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.
I had my 6 month visit with the dermatologist today. Going in I already knew I have a small spot along my hairline that is likely another basal cell skin cancer deal. However when the dermatologist asked about it I said I scraped my head working in the yard. I just don’t feel like dealing with another cut and stitch session right now. If it is still hanging around 6 months from now I will have it taken care of.
I did get a prescription for some cream to hopefully treat some red spots I have had under both of my eyes. I noticed them at least a couple months ago and have no idea what they are. It almost looks like a rash you would get from an allergic reaction. The areas are not horribly itchy but they are pretty obvious. Like my approach to many medical/injury issues, I will wait and see if it gets better.
Today I am attempting my first ever 24 hour fast. I am utilizing coffee to hopefully help knock down hunger pains. I want to still go to the gym and try to keep my day as normal as possible otherwise. We are in the red zone for potential full moon affects, combining that with hunger could be an irritable combination. Making your body go without food periodically is supposed to be a good thing, let’s find out.
I had some free time last night so I decided to do a live stream for the first time in exactly two months. It was fun to get back out there and interact with some of my regulars as we talked about what has happened in the wheel world and real world over the previous 60 days. I deliberately kept the stream on the shorter side since it was a weekend night, clocking in around two and a half hours.
Tomorrow I am planning to try something I never had before, a 24 hour fast. No I am not trying to shed pounds quickly but some friends of mine have been doing it and I thought it would be interesting for me to see how it would go not consuming food for an entire day. I have long read about the benefits of periodic fasting so I guess I will get some first hand experience. Tomorrow is a gym day so I would like to still try to go although I may turn the session into more of a stretching/cardio sort of day.
There is an adage that I have heard my entire life that generally speaking, the more you know about a person, the less you will like them. It’s a pretty sad statement about human beings but I have found repeatedly throughout my life that more often than not, it’s true. The people that are the exception to that rule are the ones you should hold onto and nurture relationships with. The ones where too much information makes it clear they are not the person you thought they were should be left in the rear view mirror destined to wander through life wondering why things are what they are.
I have spent a lot of time, energy, emotion, effort, and money on people that ultimately fell into this adage over my lifetime. Despite this I have this flaw where I still want to believe that people are honest with good intentions. Maybe someday, I will learn.
Friday evening I was getting a few things done around the house when my phone vibrated, indicating a text came in. When I saw it’s sender I think I stopped breathing for a second, it was from Dawn. I talked about Dawn’s terrible accident that happened on February 21st. After a period of her being in an induced coma for a couple weeks her progress, at least the progress that I knew about was slow. It did not sound like she would be in any condition to use a phone. Well I was wrong.
Evidently Dawn has been conscious and responsive for over a week but her phone was sitting at her house dead. She finally had someone get it to her evidently. After a few texts back and forth I asked if she was able to talk a bit, which she could so I called her. It felt a little surreal to hear her voice since at one point I was unsure if I ever would again. It didn’t take long until it was clear that at least mentally she was ok. Physically she is a mess. Her injuries are going to take a long time to heal. She has no memory of the day she crashed which is probably a good thing.
It was a relief for me to know that at least the Dawn I know is still present. She later posted something on social media letting people know that she was back among the land of the living which made hundreds of people happy. I am sure she is going to be absolutely deluged with people wishing to see and offering to assist her which is good to know. Unfortunately there also has been an undertone of less than good energy from certain people surrounding her situation that I hope can be resolved one way or the other. I told Dawn that if she needed anything to let me know, although I know that she is not adept at asking for help, at all. The world felt a little brighter by me knowing although Dawn has a long way to go, she will be ok.
On Saturday afternoon I took my V9 out to the swamp. I had not ridden the swamp in a number of months. While I was out there I drove by my old house as well as take in the changes around the area. There is a lot of new retail space around there. My house looked much as I last saw it although I did notice the orange Husqarvana tractor that I included with the house had been replaced with a new looking John Deere tractor.
The V9 is a commuter wheel that is primarily designed for hard surface riding but I was curious how it would perform in a more challenging terrain such as the swamp offers. Because it was late in the day and hot I only saw one gator during the ride. The wheel performed well, better than I initially expected. In total my ride was 12 miles and I enjoyed all of it outside of the last couple when my feet and knees were hurting a bit.
On Sunday I was on the road for close to 7 hours in the Tesla. I activated full self driving for a month and utilized it once again. It truly is set and forget in almost all situations. I rarely have to intervene. It drove me all the way back from Tampa without as much as a hiccup, pretty crazy. Elsa was along for the ride and was quite content laying in the back on her dog bed and fuzzy blanket.
Speaking of Elsa, she provided me with close to an hour of work over the weekend running the spot bot in the office. She threw up. When she throws up she insists on doing it on carpet instead of the vast areas of hard surface in the house. Usually when she throws up it’s due to her eating something she shouldn’t like stuffed toy parts or grass. She also is miserably bad at chewing her food. In the throw up was a quarter sized treat I gave her that was swallowed whole like a pill.
So instead of just giving me one spot she evidently walked around the room, leaving me trails to clean up. In total I filled and emptied the Spot Bot three times until I had all of the mess cleaned up. My desire to replace the carpet in the bedrooms with a hard surface like vinyl plank is 80% motivated by dog activities.
I have had a fast charger from Pidzoom at my house for probably a couple months. I have used it on a number of my wheels but I have been negligent with doing any sort of video review on it for no specific reason. The procrastination ended last night as I finally made a video explaining the features about the charger I like. There is one feature about the charger that would only appeal to me but I’ll keep that to myself.
I did a later in the evening trip to Costco which is always my preference to avoid the flood of humanity that is normally cramming the store. I got the few items I was looking for but also grabbed something I was not looking for, two king size pillows. When I moved into the new house two years ago I bought new pillows that I immediately were annoyed by. They were on the thin side, so much so that every morning I would wake up to the pillow cases being half off because they just were not on snugly.
Maybe I didn’t want to admit I made a bad purchase, maybe I was just being lazy but I have put up with this for two cycles of the calendar. The Sealy pillows I got at Costco are much more voluminous while still being soft. I immediately put them into service last night and woke up with pillow cases snugly and firmly in place just as they were when I fell asleep. It was a nice way to start my Friday. Now I have to get two more the next time I am in the Costco vortex.
So the latest rounds of Trump tariffs went into place on April 2nd, artificially raising prices on many things overnight. I heard a lot of grumbling about it in the various EUC circles I am in as the prices on many wheels which were already stupidly expensive went up several more hundred dollars. There is one wheel that now costs $5000. Yes that is not a typo, 5K.
Yes I have heard all the rhetoric about why this is a “good” thing. To me it’s very ironic that Ronald Reagan himself made a speech about tariffs and why they ultimately fail. Just search it on Google. To me this current policy is nonsensical. It’s like the reality that nearly everything that the American consumer buys is made in China has been overlooked. The stock market clearly is not a fan of this latest move but that won’t dissuade the hard core who will believe the sky is green if their leader tells them so.
I was surprised to hear that there are rumors that Trump is talking about distancing himself from Elon after the Wisconsin supreme court outcome and the general vitriol that has been flowing his way in recent months. It felt like Trump sort of liked having a meat shield but perhaps Elon has outlived his usefulness for the administration. Oh well.
This weekend is looking enjoyable but that truly is my outlook most weekends since I have moved. It’s odd how it feels like I was in PA much longer than a week ago for some reason.
Last night I made a quick video demonstrating just how much waste is created when you do a print that has multiple colors in every layer. I printed a relatively small model. If it was printed in a single color I would guess it would be done in 5 or 6 hours however with changing colors that time ballooned all the way up to 25 hours. In addition I had two full “toilets” of waste for the print.
Taking the path of least resistance in your life is a strategy followed by many. Avoiding conflict, hard decisions, and having moral boundaries can be bumpy and uncomfortable. Living behind a white picket fence where you create imaginary scenarios that fit your sunshine and rainbows outlook while ignoring realities that don’t conform to it is a strategy that may make your life easier. Does it make it better? That is a question each person has to figure out for themselves I suppose.
