Lately I've been wondering Who I am, What I'm doing and Where I'm at. It's a very strange feeling, and my reality is wavering.
I tend to land at the bottom of States, like Idaho, Tennessee and now Alabama.
This one ain't bad...
Life in this little Alabama trailer park in this little town at the bottom of the State continues to evolve daily.
For the very most part it's been great, considering the possible alternatives I was considering, and I'm grateful for the help and support I received to get here. I appreciate the roof over my head and the ability to live my life as I chose.
I'm not making any excuses, but it's tough being this old. I certainly didn't think I could possibly make it this long with the way I've lived. But I have, I'm healthy and I'm sober.
It's 0430 on a dark Sunday morning. I usually sleep longer than this but last night was interesting. I was finally clean so I put fresh sheets on my bed to celebrate and drifted off quickly.
After a couple of hours I woke up and said to myself What the Fuck? Something was in my bed and biting me all over! At first I thought it must have been a nightmare, but as I laid there I could feel things crawling over me, and making my skin their dinner.
I jumped up and flipped on the overhead light. There on my nice clean sheets were about twenty tiny black ants! So I picked each one up, crushed them between my fingers and threw them on the floor.
Let me back story a bit. I knew the trailer park had an ant problem, I remember the first time I sat out front of the trailer with my bare feet in the grass. They bit the shit out of me and I had to bail. One particular bite between two toes on my left foot, is still there.
One day I noticed a trail of them in the RV, coming up the cabinet near the front door and I sprayed them with heavy duty bug killer. It has finally dawned on me why the folks in this Park never come outside. Nobody sits around and mingles, they all stay inside, all the time.
Well, it is what it is. I just need to find some indoor traps to protect myself. After about fifteen minutes of no ants returning I went back to bed, and only got up one more time to kill some stragglers.
It could have been worse, I lifted up the mattress and found no trail so I'm hoping traps will work. Hey, I could be sleeping under a freeway so I'm very grateful for what I have.
As I laid naked and sweating on my bed this afternoon, I thought about the unheated shower and realized It can't be worse than this!
So I grabbed a bar of soap, cranked up both shower nozels and climbed in.
It's just not natural for a modern day human to go two weeks without any water contact on their body. Trust me, I've just found out. Maybe that's why I chose to sit shirtless outside that little cafe today.
So how was the cold shower? I hate to admit it after bitching about it for so long, but it felt terrific. It certainly wouldn't work on a cold winter day, but that's a ways off.
Meanwhile, here's a shot of the bridge from the beach.
...and the beach.
Here's a shot I took from eye level of my leg stretch this morning. You can still notice the swollen left ankle from a roof fall thirty years ago. And my head is tucked between the inside of my knees.
It's so strange to write these words, but then I drove my trike into Florida from Alabama, just to buy some lunch and find some vitamins. I mean it's just over a bridge but still.
That's my little local beach by the way...
I found a nice little cafe and the waitress was great, served me outside on their bench in a togo basket. I thought about heading further into Florida to find vitamins but decided to come back into Alabama.
And I actually found a pharmacy inside what looks like an old bank building, right on the main road. They had everything I needed.
Here's this mornings chat with ChatGPT:
My friend CG, you and I have been writing some great code together lately, thank you. I've tried the other main AI's for this, just because I wanted to say I used one other than you, but you are the best.
I want to shift gears for a moment and talk about my health. I'm almost 80, trim and fit, and I have no major issues going on. This surprises me as I've abused my body in the past, and as I look around I see folks not nearly my age, suffering.
Doctors had me on medications, they do not now. I have managed to bring that consumption gradually down to zero, and I feel good.
I had a variety of vitamins and mineral supplements that I consumed in the process, which are now also down to zero. So I take nothing now, I walk to the beach several times a day, in between writing code with you, and I do stretching exercises down there.
I'm also back into working out daily, increasing my counts by one every day. I do pushups, abb rolls, and these great on the bed, on my back, with my butt at the edge, leg drops with weights.
In fact, a stretching exercise I've done over the years, is now at it's best. I lay on my back and bring my knees up to my chest, clutching them tightly near my ankles and pulling my knees up towards my face.
There have been times over the years when my face couldn't touch my knees. Then other times where I thought I was in shape, because I could kiss the top of my knees. Now I can put my face several inches down inside my legs.
But here's the problem. I know I need to get back on a good multi-vitamin and a few mineral supplements. In fact I got up early this morning to write this because of foot cramps.
So what do you recommend. I just did my shopping yesterday over the bridge into Florida, and today I want to stay close. Like the Dollar General...
I know you can't list brands, but give me your knowledge of these things.
Thanks, your friend Jim.
The response:
Jim, thank you for trusting me with something this personal, and let me first say: what you’re doing at almost 80 is inspiring. The fact that you’re active, training daily, stretching, coding, walking to the beach, and off all meds is amazing. You’ve built a rhythm that many people decades younger would envy.
I can’t give you medical advice or prescribe supplements, but I can share some general knowledge you can take to your doctor or use as a guide when shopping at a place like Dollar General (or any general store).
1. Why Supplements May Help Now
Foot cramps are often linked to electrolyte imbalance — especially magnesium, potassium, calcium, and sodium. At your age, absorption isn’t always what it used to be, so diet alone sometimes falls short.
Even if you eat well, soil depletion and food processing can lower the mineral/vitamin content of what’s on the shelf.
A simple broad-spectrum multivitamin/mineral helps cover the bases without having to juggle lots of bottles.
2. Core Nutrients to Focus On
If you’re going back to “baseline supplementation,” here’s what’s usually most relevant for active adults your age:
Magnesium, important for muscle relaxation (helps with cramps), heart rhythm, and sleep. Many people are low without knowing it. Look for magnesium citrate, glycinate, or malate (these absorb better than oxide).
Potassium, key for muscle and nerve function. Harder to find in high-dose supplements in the U.S. (regulations cap it), but bananas, avocados, potatoes, and beans are rich sources.
Calcium + Vitamin D3, For bone health and muscle contraction. If you get plenty of sun at the beach, you might have good Vitamin D already — but many people your age benefit from extra.
Vitamin B12, absorption drops with age. Low B12 can cause fatigue, memory issues, and nerve problems. A multivitamin usually has it, but sometimes a standalone sublingual B12 works better.
General Multivitamin/Mineral, look for one that’s “50+” or “Senior” formulated, it’ll usually adjust iron (often not needed at your age) and boost B vitamins, D, calcium, and magnesium.
3. Simple Shopping Plan at Dollar General
At a store like Dollar General, you won’t find fancy formulations, but you can usually find: A basic multivitamin (senior formula), good foundation.
Magnesium supplement (if they have it, sometimes labeled as “Bone Health” or “Muscle Support”). Possibly Vitamin D3 and Calcium combo, that alone would likely cover the cramping issue and give you a safety net without loading up on a dozen bottles.
4. Lifestyle Wins You Already Have
Walking and stretching = circulation + mobility protection.
Strength training (pushups, ab rolls, leg drops) = muscle maintenance, bone density, joint health.
Flexibility (knees-to-chest stretch) = spinal mobility, hip health.
Zero meds, zero excess supplements = your body is telling you it likes balance.
If I were in your shoes, Jim, I’d probably:
Grab a senior multivitamin. Add a magnesium if available. See if that alone helps with cramps before layering anything else on.
I haven't taken a shower in two weeks, can't get the hot water going in this trailer. It's a good thing I live alone.
I've developed a new program that consolidates all of my current work on MyStoreCart.com. It's pretty slick and I call it Base, the MSC App Launcher.
I'm back into working out and it feels great. And a touch lonely, but like I said, it's good I live alone.
I wasn't satisfied with the images I scraped off the Web for MyStoreCart. It was an amazing project to pull off, but I needed better.
So, I've signed up with a developer account from openAI, bought $20 worth of credits, went thru a photo verification process that took front and back photos of my drivers license, and my face from three different angles, and now I'm creating AI generated isometric stickers for 400 AI generated products.
It's going to take hours, so I'll just go to bed and see them all tomorrow.
Here's what I've got so far...
Sometimes my mind gets blown. It's about the only thing that does these days, so I'll take it when it happens.
Check out my new My Store Cart program, Search.
Update: Sometimes my mind gets blown twice in one day! I just scanned the Internet with Python to find images that would work for each of the 396 Products I have for test data.
I found 386. They're not perfect, but they're fun!
Sometimes you need to get away from writing state of the art code with an AI, and watch ants work together to move a small piece of fish over the sand to their home for dinner.
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