NYC Journal

My oil burner supplies “Tankless” hot water. Pretty much this means my oil burner is on year round, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Oil burners are known to be not so efficient, but we have a good Crown Furnace that has a high efficiency and is durable.

The hot water is tankless, pretty much operates like your instant on hot water system that heats up upon demand, but in my system there is not the lag that is inherent in instant on systems. The “coils” are where the heat energy is stored.

Since I have mucho heavy cast iron radiators there is an adobe like effect that also has a radiant heating effect of thermal storage mass. This somewhat limits cycling and stabilizes comfort. I love this old tech. I would suffer from a forced hot air heating, and in fact don’t run my mini-splits for heating.

NFG for my breathing and dries out my skin. Remember I’m a vain man.

Cal
 
The markets are enjoying a modest “bounce” today. The PPI (Producer Price Index)) only showed a modest gain. This still means that consumers can still get gouged though, and for me translates that businesses can still be greedy and inflate prices for their own selfish benefit.

Example I can cite: food prices…

So pretty much I say, “We are being gamed” here to a certain extent. Know and understand that the us and them here is us against businesses. I’m not a communist, but this is capitalism at its worst where it is exploitation…

Capitalism and exploitation go together, that’s just a fact. Never mind about freedom and equality mentioned in our constitution. These ideals are not honored or respected.

Hope this is not interpreted as treason, but I believe in the ideals laid out in our constitution, even the right to bear arms to protect our democracy. This gun liberalism though does not mean that I support the NRA agenda though…

What I’m saying here is expect economic oppression of the masses, meaning you and me. Businesses are supported and people are just fodder.

Moral of the story is don’t get eaten. The “Rule of the Jungle” is returning. Say goodbye to civilization as we know it. Only the strong and aggressive will survive. In the worst case people will fight for their rights and fare share.

There is war-talk. I didn’t start it…

Cal
 
Set up like military mission, my surgery will happen as planed tomorrow, unless I get a phone call after 5:00 PM today that the mission, I mean surgery, is a go.

The schedule gets locked at 5:00 PM or oh-seventeen hundred military time, and the go/no-go envelope ends at 6:00 PM or Oh-18-hundred.

So this is like a launch code for surgical extraction.

Mean while I have an anxious woman on my hands who says, “I’m not anxious.”

Seems crazy people don’t recognize crazy behavior, especially their own…

Hard to relax, be calm, and focused around an anxious person. Things get one-sided kinda fast.

Now “Maggie” wants to accomplish some things she procrastinated on at the last moment. Thing is many times I have offered to make things move forward, but this thing I call “Virtual-Work” which is making lists, and defining schedules, and talking about work instead of doing the work or small task becomes aggrivating.

To me it makes no sense to make a big thing out of nothing, and wasting time doing endless virtual-work, especially when it is easy to do.

No small task is done that can be procrastinated upon to create last minute stress and anxiety.

Make that disorganized anxious person a manager. LOL. It is the American way…

There is a mod where a $15.00 steel baseplate gets installed on a Strat bridge pickup. This gets argued out by guitar nerds as being somewhat a subtle small increase in output and and a resulting change in tone where the bass and mids get a small boost and the treble gets toned down a bit.

There is some pretty strong arguing, but this is the Internet. LOL.

So here is my spin. The change likely is mild, but perhaps with a slightly less treble response this allows and permits moving the pickup closer to the strings. This one-two approach when added together can be more significant than mild or subtle IMHO, but still not drastic.

Could be a simple reversible mod on my Strat. Remember I’m a Tele player and it is said that this base plate addition can contribute to making a Strat sound a bit more Tele in sound.

Then there are the arguing about practice being the best mod, and how some POS guitar in the hands of a great player will still sound great. I see truth in both these remarks, but only in a limited extent. They are true but not absolutes.

Why are some people prone to argue? And why are people so rigid? Pretty evident that there is a real lack of critical thinking goin on here. Human nature…

So with all this data, pretty much there can be a lot of truth, no real fact, and then it depends.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
The markets are enjoying a modest “bounce” today. The PPI (Producer Price Index)) only showed a modest gain. This still means that consumers can still get gouged though, and for me translates that businesses can still be greedy and inflate prices for their own selfish benefit.

Example I can cite: food prices…

So pretty much I say, “We are being gamed” here to a certain extent. Know and understand that the us and them here is us against businesses. I’m not a communist, but this is capitalism at its worst where it is exploitation…

Capitalism and exploitation go together, that’s just a fact. Never mind about freedom and equality mentioned in our constitution. These ideals are not honored or respected.

Hope this is not interpreted as treason, but I believe in the ideals laid out in our constitution, even the right to bear arms to protect our democracy. This gun liberalism though does not mean that I support the NRA agenda though…

What I’m saying here is expect economic oppression of the masses, meaning you and me. Businesses are supported and people are just fodder.

Moral of the story is don’t get eaten. The “Rule of the Jungle” is returning. Say goodbye to civilization as we know it. Only the strong and aggressive will survive. In the worst case people will fight for their rights and fare share.

There is war-talk. I didn’t start it…

Cal
Click to expand...
Warren Buffet: "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning".
Well, there you have it, straight from the horse's a.. , er, mouth. Écrasez l'infâme!
 
After saying, “I’m not anxious,” she confesses that she is.

I have to give her credit here.

Still a day before my surgery do I really want to be visiting a bank and dealing with finalizing a “Living Trust” especially when all this could of been done years ago in 2022.

This is what anxious people do, they procrastinate, create last minute stress, and then moan that they are overwhelmed.

Self inflicted… How crazy is that?

Anyways makes no sense to me with all these open end items that get held off for really no good reason.

Some people like running with scissors I guess. Not me…

What a way to kill a day. I have better things to do…

Cal
 
Calzone said:
Set up like military mission, my surgery will happen as planed tomorrow, unless I get a phone call after 5:00 PM today that the mission, I mean surgery, is a go.

The schedule gets locked at 5:00 PM or oh-seventeen hundred military time, and the go/no-go envelope ends at 6:00 PM or Oh-18-hundred.

So this is like a launch code for surgical extraction.

Mean while I have an anxious woman on my hands who says, “I’m not anxious.”

Seems crazy people don’t recognize crazy behavior, especially their own…

Hard to relax, be calm, and focused around an anxious person. Things get one-sided kinda fast.

Now “Maggie” wants to accomplish some things she procrastinated on at the last moment. Thing is many times I have offered to make things move forward, but this thing I call “Virtual-Work” which is making lists, and defining schedules, and talking about work instead of doing the work or small task becomes aggrivating.

To me it makes no sense to make a big thing out of nothing, and wasting time doing endless virtual-work, especially when it is easy to do.

No small task is done that can be procrastinated upon to create last minute stress and anxiety.

Make that disorganized anxious person a manager. LOL. It is the American way…

There is a mod where a $15.00 steel baseplate gets installed on a Strat bridge pickup. This gets argued out by guitar nerds as being somewhat a subtle small increase in output and and a resulting change in tone where the bass and mids get a small boost and the treble gets toned down a bit.

There is some pretty strong arguing, but this is the Internet. LOL.

So here is my spin. The change likely is mild, but perhaps with a slightly less treble response this allows and permits moving the pickup closer to the strings. This one-two approach when added together can be more significant than mild or subtle IMHO, but still not drastic.

Could be a simple reversible mod on my Strat. Remember I’m a Tele player and it is said that this base plate addition can contribute to making a Strat sound a bit more Tele in sound.

Then there are the arguing about practice being the best mod, and how some POS guitar in the hands of a great player will still sound great. I see truth in both these remarks, but only in a limited extent. They are true but not absolutes.

Why are some people prone to argue? And why are people so rigid? Pretty evident that there is a real lack of critical thinking goin on here. Human nature…

So with all this data, pretty much there can be a lot of truth, no real fact, and then it depends.

Cal
Click to expand...
Will be thinking of you tomorrow.
 
Oil topping $78.00 is a bad sign.

A really good omen though was my pickup delivery today, it was scheduled for tomorrow, but came a day early to have no worries. Another lucky gift.

Now that I have the pickups, they sent them with fugly crème covers. I need faded aged white or mint green.

Anyways I’ll place an order after this post.

“Maggie’ asked if I’m scared, and my response is I feel confident, not scared.

She projects her worries…

I have to show up early. No food after midnight tonight. Tomorrow I can have black coffee, but no milk. No liquids after 10:00 AM, and the surgery (3 hours) is scheduled for 12:15 PM.

Pretty straight forward… Pretty much tomorrow only dinner and that will be hospital food. Pretty much likely something light anyways, just to get my digestive system working again.

Oh-well. The likely milder Fem-Out will begin. If I undergo radiation therapy that’s where the fatigue can be big. I know that red blood cells that hemalize make some compound that causes fatigue. With radiation red blood cells are collateral damage. Pretty much expect an anemia of sorts.

For the long run I went with the more extensive aggressive treatment plan for the bet on a longer lifespan. The long lifespan is my bet because pretty much I don’t have any chronic diseases, like high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease or Diabetes.

The problem with Chemo is it messes with your immune system, and pretty much you never are the same, then as a result you are more prone to other Cancers.

In a way I’m compelled to take the treatment like a man. Not really being brave or having courage, but for me the only choice because of my situation. Being realistic here is I’m sure I likely will be weakened, and perhaps this will age me, but given the choices this one is expecting a long life with less Cancer risk.

Remember I have a 67% chance of being Cancer free 15 years out. That gets me to 82.

I will have my hematologist do the DNA testing to see if I have any legacy diseases haunting me. This will likely give me the good, the bad, and the ugly. Pretty much I will learn future probability of disease.

Anyways, this is another “oh-well” moment.

Cal
 
Ordered a set of Fender road worn knobs and a set of 3 Fralin white aged Strat pickup covers.

I figured out how to recycle a 5-way “Original” Mega-Switch and also how to recycle an old vintage 3-way that does not compromise anything. The clever usage allows using what I have on hand to prevent spending/buying/ordering.

Enough of that.

So this Candy Apple Red Strat will have some retro look, but will be a bit of random not necessarily all period correct unity of a mix or early and late 60’s recreation parts.

Vintage in a ways, but not correct or unified. It will be a new-old guitar in a ways.

Cal
 
My best wishes to you.

Go and get it done. Don't overthink it. Just treat the entire process as a new adventure. When you want to know something, ask questions.

It may all be far less stressful or difficult than you fear. A positive attitude helps a lot.

So say a few of my good friends who've been through it. Me, I've been lucky. I count my blessings for this every day.
 
Hi Cal, best wishes from Italy. We say "in bocca al lupo" which I can translate "in the mouth of the wolf" to wish a good outcome.
Mom takes the puppies in her mouth to make them safe in case of danger.
For sure your positive attitude will help you.
 
Thanks again for the well wishes.

I looked at the statistical outcomes last night to settle my mind. The unsettling thing is I had a Gleason score in one part of my prostate of 9. This is bad.

I looked at the survival rates after a Radical Prostatectomy, meaning total removal of the prostate, that is rated a Grade 9.

The 1,5,10 and 15 year survival rates are high at 98.5%, 90.7%,75.3% and lastly 52.3%. This pretty much is defined as Cancer free. The 52.3% for another 15 years is a bet that I have more than a 50% chance of living to 82, which is about the peak life expectancy of an American woman before Covid took down the American life expectancy.

So now I reframe reality. I will likely get old, and I have other factors here that support still living well past 82. A big deal is no chronic underlying diseases, no mobility issues, no medications, an active lifestyle, and of course diet.

I will also say that I also have good health care.

So maybe living past 100 was delusional, and I now am thinking more practically of at least the next decade where I have a 75.3% chance of having full vigor. This brings me to Andrew’s age. He suffers with back problems, he has macular degeneration, so target shooting and manning a large sailboat his hobbies and pastimes are now his past.

Both my first and second urologists tell me they can ensure me of at least a decade with good certainty. I’ll take that but then there is the drop-off at 15 years as I become 82. I still have more than a 50% chance/odds of living at least to 82. Still not bad odds, and longer than the average life expectancy.

So pretty much I’m still goal oriented here, and the statistical numbers still support getting old. It is on me to stay active and to live fully not wasting any time.

I guess you see my research background here, the journalism training, and the creative writing. You can also see the artist in me that can be a bit delusional and crazy. I am a bit more in touch with morbidity and the approach of my death, but somehow all this is making me feel more alive and free than any other time in my life.

Perhaps this will focus me and I can do great things…

Cal
 
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Sensible conclusion, this. Living to 100 or even beyond isn't what I would call delusional, but it comes with some risks.

My late stepmom was born in 1919 and made it to within two weeks of 102. But she was showing signs of dementia from her mid 60s, which increased when she was 70 and worsened at 83 when my stepbrother died at the early age of 50. I was away in Australia and on my occasional home visits I saw the deterioration in her mental state.

Her last 20 years were in an aged care home run by Catholic nuns. She was well looked after but mostly bedridden by 90. Conversations with her ebbed and flowed. When I last visited in 2006 I sat by her bed and listened to her saying over and over, "I'll go to heaven when I die". On good days she seemed lucid, was able to watch TV and laughed at the comedy programs, read her daily missal and always ate well. On less fortunate days she was mostly comatose.

Not a good way to live.

I'm not a believer in astrology but some years ago my SO had my horoscope read. A few things I'd never told anyone surfaced, mostly in general terms but with enough detail to make me wonder if the reader was psychic or just clever at extracting information during seemingly casual conversations. One very deep secret I'd kept to myself for decades came out, but inoffensively. And the aforesaid reader directly told me something that had taken place in my life when I was in my mid-50s. To sum all this up, I'm still skeptical about astrology and horoscopes, but I left that session with the strong impression that I would probably make it to 82 and 83 but my physical health would decline rapidly after that and I would die at home.

I'm not really sure if this scenario will come to pass but it has certainly been comforting.

I'm now 77 - so a full 10 years on you - and in reasonably good health for my age. With (fortunately minor) heart and thyroid conditions and my blood pressure and cholesterol go up and down in keeping with my status as an elderly duffer.

I have (too) many interests and I enjoy them all. I swim three times a week and I can walk up to 10 kilometres without fading from the exertion. I travel, I watch what I eat, I drink moderately. I've never smoked. I try to do everything I used to, if more slowly. As I've found, old age is about giving up things, gradually, slowly...

Which is really the best we can do. Work with what we are given, take care of our health, and hope for the best.

I reckon better to be up and about at 82 with a quick (and I hope painless) end than bedridden for 20 years before fading away at 102.

So carry on, Cal. Do what you must, get this latest 'situation' done and over with, and then go on living your life. You seem to have plenty to keep you interested and stimulated.
 
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I am home.

No nausea or vomiting for me from the an-S-T-Gia. Required no pain medication either.

There was a scare of some residual internal bleeding because I was so relaxed that my blood pressure kept on dropping when they took my vitals. At one point it was recorded at 90/54. They drew blood and checked my hemoglobin. No internal bleeding.

I wear a cathera and a bag. A week from tomorrow it will get removed.

The incisions are not likely to be hideous scars, Perhaps a conversation piece. Pretty much Crazy Glue to close the 5-6 penetrations about 1 CM long across my belly button.

I look bloated.

So for the next month, no elevated heart rate, and I can’y lift anything over 10 pounds.

Lawrence Hospital is in Bronxville which is near the City of Yonkers. It is rather small, very busy, and some how more efficient that a larger hospital. Pretty much a well oiled machine that is finely tuned.

I got the best of care. My post surgical nurse Dee-Dee got me 4 extra jellos and three extra beef and chicken broths. Pretty much the tiny liquid dinner left me starving.

When I was moved into the surgical suite It reminded me of Sean Penn in the film “Dead Man Walking” because I was strapped to a crucifix like table as if being given a lethal injection. It was a crowded room.

Anyways great to be home.

Cal
 
BTW the surgery was no big deal for me.

I was in surgery for 4 1/2 hours. Best sleep ever.

They say 4-7 days a new biopsy that will determine the further treatment and prognosis.

The nearby lymph nodes were excised. The may or may not be Cancer at this point.

I read a book about the Peekskill Riots that happened in 1949. Pretty much the same horrors happened here as in Nazi Germany. Kinda brutal to the point that I wish I had not read the small book.

It describes two separate riots. The first one involve 42 men fighting a lynch mob of 300. Pretty much the local police, the State Troopers, the American Legion, and the government supported right wing fascists. Pretty much the 42 men had to fight for their lives.

The second riot happened after a Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger concert.

Anyways a very frightening narrative of pure hatred and violence.

This area around Peekskill was where many blue collar workers has small cottages and summer homes. Reynold’s Hills was one of them, Mohegan Colony another. Anyways these Blue collar communities were the Left and Unionists.

Reynold’s Hills was called Jewville, and nearby in Verplank the KKK was active.

I cannot really capture the insane violence that I read that is history.

All I can say is frenzied violence supported by government, police, and the American Legion.

Cal
 
Good to hear from you Cal. Glad things went smoothly, take it easy and don’t rush yourself.

A few years back I was in a similar situation but with my gut. With IBD I had to submit to numerous colonoscopies and always kept fingers crossed that the C word wasn’t found. In 2010 just as I was making plans to visit friends in India had to go for a scoping. This time things were different, after coming out of sedation was informed that I had a bad thing in there that needed to come out ASAP. Having seen the film Alien was glad no time was wasted. In short order I became a semicolon; and after 16 days in hospital made it home to recover.
And recover I did, 18 months later in 2012 was off for a couple months of solo travel in India, where I celebrated my 68 birthday.

With your positive attitude am sure you’ll bounce back quickly.
 
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