Archives 2022

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.

I have been trying to stay ahead of the curve for the last few days.  Weed whacking on Wednesday, grocery shopping on Thursday evening and then Friday before I downed pizza I did the weeding circuit around the house.  The reason was I knew I had a bunch of things I wanted to accomplish this weekend, nothing huge in scope but high in quantity.

Friday night I did my first live stream in nearly a month and a half.  I was joined for a good part of it by my buddy Marty on the west coast.  During the broadcast I downed a Guinness.  I hate dark bitter beer.  I drank it because it’s funny watching someone drink something they don’t like the taste of.

On Saturday since the weeding was already done I was able to do my coffee run early and get started mowing in the AM, a rarity in my normal routine.  Since we have had some consistent rain this was the first time in many months that the yard looked more even and visually appealing when I was done.

I also washed both of the vehicles.  I have not pulled a washing double header in quite awhile.  If I am being accurate I took the truck to the local car wash.  I did this because I wanted to clean out the back of the truck of the thick layer of Elsa hair.  I pulled the seat cover and two dog beds from the back of the truck and washed them as well.  The end result of the work was a much cleaner looking rear seating area along with a fresher smell instead of dog.

When I got home I started doing some cleaning inside.  It’s funny how much if have softened on what used to be a rigid cleaning schedule.  I used to do certain things every week or two weeks without fail.  My reality  now is I clean when I notice things are dirty.  Many of the rigid boundaries I used to have are now much fuzzier and fluid, which I guess is a good thing when it comes to longer term sanity.

Saturday night I decided to try a new bar which is actually a very familiar place to me, South Street.  During my years with the running club I used to frequent the bar all the time as a lot of running club friends hung there.  I figured it would be a good time as ever to see how things have changed.  When I stepped in the door, despite it being after 7:30 I was surprised at the number of people there.  It was the busiest bar experience I have had so far.  I could hardly believe it when I scanned the one side of the bar and saw Todd and Christy there.  Todd and I were on the running club board of directors together.  Christy and Ali had been good friends for a long time as well.  I had not seen either of them for I bet 5 years.  The luck of running into them did not go unappreciated.

I sat next to them and had a great time catching up while I downed a couple Miller Lites.  It made me appreciate and miss the times where I was more socially active.  They seemed equally surprised and happy to see me.  They now live very close by and frequent South Street often so there is a good chance I will run into them again.  It really put a gold star on my evening.  I enjoyed the fish sandwich I ordered as well.

The experience made me commit to adding South Street into my normal bar rotation which so far has included, Carrabbas, Brooks, Bonehook Brewery, and now South Street.  There are a couple others I want to try out as well.  It’s funny how something that seemed so foreign and weird to me as going to a bar yourself has now become something I sort of look forward to every week.

My Sunday has felt like I spent a lot of time spinning my wheels however I still did complete the additional cleaning tasks I mentally assigned myself and  now plan to head out for the long DD ride on my new V10F to see how it performs.  Tomorrow my remaining stitches come out and I can not wait.

I was very intent on getting the grass mowed after work last night.  Unfortunately mother nature had other plans as steady rain broke out about 10 minutes prior to me getting out there to start.  The derailing of my plans frustrated me but then my mind searched for something else I could get done on a Thursday evening to cut down on my already sizeable plans for the weekend.  The answer came to me, get my grocery shopping out of the way.

On Saturdays running for groceries normally takes at least a couple hours and possibly more depending on how many other stops I am making.  I figured this would be a time savings worth making.  I loaded up Elsa in the truck as she would rather be scared in the truck with me instead of scared at home alone.  I had two stops Costco and Walmart.  My buddy Don always told me of the joys of going to Costco later at night when the mobs of people have mostly left the building.  When I arrived it was close to 7:30, an hour from store closing.  Damn, he was right.

It was actually pleasant which is never a word I normally use to describe my Costco visits during the day.  There was no squeezing past humans every 10 feet or narrowly avoiding collisions as you come around a turn.  It was the first time I have ever visited Costco without feeling my blood pressure elevate.  Walmart was the same deal with 10% of the people I am used to dealing with when I go on the weekends.  I think I may have stumbled across a new shopping time slot that may appeal to me more often.

I think my idea of a fake chicken providing companionship for Kathy may actually have some merit.  Quite often I find Kathy sitting within a 3 foot circle of wherever I have Helen sitting.  My latest issue is many times I come home and I find Helen laying on her side as it isn’t very difficult for wind to knock her over.  I’m thinking about gluing the fake chickens feet to a small platform so she can stay upright more easily.  My weird chicken sense makes me feel like Kathy gets upset when Helen is laying on her side.

Yesterday I started not putting bandages on my two stitched wounds, instead just laying a thick layer of neosporin on the areas to promote healing.  A few times I accidentally scratched or bumped one of the incisions and got a quick painful jolt, reminding me to steer clear.  Monday all the stitches come out and I can resume my path to return to normalcy.

I have scheduled a live stream tonight.  I was surprised to see it’s been nearly a month and a half since my last stream.  As usual it will be a free flowing stream of consciousness driven mostly by my interaction with viewers.

Man I wish I discovered pickleball 10 years ago….

Yesterday was an important day in my 2 week long orgy of cutting, probing and testing.  I had my follow up appointment at the cardiologist office to find out the results of the three different tests I had done.  The good news is the two of the three tests that I actually care about, the stress test and ECG both showed no significant issues.  The vein test in my legs showed what was already obvious, the valves in those veins don’t work well which is why I have varicose veins.  Luckily it has no significance when it comes to overall cardiac health.

I asked the doctor what my takeaway should be since a borderline EKG was what sent me into this series of testing.  He said EKG’s are not rock solid indicators of cardiac problems, just of potential ones.  He felt confident that based on the results of my stress test, ECG and my overall lack of symptoms that I am good to go.  As far as the leg vein stuff goes he said I should wear compression stockings and try to move my legs more.  I told him about the vein in my leg that was removed in my 30’s but that was because it was painful, I have no pain with these.  Plus as far as I know you can’t reverse varicose veins, the only permanent fix is removal. Anyway I was happy to hear the positive news. I don’t need to return to the cardiologist for another year. The only unchecked health item is the final removal of the stitches from my head next Monday.

Last night I continued my new tactic of doing yard maintenance during weekday evenings to reduce the heat and sweat penalty.  I took the weed whacker and was out there for almost two hours.  I am planning another session this evening, this time on the lawn tractor.