There was an information leak in the EUC community on Monday where details about an until that point “secret” wheel were released by somebody scraping the FCC website. If there is one thing I know about being a YouTube creator, being one of the early people to discuss new subjects is a good thing so I wanted to get something out there, pronto.
I did the entire video sitting at my desk, showing details and talking about the information from the leak for around 25 minutes. When I stopped the recording the program used to capture my screen closed but did not transfer the recording to my video editor like it normally does. As soon as I saw this I was pissed. I have two versions of the video editing software on my system, a 2019 version and a 2020 version. The 2019 version actually works better for me so I normally use that. Well a side effect of having two versions is a screen recording will only automatically go into the 2020 version. For a few minutes I thought I had totally lost that 25 minutes and I was thinking about the frustrating task of trying to do it all again effectively, as I felt like I did a decent job with what I had just completed.
I searched and searched for the recording and was just about to give up and start over. I looked in one last spot and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the video file sitting there with a current timestamp, disaster averted. I processed the video and sent it up to YouTube. As I had hoped the video is getting a lot of views and has been well received. Sometimes it’s good to be early.
Yesterday afternoon Katie and DJ hung out for most of the afternoon which was fun. After they left I worked on the one task I had left in my mental list, starting the hobby room purge. Over the last few years through my hobbies of PEVs and 3D printers I have accumulated of stuff to support the hobby like parts, tools, and accessories. The problem is most of these have gotten thrown in bins and never touched again. Yesterday I started to address that, taking down everything on the shelves and going through it.
I wound up with a heavy garbage bag of stuff, most of it perfectly viable stuff that somebody else could probably use. Unfortunately I don’t have the time or energy to rehome it all so it all got tossed. The decision making process was pretty simple. I would look at something and quickly evaluate it. If I had no use for it or I had a half dozen of them already it went bye bye. I only really addressed the shelf area, I have stuff below waist level to still work on but that will be another day.
I got word that the spot on my face I had tested at the dermatologist was skin cancer once again, but I already assumed that. It’s going to be one of those annoying MOH procedures where they cut it out, test the cells on the perimeter and potentially cut you again if they missed some. I’m not looking forward to it but at this point I have had that done four or five times, it’s getting to be old hat.
I am trying to drop in an entry quickly on my final day of the three day weekend. My list was long and Cindy was gone at a plant show on Saturday. I was on the go the entire day trying to make headway on my list items. I did take a break in the morning to grab coffee and give Elsa her first ride in the Model Y. One of the tasks was to try to fix the weed whacker which did not want to stay running without the choke applied.
I took the card partly apart and blasted the shit out of it with cleaner, also blasting into the fuel intake tubes. After putting it back together and couldn’t even get the damn thing to start. I made the easy decison to just curb the old weed whacker and buy another one for $100 which will last me another 3-4 years. I just didn’t want to spend the time to really rip into the whacker. As I get older my time becomes more and more valuable so I am less willing to spend it getting annoyed/frustrated if I don’t need to.
I weed whacked the property with new unit without issue. It was nice to not have to be constantly futzing with the trottle to keep the whacker running. I also fixed the leaking window in the small shed. Doing so meant adding some additional framing below the window, shooting in a ton of sealant and then screwing the siding into the new wood. I then sealed the drip edge as well with some rubberized stuff normally used for roofs. It doesn’t look beautiful but it should keep water from getting inside.
I grabbed my cordless drill and fixed a few of the pool cage screws that have been missing for a long time. A couple years ago I had a plan to replace a bunch of the rusted screws with Nylotec screws which last much longer. In that process I kept snapping the heads off the old screws because they were so destroyed by rust. I never looked into to handle that situation, until I revisited it this week. I found a video on the Nylotec site that showed all you do when the old screw breaks is drill the new hole at a slight angle and drive the new screw in. The sleeve and cap covers the screw head so you can’t even tell it’s set at an angle. I fixed about a dozen screws that were missing, calling it good enough for now.
On Saturday night Cindy and I watched Coming 2 America the sequel to the original that came out in the 90’s I think. The sequel has some less than stellar reviews but I wanted to see it regardless. It was amazing that they were able to get so much of the original cast on board, even James Earl Jones who is 90 years old now. The movie wasn’t great but entertaining enough for a B- in my book. The nostalgia factor alone was enough to make it worth watching for me.
Sunday I kept myself busy doing various tasks although my main list was all crossed off by that point. Because of the time change I felt behind schedule all day long. During the afternoon I went out for a ride at North Collier Park which was a fun little break.
Sunday night I hosted a three hour live stream that covered dozens of topics. It was the first time I did a stream in over two and a half months, the longest hiatus in awhile, for no particular reason.
My Monday is halfway gone already. I do have my target set on the hobby room. I want to organize and purge the space, it’s in dire need.
As I hoped, the Tesla mobile service visit yesterday went smoothly. The tech showed up during the first half of the appointment window and was able to get the Homelink hardware installed and the door jamb wiring issue handled in under an hour. I’m hoping that is the first and last visit I will have from Tesla service for the foreseeable future.
Last night I dove back into some VR, this time trying to get through Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. I constantly find myself scrambling for weapons and health in the the game. I don’t think it’s because the game is horribly difficult, I assume I am just not that good at it. I also hung in VR Chat for a short period of time, just bearing witness to the insanity that explodes around you.
I decided to give myself another extended 3 day weekend. It’s nice to be able to do so by just burning up a vacation day as opposed to taking a day off to get reamed and cleaned like last week at this time. I do have a sizeable list already crafted for myself. Most of the items require some more than minimal effort like starting to replace more of the rusted pool cage bolts and repairing the area around the window of the small shed that leaks water like mad. However with three days I should be able to get it handled hopefully.
Cindy is going to a plant show with Katie on Saturday meaning I will be grinding away in solo mode, which is normally my most productive state.
During the last couple months I have seen a sharp decline in the sales on the 3D EUC store. The slow down is something I haven’t seen in almost 3 years as there has been a relentless climb in activity which in most ways has been a good thing. I don’t have a definitive explanation but there have definitely been some changes in the hobby. There are now more alternatives out there for wheel stands. There are a few other people making/selling 3D printed stands but there are also people that make their own solutions out of wood, metal, PVC and even rail mounted planters. There are also 3D stand models available for free on the internet which people can print themselves if they have a 3D printer.
There are some distinct differences my stands have to the others, such as their ability to adjust in width to fit basically any wheel and the customization service I offer where I put whatever text a customer wants on the sides of the stands for a minimal upcharge. In some ways not being that busy does have it’s advantages as well. It means I am buying less consumables, parts and spending less on electricity to power the print farm. When I did my taxes this year I got a rough idea of my profit margin on the store, it wasn’t very good. The best I could figure about two thirds of my gross sales are consumed by expenses, without factoring in electricity usage. Still, the competitive side of me doesn’t like to “lose”, so I have been rolling ideas around in my head to see what I can come up with to get the foot back on the pedal.
One of the unique things about owning a Tesla is their remote service fleet. If you do not live close to a Tesla service center they will often offer to bring the service to you instead via their fleet of mobile service techs. I had a remote service call with my Model 3 and it was a pain free experience. Today I have one for the Model Y.
The guy is supposed to fix the wiring in the rear passenger door jamb as well as install the Homelink garage door opener kit into the car. The last time I had work done they came to my office to do it. This time I left the Model Y at home since Cindy is there. I set the appointment three weeks ago when we got the car but I already got a call this morning letting me know the tech should arrive within the hour. As long as the work is completed correctly, it will be another gold star in my Tesla ownership experience.
Yesterday after work I made a pitstop to Costco to grab a few grocery items. On the way there I just happened to throw on my glasses which I had fallen out of the habit of wearing since I got them a couple years ago. I was instantly reminded of just how fuzzy my distance vision is when things instantly became crystal clear in the road ahead of me. I will try to wear them more regularly, after all it isn’t a good thing to have the world be out of focus.
I have to be honest and say I am more than a little annoyed by the bait and switch game democrats are pulling on the $15 minimum wage election promise. The $15 minimum wage was part of the Covid bill that was passed by the House. However once it went to the Senate a Parliamentarian, an unelected official and a term I never had heard of in American government offered guidance against voting on an increase in minimum wage as part of the budget bill. It’s a convoluted process but basically Congress generally abides by this guidance but it is not a requirement. The sense is Democrats were somewhat happy to let the Parliamentarian be the scapegoat for dropping the minimum wage hike.
The truth is a sizeable majority of the population both republican and democrat believe the minimum wage needs to be raised, hell even now red Florida voted for a minimum wage increase. The lobbyists and special interests in Washington however are not onboard hence the politicians whose strings they pull are doing as they are told. It’s pretty pathetic.
When I got home from work on Thursday DJ was there as Cindy was babysitting for a bit. He wound up being a very cute addition to a very ugly process, getting the first dose of the colonoscopy prep solution down my throat. I used a similar procedure as before, pulling it right out of the fridge and adding some cold water to dilute it a bit. Cindy advised me to just drink the Suprep straight as it’s less fluid to down so it goes quicker. I told her I was on the verge of throwing up as is, making it taste even stronger did not seem like the right course of action for me. It probably took me at least 10-12 disgusting gulps until I got it all down.
Within a half hour I was on the toilet with many, many repeat trips over the next three hours. It was as miserable as I recalled it being three short years ago. I tried to get bed early as my procedure this time was a couple hours earlier than last, meaning I had to do the second dose of the prep crazy early, 3:30 AM. I set an alarm but somehow found myself awake at 3:19 so I turned it off to hopefully allow Cindy to keep sleeping.
I slipped out into the kitchen and decided to try Cindy’s method this time, it couldn’t be any worse than what I had been experiencing. It actually was less oppressive overall. Although the solution is more concentrated I had it all gone in three gulps. I immediately drank two big glasses of water to chase it. I was up the rest of the night rotating between bathroom trips and WoW, it was lovely.
By the time we got to the endoscopy center I just wanted to get the misery over with. I was tired, feeling like I was running on fumes from the lack of food combined with a lack of sleep. Cindy was unable to wait in the waiting room due to covid so she dropped me off and then headed out to the car. In less than 10 minutes I was taken back by the nurse. I already knew the routine but still I couldn’t help having some of my typical reactions with medical procedures like sweating and an inability to watch any needles being stuck into my body. The IV solution felt cold as it entered my arm, a sensation I didn’t enjoy.
After a brief wait I was carted back to the procedure room where the doctor was with the anesthesiologist. They had me roll onto my side before the solution was injected to knock me out. I recall thinking for a few seconds that the stuff wasn’t working, I still felt awake, then a moment later everything went blank. The next thing I knew I was back in the recovery room with a male nurse. I recall saying a number of incoherent things, including me asking the nurse repeatedly if he was the doctor because he looked like him. The actual doctor came in and gave me my report card. He said they only had to a remove a small 4MM polyp. Evidently the one they removed three years ago was much larger, hence the concern and requirement to come back so soon. The result this time meant I was cleared to go five years before a revisit instead of three, which made me happy, even though I was a little too punch drunk to fully comprehend it.
I was wheeled out of the facility and sat into the Tesla which Cindy pulled up to the door. She was amused by my state of mind after anesthesia. In total I was there for less than 90 minutes which is crazy. Since it was too early to eat lunch we stopped at DD instead where I had my first solid food in over 24 hours, a breakfast sandwich, donut and coffee, it tasted extra good. Of course I did a video covering some of the ordeal.
Shortly after I got home I just vegged out for awhile. I laid in our bed and played Hearthstone for a couple hours. I did have one annoying side effect from the procedure. Before they put you under they stick oxygen tubes up your nostrils. It felt like something in my left sinus became irritated as a result and was causing me to have a non-stop runny nose which was driving me nuts. I must have gone through a box of tissues in a couple days and the irritation still isn’t gone yet. As the day progressed my energy level felt better from getting some food in me. I decided to get a head start on my Saturday morning chores by getting the weeding of the property done awhile, to the displeasure of Cindy who wanted me to just rest. I assured her I was feeling better and up to the task. It was good to start feeling more normal.
On Saturday morning I agreed to go to a nearby community yard sale with Cindy, Katie and DJ. They drove over in Katie’s truck while I rode my S18, meeting them at DD to fuel up before going into the community next door. They towed DJ around in a wagon while I rode ahead on the wheel to scout things out. We would up being there for less than an hour. There wasn’t very strong participation in the event, maybe 10% of the houses had anything out, possibly less. I told Cindy and Katie that unless they were going to bring the truck in, the people selling were too few and far in between to walk much. DJ got a book and a transforming toy car before we called it good to go.
When we got home we wound up having Katie and DJ accompany us on an errand run in the Model Y to Rural King where Katie has only been once or twice before. DJ had never been there. DJ found tons of things that interested him, the biggest being a toy tractor that he was on and off repeatedly. He had to be carried away from it, crying, eventually. He also liked the rabbits, rooster and baby chicks they have in the store. After leaving we did a quick drive thru lunch at Burger King which was ok but far from amazing as you can imagine. We made one more stop, Walmart for the girls to do some grocery shopping while DJ was asleep. I stayed in the car with him. He slept all but a few minutes before they returned. He started crying when he realized mama wasn’t in there with him, despite my efforts to console him.
By the time we got home the predicted rain had started. The rain felt especially cold, Katie was freezing as she transported groceries to her truck before they headed out. On Saturday night Cindy and I watched a Netflix rental that I was unsure if we saw before, Gemini Man with Will Smith. I clearly remember wanting to see it but couldn’t recall if we did. After 5 minutes Cindy and I confirmed we had not watched it before. It was a good action movie with some of that creepy CGI tech to reface actors into much younger versions of themselves. I’d give it a B.
It was quite brisk Sunday morning but it turned into a very nice day with temps in the 70’s. Cindy and I hit Home Depot for some stuff for her but I found myself wanting to mostly just screw around inside. I was telling myself all day that I should go out on one of my EUCs and yet I never did. I did at least complete the direct drive conversion on my Ender 3 printer, something that I had been wanting to get done for a couple weeks. As I was doing it I found myself annoyed with the state of the hobby room. I have a lot of parts and junk that I don’t need in there. I think a purge is needed, similar to what went down in the big shed, minus the rat shit.
I did get some unexpected good news this weekend. Despite gross sales of something like $21,000 dollars last year from the 3D store I still am getting a tax refund this year. The fact that I have so many expenses as part of those sales really helps out as well as my claiming zero deductions at my job. I always have preferred to have my taxes over withheld so I get a check back during tax time. Many financial experts will tell you that’s a poor strategy but it has worked for me. Getting a refund actually turns into a 2X multiplier because all year I have been putting money aside to pay for a possible tax liability, so that money is now freed up as well. I don’t have any frivolous plans as of now. I have more financial demands on me than in recent years so I need to be a bit more careful in what I am spending.
Last night Cindy and I had a VR play session in front of the green screen. Cindy played a fighting game which I later tried as well. It gets you legitimately winded very quickly but is entertaining to spectate. I then did a session in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge where I spent a good amount of time being lost and confused which is par for the course.
It feels good to have a horizon free of unpleasant medical procedures for the foreseeable future.
Today I begun my 24 hours of discomfort for colonoscopy prep. Instead of my eggs, toast and OJ I am accustomed to my breakfast consisted of apple juice, vegetable broth and orange jello. It was not exactly a great combination and I had to tap out of the orange jello after eating about half of it. For whatever reason just simply beginning the liquid prep seems to have triggered my body into a purge mode. Of course the real fireworks start tonight after I take my first does of Suprep, one of the most vile substances I have ever consumed. Already I feel a bit wiped out. Instead of going to the gym I plan to just roll around on my One Wheel for a bit. I just keep telling myself that by this time tomorrow it will all be over with.
I celebrated the start of colo prep with a visit to the dermatologist office today. You know you are getting old when you have medical appointments on consecutive days. The doctor cut off a piece of suspect skin by my right ear that I am sure is basal cell cancer. The end result will be another hole in my face without a doubt.
Hopefully tomorrow at some point I have enough energy to drop another entry in. I think there is no way to keep a nap off my Friday itinerary since I take my second dose of prep at 3:30 AM and likely will not be able to sleep at all afterward.
If you want to be entertained take a peek at how my Suprep consumption went back in 2018.
Yesterday after I got home I saw an email come in that showed as being from Cindy. It was obviously bogus as it said it contained an invoice with a link to view/pay it. Almost immediately after seeing it I got a message since I am also the administrator for her email account indicating that her account has been suspended because it was sending a large amount of external emails. When I logged into the admin area to view details it said her email account had sent out almost 500 emails before it got shut down. Cindy soon found others had received the same fake invoice email that was sent to me. It appeared that someone had the credentials to her email account.
This is different than normal email spoofing where a spammer can simply replace the “From” email address with anything they want. This practice has become less and less effective as spoofed emails are often flagged and not delivered to people’s inboxes. So the way to get around this is to take over someone’s email account, that way the emails appear to be legitimate and less likely to be screened out.
So the first thing we did before I reactivated her account was to change her password to something unique, not used anywhere else. The reason you hear the advice to not reuse passwords is it is an easy way for someone shady to get credentials to multiple accounts of yours if that password sits somewhere that has been compromised by the numerous security breaches we hear about all too often. After changing her password I triggered a logout of her account anywhere it’s logged in currently, legitimate or not. That way if a bad guy is logged in somewhere once he is kicked out he will no longer have the correct credentials to get back in. Finally I ran a full scan on her PC just to make sure there wasn’t something installed locally that was grabbing her credentials. That scan came up clean.
I reactivated her account and have not seen any more notifications about abuse but my antenna has certainly been raised. This sort of stuff has become so commonplace that it sometimes can become background noise. You have to make sure you are always listening closely.
