The new printer was waiting for me at the front door last night. I spent a good portion of the evening unboxing, assembling, shooting video and doing my first test print. Assembly had one annoying snafu that I was able to work around using more brute force than was probably necessary. The printer has a large top cover, one of the features of the Pro model. In retrospect I really have no need for the cover.

Enclosing the build area allows you to print higher temperature filaments which I rarely/never do. If I would need to, both of my Bambu printers are fully enclosed and would be able to handle it. Because of the way this printer feeds filament in a manual way you need to remove the cover any time you are inserting or removing filament so it is a bit of a pain in the ass. The stand I built appears to be a good fit. There is plenty of room while remaining sturdy. The test benchy boat I printed turned out well too. I need to finish up my initial impressions video and then I will continue to dig into the pros and cons of the CP5 Pro.

Yesterday I got to play with my first new pickleball paddle I have bought in awhile, the Enhance Pickleball MPP Turbo. This $100 paddle surprised me, it felt really, good. So good in fact that it make become my primary paddle, nudging my Bread and Butter Loco out of that spot which costs double the amount.

Last night I played some WoW briefly, long enough for me to get my eighth character to level 90, the current maximum in the game. I rotated playing 4 characters in this block to maximumize my efficiency. I have three more to go on this account (I have two). I plan to use the same strategy.

After waiting nearly two months my new 3D printer is due to arrive today. It is about a month later than originally promised. The printer has had a whirlwind last 24 hours. In that timespan it has gone from Hong Kong to Taiwan to Anchorage, to Louisville and finally Fort Myers early this morning. I hope to get it up and running tonight. From what I have seen, set up on this printers is significantly easier than my other multi-toolhead printer, the Snapmaker U1.

My girlfriend is a soccer fan and loves the World Cup. I have never been into soccer. I never played it and always found it almost unwatchable as my brain was conditioned for American football. I have however been watching a decent amount of games with her since the World Cup started and it honestly hasn’t been that bad.

I think the low amount of scoring is what turned me off but when you watch the game a little more you appreciate the incredible athleticism and endurance these guys have. I saw the Argentina game last night where Messi scored all three goals. It was genuinely entertaining.

No I haven’t made much political commentary lately just because it is like screaming into the middle of deep space. Every single day there is something insane being said or done in the Whitehouse and despite “outrage” everywhere these things continue, unabated. I mean the Iran war circus with what sounds to be an absolute lose/lose “peace agreement”, the Lincoln reflecting pool mess, ripping down and erecting buildings without proper authorization, a UFC octagon on the White House lawn and the man trying to get his name and scowling visage on airports, entertainment centers and even US currency are all things that I would have envisioned as pure fiction 15 years ago. Unfortunately it is our own awful version of Idiocracy being acted out in front of our eyes.

Saturday morning I played rec play pickleball since I couldn’t find someone to play in the tournament with. I had another round of solid play, winning all 6 games while sweating my ass off. The heat index felt oppressive. I got chores done Saturday afternoon before we headed to the movies Saturday night.

It was my second trip to a theater in less than a week as I just saw Mandalorian last Tuesday. This time we saw Disclosure Day, a movie about when the existence of Aliens is finally fully released and confirmed. I heard both positive and negative things about the film. I would say my overall feeling was positive. The movie was a little slow in the beginning but got better as it went on IMO. I have no issue giving it a B+. I personally feel it is mathematically impossible for there not to be other forms of life in our massive universe.

I got out on my new Inmotion V14 Pro this weekend. The wheel feels very solid and well built. Without really trying I crossed 35MPH on it. The suspension is firmer than I would prefer but that is because the wheel was designed with an off-road first mindset which requires the suspension to not bottom out in big drops. I am looking forward to running the new wheel through a number of scenarios. It handled my DD coffee ride without issue.

So when I took my required blood tests a couple Fridays ago I had my results in a couple days. I thought the numbers looked pretty good but I discovered over the weekend they were not what I thought. The confusion came from my having two Quest accounts, the company that drew the blood. The results I saw at first were from 2015. However I realized my mistake over the weekend and logged into the other account which had my recent results.

My cholesterol is now high, clocking in around 220. My hematocrit is just above the advised range as well as my blood pressure but those can be attributed to being dehydrated and nervous. My BP is always a little high when taken as I have a reflex reaction whenever I have someone taking my BP or drawing blood. But there is no hiding from the cholesterol number.

Since my mom died of a heart attack and my younger brother had a mild one last year I am very sensitive to my potential cardiac weaknesses. I live a healthier lifestyle than either of them but that does not make me immune. The last time I had a full blood workup was in 2024 so when I analyzed any significant changes it did not take me long to find some culprits.

The biggest change has been in my diet. For roughly a decade I ate a pescatarian diet where my only protein was seafood. Sometime in mid-2024 I switched back to a “normal” diet where I now eat any type of meat product. So it’s very easy for me to make a correlation as to that being the main culprit in my numbers swinging the wrong way.

I also don’t do structured extended cardio as I once did. For awhile that meant running and cardio machines at the gym. I was also doing half hour high effort road biking sessions for awhile but those stopped once I moved. Instead my primary cardio is pickleball. Now don’t get me wrong, when I play, especially in the heat my heart rate can get into the 150s which is good but you are supposed to hold that rate. Pickleball by nature has times of high exertion and mild so it really is not ideal to be your primary cardio.

By definition the goal to shoot for is 150 minutes of mild cardio per week. I am also getting to the gym three times on a typical week but all of that time is spent doing calisthenics, stretching and strength work. I just don’t have time during those limited lunch hour sessions to get decent cardio in. So what is the plan you ask?

Well first off I need to modify my diet. Although my weight is still in the same vicinity it has been for close to 10 years I think being closer to 180 pounds instead of 190 pounds would be good for me so if I lost 5 pounds I would be right there. I can do that by doing more mindful eating. It isn’t that hard, it’s just keeping yourself accountable for what goes in your mouth. Second I need to find ways to get more sustained cardio into my routine. Cardio isn’t much fun and can be downright boring at times but exercise is a foundation for lowering cholesterol. I am hoping these lifestyle changes will be enough to get those numbers back in the green zone. Those results were definitely a wake up call.

Last night was a rough one. Early in the evening Elsa had a round of severe diarrhea and throwing up that was reminiscent of when she had her incident that required all of the vet visits in January. However in that case she was throwing up several times throughout the weekend and she had partially eaten a sock. Yesterday we were not aware of her consuming anything foreign, of course that doesn’t mean necessarily that she didn’t.

She had a another round of throwing up after drinking too much water. When she does it reveals just how terrible she is at chewing her food. There are untouched treats and dog food that come up. She just swallows most of it like a pill for some reason. So after letting her rest in bed I started giving her smaller amounts of water at a time and then waiting 15-30 minutes to make sure she kept it down, which she did. I repeated the process 4-5 times stretching to 1AM. After the last drink she seemed like she just wanted to sleep so I let her do so.

I had a difficult time falling back asleep, despite feeling exhausted just because I was keeping an eye on her and was obviously worried. I may have gotten two hours of sleep last night, three if I was lucky. This morning she was tired but eventually got up and moving. She ate some food, drank some more and kept it down which was good. I have been monitoring her remotely via my Ring cameras and she seems to be doing ok. I am hoping that this was just an isolated incident that was caused by something she ate. We have had five months of the new normal which hasn’t been bad. Changing dog diapers isn’t as big of a deal as I once thought it was.

Yesterday I had a surprise FedEx delivery. It was the wheel Inmotion sent me to review, the V14 Pro. I knew it was coming I just was not following the tracking information. Like all Inmotion wheels I have experienced the last few years, the V14 exudes quality. It is designed to be a powerful and durable off road wheel. More than likely the only off road use it will see with me is the swamp. Most of my testing will be on hard surfaces.

I decided to do a live stream to announce the new addition. The stream went roughly two hours but it was hard for me to keep things flowing as there were not a lot of people in the broadcast. I typically rely heavily on answering questions and comments in the chat. When those are few and far between it becomes heavy lifting to have something to keep talking about. I wrote it off to people watching World Cup soccer and YouTube not sending out notifications about the stream for some reason.

I finally received a ship notice on the Flashforge Creator 5 Pro printer. Originally it was supposed to be shipping in mid-May. I have the newly elevated bench all ready for it’s arrival which should be next week some time.

I think we have our greatly revised road trip sort of set. Instead of doing a stupid long trip to Yellowstone in about half the amount of days you should we instead are going to drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, something I have never done before. It is supposed to be beautiful and more importantly much closer, allowing us to take time to smell and see the roses.

This weekend is looking to be more or less normal although I need to get out on the V14 so I can start my content creation process. I had hoped to play in another pickleball tournament on Saturday but the four potential partners I asked could not play for various reasons, or, they just don’t like me. 😉

Ever since I moved into the new house this corner has bothered me. I had an old wooden half bookshelf thrown in there that I had pictures haphazardly displayed on. It was too small to use them all and just looked bad.

When I was at Ikea over the weekend I saw these cool wall mounted shelf units. I didn’t have room in the Tesla so I just ordered it online instead through the Ikea app. I was pleased/surprised it arrived in a couple days.

Assembly of the unit was straightforward and easy. The most difficult part is making sure I got it centered on the wall and straight. Once mounted I placed a bunch of pictures on it as well as additional pictures on the wall. I think the end result is much more pleasing visually. It only took me three years to get to it…..

I finally got out to see the new Mandalorian movie which has been out for a couple weeks. I lacked urgency to see it because I read a number of lukewarm reviews on the movie. The only time slot that worked to see it last night was at the local IMAX theater which I had never stepped into before. It is small compared to some IMAX theaters I have been in but the biggest issue was it was like an ice box. Thank goodness we brought a blanket.

The movie met my expectations based on prior word of mouth. It’s basically a supersized Mandalorian episode from the series except it is missing any significant connection to the series story. It was clearly made to be a stand alone film that didn’t require you to watch the three prior seasons of the show. The plot which would have been more enjoyable in a long format tv season was condensed to fit the two hours it was allocated. Was the movie bad? No, not at all, I found it entertaining. The problem was when you are coming off a series that gave you near movie like effects every episode, simply shifting that to a big screen makes things feel a bit underwhelming. I’d give it a B.

I started off my Saturday with another pickleball session. It was my third day in a row so I was a little hesitant to push it. I seemed to get through play without a major issue however. I was undefeated in the six games I played with different sets of people including one “let’s play it back” scenario which I enjoyed. I was hoping to play in another mini-tournament this upcoming weekend but the three people I asked to play were unavailable for various reasons so I might just take a pass on it.

Saturday afternoon I went over to the east coast to do some shopping with my girlfriend, taking the Tesla to minimize fuel costs. Both malls we visited during the trip were absolutely slammed with people. I thought malls were supposed to be dying? I went and charged the Tesla during one of the sessions. The supercharger I went to had terrible speed of only 50kw because most if not all of the chargers were occupied. I sat there for over an hour. I am used to a big charge taking 20-30 minutes, this was like watching paint dry. By the time we got home it was after 9PM, a very long day of driving and walking. My knees and hips were not happy with me but I held up better than expected. I figured it was good training for our potential upcoming road trip.

Sunday was a very low energy day, perhaps because Saturday was a long grind. I got the necessary tasks handled as well as modifying my bench I originally built for my Bambu Lab A1. It was built to reside under one of my other workbenches however now I wanted it to be at near normal bench height to make it easier to work with my incoming Flashforge Creator 5 Pro printer.

Modifying the stand involved simply adding some 4×4″ legs to it. While I was at it I added a shelf to store filament as well as a front brace to increase overall rigidity. The bench weighs a ton as I used 2×6″ for most of it. I think it will work out well. All I need is the printer to verify it.

I had a chill night. I spent some of it continuing my quest to level all of my characters in WoW to max level. I almost have my second set of four to that mark. Once I do I will have eight at level 90 with another five or six to go. I really do enjoy just unplugging from reality for an hour or two to jump into the game.

I had to have blood drawn this morning as part of our health plan. Every two years we are required to have blood work done as well as a physical. At my age I really should get these things done annually but my dislike of anything and everything medical related keeps me on a must do only mind set.

My replacement credit card arrived yesterday evening which was nice. Getting it next day instead of a week later minimizes the disruption although the hassle of changing card information in all of the locations it is used as the default payment method never becomes less of a PIA.

I might get out to see the new Mandalorian movie this weekend as well as get some pickleball games in. Otherwise it’s a free flowing weekend.

Yesterday I got a text notification of $4.99 charge to the Microsoft store. Before I could even finish my thought of “I didn’t buy anything on the Microsoft store…” three more charges appeared in rapid succession, two more for $4.99 and one for $9.99 as the scammer was testing what he could get away with. Luckily Chase denied further attempts at that point. I could not believe it, my card had been compromised, again.

Those of you paying attention will recall I just had the same scenario go down roughly a month and a half ago. I immediately tried to see if I could establish any pattern. I had just gone to Cinebistro on Tuesday night, I recalled I also went to Cinebistro around the time of my last hack. However when I checked dates I actually went there fours days after my card was compromised the first time.

So now I get to go through the same annoying song and dance where I have to update the card in a ton of spots. The only good news is Chase is expediting the replacement this time so I may have a new card as soon as today. I am baffled as to where my information is getting compromised at. I am very careful with my card and go touch free wherever possible. It is rare I am actually inserting a card into a reader where it could be potentially skimmed. I will be making mental notes of anytime my card is inserted in a machine. Sure it could be compromised via an online breach but the odds of having it happen twice in this amount of time from that would be pretty remote.

I have a new wheel coming for me to review. No it isn’t from the company that I had the back and forth discussion regarding how they wanted me to do things their way or else.

I got out to see Backrooms last night, a rated R “psychological thriller”. The movie evidently is directed by a 20 year old that made a series of well known Shorts on YouTube exploring the Backrooms alternate dimension. The movie is bizarre and definitely unique. I think I liked it but I am not really sure, it was that weird. Make up your own mind. I guess I would give it a B+

We recently had one of my staff retire after nearly 30 years on the job. It’s a bit of a weird feeling when someone that was a day in and day out part of your reality suddenly not be. Since I started here in 2000 there has been some change in our department, we have had two firings and three retirements. Still, over a span of 26 years that’s not too bad. I already have hired his replacement whom will start next week. In the big picture it should be a good thing bringing in somebody young and motivated to learn and grow. It should only make all of our jobs easier in the long run.