Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #35: Drivers Ed, Running With Bats, Credit Score, etc.

1. On Monday nights I usually run at a local track with a friend of 30+ years. It’s a lot of fun but unfortunately will be ending for the season at some point when sunset gets too early. This week I was last to leave the track and walked another lap when I noticed a red car circling the area of the track. I got bad vibes after a 3^rd lap and started thinking about getting out of there. On the 4^th lap, I finally noticed it was a father teaching his son how to drive. Thankfully I didn’t make a scene or something before figuring out what the deal was.

2. I pulled into the parking lot at work on an early morning, around 6:40am. It was to my horror that I saw in between where I’d park and the door to my job somewhere in the neighborhood of two dozen turkeys. Rather than be calm and walk through them hoping they wouldn’t sense fear and gang up on me I took the other approach. I yelled and charged them like a madman and they all scattered gobbling with anger at me. My victory was almost ruined when I momentarily couldn’t find the key to open the front door. 24 on 1 is not good odds unless you’re fighting ants.

3. I stopped at a beach for sunrise on the way to work this week. When it’s low tide the tidal flats stretch out for a long distance. My eyes were on some great photo opportunities when I was walking down the beach when I spotted something to my right. I thought it was a really detailed sand castle in the shape of a large sea turtle. Then when I got closer I noticed it was a very real, very dead sea turtle. It was 5-feet long for sure. The nature folks had already been there as it had a tag around a back flipper and a bit of red spray paint on it since otherwise the carcass blended in a little too well to the sand. People at work asked if I got photos of it. I said they didn’t want to see photos of it, especially on an empty stomach, but I will say the seabirds were having a feast as I was leaving.

A much sweeter depiction of how it looked.

4. Every so often when going to the grocery store there are people/groups standing/sitting in front of the entrance asking for money/donations for various causes. Shockingly this is not something I enjoy. I am typically able to skate on by them by politely making it clear I don’t have cash. Adults I have no problem with giving a smile and walking by. However, if you put cute little kids out there asking for money I will produce cash for them even if I have to get cash back on my purchases. The best way out of parting with extra money might be to turn around and go back to my car and head to a different grocery store if I see little kids out in front asking for money.

5. At my job we have a lot of cutting-edge wellness products. One such thing is Pulsed Electromagnetic Field(PEMF). In short, it helps with healing, pain, and tons more that would take a whole blog in itself to fully explain. It’s my favorite thing at work, just know that. Anyway, a regular client uses the PEMF usually once a week. It’s a pad that can be folded a few times to increase intensity. It’s very safe unless you have a pacemaker. You can even be on your phone while using it. What we learned this week though is you can’t put your phone on the PEMF pad while it’s on. Otherwise, your phone looks like it’s been put in the microwave as it flashes uncontrollably. Not sure if it caused any lasting damage to the phone, but we all had a good, albeit shocked, laugh at the situation.

6. In 2024 I have enjoyed the payment plan options that come with some purchases online, specifically Amazon. Klarna, Affirm, I think there are others but you can split payments into 4 to make it easier on your budget. The things I’ve bought I could have just paid in full but I thought it was fun to do it this way. Little did I know it would have major benefits. This week I got my credit score updated and it’s gone up 40 points in 5 months all because of my payment plan purchases. Sweet!

7. On the Threads app which is still relatively new I have noticed what I enjoy interacting with people about due to what the algorithm shows me. My main interests are people who have lost a lot of weight, people who have beaten cancer, people who celebrate their sobriety, oh and Cape Cod photography. It was actually rather heartwarming to figure this out.

8. I was so sad to hear of the death of the icon James Earl Jones this week at the age of 93. He had one of, if not the best, voices in all of film. Besides that, he was in so many movies that mean so much to me. All of the original Star Wars trilogy, Coming to America, Field of Dreams, Sandlot, Lion King. He truly was a one-of-a-kind legend and will be sorely missed.

Legend

9. In my continuing content creation caper I bought myself 2 new toys. 1 is a high quality webcam for video podcasts, and the other is a selfie stick that is also a tripod. I began using the stick which could be 6 feet long as a way to get higher vantage points for photos. I was at a beach looking to get a cool sunset photo. I began lengthening the stick until it was fully extended (man that doesn’t sound right). When I gave that stick a final yank (good lord) the tripod legs sprung out. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to close the tripod. So I was out on this dock struggling with the tripod legs and a young couple was walking by no doubt wondering what the middle-aged and crazy guy was doing. I came close to losing patience and just breaking the legs. I battle with it in my car at the beach, in the parking lot of the grocery store, and even in my own driveway. Finally, when all hope was lost I figured it out and now it’s all good.

10. Sunset running is really fun. Being outside in the nice weather as the scenery gets the golden hour orange glow is great. You don’t have to run to enjoy it, you can just walk. I do more walking than running these days anyway. We’ll bookend this blog with sunset running. I mentioned earlier my friend and I run a local track. This week was the last sunset run of the season because beginning next Monday the sun sets too early for me to make it worthwhile. I’d basically have 10 minutes of sunlight upon my arrival at the track. This past week cut it close. I like to hit 4 miles at the track. It was so close to dark by the time I got done that bats were swooping down around me around the track. I don’t know what was weirder, those bats, or the girl walking her little yip-yip dog on the track but picking it up and running with it a few times rather than just walking with it on a leash.

Sunset running leads to moonrise walking.

11. I’ll end with a funny one. My last name is Swedish and hard to spell I have come to accept that. I was invited to a local event on Cape Cod for next month. I was considering it but they misspelled my last name on the invitation and all I could think was they must not want me there that badly if they couldn’t take a minute to Google search me and spell my last name right. I have a big online presence so it’s not hard to find. Besides that, I already had plans to do an overnight road trip so even a correctly spelled last name likely wouldn’t have made a difference.