I had a productive night. I recently had curbed the passenger side front wheel on my Tesla. Luckily I had installed curb guard protectors shortly after I got the car for this very reason. The wheels that come with the Model Y performance series are expensive, cool and unfortunately very vulnerable to any curb damage. The protectors I have are modular so I was able to just replace the three sections that were missing and be back in business.

I did my second short ride on the V9 last night. During my initial ride last week after pumping up the suspension to the recommended pressure for my weight I was not thrilled with how bouncy the suspension felt. Instead of absorbing impacts it was more like it was bouncing off of them which did not feel good. Last night before riding I reduced the pressure in the shocks significantly below the recommended range and the ride felt significantly better to me. I did a short video describing the change.

When I got home last night I noticed that the Echo device in the garage was playing music which was odd as I don’t recall it playing anything when I left in the morning. I gave the device the verbal command to stop, which it did. Later when I was inside the house I heard noise out in the garage again. Yes once again the device was playing music without my command to do so. This time I took the more drastic step of unplugging it to hopefully clear out whatever issue was going on. I plugged it back in and went inside confident that should be the end of it.

Nope, later I once again heard music going on in the garage. I was now legit aggravated so I unplugged the device and just left it that way. Hopefully some extended time with no power will cure what ails it. This is the oldest Amazon device I own. Some of you may recall this exact same scenario happening years ago with this same device, although in that situation the garage was right next to my bedroom so it actually woke me up in the middle of the night. Have the Chinese infiltrated my Amazon device? Maybe.

I returned to yoga for the first time in three weeks yesterday. I did not apparently re-injure my back doing so but I do feel little tweaks and twinges in my body from being moved and stretched in ways that are not routine.

I now have an Inmotion V9 in my possession. It is a new wheel that is on the low side of the typical EUC price point yet it delivers a lot of features for the money like suspension, light weight, quality components and much more. I need to focus up and get some content made on it. This wheel was sent to me by Inmotion and they have certain features they would like highlighted in whatever content I create. The end result is going to be my releasing a summary video first, instead of last which will check the boxes on these features. Then I will release a series of videos that focus more on just certain aspects of the wheel. I also have my F22 Pro on order which I hope shows up by the end of the month.

I hate to jinx it but my IT band related problems definitely seem to be improving. Ironically the improvement coincided when I hurt my back doing yoga two and a half weeks ago. I am still limiting the amount of pickleball I am playing as the last thing I need is to have the needle start moving in the wrong direction again. Make no mistake, anything below my waist is never going to feel “good” at this point in my life but I would be thrilled with just normal amounts of aches and pain, thank you very much.

I have fallen into a weird niche in content that I watch. Lately I have been binging these relatively short format videos where they use some sort of simulator to run various vehicles through all sorts of jumps, crashes, obstacle smashing and a number of other ridiculous scenarios. The physics seem spot on and something in my brain latches onto this. I don’t have an explanation.

Throughout my life I have had a lot of situations where I have known people that at first seem like really happy, got their shit together, funny, entertaining to be around individuals. I also have had numerous scenarios where these same people, when the top layers are pulled back, reveal themselves to be dark, damaged, toxic, and broken at their core. It’s like their overly positive facade is a thin veil for the ugly truth beneath. In my experience these types of people ultimately live lives that are riddled with negativity, lies, and drama because they create it. These type of people are best kept at a distance. You can’t change them, you can’t save them. They are best turned onto other paths away from you where the damage they can inflict is minimized.

Hi all. After a roughly two week and change hiatus from pretty much any public facing social media or content I decided to start putting stuff out there again. Dawn is out of the woods in regards to life and death but her eventual condition is going to take a considerable amount of time to resolve. Myself and many, many others are hoping for the best of possible outcomes.

Am I going to go back and give you a cliff notes version of everything my life has included since I last posted here? Nah. I will just see where it goes. I have an Inmotion V9 sitting in my house that I have gotten out to ride once. I am supposed to be doing a review on the wheel and producing content but I have been slow to do so.

This past weekend I attended my first pro pickleball tournament with my buddy Rich. It was a cool experience seeing the best players in the world compete. You could be watching them on the center court one minute and rubbing elbows with them in a food line the next. I would definitely go again.

I added a very painful lower back to my injury list for a week or two. I ironically hurt it in yoga class, something that is generally viewed as a rehabilitative activity. That has improved now. The hip/knee pain I have had because of the IT band for the last 3 months plus is actually at it’s lowest point in a very long time. I am cautiously optimistic that I may be finally turning the corner on that as well. I played pickleball yesterday and came out of it feeling decent.

I have had my A1 printer running nearly non-stop creating cool multi-color prints. Almost every single print I have made I have given away to friends or co-workers. I enjoy sharing what I make I guess. This is the same premise that likely drives my YouTube channel and even what I write here.

Two weeks at this time I will be on a plane to Pennsylvania to attend my friend Troy’s wedding. It is going to be a very fast trip with me returning on Sunday morning. I hope to see some of my family on Saturday but that will be about all the time I have outside of the wedding itself.

The incident with Dawn has put a spotlight on how quickly life can be flipped upside down. It also triggered another personal risk tolerance assessment within myself. The lesson learned is to value what you have, embrace happiness, and don’t waste energy on negative things that serve no practical purpose whatsoever in your life.

Do I plan to resume writing more or less daily? We will see how I feel.

I woke up Saturday morning and saw a message from one of my Florida riding buddies that was a quote from another one of my buddies that I have ridden with in California. The message was that Dawn was involved in a very serious crash. Dawn crashes once in awhile so I didn’t think it was horrible until I found out it was.

She was doing another 100 mile+ ride but it was still going into the night. She was on a bike trail along a river. There was a pretty sudden turn to the left that she did not see/react to in time and the result was catastrophic. She went off the trail and fell onto a steep concrete embankment that had stones embedded in it. She was likely going 30MPH plus when it happened. Her injuries are massive and she was literally touch and go for quite awhile with multiple internal injuries, a brain bleed, a collapsed lung and more. There was a very real chance she could die.

She has been in an induced coma for a number of days. She is more stable now but the total extent of her injuries is yet unknown. When the reality of the situation hit I sort of went numb. It was the sort of news that you wish was a dream that you can wake up from. Unfortunately there was no escape from this.

There was a gofundme created which has been generously contributed to by hundreds of people. The reality is that the financial distress that is potentially awaiting on the other side of this will be massive, far exceeding any donations that could be made. Assuming she is out of the woods there is still no clear idea of the extent of her injuries and what a road to recovery would even look like.

I had people ask if I was going to fly out to California because of the close relationship Dawn and I established over the last year. To me it makes no sense to do so as until she improves nobody can even see her except immediate family. I don’t really know exactly what I can/could do.

I have not had much contact with Dawn over the last month and a half so to get this news out of the blue was like a punch you didn’t see coming. At this point all I can hope is that whatever injuries she has suffered are not of the long term debilitating variety. If my near death accident in October didn’t teach me a hard enough lesson regarding the potential frailty of life, especially when riding on a one wheeled self balancing device, this incident engraved it in stone.

Yes every day you are rolling the dice, you never know if something could take you out. But when we willingly place ourselves in situations where only a moment of unawareness can lead to such catastrophic results you have to really do a thorough evaluation of your risk/reward equations. If you have a family that equation gets even more complicated.

I’m not a religious person but if you are, please say your prayers for Dawn. I have been trying to send her positive energy in my own way. There may be a hiatus to my posting anything in the blog for awhile. It just doesn’t feel very important.

Yesterday my back pain was somewhat improved from the previous day. I was able to get myself upright without major issues. I even went to the gym and worked out, albeit limited in what I could do. Two advil helped that effort. Last night I once again laid on the ice pack for 20-30 minutes to numb up the problem area. I am hoping that by the end of the weekend I am more or less normal.

Last night I started a new print on the A1, an articulated Sponge Bob model for a friend. This model was not multicolor but I was able to transform it into one with Bambu Lab Studio. In that software you can “paint” color onto a model in any way you please. It can be a bit tricky so I am curious to see how it turns out in the end.

Yesterday Inmotion announced a new wheel the V9. This wheel is the smallest and lightest suspension wheel on the market while containing a lot of great features. It also is priced very well in today’s overpriced electric unicycle market. I had the pull to snap buy the wheel more than once, sitting on the checkout page a few times during the day but I resisted the urge. I already have a new wheel coming and I need to get my financial reality a bit more settled than it has been for a good portion of 2024. So despite the impulsive urge to buy the wheel I closed the browser window, knowing it was the most responsible thing to do. It was a good thing I did.

You may recall that Inmotion sent me their unique starter wheel, the E20 to evaluate and keep around the holidays. They liked the content I put out regarding it. I guess they liked it enough that they asked if I wanted to evaluate a V9 as well. Of course I said yes. I would have been very annoyed with myself if I let that impulse buy through only to find out the next day I was getting one sent to me. I am glad that fiscal restraint was exercised in this case.

Below you will see a true piece of art. It started life as a regular Eagles schedule but thanks to the amazing artistic ability of my buddy Rich it has been transformed into what you see below. The detail and thoughtfulness that has gone into this blows my mind. I envy his creativity and talent. Have a good weekend, I hope to do the same.

I muddled through the day yesterday with my aching lower back. I still went to the gym although there were certain things I just could not do. Of course my IT band issue still remains so the combination of these two things had me pretty miserable.

When I got home I got the idea to use my heating pad that also has a vibration function. I laid on it for at least a half hour with both the heat and vibration on the max setting. When I tried to get up afterwards it was awful. Instead of feeling better my back felt worse, way worse. I had to struggle mightily to just get myself upright to walk. The pain turned to anger. I was angry at my body for failing me.

A little later I got the idea to try my oversized ice bag on the area. It seemed like that was more effective than the heat/vibration. Maybe it’s just because everything felt numb afterward. I took three Advil before bed as well as a Unisom, hoping I would wake up magically feeling better.

I am marginally better and am at least functioning at a base level. I obviously am not going to attempt a yoga class today although I may still slowly walk over to the gym and find things I can do that don’t aggravate my lower back. I currently have four or five parts of my body that are consistently problematic right now. As always I will keep hammering away until I I can hammer no more.

Yesterday was yoga day which has been one of the ways I have been trying to work on my IT band as it incorporates both stretching and strengthening of the hip/ass muscles that are involved. However yesterday was the first time I figured out a way to also use yoga to hurt myself. I’m not quite sure what movement did it but I walked out of class with some bad pain in my lower back that steadily worsened during the afternoon.

I was going to the movies last night. When I got home to shower and change it was an absolute shit show. Removing and putting on socks was on the verge of mission impossible status. I popped three Advil and headed to the movies anyway.

I picked a really bad time to attend my first ever movie in 4DX. It is basically like watching a movie while sitting in one of those theme park simulator rides. Not only do the seats move, very violently at times, there is also water sprayed on you, air blown on you and other sensory triggers. The activity is supposed to mimic the action on the screen I guess. The film is also displayed in 3D so glasses are required. It took very little time until I found the experience annoying.

To be fair the fact that my back already hurt going in did not help but generally speaking I did not feel like getting thrown around did anything to add to my enjoyment of the movie. If anything it detracted from it. I found myself almost waiting for action sequences to end so the endless rocking and shaking of the seats would calm down. I mean it’s good that I experienced 4DX so that I now know I have no need to do so ever again I guess.

The movie itself was weird. As I saw in reviews it was as much a movie that continued the story line of the last Incredible Hulk movie as much as it being about Captain America. When Marvel decided to hand the Captain America role over to Falcon I was not a big fan. I still am not one. Despite never being injected with super soldier serum he seems at times to have similar attributes which just doesn’t make sense. They may as well give him the shot. I’d give the movie a B overall which is pretty low on my Marvel scale. I could have watched it at home and been just as happy while not being shaken like a bad martini.

I had a good but seemingly fast four day weekend fly by. On Saturday morning I played pickleball with Sue. I had some discomfort in my leg/hip/knee but we still managed to win every game but one. I took three advil prior to playing to help. Well evidently they started to wear off around the time I took the truck to go get groceries. I had this consistent pain in the hip that I just could not get to subside. I spent the entire drive to and from the grocery store shifting my position while driving to try to escape the discomfort. It was very annoying. Later in the day it relaxed but man, I am so tired of it.

Over the weekend I consumed the final 5 episodes of Cobra Kai a show I have always been fond of. I thought they did a real nice job of bringing the story full circle. If you ever enjoyed the Karate Kid movies you really should check the series out.

Over the weekend my YouTube channel hit a milestone reaching 15,000 subscribers. It has been a goal of mine for a little while. I even did a couple channel promotion campaigns with Google to help get me there a little faster. In the big picture a 15K YouTube channel is small potatoes compared to big creators however to me it’s a nice little feather in the hat. It’s a weird feeling knowing that there have been close to 8 million views on my channel in total. 20K, here we come.

With no football to watch anymore I had some extra time to get out and ride. I took my Veteran Patton out for a ride Sunday afternoon and enjoyed it. This was only my third riding video of 2025. Once my F22 Pro arrives I expect that pace to accelerate.

Monday morning I got over to the gym in the government center. I wanted to make sure I got my chest day in. In addition I got on the cross trainer and did a solid 20 minutes of cardio keeping my heart rate between 140-150 BPM the entire time. This is the one aspect of my fitness regime that has been lost in the shuffle.

For a long time I was doing significant cardio via running. I then switched to the road bike once a week. Since I moved regular cardio was dropped and sort of replaced with all of the pickleball and volleyball I was playing. Since I am not playing volleyball and my pickleball court time has been cut in half I feel that I need to put more focus on keeping my cardio fitness at at least a decent level. It may require me to add some after work hours sessions at the gym to do so.

Yesterday was also Elsa’s 10th birthday, a big one of course. It was celebrated with balloons, a hat, presents and a birthday cupcake. Elsa was a good sport about it all. It’s very difficult for me to wrap my head around that fact that the little scared dog that was adopted from under a table at Rural King is now 10 years old. The speed of the passing of time nowadays is sort of terrifying. Anyway Elsa seemed to enjoy the attention.

It was a good four days.

Sometimes I have a hard time coming up with something to put into words. Maybe it’s the full moon that crested yesterday, maybe it’s a lack of motivation, or maybe it’s something else. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. If anything I feel like my head is in a calmer and more peaceful place than it has been for quite awhile. I’m hoping that is a trend that continues.

I am taking tomorrow off and we also have Monday off for President’s Day so I have a nice four days ahead of me. Elsa’s 10th birthday is on Monday which seems hard to believe. It feels like the day she was adopted as a scared little 9 month old that was hiding under a table in Rural King was not so long ago.

Last night after work I had to run to the local gun dealer that I had the AR pistol sent to. I had to once again fill out the clearance form and be submitted for yet another background check, something that has to be done for each gun purchase, even if you bought one recently. Since I do not have a concealed weapons permit I also have to again wait three business days to pick it up so I guess it will be a Valentines Day present for myself. I also bought myself ammo for both the 1911 and the AR Pistol to be used at the range. Ammo is not cheap, to get 200 rounds for each weapon cost well over $200.

After completing my mini-workout and eating dinner I ran over to the local Walmart to pick up a few things. This Walmart is old and has never been updated. When I walked in the door I saw two massive lines of people waiting to check out. I’m talking at least 20 people in each line. For some reason they only had two registers out of a dozen open.

As I was walking down one aisle I stopped in my tracks when I saw what looked like urine at the base of a pole. Did someone really take a piss in the store?? The likely answer is yes. When it was my time to checkout they finally figured out that they needed to open an additional register.

Even with doing so the line was long and slow. I found myself getting very annoyed with the cashier that seemed to move at a snails pace. Hell I even felt annoyed with the people in front of me that had more items than they should have in the “speedy” check out line. It was at that moment that I realized that the full moon was almost here.

My mood the last couple days has been on the dark side. My patience has been limited and my ability to interact with other human beings is strained. Some months I cruise right past this cycle but most of them there is a discernible change in my demeanor and outlook. Right now is one of those times.

When I got home I didn’t feel like doing anything else so I just binged a couple more episodes of Battlestar Galactica. I was a huge fan of the series back in the day. Enough time has passed that I don’t recall much detail of the series so it’s almost like seeing it all over again. I have been enjoying it a lot. It’s a good way to set my brain on cruise control until calmer water is under me.