Archives July 2015

This is a unique entry for two reasons.  First I am entering it via iPad, something that is not all that fun.  Second I am doing it in that waiting room of the VA hospital where Cindy is having minor surgery on her foot.  The facility here is impressive.  Everyone has heard stories about dark and dreary veteran hospitals.  Well this building is modern and brand new.  I would say it is nicer than the main hospital in Naples.

It is about an hour drive to get here meaning we left the house about 6:30 which wasn’t bad at all.  All of the staff at the hospital have been very friendly and nice.  Cindy was nervous of course.  Even though it is minor surgery it is still surgery.

I thought it was funny how Cindy was asked her full name, social security number, date of birth, and description of what was being done by three or four different people.  I suppose they want to be really,really sure they get it right.

I was given a pager similar to what you get a restaurant so they can reach me anywhere in the building. They carted Cindy back a few minutes ago.  I really am not the worrying type when it comes to stuff like this but I will still be glad to see her after the procedure, knowing that Cindy will be feeling relieved.

For the next few days I will be keeping busy with normal to do’s as well as a reopening of Duf’s garage. I will be working on replacing the front disks and brake pads on Cindy’s daughters 2010 Mustang. I have now done front brakes on several vehicles, it will be good to add a Ford vehicle to my amateur auto mechanic resume.

Yesterday we actually had a dry day at the property which at least allowed some of the water to evaporate/drain.  I’m hoping it also allows Cindy a chance to get a good portion of the grass mowed before the downpours resume.  The standing water under the coop also receded but it surely is not a very pleasant place right now.  Somehow we are going to need to get a rake under there periodically to freshen things up.

Tomorrow morning I will be driving Cindy up to the VA clinic to have some surgery on her toe.  She has had chronic issues with an ingrown toenail that has been very painful.  This is full blown, knock you out surgery which is why I am going to be her chauffeur.  Of course getting surgery for anything is never a fun time but we are hoping this gives her some permanent relief from this long time issue.

I have some vaca days to burn up before mid-August so I decided to take Friday as well to give me a 4 day weekend.  I may be taking my first shot at doing the front brakes on a Mustang.  Cindy’s daughters car has a pulsating pedal.  I can buy the parts and do the work for less than half of what a garage would charge her.

Yesterday unfortunately was another wet one, giving the property no opportunity to dry out.  After work I decided to make a pit stop at Home Depot and load 350 more pounds of sand into the back of the Prius.   Typically when I bring home sand I just drive the vehicle straight to the back yard via the 10 foot wide gate on the side of the fence.  Due to the huge amounts of rain the yard was a mess.  There was a big pond of water in front of the gate.  If I would have tried to drive the Prius back there I surely would have gotten stuck.

I wound up transferring the seven bags of sand to the bed of the Tacoma and driving that to the backyard.  It’s elevated stance makes it a much better option for driving through standing water.  I dumped the bags into the run while Cindy spread the sand with a rake, elevating the ground level a few more inches to keep things a little more dry.  I am hoping for a few sunny, rainless days so the water can both evaporate and soak into the water logged ground below.

Last night Cindy and I started to watch the Showtime documentary of Dennis Rodman’s basketball game in North Korea back in 2014.  It is pretty incredible in a train wreck sort of way.  I literally covered my eyes in embarrassment on behalf of Dennis during some of his antics.  This time period evidently coincided with one of Rodman’s various falls off the sobriety wagon.  Once drunk Dennis comes into the scene all bets are off.  We got about half way through the 90 minute show, I can hardly wait to see how it all winds up.

This past weekend has been one of the most dreary and waterlogged as I can remember in quite a long time.  It basically has been raining to some degree since Friday.  The end result is our property has once again turned into lake front.  There are standing bodies of water all over the place.

On Saturday morning I wanted to get the weeding done and I didn’t care if it was raining.  When I stepped outside it was a light, tolerable rain however the intensity went up and down the entire time I was out there.  At a few points it was an outright downpour.  I was already soaked all the way to my underwear so I didn’t even bother trying to escape the deluge.  After weeding I had my first of three clothing changes during the day due to wetness.

While I was weeding I pulled this huge mutant grapefruit that was in the orchard.  It had split open.  After slicing it with the machete I saw the fattest rind ever.  Unfortunately the fruit did not look appetizing at all so after it’s photo op the monster grapefruit was tossed in the compost bin.

After drying off Cindy and I went out for what is a pretty normal weekend shopping circuit of Dunkin Donuts, Home Depot and Rural King with a Pinch A Penny stop for good measure.  We grabbed five more 50 pound bags of sand for the chicken run.  In total I bet we have dumped a couple thousand pounds of sand in there.  The goal is to eventually have a few inches of sand in the entire 8′ x 12′ run to make clean up easier as well as raising the elevation slightly, something that became an apparent need this weekend.

On Saturday I introduced Cindy to the world of Periscope, an app I only recently discovered myself courtesy of Bubba talking about it on the radio.  Periscope is a way to basically instantly get yourself broadcasting video live.  There are already have been many ways to do this for several years ( I used JustinTv to broadcast live 5 years ago) but somehow they way Persiscope handles it just feels slicker and easy.  When you like what you are seeing a viewer taps his screen and it generates a heart which is the Periscope equivalent of LIKE.  It’s twitter integration and seamless notification system allows you to grow an audience pretty easily.

It is also like Snapchat in a way, something I never used.  You have an option to make the video stream only available live and even if you do archive it, it is still only alive for 24 hours on the Periscope servers until it goes away.  I guess it adds a sense of urgency to viewership. If you want to see the content you better watch it now. The only broadcast I still have alive is some WoW footage.  Better watch it soon, it goes away in 3 hours. 🙂

So Cindy and I took turns shooting silly Persicope videos at various points during the day, the longest of which was sitting in the car before we went into the movie.  It’s a weird thing how a bunch of random people would instantly jump into your broadcast.  A handful of them would use the chat function but the vast majority are silent voyeurs. What they were hoping to find is beyond me.

So after a tasty meal at Olive Garden Cindy and I went to see Southpaw, a boxing movie with Jake Gylennhall.  The lobby of the theater seemed pretty empty so I was looking forward to an equally empty theater.  This was opening weekend for the film, for most big name movies Coconut Point will have a 7:00 and 7:30 showing.  Southpaw only had a 7:20 showing which meant it was not getting big film positioning.  The theater it was showing in was one of the mid-sized rooms instead of the big ones we are used to. This theater had the love seat layout which is nice but actually a little less comfortable than the seating in the bigger theaters.

Well slowly the theater started to fill up with a steady stream of patrons filing in during the previews.  I bet the theater was 75% full, normally unheard of during the summer.  Of course the more people that are in your nearby vicinity the more likely you are to have an annoying asshole in range.  This time it was a hispanic woman that had no understanding of talking quietly during a movie.  Every time she spoke it was at full volume.  It didn’t take long until she drew stinkeye glances from Cindy who said she was ready to yell “Callete su boca!”  If our only option to see movies was in theaters that were this level of population I would stop going to the movies as much as we do.  The more human beings, the less fun, is my general rule of thumb.

So the movie itself was good.  Jake got himself into incredible shape for the film.  It had a real Rocky flavor to it which in my book is a good thing.  Sure it was predictable but that isn’t such a bad thing with this kind of film.  Jake seems to be a lot like his deceased co-star of Brokeback Mountain, Heath Ledger, in that he really tries to transform himself into the character he is portraying.  He did an equally good job of turning himself into a mega-creepy dude in Nightcrawler. Anyway, I would give Southpaw an A-, just try to watch it out of range of the annoying people.

When we checked on the chickens via the security dvr we saw that all of them were in place except Peaches, who decided to fly up to one of the shelves and sit in a box.  Despite having the chickens integrated for quite a few weeks, more often than not Cindy still has to go out there at bedtime and rearrange chickens which has to stop.  Basically what happens is Lucy decides she is not happy with having the younger chickens close to her and starts to peck at them.  Instead of retreating to any of the three lower perch bars the chicks instead have often used the side shelves or nesting boxes as a sleeping spot which we don’t want.  For clean up efficiency we need them all to stay on the perches.

We tried to address the problem somewhat by adding two half perches a few inches below the top perch so the birds could all be together without having to squish onto one bar.  Cindy also added additional screen hanging from the roof to block access to the top shelves.  Last night seemed to be the best sleeping outcome yet.  Not only did we not have to place the birds, Lucy actually allowed Stephie to cuddle up next to her, a first.

So Sunday morning I had hopes of getting out to do a bike ride since it was not raining when I woke up.  However a quick glance at the precipitation radar indicated we were just in a small break of the wet misery so we bagged it.  It started to pour shortly thereafter.

Like I mentioned, the  steady and at times torrential rain has drenched the yard.  One unfortunate casualty has been the ground underneath the coop deck, an area the chickens normally hang out in frequently.  It became pretty disgusting since obviously the chickens shit under there and we are unable to clean it conventionally.  It had a disgusting sewage like appearance.  The main chicken run was wet but much cleaner due to the additional sand that is dumped in there along with our normal daily poop pick up it remains relatively clean.  Unfortunately there is really nothing we can do about the ground under the deck until the water recedes.

We have had a couple freak out moments with our neighborhood hawks.  The other night Cindy went sprinting out the door when a hawk was on the ground only a few feet from the open chicken run door, being much too brave for our comfort.  Cindy has been firing warning shots with her CO2 BB pistol I bought her to keep the hawk away when she sees it.  At Rural King we went a step further and bought a fake hawk and owl.  You place and move them periodically around the yard as a visual deterrent.

The owl seems more effective as it has a bobble head that spins with the slightest breeze, making it seem more realistic.  We filled them both with sand to make them heavy and resistant to the strong wind gusts that often blow through the property.  I sat the owl right on top of the chicken run. It is annoying to have a constant paranoia about the chicken’s safety when they are free ranging but short of having them live in a bubble it’s just a risk you have to accept.

So the miserable weather on Sunday resulted in me having one of the laziest days in recent history.  I played hours of WoW and enjoyed myself doing so. You may recall me talking about the requirements to unlock flying in the game with the latest expansion.  When I first saw them I knew it would be a lot of work/time to accomplish these requirements, I had no idea just how much.

For the last few weeks anytime I have had in the game has almost exclusively been utilized in accomplishing this goal on one character, which in turn unlocks flying for all of my other characters.  It just seems like it took too much time.  To just do the portion in the new content that was released recently you have a minimum of close to 3 weeks to accrue what is needed to fly.  If you had to do the other achievements in the older areas, like I did, that gets tacked on top.  It was an annoying, extremely repetitive grind that sucked most of the fun out of playing.  I am very glad that it is behind me.

The only real “work” I did on Sunday was to pay my bills, a very minimal chore.  Late in the afternoon we decided to finally film an eating challenge I proposed awhile back, consuming ghost pepper powder.

Unless you have been living in a cave you have seen/heard of ghost peppers.  They are one of hottest peppers on the planet, registering a blistering 2,000,000 on the scoville heat index. For reference, jalapeno peppers are rated at 2,500 to 10,000 heat units.  The powder version of ghost peppers supposedly is more concentrated. Well anyway YouTube is jammed full of ghost pepper eating videos and there is a good reason for it, people like watching other people suffer.  If you eat a ghost pepper you WILL suffer, there is no way around it.

Cindy was very nervous leading up to the challenge.  I was not nervous until the last few seconds.  At that moment I had a feeling similar to prior to jumping in the Arctic Enema at the Tough Mudder.  I knew there was immense discomfort to follow.

We decided to use the dining room table for the video, hoping it would offer the best lighting.  I don’t think that spot has ever been used for filming anything else.  Cindy measured the powder and put a 1/4 teaspoon in each of our conventional spoons.  We started the cameras rolling (Cindy simulcast it on Periscope) and after a 3,2,1 countdown cleaned the spoons of the powder.

We used different techniques when it came to cleaning the spoon.  I used a method similar to if I was eating cereal or a spoonful of peanut butter.  The end result was the powder adhering to mostly my upper teeth, gums, and inside of my upper lip.  In contrast Cindy turned her spoon upside down and deposited all of the powder on her tongue.

The first sensation is the taste of the powder which was not pleasant.  However soon all taste is obliterated as the heat from the ghost peppers starts to set in.  It took very little time until I was reaching for my large glass of water, even though it did not really help.  I almost immediately started hiccuping as the burn really set in.  The watery eyes and running nose followed closely.  The discomfort actually ramps up as time goes on and lingers.  It turned into more of a stinging sensation, almost like I had hornets in my mouth.  At one point I felt somewhat nauseous and was nervous since we had no vomit containers nearby.

Cindy of course was struggling as well.  She slammed a glass of almond milk, followed by water, followed by peanut butter and yogurt.  I only used water and peanut butter to help relieve the pain.  None of it was all that effective.  Basically you just have to ride out the burn.  After about 10 minutes or so things started to die down.  It was a stunt that I wanted to accomplish and now that we have, I have no desire to revisit the ultra-hot pepper genre ever again.

Sunday night we watched 50 Shades of Grey, the movie based on the book that turned so many women into sex craving maniacs.  I was recently separated when the book was  making waves.  I recall many first dates where the woman mention they read the book which I did not know was a good or bad thing.  I heard several accounts of the book turning women into sex starved maniacs, it turned them on that much.

So the movie had a lot of hype behind it obviously when it was released which I obviously did not share.  I only rented it on Netflix because Cindy was interested in seeing it since she started the book but never finished it.  Well if the movie’s main goal was to produce mainstream soft porn it certainly hit the mark.  There was more nudity and sex in the film than any feature film I ever saw before.   However at my age it takes more than sex scenes to keep my interest.  The man in the film had all of these hang ups whose symptoms were his bizarre sexual rituals.  I think the movie needed some more focus on why that was instead of end result of his weirdness.  Overall, even with all of the skin on skin I can’t rate the film more than a B, perhaps a sign of my advancement into the kingdom of old fartdom.

I have short 3 day week ahead of me.  Cindy is having some foot surgery on Thursday so I am burning a couple vaca days to be her transport/caregiver. I have a few to use up by mid-August.

Today I took the SSR to work for the first time this year.  It’s pretty amazing just how little road time the truck gets nowadays.  When I bought the truck in October of 2011 it had around 28,000 miles on it.  In a little less than four years of ownership I have only put 14,000 miles on it and I bet 75% of those 14k occurred the first two years I had it.  I still have this dimly light idea in the corner of my brain of keeping the SSR as pristine as possible to maximize it’s value if I someday decide to grab the reins of a Hellcat.

If I was thrown in jail and was told I was only allowed to watch one tv channel for the rest of my life I would have absolutely no problem deciding what it would be, The Science Channel.  It is my go to location on the dial when I am not watching dvr’d content.  Every single show on the network is interesting to me.  My favorite of them all is How It’s Made.  I swear, I could watch the show non-stop for weeks at a time.  Seeing how mundane, everyday items are created is endlessly fascinating to me for some reason.  Cindy does not share my devotion to the channel.  I think her one channel for life selection would probably be HGTV.

Cindy has been rapidly building her YouTube channel.  She now has around 30 videos online and has earned an estimated 50 cents in ad dollars thus far.  Despite her claims to be camera shy, she actually appears quite comfortable in her videos.  Her only hang up is she can’t shoot them when I am around, it makes her feel weird, which I can understand.  I much prefer being solo when I am shooting YouTube content as well.  Building a channel on YouTube is a slow process but I think she has a shot to turn hers into something good.

This weekend is forecast to be rather wet which is fine with me.  I can normally find a way to be content both indoors and out.

So yesterday I expected blow back from my decision to run a couple miles at lunch despite the sore IT band pain I have been dealing with for several months.  Last night I could feel the soreness settling in.  Last night I made a couple movements that resonated soreness through my right knee.  A few times during the night I woke up when I again had the right leg in a position that was painful. This morning things hurt and I have a small limp.  However if I am being an optimist (which I am not), the limp is less severe than the last time I tried to run.  Getting old isn’t for sissies.

Last night I ripped out my old Sirius antenna and receiver and installed the new unit that I really didn’t need.  The simple air vent install kit was much cleaner and less obtrusive than the rig I had in there before.  The cable routing might need some further adjustment but overall I like the end result.

Night time is when the Philips Hue lights really shine.  We like setting the under counter strip lights to a slow color rotation that casts a cool glow.  I moved one of the color bulbs to a small lamp that we used to never use on top of the cabinet by the slider doors.  It’s position is good to light up the corner of the room in whatever shade of color feels good at the time.  Cindy is a big fan of purple.

I am sure most have heard about Donald Trump’s latest stunt where he gave out Lindsey Graham’s cell phone number after calling him an idiot several times (he is going to need a few fresh insults eventually).  Lindsey was another person that criticized Trump’s choice of word’s regarding John McCain and his war service which included several years in an enemy POW camp.  Of course Donald reacted as he normally does when he is criticized, in a juvenile manner with obligatory name calling followed by the disclosure of Lindsey’s phone number.

I found it quite funny how Lindsey reacted, by creating a YouTube video showing the destruction of his phone in various creative ways.  It was a witty way to not directly sling mud while poking fun at the original slinger.

So the Sirius radio I have in the Tacoma started working poorly a couple weeks ago.  It would not solidly stay connected to satellites. The audio would constantly cut in and out and the receiver would display the Acquiring Satellites message repeatedly.  The LCD display on the unit started getting flaky as well, showing a number of vertical lines across the screen.  Ok simple enough, I figured the receiver was just simply going bad.  Baking in the cab of the Tacoma for 8-9 years in the searing Florida summers is due to take a toll on electronics after all.

So I ordered the least expensive Sirius receiver I could find, less than $40.  I was not interested in spending any more than bare minimum on maintaining my Sirius account, a service that I have found less and less useful as Howard Sterns live show air time has consistently dwindled over the years.

The new radio arrived yesterday.  The first thing I did was find online where I could transfer my service to another radio.  The help document provided me the link but didn’t inform me that Sirius would impose a stupid $15 surcharge to transfer service to another radio, something that has a real world cost to them of zero dollars.  I had little choice but to agree to pay it although when it comes time to renew my annual service in October I am going to try to get that $15 credited back.  It’s just another layer of dislike I have for SiriusXM.

So I take the now activated radio out to the truck to just quickly hook it up to make sure it worked.  I plugged in the power and reused the existing antenna connection since it is a universal connection with all Sirius radios.  After initialization, the radio hung on Acquiring Satellites, son of a bitch.   I immediately realized that the problem with the old receiver was due to an antenna problem, not an electronics problem.  I temporarily hooked up the brand new antenna that came with the new receiver and had steady signal in a couple seconds, annoying. I looked at the bright side.  The new receiver is smaller and has an air vent mount, meaning I can pull out the big articulating arm mount that I have attached to the passenger side seat bolt in the truck.  It will be a much cleaner implementation.

So when I built the dog deck back in 2004 I utilized left over tiling materials to make a unique Nicki tile, complete with her paw print which she reluctantly let me press into the grout.  When I resurfaced the deck with composite decking years later I pulled out my crude art project since the plywood it was mounted on was rotting away.

When I pulled it out it cracked in many places but I was too sentimental to throw it out.  I carefully pieced it together and had it sitting undisturbed on a shelf in the large shed ever since, with the intention to eventually repair/do something with it in the future. Well the shed cleaning project put the Nicki tile back into focus.  Cindy said she would work on doing something with it to fix it up.  I appreciated her offer although I was skeptical of what could be done.

When I got home last night I was very surprised at just how great it looked.  She was able to patch the 15 or so pieces together and make it look like better than new.  I was really impressed with Cindy’s restoration skills.  It isn’t the first time she has demonstrated her creative and artistic qualities.  Since she has been living with me she has managed to create or restore several items in a way that makes them truly special.   This was just the latest evidence of her skills.

My dad has been on the phone with me a couple times in the last few days looking for some technical assistance.  He needed to figure out how he can broadcast a Bernie Sanders speech to his TV from his laptop.  He is formally hosting an event to help Bernie’s campaign. Marienville, PA is a political hot bed after all, not.  🙂  On the democratic side of 2016 presidential campaign there has been a lot of Hilary Clinton focus.  Hilary is a very polarizing candidate that unfortunately reinforces the political line in the sand since she is pretty much hated by many republicans.  However there are other democratic candidates out there and one of them gaining some momentum is Bernie Sanders.

Many of Bernie’s ideas are focused on the financial state of America and the income inequality that now rivals what happened in the 1920’s before the Great Depression.  A lot of Bernie’s positions are aligned with Robert Reich, someone who I have followed for many years.  In a nutshell he is a greater good type of guy.  Many tea party zealots would call him a socialist.

I like Bernie’s passion for what he believes in.  He is absolutely fearless in his assaults on America’s billionaire class that has seized control of the country’s direction with an iron tight grip.  Unfortunately in reality that will more than likely be his downfall.  In 2015 it is basically impossible for a presidential candidate to be successful without being beholden to corporate behemoths.  Gaining votes is sadly more about mental manipulation funded by lakes of cash top campaigns generate today.

So although I am happy my dad feels strongly enough about Bernie to host a campaign event for him, the realist in me thinks that nobody can knock Hilary off her throne since she has the biggest piggy bank.  If somehow Bernie managed to secure the democratic candidacy it would mean that finally a segment of America is fed up enough to put up a candidate that will truly take off the gloves instead of shadow boxing.

I have to say that I am proud that my dad, despite in demographics/income being squarely in what is usually a me first, fck everyone else crowd, still is able to see the big picture through the fog of disinformation.

So while I was shopping at Costco after work on Friday I got a text from Cindy.  She said the woman she talked to from Dunkin Donuts that was interested in adopting Jaina wanted to come over to pick her up.  I told her it was fine.  I got home shortly after the woman arrived with her mom and two kids.   After I unloaded the groceries I went out back to join them.  Cindy was in the middle of giving them the chicken coop tour.

It then came time to collect Jaina.  I grabbed my large cat carrier to let Anna borrow for chicken transport.  At 10 pounds, Jaina is bigger than many cats.  Cindy and I were able to corral the bird and get her into the carrier. (even though Jaina is probably a rooster he is still a she to me)

It didn’t take me very long to feel sad.  We had Jaina on the ground in the carrier while we were talking a bit.  She/he started making the noises she always does when she is looking for the other four chicks she grew up with.  Almost instantly the four other “babies” came over to the carrier and actually started pecking at the carrier in almost a “hey let our friend out of there” way.  It sort of broke my heart to split them up.

I carried the carrier out front to their car and placed Jaina in the front seat.  Anna said she will take good care of the chicken.  Although at first she is going to be keeping Jaina in a modified doghouse, they have plans to build a real coop and get more chickens.  I couldn’t help but think about Jaina repeatedly over the weekend, imagining how upset she must be without her familiar flock close by.

So on Friday during the day Cindy had busted major ass around the house, getting done pretty much all of the outside chores that clutter the first part of my weekend.  Instead of using this freed up block of time for rest or relaxation I instead decided to just plug another project in there, cleaning the large shed. The shed has gotten rather messy and cluttered.  I probably have not given it a total cleaning/reorganization since I was actively married.  It was time.

The formula for the project was pretty simple.  Pull almost everything out and separate it into stuff you want to throw out, give away, and keep.  Cindy joked that I was a hoarder.  I would say a non-waster is more accurate.  A lot of stuff that was in there were left over materials from the endless home projects over the years.  Scraps of wood, pieces of gutter, leftover pots, and pvc pipe made up a large portion of what I pulled out.  The giveaway items got thrown in the back of the Tacoma and deposited roadside where almost all of it was picked up by neighborhood pack rats during the rest of the weekend.

Speaking of rats, we discovered an active field mouse nest in the shed.  It was carefully created behind the plywood storm shutters and came complete with a mouse.  When I leaned the board back he was down there looking up at me.  I lifted the one board to try to encourage him to take off.   When I heard a crying noise at my feet I realized I inadvertently pinned him under one of the boards.  I lifted it up and he scampered towards the back of the shed.  I then saw him running along the framing up near the roof of the shed.  I was able to scare him out of the shed and over to the pond area.  I have little doubt he will take up residence inside the shed again at some point.

So after most everything was pulled out Cindy worked on sweeping out all of the sand and dirt while I worked further on separating and sorting.  As expected the process had a number of “wow I didnt realize I had this” moments as well as little memory triggers the various items presented when tied to the projects they were from.  One cool item was a small can that I got from either my grandfather or great uncle.  It turns out it was an 85 year old film canister from the 30’s.  It was holding left over fasteners.

Putting the “keep” items back in the shed took much less time than the pull out phase since we were returning significantly less stuff to the 12 x 20 shed.  The AFTER picture of the shed shows the dramatic reduction of items in there.  It’s odd how simply cleaning or organizing a space can dramatically change the feel when you walk in there.  All of a sudden I felt good walking into the shed instead of annoyed.

Shed cleaning is a project that I would normally reserve for the cooler and more pleasant winter months.  After sweating through it Saturday I plan to return it to as a winter solstice only activity.

On Saturday night Cindy and headed out to go see Ant Man, a movie I was excited to see, a feeling Cindy did not really share.  Despite it being opening weekend we got to enjoy a sparsely populated theater with no more than 30 people sharing the large space with us.

I knew of the Ant Man hero but I can’t say I ever read any of the comics.  However at this point, Marvel has my blind trust when it comes to movie making.  I knew nothing about Guardians of the Galaxy and came out of it thinking it was one of the best movies all saw all year.    I can’t tell you the last Marvel film I saw that I did not enjoy.  I’m happy to say the Ant Man has continued that streak, taking a small (pun intended) facet of the Marvel universe and turning it into a thoroughly enjoyable film.  I also liked how they tied it into the current Marvel films with tie ins to the Avengers and Shield.  Of course as is the case with most Marvel films be sure to sit through the end credits.  It was a solid A film and I am happy to say Cindy wound up enjoying the movie as well.  She was pleasantly surprised.

Sunday morning Cindy and I got on our bikes for a Dunkin Donuts ride.  We didn’t get on the road until close to 9:30 meaning we were going to be well into the heat of the day.   I let Cindy lead the entire 10 miles west.  I told her to go whatever speed was comfortable.  I didn’t have my GPS with but my internal effort meter indicated that she was pushing the pace.  She told me her Cats Eye showed we were 20 mph + for a good 5-6 miles straight.

On the way back I pulled the entire way into the mild headwind.  I stayed on my aero bars and kept my pedal cadence speed up.  I managed to average in the 17’s for the return trip which wasn’t bad.   As soon as we got home I jumped in the pool for a rapid cool down of my highly elevated body temperature.

Before too long I was in the backyard filming another exercise session.  I had decided I wanted to do some backyard deadlifting, something I had not done since 2014.  Since joining Planet Fitness I have not been doing any deadlifting, they just dont have the equipment or space to really accommodate it.  For whatever reason yesterday I wanted to see what I was still able to pull.

I kept my amount of reps at higher weights low as my goal was to see just what I could still pull off the ground with no deadlift training at all.  I was surprised I was able to use a normal pronated grip up to 345 pounds although part of the reason was I was only single repping at that point.  I only went mixed grip for my final pull at 370 pounds which I barely managed.  Getting twice my current bodyweight off the ground was good enough for me with my lack of training.  I filmed the session, something I haven’t been doing much of lately.

I followed up with my second video of the day, this time utilizing my GoPro and Amazon Echo in another head shaving video.  It’s an odd thing how after automotive repair videos, head shaving occupies the second most viewed segment of my YouTube channel.  There is a weird cult head shaving enthusiast underground out there.  Shaving my head in the kitchen without a mirror in front of me full time was annoying.

So over the weekend Donald Trump’s big mouth got him in trouble again as he said that John McCain wasn’t a real war hero and how he prefers war heroes that do not get captured.  It was a pretty outrageous and ridiculous comment for a presidential candidate to make.  However if you have paid any attention to Trump over the years you know he has a long history of saying pretty stupid things.  Despite his enormous wealth, he reacts like a teenager when somebody disagrees with something he does/said.  In this case Trump was angry that McCain didn’t like Donald’s, Mexicans are rapists, verbal brilliance a few weeks back.

Few fellow republican candidates said much about Donald’s anti-mexican rant as they did not want to draw the immature insults that would surely be reflected back at them as a result.  However the ant-McCain comments has drawn bipartisan criticism.  In true Trump behavior, he refused to apologize for the remarks and instead tried to steer the heat back at McCain.  I wonder how many of those Trump bandwagon jumpers that grabbed on to his anti-immigrant talk have jumped back off that wagon and are now walking down the sidewalk with their hands in their pockets and whistling, trying to act like their support of his candidacy never actually happened.  I never thought for a second that Trump had a snowballs’s chance in hell of being nominated but I didn’t think his mouth would derail him quite so quickly.

In an attempt to address what feels like a perpetual sleep shortage I have moved my weekday alarm clock from 5:30AM to 6:00.  The 5:30 alarm time is something that dates back 10 years or more and was established when I was letting out the dogs, making my breakfast, packing my lunch and cleaning up every morning.  Since Cindy started living with me three of those four things usually are taken care of by her yet I continued with the 5:30 alarm.  The extra time was basically just used surfing my Facebook feed.

I think applying that extra 30 minutes to sleep will be a far more beneficial utilization of my time in the long run.

Friday is here again and I have very little to put out there into the online conglomerate of the internet.  So I will just lean on the internet to provide content for me instead.