Category Movie Reviews

So Cindy and I decided to take down all of the Christmas decorations.  I don’t believe I have ever taken stuff down before New Years but the weird timing of Thanksgiving being early and Christmas being on a Tuesday just made it felt right.  I knew that if I didn’t do it on the weekend I would feel compelled to do it on New Years day when I am off and I didn’t want to do that either.  Cindy was down with the plan as her daughter’s birthday is next weekend so she also preferred to get it done sooner rather than later.

We got started early in the afternoon.  We picked a pretty terrible day to do this as it was ridiculously hot outside, 85+ degrees.  As I was sweating while disassembling the various yard decorations I gave thought to living in a place where the end of December does not include sunburn and mosquitoes.  We worked non-stop for over three hours taking everything down and putting it away, both indoors and out.  I used it as a reason to do some minor cleaning and organizing in the large shed.  Quite a few things either got curbed or thrown out.  As always I felt twinges of sadness during the process as I really enjoy the house being decorated during the holidays.  I also felt the usual twinges of relief when it was all done as I also enjoy when the house is in a “normal” state.

After we were done I took my One Wheel out for a short ride to both lift my spirits and do some more testing of my GoPro 7.  I talk about my mixed bag of feelings.

Saturday night we watched the new Deathwish movie, a reboot of the Charles Bronson classic, this time starring Bruce Willis.  When I first got the Netflix envelope in the mail Cindy said she didn’t want to watch the move based on the title.  When I told her Bruce and a few other name actors were in it she changed her mind.  It was a classic revenge plot as you can imagine.  The transformation of Bruce to a cold blooded killer who takes pleasure in making the bad guys suffer is not very credible but I didn’t really care.  It was standard B quality entertainment.

On Sunday morning Cindy and I headed out on what was supposed to be just a standard 20 mile DD ride with her on the Dualtron and me on the Gotway Monster.  It wound up being a 33+ mile ride after Cindy suggested some detours that made for an interesting change.  One of those changes was seeing the house Katie and Daniel are trying to buy.  We got to see it riding along Randall Blvd which I will never ride on again.  It’s a two lane road with no shoulder and tons of traffic.  It was a fun ride, my feet and calves were burning by the time we got back.  Since the Dualtron allows Cindy to sit or stand as well as having cruise control she is now able to go on these long rides with me without huge problems which is great.

The Eagles had a crucial game yesterday, needing to beat the Redskins to have a chance to get into the playoffs along with the Vikings losing to the Bears.  The Eagles took care of business in a HUGE way, steamrolling the Redskins 24-0.  It was the third incredible performance in a row for Nick Foles, who at one point completed 25 passes IN A ROW, tying the NFL record.   This just seems surreal that this is the same team that could not get out of it’s own way a month ago.  With Nick directing the offense on long time consuming drives time and again the defense, which has been mostly atrocious all year long, seems to have new life from not being on the field as long.  It was a dominating performance.  Nick went out late in the game after another shot to the ribs which makes me nervous but the early injury reports were it is just a bruise and should be able to go in the playoffs.  Oh yea, the Vikings lost. 🙂

The Eagles are in a very odd situation.  Their franchise QB, Carson Wentz, is again sitting on the bench while the team plays it’s best football all year.  It certainly has made me ponder more than once if the team is actually better off as Nick Foles as the starter??  Statistically Wentz has had a good year but the team and the offense in general was not consistent at all, could not execute sustained drives, and Wentz did not spread the ball around well, locking in on  Zak Ertz most of the time.  Add in Carson’s injury problems in his first two years, not what you are hoping for with a young QB.

Is it possible we have a Drew Bledsoe/Tom Brady situation in reverse?  Drew Bledsoe was an established, successful NFL QB who got hurt.  Tom Brady came out of nowhere and just won games and never gave the job back.  Right now it feels like the team responds better to Nick Foles than Carson Wentz, although Foles being older.  Nick is still a young man however, only 29 years old.  Is there any possibility the Eagles actually decide to move forward with Foles?  I doubt it but I for one would not object.  The most important thing to any Eagles fan is winning and especially winning when the pressure is on.  Foles has done that so many times now including on the biggest stage of all.  To me he has earned a starting QB spot, proving last year was not just a fluke.  If not with the Eagles, surely somewhere else.

It will be interesting to see if this miracle finish can continue into the playoffs.  The fact that the Birds are even in the playoffs is a huge win for me. One month ago I had zero expectations of us sniffing the playoffs.  Nick Foles luckily had other ideas.  A big thanks to the Vikings to choking, again.

Yesterday was Sadie’s 11th birthday.  We celebrated with the customary vanilla cupcake, she seemed to approve.

Cindy and I have no plans for New Years Eve.  I may do a live stream to test out some of the new gear she got me for Xmas.  Stop by if you are like us and prefer to avoid the drunk driver-fest which is this holiday.  The worst part will be having to endure the individuals that live around us that put so much value in putting on their own personal fireworks displays which terrify the dogs.  I guess I am an age adjusted hypocrite because when I was young I thought fireworks were cool too but nowadays I could absolutely care less.

Hope you had a great 2018.  Stay safe tonight.

Cindy busted ass on Friday trying to get a lot of chores done so us being gone Saturday wouldn’t be a big deal.  I set the alarm for Saturday morning so we could get up and get the chicken clean up done before rolling out.  We dropped Elsa off at Ali’s so she could spend the day with Sadie.  Since Elsa stayed with them during our last road trip she is very comfortable there and we feel good knowing she will be well taken care of.

The drive across state in the Ioniq was easy.  The smart cruise control the car has makes highway travel simple and safe.  You set the desired speed and the cushion you want behind other vehicles.  If you encounter another vehicle the Ioniq will slow down as needed to maintain that distance.  If you swing out in the passing lane it automatically will accelerate once it sees the path is clear.  The only unpleasant portion of the journey was the last 10-20 miles where we were engulfed in typical stop and go traffic on I-95.  I still don’t see how people can deal with that day in and day out.

We found the college where Maker Faire was being held without issue.  We swung into a nearby parking garage with flat rate $5 parking which is reasonable.  For some reason I assumed the Maker Fare was indoors, it was not.  Only a couple of exhibits were indoors which was fine, although I was glad I dressed temperature appropriate, it was 86 degrees when we left.

One of the things that actually got me interested in going to the event was I saw Prusa 3D printers was going to be there, including the founder, Joe Prusa.  Well the Prusa tent was right near the one entrance.  They had two MK3’s (the next printer I want) printing models as well as a bunch of other examples of things that it printed sitting on the tables.  We talked to the guy working the stand for awhile and I said I that I thought Joe was supposed to be there?

The guy pointed behind me and there he was.  Joe is really a big deal in the 3D printing world.  His Prusa i3 design has been knocked off by many Chinese companies.  Even though he is from the Czech Republic you would think English is his first language.  Cindy and I talked with him for awhile and even showed him the big 3D Widowmaker rifle we made.  I told him I hoped they would have a couple MK3’s available for sale but sadly that was not the case.  Joe did say that the backlog for them is less than it was.  It was taking 3 months to get one, it’s now down to a month and a half. 🙂

That was a great way to start the event and the good vibe continued throughout our time there.  The people working the booths were really friendly and engaging.  They seemed very excited to share information about the stuff they are so passionate in creating.  We saw creativity in many different ways, it was great.  We finished up with a good lunch at one of the food trucks parked outside the venue. Cindy and I both really liked the event and I would be happy to go back again in the future.

So we still had some time left and had thrown the EUC’s in the back of the car, just in case.  We walked back to the garage and suited up for a quick ride down to the Bayside area, a very happening shopping/food district by the water.  It was part of the Port of Miami so we got a good view of several massive cruise ships get ready to depart.  We only rode for maybe a half hour.  It was Cindy’s first time back on one wheel in a couple months so we didn’t want to push it too far.

The drive back was front loaded with traffic, this time getting out of Miami.  Once we got back onto Alligator Alley it was smooth sailing.  Elsa had a great time at Ali’s and didn’t seem in a rush to leave.  We actually wound up taking Sadie back with us since Ali was going out Saturday night and was planning to be gone a good portion of Sunday. We got home before 6PM, it was a testament to just how much you can experience in a span of 10 hours.

On Saturday night we watched Atomic Blonde, one of those movies that was interesting to me but not enough to lay out theater level pricing to see.  If you are looking for a good splattering of nudity, action, plot twists, and just high energy, this film will do nicely.  The ending just nudged into A- territory for me.

So my Saturday run got transplanted to Sunday.  Once again the temps in the low 70’s with humidity made the session feel uncomfortable very early.  I may as well get used to it as there are another 7 months of such weather ahead of me.

Cindy’s big vinyl cutter showed up late last week and she has been testing it out, trying to learn the ins and outs of it.  Although it is without a doubt not a high end cutter in fit and finish, it does work.  In some ways it works better than the Cameo 3, it cuts fast and it’s simplicity is in some ways more appealing.  The software that is included also isn’t as bad as I first thought it could be.  It makes certain types of projects really easy to do.

My 3D EUC store got off to a nice little start, selling three stands in the first 24 hours.  One of them is going all the way to Belgium.  The customer is paying as much to ship the stand there as the stand costs.  It will be interesting to see if demand will continue.

Yesterday afternoon I dedicated a couple hours to sprinkler replacement.  In total I pulled out nine Rain Bird sprinklers that had stopped oscillating.  It was pretty easy to tell which ones weren’t working as there was a narrow swath of green surrounded by brown.  The Hunter sprinklers I replaced them with are supposed to be some of the best so I hope I get many years of trouble free performance out of them.  Despite it only being April 8th it was quite warm in the yard mid-afternoon.

After returning inside I didn’t feel guilty just geeking out in WoW for a few hours.  It’s hard to describe exactly why the virtual second universe I exist in is so appealing to my brain but it’s been my escape for 12 years and counting.

If it was possible to create a blueprint for how I would like most weekends to be it would be like this past one.  The weather was perfect with cool mornings and pleasantly warm afternoons with an abundance of blue sky.

Saturday morning I got out and resumed my running program after a two week hiatus due to illness.  Although the act of running three and a half miles was difficult as expected, it was offset by the sense of accomplishment afterward.  The cool air temps in the mid-50’s definitely was beneficial.

When I got back Cindy let me know that I managed to catch another one of the palm rats, bringing my total to four.  As with the others I drove the little annoying bastard a couple miles away and let him loose into the undergrowth to fend for himself.  I know there is at least one more adult in the coop area.  If I can catch him I will finally feel ready to rerun the wires for the DVR system.

My new routine of making sure there are no mice in the coop when the door is closed seems to be a solid plan.  Before when I had the coop door on an analog timer I was never quite sure when it would close.  The end result was most of the time I put the chickens to bed the door was still open and would close later.  Well if a mouse entered during that interim it would spend the entire night chewing on whatever it could to get out.

A couple weeks ago, when I installed the new wi-fi router, to replace the mouse damaged one, I also installed a Wemo smart switch on the coop door.  I now know exactly when the door closes and I make sure to go out there after that happens.  When I tend to the chickens I now include probing all possible mouse hiding spots with the broom handle to make sure none are inside the coop.  That, paired with the ultrasonic rodent repellent we put in there seems to have kept the inside of the coop pest free.

Saturday after completing some chores Cindy, Elsa and I headed out for a long errand run, stopping at something like a half dozen places along the way.  One of those places was the office to swap out a failed hard drive.  Another was Tractor Supply, a place we only have been to a couple of times.  Despite being a lot smaller than Rural King, I liked their selection of several things more.  We finished up eating lunch outside a pizza place where Elsa chilled under the table while we enjoyed a good slice of pizza.

I got notice that Patrick’s birthday gift was delivered.  I sent him the Segway S1 that I bought at Christmas.  It was sort of my plan all along to give it to him.  It is a cool little wheel that will be good for Pat and his girlfriend to learn on.

Saturday night Cindy and I watched Dark Tower, our latest rental.  I remember when the movie came out a lot of people that read the book were not happy with the film adaptation.  Since I never read the book, I did not have that bar to measure it against.  To me it was entertaining although a bit strange to see Matthew McConaughey play the villain. I’d give it a solid B rating.

Sunday morning we slept in, for us, to almost quarter till 8.  Mid-morning Cindy and I headed out to the Naples Greenway with the big Segway I2 in the back of the truck.   I discovered that transporting the Segway is a two person job, at least when it comes to loading.  The unit is somewhere around 120 pounds which I normally could throw around pretty easily, the issue is the size and design of the I2 makes it damn near impossible to one man it as there is nothing to really grab on to.  I can manage to lower it from the truck myself but I utilized Cindy to help me load it at the Greenway.

Our objective for the ride was to locate the new bridge that connects the Greenway to downtown Naples.  It was Cindy’s first time riding the Segway I2 out in public.  She was conservative at first but soon got adept at leaning into turns with her entire body.  We found the new bridge and it was very impressive, a beautiful and long structure.  It spills out at what will be an awesome resident park in the near future called Baker Park.  It connects to the newly renovated Central Avenue.

Central now is very bike friendly with large and clearly marked bike lanes.  We decided to ride all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.  It felt great to be able to ride all the way to the beach using bike safe routes.  On the way back we ate lunch at The Bowl.  We both had all fruit concoctions that consisted of acacia berry, bananas, granola, honey, hemp seed hearts, blueberries, and a couple other things.  It was very good.

The ride was much longer than I expected and the used batteries on the I2 performed much better with Cindy at the controls.  The slower speed and her lighter weight only consumed three bars of battery life out of eight.  We both really enjoyed the ride and would like to maybe actually spend some time on the beach the next time we do the same route.

Late afternoon Sunday I got out and washed my Tacoma.  I finally got around to applying some paint sealant that was highly rated on Amazon.  On the bottle it claimed how you could do a complete vehicle in 10 minutes!  Well although it was less labor intensive than conventional wax, I still busted my ass for at least 45 minutes applying the sealant to the Tacoma.  You only work in small sections, first applying with a circular motion followed by back and forth to finish up.  Since it is a clear product, it is annoying to try to determine where you stopped and started since you have no wax haze to guide you.  I guess the first time the truck gets wet will determine how good the product is.

The rest of Sunday was spent editing video, creating 3D projects, and playing some WoW.  It really was a great couple days and was a reminder that I could seriously retire and never have to worry about being bored.

So when I buried Peaches last weekend I temporarily put an unused compost bin on top of the spot to keep the chickens from scratching around there.  When I was walking Elsa Friday night before bed she was standing by the compost bin on the other side of the fence just looking at it.  I didn’t think much of it other than maybe her enhanced sense of smell was picking up something.

Well when I was cleaning the coop the next morning for the hell of it I decided to look at the compost bin.  I lifted the lid and was shocked to see a huge pile of sand and a hole leading down towards where I buried the chicken.  I was dumbfounded because the compost bin was not knocked over, it almost looked like something came up from the ground although I knew that didn’t make sense.  I called Cindy out to see my discovery and she was equally shocked.

So I backfilled the hole immediately and then bought some sod during the day to cover the burial spot, figuring that should be enough to prevent further desecration of Peaches burial site.  Sunday morning once again I awoke to a pile of dirt, just offset a little bit.  The animal dug in from the edge of the sod and continued whatever disgusting activities it has been engaging in.  I pulled back the sod, Cindy threw some cajun pepper in the hole, filled it, put back down the sod and then threw the compost bin lid over it Sunday night.  AGAIN I awoke this morning to fresh digging.

At this point based on the size of the hole we are guessing a possum may be the culprit.  The hole I dug was probably a foot and a half deep but clearly I should have gone deeper.  This morning I filled the hole in one more time but after doing so I pulled the chicken tractor on top of the burial site.  It has a wire mesh floor which would prevent anything from digging through the top.  If more digging occurs I will have little choice but to dig up poor Peaches and relocate her to a deeper and more secure area.

I got my run in on Saturday morning, taking advantage of the cool temps in the mid 50’s. I was a bit worried that my sore calves from my 50 mile work commute on the Monster would hinder my running but I did ok.  The daytime temp swung a huge 30 degrees into the mid 80’s, just too warm for February for my tastes.  We had not done grass maintenance in close to a month thanks to a lack of rain.  Things were looking pretty ratty at this point so Cindy and I did a full sweep, weed whacking and mowing.

The weed whacking took me much longer than I hoped because I kept spending time futzing with the gas weed whacker.  After I replaced the fuel lines a few weeks ago it seemed to be running well.  Well all of a sudden it was back to running like shit and would only keep going in the choke position.  I finally tired of f’ing with it and just finished up with the battery powered whacker which takes longer.  I am just going to get another gas trimmer.

I did take a late morning break to go to Costco for an eye exam, something I had been putting off for 5 years or more.  I went into the exam with some anxiety about it.  The last time I was at an eye doctor it didn’t go well as I have a horrible time doing anything with/to my eyes.  Well I was glad to see that tech has improved, the eye exam was no big deal at all.  After getting an eye scan and reading dozens of letters on a screen it was determined I am officially near sighted.  The doctor gave me a prescription for glasses that I would wear whenever seeing distance clearly is important.  I put off picking out glasses until Cindy can come with me to give me feedback on frames.

I was pretty tired by the time Saturday evening rolled around but we already had tickets to see Black Panther, a much anticipated Marvel movie that has gotten high reviews.  We again opted for VIP seating at Prado so we didn’t have to worry about getting a decent seat.  I had really high expectations for the movie going in and for the most part those expectations were met.  It was a good Marvel movie but not a blow you away great one, like Iron Man, Capt America Winter Soldier, or the first Avengers movie, in my opinion.  The film did a good job of telling the origin story of Black Panther, something I knew absolutely nothing about. It’s a a solid A, see it in the theater flick, it just didn’t impact me as I thought it might.

Sunday morning we had an annoying, out of nowhere power loss that lasted for over two hours.  I was just getting to the point where I was considering pulling out the generator when it came back on.  The power outage sort of messed up my normal routine.  I actually wound up not doing any EUC activity during the day.  I did my bills in the morning and went to Dunkin Donuts with Elsa to grab coffee since Cindy wasn’t home.

Sunday afternoon I washed all three vehicles but somehow still felt lazy after doing so.  Cindy was busy creating more stuff on her Cameo.  She made the sticker pictured here as well as a bunch of other things.  She is really enjoying the process of designing and creating.

I told Cindy last week that I would be open to spending a night sleeping out in the RV to get a sense of how it would be.  We decided last night was the night to do so.  We ate dinner out there, watched some Olympics, and then settled into the queen size bed where I read a little bit before falling asleep.  Despite not fitting on the bed so well I didn’t have a bad night of sleep.  It felt weird waking up in the backyard but refreshingly different.  Elsa didn’t seem to mind either.

Today for my last day of the my extended three day weekend I don’t have a big list in mind.  Hopefully I can get out on the wheel a bit and do whatever other enjoyable things that come to mind.

And now with the plugs!

Ender 2 on GearBest EU Plug – https://goo.gl/v5bNRG $159 USE COUPON – “Enderen”
Ender 2 on GearBest US Plug – https://goo.gl/v5bNRG $159 USE COUPON – “ENDERC”
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Creality Cr-10 3D printer – http://amzn.to/2w7yqIF
Dagoma Neva 3D printer – http://amzn.to/2hYNjoV
FlashForge Finder 3D printer – http://amzn.to/2sCllp7
Hatchbox white PLA filament – http://amzn.to/2rrIfMt
ESun white PLA filament – http://amzn.to/2sBRv42

The gimbal I use – http://amzn.to/2lJbZCa
My GoPro camera – http://amzn.to/2kkBUmJ
GoPro foam windscreen – http://amzn.to/2maDI2B
Selfie stick – http://amzn.to/2mJTJLL
Segway MiniPro – http://amzn.to/2lddTNt
Segway S1 – http://amzn.to/2A8CkQQ
DJI Mavic Pro – http://amzn.to/2kpV4Tk

My EUC protective gear
Killer 187 Wrist Guards – http://amzn.to/2p8y9m9
Triple Eight Helmet – http://amzn.to/2p8uuoH
STX Elbow Pads – http://amzn.to/2oNMrYJ
Killer 187 Knee pads – http://amzn.to/2oYtAHw

Looking for Gotway, Inmotion or KingSong electric unicycles?
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Check out all my sites!
http://eucarmy.com
http://duf.net
http://dufisthenics.com
EUC Army YouTube – https://youtube.com/eucarmy
Duf 3D YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBnqqxnkBqc5ISDQRr0YkiA

Social media
Instagram – @duf67
Twitter – @duf67

Cindy’s site – http://fitfarmchick.com
Cindy’s YouTube channel – http://youtube.com/fitfarmchick

So last night out of the blue I suggested to Cindy that we watch Bright, the Netflix movie with Will Smith that has gotten mostly negative feedback from world although I have heard from some others that it was not bad at all.  I knew the movie had orcs and elves in it so that fact alone made it interesting to me.  Cindy had no idea what the movie was about but trusted my recommendation.

I was pleasantly surprised that I thought the movie was very entertaining.  The insertion of orcs and elves into the story line to represent some of the racism present in this wonderful world of ours was an interesting twist.  Despite not having the WoW based affinity to orcs and elves that I have, Cindy really enjoyed the movie as well.  It was solid B+ entertainment for me all day long.

I really am at the point in my life where I wish I could break out of the normal five day a week work routine.

And now with the plugs!

Ender 2 on GearBest EU Plug – https://goo.gl/v5bNRG $159 USE COUPON – “Enderen”
Ender 2 on GearBest US Plug – https://goo.gl/v5bNRG $159 USE COUPON – “ENDERC”

CR-10 on GearBest – https://goo.gl/6M9DHi use coupon – GBCRUS
CR-10S5 on GearBest – https://goo.gl/3295a6
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GearBest US Warehouse specials! – https://goo.gl/nvL8uF

Get free cash back for stuff you are buying anyway – https://www.ebates.com/r/DUF391?eeid=28187

Esun Cleaning Filament – http://amzn.to/2zP3qwW
Creality Cr-10 3D printer – http://amzn.to/2w7yqIF
Dagoma Neva 3D printer – http://amzn.to/2hYNjoV
FlashForge Finder 3D printer – http://amzn.to/2sCllp7
Hatchbox white PLA filament – http://amzn.to/2rrIfMt
ESun white PLA filament – http://amzn.to/2sBRv42

The gimbal I use – http://amzn.to/2lJbZCa
My GoPro camera – http://amzn.to/2kkBUmJ
GoPro foam windscreen – http://amzn.to/2maDI2B
Selfie stick – http://amzn.to/2mJTJLL
Segway MiniPro – http://amzn.to/2lddTNt
Segway S1 – http://amzn.to/2A8CkQQ
DJI Mavic Pro – http://amzn.to/2kpV4Tk

My EUC protective gear
Killer 187 Wrist Guards – http://amzn.to/2p8y9m9
Triple Eight Helmet – http://amzn.to/2p8uuoH
STX Elbow Pads – http://amzn.to/2oNMrYJ
Killer 187 Knee pads – http://amzn.to/2oYtAHw

Looking for Gotway, Inmotion or KingSong electric unicycles?
Go here for free shipping! – http://ewheels.com/eucarmy

Check out all my sites!
http://eucarmy.com
http://duf.net
http://dufisthenics.com
EUC Army YouTube – https://youtube.com/eucarmy
Duf 3D YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBnqqxnkBqc5ISDQRr0YkiA

Social media
Instagram – @duf67
Twitter – @duf67

Cindy’s site – http://fitfarmchick.com
Cindy’s YouTube channel – http://youtube.com/fitfarmchick

So I went into my four day weekend with a desire to accomplish certain things so I went back to my reliable paper motivator, writing these items down on a list.  The plan was to start things off Friday by changing the pads on the front brakes of the Prius.  Well that project got sidetracked a bit when I woke up to a mess in the hobby room.

I had glanced in the room to check on the progress of a roughly two day long print of one of my WoW characters.  I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw pure chaos instead.  One of the shelves that was above two of my 3D printers, including the CR-10 in the middle of the two day print had collapsed, falling on top of the printers and spilling the contents of the shelf all over the room.  Of course my print was ruined as the shelf obstructed the CR-10.  I actually felt lucky that the printer didn’t seem to be all that screwed up.  Both Cindy and I were amazed that we did not hear the shelf break and crash during the night.  Based on my security DVR camera it went down around 3:30AM.

I looked at the shelf to see what happened.  I didn’t think I had that much weight on it.  It appeared that the clips that secure it to the wall had failed.  When I looked at the shelf above the failed one I saw one of those two wall clips was starting to pull out as well so I obviously had some work to do.  After I cleaned up the considerable mess I made note of what I would need to redo/strengthen the shelves.  I bought the parts later which included metal clips instead of plastic and I increased the amount of supports and clips by a factor of two.

So I finally got to turn my attention to the Prius mid-morning.  I had changed the pads and rotors on a number of vehicles in the last 10 years so I wasn’t too worried about the technical aspect of it.  I had no pulsation or pulling so I just got the pads, assuming the rotors were fine. (they were)  I went a different route with the pads, paying more than double the price of third party prices to get a hold of a pair of OEM Toyota brake pads.  I am hoping the 200,000+ mile Prius lasts me a another few years so I made the extra investment in parts.

The new pads ironically were the reason for my only real hiccup during the work.  With aftermarket pads you just take them out of the box and slap them in.  With the OEM pads you have to move the metal shields on the back of the pads from the old set to the new, something I did not realize until I already had one side done.  Other than that the job went well although to be honest, the old pads still had about half of their life left.  I’m not sure if it is the regenerative braking a hybrid does or what, but brakes seem to last forever on them.

So the rest of Friday was spent mostly dealing with more aftermath from the shelf collapse.  I ran to Home Depot not once but twice in total.  The first time to get shelf hardware, the second was to pick up ANOTHER six foot workbench.  After talking with Cindy, who had suggested another bench already, we came up with a plan that involved adding a bench to the hobby room and re-utilizing the desk in there for Cindy for her Cameo work.  It a domino affect that had her old smaller desk relocated to the master bedroom where it will be used as a sewing station.  It was funny how the collapse of the shelf lead to this series of events but Cindy and I really like the end result.

Saturday morning I got up and got my run in.  There was another cold front approaching but the temps in the upper 50’s felt comfortable to run in.  After I returned I didn’t waste much time before digging into more of my list, targeting the weeding, weedwhacking, and mowing portion of it.  I had an interruption as I kept fighting with the weed whacker, it would only run in the choke position, which is too fast.  If I used normal throttle it would sputter and die.  I gave up on it and switched to my DeWalt battery powered whacker which is ok but doesn’t have nearly the same power and speed.  I later discovered that one of the fuel lines had a crack in it, giving me something else to add to the list.

I kept busy right up until kickoff time of the Eagles playoff game. I was worried that the Eagles, who posted their best season in a decade or more was going to fall into a one and done scenario, despite being the number one seed in the NFC.  The Falcons actually came into the Linc being the favorites, despite being the number six seed.  Unlike the Eagles that sort of sputtered towards the finish of the year, the Falcons were improving.

The game was very frustrating as turnovers and mistakes were coming at a steady pace.  It felt like the Falcons were more in control for a good portion of the game but even so, the score remained close.  The Eagles slowly clawed their way back from a small deficit but found themselves up by 5 with time running out but the Falcons having the ball.  When the Eagles allowed the Falcons to get a first down on a 4th and 6 I thought to myself, “Here we go again, another year of having our hearts ripped out with a playoff collapse”  It felt that way all the way till the very end when the Falcons were 1st and goal with plenty of time on the clock.  However somehow the Birds managed to keep them out of the endzone, capped off by a dramatic fourth down when Julio Jones, who was killing the Eagles time and again could not come down with a high pass after he had slipped down a moment before.  I clapped my hands and yelled loudly, scaring Elsa whom came over for comfort and to help me celebrate.  It was the most emotion I have felt from football in a long, long time, dating back to the Andy Reid era.

It was a great win and a very exciting way to end my Saturday.  The Vikings, who had an even more dramatic win will be coming into town next week.  I can only hope the Eagles keep finding a way to grind out a win despite less than ideal circumstances.

So Sunday came and I only had one item left on my to do list, “Test Tow”.  For quite awhile I wanted to hook Cindy’s RV up to the Tacoma and tow it around to make sure it was viable.  When Cindy bought the RV I spent $1000 to get a 10,000 pound stabilizing hitch installed on the truck but I had not used it yet, the RV was delivered by the dealership.

During the morning I attended to a few small things around the house like replacing the fuel lines in the weed whacker, a first time thing for me.  It was a bit challenging feeding tube from the inside of the gas tank up to the carb but I figured it out.  The whacker fired up and ran like a champ afterward, better than it has for awhile so I have a feeling the crack was there for awhile.

So after lunch we turned our attention to the RV.  Cindy was obviously nervous about towing her trailer since we have not done so with the Tacoma.  I too had anxiety about the process, not only because I knew that Cindy was worried about her RV but I was worried about my truck and how it would do towing something close to 6000 pounds.  I also had never hooked up the hitch myself, I only watched it being done at the dealership for the test fit.

Cindy headed out before me and made sure the RV was tow ready, putting away loose items and securing other things.  We also figured it would be smart to drain the gray and fresh water tanks as much as possible to cut down on weight.  I then pulled the Tacoma into the yard and backed towards the hitch on the the trailer.  It took a couple tries to get the ball of the hitch lined up with the receiver but it wasn’t quite as precise as I thought it may have had to be.  Because of the design of the receiver, close is normally good enough as it will slide down over the ball once weight is applied.

So after getting the ball secured we had to get the stabilizer bars locked in.  The joints for the bars were very stiff, so stiff that I asked Cindy to go grab some WD-40.  Even with using it I had to use all of my weight to push the bars on either side into place.  The last parts of the process was hooking up the safety chains and then cranking the handle of the receiver jack so that all of the weight of the front of the trailer was supported by the Tacoma.  The back end of the truck dropped a little but not horribly from the load.

So we decided we first would do some test laps around the back of the yard.  I pulled ahead slowly and heard a lot of noise behind me.  Cindy was really concerned but it was just normal noises of the hitch dealing with the very uneven terrain in the yard.  I did a big slow loop and then let Cindy take the truck around as well for a lap.  The Tacoma seemed up to the task so now it was time for stage two, a road test.

This was one of the things I was most nervous about.  The path out of the back yard is tight and the opening in the gate is even tighter.   With Cindy acting as a spotter I slowly pulled the truck and 26 foot trailer out of the backyard with literally an inch or two to spare.  With Elsa in the back seat the three of us headed out onto open road with Cindy’s RV.  She was VERY nervous.

So I had never towed anything nearly this substantial before.  It felt strange as I could feel the truck dealing with the weight of the trailer and the back and forth physics of it.  It also required a realignment of your normal driving position on the road as the trailer is much wider than my Tacoma.  However as the miles passed I got more and more accustomed to the feeling.  We did a big square that included getting up onto the interstate for approximately 5 miles.  That was the only time the truck was not very happy, keeping a pretty steady 4500 RPM to maintain roughly 65 mph.  Even so, it felt capable and pretty stable.

On the way back I surprised Cindy by offering to let her drive the truck.  I actually was surprised as well but my time driving was uneventful enough that I felt Cindy would be fine as well.  She went through much of the same early adjustment weirdness that I did but she drove us all the way home and even drove it back into the driveway and into the backyard.  It was a much more stressful process at the beginning than the end.  We both felt good to know that the mid-size Tacoma, a truck you will hardly ever see towing something that big, is up to the task.  We also felt happy that we were able to complete a 30 mile trip without incident.

Last night we watched the latest Transformers movie.  I’m not sure why I keep hoping that the next Transformer movie will be something different than all the prior sequels, dumb.  Yea there are cool visuals but they only get you so far.  The dialogue, plot, and overall feel of the series just is lame.  I drifted in and out somewhat so maybe that was part of my lack of understanding but I doubt it.  It was one of those movies that I tell Cindy I am glad we didn’t pay $30 to see in a theater to see a B at best flick.

Today is my last day of my extended weekend.  I am hoping to finally overdose on fun things I want to do instead of things I feel I need to do.  3D printing, WoW, and EUCing all should be in the picture in some degree.

Saturday morning I got up before my 5:45 alarm to get out and get my run in.  The air again was pleasantly cool which made for a more tolerable running experience.  The 13 laps went by fine and as has been the case for the last few months it was just me and the crickets out there on the track.

Cindy was teaching classes Saturday morning which meant I was left to my own taskmaster vices.  I buzzed around the house, inside and out tending to various things on my mental to do list.  When Cindy got home we piled into the Tacoma with Sadie and Elsa to head to Home Depot.  One of the things I wanted to look at there was screen doors, the type used on our pool cage.  I was unsure if Home Depot would carry them or not.

Well I may have mentioned, the screen contractor that I terminated my relationship with quoted a price of $500 to replace the door on the east side of the cage that was bent and twisted from Irma.  Of course I thought this was high but I did not get a true appreciation for just how outrageous it was until Saturday. A brand new door was less than $80.  I knew I didn’t have the time to install the door this past weekend so I didn’t grab it right away but you can be assured I will be doing so shortly.  I likely may replace the other door as well so I have a new matching set.  Even with replacing two I’ll still be miles ahead of the quote for a single door replacement.  I feel badly for people that don’t do any legwork to confirm if a contractor is being straight up with you or just feeding you a mountain of bullshit to justify overpriced goods and services.

Late Saturday afternoon I decided to take my Mten over to the school, the perfect place to practice and experiment with the little, yet powerful wheel.  I had a lot of fun attempting and being successful with tricks/moves that I wouldn’t even dare to try with my larger conventional EUC’s.  I was glad I got to ride Saturday because we didn’t have time on Sunday to get out.

During the day I had the 3D printers working hard.  I printed another geometric Xmas tree, in a more festive green.  I also printed a bunch of gifts for Cindy’s nephew Owen including Harry Potter glasses, a wand, Minecraft keychains, and a cool target for Nerf guns.

Saturday night Cindy and I watched King Arthur, our latest Netflix rental.  The movie put a hip, modern spin on a very old story.  I found it entertaining but not mind blowing.  It was a solid B rental for me.

So Sunday was going to be a very busy day.  We were going to the Miami area to attend Owen’s birthday party.  Cindy had a mini-emergency when her Iphone 6 appeared to go DOA, only showing the red battery indicator and little else, despite being on the charger all night.  We tried a number of tricks found on the internet to revive it, including heating the back of the phone with a hair dryer, which worked briefly.  However we were unsuccessful.  Oddly when we returned from the east coast the phone magically started working again but it clearly has some sort of battery related issue.

I did my weekly bill paying session and then we quickly ran to the pool store and Dunkin Donuts before we had to get ready to leave.  We picked up Cindy’s niece Taylor on the way whom we don’t get to see that much of.  It was nice to have her along to keep us company.  Taylor is extremely intelligent and should have a very bright future in front of her.

The drive across state took a little less than two hours and was uneventful.  The most challenging part of it was staying awake as I had a very poor night of sleep on Saturday.  When we approached Cindy’s sister-in-law and brother’s place we were astonished that the street in front of their house was barricaded off because a HUGE inflatable obstacle course that was in middle of the road.  Both Cindy and I wondered if they had to get a permit for that or if the rental company just does it first and begs for forgiveness later.

I really had no idea of what to expect of the party.  It turned out to be quite large with a couple dozen kids running around like crazy.  The obstacle course got used heavily.  I hadn’t eaten lunch so I quickly started chowing down on chips and caramel corn, not my normal diet.  I soon felt gross for consuming so much fat, salt, and sugar in a short period of time.

I didn’t know 90% of the people there but I still did an ok job being somewhat social.  I was talking to one guy who seemed very nice but I had to do my best to conceal my inner cringe and disapproval of how much he loved duck and quail hunting.  He said his son loves it too.

I understand that people are a product of their environment.  If you were brought up in a family where hunting is just another activity I understand why the act of killing an animal may seem insignificant to you.  However the same applies to someone like me who never hunted, and never even fired a real gun.  To me, the act of willingly ending the life of an animal in a first person manner is pretty horrible.  However, the reasonable adult in me realizes that the right/wrong gauge for everyone is personalized and I do my best to let “to each its own” be the motto I generally try to live by.

I had a good time at the party watching all the young energy running rampant among us.  Owen seemed to really like the 3D stuff we made for him as he is currently a huge Harry Potter fan.  We left shortly after the pinata smashing festivities concluded with Owen’s half brother Ryan exploding the pinata with one hard swing.

On the ride back to the west coast we picked up another passenger, Cindy’s other niece Stephanie.  The girls kept the roughly 100 mile ride home entertaining.  We rolled back into the driveway about 6:30 or so.

My poor night of sleep combined with going to one side of the state to the other and back again in a little more than six hours was going to make watching the Eagles game challenging.  I actually fell asleep on the couch from early in the second quarter until about 11 minutes left in the third quarter.

If you read the scores today you see the 24-10 loss posted by the Birds.  It was a disappointing effort for sure but really from what I saw, there were a few key things that could have easily changed that outcome.  The Eagles were called on a TON of penalties, many of which came at the worst time, allowing the Seahawks to extend drives, drives that eventually lead to scores, instead of punting the ball away. Carson made some great plays but also some bad ones.  He continued his rather worrisome trait of randomly overthrowing wide open receivers and committed a soul crushing fumble at the 10 inch line, robbing the Eagles of another scoring opportunity.   The coaching staff seemed asleep at the wheel as well at times, failing to throw a red flag on an attempted lateral that clearly was a forward pass, once again allowing the Seahawks to drive down the field and score.  It seemed to be an equal opportunity case of sloppiness.

To the Seahawks credit, Russell Wilson had an outstanding game.  The Eagles got pressure on the pocket consistently most of the night but his elusiveness made it very difficult to pin him down.  Seattle also seemed very adept at running pick plays that had the Eagles d-backs running into each other all night long. In the big picture it might be a good thing for the Birds to have an ugly game at this point in the season.  The hope is it will wake them up a bit and bring the type of focus that is needed to really do something big this year.

Elsa is still cute, in case you were wondering.

So as part of my Saturday morning chores I wanted ot get the grass mowed and weed whacked.  The standing water had dried up so I knew in wet season you need to take advantage of these dry opportunities.  Cindy and I busted ass and got everything looking good, just in time for it to absolutely pour a couple hours later, submerging the grounds once again.  It’s so frustrating.  When I walked back in the chicken area to turn the pump back on the water was only three to four inches from the top of my boots.

When I was doing stuff around the yard I was feeling some moderate discomfort from my right side.  It was the left over pain I had from doing dragon flags on Friday.  I was a little concerned that the pain, which seems to be right around where a liver is supposed to me, was still hurting.  The pain also erased running from the activity list for the weekend.  When I was crossing the Home Depot parking lot with Elsa and tried to transition into a light jog to avoid burning her feet I felt significant discomfort.  As the weekend progressed the pain has lessened so hopefully just avoiding dragon flags in the future will be the long term remedy.

Saturday night we got out to see the new Spiderman movie.  I found it interesting that Marvel basically decided to tweak the Spiderman origin story most of us know.  Despite this it somehow all worked which isn’t surprising.  Everything Marvel touches just works.  Both Cindy and I really enjoyed the movie, earning a shiny A+ in my book.

Sunday morning Katie joined us for our EUC ride around some of the beautiful nearby developments.  She had my old Ninebot One that I gave to Daniel in her truck which Cindy hopped on and rode at the end of the ride. It was sort of a symbolic triumph for Cindy since it was her fall off the Ninebot One in the driveway that scared her from learning for months and months.  For her to be able to step up and do a few circles on the 9B1 like it was no big deal was a testament to how far she has come.  Cindy said she actually liked the way the 16 inch wheel felt.

I did some more 3D printing over the weekend, printing a cool clamp style headset holder for Cindy, a small skull ring, a new phone case and a few other items.  I also got to do my first “fixing” of the FlashForge Finder.  When I was changing filament a piece seemed to get stuck in the extruder.  I had to do some minor disassembly to get access to the filament tube.  I then was able to use the included tools to clear the path and load in some fresh spool.

It’s a good thing that I get some practice digging into the printer.  With the CR-10 large format printer I have on order there is probably going to be a lot of tweaking, improving, and fixing going on.

I recorded a second video during the afternoon recapping my experiences thus far with 3D printing.  For being complete novices, I think Cindy and I have created some pretty amazing objects.

Sunday afternoon was chill with Cindy working more on her costume designs while I worked more in WoW.  Since I unlocked the ability to fly in game it has made leveling characters significantly easier.  I now have six or seven of my 11 toons at max level and keep working on the what is left.

We watched 50 Shades Darker last night, a movie I rented because Cindy expressed interest.  I saw the first one with her and was not very impressed although it was some low level soft porn.  I thought the sequel suffered from a disjointed plot which I found a hard time caring much about.  Of course it was filled with large amounts of more soft porn once again so I can give it a B on entertainment value I guess.

I once again have not been sleeping well.  Lately it seems I wake up an hour or two before the alarm goes off and just fade in and out of consciousness until the bell sounds.

Cindy and I started off the weekend with a track 5K.  I forced myself to do it even though as recently as Friday night I was walking around gingerly due to hamstrings still sore from deadlifting on Tuesday.  Much like the week prior, the run felt like a struggle pretty much the entire time.  The temp almost being 80 degrees with high humidity at 7AM didn’t help matters.

I wanted to get all weekend labor out of the way on Saturday and I worked diligently to make that happen.  Weeding was a particularly large pain in the ass.  The frequent rain combined with steaming temperatures provides the perfect conditions for weeds to pop up everywhere.

It was bright and sunny for most of the day Saturday, so much so that once again the dreaded standing water had dried up.  Around 3 o’clock I decided I should take advantage of this and jumped on the tractor as I saw a few gray clouds starting to form.  Well as I was about half way into mowing the first front section when it started to rain lightly.  Since the tractor has a sun canopy it also does a decent job as a rain canopy so I pressed on.  By the time I called it quits after finishing the front of the house I was mowing in the middle of a monsoon.  Of course the recently dried up sections of the yard were now back under several inches of water…..sigh.

Another thing I got out of the way on Saturday was my weekly bill paying session.  I actually had very few bills to pay this week so a wave of inspiration hit me.  My primary 15 year mortgage was real close to being paid off.  I had planned to pay it off in a couple months but I decided I would dip into one of my other budget columns and pay the sucker off now.  I have been overpaying a little bit each month ever since the house was refinanced  which has allowed me to get to this point roughly a year ahead of schedule.

A looong time ago I had set a goal of having the house paid off before I was 50 so it feels good to accomplish that.  However when I initially set that goal it was the intent for the house to be COMPLETELY paid off which it is not.  I still have my home equity loan which was opened almost as long ago which was used to pay for things like the pool, the two terrible land investments in Lehigh Acres, divorce settlement funds, and home improvements.  Now that the primary mortgage is cleared out I can attack the HELOC as well as having some extra funds to both save and do some other things with.  I would like to open up a Roth IRA to give me a third retirement account to lean on when I am old, gray, and feeble. (if I make it that long)  So anyway, yes, it feels good to have the primary mortgage satisfied, it’s something a lot of people never get a chance to do in their lifetimes.

Saturday night we stayed home and watched Aftermath, a recent movie I never heard of with Arnold starring in it based on a true story.  I was somewhat surprised that the movie was missing pretty much any of the classic Arnold physicality even though there is a weird, twisted, revenge plot going on.  I thought it was well done although extremely sad and tragic.  It gets a solid B but don’t expect to be jumping for joy afterward.  I think this movie never hit theaters and went direct to Blu-ray.

Sunday morning Cindy and I got out on the wheels, riding directly from the house over to the high school roughly three miles away.  The wide open and traffic free roads are great for practicing.  I did more seated riding on the Monster and Cindy worked on a number of skills as well.  Her comfort level on the wheel is approaching mine.

It felt like I was wasting time not having my 3D printer building something so over the weekend I printed Arthas the Lich King, a big character from World of Warcaft lore. It was a very complex model and I was skeptical of how it would turn out.  When it was done printing it was encased in support material but after a lot of careful clean up by Cindy this was the end result.  Cindy will also be the one to take on the very intricate task of painting the model when she has time.

The reason Cindy’s time has been taxed is her relentless work on her cosplay costume and props.  She has been spending a ton of time assembling the 3D gun that we printed the parts for.  Putting all the parts together and making it look pretty is a far greater task than the printing of the parts.  It’s exciting seeing the gun come to life bit by bit. Hopefully by the end of this week it will be more or less done.

While she was plugging away on her stuff I was plugging away in WoW having a good time rotating through my various characters and getting stuff done in a virtual manner.  I always feel somewhat guilty after prolonged gaming sessions but I enjoy them all the same.

I have a weird week where after a day at the office I am treated with another day off.  Cindy and I have no definitive plans for the 4th but I am sure EUC riding, gun building, and WoW will be part of the itinerary.

So with a new Nvidia card in hand I stopped back at Ali’s on my way home Friday to hopefully fix her video/monitor issue for good.  I was 80% sure a different chipset video card would solve my problem.  It didn’t.  Instead I fought with her system for another hour or so.  Not only did the new card show the exact same behavior (driver crashing) I eventually lost IP connectivity as well.  I was pissed.

Thankfully I came up with a temporary remediation plan.  Ali still had her old pc I replaced in her office.  It was left online in case there were any files on it that she still might need.  I hooked it up to the monitors and it still worked fine.  I just had to update a few settings and refresh her Dropbox so she was able to work again.  I took the computer I was fighting with me so I could continue battle in the comfort of my own home.

I f’d with it for a couple more hours until I gave up and just did a Windows 10 “reset” where it reinstalls the OS but leaves the user files alone.  It meant I had to reinstall some applications but overall it was not bad to recover from.  I wished I chose that option earlier.  After completion the video driver finally loaded normally and the IP/internet connectivity had been restored.  It was a huge pain in the ass overall which I think all began with the installation of the Windows 10 “Creators” update which never installed correctly.

Saturday morning we again went out for a run first thing.  The temps in the low 70’s with HIGH humidity were not comfortable to run in at all.  Cindy and I hardly said a word during the run.  Afterwards I told her that it felt like I was uncomfortable from the first stride to the last stride.  Sure it’s nice to endure one of those types of runs but I sure wouldn’t mind one that felt psuedo-enjoyable once in awhile.

When we got home I jumped right into an all morning yard session that started with weeding and ended with mowing.  I was very thorough in my efforts and the yard looked great at the end of it but man, I was pooped.  Adding the secondary chicken fence definitely has tacked some time onto my normal yard maintenance schedule.

Saturday afternoon we took Sadie and Elsa to Rural King for a few things.  Elsa was back to acting very skittish for some reason as we walked the aisles.  You just never know what is going to freak her out.  After we got back the skies absolutely opened up.  Torrential rain came down for hours.  I did not see an official total but I bet we got at least 3″ of it dumped on us. Saturday night we stayed home and watched the most recent Huntsman movie which was pretty good, B+ in my book.

Sunday morning despite the skies still being overcast Cindy and I headed to North Collier Park to ride.  I brought the new seat for the Monster I was sent by Jason from ewheels.com

We had a fun conventional ride first before we got out the seat.  I wanted Cindy to try seated riding first as she messed around with it the week prior without a seat and did half decent.  After a pretty brief acclimation period Cindy was zipping around the park on the Monster in the seated position like a pro.

Cindy’s biggest complaint about EUC riding is the foot pain she experiences.  Riding on the seat totally alleviates that pain.  She said the feeling of seated riding was weird.  It reminded her of the same position she had on her motorcycle and scooter, without handlebars or a second wheel of course.  I was really impressed with how well she did seated.  I later tried myself and had only minimal success.  Feel free to check out the fun below.

Sunday afternoon we went to a rare matinee showing of Wonder Woman.  The movie looked pretty epic from the trailers and I was looking forward to seeing it.  Like all DC super hero movies, I liked the movie but didn’t love it.  (Cindy loved it)  I thought the first half of the movie was particularly slow and that was exaggerated by the overall length of the film, something like 2:20.    Some of the stuff that was revealed in this origin story was news to me so I am not sure if it is all true to comic book story lines or not.  By the end of it Wonder Woman seemed to have basically transformed into Supergirl.  Anyway, it was enjoyable overall but reaffirmed when it comes to super hero movies, nobody does it like Marvel. B+

It was a good way to close out another fun weekend.

Yep I am not overlooking the latest terror attack in the UK but really, what I have said before is all I would say again.   Who wants to be a broken record….