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Monthly Archives: February 2022

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Gamifying

28 Monday Feb 2022

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Games, Gamify, Monday, motivation, tasks, To-do

Have you ever heard the term gamify? It’s turning something into a game. As you know, I love games, particularly video games. One of the things that keeps me going back to many of the games I enjoy, are the challenges. Gamifying something involves turning real-world tasks into games.

When I find myself losing motivation for something, I question it. Am I done with this particular thing for now, or do I need change how I approach it? Gamifying something adds a fresh take on whatever I am doing. Here’s how I do it.

We play games because they’re fun, they are challenging, and they result in a reward if we win. So, you take a task and you do the same thing with it. Let’s say I want to write so many chapters this week. Well, each chapter is an achievement that I can award myself for completing. If I want to write 5 chapters this week, I’ll get an individual reward for each chapter and a bigger individual reward for completing the weekly task. I like to eat, so my rewards are typically food, like a cookie, piece of candy, or a cup of coffee from one of our terrific coffee houses.

You can do this with everything, and your reward doesn’t have to be related to food. It could be a reward of reading something in your favorite book, watching an episode of one of your shows on Netflix, or even taking some time to listen to a great song on a streaming music service. The key to this is that the challenge must relate to something you have to do anyway. The rewards you give yourself depend on what you like.

So, here is yet another technique you can use to get what you need to get done, and have fun while you’re doing it. Have a great Monday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Bonus Content – Poem

25 Friday Feb 2022

Posted by Dave Gardner in Bonus Content

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Black History Month, Frederick Douglass, Poem, Poetry, Poetry Foundation, Robert Hayden, The Oatmeal, The Onion

Frederick Douglass 

BY ROBERT HAYDEN

When it is finally ours, this freedom, this liberty, this beautiful

and terrible thing, needful to man as air,   

usable as earth; when it belongs at last to all,   

when it is truly instinct, brain matter, diastole, systole,   

reflex action; when it is finally won; when it is more   

than the gaudy mumbo jumbo of politicians:   

this man, this Douglass, this former slave, this Negro   

beaten to his knees, exiled, visioning a world   

where none is lonely, none hunted, alien,   

this man, superb in love and logic, this man   

shall be remembered. Oh, not with statues’ rhetoric,   

not with legends and poems and wreaths of bronze alone,

but with the lives grown out of his life, the lives   

fleshing his dream of the beautiful, needful thing.

Poetry Credit: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46460/frederick-douglass?mc_cid=b11dc58d34&mc_eid=259b02d0f8

I wanted to post one more thing during Black History Month. This is a poem about Frederick Douglass. Since the month ends on March 1, this will be my last opportunity to get another individual associated with abolition or the civil rights movement. Next year, I may forego my normal schedule so I can get a profile or poetry or something for each day of the month. We’ll see.

In the meantime, have a great weekend! I realize some of you may be missing my Funny Friday posts, but you can tickle your funny bone on two sites I frequent often. Here they are:

The Oatmeal: https://theoatmeal.com/ Funny Comics and Stories

The Onion: https://www.theonion.com/ News Satire

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Hobbies, Games, and Movies

24 Thursday Feb 2022

Posted by Dave Gardner in Hobbies, Games, and Movies

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Call of Duty Mobile, Destroyer Series, House of Cards, Mugger Blood, Netflix, Task Force 141, Thursday

Happy Thursday!

This week, my sister and I started rewatching House of Cards on Netflix. Wow! What a great show! If you haven’t seen this one yet, I highly recommend it. I’d skip season 6, but seasons 1-5 are epic.

Season 2 for Call of Duty Mobile came out yesterday. I’m so excited! The season title is Task Force 141. This means new comics, new challenges, new weapons, and all the rest. I finally golded out two launchers last week. The third launcher I am working on now, it is an anti-aircraft missile launcher. I’m almost done with that one.

I’m reading Mugger Blood in The Destroyer series and it is terrific. When I read over some of the comments on Amazon or Goodreads, there is always someone who has something bad to say. More interesting is that it appears that the same person keeps making the bad comments. Why continue to read a series of books if you do not like it? I made a decision a few years back about this. If I am reading a book or a series of books and lose interest in the story, I stop reading the book. Why drag through something unless you have to for school or something. Anyway, if you don’t like a story anymore or the author lost you, dump the book and read something else. It is so much easier reading a book you enjoy then one you just can’t get into.

Well, that’s it for this week’s edition of Hobbies, Games and Movies. See you all tomorrow.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Harriet Tubman

23 Wednesday Feb 2022

Posted by Dave Gardner in Wisdom Wednesday

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

5 Quotes, Abolitionist, Black History Month, Harriet Tubman, Slavery, Underground Railroad, Wednesday, wisdom, Women's Rights

I would fight for my liberty so long as my strength lasted, and if the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.

Harriet Tubman

I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say; I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.

Harriet Tubman

I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.

Harriet Tubman

I grew up like a neglected weed – ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it.

Harriet Tubman

I think slavery is the next thing to hell. If a person would send another into bondage, he would, it appears to me, be bad enough to send him into hell if he could.

Harriet Tubman

For those of you who are interested, here’s a wikipedia link on Harriet Tubman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman Another great profile during Black History Month.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Bonus Content – Jane Marczewski

22 Tuesday Feb 2022

Posted by Dave Gardner in Ted Talk

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

America's Got Talent, Cancer, Happiness, Jane Marczewski, Joy, Living Life, Stephen Guise, YouTube

I am subscribed to Stephen Guise’ Blog. He is the author of “Mini Habits”, which had a huge impact on my life. His email today introduced Jane Marczewski. Here’s a link to Stephen’s article: https://stephenguise.com/blog/

She won the Golden Buzzer award on America’s Got Talent, and sadly passed away from Cancer three days ago. I had to share this story, particularly the quote, which she gives in the video.

The quote:

“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore, before you decide to be happy.”

~ Jane Marczewski

Rest in peace, Jane “Nightbird” Marczewksi.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Consistency

21 Monday Feb 2022

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Consistency, Exercise, Goals, Goodreads, Monday, motivation, Reading, Routine

Good morning! Happy President’s Day!

How do you stay motivated for your daily tasks and goals when it’s a holiday? I follow a pretty rigid schedule of Monday – Friday, even while retired. There are certain things I do everyday, regardless of what holiday falls on Monday. The caveat to that is during the month of December, I pretty much take the whole month off.

I find consistency is the key to getting anything done that requires more than a day’s work. Take reading, for example. I use Goodreads to track all of my reading. I set a goal of roughly 60 books a year. If I read 5 books simultaneously each month (5 chapters a day), I will typically meet or exceed the 60 book goal I set. A lot of that depends on how big the books are. During those years I am reading a lot of history or non-fiction books, the number I hit tends to be lower. Most of these books (at least the ones I am interested in) tend to be quite long (400 or more pages). Subsequently, it’s harder to knock those ones down compared to a 200-250 page novel, which tends to move along more quickly. Anyway, for me it is better to do the same things each day on a schedule than just wing it. By doing a little each day, you can achieve quite a lot by year’s end.

For exercise this week, I’ll be doing some home workouts. I’m not a huge fan of driving in the snow or in inclimate weather. Here’s my workout:

Monday (Quads and Calves)

Tuesday (Hams and Abs)

Wednesday (Back and Biceps)

Thursday (Chest and Triceps)

Friday (Shoulders)

Each day I’ll do 50 reps for each body part.

I hope each of you has a great Monday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Funny Friday/Hobbies, Games, and Movies – Inventing Anna

18 Friday Feb 2022

Posted by Dave Gardner in Funny Friday, Hobbies, Games, and Movies

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Amazon Prime, Call of Duty Mobile, Chris Rock, Comedians, Friday, Funny, Inventing Anna, Kevin Hart, Netflix, Reacher, Winter Storm

Well, folks, I missed posting yesterday, so today, I’ll be combining Funny Friday with Hobbies, Games and Movies. My sister and I just finished two series–Inventing Anna (Netflix) and Reacher (Amazon Prime). Inventing Anna was awesome. We both loved it. Reacher was good, but still didn’t do a great job capturing the character Jack Reacher in Lee Child’s Novels. They tried, but just missed the mark in my opinion. Great shows to watch though.

I am currently working on camouflage for all the launchers in Call of Duty Mobile, and beginning to work on Diamond Camo on a Machine Gun (PKM), Submachine Gun (PPSH-1), and the Sniper (Rytek AMR) with their appropriate loadouts. The launcher I am currently working on is the Thumper (M79 Grenade Launcher).

I played a marathon game on Wednesday-Thursday to finish up the last of the pistol class called the Shotty. It’s a little two-barrel mini-shotgun. That was a toughy. Anyway, that’s done and I’m off doing the rest. There’s a new challenge called Closing Time. It is a combination of ranked matches, battle royal matches, and some other stuff. I love these challenges. They are a lot of fun to complete. Well, I hope everyone had a great week.

I’m reading Ship of Death in the Remo Williams Destroyer Series. It is also a great read.

Here’s a short video with some great comedians. Kevin Hart is one of my favorites. I also enjoy Bill Burr, Dave Chappelle, and Chris Rock. Chris is also in the video. I hope you enjoy it. Have a great Friday, enjoy your weekend, and for those of you impacted by the recent crazy weather, hope you are safe and warm.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – James Baldwin

16 Wednesday Feb 2022

Posted by Dave Gardner in Wisdom Wednesday

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Activist, Artist, Author, Critic, France, James Baldwin, United States, Wikipedia, Writer

The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.

James Baldwin

Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.

James Baldwin

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.

James Baldwin

It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.

James Baldwin

To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.

James Baldwin

Happy Wednesday, folks! I hope you enjoy these quotes and would like to learn more about James Baldwin. Here’s his Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday – Rosa Parks

15 Tuesday Feb 2022

Posted by Dave Gardner in Ted Talk

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Black History Month, Civil Rights, Hero, Role Model, Rosa Parks, Strong Women, TedEd

This month I am trying to stick with a Black History month theme and Rosa Parks is another great story. Here’s a quick video about Rosa Parks. Enjoy!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Valentine’s Day

14 Monday Feb 2022

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Fatigue, habits, Learning, Loss, Love, memories, motivation, pain, Valentine's Day

After reading some posts on the blogs I follow, I was taken aback by some of the sentiments they expressed. One blogger posted about wishing everyone well. Another, explained that she felt better when she served other people, especially when she was in a mourning period.

One of my wife’s friends passed last week from a heart attack. She overdosed and expired in the ambulance speeding to nearby hospital.

How do we stay motivated when our lives are falling apart? I think both of my blogging friends offer some great advice.

When things are bad, you have to grieve. There’s no escaping that. It’s human. Some days it’s ok to just lay in bed and sleep. But all of us have responsibilities. We can only lay in bed and sleep or deal with our depression or sadness or whatever feelings you have for so long, before it disrupts all of your ability to live life.

I have discovered that habits play a huge part in this. When we have habits, we will do what we need to unconsciously. We may not do the best job we could do, but on days where we are really feeling it, doing something is better than doing nothing.

Building habits is something that takes time. You can’t build a habit overnight. Most of my readers have good habits. They write in their blog. Some do a lot of exercise. All do daily what their passions demand–crafting, photography, writing, or creating.

Life would not be life without suffering losses. We are all only here for a finite amount of time. As we age, we experience new pains, fatigue, lose our friends, lose our family, and all the rest. Where is the meaning you ask? The meaning comes from what we do with our lives while we are here. Do we serve others? Do we wish others well? Do we take care of ourselves?

Life is a beautiful thing. It is finite. It is fleeting, but it is a wonderful experience to learn from. Love given–love received.

I wish all of you a terrific Valentine’s Day.

Until next time…

Dave

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