Company, Dickie, Dune, Hapless

Friday after work I once again donned the bike shorts for another 10 mile ride.  As has been the trend, my average speed ticked up another couple 10ths, right around 17.5 mph.  It’s nice to at least have something getting better when it comes to my fitness/health.

On Saturday I decided to let the grass maintenance slide this weekend.  It looked ok except for a few places so I let it be.  When I got back from running errands it was time to pick up all of the limbs from the trees I trimmed one night after work last week.  Again I misjudged the amount of work, initially thinking I might be able to get it all done with one trip back to the fill pit with the Tacoma.  Instead it took three overflowing loads to get the job done.  To be fair I added to the pile by trimming the areca palms that surround the pond as well, they were getting out of hand.  Just doing that amount of clean up beat me up a bit, imagine if I was still doing the full boat.

I got done with the work about an hour before Dan arrived.  Dan is from the Boston area but visits Florida regularly, he has met me to ride twice before, the last time being the miserable flooded out swamp ride late last year.  We didn’t have anything planned out as far as a route goes but we decided to do the Ave Maria ride once he arrived.  Before we got started I let him ride the various wheels I have that he never got to try before.  By the time we got rolling east it was after 4PM, pretty late to get started.

Right before we left I had a mishap while trying to mount the Sherman.  My foot got tangled up with the pedal as I was taking off.  The end result was me coming off the wheel awkwardly and having one of the pedals of the 80+ pound wheel smash right above my right ankle.  The area immediately started seeping blood and I could tell it was going to be very sore from the impact.  I had no time to give it much attention as we were literally heading out.

The ride out there was fun.  I had to be mindful of my speed as Dan’s 18XL has a top speed about 20mph less than the Sherman.  Dan was impressed by just how remote Ave Maria really is as we rolled though a combination of farmland and undeveloped areas along the way.  I gave him an abbreviated tour of the town but we didn’t have much time to spare before darkness set in.

On the way back we made a detour to the nearby DD to fuel up.  Dan had a massive four hour drive back north so caffeine was helpful.  Once we got back to the house Dan hung for awhile talking about EUC’s and other things.  It was nice have extended interaction with someone since I don’t have a lot of that nowadays.  Dan headed out a little after 8.

Saturday night I finished up the Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints of Newark.  I always was a Sopranos fan and saw every episode binge watching it several years ago.  I found the movie good although the main character, Uncle Dickie, is a name I don’t recall ever being mentioned in the original show.  I thought it was impressive that they found a kid to play young Tony Soprano that looked like him, until Cindy told me that the kid was actually James Gandalfini’s son.  Wow, imagine that.  I’d give the prequel a B+.

Sunday was unexpectedly overcast and rainy.  I had not paid attention to the weather forecast recently.  Thankfully it was not hard driving rain but the day was grey throughout and it seemed to cast the same color to my mood. I just did not feel very happy/upbeat.  I was feeling beat up from the combo of the yard work and the Sherman ankle smash which had me walking with a limp all day.  I watched my second HBO Max movie of the weekend, Dune, Sunday afternoon.  The movie was two and a half hours long and was only “Part One”.  I remembered next to nothing about the original movie so I struggled to keep the story line straight, there is a lot going on. I would give it a B+ as well, it’s a good story and has epic visuals.

The Eagles game was late against the Las Vegas Raiders.  The game was another example of just how hapless the team is.  Much like the week before, the final score was not indicative of how close the game was.  The Eagles again got blown out early and then threw some junk points/yards on the board way too late.  This team is just totally unenjoyable to watch.

I think Sirianni is overmatched and Jalen Hurts is way too inconsistent.  It seems like the Eagles are constantly in 3rd down and long situations, which they very rarely convert.  The defense insists on rushing four and playing a soft zone that gets torched all game.  To be honest, the team is so boring to watch I don’t even “watch” it.  I have the game playing in the background while I do other things around the house so I can keep loose tabs on how the team is underperforming, once again.

I finished out my evening getting more small things knocked out around the house that need attention, the number of these items is practically endless.