Just a tip here for those of you who puzzle over your iPhone or don’t really like to read manuals at all. If you go to iphonelife.com, you can sign up for their daily tips and trust me, you learn all kinds of interesting things you probably didn’t know about your phone or your watch or you iMac. They even have a paid version called iPhoneLife Insider (https://insider.iphonelife.com) where you can join in on zoom calls and ask questions, etc. You’ll also be able to access complete guides and have access to the iPhone Life magazine. Well worth it if you want to dig a bit deeper into your gadget and get the maximum bang for the buck out of it. What I like about it most – just nice people who run it (you’ll get to meet them on the Zoom calls) and who are very good at explaining in simple terms. Check it out! Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Wow, I think it has been a few years, don’t you think? Now that I’m retired, I think I might just have some time to catch back up on this blog. Don’t know if anyone will be interested, but I’m gonna do it anyway. 🙂
Just so you know what we look like recently, I’ve dropped in a photo from 2022. Damn, getting younger all the time!
So I’ve been retired since March of 2020 from being a travel agent at AAA for some 12 years (timed that retirement perfectly as that is when Covid struck). So far have evaded that evil monster. I’ll probably die from all the vaccines I’ve had! The nice thing about retirement? No need to be around people all day long!
So what have I been up to? Mostly trying to stay in shape by walking 4 miles a day, trying to keep my heart in some kind of condition after having learned from a coronary calcium score that I have more plaque than I would want in my coronary arteries. Recently switched to a keto diet to drive my blood sugars down to hopefully close to a 5.0 hba1c from the current 6.2. Dropped my metformin. I’ve dropped a daily average blood sugar from 133 down to 105 over the past 2 weeks so that is a good beginning. Also about a year and a half ago, I took a test to see if I had issues with consuming wheat. Apparently, I react to a number of wheat proteins so I’ve dropped gluten for that past year and a half and lo and behold, my RA has become better, such that I’ve dropped my meds for it as well. We shall see if any of this helps. Currently going to PT to try and work on a nagging sacroiliac joint that has flared. X-Rays indicate I have some mild to moderate degenerative changes in my lower back, so not surprised. My advise – stop having birthdays!
I’ve avoided traveling over the past few years because of Covid, but plan to make the plunge in May of 2022 and go on a 14 day river cruise / tour with Gate1 Travel (we’ve made 4 trips with them over the years – always a steal on price!), starting in Amsterdam for 2-3 days and then doing a 7 day river cruise and ending up in Paris for 3 days. It will be nice to put on the travel shoes again! You can follow our past and future trips at https://findpenguins.com/5gqnlnxzjf0iq
Other new things? Bought an M1 iMac with 16GB of Ram and a 2TB HD and that should last me till I’m 80 I would think. So far so good – so fast! Love it. Thinking it is about time to update my Apple Watch 4 to a new one but may wait till the Apple Watch 9 since the 8 doesn’t do all that much more than my current watch. Using an iPhone 12 Pro – will probably wait for the 15 before updating.
So needless to say, that should be enough for the moment, but I’ll return to offer tidbits of advice, new things I’ve picked up on, new music, new books, new movies, new photographs, new tricks – catch ya on the flip side!
A great way to start the day – have you tried a Smoothie lately? Â About 6 months ago, I started on this idea as I was tired of eating eggs every day and since I was going grain free via Paleo, decided to try something different. Â Read a few blog posts by the nutritionist JJ Virgin and was inspired to give her protein shakes a try since they didn’t contain whey, but rather pea protein, chorella, and potato proteins.
Today, I had the following in my shake – 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, 1 scoop chai protein powder, 2 tsps of Tropical Traditions Coconut Creme Concentrate mixed with 1 cup of filtered water, 1T of Inner-Eco coconut kefir, 2 tsps of almond butter,  1 scoop of Amazing Grass Berry greens, 1T ground flax seed, 2 tsps of Chia seeds,  1/2 tsp of tumeric, 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, 1-2 cups of mixed salad greens, 1/4 avocado, 1T of coconut oil, 1/4-1/2 cup frozen organic berry mixture.  Packed with good fats, full of good calories – gives me plenty of energy and leaves me feeling full for a good 4 hours.  JJ’s protein shake has 13carbs and 5g of sugar so I’m contemplating switching out to one of Thorne’s Vegalite protein mixes which have only 1 carb and 1gram of sugar.  That will help to keep my blood sugars down.  A lot of folks use bananas in their smoothie – personally, I’d avoid that and stick with low-glycemic berries – more fiber, keeps that insulin rush from being triggered.
What’s been the result of doing these shakes and eating paleo? Well, I’ve lowered my HBA1c from a high of 7.4 down to 5.5 (HBA1c is an avg of your past 3 months blood sugars). My goal is 5.0. Â And this has been done without diabetic medicines, so am feeling pretty good about this. Do you know your HBA1c?
I did my good deed for the year yesterday. A co-worker and friend of mine about my age has floaters and occasional flashes in her eyes as I do. Yesterday she complained that she was only seeing about 20% out of one of her eyes. Â She described it as something like having a piece of cardboard covering that 80%. Â She planned to see an opthamologist on Thursday (2 days away). I told her to forget that and to get her tush into the hospital immediately to see a retinal specialist as I suspected her retina was detaching. Â I spooked her enough that she finally called and they told her to get over there now. Â A few hours later they were doing surgery on her.
Had she waited, she would have probably lost the vision in that eye. As you get older, if you get floaters and especially flashes of light (electrical impulses from vitreous gel tugging at your retina), be aware if you get that “curtain” effect, your retina is probably detaching and you don’t have a lot of time to spare.  Some people laugh cause I devote a lot of time to understanding all of my “health issues”, but sometimes it pays off in spades. Moral of the story – know thy bod, cause nobody else is going to give a hoot. 🙂
I’m always a bit surprised at how many people who use instant messaging, Facebook,Twitter, and Email fail to take advantage of programs such as Digsby or Tweetdeck. They would have the best of all worlds with a little icon sitting in their bottom tray. Just a click on one of the icons for example in Digsby brings up all the Facebook posts, my email, my Twitter feeds. It even pops up a little window every time a new post comes through, no matter from what program. Heck, Digsby even shows what music I’m listening to and you can click on the link and listen to the music I’m listening to via Amazon. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t get the idea that many folks I’m conversing with take advantage of this. Makes life simpler, that’s for sure. Check it out if you’re feeling adventurous
In case you might have forgotten, HBO’s The Pacific starts tonight at 9 eastern. If it’s anywhere close to as good as Band of Brothers was, then we’re in for a great miniseries. I’m relying on Mr. Hanks to come through again, and I don’t have much doubt that he will. I suspect those few folks who are still alive from that campaign will appreciate this, as they are so often forgotten in all the Hitler/WWII buzz.
For the health/science nuts out there (obviously I wouldn’t be posting this, if I weren’t one. 🙂 ) , Here is an interesting software program for evaluating the amount of Omega 6’s vs Omega 3’s in many foods. As most of you know, Americans are swimming in the pro-inflammatory Omega 6’s and need to bring that ratio under control. The program takes a while to figure out, but even if you don’t use the program to set up meal plans, you can still analyze over 9000 different foods, so you can learn to pick the healthier ones for yourself. Kudos to David Mendosa at Healthcentral.com for pointing this out. Even though you may take fish oil capsules to get your Omega 3’s, you still need to lower the amount of Omega 6 in your diet, as it competes with Omega 3 and lowers its effectiveness.
Wanna keep tabs on your kid? Check out the new features of Google Latitude. Hide and Go Seek at it’s best. I have to wonder why people need to know so damn much about each other – I still don’t get the constant cell phone/texting thing. Do I really need to know you just picked your nose? Don’t think so!
Went to see the Bees movie tonite. As this is one of my favorite books of all time, I was somewhat skeptical that it could live up to the book and figured that the casting of Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah would be too much star power and detract from the story. I had no concerns about Dakota Fanning filling the part of Lily – I knew that was a perfect fit the first time I heard she had the role. I was impressed with the job Paul Betany did playing Lily’s father – nailed it. I thought all the sisters were good, particularly May and thought Jennifer Hudson played her part very well. The setting was much as I had imagined it, although I don’t recall that the house was a two-story, but perhaps so.
If you haven’t listened to or read the book yet, do yourself a favor and get a copy of the audiobook narrated by Jenna Lamia – she puts the perfect voice to Lily.
All in all, I give it up two thumbs up – great acting, great production.
Log of a Traveling Junkie 