Needles, Blood, Silicone, & Smoke

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

3/25/23

 

Aloha All!

 

I don't have any hard evidence, but I wouldn't doubt that we've had a real uptick in weather refugees from California visiting us here in Hawai'i..  Definitely a challenging winter there lately, and of course in a lot of other places on the mainland, too.  No great challenges here -- unless you count deciding on which pair of shorts to wear today...

 

A lot has happened since I wrote last.  A week ago Tuesday I saw my retina doctor and, as expected, I got an eyeball injection.  There was definite edema buildup but we caught it early and since then my acuity in the right eye has improved considerably -- still not great, of course, but back to the best I can expect, about 20/100.  The good news is that the steroid cream I was using to get rid of the thingy on my thigh didn't increase my eye pressures as I feared it might.  It sure did the trick on my leg, though, and that spot is finally healed.  In other medical news, I got my routine blood work done last week and yesterday I saw my crackerjack internist to review the results.  I had already seen the report and compared it to my previous tests, though, because the lab sends them to me online. Everything seems good, including the PSA (prostate) test and the CRP test (coronary inflammation marker).  I know I complain about my doctor but I do approve of this 6-month routine blood analysis because it should catch problems early -- a very good thing for geezers.

 

On the home-front, my main project was to clean and reseal the flagstone decking around our pool.  This natural stone is very attractive, but it requires regular maintenance to keep it that way.  I'm afraid I let this slip a bit too long, so it was extra work this time to get it back into shape.  First, I sprayed the whole thing with a bleach solution to kill moldy spots, then I power-washed the entire surface, applied another bleach spray, and finally sprayed on a silicone sealer.  Besides being tedious, this job required repositioning most of the lanai furniture a couple of times to treat underneath.  Fortunately the weather cooperated over the several days it took to do the job and I now declare it done.  If I reapply the silicone every 9 months or so it shouldn't require any other maintenance. Whew!

On the techno-front, our new credit card account seems to be doing fine -- no new hacks.  I got nearly all of our automatic payments changed to the new card, and while I was at it I changed any that would allow it to Pay Pal.  This way if the card is compromised again, it will be easier to change the Pay Pal link to the new card account, rather than changing each company.  I also like the fact that my card # isn't on file with each merchant, some of whom might have less than the best security arrangements.  Pay Pal is a juicy target for ne'er-do-well hackers, of course, but I'm sure Pay Pal has extremely high security to protect themselves and my info.  There are other payment services besides Pay Pal, but I already had an account and I often use it for quite a few online purchases. Also going well so far are my sound system receiver and my new (old) phone.  The phone looked almost brand new -- I couldn't see any scratches or marks on the outside at all.  And so far it is working perfectly, including the sound features that the original had problems with.  I used the Samsung transfer utility to copy all my old apps, data, and settings to the new phone fairly quickly.  I did have to log in to a number of apps again, though, and a few settings didn't transfer.  Also, I had to transfer the carrier sim card from the old to the new phone, but the service registered the new device automatically and in a few minutes I could make and receive calls and texts, as well as switch to cellular data if I wanted to, or when I was away from our home wifi.  For now I've opted not to go the "e-sim" route until the techies implement a way to make it easier to switch e-sims between devices. I've got 90 days to return the phone if there is a problem, but so far it has been great.  I will probably jinx things by saying this, but at this moment all my techno-toys are working!!

 

Makalei Fan Gallery

Karen and I worked out on Tuesday, and played 16 holes at Makalei on Thursday with Karen's golf buddy.  I did ok, with some rather amazing shots but also a lot of mediocre ones.  Karen did very well, including getting a zero-putt birdie on a par three hole.  We've now added a couple of new Kon-a-Lago rules:  on fairway shots, anything less that 20 feet doesn't count; and on greens, if the ball hits the pin it's "in."

 

Today is my Quitting Smoking Anniversary. I finally managed this in 1994, after smoking for 40 years.  Here's some fun math.  I started smoking when I was 10 (the evil influence of my two older sisters).  It has now been 28 years after quitting.  28+10=38.  That means in two years I will have been smoke free for as long as I smoked.  Given that I spent 1/2 of my life puffing away, I should be grateful that so far only a moderate-to-severe case of emphysema is the result.  Note the "so far."

Ok, off for our usual routine of market and beach breakfast picnic.  Hang in there. Winter will end someday....