Limited Time Offer – Act Fast!

Atomic Habits author James Clear is crystal clear on carpe-ing the diem:

“The grooves of your daily routine become deeper and more established…” That’s a very polite way of saying you might be in a rut.

I like the solution from Mr. Clear (no relation to Mr. Clean) – don’t get into frantic mode, but rather look to eliminate some of that “busy work” to free up time for “deep work.”

So pitter, patter, let’s get at ‘er.

After all, as the band Rush said, “We’re only immortal for a limited time.”

Presence > Presents

The past couple of weeks have been kinda wacky. My social calendar — usually a barren wasteland — has been crammed chock full o’ gatherings:

A Cincinnati Public Library writer-in-residence event – because who wouldn’t want to hear Manuel Iris read beautiful poems like this one?

Then the monthly “Hoppy Hour” with my Xavier besties. We’ve gathered each month for the past three and a half years. Always a good time.

Then meeting up with an old radio buddy at the home of another music head.

Happy hour with my friend Mark, with whom I worked for 17 years until he retired last month.

A holiday party with some pickleball pals.

A Xavier basketball game with neighbors and two of my sons.

A pub crawl organized by one of my best friends from work. Because who wouldn’t want to hang out at a bar with this guy?

(True story: at the end of the evening, the Uber driver who came to take him home wasn’t familiar with Christmas Vacation characters and was a bit hesitant to give “Cousin Eddie” a ride.)

A “planning session” (read: happy hour) for a New Year’s Eve party with friends I met when our kids were in grade school together. (I can’t make the NYE party, but I can “plan” with the best of them!)

Last night was happy hour with a couple of ad agency pals.

Today is lunch with pickleballers, and happy hour with neighbors and friends.

My liver is going to go on strike (actually I didn’t drink at a few of these gatherings). And honestly there were days were I was tempted to skip out on the festivities. But I’d rather err on the side of going. Most of the folks I’m meeting up with are friends I haven’t seen in weeks or months. It’s crazy that everything gets crammed into the two-week window before Christmas, but seeing old friends (and meeting new co-workers on a pub crawl) is good for the soul.

I don’t need stuff. I just want connection. That’s the gift that keeps on giving. Keep your presents… and thanks a million for your presence.

Big Red Sun Blues

First let’s hear from the brilliant singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams:

Everything is goin’ wrong
It’s not right anymore
We can’t seem to get along
The way we did before
Sun is hangin’ in the sky
Sinkin’ low and so am I

Then let’s listen to journalist/author/environmentalist (and Sunday school teacher) Bill McKibben in this article about LNG.

“The good Lord was kind enough to hang a large ball of burning gas 93 million miles up in the sky. We now know how to make absolutely full use of it, so we should give up on energy from hell and substitute energy from heaven.”

Back to you, Lu:

How’m I gonna lose
These big red sun blues?
Big red sun, big red sun
Big red sun blues

Now over to the International Energy Agency:

Let’s lose the blues and go green with that big red sun.

Out, Damned “Out”

The pandemic may be over, but it created another scourge that’s spreading like wildfire in the business world: the superfluous “out” used with “share.”

“We’ll share out the PowerPoint deck after this meeting.”

“I can share my notes out with the rest of the team.”

Here, let me help you:

“We’ll share out the PowerPoint deck after this meeting.”

“I can share my notes out with the rest of the team.”

There, fixed them for you!

“Share” — in this sense — implies a distribution.

And there’s not a “share in”… right? So there’s no need for the “out.”

I don’t think I ever heard “share out” before the lockdown started. Maybe because everyone was cooped up IN their basement office, the “out” represented a desire to break down the new barriers… but hearing it is like nails on a chalkboard for me.

I won’t rest until “share out” has been eradicated. And the only known cure is raising awareness. If you hear someone using the term “share out”… ask them to restate the sentence without the “out.” (They’ll hate you for being a pedant, but such is the price we pay for better grammar.)

Remember, just “share” is enough…

(Unofficial spokesperson for the committee to stop the use of “share out”)

10-4, Good buddy

This used to be the hottest technology:

Now you can get it for $4 at the thrift store. ($3 if you are age 50 or older on “Senior Sundays”… no, I didn’t buy it.)

As you gird your loins (i.e. change from your sleep PJs to your work-from-home PJs) for some CyberMonday shopping, keep this ol’ CB radio in mind. And read this New York Times opinion piece from Yvon Chouinard, the guy who founded the Patagonia brand, before you click “buy now.”

Cheap products, made poorly and thrown away quickly, are killing people and the planet.

from the article linked above

Obsession with the latest tech gadgets drives open pit mining for precious minerals. Demand for rubber continues to decimate rainforests. Turning these and other raw materials into final products releases one-fifth of all carbon emissions.

From the article linked above

Cheap stuff will wind up in landfills. The latest technology will get relegated to the thrift store faster than you can say “new iPhone.”

“Breaker one-nine, you got your ears on? If you don’t need it, don’t buy it. Over.”

“That’s a big 10-4, good buddy!”

Shop Local. Listen Local.

It’s Small Business Saturday. It’s also Support Local Musicians Year. OK, the first one’s legit, and the second one is something I just made up. But if you go out to a locally-owned bar, restaurant, or club to see local performers, you’re supporting local businesses and you’re a patron of the arts.

Sure, you could drop a month’s pay on tickets to the next Taylor Swift stadium show. But for that same cash, you could support dozens of local musicians who are just trying to get by. Or doing what they love in the evenings while working a day job or three.

You don’t have to buy the merch… you can just drop some cash in the tip jar. Maybe it’ll help them put some gas in the van, or record their next release.

On Thanksgiving Eve, I went to Arnold’s Bar & Grill (Cincinnati’s Oldest Tavern) to see Maria Carrelli and her band play an album release party. The album was recorded live at Arnold’s back in the spring. The album artwork was done by my good friend Keith Neltner, who runs his own design studio. The record was pressed at MusIcol in Columbus. The record sleeve and jacket were printed at Otto Printing in Newport, KY. All small local businesses. (I need to note that the album giveaway was sponsored by Maker’s Mark, which is semi-local but far from small.)

“These aren’t just regular albums. There is a ton of work that goes into them. Releasing these Thanksgiving Eve albums for free has been a passion project for Arnold’s owner Chris Breeden and celebrated graphic designer Keith Neltner for over 5 years now,” the press release says. “They handle every aspect of this release from the vinyl pressing all the way to stuffing the records into the sleeves at the end. The project actually won multiple Cincinnati Addy awards over the years as well.”

From this article in CityBeat (a local news source)

The album went on sale yesterday at a bunch of local record stores:

Shake It Records, Everybody’s Records, Plaid Room Records, Torn Light Records, Phil’s Records, Hail Records and Oddities, Morrow Records, Black Plastic Records, Hey Suburbia Records, Three Feathers Records and Spiral Groove Records.

So before you go dropping a bunch of cash on “stuff”… think about spending some $ on the live, local music experience. It’s much more memorable, and much more rewarding.

Word. Smith.

Patti Smith, the punk rock poet priestess. She gets it.

27 little words that say so much. Gratitude. Beauty. Wisdom. Love. Peace.

Envisioning that world is a great start. Working toward it is even better. You have the power. I have the power. We have the power.

 I believe everything we dream
Can come to pass through our union
We can turn the world around
We can turn the earth’s revolution

Patti Smith

Now Be Thankful

The contemplation above is from Seth Godin’s The Thanksgiving Reader.

It contains many more pearls of wisdom that could come in handy tomorrow.

The full PDF is here. Feast your eyes upon it before the feast.

Happy Thanksgiving!

John McEnroe is Still a Crybaby

I like listening to the Smartless podcast, and understand that a lot of the commentary among co-hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett and their guest is just for laughs. But John McEnroe went too far when he started whining (a longtime specialty of his) about Pickleball. And Will Arnett just piled on. Here’s the clip (warning: contains salty language):

Yes, whiffle ball is not the same as baseball. And pickleball is not the same as tennis. And that’s partly the point. I used to love playing tennis… that was before my arthritic knees and feet betrayed me. Tennis turned into a game of “fetch.” And if you’re spending more time walking over to pick up a ball than you are hitting the ball, it’s really frustrating. Pickleball changed the equation. Yes, it’s a more compact area. And yes, it’s a plastic ball. But there’s still plenty of movement, plenty of strategy and it’s a ton of fun.

I AM serious, Johnny Mac. There’s no need to get your all-white shorts in a wad over “some college player who didn’t make it in tennis,” because:

  1. That guy is making six figures playing a sport he loves, and definitely having fun doing so.
  2. I’d rather watch him play pickleball than watch you play it.
  3. It’s not really about Ben Johns, it’s about the millions of Bens, Johns, and Joans who are getting exercise, making friends, and having fun instead of sitting on their butts.

And I found it funny (but not the way he intended it) that Will Arnett was calling out pickleball for being “trash” and an activity that requires very little movement when, in almost every episode of Smartless, he talks about playing golf. If you want to start the “lazy person’s activity” argument, let’s start there, Willie. Because pickleball is legit.

In a 2016 study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 12 middle-aged players burned 40% more calories during a 30-minute pickleball game than during 30 minutes of walking, increasing their heart rates to within the moderate-intensity exercise zone. A small six-week study of 15 people ages 40 to 85 who played an hour of pickleball three days a week showed improvements in cholesterol, blood pressure, and cardiorespiratory fitness.

Plus, regular practice can help improve balance, which is important in preventing falls as you age. Because pickleball requires both hand-eye and foot coordination, says Casper, “your balance, your movement, and your coordination all get better as you play more.”

From this Time magazine article.

I know Arnett will come around though, probably when he’s a bit older. And let’s hope he has the whiffle balls to admit this:

Water, water, (not) everywhere

You may refuse to believe — or just ignore — the facts about global climate change. But that won’t change the fact that the world is changing, in ways that will affect all of us, sooner or later. (And the way we’re tracking, it’s going to be sooner.)

The Amazon, the planet’s air conditioner, is on the fritz.

In Mexico City, they’re imposing severe restrictions on water use because the reservoir is so low.

In an area of Spain, the reservoir has already dried up, and residents there have to get their water by truck.

Here’s the good news: if you’ve got $7 to spare, you can help save the planet.

You can install this gadget (Home Depot has one too) in about five minutes (it goes in between the pipe and the shower head). Push the button and the water flow slows to a trickle — but maintains your current water temperature — so you’re not wasting gallons of water while you’re shampooing, lathering up, shaving, etc. Push the button again and the regular flow resumes so you can rinse off. Easy-peasy.

It’s not as dramatic as this:

But it’s just as effective.

For a mere $7, you could easily save about 10 gallons of water every time you shower. You won’t just be saving water, you’ll be saving the planet. I’ll drink to that!