Archives 2022

Yesterday I was bent out of shape about the lower abdominal protrusion I noticed a few days ago.  I decided I would like to get a medical opinion on it so I called our local med center.  During the covid time frame it often took a couple weeks to get in for less serious things.  I was surprised when they said they could see me yesterday afternoon.  During the day I developed an alternative theory for the bulge, a varicose vein.  The bulge is on my right side which is the side with the intact varicose veins, I had the vein stripped from my left leg in my early 30’s.  When they did that procedure they made a series of small incisions to pull the vein out, the top one being right in the groin.  So my idea was maybe what I am seeing was a vein and not a potential hernia.

So during my exam I mentioned my vein theory.  However when she put her fingers on the bulge and then had me cough she was pretty convinced that it is a hernia, awesome news.  She set me up to have the area ultrasounded to confirm.  Her advice for now was to not do overly strenuous activities. Sure thing, piece of cake, not.  So I called the number to schedule the ultrasound, again expecting to be told they can get me in in a week or so.  “We have 4PM today open” was instead the surprise response I got.  I have always been the type of person that prefers to get unpleasant things over and done with so I took the appointment.

The procedure was a bit awkward as the location of the bulge required the female tech to be wanding in areas that are not seen by most people.  She did it with me both laying down, when the bulge is less evident, as well as standing up.  I asked her if she saw anything.  She said she did but she was not allowed to give any sort of results, only the radiologist that looks at the images can do that.  However her reaction sort of indicated to me that this probably is a hernia.

Hernia’s don’t fix themselves, you have two options.  It can be surgically repaired or you just let it ride, hoping it does not get any worse.  I should have the official results later today, based on them I will decide what path to take.  The idea of having hernia surgery is looming heavy on my mind despite me not really knowing how seriously or how long I would be impacted.

As I walked around the yard last night I again found myself thinking about the no net scenario I am living.  If something serious happened to me I don’t have many nearby options to help pick up the slack if I am unable to carry the load, even for a short period of time. My best option would probably be Ali and Shugs but I generally hate asking others for help, of any sort. The no net reality is the type of scenario that I prefer to not dwell on as it is what it is.  I later tried to shift my thinking into a more positive direction, reminding myself that I will get by this latest setback, just like all of the others previously because that is just what I do. What other choice is there?

Let’s not end the blog with whining about my medical trials and tribulations.  Here is a picture of one of the two cats that I feed daily at work.  This guy(actually not sure of gender) used to stay 20 feet away from me while I was in there doing their food and water.  Over time he has inched closer and closer while I refill the food bowls and replace the water.  Nowadays he is right next to my hand as I am putting the food down.  There is something I really cherish about winning an animals trust.

I’m working on a fun 3D project.  For too long of a period of time I will just be producing parts for the 3D store, forgetting about the best part of 3D printing, just making cool stuff.

I am making a Hello Kitty model for Gladys’s little niece.  It is multi-color which is achieved by printing different parts in different colors and then gluing it together. I started the assembly last night.  I hope to finish it up tonight if I have time after doing some outdoor mowing.

Last night I did something I have not done in years, recorded a real workout video.  For 3-4 years I recorded hundreds of these type of videos, most of which were shot in my backyard bar park that I constructed.  I have been trying to step up my overall fitness regimen, recording workouts is one way to keep myself accountable.  I did my new version of the “Century” workout, the name indicating you are doing a total of 100 reps.  This is a timed workout where your goal is to do it as quickly as possible while still utilizing decent form.  Working against the clock is very motivating based on my years of experience.

My video production skills and equipment have improved significantly since my early days.  As usual I tried to add some humor along the way.  The segments that I sped up and was breathing heavy sounded ridiculous.  I first timed this version of the workout last week.  It took me six and a half minutes to complete.  Last night I did it in 5:15, a significant improvement in one week of time.  It was fun to shoot this type of video again, I may keep doing them on a limited basis.

So somewhere in the last couple days I noticed what looked like a small protrusion in my lower abdomen while showering.  It doesn’t hurt but it is something that definitely was not there before.  I am concerned that what I am seeing is the beginning of a hernia.  I don’t recall a specific event where I felt pain but I do a lot of strenuous things both around the house and at the gym so who knows the potential origin. My brother has been dealing with a hernia and failed remediation of it for a number of years which is EXACTLY what I want to avoid.  I am going to monitor the spot for a few days, if it doesn’t go away I suppose the responsible action is to have the med clinic look at it and get their opinion.

Last night when I went out to attend to Kathy in the chicken yard I saw the outlines of two larger birds by the area where I spread scratch grains.  As I got closer I realized that I had two duck visitors.  When the property gets flooded it isn’t unusual for ducks to come in and hang in the temporary ponds that form on the property but in this case most of the standing water was already gone.  They were unsure about me and moved away as I approached but I gave them plenty of space which encouraged them to return.  I really do appreciate the simple interactions with nature I get to have living where I do.

A week or so ago someone reached out to me from a company that sells high end hoverboards, yes hoverboards.  For many years I would cringe when someone would see me on an EUC or OneWheel and say “look at the hoverboard!”  It’s not a freaking hoverboard.

I have ridden tons of different PEVs over the years, the Minipro, electric skateboards, scooters, One Wheels and of course electric unicycles.  The one thing I have never owned or ridden was a hoverboard, one of the early pioneers in the PEV craze.

EVERYONE wanted a hoverboard for awhile, you saw them everywhere.  Later they got a bad rap when a number of videos popped up on the internet of them going up like roman candles.  The fires really killed off their popularity for awhile but over time they have made a bit of a comeback.

So anyway, this company rep saw my YouTube channel and asked if I would be interested in reviewing the F1 version of their board.  After looking at some of the information about it I decided sure, why not?  They send you the product for free and you get to keep it.  I’m happy to shoot a brief review video on it in exchange.  This particular version seems pretty advanced compared to what I knew hoverboards to be.  The odds of me actually keeping it are slim to none. Once I play around with it I am sure I will give it away to someone that could put it to better use.

Last week I received my updated voter registration card in the mail.  Ever since getting it I had an urge to go in and make a change.  Some of you may recall the story of how I was a registered republican since the 80’s.  I never voted strictly along party lines but back then I liked Reagan so I registered as a member of his party.  Things seemed good back then although history would later reveal that some of the stuff that went on during his time in office sowed the seeds for some of the mess we are in today.

Back in 2018 I made the decision to officially change my party affiliation to democrat.  Over the prior 15 years I found myself more aligned with democratic principals even though I still voted back and forth across party lines depending on the position and candidates.  I was also disgusted with what was going in Washington at the time which helped fuel the decision. Yesterday, I changed again.

Like I said my political beliefs float back and forth across the center line.  I believe in the greater good principals yet I detest individuals that try to take advantage of benefits or programs designed to help those truly in need.  I believe in supporting those that need help but also that you should exhaust all efforts to help yourself.  I appreciate hard work.  I think health care should not bankrupt individuals, but that those same individuals should make the effort to live a healthier lifestyle. I think we should be stewards of the environment and not consumers of it. I think religion should be freely accepted for anyone to practice what they believe, as long as they are not trying to enforce those beliefs on others.

I think from a fiscal perspective I am more conservative and from society perspective more liberal.  So anyway, I also am very aware that no matter what political party is in power, the real decision makers are the ones that lobby politicians for influence.  There is an overarching core of infinite wealth and power that is willing to take whatever steps are necessary to further their own agenda.

One of their core strategies is to get the general population to fight against each other, causing almost tribal like conflict amongst them.  These efforts are the perfect distraction to keep people distracted, looking over there while they play their dirty games over here.  This corruption and toxicity poisons BOTH major political parties, that is without doubt.

So when I looked at my options for political affiliation on the voter registration web site I made what seemed like the only logical choice for me at this point, NPA, which stands for no party affiliation.  It falls in line with how I truly analyze and look at things.  I will pick the best person for the position in my opinion based on information/past history/issues, which sadly in many cases may just be the least worst.  I don’t need red or blue to make that decision for me.

Friday and Saturday, well half of Saturday was a wash out due to the tropical storm that rolled through our area.  It was not a wind event but man oh man it was a rain event with 24 hours of solid precipitation.  I have not heard an official total but I’m positive we got at least a half foot of rain.  The property looked as you would anticipate, severely flooded.  The silver lining is since we are just at the start of rainy season the ground was not saturated, allowing most of the water to soak in within a day or so. Right around mid-day Saturday the skies started to clear and by mid-afternoon bright sun was again the norm.

Saturday night I made plans to go see Top Gun Maverick, a movie I have heard nothing but positive reviews about from EVERYONE that had seen it.  I invited Gladys’s sister to go with me, she hadn’t been to the movies for a long time and I would always rather go to the movies with someone than alone.  We went to the Cinebistro, the new high end theater that opened late last year.  I have been there a few times and always enjoyed myself.

The theater was full, really full.  I have not sat in a theater with this many people in probably 5 years or more.  The concierge style service this theater uses makes it extremely demanding on the staff when it’s this full.  Ironically our food came out relatively quick however the drinks did not, we both had finished our meal by the time our beverages arrived.  When I asked what the deal was they said drinks were “backed up”.  Sounds like they needed to swing some of those food prep staff to drinks.  Monique and I got the same meal, a shrimp gnochi entree which was really good.

I was glad I wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt.  Last time I was there I froze my ass off in shorts and a short sleeve shirt, utilizing the cloth napkin at one point as a “blanket”.  Once the movie started they cranked down the thermostat, but I was ok.  Like I said I had heard heaps of praise about the film with some stating it may actually be BETTER than the original which is practically never heard.  Well I can tell you, the hype is real.

The fact they can launch a sequel to a film that was made 36 YEARS later and have it feel this good is really an amazing accomplishment.  The tie ins to the original were all there and the action and suspense was as good as it gets.  Unlike the overwhelming majority of films today that rely heavily on CGI to make things happen this was live action stuff, it was refreshing to experience again.  In normal life Tom Cruise and his Scientologist life style is bizarre to say the least but when it comes to action films he has always been and will likely always be one of my favorite actors.  I thought this was the best movies I had seen in a long time, A+.  Monique liked it as well which I was happy to hear.  Hopefully we get to hang out some more in the future.

I slept really late on Sunday, almost 9AM which is extremely rare.  I was up extra late on Saturday night editing a video about my new vacuum when I got home.  I was too pumped up from the movie to go right to sleep.

I only had a few things I wanted to get done during the day.  I posted a poll on Instagram asking where people thought I should ride the OneWheel GT.  I had three options with a fourth being to ride an EUC instead, which won the poll, not surprising considering my EUC-heavy audience.  I decided to do both things, ride the GT and an EUC.

I first went to Collier North Regional Park, a place I had not visited in a very long time since the park by my house opened up.  I wanted to test all six GT ride modes, a request I got from a channel viewer.  I had only tried out three of them to that point.  Some of the other modes I hated but some I liked.  It was enjoyable to cruise the park, it has a longer and more diverse path around it’s perimeter than my new park.

I then packed up and drove to the Greenway where I pulled out my V11.  I had a good time once again, cruising all the way down to the beach and back.  The suspension on the V11 makes such a difference for my riding comfort.  I didn’t film as much as I would have liked due to camera difficulties and low battery.  I had a spare battery that I neglected to bring along, dumb me.

I got home and dug into video editing.  I bet I spent 5 hours in total editing last night, one of my longest sessions of recent memory.  I shut the computer off after 11PM.

So I was concerned about the baby birds with the storm that rolled through.  I checked on them Saturday afternoon and they seemed fine, the solar panel above the nest provided some degree of protection.  They were about two weeks old at this point with open eyes and their feathers starting to develop. So imagine my feelings when I peeked in their nest Sunday to find it, empty….

I was immediately sad and concerned about what happened to them.  It seemed impossible that they were developed enough to leave the nest this soon but then I thought back to the last time baby mockingbirds were in a nest at that exact same spot.  It was very similar, they disappeared before it seemed like they were big enough to do so.

I recently looked it up and the typical nesting period for baby mockingbirds is only around 12 days so I guess my concern was unfounded.  Hopefully the babies are safe, sound and enjoy a good life.

After not following through on my intent to weed whack Wednesday night I was steadfast in my resolve to do that AND mow after work last night.  Trying to accomplish these tasks in their entirety during a weeknight is a tall order.  I knew the only way I could do that was if I scaled back the weed whacking part of the work by just doing stuff right around the house.  I skipped the more tedious/slow parts like whacking the main property and chicken area fence line.

I hauled ass both on foot with the weed whacker and on the Husqvarna tractor, mowing most of the time at near full throttle.  I finished up via the LED headlights on the tractor a little before 9PM.  Yea it was a bit extreme but the work is now done just in time for the tropical storm that will be rolling through our area for the next 36 hours.

Yesterday I noticed my Zillow listing for my parcel of land in Lehigh Acres was no longer active.  You have to renew it every few months it seems.  When I did it this time I decided to take a look at some of the asking prices for the lots near me and I was quite surprised that it finally seems the real estate upswing of the last few years has finally touched this land as well.  The lot right next to mine was listed for 26K.  The lot I sold last year went for 13-14k and I recall feeling lucky to get that.

So based on the asking prices of other lots in the area I increased my asking price $6K, from 18K to 24K.  Do I think I’ll get that for the lot?  It’s unlikely but damn that would be lovely.  Any proceeds for the sale would go right onto the HELOC that was used to buy the lot back in 2003 which is my only remaining debt on the house.  I’m crossing my fingers that 2022 is the year I finally get to unload the last of my (bad) investment properties that I have held for nearly 20 years.

This weekend besides trying to stay dry I am going out to see Top Gun with a friend of mine.  We are going back to the Cinebistro which I have been to a couple times previously.  It’s a really enjoyable way to watch a movie.  By all accounts this sequel breaks the mold and is actually as good if not better than the original by many accounts.

Last night I arrived home with the intention of going outside and weed whacking the property.  When I pulled in the driveway there were threatening clouds all around the area with the sound of thunder rumbling off in the distance.  I had not totally written off the task as there have been many, many times I have done yard work with storms surrounding me. Hell I have done it in the middle of storms if I am in one of those moods where nothing short of a direct lightning strike will stop me. However last night I got sidetracked onto another task and by the time I got back to thinking about yard work it was too late.  I don’t like when I don’t follow through on commitments I make, even if it is just a mental one, only made to myself.  My plan is to get out there tonight and get busy.

The reason I am trying to get the major yard work out of the way is it looks like a tropical system may be rolling through our area Saturday morning which would make mowing/weed whacking problematic. Plus it is much more pleasant doing this stuff in the evening when the heat and humidity is far less oppressive.  Hell I may even catch a glimpse of a beautiful post sunset sky, like I did last night.

One of the exercises I have been working on as part of my self help/improvement stuff is writing down 50 words/things I like about myself.  These are words that describe aspects of who you are and should be positive in nature.  When I first started on the list it seemed like a herculean task.  I got to word 14 or 15 and paused, wondering how in the world I could get to 50.

I dug deeper , thinking about different aspects of who I am, what holds importance in my life, and what about me would be seen as positive.  It took awhile but eventually I had 50 words/phrases.  I was surprised I actually got there.  The point of an exercise like this is to reprogram your brain, thinking about good things in your blueprint and expand on them instead of spinning around whatever negativity that has taken hold for various reasons.  It’s hard work and there is not a magic button you press where you can say “I’m cured”.  Small steps day by day add up to real progress as time marches on.

Last night I needed to stay up till close to midnight to fire off a process for work that had to start after 11:30 pm but complete by midnight.  It was about 8:45 and I could already feel I was getting sleepy, not good.  I decided on an unconventional way to stay awake, do a live stream for a couple hours.  After all you can’t sleep if you are talking, right?  So in the span of 10 minutes I fired up a stream and started talking.  Despite the lack of notice I had 20-30 people that jumped in simultaneously. Although being on live helped me I still was feeling less than alert.  It was then that I made a big mistake, I decided I could use some coffee.

I did not feel like going through the hassle of brewing coffee so instead I grabbed the Folgers instant coffee that I typically only use in my mom’s chocolate cake recipe.  I heated up some water in a coffee cup in the microwave and then added three HUGE, heaping tablespoons of Folgers to it along with some God knows how old Coffemate powder creamer.  It was way too much coffee from a strength perspective in retrospect.

Not only was it strong, it tasted absolutely awful.  I had to dump some sugar in it just to get it down.  Despite the awful taste the caffeine definitely kicked in.  The cobwebs cleared and I once again felt awake, too awake.  I shut down the stream after a couple hours and ran the task I needed to do at about 11:45PM, it went fine.

I went back and took a shower.  When I laid in the bed I immediately noticed that despite the very late hour I was not feeling tired, at all.  It was at this moment I knew I had a problem.   I simply could not get my brain to wind down.  The end result of this was my being awake most of the night, getting a couple hours of sleep, maybe.  It was a lesson I will not forget anytime soon.

My Memorial Day was absent of any common celebrations like get togethers, cooking out on the grill, or swimming in the pool. However as I mentioned in the video I shot yesterday, that doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate what the day off is all about, honoring those who died in service of the country.

Later yesterday I saw my uncle posted a picture of my grandfather from when he was an aircraft mechanic in World War II.  He was standing on a massive ant hill in north Africa where he was stationed during the war.  I had never seen the picture before.  I never talked much to my grandfather about his day’s in the service and in retrospect I wish I would have.  I guess I was too young to know or care about the significance of what he experienced.

Anyway I thought it was great timing by my uncle, considering the holiday.  I miss my grandfather, I have his bowed legs, his fix it mentality and often accompany a hand shake with a reassuring slap on the upper arm, just like he always did.

Looks like I have the full four day weekend to wrap up, let’s dig in.  On Friday morning I met up with Gladys for one more ride on the Greenway, her on her pedal assist beach cruiser and me on the V12 which I had not ridden in awhile.  When I almost dumped it on my ass doing a tight turn I realized I should have checked the PSI of the tire before leaving, it was dangerously low.  I kept my riding appropriately conservative the rest of the way.  It was yet another fun ride, we went on something like four or five rides during her time in the area.  This was the first one I had the video camera along for.

Friday afternoon I plugged another tire on the Tesla.  This one had a small nail in it.  I am pretty sure I have been picking these up during my drives into Babcock with Ali and Shugs since it is an active construction site.  I figured since I was driving across the state on Saturday I should fix the tire ahead of time.  The tire plugging process went smoothly and so far has not dropped a single PSI.  I videoed the process this time, just for the hell of it.

On Saturday morning I tried to get up and going early.  I offered to take Gladys back across the alley since she was flying out of Miami.  The Tesla makes drives like this stupid easy.  With the seats folded down it had plenty of room for her stuff.  With the car being long range I didn’t need to charge until the way back at the half way supercharger and only for 10 minutes.  Gladys and I had a lot of fun hanging out during her time here but she lives full time on an island off the coast of Honduras so it was bittersweet to see her go.  It’s been a good couple weeks.

I didn’t get home until almost 4:30 but I still reached out to my buddy Don to see if he wanted to hang out a bit.  He gave me the green light.  I went to his place to see his dog Lucky who I hadn’t seen in a little while.  Despite the absence Lucky remembered who I was pretty quickly.  I love the little guy.  Don suggested we go to the Yard House, a bar/restaurant I never had been to before.  The bar was massive and the food was good.  My list of bars in my rotation are growing, this definitely made the list.

Afterwards Don said we could drop in at South Street to see what was going on.  The answer was, not much. Despite it being Saturday night there was no live entertainment and not a lot of people.  We only hung long enough for me to drink half a Miller Lite and then we rolled out.

My Sunday was a mixture of small projects and tasks.  I got the four replacement LED light fixtures installed, upgrading the dull and dreary builder globes that came with the house.  It was stupid easy, by the time I got to the last one I completed it in 10 minutes.  I also opened up the air handler to replace the UV bulb, an annual task.  It went ok.  The biggest pain is the screws that hold the sides on and the holes they go into are pretty worn out, making it a bit challenging to get it zipped back up the way it should be.  It felt good to get the task out of the way.

Elsa and I drove Sadie back up to Fort Myers to Ali’s place.  We hung there for a little bit.  Elsa is just hilarious when she first gets there.  She goes into total spaz mode just running around saying hi to everyone.  It’s very cute.

Last night I watched Operation Mincemeat on Netflix.  It’s a movie based on the podcast I listened to called the World’s Greatest Con.  It’s about an incredible deception the Allies pulled off on the Germans during WWII.  The minuscule details that went into this plot is nothing short of amazing.  That being said, I enjoyed listening to the podcast more than the movie which I would give a B.

This morning I got out on my Sherman for a very high speed DD ride.  I have not been filming as much while Gladys was visiting but now that she isn’t here I expect my schedule will become more normal.  It was a good ride and I feel the video reflected exactly that.  Tomorrow it’s back to work, luckily I don’t mind work much, unlike far too many.

Oh I forgot to mention I have locked in for an early July trip to northern New York with my dad, stepmom, brother, sister and their significant others/family.  I went there many, many years ago.  It is a beautiful lake area that is very, very remote.  It is the sort of place you truly go to uplug which is something that surprisingly to some sounds pretty good to me now and then.  I plan to do a lot of reading, maybe some writing and just appreciate the good things while letting the bad fall off behind me.

For a period of over 10 years, volleyball was THE hobby for me.  I used to play several times a week and also tournaments on the weekend on a pretty regular basis.  Hell I even played some indoor night tournaments that used to get finished up around midnight or later.  I was all about it.  I made websites, videos and wrote about volleyball all the time.

Of course playing a lot of volleyball gave me a lot of physical practice at the skills used in the sport.  Through repetition comes improvement in almost anything in life, right?

My favorite part of volleyball was hitting. Nothing was more satisfying than timing the jump and swing perfectly so you could crush a hit so hard that even if your opponent got a hand on it, it didn’t matter.  I practiced hitting a lot but I also did something that I rarely have done prior or since my glory days of volleyball, visualization.

In my mind I would imagine the entire sequence of a clean approach, jump, and swing.  I would see the ball impact my hand. I would hear the sound. I would feel the satisfaction as the ball hits the ground, untouched, at a high rate of speed.  I did this mind practice most often before a tournament, when outcome mattered most to me.  It felt like it helped me.  The mental repetitions manifested into physical improvement.  I didn’t start doing this visualization because I read it somewhere, it just started happening.

I read somewhere recently that there was a study done where one group of test subjects physically practiced doing something over a period of time.  There was another group that only mentally practiced, visualizing they were doing this same skill.  At the end of the test the skill level difference between the group that practiced physically versus the group that just visualized they were doing the skill was very, very small.

So what is the point of me bringing this up you may ask?  It translates into some of the stuff I have been talking about regarding my continuing efforts to change some of the core thought processes I have been struggling with for a long time.  In a nutshell what I am trying to do is visualize a different, more positive outcome, time and time again until it imprints a lasting change on my default state of mind.  It works, I know it works from that time in my life when I unknowingly engaged my mind to help my physical performance.  I just have to get in those mental reps.  Have a great Friday.