Saturday, August 28, 2010

Walk #7




I felt poorly and skipped a couple of days then there were the too hot days and yesterday and today that digestive distress that has troubled me for the last year and a half has been terrible.
After just one small meal today I still feel full to the bursting point. They say walking is good for digestion so I might as well suffer walking as sitting at home.

The house just next to mine on the left got this groovy new sign for their front lawn a few weeks ago. A few months after the streetlight that lit up the whole intersection where we live dissapeared one day.





Today I'm changing it up and simple walking sounth down River Bl from my house.
Just yards from my front yard is what we call "Gutter park" because of the gutter going down the middle of it.





The County calls it Wilkins Park. After some long dead bearucrat I'm sure. Or maybe the Guy who built the houses along one side of the park in 1947 that includes mine.





I have lived her for almost 10 years and have never walked to Amstoy's. 15 minutes exactly. It was about 10 years ago that I got tired of drinking to excess and rarely do it now or I would have known the walk time was 15 minutes. How freaking convenient is that? I may just have to revive my professional status as a drinker.

I am always the first to tout the supiriority of the North East part of town. Because the fanatical use of cul-de-sacs was not the norm in bako yet, when this areas was developed more natural traffic patterns mean less congestion. The older houses have much more character and charm. From above the NoWest looks like a big circuit board. One thing I am always quick to report as supiror is the fact that the North east has at least a little topography. It's not all flat and boring.
As I head up the hill to Columbus I strain a little. The slight upward incline back from Amstoy's to the school is a bit of a tick. Then the slope down to my House. Not sure but I'm thinking hills are still supirior.

The stomach thing was terible the whole way but again it was just 30 minutes and I survived it. Sitting here now I may even feeel a little better. So, there goes one more excuse for skipping tomorrow.

Tomorrow at 10 AM is the first meeting of all the people involved with "Maggie". If I go to sleep now I might be up in time for it. getting up 3 hours ahead of my regular routine is going to make me cranky all day and I won't finish delivering Sunday till at least 6AM Sunday. that makes for one long Saturday. We'll just have to see.


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Monday, August 23, 2010

Walk #6

Monday is my busy day:
The press was late so I didn't get home till after 5AM. 
Up at 11AM. 
My latest love is scrambled eggs with pesto on top. I let the pesto go a bit too long in the frige or something at least had my lower bowels in an uproar for about an hour.  
Time's a wast'in and I had urgent bank deposits and other details to attend. 
Finally the trip back out to Wasco to visit my retailers.
Back home before 6 P.M.
There are a few repetitive and boring things that must be done at the end of the newspaper food chain. The most tedious for me is called "cutting off the tops" This is where I cut off the date and masthead portion of the front page from the unsold newspapers. When I return them to TBC I am not charged for those papers at the end of the month when I get a bill for the ones that did sell. I often wait till the last minute to do this but if I get it done on Monday the rest of the week goes smoother. The last minute is after I leave the plant with the Thursday paper. After that the assholes at TBC can fine me $50.

Suddenly the great friend who inspired me to do a walk everyday sends me a text. "R U walking?" "Did U C the Moon?"
The Moon over Panorama Liquors
Ya know let's see if I can fit everything into Monday. As soon as the tops are cut It's back the Panorama Park.
City scape
Alright I really need to dig out the manual for this camera. It's such a great camera there has to be a way to set up the f stop so I can take better night photos.

It was really really nice out there tonight a slight breeze and just enough other people that it didn't seem deserted. I got a little bit farther in the walk before I noticed my feet hurting and I had to start thinking about pushing on. When I started I had a headache. All better now.

I gotta plant some basil before it's too late so I can have fresh pesto on my eggs.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Walk #5

Well I skipped wednesday I was pooped. I intended to do the walk after my weekly garage darts on Thursday but just plain old flaked. This can't happen again so I set out at a quarter till 2 in the morning.

From Bob's Big Birthday Weekend Events lots Happened that day

I got to Panorama park and found the battery dead in my camera. I left the phone at home. Dang it.
What the hell? I just charged that battery. It usually holds a charge for a really long time. Then I remembered that I bought the camera after my trip to NYC 3 summers ago. Lithium batteries don't do so well after 3 years. Time for new.
I was wearing the same t shirt as in this picture of me on the Brooklyn Bridge in 07. Around my neck was the high end recorder I bought for the trip instead of a nice camera. Cool idea and I got lots of great sound clips. The problem is that unlike a camera it isn't so simple a matter to grab out the ones you like and delete the rest. I never did edit them all down as originally planned. 

At 2 am the park is real quiet. The view from the bluffs is darned nice. Only a few other people. I didn't have a way to time the walk so just went as far as I did the times before and figured it would all work out. When I got home it was almost 2:30 so I figure I got in at least 30 minutes.

It was my day off, at 2 am I am usually just getting to or leaving the newspaper rack at the donut shop on 7th St in Wasco. This rack used to sell 3 or 4 a day now it's 2 or 3 a day. It's the only donut shop in town so it's not from lack of foot traffic. The donuts they make are very good. I used to get there around 4:30 when they open. Much healthier for me since I rearranged the route to get there earlier. 

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Walk #4

We voted in new officers tonight, kind of a relief not to be the vice president of the Hal Friedman's Spotlight Theatre by Hal Friedman. Leadership is one thing, an endless circle jerk in another. Oh well as long as there's an opportunity to help the theater community I'm in.

It was about that time so I headed east from the theatre.

From My Daily Walk
From My Daily Walk

That's different.

From My Daily Walk

UMAO in the building that was the California Theater (Chester Ave. bwtn 18 & 19) until the 70's before that they tell me it was originally an opera house.

This time my iPod Touch has a timer that makes a noise at 15 minutes so I'll walk till I hear it.

From My Daily Walk

8 minute walk from the Spotlight to the Mint. Information to save for another date.

From My Daily Walk
The high end printer in town will be doing the programs for Maggie.

From My Daily Walk
2 doors down my favorite quick printers in town. Old Fashioned print shop. (they have the up to date machines) The way they do business is old fashioned like the building. Friendly, take customers one by one. Good prices, will work with you. Great folks. Peggy Snow and her crew.

From My Daily Walk
Q St. right at 15 minutes. One of the only places to get foam rubber in sheets.
The edge of the Antiques district. Or one of them.
Turn around.

From My Daily Walk

From My Daily Walk
They figured out the perfect paint job for this old building. very nice.

From My Daily Walk

Next to it this great green hedge give hopes of a garden.
No such luck. Just Camo for an empty lot next to the cool paint job.

From My Daily Walk

I think I ate here once in the 70's or 80's.

From My Daily Walk
At last a becon telling me I'm back.
Another 30 minutes all walked out.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Walk 2 & 3




When I got to Rob n Terri's for BBQ I greeted the new dog Valentine. She's just a pup and has to remember I'm not a threat each time I visit. Soon we got along fine just as per usual. That is until Rob decided she needed to have a little swim. After that she wasn't too keen on being petted in the pool area.




I forgot how old she was on her birthday 2 years ago. So I got her several small round presents because I figured she was 'aRound 8'. Well 7 as it turned out. This year I'll it 9 what do 9 year olds need?

From Recently Updated

Ashley's Sister Kaitlin was getting ready for the 6th grade by having a purple streak in her hair. If this turns out acceptable at school the story is her mom will do her whole head purple. Then what color will be the accent streak? I vote for yellow like corn.

From Recently Updated
After BBQ they agreed to go for a walk. First we stopped to admire how green Rob managed to get his lawn this summer.

From Recently Updated
Storm is 13 which is old for a husky but $1k of vet and he is feeling pretty spry so he is ready to walk too.

From Recently Updated
I can't believe they still have logs from the giant cork tree that fell over 2 years ago. That thing was at least 4 feet across at the base.

From Recently Updated

The girls go on ahead as we old folks being up the rear.

From Recently Updated

So this was the big attraction on the other side of the block. someone just bought this place for $60K and are doing the big fix up. Considering the place across the street was going for $660K. It might be worth the investment. 4bdrm, 2bth, etc.

The big trek only took 15 minutes. I still owe 15 minutes some where.

From Recently Updated

So today Monday the 16th I went back to Panorama Park. Lots more people this time. no parking in the little lot and the park side of Panorama is full too. I parked on River next to greenlawn my house is .5 miles right down River Bl.

Lots more cars but it didn't seem like that many more people. I thought I'd be clever and set the timer function on my phone for 15 minutes so I'd know when to turn around.

From Recently Updated

I got to about the same place I turned around on saturday and checked the timer. What the hell? It doesn't  ring or beep or anything except start over for 15 minutes. It's half a dozen keystrokes in to even get to the timer. How or who thought this would be helpful?

Alright so one reason for the walks is, beside the general need for exercise, the anti-cholesterol meds my Dr had me taking. In 02-03 he started me on Zocor. I was tired and fatigued all the time I was getting so weak that I plotted and planned every action so as to minimize movement. I found on the net information about Myopathy and muscle weakness. Deterioration of the heart muscle. I got angry and stopped taking Zocor. I started feeling better. In a few weeks I was doing alright. My Dr wasn't happy. 


In may I got a message from one of his Kaiser minions that I was to start a low dose of pravastatin and then progress to a higher dose if needed to get my blood right. 


Continue tomorrow, the blog can't take longer then the walk.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

First Walk first day

From Pictures via T-Mobile cell phone

I got there just before sunset and got this shot of the sun behind the palm trees.

The air was fresh and fragrant even a slight Breeze. The temperature was just right. I headed west from the parking lot towards the oildale end. I walked past a patch of heather with a damp gut sweet smell. Farther on I think it was lavender. 
The idea is to walk 30 minutes a day at least till it seems like not enough then more or faster. I don't believe in creating a lot of anxiety over this stuff. It's got to be done and that's that. Competition and sports and all that is mostly a puzzle to me. The naturally occurring competition in life is quite stimulating enough. Sometimes just getting out of bed is an achievement. Succeeding in business or work life is a particular buzz. Winning the heart of your most beloved I have always supposed would be something beyond empowering. I know the theory of practicing being competitive as good training. I think of it as a type of masturbation. And watching sports or other people competing like watching people masturbate. Kind of entertaining or compelling like watching in porn, but ultimately meaning nothing. You gain nothing from it. Unlike masturbation playing at sports has the benefit of cardiovascular strengthening, but to me takes away from the seriousness of real life competition. Like those hyper competitive douche-bags that succeed at their business goals by eliminating jobs and livelihoods, not because of necessity but to enhance the bottom line. Playing real life like a game and losing their own humanity by picturing those people as only game pieces not humans.
But I digress,
My point is that the challenge is to stay motivated and increasing the intensity to the edge of unpleasant at regular intervals. Without indiscriminate mass deportations or the closing of any manufacturing facilities.
This picture is the sunset at 7:40 15 minutes in and time to turn around.

On the way back I noticed that I was one of only a few white people. Mexicans and Mexican Americans seems to be the only other folks there.  Guess that's what got deportation in my mind. So many of the people dress like fresh immigrants. Not the 2nd - 3rd - 4th generation Americans I am used to. I don't consider what I have gotten from mass media sufficient information to form an opinion on the immigration issue. Just like so much else requiring a considered opinion, who has the time to run down the actual facts?
That said I must admit to a disturbing feeling that I don't want to be the only white guy. In fact I can do without 'not like me people' altogether. It's an unfair and irrational way to feel but sadly a common one. Think about it; a world filled with largely overweight white guys in their 50's who have nothing better to do on a Saturday night than type. Sheech.

From Pictures via T-Mobile cell phone
I got back to the car just at 7:55 PM 30 minutes even. The sun just falling behind the horizon. The last 1/4th of the way was getting to be a bit of a strain. That must be a good thing. 

This time tomorrow I will supposedly be at a friends house swimming and having BBQ. Enjoying the company of the 2 people under 12 who are friends of mine and their G-Paw & G-Ma. Funny thing is they aren't a thing like me. Maybe they will go for a walk with me.