Hurricane Season, IPOD and Other Thoughts

Today's CD: NONE! I've finally got an IPOD and listened to a variety of gospel, jazz and blues this morning. Hurricane Season Well today begins Hurricane Season. Two weeks ago we were blessed to be actually graced with the presence of a hurricane shutter company which took the measurements. They claim that they will be installed by June 15th. Hurricane Season always creates a sense of anxiety within me. This is not unusual amongst Floridians and others who live in Hurricane Alley. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the folks of New Orleans, Mississippi and the entire gulf coast who suffered so terribly during Hurricane Katrina. Let's pray that the levy in New Orleans holds! IPOD Past attempts to figure out how to actually get music from my computer to an MP 3 Player ended in failure and I couldn't hear on them. Then about a month ago, a manager at Best Buy came to my rescue when the salesman got frustrated with me. Manager Juan had me try a variety of different IPOD's with various headphones. He assured me that the IPOD software (ITunes)is easy to use. So I purchased the IPOD Photo unit and fell in love with it. In fact, I had the software installed and music transferred onto it when Larry wasn't even home. He was impressed. Then I loaded pictures onto it. It's easy! And the sound is great. Then I went to the IPOD website and got the In Motion speaker base unit. This allowed me to take my IPOD with me on my Memorial Day weekend trip to Fort Lauderdale and put my IPOD in the base and have my music in my room, or eject the IPOD and use my headphones at the pool. I LOVE MY IPOD! GUESTS Cynthia and hubby Michael came from Kerrville, TX to visit Cynthia's brother John over in Clearwater. So they came to visit us in West Palm Beach and we went to dinner on the water, spent hours talking and catching up on things from 20 years ago. We took them to Palm Beach and wandered down Worth Ave and Cynthia took pictures of the geese and extremely large and colorful lizards who claim our backyard as their own. We had a great time. Health Issues I still do cross word puzzles daily, but I think figuring out new things like my IPOD is also effective at keeping my brain sharp. The GI side effects have come back. For awhile I thought it went away. Then it was every two weeks or so and now it's every few days. But I will not stop taking the Aricept and for a very good reason. At the end of June I go to see a doctor who is only one of five in the U.S. granted permission to use the new Alzheimer's vaccine in a trail study. Being on Alzheimer's medication for four months is a requirement so I don't want my medication to mess it up. I'll let the doctor decide if it needs to be changed to another med or just the dose adjusted when I go for the appointment. A friend Bruce who lives in the Texas Hill Country stresses to me the importance of living in the "here and now" and enjoying each day which I am doing. I enjoyed myself in Fort Lauderdale and enjoy my friends from church and my co-workers. I laugh, enjoy life and don't spend time worrying about the future. There is one possible exception and that's the fact that I won't go back to beloved England until the GI problems resolve. There is no way I could handle airline travel right now so I hope that the problem resolves soon so I can hop on my favorite airline, British Airways and get to my favorite city in the whole world: London. Sometimes I actually miss England so bad I get weepy then have to remember that England's been around for many years and it will be ready and waiting for me when I feel good enough to enjoy it. And that's all for now. Hopefully, I won't wait so long to post next time. Regards, Gordon