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.
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.
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.
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 videobelow. 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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Improvement is something that always sounds good up front. The concept is wonderful, you will end up with something better than what you started with… Who wouldn’t want something better than what they already have?
The flip side is that nothing worth obtaining is easy to come by. Value is determined by the scarcity of a resource or the difficulty of learning. Improvement without real work does not add real value.
This post started with a simple video I created about fixing an issue I was having with my new Scarlet 4i4 audio interface recording into only one ear, (which is still how the post ends.)
Basement Office
As I told this story it caused me to work backward into describing all the work I did to build the sound booth I put in my basement. So, to integrate the process I took my time and told more of the story. This increased the quality of this post and I hope it adds more value to the reader. The pictures of me building my sound booth included the work on the bathroom adjacent to the home office/sound booth/guest room, so I included that work because it is part of the same story.
As I worked backward from making iterations on my sound stage I realized I hadn’t shared all the work I did on that room to get it where it is today. So I developed this second video as a retro-montage. I cover the steps in this video in more detail in the rest of the Blog post below.
This video covers cutting cement with gas saws, adding an egress window, leveling the floor, adding a jetted tub, and finishing the project. Content on sound-proofing is below.
Adding Value
When I put in the muted office space in my basement I did three things:
I added an egress window.
I “soundproofed” the walls with Mineral Wool & decoupling pads.
Hung a suspended ceiling.
Egress Window
I could have saved some time hiring someone else to put in an egress window but I saved a lot of money leveraging the knowledge, skill, and power of my dad, Mike Kolmer, and my friend (and CPA) Jon Carns.
This is what we had when we started:
I rented a gas-powered circular saw with a massive diamond-crusted blade and made cuts from inside and outside. Unfortunately, the cuts didn’t allow the block to fall outward so we had to knock it out with sledgehammers. Below is what we did ending with the updated egress window.
Why Add an Egress Window?
There are many benefits to adding an egress window into a basement, they are beauty, safety, and, income.
Beauty
It is very nice to have a big window in a basement room because it lets plenty of natural light into the room and makes it feel much less like a basement.
Safety
There is also the safety concern of a fire where people could escape from the window if there was a fire.
Income
This is related to the law around listing a room as a bedroom when renting or selling the property. If you have an egress window that meets local code requirements (a certain height from the floor, a big enough opening to crawl out of, and a certain size based on the size of the room,) then you can call it a bedroom! That will raise the monthly rent you can charge and or the selling price of the property.
What I learned…
…is that if I do this again I will pay more for a cement saw with a mount that cuts at a perfect 90-degree angle. They also have lasers on them, so I would also require that it has lasers, not because that is very important but because it is amazing.
Level the Playing Ground
After putting in the window I leveled the floor with some self-leveling cement. The first step is to paint down some primer rated for self-leveling cement. (Left below) Then mix the cement. (Center below) Lastly, pour and spread with a board. (Right, below)
Words cannot express how satisfying it was to pour very liquid cement on the floor of my basement and strike it out to level the floor.
After the Egress window was in and I felt better about the dip in the floor, I hung some 10 mil sheet plastic as a moisture barrier with “liquid nails” industrial caulk.
The next step was to put up some stud walls with pine 2″X4″ lumber. I used pressure-treated lumber on the bottom board because those hold up to moisture better than the cheaper untreated boards I used for the studs and the top plate.
Sound-Proofed the Room
So, I am using the term sound-proofed lightly here. I merely dampened the sound entering and reverberating within the room. If I had “soundproofed” my office that would have cost several tens of thousands of dollars, but I will say that my office is quiet and mute, and there are still things I could do to reduce the noise floor of the space.
Rockwool Insulation and Wool Pads
I also filled the walls and ceiling with Rockwool insulation. This fiber made from minerals adds additional sound absorption.
If you look closely at the pictures on the right, above, I also added wool strips between the gypsum drywall sheets and the studs in the whole room, and across the hall on the wall in front of the HVAC. All this was done to make the room mute and dampen sounds from outside.
There are definitely more complicated and much more expensive ways to decouple the drywall from the wooden stud, however, these wool pads worked and I purchased them at a clearance price at Menards. Whenever I upgrade a house I always look for the option with a good value. It’s not the fanciest system, but it did the job well and cost me almost nothing to implement.
Then, after hanging the drywall over the studs we hung a suspended ceiling. Luckily my (then) 5-year-old son had experience with this. He had also wired a few houses by then, which was helpful.
Yes, I am joking, this was his first experience hanging suspended ceilings and wiring LED light fixtures, but it’s never too early to learn how to build sweat equity in real estate, especially in an owner-occupied property!
That brings us up to 2014, and a lot has happened in the room where I am currently sitting, writing this blog post. For starters, I work from home in this room.
Jetted Tub
We installed a jetted tub! So, this has nothing to do with building my sound booth, but the work happened alongside the sound booth work, so it ended up in the retro montage video I opened this post with. This addition was less substantial overall but it is something that I use all the time to unwind and relax.
I have used this tub to take hot Epsom Salt baths, but it has also come in handy for ice water baths for muscle recovery, and a fun bath for the kids!
How I am Improving My Sound Booth Today
Sound in One Ear Using Camo Studio Pro with Focusrite Scarlet 4i4
in the original Video, I shot for this post, I looked further into a complication with my sound setup. It took me quite a bit of time to solve this issue. I wasn’t sure which sound setting was causing my audio to record into only the left channel.
At first, I thought this issue was with the Focusrite Scarlet 4i4 digital sound input. So I was looking at the audio settings in the app interface for that device, and they were not fixing the issue. in the end, I discovered a setting in the Camo Studio application (which I’m using to implement my cell phone as an HD camera), that caused the single audio channel in the final recording.
In this video, you can see me explaining this issue in detail, and I start with how I solved this issue, then I include all of the tests I ran while I was trying to understand why I was having this error. I ended the video with a humorous project I completed for work where I had to quickly put together a video that had sound in only one channel. At the end of this video, the movement of my lips is not synced with the sound, and it is disorienting. Unfortunately, this video was already published to the members of our organization before I realized I had made this error. this clarifies why it was so vital for me to solve this opportunity. #CamoStudioPro #FocusriteScarlet4i4 #focusritescarlett #Focusrite #Scarlet4i4 #Camostudio
Conclusion
This year I am focused on integrating the separate parts of my life. I have many interests and often do not have enough time to allocate to all of them adequately. Integration has become about clearly identifying the things I like to do and spending more time on them, so I can do them well. My interests in sound design, video, learning content, real estate, art, landscaping, and spending time with my family have all contributed to the success of this sound stage that I have built. There will always be ways to make it even quieter and find better ways to increase the quality of my videos. I must not let the idea of those things that I still plan to do demotivate or distract me from things I am doing today.
There are loops all around us. Cycles that gain power when they are closed loops. All of these loops are connected to other loops and if a loop is changed it has downstream effects. Life itself depends on these loops, and our lives are enriched when we identify these loops and make efforts to close them. A sentence that is only started does not carry a message, but a completed sentence can effectively transfer a thought from my brain into your brain.
Seeds and Butterfly Lifecycles
My mom started a hobby a long time ago of planting the milkweed plant that attracts Monarch butterflies. Every year she purchased more plants and planted them on the path in the backyard. After we had children, I started collecting the seeds of these plants. When I planted these seeds, I completed a loop and now have an endless supply of seeds that attract Monarch butterflies.
In turn, these plants support the procreation of Monarch butterflies and increase the number of these amazing creatures on our planet. This in turn increases the number of pollinating insects on our planet, which I should not have to tell you is a good thing.
Moving Dirt in the Real Universe
This will be like MINECRAFT but in the real world
Minecraft Prelude
My son loves Minecraft, just like most 8-year-olds in 2024. I had heard about the game but didn’t understand how great it was until I went back to school to study Instructional Design. The power of Minecraft is that no matter what mode you are in, be it creative or survival, the game is based on you creating items from raw materials.
The Threat of Death Creates a Loop
Creative mode is much more open and the options are endless, but as my son has shared with me, survival mode is more challenging and proves you know how to play the game. You can’t die in creative mode, but in survival mode, you can.
When your character dies and is born again in a game you have closed a loop. Without that loop, the game is less interesting and less challenging, and as my son explained playing in creative is less impressive. It is more impressive to see a player do something amazing in survival mode because it displays that they really know how to play the game.
Minecraft as More than a Game
Now, for the uninitiated who do not live around children or who have never entered the Minecraft world, I want to open this up a bit. Yes, Minecraft is a video game that can be played alone or socially online. Yes, you can play in survival mode where you have to gather all of your resources and can be killed by “mobs” (that is what you call enemies in the Minecraft Universe).
Here is the part you might not be aware of. The new generation watches others play Minecraft on YouTube more than they play the game themselves. My 5-year-old and 8-year-old know more about Minecraft than I knew about anything when I was that age. Creators are now using Modified versions of Minecraft to create Television Shows. When my daughter was 4 years old she said, “I like that show (Mikey and JJ), I like watching that more than Disney.” This was completely unprompted and it really caught my attention. I mean, better than Disney? really?
Yes, because it is interactive. The players in this show are doing things that the audience can do because the audience is made up of users! Instead of watching your older sister play the game, you can curate playlists on YouTube of your favorite designer crafting things that interest you.
The Metaverse Has Arrived
Many people think that the Metaverse is a string theory abstraction that only high-level mathematicians believe in. If you are thinking of the Metaverse proposed by comic books and action movies then those people are maybe right, possibly. There is, however, another way to perceive the metaverse, a way where it definitely exits, and that is the worlds that we create in online games. We often reserve statements about the metaverse to augmented reality (think Pokemon Go) or even virtual reality (see image below), but on-screen games can be included as well because they are worlds rendered in a virtual “3D” space.
Bust of Apollo equipped with VR headset. Metaverse concept with copy space. 3D rendering
The network of online worlds created by the Minecraft community alone is nearly unimaginable, and that is just on the Minecraft platform. (I tried looking this up but only found that a block in Minecraft is equivalent to a meter, so if you find this let me know!) As interesting as the metaverse is, it is not a place in the real world, and I do not want my kids to live in a mental space where all that they know and love is based on imaginary objects. When you close a loop in the metaverse it does not connect to a loop in the real world. This imaginary universe of unbridled creation and design is beautiful, and part of me wishes I had something like that instead of the locked-down side scrollers of the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). There is another part of me that is very glad I did not grow up in the age of Meta-connection.
Pre-Metaverse Games
SAO PAULO, SAO PAULO – BRAZIL – AUGUST 13, 2023: Old NES Nintendo video game, with two-button control Nintendo Entertainment System 1985, 80’s, joystick gamepad console Black Studio Background
I had Super Mario Bros., Metroid, and Megaman, and these were fun games, and they were hard games. It was their difficulty that made them compelling. When you died you didn’t just lose items and go back to the building, you had to start the game over. There was no save and this made the gaming experience different. Indeed, they were not connected to the internet so the term Metaverse might not apply to them.
What makes Minecraft compelling is not as much of the difficulty but the novelty of creation, the beauty of the design, and the sublime ways we can interact with these worlds almost seamlessly. I want my children to benefit from these mind-enhancing experiences, but I also want them to have a solid grasp of the real world. So, when I had a hands-on project in the back yard I told my son, “This will be like Minecraft, but in the real world.”
One way of looking at what I did here is that I was closing the loop. I connected the design ideas of Minecraft with playing with dirt in the backyard. They are very different in many ways, but one could argue that they are more similar than different. Closing the loop is about integrating all the aspects of our lives and effectively transferring skills from one part of ourselves to another. Digging in real dirt has different challenges than digging in the Minecraft Metaverse. You can’t dig straight down to solid bedrock in several minutes no matter what your shovel is made of. (Not even an enchanted diamond shovel will help you in the real world.)
The Moment I first Uttered “Close the Loop”
I was still digging around in the backyard, and my kids had completely lost interest because somehow digging real dirt is more difficult and less rewarding in terms of instant gratification than in Minecraft.
My first idea was to dig out the area of our backyard in the far back. We have a rough makeshift firepit that I threw together with blocks that I found digging around our various beds and gardens of our 1-acre lot. My plan was originally to dig out a half-circle from the berm right next to the fire pit so that people could effectively sit on all sides of the pit. (I soon realized that this plan would not work because I had the current make-shift pit on an easement and I don’t want a permanent firepit in a space where the sewer company may dig, but that is a story for another post.)
Where to Throw the Extra Dirt?
The original question was where should I place the dirt I have removed? The answer was to place the dirt on another part of the berm that stretches across the back property line of our yard to make a ramp that we could ride bikes on. This idea of taking dirt from one project and placing it in a way that benefits another project was to me “CLOSING THE LOOP”. Instead of placing the dirt where it did not benefit another project I was benefiting two projects with minimal additional work.
Fires of Wood
The fact that this project is for a fire pit offers another example of closing the loop. We purchased the house right next door to my parents, so between the two families, we have roughly 2 acres of land, with a LOT of trees. So there is a limited supply of good hardwood for our indoor fireplaces, but an almost endless supply of wood to burn.
This is why I cobbled together this rough fire pit, to burn off the extra wood. We could pay someone to haul away the wood, but instead, we burn the wood off ourselves. This gives us a nice place to sit in the backyard (and pretend we are camping), but it also gives us free fertilizer for the yard.
The ashes from the fire, also called “pot ash”, are very rich in phosphorus, which is a vital nutrient for the roots of all plants. So keeping the wood, burning it, and laying it in my yard completes that cycle, it closes the loop.
Carpe Diem Dicey Bones
The events of this post happened at the end of October of 2023. During that Halloween season, I went to the pop-up Halloween Spirit store and bought a lifesize skeleton to hang on the spiderweb in our front yard. I named this plastic replica “Dicey Bones”. The skeleton is a universal symbol of death.
This was October when I was gearing up for No Shave November.
Death is our final destination and death is the final loop we will close in our lives. We can choose to dwell on the negative aspects of our mortal existence, we can focus on how our days are numbered. Or we can celebrate the days we still have. We can seize the day, suck the sweet marrow out of life and live our lives to the fullest. To do that this year I am focusing on integration, I am closing as many loops as I can to integrate all of my selves into a single unified drive forward. As the Japanese say “Zen Roku Wosusogu” or Focus your energies. Less I fall victim to a non-eventful life. To laying on my death bead and thinking “I would feel content if I would have…”
Conclusion
So, to summarize, this post explores the concept of “closing loops” in various aspects of life, and how the closed loops benefit from other closed loops. Trying new things is great, but closing the loop is about completing tasks that you have already started. By recognizing and completing these loops, we enrich our lives and create meaningful connections. Through examples like planting milkweed to support butterflies, playing and integrating Minecraft concepts to enhance our understanding of design thinking, and repurposing dirt efficiently for simultaneous backyard projects, I have attempted to shed light on the interconnectedness of our actions and downstream effects. Embracing the concept of closing loops becomes a way to celebrate life, recall the importance of seizing the day, and integrate all aspects of ourselves.
I am choosing a word for each year and this is my post for 2024.
The ending of 2022 was about Honesty, mostly with myself but also with other people.
Then 2023 was about Consistency. I spent the year building up the consistency in my visual brand, teaching myself to model in 3D, and posting what I learned while I learned it in a 30-day 3D Model Challenge. In August I consistently posted for St. Jude charity with my Push-Ups for St. Jude where I did 50 pushups a day and they were not always pretty, but I posted all the videos anyway and raised over $537 US. Then in September, I went cycling as frequently as I could and posted as many videos as I could for my Consistently Cycling More often in September 2023 series. I received feedback from my English-speaking friends from the UK that biking is not used for the act of cycling in proper English so as to not confuse my English friends and colleagues I changed the title of those halfway through, so the early ones have “Biking” in the title. That was not very consistent of me!
Sprinkled around the year I posted about my health journey and even summarized the whole thing in my final post of 2023 Consistently Well.
Throughout the year I learned a lot about consistency. About what it meant to post to my blog consistently. How to consistently show up for my kids and my family. The main thing I learned was that consistency was less about a 30-day challenge, or posting every day on a blog. Consistency was about finding my true self and being that authentic person all the time. It is funny how it just tied back to my first annual word of honesty in that way.
And at the end of 2024, I knew I wanted a word about being complete… Something about completing things, Completing the cycle, or Closing the Loop. However, the word complete itself implies too much desire to finish a specific task. It implied so much around the idea that things are not just complete the way they are, that I am not complete as I am. That is not where I wanted to take this discussion. So, later I came up with the word connection or connected and I liked that word. That is until I remembered we are building an intranet at work and probably calling it Connect or Connections, so I wondered if my subconscious had just picked up that language from that project, and wanted this project to be separate from that. …So, it was New Year’s Eve and I still didn’t have a word I liked.
Then on New Year’s Day, I did some YouTube Yoga with my wife. We like to practice 30-day Yoga challenges with Yoga with Yoga With Adriene. While doing yoga Adriene called out the word of being integrated. Having the movement, the breath, and the mind all integrated, and at once I knew that was my word for 2024.
May 2024 be my year of integration.
Integrated
Improving my process
Improving the equipment I use
Connecting with my family, friends, and colleagues on a deeper and more meaningful level
Connected
Connect with my craft, my interests, and my Dad by creating learning content around real estate and not only why you should get involved in it, but how you can get started.
Complete
Complete posts I started on in 2023 that I wasn’t ready to create. Posts that belonged in the year of integration, not the year of consistency. Posts about the process, about art, about creation.
Complete art:
“If you have an idea you’re excited about and you don’t bring it to life, it’s not uncommon for the idea to find its voice through another maker. This isn’t because the other artist stole your idea, but because the idea’s time has come.”
I started writing this post in March of 2023, but somehow haven’t found a way to finish it until December 29th, 2023. The additions I have just made in December before posting will be in bold text. I think it is because I feared I would not be consistent in this method. Another fear I had was that I have a bachelor’s degree in theater and a master’s of science in Instructional Design. I am not a medical doctor so giving health advice seemed like something I was not qualified for.
I went for a physical check-up with my PCP On April 19th of this year (2023) and after looking at my numbers he asked if I was doing anything differently. I said I was and explained a bit of what I have to say in this post. He said, “Well, whatever you are doing it is working. You could teach a class on this.” I agree with him, I don’t know if he knows that I work on learning, but, yeah, I could teach a class.
Picture of me walking outside of the Hospital after that very PCP visit in April, 2023
The main thing I want to stress is simply the weight gain I experienced. I acknowledge that weight gain is only a single measure, but if you are changing habits and are overweight, then weight loss is a good place to start. I am 6 feet 2 inches tall and the most I have ever weighed is about 250 lbs US.
I used the YMCA app to track my workouts and my weight. I managed to get down to about 202 right before our trip to Thailand. This screenshot was taken around June 8th when I was about 208 lbs. So this is what was happening with my weight a year previously to June 2023.
Then while we were in Thailand, (while I was on vacation) this happened.
This is what I looked like before all of this started
And this is what I looked like after.
Below this point is the original post I wrote in May of 2023, I will add more pictures and videos to support my point:
No More Sugar
I have made a promise to myself to explore the concept of consistency in 2023. Most importantly, I have successfully eliminated raw sugar from my diet. Cane sugar, corn syrup, maple syrup, and yes even honey are things that I simply do not eat for now. I will eventually go back on the Maple syrup and the honey I think, but for now, for consistency around not eating honey, they are out. In addition to that sugar has been shown in research to be not much better for your body than vodka, beer, rum, malt Liquor, Milwakees Beast, Nattie, Stag, etc.
“Your liver metabolizes sugar the same way as alcohol, and converts dietary carbohydrates to fat,”
“The effects of added sugar intake — higher blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, diabetes, and fatty liver disease — are all linked to an increased risk for heart attack and stroke,”
So how do I sweeten things, well, the short answer is Stevia or Monkfruit. Even certain sugar alcohols have no calories but tend to confuse the body and still disrupt the insulin cycle. So, for the most part, I don’t eat sweet things, but if I have a sweet craving I use the Steevia and Monkfruit packets I get at Costco.
The first video I watched that inspired this whole health journey is this one:
I understand that Dr. Berg is a chiropractor and not a dietician, but hell I’m an instructional designer, so I don’t have much room to judge. Still what he is saying is accurate, at least for the most part, and I am holding myself up as an example that it works.
While we are on the subject, I would simply like to bring up the point that the “practice” of medicine is still perceived to be an art as much as a science. I believe it was this podcast that explored the concept that the practice of medicine doesn’t look as much at the newest science but more along the lines of “This is how we have always done it.”Or, “This has worked so far so let’s just stick with it.”
Click on the image below to read the transcript and hear the audio.
If there is one thing other than sugar that I am consistently working toward it is insulin resistance, or finding ways to reduce the number of times per day my body starts creating insulin. This is a key to health because then when we actually do create some insulin our body reacts more effectively, and when we are not creating insulin our body goes into a rest state. The state of autophagy is when your body cleans itself out. It throws out all the junk, the bad mitochondria that lead to well, cancer.
Autophagy –
Consumption of the body’s own tissue as a metabolic process occurring in starvation and certain diseases.
Destruction of damaged or redundant cellular components occurring in vacuoles within the cell.
OxfordLanguages – Google
As the title suggests I have consistently undergone Intermittent fasting. I have vowed to skip breakfast and have not eaten it for just under 4 months (as of April 2023). I know that skipping dinner would be healthier because it would improve my sleep, but I wanted to start with something I knew I could be consistent with. I wake up and have a cup of coffee, If the day before was rough or a cheat day, I might add some ghee or cream in to make some bulletproof coffee but on a normal day, I only add stevia or cinnamon if anything. Two weeks ago I went for a two-day fast, on Thursday and Friday, and then ate a late breakfast on Saturday. It felt great and I was surprised I could do it.
At one point throughout this entire year, I fasted from Thursday to Sunday. I did not eat anything but water and coffee for over 72 hours. It was intense but overall I really enjoyed it. My fasting this year has ebbed and flowed, but overall I have fasted at least once per week to allow my body a chance to clean out the junk and decrease the chances that I have live cancer cells in my body. As I mentioned previously I have watched a lot of Dr. Berg’s videos, and here is his take on fasting. I like how these videos feel like a course in a classroom and he provides simple actionable advice.
The concept of fasting really did pick up for me later in the year. I can also use this opportunity to share another health goal I set for the year. This one is more about longevity and also focuses on no sugar, no alcohol, and fasting. I often listen to the Ten Percent Happier podcast on meditation.I first listened to the How to Get Fit Sanely series, and I listened to the episode with Dr. Mark Hayman before the others, and after listening to the others I still like this one the most.
I like his concept of having a long health span not just a long lifespan. Live a long healthy life. He also uses research from the blue zones, and he gets a bit carried away with supplements, but I really like his concepts of hot saunas, cold water baths, and eating the fruit of wild stressed plants. I got his audiobook from the library and put it on my phone for my trip to Thailand. Well, both of these books actually.
His message is not really groundbreaking… basically, maximize the nutritional content in your food. Minimize carbohydrates and sugar. Eliminate alcohol. Add small stressors to your lifestyle like working out, hot saunas, and cold baths. This habit activates your recovery systems, but once the repair is completed these systems keep on working. The idea is that this will increase your “healthspan“, not just your lifespan.
I have listened to Young Forever the most and found it very compelling information. Some of the information on nutrition and supplements is overwhelming, but it’s easy for example to remember to eat loads of pomegranate and kiwi fruit. Overall, it is just the principle of what makes you feel healthy, so find ways to stick to that.
I have the audiobook on my phone now so tracks from that book will randomly pop up when I mow the lawn. On one such occasion, there was a statement that Mark Hyman made about how new science is always heavily criticized by the scientific community. He basically claimed that old ideas in the world of science usually die out when those who believe them die. So, paradigm shifts in the scientific world are incredibly slow. What is considered “true science” or “legitamine science” is a relative term and changed throughout the ages.
Now a skeptic would think, “Well, of course, Dr. Hyman would say that how convenient, because he is a quack and he is full of $#!+.”
…And yet another person could hear that and think, well all of these ideas are new and have not all been thoroughly tested beyond a doubt with conclusive controlled studies. That is what you get with new or cutting-edge science. I could give it a shot and see how I feel. That is more what I did and I have to say that it worked for me. People are all different and what worked for me might not work for everyone else. Finding what works for you is what the health journey is all about.
As I mentioned I got into Mark Haymen from the Ten Percent Happier podcast on meditation. They had a Get Fit Sanely series, and I enjoyed all of them. I recommend you check it out!
Of the series these were my 2nd and 3rd favorites:
Your brain on Food was especially compelling and I share some of the food I crafted later in this post.
I also gave the intuitive eating episode a go. It was very compelling because it was obviously the favorite plan shared by the host, Dan Harris, but it didn’t work for me as well. Intuitive Eating was something I attempted later in the year, and it really led to me overeating and basically eating whatever I wanted between most of November and December. You can look at the chart for the whole year to see the overall result.
So, you can see above that my year was a net loss of 14 lbs. The low point in the middle was July when we visited Thailand and was my main goal to have a trimmed physique. The flat part after that was a result of my 50-Pushups a Day Challenge. Then after that, I listened to the intuitive eating podcast and added cheat days. Then October and November became a cheat month.
Consistently Nice to Myself
It has not always been easy cutting out raw sugar and then not eating for more than half the day. When I first started on this path I was happy to have the guidance of Dr. Eric Berg DC. His videos on the “Healthy Keto” approach made a lot of things fall together for me. Healthy fat is important in this transformation. It is the key to letting go of sugar. This is because our bodies are geared to store energy as Ketones and then burn that energy as fat fuel. Fat is a very efficient fuel for us. Sugar was not part of the equation until recently.
Here is another Dr. Berg plug on how to get started on “Healthy Keto.”
I have added cheat days after implementing “The Four Hour Body” method by Tim Ferris. This has really helped with the psychology of keeping on track with this method. On Saturdays I can eat whatever I want, I still fast in the morning, but I break my fast with foods high in protein, fiber, and healthy fats. There are also extra exercises I can do on this cheat day but I am normally working in the yard anyway so I don’t do them! This concept of how to have a cheat day really worked for me so I recommend checking it out. I mostly just added the workout to my schedule 3 times a week from this method. I have also added carbs that are not “white”, any carb that is or can be white. So, bread, potato, pasta, and rice are out, but yellow corn, sweet potato, or purple potatoes can be eaten in moderation.
Overall the cheat days work well for me as a psychological break, but they often turn into cheat weekends, and then coupled with intuitive eating they become cheat months or cheat seasons. So, they work but they should be used in moderation. If you just eat whatever you want one day a week then you really are not on a real ketogenic diet, because a bad cheat day can kick you out of ketosis for up to 4 or 5 days after.
I would really like to emphasize the workout sessions from “The Four Hour Body” as those helped immensely to use the “Minimum Effective Dose” MED of exercise to stay healthy and save time.
Consistently Well
So, far this health journey has been a journey of learning. It really is about finding what works for me to stay fit, and feel better about myself. I would say that cutting out sugar and snacking are the two biggest accomplishments of the year, but eating loads of vegetables, working out more, and cutting alcohol almost out of the picture have all helped tremendously.
I have also gotten into cooking healthy food at home and post about that a lot on my Instagram account.
Above Tuna and salmon salad have high protein count and salmon contains leptin, which signals to your system it is OK to burn off your fat as fuel.
Parsley rivals kale in nutrients and has more vitamins K, A, and C, and it is very easy to grow at home.
Amid all this fasting and eating a Ketogenic meal plan, I also got into fermenting foods because why not!?
Cole slaw mix on left, and peeled garlic on the right, both in a sea salt and purified water brine
If you adhere at all to the concepts of probiotics or even pre-biotics then fermented food is a way to cultivate good bacteria that help your gut work properly. I am not sure exactly where I stand on the science of all this but when I eat fermented food I do feel better.
I have been talking a lot about alcohol but have not directly written about it in this post. I had a dry January and that stretched out to 5 months of no alcohol. On Father’s day, June 16th, 2023 I drank a LOT of good bourbon and learned that drinking while you are on a Ketogenic diet has disastrous results. You basically get two or three more times drunker than you normally would. I also gave a few of the new NA beers a shot because they taste good but most of them still have high calories and sugar.Before you roll your eyes, there have been strong developments in vacuum stills that manage to preserve the flavor of the beer while removing the alcohol.
This Samuel Adams was especially delicious but it was actually more of a NA malt beverage, and the calories were just under 100 so not terrible. Still, hands down the NA beer I liked the most and felt the best about drinking was by Athletic Brewing Company.
Let’s just call it what it is. Alcohol is a toxin. It is a poison that destroys every part of your body. It diminishesthe body’s ability to produce muscle mass so it is not good for athletic recovery. Alcohol has been shown in multiple studies to have carcinogenic properties. More recently I have read that alcohol simply hinders the mitochondria in your cells which both provide energy to the cells and take out the trash. So, alcohol might make us feel good for some time but at the end of the day, it is just as bad or worse for you as sucrose or fructose.
So, this ended up becoming a long meandering post, but then again, it took me nearly a year to write it. I am happy you made it this far and I hope I brought up a concept or a guru that spoke to you. I would love to hear from you, and more about your personal health journey, and what has worked for you. Please send me aline or reply to this post.
If you have seen any of my November posts you might have heard me say that I was consistently not shaving my beard for November. It was No-Shave-November over here and my wife and my daughter were none too impressed. My daughter pretended to think it was cool but my wife was very open about how it made me look old and she thought it was not lovely.
This post should have come out at the beginning of December but I spent more time than I had anticipated on my last post: Long Rich Life of Novelty.
Dave at Target to buy minty beard balm with his adorables
Why did I have a beard for November? Well, I am not going to lie, I like having a beard. However, the movement is about more than just doing what you like. I have a good reason to shave my beard, my wife hates it. No Shave November is actually a movement that recognizes men’s health. It is a statement to open the door for discussions around types of man-specific cancer and mental health. When a person struggles with their health they often lose some or even all of their hair. No shave November is an opportunity to grow out the hair, appreciate that you have health, and be thankful that you are healthy.
A Simple Birthday Present
Luckily, my wife’s birthday was at the end of November, so I could shave the beard just in time for her birthday present. Unfortunately, for my wife, I still had the beard for our wedding anniversary but I think we look distinguished.
Dave and his wife, Jeab at the Ritz Carlton St. Louis
Dave and his wife, Jeab at Oceano Bistro, Clayton, MO
I Had Options
I do not have any pictures of after me shaving, to see that you have to watch the video of me shaving my face for my wife’s birthday.
In this video, my son documents my act of shaving my face
I did have options, but when I was searching around on the internet for beard knowledge I found pictures of other options I had. I found these images that I probably do not have the rights to use on this blog, but they are also probably a FaceBook post from an Instagram post from Reddit, so they have gotten around at this point.
Oakland A’s starter Mike Fiers
Some dude who is not famous like Oakland A’s starter Mike Fiers
I don’t know what you call that type of curly “G” shave but I got some flac when I posted it on my social media. Then there is this guy who is all over the internet with his spiral beard but I can’t seem to find his name
Spiral Beard
Spiral Beard
OK I Lied, I Do Have a Nice Shot of Clean-Shaven Dave
We were fortunate to go to the Missouri Botanical Garden Light Glow with our good friends, the Prechtels, this year! Yes, I have friends. What? Why are you looking at me surprised like that?
You see!? Real friends, I have. I didn’t even pay them to hang out with me. …Well, I bought the tickets but they paid me back on VENMO right away.
In conclusion, I feel that there was some friction around growing a beard for health awareness in men, but nothing that would deter me from doing the same thing next November 2024!
Thanks for reading!
David Kolmer is an Instructional Designer who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Theater and a Master of Science in Instructional Design and Educational Technology. Sometimes he shaves his beard and other times he does not. When he chooses to not shave his beard he always insists on keeping his beard well trimmed and adds minty beard balm from Target that his daughter says smells very good.
I found myself at a bonfire last month explaining to one of my best friends, Ted, that I live my life according to the currency of experience. I admitted I don’t do much motivated by money. I live my life in a way that enriches my wealth of experience. In this post, I explain why and uncover evidence as to why this perception of life has unexpected benefits.
Essentially time perception researchers agree. There are two ways to perceive that you are living a longer life.
Live a very boring life. Act like you are stranded on an international air flight with nothing to do.
Live a very novel life. Try new things all the time and go to new places.
I will allow you to guess which I use:
In this photo, I am wearing a coat I do not own. It is a product for sale by Costco. My children are taking pictures of me from their perch in the shopping cart. The man in the green sweater is judging us and I am not aware and now that I am aware I do not care. In the end, I did purchase this coat because it is so slick and novel.
I listened to this Radiolab episode while I was mowing the lawn. Then I listened to it again during my son’s swimming lesson at the YMCA. Ever since listening to this episode, I don’t go and just watch my son at his swimming lesson. I bring my daughter too and we all get into the pool during the lesson and we all swim. I mean I am a member at the YMCA, so I should have done this before. We don’t mess around with the other classes and the teachers seem to like it.
To be honest, I saw a friend doing the same thing, but something snapped when I heard this, or it clicked, and then I started talking about what I was seeing more frequently and taking action.
A Novel Experience of My Own
Long story short I was jealous that the creators at Radiolab had this lengthy experiment on stretching time via novelty. So, when my buddy said they were going to a Speakeasy I broke my traditional rhythm of saying, “Oh, sounds like fun, but I’m a dad now and I have to mow my lawn and be a boring old person…” and instead I went! Check out the video to see how it went:
You don’t need to travel the globe or even spend money to find Novelty. My son was given a balloon at school during the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. He used some markers to make his balloon look just like his favorite Pokemon. He did so well that when I picked him up from school I assumed it was a store-bought balloon design. Creating art is free, it is pure catharsis and is the highest form of worship.
Creating art is pure novelty.
A picture of Vincent with his Peekachu balloon he made by hand.
Wonder is all around you. You simply need to pause, take a deep breath and observe. While on one of the bike rides my family took together for a biking challenge I covered on this blog my daughter looked up at me and asked:
“Does God make the song?… God made the song because God is special. God died and then God came back and now God is a ghost.”
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
Improvement Dave 