So many things on the mind.

Well, I still haven't made it to a drum circle. I really want to but it's usually at the end of a night on the weekend and by the end of any night is the last time I should be moving my ankle. So with my ankle STILL laid up I have to forgo certain activities. Like drumming. Pooh.

I've had a job interview and don't think I've gotten that job because I haven't heard anything. Luckily it was on a day that my ankle was feeling well so I was able to walk in and do the interview with a good foot situation last Monday, I believe. A whole week ago and still it's not 100 per cent.

Later that day I met with Ethan and Sean to go see the Mayor of Yountville. A very nice woman, Cynthia Saucerman. She gave us some phone numbers and some possible location ideas for our business saying Sean and my idea was "unique". She also seemed satisfied with our ideas that when the "kitchy" (as Jaime calls it) and "novelty" wears off that we have a viable business to keep running.

The business idea keeps evolving every day so I won't spoil any of it by writing it here until we have a solid or solid enough business plan. Lest to say my friend Jaime helps people start up companies and has done a project similar to ours recently in Arizona. She seems genuinely excited to help us.

I frustratingly got a doctor's bill for a recent visit in May. I usually pay at the time of service so I was a bit shocked at the bill of 170 dollars. When paying at the time of service the amount is greatly discounted so now I am waiting to see if I can get a discount by phone call "by the end of the day". The reason I'm so frustrated is that no one told me at the time of service there was anything to pay despite asking. The girls at the counter don't seem to give a damn about people with no insurance. With my ankle and my high blood pressure I just had to go in to see the doctor. Coupled with a scare where I almost passed out turned into even more appointments.

In a nutshell, nothing is broken, the time when I almost passed out is a normal occurrence (trip up between major blood vessel and neurological system termed a type of vasovagel response), I'm on blood pressure medication (Lotensin) and I have another appointment in 6 months or so.

Yesterday was a nice father's day. I wish I didn't have to sit the whole time though. I got to spend some time at the Ranch with Adam, my dad, my uncle Pat, Mandy and Ryan and the kids, and of course Uncle Kelly and Grandpa Dave. The guys took the jeep out to check out the ranch. They also went target shooting and we all had a pot luck type lunch; tri-tip, pasta salad, broccoli salad, egg salad, shrimp fettuccine with homemade noodles, and of course lots of munchies like salami and cheese.

I realized my dad may be able to help with certain business aspects and in telling him so I also mentioned if he did help we may not be able to pay him very much. Looking at similar business plans I believe Sean and I will only be making some thing like 2000 a month each. It's what the business start up tutorials mean by "lowering your standard of living". They always prepare you to ask yourself that. But with me being unemployed off and on for like 2 years or longer there really isn't very much to lower it to.

Sean and I are going to look at some rental properties on Wednesday and check out things in Healdsburg. Jaime mentioned for our idea Santa Rosa is most likely the best way to go. So now I"ll be putting feelers out for Santa Rosa too. There are less high traffic available locations at this time compared to Healdsburg though. We're keeping our fingers crossed that a good place will open up closer to when we have our business plan ready and need to get a place to start launching permits.

Currently I'm just working on cataloguing websites for similar products and services we will be providing. My goal has been one website a day and that's saying a lot. Most of these websites seem to be carrying 300+ products, so that takes me up to 10 hours.

Hmmm, I'm getting hungry so I guess I better start thinking about what I want for lunch. I wonder what Adam is up to?

Things are Swinging into Summer!

In a nutshell, here is what has been on my mind.

School finished and no regretfully I did not pass the last class I needed for my degree. I'm sure I've beat myself up long enough for not studying enough, but really I think it came down to the blunders I first made in class over the first two exams. Oh well, what's another year in the long run things?

I've got an interview for Chalk Hill Estates Winery next Monday so I'm desperately hoping I can walk without limping by then. More than likely I will be fine, if I don't push it that is. The bruising is to the least it has ever been and my foot and ankle are no longer swollen. It's not a permanent job, just a crush season job, but that is better than nothing.

The garden is blooming out of control. Now that I can sort of walk I can take some pictures so I'll have some up in Facebook and probably Shutterfly soon.

My blood pressure medication is working wonderfully. Now I just have to cut out my drinking and I'll be set. Not really ready for a total cut out. I mean, I did give up every other vice I've had. I've got to get some credit for that. And something like this can only be done when I'm good and ready. If you don't do something for yourself I've learned it's less likely to stick.

Unemployment has been extended so at least I don't have to worry about that.

I did get depressed for a while, and for all I know I may be still. I do feel fine today, nay even happy! My mom did explain that injuries do that to people. And I imagine being cooped up in a house not being able to go anywhere didn't help.

Makes me feel bad for my chickens all stuck in a tiny coop. We have one older hen who won't come out of the "condo", Adam calls it. She gets pecked nearly to death by the younger hens placing everyone in their pecking order. So she flies up to the top of the coop and she gets left alone. Adam sometimes lets her out, but his last complaint was about her eating his broccoli seedlings, so back up she went.

I'm talking with a friend about seriously opening up an Irish and UK product front. We think it would do very here. I've been working on a business plan and a marketing reserch report. The marketing research report is quite an undertaking so we may just have a professional organization prepare that. Depending on the route of funding we seek will determine who, if not both of us, will be the owner. We trust each other fully and that aside we each have different strengths is complimenting departments. If he pulls out I doubt I'd do this on my own. So we both reassure each other and take it step by step, day by day, by and by.

I've also started picking up my flute again and my friend has some fun drum circle activities. We absolutely love music. Another reason I want to get my foot well! It's hard to get around for such things.

I look forward to a drum circle Friday night, a wine event with my Mom on Sunday as well as a new place to eat: Ad Hoc. Joy, joy! Adam's taking about 10 off for his birthday. My dad's birthday and my mom's birthday are coming up also. And we have a fun family event to meet little Lucy. That same weekend is little Haley's first birthday. I guess with July being so busy I should also start planning for the rib cookoff in August. Not to mention my birthday. Aye, the summer is so full already!

Crunch Time ...

It's getting to crunch time ... the semester is winding down and surprisingly only 40% of my grade is calculated. The other 60% will happen with the exam next week, a report due on the 28th, then in very quick period over the first couple of weeks in May occurs another course exam, lab exam, and then the final exam. Oh and a sprinkling of a few lab reports. Ugh, I have been buckling down as my grade is not all it should be. But I am trying my darndest, organic chemistry is a fast moving subject after all.

I've taken away two interesting facts as of late from the class which do apply to our "real" lives.

One: Nitrites.

Not nitrates, but nitrites.

Nitrites are debatable, as to the level anyway, of HOW bad they are for the human body. See, the body does produce some nitrites (from nitrates) on it's own. But I am hard pressed to be convinced that it is anywhere near the levels that would be similar to ingested amounts, like from processed meats. Hot dogs, bacon, and other processed meats are just laden with nitrites.

A quick run down of this reaction (skip this paragraph if not interested in chemistry): dimethalamine and nitric oxide form a nitrosocompound. When this is broken down by enzymes in the body, as enzymes will break down compounds that are threatening and shouldn't be there, formaldehyde is one result. When the reaction goes even further it produces elemental N2, hyrdoxide ions, and a very very powerful nucleophile by the name of a methyl carbocation.

Now what does all this gibberish mean?

Formaldehyde causes all kinds of biological and toxicological problems.

And to finish with a really bad culprit +CH3 (methyl carbocation), is so bad this stuff randomly and powefully breaks down our DNA. Do you realize what the body goes through to protect the DNA? A lot. When there is break down with DNA, there is a large propensity for weird conditions to start popping up all over the place.

What I got out of this ... it might be wise to start avoiding the nitrites in our meats. They don't really need to be there anyway and plenty of places, like Trader Joe's, sell bacon and other meats WITHOUT nitrites. I promise they don't taste any difference, so why not do yourself a favor and avoid them? Many people have become vegetarians over such a thing.

Two: a preservative by the name of BHT, and others like BHA.

I won't go into too much science mumbo jumbo on these much, exept to say they are a type of radical scavenger. And just that they USED to be in our food to work as a preservative, like floating around in a bag of chips ... it would get broken down instead of the chips, leaving our food "fresh".

Then one day someone came along and said "Why are we eating this? This doesn't seem healthy."

So off it came from the shelves of our food, but has stayed in products like our shampoo and face wash. Seems to be okay there, for now at least.

Today I signed up for Twitter. Not sure what it's all about other than constant updating and such. I have noticed it's straight forward without all the overhead of places like Myspace and Facebook. I'm enjoying it already. ----> friends find me!

In Light of Procrastination

Typically ... I am not a procrastinator. But lately, I have been.

I know part of it is that I am squeezing in small things I enjoy like reading (Salt by Adam Roberts) an hour between things I need to get done like chores or studying; and the other part of it is that like many I'm looking at the depressed recession outlook.

Stores seem to be closing everywhere. There are killer deals for just about anything from cars (no interest for 4 years on loans) to buying houses (zero federal APR, and banks are *only* charging around 5%). But no one really has any money to buy anything. Not anything big like a car or a house at least.

And not like buying anything should matter to me since right now I have no job and my unemployment benefits have been temporarily suspended. I had to float my bills on my credit card. Ah, I digress.

The reason I opened with procrastination is that I should be, absolutely should be, working on my first laboratory report for organic chemistry. 

Well, I couldn't and was stressing about it last night, while studying for my first exam (I'll come back to that in a minute), because I didn't have a cd to install Microsoft Office. Apparently we had a 2003 version. I have a serial number but no cd for the software and can't seem to find it on the internet for download. However there are plenty of things out there if I want to crack Office 2007. 

Not interested when I have a legit serial and hey, I believe the developers should get what they work for. I just also believe they shouldn't charge an eye and leg for home users.

So in light of not having software to even LOOK at my work from last semester I was a little bewildered. Yes, as Adam suggested, I could go to the library. But who knows how long this will take and hey, I like to be at my computer at home snuggled on a cold overcast day like today by a nice fire. Plus, I reiterate, I have NO IDEA how long this will take. I'll cap it at 6 hours, hopefully .... my mind shrieks and collapses at the thought.

The software I stumbled upon was OpenOffice. I vaguely remembered something else out there that was (1) importantly free (2) available for immediate download and (3) compatible with Microsoft Office.

OpenOffice so far is much better than the old software of Microsoft Office we had, so honestly I may stop my search and just use it. The least I can say is that I'm stoked.

Tomorrow I'll be stoked on my copy of Photoshop CS4. I'm a huge fan of editing pictures. I can't wait to see what all these programs with Photoshop do.

Arg, back to organic chemistry. Today I get to write up a synthesis I did with zinc. It's supposed to be a green friendly approach involving a grinard reagent with zinc, an allyl system, by way of a radical reaction. Ah, maybe some poor future organic chemistry may need my reports ... might find a way of posting them.

As for going back to speak a minute about my exam, aye, the two biggest problems I fumbled over. Those were worth over 20 percent of the exam. I guess the best I can hope for is a B, but I may end up with something closer to a C. Ah well, all I need to do is pass to get my degree.

That will be so nice, to finally be done!