Archives 2023

With the Pickleball US Open wrapping up this past weekend that means the courts are now once again available for public play. I already have played twice this week as well as volleyball on Tuesday night. It really has been somewhat surprising that my body has been holding up to this new regimen which started early in 2023.

For the last 6-7 years there has been a gradual reduction in what I was doing physically. The weight numbers I was lifting plateaued or receded, I dropped running back in 2020 altogether and even my calisthenics tailed off quite a bit. This has been the first time in recent memory where I am pushing the dial back the other direction. I just hope the bubble gum and duct tape that is holding things together at this point doesn’t fail.

With playing more pickleball I am getting incrementally better at it. Pickleball has a surprising amount of strategy to it. The slow and short back and forth dinking that you see looks weird but is a necessary component of the game. Not surprisingly it is the part of the game I enjoy the least. My favorite time is when I am able to hit the ball hard, there are two situations I most enjoy.

If I am back mid-court and the opposing players are close, by the kitchen line I love winding up and just hitting the ball as hard as I can. Sometimes the hit will be right at a players body and if they aren’t quick enough it will hit them which is a point. However the better result is a low line drive with top spin that just barely clears the net that is past the opposition so fast they have no chance to react.

My favorite scenario is when a ball comes across head height or higher and drifting to my left. I play pickleball right handed due to being converted by a tennis coach when I was young. However my left arm is used for all other sports and has much more snap in it. So as long as the ball coming across is slow enough I can quickly switch the paddle to my left hand and crush the ball, which rarely will come back my direction after doing so. Of course sometimes things don’t go as planned and I may drive the ball into the net or deep out of bounds but when it works as intended, I love the feeling. I switch to my left hand in other scenarios as well and more often than not am pretty reliable with those shots.

Last night I played volleyball again. I was happy that my overall play was much more consistent this week than last. I had a few hits. I would have had my best hit in 12 years. I had a good approach and swung very hard, unfortunately it caught the top of the net. Just the sound of my hand making that type of impact triggered memories of years ago. As usual I emerged as the most sand covered player on the court, and it felt good.

Yesterday for no particular reason I decided to change my profile picture on Facebook. Since last summer it has been a pic I took when I was in the Adirondacks with my family where I was on the laptop doing a blog entry, ironically.

I cut out an image of me from a recent YouTube thumbnail and inserted it near the the top of rough, steep and treacherous rock formation. It was meant to be symbolic in nature. I won’t spoil it by laying it all out but I think if you read my blog on a regular basis you can likely figure out what I was going for.

Yesterday morning I got a call from the gutter place I selected to do the work. Originally the guy said he would try to get it done by the end of the month. To my surprise he said he had a crew nearby and they could knock it out yesterday if that was ok. I said sure, no problem.

They arrived mid-afternoon and were wrapped up in a couple hours. It seems like they did a real nice job. The gutters got their first initial test overnight as I woke up to the sound of light rain.

I talked to Todd last night. He was checking in on how my house transition is going and I was curious how his recovery from hip surgery was progressing. It seemed like I was in better shape than he was.

I also was over at Christine’s new place for a little bit helping sort out a few issues. Her dog Diesel is fond of me. He gave me a nearly head to toe lick down while I was there. He’s a good boy.

On Saturday I was up early, so early that I was at the grocery store a little after 7AM. I wanted to get stuff done around the house that needed to be done because I was going to help Christine get moved into the new place she is renting. I spent a good portion of the day helping her unload, pick up stuff she needed and get settled. It’s a much better location for her in multiple ways.

During the day the cabinet installers returned where they installed the handles on the cabinets and did any remaining finish work. In addition they cleaned out all of their tools that were filling my garage all week which I was glad about. I had not charged my Tesla since last Saturday as a result. The good thing is with where I live now I only consume about 5% of the battery each day.

On Sunday morning I dug into cleaning up the mess that my living space has been since the project started. I was able to now use the cabinets. In addition I bought some 1/4 inch MDF to lay across the tops of the cabinets to serve as temporary countertops which works out well. Yes I am still washing dishes in the guest bathroom sink which is annoying but at least the house feels less chaotic overall. I am very pleased with how the new cabinets look. I expect to be even more pleased when the quartz countertops get laid on top.

Today I am getting gutters installed around the entire perimeter of the roof, knocking another home improvement item off my list. For only being in the place 5 weeks I am very pleased with the pace of improvements thus far.

The cabinet installers were back at it yesterday, they were at the house most of the day. It seems like they primarily were working on the trim work which requires patience and precise cuts. During the course of the work they disconnected and moved the stove which was my sole source of food prep so I had little choice to go out to dinner last night, which is fine. It also resulted in my breakfast this morning being cold Pop Tarts.

I had to run home to talk to the installers during the day to make a couple decisions. While I was there I talked to the installer about the microwave. The old microwave vented into a greasy, nasty looking duct that went up into the ceiling somewhere. With the new cabinets the duct doesn’t align the same so I would need to redo it. I came up with a much easier solution, convert the new microwave to be front vent instead of roof vent.

Last night I followed the procedure to switch the blower around. It wasn’t difficult, you basically pull the blower out, rotate it 90 degrees and then add a blocker plate to the top. After putting it back together I fired up the blower which resulted in hurricane force air pushing out the front, working as intended. I guess if you used the blower a lot it would be better to do a roof vent. I however will hardly ever use it. The good news is the installer said he would install the microwave for me which saves me the hassle and why I was pressing to get it swapped over last night.

Christine, the women I am dating, is moving into a new place this weekend. I plan on helping her get as settled as possible while still tending to a number of small things around my place. I really am not a fan of having my house all ripped apart and a mess. I know it’s a necessary evil to get to the other side where my kitchen is rocking a fresh modern look but man, I wish we could get there a little quicker.

Yesterday I reached out to the cabinet installation place to try to get a more accurate timeline of how long I should expect this entire process to take. My idea of having everything knocked out in a week was clearly inaccurate. She said once the templates are created it’s another week or week and a half until the counter tops are made, which then have to be installed. At this point I may be lucky to have everything completed by the end of April.

The arrangement I have at home is definitely slowing down my normal morning prep. Hand washing dishes in the guest bathroom sink is a drag and a time sink. I also still shower in the master bathroom shower but then have to shuffle off to the guest bathroom to do anything else. Despite making my lunch consistently the night before I am still running out of time in the mornings thanks to the extra legwork.

Last night I did a review for a helmet I had been sent a few weeks ago. I kept not finding the time to do it so I figured I had a free hour or two so I should knock it out. It’s a skater helmet filled with tech like rear lighting, turn signals, bluetooth speakers and hands free mic which allows you to play music or make phone calls all via the helmet. As the sun was setting I headed out on my One Wheel with the helmet. It’s a nice little piece of tech. I can finally get the vendor off my back now which is a win as well.

For some reason I have been totally ignoring my recorded content on tv which is what I normally would watch at night or before bed. Since I have been mostly eating out since I have no kitchen I haven’t been watching tv with dinner. When I hit the bed I have found myself streaming Marvel movies. I have now gone through at least 5 of them. I just started Iron Man 3 last night. It’s been a long time since I had seen a lot of them so they almost feel like new films to me as many of the details have been forgotten.

Yesterday the cabinet installers were at the house all day. I was hoping to come home to the counters being completely installed. Some good progress was made with most of the kitchen cabinets being secured in place as well as the master bathroom cabinet being secured. However there is still a decent amount of work to do.

Until the cabinets are completely installed a template to make the countertops can not be created so at this point I am wondering that if this time next week I might still have the house ripped apart. That would not be ideal. What was done so far looks really good, I’m just anxious to get to the finish line.

Yesterday my newest pickleball paddle arrived. Yes, I bought another one bringing my paddle total to around a half dozen I think. This was the most expensive paddle I have purchased to date. When I took it out of the box I could immediately feel the quality. It was like a piece of art. I can hardly wait to get out on the court with it to give it a try.

I played volleyball last night. It was a frustrating night. For some reason I really struggled with consistency. The highlight was my first clean block that bounced back and bopped the hitter in the face. It always feels good to get out there and be able to play, regardless.

It’s amazing just how quickly life can turn on a dime. In the span of two weeks my path in front of me has changed shape dramatically, for the better.

Yesterday the cabinet installers arrived a little before 9AM. I let them in and then headed to work. They said they were first dropping off the tools and then going to get the cabinets. If I had not gone ahead and had the smart garage door opener installed this would have been much more of a PIA. When they came back with the cabinets I saw them on my Ring camera and popped the door open with my app.

As I mentioned the timeline for the project I had in my head was all wrong. They spent the majority of the day in the garage doing work on the cabinetry. Nothing was done inside except pouring some concrete in the area where the cabinets are going in the master bathroom. Today I am expecting to come home to a bunch of new cabinets that are actually installed into the living space. It’s exciting, albeit a slower process than I first imagined.

Last night I met up with my buddy Don for a couple beers and dinner at the Yard House. He has had a rough few weeks since his dog Lucky passed away. Being a person that is also very close with my animals I understand the struggles he has been feeling. It was good to hang with him for a little while. I told him once my counter/cabinet install is done I’ll have him out to hang.

Saturday morning a plumber was at the door bright and early to disconnect the plumbing in the kitchen and master bathroom prior to the cabinet rip out. I was up early anyway clearing everything out of the cabinets and off the counters which gave me flashbacks to the chaos I felt shortly after moving. I simply reminded myself it’s part of the process and things will be back to normal sooner rather than later. The plumber had his girlfriend/wife sitting in the passenger side of his van the entire time he was working which was a bit weird, but ok. Once he finished up a couple hours later he made the call to the cabinet installer to let him know it was his turn.

When the installer showed up I was actually out to lunch with Christine but I was able to get them access to the house by remotely opening the garage door with my phone. When I got back they were actively ripping the cabinets out. I evidently had formed an inaccurate timeline of what was going to happen. I thought they were ripping out the cabinets and installing new ones the same day. Carlos told me they would just be ripping out the old stuff that day and the cabinet install would continue on Monday/Tuesday. The window of chaos may last longer than I originally expected.

When they were done I was left with a barren kitchen and master bath sink area. I have all of the stuff that used to reside in there scattered across other storage areas and portable tables. It’s quite the mess. The only working sink inside the house right now is in the guest bathroom so I am cleaning dishes and brushing my teeth at the same spot. Sure it is logistically inconvenient but doable.

I kept myself busy as the work progressed. One of the things I did was unbox and set up my new Prusa MK4 printer. This printer has a bunch of new tech that impressed me enough to pull the trigger, despite 3D printing getting a lot less time and attention in my life than it once had. In the span of 15 minutes I had the printer up and running. The initial test print I did of a rocket engine was flawless.

I also started working on some of the few remaining boxes I have in the garage. Most of it was stuff that was hanging on the walls at my old place. I got a lot of it hung but there were a few additional casualties when I evaluated if I really needed certain items any longer. I still am in the mindset where I am able to discard things that I have had for a long time without major trepidation.

Saturday night I once again hit the bar at Carrabas for dinner. The bartender there, Helen is great. She remembers my name, my drink order and typical menu items. She is from Ireland and seems like a very nice woman. I brought home the extra spaghetti with the intent of having it as a warm up meal. That plan evaporated when I stupidly left the container in the Tesla overnight.

Sunday morning I slept pretty late thanks to Unisom. After a lengthy bill paying session I loaded the EX30 into the back of the Tacoma to drive out to my old stomping grounds. I parked at the new park and then rode the wheel into the swamp, a staple test in all of my demo wheel evaluations. It was stupid hot with temps creeping into the 90s but I had a great ride. Despite it’s weight the EX30 felt quite comfortable on the swamp trail with it’s suspension doing an admirable job of eating up the bumps. I saw 7 or 8 gators but they were all down off the trail path instead of walking right at me as happened last time I was there.

Christine came over later in the afternoon. We grabbed dinner down by Bayfront at a great Mexican place. She is a lot of fun and makes me laugh, a lot.

Last night there was a powerful thunderstorm that rolled through that had Elsa freaked out. She just kept roaming the room trying to seek safety. She eventually wound up in the master closet. This morning I stuck around the house until the cabinet installers showed up a bit before 9. They dropped off all of their tools first and then had to go run to get the actual cabinets. My remote garage door capabilities combined with Ring camera surveillance will be coming in handy.

Yesterday my Prusa MK4 arrived. Yes despite me doing NO appreciable 3D printing since the move I bought Prusa’s new flagship printer because it seems awesome. With my new bench space reality I am going to need to have to unload one of my existing MK3’s to make room, which is fine. So although the printer arrived I did not even do as much as cut open the box as I had other things on my plate.

The plate was filled after getting a message from the countertop/cabinet place that they will be there Saturday to start work on my project. They will be replacing the cabinets in the kitchen and one of the bathrooms during the day. After the cabinets are installed they make a template to create the quartz counter tops which should come next week, hopefully.

So of course to replace cabinets you need to take everything out of your old ones, which I got a good head start on last night. I felt very fortunate I bought that stand alone pantry for the kitchen as it works great to store the cabinet items temporarily. I have the kitchen cabinets about 2/3 empty. I will do the rest before rip out starts Saturday. I’m excited to see the transformation.

The weekend is shaping up to be busy thanks to the renovation work but it’s the kind of busy that I don’t mind.