All posts by Duf

Friday night Christine and I drove down to Marco Island to look at an inflatable boat I had found on FB Marketplace. It cost less than my high end pickelball paddle but was a decent size and included expensive add ons like an electric trolling motor and a large marine battery. The older hispanic man that was the seller was very cute and thorough when explaining how everything worked. We loaded the boat and all of it’s accessories in the truck and headed to dinner at a cool little bar nearby. I guess I am going to be getting on the water.

On Saturday morning I did my first significant auto maintenance since moving to the house, rotating the tires on my Tesla, something I try to do every 10,000 miles or so. I got rid of a TON of stuff when I moved but luckily I still have my low profile floor jack and impact wrench, both of which are crucial for the job. It went well besides sweating like a pig. I was done in less than 30 minutes. I’m happy to see that the tires are holding up well 31k miles in.

Late morning I rode my OneWheel to the gym to work out. It was a combo of things I never did before and it was kind of cool. It’s nice to be close enough to have options like that.

Saturday night we saw the new Mission Impossible movie which is dubbed as part 1 of a 2 film series. This was the first MI movie in quite awhile and the first time I saw one where I thought that maybe Tom Cruise is getting a little too old for the role. Sure he is in great shape for his age but still, it’s noticeable. The plot was sort of dumb. I would probably say it was my least favorite MI movie of the series which makes less than thrilled that they have another one lined up. I would feel it’s safe to say that this will be the last of the it’s kind although after seeing Harrison Ford do another Indiana Jones movie at 80, never say never I guess.

Sunday morning I met my buddy Juan to once again play pickleball at that expensive community. Evidently the club members we play with enjoy our company. We played for two and a half very hot, humid and sweaty hours. My final game was a singles match against the 21 year old club tennis pro who also plays pickleball. The kid at one point was ranked top 10 in the country in his age group in tennis. My initial goal was to hope to score a point on him. I managed to get 6 points which in my book was a win considering how tired I already was.

Early Sunday afternoon we loaded up all of the boat stuff to do a test run. We wanted to see how easy/difficult it would be to set everything up and how the inflatable would do in the water. We learned a lot.

Inflating the boat was pretty easy, the included battery powered inflator pushed massive volumes of air. There are three separate chambers that need to be inflated which avoids having a single point of failure.

Mounting the motor happens after the boat is inflated. At first I attached the motor mount and then tried to attach the motor before doing so and couldn’t do it, more on this later as it was one of the many learning opportunities I had. So once the motor was on all I had to do was lift the very heavy battery on board and connect the wires. We were off and moving.

I initially planned to sit on a fold up chair but I found myself more comfortable just laying in the rear of the boat using the sides as armrests as I steered with one arm and drank a margarita with the other. I had on my sun repelling fishing shirt on as well as my Eagles bucket hat to cut down on my UV exposure. The 46 pounds of thrust motor was nothing resembling powerful but pushed along at a what would be a fast walking speed which was good enough.

Christine and I were enjoying the slow tour of the area where she does shelling on a pretty regular basis. We then switched spots and I let her run the motor as the goal was to get her familiar and comfortable with the set up. She was warm and hopped into the water a bit. When she got back in the boat she got back in the driver position but we were having a hard time going anywhere. Well to be more accurate we weren’t going anywhere, the motor had stopped working, oh shit…

I hopped out of the boat to take a better look. The water was quite shallow, shallow enough that the prop was probably hitting the sandy bottom. My initial thought was the motor overheated, I started looking for some sort of reset button on it which I could not find. The LED battery indicator on the motor was dark. I started to wonder if perhaps the battery had just run out of juice which seemed unlikely as it is a huge battery and was reading full charge at the beginning of the ride. So I needed a plan to get back.

Luckily we threw the oars in the boat. I pushed it until we got to the main crossing channel under a bridge which is much deeper. After testing the motor again, hoping it cooled down/reset I resigned myself to having to row. Rowing this thing was very awkward and tiring but I managed to eventually get us across the channel and back to an opening on the beach where we could dock. I was tired.

We had another lesson when removing the motor mount. Trying to remove all the fasteners at once carries a high risk of dropping some of the hardware into the water which happened. Luckily I was able to get the same size at the local hardware store. When we got everything loaded back into the truck we were both pretty wiped, it was hot.

As soon as we got back to the house I wasted little time before I threw the battery on the table to test it’s voltage, it was still basically full so the battery was definitely not the problem. I then reconnected the motor but it still showed dead. I again looked for a reset button on the motor but found none. However I then looked at the little device that was inline on the positive motor battery cable. On the side of it was a little black button. I pushed it in and the motor lit right up, son of a bitch. It’s basically an inline circuit breaker to protect the motor.

My assumption is the motor was trying to turn in the sand which drew enough power to pop that circuit breaker. Knowing that all of that rowing could have been easily avoided was frustrating but a good learning experience. We learned a number of other things from the journey like we could have inflated the boat a little more than we did and that we actually had the motor mounted backwards. This revelation made my earlier discovery that the motor had to be on the mount before attaching it to the boat invalid. Reversing the mount should put the prop in a better position to drive the boat and make the quick release latch that is used to get the prop in a higher position functional. Even with all of the bumps in the road it was a fun time. I can not give you any where near an accurate estimation of the last time I was out on the water like that. I do however expect to happen on a more regular basis in the future.

Yesterday a I got a visualization of just how much stuff I bought on Prime Day as the majority of it arrived. Last year I don’t think I bought anything during Prime Day. I certainly made up for it this year. It was mostly all small stuff. The most expensive thing I bought was a pair of shoes. It took a solid 15 minutes for me to open it all, recycle the packaging and put everything where it needed to go.

Last night I played some more hardcore WoW, getting my paladin to level 11. The grind gets slower and slower as you advance but I am still enjoying it. I streamed it on Twitch but it looks like my audio was not working when I checked it this morning, doh.

I also did a little bit of customizing of my Patton. I painted the plastic inserts on the acceleration pads orange to match the EUC ARMY badging on the front. I always have liked the black/orange contrast on my wheels.

Rich stayed at my place again last night. We wound up running to Brunina’s for dinner later where we got a chance to talk about a number of different subjects. When we got back we both had our pickleball bags out on the dining room table. I applied overgrips to two of my paddles while Rich put an edge guard on one of his. It was a true pickleball geek session.

Elsa, who originally was hesitant about Rich has quickly warmed up to him, often choosing to sit on the couch with him instead of me, it’s cute. Rich is going to be staying with another friend of his the rest of the week but it was good to have my first official test of my guest facilities. Rich said everything was great.

I have mentioned numerous times how much I am into pickleball. Last night after I was done working on my paddles I snapped this quick picture of my pickleball bag. Sometimes they say a picture is worth 1000 words. In this instance I would definitely agree.

I had my first overnight occupant of my guest room since I moved in last night, Rich. He is in the middle of some house limbo right now so I offered him my guest room. He also got to test out the guest shower as well, something else that has never been used since March.

Last night we played pickleball for about an hour. Rich has been injured for most of this year but he LOVES pickleball. We played a couple games against younger guys who were quite good. We lost both games but they were very close. He really enjoyed getting back out there on the court.

I finally have rebooted my 3D store. It has basically been dormant since before I moved. The opportunity for me is much, much less than it once was. There are tons of other options out there for EUC stands nowadays and a number of wheels now have built in kickstands that can make a stand unnecessary.

To me I think wheels still look best when stored on a stand. I do still have a few things that others don’t like the adjustable width and the ability to customize a stand to have unique wording if the customer desires. We will see if my sales go anywhere. With the way I have been burning through money lately some ancillary income could never hurt.

I made the mistake of not taking Unisom on Friday night. My penalty for doing so was waking up at 4AM and not being able to fall back asleep. I decided to drag myself out of bed a little after 6 and get my day started. One advantage of doing so was catching this great view out the garage door as the sun was coming up. It wasn’t all bad, I got an early start on my Saturday chores that made me feel like I was ahead of the curve most of the morning.

On Saturday night Christine and I went out to see the new Indiana Jones movie. It is a bit insane that Harrison Ford, who is now 80 years old was able to put out what surely has to be the last of the series. I have to say, for being 80 years old he did a damn nice job and surely does not look his age. I didn’t have huge expectations for the movie as the last couple were pretty lame. There were definitely lame/silly aspects to this film as well but overall I enjoyed it. Early on the creepy CGI was used to magically take 50 years off of Indie. The effect is good but you can definitely tell when you are looking at CGI. I’d give the movie a B+. Christine enjoyed it as well.

Sunday morning I got up with an alarm to meet up with Juan to play some 8AM pickleball once again. The thought is starting early will be more tolerable due to the extreme heat and humidity which July in Florida brings. It made no difference, I looked like I was thrown in a pool after a couple games. The members seem to really enjoy playing with Juan and I so hopefully it becomes a more regular occurrence. I played surprisingly well, not losing a single time despite rotating partners every game.

I was tired when I got home but I knew if I sat still long I would probably fall asleep. Instead I grabbed my new Veteran Patton and drove out to the swamp to ride. The Patton continued to impress, feeling great in the off road environment, I really love this wheel.

When I got back I again wasted little time before heading back out AGAIN, this time to go ride OneWheel with Christine at the Greenway. We had a very fun ride. It has been very enjoyable to have a riding partner once again.

I have a pretty standard week up ahead of me, as far as I can tell, so far. However if the last 7 months has taught me anything it is to expect the unexpected.

Overnight there were a bunch of thunderstorms rolling through. I woke up and realized that Elsa had jumped up onto the bed and was up by my head, shivering. She had her body pressed up against me so every time she shook, I knew it. At one point I pulled the blanket over her and laid my hand across her back which seemed to settle her down a bit. I hate how terrified she is of almost any noise.

After my super short 3 day week I have a conventional weekend ahead of me. Let’s hope it’s a good one.

Last night I played WoW hardcore for the first time in roughly a week. Up until this point I had been very careful since a death in game means you have to delete your character, regardless of how much time has been invested. I had gotten my warrior up to level 9 and was trying to complete a quest where you have to kill something. I ran in and got myself into trouble. By the time I realized I was in deep trouble I was unable to escape and died. I was annoyed and frustrated by my stupidity. From all accounts this is a common path for most, the first few times playing hardcore you get a taste for what you can and can not do. I deleted the character and rerolled a paladin, a class that should be a little easier to manage. You can see the death from my Twitch stream.

There are other things I could delve into on this post but I really would rather put the energy towards doing it instead of talking about doing it. Mental gymnastics are exhausting.

I just completed my extended four day weekend for the fourth of July. I am not sure how accurately or in sequence this will be but I’ll give it a go.

Saturday I was doing a number of small tasks and errands that kept me moving throughout the day. I did get out on a One Wheel ride with Christine later in the day before returning home to do yet another live stream, my fourth one in as many weeks. This live stream was one of my longest in a very long time, more than 3 hours. The reason was about half way through the broadcast I was joined by but not one but two guests, Marty and Black Cobra. It was a fun stream.

Sunday I finally got my first ride in on my Veteran Patton which I received on Thursday. It was only a quick 10 mile ride but I realized very quickly that I really like this wheel. I can see this becoming my favorite wheel in a short period of time.

On Monday I got to install the new rail protectors and bumpers I bought for Christine’s OneWheel XR. The prior owner evidently opted to just paint everything black. I installed fresh black front and rear bumpers to replace the very worn originals. The yellow rail protectors really helped to refresh and change the appearance. Christine loved it.

On Monday I did some minor fence repair. A few of the pieces of the fence were loose as the thin nail gun nails were rusting. I reinforced those parts with deck screws instead. There are some spots down low that need to be reattached as well but that section of the fence has a dense hedge around it that I need to figure out how to penetrate to perform the repair.

I headed to the gym Tuesday morning to get a workout in since gym days will be sparse during this shortened week. During the afternoon I did a 50 mile range test on the Patton. The wheel performed very well during the test. I cut it a little close, arriving back home with about 7% battery left after 3 hours on the road.

When I moved closer to town I thought I would have less exposure to backyard fireworks fanatics. I was wrong. If anything the increased population density lead to hearing even more explosions throughout the night.

Elsa was terrified as always. I gave her three calming treats that contain CBD. They seemed to take the edge off at least but she has spent most of the weekend being treated to fireworks every night, sigh.

Sometimes you need to just shut up and do the right thing. Why am I saying that you may ask? To simply remind myself, that’s all.

My new Veteran Patton arrived yesterday. I didn’t even have to run home to sign for it, evidently my FedEx driver didn’t care it was classified as signature required, which is good for me. The only thing that wasn’t good was he left it right outside the garage door instead of the covered area by the front door. If we would have had a thunderstorm yesterday I would not have been very pleased.

I lugged the heavy box inside but did not open it, that will happen sometime this weekend. Instead I opened other boxes, one had my newest pickleball paddle and another had a full face helmet for Christine to use while riding which will give more comprehensive protection.

I had her test it last night when we did our first ride since her crash. The helmet fit her well. We trekked about 11 miles on the Greenway. It was also her first time riding the used XR board I bought. She got accustomed to it quickly and enjoyed the wheel. I think it is absolutely better that we are on two of the same device as our speeds match up instead of me pulling her faster accidentally while I am on an EUC.

I took Monday off to give myself a four day weekend as the 4th of July is Tuesday. I have a number of things I would like to get knocked out, none of which are huge time sinks. On Monday morning I may have a session with my first EUC student. He bought a wheel and reached out to me asking if I could show him the basics. I said sure. I think within an hour or two I can get him at least rolling.

Last night after work I continued my trend of doing things I hadn’t done in awhile. This time it was running a push mower. I offered to help Christine mow her grandmothers property. I have not had to mow grass since I moved in March but I don’t think I mowed grass with a push mower in probably 20 years. I worked up a lot of sweat in a relatively short period of time. The mower had propulsion but I stopped using it after about 30 seconds, it interfered with the back and forth motion too much. It felt good to make the yard look more presentable after maybe 45 minutes of pushing it.

Today my Veteran Patton is scheduled to arrive. Wheels always come with signature required for Fedex so I left a sign on my door asking that they ring the doorbell and if they can do other nearby deliveries I can be home in 10 minutes to sign if needed. We will see if my plan works.