Archives 2025

The Last of Us is a show on HBO Max that is based on a popular video game that I never played. It recently started season 2 and is sort of a Walking Dead kind of vibe but when that show was actually still good. Of course I can’t spoil it but what happened in episode two was unexpected and shocking. I said “oh my god” out loud more than once. If you liked Walking Dead you should be watching this show.

One aspect of life is how people can cycle through it. Someone who was once a stranger can become a friend or even a romantic partner yet eventually they can find themselves moved out of your circle of importance or value due to circumstances beyond control, actions either by yourself or them, or just apathy. Depending on the relationship you have with these individuals their coming/going may or may not have a significant impact on your life. I have had it both ways, many times.

When you cycle someone out of your life it’s of course best to harvest the good aspects of that relationship as opposed to feeding on the negatives. Even with some of the most chaotic and toxic situations I had over the years with other humans there was always good that could be found and remembered. Although if I am being honest the negatives are often the most impactful, best teachers and long lasting on my memories. Every situation is different but they all give us the same opportunity to learn from them, hopefully taking knowledge forward that will help us make better decisions as we build up that cumulative trait of wisdom that only comes from such experiences.

If someone is bringing nothing positive to your existence, let them go. Value those that you choose to keep.

Saturday morning I once again was in the office early to shut down the network operations center for hopefully the last time for more work on the emergency back up generator. The down time this go round was less than before which was an improvement. I had the NOC back up and running before lunchtime.

During the afternoon I went to to the swamp but not to ride, but to walk. I have been to the swamp a ton of times over the years but only a handful of those did it involve me traversing by foot. I almost always was on an EUC for the visit. The swamp was very dry this time of year but I did see an area of water right by the start that had a bunch of smaller gators in it, at least a dozen. I saw something pretty crazy while standing there.

A medium size gator apparently caught a fish and bit it in half. The combination of the gator and the fish flailing sent half of the fish flying onto the ground by the water where herons quickly took care of it. The gator ate the other half within a second or two. It was very cool to actually see that happen, something I never experienced in 15 years of going to the swamp.

It was unseasonably hot Saturday. I had a significant sweat worked up in no time. In total the walk was close to 5 miles, the farthest distance I have traveled on foot in quite awhile. My knees were not very happy with me but I chose to believe that it was just a side effect of my not asking them to carry me that far on uneven terrain in such a long time.

Over the rest of the weekend I took care of a number of small little chores/projects. On Sunday afternoon I rode my new F22 wheel over to the US Open pickleball championship to catch a few games. It was a nice 90 minutes where I grabbed some food and drink while I watched players much better than I battle it out in the heat. As usual I got a lot of strange looks and various questions about the wheel.

Evidently Facebook is aware of my affinity for Dunkin Donuts. This awareness put a local Facebook Marketplace listing in front of me yesterday, some dude selling authentic DD signage. I’m not sure how he managed to get a hold of them. I immediately had ideas of mounting a set somewhere in my garage however when I saw that he wanted $450 for the set it cooled my ambition. I did message him and let him know that if he did not have any luck selling at his price that I would be willing to pay $100 for one pair. I guess we will see if I get lucky.

Tonight I have a board of directors meeting with the HOA. The HOA is in a bit of turmoil. The treasurer abruptly quit a few weeks ago after finding out her position on the HOA was a violation of her full time job rules. There has not been a replacement suggested or talked about. The president of the board has been extremely busy with his full time business and has had a hard time getting opportunities to focus on community related demands. I wouldn’t be surprised if at the meeting he says he is looking to pass on the responsibilities.

I am the board secretary which is primarily a communication/organization position which I don’t mind. To me the ideal board candidate would be someone in our community that is retired and has ample time available so things can get handled more easily. Unfortunately as is often the case finding people willing to get involved is not an easy task. It’s far easier to let someone else handle responsibility after all. When you figure in that we only have 31 homes in total in the HOA, the possible selection pool gets even smaller.

Today will likely be the last time I get to play pickleball in over a week thanks to the US Open beginning play this week. Although I will miss getting the play time I will take the opportunity to take in some of the games just like I did last year. It’s so convenient for me to hop on one of my wheels and head over to the court which are only a couple miles away. The big draw this year is Andre Agassi is playing.

Andre was a top level pro tennis player for a long time but in the past couple years he has taken up pickleball and appears to really like it and is getting good at it as well. He is going to be teamed up with the best female player in the world so that is sure to be an entertaining combo to watch. I look forward to taking in a good amount of pro level games over the next week.

I made arrangements to head to Texas at the end of May to attend my niece’s graduation. It should be a fun time. It will also be a road trip where I will be driving my Tesla there however this time it will be with the near magical and much improved full self driving feature enabled. It should be a fun little adventure.

A couple weeks ago I got an email from my property insurance company VRYD, yes, that is their name. The email informed me that they were sending me a water sensor kit for free. I assumed there had to be some sort of catch. There wasn’t. In fact it only got better. If I take the time to set up the sensors and activate them VRYD would send me a check for roughly $300 and my annual policy would have this same discount for having these sensors in place going forward, wow.

Last night I set up the 5 sensors and connected them to the app, placing them around my house in spots where a possible water leak could take place. They track temperature, humidity as well as the presence of water, obviously. The intent is if there is a water break/leak the sensors would alert me immediately so I could take action sooner rather than later, mitigating the potential damage, saving both me and the insurance company money/hassle. I have to say I love the proactive approach VRYD has taken in this area. I wish more companies would do the same. Spend some money up front to potentially save a ton down the line, a concept I can get behind.

I have been cautiously optimistic that the worst of my my IT band related pain is now behind me, I am feeling less and less negative impacts after my pickleball sessions. Last week I played three times. I am feeling confident enough that I may even try to step back on the sand volleyball court next week if I continue to feel ok, something that has not happened in close to 6 months.

I targeted Easter weekend as the time I was going to finish my fence repairs. Ironically most of the first repair session happened on Thanksgiving weekend. After work on Friday I went to Home Depot to pick up additional 2″ x 3″ pieces of lumber as well as another box of 5 pound screws. After eating a quick Wawa sub for dinner I headed out in the yard to get busy.

The last side of the fence I was working on was the shortest section. It also had some posts that were less than straight that I was attaching to which lead to some on the spot adjustments. My goal was to get the new support boards all in place Friday night. I accomplished the goal even if the last few had to be screwed into place courtesy of the floodlights I have in the backyard.

On Saturday morning after playing pickleball I went back out to drive a 3 inch wood screw through each fence board to secure them to the fresh lumber on the other side which completed the project, nearly 6 months after it was started. As I mentioned last week, my goal is the few hundred dollars and labor I put into the repair will result in extending the usefulness of the fence by a few years.

On Sunday I took my new wheel, the F22 Pro out for it’s maiden ride. It felt big and heavy, especially compared to the V9 which is more than half of it’s weight. The ride was only 12 or 13 miles. I am going to need a decent amount more of riding time to acclimate to the wheel. To be honest the wheel has way more performance capability than I really need.

As always, I documented the first ride on the wheel.

Easter has always been a pretty insignificant holiday for me and this year was no different. The biggest impact for me is the nearby church seemed extra busy and Dunkin Donuts closed early. Other than that it was business as usual.

Last night I cracked open the huge box housing the F22 Pro while I live streamed. I fumbled my way through getting the wheel out of transport mode and then applying firmware updates to the main board and battery BMS controllers, which has to be completed four times. The stream went a little over two hours and was fine. The wheel appears to be top notch as far as it’s build quality goes but what really matters is how it feels on the road which I will test this weekend.

In addition to getting some time riding the F22 I also am targeting getting the fence repairs completed over the weekend. The repairs started before Thanksgiving so it is well overdue. It will be nice to have that crossed off my mental checklist. The only remaining big home repair/upgrade I have in my mind is to get the worn out carpet that is in the bedrooms replaced with vinyl plank to make it more pet resistant and cleaner. Sure the master bathroom could use an update but it is good enough for my needs since the cabinets and countertops were already replaced.

It’s hard to believe we are over three and a half months into 2025 already. When I was thinking about how my 2024 went one of my goals was for this year to have a totally different vibe. So far that intent has been working out very well. I hope it continues, I’m no spring chicken after all.

When I came home yesterday I was greeted by a very large and heavy box sitting outside my front door. My Kingsong F22 Pro had finally completed it’s very long journey from a factory in China to southwest Florida. I chose to do nothing with the wheel last night as I had other plans. I anticipate I will unbox and setup the wheel tonight, perhaps firing up a live stream to do so. Since there are so few of these wheels out there in the wild there is a decent amount of interest about them.

Ever since early last summer I have been walking around with my hair being on the long side, for me. I got a number of comments about how it looked good, made me look different/younger, and more positive things.

When I was younger my hair was longer. I was all about having perfectly feathered hair and carried a comb with me at all times. Sometime in my late 20s I started going much shorter with my hair. I enjoyed having next to zero maintenance. I remember being high and tight for my second wedding.

In my 30’s I took it to the next step, shaving my own head with a 1/8 inch guard which put me one level above being a skinhead. I used to film my head shaving sessions and put them on YouTube for some dumb reason which resulted in getting a strange audience of head shaving fetish types. It was a bit creepy.

For most of the last 20 years my hair has been very short which has resulted in a constant stream of “are you in the military” or “are you a policeman” inquiries. So anyway, on Tuesday I headed to Sport Clips and told the stylist I wanted to swing back on the shorter side of haircuts. It’s nothing close to a shaved head but the shortest my hair has been in 9 months. It feels like home.

Today my new Kingsong F22 Pro that I have impatiently been waiting for is due to finally arrive. It is the first brand new wheel I have purchased in a long time. The only new wheel I bought last year was the Master V4 which I no longer own. The F22 also will likely be the only new wheel I buy this year. Although I still enjoy riding EUCs it clearly is less of a focal point than it once was. All you have to do is look at how much (or how little) I ride nowadays. I think there are various factors at play but my potentially fatal crash I had last October definitely has had some lasting influence without a doubt.

The F22 has some impressive specs such as the highest voltage currently out there as well as a unique suspension that no other wheels have with it being on all four corners. These things are why I decided to take the leap as well as my not currently owning any Kingsong wheels. Hopefully my purchase equates to a lot of miles of enjoyment down the road.

Saturday morning I needed to drag myself out of bed bright and early to come into the office. Our office is getting it’s 30 year old plus emergency generator replaced. In order to do this all power to the building needs to be cut so I had to come in to make sure our network operations center was shutdown beforehand. The new generator install went well. When it was complete while re-energizing the NOC there were a couple issues related to the power outage but I got them handled before the start of business.

During the day Saturday I decided to take a break to play some pickleball while my laundry was in process. I utilized moderation, playing only roughly an hour. I played probably 5 games during that time period, playing pretty well in the session. It was nice to get some court time in the middle of a busy day.

On Sunday morning I woke up and it was chilly with temps in the upper 50s. Although I had no intent before my eyes opened, my brain flipped into, “we need to work on the fence mode”. There are not going to be a lot of days on the cooler side left now that we are in mid-April. That reality flipped my day from an easy, do whatever I want mindset, to let’s crack the whip and get this done attitude.

After grabbing coffee Elsa and I headed to Home Depot where I grabbed 25 2×3’s and a 5lb box of 3 inch wood screws. By the time I got the materials in the back yard the sun was already heating things up. Although the temperature didn’t pass the upper 70’s it still felt warm in the sun.

My target for this repair session was the south wall, the longer of the two remaining sections. Since I already did the back fence line I had a good system in place. Even with this system it was a lot of work. In total I put in somewhere around 6 hours of cutting, hammering and screwing. I used every 3 inch screw I bought. The good news is the remaining section is significantly shorter and is almost entirely in shade because of the huge oak tree that stands above it. I tentatively hope to knock that out next weekend which would complete my fence repair. At some point the fence will need to be replaced but I am hoping what I am doing will add at least another 5 years onto it’s lifespan.

Once the Advil wore off I was hurting, especially my hands and forearms. Unlike my old house, ass busting sessions like this are rarely necessary with where I live now. However it is good to have them now and then just to prove to yourself you can still go into that mode if necessary. There was no time for recreational PEV riding this weekend although I do have a new wheel arriving this week, the F22 Pro that I actually bought way back in January. It’s about time.

So yesterday was my first ever 24 hours fast. Well, to be accurate it was actually more like 33 hours since I decided to not eat before bed either. I got through the day drinking water, coffee,a lot of coffee, and some tea. I drank so much coffee that by the end of the day I was sort of feeling strung out on caffeine. I tried to make it a “normal” day including going to the gym at lunch. I definitely did not feel normal at the gym. There was a clear energy deficit and the little weight resistance I did felt weak.

The coffee did a decent job of minimizing hunger pain but when it wore off, especially when I got back home where all of my normal food is readily accessible, it got more challenging. It felt weird having that extra time available where you would normally prepare and eat food. Instead I tried to just keep busy around the house and watched a couple Pennyworth episodes to occupy my mind. Sure, I wanted to eat but I more wanted to complete the challenge I set in front of myself.

When I stepped on the scale last night I was three pounds lighter than I was 24 hours prior. When I weighed myself this morning I was a full 7 pounds lighter than I was at the beginning of the week. I had been making a point of eating clean dinners and minimal sweets for most of the week. The benefits of fasting are well documented. Besides the obvious weight loss it also supposedly causes your body to consume potentially bad cells first once it no longer has food to rely on. Knowing how the experience now is, which I would describe as unpleasant but not unbearable, I would do a fast again in the future.

So I have had some random thoughts about ultimately combining my two vehicle fleet down to one. I currently have a 2024 Model Y Performance and a 2016 Tacoma TRD Sport. I need the versatility of a truck but I like not paying for gas so what could I do? I could get a Chevy Silverado EV. That truck has a massive 450 miles of range while having full truck functionality, unlike the Cybertruck. For me it would be the best of both worlds.

Well Carvana just happened to send me an email yesterday stating they wanted my car, my Telsa specifically. The email included a link for me to get a number for what Carvana would offer me. My car is like new and has less than 6000 miles thanks to my living so close to work. Getting the number back was very quick. Seeing the number made me want to throw up a little bit, $31,000. The Tesla used market is currently abysmal with all of the anti-Tesla sentiment driving their sales downward. When combined with a massive backlog of new inventory, Tesla’s just aren’t worth shit anymore. I expected my number to be disappointing but not quite that disappointing.

Of course I will be fine just sitting pat with my two vehicles for as long as need be but at some point it would be nice to execute my plan. It doesn’t help that the the Silverado I would target is the RST model which has pricing in the Cybertruck range.

This weekend I have to do some work in the office and at home but overall I am hoping for a smooth and enjoyable 48 hours which includes eating food.