Knocking it out, Reverted, Testing, Support

With the majority of boxes being unpacked this weekend I could turn my attention more towards upgrading and/or fixing things. Since the yard crew took care of mowing my grass and weed whacking Saturday morning I was free to get started earlier. I did the most physically demanding repair of the weekend first, which is my normal preference, replacing the garage door rubber seal.

The seal that was on there looked ancient, it was rock hard and had shrunk to the point where there was almost a foot wide gap on either side of the door when closed. After using some WD40 and pliers to get the old seal out I tried to insert the new rubber I had bought previously. Despite my struggle I could not get it in. When I grabbed a step ladder and got a close look I realized why. The old seal had a singular round bead channel, the replacement I bought was an I configuration which is what most modern doors use, shit.

So I went back to Home Depot to see if they sold a seal with the round bead, they didn’t. However what they did sell was a kit that included new aluminum rails with an I style frame with seal that is designed for this scenario. When I got home I was able to remove the old seal frame which was held on with a bunch of sheet metal screws and installed the new aluminum replacement. The new frame came in sections that you had to careful align, the last section had to be cut to length. Once the frame was installed the unfun part began, pulling the rubber seal through it.

I have done this task a couple times before but that experience didn’t make it go any faster. After feeding the first couple feet in easily it becomes a back and forth tug of war where you stuff some in the entry side and then pull on the other side. Each push and pull only moves the seal maybe a half foot at best. Since you need to cover 17-18 feet it takes awhile. I kept plugging away until the seal was covering the full length of the door. I was sweated through my shirt by the time I did my last pull.

Saturday afternoon I thought I would tackle installing the upgraded Xfinity X1 gateway that promised 10G wireless service. I have upgraded my gateway once before and it was literally plug and play. This was far from that. I initially tried activating it through an online chat. For some reason the Indian support rep just could not get it to work. After a frustrating 45 minutes I asked if a phone call would be better. He arranged to have his supervisor call me.

The supervisor had no better luck getting the gateway online after wasting another 30 minutes. During this phone call he revealed that unlike my previous upgrade, the 10G gateway would require me to redo every wifi connection I have in the house. The inability of the rep to get me online combined with this news drove me to tell him to just forget it, I would keep what I have. He was happy to oblige that request. I returned the brand new modem to the Xfinity store prior to going out to dinner. What a cluster F.

Late Saturday I also took the EX30 wheel out for it’s maiden voyage, a ride to the Dunkin Donuts. I took the back way for the first time which is likely the path I will take when I decide to take an EUC to work. It’s more scenic with less traffic albeit slightly longer. It was a great ride.

My sciatic pain was very problematic this weekend. I have become accustomed to my first 15 minutes being painful when I get out of bed during the morning but the last few days I have had pain off and on all day which is worrisome. I have been making sure to get in more of the stretching and exercises the chiropractor gave me. I think with moving I have not been able to focus on doing that. Now that I have a “normal” week I am hoping I can beat the pain down once again. It is intense when it is at it’s worst.

Sunday I again worked around the house, adding some automation. I replaced the switch that controls the exterior lights with a smart switch which allows me to put them on a schedule. I like the way the exterior lights look but having to rely on me remembering to flip a switch on and off every night just was not going to work. I also added a smart switch to control the kitchen recessed lighting which is great because I now can voice control them. I will add some more “intelligence” to the house as I find the need. I’m still in the dark regarding what some of the switches in the house control.

Later in the afternoon I loaded the EX30 up for a ride down to Marco to do some hill testing in the Indian Hill area, it was nice having the drive take half the time it used to. I did a total of 22 hills going over and back Indian Hill. The EX30 performed very well, as I expected it to.

The rest of my evening was chill, Elsa and I watched some Picard while I ate dinner as I reveled in how much I am enjoying this reboot of my everyday life experiences.

I did get an email from the new owners of my house on Friday. Evidently they wanted to fill the pool which was several inches low due to lack of rain and evaporation. Whenever I filled the pool I used water straight from the well which is smelly and has tanins which you correct with a lot of liquid chlorine. However the new owner did not know that and he instead used the hose connected to the RO system. The end result was he emptied the 300 gallon RO tank and had no water left for the house.

I apologized for not mentioning that to him during his orientation with me and filled him in on how it was supposed to go. I have a feeling it won’t be the last set of questions I get.