Sunday July 09, 2006 5:00 am Lethbridge Alberta

A. Morning Musings

5:00 am The sky is clear and bright blue this morning. The temperature is +10 C with a forecast high of +31 C.

I have just added 2 links to my amportal page to reflect the fact that I am now using a Mac.

Saturday was for collecting my thoughts on the past week. Sunday is for the future week. But first a fresh cuppa. A few habits are a good thing - much like hobbies and hobbits.

Reviewing my list of activities that should be addressed at some point (space) and time (we all live in at least 4 dimensions), the item that catches my eye is the one about getting the 5th wheel up to speed. If we don't make a commitment to this soon, we will miss another summer. I will phone a local dealer tomorrow and arrange for an appointment. I have just checked the tire size (ST205/75R15) and make (GoodYear Marathon Radial). I am feeling better already, energized. This will also entail removing the cover over the back box and mounting the hitch. Not too difficult but I will have to watch my back.

On a totally different scale, I need to identify the next novel that I wish to read. Roaming my eye over the books on my right, I quickly decide it is time for anther Italo Calvino novel, this time "Mr. Palomar". There. Two decisions and the sky is now light outside. However selecting the book raises another question: should I scan the cover and insert that in this web site? And if so, should the image appear on this page or on my Literature web site, or both? Arguments against: it takes time to do this and it increases the size of the memory required for saving the file. This journal web site for 2006 is currently 35 MB. Images - whether scanned or photos take up much of this. Arguments for: imagery is an important component of knowledge.

Related to this latter point, it has been suggested by a friend that I should try to include more photos. Arguments against: it takes time to do this and it increases the size of the memory required for saving the file. Arguments for: imagery is an important component of knowledge. The choice is clear.

Now to take a couple of pictures of the yard in the early morning light.

fountain in backyard patio	5th wheel before maintenance

It is georgeous outside this morning. Time for a walk in Nicholas Sheran park (about two blocks away), camera in hand.

Here are 4 scenic images, followed by 4 close-up images:

 

7:00 am That was a great decision! An early morning with perfectly still air and the special golden light as the sun first comes above the horizon. I saw both red wing and yellow-headed blackbirds, a robin, a few coots and crows (birds) and, for the first time on the lake, a pelican. It was serene. I should not clutter it up with words.

8:15 am Back to the task of identifying large-scale activities for the coming week. Three more come to mind: continuing to read and make notes for "Switching to the Mac"; getting my music off the PC laptop, putting all my music from the iPod onto the Mac, editing these files and putting the result back on the iPod; and spending some time with my model train layout (tacking down the lower level mainline, read about setting up a control panel - I want one for the two mainlines plus additional ones for the various yards and switching areas). That should do it. It will be interesting to compare notes with this in a week's time.

B. Plan

Immediate
Health	Walk & exercise	1 hr
Technology	Make notes for chap. 2 of "Switching to the Mac"	2 hr
Literature	Begin reading "Mr. Palomar"	1 hr
Later
Chores	Take cement blocks to landfill	2 hr
	Reply to long overdue email(s)	1 hr
	Take 5th wheel in for maintenance	2 hr
	Investigate water softeners for home	2 hr
	Parge area around rear step to garage	1 hr
	Build 4 more book boxes
Technology	Read manual for cell phone	1 hr
	Transfer music to iPod	2 hr
	digital photography
	try using extender lens and monopod	2 hr
Mathematics	Larson "Calculus"
	Read "The Computational Beauty of Nature" Chap 2	1 hr
	Gardner "The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles"
History	Continue reading "Citizens"
	Watson "Ideas"
Model Trains	Add blue backdrop to layout	2 hr
	Review layout for under the table turnouts
	Wire lower mainline track for a power block
	Fasten lower mainline track to layout
	Draw schematic diagram of track layout	2 hr

C. Actual/Notes

8:40 am Another quick chore: to hang the painting of Lennox Head in our office (aka computer room). Done. It is just to my right as I play with the Mac. Perfect.

3:30 PM I have transferred all of my iTunes music that was residing on two PC computers to my iPod which is formatted for iTunes on a Mac. I am impressed, and a bit surprised that it all worked out okay. I had previously transferred some music from one of the PCs to the iPod, which inadvertently had formatted the iPod for a PC. Since I wanted to use the MacBook as my basis for iTunes that meant that I had to reinitialize myiPod from the Mac. Then I had to attach my external hard drive to each PC in turn and copy the music files from each PC to the hard drive. I then attached the hard drive to the MacBook (which could read a PC file) and copied the files to iTunes on the Mac. From there it was standard procedure to update my iPod to include all of these files. The relationship between PC and Mac is much better than a few years ago, when it was impossible to transfer files between the two systems, but it is still tricky and cumbersome. Still, it worked!

Outside of our home, Italy beat France in a shoot-out to win the World Cup. Now to relax and enjoy the rest of the day.

D. Reflection