The Second, Second Best Blog

The story of my life, usually second best

Mission Viejo from El Mirador to Santiago Peak

Entries from January 2008

Advertising-Write-Only-Memory

January 31st, 2008 · 3 Comments

For the most part, I detest advertising and go to considerable lengths to avoid it. Nearly all my TV viewing is recorded (by DVR) so that commercials are run over by the fast forward button. Even if a show comes on that I really want to see while I’m already watching TV, I wait at [...]

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Tags: Economics

Got Stuff?

January 24th, 2008 · Comments Off

On a recent shopping expedition to Costco, my most excellent spouse, Patricia, and I decided to have our cheap date dinner, their Polish sausage and 20 ounce soda for $1.50. While sitting in the eating area, I noticed the two Snapple vending machines which proudly boasted “Made with the best stuff on Earth”. Made me [...]

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Tags: Uncategorized

Alice Does Live Here

January 23rd, 2008 · Comments Off

The first days and weeks that followed Mom’s death in the summer of ’60 have faded away to just a few wispy tendrils. I can’t remember who made us breakfast or tucked us in at night, or the hundreds of other tasks involved in managing five boys from 9 to 2. There were groups and [...]

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Tags: Old photos · The Life Story

Thank You Cox Communications

January 10th, 2008 · 1 Comment

It was more than 24 hours later than promised, but Cox Communications did find the solution for my online ebill viewing problem. Since you are only experiencing this problem when using Internet Explorer, there is a setting in in menu option Tools-Internet Settings-Advance called “do not save encrypted pages to disk”, please make sure this [...]

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Tags: Computers

How the Cookie Crumbles

January 7th, 2008 · Comments Off

Computers are such time wasters! Yes, I know, and agree that there are some things that they make so easy that now we can’t live without them. But that’s when they work correctly. There are so many times when they don’t quite, and then it becomes a huge time killer to figure out why and [...]

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Tags: Computers

More Rain

January 5th, 2008 · Comments Off

Yesterday’s weather report said to expect up to 9 inches of rain overnight. Today that was revised to 4-5 inches, which as you can see here, is about what found it’s way to my backyard: 4.6 inches. Lake Fuller reappeared, as is customary whenever there is more than about half an inch.

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Tags: News

Fence Post Setting

January 1st, 2008 · Comments Off

A week or so ago the Santa Ana winds blew through the county for twenty hours straight. The newspaper said it hit 78 miles an hour in Fremont Canyon. It was much less than that on my little patch of ground but still enough to awaken me around 4 AM. Cleaning up afterward was an [...]

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Tags: Home Repairs