The run tally is now at 74. Yesterday, I did get to go outside on the trails. This morning though – back on the treadmill. It works. 74 vlogs as well. Spread the word please. Also, subscribe on YouTube if you could. I just want to make sure that I don’t lose anyone again after the recent Facebook exile. Into day number 7 of that “fun.” Quick summary – my emails are now being kicked back. So, I’m blocked. All phone numbers lead to an end message of: “We are not taking phone calls right now but what you are looking for can be answered online. Thank you.” Click. They just hang up. Zuckerberg . . . come on, man.
Grammys were last night – Quick recap: * Record of the Year – Everything I Wanted, Billie Eilish * Album of the Year – Folklore, Taylor Swift – This was the 3rd time she won “Album of the Year” – the only other people to do that were Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon, and Stevie Wonder. * Best Rock Album – The New Abnormal, The Strokes * Best Alternative Album – Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple * Beyonce won a record setting 28th Grammy. Grammys are going to be called the “Beyonces” pretty soon.
Last night, dinner was a little later, so my daughter suggested a charcuterie board. My son and her then put together a plate of fruits, cheeses, meats, and crackers to enjoy. I was impressed. Speaking of impressive . . . here’s a picture of the one my wife did last weekend:
(Yes – it was very much delightful to eat and now I’m hungry again)
Website has been updated slightly! Click here for my new short – under Droplet of Life. Let me know what you think . . . or maybe not. Whatever. Just read it! Please?
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Tell your friends & family you’re happy. Choose this and then work at it!” – by someone
I just didn’t feel like talking about my battle with Facebook today. When doing the video, I felt myself becoming too angry and this is not meant for that. I want it to be fun. However, as an FYI, I am still out at Facebook – 6th day of exile
Also, I sooooo should have warned you yesterday about Daylight Savings Time again. Anymore though, everything just adjusts on its own to DST except for that one kitchen clock that takes a battery. As a kid, this was the one Sunday of the year that we had the best shot at missing church. Between the two Daylight Savings Time occurrences, this “spring” forward one is the most troublesome. Every year on the Monday after the switch, hospitals report a 24% spike in heart-attack visits around the US. You just can’t be messing with people’s sleep schedules. Our bodies may not fully recover from the time shift for weeks, but the tragic heart attack trend only lasts about a day. Here’s the article.
Like that mug in the video? Then, clickhere to purchase one.
Also, I haven’t run yet today – so, I’m stuck on 72. However, I’m hoping to go outside later and get my 5k on (FYI – I did). Tomorrow (Monday). . . I’ll be doing this vlog after the treadmill run and you’ll see the tally skip up to 74.
Books!
Last night, I posted a picture on Instagram. I was listening to my new Trick of the Tail album that I purchased last week. In addition, I was enjoying some Elijah Craig bourbon whiskey. And finally, I was reading Brzrkr – the new comic that Keanu Reeves is a part of. Issue #1. Bigger than bitcoin and NFTs, right?
Also, I was flipping through my Walter Isaacson book on Benjamin Franklin since I heard him on Tim Ferriss’ podcast. Isaacson has a new book out. Oh man . . . my reading wish list keeps growing. Anyway though – I truly enjoyed this one on old Ben.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “He that lives on hope . . . dies farting*” – by Ben Franklin. * changed to “fasting” later. The first edition might have been a misprint. Courtesy of Walter Isaacson’s biography of Benjamin Franklin (page 99)
Into the 5th day of exile from Facebook – more on that tomorrow. Let’s get to the other fun stuff. I ran – 72 days in a row. A little extra stretching needed this morning, but otherwise feeling good. Maybe those extra beverages last night had something to do with it.
Last night, we enjoyed Coming 2 America – Yes, the 2nd one. I thought it was great and really well done. I mean, the actors seemed to be having fun throughout it all. And at the end – it just felt like a big party and celebration. AND – I don’t think this is a spoiler, but my favorite joke from the first one was actually replayed within the 2nd one AND played out a 3rd time with everyone grown up. I’m talking about is within the first movie when the little elephant runs by and Eddie Murphy says, “Hello Babar.” In the new one, you get to see grown-up Babar. Hopefully that wasn’t too much. At least I didn’t give out the exact Prince song that was played out. Loved that! I added that to my “morning babble – wake-up” playlist. Posting that soon – maybe next Friday. Here’s the running playlist released yesterday – click here for that.
AMA Saturday:
What radio station do you listen to? Terrestrial? Alt 104.5 out of Philly. Mainly have my Sirius XM with Lithium, Alt Nation, Octane, Turbo, and the Verge (Canadian’s Alt Rock).
Do you still do the 4 days of the 18:6 Fast? Yes. I felt like I was repeating myself too much, so I guess I got away from saying that. During the week, 4 days of the 18:6 fast – keeps the weight in check. Then, monthly – a 3 day fast which helps with allergies. This month was key being ahead of the spring time pollen release – fun!
Again, Facebook update tomorrow. Also, tomorrow on my website, I’ll be posting a new short that I wrote. Hoping that it entertains. Got some giggles from my little posse. Read the one that’s been up here.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Plant your tree before you need the shade.” – by Seth Godin
3 Day Fast ended last night at exactly 6:32pm. It was officially broken by a sip of Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA. It was then followed by potstickers, chips & salsa, chips & guacamole, meatballs, these chicken ravioli like things, mac & cheese, cold cut veggies, some roast beef, ice cream cake. Whew! Rolaids at night!!
Speaking of Dogfish Head, they just came out with a Hazy-O! beer, which is a hazy IPA. I love it – delicious. However, I need to enjoy it as much as I can this month, since in April – I’m doing that “alcohol drought” for the month.
New Music Friday:
Reminder: Grammys are on Sunday night. Trevor Noah is the host. Tons of artists performing – 4 stages, but no Weeknd – he’s boycotting because of being snubbed. Awww. Speaking of being snubbed – I still can’t believe that Run The Jewels didn’t get nominated for something, anything. Made me listen to Run The Jewels 4 again. And then 3, and then 2. I didn’t get all the way to the first one.
Dinosaur Jr. announced that their new album Sweep It Into Space will be out April 23rd. BUT – they also announced a tour schedule, begins the end of July. But concerts . . . they’re coming back soon.
Couple songs that I was excited to see and hear: new Fratellis song “Half Drunk under a Full Moon”. Also, I heard “Seasonal Depression” by Pink Laundry. Who’s that? Let me tell. Judah and the Lion – they had a great album back in 2019. Then COVID. Lead singer, Judah Akers, has been home and creating stuff. This is him – Pink Laundry.
New songs from Selena Gomez, Machine Gun Kelly, Nick Jonas (“2Drunk”). I gotta keep giving them some listens before I have a better opinion.
Quick update on my Facebook / Instagram “Fun”. I’m still out. I’m emailing and bugging the junk out of Facebook. My family pictures are in there. As for Instagram, I just started up a new one: visit that here. Some people asked if I might have done something wrong. In Tuesday’s video, I told people to “Eat the Frog” – Mark Twain. Irate amphibian lovers everywhere. Know how to really get them mad . . . call a frog a reptile.
The run on the treadmill was tough today with this being the 3rd day of the 3 day fast. I started with an Adam Grant podcast with Malcolm Gladwell. That didn’t do it for me. I then flipped to the audiobook with David Goggins and although good, just made my Facebook and Instagram feelings seem so . . . petty. Anyway, I closed out with Korn on Spotify. Bottomline – 5k run complete – 70 in a row.
6:31pm – the 3 Day Fast Ends!!!!!
6:32pm – I inhale food . . . well, slowly.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The marketing can become the crutch that procrastinates the work.” – by someone
Thank you for again all the notifications – unfortunately, I was hacked on Facebook which then affected my Instagram account as well. I then got back into Facebook for like a minute after proving who I was, but then the account became disabled. And now, we wait. In the meantime, I’m still here as well as my YouTube channel.
The show must go on!
69 days in a run for the 5k and the Vlog.
Day #2 of the Fast
Pick me up today. On the treadmill, I listened to “The Dave Chang” show again. They were talking about music that they run to. One of the guys enjoys listening to slow, sad music like My Morning Jacket and Elliott Smith. I’m working on that playlist of mine – Rage, Godsmack, Run the Jewels. I’ll get it done.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “What you allow is what will continue” – by someone
Thank you for all the notifications – I realize that my Facebook and Instagram accounts were hacked. Waiting on approval for a return there. In the meantime, I’m still here as well as my YouTube channel.
5k run is done – and for those of you counting. It’s 68! For the video, I took the blocks from our countdown to Christmas. I’ll get new ones at some point, but it’s March and we still have like summer. But at that point . . . the kids will start wanting to know about Christmas. Again – in the meantime, I got these. 68 in a row.
3 Day fast is underway – easiest day . . . so, I thought.
Goat is fixed. Frog is introduced.
Mark Twain once said, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” Helps with managing out your time for the day.
The frog is that one thing you have on your to-do list that you have absolutely no motivation to do and that you’re most likely to procrastinate on. Eating the frog means to just do it, otherwise the frog will eat you meaning that you’ll end up procrastinating it the whole day.
Wikipedia defines safety as “the state of being ‘safe’ (from French sauf), the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be considered non-desirable.” Next, when you add into the equation of safety, the location of a hospital, I can guarantee that the checklist grows even longer.
(how to go for a ride – by this kid)
Within a hospital, there are safety signs everywhere, as there should be. Contracts / agreements / documents / checklists are endlessly written up and followed – again, as there should be. Everything needs to be signed off on, and then double checked before a third checking, and finally a final, final check is stamped with an approval. And yes, as they should most definitely be, especially at a hospital. However, knowing the location of a particular set of keys to unlock the bathroom door with a patient trapped inside – nothing. They have got absolutely nothing on that one.
Since you weren’t with me, let me set the scene. For my job of cleaning fish aquariums, I was on-location at a hospital. If you want to be really specific, it was a rehabilitation and therapy hospital. In turn, these patients were definitely in need of aid and attention, so they would not be going anywhere, anytime too soon. Nevertheless, the hospital had some fish tanks which for my job, I visited monthly to clean.
On this particular day, I was deep into my typical routine, where a certain percentage of water had already been removed from the aquarium. What obviously follows is the refilling process, which was now underway. To transport the water, I had to use the bucket method and was therefore carrying the water to and from the nearby bathroom. There was this hose attachment which connected directly onto the sink’s faucet. The other end would be slowly filling up five gallon sized buckets, as I would continue doing the random duties associated with cleaning a fish tank. Speaking of duty, nobody would usually use the bathroom during these durations of time since it was quite obvious that it was in continued use by “The Fish Guy.” Usually is the key word in the prior sentence.
After starting up another bucket for filling, I exit the bathroom, while leaving its door propped open with a heavy bucket of fish tank cleaning tools. As I head back to the tank area , I notice out of the corner of my eye an elderly woman “walkering” (that’s walking with a walker) her way towards the bathroom. Sensing her confusion with the bucket of obstacles door prop, I spin around holding up my hands and explain, “Ma’am, excuse me, but I’m really sorry, but the bathroom is unavailable right now.”
With a swift kicking motion towards my door prop bucket, she gruffly replies, “I can see that, but I have to go.” My blue bucket of cleaning supplies is shot away from the bathroom. Then, with amazing strength due to the apparent urgency at hand, the door was swung shut sending off a booming sound that could probably be heard throughout the entire hospital. By the way, the location of the aquarium and this particular bathroom are both within the cafeteria area. In turn, not only do I have my blue bucket rolling on its side with cleaning equipment of sponges and tools sprayed out all over the floor, I also have each and everyone’s eyes from the cafeteria tables being directly focused on me. Great. This type of attention is always awesome – not.
Now remember, one of my other buckets still resides inside the bathroom at this moment in time and it’s busy being filled up slowly with water. Quickly, I scan the room of staring (along with some glaring) eyes in desperate search for a hospital employee. After sweeping motions are made over the entire room, I finally spot out two women in hospital work attire and give them a point prior to my hustle over.
Upon arrival, I simply state without an introduction, “We have a situation.”
“You’re damn right you do. Are you going to head back over there and clean that up?” This employee is only concerned about the kicked over bucket and scattered tools.
Realizing the distraction behind me, I wave it off. “That’s nothing.” Trying to refocus them on my words, my hands attempt to tell the story as I narrate, “An elderly woman just went into the bathroom. I tried to explain to her that the bathroom was already in use, but she just wouldn’t listen.” Sensing boredom courtesy of the glazed over looks that I was receiving from both employees, my hands flutter recklessly about as I decide to skip to the end. “Okay, I’m filling a bucket with water in that bathroom.” On the word “that”, I perform an overly dramatic point. Then, to help reach my emphatic conclusion, I go into a teapot pose and end with “and the spigot is running.”
(Can you imagine the pose now?)
What felt like an eternity of a pause made, my teapot pose starts to waver. Finally, the other employee speaks and I hear, “Can’t help you.” At this point, I believe I’m invisible to hospital “help” number two. I choose to do the ignoring and go back to the one that was at least concerned over my blue bucket spillage. “Can’t someone unlock the door?”
“We don’t have a key.” Again, this comes from hospital “help” number two.
“Really?” I shoot off into her direction along with a touch of sarcasm. Okay, a strong touch.
I’ve now gotten the attention of hospital “help” number one again. There’s some odd neck move maneuver performed (not as good as my teapot pose though) as she adds, “Yeah, when you lock the bathroom, it’s locked.”
Genius. I glare into the neck twisty female’s eyes and state, “So, what happens if the person in the locked bathroom pulls the emergency cord next to the toilet?”
(Hahahaha – just kidding!)
Silence. Seriously, I got silence, because they had no clue. None.
“Uh, you guys better work on that one.” I leave the dynamic duo and march back to the bathroom. Ironically enough, just as I was about to give the door a hard rapping police knock, it opens.
The elderly woman walkers herself out and barks at me, “It’s all yours. You better take care of that bucket of yours. It’s going to overflow and make a mess in there.”
I kick into “kill them with kindness” mode and smile out, “Thank you, ma’am.” Ma’am probably meant something other than . . . ma’am.
With several quick motions, I grab my empty blue bucket from the floor, push the door open wider to prop it, and flick off the faucet. The bucket is filled to the brim with water. Then, just as I was feeling a sense of relief, I was punched in the nose with a pugnacious smell of “duty” or, who’s kidding anyone, it was a repulsive, fresh shit smell. I actually had to step out and take in a breath of cafeteria air.
(This is the before picture of the toilet. I have tried to mentally erase the post traumatic picture and therefore will not subject my readers to that disgust and distaste. Instead, I’ll write about it!)
Pulling myself together, I now see that the old woman with her walker is almost seated at a nearby table. I could have sworn that I saw a smirk. Nevertheless, the inevitable has to occur. I turn back to the bathroom and give it a scan. In the beginning of this tale, I explained that these people were in need. Well, by the sight laid out before me, this bathroom was now in need of help. It looked like urine was all over the floor while the toilet itself was speckled with brown marks. Luckily, the sink and my white bucket were far enough away from the explosion that I believe nothing contaminated it or truly “touched” it. This was my final bucket needed to fill up the tank aquarium anyway. Thank God.
Focused, I grab my bucket, detach the hose from the spigot, and then suddenly realize something. After unleashing that mess in the bathroom, that woman didn’t even wash her hands at the end of the production. With my foot, I push away the blue bucket door stop and allow the door to shut behind me. I’m now staring out into the cafeteria and see the woman eating her sandwich which is being held with those disgusting, uncleansed hands.
I head over to the table, “Excuse me,” pause, pause, “Ma’am?”
Her mouth is full, so she just looks up and chews.
As I feel the rest of the eyes from the table shift towards me, I continue, “I just wanted to let you know that the hose attachment has been removed from the sink. So, you’ll be able to wash your hands now.” A big smile smears across my face.
Those same table eyes that were drilling through me, all slowly turn to the “woman.” They know, they all now know.
Feeling a little vindication, I spin around and head back to the tank area. Aquarium is officially done and it looks good. I wrap things up and begin to head out. However, along the way, I feel more eyes watching me. Ahhh – the dynamic duo. My work is not done.
Giving off another broad smile, I wave and then point to the door, “It’s unlocked now. Good thing, because that bathroom needs a cleaning itself.”
My hands do some of the explaining and give off a wave under my nose. “Whew – and it wasn’t me, ladies. Good luck with that!”
(This picture would have been so much cuter at the beginning of the story)
I ran, but it was back on the treadmill. Mountain was fun. My legs still ache, but it was fun. Later this week – I easily see some outside runs happening. Nice weather coming!
Felt good being in my own bed again after a shower in my own shower. Isn’t that true of anywhere you go though? Okay – maybe almost anywhere. Today, I’m certainly feeling refreshed and ready for whatever again.
Ahhhh, but ready enough for the 3 Day Fast? I have to be. It’s a big month because allergy season begins to roll in. After dinner tonight, I start up my monthly 3 day fast. Hopefully, I eat a little early so the Thursday dinner can come earlier as well.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” – Marcus Aurelius
First weekend obstacle of the year has been hurdled! 5k & Vlog streak continues on!
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, since it’s my vlog and I like music, that’s what I want to talk about again. Yesterday, I bought two records:
Trick of the Tail – From 1976, this is the first album that Mr. Phil Collins moved out from behind the drum kit and took over on lead vocals for the band, Genesis. Former lead singer, Peter Gabriel, had just left to do his solo thing. This particular record was introduced to me by my brother-in-law, Barry. His daughter Melissa fell asleep to this album every night as a baby. In turn, I did the same thing with my son, Elliott. When we walked into the record store yesterday, this album was smack dab up front and Elliott actually saw it first and said “Whoa!” I had to get it.
Are You Experienced? – Got this one because of my daughter. She appears to truly enjoy the rock. When we played the Jimi Hendrix song “Fire” in the car, she locked in and loved the song especially the part about “move over rover, and let Jimi take over.” This album was up front within the aisle – so, it was screaming to be purchased as well.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Everything worthwhile takes a long time” – Milton Glaser
