Just a note to say Happy New Year to all of my readers (both of you 
)! Here’s hoping that the new year will bring you and yours everything you are hoping for. Here in Kumamoto, we are enjoying our second day in a row of snow (I’m not sure I’ve seen two in a row here, but then I’m getting old…) Sorry, global warming, we need to crank up the heat today!
Last month I decided to upgrade from my mountain bike of 12+ years. With the mountain bike, I could never get the speed going that I used to enjoy with the Motobecane 10-speed I bought in the mid 1970s. I’m getting a bit old for the drop-down handlebars, so I decided to go with the cross-over style: basically a road bike with its thin tires, but with a mountain bike’s flat handlebars.
I chose the Trek brand for its reputation, and since this may be one of the last bikes I buy, I thought I’d step up a bit and get a mostly carbon-framed bike. That pretty much left the 7.9 FX (the U.S. site) (in Japan). We’ve had really cold weather recently, so I haven’t ridden it so much. Having written that, though, I have to say it’s the most comfortable bike I’ve ridden, and it is a shear pleasure to navigate. One review I read complained of the thumb shifters, but I haven’t been bothered at all. I’ll post more as I ride more.
Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now has another book out: A New Earth: Awakening to Your LIfe’s Purpose
), I’ll save the review for another time.
I did want to write that the U.S. TV-icon, Oprah, has put together a 10-week series to discuss the book and its ideas (free registration required). From what I can tell, it looks to be one of the best uses of live broadcasting on the Internet that I know of. Film at eleven. 
Do you know Dr. Maoshing Ni? He is the author of several books on health and longevity and runs the Ask Dr. Mao site.
He has a list of tips on boosting your brain power on the yahoo site. Useful tips include doing some brain exercises like puzzles and memorizing items in a list; getting enough sleep (and grabbing a power nap) and exercise; eating the right foods; brewing your own herbs; and drinking green tea every day (I’ve got mine right here! )
I would add to the list the fermented foods like natto and miso. What do you do to keep your brain healthy?
After finishing Dispatches from Blogistan, I have decided to split El Viajero into two blogs. Clearly, the eclectic choices of topics in the original blog were more than distracting.
El Viajero will stay focused as a sort of online diary of daily life; living, working, and playing well; and other topics in that broad area.
This spin-off blog, tentatively named scholar @ jklmelton, will stick to the more academic, productivity, and technology topics that I find interesting.
I spent most of last night creating scholar and moving relevant posts there. I have left all the original dates and titles of El Viajero for historical (some might say hysterical) reference. However, that relocated content can no longer be read here; I spent this morning adding updated links to each post. I hope this does not cause many problems. Rather, I hope this move will allow both of my fans to enjoy more focused content.
This should be the only post I need to make on the move. I have posted a similar message at scholar; please excuse the redundancy. A la obra…
My father passed away earlier this year from heart disease. This happened just as the family here was getting moved in for the sabbatical. Needless to say, a visit with him before he died would have been a very good thing. His passing came as a shock to us and all who knew him. I put together some words about him which follow:
He was born in Laurel, Mississippi where he lived until he joined the Navy in 1943. He was a flight instructor during WWII and was one of the few pilots at the end of the war to be asked to continue service. He was trained as a fighter pilot and flew Navy fighters such as the propeller-driven Wildcat, Hellcat, Bearcat, and Corsair. When the Navy moved to jets, JB flew the Banshee, the Panther, the Cougar, and the Crusader. Since he was always ready to fly, he also took assignments in various non-combat planes such as the C-3 and Beechcraft models of the day. He was trained as a photography pilot and was deployed on several aircraft carriers which toured East and Southern Asia. Another highlight in my father’s naval career was as one of the commissioning officers on the nation’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Enterprise.
After retiring from the Navy in 1966, JB began a career as a flight instructor and later, corporate pilot. He worked at Jim’s Air and moved to Crown Air where he was Chief Flight Instructor. Later he became the Chief Pilot for Hawthorne Machineries and flew Mr. Hawthorne and his clients to various places in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. He also flew several fights in the Hawaiian islands where research into atmospheric conditions was being conducted. JB retired from professional flying in the 1990′s, but he maintained his private pilot’s credentials until his death. In total, he had over 23,000 hours of flying time, and his flying career spanned close to 63 years.
In more recent years, JB stayed active by riding his bicycle, going to the sauna regularly, and staying active in his community. He was well-known by all the businesses he frequented and was famous for making and sharing his chocolate chip cookies.
He will be sorely missed by all whose lives he touched. Happy flying, Dad…