
Reagan1k
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Posts posted by Reagan1k
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15 hours ago, thunderlounge said:
Interesting. I wonder how accurate that ring is?
I mean if you are in a spot where “close enough” would be ok. Like the ring says 110, and a poke says 107 or 112, something like that.
Probably not close enough for sliding scale, but for general tracking?
Would be interesting to find out.
The Oura ring component of what I'm doing is not measuring anything. It's app is interfacing with and pulling from the Stelo (Dexcom) monitor stuck in my arm. They (Oura) and Stelo have an agreement that Oura can pull data from the monitor.
The Stelo app gives me the readings and Oura pulls its own readings - data pulled from same source. So while I have a Stelo app giving me only glucose readings, and the Oura app gives me the glucose but also allows me to view it in the context of other things.
When my sleep score is lower I can see that my overall glucose is up. When my activity is higher I can see it go down. I can see that when Oura detects stress, my glucose is also rising and vice versa.
Oura just uses the data to provide a more holistic view of total health with glucose as a component. Food intake is obviously just one component of glucose changes.
The Stelo app is 100% glucose focused.
Again, I don't know if the this specific Dexcom Stelo monitor stuck in my arm is "rated" for use by a diabetic or not. There could be various classes of continuous glucose monitors - I'm not sure.
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23 hours ago, Im_smarter_then_you said:
Are there any phone apps that can monitor your sugar?
** Disclaimer - I am not a diabetic and have good A1C levels**
I've recently started using the Stelo (by Dexcom) to monitor my glucose. It has an app that's easy to use and provides alerts as needed.
Not sure if it is "rated" for use by someone who needs it due to diabetes, but it's easy to use with the app and insightful. It also links seamlessly with my Oura ring which also displays and uses the data.
My goal with it was to become more aware of glucose spikes and the role that plays with inflammation / longevity and Alzheimer's.
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6 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:
As I wrote about earlier in this thread, I have slightly elevated BP and cholesterol #s which are controlled via meds. I would describe my PCP as not into uncommon tests or numbers for which he says that there is little to be done. I like him but that aspect bothers me a bit. I have a family history of heart problems so I interested in learning more even if its just understanding the genetic component. This week I signed up, on my own, for more health tests at Labcorp: LP(a), and their Heart Health Test including ApoB.
Is there anyone else into testing on their own?
My PCP has rightfully indicated that if I'm that concerned about my heart health, then I should follow as healthy of a diet and exercise regime as possible and then not worry about anything. I don't disagree with that advice but I'm also a numbers guy. I also wouldn't describe myself as worrying about my health as I can be fairly unemotional about it.
I've done all kinds of stuff.
Sounds like what you're really looking for in this case is the Cleerly Scan. It'll show you and your doc exactly where problems might be and the type of coronary disease you have, if any at all.
Below is the type of output you get for all the major vessels.
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I hunt with my G40 10mm and have had a lot of success (for me).
I second Buffalo Bore and have also had great results with Underwood Ammo (for hunting / not being hunted).
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Fascinating period when those came out. Different worlds were still colliding out west.
Went to presentation some time back by the Cody Firearms Museum covering the guns of the west and it was amazing that they had pictures of cowboys with their 1873s, 1876s, Thompsons and even some Spanish Mausers - in the same picture.
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Cosigning all of this that Hospice is not just for final days - make them comfortable stage - which is the overriding societal idea. It is much more than that and they will assist with and provide things like beds, chairs, etc. along with the care they provide.
For cognitive issues, there is a "test" and a standard that involves daily activities of life, but those can be discussed with the signing doc ahead of time so that when the threshold is crossed, you're ready to act.
I suggest getting hospice involved early....normally the right time is before it is already obvious that it is needed. They're typically great and they understand what's going on so much better than the family or a layperson. They can work wonders getting patient compliance when no one else can.
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On 5/5/2025 at 7:28 AM, BurntOrange&White said:
I love making this with boneless/skinless thighs instead of breast.
Swap out the Cream Of.......with
french onion soup and it works very well as a change of pace.
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Just got my 2nd 1911 from the cmp sales.
Colt slide / Colt frame - Very pleased.
I'll get some photos later. Nice gun - dates to production at the end of the war.
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5 hours ago, Ghost of NMAS said:
It's not like dementia; she recognizes everyone, and her long-term memory is still good, but her short-term memory is just about completely gone. I end up having virtually the same conversation with her every day.
Sounds just like early dementia to me based on my experiences with several family members and friends. Short term is often 1st to go. They can still tell you their 1st grade teacher's name but not who they had dinner with last night. Long term declines later and more slowly. The longer the relationship, the longer they hold on to the memory. Forget grandkids before kids, and kids before spouse kind of deal.
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45 minutes ago, Cousin Strawberry said:
Is your family from East Texas?
Is Dequincy, La far enough east? Yeah, there and out in what's become Deweyville / Mauriceville area.
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12 minutes ago, Deej said:
What's the problem here?
None at all as long as the pear/peach syrup doesn't run over into my rice.
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This brings back some good and bad memories.
Bad -Canned pear half and mayo or canned peach half and cottage cheese was a staple "salad" of most southern baptist Wednesday night fellowship dinners. Add in some beef tips and rice or baked chicken and rice with a side of green beans and that's what was served in the 50's - 80's. Probably a product of some of the more "interesting" culinary trends that came out post war, and it was a cheap, easy side to serve a lot of people. The 50's produced some odd combinations.
Good - Weekend meals for my grandparents normally were "dinner" at 1 or 2pm and "supper" at 8pm. Dinner was their big meal and supper was usually small and haphazard. Leftover cornbread and buttermilk as mentioned above was a staple for supper and my father would still make cornbread about once a month for no other reason that to put in buttermilk. I don't recall ever doing saltines, but I'm sure it would do the trick.
Good - In spring and summer, slice tomatoes, sliced raw onions, cucumbers in vinegar, and white bread/butter was on the table for every dinner. I'm an onion guy raw or sliced, probably because of that.
Bad - Warm Dr. Pepper and lemon was a big thing. The company promoted it in advertisements and on the backs of the old steel cans. Warm carbonation is no bueno.
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As with most things IRS, I would suppose the easiest thing to do would be to file and pay whatever minimal tax there is even out of your own pocket.
In fact, if she hasn't been required to file there may be a credit or deduction somewhere out there you could claim to wash it.
Medical expense threshold if her income is low and it can exceed the standard deduction by $5k would be an offset???
Keeping that slate clean and them out of her hair would probably be worth an hour of time to file and a few hundred dollars out of pocket for a SIL caregiver.
I'd consider the cost in your time and having an anxious MIL if she got a letter after not filing. Might be an easy trade.
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18 hours ago, Sandman said:
The worst part is watching him. He had a hell of a time coming out from the anesthesia and was acting weird. Crying out for help, not knowing where he was and then falling asleep again. I'm back at work today and my sister said he was telling old stories and then getting emotional about his father, who died in 1973. Then sleeping again.
This is a tough deal and a bit of a wild card caregivers have to watch very closely. Surgery and especially anestesia are HARD on the elderly (no shit) but the problems can manifest in weird places. The anestesia can be especially hard and unpredictable. If there are any underlying neurological problems like dementia, Alzheimer's, or Parkinson's, it often "kicks the ant bed" and can lead to a downward spiral. I experienced this with a parent where some very mild symptoms (pre-anesthesia) went to 11 on a scale of 1-10 immediately after. Doesn't always happen but happens enough. Whether or not it is temporary or a new normal is patient specific.
A couple of buddies who are an anesthesiologist and surgeon respectively helped me process this regarding my parents. Anesthesiologist said they do their best but it is a crapshoot how the elderly respond, and surgeon said any procedure is trauma to the body (body doesn't know the difference between a stabbing and a procedure - it's still cut) and trauma elicits all kinds of physiological responses which can have a cascading effect.
Damned if you do and damned if you don't in many cases where the procedure is required, but tread carefully on elective procedures for those who might be compromised already. It's a balancing act or risk/reward.
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On 4/11/2025 at 7:35 PM, Sandman said:
I was stone cold asleep when my phone rang at 0130, probably the deepest sleep from which I have been awakened unexpectedly. I saw my sister was the caller and I knew something bad had happened. Dad was taken to the heart hospital with chest pains and trouble breathing. He was sleeping, so I went down there a little later. He had a mild heart attack, caused by blood loss. Turns out he's seen some blood in his stool the last 3-4 days, off and on. He said he didn't say anything because "it went away". Please note that my dad was a medic in the military for 25+ years, then spen 17 years as a cardio-cath tech. So he should know better.
He got a few units of blood and feels much better. He's getting scoped from every orafice in the next day or two to find the cause of the blood loss.
Same thing happened to my father years ago. My mother was out of town and I get a call that he's too weak to get off the shitter. EMS went in and got him up and noticed the bloody stool. Ulcer was bleeding, stomach full of blood, and the result was a heart attack from the blood loss and all that entails. No telling how long he'd been ignoring it. It didn't just happen that day for sure. On the bright side, it probably gave him some extra years because in all of the work-up, they found some blockages that would have killed him sooner rather than later and he ended up with some bypasses.
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2 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:
structured product that gives limited equity returns (SPY, QQQ, Russell 3000, etc) and has downside protection. It is a 3-4 year plan.
Go on..... Indexed annuity or managed portfolio with option strategy?
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Yep. I think Ruger was a big supplier to euro LEO many moons ago. Makes sense they copied what they liked. I want the 73 too but can't bring myself to spend the $$.
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This weekend I ran about 500 rounds through a Bul Armory Tac Pro 5" with Holosun 508t multi and really enjoyed it.
Only issue is that when it got a little dry the slide lock lever wouldn't always engage but that's on me.
Very enjoyable to shoot and it's only limiting factor was my ability. Nice gun.
Also ran a box through my Manurhin MR88 which I hadn't done in a long time. Sweet shooter especially with .38s.
Biggest revelation there is that my eyes are going and I can't see the front sight for shit. Researching replacements since I don't want to paint it. Getting old sucks.
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17 hours ago, Jerry Callo said:
Oh, that's much better than Big Book for Dummies.
Put me in the camp of .....whatever gets a hopeless alcoholic sober is good for me. It may be heresy to some, but if we need plain language books or pop-up picture pages.....I don't care. I want those that seek the solution to get the solution.
I'm all for starting with the big book as written, but if that language is the obstacle, who am I to say that a translation isn't worthwhile.
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6 hours ago, GlenFromTheMailRoom said:
Thank you for the encouragement.
This week is officially been 11 weeks since my last drink, I think. I'm losing track a bit but I guess that's a good thing. I've been continuing with breathing exercises and meditation as well as continuing to see my psychiatrist. Who I'm a bit on the fence about at this point because it's been 4 sessions and she keeps saying we're just scratching the surface. If this is about CBT, then I don't know if my insurance will allow it to go long enough to get the full effect at this rate. I decided to toss the SSRIs largely due to the fact that I can't deal with the side effects right now. I had been doing well on the prozac until a non-related health issue (stomach issues) came up last week and the Dr. switched me off of it and onto Lexapro. I didn't handle the change well and didn't sleep for almost 3 days. The Dr. (a G.I.) said to try to push through it but I need to sleep in order to deal with the other thing that's going on. I'll spare everyone the details of that because it's not tangential to this thread. I had to wind up taking a dose of Temazepam to knock me out last night but was able to get a solid 7 hours in and feel much better today.
The lack of sleep really threw me for a loop and I wound up getting some BW done because my body was stressed out. All that came back clear and we're still treating the other thing. I've been looking more into Ketamine therapy as an alternative to SSRIs for the anxiety. I know there's no express lane for this stuff but I also don't want to go the pharmacological route for the rest of my life. The gut issues seem to be at the heart of what is really driving the anxiety and the GI, psych, and an integrative health doctor here in Austin seem to be in agreement with that. My panels from the integrative health visit turned up some interesting stuff. Low vitamin D levels, moderately low test, and thyroid. They sent me some stuff to handle that but I'm holding off the test and thyroid supplements while I deal with the stomach issues.
I'd encourage anyone that's recently gotten sober or is considering getting sober to see both a GI and integrative health doctor (make sure they're an actual physician) to make sure your gut is in order. As you get older, that stuff is nothing to mess around with.
I still have no desire drink and the thought hasn't crossed my mind.
Keep fighting the good fight.
Glenn.
Take this for what it's worth (nothing) but I can tell you the experience of one alcoholic.....Me.
Anxiety, depresion, lack of sleep, shitty shits, stomach pains, all that.....it was a part of my existence and drinking seemed to keep it at bay temporarily, but when I'd have to stop it all came roaring back in spades. So I had to drink. I sought every answer under the sun to alleviate the symptoms; every answer that is but to stop drinking and look at the root cause of why I couldn't stop and more importantly stay stopped.
Stopping and staying stopped were two separate issues. I couldn't stop once I started. I couldn't stop starting. I could not not drink over any considerable period of time. I had resolve. I sought solutions.
I sought help from psychiatrists, psychologists, MDs and a thousand medical tests, anti-anxiety / anti-depressants, through diet, through working out, massage therapy, religion, meditation, supplements, sex, spending money buying shit....I tried it all. Nothing made me feel better for long enough that a drink wouldn't finally become a good idea at some point, and then the cycle would start.
Someone finally told me how they felt the same way, and then diligently worked the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. They told me going to meetings would help me on the fringes day to day, but that the lasting relief was through working the steps. They also pointed out that not only did I have nothing to lose and it wouldn't cost me anything. If I did it and didn't get something out of it then I was no worse off than I was when I started.
I did just that and have continued to do just that and I got not only the relief that I was seeking, but a better life than I'd imagined was possible when I was staring at the thought of life with or without drinking. That was 10 years ago and counting.
You might consider adding the work of the PROGRAM of Alcoholics Anonymous to your repertoire....not just attending meetings...but doing the work and see what happens.
Just one guy's experience.
Godspeed,
Reagan
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10 hours ago, Anastasis said:
Yeah, wish I had more information on the provenance. It came out of my step mothers fathers collection. He was a tank operator in WWII, and had from what I understand pretty tough POW experience. Post war started a business in Texas and did pretty well for himself. Had a hell of a gun collection. Never met him myself, he had passed before things got real. But an early childhood memory was the distribution of his gun collection among his heirs some years after his death. Just room after room filled with guns with tags on them. A few that imprinted were tommy guns, serious colts, and the 1911s. I ended up with a couple of them in various later pass down giftings. Some of the frankly lower tier stuff in the grand scheme of the collection, but some of my most cherished firearms. I have the old beater shot through 1100s from my dads father. And a stack of vintage playboy mags from my moms father. God bless that man I never met and whose firearms his unknown great and great great grand children will hopefully also cherish.
I would be of less than zero help on something like this but I can promise you there are online forums that can.
Break it down and take pics of each part with the stamps and markings. They'll be able to tell you what the guy who assembled it had for breakfast that morning. It's amazing to see that work, but most of these guns ran back through the armory a few times and are mix-masters of parts from various oems. Very few maintained all their original parts, and those that did are highly valued.
I've got an Ithaca frame and Remington slide. Often the assemblers at the armory also used their own stamps, so these gurus can decode who actually assembled or reassembled the gun.
Would be a cool research project.
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12 minutes ago, Armybrat said:
Well, I don’t qualify to order CMP firearms.
If you can legally purchase a firearm, pay $35 to join the Garand Collectors Association (you get a cool magazine) and have a concealed carry license.....you qualify.
If you don't have a CC, then the below would also serve as a related activity.
Proof of marksmanship participation can be provided by documenting any of the following:
- Current or past military service.
- Current or past law enforcement service.
- CMP or NRA Classification card.
- Participation in a rifle, pistol, air gun or shotgun competition (provide copy of results bulletin).
- Completion of a marksmanship clinic that included live fire training (provide a copy of the certificate of completion or a statement from the instructor). Visit http://ct.thecmp.org/app/v1/index.php?do=match&task=search to find an upcoming CMP sanctioned clinic or match.
- Distinguished, Instructor, or Coach status.
- Firearms Owner Identification Cards that included live fire training. – FFL or C&R license. (Note: An expired C&R license is acceptable to show proof of marksmanship.)
- Completion of a Hunter Safety Course that included live fire training.
- Certification from range or club official or law enforcement officer witnessing shooting activity. Complete the CMP Marksmanship Form to certify your range firing and the required marksmanship related activity for an individual to purchase from the CMP.
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Tuition payment strategies
in Business and Markets
Posted
Most if not all will charge a %-based transaction fee on any credit card payment. Unless you can make the value of the rewards exceed that cost, it might not be enough juice to warrant the squeeze - or even worse you could be hustling backward.
UT = 2.3%. TAMU = 2.25%. TCU = 2.85%