31 Friday Jan 2020
Posted in Funny Friday
It’s Friday folks! Time for a joke for my Funny Friday posting.
I hope all of you have a great Friday and a fun and relaxing weekend. Here’s your weekly funny!
A: I have the perfect son.
B: Does he smoke?
A: No, he doesn’t.
B: Does he drink whiskey?
A: No, he doesn’t.
B: Does he ever come home late?
A: No, he doesn’t.
B: I guess you really do have the perfect son. How old is he?
A: He will be six months old next Wednesday.
Courtesy: The Laugh Factory
30 Thursday Jan 2020
Posted in Book Review
Well, folks, my friend’s book was outstanding! I won’t give anything away about the story here. It is a terrific story and one that will keep you engaged throughout. I really tried to keep myself to one chapter a day to savor this one, but just couldn’t do it, once the story took off. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys the fantasy genre. Here’s the link to the book on Goodreads: Blackbirch: The Beginning
Bravo! Kate.
Until next time…
Dave
30 Thursday Jan 2020
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
I’ve gotten a bunch of new followers in the last few months, so I wanted to apprise each of you about my situation. I retired early in 2016 to come home and help my folks. My wife is still in Arizona, teaching special education. My Dad has dementia, and he continues to slip, regardless of the work the doctors do with medication. There just isn’t a cure for this stuff.
Since 2018, we decided he couldn’t travel anymore. We went to my niece’s wedding and Dad had an episode during the trip. These episodes are like a panic attack to the 10th power. His system shuts down, his blood pressure drops, and he passes out. After this last one, Dad took almost a month to recover.
Since that time, Dad can’t be left home alone anymore. So if Mom leaves, I have to stay with him. If I leave, Mom has to stay with him or take him with her when she runs errands. It’s tough all around. That being said, I consider it a privilege to be home and spend time with them in their senior years. I realize few people have this opportunity, and I do my best to enjoy every moment of it. Yeah, every family has it’s internal spats, but for the most part, we have a good time.
Dad loves television, YouTube (believe it or not), and reading. Mom is more active and gets antsy when she can’t do anything, especially now that she’s sick with a cold and runs out of energy and has to just chill out on the couch with her iPad. Mom is the kind of person that always has to be doing something. She just can’t sit still. If she’s not working on a home project, she’s working on the family books, reading, running errands, doing laundry, or cooking. When it’s nice outside, Mom is in her garden or greenhouse.
It’s nice to be here with Mom and Dad and just be with them. I’m glad circumstances arose to allow me this opportunity to do that. I’m lucky I know. I read about so many horror stories about dysfunctional families on social media, articles, and even in the news. I just can’t imagine living in a home like that and grateful that my childhood and time with Mom and Dad has been a real treat.
So today, I’m thankful for my Mom and Dad.
Until next time…
Dave
29 Wednesday Jan 2020
Posted in Wisdom Wednesday
Tags
Blackbirch, creativity, Developing Wisdom, Great Article, K.M. Allan, Lyle, wisdom, Wisdom Wednesday
I was rummaging around for new ideas for my post for Wisdom Wednesday and came across a work by Lyle (2015) which lists out 5 areas we can improve our wisdom and knowledge. One was in creativity. It reads: Take a pottery, photography, stained glass, sculpture or painting class. (Lyle, 2015). I’ve always wanted to improve my ability to draw new things and figured why not? I found a drawing course online that I’ve got some interest in and will pursue that. This idea fell under Lyle’s (2015) second heading labeled creativity [originality, ingenuity].
How does learning to draw fit in with what I am already pursuing? Well, here it is: Sometimes I have a hard time thinking about a scene in my fiction book and would like to create a drawing of it before I write it out. Make sense? I’ve also enjoyed drawing for several reasons. It is a nice way to use my creativity; it helps with internal visualizations, and it allows me to spend some time on something else during the day. It also presents a challenge. I don’t know how to draw too well now and it’ll be nice flexing the muscles on something I’ve put no time into.
Creativity is a great skill to have, particularly when you are writing fiction, depicting a scene graphically. It’s nice to build something from nothing, literally bringing what is in my mind to the page or canvas. Speaking of creativity, I’m reading a book by a fellow blogger and author, K.M. Allan. I’m about 75% through and it is a wonderful story. Here’s the link: Blackbirch: The Beginning. I highly recommend it.
Well, that’s all I have for today, folks! Have a great Wednesday!
Until next time…
Dave
Reference
Lyle, L. (2015). Developing wisdom & knowledge. Retrieved from https://www.thepositivepsychologypeople.com/developing-wisdom-knowledge/
28 Tuesday Jan 2020
Posted in Ted Talk
With all the focus in the media discussing China’s Coronavirus, I figured it might be appropriate to discuss how these things spread, since we already have some cases popping up in the U.S., Europe, and potentially other places.
It’s a real drag that the Chinese people are being hit with this thing. I’ve seen some videos from people that are broadcasting via Tik Tok and it is horrifying what these people are going through. I cannot tell you if it is true or accurate, since there’s really no way to verify anything coming out of China due to the way they lock their society down, but wish all those effected a speedy recovery.
Until next time…
Dave
27 Monday Jan 2020
Posted in Motivation Monday
Tags
Blogging, Comments, Flexibility, habits, Meditation, motivation, rituals, Variety
Hey there!
I was reading through a few blog posts and saw the time. It’s Monday Motivation time. I’ll time this post if I finish early or just post it at midnight. I love the variety in the blogs I follow. One had a family visit to a great tropical resort, another is in Japan, and yet another got to the gym and knocked out some treadmill work. We are all so unique, yet the same. We like to write (obviously), we like to tell our stories, and we like the occasional response to our work. I try to respond to all the blogs I read, hoping folks will do the same on mine. I really enjoy getting comments. It makes my day!
OK. Off we go!
This week I’ll be following my daily regimen. Writing, reading, learning, meditating, coding, exercising, and all the rest. I enjoy my rituals. I schedule enough work to keep me busy and the rest of the day is mine. Rituals are nice because they slowly become a habit. I do not follow a daily schedule, because I would rarely follow it. I get all of my stuff done. It’s nice to have some flexibility in the day and attack what I want to when I feel it.
One thing I do is cluster like tasks together. When I’m done with this blog post, I’ll hit my journaling, posting quotes, sharing articles, and letter writing. Tomorrow during the day when I’m fresh, I’ll do some work on my classwork and coding exercises. I’ll get my exercise in, and I try to meditate every afternoon between 2:30 and 4:30 pm. I like this time of day because there is little chance I’ll fall asleep. I tried morning meditations and before-bed meditations, but I always fall asleep. The afternoon sessions are perfect.
I hope all of you have a great week!
Until next time…
Dave
26 Sunday Jan 2020
Posted in Spread Your Wings
This week’s challenge should be an easy one: Write your bucket list.
This is courtesy of the Five-Minute Journal
Don’t worry about it being too big or small, just get one started. I review mine every month and add or take away something I’ve done. Sometimes you are prompted to add something after reading an article, talking with a loved one, or seeing a great movie. Nothing is off limits on this. Go for it.
Until next time…
Dave
26 Sunday Jan 2020
Posted in Workout Routine
Here we go, folks!
This week, we’ll be adding a new addition to the workouts–The Sauna and Red Light Therapy.
Weight days – Cutting Edge and Sauna
Cardio days – Planet Fitness and Red Light Therapy
Mon – Wed – Friday – Full Body Weight Workout and Sauna
Tue – Thu – Saturday – Cardio and Red Light Therapy
There is nothing in the literature that supports or negates anything claimed by red light therapy, but hey, since it’s part of my black membership at Planet Fitness, why not?
The sauna at Cutting Edge is a no-brainer. It’s on site and part of the amenities offered by the gym. I enjoy the sauna because it cleans out the pores and helps aid muscle soreness.
Well, that’s it folks!
See you at the finish line!
Dave
26 Sunday Jan 2020
Posted in Announcement
Tags
About Section, Connect, facebook, Instagram, Join Me, social media, TikTok, twitter
Hey all,
I wanted to tell you that I updated my About section with all of my social media account links. Feel free to reach out if you’d like to connect. I got the idea from another blog I’ve been interacting with and thought it was a great idea. I’ve got some things I’m planning for 2021 that are pretty exciting. I want to start a YouTube channel. I’m also delving into Tik Tok. I’m a huge fan of Gary V and he suggested Tik Tok, so I said, “Why not?” It’s quite entertaining.
Well, that’s all I wanted to say folks. Have a great Sunday!
Until next time…
Dave
24 Friday Jan 2020
Posted in Spiritual Saturday
All of us have dreams. Our dreams are unique to each of us. How do you figure what they are? Some of them are a given. We have to uncover the others.
Sometimes we put off our dreams because we don’t think we’re good enough. Perhaps we lack the training or knowledge we need. Whatever it is, I think many of us give up too quickly.
So how do we overcome something like that? Well, we need to use the same tools we use to create the blocks we put in front of ourselves to begin with. Ignore the blocks for now. Instead, imagine what you would do if you couldn’t fail. Think about that for a moment. What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
If you conducted this little thought experiment you probably felt a huge rush of freedom and the same wonder, you had as a child. This happened when I did it. It exhilarated me.
So now you have the capability of pursuing something that has real meaning for you. This is living. This is what will wake you up in the morning. This is what will cause you to work in your spare time to achieve something you really want.
How do you think anyone else got started? J. K. Rowling, Stephen King, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, anyone you recognize as someone who has achieved great things. If you look at everyone’s history, you see that they all started out the same way. They were all kids at one point. They all had their struggles. Yet, here they are decorating our history with an amazing collection of feats. Sure, in hindsight we could say they had gifts. But, imagine if they chickened out? We wouldn’t have Harry Potter, The Shining, The Theory of Relativity, or a greater knowledge of black holes.
I am a firm believer that each of us is here to learn something, do something. I don’t know what your “thing” is. Figuring this out is up to you. Do you want to live your life pushing the envelope, pursuing your life’s dream or do you want to sit on the sidelines, cowering in fear, afraid to fail at something you haven’t even attempted? I hope you pursue the former.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be a great writer or write a helpful computer program that people will pay for. I don’t know if any of my books will sell. I know that I want to try to, realizing a long time ago that none of us can fail if we keep trying. It may take us longer than we like. It may be harder than we thought, but we can’t fail if we keep pushing forward.
I believe we are all here for a purpose. We’re here to learn. We’re here to serve others. We’re here live our lives fully, experiencing all that life has to offer. Get out there. Make something happen. You have nothing to lose and who knows? You might just get what you want.
Have a great Saturday folks.
Until next time…
Dave
