The last time I write this blog ...

... from this home. This week has been lots of last

My last run in Sunnyvale

of something. Today was the last Sunday I wake up in Sunnyvale. I cooked my last meal in Sunnyvale. I will sleep my last night in Sunnyvale tonight. All week I have been saying this stuff. Am I happy when I say this stuff or am I sad about it? Will I miss doing these things in Sunnyvale, or will I be happy I don't have to do them any more? I don't know the answer to those questions and I may never know.

I will never run by these condos after they are built

I moved here after my divorce. I lived in my office for 10 months after I left my house and I moved into a mobile home because it was something I could afford. Buying this place was cheaper than renting an apartment that I could have my 3 daughters live with me. I moved here when Sarah was in Kindergarten, Jayne was in 5th grade and Lindsey was in Middle School. My kids grew up while I lived here. I always wanted to apologize to them that I lived here. I wasn't happy that I lived in such a small place that my oldest daughter didn't want to visit me.

The last time I will be running down this street

I had lunch with my daughter yesterday and did apologize. This is the only place she can remember I lived all her life. She laughed at me and said she grew up fine. She said neither she nor her sisters ever thought about where I lived as they grew up. I guess I should be happy that this allowed me to live close to them as they grew up and was always there when they needed me. This is the reasoning I always told myself, but the truth is I don't really believe that. I wanted to provide my children more.

Last time to run past this hydrant

 They will never know, nor do I want them to think about it, the things I have done for them. I hope they know I love them, but that isn't even important to me. I now have a house I'm proud about and will build firsts in. I will have Thanksgiving at my house for my family for the first time this year. I will run around that neighborhood for the first time. I will have enough rooms for my kids to have their own room, and bathroom, when they come to visit for the first time. I will wake up for a first time in that house. I will cook my first meal in that house for the first time in that house.

The last time I will round this corner on my way home from my run

Lots of firsts will happen next week and for the next year. I can't have firsts without lasts so I embrace the lasts. This is the last sentence I will write in this blog from this home!

Perils of moving ...

Philfril LOGO

I mentioned that I'm moving, but I have been too busy to write more about it. When I decided to see about moving I knew I had to sell my present mobile home before I could buy a house. When I heard I could sell my home for 30% more than I bought it, rather than 30% less I decided to put my home on the market and look for a house in an area with affordable housing. I put my home in Sunnyvale on the market on the same day I put an offer on a house in Stockton. The offer was not enough so I offered a little more and the home got an offer 3 days later for the same amount over my asking price!

Bobblehead I got for running in SF

 The home was to close in 21 days and the house was to close in 30 days. One of the contingencies of getting my loan was selling my home, so it was all working out. I don't want to move myself. I have lived here for 14 years and wasn't looking forward to boxing up everything I own, loading a truck, and unloading it in my new house and unpacking everything. I don't know what to do with my stuff for 8 days, from the time I move out to the day I move in. I decided to let someone else move me and not worry about all the hassles of moving myself! Then the "problems" start showing. The mobile home park sent the buyer the city ordinance stating their rights if the park is sold, in accordance with law. The buyer didn't understand why this was sent and they said they didn't want to purchase the home if the park was being sold. My real estate agent didn't understand their concern and wanted a meeting with the park owner to clarify what was going on and the park owner didn't understand what the problem was. That got cleared up. Then the inspection was done of the home and many problems were found, which is why I wanted to sell the home "as is". I have a limit of the amount I will pay to fix the home, which is still more than they went over the asking price. The inspection went over that amount and the buyer was thinking of pulling out of the sale.

Running down the streets of San Francisco

They got over that problem, then said I don't have to fix anything and just give them the amount I said I would pay, even though I have already started doing some of the repairs. This means I don't have to move out of the house as early as I had planned, so I contacted the movers to move 2 days later. Then the house I'm buying will be available 4 days before I thought. But, then my sister reminded me that was a holiday so things changed again. Another call to the movers. Then I decided I would just keep things as they were, and move out and in when I had planned so we solidified the plans.

Running with 10,000 of my closest friends.

Then the buyer notified us they had used the wrong name, they are Chinese and put their last name first and first name last. UGH! more changes to the paperwork, but no stress for me. So now I'm all ready for when I move out and when I move in. I went out and purchased washer and dryer and refrigerator. I now know when they can deliver that. I have measured and shopped for artificial grass to be put on the cement slab on the side of my house to give me a "yard".

The only time I smile is when I'm taking "selfies".

In 2 days the movers come, the next day the cleaners come. I will stay at my sister's for a week then sign the papers for my new house and sleep there on the floor for one night and the next day have my stuff delivered. Then the real work starts trying to figure out where to put everything. I'm moving from 650 sq ft to 1700 sq ft so it won't be hard to find space. My linen shelf will turn into a linen closet! My 6'X6' shed will turn into a 2 car garage and laundry room.This should be another great adventure in my life!!

Finish on the field at ATT Park, home of the SF Giants!

Movie Review: Straight Outta Compton

From my seat at ATT Park

I hate rap music. I have always hated rap music. I hate the lyrics and will change the radio station if they ever play rap. I'm an old white guy that hates rap, nothing unusual about that. I loved the movie about how rap started, maybe something unusual and ironic about that. This movie is a must see for everyone! I don't know how accurate this movie is, but it opened my eyes to understand the music more. After seeing the movie I still hate rap, but I understand it better. I like what they said in the movie that the music reflects their environment.

overlooking SF from ATT Park

This movie made me feel what it was/ is like growing up in a poor neighborhood. This neighborhood happened to be a black neighborhood in LA. The movie let me see how the police behaved, from the occupants point of view instead of from the police point of view. The language is really bad because that is how it was in the neighborhood. I never listened to the lyrics, but during the movie I started to understand what it was all about. Again, I don't know how accurate this was, but I have a new respect for these artists and lyricists.

Add caption

This was one of those movies that had me thinking about it after I left. The movie was fun and interesting and brought out many during emotions during the movie. I was not bored during the movie and didn't want to leave to do my job of why I was there. After the movie, for the next week, I thought about that movie and that time in history and in my life. I started to understand how my own experiences prevent me from seeing other things in the proper perspective. I suggest everyone see this movie, especially white people over 40!

Movie review: Fantastic Four

I sat through this movie on Friday, my regular tour of duty. I had someone with me or I would have gotten up and walked out. I hate having to read through a whole review before they tell me if I should go or not, so let me just tell you ... don't go. I don't understand why every movie from a comic book feels like they have to rewrite the original book. We all know that the Fantastic Four have powers, one stretches, one goes invisible, one turns to fire, and one is the Thing.

This movie starts out when the guys are in elementary school and tells us how they became friends and smart. I don't care, show me some action. Don't we go to these movies to see the action, or do we go to find out the background so the next movie that comes out can have action? Well, I'll give you a hint, there will be no next movie by these people. I would not waste my money, it is nice seeing movies for free. This movie was boring in the beginning, in the middle it got really boring, and the end I applauded because I didn't have to be more bored.

During the movie I had to leave for 15 minutes to go to another showing to get the information I needed. When I came back I guess a lot had happened, but I didn't feel like I missed anything. I think when I was gone there was a little action, but I didn't care. I was very glad when the movie was over. One review I read compared the invisible girl to a taxi cab, carrying the two that couldn't fly around. The best part of the movie was the Thing's makeup. It looked great and he was able to move around ok. The worse part of the movie was between when it started and when it finished. I guess it isn't the worse movie I have ever seen, but I would rather have watched reruns of friends than this movie. I still have other movies I want to see from beginning to end. I want to see Mission Impossible, Southpaw, and maybe The Gift. I don't want to even see the trailers for this movie. Please don't see it, or if you do leave a comment and let me know if you liked it.

Phil's Frills

How many of us have wanted to start our own company, but never really knew how? Or we wanted to start a company, but didn't really know what kind of company? I have a friend in China that wanted to start a company, she could do it by herself, but asked me to be her partner. I am doing the business part and she is doing the selling and buying and sales part. In other words, I am keeping it legal and she is doing all the work. There is another person involved, a man dealing directly with the factories and shipping and keeping it legal on that end. The concept is finding styles women of any size can wear.

The woman I'm working with is petite and she wants to find clothes larger women can wear that will enhance their style. I think it is funny that she is choosing the clothing and she will never wear it. She wants me to find models to wear the clothes so we can control all aspects of sales. She is sending me 30 pounds of clothes to find someone to model while we take photos. We want to end up wholesaling these garments to stores or distributors and deal in large quantities rather than one or two items a day. We are looking at how to start approaching businesses about Christmas shopping. If you had direct access to a factory what would you order? She has been working for the past 2 weeks to get items on Amazon. She has found it takes a few hours just to put one item on Amazon, I thought it would be easy.

She has to put on many different shots of each item. If you go to Amazon and search for philfril you will see all the items we have on Amazon, it will increase slowly over the next few weeks. We have been trying to figure out the best way to do a website, www.philfril.com , and it has changed a few times in the past week. She has one idea and I have another so we will keep working on it. I keep trying to find someone to help me do the website since I have many friends in this area that do websites. I haven't been successful in getting anyone to help me yet. I have also just started a Facebook page for Philfril Mercantile and invited many of my friends. I don't mean to bother people, but the sales manager of the company is always on my back to do things and inform my friends about the company. She is constantly talking to me about how to improve the company. I try to tell her to slow down and it isn't so important and she tells me if we are in business we are in business. We have made a sale and we need to follow that with another sale soon.

The concept of the company is the smallest size we carry is XL and the largest we carry are XXXXL. We have a direct link to the factory and can fill orders immediately and ship it right from China directly to the customer. If someone sees something they want in our website or another they can ask us and we can try to find the exact same thing directly from the factory and put a Philfril tag on it and send to them. Then we will start contacting distributors and independent stores and wholesale to them. We are starting to source accessories. We have already added clutch purses and scarves. We have a great source for lingerie and would like to sell that. We can just put the companies catalog on line, Lingerie , and the customer can tell us what they want. This is all in the infant stage, but my partner is not sitting still and will make this successful if it kills her. She told me yesterday, Scott you will be rich within 4 years. Feels good that she says it that way and not that she will be rich. She needs me to keep her centered and I need her to keep me excited about this. It works well!!

May I speak to Captain Phillips please?

Front Door

On Wednesday I got a call from a man that asked if he could speak to Captain Phillips. I haven't been called that for over 25 years. Luckily I knew what the call was about. The day before I had asked to be pre-qualified for a loan to buy a house. I have been living in a mobile home for 14 years. I thought I would look around at houses to see what might be available. When I got pre-qualified they told me they had about a program the bank has to introduce me to a real estate agent that they have screened.

Side View

Since my bank deals with many military families they do them as service since military families move around much. After the call he sent me 2 properties to look at. Since I had planned to be in that area any way I thought I would look at one that I thought was interesting. I didn't really know what I was looking for. I wanted 3 bedroom and 2 bathroom, that wasn't too big since it is only me. I also wanted some grass to feel like it was a family. This home was HUGE, 3 bedrooms and 3 baths.

Great Room

This home is in one of the most dangerous cities in Northern California. It has gone bankrupt so city services may not be so good. It is also has one of the worst school districts in Northern California. Location, Location, Location! I went to look at houses last Sunday and saw one that was small with a cute yard and for very cheap. But, it was very old and little dark, it was also in a bad part of town. I also saw 4 other houses in a good part of town that all had something wrong. They were in a good neighborhood, but there was a lot of noise and many kids.

Gated Entrance

 The house I looked at on Wednesday was not in the best part of town, but it wasn't in a bad part of town. To add to that it is the only gated community I have seen in the area. Inside the gate is a park so you know it is only used by the community. There is also a pool for the larger area that is available. 5 miles in South is a bad part of town. Across the street North is farmland and then a very nice, cute town that I have always wanted to live in. So, the address says Stockton, but the neighborhood is really Lodi. The school district is Lodi. There is a gate and fence around our neighborhood to keep it safe.

Big landing above the stairs

This house is big, 3 times the size of my present home. When I was walking around it made me want to walk around, rather than my house that makes me feel like sitting down and not wanting to be in the house. My present small home is kind of embarressing to live in. I don't like people coming to visit. The big house I saw I couldn't wait to pick up the phone and invite people to come visit me! I wanted a yard, but when I had a small patch of grass I didn't water or mow it often and let it go. I ended up putting gravel over that area.

Side yard, always shady.

So, if I had grass I wouldn't put in the work to keep it nice. I am also not home very much during the school year so I would neglect the yard any way. There is a beautiful park 2 blocks away if I wanted to sit out on the grass. So, even though I had only looked at houses for less than a week I put a bid on it, 3 times what my mobile home was worth and they countered for me to add $7000 and I did and they accepted my offer. Now that I bought a new house I need to sell my mobile home. I have been talking to a mobile home realtor for the past 6 months telling him I wanted to put it on the market.

Park near my new house.

At the same time I called my bank to get pre-qualified I had that realtor come over and put my home on the market. When he came he told me the price of my home went up $5000 in the last month. I put it on the market and in the past 3 days I have had 4 - 6 people come to look at it each day. The realtor tells me my home is the cheapest on in the area and the space rental fee is the cheapest. He expects to get an offer for the amount we want within 2 weeks. This is all going so fast it is unbelievable. My whole attitude towards life is changing. I am seeing my future as I control it rather than having no control!

Movie Review - Mission Impossible/ Southpaw/ Vacation

Moving Train Station!

On Friday's I work for a company that pays me to write down the trailers of first run movies. This week I was required to go to Mission Impossible. There were 3 showings of this movie one hour apart so to kill time between showings I went to see other films that had started earlier in the week. I watched the beginning of Mission Impossible, which I hope to see the whole thing again. I saw the middle of Southpaw, which I hope to see the whole thing sometime. I saw the end of Vacation, which is much better than the first one.

Old church in Ione, CA

I watched the first 45 minutes of Mission Impossible. I like movies that get your attention at the beginning of the movie and this one definitely was one I wanted to see more. I was almost late to the next showing because I didn't want to leave this movie. The only thing I was thinking as I was watching this movie was I feel the TV show director was better than the movie director. Even with the acting keeping me interested I wish the music was coordinated like the TV show. I kept waiting for the Mission Impossible music to play during the action, but it didn't. That distracted me. Great Action Movie!

Downtown Ione, CA ... pizza parlor

Southpaw came out on Wednesday and I saw it on Friday. The previews have been showing for the past 2 or 3 months and I didn't think I would be interested in seeing it. I was wrong. This movie was about a boxer whose wife dies and their daughter is upset, at least that is what the trailer told me. The part I saw showed the boxer after his wife died and he was a thief even though he lived in a mansion. He went back into the ring and was happy to be beaten to forget his pain of his wife dying. I really liked the story and liked the acting. I wanted to see the rest to see what happened before and after the part I saw. Great Dramatic Movie!

Veteran Memorial

Before I went into see Southpaw I saw the end of Vacation. I didn't really like the first one that came out about the Griswald family driving across country to Wally World, then finding out it was closed. I saw this one from where they were almost at Wally World. The ladies in front of me were laughing so much they were almost rolling in the aisle. The parts I saw referred to many things that had happened previously in the movie. I want to see this movie. I want to see the jokes, even though I know they will be childish and raunchy. It isn't the kind of movie I usually want, but I would like to see it in video. Great Comedy Movie.

Learning should be FUN!

Today I went to a MeetUp meeting I like to go to where I teach an ESL class to random people that come for a lesson. It is really strange since each week there are 10 - 20 people and a large percentage have never been there before. So I could really do the same thing every month and just rotate over 4 weeks. I enjoy it and I feel I am contributing to to others' lives. It is interesting to see the diversity of people that attend. Today there were a few people from Mexico, some from India, a couple of Asians, and even a girl from Peru

 We started with an introduction of everyone and waiting for the people that came late. Then we talked a little about ways to practice listening. The usual problem with listening is people that speak another language can't tell where one word ends and the next word begins. Say, "What time is it?" Say each word separately, doesn't it should strange, like a robot? Now say, "Wha time i sit?". Isn't that really how we say it? We blend the 2 t's together and we take the "s" on is and put it on "it". That is why many people can read and write and not hear when native speakers speak. The problem is people stress about it too much.

It is important that non-native speakers understand what their problems are so they can understand how to correct them. One way to help with the way we blend words is Tongue Twisters. So then we paired everyone up and practiced tongue twisters. I told them not to worry about the meaning of the words, like how big is a peck, but worry about pushing yourself to say them faster. If I don't make it fun then their heart isn't into the work and they don't really learn anything. The tongue twisters we used are:

1. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
   A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
   If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
   Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
2. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
   
3. She sells seashells by the seashore
4. How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?
5. I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream
6. I saw Susie sitting in a shoeshine shop
7. Susie works in a shoeshine shop. Where she shines she sits, and where she sits she shines
8. Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he?
   
9. Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?
10. I have got a date at a quarter to eight; I’ll see you at the gate, so don’t be late!    
    

Shootings in movies

Sarah in Homecoming Court

These days there are many mass killings. Is this a new phenomenon or is it just being reported more? The latest one was a 59 year old man was watching a movie and then stood up and just shot the other movie goers. Last week was a man that shot at a recruiter's office then went into a building and shot military people in uniform. The first one of these I can remember was Columbine where some high school students went to their school and shot other students and teachers. But, when I heard about that I also heard that it often happened in other schools it just wasn't reported because it wasn't so rare.

Homecoming Float

That is the problem, I don't know if this is a new thing or if it is just getting more press now. I don't know anyone that changes their habits or daily activity because of these shootings. We always think it will happen to someone else and somewhere else. I think a few years ago it happened around here, but I still don't ever think about it. You wonder what you would do if you were in such a situation. I was never around a shooting, but when I was in college I got into a situation where some people attacked the people I was with and I had to decide what to do. If I was around a shooting I don't know what I would do either.

High school football game

I went into a gas station to pay for the gas and when I turned around the two people in the car I was riding in were on the ground being kicked. The other people in the store had called the police and told me I shouldn't go out. I was thinking of going out, but I knew I couldn't have done anything to help except also gotten kicked. The police came quickly, within 1 minute so I didn't have long to contemplate. I was so upset, still upset, and they just got beat up. What if there was shooting? The people got killed are not the only one's hurt in this situation. Everyone in the area will always wonder if they did the right thing!

Movie review - Pixels

Bird in Oakland

Every Friday I go to the movies. I get paid to go to each different version of first run movies and make a list of what trailers are being shown. I usually will sit through the last movie I must see to watch the movie. Last year I made $900 doing this and watched lots of movies. So, each Friday I will review the movie I saw. This week I saw Pixels. Bottom line is go see it if you want to see a movie, versus you must see it or don't see it unless you want to sleep. Also remember the pictures I use on my blog have nothing to do with what I write.

Girl and her dog on the beach

I don't usually like Adam Sandler because he is like an adult that behaves like a child. I don't find him funny and I don't know if he is acting or just being himself on a stage. I have always liked Kevin James and he is always funny to me. Peter Dinklage is good in everything he does ... I'm glad he doesn't do comedy. There was a female, but I don't know her name and she was not good in this film. Adam Sandler never knows how to be romantic, still. I judge movies on the story more than anything else, and I didn't think I would like the story, but I did.

Para-surfing

The story line is a little stupid and silly, but I grew up with video games and it was fun to relive my past. I enjoyed the movie and I had to leave after an hour to go check out another showing to list the trailers. I didn't think it would be a problem since I thought I wouldn't like the movie. But, I liked the movie and almost was late for the other movie because I wanted to see what happened. The beginning of the movie has a bunch of kids in an arcade contest, that was a little boring. Then it goes to the main part of the movie with the aliens attacking and that was ok.

Being pulled by a parachute

The end has the nerds saving the world and the action was fun to watch. You know how it will end and there isn't really a twist so it won't get very good reviews. Rotten Tomato review.  I liked this movie and I liked the story. They tried to put romance in the movie and that didn't work. I would suggest people see this movie if they want to go to a movie and there is nothing they really want to see. The problem is there is lots to see right now. First see Jurassic World, then see Inside Out, then see Minions, then Ant-man; Those are all must sees.

Berkeley Marina

Then see Trainwreck and Pixels if you need more movies to see and don't want to sleep. Lots of good films this year. I suggest everyone see Max and McFarland USA to feel good.