My Memorial Day was absent of any common celebrations like get togethers, cooking out on the grill, or swimming in the pool. However as I mentioned in the video I shot yesterday, that doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate what the day off is all about, honoring those who died in service of the country.
Later yesterday I saw my uncle posted a picture of my grandfather from when he was an aircraft mechanic in World War II. He was standing on a massive ant hill in north Africa where he was stationed during the war. I had never seen the picture before. I never talked much to my grandfather about his day’s in the service and in retrospect I wish I would have. I guess I was too young to know or care about the significance of what he experienced.
Anyway I thought it was great timing by my uncle, considering the holiday. I miss my grandfather, I have his bowed legs, his fix it mentality and often accompany a hand shake with a reassuring slap on the upper arm, just like he always did.
Looks like I have the full four day weekend to wrap up, let’s dig in. On Friday morning I met up with Gladys for one more ride on the Greenway, her on her pedal assist beach cruiser and me on the V12 which I had not ridden in awhile. When I almost dumped it on my ass doing a tight turn I realized I should have checked the PSI of the tire before leaving, it was dangerously low. I kept my riding appropriately conservative the rest of the way. It was yet another fun ride, we went on something like four or five rides during her time in the area. This was the first one I had the video camera along for.
Friday afternoon I plugged another tire on the Tesla. This one had a small nail in it. I am pretty sure I have been picking these up during my drives into Babcock with Ali and Shugs since it is an active construction site. I figured since I was driving across the state on Saturday I should fix the tire ahead of time. The tire plugging process went smoothly and so far has not dropped a single PSI. I videoed the process this time, just for the hell of it.
On Saturday morning I tried to get up and going early. I offered to take Gladys back across the alley since she was flying out of Miami. The Tesla makes drives like this stupid easy. With the seats folded down it had plenty of room for her stuff. With the car being long range I didn’t need to charge until the way back at the half way supercharger and only for 10 minutes. Gladys and I had a lot of fun hanging out during her time here but she lives full time on an island off the coast of Honduras so it was bittersweet to see her go. It’s been a good couple weeks.
I didn’t get home until almost 4:30 but I still reached out to my buddy Don to see if he wanted to hang out a bit. He gave me the green light. I went to his place to see his dog Lucky who I hadn’t seen in a little while. Despite the absence Lucky remembered who I was pretty quickly. I love the little guy. Don suggested we go to the Yard House, a bar/restaurant I never had been to before. The bar was massive and the food was good. My list of bars in my rotation are growing, this definitely made the list.
Afterwards Don said we could drop in at South Street to see what was going on. The answer was, not much. Despite it being Saturday night there was no live entertainment and not a lot of people. We only hung long enough for me to drink half a Miller Lite and then we rolled out.
My Sunday was a mixture of small projects and tasks. I got the four replacement LED light fixtures installed, upgrading the dull and dreary builder globes that came with the house. It was stupid easy, by the time I got to the last one I completed it in 10 minutes. I also opened up the air handler to replace the UV bulb, an annual task. It went ok. The biggest pain is the screws that hold the sides on and the holes they go into are pretty worn out, making it a bit challenging to get it zipped back up the way it should be. It felt good to get the task out of the way.
Elsa and I drove Sadie back up to Fort Myers to Ali’s place. We hung there for a little bit. Elsa is just hilarious when she first gets there. She goes into total spaz mode just running around saying hi to everyone. It’s very cute.
Last night I watched Operation Mincemeat on Netflix. It’s a movie based on the podcast I listened to called the World’s Greatest Con. It’s about an incredible deception the Allies pulled off on the Germans during WWII. The minuscule details that went into this plot is nothing short of amazing. That being said, I enjoyed listening to the podcast more than the movie which I would give a B.
This morning I got out on my Sherman for a very high speed DD ride. I have not been filming as much while Gladys was visiting but now that she isn’t here I expect my schedule will become more normal. It was a good ride and I feel the video reflected exactly that. Tomorrow it’s back to work, luckily I don’t mind work much, unlike far too many.
Oh I forgot to mention I have locked in for an early July trip to northern New York with my dad, stepmom, brother, sister and their significant others/family. I went there many, many years ago. It is a beautiful lake area that is very, very remote. It is the sort of place you truly go to uplug which is something that surprisingly to some sounds pretty good to me now and then. I plan to do a lot of reading, maybe some writing and just appreciate the good things while letting the bad fall off behind me.
For a period of over 10 years, volleyball was THE hobby for me. I used to play several times a week and also tournaments on the weekend on a pretty regular basis. Hell I even played some indoor night tournaments that used to get finished up around midnight or later. I was all about it. I made websites, videos and wrote about volleyball all the time.
Of course playing a lot of volleyball gave me a lot of physical practice at the skills used in the sport. Through repetition comes improvement in almost anything in life, right?
My favorite part of volleyball was hitting. Nothing was more satisfying than timing the jump and swing perfectly so you could crush a hit so hard that even if your opponent got a hand on it, it didn’t matter. I practiced hitting a lot but I also did something that I rarely have done prior or since my glory days of volleyball, visualization.
In my mind I would imagine the entire sequence of a clean approach, jump, and swing. I would see the ball impact my hand. I would hear the sound. I would feel the satisfaction as the ball hits the ground, untouched, at a high rate of speed. I did this mind practice most often before a tournament, when outcome mattered most to me. It felt like it helped me. The mental repetitions manifested into physical improvement. I didn’t start doing this visualization because I read it somewhere, it just started happening.
I read somewhere recently that there was a study done where one group of test subjects physically practiced doing something over a period of time. There was another group that only mentally practiced, visualizing they were doing this same skill. At the end of the test the skill level difference between the group that practiced physically versus the group that just visualized they were doing the skill was very, very small.
So what is the point of me bringing this up you may ask? It translates into some of the stuff I have been talking about regarding my continuing efforts to change some of the core thought processes I have been struggling with for a long time. In a nutshell what I am trying to do is visualize a different, more positive outcome, time and time again until it imprints a lasting change on my default state of mind. It works, I know it works from that time in my life when I unknowingly engaged my mind to help my physical performance. I just have to get in those mental reps. Have a great Friday.
I drank a lot of coffee yesterday to combat the extreme drowsiness I was feeling. I had two large cups in the morning and another mid-afternoon after picking up Elsa from her dental cleaning. This was the first time she has had it done and the first time she has been under general anesthesia. I could tell she was still a little whacked out when they brought her out. She was this way for the rest of the afternoon but later she was more normal and ate her supper. I felt badly but her teeth are way better. They also gave her nails a serious clipping, much more than I feel comfortable doing at home.
Since I wound up getting home earlier than normal I decided to put the extra time to use, getting on the tractor and mowing the yard. Unfortunately the changing of the seasons means grass will be growing at a much faster rate, soon requiring weekly mowing once again. I wore my headphones while mowing. It makes the outdoor tasks pass faster it seems. The challenge is trying to wear them in conjunction with one of my oversized brim hats, they just don’t work well together. I could opt for ear buds but historically that type of device gets very painful for my ears very quickly. I must have an odd shape in there.
I discovered the three blue mockingbird eggs had hatched on Tuesday. I have had a nest at this same spot before. It’s great because I can very easily watch the amazing process. It is very surprising how quickly the babies will grow and move out of the nest.
By the time I ate dinner all of the caffeine had left my system. As I was watching Better Call Saul on the DVR I realized my eyes were closing as I was sitting upright. I stopped the show and figured I would just lay down for a few minutes and close my eyes. Three hours later, I woke up, a little before 9PM. It was sort of disorienting waking up at the time where I normally start thinking about winding things down. The end result was me staying up until midnight.
I am off work tomorrow, giving myself a four day weekend since Monday is Memorial Day. This past month of May has been one of the busiest and significant I can recall in a very long time. All of the medical testing and procedures followed by two weeks of memorable, meaningful and different experiences where I have a had a chance to have more appreciation for what life can be has made May 2022 one for the scrapbook.
Yes of course I read about the horrific mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas. As is always the case, the outrage reignites the automatic weapons debate, on both sides of the issue. I have seen this cycle recreated so many times over my life time I feel almost numb to it. People are horrified by these tragedies, politicians swear to make changes and NRA lobbyist fueled individuals in power quietly kill it off once the fervor dies down.
Much like a lot of things in the world, I feel powerless to make significant change in things that are not directly under my control. At this point I do no know that there is ANY level of senseless gun violence that would be able to actually move the dial towards sensible lasting change. Those that stoke the fear in individuals saying that something as simple as mandatory background checks is akin to the government taking your gun away are just playing mind games intended to further their own agenda.
Last night on the way home I made a snap decision that I was going to play pickle ball at Veterans Park with my buddy and coworker Rich. Doing so meant I had to fly around the house. My dinner was fast but sort of ridiculous, two Pop Tarts and a glass of almond milk. On the way there the weather was good, except one large gray cloud I spotted off in the distance. You can imagine my joy when I turned into Veterans Park just as rain from this one cloud let loose.
The rain was enough to send almost everyone that was there scrambling. Rich had gotten there earlier and had already played a few games. He was going to bail with the rest of the people but I told him I was going to wait a bit as it seemed like after this cloud passed we should be good, well sort of.
As I hoped the rain did stop in a few minutes but the court was drenched. However when I walked on the surface it did not feel too slippery, except for the painted lines which were like ice. They had a big court broom so we used it to push some of the water off the court. By the time we were done it wasn’t too bad. I did not slip once. A few other people resumed play as well.
So we had just started playing with a couple women when another round of rain came rolling through. At first I conceded that we just were not going to be able to play. Rich got back in his car and had pulled out but I stayed, looking at my Dark Sky app that showed rain was ending in 7 minutes. The rain did stop in more like a minute. I texted Rich and told him I didn’t leave yet and that it stopped raining. He turned around and came back, he really loves pickle ball.
So once again we took the brush to the courts to clear the water and started playing. It was so humid, I was drenched not from rain but from sweat in no time. There were even fewer people left this time so Rich and I played three games of “skinny singles”. In this variation you are only playing on one half of the court at time. It is a way to not kill yourself as much as regular singles and with the wet courts it made more sense. This style of game is good for working on your skills but far too often I forgot that I could only use half of the court and hit out.
We then played two doubles games against a pair of very good 18 year olds. They both are on the high school tennis team and play club level pickle ball. The first game we were somewhat competitive, the second game they smoked us but it was still fun and a good way to improve by playing better players. Rich and I did a couple more skinny singles matches before we wrapped it up a little before 9. It was awesome to get some playing time in when at first it seemed those hopes would be washed away. I don’t give up easily.
I actually got an invite to go hang with some friends on the way home at a bar. This is something that I would have never considered on a Tuesday evening for the vast majority of my adulthood. However I have been making conscious efforts to keep pushing beyond my norms and saw this as another opportunity to do so. I got home very, very late and am running purely on caffeine at this point but it was worth it. I had a really good time.
This morning I dropped off Elsa for her first ever dental cleaning. She was not very happy that I refused to give her breakfast. The vet gave me a couple pills to calm her down prior to the visit but she threw them up after eating grass out in the yard, which annoyed me. When the vet assistant came out to get her it broke my heart to see Elsa’s face full of fear as she was lead into the back office. I will pick her up this afternoon. From here on out I will be diligent about doing dental care at home, something that has been more or less absent since Elsa joined the household. I don’t want her to have the same sort of mouth issues as Sadie has had over the last 6-7 years.
I forgot to mention another aggravating insurance situation I am dealing with. You may recall my frustration with the dramatic increase in my property insurance this year. This is a statewide issue that has gotten so bad that they are doing an emergency legislative session about it. Well maybe they should add auto insurance to the list.
Back in June of 2020 I got tired of Allstate raising my premiums every policy cycle. I had been with Allstate for something like 20 years. To me, as a man in his 50’s with a clean driving record my premiums should be going down over time, not up. When I called them up to complain they just basically shoulder shrugged me so I started looking at alternatives. My agent got me a quote from Travelers. My AllState monthly premium had crept up to around $200 a month. With Travelers it dropped down to $138 so I pulled the trigger and jumped ship for the 30% savings. I was pleased. Two years later I am no longer pleased.
After the first renewal year the premium jumped dramatically from $138 to $191. When I inquired why they said it was because of Tesla repair costs. I told them I had a Tesla when I started the policy, they said it was an adjustment due to the cost of Tesla claims since then. Um ok, I was annoyed but did not feel like doing a switch only a year later.
Fast forward to last week when I got my new renewal notice. The price has now sky rocketed another $30 to $220 per month. WTF…. In the span of two years they have jacked the rate now well past what I already considered high. I called again yesterday to the local agent office. I told him point blank how shitty this practice was, a clear bait and switch. He more or less agreed with me but the only remedy he could give me was to shop around again for a more competitive rate. I really would prefer to not be an auto insurance carousel every year but I have friends of mine that have been doing exactly that for years. Evidently the insurance industry is banking on people being too lazy to change companies when they jack rates with no just cause. I plan to buck that trend, bastards.
This morning I got to go out and ride the Greenway for the second day in a row, this time on my V11. Riding the course on an EUC with suspension compared with a One Wheel is like night and day. The V11 is so much faster than my OneWheels and the suspension allows me to ride aggressively without worrying about hitting a bump or hole unexpectedly. This time we rode all the way down to the beach on Central Avenue where I looked up and snapped this shot. It just looked cool to me for some reason. Riding earlier in the morning made the sweat penalty slightly less severe. It was a great way to start a day.
On the way home I had to detour up to the Bonita Springs Racetrac to fill up my two 5 gallon gas cans with ethanol free fuel which I use in my lawn equipment. I also filled up the Tacoma while I was there, using the same ethanol free gas which is currently $5+ a gallon, ouch.
When I got home I got a message from Matt, my buddy that I did the tow hitch install with on his Tesla Model 3 a month or so ago. He bought a wiring harness that would be required if he wanted to attach a trailer, which he decided he wanted to do. I had told him I would help him previously but he told me he had started on the install today but could use my ramps to finish the work. Basically the wire has to be run all the way from the trunk area up to the frunk where the 12V battery lives. He didn’t know I was off today. I told him I would be happy to help him finish the work so he stopped over early in the afternoon. I pulled my Model Y into the grass to make room, I thought it made for a unique perspective as I don’t normally see my car with grass underneath it.
Instead of using the ramps, which are a PIA to stay planted on the polished concrete in the garage, I just grabbed my low profile floor jack and used that to get us the elevation we needed. The video we were using was a bit vague when it comes to some of the recommended routing for the wire but after some trial and error we figured it out. Matt had JUST enough wire to reach the 12V battery. In total I think we spent maybe an hour on the task, a far cry from the 6 hour+ cluster f when we did the tow hitch. He was excited to have what he needs on his Model 3 to tow a small trailer. He hung around a little afterwards shooting the shit but he had to head back for a rehearsal tonight, the life of a trumpeter. At some point we agreed to go hang at a bar soon to do some official drinking.
I am back at work tomorrow for a short three day week followed by another long four day weekend. I could definitely get used to this.
I started off my weekend for the second week in a row by doing an off the cuff live stream. Even though it was short notice and unscripted it went on for over three and a half hours somehow. After a lot of the PEV talk settled down I took a segment of the show to talk about some of my emotional wellness issues of the past year and the steps I have been taking to try to improve my overall state of happiness. The last 1/4 of the show I was joined by “Hubert” who is the alter ego of one of the very funny guys in the EUC community. The guy makes me laugh my ass off, and that’s a good thing.
On Saturday Elsa and I did our errand runs. It was unbelievably hot and sticky outside, oppressive. Despite that I got the urge to get on the tractor and mow the back of the property. The grass was not terribly high so I got the task done in 90 minutes. Saturday night I went out to see Dr Strange with a friend of mine that is visiting for a couple weeks. We also had dinner/drinks there prior to the start of the movie. Dr Strange 2 definitely lived up to it’s title, strange…. I mean don’t get me wrong the movie was entertaining and it was cool seeing characters in the film like Professor X, Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four, Peggy Carter as the alternative Captain America and a different version of Captain Marvel. However the story got really, really weird, even for a Marvel movie.
When we were talking to the theater manager before the movie I asked him if he had saw Dr Strange. He said nope, he has basically stopped caring about Marvel movies since they have started the multiverse story line. He just doesn’t like how it removes all structure from the movie plots, basically nothing is impossible when you have various parallel universes to pull from. To him it has been more of a vehicle to allow Disney/Marvel to release movies/series at a torrid pace, knowing that Marvel fans have a near endless appetite for their stories. The multiverse was a way to make that menu much, much larger. I’d give the film a B+
On Sunday I met up again with my friend to go ride the greenway. I was on my OneWheel XR. On the way back we grabbed lunch at the mall food court. I thought my XR against the wall of the mall made for an interesting picture for some reason.
When I got home after lunch I tended to a number of small monthly/quarterly tasks that popped up in my Outlook reminders but even so as a whole the weekend was pretty chill. I did try to fix my 3D printer that had the blob/clog from hell. Unfortunately once I took it apart I realized that a bunch of stuff got melted in the process meaning I have to order even more parts to get the thing operational again, sigh.
I have tomorrow off, the game plan for the day is still being formed. My month of May has been very abnormal for various reasons. I wonder if June will be the resumption of rituals and routines.
I am on the cusp on the first of two long weekends. I am hoping to take advantage of the extra time off to get some further clarity and direction in my personal story. As I mentioned before, I have been going through various self help/improvement material for a little while now. A core principal is nobody but yourself can be the main villain or hero in your own novel of life. How it is written is your decision alone. The buck starts and stops with you.
I celebrated getting my stitches out on Monday by taking Tuesday and Wednesday off. Monday afternoon I actually left work a little early to pick up a good friend of mine from the Miami airport. I think I flew out of that airport once and I never picked anyone up from the place. As expected the traffic kept you on your toes but the Tesla handled it pretty well. Even with my car being the long range model and being charged to 100% before leaving, I could not get to Miami and back without hitting the supercharger on Alligator Alley.
Over the two days I worked on a few projects, not doing so would have made me feel more worthless than I care to experience. I dug into my one Prusa printer. A print gone bad encased the hot end in a blob of plastic, effectively destroying it. I started the clean up process but need a couple parts to finish the repair. I also did some more work on bathroom lighting.
I first went in to the guest bathroom. When I replaced the vent fan with integrated LED the light had an annoying habit of flickering at times which I found very annoying, so much so that I disconnected the light a couple weeks ago. I had a theory that the flickering was due to the power socket in the fixture being old/corroded. I plugged the LED into a normal house outlet and there was no flickering which further solidified my theory.
So I had a spare replacement socket for the fan vent fixture. I figured I would splice it in and see if that would eradicate the annoying flicker. Once again I had to deal with the half assed contractor install of the original fixture but after some futzing around I got the new socket in place. Before completing the assembly I just plugged the LED into the socket, hoping to see nothing but bright and consistent light. I did. I felt a sense of accomplishment as I buttoned the fixture back up.
Next I headed into the master bathroom. I bought a new LED fixture to replace the original, boring dome lamp that was in there. I got it at Costco, just like the vent fans. The install was very straightforward. I was done in 15 minutes. The new light is brighter, bigger and much more modern. I liked it so much that I jumped on Costco.com and ordered four more to replace the remaining globe fixtures I have in the house. I like bright.
Late yesterday afternoon I headed to Ave Maria again with my friend with my One Wheel GT. I had never had the GT out there yet. It was nice riding in the evening with cooler temps for sure. We also had dinner out there outdoors facing the iconic and beautiful Ave Maria church, it was really a nice way to spend a Wednesday evening. Today I am back at work finishing out the last two days of the week followed by two more extended weekends. I can’t complain.
My Memorial Day was absent of any common celebrations like get togethers, cooking out on the grill, or swimming in the pool. However as I mentioned in the video I shot yesterday, that doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate what the day off is all about, honoring those who died in service of the country.
