Archives 2025

Yesterday was the first time I skipped a pickleball play session with my crew from work. Normally we play twice a week on our lunch hour. I am the designated organizer of the group, sending out texts to see who can play and trying to recruit more if needed. Despite taking myself off the roster for at least the next two weeks I still coordinated the play session. Staying on the sidelines is something that doesn’t sit well with me. I keep reminding myself that if taking a break results in my being able to participate pain free or at least with less of it in the future, it will be worth it.

The deep chill in our area continued last night. Instead of turning on the heat I decided to add another blanket to my bedding. This is a “fuzzy” blanket, something that Dawn suggested was a crucial addition to every man’s accessories back when she visited last March. I have never actually utilized one in my home until last night. It did the job as I have no recollection of “I’m cold” feelings during the night. It will stay on my bed ready for deployment until the night time temperatures pop up a few degrees.

I had one of those impulse urges to buy a wheel last night. It came on out of nowhere and was not based on any need. I think it originates from more of a desire to distract myself. I resisted the pull to click the buy now button despite the less disciplined portion of my mind telling me otherwise. The reality is I have some obligations that need to be taken care of before I start feeling like I have disposable income to throw at a whim like that. Could I do it, of course. Should I do it, no. Much like knowing a break from pickleball is ultimately the right move at this point in time, suppressing this urge is as well. Needs versus wants can be a boring but important guideline to adhere to.

I finally connected with my buddy at the gym who used to be a sniper, telling him I bought a gun. He was in disbelief but welcomed the idea of going to a range with me to give me some training. In addition one of my pickleball and volleyball friends is an ex-state trooper. He also is happy to show me the ropes. I think it will be interesting to dig into the world of firearms more, especially with friends that can help me do so safely.

My project for last night was getting my V13 100% back to normal which meant reattaching the Clark Pad fairing kit. After a few minor difficulties I had the wheel back to it’s original state which felt good. In total the project took over two weeks which was much longer than anticipated. I’m looking forward to getting out on a longer test ride this weekend although I will have to bundle up to do so.

Speaking of bundling up the arctic air is fully settled in which left my house in a chilly state with temperatures inside somewhere in the mid 60’s while outside the air temp was in the upper 40s. Thus far I have resisted the urge to flip the thermostat to the heat mode instead relying on a hoodie to keep me comfortable indoors. I did notice a chill in bed last night however. I have a single bedspread that is not very substantial at all when it comes to providing warmth. It is proving to be inadequate at these temperatures. Adjustments will be made.

Yesterday Facebook popped up an image from 9 years ago of the finish line arch I had made when I decided to branch out on my own to do independent race timing as opposed to doing it exclusively for the running club. It was an odd decision in retrospect.

Timing races was a demanding, high pressure, and stressful responsibility that really did not pay me anywhere near what it should have. Despite this combination of the reward not meeting the effort required I continued to do the work for years not because I enjoyed it but because I felt responsible and obligated to do it and felt I couldn’t trust anyone else to shoulder that responsibility.

It took a long time but eventually I reached the point where I said enough is enough and stepped away from timing races for the club because of some interpersonal relationships that frustrated and angered me, repeatedly. The idea of doing timing on my own I think might have had a good bit of “f u” involved but within a year I realized it was more hassle than it was worth. This was one of the early moments in the last 10 years where I started to put more value in my quality of life, an effort which has continued.

Despite timing my last race in 2016 I have kept the Green Machine Timing website online to this very day for no solid reason other than nostalgia I guess. There have been a number of examples in my life where I walked away from something that I invested a ton of time and energy into. In every example I can think of I have zero regret for doing so in the end. Race timing is clearly one of them.

Yesterday I received the final parts I needed to complete the repair on my V13 EUC. This has been a long process that has covered more than two weeks as I encountered issues that required several rounds of ordering parts. I did the final work last night in the garage as my kitchen workbench already had the Master V4 on it in a disassembled state. The work did not take long and afterwards I did a quick test ride with no gear in the chilly January air. Things felt and sounded better than they ever have. This upcoming weekend I hope to take an extended ride to confirm the improvements.

Last night I made an effort to get to sleep earlier than what has become normal recently. I was feeling like I was on fumes physically and mentally. I slept well but even after getting roughly seven and a half hours of sleep I awoke this morning with my body desiring more. I need to listen to what my body is telling me much more consistently than I have been.

Speaking of which I think I am going to make a hard choice and give myself an unwelcomed break from pickleball for at least a couple weeks. My IT band issue is now approaching it’s second month and I am getting very frustrated with my inability to make it disappear. However I have been trying to do that while keeping a reduced schedule of pickleball in my routine which I know is hindering my progress. So I am going to do the hard thing and stop playing for a bit to see what sort of gains I can make. This is the perfect time of year to be playing and not being able to take advantage is really, really pissing me off. If after continuing to do stretching/strengthening and not playing I still have issues I may begrudgingly need to escalate the issue to an orthopedist or PT.

Today a pretty significant wave of arctic air moves in and stays put for at least a week sending our area into it’s version of a deep freeze. I don’t particularly mind lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s but there are a lot of people here that will be dressing like Eskimos until the temps moderate.

My New Years day was a good mix of activities for me. I got out on a wheel not once but twice. Something that I assumed I would be doing a lot more after I moved in March of 23 was riding my wheels. Instead for a variety of reasons that really has not been the case. In fact I think 2024 probably had the least amount of miles on one wheel of any since I started in the hobby 8 plus years ago. My intent is to change that.

Riding has always been a way for me to naturally decompress and level myself out if I am feeling out of whack for whatever reason. I would like to indulge in that natural remedy more this year. WoW has historically been another way that I can wipe away whatever transient issues might be circling around in my head. That has also been nearly non-existent in my 2024. Both of these activities offer inherent relief from stress that I should take advantage of more often.

I accomplished my goal of getting the Christmas tree taken down and put away as well yesterday. After changing the outdoor RGB lights from their red and green state back to cool white the house was wiped clean of Xmas and officially back to normal. For many, many years undoing Christmas in my household carried with it a lot of negative feelings. Those feelings are not a thing anymore. On New Years Eve I did receive my final two Christmas cards of the year. As I have described previously, cards, especially unexpected cards bring little bursts of positivity and warm feelings into your day. This was definitely the case, once again.

I also mounted my electric skateboard on the wall of the garage instead of storing it on the back of one of my dining room chairs. It’s one of those tasks that I inexplicably procrastinated on despite it taking all of 5 minutes to complete. I have a handful of other things in that category that I need to address.

Normally I do yoga once a week, on Tuesdays. They also offer the class on Thursdays but I normally will opt to do weight training on that day. I am going to break protocol and take the class today as well. The movements hit my hips in a way that are definitely helping my lower body issues so I am prioritizing getting that better over strength gains right now. I asked myself what would I appreciate more, a bigger bench press number or being able to return to my normal pickleball/volleyball levels of activity. The latter was the instant and obvious answer.