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MAY 2003

Thursday – May 1, 2003
May Day

11:39 –  I went in to work late today. I didn't make it to the office until 11:30. I have been trying to catch up a lot of stuff at home tonight. I will have to catch up the darts page and create buttons for the "Picture Pals" link. But... that will have to be later, I am too tired. OH! I got an email from "Sue" in Lancaster today. She is friends with the Batz family her daughter is dating Denise Batz's son, James!! I sure hope I can get in touch with Denise again. She was the "love of my life" and I have thought of her at least a few times every years since we left in 1969. Dearest Denise... you were my soul mate I thought at one time. I have NEVER forgotten you. I wonder what you look like today? I have become old, fat and ugly, but I was once a very attractive young man. Ah well... time will take its toll.

11:45p – Time for bed. Can't stand it much longer!

Friday – May 2, 2003

7:39a – It's payday, it's foggy, it's cool, I'm up. Skip (I assume) has gone by the store before coming home. I am burning a CD of pictures this morning. I would rather be back in bed. <sigh>

8:34a – I was wrong. Skip was getting a haircut, not going to the store.

7:30p – Diana & I (with Kira in tow) went for a walk downtown for the downtown Cinco de Mayo celebration. It was over at 8:00p, so it was not very impressive for us.

Saturday – May 3, 2003

1:30a – I am QUITE tipsy. The "Iraq war" seems to be non–existent now!

10:14a – The "tipsy" phase is over. I just feel crappy this morning. Blechh! I just made some spinach/pork soup stuff. The movie X-Men II started playing yesterday. We may go see it today.

11:58a – I got my pills all laid out for the week. I just finished watching an "Alien Nation" movie I had not seen called "Udara." It was good. I love that series!

Kira just got in trouble. I caught her pulling cat poop from Barnabas' litter box! I am so mad at her. She rarely does stuff like this.

12:30p – Skip just got home from the store. I am taking my keyboard down to the promenade for some fresh air (for me, not the keyboard).

10:59p – I went to Hooters for some wings & beer tonight. Some young guy on the train gave me a hard time, asking me for money and ridiculing me for being fat. Then I went to the store next door and some girl (thinking I did not hear) said something about "when is it due?" I heard her and yelled out "EIGHT MONTHS!!" I was not happy. Then they made some joke about my having multiple chins. I have never suffered so many fat jokes in one day! This is awful. I am so saddened by it all. If they could only know what all I have BEEN through, they would NOT laugh (unless they are just vicious and mean creatures).

11:40p – Anyway... I am depressed and not dealing with this evening's outing well at all.

Sunday – May 4, 2003

8:59p – I slept in late today and I really needed it. Of course, it was hard to sleep since it was storming out this morning and Kira kept barking and whining in her usual fashion. I made some interesting little meat filled puff ball things this morning. Later I walked over to Walgreen's and got a motorized coin sorter I sorted coins and rolled them today. I now have $234 rolled! That about pays for my plane ticket for my trip this month! I should have done laundry today, but I just couldn't get up the motivation. I have some clothes to wear still. I wanted to go see the X-Men sequel this weekend, but it was playing at only one theater, The Esquire, way out on Clayton Road. I was assuming it would be at Union Station and/or Chase Park, but it wasn't. At least, not yet. I entered a few more bills into "Where's George?" ... including my two $2 bills. I made a pitcher of iced tea tonight for the first time in ... maybe years. I should do that more often.

I got email from my friend in Russia, Marg. Since I could not send him any money, he has decided I am greedy and has asked me not to write to him again. I am starting to get the feeling that "he" (whoever he is) may have simply been trying to scam me for money from the beginning. Especially since I was seriously thinking of trying to send some kind of financial aid and had ask him for information such as an address and the name of the hospital that his alleged little brother was in and never got a response. I guess he thinks that because I am an American I am rich and can send money to anyone in the world who has an emergency. I wonder if this is how the world views us here? I am sure they don't realize that even here in the US we have children who do not get fed and who die from lack of medical care; people who do not get decent education, etc. We are not a third world country by any means, but that doesn't mean we're all rich. Marg doesn't not understand that I have just been through a major ordeal with losing my home, my job, my pension, etc. Or, maybe he was just using me from the beginning. Well, such e-friendships can be long lasting, or fleeting like this one. When you start asking some one for money, for any reason, when you have only just met them, and that only through email, then something doesn't smell right. That's okay. I can move on. I am really not the one losing out here.

Lunes – El Cinco de Mayo
Remembering Mom's interment this date in 1984 – Columbia Memorial Gardens

7:40a – It looks a lots nicer outside this morning than it did yesterday. Bright and sunny. I slept fitfully last night, once I finally got to sleep. I probably only got 2 or 3 hours of sleep at best. But I don't feel too bad. I don't know if the tea kept me up or the fact that I didn't drink any beer last night.

This was a hectic day! Lisa was out and we had a possible outside hacker hit out networks again. It affected Lotus Notes, Applix, Internet access, and even the VMS based IDXRad!

I went to Talayna's after work then headed home. I took Kira for a walk and when I attempted to return to our apartment, the elevators would not work (from the Promenade). I went down to the Lobby (with Kira)... there were Fire-trucks and Police! Something was going on. I am not sure what. I did not care, I just wanted IN. I walked down to LaClede's Landing with Kira to get a bite to eat (since I could not get back into my apartment). No one would serve us.... everyone said they were closing. I tend to doubt it.

I got back home between 9:30 and 10pm.. I was further annoyed by "ticketmonster" and problems with some of my email accounts. I went to bed VERY angry and disturbed!

Tuesday – May 6, 2003
Happy Birthday to Lisa Zakaria!

I missed work today. I was so upset from last night, adding that to the medication I am taking, caused me great upset. I could not function this morning and had to call in sick. I slept most of the day. I got up and ordered $20 of Chinese food. (steamed dumplings, chicken wings, hot&sour soup, and 'shrimp & mushroom'). Yes... I pigged out. It took all day.

I played darts tonight. I played "okay" ... but we lost almost every game. That sucked. Bill picked me up and took me home. I fixed the remainder of my soup for supper.

Wednesday – May 7, 2003

Back to work as normal today. No... not really. the IDXRad system crashed around 9:10am and was down until 12:05. This caused a major problem for the first half of THIS day!!! The second half of the day was about normal.

Diana came over and we watched the beginning of "Dogma" tonight. I think she liked what she saw. It's is a bizarre but good movie. (How could it be otherwise with Matt Damon?).

Thursday – May 8, 2003

12:26a – I have been cooking the last of the corned beef briskets tonight. It is cooked. It's about (past) time to eat!

12:44a – It was tasty... now I must go to bed.

I got Mother's Day cards out to 'lisa & Darlene today, and a birthday card to Stephanie.

I went to bed early tonight (10:25p). I didn't get to sleep soundly until after 2:30am... but I got an adequate night's sleep.

Friday – May 9, 2003

I felt amazingly refreshed this morning, despite not sleeping well. I had weird dreams about dinosaurs eating children. One dino ripped a little girl's arm off and ate it... then it started talking! That's about when I woke up!!

I arrived at work this morning in casual wear (my black denims and my Orlando "Volunteer" pull-over). Laura's birthday was being celebrated with some DELICIOUS cheesecake provided by Gorgette! YUMMY!!

It was a long day, but finally reached its end. I came home and walked K-Dog, then met with Diana and we went down to Hooter's where we had a great meal and split 3 pitchers of beer. Of course, I probably drank 2 of them.

Saturday – May 10, 2003
Birthday en Memoriam: Colleen Lewis (Mom)
Happy Birthday to Stephanie M. Selfridge (niece)
Happy Birthday to Laura Ruhrwien! (Dept. Director)

This was a busy day, once I finally got out of bed. I took Kira for her walk this morning, the I went back to bed until noon. I got motivated to go watch X2 (the sequel to the X-Men movie). It was only showing over at the Esquire, so I had to take the Forest Park #52 bus. Unfortunately, there are TWO #52's! So, of course, I took the wrong one. I took the 'Richmond Heights' #52 and I should have taken the 'Clayton' #52. I was lucky to run into this very nice Filipino lady named Eldina, who actually walked with me quite a ways to show me where I should catch the correct bus. We chit-chatted as we walked, and I mentioned 'The Scholar Shop' which was just a block or two from us. That's the thrift-store that Diana introduced me to.

I got close to the theater, but ended up having to call a cab to get the rest of the way there (that was another $5). The movie was to start at 3:50pm and I planned on going to the Boston Market next door to the theater to eat. I had not eaten all day. However, I got in line at the theater at precisely 3:50! So, but the time the movie was over, a little after 6:00p, I was VERY hungry!

I had my chicken, it was delicious, with some of their creamed spinach, some mac & cheese and their sweet cornbread. I have not eaten at Boston Market in a long time, but their food is still great. I used to eat at the Boston Market in the former Sun Bank building in downtown Orlando quite often. They closed and a Japanese restaurant opened in it's place. That restaurant was supposed to be named "Samurai" ... but they encountered a legal conflict with another restaurant of the same name, so they just took the first and last letters off their name and became the "Amura" Japanese Restaurant!

I ate my food in about 5 minutes, I was so hungry! Then I walked over to Schnuck's and bought some pork steaks and coconut milk. The bus would be running soon, and it looked like a storm was about to burst, so I had to hurry. I thought I would never find the bus stop, and it started sprinkling just before I finally found it. Then it started to thunder and rain, so I took shelter in an alcove near the stop and kept a watch out for the bus. The rain had slacked off when the bus arrived, so I did not get very wet.

I got on the bus, and to my surprise, there was Eldina (with, I assume, her daughter and her daughter's friend, who were on the bus with me on the way in). We continued to chat. It's nice to meet pleasant people. Oh! She had gone to The Scholar Shop and bought a few items! I was happy that I could "turn her on" to the place.

I debated going out after getting home, but I didn't feel like it. I just picked up a bottle of wine and some orange juice from the store next door and sipped in "wine coolers" until Skip got up. I was feeling a bit trashed by then.

I worked on my computer most of the evening. I found a way to POP email from problem accounts in order to clear the var/spool problem. So far, I think it works. Oh yes, I also got my second hit on Where's George! This time, the system sent me an email. That's very handy.

Sunday – May 11, 2003

5:10p – I felt awful this morning. The couple of beers that I drank on top of the wine (and OJ) were definitely NOT a good idea! I took K-Dog for her walk, then went back to bed. I got up afternoon. Skip had the curtains shut, as usual, playing EverQuest. I put on a pot of pork rice, but it did not come out too good. The house is a disaster. I am still not feeling very energetic, but laundry MUST get done today. I am just so disgusted with this small apartment. I just is not big enough for the two of us, but moving is such a hassle.

5:18p – Skip went to bed about 30 minutes ago. He starts back on his old schedule tonight, so we should get that part of our lives back to normal. I got my laundry done this evening... finally!

I downloaded & installed the "MailWasher Pro" program tonight. We will see if this helps with my excessive spamming problem.

Monday – May 12, 2003

7:22a – I am up early! Especially considering that I did not get to sleep until around 4:00am. I just could not get to sleep.

8:25a – It's a BEAUTIFUL day out; and I feel amazingly well-rested! (I don't know how since I couldn't have gotten more the 4 hours of sleep).

8:32a – So far I am LOVING this MailWasher program!!

10:09p – Despite my ideals, I went to Talayna's after work and got some beer and wings. Tony rode the train with me to Union Station; that was a pleasant change. I got $37 entered into 'Where's George' tonight. Now I have 140 bills $842 entered. So far I have 2 hits.

I got LOTS of emails blacklists and a few "friends" set up on my MailWasher. I am REALLY liking this program!

Tomorrow we have our office luncheon recognizing our achievements so far for the year 2003. I call it the "Survival Party!" I was not asked to do so, but I am going to make a vanilla/banana pudding. Oh no... I just realize I have no vanilla flavor! I better call Diana and see if she might have some!!

10:22p – She must have crashed already. No one answers. Darn... she was just here a few minutes ago.

Gads... the cat box STINKS to high heaven! I am so tired of dealing with Skip NOT dealing with his cat. You can step into Diana's apartment and don't even KNOW she has a cat.

Tuesday – May 13, 2003
Survival Party!

1:18a – Skip cleaned up the cat box (thankfully). I decided I could not make the banana pudding. I got the kitchen fairly well cleaned, though the floor could still stand to be waxed. Vacuuming still needs to happen, but I have to go to bed.

7:13a – I feel awful this morning.

9:53a – I am running late for work this morning. I feel better after a Vivarin and some V8, but my stomach is sending me to the bathroom every few minutes. Yuck... sometimes I HATE my body! (I think it's hating me too though!). Then a button popped off my pants and I had to sew them. There goes another hour of vacation down the drain :(

8:21p – I am so tired. This has been a long and stressful day. It started off with bad stomach problems, and a button popping off my pants. This caused me to be an hour late for and then I got chastised for that. Ah well... there are bound to be days like this.

9:21p – I am SO ready to go to bed already. Wish Skip still got up at 8:30 instead of 10:30. That was the part of his other schedule that I liked.

11:31 – The team played Crazy Darts tonight. I did not have to attend and was too tired to participate anyway. Too depressed. I'm off to bed now.

Wednesday – May 14, 2003

8:30a – It's a nice day out, but I am still in a foul & bitter mood. I am dressed and ready to go to work. It is ironic that I just mentioned to the Director Monday evening how lucky I was to work in a place in which I felt so comfortable and part of the team. That changed in a day. I think, if one gets treated as a "peon" ... that's is how one will act.

I made a couple of pans of Mom's Vanilla Banana Pudding tonight for the first time in my life. I looks like it came out okay, but it was a lot of work!

Thursday – May 15, 2003 Debut of "Matrix Reloaded" 9:12a – Arrive at work. I am keeping strict records of my hours at work. Lunch at 1:12, back at 1:27 and left the office at 6:25p. Once again, I ended up late at the office by myself. My Banana Pudding seemed to go over well. Lisa seemed to be mad at me all day. Becky was out of the office. The phones were messed up this morning and it was an abnormally light day at work. It was a beautiful day outside today and I hope it is this nice on the weekend when we go to the zoo (la besto ĝardeno). Friday – May 16, 2003 12:07a – I am up too late. Must go to bed. I have a roast in the crock pot. I hope it comes out good! 7:46a – Darn... I over slept. It looks hazy & cool outside his morning. I bet I should wear my jacket!

I got "called on the carpet" at work today. I was the most absurd situation I could imagine. I was accused basically of three things.

So... I am going to start cutting all polite connections with my co-workers. It is sad, but I don't know what else to do. I have too many personal health issues, including major blood pressure problems, to allow myself to be pulled into these problems. Mom died from a heart attack at just about one year older than I am now, and Ken claims to have had 3 heart attacks a just a year older then me. I have already had a "mini-stroke" and am on BP meds for life it looks like. I don't need to let this stupidity kill me.

No more cooking rice, no more chit-chat. No wishing people a nice weekend. No discussing my personal life. Nothing. I will be just a functionary. I don't know if I can pull it off, but that's what I must try to do for my own survival I fear.

I went to Hooters tonight with then single intention of getting so drunk that I could NOT think about work. I only worked for a brief few moments.

Saturday – May 17, 2003

I went to Brentwood with Diana and Skip today. It was a pleasant outing (despite constantly reliving yesterday's issues). I bought a new 32Mb Compact Flash card for my camera at Target, and some new sheets. We went to Macaroni Grill for Skip's first time. I had the salmon again. It was a great meal, except that Skip asked for NO mushrooms and he got them anyway.

Then we went over to the shoe store that Diana told me so much about, but I thought they were WAY too expensive. The cheapest shoes I could find there were about $40 and they were crappy things. I have not paid more that $30 for a pair of shoes in years and see no reason why I should do so.

Then we went to Dierberg's grocery store. They are way to expensive too, but they have a few items I can't get easily elsewhere. Specifically, Sriracha hot sauce. I got a couple of bottles. It was a long ride and we finally made it home.

Sunday – May 18, 2003

1:52a – I am supposed to go to the Zoo today. Diana may go with me. I was hoping that my Cherokee "Osiyo" shirts would have arrived by now, but they did not. I guess I will wear the green sleeveless shirt that I got at K-Mart in Orlando last March (436 & Curryford).

12:09p – I have just ordered a couple of ink cartridges.

I made it to the zoo in time, but due to the construction going on in the park area, the bus route had changed and did not let me off in front of the North gate. I was dropped off at the South gate instead. I spent 40 minutes search for the North gate. Of course, once I finally found it, all the EASL member were gone.

I never did find anyone. I left around 5:00pm, arriving at the bus stop at 4:49p. The bus finally arrived at 5:38p, and took me into Clayton where the bus driver (some what rudely) pointed out that we were on the wrong bus and had to transfer. My bus-stop friend and I transferred over to the Ballas bus and got off at the Delmar MetroLink station. I took the 6:24 train on to Forest Park station and stopped at Talayna's for a while where I had a few beers and tried to relax. This was a dismal weekend and an exceptionally screwy day!

Monday – May 19, 2003

8:22a – I am really depressed and don't relish the prospect of going to work today. It's really sad when you don't feel you can trust the people you work with nor feel you can have friends at work. Especially when one spends so much of one's life in the work place.

Much of the management and other personnel all went off to a ball game today. How strange..... The day finally finished up and I came home. I went to bed early.

Tuesday – May 20, 2003

Our dart game went better than it has been tonight. We won! I won a couple of games I think; at least one. My "Cherokee Seal" shirts arrived today.

Wednesday – May 21, 2003

Gary worked today. I wore one of my new shirts to work. Went to Talayna's after work and had a salad and continued reading some of my current David Edding's book, "The Sapphire Rose."

Thursday – May 22, 2003

7:35a – I slept badly last night. I kept having to get up (that salad from T's wreaks havoc on my digestive system; or maybe it's just the house dressing). I am so tired this morning. This vacation is REALLY a good thing! I need time off from work.

I found out Mitch will be taking Wednesday off and we're going to go to Santa Cruz! (Yay!) ... and Jack is renting a big 4-door car so we can travel in luxury. The trip is sounding better every day!

Skip got up early this evening. He couldn't sleep due to anticipation of being off work for a week!

Friday – May 23, 2003

7:25a – I had the most WEIRD dreams last night! They are already fading, but there was one with a couple of "evil spider-men" who had a woman captive. Another with this wild girl who was kept hostage in a cellar. I remember she was trying to escape from a broken basement window and I was throwing rocks at her. I was afraid she would hurt me if she got out. Then there was an earthquake (or something like one) and an entire town started to get sucked into the center like a black hole. I think it all started at the house where the wild girl was kept. None of it made sense and was really wild and bizarre!

7:30a – Rice is warming up and time to Take K-Dog out. My mail washer program is doing its job. I only had 2 emails make it to my email client this morning.

ONE DAY LEFT BEFORE MY VACATION BEGINS!

I am supposed to meet with Carl M. at Hooter's tonight. Diana may or may not join us. We will see.

Diana did not join us, but Carl & I had a pleasant rendezvous. y'At'Te C'Asw' unfeine, t'b' Ih' Asky' Ime fye Y'Asw' "aIbe." y'oldt' imhe y'Asw' Atne. t'be, Y'Ad' Ut' elt' imhe y'Asw' Atne 'Etstre 'ITyeurthe! ... I hope he is okay with all that... it was not really relevant to my relationship with him, in my opinion.

Saturday – May 24, 2003

I got up and took Kira out this morning. It was a bit cool, but a jacket was not needed. I got my hair cut at 11:32 this morning (much shorter than it has been for a while). Then I met Skip at Union Station. He had "rescued" a small bird (a Sparrow I think). It had possibly hit a window and hurt itself, so he put it behind some bushes at Union Station so that, if it was going to die, it would do so in a more natural setting. I so understand his feelings. I am glad he had them. I sometimes worry about him, but when he does things like this, I feel very good about him.

"Painted Ladies" in St. Louis. An architectural style...

So, then we walked over to the Lafayette Park area. I took lots of pictures. We stopped at Arcelia's Mexican Restaurant and had a nice meal. I had a bowl of Menudo (with hominy) which was EXCELLENT! I also had a taco and a tamale which were far better than the average. They were quite tasty!

Our first trip to Arcelia's

After arriving home I was going to walk down to the RIB AMERICA festivities which are in progress, but it was sprinkling rain. I decided I did not want to get wet.

Sunday – May 25, 2003

I didn't do much today until the afternoon. I went to see the 4:40pm showing of "Matrix Reloaded" at Chase Park. It was high action and enjoyable, but not as good as the first movie. It didn't have the fresh, new quality; the mystery and the final dénoument of discovering what the Matrix really was. It also had a "cliff hanger" ending with the worlds "TO BE CONCLUDED" at the end of the movie! Obvious set up for a sequel. However, the special effects were good and the movie did flesh out the story line a little further.

After the movie, I went by Schnuck's and picked up some food for supper. I made tostadas with typical ingredients plus fresh avocado and cilantro.

MEMORIAL DAY
Monday – May 26, 2003

Happy Birthday to Tamisa Terrell!
(my niece in NC ... now a quarter century old!)

EN MEMORIAM
Frank E. Lewis
(we don't forget you, Daddy!)

This is a beautiful day. I got laundry done and my pack done. I took Kira for a walk and sat down at Morgan Street with her at an outside table where I had some quesadillas and about 3-4 beers. I came home this evening and finished typing up the "Who were the Aní-Kutaní" document which I plan on putting on-line.

Covered in critters and completely content...

Tuesday – May 27, 2003

I did not get to sleep until about 3:00am and then I got up at about 4:45am. I was fairly tired as I dragged myself off to the airport this morning. I caught the train at 5:34 and arrived at Lambert at 6:09am. The temperature was 64 degrees I noticed as I walked to the train station. I got checked in at the airport, and through security with little problem and my flight left on schedule. I laid over in Denver then caught my flight out on schedule and arrive in Sacramento, still on Schedule. Keri and Calisa were there to pick me up.

Arriving in Sacrament where my sister and nieces picked me up from the Airport...

We drove back to Modesto and picked up Calais; I was very hungry by this time. My first meal of the trip was at a Mexican Restaurant called Acapulco (Calais used to work there). I ordered a nacho platter that was HUGE! I couldn't eat it all.

We did some more running around, including taking Keri's boyfriend, Mikey, on an errand. By the time we had done all the running around, it was getting late and time for supper. Mitch made supper, consisting of BBQ ribs, a potato salad made with cream of chicken and stove top stuffing. I was a very tasty meal and I was stuffed.

Wednesday – May 28, 2003

Today we went to Santa Cruz. I had a great time. We all got sun burned, but it was a great time anyway!

Thursday – May 29, 2003

Jack came to pick me up from Modesto today. We went back to Sacramento and had lunch at a "yuppy" Mexican place. I got a cup of water as we were leaving so I could take my pills, but discovered that I had left my pills in Modesto! We had to drive all the way back to get them! Total bummer. We drove back, got my pills, then drove to Davis.

Jack's desk at his and Adam's apartment in Davis, CA

Jack had to take a nap (he's getting a bit old I guess), so Adam and I went out by the pool where there were having a BBQ. I thought I would take a dip in the pool, but no one else was, so I felt uncomfortable and did not either. Adam had some food (I was not hungry). Later Jack joined us. We went back to their apartment, got dressed and went out to 4 different bars. I got just a bit smashed!