On November 30, 2024, on a whim, I did a speed test for my Windows 11 laptop. I use Spectrum wireless for my internet connection, their basic service. What was my internet speed?
500 Mbps
Wow! That's fast! In the old days I used AT&T as my internet provider (it was the only service available) and was way behind in speed in my area. I was lucky to get 5 Mbps. And yes, I remember dial up.
I am happy to have fast internet service. Thank you Spectrum! And, no, I was not compensated or paid for this post.
A few days ago I fell. Down the stairs. OMG. I fell down the stairs? OK, I fell down 1 stair. I missed the last stair going down an outdoor stairway of about 15 stairs and, in an instant, I landed on the concrete, hard. I laid there for a minute or two and assessed my injuries. It felt like no bones were broken but I was not sure. I was able to get up by myself, no need to call an ambulance.
What caused the fall? Was I drunk? High? Old age? Dementia? Alzheimer's? No. It was the sun. The sun? The sun made me fall? Yes, the sun caused me to trip and fall down. It was a sunny afternoon but a shadow totally obscured the bottom stair and I did not see it at all and tripped on it, causing the hard fall. This had never happened to me before. I was tripped by the sun.
Soon, the pain arrived. My left palm hurt and my left shoulder really really hurt when moving my arm. These were the parts of my body that absorbed the impact of the fall. The next day I went to Urgent Care, to see if I broke, or permanently damaged, my hand and/or shoulder. They did an x-ray. Fortunately, no bones were broken. It was only soft tissue injuries. And would likely heal. Whew! I was lucky!
So, I was tripped by the sun. And survived. The moral of the story? If you are older, be careful going down stairs when you are outside on a sunny day. And use the handrail if there is one. And pay attention to where you are walking, as trips and falls are all too common.
Suddenly, I was afflicted. With itchy legs. Really really itchy legs. Both legs. From the thighs to the ankles. Inner and outer. No rash, just horrible itching. I had no idea what was causing it, and looking it up on Google didn't give me any answers that fit. The itching was more or less constant and a huge distraction. After a day of it, I was starting to lose my mind. I applied some moisturizing lotion and that helped a bit, for a few hours. But I realized that. if I was out in the world, among people, I could not just pull my pants down and re-apply the lotion.
After several days of this affliction I went to my dermatologist. They did a physical exam and asked me a lot of questions. They didn't know what was causing the moderate-severe itching of the legs.
It has now been a week. My legs still itch. The moisturizing lotion helps and the affliction is somewhat manageable. Hopefully, it will go away, soon.
This affliction made me realize something. It made me realize that many of us, most of us, all of us, are afflicted with...something. It could be something serious, something moderate or something mild. But an affliction. I can now sympathize with everyone who is afflicted. We share the pain, the malfunctioning or the distraction of being afflicted. From now on, I will never look at someone and assume they don't have some kind of affliction, maybe an affliction that doesn't show. Like hemorrhoids.
To all of us afflicted, I wish/pray for the affliction to stop, to heal, to go away. All afflictions. We don't need, or want, any of them.
I have another birthday coming up soon. I have had a lot of birthdays. I even have a saying about it.
What's the secret of a long life?
Keep having birthdays.
Now that I have had a lot of them, and have yet another birthday coming up, I am thinking about changing the way I deal with my birthdays. Maybe, from now on, instead of adding another year to my age, on my birthday I will SUBTRACT a year!
I wanted to share a few comments about my life, before I die, which is likely to be sooner rather than later. And reading this may help a person be a better person, and elevate themselves, and their life.
During my lifetime I developed myself. I evolved. By what I call learning-by-living, by using my brain, by embracing the things I was interested in. By growing, by learning. And by changing as a result. After many many years of this I became myself. My true self. THAT is the ultimate personal goal of living, to become yourself, your true self. I was happy to realize that my self was a good person. That my life purpose was to help others. I achieved those spiritual goals. Here's what I did to implement those goals.
Throughout my life, people have approached me socially with their problems. I listened and offered clarity and advice where appropriate. It seemed to help them and help them feel better. I had that natural ability and desire. That made me feel good.
I attribute my abilities and knowledge, in part, to the 8 years I spent in therapy as an adult. No, I wasn't crazy. I was just not happy, not happy enough, and couldn't figure out how to fix that on my own. In my 8 years of individual and group therapy, I learned a great deal about myself, about others, and how human nature works, or doesn't work. And, yes, I became a better me. A happier me.
Starting in 2000, I started writing books. I have authored 20 self-improvement books. I wrote about many things, many problems, problems that were or were not fixable. I did this to help, so others could benefit from my experience and knowledge. My books are available on Amazon. Check them on my author blog. my top books
My personal favorite is "Stories of A Lifetime", containing stories of truly amazing things that happened to me in my life.
And, in 2009, I became a blogger. I started StuPittStuff.com and started posting about stuff I observed, experienced or thought.
I also became a fine art photographer, with over 3,800 photos in my portfolio. I specialize in colorful Nature photos. This. to bring the uplifting beauty of Nature and art to the world. My website is Cool Color Photos
The Cool Toothbrush
I needed a new toothbrush. A regular, manual toothbrush. I went to my local CVS to buy one. I was stunned! The toothbrushes cost like $8-$10. I was used to paying like $4-$5. I bought the cheapest name brand and took it home. I hated it!
I vowed to get something else.
A few days later I went back to CVS. I also had started using Barbisol shave cream, the travel version. It was great. And cost $1.29. I needed a new can of it. At CVS, I went to the Trial and Travel section. There was my Barbisol! Oh, wait a minute, nearby were travel toothbrushes. Huh. I took a look. Some of them looked cheap and stupid but one of them looked interesting. It was a folding toothbrush. And it looked well made. And the price was under $3. I decided to try it. It is fantastic! I love every part of it. It's very cool. And it works great!
Lately, I've been having two mornings a day. What? 2 mornings? In the same day? Yes.
I wake up each day after 3 hours of sleep, in the middle of the night. At about 2 AM. It is my first morning. I am refreshed, awake, alert and have creative things to do. Like writing this blog post. Or working on my fine art photography, editing my art or putting it into my online portfolio. And getting the news online and finding out what the world has been up to.
On my first morning I have a cup of coffee, read the news and do some creative things for a couple of hours. Previously, before the Covid pandemic, I slept through the night. I was not awake, alert or creative in the middle of the night. Now I am. Now I have two mornings each day. During my first morning of the day, in the middle of the night, at about 4 AM I have breakfast. After a few hours in my first morning I get tired. I go back to bed, get some more sleep. And then wake up again about 3 hours later. And start the day again. A restart. A second morning. A second chance at life.
Yes, I have two mornings. Every day. I like it. I like having two mornings. Every day.
In January 2024 the blogger was interviewed by Voyage L.A. and the fascinating interview can be seen here:
https://shoutoutla.com/meet-andrew-lawrence-author-and-fine-art-photographer/
The new economy. Where bots are already ruling the world of customer service and support. And welcome to the new technology, where nothing works properly, everything is not simple it's overcomplicated, and home users have to be the equivalent of a software
developer/engineer to do anything on their device. That does not apply to 11-year-olds who today often ARE the equivalent of software engineers.
Fear of Money? No More!
Many people have a fear of money. The thought of having lots of money overwhelms them. Why? They think, they believe, that if they have a lot of money, the money will control them. I will now dispel that fear, the fear of money.
First, let me tell you how I overcame my fear of money, big money. My first real job was on Wall Street. I was in my early 20s. I started as a trainee for a major investment banker, in their money market area. We sold and traded large investments. It was designed for institutional investors, like banks and pension funds and corporations. The minimum investment was $5 million. I freaked out when they told me that. $5 million? I could not even conceive of that much money, let alone in a single transaction.
My first assigned task was to check the trading/sales tickets for the math. Back then, WAY back then, the trades were handwritten and it was the early days of calculators. After only a few hours of seeing and checking $5 million tickets I realized something, something strange, something significant. I realized that these $5 million transactions were not actual cash, not actual money. They were paper trades, signifying the money and the commitment to sending it. Nobody walked into the trading room with a wheel barrel full of millions of dollars of cash. I never saw the 5 million dollars in actual dollars. The money was always wired to the banks. Soon, to me a million dollars became just a 1, 2 commas and 6 zeros. $1,000,000. Five million dollars became just a 5, 2 commas and 6 zeros. $5,000,000. Sometimes in a trading day we did 100 transactions. At $5 million each. That's five hundred million dollars. Half a billion dollars. In 1 day!
My fear of money was gone! Since then, I have never been afraid of money, I am only afraid of not having any.
If you have, or were to come into, a sizable amount of money you will probably see it deposited into your bank account, or in an investment(s) not handed to you in cash. A bank deposit. A bunch of numbers, signifying wealth. A bunch of numbers which can be converted or spent on wonderful things, for yourself, your family and others. The money doesn't control you, you control the money. Why do I say that? Because, in the extreme, you can GIVE IT ALL AWAY! Y-o-u control your money, it does not have to control you, unless you let it.
The exception to the above is if you receive lots of money in cash. If so, make sure you are not doing something illegal and risking getting caught, arrested and going to jail.
Re frozen pizza
As a lunch treat I bought a frozen Lean Cuisine Four Cheese Pizza. It was one of the worse mistakes I ever made regarding food. At home, I opened the carton, excited and looking forward to having a nice microwave pizza for lunch.
For microwaving I followed the directions one at a time:
1. To get the silver plate off the inner side of the carton I had to rip the carton.
2. Then, ripped, I could not make a platform out of the carton as directed.
3. I could not microwave the pizza and could not eat it.
I threw the frozen pizza away. Uncooked and uneaten.
A total waste of my money and very irritating and disappointing. One of the worst packaging designs in my lifetime!
I will NEVER buy another Lean Cuisine product again.
I have two hobbies. My main hobby is fine art Nature photography.
In this post I am going to sum up life. Yes, really. Having lived a long-ish time I believe I have learned the true basics of life, the truths, in both the reality and the spiritual. And now I will share them with you.
The gift of life
We are given life and are born into the world. We are a blank slate. As we grow we observe and experience and learn and adapt or reject or interpret or misinterpret what we witness or imagine.
The point of life
The point of life is to become who we are. To remove the obstacles and acquire what we need to become our true whole self. We are each of us an individual with unique viewpoints and experiences.
The purpose of life
Everyone has an ultimate purpose in life. A spiritually based purpose. As adults our true life job is to find, and carry out, that true purpose. I even wrote a book about how to find your life purpose.
The goal of life
The goal of life is happiness. Happiness. To feel true fulfillment. That is the ultimate goal. I learned how to be happy, true happiness. I even wrote a book about it.
The reward
The reward of life is happiness. The ultimate reward is death. Yes, death is the final reward. Assuming you live a reasonable long life. In the end we all cease to live. Death. Death is a final reward? Yes. It stops all the worry, all the pain. And all the stupid stuff. You no longer have to eat or drink or go to the bathroom. Or move your body. Or think. Or feel. Death. It stops everything. And we get to finally rest, for eternity. Our soul goes to "heaven". Another dimension. A spiritual universe. And maybe there the soul gets wiped clean and reinserted into a newborn. No one know for sure, yet.
Here are some books which may help you achieve your purpose and your goal in life.
For more information visit my books
Thursday. Mid-December. I visited my usual birding area by the river, to hopefully find some fabulous photos to take. When I got there the fence gates were locked. And a helicopter was circling overhead. The city locks the gates when it rains as the river can be dangerous then. OK, no entry. However, one can climb the short steep outer river bank, bypass the fence and access the area. That's what I did. Wow. I was treated to a rare view. The river was roaring, engorged, its width doubled, its current racing. I looked around. There were some birds in the water. And a scruffy dirty beaded man standing on the river bank 100 yards downriver. I took a few photos of the birds.
I was joined by another person who was out for a walk on the riverbank. He asked me why the helicopter was circling. I said I didn't know. He told me that he saw a bunch of police cars in the immediate area and that the circling helicopter was a police copter. We started walking, The scruffy dirty homeless guy started walking in our direction. We were then joined by a third person, a knowledgeable talkable guy who told us that there was a maniac on the loose in the area. He had spoken to the police and they told him a homeless man, armed with a rifle, was threatening to shoot "the people that live in the trees." Oh. A nutcase. An armed nutcase. The other two guys walked away. I decided to finish up my photography outing and leave the area. As I walked along the concrete embankment I looked back and saw the scruffy dirty bearded guy walking in my direction. I got a bad feeling and got off the riverbank. As I went down the short riverbank hill and onto a rustic dirt path I noticed a bunch of cops. They had guns in their hands and were urgently motioning for me to come their way. I joined the group of police and asked them what was going on. They told me that a guy was on the loose and threatening to kill people. People who lived in the trees. They said the guy was armed with a rifle. Now, that was something I had never heard of in this area. I had been coming to this scenic safe river birding area for years. Now there was an armed maniac, a potential mass murderer, on the loose here? The talkative guy was also there. He told me that he had seen the local news on the scene.
I watched as the police approached and stopped the scruffy dirty beaded homeless guy on the riverbank. The cops had their guns drawn. The cops handcuffed the guy. One of the police held up a rifle. Apparently an AK-47. OMG. The scruffy dirty beaded homeless guy was the maniac, desirous and capable of mass murder. And he had been behind me on the concrete riverbank, walking in my direction. Did I just escape being murdered? By a maniac nutso? An armed and dangerous scruffy, dirty, beaded homeless person? The talkative guy told me that he seen this homeless guy around but the maniac didn't live right there but did stay in the area. He didn't say if the maniac was actually homeless or not (but the alleged maniac sure looked homeless. And scruffy. And dirty).
I walked to my car and drove away, leaving all the danger and drama behind. I felt grateful. And lucky. Lucky I wasn't murdered. Lucky I was alive. And hungry. It was lunchtime. I went home and had lunch. After my near-death experience it was now just another Thursday in Los Angeles. Yeah, right.
Went to pick up a prescription. First I went to the supermarket, bought a few things. Put the shopping bag on the back seat as I always do. Then I went to the pharmacy. After I drove home, I got out of the car, carrying the prescription and went into my apartment. 2 hours later I realized I left the groceries in the car. On the back seat. OMG! I totally forgot. Did the stuff melt? Did it spoil? Were they stolen? I went back to the car to get them. Yes, the groceries were still there, I live in a safe, gated community.
I never do that. I NEVER leave the groceries in the car when I get home. I think I did it maybe once before, when maybe I was not feeling well.
OK, I'm getting old. I forget things, like names. Names of people. Or names of songs. But my mind, my brain, is still sharp, because I use it all the time. And play games on my tablet. And write posts on my blog. Yet I left the groceries in the car, on a sunny but cool Sunday. Am I getting senile? Am I getting dementia? Is my short term memory no longer working? Or was I just distracted by standing in line for 30 minutes at my CVS pharmacy to pick up the prescription? And then running around trying to buy name brand Vaseline, only to find both my local CVS' had none?
OK, back to the groceries. Were they melted or spoiled? Luckily, no. Here's what they were:
On Monday, December 11, 2023 I decided to get the latest Moderna Covid vaccine. I originally got the Moderna vax before the original Covid and, though I had no side effects, I got the Covid disease anyway and had it for 25 miserable days, and 2 ER visits.
This year, I decided I would get the latest Moderna vax and hopefully escape getting Covid or having a milder case (less than 2 weeks). I made an appointment at my local pharmacy's Minute Clinic and got the shot at 2:30 PM. Everything was fine for 8 hours...and then I started getting sick. Really sick. Starting at 10:30 PM I felt short of breath, my heartbeat was erratic and I could not go to sleep. It did not stop. I was getting sicker by the hour.
I can think of no other activity that I was involved in prior to getting this Covid vax that would have caused these symptoms.
I went to the ER at 3:30 AM on Tuesday morning. I was literally shaking and shivering. They examined me and found AFib, low oxygen, and some "mist" on my lung. I was admitted. I was miserable and sick. I was hooked up with dozens of wires to monitors.They put me on oxygen. I also could not urinate and was given a PAINFUL catheter. Prior to this I urinated every 2 hours on my own, no problems. Bedridden in the hospital I mostly slept for full 2 days. Whenever I told the ER and doctor staff that I thought my symptoms might be from the Covid shot they did not disagree.
I was hospitalized until Thursday afternoon. By then my oxygen level had returned to normal, my heart rate and temperature was "normal". I was released to go home. WITH my catheter. They told me I would have to see a urologist to remedy using a catheter. What? I said, "Why doesn't the ER/hospital test me. Take out the catheter and let's see if I can pee without it. If I can urinate on my own leave it off. If I can't urinate on my own put the catheter back in." They said, "We can't do that. If we let you go without the cath and you have to have it reinserted at some point the ER can't do that, you would have to be fully admitted to the hospital for us to do it." I said, "That makes no sense." They replied, "That's the way it is. You'll have to see a urologist." "That could take days, weeks," I said. "Meanwhile, I have to live with painful peeing and have to learn how to wear and empty and clean a device in my penis and on my leg I may not even need!?"
So now I am forced to go see a urologist for my new catheter usage. My appointment is for Tuesday, 4 uncomfortable painful days away.
What a f-ing mess! Possibly caused by my decision to do a healthy and wise thing and get another Covid vaccination.
I also got "hospital tats". On my chest. In the middle and on both sides. From the monitoring devices attached to my skin.
Without the new prescription drugs I have to now take I usually take 3-5 meds. Today there was 8.
4 days later I went to the urologist and had my catheter removed. Thankfully, I could urinate on my own and they didn't have to reinsert it.
I have now been sick for 10 days after "coincidentally" getting the latest Covid vax. I have been to the ER 2 times. So far, I am surviving.
December 7, 2026 marks 15 years since I had a cigarette. This is thanks to vaping. I have been vaping for 15 years. Before that I smoked a pack a day.
I switched to vaping 15 years ago. I am a vaper. My family and my doctors are pleased. My body is pleased. Giving up cigarettes and switching to vaping made my insides feel "cleaner". And my clothes, and breath, don't stink. And, maybe best of all, I save a lot of money. Regarding the cost of cigarettes vs my vaping I now save about $250 a month by vaping.
Yes, it took me a few days to get used to using the pod system but now it's easy, fun, satisfying and saves me $200-$300 a month.
Yes, a glowing and honest endorsement of the product. No, I am not being paid to write this.
OK, winter is approaching and this year starting in the Fall I have been feeling cold, indoors, every day, now starting at 4 PM. That's when the sun starts to go down and, as evening approaches, temperatures start to drop. At 4 PM I am home, indoors. With the heat on. My upper body starts to feel cold, and I put on a sweatshirt. Sometimes a jacket. The room temp is the same, 77 degrees F, not cold, not too warm. I remain feeling cold until I go to sleep at 11 PM then, under the covers, I am "normal".
This is the first year I have had this "older and colder" weirdness. During the day, morning and afternoon I am not cold intolerant, I only feel cold in my upper body starting in late afternoon.
I recently went to my doctor for a checkup, lab tests et al and nothing was found that would explain this "older and colder at 4 PM" thing.
I did a google search but found nothing that fit or explained this issue. I have none of the diseases or vitamin deficiencies listed that cause this. So, as often happens, I have to try and diagnose myself. Here goes ...
I am old, er older. Apparently, as we age our skin gets thinner and our circulation slows down. Yes, I have always been sensitive to temperature (and humidity) but this is a whole new sensitivity level. Feeling cold starting at 4 PM? Every day? OK, maybe aging is what's causing me to feel older and colder. Normal aging. If that's the case, what do I do about it? I could buy a heavier sweatshirt. Or a heavy sweater. I could turn up the indoor temperature a bit, starting at 4 PM. I could take another hot shower every day at 4 PM, but that might dry out my skin even more. I don't have to move to a warmer climate, I already live in Southern California.
Now that I better understand what is likely happening to me, and why, I will consider my options regarding how best to deal with being older and colder and how best to restore my feeling warm and fuzzy at night during winter.
Totally dark tinted car windows are scary. I see lots of them everyday on cars in trendy Los Angeles. On all kinds of cars, especially the newer, trendier models. When the windows are too darkly tinted you can't see the driver. When a too-dark-tinted car is near you it's impossible to tell if the driver is armed, unarmed, angry, smiling at you, drunk or high or insane. Or texting while driving.
Yes, states have laws determining how dark a vehicle window may be tinted but it appears that, either the maximum allowed is too dark, or many owners are breaking the law.
It goes against human nature to not be able to see if someone nearby may be a friend or a threat to your safety. The too-dark-tinted vehicle windows issue should be addressed and made more "normal"...and safer. In every state.
Today is Saturday. It is supposed to rain, all day. If/when I go out I will get wet. I will have to take an umbrella. And wear a jacket. Oh, well, at least I won't be wearing an expensive suit and it's supposed to be a light-moderate rain not heavy rain which could cause flooding and even worse, traffic jams.
Rain. A light steady rain. A rainy day. No big deal. Part of Nature. And, I'll even get a free car wash!
Oh, make that 2 full days of rain. It's supposed to rain on Sunday too. Parked outside, my car exterior is gonna be clean clean clean. Too bad the month is going to start with lousy rainy weather. That's life. Sometimes the sun shines and sometimes it rains. No, I had nothing monumental to say. Or write about. Just some Stu Pitt stuff about a rainy day. Written at 4 AM.
