Last night I was hoping to get Elsa to eat a decent meal. I gave her the appetite stimulant and she appeared to be getting hungry but the thunder started booming which sent her looking for a corner to hide in. She won’t eat if it’s storming. It has been that way pretty much her entire life. When I look back at the timeline of when she has started having more issues it more or less coincides with the start of rainy season where thunderstorms are a near daily occurrence.

If I let her, she would hide in the bathroom an entire day. The thing is she will stay in there even well after the storm has passed. She has always been a bit neurotic in that way. However when this is combined with her kidney problems things get complicated very fast. I really would like to avoid taking her to the vet until next month when a bunch of things are supposed to get done but if I can’t get her eating better it’s going to have to be sooner rather than later. There is no cure for her condition, we can only keep trying to manage it. It’s a grey cloud that is consistently floating above me at all times. Not being able to “fix” her is a hard thing for me to accept.

Possibly as a retail therapy side effect of my dark mood about Elsa’s wellness I pulled the trigger on purchasing my fifth Tesla last night. Yes as usual it came out of nowhere. I have been looking at used GMC/Chevy EV trucks for a few weeks. I was thinking about the possibility of consolidating my two vehicles, the Tesla and the Tacoma into one EV truck. However even used, these trucks cost a bundle.

So yesterday I was watching a video talking about not widely known features on new Tesla’s. The Model Y underwent a refresh in 2025. I never paid much attention to the additions/changes with the refresh but the video sparked my attention. I realized there are a bunch of things they added to the new Model Y’s that appeal to me. So for the hell of it I went on the Tesla site to see what’s the current state of things.

I was not current with the offerings Tesla has now. They have a base model Y that starts just under $40K that is RWD. Then they have long range “Premium”models with some additional tech, the tech that interested me. These are long range models with both AWD and RWD versions. The RWD models are slower but they also get the most range, rated at just under 360 miles. My first two Tesla’s were RWD.

So I started running numbers. Tesla gives current Tesla owners a $500 spiff as well as offering .99% interest which is unheard of nowadays. I also got a trade number for my 2024 Performance Model Y. I wasn’t thrilled with the number but when I factor in the sales tax savings I get by trading the vehicle the number aligns with what I have seen elsewhere. Bottom line was I could move into the 2026 and actually drop my payment from it’s current level somewhat because I am stepping down in trim level.

I have done the opposite up until now, going up in specs/trim level with each purchase. I started with a standard range Model 3 in 2019. Then I went to a RWD Model Y in 2022 which was quickly sold to Vroom for a profit before I purchased an AWD long range Model Y later in 2022. Then in 2024 I again stepped up going to the top of the line Model Y Performance which has blistering acceleration. However I have come to realize that I basically never use that speed nor do I really care about or need it. All Tesla’s are fast enough for me so for the first time in 7 years I am going back down the ladder of specs in the Tesla universe and I am happy to do so.

The new car has a lot of cool additions on the inside including sweet ambient dash/door lighting, different steering wheel/controls, the front seats are now both heated and ventilated, a rear seat that is power both ways (open/close), the rear seat reclines, and there is an 8 inch screen in the back for rear seat passengers. On the outside the front and back end have been reworked visually although I am indifferent about it. The suspension has been improved which give a smoother ride and these vehicles have an additional camera in the nose that the prior gen Tesla’s are missing which gives greater visibility to the car and makes FSD which is already great, better.

Anyway, it seems like I have been on a regular 2-3 year upgrade schedule with my Tesla’s since I entered into their market. Even though Elon has gone off the rails it hasn’t changed the fact that I love my Tesla’s, despite his ridiculous behavior. The vehicle I will be buying evidently has not been made yet. It will be 4-6 weeks until I take delivery. As is the case with my last purchase, the prep for buying the car is done almost exclusively on the phone. I did everything that I could get done at this point already.

One thing that was extremely annoying was getting my credit freeze lifted temporarily at Experian. The credentials I had saved in my password manager did not work and trying to get in to unfreeze my credit was a monumental pain in the ass, consuming a half hour of my time. It’s all good now at least.

Ironically the features in this new Tesla would have made the road trip I was supposed to be taking more enjoyable. I guess we will get to test it out whenever the opportunity for another trip comes around.

I made it the entire weekend without popping any ibubrofen, the first time that happened in a week. The swelling around the knee has lessened which has both reduced the pain and allowed for more flexibility. It still is not close to good and my gait is not normal yet. I feel some additional soreness/pain from other areas of the leg most likely from walking abnormally for a week.

I felt good enough to rotate the tires on the Tesla which was for the road trip that I have subsequently cancelled, more on that later. I also was able to get out on the V14 Pro for a very quick ride to DD to see if the new shock I installed provides the softer ride I was looking for. Spoiler, it does.

I also watched the World Cup games on Saturday. At this point I am pulling for Argentina even though non-Argentina fans are whining that the games have been rigged in their favor. I also had two more robo-octopus’s printing, well one still is.

So Saturday evening/night Elsa had yet another of the increasingly common episodes where she throws up and also has diarrhea. Saturday night I got up with her four different times to let her outside. When this happens she is wiped out and she laid around most of the day Sunday. Seeing this cycle return made me pull the plug on the road trip. I just don’t feel good about leaving her for over a week with her roller coaster health issues. It feels irresponsible and selfish.

That being said I also feel guilty about canceling the trip as I was looking forward to it as was my girlfriend. It’s something that has been planned for close to 3 months. I have a problem not following through on something I say I am going to do but I still feel that postponing the trip is the right thing to do.

Yesterday was the first day that I didn’t notice a noticeable improvement in my knee pain. It’s better than it was but nowhere close to normal yet. When I woke up this morning feeling basically the same I knew that my decision to not play tomorrow in the pickleball tournament was the only viable choice I had.

Yesterday I received an email from Zillow notifying me that my old house was back on the market. It had been sold twice already but evidently those deals fell apart. I was a bit shocked when I saw the price of 589,900 almost 100K from where the price started at 9-10 months ago. Here is the listing.

Evidently a new realtor has taken over as I saw new pictures on the listing. I had to laugh when I saw the interior pictures. They evidently used AI to overlay furniture and accessories in the living space to make it look more appealing. When I saw some of the pictures of the outside it becomes clear the property has not been closely maintained in a long time. Landscaped beds are filled with weeds, the out buildings look like they haven’t been pressure washed since I moved and in general everything just looks a bit dilapidated. It makes me a bit sad to see the property I meticulously maintained for over 20 years looking like that. Hopefully it gets sold to someone willing to put in the work to keep things looking decent.

With the pickleball tournament crossed off the weekend calendar I will be focusing on doing some prep for the road trip, the road trip that is still sort of up in the air. I am going to do what needs to be done so we will be good to go. We probably won’t make a final decision till later next week. If we do go it will be with a very flexible mindset instead of having hard target destinations that HAVE to be reached each and every day. We will be taking the Tesla so I need to find a way to rotate the tires this weekend with a gimpy knee. I will find a way, I always do.

One of the cooler 3D prints I have done finished yesterday after more than two days of continuous print time. It’s a robo-octopus with incredible detail and articulation. I printed it on the Creator 5 Pro, my newest printer as a test to see if it could handle a long print. It passed the test with flying colors.

I officially had to tap out of playing in the pickleball tournament. My injured right knee is just not healing fast enough to consider playing Saturday as even a remotely good idea. If I tried to play in 48 hours a couple things would likely happen. First I would not play well. If you can’t move at least a little bit it’s very difficult to have any success playing. Right now just slow measured steps takes effort. Quick changes of direction that are part of every pickleball game would just not work. Second I would wind up injuring myself even more which could have more serious consequences. I am supposed to be rolling out on a road trip the following weekend. Trying to do that with a destroyed knee would be absolutely miserable.

The only reason I did not immediately drop out of the tournament was I felt an obligation to my partner Brian to give it a go. I HATE letting people down that I make a commitment to. So even though I hate to back out, I have to. I am frustrated that I ignored some of the signs that I should have backed off playing last weekend. If I did not play last Saturday I likely would have been good to go this weekend.

My Creator 5 Pro is closing in on completing one of my longest and most detailed prints ever, a robo-octopus. This articulated model has incredible detail and use of color. Even with the wonders of multi-head 3D printing this model will have taken roughly two and a half DAYS to complete. Yea, it’s a long print.

There have been some odd issues with the CP5 that I need to mention in my review video but the fact that it can complete a print like this is a big feather in it’s cap.

Elsa had another stand alone episode of diarrhea and throwing up yesterday. It seems to happen every 7-10 days, another side effect of her kidney issues. We just keep rolling along day by day with her dealing with the issues as they come. I wish I could wave a magic wand and roll back the clock to a time when she didn’t have to deal with such things. Every time I see her happy or excited nowadays it gives me more joy than normal.

My four day weekend ended with me hardly being able to walk. I played pickleball for a little over two hours Friday morning since we were off. I came out of that session with some mild pain in the right hip and knee but nothing that seemed out of the scope of normal for me nowadays after playing. If I got up after sitting too long my first few steps were “limpy” but again, that isn’t all that abnormal for me any more. I felt good enough Saturday morning to suit up and play again, after taking two advil of course.

I played roughly another couple hours and didn’t have any particular incident that felt like I hurt myself. However by the time Saturday night rolled around I was in pretty bad pain and was limping consistently. I still didn’t think it was that serious. I theorized that going to the gym Sunday to stretch my lower body and do some cardio would help loosen up my knee and lessen my pain. At the end of the session I had the bright idea to do the rower for 10 minutes which I think was the icing on the pain cake.

Walking became increasingly more painful Sunday afternoon/evening. When I woke up Monday morning walking was almost impossible. As I looked down at my right knee I saw it was badly swollen. It’s been a long time since I had seen the knee like this. This type of swelling is normally caused by some sort of inflammation or irritation in the knee joint and I usually would see it like this after volleyball sessions over the last 25 years. I spent my day off mostly sitting or laying in bed while pumping advil and icing the knee several times. By the end of the night I was walking but very slowly and still unable to put much weight on the right leg.

This morning I am still walking with a bad limp but feel a bit more mobile. I am angry with myself for pushing it too far and likely damaging it more at the gym. The anger is amplified by the fact that I am signed up to play in my third pickleball tournament Saturday. I have to do whatever I can to get the swelling down. I would hate letting my partner down.

So outside of my knee issues I had a productive weekend. I replaced the shock on the Inmotion V14 on Saturday afternoon, bad knee and all.

I watched more World Cup soccer this weekend. Unfortunately the two teams I was pulling for, Mexico and the US both got eliminated in their games. The Mexico/England game was crazy. Mexico had a ton of scoring opportunities they just missed and the game was filled with action in the 3-2 loss.

The US/Belgium game never felt that close. The US seemed out classed very early on. Belgium players seemed to press more defensively and had better ball handling skills, stealing the ball from US players routinely. The US also made some bad mistakes, the biggest being their goalie coming way too far out and turning over the ball in the process which lead to an easy Belgium goal. The game made it clear the US is not in the elite tier of world soccer yet in the 4-1 loss.

The 4th of July was another misery fest for Elsa. Firework zombies were firing off damn close to midnight. Elsa spent all night hiding in various spots around the house but her favorite is the guest bathroom where we run a loud vent fan to block some of the noise. I clearly recall thinking fireworks were awesome when I was younger. I now can say confidently I could never see/hear another firework in my life and would be totally fine with it.

I watched the US/Bosnia game last night. Even though I have seen a lot of World Cup I have not seen any of the US playing live because of when it came on. They came away with an impressive 2-0 win, the first time the US has beaten a European team in 5 years. The win advances them to the round of 16.

The win was more impressive because the US had a red card pulled on a player which seemed wrong. He clearly accidentally stepped on the opposing player which should be a yellow card. With the red card the US played nearly 30 minutes of the game with only 10 players. Even with that handicap they scored a goal while shorthanded on a penalty kick. I was genuinely into the game and now that I understand it more I appreciate soccer as a sport more. It only took 58 years.

I had a disrupted night of sleep after Elsa got me up around 2:30. I’m glad she did because she had do do a 1 and a 2. It was not fully diarrhea but it wasn’t solid like you want either. She then threw up but only a small amount. This was after she had a great day of eating where she cleaned her plate and bowl of every bit of food we had for her. This endless cycle of one step forward and a step and a half back is not fun to go through but the reality of her condition. The idea of going on an extended road trip in a few weeks is sounding less and less likely because I don’t feel comfortable rolling the dice that she will be ok for that long.

I have a long weekend ahead. We get off Friday for 4th of July and I took off Monday as well. I am sure the time off will include several hours of pickleball play. It will also give me an opportunity to shoot more V14 Pro content, address a few small to do’s around the house and do my best to keep Elsa calm when all of the backyard firework shooting crowd does their thing on the 4th.

For about a week I was getting a stream of notifications about user accounts being created on my WordPress blog installation. It didn’t make any sense because I have registration disabled. I would check my user list and not see any of these user accounts which were being supposedly created which obviously were not legitimate users. I was paranoid and unsure of what was going on so I installed a security plug in on the blog to keep an eye on things. I finally realized yesterday what was happening.

I host my blog with GoDaddy. One of the options they have is to create a staging site where you can try out changes first in a test installation before doing them to your main site. I evidently created a staging site years ago but have not touched it. It was this site that the bots found and were creating bogus accounts on. I addressed the issue by simply deleting the staging site, end of problem.

Mexico won their knockout game last night in the World Cup, the first time they have done it in 40 years. Sure I am pulling for Team USA but Mexico is my number two based on my girlfriends rooting interest.

I talked to my dad on Father’s Day. During the call he informed me he was sending me a large collection of pictures he has of me. I guess he came across the collection and thought I would want them. I said sure. The box arrived yesterday. Inside were dozens upon dozens of pictures, mostly from my childhood, some of which I never saw before. There were pictures of me and my first junior high love interest, my first girlfriend, and my first wife, none of whom have I thought about it in a very long time. The pictures illustrated the various stages of my childhood where I went from being a pretty cute kid to an awkward and downright weird looking teenager.

Of course flipping through them fires off memories of when these photos were taken. It’s a bit surreal in some ways mentally retracing the twisting path you followed to get to where you are at this current time and place. I stored the photos in a box that already has a ton of photos that I have not touched in ages. Maybe some day I will, maybe somebody else will, who knows.

I talked to my brother yesterday for his 56th birthday. It has been awhile since we caught up. He has a myriad of aches and pains as I do but to a more serious degree. He already has had a hip replacement and has knee problems. Like me he has had his knees scoped, each knee once. I had the same knee scoped twice. After his second knee was done he did not get any sort of significant relief which can be an issue with scoping. To me it’s sort of a crap shoot if it is effective or not depending on how scar tissue forms. He also has back pain. He has been relying on cortisone shots to get by which is not a great solution. Getting old sucks.

I neglected to mention that I saw Supergirl on Friday. I had already seen the numerous negative reviews on the film. I went into it already having disliked the recent James Gunn Superman movie, the worst version of Superman I can recall, IMO. Maybe I forgot to mention I saw it because the movie is pretty forgettable. The only noteworthy thing is a very strange choice they made in the plot at the end where Supergirl does something she would never do based on her comic book history. I mean the movie was ok. I wasn’t bored but it did not invoke any sort of significant emotion in me. I just didn’t really care what happened to the characters, good or bad. I’d give it a B-.

Remember how I doubled my memory in my PC which used to sit at 32GB? My plan was to sell the old memory on FB Marketplace. When I listed it I did not get one inquiry in the first 24 hours so I said f it, took the listing down and installed the memory back into the PC since I had two available DIMM slots to do so. I now have 96GB of RAM and can run whatever I want without concern of memory overhead.

I had another solid pickleball session Saturday morning, again playing with Brian whom I will partner with in my next tournament. We played well overall winning the majority of our games against some good competition. As I have become more intellectual about my play I have become more patient with my shot selection which helps a lot. It used to be I got much more satisfaction just smashing a ball so hard that my opponent can’t touch it. Now things like a dink that turns the opposing player around like a corkscrew, a well placed but slower paced shot that is in or having the opposing player bang the ball as hard as they can only to have me block it back in their face give me similar levels of enjoyment.

I had a busy riding weekend on the V14 Pro, doing a 50 mile range test on Saturday afternoon/evening followed by an off road test Sunday morning. The range test was actually split between two rides because of intense rain that swept in around the 30 mile mark. After 90 minutes or so I was able to head out and finish although I got a bit wet in that segment as well.

The off road test had it’s own difficulties. I planned to ride the swamp just as I have for the last nearly 10 years. When I pulled up to the gate I saw it was locked with a notice that the boardwalk was closed until the end of the year for replacement. It was getting dilapidated so I am glad they are fixing it, I just wish I knew about it.

I saw that you could potentially still access the loop via the connector trail in Bonita. Even though it was another 40 minute drive I figured I would give it a shot. I don’t know the Flint Penn trails well at all but I did manage to find and ride to the connector trail. Unfortunately that connector trail was a water logged mess. Every few hundred feet there was a small pond on the trail. I called it quits and rode back to the truck.

I was pretty beat up from the 70+ miles of riding I covered in two days. I spent the rest of my Sunday editing the two videos which took quite awhile. I filled in the remaining time doing some more leveling in WoW.

Elsa had another episode of unwellness where she threw up and had diarrhea. Lately it seems to be happening every week or two. It isn’t as severe as what happened in January but still disconcerting. She was better last night and this morning. At this point the idea of going on the road trip is fading as I can’t leave her for over a week with Alison if her well being is a crap shoot. It’s a difficult thing having her questionable health looming in the back of my mind most of the time.