February 11: Jean and I purchased a new TV because the old 2008 Samsung 50" we had for over 14 years quit working. The new TV is a LG - 65" Class C2 Series OLED evo 4K UHD Smart webOS TV, purchased from Best Buy.
 |
Above: LG-65" TV
|
March 6: After reading about California Senator Dianne Feinstein (age 89) being hospitalizes with shingles I decided to bite the bullet and get my first shingles vaccination (two shots are now required). The first shot was a Shingrix 50 MCG/0.5ML injection, the second shot should be sometime between the next two and six months (May 6th to September 6th). This vaccine is more than 90% effective and protection last 4 to 5 years.
March 7: Started radiation treatment, through April 12, about 5+ weeks.
April 7: Went to the Hans Olson concert at Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) Music Theater in Phoenix.
 |
Above: My view at the MIM
|
April 10: President Biden signed a bipartisan congressional resolution to end COVID-19 national emergency that was declared on March 1st of 2020 by President Trump. More than 1.13 million people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 over
the last three years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, including 1,773 people in the week ending April 5.
April 27: Finished reading "That's An Old Bike...Where You Headin'?" by Nick Adams, read this Kindle book on my iPhone 12. The book is about a Canada coast-to-coast trip on a 50-year old Italian motorcycle (a 1972 Moto Guzzi Eldorado, V-Twin, air-cooled, 850 cc) by a retired guy that just turned 70 years of age. Extremely interesting reading for me. He also has an excellent 26-minute YouTube video on this trip at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzTpAELS1HE . This was the second Kindle book I’ve read by Nick Adams, the first was "Do It While You Still Can", which I read in December of 2021, the first book I ever read on a smart phone. I wrote a short review of this book on Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1VY9CSAXC6IYT/ref=cm_cr_othr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0B6241JGG
 |
Above: Cover of the Kindle book.
|
May 4: Finished reading "Coast to Coast on 2 Wheels" by Alan Taylor, read this Kindle book on my iPhone 12. The book is about a Canadian man that had a coast-to-coast motorcycle ride on his bucket list. He finally made it later in his life in 2009 on his 2003 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Classic II. He decided he wanted to do the trip on the United States side of the border as he thought the USA had more sights to see and more history to check out. His ride was broken up into two parts, the first and shorter part was from his hometown in the Niagara Falls, Ontario area down to Buffalo, NY and then east to Maine and back into Canada for a wedding. This part was done with his wife Shelley as a passenger and his friend Rob who rode his 2003 Suzuki 1500cc Intruder. The second and longer part was done a little later with just his friend Rob, from Canada down into the United States and then west mostly along historic Route 66 ending up in Monterey, California. Then they turned around and headed back east through the United States to their homes in Canada. Interesting reading, lots of nice photos from both the author and his friend. I wrote a short review of this book on Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/review/RM7NKGEZ4ROVM/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv .
 |
| Above: Cover of the Kindle book. |
May 5: The World Health Organization (WHO) ended the global emergency status for
COVID-19 today more than three years after its original declaration on January 30, 2020,
and said countries should now manage the virus that killed more than
6.9 million people along with other infectious diseases.
May 12: Finished reading "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway, I read this free-version Kindle book (in public domain) on my iPhone 12. I don't normally read fiction but for some reason I always thought about reading this book. An interesting story.
 |
| Above: Cover of the Kindle book. |
June 19: Finished reading "South" by Sir Ernest Shackleton, I read the Kindle book on my iPhone 12. I can see why this adventure is considered to be among the greatest survival stories of all time. Hard to believe this crew of 28 survived all they went through. Two days after leaving South Georgia, their ship the Endurance encountered polar pack ice and progress slowed to a crawl, and after about 5 weeks the ship was completely trapped in the ice. After about 9 months the Endurance was crushed by the ice and finally sank about a month later, marooning the 28 men on the polar ice. They all made it back to safety after being stranded for about a year and a half.
 |
| Above: Cover of the Kindle book. |
August 7: Finished reading "Across America by Motor-Cycle" by C.K. Shepherd, I read the Kindle book on my iPhone 12. The book is about a British man that made a coast-to-coast motorcycle ride in 1919, at the age of 34, from Manhattan, NY to San Francisco, CA. He rode a 1919 Henderson Z-2-E four-cylinder motorcycle rated at about 14 horsepower. His distance covered was 50 miles shy of 5,000 miles and the trip took about 2 months. Back in those days there were hardly any good roads for this trip. A fairly interesting book with lots of details on how bad the roads were. He camped out most nights. The book was published in 1922, with a few photos, and interesting stories.
 |
| Above: Cover of the Kindle book. |
August 27: Finished reading "James Dean-A Rebel's Life in Pictures by J.I. Baker and the editors of Life." Interesting reading and viewing. Book gifted to me on August 5th by friend JIMeo Jeffers.
 |
Above: Cover of book.
|
August 29: Went to the Sir Richard Bishop (of Sun City Girls) concert at Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) Music Theater in Phoenix. Opening act was by Hans Olson.
 |
Above: Sir Richard Bishop
|
August 30: Received second
shingles vaccination, a
Shingrix 50 MCG/0.5ML injection. This vaccine is more than 90% effective and protection last 4 to 5 years.
November 6: Pool remodel completed. Signed contract with Sun Valley Pools (Lionel Arnoult) on 9-18-23, chip-out completed 9-26-23, tile installed 10-24-23, mini-pebble installed 10-30-23, pool remodel with start-up was completed 11-6-23, or about 7 weeks. Would have been sooner but prior repair work was require, replacing pool pump valves and new skimmer, work done by Colin Irons Pool Service (Brian Sandoval), and repair work (all new DE filter elements, DE filter repair which included new manifold, o-ring, backwash valve) done by Pool Solutions AZ (Leonel Bejarano).
 |
Above: Remodeled pool, complete 11-6-23.
|
December 8: Received an epidural steroid injection of lidocaine (numbing agent) and dexamethasone (steroid) into the epidural space. The goal is to reduce the pain in my lower back. Procedure was called L5-S1 ILESI (InterLaminar Epidural Steroid Injection) medial.
Note: The results was an improvement, that is, less back pain when walking and standing.
December 16: Finished reading "Dreaming of Jupiter" by Ted Simon. Book gifted to me on November 23 by friend Diane Waller. In 2001, at the age of 69, Ted Simon decided to retrace his
first round-the-world motorcycle journey that started in 1973. For this second trip it took him 29 months, he covered 59,000 miles and 47 countries on a 1997 BMW R80 GS..
One interesting portion of the trip for me was for two months he was not riding solo. Simon wrote "My very dear friend from Chile, Malú Sierra, the woman I love, has come to ride behind me in Thailand and India. It was not my idea. I think she's crazy. She has never been on a motorcycle in her life and now, aged 61, she wants to do this. But how could I stop her…?"
But that relationship did not work out after they came back to California, the book didn't explain why, Simon just wrote "...it didn't work."
 |
Above: Book cover.
|
December 21: Received flu (regular dose, not the senior dose) and COVID-19 (Moderna aka Spikevax) shots at Safeway on Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd.
