Summer 2015 July 26 Sunday

78 degrees this morning. Walk 42:30 minutes 

Sitting on the patio this morning with a light breeze cooling the air as insect sounds carry over the night air.  Soon the birds will start waling up. 

I don’t mean to run this into the ground every day, but it isn’t that many days that it is this nice and I want to note each one of them because they are valuable! 

I guess I value them because they are so relatively rare and I don’t want to take them for granted.  

Finished listening to “The Innovators’ this morning for the second time.  It is really an excellent book.  

After finishing the book I spent the rest of the time listening to my Spanish language tape, although I have a feeling I will never really learn it.  I really would like to learn enough to verbally greet people and carry on a minor conversation.  Google Interpretor can do a lot.

Of course, my area not is so varied, I need to not only know Spanish, but also Chinese, Vietnamese, and a number of other Asian and African and Arabric languages.  Of course, that is one thing that makes my job so interesting. 

It is a true tapestry of languages and cultures and all of them are trying to make a success in their business.  While some of the normal stereotypes apply, for the most part there is a wide variety of businesses.

Undecided as to what book I will listen to on my walk next.  I may just listen to musics for a few days, or I may continue to list to my Spanish and Chinese tapes.  However, I am so backlogged with books I want to listen to (and re-listen to) that I probably will start another book.  I always think I will start listening to a book during my time in the car on “field days”, but I normally end up listening to music or CNBC.  

We have had ten (yes 10!) light bulbs burn out since we moved into the house about six weeks ago.  It hasn’t been just any one type of lightbulb, it has been a variety.  We reported it under the warranty as a defect, but don’t know if that is it or they just used cheap bulbs.  Lighting fixture manufactures deserve a special place in hell for their poor designs of their products and the way it is impossible to change some of their lightbulbs. 

We are replacing some of the bulbs (such as in my office) with LED bulbs that are supposed to last 13 years and consume almost no electricity.  We shall see.  Actually, right now, we are using up the light bulbs we have, although we will probably use LED bulbs for the lights that are on all the time or especially difficult to replace, or where the design or poor construction of the light fixture makes it more feasible to use an LED bulb.  Assuming, of course, that they don’t  burn out in a month also.

For some reason, our electric bill last month was at least double an triple some of the same types of months in the other house.  We really feel like the electricity wiring has a problem, but we’ll see.  Both houses are almost exactly the same size, so it should be somewhat comparable.

The sprinkler system is basically fixed, just has to be adjusted.  Now, I have to find out what the minimal amount of water is that is needed to keep the grass and shrubs at least on minimal life support for the rest of the summer.  I don’t like to watch water being wasted for just grass (that you then have to mow) and I don’t like paying for it!

I wish there was a way I could sleep out on the patio, at least in the early morning.  

That’s it for now, Sunday, July 26, 2015.