I don’t like Saturdays

by | May 9, 2015 | Deep Thoughts, Funny Business | 0 comments

In the words of the immortal Jim Anchower, “Hola, amigos. How’s tricks? Been awhile since I rapped at ya…”

I do have some breaking news for you: getting old is no fun. (OK, some maybe it isn’t breaking news. Actually it’s not even news.)

I used to enjoy sleeping in on the weekends. Now I simply cannot sleep past 7am. I think it’s because all of my bones and joints sound like Rice Krispies: Snap! Crackle! Pop! The noise wakes me up and keeps me from falling back to sleep.

Kelloggs_Snap_Crackle_Pop_Blue_Shirt

I wake up at 5:40a.m. on weekdays to get our 8th grader out the door and on the bus by 6:30, so you’d think that I’d be able to rest my weary bones a bit longer on the weekend. But no dice. I’ve come up with a compromise – I count any time that I’m lying prone in bed as “sleep” even if I’m wide awake. How’s that for a Jedi mind trick?

jedi mind trick

 

Our food relationship status: It’s complicated

by | Mar 20, 2015 | Deep Thoughts | 0 comments

Avoid cholesterol, it’s bad for you. Oh wait, some is good.

Avoid fats, they’re bad for you. Oh wait, some fats are good.

Cut down on sugar. Oh wait, the sugar substitutes might be worse.

Switch to diet soda. Or not.

If you try to play by the latest dietary rules, you’ll drive yourself crazy. What’s bad one year is good the next, and vice-versa.

Instead of focusing on individual ingredients, perhaps we should take a big picture approach, like Brazil has suggested in their new guide:

  1. “Always prefer natural or minimally processed foods and freshly made dishes and meals to ultra-processed foods.”
  2. “Prefer eating with family, friends, or colleagues.”
  3. “Make the preparation and eating of meals privileged times of conviviality and pleasure.”

These suggestions are very similar to the advice from author Michael Pollan. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

It ain’t rocket science, it’s just a meal. Let’s keep it that way.

The article about Brazil’s new food guide is here, it’s well worth reading.

And now, a message from a real writer

by | Mar 12, 2015 | Deep Thoughts | 1 comment

I met Tim Condron my freshman year of college, waaaaaay back before electricity was invented. We were fellow Communications majors, so we had a lot of the same arduous intro classes (“Video 101: How to turn on a TV set”). Tim’s one of the nicest gents you could ever hope to meet. He also happens to have a wealth of creative ideas, and sports a black belt in creative writing.

Tim’s father died young. He passed away when Tim was in college, from Hepatitis C that he contracted while working as a firefighter/paramedic and attending to an overdose victim. (No good deed goes unpunished.) You can read more about that here – Tim’s story starts on page 44. In a video production class we both took in college, Tim created a tribute video to his father, featuring still photos of his dad and family, with Steve Goodman’s “My Old Man” as the soundtrack.  To this day, it remains one of the most powerful and moving videos I’ve ever seen. Whereas the video that Tim and I created based on Bruce Springsteen’s “Darlington County” is better left to the Betamax dustbin of ancient history.

Tim almost died young too. A year ago he had what Fred G. Sanford would call “The Big One.”

fred sanford

But thanks to the miracles of modern science, he survived. And he’s created a website about life’s “second takes.” You can read Tim’s story about his near-death experience here, but below is an excerpt:

I’m on a mission to make a difference. To live a purposeful life, full of purposeful work, embracing purposeful relationships, and leaving this world a little better than it was on March 7, 2014.

 My journey is ongoing. It will never end. I must continue my search for meaning. This is not simply living in the moment. It’s living with a reason, living purposefully, living to make a difference. Living to be more than just another guy who some people knew but who passed away with all his ideas undeveloped, his passions unexplored, his words unspoken, his purpose undiscovered, his dreams unfulfilled, his fate left to people and circumstances that mattered not.

Godspeed, TC! Here’s some travelin’ music for your journey…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6BB1FbCA2I