It was a very busy day today. Started off the day having to wake the dogs up, they seem to have gotten into the habit of sleeping in late, and I also think the time change is messing with them. Got them downstairs and did there outs and snacks. Res is not pleased with his modified treat diet. He looked at me with the “where’s the beef” look when I gave him his apple and pumpkin treats.
Spent all day working, it was extremely busy today and I was unable to get a lunch break today. Lot’s of Cause of Loss determination requests, pricing requests, and quote/invoice review tasks. I end the day with one left to do and that one is going to take me a while. I ended up spending an extra 3-4 hours this evening on my tech coaching tasks. Some of them were pretty urgent so I am happy I looked.
Anyways, I guess Climber must of heard me mutter that I needed to clean my desk, so she “helped” out. To bad it wasn’t my desk that I work at she cleaned off. Yes, there were sparks. No dogs got hurt in the cleaning effort. And, best of all she knew she messed up because I walked upstairs a while later and she had put herself in her crate with the door open. I didn’t even have to do it.
Yup, that’s one of my ham radios laying on the floor with all of it’s accessories. The blue bed, that is where Res was laying right before Climber apparently got hooked on a wire as she was someplace she didn’t belong. He ran upstairs, fast. I guess I can look at the positive side of this, I needed to put some wire ties up anyways. This could be a weekend project. Not really sure yet.
Anyways, I don’t have too much more to say for today. Sort of a boring day other than work. Tomorrow I am going to try to get outside for an hour, I also want to try and get on some resistance band training done. I have to get my shoulder in somewhat better shape so I can do somewhat good during the June 12th Mountain Swim Event. I plan on getting back into the pool this weekend.
And today is going to be a short post, it is a travel day. I headed to the airport around 10AM this morning and it was a good thing I did. The traffic getting to the rental car facility was extremely heavy, took me 1 hour to go 3 miles once I got on the access road. After that the entire airport experience was not all that bad. There was a ton of construction ongoing and this was backing up traffic. It’s a good thing I have a tendency to be at the airport way early, as if I was one of those last minute flyers I would have never made it.
Anyways got through bag drop and TSA in a reasonable amount of time and was able to get a bunch of work done while waiting for my flight. The flight so far has been good. The food was good as well.
Let’s see if we are on time and actually get into the gate OK. We got in on time, luggage was somewhat quick, and I am home.
Today was a field day, not a field trip, a field day. Today was on the roof of Dolphin something condos in the Bonita Springs are of Florida. That is South of Ft Meyers but North of Naples. Not much to say about the day, but it was very warm and humid, I realize I am thankful for Denver weather more and more as I travel. I made all my stairs today, going up and down steps in the three buildings that I had to inspect. I am also thankful for my health and fitness, and that I didn’t fall over with heat stroke. See what I did there? I got my “grateful” things in for the day.
The views of the Gulf of Mexico were great as well as some from the indoor water ways.
You can click into both of the above images and look around, yes, there is a roof here, but I am sharing to show that the surrounding scenery is pretty nice. Still miss my mountains, but this has beauty in a different way, One is from the Gulf side and the other from the mainland side.
Got back to the hotel and caught up on all of my email, tags from processors, pricing requests, tags from my manager to review files, and cause of loss requests. While it took me the rest of the afternoon to complete, and most of the evening, I am so happy that I do not have to deal with it in the morning. I can start fresh (see there was positive thought number 4) with the new day.
I am now doing my evening relaxing before trying to get some sleep. I may stay up a little later as I am playing timezone jumping, and I don’t want to be falling asleep in my chair tomorrow evening at home. My flight isn’t until late in the day and I will not be home until about 7:30pm MT.
So, positive day, no complaining, grateful for multiple things, oh—– I missed looking forward to my swim event in June. My shoulder has stopped hurting so I should be able to get back into the pool when I am home and working up on my distance again. I think I may be over training a bit and need to work on that.
Today is a travel day, or should I say “was” a travel day since I am posting this a little late. I got so caught up in some other things last night that I forgot to do my daily post. Anyways, I started my day off as normal, got up, had to wake the dogs up; the time change to Daylight Savings Time is very confusing to them, and did treats and outs. Res really does not like the new pumpkin treats that Jesse made for them.
And after finishing a recording for our new technician on-boarding processes it was time to head to the train and then the airport.
Everything at the airport worked as planned and I had my bag dropped, was through security, and in the gate areas within 30 minutes after Jesse dropped me off. I love flying in and out of Denver. It just works.
Had a nice flight from Denver into South Florida Regional Airport (Ft Meyers) and car pickup was easy.
Got to the hotel, went across the road to “Wings Stop”, they were OK, came back and read for a while, watched TV, and crashed. Wish I had more to add to it today, but really don’t.
Jesse sent me the cutest photograph of Climber doing what she does most of the time, chewing on a rope toy. I have to stop and buy her another one to take home with me for her. Have to find something for Res as well.
My shoulder has been a bit painful today, which did require some adjustment to how I normally carry my backpack when in the airports, and I am crossing my fingers that I do not need a ladder for today’s fun and games. I need to get back in the pool to get ready for the Mountain Swim Series in June. I am doing dry-land workouts until that shoulder stops hurting, which is good for me, but still not swimming. Today, I am thankful for the flight crews and the airport folks that make 3 1/2 hours in a metal tube in the sky a good experience, I am also thankful for the TSA agents who are working without pay, keeping a good attitude and getting us through security, and I am thankful to have Jesse and the pack to get home to when I am done with my travels. And, I was a good person today and maintained my positive attitude and didn’t complain about a thing all day.
Anyways, tomorrow is another day – well today, since this was from yesterday, and we will see what type of trouble I am going to get into next. I will see you all later today (March 10th) with the next update on my world.
What a day! It was the first day of Daylight Savings Time for 2026 so everyone lost an hour of sleep. My awesome body alarm got be up normal time, about 6:45 or so in the new time, which does go along with my waking up around 5:45 standard time. Of course the dogs were all confused, Res looked at me like I lost my ever beloved mind. Climber was like, “Cool!! Let’s go”.
I came downstairs, did the morning snacks and outs for the dogs and then sat down and had my cup of coffee. I did have to do a quick check on my work email to make sure none of the techs that had appointments today needed anything. Then I finally had time to do the firmware update on my handheld radio that needed attention. That is not an easy thing to do so I was putting it off until I could find some time to do it. I am still not sure it is working properly after the update, I will need to figure that out in the next few days.
I spent a few minutes catching up on social media. The photograph in the front of today’s post came up in my memories. These are always neat to see, but a little sad as well. Each of the dogs in the photo were part of our original pack, from right to left we have Ranger (Army Ranger), standing over Peanut (BL Merry Go Round), then we have Mindy (Puzzle Patch) laying down, then Lady (Midnight Lady) is in mid-stretch, and Leona (Dazzle Leona Lee) just being Leona. Peanut was Jesse’s dog, Ranger was everyone’s dog, Mindy was most definitely mine – Mindy and I had a connection that went beyond anything I ever experienced. She alerted (with no training) an any health issue, and she also knew the moment my plane touched down in Florida and would go lay by the garage door waiting for me. Lady was probably my dog, she remembered me from her farm days, and Leona was just Leona. She was a sweet dog, but really just lived her own life. She was attached to her sister (Lady and Leona were litter-mates).
After Jesse got up I went and took the dogs for their walk, I did lone walks today. Res got a little over a mile and a half. I think he may have scraped a toe in the yard this morning and I think it was starting to bother him. Climber actually took me on a walk, she knew exactly where she wanted to go and I did have to provide some guidance to make sure she didn’t get too crazy with her wants. We did almost 3 miles, and she was fine when she decided that it was time to head home.
After I got back with them and had breakfast I decided to go out and do my own walk/hike to see what I could find after our snow. It was challenging in some places because some sidewalks were not clear so I had to walk on the curb or the edge of the road. But, I went down to the Toll Gate Trail and walked 7.27 miles. I didn’t push it and did OK. The goal was to get some vertical elevation in as well as catch up on my steps. I was going to walk to the rec center and spend some time in the gym, but after I saw what a nice day it was outside I decided to just stick with the hike and go longer than I normally do.
Total distance: 7.26 mi Max elevation: 5661 ft Min elevation: 5483 ft Total climbing: 434 ft Total descent: -428 ft Average speed: 4.01 mi/h Average cadence: 56 Average heart rate: 106 Average temperature: Total time: 01:55:52
In one area the trail crosses near a little dam and the ducks are already in the water looking for food.
After I got home from my walk FedEx received the second part of our Jackry battery backup system. It has a different plug that I need to figure out how to adapt to the generator connection that is connected to the house transfer switch. I need the 30Amp 240V from the photo below, I think I will need to top outlet (the one that says AC 120V/240V 30A). The plug itself is rated for 50Amps which is what the problem is. I may have to add a second outlet for the battery system, I really do not want to do that though, it’s really not the right way to do it.
Jesse is going to let them charge over the next two days while I am out of town, we can charge from the solar panels but it is a time consuming process, but as Jesse put it, “The sun is free – plugging it in costs me money.”
Then I got a notification in on my phone reminding me to check into the hotel. I like the digital keys and if I check in in advance I usually get a digital key and don’t have to deal with the front desk. The issue is that even though Hilton advertises this as a feature for the high reward club members, the local hotel has a choice not to use it. They claim “software issues are preventing it” but the reality is that they want to swipe your credit card locally instead of charging it through corporate Hilton. Well, when I went to check in I was informed by the AI robot that the digital check in could not be processed. So, I chatted the hotel and was told, pretty rudely I might admit, that the hotel does not do digital check-in and I can check in at the desk when I get there. So, I saved the company 100.00 for my stay and changed to the Holiday Inn Express that is actually a little closer, and canceled my Hilton reservation. I actually prefer IHG hotels, but have been using Hilton more due to the digital keys. Oh well, I am slowly re-evaluating that.
I did spend a little time working this afternoon, I had to finish some app testing for our upcoming app release and it’s a good thing I checked because I did find some problems between the iPhone version and the Android version. I have to send some videos and screen captures to my manager so that maybe he can get it fixed. It’s not a major deal but it will cause the results from the two app versions to be different in a time where we are trying to keep things uniform. I tested the Electrical Service Panel, Electrical Wiring, Electrical Outlets, Water Heater, and the Refrigerator workflows. I know, I am not supposed to work on a Sunday, but I am running tight on creating training material and now I have enough that I can finish some work on my flight tomorrow and that makes me much less stressed.
And we had a good shrimp/salmon/rice dinner and I finished packing for my trip tomorrow. I always end up over-packing by a day or two, but I never know when an extra day is going to be added onto my trip. I am also now trying to be a little more careful on job sites so I am taking work-boots with me now. And, I am taking my resistance bands so I can do my workouts in my hotel room.
Before I forget: Looking Forward: I am on track for my June 14th Mountain Swim event. I know not to push it with my shoulder and I have other endurance activities I can do to stay on track.
Staying Positive: Still doing good on staying positive about things. Everyday there are little hurdles to go over, but there are always good solutions. It’s just a matter of finding them.
Things I am Thankful/Grateful For: My health, which is for the most part really good, and I am still working on getting back into shape after some pretty severe issues. Jesse, who is always here and takes care of me always, and The Pack when I am traveling. And having a good job with some really great team members.
Anyways, we are all here for the evening, relaxing, and getting our minds ready for the upcoming week. I hope everyone has a good evening and I will see you tomorrow.
We are melting…… This morning started off with our walk in the park, I took the dogs one at a time as I wasn’t to sure how they would react to the snow and in some spots the ice. They did pretty well. Res found a icy spot and almost fell, but Climber did OK.
The part has a whole different look when it has just snowed. So clean and white.
Came back, had some breakfast and then went to the rec center to get a swim in, I also did a 2 mile walk on the indoor track. I finished up with some weights, I can’t stand lifting, but I am starting to think that might be what’s missing in my routine. Today I only did 1000 yards in the pool because my shoulder has been bothering me, so I figured what the hell, I might as well go up and see what is available for me to work out on. Yup, unfortunately I am going to have to do more of that. I really need to figure out how much of this I can replicate with body weight and band exercises as the gym equipment in hotels is unreliable and I need something that I can count on. I will have to do some research.
I need to make sure that my shoulder is in shape for the Mountain Lake Swim in June. I have been saying all along that the shoulder is the one thing that could knock me out of it. But, so far so good, I just have to back of the pool for a little bit and let the shoulder settle down a bit. I probably need to go to a 3 or 4 day a week swim and work on my dryland on the other days. I do have a tendency to overdo things a bit physically. I am going to be traveling M-W so this may be a good break. I am not sure I will be able to find a public pool near where I will be.
Spent the rest of the afternoon doing some things around the house. Laundry always has to be done, and then Jesse and I put together the new Jackrey backup power (solar and battery) that we ordered. It was only at a 29% charge when it arrived so we set it up in the backyard so that it could charge and then eventually (when the other part shows up) we can connect to the house and test it. I will probably add a few battery packs to it eventually to give us longer time and I would like at least 24 hours of use on battery if needed.
Anyways, Res and Climber are settled in for the evening. I think I got everything done that I needed to get done before next week starts. I do want to update the firmware on my handheld radio, a few new features that I would like to be able to use, including some new APRS functions that I am looking forward to trying.
So, with these photographs of Res and Climber, I let you go. Please stop by, comment, say hello.
I got up this morning at my normal time and it was cloudy but there was no snow on the ground. Well……. that didn’t last long. Colorado finally decided to start participating in Winter. Where’s our trophy? Anyways by the time Jesse went to go walk the dogs there was already over an inch in the grass.
As always I worked for a good portion of the morning and then went and got my hour in the pool. I got in just about a mile and a half. I am still so unsure of these workouts written by others. I am not sure if it is really preparing me properly for the distance I need to swim. I understand the points of all of the sets, but just feel that they are not doing what they should. I also do have a little concern about my shoulder.
It wasn’t a bad swim, and I had the pool basically to myself because of the weather, but I just wasn’t feeling it today. And, my times are not really getting better….. need to figure out what was up with that. My endurance is improving but my times are not. I think I need to work more on endurance right now. I have to get up to a 5K in a single swim, if I accomplish that I know I will be able to complete the first swim of the Mountain Lake Swim Series 2026 in June. My should is my worrying unknown.
Anyways, came back home and found one of our neighbors had shoveled the sidewalk all the way around the cule’d sack (or however you spell that), so I got out and did our driveway and the porch steps. He was nice enough to shovel a path to the front door. Anyways, the snow is really heavy this time, almost like New England snow.
And then came back and worked the rest of the day. After that was finished I let Res and Climber out in the yard because I was sure they had to go out something awful.
Res, took very ginger steps into the white stuff before he realized what it was and it wouldn’t hurt him and then he decided to just have some fun! He went under his pine tree for some protection from the “falling sky”. And then it was Climber’s turn. Climber does not have a care in the world and she got out in it, did a few laps, fell on her butt, and then took care of business and back into the house we went.
Sorry, It’s the only picture I could get, I didn’t have my phone outside with me. And then I decided that I had to start working on getting snow out of the yard. This is heavy and the normal snow thrower we use is not doing that great with it. I don’t think this is going to last that long anyways, snow does not like upper 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s.
I got about 1/3 of the back yard shoveled but my shoulder is taking the brunt of that. I may have strained it again, it is going to take a heating pad tonight.
I was good today, no complaining, and I remain grateful for my technical background which allows me to do my job, the move to Colorado because things keep getting crazier in Florida, and some of my doctors who continue to try to figure out why I keep having some heart related “issues”.
Anyways, that’s it for the evening. Stay out of a snow bank, and I will see you all tomorrow.
Well….. this morning didn’t start the way it should have and didn’t end the way it should have either. I got up at my normal time and let the dogs out, gave them their snacks, and started my coffee. When I logged into the work system I was rewarded with a surprise; I needed to be on a Teams video training session (and I was a participant of the group doing the training) at 7:45 in the morning. I found this out around 6:45. Oh, well you can guess how the rest of my day went…. I had to do a quick change of plans, adjust, and get myself put together real quick.
Res and Climber have no such concerns, they just relaxed through it all.
Thankfully the training was almost painless, next time I want to be in the same room with the majority of the people being trained. I like remote work but it is very difficult not to see facial expressions, or have people see mine, in the training classes.
I missed my swim today, but I was able to get out for a longer walk during the lunch break.
Total distance: 4.86 mi Max elevation: 5680 ft Min elevation: 5560 ft Total climbing: 368 ft Total descent: -355 ft Average speed: 4.41 mi/h Average cadence: Average heart rate: 116 Average temperature: 24.3 Total time: 01:06:21
It was a nice day out along the trail. You can see the snow in the mountains and then everywhere else is really dry. That is supposed to change overnight and during the day tomorrow. We really need to snow (frozen water). We will even take rain. The main reservoir is down to about 80% right now and it should have much more in it. The are warning us of water shortages this summer.
The meeting lasted until late and I wrapped up my day by finishing all the pricing and the cause of loss requests that I had. An afternoon walk for the dogs, dinner, and now resting.
I got on the scale this afternoon and am down to 218 pounds, which is a good direction for me. My goal is 210 so, if I keep it up I may be able to reach that by June. Sort of important for me to be able to fit into a wet suit for the Mountain Lake Swim series. June 14th will be coming up fast. Reminds me, I need to make hotel reservations. I will do that later.
We are all done for the day, but it has been a good day, I have been able to maintain a positive attitude for the day, I haven’t really complained about anything and accomplished all my goals/tasks. Things that I am grateful or thankful for today:
My health
My ability to adjust to different plans/functions on very short notice
That I have a quiet office downstairs and that I can close the door when I need to be on a video call. The dogs are friendly and want to say “hello” to everyone.
Jesse’s patience when I have to be on these calls and he has both dogs in his office all day.
The trees are starting to bud here in Aurora, CO. Day started as it normally does, get up, dogs out, dogs snack, my coffee, Jesse’s coffee, log into work and see what trouble I can get into. Today didn’t end up too bad, I was able to talk with a bunch of technicians I needed to and I got some app testing done. Just want to point out that the photograph on this page is probably the most photographed and uploaded location photograph in our system. I use it for every single test claim that I do. Fun fact over.
I was able to get to the rec center for lunch today, a little late, but it still worked out well. The pool was almost empty and I was able to get in a really great workout. I think this is one of the first times I have followed someone else’s workout plan and it worked out pretty well. I did 2100 yards and I started increasing my freestyle to get ready for the June start of the Mountain Swim Series.
I have to work on speed a bit. It is really sad that some of my breaststroke lengths have almost the same times as freestyle. That is a hard one for me to see since freestyle is supposed to be a faster stroke. I do need to make sure I can do a full 2 miles in freestyle, so that is something I am going to work on. But, I was happy with it overall. I think I will probably do the same workout tomorrow.
When I got back I finished out my day with some pricing, some cause of loss determinations and a few more technician calls. All in all a good day. Then I had some rest/relaxation time. Which of the dogs shown below was the good dawg?
ResClimber
And you only get one guess. Yeh, Climber has been challenging for the last few days. It’s time to really work on it and calm her down a bit. Part of the problem is that she has not been getting long walks and I have not been playing ball with her in the yard. I have been a bit concerned about her pulled muscle and have been trying very hard to keep her calmer. I think I have to go back to play time with her in the next few days. Res even snarked at her yesterday as she was pulling on his last nerve.
I did take the proverbial plunge this evening and registered for the Solstice Sunrise Swim 2026 ( and I chose the 2.4 mile option with wet suit. It commits me and I was able to get in before the registration fees went up. I know that it’s going to be a challenge, but it will be a good challenge. It will be my first open water swim since August 2018 when I did the Pan American Open Water Championships. I did the 5K swim in 1:57:52.60 (https://my.raceresult.com/103945/#1_1D1153) in the 50-54 age group. I am now in the 10 year older age group, and this will be a lake swim, a bit different than an ocean swim.
Anyways, that takes care of my looking forward activity, it’s all about my June goals. For my Positive Outlook (no complaining) I think I did pretty good today. As to my being thankful list:
Colorado weather this year has been awesome. I just hope it continues without a deep freeze so that we don’t loose any blooms that may be starting on the apple tree.
Our pack, Res and Climber, they may drive me nuts occasionally, but overall they are really good dogs.
A steady job (as far as I know), and a manager that does believe in training.
My wide skill-set and experiences that make me who I am today.
My love of water, the one place in the world that I really feel “at home” and I miss when I do not get to swim for a while.
I think that just about does it for today. So, good night and I will talk to you tomorrow.
The crocuses and tulips are starting to pop their heads up in the garden I just cleaned out. We have been in the 60’s and 70’s for the last few weeks, but it looks like we may get some cooler weather in the next few days and I hope they survive.
Today was a little bit of a rushed start, I had a new every other week 8:00AM MT meeting with my manager and the scheduling manager to address any tech issues that needed to be resolved. The meeting was very productive and I was able to clear a bunch of issues off of my reports. This is a good thing because I stress when the reports get too long and there is a bunch of old stuff on there. After my meeting I spent some time doing some pricing and some COLD (Cause of Loss Determinations) requests and then answering processor questions. Had a few resolution tickets to review as well.
It’s time to start thinking about our next software release of our diagnostic wizard. I just received the new version for iOS (iPhone) and I am waiting for the next version of the Android. I have to re-do most of the training documentation, it’s due, I created most of it about 3 years ago and things have changed and we are being much more detailed orientated, I think that is wonderful. I now have a deadline and I need to make it. Tomorrow I will start testing.
Anyways, I took my lunch break a little later than I normally do, but it worked out perfectly. I was able to get into a lane in the pool pretty much by myself and had a decent workout. I am having a little bit of shoulder discomfort so I am going to change up how I do things a bit. I found a decent training plan for an open water swim event on US Masters Swimming and I think I am going to give that a try. I normally do not use training plans but I think it’s time to try one. Anyways, today’s swim was good, even though my watch “stole” 75 yards from my swim, when I say my watch stole 75 yards it means that it missed 3 turns for some reason. Normally this is because I mess up and don’t twist fast enough at the walls. I probably should start using flip turns again. Maybe on my next trip I can spend some time in the hotel pool one evening and try to work on my turns, nobody knows me so it won’t be embarrassing.
Today was a 1625 yard (actually 1700 with the stolen yards added back in) and I averaged 1:54/100yard, the 0:50/100yard best pace at the bottom left of the image above is wrong. That was part of the miscount. Since high school swimming I have never come close to that. My sets were a little different today as well. I am trying very hard not to stress my left shoulder.
Anyways, after I got done I came back home and spent the rest of my day at my desk. I did get a lot accomplished. Once I was done with that I also was able to spend a few minutes on my HAM packet station, KO4AW and fixed a radio and some programming issues. I really need to get on the roof and fix the 2M/40cm antenna. I think I put part of it together wrong and the SWR is WAY off. I am still not sure what I am going to do about my HF radio, but that needs some more thought and work. I have just about given up on HF radio. I also need to put my portable satellite antenna together one day soon so that I can see what that will take to do.
I took the dogs for their afternoon walk while Jesse was doing some canning, they must have been feeling the weather changes incoming. It was an interesting walk, both of them were acting like overgrown puppies. Also, we had two kids getting a ride in a remote controlled electric 4 wheeler. Res and Climber were both VERY interested in it. I guess it looked like something fun to chase. Nope, not happening.
So, we are now basically done with our day, and it’s time to do my daily:
Looking Forward: I am planning and making progress for my June 14th start of the Mountain Lake Swim Series. This is what my workout plans are all about right now.
Be Positive: Nothing negative to complain about today so why complain? That’s a pretty good attitude as well.
Be Thankful:
My health – Things have gotten so much better in recent years, I just have to learn to take care of myself better.
Jesse – this is on here daily.
Res and Climber – “The Pack”, seems strange sometimes to call them the pack when we are down from a pack number of 7 (including Gizmo), and have lost all of the originals due to old age over the years. Two seems like a low number for The Pack.
I have to also be thankful for a good job, people I like working with, and my recent promotion.
So, everyone out there have a good night and I will see you tomorrow. Oh, before I forget, I am going to open up this blog for people to subscribe to and comment on. It will be highly moderated so I don’t start getting all of the spam/advertising crap that seems to follow most blogs. This is a sign of things to come. Google Advertising told me I lacked relevant content so I am working on that.
