Friday, June 1, 2007

Waked up at 6:00 A.M. for a routine day with a nice surprise in the middle of it.

Breakfast at 7:00….sausage, eggs and toast, then between 8:00 and 9:00 A.M. got dressed and then enjoyed my usual prayer time.

9:00 A.M. into the office and worked on my book a little. I’m feeling pretty good, with just a hint of irritation in my esophagus area. I went really light on my coffee, in case that is irritating, but the funny thing is that drinking a swallow of water seems to irritate more than a swallow of coffee. IMHO, I think this may be related to the medicine. The label says it can cause stomach upset.

The nice surprise came around 10:30 A.M., when my friend, Gene, who is a retired American soldier, whom I met in Davao City, in the Philippines, this last April called me from his U.S. home in Illinois. We enjoy working on the computer, and Gene has found a lot of stuff that I haven’t, so these conversations usually end up with him dispelling much of my computer ignorance. With his help, I am learning about all kinds of effective, free programs for internet marketing and web site building, all of which I need to learn in the next couple of years, since my fixed income won’t go up like prices already are. Retirement in a rocking chair never appealed to me anyhow. So I’ll write travel books and guides, maybe lead tours to Asia (note the maybe), and sell other helpful travel things also.

Anyway, Gene spent about four hours teaching me on the phone, and I spent the time taking notes and downloading programs to learn. Gene has free long distance on his phone also. Free after he pays a monthly fee. I looked at it, but I don’t use enough long distance to make it pay. Gene has a knack for finding good deals!

Through it all, I held up pretty well. By the time Gene and I got through on the phone, at 2:30 P.M. I was getting hungry and tired, so I took a lunch break. Enjoyed some left over barbequed brisket and a baked potato, got back in the office, and before I knew what had happened, the afternoon was gone and I hadn’t taken a nap….oh well. That’s better than being desperate for a nap.

7:00 P.M. Supper of baked pork chops, sweet potato with butter and salad. After supper, spent the evening with my wife, then reading some in Ronald Reagan’s Dairy (very interesting to read the personal thoughts of a president, at the time he was president….very interesting!) and also in David McCollough’s book titled 1776 about the revolutionary war; more great reading. He’s researched documents that most historians apparently don’t know exist.

10:00 P.M. slilpped into bed anticipating a good night’s sleep. Good night.