Thursday, July 10, 2008

It has been an interesting week this week. Interesting only because there were a few extra things going on that were a break from my normal routine.

I bought me several new audio books. My latest is a book called "The Long Tail" by Chris Anderson. It is actually the first non fiction audio book I ever heard and I am really enjoying it. He is discussing the new internet economy and why niche products can be big business now thanks to the internet.

Once I have finished reading (that is what they call it instead of saying listening to it) I will write a review of "The Long Tail" by Chris Anderson. May not post it on this site but on my business site.

I am planning to write a book about how I became and being a Traveling Webmaster. In addition to working up my outline I have been doing some brain storming. Putting my thoughts down on paper.

Doing it this way would normally mean I still would need to type it all up. Well I bought me a program called Dragon Speaking which allows me to dictate my notes and the software will type it for me. That is the way it is supposed to work. And I think it will.

It seems I have to train the program as well as train myself how to use it. Actually, it seems pretty easy. I will let you know how that works out after I have used it for a while.

In addition to playing around with the Dragon Speaking program I have been working on integrating a new web site design and layout for my business web site WWWHelper.com. The way I created that web site it has a sort of switch where I can just flip it and it will switch the entire web site over to the new design. What you see today is my old design because I still need to do some tweaking. In a day or two I will flip that switch and go over to the new design.

In a few weeks I will integrate another design and then periodically switch back and forth between the various designs. Got to keep the visitors guessing whether they are on the right web site or a new one.

My one oops for the week was a flood in my RV. Wednesday night I was watching some TV one evening when I heard a pop and all 3 of my cats jumped straight up in the air. At first I didn't see anything then a few minutes later I went to the head and stepped in a puddle of water soaking through my carpet.

I immediately went out and turned the water off. After rummaging around in my basement (yes a 5th wheel RV has a basement) I found where a hose had blown off. I fixed that the I spent the rest of the eveing and most of the next day drying my carpet. I guess I still need a little excitement once and awhile.

On ThursdayI heard on the La Grande radio station KLBM 1450 AM, that Imbler was having an independence day parade at noon on the 4th. Then some sort of picnic at the local Baptist Church after the parade.

I don't remember Imbler having a 4th of July parade when I lived there. So I thought I would wonder over that way and see if anyone is left from my days. I enjoyed the parade very, very much. It was well attended with several hundred people lining both sides of the main street. Actually I was a little surprised to see that many people. I sort of was planning to stay for the BBQ but the line had over a hundred people in it. I don't know about you but I had enough of chow lines in the Navy.

I took some pictures and videos of the parade. I will add some to this Travel Diary entry in a day or two so check back.

On Saturday I started off by going for coffee but finding the Highway 30 Eatery and Coffee Shop was not open. I guessed they are taking a long holiday weekend. So ended up going to Denny's for breakfast and then on to Starbucks for coffee.

Now I want you to know that I think Starbucks has the best coffee out there. But I prefer a local non "clone" coffee shop. But when the only one around is not open I will go to Starbucks.

One other reason I prefer to go to a local, non clone coffee shop, is that Starbucks, not too long ago, made a business decision to stop cooking food. The reason behind that decision they said was the smell of cooking food interfered with the smell of the coffee. So they no longer make any breakfast sandwiches or even toast their bagels. That was the limit for me. I really enjoy a toasted bagel with two cream cheeses with my coffee. I can still get a bagel with cream cheese at Starbucks but not a toasted bagel. I hope they soon realize the mistake they are making and rectify it soon.

I read the other day that Starbucks was going to close 600 stores here in the US. They claimed that it was do to the slow down in the economy. I wonder. Some of that may have it's roots in that business decision to not cook any food inside their stores. Could be.

On Sunday my son Ray, his wife Jennifer and my granddaughter Ellery stopped by here in La Grande, Oregon on their way to the Oregon coast to visit for a day and stay over night.

So part of the day was me kind of getting organized and ready for their visit. The rest of the day I have been doing some research for the book I am writing (more on a future posting).

On Sunday afternoon my kids arrived from Boise.  Ray, Jennifer and Ellery and I spent most of the afternoon and evening at the La Grande Rendezvous RV Park setting outside my RV watching Ellery ham it up. She got a Princess Ariel, as in The Little Mermaid, jewelry set complete with a tiara.

Jennifer and I are videoing her put her jewels on and off, on and off. Did I say on and off? That is an under statement. I will add a picture of Ellery and her jewels here in a day or two.

We had a free dinner at Pizza Hut where we ordered a large Supreme minus the mushrooms. That's where the Free comes in. On the original pizza they forgot to hold the mushrooms. So for waiting for the new pizza there was no charge. Dinner cost only ten bucks for drinks and bread sticks. Some days just work out that way.

We then went back to the RV Park and Ray and Jennifer went for a drive so it was just Ellery and me. I'm getting some practice putting her new earings and necklace on. And I do mean practice. She has the taking off part down pat.

Ray and Jennifer came back and brought a small chocolate birthday cake for me and a really neat Twilight Zone birthday card. They remembered my birthday was next week on the 12th  and since they won't be here we celebrated tonight.

Later that eveing they left to go back to their room at the La Grande Inn. We will get together again in the morning for breakfast before they head on to the Oregon coast. Since I live in an RV and don't really have a spare bedroom (sofa making into a bed is not the same) I put up visitors in a local motel. As often as I do this it works out great.

Monday morning we all met for breakfast at Denny's and had a nice time chatting. I was enjoying watching Ellery. She is so cute and I will miss her a lot. Last winter Ellery was spending several hours a day, a couple of times a week and I was getting spoiled, with just me while her parents either were just having some time to themselves or I was acting as a stop gap for when both parents were busy. In either case I really enjoyed that time we had together.

Our time together was a true joy. I am looking forward to getting back to Boise. My current plan is to be back there at the end of August.

Speaking of the end of August, to hear Ray tell it, they have had a really hot summer. He said they have already had several days over 105. I am darn glad I am here. We have only had a couple of days just over 90. Now that's more like it.

Anyway, they are off and I sure will miss them, especially Ellery.

The weather has been so nice that I have been spending a lot of time just relaxing and listening to some of my OTR programs. My current playlist is of about 75 episodes of Buzz Corey and Cadet Happy of the Space Patrol. They also did TV episodes but I am just listening to the OTR shows.

I also have been watching some classic TV shows. This week I watched an episode each of Mission Impossible, The Love Boat, Chips and Emergency!

I also have spent some leisure time reading some comics. One in Particular is The Batman Chronicles V. 1 which is the chronological reprinting of every Batman tale from every comic in which he starred, beginning with "the Case of the Chemical Syndicate" from Detective Comics #27 (dated May, 1939). One I particularly enjoyed was the one that introduced The Joker to the series.

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