Author: Brent Evans

morning babble / Friday 07-30-21

So, my recent purchase from Amazon – the HiccAway : A Natural Remedy Proven to Stop Hiccups Instantly is currently in San Antonio, Texas. But the arrival date is still August 17th. As I mentioned earlier in the week that’s not good because I need it for August 15th when I try 10 Hot Sauces with my brother-in-law, Nick. Again, this if from the show Hot Ones with host Sean Evans (not related, but I should check 23andMe because you never know) interviews celebrities while tasting 10 hot sauces. Lorde is on one of the new episodes. They chat about lyric interpretation, cheese, cicadas, whale watching, and, of course, her new LP Solar Power. Anyway – the HiccAway. San Antonio is 26 hours away via car. I could go get it. They actually have a window from 8/17 to 8/26.

I ran – #211 of 5K runs / I cold-showered, too. 2 days to go!!

We did lose two rockers this week. Joey Jordison, Slipknot Co-Founder and Drummer, Dies at 46. And, the bass player of ZZ Top, Dusty Hill – he was 72.

Enjoy the now. Meeting with my son’s doctor takes place today. We’ll know about surgery later today. I’ll talk about it.

New Music Friday:

• Nas announced King’s Disease II, a “sequel” album to his Grammy-winning LP King’s Disease. That’s all I got, if you google it, you can get a picture of the new album cover, but that’s it. No new track listings. No new songs to play. Just the announcement: King’s Disease II out next Friday. Also out next Friday – Kanye West’s Donda – apparently. That’s all I’m saying after last week’s fiasco.

• Bleachers—the recording project of singer, songwriter, and producer Jack Antonoff—recently shared another new song from his new album Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night (out today). The new track is called “Secret Life,” and it features Lana Del Rey. This dude does everything – he’s produced for Taylor Swift, Lorde, Lana Del Rey. He’s one of the guys from fun. – remember that band? AND – listed in his Wikipedia bio it states: Antonoff was once in a relationship with actress Scarlett Johansson, his classmate at the Professional Children’s School (grades 6-12).

• Billie Eilish released her second studio album, Happier Than Ever. We’ve already heard “My Future,” “Therefore I Am,” “Your Power,” “Lost Cause,” and “NDA,” all of which charted in the top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100. 16 tracks / Critics are gushing over it. She’s 19.

• Sleigh Bells are returning this year with a new album. This is a band that I completely forgot about since their 2010 Treats album. They have had several albums since – my loss, too. Their new full-length is called Texis and it’s out September 10th. They announced the record with a video for the new single “Locust Laced” where the duo is portrayed as a ’50s country group.

• Some “Brent” Music: Angels & Airwaves released another single from their upcoming album – Lifeforms – due out September 24th. The song is “Losing My Mind”. Also, The Glorious Sons released another single “Hold Steady.” I don’t think they have a new full album coming yet. They released one in late 2019 and was going to tour in 2020 – ahhh. So, they are starting it up again in December – called The Unfinished Business Tour.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Some days there won’t be a song in your heart. Sing anyway.” – by Emory Austin

morning babble / Thursday 07-29-21

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes it gets tidied up, but sometimes . . . not so much.

I ran #210

Running 5K every day will result in a high number of calories burned per week. If a 160-pound person burns about 394 calories every 5K run and runs seven days per week, they’ll burn a total of 2,758 calories every week. This means they’ll reach 3,500 calories and thus lose a pound of fat every nine days.

I cold-showered. 3 more days!

Dead fish fell out of a tree! What?

Spread the word / subscribe on YouTube

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Work is what horses die of. Everybody should know that.” – by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Sowl zhuh neet sn) (Russian Writer)

morning babble / Wednesday 07-28-21

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes it gets tidied up, but sometimes . . . not so much.

#209 – 5K Every Day – got my new blue card. The other item that I ordered isn’t coming until August 16th. Which isn’t good. I needed it on August 15th when I try 10 Hot Sauces with my brother-in-law, Nick. It’s called the HiccAway : A Natural Remedy Proven to Stop Hiccups Instantly.

Hot Ones – host Sean Evans (not related) interviews celebrities while tasting 10 hot sauces – Will Ferrell / Paul Rudd / Bill Burr / Shaq

I cold-showered, too. 4 more days until the heat returns to the bathing routine.

Ashley & Anthony – CONGRATS as we all welcome baby Isabelle Florence!

My Elliott has his MRI tonight. Nothing will really be known until Friday though with the doctor visit. Chiari malformation – which basically means the brain is too big for the skull. 

Left my laptop at the workshop . . . turned out to make the best part of my day.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“The scholar who thinks but does not create is like the cloud which does not give rain.” – by Eastern Wisdom (Page 121 of A Calendar of Wisdom – Tolstoy)

morning babble / Tuesday 07-27-21

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes it gets tidied up, but sometimes . . . not so much.

Happy Tuesday – tank move was completed yesterday. I don’t talk about my work too much but that aquarium yesterday was a beast. 265 gallons. It took 7 of us to move that thing. But – it’s done AND I got all my fingers, which is no small matter. My business is called Clean-A-Tank, not Move-A-Tank.

Since I am talking about cleaning aquariums, I get a lot of odd emails. I think before I talked about some pig email that I was on. Well, I also get cattle emails. (Watch the video below!)

I did NOT do my 50/50/50s today, nor the pull-ups. Tomorrow.

I ran – 208 5k runs / the new blue cards arrive today – I’ll have that 5k run every day.

I also cold-showered. 5 more days to go!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“A person becomes happy to the same extent which he or she gives happiness to other people” – by Jeremy Bentham, an English philosopher

morning babble / Monday 07-26-21

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes it gets tidied up, but sometimes . . . not so much.

Happy Monday! Today’s the day that I have the big tank move in Reading, PA. If you hear any screams – well, it could be pain / it could be joy.

I ran. #207. FYI – I run a 5k every day! It’s not just a minute and then I call it quits for the day. Again, just an FYI. 🙂

I cold-showered, but my daughter didn’t doodle in the calendar box. She was already snuggled down in her bed with her warmed up corn bag when she said that she was sorry for not doing it. Made me smile . . . I then grounded her for a week. Just kidding.

Tried using my Moka pot yesterday afternoon – actually, that part worked. It’s the Cafe Cubano that I’m still struggling with. The sugar whipping is not going so well. The whipped sugar rises to the top to form a thick, foamy layer that resembles crema. This layer, called “espuma”, is made of whipped sugar. That is so not happening right now.

But then – something happened to me that hasn’t happened in ages. I really reacted to all the caffeine and sugar. My heart went racing and I had to sit down in our house library just to get it together and calmly breathe through it all.

A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Not to accept your mistakes is to increase them.” – by Leo Tolstoy

morning babble / Sunday 07-25-21

I cannot believe that next Sunday is August – just want to state that loud & clear. I’ve already seen the candy corn in stores – probably leftover from last year, but it’s there. You can almost smell the Pumpkin Spice in the air.

I haven’t run yet. #206 will be on the trails. I did cold-shower last night. 7 more cold showers to go and the 31 Days of July Cold Showers has been accomplished!

So, last night I was having a wonderful talk with my son, Elliott. Lots of laughing and that’s good. You see, recently he was part of a study that was done at Nemours Hospital. My wife has been a part of these different studies but this particular one was for kids our son’s age. He got paid money to answer a ton of questions but also had to have an MRI. He was excited about the money, while my wife and I were excited to have all these results to simply see what’s going on in our little boy’s body. He’s 12. Not too little anymore. Anyway, the study occurs again next year, but they reached out to us afterwards and notified us that the MRI showed that our little E-man has a Chiari malformation – which basically means the brain is too big for the skull. We had to get him to his doctor. And we did. Elliott is going to need another MRI (that’s Wednesday) and then there’s a discussion about surgery (takes place on Friday). It’s all still very scary. Back to last night’s talk, I’m so happy that my son and I could laugh about it. I know it’s not funny, but we are enjoying the now – there’s no point to worrying and ruining what you have right now His smile was awesome last night. Anyway – it made me joke with him about the Pulp Fiction scene about the “Big Brain on Brad” and yes, I showed it to him. Watch the video below!

Check out the big brain on Elliott. We’re all smiling here at the Evans household and know that are little man is going to take on whatever he has to with a positive outlook.

Books!

• Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Great book so far. Currently in a chapter about Teddy Roosevelt. Received a telegram about his daughter being born. Then, a 2nd one came through about his wife not doing well. He got home and then learned that both his wife and mother were dying. At 3am (the day after his daughter was born), he was by his mother’s side as she passed. Less than 12 hours later, his wife died, too. His famous quote at this moment was ” The light has gone out in my life.” This was all prior to him being president, so many more stories are to be told, but this one . . . I don’t ever want to imagine needing to overcome that.

• Eat A Peach – A Memoir by David Chang

• The Boys – Omnibus Volume 4 by Garth Ennis

• The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson (listening to this one). Heard him on podcasts talking about this book. It’s the story about 2020 Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna (dowd-na), who developed the gene editing technology CRISPR. One of the stories he told on the podcasts as well as within the book is when Jennifer went to her guidance counselor for advice about her future and what she wanted to do. The counselor’s advice, “Girls don’t become scientists.” Reminded me of my daughter and her “Hold my Doll” moment.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“If you act like you can do something, then it will work.” – by Walter Isaacson

morning babble / Saturday 07-24-21

I’m aching some. I did those pull-ups on Thursday. Skipped them yesterday. While running today, my sides hurt. Pausing those until after Monday, which is when I have a huge fish aquarium move to do. I can’t be hurting for that. It’s a huge tank. So, basically I’m wishing it was already Tuesday. Sorry – let’s get off that topic.

I ran on the mill – #205. 5k run every day keeps going!

Also, I cold-showered last night. It’s the cleanest month ever! Come on . . . you don’t shower every day, right? I mean, it was Friday, I didn’t really do anything to truly deserve soapy freshness; the bed sheets were being changed today, so who cares? Off to bed! Nope – I still cold-showered. ONE MORE WEEK!

AMA Saturday:

• Question #1 – Glitter still everywhere? Yes. Even during today’s 5k run on the treadmill, I looked down and saw glitter. It’s worse than tinsel. This house is marked.

• Question #2 – Did you purchase any records last Saturday during Record Store Day? No, but I have been listening to Beck’s record Guero an awful lot. So many good songs. Track 2 in particular is my favorite “Que Onda Guero” – click here for a direct link to the song on Spotify. With shouts of Michael Bolton, the new Yanni cassette, your popsicle’s melting – it’s a great sounding song with all kinds of fun throughout it. As for what “guero” means, well – it used to be a slur, but apparently isn’t anymore. From what I can see, it means “What’s up, White Boy!”

• Question #3 – Are you ever going to tape your mouth at night? Yes, but in the Fall.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Get crazy with the Cheez Whiz” – by Beck Hansen (via his song “Loser”)

morning babble / Friday 07-23-21

I ran 204 / I cold-showered – 22 down / I wrote last night! I didn’t attack the shorts, but actually worked on what is currently labeled “Chapter 2 – Tiny Town” of my book.

Press Release from Third Man Records announced The Blue Room Bar Grand Opening. Beginning this Thursday-Friday-Saturday 6pm to 11pm and recurring weekly, enjoy signature cocktails, beer, wine, and stuffed FatBelly Pretzels at The Blue Room Bar! The problem – Nashville, TN.

New Music Friday:

• Kanye West’s 10th studio album, Donda is supposed to be out today. In a tribute, the album was named after his late mother, Donda West, who passed in 2007.

• 2Cellos – Today, we got the Ed Sheeran / Justin Bieber song, “I Don’t Care”. Appears to be the 3rd song off of their upcoming album, Dedicate -out September 21st. We already got “Living on the Prayer” and Imagine Dragons “Demons” – watch the video here.

• British rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor – Dave – new album drop today. His sophomore album called We’re All Alone in This Together

• Marian Hill released the song “omg”. No word on an entire album. But we did get this fun song with lyrice like “I’m wearing nothing but my lingerie / It’s all I’ve got til I do laundry.” Hide the Tide more often. There’s a video – I checked.

• Leon Bridges just released his third album, Gold-Diggers Sound – named after the Los Angeles studio where the album was made. We already got “Sweeter,” “Motorbike,” and “Why Don’t You Touch Me.” Now, we get all 11.

• Sub Pop has released the remastered 30th anniversary deluxe edition of Mudhoney’s Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, the Seattle group’s classic second full-length album. This expanded release will include the original album in its entirety as well as a 15-track bonus LP and CD of additional material, with 7 previously unreleased songs.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Recognize and embrace your flaws so you can learn from them. Sometimes it takes a little polishing to truly shine.” – by Kanye West

morning babble / Thursday 07-22-21

blah, blah, blah – lots of scribble / watch that video

So, I didn’t read last night, but I didn’t write either. It was the swim team banquet and we did not get home until late. I barely cold-showered.

Glitter follow up . . . still everywhere. Even some clients’ homes now too. I picked up my computer bag and there it was.

203 days of running!

Murph Challenge / Nick Urban’s website describes it and breaks it all down.

For Time
1 mile Run
100 Pull-Ups
200 Push-Ups
300 Air Squats
1 mile Run
All with a Weight Vest (20/14 lb)

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Appreciate your time – every minute of it” – by someone

morning babble / Wednesday 07-21-21

The scribble about the babble – blah, blah, blah. Sometimes, it’s not so tidy. That’s when – you should watch the video below.

Glitter everywhere, because of my 5 year old daughter. / Making our home like Club Evans

I ran – 202 days of 5k runs. Also, cold-showered.

Moka pot was tried and I created a cafe cubano – twice. This video sounded awesome, but I think this one helped me more with the making of the drink.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.” – by Stephen King