morning babble / Thursday 2-18-21

So, I accidentally checked my work email this morning. Who cares, right? Well, I saw some things and it already got the wheels turning in that “work mode” direction. A little earlier than I wanted. Typically, I try to shut down my email at night and not look at it again until the following morning – after my run, after the video, after a little Brent time.

But – it’s snowing. So, I opened up my phone to check the weather apps and BAM! – I left my work email open from last night. I saw some of the listed emails and now know what I got in store for my day ahead. Fun stuff . . . that I just don’t want to be thinking about right now. I had today all prepped – talk about a possible Morning Babble goat – Tim Ferriss.

I had to stop the downward spiral from spinning, so I changed up my video prep music and went with The Fratellis – an upbeat rock band that makes me smile. But – I also picked up this book by Steven Pressfield: the WAR of ART. We are all fighting Resistance and this book helps you punch it in its face. Seriously. I have read it a couple times, but really like having it nearby on days like today. The stories are quick and short – like one page – or a little longer, but only 2 to 3 page tales. Today, I read from page 07:

“Resistance is Invisible: Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential. It’s a repelling force. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.”

HAPPY FRIDAY EVE!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch you.” – Lolly Daskal

morning babble / Wednesday 2-17-21

My son sits over there and plays his Fortnite on X-Box. The headset gear is on and he’s rapping it out with his buds . . . or his “bros”. The phrase that is continually said over and over again . . . “I like Ya Cut G”.

I Like Ya Cut G refers to a video in which a man addresses a bald child, saying “I like ya cutG” before slapping his head. The video has been remixed and recreated numerous times, sometimes adding a humorous noise after the slap.

48 days in a row – 5k!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“If it entertains you now but will bore you someday, it’s a distraction. Keep looking.” – Naval Ravikant

morning babble / Tuesday 2-16-21

47 days in a row. I need something to help me with the tally especially with the future months. In the beginning, it’s easy because you have 31 days in January and then you add it to the 16 days of February so far – hence, 47 days in a row. Also, I have decided that the goal has extended by one day. I want to run through January 1, 2022. This way, if I accomplish this goal of running a 5k every day for a year . . . I can also tell that one person who would ask about it being a leap year or not, I ran a 5k for 366 days in a row. Don’t cheapen my year! Haha! I’m smiling, but you know there would be that one person who asked.

On the treadmill, I was listening to the Kevin Rose podcast. For this episode, his guest was Dr. Andrew Huberman who was discussing the benefits of bright light therapy early in the morning. Ideally, you would expose yourself to bright light within an hour of waking up. However, it can still be done within 4 to 6 hours of waking. Plus, you only really need the bright light exposure for 2 to 10 minutes. Sunlight is the best, course. By doing this, you set your circadian clock and quiet your melatonin for the next 14 to 16 hours. This also is very beneficial in reducing anxiety and depression. So be sure to add some bright light to your morning routine of waking up!

And finally, not to get too healthy on you, just a reminder that Shamrock Shakes are back at McDonald’s. First the spicy nugget, now the Shake! Go enjoy them both.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Many people lose the small joys in the hope for the big happiness” – by Pearl S. Buck

morning babble / Monday 2-15-21

Okay, so yesterday – it was Valentine’s Day, but it was bacon, bacon, bacon, too. For our dinner, we were going to prep a Thanksgiving dinner and for the turkey, I joked about dressing it with bacon. Well, we did it. And – it was glorious. AND – we have leftovers!

Happy President’s Day? Go enjoy a good sale? I know back in my radio days for New Year’s Day, they would send us out to a carpet location because of the great sales that they were having. I never understood that. Great deals on carpets on New Year’s Day? But – the place was always packed. I mean, I know we were advertising it and teasing that we would be there for that coveted free radio station t-shirt. BUT – there was a ton of people there that I know didn’t hear about it on the radio. They just knew: Carpet sale on New Year’s Day – we are so there.

Anyway, I get a lot of daily emails. I’ll need to edit that list down and review some of the the ones that I truly do cherish arriving to my inbox. Off the top of my head, the favorites are from: Seth Godin / Morning Brew / Daily Dad

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“When you arrive home, you should be like Ulysses S. Grant, be ready to wrestle. Ready to be present. Ready to have fun. Ready to be the dad they want…not the dad that’s left over after the ravages of the day.” – Ryan Holiday via Daily Dad

morning babble / Sunday 2-14-21

I have not run yet today . . . it’s Sunday, so remember, I change up the routine today.  It felt good to leave the running shoes right where they were for the time being. They currently reside on the floor next to my bed with their designated running sock in each shoe.  They’re ready.  I’m not.  Not yet.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Hoping every one has that special someone to give a hug or snuggle up to today.  If not, ehhhh . . . no big deal.  Love yourself – gotta do that first anyway.

Looking forward to breakfast this morning.  Anticipating bacon.  Also, hoping for bacon.  As Jim Gaffigan states, Bippity Boppity Bacon. What’s for breakfast?  Bacon. And after that? More Bacon. And finally after that? Hmmm, maybe some more Bacon.  Perfect.
Today, we are actually cooking up a Thanksgiving dinner.  Gonna have a turkey in the oven – smelling good all day.  I remember many years ago for Pigskin Gourmet, Cecil & I covered a turkey with bacon and grilled it.   Go check that out by clicking here. Mmmm – bacon.

Meanwhile, my appetizer for breakfast is Lucky Charms in a cup . . . which makes your burps smell like dog food. Whew – all over the place! Run coming up after breakfast!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Saying, “I love you,” is one thing.  Living “I love you,” is a whole other story.” – by Topher Kearby

morning babble / Saturday 2-13-21

I ran. I didn’t say it again yesterday, but I did. AND – I ran today, too. So, I made a new blue card to help remind me about saying it (check that video below).

Books!

1st – Thank you to Beth for sending me the Mad Libs books. Recently, I claimed that I didn’t have any fun books, but now I do. AND – my kids enjoy them with me. Many thank yous again for your kindnes, Beth!

Next, I’ve talked before about reading Matthew Walker’s book – Why We Sleep. Well, I’m still reading it. Typically, I read at night and I’ve been getting stuck in Chapter 8 on page 166. One night, I read a fact about “the simplest reduction of sleep by 1 or 2 hours will promptly speed the contracting rate of a person’s heart, hour upon hour, and significantly increase the systolic blood pressure within their vasculature.” What? I went to bed. So, the next night, I got through the top half of the page. Unfortunately, at the bottom of it, I then read, “If you were on of the individuals who were obtaining just five to six hours each night or less, you were 200 to 300 percent more likely to suffer calcification of your coronary arteries over the next five years.” Again, What? So, I went to bed again. This weekend, during the day, I’m hoping to read and get through all of this.

Finished Sapiens on Audible. It was good . . . I enjoyed it. But next . . . I was looking forward to this one after I joined Audible again. David Goggins and his book Can’t Hurt Me. I began listening today on the treadmill. That book is going to make me run – a lot.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
I actually took this directly from The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman – it was on yesterday’s daily post. Inspiring us to do something:

“Don’t forget to ask: Is this really the life I want? Every time you get upset, a little bit of life leaves the body. Are these really the things on which you want to spend that priceless resource? Don’t be afraid to make a change – a big one!”

– by The Daily Stoic (from the February 12th day, page 52)

morning babble / Friday 2-12-21

Happy Friday!

Answers to 2 questions:

  1. What broke your fast last night? Tacos / Homemade Guacamole & Chips / Corn Pudding / Red Wine – all done with help of my two kids which made it that much more special / There was dessert – Chocolate Croissants but I was stuffed. AND – since they are croissants, I deemed them breakfast worthy today.
  2. Why do you call Tom Brady, the G.O.A.T? Stands for Greatest of All Time

New Music Friday:

  • Miss Taylor Swift – come on, girl . . . every week? Okay – here’s the cliff notes version on all of this. Today, she released “Love Story (Taylor’s version)” which is a re-release from her 2nd album, Fearless. It’s new though – she redid it. In fact, she plans on re-releasing her first 6 albums – all rerecorded. Rumor has it that the full album rerelease of Fearless will be out April 9th and includes 6 new songs. A machine right now.
  • JAY-Z and Nipsey Hussle’s New Song “What It Feels Like” is out. In fact, the new Judas and the Black Messiah: The Inspired Album is out now
  • For the rockers – there are singles from Greta Van Fleet and Kings of Leon. And the whole album from Pretty Reckless, “The Death by Rock and Roll”. You might not of heard of them. They do have some hit songs out in the rock world. But the lead singer – Taylor Momsen. You know her as Cindy Lou Who from the Grinch movie with Jim Carrey. She all grown up.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Perfection is the enemy of productivity” – AJ Jacobs on the James Altucher Show

morning babble / Thursday 2-11-21

I got a hole in my pants.  I’ll survive the day, but this isn’t fun.  They’re cargo pants and I can’t get these anymore. Why? Because they are out of style and I realize that, but for work . . . I really like them when I’m out on the road

Happy Friday Eve! 

5k run is done / I’m into the 3rd day of the fast /
Feeling okay, but I got a little grumpy yesterday afternoon – could have been work stuff too.
thinking about food . . . alot

Kit Kat yesterday / Butterfinger talk today. Butterfinger is teasing out a peanut butter that they might be making – Crispety Crunchety Peanut Butter – oh that’s full glory!

Fast ends tonight at 6:54pm but who’s counting

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Happiness equals reality minus expectation ” – by Tom Magliozzi

morning babble / Wednesday 2-10-21

41 days in a row! Non-stop babble and running. Be sure to check out the rest of this website for my 52 Meal Challenge. Read the short – more are coming!

5k done / listened to David Chang’s podcast – I know I’ve talked about him way too much, but I just truly love his podcast. I need to create a Top 5 list of my most babbled about people: 1) Dave Chang 2) Ryan Holiday . . . we’ll work on it.

Anyway, the other day I learned about Kit Kats on the Dave Chang podcast. Hershey’s makes Kit Kats in US. while Nestle makes it for everyone else in the world. So, all those crazy flavors from Japan – it’s Nestle that’s performing that magic. Chang compared it to Spider Man being in a tug of war between Sony and Marvel. Nobody wants the Sony Spider Man. We want the Marvel. So, you want the Nestle Kit Kats.

FYI – 2nd day of the 3 Day Fast and no gripe! We’ll see how I’m doing tomorrow.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“My goal is to inspire people to be as excited as I am in making other people happy” – by Will Guidara, a restaurateur in NYC, via the podcast “The Moment with Brian Koppelman”

morning babble / Tuesday 2-9-21

I was mindlessly pushing along pictures on Instagram last night, when I came across a David Goggins post. If you don’t know who he is, go find a podcast with him as a guest and listen to it . . . without kids around. He has colorful word usage, but he’s incredibly motivating.

Anyway – this post he did. He’s holding the 4x4x48 Challenge. What’s this? Let me me tell you, fine people. Starting March 5th at 8pm (West Cost Time aka PST) – run 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. Yeah, I’m not doing this one. But it is something to think about for next year. I am totally intrigued. However, my little 5k everyday would be toast if I would attempt this Goggins challenge.

So, I said how I’m still listening to Sapiens on Audible . . . about half way through – under 8 hours to go. It’s all very, very good. BUT – I still had another credit for signing up. I got the David Goggins book, Can’t Hurt Me. I’ve been meaning to get it on Audible because like I said, he’s very creative with his vocabulary delivery.

I ran / 3 day fast is underway – today is just day 1 . . . it’s the easiest one

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“I don’t stop when I’m tired. I stop when I’m done” – by David Goggins