Teyrnon

I don't know why I haven't done this before now. I guess I finally got tired of having to bank switch the remote every time I move from one room to another. For whatever reason when I was setting up the X10 modules after moving here I arranged the unit numbers such that 1-4 were reserved for the parlour, 5-6 were reserved for my mother's bedroom, 7-8 were my bedroom, 9-12 for the back living-room and library, and 13-16 for the spare bedroom. This naturally led to wide gaps of unused numbers. I now have all the lamps with X10 modules arranged in a sequence from 1-8.

Since about the beginning of this year I've making a point to make a new entry here at least once a week. Largely my posts have been inconsequential poorly thought out efforts to post something. Anything I can think of at the moment I sit down to post is what has gotten set down here. Posting for the sake of posting is kind pointless. I'm going to dial back my efforts to post every week. Instead I'll go back to just posting whenever I feel like it. I'm more likely to put more effort into what I have to say that way, I think.

It's weeks like this one that make me wonder if a commitment to doing a post a week here is a good idea. There's really nothing in the week that I can find worth remark. Going over it in my mind and I find that I don't really remember anything. The days all bleed together in one mass of monotony and nothing terribly memorable rises out of any it. Maybe next week will be better.

I should probably comment on the Lost finale but what is there to say? It's over. The conclusion was pretty much consistent with the rest of the series. It was a great conclusion on the first viewing. I made the mistake of watching it a second time. I don't recommend that, by the way. Anyrate with the finale I think I'm done with this show; I have no desire to ever see any of it again.

Nothing really new. I'm still researching netbooks though I am now sure that a netbook is the best solution for what I've been looking for. I've been a bit sick this week but I think it's probably just allergies.

I'm wondering if we're going to see an upsurge in demand for Senet sets after this week's episode of Lost featured that game so prominently.

( A word about Phil. )

Well, it's the end of the month and just about the end of the week. Shumate came by this afternoon to check the air conditioner. Just the routine seasonal maintenance. Nothing more to be said about it.

Okay, doing a post every day is going to be a challenge. Today I woke with pretty much the same headache as yesterday. There were pains in the neck and left shoulder too. No leg pains though. That was nice.

Tried the new Chinese buffet down the street. It wasn't bad but they had a large amount of seafood. Crab, oysters, several kinds of shrimp, mussel. The Black Pepper Chicken wasn't bad at all. Nice enough place, don't think I'll be going back any time soon. I'm just not a huge shellfish fan.

I ended up making my trip into Atlanta a bit sooner than I anticipated. I was figuring on doing it in a week or two and maybe even a month off but an issue with my bank and the necessity to get money into my checking account to pay off that after Yule-tide credit card bill forced the issue and I had to get to a branch of my bank to get things sorted out. Getting a ride to a branch in Gwinnett County wasn't going to be feasible for a couple months so I looked over my plans and decided that Wednesday was going to be the day.

There is an express bus that goes through the Park & Ride lot a mile from the house. It started up during the summer of last year but I never felt confident of my health or felt a burning urgent need to go through the hassle of dealing with an unknown transit system; technically two unknown transit systems since both GCT and GRTA are involved in this express service. I'm a bit less adventurous in this regard than I was in my younger days. My bank provided the urgent need and so I had to go. I got up at 5:00 this morning and got myself ready. I left the house at 6:00. It was very dark out. I've never walked through this neighborhood at that hour of the morning before. It was dark; really, really,dark. We don't have an over abundance of streetlights here. In fact some streets don't have a light at all. That made me a little nervous. My wardrobe tends towards dark colors and I was more than a little concerned about getting hit by a car or worse shot at. Someone shot our mailman a few years back in broad daylight and there have been reports of violent mischief in the area. Bored middle class teenagers; enough said.

Lest I forget to mention this, it was rather cold too. I wore that wool jacket I got a few years ago. I don't think I've ever worn it before. Usually I just wear a thin windbreaker. It was sufficient and I'm glad I wore it. I think I would have really been in sorry shape if I'd worn the windbreaker. I also wore some cloth gloves I got from the corner drugstore the other year. Those were adequate. (Note to self: Get a new pair of gloves.) Anyrate, it was cold. It was probably just a hair above freezing when I left the house and I don't think it got much over 40 degrees Fahrenheit all day.

Other than being dark and cold the walk to the Park & Ride lot was uneventful. I found the bus stop, it's one of those little covered pavilion type things that seem popular. Anyrate, it was easy to spot. There was no one else there so I sat down. I knew I'd have at most a half hour to wait. While I was waiting others started showing up, in ones and twos. Before long there was maybe twenty or thirty of them It seems strange but they formed a very orderly line stretching a good ways back. I've never seen such an orderly line at a bus stop before. Usually people kind of spread out at a bus stop and gather into a line when the bus appears but these people were forming their line right from the get-go. It was kind of unnerving.

The bus ride itself was about an hour long. I sat all the way in the back in what was probably one of the least comfortable seats in the bus. It was a peaceful ride, I watched the scenery go by and the sky lighten.

Okay, this is getting long and I grow increasingly hungry. I'll continue this later in another post.

Once upon a time I could walk ten miles without much trouble. Unfortunately that time was almost twenty years ago. It's hard to believe it's been quite so long but sadly it has. A large part of this is that I've gotten more sedentary as the years have gone by. Especially now that I'm living in an area where I can't just walk to a bus stop and hop on a bus to run whatever errands come up. As it is now I get out maybe once a week for errands and that's largely just trips to the grocery store. The past year I've gotten even lazier about taking my walk. I could cite a plethora of excuses I suppose, everything from depression about my mother's illness and death to my own medical issues, aches, and pains, but mostly I've been lazy.

I took the first real walk I've taken in several months today. I walked to my brother's house to make sure all was well there and to bring in his mail. His mailbox was quite full today. He only gets home on weekends these days. When I finished there I decided to walk out to the Highway to see if I could. My legs started to ache by time I got to Park & Ride lot so I turned around and made my way back home. All told it was about 1.8 miles round trip including the visit to my brother's house. My legs are still a little achy even now. I'm going to have to work myself back up to five miles. It's surprising how quickly the body seems to go to waste if you don't keep your activity levels up. It was only six months ago that I could have walked two miles and further without any difficulty.

Tomorrow I'm going to get up early again and try to get in a mile's walk before it gets too hot.

As with many I find myself feeling reflective on this final day of the year. I keep thinking how much I wish many events of the past year had either gone differently or not happened at all.

2006 has not been a great year for me. It hasn't even been a good year. One of the heaviest events of the past year for me was my mother's stroke and passing several months after. I still strongly wish to wake up and find its the morning of 20 May and that the past 7 months have all been a bad dream. I know that's not going to happen but I can't help but wish. Not really sure what stage of grief it represents but anyrate, there it is.

While I could catalogue in detail the travails of this year I won't. I know that others, among those who might be reading this, have also suffered as well in 2006 to one degree or another. I just want to express my wishes for a better year to come. May 2007 be the year our lives get back on track and move forward to accomplishing our goals and desires in this world.