Archives August 2025

Yesterday I had to deal with the medical profession back to back before coming to work. The first visit was getting a lab result from the local hospital. I had to be “admitted” for it to be processed which was more frustrating than anticipated. On the plus side my result was emailed to me, allowing me access to it without going through the doctor that ordered it which I liked since I don’t really like that doctor, either.

The next stop was the dermatologist to check on the wound healing progress. Again the news was good. The open area is steadily closing. I was given direction to keep using the antibacterial ointment until it totally closes and I don’t need to come back unless there is another issue. Sounds good to me.

My very strong dislike of having to deal with health issues which require visits to a doctor has been a life long state for me. I just don’t trust most of the individuals I have dealt with. Far too often I have felt like a resource that needs to be harvested for test after test that accomplishes nothing outside of draining my wallet. Unfortunately the older I get, the more likely the chances of my having to interact with them are. I have a couple things on my radar that I hope resolve themselves but if not I will likely have to step back onto that maddening gerbil wheel.

I listed my X1C on Facebook marketplace the other day but have not received the type of interest that I had hoped for. I have no plans to give the printer away at a stupid low price. It’s not a deal breaker for me if I can’t sell it. In fact if it does not sell I may just bring it into the office to build items here since I wind up giving away so much stuff to fellow employees anyway.

I have extended my Labor Day weekend by taking Tuesday off as well. My intent is to once again avoid activities that drench me in sweat which I am beyond tired of doing at this point. My hope is by this time next week I will lift any and all restrictions on my activity.

When I went to get my latest cancer surgery performed the receptionist informed me that my estimated portion of my cost after insurance would be $700 and change. They wanted to collect that up front. I told them no. I said I have been a patient there for over 20 years and I never have paid up front. After some consultation they said that was ok and they would bill my insurance. Yesterday I got the bill from them and it confirmed exactly why I never will willingly pay up front.

My portion of the charges worked out to be only $400 instead of $700. So in a perfect world the office would have to reimburse me the extra $300 that I would have paid up front. I don’t trust a business to give me back money I already paid them. It would be far easier and more profitable to just hope I don’t notice or say anything and retain the overpayment amount. I hate anything and everything to do with the medical profession.

Last night I took pictures of my Bambu X1C in advance of listing it on Facebook Marketplace for sale. I am hoping to sell it quickly to make space and dollars available to be utilized on the new new massive H2S 3D printer which will be arriving shortly. I have had terrible luck trying to sell my old Prusa printers this way but I am hoping for better luck selling a more desirable type of printer.

Last night I did a quick fix on my A1 printer to address a clog in the hot end. Over the weekend I had tried to clear the clog conventionally but was unable to do so. Instead of investing more time into the issue I invested $12 on Amazon and got a new hot end nozzle. Install of the part took a couple minutes and I was back up printing. At this point in life in a number of situations my time is more valuable than my money.

While I was at the gym yesterday I was thinking about how I am not pushing to get stronger/better like I should. Instead I do a lot of the same exercises for the same amount of reps which I always have known is not ideal but for some reason I had fallen into that routine and figured it was good enough. Hell I am going to be 58 this year. Well it’s not good enough.

Getting off that same train is as easy as a plus one, as in adding 1 rep to whatever you are doing every week or two. It’s an incremental change but over time those plus ones add up to a big shift in your capabilities. I have no plans to go peacefully into the twilight of older age and the plus one mindset is a good way to support that.

Bambu Lab has been teasing the release of a new large format printer, the H2S. It has the ability to print very large objects just like the flagship H2D but has only a single print head instead of two. However outside of that it has a lot of the same tech the H2D has for a price that is nearly $1000 less.

When I saw the price the wheels in my head started turning to come up with a plan to both to make it work financially and logistically. After some mental gymnastics I arrived at a plan that makes it more feasible to me. The H2S will replace my used X1C. The H2S does everything better than an X1C so it makes sense to me to swap out a used printer that is approaching 5000 hours of print time with a brand new unit with better tech and bigger print volume. Selling the X1C will take a nice bite out of the financial impact as well as freeing up bench space to place the new unit. It makes sense, in my mind at least. I hit the buy now button and will start the ball rolling in selling the X1C ASAP, complete with the various upgrades I recently completed on it.

I adhered to my no excessive sweating game plan this weekend. On Saturday after doing various indoor house chores I turned my attention to installing three small upgrades on my Bambu X1C printer. None of the parts exceeded $30 but they all improve the printer in small but effective ways.

The wound on my head does seem to be finally improving, perhaps because of my emphasis on not sweating, perhaps just a because more time has passed. I have a follow up appointment Thursday for more wound examination. I am hoping it seals completely soon so I can resume my activities that I have shelved as a result. Not being as active as I would like does not make me feel happy and bright.

I forgot to mention that in the first time since moving to Florida I am not going into the Eagles season with the NFL Sunday ticket. A week or so ago I saw a $525 charge hit my credit card from Google. At first I had no idea what it was but then it hit me, they automatically renewed my Sunday ticket from last year at a significantly higher rate. I believe I paid less than $400 last year, the first year YouTube was carrying the package instead of DirecTV. I was pissed.

Even though it is an extremely common practice in the streaming world, I despise bait and switch tactics. Offer customers a reasonable price and then hope they don’t say anything when you raise it dramatically after a year. Raising the cost on the service 25%+ year two just wasn’t going to fly with me. So I got on a chat with a YouTube rep, thinking that with a little complaining I could get the renewal price dropped down to what I paid the prior year. Surely they would rather get $400 from me than nothing.

So I expressed my discontent to the rep on chat who appeared to have an Indian name. I was offered a small discount but I held firm with my request to pay what I did the prior year or I was going to cancel the service. The rep refused and said she would process the cancellation with no fuss. Alrighty then, 25 years of Sunday Ticket has come to an end. A lot of the Eagles games are already televised nationally and I have other ways I could watch games using alternate technology if I want to. I can also do the old fashioned go to a sports bar route if necessary. It’s not nearly as big of a deal for me to not see every game as it once was. YouTube TV can suck it as far as I am concerned.

I contacted my AC company yesterday regarding my system struggling to maintain temperature and utilizing a ton of power. The service tech arrived near the front of the four hour window which was unexpected. I explained the scenario to him and told him I just had a PM within the last two months. He spent a considerable amount of time testing the system. He said the pressures were good and he could not identify a noticeable leak. He did however add two pounds of coolant to the system as he said it was a little low which would cause the air coming out of the vents to not be as cold, causing the system to work harder. Hopefully adding coolant fixes the issue for a period of time but I have a feeling this will not be the last of the issue based on prior experience.

This morning I grabbed coffee at Dunkin Donuts as I do most every Friday. When I got to work I popped my trunk and put the drink on the flat spot where the hatch normally sits. Evidently I was sloppy with my placement and within a couple seconds the cup tipped over and spilled it’s entire contents inside the trunk area covering my lunch box, back pack and leaving a pool of coffee in the bottom. I instantly yelled FCK instinctively as I stared at the disaster in disbelief.

As I stood there I had to come up with a plan. I knew I did not have the ability to mitigate this disaster at work. I took my lunchbox and back pack inside the office and cleaned them but then returned to my car to drive back home. Once I got back I took a big towel and used it to both soak up coffee and then wet it to clean up the mess the best I could. I have a feeling it will require more attention if I want to get the residue out of there more thoroughly. I headed back to work and stopped to buy a replacement coffee on the way. The employee gave me a strange look, knowing they had just seen me 30 minutes earlier. I just said I needed a replacement coffee. It was not the ideal way to start my Friday.

Yesterday I had a wave of impulse buying swoop in. I bought a number of small upgrades for my 3D printers but I also bought not one but TWO pickleball paddles. I have not bought a new pickleball paddle in quite awhile. For a long time I was buying a new paddle every month or so. I am excited about both of these paddles but their purchase will also mean I likely will need to re-home a couple of my existing weapons as my bag is stuffed as is.

This weekend I need to factor in an avoidance of getting sweaty into my plans which crosses finishing the mulch work or playing pickleball off my list. I have plenty of ways to keep myself productive and/or entertained, luckily. I really need this wound to close so I can resume my normal routines.

I just returned from a three day work conference in Orlando. I took the Tesla and turned on full self driving for the trip. The car literally drove me from my house to the venue without intervention, it’s that good. It almost feels like you are in an Uber.

I have been to this hotel in Orlando a number of times, it’s huge and beautiful. The content of the conference did little to get my excitement level up but it was still nice to hang out with staff from other offices to get ideas from. They really hammer you with food at these things. Although the food choices are on the healthier side it is still available in great abundance. I did a decent job of limiting my intake most meals. Drinking was a big part of the activities as well. I downed a number of Miller Lites over the time period although I never felt significantly drunk as a result.

I had a surprise embarrassing moment during one of the presentations in front of all 500 attendees. The presentation was almost over and the speaker all of a sudden asks if Shawn Duffey can come join him on the stage. I did a double take in disbelief but got out of my chair and headed that direction. As I was walking I realized what was happening. I recently just had my 25 year anniversary at work and my boss thought it would be cool to present the 25 year pin to me in front of the entire audience.

I was embarrassed of course but I appreciated the thought behind recognizing the accomplishment in front of the group. The rest of the conference I had a couple dozen people I don’t know randomly congratulate me over the rest of my time there on the 25 years, it was funny but appreciated.

I did try to keep my activity up. The logistics of the conference aided in that as I had very long walks back and forth from my room to the meeting areas that I would traverse back and forth repeatedly. I also utilized the gym there twice, going at 6AM. I haven’t worked out that early in the morning in decades but it wasn’t as miserable as I thought it might be. It was nice having your workout checked off the to do list bright and early.

I left Orlando early afternoon and once again had the car drive me almost the entire way back. Even though you spend most of your time at these events sitting, eating and drinking I felt sort of drained when I got home. Being out of my normal day to day routine f’s with me a bit.

I had a follow up appointment with the dermatologist to look at the wound on my head where normally a closed incision should be. I just finished a second round or oral antibiotics. He seems to feel that this area never closed correctly because of the infection. He said that although there is the open area that it should heal and fill as long as we can keep it from becoming infected. He said it should look more or less normal once this occurs but if for some reason it doesn’t it could always be fixed with another cut and stitch which I would like to avoid.

They cleaned up the wound and applied a scarier looking bandage than what I had applied. I have a follow up appointment in a week to check on it. I am really tiring of having this gross looking wound on my forehead. I have been playing pickleball a few times since the surgery which makes me extremely sweaty, creating a lot of opportunity for bacteria to enter the wound. I have been washing the area with soap and water and reapplying the ointment after those sessions but perhaps it’s not enough. I’m going to try to not play until my next appointment to see the result.

I have an AC guy coming later today. I noticed within the last few weeks the system not being able to hold temperature as you get later in the day. I then received an electric bill that was my highest ever. The cherry on top was the monthly report I got from my smart thermostat that indicated that compared to the same 30 day time period last year my AC ran 100 hours more, despite the average daily temperature being 1 degree less. Hopefully addressing whatever the root cause is is not horribly expensive.

I got a call from the doctors office early yesterday that said they were prescribing an antibiotic ointment to use on the wound in case it is infected. They still did not get back the lab results. She said the doctor saw my pictures and said it is ok and I should just keep doing the wound care. I asked her if he saw the pictures I sent the day before that makes it look like part of the area that was stitched had opened up. She said he saw that as well.

At this point I am not sure if there is infection or not. The wound is actually behaving like a recovering brush burn does. A couple nights I have let it go uncovered. When I wake up there is no more yellow, it’s more like it scabs over. Then once it gets wet after a shower the slimy appearance returns which is just what a brush burn does in my life experience. So I am now using the new ointment during the day and am taking a wait and see attitude although I am not enjoying sporting a head injury look for who knows how long.

Last night I was quite busy. I had to pick up my prescription but the doctor sent it to the wrong location so I had to wait an extra 20 minutes to get it. During that time I ran to a nearby Publix to pick up some snacks that will be spread around the room for tonight’s fantasy football draft which I will be hosting for something like the 20th year in a row.

I decided to get the furniture relocation done last night as well instead of doing it the day of the party as I normally do to make party prep tonight less of a hassle. It took about a half hour to do so.

Elsa has a funny reaction when I move the furniture around. Instead of being scared like she is of most things, she finds it sort of fun to find new spots to hang out. She may remember that the furniture moving means all of these guys coming over which she is actually ok with. She spends a lot of time during the draft laying under the table around everyone’s feet.

When I get home tonight I only have to stop and grab ice for a couple coolers and make sure I order pizza to be delivered before the festivities begin at 7. I have really streamlined the process of hosting the party compared to what I did in the beginning. I also have tomorrow off which will make staying up late to clean up afterward much less impactful.

I am a couple days away from my 25 year anniversary at work which is kind of insane. To think I have been here for a quarter century seems impossible yet the calendar does not lie. In a way it feels like it has gone by quickly but at the same time when I catalog the immense amount of events that have taken place over that period of time it aligns the perspective.

I was 32 years old and married when I came down here. I had no job lined up, only confident that I had the skill set to find one. I actually saw the ad for my position in the want ads for the local Naples paper as I was driving south with Alison and our two cats. I have done well for myself since I have been here, far better that I would have imagined back in August of 2000. In five years I can retire fully and it can’t come soon enough. I am not thrilled in some ways how things have worked out for me but when it comes to my career I have no complaints. As a high school graduate with only a Lincoln Tech computer repair certification as my higher education I have done well for myself.

You likely will not hear from me for awhile as Sunday I head to Orlando for a three day work conference. See you on the other side.

When I took a shower last night I did my best to really clean the incision area, hoping doing so would perhaps clear out the wound and let me better assess the situation. After I was done there was still some puss in the area and the skin around that looks like bad too. To my non-medical professional eye it appears that the wound never fully closed. I never heard back from the doctors office yesterday so I called this morning.

The nurse I spoke to said the culture was sent out to see if it was infected but it can take up to three days. WTF. I told her that if there is an infection it doesn’t seem wise to wait days to address it. She said I should just keep covering it with vaseline until I hear back from the doctor. I then told her that I have had a ton of these types of surgeries and I never had one that looked like this after the stitches were removed. She offered the same advice to wait and see what the doctor says. I’m not going to wait and see very long as I can feel my frustration building with the prospect of requiring more surgery to correctly close the wound. I loaded up the area with neosporin this morning and placed a bandage over it to avoid grossing co-workers out.

Since I was fasting last night I tried to stay busy to avoid dwelling on hunger. I took the time to install a modification to my big V13, a pedal drop kit. The CNC part allows you to install the pedals two inches lower than normal. The main advantage is lower pedals equate to more stability at higher speed even though I haven’t ridden close to 40MPH since my crash last October. The other benefit I was more interested in was lower pedals making it easier for me to ride in the seated position.

Installation of the new hardware was pretty straightforward. When I went out on a test ride I felt very shaky at first, I had not ridden the 100+ pound wheel in months so I needed to re-acclimate to it, at least a little bit. Once I did I got my speed up into the low 30s which felt stable as I expected. Getting down into seated riding was easier although I did not feel confident in that position as it’s been quite awhile. I had to wear my old skater helmet as a full face would irritate the cut too much. It felt good to get out and ride, at least a little bit. It also felt good to make a “real” video compared to the series of Shorts I have been making on my phone recently.

I ended my fast this morning having lost 5lbs in the roughly 36 hours I went without food/calories. You don’t realize how much time you spend planning, making, eating and cleaning up after meals until you don’t have to do it. The fast was not easy but it wasn’t awful either. My least favorite part is forcing myself to drink black coffee, I really dislike it. So from here I plan to jump back on my mindful eating bandwagon, going to bed with a little hunger in my stomach to see where that lands me.

Despite having stitches still in my head I was having the urge play pickleball however the weather handled that for me with rain hanging around both Saturday and Sunday morning. I instead filled my day with a lot of tasks inside the house, mostly. I did another culling of my closets, filling two kitchen trash bags with clothing I donated to Goodwill. I have more in the house I need to reevaluate in regards to my need of it. Even though I slashed the amount of stuff I have dramatically when I moved, there is still more pruning that can be done. I always feel better once doing so.

I did a lot of 3D printing as well over the weekend as well as one fix where I had to disassemble the AMS on one of the printers to get a broken piece of filament out. Below are the shorts I made about the projects/work.

This morning I got the stitches removed from my head. This wound has not healed ideally as there is a section where it still looks yellow/gross, perhaps because of just how big the area was which was closed. The office nurse took a sample of the questionable area to have it tested so they can advise me how to proceed however they still pulled the stitches. This is the first time I have treated one of these wounds with only vaseline which is what the doctor recommended. I always have used Neosporin in the past to promote healing. The fact that I did not do that this time and the wound is still messy makes me likely to not deviate from my Neosporin use in the future. I plan to continue treating the stitch free scar with Neosporin from here on out.

I am doing another fast today with the plan currently being to not eat until tomorrow’s breakfast which will wind up being close to a 36 hour fast. I was 185.6 lbs last night after the shower. The only stuff I plan to consume during this time period is water, black coffee, and some sea salt. There is a chance I could extend the fast longer but right now I am mentally committed to 36 hours and calling it good.

Yesterday I pushed it a bit more at the gym, adding pull ups and push ups back into my workout. It felt ok as I did not experience any sensation of there being pressure on the healing incision. I followed up doing some weight work slightly below what I would normally do but that felt good as well. I decided to not try pickleball however until the stitches are removed on Monday.

Last night I had a variety of things that kept my attention. I had a large pile of laundry to chip away at but I also had my latest 3D printed project to assemble, a sweet looking lamp. I bought a hanging light socket off Amazon to provide the electrical connection needed for the bulb. I think it turned out great and looks even better. Even though I have been in the 3D printing hobby for 8 years plus, Bambu Lab printers have revitalized my interest because they can do simply amazing things.

I even found some time to play some more WoW, leveling my hunter another two levels to 73. Since I am starting so late in this expansion most players are like gods compared to me as far as their power goes. I was doing a 5 man dungeon and I was doing numbers that were anemic compared to everyone else. Every enemy I attacked was dead in a couple seconds as everyone else mowed them down, oh well. Doing dungeons is the fastest way to level but I think I should probably do more solo questing on my first couple characters so I at least get a feel for what the expansion is about.

My weekend doesn’t have rigid requirements in place. Pickleball will still be off the menu but I have a bunch of things floating around in my head that will keep me occupied. Oh, one thing, the new War of the Worlds movie on Prime is absolutely awful. It appears to be one long commercial for Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon and is the worst version of the film ever produced, by far. Don’t waste one second of your life watching it. Getting through the entire thing was only fueled by car wreck mentality. It sucks.