When I set up my Shark robot on Sunday I configured it to run on a schedule, every weekday at 1PM. Yesterday was the first automated run. I was pleased to walk into the house after work to freshly vacuumed floors with the robot parked in it’s station as planned. When I opened the app I could see exactly what the bot did and how long it took. So far I am quite happy with the purchase.
I already disconnected two of the three older vacuums I had and threw them in the garage. The only one that remains could find it’s way out there shortly if this initial week of test cleans go as planned. I finished up the initial video on the Shark last night as well.
So I believe I now have all of the tax documents I need to file my 2023 taxes. This is going to be the first year where I am going to really lean hard on my accountant to help me out. Because of the capital gains on my home sale last year I have the potential for a substantial tax liability. You are allowed to shelter the first 250K of gains if you are single. I have a lot more than that.
The good news is that you can deduct all of the improvements you did to the property you sold to reduce that capital gains exposure. I spent a ton on property improvements in the roughly 23 years I lived there. What I am concerned about is just how much documentation is required to claim these expenses. I have been nervous about what my total exposure would be ever since I completed the sale last year. Soon I will have some tangible numbers. I am nervous but eager to get this financial hit out of the way so I can focus on whats next.
Last year my blog post was about the mental shift that I had to embrace where I placed less sentimental significance on things as those feelings were roadblocks in what had to be done. That willingness to let things go is a trait that has only been reinforced a year later. Now if I could only get a few other traits of mine tweaked it will better serve me going forward.
Friday after work I got an invite from my buddy Clay to go hang with him and a few of his friends at Brookside, where we hung before. Instead of driving to the zoo and riding my One Wheel there I instead hopped on my Veteran Patton and rode straight from home. I had a good time hanging out as I did previously, downing a couple Iguana Bait IPA’s. They must have a high alcohol content because I was feeling it after only two. I need to teach Clay how to ride EUCs. He is interested in learning.
I wound up playing pickleball Saturday morning instead of Sunday because of the wet forecast. I had a fun session as always. The people there make me feel welcome and I always enjoy my time playing.
Early Saturday afternoon I had arranged to meet up with a couple from out of town that have been fans of my YouTube channel for a long time, Elvis and Pam. They are both retired, been married 45 years and are down in Florida for a month or so with their PEVs. Elvis rides EUCs while Pam rides an ebike. We had a really great ride where I took them on the full Greenway tour including pit stops at the beach. They were both very nice people and were extremely complimentary towards me which was flattering. With the way many of my videos go, I talk about personal things that lets viewers know a lot of behind the scenes. The end result was skipping any awkwardness as Elvis talked to me like we had known each other for a long time. I think he came away knowing that what I show on camera is pretty similar to who I am day in and day out.
After finishing up the video edit I went out to Carrabbas Saturday night for dinner to spend time with Helen, the bartender that knows my name, my beer, and my food by heart which is a nice perk.
Sunday as forecast started out very stormy. I got some stuff done around the house in the morning including unboxing and setting up my new Shark robotic vacuum. My initial impressions are positive. The device seems pretty high quality, the app that controls it is robust and the self emptying feature is something new to me that I will have to see how I like it. I am in the middle of shooting footage to make a video of it.
During the afternoon the weather cleared, ironically my mood sort of darkened at the same time. I just was not in a positive state of mind. Later in the afternoon I decided to go for another ride, again on the Patton and similar to the ride I took with Elvis and Pam the day prior.
However when I got to the beach I pushed the Patton down onto the sand and parked it maybe 30 feet from the waters edge. I took off my helmet and just sat there, using the wheel as my beach chair. I watched the breaking waves and listened to the sound that accompanied them. I tried to use the 15 minutes or so I spent on the sand to realign my brain onto more positive thinking tracks but was only mildly successful in doing so. Eventually I headed back, getting a lot of double takes and exclamations of wonder as I passed by.
I am hoping this lull in positive outlook is brief. I know from past experience that the most effective way I have drowned out noise from past relationships was to be entertaining another one. However I am not sure if that is a good or a bad thing in the big picture. I have more work to do.
I posted on Facebook yesterday that there are only 11 days till “dating season.” I remember years ago someone filled me in on dating season which starts February 15th and ends in November, before Thanksgiving. It shouldn’t take you long to figure out why that is.
Last year at this time I discovered that taking pills helped me sleep and I was getting ready to list my old home for sale.
I forgot to mention a portion of the conversation I had with my step mom the other day. We were talking about conflict and how at times it becomes utterly pointless. I said at one point that at this stage of my life I will take being happy over being right. I think placing an overly weighted importance on being right is the thief of happiness. I certainly have been guilty during my lifetime with doing exactly that at times. I’m going to prove my point, I’m going to win this argument. Guess what, in the big picture the outcome was never positive.
Does that mean you should roll over and not express your opinion? Of course not but I think with age, experience, and wisdom comes the ability to discern what matters and what really doesn’t. Have a good weekend.
Last night was my third volleyball session with the higher skilled group and it was the most fun yet. There were a couple new faces this time, one of them was a young guy that was on my team. His energy and speed was amazing. He would explode after balls, going full out Superman on some of his saves. It was a lot of fun playing with him. I played pretty well overall and feel like I finally am in a group of people that I really enjoy competing with.
For some reason in both pickleball and volleyball I am the human scoreboard. I always am the one to keep track of the score and call it out in both sports. I don’t really know why this is but people now expect me to be the scorekeeper. It’s a role I don’t mind, someone has to do it.
It’s funny, when I first moved to Naples in 2000 I was all about volleyball. I looked all over the place for groups to play with. I did a few indoor sessions at a local rec center but quickly realized that was bad for my knees. I recall going to the park that I now play at and seeing others playing but not being willing to approach a bunch of strangers to ask if I could join. Now here I am, nearly 25 years later out there in the thick of it. What a strange and twisting path I took to get there.
I did of course wind up playing beach doubles for a number of years when I hooked up with Randall. We had a good time playing although that was only in less than 10 tournaments a year which required a cash and travel expenditure to participate in. I never had a local group to play with weekly. I am enjoying it, even though it wears me out at 56 years of age.
On Saturday I am supposed to meet up with some more people that know me from my YouTube channel. They are vacationing in the area and asked if I would ride with them so I said sure, why not. I have probably connected with at least 10 people that previously only knew me from YouTube. It’s always been a positive experience. The rest of my weekend will include my setting up my new robot vacuum, pickleball and whatever else comes to mind.
Last year at this time I was digging into all of the preliminary steps with buying my house as well as getting my old house in tip top shape and ready to sell.
Last night I finished up Fast X. Every time I think they have come up with the most ridiculous scenarios they prove me wrong again. Even with me dozing off for around 45 minutes of the movie I saw enough to know I saw enough. The main villain, Jason Mamoa, is the most ridiculous bad guy I have ever seen. The lines they gave him were moronic. Unfortunately the way the movie ended made it clear there are more sequels to come. It get’s a C-, hard to do with an action movie in my book.
I forgot to mention the other day that I bought a new robotic vacuum cleaner the other day, a Shark. I got in on the ground floor of vacuum robots a decade and a half ago when the first Roombas came out. Since then if I added up the number of floor vacuuming and washing robots I have had over the years I am sure it totals up to 15 or more.
I currently have 3 robot vacuums, a Neato, which is very old, an Ecovacs and an entry level Roomba that I bought a couple years ago. Out of those three robots the oldest one, the Neato probably performs the best, ironically. I have never had a Shark robot but I did have a Shark steamer and a Shark cordless vacuum, both of which I liked.
This Shark model is the type that has a disposal canister where after a cleaning session the debris that is collected in the robot is transferred there, requiring less frequent cleanings. My hope is I will be able to eliminate at least two of the other robots, if not all three of them. The Roomba gets stuck all the time, the Ecovacs has a weak vacuum and small dust bin while the Neato is so old that I have a screw I installed to keep the dust bin in. I guess this is just a further effort in my new simplification/minimization mindset.
Yesterday I got to talk to my step mom a little bit, it was her birthday. I don’t get to speak to Teresa very often but it is always worthwhile when I do. Hearing her talk about the interactions with my two nieces makes me wish I got to see them more often.
Tonight I am scheduled to play volleyball again. What a different a week makes weather wise. Last week it was in the 80’s and humid. Tonight when we play it is likely to be in the 60’s with dry air. I will at least start the night in a long sleeve shirt.
Last year at this time I finished up a Sherman S range test and made the initial deposit on my new house.
Last night after work I headed out to the garden to do some purging to make room for some new plants. I ripped put both of the broccoli plants which were huge but apparently had finished producing heads. I also pulled the eggplant which was even bigger. I think I made a mistake by only planting one of these, I think you need two of them to produce fruit.
Pulling these revealed the pepper plants that never took off very well. They may get yanked as well. I hope to fill up the new space with whatever looks good in the Home Depot garden center.
Last night I finally saw the latest Transformers movie that came out last year. The series is always high on action and lacking on story/plot and this one was no different. I’d give it a B. I also started Fast and Furious 10. That franchise follows much the same formula, crash cars and blow stuff up, the people will come no matter how horrid the writing/acting is. I only got maybe a half hour into it before I turned it off to go to sleep.
Last night I got a message from Alison that stopped me in my tracks. She told me the daughter of an ex-neighbor of mine had passed away suddenly. She was very young with two kids. Her and I had talked off an on periodically over the years but I had not heard from her in a number of months. There are no details about what exactly happened.
Hearing the news was shocking. I thought about the reality of her two little kids now being without their mother and how their lives turned upside down, permanently. I thought about how you assume, especially at that age, that you are close to invincible. To hear about her passing was impactful and a solemn reminder of how nobody knows just how much time they actually have left. It’s the reason that waiting to do what makes you happy is never a solid long term plan, you just never know what the next day brings. What a tragedy.
Since the start of the year I have been doing a lot of paddling to try to get to calmer waters. At times it felt like I was working against the breakers which can turn you sideways or even capsize you in a worst case scenario. I feel like I am starting to clear that turbulence day by day.
I’m working on doing the right things, staying active, doing yoga, walking Elsa daily as well as walking myself around the complex here each afternoon. All of these things give me opportunities to mentally reset and work further on focusing on all of the positive things about my life as well as the door that is wide open to future possibilities. I’m just going to keep my head forward and paddle in the water until the breakers are so far behind me I can’t even hear them anymore.
Last night was productive, at least mildly so. I got a new stand finished up which was immediately sold. A guy asked for a custom color combo. I also got the demo Veteran Lynx boxed back up and labeled to be shipped off to it’s new tester in Gainesville. Finally I did some more work on the Prusa printer that is set up in my garage. I haven’t had any luck selling it so I think I am just going to wind up giving it to Christine’s son. I have a couple tweaks to do before letting it go.
Last night I made preseasoned salmon that I get from Costco along with reheating some mac n cheese I made Sunday night. I made the salmon in the oven. It recommended you put it in the oven 25-30 minutes. I set the timer to 27 minutes. After plating it up I started eating. I noticed it was harder to break apart than normal. When I looked closer that was because the fish was not cooked thoroughly, almost looking raw in the middle. I wound up just eating small sections of either side of the filet that were mostly cooked and feasted primarily on the mac n cheese, oh well.
This morning I had my dermatologist appointment. I had canceled and postponed it at least three times as I didn’t feel like going. I got a clean check up although I did ask him to look at a wart that has been on my left wrist for months. I have been trying to treat it with Compound W but it’s very stubborn. The dermatologist took a scalpel to it to cut off the top layer and then hit it with freezing spray to hopefully kill the wart cells which are actually a virus. In addition they are hooking me up with the equivalent of compound W on steroids if it comes back.
While I was there I got information about a vein specialist that the office has. My lower right leg has nasty varicose veins which I would love to get fixed. Back in my early 30’s I actually had vein ligation done on the left leg for varicose veins, I should have had them do the right while they were at it. Basically what they did was make 3 or 4 small incisions on the leg and pull the veins out like spaghetti. You would think that veins are there for a reason but evidently the body will adapt to the missing veins and get the blood where it needs to go, somehow. I have the initial consult in two weeks. It will be interesting to see what the advice is at this point, some 20+ years later. I am sure the technology has changed as well so there might be better ways to address it.
Last year I was complaining about a lack of sleep that was similar to reasons I have had issues sleeping for a good portion of the last year, imagine that. If I only knew then what I know now, I could have saved myself so much time, energy, and effort.
Friday evening I decided to let my hair down and party hard, by getting groceries. Yes I wanted to get my grocery shopping out of the way to clear up my Saturday morning so I would have time to run to the gym. When I got back I threw a pizza in the oven which I managed to burn somehow. I still ate it, of course.
Saturday was pretty active. In the morning I replaced the shower handle in the master shower with the Moen unit I bought earlier in the week. The difference in feel/quality was immediately noticeable. After running out to do some errands I headed over to the gym in our government complex. It has 24/7 access which is awesome. I have not had a slot available to do lower body training since I started yoga. My fitness schedule has been chest Monday, yoga Tuesday, the rest of my upper body on Thursday and then pickleball Wednesday and Friday. I really need to make sure legs don’t get ignored so the hour or so I spent there training them was time well utilized in my book.
After lunch I started work on swapping out my bed arrangement. Moving around the stuff solo was a mild challenge but I have handled much worse before. I drug my old bed frame and dual twin size box springs to the curb with the hope that someone that could use it would grab it. (didn’t happen) Setting up the new king size platform was not technically challenging. In less than 30 minutes I had everything in place.
Of course the big test was Saturday night where I intentionally slept on the side of the mattress which was formerly the danger zone. I awoke Sunday morning with zero back pain, amazing. It’s also amazing it took me so long to figure out/remedy the problem.
Later Saturday afternoon I did my first ever sunglasses review video. I had bought a pair of Oakley aviator style glasses earlier in the week and wanted to unbox them on camera. My brief research I did online revealed that people actually like these kind of videos so I figured I may as well give it a shot. I am not sure how effective or ineffective my final product was but I do know I like the new glasses a lot.
Saturday night out of the blue I decided to do a live stream. Yes I just did one last week as well. I had nothing else in particular I was doing so I figured I may as well stream. It was a pretty funny broadcast. I wore sunglasses the entire time for no real reason but it made for some funny moments during the broadcast which went on for a crazy three and a half hours. I’m not quite sure what it is in my brain that allows me to ramble on during live streams while most in person conversations I am looking to exit as soon as possible.
One of the main topics was talk of a new wheel that was sent to a EUC “influencer”. She just happens to be young, rides wheels almost naked and makes every effort to titillate men in her videos. She evidently is very successful in doing so as she is approaching one million subscribers on YouTube.
I awoke early Sunday to go play pickleball. When I got on site the courts were soaked from a brief but strong shower that had recently passed through. I jumped right in and manned the court squeegee to get the standing water off. Other people used big towels to help dry off more water. Once the sun started hitting the surface they dried out pretty quickly. We probably spent at least a half hour working on the courts so it cut into our play time but it was all good. Some play is better than no play.
I finally got around to washing my Tesla. I first thought about doing this last year, seriously. I’m not quite sure why it took me over 3 weeks to finally get to it but it felt good to get that layer of grime off the car. I also gave Elsa her first bath in a month. She was starting to smell like corn chips.
The rest of my day was pretty chill. I caught a portion of both playoff games. I wish the Lions would have held on to win but oh well. I also went for a One Wheel ride during the afternoon.
In the morning it felt warm and humid. By the afternoon it was windy and much cooler. By the time I got done with the ride I felt chilled to the bone. I was watching some of the early game under a blanket in my bed.
Last year the blog post was about me finding the house I am now living in. It was the first house I actually stepped foot into. It’s interesting looking back at how it all came to be.
Last night I played volleyball in my new Thursday night slot. I am enjoying it so much more. Everyone that is there can play, some play really well. The rallies are much longer and the play much more competitive. As a bonus every single person is nice. The only thing that I did not enjoy was the sudden weather shift. It legit felt like summer with temps in the 80’s and high humidity. By the end of the session I was covered in sweat soaked sand, but happy. After playing horrible the first game my play improved as the night went on.
After play I headed to Brunina’s again for dinner. As usual my friendly bartender had a Miller Lite opened and on the bar for me in seconds. As I was sitting there enjoying it she said out of the blue, “what are you doing tomorrow at 5”? I was a bit shocked by the question but managed to reply “I am not sure, what are you doing?” The bartender knows I am recently single. She told me there is a beautiful woman that comes there regularly that she told about me. Evidently she is normally there on Friday’s at 5.
I was still a bit taken back by the offer. I mean it was very nice that she thought enough of me to even make this suggestion. She told me the woman’s name, that she is divorced with a kid but didn’t know a ton of other details. I told her that I would stop by if I was available and thanked her for looking out for me. The truth is I likely will not be available just because my head is not in the right place to entertain a blind date at this point.
Last year when I was having severe sciatica back pain I discovered that part of that issue was my bed. Specifically if I slept more towards a side I would wake up with severe pain that had me barely able to walk for the first 15 minutes. Somehow one night I thought I would try sleeping in the middle and woke up with significantly less pain. I have been doing that ever since although sometimes I inadvertently wind up towards a side and pay the price.
I developed a theory on why this is. My mattress is one of those gel infused deals however I have a conventional king size box spring underneath which is two twins. In the middle where the two twin box springs come together is a solid spot. As you move towards the edge is the “softer” part of the box spring, in the middle. I think that spot allows the mattress to drop more which in turn causes my pain.
For a long time I wanted to address this by getting a solid platform for under the bed. It’s what I already have for the queen size mattress in my guest room. With this set up there is nothing but a solid surface for the mattress to rest upon which in theory should mean I should be able to sleep anywhere on the bed without paying a back pain penalty. I will put my theory to test this weekend.
I am replacing the shower handle for the second time this weekend. The first one I installed was from Home Depot. The handle was on the cheap side, basically plastic with a finish that looks like brushed chrome. It already is starting to deteriorate so I spent double the money and got a real Moen set which is made of metal and will hopefully last until I get around to remodeling the bathroom.
The weekend will probably follow a template similar to the last, some work, some fun, and some relaxation. I have had a number of people that are familiar with my situation ask how I have been doing lately. The answer I give is always very similar. The more time that passes, the more things fade into the background.
Two one year ago entries last year. One talks about how I was intent on getting stronger and gaining weight as well as emotion helping to fuel that. The other one talks about some of my new house searching and the birth of pickledu.com
