Stu Pitt Stuff

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BINGE READ!

Online since 2009, the Stu Pitt Stuff blog is authentic, cool, fun and funny. Sometimes wildly entertaining, sometimes even brilliant, and occasionally serious. Based in America (in trendy L.A.) my Stu Pitt Stuff blog uses humor, wisdom and truth to shine a light on life, the big things and the little things.

Spend some time on this blog. If you do, you will laugh, you will learn things, and you might just improve your life. At the very least, you will smile.

Feel free to binge read this blog, I've been writing it since 2009 and there are over 400 posts.

Read and enjoy.

established google blogger

Stu Pitt Stuff is the creative work of Andrew Lawrence, author and artist. Andrew wrote more than 20 books that can improve your life ... fast. Visit the author's website at Andrew Lawrence

And if you like fine art, he is also a fine art photographer. Visit his photographic portfolio at Fine Art America

Around the world

Stu Pitt Stuff - it's everywhere!

Online visitors to this blog have come from the United States, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Finland, Poland, Russia, Australia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, China, Vietnam. And other countries.

Not just an American blog, Stu Pitt Stuff gets visitors from all over the world: from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. Literally from every continent except Antarctica. And, to rectify that, as I am sometimes stubborn (and sometimes weird), I actually contacted the U.S. research center in Antarctica, McMurdo Station, and emailed someone else at another station in Antarctica, and kindly asked that someone please go online and visit my blog and kindly complete my global guest quest - visitors from all 7 continents.

The point? Never give up. Even if you have to go to Antarctica.

UPDATE: a day later I received an email from an astrophysicist at a research center in Antarctica who said they went online and visited the Stu Pitt Stuff blog. Cool! Or rather, cold; at the time, in Antarctica, it was -63 C (-81 F).

Yes! I completed my global guest quest - blog visitors from all 7 continents. Am I pleased? Very.

Revolution

November 2024 will go down in American history as the Second American Revolution. The first was in 1776.

The first American Revolution was about overthrowing a foreign nation governing the country, without allowing Americans a voice or choice. The second revolution, in 2024, was about rejecting domestic political autocratic rule by a progressive Democrat Party and restoring America and its Constitutional freedoms and rights and power to its citizens, to We, the People. Unlike the first American Revolution, the second revolution used voting, not weapons and war.

The huge victory, and landslide election of Donald Trump and the Republicans in 2024, has historic significance, not as a one-time election but as the new direction, and a new bright future, for America, and the world.

Trump Coffee Mug

For all those who voted for Trump, and/or like/love him, as a photographic artist, I created a special coffee mug for you.

Now, every morning, you can drink
coffee with President Donald Trump!

It's the official Trump mugshot, from when he was arrested (mugshot is in the public domain). I then artistically edited it and then it was abstracted by me using AI. I then put the photo on a coffee mug. The Trump Mugshot Coffee Mug. The above is a photo of the coffee mug.

The Trump Mugshot Coffee Mug is available via my online art dealer, Fine Art America. You can choose the background color, etc. It is available in sizes small (11 oz) and large (15 oz). 11 ounces is standard.

Get your Trump Mugshot Coffee Mug today!

Fine Art America

are you happy?

Do you know someone

who is not happy?

Would you like to see them happy/happier?

Now you can. Now you can make yourself, or someone you know and care about, a happier/happier person. In as little as 1 hour. Now, with the help of modern technology, you can give the gift of happiness! To yourself and others. A digital gift for a friend, family member who could be happy/happier. Or yourself. It’s one of the greatest, most caring gifts you can give.

Happiness Gift

speed test

On November 30, 2024, on a whim, I did a speed test for my Windows 11 laptop. I use Spectrum wireless for my internet connection, their basic service. What was my internet speed?

500 Mbps

Wow! That's fast! In the old days I used AT&T as my internet provider (it was the only service available) and was way behind in speed in my area. I was lucky to get 5 Mbps. And yes, I remember dial up.

I am happy to have fast internet service. Thank you Spectrum! And, no, I was not compensated or paid for this post.

Tripped by the sun

A few days ago I fell. Down the stairs. OMG. I fell down the stairs? OK, I fell down 1 stair. I missed the last stair going down an outdoor stairway of about 15 stairs and, in an instant, I landed on the concrete, hard. I laid there for a minute or two and assessed my injuries. It felt like no bones were broken but I was not sure. I was able to get up by myself, no need to call an ambulance.

What caused the fall? Was I drunk? High? Old age? Dementia? Alzheimer's? No. It was the sun. The sun? The sun made me fall? Yes, the sun caused me to trip and fall down. It was a sunny afternoon but a shadow totally obscured the bottom stair and I did not see it at all and tripped on it, causing the hard fall. This had never happened to me before. I was tripped by the sun.

Soon, the pain arrived. My left palm hurt and my left shoulder really really hurt when moving my arm. These were the parts of my body that absorbed the impact of the fall. The next day I went to Urgent Care, to see if I broke, or permanently damaged, my hand and/or shoulder. They did an x-ray. Fortunately, no bones were broken. It was only soft tissue injuries. And would likely heal. Whew! I was lucky!

So, I was tripped by the sun. And survived. The moral of the story? If you are older, be careful going down stairs when you are outside on a sunny day. And use the handrail if there is one. And pay attention to where you are walking, as trips and falls are all too common.

afflictions

Suddenly, I was afflicted. With itchy legs. Really really itchy legs. Both legs. From the thighs to the ankles. Inner and outer. No rash, just horrible itching. I had no idea what was causing it, and looking it up on Google didn't give me any answers that fit. The itching was more or less constant and a huge distraction. After a day of it, I was starting to lose my mind. I applied some moisturizing lotion and that helped a bit, for a few hours. But I realized that. if I was out in the world, among people, I could not just pull my pants down and re-apply the lotion.

After several days of this affliction I went to my dermatologist. They did a physical exam and asked me a lot of questions. They didn't know what was causing the moderate-severe itching of the legs.

It has now been a week. My legs still itch. The moisturizing lotion helps and the affliction is somewhat manageable. Hopefully, it will go away, soon.

This affliction made me realize something. It made me realize that many of us, most of us, all of us, are afflicted with...something. It could be something serious, something moderate or something mild. But an affliction. I can now sympathize with everyone who is afflicted. We share the pain, the malfunctioning or the distraction of being afflicted. From now on, I will never look at someone and assume they don't have some kind of affliction, maybe an affliction that doesn't show. Like hemorrhoids.

To all of us afflicted, I wish/pray for the affliction to stop, to heal, to go away. All afflictions. We don't need, or want, any of them.

Birthday change

Hoppy Birthday!

I have another birthday coming up soon. I have had a lot of birthdays. I even have a saying about it.

What's the secret of a long life?

Keep having birthdays.

Now that I have had a lot of them, and have yet another birthday coming up, I am thinking about changing the way I deal with my birthdays. Maybe, from now on, instead of adding another year to my age, on my birthday I will SUBTRACT a year!

Reflections

I wanted to share a few comments about my life, before I die, which is likely to be sooner rather than later. And reading this may help a person be a better person, and elevate themselves, and their life.

During my lifetime I developed myself. I evolved. By what I call learning-by-living, by using my brain, by embracing the things I was interested in. By growing, by learning. And by changing as a result. After many many years of this I became myself. My true self. THAT is the ultimate personal goal of living, to become yourself, your true self. I was happy to realize that my self was a good person. That my life purpose was to help others. I achieved those spiritual goals. Here's what I did to implement those goals.

Throughout my life, people have approached me socially with their problems. I listened and offered clarity and advice where appropriate. It seemed to help them and help them feel better. I had that natural ability and desire. That made me feel good.

I attribute my abilities and knowledge, in part, to the 8 years I spent in therapy as an adult. No, I wasn't crazy. I was just not happy, not happy enough, and couldn't figure out how to fix that on my own. In my 8 years of individual and group therapy, I learned a great deal about myself, about others, and how human nature works, or doesn't work. And, yes, I became a better me. A happier me.

Starting in 2000, I started writing books. I have authored 20 self-improvement books. I wrote about many things, many problems, problems that were or were not fixable. I did this to help, so others could benefit from my experience and knowledge. My books are available on Amazon. Check them on my author blog. my top books

My personal favorite is "Stories of A Lifetime", containing stories of truly amazing things that happened to me in my life.

And, in 2009, I became a blogger. I started StuPittStuff.com and started posting about stuff I observed, experienced or thought.

I also became a fine art photographer, with over 3,800 photos in my portfolio. I specialize in colorful Nature photos. This. to bring the uplifting beauty of Nature and art to the world. My website is Cool Color Photos

And the ultimate creation of my lifetime is my "Happiness Download", a downloadable 50-pg guide on how to be happy - now- and for the rest your life. Yes, I created it to help make the world a happier place...one person at a time...and for them to have an easy and fast way to do it. My website is Happiness Download

There you have it. A few of my ultimate comments about my life. An incredible life. I accomplished my spiritual life goals. And, hopefully, I have a few more years left to appreciate and enjoy that.

Hole Wheat Bread

So, I opened a fresh new loaf of Nature's Own 100% whole wheat bread to find...holes. Each of the first 10 pieces of bread had a giant hole in it. I did not not look further. I was stunned. WHY would a leading brand of bread make and sell its product with a big hole that goes all the way through it? HOW do you make a nice juicy sandwich with holey bread? I was going to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, spread on this whole wheat bread. Now, with the giant hole in the slices of bread I could not apply either peanut butter or jelly, they would ooze through the bread and drip on the floor, or my shirt. And it's not just peanut butter and jelly, how do you make any sandwich with like mustard or ketchup or mayo on it if the bread has a large hole in it, if the chosen ingredients will squirt through? Answer? You can't.

So, what do I do? Do I put solid food on the hole in the bread to cover it up? Do I eat the peanut butter, and the jelly, direct from the jar, with no bread? Do I stop making my own sandwiches? Or, do I stop buying this leading brand of Whole Wheat Bread?

Hole wheat bread, another dumb idea from modern America. And the loaf costs $5!

Update:

It's been months and the holes are still appearing in the loaves I buy.

HEY, DUMMIES, FIX IT! Nobody wants Hole Wheat bread!

toothbrush

The Cool Toothbrush

I needed a new toothbrush. A regular, manual toothbrush. I went to my local CVS to buy one. I was stunned! The toothbrushes cost like $8-$10. I was used to paying like $4-$5. I bought the cheapest name brand and took it home. I hated it! It had an upper plastic back that was heavily corrugated and felt truly horrible on the inside roof of my mouth.

I vowed to get something else.

A few days later I went back to CVS. I also had started using Barbisol shave cream, the travel version. It was great. And cost $1.29. I needed a new can of it. At CVS, I went to the Trial and Travel section. There was my Barbisol! Oh, wait a minute, nearby were travel toothbrushes. Huh. I took a look. Some of them looked cheap and stupid but one of them looked interesting. It was a folding toothbrush. And it looked well made. And the price was under $3. I decided to try it. It is fantastic! I love every part of it. It's very cool. And it works great!

It's now my new toothbrush. I will continue to buy it when I need a new toothbrush.

Two mornings in one

Lately, I've been having two mornings a day. What? 2 mornings? In the same day? Yes.

I wake up each day after 3 hours of sleep, in the middle of the night. At about 2 AM. It is my first morning. I am refreshed, awake, alert and have creative things to do. Like writing this blog post. Or working on my fine art photography, editing my art or putting it into my online portfolio. And getting the news online and finding out what the world has been up to.

On my first morning I have a cup of coffee, read the news and do some creative things for a couple of hours. Previously, before the Covid pandemic, I slept through the night. I was not awake, alert or creative in the middle of the night. Now I am. Now I have two mornings each day. During my first morning of the day, in the middle of the night, at about 4 AM I have breakfast. After a few hours in my first morning I get tired. I go back to bed, get some more sleep. And then wake up again about 3 hours later. And start the day again. A restart. A second morning. A second chance at life.

Yes, I have two mornings. Every day. I like it. I like having two mornings. Every day.

Weird dream

I had a weird dream. I dreamt that I was editing images of a red planet. A red planet? Mars? The scene kept on repeating itself, me editing images of a red planet. Yes, I do fine art photography. My own creative photos. Why would I be dreaming of editing images of Mars? What did it mean? It made no sense. I do not edit photos for NASA. Or any astronomical organization. Where did the images of a red planet come from? I didn't take the photos. Why did I have the images? Why was I editing them? Strange dream. Weird dream. What could it possibly mean?

An idea popped into my head. Why don't I look up the meaning of the dream online. Not that I expected to find the meaning of dreaming about editing images of a red planet. Oh, wait a minute. Why don't I try AI? Maybe there's a online AI dream interpretation site. I looked on google. There was an AI dream interpreter.

I went to the site and entered my dream. "Editing images of a red planet." Here is what it said

Dreams can have personal meanings and can vary based on individual experiences and emotions. However, here are some possible interpretations for editing images of a red planet:

1. Exploration and curiosity: The red planet could symbolize Mars, a planet associated with exploration and discovery. Editing images of it may reflect your desire to learn and explore new territories or ideas in waking life. 2. Transformation and creativity: Editing images represents the act of altering or enhancing something, which could signify a desire for self-improvement or personal transformation. The red planet's color may symbolize passion, energy, or creative impulses. 3. Unresolved emotions: The red color might also relate to intense emotions, anger, or frustration. Editing the images could represent your efforts to find ways to cope with or modify these feelings. 4. Ambition and goals: Red is often associated with motivation, power, and determination. This dream may reflect your strong ambitions and your commitment to achieving your goals, especially in areas that are currently unexplored or uncharted.

Remember, the interpretation of a dream is subjective, and it's important to consider your personal associations and feelings towards the symbols in your dream when trying to understand its meaning.

Wow! That was a pretty good, pretty accurate interpretation! From AI. From an artificial intelligence source. I was impressed. And a little scared. AI read my mind. AI interpreted my dream, the inner workings of my inner mind.

Welcome to a new world. An AI world. Luckily, this time AI helped a human. Me.

interview

In January 2024 the blogger was interviewed by Voyage L.A. and the fascinating interview can be seen here:

https://shoutoutla.com/meet-andrew-lawrence-author-and-fine-art-photographer/

Technology

The new economy. Where bots are already ruling the world of customer service and support. And welcome to the new technology, where nothing works properly, everything is not simple it's overcomplicated, and home users have to be the equivalent of a software developer/engineer to do anything on their device. That does not apply to 11-year-olds who today often ARE the equivalent of software engineers.

Fear of money

Fear of Money? No More!

Many people have a fear of money. The thought of having lots of money overwhelms them. Why? They think, they believe, that if they have a lot of money, the money will control them. I will now dispel that fear, the fear of money.

First, let me tell you how I overcame my fear of money, big money. My first real job was on Wall Street. I was in my early 20s. I started as a trainee for a major investment banker, in their money market area. We sold and traded large investments. It was designed for institutional investors, like banks and pension funds and corporations. The minimum investment was $5 million. I freaked out when they told me that. $5 million? I could not even conceive of that much money, let alone in a single transaction.

My first assigned task was to check the trading/sales tickets for the math. Back then, WAY back then, the trades were handwritten and it was the early days of calculators. After only a few hours of seeing and checking $5 million tickets I realized something, something strange, something significant. I realized that these $5 million transactions were not actual cash, not actual money. They were paper trades, signifying the money and the commitment to sending it. Nobody walked into the trading room with a wheel barrel full of millions of dollars of cash. I never saw the 5 million dollars in actual dollars. The money was always wired to the banks. Soon, to me a million dollars became just a 1, 2 commas and 6 zeros. $1,000,000. Five million dollars became just a 5, 2 commas and 6 zeros. $5,000,000. Sometimes in a trading day we did 100 transactions. At $5 million each. That's five hundred million dollars. Half a billion dollars. In 1 day!

My fear of money was gone! Since then, I have never been afraid of money, I am only afraid of not having any.

If you have, or were to come into, a sizable amount of money you will probably see it deposited into your bank account, or in an investment(s) not handed to you in cash. A bank deposit. A bunch of numbers, signifying wealth. A bunch of numbers which can be converted or spent on wonderful things, for yourself, your family and others. The money doesn't control you, you control the money. Why do I say that? Because, in the extreme, you can GIVE IT ALL AWAY! Y-o-u control your money, it does not have to control you, unless you let it.

The exception to the above is if you receive lots of money in cash. If so, make sure you are not doing something illegal and risking getting caught, arrested and going to jail.

Taquito Tuesday

Taquitos

I discovered a delish dish. Taquitos. Monterey Jack cheese and chicken taquitos. From, believe it or not, 7-Eleven. These taquitos are spicy. And delicious. And filling. And they are often on sale, 3 for $3!

How did I discover this delish dish? A couple of months ago I had to take the car to be checked. The tire pressure was low and I saw a screw sticking out from the tire tread. Uh oh. A flat tire was coming. As I did not have a spare I took it to a nearby Pep Boys. It was lunchtime. I was hungry. I sat there while they were repairing the tire. I was getting really hungry. I went outside and looked around for someplace to get something quick to eat. I saw a 7-11 across the street. Hmm. Perhaps they had an edible sandwich that I could eat, or at least stomach. I walked over to the 7-11. I looked around. I saw a grill with a bunch of stuffed long round things cooking. The stuff looked good. I chose a Monterey Jack cheese and chicken thing, a taquito. I paid for it and walked back to Pep Boys, eating as I walked. OMG, the taquito was tasty! Spicy, cheesy, chicken-y and soft. Easy to bite into and chew. Yummy! I liked it!

Since then, on Tuesdays I go to a 7-11 and get 3 taquitos. I have them for dinner. Taquitos make a good breakfast, a good lunch and even a good dinner. Apparently, these taquitos are popular, late in the day they are often sold out. I try to buy them hours before I am going to eat them. When I want to eat them I first heat them up in the microwave. I also wanted to be aware of the nutritional info, as eating too many, or too often, could be not so good for your health

1 taquito = 180 calories

carbs = 23grams

So, my 3 taquitos contain 540 calories and 69 grams of carbs. That's why I only have 3 of them, weekly, or maybe twice weekly. If I ate more of them or ate them more often, I could easily gain weight. Normally, the 7-11 taquitos are 3 for $5. Plus tax.

Am I happy with my new discovery, the 7-11 taquitos? Very happy. My mouth was watering the whole time I was writing this post. Today is Monday. Maybe, instead of waiting until Tuesday I'll have them for dinner tonight!

UPDATE:

These taquitos are no longer 3 for $5. They are now 2 for $3. That's a 33% economic shrinkage. For the same 3 taquitos I bought for $3 it now costs $5. That's an inflation rate of 66%. As a result I no longer have them as on a regular basis. Welcome to the new society.

bad design

Re frozen pizza

As a lunch treat I bought a frozen Lean Cuisine Four Cheese Pizza. It was one of the worse mistakes I ever made regarding food. At home, I opened the carton, excited and looking forward to having a nice microwave pizza for lunch.

For microwaving I followed the directions one at a time:

1. To get the silver plate off the inner side of the carton I had to rip the carton.

2. Then, ripped, I could not make a platform out of the carton as directed.

3. I could not microwave the pizza and could not eat it.

I threw the frozen pizza away. Uncooked and uneaten.

A total waste of my money and very irritating and disappointing. One of the worst packaging designs in my lifetime!

I will NEVER buy another Lean Cuisine product again.

hobbies

I have two hobbies. My main hobby is fine art Nature photography.

It is a good outlet. A very creative hobby, makes me feel good, gets me some exercise, outdoors, in nature, and feeds my soul. And it's practically FREE. The one-time cost of the camera, and editing apps, and some ongoing gas usage to get to and from Nature.

This hobby kept me sane during the 2 years of the Covid pandemic. Instead of being isolated in the house, as there are usually few, if any, groups of people walking about in Nature, I could be outside daily, enjoying the natural environment, I could move around freely, did not need to wear a mask, and did not have to practice social distancing. After 5 years of actively doing this wonderful hobby I have created nearly 4,000 photographic works of art. My website is CoolColorPhotos.com

My second hobby

My second hobby is: playing the lottery. I play the scratch-off tickets. I spend $10 day. I play the $10 scratchers. Maximum win is one million dollars. In participating in this hobby I am mostly using the money I am saving monthly by vaping instead of buying and smoking cigarettes. It's like a $250 monthly savings. And I also play the $2 lottery draw games when the cash jackpot exceeds $100 million. My lottery hobby spending is tightly controlled by me, I don't spend more than I can afford to lose. Why do I play the lottery? Excitement. And hope. Sometimes I win $20. Or $50. Or $400. I could win $1 million. Or $100 million. Miracles can happen. Fantasies can come true.

My two hobbies. Satisfying. Affordable. They give my life a nice boost, often.

Rewards

In this post I am going to sum up life. Yes, really. Having lived a long-ish time I believe I have learned the true basics of life, the truths, in both the reality and the spiritual. And now I will share them with you.

The gift of life

We are given life and are born into the world. We are a blank slate. As we grow we observe and experience and learn and adapt or reject or interpret or misinterpret what we witness or imagine.

The point of life

The point of life is to become who we are. To remove the obstacles and acquire what we need to become our true whole self. We are each of us an individual with unique viewpoints and experiences.

The purpose of life

Everyone has an ultimate purpose in life. A spiritually based purpose. As adults our true life job is to find, and carry out, that true purpose. I even wrote a book about how to find your life purpose.

The goal of life

The goal of life is happiness. Happiness. To feel true fulfillment. That is the ultimate goal. I learned how to be happy, true happiness. I even wrote a book about it.

The reward

The reward of life is happiness. The ultimate reward is death. Yes, death is the final reward. Assuming you live a reasonable long life. In the end we all cease to live. Death. Death is a final reward? Yes. It stops all the worry, all the pain. And all the stupid stuff. You no longer have to eat or drink or go to the bathroom. Or move your body. Or think. Or feel. Death. It stops everything. And we get to finally rest, for eternity. Our soul goes to "heaven". Another dimension. A spiritual universe. And maybe there the soul gets wiped clean and reinserted into a newborn. No one know for sure, yet.

Here are some books which may help you achieve your purpose and your goal in life.

For more information visit my books

Almost Murdered

Thursday. Mid-December. I visited my usual birding area by the river, to hopefully find some fabulous photos to take. When I got there the fence gates were locked. And a helicopter was circling overhead. The city locks the gates when it rains as the river can be dangerous then. OK, no entry. However, one can climb the short steep outer river bank, bypass the fence and access the area. That's what I did. Wow. I was treated to a rare view. The river was roaring, engorged, its width doubled, its current racing. I looked around. There were some birds in the water. And a scruffy dirty beaded man standing on the river bank 100 yards downriver. I took a few photos of the birds.

I was joined by another person who was out for a walk on the riverbank. He asked me why the helicopter was circling. I said I didn't know. He told me that he saw a bunch of police cars in the immediate area and that the circling helicopter was a police copter. We started walking, The scruffy dirty homeless guy started walking in our direction. We were then joined by a third person, a knowledgeable talkable guy who told us that there was a maniac on the loose in the area. He had spoken to the police and they told him a homeless man, armed with a rifle, was threatening to shoot "the people that live in the trees." Oh. A nutcase. An armed nutcase. The other two guys walked away. I decided to finish up my photography outing and leave the area. As I walked along the concrete embankment I looked back and saw the scruffy dirty bearded guy walking in my direction. I got a bad feeling and got off the riverbank. As I went down the short riverbank hill and onto a rustic dirt path I noticed a bunch of cops. They had guns in their hands and were urgently motioning for me to come their way. I joined the group of police and asked them what was going on. They told me that a guy was on the loose and threatening to kill people. People who lived in the trees. They said the guy was armed with a rifle. Now, that was something I had never heard of in this area. I had been coming to this scenic safe river birding area for years. Now there was an armed maniac, a potential mass murderer, on the loose here? The talkative guy was also there. He told me that he had seen the local news on the scene.

I watched as the police approached and stopped the scruffy dirty beaded homeless guy on the riverbank. The cops had their guns drawn. The cops handcuffed the guy. One of the police held up a rifle. Apparently an AK-47. OMG. The scruffy dirty beaded homeless guy was the maniac, desirous and capable of mass murder. And he had been behind me on the concrete riverbank, walking in my direction. Did I just escape being murdered? By a maniac nutso? An armed and dangerous scruffy, dirty, beaded homeless person? The talkative guy told me that he seen this homeless guy around but the maniac didn't live right there but did stay in the area. He didn't say if the maniac was actually homeless or not (but the alleged maniac sure looked homeless. And scruffy. And dirty).

I walked to my car and drove away, leaving all the danger and drama behind. I felt grateful. And lucky. Lucky I wasn't murdered. Lucky I was alive. And hungry. It was lunchtime. I went home and had lunch. After my near-death experience it was now just another Thursday in Los Angeles. Yeah, right.

Brain fog

Went to pick up a prescription. First I went to the supermarket, bought a few things. Put the shopping bag on the back seat as I always do. Then I went to the pharmacy. After I drove home, I got out of the car, carrying the prescription and went into my apartment. 2 hours later I realized I left the groceries in the car. On the back seat. OMG! I totally forgot. Did the stuff melt? Did it spoil? Were they stolen? I went back to the car to get them. Yes, the groceries were still there, I live in a safe, gated community.

I never do that. I NEVER leave the groceries in the car when I get home. I think I did it maybe once before, when maybe I was not feeling well.

OK, I'm getting old. I forget things, like names. Names of people. Or names of songs. But my mind, my brain, is still sharp, because I use it all the time. And play games on my tablet. And write posts on my blog. Yet I left the groceries in the car, on a sunny but cool Sunday. Am I getting senile? Am I getting dementia? Is my short term memory no longer working? Or was I just distracted by standing in line for 30 minutes at my CVS pharmacy to pick up the prescription? And then running around trying to buy name brand Vaseline, only to find both my local CVS' had none?

OK, back to the groceries. Were they melted or spoiled? Luckily, no. Here's what they were:

Tea. Carrot cake. And toothpaste. Whew! I was lucky.

secret snack

I have a secret. A secret snack. A snack I have every night, after dinner. What is it? Popsicles. Sugar free popsicles.

I am not a nutritionist. Or a medical professional. I am a consumer and this post contains my opinion, my experience.

I love my nightly popsicles. It's a treat. A tasty easy-to-eat treat. It provides a tasty treat to accompany my evening activities at home. Low calorie. Mostly water. And sugar free. They HAVE to be sugar free, I don't need/want lots of extra sugar, it can be dangerous to my health. Each box contains 3 flavors; orange, cherry and grape. There are 15 calories per pop. I can eat up to 6 of them in one evening and ingest less than 100 calories! And, even at the "high" price of a box of them, eating a popsicle costs me about 35 cents. I can eat 6 of them for like $2!

And they also make tropical flavored sugar free popsicles.

Sugar free popsicles. Lots of flavors. Without the sugar. My favorite nightly tasty treat. And no longer a secret.

Eight Million Dollar Mistake

My first big job after college was Wall Street. In the money market division of a prominent investment banking firm. Where companies raised funds, or invested their excess funds, for a short time. The minimum investment was $5 million. In today's money that would be $35 million. I started as a trainee. After only two weeks on the job I received a promotion.

They put me in charge of a whole department. A one-person department. Me; I was the department. I was now in charge of raising money for an agency of the United States government; the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) in Washington, D.C.

How it worked was that there were four major dealers who were authorized to issue short term Fannie May discount notes. Each day we were given an allotment, a maximum amount of money to raise for FNMA that day. This helped FNMA budget and smooth out the cash flow they needed to support the mortgage financing markets. Usually, they wanted to raise a few million dollars. Sometimes FNMA didn’t need any money at all on a given day. Management of this capital raising function rotated each week between the four dealers. Brand new to all this, my mentor, Paul, briefly showed me how to do everything. Then, it was our turn to become the manager, run the book, manage the sales, report to FNMA, etc.

I was on my own, running a whole department! The other dealers would call me up and request an amount of money against orders they had generated. I filled all their orders and kept track of the sales. At the end of the day I would notify the director of our firm and then FNMA about how much we had raised for them that day. That day I had raised 12 million and was very proud. I told Paul how much I and the other dealers did. His jaw dropped. “Twelve million?” he gasped. “That sounds like an awful lot. How much was the allotment today?” I gave him a blank look. He ran over to my FNMA accounting book and looked down at the official allotment I had received and written in for that day. Four million. Paul turned ghostly white. “Oh, Lord”, he wailed, “we are in deep doo-doo. You were only allowed to raise four million dollars today and you raised twelve!” He immediately ran in to see the boss. A director of the firm.

I could see them through the glass walls of the boss’s office; we called it the fishbowl. Paul spoke briefly to him. Then the director’s face turned red. Very red. Then he started to scream at Paul. Then he stuck his head out of the door of the fishbowl and screamed for me to get in there. NOW! I entered the fishbowl with my knees shaking. At the top of his lungs the director screamed and screamed at me. “You stupid son-of-a-bitch! You raised eight million dollars more than you were allowed! Now I have to call the president of goddamn FNMA in goddamn Washington, D.C. and see if I can figure out a way to correct this friggin mess! If I goddamn can’t, we’ll have to cough up the extra eight goddamn million dollars out of our own goddamn pockets!!!”

Oh goddamn, I thought, I’m dead. My life is over.

The director told me to wait outside. Then he called Washington and spoke to the president of FNMA. He explained about the “new kid” and the mistake. They worked out a deal; FNMA honored the extra eight million dollars of notes sold by me even though they didn’t need the money right then and it could be a bit of political problem et al. And seeing as how I made them “overspend” their budget by eight million dollars that day they probably wouldn’t need anymore money raised by us, by me, for a while, thank you very much.

I was saved! Or so I thought. The director screamed at me some more. Then he screamed at Paul again. Then he screamed at me again. Then he finally calmed down a little.

He looked at me, hard, and told me he was now going to tell me something I would never forget. And he said,

“He who sells what isn’t his’n - delivers same - or goes to prison”.
Gulp. I went pale (or even paler if that was possible under the circumstances).

I heard that little ditty only one time. And for the rest of my life I never forgot it.

It took me a long time to get over making that eight-million-dollar mistake. In today's money that would be an $56 million mistake!

Somehow, I survived it.

That was a long long time ago. And, to this day, I have never feared making a mistake again. Any mistake.

After all, once you make an eight-million-dollar mistake (today, it would equate to a $50 million mistake) it isn’t very likely that you could ever make a mistake that big again!

The moral of the story? When you are young-ish making mistakes can be valuable learning experiences. Provided you survive a mistake you can learn a lot from it.

This post is an excerpt from my book: "Stories of a Lifetime: extraordinary events in an extraordinary life". An amazing book about my amazing life experience. It is available on amazon.com.