Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #115: Sickness Jinx, Tax Fun, Hey I Know You, etc.

1. I have been pretty vocal about the fact that I haven’t gotten sick in close to two years. It might be minor, but I think it’s finally caught up to me. My coworker was out for a few days with the flu, and I was still feeling good and confident. Then my head started hurting, and my body felt weak and heavy. It wasn’t enough to keep me from working, but it was enough to make a few days feel pretty rough. I was lucky to not have any throat, stomach, or diarrhea issues. It was just the aches in the head and body. I don’t play, though, when it comes to being sick. I went to the store and grabbed Emergen-C for my immune system. Even if it’s a minor inconvenience compared to having the flu, I still hate being sick and will do the equivalent of dropping an anvil on an ant hill to feel better as fast as I can.


2. Some people either have no filter or don’t know how to read a room. At my job this week, I had one of the weirdest interactions yet. A woman came in to use our PEMF (pulsed electromagnetic field) mat. I put a link in there for you to look up what it is if you’re curious. Anyway, she’s lying on the table on top of the mat, and I begin to turn up the intensity. Unprompted, she remarks about a sign above my desk that says ‘Attempted Murder’ and is a picture of two crows. Because a group of crows is known as a ‘murder.’ That’s not the weird part. No, that came when she said, ‘every time I come in here and see that sign, I think of my three friends who were murdered.’ Like, wait, what? You had three friends get murdered? I don’t know why she brought that up to me. I don’t know her well and focused on getting the PEMF up and running and returning to work. How do you respond to that? It’s like, think of the most awkward thing you could possibly say to basically a total stranger. Hey, that sign there makes me think of my three friends who were murdered. Yay, thanks. I’m not taking the sign down, so you’re gonna have to close your eyes every time you come in.

The exact sign above my desk

3. There are few sounds more terrifying than the sounds of your pants tearing as you squat down. I was in the middle of training someone, and I demonstrated a squat, and I could feel something give way. The last thing I was going to do was immediately reach into my crotch to see if what I heard was real. I had to just hope my face didn’t give it away. Once I got home, I did in fact find a nice tear in my jogger pants. In fairness, I have had them for a few years, and I have worn and washed them a ton. I did get my money’s worth. But still, this is not like high school, where I’d wear my torn jeans until they basically floated away like dandelion spores. Nope, those joggers were into the trash, and I was off to Marshalls to find some new ones.


4. Something that was brought to my attention this week was a possible new side gig. Airbnb Experiences is where people offer services in areas where rentals are on the site. You know, like a wine tasting in Napa Valley, etc. Having seen how much interest my Cape Cod content has received, especially the lesser-known places, putting together some kind of experience-based content around that might work. I can’t take credit for the idea, which belongs to my friend and coworker Heather, whose husband, Aaron, recommended it to me. Now, before you go booking your Cape Cod escapes with me, there are a lot of steps between now and then. I need a name, an actual itinerary, pricing, figuring out logistics, and crafting a proposal for Airbnb. Maybe it happens. Maybe it doesn’t. People have suggested for years that I do some sort of Cape Cod tour focusing on the lesser-known places and connecting it to my 12th-generation lineage. It all comes down to time and money. If I put in all of the effort of putting this job together, and then it doesn’t pan out, who knows how much money I’ll have spent? Of course, I’m only in the early brainstorming stages, so there will likely not be any news for a few months.


5. I’m not famous by any stretch of the imagination. So when I get recognized in public for my work, it’s both thrilling and surprising. I was in a supermarket at night this week. I got to the self-checkout, and a woman came up to the next register. Out of the blue, she said, ‘I follow you on social media.’ She told me how much she enjoyed my Cape Cod videos, which I’ve been sharing on Instagram, and that she shared them with her son, who lives in another state. She was very nice and complimentary, and part of me didn’t know how to respond. Mostly, what I mean is I didn’t want to get too excited that someone followed and enjoyed my content. My happiness couldn’t be contained, though. I just thanked her and told her I appreciated her kind words. I think part of it is that I am naturally introverted, so I tend to not initiate conversations with strangers. The fact that she took that risk and approached me, I respected, and I did my best to be outgoing but not pompous or anything. Act like you’ve been there is the phrase. Can you tell I overthink things? Anyway, it was a great experience, and I am so grateful to anyone who takes the time to check out my videos, blogs, books, podcasts, etc. Thank you.


6. Finally, I got around to watching the fourth Beverly Hills Cop movie on Netflix. I had so many shows I needed to binge that I totally forgot I wanted to check it out. It was definitely a fun, nostalgic ride for me, who is a big fan of the first two films in the series. They even brought back basically everyone who they could to be in this film. There are a few new, younger characters to freshen it up, including Taylour Paige, who plays Axel’s estranged daughter. She plays Charlotte Hanlon, Will’s mother, in IT: Welcome To Derry. The famed Axel F theme song was all over the movie, and many other songs from the movies got sprinkled in. If you enjoy the classic 1980s Eddie Murphy, you’ll like the fourth Beverly Hills Cop film. Sadly, John Ashton, who played Taggert, died shortly after it was released, so the fifth film, which apparently is already in development, won’t see him in it. I’m doing my best to not spoil anything for anyone who is going to watch it, but just know I thoroughly enjoyed it.

7. There are few things I enjoy less than doing my taxes. When I was younger and actually got refunds, I was first in line, or online, to get them filed and to get that sweet refund money. Since Massachusetts made it a penalty to not have health insurance, I routinely have to pay state taxes. That, plus I get some money from my book sales. I have to laugh because health insurance is so damn expensive, and my job doesn’t offer it, so I choose to go without it. I’m sure it isn’t the best option, but when money is tight, you take the devil you know (paying a penalty) versus the devil you don’t (paying a monthly insurance premium). Anyway, I chose to leave TurboTax and to try Free Tax USA, mainly because I saved about $100 in costs to file my taxes. Luckily, besides my book royalties, my taxes are pretty simple, so I don’t worry about making mistakes. It’s literally just my one job W-2, and a couple of 1099s for writing, no real funny business. So there you go, if you haven’t filed your taxes yet, try Free Tax USA over Turbo Tax.


8. Now that I am doing way more in the world of content creation, my mind is always going to where I can stop and grab a few quick videos when I am driving somewhere. A benefit of having lived on Cape Cod most of my life is that I know pretty much any spot that might fit that bill. This weekend, while driving home from Market Basket (always a fun field trip), I stopped at the beloved Sandwich Boardwalk. The plan was to walk the entire length of the boardwalk and shoot it in 4K. I did that, but was not expecting the cuteness overload that happened twice. There was a family there trying to skip rocks in the marsh creek. It was mom, dad, a little boy, and a little girl. The little girl was maybe two years old at most, and she came literally toddling toward me on the boardwalk. She had one of those adorable knit hats with little round ears on the top. When she came up to me, she had the biggest smile and was waving. I asked her if it was cold at the beach, and she just smiled. On I went. When I was coming back, the family was heading in my direction, and again the little girl stared, smiled, and waved. I basically ignored the parents to make sure I said hi again to the little one. I do it because I enjoy little kids. I also imagine that at a young age, when they’re still forming views of people in general, I’d rather become a positive memory of theirs than some buried trauma that comes out in therapy in 30 years.

The end of the Sandwich Boardwalk

9. Easter is an interesting holiday. I don’t think I’ve gone to church on the holiday since I was a kid. For me, it was always all about the family celebration on the day. When we were little, way back in the 1980s, we’d have Easter egg hunts. These were always fun. My Nana’s house would see the eggs scattered around her yard. My sister Kate and cousin Ryane would have baskets, and I believe that we each either had a specific color egg we had to find, or they’d have our initials on them. Believe me, if it were just finders keepers, I’d have cleaned up. I remember one year, my Aunt Kelly and her then-husband Mark set up the most challenging egg hunt ever. There are photos of me scaling trees and crawling out onto branches to grab eggs. It was a different time back then. Just put the eggs anywhere, no matter how dangerous, we GenX kids were tough enough and didn’t care. However, when I think of Easter, the very first thing that comes to my mind is my Nana’s cheesy hash brown potatoes. She’d put them together every year, only on very special occasions. It began with one large pan of them when I was really young. As we kids grew up, and the popularity of those potatoes grew, it ended up being two monstrous pans. As my Nana got into her 80s, she commissioned my Uncle Bob to take over the recipe. It’s been at least 15 years since I’ve had those potatoes, but I can still see, smell, and taste them. It’s a childhood memory I hope I never lose.

Scaling the tree for an Easter egg

10. Food comas can sneak up on you. This year, for Easter at my mom’s, I filled up on pot roast and desserts slowly but steadily. I felt like things would be fine, and then suddenly my stomach was angry. All of the food was amazing, but I have a tendency to eat too much too fast on holidays. I had to fight to stay alert and engaged with everyone. Eventually, it got to be too much, and I had to say my goodbyes and head home. First of course, I had to stop at the beach in the rain to sit, relax, and enjoy a little time to myself. It wasn’t walking to the cranberry bog like we used to do after Easter at my Nana’s, but wandering along the beach as it rained had to do. I hope everyone who celebrates had a Happy Easter!

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #100: Back In Time, Fox Sounds, 90s Mindset, etc.

1. I got an important message on Facebook this week. I need to convert my security to two-factor authentication before a certain date. The date? December 31, 1969. So not only do I need to change my security settings on Facebook, but I also need to find Doc Brown and the DeLorean and go back over 50 years to do it. It doesn’t give me a lot of confidence in security settings when they can’t even get the year right. If I have no other choice, I’ll wait until they at least get the date right before I go switching up my security settings.


2. Stand By Me and The Princess Bride were two of the most important films of my childhood in the 1980s. Rob Reiner was one of the most important directors of the last 40 years. Far beyond his work as Mike ‘Meathead’ Stivic on All In the Family, he created some of the most beloved films of my life. Death comes for all of us. It is undefeated. But for someone so beloved in Hollywood to be murdered in his own home in his late 70s, it’s beyond awful. I’m sure more details will be coming out in the weeks to come, but it appears as though it was his own son who did it. Sad, so damn sad. RIP Rob Reiner.


3. I signed up again for Netflix this week. It was mostly due to my FOMO over the final season of Stranger Things. I signed up for the lowest tier, with ads, for $7.99. I was anticipating being overloaded with ads. Thus far I have watched four episodes of Stranger Things Season 4, because I have to catch up, and I have yet to see one single ad. I even had to go check and make sure I didn’t accidentally sign up at a higher tier. You know what that means, right? At some point in the near future, the luck will even out, and I’ll be watching a show that is 75% ads. I have jinxed myself, but it’ll be worth it for Stranger Things, Cobra Kai, and Black Mirror.


4. I absolutely loved IT: Welcome To Derry. The show was loaded with easter eggs for lovers of the IT movies and also expanded the lore of those movies and the book. The plan is for 2 more seasons, each taking place in a different year as Pennywise continues his quest to destroy his enemies, present and future. If you enjoy horror, you’ll love this. It’s shot beautifully and should win an Emmy for cinematography, and other things. The acting is first-class. There are 8 total episodes, and each one feels like a movie in and of itself. I will not spoil anything for those who are watching or are going to watch. All I’ll say is that at the end, you’ll see how the prequel show lines up with the movies. Excellent.

5. In the continuing adventures of training my 12-year-old client comes this gem. We normally throw a 10# medicine ball back and forth for almost our entire 30-minute session. This week, his shoulder was tired, and his legs were tired from snow fun. I found a workaround by having him kick a kid’s rubber ball. His heart rate was still getting up there, and we made a game out of it. Luckily, without any weight to the ball, it could hit anything and not cause damage. Well, almost anything. During our session, the very first kick he did managed to be a line drive to my nuts. I had to not sell the impact, otherwise the whole session would have turned into him trying to nail me in the junk with the ball, or something more dangerous. In all, it was a fun time with 300 calories burned by me.


6. I have vivid dreams quite often. I will wake up multiple times per week, remembering whatever the dream was that I had. Most of the time, they are just random stuff, as most dreams tend to be. This week I had a dream like that, although it did feel like it had more meaning. I was at a school track with my friend Mike, of Monday Runday fame. For the first time ever, we were joined by our other friends Steve and Greg. What made this dream stand out was that our friend Pete showed up. Sadly, he passed away from cancer a little over 3 years ago. In the dream, he was drinking a specific type of water that, in the dream world, we recognized as being one taken off the market because it was proven to cause cancer. He had to have me and Greg scrub down the bleachers with soap and water so he could safely sit on them, as he had a compromised immune system in the dream. I don’t remember much of what we spoke about; it was brief, but I remember the water and us all bringing up how it had been pulled for causing cancer. I wish there were some special message Pete had for me to relay to the others. Maybe there was, but I forgot it. I think the fact that he was there, and I had never dreamed of all of those other friends before, makes this a special dream. Thanks for visiting, Pete.


7. As a big fan of the Back to the Future movies, I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of time travel. I can’t build a time machine. I don’t know how to make a flux capacitor. However, little did I know that I didn’t need to build a time machine. I have access to one in the basement in the form of the dryer. I was drying my laundry this week and waiting for the last 3 minutes to tick off on the timer. All of a sudden, boom! It’s back up to 19 minutes! I went 16 minutes into the past just like that. Nothing important happened, like me knowing the Powerball numbers or being able to save someone from an accident. Nope. In fact, it was just the fact that my clothes apparently weren’t dry in the time the dryer said they would be. So, in conclusion, the dryer isn’t a time machine, but it is a liar.


8. A strange occurrence happened one afternoon this week. We had a day of pretty steady rain, but as the sunset drew close, I noticed that there were some breaks in the clouds. I figured it was a perfect excuse to get outside since it was in the 50s in mid-December. I drove to a nearby beach and snapped a few cool photos before heading back to my car to post them on social media. While I was sitting in my car, I heard a strange sound. I thought it was either a kid screaming or an odd dog barking. I looked in my mirrors and saw a fox standing in the parking lot, maybe 20 feet behind my car. I stepped out and began shooting a video. It trotted away, but not before making that same odd barking sound on video. I went back to sitting in my car, but heard the barks a few more times and saw the fox walking through the parking lot toward the beach. Being foolish, I got out and started trying to find it to get more photos or videos. Now I had watched the fox running, and it didn’t look injured, so I felt like I wouldn’t get attacked. It was also dusk, so it was hard to see where it could have been hiding. Eventually, after walking across the entire beach, I heard it barking again. It was sitting up on a hill next to a fence, barking. I didn’t dare get too close, so I didn’t end up getting any more video. A person walking to the beach also heard the fox and thought it might have been calling its mate. I wasn’t going to keep chasing after it, especially since it disappeared under the fence. I did get the video, though.



9. I have been writing for decades. I first wanted to become a writer when I was in 2nd grade. I’ve done poetry, song lyrics, short stories, novels, blogs, and various other types of books. Despite having some experience in writing, I am surprised at how much of a learning curve there is for me when it comes to script writing. As some of you know, I am working on a script for a feature-length film that will be happening in the summer of 2026. It’s based on an old short story of mine, The Cabin, which I wrote in 2009. First off, I have to revise the actual book since my writing has improved in the last 15 years. Then I have to adapt that into a script. Why is it a learning curve? I guess it’s having to include a lot more ancillary details like where the scene is, some of how the camera should shoot, descriptions of actions, and the like. Think of it as having to describe everything that’s happening in as much detail as possible. Luckily, I have some time to get the first draft of the script done. After that, the director of the film, who has loads of experience, can help guide me to the finish line.


10. It was three long weeks that I wasn’t able to go for any outdoor walks. The weather was the main culprit. The only thing better than the 45-degree and sunny day was digging deep into my past with 90s Pop Radio on Pandora. Oh, but not just '90s Pop, but the ‘Discovery’ setting, deep cuts, man. After about 3 miles of my 5.5-mile walk, I was full-on back in the 90s, and it was bliss. I want to find a way to make 2026 more like the 1990s because the 2020s have been the worst decade of my life. Not sure what I can do to make that happen. Music, yes, a lot of the same friends, yes. Unfortunately, I am on the downside to 50, no matter how much I listen to Nirvana and wear flannel, that won't change. Maybe it’s a mindset. In the 90s, my whole life was an open road, and seemingly anything was possible. Now in the 2020s, it’s like I’m on a pothole-filled dirt road running through a wide-open desert with no side streets and no scenic overlooks. Maybe that’s the goal for 2026, to bring back the wonder I had for life in the 1990s. I’ll get to work on that.

This is how the 2020s have felt in my life.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #96: Injury Soap Opera, Mystery Box, Hungry Birds, etc.

1. As the Back Injury Turns: My low back injury is slowly, very slowly, getting better. It’s taken ample use of the PEMF (pulsed electromagnetic field) machine at my work, loads of ibuprofen, Icy Hot patches, and a portable TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) unit. Despite all of these weapons in the battle to feel normal again, it’s still been the worst back injury I’ve had yet. Getting out of bed, out of my car, or bending to pick something up, or putting on my socks and shoes, is no picnic. One good thing to come from the injury is that I feel even more empathy for those who deal with debilitating back pain for long periods of time. Hopefully, before this blog has even been posted, I’ll be back to the gym so that I can get started on the next injury in the long line of them that has summed up my 2025.

2. I had a few things I wanted to get from Amazon this week. One issue was the fact that I didn’t qualify for free shipping. I was literally only ten cents away from qualifying. So what did I do? I went to their dollar bin to find something inexpensive to add to it. Sure, it was something I didn’t need, but, ironically, I’d end up saving money by getting that something extra. So what did I end up getting? A little travel-sized deodorant. Hey, it was a dollar. The best part is that I guarantee when the package arrives, I’ll have forgotten I ordered it and wonder what it’s doing in there.


3. This week in 2019, I went on an amazing 6-day, 2100-mile road trip across much of the Eastern United States. To celebrate, I created videos of each day using the photos and videos I took from that time. The videos are such a fun reminder of what is still my greatest adventure to date in my life. However, there isn’t a happy ending. Fun fact: a few months after I finished that road trip, I had a hard drive crash and lost about 80% of the photos and videos I took on that trip. I was only left with what I had already uploaded onto social media. Those are what I used for the videos. So as happy as the videos make me, they barely scratch the surface of what could have been. But it’s not over. I kept that ruined laptop. My plan is to try one last-ditch effort to remove the hard drive and try to find those ‘lost’ files. Maybe I’ll find them, likely I won’t, but either way, come next week, that old laptop will probably be smashed and thrown in a dumpster somewhere.


4. This is at the same time the best and worst time of year. I love all of the holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but they also make it nearly impossible to keep your diet in check. It’s even worse when you’re looking to drop weight. I feel like I’m punting on the last 6 weeks of the year when it comes to health. I’ll get on a streak of a few days of good eating, but then I’ll be like, ‘hey it’s the holiday season and you should just enjoy yourself.’ Then wham New Year’s comes and I’m staring at 10 extra pounds to lose, on top of what I already wanted to lose. Oh well, it’s not my fault I love food. I just seem to love the bad ones more and more as I age.

How I will likely look come spring.

5. For those looking for a new show to binge, I highly recommend Welcome To Derry. This is the prequel show to the IT movie franchise. Stephen King raves about the show, which is a good sign. As of this blog, I have watched the first four episodes. There are eight in total. It is beautifully shot. You will feel like you are in the early 1960s when the show is set. I don’t want to spoil much for those who might be interested in watching. Yes, there are familiar characters, or at least their relatives. Yes, Pennywise does appear. Yes, there have been some gory moments and good jump scares. If you like any of the IT movies, I recommend watching Welcome to Derry on HBO Max.


6. A fun little moment on a walk this week. The Beatles Anthology 4 was released on November 21st. It included remixed versions of the two new songs they put out in the mid-1990s, Free As A Bird and Real Love. These used the advanced audio technology that Peter Jackson used in his Beatles Get Back documentary, which he released in 2021. The big thing it does is it can isolate vocals in a song. This worked wonders for the poor quality John Lennon demos that were used in the *new* Anthology songs. It was first used on the 2023 Now and Then, which was promoted as the final new Beatles song. I had already heard and loved the remixed Free As A Bird, where Lennon’s voice sounded like he was in the studio with the other Beatles. I intentionally waited until I was out on my walk to listen to the remixed Real Love. I went and sat by the river and played it and just soaked in the scenery and the new sound. I highly recommend listening to both of the 1990s versions of those songs and then the new ones so you can fully appreciate the improvements in technology.

7. My YouTube channel suggestion this week is Vampire Robot. Don’t let the name fool you, it’s actually a great slice of nostalgia. The channel is filled with hundreds of videos inside different classic stores over the decades, mostly the 1970s through 1990s. It seems to be all old news b-roll footage. There is no narration; instead, it's just uncut video of people shopping in old mall stores and the like. I find it easy to click on any video and feel like I’m transported back to that time. There are other slices of life videos as well. I recommend the channel to anyone who likes nostalgia or who wants to relive their childhood.


8. Where I have my desk is right beside a window. I’m sitting there now, looking slightly to my right. On this day, it has been raining. No big deal. That is, except for some reason, the rain has made the area around the window a hotbed for bird action. No, not birds in the nearby trees singing. For some reason, the rain has apparently made the shingles and roof extra tasty. I have had to repeatedly go and bang on the window or the wall, as I keep hearing the sounds of little feet and beaks trying to tear into the shingles. It’s your standard blue jays, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and chickadees trying to make a meal out of the soaked wood. If it were summer, I’d have the window open and I might try to grab a few photos of these foolish birds, but it’s winter, so I can only bang on the glass and shout like an angry old man.

Stop eating my shingles!

9. This week is the birthday of my sister Kate. As I like to do with a lot of family and friends, I put together a little video featuring photos of us as kids way back in the far-off land of the 1980s. This year, more than any other, while looking at these old photos, I could see the resemblance between my sister and me and other family members. I could see nieces and nephews of the same ages, I could even see one of my uncles in my face. Obviously, we’re all related, but it sometimes comes as a surprise just how much we can look like each other. It became a game to see who I might look like in the photos. Although nothing beats the photo I found of my family back around 1910. In that photo, I could see several living family members who resembled people from 3 or 4 generations ago. Pretty wild stuff.


10. I don’t think I am alone when I say that what I do for work, I don’t usually want to do after work. Like when I worked in cooking, I didn’t want to cook at home. This meant loads of microwaved stuff, which I still enjoy. The thing is, working as a personal trainer for 10 years has left me less than enthused to go to the gym during my downtime. I find it a chore to go now. So much so that I’d rather layer up and go for a walk outside with temperatures in the high 30s instead of spending an hour in a warm, but crowded gym. It has become a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy where I go to the gym less, feel bad about myself, and that makes me not want to go and be seen at the gym by people who remembered me when I was in great shape. Things could be worse, though. Despite not wanting to go to the gym much anymore, I am still relatively healthy when compared to others my age. I still hold on to the belief that if I truly wanted to, I could snap myself out of it and be back to being in pretty good shape in short order. Sadly, I might be one of those ‘new year, new you’ fitness people in 2026.