Why Now? Getting enough exercise is a pretty universal challenge for everyone at every stage of life, but I think I would get broad agreement that it is especially important when you get to a certain age. This is not rocket science, everyone understands that you should moderate what and how much you eat and drink and how much physical activity you get. Naturally, this is a game that gets played less in the conception…
The Eye of the Storm In Latin, it goes that Omne trium perfectum, which means either that good things come in threes or that things that come in threes are more likely to be perfect. So, I’ve decided to release a third story in the series of my hilltop’s history of coping with Hurricane Hilary. It’s Sunday and I have had occasion to hear from and communicate with countless family and friends who are using…
The Calm I just sent my kids a picture from the weather.com hurricane tracker that’s projecting the path of Hurricane Hilary as it works its way up the Baja, slightly faster than expected, it turns out. The picture I sent was the Midnight projection and the way the weather.com app works, it pegs your cell phone location on its maps. The hurricane path, in fuscia, is about 100 miles wide, just shy of the width…
Here Comes Hilary You just can’t make this stuff up. What are the odds that while the news cycle is filled with nothing but news of Trump’s turbulent criminal indictment predicament, something that is repeatedly said to be unprecedented, another unprecedented natural event should occur like a hurricane in the Pacific that decides to sweep up along the Baja to deposit itself on the doorstep of Southern California. There it is expected to batter the…
Going With the Flow As we all recognize, the world has changed on many levels. It has right along over the millennia and is doing so right before our eyes. The good news is that we are pretty adaptable creatures within a certain range of change and a certain pace of change, but there lies the issue on an increasingly common basis. The work of archeology has consistently pushed further back the origins of man…
A Walk Through the Uncanny Valley We cannot go a day without encountering artificial intelligence in some quadrant of our lives. I have explained already that as a university professor during the last academic year, the first year of the full appearance of ChatGPT and its use by my students in preparing and submitting their graded papers on ethics, I can honestly say that I have looked at the AI beast in the eye, and…
Resetting the Compass I’m sure that some of you are tired of hearing me talk about turning 70 in a few months, but to say that it is on my mind is an understatement. I have referenced a piece once done thirty years ago by Harry Reasoner of 60 Minutes fame, where he talked about turning 60 and why it was so profound for him because he finally felt that he had an ability to…
Medicare Wellness When I moved here almost four years ago, I found a primary physician in one of the larger medical groups in San Diego (actually affiliated with the top university here). When we started together I was just 65, so I was on Medicare. I know how this works and I knew that after one look at me and my size (I have been characterized medically as morbidly obese forever, since a BMI of…
Stretch-U Not so long ago I threw in the towel on The Perfect Workout, which Kim had been doing and convinced me to do. It is a 20-minute high-intensity weight machine workout that takes you through approximately six weight stations with repetition until muscle failure. The theory is that this is the most efficient form of weight training that is also very time-effective. The problems I had with it were varied. First of all, it…
Riding Into the Sunset Today I decided to take a Sunday ride since Kim is not home and my dance card was wide open. The weather was just about as perfect as it can be, and I took full advantage of it by heading out at 7:30am to catch the best of the clear morning sunshine and cool temperatures. I had a minor snafu in that my BMW R1250 GSA came up with a low…