Category: Brand

Understanding ‘Beach’: A Symbol of Relaxation and Informality | Seeking Understanding of the Job Title ‘Beach’ and Its Symbolism

In a previous post, I declared I Can Beach, however, I did not delve deeply into what that means and left it up to your interpretation. I plan to dig deeper into what “Beach” means in this post.

Prologue

In 2023, Greta Gerwig directed a groundbreaking film about the push and pull between the patriarchy and a matriarchy. The film, Barbie, features the iconic doll and her rumored romantic partner, Ken. At best, he is a 2D accessory to Barbie. 

Though the film is about Barbie, Ken takes a personal journey too.  He has an identity crisis when he travels from Barbieland to the real world. At first, the real world is very different for Ken, and he soon realizes he can’t even “beach” anymore. This simple and yet abstract action that Ken partakes in, known as beach, is not a job title, it’s not a profession, and it might not even be a complete concept. However, there is a certain understanding that you can glean from the movie but is difficult to put into words.  Let me tell you what I think it means to “beach”.

We can all BEACH.

My Beach is not Ken’s BEACH.

We all BEACH differently. 
This is Improvement Dave, and…  I beach.

For me, BEACH is three things:

  1. Simple
  2. Informal
  3. Not Logic-Based

Listen to us discuss this topic, at length on the I’m Just Ken episode of the If You Ask Betty Podcast, here.

#1 Beach is Simple

  • Relaxed – The first step is to be relaxed. “Beach” is never forced, it is summoned.
  • Not complicated– Identify the next right thing and then do that. This will not lead to being overwhelmed this will lead to being on the right path with the least amount of mental delineation.
  • Simple does not mean stupid. Do not make bad decisions. Work slowly, think about it, and take the next best small step
  • In Thai, we say Sabaii Sabaii Dee “easy easy good” In many ways we could just say look at Thai culture, traditional Thai culture, and in that way, you can identify BEACH.
Beautiful aged Thailand old man sincerely smiling at camera on street food market. He offers fruits and vegetables to locals and tourists from biking cart. Local small business and traveling concept.

I lived in Northern Thailand for 7 lucky years. The Thai people smile all the time. There are 16 unique smiles in the Thai language. There is a sad smile. Thailand is called “The Land of Smiles”. Did you know that when you smile because you are happy, the scientifically measurable mental state is the equivalent of smiling when you are not happy, but then you become happy because you smiled? So, in other words, smiling all the time is a reverse-engineered way to just choose happiness. Now THAT is Beach!

#2 Beach is Informal

  • Not formal, also Not trashy, but quality
  • Relaxed fit, No slim fit, and Not super baggy
  • Good example: Trendy, but not expensive, Sandals from Nordstrom Rack Nordstrom rack. Not sandals from Bloomingdale and not the cheapest sandals at Walmart or Amazon.

So, I am using fashion as a metaphor in the bullets above. This is not about where you buy your clothes. However, if you search at Bloomingdales there is an inverse relationship of correlation with being BEACH. This is about how you present yourselves overall and can include a more informal thought process, posture, or style about you. If you will go there with me, we can call it “Chill Vibes“.

Speaking of Chill vibes, this song will take you to BEACH wherever you are.

Groove Armada broke the ceiling with this absolute chill Banger!

#3 …But wait, “I BEACH”… that doesn’t even make sense

  • Not making sense is a crucial step in the creative process.
  • If something doesn’t make sense now that doesn’t mean it won’t make sense in the future when you better understand it. After you nail it down and know what it is and what it isn’t.
  • Being bold and brave enough not to make sense is a way to innovate and try new things out.
  • This might lead you to a new solution that is better than what we have now.

Stop Making Sense – in 1984 the music group The Talking Heads did a tour called “Stop Making Sense” where David Byrne begged us to let go and stop making sense. It is arguably some of the best live recordings of stage rock/funk music ever compiled. In each song, the band adds a new band member.

Just Dot it. STOP MAKING SENSE.

Epilogue

BEACH ON! Before we get to the summary let’s watch the scene this is taken from.

@official.ra1

My job is just ….. beach lol #barbie #ken #barbiemovie

♬ original sound – RA10

In conclusion, the phrase “I Beach” is an illogical one, but that does not mean that we can not pull meaningful direction from it. That is the whole point of this point. Simply because something doesn’t make social sense does not mean it has no value.

Epilogue 2.0

Also, on the Podcast mentioned above, the Hostess with the Mostest, Betty Dannewitz admits that her favorite scene in the Barbie movie was right when Barbie and Ken traveled to the real world and some construction workers hit on Barie, so she explains that “Oh, we do not have Genetals.” …AND, since I BEACH, I made a cartoon out of it, and I hope you enjoy it!

Oh, yes I did!

Credits

The Betty Dannewitz did copy editing on this writing and suggested it to be a VLOG video, but I left it as a Blog post. (Mostly because I am behind and I have COVID-19.)

Song Credits taken from Wikipedia

“At the River” is a song released in 1997 by British duo Groove Armada.

Stop Making Sense is an independently produced 1984 American concert film featuring a live performance by the American rock band Talking Heads.[5] The film was directed by Jonathan Demme and executive produced by Gary Kurfirst, the band’s longtime manager. The film was shot over four nights in December, 1983 at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre while Talking Heads were on tour promoting their 1983 album, Speaking in Tongues.

Overcoming Analysis Paralysis: Embracing Self-Care for Creativity and Integration

It has been months since I posted on this VLOG, and there were points last year when I posted daily. I had multiple ideas for April of 2024, and they are just sitting in their folders waiting to be developed. So, Now that it is near the end of June I am going to put together a post. It might not be my best post, but it will be honest. I believe I have started to struggle with why I created this Vlog. I have identified here that I have not focused on self-care and analysis paralysis has set in.

Strange man in black hood and gas mask on the background of mountains, around smoke, fog and radioactive fallout. Concept of environmental pollution, chemical disaster. Ecological catastrophe. AdobeStock_499292144


In April, a theme that played out almost across the board was Nuclear Radiation, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I am glad I paused to think about it and I really talk about it in the video below. So, the purpose of this post is around self-care. Identify what is holding you back or causing you analysis paralysis and call it out. Name it and talk about it.

ATD ICE 2024

Last month, I visited New Orleans, Louisiana for the first time. I attended the largest annual conference held by the Association for Talent Development. Luckily it jogged me out of the funk I was feeling about the “month of nuclear radiation”.


I do not know if there was a theme of self-care at the conference but I feel like there was. Maybe I think that because I noticed those messages because I needed them, but It seems like self-care is becoming more talked about as behavioral health becomes less stigmatized. I think this is great, and I keep telling myself I should meditate more or go to therapy, but instead I create videos at work, take care of my kids, rebuild bathrooms, and write on this blog… you know, live my life.

DEAR WORLD was at the event and “X” himself led multiple openings to keynote speakers, and short of Daniel Pink I think “X” did the best Keynote talks. He was honest, he was fresh and he had a clear purpose at the event. I ended up getting a “brain tattoo” and I am glad I did.
You can read about it on my LinkedIn post here:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kolmer_atd24-nola-dearworld-activity-7203856128756109312-vUWn?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

David Kolmer Brain Tatoo for Dear Wrold. A red back ground and red lights. and on Dave's arms reads "My Son Fell Off My Shoulders."

Video Synopsis

In this video, I speak to the fact that I have not posted in a while and I reflect on my apprehension to do so. I suffer from analysis paralysis and I bring up the irony that I have attended a few training sessions and listened to numerous podcasts on Imposter Syndrom created by my mentor/friend Betty Dannewitz. (She called me on a cell phone, and she said we are friends… it’s a thing.)

Supporting Video

In this vlog post, I talk about how April had a theme of radioactivity, and how nearly everything I did that month was related to nuclear radiation. I had the footage up front of the field trip and I put that video together separately because one of the students on the field trip is actually an Improvement Dave fan. I know it’s crazy, I have fans. I didn’t even know that.

https://youtu.be/YTz50beAqDg

Conclusion

This year I am focused on integration, and so far I am not sure I am doing a great job at it. I feel like the blog posts I have managed to create are long-winded, winding, tangled and disconnected. I feel like last year when my word for the year was Consistency I posted frequently and the posts were short, straight to the point, and therefore had a clear message. Or maybe I posted more so I was less focused on each specific post.

I recently shared this post (Close the Loop) with a new colleague and friend, ✨Kassy LaBorie. Her feedback was very telling. “David you are obviously intelligent, maybe a genius, but you need to make the message clear.” Well, I am paraphrasing, but that is the gist of what she said. (Thank you Kassy, you are a good friend.) She is right, I need to get back to why I started the blog, to talk about Instructional Design. ID work is about learning and the message needs to be clear. So, here it is.

The Point

I need to focus on simple outcomes. I need to get to the learning moment upfront of each post. So, if people only read the first paragraph they get the point. In this post, I did that. I went on and on supporting the “BIG IDEA” but I think I did less of that and all of what I said is pointing back to the idea that I need to focus on self-care because posting this was hard. I have suffered from analysis paralysis AGAIN. I fell back into my old rhythm. I can be integrated but I can not let go of consistency. It’s not one or the other it is both, and that’s the point.

I need to keep on stepping. I need to think less. I need to get out there.

I Can Beach

My word for 2024 is Integration, and I am applying this goal to all of my projects. In this post, I integrate my interests in Podcasting, gardening, home repair, painting, video design, and parenting into a single message on productivity and self-improvement.

Video

I can beach. I can solder. I can paint I can speak. I can tie it all together.

AI Summary

Monica is a free AI assistant that I have added to Google Chrome, and she so kindly offered to summarize my video.

💫 Summary Source

The video is about a person named Dave preparing for a podcast about the Barbie movie by creating a beach-themed front garden and fixing a plumbing issue that affected his painting, resulting in liquid metal on the artwork.

Improvement Dave wrote:

This video drives me closer to having a Podcaster tone of voice so the Video really drives this post. Also, in the post I share that I am slated to be a guest on the “If You Ask Betty” Podcast. This post is about me preparing my setup to arrive at that recording ready to roll. I had an issue recording on my current setup in 4K and then did not have an issue recording after I set my recording to 1080p.

The ways Monica caught my meaning and extrapolated the connections I inferred are amazing. I love how parts of the summary are inaccurate, for example, Monica stated that I will attend the “If You Ask Betty” Podcast and play the role of Ken.

Extended AI Summary

Detailed Summary for I Can Beach by Monica

00:04 Improvement Dave (David Kolmer) is excited to be on a podcast about the Barbie movie and is celebrating by throwing sand on his front yard to practice “beaching” like Ken.

  • David is a fan of the podcast “If You Ask Betty” and has listened to the Loki series multiple times.
  • He bought one ton of sand and plans to purchase another ton to create a backdrop on his front yard.
  • David’s wife is not impressed with the sand on the lawn, but he finds it fun and is practicing for his role as Ken in the podcast.

06:14 The speaker is working on fixing a pipe and plans to solder a new piece in place.

  • The sprinkler system is still in good condition.
  • The speaker purchased a piece of 1/2-inch pipe from Lowe’s.
  • They are using a husky cutter to cut out the old pipe.
  • The speaker plans to solder the new pipe in place using tinning flux and solder wire.

09:21 The video shows the process of using a torch to melt copper wire onto a snowboard, with some mishaps along the way.

  • The person lights up a torch to melt the copper wire onto the snowboard.
  • They accidentally melt the snowboard in the process.
  • They continue to apply the wire to the copper until it starts to discolor.
  • They notice steam coming out, indicating a problem with water in the line.
  • Despite some mishaps, they managed to successfully apply the liquid metal onto the painting.

12:28 The artist is experimenting with melted metal on a painting.

  • The artist didn’t initially want melted metal on the painting but decided to try it.
  • Some parts of the painting have liquid metal splatter.
  • The artist cleans off the discoloration on the painting with a wet rag.

15:35 The speaker discusses a plumbing issue that caused potential damage to their painting, but they were able to fix it by soldering a new piece of metal into the line above it.

  • The shut-off valve for the water was failing, which could have caused damage to the painting.
  • The speaker soldered a new piece of metal into the line above the painting to fix the issue.
  • Some silver tinning came off the painting while applying gel medium, causing concern.

[END MONICA AI CONTENT]

Beach Photos

I can Beach. I bought a ton of sand but I still need to purchase the second ton of sand after it stops raining all the time. I am strong, but there is no reason to shovel sand when it is wet a second time. That gets heavy!

Soldering Copper Water Pipe Photos

Here is a photograph of the old gate valve that stopped working last winter (2023), I simply shut it off and opened the bleeder valve planning to fix it in the spring (2024 / Now).

Here are two shots of the final product with the ball valve I installed in the video.
(I learned I should work on my home improvement instructional video skills.)

Abstract Painting Photos

I have been trying for a while now to find a way to create “A Painting that Moves“. I am still unsure if I have gotten there, but I am getting closer. I have a history of painting abstract waterfalls on flat canvas, but now I am creating a support to drop the paint down where the paint spills as the waterfall. The paint would spill off the support onto the plastic liner so now I am crafting a support that has a 90-degree angle so the “Spilage” can be captured into the final piece.

The excess or runoff pool is quickly becoming my favorite part of these “gravity paintings.” I am spending more time making sure the pool below looks right and adding more color and texture to draw the observer’s eye to that aspect of the painting. These paintings are breaking the 4th wall in a way because they are working into the 3rd dimension and that is exciting to me.

Front View

Top View

These paintings hang “Sideways”, if you want to see more about that I have a video on that here.

I have found an artistic outlet through painting for years now. I really started painting a lot in 2005, when I lived in Lampang Thailand, and broke my foot. I had nothing to do and was not able to get around very well, so I used painting to pass the time and perhaps it aided me in the healing process.

I don’t have a very strong online art presence, but I do have an Etsy shop and a Facebook Page.

KOLMER (FB)

dkolmer.etsy.com

“The reason to make art is to innovate and self-express, show something new, share what’s inside, and communicate your singular perspective.”

Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being

Thanks to my Friends at TechSmith

In this video, I highlight the progression from using my computer’s built-in web camera and microphone to using suggestions from connections at TechSmith (Andy Owen and Matthew Pierce) to using my iPhone 12 mini as a camera via the free version of Camo Studio.

V2 of this video.

Camo Studio is Great

I am impressed that I can use Camo Studio by downloading respective apps on my Windows PC and Mac iPhone 12 mini. The free version is limited but really does more than I expected. The only limitation I see is that I can only record in 720p and not 1080p resolution. While working on this post to make sure my thumbnail was the right ratio I received information from TechSmith and there was Andy Owen again. So, thank you two times Andy Owen!

He looks surprised that he is being so helpful. Don’t be surprised Andy Owen, you are always helpful, and so are you Matt Pierce, you guys rock.)

Honestly, it might’ve just been another message for you, another part of your day, but it meant the world to me. It helped me move forward.

Microphone Improvements

I also updated my process by using the Microphone I obtained when I purchased the Comica CVM-VM10-K. In the video, I call this microphone a powered condenser microphone, but I don’t think it actually is. The microphone is simple a High-quality cardioid microphone. I am questioning if this really improved the sound quality of what My phone already has, but at least the mic is pointed at my face!

More on Mics

The MXL-990 condenser microphones

I also owe a big thank you to my friends, Caleb Willitz, who is a well-known audio recorder in the Chicago area. He has given me a measurable amounts of advice on how to build a better sound booth. Also, my very good friend Ted Schaefer has confirmed much of Caleb‘s advice, and then also recommended a pair of infamous condenser mics, that are known for high-quality at a reasonable cost.

I have purchased 2 phantom-powered condenser microphones but do not have my Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 compact audio studio hub, so more to come on my sound clarity! Not to mention my lighting, which I do mention in this video. Special thanks to my friends at Articulate for the free light, I won’t stop using it, but plan to add more lights.

Music

Polo & Pan – Ani Kuni (CC)

John_Kensy_Music – Mindfulness Relaxation & Meditation Music

We Traveled to Savannah for Work!

Back in September of 2023, I took a lot of videos about all the fun I was having on a work trip. It took me a while to get to a point where I wanted to work through that video footage and share it. In fact, I grew a beard for no shave in November and have since shaved it off for my wife’s birthday. So here we are a whole beard later.

Are work trips always fun, well, not really, especially if you have to travel all the time for work. I have done that and after a few months, it gets old. However, there is a secret weapon that I plan to explore further and it threatens to be a theme for me moving forward. That concept is the one of Novelty. Specifically how novelty can increase your lifespan, or at least your perception of your lifespan, which to be fair is the same thing… more on that later, but for now, let’s talk about how amazing this short work trip was. I flew out to Savanna with a layover in Nashville on Southwest Airlines on a Wednesday morning. That night we had dinner with the whole team and on Thursday we had our big meeting. I could have flown home on Thursday but I snuck in a bit more novelty by hanging around Thursday night and flying home Friday morning.

I do not want to downplay the Pirate Nature of this work trip. So look out for the pirate themes… Not sure how ya could miss it ya
SWAB! offen’ ya goes ta swab Vee starbird bow. Make Haste! A.I. review shared that I jump around aimlessly from topic to topic here and do not have a point. How else should a good Pirate behave?

Skull and Crossbones Pirate Flag
AdobeStock_467304940

Savannah Was Great

So, off to a good start on this business trip. We were in a fun town. It’s not easy to have such a novel experience when you are stuck in the belly button of Newark.
Luckily the video below starts at the Savannah airport and quickly progresses a restaurant called The Pirate’s House – ARGGHHH.

Travel for Work or Pleasure?

…

Yes.

Well, why can’t it be both? With a bit of intentional effort, it usually can.

Although the reason for this trip was to capture feedback from our talented SMEs on the EPEC training content provided by NAED, the footage I captured had very little to do with that process. This is in part because I simply didn’t think to capture that video of us working, but also because we were discussing learning content that is developed for sale by the National Association of Electrical Distributors, so I didn’t feel comfortable doing so.

In hindsight (Which is normally in 20/20 they say) I should have captured more video of us actually working on the training project itself. It is not exactly exciting, (unless you are a learning nerd like I am or an electrical products nerd like our SMEs,) but it is nice to see how passionate our reviewers are about being factual and transparent in presenting the landscape of the electrical distribution market. Moving forward I think our Marketing team would enjoy having that sort of content on hand, so I might make an effort to start capturing it.

What We Did While Not Working

Now I have only been on two of these trips, but from what I gather we normally find time outside of working hours to just walk around. This time we were tipped off by one of our talented SMEs that there was a Prohibition Museum within walking distance of our hotel. So we definitely hit that up, and that is definitely represented in the video above. My leader, Kitty, found a fantastic restaurant to dine at called The Pirate’s House – ARGGHHH. (I would like to point out that this “ARGGHHH” was not added by me but by the top Google result for the restaurant’s home page. So, yeah, that says a lot about how cool this restaurant is.

What Does Adjacent Really Mean?

Also, while wandering around we ended up in the Adjacent hotel lobby …or the Hotel lobby that was adjacent to ours. Actually, I am not sure if it was adjacent or what would even make it adjacent, but I do like the word adjacent a lot. It makes me sound smart-ified.
That Marriot Hotel Lobby which was adjacent to our Boutique hotel lobby was filled with Geode Gemstones. I will say, that I did read some of the words found on signs in this location. This was done to make me look more smart-fied in front of my Boss, Kitty, pictured right. While doing this reading of words, I learned that most of these GEODES are the largest samples of such crystals in all of the globe. That is laden with novelty!

Picture of Improvement Dave (David Kolmer) and Kitty Lasinski, Dave's boss in front of the largest of this type of Geode known to the human species in all of existence.
Picture of Improvement Dave (David Kolmer) and Kitty Lasinski, (Dave’s boss) in front of the largest of this type of Geode known to the human species in all of the known meta-verses.

Geodes are really cool and fun to look at. I definately did NOT touch them. … well, not all of them, I mean.

Improvment Dave

Geodes for Days!

So, when I exported these images from iCloud to my PC laptop running Windows, they exported as HEIC files. Normally they do not do that and I am still not sure why they did that this time. I have seen HEIC file format when I export original files from the Mac “Photos” app to my Mac computer, but I have never seen that working on my PC.

At any rate, when I loaded Mac format images into ADOBE Premiere RUSH to create the video they all imported inverted (or upside-down for the uninitiated.) Maybe, I was holding my phone upside-down when I took this mess of selfies and my phone auto-rotated them? I normally only see this file suffix for images I have edited…

Color me Confused!

…and in awe of this ginormous silver Dinosaur skeleton!

So, I say all this to explain, that there is a group of photos I opened as a batch in my Microsoft image viewer and attempted to export as a batch but the batch export didn’t work. I still had to export them one at a time to convert them to PNG files, but at least they were not inverted like in ADOBE for PC.

Now, I could have probably used the HEIC files on my V-log here, because WordPress and the internet are both awesome! …but let me tell you I have had more problems working with these HEIC files than I can share here. I can’t submit them on government web pages, and they never work on the apps for my kid’s school, and that is being done on my iPhone that created them. So, I tend to go out of the way to avoid using the HEIC file format. Yes, Apple, I said it, your format stinks! It smells of wet lettuce. I am sure it is great for all these groundbreaking early-adaptor reasons that I don’t know about. Like some layered spectral benefit that will most likely never benefit me. Mostly they just make me wish I didn’t have an iPhone, and that says A LOT, because I love my iPhone, but I am a simple man.

For example, this is the largest GEODE of this chemical format in the world and it looks like a certain part of the male human anatomy which I will leave unsaid and unwritten at this juncture! Heh! it doesn’t even fit in the shot!

So, either way, many of the exports that I opened as a batch had the tint all messed up, but those are actually kind of cool! so I will post those now to add a dramatic effect to how cool these GEODES were! …I guess the tip was broken off. Oh Well! It’s still the biggest! Does size matter? Not when you are the biggest!

Kind of reminds me of something. It’s on the tip of my lip…

There was a gigantic skull in the floor! (Grammarly wants me to say “on” the Floor. No, Grammarly, NO, bad A.I., it was IN the floor, under glass, lying on a bed of sand… and some rocks and shells and such.)

Crazy Dino-Fish Skull IN the frakin’ FLOOR

So, of course, I laid my body down parallel to the floor for to photograph mine-self.
Hello!? I am Dave, have you ever met me!?

Remember the featured image of this VLOG post!? Well, it even got caught up in the Multi-dimensionally powered MAC/PC image tint fuede!

Who is in this photo!? Wouldn’t you like to know!
Do you really think they want to be associated with this disaster!?

Break down the Tiled Gallery Mosaic with Curved edges SELECTOR!

So, in conclusion, traveling with the National Association of Electrical Distributors of the United States of America is an Electrifying experience.

OK, I’ll stop. In all seriousness though….

It was a real gem of an experience!

Improvement Dave

Measurable and Quartzified.

MUSIC
Polo & Pan – Ani Kuni
French 79 – Quartz

The Best Day Ever – Writing Prompt

Hello, this is improvement Dave, and I am David Kolmer. I used and continue to use the WordPress platform to build this blog. There was a prompt on my WordPress dashboard of an idea for a blog post which was “Describe your best week “, or maybe “Describe your perfect week”… something like that. I didn’t click on it, but then realized last night that I had started one of the best days ever.

At any rate, I am going to use this prompt even though I didn’t click on it and submit it to the WordPress Metaverse officially. I will alter it a bit and narrow the scope to 24 hours.

Exposition to the Perfect Day

My perfect day involves me :

  • Supporting my kids
  • Supporting my wife
  • Supporting myself

Initially, in that order of importance.

I had a promise to myself that I wasn’t going to purchase myself a new bicycle for my September biking challenge until I purchased a new bike for my wife. My wife has gone through a few bikes, and they were all gifts or someone else’s bike, and none of them fit her. She’s not an avid biker, but I can tell that our lives would be better if we all had decent bikes.

Wait, What About the Kids?

I should state that I have purchased two balance bikes for my kids since before they could walk. These are bikes that do not have pedals so they can get used to riding without worrying about pedals. Let me see if I can dig up a retro photo…

Look at that handsome dude rocking that balance bike! Proud as a pig in mud!

So, when the kids did get pedals they learned to ride in about 24 to 48 hours. If that doesn’t sell you on a balance bike then you hate children!

Last month, I bought my son a brand-new bicycle. It was a trek pre-caliber at the TREK store. It was what he wanted for his birthday. He shared that his perspective is that I always get him something secondhand and that Grandma and Grandpa put down real money for the big ticket items. (Well, this is my extrapolation. What was said is that my mom bought me a Game Gear portable Sega gaming system for $130+, and he stated, “You never bought me something that expensive.”) So when the grandparents offered to buy this bike I said, “I am buying this one.”

A picture of my son with his brand new TREK Pre-Caliber

The TREK store on Manchester Road was very well-equipped and very clean. The service charges for tune-ups and the price for components seemed expensive. Or at least they cost more money than I want to pay. Anyway, purchasing my son a new bike provided my daughter with a very nice silver hand-me-down bike.

We bought her a Unicorn bell that she got at my son’s birthday party to make it more of a “her” bike…

She also got some nice flashing lights.

She wasn’t getting the hang of the pedals so I hooked up the Co-pilot by Wee-Ride and she felt better about pedaling. Just watch her RAWK that for the first time.

SO BOOM MY KIDS ARE TAKEN CARE OF. I HAVE SUPPORTED THEM IN THE MISSION OF HAVING QUALITY BIKES.

A Moment of Weakness

While I was at the TREK store shopping for my son’s bike, I noticed the Marlin. Now this is a bike that I have read about, and I know that the marlin is a quality bike at a good price. However, I also discovered that Roscoe, which is a higher-level mountain bike with a Hardtail, costs significantly more money. I ordered one of those in the view and then the TREK store never called me back. Exit Trek store stage left.

I ALREADY DISCUSSED BUYING A NEW BIKE WITH MY WIFE FOR MY BIRTHDAY AND WE HAD AGREED THAT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA HOWEVER, SOMETHING DIDN’T FEEL RIGHT ABOUT IT. LATER, I REALIZED THAT I SHOULD BE GETTING HER A BIKE FIRST. OK SO THAT’S ALL OF THE PRE-LOG OR EPILOGUE AND NOW WE’RE GONNA GET INTO THE PERFECT 24-HOUR PERIOD WHICH I STARTED LAST NIGHT.

The Perfect Day Started Last Night

Last night I drove with my whole family to pick up some sandwiches at Potbelly. We had some gift cards, so essentially, I paid no money for them, which is pretty awesome. We eat the sandwiches in the car, which is something my family loves to do because it’s somehow wrong but then so right.

We drove to Billy Goat Bicycle Co. down on Manchester Road in St. Louis Missouri. This bike Shop had been recommended by one of my daughter’s friends’ fathers at my son’s birthday party as the most awesome bike shop in St. Louis to go to. I guess it pretty much qualified as that because when I walked in, they had the marlin eight that I was interested in in the dark blue to dark gray fade in my size. They also had a Marline that was very small, which also had incredibly nice coloring from more of a blue to yellow fade which fit my wife perfectly. We did some test drives in the front parking lot. I was wearing sandals, but I didn’t let that hold me back from curving and carving some banks covered with grass on the apartment complex behind the bike shop.

After some amazing discussions with a man called Ben, who was wearing a T-shirt that had bandit from the show, Bluey and the word “DAD” on it, I found I had learned a lot about bikes, gotten some very quality advice on the downfalls or potential pitfalls of tubeless tires, and essentially purchased my wife’s bike moments before I purchased my bike.

Hers

His

So now we both have brand new bikes, and we can fulfill our destiny of taking family bike rides together. Now, that was just yesterday evening.

As I’m writing this, it is only 5:30 a.m. It is raining outside, and I have a window open. Rain is a big part of the perfect day for me.

So far, I have woken up at 4:30 and finessed the water I had in the 32-ounce mason jar next to my bed. I brewed a cup of coffee while I was filling the jacuzzi hot tub in the new basement bathroom with hot water and Epson salts. I noticed that all these push-ups and all these bike rides have made my body very stiff, and my muscles seem to be filled with lactic acid and they’re sticking themselves. Now after exiting the hot tub and dictating this blog post into my phone in the basement to play some of my favorite video games on the PlayStation 3 which I never give myself time to do. It is called PixelJunk shooter, and it is the best game ever in the history of everything.

After that, I plan to do 30 minutes of yoga. After that, I will help put my daughter in the car and give her a Dum Dum sucker and kiss her goodbye kiss my wife goodbye. Then I’ll hang out with my son for about 30 minutes, and brew some more coffee. He’ll probably watch some Minecraft on YouTube kids, that is, he will watch someone else play Minecraft, instead of playing a game himself, (which is normal these days), I think.

While driving to school I saw they were tearing down that old house on our street that was an eyesore!

Then I will go to work in my basement. I recently put together a spare bedroom with an egress window that doubles as a study and a bathroom in the basement and this is my home office.

Today I have finished adding audio to the four modules of EPEC BRONZE for the National Association of Electric Distributors. Next, I will look at the script and enter all of the new script into the notes section of the Articulate Storyline file. This way I can easily print out a user guide PDF because the screens will be updated, and the notes will match. I’ve already aligned all the screen animations with the audio, so the last step is going to be pretty easy. I plan to break my fast at 12 but will probably wait until 2 or 3 because I drank whey protein powder last night at 8 p.m.

Tonight’s Plans

This evening I will pick up my son from school, then pick up my daughter and we will ride home in the Honda Odyssey. Then I will pull some fresh vegetables out of the fridge and some eggs and stir fry that all up in the Thai style I’ll probably fry some tofu as well and heat some of those smoked ribs that I have in the air fryer. Then I will drive to the YMCA with my son, or he will take a level five swimming course while my wife and my daughter ride bikes after that I will ride home in the Honda Odyssey with my son where he and I will probably ride bikes, then we will probably eat some ice cream. (Well, I might not have any ice cream because I am back on my ketogenic and intermittent fasting diet.) The kids will take a bath and we will take our showers. We will read some dog man turn on some colored, moving lights and the kids will go to bed. Now on some days, I would turn on some TV but for the perfect day, I would choose to not do that, instead, I would go to bed early at around 9 PM after drinking some chamomile and mint tea or some decaf coffee.

That will take us to about a full 24-hour period for the perfect day. What was interesting to me is my perfect day started last night and I’m not even halfway through it, It is not yet written, but maybe that’s the most important part of my perfect day. Much of the day is still in the future. It is unwritten, it has potential.

Conclusion

You know what? On second thought I don’t think I’m going to play that video game after writing this post I feel like it’s time to do my first 25 push-ups (of 50) do some yoga and Brew, and some more coffee.

The Best Day Ever


After I wrote the above content, I did some YOGA, My daughter woke up and then we walked outside in the twilight and enjoyed the rain.

We went back inside, I made her some hot chocolate and made a pinky promise that I would do some My Little Pony Cosmic Kids Yoga with her, but we did 15 minutes of the Frozen Yoga by Cosmic Kids featuring none other than Queen Elsa of Arendale.

My daughter said,

“This is the best day ever.”

She says that a lot, and she is always right.

Music by RoyaltyFreeMusic Nver Avetyan from Pixabay Technology Dubstep

Music by To Hot to Play, Lobo Loco, Free Music Archive (CC)

Day 37 – Push-Ups for St. Jude

My goal WAS to do 50 pushups every day for August 2023. It has been one week since I completed this challenge. I have done at least 50 pushups a day past the 31-day challenge. On day 36 (yesterday) I did 100 pushups! Then I took a hot bath and had to ice up my arm.

Comparing Day 1 to Day 31

Today I compare what my 1st day of pushups looked like up against my 31st day.

Here are the main points I make in this video:

(I am sorry they are not composed as learning objectives! HAHA!)

What I learned by Improvement Dave Think ahead - be proactive Vlogging Takes Time Consistency Hold you Accountable

In the video, I fail to mention that this 50 pushups a day challenge not only made me commit to holding myself accountable but I was also motivated me to build other skills.

For example, I wanted a logo for my blog but have not been very active in developing it. The energy generated from this project motivated me to sketch out my logo, scan it in, and then design a PNG file in Adobe Illustrator with a transparent background. I actually recorded my screen while designing my logo and plan to release that video next week. Once I got the ball rolling on the pushups, other projects didn’t seem as daunting as they did before. The first step is the most difficult.

Not Too Late to Give to the Children!

I did more than 1,550 Pushups for St. Jude – Please donate to my fundraiser!

https://www.facebook.com/donate/1690575421423292/?fundraiser_source=external_url

Music by RoyaltyFreeMusic Nver Avetyan from Pixabay Technology Dubstep

Music by John_Kensy_Music from Pixabay Mindfulness Relaxation & Meditation Music

Day 30 – Push-Ups for St. Jude

I am feeling better today than I did yesterday. It got down to 65 degrees here in Saint Louis, MO so I decided to do the pushups outside. I am trying to trim the videos down shorter now so there is less dead time and less talking time.

My goal is to do 50 pushups every day for August 2023. My stretch goal is to do 50 quality pushups in a single set. Today I did two higher-quality sets of 25 pushups, for only 50 quality pushups in total! I think this is the best approach overall to do an actual set of 50 by the end of August.

I did a 5-minute breath work session between the two sets, which is available to view after the two sets of pushups. In this video, I do the basic 4-count in, 4-count hold, and 4-count exhale. Then when that feels comfortable I up it to 8-counts for all three. Normally I would do a 4 or 8-count hold after the exhale but having just done pushups and preparing to do more pushups I do not tend to hold on the exhale.

I’m Doing more than 1,550 Pushups for St. Jude – Please donate to my fundraiser!

https://www.facebook.com/donate/1690575421423292/?fundraiser_source=external_url

Music by RoyaltyFreeMusic Nver Avetyan from Pixabay Technology Dubstep

Music by John_Kensy_Music from Pixabay Mindfulness Relaxation & Meditation Music

Music by To Hot to Play, Lobo Loco, Free Music Archive (CC)

Music by Khruangbin Live at Boulder Theater on 2019-05-08
https://archive.org/details/Khruangbin20190508017/Khruangbin2019-05-08-008.flac

Day 29 – Push-Ups for St. Jude

I am not feeling very well today. In this video, I declare, “That is the thing about consistency, you still show up even when you are not feeling well. I am going to give my 100% even though I don’t have 100% to give. I am going to give my full 83%.) My kids both got Hand Foot and Mought Virus over the weekend, and as our Nurse Practitioner warned, there is now a strain that adults get. Maybe it is the offspring of the Omnichrom Carona 19 virus. I am not pro-vax or anti-vax.

It seems to me like just getting the virus is a vaccination in its own way. Probably more risky than a vaccination but it’s cheaper! and I love a good value! Still, I’d rather just get a vaccine if I can afford it and it doesn’t make me sick. So, now that I have polarized my reader base, let’s move forward to the video where I try to do pushups even though I am not very fit and I am sick!

My goal is to do 50 pushups every day for August 2023. My stretch goal is to do 50 quality pushups in a single set. Today I did two higher-quality sets of 25 pushups, for only 50 quality pushups in total! I think this is the best approach overall to do an actual set of 50 by the end of August.

I did a 5-minute breath work session between the two sets, which is available to view after the two sets of pushups. In this video, I do the basic 4-count in, 4-count hold, and 4-count exhale. Then when that feels comfortable I up it to 8-counts for all three. Normally I would do a 4 or 8-count hold after the exhale but having just done pushups and preparing to do more pushups I do not tend to hold on the exhale.

Please Donate to The Children

I’m Doing more than 1,550 Pushups for St. Jude – Please donate to my fundraiser!

https://www.facebook.com/donate/1690575421423292/?fundraiser_source=external_url

Music by RoyaltyFreeMusic Nver Avetyan from Pixabay Technology Dubstep

Music by John_Kensy_Music from Pixabay Mindfulness Relaxation & Meditation Music

Music by To Hot to Play, Lobo Loco, Free Music Archive (CC)

Music by Khruangbin Live at Boulder Theater on 2019-05-08
https://archive.org/details/Khruangbin20190508017/Khruangbin2019-05-08-008.flac