Last night I had to come back to the office to meet a vendor to install a new internet circuit. Things did not go well and they were unable to complete the work because of some poor planning, from what I could ascertain. I brought Elsa with as she loves going to the office. She gave the installer a thorough sniff down. Elsa was also involved in a funny incident when I got home.

I normally take her for her walk as soon as I walk in the door. At the end of the walk when we are right across the street from my house I will let her off the leash so she can run back into the garage which I did once again last night. Well there was an Amazon truck out front making a delivery. At that time it seemed like the driver was still in the back of the truck. So the guy, a young Haitian kid emerges from the van as Elsa is in the garage. Elsa sees the guy and turns around and barks once. An instant look of fear flashes onto his face and he RUNS back to his truck. I assured him she is harmless and I tell her to go inside. I can only assume he has had too many run ins with dogs whose bite is as bad as their bark.

The other day a friend of mine sent me a link regarding the launch of another electric car company, Slate. Well to be accurate it’s an electric TRUCK company. Slate is taking a very different approach to building a vehicle. Instead of ballooning costs by including all sorts of tech and features into their truck they make ONE model and then offer a TON of ways you can tweak it as desired. All of the pictures you see are the same truck just with different accessories added.

It’s base form is a two door pickup truck but you can actually convert it to a 5 person small SUV if that better suits your needs. The best part is if you are somewhat handy you can do all of these things yourself. The truck is designed to be user maintained which is almost non-existent nowadays. This concept is cool of course but the most attention getting thing is the potential price. If federal EV incentives remain in place the cost of the vehicle would be just under $20,000, an absolute bargain in today’s market where the average new vehicle price is 50K.

The truck is intentionally no frills, manual roll up windows are standard equipment. But all the basics you need are there and you can dress it up right up front or down the road if you want to. I LOVE the concept. However I have been down this road before. You may recall I was an early Elio supporter, plunking down $100 to reserve one over a decade ago. That was a three wheeled vehicle that looked like a great commuter at the time. That company lead people on for years and never came to market despite repeated promises to be right around the corner.

I also plunked down a deposit on the Cybertruck when it was first announced. At the time I was caught up in the excitement, ignoring the reality that it’s design made a lot of basic truck things inconvenient. When it finally came to market 62% higher than it’s initial projected price I had no problem saying no thanks.

The Slate is projected to begin production 4th quarter 2026. As good as it looks I know the reality is launching a new vehicle company is extremely difficult and there is a good chance it could fail. Despite this knowledge I plunked down a $50 deposit to put myself in line, a small price to roll the dice IMO. I am pulling for Slate to come to reality, I like their middle finger approach to conventional auto makers that love to inflate prices any way they can. During the Slate presentation they said since 2000 the average price of new cars has doubled. It would be nice to be able to step back in time and get a new electric truck with pricing from 25 years ago. We will see.

The Last of Us is a show on HBO Max that is based on a popular video game that I never played. It recently started season 2 and is sort of a Walking Dead kind of vibe but when that show was actually still good. Of course I can’t spoil it but what happened in episode two was unexpected and shocking. I said “oh my god” out loud more than once. If you liked Walking Dead you should be watching this show.

One aspect of life is how people can cycle through it. Someone who was once a stranger can become a friend or even a romantic partner yet eventually they can find themselves moved out of your circle of importance or value due to circumstances beyond control, actions either by yourself or them, or just apathy. Depending on the relationship you have with these individuals their coming/going may or may not have a significant impact on your life. I have had it both ways, many times.

When you cycle someone out of your life it’s of course best to harvest the good aspects of that relationship as opposed to feeding on the negatives. Even with some of the most chaotic and toxic situations I had over the years with other humans there was always good that could be found and remembered. Although if I am being honest the negatives are often the most impactful, best teachers and long lasting on my memories. Every situation is different but they all give us the same opportunity to learn from them, hopefully taking knowledge forward that will help us make better decisions as we build up that cumulative trait of wisdom that only comes from such experiences.

If someone is bringing nothing positive to your existence, let them go. Value those that you choose to keep.

Saturday morning I once again was in the office early to shut down the network operations center for hopefully the last time for more work on the emergency back up generator. The down time this go round was less than before which was an improvement. I had the NOC back up and running before lunchtime.

During the afternoon I went to to the swamp but not to ride, but to walk. I have been to the swamp a ton of times over the years but only a handful of those did it involve me traversing by foot. I almost always was on an EUC for the visit. The swamp was very dry this time of year but I did see an area of water right by the start that had a bunch of smaller gators in it, at least a dozen. I saw something pretty crazy while standing there.

A medium size gator apparently caught a fish and bit it in half. The combination of the gator and the fish flailing sent half of the fish flying onto the ground by the water where herons quickly took care of it. The gator ate the other half within a second or two. It was very cool to actually see that happen, something I never experienced in 15 years of going to the swamp.

It was unseasonably hot Saturday. I had a significant sweat worked up in no time. In total the walk was close to 5 miles, the farthest distance I have traveled on foot in quite awhile. My knees were not very happy with me but I chose to believe that it was just a side effect of my not asking them to carry me that far on uneven terrain in such a long time.

Over the rest of the weekend I took care of a number of small little chores/projects. On Sunday afternoon I rode my new F22 wheel over to the US Open pickleball championship to catch a few games. It was a nice 90 minutes where I grabbed some food and drink while I watched players much better than I battle it out in the heat. As usual I got a lot of strange looks and various questions about the wheel.

Evidently Facebook is aware of my affinity for Dunkin Donuts. This awareness put a local Facebook Marketplace listing in front of me yesterday, some dude selling authentic DD signage. I’m not sure how he managed to get a hold of them. I immediately had ideas of mounting a set somewhere in my garage however when I saw that he wanted $450 for the set it cooled my ambition. I did message him and let him know that if he did not have any luck selling at his price that I would be willing to pay $100 for one pair. I guess we will see if I get lucky.

Tonight I have a board of directors meeting with the HOA. The HOA is in a bit of turmoil. The treasurer abruptly quit a few weeks ago after finding out her position on the HOA was a violation of her full time job rules. There has not been a replacement suggested or talked about. The president of the board has been extremely busy with his full time business and has had a hard time getting opportunities to focus on community related demands. I wouldn’t be surprised if at the meeting he says he is looking to pass on the responsibilities.

I am the board secretary which is primarily a communication/organization position which I don’t mind. To me the ideal board candidate would be someone in our community that is retired and has ample time available so things can get handled more easily. Unfortunately as is often the case finding people willing to get involved is not an easy task. It’s far easier to let someone else handle responsibility after all. When you figure in that we only have 31 homes in total in the HOA, the possible selection pool gets even smaller.

Today will likely be the last time I get to play pickleball in over a week thanks to the US Open beginning play this week. Although I will miss getting the play time I will take the opportunity to take in some of the games just like I did last year. It’s so convenient for me to hop on one of my wheels and head over to the court which are only a couple miles away. The big draw this year is Andre Agassi is playing.

Andre was a top level pro tennis player for a long time but in the past couple years he has taken up pickleball and appears to really like it and is getting good at it as well. He is going to be teamed up with the best female player in the world so that is sure to be an entertaining combo to watch. I look forward to taking in a good amount of pro level games over the next week.

I made arrangements to head to Texas at the end of May to attend my niece’s graduation. It should be a fun time. It will also be a road trip where I will be driving my Tesla there however this time it will be with the near magical and much improved full self driving feature enabled. It should be a fun little adventure.

A couple weeks ago I got an email from my property insurance company VRYD, yes, that is their name. The email informed me that they were sending me a water sensor kit for free. I assumed there had to be some sort of catch. There wasn’t. In fact it only got better. If I take the time to set up the sensors and activate them VRYD would send me a check for roughly $300 and my annual policy would have this same discount for having these sensors in place going forward, wow.

Last night I set up the 5 sensors and connected them to the app, placing them around my house in spots where a possible water leak could take place. They track temperature, humidity as well as the presence of water, obviously. The intent is if there is a water break/leak the sensors would alert me immediately so I could take action sooner rather than later, mitigating the potential damage, saving both me and the insurance company money/hassle. I have to say I love the proactive approach VRYD has taken in this area. I wish more companies would do the same. Spend some money up front to potentially save a ton down the line, a concept I can get behind.

I have been cautiously optimistic that the worst of my my IT band related pain is now behind me, I am feeling less and less negative impacts after my pickleball sessions. Last week I played three times. I am feeling confident enough that I may even try to step back on the sand volleyball court next week if I continue to feel ok, something that has not happened in close to 6 months.

I targeted Easter weekend as the time I was going to finish my fence repairs. Ironically most of the first repair session happened on Thanksgiving weekend. After work on Friday I went to Home Depot to pick up additional 2″ x 3″ pieces of lumber as well as another box of 5 pound screws. After eating a quick Wawa sub for dinner I headed out in the yard to get busy.

The last side of the fence I was working on was the shortest section. It also had some posts that were less than straight that I was attaching to which lead to some on the spot adjustments. My goal was to get the new support boards all in place Friday night. I accomplished the goal even if the last few had to be screwed into place courtesy of the floodlights I have in the backyard.

On Saturday morning after playing pickleball I went back out to drive a 3 inch wood screw through each fence board to secure them to the fresh lumber on the other side which completed the project, nearly 6 months after it was started. As I mentioned last week, my goal is the few hundred dollars and labor I put into the repair will result in extending the usefulness of the fence by a few years.

On Sunday I took my new wheel, the F22 Pro out for it’s maiden ride. It felt big and heavy, especially compared to the V9 which is more than half of it’s weight. The ride was only 12 or 13 miles. I am going to need a decent amount more of riding time to acclimate to the wheel. To be honest the wheel has way more performance capability than I really need.

As always, I documented the first ride on the wheel.

Easter has always been a pretty insignificant holiday for me and this year was no different. The biggest impact for me is the nearby church seemed extra busy and Dunkin Donuts closed early. Other than that it was business as usual.

Last night I cracked open the huge box housing the F22 Pro while I live streamed. I fumbled my way through getting the wheel out of transport mode and then applying firmware updates to the main board and battery BMS controllers, which has to be completed four times. The stream went a little over two hours and was fine. The wheel appears to be top notch as far as it’s build quality goes but what really matters is how it feels on the road which I will test this weekend.

In addition to getting some time riding the F22 I also am targeting getting the fence repairs completed over the weekend. The repairs started before Thanksgiving so it is well overdue. It will be nice to have that crossed off my mental checklist. The only remaining big home repair/upgrade I have in my mind is to get the worn out carpet that is in the bedrooms replaced with vinyl plank to make it more pet resistant and cleaner. Sure the master bathroom could use an update but it is good enough for my needs since the cabinets and countertops were already replaced.

It’s hard to believe we are over three and a half months into 2025 already. When I was thinking about how my 2024 went one of my goals was for this year to have a totally different vibe. So far that intent has been working out very well. I hope it continues, I’m no spring chicken after all.

When I came home yesterday I was greeted by a very large and heavy box sitting outside my front door. My Kingsong F22 Pro had finally completed it’s very long journey from a factory in China to southwest Florida. I chose to do nothing with the wheel last night as I had other plans. I anticipate I will unbox and setup the wheel tonight, perhaps firing up a live stream to do so. Since there are so few of these wheels out there in the wild there is a decent amount of interest about them.

Ever since early last summer I have been walking around with my hair being on the long side, for me. I got a number of comments about how it looked good, made me look different/younger, and more positive things.

When I was younger my hair was longer. I was all about having perfectly feathered hair and carried a comb with me at all times. Sometime in my late 20s I started going much shorter with my hair. I enjoyed having next to zero maintenance. I remember being high and tight for my second wedding.

In my 30’s I took it to the next step, shaving my own head with a 1/8 inch guard which put me one level above being a skinhead. I used to film my head shaving sessions and put them on YouTube for some dumb reason which resulted in getting a strange audience of head shaving fetish types. It was a bit creepy.

For most of the last 20 years my hair has been very short which has resulted in a constant stream of “are you in the military” or “are you a policeman” inquiries. So anyway, on Tuesday I headed to Sport Clips and told the stylist I wanted to swing back on the shorter side of haircuts. It’s nothing close to a shaved head but the shortest my hair has been in 9 months. It feels like home.

Today my new Kingsong F22 Pro that I have impatiently been waiting for is due to finally arrive. It is the first brand new wheel I have purchased in a long time. The only new wheel I bought last year was the Master V4 which I no longer own. The F22 also will likely be the only new wheel I buy this year. Although I still enjoy riding EUCs it clearly is less of a focal point than it once was. All you have to do is look at how much (or how little) I ride nowadays. I think there are various factors at play but my potentially fatal crash I had last October definitely has had some lasting influence without a doubt.

The F22 has some impressive specs such as the highest voltage currently out there as well as a unique suspension that no other wheels have with it being on all four corners. These things are why I decided to take the leap as well as my not currently owning any Kingsong wheels. Hopefully my purchase equates to a lot of miles of enjoyment down the road.

Saturday morning I needed to drag myself out of bed bright and early to come into the office. Our office is getting it’s 30 year old plus emergency generator replaced. In order to do this all power to the building needs to be cut so I had to come in to make sure our network operations center was shutdown beforehand. The new generator install went well. When it was complete while re-energizing the NOC there were a couple issues related to the power outage but I got them handled before the start of business.

During the day Saturday I decided to take a break to play some pickleball while my laundry was in process. I utilized moderation, playing only roughly an hour. I played probably 5 games during that time period, playing pretty well in the session. It was nice to get some court time in the middle of a busy day.

On Sunday morning I woke up and it was chilly with temps in the upper 50s. Although I had no intent before my eyes opened, my brain flipped into, “we need to work on the fence mode”. There are not going to be a lot of days on the cooler side left now that we are in mid-April. That reality flipped my day from an easy, do whatever I want mindset, to let’s crack the whip and get this done attitude.

After grabbing coffee Elsa and I headed to Home Depot where I grabbed 25 2×3’s and a 5lb box of 3 inch wood screws. By the time I got the materials in the back yard the sun was already heating things up. Although the temperature didn’t pass the upper 70’s it still felt warm in the sun.

My target for this repair session was the south wall, the longer of the two remaining sections. Since I already did the back fence line I had a good system in place. Even with this system it was a lot of work. In total I put in somewhere around 6 hours of cutting, hammering and screwing. I used every 3 inch screw I bought. The good news is the remaining section is significantly shorter and is almost entirely in shade because of the huge oak tree that stands above it. I tentatively hope to knock that out next weekend which would complete my fence repair. At some point the fence will need to be replaced but I am hoping what I am doing will add at least another 5 years onto it’s lifespan.

Once the Advil wore off I was hurting, especially my hands and forearms. Unlike my old house, ass busting sessions like this are rarely necessary with where I live now. However it is good to have them now and then just to prove to yourself you can still go into that mode if necessary. There was no time for recreational PEV riding this weekend although I do have a new wheel arriving this week, the F22 Pro that I actually bought way back in January. It’s about time.