My buddy Clyde pulled up in front of the Coffee Zone this morning in his brand spanking new Tesla 3.
I haven’t ridden in it yet but just sitting in the passenger seat was an experience.
The Passing Scene
“Life is like looking out of the window while sitting in a train. You have no control over what appears in view. There’s even the moment after the train has paused, when it imperceptibly begins moving again. The appearance is that the train is motionless, but the scenery outside the window is moving. That, too, is a view that life sometimes gives us, a falsely relative view. We make no attempt to control the scene observed outside the train, knowing that wishing that it was something that it isn’t would be useless. And so it is, for the person who relaxes into Absolute awareness. Whatever passes across the screen of consciousness, whatever the organism experiences, is viewed dispassionately. The viewer acknowledges that all things change, and merely witnesses the changes impartially.”
— Abiding In Nondual Awareness (Robert Wolfe)
Suzuki Roshi on the inner experience of Zen: “The sights we see from the train will change, but we are always running on the same track. And there is no beginning or end to the track.”
Honky Tonk Women
Hernia repair surgery
2
One morning three years ago I looked down while getting in the shower and noticed a bulge in my lower abdomen, about the size of a golf ball. Uh oh. My doctor informed me it was “just” an inguinal hernia, nothing to be concerned about. As long as it wasn’t giving me any problems I could put off having it surgically repaired.
So I’ve lived with the little guy for the last few years. About a year ago I started wearing a truss because being on my feet all day left me feeling a little achey “down there.” I thought about surgery from time to time but kept putting it off on the theory that if you can avoid surgery — any surgery — you should. But having a hernia seemed like an “old guy” thing to me. I’m not ready to be an old guy.
I finally got tired of looking at — and thinking about — the thing and went to see a surgeon who specializes in laparoscopic repair. Had it down this morning and was “under” for less than an hour. Three small incisions starting at the belly button and working down.
A little nausea from the anesthetic and some some soreness but an amazingly simple procedure. Should have had it done when it first showed up. Watch this space for post-op updates.
UPDATE: (October 2, 2018) Little soreness, moving slowly. Rented a car rather than try to drive the truck (manual brakes and steering).
The Seventies
The Mays boys, sometime in the 70s. Might have posted this photo previously but that hair is worth another look.
Sadie
Sadie was our first dog. Recently found photos from the fall of 1989.
Goodbye DSL
I remember my excitement, all those years ago (2005), when I upgraded from dial-up internet access to “high speed” DSL. It was never great but it was the best thing available (we can’t get cable). The local phone company (CenturyLink) advertised 10mbps download (1mbps up) but we never got more than 8 and that was good enough. But for the last six months we’ve had continual problems. Good fast connection one minute… then almost nothing five minutes later. Lots of phone calls and two visits by technicians (image of large man scratching his head) and the service is still unreliable. So today is the day we cancel the service (which only costs $45/mo).
I’ve replaced it with AT&T’s wireless internet service. I’m now getting — on average — 35mbps down and 5mbps up. More than 4x faster! And almost certainly more reliable.
I’m paying $60 per month for the service and that gets me 50gb of data a month. Because we’re also DirecTV customers, they give us an additional 50gb. 100gb/mo should be enough but if we run over, we have an additional 30gb on our phones which can serve as wifi hotspots. I’ll monitor this for a few months to see what our usage looks like. DSL is ancient tech and while it has been mostly a good experience, I happy to see it go.
UPDATE 10/17/18: Or maybe not. Looks like we’ve used three quarters of our 100gb just halfway through our billing period. The overages could mount up fast. And we just don’t want to have to watch and budget. So we’re going back to DSL and will learn to live with slow speeds and unreliable service. But hey, I remember dial-up.
First 30 Days
I’ve been driving The Truck for 30 days. 1,172 kilometers (728 miles), averaging 39 kilometers a day (24 miles). Never kept up with miles driven in the MINI but I’d guess it was pretty close to this.
No serious mechanical problems other than the issue with the four-wheel drive. Still waiting on parts from the UK but I’ve been getting around in 2WD just fine.
It was pretty hot the first couple of weeks but much nicer here at the end of September. I can tell it will be damned cold in the truck when winter weather gets here. Assuming we still have winters.
After a month riding around in the loud, bumpy truck, it feels strange to ride in a newer car. Spooky quiet and the smooth ride feels like floating on air. As for driving newer cars, I find I have to give more thought and attention than I do in the truck. Easy to over-steer and brake.
If I can make it till next spring (when the soft-top goes on), I think I can call myself a Land Rover guy.
Land Rover makes Orvis cover
Difficult for me to tell from this overhead (drone?) view but I think this is a Defender (as opposed to a Series). But always nice to see a Land Rover gettin’ some love.
In praise of truck simplicity
My truck has side mirrors mounted on the front of the wings and one got bumped or vibrated loose so got the cute little set of wrenches my buddies gave me as a “truck warming” present. I repositioned the mirror and tightened the top nut (while holding the other nut on the underside of the wing).
While doing this I was struck by the zen-like simplicity of this simple task. My MINI (which is in a better place now) had the standard electric gizmo that lets you adjust left and right mirrors from the comfort of the drivers seat. Pretty handy. But what, I wondered, would it cost to fix/replace that gizmo if it ever broke?
My truck has become the focal point for my efforts to simplify my life. As of tomorrow I will have had the truck one month. I still find myself looking for excuses to drive it (“Hey, Hattie! Want to ride down to the mailbox?”)