October 22, 2024
I went kayaking for the first time this morning! I had not wanted to go partially because I did not want to see the devastation. I had seen enough in Katrina and my own place, but I went anyway.
Allan lost his porch – the entire roof is gone, his neighbors on either side also were hit hard. Kevin and Andrea to Allan’s north (with the dogs Elvis and Presley) were hit the hardest. They not only lost everything in their home but lost their dock and their seawall too! 🙁
This kayak launching/recovery float is not supposed to be like this!
My brother Donald got me straight on The Knight and auto pilot: (“TACC” is Traffic-Aware Cruise Control, “FSD” is Full Self-Driving)
October 21, 2024 PM
I am back from the polling place, it was a very busy morning! Most of the time there were 2/3rds of the slots to vote full.
I still have a lot to learn on the Knight (Tesla), my brother Don said that I was wrong on the fee for cruise control. There is no fee! There are two things (Full Self Driving Beta) and (Autopilot). I was confusing the two.
The Autopilot (free, included) has:
- Traffic-Aware Cruise Control: Like traditional cruise control, Traffic-Aware Cruise Control maintains a set driving speed. However, Traffic-Aware Cruise Control also slows down or accelerates Model 3 as needed to maintain the following distance from the vehicle in front of you.
- Autosteer: Like Traffic-Aware Cruise Control, Autosteer maintains a set speed (if there is not a vehicle in front of you) or a set following distance (if there is a vehicle in front of you). In addition, Autosteer detects lane markings, road edges, and the presence of vehicles and objects to intelligently keep Model 3 in its driving lane.
- Auto Lane Change: When you engage a turn signal while Autosteer is active, Auto Lane Change moves Model 3 into the adjacent lane in the direction indicated by the turn signal.
- Navigate on Autopilot: Navigate on Autopilot builds on the features of Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer. While Autosteer is active, Navigate on Autopilot allows Model 3 to suggest and, if configured, automatically change lanes to pass other vehicles and follow the navigation routes.
My question is, what does it do when I come to a red light?
Full Self-Driving (Supervised): ($99 a month)
When Full Self-Driving (Supervised) (also referred to as Autosteer on City Streets) is engaged, Model 3 attempts to drive to your destination by following curves in the road, stopping at and negotiating intersections, making left and right turns, navigating roundabouts, and entering/exiting highways.
Unlike Traffic-Aware Cruise Control, Autosteer, and Navigate on Autopilot, which are intended for use on multi-lane roadways with clear lane markings, Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is meant to work in a variety of driving scenarios. You can use Full Self-Driving (Supervised) on any type of roadway, including residential and city streets.
Full Self-Driving (Supervised) uses inputs from cameras mounted at the front, rear, left, and right of Model 3 to build a model of the area surrounding Model 3 (see Cameras). The Full Self-Driving computer installed in Model 3 is designed to use this input, rapidly process neural networks, and make decisions to safely guide you to your destination.
Like other Autopilot features, Full Self-Driving (Supervised) requires a fully attentive driver and will display a series of escalating warnings requiring driver response. You must keep your hands on the steering wheel while Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is engaged. While Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is engaged, the cabin camera monitors driver attentiveness.
I still do not understand the difference, I think I used the Full Self Driving coming home from the post office, it was great!! I needed to stop and return a connector, the place I needed to stop at was to the left. It just so happened that the “Auto lane change” changed me from the left lane to the right lane to pass a truck shortly before I had to turn left, so I had to guide it back to the left. Up until then it was awesome. It stopped at a red light and turned the curves magnificently!
Next time I will make sure that the Full one is off and see what the difference is.
When I first got home the battery was at 86%. I plugged it in and it went to 96%. After today’s trip it is back to 84%. Still a long way above 20%!!
Again, the acceleration is awesome and the ride is great. The stereo is great too, the radio in the rental was so bad you could not make out the lyrics in a song! This was my third ride in it and I am getting better at it.
I cleaned up the doors that I had used a sealer on, I am done with clean up. I am going to hold off on getting a bicycle and patio furniture for now. The awning is scheduled for mid December.
While sitting for 8 hours at the polling place I got my phone back in order and read more of the Tesla Owner’s Manual.
October 21, 2024
I will be volunteering at the poling place in Gulfport this morning.
October 20, 2024
I love my Tesla!
It is just what the doctor ordered. I walk up to it and it unlocks the doors and is ready to roll!
I love the acceleration, I was pulling out onto Gulfport Blvd (four lanes and a median lane) when I saw a overloaded pickup to my left and nothing to my right. I entered the first lane (turning left) when a car roared around the pickup and headed right for me. I floored it and got out of his way!!
I had gone to Home Depot to get a hood for my dryer vent, the old one had the flap broken and the hose had filled with debris. It took a while but I got it installed. I had to move the washer and dryer out of the way – my platform then was in the way, but I got it.
My list of things to do is down to a few, purchase replacements for bike, lawn furniture, and awning. But I need to add clean up the front and rear doors (I had applied silicone to them in case Milton brought water).
I got 15 hours of sleep last night. The stress level was quite high when I picked up the Tesla, I have driven vehicles since I was 12, but this had me freaked out. The dealer walked with me up to the car (I need a name for her, maybe The Knight?) , attached my license plate, told me to play with it and left. I did what I could and went back, a kid came out spent a few minutes – rebooted the system, and told me the items I wanted to do were not available as “the cameras were not calibrated” and that I had to drive 20 miles to get that done! He did not help much (he was quick to do anything and in the darkened area we were parked in, it was hard to follow his tapping fingers!) and then said that he had to go back in.
My brother Donald has been a super help though. I spent an hour or two on the phone with him. I mistook the “cancel call” feature of the left roller for the turn signal and cut him off a number of times before I figured out where the turn signal buttons were. There are no stalks so you have to figure a new way to do anything. The manual breaks down information into small parts, there are eight buttons and two roller balls on the steering wheel. You have to go to several videos or other web sites to figure them all out! The main screen describes 4 of them but you have to hunt for the rest. It would have been useful to have a description of what they all do in one place!!
I still have a ways to go in learning. Don said I had to train my foot as The Knight stops when you take your foot off the accelerator, stops short if you are in a parking lot. The radio controls hide somewhere, I need to get that routine down, as well as many more!! The fun features such as self parking are installed, but Tesla wants $99 a month for me to use them! To allow The Knight to open the garage door, myQ wants $550!!!! My clicker works fine.
On another front, I had downloaded an app on my phone that said it would make it easier to shut my phone off. It was a disaster. It would jump in and make my phone go “back” at the most inopportune times!! I tried to delete it, but it still persisted. Finally I had to revert my phone to a brick. Now I have to reacquaint it with The Knight and re-install all apps that I previously had!!
Pictures of my chimney and my Tesla::
October 19, 2024 AM
It feels like Christmas as it was when I was a kid. Up at 5AM going down to see what Santa brought! Today it is 5AM. I am so excited. I going to open my Christmas gift of a new Tesla this morning at 11AM !!
No more going to get gasoline. No more oil changes. No more engines, or transmissions. I do not have to do anything but plug it in – no maintenance for 2 years!
They say March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. I say the end of September/beginning of October came in like a lion, but as October winds down it is beautiful weather like a lamb. High 60’s to 80 in the afternoon.
At the end of September Helene roared right past, causing billions in damage (9-26-2024), October 1 I finally got my power back on, and October 18 I finally got most everything resolved. FEMA sent me a check for $750! The wallboard was removed, and the damaged cars have been removed (all but one), the debris has mostly been removed (the second huge roll on dumpster is still here and debris still is in the mangroves).
Then October 9, hurricane Milton came ashore with its punishing winds. I only had a week to begin the clean up from the last one! On 10-13-2024 I got my power back. But the broken chimneys, roof leaks, the destroyed awnings have not been fixed. The broken trees and brush have yet to be removed.
Things you need to do after a hurricane (not necessarily in order):
1. Get someone with a working car to take you to get a rental car. ($804 for three weeks)
2. Go to Home Depot and get a WetVac and an extension cord (even though you have no power). ($130)
3. Purchase new (used) washer and dryer. ($600)
4. Purchase battery powered skill saw as yours is destroyed so you can build a pedestal for the washer and dryer so they will not be damaged next time. And purchase a dryer outlet/wire/fittings. ($200)
5. Move everything damaged to the parking lot. ($800 for it to be taken away)
6. Move everything left to the center of the garage so they can remove the drywall. ($800)
7. Apply to FEMA
8. Meeting with your insurance people (HOA).
9. Meet with FEMA inspector.
10. Meet with insurance guy three times.
11. Meet with chimney guy to get an estimate.
12. Meet with awning guy to get an estimate.
13. Meet with fire inspector.
14. Continue to shovel out muck, clean whatever is salvageable. Cut off the bottom 2 feet of bookcases where water exploded the particle board. Wash remaining debris out into parking lot.
15. Scour the mangroves to see if you can find a missing oar, three missing kayak paddles (I now have three odd paddles, their mates are gone – $450 loss), lifejackets and gas cans – all the items that floated away (much of it never found).
16. Get back and clean a missing (but then found) kayak.
Go out in the mangroves again after the second hurricane to retrieve chimneys and other items blown away.
17. Call and get someone to take car (when I tried to jump it smoke filled the cabin). ($11,000 loss)
18. See if the bicycle shop would fix the bike, they screamed at me to “get it out of the shop and take it to the curb, it could start on fire any minute”, it is history.($2500 loss)
19. Continue to clean and get rid of tools that had gone under water. Try to save the ones that still work.
20. Order a new car and power cable. Install outlet.
21. Shovel out the sand, muck, rocks and glass from my patio, rebuild my dock box and store the things found in there.
22. Move everything from the center of the garage to the sides so the new car will go in.
23. Continue cleaning and putting stuff away (and cleaning underneath where they had been), emptying out remaining water from dishes and tools, purchase new broom and dust pan as others were lost.
24. Clean out neighbor’s freezer where I had put my frozen stuff during the power outage after Helene as he had power, but he lost power after Milton, so it was all lost.
25. Put cover over hole where the chimney was. Put plywood over broken window.
26. Spend time sleeping on couches (Helene) and in a shelter (Milton). Cold showers (no showers art the shelter), running to get ice and waiting in line for gas. Trees crashed on houses, on cars. Mounds of trash everywhere.
27. Wash loads and loads of laundry, have repairman come to repair washer (nothing wrong with washer, I had forgotten to turn on the water!), have repairman come to fix the dryer (a wire had come lose – the screw holding it was stripped and the airway was filled with lint).
Things yet todo:
1. Get new car (11 AM today).
2. Go to DMV to change registration.
3. Get replacement patio furniture ($1000).
4. Get chimney fixed (HOA).
5. Get a roofer to fix the hole in the roof and patch roof leaks (HOA).
6. Get main awning replaced ($2300)
7. Purchase a new bike. ($2000)
8. Get window fixed (hopefully HOA).
9. Get contractor to measure second awning and have it replaced too, as it was ok after Helene (not as much wind) but destroyed after Milton. No estimate yet.
10. Get a new dryer vent hood, the old vent hood was damaged and the vent hose was blocked with debris all the way up to the dryer! The hose was replaced but the vent hood is broken and needs to be replaced so animals cannot climb in.
The weather has been sunny and in the 70’s, so lamb it is as we are in the second half of October. It has been a crazy three weeks. One benefit, I have rearrange much of the stuff in the garage. I now know that I have five sets of sockets (both English and metric), and many sets of drill bits. My soldering iron still works, an old drill still works and a very old skill saw still works (even though the bearings are shot).
I have had no time for kayaking, even though people have asked me to continue, and take pictures of their home damage from the water. It has been amazing to see all the fallen trees cut off at the curb, Florida law prohibits cutting further back. Watching all the power company trucks from all over the US. Guys from Chicago fixed our power line coming into the complex. It was simple, a wire had come loose – all he did was stick the loose wire through the existing clamp and tighten it with a wrench and our power was restored!
I have not been able to get my hair cut as the shops have been flooded and not yet restored. The grocery store Publix has been open the whole time and same with Home Depot. The smaller strip stores (including my bank) are all still closed. Fuel was in short supply with long lines for a while, but back to normal now. As long as I am able to find power I will no longer have to worry about gas any more with an electric car!
I returned my rental car yesterday (thank you Eileen) and later this morning Eileen and I are going to Tampa to pick up my brand new Tesla 3. I already have my power cord and a wall socket I installed (a dryer receptacle) ready to power her up.
My brother Donald has had Tesla’s for a long time now. I have emailed and talked with him several times about what I need, and what to expect. Power cord, fittings, etc.. Don says that it already includes a lot of things installed in the computer, music, light show, etc. I have watched the videos Tesla has supplied and am excited to try out the self parking feature! Pull up past where you want to park and it will park itself! Self driving – tell it where you want to go and it finds its own way! It determines the best route and turns where it is supposed to!
Walk up to the Tesla with your phone in your pocket, the Tesla will turn itself on and unlock the door. Open the door get in, look at the screen to see all around you, and press the accelerator, the Tesla knows whether to go forward or back up! Lots of things to learn and practice!!
The inspectors are supposed to be here this morning (again), I made up a list of damages for them to look at, hopefully they will not need me, I will be gone getting my new car!