WHY I'M NOW SLEEPING BETTER BY SHUTTING DOWN MY TOTO WASHLET

We all have good and bad days. I've noticed that when a monumental setback occurs, that event many times triggers a major lifestyle change, improving my life.

One example was my avoiding a colonoscopy for a decade. I finally went through the process, learned the result, which was positive, and then enjoyed a continuous state of euphoria for two years.

Something like that happened this week. I awoke one morning to sit on the toilet and got a shock to my system. The seat was cold. For six years now I've had the benefit of a TOTO washlet that warmed my seat and provided certain cleansing opportunities.

I could be wrong, but I think this TW 3054 cost me around $300 to have installed. So I went back to my 15 Craigside contact and asked him to do it again. A couple of days later he said that this would cost around a thousand dollars. I checked Amazon, and couldn't find this specific item, but noticed that the closest number was indeed $995. Further, went to the TOTO source, and the original SW3054 was selling for around $1300.

$1295.70

was $1851.00

save 30%

Source: TOTO SW3054#01 WASHLET S550E ELONGATED BIDET TOILET SEAT WITH AUTO OPEN AND CLOSE CLASSIC LID AND EWATER+, COTTON

Around day 5 of this TOTO affair, I noticed something else had happened. For the past six years I sneezed a lot, and whenever I went to the bathroom, my nose began to run. It got to the point where I tried to hold my breath when I had to go at night. But even that did not really work. My sleep, thus, has been compromised all these years, because it is difficult to go to sleep with congestion.

I had blamed the soap, shampoo and additives to my bath for causing this allergic reaction. But since the TOTO breakdown, I came to a conclusion that it was this device causing my breathing problems. What happens is that the washlet sprays some water before and after. Maybe it was this mist that somehow had the right diameter to affect my respiratory system. So I called 15C and asked them NOT to order a new TOTO washlet. Surely enough, for the past week now I have slept better and don't get any nasal reaction to my bathroom stops.

This has enormous implications, for I remembered that this sneezing/nose running condition also came when I went to Japan. There, all hotels have them.

While I could be the one human being suffering from this TOTO syndrome, maybe not. Anyone reading this posting should assess their lifestyle if they too might be suffering from this ailment. And if a TOTO representative sees this, contact me. I think I have a solution.

I did search the world wide web to see if this was endemic. Apparently not, for there is no mention of my problem.

So if I don't have a washlet, how do I comfortably seat? In Australia, for example, rarely do you experience anything by TOTO. Their seat material is a kind of porcelain, and sitting on them really is truly uncomfortable. The cold lasts a long time. My solution? Buy a washable seat cover. I bought two for around $15 each.

Then, for the wiping part of the process, Cottonelle flushable wipes. Each wipe costs around 4 cents:

Not an ideal segue to my final topic of the day, but I overindulged this week on beef. First, 15 Craigside provided the following meal for Valentine's Day.

I very slightly fried the above in wagyu beef fat, and had a feast with a salad, two red wines, hot sake and some scotch on ice.

I then got fancy and had a bone marrow and artichoke dinner:

Again, fried some wagyu fat and placed the beef shank very carefully into the pan so as not to have the marrow leak from the bottom. Added onions and sliced some of the meat portion to see if it was edible.

The wine was a Black Box Cabernet. The surprise was that the meat was very tasty and soft enough to eat. I noticed that the shank came from Paniolo Cattle Company from Parker Ranch on the Big Island. The all natural beef comes from superior Angus genetics. This was the best bone marrow meal I've ever had.

Then last night it was garlic steak, with portobello pasta, salad, red wine and beer.

I am a bit concerned about some weight gain, but plan to on Wednesday walk the Ala Wai Golf Course.

I should mention that Monday, February 21, is a federal holiday. They combined all our presidents into Washington's birthday, February 22. If alive today, he would turn 290 on Tuesday.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

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HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

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