Category ElectricUnicycles

Yesterday I had a follow up appointment at our on site employee clinic scheduled at 8:45.  Even though nothing has really changed with the status of my problem I guess they wanted an update on how the ear specialist appointment went.  I arrived about 8:40.  I expected the visit to be very quick.

Well I didn’t get called back into an exam room until 9:20ish where the nurse weighed me, took my temperature, and blood pressure even though I just had the same thing performed a couple days prior.  I was then told the NP would be in to see me shortly.  After another 20 minutes of staring at the walls in the exam room I had enough.  I walked out and told the receptionist I couldn’t wait any longer.  She apologized and asked if I wanted to reschedule an appointment and I told her no, I’d let them know if I needed anything else.

The onsite clinic has had a retooling of staff members in addition to be taken over by another organization.  I have not been impressed by the changes.  When I made the initial appointment I called three times during business hours and got no answer.  Both times when I walked into the clinic the receptionist ignored me for 30-45 seconds, not because of a phone call or dealing with another patient, she was just doing data entry.  How does somebody in that position not realize the most basic thing to do is at least glance at a person, smile and acknowledge their presence?  Nope she stares straight ahead like a horse with blinders on.

Then there is the actual medical exam experience which seems much more heavily weighted again on data entry instead of wellness.  Far more time is spent in silence as the staff is typing shit into the computer instead of doing any sort of diagnostic.  I do appreciate the end result of the data entry, having more information available online but they need to find a way to find a happy medium.  Right now you just feel like a part on an assembly line.  In a nutshell my medical care experience since having the ear problem has sucked.

So I finally was able to get our Office 365 subscription at work activated but it wasn’t long until I ran into another roadblock which apparently is related to the steps that were taken to activate the account.  I once again have been thrown into outsourced help desk hell where I am dealing with support personnel I literally can not understand.  Dealing with this issue is enough of a pain in the ass as is, trying to do it with a huge language barrier in place makes it maddening.   I am actively trying to find the secret number that connects me to a US based Microsoft help desk.

I was stressed out all day so getting out on the Ninebot One was a nice way to clear my head.  I put in my longest ride ever on the single wheel, just under 8 miles.  I continued to experiment with foot position.  I think I am figuring out exactly what position gives me the best mix of being able to stop, turn, and ride most effectively.  I also used my new windscreen for the GoPro in an attempt to cut down on the horrible wind noise I was getting in some of my previous rides.  For the most part it did a great job.  There is no point in the video where you can’t hear what I am saying.

So yesterday I had a follow up visit with the ear doctor.  I have to say I have not been impressed with their operation.  When I went to my first appointment last week early in the morning I had to wait 45 minutes to get in and then spent most of the morning doing the same thing, waiting.  Well yesterday my appointment wasn’t until 3:15.  I again had a long wait of over 60 minutes.

To me if an office consistently is late getting patients in that means they are overbooking the time slots.  It isn’t rocket science. The experience isn’t made any better by the receptionist that seems to be in a permanent bad mood.  I also found it annoying that they wanted to take my credit card for my $35 co-pay before I even saw anybody.

So I finally was called back and met with the actual ear doctor instead of his PA.  He was an old man that has certainly looked at thousands of ears during his career.  He asked me if I had been taking the steroid.  I told him I had for 5 days but have not noticed any change in the symptoms.  I did tell him I started noticing I had drainage down my throat the last few days but he said that was probably a side effect of the prednisone.  The amount of fluid in an ear is so small you would not feel it in your throat.

He too seemed a bit oblivious to the circumstances of the incident, seeming to think that the gym incident was perhaps a coincidence and the hearing loss was caused by something else.  I assured him it was not and described it as someone flipping a switch.  He wants me to finish the prednisone and get the ear MRI to make sure nothing major is going on in there.  He again mentioned the possibility of it being a “fistula” which is a small tear in the membrane between the middle and inner ear.  If it is that, they either heal by themselves or don’t.

When I read up on the condition it repeatedly mentions severely restricting physical activity during the first 7-14 days which I obviously have not been adhering to.  I probably should try to dial it back but my inner taskmaster doesn’t feel the same way.  The low ear ringing and diminished hearing out of that side is annoying but not a show stopper.  Regardless it would be nice to not go through the remainder of my life with the sound of a leaking capacitor permanently in my head.

Last night I wanted to get out on the wheel and ride.  The problem was it was pouring rain at the house.  I threw the Ninebot One in the Prius and hoped to find a nearby dry spot.  Luckily the precipitation stopped just before I arrived at the middle school.  I had a decent ride of almost five miles around the area.  There were some kids around the school for some event that were interested in my one wheeled wizardry.  One of them yelled out “Hey, can I try it?” , I instantly yelled back, “TOO DANGEROUS!”  I also had people just yelling at me randomly as I cruised down the sidewalk by Oil Well Road.  It was hard to tell but they sounded like sounds of approval.

I had no crashes but could feel some fatigue in my legs from Sunday’s run followed by 13 miles+ of riding on two bots.  When the legs feel tired the responsiveness definitely suffers.

Saturday morning Cindy went in to work at her new gig at a new gym that is only 8 miles away.  I used that time to get out in the yard with the weed whacker.  I had not buzzed the yard in a few weeks.  The ground was quite soggy with some standing water so it was a messier than normal experience.  I also got a reminder of why I was supposed to wear long pants when performing this chore.  I inadvertently whacked a fire ant mound that sent a ton of them into my rubber boot where they immediately started lighting up my calf.  As I ripped the boot off and started whacking at my leg I vowed to never do the chore in shorts again.  I kept myself busy all morning doing stuff around the house until Cindy got home a little after noon.

Early in the afternoon Bill, our friend from the running club showed up with two Concept 2 Rowers in the back of his truck.  We were buying one of them.  Bill has been a long time rower.  He has amassed literally millions of meters of rowing over the years.  I had enjoyed rowing both at NCH and Planet Fitness.  Retro does not have any rowers.  Cindy and I thought a rower would make a nice addition to our fitness arsenal and we had a spot in our bedroom in front of the window where it would fit. The rower we actually bought was one Bill’s daughter used for awhile.  Despite being used a lot it was still in excellent condition, much better than any rower I used at the gym.

Bill is the equipment manager for the running club so we spent nearly a decade meeting up on race sites way before the crack of dawn to set up for events.  Bill has also helped me out on my property in the past, doing some grading work and also helping me transport and set up my smaller storage shed.  He may be the hardest working person I know.  We caught up a bit on the latest and greatest as he gave us a pretty thorough run down of the rower.  There aren’t many things I miss about my time as the running club timer but being able to work with good people like Bill is one of them.

After Bill left we did a run to Home Depot to get a few things.  We actually did not stop at Rural King this weekend, a rarity.  Going to Dunkin Donuts, Home Depot and Rural King just fits us like an old comfortable t-shirt.

Saturday night we opted to stay home and watch my Netflix Blu-ray, Gods of Egypt.  Yes I had heard the movie got bad reviews but how bad could a movie be that has the Kingslayer from Game of Thrones and King Leonidas from 300?  Well the answer is, really, really bad.  It was so bad that Cindy bailed watching it maybe half way through.  I was committed to see it through to the end.  A movie can be awful but sometimes it’s so dumb it can flip around to be entertaining in some bizarre way.  That is kind of how I felt as I endured to the end.  I was laughing out loud at just how dumb it was.  It also had a very weird musical score at times that did not seem to match up with the mood of the scene.  You really don’t need to ever see this movie but if you chose to do so I would advise downing a six pack first.  C-

Sunday morning I once again had the alarm set for 6AM to get an early run in.  Cindy had planned to go with me but her back was bothering her so I wound up going solo.  I was surprised when I pulled up to the track around 6:45 and there was nobody there.  Normally there are one or two people walking the track very early.  I was also glad to see the sprinklers were not running so I wouldn’t have to dodge them this time around.

I had decided going in that I wanted to increase my lap count by one.  I had been doing 13 lappers up until then which worked out to be around 3.4 miles. 14 laps was my goal.  It was sort of peaceful having the track to myself as I circled the track as sunrise emerged.  As I got to lap 11-12 I was feeling ok so I entertained the idea of pushing for four miles of total distance.  I had not run 4 miles at all in 2016 and I if I did it in 2015 it was very early in the year.  As I rounded the final turn of lap 14 I glanced at my watch and saw one more lap would get me four miles.  I mentally committed and put in the 15th lap.  To be that close and bail would have been lame.  I ended the run as I began, alone, but feeling a mild sense of accomplishment as well.

Later in the morning Cindy and I loaded up the Minipros in the Prius and headed to North Collier Regional Park to get some riding in.  The park is large, beautiful and has paths all over the place that are perfect for two wheeled fun.  As we were zipping around we saw signs for early voting.  I knew early voting had opened up on Saturday but I did not know you could vote on Sunday too.  Cindy and I decided we should take advantage of our discovery.  We rode back to the car so Cindy could grab her ID.  We then took turns babysitting the Segways so the other could vote.  There were no lines and we finished in less than 5 minutes each.  We were both happy we inadvertently got a chance to fulfill our civic duty while joyriding.

As we rode around the park we got asked about the Minipros a few times by other park visitors.  To those that have never seen them in action it looks pretty crazy.  While I was waiting for Cindy to vote I was freaking a couple out by driving my Minipro around by remote control.  It was very warm, by the time we were done my shirt was soaked.  Even with the heat it was a beautiful and fun ride.  Cindy and I both really enjoy cruising on the Segways.

Cindy made arrangements to go to the movies with her daughter, niece and mom Sunday afternoon which again gave me time to do my own thing.  One of those things was to go back out on the road to ride my other personal transport device, the Ninebot One E+.

I had not ridden the wheel since Wednesday after work.  During that ride I felt stiff and uncomfortable.  I gave myself a few days to recover physically and mentally.  I drove through a pounding rainstorm a couple miles from the house to Dunkin Donuts where it was blue skies and nice.  I decided to take the wheel on the same route Cindy and I followed a couple weeks prior on the Minipros into a nearby development and golf course.

When we did that ride I remember thinking how it would be awesome if I was comfortable enough on the Ninebot One someday to be able to go this route.  I did not expect to be able to do it so soon.  I felt much more comfortable on the wheel than I did on Wednesday.  I actually rode back to the car three times with the intention of leaving.  Each time I decided I was having too much fun and headed out again.  In total I logged over 7 miles during the session which felt awesome.  Being able to navigate the sidewalks and walking/riding paths without feeling in mortal danger was a good thing.

Towards the end of the ride I came across another revelation in regards to foot position that was unknowingly causing me issues.  I had been having issues turning well to the left which is the side my foot is planted on the wheel when I mount.  I would normally have that left foot and ankle pressed firmly right against the side of the wheel, my thought process being less space meant less room for wobble.

I did a little test where I tried mounting the wheel with the opposite foot.  During this test I realized my turning problem had now reversed sides as well.  Well the light bulb clicked in my old brain.  It seemed like having a foot so tight against the bot makes it difficult to turn that direction due to lack of clearance.  I mounted the wheel with my foot and inch or so off the wheel and felt GREAT.  Not only could I turn both ways better, it also allowed for a more comfortable riding position.  It felt like moving the foot off the wheel a bit allowed the slight variations in wheel angle to be absorbed by my feet and ankles instead of transmitting all the way up my left leg.  I ended the riding session feeling very optimistic and anxious to get back on it again soon.

I watched the closing ceremonies of the Olympics last night which for the most part was much less interesting than the games itself.  I found the Brazillian music annoying as hell.  The costumes made me feel like I was watching one huge Mummer’s Parade.  The most interesting part of it was when Japan did their high tech routine promoting their hosting of the games in 2020.

Despite my initial thoughts about the raw sewage rivers and Zika outbreaks in Rio clouding the Olympics, I still found myself just watching the various events, many of which I NEVER witness outside of this four year cycle.  There are so many touching and meaningful moments that every Olympics provide, despite the never ending commercialization of the event.  I can still drown all that extraneous bullshit out and just enjoy the simplicity and joy of witnessing the best athletes from around the world trying to make their dreams come true.

I am now on my fifth day of prednisone and have stepped down from the three pill to two pill a day level.  Unfortunately I have noticed absolutely no change in my ear problem.  It still feels closed and has a low level ring.  I have a follow up appointment with the ear doctor today.  I will be sure to voice my opinion if he starts to suggest an extensive treatment plan, I will likely tap the brakes.  The bottom line is I can still hear and the ringing is only loud enough to be annoying but not debilitating.  I’m not going to get on the hamster wheel of expensive testing/treatment to just help pad their bottom line.  My gut tells me this is something that will either heal itself or not.  I don’t think they can “fix” it with a pill or a shot.

So I had my Ninebot One in the trunk of the Prius yesterday.  I wanted to take it out at a park that is near my office after work.  About an hour before I left there were torrential downpours in the area but they stopped shortly before I left.  The EUC is able to run on wet roads without issue, you just can’t drop it in a pond so I decided to give it a go anyway.

I only did one roughly 2 mile lap around the perimeter of the park and did not feel comfortable at all.  First off I was wearing my gym sneakers instead of the boots I normally use.  The running sneakers did not give my feet the support they need on the pedals that are much smaller than my size 13 feet.  My feet started to hurt almost immediately.

The other issue was my legs just felt terrible.  They were tight and tired.  It reminded me of the “dead arm” condition that SF QB Colin Kapernick is suffering from.  In the past several days I ran twice and have put in well over 20 miles on the Ninebot (and 5 miles on the Minipro).  Riding an EUC puts all sorts of tension on your lower body.  I really felt the cumulative effect of it all last night.  My ride was stiff and somewhat painful.  I actually felt less comfortable and less in control than I have felt on recent rides.  Giving myself a break until the weekend is probably a good idea.

After my ride I stopped to pick up my prednisone prescription.  Despite me explicitly stating which Walgreens I used they sent it to another one 4 miles in the opposite direction.  The combo of my subpar ride, shitty weather, and prescription fck up had my mood firmly in the bad zone.  When I woke up this morning my ear was still closed and ringing.  I started my steroid regimen with breakfast.  I am not sure if I have taken steroids before.  I’m hoping they work as intended without some of the nasty side effects some people experience.

The official advice was to lay off strenuous activity because of my ear problem.  Although I skipped the gym yesterday I will be back there today.  I have one good ear still.

Tonight after work I meet up with some fellow fantasy football team owners to draw numbers from a bag to establish the order for our draft at the end of the month.  I only see these guys once or twice per year so for many of them I have to do a name refresh exercise so I don’t get stuck calling one of them “hey you” or “dude” all night.  Last year was a disastrous one for me in FF, my worst ever.   At least half of my starting roster was lost to injury leaving me with nothing put poor waiver options to pick up the pieces.  I am hoping I rebound this year.

So I was unable to get an appointment yesterday at the clinic to have someone look at my ear.  I will be going there this morning instead.  My ear still feels closed although the level of hearing is better than when it first happened.  What has not changed is the low volume but constant ringing sensation I have in the ear.  Last night I dumped a 50/50 mix of vinegar and isopropyl alcohol in the ear for a few minutes which gave me a somewhat painful burning sensation.  It will be interesting to see what sort of diagnosis I am given.

Last night after work Cindy accompanied me to the school for some riding, her on the Minipro me on the Ninebot One.  I wanted to both get more practice in and show Cindy that she didn’t have to be so fearful of me crashing on the wheel now that I have some basic control.  We zipped all over the school grounds.  I used Cindy as practice for me as I tried to follow where she went on the Minipro which has more precise steering.  I was able to navigate wherever she went.

When we were on more open stretches the higher speed capability of the wheel was evident.  When the minipro speed limiter was kicking in I was able to keep going faster.  The Ninebot One E+ has a top speed of between 14-15 mph compared to 11 for the Minipro.  My rides were not without incident.  The one time I jumped off when I was unable to get over a thick lip on the road from the grass side.  I also had a few big wobbles and swerves that I was able to recover from without incident.  It was fun and I wish we could have stayed longer.

I find as I am driving around I am constantly evaluating the area for EUC riding fun level.  I can totally see me keeping the wheel in the car and stopping on my way home at various locations to give the wheel a spin.

I have been trying to get our office’s new Microsoft Office 365 subscription activated since late last week.  For some odd reason it is not allowing me to apply the subscription to our existing account that we set up for evaluation.  I have spent no less than two hours on the phone with someone named “Jake” that is obviously not a US citizen.  I can not quite place his accent but english is obviously not his first language which made the communication very frustrating.

When I would try to apply the key an error would pop up saying that key could not be used on this type of (government) subscription.  The problem seemed pretty obvious to me, I need a different key. He had me going through these maddening hoops that I knew would make no difference like clearing cache and cookies, using different browsers, changing internet options, and turning on compatibility mode.  I told him none of this made sense to do based on the error.  He said he had to have me do these steps before he was allowed to contact level two support.

At one point I lost my cool and ranted on him pretty hard.  I said I was tired of them wasting my time and if he was unable to resolve the problem I would like to talk to somebody that could.  He assured me he was escalating the issue and would get back to me asap.  It just seems ridiculous to me that Microsoft can’t figure this out.  It’s not rocket science.

So I mentioned on my Dufisthenics blog how my right ear popped while I was reversing out of a skin the cat, a difficult calisthenics move that has you upside down and inside out.  When it happened it felt similar to what happens on an airplane although I also started with an immediate low volume ring in that ear. I assumed the exertion from the move caused the ear to close and it would open up shortly.

Well it’s now Monday and it hasn’t opened at all.  I am worried I did something more serious.  I found some blood on my pillowcase over the weekend which I am afraid could have come from the ear.  I have tried various fixes, like yawning widely, the valsalva maneuver, cleaning out the ear with peroxide, and lots of nose blowing.  None of it has worked.  I am hoping to get an appointment at the on site employee clinic here so someone can take a look inside to see what is going on.

When I came home Friday there was a pretty incredible storm blowing through with sideways, torrential rain.  In the time I had the garage door open to pull the Tacoma inside the front half of the floor had a pond form.  It was crazy rain that of course once again left the property a mucky mess.

On Saturday Cindy and I had a full errand circuit, hitting Pinch-a-Penny, Dunkin Donuts, Rural King, Racetrac, and Home Depot.  By the time we got home the back of the Tacoma was fully loaded down with gas for the mowers, chlorine for the pool, sod, mulch, a 50 lbs bag of chicken food, and a few other items.

After eating lunch we headed outside to get busy.  Cindy worked on installing the sod in areas the chickens have destroyed, a task we have to repeat on a regular basis.  I worked on getting the 20 bags of mulch laid down.  Once again the chickens were the impetus behind the work as their tireless work kicking mulch out of several landscaped areas left nothing but muddy dirt in a lot of spots.

While we were working Ali and her boyfriend stopped by to drop off Sadie which was nice.  We gave them a quick introduction to the chickens.  It was the first time Ali had been in the back yard in a looong time so she was surprised how much things have grown/changed.

After I finished with chores I got out on my Ninebot One.  I had seen a video that made me realize what I was doing wrong when it comes to turning so I wanted to test out the tips.

I was successful doing some simple turns along with a few fails.  I was able to ride a circuit down our driveway, onto the street, into the neighbors half circle driveway, back on the road and into our driveway without falling.  The key was realizing I needed to control the lean of the bot on slower turns from the knees down instead of leaning my entire body.  I felt good about the progress.

Saturday night we stayed home and watched our Netflix rental, 10 Cloverfield Lane. We both liked the original Cloverfield which was a very odd but scary movie.  10 Cloverfield will have you scratching your head as you try to figure out what exactly is going on.  Of course I can’t give away the plot but I’ll tell you the movie had both Cindy I and yelling out loud, more than once. It’s a solid B+ film.

On Sunday morning I set the alarm for 6AM which Cindy wasn’t thrilled about.  I actually was awake a couple hours previous to the alarm for whatever reason so when the alarm went off I felt like death.  I set the alarm so we could accomplish a goal we talk about often but never accomplish, getting out to run before the sun is up in the sky.

We got to the track around 6:45 and started our roughly three and a half mile training run.  We have hopes to compete as a relay in a 10 mile race at the end of October.  This was our first step towards that goal.  The run was challenging, even without having the sun in the sky baking us.  The air was still very humid and we also had to dodge the poorly adjusted water sprinklers that in some cases shot out 15 feet across the running surface.  The run was not easy but we completed it, averaging about 9:30 per mile which was fine.  I am pretty confident that in the span of two and a half months Cindy and I can tack another mile and a half onto that distance for the race.

When we got home we went for a coffee run with Sadie in the back seat.  When we got home Sadie acted like she was disaapointed and did not want to get out of the car.  We made an illogical decision to grab her leash and head right back in the direction we just returned from to go to Home Depot even though we had no real reason to go other than we knew Sadie would like walking around.  We did wind up buying a few things while we were there, there is ALWAYS something we need for a home repair/project if we think hard enough.

Early afternoon Cindy and I took the Segways out for some more dual riding fun.  We rode around another development area.  Once again the Minipro’s delivered easy, quick, low stress fun.  I found that my Ninebot One riding actually made riding the Segway feel a but weird for a few minutes as it is a much different experience.  In total we put in a little less than 5 miles on the ride.

Later in the afternoon I got in some extensive Ninebot One training.  I wanted to build on the turning progress I made the day before.  I figured the school parking lot would be a much more beneficial location to do it.

I bet a spent over an hour at the school grounds.  During this time I felt that finally the elusive IT clicked in my head, I just could ride.  During the session I put in excess of six miles on the wheel, traversing a variety of surfaces including the parking lot, sidewalks, speed bumps, road, the running track and even a 100 yard section of open grass.  Don’t get me wrong, it is not easy for me and I still had moments where it felt like I was close to falling off but I stayed on the wheel.  It felt sort of awesome.

The closest thing I can compare it to is when I taught myself to juggle as a young man working as a meat cutter at Weis Markets.  It had a similar feel where it felt nearly impossible at first but through practice and determination it became another reflex reaction.  Riding a EUC was similar from the mental standpoint with the addition of a physical toll that is paid in bumps and bruises.  I was proud for forcing myself to continue to get on the wheel time and time again, knowing the end result was going to be me falling off and/or hurting myself.  48 years of age is definitely not ideal for learning a new balancing skill.

After getting home and announcing my accomplishments to Cindy I was anxious to build upon it more.  I threw the wheel on the charger for an hour or so and headed back out.  I came up with the goal of running the complete length of 8th street, something I did the other day in multiple segments, as one continuous ride.  As I approached the dead end side near the county fairgrounds I came up on a family that was out in their driveway.  I could tell they were all looking at me with confusion.  When I got closer the father said to me, “What are you, some sort of wizard??”  I laughed as I kept rolling and told him there were a ton of falls before I got to this point.  I was able to complete the roughly three mile circuit without falling or getting off once.

That wasn’t enough for me, I went out once more a little later as the sun was setting.  I wanted to get some FPV of me riding, something I was far too unstable to consider doing previously.  The LED light rings on the Ninebot One are really cool and I wanted to get a good shot of them, something you can’t do very well in bright sunshine.  The end result was the video below where I again ran an uninterrupted but shorter circuit. Once again, it felt awesome.

I still am not nearly as smooth or stable as I would like to be.  I still have regular wobbling that kicks in but for whatever reason my body can just deal with it and keep rolling.  My turning is not fantastic but I was able to maneuver a lot of sidewalk angles successfully when I was at the school.  I honestly feel at this point I could go on a ride with Cindy on a bike path or slightly populated sidewalk and be ok.  I need to be much more focused when riding the wheel than on the Minipro but as time passes I am expecting single wheel riding to become more and more a reflex instead of conscious thought.

This newfound ability has me wanting to be on the wheel more and more.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it finds it’s way into my trunk for some lunch break riding now and then. 🙂  In total three weeks have passed since I received the wheel.  If you factor in I did no riding the week prior to Comic Con my learning curve has been roughly two weeks.

Last night after work I got inspired to take my Ninebot One on it’s longest ride so far.  I went down our road to the first cross street which has very minimal traffic.  Heading down to the side street made me a bit nervous as I passed a couple vehicles going to opposite direction as I was riding on a single wheel, which sounds a bit crazy.

Once I got on the side street I was less nervous.  The long, straight stretches of asphalt were good for practice.  I did pretty well although I still had issues with wobbling which would kick in during the ride.  I wanted to try to do some turn practice.  A couple times I managed to complete a turn within the radius of the width of the road but it was VERY shaky and much more difficult than it should be.  After coming out of one of those shaky turns I developed a bad wobble that turned into a pretty bad crash where I came down hard on my wrist.  I had my lifting gloves with wrist wraps on but that crash convinced me I need to get full fledged wrist guards.  The last thing I need is a broken wrist. Both of my wrists now are hurting.

There are weird mind games that go on while I am riding.  I will be cruising along more or less smoothly and I will start thinking about losing control and crashing.  Many times these thoughts are followed with feeling unstable with wobbles returning.  I also got nervous a few times where I was going fast enough to initiate the automatic tilt back which kicks in at 12-13 mph.  I was surprised I was going that fast (first time) but once I was, I again thought about the implications of falling at that speed.

I find my lower body fatigues when I ride, probably because I have so much tension in my legs.  It seems like the deeper I go into a ride the more shaky I get.  My longest single ride last night was probably over a half mile in length.  In total I put in somewhere around three miles, obliterating any prior distance totals from other sessions.  The one fall I had however was a reminder that I am still far from ready to be riding in environments with a lot of people, vehicles or other obstacles.  This weekend I want to get more wheel time, hopefully practicing a lot with turning.  I watched a video last night that made me realize a few things I was fundamentally doing wrong that makes turning harder than it needs to be.

When I got back Cindy was a bit freaked out.  I had not told her I planned to ride down the road so she had no idea where I was or if I was upright or on a stretcher.  I told her she didn’t need to worry since my life insurance premium is up to date. 🙂

Even though last week I suggested that perhaps the idea of the Olympic games may have run it’s course, I still have found myself watching the games quite a bit and enjoying it.  Michael Phelps has been nothing short of amazing.  To perform at such a high level across four Olympics spanning 16 years is unprecedented and unlikely to be repeated anytime soon.  It really doesn’t matter which sport is on, I’ll watch it, unless it’s soccer.

This weekend should be pretty normal with work around the house, a Sadie visit, some endurance training, Segway riding and whatever else sounds fun.  With the new WoW release some virtual relaxation will be on the docket as well I am sure.

Last night I put on my full body armor to have a more prolonged session on the Ninebot One.  I was curious if the week long layoff would have a noticeable negative effect on my still very basic EUC riding skill.  My primary goal last night was to get the hang of stepping off the wheel at the end of a ride instead of the awkward hop/fall off I have been doing so far.

The rides up and down the driveway went pretty smooth.  I felt more or less under control.  My first few attempts at stepping off were not good but eventually I got a little better.  I really have to think through how I need my body to be in order to make it happen.  Of course this needs to become a reflex reaction before I would feel safe riding around more obstacles or people.

I had one big highlight of the night when I started the ride crossing the driveway into the front yard.  I then crossed the house mound and descended down the hill to the front yard, turned and was able to climb the hill and wind up where I started, stepping off in a controlled fashion.  I was surprised and very excited I pulled that off.  All in all I was very happy with the way things went and I am finding myself feeling much more anticipation instead of dread when I step on the wheel now.  In addition to continuing to work on stepping off the bot I need to get much, much better at turning.  Tight turns is something you need to be able to do in real life, all I have been successful with so far are larger sweeping changes in direction.

Warning, WoW talk ahead.

Yesterday the initial stages of the new WoW expansion released which unlocked the ability to play the new class of demon hunter.  My decade plus in the game meant that I had already brought every class in the game to max level.  Getting to try out a brand new class is always interesting.

I had a lot of fun rolling around the desolate landscape kicking demon ass wherever I could find it.  Demon hunters are a bit of an anomaly.  As their name suggests, their primary goal is to destroy demons however they are part demon themselves.  The main difference is they are not part of the hive mind that controls other demonic forces in the game.

With this new expansion they have changed a TON of things which is the case with pretty much every expansion.  The changes cause players to have to re-learn a lot of things which can be a pain in the ass but all part of the cycle of MMORPG’s.  If they kept things the same forever the game would get stale very quickly.  Just as in real life, if you are not adapting to and embracing change you will be left behind.

Last night Cindy and I were trying to decide if we wanted to get in another September road trip this year.  I have one window of time that is available in September to do it.  If we do decide to take the trip it would be an east coast course that would hopefully takes us all the way to Maine.  We are weighing the time, logistics and expense of something like that with a staycation where we mix in some more local fun and projects in that same time period.  Of course the traditionalist in me is uncomfortable with breaking the streak of long road trips Cindy and I have done since we have been together.  I get a lot of enjoyment exposing Cindy to places/things she never has seen before.

So I ordered a replacement canopy for the yard tractor back on July 17th online at sears.com.  When I ordered it I opted for local store pick up to save shipping charges.  When the order was placed there was no mention of any sort of delay.  When I heard nothing for 10 days I called Sears and was forwarded to what appears to be an India based called center.  I struggled through the communication barrier to discover that the canopy would not show up in store until August 6th, some three weeks after my order date.  WTF?? Well I had no choice but to wait it out.  While we were at Comic Con I got a text message and an email indicating that my order had arrived and I could pick it up.  I figured I would get it yesterday morning.

So I pulled up to Sears, which is part of our local mall around 10:20. I was lucky to spot the door used to pick up online orders, near the auto center.  The pick up area had two doors, one automatic, which didn’t appear to be working and a manual door which was unlocked.  I step inside and a young girl behind sliding glass said “We are still closed!”  I pause for a second and say to her, “What do you mean you are closed?”  as I just walked in the unlocked door which apparently happens to also be an employee entrance.  The girl tells me the store does not open until 11AM.  Again with a confused look on my face I said “You are closed until 11AM on a Monday??”  She again confirmed the store does not open until 11 which apparently was a recent cost savings move made necessary by Sears dismal fiscal situation.

Well my emotion shifted from confusion and surprise to anger.  I did not want to twiddle my thumbs for 40 minutes until the store officially opened.  I went on a bit of a rant, telling the girl I have been waiting for this item to show up for three weeks and I just drove close to 25 miles to pick it up.  I told her the notifications I got about my item being available made no mention of the restrictive store hours.  I was dug in and ready for a fight because this transaction had already been a pain in the ass.

The girl must have sensed I was not going to take no for an answer very easily.  She said the guy in the department that handles online orders just came in and “once the printer warms up” he will try to help me.  As I was waiting an old lady that worked at Sears came out to the lobby and was telling me the woes of Sears/K-mart from an employees perspective.  I told her how my transaction was an example of why customers don’t want to deal with Sears anymore.  She sort of agreed with me.

So the order guy came out and asked my name.  He disappeared a couple minutes and then emerged with my box.  I thanked both him and the girl that originally told me NO for accommodating me.  It was a small redemption of an overall negative transaction and indicative of why the old retail behemoth is circling the drain.  It seems like the great anti-Sears crusade my dad started in the 70’s might finally be coming to fruition.

Yesterday the box I was praying would show up last week before departing for Comic Con arrived.  It was the Soldier 76 mask I had ordered three weeks ago, almost at the same time as the tractor canopy.  The Ebay listing had a huge delivery window range, saying the item could arrive anywhere from July 28th to Aug 12th.  I ordered the mask hoping the China based seller would be under promising and over delivering.  Well it didn’t work out that way.

Luckily Cindy hand crafted me a mask to use in case this exact scenario occurred and she did a great job on it.  Both of us were complemented repeatedly at the Con about the quality of our attire.  If I had this mask it would have been off the charts.  Not only is the mask pretty much an exact replica of the in game mask, it even has a LED light across the visor to complete the visual. It is extremely cool. The good news is the jacket and visor aren’t going anywhere so whenever Cindy and I decide to jump back into another cosplay event I will be ready to roll.

The mask and the whole cosplay experience have started Cindy and I talking about some of the things that could be done if we had a 3D printer.  Once I have some more Amazon points accumulated it might be another mid-summer Xmas present to ourselves.

We had hoped to get out on the Segways on Monday afternoon however prolonged rain washed those plans away.  We spur of the moment decided to go out to a matinee of Suicide Squad.  I knew the movie had big opening weekend numbers.  I heard of Suicide Squad once or twice but never had any tangible comic book knowledge of them.  There were so many characters involved it was tough to get a good feel for a lot of them.  Some of the “heroes” seemed pretty lame, especially the boomerang dude.  I came away with much the same feeling I did with Batman vs Superman, the movie was entertaining enough for a B+ grade but it wasn’t better than any Marvel super hero movie I have seen in the last 5 years.  DC so far just is not in Marvel’s league when it comes to big screen productions.

Last evening I got back on my Ninebot One for the first time in a week.  Earlier I had wrapped it in some packing foam to help protect both myself and the bot from falls.  My goal was to work on getting off the wheel in a calm fashion instead of the “reach down, grab the wheel and then hop off awkwardly” thing I have been doing so far.

The intent is to slow to a stop and then simply step off with one foot, keeping the other foot on the bot, like you would do with a bike.  In theory it should not be too hard.  I tried repeatedly and just could not get it.  Each time I tried to step off with one foot and no hand assist the bot would wind up laying on it’s side.

It became apparent that the foam I used was not going to be up to the task.  Even those gentle layovers started to rip it in various spots. So although I was unsuccessful with proper dismounting, the good news was I went up and down the driveway around 10 times with no falls.  I still had some wobbling and still felt only loosely in control but any session that doesn’t involve me or the Ninebot barrel rolling on the cement is a win at this point.

I recently installed Snapchat on my phone, an app that I have avoided since it came out branded as primarily a sexting application.  It of course has turned into much more than that.  One of the cool features is it’s ability to overlay faces onto a person which can result in some pretty hilarious video clips.  My initial efforts were LOL funny, if I do say so myself.

So I have been laying off riding the Ninebot One since Saturday.  The biggest reason is the bruise/blister on my left ankle which is very sore to the touch.  Despite all the pain and frustration I have endured since starting the learning process I still found myself wanting to be on it last night taking one more small step in my riding ability.

Although I am still very early in the stages of EUC learning I found myself already looking at higher end wheels that I could eventually master like the King Song KS-18.  It’s a huge 18 inch wheel that can go 20 mph with a range of 30-40 miles.  It’s profile is so high that they actually include a seat that you can sit on while riding, crazy.  I can only hope someday I have bike like comfort and stability on a single wheel device.

I have a short week and a long weekend coming up as Cindy and I are attending another Con, specifically the Tampa Comic Con.  Cindy has been going nuts doing costume development.  I am going to join her in the cosplay this time around.  My outfit should be pretty cool but I am worried about passing out from the heat of wearing it.  I can only hope they have the AC in the place cranked down to arctic level.