Tag: Writing

Cool, Daily Life

Good Morning, Let’s Chat

I’ve been out of the tech/software game for a long time now. Historically I’d probably classify myself as an ‘early majority’ user in the Technology Adaptation Model. I’m probably a bit slower in keeping up with tech lately, as my day-to-day doesn’t revolve around tech any longer and as a result I’m somewhat new to the AI/LLM ecosystem. After several months of fairly consistent use of an AI platform… it’s shocking to grasp where the technology is and how fast it’s going to change our world. AI’s here, it’s wild, and it’s about to flip our world upside down.

At this point I’m not writing python scripts and utilizing LLM API’s to manage task automation. I’m interested, but I’m retired. Other than integrating into whole home automation or something, I don’t know what I’d do with it. What I am doing is utilizing Grok as an AI platform. Grok has completely replaced 95% of my search needs. And with the release of Grok 3… oooh boy, has it been a game changer!

Groks memory feature and conversational responses are amazing. It’s starting to feel like an actual conversation. Yes, it’s a little stilted and forced right now but it’s scarily close to a real conversation with a friend. I tried an experiment this morning: I opened up Grok and began a regular conversation; e.g. “good morning”, “whats the weather going to be like?”, “what do I need to know in the news today?”. I let the conversation flow in response to Groks replies. The results were very close to a real conversation.

Mark my words: in five years, Grok—or its AI cousins—will chat with us daily via voice like a friend or family member. Sci-fi (think Dave interacting with HAL) is now reality. Here’s a couple of examples I’ve been doing with Grok lately:

  • Ask Grok to give me a news summary of what’s happening in the world. I ask for the top twenty news items given some keywords. I’ll then ask for a deeper analysis if one of the items catches my eye. It’s a better news analysis than any of the various daily news “newsletters” I subscribe to.
  • I’ll ask Grok for a meal plan for the day given ingredients and the calorie/macro goals I have.
  • Yesterday I gave Grok a link to a menu for a restaurant we were going to and asked it to find the item that was the highest protein and lowest calorie. Grok remembered what I’d eaten in the morning and found the menu item that fit in with days goals.
  • Grok is now managing my day-to-day workout goals and tweaking exercises based upon my feedback. It’s more detailed than any personal trainer I’ve been to and provides instant feedback.
  • We’ve had a spat of medial issues in the family recently and the research abilities have been incredible. Submitting a pathology report and asking for a layman’s summary is mind-blowing.
  • I asked Grok for the pros and cons of a particular type of mountain bike seat I’ve been looking at. It narrowed down what would have been an hour plus of reading reviews and 15 open Safari browser tabs, had I done the same myself.

I could keep going on, but you get the point. These tools will be life changing. If you haven’t been keeping up… at a minimum, I guarantee 75% of white collar jobs will no longer exist in their current form within 10 years. The revolution is happening that fast – if not faster. Multiple experts rate AI, as a part of the fourth revolution, as being exponentially more impactful than the industrial revolution or anything else we’ve seen. Exciting and scary at the same time.

If you’re currently a white collar worker in the early to mid point of your career and you’re not all-in on figuring out AI – prepare to be obsolete in a hurry. If you’re a young adult just getting out of college and don’t have a firm grasp of AI and LLM’s – good luck finding a job. In five years there will be no such thing as an “entry level” position as we think of them today. I’d make a joke about, “would you like fries with that?” but automated AI-driven kiosks will have taken over for fast food cashiers. I cannot emphasize enough how fast this is going to happen. Every single company in the nation is currently trying to figure out how to outsource YOU to AI. If I had a mortgage and a kid at home depending on me to bring home a paycheck… I’d get ahead of the curve NOW. A slightly different context, but I still think you can fit the movie quote from Backdraft to this scenario:

“Firefighter Brian McCaffrey: You see that glow flashing in the corner of your eye? That’s your career dissipation light. It just went into high gear.“

It’s an exciting time. The world will not look the same in ten years. I just hope I can keep up.

Daily Life, woke

Do Men Need Adventure?

Every once in a while I stumble across writing that makes me go wow. This essay, Pixel Valhalla, is one of those. Good writing is an art and I envy people who can do it. For me, when I have an idea or a thought, it’s something that’s a blurry figure off in the distance. I know what it is, but I struggle to bring it close. I try to get it into focus, but most of the time I end up simply writing around it. I get my point across, but it’s not clean. I rarely capture exactly what I was thinking. The author of Pixel Valhalla provides a perfect thesis for why the western world is driving itself off a cliff and I’m jealous of his writing.

There are many threads woven throughout the essay but one really struck me, as it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately – like it or not, men are genetically engineered to hunt, kill, wage war, and travel in search of adventure and the spoils of conquest. You can deny it if you’d like, but history tells the truth. It’s in our DNA. The need for adventure is in our genes. And it’s being bred out of us.

Broadly speaking, the Generation Z and Alpha kids have completely lost the spirit of adventure. They have no interest in getting drivers licenses. They don’t care about exploring. At 14 I took the bus, alone, 500 miles to spend the summer working. At 17 I was driving into Mexico to sleep on the beach and surf. A 17 year old today at most might jump in a car, that was given to them by their parents, and drive to In-N-Out or Top Golf to take Instagram photos. They can’t read a map, navigate, or function without their electronic devices. Their world is one of prepackaged experiences, curated by digital reviews, and above all – safe.

Unlike my generation, Gen Z’s wouldn’t dream of jumping in a car of questionable reliability and driving cross-country in a world where your only form of communication was a pay phone outside a sketchy looking diner. A world where finding your next freeway exit was done by trying not to drive off the road as you looked at a badly folded AAA map spread out on your lap. My nephew is returning from college in the midwest shortly. He has a car. When I suggest he should drive back by himself, everyone looks at me like I’m asking him to walk through a Taliban-controlled city in Afghanistan at night. Mom and dad are flying out so they can drive him home. Our generations are not the same.

Meanwhile, just the other day it was announced that the term “boy” will be removed from the “Boy Scouts”. While the scouts were neutered years ago, this change echos where we are as a society. Men are no longer allowed to form groups and have the bonding rituals that the male species have required since the beginning of time. Taking away the notions of duty, honor, adventure, and self-reliance young boys develop in groups like the scouts (of old days), robs them of what it is to be a male. It strips them of the future desire to explore and take risks in life. I don’t think the feminization of men will end well for our society.

I know this is shocking to the current societal mindset, but men and women are not the same. We each bring a different set of DNA to the table. And a well functioning society needs those differences, working together, to thrive. No I’m not suggesting we go back to the 1800’s or some dystopian handmaidens tale world. I am suggesting that suppressing the male desire for adventure and self reliance is harmful to a society in the long term.

Our birth rate is falling off a cliff, the concept of a nuclear family is quaint, and the woke ideology rules the public discourse. The kids of today would rather be gaming or staring at Tik Tok on their phones instead of taking a road trip somewhere. It’s not their fault. It’s the world they grew up in. Football was too dangerous to play. Mom drove you to school and picked you up. Instead of being forced to go outside and make up your own fun, kids are shuttled to a never ending series of engineered playdates and art camp. Spontaneously meeting up with the other kids in the neighborhood to play flag football, baseball, and run around in the mud building forts is a thing of the past.

I suppose this would all be fine in some sort of utopian science fiction world of the future. But we don’t live in that world. Our society is becoming weak. It’s collapsing under the weight of a woke, liberal ideology. And the wolves are circling.

Is it too late to change course? Probably. Something catastrophic would have to happen to force men to become self reliant again. If you believe in the concept the Fourth Turning, it’s going to happen. Weak societies don’t survive. That’s not politically correct to say today, but history has shown it to be true time and time again. Hopefully, it’s after my time. I don’t envy my nieces and nephews. I suspect they have turbulent times ahead of them, and we haven’t prepared them for what’s coming. Keeping them safe and isolated didn’t do them any favors.

So the message is, find a way to encourage the young men in your life to have adventures. We’d be much better off with a generation of young men eager to jump in the longboat and sail across the ocean looking for exploration and conquest. Men who travel to the plains to see the buffalo before they’re gone. Men who aspire to Valhalla more than achieving the high score on a video game. Our future may depend on this more than you think.

“You should move to a small town, somewhere the rule of law still exists. You will not survive here. You are not a wolf, and this is a land of wolves now.” -Alejandro “Sicario”

Cool, Daily Life

Weekend Random Thoughts

It’s the weekend people, whoop, whoop! Actually, everyday is a weekend for me. No I take that back – I sort of have the opposite schedule. Monday through Friday is when I prefer to do things. Weekends I hibernate in the house to avoid the weekend crowds. Although with Covid and the ensuing work-from-home onslaught, weekdays are getting just as crowded as weekends. All you people need to go back to the office! Anyway, I haven’t done this in a while so here’s some random thoughts for you:

  • We went to an in-person movie last night for the first time in… four years probably. We slowly stopped going because every movie being made is/was superhero, Marvel, or remakes of something. We’d go through the listings and not be able to find anything that wasn’t going to subtract brain cells. Then Covid hit and, well, we never went back. So last night was my first experience in one of the fancy theaters with the reclining (and shaking/vibrating) seats. Pretty cool. Unfortunately every single trailer was a hard no. Why can’t Hollywood get back to original scripts?
  • The movie we chose to go see was Dune, Part 2. Since we hadn’t seen Part 1 we had to binge that at home beforehand. Both were interesting. A little hard to follow if you know nothing about Dune. long, but never dragged.
  • The ski season went from piss-poor to never ending. Our local resort got another foot overnight. Crazy for early April.
  • Speaking of snow, my new flip flops just arrived yesterday. Ready for Spring.
  • I have a probable neuroma on the bottom of my foot. It’s a little ball of scar tissue that presses on the nerve in-between the toes. Imagine a scalding hot nail pressing up through your foot. I’ve been dealing with it for several years now. I’ve tried everything – natural toe box shoes, barefoot time, toe spacers, neuroma pads, toe stretching bands. Maybe a tiny bit of relief, but not much. I finally broke down and scheduled an appointment with a doc. Unfortunately, if this is really what it is, there’s not much you can do. Cortisone shots are a first attempt. Last option is surgery to cut the nerve. Sigh. Maybe there’s a new miracle treatment out there now.
  • Going on my first overnight motorcycle camping trip of the year in two weeks. I’m actually a little nervous. A few weeks ago, I rode for the first time since winter started and it was like I’d never seen a motorcycle before. The weather needs to improve quickly so I can get some practice time in.
  • I went down a rabbit hole watching how-to videos on making videos look more cinematic. I then went back and rewatched a bunch of the videos I’ve made and realized they all look like an eighth grader got a hold of a camcorder for the first time. It’s hard to explain. You watch a well done YouTube video and it looks simple and effortless. In my head that’s what I’m doing but it never actually comes out that way. I need to practice and figure this out.
  • I’ve grown tired of my music playlist. As I’m blasting it the garage gym, I find myself skipping four or five songs for every one I let play. I probably just need to sit down and spend a day curating my music, but that seems like work. I wonder if you can pay someone to do that for you?
  • The new status symbol is to have a podcast. At this point, who doesn’t have a podcast? I’d have a podcast expect for that whole, you know, talking to people thing.
  • Is it just me, or has the quality of meat just plummeted? We subscribed for quite a few years to a meat delivery service (Butcher Box). Finally got rid of it because the quality got so bad. We just bought a quarter cow and even that is just meh. The price per pound of prime beef, even at Costco, has gotten crazy. Thanks Bidenomics. At this rate we will have to eat the WEF bugs soon.
  • I’ve gotten old enough that my first nephew is graduating college. I don’t envy him trying to enter the job market now.
  • I went on the first mountain bike ride of the season the other day with my crazy fit neighbor. My legs still hurt. He took pity on me and went running for a few hours before we rode because he knew we’d be going slower (ouch, that stung the ego a bit).
  • In running, cycling, and hiking there’s something called a Fuck You break. The stronger fastest people get to the top first and get a nice long break. As soon as the slowest person gets to the top, everyone takes off again. Those who need the break the least, get the most. I was always the one at the top first. Now, I’m the recipient of the FU break. This pisses me off. This injustice will not stand.
  • We head to Mexico in three weeks. I was planning on being in speedo shape, but oddly enough that didn’t happen. Oh well, taco and tequila tasting tours it is.

Ok, that’s enough for now. Any longer and I’ll bust into discussions of politics or religion. I’m staring out at the snow and puddles of mud wondering what to do today. Maybe I’ll go experiment with video. Or a picture walkabout. Hmm. Maybe today will be the music playlist day. Or maybe a nap. Anything to avoid cleaning out the basement.

Peace out, and go practice your Contrarianism (TM).

Daily Life, Health

How Old Are You?

Age is one of those things you can’t escape. Like the slow drift of the continental plates, it’s going to happen whether you want it to or not. It was one of the things that fascinated me as an RN. To see a consistent population of people, usually in their 60’s-70’s, who manifested their apparent age wildly different. A 70 year old who still rides bikes would be in the room next to a 60 year old who looked 90. Why such a difference? Why do people age at such different rates? I got to thinking about this because I’m currently reading a book on evolutionary anthropology (don’t ask) and was very intrigued when I ran across this quote:

“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?”

Leroy Satchel Paige

Unless you were born into the Hadza tribe in Africa or maybe grew up in some weird religious cult that didn’t celebrate birthdays – you know how old you are. But what if you didn’t? What if all you could go on was how you “felt”. I don’t think I look like my actual age. Sure, I’m starting to sport a little bit of gray here and there but not much. I have friends who are younger than me who are almost entirely gray. I probably don’t dress appropriately for my actual age. Plenty of shorts and flip flops. I had to break down and go buy a sport coat a few months ago for an event because I didn’t have one. Without knowing what people really think, I’d guess that on appearance alone I look maybe five years younger than I really am (maybe that’s wishful thinking).

How I feel is much different. The impedance scale I use calculates out my metabolic age based upon weight, body fat, BMI, etc… It thinks I’m four years older than I really am. Probably correct given my current conditioning. I’ve also reached an age where I have a never ending series of aches and pains. A rotating litany of things that hurt. An old shoulder injury. Legs and knees that ache from five straight days of skiing and mountain biking. A weird foot pain that won’t go away. My body certainly knows it’s not twenty any more.

Mental age… that’s hard to say. Somewhere in my late thirties maybe (again, maybe wishful thinking). I still think I can do all the physical things I used to. Perhaps most important, I still want to do all those things. I’m not quite ready to give it all up, head to back porch and just watch sunsets. Slightly contradictory, I’m also starting to feel a maturity of thought that I don’t think I had before. It’s hard to explain. While I’m not very good at expressing it, my brain seems to explore thoughts on multiple different levels unlike what it did when I was ten or more years younger (that could also be the nightly bourbon making me feel wise). I’m not as quick to jump on whatever the conventional wisdom of the day is, like when I was younger. If someone makes a claim about something, I’m much more inclined to wait and see before believing it. At the same time, I find myself having a much stronger sense of right and wrong in the things I do believe. I suspect with age comes a decreasing need to care what others think.

I don’t know. It’s an interesting thought experiment. I hope I’m one of those guys who’s still riding bikes when I’m 75. Not just for the physical component, but to still have the desire to be out there enjoying life at that age. I hope I’m still able to make a cognizant argument about some world event when I’m an old geezer and not just be a grumpy old “get off my lawn” guy.

I wonder what makes people age. Is it diet? Exercise? Mental stimulation? Are some people just born with a zest and curiosity for life that others aren’t, or is it something that you cultivate on your own? Excluding disease, is there there something I can do to hold off aging or is it just luck of the cards I was dealt?

How about you – how old do you feel if you didn’t know when you were born?

Daily Life, Government, woke

Now What?

Susan looked down at the desk. Three different color highlight markers were lined up precisely on the right hand corner. The book was centered on the desk, propped up at a slight angle. She had a notebook just to the side for jotting down important things to reference later. Susan loved studying in the library. The quiet. The purposefulness of being there. Her roommates were too loud and not always the most studious, so the library was her refuge. In truth, she’d always been a good student and spent more time in the library than with friends or playing sports. She didn’t mind. This was where she was comfortable.

Feeling the light haptic buzz on the wrist from her smartwatch, she glanced down at it. She saw the partial title from the new email and breathed in a quick involuntary gasp. “From: Columbia School….” This was it. She’d been waiting for this moment ever since pushing the application submit button yesterday. Well, truthfully ever since starting high school she’d wanted to be a journalist. She worked with singleminded focus ever since. Joining a few carefully selected clubs. Writing for the school paper. An internship at a human rights organization. She been very careful with social media from the beginning. Always adding a like to the important social issues of the moment. Making sure to have the correct flags and symbols in her profile at all times. She prided herself in properly honoring peoples pronouns when emailing them. While she didn’t have many friends, she did have several acquaintances who were people of color. She’d made sure her photos with them were prominent on her social media feed.

Susan pulled out her phone to read the message. Her hands trembled as she opened up the email. “Thank you for your interest in The Columbia School of Journalism. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer you a spot in the next cohort. Our Admissions Team found several things in your record that did not meet Columbia’s high standards of admission…”

She felt the hot tears starting to fall down her cheeks. How could this be? She’d done everything right. She’d sacrificed. She had straight A’s. She’d stayed off social media other than the carefully curated time she planned out so she’d have the exact right online presence. Only to have her fate decided by an AI engine in less than a day. An AI engine that took her name and national ID number, which is all the “application” consisted of, and instantly scanned her entire on-line history. An algorithm designed to evaluate if she fit the current DEI profile Columbia needed in order to maintain their federal journalism license.

The wave of despair she felt was paralyzing. Now what? She hadn’t applied anywhere else. It wouldn’t matter at this point. A rejection is now in the system and no other school was going to take her with that on her record. The reality of a lifetime of blue collar work began to set in. She struggled to catch her breath.

Matt’s finger hovered over the submit button. Was this going to work? His parents had been smart, purchasing a second ID as soon as he’d been born. His entire life, he used that ID to surf the internet, log into online games, and shit post on X and various counter culture forums. His real ID had been cultivated like a rare flower. Even though it was illegal to use one of the dark web ID coaches, his parents thought it was worth the risk. Everything his real ID did online was carefully calculated for maximum effect. His online self was a perfect being.

Like Susan, Matt didn’t apply anywhere else. A few years ago he’d briefly thought about simply applying to one of the merit based schools, but those were mostly in the midwest flyover part of the country. Graduating with a bunch of deplorables only to be some sort of materials engineer wasn’t going to make his parents happy. It had been important to them from the moment he was born that he be a lawyer and part of the East Coast establishment. That was only real path to power and money.

The second ID had been a risk for sure. The AI engines were smart and able to collate and cross-reference millions of online interactions he or his parents had and look for irregularities. Even with spoofed IP addresses, was there a chance the fake ID could be somehow linked to him? Matt hoped not. His parents had paid a lot of money over the years to the ID coaches to ensure his real persona was squeaky clean.

Like Susan, he didn’t have a backup plan if he didn’t get accepted. The thought of having no other options other than being a blue collar drone or autonomous vehicle operator was not something he wanted to think about.

His finger hovered over the submit button a little longer before he pushed it.

Cool, Daily Life

Random Things And Observations

Very often I can’t remember my phone number or why I walked into the kitchen. Yet, I’ll always know how many feet in a mile, a quote from a movie I saw in high school, and the quadratic equation. (just kidding on that last one) Needless to say, there’s a lot of useless crap and random thoughts that float around in my head much of the day. From time to time I need to purge. Enjoy.

  • How did men in the 40’s and 50’s walk around with fedoras all day and not have hat hair? Watch any old movie. They walk inside, take off the hat, perfect hair. For me the morning decision of hat/no hat is an all-day commitment.
  • We may have our first big winter storm inbound. Thank god because this is the worst start to a ski season I can remember. The flip side is that next weekend is forecast to be in the negative temps. I’ll accept that if it means snow.
  • Speaking of weather – do you notice that the mainstream news only covers weather if it hits the East coast? We’re going to get hammered by a series of storms this week here in the mountain West. Not a peep. The East coast gets an inch of snow and it’s wall-to-wall coverage. The exception is tornadoes in the mid West or mudslides in Los Angeles.
  • You do know that asylum is coming, right? I don’t care what party is in charge. At some point they’ll decide that the numbers are too great to attempt deportation and that the humane thing to do is grant some sort of asylum.
  • I have no idea what’s going to happen with the first few primaries. I do remember that Trump lost Iowa to Ted Cruz in ’16. The future is not set.
  • I ordered a casual wool vest from Amazon in an effort to stop dressing like a homeless teenager. When I walked out to show my wife, her look of horror and puzzlement was priceless. I’m returning it today.
  • My dog hates carrots. He will dig through his food and make a point of spitting them out on the floor. He’s not messing around with that orange bullshit under any circumstances.
  • In the last six months I’ve started wearing Crocs, drinking tea, siting in front of a UV lamp in the morning, (ordering vests) and have had no alcohol in the last six weeks. I’m not entirely sure why, and don’t think it’s helped or improved me as a human in any way. So I’ve got all that going for me.
  • Don’t ask why, but one of my random resolutions was that I need to add more heat (spice) to my food. There is now a bottle of sriracha in my fridge. I’ve used it once. This may take some willpower.
  • Speaking of resolutions, I also decided that music needs to be more of priority in my life. I’d also like another tattoo, but older saggy skin is not ideal. I’ll probably have to let that one go.
  • I got it in my head the other day that we needed chopsticks. I’m not sure why. Anyway, we’re all set in case we decide to have a large asian-themed dinner party.
  • A non-flattering video snippet of Madonna dressed in some head-to-toe sliver outfit and gyrating wildly showed up on Twitter/X the other day. Someone commented that it reminded him of forgetting to remove the aluminum foil from his burrito and putting it in the microwave. I’m still laughing. I showed it to Mrs Troutdog. She was not amused. Some pop icons you don’t mess with I guess.
  • I didn’t get asked to appear on a single podcast last year and I’m crushed.
  • I’ve earned .79 cents from this blog thing. (no, not kidding) Clearly this is the year I’m going to crush it – I can feel the momentum.
  • I learned that there are people out there who stand in the shower facing the water. What’s wrong with them?
  • I stood outside the other day and chatted with a friend about a particular model of car. He said that night his YouTube feed was nothing but videos about that car. They’re always listening.
  • Did you know you can buy a battle axe on Amazon? Not saying I would, but it’s good to know.
  • I guess we forgot about Ukraine.
  • How many modern day navy SEALs would it have taken to win the Revolutionary war? Also, who would win in a head to head battle – Samurai or Vikings?
  • Everyone knew EXACTLY what Epstein was. Yet they interacted with him anyway. Power, influence, money, corruption, blackmail, perversion… been going on since the beginning of time.
  • The Norse gods are starting to grow on me.
  • Just finished a book on the history of the Israel six-day war in ’67. The parallels to what’s happening today are frighteningly similar. Israel is the only country that’s constantly expected to lose a war and then beg for international approval.
  • Does anyone know if you can play a harmonica if it gets wet? The acoustics in the shower would be amazing. I haven’t pulled the trigger on a harmonica yet, but I’m considering…

And that’s a wrap. A successful purge of randomness in the brain. Until the mental hard drive fills up again, thanks for reading along!

Cool, Daily Life, Motivation

Ready To Start Over?

I am a collector of cheesy sayings, quotes, and memes. When I read or hear a good one I write it down. Occasionally I’ll hang one in the bathroom like my framed “Live Laugh Love” poster. Sometimes I’ll make them into Twitter/X posts, sometimes blog posts (are these things still called blogs?). More often than not they get deleted or forgotten, just like your New Year resolution. However yesterday I saw one that I couldn’t resist. It ticks all the boxes; cheesy, inspirational, and true. So if I had to read it, so do you. Ready?

“The count is zero when you wake up”

Did you have a bad day yesterday? Doesn’t matter because the count resets every morning. Did you set a personal deadlift record yesterday? Doesn’t matter because the count reset this morning. Is some weird intrapersonal drama going on at work? Doesn’t matter because the count starts at zero today. In other words a zero count every morning is a less cheesy and lame way of saying every day is a new day.

Unless you’re a Hamas commander who just had a 500 pound JDAM drop on you – then your count definitely does not reset.

I really needed to re-read this saying today. Why? I’ve had zero alcohol for over a month. I’ve worked out at least three days a week. I’ve been both downhill and cross country skiing multiple times. I’ve been riding my bike on the greenbelt. I’ve skipped all deserts and feel like I’ve been paying attention to what I’m eating. I initially saw a seven pound weight loss.

This morning I stepped on the scale and I gained four pounds.

Shit. I didn’t drink all through the holidays and kept away from the buffet table and still gained weight. What’s the point? I might as well have that evening cocktail if I’m going to gain weight anyway. It’s very depressing.

Sigh. Deep breath. The count is zero when you wake up. Today we start over from scratch. I don’t know what the answer is, but we will find a way to make this weight loss work. Yesterday or the last month doesn’t matter. Calories have been too high and protein too low. Step count and workout intensity have been half-assed.

We can fix this and turn the ship around. There was a mantra I’d mutter to myself back in the trail running days when things started to hurt – it’s mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

It’s not whether you fall down, but if you get back up. Ok, ok, ok. I’ll stop with the cheesy sayings. You get my point. Go out and do the thing today.

And remember, always drink upstream from the herd (sorry, couldn’t resist). What’s your cheesy saying for the day?

Daily Life

Some Random Thoughts

While thinking about what to write this morning, I got bogged down with too many thoughts. Too many ideas, most of which I’m bored of. So as we edge towards fall and consumption of pumpkin spice flavored everything, I figured I’d throw down the random thoughts that occupy my brain most of the time. A brief little look at what it’s like to be in my head. You’re welcome.

  • Tomorrow is the rehab evaluation for my recent injury. Can I get my core sufficiently stable/strong with PT alone, or is surgery required? I suspect I know the answer, but we’ll see.
  • The interest on the national debt exceeds our defense budget and will soon be larger than all entitlement spending combined. Think about that. Every dollar of every fancy new program government wants to commit to – is borrowed.
  • Secretary Blinken announced during his trip to Ukraine that we’re committing more than $520 million to help make Ukraine’s energy infrastructure “cleaner and more resilient”. See the previous thought. Can someone explain to me like the simpleton I am, why we need to borrow more money to give to Ukraine for crap like this? How is this in the national interest?
  • Mayor Adams says that New York City is done due to the influx of illegal migrants being sent to the city. Hmmm. What happened to we’ll always be a sanctuary city? Interesting that even the biggest city in the country (and all democratic voters) complaining isn’t enough for the federal government to take action. I have thoughts on why.
  • We recently purchased a large amount of furniture. The cardboard and packing material it came in literally filled our garage. Yesterday was the first time I had to address it. It took the better part of the day to get the boxes all broken down and three trips to the dump to get rid of it. No point other than amount of landfill waste bothered me. Of course usually that’s hidden from us. That’s probably a tiny fraction of what every furniture store in the country generates daily.
  • I’m on week two of being a brand new Apple Mac OS user. I’m really liking it so far. I’d say I’m a competent user at the moment. It’s still going to be a while before I master all the shortcut keys. I’d say I was close to “superuser” level on the PC. Wonder how long that will take with the Mac?
  • We had a rock fountain installed in the backyard. They failed to mention that you need to put bleach or algicide in the water to prevent moss from growing. The rock is now covered in moss. Todays task is to scrub down the rock and add the chemicals. Would have been nice to know from the beginning.
  • Last night I rewatched the movie “The Big Short”. We’ve already forgotten how bad that collapse was. Do you remember how many banks and major financial institutions failed and went under? Uhm, yeah. Don’t think it won’t happen again.
  • We’re about 100 days until opening day of ski season. Crazy to think about, since it’s going to be 90 degrees today. Will I have had surgery? Will I be able to ski?
  • This doesn’t apply to women so much, but most guys have a fixed “hairstyle” that they maintain for the rest of their lives (or until they have to shave it or do the combover). Their haircut literally never changes. At my age, I still haven’t figured a haircut that works. I’ve been unhappy with almost every haircut I get. I recently let my hair grow almost the longest it had ever been. At Mrs Troutdogs suggestion, I went to a fancy stylist to help shape it better. She butchered it and I ended up just shaving it off. I don’t know what to do now. Long, short, bald, mohawk, Peaky Blinders style? I guess I’m lucky at my age to still have hair.
  • Speaking of style, for some reason I had thoughts of tattoos the other day. I wouldn’t mind getting another tattoo, but A) I have no idea what I’d do and B) I really don’t have the right “look” to pull off a tattoo, and C) old guys probably shouldn’t be getting tattoos. Very low probability it would ever happen, but I do think about it from time to time.
  • I need to make more videos for my tiny little YouTube channel before it dies off. I literally think about making a video every day. And every day I draw a complete blank. It’s the “creators” version of writers block. I’m not sure how to bust past this.
  • I just finished the fourth book in the John Matherson series. Highly recommend this series! It’s the most realistic look at what our world would look like after an EMP strike. If you’re looking for something to read, you won’t be disappointed.

Ok, that’s probably enough brain dump for one morning. Trust me, that’s a small portion of the crap that floats around in my head at all times. Now, time to blast some Rage Against the Machine and get my yard work done.

Daily Life, Motivation

It’s Not Interesting

It’s been ten days since I posted anything. I’ll admit, I’m in a bit of a creative slump and I’m not sure why. I’ll start to write a few words and then stop and think to myself, this is just stupid – nobody’s interested in that. Same thing with taking pictures or thinking about making a new video. The mojo just isn’t there. The sad part is that I have plenty of things going on in my life that could make an interesting post, picture, or video. For example, here’s what’s happened in just the last ten days:

  • I took a ride in a small plane to tour a mountain lake.
  • We got rid of almost all of our furniture.
  • We had our hardwood floors refinished and new carpet installed in a few rooms.
  • We committed to a vacation that gives me 16 weeks to lose a large amount of weight.
  • Went on the first few mountain bike rides of the season.
  • Had to drive 200 miles to retrieve my mountain bike so I could go on previously mentioned rides.
  • Read a couple of good books.
  • Discovered that I really don’t know how to use my camera (see small plane flight).
  • Newly installed backyard water feature has turned the yard into a bird sanctuary.
  • Rearranged my office workspace for the first time in a decade.
  • Went to two hockey games for the Kelly Cup championship.

I’m clearly not lacking for activity. It’s not like I’m sitting on the couch, playing video games, and wishing something interesting would happen to write about. Even if I was doing that, there’s been a crapload of stuff happening in the news that I could offer my Pulitzer Prize winning observations on. But eh… nobody wants my opinion on world events.

How do you bust out of a creative slump?

Do you just force yourself to write and post something every day, no matter how banal or stupid? Do I walk around and take pictures of bushes and trees in the neighborhood just for the sake of taking pictures? Is the solution to fake it until you make it? Or do you just wait it out until creative inspiration strikes again?

This is my question for the day.

Meanwhile, I’m headed to the golf course to see if I still remember how to hit a ball.

Daily Life, Government, Health, Politics

Thankful in 2020. Are You Serious?

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • If you’ve lost a loved one, a friend, a business, or your job this year due to the damn Wuhan Flu it’s going to be pretty hard to be thankful. Interestingly, Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving as a national holiday in the middle of the civil war. Some days it feels like we’re drifting towards another civil war. But if Lincoln could find something to be thankful for during one of the worst periods in this countries history, so can we. I urge you to take a quick look at images of Haiti, Jamaica, or the slums of India. Read through some of the world poverty statistics. In Sub-Saharan Africa 41% of the population lives on less than $1.90 a day. 9% of the worlds population still practices open defecation due lack of modern plumbing. Yeah, we’re pretty damn lucky to be living in this country. So yes, today gather your friends and family close and be thankful for the blessings we enjoy.
  • Sydney Powell’s lawsuit in Georgia did drop late yesterday. I have to admit, some pretty shocking allegations. What’s more shocking? Complete and total media silence. Crickets. You may think she’s a crackpot and these charges are tinfoil hat conspiracy theories… but how is it possible that the media seemingly universally ignores it? It’s at least worth exploring. Twitter is even blocking people from retweeting the link to the legal filing. I don’t care what party you belong to, that should scare the hell out of you.
  • I am not thankful for sweet potato casserole. That stuff is an abomination and has no place on the table. And no, adding marshmallows to camouflage it isn’t going to fool me.
  • I love my dog. Mrs Troutdog’s friend had to put hers down a day ago and, well, I just have a hard time thinking about it. My Instagram page is almost entirely pics of my hound. There’s no point to this other than I love my dog.
  • It’s time for LA restaurants to rise up en masse against their mayor. The county public health director has a B.A. in community studies and a PhD in Social Welfare. I’m unclear on how that qualifies you to destroy business and jobs? Because science, you know.
  • If you haven’t seen Charles Barkley’s golf swing, please behold. Even if you don’t know who he is or like golf. How did such a talented athlete go so wrong?

Song of the day: Rage Against The Machine “Killing in the Name (from The Battle Of Mexico City)“