July 28, 2022

I've been upgrading my body with new gadgets to live better! Sounds ominous in one way since the old biological parts are getting old and not functioning well. My gerontologist suggested I get fitted with a CPAP machine after my sleep study results. A small box beside the bed with a snake tube and then mask over my nose and mouth which blows moist air when I take a breath. I'm not convinced of the benefit but since I get up every one to two hours to urinate I use this device. Then maybe three months or so ago I began to feel sleepy and tired taking frequent naps and when awake not all there. Having an Apple Watch the diagnosis was easy. My pulse was down to 37! Well, I knew I had atrial fibrillation intermittently so after my visit to the electrophysiologist cardiologist and a halter type monitor study over a few days I had atrial flutter with dangerously low pulses when at rest. So now I'm fitted with one wired to my auricle and one to my ventricle with the pacemaker tucked under my upper chest skin still healing. Lowest pulse now is 60 so I'm more alert though still enjoy my naps. Hiking twice per week, working out a few times per week at home and at the 24 Hour Fitness I'm back to my usual activities of photography, piano playing, reading, hiking and TV watching, etc. 

Yesterday, we visited our friends in Hawaii Kai. He's 90 and his wife is a few years younger. She has congestive heart failure, severe, scoliosis, and his home bound with very limited mobility. He has now hypertension, some symptoms of dizziness, confusion, and weakness so is being evaluated for assistance with EKG, Echocardiogram etc. Nevertheless, during our visit Rebecca and I were treated to a short lecture on the history of the earth's capture of the moon, the gravitational influences that helped us have a molten ferrous core with magnetic poles shielding us from gamma rays, tectonic plate benefits for life on earth, new findings from the other side of the moon to bolster his theory of the moon and earth interactions, etc. Then not be be outdone his wife wanted us to know about her discovery from an archeological dig she was on in Israel where her small group discovered priceless very valuable gold finds especially of a snake she shepharded to the museum in Jerusalem. Her small archeological group discovered a crack in a wall by a dig site that they were abandoning. They found a plate, figurine and snake solid gold and surreptitiously smuggled them out finally to a Jerusalem museum. Rebecca and I left with our mouths still open in wonder at their vitality and knowledge!

Well, my latest concern is that one of my high end speakers that was damaged over four years ago by our house construction crew finally failed. I use hearing aids now so why concerned since I have one good speaker which fills the room with music but I'm a hi-fi enthusiast from my much younger years. Ann got upset with me early when we had two children living in Watertown, Massachusetts I visited the hi-fi store and bought a MacIntosh receiver, a tape deck and some speakers. It was a very selfish thing on my part since we were living on a shoestring at that time. In Hawaii I then purchased a pair of huge speakers with a used tube mono block amplifier. My kids remember them as "Thing 1 and 2". If I have obsessive compulsive neurosis it's in this area. I recall demoing high fi equipment late into the night chasing an elusive feeling of satisfaction in hearing beautiful music. Well, that part of me is still alive and well so I've been searching the web for suggestions on speaker replacements. Rebecca is holding my hand hoping this will pass quietly. 

One friend who I sometimes walk with for exercise and discussion is bemoaning the humans worlds struggle for democracy and maybe waning support for our less fortunate as do I. Reading about the political struggle in some of our states that want to inhibit voting, support political oppression of women who seek reproductive rights and sometimes abortion and stop any overhaul of our tax system that favors the wealthy and taxes the poor in these states. These states also support criminal justice system based on very local sheriff, police and judge system that captures poor people with fines, prison sentences, and more fines for traffic and other minor rules violations that often  can be dismissed if there was true justice. I just recently read a great article about how in Alabama the rich and corporates land owners have little taxation while the poor have the tax burden, the fines, the imprisonment, and the lack of services such as sewer, transportation and education for their children. So a number of states are in this category of suppression of rights, intimidation through threat of the criminal justice system, and discrimination due to class and race. What this means to me is that what I thought of as the United States of America are the Disunited States! So sometimes I think I am a citizen of the country of Hawaii. For sure I'm not visiting the countries of Alabama, Texas, Florida, etc. It's not so easy as to get a new speaker to fix the problems here!  (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/27/opinion/alabama-fines-fees.html?searchResultPosition=1)

We've been streaming on Netflix Extraordinary Attorney Woo. For those of us who are slow readers it's a joy since the captions translating from Korean require your tendency to value reading each word separately ineffective so you learn to scan but the acting is very good, storyline interesting, and heartwarming. My music sheet music collection continues to surprise me with pieces I've never played before but unfortunately usually only for my ears. 

My new printer does print out 13x19 inch color prints so I'm having some fun printing some favorites. 

So here's a discovery in a recent hike up Niu Valley. 

Leonard