Hello 2007

It was good to see the year change from 2006 to 2007 because it means I am one day closer to being with my family. Last night was an extremely uneventful New Year’s Eve for me. I made a soup “stew” for dinner. I had one of the Top Ramen soups with tuna fish, carrots, crackers and mustard. Oddly enough the combination of these ingredients yields a pleasant (at least to me) tasting soup. I had almost forgotten to eat dinner because once again I was so immersed into writing I lost all track of time. It was well past 7:30 pm before I made this dinner. As a treat after dinner I did make myself the last remaining packet of sugar free hot chocolate. This is a very nice treat and a good way to cap off 2006.

The dorm last night was livelier then it has been since I arrived. The radios were playing quite loudly all the way up until 11:00 pm when the quiet time starts. I wasn’t sure if New Year’s Eve was exempt from quiet time but everyone lowered their radios at 11:00 pm. There was no reason for me to stay up until midnight in fact, I was very tired and went to sleep at 10:30 pm. I tried to read prior to this but the noise level was too loud and I couldn’t concentrate. This was just as well because I just lay in my bunk observing my dorm mates. A few of my dorm mates had come over to my bunk prior to me falling asleep and wished me a Happy New Year. I thought this was quite nice and there are some good people here in spite of the circumstances. I only fell asleep for a few minutes because I was awakened by the loud sounds emanating from the television area which is only 10 feet away from my bunk. I did hear the midnight countdown as my dorm mates followed along with the ball dropping. The clock struck midnight and there was a great deal of hollering from not only my dorm mates but in the other dorms. My dorm mates were very jubilant (and they were all sober!) at the New Year hour. They did have some choice words at midnight and I really couldn’t understand why they were saying these things. Interestingly enough earlier in the evening, the C/O’s came through and confiscated all the garbage cans, mops, and buckets. I can only guess as to why these were confiscated and I think it has something to do with starting fires. It appears getting these items out of the dormitory was a very good preemptive strike by the C/O’s.

I think I finally fell asleep around 1:00 am as my dorm mates settled down. I did wake up at 5:30 am and was very eager to watch the morning news to hopefully confirm yet another prison overcrowding rumor. Supposedly the Governor of California will sign revised sentencing guidelines on January 11th. (What I am about to write is all hearsay so none of it may be true.) These revised sentencing guidelines will reduce the sentence of many non-violent offenders. Those inmates who have been sentenced to serve 80% of their term will be reduced to 50%. Other inmates (such as me) who have been sentenced to serve 50% of their term will be reduced to 35%. This is one of the solutions to the Judge’s order to relieve the overcrowding because with these reductions 30,000 inmates will be releasde early. No, I am not one of those 30,000 but if this information is indeed correct and the new sentencing guidelines are applied retroactively my new release date would be December of this year. Of course this makes me very happy but again I have no idea if this information is accurate. I was hoping to see something on the news this morning regarding this but there was no mention whatsoever. Hopefully, I can confirm or deny this rumor by week’s end.

Today being a Holiday is an official day off from my instructor’s position so it was just like a Saturday and Sunday. I went to breakfast with my dorm mates and sat with my usual table mate. The breakfast this morning was oatmeal and pancakes. All of us were given 4 pancakes which would be considered “silver dollar” size. I was observing my table mate who eats so fast - eat his pancakes. He had eaten all 4 of his pancakes and I had only finished my first one. It was unbelievable because I never actually saw him eat any of them. It seemed when I briefly looked down at my tray he had eaten all his pancakes. I do get a little uncomfortable while I am still eating and he seems to be waiting for me. I do speed up my eating and try to accommodate him. It must be working because he always sits with me. Also we are always the first ones back to the dorm from breakfast. Sometimes when we get back to the dorm the C/O gives us an unlock and 10 minutes later most everyone of my dorm mates return from breakfast. I do enjoy his company but I don’t want to get indigestion. Every other breakfast is much more manageable than today’s because I only eat the hot cereal whereas today I had the pancakes to contend with. I do look forward to when the PFT class starts so I can go to early breakfast and sit with someone else who doesn’t east as fast.

The string of me receiving peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches for lunch was broken this morning when I received the dreaded American cheese sandwich. It does appear I may be having a problem with lunches this week. We received the new menu last night and I guess because of the New Year the format of the menu has changed. Now the menu includes the alternative entrée selections (fancy words for my vegetarian tray) each day and according to this menu I will be receiving the dreaded American cheese sandwich 5 times and PB&J 2 times; this certainly does not bode well for me. I do have plenty of peanut butter in reserve so it really isn’t a big deal. Also, this new menu informs me of the “alternative entrée” for dinner as well. This does eliminate my guesswork and it looks like I will be staying back in the dorm several times this week. Tonight would be one of those nights because the main entrée is hot dogs with the “alternative entrée” being just vegetables. I am not sure how vegetables constitute a full meal but it certainly is the case tonight. Again, this is just as well because I have plenty of food in my locker and there is really no need to go to dinner.

This morning after returning back to the dormitory from breakfast, I read some of “The Broker” prior to going out for morning yard. At least I thought my tier had morning yard but as the yard opened the C/O’s unlocked the top (I am on the bottom) instead of the bottom. It became apparent I would not be having morning yard and for that matter evening yard. Ever since I arrived here yard has gone like this, one day afternoon yard the next day morning yard and evening yard. Yesterday I had afternoon yard so logically I would have morning yard and evening yard. Also, the telephone sign-up corresponds with this schedule. Two days ago on Saturday I signed up for a telephone call tonight and also yesterday I signed up for a telephone call for tomorrow afternoon. If the C/O’s were going to alter the yard program I would have hoped they would have communicated this to us inmates and I would have hoped they would have made alternatives for telephone sign-up schedule. No, none of this was the case. As I and many of my dorm mates were waiting for the morning yard unlock we finally spotted a C/O. We asked her what was going on with the yard schedule. She replied, “Oh, we (the C/O’s) decided to go back to odd and even – (this meant the top tier which is where the odd numbered dorms are located would have morning and evening yard on odd days such as today being the 1st where the lower tier which has the even numbered dorms would have morning and evening yard on even days such as tomorrow the 2nd and so forth.) days!” It certainly would have been nice to know this in advance now I cannot make my telephone call tonight and tomorrow because that schedule has been voided. (And so it goes with the telephone!) This is yet another example where there are so many things out of my control. When I finally realized the yard schedule had essentially been “flip-flopped” I just shrugged my shoulders and went to my bunk.

I returned to reading “The Broker” by John Grisham. In fact, I finished the novel this morning. It was a nice way to say hello to 2007 because the book was very good. As is the case with all of his novels it was well written and very fast paced. I particularly liked what Mr. Grisham wrote in his “author notes” at the end of the book regarding how everything in the book is fictional. The brief paragraph in the “author notes” I believed was written with so much humility I now have the utmost respect for Jon Grisham. I did finish the book well in advance of the afternoon yard and there was no need for me to eat lunch so I listened to music for awhile. I checked out the television area where one of the countless College Bowl games was playing. I had no interest (thank God!) in watching the game so I returned to my bunk and listened to more music.

The unlock came for the afternoon yard and I know I had to sign-up for a telephone call because the two I had scheduled were rendered useless with the switching of the yards. There was a long line for the telephone sign-up for today but I had little interest in waiting in this line. I know my wife wouldn’t be home until this evening and I wasn’t sure where my mom would be. I would just wait to call my wife on Wednesday afternoon. Much to my surprise the regular telephone sign-ups for the Wednesday telephone call went very fast. I was able to secure a 2:00 pm slot and went to start my workout. I ran 12 miles yesterday and didn’t want to run today which meant I would do the Harvard Wall. Prior to doing the Harvard Wall I did my version of the PFT Super class by myself. I do enjoy this workout because it is 30 minutes of high intensity muscled cardio activity. I elevate my heart rate very quickly and sustain this over the 30 minute period while also performing strength exercises such as push-ups and burpees. I was able to get a very good sweat going. Directly after finishing this session I went over to the Harvard Wall and did 60 minutes. My “friend” walked by while I was doing the Harvard Wall and he noticed a few other inmates doing this same exercise. He then said to me, “these guys over there seem like they are standing still compared to you.” I just smiled when he said this and I thought to myself there are few inmates who exercise on the Harvard Wall while I am doing it. These inmates appear to try and keep up with me but seem to stop after a few minutes. It is certainly not a competition and as I told my friend, “at least they (the other inmates) are doing something it doesn’t matter how fast or how long they go, at least they are trying.” I do enjoy when other inmates try to keep up with me because it does make the time go faster and also I like to looks on their faces when they stop and see me keep going. I do get a lot of head shakes but they are always accompanied with a smile.

My afternoon workout session finished with the Harvard Wall and I made sure I was finished by 2:45 pm for the unlock. Of course the unlock came later (3:00 pm) because I was on time, it never fails. This being Monday meant I could put my sweaty workout clothes in my laundry bag because laundry is tomorrow. I did not have to wash any of my clothes today and I shaved prior to showering. This made the process much faster. By this time I was finished and again made a very late lunch which consisted of a PB&J (what else!) sandwich and a soup. I am in the process of having my Hot Pot altered because even though the water gets hot it does not reach a boil. I have located a fellow inmate who can modify the Hot Pot. Having the water boil makes for much better rice because as it stands now the suggested cooking time on the rice is 5 minutes which takes 25 minutes. I believe having boiling water will speed up the process. Of course having the Hot Pot modified does come for a price which is $2.00. My $2.00 consists of 10 soups which is one of the reasons I bought 96 soups at the store. This way I can pay with the soups and still have some to actually cook when the Hot Pot is modified.

New Year’s Day 2007 was just like any other weekend day. I did my best to stay in the here and now. I was able to accomplish this through reading this morning and exercising this afternoon. Another day is ticked off of my sentence and I am one day closer to my incredible family. I did make it through the holiday season without falling to pieces. It certainly wasn’t easy but by the same token it wasn’t horrendous. I would prefer this to be my last Christmas/New Year’s Holiday separated from my family and hopefully it will. If not I know the next one will be the last and I will get through it one day at a time.

I wish everyone the best in this New Year and may love and goodness guide your journey because it certainly continues to guide mine.