Tue 03 Mar 26: Today's a pretty busy day, but thankfully all piled into one part of the day -- so they're all over with at one time. Not frequent, but blissful when it happens Am better... but still not 100% Have congestion lingering, as well as coughing fits that last only a few seconds, drat. Was going to chance doing laps today but thought better as my schedule's going to be rather draining on the whole. Knee thankfully is the least of my concerns (again, doing the post-meal walking in place 10 mins, has been super-effective at preventing the usual stiffness prior to injury). Well enough to work and am not contagious, main thing Starbies has gone to plastic cups again, will small miracles never cease Am pretty much over leaky, lid-ejecting paper cups that soften to fruit leather if an iced drink's brimmed in it >10 mins. Do like the environmental responsibility of paper... but if the plastic has enough organic, compostable content to offset its environmental impact, please greenlight that sh*t yesterday Hate having no say in leaky cups because it's too expensive to mfr ones that don't, for a multinational One improvement over the older no-conscience-plastic ones: the lids are of a breakaway design -- so you can hold a full Trenta drink with fingers around the rim, as myself and obvi many others do on a daily basis to lift out of a car's drink wells... and the lid perimeter's designed so it non-destructively breaks away, rather than 'un-lid' -- dropping your $8 Venti 24oz of Java Chip Frap onto your kicks, or your white carpet. For liquid drinks it's again a sippy-cup design, which unsurprisingly I hate but isn't going away, also a breakaway design. The tradeoff (because there's always some), is once snapped on, the lids are quite difficult to get off, ime needing a special tq (take both thumbs about an inch apart, and watch the top of the cup rim through the lid -- wedge thumbtips under the lid and push inward / upward with both thumbs until it clears a few mil; only then can be lifted off. Doing it w/o this method ime, usually results in destructive modification So make sure when you order, to give the barista every optional ingredient -- because taking it off because you're helium-blonde today, will take a while Weather's all over the place here -- have seen cloud formations in shapes and sizes and altitudes I've never seen all my years being raised and living here, multiple times in life. Mornings are almost always 'red sky in morning, sailors take warning'... supposedly due to a wonked-out La Niña... who knows. But a much more dynamic and rainy Spring than last year (to my car's filthy detriment). Oh -- for those who do lots of hard exertion with the hands on a daily basis (radio antenna techs, pro rock climbers, bakers, pottery throwers or sculptors, massage therapists, bodyworkers) -- pulling the fingers and twisting them, staves off the encroachment of osteoarthritis, esp in those who used them hardest. My own fingers are beginning to show the effects of all this dead-weight-lifting of 230-lb men atop my palm-up hands, feeling for and treating TrPs in the back and shoulder girdle. But steady use of this tq when they bother me, defo keeps me working. Works for toes too, for those who depend on proper function and strength in the toes (comm'l painters, arborists, masons, trail guides, martial artists / grapplers)
Wed 04 Mar 26: Yep -- still have a cold Like junk mail, it's hovering somewhere between 'have a coughing fit every few hours' and 'man, walking to the car's never winded me before'. No fever, no sputum other than completely clear, and sleep thru the night fine. WTFITBS Anyhow... clients today were strangely light, and of those, wham-bam-ty-damn jobs Which is fine, yesterday was a somewhat exhausting day, esp for hands / fingers. Remember if you're male and into geezer years in 50s, joint pain in the fingers can be dealt with over the long-term, but simply pulling and twisting them regularly, esp after exertion. This both forces the articular surfaces apart so synovial fluid (the protein-rich lubricant and food source for each joint capsule's living articular surface cells) can get between them to lube, nourish, and heal... and breaks up encroaching formation of Ca deposits in the joint so it can be reabsorbed, from when you didn't do the pull / twist however many years / decades. 50s is when males typically develop arthritic problems bad enough to cause pain / debility... but WMMV depending on 'git'erdun, don't-eat-rabbit-food diets Done this since hearing of the tq as a fresh apprentice... and 15+ yrs later, hasn't let me down yet. Won't override ingrained-since-teens habits of too much processed red meat / sugar / salt / fried food in cheap-a$$ seed oils, too little water / EVOO / unprocessed greens-beans-veg, nor a drive-thru diet (all of the above ). But if that part of your life's dialed and still have joint pain using hands hard for work / hobby... this can stave off at least hand arthritis for decades. Mentor's over 80 and still works bodies w/ no hand osteoarthritis, been a bodyworker since '92 Looking at glyNAC -- a supp that combines glycine, an amino acid involved in cellular repair and liver function... and NAC (N-acetyl-cysteine) for cysteine, another amino known to boost immune response against viral infection -- to see if it does more than NAC alone. NAC works like a charm for certain viral infections (ime, viral styes which I used to get about every other winter since 40s, until finding NAC), but doesn't seem to do much against whatever viral squatter I currently have. This is what I've learnt about glycine, cysteine, and glutamine: all are conditionally-vital but not essential, amino acids all are needed to form glutathione, a tri-peptide used by the body to boost metabolism prevent oxidative damage detox metabolites of such damage (including xenobiotics) keeping vit C and E in their active states immune defense (esp viral infection) If you take NAC (cysteine) alone, you raise glutathione slightly. If you take glycine alone, same. Glutamine of the 3 is abundant in the human body w/o supplementation. Glycine is most rare of the 3 -- so makes logical sense to supplement glycine & NAC together, to raise glutathione highest. Cysteine is also a trigger and checksum on the other two to make glutathione... so supplementing glycine alone, despite the body initially making glutathione... will lead to rapid slowing of its formation, w/o cysteine (glycine's half-life in the body's already short, at half - 4 hrs -- if free glycine's instead used to make glutathione instead of being metabolised for excretion, more robust immune response and other glutathione functions towards vitality, seems logical). If my suspicions about this med I'm taking and its deleterious effect on immune response via liver stress are true (the podiatrist's canny evasion of questions about it, raised my hackles a bit)... then at least glyNAC will help improve liver function despite the med. But if it helps rid me of this goddamned cold too... can stop bitching about it on this journal
Thu 05 Mar 26: Nope, not a cold -- apparently, NoCA PCPs and DOH at public water waste facilities, have noted exploding levels of a virus implicated in a developing epidemic called HMPV, or human metapneumovirus. Exactly the same symptoms as I've endured 2wks, and the same reduced ability for the body to rid itself of the infection, settling in the lungs. Persistent cough and other slight cold-like symptoms dominate. Spread via both aerosol and fomite methods, so everyone will have it. Thank goodness both clients and myself are required to wear masks for my work, otherwise would've been much, much more a vector. Will default to the same methods that reduced spread during covid: myself dbl-masking, clients normally-masking, and strict hand and touch-point sanitation and sterilisation. Wonder if this'll become a thing: new viral epidemics evolving out of previous viral ones about every 5 - 6 yrs, given how extensive air travel is in 2020s. My case hasn't gotten any better past a certain point, so wonder when the hell this HMPV virus will let go. Time will tell... just started a regimen of glyNAC, so we'll see if that pushes my immune defense over the critical break point of recovery
Add'm, Thu 05 Mar 26: Worked on a few clients today -- strange pattern of feast and famine this week. Luckily were a combo of easy and challenging, and felt pretty good on the backend of it all. Think the glyNAC's leveling me up a touch; two days ago a similar workload took a hour-long nap to recharge from -- today feel just fine. Past client to talk about, related to this week's... hmm. --- probably 5 yrs ago. Prior to studying nerve-adhesion tqs, but felt competent w/ tissue-to-tissue adhesion release. Was an older client, reasonably athletic in their 70s. Had to stop running due to an intractable pain their long-time doc had advised spinal surgery for (!!). Having a limited income and arguably overloaded healthcare resources in 2021... found their options led to me. Elderly people (defined at least to me, as GenX-era retirement age (65+). Your middle age energy, healing factor, resistance to muscle atrophy, and lack of developing chronic conditions in major organs, are now fading in the distance behind you. Grit and healthy self-BSing is what keeps you going; conditioned repetitive entrainment of good habits prevents the sort of complacency young people take for granted, that five years of your humbling 60s and stern-talking-tos by an array of PCPs, have aligned by force This client, I wanted to help. They'd obviously had made an array of not-insignificant, grownup moves properly many FAFO to their peril: vigorously exercised, kept a good but not overwhelming schedule of social engagement (which they made clear this session was to return them to), and coached an outrigger canoe team -- all good things. But was clear their feet, trusted under them thru decades of hard work as a mason and later general contractor... were past the point of diminishing returns ignoring their woes. Standing full days on ladder rungs and squatting on scaffolding planks building schools and warehouses, had taken their toll. Running was a good wrench in this necessary machine ruining their feet... but given how old and how aberrated the bones and joints of the feet had become... how they ran with these feet, was boggling to imagine. The bones of the feet have two arches: the familiar longitudinal arch which runs ball to front of heel, and the transverse arch, which forms across the toe knuckles (MCPs, or metatarsophalangeal joints). Each is not self-sustaining, and must be formed by a balanced tone in muscles w/ tendon attachments in a variety of places on / among the 26 bones and 33 joints of the foot. The arch is a strong load-bearing structure in architecture for a reason -- a minimal amt of material can bear many times the weight of the human above. But most tend to ignore or abuse the role of the transverse arch, but stuffing them into ill-fitting shoes / boots and forcing the foot to stop spreading the load of ambulating in the forefoot. By smashing together the MCPs and metatarsals they serve, the transverse arch cannot bear repeated and / or extended periods of constant load, and defers the job to the muscles crossing the ankle joint. I have a particular familiarity w/ the folly of pointy dress shoes, being forced to wear low quarters as Class-Bs (garrison) uniform in the military. My feet frequently ached to the point of needing NSAIDs to get thru the day, after needing to walk to and from work in them... which due to shared exp, a bowl of Advil were available on the filing cabinets outside our civvie director's office, taken by my bosses and their bosses. Oxfords look sharp in patent leather... but I frequently risked slipping them off my wide Asian feet at my desk, just to not wear them any longer than I had to (had very comfy jump boots when serving overseas in BDUs). Human beings for tens of thousands of millennia, didn't even need shoes. My father were raised in the camp era of Lahaina's sugar plantation past in '50s - '60s... and didn't wear shoes until freshman year in HS -- his feet are still healthy into his 80s and have never given him a problem, even thru jungle boots in Vietnam. Speaking of Vietnam, the Viet Cong wore sandals cut from the rubber of worn-out tires, fastened with twine straps -- the very definition of minimal footwear. The Tarahumara natives of Central Mexico are famous for running literally hundreds of miles at a time, also in not much more than a thin sole of tire rubber with cord straps. Your toes need room to spread out laterally, in order to work as evolved. Female fashion footwear, as a close inspection of any major runway exhibition will reveal (runway models themselves accept the pain of wearing these pompous, anti-ergonomic trinkets on their feet as a rite of passage) are a leading cause of permanent debility for women, later in life. Client's feet were narrow, tight as a drum... and barely functional. Even light pressure in the long'l arch would cause severe jump sign, nearly kicking me in the face. Tissues above the ankle, a glob of tight, shiny and long-glued toe extensors. The main fast-twitch large muscles of the calf, were cruelly-tight, full of TrPs, or both. Would not be pretty, and not be one session, I told them. They'd been thru worse, they said... and we proceeded. Fair to say this was one of the most unpleasant sessions I'd done up to that point. Not due to any inconvenience on my part -- was eager to dig into this fringe case to learn what I could from it. What bothered me, was knew each part of the lower leg -- arch, forefoot, ankle, toes, anterior lower leg, posterior lower leg -- just one of these would require an hour of slow, methodical, and eye-wateringly painful work. Which meant not one, not two... but at least three investments and three confrontations of some of the most painful procs I were competent doing. It's tough knowing you're going to be exp'g pain past 99.9% of your life's exp, again and again, and again. Breaking apart mature adhesions gluing the four muscles in the lateral anterior lower leg above the ankle -- tibiialis anterior, extensor hallucis, extensor digitorum, and peroneus tertius -- requires a lot of pressure using the blade of the forearm (ulna) in a shearing direction. When old, thick and dry connective tissue gloms these muscles together, the pain getting them to pull apart can be enormous; certainly true for Client. Took several passes, each beading sweat on their forehead. Lots of breaks to just pull together enough to endure it again. In the end... this Client gave a valid and worthy college try, but could not endure the pain... despite early indications the tqs were working. It's hard to put your trust in someone you've just met, who's putting you thru more pain than you've endured in decades. I didn't argue with them -- it's their decision to make, no judgement. But the work required to turn them around, ultimately required more commitment than they had to spare. Left after ~50 mins, with a partially-worked L foot, and comp'd them the cost of treatment. Pretty sure I wouldn't have done any better. Some, you can't help... and a bodyworker's career demands you accept this part of the job as normal, and expected. Doesn't make it feel any better in the moment, tho
Fri 06 Mar 26: First of all: glyNAC is go F***, finally. Should stress did not take a purpose-made glycine-NAC combo supplement, but separate glycine and NAC supps taken together (glycine 1000mg + NAC 600mg; both dosages single pills per day as recommended on label). As before, glycine is a simple amino acid so easily broken down... thus taking it on an empty stomach's highly desirable for best absorption. The NAC formulation has small amts of B2 (riboflavin), Ca (as carbonate) and moly (molybdenum aspartate) for support of cellular reducing activity (and thus use by the body). Woke up today with the first signs since getting this HMPV infection 3 wks ago (human metapneumovirus), it was fading into true non-significance; at last no grit required to do a day's work. No cough -- thank f***ing God -- but did have a bit of clear sputum, probably residual. No weakness, 0 sensitivity to cold as had been 2 wks. Strength and cognition were better (lack of wooden-headedness / forgetting simple things), and the heavy duty male client this morning didn't cause a full-body cold sweat, as had been the case since resuming work post-shedding phase. Normally sweat a little but nothing like the soaks w/ persistent symptoms of this HMPV infection -- and today were the first work day returning to a normal reaction. So, if conforming to label dosages, I'd endorse this as a way to get over either a persistent cold or HMPV infection... tho tbh as quickly as this epidemic's spread across the US let alone global cities... if it's been > 2 wks with a cold w/ no sign of letting up, you have HMPV. Any doubts of course, consult a trusted PCP, as I'm neither pharmacist nor general physician. But glyNAC dosing is the one and only thing I've done since being infected, that's done anything to address the source of the symptoms vs. damp them enough to work. Feel great -- actually, better than I have in a long time, including prior to getting the knee injury late last summer. Glycine's been touted as a youth serum... but of course, that's the unregulated supplement-industry-influencer internet for you -- still don't think it's as panacea-worthy as proponents claim. But my trusted sources do acknowledge glycine does have positive effects on metabolism, immune response, and liver health... and thankfully in much smaller doses than some of the more eye-opening claims. Given I've felt the delta with a simple on-label dosage... can claim glycine as something I can add to regular supplementation. Will experiment of course with smaller dosages at first apart from NAC, and see if rest from supplementation's required long-term (as in the case of milk thistle, which isn't safe for long-term use, so will stop after the med's refill is spent and doc consulted on the results). Have tried several aminos as supplements... and glycine's the first to show first-hand exp with any part of their proponent's restorative, cognitive, or immune response claims in my body. For now, can confirm glyNAC's not a hoax, esp re: dealing w/ HMPV infection recovery. --- Who did today's client remind of... When one exps heavy mental trauma in combat... those are the sorts of exp that PTSD burns into the psyche, past your conscious ability to access them. Those inputs serve as the strongest possible imprinting the mind can process... and in order for them to resist change, my thought is they're recorded away from the neuronal cortex of the brain, where conscious thought lives... deep in more primitive banks of storage in sub-cortical areas (amygdala is the most familiar, where fear is processed to supposedly 'protect' you... but in humans tends to hinder higher brain processing in favour of instinctive, knee-jerk reaction a la ancient ancestor animals you evolved from. Other areas are basal ganglia, and the vaunted cerebellum... where non-thought-required abilities familiar to martial artists, are imprinted and stored). The problem with surviving combat, esp if severely-injured w/ extended periods suffering immense pain before medical aid... is there's a piece of you left at the site of trauma -- both in time and space -- that's left forever where the most painful exps happened irt. It's replaced with the compensatory self born from that suffering... which according to evolution, should then be able to avoid it later to survive to breed. But in the human mind with its complex, self-aware architecture... this fails to happen. What manifests instead is a hard, out-of-reach connection to that trauma, with triggers possible in perception that retrieve the exp in unsettling clarity, wherever you happen to be -- and elicits physical and mental reenactments of that trauma, to help you survive. But in modern human society, such reactions to stimuli can and have killed -- the murder of famous sniper Chris Kyle, by a PTSD-suffering ex-Marine he was trying to help, being an infamous example. The relevance to bodywork... is for those who've carried these exps many times over, for a period of many months / years... since there are a variety of exps recorded as trauma in the mind, thus they manifest in the physical tissues of the body, often in as many places. There's nowhere in the body trauma cannot be imprinted, as the body and mind are two aspects of the same thing: can be your muscles, fascia, tendons, nerves. Or the viscera, where they can detected as viscero-somatic referral in my lingo. If the viscera are damaged, diseased, or storing trauma... the connective tissues in the area around the core and / or torso will show signs of tension, TrP formation, or other sensitivity / pathology not explained by other factors. Using tqs trained into me by my mentor... there are ways, with the client's full commitment and participation, to allow them to face the trauma, stare it in the figurative face, accept that they actually exist here and now in a safe place... and let go of it. If done correctly in adherence to these tqs, the physical manifestation of the trauma, will also disappear. Have seen this once, as may've mentioned before... in a client I suspect may've been r*ped. Both the client's state of mind, along with the body's lack of the manifested trauma (as a non-resolving knot)... were indisputable to me in real time. The slightly chilling appearance of a rank odour from the client's breath and local area on the skin where the knot used to be... were startling but known phenomena (the release of long-lived trauma also causes physical release of old cellular debris and toxic metabolites trapped in the tensing tissues -- causing noxious substances to be released and perceived). Mentor has seen this many times as a far more exp'd prac in these situs w/ correct handling, under his belt... but my first tbh, shook me up a bit. Comic book sh*t... In the case of my veteran client from a few years back tho... they either lacked enough willingness and / or faith in my procs, to allow similar release -- and as stated repeatedly, 1) your client must be willing to do whatever it takes... as trauma requires teamwork and trust for resolution, and 2) to have the capacity, fully-immersed in the trauma playing back in your mind irt... to let go of it. As I've only had one successful resolution of stored trauma on the table (perhaps two if partial release can be counted)... obvi lack the exp to know how to guide fringe cases over the line into full release -- and that can only come from enough failures and learning from them, which I've not collected enough of as yet. Such is the world of deep-tissue bodywork. Maybe someday, with enough time-in-service similar to Mentor's... enough cases of stored trauma will come across my table, to gain the exp to grapple effectively w/ difficult cases. But like all my other tools, trial and error must be paid in full to gain mastery. Which is why I really like this gig -- if your tq is lacking, you get immediate feedback saying so, as failure to get results. Not so in other disciplines, what with fake-until-make allowed to graduate the unworthy into positions of authority
Sat 07 Mar 26: With the Maint and Service Required Soon msgs every time I start the car for a week... was time to swap the oil. 20K svc isn't until April (am already over 20K)... so since had skipped a mid-interval chg last go-around (and mpg were dropping tenths increasingly faster), decided couldn't let the ICE suffer more indignance, despite the new oil only lasting a little over a month, before being swapped again for the 20K. Worth it to me... 5G's going into the body shop this week... which whilst apart will have the most recent recall work done for the infamous perpetually-self-opening 5G rear doors. I swear the next fix they'll have when this one fails, will be a manual door release, like it should've been from the start Anyhow, digression... supposedly shop will have the car little over a week, during which time I'll be driving the rental 5G -- concerned how my car'll come back to me, as never had work with this shop (tho several who have, say they're the ones to get work from on Maui). Given my Honda came back to me with self-tapping screws replacing OEM fasteners... am hoping whomever's actually doing the work, is worth their salt -- thought was the case with the last shop tho Coupla notes from the oil swap, I'd forgotten (understandable since you'll be swapping oil typically less often in a Prius than ICE-only rides): the dipstick, as was on the Honda, is muy deceptive. Only thing to really keep from overfilling (much worse than underfilling) is to find somewhere very level to check it... then run the ICE at least 5 mins -- which after a swap may require: either driving around, or in my case (since all my stuff to do the swap were sitting out in the open)... stab the throttle after the normal 30-sec warmup sequence to get the ICE to light. This may take several tries, in R and D, 'rocking' the car into keeping the ICE on. allow ICE to turn off, then let the oil drain 5 more mins into the pan check level at your level spot what I've found, even w/ all the warming and waiting, your oil level will show below the full mark. This is fine. check the oil whenever you find a level spot later in normal dailies... and see if it's below half-full add oil until you register about 1/8" from full, waiting 30 - 60 secs for the added oil to make it to the pan. once filled to that point, leave it there... and only top off again, if at that same location, you find it back below half-full when you swap oil /filter, the oil will do some breaking down in the first few days / 75 - 100 mi -- which you'll see (if you've properly filled and not gone over) as a drop in mpg, in my case 2 tenths (one for the 'rocking' warmup, one due to this phenomena). Same thing with the Honda and all other vehicles I've owned... so don't look for gains over your best fresh-oil mpg, in the first few days have no idea why the f*** all mfrs don't setup their oil drain plug and filter access, like the 5G does (and assuming other recent Toyotas)... 4 x self-tapping 10mm hex head screws holding up an access cover about the size of a McD's tray. drain plug pointing almost straight down, at the back of the effing pan. next to it, spin-on filter that empties cleanly into your pan w/o spilling all over components under there Can break down to the swap stuff, put it all back together, put in fresh oil and clean up... in less time than it takes all the oil to drain. The way Toyotas used to be designed in simpler times -- to aid the home wrench in Brazil, having to swap their own oil. Obvi not a hard / fast rule anymore, depending on what era Toyota you own (my old Paseo was perfect for college student aptitude -- and despite being a factor mechanic for other marques... loved that about post-'89 / pre-'96 Toyotas)... Compare with the Civic: vertical-sliding-window-sized underchassis tray, dbl the size of a 5G's, easy hard-to-remove, hard to find / expensive to replace Dzus-like ¼-turn fasteners (why Honda didn't stock these early in the 10th-gen's MYs, is boggling (used to be sold only with the whole access cover) -- didn't start stocking them as individual parts until MY19, for a gen that started in '16). Also cannot be replaced w/ normal threaded fasteners if lost (and they f***ed off a lot), due to the ¼-turn design -- idiotic, but that's modern Honda for you drain plug in a non-reinforced aluminium pan, infamous for stripping out if not torqued with a competent torque wrench to exactly spec oil filter perched above the lip of the access opening, spilling used oil all over the inside of the remaining underbelly tray on that side -- requiring 15 mins to reach in and brake-clean / wipe dry that mess, so it didn't ape a leak when all back together Man am I glad that Civic's no longer in my life (w/ its now-infamous WET OIL PUMP BELT, Wth). Just saying, despite oil changes being much less a part of a 5G Prius owner's life... the factory still makes it one of the easiest vehicles to swap earl on. Right there in your driveway, 15 mins for the warm oil to drain, but 15 mins for everything else too --- Oh right -- this is a Bodywork thread. Hmm lessee... Well if yesterday's account sailed over your head... am now sold on the value of glycine in my life. I just feel different. Perhaps diet were deficient in proper levels of it... tasks seem, well... easier. Only negative I reckon, is my brain chemistry's been chugging along on a diet deficient in apparently a few things... so feels like my energy level's being down-regulated to compensate. In vain tho -- as this oil chg despite being criminally-easy... does require me to get ducks in a row to do it (out of my storage locker 12 mis from the house) as well as collect tools in one other place. This faff means waiting for an ideal time and place to do it... which in winter and ad hoc passing showers, doesn't happen on schedule. (oh get this: Zoomer at my storage facility, which I'd been swapping oil only on weekends and only around the back of the lot, w/ 3 vehicles, as often as 4x a year... walked up to me today and said w/ a straight, I couldn't do it anymore, this is a storage facility. Oh yeah? Watch me. You've seen me do this literally 10 yrs and not once have I spilt a drop of oil or left one piece of trash when I do it... so don't stand their in your f***ing new-owner khakis and embriodered golf shirt and tell it's all of a sudden not allowed, son -- there aren't any facilities to self-swap oil on this island... so until there are, as long as I'm a customer of your facility, get the f*** out of my face or call the police, fine w/ either one. Pls waste their time, because you wanna front today ). Aaanyhow energy levels were great thru the tough client yesterday... but didn't feel as quite energetic today after waking up. But doing this swap, disproved that energy had gone / was no longer accessible. This down-regulation into worse performance, has long been a thing in other aspects of my health (often feel better with less sleep than a full 8 hrs -- and have been since mil days, when genuine 4-hr-sleep-or-less weeks were a miserable reality. Muscles get too stiff, sleeping soundly 8 hrs... because the std's been 5 - 6 literally 35 yrs. But I don't honestly think this effect using glycine's the same thing, despite the body doing what it's long-used to doing (probably thru 30y of garbage diet too), before accepting and making some use of extra glycine. Theory, but does seem to check all the boxes, at least for my body and my life exp
Sun *Wash Day*, 08 Mar 26: -- finally got the car washed, 4 wks later Bit of anxiety about how much work would need to go into cleaning that off... but turned out rather light (which is weird since all 4 Sundays were rained out, lots of driving in it too). Should've been caked-on filth and salt... but my guess is what did pound down, did so hard enough to wash off some of what stuck (and those storms were pretty epic for around here -- Phoenix 'monsoon season' cloudburst-style, or DC / Seattle Mar-Apr dogs & cats, almond-sized drops splashing up so high cars disappear in it). Have washed off far more, doing weekly details -- always come back to certain movies, years from last viewing... and today's was Cast Away. This was made of course during Tom Hanks' golden era, the '90s. A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, You've Got Mail, The Green Mile. And with the new millennium (and loss of a massive chunk of our collective innocencem in Millennium of the Dragon)... Cast Away. Directed by Robert Zemeckis... whilst not one-to-one w/ Hanks' career, was also at his peak of powers -- made an old-fashioned-feeling drama rewatched in 2026, yet this feeling wasn't present in the slightest seeing this in a Phoenix cinema circa Y2K. I say old-fashioned, because decisions made by all characters involved, feel very much like those in movies I grew up with -- '80s movies. It's fair to say I'm a completely different person in 2026 vs. 2000 (effing hope 25y made it thru this hard head)... and what stood out now, wasn't possible for Y2K Me -- which is a strange feeling. In 2000, what hit me was Chuck losing Kelly, twice. The four years marooned felt authentic and harrowing then, make no mistake... but had just left the military. In 2026, 28y after ETS... the impact was all Chuck's exps on the island. How many of us can say they've lived even one night outdoors in the open making / finding your own shelter, without any artificial sources of light at night? Have you ever seen what night looks like in nature w/o a pocket EDC LED light? How many have felt so thirsty due to lack of safe fresh water, were convinced you were g o n n a die? When's the last time any of you went w/o food a week? These are the kinds of mortal things that struck me, were I thrust into this situation myself. And given how often airliners are falling out of the sky these days (esp Boeing and old triple-fan cargoliners)... catastrophic water ditch in a plane that size, creepily-plausible nightmare fuel. Rewatch these movies about every five years since they've debuted: Blade Runner, Saving Private Ryan, The Fifth Element, Minority Report, The Princess Bride, Dune, Seven Samurai, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, Inception, Good Will Hunting... and probably few more I've missed. Some, like Blade Runner, have almost ten revisits
Mon 09 Mar 26: Nice morning -- traffic were light despite the Mon bum rush phenom, must've been my timing. Two things to do: get fed, and get errands done. First matter of biz after getting the usual giant AM salad... was to drop by the Prius rental place, and see about getting ducks in formation. Making a reservation w/ taken deposit, normally behooves a business to have everything ready for you on agreed date/time, no matter the lead.. but since late '90s (esp on Maui), need to give said businessed a kick, in the form of showing up and reminding them hey, you owe me a service. Politely of course... but this rather cynical strategy's saved my third point many times (well, when the employee in charge of handling the biz front end a. doesn't want to be there, b. is underpaid, c. is hungover / high / both, d. all three -- thank you, Puget Sound carnie-helmed storage facilities -- you fail to lower expectations into the gutter, entirely at your peril No one were there. Okay, time to get some pink coolant from the Toy Store... Tangent: had been noticing tenths were getting increasingly difficult to achieve, despite the car being only 2 MY old and sub-25K. Only things logically deduced to possibly cause this -- bad alignment from the crash damage, spent oil, loose bougies, and low coolant -- could only do anything about 3 of them. Plugs were properly torqued (did this right after taking delivery -- and lo, #3 did not conform to torque spec. Why you check even brand-new cars, as prep techs are human too). Just changed the oil to proper level (maybe even a touch low re: previous post's reasons) and have gone just under 100 mis, so that can't be it. Only thing left, was coolant level Hybrid system coolant and ICE coolant levels in their respective overflow bottles, weren't criminally-low (hybrid was midway betw. MAX and MIN, and ICE's was about a third low betw. same. Didn't have Toyota coolant on-hand, so bought a gallon and topped them both to MAX. Wasn't expecting much... but man, there were defo perceptible change. Better feel in the steering, stronger return to center. More punchy off-line launch, even in ECO mode. Quieter cruise from ICE. And the cherry on top... were short trips (I stress, w/ ICE properly warm) for weeks getting max 50 - 65 mpg, now topped 70, even getting an 89 w/o trying -- which is what the car got just after being broken-in, and since Feb could not match it. Only thing that makes any sense for why... is thermal mass. Since coolant distributes the high heat of internal combustion throughout its volume (when circulated properly), if the heat source doesn't change and you reduce volume of coolant circulating, you also reduce the amt of heat the system can contain. Takes massive amts of energy to boil 3L of water and even more when turned to fresh coolant... so adding even a half-pint into an ICE's overflow / draw bottle, will increase thermal mass of the cooling system. Have no exp with one, but makes sense a hybrid cooling system's thermal mass is even more crucial. Battery life and performance is more directly related to what temp you can maintain operation... so if you reduce that cooling system's thermal mass... its performance will suffer more. Just like dirty ICE oil in an ICE-only vehicle will affect non-intuitive systems depending on strong ICE -- power steering, charging, power-assisted brakes -- since a 5G's steering is all-electric, of course it'll feel better. If you've made an adjustment to owner-serviceable things that conform closer to engineering parameters, the car will perform closer to that ideal. Since the perf was bleeding off gradually, didn't realise how much difference just adding a half-pint and 3/4 pint of coolant could unlock. It's a lot Back to today... after topping up returned to the hybrid rental, to find a couple getting into their rental EV to start their vacation. Didn't see the biz owner tho, so stood and waited. We have to leave and lock the gate behind us, they called out their window. Hmm, okay. Didn't see the owner around (was 0800, their usual opening time)... so had to concede will probably have to ask the questions I had, when dropping my Prius off at the body shop. Nah -- gave them a call. Yup, you're a go for tmw, said the owner. Do you not open at 0800, like last time I came by to make the deposit? No, just dropping off a car at the hotels, so won't be back for an hour or so. Wasn't expecting you until tmw, just that couple... so didn't need to be there. Reasonable, and reassuring, tbh. Reminding front ends hey I'm a customer, take care of me pls... has been so ingrained into this ex-mil brain used to (and weary of) ate-up subordinates who think effing up's funny and you should too -- what are you, a jerk? That I mis-called this one. After explaining myself (owner and I are the same age within a few weeks, apparently) he laughed and said no worries, I know where you'll be tmw. Great, thanks, see you tmw. And scene... Still think dropping this habit unwise, given it defo applies on a tropical island destination where much of the population younger than 30 walks around high on their own time... and the more FAFO getting tokes at work too (w/ their bosses, in many cases). But guess always gonna be case-by-case, innit
