Monday, December 26, 2011

A visit to the dermatologist

The day started with Gail coming over for piano duet practice.  We will be playing "Angels From the Realms of Glory" at church next Sunday. 

My GP referred me to a dermatologist.  My appointment was today at 2 pm.  He gave me some prescriptions which we got filled at the pharmacy.  I have dry skin.

After we left the doctor's office, we went to Keystone to pick up the receipts for the walking club.  From there we returned home.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas 2011

One thing different about my daily activities today is that I did not attend church at Restoration.  They had no service today.  Instead I went with J, first to the 9:00 pm service at the Methodist Church last evening, and again this morning at 10:30.  In the afternoon today, we went to the Dobbs' house.  The Dobbs are the parents of Jennifer.  We had Christmas dinner and played games that afternoon.

We had some good medical news about Jennifer.  It seems her brain tumor has gone away completely.  She had several cyberknife treatments recently.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Interview of Ayn Rand

I fail to see how anybody can be so enamored of Ayn Rand.  Watch the following interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7zwO88nRH8&NR=1&feature=endscreen

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Walking and tires

This morning I reached one of my goals for this year.  I had hoped to reach an average of a mile a day walking.  With my 3-mile walk this morning, I reached 367 miles for the year.  At times I thought I would not reach this goal, but I kept walking anyway.  Things worked out so that I was able to reach this goal.  There are still a few days left in this year.  I hope to be able to do a volkswalk or two before the end of the year.  I need to go out to the YRE at Lake Keystone with the stamp plug for 2012.

In the afternoon, I went to Hibdon Tire Co. at Tulsa Hills shopping center.  I bought a new set of tires for the 2008 Saturn Aura.  Afterwards, I went to Target and bought an inflatable mattress for J. who will be baby sitting the grandchildren for a few days following Jen's surgery.  The previous blow-up bed had developed a leak somewhere.  Luke and Ayla are now with us for a few days.

Printing a kidney

Here is a video about some amazing new technology.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/20/printing-organs_n_1160307.html?1324396773&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl21%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D121822

Monday events

On Sunday evening we went to a Christmas Cantata at the Methodist Church.  There was an elderly woman (in her 70s or 80s) sitting on my right.  When her cell phone rang, she dug it out of her purse and answered it.  We were sititng on row three.  After she finished talking, she started sending text messages.  The cantata was Tapestry of Light: A Celtic Christmas Celebration.  It was written by Joseph M. Martin.  The program consisted of ten songs intersperced with Biblical text.

We made a trip into Tulsa this morning.  J had an appointment with a doctor.  I would say more, but J does not like for me to give out details on medical matters.  We stopped at the Crescent Cafe for lunch.  From there we went to Dollar General to get a few items.  It rained much of the day.

Nick brought his children (our grandchildren) to our house in the afternoon.  Nick and Jen went to see a doctor in Tulsa.  Jen will be having surgery soon.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Article on Ayn Rand

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/8958-ayn-rand-made-us-a-selfish-greedy-nation

The link above will take you to an article on the late Ayn Rand.  I cannot think of any individual I detest more than Ayn Rand.  The title of one of her books, The Virtue of Selfishness, pretty well sums up her outlook on life.  If you have time, read the article.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Solstice Party at Bradleys

This afternoon the HAT group met at the Genealogy Center.  I left the house early to get there early, but when I got on I-44 the traffic was moving at a crawl.  I bailed out on to Highway 75 South.  When I got to 71st St., I exited on to 71st St.  That is the location of the new Tulsa Hills shopping center.  Traffic moved at a snail's pace until I reached Lewis Ave.  By the time I got to the Genealogy Center, I was 15 minutes late for the meeting.  The meeting was in progress.  After the meeting was over I returned home via 21st St and Avery Drive.

This evening we went to the Solstice Party at the Bradleys.  There were 15 to 20 people there.  They had a table full of hors d'oeuvres which I lingered around for quite some time.  We discussed world issues for a while, and then I moved to the piano and played Christmas carols while the others sang.  We played and sang everything from "Jingle Bell Rock" to "Silent Night."  Around 11 pm we filed out of the house and headed for our homes.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Death of Hitchens

I just read a headline which announced the death of Christopher Hitchens at age 62.  He had been diagnosed with cancer several months ago.  His habit of smoking may have been a factor in his death.  The article had no details, but I'm sure there will be more about his death to read tomorrow.

Thursday, December 08, 2011

An evening at Phillips Theological Seminary

PTS was the setting tonight for a speech by Rob Boston, who was flown in from Washington, DC to address the Northeast Oklahoma chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.  I saw a few HAT people and a few Restoration people at the event.  Boston spoke for a little more than an hour.

Flooded with calls

Lately I have been flooded with phone calls from family, friends, and admirers of all sort wanting to know what they can get me as a Christmas present.  Fret no more.  I will gladly accept a gift card from Amazon.  I will use it to download more books on my Kindle to keep me reading well into 2012.

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Biblical justification of socialism

It has been said that you can find a Biblical text to justify anything.  If you doubt this claim, go to http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/ and see for yourself.

To illustrate my point, take the matter of the Bible's stand on socialism.

In Acts, chapter 4, starting with verse 32 we read:

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possesed was his own; but they had all things common.
And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possesors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need,
And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite and of the country of Cyprus,
Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

Surely there must be a passage in the Bible which justifies laissez faire capitalism.  When you find it, send it to me or post it on your blog.

Episcopal priest on religion

Hear this confession by an Episcopal priest:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1db_1323156698

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

A visit to Occupy Tulsa

I left out one thing from last Sunday.  During the Religious Education period, 10 am to 11 am, we talked about what we can do to help the Occupy Movement.  We decided to visit the site and talk with the people there.

When I arrived there about five people were at the site.  The person in charge seemed to be Eli.  The group has no structure to speak of, but they have figured out a means to insure that someone is at the site at all times.  When we left, there were about five people there, but not the same five who were there when I arrived.  Supporters came, stayed a while, and then left.

As I was parking my car, I saw another Restoration church member drive up.  It was Joy Avery.  A little later, Mary Rounds drove up.  Joy had brought with her a church hymnal.  We three sang a few songs together, a capella style.  Joy plays guitar, but she did not have it with her.  We asked Eli about upcoming actions, and he filled us in.

I was reminded of something Bill Dusenberry has said.  Nowdays, atheists and Christians have reversed roles.  Today you find atheists out working for social justice, while the Christians play the role of detractor of those working for social justice.  This is something of an overgeneralization for you can find Christians such as Sojourners (associated with the political left) who are working for social justice. 

We stayed about an hour before leaving.

The last few days

I wrote about our trip to Ponca City with Glenn and Gail, eating at Enriques, and visiting the Pioneer Woman's Museum.  That was last Friday.  We got home before dark.  Gail and I played our duet for Glenn and J on my grand piano.

The next day, Saturday, it seemed to rain all day long.  We had Ayla with us from the evening before.  The three of us went to Gail's violin recital that afternoon.  It was held at Hope Unitarian Church.  There were about 50 people in the audience.  Gail was not the only performer.  She is in a Suzuki class with others.  Ayla was getting restless, and we decided to leave at the intermission.

We drove to Charlie's Chicken and had lunch there.  It was still raining and the floor was slippery.  I managed to remain upright despite the slick floor.  Following lunch we went to Hahn's Appliance and bought a new filter for our refrigerator water supply.  We drove home in the rain.  That evening, we went to Randy's for Movie Night.  Gail and I played a our duet once again.  The movie was a documentary about some cave drawings which were recently discovered in France.  It seems a landslide had sealed over the entrance to the cave thousands of years ago.  Inside the cave are drawings of animals.  The drawings were made 30 to 40 thousand years ago, according to carbon dating.  They are the earliest human artifacts that we know.

The next day, Sunday, Gail and I played the special selection at Church of the Restoration.  It was the same music we had played earlier, a combination of Jingle Bells and Silent Night.  The message was given by Bill Dusenberry.  He spoke on "Licensure of Parents."  The next Humanist Sunday will  be on New Year's Day.  I will be the speaker then.  My subject will be World Population Growth.

The next day, Monday, Gail came over for our weekly duet practice session.  We are hoping to work up "Tierra Del Sol," a Latin sounding piece.  We played it years before, around 2006 I think.  When you don't play a piece regularly, you forget much about it.  So we are rediscovering this piece.  After we worked on this piece, we played Christmas music.  It is, after all, that time of year.

Sunday, December 04, 2011

An Unusual How-To Book

Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well ForeverTranscend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever by Ray Kurzweil


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Kurzweil and I have birthdates that are within one month of each other. He is working on staying around long enough to make use of new technologies that will prolong life. I would like to do the same.

The book is quite inspirational. We have all grown up with the idea that death is inevitable. Could there be an escape from death? Ray Kurzweil says "Yes."

The technologies for life extension described by Kurzweil sound like science fiction. I can remember when the Dick Tracy wristwatch was science fiction, but we have far surpased that level of technology today.

Kurzweil forsees nanobots which travel in our bloodstream making repairs where needed. The nanobots will detect and eliminate cancer. Such devices are not present today, but Kurzweil says they are coming, if we can live long enough to get there. That is the purpose of this book. It is a guide to how to live long enough to get to the point where these life-extending technologies will be available.

There are a number of recipes in the middle of the book for healthy eating. There are also a number of medical tests which the authors (Kurzweil and Grossman) recommend, some of which which are not always suggested by your doctor. A number of links to web sites for further reading are provided.




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Friday, December 02, 2011

Trip to Ponca City

It has been a few days since I have posted anything here.  Not much has happened to write about, except today we did take a trip to Ponca City with Gail and Glenn Storey.

We left Sand Springs around 9:00 this morning and arrived in Ponca City shortly before 11:00.  We went straight to the airport to eat at the world famous Enriques Restaurant.We got there shortly before opening time.  In no time the place was filled up.

After eating we went to the Pioneer Woman Museum.  A lady there gave us a demonstration of weaving using a loom that was around 100 years old.

We returned to Sand Springs around 3:00 this afternoon.

I took a picture of the four of us in the restaurant, but J said I should not post it in my blog.