Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Monday, December 30, 2019
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Monday, September 2, 2019
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Friday, August 23, 2019
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Monday, August 19, 2019
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Friday, August 16, 2019
Thursday, August 15, 2019
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Thursday, August 8, 2019
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Friday, August 2, 2019
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Wednesday, July 31, 2019
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Friday, June 14, 2019
Thursday, June 13, 2019
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Monday, June 10, 2019
Sunday, June 9, 2019
Friday, June 7, 2019
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Wednesday, May 15, 2019
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Monday, May 13, 2019
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Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Monday, May 6, 2019
Sunday, May 5, 2019
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Friday, May 3, 2019
Thursday, May 2, 2019
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Thursday, April 4, 2019
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Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Monday, April 1, 2019
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Phishing with Ms Brown
So introduces today's Saturday Segment. After a rollicking' hour this morning in the House of Mirth (our Indoor Cycling studio), where, after what I thought was a fair and balanced introduction to 'one of the silliest, sappiest and completely corny rock 'n roll songs of all-time' I was instructed to 'never play that song again'. Yikes! I will allow you to pause here in the attempt to deduce what song (from 1965) could possibly have elicited such an ultimatum.
Waiting.
Still waiting.
I took the opportunity to reinforce our definition of the state of grace we call the Groove Zone by reminding those gathered about the power of change. Of us needing the dedication and discipline to ignore distraction and accept extrinsic circumstances as tests of our commitment, resolve and growth. Seriously, I continue, now building momentum to add whatever credibility and character testimony to the pop ditty possible, what do we do when the wind blows too hard, or the rain soaks us too deep, or the sun burns too hot or (gasp) somebody whistles a tune out of key and way too shrilly? Right! We accept it with peace, respect its presence and steadfastly move along. We will not be distracted from doing what must be done. We do not assign it power by allowing it to 'get in our head or under our skin.' An ancient Arab saying suggests that 'Dogs bark but the caravan moves along.'
Here is the song.
Here is the dot connection between the intro, seeking truth and the story telling of diversity and the magnitude of the human experience. It is called Tracking. From Phish's incredible Hoist, released 25 years ago yesterday.
Many times when I get off on the tangents and stray from the well-traveled path of indoor cycle training, there is, as I confessed this morning after the slap in the face of my musical experimentation, risk. And with risk comes great rewards, experience or...disaster. I am more than willing to take that risk. I seek it out. I want to jam with it in the hope of finding something outside, above or well beyond my current levels of understanding. There is a zone light years away from the twilight. What happens when we fail? Is there value in the attempt?
Think of your favorite musician, or band. What traits, skills or musical risks did they take to get to where they are today - in your heart and head? Did they risk and move away from the standards, add other layers to stale three-chord progressions and road-test time signatures other than 4/4? Of course they did.
Did they sometimes fail? Absolutely. Did they quit and go home because of it? No, they went back to the studio, plugged in, counted it down and took it from the top. Gaining the enormous experience of their process along the way. This has so many tangents, parallels and utilities available to us as motivation.
Music is one concept I can report on with 100% certainty of truth. There are an infinite number of stories about the diversity and magnitude of the human experience, some of the most interesting still untold, available for our consideration. It is like going to the record store and flipping through the vinyl. Sometimes you find that diamond in the rough, sometimes something new, and other times a completely different approach, genera or interpretation. You want my definition of hell? Every song is the same.
We choose to match all this up with our indoor cycling. And see what happens. We take risks. We climb hills hard. We enjoy every challenge. We embrace failure.
A lot of pedal rotations separate Herman's Hermits from Phish. Some safe and secure of low intensity and flow. Others flat out rock. We deal with it. We stay focused and allow little extrinsic distraction. This is our practice.
Makes a bloke feel so proud.
Friday, March 29, 2019
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Monday, March 25, 2019
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Friday, March 22, 2019
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Monday, March 18, 2019
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Saturday, March 16, 2019
Friday, March 15, 2019
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
EV Risotto
The plot, like good risotto, thickens. Once the decision has been made, no matter the drama, degree of difficulty or seeming implausibility of the assembly of ingredients, their cost or the incredible amount of time and energy required for success, one, whether cook, mechanic or adventurer, sets about the work.
The part of this scenario that never ceases to amaze me, is what happens once the plan is hatched, launched, teed up or kicked off. The process begun, mysterious, unexpected and sometimes amazing bits and pieces of the bigger picture start to appears as if laying in wait. Like getting called out of the Union Hall by name, ‘no we don’t want any journeyman finish carpenter, we want Joe.’
Things, a horrible proxy for energy, inspiration, motivation, passion, vision and the willingness to move intrepidly into the deep unknown, all seem to drop from the sky onto a predestined landing pad. Providing the chef, wrench or entrepreneur with a continuing opportunity for improvisation. One must be prepared to juggle these random gratuities from the cosmos for not only the short term (dinner) but satisfy the larger picture as well (successful execution of master plan).
I would not blame you one bit if you were, at this point, to wonder where we are headed on today’s magical mystery tour. So I will confess that I am not sure. Yet. I know what I would like to explore, so let’s get there first and course correct after lunch. We start with a rusted out Model T from Roberts, Montana.
You will no doubt recall that I have launched a(other) project. This one of potential so great that I needed to call it, somehow, epic. Hence the 2019 Epic Ride, a snappy 1,600 mile cycling tour along the Pacific Coast from, roughly, Seattle to LA. In 21 days. Supported.
With the trinity of onion, celery and carrots creating the base, and garlic, mushroom and black pepper as savory frills cooking, I start looking for a suitable support vehicle that I could offer to a sponsor as a rolling billboard (we call it a wrap) promoting a product, brand or service. Down and back, around 4,000 miles with maybe 20,000 total views. If we could design a campaign offering a number to call, website to visit or hashtag to tweet, all pointing to a giveaway contest, we might get some nibbles. Maybe even land a big fish and have the sponsor cover the complete cost of the campaign. Whoa! Hand me the big spoon June, the rice need a stirrin.
I found a couple of perfect rigs, outfitted, built and ready for vinyl and was ready to spend a full day test driving and negotiating when, like finding Portabellos suddenly and freshly on-sale, I had this thought:
If we are cycling the coast, burning zero fossil fuels, why the heck should our SAG emit unnecessary create carbon pollution? Why not go EV? Are there hybrid or total electric vans available? What is out there?
Come to find out that there is a minor glut on the used EV marketplace mostly due to the one-time tax break and many folks choosing to lease the current fleet of eco-friendly rides. BMW and Honda are rolling out a new line of vans, utility vehicles and small trucks in, hold my vino rosso, 2020. Next year.
So guess who is going to get a call from this focused, passionate and motivated tour guide? I am on it.
Right after dinner.
Monday, March 11, 2019
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Friday, March 8, 2019
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Monday, March 4, 2019
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Saturday, March 2, 2019
Friday, March 1, 2019
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Monday, February 25, 2019
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Friday, February 22, 2019
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Monday, February 18, 2019
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Saturday, February 16, 2019
Friday, February 15, 2019
Thursday, February 14, 2019
2019 Epic Ride
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Monday, February 11, 2019
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Saturday, February 9, 2019
Friday, February 8, 2019
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Monday, February 4, 2019
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Friday, February 1, 2019
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Monday, January 28, 2019
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Friday, January 25, 2019
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Monday, January 21, 2019
I Will Be OK
While certainly not linear, the connection of awareness dots is steadfastly approaching 25,000 consecutive days. Where dots are days. The dot com site of birth to today. This dot on the timeline. Beethoven’s dot dot dot dash. And gone in a flash.
Among the many reasons why we do this (pay attention and jot notes) is to capture the nuance. I want to make sure that I get it right. Did I? Do I?
It used to be comparatively easy, when the entire scope of our responsibilities was limited to sitting, listening and learning with a few intervals of running, laughing and hitting a ball with a stick in between. Now, further along the dot-line, we face challenge the likes of which we never imagined - even when allowed those rare occasions to ponder the unknowns of stillness, silence, eternity and infinity. I can, with high-definition, full-spectrum, surround-sound, recall wondering what it would be like driving Dad’s ’56 Ford to the beach. The fact that we were supposed to be studying times tables was of secondary concern. My life, that dot, was a mash-up of the joy, success and self-confidence I took from being good at baseball and the fear, doubt and humiliation I scored from math. Truly the only equation relevant to me was in the computing of my batting average. At bats divided by hits equals social standing.
A few years ago, another dot, I was dating a gal whose work was Psychology. With the specific area of expertise being past live regression hypnotherapy. As you might assume it didn’t take long for our relationship to segue into this fascinating, to each of us in different ways, field of applied science and human behavior. She had me at ‘you are getting drowsy.’
We conducted several regressions with one being more dramatic that the others. She had me go back in time, the me that I was on the day of that dot, and visit with the poor, scared, anxious and confused kid (the dot was me in college), sit in the locker room and have a heart-to-heart chat. To try to exchange the wisdom that would soon follow, my total accumulation of data, in order to comfort, instruct and encourage the young man by consciousness time-traveling back with the good news. A cybernetic retro connection of dots.
I can say without hesitation that it was one of the most important conversations in my life. The paradox of it being a conversation with me as a nineteen year of collegiate baseball star with a stadium full of insecurities and the (semi) mature adult twenty-five years later, added dynamically to the importance and value of our dialogue. The gist of that exchange was centered around the old dot me connecting time-line dots with the young dot me. On one fact. I said to me:
It will be OK.
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Friday, January 18, 2019
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Monday, January 14, 2019
Friday, January 11, 2019
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Monday, January 7, 2019
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Saturday, January 5, 2019
Friday, January 4, 2019
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
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