WHAT'S ON YOUR TV?

I'll admit it. I'm a conspiracy theorist.

Not just with politics, but the world in general. I apply this theory to most things that I see/hear/watch.

Because of this theory, I have a few thoughts.

1. The American media is bought and paid for by the interests of the 1%. When all major news companies are owned by mega-corporations, the news distributed to the American public is biased and filtered.

Case in point: Bernie has been winning some states lately and packing rallies, but the majority of the coverage is focused on Trump and Clinton. How is this any different than state-sponsored radio? The state (in this case, the 1%) controls what is passed along. I believe they've done a good job of covering their bases by creating stations with conflicting points of view (Fox News vs. MSNBC) but if you look at it, they still cover the same events, just from differing points of view.

2. I believe there is a world-government. In my opinion, there are 20 or so people "behind the curtain" running the entire show.

The only solace I have found in this is that Trump will not become president. Not because he doesn't have supporters, the political know-who, is trying to revert America back to the 1950s, is going to destroy the middle class, will make other countries hate America more than they already do, spews hate, or anything along those lines.

Nope, all of that aside, he won't win because he doesn't play the political game like the powers-that-be are used to. He scares them. He could go rogue. So, they'll rig the election and do whatever needs to happen (hanging chads, anyone) to make sure he doesn't get the vote.

Does this make me happy? Not at all. I think he should lose on his own. But, as long as he doesn't win and (hopefully) doesn't make another reality show I'll be happy. He can live in his towers with his bought wife and go back to being a player in the real-estate game.

ADVENTURE DAY

 If you know me, you probably know that I rarely take a day off “just because”. This random day off goes against my typical motto…"Not feeling great. Tough it out and get to work”, “Have things you want to get done, do it after work”. Not always the best motto, but somehow its been hardwired into my DNA.

The odd times that I do take a day off are almost not worth it. Work like a madman for 2 days prior only to work like a madman 2 days after I return….all for one day off, rarely seems worth it.

But last week I broke the mold.

You might remember a post from a week or two ago explaining how I needed an “adventure vacation” to take my mind off of the daily grind and get back to neutral. 

Embarrassing as it is, I temporarily forgot that I am super fortunate and live in a place that has adventures all around. Once this realization was made, it only took about 2 seconds to decide to take a day off.  

So, I planned an adventure day.

Here was the criteria used to determine what to do:

•      Do what I want, when I want
•      Do things that are “adventurey” and that bring me nothing but joy

 And that’s just what I did.

The day started with a cup of coffee from one of my go-to gas stations then continued to the woods to turkey hunt. Although I didn’t get one I did see a couple in the distance. At least I know there are still birds out there.  Which is reassuring this late in the season.

Next up was a trip to the barbershop. I love this place and everything about it. The cold beer in the fridge. Han-solo, the shop dog. The jokes and stories. The good dudes who work and hang out there. And the great vibes and energy.

After getting a fresh cut and topping off on good energy the adventure day continued.

Next on the agenda was meeting up with the Friday Club. (This is a group of buddies that met Friday afternoon to have a quick drink and decompress from the week before heading onto whatever weekend activities lay ahead.)

This was the first time (but not the last) the Club mobilized. We headed out to Buffalo Creek for some mountain biking and camping.

Despite my best efforts, words are not going to fully explain how awesome this part of the day was.  So, I’m going to keep it short.

The bike route was overall mild but challenging enough to make me feel like I earned the beer I had after. I was proud of myself for successfully completing some technical downhill parts and I can feel my skill level catching up to my confidence level, which is a very good thing.

Camping with my buddies was just what my soul needed. Even though it rained a bit, it didn’t dampen (see what I did there???) the fun. We had a fire, didn’t start a forest fire, and just relaxed. It was amazing.

The biking and camping were so successful the Club has decided these activities will be added to the agenda on a more frequently basis.

For your viewing pleasure, here are some photos. 

Club members tending the fire at camp and doing their best, "look scary" pose. 

Clouds. 

Camp and a bike in a tree. 

Above camp on a rock that we hung out on for a bit. There is also a rainbow. 

A club member pointing out the rainbow, in case you didn't see it in the above pic. 

ROUTINES. LOVE 'EM OR HATE 'EM

I'm a routine kinda guy. And lucky for me, I've gotten back into the working out routine. Maybe it's the nice weather or maybe it's the fact that I was tired of not feeling great. Whatever the reason behind it, I'm happy it's here.

For years, my routine consisted of: work, coming home, working out, then doing whatever needed to be done in the evening. Day in and day out.

The only time this routine really deviated was when I was working as a laborer. Typically we worked at least 10 hour days. During the summer, records were being set for the most consecutive number of days over 100 degrees. During the winter, fighting the the cold zapped my energy. After 10+ hours pouring concrete or jack-hammering, it was all I could do to make it to my recliner. And despite not working out at the gym, I was in the best shape of my life.

Now I'm in a full-blown quest to get back into great shape. I've blogged about it before and I'm happy to report I'm pleased with the progress. Another couple of months and this goal should be met...just in time for the heart of summer.

Ok, now that you've heard more than anyone should about my working out and routine, get back to work.

46 YEARS LATER

A dead, unarmed college student shot by a National Guardsman on a Kent State campus.

Let that sink in for a bit.

Have we evolved at all over the past 46 years?

BACK AND FORTH

For more than an hour I went back and forth...slow and steady. Not showing off, not falling behind (I was by myself, so it was easy not to fall to the back of the pack).

Yesterday was the first time I've swam since I trudged out of Lake Springfield during the first leg of my triathlon (more info on that here).

Leaning against the pool wall after my last lap, I couldn't help but smile. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did. I swam for 1.25 (much farther than my original plan of swimming a 1/2 mile). Sure, I was exhausted, but isn't that the point?

Knowing that I can swim this far after nearly 2 years of not swimming makes me want to see how far I can swim in one go (this is the exact mindset that led to running a marathon). I have decided that I'm going to try and swim 3 times per week for the foreseeable future.

My other fitness goal is to get back into biking during the week. Why should it just be a weekend thing? When it's all said and done, I'd like to be back to riding 100 miles per week (counting both road and mountain biking) which I think is more than do-able. A few 25 mile road rides and I'll rack up the miles pretty quickly. Now, I'm not saying either of these goals is going to be met instantly, or even easily, but I think it's good to have something to work towards.

As you were.

PS-That is most definitely not what the pool in my gym looks like...but why would you want to look at a poorly lit dungeonie looking pool?