Wednesday March 28, 2007 5:15 am Lethbridge Sunrise 7:18 Sunset 19:55 Hours of daylight: 12:37

A. Morning Musings

5:15 am It is +2 C at the moment with a forecast high of +5 C. The skies are forecast to clear this morning.

CBC Headline: Manila Bus Hijackers Holding Kids Agree to Surrender

The gunmen said they were demanding improved housing and education for 145 children in a nearby day-care centre. Hopefully the immediate crisis will resolve itself without further harm, but the trauma that the young kids have experienced may stay with them for some time. I understand that sometimes a situation (i.e. living conditions for these children) appears so hopeless than one can't think of any way to change it, but this is still not the way to accomplish one's goals. We are becoming so used to terrorist acts, that when one occurs that is not related to Islamic fundamentalism it almost seems like a relief.

Canadian Headline: Williams Launches Ads Assailing Harper Over Equalization Pledge

The premier of Newfoundland/Labrador has inititated a series of newspaper ads accusing Harper of not keeping his promise to not incorporate non-renewable resources, including royalties from offshore oil, in a revised equalization formula. Williams claims Harper sent him a written assurance that such action would not be taken, yet that was part of the formula in the latest federal budget. This will likely die down over the next couple of days as just another political gambit.

Australian Headline: (from The Australian): Howard Rules Out Climate Measures That Cost Jobs

This statement is directed primarily at coal miners, saying they will not lose their jobs due to measures to cut greenhouse emissions. This appears to me as another policy decision (the first being his workplace legislation) that will not be popular with the majority of Australians. With a federal election due later this year, Howard appears to be gambling that presenting a firm leadership model will count for more than the principals underlying them. We shall see.

My weight is up another 2 to 192. I have gained 4 pounds in the last 3 days. I am a bit discouraged as I don't feel that my eating has been that out of line. The lack of exercise due to the wet/cold weather hasn't helped, but my snacking has been a problem. This is now going to be a major psychological factor for the next few days as I try to recover my program to get to 180.

From rear window	South patio
Both images taken at 12:10 PM

B. Plan

Immediate
Mathematics	Read & make notes on The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems	1 hr
Technology	Convert LPs to MP3 format	2 hr
	Create Feb pages for Mexico trip using iPhoto images	1 hr
Birds	Create notebook pages birding in Mexico	2 hr
Literature	Continue reading "Of This Earth" by Rudy Wiebe	1 hr
History	Begin reading "Maya"	1 hr
Philosophy	Begin reading "How Are We To Live?" by Peter Singer	1 hr
Later
Technology	Make notes for chap. 4 of "Switching to the Mac"
	Burn backup of images onto DVD
Mathematics	Make notes for "Mathematics: A Human Endeavor" ch 1
	Read "Fearless Symmetry" chap 9: Elliptic Curves
	Begin reading "Algebra: Abstract and Concrete" by Frederick Goodman
Model Trains	Add ground cover to oil refinery diorama
	Follow tutorial for version 8 of 3rd PlanIt
	Continue assembly of coaling tower
	Purchase DCC system
History	Read Watson "Ideas"
Philosophy	Read & make notes for "Breaking the Spell"
GO	Complete reading "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go"
Puzzles	The Orange Puzzle Cube: puzzle #10
Major Goals
Learning	Review week's pages each Sunday
	Review all pages for the month at the end of each month
Technology	Review & edit iPhoto files for 2006
Model Trains	Become proficient with 3rd PlanIt software
	Install DCC on model train layout
GO	Learn to play GO at something better than a beginner level
Drawing	Learn to draw!! (I keep saying this, yet I have yet to put a pencil to paper).
Mathematics	Continue to play with mathematics.
Literature	Continue to read Literature
Bird Watching	Continue to engage in bird watching activities.

C. Actual/Note

5:45 am Top priority items today are the same as yesterday: Technology and Birds. These are both catch-up activities as I continue to digitize my LP records and make web pages for our recent trip to Mexico. I will add one, perhaps two, walks to the agenda as I am adamant about recovering my recent weight gain. But my early morning coffee is still on. The Mexico web pages have two components, the general tourist images and the bird watching. The first is relatively easy to create, but the birding pages are much slower as I often have to edit an image to show the bird clearly plus I need to refer to my books to make the identification. I think I will opt to press on with the tourist images and then go back and do the birding notebook pages.

My first item will be to convert a two-record album, "Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall" to MP3.

8:20 am Done. The two LPs have been converted.

10:15 am I am back from a one hour flat walk (as compared with a coulee walk). I am still getting over the fact that I gained two pounds this morning. I am both disappointed and angry at myself for letting both my diet and exercise lapse over the last three days. I am determined to get back to where I was equally quickly. This will mean at least two walks each day as well as a very careful monitoring of my food intake.

Here is a graph produced by the FitDay software that shows my progress (and lack of progress) so far.

The only good news about this is that I am actually still close to my original goal. But I should be well under the red line by now.

5:50 PM I am back from a coulee walk. This should all help when I weigh myself in the morning. It might even be good for me.

While shopping this afternoon I bought 2 more books:

• "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy (2006). I have thoroughly enjoyed everyone of his novels that I have read (4 so far). I am looking forward to this one.
  
  
• "Kafka On The Shore" by Haruki Murakami (2005). I am also a fan of Japanese literature, both traditional and modern. This looks like a great read.

I also bought two New York Times crosswords books. This is a new interest that Larry introduced me to. I think I have one easy and one of medium difficulty. Now to see how well I do them.

I also bought two CD collections, each with 2 CDs. One is The Essential Leonard Cohen and the other is The essential Bob Dylan. There is some good listening ahead. I also have to transfer them to my iTunes/iPod in the near future.

6:15 PM Here are two more photos showing the beginning of the spring activity of the May tree in our backyard.

D. Reflection