I just had my insides probed by a staff of three. It was supposed to start at 3:30pm but it actually began 2 hours later. As soon as I get back in shape I’m going to chasten the scheduler in the gastroenterology department. I didn’t want to say anything before the procedure otherwise I would have been at the mercy of those guys. That’s one of the things I realized as I waited in that lonely cubicle: I felt so helpless. There I was lying in a hospital bed with tubes sticking out and prepped up for the operation, naked underneath the flimsy hospital gown. My biggest concern: what to do if there was a 9.5 earthquake or a fire alarm sounded or Godzilla were to attack --- I would have to had run out butt naked and then interviewed by a CNN reporter.

Easter Sunday with the whole family was so much fun. All of my kids and grand kids were playing at the park --- from my oldest kid to the youngest grand kid, they were running around like little children. This was just as I imagined and hoped to see when I reached this age. God is good.

I've been doing research on the Ethiopian Bible and it's fascinating. In a nutshell, the Ethiopian Bible has the same books as our regular Bible except that it has a few more books (about 15 more) that were tossed aside by the Bishops (during the Council of Nicea during the 3rd century). They doubted these other books were God-inspired and were not worthy to be among the collected scriptural books.

Do you sleep well? I don’t. How I envy you. There are days (or nights) that are better than others but it’s always a struggle especially now that I’ve grown older. My subconscious/hyperactive brain solves multiple puzzles all the time. It doesn’t know that it’s supposed to quit for bedtime. If you’re like me, hopefully, what I share will help you with your sleep problem.

Doctor K gave me a grand tour of his hi-tech business-incubator-office located within the University of California Irvine complex last Wednesday. He is one of the pioneers in AI technology whose thesis was on multi-Agent AI in Tokyo back in 2011 before the world was even aware of AI technology. He’s the real deal when it comes to AI. He develops apps using AI. As you probably know, I have been interested in AI for some time and I have a lot of questions. It was pure joy to be able to pick the brains of an AI expert.

I remember John’s phone call on 2017: “Raoul, me and other Rotarians are going to Nigeria to teach the locals about entrepreneurship … would you like to join us?” A week later I found myself alone in the humid Nigerian airport --- the lone foreigner in a sea of dark-skinned natives. Through a series of unforeseen events, I was separated from the rest of my Rotarian teammates and somehow arrived at the airport hours ahead of the others.

My Mom woke us up in the middle of the night: “Wake up! Hurry! There’s a fire!" Half asleep and wearing our pajamas, we walked a few blocks away to our cousin’s house where we watched the flames rise high into the night. We had to close the windows because of the overpowering stench of smoke, burning wood and plastic. I could hear and see people who were like bees bustling about in a beehive --- men were directing the exodus while others carried away their life possessions in boxes and bags. We could hear the sirens of the fire truck and the crackling sparks of the giant bonfire. It was a nightmare.

I’ve never actually been to a trial before. I came close once but I was filtered out on the first day. Maybe I watch too many trial movies but I’d love to watch the drama of the lawyers badgering the witnesses – “You can’t handle the truth!” Will I display wisdom or idiocy during the closed-door huddle among “twelve angry men?”

Our dog Tonka swallowed an avocado seed the size of a ping pong ball. He needed an operation because this silly mistake would block his intestine and lead to a painful death. The procedure would be very expensive. What to do?

I watched a few episodes of the original Star Trek series the other night. Did you grow up watching Star Trek? Like many of you, my siblings and I looked forward to the weekly episode back in the 60s. There were no videotapes then, so we were at the mercy of the TV network’s schedule and had to stay up past our early bedtime. We only had black and white TVs so now, watching it in color, I noticed how gaudy and colorfully horrendous the costumes were. Who let that drag queen costume designer out? Why did I stay up for this crap?