Friday, April 30, 2010

Lifeline Screening

Today we went to Broadway Baptist Church for a health screening. There were fewer people there than I remember the last time we got a screening. It could be the economy has a lot to do with that. I think that most people do not go to see a doctor until they have symptoms. Today's screening could be called preventative medicine. We are supposed to get the results within 21 days. One of the tests checked for AAA. I am concerned about this because my Dad has this condition. All the tests were given in a period of about 30 minutes.

We picked up things out of the back yard to get ready for the man who will be mowing our grass. We also went to the library. They had some books for me, but since I'm indexing a book right now, I did not pick up any books. They will hold the books a few more days before sending them back to their library of origin. I hope to pick them up before then.

Our dishwasher was delivered and installed today. We went through the drive-thru at Wendy's after the medical tests and got lunch which we brought home to eat. As we drove up, we saw a pickup in our driveway with our dishwasher in the bed. He had not called before coming by, but he said he had not been there long. He installed the dishwaher and left. Our new dishwasher runs quietly.

I discovered today that I have the sheet music to Schubert's "Fantasy in F minor," which I heard played recently at a Hyechka meeting. The music is on a CD Sheet Music disc titled "Piano Duets: The Ultimate Collection." All I had to do was print it out.

Two of my favorite TV programs aired their final episodes tonight: "NOW" and "Bill Moyers' Journal." Moyers is retiring. His reporting is irreplaceable.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

MRI today

Today we went to St. John's Hospital to get an MRI. It took longer to have the MRI taken of my back than it did to have the MRI of my brain about a month ago. We were at the hospital for about two hours. After it was over we went down to the cafeteria, but found that it was closed. We went to a nearby Wendy's. There I got a bowl of chili and a Dr. Pepper. Afterwards we got a chocolate Frosty, which we split.

Darlene, who lives across the street, has a man who mows her grass. He came over and looked at our yards (front and back) and offered to mow ours for $35. We said okay. He said he would mow our grass this Friday or Saturday. Tomorrow we are gong to have some medical tests run at Broadway Baptist Church. For $139 each we get five tests run. They check for AAA and a few other things. We last had these tests about five years ago.

The man who is going to install our new dishwasher is supposed to come by in the afternoon. I hope we get back from Broadway Baptist in time.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Review of the day

We ate at Rib Crib for lunch today. Then went went grocery shopping.

My page proofs arrived today, and I began working on another book. This book is only about 170 pages long.

There is not much to write about tonight. I will try to get a good night of rest and get up tomorrow morning and start indexing. I do have an MRI scheduled for tomorrow at St. John Hospital in Tulsa. Maybe that will give me something to write about tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Out and about in Tulsa

We were out and about in Tulsa today. The first place we went was Sears at 21st and Yale. There we picked out a new dishwasher. The installer will call us Friday and arrange to install the new dishwasher and haul off the old one. Next we went to Red Lobster for lunch. J had the Sailor's Platter and I had the stuffed flounder. After lunch we went to Staples and turned in ten empty ink cartidges. They should be sending me a check for $30 for the used cartridges. I also ordered a 12-pack of hot pink highlighters which I use in my indexing work. Dumbarton Oaks will be overnighting page proofs for my next indexing job. They should arrive tomorrow.

When Gail was over yesterday for our weekly piano duet practice, we decided to play "Castle House Rag" for Movie Night at the Bradleys this Saturday. We have also been asked to play again at Church of the Restoration on May 9. We are planning on playing Austin's "A Little Bit of Bach" on that occasion. The piece showcases themes from the music of J. S. Bach.

I would like to get back to volkswalking again, but the results of the MRI I am to have on Thursday will determine my next step. If the surgeon advises surgery, I will gladly do it. I need to get back to walking, an impossibility for me in this condition now. I feel fine as long as I am sitting down, but walking around is most difficult.

Monday, April 26, 2010

View from Drillers Stadium


This is a view of the field, officially known as Oneok Field. The character prancing around on the field is the mascot Hornsby.



This is the view from Drillers Stadium near downtown Tulsa. We watched a game last Saturday evening from an upper deck along the third base line. Dinner was catered for the corporate guests. Birdzerk was the entertainment.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Busy Sunday

I had three events to attend today and they were back to back. Actually they overlapped a bit.

First, was Church of the Restoration. Today was Poetry Sunday at Restoration. I read "Noah," a poem written by Philip Appleman. It has some humor as well as some somber portions. It runs about 10 minutes in length.

As soon as the service was over I was out the door and on the way to the Agora Coffee House, venue for the Tulsa Atheists Meetup. I arrived about 1:10 pm, but the meeting had not started. Leading the group today was William Poire, a dynamic young leader about thirty years my junior. Also present and taking a leading role was Hilary McKinney, a law student at TU.

At today's meetup, Bill recommended we read an article in today's Tulsa World: "Let's Move Learning Online." According to Bill, online learning is the wave of the future. It is more effective and cheaper than the present system. You go at your own pace, and there is no bus transportation involved.

Following this meeting, I stopped at Wendy's for a quick lunch. There was a "crazy women" in line behind me who just had to tell me jokes. Example: Why did the orange stop at the bottom of the hill? Answer: It ran out of juice. She fired off five or six such jokes, and no one enjoyed them as much as the teller. She guffawed at each joke. I sat down and ate my chili and afterwards proceeded to Joe Price's house. I had called Joe to tell him I would probably be late. I arrive at 3:45 instead the normal 3:30. Joel was not there today. It was just myself and the Prices.

I got home in time to watch the 5:30 Nightly News. After I finish updating my blog, I hope to read some of the book I will be indexing in the coming days.

I don't think I mentioned I will be having an MRI on my back this Thursday. I am getting tired of the constant pain. I have been taking aspirin to lessen the pain. I have not taken any more Aleve since Dr. Rapacki said it leads to kidney failure.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Food & Fellowship and a ball game

The day began by going to the HAT Food and Fellowship gathering held at Chopsticks, a Chinese restaurant located at 61st and Sheridan. There were ten of us there. I took my camera and the waitress shot a picture of us all. If I like the photo, I will post it tomorrow.

One thing I learned at the Food and Fellowship is that the event we had planned for May 6 was called off due to the expense. I assume the tent will still be ordered. We have talked about getting a tent for years, but no action is ever taken on the matter. I will check with Randy to see if he ordered a tent (a $240 expense). It would not break us since we have about $1,500 in the treasury.

This past week I received another book to index from Dumbarton Oaks. The book is only 170 pages long. I have to wait until next Monday to see if the page proofs which were sent to me by e-mail do not change. It is an art history book.

Tonight we went to a baseball game at the new Drillers Stadium near downtown Tulsa. Tulsa played the Springfield Cardinals. We left early (after the 6th inning) while it was still daylight since we had a ten-minute walk to where we parked the car. The event was sponsored by an insurance society to which J belongs. Dinner was provided, which consisted of various barbecued meats with varioius side dishes. It was a catered event.

Tomorrow is poetry Sunday at CoR. I am looking forward to it.

Friday, April 23, 2010

A conundrum

¿uʍop ǝpısdn sƃuıɥʇ ǝʌɐɥ ʇsnɾ ı op ɹo ¿dn pǝxıɯ ı ɯɐ
Ah, this is better.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Cashing in cans

The local recycling place where we take our cans to be recycled was today (being Earth Day) paying double what they mornally do for aluminum cans. We took in two sacks and got 70 cents per pound for them. Next we went down the street to a drug store and bought a bottle of vitamins.

We had lunch at Subway and also went by the library.

I heard from two of my readers who were upset with what I had written about the Bible. When you write something that cast doubt on the reliability of the Bible, some people find that threatening. If the Bible is wrong on some points, then the bible may be wrong on anything. Without the reliability of scripture, all of Christianity is open to doubt.

What if there is no afterlife? What if this life is all there is? What if you never again get to see loved ones who have passed on? Showing that the scriptures contain errors makes these questions relevant.

If you are interested in the subject of errors in the Bible, let me recommend the web site whose link is found below:

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/

There are many ways to use this resource. Under "Highlights," you will see a list of 14 topics. Click on "contradictions" to view contradictions.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Slow Tuesday

We went grocery shopping today, and that's about all we did. It is hardly worth signing on tonight. I hope that tomorrow I hear from Dr. Rapicki's office regarding the MRI I will be taking. Until I get that done, I don't plan to do much.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Blood test

This morning we went to St. John Medical Center for me to have blood drawn and tested as a prelude to having an MRI done. We thought we might have to wait a long time, but the wait was short and we were out in a very short period of time. Before leaving the hospital, we went down to the cafeteria and ate breakfast.

We drove back home and have been here ever since. Around 5 pm Nick, Ayla, and Luke can by. Nick left Luke with us while he took Ayla to her piano lesson at Mrs. Hopper's. Neither J nor I are getting around very well at this time. Tonight we watched the MSNBC special program "The McVeigh Tapes." Today was the fifteenth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Uneventful Sunday

Ayla spent the night with us Saturday evening. When J got up she noticed that Ayla was missing. She came looking for her in the back room where I was reading. She asked if know where Ayla was. I said I did not so we went to the front bedroom where Ayla had been sleeping; but she was not there. We found her in the dining room with a big dollop of peanut butter on a spoon. She had silently gotten up and went to the kitchen for food.

J and Ayla got dressed and left for church. Soon I also got dressed and left for my church. There were only five peo0ple there today. There was Edna, the church pianist; Mary, the lay leader; Betty, the speaker; and that left just Larry and myself. I guess you could call us the congregation. Had I not gone today, the congregational attendance was have declined by 50%.

I had no meetings this afternoon; even drumming was canceled. I have been inside ever since I got back from church.

We might look at another Bible question, since I do not have a lot to write about today. The question is: How did Judas die? The writer of Acts (1:18) says, "(With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out." Compare that to Matthew 27:5 which reads "So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself."

I ask you, my readers, which account do you accept? The one in which he falls and burst open, or the one in which he hangs himself?

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Trip to Ponca City

We drove to Ponca City Friday afternoon for a volkswalking and geocaching trip. It was not our best trip. We looked for three caches, but found none.

We ate dinner at Enrique's Mexican Restaurant at the Ponca City Airport, but I was disappointed in the restaurant. I had heard many favorable comments about Enrique's, but the experience was a let-down. The table at which we sat was not a stable table. It rocked back and forth. The chips were so greasy, they were translucent. I had the No. 1 combination plate, which allowed me to sample three foods. The food was good, though. The place is very popular. We had to wait about 20 minutes to be seated.

After we ate, we drove on in to Ponca City. We saw a cluster of motels in the south part of town. I pulled in to a Super 8 motel and got a room. Our room was, to put it bluntly, crappy. There was little shelf space for toiletries. The shower had a two-inch diameter drain with no guard covering it. You drop something down that hole, and it is gone forever. We stuffed a washcloth in the drain just to make sure we did no lose anything.

I had asked for a room with either a king or queen size bed, but all they had was rooms with double beds. I stretched out on the bed next to the window, and noticed that even with the curtain closed, you could see out the window by looking at the bottom of the curtain. If I could see someone standing outside the window, I figured they could look in and see me. So J and I slept together in the other bed.

We noticed strange smells at various times in the night. We had asked for a non-smoking room, but I have to wonder how long it had been a non-smoking room. The walls were thin, and around a quarter after four in the morning, someone out on the walkway had a coughing fit. From the sound of the coughing, I would say the poor soul is not long for this world. I got no more than three hours sleep last night.

When our cell phone alarms went off this morning, we got up and showered and got dressed and made our way to the start point. Dorothy Brown was working the start table. We talked to her a bit and then headed out on the walk. We did not know how long we could walk, but we were determined to find out. We managed to walk two kilometers before pain got the better of us.

On Friday, I received the paperwork to have blood drawn to see if my body will be able to get rid of the contrast agent used during the MRI I will be having. Monday, I will go to a Regional Medical Lab to have the blood work done. Then I will wait until I hear from Dr. Rapacki's office as to where we go next.

We got back to Sand Springs in time for me to get a short nap before leaving for the HAT meeting at the Genealogy Center on Harvard Ave. There were twelve people there today.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Lazy day

We had some plans for today, but we opted to stay at home instead of getting out. The two activities we passed up were Music at the Mansion and the Tulsa Atheists Mid-Month Social. Instead of going to the music program, I took a nap. Instead of going to the TAM Social, I mowed the back yard.

My back problem is much better. The methly pred pack works wonders. It is some kind of a steroid. I expect the pain to make a return visit sometime after the pills run out. I hope to hear tomorrow about the MRI which has been ordered for me.

I made a trip to the library today, returning three items and checking out three other items. One item waiting for me which had come in was a DVD titled "American Betrayed: How Government and Big Business Bring Ruin to America's Infrastructure." While at the library, I phoned in an order at Chinese Express. I went by the restaurant and picked up the order: lemon chicken for J and orange chicken for myself. I took it home and that was our dinner. I put half of my order in the fridge. I will eat it for breakfast in the morning.

After dinner I got out the lawn mower. I noticed the gas can was empty. We made a quick trip to the local QuikTrip and got it filled up. I was able to get the back yard mowed with a minimum of discomfort. In the evening I read e-mail and then watched some MSNBC.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Review of the day

First, I should report that I feel pretty good today. The methyl pred pack has relieved most, but not all, of the pain. I did have to take an aspirin this evening, but that is all I had to take to, in effect, make the pain go away.

We began the day by going to Braum's for breakfast where we both had a sausage and egg biscuit. We took a look at the paper while we were there. We had to hurry home because I am taking medicine. There are two pills that I am supposed to take at breakfast. Next we went to the tag agency. They have a small post office inside the agency where we mailed some insurance papers to get reimbursed for some medical expenses.

Once we returned home, I looked at the responses I had typed up several weeks ago in answer to eight questions posed to me by Galen. I made a few alterations and then e-mailed them on to him.

I helped J fix supper tonight, and then we watched the news on TV. I had seen a promotion of a program on OETA. Two members of the state legislature discussed some issues in the news. I watched that.

I have not heard anything yet concerning the MRI I am supposed to take.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

I visit my doctor

The big news for today is my visit to the back doctor, but since I posted nothing yesterday, I will back up and begin with Monday. Gail is getting ready to go on a trip with her husband to St. Louis and did not come over for piano duets yesterday. She will be gone for two weeks. I still played piano, but I concentrated on solo pieces.

One bit of news from Sunday is that Vanessa Adams-Harris expressed some interest in having a Humanist group within the church. It would be great if we could do that. Some of the HAT folks might also like to take part in a Humanist program of some type. We will see what we can arrange.

In the evening Nick came over. He left Luke with J while he took Ayla to her piano lesson. They also stayed for dinner.

Today we went to see Dr. Rapacki. I described my symptoms to him, and he ordered a MRI for me. He also gave me a prescription for a methlypred pack. The last time I had a back problem, he prescribed methlypred and I got immediate relief. I hope it works as well this time.

There are some volkswalks coming up this weekend I would like to do. On Saturday there are walks in Ponca City and Perry. I will probably have to miss those due to the HAT meeting scheduled for Saturday. On Sunday, walks are scheduled to be held in Prague and Guthrie.

On the way home we stopped at the computer repair shop and picked up our computer. It has been re-arranged. I think everything is still there (I saw the file I'm going to send to Galen), but things are in different places. Imagine if you went on vacation and when you returned home all of your things had been moved to another location within the house. Right now it is hard to find things. Our first priority was locating Sky Index, the program I use to index books. My next indexing job is due to arrive around May 1, and I want to be ready for it.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Daily recap

I got up this morning and fixed myself a bagel and a cup of hot chocolate. I took a shower and a couple of aspirin for back pain, and headed off to church. Since J was still suffering from a lame leg, she did not pick up Alya but instead accompanied me as I went to Church of the Restoration (CoR). As we drove up, Gail was sitting in her car. We all got out of our vehicles and went in to the church. We played through our piece twice before the service began. When the time came for us to perform, the playing of Castle House Rag went well. I thought we played the best we ever had since we have been playing specials for CoR. Gail and I recorded Castle House Rag on video. It can be seen now on YouTube.

After the service was over, we headed back to Sand Springs. We drove through the KFC drive thru and got a chicken meal for J. We went by the house and J went inside and ate, while I drove on to Broken Arrow for a meeting of the Tulsa Coalition of Reason. We met at Bill Dusenberry's house. There were eight of us at the meeting. We talked about plans for the upcoming National Day of Reason on May 6. We intend to set up a table covered by a tent in a park in downtown Tulsa and distribute literature. (I may post more about this meeting on another blog.)

After the meeting was over, I drove to Furr's Cafeteria for lunch, although it was about 4 pm by that time. I had two pieces of Talapia, two rolls, corn, carrots, okra, turkey and dressing with gravy, cranberry sauce, a piece of chocolate cake, ice tea, and ice cream.

When I got home J was ready to go pick up Ayla and go to the Methodist church's Family Life Center (south of the river). Eventually the church plans to have all of its facilities on this property, which is about one mile from out house. The current facilities (sanctuary and classrooms) are all on the north side of the river. The church was having a chili supper this evening. Many styles of chili were available. There were also many desserts offerings.

I have delayed buying tomato plants this year. But with the price of tomatoes being what they are, I should probably go ahead and do it. My only hesitancy comes from the uncertainty of my back problem. I will be seeing my back surgeon in a couple of days and will know more then.

Correcting errors on blogs. While viewing a post, make sure you are scrolled all the way to the top of the screen. Click on the orange symbol that looks somewhat like the letter "B", right before your screen name. It should have an orange background. On the new screen click "edit." This will bring up a screen which lists your postings. You will have a choice of "view" or "edit." Click on "edit" and make the desired changes. Then click on publish post, and the changes should be made.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Daily happenings

It is Saturday. The second Saturday of the month is the time we get together for Secular Singers. So at 2:00 today I was at Gail's to play piano while the others (and sometimes myself) sang. I was the first to arrive. Gail and I went immediately to her piano to practice the piece we will be playing tomorrow at CoR. Soon Randy arrived; Bea was overburdened with other obligations and had to beg off. Once again, there were just three people for Secular Singers. I suggested we suspend Secular Singers until September. The other two agreed. It is sometime like pulling teeth to get others to participate in activities.

I have received three responses to my calling attention to the contradiction between two verses in the Bible, namely, I Kings 4:26 and II Chronicles 9:25. Each explanation differs from the other two. My wife J (she won't let me refer to her by name; therefore the initial) says the variance is due to the use of differing number bases - a different way of counting. We in this country are accustomed to counting in base 10. Number totals would look different in, say, base 7 or base 2. She majored in math in college.

Marti, on the other hand, points out that there is no contradiction in the two verses in her New International Version. And she is right. I own a copy of the NIV and checked for myself. The two verses agree completely. But this raises another question: How did the quote from the KJV which dates from 1611 and refers to forty thousand stalls of horses get morphed into four thousand stall of horses in the NIV, which dates from the twentieth century. It is as if the publisher was aware of the contradiction and decided to bring the two verses into agreement by fiat. This is conjectural on my part, but it is one possible explanation. Marti also points out that the number 4,000 is most likely not meant to be explicit. It is a number rounded, say, to the nearest hundred. The actual number could have been 4021 or maybe, 3978. But still, that is quite a way off from 40,000.

Galen took a close look at the Hebrew in both verses and discovered that there is a slight difference in the Hebrew words for "stall." He says our translations may contain "translation errors because the translators were not perfect, but the original manuscripts do not contain errors or contradictions." Of course, the original manuscripts are no longer extant. All we can say is, maybe yes, maybe no.

This raises the question of why, if God went to the trouble to inspire the original writers, he did not also do the same for the translators work? Did he not anticipate this problem?

I thank my three respondants for taking the time to mull over this problem. Thanks also for not getting together to get your stories "straight" before sending them to me.

Friday, April 09, 2010

Poetry group met tonight

Today we went to the grocery store, again. We went on Thursday and bought our produce. Today we went back and bought boxed and canned items. We might go back tomorrow to get meat and frozen items, or we might wait until another day. You see, both J and I are ailing. I have a back problem (my spine, I suspect). J has a problem with her right knee. We both hobble around. I manage to get around okay with aspirin.

The first thing we did today was go to Spoon Drug store where we bought a Neoprene Slip-On Knee for J. Then we went by the library to see if they had a certain book by Lewis Carroll. The book happened to be checked out. I ended up printing out the four poems for tonight's poetry group meeting at Border's.

There were six people at the poetry meeting tonight. Gail, my duet partner, is the leader of the group. We invited the other people present to come to Church of the Restoration on Sunday to hear us play a piano duet. The subject of tonight's meeting was Lewis Carroll. He is best known as the author of Alice in Wonderland, but tonight we looked at some of his verse. Piece's such as "The Walrus and the Carpenter" and "The Mad Gardener's Song" were read and talked about.

We understand that the store on 21st Street, where we meet, will be closing. We will need to find another location to hold our poetry reading and discussion sessions.

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Hyechka Spring Luncheon

Our outing today was the Hyechka Spring Luncheon, which was held at All Souls Unitarian Church (in Emerson Hall). Emerson Hall is the name of the fellowship hall of the church. The room includes a stage on which sits a grand piano. The program started at 10:30 this morning; we left a little after 1 pm.

The entertainment began with three students from Clinton Middle School. Three students each gave a solo performance on flute, trumpet, and cornet. Next came the performance of two pieces on piano. Don Ryan, piano instructor at Oral Roberts University, executed the pieces flawlessly. He played two pieces from Schumann's Fantasy Stucke: "Des Abends," and "Aufschwung."

In keeping with the theme of "The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring," Elizabeth Curtis, mezzo soprano, sang three selections by Gilbert and Sullivan taken from The Gondoliers, Ruddigore, and HMS Pinafore.

Closing out the program was a lengthy piano duet performed by Tamerlane Rozsa and Dorothy McFadden. It was Schubert's "Fantasy in F minor, Op. 103."

Today's luncheon consisted of a salad of spring greens with roasted vegetables with balsamic vinaigrette, chicken breast with bearnaise sauce on a bed of spinach, scalloped potatoes. Dessert was bread pudding with bourbon sauce. The beverage was ice tea or coffee.

Accompanying us today was our daughter-in-law, Jennifer.

Monday, April 05, 2010

Rehearsing for Sunday

Today Gail and I rehearsed for our part for the Sunday morning service on April 11. We also recorded a YouTube video, but we will have to wait until we get our computer back from the shop before I upload it. We will be playing "Castle House Rag" written by James Reese Europe.

I did not do much else today. I had a nap this afternoon and then went to the library. I took some materials back to the library and checked out two books for J.

Here is a question for all you Bible scholars out there: How many horses did Solomon have?

First Kings says 40,000; but Second Chronicles says 4,000. Compare 1st Kings 4:26 to 2nd Chronicles 9:25. This certainly looks like a contradiction to me. Did a zero get added to the number in the first citation? Why do they not say the same thing? If we had only the first verse, everyone would swear Solomon had 40,000 horses. If we had only the second verse, everyone would swear he had 4,000. But since we have two conflicting verses, we are left to wonder.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Easter Sunday

There was no service at CoR today. I stayed in the house while J went to church. Drumming was canceled also. I went back to bed after having been up for just a couple of hours. I feel better in a reclining position than walking around.

Nick invited us over for a late lunch this afternoon. Luke and Ayla were here this afternoon. Gary and Jonathan were there also. Adra was not feeling well and had left for home earlier. We had ham and broccoli salad with rolls. We got back home around 5:30 and watch the evening news.

There is a trailer for the movie we watched last night on the Internet. Google "Whatever Works" and you can see it, if you are interested. I thought it was a great movie.

Saturday, April 03, 2010

A surprise for Movie Night

There were 11 people at Movie Night tonight at the Bradleys. The movie we watched was Whatever Works, written and directed by Woody Allen. It is a movie from last year. I was unaware of the movie before seeing it tonight. There is some great dialogue in the film. I will have to see if I can buy a copy and watch it again.

There will be no service at Church of the Restoration tomorrow. I am going to try to stay in and rest. My back is still giving me problems. I must have something out of place in my spine. I feel fine as long as I am seated, but whenever I get up (and especially when I walk) I have pain in my hip on the left side or pain in the main muscle in my upper left leg.

Using the laptop tonight

Tonight I am using the laptop computer to make this entry in my blog. Our other computer is in the repair shop. I expect to lose a lot of data on the other computer when I get it back.

This evening (actually yesterday now), we went to the Methodist church for the Good Friday service. It was dark in the sanctuary. All the lights were out. There were 14 candles plus one at the front of the sanctuary. I forgot what the significance of the number 14 was, but the one additional candle was to represent Jesus. It was a somber service. No one spoke as the congregants left the building.

The mood could be described by the phrase "Things are not so good." The story of the crucifixation was told again. Yet, two and a half days later, as the story has it, Jesus is out and about, lacking the encumbrance of a physical body, meaning he did not have to stop and take a leak ever so often. I suppose that means he did not have to eat or drink as well. That could be seen as either an advantage or disadvantage, depending on how you look at food.

Nick played his clarinet as the bell choir rang their bells. After the whole thing was over, we went to Braum's. We each had an ice cream cone. Then we came home.