My *New* Laptop!

In December H worked on my 5-year-old Macbook to try to speed it up. It worked better for a little while, but then it went back to its old, slow ways.  After being so frustrated waiting 1-2 minutes for a page to load, I toyed with the idea of buying a new Macbook Pro whenever the next one comes out (June, perhaps?). Then H told me that if he bought a new hard drive for this one, along with more memory, this one would run fast again. Since the laptop does runs the software I need (and I still have my fairly new desktop), I was happy with that idea, and now, a few hundred dollars later, it's like a new computer again - running at a happy speed.

Yay!

Letters to Liesl

I thought it would be a good idea to start reading some of the books I own. The thing with library books is that you know you have to return them soon, so you read them in a timely manner.

I found Letters to Liesl by Charmian Carr and Jean Strauss on my shelf (autographed by both women) and started it one night. It didn't take long and was definitely a fun read.

I have not been shy to admit that my favorite movie is The Sound of Music. I saw it when it was rereleased in the early 1970s. A group of us girls went to the movie theater (someone's mom dropped us off) and I know I was entranced. I fell in love with the whole musical family, and I don't remember how many times I've seen the movie since.

This book is the sequel to Forever Liesl, Charmian's memoir of the making of The Sound of Music. (I still need to read that one.) In this one, Charmian answers some of the thousands and thousands of fan letters and we see how infinitely popular this movie has been - I am not the only huge fan (not by a long shot!).

The Claremont story behind this book is that Charmian used to date a Harvey Mudd College trustee, and that is how she met Jean Strauss, when Strauss' husband, Jon, was president of HMC. Jean told Charmian that her story must be told, and Jean made the book a reality. I even had a brief meeting with Charmian once at an HMC event, thanks to Jean.

So, good memories all around!

Thoughts On Clutter

So, I have been blogging about getting rid of clutter for a month now, and here are a few observations.

• I have made one big trip to Goodwill to donate this month, and I have another load on the back porch that will be ready to go in a week or two.
• It's helpful to do one item a day; that means that the task does not seem unsurmountable. However, it does drive home the point that the task is unending.
• The older I get, the easier it becomes to let go of some items.
• I have so much stuff.
• Some days it's easy to find a whole group of items to eliminate. Some days it is hard to think of one item.
• Blogging about this has kept me honest for a whole month. (Some days I sort of cheat when I do find 2-3 items at once and then spread them out for 2-3 days. I still feel that adheres to the "spirit of the law.")
• I think I do not need to publicly announce all my items anymore, but I plan to keep a list for myself to maintain this practice. I will probably continue this for more than a year.

Measuring Solar Power

If you stop by the church office, you can now watch how much solar power our new panels are generating and how much energy we are using. Yay, sun!

* * *

Day 30 - Clutter Cleanse: Out with the old hiking boots. I do not remember when I bought them at REI, but it was well over 10 years ago, perhaps as much as 20. Trashed, unless I decide the hold on to them and take them to the NIKE Factory Store at Ontario Mills for recycling. Yup, that's what I should do. 

The Donut Man

On the way home from Mount Wilson on Saturday, we stopped at the Donut Man in Glendora for their legendary strawberry donuts (now in season). I blogged about this place last month and decided to finally see it for myself. 

My analysis: The strawberry donut was pretty big and very messy (it comes with a fork), and it was pretty good, but I've now had one and don't feel compelled to return.

* * *

Day 29 - Clutter Cleanse: Yet another book - The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. I bought it last summer in Oregon (read blog post here), but I won't be rereading it, I'm sure.

Mt. Wilson Observatory

While H was on his second day of SCIAC softball tournament, my friends from Friday's trip to Claremont Craft Ales and I went to Mount Wilson to tour the observatory (actually multiple observatories). A two-hour tour makes for quite a bit of information, much of which I have forgotten, although much of it was very interesting. I know H would enjoy the tour, so someday I will go back with him.

Here are two solar telescopes. You can see these from the 210 Freeway, along with all of the tv towers.

Inside the taller of the two solar telescopes. Every day for the past 100 years or so, astronomers have taken tracing paper and drawn the sun spots and tracked their cycle. For demonstration purposes, the ball shows the size of Jupiter in proportion to the sun, the white circle.

This was written on the white board in the solar telescope room...

Perhaps the most impressive part of the tour is going inside the 100-inch Hooker telescope. This telescope was the world's largest from 1917 until 1948 and was instrumental in some important discoveries.

I rather liked this photo. The mirror over the museum was cracked. If you look in the lower right part of the mirror, there is my self-portrait with my head (and camera) and legs.

The day was quite hazy, and this is an enhanced photo of the view from the 5,700 foot vantage point.

* * *

Day 28 - Clutter Cleanse: I found an old snow globe from years ago. Out!

Rounds Burgers

Friday afternoon in photos

H had the car - umpiring the SCIAC softball tournament in Redlands, so I rode my bike up to Claremont Craft Ales.

Food Truck Friday featured the Rounds Burgers truck. I have been wanting to try this new eatery in south Claremont, so I thought I'd start with the truck.

Veggie Burger and a pint of Roble'd 

(not pictured: my dinner buddies Edris and Bob)

The burger was pretty good, but very loose and a little difficult to eat. The bun was pretty good. The fries were just ordinary, but they came with garlic aioli sauce (or other sauces of your choice).

Aftermath: I couldn't finish

I was not the only one who rode their bike ...

* * *

Day 27 - Clutter Cleanse: My college statistics text. If I haven't used it in over 30 years, chances are great (about 100%) that I won't. Donated.

Vista in the News

This just in: CBEE selects Vista as a 2012 Honor Roll School. Read more about what this means at the Vista website here.

* * *

Day 26 - Clutter Cleanse: I finally put the broken cell phone in the mail to be recycled.

Big Cleanse

Yesterday at school I got rid of a HUGE pile of books. Last year I had gone through all the songbooks that various people had offed on given to me and decided that there were plenty that I would never, ever use. These music books had been sitting on a chair and table for nearly a year, and I decided that I would offer them to my orchestra students. They took everything and thought that they had just had a birthday. I have no idea what they will get out of the music, but that is not my worry!

* * *

Day 25 - Clutter Cleanse: Even though I got rid of stuff at school, I still wanted to get rid of something at home. I found 3 AAA Tour Guide Books dating from around 2005. If I ever need current info on those states, I can always go back to AAA, or even just look online.

The Testament of Mary

This novella by Colm Toibin is thankfully very short - under 90 pages. Our book club will be discussing this, and it will be interesting to see what others thought. This is the story of Jesus' death and resurrection told from his mother's point of view.

I did not think it good at all. First of all, the prose (which some say is beautiful) is dull. The sentence structure does not vary very much, and it is repetitive, making plodding. One reviewer on Amazon pointed out the complete lack of research Toibin has done in understanding the time. I'm not sure exactly what religious point the author is trying to make, and I would not recommend this book to anyone.

* * *

Day 23 and 24 - Clutter Cleanse: I've had a number of books listed on paperback swap that no one has ordered in several years, so I'm giving them away. 1) Nectar by Lily Prior (another terrible book club choice) and 2) a Dave Barry book - it was funny once through, but not a keeper