It was cold last night!

OYB!

Español!

Walked 1.31 miles.

Took my carnivorous plants back outside.

My buddy Anthony had a health scare last week. All the tests came out ok! Sure was glad about that!

I enjoy seeing wildlife in our area. Sharp shinned hawk is one of my favorites.

Had a fun lunch with my buddy Jon Paul and K and J!

Did most of the labels on the newsletter envelopes and alphabetized them so we can insert the annual donation report for their taxes. I still need to buy stamps. We will finish this project next Thursday. I will write my newsletter this weekend and get it printed first of next week if all goes well!

Had a good group of kids at the mission. It was cold, but not nearly as cold as yesterday!

I finished up the homework for the day, said goodbye to my family and was turning the car around when I heard a bad sound, flat tire! Sure enough, it had gone flat while I was working with the kids. Unfortunately, my tire guy had closed just fifteen minutes earlier! Pumped the tire up and drove about half way home. Stopped to see how much pressure I’d lost, filled it back up and made it home safely. I’ll pump it back up tomorrow and follow the same procedure and take it to my tire guy to put a plug in it.

Gassed up my car and checked and added some oil.

While I got gas, I pumped up the tire for a third time then picked up my groceries. The second and third times it only took about ten minutes each because it hadn’t lost all that much air.

Got home and watered the plants in the living room and sun room areas.

It’s a big day for me! Today, I released the 1,000th episode of my podcast Verbal Surgery which began sixteen years ago! This one is entitled “The Answer.” It’s really good!

Lots of strong competition this week.

As foretold, I dominated last week.

OYB!

Español!

Walked 1.07 miles while I studied. Shorter walk because I met up with Bradley and Ben earlier than I expected.

It was cold today, especially with the wind!

I had a great time with my buddies from Birmingham, Alabama! Glad to see them again. They are from Christ Church. We had Indian food together and talked about the plans for the Spring and Summer teams.

Checked the mail at the office.

Penelope did great on her report card! No surprise there.

Ordered groceries.

Helped the kids at the mission. Man, it was really cold outside. I left at sunset.

Working on getting the tax letters ready for the donor letters going out soon. I printed up the labels and will alphabetize them. That makes it easy to find which newsletter goes with which donation letter.

I coordinated with Ashley about when everything needs to be done. We’ll have it printed on the first of February and have the letters ready to go and in the mail by February 2nd. That should be fine. I think the deadline for receiving the letter from most organizations is usually February 15th.

Cold night. I brought my carnivorous plants in.

K and J were raving about this bread they got from Walmart. I ordered some. I’ll pick up my grocery order tomorrow evening on the way home.

Leading the pack again this week.

Powerful thunderstorms rolled through last night around 4:30am. Woke me up.

Wikipedia on unexplained things.

Treating people like trees.

Preach!

Español!

Walked 1.65 miles while I studied.

Nice talk with Ashley.

I’ve been listening to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young since David died. I was singing along with this today. I never knew all the words! The “we are billion year-old carbon” really got me.

Talked with my buddy Bob Burns in Scotland about music and life. Never too much Bob!

Interesting lichen on the way home.

I was planning on seeing the Lunar Festival at Stone Mountain, but it was closed because of weather. Figured.

Research on the coin show in Marietta.

Watered my indoor plants.

Rained 2.5″ over the last two nights.

One of my favorite places on Earth. This saddens me.

Progress!

OYB!

Español!

This morning as I was studying Spanish, I watched a Sharp Shinned Hawk carry a dead squirrel to the tree across from me. Seconds later, two vultures sat in the tree nearby, my guess was hoping it would drop the squirrel. It didn’t.

Miles came over with the girls this morning to go out do eat at Hot and Cold and then a trip to the Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary. Fun!

While I was there I saw my friend Beth Gomes who is one of the Whirlwind Missions board members. We had a good chat.

Just keep going! I didn’t make my normal progress. Spent quality time with the family which always is a priority!

Watched the first episode of The Last of Us, one of my favorite video games ever and a super powerful show. Wow!

My credit card expires at the end of the month. Called my credit union to find out when my new car will arrive. They assure me it will be soon.

Deposited a check to my personal account (I use the app for that) and checked on balances.

Processed checks and got them ready to deposit to the ministry account. I take paper checks and run them through the bank ATM.

New words.

Checked on weather for tomorrow.

OYB!

Perfect weather.

Español!

Walked 1.87 miles while I studied.

Checked on my carnivorous plants outside.

Listened to radio from Spain.

Recorded a new episode of Verbal Surgery called “100%.”

Ate lunch at the German Bakery.

Filled up my tap water gallon jugs.

Cleaned all the bird baths and refilled with water and filled seed feeders.

Released a new episode of Verbal Surgery called “Simple Thimbles.”

It still amazes me how this identical score could put me in third place last week when I totally dominate this week.

I haven’t been feeling super great. Tired a lot. Sleeping more.

OYB!

Started out drizzly, turned out beautiful!

Jessi has her surgery on the 27th. This morning I made phone calls to her ENT doctor’s office scheduler as well as the Eastside Hospital to get all the pre-op work done. Everything looks green for go!

I got a letter from one of our faithful supporters this week. Gave him a call because he’d been in the hospital several times recently.

Español and 1.10 mile walk.

Listened to radio from Madrid.

I saw some very rare cloud formations this morning. They’re called Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds. They look like waves. I’ve only seen them twice in my whole life.

I liked the shadows on these boards.

Grandgirls had fun climbing a tree.

I bought pizza for the girls. Got an extra one to share with the mission kids.

Interesting shot of the sun.

The same time last week I had this same score and was in third place. This week I dominate. One would think I would coast with a lead this big. That’s not the way I operate. Nor do I push myself extra hard when I’m behind.

OYB!

Had a good chat with my buddy Anthony.

Español!

Took J to her laser appointment.

I was supposed to have a lunch meeting with my friend Phil Kitchin. He had a family obligation come up. We changed it to next week.

Cloudy and turned rainy this evening.

I had a good chat with my buddy Matt Johns. We used to work together a lot. He’s been doing ministry in Arizona the last seven years. He got some random email from a collection agency trying to scam us for money.

Always good to see my girls!

Helped the kids at the mission. I put up the table underneath the porch area of the mission.

Listened to radio from Madrid while I drove home in the rain. Tired me out. Stressful.

Dominating this week.

I enjoyed watching Star Wars VII last night. The Force Awakens is really good.

I found out that there’s an interesting exhibition about Star Wars really near to the mission. I’ll probably go there soon.

Fun talk with my Mom this morning! Happy Birthday, Nana!

OYB!

Cloudy and rainy. No walk today.

Español!

Had a great meeting with my buddy Todd Harrison and a couple of friends of his that are working in Egypt.

Black toilet?!

Listened to radio from Spain on the way to Chamblee and back home.

I enjoyed being with the grandgirls and helping the kids with their homework.

The apartments across the street from Azalea continue to rise. I liked this obelisk section which I assume will be for a stairway.

Picked up checks from my office, processed and deposited them.

Cleaned and refilled all my feeders when I got home this evening.

This is one of those weeks when I doubt I have any real competition for #1.

I always enjoy Eric Barker’s newsletter.

MLK Day in MLK’s city!

Doing better this year.

Did well last week.

Walked 2.54 miles while I studied.

I taped the rug in our kitchen so it doesn’t slide around.

Lots of tree work going on in our area. Trees are being blown over at an alarming rate. Most of this was proactive, however.

Listened to radio from Spain.

Went to Walmart to pick up some candles for J and some Valentines candy for K.

I don’t see much competition this week. Usually it’s the people that score a lot of points every week that work hard that week. It’s unusual for someone who normally scores under 1,000 points to suddenly do 10,000 points worth of work. Although I have seen it happen.

I’ve started watching the last three movies in the Star Wars canon again. I’m shocked at how little I remember of the movies.

Learning how to use AI can be a lot of fun! And a great way to find out new things.

The power of music!

Cold morning.

OYB!

Español! Walked 1.84 miles as I studied.

Ordered groceries.

Fun talk with my buddy, Anthony.

K and I are trying to find new places to eat. First World problem.

Listened to radio from Spain.

Helping K find some cream for her dry hands.

Picked up groceries. Also got some Japanese food and filled up my car.

Kevin Kelly (one of my heroes!) wrote a terrific article on AI art this month in Wired.

Recorded a new episode of Verbal Surgery called “Vista View.” Excellent.

Released an episode of Verbal Surgery called “Just Right” Another winner!

Came in second place in the Duolingo Diamond League Finals this week. Great competition.