There is an adage that I have heard my entire life that generally speaking, the more you know about a person, the less you will like them. It’s a pretty sad statement about human beings but I have found repeatedly throughout my life that more often than not, it’s true. The people that are the exception to that rule are the ones you should hold onto and nurture relationships with. The ones where too much information makes it clear they are not the person you thought they were should be left in the rear view mirror destined to wander through life wondering why things are what they are.
I have spent a lot of time, energy, emotion, effort, and money on people that ultimately fell into this adage over my lifetime. Despite this I have this flaw where I still want to believe that people are honest with good intentions. Maybe someday, I will learn.
Friday evening I was getting a few things done around the house when my phone vibrated, indicating a text came in. When I saw it’s sender I think I stopped breathing for a second, it was from Dawn. I talked about Dawn’s terrible accident that happened on February 21st. After a period of her being in an induced coma for a couple weeks her progress, at least the progress that I knew about was slow. It did not sound like she would be in any condition to use a phone. Well I was wrong.
Evidently Dawn has been conscious and responsive for over a week but her phone was sitting at her house dead. She finally had someone get it to her evidently. After a few texts back and forth I asked if she was able to talk a bit, which she could so I called her. It felt a little surreal to hear her voice since at one point I was unsure if I ever would again. It didn’t take long until it was clear that at least mentally she was ok. Physically she is a mess. Her injuries are going to take a long time to heal. She has no memory of the day she crashed which is probably a good thing.
It was a relief for me to know that at least the Dawn I know is still present. She later posted something on social media letting people know that she was back among the land of the living which made hundreds of people happy. I am sure she is going to be absolutely deluged with people wishing to see and offering to assist her which is good to know. Unfortunately there also has been an undertone of less than good energy from certain people surrounding her situation that I hope can be resolved one way or the other. I told Dawn that if she needed anything to let me know, although I know that she is not adept at asking for help, at all. The world felt a little brighter by me knowing although Dawn has a long way to go, she will be ok.
On Saturday afternoon I took my V9 out to the swamp. I had not ridden the swamp in a number of months. While I was out there I drove by my old house as well as take in the changes around the area. There is a lot of new retail space around there. My house looked much as I last saw it although I did notice the orange Husqarvana tractor that I included with the house had been replaced with a new looking John Deere tractor.
The V9 is a commuter wheel that is primarily designed for hard surface riding but I was curious how it would perform in a more challenging terrain such as the swamp offers. Because it was late in the day and hot I only saw one gator during the ride. The wheel performed well, better than I initially expected. In total my ride was 12 miles and I enjoyed all of it outside of the last couple when my feet and knees were hurting a bit.
On Sunday I was on the road for close to 7 hours in the Tesla. I activated full self driving for a month and utilized it once again. It truly is set and forget in almost all situations. I rarely have to intervene. It drove me all the way back from Tampa without as much as a hiccup, pretty crazy. Elsa was along for the ride and was quite content laying in the back on her dog bed and fuzzy blanket.
Speaking of Elsa, she provided me with close to an hour of work over the weekend running the spot bot in the office. She threw up. When she throws up she insists on doing it on carpet instead of the vast areas of hard surface in the house. Usually when she throws up it’s due to her eating something she shouldn’t like stuffed toy parts or grass. She also is miserably bad at chewing her food. In the throw up was a quarter sized treat I gave her that was swallowed whole like a pill.
So instead of just giving me one spot she evidently walked around the room, leaving me trails to clean up. In total I filled and emptied the Spot Bot three times until I had all of the mess cleaned up. My desire to replace the carpet in the bedrooms with a hard surface like vinyl plank is 80% motivated by dog activities.
I have had a fast charger from Pidzoom at my house for probably a couple months. I have used it on a number of my wheels but I have been negligent with doing any sort of video review on it for no specific reason. The procrastination ended last night as I finally made a video explaining the features about the charger I like. There is one feature about the charger that would only appeal to me but I’ll keep that to myself.
I did a later in the evening trip to Costco which is always my preference to avoid the flood of humanity that is normally cramming the store. I got the few items I was looking for but also grabbed something I was not looking for, two king size pillows. When I moved into the new house two years ago I bought new pillows that I immediately were annoyed by. They were on the thin side, so much so that every morning I would wake up to the pillow cases being half off because they just were not on snugly.
Maybe I didn’t want to admit I made a bad purchase, maybe I was just being lazy but I have put up with this for two cycles of the calendar. The Sealy pillows I got at Costco are much more voluminous while still being soft. I immediately put them into service last night and woke up with pillow cases snugly and firmly in place just as they were when I fell asleep. It was a nice way to start my Friday. Now I have to get two more the next time I am in the Costco vortex.
So the latest rounds of Trump tariffs went into place on April 2nd, artificially raising prices on many things overnight. I heard a lot of grumbling about it in the various EUC circles I am in as the prices on many wheels which were already stupidly expensive went up several more hundred dollars. There is one wheel that now costs $5000. Yes that is not a typo, 5K.
Yes I have heard all the rhetoric about why this is a “good” thing. To me it’s very ironic that Ronald Reagan himself made a speech about tariffs and why they ultimately fail. Just search it on Google. To me this current policy is nonsensical. It’s like the reality that nearly everything that the American consumer buys is made in China has been overlooked. The stock market clearly is not a fan of this latest move but that won’t dissuade the hard core who will believe the sky is green if their leader tells them so.
I was surprised to hear that there are rumors that Trump is talking about distancing himself from Elon after the Wisconsin supreme court outcome and the general vitriol that has been flowing his way in recent months. It felt like Trump sort of liked having a meat shield but perhaps Elon has outlived his usefulness for the administration. Oh well.
This weekend is looking enjoyable but that truly is my outlook most weekends since I have moved. It’s odd how it feels like I was in PA much longer than a week ago for some reason.
Last night I made a quick video demonstrating just how much waste is created when you do a print that has multiple colors in every layer. I printed a relatively small model. If it was printed in a single color I would guess it would be done in 5 or 6 hours however with changing colors that time ballooned all the way up to 25 hours. In addition I had two full “toilets” of waste for the print.
Taking the path of least resistance in your life is a strategy followed by many. Avoiding conflict, hard decisions, and having moral boundaries can be bumpy and uncomfortable. Living behind a white picket fence where you create imaginary scenarios that fit your sunshine and rainbows outlook while ignoring realities that don’t conform to it is a strategy that may make your life easier. Does it make it better? That is a question each person has to figure out for themselves I suppose.
Last night after work Gladys’s sister Monique asked if I could help her pick up some outdoor furniture she was getting a good deal on. The place we picked up from was off Immokalee Road, my old stomping grounds. It was a lot of stuff that had the bed and back seat of the Tacoma stuffed. The ratchet straps I normally use for holding down loads were not ratcheting. The mechanism was rusty and jammed from being in the bed of the truck. Instead I just wound up crossing and tying the straps in place. It wasn’t as good of a solution but it worked, keeping the items in place for the 20 mile drive back.
Luckily the furniture was very light so it was easy to lift onto and out of the truck. Monique thanked me repeatedly for the help which I was happy to offer. When you own a truck helping your friends move stuff goes with the territory. By the time I got home I was starving. I devoured some food and then got caught up with Daredevil episodes, the end.
With how the world feels like a three ring circus nowadays it’s good to be able to distract yourself by having AI make cartoon versions of your pets. I had ChatGPT convert a picture of Elsa into a cartoon yesterday. I think the end result is cute and impressive. AI can do very cool things side by side with pretty awful things, take your pick.
Last night I tended to a bunch of post trip tasks like doing massive laundry, going through my bills and picking up the scattered remains of my travel that were not yet put away. I watered the garden which is currently doing well with very healthy lettuce, cherry tomato, onions and cilantro growing in it. Yea things have swung back to normal pretty quickly.
