September 23, 2004

• Annoyances

  Weather Bug Chirping

  Weather Bug is a useful service ... and it is free. They have thousands of live weather stations scattered all over the country. The nearest to me is just two miles to the east of our house. The temperature and wind readings they get are very similar to what I observe here.

  But recently we had flood warnings. Anyone familiar with our area knows that we don't get rain from the beginning of June through the end of September. Yet for three consecutive days, Weather Bug sounded its cricket chirp about every half hour to tell us of updates to the warnings of possible flash floods due to thunderstorms in the mountains to the north and east of San Diego. Once would have been enough. The same goes for the high wind warnings for winds gusting up to 45 mph in those same mountains: one warning would have done it instead of bombarding us with insane chirping all afternoon and morning long.
  

  Unwelcome Inhabitant

  Monday morning, when I took some letters out to the mail box, I found a black widow had taken up residence. She was a large sized speciman and had filled the box with a pattern of webs. I got a can of pyrethrin spray and let her have a good dose, then went away and waited over half an hour before returning with a stick to remove the body and clean out the network of web.

  As I placed the letters in the box I thought it was good we had outgoing mail this time. Otherwise, the mailman would have been the one to encounter the spider. It is a common enough problem, particularly at this hot, dry time of the year. I just hate to see it.
  

  Back Pain

  My back started hurting in a new place Tuesday after my mall walk, just below my right shoulder. It wasn't bad enough when I retired to bed for me to take a pain pill, but it woke me prematurely this morning. I had wakened prematurely Tuesday morning, thanks to a cramp in my right leg, so I have been a bit short of sleep. I tried taking a nap late in the morning but the pain wouldn't let me sleep.

  Delia has to get up at 4:30 tomorrow morning so she can get to a meeting she has to attend in Costa Mesa. That means I'll be up early, too. I've still got the pain. I hope I can get some sleep.
  

  Pedometer

  The first week of walking I was taking 4,500 steps to walk two miles. Tuesday, walking the same path for the same distance, my step count was down to just over 4,000 steps. It seems I've stretched my stride.

  Either that or the machine isn't working. If I walk around without shoes, the machine doesn't count my steps at all. If I mount the pedometer on my hip, it can't detect movement and stays at zero. Just walking around the house, it misses about 75% of my steps. The slower I walk, the fewer of my steps get counted.

  This is apparently a design feature. The machine is designed to count regular steps. If you don't have rythm, it throws them out. It says so in the instructions. It takes at least five regular steps, in rythm, before the machine will register anything. If I become irregular for two seconds, it shuts down. I walk about like a drunk staggers, irregularly. This is especially true in the uneven terrain within our house, but I don't walk too much differently when shopping, with all of the stopping and starting.

  Apparently the only steps that count are the ones I take on my measured miles, which makes the machine useless. I already know about the miles I'm walking. I wanted to know how far I was walking the rest of the time.
  

  My Schedule

  I had decided I was going to wash my clothes today. Cathy discovered she had a flat tire last night. She asked me to take her car in and have the tire fixed while she was at work. My clothes never got washed. They might not get washed tomorrow after my mall walk, either, if I'm too tired or hurt too much.

  Cathy's flat tire wasn't the only reason I didn't wash my clothes. When I was starting to get cleaned up to take the car to the dealer, Delia asked me to come upstairs and give my opinion on several outfits she was considering wearing to her meeting tomorrow. While she went through the several required changes of clothing, I decided to watch television. They were showing the World Championship Poker Tournament of Champions.

  My friend Richard Lederer has two kids who play poker professionally, both of whom were in the tournament, Howard Lederer and Annie Duke. I enjoy watching them play and both were among the last three players in the game.

  Howard and Annie went face to face with similar hands, Howard holding two sevens and Annie holding two sixes. The River turned up two queens and a six, knocking Howard out of the game. Several hands later, Annie beat the remaining player to claim the two million dollar prize for herself. The losers got nothing.

  By the time the game finished, Delia and Cathy had left the house and the mail had arrived. After quickly checking the mail, I finally got ready and set out to have the tire fixed.

  • 01:04
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