We planted some fruit trees in the front yard. Here are some pictures:


Santa Rosa Plum.



Mericrest Nectarine.



Redhaven Peach.



Granny Smith Apple.



Cortland Apple.

On Friday I had an eye appointment. This was quite needed as I have been finding my vision to be getting a bit worse. While at the appointment they dilated my eyes. I have had this done many times before without incident, but this time - OUCH. That little light the doctor uses to see in the back of my eye really bothered me this time. Also, my eyes hurt for the rest of the day. It was as if I had no sleep for two days. Anyway, although the light was rather irritating, I managed to get through the examination and ordered some new specs. I should have them around May 3rd, so I'll try to get a picture then.

May 3rd? Hmmm, that's the day after The Wife's 40th birthday. I already got the bottle of champagne she wanted. Now I need to go out and get a card and find a surprise gift.

Speaking of surprises, I bet you didn't think I'd be posting anytime soon. Hahaha! Or, that the sun would ever show itself this Spring. I am glad it finally came out, because it gave me an opportunity to take some pictures of our new trees. I'll be posting them in a day or two.

I am done with EVE. Yep, only paid for one month and said "no thank you". This means I pay for no online gaming other than POGO. Yes, I still play POGO on a weekly basis. It really doesn't take up too much time, but maybe 3 hours a week.

I have been spending plenty of time reading about things that piss me off. For example, how stupid politicians are following tragedies such as the VTech shooting.

/RANT ON

Oh my. Yes. Let's institute more useless and invasive safeguards for the American people, because their freedom, inalienable rights, and privacy haven't been misplaced enough. Don't worry that the United States sovereignty and Constitution are set aside for such intrusions.

Let's see, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, from Cleveland, is currently drafting legislation that would ban the purchase, sale, transfer, or possession of handguns by civilians. That will protect the people, simply throw the 2nd Amendment out the window. An armed intruder in your house? Just hide or run away, because your right to protect yourself or your property is no longer viable. However, guardians of the state will still be allowed to arm themselves to the teeth to keep us all safe. Yeah, right.

How about keeping tabs on all citizens? The Real ID Act of 2005 is going turn our state driver’s licenses into a genuine national identity card and impose numerous new burdens on taxpayers, citizens, immigrants, and state governments – while doing nothing to protect against terrorism. There are even planned checkpoints throughout the country where you will be asked to produce your identification before you can proceed. Remind you of anytime in world history?

All of that is still okay? How about the recent discussions between the President of the U.S., the President of Mexico, and the Prime Minister of Canada with regard to the Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America. What is it? Oh, just the opening of borders to our neighboring countries in order to form a North American Union (similar to the European Union). There is talk of a new monetary system, the Amero. And, developments have already begun on the North American Corridor. A superhighway from Mexico through Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, Indiana, and Michigan into Canada.

/RANT OFF

Sorry for the rant. I have serious problems with the loss of my freedom, inalienable rights, and the protections of the American people provided for by the United States Constitution at the hands of politicians (Republican and Democrat alike). Now it's time to take action. . .

I believe I have found somebody that can do the job of President without sacrificing our freedom and the integrity of the United States and it's Constitution. His name is Ron Paul. He is a Congressman from Texas who is running for the Republican nomination. Even if you are not a Republican, I urge you to at least learn about his position on issues presented on his site. He is the one candidate I find to be open and honest about the problems with our federal government. Stop being a good Democrat or a good Republican. Start being a good American by looking at all of the Presidential options for our great country. Only "We The People" can save her.

Last month kind of sucked with regard to getting anything done with the house, garnering work, and my weight, so I ignored it.

In a nutshell, the electrician has not shown up to get the last few items completed in the basement before I finish the sheet rock. This has put a stop to any progress in the basement. However, I posted nine new pictures which were taken on February 28th. Once the electrician decides to actually come over and do the work, I can put up the final pieces of sheet rock, apply more joint compound, sand everything, another coat of joint compound, sand again, and then hopefully begin painting. In the meantime, I have been calculating and preparing in my head how I am going to do the sub-floor. I believe I am going to use something called DRIcore, which will cost me about $1,000, even when doing it myself. Of course from reading the installation manual for DRIcore, I have discovered that I will have to spend more money on buying some tools. I need a circular saw, a jigsaw, a four foot level, and some other small items. This is not a big deal because I can use all of the tools on future projects.

I am continually sending out resumes and filing out applications with no success of obtaining any work. I have received a few more responses, but nothing with any prospect. I did go on one job interview, but turned it down (The Wife agreed I made a good choice). When I had made the appointment for the interview, the guy I was talking with wouldn't tell me much over the phone. During the interview I found out it was giving product demonstrations for Kirby cleaning systems in people's homes. Been there, done that, own a product (Rainbow). I will not be doing that again anytime soon.

The diet has been out the window for a few months now and my weight is back up to about 156. Need I say more?

The gaming has pretty much slowed down dramatically. I cancelled EverQuest. I cancelled WoW. I paid for a month of EVE to see if I would like that, and think I'll probably cancel that. I am not sure if it is just taking up too much time or I am simply not getting into these games as much as I did before. I just might have to pick up a good single person RPG or replay one I already own. In the meantime, I have a new project to complete. A long-lost friend located me. I had given her a tape of some hard disk recordings I made back in the early 90's. These were basically twisted versions of pre-existing recordings by popular artists. For example I took parts from a couple Beatles songs and remixed them together to create my own. Anyway, she sent me the tape, which I don't have a copy of and the original recordings were lost long ago. So, the project is to digitize the recordings, clean them up (volume, stereo balance, noise reduction, etc.), and make a CD for both her and myself. The clean up process could take some serious time, but this will be a fun project for me. I will probably post the recordings when I get them completed.

Dustie the Cat is loving this house, but her kitty arthritis is acting up with these severe weather changes. Poor little kitty is getting old. We can tell that she is really hurting sometimes, so we will even carry her up and down the stairs if it looks like she needs it.

The Wife is tuning 40 in twenty days. She said all she wants to do is relax at home with a bottle of champagne. That certainly can be done.

Anyway, March was ignored and April is picking up. You will see why in future posts. Don't even say it!