4 Days

Hi Dear Readers!

Happy Wednesday! I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, or action items for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). And if not, well...I still hope you are thriving in the midst of the chaos.

Here it is...Day 9 of the 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs, a high holiday of the Church of Bike With Joe (BWJ). 4 days to go...including today (thus the title of this post).

Saturday is the last day of the 12 Days. It's a magnificent day of celebration and, if the prophecies are true, it is the day when the DFUs will be karmically disenfranchised from the world. This may correlate with the prophesied rising of a lesser known mythical religious figure who will lead the world to salvation. So, we shall see...

In any case, the predicted demise of the DFUs notwithstanding, Saturday is the first day of the Dane County Farmers Market on the Capitol Square in Madison WI. Deborah and I plan to attend. This weekend is also the observed weekend of Deborah's and my wedding anniversary (8 years, if anyone is wondering). A reminder that Memorial Day weekend 2025 is the 10 year anniversary of our chance but fortuitous meeting.

Today comprises at least three action items. Per usual, I will see several of my marriage and family therapy clients throughout the course of the day. Around noon, I will pick up our grocery order at Festival Foods before taking my parents to see another senior living home. I'll see a couple more therapy clients in the evening to round out the day. I'm also going to try to make a batch of this awesome falafel, time permitting.

Leave a comment below about how your 12 Days are going. Any obstacles? Any successes?

Take care and remain hopeful and vigilant.

Fin.

5 Days

Hi Readers.

Happy Tuesday! I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, or action items for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). And if not, well...I still hope you are thriving.

Here it is...Day 8 of the 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs, a high holiday of the Church of Bike With Joe (BWJ). 5 days to go...including today.

Yesterday was a bit of a blur and I am still trying to organize in my mind just what went down. But I do know this...social and mainstream media (SMSM) did not intrude on my life. And that's a fantastic thing.

As I reflect on yesterday, I know I had a marriage and family client first thing in the morning and another one late in the afternoon. Between those two mental health therapy clients, I took the dogs for a walk and pounded out a 50 minute Peloton workout. I think I also did some administrative work for my therapy practice.

In the evening, we were slated to go over to Deborah's son Devon's house for some socializing and board gaming with him and his wife Gretchen. However, it was called off for some reason by Devon...not sure why. That ended up being OK with Deborah, since she was pretty tired out after her long day at work saving the world from DFUs.

Today is a busy day of seeing clients for me. I get a brief respite in the afternoon to squeeze in a Peloton workout before seeing more clients into the evening. Action packed would be an understatement.

Anyway, leave a comment and let us know how your 12 Days are going and what the DFUs are doing to foil your best efforts at SMSM fasting. Perhaps some other Church of BWJ adherents have some tips or tricks to share to help you out.

Fin.

6 Days

Hi Readers.

Happy Monday! I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, or action items for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). And if not, well...I still hope you are thriving.

Here it is...Day 7 of the 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs, a high holiday of the Church of Bike With Joe (BWJ). 6 days to go...including today. It just so happens to be a Monday, even though the holiday does not necessarily correspond to a day of the week or even care.

The social and mainstream media (SMSM) fast proscribed by the Church and the holiday are going well. I have been reading audio books and listening to fiction and radio drama podcasts. Truth be told, even when the 12 Days are over, I will probably continue to fast from SMSM, because it's good for the soul to do so. The holiday is really just a first order catalyst for second order change, if you follow my meaning. No? OK, well, it's not important.

Today is a lighter Monday than a typical Monday. But not by much. My Mondays are, by design, usually pretty light. But I am still going to see a couple of marriage and family therapy clients. That's about half as many as I saw last Monday. No one nows why. But we like it!

Shortly, I'll take the dogs out for a quick "walky walk" (as they call it...or at least as they respond to it when I call it that). Then a thorough Peloton workout in the mid-afternoon. Tonight, Deborah and I are slated to go to her son's house for board games. That typically always ends up being more of a s**t show than anyone anticipated, but we do our part and put in the effort.

Fin.

7 Days

Hi Readers.

Happy Sunday! I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, or action items for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). And if not, well...I still hope you are thriving.

Here it is...Day 6 of the 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs, a high holiday of the Church of Bike With Joe (BWJ). So, we are about halfway through it. That could be a good thing or a bad thing or even a neutral thing, depending on your point of view and frame of reference. I'm quite enjoying it though, and so my point of view is that it is a good thing that it's still going. It will be a good thing when it ends too, provided the Cosmos sees fit to dish out some Karmic Justice in the DFUs. I have been quite enjoying the holiday's proscribed total fasting from social and Mainstream media (SMSM). While I have not idea what is happening in the greater world out there, the complete absence of the toxic SMSM from my life has significantly improved my mental, physical, and spiritual health and functioning. 

The plan for today is a simple one. I plan to exercise in the morning (ideally with Deborah), practice music all afternoon (honing songs for upcoming GUPPY EFFECT due gigs), and attend a film festival film with Deborah in the evening. Boom. Easy peasy.

Leave a comment and tell us how your nearly a fortnight of SMSM fasting is going. Or even if you have not been able to shake the SMSM addiction, let us know what are the obstacles. Maybe someone can help!

Fin.

8 Days

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this post finds you and brings you joy, peace, or action steps for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs).

As the founder and leader of the Church of Bike With Joe, I am currently fasting from social and mainstream media (SMSM) for the church's high holiday of 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs, which proscribes 12 days of fasting from SMSM from April 1 to April 12. As such, I have not been privvy to the goings on in the larger Cosmos. That being said, I hear tell from reliable sources that the DFUs are, predictably, suffering major losses and nearing their demise, as would be predicted by the Prophecies of the Church. April 12 will be a glorious day indeed.

I checked in with one of my non-SMSM sources about the state of the stock market. As predicted, all stocks are down...except beer. Beer does well in good times (celebration) or bad (drowning sorrows). It's a solid and stable stock. Buy shares in beer!

It's the weekend in Australia right now. I have to see a few marriage and family therapy clients on Saturday morning, and then Deborah and I will be perusing a big film festival going on in our area.

That's all I got. Take care!

Fin.

9 Days

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this post finds you and brings you joy, peace, and/or action steps toward the demise of the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs).

Speaking of that, we are now in the single digits of the countdown for the 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs, one of the high holidays of the Church of BWJ. Only 9 days (including today) remain. If you recall, the basic (but not easy) ritual of this holiday is to abstain from all social and mainstream media (SMSM) from April Fools Day until April 12 - almost a fortnight. This fasting from the poison of SMSM detoxifies the mind, body, and soul, resulting in disenfranchisement of the DFUs from your life (and - ideally - everyone's life!).

This festive holiday is loosely correlated with the Easter holiday observed by the other (arguably less cool) churches and religions of the world. And it serves roughly the same purpose - to restore and rejuvenate good moral values and ethical goals, by bringing back the First Principles of Wholesome Goodness (FPWGs). The DFUs despise the FPWGs and they work very hard to undermine them, using SMSM as the media for their diabolical agenda. So, by abstaining from SMSM dutifully for the proscribed 12 days, you are effectively immune to the toxicity of the DFUs, disempowering them and making them vulnerable to the karmic forces that will be their undoing (aka, demise). I won't lie, abstaining from SMSM is no easy task. The stuff is highly addictive and hard to quit, which is perhaps why most people continue living in a chronic state of suffering and toxic grievance (the main symptoms of chronic SMSM consumption).

Yesterday (Day 10 of the holiday) was a lighter marriage and family therapy counseling day for me. I had my Mindfulness for Therapists class in the morning, followed by a couple of client sessions in the early afternoon. Then I pounded out 40 solid minutes on the Peloton before whipping up a vegan pizza for dinner (I embellished a Salvatore's frozen vegan pie with diced yellow peppers, canned mushrooms, and a heavy helping of Miyokos liquid vegan mozzarella cheese...so good!). It fills me with no small measure of joy that the DFUs will never know the glory of a Salvatore's vegan pie thusly embellished. But they made their bed, so that's all I have to say about that. 

After dinner, Deborah and I drove across town to see if we could catch a Wisconsin Film Fest film at the Barrymore Theater. We could not, because the line was ridic long and - on principle - Deborah and I do not do ridic long lines. Instead, we popped into the nearby Bar Corallini for an overpriced vegan dessert, then went back home.

All of the above happened with ZERO consumption of SMSM. It feels pretty f**kin' good to be free of that s**t.

Fin.

10 Days

Hi Dear Readers!

It's Day 3 (April 3rd) of the 12 Days to the Demise of the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs), a high holiday of the Church of BWJ. Only 10 days (including today) remain and then we can all celebrate the absence of DFUs and live in harmony, contentment, and peace for the remainder of the year. This aligns with the dharmic concept of Radical Acceptance, leading to the alleviation of suffering. Ideally, this is a collective alleviation of suffering (if we all participate in the 12 days!). However, it may be an individual alleviation of suffering, and that's cool too. 

How is your fasting from all social and mainstream media (SMSM) going? Any intentions you have set around it? I mean...besides the demise of DFUs, of course.

I got a whopping 55 minutes in on the Peloton bike yesterday, in addition to some sit ups and dumbbells, by way of SMSM avoidance.

Yay!

Fin.

11 Days

Hi Dear Readers!

It's Day 2 of the 12 Days to the Demise of the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). That means 11 days remaining of the longest high holiday of the Church of BWJ. The holiday is celebrated with complete abstinence from social and mainstream media (SMSM) starting on April Fool's Day and going for almost a fortnight thereafter.

How are you celebrating it?

Fin.

12 Days

Hi Readers!

Today was the first day of the Church of BWJ's 12 Days to the Demise of the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). Since it's a countdown to said Demise, we start on Day 12 and count down the consecutive days until April 12 (Day 1). And on Day 0, we feast in celebration of defeating the DFUs).

The 12 Days are celebrated with INTENTIONAL fasting from Social and Mainstream Media (SMSM). It's kind of like not eating meat for Lent or whatever. But Church of BWJ adherents don't eat meat anyway. So, instead we fast from toxicity. I was completely SMSM free today, and it was great. In Church Lore it is believed that this SMSM fasting deprives the DFUs of their life force, making them susceptible the the Dark Magic that ultimately destroys them.

Fin.