OUR LIFESTYLE AT 15 CRAIGSIDE

Taylor Swift arrived at LAX yesterday, went to one of her homes in Southern California, and will make it to Las Vegas today for Super Bowl 58. But that's old news. The biggest question of the day is not who wins the game. Will she join Usher on the stage at half time? After all, Usher in 2011 performed with Swift Yeah at her 2011 Speak Now tour in Atlanta. Here is their duet. That would in Las Vegas possibly become a foursome, with Lil Jon and Ludacris.

Incidentally, do you know that she owns eight homes, investing $150 million of her $570 million in them? Two in Los Angeles, both in Beverly Hills. One of them is a 1934 10,982-square-foot mansion purchased in 2015, first owned by Samuel Goldwyn.

Living at 15 Craigside (not that temple, but the apartment just behind--I lived for 32 years at an adjacent taller Craigside you can barely see) involves a plethora of activities, comfortably safe environment and long term security. Of course, this doesn't mean you can't go out. For example, we have a golf cage in our parking lot, only a few feet from where my car is parked. Then off to Ted Makalena and West Loch Golf Courses.

The Gold Trees are blooming.

We joined two friends from Waimanalo we met on our Regent Seven Seas cruise from Dubai to Singapore, Paige and Gregg, at Tsuru Ton Tan Udon Noodle Brasserie in the Royal Hawaiian Arcade, Waikiki:

Those are not optical illusions. The udon bowls were huge. In a couple of weeks they're off to Sydney for another Seabourn Odyssey cruise. We leave on our world adventure in a month. Noticed Chinese New Year decor at this shopping area.

Back at 15 Craigside, we had a Chinese New Year lunch yesterday.

White label scotch for the soup and Tsingtao Beer from China.

Jian Dui is that sesame ball.

We bet at 15 Craigside. Monday and Wednesday nights at poker, and today a Super Bowl pool. Only $1 per number to predict the total score for both teams. My numbers are 37, 56 and 74. Then tomorrow afternoon, a party to celebrate our gambling games. Is this all legal? The poker okay because the house does not take a cut. The pool, probably not, but to arrest us is to arrest much of America.

Betting on the Super Bowl is expected to be $23.1 billion, 35% higher than last year. Only a small fraction of that will be with legal outlets. Viewing is also expected to be higher. Both because of the influence of Taylor Swift.

Again, Happy Chinese New Year.

Comments

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 suspicio...

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for...

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 a...

Search This Blog