A Million Little Pieces Of My Mind

The number 74 holds intriguing mathematical and cultural significance. Mathematically, 74 is an even composite number, divisible by 1, 2, 37, and itself. It serves as an example of the relationships between prime factors, as it is the product of 2 and 37, two prime numbers. In coding and cryptography, numbers like 74 often appear due to their unique properties within various algorithms and sequences. Culturally, 74 carries importance in different contexts; for example, it is the atomic number of tungsten, a highly valued element for its strength and resistance to heat. The number also resonates symbolically—sometimes representing perseverance and stability. And, it's the age I turned today.

To be honest, last year at this time I wasn't at all convinced I would make it another year. (I thought the same, the year before.) I hadn't yet gotten my hip replacement scheduled, and every step I attempted was exhausting and painful. My blood pressure was very low (except when it was very high); my electrolytes were out of balance and my body had swollen with edema to the point of serious discomfort.

But I persevered—what else can ya do? My only other choice was to lie down until I finally stopped breathing. But my brain doesn't shut off that easily. So I continued to show up at doctor appointments, taking charge of my own health rather than wait for a doctor to come up with something on their own.

The magic bullet turned out to be potassium. One of my medications caused my body to lose potassium, but no provision had been made to replace it. Once I started supplementing it, everything else fell into place. It's all about the electrolyte balances, people! Your calcium/magnesium/phosphorus have to balance; and your sodium/potassium has to balance. They tell you to avoid salt (sodium), but you can achieve the same balance by adding potassium. And it really has made a major difference. I've been able to go for walks with the dogs around our new neighborhood.

(Okay, to be honest, if I am holding their leashes, I can't go very far. But my daughter, Jenny, has been encouraging me to go for a walk with them, while she and grandson Dominic actually hold the leashes.)

But let's look quickly at how I spent this previous year.

Now, understand, in the background was me trying to get my hip replacement arranged. First, convincing the insurance company I needed it, since last year's spinal surgery hadn't helped. Then, trying to get it scheduled. All of which was going on for months before I finally had the surgery in August.

Without it, I couldn't cross my legs to cut my own toenails. My daughter, Jenny, made sure they got taken care of.

And then, I went with Jenny and the grandkids to Kaua'i to celebrate my oldest grandson's 25th birthday. And yes, walking's tough but I can still swim!

I returned to Hawaii on my own in August, a week before my scheduled surgery. And I car camped, and revisited most of the places I'd loved when I lived here, though I couldn't quite fit in a visit to Hana where I lived.

And then I underwent the hip replacement on August 22. The surgery was considered a success, and I was supposed to immediately start physical therapy. However, my insurance company (Banner Medicare Advantage Plus) took months to okay it, so I did not get the benefit of that, which would probably have helped me heal more thoroughly.

Nevertheless, I flew to Florida for my 55th high school reunion, where I had a really good time despite needing a cane to get around. And I was happy to see that, among us survivors, at least, we're all still looking pretty healthy.

I also made a car camping trip through Sedona and Grand Canyon. So, looking back, I have to admit that I haven't really let my hip issues slow me down.

2024/2025, of course, is the period where AI really took off. I've been working with it a lot, especially getting it to create generic images to order for old blog posts that, originally, had no illustrations at all. I've also been using it as a programming amanuensis. I will have to let others worry about the issues regarding training on copyrighted works. Personally, I don't care if they train on my web site, because that's probably as close to immortality as I can hope for. But that's me.

Meanwhile, I've also been using it to restore and colorize old family photos, like this one of my dad and his siblings.

Probably the worst to happen (other than the election itself) was Elon Musk's descent into madness. I still love my Tesla, leased before anyone really knew who Musk even was. And I love the self-driving feature, even though it costs me an extra $99 a month. At my age, I think it's safe to say my car can drive more safely than I can. Of course, I do have to stay alert—the car enforces it—and every once in while I do have to correct it, for example if there's a driveway very close to my turn, it may be fooled into trying to turn into the driveway. But it's easy to recover. However, I did feel the need to make my position known.

Then, sometime in November, another daughter, Karen, who lives in Virginia, sent me something very special. It's a "smart oven"! And it comes with a subscription to 4 high-quality meals a week, which she is paying for.

I'm basically lazy. While I love to cook wonderful meals for people (whether family or visitors), if I'm only cooking for myself, I generally just head for Marie Callendar's. It's hard to beat zero prep, almost instant cooking, and pretty decent ingredients and taste.

But these Tovala oven meals require almost zero prep; and they generally cook in about 20 minutes, which means I can start my dinner, feed the dogs, and then have mine shortly after they finish. And they are, for the most part, restaurant quality.

We spent much of the first months of this year preparing to move. Since my grandson, Zach, now has a place of his own, Jenny didn't need such a large place. She found one to move into, but of course had to sell the old one, first. So we were basically living out of boxes.

Then, just as the buyers signed the papers, my beloved dog Ella passed away. She'd been showing major signs of age, and finally could barely even walk. She died peacefully at home, with me and the two other dogs by her side. It was sad but inevitable; don't get a dog if you can't bear to lose it! In Ella's case, she had a marvelous doggie life. She spent a year-and-a-half on Maui with ocean swims and cows and feral pigs to play with. Few humans can make that boast.

Dogs' lives are short (as are those of most of our animal brothers). But as far as we can tell, dogs live their lives in the present moment. While dogs can certainly be stressed, as long as things are going well they don't seem to worry about what's coming next. That's a lesson I've tried to take to heart. Because human lives, while longer than dogs', still seem pretty damn short, especially as our ends approach. And that's when it's more important than ever to appreciate the hell out of every moment as it happens.

Anyway, after taking care of Ella's remains and cleaning up, the other two dogs and I spent a week at my ex Michael's apartment, before moving into the new place in Chandler. Which I'm still working on, but I have my own attached apartment with bedroom, kitchen, bathroom (with shower!) and living room. It's comfortable and the doggies and I are definitely enjoying it!

Oh, and a special shout-out to my son, John, who took time out from his own home-remodeling project to help carry and arrange my stuff!

So that's my yearly report. I'm still kicking and will hopefully still be here in 12 months for the yearly post! (Not that I intend to not post in between!)

Meanwhile, my goal for the future is to continue working with The Resistance to get that orange shit-stain out of our White House and out of our lives. Other than that, it's just a day at a time: Keeping up with the medical visits and insurance battles while doing my best to smile at the antics of my dogs and grandkids.