DAILY NOTES

Hilton Garden Inn, Calibasas, CA
4AM

I've been awake since 2:30AM local time.  My wakeup call is in an hour.  I have such a hard time sleeping on Pacific time.  I came out here on Monday for a couple of days of work meetings.  It's now Thursday and I'll spend the entire day flying to get home.  Once colleague left last night on an all night red eye flight.  I think that would be worse than what I'm going through.  At least I got 5 hours of sleep.

The trolling motor I bought on craigslist didn't work all together right.  It powered up and the wireless remote communicated with it enough to turn it left and right but when I actuated the propellor, nothing happened.  I called the seller and asked if there was some secret to making it work and he said no, that it should work.  I took the lower unit apart and found quite a bit of corrosion and a little rust.  The prop was very hard to turn by hand, so that had to be the culprit.  I put it all back together and sent it in for repair.  After I get the bill, I'm going to call the seller and try to get him to pay some of it.  I hope to get the unit back tomorrow.

I spoke with my youngest grandson on the telephone last night.  He'll be 2 next month.  This was the first time I heard him clearly say, "Hi Pappy" and "I love you".  It warmed my heart.  I wish I could see my kids and grandkids more often but the distance and the economy really limit that.  I hope one day I have great-grandchildren who read this and all of my blog chapters and know who I am or was.  I hope they all know I wished I could be closer.