"Well, I will never catch up if I take as long to write each Thoughtlet as I took to write 24 (0608.html). So this Thoughtlet will not be so long. It was named "Overbooked Flight" because I had a flight to Monterrey, Mexico early Monday morning. I got to the airport an hour early, and did not notice that my ticket was not confirmed. I thought I had a boarding pass, and I was just going to walk on. However, a while before the flight, I went up to the counter to check with the ticket agent, only to find out I did not have a seat, and I was at the end of the line among the standby passengers. Everyone got on but me. I felt really stupid. Especially since I have traveled to one or two places once or twice before in my life. Oh well! I called my traveling companions, and they all agreed to go ahead with the meeting without me. I went to the office, without a lunch, and according to my swallow sheets I didn't even walk the stairs.
I had sent an e-mail to Mic Patterson earlier. It read:
On Sunday, Mic responded with:
Maybe I was contemplating this e-mail, and thus missed the overbooked flight. Or maybe I was contemplating Paul selling his condo in Provo, which I co-signed on, and on Sunday he had asked me to call Vicki to get all of the paperwork taken care of on this purchase. Or maybe it was an e-mail I received about Two Wolves, which read:
Or maybe it was an e-mail from Audrey, which read:
with these two accompanying digital photos:
- 
Actually, I think I was reading a book. And my notes don't say what the book was. I think it might have been 'The Map that Changed the World,' by Simon Winchester. I know I was reading this about then. It is a great book about the first stratigrapher, William Smith, and his first map of the English outcrops. This is a great book, even for those of you who are not at all interested in geology. It describes how full life can be if we identify our passion and then pursue it with vigor. I firmly believe this. Even if every once in a while there is an overbooked flight which we end up missing.
Work was tied around the Vetra proposal, which we ended up not getting several weeks later. Oh well! Maybe this was the reason I missed the overbooked flight, because it was really just a waist of time to go down to Monterrey. I did end up going down to Monterrey later, either that Wednesday, or the following Wednesday, and the one thing that really struck me about the trip was how high the mountains were surrounding the valley, and how much the topography matched the image of the topography I have read about for years in The Book of Mormon. As I told them, I think it would be fascinating to spend time living there, learning Spanish, and learning about the local culture first hand.
Before going to Monterrey, I did talk to Dick Coons about his work in the offshore South Padre Island Federal Lease Blocks. And I did propose to Vetra that they look at funding this work as a bridge to Pemex from the north. However, no one has picked up on this opportunity, and another year of lease sales is going to pass us by. Oh well!
Tuesday night Andrea and I watched 2 hours of the first season of 24, Thursday evening we watched another hour, and Saturday we watched the last four ours of the first season. We are definitely hooked on this kind of action. In fact, on Friday night we went to see "Firewall," with Harrison Ford, which is basically the same kind of adventure. And to think, I've already seen this movie again since then on a flight to either Europe or to China since then. I really am a long way behind on these Thoughtlets. While we were watching the Saturday "24" marathon, I did worked on my Red Cove project (http://www.walden3d.com/Red_Cove, and put together thumbnails of Roice and Sarah's wedding photos ( http://www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/01_RoiceSarah/060106_Roice+Sarah_Wedding/thumbnails_060106_Roice+Sarah_Wedding.jpg ), which someone had requested. So there was some practical good to come out of the wasted television time.
On Thursday there was note saying the final Ji Dong presentation was completed. There have been so many final Ji Dong presentations, I'm not even sure which one this is talking about.
Thursday there was Doctor day. My notes say Audrey had surgery for an ulcer. I don't recall more about this, and I feel like I am not doing my job as a surrogate Dad, since I don't know more about this. Oh well! I asked when I talked to her tonight (06 August 2006), and she said it was an upper GI test, where they looked for an ulcer with a tube. There was not an ulcer. It was stress related stomach problems. She has been working on reducing stress and it has not been a big problem since then.
Thursday was also the day I had my follow-up visit with Dr. Solis. I had printed the photos to the right of my two pair of Barker shoes from London (../0324.html), which photos conclusively demonstrate I use my left foot more than my right foot. Dr. Solis agreed with my conclusion that I am left footed, just as I am right handed, and that the uneven wear on the two pair of shoes may or may not be related to the pain I have had in my hip for several months. The X-Ray he had taken after my previous visit (0605.html">) did not show any serious arthritis. The prescription he had given me for an anti-inflammatory on my previous visit had worked very well, which is why I came to the conclusion the worn shoes is because I am left footed. His conclusion regarding my hip and knee is that I hurt my ankle so bad with my jogging accidents that it has affected both my knee and my hip, and I need to be careful how I proceed. He suggested I take a daily dose of Turmeric Curcumin, a herbal supplement, which has anti-inflammatory characteristics. I have added it to my daily vitamins, and have not had serious problems with my ankle, knee, nor hip since then.
I also had a photo of a bruise in my belly button, which I won't force on you. He had no idea what this is from, and I think it was because I was doing some yard work and must have been pushing something with a stick and my stomach. I'm glad I'm not a doctor and don't have to put up with the kind of stuff I bring to the doctor. Lastly I had 7 Spotfire charts from six and a half years of counting swallows. He was fascinated with binned total swallows (a normal distribution centered between 137.25 and 152.5 swallows per day), the bimodal binned weight (centered at 234 and 249 pounds), the graph of weight vs date colored by month, etc. He suggested I read "The 3 Hour Diet," which Andrea bought for me and which I have yet to read, and that I go to "Quick Weight Loss" on Mason Road, which I haven't done either. Maybe I'm not serious about solving the weight problem yet? The colon polyps were benign. I was encouraged to have a high fiber diet with no popcorn nor peanuts because of diverticulitis (little sacks in the colon that catch popcorn shells and create real serious problems). My cholesterol (230) and triglycerides (198) are both high, and are probably both tied to the extra weight I carry around. I have dropped about 10 pounds from when I saw Dr. Solis, and it would be very good for me to drop another 40 pounds. Maybe if I could figure out how to remove some stress? Oh well! Guess the stress comes with an overbooked flight.
Sunday was the last Sunday of the month, and so once again I found myself out doing Home Teaching. Again, as I look back over my brief notes for this week, it seems like the week was aptly named overbooked flight."
