I read the new stuff that Biden is rolling out to encourage more vaccinations. To be honest, I don’t like it. Despite my thinking that in the big picture getting vaccinated is a good thing for most people, I also don’t think it should be mandatory. I look at it this way. If you have reasonable concern about getting or spreading covid you are probably vaccinated. If you don’t feel that way and you choose to go unvaccinated that’s fine with me. Hopefully if you catch covid you will gain natural immunity. The bad part is if you are one of these individuals that have other health issues going on that can land you in the hospital in the meantime. But hey, if you are willing to take that risk and pay those medical bills, go ahead. I understand the place this gets sticky is with kids. They don’t have that freedom of choice.
A lot of unvaxxed people now are relying on the crutch of these Regeneron clinics to utilize if they get covid. While that is certainly another option which is being paid for by the federal government, keep in mind a dose of Pfizer vaccine costs roughly $20. The Regeneron protocol is $2000 plus, just saying. It’s kind of like instead of just brushing your teeth to prevent cavities, getting a set of veneers instead. If you are one of those bitching and complaining about excessive federal spending and use a Regeneron clinic you are part of the problem.
So to summarize do I think you should strongly consider getting vaccinated? Yes. Do I think it should be mandated with the only opt out being weekly nose swabbing? No. Darwin will sort it all out in the end I guess.
Last night I made my first shopping trip to Publix since my split from Cindy. I never minded grocery shopping in the past but that was another one of those tasks that was pretty exclusively done by her, so it felt a bit foreign. One of the things I did notice was the increase in food prices compared to what I last recalled. It felt substantial. I tried to mostly stick to the hand scribbled list I made although there were spur of the moment additions if something caught my eye. I managed to get out of there spending less than $100 so it wasn’t too impactful.
Overall I have been doing a decent job of staying busy/distracted enough to not dwell on the change in my relationship status. However during a brief respite in that effort I pictured our time together as one huge rubber band ball. Each rubber band representing an accomplishment, a memory, a special moment, a shared experience that over time became this huge ball of what was. The next visualization was taking that ball that has been built band by band over many years to the edge of a cliff, and pushing it over the edge, watching it disappear into the rocks below. It’s a tough reality to digest, especially for someone like me that has a hard time discarding t-shirts from 7th grade, due to sentimental value.
I thought it would be interesting to just what was involved in what should be a pretty typical weekday evening for the foreseeable future.
Get home after spending 10 minutes looking for Qtips at CVS. See a guy sitting in Covid testing area that looks sick. He has a mask on but it is only over his mouth. I think that’s pretty dumb. Get changed, put in load of laundry. Preheat oven to make fish sticks. Go out to do chicken chores with boots on since property is flooded again from today’s storms. Clean the chicken waterers, one breaks in the process, make mental note to get another one this weekend. Put fish sticks in oven. Go into hobby room and put together several stands while dinner is baking. Pack an order for delivery. Write down grocery list, make mental note I should get groceries on the way home Thursday. Near end of fish stick bake time put in microwave quinoa and brown rice pack for my side. Eat dinner as I catch up on Walking Dead episodes, I wonder why I still watch the show as I throw down the food. Desert are the three toll house cookies left over from the batch I made Tuesday. Clean up dishes from meal prep. Have appointment with my nephew Griffin to play some BTD6. We play one game which takes close to 45 minutes. We are on voice comms for it which makes the interaction more fun for both of us. After the game take Elsa out for one last time. Take the clothing out of the dryer and fold it in the bedroom as I start the recording of Big Brother, multi-tasking to save time. Take a shower, finish watching the show. Lights out.
I expect this to be pretty representative of what I can expect from here on out.
This morning I dropped off the Telsa to get the front windows tinted, a necessity IMO in Florida. I was about three minutes away from the place when I realized I totally forgot to bring a key card to give them, I only had my phone with me, which can serve as your “key”. Well driving back home was not a valid option. Neither was cancelling the appointment so all that I was left with was leaving my phone with the tint place.
I thought I would be smart and only leave bluetooth enabled so the phone and car could talk. Well apparently with no cellular data it doesn’t talk correctly. I got a call from the shop when I got back to the office, saying the phone was not opening the car, a message was on the center screen saying to use a key card. Argh.
So I gave the woman my passcode and told her to turn cellular data back on. Once she did the car once again responded, allowing her to unlock and drive it. They were nice and expedited the car. I wasn’t supposed to be done until early afternoon but I got a call a little after 9:30 that it was completed. I will just have to put what little remaining faith I have in human beings that my phone was only used for car access. They have always given me good vibes, which is why I have used them several times previously.
The car looks uniform now, I like it. Cutting down on the UV hitting the left side of my face which has already been cut into 3-4 times is a wise move.
Yesterday was my first time taking the new Model Y LR on my daily work commute. It felt great. The massive power lets me have brief bursts of excitement on demand when conditions allow for it and autopilot lets the car handle the drudgery of the stop and go traffic that is part of the ride as well. I didn’t realize how much I missed the Tesla before I got one again. Tomorrow I get the front windows tinted, a necessity IMO living in Florida. The difference in intensity of heat coming in that window once it is tinted is pretty dramatic.
Last night a good portion of my evening was spent catching up on recorded DVR content. Many of these shows are things Cindy and I would watch together as we enjoyed the reactions they would invoke in us. Although I plan to try to finish up any seasons that we already started of “our” shows, I may be doing a major culling of recorded tv programming in the future. It’s just not as fun watching certain things alone and my free time is going to be more compressed as is.
You didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that my last post was an indication that Cindy and I have split up, she moved out of the house last week. Of course there is no upside to go into the how’s and why’s here. All that matters is exiting an eight and a half year relationship is difficult emotionally for both of us albeit something we mutually agreed was necessary. Both of our lives are going to be changing in a major way and maybe that is a good thing, only time will tell.
It’s been close to a decade since I have run solo. The house was a bear to maintain on my own back then, it will now be even more oppressive with all those additional years on my odometer. I can tell you how much I love cleaning the chicken coop by a LED light at 5:45 in the morning. The chickens aren’t big fans of the arrangement I can tell you that also. Elsa, who is the closest thing I have ever had to my own child is living with me until Cindy gets dog friendly accommodations. After she does the plan is to do a split custody deal similar to what I do with Sadie still. That change will be extremely difficult for me, the bond I have with her is so strong.
So there isn’t much more detail to give right now other than we hope to continue to be friends, hope to be able to support each other as we move forward, without the normal pitfalls and pettiness that accompanies most splits. Hopefully it is a plan we can execute. There are so many things to do.
On Saturday I helped Cindy finish up the ass busting part of a landscape project she has been working on, picking up and laying 50 pieces of sod. The degree of dirtiness you impart on a t-shirt hauling sod around is like no other. When I got home, despite already putting in a solid amount of labor I hopped on the tractor and mowed the back of the property which had dried considerably after several days of minimal rain. I also have to get back into the swing of doing my own meal prep, something Cindy handled more or less 100% of the time. I am relying on Trader Joe’s for a lot of meals right now.
Sunday was a busy day. After doing the chicken chores I put on my gear to do a high speed ride to Dunkin Donuts on my new V12. During that ride I formally announced the split from Cindy which was sort of a big deal as Cindy was a regular in many of my videos and people always loved when she was part of them. I got a lot of well wishes and kind words for both myself and Cindy, which was appreciated. The V12 performed superbly during the ride. It is definitely the best 16 inch wheel I ever owned.
So after I got back I got the urge to buzz my head. I couldn’t find the normal plug in clippers I have used in the past, so I grabbed my cordless trimmer that I normally use to trim my facial hair. I figured it would be able to get the job done. My hair was still oily and sweaty from the ride. The clippers could not get through it, the blade was constantly clogging, leaving my hair looking like I took a weed whacker to it. When I was trying to clean the blades, the shaving head popped out and came apart when it hit the floor. I could not get it back together for some reason, maybe a part broke.
So my Tesla delivery was scheduled at 1:30 so I was already coming up with a game plan to wear a hat pulled down to my forehead to hide the botched head shaving. Luckily Cindy told me about another trimmers that was in the master bathroom. I was able to use it quickly to make my head look more or less uniform again.
So Cindy was my ride to the Tesla dealership, this time a much shorter drive to Fort Myers instead of Fort Lauderdale. We drove through some torrential rain which she didn’t enjoy. It was still raining when we got to the dealership but stopped shortly afterward. This delivery was even less hassle than the last one where I only had to sign one document. This time no signatures were needed. It could have been a completely touchless delivery if we wanted it to be.
The Model Y, looked sharp, I really liked the white interior, the first Tesla I have owned that had it. It also felt weird seeing the battery indicator show 295 miles of range, almost 40% more than I ever saw available on my SR vehicles. On the drive back I also quickly discovered the difference in speed the AWD car has. If you are brave enough to stab the accelerator pedal you better hold on for dear life. It’s crazy fast, feeling more like an amusement park ride.
Of course I did a video about my initial impressions and set up. I am really looking forward to commuting in a Tesla once again.
My Labor Day was unconventional and weird feeling as you may imagine. I got the labor part out of the way by mowing the front yard this time. With my normal schedule I would be weed whacking this week but I said f it, I had enough other stuff to do. After a quick dip in the pool I made myself lunch. Shortly afterwards Cindy, Katie, and DJ stopped by visiting most of the afternoon. It was the first time I had seen my little buddy in quite awhile. Much like Elsa, DJ feels like family to me, my grandson, regardless of what blood tests say. I want to keep my relationship with him going of course, I love the little guy. We had fun playing with cars, watching Pepa the Pig and just hanging out. To keep him from crying bloody murder when he left I rode shotgun in Cindy’s car to drop he and Katie off, that always seems to make him feel better.
After making myself dinner, I played some WoW and will be showering and watching some tv before bed. It feels weird walking around making decisions without input from a second party, real weird. As has been the case with every traumatic event in my life, the only surefire way to move on is via the passage of time. When I split with Ali one of my mistakes was trying to go full force into whatever was next. I won’t be making that mistake again. I need to explore being on my own more before even entertaining any other alternatives.
Yesterday was my first real day of the conference. My training courses however left a good portion of my afternoon open. I took advantage by going to the hotel gym which is large and impressive, having everything and then some that I would ever need. After showering I read more of my book. Unfortunately for whatever reason at this age reading more than two chapters of a book induces a strong drowsiness effect. I dozed off for close to an hour.
The crew from our office headed out to Bonefish Grill for dinner. I had three or four Miller Lites to ease my awkwardness that typically sets in during forced social interaction. It went fine though and my meal was good without being a caloric bomb. After returning to the hotel some of the gang grabbed more alcohol at one of the on site bars. I opted to call it a night. After reading another chapter or two of the book I passed out again, before 10PM, something that never occurs at home, maybe because I don’t read before bed. Maybe I should start.
Cindy called me to let me know of a situation at the house. The RO water equipment evidently sprung some sort of major leak, she said water was flooding the yard. When she opened up the cabinet that contains the equipment she got shot in the face with sulfur smelling well water. Luckily we have a service agreement on the stuff. She called the number and was walked through how to turn off the system until a tech can get there today to address it. I felt bad about the timing, that she had to deal with it.
Unlike yesterday, my class schedule today is pretty much booked solid until 5PM. I may try to ride and do something solo for dinner tonight or maybe hang with the crowd, I haven’t decided.
I took this incredibly cute picture of two of the finches in the cage the hotel has. Enjoy, it’s free of charge.
I left work a little early to prep for the fantasy football draft party I was hosting Friday night, the first time doing so in two years. With the recent addition of the recliner there was some minor tweaking to the arrangement of furniture but otherwise the layout was the same. Cindy helped me get everything in place before she headed out which I appreciated.
The draft itself went ok, a little longer than normal because of a technical issue that halted the process for close to 20 minutes. I did absolutely zero prep or research for the draft which is pretty normal for me. To be quite honest I care very little about fantasy football at this point of my life. I stay in the league because everyone likes our house as a draft venue because I have the technical knowledge to connect our remote owners in with our in person owners. I was yawning by round 8, there are 14 rounds, just to give you a reference.
The draft didn’t end until after 10:30. As always I did not want to wait until the next day to clean up. Cindy had passed out asleep and I did not want to wake her so I did the entire undoing of the party myself. The end result was me getting to bed shortly before midnight, I was beat but thankful that we held the party on a Friday night instead of mid-week as we have done many years in the past. I have no idea how good or bad my team I drafted will be, nor do I really care. I did grab the Eagles defense and Zac Ertz to add some spice to what may be a very long Eagles season.
Despite the late night I was up early on Saturday, heading out to do chicken chores right around 7AM. The rest of the day was more or less navigating from one task to another. I weeded the property and then went to Home Depot with Cindy to grab a bunch of sod for a landscaping project she is doing for someone. I helped her lay the sod although she will likely need another load of the same if not greater amount to finish it all up. Once returning home I got on the tractor to mow, taking advantage of two days of minimal precipitation. I finished up the long day doing a live stream talking about the four new wheels that were recently announced.
Sunday morning I got my normal stuff done before packing up for my long drive to the work conference in Orlando. It was the first time I have done a long drive in a gas vehicle in a long time. I missed the Tesla for sure but the Tacoma is a nice vehicle as well. For some reason I had it in my head that the drive should take 3 hours. I was surprised when the truck navigation spit out an ETA of over 3 hours and 40 minutes.
I brought the V12 and One Wheel with me. I left both in the truck initially but when I realized I left something in the truck, I rode the V12 back to the hotel to save time and have it parked in my room. It looks from the schedule I should have plenty of down time to ride and read my WoW book which is ok with me. Sometimes the only way I will decompress is when I am forced to do so, by being physically separated from the household that enlists so much of my time, focus and energy.
That being said, I really am not feeling much like being here. Mentally I just don’t feel like engaging and socializing much. When you are at a conference that doesn’t match up very well, since it is all about engagement with others. I’ll muddle my way through it but I’m already looking forward to the end.
So during the Trump presidency I wound up FB muting a bunch of my high school friends. I don’t know about in it’s entirety but at least out of the former classmates that had found their way into my FB friend list, the majority of them were guzzling President Big League Very Stable Geniuses every word and asking for more. Early on I would waste my time and energy on trying to discuss the fallacies they eagerly propagated but it grew extremely tiresome and pointless. You can’t change somebodies political disposition via social media, only deepen the divide it seems.
So when given the choice of outright dropping them as virtual friends or just muting them, I chose the latter, taking the “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” route. It was a two way street, this setting would also stop pushing any of my ridiculous greater good ideals across the feeds of the “me first, f everyone else” crowd. Since the election has been over, instead of slowly returning to the realm of relative normalcy, many of these people have instead decided to stay stuck in the world of hate, lies, guns, God (hypocrites), and toxicity that branded US society over the last four years. It makes me sad.
So anyway, one of these individuals who I had not heard from for a long time decided he would leave a comment on my post regarding the bumper sticker I spotted in the wild last week. His comment was as follows:
Sorry you’re so distraught over a bumper sticker. Whatever you do don’t turn on the news. We wouldn’t want you to gain any perspective. Surely even you wouldn’t be very proud of what your vote contributed to today. But don’t lose hope, at least you don’t have to read any mean tweets.
He was inferring my vote contributed to the deaths in Afghanistan from the IS suicide attack.
I thought it was pretty disappointing that THIS was how this individual would reintroduce himself to my circle of awareness. He is a successful business owner who is extremely wealthy. I am sure however that has nothing to do with why he had decided to goosestep to the march of Trump like a synchronized swimmer. However, he is also not an ignoramus. My reply to his warm greeting was:
Please dude, the depths and degree of poison that has become injected into the brains of individuals is truly sad and pathetic. The determination to cling to what was the most despicable human being to ever hold the office will never cease to amaze me. You are too intelligent to think that there was ever a time that leaving Afghanistan was going to be clean. If you are going to be pissed at someone let it be the military contractors that manufactured conflict and did everything they could to keep us in a region for two decades that everyone knew would flip the second we, or any other outside power leaves. Don’t play dumb, it doesn’t suit you.
To be quite honest I was somewhat surprised this person lashed out at me. The last time I knew we sort of had left things at the “agree to disagree” point. However for whatever reason, the image of the Trump supporter bumper sticker invoked feelings strong enough to end the detente. As mentioned earlier, whether it comes to Trump lovers, Covid deniers , or anti-vaccination crusaders, any effort to move their opinions is truly wasted effort in my opinion. People are going to do and believe what they are inclined or conditioned to do. I know I can’t save the world so I just try to focus on the bigger picture and longer term where I can, contributing my tiny part during the brief time I have on the planet.
Tonight I host the fantasy football draft for the first time in two years. The league was outright cancelled last year due to fears that covid would scrap the season altogether. I can’t say I walked around with tears in my eyes last year from not having a fantasy roster to maintain. I then have an abbreviated weekend before I head out Sunday afternoon for a three day work conference, something else I haven’t done in two years. To be quite honest I am surprised they have pushed ahead with it based on the covid numbers in Florida. Maybe they will have one of those monclonal antibody sites on the grounds. I am bringing two PEV’s, my camera equipment and a book with me as I don’t think I will be doing much of the social functions, I am there for some education but not much else.
Next Sunday I get my NEW Model Y. I am looking forward to it, commuting in the Tacoma and Cindy’s car is ok but the Tesla commute is exceptional.
Last night around dusk I took the V12 to shoot some footage at night to capture the light performance. Heading out at that time is not ideal as the bugs are swarming, especially when you are riding on top of something with a very bright light. I had gnats bouncing off my face for a good portion of the time I was out there. The headlight on the wheel is very strong, illuminating the area in front of the wheel well. When I go to my work conference next week I plan to have the V12 with me to help fill the downtime.
Yesterday the new recliner was delivered. I was surprised the entire thing came in one box. By the time I got home Cindy had pulled the chair out of the box. All that was left was to assemble the chair, which City Furniture wanted $119 to do. I am very glad we did not go that option as not a single tool is even used to put the chair together, stuff just slides and clicks into place and you are done. With us not sure of what we were doing it took 10 minutes, I bet the delivery guys are done in less than 5. We ran an extension cord under the rug and existing sofa and gave the chair a test run. Everything worked as it should. After dinner I spent a decent amount of time in the chair watching TV, it felt good. The ability to rock and swivel is a big plus over any recliner I ever used before.
Overall I have been doing a decent job of staying busy/distracted enough to not dwell on the change in my relationship status. However during a brief respite in that effort I pictured our time together as one huge rubber band ball. Each rubber band representing an accomplishment, a memory, a special moment, a shared experience that over time became this huge ball of what was. The next visualization was taking that ball that has been built band by band over many years to the edge of a cliff, and pushing it over the edge, watching it disappear into the rocks below. It’s a tough reality to digest, especially for someone like me that has a hard time discarding t-shirts from 7th grade, due to sentimental value.
