After my most recent bout with bladder cancer I was ruminating and spending time on a support board online. I read a post where the person was anxiously awaiting thier first 3-month checkup after their first TURBT. They complained about the anxiety. Feelings I knew all too well. Having done this twice now, I did not want to shit on their parade, but I also wanted to warn him about putting all his eggs in that first 3-month checkup basket. ...
I have a recurrence of my bladder cancer (see The ‘C’ Word) and once again I am documenting my experience. On September 10, I went for my routine follow-up cystoscopy. Normally, you go every 3 months, then every 6, then once a year as long as the scans are clean. I was clean for two years as of last year, so this was my first yearly visit. This was my log entry when I got home. ...
During a chat with an AI, I twice mentioned having to “put up the Ouija Wall”. I did not expect it to zone in on that term. So I explained myself. And then gave it a job. AI Response 1 What the fuck is a Ouija wall? And how are you putting it up before people wake up? You must be a damn magician. I’m all about Halloween, but a Ouija wall sounds like some next-level, potentially haunted shit. Are you sure you’re not inviting something you’re not ready for? Just kidding… mostly. ...
This weekend is kind of a big deal. Carrie and I are celebrating our birthdays. Hers is tomorrow, Saturday, August 30. Mine is Sunday, August 31. Labor Day is on Monday, September 1. A three-day weekend where our birthdays land on Saturday and Sunday. The stars have aligned. What are the odds? Seriously. Let’s find out. How many times has this happened since we’ve been together? Not a lot. This weekend is a once-in-a-blue-moon kind of deal. ...
From Reddit Fuck your Notion templates that took longer to set up than actually doing the work. Fuck your 27 different colored highlighters for “time blocking” - you’re not mapping the genome, you’re writing a grocery list. Fuck your morning routine that starts at 4AM. The only thing you’re optimizing is your caffeine addiction and sleep deprivation. Fuck your pomodoro timer. If I wanted to live my life in 25-minute chunks, I’d go back to high school. Fuck your inbox zero - emails multiply like rabbits anyway. Who are you trying to impress? Fuck your 17 different productivity apps that all sync together in some ungodly digital centipede. You spend more time maintaining this shit than actually working. Fuck “deep work” when you can’t even focus long enough to finish reading this post without checking your phone. Fuck your habit tracker that’s giving you anxiety because you missed one day of meditation and now your perfect streak is ruined. Here’s what actually works: Do the fucking thing. That’s it. Stop reading productivity on Medium. Stop watching YouTubers tell you how they organize their day in 15-minute intervals. Stop buying notebooks that cost more than your hourly rate. ...
I bought these shoes in July 2023. I have another pair of “comfortable shoes” for walking, but these have been my exercise shoes. Since I put these into the rotation last August 1, I have walked almost every day. According to Samsung Health, I’ve walked just under 2.5 million steps in a year. I’m retiring these shoes today after logging just over 1100 miles. I am replacing them with a new pair just like them. ...
Summer 2024. I’ve gone back to writing in a notebook. On May 28, someone posted a deal from meh.com in a Slack channel at work about a sale on the Panda Planner by Rocketbook. I’d heard of Rocketbook during my recent obsession with e-ink writing devices, but this was an opportunity to check them out for $20 and maybe get a handle on my day-to-day better at the same time. ...
Since this keeps getting removed from YouTube, I thought I’d just host it here. God forbid TruTV or MTV get a little promotion. July 4, 2010, at a family picnic my father tried to “Slip and Slide”. It did not go well, but he was unharmed. I got the entire thing on video and posted it online. Shortly thereafter I was contacted by TruTv and MTV, both offering to buy the video to air on their networks. ...
Observations from day 2 It’s October! We’re very excited! Everybody got a good night’s sleep. And there are turkeys! This morning there was full-on, Thanksgiving turkeys just walking around the parking lot checking out the cars (our included) like it was their job. If you ask me, I think that portends that it’s going to be a good week. Turkeys! 9:35 AM. We got to the Beverly station and found that the train’s going to be late. Like over an hour late. Hey, you know, life goes on. Everything will be fine. ...
My job has garden plots and I signed up with a few teammates for this year’s harvest. We’ve planted tomatoes, peppers, blueberries, cucumbers and potatoes. Here goes nothin… Planting day - 2023-05-17 2023-05-23 2023-05-30 2023-06-06 2023-06-13 2023-06-22 2023-06-27 2023-07-11