MY CONTINUED LIFE AT 15 CRAIGSIDE...And the World Keeps Turning

Well, Iran and U.S. Memorandum of Understanding representatives met on Sunday, and again today....but issued conflicting statements as to what was discussed.  And in case you were wondering, there are three spellings for the mountain resort where this is occurring:  Bürgenstock, Burgenstock and Buergenstock, the latter one being the English version.

I gave most of following numbers last week, but here is Time magazine's accounting of the U.S.-Iran War by the numbers, since 28February2026.

• Killed.
• Iran 3,636, but 2,100 were civilians.
• Lebanon, 4,000, but over a million displaced.
• USA, 13 service members, but 400 wounded.
• Israel, a few dozen defense forces, but 39 citizens.
• 
  Global economic impact:  $2.2 trillion. 
• Damage to Iran economy, $270 billion.

• 
  Cost of Operation Fury, $29 billion according to Defense Secretary Hegseth, but some in the media have speculated that the actual amount should be closer to $50 billion.
• U.S. fired more Patriot missiles in the first four days of the Iran war than we gave to Ukraine over the past four years.  Each Patriot missile costs between $4 million and $5 million.  Tomahawks up to $3.5 million each.

Andy Burnham of the Labour Party was positioned to replace Keir Starmer as Prime Minister of the UK.  Starmer will remain as PM until his successor is chosen.  Here is his resignation speech from #10 Downing.  He is now up to one year and 352 days as PM.  Burnham:

• Is 56 years old.
• Photo to the right is when he was Health Secretary in 2009.
• Served as Mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017 to 2026.

• 
  Photo today to the right.
• Is soft left, leaning towards socialism, and an opponent of nationalism.
• Wants Thames Water to be nationalized.
• Only real infraction I see is that he was fined for speeding 78 MPH on a motorway which was temporarily reduced to 40 MPH.
• I asked Google AI about his future relationship with Donald Trump:

Andy Burnham’s prospective relationship with Donald Trump is expected to be turbulent and difficult. As a working-class Mancunian who has previously criticized Trump’s political style as "poisonous", Burnham’s soft-left worldview clashes with Trump’s right-wing agenda. Trump has already demonstrated a frosty stance, having weighed in aggressively on Newsweek the UK’s internal political shifts before Burnham even finalized his leadership bid. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Lionel Messi scored both goals for Argentina today, the second one after the match ended, to become the highest goal scorer in World Cup History, in their victory against Austria.  Games today.

Group J: Argentina vs. Austria (Final: Argentina 2 - 0 Austria)

Group I: France vs. Iraq at Philadelphia Stadium

Group I: Norway vs. Senegal at New York/New Jersey Stadium

Group J: Jordan vs. Algeria at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium [1, 2, 3, 4]

So you can better appreciate my current life at 15 Cragside, where I do nothing much more than eat and otherwise enjoy life, I repeat this charming conversation I inserted yesterday between Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin, by A.A. Milne:

"Don't underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering." [1, 2]

There was a time when I first moved into this retirement community in Honolulu that I continued some responsible activity.  But maybe a decade ago, I determined that life was too precious to spend mostly on others, so I began focusing on me, for I had only a few years left.  The happiest period of my life resulted, and Milne's wisdom has prevailed.

Mind you, I now and then still travel.  My close personal relationships have continued, and in a short while we will fly to Iceland, where I've never been before, after a few days board a cruise ship, hopefully to view a total eclipse of the sun, after a couple of stops in Greenland (my first time also), with arrival in Montreal, and stopping off in Vancouver to catch the Silver Whisper to Honolulu.  With that, my life of nothing in euphoria at 15 Craigside.

My apartment gets cleaned from 11AM every Friday.  Good time to go shopping and perhaps stop by somewhere for lunch.  Here was one outing to Lagoon Chinese Restaurant located near the Honolulu International Airport.

Ordered too much: ramen, two kinds of chicken dishes and dry scallop soup.  Brought my own bottle of cognac and scotch for the soup.

Best Chinese food I've had in a long time.  And not too expensive.

On another Friday, we first decided to go to Chao, a brand new restaurant in the Nuuanu Shopping Plaza, located close to where we live.  Sort of an upscale Thai restaurant where their specialty was beef stew. The Pho I most liked cost $28, and other options seemed expensive.  Alas, we found out that the stew was only served for dinner.  So we left.

Next try, Tiny Pyramid in the Na Lama Kukui Center on Nimitz Highway.  Their specialty is a four course meal that ends with a fabulous dessert.  But we remembered that this was one of those places that serves no alcohol, and you can bring your own.  We can do this because we have a designated driver.  We thought we'd later return with our own wine.

We drove around a bit and ended up at the Kapalama Shopping Plaza, which is mostly restaurants.

We walked into Kikuya, a Japanese restaurant, but I remembered that my dinner that night was to be Japanese.  

So went to Han Yang, which served Korean food.  Glanced inside, and no one was seated.  Never a good sight.  So went next door to Guieb Cafe.  Never heard of it, but the place was full.  We were told to wait outside, and we were just about to walk to another restaurant, when two customers who had finished eating left. So in we went.

Learned that we could bring in beer, and there just happened to be a liquor store a few doors away.  So spent $3.99 to buy a large capped bottle of Steel Reserve, 8.1% alcohol.

Looked on the wall behind me, and Guieb Cafe this past year won all those awards for The Best of Hawaii.

The price was also right.

Only ordered the steak, medium.

Absolutely fabulous.  Affirms all those awards.  When we left, people had formed a wait line outside.

This low-cost lunch was so good that I had to do some research:

Guieb Café is a family-owned and operated restaurant proudly serving the community since opening our first location in Honolulu in June 2020. Since then, we’ve expanded to Wahiawā in April 2021, ʻAiea in October 2022, and welcomed our fourth location in the “Ninth Island,” Las Vegas, in March 2025.

 

At Guieb Café, we serve comforting homestyle meals with a diverse menu ranging from prime rib and local-style mix plates to waffles and brunch favorites. We believe great food should never compromise on quality or affordability, and our mission is to provide delicious meals made with quality ingredients that are accessible to everyone in the community.

Founder is Ernesto Guieb, who, in addition to another Guieb in Waipahu, just expanded to Las Vegas.

Blue-fin tuna from Marukai.

Teri-chicken, asparagus and o-toro sashimi, watching the USA beat Paraguay in the World Cup.

Karaoke with Doug, with a special cake for Irene's birthday.

Last night was a Father's Day dinner.  Only OK.

Ended the evening with a special bottle of Vino Juan, from our favorite winemaker.  Read this.

Many of us here at 15 Craigside have knee problems.  Coming up on Thursday is Dr. Cass Nakasone, the #1 doctor in Hawaii for this replacement.  A totally local guy who got all his degrees from the University Hawaii, and currently also serves as Associated Clinical Professor for the UH Orthopedic Residency Program.  According to Google AI:

Dr. Cass Nakasone is a highly acclaimed, board-certified orthopedic surgeon in Honolulu, specializing in minimally invasive total knee replacement, partial knee replacement, and revision surgeries. He practices at the Straub Medical Center and Minimally Invasive Surgery of Hawaii. [1, 2, 3]

I have decided not have this operation, but if I change my mind, I have a special connection to get him to do it.  He just has too many patients these days.  He is even covered by Yelp.

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