Coffee Day 2024

There has been little desire to maintain Notes, given the ongoing personal existential crisis. So, a brief update is in order on this momentous Coffee Day.

Sleep deprivation continues, much of the latter caused by the ongoing heatwave. Sometimes the affliction is caused by external events. About 12:15am on Sunday, the fire alarm in the “old folks home” in Waikiki was triggered, most likely, by a senile senior citizen cooking (read: burning) food with the mausoleum’s door open. Naturally, the useless resident manager never responds to such incidents. Instead, everyone in the building must wait for the Fire Department to arrive and reset the alarm.

At 4am on Thursday, four police vehicles were observed parked in the “old folks home” parking lot. An ambulance arrived silently (i.e., no siren), but later caused a major disturbance with its OSHA reverse alarm. Perhaps another decrepit senior citizen has passed on. Oh well. And, there’s always the mangy mutt barking away in the wee hours of the morning.

Heart palpitations and irregular heartbeats seem to be correlated with sleep deprivation. The reduction of coffee, carbohydrate, sugar, and sodium derivatives intake does not appear to make any difference. Obviously, there is absolutely no consumption of alcoholic beverages anymore.

After ten days, the skin anomaly caused by the Watch Series 9 cleared up (or healed). The device was powered on and worn during the day. All of the device’s sensors are disabled. The Watch Series 9 is then powered down at night. If contact dermatitis is the culprit, then the skin reaction should reappear. Otherwise, the skin anomaly was probably a burn caused by a sensor malfunction. The investigation will continue. For now, the Watch is just a watch.

The iPad Pro M4 is still powered down and has accrued only one battery charge cycle. Essentially, it has been relegated to temporary deprecation status just like the AirPods Pro 2 and Watch Series 9 (and, possibly, the Beats® Pill). Sheesh!

There have been no late afternoon or evening outings to the International Marketplace. What would be the point? The latter policy will remain in effect until the new Target® store opens towards the end of October.

Coffee Day will still be celebrated, even with the current limited consumption of the delicious beverage. There is much gratitude that coffee can still be consume at all. Coffee is the only personal “vice” remaining, so it must be treasured.

Addendum: Dehydration caused by caffeine (diuretic) appears to be highly correlated to the heart anomalies.

Miscellany: The ZenRadio account was mummified. The Beats® Pill is best served with House Music.

Fuck It Friday - 26

Fuck It Friday (FIF)! Sporadic news and commentary of no interest to anyone ... FIF! “Bugaboo” is the primary focus of this edition. Yes, this is Fuck It Friday!

On Sunday, sometime between showering at the gym and the removal of the beloved Watch Series 9 at 10pm, a bizarre skin anomaly had developed. A circular inflammation matched the underside of the device. There was no pain or itching, although it was either a burn from the LED sensors or contact dermatitis. Searching the Net produced nothing conclusive. As of today, the inflammation is still evident, albeit smaller. The Watch Series 9 has been powered down and not worn since then. Fuck it!

The appointment with the optometrist on Thursday went well. The eyes are in fairly good condition, although the onset of cataracts was noted. Vision has actually improved slightly. A new pair of prescription sunglasses will be ordered soon. Fuck it!

The long overdue medical appointment was anticipated today. All preparations were made and the trek to the Ohua Clinic was made at 8:45am. The appointment was allegedly at 9:20am. Upon arrival, the dreadful discovery was made that the appointment was actually set for yesterday. The senile mind had apparently confused the 9:20 time to be the September 20th date. The rest of the day was mired with self-doubt and the recognition of unfathomable stupidity. Now, another three weeks will elapse before critical medical problems can be addressed. Fuck it!

The heatwave continues unabated. The air conditioner in the mausoleum in the “old folks home” in Waikiki must be run continuously until bedtime. The mausoleum remains miserably hot after that, and sleep is definitely affected. Fuck it!

The Beats® Pill is being utilized more often. Listening to the older curated Notes Music Break selections has provided a minimum of entertainment in the dismal mausoleum. The Pill is made for House Music. Fuck it!

The new iPhone 16 Pro is surprisingly available at the Apple® Store, unlike the “shortage” last year. The current iPhone 15 Pro model in personal possession was only available in the local retail locations near the end of October of last year. Thus, the procurement of the new device will not occur until November if at all. Fuck it!

Well, the foolishness with the new iPhone models is that the main selling point was Apple® Intelligence, the marketing nomenclature for proprietary AI. However, iOS 18 was released a few days ago devoid the feature. No doubt, sales have been affected as a result. Fuck it!

All personal Apple devices (iPhone 15 Pro, iPad Pro M4, Watch Series 9 and AirPods Pro 2) have been updated to the latest OS and firmware versions. Very few of the gimmicky new features are being exploited. Fuck it!

The central bank of empire made a drastic cut in short-term interest rates on Wednesday. The accompanying bullshit was a circumlocution of the fact that the ultimate goal is ZIRP, just as predicted by Notes. There was mealy-mouth crap about “normalized interest” being about two percent. Don’t believe the hype! ZIRP is coming. The investment accounts will earn zero dividends. Thus, the miserly ways are now back with a vengeance. Fuck it!

Notes Music Break

Mystic Tripping — Calo des Moro Mix

Showtime 2024

Welcome back to the Ol’ Lavahead Show! Over a week has elapsed since the “big fall” redux. The superficial external injuries are healing, albeit slowly. The pelvic joint and mid-back continue to ache. The workouts at the gym have essentially returned to normal. However, the morale has been somewhat diminished.

Sleep quality has somewhat improved since the drastic reduction in coffee, carbohydrates, and sugar intake. Sleep time now commences at 10:30pm or so. All digital devices are put away by 10pm. Unfortunately, sleep was interrupted at 4am this morning by the arrival of a swarm of police vehicles in the parking lot of the “old folks home” in Waikiki. Some kind of nonsense apparently occurred in the other building. Never a dull moment in geriatrics, eh?

Dinner at Panda Express® on King Street has been a daily event since August 27th. The purpose, of course, is to reduce carbohydrates. So, no rice or noodles are ordered. No deep-fried food either. A return to Subway® will possibly require a change in menu options.

The “It’s Glowtime!” event (by Apple®) was really of no personal interest. The truth, however, has apparently been laid bare. All of the hardware improvements are merely to accommodate AI bullshit. The iPhone and the iPad are transforming into AI consoles. And, for what purpose? Needless to say, the new iPhone devices generated no personal excitement. The possibility of trading the iPhone 15 Pro for the new model is likely. However, there’s not going to be any of the acquisition bullshit like the past two years (refer to the associated Notes posts).

The Watch Series 9 will not be replaced by the new Series 10 this year. The Series 9 is now likened to a trusted friend. It has been diligently monitoring heart activity. The battery is still at 100% capacity. So, that’s that.

There have been no prolonged incidents of heart palpitations since last reported in Notes. Delayed heartbeats occur occasionally, but often are undetected. The HRV metric is still being used as an indicator of heart palpitations. The spikes still occur during sleep hours.

The foray into “mindfulness” has tapered. The learned concepts from the Smiling Mind site have been digested. However, the guided meditations have been put on hold. Obviously, the Beats® Pill and AirPods Pro 2 now have no applicable utility. Most of the “mindfulness” concepts (e.g., focus on breathing) have already been in effect way before.

The evening outings to the International Marketplace have tapered, too. There’s just no reason to go there … well, except to exploit the free wireless hotspot to download choice selections for the vast Hurdy-Gurdy Video Library (HGVL). Baha! Ha! Ha! Haaa! Aside from that, the Net is a vast wasteland.

The “garden variety” Fascists through empire have sanctioned RT and Sputnik News (Is PressTV next?). Hence, all interest in any news in empire has plummeted. Even some of the sites in the approved list are of little interest now. The ridiculous presidential “debates” was clearly avoided. Why bother with a bullshit “clown show”? All of empire is a “clown show.”

The “garden variety” Fascists of the “West” have clearly been attempting to provoke a global thermonuclear war through their various puppet proxies (as detailed in the numerous analyses in Notes). The only hope is that the Russian Federation “cleans up” Europe at the least, and that the Islamic Republic of Iran “cleans up” the Levant. Otherwise, humanity is doomed.

Addendum: The heatwave continues unabated with fairly high humidity. The mausoleum in the “old folks home” is unbearable without air conditioning. Unfortunately, the air conditioner is too noisy to operate during sleep hours. So, quality of sleep is definitely affected.

Miscellany: Neighbor Ignacio returned from his three-week vacation in Japan. He really enjoyed himself. Returning to the “old folks home” was a dreadful event. A week ago, he was admitted to the hospital for exploratory surgery on his heart. Apparently, he has more clogged arteries, but the latter are too small to insert stents. Thus, he may be “living on borrowed time.” He is now considering a permanent move to Vietnam.

Fuck It Friday - 25

Fuck It Friday (FIF)! Sporadic news and commentary of no interest to anyone ... FIF! The “big fall” is the primary focus of this edition. Yes, this is Fuck It Friday!

Yes, the same stupid bullshit happened again. Same exact spot, the decrepit parking lot adjacent to the ABC Store in Waikiki. Well, the late afternoon outing on Thursday was supposed to be a routine trek to the Target® in Ala Moana Center. A small plastic box (for the charging accessories and other nonsense) and a packet of AA batteries (for the new nose hair trimmer) were procured.

Upon return to Waikiki, a stopover was made at the ABC Store to purchase a packaged half of a papaya. The shortcut over the low chain fence was chosen as the route back to the mausoleum at the “old folks home.” Once again, the right foot betrayed its owner and caused a face-first dive onto the sharp loose gravel in the shitty parking lot. Lots of contusions and abrasions resulted, mostly on the side of both hands and the left knee. No damage was inflicted on the purchased products. Only the papaya ended up crushed, which resulted in extreme mental distress. The external injuries were far less severe than last time. However, the triceps of both arms, the pelvic joint on the left side, and mid-back were in pain today. What more can be said of the moronic incident? Fuck it!

The Beats® Pill and the AirPods Pro 2 earbuds have now been exclusively assigned to reproduce the “mindfulness” sessions that are resident on the Smiling Mind site and the associated “app.” Nothing more, nothing less. Contemporary music is formulaic and extremely redundant. Even House Music has “gone to shit.” Fuck it!

Slave Labor Day 2024

Heatwave Hotties

The heatwave commenced about a week ago after the brush with Hurricane Hone. Now, Slave Labor Day is here. For a decrepit senior citizen, this is a no-holiday holiday. The routine was the same as always. However, breakfast was relocated to the other fast food joint in town due to business holiday scheduling. Otherwise, same ol’ shit.

A voicemail received early last week from MDX Hawai’i, parent company of Waikiki Health Center, requested a callback. So, the return call was made on Thursday. A call center, apparently in the Philippines, serviced the call. The dolt at the other end could barely speak English with a heavy Filipino accent and was obviously guided by a computer script. The purpose of the call was to schedule the “Medicare Annual Wellness Visit” (MAWV) the one that was already completed on August 22nd.

The laborious conversation continued for almost 15 minutes wherein the dolt was told over 15 times that the MAWV was already completed. She kept going back to the computer script, which was barely intelligible with the heavy accent. Finally, the dolt attempted to schedule a MAWV video conference. The conversation was then abruptly terminated. There’s really no way to even elucidate the level of sheer stupidity experienced.

The Beats® Pill has been deployed nightly to quietly (if that’s even possible) listen to House Music. With no really good new selections currently available, the novelty wore off quickly. The Pill will soon be dedicated to Smiling Mind “mindfulness” sessions and, perhaps, music from Zen Radio. Yeah, an account was even established. Sheesh!

Receipts for all Apple® products (Watch, AirPods Pro 2, Beats® Pill) purchased at Target® were collated for the express purpose of warranty date adjustments. The devices all have warranties that are shortened by at least a month. Reconciliation can only be done at the Apple® Store. However, every experience at the Apple® Store in the last year or so has been substandard (as detailed in Notes). Why go through that kind of frustration again?

Prices for everything continue to significantly rise unabated. Yet, the clowns at the central bank of empire claim that the inflation target has been met. Oh, what a farce! So, ZIRP is on the agenda commencing this month. Wheee!

Addendum: Voicemail will no longer be reviewed or entertained. No return calls will be made either.

Miscellany: The vast hurdy-gurdy video library (HGVL) has accrued 309 choice selections, all residing on the LaCie® SSD. What is the purpose of the collection? Who knows?