Earthquake, World in Kona, Miami "Veyes," Car Mini-Woe

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.

5/23/26

 

Aloha Everybody! 

 

Wow!  Karen and I were watching t.v. last night when about 9:30 the house started to shake violently.  I've felt earthquakes here before, and at first this one seemed about the same intensity, but then it got really honking.  Something in the kitchen crashed and the wall-mounted t.v. was flapping. It wasn't long objectively, but it seemed to go on and on.  Bottom line: a 6.0 earthquake happened, centered about 25 miles south of us.  We checked all around the house and are relieved to say that we could find very little damage.  The crash I heard was one small bowl that had fallen from an open shelf.  I think we were very fortunate -- I don't know yet about damage closer to the epicenter. We have quite a few earthquakes in Hawai'i, none of the them caused by the action of tectonic plates, like in the northwest U.S..  Ours result from either magma moving around below us, or from a sudden settling of the island under its own weight.  This was the second type.   Since it just happened last night we'll get more information in the next few days.  I'll let you know next week what the reports are.

 

This week the world came to Kona.  The World cruise ship, that is.  This is no ordinary ship.  For one thing it wasn't repositioning to its summer commercial routes like other ships I've mentioned lately.  Rather, the World follows a year-long itinerary that takes it...well, all over the world.  We've seen in Bordeaux, France, and it has visited Kona once before. The route varies from year to year and is

Ultimate Cruising

determined by the passengers themselves, who own their cabins and the ship itself.  It was built in 2002 with space and luxury in mind.  There are only about 160 "cabins' (apartments or condos, really). They range in price from $2-15 million, with a yearly additional fee in the 6 figures.  In short, the owners have mega-bucks. The concept is apparently catching on because there are five more ships planned, and one other ship started cruising in 2025.  The owners can live permanently on board, of course, or they can come and go depending on the ship's location and the desirability of the destinations.  They aren't allowed to rent their units, and only family and vetted friends can stay when the owners are absent.  This cuts down on unwanted riffraff. The World stayed here for three days, an unprecedented length of time for a large ship. Strangely, I never got an invitation from one of the residents to go on board.........

 

Last week I forgot to mention a car problem that I triumphantly solved. When Karen was leaving for a meeting and tried to start her Miata she got the dreaded sound of the engine not quite turning over.  Fortunately this happened while she and the car were still in the garage so the inconvenience was minimal.  She took our other car to the meeting while I valiantly drew on my vast store of machine knowledge and diagnosed the problem as a nearly dead battery.  A look at the install date etched on the battery confirmed my suspicion -- just a few days short of four years -- about all you can expect from car batteries these days.  Over the Miata's 23 year life it has gone through about 5 or 6 batteries-- I'm not real sure of the exact number.  This usually happens, as in this case, with no warning, which makes a good argument for preemptive maintenance.  Anyway, I called around to see if any parts stores had a replacement -- not a slam dunk for a car that is 23 years old in a small, isolated island community..  The first place had just run out of that particular model and it would be 2 weeks before more arrived.  Fortunately I found one at NAPA.  I took the old battery with me when I picked up the new one to avoid the "core deposit" and I had the new one installed before the end of the day.  Yup, that solved the problem! As with a lot of my projects, I could have hired someone to do it.  But I still like the mental and physical challenge of solving problems if I can.  Of course, the scale and scope of those problems is getting smaller and smaller.......

 

There are a couple of quick Geezer Gazette items this week.  First, I managed to get an appointment with the eye clinic in Miami for an evaluation and consultation, but not without a frustrating amount of hassle.  The forms that I faxed apparently disappeared into cyberspace. No one I spoke to on the phone had any record of them.  Even getting through to someone on the phone was a hassle, Each time I called the number listed for the eye clinic I was transferred to a general scheduling number and someone who had no idea about eye problems.  Anyway, I made an appointment for the first available slot -- October 26th (!).  I may cancel this if I can find someplace more agreeable.  I'm now thinking of the Stein Eye Institute at UCLA.  I quickly got through on the phone to a compassionate and competent person in the Institute itself.  The first step is to fax a letter of referral directly to the clinic requesting a neuro-ophthalmology consultation, then they should contact me to schedule something. Hopefully this will go better but I'm not holding my breath.  The other piece of geezer news is that I will begin treatments with the newly approved Valeda procedure on June 1st. This is a bit of a "Hail Mary" play for me.  The procedure uses repeated exposure of the retina to certain wavelengths of light (3 treatments per week for 3 weeks). It is non-invasive and only takes about 10 minutes per session.  My eye clinic obtained one of the machines and is beginning to offer treatments. The reason it is a bit of a long shot for me is that so far it has only been shown to be effective for people with dry macular degeneration. I don't have have that problem, but the underlying logic of the treatment seems plausibly beneficial in my case.  Since there are no known bad effects, I figure why not?  I'm desperate enough to give it a try. I'll keep you posted.

Ok, that's it for now. Oh by the way, I've come across a way to reduce your angst in these troubled political times.  Keep repeating the following mantra over and over until your brain is fully anesthetized:  "Oligarchy is Good, Facism is Fine, Oligarchy is Good, Facism is Fine, Oligarchy is Good, Facism is Fine, Oligarchy is Good, Facism is Fi........."   And as always, Carpe Vitam.