"Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness."
The month of September was an active and interesting month. It began with a Harley Day-Ride to Palomar Mountain and Mother's Kitchen, then a hike on the Road to Nowhere with Tracy, and concluded with a Harley Ride to Monroe, Oregon to visit Dennie & Alison. Individual blogs were published on each of these activities. In addition I posted blogs recognizing September birthdays, some favorite family photos, and memories of viewing the Northern Lights and participating in many relay running events. Also, I published memorials of my friends Ron R. and Mel and of the tragic events of "Nine-Eleven."
This blog summarizes other activities during the month in the category of Visiting Friends & Family and Miscellaneous Other.
Planning with friends- One of my early ideas when I created my Updated Bucket List for YEAR 77 was to repeat some of the activities I had enjoyed in the past but hadn't done for a long time. Golfing is one of those activities and it's been almost 30 years since I played a round of golf. I thought Steve was a good golfer, but not so serious that he would be embarrassed to play with someone who couldn't hit the ball - like me. So I asked him if I could play 9 holes with him. He said that would be fun, and that we should meet at a local golf course and talk about it.
So on Wednesday September 6th, and again on Monday September 11, I met with Steve and Karan at the Rancho Duarte Golf Course to discuss playing a round of golf. These were interesting and fun visits. However, to my surprise, I have yet to play any golf; they have taken my simple request and have planned a large, non-serious, golf tournament. This is clearly a bigger deal than I had in mind, but it sounds like a lot of fun and these meetings were to discuss some of the details. Steve has sent an invitation to a group of our friends (Foothill Flashers, Poke-In members, and others) and if there are enough positive responses, he will reserve the entire 9-hole golf course on the morning of November 7th for the tournament (with a start time of 7:57). They plan to emphasize my fixation with the number seven in every way possible in the details of the tournament. The photo below is one of our meetings at the golf course.
Lunch with an old friend- On Thursday September 14th, Bonnie and I drove to Temecula to have lunch with Charlene and Ron S. at one of our favorite eating places - Carol's Restaurant at Baily Winery. Before talking about the fun lunch we had, I need to give a little background.
I went to high school and college with Jerry Biddulph, who married Charlene and moved to California one year before Bonnie and I. They were living in South Pasadena when we moved to California and, knowing no one else in Southern California, we rented our first apartment near them in South Pasadena. They attended our first 5-year Sigma Zonk Reunion in 1972 and remained active in the fratority after that. Eventually Jerry and Charlene moved to Solana Beach, and in 1997 Bonnie and I moved there also. Unfortunately, Jerry passed away in 1998. Bonnie and I moved back to Monrovia in 1999 and we hadn't seen Charlene since that time until today (although we had corresponded from time to time). Charlene remarried and we met her new husband, Ron Schrader, today at lunch.
It was great to see Charlene again and get acquainted with Ron S. He retired from a career in dentistry and is active in many activities including skiing (goes to Alta), surfing (prefers the beach at San Onofre), fishing (left for an Alaska fishing trip the day after our lunch), and horse racing (at Del Mar Race Track, which is near where they live in Cardiff-by-the-Sea). We talked with Charlene about the old days when so many Utah families lived in the South Pasadena area and the swimming pool parties we used to have at the home Bonnie & I had in the foothills of Monrovia. She asked about many of those friends and we tried to bring her up to date on where they were and what they were currently doing. I'm sure Ron S. was bored by all this discussion. We talked about how Grant and Bevie went through the same thing when they married into the Sigma Zonk Group. It was a really fun lunch and we agreed we would try to get together for lunch again. Photos below are at Carol's Restaurant in Temecula.
Click Photo to Enlarge - Use Arrows for Next Photo
Miscellaneous Other-
Jury Summons- I received a summons for jury service at the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, for the reporting week of September 18th through September 22nd. A couple of interesting quotes:
"Some people try to get out of jury duty by lying. You don't have to lie.
Tell the judge the truth. Tell him you'd make a terrific juror
because you can spot guilty people."
George Carlin
"We operate under a jury system in this country, and as much as we complain about it, we have to admit that we know of no better system, except possibly flipping a coin."
Dave Barry
I'm perfectly willing to serve, although I had a trip planned for the week after my reporting week and I must admit I was a little concerned about being assigned to a long-lasting case that would delay my planned trip. I followed the procedure of calling in each day to see if I should report the following day, hoping they would have me report early, which I thought would improve my chances of finishing before my planned trip. I was not instructed to go to the courthouse and join the juror pool until the final day. To my great surprise (and relief) about mid-day on the final day the court clerk announced that there were no cases requiring jurors and that all of us in the juror assembly room were dismissed from further service for this year! She said this never happens (but it did happen in my YEAR 77). So ---- I was able to go on my planned trip to Monroe, Oregon to visit Dennie & Alison.
Surprise a Stranger- Just for fun I've been giving a gift of $7 to a stranger on the 7th day of each month with a brief explanation as to why I'm doing it (I'm sure they think I'm crazy). This month I was at the Arcadia car wash on the 7th and a woman waiting for her car was wearing a T-shirt that said "The Graveyard Shift - Robotics." I asked her what that was all about and she said her grandson was on one of the award-winning robotic teams at Monrovia High School. I said I was giving a gift to a stranger today and handed her a $5 bill and a $2 bill with a note attached explaining how the number 7 played into my life. She was very appreciative and said her grandson's robotics team was raising funds to support the team and she would use this money to support him. Sounded perfect to me!
Good Deeds- I have set an objective to be more aware of the opportunities to do good deeds. I'm sure that opportunities are all around me, but I seem to have difficulty recognizing these situations - but I'll keep trying. One of the guys at the gym where I workout mentioned to me that he was interested in an athletic event he had heard of, but didn't have a computer and couldn't find any information about the event. I looked it up on my computer that night, printed a copy and gave it to him the next morning. - On my return trip from Monroe I stopped at a MacDonald's for a salad and there was an old guy (I assumed was older than me, but he probably wasn't) standing at the soda machine spilling ice all over the floor. The ice receptacle was full, but he continued to put his glass against the mechanism that produced more ice. I asked if I could help and he said all he was trying to do was get a glass of water. Those new high-tech pop machines have confused me also, but I showed him that there was a separate button to push to fill his glass with water or soda. He was appreciative and so was the MacDonald's employee who came to clean up all the ice.
Other Stuff-
Bonnie and I take food home from the local Panda Express periodically. One week the fortune in my cookie said, "Cultivate Relationships That Will Endure." This isn't exactly what I would call a "fortune" but it's something that I believe strongly is worth doing.
September was an unbelievable month in terms of natural disasters. Along with so many others, I made contributions this month to assist the victims of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the massive earthquake in Mexico.
September was an interesting month, with fun activities and visits with friends and family members. On the downside, I only saw one of Griffin's soccer games, and I ended the month with a chest cold after having just told someone that I never get sick. I hope I didn't leave my germs with the Christensen's after my trip to Camp Alpine. Oh well, I'm looking forward to an active and fun month in October.