Yesterday after work I made arrangements to meet up with Brian, my volleyball/pickleball buddy. He is the guy I played with in my first and only pickleball tournament back in October. I have not seen him since then. It’s not intentional but a by product of me dropping volleyball from my activities because of the persistent physical difficulties I have been having. When we had the tournament I let him borrow my Selkirk Boomstik but never had a chance to get it back since so that was part of the reason for the meet up.

We planned to meet at Tacos and Tequila but I gave far too little consideration to the date, Cinco de Mayo. The place was absolutely mobbed. We instead chose to go to Foxboro’s, a Patriots sports bar very close to my house. It was nice catching up with Brian and his wife. I may play with him this Saturday morning if things work out. I am excited to have the Boomstik back, a paddle that made a huge splash in the market but I only played with for about a month before loaning it out. I plan to use the paddle today during my lunchtime play session.

I started off my rare solo weekend by live streaming Friday night. I didn’t have a ton to talk about but somehow still managed to carry on for nearly three hours. Both Elsa and Mia slept on their dog bed the entire time.

On Saturday I wanted to tackle projects so my Sunday would be free to ride a wheel. First I installed the smart curtain robot that I bought last week. Set up was not bad. The most challenging thing was getting it configured in the app however once I did I now have full voice control of my bedroom curtains. In addition I have it set to automatically close at sunset and open at sunrise. It’s sweet and makes me want to convert some of my other conventional blinds to smart variations.

During the afternoon I decided to tackle the screen replacements that needed to be done on the lanai. Ever since I moved in the bottom screen in the door and one large panel on the side needed to be redone. Like many projects, I am not sure why I had not done it sooner other than my knowledge that replacing screen panels can be a pain in the ass based on all the pool cage screen I replaced at the old house. Doing it myself was not the best plan either as getting the top edge in without another pair of hands helping you hold it sort of sucks.

I muddled through the job, remembering quite quickly why I did not enjoy this type of work. It took me at least a couple hours to get the two screens done. I now have a ton of screening left over for future replacements as all Home Depot had was a 100 foot roll, far more than I needed.

Saturday around 5:30 I met up with my buddy that I normally play pickleball with at lunch during the week for a rare evening session. We wound up playing a couple hours against some good competition, finishing 4-3 overall. I wish my body would allow me to just play whenever I felt like playing but every time I want to I need to do an evaluation of my current level of aches an pains. My right hip/leg did not feel great afterwards but seemed to settle down pretty quickly on Sunday.

I also got to watch my girlfriends daughter accept her diploma via a livestream during the afternoon. I was shocked just how many kids graduated. There are so many that the school held five separate graduations spanned across two days to accommodate them all.

Sunday was supposed to be my day to get a ride in but it never materialized. It rained the majority of the day and once it stopped raining I was involved in other things. I installed replacement LED lights in the two map lights in the Tacoma. They are so bright and clean compared to the dull yellow glow the factory bulbs emit. I like them so much I have a replacement for the dome lamp on the way.

I later installed the new Lasfit mats in the Tacoma, the same mats I have in my Tesla and my girlfriends vehicle. They fit perfectly and are very easy to keep clean.

I took the dogs on three different rides over the weekend. Mia especially loves them. When I open the truck door she jumps into the cab like a rabbit. She is very cute but can also be very naughty as she likes to pull stuff from the trash and any other low lying fruit like toilet paper or hand towels. However all in all watching both of them all weekend wasn’t a real big deal.

This morning I got my stitches removed. Unlike the surgery that put them in, this was a very quick process that took all of 10 minutes. I’m hoping to avoid getting cut on for the rest of 2026.

Yesterday my buddy Matt stopped by the house. I 3D printed some adapter he is going to try to use to do some Honda maintenance. I had not seen him in person for quite awhile. I know Matt back from my running club days but we have also had a few adventures doing projects on his 2019 Tesla Model 3. He still has it. The car now has over 110,000 miles on it and has needed very little maintenance/repairs over that 7 year period. I have never held onto a Tesla more than 3 years so it was good to have a first hand example of how the car can hold up over the longer haul.

I have been getting the itch to make my window coverings “smart”. The venetian style blinds on my windows are not in good shape. The issue is smart blinds which can be controlled via a remote, an app or your voice command are not cheap. I priced one out on the biggest window in the house and it was around $450. The idea for me would be having the shades automatically go up at sunrise and go down at sunset. Quite often I neglect to close my blinds which gives the outside world a clear view to whatever is going on inside, not ideal.

So although I am not quite ready to sink that kind of money into replacement e-shades I did take a step towards window covering automation by buying a “robot” that will open and close the hanging curtains over the slider in my bedroom. The robot is attached to the curtain rod and then rides on it to open and close your curtains. It works with various style curtains including roman style which is what I have. I figure this will be a good way to test the waters to see if making at least some of my window coverings smart is cool to me or not.

My girlfriend is going to be out of town all weekend. It will be the first time I have had a weekend that does not involve her in quite a long time. I already have a number things in my head I want to get done to keep me busy. I will kick things off with a live stream tonight. I have several small repairs around the home I have been dragging my feet on as well. I would like to get some of those things knocked off my mental checklist.

I will try to balance enjoyable activities in there as well. I would like to get some wheel rides in and possibly play some pickleball although technically I am not supposed to be doing things like that until my stitches are removed. I also will have both Elsa and Mia under roof all weekend so I am sure we will have a few adventures together.

I am now one week post skin cancer surgery. The wound is healing well and there is no redness or signs of infection. I opted to not play pickleball yesterday but I may give it a go tomorrow even though the recommendation is to do nothing like that until the sutures are removed, which doesn’t happen until Monday. To be honest I hardly feel it at this point. All I am doing is covering the incision with neosporin two or three times a day.

You know despite the all of the antics that Trump performs on a daily basis which have made him the leader in the worst president of US history in my book many times over I at least have some level of understanding of why he is the way he is. He is a massive egomaniac/narcissist that was never forced to develop into a complete person because he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. What I do have a hard time understanding are the hardcore MAGA zealots that devour each turd that drops from his mouth like a baby bird being fed worms by it’s mother. A lot of people I grew up with somehow mutated into the MAGA crowd, some to a disturbing degree.

It would be easy to stereotype MAGA as a bunch of either ignorant simple thinkers or the highly affluent that are looking out solely for themselves with little to no regard for others. However I know that is not the case. In many ways they are like you and me except for this confusing iron clad allegiance to a man that equipped his Manhattan apartment with solid gold toilets.

Yesterday I stumbled across a video that describes what is going on from a psychological perspective with the MAGA or nothing crowd. It gave me more clarity regarding why this sort of mentality develops and why it’s so hard for a person to let go of. I welcome you to take 5 minutes and take a look yourself. Unfortunately the one thing the video does not offer is a “cure” for these individuals. That can only come from some hard self reckoning and a willingness to admit that your choice to back such a man so fervently was a mistake. It’s ok, really, human beings are allowed to make mistakes and do so frequently. However clinging on to false Gods never turns out well, just thumb through the pages of history.

Speaking of false gods, it was recently announced that Trump has put his picture on the 250 year anniversary US passports. It continues the unheard of self indulgence of a sitting president putting his name and image on whatever he can. I also read he is putting his signature on new 100 dollar bills. This is yet another symptom of the endless pit of self praise and adulation he requires to fulfill his need to obscure his insecurities.

I did some additional shuffling in my office last night. The platform I built for the A1 is the perfect size to fit the space I now had open after moving the storage shelf. My original thought was I needed to add some legs to it and attach it to the existing bench to make it an L. However after placing it in that spot on the floor I may be ok leaving it as is. The platform is about a foot high and the new printer has a pretty high profile. If I raised the platform to bench level the printer would eclipse a good portion of the window that is there. So at least for now I am going to try it with the platform without further modifications. I can always tweak it if I deem it to be problematic. The current layout is Elsa approved as it gives her space under the work bench another wall to make her feel safe, which she likes.

Amazon introduced Alexa+ last year, the AI enhanced version of their very popular digital home assistant. For the most part I have been happy with it. You also can now give your Alexa different types of personality. The unit I have in my kitchen is set to chill mode. The unit in my bedroom is set to sassy or smart ass mode. I had an interesting discussion with this unit.

The AI is fenced off to not offer political opinions, if you try to ask it for one you will get a homogenized response. However I do find it interesting seeing what sort of responses I get to certain questions. Last night I asked Alexa what she knew about Pam Bondi getting fired as head of the DOJ. The response she gave was Pam Bondi was the attorney general for the state of Florida but not the DOJ. I was confused and asked again and got the same response. After trying to ask the question a different way two additional times and getting the same denial about her position Alexa asked where I am getting the information from about Pam Bondi. I said, Google. After a brief pause she comes back and apologizes saying I was actually correct about Pam Bondi being fired from the DOJ. It’s an example of why blind faith being placed in AI is not a smart thing. It’s a tool but it’s information should not be anointed as cold hard facts. I found it interesting that Alexa acted dumb about Bondi and if that ignorance was intentional. Jeff Bezos and Big D are pretty close after all.

Yesterday my replacement credit card arrived. Unlike credit cards that were the norm for decades, this card from Chase is actually metal instead of plastic. My old card was metal as well. It used to be when you got rid of a card they would instruct you to cut up the old one. With metal cards that task is not so easy. To address this my bank included a postage paid envelope for me to return my old card in which they will destroy effectively. Of course I could have destroyed the card using my metal snips but I decided to take advantage of the free service. Now I need to go through the all of the places I utilize my credit card to make scheduled payments and update them, a large task.

Last night I did some more work in the office, relocating the slim wood storage unit that I made in woodworking class in high school next to the one work bench. Doing so allowed me to clear up space to slide the U1 down, making room for the new 3D printer that should be arriving next month. However doing this would consume any open bench space for me to actually use to do work.

I think my plan is going to be to utilize the wood platform I built for the A1 which was sent to Texas last week. I will need to attach a pair of legs on one side and secure the other to the existing bench to give me a L configuration. It just happens to be the perfect size for the space I have available. I can then use that as either the spot for the new printer or as my work table real estate. It’s good to have options.

I just realized I did not have a chance to relate the bad experience I had getting my latest MOHs surgery on Thursday. My previous two procedures were done by a doctor that did not mess around. He would cut me, go check the sample almost immediately and then either close me up or cut again. I never left the procedure room which meant I was normally out of there within a couple hours.

Now things were not all great with him either as he was the one that did the spot on my hairline that got infected and did not close up well. That spot took the longest time to heal of any I have ever had cut out. But hey, at least he did so so work, fast. When I was diagnosed with this new spot I was told that the guy I had was no longer there, he moved back to Kentucky so I was going to be assigned somebody new.

The new guy seemed pleasant enough. I figured this was going to be a quick procedure because the spot that was troublesome was small. He did the initial cut but then sent me back to the waiting room until it was analyzed. The nurse told me it should take 45-60 minutes to get an answer, not ideal but ok. SO I sat in the uncomfortable chairs and waited. 45 minutes passes by and I am still waiting, in a totally empty waiting room mind you so it wasn’t like they were flooded with patients. 60 minutes comes and goes as I am still waiting. The waiting continues until one hour and 45 minutes has passed. I was pissed.

When the nurse finally called me back it was obvious I was an unhappy camper. I told her that it was almost double the amount of time I was told. She said that this new doctor works sort of slow. Yea? No kidding. So to make matters worse she said the sample still had a little cancer along the one edge so they have to cut more. Fantastic. I told her that I had a time constraint, a meeting at 2:30PM. She said she would let the doctor know.

So he comes back in and you could tell he knew I complained. He was on the youngish side. I was not very verbal as I was trying to not really piss off a guy that is going to be cutting on my neck. He said he heard about the time constraint and he will make sure he gets me out of there on time. So he does another cut and I am sent back to the waiting room, presumably for a much shorter time period. Instead I was out there for almost another hour. My anger again rose up to unable to hide levels.

The nurse I had I think was almost embarrassed by how long this was taking. She had another nurse take me back the third time. The guy comes back in knowing that he already missed my time deadline. I told him I had to cancel my meeting. He apologized repeatedly. His reason was another patient had a procedure that took longer than anticipated. Whatever, every other person I saw at the office looked like they were retired. Maybe think on your feet and prioritize the guy that is still working and has a time commitment. At that point I had been there four hours.

I said next to nothing as I get sewn up. It felt like a lot of stitches for what was a small spot. I later saw why. I did not get out of the office till almost 3PM. The next time I have a procedure done I am going to specifically request that this guy does not do it. Out of my 20+ MOHs procedures I have had done this guy was the worst experience I had.

So I removed the bandage that was applied at the dermatologist office on Saturday morning. Leaving it on two days as instructed. I could not believe how big the incision was, in total close to 3 inches. It seemed much bigger than I expected based on the size of the affected area. He also really piled up the skin in the suture, it will take a long time for that to look anything close to normal. Seeing the end result of the guys work reinforced my desire to never have him touch my skin again.

Since I was restricted from significant physical activity my big exercise for the weekend was walking the beach with my girlfriend both Saturday and Sunday morning. We did between two and two and a half miles each day. Walking on sand definitely hits my legs/joints differently than conventional hard surface and it’s probably a good thing. It was a peaceful and enjoyable way to start both days.

On Saturday I went to see the Michael Jackson movie per my girlfriends request. Although I think Michael was an incredible performer I also saw the documentary which outlined that he was also all sorts of messed up with pretty clear evidence he was involved sexually with young boys. The movie, in which Michael is played by his nephew was well done. The guy 100% looked, sounded and moved like Mike. Hell he could go out and tour if you ask me, he was that good. However the movie abruptly ends at 1988 in the time line, well before the really crazy shit started. I guess they wanted to focus on the best parts of Michael Jackson’s career, not the deep, dark, and crazy way it went from there. It was entertaining albeit only telling half the story. I’d give it a B.

On Sunday I did another round of purging in my office. Before I moved in 2023 I threw out mountains of things that I determined I no longer had a need for. When I moved, what remained quickly found spots in my new place however I realized that there is stuff that I moved that I have not touched since I moved so it was time to purge again. Also since I have another 3D printer coming I need to maximize bench top space so clearing out crap would help in that endeavor as well.

I wound up filling a large 33 gallon trash bag with stuff I no longer needed. I also discovered along the way things that I did not know where they were so that was a nice bonus. Most of my time and effort was spent in the closet where a lot of things were stuffed into. Things are much less crowded now although I still need to do some more tweaking to make room for the new printer. It won’t be here for a few weeks so I have time yet to tweak things. It always feels good to rid myself of things that no longer serve a purpose. It’s amazing how many things fall into that category nowadays for me.

A couple years ago I configured my credit card company to text me whenever any charge is posted to my account. It’s a great way to keep a close eye on what is going on. Prior to doing this I would rely on going line by line on my monthly credit card statement which was not only pain in the ass but also inefficient. If something malicious happened I might not discover it until weeks later allowing more damage to be done if your card is compromised.

So today I see a $2 charge hit my card listing some individual that I don’t know. My antenna immediately poked up and I jumped on my Chase account to see what was up. The $2 charge did not show up there however I know that often a criminal will try a small charge, hoping it won’t get noticed to check if they were able to get it approved. I called Chase.

They asked me if I made the charge. They show it for being for “computer services”. I told them I did not. They said the reason I did not see the charge in my online activity was there was some issue with the account that charged me, a further indicator of it being potentially malicious. So it seemed clear that at least some of my credit card information had been compromised and in that situation they kill the card and issue a new one.

It’s been a very long time since I had a card compromised. I am usually very cautious with how I use it. I was frustrated that evidently somewhere there was a crack in the door that was used to get my information. The biggest frustration is having to now go into dozens of locations where I use my credit card to pay for things regularly and update all of them. I have almost a week of dead time until I get the new card so anything that tries to charge to the old card will be flat out denied. I have other cards I can use if necessary. It’s just annoying that I get to deal with this all over a $2 line item.

Friday night I did my first live stream in a month and a half. There has not been a lot of big news in the EUC community recently but I still managed to talk into the microphone for a couple hours.

I played no pickleball this weekend due to the US Open. I instead got things done around the house. One of those things was packing up my Bambu Lab A1, the printer that revitalized my interest in the 3D printing hobby. I have another printer coming so I needed the space. I am sending the A1 to my nephew for him to have fun with.

Sunday morning I went for a short ride with my girlfriend on the nearby greenway. She liked riding in an environment that did not include cars. I was surprised when I saw her pass me at one point. She maxed the bike out at 30mph, the first time she has ever done that. I was riding my V13, the only wheel I ride seated comfortably. I rode seated probably 75% of the ride and really enjoyed it. I need to get out on a longer solo ride on the wheel to really enjoy being able to ride seated. That wheel is so big I look like I am riding a one wheeled motorcycle.

I have been trying to take the break from pickleball as an opportunity to heal up some of the persistent issues I have had for a long time. I have felt a little better but I am not sure if it is one of those situations where as soon as I resume playing the pain will immediately swoop back in.

Speaking of pain, I confirmed the spot behind my ear was basal cell cancer and will be going in to get it cut out with a MOHs procedure Thursday. It’s never fun getting cut into but I am hoping the small size of this area will result in only a short disruption of my normal activities.

Tuesday at my dermatologist appointment I had a biopsy cut from the spot behind my left ear for testing. Because it’s so small, if it is cancerous I am curious what the recommended course of action will be. The doctor and I also discussed the consistent red rash that I have had around my eyes to varying degrees for quite a long time, approaching a year. When it started he prescribed me some sort of topical cream that I have already gone through three tubes of. The degree of redness can vary greatly. Sometimes it almost looks like it’s gone but inevitably comes back. It’s been frustrating.

So since the cream obviously has not been the answer for what he described as dermatitis he prescribed me a long term antibiotic, doxycycline to hopefully knock it out. I have a two month supply which seems bizarre. Most antibiotics I have taken are a one week thing. Evidently this is the same drug prescribed to people with bad acne. I am not thrilled about taking an antibiotic for that long as it has potential side effects but if it rids me of this rash once and for all it will be a good thing.

So yesterday I took the day off. The primary reason was to go watch my buddies play in the US Open pickleball tournament during the afternoon. I used the day off as an opportunity to get out on my wheel I traded for, the Extreme Bull Commander GT Pro Plus. This wheel is a heavy beast, weighing in around 120 pounds. It has the largest battery of any wheel I own as well. I rode to Dunkin Donuts and around my local stomping grounds for awhile getting a feel for the wheel. It feels like it will be a great long range cruiser. At some point I will dedicate the better portion of a day to do a range test. I am curious if it can match the 77 miles I got out of the Inmotion P6.

I actually had two EUC rides yesterday. I took my small and nimble Inmotion V9 over to the tournament. It was a great way to avoid the parking nightmare that you would have to deal with normally. The venue was packed. I guess Anna Leigh Waters was playing, the best female player in the world so a lot of people showed up. I got to watch a couple of my friend’s games but there was a long break after that so I headed out. I picked up my obligatory US Open t-shirt while I was there. I got tons of confused stares as I pushed my wheel around the park.

Last night I finished leveling my third WoW character to the max level of 90 with a fourth not far away. I am legitimately enjoying playing again. I am trying to level three characters at a time, rotating through them in a way that maximizes the pace they can level. It’s a fun way to just unplug from reality in short 60 minute bursts.