One of the best, Gross, Not a big difference

After work on Friday I swung over to Brunina’s for the second time in three days for happy hour. I don’t really fit in with the happy hour crowd there, most of them are very old. The only reason I go is because I like talking to Meaghan. I had three beers but then headed out because I was going to see Deadpool and Wolverine at 9:30 with Brian and Laura.

We met at the Cinebistro at 8:30 and chilled at their beautiful bar for a bit. With as full as all of the movie showings were I thought the bar would be busy as well, it was not. We sat down and ordered food. The Cinebistro is nice but really expensive. My shrimp florentine with a Coke was almost $50 after the per-ordained gratuity was added in.

So of course we weren’t there to drink at the bar or eat overpriced food, we were there to watch Deadpool and Wolverine, a movie that has had an insane amount of hype and anticipation towards for months. In many cases this is a recipe for disappointment, for a movie to live up to this type of hype is rare. This one does it.

The movie is just funny, action filled and entertaining as hell from start to finish. There are cameos galore with references to all sorts of things only real Marvel fans will catch. I absolutely loved the movie and it jumped into the elite class as one of my favorite Marvel movies of all time. A+ I didn’t get home until shortly before midnight but I was happy to pay the late bedtime penalty.

Despite the late night Friday I got up to play pickleball on Saturday morning. I played a bunch of games with Sue in the warm and sticky morning air. My left knee had two or three episodes where I got the weird sensation that I can only describe as feeling like a tendon slips out of place which stops me dead in my tracks. I have been able to work through it by taking a second to do a deep squat and sort of shake the knee out. I really need this to not be a thing. Because of my schedule I have not been able to consistently do a lower body strength session in months. I need to carve out the time to do it.

Early Saturday evening I decided to take my Master out for a ride to the Cabana for a few beers. During the ride I seemed to have a lot to talk about covering all sorts of topics. I got into a discussion about the wheel at the bar with a guy that rides his e-bike everywhere. He told me how his bike can go up to 35MPH but he never goes that fast. When I told him my wheel can go 50MPH plus he couldn’t believe it. It was an enjoyable ride. By the time I got done editing the footage it was yet another late night.

Sunday I once again played pickleball. We started at Talis Park where a fourth person was supposed to meet us to play. He was a no show so we went across the street to the even larger and more affluent community of Mediterra, hoping to find players there. Once again we were the only three playing but we made it work. The courts there were really beautiful. Mediterra is where Christine happens to work but I never saw it first hand. We played longer than I probably should have as my knee went “out” several times once again.

Sunday afternoon I got motivated to finally rip apart to work on my Mten3 which has been out of order for awhile because the tire would not fill or hold air properly. I already suspected this was due to the tire sealant I used on the wheel causing an issue. Boy, was I right.

This is my oldest wheel. If I were to guess it is somewhere around six years old. I never had to do any work on it either. When I popped the tire off the disgusting mess was revealed. I described it on video as looking like the bottom of a mower deck that you never cleaned, a thick coating of green goo on the rim and tire itself.

I took the wheel outside to try to clean the rim up. I first used a flat screw driver to get the thickest spots somewhat cleared. I then used a wire brush to get more of the residue off. It’s still far from perfect but I think good enough. My plan is to go back to an inner tube instead of the tubeless configuration which always leaked to some degree. I ordered a new tire as well to give myself a fresh start. Once the parts arrive I will resume the project.

So today was the one week mark in not drinking coffee. Not having it didn’t appear to have much of a difference on me mentally or physically although I did miss it as part of my routine, especially on the weekends. I decided I am going to add coffee back into my existence although instead of doing it twice a day , just have it in the morning instead and see if there is a happy median there.

Speaking of my existence I just realized we are about to click into August and I have not done any conventional dating in 2024 which is going into it’s eighth month. On some days I feel it’s an issue as I feel I have a lot going for me and having a partner to share that with would be a good thing. Other days I appreciate the simplicity of only having to account for myself and Elsa in my decision making process. Then finally there are days where I step outside of myself and try to view the situation from the eyes of an observer. When I do that, a lot of things don’t make much sense.