Yesterday I had my physical, a bi-annual requirement for our insurance plan. Like anything medical I was not looking forward to it, especially while I was carrying my blood test results which were ok except for a pretty significant increase in my LDL and total cholesterol numbers which I can only attribute to stepping off my pescatarian diet in 2024. I was prepared to be strapped up to an EKG and potentially get “the finger” which has happened at all of my physicals since I was 40, except my last one two years ago. None of it happened.
Instead my physical was very casual. There were a lot of Q&A about different aspects of my health but the actual exam was very minor. I removed my shirt but only to allow the LPN to listen to my lungs and heart. She recommended I do a follow up cardiac screening since my last one was roughly 5 years ago. The cholesterol she said I can address via my diet, which I already have started on since I got the bad numbers in June. Other than that it was wham, bam, thank you ma’am.
On the surface I was happy that the physical was “easy” and non-invasive. However there was also part of me that felt like at my age a more thorough exam would probably be a good idea. Regardless I was out of there in 15 minutes. I do plan to follow up on the advice to get another cardiac screening. With my mom dying of a heart attack at 67 and my younger brother already having had a mild heart attack recently I would be ignorant to not take precautions.
So I started feeling something in my throat Sunday evening. I have felt somewhat sick all week but my voice sounded worse than I felt overall. Well that changed overnight. I woke up this morning feeling worse with a clogged head, coughing and feeling warm. I was anticipating waking up today feeling better. I felt bad enough that I called off work. Not only because I felt like shit but I did not want to get others at the office sick. There are already a number of people at work that are sick. Maybe that is how I got it in the first place.
Regardless I am hoping for a rebound in 24 hours that allows me to go to work tomorrow. I hate wasting PTO hours on anything but vacation.
I had a pretty low key weekend. I discovered that Saturday was National Relaxation Day so I tried my best to celebrate after I got my two hours of very sweaty pickleball in. Only a couple of the accessories I ordered for the new car showed up so I didn’t get to knock those installations out as I hoped.
I got some bad sleep Friday night so I thought I would pop a Unisom Saturday night to knock me out. Unfortunately Elsa had one of those nights where she got me up 5 or 6 times. We need to try to make sure she doesn’t overeat during the day. If she does this is often the result although the throw up and diarrhea were both on the minor side. The good thing is when I am on Unisom I can fall back asleep almost immediately if Elsa gets me up. If I was without a sleep aid I would have been awake most of the night.
The Unisom also resulted in a pretty crazy dream. I was in a world where people were disappearing. Some of them would erode away into dust like in Avengers End Game. Others would just blip out of existence. As you can imagine the world was in utter chaos as there was no rhyme or reason as to who was disappearing. It didn’t happen all at once either. I would be talking to someone and they would disappear. Eventually it felt like there were a lot more people that were gone than were still here, with me being one of them, for some reason.
I remember at some point I ran into a woman I am friends with from my days of playing volleyball. She is religious. She told me that the Rapture was here and that is why all of these people are vanishing. My mind was blown. The dream never had a definitive conclusion and continued through the various interruptions I had during the night. The fact that I even remember it is odd in itself. Most dreams I have no matter how vibrant can’t be recollected.
After a late start Sunday thanks to a Unisom hangover I got to the gym to shake off some cobwebs. Late in the day my girlfriend and I went for a ride, me on a wheel and her on her E-bike. One of the spots we rode was Sugden Park, a place I have frequented many times over the years. As we were coming up the one side of the lake we saw an older couple getting out of the car. They were setting up two chairs, side by side in the shade, facing west looking over the lake. Although sunset was probably not for over an hour I believe that was their plan, to just sit there and enjoy watching the sun drop over the lake. It touched me, enough that I am recalling it now. That’s what life is about, shared experiences of simple pleasures and beauty.
Last night I started feeling the unwelcome feeling in my throat that can be a precursor to illness. Today I still don’t feel normal but I am hoping my body can fend off whatever is knocking at the door.
Every other year we are required to get a physical for our health insurance at work. This time I have been dragging my feet. I always dislike any and all things doctor related but this time I have even more reason to not want to go. When they did our comprehensive blood screening it revealed that my overall cholesterol number had climbed significantly from my last test two years ago. Although my HDL and triglyceride numbers are good, the LDL is not. I can only attribute it to going off my pescatarian diet during that two year hiatus. Since receiving those numbers I have been doing some diet modifications that will hopefully start trending that number back down. I don’t want the physical to spin into a round of other medical testing. I do however need to be careful as my mom died of a heart attack and my younger brother had a mild heart attack within the last year as well. I am however more active and in better overall health so I am hoping that stacks the deck more in my favor.
Speaking of activity, yesterday at the gym I did something that I am pretty sure I have not done since prior to covid, barbell deadlifting. One of my old calisthenic buddies, Fi, a woman over in the UK posted a picture of her deadlifting recently. Like me, she was once very hardcore into strength training and calisthenics but scaled back over the years. Well anyway seeing her pull heavy weight off the floor stuck the idea back into my head of “I wonder if I can still deadlift”.
The last time I tried to pull heavy deadlifts my lower body had significantly less aches and pains than it does now. When I did the first warm up set of 135lbs my body gave me sort of a “WTF are you doing” reaction. However I kept adding weight as I tried to remember some of the form that helps you stay safe in the movement. The rubber plates at the gym are fat, making my efforts look far more impressive than they were.
I topped out at 275 pounds which I did for two sets of one. When I used to deadlift sort of regularly my all time best was 390 pounds. When I could do that I used to be able to do 315 pounds for 5-6 reps if I recall correctly. 275 pounds felt heavy but I was pleased just to be able to lift it cleanly without injuring myself. I am thinking about adding it into my rotation of things. Deadlifting hits your entire body and is one of the best exercises you can do. I’m not sure if it’s the best exercise to do at 58 years old, but we will see.
Yesterday I was doing my home delivery order for Costco. The site popped up a Jackery Solar Generator deal they were running. It included the 1500WH battery system along with 100 watts of portable solar panels. It’s a great deal at $599. Normally this combo would cost closer to $1000. After doing some brief inner deliberations I added it to my grocery order.
You may or may not remember I had a Goal Zero solar generator at the old house in the chicken coop. I had solar panels connected to it that would charge it during the day and the box would power devices in the coop during the night. That was only a 1000WH unit and it cost me somewhere around $1000 just for the box alone with no panels. With the Jackery having 50% more capacity at a drastically lower price it was too good to pass up IMO.
You may ask what I need it for? I no longer have chickens and I have a portable gas generator. This gives me a safety net and flexibility in the event of a power outage. Despite it’s small size the unit can power high amp devices like a microwave, window AC unit or an air fryer. It is advertised to be able to power a fridge for two to three days. In addition to being able to be powered by solar you of course can plug it in to charge as well. I went from 25% to full in about an hour. Hell I could put it in my office to serve as a super sized UPS for every day use until I need it for something more urgent. It’s a great little unit.
This weekend is another free flowing type. As long as I am not too sore from dead lifting I would like to get a Saturday pickleball session in. I also have a number of 3rd party Tesla accessories incoming so depending on their arrival I might be doing a lot of car installation projects as well. So far the only additions I have made is getting the front windows tinted and installing a charging hub in the console that adds even more RGB coolness to the interior.
Karoline Leavitt is stepping down as press secretary. Her claim to fame is being the youngest and possibly most annoying version ever of that position. She would parrot Trump’s lies like they were spoken by Jesus himself. Maybe she is stepping away before the shit hits the fan, pun intended.
My Tesla purchase was silky smooth yesterday. I was in and out of the place in 15 minutes, even with having a trade. I was the only person in the delivery bay which helped move things along as well.
I was a bit surprised when I saw just how much of my old car was cloned into the new one. All of the control customization had been moved across including my seat position, control preferences, screen layout and even my home and work address. I was really surprised when I later realized that even the streaming profiles were cloned across. I was able to access my Netflix and Apple music accounts without needing to re-authenticate. For some people having Tesla be in possession of all of this data would be worrisome. For me it’s just a shoulder shrug as I gave up on having any real degree of privacy a long time ago.
I really like the new car. I have never had ventilated seats before and thought they were sort of a gimmick. I can now tell you they are not. Once they clicked on it made a big difference in my comfort level in the middle of a hot August day.
I have already ordered a number of accessories for it. Most of what I had for the 2024 Tesla does not fit, which is not surprising. I am also getting the front windows tinted today to match the rear, a near necessity with where I live. I am very happy with my transaction. I also got the added bonus of paying less per month to own the 2026 which is sweet.
I am looking forward to getting settled into my new wheels. There are a few differences that take some getting used to but I am confident the adjustment period will be very small. Although I lost my respect for Elon in the last few years there is no denying that his company makes a very, very good car.
Here is the video I shot about my initial thoughts.
I have started the process of leveling my last three characters on my second WoW account. These characters include a mage, a shaman and a druid, the second druid that I have leveled. This druid was actually the character that Cindy played for a short period of time when she tried playing WoW very early in our relationship. She abandoned it (her specialty) pretty quickly but for whatever reason I have continued to level it for the last decade or more, anyway.
Today at noon I pick up my fifth Tesla. These cars have been purchased starting in 2019 with my Tesla Model 3 standard range. I remember when I got that car it felt like something that I was really proud of. I recall thinking in the year or two prior to that how owning a Tesla would be cool but unattainable. Instead for my first EV I was looking at something like a Chevy Bolt or the Hyundai EV. But thanks to my impulse buy tendencies I wound up making a Tesla work for my budget. Since that original Model 3 I have owned the Model Y’s each of a different trim/range level.
This 2026 Juniper Model Y is a step down in performance but a step up in range, being rated for almost 360 miles on a full charge, the most of any Tesla I have owned. It has a bunch of bells and whistles to add to the copious amount of bells and whistles my car already has.
My Tesla’s have been my favorite daily drivers I have ever owned. It’s like a rolling cell phone that receives regular updates which add consistent improvements and features to an already great car. I expect to be very happy with my new vehicle, just like have been with the four previously.
For some reason I found myself thinking about NEW cars I have purchased over my life time. The first one was a Pontiac Sunfire GT, bought in Robesonia in the mid 90s. It was a 5 speed. I remember teaching my ex-wife Alison to drive stick in my brand new car, not the best choice but the clutch survived. After that we bought two Nissan Sentra’s new and a Camry hybrid new while married. I helped Cindy buy a Hyundai Ioniq while we were together as well. Since then the number of new vehicles I have purchased were the 2016 Tacoma and now my 5th Tesla. Tesla streamlines so much about the car buying process, it would be hard to go back to the old way.
I decided to go play some pickleball Saturday morning. It was sort of a weird session where I felt like I played pretty well overall yet I lost all four or five games we played. I was a bit inconsistent at times but overall played pretty well which is all I should really care about.
I spent a good portion of Saturday afternoon editing video. I shot the wrap up video for the V14 Pro. I begin the video with a roughly 60 second montage of different short clips that are synchronized to music. It took a LOT of work to make that little bit of B roll which is why I typically don’t include much of it in most of my videos. I am pleased however with the overall outcome of the video, I think it’s pretty good.
Over the weekend I also shot a video where I outlined the steps I took to create a replacement T for the community sign utilizing AI and 3D printing.
My Sunday was on the lazy side. One thing I did accomplish was getting my 2024 Tesla ready to be traded in tomorrow. I went back to front removing any personal items. Even though I keep my vehicles pretty clean inside I was surprised just how much I pulled out of it. Tomorrow at lunch the transaction is supposed to occur. One cool thing about Tesla is there only a button or two to press on the app to complete the transaction. There is no endless piles of paper that you have to wet sign.
I’m already grabbing a few accessories for the new car. One of the things will be a sunshade. The glass roof on the car is cool but it also lets in a bunch of heat and potentially UV rays. It may be partly why all of the skin cancer I have had the last 7 or 8 years has been from the neck up. This model will allow just the front or back part of the roof to be open if you want which is cool. To be honest I think most of the time I will keep it closed though.
I also am not a fan of the stock wheel covers that come with the car so I plan on replacing them with something a little more visually appealing. I am sure there will be a few more tweaks coming as well. I’m excited to get the new Y. I have a feeling this Tesla might be in my possession for more than a couple years breaking a trend that started back in 2022.
Last night I finally got around to filming my review video for the Flashforge Creator 5 Pro, a printer I have had for at least a couple months. This printer has not blown me away which runs counter to a lot of opinions on the internet which are mostly positive. Much of the review focused on comparing the CP5 to my Snapmaker U1 which is also a tool changer printer. In almost every way I prefer the way the Snapmaker does things.
This morning I was making my lunch and it felt like my nose was running badly which is pretty normal for me. What wasn’t normal was when I wiped my nose and saw red. For whatever reason I had a nosebleed, something that does not happen normally for me. I have no idea why it happened but like most things I will attribute it to just getting old. It’s a convenient catch all excuse.
I had a dentist appointment on Wednesday, an appointment I had postponed twice previously. There has been a major shake up at the office whom I have been client of for close to 25 years. The woman who ran the practice abruptly transferred it earlier in the year. Evidently she had some sort of health issue that prompted it combined with not much need to work as her husband is a dentist as well. To make matters worse, my hygienist that I have had for nearly as long left as well due to some health issues with her son and possibly collateral damage from the ownership change.
The new female dentist is ok but I don’t have the history like I did with the prior one. I had a new hygienist as well. She is a short and old lady named Joe. At first I was skeptical of how she would do but she was fine. However due to her age I certainly can’t count on her being around long term. I had thought I would need to start looking for a new dentist office but for now, the visit wasn’t such a turn off that I feel the need to jump ship, yet.
Now I have another medical change I have to navigate. The on site employee health clinic that I have utilized for 10-15 years has been shut down. There is a new clinic but it is no longer on site and is managed by another organization so I will be dealing with a new RN/LPN. I need to get a physical shortly as a qualifier for our health insurance so I will be seeing how this round of change works out.
I forgot to mention that we got to see Odyssey on Tuesday night, the last night it was showing in Imax in our area. The only option was going back to the same theater where I had the terrible experience watching Spiderman. Luckily the theater was much less mobbed on a Tuesday night than it was on Saturday. The theater did not have residual trash in it this time either. The Odyssey delivered a pretty epic experience, enhanced by seeing it in Imax. I never read the book so the story was new to me. The movie seemed like an instant classic to me, sort of like Avatar or Titanic. It gets a bright and shiny A.
This weekend does not have any big events on the calendar although I really need to film another review video for the V14 Pro. This would be the final wrap up video which I normally put a little extra effort into. I am considering skipping pickleball Saturday morning. My knees although workable, are still not great. I have significant soreness in both of them which includes parts that are painful to the touch. When I tried doing lower body work at the gym this week I had to resort to an abbreviated version as certain movements just did not feel good. The joys of aging never stop coming.
I started off Saturday playing some hot and humid pickleball. I played pretty well, going undefeated. I didn’t notice any tweaks during play but my knees didn’t feel great the rest of the weekend after playing.
I completed printing the replacement T for the sign entering the development. I used construction adhesive to attach it. This was the first time I ever printed with ASA filament and it went great on my Bambu Lab H2S which is able to handle high temperature filaments like this.
Although not a perfect match I think the 3D printed T is close enough that once it is painted to match the other letters I think unless you know it was replaced, you won’t notice it. I gave myself an imaginary pat on the back for this one.
We could not get seats at the local theater to see Spiderman so I got us two tickets to the Regal Gulf Center theater instead which is up near Fort Myers. It’s a much bigger venue. Well we quickly found out it is also sort of a shit hole. We walked into the lobby to an ocean of people. There had to be 150 people in the concession line and nearly as many in a line waiting to get into the theaters. I don’t know if they are just understaffed or just really inefficient. They had ONE person scanning in people’s tickets. The actual theater was a mess too. Evidently they didn’t have staff clean in between showings. I had to remove drinks/trash that were at our seats and stack it in the aisle. We will likely never frequent this theater again. I was annoyed enough with the theater that I did my first Yelp review ever about how badly things are run.
Luckily the Spiderman movie was great. No spoilers but it was really enjoyable especially after the string of so/so super hero movies that have come out the last couple years. The post credits scene was not really worth staying for. Just look it up online. I would give the movie a solid A. We both really enjoyed it.
I gave FSD a significant test. I had it drive from my house to the theater, including finding a space and parking us automatically in the very busy lot. It did so without a hiccup. It drove us the 30 miles home as well without incident. It’s so good now. It is like having an invisible Uber driver available 24/7.
My Sunday other than going to the gym and doing my weekly bill paying session was pretty low key. I had things I could be doing but I just didn’t feel like it. I did manage to get my last character in WoW on my first account to level 90 meaning all 10 are at max level. Now I only have 3 left on my secondary account to go. Elsa had a pretty good weekend health-wise with no significant issues which made me happy.
Although we have 3 other people on the HOA board, a lot of the handling of things comes through me since I am the only one who appears to access the property management company website and I also get emails sent to the HOA address. So there have been a few requests/complaints that have come in that I have tried to field. If it’s something I can address directly I would prefer to do so for efficiency sake, example in point the tattered flag that I replaced at the entrance.
Evidently some idiot thought it would be funny to pry off a T on one of the signs that frame the entrance to the community. At first I had no idea how to remedy this but then I came up with a potential solution. I took a picture of the sign and asked AI to tell me what font was being used which it was able to do instantly. I measured the other T to get an idea of the size needed.
I was able to do a test print just to see how good of a match it will be. It’s not perfect but it’s pretty good. I will be printing the permanent replacement material out of ASA, a filament type that is very UV resistant and appropriate for outdoor use. Regular PLA would degrade pretty quickly. Hopefully by the end of the weekend the sign will be back to normal.
The lights that illuminate this sign were also out. I found a switch that controls them turned off in a control box, likely done by the same idiot. I will make that box more difficult to access this weekend as well.
In addition to the sign restoration project I have several other things I would like to get done this weekend. I need to do my wrap up video where I summarize my feelings about the V14 Pro. I normally will take more time in making this type of content as it typically is the video that gets the most eyeballs.
I would like to play some pickleball but that will depend on how my lower body feels. I did weighted lower body work this week for the first time since I screwed up my knee and have been paying the price with bad soreness afterward. It’s normal but makes playing pickleball not that easy. I could start work on the other side of the fence but I would much prefer to do something like that on an extended weekend.
Oh, I only have one more character to get to max level on my first WoW account, in case you were keeping track. I have three more on the second account to keep me busy next.
I saw some clips of the senate hearing where they questioned Fauci about a laundry list of shady shit that went down during his tenure as THE authority on covid. Not only does it appear apparent that covid was the end result of the Woohan lab messing around with virus mutations to “gain function” but Fauci also used his almost celebrity status to enrich himself significantly in the process. In some cases he utilized his staff to help solicit cash awards that he benefited from. It’s some pretty horrible stuff.
During covid Fauci was seen as the figurehead to lead us through that quagmire. He was entrusted with this power by both Trump and Biden. However near the end of Biden’s term he granted Fauci immunity which was very shady and lame. I think presidential pardons should be abolished. One man’s signature should not be able to circumvent the rule of law IMO.
So anyway members of the panel began depicting the various things Fauci is accused of and asking him to confirm/deny the allegations. He gave the exact same answer to every question he was asked. He said “Under the advice of counsel , I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions” He pleaded the 5th amendment 110 times, disgraceful. It got to be a joke. At one point a senator asked him about the color of his tie. He took the 5th. It’s amazing seeing him yesterday looking like this, guilty as hell contrasted to the energetic, likeable man we thought we knew.
Rand Paul ran the committee and he grilled Fauci hard as well as throwing out the attorney that was sitting next to him. Even though Rand unwillingly sides with Trump at times he is largely an independent thinker who has his the same libertarian political leaning as his father. I wish he had an opportunity to be president but the the reality is an independent thinker that isn’t willing to be coddled by the corrupt portion of their political party has zero shot of getting elected in modern America.
During covid I more or less trusted what Fauci was telling us. That trust was clearly misguided. I have never been afraid to reevaluate my position based on new information. This is just another example of it. Fauci gamed covid for his own personal benefit and if he actually was aware of unethical “gain of function” at the Woohan lab he is partially responsible for the countless covid related deaths around the globe. As if I didn’t already have an overflowing barrel of reasons to not trust what the government tells us, the Fauci 5th amendment marathon was just piled on top. Disgusting.
Elsa is still up and down with her health. She will have an episode of diarrhea and/or throwing up but then settle down for a few days. She ate well yesterday but then had some diarrhea during the day. I gave her some of the medicine I have for diarrhea, hoping that it would help. She got me up once around midnight to go but then slept the rest of the night. When she had a BM this morning it was more on the solid side.
It’s been tough riding this health roller coaster with her but there is no other option. Her care is a team effort at this point split between myself, my girlfriend and her daughters. Next month she is due for a follow up with the vet for normal yearly things and to check her blood values. It’s not a visit I am looking forward to.
