We're back from Springfield

We have returned to Sand Springs after a brief trip to Springfield, MO to visit my parents. This is the first time i have blogged since Sunday, I guess. All I did on Sunday was post a quote. So I should have a lot to write about, if only I can remember everything which has happened.

Let me back up to last Sunday. We had a larger than usual crowd at Church of the Restoration, if you can call eleven people a crowd. Vanessa, who was two years old at the time Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, read the famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Being a news junky, I recall hearing the original speech. We also sang "Life Every Voice and Sing," now widely regarded as the Black National Anthem. The words to this song were written by James Weldon Johnson, who also wrote "God's Trombones."

Following the service I sat in on a board meeting. Seven people were at the board meeting. It seems, and this is only a slight exaggeration, that everyone who attends the Sunday morning service is on the board. Next Sunday, there will be a congregational meeting following the sermon, at which time the items discussed at the board meeting will be presented to the congregation and voted upon. The man who was the minister is still a member of the congregation and was present last Sunday.

I found this a little strange, but part of the protocol of the board meeting is that everyone present sings a hymn in unison.

The next morning was Monday, and Gail come over to play duets with me. Gail and I will be playing the special music at church next Sunday. We plan to play "Wade in the Water" and "The Ancient Lantern." We worked on "Spanish Dance," but we decided to wait until next week before making our video for "YouTube."

That afternoon, we got in the car and headed for Springfield. I drove the entire way. We stopped at the visitors' information center just across the state line into Missouri. There we looked for a geocache which we had looked for on our previous trip. We could not find it. We went on in to Springfield and talked with my parents in their apartment.

J assisted my Dad in cleaning up his computer. I played piano for my Mother. I played some hymns and some standards. We went out to eat that evening at the nearby Golden Corral. I ate too much, as I usually do there. We stayed the night in my parents' apartment. The next day for lunch we ate at Red Lobster. The food so so good. I had a broiled fish platter. There was supposed to be a cache cliose by. I looked for it but did not see it.

About 4:30 in the afternoon, we hit the road for Oklahoma. It was getting dark as we approached Joplin, so we pulled off and spent the night at the Super 8 motel. We walked to the nearby Denny's for our evening meal. When we returned to the motel we listened to the results of the senate race in Massachusetts. The race was an upset and may end the hopes of those who have worked for health care reform. Our health care system is broken and may remain broken for some time. I'm just glad I have insurance, but I know that 48 million Americans are without any health care insurance. It may be that those working for the status quo may win in the short run, but the avalanche of the uninsured will continue to build until on day it will break away.

The next day we continued our journey toward home. We stopped in Tulsa and joined a group of friends at the White River Fish Market. From there we went to Border's Bookstore and then to Office Depot and then home.

Epicurus quote

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?

Epicurus, BCE 341-270

HAT meeting at new venue

Today seems like a Sunday. That is because we had a HAT meeting this afternoon. For the last several years HAT has held its monthly chapter meetings on Sundays. We have now moved the meetings to a new venue at a new day and time. Instead of meeting at the Hardesty Library on the south edge of Tulsa, we now meet in a more central location at 2901 S. Harvard in the Genealogy Center of the Library System. Plus the room we meet in is a bit larger than the room we used at Hardesty. The new location is about six miles south and three miles west of our former location. Actually, we used to meet at the new location back when the building was owned by the Harmon Foundation. It was used by the Tulsa Philharmonic at that time.

We had a good turnout for today's meeting. There were 16 in attendance, if I remember correctly. I circulated a sign-in sheet, but have mislaid it. Otherwise, I would refer to it for the exact count.

KOTV, Channel 6, interviewed Randy recently concerning the billboard currently in place in Tulsa. The billboard says "Good Without God? Millions Are." The billboard can be seen as you travel west on I-44 as you go across the Arkansas River. We do not know when, or if, the interview will be aired.

Randy is continuing with his project of having member letters posted on the HAT web site. If you send in a letter for publication, be sure to send Randy a copy so he can post it also.

Richard told us about a hilarious web site called "Mr. Deity." I look at it ever so often to see what is new there. Check it out at http://www.mrdeity.com/. I would recommend that you begin by watching episode 1 of season 1. In light of the recent earthquake in Haiti, this one is most apopropriate.

We spoke briefly about the unfairness of allowing churches to go tax free, while every other business operation is taxed.

We discussed the move to teach the Bible as literature in the public schools. While this idea may look innocuous on paper, in practice it can be a can of worms. Everything depends upon the individual teacher who has the responsibility of teaching the course. In the hands of the wrong teacher, it can be used to proselytize students. And what Christian teacher is willing to ignore Christ's command to go into all the world and spread the gospel? Teaching this course would be a golden opportunity to do just that.

Richard also mentioned a program on Nova called "Archaeology and the Bible." He said it would be good for all students to see this program.

Randy spoke about the great feeling of love we in HAT have for one another. We get together frequently and know a lot about each other's lives. He is right. I have never felt so loved by a group of people as I do by those in our chapter. We are not just a chapter of the AHA; we are a community of like-minded people who enjoy each other's company. We love being together.

Herb brought up the idea of having shirts with printing on them saying something like "Humanist Association of Tulsa." We could wear the shirts to various community events, thereby advertising our chapter. Dawn mentioned an organization which prints shirts for something like $6.50 each. She will look into it and let us know.

We had a visitor today. Her name is Judy, and she is a retired teacher. We hope our group can fill a need in her life and that she will become a part of our group and help us grow.

Toward the end of the meeting, I read a poem by Phillip Appleman titled "Noah." I was gratified that the group applauded when I finished reading the seven-page poem.

These are the highlights of the meeting as I recall them. Feel free to add anything you remember in the "Comments" area below.

In other news, today I received a package from The Teaching Company. I had ordered DVDs of the course "The Art of Reading" a few days ago. The course guidebook begins with "We all know how to read, but how many of us know how to read well? This course is designed to encourage the habit of artful reading."

There are 24 half-hour lectures. Once I have viewed them, I will be glad to loan the course to anyone interested in watching it.

Thanks for posting the pictures.

Poetry group met tonight

We began today by going to the TCC Fitness Center and walking three miles. That brings me up to 26.5 miles for the year on my walking.

At 11:00 am today we attended a memorial service for a lady from my church (Restoration) who died on December 20. The service was held at All Souls since it has a greater seating capacity. The lady was active in liberal causes (abortion rights, environment, etc.) in Tulsa, and the service was attended by about 200 people. She will be sorely missed.

Tonight was Poetry Group night at Border's Bookstore. There were six of us present. We read poetry by Tennyson. We read and discussed his poetry for two hours. Next month we will read and discuss poetry by Edgar Allan Poe.

A movie and a meal

We started the day by going to the TCC Fitness Center and walking three miles. J took my camera and shot a picture of me while walking. Actually she took four pictures, but none of them were very good. After we had our exercise out of the way, we made plans to see a movie.

We went to Sapulpa and saw It's Complicated, starring Meryl Streep, Alex Baldwin, and Steve Martin. It was a movie J had been wanting to see for some time. I did not find it to be too memorable. I would not recommend it, but J would.

Following the movie, we went to the Crescent Cafe for dinner. The prices are good at the Crescent. We both ate for under $15.

In the mail today, I received a box of five books from Dover Publications. One will be a gift for our son Nick who has a birthday on the 20th. It is a book on origami construction. The other four books are piano literature, mostly for solo piano. A portion of one book contains duets.

The music books contain music by (1) Satie, (2) Respighi, (3) John Field, and (4) a collection of 83 piano classics. Erik Satie and Ottorino Respighi are two of my favorite composers.

Where was God?

It is events such as the earthquake in Haiti that reconfirm in my mind that there is no God looking out for us in this universe.

Where was God when the earthquake struck Haiti killing thousands? Was it his day off? What sort of God would answer your minor request, while ignoring the tragedy taking place in Haiti?

No. Things like that just happen, as you would expect in a universe without a God. If there were a God, He would have most likely intervened. At least a Good God would have. Wouldn't you, if you had the ability of a God?

The last couple of days

Yesterday began with Gail coming over and playing piano duets with me for two hours. We had another good practice session. We are going to record a piece and put it up on YouTube next Monday, assuming we are not in Springfield. The piece we are going to record is "Spanish Dance" by Moritz Moskowski. There are already several recordings of the piece on YouTube. After next Monday, I hope there will be one more.

Yesterday I fell on the ice. J and I were going somewhere. I was about to put the key in the door to unlock the car when suddenly the next thing I knew I was staring at sky. The fall was over before I knew it had begun. Fortunately, I landed on my fat ass, which absorbed the shock of the fall. I was not hurt. The sun was starting to melt the ice, making it become slick.

Later that afternoon, we went to the TCC Fitness Center and walked three miles.

Today we went grocery shopping. That took a couple of hours and 250 dollars.

I am presently reading George Eliot's Scenes from Clerical Life. The book is a set of three stories. The first story concerns the Rev. Amos Barton. I reached the end of that first story this morning. There are two more stories in the collection. You can, should you care, follow my progress in the book on GoodReads.com. You might have to register; I'm not sure. The website is not the most user-friendly of sites. Sometimes important information is to be found in small type. I would like to invite my readers to sign up on Good Reads so that I can follow your progress as you read. I'm always interested in seeing what my friends are reading.

Church and drumming

This morning I went to Church of the Restoration. There were eight people there. Rosemary was the lay leader for the service. Her talk was on Kwanzaa. It was supposed to be delivered earlier, but the snow came a couple of weeks ago, and church was cancelled.

Drumming has been rescheduled for Sunday afternoons, starting at 3:30 pm. There were four of us there today. Joe and Lou, and their son-in-law Joel and myself were the only ones present.

As I drove into my driveway after drumming, J was backing out to take the grandkids home. I got out of my car and in to her car, and we drove the kids to their home.

I hurt the middle finger of my right hand yesterday trying to move a bench in the living room. I did not realize it was hurt until I saw the blood. I tore some skin on the last joint. It is healing up but is still tender when touched. I probably did not help matters any by going to drumming today.

Secular Singers met today

Today was the day when Secular Singers get together for our singing. We met at Gail's house at 2:00 this afternoon. We began with six "new" songs, that is, new for us. From the Peter, Paul, and Mary Songbook, we sang "Blowin' in the Wind," and "Pretty Mary." Next, from the Hal leonard collection titled "Feel Good Fun" we sang "Daydream Believer" and "A Lover's Concerto." There were two more songs we sang: "The Slender Mountain Ash" and "The Story of the Coachman." These last two may be unfamiliar to you. They are from "A Russian Song Book."

I played piano while the other three sang, for the most part. After we sang these six "new" songs, we sang a few from my collection of songs in a large three-ring binder. Some of these songs include "Joe Hill," "Hard Times in the Mill," "Just Say "No" to Religion," "This Land Is Your Land," and "He Never Returns." This last song (with lyrics rewritten) is based on a song by The Kingston Trio which was popular fifty years ago -- a song titled "The MTA Song," about a guy named Charlie who gets on a subway but never gets off.

We, along with the Dobbs, went to Nick's house tonight for a dinner of turkey soup.

I also received a copy by e-mail of an article sent by my friend Galen from California. Thanks, Galen.

Speaker and reunion

This morning we dressed warmly and made our way to downtown Tulsa to hear a Dutchman, Harm De Blij, speak as part of the Tulsa Town Hall series. The temperature was cold. As we drove to Tulsa, the reading on my dashboard was 9°.

To keep warm, I wore my new thermal underclothing given to my by cousin Vicki in Houston. I also wore the Tommy Hilfinger socks she gave me. The wind was light, so it wasn't too bad outside.

The speaker was first-rate. From the time he stepped out from behind the curtain, he spoke without using a note for close to a hour and a quarter. He was a geographer and knew his subject well. He kept the audience enthralled as he related his various experiences and talked about the importance of a knowledge of geography in understanding the world.

My attendance at the Town Hall was happenstance. My friend Bill had to be out of town, and he gave me his tickets. A half dozen speakers are selected each year for speak at Town Hall. Tickets are sold by subscription for something like a hundred dollars per season. Since Bill was going to be out of town, he gave me two tickets which Bill and his wife would have used had they been here.

On the way home, I noticed the temperature had risen to 15°. I left the house again, heading this time for Luby's Cafeteria, venue for the old retired railroader's monthly luncheon. This group gets together once a month to socialize with each other. Today was the first time I attended. There were 20 to 25 retired railroaders. I knew eveyone of them, since I had driven each of them about the train yard. Some of them had retired a number of years ago. Leroy was there, and I had not seen him in nine years.

The temperature is supposed to get down to 1° tonight. I hope our pipes do not freeze.

Roary cuts my hair

We are in the deep freeze in Oklahoma. The same can be said for much of the rest of the country. We are supposed to have two days of extremely cold weather and then some relief.

Could this be effects from global warming? Global warming does not mean a uniform increase in temperature throughout the world. Global warming shows its signs in erratic variations: hotter summers, colder winters, plus increases in floods, droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.

We stopped at Dollar General to look for a birthday card for a close relative of mine. We picked out the card and paid for it. As we were at the checkout, a man in a car parked outside the store blew his horn. The clerk asked if I knew who the man was. I said no, as I had never seen him before. We concluded that he must have mistaken me for someone he knew. When I walked out the store, he (still seated in his car) started talking to me. I found out that he was handicapped and wanted the clerk to make a purchase for him. I did not think the clerk could leave the store, so I asked what he needed, He asked for some paper towels and a can of Pledge furniture polish. I told him I would go back in the store and buy the items for him. He gave me a ten-dollar bill. I bought the items for him and gave him the items and his change. He was very grateful and thanked me profusely.

Next we went to Eyemart Express and ordered two new pairs of glasses for J. While she was ordering glasses, I went to Roary D's for a haircut. The haircutting business has fallen on hard times, as has so many other businesses in this Bush recession. It you are out of work, you are not likely to spend money on getting your hair professionally cut. I think a lot of people are getting by with home haircuts. Roary used to have several women working in her shop -- four or five others besides herself. When I was getting my hair cut, there were two other employees in the shop, but they were idle. The place used to hum with business; now it is pretty quiet. I hope she can hang on and weather the downturn in business.

After I left the haircutting shop, I drove to Eyemart Express to pick up my spouse. The distance between the two shops couldn't be more than a quarter mile, as the crow flies. As I drove up I saw my beloved sitting in a chair waiting on me. I called her on my cell phone, however the purse she carries is all but soundproof. I had to walk into the store to get her attention.

In the afternoon, we both went to the TCC Fitness Center and walked. I did three miles today.

This day summarized

Well, today was another ho-hum day. We did manage to get to out to the Fitness Center and walk three miles. Then it was back home. We washed clothes and dishes today. We got caught up on household chores, thinking that a power outage this evening might be a possibility.
Water lines are breaking all over the place due to the low temperatures. If we lose water, we have some bottled water on hand.

The lows tonight are expected to be in the teens, and then the next day the forecast calls for zero to be the low. Wind chills tomorrow are supposed to be in the negative numbers.

Tomorrow I will see if I can find something to write about. There is not much going on right now.

Out and about

It was another cold day today with temperatures in the twenties. J had an appointment at Roary D's to get her hair cut. We went there first, and I sat in the waiting area while J got her hair cut. After the haircut, we went to Tulsa to see Dr. Shirk about my hearing aids. She was having computer problems with her software. She called a tech who talked her through a certain procedure. We were there for almost two hours.

On the way home we stopped by the BNSF office to see if they had any 2010 calendars. The man who handles the calendars was not there at the time. Carol gave me a flip calendar. The kind I want to get has all twelve months on a large sheet of posterboard. Next we went to the HAT box at the West Tulsa post office, and I picked up the mail for HAT.

Then we returned home and haven't ventured out since.

I watched some TV tonight. First was the NBC Nightly News. Then I watched Wheel of Fortune, NOVA, and finally a program on Human Emotions. It was quite interesting. The next segment will be on OETA tomorrow night. I managed to read another chapter of Scenes From Clerical Life today.

One day sounds pretty much like the next, does it not? When it warms up some, I will get out and try to do something worth writing about.

Going for a walk

My day began with Gail coming over to practice duets with me. She had sent me a e-mail on Sunday saying she had recovered from a cold, which she speculated she had picked up from her husband Glenn. We had another good practice session which lasted for two hours.

In the afternoon, I took a nap. When I got up, it seemed like a good time to go for a walk. We drove to the West Campus of TCC and paid the fee to use the fitness center for the spring semester. We were on our first lap of the walking track when J's phone began chiming. It was Jennifer wanting to know if we could keep Luke while she took Ayla to her piano lesson. So we headed back home. On the way out, I asked the person working there what time they closed that night. She said 8:30.

Shortly after we got back to the house, Luke arrived. He played games on J's lap top computer while Ayla took her lesson. We watched the news and had supper. After supper we headed back to the Fitness Center. Upon arriving, we noticed that the door was locked. It was shortly before seven. Someone came to the door and said that they close at seven.

We decided to drive over to the Case Center and walk there. As we walked in the door we saw a sign saying that the gym would be unavailable to use due to some organized basketball games. However, I noticed people up on the walking track. There were a dozen or more people there walking. J wanted to go home, but I wanted to get in some walking. We compromised and walked for thirty minutes. I had my MP3 player with me, but J was afraid I would get hit in the head with a basketball and asked that I not wear it. So I put it away.

It is supposed to be bitterly cold the next few days. I hope we return to mild weather soon.

This day's events

I began this day by driving to the Case Community Center where I walked three miles on an indoor track suspended above a basketball court. I sometimes walk at the CCC when the TCC track is closed. I also noticed that the Case is open on Sunday, whereas the TCC track is not. The Case track is a bit further to drive to get to as it is on the north side of the river. I live on the south side of the river.

Today there were about ten people walking on the track. The track is divided into two lanes. The track as TCC is divided into three lanes. There are fewer people using the track at TCC since a fee is required. The Case track is open to all.

On the way home, I got a call from Barbara who gave me an update on her son-in-law who suffered a stroke a few days ago. He is just 50 years old and is now paralyzed on his right side. Barbara asked for a ride to movie night tonight.

I stopped by the library on the way home and picked up a book by George Carlin, Last Words. As I got into my car I got a call from Gail. We had practiced on Wednesday and were ready to perform The Water is Wide as a piano duet at Movie Night tonight. Gail said it was her turn to be sick. We put our performance on hold.

We went by and picked up Barbara this evening and drove on to Movie Night at the Bradleys. I told the group that Gail was sick and unable to play. There were seven of us there. The film we viewed was The Complete Plays of Shakespeare performed by the Reduced Shakespearean Company. It was a 90-minute comedy routine. I found it pretty funny.

January 2010 Calendar

January 2010
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., Jan. 2, 7:00 pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St.

Sat., Jan. 9, 2:00 pm
Secular Singers, Storey House, 4630 S. Victor Ave.

Sat., Jan 16, 2:00 pm
HAT chapter meeting
NOTE: New meeting location, date and time. Meetings during 2010 will be held at the Genealogy Center, 2901 S. Harvard (across from Fellowship Congregational Church). This is the same location where HAT met prior to the Hardesty Library.

Wed., Jan 20, 11:20 am
ALGAE luncheon Join us at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan Rd., for a seafood lunch.

Sat., Jan. 23, 11:30 am
Food & Fellowship, Billy Sims Barbecue at Farm Shopping Center, Sheridan and 51st St.

Sun., Jan. 24, 1:00 pm
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center, Memorial and 51st St.

--------------------------------
Questions? Contact Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

Dan reading his Kindle

What do the following words bring to mind: Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, The Pickwick Papers, A Tale of Two Cities? If you answered novels by Charles Dickens, you are correct. Yesterday I downloaded these novels to my Kindle along with every other novel by Charles Dickens which he published during his life. Even The Mystery of Edwin Drood, his unfinished novel, is among the fifty-one works which I downloaded.

Instead of the typical minute to a minute and a half, this download took five mintues or more. The charge for this download was just one dollar.

Tonight I downloaded a book (free) by George Eliot, "Scenes from Clerical Life." What to read next?

Nick and his family came over tonight. They left last Sunday and went to Branson. They arrived in Branson (via Springfield) Sunday afternoon and left Thursday. They stopped by to see my parents before coming back to Sand Springs.

I had another productive piano duet practice session this morning with Gail. We will be playing at Movie Night on Saturday. Our selection will be "Wade in the Water."

I went out to Lake Keystone today to collect the receipts and get the registration set up for 2010. Afterwards, we did our grocery shopping.

Today's activities

I went to my dentist today. The hygenist, Kelly, did a lot of probing and poking in my mouth. The dentist said that I have two fillings which are leaking. They are old fillings (silver), and over time they do not hold up well. I have to go back in about a month so that the fillings can be replaced. Also, the dentist said I have a tooth which needs to be crowned.

Today was the first time I went anywhere in five days. It was below freezing, and I did not know if the car would start up right away; but it did. After my visit to the dentist, I took some books back to the library amd picked up one waiting for me. Next I went to the Case Community Center, the TCC Fitness Center being closed until after the beginning of the new year. The Case Community Center is the community center for Sand Springs. The TCC Fitness Center is a nicer facility than the Case. The Case is open to everyone, but the TCC center requires users to pay a fee to use. There were a couple dozen adolescents on the basketball court playing a noisy game of basketball, and there were a half dozen walkers on the elevated walking track around the court. I walked three miles.

On the way back home, I stopped at Braum's for a gallon of milk. Coming back to my car, the '96 Saturn, some boys in another car said a woman in another car had backed into my car. I looked at the front of my car where they said the impact took place and noticed the plate holder was cracked and pieces of it were missing. The lady was most apologetic and offered to make it right. Then I recognized her. I said "I know you." She said, "Yes, you do." It was Linda from the walking club. I told her to forget about the damage to the plastic plate holder. I was glad I had driven the '96 Saturn instead of the '08 Saturn.

Cabin fever sets in

Tomorrow morning I go to the dentist for a six-month cleaning. It will give me a break from being cooped up in the house. Today is day number five since I have left the property, not that I have wanted to go anywhere especially. Today I stood on the porch for a while and watched the birds and cars go by. I'm down to the last story in the Sherlock Holmes collection I have been reading. I will take up Mark Twain next.

If it does not snow tomorrow, Gail and I plan to practice piano duets Wednesday morning. However, the forecast calls for snow, so we may be delayed once again.

I have finished my database of piano duet music. I have 45 books of piano duets and some 380 songs in my collection. I have even more pieces because I did not count the single sheets.

More Sherlock Holmes

Since we are "snowed in," we worked on developing the art of lounging today. The only thing I did that could remotely be called work was taking the trash cart out to the curb. Our trash is picked up once a week on Monday. I cleared the gate of snow just enough to squeeze the cart through and then wheeled it to the curb. For our meals, we ate leftovers out of the refrigerator.

Normally, Gail comes over on Monday morning for duet practice. I gave her a call and we decided to delay our practice this week until Wednesday. By then, I hope the ice will be off the roadways. I had planned to attend a memorial service in Tulsa for Bill F., but due to the weather, I did not go.

I spent the day reading (more Sherlock Holmes stories) and playing piano. I also listened to some CDs and read the newspaper online.

It was not a very exciting day, but it was a day without stress. I'm getting this lounging down.

No church service today

We got a call from a member of the Methodist church yesterday saying that there would be no service today. Also, I noticed on the TV that there is no service at Restoration today. So we stayed in today. I went out and got the Sand Springs newspaper from the driveway a few moments ago. There was a long listing of churches scrolling across the bottom of the TV screen which called off services for today on account of the snow.

'Twas the day after Christmas

Today is the day after Christmas. We received a heavy snow on Christmas Eve and have been inside the house ever since then. I walked to the mailbox and brought in the mail. Other than that brief sojourn, I have been inside.

I have been developing the art of lounging for the last two days. I have been playing the piano, working on my database of sheet music, reading, surfing the net, and staying inside. I have an appointment to see my dentist next Tuesday morning. That may be the next time I get out. One good thing about being retired is that your requirements to be at a certain place at a certain time is greatly reduced.

Today I fixed lunch. I pealed three potatoes and boiled a chicken breast, added some noodles, and called it lunch.

In the afternoon I read a Sherlock Holmes mystery on my Kindle: "The Man With the Twisted Lip." Yesterday, I downloaded another free book: The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain.

Tonight we watched a movie I had checked out from the library: Rain Man. Part of the movie was shot in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

I suspect it will be a few days before we get a significant amount of melting, being we are so early in the winter. The forecast indicates highs in the 30s the next few days.

Record snowfall hits OKC

Today was a big snow day in Oklahoma. OKC got, at last count, over 14 inches of snow. All interstate highways are now closed. I hope my friends from Tecumseh got to Springfield before this weather turned everything white. Several weather records were broken this day.

We had planned to go to Nick's tonight and open presents, but with the sleet and snow and cold, we decided to stay in. So the two of us had Christmas together and opened our presents here. After we opened our gifts, I went to the kitchen table and assembled a jigsaw puzzle from my cousin Vicki in Houston. Vicki, you are so good.

Three people were killed tonight in a car accident in Sand Springs. The accident happened at the intersection of Highway 97 and Highway 51, just on the south side of the bridge over the Arkansas River. A man, his wife, and a child were the victims. One moment they were fine; in the next instant, they were dead. This is the night before Christmas, and with people still out shopping, there have been many accidents this evening. I am glad I don't have to be out tonight.

Christmas Eve Eve

Tomorrow will be our last chance to do Christmas shopping. We went out today and shopped for both groceries and gifts.

This evening I read a short story on my Kindle written by Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. It is a story I read decades ago: "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League." It is from the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. This book is just one of several hundred, maybe thousands, which are free to download on the Kindle. Most of the free books are older books, such as the Sherlock Holmes books. A lot of classics of English and American literature are available to download at no charge. The books come in to your Kindle by an electronic signal. It takes about a minute or a minute and a half to download a book.

Also this evening, I worked on building my database of piano duet sheet music. At this time I am working on just the sheet music in collections in books. I have entered song titles and composers for 30 books now (some 230 titles). I have 14 more books to enter into the database. I also have several single pieces, which I may later add to the database.

sheetmusicplus.com

Tonight I want to write about a source for sheet music which I use. I like to shop at Saied's in Tulsa. They have the best selection of sheet music locally. However, they don't have everything. Whenever I can't find sheet music I am looking for at Saied's, I like to shop online at sheetmusicplus.com. They have about everything.

They have a low shipping charge of just $2.99 on most shipments. Also, when your shipment arrives, so does a coupon for $1.50 off your next purchase.

So, if you have never shopped at www.sheetmusicplus.com, go there and have a look.

As for my health, I am doing better now. I hope to be back to 100% soon.

Freerice.com

There is a web site called freerice.com. I have visited this site frequently. If you teach English, you might like to get familiar with this site.

It is an English vocabulary-building site. A word appears on the screen and four choices are available to choose from. The object is to select the correct synonym among the four. If you would like to hear the word pronounced, click on the speaker icon and hear the word pronounced. If you guess wrongly, the word will reappear after a few choices. The greater your success, the more difficult the words become.

Somehow, playing this vocabulary quiz is supposed to provide grains of rice to hungry people. I don't understand, but that is what the web site claims.

Sickness cancels plans

Tonight I had planned to go to Randy's for our annual HumanLight Celebration, but when I got up this morning I could tell I did not feel right. I made three phone calls (Gail, Randy, and Barbara) to inform them I would not be going to the Celebration. Instead of reaching Gail, I got her voice mail. I spoke with Randy and told him I would not be there. Barbara was out, but I spoke with her daughter.

Throughout the day, I napped on and off. When I got up in the morning, I felt as if it were time to go back to bed. And after being up just a couple of hours, I would go back to bed for a while. So I was up and down all day today. I have been inside the house all day. J made a trip to Braum's for a gallon of OJ. Gail returned my phone call and said we might do a performance for HAT later on.

Yesterday, I went to TCC to walk. I made my goal of a mile a day for this year. I'm at 369 miles for the year. How many miles did you log this year? Depending upon the weather, I may yet do another volkswalk or two before the year's end. Volkswalking is a popular sport in Oklahoma. In other parts of the nation it is almost unheard of.

I sent off my index yesterday. I heard back from the editor I was working with. She said the editors of the volume were pleased with the revisions I made. I should be getting a check for this work shortly. The index was 14 pages long.

Revisions complete

Tonight I finished making revisions to my index. Tomorrow I will send it off, and then I should have time to do other things, such as get ready for the party at Randy's house on Saturday. I will be playing piano. We have a little group we call Secular Singers, who put on a small show for the group. Last year we had about 25 people at Randy's house. Secular Singers is made up of four, sometimes five, people.

I also would like to go walking. If the weather is good, I would like to do a volkswalk. If the weather is not great, then I will go to TCC and walk there.

I had an appointment with Dr. Shirk, my audiologist at noon today. I told her about a couple of problems with my hearing aids. She made some adjustments which helped. Specifically, when I play piano, the sound I get from the aids has a rattle to it. It sounds somewhat better now, but when the volume increases, I hear the rattle. She seemed impressed with the piano I have and with the fact that I play duets on a regular basis.

Yesterday was the day of our monthly luncheon at White River Fish Market. Besdies the two of us, there was Dave and Marilyn. So the four of us had a meal together.

A message from Bob H.

Bob sent me a message to pass along to others in our group. The link to it is below:

http://countdowntohealthcare.com/

A Bell Choir Concert

I did not post anything last night, so I have some catching up to do. The week began with my piano partner, Gail, coming over. She had to take her dog by the vet and was a few mintues late arriving. Her dog had an abscessed tooth. The vet gave her some medicine for the dog.

That evening, J and I went to a bell choir concert at St. Paul's Methodist Church in Tulsa. We heard the Tulsa Festival Ringers in the sanctuary of the old church. There were 16 bell ringers who gave a concert lasting about an hour. By observing the bell ringers, I learned that there are various ways to ring bells. The normal way is to pick up the bell by the handle and give it a short wave. I also saw ringers striking the bell on the table in front of them. Mallets were used to ring the bells sometimes. After bells were rung, sometimes they were waved behind the ringers. Sometimes they were immediately muted by pressing them into the ringer's shirt. The ringers also had bells that looked a lot like a short piece of tubing used to support traffic signs - metal that is about an inch square and about a foot and a half long, with a clanker on the end to create the sound. Clanker may not be the right word; maybe striker would be a better word.

The bells were in different sizes. The short small bells make the higher pitches, while the larger bells create the deeper tones. It was a cold night, and we hastened home after the concert.

Before the concert, I received an e-mail from a client I index for. If was feedback from my latest indexing job. The editors of the collection of essays had a few changes they would like to have made to the index. Actually, they had a lot of changes. I started revising the index once I got home last night. I got up early this morning and continued working on the revisions, breaking in the afternoon in order to go to my optomitrist for my annual checkup. She said everything looks good.

I returned home and resumed revising the index, omiting some entries, adding others. It's a good thing I have the book on disk as a PDF file. That makes searching for a word quick and easy. I am in the M's now. I will try to finish by tomorrow evening, but that may be a little optimistic. After a few hours of doing this kind of work, I have to stop. The fatigue builds up rather quickly. Your mind goes numb.

I never did tell you about the lady at All Souls who rebuked me for taking pictures of the gathering for Greg Epstein, who spoke at the church. I took a couple of flash pictures and moments later a lady approached me wanting to know if i had permission to take pictures and what I was planning to do with the pictures. She said that she might lose her job if the pictures were published. While I was sympathetic with her situation, I wondered if she had thought out the situation she was in. She comes to hear a person speak on "Good Without God," and then is surprized to see someone there taking pictures. I was just the first person to take pictures. Kenny was there with his camera, and I think two other people were taking pictures.

As it turns out, I used only one picture on my blog, and it was taken from the rear of the congregation and shows the congregants from the rear. I have no idea what became of the other photographers pictures. I though at the time (ironically) "What a profile in courage," but I did not say anything. I did hear that there were some people from ORU there. Epstein did speak at ORU while in Tulsa. She might have been from ORU. I guess I will never know. I later looked at the pictures and saw one woman holding a book over her face. I think that was her.

Daily events (WARNING: Contains spoilers)

Today I went to Church of the Restoration. This was Bill's last day to attend CoR, as he will be moving back to New England later this week. Cleon announced that he has set up a web site for CoR. The URL is www.churchoftherestoration.org. I haven't yet taken a look at the site but plan to do so as soon as I get this blog posting up. Cleon was today's lay leader. There were seven or eight in attendance this morning.. Next Sunday's service will be a singing of Christmas carols, but I will have to miss that service. Jan wants me to attend her church next week.

After church, I drove to Woodland Hills Mall to do some Christmas shopping. The first thing i did upon arriving was to get something to eat. There are several choices in the food court. I decided to eat at a place called "Big Easy Cajun." I got the Bourbon chicken with brown beans and rice. There were a lot of folks out shopping this afternoon. The dining area at the food court was crowded.

After eating, I went to Dillard's and bought a cologne set called "Beautiful" for J. The price was the same as it had been at Stage earlier this week. Stage had sold out of the product when I checked on it there last Friday.

I went downstairs and bought a calendar for Nick. It is the kind of calendar where you tear off a page each day. The theme of this calendar is origami. When a day has passed, you tear off the day and fold it into something according to the instructions on the page. I had both gifts wrapped. It was free at Dillard's, but to get Nick's gift wrapped, I had to pay two dollars.

I passed by something interesting on the way out of the mall. A merchant was selling toy helicopters which actually flew (price $20 to $50). You control the toys with a remote control device. I would have bought one for Luke, but it looked like it could get him into trouble at his house. I could just see him flying the toy into people. He already has a bad habit of throwing things. A remote controlled helicopter would be too much of a temptation for him.

This evening, I went to the Methodist church for a musical program. Various choirs sang (including Ayla). The Dobbs and Matt performed as a brass quartet. The bell choir (with about a dozen ringers) performed two selections. I took my camera and snapped a few pictures.

When we got home, I took a couple of pictures of the homemade Christmas tree i mentioned last posting. I was going to post one, but J said no. She fears theives would be enticed to break into our house and steal the ornaments.

Our tree is up

Today we put up a Christmas tree. We have two trees and alternate between the two. One is a plastic tree in three sections which when assembled make one tree. The other tree is made from dowels. The trunk if made of a dowel about an inch and a quarter thick. It is this tree we erected this morning.

We had to get the stand out of the attic to hold the tree in place. The tree is made of five dowels. The inch and a quarter one for the trunk. Four other dowels about a quarter of an inch thick run through the trunk at various heights. It is homemade.

Each Christmas we buy a dated Hallmark ornament to add to our collection. It takes a while to unpack each ornament from its box and hang it on the tree. After Christmas, we will have the task of putting each ornament back in its box and packing it all away. The ornament we bought for this year is of a white horse on a wheeled base. A bear is riding on the back of horse. We now have 33 or 34 ornaments. We have bought one each Christmas since we have been married. I will try to take a picture of the tree tomorrow and post it tomorrow night. We have run out of space for ornaments. We had to place a few around the tree at the base. Since we are needing more space on the tree to hang ornaments, I will make another tree before next Christmas. I will buy a longer dowel for the trunk and add an additional quarter-inch dowel for another branch.

Ayla is spending the night with us tonight. She will go with J to church in the morning. I will go to my church in the morning, and afterwards I may do some shopping for Christmas.

Book Signing

This morning after getting up (we slept late), we headed over to Barnes and Noble Bookstore on 71st Street for a book signing held by Greg Epstein, the Humanist Chaplain for Harvard University. Greg has written a book titled Good Without God and is on a book tour promoting his book by speaking to sympathetic audiences. He spoke last night at All Souls Unitarian Church.

The book signing was held from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM today. Here is a picture I had taken with the author.


This evening J and I went to Border's Bookstore for the monthly meeting of the poetry group. Tonight we read and talked about poems written by Thomas Hardy and two minor English poets. Next month, we will read and discuss selected poems by Tennyson.

U. N. Declaration of Human Rights Anniversary

On December 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since 1948 was the year of my birth, that would make this year the 61st year the declaration has been in effect.

I was glad to hear Rick Warren come out and condemn the bill which would make homosexuality a capital crime in Uganda. My friend, Galen, from California send me a link to a YouTube message in which Warren condemns the proposed law and urges his fellow Christians in that country to oppose the bill. You can view the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/saddlebackchurch

Today I took the '96 Saturn to the repair shop. The coolant light was flashing. I had added coolant to the reservoir, but the light kept flashing. We decided to take it in and put the system under pressure to see where the leak was originating. I also had a brake light that was out, which I did not know about until I was driving the car to the shop and J (following me in the other car) noticed the tail light being out.

A couple hours later the man from the shop called and told me the repair would be covered by a repair warranty from back in February when I had the radiator replaced. Once the car was fixed, the man at the shop called and said my car was ready. We went in and discovered there was no charge. They even replaced the tail light for free.

Tonight we went to All Souls Unitarian Church to hear Greg Epstein, the Humanist chaplain from Harvard, speak on the topic "Good Without God." There were a couple of hundred people there to hear Epstein speak. The visit was sponsored by the Tulsa Coalition of Reason, the Humanist Association of Tulsa, and the Interfaith Alliance.

I took my camera and shot a few pictures. Here is one:

This is not my best photo work, but it will give you an idea of the size of the crowd (I would estimate about 200). Some of the sanctuary is not visible in the photo.

The event was originally to be held in Emerson Hall, the fellowship hall for the church, but was moved to the main sanctuary to accommodate the large turnout.

A woman I had never met came up to me and rebuked me for taking photos. I will write about this incident tomorrow.

Christmas shopping

Today we went Christmas shopping. We shopped at three stores in Sand Springs and one store in Sapulpa. We bought items today for my cousin Vicki who lives in Houston. I won't say what we bought, since Vicki sometimes reads this blog. Tonight my spouse wrapped the things she bought and I wrapped the things I bought, and J packaged them up in a box, ready to mail.

While we were out, we ate at Lin Cuisine, a Chinese restaurant. The music was so loud in the restaurant that I had to remove my hearing aids. Our last stop was in Sapulpa where we visited the Dollar Tree. Vicki and I have a tradition of getting each other ten items from the dollar store for Christmas.

Today a winter storm passed just to the north of us. It is supposed to get very cold tonight and not warm up a lot tomorrow. Winter has arrived. We finally got around to putting the storm door glass in the front door tonight.

Tonight I printed some poems which we will be reading this Friday evening at the poetry gathering at Border's.

Geraldine Brooks at Tulsa Central Library

Recent events

I had another good practice session with Gail this morning. We had our first run through of "Give Thanks" -- a piece we are considering playing at the local Methodist church sometime in the future. We also played a couple of Christmas pieces we will be playing at Randy's later on this month.

Afterwards, we went to Dr. Shirk's office to get my hearing aids. Hearing aids have really gone high tech. In addition to getting the hearing aids, I got a device you wear around your neck (about an inch and a half square and a half inch thick) which you use for listening to an MP3. The signal is sent directly to the hearing aids. The aids even have a remote control. When I figure all this out, I may have more to say about it.

One thing I did yesterday is go to a program at the library where the Distinguished Author Award for 2009 was given to Geraldine Brooks. I took a few pictures and may post one here.

Good without God video

Click the link below to view a video on being good without God.

http://tulsa.unitedcor.org/node/46

Among friends

This picture was taken tonight at Movie Night at the Bradleys. Those in the picture are (going clockwise from my wife) Jan, myself, Gail Storey, Dawn Bradley, Randy Bradley, Bea McCartney,Barbara Frey, Shane McCurdy, Marilyn Clarke, Herb Van Fleet. We sat around and talked for a while and then Gail and I played "Yankee Doodle Variations." We moved to the Bradleys' movie viewing room and watched Labyrinth.

Prior to Movie Night the Secular Singers held a rehearsal using Randy's piano.

Barbara's son-in-law, Clinton, took this picture.

I opt out of flu shot

I have spent most of this day indexing. We went up to TCC's Fitness Center this morning and walked three miles. While there we saw the Tulsa County Health Department setting up to give flu shots.

On the way home we stopped at Subway and got a 5$ footlong, Black Forest ham. We took it home and ate it.

In the afternoon, Mrs. Nerren went back to TCC and got the flu shot. The shot was for the H1N1 flu. I did get a seasonal flu shot about two months ago.

It's time to go to bed and get some rest and continue indexing in the morning.

Flu shot?

This morning I spoke with the managing editor at DO and told her I plan to send the index file next Monday. She said that would be fine. She sent me a list put together by the editors of the volume of terms they thought might be included in the index. She said to use it as I see fit. The index is now 11 pages long.

I have not had the time to do much with my new Kindle. I have not yet downloaded any books. I thought I might wait until the index is finished before doing that.

I saw Dr. Rapacki today. I asked when it would be OK to get a shot for the H1N1 virus. He said anytime, but warned me about studies which show that people who get consecutive flu shots (such as one shot five years in a row) have a higher susceptability of developing Alzheimer's disease. I have already had one flu shot this year - the seasonal flu shot. Should I get a shot for the H1N1, or just take my chances?

This evening while Nick was at choir practice, we had Luke and Ayla. We drove them around looking at Christmas house decorations for the hour he was away.

Appointment change

Yesterday, we went to Dr. Rapacki's office at 11:00. When we got there we learned that my appointment had been changed to the next day at 10:40. No one had called us to let us know. We went back home.

Work on the index is going slower than I had planned. Galen, I have received your questions, but it may be next week before I can respond to them. I had hoped to have the index finished by Friday, but it loooks now like it will be Monday before it is ready to send.

Three down; four to go

I have reached the end of the book I am index. The next step is to edit the thing. I have printed out a copy to work from. I want to update this blog before I get to work on the index.

This morning Gail came over, and we played duets for two hours. We rehearsed the piece we will play at Movie Night: "Yankee Doodle Variations" by Robert D. Vandall. We also played "Alexander's Ragtime Band," as well as several other pieces. We rehearsed the two pieces we will play at Randy's for the HumanLight ceremony: "In the Bleak Midwinter," and "Go Tell It On the Mountain."

This afternoon, we went to Jenks and did the YRE (year-round event) there. The weather was mild -- a perfect day for a walk. Our club sponsors seven YREs. You can walk each for credit once in the first six months, and then again in the last six months of the year. We have walked three of the walks so far in the last half of the year. We have walked Keystone, the Promenade Mall walk, and the Riverwalk in Jenks. We have four more to do if we want to walk all the walks our club sponsors for this year. Occasionally we do walks sponsored by other clubs. In the first half of the year we walked only four of the seven. Two of the walks are out of the Tulsa area: there is one in Bartlesville; one is in Galena, Kansas.

When we got home from the walk, I found a package had been delivered by UPS. It was a book of piano duets I had ordered. The title of the book is "We Love a Piano." It contains 15 duets, including "Peg O' My Heart," and "Satin Doll." All of them look to be great. Gail originally had a copy of the book. I decided to buy a copy after looking through hers.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with Dr. Rapacki. I am glad my back is better. Having back pain is a real bummer.

HumanLight approaches

As November draws to a close, it is time to think about HumanLight, which for us in Tulsa, will be observed on Saturday, December 19. If you are unfamiliar with HumanLight, please watch the video (link below).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsiYANxesTo

Food & Fellowship 11.28.09

This photo was taken today at The Rice Bowl on S. Sheridan Rd. From left going around the table are: Bob Noble, Bill Dusenberry, Dave Tinney, Dawn Bradley, Randy Bradley, Jan Nerren, Barbara Frey (not visible in this photo), and Marilyn Clarke. I was seated next to Marilyn and took this photo.

Thanksgiving Day

This Thanksgiving Day my sweet wife and I fixed a dinner for nine. There were Gary and Adra Dobbs (Jennifer's parents), Jon Dobbs (Jen's brother), Nick and Jen, Luke and Ayla, and, of course, the two of us.

With my wife serving as the primary chef, I did some of the less glamourous work: pealing potatoes, making tea, stirring gravy, etc. The crowd assembled around 2 pm. We had to run the dishwasher three times to get all of the pots and pans, dishes, and silverware clean.

Later on in the day, I began indexing. I marked up one chapter tonight. After I get it entered into the indexing program, I will be at page 309. My deadline is December 4. I have a week left to get it ready. The fun part comes at the end, once all the terms have been entered into the index. It is at this point that I find that I need to make revisions in order to make the index internally consistent. I will make a number of refinements to improve the index. Having the manuscript on a searchable pdf file really helps. When I began indexing (in 1996), file disks were not provided. With the document on a pdf file, you can locate every appearance of the word in the text.

Adding Site Meter to your blog

I just checked to see who is reading my blog. How do you do that, you might wonder?

First, you need to add Site Meter to your blog. Google Site Meter and read about this free service. Instructions on adding Site Meter will be given. Follow the instructions and you should have a Site Meter box at the end of your blog. If you click on the site Meter box, you should see a screen with some options. Click on Location, and a list of cities with the ISP number of each user should display. I currently receive around 10 "hits" a day. I have about three regular readers: Marti in Tecumseh, John in Tupelo, and Galen in Rialto. You can tell what search words were used to find your blog. Other information about the users is displayed, also.

Update

I did not get around to updating my blog last night. So here goes:

Yesterday began with a two-hour duet practice session with Gail. We looked at some of the new music Gail bought in Springfield, and we also practiced the two pieces we will be playing at the annual Winter Solstice gathering at Randy's this year. Gail and I have another video ready to upload to YouTube. We recorded the video a week ago but have not had time to upload it.

My Christmas present from my lovely wife was delivered by the postman on Monday. It is a Kindle e-reader. I have been getting familiar with it. It is lightweight and your stored library can be taken with you as you go places. It is no longer necessary to tote a load of books; take your entire library of 1,500 volumes with you as you travel.

It is also possible to highlight text as you read. You can add your own notes also as you are reading. For the English major, this device is the greatest thing since sliced bread. There are six font sizes. You can select the one you wish to use.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday reading the user's manual. The Kindle has a built-in wireless receiver, making it possible to download a book from the Kindle Store in about a minute. Most titles sell for about 10 bucks. Many of the older classics sell for peanuts. Many titles are free. I have yet to download anything. I am still learning how to manipulate the device.

I had the weekend off from indexing. I received an e-mail on Thursday informing me that more changes are being made to the text and asking that I stop and wait for new page proofs. The page proofs came on Monday. I downloaded it to a disk and took the disk to a copy shop and had them print the pages.

Yesterday evening my lovely wife and I attended the annual Thanksgiving service at Broadway Baptist Church. There were nowhere as many people this year as last year. Maybe that's because the service was held on a Monday instead of on a Wednesday or on Thanksgiving Day itself. On the way home, we stopped at Chinese Express and took some food home to eat.

Today the Fex-Ex truck came by the house and gave us a package with our church pictures in it.

I need to say that the new medicine prescribed by Dr. Rapacki has relieved my back pain. I am now pain free. I don't know what brought on the pain, but I am glad it is gone.

Back home again

We are back home once again. We left on a short trip to Springfield, MO on Friday morning, early. We had the alarm clock set for 5:30 am. It was still dark when the alarm went off. We got up and loaded up the car and drove over to Victor Ave. in Tulsa. There we picked up fellow freethinker and piano duet partner Gail and headed for Skepticon II in Springfield.

We stopped first just across the state line in Missouri at the tourist info center. I had brought my GPS receiver with me, and the three of us went looking for a cache. We found the cache right away. It was inside an army ammo box about fifty feet into the woods at the back of the travel center. We also looked for another cache, but we did not know exactly what we were looking for. It turned out to be a benchmark, but we did not know that until later. Had we known what we were lookikng for, we might have found it. Instead we gave up looking for it.

We arrived in Springfield about 11:00 am. The events were held on the campus of Missouri State University. Several well-known skeptics were at the conference, including D.J. Grothe, Victor Stenger, Robert Price, Joe Nickell, Dan Barker, Richard Carrier, P. Z. Myers, and Rebecca Watson. We registered for the conference and ate lunch in the student dining area in the student union.

The conference began with a student debate followed by a debate between some of the speakers and some local people representing the theist point of view. The topic was "Does God Exist?" The debate was carried on at a high level of respectable discourse. At the 4:30 break, we went over to the Arbor near where my parents live. We three checked into the motel for the following two nights. We went by my parents' apartment where Gail and I played "Birch Tree Rag" and "Irish Air" for my parents.

When we got back to the campus, we heard J T. Eberhard speak on "Why do we criticize religion?" There was a 10-minute break and then we heard P.Z. Myers talk. Myers is the 2009 recipient of the Humanist of the Year award.

While most attendees went out to the Fox and Hound pub following the Myers talk, the three of us went to the Red Lobster for our evening meal. I had the broiled fish platter.

The next day, Saturday, we went back to campus and heard D. J. Grothe introduce the speakers for the day. The first was Victor Stenger, who spoke on "The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason." Next was Robert Price, a member of the Jesus Seminar, whose topic was "The Gospels and Thorough-going Skepticism."

Following lunch, we heard Joe Nickell speak on "Investigating the Paranormal." After this we heard Dan Barker talk on "A Book of (Bad) Numbers."

Next we went to Springfield Music where Gail and I looked through the piano duet music available in the store. Gail bought $32 worth of duet music. That will give us a lot to keep us occupied for the near future. We ate our dinner at Logan's Road House.

Back on campus, Richard Carrier was speaking on the topic "Where the Hell is Jesus: Weird Stuff from the Gospels to the Apostles," in which he talked about a number of contradictions and absurdities found in the Bible. P. Z. Myers spoke again, followed by Rebecca Watson. I think it was around 11:30 by the time we returned to the motel.

Some of the talks may be available for viewing on YouTube. There were probably 200 people attending the conference, which was held in two buildings: Plaster Student Union, and Carrington Hall.

Food and Fellowship

Today was the day for our November Food and Fellowship. With only five of us there, listening to conversation was made easier. With a dozen people at a meeting sometimes two or three conversations are going on simulataniously. If you are speaking in one conversation, you miss out on the other conversations. I won't say that there was only one conversation going on at all times, but I left feeling like I did not miss out on as much as I usually do.

The broiled scallops at White River Fish Market are to die for. Today I ate the broiled fish platter with Spanish rice and potato salad. The plate included three scallops, three shrimp, two hush puppies, and a piece of catfish. It was a great meal.

One guy there (in his 70s) told us how changing his dentist led to an increase in his libido. At least that was his interpretation of events.

This evening, J had a meeting at the Methodist church. While she was in the meeting, I sat in the church library indexing. I am now at page 218 in the book.

After leaving the church, we went to Nick's house and stayed with Luke and Ayla while Nick and Jen went to choir practice. We learned later that the Charge Conference was still going on and that choir practice was canceled.

What my doctor said

Today we visited my back doctor. He asked me about my symptoms and I explained how I was feeling. He asked what I was taking for the pain. I told him Aleve. He shook his head and said that Aleve, along with Motrin, Ibuprofen, and a few other medicines whould be taken off the market. He said that they cause kidney failure. Now he tells me. I took Aleve back in 2006 for about six months. I think my GP said to take four a day. So I have probably consumed about 700 Aleve. Well, I'm still alive.....today. Don't know what tomorrow will bring.

My doctor gave me a prescription for Methylpred, which is a steriod. I have been taking it this evening, and I can say that my pain has decreased. You start with six tablets the first day and decrease by one a day until they are all gone. I suspect the medication relaxes me for I am ready for bed and it is not yet 9:30 at this time.

The doctor said to come back in two weeks for a follow up. If in the meantime, the pain gets worse, I should call him and he will set me up for a MRI. He is hoping the pain will go away on its own.

Indexing and piano playing

The day began with Gail coming over to play piano duets with me. We recorded another video, which we may post to YouTube tomorrow. We selected two duets to play at Randy's on December 19, the annual gathering of freethinkers. We will play "In the Bleak Midwinter" and "Go Tell It On the Mountain."

Tomorrow I will see Dr. Rapacki about my back pain, which fluctuates from a pain level of 2 to 5. I am glad to be retired. I certainly could not work this way.

I worked on the index tonight. I'm up to page 150 on the mark-up. Tomorrow I will see if I can get it typed into the program.

A trying day

Today was the day of the November HAT meeting. J and Ayla had left for church. I was making last minute preparations for the meeting. I had my things in a tote bag and headed out the door. On the way to the car I reached for my keys. They were not there. I had left my keys in the house. I was locked out.

I went to the gate on the south side of the house. It was locked up with a padlock. The gate on the north side (with a six-foot high wall) is locked from the inside. I looked over and saw my neighbor's trash cart and thought I might be able to use that to get myself over the fence. I rang his doorbell, but no one came to the door.

I wheeled his cart up to the gate and climbed on top. Mind you, I am doing all this with back pain. I put my foot on top of the gate and jumped over into my back yard. My destination was the shed in which I have a key hidden. I went to the spot where the key is usually hidden, but there was no key there. I had phoned J several times to find out where she was, but as I later found out, she had turned off her phone. I called Nick to see if he knew where she was. Nick said she had just left his house and should be home shortly.

Within ten minutes J pulled into the driveway and into the garage. As she came into the kitchen, I rapped on the back door. She opened the door and let me in. She was surprised to find me still at the house. I explained the situation to her and then went to change into dry clothes. It had been raining all this time.

By the time I arrived at Hardesty Library for the humanist meeting, I was thirty minutes late. The guest speaker, the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice, was talking to the group. I had forgotten to take an Aleve tablet and so the back pain was increasing. When I returned home, I took an Aleve.

Tomorrow, Gail is coming over for our weekly practice. We plan to video record another YouTube presentation.

On Tuesday, I have an appointment to see Dr. Rapacki.

Making music and indexes

I was feeling pretty good when I got up this morning. As for my back pain, I would say on a scale of 1 to 10, it was a 2. The only thing on my calendar for today was Secular Singers at Gail's house. At 2 pm I was at Gail's house for our rehearsal. I arrived at the same time as Bea. We went in and wondered where Randy was. Soon my phone rang. It was Randy. He was lost. Gail spoke to him giving him directions. In a few minutes he arrived. Our core group was all there. Sometimes we have others attend, but the four of us -- Randy, Bea, Gail, and myself - make up the core of the group.

Today we practiced our music for our annual Christmas/Winter Solstice program. We will have another rehearsal on December 5, just before Movie Night. The program will consist of about ten selections. Gail and I will play two duets, yet to be chosen.

We also listened to two selections by Jim Corbett - "It Must Be Jesus" and "I Am a Humanist." The selections can be heard on YouTube. Jim is a talented songwriter with a lot of promise.

Once we were feeling pretty good about the program, we all went home. I continued working on my index. I have the first quarter of the book done.

In the evening, my back pain increased to around a 4 or 5. I will be glad to see Dr. Rapacki next Tuesday.

A Charter for Compassion

Religious historian Karen Armstrong is working on a Charter for Compassion. For more information, go to http://charterforcompassion.org

A call to bring the world together…

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

Fall is in the air

It is a nice fall day today. I woke up feeling not too bad, considering how I felt as I went to bed the night before. I still felt bad enough that I called Dr. Rapacki's office to see if I could schedule a visit. I told the person I spoke to my symptoms, and she asked if i could come right in. I said I could so we headed for Tulsa. It takes about 25 minutes to get to the doctor's office.

We had the hospital in sight when my phone rang. The speaker said that Dr. Rapacki had been called to surgery. Rats! I would have to make an appontment for a later time. The person talking to me suggested 3 pm on Tuesday. I said OK.

J, always looking on the bright side, says that sometimes back pain goes away on its own. I hope that is the case.

Back pain again

Everything was ok when I got up this morning. J and I went to the Methodist church, and I took a few pictures of the Seniors in Action group. There were about 25 people present to have a group picture taken. On the way home I stopped at QuikTrip to add air to the tires.

After we got home something happpened to my back. It feels as if a disk has collapsed. This problem is not likely to get better on its own. If I still feel the same way as I do now in the morning, I will call Dr. Rapacki's office and see if I can come in and talk to the doctor. Presently, I am using a cane to get around. Lying down or sitting in a chair is no problem, but walking is another matter. Instead of walking, I hobble. Moving around is painful and slow. Needless to say, I did not go walking at TCC today. I am glad I am retired and don't have to go to work. I will have to decide tomorrow whether to go ahead with Secular Singers (set for Saturday) or call it off. This is our last chance to rehearse before we sing for HAT at Randy's in December. The way I feel right now, I don't want to leave the house except to go to the doctor.

J went to the library for me this afternoon. She returned some books and picked up others. I managed to get the first chapter of Astronomers indexed today. One of the books waiting for me at the library was YouTube 4 You. It looks like the book to read to learn the particulars on using YouTube.

The Piano from the Potemkin Village

Today Gail come over to practice piano duets with me. Gail and I have been wanting to find a venue where we could perform in a relaxed setting for the public. Recently, Gail noticed a piano on the upper level (mezzanine?) of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Tulsa. We thought that might be an ideal place to play for a couple hours each week, especially if the piano just sat there unused.

While here Gail phoned the hotel and offered our services. We were surprised to learn that the piano is only for show. It has no strings, no action, no keys. It is just an empty shell for show. So it is back to the drawing board on this project. We might check next with the Doubletree.

We next went to the UPS Office. I took a disc with my next indexing project page proofs on it in the form of a PDF file. I had them print off the 433 pages of the book for me. We went a few doors away to the Subway and got an oven roasted chicken sandwich and took it home to eat.

J fixed a delicacy for our dinner: spaghetti with clams in white sauce. It is one of my favorite dishes. It was delicious.

We went over to Nick's house and stayed with the grandkids tonight. We entertained them while Nick went to church for choir practice. I made paper airplanes for Luke, and Ayla did an art project with J.

Events of the day

This morning, J and I walked the Keystone YRE. It was walk number 232 for me. Before the weather turns cold, I would like to do several more walks.

In the afternoon, I placed an order for my Christmas present from J. I will be getting a Kindle from Amazon. A Kindle is an e-reader. The great advantage of having a Kindle is that you can store 1,500 books within its memory. There are now approximately a third of a million books available for the Kindle. Most books sell for $9.99 or less and can be downloaded in about one minute, electronically. There are a number of videos on YouTube describing the Kindle. Some books are even free.

Later in the afternoon, I received an e-mail from Dumbarton Oaks. Included in the e-mail was a link to a Media Fire file containg the next book I will be indexing. This is the first time I have received page proofs in this way. Always before the physical pages were delivered by UPS or US mail. Tomorrow I will go out to a copy shop and have them print the pages for me.

Skepticon II in Springfield, MO

Skepticon II will take place on the campus of Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri on November 20 and 21. Below is the schedule of events.

The Skepticon events began in Fall of 2008 when PZ Myers and Richard Carrier came to the MSU campus. This Fall, Skepticon II will build on the success of the first.

So far our lineup for the event is PZ Myers, Richard Carrier, Rebecca Watson, Joe Nickell, DJ Grothe, Victor Stenger, Robert M. Price, and Dan Barker, along with local presenters Dr. Mark Richter and JT Eberhard. The speakers will provide many of the reasons that belief in god is not only indefensible, but harmful to society as a whole. Our presenters will suggest ways to combat faith in government and in general. They will also rebut many of the common arguments in defense of belief in god.

Here's the tentative schedule: This is, of course, subject to change.

Friday, November 20
11:00-11:40 - Arrival, people getting stuffs.
11:40-Noon - Welcome, thanks yous, etc.
Noon-1:30 - Panel Debate, Does God Exist? (students) 2-4 - Panel Debate, Does God Exist? Carrier, Stenger, Price vs. Dr. Bob Cook and others from the Assemblies of God. DJ Grothe moderator.
4-5:30 - Break
5:30-6:30 - JT Eberhard, Why do we criticize religion?
6:30-7:30 - Rachel Dawn-Craig (or PZ Myers #1)
7:30 - Whenever - Hang-out with speakers at a yet-undecided location.

Saturday, November 21
10-10:15 - DJ Grothe
10:25-11:15 - Victor Stenger, The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason
11:25-12:30 - Robert Price, The Gospels and Thorough-going Skepticism
12:30-2 - LUNCH
2:00-3:20 - Joe Nickell, Investigating the Paranormal
3:30-4:50 - Dan Barker, A Book of (Bad) Numbers
5-7 Dinner break
7-8:15 - Richard Carrier, Where the Hell Is Jesus!? Weird Stuff from the Gospels to the Apostles
8:25 - 9:40 - PZ Myers
9:50 - 11:00 - Rebecca Watson

A new humanist song

We began the day by going to the TCC Fitness Center and walking three miles and then using a couple of the exercise machines. On the way home, we stopped at Subway and bought a $5 footlong sandwich, black forest ham with the usual veggies on it.

In the afternoon, we went grocery shopping and came home and watched the NBC Nightly News. Gail called to reschedule our weekly practice to Wednesday.

I received an e-mail from a guy in Washington state who apparently is a singer and song writer. He sent out an e-mail to various AHA chapter contacts. I am the contact for the Tulsa chapter. His e-mail contained two links for two songs which he wrote and performed. Below is a link for one of his songs, "I Am a Humanist."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU2bYGJa9AQ

I hope you enjoyed it.

The End of America

I made two mistakes in my blog from yesterday. They have been corrected now. So if you read my blog from yesterday, you might want to reread it.

J and I were invited to Marilyn's for brunch this morning. J declined due to a church obligation. I went by myself. At 11:00 this morning I showed up at Marilyn's. Herb was there. Herb will be taking over the organizer role for the humanism meetup. We ate brunch and then went to Randy's and viewed the film "The End of America," a documentary with Naomi Wolf. It's an important film which everyone should see.

When I got back to the house, Luke and Ayla were here playing on the computer. I bought some new music while in Springfield. One item was a duet book for teacher and student. Ayla played the student part, while I played the teacher part for the song "Good King Wenceslas." There are seven Christmas pieces in the book. I also bought a book of Christmas solos by Melody Bober and another book titled "Advanced Jazzed Up! Christmas." (Yes, that's where the exclamation mark appears.) I also got a piece by David Karp for piano four hands titled "Old Man of the Mountain." This piece will be a challenge for Gail and myself due to the many 32nd notes in it.

Gail called this morning and asked if we could move our practice to another day. We will be practicing on Tuesday instead of tomorrow.

Back from Springfield

We took a short trip to Springfield. We left Thursday and spent one night with my parents. While there we saw my sister, Paula.

J is something of a computer whiz and helped Dad with his computer.

We got a late start home on Friday. We stopped in Miami after it got dark. We stayed at the Econolodge. That evening we ate at the Stone Inn Grill, a well-known steakhouse in Miami.

We left the next morning for Sand Springs and got home before noon. We attended a school carnival for Ayla's school.

Tonight was Movie Night at the Bradleys. We watched Little Miss Sunshine after Gail and I played a duet ("Birch Tree Rag") at the piano.

A question I have heard before

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mmskXXetcg&feature=rec-LGOUT-farside_rev-rn-HMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mmskXXetcg&feature=rec-LGOUT-farside_rev-rn-HM

Day's events

We started the day by going to TCC and walking 3.5 miles. On the way home we went by Chinese Express and picked up some lunch. I had orange chicken, while J has lemon chicken. We brought it home to eat.

We showered and then headed over to Tulsa for a 1 pm appointment with Dr. Shirk at Hearing Specialists of Tulsa. Her office is near Hillcrest Medical Center. We made an appointment there because HST has a 30% discount on hearing aids through United Health Allies. Plus this place has a couple of nice features with its hearing aids that Beltone did not have. We were told it would take about a week and a half or two weeks for the hearing aids to be ready.

We went home and got all of the equipment for Beltone and returned to them. The office worker credited our Discover card with the price of the hearing aids.

When we got home, we did some yardwork. Our neighbor to the north has a maple tree in the front yard. It is dropping its leaves, some of which fall on our property. We were out with rake in hand gathering up leaves. We got back in the house and showered. Then it was time for the NBC Nightly News.

Following the news we went over to my son's house and stayed with the grandkids while Nick and Jen went to church and song in the choir. I stopped by Braum's on the way home and got a sixth-pound hamburger.

Book on the way

Note to Galen: I mailed the book to you yesterday, fourth class. It may take a few days to get to you. I do not need it back. You can keep it.

Hope you will check out goodreads.com.

The plumber

We called a plumber to fix a leak in our kitchen faucet. Water was coming out not only where it is supposed to but also around the part that comes up from the surface of the sink. We called the same person we have used for years, Lyle. We later found out that Lyle had retired to Arkansas. The person who answered the phone had replaced him (and he had also bought Lyle's house).

The new plumber came out and looked at the sink situation. We had wanted to sprayer repaired also (it wasn't spraying). The new plumber, Justin, managed to stop the leak but couldn't do anything about the sprayer. He advised we replace the faucet with a Delta. His bill was $87. A couple days later we were at Lowe's and bought a new Delta faucet for $115. We called him to install the new faucet, and next day he came by and started working on it.

He discovered that two different types of metals were in contact at the shut off valve and these two metals were creating an electrolysis. They were not compatable with one another. The electrolysis had caused a build up of residue in the pipe. he changed out the shut off valves and showed us the residue. He worked for a couple of hours and said he would come back tomorrow. He came back the next day (today), and worked for a couple more hours. By this time I was wishing the Lyle had not retired. I think Lyle could have done the job in less time. Justin's bill for today was $268.

Our total cost for the new faucet came to $470. I think next time we need a plumber, I will call Mullins Plumbing. Joe and Lou said that is who they use for their plumbing needs.

YouTube video

I was glad to get the video of Birch Tree Rag up on YouTube. Look for more videos from the Storey/Nerren duo in the future. (Gail gets top billing since she plays the primo part.) Playing piano is fun, but playing with a partner is twice the fun. I would encourage anyone who plays piano (or any other instrument) to find a partner to play with.

I was so tired last night that I did not post anything to this blog. However, this morning I did post about the video. This morning I also went to Beltone and got a copy of my hearing test. Tomorrow I will go to Hearing Specialists of Tulsa and talk with them.

I'm on YouTube

Yesterday Gail came over to practice, and while she was here we made a YouTube video. We recorded two takes and later when we uploaded a video I chose the better one. J recorded the video, using a ladder for height. If you would like to view the video, go to YouTube and type in the search box "Birch Tree Rag." You will see a few videos with that title. Look at the thumbnail photos and click on our picture.

November calendar

November 2009
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers


Sat., Nov. 7, 7:00 PM
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th.

Sun., Nov. 8, 1:00 PM
Humanist Study Group, Bradley House, 6705 E. 54th St.

Sat., Nov. 14, 2:00 PM
Secular Singers, Storey House, 4630 S. Victor Ave.

Sun., Nov. 15, 1:15 PM
Humanist November Meeting, Hardesty Library, on 93rd east of Memorial.

Wed., Nov. 18, 11:20 AM
ALGAE Luncheon, White River Fish Mkt., 1708 N. Sheridan

Fri. & Sat., Nov. 20-21
Skepticon II, MSU, Springfield, MO. For more info:
http://www.meetup.com/SpringfieldFreethinkers/calendar/11028936/

Sun., Nov. 22, 1:00 PM
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center

Sat., Nov. 28, 11:30 AM
Food & Fellowship, Rice Bowl, 4307-B S. Sheridan Rd.


--------------------------------
Questions? Contact Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

Day of the Dead

This morning I went to church. Again, a small group was there. The talk today was on the Mexican tradition of "Day of the Dead." At one time this tradition was widely observed. It has largely died out in urban areas, but it still survives in rural parts of the country. Family members of the deceased will go to the cemetery where a loved one is buried and spend the night in the cemetery with them. When a meal is prepared, a place is set for the departed. The plate is filled with food. If the departed does not eat everything on their plate (they seldom do), the food is taken outside and left there.

There is an interesting program that comes on OETA on Sunday nights at 6 pm. It is called "Life -- Part 2." It focuses on an issue of interest to older people, people like myself. I wonder if the programs can be accessed on the Internet? I will have to check that out. I know that NOW and Bill Moyers Journal can be seen on the Internet.

Later on this month there will be a convention on the campus of Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo. There will be some well-known speakers there for this event. Speakers include P.Z. Myers, Rebecca Watson, Richard Carrier, Joe Nickell, D. J. Grothe, Victor Stenger, Robert M. Price, and Dan Barker. The event is called Skepticon II. I'm assuming there was a Skepticon I last year.

Note to Galen

I just finished reading your blog, Galen. I don't know how difficult it is to find the book you mentioned, the title of which is Know Your Limits -- Then Ignore Them by John Mason. I will be happy to mail you my copy. Just let me know.

The book is a collection of 101 nuggets (of wisdom?). Nugget number 47 is "You Can't Get Ahead When You Are Trying to Get Even."

"Never cut what can be untied" (Joseph Joubert). When you have been wronged, a poor memory is your best response. Never carry a grudge. While you are straining under its weight, the person you are mad at is out producing.

Forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them more. There is no revenge as sweet as forgivness. The only people you should try to get even with are those who have helped you.

"Forgivness ought to be like a cancelled note -- torn in two, and burned up, so that it can never be shown against one" (Henry Ward Beecher). One of the greatest strengths you can show is when you forego revenge and dare to forgive an injury.

"He who cannot forgive, destroys the bridge over which he may one day need to pass," said Larry Bielat. The one guarantee for limiting your potential is unforgiveness. Hate, bitterness, and revenge are luxuries you cannot afford.

People need loving most when they deserve it least. Forgiveness heals; unforgiveness wounds. When we think about our offense, trouble grows; when we forgive, trouble goes.

That's about half of that essay. Titles of some of the others are: If You Are Only Looking Out For Yourself, Look Out!, The Most Dangerous Place To Be Is In the Middle of the Road, Climb Out of the Grandstand and Onto the Playing Field, and Unless You Enter the Beehive, You Can't Take the Honey.

The book was published here in Tulsa by Insight Publishing Group, which tells me it might be hard to find in California. I picked it up for fifty cents at a book sale at my local library. If you would like to have it, just let me know.

Today was Halloween. We had fewer trick-or-treaters than in years past. I noticed that some area churches had organized alternative events. That may have kept a large number of kids from being out on the streets.

I'm still trying to decide between a Kindle and a Nook. Each has some advantages the other lacks.

Braum's for breakfast

This morning we went to Braum's for breakfast. While there we read the newspaper the old-fashioned way, on paper. Recently we have been reading it on screen.

After our breakfast of sausage and egg buscuit with coffee for J and orange juice for myself (I never drink coffee), we returned home and took care of a couple of handyman projects: I sawed a board to use as a shelf, and I sawed off a piece of a chair slat so we could get the slat back in place. How the slat got out of the chair, neither of us knows. While we were in the garage, we swept it out and gathered up our soft drink cans in a large trash bag. Periodically we sell our cans to Yaffe Metals on Charles Page Boulevard. I hope to finish reading A People's History of American Empire today.

Clear day

There was flooding in Tulsa yesterday, but today the weather was clear. We went to Lake Keystone and picked up the money for the walking club. There were 17 walkers in the fourth quarter so far. I have yet to do the Keystone Walk for the second half of the year. I need to walk Keystone before it turns too cold.

From there we drove to the Lowe's in Tulsa (on Yale). We bought a new kitchen faucet set for $112. It has a high neck and a sprayer. The brand we bought is Delta, that being the brand our plumber recommended. He will be out here next Monday afternoon to install it.

After we left Lowe's we drove over to a shopping center on 51st St. There we had lunch at a Subway. From there we walked to the Beltone office. My hearing aids were back from the factory. I have until November 24 to decide if I want to keep them or turn them back to Beltone. Next Monday I will call Hearing Specialists of Tulsa. They are supposed to have a discount on hearing aids in connection with United Healthcare Allies.

After leaving Beltone, we went to Saturn of Tulsa. Cars are no longer being sold there. The showroom was empty. However, the parts department was still open. We had ordered touch up paint which had come in. We picked it up. From there we got on the Creek Turnpike and drove to Sapulpa. We got off the turnpike there and took highway 97 on in to Sand Springs.

Tomorrow is Halloween. The weather is supposed to be mild and clear, and being it is a weekend, I expect to be visited by many little ghosts and goblins tomorrow evening. Tonight J went with Nick, Jen, Luke, and Ayla to Springs Village (about a mile from here) for a candy giveaway. The event was held in the old Med-X location; however, there was such a huge crowd that they came back before they ever got inside the store.

I read a few more pages from the book by Howard Zinn today and recorded my progress on Good Reads. Do you use Good Reads? If not, go to goodreads.com and sign up. Good Reads is a way to let your friends know what you are reading.

Rainy day

It rained today. We had planned to go to Tulsa, but it rained so much that we decided to stay home and go tomorrow. We have a few errands we need to run tomorrow -- Loew's, Beltone, Saturn.

I think I got out only twice today. First, I went walking at TCC. Then later I went to the library to pick up books.

I got an e-mail from Vicki in Houston that she had received the puzzle which I had mailed to her. She is going to send me a puzzle also to put together.

Next week I should have the page proofs for my next indexing project.

I looked again at the short YouTube video I posted yesterday. It had received more than a dozen hits. I am looking forward to recording and posting "Birch Tree Rag" with Gail next week.

Getting ready for our YouTube debut

I have a short video on YouTube. The video is of me playing my doumbek. This video was uploaded just as a test to see if we could actually do it. It works. The video was shot about a year ago and is of me in my office playing a rhythm on my doumbek. We will probably take the video down shortly. We just wanted to see how difficult it was to get a video up on YouTube. As it turns out, it is pretty easy to do.

Anyone wanting to see the video should type into the search box "Dan and his doumbek 145." Again, this short video was uploaded just as an experiment. We added the number 145 just to make the video easy to find.

Next Monday, Gail and I will be videotaped by J as we play "Birch Tree Rag." We will then upload it to YouTube.

In other news, I went to TCC and walked three miles around midday. In the afternoon I read some of a book by Howard Zinn.

Then we went to the Methodist Church and had our pictures taken for the directory. We also ordered about $250 in photos from the photographer.

In the evening, J and I went to my son's house and stayed with Luke and Ayla while Nick went to the church and sang with the choir.

Newberg and Waldman on the brain

Here is a quote from How God Changes Your Brain by Newberg and Waldman:

Some people put their faith in God, while others put it into science, relationships, or work. But wherever you choose to place your faith, you must still confront a deeper question: What is your ultimate purpose and dream? What do you really desire in your life -- not only for yourself, but for the world as well? And how will you begin to make that desire a reality? Having hope and faith are essential, but something more is needed: the skill and discipline to organize your brain in ways that will successfully motivate your life. Our meditation studies have provided a few basic tools that can help you achieve those goals, and if you apply them to your life, not only will you find a little more happiness, you'll bring a little more peace into the world.

I'm going to Atlanta

I think I will be going to Atlanta next January. In the past in January I have met my good friend John from Tupelo, MS in Little Rock for a visit. The last time we met in Little Rock was January 2006. In January 2007, I underwent a craniotomy and have not made a reunion trip since then to Little Rock. However, I am now ready to resume the annual trip to see my good friend. I have long wanted to see Stone Mountain, which is just a few miles north of Atlanta. Perhaps I will get the chance to see the place in a few weeks.

The day began with Gail coming over to practice piano duets with me. Next week, J is going to film us playing "Birch Tree Rag" by Robert Vandall. Then I am going to try to upload the video to YouTube. Our long-term goal is to play at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Tulsa.

We had a plumber come over today and fix the faucet at our kitchen sink. It was squirting water at the place where the neck comes through the surface of the sink. We had a deteriorated O-ring which needed to be replaced.

This evening I went to the Prices' home for drumming. I told them about my vacation and about a couple of YouTube finds.