Odds and Ends

Sunday paper
I went through the front section of the Sunday Post yesterday in about 10 minutes. Not much news well of course there was news but not much of interest. Nothing of earth shattering importance that was necessary to read. There was an interesting story on Hurricane Katrina. It was about aid offered by foreign governments:

Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.

Good to know how well the Bush administration is working. The upshot as an official said “we will draw on the lessons learned from this experience to ensure that we make the best use of any possible foreign assistance that might be offered.” Seems to be a running theme with these guys.

Wait. No weight

I reached my goal for April. That was to be under 180 pounds. I would have been a little further along but I had a bad week last week. I didn't exercise very much and ate too much junk. But I am progressing. The goal for May is to be at or below 175. I’m back in exercise mode. I went to the gym on Saturday and today. I’m going to take a walk tonight. I was going to ride the stationary bike but I started doing squats and my legs really hurt so I’m going to rest them today. I’m going to start riding the bike tomorrow. And if the weather is good, this coming weekend, I’m going to get on the bike that you can really ride some place. I think I’m going to ride it to the gym. I’m going to start out slow and build up. I might even try and ride it one afternoon after I get home from work.

iPod
I have 7,880 songs on my iPod. I have started going to the Apple site on Tuesdays and downloading the free song for the week. So far three out of the four songs I really like. The fourth one is ok. I’m thinking of these in terms of getting the entire album by that artist. The fourth song I’m not sure I’d want an entire album. I have to figure out if I’m going to buy them from iTunes or Amazon. One of them looks like it has extra stuff (the full version won’t be out until tomorrow). I’m wondering if iTunes offers the extra stuff too.

Garden and stuff
I had an amazing Saturday morning. I got up went to the gym. Then on my way home I stopped off at Home Depot and got flowers for the garden. Along with some garden soil. I was back home before ten. I then planted most of the flowers.

I'm trying to get rid of my lawn. There's not much to it but I still have to take care of it. I'd much rather have flowers. I expanded the plot for flowers from last year. Half way through I realized that I needed more garden soil. I thought I'd do a quick run to Home Depot. Got there and there were no carts and long long long lines. I turned around and went home. Finished planting the flowers. I went back that night when there was practically no one there and got the garden soil. I'm going to add it to the plot as the flowers grow. Now I have to figure out what to do with the rest of the front.