My new friend, Claude

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My son is a computer smarty and lives away.  Whenever he comes to visit and I want him to “fix” my computer or problems that I was having doing computer stuff, he would do a Google search, show me the options and proceed to put in the fix.  His parting advice would always be the same, “Use the search page to find answers”.  In other words, do it myself with other “experts” help on Google.

On his recent visit this week, I had some chores for him to do.  Dig out the overgrown aloe plants in the front that were overtaken with wild grass, clean up my website and add just one Google adsense ad to the bottom footer of my pages.  He did all three jobs, much to my grateful surprise heart.

Intro to Claude

Instead of searching on Google for answers to coding and the steps to follow for my website, he used Claude.  Claude?  Yep, Claude – my new artificial intelligence friend.  Claude asked me how he could help.  My son typed in clear, concise, and detailed questions, after which Claude sent back a list of steps to take in clear, concise, and detailed explanations.  WHOA!  Nothing like the Google searches with pages and pages of possible “experts” that usually don’t really address my specific situations.  Just Claude and his answer.  A thoughtful and patient AI friend with solutions and instructions just for me.

Within minutes, my computer savvy son made my website less redundant with unnecessary sidebars and duplicate search bars, deleted my old Adsense widget that had multiple irritating ads; replacing it with one that allowed for just a single ad at the bottom of my pages.

My turn

My son (my crown prince) left today with his lovely wife and I was on my own.  I just recently started having a chalky feeling in my mouth, like cotton without the fuzz.  I thought it could be because of Dr. Ellie’s protocol with Xylitol and sodium fluoride rinses that make my teeth so smooth and clean, so I asked Claude.

Claude responded that Xylitol could be a possibility for dry mouth but also asked if I was hydrated, injured, or what other drugs or supplements I was taking.  It could also be mouth thrush.  Claude asked how long I had the chalky mouth symptoms.  I said 3 days.

Claude got a little excited (well it felt like that to me) and asked what new thing I started in the last few days.  It was Super Berberine from Dr. Keith Scott-Mumby for blood sugar control and healthy metabolism.  I listed the ingredients, and bingo!  Berberine can cause dry mouth and alter a change in taste temporarily as a side effect, Magnesium (one of the ingredients) can produce a metallic or unusual taste in the mouth.  It was suggested to stop taking it for 1-2 days and see if the chalky mouth subsides.

This I will do and am glad that it is could be just a temporary symptom from this product that I plan to restart after the 2 days.

Claude.ai

Claude is free for simple users like me, depending on usage limits.  It is very private, easy to access and easy to use.  Go to Claude.ai and create an account.  Start a new conversation by clicking on the chat button and type in your questions or request. This really does become a conversation and follow up questions and responses flow.  I like him, a lot!  One of these days I will ask him the meaning of life, or if he likes older women.  LOL.

Peter Savio for Governor!

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We are like frogs in a pot of water that is slowly being heated up until the point of – well, you know what.  We can see and feel how our island home and culture are changing as our values and lifestyle are slowly disappearing.  That makes me sad because I am local and feel blessed to be here, and other locals feel the same but either cave in or move away.

One of the points that Peter Savio points (sorry for redundancy) out is that our local neighborhoods currently have 20 – 30% non local occupancy.  My real estate daughter challenged that number and asked where the data is.  Not sure where he got those numbers but I believe if you just look around your own neighborhood (mine is Kaimuki), the influx of “new” people replacing locals is right around 20%, maybe more.  It’s not that these people are bad.  They aren’t – but their upbringing and history clash with ours and they are initiating unconscious changes.

And there are more coming in to replace locals who are either dying off or moving away.  Peter says when the mix is over 50% non local (he predicts 10 years), then we have lost the Hawaii that we know and love, and we really need to keep locals here and not force them to move away because of the costs of housing and our lack of good jobs.  Demand based, rather than Supply based housing should bring the cost of homes down to $450 instead of over a million dollars, and then the local families don’t have to move away from here.

He mentions how Singapore leaders and planners came to Hawaii in the 60’s to learn how to make Singapore a vibrant country because they were dirt poor and struggling, and they took it back and with the Hawaii plan in motion, changed Singapore into the vibrant and rich country it is now.  He asks why Hawaii didn’t continue what we had and instead became what we are today.  He does NOT advocate that we follow the Singapore model (heaven forbid that we have concrete and glass jungles that replace our paradise) but that we go back to the Hawaii plan and implement it by keeping the monies generated by industries such as solar farms, etc in Hawaii and not allow outside interests to make the money and take it back to the mainland, and foreign countries.

Limiting out of state investments is what is needed but this is countered by those in power as “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.  That is the easy answer so the root of the problem is not addressed.  It can be done so it is legal and constitutional with the right words to use and disincentives.

Anywho, I am ranting because I worry for out future generations and am very troubled that we are losing what is near and dear to me about our beloved Hawaii.  True that I am old and will die sooner rather than later but I feel we owe it to our islands and island people to keep what we have rather than have it all slip away.

Please watch if you also care.  It is a half hour program but I hope you can take the time to listen.  If only our politicians and others in power care enough to keep Hawaii Hawaii.  I can hope, right?

Words of (every) Day

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I subscribe to the Sacred Science team because I am an alternative healing believer. However, I don’t always pay attention or do what I really should be doing (i.e. eating my veggies) but I do like the wisdoms that Nick Polizzi shares each day. I think I did post one of his “words” before, but this time, he shared 3 of them. I really liked it. I hope you do, too! Here it is:

Hi Aunty,

Mother Teresa once said, “Be happy in the moment; that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.”

It isn’t always easy to live that way though. Our minds often lurch here and there, and sometimes they don’t feel like our friends.

If left unchecked, my own inner critic can turn on me. Does that ever happen to you?

Yet there are times when the beauty of a sunset stops me in my tracks or simply looking at someone I love fills my heart with a gratitude that just leaves me speechless. In those moments, my higher self sits at the helm and the stories in my mind stop mattering whatsoever.

This is the essence of mindfulness.

Mahatma Gandhi once said,

“A man is a product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”

Science backs this up. According to a recent study by Massachusetts General Hospital, consistent mindfulness literally changes the neurons in your brain.

So if you practice mindfulness in moments of anxiety or depression – and you take positive actions such as listing 5 great things you have going for you – your brain will transform your experience on a chemical level.

Then you become the author of your own life story.

But it takes practice to be mindful. And it takes a willingness to set aside our little stories and quibbles with life – no small thing!

This nondenominational Serenity Prayer (which is usually attributed to American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr) is a wonderful touchstone for exactly this purpose:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change

The courage to change the things I can

And the wisdom to know the difference

We are souls in physical bodies, stuck in linear time – so we cannot change the past. But the future is your oyster, and it’s up to you to walk in the direction of your highest self…

Stay curious,

Nick Polizzi
Host of Healing Kitchen: Let Food Be Thy Medicine
& Founder of The Sacred Science

Free Covid tests again!

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I had Covid once. It was very mild – sore muscles, achy body but it just lasted for a day.

There is so much that is unknown about it that I test if I have a cough or anything that might be related to Covid. I had several home tests that were given away for free by the Federal government – and they were expired but possibly still good enough to show positive results.

I heard that we can get free Covid tests again – though they might be expired. So, I went to https://special.usps.com/testkits , put in my name, email, address and will soon be getting 4 free tests again, mailed after September 30.

September 30! Oh my, it will soon be October. Time sure did fly this year! And this has been a doozy of a year.

We Are the World – by Children

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Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie wrote this song under pressure and an unbelievable star studded cast was thrown together for one special and grueling night to record this epic: “The Greatest Night in Pop – the untold story behind We are the World” on Netflix. The recording had the megastars of that time all gathered in one place without their assistants, for an entire evening and into the morning. It was coordinated with land lines because it was before cell phones came to be.

Here is a version done by elementary school students at Clarksville Community School. Michael Jackson would have been so touched. After all, this song was written for these kids.

Enjoy, please!


Pliers and Catch up

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I do believe one of the rules of successful blogging is to post at least once a week. Ha! So I am doing unsuccessful blogging and not stressing about it. When my techie son comes in October (from Portugal!), I will ask him to reinstall Google adsense which places ads on my website – but I want more subtle ads – like maybe only one on a page.

Older and maybe wiser, but more forgetful
I got older – but I think I am a bit healthier because I take exercise classes at the Kaimuki YMCA. I take the Silver and Fit chair/weights/resistance bands classes on Tuesday and Wednesday with Yoli. She plays the best music and makes all of us energized and happy. TaiChi got moved to 6:45 am – yikes! So I only do the Thursday afternoon practice session with Mike. I just stopped doing Jazzercise because I have more morning events at the Hawaii Potter’s Guild, the pace was too energetic for me since my speed is TaiChi and sit down stuff.

Moving and change
My move from upstairs to downstairs is complete but I still have SO much stuff! I donate to Re-Use Hawaii (temporarily closed while they find a place to relocate) and Savers (senior discount of 30% on Tuesdays!). And I began selling on ebay under 3 user names – bead_bozu, thcollection, and honoluluaunty. Why 3 user names? Not sure – but I have always made my life more complicated than it needs to be. Ebay has gotten even easier to list items for sale and is helping me clear out things that my kids won’t want (which makes me sad).

I now have 2 cute hapa grandsons and 1 cute hapa granddaughter. But I do not babysit. I am being selfish and want to have my own time to do what I want. I do occasionally watch the 2 little ones since they live upstairs from me. But boy! parenting is such hard work! I had 4 young ones and I really don’t remember how I got through each day and the passing years.

And now, the tip of the day!

We have young new neighbors across the street. Chika and her family bought the house that used to have single guys who did short term rentals and the yard was a mess with bushes of haole koa as well as cars everywhere. They really cleaned up the yard, renovated the house, and trimmed the trees so it now looks great! And she loves to do yardwork – just like me!

So one day I was clearing out a patch of weeds to make room for a puakenikeni tree. I had so many keiki haole koa growing – and those roots are deep and tough to pull. Chika saw me struggling and came over with an old plier and started pulling out ALL of them very quickly and rather easily!

It was AMAZING!

So that is the tip of the day. Save your old pliers and put them in your gardening tool bag. Below are pictures of roots that I would never have been able to remove without disturbing the root ball of a night blooming jasmine tree that I was given. They were just skinny deep roots that were part of a grass weed that could have become a problem, but are now exterminated. Thank you to young Chika! Goes to show that you can teach an old dog aunty new tricks!

Root balls of very clumpy grass that I pulled out while transplanting
Some broken off roots still remain, tendrils sticking up
Pliers to the rescue! It would have been impossible to pull them out without causing damage to the plant.

Don’t Floss?

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Okay, I had my root canal done by Dr. Nozomi Yamauchi over at Island Endodontics a couple of weeks ago. How was it? Longer than anticipated because my tooth was quite endangered. But it was also very wonderful because of the gadgets that are employed (mouth trampoline, soft block to hold my mouth open, and the most comfortable chair to relax in and headphones to listen to music. He is located in the most beautiful building in Kaimuki – 3660 on the Rise, and fully validates parking (I was there for TWO hours!).

I was worried that I would have extreme pain and recovery but I had zero pain that day and night, except for the area where the numbing shot went into my gum line. He had to cut away some of my gums (deep and invasive decay) so I was told to keep that area free from food debris with rinses. This was easy to do since I had started Dr. Ellie Phillips’ rinse, brush, and rinse, rinse procedure. I was shown pictures of my abscessed tooth and the after pictures of a ceramic post (which was then covered with a temporary “tooth”.

Yesterday I went to see my wonderful dentist, Hideki Kurokawa (808) 538-0047 for a cleaning with my favorite dental hygienist Liane (she cracks me up) and to schedule a crown. I told her about Dr. Ellie’s rinse brush rinse rinse protocol with certain sodium fluoride products and she commented about how glossy my teeth had become. She was a bit taken aback when I mentioned not flossing. She also showed me how to brush the gumline and teeth with a diagonal motion rather than straight across to really get into the pockets of teeth and gum.

She spoke to Dr. Kurokawa about what I was doing and when he came in for the consult, he said to keep doing what I was doing. According to Dr. Ellie, if my mouth is in optimal health and my saliva is doing what it should be doing and not acid from sugar, foods, etc., cavities can actually be reversed. I have this one cavity right on the top of my front tooth that will be the guinea pig for this. It is so visible and easy to monitor.

What Dr. Kurokawa said was very interesting. He said many things do work for peoples’ health and well being but it also depends on whether or not people actually do what needs to be done. I raise my hand in guilt. But this one – I WILL do. And I just received my order of Zellie’s Xylitol gum and mints (it took 2 weeks to get to me!) and will have a gum after every meal, drink or snack. Did you know that in Finland they give Xylitol gum to the little children after their lunch and recommend it to pregnant mothers so they combat the ravages of decay in their mouths?

But I digress. To floss or not to floss. Here is Dr. Ellie Phillips presenting her side of the story. And if I do floss, it will be when my mouth is full of Crest Anti-Cavity toothpaste.

Update: Pal Cleta is doing Dr. Phillips’ protocol and had a very good dental exam recently. Hurray! I, myself, am beginning to take my cleaner teeth and mouth for granted – but it really is so much cleaner and feels so much more healthy. It is quite wonderful that I stopped wanting to just pull out all of my teeth and wear dentures.

This tip is for Cleta. Those Act mouth rinse bottles are different from the other bottles with measured doses by squeezing the bottle. I liked that feature and now have the CloSys mouth rinse and the Listerine mouth rinse in the Act bottles. To do that, I pull out the tube thing that sticks up from the “cup” with long nosed pliers. Then I am able to fill the empty Act bottles with either Listerine or CloSys. Put the tube thing back in the bottle, cover with a paper towel and use a small hammer to pound it back in place. I peel off the old Act label (leaves a very stick residue) and then put the CloSys label in its place. I do the same with Listerine (though that label is rather difficult to remove). Then, tadaaa! I have 3 very easy to use rinses that give me just the right amount of liquid for each step. Hope this is a good tip to others!

Reversing cavities

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I am SO tired of having rotten teeth. I am at the point where I want to pull them all out and wear dentures. Remember dentures? All the old people had them and they would take them out and soak them in a jar on the nightstand, and then put them back into their mouths when they get up to eat breakfast.

Of course, I am to blame for the condition of my teeth because I love my Coca Cola, my Good News candy bar, chocolate chip cookies and constantly snacking while I watch movies and series on Netflix.

Recently one of my teeth really hurt and a trip to the dentist (Hideki Kurokawa – who is a really great dentist) confirmed a cavity that is causing inflammation. Not good. Not good at all so I will be having a root canal done this week by Nozomu Yamauchi at Island Endodontics. Dr. Noz is super good – really super good. And I can say this because I have a mouthful of teeth that have been root canaled by many different endodontists, and Dr. Noz is the best by far.

Meanwhile, cruising on Google for information on rotten teeth solutions (I really just want to pull them out), I came across a lady dentist who looked to be my age and she talked on my level. Her name is Dr. Ellie Phillips. She said I can reverse cavities by re-mineralizing my tooth enamel with some simple tips and a small lifestyle change. I watched and listened, and then I watched and listened some more, following her links and other videos that she has produced. One of them said to stop flossing.

What?!??? Stop flossing? That is almost sacrilegious! But truth to tell, flossing is a chore I would love to give up. Reverse cavities? I don’t think so – but then I do hope that it is possible. Strangely and coincidentally, I picked up a bag of Xylitol gum at 7-11 this morning with my spicy ahi inari sushi (ono!) because it called to me – and this was before I watched Dr. Ellie.

So long story short, I will recap who she and others said.

Demineralization of the tooth enamel causes holes. To stop caries (pre cavity stage), limit sugar, stop infection of outside surface of tooth by correcting PH levels to alkaline and give it the minerals that a healthy microbiome needs in the mouth. Use sodium floride with rinses and brush teeth with Crest Cavity Prevention toothpaste and Listerine Cool Mint flavor. If you feel you must floss (not recommended by Dr. Ellie), then do so when you have toothpaste in your mouth.

After meals, chew on Xylitol gum. Xylitol is a natural sweetener that inhibits plaque from sticking to your teeth and has long term effects for oral health. It is highly recommended for pregnant mothers because babies are born with healthy microbiomes from the start and it lays the foundation for good oral health for life. Xylitol has a very long term effect – 5 years after stopping use in a trial test, participants still had good oral health and less cavities.

Stop nibbling and sipping between meals. Saliva needs to be present to nurture and mineralize the teeth, and sipping or eating washes away our saliva until it is replaced, which takes about an hour.

There is much more information, and watching one video can lead to others such as how to whiten teeth naturally. The commercial methods to whiten teeth actually destroy and weaken teeth so I’ll stick to having my yellow teeth. However, I did bite the bullet and ordered Dr. Ellie’s kit (Crest toothpaste, rinses, Listerine, and Xylitol mints) because I am a believer. Her gum is cheaper than the one at 7-11 and reviews of the fruit flavored one says it tastes like Juicy Fruit gum – yum!

So, maybe I will keep all my teeth and be happy with them. That would be nice, right?

Update: I was informed that they can’t ship the kit to me due to shipping restrictions! What a bummer! Ah well, I can still order the gum and/or mints (on sale until May 14, 2024) at 20% off. I will go to Longs and get the kit products since they are all over the counter stuff.