Archives December 2018

So Cindy and I decided to take down all of the Christmas decorations.  I don’t believe I have ever taken stuff down before New Years but the weird timing of Thanksgiving being early and Christmas being on a Tuesday just made it felt right.  I knew that if I didn’t do it on the weekend I would feel compelled to do it on New Years day when I am off and I didn’t want to do that either.  Cindy was down with the plan as her daughter’s birthday is next weekend so she also preferred to get it done sooner rather than later.

We got started early in the afternoon.  We picked a pretty terrible day to do this as it was ridiculously hot outside, 85+ degrees.  As I was sweating while disassembling the various yard decorations I gave thought to living in a place where the end of December does not include sunburn and mosquitoes.  We worked non-stop for over three hours taking everything down and putting it away, both indoors and out.  I used it as a reason to do some minor cleaning and organizing in the large shed.  Quite a few things either got curbed or thrown out.  As always I felt twinges of sadness during the process as I really enjoy the house being decorated during the holidays.  I also felt the usual twinges of relief when it was all done as I also enjoy when the house is in a “normal” state.

After we were done I took my One Wheel out for a short ride to both lift my spirits and do some more testing of my GoPro 7.  I talk about my mixed bag of feelings.

Saturday night we watched the new Deathwish movie, a reboot of the Charles Bronson classic, this time starring Bruce Willis.  When I first got the Netflix envelope in the mail Cindy said she didn’t want to watch the move based on the title.  When I told her Bruce and a few other name actors were in it she changed her mind.  It was a classic revenge plot as you can imagine.  The transformation of Bruce to a cold blooded killer who takes pleasure in making the bad guys suffer is not very credible but I didn’t really care.  It was standard B quality entertainment.

On Sunday morning Cindy and I headed out on what was supposed to be just a standard 20 mile DD ride with her on the Dualtron and me on the Gotway Monster.  It wound up being a 33+ mile ride after Cindy suggested some detours that made for an interesting change.  One of those changes was seeing the house Katie and Daniel are trying to buy.  We got to see it riding along Randall Blvd which I will never ride on again.  It’s a two lane road with no shoulder and tons of traffic.  It was a fun ride, my feet and calves were burning by the time we got back.  Since the Dualtron allows Cindy to sit or stand as well as having cruise control she is now able to go on these long rides with me without huge problems which is great.

The Eagles had a crucial game yesterday, needing to beat the Redskins to have a chance to get into the playoffs along with the Vikings losing to the Bears.  The Eagles took care of business in a HUGE way, steamrolling the Redskins 24-0.  It was the third incredible performance in a row for Nick Foles, who at one point completed 25 passes IN A ROW, tying the NFL record.   This just seems surreal that this is the same team that could not get out of it’s own way a month ago.  With Nick directing the offense on long time consuming drives time and again the defense, which has been mostly atrocious all year long, seems to have new life from not being on the field as long.  It was a dominating performance.  Nick went out late in the game after another shot to the ribs which makes me nervous but the early injury reports were it is just a bruise and should be able to go in the playoffs.  Oh yea, the Vikings lost. 🙂

The Eagles are in a very odd situation.  Their franchise QB, Carson Wentz, is again sitting on the bench while the team plays it’s best football all year.  It certainly has made me ponder more than once if the team is actually better off as Nick Foles as the starter??  Statistically Wentz has had a good year but the team and the offense in general was not consistent at all, could not execute sustained drives, and Wentz did not spread the ball around well, locking in on  Zak Ertz most of the time.  Add in Carson’s injury problems in his first two years, not what you are hoping for with a young QB.

Is it possible we have a Drew Bledsoe/Tom Brady situation in reverse?  Drew Bledsoe was an established, successful NFL QB who got hurt.  Tom Brady came out of nowhere and just won games and never gave the job back.  Right now it feels like the team responds better to Nick Foles than Carson Wentz, although Foles being older.  Nick is still a young man however, only 29 years old.  Is there any possibility the Eagles actually decide to move forward with Foles?  I doubt it but I for one would not object.  The most important thing to any Eagles fan is winning and especially winning when the pressure is on.  Foles has done that so many times now including on the biggest stage of all.  To me he has earned a starting QB spot, proving last year was not just a fluke.  If not with the Eagles, surely somewhere else.

It will be interesting to see if this miracle finish can continue into the playoffs.  The fact that the Birds are even in the playoffs is a huge win for me. One month ago I had zero expectations of us sniffing the playoffs.  Nick Foles luckily had other ideas.  A big thanks to the Vikings to choking, again.

Yesterday was Sadie’s 11th birthday.  We celebrated with the customary vanilla cupcake, she seemed to approve.

Cindy and I have no plans for New Years Eve.  I may do a live stream to test out some of the new gear she got me for Xmas.  Stop by if you are like us and prefer to avoid the drunk driver-fest which is this holiday.  The worst part will be having to endure the individuals that live around us that put so much value in putting on their own personal fireworks displays which terrify the dogs.  I guess I am an age adjusted hypocrite because when I was young I thought fireworks were cool too but nowadays I could absolutely care less.

Hope you had a great 2018.  Stay safe tonight.

It’s time for another annual blog recap and as always, the past 365 days feels like it has flown by ridiculously quick, a by product of being around for more than a half century. So as is customary let’s list the goals from last year and see how I did at hitting them.

Home improvements, getting the pool rescreened – yep got that done for a premium hurricane price.  I was happy with the work but was unhappy when Sadie decided to rip through one screen to get outside and damaged two others along the way.  I found out the guy that rescreened my pool cage 5 or 6 years ago is now going to jail for working without a license and grand theft.

We, or I should say Cindy, actually accomplished a project that was actually talked about for 207, redoing the vanity in our master bathroom.  My major role in the project was just to finance it as we bought a nice double vanity from Costco.  Cindy did the majority of the demo and reconstruction that was needed to make space for the double vanity.  We paid her neice’s boyfriend to do the plumbing work.  It was odd for me not being very hands on for the project but the end result was good.

Health – stay fit, keep running – Well yes I continue my normal fitness routine and have still been running although not as consistently as I would prefer.  I will talk more about my 2018 health fun later.  I did finally get glasses for distance vision although I don’t wear them as often as I should.

Expanding YouTube efforts – I have definitely been pushing hard on that.  Last year I had 3000 subscribers and I am now pushing towards 5000.  However the YouTube revenue has not grown proportionately due to the various advertiser issues that they have had this year which has cut revenue for most content creators.  I am still making more than last year however and continue to get rewarded by my Amazon Associates affiliation.  I now have well over 1000 videos on my channel.

Growing my hobbies – that indeed has happened for both of my main hobbies, 3D printing and PEV riding.  I now have seven 3D printers and opened up an online store in April where I have been selling 3D printed EUC stands pretty successfully.  I predicted I would not buy any EUC’s in 2018 but that proved to be wrong with me picking up a KingSong 18L although we did also sell Cindy’s Inmotion V5F. However my riding hobby went sort of crazy in this past year in other ways.

Earlier in the year we had a full size Segway transporter that we were given by a friend.  It had bad batteries and no key but less than 30 miles on it.  I spent about $1000 getting it running.  However it wasn’t very practical and I wound up selling it roughly six months later on Ebay for more than I expected, to a guy in Kansas no less.  I am not sure what exactly set me down this path but in 2018 I started getting interested in non-EUC electric vehicles in a very big way. In addition to fixing the Segway, I bought a One Wheel, a Meepo electric skateboard, a 40 mph Dualtron scooter, and a Backfire Ranger X1 all terrain skateboard. I’ll talk about them more later as well.

Financial goals – I mentioned nothing real specific except maybe starting a Roth IRA and continuing to pay down the home equity loan on the house.  I did not start a Roth but I have opened a stock trading account with Robinhood.  It’s the first time in 15+ years I have been buying individual stocks.  I am only doing it on a very limited basis and as usual, I came in at the exact wrong time as the market has tanked majorly in the past several months.  I also converted my state retirement benefit from an investment plan where you have a lump sum of money at retirement to a pension plan where you get a monthly benefit until you die.  If I live a reasonably long life, the pension gives me a significantly higher monthly revenue stream.  Since I am now in my 19th year at my job I felt like the finish line was close enough that I should lock that benefit in.

Road trip – Nope no road trip this year.  The first seven months of the year I was buried in work commitments with a major software rollout where we migrated most of our back end systems to a cloud based vendor.  After that we just had various things coming up that never allowed for us to look at blocking off 10 days to go drive somewhere.  I also still have this internal reservation about leaving the chickens without someone I know I can count on to take care of them. It’s silly I know but we will talk more about my chicken attachment later.

Ok that covers how I did hitting my goals.  As usual it was a mixed bag of success and failure.  So let me try to recall and touch on some highlights and lowlights of the year.

Early in the year I was treated to an event I never thought I would bear witness to in my lifetime, the Eagles won the Superbowl.  It wasn’t only that they won the game but how they played to get there, getting through the playoffs with their backup QB and being the underdog in every game they played.  I could not have written a better script if I tried and the victory over the legendary Patriots was one of the best Super Bowl games in history.  I still get goosebumps just thinking about it.  Although this years team has gotten me plenty aggravated and angry at times I always have the SB victory to fall back upon, it was purely magic.

I addressed a few health requirements early as well getting my glasses, as I mentioned earlier as well as a colonoscopy.  The colonoscopy experience was not a fun one.  The prep, which is already miserable was made worse by the onset of a flu at the same time.  Drinking that prep liquid was intensely disgusting.  I wasn’t thrilled when the doc said he found and cut out a benign pre-cancerous polyp, meaning I should come back for my next colo in 3 years instead of five or even ten.

I guess now is a good time to talk about my other mysterious health issues that to this day are undiagnosed.  It all started a couple years ago when I was doing dragon flags at the gym, a very difficult and strenuous move.  During the transition portion of one rep I got a sharp stabbing pain in my lower right side that instantly made me drop to the floor.  At that time I wrote it off and just stopped doing the move for a month or two.  A few times since then I have tried to reintroduce DF back into my routine but always had a recurrence of pain in that area.

So in 2018 for the first time I was starting to feel that pain doing other things at the gym.  Weighted pull ups, deadlifts, and even heavy shoulder press all at one time or another brought that sensation on.  I continued to just ignore it and scale back my heavy work for a short period of time and I would feel normal again.  However a new thing started to accompany the side pain, odd fatigue.  I suddenly felt really tired and low energy.  Doing cardio was very difficult.  It got bad enough that I finally made an appointment with the med clinic on our government campus.  My untrained opinion was maybe I had a hernia.

So the nurse practitioner sent me for tests, a lot of tests.  I had two huge sets of bloodwork, an abdominal xray, an abdominal CT, and a chest CT.  The blood work showed absolutely nothing significant and the CTs did not show a hernia which surprised the hell out of me.  The tests did raise some other questions.  On the xray the tech indicated I could have a partial bowel blockage although I had no symptoms consistent with that.  The CT showed a small likely benign nodule in one lung with another tech saying something about possible fibrosis which a pulmonologist later dismissed as highly unlikely.

So anyway the end result of a month of testing and medical interaction was nada, nothing determined.  So I have sort of taken a wait and see attitude about it, meaning see if anything gets worse.  I still can have episodes where the side pain starts to roll in and I back off as soon as I feel it.  I also still get more tired than I recall being before at times but it’s better than it was. I can at least function normally and I resumed running a couple months ago.  It’s not been a fun year health-wise, 50 is no joke.  I don’t like feeling limited but I have been forced to modify my exercise program.  There is a lot less heavy lifting and a lot more cardio in there than ever before.

This year was a rough one for our pets as well.  After losing Tuki last year we had a bad time in the coop losing a total of five hens this year.  We first lost Peaches who had some sort of illness but we think actually died when she fell off the perch at night likely breaking her neck.  As a result we cut down the perch height by a foot and a half to make the possible reoccurrence less likely.

Several months later we lost Lucy.  She had swelling under her wing that we thought was from a sprain or strain.  We figured it would subside as it healed.  Instead it continued to grow.  I took her to the vet but the prognosis wasn’t good.  We tried to treat her with antibiotics but it was too late.  Lucy was always very nervous and jumpy around us but as she declined she became very passive.  She would let us hold her as we tried to help her in a way that seemed like she realized we were trying to make her feel better. It was touching and sad.

In the past few weeks it was crazy.  The most shocking and tragic loss was Stephie, who was my favorite hen.  She was an outcast and picked on by most of the other birds.  As a result I gave her special treatment, giving her treats and food in secret, outside of the view of the other hens.  At night when I would go out to the coop to put the hens to bed Stephie would fight through the other birds who would be pecking at her to get up to the front so I would pet her.  It was so sweet and endearing.

One Saturday morning I went out to clean the coop shortly after 7.  The coop door to the outside was on a smart switch that opened at 6:30 AM to allow the hens outside to roam.  Stephie often was one of the first out.  Evidently somewhere in that roughly 30 minute time frame something got her.  The thing is there were no signs whatsoever of an attack.  We lost Cocoa to a coyote a couple years ago and it was obvious what happened with feathers everywhere.  This time there were no feathers anywhere.  It was even more aggravating because the coop DVR system, that I installed for this very reason, was not recording due to a problem so we had no footage to determine what happened to poor Stephie.  Now even weeks later I still think about her everytime I put the hens to bed and how I miss her fuzzy face.

In the week after Stephie’s disappearance we lost two more hens, Pumpkin and Shadow to disease of some undetermined type.  Watching them both fade away just broke my heart.  My reaction to losing them was to block off access for the hens under the coop, where they would spend the majority of each day.  We are unable to maintain, rake or clean that area so I am sure it was extremely dirty which is bad for the birds.  Just last weekend I completed building two new covered areas for the hens behind the coop, both of which provide the shelter they like but are able to be cleaned by me without much hassle.

We did offset the losses with the adoption of six new baby chicks that lived in the guest bathroom for a few weeks before relocating to the garage.  The baby chicks are very cute and will add a new dimension to our 2019 chicken experience.  Cindy has been giving them the utmost attention and care.

We also have had a rough year with Sadie.  She was diagnosed with a malignant tumor on the roof of her mouth a few months back.  Ali and I agreed to have it treated aggressively.  The tumor was cut out and followed up with radiation treatment as well as a melanoma vaccine for dogs.  The cost of the treatment has now crossed into the five figures mark. Thank goodness years ago we decided to take out pet insurance on the dogs.  Doing so greatly minimizes the financial impact of treatment for your animal and gives them the best chance for care.  So far the prognosis has been good and Sadie seems happy as ever.

At the end of 2017 Cindy had just bought a 26 foot trailer.  At the time the primary intention was for it to be her space, her “she shed”.  As the year progressed and the payments for the RV rolled in we came up with another option for Cindy to have her space.  We took the bed out of the guest bedroom and Cindy turned it into her own domain.  My only stipulation was that we needed to be able to put our inflatable bed in there without much hassle if we have guests.   We have been trying to sell the trailer unsuccessfully so far.  It is a nice unit and it is fun to hang out in it but it just isn’t going to get the sort of use that merits the expense.

Cindy set a goal she accomplished in 2018, twice.  She competed in two bikini competitions and did quite well in doing so.  Not only did she compete but she put in countless hours creating the bikinis that both herself and her friends wore in the show.  I was very proud of her for all the hard work, discipline and dedication it took to prepare for the event.

The roof was finally replaced mid-year after sporting a blue tarp for around six months after Hurricane Irma.  The metal roof that was installed should last longer than I will although the house color probably needs to be changed at some point to better match the silver metal.  I also had all of the gutters professionally replaced, ripping out the gutters I unprofessionally installed a decade and a half earlier.

We also got a new washer and dryer set after our LG front loader washer spun a bearing that I did not feel like fixing myself.  We switched back to a top loading Samsung set which I have been very pleased with.

On the automotive front the Prius received the most attention this year.  With 220,000+ miles on the odometer it’s battery pack failed.  Instead of paying roughly 4k for a brand new pack I opted for a rebuilt pack that cost about 25% of that.  It was a frustrating choice for awhile as the installer wound up putting in a total of three packs until I got one that wasn’t defective but the car has been running great for the last six months or so.  It is officially the highest mileage vehicle I have ever daily driven.  In 2019 I have my sights on phasing out the Prius which I will mention in goals.

So like I mentioned earlier I went a little crazy buying electric vehicles this year.  Despite never having any real prior board sport experience I bought a One Wheel which is akin to a snowboard and two electric skateboards.  I can’t really tell you why exactly I decided to add more types of electric vehicles to my collection but I am glad I did.  The One Wheel was the most difficult device for me to ride at first, partly because of a sensor problem that was making it shut off inconsistently.   Early on I had three bad falls that all resulted in my helmeted head hitting the asphalt.  However once I got over the learning curve I really love riding the board.  It is such a different experience from an EUC. The same holds true for the skateboards.  Although not as fun as a One Wheel they still deliver a much different riding experience.  Cindy has a skateboarding background so she was happy when I decided to try out skateboards as well.  We even bought Cindy a conventional skateboard for fun.

In the last couple months we received my most expensive PEV to date, a Dualtron EX scooter.  Thankfully the majority of the cost was offset by the sale of the full size Segway.  I bought this almost entirely for Cindy, despite the high performance specs of the scooter with dual motors capable of propelling you ate 40 mph.  The reason was to give her something she would be able to ride comfortably for long distances so she could go with me on my longer rides.  The Dualtron has a seat and cruise control which allows Cindy to ride in much more comfort than anything else we own.  It’s funny now most of the time she is on the Dualtron I am far in her rearview mirror, I can’t keep up.

My YouTube channel has brought me some prominence in the EUC community.  As a result twice in 2018 I was asked to test new EUC models, the Ninebot Z10 and KingSong 18XL from the dealer I buy most of my EUCs from.  I was honored by the request and had fun riding and reviewing the new wheels.  The videos I produced about them seemed to be well received by the community.

Speaking of the community, in 2018 I also launched a bi-weekly livestream “show” about EUCs with Marty, a fellow enthusiast.  The show has had some mild success and I even convert it into a podcast which is available on Itunes, Google Play, and Spotify.  A month or so ago I started doing the show solo which was a different challenge but it has gone pretty well also.  I look forward to building that audience in 2019.

Cindy has had a productive year as well battling through her health issues to compete in the bikini comp and maintain her fitness instructor career where her personality really helps brighten the day of people that attend her classes.  As always she works hard to contribute to our household in ways that make me smile.

A couple months ago I was surprised to find out that my dad and stepmom were actually considering moving out of western PA and back to SE PA to be close to my sister.  It’s a smart move based on the workload of their current property and dad’s declining physical ability to help maintain it.  I can only hope they manage to make it happen in 2019.

My sister also moved recently from Colorado to Texas.  Her and my brother in law have lived in more places than I can accurately keep track of.  I would never be able to be live with such regular upheaval but somehow they make it work.

Ok so that is all that comes to mind right now, let me lay out some 2019 goals.

Home improvements – I’d like to get all of the pool fasteners replaced and at some point the pool deck/pool is going to need some work.  I would pay someone to do it however.  I am getting to the point where the time/frustration versus money equation makes me more amenable to paying someone to do more tasks.  I need to do some more work in the chicken area to continue to try to raise the ground level in the area to reduce the amount of standing water that saturates it during wet season.

Vehicles – At some point I want to get some bigger tires/wheels on the Tacoma.  My initial thought was to do it when the factory tires wear out but since I drive the truck so little since I daily drive the Prius, I might just pull the trigger sooner.  I am also considering replacing the Prius with a pure EV next year.  At first I was targeting a Chevy Bolt but am now leaning towards a Hyundai Kona EV.  I think owning an EV would be pretty awesome and the new generation has range that makes commuting in one, even one of my distance a reasonable expectation.

Health – I have no specific fitness goals other than more of the same.  I expect my routine to stay less weight intensive and more cardio focused.  One of the things mentioned in the chest CT was some minor plaque in/on an artery.  Considering what happened to my mom, more cardio would be a good thing.

Vacation – My 2019 work schedule should be more normal this year.  As a result I would really enjoy heading back out for a road trip, provided I can secure adequate chicken care of course.

My financial goals include selling the RV and continue to pay down the HELOC while maybe grabbing some more stocks while the market is down to hopefully reap some rewards down the line.

I don’t see a real need to buy more PEVs or 3D printers in the next year but you never know.

From a general standpoint I will continue to try to be more patient and less reactive to agitation, something I have always struggled with.  Without a doubt I have somewhat mellowed over time and find less interest in fighting battles if the end result has no real benefit to anyone.  I find myself quite content most of the time in our own small circle of existence, doing the things we enjoy, mostly shutting out the madness of the world around us as it unravels.

I’m sure 2019 will include it’s own set of unique challenges but what would life be if there were no obstacles to overcome.  It’s all about the journey, not the destination.  Thanks for being part of my year and I hope the next 365 days are some of the best you have experienced.

The mystery left hip pain that was borderline severe which rolled in inexplicably on Sunday evening has just as suddenly disappeared last night.  I felt no pain laying in bed last night and I was able to balance on the leg to put on my socks this morning.  Yesterday that same action shot such intense pain into the hip I almost fell.  As is now customary, the episode just gets another shoulder shrug and is thrown into the bucket with all of the odd old age joys I get to experience nowadays.

So one of the things I got for Cindy for Xmas was a new Apple Watch.  I bought her the Apple Watch 2 a couple years ago and she has loved it.  However for the last few months it developed an issue where screens that utilized the digital crown to scroll content would bounce up and down.  Cindy also used the watch to play music for her classes and the behavior would also change the volume randomly, making it unusable in that situation.  She tried lots of suggestions on the internet to try to address the problem but nothing worked.

My purchase of the new watch for her, with an extended warranty this time, was both an act of giving and of greed.  My thought was I would assume ownership of her old watch and that I may be able to fix the issue.  Last night was the first time we tried setting it up on my phone.  The process went smoothly but the shaky digital crown behavior remained.

So I really didn’t get involved in the watch trouble shooting prior to this but once I searched on Google there was an onslaught of me too information.  Apparently just like so many Apple products, the durability of the Apple Watch is poor.  Tons of people have had the same issue.  So one option is to buy the parts and fix the crown yourself.  However after watching a video on the process combined with the hassle I faced replacing the battery on my old iPhone, I wrote that option off immediately. It looks incredibly tedious with many spots where you could break the watch entirely.

Of course Apple is happy to “repair” your watch for you which I am almost positive means just send you another one.  The flat rate repair for this model is $229, less than a new one but pretty damn steep.  I will likely get the repair done because I think I might actually enjoy some of the functions of the watch, something I didn’t really anticipate.  Cindy is excited about the prospect of using the “walkie talkie” functionality of the watches to allow Nextel-like direct conversations from watch to watch.  I am more interested in the health related aspects with it’s activity tracker and built in heart rate monitor.

Christmas Eve this year didn’t require really any last minute shopping from me which was nice.  Cindy was the one that had so much to do because of her family coming over for Xmas eve dinner.  She also had to teach two classes in the morning.  I grabbed my One Wheel late morning and headed to the park to go take a very enjoyable casual ride in near perfect weather.  I was worried I might struggle to ride with the mysterious, out of nowhere, pretty severe left hip pain I developed on Sunday but it wasn’t too bad.  Riding an EUC is actually much tougher for me right now because I normally use my left leg as the “anchor” when mounting and dismounting.

I did make a stop at CVS and Publix on the way home.  I returned to my truck to see some lazy asshole left me an early present, their shopping cart against the side of my truck.  Luckily the angle of impact did not dent the truck but I was instantly aggravated with the lack of responsibility and pure laziness of individuals that cant take the time to put their used carts in an area designed for them.  The me first, fck everyone else attitude is something that makes my blood boil.

During the afternoon I helped Cindy with whatever she needed help with, which wasn’t much.  She made a ridiculous amount of food and baked goods, enough to probably feed 20 even though we were only forecast to have seven or eight people show up. We wound up having a couple less than that.   Cindy’s mom and niece showed up about six with Katie showing up after work.  Katie had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas, one of the reasons I never considered food service as a career option.

Despite the light turnout we had a good time.  Katie and Daniel’s “big” gift from me showed up about 7:30 that night, wow talk about going down to the wire.  I told Katie to stay in the great room while I quickly wrapped the electric skateboard in the dining room.  The get together broke up somewhere around 9:30.  The massive amount of food meant there was a massive amount of clean up to be done which I did my best to help with.  There were so many leftovers that we had to utilize the fridge in the RV to store some of them.  When we finally got to bed we were both thoroughly exhausted.

I must have been tired because my normal early internal alarm clock which used to be extra early on Christmas was turned off.  We didn’t get out of bed until after 7:15 which is a couple hours later than it used to be.  There were a lot of years where the presents were already opened by that time.  After getting up my first task was to go out and clean up the chicken coop where I wished the hens Merry Christmas although they clucked at me just like it was any other day.  I did give them some extra treats which they appreciated.

So maybe an hour after we woke up we finally got to sit down and start unwrapping.  Cindy always complains that I get her more than she gets me.  Well this year she seemed determined to settle the score.  She bought me way too many things.  Like I have said, during the last decade or so I really get more enjoyment from giving rather than receiving.  At this point in my life Christmas can be any day of the year for me as I buy what I want most of the time.  Repeatedly I told Cindy she bought too much.

Although it was too much, the things she got me I liked for sure.  It was the most “toy” heavy Christmas I have had for quite awhile with a number of tech and gadgets for me to play with.  Some of the highlights were a led lighted gaming pad, a new G-Shock watch, Fire TV Cube, a GoPro 7, and more.  It was a crazy amount of stuff.  Cindy seemed to like the stuff I got her as well which was all I hoped for.

After the opening ceremonies were done we ate breakfast and then started digging into opening, configuring and putting away the dozens of gifts.  It was a very long process that consumed a good portion of the day.  Late in the afternoon I wanted to take a quick ride to test out the new GoPro 7 and see how it worked in it’s stock form for my EUC videos.  The answer was good and bad.

The 60 FPS video quality was quite good and the new “hypersmooth” tech does indeed deliver near gimbal level of stability to footage which is very cool.  The bad part was the audio.  The default automatic noise reduction on the camera steps all over my voice while it is active.  I immediately ordered a foam wind breaker case similar to what I have for my GoPro 3 to address the problem.  It was also strange that the default video setting was 4:3 format instead of 16:9, something I didn’t realize until I was processing the footage.  Overall I am happy with the camera and I think it will be a nice upgrade to the video quality of my stuff.

Katie and Daniel showed up a few minutes after we returned from the ride.  Cindy gave them their presents and then the grand finale was the Meepo skateboard that arrived the night before.  They were both excited but Daniel was especially since he has more of a skateboarding background.  I went outside with him to test it out.  Even though the battery was only about half charged he was able to rip up and down our street at 20+ mph pretty easily.  They both thanked me repeatedly which was sweet.  They couldn’t stick around very long as they had presents still to open at Daniels dad’s place.

During the day I got my calls in with my family, talking to my dad, brother and sister.  It sounded like a pretty gray Christmas in western PA.  Evidently this is the first year that at least one of the kids was not at my dad/stepmom’s place for Christmas which had my stepmom understandably sad.  Combined with my dad’s very Grinch-like attitude towards the holiday, I don’t think my stepmom had a good Christmas whatsoever.  My brother and sister are supposed to be there this weekend however so hopefully some belated holiday cheer can come Teresa’s way.

I was telling Cindy that it is odd to me that somehow I wound up embracing Christmas the way that I do.  I have absolutely no religious connection to the holiday, my Dad has always disliked it, and my mom seemed lukewarm about it most years.  I’m not quite sure why at 51 years of age and no children why I put so much energy and anticipation into the day.  It will likely just be one of the many unanswered mysteries of life.

Our Christmas evening wound down rather peacefully.  I felt both good and sad at the same time.  I was happy that my efforts were well received and all the actions, money and planning we both put into this year’s celebration went as we hoped.  Even with that good outcome I had the same feeling of post-Christmas letdown which I have had more or less my entire life.  I don’t feel there is anything in particular I can do about it except just move forward and focus on what’s ahead.

It doesn’t help that I have to work the next day.  I’m not sure how many years it has been since I worked the day after Christmas.  We have either had it off or I took it off for at least the last five years if not more.  The upside is at least I can resume my normal routine which includes the gym to combat the grossness I feel from eating way too much delicious but calorically dense food for multiple days.

So I took off Friday because I wanted to get my two chicken area construction projects completed, building a small, moveable pergola for behind the coop and modifying the chicken playground so I could attach roof panels to it to provide additional cover.  Unfortunately nobody let mother nature know of my plans.  All day long the weather was unstable with bright sun followed by periods of intense wind and rain.  I stopped and started the project no less than four times.  The end result was me not getting done as much as I hoped but I did at least get the smaller pergola completed.

I threw some treats under there so the hens realized it’s use.  Before long they were all hanging out under there which made me smile.  They obviously were happy to have a low ceiling area to hang out in both for shade and safety.

Since I didn’t spend as much time outside as I originally planned I also tackled indoor tasks while I dried off in between downpours.  One of those was reseating the bead once again on one of the Minipro tires.  It’s a very aggravating task that I accomplished by using a ratchet strap to squeeze the oversized tire onto the rim tightly so the bead would seat when inflated.  I got it around my seventh or eighth try. Oh, I forgot to mention, I got my 13 lap run out of the way first thing Friday morning as well.

On Saturday the weather was better but quite chilly with daytime temps not exiting the 60’s.  We went out and ran some errands early to give the air some time to warm up before I resumed chicken work.  We grabbed a few things I needed at Home Depot including some MORE Xmas decorations.  We bought some LED snowman stake decorations to replace our 5 year old versions that were falling apart.

When I got out in the chicken area later I went into pure “let’s get shit done” mode.  As is almost always the case I had no formal plan for the project, just a mental outline that I improvise along the way.  I built a roughly 8′ x 8′ pressure treated frame that I mounted the corrugated roof panels to.  I incorporated a downward pitch to the roof so water will drain,  I also attached hinges to the higher side so I will be able to clean out under the shelter, unlike under the coop, the whole reason I am doing this.

I worked for between two to three hours until I had it as I wanted.  The finished project resembles the original vision in my mind but the way I got there was totally different from what I imagined at the start, a normal series of events for me.  I again threw some treats under there when I was done to lead the chickens to their second new hangout spot.  If chickens could smile, they would be ear to ear.

Saturday night Cindy and I went out to see Aquaman.  I didn’t have sky high expectations based on the reviews I heard and the fact that it is a Zack Snyder movie.  His movies are famous for being very strong on crazy visuals but weak on story telling, dialogue and plot. But hey it’s a super hero movie, I am going to go see it.

The first thing I had to get around was this iteration of Aquaman, Jason Momoa.  He is the exact opposite of the Aquaman I knew as a kid in both comic books and the Justice League Saturday morning cartoon series.  The hero I knew was a blonde haired, blue eyed squeaky clean type of character, something Momoa is anything but.

It reminded me of the adjustment I had to do with the Han Solo movie where I had to accept someone other than Harrison Ford playing Han. It took some time but I eventually let that prejudice fade away.  I’m not sure if I ever got to that point with this Aquaman but I just rolled with the flow. Not only did they totally flip the script on the look of Aquaman, they made him much more powerful than I ever knew him to be.  He was basically Superman that could breathe underwater.  He took amazing amounts of punishment yet emerged from it all without even a limp.

I thought the movie was a little too long with them jamming in the Black Manta villain in a way that seemed forced and secondary to the plot.  However Zack as always delivered with amazing visuals and tremendous action scenes which was enough for me to push it to B+ material for me.  I’m fine however with this being a one and done series.  DC movies just can not come close to matching Marvel when it comes to creating compelling super hero movies, worthy of multiple installments.

This morning after chicken duty and paying bills I decided to knock off some server work at the office that I originally planned to do on Monday.  It was too cold to ride PEVs in the morning with temps in the low 50’s.  I figured getting this work done opens up my Christmas Eve to do more of whatever I want.  I had to upgrade our firewall appliance which I had been putting off for a couple months due to it’s requirement for the work to be done after hours and on premise.

The firewall is a HUGE part of our  network infrastructure since we run so much of the office on the cloud nowadays, so the upgrade had me a bit nervous.  I backed up the configuration, just in case.  The upgrade procedure included an upgrade of the OS version on the server so it took longer than I expected.  I brought Elsa along to keep me company as I waited for the final reboot.  In the end everything went well and the firewall came back online without issue.

I got home a little before the Eagles kickoff.  I had seen something during the week that made me think they were putting Wentz back in there, which I did not want.  With his back problems he has not been effective overall, especially in the last couple months.  The team was not playing with any sort of confidence, something that magically appeared when Nick stepped in against the Rams last week, leading the team to an improbably win on the road.

When I flipped on the game I was happy to see Wentz wearing sweats and a baseball cap, meaning Nick was starting.  Nick started off the game with a bang doing something that I am not sure has happened all year long, leading the team straight down the field on their first possession for a TD.  It was the start of a historic day for Foles, the magical savior that lead the Eagles to their only Super Bowl win last year, as a backup.

Nick had a couple mistakes including a fumble deep in the Eagles side of the field that resulted in an immediate Texans TD and a INT that didn’t result in points.  Other than that, he was just crazy good.  So to me the difference between him and Wentz is pretty clear, Nick makes decisions faster.  Consistently he is getting the ball out of his hands were Wentz would still be making a decision which far too often would result in missed opportunities.  Foles also appears to be more able to not lock in on just one target, spreading the ball around in a better manner than Carson.  These abilities allow the offense to actually sustain drives, keeping the mostly awful defense off the field, something that is crucial with this years squad.  The offense under Wentz had far too many 3 and outs with horrid time of possession numbers.

So anyway, the Eagles followed a blueprint they have used many times this season, build a sizeable lead in the second half and then play the hated and horrible prevent defense.  They have given up big leads in a hurry this way all year long yet there seems to be no deviation from this strategy.  I know the personnel in the defensive secondary is bad but come on, their play in the soft zone is miserable.  Time and again with seven guys back there Texan receivers were able to run free with little to no resistance. The plays they allowed Watson, the Texans QB to make were crazy.

So despite the typical prevent defense collapse allowing a quick TD to get the Texans within one score, the offense under Foles direction was mounting a much needed, time consuming drive.  However that came to a screeching halt when Josh Adams fumbled, giving the Texans the ball near midfield.  I am not a big fan of the rookie Adams, despite him putting up some half decent numbers.  He seems slow as shit and doesn’t appear to have any fire in his belly, the polar opposite of Darren Sproles.

So the defense once again falls flat on it’s face and allows the Texans to drive down the field easily, scoring a TD that gave them a one point lead, courtesy of Jake Elliot missing an extra point earlier.  Last year Elliot was a key component to the Eagles success, he was money, making clutch kicks all year long.  This year he has struggled to the point where I feel each kick is a coin flip with him.  The only good part about the Texans scoring was there were two minutes remaining and the Eagles still had two timeouts.

Early in the drive it didn’t look good with a 3rd and 10 facing Foles deep in Eagles territory.  He managed to connect to Ashlon Jeffrey, who made an amazing catch just as Nick was speared to the chest  which knocked the wind out of him, forcing him to miss a play.  When he came back in to thunderous applause he continued his surgical dissection of the Texans, moving the Birds down the field to the point where Elliot had a 35 yard field attempt to win the game with a few seconds remaining.

He had his chance to atone for his XP miss.  Cindy and I held our breath but the kick was a no doubt about it variety, straight down the middle.  I held up my hands in celebration as a I yelled in unison with the fans on the screen.  What a game.  The Eagles under Foles leadership just won two games, against two teams that are leading their divisions. Both games I was sure they would lose three weeks ago, before Saint Nick came to town, again. The fact that he is winning games with a defense that has absolutely no answer to stopping the pass makes the wins even more impressive.

His performance was historic, setting an Eagles record for most passing yards in a game.  He also became the first Eagles QB to throw for 400+ yards in four games in his career, passing Sonny Jurgensen.  The guy just gets it done and that attitude rubs off on everyone around him.  I am not sure if there has ever been an Eagles QB in my lifetime that I have had more confidence in with playing well in the clutch.

So despite these two improbable wins, the Eagles still need help to reach the playoffs.  Not only do they need to win their remaining game, they also need the Vikings to lose their final game of the year to get in as a wildcard.  The good news is the Vikings are playing the Bears in that game, one of the best teams in the NFC.  I can’t imagine any scenario where Wentz sniffs the field next week and if the Birds somehow make the playoffs, Foles is my guy, without hesitation. Realistically with the defense being so poor this year (3rd worst in the league), I have little hope of any end result coming close to last year but even making the playoffs would be a huge deal with as dark as this season was a month ago.

I’m sure it is tough for Wentz to see the team transform offensively for the better with him out of the lineup.  Hopefully he uses it as an opportunity to identify the holes in his game that will help him down the road.  If somehow Foles manages to lead the this team deep into the playoffs however, I might have a hard time not jumping on the Foles train, permanently.

Tomorrow for Xmas eve we are hosting a meal for Cindy’s family which will be action packed for sure.  I will be well prepared with alcohol as needed, a welcome aid in my social interactions.  I hope it will culminate in an epic Christmas morning where giving outranks receiving on the enjoyment meter by a ton.

Last night I spent a good portion of my night doing more troubleshooting of streaming multiple people via Skype.  In order to do this I used my work laptop in another room to simulate a remote session while hosting on my main workstation as I normally do.  I employed Cindy to be my remote tester.  The issue I was trying to solve was the audio from the remote person not being audible when streamed to YouTube.

So I did dozens of tweaks and tests, without success.  It should be a pretty straight forward process but it is made less so by the current iteration of Skype, which is now a built in part of Windows 10.  It seems that unlike most software which becomes better over time, Skype has become worse, behaving in inconsistent ways which make troubleshooting very tedious.

I did about 10 test streams to my channel.  Finally I got one where I could hear audio on both sides.  I documented how I had Skype and my streaming software configured.  I also installed the older version of Skype which seemed to lack some of the bugs I was experiencing with the new Windows 10 version.  I plan to do a few more tests just to verify I have the issue figured out over the long weekend.  I also toyed around with my new Yeti mic and discovered it does not appear to be working correctly.  I had no patience left to try to troubleshoot that as well but it’s on the list for the weekend as well.

So as I said, I have a long weekend ahead since I took tomorrow off to add to getting Monday and Tuesday off for Christmas.  As is always the case I have a lot of stuff to accomplish during that time.  Ironically, none of it is really Christmas related since I have my shopping wrapped up (pun intended), unless I have a last minute impulse buy for someone.

Tomorrow I am targeting to be chicken outbuilding construction day.  I want to build a long but narrow pergola style shelter that is moveable as well as affix roof panels to the playground structure to give the hens more places for shelter.  Ever since we blocked access to under the coop I can tell they are unhappy, even though it’s for their own good.  Tomorrow will not be an ideal day for the work as it is forecast to be extremely windy, after an unusually strong storm for this time of year is supposed to blow through today.

Other tasks this weekend include normal weeding/pool maintenance, a Prius oil change, 3D stand assembly, further live stream testing and a trip to the office to a do firewall upgrade on Monday.  Of course there will be time for fun as well, such as getting out to see Aquaman and the actual Christmas festivities themselves.  As always my goal will be to hit that elusive perfect balance between accomplishment and relaxation.  I hope all of you that take the time to read my stuff have a great Christmas season!

We targeted last night as our annual EUC ride through Victoria Park to see the incredible Xmas light displays.  The issue was it was supposed to be “Florida cold” with temps dropping through the lower 60’s into the 50’s.  It has been chilly before when we did this and we made the mistake of under-dressing for it.  This time we layered it on, literally.

I had on jeans, a t-shirt, Under Armour Cold Gear long sleeve shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, and the insulated jacket I bought last year for the winter PA trip.  I also had a furry hat and gloves in my coat pocket that I wound up not needing.  It was so much clothing that during the drive there I was overheated sitting in the car.

However once we got out riding in the brisk air combined with the wind I found I had on the perfect amount of clothing, I was neither hot or cold.  Cindy was wearing a huge oversized onesie which did a good job of keeping her warm.  Cindy also added extra festivity with battery powered Christmas lights she wrapped around the Minipro and her and Katie’s body. I chose to ride the 18L.  It’s lights and ability to stream Christmas music from my phone made it the obvious choice.  It’s larger size also is easier in situations like this where you are mounting and dismounting often.

Unlike when we last were to Victoria Park on Halloween, which was pretty miserable due to the crowds, the development was pretty lightly trafficked.  There were still a good number of vehicles circling about but the sidewalks were almost entirely clear, allowing us to roll around unobstructed the majority of the time.  As usual the light displays were amazing and we didn’t even get to see everything.  If it was up to me I probably could have rolled around there another half hour but I could tell Cindy was getting uncomfortable and that the kids had enough as well.  Despite the “cold” temperatures, it was a good way to spend a mid-December weeknight.

I was saddened to hear Penny Marshall died.  I was a big Laverne and Shirley fan growing up.  That show and Happy Days were one of my weekly tv highlights for a long time.

I received my birthday gift from Torrin last night, one of those retro NES consoles that have 30 classic NES games preloaded.  The console itself is about a quarter of the size of the original system but has an original sized controller.  It also has been updated to be powered off a USB port as well as utilizing a modern HDMI video port.

My initial concern was where I could hook it up so it would be convenient and practical to play.  The answer was right in front of me, I had an open HDMI port on one of my two massive computer monitors.  The only other issue was getting sound since my monitor does not have a speaker built into it.  I was able to address that by plugging a cable from the headphone out jack on the monitor to an input on my PC speaker system.  It looked and sounded great.

The experience is exactly as I remember as a young adult.  I only tried a couple games but got the biggest kick out of Punch Out, a long time favorite of mine.  Cindy played Galaga, which is probably her all time favorite video game. She had fun but also found herself swearing uncontrollably when things didn’t quite go as planned, it was funny to watch.

Having the console right there on my desk is ideal and means it will probably get more use than if I tried to hook it up to the TV.  The cord for the controller is way too short for conventional TV play anyway.  It was a fun experience that reminded me of a time 30 years ago where the responsibility was much less and the focus on just having fun day to day was more natural.

Yesterday Cindy bought a small space heater to put in the garage near the baby chicks to keep the space as warm as possible.  This is in addition to the heat lamps we already have positioned above the run.  Yesterday was quite chilly by Florida standards with lows overnight that touched the 40’s.  It seemed like the combo did a decent job of keeping the two car garage comfortable.  When I checked first thing this morning the thermometer in there read 70 degrees which isnt bad.  The chicks seemed content.  It’s funny, after only a month all of the birds have distinct personalities.  It will be fun seeing them grow up.

My neighbor across the street emailed me to let me know that the guy that replaced our pool screen around 5 years ago is going to prison.  He always seemed shady and I guess that feeling was accurate.  He evidently was doing work after the hurricane without a license and then taking money for work that he never did.  There was also something about a grand theft charge as well probation violation.  Anyway, he got an 8 year sentence followed by 10 years of probation.  Some people just go through life bumping into the same obstacles, never changing their direction to avoid them.

I had my dentist appointment this morning.  As I hoped I got a clean bill of health with no further remediation necessary.  It’s such a contrast to my childhood where trips to the dentist felt like I was going to the gas chamber.  I was terrified of it.

So during the day on Friday Cindy moved the baby chicks to much larger accommodations in the garage.  They have been growing like crazy and had no room in the Rubbermaid container they have been living in for the last month.  We followed our lead from the last time we raised chicks and set them up in the garage, utilizing the run portion of the chicken tractor, flipped upside down.  It more than quadrupled their space and should be their home until we are ready to move them outside in 6-8 weeks.

The baby birds seem thrilled with their new big living quarters.  The only issue is we are raising the chicks in winter this time, meaning the garage can get quite chilly at night which is not good for them.  We added a second heat lamp and Cindy is picking up a small electric space heater that should insure a portion of the area will always be warm in case a chick gets cold.  They will sort of self regulate themselves temperature wise.  If they are cold they will hang under the lamp, if they are hot they have the rest of the run to hang out in.

I got out and ran after work on Friday, it was not much fun.  The temps on Friday were into the mid-80’s.  Sweating your ass off while running in December just doesn’t seem like it should be a thing.  I wore my GPS to run for the first time in close to four months.  I knew I was running slow but didn’t appreciate just how slow.  Thanks to busting it the last lap I just snuck in under a 10 minute mile pace, averaging a turtle-like 9:55 per mile over the 13 laps.  Oh well.

Saturday morning I tended to the chickens.  As I did I was mentally planning my additional construction projects in their area.  Now that we have blocked off access to below the coop the hens look all confused as to where to hang out during the day.  I have seen them all huddle inside the old chicken tractor and jammed up against the back of the coop as well.  I plan to make a small, moveable pergola style shelter to go behind the coop as well as putting roof panels across the playground area to give them two additional areas of shelter that we can actually maintain and clean as needed.  Later in the morning I ran out to Home Depot where I picked up $200 in roof panels, pressure treated lumber and fasteners to do the work, which will hopefully occur this upcoming extended holiday weekend.

Saturday afternoon we were invited over to Daniel’s dad and stepmom’s place for a BBQ hangout.  I hadn’t been there in quite awhile.  It was nice to see their dogs Tank and Bowser.  Bowser is especially fond of me for some reason.  I brought five or six Zimas and my One Wheel to keep the fun level rolling, pun intended.  We hung out for two or three hours before heading home.

Saturday night we watched our Netflix rental, Pacific Rim Uprising, a sequel to Pacific Rim.  I liked the original of course, who doesn’t like giant robots fighting giant monsters?  Well as is often the case, the sequel didn’t quite match up to the original, not that the original set any sort of high bar in cinematic mastery.  Still, robots and monsters has to at least get a B rating from me.  Cindy would not agree.

Sunday was my 51st birthday, something that I honestly could let pass without celebration.  I started it off as I normally would, tending to the chickens and paying my bills.  We also did our typical Sunday EUC ride but Katie and Daniel joined us this time, something that hasn’t happened for awhile.  We headed to North Collier Park in the Tacoma which was needed because we had the big Dualtron scooter along for the ride.  In addition I had my two electric skateboards and the KingSong EUC.  We wound up riding a lot longer than I originally expected which was great.  The weather was just about perfect for it.

It was the first extended testing I have gotten to do on the Ranger X1 all terrain skateboard.  Besides some annoying tire noise, the board performed very well.  Daniel and even Cindy rode it through some thick and deep grass and it kept chugging along.  We all kept switching up vehicles during the ride which was fun.  You can get a good sense of it from the video.

When we got home we ate lunch and then headed right back out.  I felt guilty that Elsa did not go on any rides so far over the weekend.  When we left to ride EUCs she was very disappointed she was not included.  So we loaded her up and went to Rural King and Home Depot for a few items that we needed.  Elsa would be fine if we just drove around forever and never got out of the vehicle.  She still doesn’t like being out in public, she just likes being with us.

Last evening Cindy and I went to Carrabbas for a quiet little birthday dinner.  I think I have eaten there on my birthday nearly every year since I moved to Florida.  During the meal I told Cindy how much I liked it before they homogenized and sterilized the restaurant to make it more in line with the styling of the newer restaurants.  It definitely doesn’t have the appeal it once had.  I may not be alone in those feelings as we were able to sit down with no wait at 6PM on a Sunday night, something that would have been an impossibility in years gone by.  We still enjoyed the meal and I even was serenaded by the staff when I got my complimentary desert.

So the last part of my birthday was watching the Eagles/Rams game, a game that I have assumed was going to be a loss weeks in advance.  However there was an interesting development this week when it was announced that Wentz was going to miss the game and perhaps the remainder of the year due to back pain related to a fracture which has been bothering him all year.  This meant Nick Foles, who orchestrated the Eagles improbable Super Bowl victory last year would get a shot behind the wheel once again.  Foles started the first two games of the season and looked mediocre, winning one game and losing another.  However, I held out hope that adding him back into the equation would somehow put a spark into the team that has spent so much of this season spinning it’s wheels.

The game was interesting and compelling in so many ways.  During the first half Foles was efficient and the defense was in bend but not break mode, similar to last year.  The biggest difference I saw was the offense was helping the defense for the first time in awhile.  Despite good numbers overall, the Eagles under Wentz this year have not scored a lot of points and have been inept at building long drives on offense which give the defense some time to rest.  Last week against the Cowboys the defense set a dubious record for taking the most amount of snaps, a testament to the lack of time of possession by the offense.  This has been a problem all year long.

That all changed last night.  The offense had a number of long drives, mixing the run and pass pretty effectively.  Foles also seemed to better utilize his weapons. Instead of just throwing the ball Zak Ertz’s way 80% of the time like Wentz seems to do, he hit Jefferies repeatedly during the game,  who was a play maker last year but mostly ignored by Wentz this year.  It’s weird but the team just felt different with Foles back there, maybe because of what he accomplished last year made them feel confident they had a chance, which nobody gave them going into this game.  Far too often this year the team has underperformed when it mattered with Wentz behind center.   Other than a bad interception in the second half Foles played a mistake free game.

As I mentioned, the defense, besides bending and not breaking (until the fourth quarter) actually made some big plays, something that has been also lacking this season.  They got a few turnovers that killed Rams momentum.  Miraculously the Eagles found themselves with a commanding 30-13 lead late into the third quarter.  I knew there was plenty of aggravation to come as the hated prevent defense was put into motion.

As the Eagles systematically allowed the Rams to move downfield virtually unopposed the announcers started talking about the other games this season where the Eagles blew large double digit leads late in the game.  I was hoping we were not about to witness it happen yet again.  Well it almost did, multiple times.  The Eagles gave the Rams several shots to stab them in the heart.

Jake Elliot, who was partially responsible for the Cowboys loss via his mixed extra point last week had a chance to redeem himself by make a long field goal which would have iced the game.  Instead he had a no doubt about it miss wide right which gave the Rams the ball around midfield with no timeouts remaining and a minute remaining.  They again marched down the field but thanks to not getting out of bounds on a couple plays had one last shot at a game tying touchdown with four seconds remaining.  I was happy to see on THIS play the Eagles finally sent one extra rusher to apply some pressure on the QB.  The end result was an incomplete pass in the end zone, preserving an improbable, nail biting, hold your breath win.

It was a great victory that occurred on the road against a team with one of the best records in the NFC.  The Eagles no longer control their own playoff destiny but if it was up to me I would keep Carson shut down for the rest of the season so he can take some notes from Foles on how to sustain drives, spread the ball around, and make accurate throws when the pressure is on.  It was the biggest win of the year and the perfect way to end my birthday, thanks Nick.

So despite my general apathy and dislike for birthdays, Cindy as always did her best to make sure I had a good day.  It’s a fortunate thing to have someone in life that is always working towards your happiness.  I just took Friday off to extend my Xmas weekend to five days, I like it.

Last night I targetted for taking my second shot at replacing the inner tube on my Gotway Monster.  I tried last weekend but wound up puncturing a brand new tube as I tried remounting the tire.  I bought two more tubes just in case I failed again.  Luckily I managed to get the second tube installed intact as well as reassemble the wheel, albeit with some pretty dumb screw ups along the way.  Check it out if you need something to watch with breakfast.

So I heard Carson Wentz may miss this week and possibly the rest of the season.  Evidently he has had back pain off and on all year.  Only recently did they determine the pain is coming from a small fracture that requires no surgery but requires rest to heal.  It’s a bit concerning that such a young QB has had pretty significant injuries his first two years in the league.  I hope we don’t have a Tony Romo pattern setting up.

To me the good news is Nick Foles, the architect of the most magical Eagles playoff run in history gets another shot to pull off a miracle.  The team has a brutal two games coming up that they will be expected to lose.  If Nick somehow manages to come out with W’s and get the Birds into the playoffs his place in Eagles lore will grow to monumental proportions.  With the way this defense has been playing, the only shot the team has is to put up points, and lots of them.  Wentz overall this year, despite decent numbers, has not been all that effective in consistently getting the Birds in the end zone.  If Foles can do it with the same personnel it may be time to start looking closer at why Wentz couldn’t.

This weekend is my birthday, hooray.  I am sure Cindy will do whatever she can to make it great.  Me, I will just continue to treat it like any day.