I went to get take out from Flo's and met a guy from Danbury. Get this story...

He moved out here with his wife for her job. He is finding the salary range much lower than back east. I shared my HOA nightmares with him and he chuckled knowingly. He said the Snottsdale attitude has him moving to Surprise. They are leaving their second condo for a house out there. Nicer than this place, less than half the price!

His favorite encounter was on a golf course. He live near the FLW and Scottsdale road intersection. Some days he exercises the dog along the canal. The golf course is nest to the canal. His usual time for this exercise is early afternoon on weekdays when the course is usually empty. He ride his bike and the dog runs with him. One day the dog got out in front a bit and a man in a golf cart drive full speed toward the dog and makes a sharp skid turn in front of the dog! The dog sits and stares at the golf cart driver, a bit confused. My Danbury friend catches up and the cart driver starts threatening him and the dog! "you oughtta leash that animal before someone gets hurt, I got my phone right here I call someone to get this animal off the course, blah blah, threat, empty words..."

So here we have a fine example of California Transplantation. The man nearly runs down a dog with a golf cart. The dog reacts by sitting at attention. The Transplant threatens the dog, the owner and civility because he is used to getting his way. I asked my friend from Danbury why he did not threaten to snap his scrawny neck before his finished dialing his phone for help just for threatening his dog. We laughed at the thought then went back to our beers knowing that is exactly what the cart creep wanted. He was trying to provoke a reaction that would be actionable. Push civility to the breaking point then sue to collect cash.

BTW, The food was good.

204

As mentioned earlier I have some time in the morning before work because I get up well before I need to be there. It is nice not having to rush. It is better feeling awake when the alarm goes off! Karen is trying to get in earlier, but has not succeeded today. She is almost ready and said she would be ready in 6 minutes. SO here I am typing drivel.

204 (Oops, how did that happen?)

Greg and Carol were here for dinner last night. We ate well and had a great time. We even managed to keep "worried mother" Carol out to almost midnight.

We started with martinis and appetizers. Olives, cheese plate, garlic mushrooms and an onion tart. The olives were a huge hit with Greg. We all loved the mushrooms. The onion tart was tasty, but definitely needs to be warm when served. The first few bite were very good, but it lost something as it cooled.

Dinner was Swordfish Siracusa and Prosciutto Aspargus with a Mark West Pinot Noir. Normally she make the Siracusa sauce with chicken for me. It was very good with the swordfish and the guests loved it.

Karen tried her hand at baking again. Blueberry Butter cake is somewhere between blueberry cobbler and cheesecake. It was great, I had two pieces. Well, off to clean up...

204 (How do you eat like like that and lose weight?) (Damned beeper went off 3 times during dinner for stuff I could do nothing about!)

Working late has it's upside, I am usually up before I have to leave so i get a moment to update the web log!
206

I don't have to face a Monday this week! Of course, it is a holiday without pay because I am a lowly consultant. Job hopping has downsides.

Time to get tons done around the house. Mostly hanging art. I have some X10 installs to do. The Nautica room is online, but the library is an outlet short of that goal. I am planning to get the front (porch) lights online and working with the Lounge light to welcome use home.

204

I am making tons of progress on my next adventure. I did some geography research and found my little town in Salish. By my estimate is is probably in Makah Territory which fits with my anti-anglo theme just fine.

I had to change the timelines a bit. The hike is a lot longer and harder than I hoped. The rides are much shorter than I need them to be. I am planning to slow that down with and Electro motor up Rocky mountains. Mostly the plot line remains in tact, just some details to correct.

I also had an opportunity to bring the Sixth World pages in line with the site style. If you did not read these yet, it is time. They look much more consistent with the rest of the site.

The queue is filling up and we are handling trouble tickets at work. We established an on call schedule and are spreading the start times out amoung the team

204

The short days are really getting me down. I am driving to work in the dark and I get home to less than 30 minutes of daylight. I just can't get anything done during the week! I have been working with my landscape lighting. I replace the old wire that were wrapped up in the root of the plants and trees. I needed to move the lights because the plants they were originally placed to light have grown over them.

I got some Home Depot Gift Card this year so I am having a ball spending them.

202

I attended training on the Countrywide Virtual Loan File system for the last two days. The trainer was dynamic. We got piles of trinkets.

It is January but I am still getting flowers! The Hibiscus is loving these temperatures: 70 -75 High and 40-45 overnight. Check out the photos!

I finally got the opportunity to check out Zoran's index of the StrongBad Emails. He put the email episode on a Denny's menu and include hints and easter eggs with every episode synopsis. Puts a new light on some old fun.

201

Karen is in Mexico. I dropped her off on Wednesday and get to pick her up tomorrow. The Cell is supposed to work there, but I can't get through. She called me to say she was still fighting the cold that gave me pneumonia. She did get upgraded, but she has a room mate this trip. Can't wait to hear about that facet of the trip!

201

I went out to spend the Gift Cards today. I got my Wet Dry Vacuum I have been wanting for some time now. I got the hose hookups so I can suck the saw dust out of the Table saw and not coat the floor in a fine dust! I also bought some landscape lighting stuff to correct some problems with the current lighting.

I was out with the DHL friends last night. We hit the Devil's Martini early and had a great time. That place completely changes after 11:00!

201

I returned to work today. Fortunately I only missed one day of training and I think I can catch up. I have an electronic mail account now: james_melcher@countrywide.com so you can all send me a note.

The team is still ramping up for support. The training is on a system that should (soon) be replaced. The current support personnel are leaving the company. This change adds some pressure for our group to pick it up until it goes away.

201

I have a flu before Christmas. I travelled to Pennsylvania to visit the families and "powered through it" for their sake. I started to fell better before the flight home. I even went to work last Tuesday.

On the drive home from work on Tuesday I got so dizzy and nauseated I had to pull over 3 times. I decided maybe it was time to call a doctor. The doctor's office was booked! I got an appointment on Thursday afternoon, from another (not my normal) doctor. It took about 5 minutes of listening (and subsequent blood and sputum tests) to confirm pneumonia.

Heavy duty antibiotics with some prednisone for good measure. I am starting to come out of it now. I am expected back at work on Thursday. I will lets you know how that goes.

Side Effect: my niece and nephew also got infected. Poor kids.

208 :-0