More Discussion About Everything

For the forth time I will try to grow another one. Originally I brought one with me in that pot from Arizona. That one never survived the winter inside. Lowes stocks them on a regular basis so I bought a couple more over the past 27 months. They have all died different ways. Did I give this one too much water? Or is there something in the soil that is killing them?

I picked this one up yesterday on my Lowe's run for mulch and top soil along with some perennials. This time I will empty the jar of all the dirt, wash it out so it's super clean then plant this one with new soil and try again.

Every car that I have bought in the past ten years I review them pretty extensively before I decide what I am going to buy. This is the first car I bought where that did not happen until after I bought it and had it in the garage. THEN I went back through the process to find out if I had made an error. Kinda backwards but I had to know the answer to that question. I did feel confident enough in the Hyundai brand to make the purchase before researching it. 

I've never been a fan of Hyundai automobiles but had noticed more and more of them on the road. It was my friends experience with one the past six years that led me to try one. They liked their 2017 Tucson they bought new, enough to keep it as they bought a 2023 Tucson Hybrid this summer. The first thing I noticed as I sat inside the Santa Fe ... the quality of the interior's material.

What shocked me was when I put the specifications of this car next to the Mini Cooper Countryman on my tablet. The Mini was bigger, yes bigger in all specs except one. With the Veloster's deep trunk, while the Mini's is flat ... the Veloster had more cubic feet of storage in the cargo area with the backseats up in their normal position. Everything thing else, the Mini Countryman was bigger.

Other questions floated in my head even during the high speed test drive. Why did Hyundai quit making this model and why was the same year of car so much cheaper than a Mini Cooper Countryman? A car that I was going to go back to.

When I bought the FJ last summer I thought I was willing to keep it forever, and fix, repair or replace older parts as needed. When that started turning into something every month these past 7 months I could feel my willingness to do that fade. Things are much simpler with a newer vehicle, especially when they have a transferable warranty.

A big factor even before I found the rusted steering shaft, was Watson.

Unlike Sadie and Stella that loved riding in the back of the FJ, they would try to jump up in back of it any time the back door was open .....

Watson flat out refused to even try to get in the back of the FJ while I tried helping him. He sat his 130 pounds of dead weight on the garage floor and refused to move. Lifting his front paws up to the bumper didn't work. He is way to heavy for me to lift and even the bribes with the large dog bones I buy at Costco did not work. Sitting right in the middle of the cargo area for him to go get, never changed his mind about getting in the back. That makes vet trips almost impossible. I knew I needed something lower that he could step into.

Besides changes to my car I also had to change the way I was monitoring my rides while I rode my bike. For four years I have been using my Apple Watch paired with a free app called Strava. It is a pretty amazing app that will take the data collected by the watch while riding and turn it into a data analysis but also a detail map of where you rode. I found out finally there was one problem using that system although very convenient. 

A few weeks ago as I was riding around 17mph on a flat piece of road, I raised my left hand off the handlebars and up to let the watch turn on, so I could see my speed, how far I had rode in miles and what my heart rate was. With my eyes focussed on that information my front tire hit a small rock on the edge of the tire, almost knocking the bike out from under me. Sound familiar to September 2019???

I was able to maintain control of my bike and keep me and the bike up and rolling down the road but I admit it scared the crap out of me. So I did what I said I'd never do ... buy a bike computer that attaches to the front of the bike with all the same information and even a little more ... where both hands can be on the handlebars at all times while I look at the data. Or glance at the data. 

Another reason I needed the change, is in cooler weather that I will encounter here, out in AZ I use to have to take both hands off the wheel and use my right hand to pull the sleeve of my jersey or jacket up over the watch on my left wrist to see the data. I adjust my riding effort by what my pulse rate is most of the time.

This bike computer will elevate that and keep both hands "on the wheel" so to speak.

Apple didn't want me to use their watch with a Wahoo bike computer and it would not pair to work with each other. The Wahoo did pair with the Strava app with no issues like I knew it would before I bought it. Without the watch there was no way to capture my heart rate while I rode so I had to buy Wahoo's heart rate monitor (Wahoo TICKRfit). It will wrap around my forearm or bicep while I ride. 

One neat thing about the Wahoo Elemnt (spelled correctly) Roam V2, I can make a custom page and have only the data I am interested in, that would look like the photo above this one. So I was able to delete the accent in feet in the lower right hand corner and add my heart rate in that position. It worked out very well after everything was turned on.

I can click the right button and scroll through pages that shows a map of upcoming hills and color coded for how steep they are. Another click sends me to a screen that is a GPS using just like the one in your car/truck. Another click could be a map of a ride I have downloaded into the computer and an arrow showing me which way to go on that downloaded ride.

Yes, there is always a chance of hitting a rock on the side of your tire while glancing down at the computer but unlike before both hands are still on the handlebars making the bike more stable and less likely to have the front wheel knocked out from under you.

For $33 I thought what the heck, I'll give it a try. College football was a few weeks away so I had time to test an indoor antenna with plans of deleting my overpriced Directv, even with a "loyalty customer discount". My friend up the street has used one for years so I thought the chances for me to have reception were pretty good since our antennas would be facing the same direction.

Installation was simple and I clicked the icon to have the antenna find channels. Holy Cow !!!! With a range of 60 miles, it found 62 different channels but only the four major network channels were in HD quality. Picture quality has always been big with me and one of the main reasons I have stayed with Directv so long. So I spent a week with the Directv account suspended in vacation mode and only using the indoor antenna for any tv viewing.

My tv views is not a lot unless I am watching a ballgame of some sport, or an Indy Car or F1 motor race. I had told myself that I could get the same enjoyment listening to Reds games on radio instead of watching them on Bally Sports Ohio. I had even told myself I could see a lot of IU games on the network channels starting this year after the new B1G tv contract for the next seven years. IU games not on those channels ... I could get the same enjoyment listening to them on radio like I did growing up in the 60s. 

I guess that wishful thinking is similar to my thoughts about moving from 1750sqft to 960sqft without a garage. Yet, I was "this close" to moving to the indoor antenna full time UNTIL Directv wanted to work with me to keep me as a customer. Isn't it amazing what can be done when you call and tell them you want your account canceled then tell them why when they ask????

The man on the phone told me to "hold on for a minute and I will see what I can do" ... I was happy to wait but I wasn't confident it would make much difference. I had enjoyed listening to the Reds games on radio and watching the GameCast on espn dot com. 

He came back with an offer of $22 off per month from my current bill for the next 12 months and since I had taken my account off 'vacation mode" they would give me an additional $20 off just for the first month. The computer would find it quite easy to do all of that too, since it was my last day of my billing period. I've read just how many customers they have lost from the satellite service, with everybody streaming their tv now. I guess that makes them a little more motivated to negotiate.

 

After I plugged the Directv box back in, I was a happy camper. A picture quality that I could tell a slight difference although that difference is getting smaller and smaller by the year. Streaming Apple TV picture is almost as good as the quality of the satellite. My test for enjoyment was last Saturday with a few college football games to watch, although there was only one I spent any time watching.

It seems like a good service with the price back down to what other services charge, ie: YouTube tv. 

I didn't have a chance to change my mind and buy the FJ back this time. It was not long after I traded it in that I got a text from the lady that sold me the Veloster ... It had just got back from being detailed. So it sold within hours after being on the lot. I didn't ask but I wondered if they replaced that steering mid shaft. It ran like new and was just as quiet as a new engine, it was hard to get rid of.

Like the cabin, different cars I have owned or trucks, and the different places I have lived in my life ... no matter how much I liked them or liked living there at the time ... they are all good memories and have to stay that way. Luckily my private blog that is more like a journal to look back on as my memory fades, that journal always shows me both sides of the coin, the good and the bad, and proves the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.

Just looking at the hounds and the dog usually gives me answers to what questions I have ... now if they could just give me some answers for my continuing fight against inflation and/or the upcoming "mask or no mask war" and what my plan will be for being un-vax'd. The caos is coming, wait and see, as it is already starting. I will refuse everything just like I did before.

Maybe after the heat wave next week, the hounds and I can get back to a morning walk ... I know Henry would like that as he bolted out the mud room door through the garage and out that open door, looking for action as he ran away from me. He misses his morning walks. 

The last two days of working in the yard/flowerbeds have found muscles in my legs and lower back that my bike riding had not found. To say I am sore this morning would be an understatement. The "to do" list is still a priority though so maybe I can find something a little easier today as my legs and lower back recuperate. 

So that is another update here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.