2025 Update
This blog hasn’t seen a new post since October 28, 2024. Why not? I have no simple answer for that. I am not committed to expressing myself regularly, or commenting on current events, or telling anyone what to think or do. I do not depend on producing content for my income. I just write when I want to, and I have been busy reading, listening, and maintaining the house and a few important relationships. When I review my previous entries, I’m pretty happy with them, but some are starting to feel out-of-date. Not obsolete, just in need of a few words of polish and clarification. This is not comprehensive, but it is a start.
Since the last update on August 5, 2024, not much has changed. I have the same wife, dogs, and cat. For a while, we played a lot of Mexican Train dominoes and went to a stretch class at the senior center once a week. Now we watch more TV, and occasionally play “escape room” style puzzle games. I still donate platelets. Once a week, I bring my guitar to a senior apartment clubhouse and lead a singalong. I still skydive a couple of days each month. I read, play games, and solve puzzles. I manage my own modest investments. Life is good. I can barely fathom how I used to have time to work up to 40 hours a week.
We have not cruised since the trip I described. We had arranged to go on a river cruise from Amsterdam to Lake Como organized by friends in 2020, but Covid-19 scuttled that plan, and we have not yet revived it. Kathryn does like travel as much as I do, and neither of us likes crowds or noise. And there’s always the problem of providing care for our animals while we are away. But you never know….
This article holds up well. I am still within a few pounds of where I was then, having gained a few on our February 2025 trip to Costa Rica, and slowly shedding them. I see from TV commercials that Noom has joined the GLP-1 bandwagon, which I criticized in my post Is Obesity a Disease? That’s where the money is in our quick-fix ravenous culture. It doesn’t sound healthy to me, but it doesn’t have to be as healthy as I am, just healthier than obesity, which is a very low bar.
This article is generally true, but obsolete when it comes to me personally. I think many people claim “it’s all genetics” as an excuse not to live a healthier lifestyle. But I have learned that lifestyle is not everything. Sometimes, genetic heritage matters. I describe this in Ashkenazi Cholesterol and Would I Rather Be Right, or Alive? It is now clear that rosuvastatin works to bring down my cholesterol with no noticeable side-effects.
Lipid Panel January 18, 2024
| Component | Value | Standard Range |
| Cholesterol | 143 mg/dL | <=199 mg/dL |
| Triglyceride | 79 mg/dL | <=149 mg/dL |
| HDL | 68 mg/dL | >= 40 mg/dL |
| LDL calculated | 60 mg/dL | <= 99 mg/dL |
| Total/HDL ratio | 2.1 | <= 3.9 |
| Non-HDL | 75 mg/dL |
I think the medication works well for me because I already have the healthy lifestyle. One is not a substitute for the other.
With regard to blood pressure, I am on the same meds for quite a while now, namely Losartan and hydralazine, a vasodilator. We dropped the chlorthalidone (diuretic) because it seemed to lower my blood potassium too much. On the current regime, my readings at home are still a little high on some days, like 150/80. But they are generally normal after my morning pills, when taken at LifeStream or Kaiser.
We went again in February 2025, and I got to jump with Mike Canary, Mad John, Regan Tetlow, Kate Cooper-Jensen, Adrian Rodriguez, Craig Girard, Brian Cumming, Herman Landsman, and Tom Sanders. It’s possible that this will have been the last Costa Rica boogie organized by Rich Grimm.
I did not do any money mentoring after all, despite my thorough preparation and eminent qualification. The program was cancelled. Lack of funding?
