Category Anything and Everything

Yesterday after work I opened up the box that my mirror frame arrived in. I ordered this last week from the Home Depot web site. I had some time before I needed to leave to play volleyball so I opened the box up to take a look. I pulled out the 4 sections of the frame and the instructions. When I looked at the included parts list I hesitated. When I looked at the back of the frame I saw cutouts where dovetail keys are supposed to go. The only issue was I had no additional hardware.

I double and triple checked the box, looking to see if I somehow missed a hardware packet, nope. I was also supposed to get some wood glue included, that was MIA as well. I was more than mildly annoyed as you can imagine. So the instructions give a phone number and email address if there is something missing. I first called and got routed to a generic sounding voicemail, which was odd. I left a message. I also sent an email but I am very doubtful I will receive a reply.

So next I wanted to see if I could just buy the dovetail keys myself, that would be the quickest path towards resolution. Well evidently they are not as easy to buy as I hoped. Any place I found sold them in packs of like 1000, I need 4. I also am unsure of what size I need. So what I wound up doing in buying a few small L brackets. I am hoping using those and wood glue will substitute for the dovetail keys. I may go to a place like Michaels that sells framing materials to see if I might get lucky and find the keys there. I did place part of the frame around the mirror to just see how it will look. I think it will be great, as long as I can get it assembled cleanly.

When I left to play volleyball it was raining at my house pretty steadily. I still went, not knowing the weather on the courts. Although when we started it was ok rain did eventually sweep through. It was hard enough that we stood under a shelter for maybe 10 minutes. It eventually slowed enough for us to get out there. In total I bet we played at least 30 minutes in continuous rain.

Playing while it’s raining is not fun on many levels. The ball can get waterlogged and very sandy. Your body holds onto even more sand than normal as well in these conditions. Despite the weather I actually wound up having my best session of hitting since I started playing again for two reasons. First the rain has the side effect of making the sand slightly firmer, allowing me to jump slightly better. Second and more importantly, I had a guy on my team that was very good at giving me consistent sets that were where I like to hit. Knowing that a set is likely to be good allowed me to be more aggressive with my approach which I need to get out of the sand. It felt really good to be able to get some decent hitting in. I left the park sandy, wet, but pleased.

Yesterday when I got home I decided to take another whack at painting the spots that I patched. Instead of using the new paint that I got using the label from the original can I used the original paint, which there was not much of. When I applied it this time I put much more effort into feathering around the patched areas instead of just doing a few strokes on the patch. I think the end result is better. If you weren’t looking for it I don’t think your eyes would be drawn to the slight color variation now.

Today I have another item coming for the home, a mirror frame for the guest bathroom. It should dress up that mirror a bit which has some wear around the edges. I would still like to do something different with the light over the sink at some point but it’s a low priority.

Here is your deep thought for the day and it’s something I have been thinking about. Think of your sphere of existence being a lake. Think of people, situations and experiences as being rocks that are dropped into the water. Right after this happens the ripples closest to the rock are the biggest, the most significant, and impactful. As time passes those ripples lessen and lessen, making their impact fade away. I have had a lot of big rocks dropped in my lake recently. I am looking forward to the water becoming calm once again.

On Saturday I was motivated to tackle a project that was in my orbit since moving in. The previous owners evidently had a TON of things hanging on the walls. When I had my house painted I stripped the walls and had all the holes filled. This was not done at the new place so I had dozens of nail holes and drywall anchors marking the walls like a shotgun blast. I knew there were a bunch of cans of paint in the garage but I had not gone through the process of trying to figure out what rooms they went with and/or if the paint was any good. My task was to address these things on Saturday.

So I looked through the large collection of paint cans. Some were very old and the paint in them had turned to goo so they were out. Luckily those did not appear to be any of the current colors of the rooms. To assist me in color matching I grabbed a small section of 2 x 4 and painted small sections to use as a color matching aid, smart, if I do say so myself.

After doing so it appeared to me that I had found the color used in most of the kitchen, the guest bathroom and the main living space as well as the bedrooms. This can had the least amount of paint in it but I was confident in my findings, so much so that I ran to Lowe’s and got another quart of the paint using the color code on the old gallon.

After patching the numerous holes, letting them dry and then sanding them smooth I started painting. The greenish color in the kitchen was a perfect match although I discovered the paint around the counter/cabinets is some different shade that I do not appear to have. The guest bathroom paint was a match as well. I did not have any holes to patch in there but went over a number of scuff marks to clean it up. When I applied the paint I bought it looked like it matched well. I took pride in finally cleaning up the holes that littered the walls. Then, an hour or two later, I was not as happy.

As I walked the house I realized that the paint once dried was just a shade or two darker than what was already on the wall, making it look like I now had lightly colored liver spots anywhere I painted over a patch. I was annoyed. I had some paint that they bought in January that looked lighter so I tried some of that as well, it was too light but I did discover that is what was used in the master bathroom. So I now can either try to take a chip of the existing color to get color matched or live with it until I decide to get the inside of the house repainted. It is an annoying situation.

On Sunday I went out a ride. I shot a video based on a request I received regarding the process of moving to a small electric unicycle to one of the bigger, nearly 100 pound models. I think the video turned out well.

In the video I talked about a general feeling of blah that was hanging over me recently. I am hoping that feeling clears soon.

I played volleyball again last night. It had rained pretty substantially an hour or so earlier. It seems like for whatever reason this stirred up the bugs which were swarming people most of the night. Even though it was not really sunny I kept my Oakley sunglasses on all evening, even once the lights turned on. For whatever reason they seemed to keep the bugs away from my face.

The wet sand combined with my sweat covered body left most of my bare skin looking like a corn dog most of the night. I played better than I did last week for sure which made me feel better. I had a few good hits which always puts a little pep in my step. I still struggle to get out of the sand but if I commit to aggressively approaching and get a set in firing range I can convert it to a kill once in awhile.

I have mentioned a number of times both here and in various videos I have made since moving about how happy I am about my decision to move. It has made a dramatic impact on my day to day existence in a positive way. With the move behind me and the cabinet/counter project being recently completed I feel like I can now work on getting in a groove as far as the rest of this thing called life. I have been falling short in ways that I’m not happy about. No worries though, I’ll get there.

My Memorial Day weekend so far has been very productive. On Saturday I buzzed around the house knocking out things I have been wanting to do. As promised I did the faucet hardware swap between the master bath tub and shower which resulted in matching sets of chrome and brushed nickel instead of the mismatch I had previously.

When I went to Home Depot during the morning I took a shot at buying a brighter LED light for over the sink in the guest bathroom. The light they had in there was just too dim. I bought one that had something like 5 times the light output. I managed to make it fit and boy is it bright. It’s so bright that I put a second diffuser panel below it to tone it down a bit. I think it will be ok but I can always do something different down the road. I also ordered a mirror frame to clean up the visual of the mirror that was starting to look shoddy around the edges.

I finally got around to running the carpet cleaner in the bedrooms, something I wanted to do since I moved in. I don’t believe the prior owners cleaned the carpets much based on how much dirt I pulled up. Hell I feel like I should do it all a second time, it was that bad.

My second pickleball paddle arrived in as many days. This one is called The Filth. In pickleball if someone makes a really good shot it is often called “filthy” hence the name. This put my active in hand paddle collection to six with one more paddle en route to me. Yes I have a problem. Hopefully 7 paddles is enough variety for me for awhile.

Later Saturday afternoon I rode with Christine on the Greenway. Her house is close enough that you can ride to there from her front door which is great. I took the T4 which I haven’t rode in awhile.

On Saturday evening/night I got drunk, really drunk. Margaritas have sort of taken over as my main alcohol intake recently. Even with as drunk as I was I don’t seem to have severe hangover consequences with them, which is a plus. It was a fun night.

My Sunday had less chores/projects than the day prior. After paying my bills I got out my Sherman S to do a DD ride. I expanded the ride to include a lot more than just coffee because I felt like it.

Tomorrow I am starting off my Memorial Day playing pickleball with my buddy Juan which should be a lot of fun. Juan and I have become closer friends over the last year even though I have known him for probably 15 years via the gyms we both used to frequent. I may also head to the gym at work since I have 24/7 access to it to get a workout in. After that the rest of my Memorial Day will be played by ear. Please take a moment to appreciate what the day is all about, the sacrifice of others, for us.

Yesterday the counter in the guest bathroom was finally installed, marking the end of a project that took somewhere in the neighborhood of a month and a half in total, much longer than anticipated. The installers yesterday took less than an hour, probably closer to 30 minutes to get the quartz top in place. Although the pace of work was slow, the quality of work done seems very, very good which is what really matters.

The plumber came in less than an hour later to reconnect everything which cost another $200. There are only two things I would like to do in that bathroom yet, replace the shitty light over the sink and put some sort of frame around the mirror, similar to what I have in the master bath.

I feel like I have had a significant issue with lack of control lately. Perhaps it is having a big number in my bank account right now from the sale of my house, perhaps it is something else, I don’t know. It manifested itself again in the last 36 hours where I bought not one, but three more pickleball paddles.

Each of these paddles had a different appeal for me but it’s not like I am a high level player that needs all of these options. It’s fun to try different paddles as they definitely impact your game in different ways. Hopefully I can start to regain more semblance of control in my life soon.

One of my tasks this upcoming weekend will be a faucet swap between the tub and shower in my master bathroom. When I replaced the fixture on the tub a couple weeks ago the only kit Home Depot had was a brushed nickel finish. I used it even though the spout and drain on the tub are chrome. When I replaced the fixture in the shower, Ace Hardware only had chrome finish, which I used despite the shower head being brushed nickel. The other day I realized my stupidity. I could have just swapped. I will atone for that oversight, matching up fixture finishes so all can be well with the world again.

Last night I played volleyball. I was rushing a bit to get out the door and I wound up forgetting to take my normal two Advil which seem to insulate me a bit from aches and pains. It was hot as hell, by the end of the first game I was soaked already. I didn’t play all that well compared to some of my recent outings. My biggest issue was I kept passing too tight to the net making it very tough to set the ball. By the time the evening was done I had a thick coating of sand on both arms and legs from being soaked in sweat. To make matters worse I got pretty banged up playing, this morning both knees and my lower back are feeling tweaked.

Normally I would head right home, shower and collapse in bed after vball but last night I wound up instead not getting home until damn close to midnight. I had a number of drinks with an unexpected trip as a passenger to exit 131 and back. My life is in a very strange place right now. It’s interesting for sure but very, very strange.

Last night after work I rode my Sherman S over to Christine’s place to help her with assembling a bed platform. I have never ridden over there and since I was too lazy to do a ride on the weekend it was a good opportunity to atone. I had to cross a couple major roadways to get there but otherwise the ride was fast and smooth. I really love my Sherman S, I wish I made more time to get out on it.

Last night I finished up the third and final season of Narcos. I really binged it hard the last few days. In total I have digested somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 episodes. I found the show very well done. There is another spin off called Narcos Mexico, I have to decide if I want to get locked into another series.

Hey there I am still here despite a lack of entries over the last six days. I just have not felt like posting.

On Friday night I wound up playing pickleball with Jeff, one of the guys that plays with us over lunch hour as well. We had actually played Friday at lunch as well in the sweltering heat. Playing at 7:30 in the evening at least got the brutal sun off us but it was still super humid with temps in the high 80’s. I was a sweaty mess when done.

On Saturday after going to the grocery store I worked on getting some small things done around the house that I have been putting off for no good reason. One of those was to finally go through the last cardboard boxes I have from the move. In total there was maybe around 10 of them. Since I have not had a pressing need for anything in those boxes in the 2 months I have been in the new house I knew I would be throwing a lot of it out, which I did.

Evidently my brain is still in hardcore throw it out mode as I threw away some things that I had held onto for 30-40 years, trophies. I have had around a dozen trophies that have followed me on my travels as an adult, they are a combo of bowling, baseball, and one volleyball trophy from when Rich and I won the Pottstown Rumble. I had more bowling trophies than anything.

At first I started stuffing them into one of the cabinets in the garage but then I stopped, looked at them and thought to myself if these actually mattered to me. The answer was, mostly no. I only kept the couple baseball and the volleyball trophy. All the others got tossed into the trash bin. I felt little remorse in doing so. Shawn from 5 years ago would have looked at such an act as blasphemy. The trophies were far from the only casualty. I bet almost half of what was in those boxes got tossed. It felt good in the end to have all of the temporary boxes off my garage shelves.

On Sunday my main accomplishment was replacing the hardware for the shower faucet. The old fixture was corroded and loose. I have done this task three times now. This was the most challenging because the old hardware was somewhat stuck due to the corrosion. I eventually got everything worked out. Unfortunately ACE only had a chrome set which doesn’t match the brushed nickel shower head I have, oh well.

Early in the afternoon I rode over at the Greenway. I was on my S22 and Christine rode the One Wheel, which she has picked up very quickly. It was hot as hell but a fun ride, as long as you kept moving to keep the air flowing.

When I got home later in the afternoon I found myself feeling down. I turned on Netflix and continued watching Narcos. I binge watched the hell out of it. I just felt lazy and blah until my eyes finally shut somewhere around 11. I had to watch at least six episodes yesterday, almost non-stop.

Yesterday was not the only episode of my feeling off, it has been a pretty steady state for a week or more. As always, only I have the power to change that.

Last night I had dinner at Bruninas, a place I have eaten a number of times. I was eating with Christine after playing some pickleball. I was still wearing my sweaty clothes. When it came time to pay I realized I didn’t have my wallet on me. I figured I left it in the truck by mistake. I wanted to run out and get it but Christine insisted on paying. So when we went out to the truck I did a quick glance around and didn’t see it but I figured I just had it stuffed in my pickleball bag somewhere.

So when we stopped somewhere else I looked again for my wallet and could not find it. Now I was a bit worried. I opened up the FindMY app on my phone since I have an Apple AirTag in my wallet. It identified the last time it saw my wallet was somewhere in the parking lot of the restaurant, fck…. The gym shorts I have on are shallow so I can only assume I stuffed my wallet in them only to have it fall out without my noticing, great. I went back to the restaurant parking lot hoping to see my wallet lying there somewhere. It wasn’t.

I walked around using the app to try to aid in tracking the wallet but it kept saying the air tag was not nearby. The doom scenario of someone picking up the wallet and making off with it was now a very possible reality. I went back home and kept checking the app to see if a new ping came in. For those of you that don’t know, the way an air tag works is any time it is close to any Apple device it phones home to report it’s location. If I saw a new location pop up I would know someone has it. The location never updated.

So somewhere around 9:30 I decided to go back to that parking lot and look some more. I turned on the tracker function on the phone which is sort of like a metal detector. If you get in range of the tag it will tell you and as you get closer it will show you exactly the direction and distance it is. As I walked the lot I had no luck however I decided I should completely trace where I walked so I moved up towards the restaurant.

As I did I suddenly got a hit, I was far away but it detected the tag in the vicinity. As I kept moving towards the entrance I then started getting distance info. Eventually I had a strong signal that pointed just inside the door to the hostess station, only 3 feet away. Unfortunately by this time the restaurant was closed and nobody was there but I called the number on the door and left a message letting them know they had my wallet. I plan to get there just as the doors open today to reclaim it. If all ends well technology will have saved my ass, again.