Archives December 2017

I had a pretty shitty night of sleep Wednesday night, not an ideal scenario for a long day of travel.  My flight was not until 10AM so we didn’t have to leave the house till around 7:30 which was nice.  Cindy dropped me off around 8:15 so I had plenty of time to spare.  Check in went smooth since I already printed my boarding pass ahead of time.  I was through security and wandering towards my gate a full hour before boarding was even scheduled to begin.

I spent the time just futzing around on my laptop, taking advantage of the free airport wifi.  I also grabbed myself a drink and a snack since I suspected that much like everything else on Spirit Airlines, an on flight drink/snack would likely be a pay to play experience. (it was)  A la carte was how everything is handled with Spirit.  If you want to bring a bag you pay extra, want to be able to pick your seat, pay extra, food, drink, and anything else beyond just sitting your ass in the seat, you pay extra.  I am undecided how I feel about the business model, at least you can choose what is and is not worth paying extra for, an advantage in some ways.

The airplane looked very new but I was glad that I paid an extra $26 for an exit row seat.  The legroom in the normal coach seats looked like I would be wedging my knees against the seatback.  The seats themselves were rather minimalist and not very comfortable.  The padding was thin and hard.  Sitting in them for more than a couple hours would not be very comfortable at all.

The flight was not very full which was nice, I had the three seats in my exit row empty.  I started on the aisle and later decided to move to the window for a view.  As I mentioned there were no beverages or food served, unless you paid for it.  Very few people opted to pay for refreshments and I was in that group.  I kept myself entertained during the two hour flight reading an old magazine and playing Fieldrunners on my iPhone. The flight took off and landed early so that was cool.  Overall, despite the nickel and diming I experienced, I still would consider using Spirit again.  It got me where I wanted to go on time without a major hassle which is the most important thing.

As soon as I hit the exit walkway I got my first blast of PA winter air.  Unlike last year, I was already somewhat prepared as I had on heavy long pants and my long sleeve Under Armour cold gear shirt.  Once I retrieved my luggage which was already on the carousel  by the time I got there, I pulled out a heavy hooded sweatshirt and my coat which made things bearable.

Patrick picked me up after a brief wait.  I was worried we would have to stick around his place as his Christmas gift from me, a 3D printer kit was scheduled to arrive Thursday.  Luckily it showed up just before he left to get me so we could head directly to my dad’s place.  It had snowed the night before but the roads were basically clear on the entire two hour drive until the last mile or two as we approached Marienville.

When we went inside I got an extremely enthusiastic welcome from Maggie and Clara, their two dogs.  Clara was really affectionate, more so than I can ever recall in the past, it was nice to feel so missed.  My stepmom had the house feeling warm, inviting and very full of holiday spirit, something she always has excelled at.  She was in the middle of baking Christmas cookies.  Her cookies are probably the best I have ever eaten.  I didn’t wait long till I sampled a couple.

I wanted to go out and see the barn animals, the 20 sheep and llama.  Evidently the llama has been acting weird lately and not eating normally which I was sad to see.  The sheep and llama gave me cautious looks but didn’t freak out much.  It felt cold, very cold, more so than in Pittsburgh.  It turns out because it was, the thermometer read 19 degrees.

While we were outside dad showed me his new solar power array.  He recently sold his lifelong Alfa Romeo project car and used the proceeds to fund the installation of a large solar system to help offset his electricity expenses.  It’s a large system with forty 300 watt panels.  Unfortunately it was currently outputting nothing because a third of the panels were covered with six inches of snow and it was extremely overcast.

Daylight lasts much less in western PA compared to Naples, the sun was already setting by 4:30.  It made the long day feel even longer.  My step mom prepared a very different sort of meal which included a salad that included oranges, lime, onions and salmon, a combination that I wouldn’t have expected to work very well but I actually thought was quite good.  A desert consisting 100% of fresh Christmas cookies was a perfect compliment to the meal.

Thursday night we watched a dvd dad rented, some sub-titled Italian comedy called the Ferpect Crime,a Goya award winner, whatever the f that is.  I was very tired and drifted in and out through most of the film.  I saw enough to get the gist.  It was rather strange combination of odd humor, nudity, and physical comedy.  I generally avoid foreign films with subtitles like the plague but I found that my brain adjusted to reading the dialogue after a short while.  I don’t feel qualified to give the movie an official rating since I saw maybe 50% of it but let’s just say it won’t make my recommended list.

I slept in my dad and stepmom’s guestroom which I have slept in many times.  It’s a very quaint room with one problem, it’s normally like an icebox in the winter.  Teresa had recently bought a small electric space heater that I used.  It worked well, keeping the room very sleepable.  I played a couple games of Hearthstone before I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up this morning to 11 degrees which surprisingly didn’t feel too awful when I went out with Teresa to tend to the sheep and walk the dogs.  The lack of wind makes a big difference.  Dad suggested we go to the Kelly for breakfast, one of the few dining establishments in Marienville.  Walking into the restaurant/bar/hotel was like stepping into a time capsule from the 50’s.  The décor was obviously untouched for decades.

There was one other table of old men there when we walked in.  By the time we finished our breakfast, which was surprisingly good, we were the only patrons left inside.  Life in Marienville moves at a much slower pace and having to deal with crowds is something that happens basically never.

When we returned home Patrick and I headed outside to help dad with a short list of todo items including relocating the llama feed bin, reloading the firewood supplies and using a long pool brush to clear the snow off the upper solar panels which required using a ladder.

I believe the rest of the day here will be predictably slow paced which is fine with me.  I never come to western PA looking for a whirlwind schedule.  The mostly calm days with few issues of urgency is something I certainly am not accustomed to in my normal daily grind but I do appreciate in short bursts.  Tomorrow, on my actual birthday we are supposed to be pushing across the state to meet up with Todd and his family so we can do some sort of dinner somewhere.  It hopefully will just be a simple, quiet celebration of my stepping into the abyss of true old age.

Last night I made a video outlining some of the extensive amount of holiday related 3D stuff that we have created this year.  I also put the new room layout on display.  It is a much better setup that should help keep things organized and tidy.

I quite honestly was surprised to wake up this morning to see that Roy Moore lost the Alabama senate seat election, despite the allegations of him having sexual relations with underage teens when he was in his 30’s.  In today’s political climate where common sense seems to be viewed negatively and where bad behavior often does not have consequences, I sort of assumed that Moore would get elected, especially in Alabama, a state that is typically a very deep red in politics.

To have a democrat elected, albeit by a razor thin margin in the state is a huge FU to Donald, who decided to double down on his support of Moore despite the allegations, solely because of partisanship. I for the most case have numbed myself to politics since Trump was elected, conceding that stupidity now is the ruling class in America and I need to just keep my head down and worry about things I can actually control. The election result gives me a slim glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, America is slowly waking up.

Tomorrow I take my first ever flight on Spirit Airlines, a discount carrier that has direct flights from Fort Myers to Pittsburgh.  The fare was an incredibly cheap $98.  However Spirit uses a strategy employed by several airlines, they sell you a rock bottom fare and then hit you on the back end with charges which bring your overall price inline with conventional airlines.

So in theory I could only spend $98 as long as I had no checked baggage and no carry on luggage over 18″ x 14″ x 8″.  Of course the reality is very few people are able to travel with no baggage.  So to add one checked bag adds $40 easy way to the flight ($55 if you check it at the airport) .  When I went to pick my seat, 90% of the seats had an additional cost over the base fare.  I decided to reduce my misery and picked an exit row for my long legs.  That luxury costs and additional $26 each way.  So when you add it all up my total fare is over double what I started at.  The bottom line number still isn’t bad but it’s just an odd way of doing business to me.

My trip up north will be brief with me flying back on Monday.  It will still be nice to see my family and experience what true winter feels like, briefly.  This time next week I will be a few days past the half century mark, an accomplishment that I’d be fine never recognizing publicly. I am perfectly content just printing 3D deathstars instead.

So I have made a concerted effort to get all my Xmas shopping wrapped up before I head north to the frozen PA tundra this weekend. As of this morning I think I pretty much have accomplished that goal and as usual have spent more this holiday season than I hoped but that has pretty much been the case my entire adult life.  I’m sure I’ll grab a few more things here and there before the 25th rolls around but the major expenditures should be in the rear view mirror.

Last night Cindy was talking to me about family Christmas plans and us hosting a meal.  We had talked briefly about the merits of doing it on Christmas Eve versus Christmas Day.  We decided to do it on the day, just like we have the last few years.  I mentioned to Cindy that when I was growing up my mom used to always host a Christmas Eve dinner at the old farmhouse in Gouglersville.  It was just my mom’s side of the family normally including my grandfather, grandmother, uncle, great aunt, and even my great grandmother.

I had fond memories of those get togethers and the interaction between everyone as they sat around the odd shaped table.  I think it was basically a hexagon.

My mom liked to use a couple candles on the table to create an intimate setting.  Every single year my grandfather would complain how it was too dark for him to see his food.  It became a running joke.  We normally would also get to open whatever gift our grandparents got us on Christmas Eve which was sort of fun as it warmed up the anticipation for the big morning that always followed.

It’s funny how my experiences as a child have molded my experience of Christmas as an adult. Despite having basically zero religious exposure as a kid and a devoutly nonreligious view as an adult, I somehow still found a way to internalize the spirit and feeling that surrounds the holiday in a way that works for me.

So I took off Friday to give me an extra day to get stuff done as my mental list was feeling too large for a conventional two day weekend.  I got a headstart on the list Thursday when I got home from work.  I dug into replacing all three internal fans on my CR-10 as they were extremely noisy and known to be of subpar quality.  As usual I ran into snags along the way and as usual I eventually found a way to circumvent them, although not necessarily in the best way.

A good portion of my Friday was consumed doing full grass maintenance.  I weeded, weed whacked, and mowed the yard for hopefully the last time before Christmas.  It felt odd that I was hot and sweaty in the 85 degree weather, knowing the drastic reversal in temperature that was forecast to blow in.  I brought Elsa along with me to go pick up the replacement lanai screen door at Home Depot.  You know, the door that a sixth of a price of what the screen contractor wanted to charge me?  On the way home I picked up Sadie for another weekend visit, something Elsa was beyond excited about.

So early Saturday morning Cindy and I were awakened by lightning, rain, and thunder from the cold front that was sweeping through the area.  The storms were approaching summer-like severity.  I had originally planned to get up and run Saturday morning but the cold rain killed that plan rather quickly.  I decided to substitute a 30 minute session on the rower which brings a different sort of pain than running.

Cindy was teaching classes Saturday morning so I kept myself busy around the house tending to more of my to do list.  Part of that list was having my 3D printers working overtime.  There are TONS of awesome 3D modeled Christmas items out there and I was printing a bunch of them, reindeer, Xmas trees, ornaments, you name it, I was trying to print it.  Later in the weekend Cindy hand painted a bunch of what I printed making it’s coolness level go up another few notches.

Once the rain slowed down mid-morning I took the dogs outside.  I saw Elsa shoot off behind the garden.  She was drawn to something moving on the ground.  I immediately called her off and went closer to investigate.  I stood there in amazement for a sec when I saw it was a catfish.  However a second later I remembered that this has happened several times since I have lived in Florida.

I remember the first time I saw this phenomenon I thought that somehow the fish got sucked up into the clouds and came down with the rain.  I later found out that these are “walking catfish”, a non-native species that has the ability to actually “walk” and breathe air for a short period of time as long as their gills stay wet.  They will leave water to relocate if they deem it necessary.

My quick thought was because of all the rain this catfish decided it was a good chance to pick up and move although I wondered where he was moving from since he was about 20 feet behind the garden when I spotted him.  Well of course I couldn’t let him flopping around out there so I went and grabbed a small plastic container and scooped him up, figuring I would put him in the fill pit in the rear of the property which has a ton of water still in it.

So as I walked towards the back fence line I spotted another catfish, and another, and another.  Evidently they all had the same idea.  By the time I was done, I had collected and transported about 20 of the fish back to water.  Most of them went in the fill pit but I also put a handful into the small pond near the house.  If you never have seen walking fish before, it should be on your bucket list.

On Saturday afternoon Cindy and I were back at Home Depot.  Last week on the way out we had spotted this nice pre-assembled wood workbench that we commented about how it might be a nice addition to the hobby room.  I measured a space on the wall I saw I had exactly six feet, the length of the bench.  After we got back I immediately dug into getting the room rearranged.  In the process I knocked the EUC shelf down which in turn broke one of my 3D printed stands.  Of course I simply reprinted the broken piece.

It took awhile to get things shuffled around but the end result was worth the effort.  The room feels much less crowded.  Everything has a space and the one hobby desk that used to be consumed by two printers now is clean and open to be used as needed.  Cindy was very happy with the end result as well.

On Sunday morning it was cold, very cold with temps in the mid 40’s.  Despite substituting a hard rower session for running on Saturday, my inner taskmaster said I still needed to get out and run.  I did not dress for the temps, adorning a short and t-shirt, just like any other day, figuring my internal engine would keep me warm.

Well the first mile or so was miserable.  Not only was it cold, it was windy making a half of each lap extra frigid as the cold air pushed against my exposed skin.  Even as I finished the 13th lap I was still yet to break a sweat.  It felt good to push through the weather and complete my second endurance training in as many days.  With my trip to PA this upcoming weekend I won’t get a run in so that was part of my motivation to get out there, no matter what.

So even though it was cold, I wanted to get a ride in.  I came up with the idea of doing a one way ride to Dunkin Donuts on my Msuper where I could meet Cindy so she could go run some errands.  When I left the thermometer at the house read 49 degrees which I believe is the coldest air I have ever one wheeled in.  I was bundled up with three layers up top although I still had on my trusted camo shorts.  At first it didn’t feel too bad but by the time I pulled into DD it felt like rigamortis was settling in, I was frozen.  I’m not sure if Dunkin Donuts coffee every tasted better as it helped thaw me from the inside.

Cold was the word of the day.  The temp never got out of the 50’s which is highly unusual.  I kept those same three layers on all day long, indoors and out, and still felt chilled.  Despite the temps I had one last major to do on my mental list, installing the new screen door.

Installation took longer than expected.  I had to make a run to the hardware store midway to buy a new set of hinges as well since the old pair was bent from the force of Irma, which was causing the door to not close properly.  The frame of the cage surrounding the door has a lean to it as well which I really can’t do much about but the door at least closes and latches securely, something that has not been the case for the last three months.

I finished up just as the Eagles came started up.  It was a great and exciting game with a favorable Eagles outcome on the scoreboard but not in the big picture.  Carson Wentz went out in the second half with a potentially serious knee injury.  Nick Foles came in and was competent in running the team which doesn’t surprise me.  I always liked Nick and he has that one MONSTER year in Philly so I know he has the ability to play well.  However losing Wentz for the rest of the season would still be a huge blow to the Eagles long term chances during a year where it seemed like they just may have what it takes to finally bring home the ultimate prize.

I can only hope it isn’t the ACL tear that many news outlets are speculating this morning.  When I saw the hit that caused the injury real time I immediately winced as it looked like Carson went from full speed to zero when he hit the defender.  It almost looked like his body hit a brick wall.

So the rest of my 2017 is going to be abbreviated as I won’t have a full work week until 2018 rolls around.  There will be much to attend to, to celebrate, and reflect upon for sure.

This time of year it is normal for every evening to be accompanied with a pile of boxes at the door, either gifts we bought for others or something that was sent for us.  Last night was no different except one box didn’t have anything present related it was projects for me to work on.

One of the annoying things about the CR-10 is it is extremely noisy.  One big contributor to that noise are the fans in the control box.  One in particular sounds like it has spun it’s bearing and is about to blow apart. In total there are three fans in the case so I plan to replace all three of them while I am in there as it is well documented the fans in the CR-10 are very low quality.

I also received a replacement battery kit for an iPhone 6. I ordered it when Cindy’s phone apparently died over the weekend as a possible solution.  Her phone has since resuscitated itself but I am considering just doing the replacement on my 2-3 year old iPhone 6.  The battery life on my phone has gone down significantly in recent months so I figured replacing mine would be a way to address it and practice on my phone so if I need to do something on Cindy’s the bumps in the road should be identified and smoothed out.  I’ve watched a video on the process and read the included directions.  It’s delicate work but but not significantly harder than the many laptops I have ripped into during my hardware repair career.

Yesterday I took a big chunk out of my Xmas shopping requirements which is always a good feeling, until I start totaling up my spending during my weekly bill reconciliation session.  The one thing that makes Xmas spending more tolerable is years ago when Ali and I were still married, we implemented a “Gifts” budget column which gets contributed to every pay period.  The end result is when the holidays come around I have a decent chunk of change already set aside to help offset Xmas spending.

So my mental list of things I want to work on this weekend is pretty swollen.  Since I will be gone the following weekend, in my mind it adds to the priority of getting shit done.  On top of the normal chores which will include full grass maintenance, I want to do things like get the fans installed, the replacement screen door from Home Depot, more pool cage fastener/bracket replacement, and maybe take a whack at iPhone battery replacement.  Instead of trying to wedge all that into a normal weekend I am planning to take tomorrow off to give myself a nice head start on the list. Should be fun.

So last year I decided to spin off a second YouTube channel, EUC Army, which I only upload my electric unicycle videos to.  Based on my own personal YouTube experience I have found that in some cases people like channels with a more narrow focus.

My main YouTube channel is a dumping ground for ANYTHING I do.  Believe it or not it has almost 1000 videos in there.  My hope is by breaking my two main hobbies into their own dedicated realms it will give me opportunities to increase exposure of the content.

My main channel has resumed it’s slow and steady upward growth curve after getting smacked off the rails during the YouTube ad-apocalypse several months back.  I now am generating over $200 a month in ad revenue from the main channel which has over two million views and close to 3000 subscribers.  My EUCARMY channel has over 150 subscribers and I hope D3D can start growing as well. 3D printing has a MUCH larger market penetration than electric unicycles so it will be interesting to see how it goes.  If you want to help me get things rolling go here and hit that SUBSCRIBE button! 🙂

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.

Not much to offer today.  I have been doing a lot of holiday related 3D printing.  Some of it has been more successful than others.

This weekend will likely be busy as normal, compacted by Cindy and I heading over to the east coast for half the day Sunday to attend her nephew’s birthday party.  The Eagles game isn’t until Sunday night so that opened up the schedule.  Her nephew is a cute kid and hopefully the two of us being there will add to his enjoyment of the day.