part of why I've been stuffed up and have a sore throat. The Santa Ana winds started today also. Investigated how to modulate the fans in the new Gemini amplifier. Voted today by dropping our ballots off at our polling place on Dixie Canyon. Had a late dinner at Jerry's, a Monte Cristo sandwich. Needed Tums later on.

03/06/2017  The new amplifier arrived today and I hooked it up. The fans are loud and run at 100% even though it's not required. I'll have to see if I can modify the fan circuit so that they're not so loud. It may not be bad in a venue, but the studio is quiet and the noise is obnoxious.

03/04/2017  Went to see the movie "Get Out", and it was good. Received my speakON connectors from Amazon.

03/03/2017  Friday; performed Facebook Live today because I was busy on Wednesday. My notes say I played "The Decay", "Key to The Past" (in the key of A Mixolydian), "Forgotten In Time", "DMS", "The Universal Anthem", "Unravel Me" and "Changing Times", and I wore my blue and white striped button down shirt.

03/02/2017  Drove Laurie to downtown Los Angeles for a work function. Me and Lucky walked to Pershing Square Park and Maguire Gardens.

03/01/2017  Took Laurie to Burbank Airport for a one day conference in Sacramento today. Finished catching up on this blog. Selected the Gemini XGA-3000 amplifier as a replacement.

02/28/2017  Researched amplifiers since the one I have has many problems. I have a hand-me-down integrated amp that can take a record player input, and such, but I could get by with a dedicated, single input rack mounted amp. Looked at Gemini XGA-3000, GTD Audio 3000W Pro, and the Behringer NU1000 iNuke power amps. The Behringer only accepts speakON output connectors while the other two have speakON's, but they also have banana plug post terminals.

02/27/2017  My neighbor Kristen Kline told me that her dad, Rich Kline, had finally passed on from his long battle with dementia. I'm always happy when someone who was suffering is finally freed, and she had the same sentiments. I churned the vanilla ice cream from yesterday. Finally unplugged the sink with the plunger.

02/26/2017  Made vanilla ice cream base and let it chill overnight. The kitchen sink got plugged up.

02/25/2017  Helped My neighbor Jim Rader trim his bushes by holding his ladder for him so he could reach the top. Researching slow computer and I found that Windows Update was on. I had previously identified excess CPU usage to Update, and I had turned it off. But after I was recently checking for updates, I forgot to turn it back off. Made Banana Pudding ice cream. Didn't use enough liquid when churning and it became too stiff, too early, and had to be manipulated by hand. That didn't sound right.

02/22/2017  Wednesday; performed on Facebook Live today. I wore my blue striped tee shirt, and Ellie commented that they had watched me at home just as if I was playing there like I used to. I love you Ellie!

02/24/2017  Delivered a letter to Joel Franklin about my Holiday Party performance and my contact info. Had issues with the computer in that it was slow and unresponsive. Rebooted but couldn't find anything, although there were unusual reports.

02/21/2017  Researched different facial hair styles. A Soul Patch lies just under the lip, and a Chin Strip, or Goat Patch, extends to the bottom of the chin. I call my "arrangement" a Soul Pointer. It extends from under the lip to above the Adam's Apple, like a long isosceles triangle. Unlike a Soul Patch, a Soul Pointer actually has a purpose in that if you follow it, it will lead you to my soul. Actually, it's more like it will lead you to the Landing Strip where you can view my soul. All aboard!

02/20/2017  Still raining...played through set. No power to the front yard receptacle for charging the Volt (1 hour, and it was never fixed).

02/19/2017  Went to a new restaurant called Donny's today, it took two hours overall and we stood outside for a long time. (As of June, 2018, Donny's was closed). Marlon installed plastic sheeting in front of the house to prevent flooding downstairs.

02/16/2017  Trying to catch up on my blog.

02/15/2017  Wednesday; performed on Facebook Live today, and described the element Thermium in the video description. Sported my black tee shirt with the Voyager graphics on it. Verified my Clear Voice order against my bank statement. Looks like I got a bargain thanks to Kelsey.

02/14/2017  Harrison Ford flew his airplane over a commercial jet waiting on the runway to land at John Wayne Airport in Orange County. What an idiot.

02/12/2017  Bob & Ellie are over for the weekend. Had dinner at Anejo Cantina & Grill in Sherman Oaks.

02/08/2017  Wednesday; made an announcement for Facebook Live tonight where I will perform my Voice audition song "Heaven Can Wait". Wore my jacket and slacks just like at the audition. Me and the kids played in the sun today, and we had a guest. Checked website blog to see how far behind I was in updating it.

02/07/2017  Caught up on my logs. Retrieved the last files from the damaged HDD. Formatted and tried to fix bad sectors to no avail. Disconnected it for good. The sewage drain has clogged and crap is backed up in the shower.

02/04/2017  Auditioned for The Voice TV show in Las Vegas today. I sang the song "Heaven Can Wait" from Meat Loaf from the album "Bat Out Of Hell" (1977). The song is timeless, I used to perform it regularly, and it has a good range of emotion and tone. I was called up first in my group and I killed it, but no one in the group was selected. While we waited to go in to the audition room, the producers went by with someone who did make it to the next round, and we all applauded for him. I think I could identify him if he makes it to the show. Good luck brother! I also listened to a band later that night at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, Silversage, who was very good and they gave me their card. They have a presence on Facebook and a new EP, check them out! Had dinner at Guy Fieri's El Burro Borracho (the Drunken Donkey) at the Rio. Noted that the word for "drunkard" in Spanish is "borracho", which is not that far from Boracci, thanks Bob.

02/03/2017  Headed to Las Vegas for The Voice TV show audition. Had dinner at Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill at Caesars Palace.

02/02/2017  Had my appointment with Roger Schwarz in Encino today for the first time, it used to be in Beverly Hills.

02/01/2017  Wednesday; tonight is Facebook Live night, wore my galaxy tank top and shorts. Played the songs "Lucky Boy", "Orphan Of The Storm", "Forgotten In Time", "DMS", "Asleep at the Wheel" and "Changing Times". Me and the kids played in the sun today, and we had a guest.

01/31/2017  Got my hair cut for my Voice audition on Saturday. Saw "Roger, not good."

01/30/2017  Monday; me and the kids played in the sun today, and we had a guest.

01/27/2017  Friday; performed on Facebook Live again. I changed the camera angle, lighting, and wore a nice white striped tee shirt.

01/26/2017  I texted Alex & Marc, and Alex ended up calling. We talked for 41 minutes and 28 seconds.

01/25/2017  Wednesday; performed Facebook Live for the first time. I was wearing my work clothes, how embarrassing, and played the following songs, "Lucky Boy", "Virtual Reality", "Tomorrow Through Yesterday", "Childhood's End", and "Changing Times". Thank you everyone for the feedback! Me and the kids played in the sun today, and we had a guest.

01/24/2017  Went to Coldwater Canyon Park again today.

01/21/2017  Saturday; the sun came out today in between showers.

01/20/2017  It rained all day today. Went to court in San Diego over an old disease that won't go away.

01/18/2017  Got my flu shot today.

01/17/2017  Went to Coldwater Canyon Park today with Lucky. It was very cold, 39° F, and it warmed up to 44° F.

01/14/2017  Mailed court documents I had been working on for weeks now.

01/13/2017  Had to adjust the kick plate on the front door because it wasn't closing properly (2 hours). The house has been moving from all the water in the ground with the recent rain.

01/11/2017  Registered to audition for The Voice on February 4th at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

01/08/2017  Sunday; me and the kids played in the sun today with Laurie.

01/04/2017  Check out Ultimate Guitar Tabs for some great music!

01/02/2017  Rose Bowl Monday, USC wins in highest scoring Rose Bowl ever. Made a batch of orange ice cream, nice.

******************************************      2017      ******************************************

12/31/2016  Made the first batch of ice cream, vanilla with blueberries, Philadelphia style. It came out alright, but there were problems adding the frozen blueberries at the end of churning, and they had to be stirred in by hand.

12/30/2016  Played a set in the living room like old times. Sandy called and thanked me for the fruit. She mentioned that her husband, Rich has dementia. I was sorry to hear that.

12/29/2016  Harvested fruit from the trees, took some over to Sandy Kline next door. Her husband is Richard "Rick" Kline, sound engineer who was nominated for 11 Academy Awards for music mixing in the movie industry.

12/28/2016  Wednesday; me and the kids played in the sun today, and we had a guest.

12/27/2016  Bob & Ellie leave for home.

12/26/2016  Bob falls after getting too drunk to stand, we later found out that he cracked a bone in his arm.

12/25/2016  Bob & Ellie are over for the Holidays. Got Laurie an ice cream maker attachment for her mixer as a gift.

12/23/2016  Researched musicians Sheldon (Shelly) Manne, drummer, and Chuck Domanico, bassist, both of whom worked with Ted Greene in and around LA making music for the movie industry.

12/20/2016  Went to Coldwater Canyon Park today with Lucky. Ordered Ted Greene and Joe Byrd CD's, one as a gift for Joel Franklin for turning me on to Ted.

12/19/2016  Recorded the Ted Greene CD that I borrowed from Joel Franklin.

12/18/2016  Caulked the ants in the upstairs shower. Won $4 in the Powerball drawing!

12/17/2016  Cleaned, oiled and restrung my Ovation guitar in preparation for the upcoming Holiday Party tonight. At the party I met Joel Franklin, he's a music copyist and does music preparation for Hollywood movies. I performed two songs, "Orphan Of The Storm" by Mudcrutch, and "Changing Times", my own original song in his studio. I also met a guy named Jeff and his wife and we jammed together for a while. Joel let me borrow a bootleg CD from Ted Greene that he had, and I played a guitar that was previously owned by Ted Greene.

12/15/2016  Had a computer issue with Windows Update service where it was using 50% CPU cycles. Turned it off.

12/13/2016  Went to West Hollywood Park today with Lucky, and to the Laurel Canyon Dog Park on Mulholland Drive.

12/12/2016  Adrienne called about a Holiday Party on Saturday with friends of hers associated with music and asked if I wanted to go. Of course, thank you Adrienne.

11/24/2016  Thursday; Thanksgiving Day!

10/25/2016  Bob & Ellie leave with the B.Wreck, and I get TPK from Collin.

10/24/2016  Went to West Hollywood Park today with Lucky. Bob & Ellie came over for a visit.

10/23/2016  Went to Lulu's Cafe for brunch with Lucky. Took Sandy & Nancy back to the airport. Laurie hurt her back.

10/22/2016  Took a tour of the stars homes with Sandy & Nancy. Had dinner at The Lobster in Santa Monica.

10/21/2016  Picked up Sandy & Nancy at LAX and went to the BonaVista Lounge downtown.

10/20/2016  The temperature reached 100° F today.

10/19/2016  Called and talked to mom.

10/18/2016  Carrie texted about mom.

10/15/2016  Called and talked to mom. Made a dry run at the BonaVista Lounge in the Westin Bonaventure hotel downtown in preparation for an upcoming visit from friends in Oregon.

10/14/2016  Dale texted information about my mom's medical condition.

10/08/2016  Texted Alex & Marc about coming over for Thanksgiving.

10/04/2016  There was a water main break on Benedict Canyon Drive tonight, traffic will be affected tomorrow.

09/26/2016  Attended an informal get-together with the doctors of Cedar-Sinai.

09/21/2016  Met Adrienne La Russa who played Brooke Hamilton on "Days Of Our Lives".

09/20/2016  Went to Pan Pacific Park again today.

09/19/2016  Alex & Marc's Birthday!

09/16/2016  Adrienne and her dogs went by while Lucky was outside. I won't meet her for a few days, but I already looked her up online.

09/11/2016  15th anniversary of 9-11.

09/10/2016  Researched multiple stopping; double stop, triple, quadruple. The notes are played simultaneously.

09/08/2016  Started having serious problems with the new hard drive, surface scan reports bad sectors. Tried many different means to analyze and/or repair the disk, but it seems to be failing more each time I look. The NTFS file system is corrupted and the disk is inaccessible. Had to disconnect the drive from the system.

09/06/2016  Went to Pan Pacific Park today and I saw a squirrel in a tree looking at me. I was calling to it, and went up to it, and it sniffed my hand as if I had a handout, but it wasn't afraid of me at all. I also heard a crow making a weird staccato chirp that I hadn't heard before. I thought it was another type of bird due to the unusual nature of the chirp, but since then I've heard other crows doing it, and now I can replicate it. On the way home, I saw a guy at the stop light at Ventura Boulevard and Vineland who was on his phone. I honked my horn continuously until he hung up and put the phone down. There's nothing illegal about honking your car horn.

09/04/2016  Bob and Ellie come by for a visit.

09/02/2016  Ants in the pantry in Lucky's food bin.

08/31/2016  Tripped a circuit breaker today while using the air fryer, the rotisserie, and then plugging in the Volt. Someone wired the outside receptacle to the kitchen appliances, good job. Not only that, but the receptacle in the living room supplying power to the entertainment center is on the same circuit. Holy crap, what a piece of shit.

08/30/2016  Research body shops for Volt repairs.

08/29/2016  Filled out a survey for Mars One today.

08/28/2016  Attended the Sawdust Art Festival in Newport Beach today. It was interesting and I saw a cool band play.

08/27/2016  Went to the Oyster House Saloon in Studio City for dinner tonight, but more importantly to see what kind of music they have there. When we arrived we could hear a live band playing, but when we opened the door, the band was blocking the way. The guitarist turned and looked at us and moved to the side so we could enter. It was nice and cozy and I'm looking forward to coming back. The slippery brake pedal and tree incident.

08/26/2016  Played an acoustic set in the living room today.

08/24/2016  Called mom and she's going home on Friday, 8/26. Saw a bumper sticker for a radio station in LA, KXLU 88.9 FM, Westchester campus of Loyola Marymount University. I had found this station before when they had some speed metal playing, but I couldn't find it again. I ended up finding KCSN 88.5 FM, Cal State Northridge, which is really good also. They tend to play cuts that didn't necessarily make it on the radio, even though we heard them when we used to listen to records. My ATM card was hacked and there were some fraudulent charges. Applied for new card and bank sent papers to fill out for bad charges.

08/18/2016  Spoke to Dale and mom is doing great, she'll probably be going home soon.

08/17/2016  Called mom and she is feeling much better. She said her brain hadn't been talking to the left side of her body, but it was working now.

08/16/2016  Called mom again today, and she's already feeling better.

08/15/2016  Called my mom at her hospital room as she has been admitted due to complications. Talked to Dale too.

08/11/2016  The 2016 Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight and tomorrow. I didn't see any either night.

08/09/2016  Created an Avast Rescue Disk on a spare 500 MB USB Flash Drive (UFD).

08/08/2016  Looked into the IP address issue from yesterday. Apparently the Avast anti-virus program was trying to get updates, but couldn't because of a program error which prevented it from finishing. The problem could easily be related to the many crashes I had with BOINC last week. Tried updating Avast and the the computer crashed. Ran ChkDsk and it made corrections. Finally I was able to update Avast. Things seem to have settled down now.

08/07/2016  Something else crashed the computer again today. System Event viewer showed some unusual activity with the wireless network adapter, and a warning was issued that the computer had automatically reconfigured the IP address for the NIC. This doesn't look good. Played through set.

08/03/2016  Reinstalling BOINC cured a recent crashing spree when coming out of the screensaver (see 7/27/16 also).

08/02/2016  Pan Pacific Park today.

08/01/2016  Monday; me and the kids played in the sun today. Posted "Dumb-old Chump" on CNN online.

07/30/2016  Saw the new "Ghostbusters" movie at Universal City this weekend. I also met Collin Davis, who I had met, we reckoned, in passing at Adam Smith's house previously down in San Diego.

07/28/2016  A police helicopter was flying circles around the house. Noticed police offices scouring the area behind Fred Fox's house. They had started on the street above Fred and worked their way down. Now they're gone.

07/27/2016  Computer crash after waking from the screensaver, deleted and reinstalled BOINC (see 8/3/16 also).

07/23/2016  Sand fire in Santa Clarita. Green algae pool. Tully is doing better, but it looks like she had a Phenobarbital overdose that caused her to act drunk and lethargic. I couldn't give her any more because she needs to dry out (I never did start her back on the Phenobarbital from this point on. I found that she had the same number of seizures whether she was taking it or not. Eventually the seizures would stop altogether for reasons we don't know).

07/21/2016  Had to take Tully back to the vet's because she couldn't stand. I'm stopping all of her meds until such a time as she is coherent. The vet gave her a replacement for the Phenobarbital, but it's every 8 hours, and what's the point?

07/19/2016  Tully went to the vet's today since she can't walk. She had to have overnight observation to try to assess her condition.

07/18/2016  Tully the cat has been acting weird since going to the hotel while we were in NC. She can't even seem to walk, she's literally dragging her ass, and it's been a week since she came home. I think the cat hotel overdosed her on her seizure meds. She's supposed to have one dose every 12 hours, so to overdose at that concentration would require much larger doses (3-4 times larger!), or be more frequently administered (every 3-4 hours!). The staff should have been able to tell that she couldn't move, and question what was going on. Some of the employees didn't seem too knowledgeable about their own facility when we checked in and out. That leads me to believe they're not qualified to administer medications to a living creature that could die from improper handling. Laurie didn't want to make a big deal out of it with them, we just wouldn't go back there again. I didn't like that so much, I might just go online and write a comment somewhere.

07/14/2016  The Volt charged to 43 miles. The range has been increased, but it appears to be slowly decreasing.

07/12/2016  Pan Pacific Park again today. The pigeons scared Lucky while he was taking a crap and he started to run in the shitting position. Poor boy, but it was funny.

07/11/2016  Went to Pan Pacific Park with Lucky. Picked up Tully from The Best Little Cat House in Burbank and noticed that she was lethargic and not her normal self. It looks likes she's drunk or high on drugs, and she does take Phenobarbital for seizures. Started experimenting with the Chevy Volt by holding the charge uphill, and accumulating charge going downhill, to try to expand the electric range. I got it up to 55 miles, while it's rated for around 35.

07/10/2016  Sunday; returned to Los Angeles. It was nice to visit with my family, but mom isn't doing well. We stayed at the house mostly, except for running into town every now and then. It poured down rain the first night when we arrived, and we had to pull off the road when the water level went over the street curbs.

07/06/2016  Wednesday; travelled to Asheville/Leicester North Carolina to see my mother who is in failing health due to a brain tumor she had removed a few years ago.

07/01/2016  Disconnected the bad HDD.

06/30/2016  I'm using  Hiren's Boot CD which has many tools to repair computers, including a mini version of Windows XP, for troubleshooting, and Parted Magic, a Linux based rescue environment.

06/29/2016  The HDD copy ran all night and all day and finished around 6 PM!!! That's like 30 hrs, WTF? The disk loaded and then crashed. Rebooted, seems fine now. Installed some software and defragged. Got BSOD after rebooting. The volume has many errors, and it's the start of bad sector problems I had with the 320 GB disk.

06/28/2016  Took Lucky for a walk in Pan Pacific Park today. Started a HDD copy today around noon or 1 PM.

06/24/2016  Friday; Marc went home for the weekend. He was supposed to work tomorrow, but because he was coming home early and not putting in overtime for the job he had (at Cal State University Channel Islands in Camarillo, I think), they told him not to bother anymore, and sent him back to the union hall in San Diego. He arrived here only two weeks ago, today. It's too bad, since all he did was play computer games in his off-time. Trash fire.

06/23/2016  Computer sync; Norton Ghost (tried to copy volumes but there were errors. This software is old, I started using Macrium Reflect instead on 6/14/2016), VST Sound Collection, Cubase AI8 VSTs, HALion (I guess I deleted this because it requires a license now), Hiren's Boot CD (CD isn't being detected, transferred to memory stick but I still have to make the stick bootable), Reaper and VST Classics. Had Marc sweep the dirty floor where he leaves his work boots.

06/22/2016  Marc came home early from work today. I thought he wasn't feeling good, but he just didn't want to work. While I was walking Lucky this morning down on Galewood, I saw a lady in nice shorts watering her plants. Started sunbathing schedule today. There was a congressional sit-in for a vote on gun control, but the fucking Republican'ts don't want to infringe on the rights of anyone, even terrorists, to get a gun. That's exactly how they defended their actions.

06/21/2016  Had problems authenticating Cubase AI4. I finally got it to work by logging into my Cubase account and reactivating the oldest install. I saw a voucher on Steinberg.net for a Cubase AI8 upgrade for $9.99. I download the 2.6 GB file and only then found out that it won't install on Win XP, only on Windows 7 and above. I'll load it on the Win 7 machine when I get around to it. The Stinking Rose for dinner tonight after seeing Roger.

06/20/2016  Lucky got stepped on this morning but he looks OK. I tried to rub his leg but he said, "No!". It reached a new record high temperature for me today, 122° F, which is also exactly 50° C. Posted pictures to Facebook.

06/19/2016  It was a hot day today, it reached 114° F. Continued with software installation, had problems installing Power Toys.

06/18/2016  It got to 104° F today, a heat wave is coming. Played for the first time since I got sick around the 10th or 11th of this month...hmmm, that's exactly when Marc showed up. He did this to me last Thanksgiving too, even after I asked him if he was sick, which he was, and he said, "No", and then he was hugging me. Yuuuck!!! Continued refreshing software.

06/17/2016  Continued refreshing software; finished installing all DAW software. Picked up Laurie at LAX and had El Pollo Loco for dinner. Laurie brought some treats from D.C.

06/16/2016 Today is my birthday, and I had dinner with my son Marc at the Hamburger Hamlet where he paid most of the bill. Thank you. Continued refreshing software including installing Office 2003.

06/15/2016  Didn't go see George today because I'm still sick. Didn't like the copy I made yesterday, reformatted the new HDD and started performing a clean NTFS install. Continued with software install all night long, checking it occasionally.

06/14/2016  Tuesday; connected a 320 GB HDD and used Macrium Reflect to create a disk image of C:\. and copied it to the new disk. Called Roger on the phone for our appointment tonight because I'm sick.

06/13/2016  Installed Cakewalk Sonar 7. This DAW is actually very nice and easy to work with, although I use Reaper now almost exclusively. I do have a number of old projects in Sonar, so I'd like to keep it installed. Texted George in Vista about stopping by on Wednesday if I'm not too sick still.

06/12/2016  There was a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, FL, today. Had issues installing my M-Audio Delta 1010 sound card, among other things. Deleted Cubase for now while I investigate the problem. Eventually I reinstalled Cubase, but it still crashed. I ran Reaper, and when I selected ASIO to configure the output, it crashed too. This told me that the problem was the ASIO driver. Found some Delta 1010 ASIO settings in the wrong state and corrected them. Tried repairing Windows by reinstalling SP3. Reinstalled Reaper. I was finally able to select ASIO in Reaper, and Cubase is loading properly. Got it all working at 12:30 AM.

06/11/2016  Marc left early on a Saturday for work! Took Laurie to the airport for a trip to Washington D.C. with Sharla. I could have gone, but we would have to put the kids up, and it would've been a lot of trouble. Continued refreshing software; dumped AVG anti-virus software because of high CPU usage, switched to Avast. Reinstalled Cubase AI4 to try to repair any damaged files, but when I tried to run it, it crashed. It was loading some shit, but I couldn't write it down fast enough. Tried again after changing the name of the VST directory and it still crashed. I was hoping that it would skip the VST loading, but I don't think it did. I may have to delete it because it crashes hard and ChkDsk runs every time. Ordered pizza from Leaning Tower. [I was sick somewhere in this time period, 6/21/2017]

06/10/2016  Friday; continued software installation. Marc showed up today for his new job in Camarillo (see 6/24/2016 also).

06/09/2016  Continued refreshing software. MySpace was compromised so I changed my password. Mission Fed security OOC.

06/08/2016  Carrie texted about coming to NC to see mom who isn't doing well. Marc texted and needs a room for two months of work out in Camarillo. Had issues with the anti-virus program AVG; last program update had a problem and I had to reinstall it. Talked to my neighbor George, and he said he's getting a BMW electric vehicle.

06/07/2016  Tuesday; drove Laurie to work for our appointment tonight, and me and Lucky went to Pan Pacific Park. Had some more software issues, with AVG antivirus slowing things down really bad. All of the hard drives arrived today.

06/06/2016  Ordered three hard drives from Amazon to make a backup of my system and to have as spares. Continued refreshing software.

06/05/2016  The brush fire is only 30% contained. Looked up HDD's and PCI supported motherboards.

06/04/2016  Canter's for breakfast, missed Fairfax. Sent feedback to Puran Defrag about how much I like their program. Jumped in the pool for a while. Had problems installing Expression Web 4. It said I was missing some .NET shit so I downloaded what was missing. This time it installed. I loaded my website and checked it out, but it doesn't seem as easy as FrontPage. There's a brush fire in Calabasas and we have lots of smoke in the air and ash in the pool.

06/03/2016  Switched Disk Defrag utility from Auslogics to Puran Defrag after Auslogics increased the fragmentation of my disk from 17% to 20%. Puran Defrag is free and written by an engineer, and so far it works better than anything else I've found. Sent feedback to Microsoft about .INF syntax article and missing underscore discussion. It got to 106° F today in the garage. Pool and workout.

06/02/2016  Continued updating and downloading software including a copy of Expression Web 4 to test for web page construction.

06/01/2016  Went to Laemmle's Playhouse 7 in Pasadena to see a movie sponsored by the Planetary Society about the earth-bound research being conducted in support of a manned mission to Mars, with lead scientist Pascal Lee. Got my Society lapel pin. (Tickets 5/19). We had dinner beforehand at El Portal across Colorado Blvd to the South.

05/31/2016  Roger. Della Terra for dinner.

05/30/2016  Monday; Memorial Day. A Trojan horse was trying to establish an external connection on the new system and it was caught by my anti-virus program (AVG at the time). The offending file is located in the System Volume Information (SVI) which is used by the system Restore function. I set the permissions to allow access to the SVI and I deleted the file, but I also turned Restore off on all drives to clear any other problems, and then turned it back on for C:/ only. The problem is gone now, but there are issues with the installed software and the system needs to be refreshed.

05/29/2016  Had brunch with Lucky at the Garden Cafe on Woodman just North of Ventura Blvd.

05/28/2016  Today is my audition for The Voice in LA. I sang the song "One More Arrow" by Elton John from the record "Too Low For Zero", but I wasn't selected. I was the best in my group, but no one was asked to stay behind.

05/27/2016  Found floppy disks to run McAfee Bootscan (it reported that it was 143 months out of date!) but nothing was found. Couldn't get the NIC to work; re-downloaded the software and I was finally able to get internet access so I could authenticate Windows, which was required after the signature became invalid yesterday.

05/26/2016  Troubleshooting computer problems, found Firewall logs that show some program repeatedly opening and closing TCP & UDP ports every 30 seconds or so since 5/21/2016. There is some evidence that the requests were being sent multiple times every second. Blocked Firewall completely while trying to figure this out. Found that the signature for Windows XP is invalid, error code 426.

05/25/2016  Started having computer issues trying to use the printer, something is interfering with the print requests, or the path to the printer has been changed, or something.

05/23/2016  Song selection for The Voice audition; "First" by Cold War Kids, "Ex's & Oh's" by Elle King, "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay (or "The Scientist"), "Under The Bridge" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, or "One More Arrow" by Elton John.

05/21/2016  Went to south central LA today to watch the Space Shuttle's main fuel tank, ET-94, make its way through the streets to it's new home at the California Science Center. Stubbed my foot on some cement that someone in the past had dripped on the pool steps and didn't clean up. When I looked closer, I saw a bunch of it all over the place. I took a chisel and hammer and removed the most offensive, foot stubbing, spilled cement that I could see (1 hour). Thanks slumlord.

05/20/2016  Completed the videos for Lee Ritenour's 6-String Theory Competition and submitted them to the website with the $25 entry fee. Found out that Bernie Sanders will be at Rancho Buena Vista (RBV) High School in Vista at 11 AM on Sunday 5/22/2016. I'd like to go see him, but I can't make it.

05/19/2016  Completed the list of outstanding issues at the Contour house (12 pgs, 132 items, 227 hrs of work). Ordered tickets to a Planetary Society movie premier on Wed, Jun 1, in Pasadena, about Arctic research into Mars habitability. My singing voice is good after cutting back on my meds.

05/18/2016  Started compiling a list of outstanding issues and documenting the condition of the Contour house. No meds until tonight, if then.

05/17/2016 Tuesday; did some research on NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) anti-aging mitochondria meds. Went to see Roger, still nothing good. Only 1.5 1H during the day (?).

05/16/2016  Laurie had to go in to work early and saw that Laurel Canyon was closed due to an accident or something. Cutting back on my ADHD meds because it's affecting my voice.

05/15/2016  The deadline for the 6-String Competition has been extended to the 20th. Recorded some videos outside in the garage and got airplane noise in the mix.

05/14/2016  Recorded some videos for the Lee Ritenour's 6-String Theory Competition that I entered.

05/13/2016  Friday the 13th! Yeah! Finally able to sing properly on our morning walk. Signed up for The Voice auditions in LA on Saturday, May 28 at 7 AM. Yamaha officially announces the introduction of the Montage synthesizer, the replacement to the Motif line. Had dinner at the Sherman. I had the jambalaya again but this time I remembered it.

05/12/2016  My breathing is much better today since cleaning all the crap out of the ventilation system. Tully's not sneezing as much either. Played through a set, my voice is much better. I met my neighbor Matt who was walking his dog by our house today. He lives directly behind us, but because we live in the hills, his yard is probably over 20 feet below ours, so we don't see each other in our yards like a lot of people. Zach had told me that some musicians live there, but that they were reclusive or something. Later on I heard music coming from their house, some singing and guitar and drums it sounded like. I didn't document it, but I may have played my earlier set in the garage, and maybe Matt heard me then.

05/11/2016  My sinus's are really bad today and Tully was sneezing all night. Woke up and found the HVAC filter was completely disgusting. I cleaned the whole filter enclosure, it hadn't been cleaned in years, thank you Jessifuck. There was a speaker in the duct that was barely hanging by a screw, apparently it's for the fire alarm system. I reattached it properly. I think I replaced the filter with a new one I found by the laundry, although I didn't record that. In the kitchen, the sink drain started leaking because the piping union was loose. I only noticed this when I went to get something from under the sink and say a huge mess. Thanks again to the slumlord (4 hours total).

05/10/2016  I showed the pool guy the grounding problems on the pool lights, he didn't seem to care. Went to see Roger. He brought up the fact that the problems started before I was unemployed.

05/09/2016  My sinus's are bad and Tully is sneezing again.

05/08/2016  Sunday; it's been raining the last few days.

05/06/2016  There is a Prince tribute concert today at LA City Hall from 5-8 PM. City advises to take public transport.

05/03/2016  Spoke to the pool guy. He made a call and another pool guy, George, showed up and explained that the slumlord Jessifuck wasn't paying them and wasn't responding to calls. Went to see Roger. Had dinner at Du-Par's in Studio City, but it wasn't the best, and the place was empty. We speculated that they're good at breakfast but not dinner? This location eventually closed, supposedly over rent issues.

05/01/2016  Cleaned the house, Tully was sneezing. Texted Alex back.

04/30/2016  Saturday; went up to Mount Wilson today. It was cloudy in the LA basin and you couldn't see the city. We recovered 23 miles electric on the Volt coming down the mountain. Alex texted and said he had a seizure yesterday, the last day of the test, and the team recorded good EKG readings, among all the data they collected. Hopefully that will help.

04/28/2016  Looked up information about a Heart concert that I attended in Lakeland, FL, at the Lakeland Civic Center on May 1st, 1980. I did this for posting something on Facebook, but I'm going to start a document so I can record all those old shows I attended.

04/26/2016  Tuesday; the pool guy came and didn't say anything, and then left. Last Tuesday is when I left the note for him.

04/25/2016  Alex is starting a medical procedure in which he will stop taking his seizure meds for five days so that his brain activity can be recorded. This will hopefully allow the doctors to pinpoint where and what's going on in his head.

04/23/2016  "Back To The Future" night dance at the Peterson Automotive Museum with Missing Persons. Found Blog entry from 7/13/2011 had the word "guitar" pluralized. Somehow I didn't incorporate this comment until 2/6/2019.

04/21/2016  Prince passed away from a drug overdose.

04/20/2016  Walked to Maxsons Drug Store for some reason.

04/19/2016  Added this date because on 4/26/2016 I referenced a note that I wrote to the pool guy, but I didn't record the context.

04/18/2016  Sent my tax returns in today, I didn't get a refund because I had no income. Downloaded a bunch of MAME ROM's.

04/15/2016  Looked up some information on psychology, specifically Resilience & Grit.

04/13/2016  Called Alex's doctors to get more information about his medications, and my name was not on their list of people they can talk to about it. I guess his mom didn't think it was important to include me on the list. I complained to Alex and eventually I was given access.

04/12/2016  Found a phone number for my friend and colleague Rod DeQuiroz from Fluor.

04/11/2016  I found the ground wires on the pool lights weren't connected properly. Tightened loose connections and added new wires where needed.

04/07/2016  Talked to Alex at length today on the phone about his seizure procedures and medications he was taking.

04/05/2016  Bob & Ellie leave for home.

04/03/2016  Sunday, Bob & Ellie stopped by for a few days.

04/02/2016  Picked Laurie up from LAX.

04/01/2016  Went to see George in Vista today. Guns N' Roses played the Troubadour club in West Hollywood in preparation for their upcoming tour.

03/31/2016  Did some light yard work today. Preparing to go see George tomorrow.

03/30/2016  Took Laurie to the airport. Stopped at the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area with Lucky. Jammed in the garage for a while. The yard guys stuffed the bamboo waste in the recycle bin, I was saving some of it for a project. Texted Rob Arens and he called back later.

03/29/2016  Saw Manny Pacquiao at Pan Pacific Park again today. Appointment with Roger.

03/28/2016  Cut back all the bamboo on our side of the fence behind the garage, it was blocking my view of the Valley (6 hours).

03/27/2016  Went for a walk at Veteran's Park at the Van Nuys Sherman Oaks (VNSO) Park and went to the Blue Dog for breakfast. The VNSO Park has a huge Little League complex there. Did some yard work (4 hours). Carrie texted that Mom was back at home following her recent tumor scare.

03/26/2016  Found a bunch of Alex and Marc's e-mail addresses used as sign-in's for YouTube and Google. Found an e-mail for Tony Carey, carey68@hotmail.com. I know I contacted him on YouTube, but I haven't e-mailed him. Did some yard work (2 hours), and sun and swim.

03/25/2016  Cleaned up the bamboo by the garage (6 hours). I was climbing on the fence and I startled a woman on the other side when she came into her yard. I quickly explained what I was doing but she never responded. Played a set in the garage with CD and amplifier, probably my old boogie-box from 1983 which I was still using at the time.

03/24/2016  The neighbors house alarm went off seven times today, it's very annoying. Good thing I'm not trying to record.

03/23/2016  My wrist was very sore, I don't know why. I found a wrist brace I had from a past injury. The neighbors house alarm went off three times today. I went to the intercom but no one was home. I didn't see anything unusual.

03/22/2016  Saw Manny Pacquiao at Pan Pacific Park today. Changed my address with my bank. No Roger tonight, he's sick.

03/21/2016  Entered the Taylor Guitar Contest.

03/18/2016  Had an early walk with Lucky this morning since Laurie had to go into work early.

03/17/2016  Talked to Zach & Diesel this morning. Looked for a French fry potato cutter at Ralph's. Continued cleaning yard waste over to "The Junkyard" and clearing out the bamboo (5 hours).

03/16/2016  Moved all the garbage that has been left laying around the house and yard over to the side of the house we don't use, to what is now known as "The Junkyard" (5 hours).

03/15/2016  I got a cell phone call today for Mr. Lewis about the switch upside down and pool leaking. I don't answer my phone if I don't know who's calling, so it went to voicemail. I called back thinking it was a new maintenance guy, but after I asked about the call, he said something indecipherable. I told him I couldn't understand a word he was saying, and then he asked, slowly  and clearly, "Are you Mr. Lewis?" I said, "No", and he said, "Sorry to bother you" and so I hung up. He must have been a dispatcher for Mr. Lewis who got his phone number mixed up with mine. It was weird. He left a cryptic text also [Calling Mr. Lewis "GySgt Lewis, this is Cpl Koyle -TGK-]. The pool guy finally showed up and fixed the leak, but he left a mess of partially cut PVC and other crap. Went to see Roger. Found a cockroach in the bathroom later on.

03/14/2016  Worked trimming trees in the backyard and digging out that root (4 hours).

03/13/2016  Leap forward for Daylight Savings. Searched for "Air Fryer". Found a problem with my web site where the Navigation Banner was set incorrectly. I must have clicked something inadvertently. Updated dates and other info. Found Blackhole Exploit Kit on my website, it got jacked again? Re-published. I wonder if this is related to the My Network Places link from yesterday, or the Navigation Banner problem. I have to stop using the Front Page Extensions.

03/12/2016  Went to The Hollywood Way BBQ. Rob Arens responded to my message and we chatted for a minute. He's bowling right now in his league, so he said he'd call back tomorrow. I sent him a friend request on Facebook. Found a link to my website under My Network Places. I don't know why it's here, but I don't work with it like that, so I sent it to the Trash.

03/11/2016  Laurie had an event for work in Marina Del Rey and will be getting home late. I dug up another root by the pool, it was the same plant as the other huge root I dug up on 2/6/2016 (6 hours). This "weed" grows at least 10 times faster than the other plants around it, using long vines to climb, and chokes out everything else. This root is more like three basketballs in size, all stacked on top of each other. I'm not exaggerating. The hole is two feet deep and the root is still in there, even though I've dug down two feet of ROOT, not dirt. And there are runners off the sides that I'm trying to remove. This thing is like an alien creature, and if you don't get every major piece of it, it will come back. Swept the entire house and went in the hot tub later.

03/09/2016  I'm having a really bad allergy morning, or something. I had some travel miles that expired on 2/1/2016, but I didn't use them in time to cash them in for gifts. I had looked at the catalog they provide some time before, but then I forgot about the date, and today I went back over it, and I think I even called to see if I could still use the miles. Nope. Played through a set.

03/08/2016  Drove Laurie to work for our appointment tonight. Me and Lucky went to Pan Pacific Park and walked the circuit. I found a weird Wi-Fi network on my system that was listed as the first preferred network to log into. It looks like it was the name of the original Wi-Fi network before I renamed it. Either way, I deleted it. So the pool guy came today but parked down the street, I didn't know he was there until he left. Later on, Laurie got an e-mail from him about the leak. Maybe he parked down the street to try to avoid me? Saw Roger and had dinner at the El Coyote in Fairfax District.

03/07/2016  Sent a message to Rob Arens on Facebook to see if it's the "real" Rob Arens from Cass Ave, Mt. Clemens, MI, and to Lu Coffing from the Planetary Society. Friended Gerry (Jerry?) also (McCarty I presume), and Bruce Wildy accepted my Friend request. I saw an old 1999 Xmas photo showing the Yamaha PSR-240 keyboard. New high score for KLAX.

03/05/2016  Went to see the King of The Cage MMA fights at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, CA. Met some guys from the City of Maywood, CA, and had a good time.

03/04/2016  Updated website; switched a song from "Unravel Me" so as not to be "published" before. Casting ID 626257.

03/03/2016  Songland!

03/01/2016  Me and Lucky went to Pan Pacific Park today and took some video footage. Roger, didn't go too well except to...

02/29/2016 Leap Day! Did recordings for the Songland submission package so they're time stamped today.

02/28/2016  Wrote down all the questions from the Songland website so I could address them properly. "Stupid computer crashed", but I finally charged the camera and practiced my video presentation a number of times. It didn't feel right.

02/27/2016  Played through the selected songs again. Talked to Laurie about some ideas for my Songland video while we were in the hot tub.

02/25/2016  Performed a set of upcoming songs for Songland. I cleaned the house a little too.

02/24/2016  Went to see George in Vista.

02/23/2016  The pool guy came but didn't fix a leak by the filter or fill the pool. Bob & Ellie left. I performed a set.

02/22/2016  I performed a few songs in the studio. Bob came in and asked about the lead guitar poster on the wall. Later I checked online but I couldn't find that exact poster. I got that at Mobil Torrance when a friend of mine brought in some posters specifically for me to make copies of in the Mobil drawing room. They had all the facilities there to make any type of drawing at virtually any size, it was awesome.

02/21/2016  It's Sunday and Bob & Ellie are over. Ellie says Bob hasn't had any alcohol in six (6) weeks!

02/20/2016  Slept in a little this morning, which is unusual. I walked Lucky and people I met along the way were talking about the dog attack the other day. Continued with Songland; I re-listened to "Asleep at the Wheel" and found a couple of issues that I corrected.

02/19/2016  Saw an open house at 13555 Contour Drive. I went by but it was 10 AM and the Open House wasn't until 11 AM. I didn't particularly like the house and location, it was multi-level on the side of a cliff kind-of-thing. I saw it online, I didn't go back. For Songland,  I re-recorded the guitar for "Asleep at the Wheel", about 20 takes. I messed up the bridge and the outro, and used  a separate track to re-record those. I used volume envelopes to switch between the two parts. Recorded some vocals, didn't like it; did it again and it's better. Mixed both vocal recordings together and applied some effects. Mixed it all down and it sounds good, sorry, my notes say "OK".

02/18/2016  Today me and Lucky were attacked by some dogs that got loose. I picked him up and avoided a problem, but the stray dogs went down the street and attacked some other dog. I had to run down there and restrain the aggressive dog who had the other dogs head in it's jaw. With the help of other people who had heard the commotion, we contacted the aggressive dogs owner who came and took the injured animal to the veterinarian. Continued with the Songland info. I have a note to "use the monitor mixer into Reaper & record live w/headphones." I recorded a guitar part to "Asleep at the Wheel", but it has some errors. It's probably going to be too much work to assemble something new.

02/17/2016  It was raining this morning. Still filling out the Songland application, I need some videos or mp3's of my songs. I saw a documentary today about WWII and the Siege of Leningrad, and how the German troops on watch in the winter time, staring down the barrel of their guns, would have their eyelids frozen in place. They would get frostbite on their eyelids, and the skin would die and fall off. These troops couldn't shut light out from their eyes for the rest of their lives, and many committed suicide or went insane.

02/16/2016  Drove Laurie to work for our appointment later this afternoon. Took Lucky to Pan Pacific Park. Stopped by 317 North Mansfield and I talked to Anna and Victroi (sp.?), our old neighbor and her young daughter who lived above us. She said that they're thinking of moving to Barcelona, Spain, and asked us to stop by sometime. Her husband's name is Sebastian, I'll have to find the last name later, and he started a company that provides British movies and television to American audiences. I'll have to find the name of the company too. The pool guy came by and I showed him a leak and asked him to get the ball rolling on replacing the pool pump, which has damaged bearings and is really loud. Filling out Songland application online. Roger.

02/15/2016  I worked in the orange tree again today, higher up than previously, where many dead branches are blocking the sun and stunting growth. I almost fell when the stub I was standing gave way. I had considered that it might not support my weight, and was prepared in case it didn't, but I still got a branch in the thigh pretty bad, ripping my shorts, and I got poked with some pickers too (3 hours). Orange trees have these massive pickers you don't want to tangle with, I trim them off in areas where I'm working. I thought about getting water hoses and timers for the tree, but my research shows they don't have to be watered that often. Started taking my allergy meds again due to all the illnesses I've been suffering lately. I don't usually like these kind of meds because they affect my singing voice.

02/14/2016  Went to breakfast for our first time at Philippe's this morning, what a zoo! It was really good though, and fun, and we met two couples; one lady was from Ann Arbor, MI. Spent the rest of the day poolside again.

02/13/2016  Spent the day pool side for Laurie's Birthday Weekend Extravaganza.

02/12/2016  Laurie's Birthday today! And it's Friday!

02/11/2016  Trimmed the tree in front by the driveway. Picked up more concrete and brick in the dirt around the shrubs (3 hours). Someone mistook these shrubs for a garbage dump in the past. I'm cleaning it up, little by little. Lost a spring from the vacuum cleaner in the master bedroom and I had to look for it.

02/10/2016  Got rid of the yard waste from yesterday after the trash man came because the bin was too full for it all (1 hour). On our walk, me and Lucky saw Zach Clark and his dog Diesel again. Zach was working on his Corvette and I went to talk to him because most people around here don't work on their own vehicles. I told him that and he laughed and agreed. Responded to Roger with the information he requested.

02/09/2016  Drove Laurie to work for our appointment this afternoon. Trimmed the trees around the pool (3 hours). At Roger's, he asked us to give him a paragraph each, and a timeline that we both agree upon. This is the first time with Roger that I told Laurie what I think the issue is.

02/08/2016  There was nice weather today, I was able to wear shorts on my walk with Lucky. I spent the day cleaning house. At one point the vacuum cleaner wouldn't stand up properly, and when I tried to coax it, it broke. Now it won't stand up at all, you have to lean it against something else. Found out online that this is common for this model. Great.

02/07/2016  Super Bowl Sunday! The Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers 24-10.

02/06/2016  Worked on the trees again today until the yard maintenance people showed up (4 hours). I found a huge weed behind the hot tub and I dug it up (2 hours). The root on this thing was monstrous, like the size of a basketball, at least.

02/04/2016  Made a new batch of hummingbird juice and cleaned and refilled the feeder. Worked for probably 3 hours climbing in and cutting deadwood from the orange tree. I saw Sandy who thanked me for my efforts. She said they might have a company come out to trim the trees in their yard.

02/03/2016  The hills here are still without power. There's a big tree just South of the intersection of Contour and Sunnyslope, between all the houses, that must have partially fell. Me and Lucky saw workers up there cutting down the remains.

02/02/2016  Received an email about an upcoming TV show called Songland that I'm going to submit for. I've got to get to work on some videos. Roger, job issues. Power outage (that's all I wrote).

01/31/2016  Went to Trader Joe's and had brunch at Jerry's.

01/30/2016  Walked to breakfast on Ventura Boulevard with Lucky. Wrote the initial Outstanding Issues list for the house at 13417 Contour Drive, Sherman Oaks, CA, 91423. That probably took 2 hours or so. Marlon is supposed to be by today. He came at 5 PM on a Saturday, and caulked the master shower. Idiot.

01/29/2016  Me and Lucky saw Mary Anne and her dog Peanut on our walk this morning and she warned us of coyotes. Built a catchment berm around the orange tree to allow it to capture more water, and dug up weeds behind the pool (4 hours).

01/28/2016  30th Anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. Spoke to Sandy Kline, our neighbor to the East, and she claimed the orange tree was hers, and on her property, but I could work on it all I wanted to see if I could get it to be productive again. I did do some more work on the tree today, probably only 2 hours worth. Marlon the "maintenance guy" came by to replace the spare room light switch. The new switch was installed upside down, and the work area wasn't cleaned up. I later learned that Marlon is a "moron", mostly by talking to him.

01/27/2016  Left a note for the yard maintenance guys to check the the water pressure regulators because they're leaking. They never did anything about it. Anytime the sprinklers went off, the water pressure would drop in the house to the point it was unusable. I had to make sure the sprinklers only came on at night.

01/25/2016  Ran the truck for a few minutes today to charge the battery.

01/24/2016  Sunday, drove down to Vista in North San Diego County to see our friends George & Linda for lunch. We had an excellent drive with no problems.

01/23/2016  Hot tub.

01/22/2016  Hot tub.

01/21/2016  I've been literally sick for three weeks now, I'm just getting to the point where I can sing again.

01/20/2016  Removed a dead branch from the trees in front of the house that was pinched between two live branches, and was interfering with the growth of the live branches (2 hours). Spent 2 hours on the orange tree and 4 hours on the lemon tree

01/19/2016  Drove Laurie to work for our appointment tonight with Roger.

01/18/2016  Martin Luther King Day today.

01/14/2016  Jim Patterson called about a job. That stupid package came again today that I got two days ago. I marked it "Not at this address" and the mailperson took it back again.

01/13/2016  Had to deal with Esurance today, they had the wrong zip code in their system. Cooked pork loin for dinner.

01/12/2016  Drove Laurie to work so I could go see Roger. Got a package from the mail lady but it wasn't for us, so she took it back. She said it was supposed to have been forwarded, but someone had delivered it by mistake.

01/11/2016  Almost over my illness.

01/07/2016  I'm feeling better today. I took Advil but no Sudafed, so far so good.

01/06/2016  Took Lucky for a walk this morning and, for some reason, he turned around on Sunnyslope and started to walk back toward the house. Just after that it started to rain, and it started to rain harder and harder. We got back home just before it started pouring. He must have heard or smelled it coming. More heavy rain all day.

01/05/2016  It's raining today and I'm still pretty sick, although the meds are helping. Taped up the old mailbox entry by the front door since cold air was pouring in there (1 hour). The gates at the front porch won't close now due to the ground swelling from all the rain and moving the entire stupid brick posts. I did something to bend up a tab that was on the gate and made it work for now (1 hour). Laurie to go see Dr. Roger Schwarz, I'm too sick. I have an appointment next week.

******************************************      2016      ******************************************

12/31/2015  New Years eve, and now I'm sick with a cold that feels like a flu. Just when I was getting over the stupid mold.

12/30/2015  Found that the living room fireplace has no flue and was leaking large amounts of air to the environment. Also, the gas shutoff valve is in the floor and is not sealed from the outside air. Closed off both leaks. I had to cut a piece of cardboard large enough to cover the entire face of the fireplace with a couple of inches on each side to spare. Then I used packing tape to seal the cardboard against the tile around the fireplace (4 hours). We were told by the landlord we shouldn't use the fireplace due to restrictions imposed by living in the Santa Monica mountains, but they weren't too sure about what the restrictions were. I guess it doesn't matter now because it's completely sealed up. Left a note for the yard maintenance guys to fix a sprinkler head that they broke, and they did it. Tully went missing today around 5:30 PM, and I know she had gone outside at around 3 PM. We walked around the block once, and when we got back we saw beady eyes under the fence at the neighbors house next door to us. I jumped the fence and looked around the yard, but I didn't see anything. We figured it must have been another cat that just heard us calling. We went around the block again calling out her name, and when we got back to the house, I looked over the fence at the neighbors house and there was Tully sitting in the middle of their yard. I went back over the fence to get her, and I had to wait until she came out from under the deck where she ran as I approached her. That crazy kitty. The portafilter was never shipped because the company thought it was a fraudulent transaction, for some reason.

12/28/2015  Bob & Ellie left today around noon.

12/27/2015  Sunday Brunch at the Smoke House, always nice. Today I had to help Ellie with the upstairs shower. I showed her how it works and then I got her a towel. When I came back, I startled her a little I think, and she was undressing, and then we were next to each other, and we had a little moment.

12/26/2015  Bob & Ellie arrived today.

12/25/2015  Alex & Marc arrived for the Holidays today.

12/24/2015  Cleaned the bathrooms. In the master bath, I found a huge air leak at the end of the sink counter facing the tub. An entire piece of wood that would cap the end of the counter was missing, and cold air from outside was pouring into the house, as if a fan was blowing it in. What a piece of shit. How fucked up is this? I also found air leaks all around the bathroom, anywhere something penetrated the wall. At the toilet, the water lines were not finished at the wall, and there were just holes there for outside air or bugs to come in. At the shower, the spray nozzle came in through the ceiling without anything to seal it, and the hot and cold water valves on the wall were not sealed. Cold air was coming in from all of those areas. I got some cardboard for the gaping hole at the end of the counter, and used duct tape to seal it up. Then I caulked all the other areas I could find that were leaking cold air into the house. All of this work was at least 4 hours. Later on I found that most of the problem here is that the walls in the master bedroom, which is downstairs and not part of the actual main house, were not finished on the outside; there is only a sheet of drywall between you and the elements where normally there would be some type of wall on the other side, whether it's the outside wall of the house, or another sheet of drywall. It was all constructed in such a way as to be considered a pile of shit, and we may as well be camping.

12/23/2015  Swept the entire house and mopped around the dining room.

12/22/2015  Went to the light bulb store. Around here in Los Angeles, we have stores specifically for a single thing, in this case light bulbs. But I've seen stores for rocking chairs, beads, wigs, buttons, you name it. The button store on Third Street is amazing, especially if you need antique button sets, whole sets, of buttons that are no longer being manufactured. Crazy. The light bulb guy, who made a joke about needing a time machine to get the bulb I showed him from the Contour house, told me about another light bulb store across the street from Gelson's on Van Nuys Boulevard. I drove over there but I couldn't find it (sometime later I found it, but I never went in).

12/21/2015  Tully to the vet at 11 AM.

12/20/2015  Knick knack shelf and mantle.

12/19/2015  Tonight around 7 PM some solicitors came to our door while I was jamming. I saw them walk up the stairs at Fred Fox's place across the street, and told Laurie they were coming this way. But instead of blowing them off, partly because they heard the music and made some comments about it, but it was also raining and Laurie felt bad for them, she ended up giving them $20. Ironically, the woman had an umbrella that she set down, and then walked away without. These people didn't represent anything other than themselves, and they were going door to door asking for money.

12/18/2015  Guest room and Laurie's boxes.

12/17/2015  Guest room and Laurie's boxes.

12/16/2015  Went online to look for a replacement portafilter for the coffee machine. Cleaned in the guest room today.

12/15/2015  Cleared the dead and overgrown branches from the lemon tree and the surrounding shrubs today. I probably spent 4 hours and I barely made a dent in trying to help this tree. It's obviously in distress due to being massively overgrown. It also appears that at multiple times in it's life, it was left to grow uncontrolled, and then severely cut back. The fruits that are coming off, in most cases, are twisted and deformed, like the tree doesn't even know how to produce a proper lemon. This tree is on a flat area so it gets water, but it's in the shade of a tree next door, so it doesn't get enough sun. Throw in the fact that nobody but myself has ever really cared about it, and you have this deformed monstrosity.

12/14/2015  Drove Laurie to work in preparation for a Holiday Party tonight for Cedars-Sinai. I drove by the old house on Mansfield and I saw a new realty company sign out in front for Leah & Naomi. I think they're friends with Ester from Brimco, but I bet she didn't tell them anything about how they screwed us over. I took it upon myself to remedy that situation by e-mailing Leah & Naomi, and for good measure, I also e-mailed the County of Los Angeles Public Health/ Environmental Health. Some time later they replaced the front windows where there was mold growing, but I don't know what they did about the master bathroom where the mold was the worst. Hopefully they fixed it all.

12/12/2015  It's Saturday but Laurie had to go into work for a while. I cleared dead and overgrown branches out of the orange tree. This must have taken about 4 hours altogether. It was a fucking mess and I still didn't even get close to finishing. How anything ever grew on this tree I'll never know. In fact, I never saw more that like 4 oranges on it since we've been here. The tree is in the shadow of the house next door, and it's on a hill, so the water, if any, that makes it here just runs on by. [See 1/29/2016 where I built a catchment for this tree.]

12/11/2015  Received a response from one of the organizations I e-mailed yesterday. Unfortunately, this source stated that because we don't live there anymore there isn't much they can do.

12/10/2015  Updated the document "Mansfield Calendar" and e-mailed it to all the addresses I saved, like the Housing Authority, the city of Los Angeles, tenants rights organizations, etc.

12/09/2015  MA & peanut (don't ask me...it's just written in my notes. I took the time to squeeze it in between lines, so it must have held some importance. I have to document it here now, for when I remember what it means later).

12/08/2015  Sent a letter to Brimco, certified/return receipt requested, with all the documents I had accumulated from Mansfield basically accusing them of negligence, and for contaminating us with mold.

12/07/2015  Laurie sent Brimco an e-mail regarding our our time at 317 North Mansfield Avenue.

11/26/2015  Our first Thanksgiving in the Contour house and when we went to cook our turkey, the entire house filled with smoke from a spill in the oven. It was our first use of the oven, so the spill was from a previous tenant. Of course you couldn't see the mess, someone had cleaned it enough so that it wasn't visible. I had to take apart the oven and clean it internally so it would be useful again. That took over an hour, right in the middle of our Thanksgiving, fuck you Jessifuck. We complained to her but she just said it was clean now so there was nothing to do about it, stupid bitch!

11/14/2015  I had my truck in recently for some maintenance, that's why I was trying to get the smog check, and the other day I noticed during my drive that the A/C wasn't working properly. I took it back in and they found that the A/C coolant had leaked because they had failed to tighten a component. They recharged it and it's OK now.

11/13/2015  Cleaned the porch and the house vents which were completely plugged with leaves and debris. I felt this was a fire hazard. I spent at least 2 hours dragging the vacuum cleaner around outside. The front room curtain hanger wasn't secure and had a stripped screw. Replaced it with a larger screw and it's sturdy now.

11/12/2015  Cleaned master closet and covered over the water station in the wall. The station is designed for a small laundry setup to be installed downstairs in the walk-in closet, so it has the normal water/drain recessed valve station. The problem is that it looked like bugs could get in, you could feel a draft from outside, and we had no plans to add a second laundry. I cut a piece of cardboard to fit over the hole, and sealed it with tape. Shoe shelves, earring holder, and other stuff also.

11/11/2015  Veteran's Day! During a recent smog check, my truck failed due to a catalytic converter issue and it was suggested that I drive the vehicle a bit and maybe it would clear. I took a drive on the 101 W to the 405 N, to the 118 E, to the 210 S, to the 2 S, to the 134 W, to Cahuenga Boulevard. It took about 45 minutes, and then I stopped back by the smog place, but supposedly the data was still not available to pass the smog. Picked up Tully's meds.

11/10/2015  It's been about two weeks now since we moved into the house on Contour. It looks like there are many problems with this house and I'm going to have to write them all up. Today, the heat register in the living room was making a buzzing noise and I found the screws holding it in place were stripped and just sitting in holes in the drywall. Also, someone spilled a drink or liquid inside the register and it's filthy and drawing in ants. The register is causing debris to fall and collect on the floor as it vibrates, and I have to sweep it everyday. I cleaned up the mess inside to stop the ants, and I tried to secure it to the wall but was unsuccessful. Spent 1 1/2 hours working on it. [1st entry in Note Group.]

10/20/2015  Moved out of Hancock Park because the house I was living in ended up having mold and it made me very sick. I couldn't even sing anymore it was so bad. Don't rent a house from Brimco Property Management, I'll be posting more about this later.

09/01/2015  Bought the Envion Ionic Pro Turbo electrostatic precipitator around this time.

07/25/2015  Auditioned this morning for The Voice TV show. Arrived downtown and had to stand in line for a while in the morning sun. It was all very well organized, and it didn't take too long before we were in the audition room with a producer and 10 other hopefuls. Only one young girl was asked to stay behind out of our group (she wasn't selected, but she said they gave her advice for next year) but I killed it singing "Read My Mind" by The Killers.

07/18/2015  Registered on Ultimate Guitar Tabs website.

07/02/2015  Attended the All-Star Charity Tribute to The Beach Boys and the California Sound, benefiting "City of Hope" & "Rock the Cure", at The Canyon (formerly The Canyon Club) in Agoura Hills, featuring over 50 of LA's best musicians performing live. They had a silent auction, and one of the items was a Fender Squier Strat signed by Richie Sambora. We met Rick Farmiloe, an awesome animator who has worked for various studios, including Walt Disney Animation Studios and DreamWorks.

07/09/2015  Had to leave the house for more construction, it seems that it wasn't up to code in relation to emergency evacuation, even though we've been living here for nine months. It was OK for the landlord to ignore the violations for us, but they're trying to refinance, and the bank has now forced them to make our house survivable. F-you Brimco.

06/28/2015  Fixed all the broken links I could find.

06/26/2015  Brought my web site up to date. Had a bad allergy day.

06/23/2015  Sharla & Jason leave for Washington. I have a bum left foot from a workout incident a few weeks ago that was irritated by walking to the Santa Monica Pier last night. Or, from running up and down the steps at Griffith Observatory.

06/21/2015  Visited Griffith Observatory during the day, and the Santa Monica Pier at night.

06/19/2015  Sharla & Jason stopped by for a few days; Ripley's Believe It or Not! and the Hollywood Wax Museum.

06/10/2015  House hunting.

06/07/2015  Went to Chavez Ravine to see the Dodgers lose to the St. Louis Cardinals.

05/25/2015  On the advice of others, obtained a Blueair 503 HEPA Air Purifier for the house to see if it will help with my illnesses. I felt better by bed time, and I slept great with minimal discomfort in the morning, what a relief. It just shows that this house is diseased or something, the owners never tented the house before we moved in, and we know it has termites, silverfish and mold.

05/19/2015  Registered to audition for The Voice TV show next month in Los Angeles.

05/16/2015  Registered with Yamaha MusicSoft to download two songs.

05/13/2015  Documented my copy of Movie Studio Platinum, Version 12.0, Build 1184. 

05/12/2015  G Land Pest Control was upstairs at the neighbors house, they left at about 2:50 PM.

05/07/2015  I did something with the web site 500px.com, a photo sharing site, but they want money. I won't be using it.

04/26/2015  This whole week was cold and the windows were shut, I had to clean my left ear again, and I had congestion this morning.

04/23/2015  Saw Manny again running down Beverly Boulevard toward Pan Pacific Park. Doctor's appointment today. Afterward, I cleaned both my ears again since I couldn't sing. The right side was plugged, but the left side seemed OK.

04/21/2015  Saw Manny Pacquiao at Pan Pacific Park running with his minions in preparation for his upcoming fight with Floyd Mayweather.

04/17/2015  Saw Jane Lynch at the Kings Road Cafe this morning. She was on her phone, but gave me a smile and a nod.

04/16/2015  Cut back on meds to try to reduce the stress the house is causing.

04/07/2015  To 4/10, shower is clogged. [Note came from another entry on 3/4/2016 for some reason, probably from the phone?]

03/29/2015 - 04/15/2015  House hunting.

03/28/2015  House hunting. Earth Hour.

03/24/2015 - 03/27/2015  House hunting.

03/23/2015  Contacted Yoram Kahana about his house on Camrose, it's beautiful. He's the Chairman of the Hollywood Foreign Press. We didn't get the house because it was rented to someone with more money and influence. Saw the Lyric Theater at 520 N. La Brea.

03/15/2015 - 03/18/2015  House hunting.

03/13/2015  This house is making me sick. I spent six hours in three bouts trying to clear the congestion out of my head. I think I have a sinus infection. Almost called 911 for not being able to breathe.

03/12/2015  Had to clean my ears again, the third time so far in this house, due to all the mold and bugs, etc.

03/11/2015  Went to Plummer Park for a tenants rights meeting with volunteer lawyers.

03/10/2015  Spoke to a housing lawyer that was referred to us by the LA County Building Authority, received information but no resolution. Called some shark attorney's but they won't take the case due to having little to no damages incurred.

03/09/2015  Called Tenant Hub in Los Angeles for a lawyer referral.

03/07/2015  Appointment to see the Mediterranean Gem on McCadden Place.

03/05/2015  Conducted mold research and contacted some abatement companies. Had argument about lawyers for upcoming move. Laurie has high blood pressure due to the stress of this crappy house.

02/22/2015  Wrote the "Addendum to 1st List" which is just a continuation of documenting the problems in our house.

02/16/2015  Took Lucky to Runyon Canyon for a walk, our first time there and unleashed. He was charged by a pit bull about three times his size, who was friendly enough, but should have thought twice about his approach. Everyone was watching to see what would happen, but he was a nice dog in the end. It screwed Lucky up a bit after that though.

02/27/2015  Returned home from the hotel due to work supposedly being finished. The house is a mess and wasn't cleaned.

02/23/2015  Started searching for a new place to live, Brimco can kiss my ass.

02/22/2015  Brimco walkthrough; the "Telescope Incident". We leave this piece of shit house to go to a hotel for health reasons.

02/18/2015  Mansfield call from Ester that Laurie recorded on her phone. [Photos taken 3/14/2015. Copied to Win 7 9/11/2017.]

02/02/2015  Work starts to try and fix all the problems with our house.

01/25/2015  Took Lucky to MacArthur Park today While Laurie talked to the idiots at Brimco, our property management imbeciles. Wrote the "Five Questions" for Laurie to discuss with them.

01/23/2015  Published the initial "Issues" list documenting the problems in our house.

01/21/2015  Renewed Planetary Society membership.

01/12/2015  Determined that the Avanti Wine Chiller, Model No. SWC2801 is "unfixable" since it's too expensive to fix when it will just fail again like it already did. It's a piece-of-shit, don't buy one.

******************************************      2015      ******************************************

12/15/2014  At a hospital holiday party, I met actor Brian Thompson and his wife Sharon Braun. We had a nice long chat, he's from WA.

12/14/2014  Went to the California Science Center to see the "Pompeii/ Forces of Nature" exhibit/movie and the Space Shuttle Endeavour. We took the bus and train to check out the mass transit and it worked out good.

11/26/2014  Still hanging pictures.

11/24/2014  Started unpacking pictures. Had a talk with Laurie on the way home from work.

11/17/2014  During a phone conversation, Marc indicated that Alex might have Brugada Syndrome (see 9/24/2014).

11/13/2014  Cleaned the drapes in the new house that were filthy, I couldn't even stand to look at them, let alone touch them.

10/29/2014  Played my first set in the new house, rewired the Wah pedal to the original configuration.

10/24/2014  First log entry since moving to Los Angeles. Finished cleaning the studio yesterday, need to connect everything up.

10/13/2014  Monday, moving truck arrives. The house and garage are filthy and require extensive cleanup, not what we expected. Very disappointed with the house and move-in at 317 North Mansfield Avenue, Los Angeles, 90036.

10/11/2014  Saturday in Los Angeles, called to have the keys delivered to the house.

10/08/2014  The moving trucks arrive in Wilsonville and we begin the load-out.

10/06/2014  Started packing up with the movers for the next couple of days.

09/28/2014  Shellshock bug in BASH (Linux & Apple). Checked Laurie's laptop and it passed four of the scripts on Wikipedia.

09/24/2014  Contacted the Vietnam Veterans of America in Milwaukie to see if they wanted our old TV. They responded once, but then I never heard from them again. It was weird. I still have the TV. Alex had a seizure and fell and hurt himself. I didn't find out until later (see 11/17/2014).

09/14/2014  In Los Angeles for our upcoming move, walked through our prospective house for the first time.

08/01/2014  Continued working the song "DMS".

07/12/2014  "The Moonstone" (1868) by Wilkie Collins. I don't remember where this came from, but it was in my notes.

06/21/2014  Studied Standard Lyrical Styles - The History of Songwriting on netplaces.com. That web site now defaults to About.com.

06/20/2014  Lost some edits, presumably for "DMS", but they were documented in Excel so they were easy to repair.

06/15/2014  Working "DMS"; looking for the voice I used for Track16, couldn't remember, used CP80.

06/14/2014 The neighbor across the street is mowing the "Field of Weeds".

06/12/2014  Re-recorded the Kick for "Unravel Me" and checked the Bass. Limits for Bass notes are x.360-375, x.180-188, and x.090-094.

06/11/2014  Re-recorded some of the large files; Snare on "War02", Tom on "Asleep at the Wheel". Deleted a bunch of old effects that I didn't like anyway. Turn off the following to avoid interruptions: Wireless, BOINC, AVG & screen saver.

06/10/2014  Downloaded Nero Wave Editor to try to edit those large files.

06/07/2014 - 06/08/2014 Olympia, WA.

06/06/2014  Found some recorded parts of songs had large file sizes due to recording past the end of the song. Tried to cut with TWE, but the file was too large to edit and the computer crashed. I just have to re-record those parts.

05/12/2014  Laurie had her hip replacement today. Ellie called and told us that Taffy had enough and that she moved on. She was in a lot of pain and couldn't even walk anymore. We love you and miss you Taffy.

05/07/2014  Downloaded the Yamaha Motif files onto the computer, but couldn't delete them from the SmartMedia because it thinks it's write protected. I don't have a workaround for this yet, except maybe to delete them on the Motif.

04/20/2014  Back to Wilsonville.

04/18/2014  To Olympia, WA for holiday with Laurie's family.

04/15/2014  Returned the rental car and got a speeding ticket in Wilsonville, after driving over 2000 miles.

04/14/2014  Some asshole was texting in a pickup truck and ran me off the road at 70 mph. I survived because I was paying attention. Arrived in Wilsonville at approximately 6:15 PM.

04/13/2014  Left Jamul for Wilsonville at approximately 4:30 PM.

04/17/2014  Arrived in Jamul at approximately 11:30 AM. Setup my portable studio and started helping out around the house.

04/06/2014  Sunday, left Wilsonville, driving to San Diego to see Bob & Ellie.

03/29/2014  Back to "Forgotten In Time"; removed all unused envelopes and started recording.

03/28/2014  Continuing with "Key To The Past" revisions; had envelope issues & removed all unused envelopes, added a kick envelope.

03/25/2014  Continuing with "Key To The Past" revisions; changed all Patterns to 116.3 bpm.

03/23/2014  I may have made my snowman on this trip to Salishan (see 10/26/13). Returned to Wilsonville.

03/22/2014  Performed again in the lodge today, people from the conference stopped by after learning I was with Laurie.

03/21/2014  Performed in the lodge with my travel amp, no one told me to leave and lot's of people enjoyed the music. 

03/20/2014  Split off album "Take Two" and burned separate CDs. Weekend at Salishan Spa & Golf Resort for Laurie's conference

03/19/2014  Continuing with "Key To The Past" revisions.

03/16/2014  Attended a Celebration of Life at Western Oregon University for Jon Apgar who passed away from cancer.

03/12/2014  An incident occurred today at a restaurant in Portland with a friend of Laurie's. Brushed up on hip replacement surgery.

03/10/2014  Continue with "Key To The Past" Bass track revision.

03/09/2014  Reviewed the song "Key To The Past" for Bass issues; started playing in the Bass by hand for normal note durations.

03/08/2014  Hip Chicks Winery & Mexican dinner in Milwaukie, OR somewhere.

03/02/2014  Oscar Sunday.

02/26/2014  Donor's reception in Salem.

02/25/2014  Continue working "Forgotten In Time", assembled crude song.

02/24/2014  Uganda issues a statement saying gays are disgusting & against the law.

02/22/2014  Arizona passed a law today allowing discrimination in favor of religion. Retirement party in Salem.

02/19/2014  While composing "Forgotten In Time", found that the Bass note durations were too long, and the notes were overlapping & mixing at the note boundaries causing noise & ringing. After experimentation, set durations to x.375/x.188 to allow for the note decay. This probably applies to all the mixes so far, and they need to be corrected as I go.

02/17/2014  Rain stopped, clouds broke, sun shining, still windy, squirrels in yard eating peanuts.

02/15/2014  Went to see Sandy & Nancy in Portland.

02/13/2014 The Sun is actually shining today, but there is still snow on the ground.

02/12/2014  Happy birthday Laurie! Had a minor HD crash after a program hung up during installation.

02/09/2014  Icy snow today.

02/08/2014  It's Saturday, there's enough snow in the yard that I had to go make a snowman!

02/07/2014  More snow.

02/06/2014  Snow in Wilsonville again, lot's of snow.

02/05/2014  Finished working the Chorus of "Forgotten In Time".

02/04/2014  It snowed in Wilsonville, OR today for a couple of hours between 2 and 4 PM.

02/02/2014  Super Bowl Sunday...and the Seattle Seahawks win!

02/01/2014  I was sick all day today but don't know why?

01/31/2014  Marc texted me today about educational opportunities in the Navy or Air Force. We had a good exchange. Redid Chorus Bass as part of the ongoing renovation of "Forgotten In Time".

01/29/2014  Check out a replacement instrument for the violin in "Forgotten In Time". Continue with song composition.

01/19/2014  Returned home from Olympia, WA after Laurie's brother Mack passed away.

01/12/2014  Engineered a wall mounting system for the Bose AM5 modules from spare parts in the garage.

01/11/2014  Setup HD video and Dolby 5.1 surround sound system.

01/08/2014  Traveled to Vancouver, WA today with Lucky to buy weed at the skateboard park in Central Park near Clark College at the corner of E. 4th Plain Blvd. and Fort Vancouver Way.

01/06/2014  Received my e-mail rejection letter from Mars One for the first round of astronaut selection.

******************************************      2014      ******************************************

12/30/2013  Continuing with "Forgotten In Time", working out note and chord runs. Happy Holidays everyone!

12/03/2013  Continued with "Forgotten In Time", Tom Tom drum kit selection.

12/01/2013  Attended a Holiday party at the CEO of Salem Hospital's house, food was excellent including shrimp, & lobster cannelloni.

11/28/2013  Thanksgiving in Olympia, WA.

11/22/2013  Had a doctor's visit in Salem today for an echocardiogram and blood draw. The ticker is fine. "Forgotten In Time" has a very long chorus, I may have to do something to reduce it.

11/20/2013  Completed work on "Key To The Past", the next song on the schedule is "Forgotten In Time", with "Never Say Never" a second.

11/16/2013  Saw the stage version of "American Idiot" at Keller Auditorium.

11/15/2013  Called Carrie and found out that mom has a brain tumor. Switched back to AltaVista as my Home page (ref. 7/12/13).

11/10/2013  Continued with "Key To The Past", changed the Hi-Hats again.

11/07/2013  Found a typo in my Belize document "My Perspective" on page 21, paragraph 3, sentence 4; remove the word "I". "Key To The Past", 18 beats from Hold to EOS (End of Song).

11/04/2013  While traveling home from Vancouver, WA today in cold, wet conditions, my vehicle lost traction and I contacted the wall of the bridge near the 5/405 interchange in Portland. I was able to regain traction without incident except for a small scrape and a bumper ding.

10/31/2013  Halloween in Wilsonville, OR...one or two groups at the door. Oh well, that's more candy for me.

10/28/2013  Started working on the Intro to "Key To The Past".

10/27/2013  Back in Portland.

10/26/2013  I think this is the weekend I made a snowman at Salishan Spa & Golf Resort, Gleneden Beach, OR.

10/24/2013  Lost my way taking Tully to the hotel in Milwaukie, OR, due to the "Great Wall of Milwaukie". Weekend at the beach.

10/22/2013  For "Key To The Past"; new Hi-Hats, Outro is good, got the Bass going good.

10/20/2013  Back to Portland.

10/18/2013  Weekend in Olympia.

10/17/2013  Continued with modulation for "Key To The Past", including some lyric (collapse the wave of probability).

10/12/2013  Saw Bonnie Raitt today in Portland at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, with Marc Cohen opening for her.

10/11/2013  Continued with modulation for "Key To The Past".

10/10/2013  Win7 computer wireless (Lynksys Wireless-G) went out today, switched to the NIC that was in the old laptop.

10/09/2013  Sent Teela an e-mail in case she doesn't have my current e-mail address. Started working on a modulation to the Key of G for "Key To The Past".

10/06/2013  Saw "Gravity" in IMAX 3D at Bridgeport Village.

10/05/2013  Laurie arrived back from Orlando.

10/02/2013  Making changes to "Key To The Past"; Bass mods, Tenor Sax & Trombone, switched to violin, documented volume levels.

10/01/2013  Called Ellie Boracci today. She called back about my website and I found two errors because of her, thank you.

09/30/2013  Dropped Laurie off at the airport for a conference in Orlando, FL. Continued with Bass embellishment for "Key To The Past".

09/27/2013  Replaced all the web site files and exploit is gone, cause unknown.

09/26/2013  Finalized the transition to the key of A Mixolydian and started documenting the changes. Found JS/Redir Blackhole Exploit on the web site.

09/24/2013  Continued editing the song "Key To The Past", started exploring a Mixolydian key for the song.

09/22/2013  Returned to Portland.

09/14/2013  Travel to Los Angeles/San Diego.

09/12/2013  Had an ant crawling around inside my LCD screen. Looked it up and found it's not uncommon. It was gone the next day. One web site said not to try to kill them under the screen as you will then have to stare at it forever. Continued with the song "Key To The Past", the Excel file was not up to date.

09/11/2013  Brought my website up to date.

09/07/2013  Laurie's 35th High School Class Reunion in Elma, WA. I played some music through my boogie-box for about an hour before we had to leave the rented room. Later, in the hotel rooms, people came up to me to ask about it!

08/30/2013  Completed the application process for Mars One and was accepted for the first round.

08/24/2013  Signed up for astronaut selection on the Mars One website and started filling out the forms.

08/21/2013  Scribbled some new lyrics in my notebook, I'll have to come back to this.

08/07/2013  Went to see Allen Hinds at Jimmy Mak's in the Pearl District, Portland. It was an excellent show, Allen is so smooth.

08/06/2013  Checked out the Mars One website and reviewed the astronaut criteria.

07/25/2013  Saw Quarterflash at a free concert in Bridgeport Village, Tualatin. They opened with my favorite song, "Valerie".

07/12/2013  Switched my Home page to Google.

07/08/2013  The Alta Vista home page was finally decommissioned today. I had used it since 1995, when the site was created.

07/05/2013  Portland Waterfront Blues Festival, day 2. Saw Eric Burdon, front man for The Animals and WAR. Excellent show for 71 years old!

07/04/2013  Portland Waterfront Blues Festival, day 1.

06/04/2013  In Portland, still unpacking...

04/28/2013  Searched for SATA HDD recovery info on the web. Removed drive, cleared CMOS with the jumper, re-flashed CMOS, reinstalled drive, couldn't recover it. Replace at Fry's, but scaled back to 3.0 Gb/s so that it will talk to my computer. Reset the CMOS again and rebooted, no SATA messages this time and Windows has resumed the repair from yesterday.

04/27/2013  Got a SATA PCI card from Fry's. The program crashed while formatting the drive, new drive is not detected and Windows fails to boot. Tried repairing Windows but it still hangs, it won't complete the repair task now.

04/18/2013 - 04/21/2013  Trying to get the SATA drive to work with my computer.

04/09/2013  Trying to add a SATA hard drive to Laurie's computer, flashed the BIOS but it still won't work. This is related to the HD crash of 2012, the disk is still problematic. Eventually added an EIDE drive and set the old one to Slave.

01/21/2013  Preparing to move to Portland, Oregon due to the poor job conditions in San Diego. In Los Angeles, two of the largest companies that I've worked for are sharing a single contract, and hundreds, if not thousands of resumes are received for a single job offer, if and when they actually need someone.

01/10/2013  Laid off from the Marine Corps job already. I did the heavy lifting with Gary Hinds, and then they didn't want to pay our rates anymore. The company's name is Logistics & Technology Services, Inc. and they are literally incompetent, I think I'll write up a page about how incompetent they are when I get some extra time.

01/05/2013  Spoke to Gary Hinds, my new friend at work, and his brother is a musician, Allen Hinds, who occasionally plays at The Baked Potato in Studio City, Los Angeles. As of this update, I haven't seen him play there yet.

******************************************      2013      ******************************************

12/01/2012  Went to see Bob & Ellie and recorded some videos of my own music. Some of the songs were only recently completed, and I made some chord errors.

11/13/2012  Started a new job today on an HVAC contract for Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

11/09/2012  Dante's Friday Night Beer Bash.

11/05/2012  Started composing the song "Key To The Past". Found the water pitcher hadn't been filled, the Halloween gummy bears were gone, and moldy clothes were in the washer. I wonder who did all that?

11/03/2012  Bob & Ellie's for dinner. Southbound I-15 closed due to an accident, except the carpool lanes.

11/01/2012  Lucky found pizza crust on the floor somewhere, I wonder where that came from?

10/31/2012  Half priced Halloween corndogs at Sonic.

10/29/2012  Still working out the kinks with "The Decay".

10/28/2012  I had a fight with Alex, who has been disrespectful lately. He's claiming squatter's rights. The Tigers lose the World Series.

10/27/2012  Breakfast with Lucky at the Curbside Cafe in Vista.

10/26/2012  Took Lucky back to Wildwood Park today, and stopped by Dante's for the Friday Night Beer Bash (he makes his own).

10/24/2012  Laurie's brother and my friend, Steve, passed away from a heart attack today while he was fishing.

10/23/2012  Played "Changing Times" and "Virtual Reality" for my neighbors Dan & Dante in Dante's home studio.

10/22/2012  Applied for a job today with the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Never heard from them again.

10/20/2012  Bob & Ellie's for dinner.

10/18/2012  Received the parts and repaired the coffee machine, thank goodness.

10/16/2012  Started composing the song "The Decay".

10/14/2012  Created a mosaic from the Hubble Extreme Deep Field image recently released, and posted it to Facebook.

10/13/2012  Sully the Cat showed up today.

10/10/2012  The Barista coffee maker is broken due to too many years of normal use, ordered a new portafilter.

10/09/2012  Made modifications to "10,000 Years" and continued editing.

10/08/2012  The Sugar Cup Lid Incident.

10/06/2012  Completed the initial composition of "10,000 Years" and recorded it quickly (2 tracks) for dinner in Jamul with Bob & Ellie.

10/04/2012  Still searching for work, plenty of rejections though.

10/01/2012  The neighbors dog Jeeter and his friend showed up at my house this morning after busting through their gate.

09/30/2012  Me and Laurie took the boys out for dinner and drinks to celebrate their 21st birthday.

09/27/2012  Alex called and said he got a job!

09/24/2012  Started composing  the song "10,000 Years".

09/23/2012  Completed setting up Laurie's computer by finally getting the sound to work today. The reported drivers name was wrong.

09/20/2012  Went through my old writing looking for stuff to work on next.

09/19/2012  Boys Birthday. Alex called and needed a place to stay so we took him in.

09/17/2012  Reformatted the hard drive successfully, although it looks like about 60 MB of the drive have been marked out as bad.

09/12/2012  Started backing up all my data to DVD after having to recover one computer already. Replaced Laurie's DVD drive with one from the old, crashed machine, and it isn't working either. The problem is the hard drive error has corrupted the drivers. Transferred all the files with two, 2 GB memory sticks. It took a little while, but it worked, and I didn't crash anything else.

09/10/2012  Crashed an old, operable Win 98 computer of mine today trying to backup Laurie's data. I'll have to work on that later.

09/09/2012  Laurie bought a new Chevy Volt. It's the coolest thing, and it's built very well...I want one!

09/08/2012  Laurie's computer crashed and there is an error on the hard drive. I'm able to retrieve the files, but I need to burn them to DVD. The DVD drive in her machine is lame and doesn't burn DVDs like it says it will. Troubleshooting system.

08/30/2012  Went to a job interview in LA, 200 miles round trip and 7 hours of time. I eventually did not get the job.

08/25/2012  Neil Armstrong passed away today. "Bon voyage, my friend".

08/22/2012  Started composing the song "Enchilada".

08/15/2012  My computer rebooted last night by itself for an urgent update, but didn't save the Excel file I had edits pending on. Thanks Microsoft.

08/10/2012  Made it to the beach today, it was great. Played my Frisbee by the pier, just like old times.

08/08/2012  Started composing the song "Virtual Reality".

08/02/2012  Spoke with Chuck Katz via e-mail today.

07/27/2012  Saw The English Beat with Dave Wakeling at Wiens Vineyard in Temecula. Laurie bought a poster that we got signed by Dave after the show. It was a lot of fun. A friend of ours invited us, and we got to see his new Fisker Karma electric car!

07/26/2012  Checked out an experimental setup I devised to play my music out of the bed of my truck with a boogie-box, a battery powered CD player, and an inverter. I'm still trying to figure out how to incorporate a mic, but it's great for just standing there and performing. I put little Lucky in the bed of the truck with some blankets so he could go with me. Jammed at Brengle Terrace Park in Vista to test it out. There weren't too many people in the park, but I was definitely noticed. Met John Decker who stopped to listen. I sent him a friend request on Facebook, but he never accepted.

07/24/2012  Replaced the rear brake shoes on my Dodge Ram pickup truck, they had started to squeal.

07/20/2012  Found another error from the "lost files" and fixed it. Re-verified all other songs

07/19/2012  Recording tracks for "Childhood's End" from the sequencer. Got a text message from Ryan Huttleston/Impentris on the road.

07/17/2012  Uploaded some poems to Poetry.com.

07/13/2012  Friday the 13th. Went to see Impentris tonight at the Mainstage in Ramona, CA. It was loud, but good. 

07/09/2012  Started composing the song "Childhoods End".

07/08/2012  Today is the drop-dead date for the callbacks for The X Factor. I didn't get a call back, so I didn't make it this year.

07/07/2012  Lucky's 5th Birthday!

07/05/2012  Started recording "Changing Times" and "Tomorrow Through Yesterday" tracks from the sequencer. Contacted Steven Meyers a local vintage guitar collector about music production. He only collects and sells guitars.

07/01/2012  Went to the beach today, but the marine layer was so thick, it was cold. We didn't stay.

06/28/2012  Officially completed "Changing Times", started composing "Tomorrow Through Yesterday".

06/25/2012  Sang "Changing Times" for the first time for Laurie, in her car, on the way back from picking her up at Long Beach airport.

06/24/2012  Played through "Changing Times" and it "is excellent!" per my notes.

06/18/2012  Worked "I'll Be There" enough to be functional. Started composing a song of mine titled "Changing Times".

06/16/2012  Bob & Ellie called to wish me a Happy Birthday, and to actually sing "Happy Birthday". Thank you very much!

06/14/2012  Took Lucky back to the walking park, but this time we drove.

06/11/2012  Continuing with "I'll Be There". The LA Kings win the Stanley Cup over the New Jersey Devils after 45 years as a franchise.

06/10/2012  Found more errors in the SmartMedia card data, they were minor and completed today.

06/08/2012  Completed all edits for the lost data and played through the entire set.

06/07/2012  Found out you can "Unsubscribe" people on Facebook.

06/05/2012  Venus transited the sun today. I set up my telescope to project the image onto a screen, and I posted a photo to Facebook.

05/30/2012  Still working on the lost data, it was worse than I thought. Started practicing the song "The Greatest Love of All" by George Benson.

05/20/2012  Received SmartMedia cards and backed up the data successfully. Started working to restore the lost files.

05/15/2012  Cleaned my computer; trying to read that card, it's broke. Not all files were recovered, so I resorted to the last save files on the hard drive. Some of those were corrupted, possibly by the same problem, and I lost a small amount of work. Ordered some new SmartMedia cards from the web.

05/11/2012  Working on a version of "I'll Be There", by Michael Jackson, in my sequencer so I have a backing track. Had a crash of one of my SmartMedia cards that I store my Yamaha sequencer data on. Transferring the files off.

05/10/2012  Feeling much better today, my first day of real singing since I got sick. Alex and Marc stopped by to exchange laptops.

05/09/2012  Light singing, still feeling bad but improving. Attended a MoveOn.org rally in downtown Vista with Lucky. We walked about three miles one way, and went through a newly opened area for walking dogs behind the fire station at Wildwood Park.

05/08/2012  My health is improving, it must have been the flu or a really bad cold. No singing or playing since the 5th.

05/05/2012  Attended the 31st Annual Auction & Dinner for The Riverside Area Rape Crisis Center as a guest of Southwest Healthcare System. Unfortunately, I couldn't shake anyone's hand since I had gotten sick on the way home from Greensboro.

05/04/2012  Performed this morning at Terminal D4 of the Charlotte-Douglas Intn'l Airport and received congrats from many of the passengers, including these three fans heading to Africa via JFK Intn'l Airport. I was too busy to update my blog anyway. Check this out for some photos my brother Dale took of me.

05/03/2012  I made it through all of the auditions for The X Factor. You have to get through the first one to get to the second, of course, which is the next day. After the second audition, they took me to a room where all of the people who had made it so far were waiting. From there we went to a room with an actual video camera and crew to do the third and final audition. After that it was over, and now I just have to wait for a phone call.

04/27/2012  I'm heading out for Greensboro in a couple of hours, it's going to be so much fun! I'll update my blog while I'm on the road.

04/14/2012  Shopped for some clothes for the audition.

04/13/2012  Completed assembling a dossier about The X Factor Season 1 (2011). This references the songs, people and chronology of that season, including people who didn't make it because they were horrible. Also facts and info from The X Factor website.

04/10/2012  Laptop repair complete, finished updating all software.

04/09/2012  Received HP Recovery Disks, started recovery of laptop.

04/07/2012  Had a beehive under our backyard deck removed by a company that will keep the bees and not destroy them. I got to watch as the honeycombs were removed and the queen was found. I love bees. This reminds me of an incident that happened in Lompoc when I lived up there in my previous life. I took the boys to Beattie Park when they were about four years old, and we took a hike up the paths in the back, up the hill. It was a nice sunny day, and I didn't notice at first, but there were a lot of bees flying around in the air. As we kept going, there seemed to be more and more bees, and they were starting to land on us. That's when I noticed a swarm of bees hanging in a nearby tree. Not only that, but I saw another swarm under another tree, probably from the same huge hive. I told the boys whatever they do, don't swat at them or make any movement against them. We kept walking and the boys didn't seem frightened at all. I was talking to them the whole time, telling them to be calm, and everything would be fine. At one point I stopped, and we were in a cloud of bees, and bees were covering us from head to toe. It was simply amazing. There was no danger here, only curiosity, I think, from both parties. We stood there for a few minutes with bees covering our bodies, and then I slowly started walking back down the path we had come. Gradually the bees flew away and by the time we got to the bottom of the hill, they were all gone. The boys were too young to remember this event, but I've shared it with them many times since. They did good and didn't panic or swat at the bees, and everything turned out fine. It was a meeting of two alien cultures, that's all. I'll never forget it.

04/04/2012  Added Bio information. Removed the Viagra exploit on my website by overwriting all of the files on the site. This was after I removed Java and all Adobe components first, so I can't say if that's a requirement. Refresh your site first, and then delete Java and/or Adobe if that doesn't work. Ordered a Recovery Disk from HP for the laptop.

03/31/2012  Alex brought his laptop by and it won't boot. Started working on recovering it. Hardware is fine, it's a software issue only.

03/25/2012  Found my website hijacked by Exploit Pharmacy Spam Site (type 1704) which redirected traffic to a Canadian Family Pharmacy via [retailersaleviagra.com]. See 04/04/12 for solution.

03/24/2012  My trip to Greensboro is finalized. My brother Dale and my sister Carrie are going to join me there. Yeah!

03/20/2012  Started practicing "Blue Moon" in the  style of Elvis Presley's Sun Records version of 1954, Key of C, progression I-vi-IV-V.

03/17/2012  Practice and dinner in Jamul with Bob & Ellie.

03/15/2012  Walked 10.5 miles to test my workout results and get a prescription from Costco.

03/13/2012  Check out my friend Ryan Huttleston and his new web site TeknixConcepts.com. This guy is the real deal, he's good!

03/10/2012  Jimmy Buffet in concert at Viejas Arena at San Diego State University!

03/05/2012  I can't make the auditions for The X Factor in San Francisco. I've decided that the best option for me is to fly to Greensboro, North Carolina, near where some of my family lives anyway, and audition there on May 1st. Registration is April 29-30.

03/04/2012  Laurie's brother Steve arrived with our new dog and friend, Lucky, who was Laurie's dad's companion in the last years of his life. We took him in for his good behavior and dedicated service, thank you Lucky! He's a red Miniature Pinscher.

02/29/2012  Replaced the old "Unravel Me" audio file with the new music, albeit without guitars and vocals. Still working on that.

02/25/2012  Re-arranged documentation and started practicing "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele. Performed it for the first time in Jamul. Changed audio files to load from MySpace for now, but why can't I have them on my site like the video?

02/24/2012  Updated blog entries from my personal notes and logs. Downloaded "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele and arranged the documentation. The song is in the Key of Cm. Analyzed chord variations and progressions.

02/22/2012  Added Links and Photos pages.

02/21/2012  Updated site and added Cheena tribute page. Some of the songs I've been practicing lately are, "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay and "The Edge Of Glory" by Lady Gaga. I'm going to be checking out "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele also.

02/19/2012  Registered for The X Factor auditions in San Francisco. The venue is The Cow Palace in Daly City.

02/18/2012  Today was the K9 Cancer Walk in San Marcos, CA, sponsored by Morris Animal Foundation. I was "Team Cheenie" team leader, and with over 800 other participants, we raised money for canine cancer research.

02/17/2012  Sent e-mail for The X Factor Pre-registration.

02/16/2012  The X Factor releases the 2012 audition schedule. San Francisco is the only live, California audition venue.

02/15/2012  Updated web site and added this (pseudo) blog. Song links are broken due to Cox Cable, searching for a new storage area.

02/12/2012  All the kids were over today for Laurie's birthday, and to sign up for the Cancer Walk for Cheena.

02/11/2012  Shot some videos of me performing in Jamul.

01/12/2012  Registered with Facebook in support of The X Factor 2012.

01/09/2012  Checked out "The Edge Of Glory" by Lady Gaga.

01/07/2012  Marc & Brittany came over and we had dinner and watched "Aliens".

01/04/2012  Cheena McCully passed away due to lung cancer. She was a good dog and friend, and she'll be missed.

01/01/2012  Happy New Year!

******************************************      2012      ******************************************

12/21/2011  Holidays in Olympia, WA. Laurie's dad Phil passed away around this time.

12/18/2011  Bob & Ellie's for me & Cheena today. This was Cheena's last trip to see Taffy. We were stopped at & passed a sobriety checkpoint, even after using the Breathalyzer.

12/02/2011  Checked out "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay.

12/01/2011  Finished "Unravel Me" and recorded into DAW. It's back in the Key of D at this point.

11/24/2011  Came up with some chords for the song "Fields Of California". Went to 333 with Marc & Brittany for Thanksgiving.

11/20/2011 - 11/26/2011  Scale Degree exercises and research in support of "Unravel Me".

11/17/2011  Worked out a new melody line and chord progressions for "Unravel Me". This is the last iteration, and sounds the best to me.

11/09/2011  A stray dog named Snoop showed up this morning. He had a collar, so I was able to contact the owner who came over and picked him up.

11/07/2011  Much has happened over the past months, and I'm still hard at work. I'm not finished yet, but hopefully soon!

11/05/2011  Researched modulations and turnarounds.

11/02/2011  Worked out the chords to "Changing Times", a future project.

10/28/2011  Went to Las Vegas with Tony and Sharla.

10/26/2011  Investigated a new 3/4 Time melody line and chord progressions for "Unravel Me" in the Key of F and programmed it.

10/24/2011  Worked out the chords to "The Decay", a future project.

10/15/2011  Worked out a new melody line and chord progressions for "Unravel Me".

10/12/2011  Started a new Excel file to list the scale degrees for each song, and other artist's songs, to aid in song development.

10/11/2011  Walked to the Post Office with Cheena today.

10/08/2011  Went to the beach in Oceanside today. It was very relaxing and I had a good workout with my Frisbee.

10/06/2011  Circle Of Fifths research and study.

09/27/2011  Quit smoking cigarettes (the first time...2/16/2017, TAH).

09/26/2011  Scale Degree and Mode research and study.

09/20/2011  Started a formal workout regimen to get in shape.

09/15/2011  Finally isolated and removed the virus files. Sent them to McAfee for analysis.

09/12/2011  After running a spyware check and rebooting, a virus popped up and hijacked my computer, a nasty thing called "Security Shield 2011". Stay away from it if you can, it continually closes open windows while you're trying to remove it.

09/09/2011  At 1:30 AM the power came back on.

09/08/2011  The power went out today all across the southwestern US and Mexico. The only sound was me playing through my set.

09/01/2011  My neighbors dog Jeeter fell into their pool today while no one was home, and I had to jump the fence and pull him out. He would have died if it wasn't for the recession and my unemployment. It's weird how things work out sometimes.

08/20/2011  Went to Temecula and saw Missing Persons and The Romantics in concert. Warren Cuccurullo was not there, even though the poster said he would be, and The Romantics tore the house down (what do you expect from a Detroit band). Excellent! We got a new, framed Beatles poster in the auction too.

08/17/2011  Started arranging "Tomorrow Through Yesterday" documentation and programming.

08/09/2011  Took some more photos of Cheena.

08/02/2011  The package design is finished and I'm getting everything mixed down. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. Thanks!

08/01/2011  Assembled a final CD package and it looks great!

07/30/2011  Conducted a photo shoot for Cheena because she's on the back cover.

07/27/2011  Received CD materials and started the package design. 

07/25/2011  Reorganized the studio by transferring files and moving an old computer out to reduce the noise levels.

07/23/2011  Ordered blank CD's, labels and jewel cases.

07/17/2011  Started recording vocal parts into DAW.

07/16/2011  My friend Dennis Romero showed up today at Bob's house in Jamul. Played "Unravel Me", "Then I Explode" & "Asleep at the Wheel" and had a smashing good time.

07/13/2011  Started recording guitar parts into DAW.

07/07/2011 - 07/10/2011  Seattle & Olympia, WA with new CD in hand.

07/06/2011  Burned the first version of the entire album, without guitars and vocals, as a performance CD for my upcoming trip.

06/24/2011 - 07/05/2011  Went through all the songs and fixed errors, adjusted levels, tweaked settings and played repeatedly.

06/23/2011  Feeling sick today; transferred some old WAV and picture files to my backup hard drive.

06/22/2011  Finished "Time/Sweet Belize" and recorded into DAW.

06/14/2011  Started arranging "Sweet Belize" documentation and programming. "Time" and "Sweet Belize" will segue together.

06/10/2011  First public performance of "Asleep at the Wheel" in Jamul. Fonz really liked it and rushed out to hear it! Thank you!

06/07/2011  Started arranging "Time" documentation and programming.

06/06/2011  Finished "Asleep at the Wheel" and recorded into DAW.

06/04/2011  Wrote and arranged a bridge for "Asleep at the Wheel".

05/30/2011  Started arranging "Asleep at the Wheel" documentation and programming.

05/26/2011  Renamed band to "Thermium" after finding too many "therm's" on MySpace. What's up with that?

05/18/2011  Re-recorded "Unravel Me", "Something's Out There", "Then I Explode", "The Universal Anthem" and "War" to DAW.

05/17/2011  Rearranged "Unravel Me" to the Key of Eb with the same chord progression.

05/15/2011  Added "Texas Spring" audio. Please keep in mind that these files are compressed and the CD will be higher quality.

05/14/2011  Finished recording "Texas Spring".

05/10/2011  I recorded a little song today called "Rocket Rap" that I had written back in February of '94 when I was launching rockets up in the Lompoc area. Back then, we really got into it and were building extreme rockets in size and power. I recorded this to send to Dale since he was going through a similar phase with his kids today. I should post it here, but it's kind of corny. Oh well.

05/06/2011  Alex & Marc show up for an impromptu jam session.

04/29/2011  First email announcement of web site kickoff.

04/24/2011  Added "Fossiliferous" video to this site via MySpace. (MySpace will be broken in the future and this won't work).

04/09/2011  Web site initially posted to the web.

03/31/2011  Attended photo shoot for the album, got a lot of nice shots.

03/26/2011  Recorded all tracks for "War" into the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Needs more work.

02/28/2011  Purchased a Digitech Vocalist Live 4 (VL4) effects processor. It's fully programmable, and will apply effects locally without the use of the computers microprocessor, which can be handy in live situations.

******************************************      2011      ******************************************

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Tim A Herman