Category Anything and Everything

Because of my surgery last Thursday a road bike ride was off the menu for Friday.  I did however later in the night ride my barely used Inmotion V10F over to the park to talk about how I came to own it.  I meant to make this video a week prior but just hadn’t made the time to do so.

Saturday after doing the chicken chores and weeding Elsa and I went out to run errands.  One of those was to stop at Home Depot.  My numbers of Home Depot trips have dropped off the table the last 6 months.  I used to be there almost every weekend to grab one thing or another.  Now my visits are more like once a month.  I also had not been bringing Elsa into the store much since she developed the habit of dropping a deuce in the aisles.  I decided to bring her in this time but only after walking her around outside the store until she did her nervous pooping.  There were no further accidents once we went inside, thankfully.

I hoped we would see this nice older woman cashier that loves Elsa.  She always has dog treats ready to go.  Unfortunately she was not there on Saturday and the few times I have gone to Home Depot recently I have not seen her either, I hope she is doing ok.

Saturday afternoon I started digging into getting rid of additional stuff.  Some of went in the trash, some went to the neighbors, some hit the curb with the rest donated to Goodwill.  The process took a little while and got me a little sweatier than anticipated.  It’s funny how the passing of time can totally shift your willingness to part with items.  Things at one time you absolutely felt you needed/wanted can suddenly flip to becoming readily expendable.  It’s all a matter of your state of mind, something I will talk about more later.

I also shot a quick video during the afternoon regarding the updates on my Tesla accident/repair.  All of the information in it you already know about if you are a regular blog reader.

I had already planned to go to the bar at Brooks Burgers Saturday night however during the day I invited my buddy, ex-boss/coworker Don to come join me.  I had not hung with him since he retired at the end of February.  Don and I are friends but we never did a lot of hanging out socially during our 22 years of knowing each other.  I think for both of us alcohol consumption is a key ingredient to hanging out effectively, for whatever reason.  We were there for around two hours catching up on life.  So far he appears to be enjoying retirement and I continue to be envious of his situation.  I hope that we can hang more in the future, although I am getting more accustomed to drinking at a bar myself, I would much rather share the time with someone else.

Sunday is Mother’s Day, a day that obviously has mixed emotions for me since my mom has been gone since 2014.  It had mutated into a day for me to celebrate the other mother’s in my circle of life but now, it’s something else.  I miss my mom and I appreciate the role that all mothers take on to devote themselves to their children, hoping to guide them down the path of life without hitting too many walls along the way.  It’s a tough job.

I made arrangements to meet Ali and Shugs to go take a look at their house that is under active construction.  It had been several weeks since I saw it last.  There was some nice progress, the drywall is starting to go up, the roof is mostly shingled and the pool has been dug out with concrete poured.  Every time I do a walk through with them it transports me back to when this house was built and thoughts of how I wished I knew then what I know now.  There were a lot of corners cut that I should have flagged.  After seeing the house we ate lunch at a primarily pizza place called the Mellow Mushroom.  It was my first time there, my main meal was a portobello mushroom dish but I also tried a slice of Ali and Shugs pizza, it was top notch.

We took the Tesla for the journey which was pretty lengthy overall.  I ran my Model Y battery from 90% down to 35-36% by the time I got home.  All that time in the car gives you time to talk about all sorts of things.  Some of the talks are about life topics.  For example evidently Ali did not know that my dad converted a bunch of my early years of blog entries into hard cover books.  I told her that once in a while I will thumb through them and how my major takeaway is how differently I thought/acted back then compared to present day.  I also talked about my efforts to flip my mental script that gets me stuck into negative thought loops that do nothing positive for me in the big picture.  Ali joked about how someone (me) used to say something along the lines of people can’t change.  I asked her what asshole said that, which made her laugh.

I do believe people’s personality traits are embossed pretty deeply however that doesn’t mean that negative traits can not/should not be worked on.  Is there any more worthwhile goal than becoming a happier, healthier, and more fulfilled person?  I don’t think so.  There has been so many reflections going on in my world lately it feels like one of those carnival mirror houses.  Some of those reflections are positive, some negative, but hopefully the sum of all of them eventually lead me down a much brighter path in the future.

Yesterday afternoon the incisions on the back of my head started to sting and burn, as expected.  I took two sets of Extra Strength Tylenol to take the edge off the pain.  I was worried sleeping could be an issue since I normally do so on my back.  It actually wasn’t bad, the softness of the pillows absorbed most of the pressure.  I just look forward to getting the third procedure over and done with.  I will never get multiple skin cancer surgeries done at once again.  I actually have myself to blame for this.

Usually when I get my preventative skin exams the doctor never picks anything out himself as a trouble spot, he normally relies on me to do so.  Well this past time I pointed out these three spots, the one on the back of my head had been there for at least a couple years already.  I will not make that mistake again, no more than one spot mentioned per 6 month visit.  It’s a huge pain in the ass, and expensive to do multiple sites in a short period of time.

Last night when I was folding laundry Elsa decided to lay on the bed, which she often does when I am completing the chore.  I was running out of real estate so I started laying folded socks on her, which she didn’t seem to mind.  When I got home we also did 3 laps around the back yard.  If I can get her to do this with me it is much less stressful for her than the park although I still want to get her there routinely.

This morning I had another guy from the window company come in to measure for the replacement project.  I signed the county permitting papers as well.  It makes the job seem more tangible.  This is something I have talked about doing for at least 5 years if not longer.  It will be nice to get another core part of the home updated, just like the roof a few years ago.

This weekend I am going to limit my physical chores, especially the outside sweaty variety due to the incisions on my head.  Road biking tonight is obviously out as well.  Trying to hold my head up in normal riding position would put strain exactly where you don’t want it right now.  I should still be able to find plenty of things to keep my attention.  I am going to be doing a final purge of some things that I don’t need/want.  It always feels good after this occurs.

Last night after dinner I decided to take Elsa on another walk at the park.  Despite us doing this a dozen times or more, she still acts terrified at first.  Her pulling while on leash is out of hand as well.  I have tried correcting her repeatedly but she doesn’t seem to understand that pulling like a bull on the leash is not going to get her the end result she wants.  Nicki used to be terrible on a leash as well.  We tried a gentle lead arrangement where something goes over their snout so if they pull it turns their head.  However Elsa normally has her mouth wide open with tongue hanging out while walking so that wouldn’t be a good solution.  I may look into other aids.

Yesterday I gave an over under number guess for what the estimate for the repair would be on the Model Y.  That number was $3500.  I got the full estimate emailed to me yesterday which includes a new deck lid, refinishing the bumper skin, and replacing the lower black trim piece.  The grand total was $3555.61.  I was surprised to have come so close.

Also because of the video I sent to my adjuster he said they are going to try to get the woman’s insurance company to pay for the damages.  He said she was clearly moving towards me even after I started backing up which I guess moves the blame needle onto her side.  I would have been fine with 50/50 blame on the incident.  If it does wind up being paid by her insurance company I would hope that means less impact on my future premiums.

So the bad news is when I contacted the preferred Tesla repair shop in our area they told me that with Tesla’s it could take stupidly long to complete the repair.  She gave me November as an estimate.  No I am not kidding.  I will see how solid that timeline is.  I may see if I have any other options within a reasonable distance, waiting 6-7 months for a repair seems insane.

Today I had my second skin cancer surgery, this time on the back of the neck.  This procedure was a little longer and annoying as they had to go back in a second time to cut more out.  I am curious how sleep will go since I normally sleep on my back.  I just keep telling myself that by this time next week it should all be behind me.  Well of course that depends on what my cardiologist tells me next week.

I have talked repeatedly about some of my struggles with negative thinking which often becomes a long chain of thoughts that jump around with none of them doing anything to better my mood, disposition, or sense of well being.  I have always been self aware of this part of me and have handled it over the years mostly by just accepting it as a fact of life, joking about it or self deprecating.

I find myself in these cycles unexpectedly at times, the difference now is I am trying to find ways out of those cycles faster, acknowledging that they serve no useful purpose.  I imagined it as instead of taking a long bath in negative emotions I should aim for quick showers instead.  It washes over me but shortly there after I am once again dry and moving forward.

Yesterday I reached out to the insurance adjuster regarding my Tesla incident.  He asked me a lot of the same questions I already answered when I initiated the claim online.  He also asked for a detailed description of the series of events which I gave him.  I told him the female driver said she was stopped when I hit her.  I told him I had video from the car showing that is not true and that actually I started moving a good 10-20 feet before her vehicle even reached mine.  When he heard I had video he immediately asked if I could send it.  He said if both vehicles were moving that normally is the switch that makes it a 50/50 claim where each person settles with their own insurance.  If she was actually stopped then blame would shift more my way.  I have no expectations of a fast resolution but I am curious what the final cost is.  I will put the over under at $3500, place your bets.

Yesterday was a busy day with the vein test in the morning followed by my leaving work early to take Elsa for her annual exam.  I hauled ass home and then had to work to get her in the truck because it was storming like crazy which terrifies her.  The vet is in downtown Naples so I did close to 100 miles of commuting in total yesterday.  During the ride there Elsa crawled into the passenger side footwell, shaking in fear as the rain pounded the truck.  I felt bad for her.

When I took Elsa into the vet she was scared as expected, so much so that she dropped a log right in the middle of the lobby.  The girl was so nice about it and said they needed a fecal sample anyway (I had one from that morning), so she grabbed the farm fresh sample.  This was the first time I have ever been in this place as in the past Cindy would always take Elsa.  I was immediately struck by just how nice the staff was.

The first girl I dealt with was so patient and gentle with Elsa and the vet herself was equally so.  They allowed me to be in there during the exam to help calm Elsa which was nice.  Elsa shook most of the time but we got through it.  I really like the place.  Getting Elsa on the scale confirmed what I already suspected, she has gained several pounds since last year, mostly due to spending every weekday sleeping almost the entire day.  It hardened my resolve to keep getting her out on extended park walks as well as being mindful of any treats she gets.

As the afternoon wore on yesterday the wound in the center of my forehead was more and more painful as the numbing wore off.  By the time I left the office it felt like I was smacked with a ball peen hammer so I was not in a great mood.  I hopped in my Model Y and started backing up.  I was parked in the spot right along the sidewalk so as I started backing up I looked left but then looked right to make sure there were no pedestrians or cyclists on the sidewalk, a normal hazard.  Well in a split second I hear a crunch…..

As I was checking right a woman in a minivan had slid in behind me.  I was angry both at myself for not double checking left and this woman for not noticing my car was moving.  When I got out she said she was stopped and I hit her.  I told her the rubber skid mark on my rear bumper would indicate that wasn’t true.  The rear camera video I viewed later revealed the same thing.

In a nutshell when I started moving backwards she was 10-20 feet away from me.  She did not notice I was moving at all, rolling behind me until impact was made. When I saw my formerly pristine car with rubber streaks and buckles in the rear trunk lid it made me sick to my stomach.  We exchanged info although in a situation like this I believe it is no fault and each insurance company would pay for the damage to it’s insured vehicle.  Her van had other pre-existing scrapes on it so I would suspect she won’t even fix her damage.

I couldn’t believe this just happened.  I took pictures of her vehicle, my car, her insurance card and we exchanged names/phone numbers even though as I said, I don’t think it will be needed in this scenario.  On my drive home I had a mental dark cloud that I could not shake.  It seemed appropriate that we had a summer style rain event last night to boot.

So despite knowing that ultimately it’s always the drivers responsibility to make sure their car does not impact others I also found myself annoyed with Tesla itself and it’s lack of a basic safety feature that has been in many automobiles for many years, rear cross traffic alert.  My Tacoma has this and it would have totally avoided the scenario.  Basically as soon as the vehicle is put in reverse it checks for any movement to the right and left of it whether it is a pedestrian, cyclist or another vehicle.  If motion is detected it sounds an alarm to get your attention.  It has saved me numerous times over the years while backing up when something suddenly appears when your view is obstructed.

The fact that the Tesla, one of the most technologically advanced vehicles on the planet does not do this is stupid, really stupid.  I was annoyed enough about it that I did a short video when I got home talking about the incident and the lunacy that no Tesla’s include this feature that is almost as common as power windows in cars today.  Man, I was pissed, at myself, at the car, at the other driver, and pretty much the world in general.

Today I had my last cardiac test, a vein test.  I was a little surprised when I entered the testing room and the guy said to remove my pants.  The test wasn’t very enjoyable.  I stood on a platform for 20 minutes while the guy ran an ultrasound wand down each leg from my crotch to my ankle.  I quickly found myself flush in the face and sweating, a common involuntary reaction I have with many medical tests.  What really got to me was when I would hear the audio that was being recorded of the veins.

When the tech got to my left leg he was a bit confused.  I told him that over 20 years ago I had a varicose vein removed from the leg.  That cleared things up for him because he was not seeing a vein he was expecting to find.  I was relieved when the test was done.  All that remains on the cardiac side of my current health reality is to talk to the doctor about what all these tests reveal.  I am hoping it’s nothing.  I am tired of eating sardine sandwich situations.

Randall arrived Friday evening.  We didn’t do anything thrilling, he agreed to join me in my Friday night frozen pizza tradition while we drank beer, talked and watched Moon Knight and Daredevil episodes on Disney +.  Randall is my first guest to officially try out the conventional gel foam mattress and queen size platform.  He said the combo was much improved over the blow up bed he slept on a couple months prior.  Randall also told me that he quit his job since I saw him last.  He took advantage of his one week off to go biking, paddle boarding and camping in the Ocala area.  He starts his new job on Monday.

Saturday morning I skipped weeding (gasp) and just cleaned up the chicken coop before we ran out for coffee with Elsa along.  We then walked the park with her.  They had some soccer tournament going on so there were a lot of people which made Elsa more nervous than normal.  She got over it, eventually she calmed down and we had a nice 1 mile walk around the park perimeter.

I suggested to Randall that we go down and catch the last day of the US Pickleball Open as he had never seen a pro event.  Since it was the last day the venue was even fuller that last Saturday when I went.  We grabbed some food, ate it and then settled in to watch some of the matches.  Almost on queue the skies opened up maybe 15 minutes later, halting all play and sending everyone under cover.  When we looked at our local weather apps it showed the rain was supposed to last for at least an hour with a high probability of more on the way.  Not only did the rain need to stop, the courts would need to be cleared/dried before play could resume.  It would have meant standing around for at least two hours which did not sound appealing to either of us so we said screw it and left.  At least there is no cost for admission.

When we got back out toward the house the weather was still holding.  We decided to grab our pickleball gear and go play at the park.  Randall was the first person I ever played pickleball with when he was last visiting.  I was curious how my skills have improved since then.  It was also my first opportunity to try out my new high end racquet.

Going into the match both of us were hurting, Randall from his week of mountain biking and paddle boarding and me from the same lower body IT band/knee pain that has been bothering me for a couple weeks.  However once I got warmed up the discomfort lessened.  The first couple games were pretty competitive with a lot of siding out and the customary trash talk that always goes on when Randall I do almost anything competitive.  I managed to win those early games, once coming back from being down 9-4 or 9-5.  After that things got pretty lopsided, I could tell Randall was out of gas.  We played a total of six games and I won them all.  The new racquet feels good to me.  We had the GoPro running for most of the match which gives a good feel for the silliness that was going on.

Saturday night we went to Brooks for dinner.  I thought I would show Randall one of my new solo drinking/eating spots.  Ironically the bar was much busier than my prior visits which was nice as we got to talk to more people near us.  We talked to one guy a lot, so much so that we exchanged numbers so we could get together to play pickleball.  He has wanted to learn but wasn’t sure how to get started.  I had their lasagna for the first time and it was really good.  By the time we got home I didn’t stay up real long as I was pretty worn out.

Sunday morning we again woke up ready to have another active day.  I threw my two one wheels in the trunk of the car and we headed down to the abandoned golf course to ride.  Randall had ridden my OneWheel years ago and he said he rode a friends OneWheel Pint recently so he was down to ride.

When he first got on the XR he was VERY unstable, dangerously so.  I wasn’t sure how we would be able to ride the golf cart trails which can be a little tricky at times.  Before hitting the trail we had him ride in a flat open area for awhile to get his feet under him.  He was still far from perfect but at least rolling and turning adequately.

Early on in the first lap he had a wobble that turned into a big wobble that sent him rolling to the ground.  Luckily he didn’t hurt himself seriously as the only gear he was wearing was a helmet.  As he put more time in he slowly got more stable and confident.  By the time we finished riding the first lap of the course he was ready to go ride another half loop.  He definitely appreciated the One Wheel “stoke” by the end of it.  I shot video of the ride but haven’t had a chance to edit it yet.

We went home and went back out in less than a half hour, this time to Ave Maria.  Randall had brought his frisbee golf set with.  I mentioned to him that they have a course out at Ave Maria.  I think I played the game once very casually with Alison when we were on vacation somewhere, 20 years ago maybe.  Elsa who normally runs and hides when I ask her if she wants to come with instead was at the door, ready to go which was surprising.  Perhaps she didn’t want to be left home again for the second time of the day.  She had never been to Ave Maria so I thought it would be fun to let her walk with us as we played.

As we drove east the horizon was filled with very ominous clouds.  I was wondering if we were setting up for a similar scenario as the US Open where it will downpour right after we arrive.  The course at Ave Maria was only 9 holes so we thought we may just be able to squeeze a game in.  I am a complete noob to the game.  I didn’t realize you had “driver”, “mid-range” and “putting” discs, each with their own characteristics.   Each hole was typically around 100 yards long, give or take 25 yards.  I quickly realized that throwing a frisbee far and accurately is not very easy.  As the holes went on I got a little more hang of it.  We finished up the last hole just as the rain and wind started in earnest.  Randall beat me by one but I didn’t care, it was a fun and simple way to spend an hour or so.  As a bonus he left one of his two sets of discs with me so I could play on my own if I wanted, which I am likely to do.

By the time we got back we were both beat, it was a very busy weekend.  We drank a little as we watched some F1 racing, which I never watch.  We then finished up Randall’s visit with some Mario Kart on the Switch which was fun of course. The trash talking was unavoidable.  After I claimed my two race to one victory Randall said he needed to shove off since he had the long drive back across the state to prep for his first day of the new gig.  It was a fun weekend for both of us which forced me to deviate from my norms, which is a good thing.

This morning I had my first skin cancer procedure, removing one of the two spots on my forehead.  Once I came back to get stitched up and was re-numbed I felt what I thought was water running into my eye.  I already had my eyes closed.  The nurse gasped and told me to stop, it was actually blood running from the wound, into my eye. I had already wiped my wet finger on my pants, getting blood on them as well.  They did a good job of getting me cleaned up.

This is the start of a week that will more or less be a chinese fire drill.  I will be on the run almost every day of the week.  By mid-May I am hoping for a return to a more normal daily grind.  These surgeries will keep me out of the gym as well which is never a great thing for my state of mind.

I had my second cardiologist test yesterday, an ECG.  They attach only a few electrical leads compared to the 7 or 8 that got attached for both the EKG and the stress test.  They then use an ultrasound machine that seems very similar to what they use on a pregnant woman to look at a baby. I laid on my side while he maneuvered the wand around the left side of my chest.  He would pause at certain spots.  The instrument also captures the sound of my heart which I could hear occasionally which I did not like.  For some reason the loud sound of my beating heart invoked a reaction similar to when I give blood.  Unlike the stress test where the tech gave me some immediate feedback, I got no feedback on the ECG.  I assumed the cardiologist needs to look at the results.

So for a month or two I have been loosely looking for an inexpensive used EUC.  My intent was to have something that I could use primarily as a “beater”.  This would be the wheel I would use if I was trying to teach someone to ride.  For example Clay has indicated he would like to try to ride.  I would prefer to not teach someone on one of my main stream wheels which cost as much as $3000.  Learning to ride always means the EUC is going to be hitting the ground at some point so I would rather this happen to a wheel I don’t care much about.

I inquired about a couple used wheels I saw on FB EUC sale groups.  One of them was a V10F that was in pretty rough shape.  It had 2000 miles, a banged up shell and slightly bent rim.  The guy wanted $900.  I offered him $700 which he initially agreed to but then he didn’t follow through on the transaction.  Another seller was also selling a V10F in better shape with less miles.  He wanted $1200.  I told him I was looking to spend less than $1000 including shipping which ended that conversation as well.

So for some reason the other day I entered “inmotion” into FB marketplace, expecting to not get any hits.  I was surprised when I saw ANOTHER Inmotion V10F come up for sale in Fort Myers, only 45 minutes away.  From the pictures it looked to be in good shape and the best part was it was only listed for $600!  I reached out to the seller but did not hear anything back for a day.  The listing was approximately a week old.

A day later I pinged him again and got a response.  He said he still had the wheel.  He said he bought it from a friend but then decided it was too much to learn to ride.  I asked him if he would take $500, as paying asking price on FB Marketplace is an extreme rarity. He agreed, sweet!  He gave me his address and I made arrangements to pick up the wheel last night.

When I got there he already had the garage open.  The guy had an impressive PEV collection going with two very expensive beach cruiser style e-bikes, regular e-bikes, and two Ninebot scooters.  He told me he was a pilot.  He said he got the wheel from a friend who claimed he rode it very little.  The seller said his riding time consisted of him turning the wheel on, stepping on to it while holding onto something and then almost immediately stepping off, determining it was not for him.  I told him some people do have that reaction.

I turned on the wheel and as the seller watched with amazement I hopped on and did a quick ride up and down his driveway to verify everything was working.  I also connected to the wheel with my phone to check the stats, including mileage.  I was blown away when I saw the mileage number, 9 miles….  This thing was practically brand new and I bought it for less than a third of what a new one costs.  I could hardly believe my stroke of good luck.  I drove home basking in the glow of the transaction.

So even though this model came out at least three years ago it’s new to me so I plan to do some basic testing with the wheel.  It has a top speed of roughly 25 MPH and a range of more than 30 miles so it is not bad spec-wise.  I look forward to putting it through it’s paces and using it to hopefully teach others the basics to perhaps get some more local riders into the community while possibly making a friend or two along the way.

Speaking of friends, Randall is going to be arriving tonight to hang this weekend.  It should be a good time as always.  I just hope my annoying left IT band pain subsides enough to not impact any possible physical activities we may want to do.  Monday the skin cancer cut-a-thon begins, I can hardly wait.

Yesterday my fake chicken finally arrived a week late but in one piece.  The “bird” is much smaller than I expected but upon double checking that is because of my lack of attention to detail.  I thought 18x12x24 was in inches, it was actually in centimeters.  It’s big enough to serve it’s purpose hopefully.  I felt the need to name the fake chicken.  After a very short period of time I landed on the name Helen.  I’m not sure why but that was the name.

I took Helen out with me to give Kathy her afternoon treats.  I sat the bird a few feet away.  Kathy looked at it but didn’t react one way or another.  Before I put Kathy to bed last night I put Helen up on the perch with her.  Helen was still on the perch this morning so at least I know Kathy didn’t attack her.  This morning I moved Helen out to the chicken run.  It will be very interesting to see if Kathy starts hanging out with her new inanimate friend.  Troy pointed out to me how his parakeet used to love the fake bird that was in it’s cage.  Maybe the same  thing will happen here, sort of like how children get attached to stuffed animals.

My replacement road bike tire showed up yesterday as well.  Randall is supposed to come over this weekend so I wanted to have my road bike in safe riding shape in case we ride.  Since I already changed the front tire several months ago it wasn’t a huge struggle to get the back tire on outside of a few little sticking points.

If you have read my blog for any period of time you know of some of my struggles mentally with dealing with some of the hurdles in life.  I have an inner critic that is constantly clashing with my desire to live a happy life.  This negative thought process can creep into so many parts of my life and in most situations the outcome is not good.

I have been working on sorting out this behavior and identifying why my thought processes chain together like they do.  The real key is to break that chain right at the onset before anything takes hold.  There are ways to do that but for anyone that says it is easy, especially for someone that has been around for over five decades, isn’t being realistic.  The first step in the process is being cognizant of the behavior.  The second step is trying to make changes to your thought patterns to reprogram your brain from following the well worn path into unhappy, negative thinking.  I need to apply the same mantra as I have used for physical activities where consistent effort results in slow and steady improvement.

Speaking of physical activity, doing the stress test yesterday which included running for several minutes on the treadmill was exactly what my sore left IT band did not need.  I was gimpy as hell once again last night and this morning.  I need to find that magic stretch that releases this tension that sends lightning bolts of pain down the side of my leg and across the top of the knee.  Today I have my heart ultrasound. Hopefully it doesn’t reveal that I am pregnant.

As the sun was setting last night I got the desire to go to the park.  The day was very hot but by the time I got there it felt quite pleasant.  I brought Elsa with and first got a walk in with her, doing a lap around the perimeter.  As usual she was very nervous at the beginning but calmed down within 5-10 minutes.

I then let her rest in the truck while I grabbed my original OneWheel and rode around for about a half hour.  There weren’t a lot of people there by that time of night so it was very chill.  Riding a One Wheel is more relaxing for me than an EUC for some odd reason.

This morning I had my first cardiac test, a stress test.  I had one of these back in 2019 when they were testing me for everything under the sun for my mystery fatigue I experienced for almost a year and a half.  Because of this I knew what to expect.  It was a 10 minute treadmill session that starts very slow but wound up being a steady run.  The run wasn’t taxing me terribly from a cardio perspective but it definitely did not feel good on my joints.  My left IT band has been tweaked for the last couple days, sending shots of pain up and down the side of my hip/leg regularly.  Running was not the activity that is ideal in this state.  Anyway the tech said I passed the stress test and described my performance as “very good”.  I would have been concerned with any other result.

Tomorrow I have the ECG.  It was described to me as basically taking an ultrasound of the heart.  The test is supposed to reveal if there is any damage to the heart which the EKG seemed to indicate.  If I get an all clear on this test I have a feeling the end result of all of this is going to be a shoulder shrug.

Yesterday afternoon there was a massive Comcast outage that they attributed to a single fiber cut.  It affected everything, tv, residential and commercial data services.  It makes you wonder how single points of failure still exist in a mega-network like Comcast.  It was a hard down that lasted several hours.  At home my cable internet came back up a little before 7PM.  It was funny I had already resigned myself to an offline type of night and in a weird way was looking forward to it.

I had the first of my two week marathon of appointments yesterday, the dentist.  Luckily I escaped without any cavities.  The hygienist who I have been seeing for at least 15 years and I traded stories about the joys of being 50 plus and how in some ways it was like a switch flipping, to the off position.  Next up on the appointment list is tomorrow where I get my cardiac stress test.  I expect to pass the test.  On Friday during the headwind hell bike ride I almost got up to 170 beats per minute and didn’t die.

I don’t think I mentioned my visit to the Pickleball US Open Sunday afternoon.  I met up with Rich to watch some high level matches.  It gave me a good appreciation for just how far away I am from being anything resembling a decent player.  We found some empty courts and actually played three games which was very unexpected.  My IT band was already hurting before we started to play so I knew it was going to be a rough go.  My lower body pain was still left over from the Tuesday night 3 hour plus pickleball session at Veterans Park.  To still be hurting that many days later is not great news.  I managed to win one of the three games and was a sweaty pig by the end of it.  After we finished we both headed out, Rich in his Tesla, me on my V11.

Here is a picture I took of the wood structure in the rock garden after a fresh coat of Thompsons along with the new solar shade and twinkle lights.  Thanks to the magic of modern iPhone night mode photography this picture came out cool despite it being almost completely dark when I took it.