Month: September 2023 Page 1 of 2

Christian is a scientist

By Dad

On Saturday, September 30, 2023

In Family, Science, Work

I love this picture of Christian. This picture was taken when he was 20-years old and two years and change into his Ph.D. He had come to visit us when we were living in an apartment in Lewisville, Texas. During those years and even now, we see Christian in this mode. Thinking. It is hard to overstate the difficulty of the research program onto which he had embarked. The difficulty and importance of his work has accelerated since he received his appointment at MIT. His work is hard in ways that few people are equipped to understand. He is one of those few who are able to move between the development of difficult theoretical solutions to their implementation in mechanical and electrical hardware and the software that drives it all.

BIBLE: New Testament read #38 (New Living Translation) — Complete

Thinking of Grandpa Milo

By Dad

On Saturday, September 30, 2023

In Cooking, Family

Not sure why, but last night I had a dream about Grandpa Milo. I have so many great memories of him, but it seems like everyone of them was when he was operating in one of two modes: 1) Working and organizing and 2) sitting in his BarcaLounger recliner reading his Bible, a novel, or a magazine. There was no other. Even when he came to visit us he worked on the lawn, organized and cooked dinners and parties, or worked on whatever creative project that would make our house better. Lorena loved to work with him. They would plan, shop, and then work together on whatever caught their fancy. It is amazing that Lorena is so much like him in character.

New York City

By Dad

On Friday, September 29, 2023

A friend of mine from work took this picture while she was in New York City for a conference. I loved the clouds and the moon behind the Empire State Building. Kelly goes to NYC a lot these days. This is Christian’s second weekend in a row there. One of these days, Lorena and I are going to have to have to make our way there. I have never been a fan of NYC, but that might have a lot to do with me not knowing what is there. The kids certainly seem to enjoy themselves. Maybe Lorena should plan a week there sometime before too long, but it is hard to make that choice when we enjoy seeing Christian in Boston and Kelly in Washington, D.C. so much–not to mention San Pedro Garza García. In addition to that, it might be a little out of our price range. It is a storied city and I am sure it would be well worth it. Maybe we can do that after we visit, Mexico City, an even more storied city.

Last payment to UNL!

By Dad

On Wednesday, September 27, 2023

In Retirement PhD

I am grateful my adviser, Troy, at University of Nebraska-Lincoln funded tuition and fees for my Ph.D. It was a bit of an odd situation. I was a full-time student, but with a full-time job. Normally, full-time students for a degree like this are paid a living stipend that I did not really want. Honestly, I think it was a pretty good deal for both of us. My contribution, bringing 40 years experience to the program in terms of research and networking, were a good bit more than what a more traditional Ph.D. student coming directly from a Bachelors or Masters degree, or even a student with a few years experience. I had worked as a volunteer for 14 years before I started the program and really wanted to continue to contribute as a volunteer during the program, so I forwent the stipend. I got a chance to volunteer and a Ph.D. and Troy got a Ph.D. student for roughly half-price relative to what he normally has to pay. It would have been a lot less for him, but he had to pay out-of-state tuition because I was not accepting the stipend as a Graduate Research Assistant.

Special accommodations were required because I was a non-traditional, full-time employed student working remotely. The tuition and fees payments got fouled up virtually every semester I was in school. In fact, it is still fouled up, because every semester they charged a late fee when they fouled up the payment. That is the last $35 dollars on my account. Now Troy has to go through the hassle of getting the late fee remove–I cannot do it myself.

It is a remarkable day in this trajectory for which, as I said previously, I am very grateful.

Ph.D. letter of completion

By Dad

On Monday, September 25, 2023

In Retirement PhD

I am not sure whether it is official now or will be official when I get the diploma in December. Either way, it feels pretty cool to have everything official recognized as complete. It has been a long haul, but I have loved every minute of it. I have been talking with my Thesis Adviser, Troy about how I can contribute as a volunteer to keep my hand on this. We already have some ideas. I plan to put up a little more of this work here than I have in the past, but it will only happen in fits and spurts going forward. Another good aspect of this project is that I have engaged a couple of other work buddies to join the fun. One of them is about half-way through his Ph.D. while the other is working with UNL, but not scheduled to start for at least a few more months.

Happy Birthday! (to me)

By Dad

On Sunday, September 24, 2023

In Family, Friends

It dawned on me several weeks ago that, on this birthday (today), I would be just a couple of years away from 70. My plan for a couple of years now, God willing, was to work until I was 70, then do some contract work to stay active and earn a little extra money. Now, though, I am considering a plan revision, God willing, to keep working my current job if it continues to stay as fun and interesting as it is now. There are lots of interesting choices to make and all of them depend on my health, both mental and physical.

I got a coffee mug (love those can’t get enough of them), slippers to replace my old worn out ones (essential tool for working from home, but they need to be durable enough to run out to the mailbox if necessary), and some measuring spoons (essential tools for the kind of diet that works for me). Lorena and I have been celebrating all weekend. We went on a full-blown date last night and then out for Chinese food after meeting (church) this afternoon. Lorena, the best of all possible wives, also bout a rib-eye steak for this evening. This time next year, we hope to celebrate my birthday and our 32 wedding anniversary which falls in early October in Mexico if the house on the hill in San Pedro is far enough along in its remodel to be liveable.

Walking: Treadmill vs. outside

By Dad

On Saturday, September 23, 2023

In Exercise, Health

I decided to walk around the neighborhood this morning because the weather has cooled down from over 100° during the day. I got dressed, put on my Monterrey sun hat (given to me by my beloved Mexican mother-in-law) to protect my bald head from the sun. It was 86° when I left the house, but the temperature recorded by my Garmin watch showed that it got up to 95° while I was walking with an average of 94.2°. That is still a good bit too hot for my Anglo/Finnish bloods so I think I will wait a couple of weeks before I try it again.

All that said, I have confirmed, again, my preference for walking around the neighborhood over walking on a treadmill. It is more fun (or at least, less boring), I walk faster and my heart-rate stays in the 50-85% optimal training zone for longer with less discomfort. I am not sure why that is, but that is they way it seems for me.

New (to me) treadmill book

By Dad

On Friday, September 22, 2023

My latest treadmill book arrived today: Disunited Nations: The Scramble for Power in an Ungoverned World (Peter Zeihan, 2020). I am not sure how good it will be and it is a little bit out of my normal reading domain, but a friend recommended it so I am going to give it a shot. If I have ever read a book on geopolitics, I do not remember it. Maybe this will be a genre into which I can dive for awhile.

Getting in shape plans

By Dad

On Thursday, September 21, 2023

I used the Ph.D. as an excuse to avoid exercise and eat properly. It was a lousy excuse. Consequently, I not only got fat, but out of shape. Now that I now longer have an excuse, I started a program on September 5, to eat write and get some exercise. In the 16 days since I started, I have lost 12 pounds. Experience tells me that will slow down after the first month, but it is nice to get that first burst of progress. My intermediate goal is to get under 200 pounds before my graduation on December 15. That is a aggressive, but I think I have a shot at doing it if I remain consistent. The hardest part of the current program has been the exercise. I did not know how bad it was until I did my first hour on the treadmill. I only made it 2.1 miles. I did 2.9 miles yesterday, but it was rough and I might have to back off just a tad.

The end goal is just to be healthy. I am not sure what that means in terms of weight because I want to start lifting weights again after I get down to 180 or so. The Body Mass Index (BMI) charts were way off for me when I was younger because I had a lot of muscle mass. I measured as obese when I had less then ten percent body fat. Now, though, I think the BMI charts will be more correct because I have been so sedentary for so long. Right now I am just at the very bottom of the Class 2 obesity range. I hope that I will be in the Class 1 obesity range within the next few days. I have to get down to 191 pounds to get to the merely overweight range and all the way down to 159 pounds to be normal. I think I will want to do some body fat testing to figure out what really makes sense for me if I ever get that lot, but that is at least a half a year away.

Apartment conversion

By Dad

On Wednesday, September 20, 2023

In Mexico houses

As we move through the final phases of construction and on to rental and sales (will explain in a second) on the first Mexican house, I thought it would be good to review where we are with the project. The picture on the top-left is what we started with. The other three is where we are now. Initially, we were going to convert this into a house where we could live, but then we found an even better house farther up the side of the mountain with a better view, so we decided to convert the first house into an apartment four-plex. Lynn then figured out a way to add another two apartments at the back of the house with an entertainment terrace and an azotea or rooftop sitting and entertainment area. So now it is a six-plex with a lot more appeal.

Our initial plan was to sell the apartments then use the proceeds to buy another property to remodel. We thought, if we could not sell it immediately, we could fill it with renters, then sell it. Our thinking was that it would be attractive to investment buyers if the apartments were already producing income when they bought it. The plan has not changed much. We have been on hold because a potential buyer wants to look at, but lives in Guadalajara and has had a struggle getting free. The good news is that he wants renters and was pleased with the idea that we could provide them. Lynn already has a list of potential renters he is vetting that is much longer than the number of available apartments.

Lynn already has his eye on another property for the next project. We hope we can get the first property sold soon enough to take advantage of it.

Troy visits us from UNL on a work trip

By Dad

On Wednesday, September 20, 2023

In Friends, Retirement PhD

Quite a few months back, my professor from University of Nebraska went to work with one of his collaborators at University of Texas at Arlington is an hour or so away from where we live. It was great to have him and it felt like old times. I am really going to miss having an excuse to talk to him every week. I started helping him with his undergraduate research shortly after he started school at North Carolina State University. The research was successful and extended into his Ph.D. research. We had such a good time with it, we talked about how I might be able to continue to help him with it as a retirement project. I never expected to have the opportunity to do that in the way it worked out. I am grateful for the whole enterprise with my lifelong friend.

Adventures with Bryan

By Dad

On Tuesday, September 19, 2023

My buddy, Bryan sent me an old picture he had taken while we were young and the blood was obviously not getting to our brain yet. We had gone to some friends’ house on the top of a hill to try out Bryan’s new (to him) hang glider. I am not sure I was the first to try it out, but I do remember being way higher in the air than I felt in any way comfortable about falling. That was my first and last time hang gliding. It was a lot of fun, but the consequences of failure seemed dire, even for a guy in his mid-twenties.

Seeing this photo made me think of how grateful I am that God was merciful to me in my youth, keeping me alive long enough to start trying things that were meaningful rather than just fun or, worse, things done to make an impression on someone. To this day, I am amazed at my own narcissism sometimes. All the same, there was a lot of bonding that went on during those years. Bryan and I always talked about more consequential things than just fun, fame, and money. I am grateful for that, too.

Rigo’s birthday party

By Dad

On Monday, September 18, 2023

In Family, Friends

Lorena and I drove down to Leander, Texas on Saturday to celebrate her brother, Rigoberto’s, birthday. With some of their friends from church. It has been such a long time since we had an evening to just sit around and talk with friends, we are kind of forgetting what it was like. There was another family there we had never met before who are engaged in a lot of interesting work and projects. We discussed, work, college, kids, geopolitics, American politics, health, medicine, energy technology, and just about everything else under the sun. We had no agenda other than to eat lots of red meat, sing happy birthday, and chew that fat. I need more of that.

During the geopolitics part of the evening, our new friend, Lyle, recommended a book. I ordered it and will put it up as soon as it arrives.

Casa Mexican #2: Work continues, but slowly

By Dad

On Sunday, September 17, 2023

In Mexico houses

Work on the house on the hill in San Pedro continues, but has slowed down pretty dramatically due to work on Casa 1. We have a potentially buyer for #1. If that falls through, the plan is to fill it with renters and then sell it to someone who likes that kind of investment. We really do not want to be landlords other than short term. In the meantime, the weather has turned fabulous (not to hot). The views are nothing short of spectacular from the balcony today.

Día de la Independencia de Mexico, 2023

By Dad

On Saturday, September 16, 2023

In Family, Friends

We are spending the evening with Lorena’s brother Rigoberto to celebrate his birthday (it was a couple of days ago) and Mexican Independence Day. We are too old to have stayed up last night until midnight for El Grito de Independencia (Grito de Dolores), but we were there in spirit. We are pretty pleased that Mexican Independence Day coincides with the birthdays of two of our favorite people (Trisha and Vanessa). They actually remember their birthdays every year!

First fruit of the season (figs)

By Dad

On Friday, September 15, 2023

In House and home

Lorena harvested the first fruit from Christian’s fig tree today and we split it. EXTREMELY sweet. We only got two last year, but this year there are four left on the tree after we ate the first one for a total of FIVE! This has been a years long project and massive fun. We are not sure what we will ever do if it keeps growing like this and then we move. There is no way we want to leave it behind.

New treadmill book: Targeted by Stephen Hunter

By Dad

On Thursday, September 14, 2023

My new book to read while I am on the treadmill arrived yesterday. I got it online from thriftbooks. I am liking them a lot these days. The prices are good and the books arrive fairly quickly. I think they got their start by buying books that public libraries want to sell and putting them on line. This is a lot lighter reading than the first three treadmill books I bought: two historical Jesus books and a weight lifting book. I have read all but a few books this author has written. This is the latest in the Bob Lee Swagger sniper series. The author is getting older, so I do not expect to many more, if any at all.

Retirement thoughts

By Dad

On Wednesday, September 13, 2023

I have a verbal commitment with the CEO of my company to, God willing, continue to work for him until I am 70. Of course, lots of things can change, especially with a start-up company (although we seem to be on an upward climb) and even more especially with my health as I approach 70 (although it is quite good right now). Retirement is the furthest thing from my desires at this point. I seemed like I was leading an aimless life after I finished all my Ph.D. work just a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I have tried to identify some projects with longer term goals to do and actually even picked one. I have also purchased a few books, got onto an exercise and diet plan, and continue to work with Lorena’s brother, Lynn, in our real estate development and construction business in Mexico. All that, plus travel to visit the kids on the east coast and Grandma Conchita in Monterrey.

On paper, that seems like a lot of stuff to be doing. In terms of time, it is not an inordinate time sink. It is made a lot easier because I work from home. I get up in the morning at around 6 AM, read my Bible, write in my blog, work until around noon, try to leave the house to eat lunch with Lorena at least a couple of times per week, work until 5 PM or so, have a snack and read a book, eat dinner at around 7 PM, get on the treadmill and listen so podcasts or read for an hour, have a cup of decaf, and then go to bed. I only talk with Lynn about 1½ times per week. We travel and we travel about once per month, so that part does not take up too much time. It seems like I should be able to maintain a schedule like this until well after 70 if my mind and health remain good.

Lynn is working at setting up our house in Mexico so I can work from there, too. We really do hope to be able to live there for 3-4 months per year before too long. Maybe I can make it to 80 before I have to retire.

Writing is hard

By Dad

On Monday, September 11, 2023

I have determined that about two hours is about the limit for my ability to write productively. I can do that a couple of times per day, but I need a decent break between sessions. I do not know how prolific writers do it. Maybe it is something I will learn how to do longer, but I can see this first effort is going to be a grind. It feels great to have written, but the process is pretty brutal. My plan for moving forward is to try to write for an hour or two per day, then spend another hour, later on, going back to rewrite.

I got reviews back from three of the four people I sent my introductory chapters. I was really glad I did that because the introduction is profoundly better for the advice I received. Actually, the concept for the book is morphing into something I think is a lot better, too. More universal than just a book about homeschool.

Reading list

By Dad

On Sunday, September 10, 2023

Current book

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony
- Author: Richard Bauckaum
- Year: 2006, 2017
- Edition: 2nd Edition, 2017
- Started: 09/07/2023

Last book read

The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence of the Life of Christ
- Author: Gary Habermas
- Year: 1996
- Edition: 8th printing, 2006
- Started: 09/01/2023
- Finished: 09/06/2023

Books in waiting

The Barbell Perscription: Strength Training for Life After 40
- Author: Jonathon M. Sullivan and Andy Baker
- Year: 2016

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