Sunday, August 16, 2026

Medical Advice You Can Trust

 

Doctor YouTube

The biggest frustration in my life right now is belly fat. Diet and exercise are fine, I’m stronger, but the weight doesn’t go away.

A theme on Facebook and YouTube currently is a “fatty liver” and stored cortisol in the liver. Remedies are offered, for a price.

Every year when I visit the VA to prove I’m still alive, they run fifty tests on me.  Living in a building with retired nurses, I ask their opinion. The only concerns they see is slightly elevated glucose. At my age that isn’t a big deal.

The liver function tests are dead normal. My morning diet includes flax seed, chia seeds, and walnuts; all are recommended for a healthy liver.

Titanic Menu Planner

Denver’s Major.

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By many measures, Denver is a crime ridden failing city. Solution? Showcase you are doing something by going after a trivial problem with zero chance of winning. Blue city playbook

Way back Machine

Recently we old farts were talking about the gas crisis 55 mph speed limit. At the time I was working for a prefab/modular builder in Ogden, UT. My primary responsibility was a sales representative for a territory including Wyoming, Western Colorado, Southern Utah and Eastern Nevada. I would average eight quality face to face calls per week. When 55 mph came in that dropped to five per week. That was the start of a nearly ten year kick in the nation’s financial nuts. My income didn’t drop but my time at home with my family was greatly diminished. 

Do you care to speculate how much the 100 kilometer speed limit in Canada is costing them?

Who is old enough to have owned a Fuzzbuster?

 Car Story

My fair advantage at the car lot. (yes, I’m an asshole)

Fresh inventory arrives and there is a gem! You have one or two hot prospects for that car but so do other salesmen.

Technique  #1.  “Lose” the keys.

Technique #2.   Bury it in the storage area so deep it is hard to find. Or, do both #1 and #2.

Technique #3.    The pro move. Loosen a spark plug wire just enough to make the engine run rough. Being older than dirt, my selling days were when there were still distributor caps which I preferred. Slipping something loose in the fuel injection system was an option.

Technique #4.   Keep a selection of blown fuses to install as needed. Most starter systems take a 30 amp. Works best when the car is buried out back.

Confess. “Folks, every salesperson on this lot are trying to sell this car and I wanted it to be here for you. Don’t worry about the misfire. Let’s take it for a test drive and it will be running perfectly before we get back”.

The downside to these methods was the occasional intense conversations with others after the customer drove off with the happy tag in the rear window. Salesmen and/or managers would make ugly accusations. Who me?

As always, YMMV

 

12 comments:

Wild, wild west said...

My superhero skill was keeping my big mouth shut and my ears open. I never talked about prospects in open settings and got several good leads that turned into big projects by overhearing competitors talk about prospects in public, usually bars or down times at trade shows where they'd be blabbing on the cell phone and forget booth dividers are thin and others might be listening.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Good practice. A habit that got me more than one customer was never parking in a their customer parking spots.

Old NFO said...

I owned one of those... sigh... And quite a few of them got installed in A-4s for Vietnam too! Great for detecting the X-band radar the SAMs used.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Wow, I didn't know that. Servicemen getting in done in spite of McNamara.

Gene said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Well Seasoned Fool said...

"Gene". You are a bot, not a human. Want your comment posted then show you are a human. P.S. Well written comment - just not for a grumpy old man's blog.

LSP said...

Mr WSF, as always, a great car story. I even, vaguely, remember distributor caps. (not that I'm remotely a mechanic). What I have is a 2018 F150, 5L V8. Ok, well and good. To change the indicator lights on this beast pretty much requires a tech -- with a computer. Huh, something's wrong with this.

drjim said...

Yep, I had a FuzzBuster, followed by another Uniden one, then a Cincinnati Microwave Escort, and now I use a Valentine-ONE.
@LSP - You mean the lights in the dashboard, or the external ones like turn signals, brakes, et al?

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Much of the electronic stuff is needed to meet emissions standards. Why not make an extra buck and blame it on the government?

Well Seasoned Fool said...

I didn't chase newer, better. That old Fuzzbuster served me for years. What also helped was actually driving no more tha five mph over the speed limit.

sparkee said...

Driving I-80 across WY when speed limit was 55 was painful and seemed to take forever

Well Seasoned Fool said...

It remains 307 miles of pain.