Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #134: Overheated, Old Friends Reunion, Substitute Event, etc.

1. Who would have thought that walking over 10 miles in 100-degree heat would have some lingering effects on the body? As you might remember, in last week’s blog I did the walk I just mentioned while waiting for my car to get some work done. I slowly cooked myself over the course of a 3-hour walk. Now, over the weekend things seemed normal. I didn’t have anything to do, so I was sitting around relaxing. As soon as I got back to my day job and actually had to do things, I realized just how wiped out my body was from that walk. I was physically exhausted. If I could have laid down and slept on the floor of the gym, I would have. The best part is that I have to go get a little more work done on my car this week and very likely will do some sort of walk again. Don’t worry though, it won’t totally be like deja vu. It is supposed to be at least a few degrees cooler, with a lower heat index of around 85 instead of 101. I will still bring everything I need, but rather than walking 10 miles will probably go down the street to my friend’s bike shop and bother him until my car is finished.


2. With so many oars in the water when it comes to my life, it can be hard sometimes to know which ones will actually move my boat and which ones are merely decorative. I look at where I am putting my energy and effort and wonder what my return on investment truly is. I have so many projects I am working on. Podcasts, books, events to go along with those books, producing my first feature film, these are all important and satisfying. However, I guess the bottom line for me, and I am sure many of you reading, is to be financially secure. Yes, I have these projects I pour my heart and soul into, but at the end of the day I still need to work a day job to pay my bills to allow me to pursue these projects. In life, you don’t always get obvious answers. I wish it were in black and white which road to take, but it’s not. A lot of life is moving in the direction you think is right and hoping that there isn’t a cliff around the next corner. It is one part exhilarating and one part terrifying to have so many potential options lying ahead of me. Any one of these projects could suddenly blow up into a life-changing career. Then again, none of them could. There is no guarantee, and that is the risk I take. You only get one life. The best you can do is live it to the best of your ability, doing what you believe is right. Still, I wish there was a big flashing neon sign with an arrow pointing me in the right direction. Funny how, even as I near 50, I still look at my life as a puzzle I am still in the process of building. It’s the perfect storm of fear and freedom.


3. It’s funny how certain events remain vivid in your mind, but to others they are forgotten or at best a blur. One such event came up when chatting with my buddy Steve this week. During a trip over to Nantucket in 2014, we ended an amazing day with a stop at Cisco Brewers. I had finished up much of my research for a travel book I was writing about Nantucket, and it felt like the perfect cap on that chapter. We each got a beer. I got an IPA in a plastic cup. At this point, I had, I believe, an iPhone 6. I took a few photos of the bar and surroundings, including one that I thought was artsy, with the beer in the foreground and the Cisco sign above the bar in the background. Since Steve is a skilled photographer who taught me a lot of what I know, I wanted to show him the photo for his approval. I also wanted to actually drink my beer and not just leave it as an ornament on the bar. I turned around to him with the phone, but the hand with the beer hit the raised lip on the edge of the bar. The beer, in turn, spilled everywhere. I did manage to save maybe half of it, but it was a hugely embarrassing moment. People around must have thought I was already ‘three sheets to the wind’ as my Nana used to say. I believe Steve said the photo was good, possibly to make me feel better. The rest of the time at Cisco went off without incident. It still ended up being a great day, but going full circle, that moment with the beer Steve has no recollection of. I told him I think I stored it as trauma, which is why I remember it in vivid detail.

The infamous photo in question

4. I mentioned earlier about all of the projects I have going on. There can be a sense of uncertainty over the path I am currently on. Obviously, there are no guarantees, and anything worth having is worth risking something for. I do often try to look for subtle signs or hints that I am on the right path. I got a good one this week. While driving to work on a beautiful morning, I opened all of my windows and my moonroof to get as much of the sunlight in. I was on the road when, out of nowhere, a ladybug came in through my roof and landed on my right arm. It was surprising, to say the least. I extended my right arm out, and the bug sat there for several seconds while I drove. You can believe whatever you choose, but I know that in many cultures ladybugs are seen as signs of good luck, wealth, and protection. Just as quickly and randomly as it landed on me, it was gone again. If it had only lasted a minute longer, I would have been in a parking lot and could have gotten a photo. Oh well, it made me feel a little more secure about the road I am on.


5. This week I had an event that could have easily gone sideways. The Cape Cod Maritime Museum in Hyannis reached out to me last week. They had an event Thursday of this week, and their speakers had dropped out. They said I came highly recommended and asked if I could step in. I have learned that when it comes to opportunities, you say yes and figure things out later, so that’s what I did. I had one week to craft a totally new presentation. It ended up being what it was like to have a summer vacation on Cape Cod in 1926, a century ago. There was a lot of research and hours spent putting together a suitable presentation and copious notes. Despite being really happy with my work, I knew that there could still be issues. People had ordered tickets for a certain event. What if they didn’t want to keep their tickets to see me? I was cautiously optimistic but still keeping in mind that it might not be as good as I’d hoped. Boy was I wrong. Not only did people keep their tickets, but the event was sold out, with people waiting on standby just in case seats opened. The Maritime Museum holds events in a really neat, rustic downstairs library overlooking the harbor. It was so packed with chairs that I was wedged in a corner behind a podium. In the end, the event turned out to be one of the best I’ve ever been a part of. It went so well that the staff is already setting up a return event for January. I left the museum feeling grateful, validated, and a bit overwhelmed at the support I got.



6. This week was also the second half of the exhaust repairs on my car. For those who didn’t read last week’s blog, I brought my car in to get the loud noises of my exhaust fixed. It turned out there were a lot of leaks and weakened pipes and joints in the exhaust system, thanks to New England winters. It took six hours before I got my car, and even then I was told there was more that needed to be done. Technically, it might have been finished last week, but there was a chance that it might not have been finished by closing time. If so, I would have had to leave my car there over the weekend, which wasn’t going to work. So here we were at part two, deja vu. Again, I dropped the car off and started a long walk on the bike trail. This week the weather was a little cooler and a lot less humid. It made the 9.5 miles I walked feel like a breeze compared to cooking myself over 10 miles last week. It didn’t take as long for my car to be finished. When I got back to the mechanic, he started going over new things that needed to be fixed when they started trying to fix other exhaust issues. In my mind, the dollar amount kept on climbing. My wallet was whining like a scared dog in my pocket. Then I got the bill. After all of the things they did to repair my failing exhaust, it was still several hundred dollars less than I anticipated. My stress level dropped, and I was once again thrilled with the folks at Ormon Automotive in Harwich. I will never bring any car anywhere else for repairs. They are always thorough, fair, and trustworthy. If you find a mechanic where you feel respected and taken care of, you don’t ever let that go. One thing to know, though, their sparkling reputation means that you need to call a week or so ahead to get your vehicle in. Just a heads up.


7. It is always a blessing to get to see old friends of more than 35 years. This week I was lucky enough to not just see one, but three. First was Barry, who I’ve known for forty years. I hadn’t seen him in person in close to three years. His wife, Rachel, is an accomplished author and someone whose dedication to the grind I really respect. She was part of a festival a few towns over, and I was able to go and hang out under their tent for a few hours. It was a fun mix of catching up on life but also chatting and brainstorming ideas as far as promoting and marketing our work. Anytime I can spend more than a few moments with Barry, it’s like the perfect hit of dopamine. It’s all of my beloved childhood memories rushing back. But it’s also a shot of inspiration when looking toward the future. It’s funny because it always seems like we can catch up pretty quickly, but we also both end up admitting to needing to catch up more often. Each time I feel like we’ll actually follow up on that declaration. We’ll see if we do this time.


8. Second was a meeting nearly 35 years in the making. I have known Tim and Hasan since 1989. I actually met them both within weeks of each other. Despite my having seen each of them several times in the last few years, it had been since 8th grade that the three of us were in the same place at the same time. We met by the pool at one of Tim’s motels on a perfect summer afternoon. It was as if time had just skipped from 1992 to that moment and we were right back to being teens. Hasan’s son Elijah, who just turned ten, was a fun ball of energy and has been raised so well by his dad, but I am not surprised. We all sat around and talked about old times, people we hadn’t seen in ages, and a lot about life as guys creeping toward fifty. It was the first time I’d swum in a pool in years. I loved every second of it and didn’t want it to end, but Elijah was getting hungry, so that was the cue. I hope to see Tim once more before he closes up the motels and heads back south. We all did make very early plans for next summer with the possibility of inviting more people. I truly am blessed and lucky for the friends I’ve made in my life.

A summer afternoon by a pool is always good.

9. The show du jour this week for me from Netflix is The Four Seasons. I took a bit of a break from the suspense, supernatural, scarier shows that have made up the majority of my viewing habits. This is a comedy-drama, dramedy? It features Tina Fey, Steve Carell, and Will Forte, among others, as middle-aged couples and their friendships and how they evolve. The show will have a pair of episodes as a season, ie: spring, and when each of the four seasons is done, that’s a season of the show. So far, there are two seasons with eight episodes in each. I love the humor that is also mixed with real-life issues that anyone can relate to. For me, the standout of the show, though, is Colman Domingo, who cracked me up with virtually everything he said. I only knew him from Fear the Walking Dead, so to see him as a funny, sassy, smart-ass gay man made the show even funnier. The best part is that it got picked up for a third season. The only downside is having to wait until some time next year to watch it. Don’t worry though, I have already jumped back into my typical psychological and suspenseful stuff as I just began Glitch. More on that when I finish it.

10. When I was at my peak as a distance runner ten years ago, I had a very low resting heart rate. According to the American Heart Association, the average resting heart rate is somewhere between 60 and 100 beats per minute. 100 beats per minute is in the average zone? That sounds crazy to me. When I was distance training, though, my resting heart rate was routinely right around 40 bpm. When becoming a personal trainer, I remember doing heart rate readings with a partner. Mine popped up at somewhere in the low 40s, and my partner had never seen a heart rate that low and assumed something was wrong with the heart rate monitor. Then I said I was a marathon runner, and it all made sense. Years passed; hip issues made distance running, and sometimes running in general, a memory. My resting heart rate, while still good, in the high 50’s, was nowhere near what it was at my peak. Flash forward to this summer. With better training habits to deal with my hip, I have been able to slowly increase my running distances. As you already saw, I did a 9.5-mile walk this week, and a 10-mile walk last week in the heat. Amazingly, the last six weeks or so of exercise has done wonders for my resting heart rate. When just sitting and watching something on TV, I happened to check my Fitbit. It showed my heart rate at 42 bpm. That’s right in line with my peak as a distance runner. The only thing is I am not a distance runner. In fact, I typically only run a half-mile or so before stopping to do some walking. So what’s up? I think that my body is just remembering how it used to be, and getting back to that lower resting heart rate is muscle memory. My goal now is to continue increasing my running to see if I can drop that resting heart rate into the 30’s, safely, of course.

Sunset at Englewood Beach in West Yarmouth, MA

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #124: Hearth n’ Kettle, Auto Acorns, Wild Kingdom, etc.

1. In the northeast, we have a restaurant chain called Hearth n’ Kettle. It’s got an old Colonial motif with classic New England fare. I remember many times going to the location in Yarmouth with family and loving it. A quick search says they originally opened in 1973 and at their peak had 6 or 7 locations. The last several years have been hard for Hearth n’ Kettle. There are only two active locations, with Yarmouth being seasonal at best. This week, when driving home, I passed by that location. In the parking lot was a bus and no other cars. People were standing around the bus, but there were no other cars in the lot. My guess is that they were being taken to Hearth n’ Kettle for dinner. Unfortunately, they are only doing dinner on weekends at this point in the year. I guess nobody bothered to call ahead to make sure they were open. That’s too bad. Papa Gino’s was right down the street, so they should’ve had no trouble finding dinner somewhere close by.

2. There is a trend going around with parents trying to recreate a ‘90s kid’s summer' in the present-day for their kids. I have seen a lot of people saying that just the fact that it is being meticulously planned is the first mistake. Having been a teenager in the 1990s I agree. My friends and I would meet up and just go where the wind blew. We’d take our bikes and not much else and figure things out on the fly. I get it that kids today can’t really just roam far away from home like we did back then. I also get it that today’s parents are those kids who grew up back then and they want to share the nostalgia with their kids. There has to be a happy medium. For a ‘90s kid’s summer’ day, it’s easy; it goes as follows. No phones, stay outside as much as humanly possible, and lunch or dinner must be either at the beach, in the car, or at a place with outdoor seating. Spend at least some time out in nature, even if this is just walking in a park or on the beach. Visit a place you’re familiar with but in a different way. For example, I had been to Pizza Hut numerous times as a kid, but it was a different time when my friends and I rode across town on our bikes to eat there. Luckily, I owned a camcorder back then and took copious amounts of videos of my 90’s summers. Here is a little slice of what it was like back then.



3. This week saw the official launch of the GoFundMe for my feature-length film debut, The Cabin. It is exciting and also nerve-racking. We have a modest budget goal for the film to pay for cast, crew, locations, props, and all of the post work. With roughly 2 ½ months until shooting, there’s plenty of time to get most or all of that goal. If worst comes to worst, my plan is to fill in the gap in the budget with my own money. I believe so strongly in the film that I am willing to put my money where my mouth is. I have wanted to be a filmmaker since I was in high school and spent my savings on a bulky Sears camcorder. Now, 30 years later, that dream is as close to being a reality as it has ever been. There is no way I will let that pass by. The Cabin is a suspenseful, psychological horror film based on a short story that I wrote over 15 years ago. If you can donate to the fundraiser, thank you. If you can’t, please share the link so that others might donate. Updates will be coming over the next several months.


4. Welcome to June in New England. You’d think that the month where summer starts would be filled with relatively warmer weather. For the most part, you’re right, until you’re not. On June 2nd, we woke up with a low of 37 degrees on Cape Cod. Not sure if that’s a record. Considering that because we stick out into the ocean, the temperatures on Cape Cod are usually warmer, I am guessing that places in northern New England must have had some temperatures dip below freezing. Luckily, looking ahead for the next two weeks, I don’t see anything close to those chilly temperatures returning. I’m not saying that I’m looking for temperatures in the 90s with high humidity, but after the winter we had in New England, I’d like to have some heat before the cold returns.


5. I didn’t expect the sense of panic that washed over me one morning this week when I grabbed my Fitbit off its charger only to find that the battery was nearly dead. As I stared at the screen with it reading 4% battery, I was freaking out. I need my Fitbit to track my calories burned so I know exactly how much I can eat for dinner. It’s not quite an obsession, but when you’re hurtling toward 50, tracking your fitness becomes more important. I mean, it should always be important, but when you’re in your 20s and 30s, time is on your side, and you have more room for error. That morning was a mashup of me charging the Fitbit in the car on the way to work and then sitting at my desk with it charging enough that I could wear it. I figured if I was just sitting there, I wasn’t accumulating steps or really burning calories, so I was safe. It turned out that I simply hadn’t secured the Fitbit to the charger, which was why the battery just died overnight. At least I hope that was it. There hasn’t been another issue during the week, so I think my nightmare of the dead Fitbit battery is over, but we’ll see. This is the true definition of ‘first-world problems.’


6. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I decided to do a rebrand of my content creator page on Facebook. Instead of exclusively focusing on my podcast, I opened it up to everything that I do. Podcasting, while probably my favorite thing I create, is only a small piece of the pie. I also have had 10 books published, have written something like a thousand blogs, have created probably close to 800 YouTube videos, and countless photo and video posts on social media. I figured after all of these years, it might be wise to share all of what I do. It could lead to more followers. This week’s portion of this rebrand was changing my Patreon page. If you’re unsure of what Patreon is, it is a membership service where a creator in any field can garner subscribers, whether paying or free. It allows someone to support someone whose work they enjoy while, in turn, getting exclusive content or products in return. Anyway, changing your page can be risky because if someone has become a subscriber based on the podcast, they could see the change and think that I am totally scrapping what they became a member for. I created a short post explaining my choice, and hopefully, it will entice more people to come and join. Naturally, I have a link to the page here. No pressure to join, just check out the free tier.



7. I do quite a bit when it comes to creative work. Podcasts, videos, books, blogs, burgeoning film career, and even photography. Despite having a photo book, an Etsy shop, and having shared thousands of photos on social media, one thing I have never done is promote myself as a professional photographer. I mean, like the type who takes jobs shooting weddings and other events. So you’d imagine my surprise when out of the blue I get an email from a stranger asking about my availability to shoot a school reunion in the upcoming weeks. I will admit I briefly thought about accepting, but it came down to time and commitment. I don’t have the time in my schedule to take many hours out to prepare, scout, shoot, and then edit photos. I also just didn’t have the desire to open that door. I don’t have professional equipment besides my DSLR camera. I have no desire to spend boatloads of money buying the equipment I’d need, either. I referred them to a friend who is an actual professional photographer. I will do photo shoots for people, but only family and friends.


8. I used to be more handy when it came to cars. My first few autos I owned were older and often needed work. They lent themselves to being easier to fix, even if you weren’t knowledgeable. I knew how to do most things to fix those old cars. As cars got newer, they needed less work, and I found myself bringing them to mechanics for everything. I have had my current car for almost 12 years. It has 164,000 miles on it and still runs pretty well for an older vehicle. I’d also like to keep it running for 100,000 miles or more. I know I don’t have the skills to repair major issues with my car, but I figure smaller, simpler things I can handle. I decided this week to swap out my engine air filter. It’s very basic. You flip open a box, grab the old filter out, replace it with the new one, and close the box. The first rule of changing the air filter is to make sure you get the right one. No, not the one that will fit your vehicle, I mean the engine filter and not the cabin air filter. I got the wrong one by mistake and immediately had to go back to Auto Zone and replace it. Smart. Oh, but it gets better. I decided to just swap them out in the parking lot. I opened the hood and opened the black plastic box. I removed the old filter, but not before noticing underneath the filter, there was a pile of acorn shells. Nice. I am sure that’s been helpful for my airflow. While I was greasy and had the hood up, I opened the engine compartment. There, I also found some acorn shells. What the hell? Did a squirrel sabotage my car? Have I just not checked my car for so long that the occasional acorn shell got under my hood over the months and collected that much? I’ll have to pay attention if my car starts running smoother after removing those acorn shells. I feel like there would have been fewer of those acorns if I had found a car abandoned in a field behind a decaying barn.


9. There was a classic photo trip this week. My cousin Patrick is visiting Cape Cod from Las Vegas. Even though he had lived here for many years, there are a lot of places he’s unfamiliar with. I was tasked with finding some worthwhile places to shoot. It wasn’t hard. We stuck to the eastern part of the Cape, the towns of Brewster, Orleans, Chatham, and Harwich. I was actually surprised that there weren’t more people around because it was a mostly sunny weekend. We spent much of the afternoon cruising around getting great photos. Perhaps the best part, though, was at the end when I was dropping him off to get his car, and we sat and chatted for close to two hours. It was a fun talk about growing up, our family, and life in general. I think it was the first true, deep, long, drawn-out conversation we’d had like that. It was definitely a day I am so glad we had.

My cousin standing in the Chatham labyrinth.

10. The photo trip ended up being like an episode of Wild Kingdom. Oh sure, we saw the typical array of birds and loads of insects, but we also saw unusual animal guests during the day. First was a gigantic snapping turtle at the Stony Brook Herring Run in Brewster. A young couple asked if we had seen it, and so we rushed over to see a turtle in a shallow creek. This snapper had to have a shell that was a foot and a half across. I bet it weighed 30 pounds. I got some good video as I lowered my phone down using my selfie stick. Luckily, the turtle simply dropped its head below the water and didn’t try to snag my phone like it was a Ritz cracker. Next up was an eastern milksnake behind the Crosby Mansion in Brewster. It was lying in the grass, probably not expecting to have two people come walking up on it. The snake was probably four feet long and was blue and white striped. It slithered off into the brush, but not before I got a great video of it. Finally, at the Chatham Fish Pier, there were several gray seals. They are pretty common there now as they hover around the fishing boats after docking in the hopes of a stray fish being lost overboard. They are like 400-pound seagulls. That being said, the videos of them floating on their backs and looking like dogs make for easy content that people love.




11. It wasn’t all fun and games on the photo trip, though. Being early June, the bugs have started to take control. I have to make a choice when going outside, bug spray or sunscreen. I’m sure you could do both, but how much soupy spray do you want on yourself while trying to enjoy a day outside? I chose sunscreen. I definitely don’t regret it since I was outside for several hours and didn’t end up looking like bacon-wrapped lobster. While we were wandering the woods looking for a hidden cemetery in Harwich, I wished I had added a splash of bug spray. The mosquitoes were everywhere. My cousin was fine having used the bug spray. I got a few nibbles, but nothing prepared me for what awaited back in the car. As we pulled out of the trail parking lot, I could see a stray mosquito hovering around. It landed on my arm, and I knew I had it dead to rights. I gave it a smack. Yes, I killed it, but it also exploded in a ghastly spread of blood on my arm and hand. Here I am trying to drive while trying to clean someone else’s blood off my hand and arm. I was also trying to not smear blood on my steering wheel. It was some nasty stuff. Next time, I’ll create the mixed cocktail of sunscreen and bug spray.


12. Publishers Clearing House, it was not. This week, I got a letter in the mail from the Massachusetts Treasury Department. Excitement was in the air once I realized it wasn’t a bill. I was getting money back from the state. Now, to be honest, I already knew what was in the envelope. I had been on the Find Mass Money website as a person who had some cash owed to them. I believe that mine had to do with overcharging on an old, very old Sears credit card. My enthusiasm over the check I got was tempered a little when I saw the amount: $8.80. So yeah, no secret millions came to me. In fact, it isn’t enough to get a pizza, but it can be a down payment on one. I held out hope for a misprint, but sadly, it was just enough for two gallons of gas in this day and age.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #95: Two Idiots, Northern Lights Part Deux, More Back Woes, etc.

1. How many Amazon drivers does it take to deliver a 3-ounce package? Apparently, two of them. They both walked up to the front door at my work, in the rain, left a padded envelope on the ground, and walked away. They were the first delivery guys I’ve seen in my time there that didn’t just open the door and walk in to leave a package, especially since we were open. Oh, and it ended up being for the business next door. Oh, and they didn’t pull into the parking lot; rather, they chose to block the road. Several people were beeping their horns. Not a pair of Einsteins there.


2. I was at the supermarket and watched while some old lady was scooping chicken nuggets from the hot bar into a container. She decided to just grab another nugget and eat it in full view of me and anyone else. You know, I get it, you’re old and you want to do what you want since you’re at the 1-yard line of life, but I’m also tired of people doing whatever the hell they want while I do my best to actually follow rules. I gave her a dirty stare, but of course, the old bag didn’t care. I guess the ‘no sampling’ sign doesn’t matter to Gummy McGee, or she’s too blind to be able to read it. In that case, she should just have someone else do her shopping for her.


3. I have been grinding heavy with my content work for the past 5 years. It was once I began my podcast that I truly took a turn into being a creator. Before then, I had 5 books published and stuck to that lane as far as chasing a dream of being self-employed. After the podcast, though, I went hard at that, crafting YouTube videos, writing more in this blog, having 5 more books published, and any other form of creativity I could find. It can get tough as all of the work takes time and effort, and the rewards can be slow to come, or not at all. I look for inspiration to keep going sometimes. One person I look to is the host of my favorite podcast, Solomonster Sounds-Off. I’ve been listening to this pro wrestling show since 2012. He just celebrated his 18th year doing his show. The reason he inspires me is that he busted his ass for years, much like I am doing. He worked full-time and spent all of his other free time creating content. Then, a few years ago, he was finally able to quit his day job and become fully self-employed. I’ve reached out to him several times, asking for advice, and he always says it’s about putting in the work and being consistent until you build your audience. This week, I sent him a long email about how he inspires me to keep going. His response was so appreciated. He told me that the fact that I was still going after 5 years told him I had the drive that most others don’t. He told me to keep going, thanked me for my support, and that I had a fan in him. Even if he was just being nice, it means so much when someone who inspires you gives you positive affirmation. I might not be self-employed yet, but I feel like someday I will if I just keep putting in the work.


4. We’ve gotten to the time of year where the weather has flipped from unseasonably warm to unseasonably cold. It went from near 60 with rain one day to 35 with wind chills of 25 the next. Cue the ‘well, it is November’ crowd. Yes, I am nearing a half-century old I have been through the seasons a few times. That doesn’t mean the first cold and windy day doesn’t take some getting used to. I had debated going out to shoot the sunset. Luckily, the clouds rolled in enough to make staying inside easier. That being said, the same exact type of weather day, say in February, will feel much warmer than it did this week. Oh, and the sunset was at 4:25, sweet.


5. So I got this different, stronger melatonin mix with chamomile and lavender and other things. I have been using it to make sure I get to sleep on time. Believe me, this stuff works. 2 gummies and within 30 minutes, I am swan diving into bed. How well do they work? This week, we had a rare and spectacular Aurora Borealis show on Cape Cod. I had popped the gummies before I knew it was going on. Once I saw the first amazing photos come across my social media, it was already too late. I tried to get up to get dressed and maybe go out to try my luck. Nope, my body was like nah, Northern Lights are no big deal, get to bed. I missed the Northern Lights because my new melatonin is so strong.

6. Why is it that anytime I wreck my back, I never have a good story? It’s never ‘I saved someone from drowning,’ or ‘I was hit by a car pushing a baby carriage out of the way.’ Nope, it’s something dumb like ‘oh I turned and bent the wrong way pressing a button and my lower back exploded. That was this week. One of the worst pains. Basically, I didn’t brace properly, and my QL muscle (look it up) seized up trying to stabilize me. This seizure caused my pelvis to be thrust out of alignment. Thankfully, my boss is a chiropractic wizard, among other things, and he realigned my hip, but the pain was still excruciating. I couldn’t bend, which didn’t help since I had a client to train right after being adjusted. Nothing better for a sore back than lifting weights and moving equipment around. I would have gone home early or called out the next day, but the Aurora Borealis were possibly back that night, and I needed to try to make good for missing them the previous night.


7. As far as the actual Aurora Borealis, it was a waiting game that ultimately paid off. With my ruined back, I wasn’t sure how I’d manage to go and look for them. Lucky for me, my buddy Steve’s wife, Amanda, was kind enough to let him borrow her car, which has heated seats. They weren’t a magic cure or anything, but they definitely helped. Our first stop at Bass Hole in Yarmouth Port was a bit of a bust as the clouds dominated. There were probably 20 or so people there, a far cry from the 200+ there last year when I went to watch the Northern Lights. The next stop was just down the road on Wharf Lane. It faces Sandy Neck Beach. Here, Steve and I waited for 45 minutes, not seeing much of anything. It seemed like it was going to be a disappointment. I decided to go and grab a few long exposure shots of this abandoned piece of wharf. I mean, I had dragged my injured self out, so I needed some sort of memento, right? Steve took a photo and was the one to notice the pinks and greens in the sky. Remember, you typically can’t see the Aurora Borealis with the naked eye, but your camera or phone can. Once I saw those colors, it was off to the races. We spent the next 20 or so minutes getting as many photos as we could. It ended up being 2 ½ hours chasing the lights for 20 minutes of action, but the photos and adventure were definitely worth it.

One of several good photos of the Northern Lights.

8. There are very few things in my life that make me as happy as spending a few minutes with my little niece Sylvie before she gets on the school bus. I can only do it on Fridays since I work from home that day, but she always remembers and looks forward to it. This week, I was a little late as I had to hobble myself over there with my ruined back. We took a selfie to send to my mom for her birthday. Then it got better as I was invited to take a drive to Sylvie’s school to drop her off. We had a lot of laughs as we usually do, mostly about how old I am. She gave me a little Wendy’s Frosty toy. I had to remember to take it when I got back since she’d notice I left it and be upset. I cherish these times as I did with my other 5 nieces and nephews, because at some point, she will get to the age that her crazy uncle isn’t fun anymore, and she’ll want to go spend time with her own friends. Luckily, I think I have several more years until that happens, and I will always make sure I have time for her, no matter what is going on in my life.


9. It’s amazing as I sit here to see that the New England Patriots are back. They currently are 9-2, leading the AFC East, headed for the playoffs, and it’s only just beginning. Now I know their schedule is very easy due to only winning 4 games each of the last 2 seasons, but you can only play who is on the opposite sideline. The hype train is crazy. I do get flashbacks to 2001 when Tom Brady was a nobody ‘managing’ the game. Drake Maye is 23, Mike Vrabel is a great coach, they are one of the best teams in the NFL currently, and the crazy part is they have tons of salary cap room. This means as good as they are now, they technically could be only getting better in the next few years. I have to stay cautiously optimistic but it’s hard not to get excited about the team for the first time since Brady left. Oh, wait, I mean, since Brady was pushed out, back in 2019.


10. Dedication to the craft means that, despite having a back injury that had me lying with a heating pad on for days, I still felt the need to scale a 6-foot kayak rack to get a better vantage point for a sunset photo. My back hurt before and after, but in those few moments, it was like my common sense brain shut off, and I climbed up the rack and then used my trusty selfie stick to get a pretty nice photo. Luckily, I didn’t make anything worse, but it is still pretty funny how the part of my brain that senses danger checks out when I am faced with a potentially amazing photograph. Oh, and here it is.



11. I like some good loud music as much as anyone. Maybe I am becoming the old man, but if it’s close to 10pm and I can hear the bass of your music in your car over my TV, then it’s too loud. People are trying to sleep, and these scumbags drive by slowly blasting their music. It’s not a one-time thing either; it’s nearly every night. Maybe it’s not the same people, but it sure feels like it is. They are so much like clockwork that sometimes I feel like hiding in the bushes outside and whipping a rock through their window as they drive by. Oh well, I can at least daydream about doing it, that comes with 100% jail time.


12. On a totally unrelated note, I was surfing around YouTube and I found this insanely funny video. Jurassic Park, but with Pee-Wee Herman as the dinosaurs. Trust me, you’ll laugh.




13. I like dogs, but I love cats. When I am out for a walk, if you are with your giant dog who is aggressively jumping toward me, don’t get offended if I look at you and shake my head in anger. The only thing that stopped that dog from trying to mount me was a car that passed. It sure wasn’t going to be the scuzzy-looking stick figure guy walking it. It’s only on rare occasions that I see these types of people. In fact, on the same walk, I saw several super cute dogs that I wanted to pet, but you know my back is still held together with tape and zip ties.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #24: Crow Shadows, Sick As A Dog, 'Flu Game' Race, etc.

 

1. For a few days at my work a pair of crows sat on top of the building overlooking the parking lot when I arrived at work and were also there when I went home. I don’t think they just sat there all day waiting, maybe they have got my office bugged and they know when I’m getting ready to leave? They are one of the smartest animals.

2. For fans of edibles I must say I really enjoy the 1906 Go pills. It’s a mix of THC, CBD, and caffeine. I can only describe it as an 8-hour runner’s high without all of that pesky running that goes along with it.

3. It’s always fun to burn your throat with hot food. Ugh, then for the next day or two it feels like you have a sore throat but it’s not sore, it’s burned. Wait, that’s no better. Maybe I need to eat only cold foods until I can be trusted to eat like a normal human.

4. Training and dieting for 2 months ahead of my second race in my comeback after 7 years, only to get sick the day before, is the ultimate middle finger to me. TheraFlu was not the pre-race drink I had planned on using but after all of the work I’d put in I’d have to be much more sick to not run it. Plus it was a no-lose situation. Either I’m inspirational for how well I did, or I blame being sick on my poor showing.

Dragged myself across that line

5. Weeks like this, where I am sick and with a less-than-stellar voice, are exactly why I try to be at least 1, if not 2, episodes ahead in my podcast. Sort of a Get Out Of Jail Free card. I mean I guess me sounding a big froggish would make for an interesting podcast show but it would probably get distracting after a few minutes.

6. The 2^nd race of my running comeback ended up being my ‘Flu Game.’ I dragged myself out of bed, drove 45 minutes, and ran the best I could. I mean ‘flu game’ like when Michael Jordan played Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals against Utah. I guess it would have been more like MJ if I’d have finished in the Top 10, but I still pulled it off.

7. In the Cotuit Firecracker 5K I was doing really well. For 2 ½ miles I was a good 30-40 seconds per mile ahead of my pace from my 1^st race of my comeback in May. Then the sickness hit me like a wall. I ended up with nearly the exact same time as that 1^st race. A 5K is 3.1 miles so that means in a little over ½ mile I lost that 30-40 seconds per mile. I basically crawled across the finish line, but I made it.

8. A favorite pastime of mine after a race is to walk off and find an empty area to sit and decompress and reflect on what I had just done. Luckily this race was at the baseball field where the Cotuit Kettleers play in the Cape Cod Baseball League. I walked all the way out to center field and sat against the fence. Then I put my music on and listened for a few minutes. I honestly couldn’t, and still can’t, believe I actually dragged myself out and ran that race.

Sitting in the outfield, music playing.

9. A side effect of my race. It began at 6:15pm. That meant by the time I got home around 8:45pm I was still filled with adrenaline from the run, but also really sick. So despite collapsing into bed at 10 I got nearly no sleep because my body was wide awake. I had to lie there dealing with a horrible sore throat that kept me awake. Plus that stupid TheraFlu did nothing about it. I had to drag myself out the next morning to get real cold medicine, yay.

10. Essentially 4 full days sick, the entirety of the long 4^th of July weekend. At least I didn’t lose any paying work days. I will say that after not being sick for probably an entire year I think I made up for lost time with this. My sore throat was so bad that I went through an entire bag of Halls in a single day just to be able to function.

My post-race celebration

11. So I finally felt okay enough to take my car down to the beach to get some fresh air. The first thing I hear after I park is some teenager saying they honestly thought there were 20 hours in a day. I guess I’d rather hear that level of stupidity but feel better than be sick and have someone sounding smart near me. 

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #23: Don't Drink That, Marathon Car Wash, Serious Rain, etc.

1. Last week I mentioned putting both sunscreen and bug spray on before going for a run. Eventually, I went to wipe sweat from my face with my bug spray-covered arm and practically blinded myself. Well, this week I decided to one-up myself. Rather than take the long way of getting bug spray in my eyes I decided why not just spray it into my eyes and mouth from the start. There were tons of bugs around as I was getting ready for my run and I was in a rush to get that protection on my skin. So much so that I ended up getting in in my left eye and a bit in my mouth. There’s a pre-run tradition I won’t be starting.

2. As a content creator I typically spend most if not all of my free time working on various projects. Podcasts, videos, articles, blogs, etc, all in the hopes of growing my brand. There are times I wish I could do more but then I remember that pretty much all of the successful creators have a team behind them to help with the work, whereas I am just myself. So I think I’m doing alright, except for the whole having no life due to this content work, but oh well.

3. I understand as a writer when pitching a book to literary agents they get loads of submissions. This means that it might take weeks to get a reply, often a rejection, but such is the life of a writer. But when you finally respond after OVER A YEAR that takes the cake. I’d rather you don’t reply at all than give me the lame brush-off after a year. It’s like asking someone out and them waiting over a year to text you ‘No.’

4. While out for a run on the bike path on a hot humid afternoon I saw a really cute girl running toward me. We both smiled and waved and continued in opposite directions. A few minutes later as I slowed down I looked behind me and she was now running toward me. Was this to be a serendipitous moment? No of course not, she waved and smiled as she passed and left me in the dust. I thought about trying to run after her but that was a recipe for falling on my face.

5. While driving I was behind someone going relatively slow. They also seemed skittish, pumping the brakes anytime a vehicle stopped at a crossroad like they thought the other vehicle would t-bone them. I had no idea of the depths of their skittishness though. They needed to turn left down a side street. A car was coming the other way but was several hundred feet away. Rather than turning down the side street like 99% of people would this vehicle waited. They waited what felt like hours but were likely 6-7 seconds. To me, it was the scene in Austin Powers where the man is in front of the approaching steamroller but it is far away. The man just yells for like 15 seconds before getting squished. That was funny this was foolish.

6. When I started the original version of this blog in 2010 my goal was to do some sort of travel writing as my main source of income. Years have passed but my wish is still similar. I would love to drive around the country recording podcasts at various locations. Maybe I can get 5-Hour Energy to finally sponsor me, that was a recurring joke in the original Initial Impressions blog.

7. I went for a long run/walk. I did a loop as far as my route. On the way out I passed a man washing his car in his driveway. Cool, it was a beautiful morning. On the way back I passed the same man still in his driveway, still washing his car. The only problem? My loop was 8 miles and it was a good hour and a half in between seeing the man washing his car. Even at its dirtiest, I might need 45 minutes to thoroughly wash my car. Oh well, maybe he really wanted to savor the feeling?

Are you done yet?

8. I’m torn. I found out that the father of one of my formerly closest friends died. Part of me wants to reach out and check on them. Another part remembers that phones, emails, etc, work both ways. In the nearly 4 years since we last spoke I have lost several family members and friends and didn’t hear Word One. So I remain on the fence as far as being the one yet again who bites the bullet and bridges the gap of reaching out.

9. There was a cloudy humid day this week. It eventually led to some rain in mid-afternoon. I was at a beach and it started coming down. I checked the radar and it was full of reds. I decided to get moving before the worst of it. Little did I know the ‘worst’ was so close and the sky opened up in a downpour the likes of which I’ve rarely seen on Cape Cod. It was like driving through rivers within minutes. Luckily I made it to the supermarket safely and the rain let up a bit to let me head inside...and then the power was out inside the supermarket because of course.

10. We’re headed into the 4th of July week and it has definitely been crazy as far as traffic and the number of less-than-intelligent people behind the wheels of that traffic. That being said I don’t (yet) have that crushing desire for it to be Labor Day Weekend. Maybe I’m mentally and soon to be physically in a better place so it’s not killing me to deal with tourists. Or maybe I’m getting older and don’t feel as good about wanting to skip months of time to get to my favorite time of the year.

Song of the Week: Hole Hearted - Extreme