Category Anything and Everything

Friday night I did something I had not done since the first week of July, a conventional live stream. The last one was when I was in California with my gang. I finally felt motivated enough to do one, again. The stream went well, running for more than two and a half hours. It felt good to get out there again.

Later in the weekend I let AI digest the live stream and spit out a 7 minute summary which was pretty accurate and interesting. You can check out both versions below.

Saturday morning I got up to play pickleball with my friend Sue. We had a good two hour session where I played well overall. During the afternoon I decided to take the Max 6 skateboard to the greenway to see how it would do in the varied terrain and longer distances. The answer is for the most part, great.

The two surfaces that were not much fun were sidewalks with significant joints and the boardwalk sections of the greenway which left my feet feeling a tingle. Other than that I had a great time on the Max 6. I am pleasantly surprised how much I have enjoyed getting back on an electric skateboard.

Saturday night I was invited to a birthday party of a guy I play volleyball with. He is a commercial airline pilot. He lives in a small development that has a private airport. He also has a plane hanger in his home, complete with plane.

The house is sort of the ultimate bachelor pad complete with pinball machines, a gym, a huge collection of tools, an elevator and even a disco ball. Before dinner I got to see a plane take off in the backyard, an experience I never had before.

I brought a collection of Cayman Jacks with me to the party to help relax my social interactions. I only knew a few people there from volleyball and mostly stuck to them but did manage to have some conversations with people I did not know, big for me. I was there for about three hours before heading home.

The Eagles were scheduled to play the Saints on Sunday. As of mid-morning I still had not renewed my Sunday Ticket and was pondering if I wanted to do so. The way the Birds crashed and burned last year really left a bad taste in my mouth plus I know that locking in every weekend 3-4 hours to watch the game, alone, isn’t necessarily something I want to do on a consistent basis. However I eventually decided I should renew, not wanting to break a 24 year tradition.

Going in the Saints looked nearly unstoppable as they pinned huge point totals on their opponents the first two games. Plus this game was in New Orleans. Instead most of the game was a defensive struggle with the score being 3-0 well into the second half. Again Siriani took risks that didn’t pay off, going for it on 4th down in chipshot field goal range and not getting it. Hurts also threw a bad interception into the Saints end zone as well as coughing up a fumble. Despite these miscues the Eagles were still in it although I thought they were going to blow it after allowing a late touchdown to the Saints, letting them pull ahead with only two minutes to go. The disappointment was already staged in my head.

Instead the Eagles got their own go ahead TD thanks to a huge pass to their tight end. However there was still enough time on the clock for the Saints to drive to get a game tying field goal. The idea of relying on the defense to make a stop is not something I have any confidence in. Instead of giving the game away as they did last week the defense came up big, getting pressure on the QB which resulted in a game ending interception. It was an unexpected win.

Despite the victory I feel less and less excited about Jalen Hurts. I don’t like how stoic he is. Philly fans love emotion, we want to see excitement when things go well and disappointment/anger when they don’t. Hurts has none of that. I also found it interesting when I noticed during a sideline conversation with the head coach, Jalen never looked directly at him, instead glancing back and forth. It just struck me as odd. It will be interesting to see how this season unfolds but I don’t think I am alone regarding my thoughts on Hurts.

The rest of my Sunday was pretty uneventful. In general I tried to keep myself busy and focused on things I can control. Focusing on things outside of that realm lends itself to feelings that are not welcomed.

Last night was my first time at volleyball for a couple weeks. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect although I knew that physically I was feeling better than normal. It reflected in my play which I would describe as confident. I made only a few unforced errors and as usual was the most sand covered player on the court. Despite being pleased with my play overall our team lost every game but one.

My team once again included the woman I described several weeks ago. The one that ignored three progressively louder OUT calls only to play and shank a ball out of bounds. She seems like a nice woman but that doesn’t translate into my wanting to play with her. Her skill level is not very good and confident is the last word I would use to describe her play. I found myself getting very frustrated by the end of the night to the point where I was having a difficult time masking a physical reaction to some of her mistakes.

Yesterday I had a rather emotionally full day. Once again I found myself scratching my head trying to make sense of things that simply defy rational explanation. That process leads nowhere positive and at this point in life if I am not doing things to steer myself towards positivity and happiness I am doing myself a disservice. Hell I even had my ex once again trying to get some sort of virtual foothold in my life yesterday which once again defies logic, to me.

I hope to have a fun weekend which includes pickleball and a party with some of my volleyball friends Saturday night. It will be the first weekend in awhile where I can refocus, aligning my priorities and goals where I concentrate more on what I need instead of what I give.

Last night I took my newly acquired Max 6 electric skateboard out for another run. This time I wanted to head to the nearby greenway to test the upper limits of the board safely, hopefully. I did up my level of protection for this ride wearing one of my full face helmets as well as my hip/ass pads under my shorts. The testing went well.

On the first day I rode the board 15KMH as my initial speed and I felt unsure of myself even then. By the end of the session yesterday I topped out at 35KMH and was nervous at that number. Last night things were different. In the span of 24 hours my confidence had grown to the point where I surpassed 35KMH within the first couple minutes. The smooth and mostly straight sections of path were good for carrying speed. I topped out at 41KMH (just over 25MPH) which is only 1KMH below the listed top speed of the board, wow. That is also the fastest I have ever gone on an electric skateboard by a good 5MPH. Even at the upper limit the board felt very stable.

In addition to testing top speeds I did a couple full acceleration and braking tests, making sure to brace myself on the board prior to doing so. Once again I was impressed with the strong but linear results I got in both scenarios. It was a very fun session and makes me anxious to take the board to the Naples Greenway in the near future to see how I do in that varied terrain.

Throughout my life I have been a covert leader. What does that mean? I am not the type of person to get up and give a rah rah speech to try to motivate someone else. My leadership almost exclusively comes in the form of action and example. I set a bar for myself and others recognize it and decide to follow that direction. (or don’t)

Leading in this manner can cause inconsistent results. For example if I am working with someone on a project and I am “leading” by consistently doing the lion share of the work it’s possible others could see that as an opportunity to do less instead of raising up their efforts to match or at least approach mine. In my professional life my approach has been pretty successful. In my personal life the results have been much less consistent. Is this something good or bad in the big picture? It all depends on perspective, I guess.

Last night after work I got a haircut, the first one since early July. I have been trying to let my hair grow out a bit and still am but it was getting to look pretty unkempt. The stylist basically just evened things out, keeping most of the length instead of doing the skin fade, high and tight look I have been sporting for quite a long time. It felt good to get a little cleaned up.

I took the Max 6 skateboard out for it’s first road test last night. It had been probably at least 4 years since I stepped on an electric skateboard, probably longer, so I was very cautious at first. The board felt very stable even though I did not. I wound up taking it for a ride that was in the neighborhood of three to four miles including a stop at Wawa. The more time I rode the more speed I carried, topping out at just under 22mph which is the fastest I ever had gone on an EKS8.

The Max 6 has large “cloud” wheels that make rolling over small debris on the road more manageable and safer. The board has a lot of power which I only lightly tapped into during the ride. I wound up enjoying myself more than I expected and hope to get out on the long board more often. I spent the remaining part of the evening editing the footage which took a couple hours.

It was the kind of Tuesday evening I had not had in awhile and I enjoyed it.

I got to watch my first Eagles game of the season and wound up wishing I didn’t. The team snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, allowing the Falcons to beat them at home. It wasn’t the loss as much as the way they lost.

They basically had the game won. The Falcons were out of time outs with less than two minutes to go and the Eagles had a 3rd and short somewhere around the Falcons 10 yard line. However instead of doing a run play that at the very worst would not get the first down but still burn 40 seconds off the clock they decided to pass the ball to Barkley who dropped an easy catch that would have gotten the first down and sealed the game. It’s hard to be mad at Barkley who otherwise had a very strong game but damn, that was a choke, but, the choking was far from over.

So the clock is now stopped and the Eagles are forced to kick a field goal which gives them a 6 point lead. Once the Falcons got the ball with no timeouts the Birds flopped into the hated prevent defense which allowed Atlanta to march down the field and score a touchdown in less than a minute, it was utterly ridiculous. They scored so fast there was still 30 seconds left which the Eagles squandered with a game ending interception. What a choke.

The game left a very bad taste in my mouth, especially when I thought back to the decision in the first quarter to skip a chip shot field goal and instead go for it on fourth and four, which they failed. Those 3 points would have been the margin of victory. After the way the team collapsed at the end of last season a loss like this is not well received, by anyone.

Last night I unboxed and began shooting footage for a video with a new electric skateboard that was sent to me for evaluation, the Maxfind Max 6. I have had several electric skateboards in the past but not for several years. I also was never sent one for evaluation so I was sort of surprised when they reached out to me.

I didn’t actually get to ride the board, which I’ll probably do tonight. The board looks cool and spec-wise seems pretty impressive. Hopefully I can keep myself upright during the testing process.

Last night I had a very difficult time falling asleep. Surely the Eagles loss didn’t help things. I also realized we are on the eve of another super full moon which could be tweaking my moods and brain function. Whatever the root cause all I know is I am very, very tired this morning.

Yes I have been gone for a week in California and no I don’t have time to go into great lengths so you get a cliff notes version.

Dawn, who I have mentioned here several times and I recently decided to explore a relationship. We have been friends for a couple years. She has been in the midst of moving to a new house and there are a mountain of things that need to be done connected to it. I wanted to help.

The week was filled with nearly non stop projects and tasks, far too many for me to even remember. Some of the highlights were removing a 40 year old one piece oven/top oven, dealing with a rotted tire blow out on a trailer while rolling down the highway, redoing a bunch of wooden tables, multiple light/door lock replacements and much, much more.

We did get to do a couple social things although riding a wheel was not one of them. The Sunday I arrived we went to a pool party hosted by one of our EUC friends. On Thursday evening we met up with Marty, Roger, and Larry for a nice dinner as well. Other than that it was nose to the grindstone mode, mostly.

I rented a full size Dodge Ram for the trip and we really got our money’s worth. It was used hard and performed it’s duties flawlessly. I got unexpected practice at backing up with a trailer. I was awful the first couple times but became much better by the end of the week. The entire week forced me to dust off some handyman skills that I already had as well as discover some new ones that I had not.

For almost half of my time there it was brutally hot with daytime temperatures exceeding 110 degrees. I found myself in a constant state of thirst despite drinking as much as I could. Although my body is quite accustomed to working in hot and humid conditions it apparently is not so efficient with working in dry sauna-like temperatures. I survived nonetheless.

By the time the week was done her new place was in significantly better condition than when I arrived which was what I hoped for. With as much as we did I still found myself wishing we could get her to the point where everything that needs to be done is completed, but only more time is going to be able to accomplish that.

I took my first ever red eye from California Saturday night. My hope was to be able to sleep on the plane but I was unsuccessful in doing so. I flew into Charlotte, had a two hour layover and then arrived in Fort Myers mid-morning Sunday. Flying overnight makes flights much more reasonable but I would need to find a way to be able to sleep effectively. I struggled getting through the rest of Sunday as I felt like I was in zombie mode. Once I fell asleep last night I was out like a rock.

It’s going to feel strange sliding back into my normal routine here as my time out there has no structure or routine. Each day we were just tackling whatever obstacles were in the way. Dawn and I work together well which is an important thing for me. It was an exhausting but fulfilling week at the same time.

After I posted my video about the new Pidzoom mirror I installed on my helmet I received a tip that was welcome news to me. Unbeknownst to me there was a second mirror unit that is under the foam that was protecting the first mirror. It’s not obvious at all so I was pleasantly surprised by the news as it meant I could now mount a mirror on another one of my helmets. I chose my full face LS2 motorcycle helmet. Once again the install was simple and the mirror is a large upgrade from what I had before.

I thought about getting another ride in last night but ran out of time and motivation to do so. I instead kept myself busy doing prep for more travel this weekend. If you hear/see nothing from me for the next week or so there is no cause for alarm.

Last night after work was a pretty busy one. In addition to completing my mini-workout routine, laundry and a few other tasks I also shot a video regarding a new rear view mirror for my helmets. I have utilized a cheap bike helmet mirror on all of my helmets for a long time. With all of the riding I do mixed in with vehicles, knowing what is behind and or beside me is very valuable in keeping myself out of harms way.

The mirror is by a new company named Pidzoom. They have sent me a couple of their products in the past for free to review and they were both good. I paid for this mirror but it is worth it. The kit comes with tons of mounting options which allows the mirror to be used in pretty much any application you can imagine. Installation took a few minutes. Once it was installed I hopped on my Master V4 to get a real world test.

At first I thought I would do a quick spin around the block but the ride turned out to be longer than expected because I was enjoying myself. The Master V4 is smooth and powerful. It was stupid easy to get to 40MPH plus and plain stupid to do so since I only had a helmet and wrist guards on. I like the mirror so much that I am seriously considering buying one for all of my helmets that I use for the road.

Speaking of rear views, yesterday I had a person in my past that I have left behind for going on 9 months once again try inject themselves into my present reality. These attempts have been going on for several months and they always get handled the same way by me. I don’t acknowledge their presence. I think in their mind enough time has passed that communication could resume in some manner. They are incorrect.

There have been many times in my life where I found myself trapped looking behind me, dwelling on what was. That is a hard cycle to break as my mind was not willing to stop the negative loop thinking related to the past. The logical side of me knew and knows that allowing the past, which has already happened and is unchangeable to affect my present is a recipe for unhappiness. Even with this knowledge it’s hard to shake the pattern, at least for me. All I can control is today so I may as well put my energy towards making it as positive as possible. It’s a way of thinking I have to work on every single day but worth the effort.

When I got home on Friday I immediately launched into fantasy football draft party prep mode. That means rearranging all of the furniture in the main living area to spots that work to host roughly 10 people with their computers and food/drink. I set out the various snacks I bought as well as ordering three pizzas while I was at it. I realized near last second that I forgot to set up my laptop which I connect to my TV to allow two remote team owners to participate in the event.

As is always the case my draft was basically by the seat of my pants. I utilized a cheat sheet which had players ranked by position as well as the fantasy web site which showed top players available as the draft progressed. Somehow my draft was decent with the automated league assistant grading my picks as an A-, fifth best in the league.

Elsa did her best to be “social” during the draft. Instead of spending the majority of the draft hidden in the corner of the house she spent most of the time under the main table by people’s feet. It was a surprising improvement. The draft wrapped up a little after 10PM. As soon as the last person left I went into high speed clean up mode. I had the house back to normal in less than 30 minutes which was good even by my standards.

Both Saturday and Sunday morning I played pickleball, enjoying myself as the competition was good and the people I played against were friendly and good natured. I tended to a number of small chores around the house during the afternoons which were mostly rainy the entire three day weekend. By the time Labor Day itself hit I more or less had everything I needed to get done, done.

Monday afternoon despite rainy skies I took a ride on my V13. I have not done appreciable EUC riding in quite awhile so it felt good to get out there. I got to confirm I can still ride the V13 seated, the only wheel I own where that is a possibility. I indeed could still do it and probably did the most seated riding ever in a session. I did encounter rain early in the ride but by the time the ride concluded I had dried out. During the ride I drifted between subjects including some general thoughts about life and the choices you make along the way.

I have a shortened week ahead of me that will include some high priority tasks that need to be handled before Friday expires. I love a good challenge.

Despite very ominous rain clouds that were around the sand volleyball courts last night we were able to get a full two hours of play in. My play was decent although our team had several games we should have won that we gave away at the end which always frustrates me. I found I was having a hard time masking my negative body language and/or facial expressions when some unforced errors were made. To be honest however I made my own fair share of them.

One thing that was positive was for the first time since resuming playing volleyball over a year and a half ago I finally was doing some more aggressive serving. I am normally very consistent with getting my serve in but it isn’t all that tough for the receiving team to handle. During my volleyball peak I was hitting serves that would move like a slider in baseball, across and down. The key to that sort of serve is a more whip like motion in my arm instead of straight. When I got some of those type serves going last night the other team was consistently struggling to pass them, and I liked it.

Tonight is the fantasy football draft party at my house, the only real social event I have held there since I moved. As soon as I get home the scramble to rearrange the house will begin. Luckily I no longer prepare food for the event. I put out chips and pretzels while ordering a few pizzas. The other owners bring a lot of food themselves. As always I will draft my players by the seat of my pants with next to no research. If there was an award for the least prepared owner in the league I would win it hands down, every year. It’s because I really don’t care all that much about it.

With all that has been going on lately Labor Day weekend has sort of snuck up on me. Sure I will be glad to have an extended weekend. I am just not quite sure what I will fill it with yet at this point but rest assured it won’t be that hard to do so.

If I could get deeper for a moment, I’d like to talk about things that bring me fulfillment and positive feelings. One of those things you are reading right now. The blog has always been a creative outlet for me where I share thoughts and feelings that may be sheltered in many situations. Is it odd I would choose to put these sort of thoughts on the internet instead? Yes. My YouTube channel and all that it contains is another outlet where my creativity and expression is out there naked for all to see.

My athletic endeavors as well as exercise routines keep both my body and mind in sync. Pushing myself to compete against others makes me better, period. I feel the drive to still push myself at my age helps me stay as young at heart as possible. This refusal to go quietly into the night is something I will always strive for and hang my hat upon.

Finally, my relationships with other people is an opportunity to both give and receive energy, knowledge and emotion which can be some of the most fulfilling avenues available. My inner circle of people is small so these connections to me are important and valuable. I still am learning more about how I interact with others and how to improve those interactions for everyone involved, most importantly, myself.

What was the point of including this at the tail end of the blog? Not everything requires an explanation.