April 19: Jetting Across the Country...

I write this from a hotel room in Boston. Spring hasn't arrived here yet. There are no leaves on trees. And, of course, it is raining.

I am here with Kylie, who managed to score a full ride scholarship at MIT. Kylie looks awfully young to move cross country to this cold New England town. Yet, she is excited and loves the brick buildings and the old architecture.

I sold out another set of values and used "Uber" for the first time. Kylie and I walked past the traditional taxis to the little place that they let the Internet pickups occur. The driver was nice. Yet, I am uncomfortable with the unregulated aspect of this new "share" economy venture.

While driving to the motel, we went past Fenway Park. The lights were blazing. If you love baseball, seeing a game in Fenway Park must be on your bucket list. Oh, I would love to see a game there. I wish the Twins were in town.

The motel is in a nice little neighborhood. The place isn't all that ostentatious, yet there are small restaurants on every block. Quite a variety of food. Kylie and I chose a Sushi place and had a nice meal while watching five Japanese Sushi chefs make their wares. Going small must be back in vogue, as there are more solo, artisan restaurants than there are chains---at least in this neighborhood. The exception being Dunkin Donuts---they are everywhere. We got a couple donuts for dessert.

We had a great pizza in Dulles airport on the way here. Kylie called it the "best pizza" she has ever had. Kudos to Dulles International for providing great chow to travelers. Even if the airport is named after the Imperialistic Dulles brothers who overturned popularly elected regimes in Iran and Guatemala----an error that we have still to recover from.

Tomorrow a visit to MIT and perhaps a walk across the bridge that divides MIT and Harvard.

April 9: Staying Home

Steps: 12,505

Sometimes you just want to stay home. Which is what I did. I've been trying to find a housekeeper. I also splurged and have found a Handyman (spouse of the Housekeeper) to help me with tasks around here that I just don't have time to deal with. Like going to the dump.

I work so much, I hate spending my days off cleaning and all those other necessary, but time consuming tasks. When you live in a Mud Hut, on a Dirt Road, things get a bit dusty.

So my Handyman started Weed Whacking for me today. Tomorrow he will take a load of some of the junk we've accumulated here for the past ten years, to the dump.

And I've gone through 3 cords of wood this winter. As George sang: "It's been a long, cold, lonely winter". It has been. I've only gone through 1 1/2 cords on average in the previous nine winters that I've lived here. Tomorrow I will have a couple more cords of oak delivered.

It was a day of Puttering. Cleaning up the yard. Taking Angel for a walk.

A new goal: A three mile walk with Angel most mornings.

April 8: The Past Two Months...

Steps: 15,478

Book: "Wolfer" by Carter Niemeyer.


Well those two months went fast. So what happened? I got inundated with work and I just couldn't justify taking time to pluck out words here when I couldn't get my work done. Hopefully, I will have a bit more time to get back to the journal as I changed my work arrangement. I now will spend two days in the field, followed by a day of charting, then two days in the field again. So far this is working; my Supervisors like it that I am getting my charting done on time. And I seem to have more time for other pursuits. Time management, I guess.

The photo above is from Sedona, Arizona with me standing in front of the Grandfather Tree. A wise tree, I'm told. A Healer Guru told me and my traveling partner about it. We checked it out. The Healer Guru is the normal kind of Trustfunder, expensive, Semi-Charlatan--selling healing techniques designed to pretty much heal all of life's maladies (at $1,500 a piece to have the honor to sit in a room and listen to the guy talk about Chakras and Synchronicity). Except the poor guy was in pain from a bad back. I guess he couldn't heal himself.

My Guru (Jesus) was a homeless, impoverished radical. I don't know why Enlightenment costs so much in the US. Maybe because all these New Age Gurus are Charlatans?

So what's happened to me in the last two months?

On February 13 to February 20, I took a vacation to Sedona, Arizona.
On February 27, I had to bury my favorite dog. (more on that later)
On March 7, I turned 56.
On March 14, Kylie was accepted into MIT. (Full scholarship: room, board, tuition, books---$64,000 deal)
Amongst other stuff. (Very personal).

I also accepted a writing assignment for the CNR I am excited about.

I have been miserably unhappy just working 7 days a week. I haven't had time to walk. No time to train. Barely anytime to read.

I also think having Trump as a President has affected me. I am worried about all our measly gains under Obama---especially Obamacare--- being extinguished. I also worry that the Hamster Headed Narcissist will do something dumb. Like bomb the Russians and Assad.

Anyway, I am back. Hello. Let's get started.