Archives 2019

Yesterday on my way in I had the GoPro running to document how effective Tesla auto pilot was managing my daily drive.  The answer is, pretty darn effective.  I estimate 90% of the drive was driven on AP.  I only assumed control for directional changes and short periods of time.  I even had AP change lanes for me a couple times.  It’s only the beginning of where the tech is going.

It has been quite nice enjoying the Tesla for my daily commute.  When I first got the Tacoma I daily drove it for awhile and loved it but once the Prius became my car it became my sole daily driver. I liked the idea of keeping the Taco in the garage protected from the elements and the odometer staying low.  With the Tesla I have no plans to shelter it in such a manner.  For what it cost, I want to be able to enjoy what I paid for as much as possible.  I don’t need to worry about oil changes or other maintenance other than tire rotation and making sure the windshield washer fluid is topped off so it cuts down on my cares about mileage.

There is a small part of me that wishes I would have went with the longer range model, not because I necessarily needed the extra 70 miles of range but because of the other features like a second motor and more bells and whistles that I mistakenly thought all Model 3’s had going in.  The reality is I stretched my auto budget as far as it can be stretched as is, another 10k would have put the purchase into the crazy town category.

Yesterday I was notified that the HomeLink kit I ordered had arrived at the Dania Beach service center.  I took next Thursday and Friday off to give me a long holiday weekend.  On that Thursday I will be driving over there to get the kit installed and to have them try to align the steering wheel for the second time.

So this morning a snap decision was made in my head that it was time to start trimming back my collection of PEVs.  The first potential target of that effort is the Ultron scooter.  The scooter is fast and fun but really just a rougher version of the Dualtron II Ex we already own.  I bought it originally because I thought I needed it to keep up with Cindy when she is riding the Dualtron.  It’s true that none of my EUCs can comfortably cruise 30mph for long periods of time like the scooter can but an easier/less expensive solution is for Cindy to just slow down a little bit, lol.

So I listed the scooter on OfferUp this morning, the same place the RV has resided for months on end.  I have no idea how easy/difficult it will be to sell but it will be sold, guaranteed.  It will be nice to get some of the money spent back in my wallet and to have one less PEV sitting in the dining room.

Today on my drive to work I had the GoPro running the entire time.  My goal was to have Auto Pilot engaged as much as possible to demonstrate how it handles different road types and situations.  It will be a bit challenging to edit the footage in a way that makes it decent but I will get it to work.  Non-Tesla owners find this sort of stuff very interesting to watch, I know I did.

For those of you out there that digest the waste product that comes out of President Trump’s mouth without any intellectual analysis like a human centipede, I wanted to make an effort to break one link of the chain of madness for you.  One of the things Don has been spewing regarding the trade negotiations with China is that tariffs are a good thing that benefit the US, bringing billions of dollars to the US government.  Here is a quote from the other day “Tariffs will bring in FAR MORE wealth to our Country than even a phenomenal deal of the traditional kind. Also, much easier & quicker to do…”

Ok since Donald evidently doesn’t understand the logistics of tariffs here is the cliff notes version.  China does NOT pay the tariffs.  The businesses in the US that buy/import goods from China pay the tariffs. Those increased costs then almost always are passed down the chain to the consumer meaning every Tom, Dick, and Harry is paying the tariff, not China.  I have also heard Trump say these tariffs have made the US government billions of dollars, again ignorantly.  He seems to think a tariff is a check written by China that is deposited into a federal government account.  Nope, it basically is a tax on goods that we all pay.

So this explanation does not mean that I think that the China/US trade imbalance is not an issue, it is.  For decades the Chinese have stacked the deck by basically playing dirty pool.  However as is often the case with President Big League, whether it is intentional or just pure ignorance, he is misleading the populace on how this all really works.  The unfortunate thing is how many millions will accept his ignorant/false statements as facts and will quickly move on, looking for the next piece of poop to munch on.

Of course I can’t spoil the most recent episode of Game of Thrones but let’s just say it was shocking, in many ways.  It certainly pushed forward certain stereotypes about the female gender.  Crazy shit, they certainly have a lot of hard moments to settle up before the 8 year mega-series wraps up next week.

Some people may be wondering why I don’t do more commentary regarding the incredulous things going on in Washington DC on a daily basis.  It seems everyday the bar keeps getting shoved lower and lower.  At this point it’s probably at whatever height the depths of hell is.

The fact that we have US Senators publicly advising individuals to ignore subpoenas would seem like something of far reached fiction if you proposed it three or four years ago. But today it is just another day in the Trump Era which has succeeded in disgusting me to the point where I just don’t care anymore.  These last couple years has taught the nation that if you have enough power/money, there truly is no consequences for bad or in this case, abhorrent behavior.   I truly hate the political system in the United States, it’s corrupt to it’s core and needs to be bored out like a root canal.

Friday was a busy day for the Tesla.  It was picked up in the morning by a remote tech to be taken to an alignment shop to address the misaligned steering wheel.  When I got the car back the wheel no longer had a slight right orientation when going straight, it had an even slighter left orientation when going straight.  I was frustrated that I am going to have to contact them again but I sort of insist that my 45k+ brand new vehicle has a straight steering wheel.  I know, I am a prick.

Then late afternoon I had an appointment at the only local Tesla certified body shop to look at the run in the paint.  They have done a lot of work on Teslas but the estimator said he had not seen a flaw like mine to date.  He said they would try to sand/buff out the problem but his paint guy said the bubbles in the clear coat may mean that area might need to be repainted, so he is submitting it to Tesla that way so they authorize the expense if need be.  The downside is if it does need to be painted the car needs to be there three to four days.  At this point I just want to get these two issues behind me so I can drive/enjoy the car without future service appointments overhead.

On Saturday my main intent was to get my external power restored to the coop/RV.   When I dug up the wire splice I had at the shed I verified I had power to that point so it meant the connection just deteriorated/broke.   I decided to reconnect things in a different manner.  Instead of having three sets of wires spliced together  I instead only did one splice, putting a plug end for the connection to the coop.  I then used a a heavy duty triple tap inside the shed to join everything back together.  Power again flowed to all destinations when I was done.

I also did some more construction in the coop, building a secondary stand for a second battery for the solar system.  Until I get a proper solar battery I put my emergency power center out there.  The hope I have is I can expand the battery capacity of the coop with an external battery connected to the Yeti to give some slack with no sun run times.  The thing is I might need more solar panels in order to create enough juice to feed it all.

Later in the day I went on a drive in the Tesla to pick up a few things.  I talked about my remediation attempts, more of my discoveries and did a real world 0-60 timed attempt.

Saturday night we watched Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, an odd title for a movie.  I guess it won several awards.  I had no idea what it was about.  The cast was very strong and the story was rather bizarre but compelling at the same time.  Even though the movie was not my selection, I’d give it an A-.

Sunday was Mother’s Day. Cindy and soon to be mother Katie both wanted to go out for breakfast.  We went to Skillets, a place I have patronized before however it all looked new to me.  The reason was the only times I have gone there we have had the dogs along so we ate outside.  I had never set foot inside the place.  It was very crowded but we only had to wait 10 minutes or less to get seated.  Everyone enjoyed their big breakfast.  Going out for breakfast was never anything that appealed to me but Cindy is a big fan.  Mother’s Day is about whatever she wants so I was more than happy to step out of my norm.

Shortly after we got back we headed back out to North Collier Park, again with the kids.  Daniel and I rode various PEVs around while Katie and Cindy hung out in one of the common areas.  One of the devices I rode was my original Ninebot One, the wheel I learned on.  I had given it to Daniel years ago.  I recently got it back but had to rip it apart to properly reseat the tube which had shifted after being rode on at a low PSI.  I was pleasantly surprised that despite a life of pretty substantial abuse, the wheel still rode great.  It felt awesome to ride around again on it.

Late Sunday afternoon I decided to wash both the Tesla and the Tacoma.  The Tesla requires more time than a normal car of comparable size because of the all glass roof.  It requires meticulous drying to avoid spotting on the glass.  I don’t mind washing the car of course and the Tacoma needed a bath as well since we are in the middle of love bug season.

So obviously Katie did not have her baby yet over the weekend but it literally could be any day now.  Like most things I look forward to it getting here so we can move on with the next phase of life.

I can’t wait to watch last night’s GOT episode on the DVR tonight…..

Wow yesterday was a good day.  Early in the morning I got a call from my mobile Tesla service advisor confirming that the paint run in the Tesla would be covered.  She banged some heads together at the Dania Beach service center and got me the authorization I need to take it to a local Tesla certified body shop to get the work done.  I have an appointment to go there late this afternoon to get an estimate and schedule the work.

I also had the Tesla remote tech visit me yesterday although that wasn’t really a win, although it was a bit creepy.  I got a call from him saying he was onsite.  I asked him if he wanted to meet me out front and I could take him to the car.  He said he was already parked by it, despite the car being on the third level of a parking garage.  Yea like I said, if you are concerned about privacy, a Tesla isn’t the car for you.

So he confirmed the steering wheel was misaligned but he didn’t actually have time to take it to the shop to get it fixed.  Instead he said he would schedule the work to get done next week.  I told him I was told it was going to be taken care of today but it wasn’t the end of the world to have it done next week, especially when I don’t really have to do anything to make it happen since they will pick up and return the car.

Yesterday I signed up for a site called teslafi.com  It connects to your car and aggregates an incredible amount of statistics about how the car is performing.  It is a statisticians dream.

My biggest win of the day came regarding my outrageous ER bill.  So when I first called the billing department to complain about the charges the woman didn’t have any answers for me besides saying that meds cost more in the ER.  That was regarding the single pill I was charged $715 for which I got a weeks prescription for less than 20 bucks the following day.  So I did not accept that answer and asked her how I dispute charges.  She gave me the number of another woman that handles that.

So I called this woman and repeated my story.  She seemed to agree with me that the charges seemed a little out of whack.  She said she would put the bill in for an audit to review. As I expected when she called me back a few days later she said the audit said the charges were correct.  I told her that I was not surprised as it was the hospital checking on itself.  I said unless an outside source confirmed the charges it doesn’t seem very meaningful.  Surprisingly the woman sort of agreed with me and said she was forwarding the bill to someone else to review.  I thanked her for continuing to work on this but hung up not thinking anything significant would change.

When I saw I had a voicemail on my home phone yesterday and started listening, it was from someone at NCH.  I assumed the message would be that the next person reviewed the bill and again came back with too bad, so sad.  Instead the message told me that upon further review, the medication cost was deemed to be excessive.  They were going to totally eliminate it from the bill, wow.  I certainly didn’t expect that result but it was further proof that being persistent is a trait that reaps rewards in all aspects of life.  The hospital rep said the revised bill would be resubmitted to insurance and the end result should be my portion of the charges will hopefully be significantly reduced.

When I got home last night I had to head out to the coop to do some stop gap energy conversation.  It was overcast and raining a good portion of the day yesterday so the solar panels didn’t get to fully replenish the Yeti.  Since the solar generator is currently the only source of power out there right now I had to turn off non-essential power draws so the fan and security DVR were unplugged.  The only things I have juiced up for now is the wifi router, smart switches, and the LED light.  This weekend I need to figure out and address why the utility power is no longer working.

I kept winning with other projects during the night.  I got the Ninebot One E+ reassembled.  At first it seemed like a loss when I again punctured the new tube I had bought for it when putting the tire back on.  I decided to put the old tube back in which still held air but had a slightly mangled valve.  I got it inflated and back together.  If it wasn’t raining I would have taken it out for a reunion tour ride.

After finishing the work on the Ninebot I decided since I already had the table set up I should install my dark olive rail guard set on the One Weel to match the bumpers I installed a couple weeks prior.  Having everything match really cleans up the look of the wheel and since green is my favorite color, I am very happy with the new visual.  Hopefully I get some time on the board this weekend.

As always I have a lot of things to potentially keep me busy the next two days.  Of course we are now at the time in Katie’s pregnancy where the baby could literally come at anytime so you have to be ready for the fire drill.  It would be something if the baby came on Mother’s Day.

When I got home last night Cindy told me the big fan in the coop wasn’t working.  I have that still hooked to utility power so I went out to investigate.  When I checked it became apparent that all of the AC power to the coop was off.  Hmm that’s odd.  So I checked the circuit breaker for that line and it was untripped.  So I checked the other stuff connected to that line like the small shed and Cindy’s RV, they were dead as well.

My low tech and definitely not up to code way to provide power to those spots is a long buried extension cable that has been in service for something like 10 years.  There is a junction point right at the small shed, I am hoping maybe that connection just needs to be redone.  If not I have to run and bury a new line this weekend.  The outage means my only source of power in the coop is the solar system which should be fine as long as we continue to have mostly sunny days with the Yeti powering things overnight.

Last night I washed the Tesla for the first time.  It was not real dirty but I also wanted to go over the car well to make sure there weren’t any other hidden paint defects, which I didn’t find.  I finally had somebody from the remote tech group scheduling department call me yesterday.  I got some more frustration and borderline anger out of the conversation.

I explained the run around I had been getting since the day after I picked up the car, including unreturned voicemails, emails, and being told my car should go to three different places for remediation.  I also told her how I was waiting since Friday for someone to call me back to have the remote tech group scheduled to work on the car.

When I told her I was told that a remote tech would address the paint run is when things got really interesting.  She said a paint run would have to be handled by a body shop.  She then said that paint defects are supposed to be handed by the delivery team and technically they are supposed to be reported within the first 24 hours.  Part of the delivery of the car is supposed to include a thorough walk around to verify everything is fine.  Well our delivery was a bit helter skelter and rushed, that thorough walk around never happened.

When the phone rep said “Tesla may not cover the paint issue” , I lost my shit a little bit on her.  I told her if it was not covered I would “raise holy hell”.  She moderated her statement and said that it doesn’t mean that it won’t be covered but technically any paint flaws are supposed to be identified up front and handled by the delivery department.  When I told her what I was told by the Dania Beach service guy , she said it was incorrect.  Any paint flaws have to be approved by the delivery department.  So anyway the end result is a remote tech is supposed to pick up my car today to at least align the steering wheel.  The paint issue is going to require more effort and aggravation to sort through.

Yesterday I saw a video regarding the security or potential lack there of Tesla vehicles.  When we got the car, part of the process was using the key cards to activate our phones to work with the vehicle.  We were told the cards are needed to make the phone work with the car, makes sense right?  Wrong.  In the video I watched as they demonstrated that all that is needed to remotely access the car is the Tesla app and proper credentials.  This seemed incredulous to me.  Basically if someone is sloppy or uses a weak password somebody could unlock, start and drive away in their vehicle.

I had to see this for myself so last night I had Katie load the Tesla app on her Samsung phone.  I then logged in with my credentials and boom, had full access to the car.  I honked the horn while I sat in the great room.  This blew my mind.  So of course a secure, complex password is step one but it is insane that Tesla has no further security in place like two factor authentication.  It’s a widespread practice where if you log in from a different device a code is sent to either your phone or email to confirm it is really you.

The lack of this extra step makes no sense to me.  There have been cases of criminals setting up fake Tesla wifi at supercharger locations to grab owners credentials.  Once they have that, they have access to the car and all contents inside of it.  The only upside to the situation is if someone tried to actually take the car, the same access that allowed them in it will also allow the car to be shut down remotely if need be.  Regardless, this policy seems like a foolish one by Tesla.  Hopefully the remedy it in the future but until then my Tesla credentials will be highly guarded.

So even though my Tesla service appointment at Dania Beach for Tuesday was cancelled and reassigned to the Naples Remote Tech group, I kept the vacation day.  Ironically, assigning me for remote service is supposed to be for my convenience, however since that was done last Friday I have received no further communication, so if I would have just kept my original appointment the issues may be resolved already.

So of course I did not use the vacation day to relax.  Instead I dove right into a varied list of tasks which included a full weed whacking and mowing session which will remove the need for that chore this weekend.  I also installed the angle mount on the second solar panel so both are now pointing at a more optimal angle towards the sun.

I kept busy indoors as well doing 3D printer upgrades/repairs as well as ripping into my old Ninebot One E+, my first EUC.  A couple years ago I had given the wheel to Katie and Daniel.  It had sat unused for quite awhile so I am trying to resurrect it.  The tire was flat and the valve for the tube was somewhat mangled from being ridden on at a very low PSI.  I got the EUC disassembled to the point where I could remove the tire and tube but I have to wait for the replacement tube to arrive to reverse the process.

About 9PM I finally got to at least play a little WoW, something I hadn’t taken a break to do in nearly a week.

The Wyoming news story on drones in Yellowstone aired last week with several snippets from my drone video included.  They chopped up my video and didn’t use it to convey the point I was making but I already figured they would do that.  The weird thing is I heard from some employees here that they saw me on the local CBS affiliate in Fort Myers late last week in a different drone related story.  I can only assume they pulled the same clips but unfortunately I can not seem to find they video on their website to confirm what was aired.

After a round of normal chores Saturday morning I headed back outside Saturday afternoon in the hot May air with temps in the low 90’s.  I had two tasks to complete, the first was to repair the damage caused when the roof I made for the chicken playground got flipped over from very strong winds while I was in Tampa, I foolishly left it propped up before I left.  So when it flipped part of the frame got twisted and in the process mangled the plastic roof panels.  At first I thought the panels were unsalvageable but I thought I would at least try.

I removed all of the panels and laid them out in the yard.  I then started to press on them to try to get them back to being sort of straight.  I had surprising success in doing so.  They are far from perfect but good enough to merit not replacing them.  After panel straightening I had to reattach the section of the frame that got twisted.  I was happy with the end result and felt fortunate to be able to repair the damage.  In order to make the likelihood of a repeat incident I chopped about a foot off my prop pole.  I also plan to put some sort of stop on the hinge side to act as a safety to prevent the roof from being able to flip all the way over in the future.

Although I was already getting sunburned and felt dehydrated, I turned my attention once again to the solar panels.  I had the correct adjustable angle mounts now so I wanted to get them installed.  I had to be a bit creative with the install to adapt it to work with my frame construction.  After maybe an hour I had the new brackets installed and was able to set the panel angle to 10 degrees which is the optimal setting for May in my zip code.  Now that I know I can make the brackets work I ordered another set to do the other 160 watt panel.

Saturday night we watched 7 Days in Entebbe, a movie based on a real incident that happened in 1976.  Some German PLO supporters were involved in hijacking an Air France plane that was destined for Israel.  They rerouted it to Uganda, the country of good old Idi Amin.  I was too young to remember the incident but it was interesting and suspenseful.  It was also a good reminder of why f’ing with Israel is never a good idea.  I’d give it a B.

Our Sunday morning was non-standard as I accompanied Cindy to an appointment to get her medical marijuana prescription.  We decided we would go to one of the dispensaries afterward but the didn’t open until noon.  We killed the extra time by going to Rural King, Home Depot and Harbor Freight.  This was my first time ever going into a Harbor Freight store.  Damn it was sort of awesome, they have all sorts of tools, a greater variety than I am used to seeing at the home improvement stores.   I definitely know where to go if I want something unusual and don’t want to wait for Amazon to ship it to me.

The visit to the dispensary was interesting, this was a brand new location that only opened a couple weeks ago.  Collier County still has refused to authorize medical marijuana “stores”, despite it being passed in the 2016 election.  Thanks to Tricky Dick Scott, the state has language that doesn’t give counties a lot of control over where these can be located so basically you have to allow them anywhere or nowhere.  Collier has opted for the latter up until this point.  Thankfully Lee County is more interested in carrying out the will of the people.

The experience was very professional and Cindy was helped by not one but two staff members that answered her myriad of questions.  Just like in Colorado, cannabis products are a cash only business for now.  Until the federal government legalizes it everywhere you will not be able to pay for the products with a credit card.  So Cindy got a few different things to try and we were out of there.  Without a doubt the cannabis industry has all sorts of opportunities for people to profit from it, including doctors.  I was somewhat surprised what it cost for the doctor to write the prescription and to renew it, which happens every 70 days.

Sunday afternoon I installed a new screen protector on the Tesla, it was expensive but seems to be worth the money.  The installation was much easier than with most screen protection and the quality of the product seems top notch.

I followed up with a video recapping my experiences with the car after a week which have been very positive except for the two issues of the misaligned steering wheel and the run in the paint near the trunk lid.  How those are going to get resolved is still a bit of a mystery.  My service request has been forwarded to the Naples remote tech group but I have no idea how or when they will be contacting me to do the work.

Last night I had my bi-weekly live stream which was dominated with Tesla talk.  The real time attendance was on the low side, not even reaching 20 simultaneous viewers.   I still enjoy doing it and will continue to do so unless viewership totally dries up.  I really do very little to promote the broadcast which is probably part of the reason for the stagnant numbers.

Tomorrow I have the day off.  I originally took it off to go to Dania Beach for the Tesla service but since that was handed off to remote techs I no longer have that trip on the docket.  I kept the day off to allow me to get whatever I feel like getting done, done.

Wednesday evening after class I walked around and stumbled across a sports bar named Hattrick’s.  I sat at the bar and enjoyed a very tasty grouper sandwich while watching various baseball games on tv.  I downed three potent Shocktops during the meal that left me slightly drunk but since I was walking I didn’t really care.

After dinner I returned to the room to gear up for another ride, this time on the One Wheel.  I didn’t mess around with riding the normal city blocks like I did on the 18L.  Instead I headed right to the River Walk area again.  I had a great time just exploring.  The One Wheel is the most fun PEV I have for slow and relaxing exploration.  During the video I talk about the current state of my Tesla problem resolution process.  I also speak about Daelin the Rooster.

So for about a week Cindy and I have both decided it was time for Daelin to find a new home.  His constant attacks and bullying/mating with the hens had turned them into scared animals that do nothing but hide all day.  As soon as they would try to walk around the yard Daelin would come after them.  The straw that broke the camel’s back was when even Kristen gave up fighting him and instead ran around the yard like she was in fear of her life.

So we were very lucky to find a friend of a freind that was actually looking for a rooster because they wanted to have baby chicks, something we do not want.  On Wednesday night when the birds were on the perch Cindy was able to grab Daelin and secure him in the cat carrier.  She then took him to her friend’s place which wasn’t far away and that was that, no more rooster.  I feel some sense of guilt as I know that it is unlikely Daelin will ever find a home that had the same level of accommodations but Cindy and I both felt we gave him chance after chance to prove us wrong that roosters are more trouble than they are worth in our situation.  Unfortunately he was unable to do so.

So anyway Thursday was my last day of the meeting.  I checked out of the hotel beforehand and it was very annoying for two reasons.  Evidently one of the two elevators on my side of the building was broken.  I had a luggage cart to carry everything because I had the two PEVs.  The elevator was horribly slow as everyone was trying to use it.  I waited at least 5 minutes for it to arrive the first time, only to see it was jammed with people and had no room for me or the cart.  I said ok, guess I will get the next trip and closed the doors.  So I wait another 5 minutes and AGAIN am greeted with a full elevator…..wtf.  I angrily pushed the cart to the other side of the building that had two working elevators and got down the 7 floors almost immediately.

The check out experience went ok except for the ridiculous $56 to park at the hotel for two days.  Sure the office will wind up picking up this charge but I think it is absolutely ridiculous for a hotel to not include parking a vehicle in what you are already paying for the room.

Day two of the conference went well which was more security based.  They had speakers from the FBI and law enforcement there.  The only negative was a presentation later in the day that went on for about double the time it needed to.  The guy just kept repeating the same thing over and over again in only a slightly different way.  I was extremely thankful when his time expired.

The conference broke up a little before four.  I drove there this time so I could head right out.  The drive home was uncomfortable.  After sitting in a conference for 7 hours, sitting another two and a half in the Ioniq was not good.  During the last half of the drive I found myself shifting constantly to try to relieve areas that were sore/hurting.  I also drove through four or five heavy downpours on the trip but arrived to sun and blue skies in Naples.

It was great to see Cindy and Elsa and be back in familiar surroundings although it was also a nice change of pace to get out of town for a bit.  I went out and visited the chickens, if hens could smile they would have.  They were out and about not having to constantly worry about being jumped from behind and having feathers ripped out of their necks.  It was a bit odd not having Daelin there but overall I felt relief, not having to constantly deal with his bullshit.

I also surveyed the damage to the chicken playground.  I had the heavy canopy propped open to get some sun while I was gone.  Well the storms had very strong easterly winds that were able to flip the roof all the way over.  The roof panels themselves look permanently damaged but I think I can get it repaired otherwise with some new hardware.

This weekend fixing the chicken playground is added to the list along with more solar panel work.  I have tilt mounts that should actually work with the bigger panels that I want to try out.  I also need to do a pretty in depth video on my thoughts about the Tesla ownership experience thus far.  That experience soured a bit more when a 3-4 inch paint drip was discovered near the rear trunk lid.

As I mentioned, I love so many things about the Tesla but there was one annoying issue, the steering wheel is misaligned.  I don’t think the car is actually out of alignment as it does not pull one way or the other.  However when you are going straight the wheel is tilted maybe 5-10 degrees to the right.  So I first called about this problem Saturday, leaving a message on the voicemail of the delivery team for Dania Beach.  Their message said all calls are returned within 24 hours, not a great response time but hey it’s the standard with a lot of businesses nowadays.

Well that call back never came.  I left two more voicemails on Monday and Tuesday as well as an email.  Each communication was met with the same non-response.  So as you can imagine I was frustrated.  After plopping down more money than I have for anything else in my life outside of my house, I think it is reasonable to expect decent response to requests for help.

I also found it is challenging to get a human being on the phone.  Most menu options lead you down dead ends that just tell you to go to the app or the website.  I understand wanting to funnel as much as possible down those options for efficiency sake but you shouldn’t have to go on a treasure hunt just to speak to another human being on the phone.

So of course the call back comes back today, five days after my first voicemail.  And of course it comes when I in the middle of my IT conference so I can’t answer it.  During my first break I called back, using the cell phone number of the guy that left the message.  Once again, it goes to voicemail.  Geezus.  So I leave yet another message and I text this person as well, with no response.

So just for the hell of it on my lunch break I call the number again and FINALLY there is a non-recorded voice on the other line.  I tell Justin how hard it has been to reach anyone, he apologizes but has no explanation.  I already know the explanation based on my visit to the site and how hectic it was.  I think Tesla is tremendously understaffed and unable to attend to the requirements of so many customers.  They simply need more people but I think Tesla has been trying to operate as leanly as possible to save cost. Hell look at their website accesory store for the Model 3.  They have almost nothing in stock, they just are not able to satiate the demand.

So anyway I reiterate my problem to Justin.  He tells me that since I am in Naples it would be better for me to go the Sarasota service center.  Huh?  When I search for Tesla service centers Sarasota is not listed.  Justin said it was new so maybe that is why I don’t see it.  Um, ok.  So basically the instructions I got was to book the appointment through the Dania Beach SC but write in the notes that I actually want to take the car to Sarasota.  I told him that I really need a Saturday appointment so I am not wasting vacation days to service the car.  He said I should put in the notes I want a Saturday appointment as well.  So the bottom line is I have a an appointment booked for next TUESDAY in Dania Beach but it is really just a placeholder so they can book me at Sarasota, on a Saturday, hopefully.

Yes it is rather incredulous that this is how they are telling me to accomplish my goal.  Luckily the problem is not severe, if it was I would be rattling chains a lot louder.  I can only hope Tesla continues to work towards providing service that comes close to the level of tech in the car.

So I was considering taking the Tesla to Tampa for the trip but decided against it.  I would have had to wait a couple hours at the house for it to charge and then also hit a super charger while up there to juice up for a ride home.  That part didn’t bug me but I didn’t want to delay my trip here longer so I went with the original plan of taking Cindy’s Ioniq.

The drive went fine except by the time I got to around mile marker 200 it felt like my bladder was about to explode.  I kept waiting for a rest stop to come up but none did.  I wound up pulling off at Siesta Key and fast walked into a Walgreens to the mens room.  The relief felt was significant, I was a few minutes away from using an empty cup.

My dinner was a tuna sub from Subway which I waited 15 minutes to get.  I was unlucky enough to be behind an Indian woman and her three children that had the most complicated and slowest order I have ever seen.  The clerk apologized for how long it took.  I slammed down the food in the car, not wanting to eat alone in a booth.

I arrived in Tampa around 8PM.  I was not thrilled when valet is the ONLY option for guests parking a car.  I went through the same thing in Miami and it pisses me the hell off.  28 bucks a day added to the bill is just bullshit IMO.  I had no plans so I decided to grab the 18L and go ride the city. The first thing I was amazed by was the lack of the people, at least where I was, near the convention center.  I had entire blocks to myself, there just was nothing going on.

I just rode some sidewalks and parking lots, not knowing where I should go.  I was getting ready to pack it in after maybe 30 minutes of rolling aimlessly.  I then headed across the street to the convention center and stumbled across the Tampa River Walk.  It’s a beautiful area that hugs the river for probably a mile or two.  I had a great time wheeling there weaving in and out of obstacles, bikers, runners and pedestrians.  It’s probably where I will wind up tonight with the One Wheel this time.

The Embassy Suites that I am staying at is beautiful.  I slept well in the king size bed and enjoyed the huge complimentary breakfast spread.  I was considering riding the wheel to the conference but I didn’t know if I would have issues bringing it in the building, so I walked the .6 miles instead.  Once I got there and saw the meeting room was on the first floor and I could stow the wheel under the table, I went back to the room on my lunch break and grabbed the wheel, which I rode back to the room with my laptop bag on my shoulder after the meeting adjourned.

The information on day one of the conference was good.  Most of it was relevant to what I do, the stuff that wasn’t was a good chance to catch up on email.  Tonight some of the group is going out on an organized dinner followed by a riverboat excursion.  I did not sign up for it and instead will do another solo dinner somewhere.   I don’t really know any of the other county staff very well nor do I feel the need to go socialize with them, which is a flaw I have.  It is very rare that I hit it off with a stranger enough that I want to spend any extra time with them.  My inner circle is small and likely will remain that way.   It’s just how I am which is why Cindy balances me out well as she embraces interactions with others.  The One Wheel and I will have a nice evening, no worries.