Starting Friday our area has been receiving a litany of warnings about what is now hurricane Debbie however nothing significant was happening. I played pickleball both Friday and Saturday morning. As the day progressed Saturday we had a few minor periods of rain and it was mildly windy. Friday after work I hung out at a happy hour with Juan for awhile but just drank. I then went to Brunina’s and grabbed food while I chatted to Meaghan.

Saturday after pickleball I turned my attention to trying to get my Mten3 back together, using a tube instead of the tubeless configuration it was using before. It resulted in a couple frustrating hours where I was unable to get the tire back on the rim with the tube in there, no matter how much I struggled. I resigned myself to having to go back to the tubeless configuration but I needed to get a new tubeless valve to do so.

On Saturday night I did a casual and improptu live stream from my phone. It started out on the lanai but then moved inside once I tired of the humidity. Originally I thought it might go for an hour but wound up being two and a half instead.

Sunday was when the full tropical weather was in effect. It was windy with heavy rain off and on all day. Areas around Naples had some flooding as we received somewhere around 5-6 inches of rain. It was a mess. For some dumb reason during the afternoon I got the idea that it would be “interesting” to take one of my wheels out into the wet and windy weather. I chose my Veteran Patton which is supposed to be water resistant. Wow did I put it to the test.

When I left the rain was light but that did not last for long. Soon another band of heavy wind swept rain moved in and I found myself absolutely soaked. The coat I was wearing was thought to be waterproof. It absolutely is not. The wheel was subjected to deluge style rain. I only went out for 20-30 minutes or so, that was plenty. I was absolutely drenched. I blew out the wheel the best I could to try to minimize any residual water impact. The picture is how I protected my non-waterproof wireless mic receiver. The video demonstrates my level of decision making at time, which can be poor.

The air valve I ordered showed up later in the day Sunday so I took another shot at getting the Mten3 working. Without a tube in the tire and utilizing my zip tie method I was able to push the tire back onto the rim with absolutely no pry tool assistance which is amazing compared to how much I struggled the day before. However I ran into another issue, I could not fill the tire.

With a tubeless configuration you have to get the tire to seat it’s bead on the rim so it is airtight. There are various tricks to do it but I only had a portable air pump that does not push air fast enough to get the job done. I am going to either have to find a gas station that has a high flow inflator or just go to a tire shop and see if they can pop the bead on for me for a few bucks. This has been annoying, to say the least.

The weather made for an up and down weekend which sort of aligned with how my mental state has been recently. This has been a pretty consistent reality for me for at least two years. It’s not the type of consistency I am looking for however.

Yesterday was my first time back playing volleyball in several weeks dating back to prior my California trip. Since returning I have been going through a couple weeks of my left knee being randomly painful however it had felt pretty stable the last handful of days so I decided to test it.

The playing conditions were not great. It had rained before the start of play and rained lightly off and on while we were playing so the sand was wet and heavy. In a very short period of time I had a thick layer of sand clinging to my body. My team was not great, containing a couple players that I just don’t enjoy playing with. My play was not great either, I struggled off and on throughout the night, partly due to rust, partly due to being conscious of my knee and partly because I was not enjoying myself all that much.

For most of the night my knee held up but towards the end I had a couple shots of pain in the left knee. I walked out of there unhappy with how play went but glad I wasn’t walking with a limp although I did have a few quick ouch moments since then. Today I am scheduled to play pickleball at lunch so that will be the real indicator of how impacted I am by last nights session.

I did bring my V8S to the courts. One of the women I play with is an amazingly good conventional unicyclist. She tried out my wheel at the 4th of July party and was able to get the hang of it very quickly. She had asked me if I could bring it to volleyball so she could try it again so I brought it.

Once again she was able to ride without falling. She really likes it. I told her the next time we play I will bring the charger and she can borrow it for a week or two. She then pulled out one of her unicycles which she encouraged me to try. I got up on it next to a fence but had no ability to stabilize myself using the pedals. It would be cool to learn to ride a conventional unicycle but doing it in flip flops and volleyball gear is not a great idea.

This weekend I have a few things to get done, mostly related to my hobbies. As long as my knee stays intact two sessions of pickleball will likely also be in the cards. Tonight I am going to a happy hour with Juan. We went a month or so together and it was a lot of fun so I am hoping for a repeat performance.

Yesterday I played pickleball for the first time this week. It was the first time in nearly two weeks I got through a session without my left knee going “out”. I also happened to play pretty well which was likely connected. When my knee is hurting I am hesitant to go at 100% which knocks everything down a few pegs. I am hoping this trend continues.

Last night I got motivated to do a quick video on my current paddle collection, somewhat motivated by receiving my latest and greatest paddle, a Holbrook Power Pro. As mentioned in the video I really need to slow down the paddle buying train. I currently have nine in my bag which is pretty ridiculous. Curbing that impulse buying trend can be part of a bigger effort to cut back on my spending somewhat, which has been off the rails ever since I moved.

Tonight I am planning to give my left knee a real test as I try to play volleyball for the first time in a couple weeks. If I get through the session without limping afterward I will feel more confident that the last two weeks of knee issues was just a bump in the road.

Last night was a very mundane evening. I did laundry and then finally got around to washing the Tesla. It had probably been at least a month since I did so. It was overdue, especially since the car had been to Orlando and back since the last washing. Washing cars during rainy season is sort of an effort in futility but I still felt better after removing the layer of grime that had accumulated.

I also spent some time in WoW trying to get things “working” again. They recently released the pre-patch for their next expansion which opens the end of August. Whenever this happens they change a ton of things in the game which result in the “mods” you use breaking or requiring you to change the way some things have been done. I trudged through some of the issues last night to the point where I think have basic functionality going. I got one more character to the current max level, which is going to increase in a month. I still have a lot more to go but have a deficit in time and motivation to do so.

My life in 2023 was one of the more tumultuous times of my life from a relationship standpoint. Now that I am going into my 8th month since my last one ended I have transitioned to just a weird time instead. I have clear patterns and tendencies that create obstacles for me in the big picture. Finding the path around and/or over them is the challenge.

It seems like right now I am in my monthly peak in strength. I have talked before how my strength throughout a month changes, presumably tied to the moon cycle. Yesterday at the gym my chest strength felt really good with weight that can be challenging at times going up cleanly and without hesitation. Now if this cycle would also include realigning whatever is whacked out in my knee I would be good to go.

Last night some strong storms rolled through, sending Elsa into her normal routine of hiding. When she was in her “safety corner” I covered her with a blanket to make her feel better. I wish there was something I could do besides try to comfort her, poor thing.

The storms did give me a chance to verify that the downspout extension I installed over the weekend worked as planned. On the south side of the house the water was dumping and collecting right by the structure which is never a good thing. Now the water is flowing near the edge of the landscape bed where it shouldn’t do any harm. It’s funny how nowadays dong something so simple is a “project” because I typically have very little I need to fix around the house anymore.

I don’t know if it was the rainy weather but I found myself feeling very tired last night. A little after 8PM I laid down on the bed and dozed off briefly. That does not happen very often.

For as long as I can remember I have always been a pretty avid watcher of the Olympic games, both summer and winter. The Paris games started on Friday and I have watched exactly zero seconds of the coverage so far. It’s a strange thing but I guess ties into how my TV viewing habits have changed since I moved to the new house. I stopped watching pretty much anything I used to watch on big network TV and never watch live broadcasting outside of football for the most part. The Olympics are a special thing and I should pay more attention to it. I always used to watch a lot of that stuff with whomever my partner was at the time. The lack of one has impacted a lot of my routines and this is just another manifestation of that, I guess.

After work on Friday I swung over to Brunina’s for the second time in three days for happy hour. I don’t really fit in with the happy hour crowd there, most of them are very old. The only reason I go is because I like talking to Meaghan. I had three beers but then headed out because I was going to see Deadpool and Wolverine at 9:30 with Brian and Laura.

We met at the Cinebistro at 8:30 and chilled at their beautiful bar for a bit. With as full as all of the movie showings were I thought the bar would be busy as well, it was not. We sat down and ordered food. The Cinebistro is nice but really expensive. My shrimp florentine with a Coke was almost $50 after the per-ordained gratuity was added in.

So of course we weren’t there to drink at the bar or eat overpriced food, we were there to watch Deadpool and Wolverine, a movie that has had an insane amount of hype and anticipation towards for months. In many cases this is a recipe for disappointment, for a movie to live up to this type of hype is rare. This one does it.

The movie is just funny, action filled and entertaining as hell from start to finish. There are cameos galore with references to all sorts of things only real Marvel fans will catch. I absolutely loved the movie and it jumped into the elite class as one of my favorite Marvel movies of all time. A+ I didn’t get home until shortly before midnight but I was happy to pay the late bedtime penalty.

Despite the late night Friday I got up to play pickleball on Saturday morning. I played a bunch of games with Sue in the warm and sticky morning air. My left knee had two or three episodes where I got the weird sensation that I can only describe as feeling like a tendon slips out of place which stops me dead in my tracks. I have been able to work through it by taking a second to do a deep squat and sort of shake the knee out. I really need this to not be a thing. Because of my schedule I have not been able to consistently do a lower body strength session in months. I need to carve out the time to do it.

Early Saturday evening I decided to take my Master out for a ride to the Cabana for a few beers. During the ride I seemed to have a lot to talk about covering all sorts of topics. I got into a discussion about the wheel at the bar with a guy that rides his e-bike everywhere. He told me how his bike can go up to 35MPH but he never goes that fast. When I told him my wheel can go 50MPH plus he couldn’t believe it. It was an enjoyable ride. By the time I got done editing the footage it was yet another late night.

Sunday I once again played pickleball. We started at Talis Park where a fourth person was supposed to meet us to play. He was a no show so we went across the street to the even larger and more affluent community of Mediterra, hoping to find players there. Once again we were the only three playing but we made it work. The courts there were really beautiful. Mediterra is where Christine happens to work but I never saw it first hand. We played longer than I probably should have as my knee went “out” several times once again.

Sunday afternoon I got motivated to finally rip apart to work on my Mten3 which has been out of order for awhile because the tire would not fill or hold air properly. I already suspected this was due to the tire sealant I used on the wheel causing an issue. Boy, was I right.

This is my oldest wheel. If I were to guess it is somewhere around six years old. I never had to do any work on it either. When I popped the tire off the disgusting mess was revealed. I described it on video as looking like the bottom of a mower deck that you never cleaned, a thick coating of green goo on the rim and tire itself.

I took the wheel outside to try to clean the rim up. I first used a flat screw driver to get the thickest spots somewhat cleared. I then used a wire brush to get more of the residue off. It’s still far from perfect but I think good enough. My plan is to go back to an inner tube instead of the tubeless configuration which always leaked to some degree. I ordered a new tire as well to give myself a fresh start. Once the parts arrive I will resume the project.

So today was the one week mark in not drinking coffee. Not having it didn’t appear to have much of a difference on me mentally or physically although I did miss it as part of my routine, especially on the weekends. I decided I am going to add coffee back into my existence although instead of doing it twice a day , just have it in the morning instead and see if there is a happy median there.

Speaking of my existence I just realized we are about to click into August and I have not done any conventional dating in 2024 which is going into it’s eighth month. On some days I feel it’s an issue as I feel I have a lot going for me and having a partner to share that with would be a good thing. Other days I appreciate the simplicity of only having to account for myself and Elsa in my decision making process. Then finally there are days where I step outside of myself and try to view the situation from the eyes of an observer. When I do that, a lot of things don’t make much sense.

If you read my entries regarding my trip to California and/or saw any of the videos you will know that one of the things that surprised me was how well I held up physically to the riding conditions I encountered. One thing that may surprise you was the entire time I was in California I did not have one cup of coffee. It wasn’t really a conscious decision. There were no Dunkin Donuts real close to me and I just didn’t think about it all that much.

At home I am normally a two cup a day DD guy with coffee in the morning and then again after work. Luckily I don’t appear to be one of those people that develop nasty caffeine withdrawal symptoms like bad headaches. So anyway, the thought popped into my head that perhaps part of the reason I felt good out in California was the absence of coffee. So I decided to do an experiment.

Since I returned from the work conference in Orlando I have gone coffee free. Now it’s only been a couple days but so far so good. My plan is to give it a solid week and see if I notice anything different. The biggest impact is grabbing coffee is embedded into the core of my daily routines. It’s omission will feel weird.

Part of the reason I wanted to do this is related to how my left knee started hurting significantly last Friday playing pickleball. After returning from California I went right back into my coffee habits. For three days I was getting random stabs of pain in there. Today will be the first time in a week I try testing it again on the court. I never drank coffee until my early 30s after moving to Florida. Perhaps it’s a habit I would be better off without. Time will tell.

Yesterday the last part finished for a cool color shifting stand I printed over the last few days. I used the filament to make some other models but had a bunch left over. I made the stand not to sell but to hold onto for a special occasion.

Tonight I am doing something that is extremely rare, going to the opening of what is going to be a very popular movie, Deadpool and Wolverine. I am going to see it at the fancy Cinebistro with my friend Brian and his wife Laura. I bought these tickets last Sunday and even doing it that early I had to pick the 9:30 showing if we wanted to get three seats together that weren’t in the front rows. It’s going to be a late night for sure.

On Saturday there is a possibility I am going out on a boat with my same buddy I did months ago. If that doesn’t happen pickleball will step in as the activity of choice, as long as my knee holds up.

After going into the office a couple hours on Monday I headed out to head to my work conference in Orlando. I was a little annoyed because I forgot to charge the Tesla to 100% prior, it instead was sitting at it’s normal 80% level. I figured this meant I would have to charge to complete the three and a half hour ride to Orlando. Surprisingly I didn’t although I did hit a supercharger when I got there. On the way I dropped Elsa off at Ali’s place. It was the first time I had her in the new Tesla. I had her small dog bed in the back so she was fine hanging out in the back for the hour long ride to Babcock Ranch.

I have been to this Hyatt several times now, it’s a beautiful hotel. When I checked in they offered me a glass of champagne, I accepted. This was the first of my consumption of five different types of alcohol during the reception evening. I also had two different type of beers, a vodka and soda as well as a mango White Claw. The alcohol kept me functioning in the sea of people where it tests my ability to be randomly social. The end result the next morning however was my waking up and feeling like shit. I had a headache for most of the morning.

Tuesday the vendor did introductions of all of their staff that were in attendance. Each person would say their name and describe the picture they had chosen to represent them. I was surprised to see a picture of a guy on an electric unicycle. He said he just started riding within the last year. Later on I tracked him down. When I told him I had been riding for 8 years and have a YouTube channel he stopped dead in his tracks and said “OMG, you’re Duf!” He has seen a bunch of my videos and is a channel subscriber. We had a good time talking about wheels and his experiences. He asked me for some tips and advice on several things which I was happy to share. It’s always bizarre when I meet someone randomly that knows me from the internet.

The conference itself was ok. My main focus were the IT Coalition meetings where people from other counties talked and exchanged ideas about a variety of tech subjects. Tuesday evening I met up with Todd, Mindy and Mackenna who were down at Disney for the week, just like last year. We had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, a place I had not patronized in quite awhile. It was good to catch up with the three of them. It sounds like they were having a good vacation so far. After leaving there I met up with my group at Twin Peaks which is a more modern day Hooters from how it was described to me with T&A being a highlight. The place was much less full than I expected and I just drank a beer while everyone else ate. I was not overly impressed in any regard.

Wednesday morning I only had one session that I attended before I packed up and headed back to Naples. The drive back had less maddening I-4 traffic. Once again I got home after starting at an 80% charge level. I picked up Elsa along the way and got back home a little before 4PM. Unlike the California trip, recovery from the conference didn’t require much more than throwing in a load of laundry.

I decided I didn’t feel like making dinner so I headed over to Bruninas to grab food. I had not seen Meaghan in few weeks so it sounded like a good idea. The place was pretty dead. For a period of time I was the only one at the bar which was nice in a way as I got to talk with Meaghan more than any other time I can recall. It felt like a good way to slide back into my Naples existence.

While I was gone I was voted in as the new secretary of the small HOA our community has. The current secretary recommended me to do the role as she thinks I’m a good fit. I felt obligated to accept. I don’t think it will be a very big deal. They had a meeting on Monday night where they made all of these signs for the vote and then videoed it to send to me. It brought a smile to my face. It was nice to feel embraced, accepted and appreciated by my new neighbors.

So my return from the conference signifies the end of what has been a very busy and very social July, starting with my attendance of the 4th of July party, the trip to California, and finally the work conference. I am looking forward to a return to more normalized schedules but I do appreciate what I gain from pushing myself out into the current where I am forced to adapt to new situations, interactions and experiences.

With the trip to California I went cold turkey without playing pickleball for over a week. On Friday/Saturday I made up for it and inadvertently paid a price along the way. My first session was Friday at lunch with my crew. It was sweltering hot but that is the status quo for many months to come. However while I was playing I suddenly got this uncomfortable and painful sensation in my left knee. It sort of felt like the tendons along the outside of the knee were suddenly out of whack and incredibly tight. I tried to treat it like the Fonz, smacking on the area several times. The sensation subsided but would come and go during the games, unexplainably. It’s not like I did anything out of the ordinary that would have tweaked it that I could remember.

Friday night I had ANOTHER pickleball session with my friends that I play with semi-regularly. All of them have been out of town for close to a month so I did not want to skip out on them. I again had knee pain episodes where the pain sort of floated around but would be enough to send me into an immediate limp. Brian’s back was hurting so we stopped a little early which was fine by me.

Finally I had my third pickleball session in less than 24 hours Saturday morning, this time playing with Sue. We had fun playing with a couple sisters, one of which is actually a pickleball instructor. The knee pain continued to randomly make an appearance but now it felt more centered inside the knee. Since I have been dealing with knee pain for roughly the last 25 years my theory is I have some loose meniscus or other cartilage material floating around in there that is causing the discomfort when it gets pinched the wrong way. I have had this scenario often. At this point I just have to wait it out until whatever is causing the pain moves to a better spot.

I have spent a lot of time this weekend going through all of the various pictures and videos I have connected to the trip and posting stuff to my various social media. I also made a video Saturday where I talked through my overall thoughts regarding the trip. Getting everything sorted, edited and posted consumes a LOT of time. Luckily my schedule this weekend has been on the light side so I have had time to do it.

I have to pack for a very quick work conference in Orlando. I drive up there tomorrow afternoon and will be reversing direction Wednesday around lunch so it will be a brief stay. My brother is in Orlando with his family this week so I am going to meet them for dinner Tuesday night. I last saw them in January.

Once I get back from Orlando that will be the last significant event in what has been a very busy July. I look forward to a more “standard” daily pace, at least for a little while. The trip to California reminded me of the benefit of putting yourself out there, taking risks, and not allowing past decisions to dictate choices in the present. The worst that can happen is you fail, so what…..

Last night I played volleyball for the first time in July. I had a little rust as my muscles and joints re-acclimated to the various stresses the game puts on them. Overall I played pretty consistently and escaped without hurting myself in an appreciable way. I call that a win nowadays. Our team went 4-2 so I can’t complain.

I just released the 90 mile ride up into the mountains on the new Sherman L. I think it’s a good video if I say so myself not only because it captures the essence of the new wheel and the beauty of the area we were riding in, but also some expanding of my feelings during the ride. Despite getting all three videos posted I still have some smaller/shorter content I would like to get out there as well.

This weekend I still have some clean up to do from the trip. Things feel a bit out of sorts right now and that isn’t a feeling I like to live in. Monday I head north for a quick three day work conference which will wrap up a July that has been very eventful in some good and less than good ways.