Archives 2026

After a several month hiatus last night I reentered the world of Azeroth, also known as the World of Warcraft, a game I have been playing since early 2005. There is a new expansion coming out very soon. I have basically skipped the current expansion entirely and as a result all of my characters have been sitting around collecting dust. The new Midnight expansion has a number of cool things, some of which work out great for someone like me that does not have countless hours to invest in a MMORPG anymore. They make it much easier to just get in play without having to relearn everything from the ground up.

Another big feature add in this expansion is housing, something that has been asked for for as long as I can recall. You can now own/furnish your own home in game which is persistent and viewable by other players in the world. You can tweak your house an infinite amount of ways with very minimal restrictions. It’s very cool from what I have seen although I have not built my own house yet.

Last night I got on my hunter and leveled him from 75 to 80 which is the current level cap until the expansion goes live. Doing so was fun and enjoyable. My hope is to hop on all of my other characters and speed level them to 80, using the various catch up mechanics they have in the game to do so. It felt nice to disconnect from the real world which is filled to the brim with so much idiocy. I hope to get in there more this year, it’s a great way to reset my brain.

Speaking of idiocy, if you saw Trump’s address at the world economic summit you got a full helping of it with leftovers. I physically cringe at times when I hear him speak publicly on the world stage. I imagine what other country world leaders must be thinking but are unwilling to say about this man that continually embarrasses both himself and our country on a global stage. Canada’s prime minister was a rare exception where he clearly took aim at the actions of Trump and those that surround him during his speech. I can only hope there is a day in our future where cult mentality is no longer a reality in our political ideology instead of the words of a single person becoming their truth, no matter what reality actually is.

Cold weather was again around for a good portion of my extended weekend with morning temps in the low 40s and some days where the high was in the low 60s. Yes I know, most of the country would love to have those type of numbers in January but for us locals it feels legit cold. Partly because of the cold I only played pickleball one time over the three days and in that session only played two games because I had a breakfast with a friend to get to. My schedule was free yesterday morning but when I saw a temperature that started with a 4 when I woke up I quickly wrote pickleball off for the day. The fact that my right leg is still not feeling great made the decision even easier.

Elsa has been driving me nuts with her compulsion to eat non-food objects when left alone. When she was young she was destructive like this but the behavior settled down. In the the last year or two she has resumed, eating toilet paper, paper towels from the trash, cardboard, rope from a beach bag and whatever else she can get her mouth on. It’s very frustrating. It’s to the point that if she is going to be left alone I will have to close off all of the bedrooms so she is only left with a sterilized space to be in. Maybe it’s her way of letting us know she doesn’t want to be left alone but it has to stop. Eating random things like that could lead to GI problems or even a blockage.

I mentioned my surprise when my old house went back up on the market back in September/October time frame. The people that bought the house made it seem like it was going to be their long term residence but obviously something changed. At first based on what I heard I thought maybe the couple that bought it got divorced because for a period of time just the wife was there according to my old neighbors. However I now think perhaps the husband got transferred elsewhere for his job because now nobody is in the house, it’s just sitting there unoccupied.

It’s now been on the market for over 4 months. They dropped the price once back in November 25K but there has been no activity. It makes me a bit sad to imagine the house that I saw built from the ground up which was my home for two decades plus sitting there empty. So many memories were created along with the monetary and sweat equity invested into that place it just feels weird to imagine it sitting there dormant. Of course somebody must be doing some sort of upkeep to keep it sell-able. I haven’t driven by there in a while, I should go take a look.

I bet you thought from the title that I was going to talk about the insane obsession Trump has with Greenland and how he is willing to torch our NATO alliances to get what he wants, like a spoiled man-child. Nope I am talking about the movie named Greenland, actually the sequel Greenland 2 that I saw Saturday night. Greenland refers to the bunker that exists there for doomsday scenarios. In the movie that scenario is fragments of a comet that bombard Earth extinguishing the majority of the population. For whatever reason I enjoy movies that depict the end of days. In the sequel which takes place 5 years in the future of the comet strike the Earth is still a mess but Gerard Butlers family is forced to try to survive in it. I found the movie entertaining but certainly far from great. I would give it a solid B.

We saw the movie at the Cinebistro, the most upscale movie watching experience in Naples. It opened a few years ago. I think the place is struggling. The theater seats were looking a bit worn, almost every headrest had cracking fake leather. The temperature regulation was awful. Despite wearing jeans and a long shirt I felt like I was sitting in a meat locker. The food is good but terribly over-priced. I paid over $80 for what was essentially two appetizers, a soft drink and one alcoholic beverage. When we walked in there was absolutely no people sitting at the big fancy bar in the lobby and our theater had maybe 10 people in it. I would not be surprised if the place goes out of business. I think the thought was people would be willing to overpay for a movie experience if it was high end/good enough. The Cinebistro just isn’t worth it, IMO.

So the cold blast that has been predicted all week arrived yesterday and overnight with temps around my place dipping into the low 40s. With the 7 month long summers down here the very brief blasts of truly cold weather are no big deal and keeps you on your toes. I still have my 25+ year streak alive of not wearing a coat/jacket to work. It makes zero sense, I know.

I have an extended three day weekend thanks to being off for MLK day. Hopefully the world doesn’t end by then.

Last night I did my first live stream of 2026 which in reality was 5 different streams. For the first time ever I streamed to my EUC Army YouTube channel in addition to my main channel. I did not realize I could do this easily with my streaming platform. Any opportunity to get more eyeballs on something the better. In addition both channels actually had two formats of the stream broadcast, wide format and vertical. The stream also was broadcast on my Twitch channel bringing to total amount of streams to five..

Streaming on a Wednesday evening with only a few hours notice is not a recipe for a large turnout so the viewership was not huge but it still was a good broadcast that went close to two and a half hours. As is often the case the topics veered off PEVs from time to time. I’m a bit tired this morning.

A big time cold front rolls through today. The temperatures will be dropping as the day goes on. I will wake up tomorrow with outside temps in the low 40s. I enjoy these bursts of cold as they are such a contrast to the heat and humidity we deal with so much of the year.

I had a productive evening getting a number of things done. One of those things was getting a couple of my new EUC Army shirts packed up to be sent out to two friends of mine. One is going to Larry in LA and the other is going halfway around the world to my buddy Dale in Australia. Who knows how long that one will take to get there. It’s fun for me to see my shirts pop up on social media randomly.

I also received my super sized Panda Perch for my H2S printer. I already have one of these on my smaller P2S. The Perch is designed to hold two AMS units on top of the printer, allowing me to print with up to 8 different filaments on one print.

Putting the unit together required installing roughly 75 very small screws. I thankfully have a ratcheting screw driver which made that task much easier than using the included allen keys. The only issue I have is I only have one AMS unit currently on my H2S. They are currently back ordered so I likely will not be able to score a second unit until February.

I also got a mini-workout in. My IT band style pain has been ramping up, presumably from me not doing my normal preventative exercises and stretches since my prolonged illness. Speaking of that, there was a weird phenomenon I noticed while I was sick. I felt absolutely no knee or IT band pain whatsoever. It was almost like my body had all hands on deck fighting the flu and it didn’t have time to focus on my lower body issues. Almost as soon as I started feeling more normal the aches and pains below the waist returned, fun.

Despite getting a number of things done last night I still managed to find myself in bed a little after 9PM. It wasn’t bad as far as Monday nights go.

Last week I mentioned how I had a vet appointment scheduled for Elsa because of her lack of eating and diarrhea that was going on for several days. However since my girlfriend started making her fresh food consisting of stuff like chicken, rice and veggies things have turned around big time. Elsa has been cleaning her plate and wanting more and her bathroom habits have returned to normal. Her energy and demeanor has improved as well. Sure it’s more work to prepare food in this manner but seeing the difference in her makes it worth it.

In addition I bought Elsa one of those fountain style water bowls. When researching some of her issues I came across information about how biofilm develops on dog water bowls, even if you clean them daily. It’s a by product of the water standing still 99% of the time. The bowl I got circulates the water 24/7 and includes filtration to help keep the water clean. The downside is it requires weekly cleaning that is more involved than a simple bowl as well as filters that need to be replaced on a regular basis. Again, it’s a trade off I am willing to make if it means good things for Elsa.

I was not surprised by the Eagles outcome against the 49ers. It sort of encapsulated what was wrong with the team the entire year, their inability to adjust if a team switches up their game plan against them. The Eagles had moderate success in the first half offensively as they should against a 49ers defense that has been wrecked by injuries. However in the second half all they managed was two field goals en route to a 24-19 loss.

There was plenty of blame to go around. Big mouth give me the ball AJ Brown dropped several balls that would have been big plays. You can’t talk like he does and then perform like that. Jake Elliot has turned into a liability after being such a strength for the team for many years. You just never when he is going to shank an extra point. Saquon had some nice runs in the first half but went quiet when it mattered in the second half, partly due to the offensive line just not getting it done. Jalen Hurts was erratic and inconsistent, seemingly more interested in not making mistakes instead of making plays. In a do or die playoff game I expected him to use his legs to get yards much more than he did. In a nutshell the 2025 Eagles weren’t good enough and in a way I am glad to put this season to bed because it just has not been much fun to bear witness to, despite their winning record. It will be interesting to see the collateral damage from this first round playoff crash out. I’m ok with some big changes on offense.

Elsa has been very spotty with her eating for a number of years but in the last week or so she has not been eating well at all. She would gobble treats just fine but would not eat most of her meals. In addition she had some diarrhea for a couple days which raised my concern as well. The concern was partially because she ate part of a pee pad that my girlfriends dog uses on Sunday. I was worried that it was causing some degree of GI blockage that could lead to diarrhea. Elsa has developed an odd affinity for eating paper towels, tissues and toilet paper in the last couple years. My concern had reached the level where I scheduled a vet visit for this afternoon. I cancelled it this morning.

Finally last night she ate normally which she did once again this morning which made me feel better. She also has not had diarrhea in a couple days so I think she is back on the road to feeling more normal. I believe I mentioned the issues she was having with her back legs where she struggled to get on things like the sofa and the bed. She is once again getting herself up onto these things again. I can tell it’s not as easy for her as it once was but at least she is feeling good enough for her to be able to get to her favorite spots without assistance.

This weekend should be mostly low key. I am anticipating the Eagles playoff game Sunday afternoon against the 49ers. It will be an opportunity for the Birds to make a statement that the inconsistency that has plagued the offense all year long is finally ironed out. The key to that is the offensive line and Saquon Barkley being able to run behind it. It’s that simple.

Yesterday my box of EUC Army shirts arrived. Of course I wasted little time before I pulled out one to try it on. The shirt is a higher quality version and softer than prior shirts I have had made. The print quality seems really good, I am pleased with the outcome. I may sell a few of these but for the most part they will be given away to be utilized as free advertising since the website address is on the back.

Yesterday the big news was a woman being shot in the face in the middle of an ICE raid. From the video it is clear that there was no reason for the ICE officer to fire. It seemed like the white woman in her mid-30s was freaking out due to what was going on, panicked and just wanted to get away from the situation. Despite Trump saying the officer was “run over” clearly that was not the case. As you would expect widespread outrage was the reaction to the incident. Let’s talk about that word.

To me outrage means basically nothing at this point. The reason it means nothing is because outrage again and again has proven to result in very little change or outcome that is tangible. How many times since Trump entered politics has the word outrage been used when describing the reaction to his statements, decisions and actions? Far too many to accurately count.

I used to think that outrage was a word that was a prelude to action. Now it is more like screaming into a vacuum. Everyone expresses outrage over these terrible things that are going on daily yet nothing really changes as a result. Especially in the federal government, consequences seem to be something that no longer exist thanks to lawmakers that are too fearful of repercussions to take the necessary actions to hold people that are doing outrageous/illegal things accountable. The system is broken and I don’t think we have the ability to fix it any time soon.

I saw the latest Avatar movie last night, Fire and Ash. I knew going in it was very long at 3+ hours, just like the first two movies. Seeing it on a weeknight was less than ideal. The theater was quite full which was a surprise as well since the movie has been out for a couple weeks. With a movie of that length you always worry about it dragging on too long but that was not the case this time. I hardly noticed the film being 50% longer than most modern movies, it kept me tied in the entire time. Like all Avatar movies, the visuals are amazing but the characters and story are compelling as well. It was the best movie I have seen in quite awhile and gets a clean A in my book. You should see it in theaters IMO. I’ll be paying a sleep penalty this morning but it was worth it.

This weekend was a good one despite being unable to play pickleball due to a tournament that closed the courts to the public for both days. I got what I needed done around the house as well as getting in my first EUC ride of 2026, which is the first riding I have done since I had the P6 in the house. I took my Veteran Patton which is probably my favorite wheel I own although I have hardly ridden it in the last year. I had a nice ride Sunday afternoon that reminded me why I should do it more often.

I originally thought I was going to be able to watch the Eagles/Commanders game Sunday afternoon but I guess once the Eagles declared they were resting their starters the local CBS affiliate decided to show a different game. I wound up listening to the broadcast instead. The Eagles lost the game in rather disappointing fashion. I think a lot of fans were hoping Tanner Mckee was going to step in and light it up, despite playing with mostly non-starters. He was not spectacular. The game also illustrated that the eagles back up secondary players are basically awful. They committed pass interference time and again and just seemed helpless. I don’t know that losing a game to a 4-12 team at home outweighs the benefit of resting your starters for the playoffs.

If the Eagles won the game they could have improved their playoff seeding from number three to number two. I would like to say I feel confident that the Eagles are in great shape for a strong run in the playoffs. With their on again off again offense that has been an issue all season long I think they are going to struggle greatly unless some sort of consistency can be found, aka Saquon runs the ball effectively the entire game.

Another day another page in the chapter of the book of Trump this weekend where they removed Venezuela’s president. Nobody is arguing Maduro is anything but a POS but the problem comes when the executive branch refuses to follow protocol and acts without congressional approval. Trump and his puppets have been side stepping/ignoring congress and the judicial branch repeatedly so this should come as no surprise. Seeing him and later Rubio trying to justify/explain the actions and what the plan is going forward was comical. The fact that we have allowed this man to come to power, twice, is beyond the realm of reasonable explanation. The daily assault on morality, decency, intelligence and common sense is exhausting.