Archives 2026

Today my wheel that I traded for is supposed to arrive, the Commander Pro Max. Hopefully it survived the journey from California without incident. I got word that my Aero that I shipped arrived out in California Wednesday in good condition. This wheel has the largest battery and presumably the longest range of any wheel I have ever owned. I will need to put that to the test at some point. It’s fun getting a new wheel without laying out any cash to do so.

Elsa has continued to do well in recent weeks. She has been doing well enough that we now have my girlfriend’s dog staying with her during the day.

Both Mia and Elsa are very fond of one another and both hate being alone so it works out well. I have adjusted my routine so I drive home quickly before my lunch to let them outside briefly and to say hi which they seem to enjoy as well.

Besides needing to wear the diaper, Elsa otherwise has been acting pretty normal. She still drinks a lot of water but that has been the case for a long time. She is consistently eating the FreshPet food which is very high quality and nutritionally complete. She is eating way more than she used to which has her making BMs 2-3 times a day but they are the good, well formed variety. Overall she has seemed happy and content since her flurry of vet activity at the end of January and beginning of February. I am good with that.

I never expected to be changing diapers at 58 years old but it isn’t the huge PIA I initially thought it might be. Elsa being agreeable to wearing diapers has made my intense laundry routine much less so. I am no longer having to strip and wash the bedding on a daily basis. I have left my alarm clock at 6AM however. That extra 30 minutes allows me to get ready in plenty of time and get into work early which is a good thing. Where we are at now is much better than I anticipated a month and a half ago.

I am going to be attempting something I have not had to do in a very long time, an automotive repair on one of my vehicles. Sure I have done maintenance/upgrade items all along on both the Tesla and 2016 Tacoma but I now have something to actually fix. The rear parking sensor system in the Tacoma has been broken for quite awhile. This system consists of four little sonar button looking things that reside in the rear bumper. From my research it is not an uncommon thing to fail.

My “fix” up until this point has been to just disable this system which is controlled by a button on the dash. I bought four non-OEM sensors to install although I may not need all of them. My understanding is these sensors are connected in series so if just one of them goes bad the entire system fails.

The non-OEM sensors have a mixed bag of results. Some people say they worked just fine, others said you should just stick to OEM. The thing is Toyota charges a ridiculous amount for these sensors. I read a dealer quoted somebody $500 to replace the sensors. If things go my way, I’ll do it for 35 bucks.

Last night I got out to see Project Hail Mary, a movie based on a book with a potential end of days scenario. I love both end of days and sci-fi movies so it was a good fit for me. The movie had a strong opening weekend and has received positive reviews and I see why. Outside of a few slow spots I found it entertaining. I never thought they could make an alien that looks like giant rock insect endearing but somehow they pulled it off. I give it an A. What I did not enjoy was the 30 minutes of commercials and previews that Regal forces upon it’s customers. It’s utterly ridiculous.

It felt good to get on the other side of the colonoscopy. When I weighed myself Tuesday night before prep began I weighed 185 pounds. When I weighed myself Thursday morning after a day of just liquids followed by a night of sitting on the toilet I weighed 178 pounds.

On Friday I still felt a little low energy but my girlfriend was off as well so we had a nice day together. Part of that included going to the beach for the first time in 2026 and taking a nice walk. We also went to the beach Saturday night to watch our first sunset of the year. We underestimated just how cool it would be at the beach. We were both quite chilled by the time the sun dropped below the horizon due to a constant high wind.

I played some pickleball Saturday morning. In the first game I got my right index finger smashed by my overly aggressive female partner’s paddle when she went for a ball in the middle that normally would be mine. Once again it was stupid busy and I only got three games in before I called it quits. At least I won all three.

For whatever reason I was printing a variety of 3D models this weekend. I had three of my four printers churning out stuff non-stop. I do tend to print more on the new Snapmaker U1 because it is so efficient compared to my three Bambu printers.

I shipped off my Nosfet Aero on Friday. It’s a weird scenario. I traded my Kingsong F22 Pro for the Nosfet Aero to a dealer in Clearwater last year. In that trade I definitely got the worse end of the deal monetarily. I am doing another trade, this time trading the Aero for a much bigger and faster wheel with a huge battery. As far as worth goes I am ahead on this deal. The Commander Pro Max I am getting when new cost close to double what the Aero does. Hopefully everything is cool with the wheel. There was nothing wrong with the Aero. It’s a great little wheel. I just was not getting much use of it. I have less than 100 miles on the thing.

This will be my first “normal” week in quite awhile. I can deal with normal.

So my on/off and then back on again colonoscopy went down today, my third one. I had my first experience in 2018. In that procedure the doctor removed a somewhat large polyp that was determined to be per-cancerous. Because of that finding I had to get a follow up done only three years later. During that exam only a small benign polyp was removed so my next screening was scheduled 5 years out which at the time seemed like a long time. In reality it arrived here much faster than I realized/wanted. Boy a lot of things have changed during those last 5 years.

The worst part of the first two colonoscopies was choking down the liquid Suprep. Each sip was gag inducing. This time I was able to use pills instead, 24 of them in total to achieve similar results. Even though the pills take awhile to get down since you are supposed to wait two minutes before ingesting each one, it still was much better for me. The countless trips to the toilet are never fun but unavoidable.

I was very tired this morning due to the limited and interrupted sleep I had last night. After getting up at 1AM for round two of the prep I didn’t get back to sleep until maybe 3:30 followed by a 4:45 alarm. My girlfriend took me to the hospital which we arrived at bright and early at 6AM for the 7:30 procedure. This is the first time I had a colonoscopy done in this hospital. My first two were at a specialized surgical center.

Other than getting stuck three different times trying to place the IV everything went smoothly. It was very disorienting waking up in the recovery room after what felt like an instant. To my mind it almost felt like I was teleported from the procedure room, the anesthesia knocked me out that quick. My eyes were blurry and I felt disoriented, so much so that I thought the nurse sitting next to my bed waiting for me to wake up was my girlfriend at first. Once she assured me she wasn’t my girlfriend she told me that the procedure went well and no polyps were present, a great thing. It took maybe 15 minutes until the fog cleared enough that I could get dressed and wheeled out to my girlfriends car. I was still pretty loopy the entire way home.

My task today is to take it easy as much as possible. I am also off tomorrow which is cool. It feels good to be on the other side of yet another colonoscopy with the possibility of not needing to get another for 5 or possibly even 10 years down the road. It feels even better to not have had to pay $1800 to get that outcome.

24 hours ago I had moved my mental headspace into a “I’m not going to have a colonoscopy” mode and was somewhat relieved to not have to deal with it. This was caused by the doctors office not being agreeable to submitting the procedure as a preventative screening as opposed to a diagnostic based on the fact that I had polyps removed previously. I figured when I turned 60 I would get it done as required by my insurance.

Surprisingly I got a call later in the morning from the doctors office. They said they resubmitted the order to the hospital using the code that my prior doctor used. The end result is now the $1800 charge magically disappeared. The colonoscopy was back on. I was surprised yet appreciative that the office did listen to my objection and explanation of why it should be covered.

So I had to shift my mental state again into prep mode which began this morning. I am on an all liquid diet today. I brought in apple juice, Gatorade, chicken broth and coconut water to get me through the day. Since I have done a few 1-2 day fasts in the last 6 months this doesn’t seem quite as bad as it once did. The real fun starts after work when I start the Suprep which will cause massive GI evacuation.

In the past I used the liquid Suprep which was absolutely awful to get down. This time I was given the option to take the pills. It’s two bottles containing 12 pills each which are taken 5-6 hours apart. You are supposed to wait 2 minutes in between each pill, drinking a lot of water in between which is a bit of a PIA but it’s better than gagging on the liquid. I am curious how much weight in total I will lose from the process. I was 185lbs last night when I went to bed. My procedure is at 7:30 Thursday morning so 24 hours from now I will be on the other side of this and hopefully enjoying some solid food once again.

This billing issue was yet another example of why you can not simply accept an unfavorable outcome without question/opposition. I wonder how many people would just shoulder shrug and pay it, figuring there was no point in contesting.

I had some free time last night. I used it to level my first WoW character to the new max level of 90 in the newly released Midnight expansion. It was a good way to detach from the upcoming colonscopy experience I will be “enjoying”. The character I leveled is actually the first character I made in the game back in early 2005. He is a human warrior named IronDuf. I am not sure if I am going to do any substantial end game content with him or instead jump onto one of my many other characters and start leveling them as well. Typically, I will choose the latter option in WoW.

I have emerged from my five day weekend with a different outlook on my colonoscopy that is scheduled on Thursday. I might cancel it. In my last entry I had just revealed I was getting another one, my third time around. It is supposed to be my 5 year screening. Well last Friday I received an email from NCH, the hospital where the work is supposed to be done. In that email was a link for me to prepay my proposed share of the charges which totaled $1800. WTF? With my first two procedures they were covered 100% by our county insurance as they figure an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I figured it had to be some sort of mistake so I reached out to the doctor office.

Without going into a lot of detail, the issue is this new office is refusing to submit the procedure as a preventative screening and instead as something based on me having some polyps removed previously. This change flips a switch where the patient now gets to suffer financial pain instead of insurance footing the bill 100%. I had a prolonged phone conversation with the doctor office about this and informed them that when I had my second colonoscopy three years after the first one I did not have to pay because it was submitted as another screening, which it is. They did not seem to care.

I also talked to my benefits person at the county. All she could confirm is if the doctor submits the procedure as a screening it is 100% covered. Of course she can’t force the doctor to do this. So I am at a crossroads today.

I have already decided that I absolutely will not pay nearly 2k out of pocket for this. That is based on the total charge being over $16,000 which is absolute insanity for a 15 minute procedure. So if the doctor’s office does not agree to change the procedure type to a screening I will simply cancel the appointment. In two years I will be 60 and will be at the time frame where the county requires another colonoscopy so I would just deal with it then. Sure it’s not ideal to push off a recommended screening but this is the reality of medical care in the US. You don’t get the care you need, you get the care you can afford.

Over the 5 day break I got out on two EUC rides, a rarity. On one of the rides I had an encounter with a guy that called me a f’ing asshole several times which I describe at length in the video. I also might be doing another EUC barter transaction which I have done several times in the past. I would be trading my small Nosfet Aero for a BIG Extreme Bull Commander Pro Max. It’s not written in stone yet but I think the odds are good that it happens.

I spent a decent amount of time during this break in the new WoW expansion trying to level one character to the new max level of 90. I’m almost there. It’s the first conventional leveling I have done in a long time and I have enjoyed myself while doing it.

So I have either a two or three day work week depending on how events transpire today. Part of me would like to kick the colonoscopy can down the road another couple years and part of me would like to just get it over with, as long as it doesn’t incur a significant financial impact for doing so.

Last month I received a voicemail that I was due for my 5 year follow up colonoscopy. It seems insane to me that 5 years have already transpired but yep, it was done in 2021. I put off returning the message for over three weeks. It was actually from a different doctor, mine had retired a year after my procedure so his patients were transferred to this new practice.

I hate pretty much anything and everything related to modern medicine. However I do recognize the importance of getting a colonscopy, especially since I did have some pre-cancerous pollups removed the first time I had one in 2018. So I reluctantly made the call last week to schedule my consultation which occurred today. When I sat down for scheduling my initial mindset was to put off the procedure until at least April however I was told they had a cancellation and could get me in as early as next Thursday. I agreed. Even though I would prefer to not do it at all, my mindset with most unpleasant things is I would rather just knock them out sooner rather than later so it’s behind me and I can get back to the status quo.

The preparation for the procedure is what actually sucks. The first two times I was given liquid Suprep to prepare which is some of the worst tasting substances I have ever ingested. This time I am taking tablets instead which should have the same GI emptying effect without making me dry heave. It’s two sets of 12 pills that you chase with a lot of water. By this time next week I will be done with it and back to eating solid food.

I am using up some more PTO. I am off work until next Tuesday and then I also took off next Thursday and Friday. Unlike the last extended weekend I had, I don’t have a significant list of projects to complete but I will keep busy all the same.

Last night was our official HOA annual meeting. It was significant because it was the official resignation of the current president and vice president, leaving those two roles vacant. The president asked me if I would consider becoming president which got an instant, no thanks. I would rather not even be on the board but I felt obligated to at least retain my role as secretary since I am the only one with the technical know how to facilitate the transition to the property management web site.

We only had maybe 10 of the 30 households at the meeting so when we asked for volunteers to become the new president/vp initially there were no hands raised, awkward. Myself and the woman from the property management company had to explain that the responsibilities of these positions is much less involved than in the past since the PM company is now doing most of the heavy lifting. Eventually we got two reluctant volunteers, two women. The new president is my neighbor across the street who is very sweet. The new VP I have talked to regularly since I moved into the neighborhood while she walks her dog or I walk Elsa. She is nice as well. I appreciated them stepping up.

The meeting took roughly an hour. There are still some outstanding loose ends that need to be handled regarding the transition to the PM company but I think things will work out ok. The home owners that were the impetus for all of this turmoil and transition once again chose to not attend the meeting. As one of the other home owners stated at the meeting, if you don’t care enough to attend, don’t complain about the outcome.

I was contacted by a rep from SnapMaker, the company that makes the U1 printer that I have been praising heavily on my YouTube channel and other social media. I recently made a video recapping my thoughts after 100 hours of printing and it has been pretty popular, reaching 11,000 views on my Duf3D channel. It was popular enough that the rep offered me an affiliate link that I could use to get a small spiff if someone used it after watching my videos.

This morning I received another email from the same person asking for my permission to use segments of my video for their own online advertising. I said sure as long as my 3D channel name was mentioned which he said it would be. It would be nice if working with SnapMaker would bump my subscriber total on Duf 3D over 1000 so I could start to monetize that channel as well. I currently monetize my main channel as well as EUC Army. It’s funny, before getting my Bambu Lab printers last year the 3D channel was basically dead for at least 3-4 years. The wonders of multi-color printing reignited my interest in the hobby ever since.

I played pickleball Saturday morning, something I was unsure if I wanted to do because of how crowded it has been the last month or so. I had good timing, arriving right when a buddy of mine showed up. We do well and like playing together so we got in the queue to play. We played four games in total, all against the same other two guys. We had very competitive and long games which we won three of. I played pretty well overall but I still commit too many unforced errors.

Even though it might not be counted as an unforced error, one of my biggest issues is playing balls that would be going out if I let them alone. Typically these are hard driven balls. A pickleball court is short so unless the opposing player hits the ball low over the net with good topspin there is a good chance it will wind up going out if driven hard. My issue is I get too much enjoyment from returning a ball that a player hits hard. It feels like a small win every time I do it but the truth is if I let the ball go out of bounds the point ends right there instead of giving my opponents opportunities to turn it around. Anyway, it was a good session of play overall.

Saturday the correctly sized tire arrived for the V12S, allowing me to complete the project I started the weekend prior. I was sort of dreading putting the wheel back together as it is rather involved. I also had to once again get assistance from Tires Plus to get the new tubeless tire seated on the rim. Even with their high speed inflator it was not easy to do.

In total I spent between three and four hours doing the tire work. I was relieved that the wheel turned back on after the last bolt was re-tightened. My two mile test ride went smoothly. I look forward to getting out on the wheel for a more extended ride soon.

Sunday morning I once again did the 400 rep HIT routine at the gym. My hope was since it was week two I would be able to shave some time off my attempt last week which was 47 minutes and change. Instead it took me just as long, if not a few seconds longer. The 19 micro sets of pull ups consume the vast majority of the time. If I can get my pull up strength/endurance improved it would make a tremendous difference. Until that happens I will continue to be sucking wind for 45 minutes grinding out the reps. My hands, tendons in my forearms and back are the most sore today.

The rest of my Sunday was pretty chill afterward. My high effort workout in the morning made a low effort afternoon/evening seem less significant. Elsa had a good weekend, continuing to eat, poop and sleep well.

Usually Friday mornings I treat myself to DD coffee on the way into work. I pulled in and was in a pretty long line but that wasn’t that unusual. They had one of the staff walking car to car taking orders which I understand is meant to increase efficiency by giving staff more time to prepare the drinks/food. Right before she got to me she got a message on her headphone from inside the store, someone was “stuck”.

Evidently some genius in a Sprinter van with a roof rack drove right through the piece of hanging PVC that indicates height clearance which he certainly had to hit. Now that he was all the way to the drive thru he had a line of 8 cars behind him. I decided the best course of action was to park and walk in where I got to see the culprit. When I left it looked like he was trying to deflate his tires to get a little more clearance. I gave a couple people in cars a heads up as to what was going on so they could make different plans as well. People are dumb.

Speaking of dumb people, Kristi Noem got replaced yesterday as head of DHS. Not only was she terrible at her job but evidently was f’ing some guy that was given unusual amounts of authority “under her”, pun intended. Then there was the 200 million dollar no bid contract she gave to an ally/friend which featured Kristi in various commercials that I suppose were meant to alter the gustapo image DHS and ICE especially had created. The guy Trump picked to replace her unfortunately appears to be unqualified as well with a dubious track record. I can only hope Pam Bondi is on the chopping block next however Trump will never fire her, her exit will need to be expedited by Congress.

Things are going “fantastic” with the war in Iran. We are killing Iranians left and right including various leaders and even a school full of a children. Oh well, just collateral damage if you listen to the White House. We got amazing news that the conflict is expected to run 6-12 months at a minimum. To hell with all of the things we supposedly can not pay for at home, prioritizing keeping the coffers of defense contractors filled to the brim with cash is what matters most, disgusting.

I will do my best to not watch any news over the weekend. More and more I try to shut out the madness like a bear in hibernation, hoping to emerge eventually to a spring that does not have an orange sun.