Saturday, June 22
Hard to believe , but starting today the days start getting shorter! Oh well, supposed to be a beautiful 10 day weather stretch, so planning on taking advantage of the beautiful evenings!
My partner and her son visited today, was really enjoyable time, just amazing how quickly it goes though! Been a good week between the new baby and them visiting, that’s for sure.
Snuck in a good workout from 2-3 before lockdown. rest of the day was dinner, movie, and reading. Had meatloaf for dinner, here it is actually really good, probably my favorite dinner of the entire month:)
Amazing how quickly these weeks clip by, though some of the days drag. Derek and I are at the point on the book where we can select a domain , but ” A Better Tomorrow” isn’t available, so we’re struggling with alternatives. This next week needs to be a good week of book progress!
Sunday, June 23
Beginning of a new week once again. Will be interesting to see if I make any medical progress. Otherwise, priority will be the book, followed by my appeal, oh and Spanish:) Today was the best weather day of the year so far. 78 degrees, wind only 5 mph. Got an 8-9 and 6-7:30 workout in.
Church was amazing today. really come a long way in 6 months, both music(by inmates) as well as attendance. Probably doubled to 60 guys since I got here. Today was baptism day, which I signed up for a couple weeks ago. There were 14 of us who signed up a few weeks ago and got baptized. I’d decided to as well and very glad I did, especially with the blessing this past week of my second granddaughter! During one of the worship songs, I heard Jesus saying,” Healthy Mom and baby are an answer to your prayers”, and it was like WOW. All the little things I can get wrapped up about just went away- He is right- be thankful for an answer for the important stuff! The baptism was awesome as well- not just the public acknowledgement of Jesus as my Savior, as I’ve been a Believer for a long time, but more the washing away of past shame and guilt of being in prison. Afterwards, a couple of us shared our testimony with the group, you could really see the impact it made on the room, really the Holy Spirit at work!
Between Saturday’s visit, movie, and today, a great refreshing weekend. Hopefully this next week keeps the “good” blessings coming!
Monday, June 24
Full day at the library, 7:30-10:30 and 12:30-3. Really does help getting out of the Unit, but I’m not sure which is more quiet? The library seems like quite the social scene for the Hispanics, and the guards don’t enforce the rules for not talking, surprise surprise. Made a good dent on my BP-9 going to the Warden next week on my medical treatment needs. Don’t know why, but I’m really surprised the Head of Medical Services would look me in the eye, take down my name and number, and then not follow up like he promised. Apparently every location has the same issue…..
Finally really getting into my Spanish book and mini class of 4. I totally get why people say its harder to learn a new language the older you get:) Its true! But I’m determined which is half the battle.
Today a bus arrived with about 40 guys from Victorville, and one is two cells down from me. Seems like a nice guy, 4 kids, 12 grandchildren, older than me maybe a couple years. If his story is even half true, he got royally screwed by our government. 10 year sentence over $500k? The treatment he had from raiding his home, to being in 4 jails in 8 months to get here, what a miserable experience. I’d take my journey any day!! Our unit is much better organized for new people than when I got here. Now we have a bag of toiletries, used shoes, shorts, etc. all donated by inmates to get someone going until they get to commissary which really helps, plus guys share their coffee and food. Then the new guy is supposed to replenish to keep it going. Wish I would have had that:) I took the new guy out to the Yard last night and showed him the ropes for 90 minutes. He says he started 2 bible studies, in Santa Ana and LA, so hopefully he will join us as well.
Tuesday, June 25
Derek and I had our daily meeting on our book “A Better Tomorrow”. Getting domain is harder than it should be as many versions taken, but his wife has been awesome helping us find alternatives. We landed on a tentative schedule as follows:
* Sections I and II complete 7/15-about 2.5 weeks from now
* Section III and IV complete 9/1
* Mail 30 letters with PowerPoint overview of the life change model plus book excerpts to influential folks in October
* Hire copyright person in January to format/edit
* Make our edits to book Oct-Dec and incorporate inputs from 30 influencers who hopefully respond
* self publish in Q1 2025
Might be a quarter or so aggressive, but at least we have targets for now! This doesn’t cover a site, CRM, etc. which will be needed as well, which the ABT team is heading up on the outside as we have no internet:)
Michael Santos sent a couple books of his. Very thoughtful of him. After almost 6 months here, its amazing how much more sense they make reading now vs. beforehand. It’s a little comforting to see his routine, challenges, and BOP silly rules are quite similar to mine today. So much for reform:)
Wednesday, June 26
Pretty normal day until lockdown at 8:30 pm, apparently fight in another Unit. Just hope our doors open at 6 am tomorrow! For some reason the yard was shut down tonight, so made for a longer evening- watched NBA draft, not nearly as entertaining as NFL draft. Be interesting to see TV ratings comparison between the two.
Purpose Driven Life was especially impactful today. Chapter was about how temporary our time on earth is compared to eternity in heaven, and why we have expectations for a “perfect” life here on earth even tough its temporary. It’s interesting how I have better understanding when I read scripture but also a peace since my baptism last Sunday!
Thursday, June 27
Hard to believe its almost end of June. Next week on July 4th will be my 6 month anniversary- seems crazy to me.
Really productive day today on my appeal stuff. Given the themes my counsel said they are pursuing, I’ve summarized by fraud elements and jury instructions all the case law I’ve researched these past months. Mainly so I can look at reasonableness of arguments and likelihood of success, outside of appeal judge selection which we have no control over unfortunately:)
Enjoyed the first Presidential Debate last evening. I really don’t watch hardly any TV, but between the election and football 35 days away, that might be changing mid July! Plus Olympics in July as well!
Friday, June 28
Fortunately these weeks fly by. The key is definitely staying busy. Being in library 7:30-10 and 12-3 helps. My BP-9 is almost done , Sunday I’ll make 6 copies of it including 20 pages of exhibits, and turn in Monday. On my appeal I’ve pulled together what I think are relevant case law and jury instructions case law per themes counsel outlined, all over the past 10 days or so. With these two projects getting done, my time really frees up to focus on our book and my cellmates appeal.
Derek confirmed that last evening his wife was able to get our domain which is exciting. Our book is titled ” A Better Tomorrow”, and our domain is “ABT Community” so email, site and google drive will go off that. My daughter will have admin rights, so they both can upload/store chapters and other material. Next will be content for the site. In addition to the non profit, ABT intends to build out a media and job placement model with franchisors and small business owners. Primarily for rose felons who complete our book, Santos’s Prison Professors Workbooks, plus spend 6 months in ABT’s residential faculty going through its life change program. Stay tuned more to come!
Praying for Liberty and Freedom and to see my Family and friends soon! BJ
