The Ides of March

Thursday March 1

Well, today is (mother) Marinda's birthday, and she would have been 94 had she lived to see it. I pause a moment to reflect because it was her, more than anyone, who instilled in me the love of travel. Among my most vivid of childhood memories is our trips, by plane, train, and automobile. From as close as Milwaukee and Wisconsin Dells, to as far away as California and Hawaii. So here's to you, Mom.

I spend the day mostly finishing up my article for the NAWCC Watch & Clock Bulletin. I search the Internet for appropriate photos, and also find some of my own on my computer back home, which I access using carbonite.com, which is my backup provider. It's neat how you can access those files from any computer, anywhere.

I go to Anytime Fitness for a workout today, and have them print me out an activity report for the month of February. I have visited the center 13 times, which is pretty good considering I was in Daytona for five days/four nights. So  that comes out to $4.69 per visit for the $61/month fee I am paying. That's money well spent, as the visits are helping to offset all the great food/drink I am enjoying, plus lose a few pounds, too.

My watchmaker, Ed Labonte of Calumet, Mich., contacts me to say he has all the watches that I sent him from Fort Myers about a month ago, completed. For a dozen repairs, the bill comes out to $566, so that comes out average to about $47 per watch, which is very reasonably priced work nowadays. I send him a check to cover his expenses, but tell him to hang on to the watches and not ship them until I get back to Evansville, scheduled for April 3.

The Thursday night comedy lineup on NBC is very funny tonight, with 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and The Office. I don't know how many of you readers (if any) keep up with TV programming these days. I don't find much of interest on network TV any more, but I find these shows to be a nice little island of pleasure, and it's nice they're all grouped on one night! On "The Office," did anyone notice the little old lady that Erin (the receptionist) is taking care of in Florida? It is none other than Georgia Engel, who played "Georgette" in the Mary Tyler Moore Show from the '70s. Georgette was news anchor Ted Baxter's (Ted Knight) girlfriend and eventual wife. What a blast from the past! She still has that very distinctive voice of hers, which has been described as "soft like multi-plied toilet paper with a distant subtle slur – as though bubbles rolled around her tongue like pebbles in the waves ..."

No expenses for the day.

Bruce